I'm Leanne Friesman and this is Restoring Word.
Do you like to sail?
Do you enjoy being on a sailboat, relaxing and listening to the water and the wind?
Well, I certainly do.
I've got a Catalina 25 and I'm using illustrations from that sailboat to share my thoughts with
the body of Christ at large.
And today we're going to talk about sailing into the storm.
There's a lot of storms on the horizon.
We see them in the natural.
There's hurricanes right now forming down in the Gulf of Mexico.
There's also spiritual storms that are forming.
We see things coming that are actually fulfilling Bible prophecy and frankly, they're quite
disturbing.
The good news is we have the Word of God.
It is our sword.
We can speak the Word with spiritual authority and we can walk things out victoriously.
The Bible clearly uses the believer's illustration as a good soldier.
I remember as a little girl we used to sing the Onward Christian Soldier song in Sunday
school where I was raised.
And today I want to talk about ships that are going into storms.
I've got this beautiful picture of a sailboat sailing into a storm.
And you know, when I think about my sailboat, I always think of my boat as a place of refuge,
of peace, of quiet and of rest.
But all boats, whether they're cruise ships or battleships or sailboats, are sailing into
some, can be sailing into some pretty treacherous waters.
I've got a scripture today out of 2 Timothy 4, chapters 1 through 5, and it's kind of
setting up what I hope comes out of my heart this morning.
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living
and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
Verse 2, preach the Word.
Be ready in season and out of season.
Right now, many of us are in our season.
We're doing what God has called us to do.
Many are in the season of being prepared for a coming season.
And that's kind of what this message for me today is.
It's a rallying cry to prepare for the coming storm.
Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but they, according
to their desires, because they have itching ears, they will heal up for themselves teachers.
And they will turn their ears away from truth.
And they will be turned aside to fables, fantasies, false stories.
But you be watchful in all things.
Endure afflictions and do the work of evangelists.
Fulfill your ministry.
As Christians, we are to prepare, but we're also to watch.
We're to perceive what is coming.
You know, everyone living on the coast is preparing for incoming hurricane.
We in Oklahoma, we have our preparations for tornado season.
The Doppler radars here in Oklahoma are so good that we can tell you what street that
funnel cloud is on.
It's amazing.
But as a body of Christ, how are we preparing for incoming storms?
Are we watching?
Are we studying?
Are we preparing?
Or do we see the body of Christ leaning towards and into teachers that will tickle their ears?
I was listening to a well-known evangelist this week, and he was really speaking up about
some of the weird ministries that are on YouTube.
Now, I'm on YouTube, and so immediately I like perk up and I'm listening to what he
has to say.
And he says something along the lines of, there's a false prophetess who's been on there.
She's been wrong 80 times, and yet people are still listening to her.
And I thought, why in the world would someone continue to listen to someone that they know
is off?
Well, maybe it's because they have itching ears.
Maybe they're listening to things that are off, but it's entertaining for them.
I don't know.
You know, in this hour more than anything else, I don't want to be off.
I don't want to be wrong.
I want to be teachable.
I want to be correctable.
I want to be right.
I want to walk humbly, and I want to do things the right way.
How about you?
I think that should all be our hearts.
We're supposed to be watchful of all things and do the work of evangelists.
You know, when I think of a ship, and the Lord talks to me through natural things, and
he talks to me through my sailboat.
My dad was a Navy officer.
You know, in the Navy, you had specific things that a battleship would carry.
You had a sonar that would look for things that could attack the ship from below.
Then you had something called the radar, and radar would look for anything that was incoming
that could attack that ship from above.
As believers, we need to pray that things that are within the body, that are causing
strife, deception, false teachers, false prophets, those are things that we need to
detect that are coming from below or from within.
We also need to be watchful as to what's coming on above us or around us.
What's happening?
What about a digital dollar?
What about technology that could really, like artificial intelligence, could fulfill Bible
prophecy?
These things are all things, as believers, that we should be observing and watching,
and we should be preparing for where we're going.
Unfortunately, you know what I think?
I think we have a lot of Christians that would rather be on a cruise ship.
I started thinking about this from this quote off a website, and I'm just going to read
it to you.
Every soldier in the army of God must ask himself, are we on a cruise ship or a battleship
here?
How we answer that question makes a difference in how we live our lives.
I agree.
How we execute our duties.
Cruise ship Christianity is akin to one long holiday.
Oh, come to church.
Let's have a party.
Oh, let's feel good.
Yeah, let's hear some motivational speaking.
Oh, hey.
You know, it's like living inside the love boat where every day was a party.
Passengers boarded, they sat back, they relaxed, they got comfortable, and they demanded service.
How many Christians in the body of Christ right now do you know of?
They just wanted to be waited on.
Well, I'm just not happy with how they laid out the chairs.
Really?
Well, I'm just, you know, the praise and worship band, the tempo was just too slow on that
first song.
Really?
Well, let's see you do it.
Really?
I didn't like the color of the carpet.
Really?
You're worried about the color of the carpet?
Seriously?
We have a lot of Christians like that.
Everyone on the ship was there for a good time to see the sights, enjoy the fun destinations,
and return home with souvenirs that would remind them of their fun.
When we view the kingdom of God as a cruise ship destined to cater to our every needs,
we produce weak churches and weak Christians.
We don't like how things are, but we don't dare fight for change.
Throughout every generation, we must fight against the formation and growth of the cruise
ship Christianity through the weapon of prayer.
How do we do it?
We pray about it.
We get ready.
We put our radar out.
We put our sonar out, and we take a stand for biblical truth.
The battleship mentality deeply respects the general's authority, God's authority,
the word's authority, tested and proven leadership in the body of Christ.
We listen to them humbly, and we accept correction when we get off.
Let me tell you, we can all get off.
I don't care who you are, me included.
The general's authority in the intent for expanding the kingdom.
The battleship church is in the business of delivering captives, helping those that are
lost receive Jesus.
Everything in a battleship church is done with a mission, and that mission is to empower
the body and to grow the body in the hour that we're in.
There is going to be an amazing outpouring before things get really bad, and I believe
That's coming. But the churches that are going to see it are the ones that are operating in power.
They're moving in the gifts. They're operating in discerning of spirits.
They're laying hands on the sick.
And I think really what we're going to see an explosion of soon is a need for deliverance.
What ministries do you know right now that are operating in deliverance?
Think about it.
Those are the churches that are going to grow and explode because in the day and the hour that we're living in,
with the rise of all of the deception that's on the horizon,
we're going to have to have the power of God operating in our lives.
We're going to have to have the grace of God operating in our lives.
And we're going to be able to navigate the storm.
We're going to be able to sit on our boat, so to speak,
and work together to navigate the days ahead together.
I got an unusual prophetic word for a church up in Iowa when I was leaving back in October of last year.
And you know what I saw? I saw the men in this battleship church,
and they were down in the boiler room.
And they were fueling the ship.
You know, no matter what God has called you to do in this hour,
whether it's to be a commanding officer up above,
a captain or a commander or a lieutenant commander.
My dad was a lieutenant commander, up for commander.
If you're someone that's down in the boiler room and your job is to fuel the ship,
to make money so you can give money so you can support the gospel,
man, your job is vital in this hour.
It takes everyone to fuel the battleship.
I don't want to be a cruise ship Christian.
I don't want to be a weak Christian.
I don't want to be entertained. I don't want to be impressed.
I'm not fussy. I'm not high maintenance.
I just love God, and I love the word, and I want to hear the word, and I want to hear truth.
How about you? I'm sure that's you.
Let's pray about it.
Thank you for listening.
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and I need you to share the word so we can get this devotional out.
Thank you. Please pray for Restoring Word.
Pray for wisdom and direction in the days ahead, and we're praying for you.
Pray for the believers who have contacted us, who have communicated and asked for prayer,
and we're praying for you, and we're thankful for you.
Again, thank you for listening, and have a great day.
You