Sermon Central
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Get Off The Fence #1 Series
Contributed by Stephen Noel on Dec 5, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: This series deals with the complications of compromise, and challenges listeners to get off the fence of indecision and fully go with God!
Today, I want to introduce to you a powerful message from the Lord that gives us a PRIME DIRECTIVE! I am certain, due to the depth and due to the content of the upcoming messages I will be unable to complete this in one service time.
· This message will challenge you.
· This message will probably aggravate you. (That’s not always a bad thing, folks.)
· This message will hopefully change you.
· This message will hopefully elevate the church!
· This message will deliver a command of the things that we need to do in order to please our Heavenly Father.
· The command is simple to understand, but seems to be a little more tough to accomplish, due to the strong desires and will of man.
That command is: "Get off The Fence!"
I believe that it is time for the children of God to arise, and get ourselves up from the place of complacency in our Spirit and in our flesh, and ’get off the fence!’
I believe that it is time for the Church of the Living God to step up to her place and become what God intended for her to be!
I believe that it is time for “THE SANCTUARY” to ARISE FROM HER SLUMBER, GET OFF OF THE FENCE OF MEDIOCRITY, AND BECOME THE CHURCH OF DESTINY THAT GOD HAS SPOKEN OF SO MANY TIMES!
· If you want to get closer than you’ve ever been to the Lord, hang on, I believe a Rhema Word is on its way for you!
· If you want to get past the ‘spiritual wall’ that you are facing, get ready!
· BUT, IF YOU WANT TO STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, just tune the Lord and the messenger right on out, like so many times before, and miss what He has for you, and then wonder what everybody else is so powerfully charged up about.
o Just go ahead stay the way you are.
o And oh, by the way, this message will probably make you mad.
If there’s anybody in the house today that is ready to “go on a powerful journey”, grab your neighbor by the hand, and say, “Come on, let’s go!”
Fence riding is not a new thing. It happened many, many times in the Scriptures, and I feel that I need to address a few of them to lay the groundwork for this series of messages.
Turn in your Bibles to Revelation 3
We see this command in the New Testament in the book of Revelations 3, where the Laodicean church had allowed itself to be lulled into a sleepy position.
Now I know that you have never allowed yourself to do that.
I am sure that it’s . . . .you know. . . . .those guys over there. . . .RIGHT.
Revelation 3:15-18 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (16) So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. (17) Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.
The church was found being ’politically correct’, that is, trying to please both God and man, and they were given a smack from the Lord in the manner of:
· ’since you were neither hot nor cold, I’m going to vomit you out of my mouth’.
· In essence, God was saying,
o "I can’t do anything with you while you are playing both sides of the fence.
· He was saying Get in, or get out!
o Since you won’t do either, I’ll make up your mind for you.
· Get away from me!
o You make me sick to my stomach!"
SHOUT - GET OFF THE FENCE!
Another example of people sitting on a fence is found in the book of Joshua chapter 24. Turn there with me if you will.
Let me give you some bio-background here: Shechem, is a location in the area of Canaan, that is mentioned several times in the Bible, 66 to be exact.
The word means ‘a ridge’ in Hebrew.
The best way that I know to describe a ridge is that place along the top of mountains, or hills that makes up the ‘backbone’ of the high place.
It’s not difficult for me to see that ridge as the ‘top of a fence line.’
