Bishop Neil Ellis
In Evangel Cathedral’s 67 years, God is announcing that He is not through with you yet. It is a personal word for each one. According to Ecclesiastes 7:8:
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
Patience of spirit is better than arrogance of spirit.”
Looking at the Scripture, the ending part of something is destined to be better than its beginning. In your life, over the next six months, God does not just want to do the ordinary. He wants to do the unusual, the uncommon, the unexpected, and the unpredictable. You may not be able to see with the naked eye at this point, but understand that God is doing something with you and through you, primarily for you. Wherever you may be, whatever you might have left behind, whatever it is you’re dealing with in your life, know that God has not changed His mind about your future or the future of this church. This is why you need to position yourself for what’s coming.
Over the next six months, everyone will not be able to hear what you hear or see what you see because everybody cannot go where you are going. There are two things you need to hold on to for the next six months. Don’t let them go no matter what.
One: The season you are in right now is too significant for you to be distracted by the irrelevant things you did.
Anything that God has ever done before He’ll do it again. Anything that God has done for anyone before He can do for you. Over the next six months, expect God to strongly show Himself in your life and in this church. However, over the next six months, the enemy of our souls will attempt to do these three things:
One: He wants to curse your future.
Two: He wants to rob you of your inheritance.
Three: He wants to short circuit the flow of blessing in your life from the Lord.
In this season of your life, you have to be able to be hurt and stay focused. You’ve got to be able to handle mistreatment and stick with the assignment. You’ve got to deal with disappointment without slipping into discouragement. This is not the season of your life to get into your feelings about what’s coming. There is no way the devil will sit down and let you slide in. You have to stay focused. “This is the hour,” says the Lord of Hosts. “I am bringing great change into the hearts and minds of my people. At the same time, I am changing their circumstances.” Revelation 4:1 says:
“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.’”
This relates to the church. After you’ve gone through what you’ve gone through, your relocation from one building to the next, and after you’ve come through great tribulation, John saw a door standing open in heaven. Ladies and Gentlemen of Evangel, stand by. Prepare yourselves for what is coming. God is getting ready to show you what you’ve never seen in 67 years. Get your spirits ready. God does not want to catch you by surprise, so He wants to give you a glimpse of what’s coming. For this immediate season, He has changed the scenery. He doesn’t want you to see what you’ve been looking at for the last several years. So, He has relocated you to the same compound but with different scenery. God wants you to have a revelation of where your life is and where this ministry is heading. Take your eyes off what has been. Forget what is behind you. Get ready for what’s coming because it is unusual and uncommon. It requires your focus and attention.
To see what He wants to show you and hear what He wants to say to you, remove yourself from the level you are on and ascend to higher ground. You can’t stay at your current level to see what God is planning to do in your life. He will shift your focus, change your surroundings, and relocate you from one building to the next because you’ll see something different where you’re going. YBe prepared to hear something different from what you’ve always heard. You won’t be able to see it clearly or understand it properly on the same level of faith you are in. You must ascend to the higher ground. Look straight ahead.
The major reason this church has gone through all it has to go through for the last seven years is because of what’s coming. Don’t blame anybody for what went down. Don’t hold anything against anyone. The enemy simply had a glimpse of what was coming, and he was trying to use his demons to stop you. It’s time to end the season of blaming and looking at people thinking they’re responsible for the challenges you’ve gone through.
You’re at a higher level in life because you have outgrown where you were. The life before you is too big for the level you are stuck on. This is a call to go higher. You’re restless not because you don’t know what to do and not because of what other people have done. There’s a degree of misery not because of the pandemic. You might feel miserable, restless, wretched, and tired because you’re staying at a level you’ve outgrown. God says the first order of business is to seek higher ground. You cannot remain on the level of hurt, pain, disappointment, and discouragement you’re on now. You are bigger than that.
Christianity started in pain—they nailed Jesus to a cross. As a Christian, your hurt, pain, and disappointment were all a part of the package to prepare you for what’s coming. God has not changed His mind about your future. This is only preparation for where you’ll be going. Don’t get stuck in your past. Declare Philippians 3:13-14:
“13 Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
The Lord will dwell in our midst
“Shout for joy and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the Lord.” –Zechariah 2:10
Whenever you see the word “sing” in Scripture, especially in the Old Testament or in a book that carries the name of a prophet, you need to pay close attention because it can be translated into one or two words: rejoice or celebrate. A “song” in this context is not really about a song but a spirit of rejoicing or celebration. God is inviting us to celebrate because He is coming to dwell in our midst. He’s not coming to visit just to hang out for a few moments. He says that He wants His presence always to be here. God is bringing with Him power, splendor, and glory.
This church is not just going through a relocation. This is an act of obedience. God wants Evangel Cathedral to get into an atmosphere to usher in His Presence. This season, God doesn’t want us to come in saying, “The service was good today!” He wants to dwell in our church, in our midst. He is coming whether we are ready or not. God is coming with His power, splendor, and glory. God wants to bring something to Evangel Cathedral that would differentiate this church from the regular church. God is saying, “Most people who follow me can praise me without manifestation. They need something from me first so they can praise me. I want you to drop something in Evangel that will carry them through into 2023 where they can have a party without a product. I want them to have a celebration not after I get here. I’m coming, but they can’t wait until I arrive. I want the church to get into a season of celebration before I get here.” He says, “I have chosen them as the national voice. They need to begin celebrating me on a word, promise, or commitment. They have to get into the groove of praising me before things happen. Sing and rejoice, for I am coming!”
We have to get into a time of celebration before God gets here. It’s our praises and celebration that will usher God’s Presence. It’s not just about singing songs. This is more than praise and worship because these should only enhance what we already came here with. We have to come into these doors with thanksgiving.
How many of us have been anticipating something from the Lord? You need to celebrate before you receive it so you’ll be ready for what’s coming. We don’t know when these things will happen but here are some things we can do.
First, over the next three Sundays, make sure you get in the sanctuary at least 15 minutes before church begins. When you arrive at your seat, start celebrating. We can have a pre-church service party because we need to keep the celebration up in our house. Before God’s Presence comes, we need to start a celebration. We need to change our posture and our perspective. We don’t need to wait for manifestation to start a celebration.
The glory of the Lord causes a collision between the natural and the supernatural. When the glory of the Lord fills the house, there is a correlation between the natural and the supernatural. The supernatural always wins.
Two: You are so important to God that He will not allow the mistakes you made in a previous season to cancel the opportunities in this season.
“‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have followed My word, and have not denied My name.” –Revelation 3:8
God knows our works. He has preserved us because He has specific plans for our lives this season. Where He is taking us and what He is about to do in our lives have very little to do with who we are and what we have done. It all has to do with the fact that He has chosen to do this with us this season. He knows our work. He wants us to see, take note, and watch what He says. God has set before Evangel Cathedral an open door that no one can move. What He has opened, no one can shut.
Over the next six months, it does not matter who doesn’t like you or what the circumstances are. All these cannot shut the door God opened. You have within you for the next six months everything necessary to walk on. You have access. What God is saying is not about corporate doors. He has set before each one an open door that no one can shut. There is no space and no need for jealousy among you. Your door fits your calling, and their door fits their calling. They can’t get in your door, and they can’t stop you from going through your door. There’s no need for envy. If you see somebody in this season walking through their door, pause and help them celebrate.
God has fixed and positioned your door for you to have access. But if you’re going to have access and go from where you are through the door, you also have movement. You are on your way. Just walk through the door. You have movement. You may not see it yet through the naked eye but God has plans for your life.
As for the church and how God moves corporately, whenever God paints a picture of what He intends to do, that is never the end of the story. That’s just a picture that He wants to put in front of the people who are connected to that church because whatever he’s doing corporately with the local body, He will do individually in your life. There is going to be a major shift in your own life, and this direction will lead you closer to your individual destiny.
As we get ready to step into the doors God has opened for us, He is saying, “I will shift every circumstance in this corporate church. Wherever there’s a hindrance, blockage, or obstruction, I will fix it in the Spirit. If you just continue to praise me until I show up, I’ll fix everything that’s going on.”
Let us push our way into the spirit of praise and celebration. God is going to fix and shift some things in the atmosphere not only in the ministry but also in every aspect of our personal lives.
