The Great Experiment, Day 1

Friday, November 1 - Day 1 of The Great Experiment, November 1-10, 2019

Transcript:

"Hi. Matt Bennett here, with the Christian Union Day and Night Great Experiment. Thank you for participating in this. We have over a thousand people joining with us to seek the Lord in a special way over the ten days, first ten days of November. So thank you for joining with us to seek the Lord. We want to see breakthrough. We want to see change. We want to see power. We want to see the outpouring of the Spirit in our country. We want to see, by God's grace, the kingdom of darkness roll back, and we want to see the kingdom of light go everywhere, into individuals and our families and territory across the United States, places as well as all the different social sectors and business and media and the government. We want the Kingdom of God to reign in every way. Thank you for being a part of this. We are an effort to see that happen, to play a role, to seek God's face, to see this come about.

We have five commitments as part of these ten days, and you saw them on the website when you signed up, or Facebook or however you signed up. But just to review them, one is read and pray. You want to have devotional times in the mornings and evenings if possible, and seeking the Lord and drawing close to Him in that time. We also need to focus on repentance, each day repenting of everything the Lord brings to mind. Even if there are things that are not wrong in and of themselves, but things that just the Lord doesn't want you to do, then it's important to repent.

We have "Respond to the Holy Spirit" each morning. We want to listen to the Holy Spirit, and what does He have for us that day that we should obey? Cultivating the ability to listen to God and listen to the Holy Spirit is really helpful and needed for us to be strong in the Lord.

We also want to represent Christ wherever we go. We want to talk about Jesus openly and not be hindered, held back in any way, but representing Christ in every way. And then also we want to raise our faith. We want to pick one thing in particular that's really kind of exceptional, extraordinary. Mine is I'm going to reach out to 50 different local and national leaders, mostly vocational ministers, and call them to seek the Lord for a week or four weeks with me. I'm in the process of seeking the Lord with friends for a four week time period, Monday through Friday, 14 hours a day. Bible reading, praying, repenting of sin, praise and worship, more praying, more Bible reading, listening to the Lord, so that we can have the mind of Christ and so that we can have His anointing and power to be His servants. I think as we have many, many more across the United States doing this, we will see more of His anointing and power released.

As we have this first day here at the Great Experiment, I want to read a passage to you from Romans 5, which is very powerful, verses one and two. This is what it says. It says, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into the grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Now, this is really key and I wanted to start our ten days with this because it's essential that we, as believers in Christ, that we know that we have standing before God. This has come through repentance and faith and there's no need for any condemnation on us or fear or accusation.

Many Christians can be plagued by these different things, but they don't have to plague our lives. They shouldn't plague our lives, because it's a matter of believing this promise. It says, "We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. We've been reconciled through him and we have increased access by faith and it's a grace that's been given to us. It's a gift that the Lord's been giving to us." So, if have sin in your life, you have something that you struggle over, something that comes to your mind that's plaguing you, I encourage you to repent once again of it and then to be strong in the Lord, and to even say, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I refuse to have that on me. I believe the scriptures that say I have access to the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. All of my sins are washed away. I have no condemnation on me, in Jesus Christ."

This is really critical to do. Even for me, even though I'm in ministry, there'll be things that have come into my life, "Oh, I shouldn't have said this or done that," or whatever else," and it's a tool of the enemy to come and to bring us down, to discourage us, to steal our joy, but this is the power of the blood of Christ. And if we are in Christ, if we are Christians, we have to stand on that all the time. It doesn't matter what you've done, whether it's a light thing that you've done, maybe you gossiped to somebody. Maybe you didn't reach out and have compassion to somebody. Maybe you lashed out in some way. Maybe you did something really "big." It doesn't matter what it is. The blood covers it all.

Up in heaven, Jesus is constantly interceding for us. This is what He does. He's the great high priest. He's taking care of business. The Israelites would have to go when they have a sin and do the sacrifice. This is happening all the time on your behalf, and to not accept that is not pleasing to the Lord. He went to great lengths and great sacrifice. He is with you, so I pray for you during this time of the Great Experiment. May the Lord bless you.

Let me pray. Lord, we love and praise and thank You. May Your name be taken to new heights in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. God bless you.

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Here is today's guide for the “Five Rs” of The Great Experiment, November 1-10, 2019.

1. Read and Pray
Spend 30 minutes every morning reading the Bible and praying, and also spend time in the evening doing the same. To intensify your devotional times, consider fasting for some of the days. We have created a daily 30-minute devotional that you can use. Today’s devotional

2. Repent.
What sins do I need to repent of today? What hindrances to my devotion to Christ can I remove today?

3. Respond to the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, what is the one thing you most want me to do today? (Write it down, and do it today).

4. Represent Christ. 
How will I bear witness to Christ today? With whom shall I share the Gospel today?

5. Raise Your Faith.
Be bold and courageous in living out your faith. Choose from one of the following options for a “Joshua Faith Challenge”:

1. Host an all-night prayer meeting. Set a date during November 1-10 and invite friends to come and pray with you for revival in America.
2. Every day, pray for ten friends and family members to come to faith in Christ and look for opportunities to share the gospel with them.
3. Share an evangelistic post on social media every day from November 1-10.
4. Anything else the Lord burdens you to take on that will require courageous faith.