Life Teachings of Roland H. Buck

Introduction

In the sixty-seven sermons available on audio tape Roland goes into the things that are important to God; things that meet the needs of people. People are God’s business. Every one of God’s highest priorities is related to God’s love and care for people. God wants us to know our position in Christ, the things that are important to Him, and what He is like. God’s highest priorities are the blood of Jesus, fellowship and communion with God, the truth that Jesus is alive, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Great Commission, the Everlasting Covenant, and the return of Christ.

Some of the other themes in Roland’s messages include God’s love for the individual, His desire to save the whole family, the things that God is doing today, the preparation for the believer’s judgment, the exaltedness of Jesus, and the power of His blood. I pray that God will use these messages to inspire, strengthen, bless and encourage your heart and faith in Him. People need to know that God is not looking for reasons to reject them but to save them. He wants people to know that He is not interested in their failures and is not recording them in heaven. The message that God wants to get out now is that God’s wrath has been turned away and His heart is warm towards us now. He wants us to go out and share the message of the atonement to prepare men and women for that day when Jesus comes.

Every time Gabriel comes a new chapter of God unfolds and leads us one step closer to the day that Jesus is looking forward to with great excitement. When Gabriel appeared to Roland in 1979 he said, “There is more excitement in the courts of heaven then there has ever been since Jesus came the first time.” It has been a generation since this angelic visitation. Let us walk in all that God has planned for us to walk in today.

Timothy Holt

Chapter 1 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus and Discerning His Body

I have announced this message as a very important message and probably it is one of the most important that the Lord has ever given to me. There are often mixed reactions in people’s minds when we speak of the supernatural. I realize that there have been different reactions when I make reference to a visitation of angels or some supernatural truth that God has brought. In most cases skepticism that people may have quickly leaves them when they listen to the message themselves. Because it is something unexpected, though people in their hearts and their desires that God cares enough about us and that He will visit us and that He will speak to us, there is still a little jolt or reaction when it happens, but most of it is just a reverse expression down in the hearts.

People are hoping that God is revisiting His people in a special way. I've received numbers of letters and telephone calls from people who said that they viewed this with great skepticism until they listened to the message. And as they turned it on and listened, God quickened their hearts. And they said it’s of God. One man spoke to me on the telephone long distance, he said it has the ring of truth, I told him it has to be truth because they’re not my words. They’re words God has brought. God is doing something so special, and I feel that God has honored me and God has smiled on this congregation by His care and by the visits that He has brought right here. It’s very, very special. I think of the messages, I’m not going to go into all of these messages. But make references to some of them. That first message that was brought to me by Gabriel, and I think of the reluctance that I had to give it because I didn’t know where it was going to go. I didn‘t know what it was going to do.

I have spent 29 years in this community endeavoring to share Christ with the people and the community recognizes my ministry and it’s accepted and I didn’t want to in one evening destroy, by giving something that would cause defenses to rise and people to be turned off or turned away, and I was reluctant as you recall, those of you who have heard this before. I waited 3 weeks. God told me to give it. I waited 3 weeks and in the middle of the night, those same strong hands that gripped my shoulders that first time, raised me up in bed and said, “you haven’t given that message.” I felt that I was in trouble. And I still felt reluctant. But I did ask Gabriel, “you’re here, why don’t you give it?” There’s some reason why, but he said no, he could not except that God would permit him too. But that I would have to give it. And I gave that message that night and for those of you who have heard that message good news for you and your family, those of you that haven’t, it would pay you to get that tape and to listen to it till all the truths in that really grip your heart. It came from God’s heart.

The building was as full as it is right now when I gave that message. This was back in the middle of July, and since that time, literally hundreds of thousands of tapes have gone out across the country. They have been duplicated here as fast as we could get them out. But the people who have received them have duplicated them. People that they have sent them to have duplicated them. I have a letter in my office now; another lady has bought an expensive duplicating machine in Washington. And she is sending them out across the country. I have a letter from a lady in Bremerton who has literally sent out hundreds in that community. There’s a place in Florida that’s duplicating them by the 1000’s and sending them out. And the word is, these truths are moving out. These messages are made very, very real by God. I think of that truth that He made so real, the believers judgment, that day when God has chosen to say thanks. 1 Corinthians. 4:5, where He tells us at that then shall every man have praise of God.

That day is coming because you have entered in and done the types of things that God wants to do for them, and lifting their burdens, and helping them, and sharing, and strengthening their hands, and encouraging them and brightening lives and homes. Those are things that rare very important to God because God loves people so much. This is at the heart of the desire that God has for very believer that we represent Him in all that He is to the world, His life, His body, His bread, His Word, His light. I think of the message where I wept so hard that the bed shook as God spoke to me about the sacrifice of Jesus, and the Lamb of God that was slain. I think of the message He brought me on the New Covenant. That because our High Priest went into the heaven and He blotted out as a thick cloud every record of anything that could be against us and said here written in my blood is a new Covenant for you.

And that new Covenant says your sins and your iniquities will I remember against you no more forever. You could read that in Hebrews 10:16-17. Regardless of the message that God has spoken to me about thru this heavenly messenger, they all come back; every message comes back to one central truth that has proven to be the very heart of God, the heart of the Bible, the heart of all history. It’s at the very core at the very center of God’s message to us, and that is the sacrifice of Jesus. These angelic visitors had visited me 12 times and they have not come once without mentioning the sacrifice of Jesus. There truths must be very, very important to God, that God wants them heralded and flashed across the land today, they must be very important to people in the preparation for these days and to lift them from fear and the struggles, and the burdens that they may be going thru trying to some way, lift themselves into a position where they can please God. And God is showing what HE has accomplished, what His plans are as you read in Eph. 1:4 where He tells us, “long ago He called us and chose us in Him before the foundation of the world and His plans were then that we should be holy and without blame without a single fault in His eyes and His plan was as He put it together and set it in motion was a plan that would make us acceptable to Him, totally acceptable.

I can’t help but think of the message that He gave to me of the great covering of the believers, the blood of Jesus; He looks at us and sees us looking just exactly like Jesus. And then the giving of His Spirit in the Word, that our lives could be molded and made like Jesus so that the fruit of His Spirit, His love, His joy, His peace, His gentleness, His long suffering, the very characteristics of Jesus might be seen in us, and then He said, “then the world gets to see you just like I see you, Hallelujah.” This is God’s big plan for our lives, these truths are so real, these messages that He has brought. He has not at any time changed the World of God. But what He has done has been to reveal and turn a light in the Word, and cause the Word to pulsate with His life, literally come alive. The importance of the sacrifice of Jesus is seen by the reminders that He has given in every message of the sacrifice. And this morning is a communion time, it’s definitely a time to remember, and I’m going to enlarge on these messages bringing parts of 3 or 4 together because they are the message coming from different points centering on the sacrifice of Christ.

Two weeks ago on Thursday morning, it was about five minutes after 1:00 am; the Spirit of God woke me up. Don’t ask me how I knew it was the Spirit, after all these years I know the Spirit and His dealing. And I know how He magnifies God in the Word. The Spirit woke me up and asked me to go downstairs. You say how did He do that? Was it an impression that He gave you? Many, many times the Spirit has ministered to me and spoken to me when I didn’t hear a voice, it was just something I was hearing inside. But Thursday morning, and I say this again probably causing a little skepticism in some hearts but I must tell you this that He spoke audibly to me on Thursday, He asked me, He visited with me, talking to me about many of these things I can’t even tell you at this moment. Things that are so real and so true. But one of the things that He said was for me to write down these messages. And I wrote down just the exact words that He was giving to me right there. I’m not going to read you the entire message that I wrote but I will give you some that will relate to our communion time. The Holy Spirit said, “Write, and preserve the words that I have spoken to you.

They shall become a light to many. I will not only minister thru you but will accompany these words and give them life wherever sent. Even as I have already given wings to my messages brought to you by the angel of the Lord. God has given them wings and they’re out across the country, “fear not to speak in His name for the words I give are not your words. So I stand here today without fear. He said not to be afraid to say it. “Fear not to speak in His name for the words I give are not your words but His Words and are established forever. Are they not found in His eternal Living Word? And I might digress right here. There has not been one message that has been brought but what it has been, strongly supported and brought to and given complete with the Word of God. Every message has had references, complete references to the truths that He has been making real. Are they not found in His eternal Word? And I had to say yes they are every one of them. Long-closed doors of many peoples and nations will be penetrated by these words of life. He told me that these words would be sent into Communist China. Thru the little crack that has been opened there. I don’t know who’s going to take them, but I do know this, no question, He says it’s going to happen; these messages are going to go into communist China.

Long-closed doors of many peoples and nations will be penetrated by these words of life. I command the hosts of the Lord who have been sent forth for this hour, to hasten the gathering together unto Him a people for His Name and to prepare them for that great day of the Lord. They will both precede and follow these words from the Father to make ready the people and to scatter the forces of darkness. And to gently care for the multitudes who will hear. Praise God. These messages I have referred to them this morning. But the one that I want to emphasize this morning is Jesus as a sacrifice. If you would like to turn in your Bibles to Corinthians 11. Since this is so important to God, then it must be important to us and there's something that God wants to do for and within us, in this communion service. The Apostle Paul had been given the very same message, just complete regarding this communion. 1 Corinthians. 11:23-24. if you have a pencil or pen underline the little phrase this is My Body. There’ an importance to this. 1 Corinthians. 11:25-29. I want you to underline the words not discerning the Lord’s body. This is so important.

This message is so important because it comes from God’s heart. He wants to tell us something that will help us in understanding communion. I have felt down thru the years I have received so much thru communion and I have. And I have emphasized the life of Jesus, which is very real so we can have communion, His life. But God thru the message that He has brought said that there is still a greater truth, a story that has still not been told in connection with communion that will add still greater meaning to people and their hearts and their lives. And Jesus is speaking about in prophecy and in the New Testament in Hebrews 10:5. He’s telling about the work that God have Him to do, that work of becoming a sacrifice for sin and He said, “a body has Thou prepared for Me?” And in Hebrews 10:20-He said that we can enter now into that place of close fellowship thru His flesh. Now Paul in talking about that body that was prepared, he said, “we eat of the body; we come to remember that body today. And we’re in trouble, and we’re selling ourselves short, and have all kinds of problems, if we do not recognize and see that body.

If this body is so important to see what is it that is so important about it? We must go back to the sacrifices of Israel in the tabernacle to see the value of these sacrifices to see what they were. The sacrifice, the entire tabernacle was a picture, miniature, of God’s great big plan or salvation for all time. God gave Moses this plan. And He said, “I want to show you Moses, just how My big plan works, and everything about this plan is a little picture of Jesus, and His sacrifice.” Now He said one of the most important parts, the first thing inside this tabernacle is a brazen altar. And this brazen altar there will be a sacrifice burned. It will be burned to ashes. And those ashes will even be sprinkled on the individual who is going to be accepted of God. I didn’t realize until last night, early this morning, I told my wife about this.

I hated to wake my wife up at five in the morning but she said she was already awake so it wasn’t so bad. But Gabriel knowing, and God placing this message on my heart, came and talked to me about this sacrifice. He gave me some truths to share with you that I have never thought thru there, so beautifully. That tabernacle had to be so exact because it was picturing what Jesus was doing for us. And that sacrifice had to feel the searing heat of judgment by fire. On that sacrifice all the sins of Israel were placed. And then that sacrifice being made sin felt that searing heat. So that when Israel came to be accepted and the ashes were sprinkled along with the blood, so God was saying to Israel, “You have given Me your sins, I am giving back to you now and letting you see the empty shells, the mere cinders, the ashes of something that has lost its power, it’s life, it’s reduced to nothing, because the fire of judgment has been diverted from you to a substitute and your sins were there on the body of that substitute.

And they were destroyed as the judgment of God struck. He reminded me and gave me the reference which something I’m sure your all familiar with, in Hebrews chapter. 9:13-14, where He said, and I have never seen it before in my life, but there it is so clear and so beautiful with the light turned on. He said, “If this kind of a sacrifice, the sprinkling of blood and the ashes of a heifer, in the purifying of a life so that people could say it’s done, it’s done, my sins that were placed there are nothing but ashes.

Sin shall not have dominion over me; it’s lost its sting, its power. And they can go their way, the Spirit is saying thru Paul, if the ashes of a heifer that spelled out and as they discerned the body where their sins were accounted and if that gave them freedom for that whole year, Paul said how much more, how much more, how much more, shall the blood of Christ and His sacrifice, how much more shall it purge completely remove from your mind, and your conscience and your emotions, how much more shall what Jesus did, His body being struck by the righteous judgment of God. He literally tasted hell for us. It was the outpouring of God’s judgment upon Jesus. And He said we can discern and see His body there. How much more will it purge your conscience so that when the enemy would come your way, you can point to the body and say, “Satan take that.” Those sins that you’re trying to haunt me with are nothing but burned out cinders. And the power of sin has been canceled.

Hallelujah. Can you see it folks. If you’re hearing what I am saying I want you to say Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is the reason why God has set aside a time that we can come and look and be reminded again and again that it’s done, the price is paid, it’s done. His wrath has been diverted to Jesus and my sins were judged when He was judged. Glory to God. These important reminders of the sacrifice I want to mention them to you. The pictures that were brought to me from Heaven. Zech. 3:1-5. It speaks of the high priest, whose name was Joshua, Joshua is the Hebrew word or pronunciation of the Greek word Jesus. I just hadn’t seen it when I’d read it before but He made no mention of the difference of the name, he just talked about Jesus going before the Father with those filthy garments, bearing every sin on His body, every sin of this whole world.

I’m going to read just a little bit more of what the Spirit of the Lord told me to write, with regard to sacrifice. “Because of the accusations of Satan and the daily reminders of sin, failure, and human weakness, you may forget what God has done. You must be reminded; you must remember. God in His wisdom has provided a time and a way for this to be accomplished. This is the purpose of His communion service. A time to remember what Jesus has done. Here He asks us to look upon His body to see your sin and the sins of the world placed upon Him by God, every lie; every sin against yourself, or others; murder, all adultery, all immorality, all dishonesty, all cheating, all rebellion and idolatry; all enmity thru witchcraft and Satanism.

Yes, everything with which you can be charged is laid on Him. He has become sin for you, bearing in His body the concentrated dregs of the rottenness of billions of people. He points to His body as you hold in that symbolic, in that broken body, He points to His body, to your sin, and tells you that your sin has already been judged, you are free. As you behold Him smitten of God with the searing stroke of His judgment, you see there the canceled sin of the world. Jesus felt the fire of God’s wrath so it wouldn’t fall on us. With this reminder of your peace with Him, you can speed the message to the world. You can come, you have been accepted. God’s wrath has been turned away.

Then He asks us to look at Jesus the High Priest, carrying His blood entering the very tabernacle of God in the heavens where the records of sin is kept, not only the act of sin in our lives, but the records of sin; the disobedience, the breaking of His laws and His covenant. And we see the High Priest. He said, “see Him as He splashes His blood on the book of broken laws, upon the altar of the broken commandments, thus as a thick cloud blotting out forever the records of anything in heaven that’s written in heaven that you could be charged with. Not only the act of sin as the evil of sin in this earth and in your life, but the records of it. And He said, “As we see Him doing that, we see Him bringing to us a new covenant. We read about it in these verses, let me read to you in 1 Corinthians. 11. it’s the New Testament, the blood of the New Testament. And He points to this New Testament in Hebrews 10:16-17. And that testament, that new agreement, that He is holding out to you.

I’m going to read it for you right now and these words, those verses that I’m giving to you I did not put together. I did not look up; they came by the voice of the Spirit, for us today. Listen to it. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after these days says the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Hallelujah. He’s turned sin into cinders. He’s blotted out the records and given us a brand new covenant. You know why He did that, it’s because He wants us. We’re worth so much to God. He’s not looking for reasons to destroy us but to save us. God has so much invested in us. He tells us now as we see Him, the spotless Lamb of God prepared from the foundation of the world. We see Him now as the sin bearer, coming before God with filthy garments.

See Him there stricken of God. See Him now as the High Priest sprinkling the blood in heaven, sprinkling the blood of the covenant that is now fulfilled over all of man’s possible failures, covered by blood that speaks to God, and says, “It’s done.” Hallelujah. See Him totally remove the need for pardon by removing the remembrance of sin. In Israel there was a remembrance of sin made year after year after year, and man was pardoned but sin was remembered. But in the New Testament, and my heart was so stirred when Gabriel spoke in such commanding tones to me and said that when Jesus came the need for pardon was removed because pardon before God is remembrance, reminds Him of the sin of what He had to forgive us for. But when Jesus came, He removed the records completely. He removed the stain and the guilt, and His blood speaks and says justified, restored to a place of total innocence, because of Christ.

The place that was occupied before sin ever entered the world. The word justification means, “just exactly as though it had never happened.” Oh, talk about the blessedness of knowing God sees us as though it had never happened. Hallelujah. Then he made this statement, and this really spoke to me, he said for this reason the message of pardon is not recorded in the New Testament. I didn’t know that. I thought I had preached on it a lot from the New Testament but He said it is not there. The message is not there, and when he left that day 2 weeks ago, I took my concordance; I looked for any English word connected to it. I looked for any of the original words, and I shouldn't say I was surprised because I know God knows what He is doing, but I was a little bit happily surprised. He was right. Do you know the word pardon is not found in the New Testament? In either of the Greek or English translations it is not there. It has turned to justification, complete restoration. Hallelujah.

Because of the blood God sees you as though it had never happened. So when you take that broken bread in your hand I want you to visualize there those things that have been haunting you, those things that the enemy has been holding up before you and saying that these things are going to meet you in the judgment. I want you to be able to say, there they are. I want you to see the hideousness, this broken body is not a beautiful thing, it’s a horrible thing. With every sin, with the uncleanness that you can think of and the evilest life that you could possibly imagine. Multiply it a billion times, see the rottenness and the stench but then thank God He bore the judgment, and your sins that were there are nothing but empty ashes. So he said let the Lord sprinkle your life with this truth and it will pull form your conscience, from your minds, those things that would trouble you, and you can be free.

You don’t have to worry about those dead works trying to do it. To lift you up, it will purge your conscience from all of the feeling of these dead works that you’re trying to somehow lift yourself up so you can please God and the enemy wants you to keep your mind on it, but God says turn and look, turn and look what I have done. Praise God. Let’s tell Him thanks anyway you want for what He’s done. Jesus we thank you for bearing our guilt and our shame, praise God. I would like to say that this is not for believers, it’s for people who need release and deliverance from the bondage of anything the enemy would bring. When you take that blood, that emblem of that blood, you’re telling the Lord, my faith is in this blood, what He’s done.

I thank you for blotting out as a thick cloud, all of my transgression and you could look up into His face right now with nothing between your soul and your Savior. You can look up in His face with the same innocence of this little girl, that I dedicated and held up to the Lord this morning; your heart is clean and as spotless as that new born child. Hallelujah! I feel that if this is so important to God that God would by a divine messenger bring it to me then it has to be important to us. The Spirit said I will give this message wings. As we take the energies that we have spent struggling with these things, and start turning those energies to letting our lives be that channel for His life to flow thru. We’ll be strong. We won’t have to start fighting things that are already dead in God.

Chapter 2 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, He Tasted Death

I would like to bring a few thoughts on communion from God’s view point. 1 Corinthians 11:24-26. This message comes from the heart of God. I hope you will be able to see the importance of Jesus’ sacrifice. This communion time is important because it’s when we take out our contract that God made with us, and look at it. We recognize something very special that took place. What was referred here by the words the Lord’s death? Was it merely the snuffing out of His life, the putting to death His human mortality?

Thousands of people have suffered physical death, and thousands of people have suffered physical torment like Jesus. His death that He refers to here was not just the stopping of his heart, or the stopping of His breath, we know that death hurts because of separation from family. But His was not only a separation from things held dear. Even the ungodly people are cared for by God. His arms are stretched out to people when they’re still in their sins. The Word tells us, “If when we were His enemies we were reconciled we were brought to Him.” He loved us enough to send Christ to die for us before we knew Him. God’s eye is upon everyone here, whether you know God or not.

The way of the ungodly is a rough way. There are those hurts within. There is still a ray of hope within. Gabriel brought this truth to me so forcibly. Jesus’ death in which He took our place was not just a physical death. There is another kind of a death that faces mankind. That brings fear, dread and torment to him all of his life. And that’s that fear of facing God and hearing those words depart from Me into eternal damnation. This is the second death, that day of doom and damnation that faces mankind. When Jesus came the hurts and the pains that caused the anguish was not the fear of an earthly human death because all mankind faces that kind of a death and Jesus did not spare us from physical death.

But when Jesus came to die those words were given in the garden, “the soul in the day you eat of this fruit will die.” The Word tells us that the soul that sins it shall die. When Jesus hung there on the cross it wasn’t the anguish of the physical torment, though He suffered and felt everything we can possibly feel and it wasn’t the separation from people He held dear although He felt it as keenly just as anyone. But Jesus suffered pains that the ungodly, totally separated from God on this earth have never felt, for the ungodly have never felt the pains that comes when the last little flicker of hope is extinguished and they hear the words, “depart from Me into eternal damnation.” They never felt the hopelessness, the horror of the cold side of God as He turns His back on them. Jesus suffered the torment of a damned soul. He cried out, “Oh God, why have You forsaken Me?” And the cold pains of eternal damnation, those icy fingers gripped His life. Jesus suffered the judgment of God for everybody. God let us see your love for us thru this truth that you sent your only Beloved Son to become the substitute for us! Jesus literally became our substitute; it was us that were to feel the sting of separation from God. Jesus came so that He can taste death for every man.

Not physical death. He came so that He could taste that total separation from God, that eternal sinking of the sun into an eternal darkness. Jesus felt the eternal damnation in His body, but because of the power of that blood, and the power of a sinless life. In Acts, Peter said Jesus partook of this death, but it was not possible that He could be held in the band of this death. I saw Jesus coming before the throne of God, laden, full of all the sins of the world. God told Gabriel to remove those dirty garments where they would never be found. Isaiah 53:4-6. He was brought as an offering for sin. Jesus’ soul travailed for you. From the agonies of a damned soul many people are coming in a right standing relationship with God.

You can now be a member of a heavenly race, looking holy and without blame before God because of the blood of Jesus covering you. God has made available to you a great covering for everyone who wants to know and follow God. There is a day coming when many people who refuse to identify with Jesus, not realizing that He already tasted death for them, and He has already become their substitute in judgment, there is a day coming when men and women will hear those same words, and on that day they will feel the agonies that Jesus already experienced, but they don’t have too!! God is working; He has the hosts of heaven working overtime to spare people the awfulness of that day. If you’re not sure your sins are all covered and you want to receive eternal life by faith thru God’s grace, just say audibly or from your heart right now, “Dear God, thank you for tasting death for me. Thank you for destroying the root of sin that has been held against me, for removing the records of sin!” You don’t have to pay the penalty of your sin; you don’t have to face the second death. See Jesus smitten of God; now look at Him complete in power. Rev. 5:6. I believe that because of what Jesus has done, the bands of sin, disease, depression, habit, any other type of a band is going to be broken as you look unto Him. Look to Jesus; believe Him to set you free. As you remember Jesus' death, as you put your faith in what He has done, you identify yourself with what He has done and become a partaker of His life, and then the life of Jesus is seen in our mortal bodies. God hurt when Jesus was hurting because it was His own Son.

Chapter 3 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Pillars of Eternity

This morning, we’re going to look into the Word of God. The Lord has made real to me and I feel is making real to the world the things that are critical, that are important to Him. There are so many things folks that we can spend our time on that may not be important. There are so many things that we can study that may have little bearing on our real spiritual life. But there are some things that we had better not be without. And if we can some way determine those things that God has considered important, and zero in on recognizing not only that they are important but why they are important, it could mean a lot to us. I’ve called this Mountain Peaks of Truth. In preparing it, talking with a man yesterday, he said it could well be called pillars of eternity. I even liked that better than what I put down there. These truths of God are so big that they are what hold eternity up.

There are seven of them that God gave me. Last week we had an introductory message showing the value of man, what God thinks of each one of us, each individual being worth more than the whole wide world. And everything that God has placed as a top priority has to do in some way with helping us as individuals. So I summed it up this way. We are God’s business, His highest business. How do you like that? We’re God’s business. My wife and I were reading a letter that came yesterday from some place that had read the book (Angels on Assignment), but felt that it was so in conflict with their limited understanding that this lady said, “I just can’t conceive of anyone as important as God ever saying thanks to little tiny me.” She said, “instead I feel that when I stand before God He’s going to come down on me for my sins of omission and my sins of commission and all the other sins that I haven’t asked God to forgive me for.” I’m going to write this lady a letter and give her some news that she’d better ask the Lord for forgiveness if she expects to stand before God, and then knowing that she had done this, Jesus takes care of all that we can’t do. Did you know that this truth is so foreign to so many people that they have a difficult time that God really cares for them? Christianity as a whole has been conditioned to feel that God is out to get them.

This is a fact. He’s looking for some reason because He wants to get even with me for being so mean. God doesn’t want to get even with you. Why it would be like me looking down at a little tiny ant, and saying, “ant I’m going to get even with you.” Did you know that’s just the way people feel toward God? God looks at you, not as though you’re a little fly down there, but God looks at you and says, “Here is my treasure.” Oh, hallelujah. I just love those verses in Malachi the fourth chapter where he says that those who love the Lord spoke oft one to another and God caring for those people and loves them so much, He said, “they shall be mine says the Lord in that day when I gather my jewels together.” Praise God. God loves us. We are God’s highest business.

Praise God. I think of man’s search for truth, man’s search for God and the feeling that so many people have. God doesn’t care, He really isn’t interested and the feeling that people have in the church world today, they look at other people. I’ve had ministers come to me, I’ve had gospel workers come, and say, “I ‘m going to quit in my service for God, people just don’t care.” But people do care. And God cares. God has awakened something in this world today and has created a hunger for God. People are searching in other places but there’s that void that’s within them. And there is a tremendous hunger, a hunger for somebody that can literally tell them, “Here He is, He loves you, and He cares for you.” They’ve heard so many things, seen so many unreal things presented to them.

They have seen so many people that have promised an elephant and have produced a mouse. And they’re leery of that but their hungry for God. I had a couple in my office that accepted the Lord yesterday morning and they made this statement. They said, “We really want God.” We really want God; we got turned away from God because it seemed that what people were presenting as God wasn’t anything at all. Wasn’t anything for my life, but we want God. Is that the way you feel? You want God. The world wants God. I’m seeing it happen. On Wednesday afternoon I was to speak in the largest active protestant congregation in the United States.

The people themselves were planning on coming because service started at 7:30 and they were planning on coming. They told me this. They wanted to get there probably around 6:30 or 7 so we could get a good seat, but what they didn’t know was that people were so hungry to hear what God is saying. They heard that God was making contact, letting the world know what He desires of them. That building started to fill up at 3:30 in the afternoon for a 7:30 service. So all of those members that came in looking for seats at 6:30, an hour beforehand, I happened to come in the building, I could hardly get in, big long hallways packed with humanity. If you would have fainted you would never have fallen down. And I had a hard time getting thru. There was a dining room bigger than the two bays of seats here that was totally filled, close circuit television for that. There were people everywhere.

And I couldn’t help but say “God, what you are doing is creating a hunger in the hearts of men and women, by sending forth those reinforcements from heaven, those hosts from heaven to draw people to yourself.” Hallelujah. God is creating a hunger. People are asking the question “Is He really there? How can I know Him, how can I find Him? Where is He? What is He like? What does He require of me? How can I please Him? Where do we fit into His plan?” Ah, listen things are happening but the cry is again and I‘ve heard it over and over and over. We hear so many things from different pulpits, we hear radio programs constantly, one says this is important and another this and it seems like Christianity is going 100 different directions but God said Himself, “It’s time the world knows those things that are important to Me.” And He has let us know about them. In the book Angels on Assignment I have one chapter on God’s priorities. And in that chapter I have lumped what He said on those seven pillars of eternity. But in one chapter and one message it would be impossible to enlarge or to give the picture on what God wants. It’s only just reference to it.

Even in one message it would be impossible to give fully the thing that’s important to God on just one of these points. But this morning we’re going to take as much as we can of the first priority that God has, the first in order, all of them are important, but the first in order and that is the death of Jesus Christ. And the purpose of His death, the shedding of His blood was to appease His wrath and to take our place in judgment. I’ve read things, I’ve heard things, there's a man in Texas, I told my Sunday School class this morning, he’s talking about a man that is the most wicked person in the world. A man that is as mean as the devil. And definitely has horns on the top of his head. He’s a man that you have to hate at first sound. When that man was described to me I thought what a horrible person he is, and then when I heard the man’s name, well it sounded like mine. And I thought I better look in the mirror and see whether something was growing or not. It was me all right.

There are people who are examining the mechanisms but they are failing to find God. And while I was being told about these things by people who had listened daily, it’s a daily television program, listen to the harangue about me; I didn’t realize I got in the news that much. And I could almost see a person examining a telescope. God has given us a beautiful telescope with which we can look up and see God and understand what He’s like, but the religious world has decided that telescopes are real important, so they have gone into the telescope producing business. Not to look thru but to see who can make the shiniest, brightest telescope with the most gadgets on it. And what I could visualize were people looking at the parts the screws and the telescope, padding it, rubbing it and putting some polish on it and oh this is the most wonderful telescope. Look this telescope has all these fancy features, the very latest. And every once in awhile someone would come out with a new gadget, a new feature and say “hey look at mine,” and I could visualize all these different denominations, each with a telescope, each with a little peculiar gadget of their own that makes them just enough different. Maybe there would be a blue screw instead of a white screw, just to make the difference so they wouldn’t all be the same. It would give them a reason for being, all of them to brag about their telescope, cap is over the end to keep the lens from being scratched, no focus of any kind.

This Bible is the telescope. But people are doing everything in the world with this Bible except putting it up to their eye and using it for the highest purpose that God has given us the telescope for, to see what God is like, to reveal God. Oh, I’ll tell you, I had a good chance to share this message with some people. I told them, quit polishing that telescope. Give it to your eye. Look and see what God is really like. What He desires, what His priorities really are, and see what He wants. And just this morning, I’m going to be able to put this particular priority. Because of the fact that you already have such a strong foundation of basis in this faith in God. I wanted you to see how precious and dear this is to the heart of God.

We read in Gen. 3:21 where God in order to bring His substitute for death to Adam and Eve when they sinned, God took some animals and He killed them and He covered them with the animal skins. The animals became a substitute. And then God let them see His plan, that death was important to Him. That blood was important to Him. It was so important to God that He kept reminding Israel about it. In Gen. 22:17 I think of the trip that Abraham made up to Mt. Mariah and he took his little son Isaac along, and Isaac said, “Dad we’re going up there to make a sacrifice, here’s the wood, and here’s the coals but where’s the sacrifice. Abraham said, “God will provide the sacrifice.

God, it was so close to His heart, that He said, “Abraham I want you to feel just a little bit the way I feel in my care for the world. I want you to take your son, your only son. I want you to feel with me, and what is happening in my love for the world. I want you to offer your son there on an altar there, so he took his son and he tied him on the altar and he raised the knife in his hand, with his heart bleeding and broken feeling the anguish, this son promised by God himself and now being removed and slain by God’s command. But he said I have to obey God. But he did tell Isaac something, God will provide the sacrifice. And just at the last second God said stop, and Abraham looked and there was an animal caught in the thicket. And that was used for the sacrifice. But what I’m telling you here is that it was on God’s heart, it was a priority to God that mankind be spared and a substitute be used in its place. Can you follow this? It was God’s plan you see.

I think of the message in Lev. 16:6-16, we’re not going to read it right now but, when God gave to Moses the tabernacle in the wilderness and He said, “Moses I want you to build it exactly, I want these sacrifices to be exact because they speak of what I am doing.” God was picturing the death of Jesus. Now the death of Jesus and its purpose so covers every base, every need that man will ever have that is so great that one example will not cover. So God had to picture this in many ways. He had to picture it as Jesus being the Lamb being crucified as it was being killed. He had to picture it as the High Priest carrying the sins of the whole world. He had to picture it as Jesus being incense that was offered to provide the cloud. He had to picture it as Jesus the High Priest taking the blood and offering, sprinkling the blood before God as a sacrifice. Over and over again God made reference to this sacrifice.

One of the things that clinches if there’s any doubt in your mind at all as to whether these messages that God has given me have come from Him or not, there are still people, I had a man yesterday that questioned this, is it really from God? Could it not be from Satan? I had to let him know that Satan hates the sacrifice of Jesus. He cannot stand it, he would never promote it. But every message that God has brought to me thru this angel from heaven has pointed to the sacrifice. And the sacrifice is the nearest thing there is in the universe to God’s heart. It’s top priority with God. It had to happen for us, for our salvation. Oh, Hallelujah. I still tremble when I recall that night when God let me see Jesus, and if you would like to turn to these portions of Scripture it’s all right. But in Zech. chapter 3 when He speaks of a priest named Joshua, well Joshua is the name Jesus only this is in Hebrew and Jesus is the Greek word for the same name you see, so when you read this, Jesus came before God with filthy garments on Him.

And God said, “Now you can remove those garments, put on Him the royal priestly garments, and He can walk among His people now representing them.” Then He spoke of Jesus going down into the grave, into Hades, hell, Oh God. In Hebrews Chapter two verse nine “He tasted death for every one of us.” Jesus Himself tasted death. Now some of you will see the importance of this. Though Jesus died for us, and His blood was shed for us and His physical life was given for us, He wasn’t taking our place in physical death, He was shedding His blood in physical death, He was doing it for us, but you know the thing that He really did for us where He took our place, the Word tells us that He tasted death for every man. Death is that eternal separation from God; it’s called the second death in the Bible. It’s that judgment day where men have to stand before God and hear the sentence of doom; it’s that day of finality that will never have an end. There will be no turning back; it will be that nightmare that you could never wake up from. That is that day, the judgment day, that day of doom for all of mankind.

I know that everyone here knows at least a little bit about that day. How many of you here have thought about it here, that day of separation and doom? Can I see your hands? You know what I’m talking about here. And there are still fears that come into people’s hearts, even when they’ve given their heart to the Lord, because they haven’t realized what Jesus did for them. But when He gave Himself freely, He did not die for every man, for every man on that tree. He did not take every man’s place in physical death, if He did, it wasn’t successful. Because we’re having to say good bye to our relatives and friends all the time. He did not take your place in physical death. You know that, you can see that but the Word tells us that He died; He became a substitute for every man. What’s it talking about? It’s talking about that day that is coming when you have an appointment with a second death. The sentence of death was upon you.

But Jesus said, “Father I will take their place in that second death.” And so the Word tells us that on Him the sins of the whole world were laid on Him, and He became sin. I want you to picture the torments of hell. I want you to picture the blackness and darkness of an eternity without God. But then He said your debts have been paid. You’re free. Oh Hallelujah. Many people, when they hear this beautiful message, this beautiful story, they remind me of that great Russian bear that was in a cage that was just nine steps from one side to the other. And that bear a couple years ago was released. And that bear for so long walked back and forth nine steps one way, nine steps back, nine steps one way, nine steps back.

He was conditioned to captivity, a slave in bondage. But there was a petition as that bear got older. They said, “Let’s let him have his last years in freedom.” And they took the bear out in the hills and the woods, they let him out, and the bear got out of the cage that they took him out there with and he looked around and he started walking and they thought, “He’s free. It must be wonderful for him to be free,” and he walked nine steps and he started back again. There were no bars. He was a captive by bars in his mind. There was no way to tell this bear that he was free. But men and women today have had the bars torn down and the Holy Spirit is saying, “You can step out in a free world,” but somehow their minds have been so conditioned to fear. They’re afraid to listen to the voice of the Spirit.

They’re out there in the broad open expanses. Many, many believers are in the expanses of God’s grace, but they’re saying I just can’t believe I could be this free. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. And they take nine steps one way and nine steps the other, like this letter that I told you about that we read, “I can’t believe that God would ever say thanks to me,” because of condition for fear, facing that judgment. But Jesus took our place. The death of Jesus is a great pillar that holds up eternity. Hallelujah. God planed it that way. And it’s going to be the important, still a great priority, one of those mountain peaks when you get over there in eternity.

It’s going to still be there. It will never, never, never lose its importance. Jesus died for me. He took my place. Praise God. God is saying take the Bible, use it as a telescope, and see what I’m like. I love you, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes will accept Him, should not perish, because Jesus took your place. Hallelujah. Do you believe that? Oh Hallelujah. I just wanted you to see today the importance of the death of Jesus.

And there are so many different aspects. And people have wondered in what sequence it happened. It doesn’t have to happen in sequence. In God’s great plan it was like one explosion that took place with the many facets moving out, because in eternity it’s neither long nor short, it took place. Jesus became the cloud covering for us, and today we can look up into His face regardless of problems you had this morning. Your faith in His performance is the only way God can accept you. So He’s looking down at you this morning and saying, “there is a person who looks just like Jesus,” because you’re all wrapped up in Him. Oh hallelujah. Doesn’t that make you love Him? That’s part of His death. Then we see Him as the great, great high priest who went into the heavens.

We read it over in Hebrews the ninth chapter and verse 19 and 20, where He went and He sprinkled those things pertaining to God with His own blood. First He sprinkled the mercy seat, and the mercy seat covered the box called the ark, and inside the ark were all of the broken commandments of man, but it was sprinkled, and so God looked down where your broken laws were, your iniquities and sins and He sees the blood of Jesus there. And then that sacrifice was so complete, it took two animals, one to die and one to carry the sins away. God covers your life so that He cannot see your sin, then He executes a plan for taking them all away. That’s what Jesus did for you. When he suffered that second death, the judgment of Almighty God, He carried your sins with Him there. And you read it in Lev. 16, about these two animals. Every sin was pronounced over the head of this live goat. The live goat was taken out into the wilderness to never return again, to wander until he perished.

Jesus Himself. As I said, it’s so complete; it took more than one way to show what He has done. So God in His desire not only to cover up your sins has a plan of taking them all away. Praise God. Doesn’t that make you love Him? This is God’s great priority. And what this means to us, it means that because Jesus did His job when you put your faith in Him, He pronounces you not guilty or you are innocent. Do you know that people have made the mistake in feeling that God has said He is able to justify the godly, and make the godly innocent. Read it in Romans 4:5. I read it wrong for many years. It doesn’t say that, doesn’t say He’s able to justify the godly.

The word justify means to make innocent you see. He said He is able to justify the ungodly, to make the ungodly innocent. Doesn’t that give you a little bit of hope? Or is everybody here the godly kind? Ah, I tell you it’s a good thing He justifies the ungodly, or we’d all be in trouble. Then I read over in Hebrews 8:12, these verses incidentally came to me right from God’s heart by this angel. In Hebrews 8:12 where He says, “He is now merciful to our righteousness, that’s what we’ve taught. No, He’s merciful to our unrighteousness. Hallelujah. That ought to make you happy. Praise God. Praise God.

He’s merciful when you don’t deserve mercy. Praise God. God in His great love planned it this way. It isn’t an accident. He planned it this way. He wanted to remove all of the barriers that were in your way so He could accept you. Praise God. This is why this is a pillar of eternity. He wants you to know that you are innocent, that His wrath is turned away. Praise God.

Rom. 3:21-28, I’d like for you to write down the references and just read it when you get home. It’s one of the most beautiful portions that there is. Where He speaks about this justification, how complete it is. And God can still be just and do it because He put the penalty on someone else. And then it speaks 1 John 1:9 that because of what Jesus has done and His death, we can have a daily cleansing just like your heart is beating and the blood is going thru your body and it’s cleansing your body every day. The blood of Jesus Christ as long as God’s big heart is beating for you, its coursing and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin. There are some people trying to find reasons why this doesn’t apply to them. But if your faith is in what Jesus has done it applies to you. Do you know what they’re saying? They’re saying, “Well that speaks of people that are walking in the light, and to walk in the light, that light means knowledge, you have to walk in every bit of knowledge.

God literally spoke to me on that. He said “do you walk in every bit of light that you have?” If it was Mike that was asking me this I’d say sure. But when God asks you that, “you got to say well I don’t believe I do.” And He literally asked me, “How do you expect to be cleansed, if you’re not walking in the Light, every bit of knowledge?” He said, “If this were the case you would be earning your salvation. But you can’t earn it. And so He said, “Do you want to know what this light I’m talking about? It’s not knowledge, it’s Me. And He pointed me to verse five in 1 John 1:5. This then is the message, God’s message to us. That God is light, He’s light. He is light.

“This is the message that we’ve heard, God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” Then if we walk in that light, that light of His fellowship by putting our faith in Him, our faith in what He has done, that opens up a beam of light. The Word tells us that Jesus Himself was Light. In Him was Light and that light was the life of man. It comes, it lights us. He tells us that it’s available for every man that comes in the world. And it’s sufficient to save everybody. In 1 John 2:2 He said, “It’s sufficient not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole wide world.” You see when God did this; it’s a priority because it covers the needs of all. Then this is important, Heb.7:27.

“He is able to save to the uttermost all that comes unto God by Him, thru Him, in His name, regardless of where they are or what they’ve done. They all look the same, like Jesus. Only way we can be accepted. And I think of the confidence we can have in Rom. 5:8, “if when we were His enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more now that we’re His can we have this life thru Him. “Praise God, Praise God. Then I think of the beautiful fellowship we can have daily, where our High Priest is asking us to come and we read it in Heb. 4:14-16 where He said that we can come boldly now before the throne of grace. Hallelujah. Find grace to help in the time of need.

You know what He’s telling us today. This is top priority with God. This is priority. Now the things that we’ve been holding up were, “How good have I been?” We’ve been criticizing people if they haven’t been able to be what we think they ought to be, when God is all the while saying, “there’s no way you can climb that ladder and make yourself look good.” You must come on the basis of what Jesus has done, and then you can have that fellowship with God. We’re going to stand in the presence of God. God is here.

Don’t you love the fact that God cared enough about us where we could have that telescope and see those things that were important to Him? I’m going to ask that no one else leaves for just a moment. I want you to lift both hands before Him, lift your hands in His presence. I want you in your own way to thank God for caring for you. Thank Him all over the building. Let Him hear your voice. “God we thank you, thank you for caring for us. Oh how we love you, how we adore you. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Thank you Jesus for taking our place in the judgment of God. Oh we love you for this. Praise God, praise God.” From our hearts lets sing “Oh, how I love Jesus.”

Chapter 4 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #1

Lesson number one is the message on blood. And really we couldn’t have found a more appropriate lesson for a Good Friday service; the day Jesus died then the message in blood the story of His sacrifice. I had some other thoughts in regard to this day and the lesson that I was going to produce. Last night I was thinking of giving you a lesson of the personalities around the cross, faces around the cross. The different individuals that were mentioned and some of the things that happened in their lives some real wonderful truths along that line. I thought of some other things that portrayed the shadow of the cross and the power of the cross, but when I came over this morning it just seemed like God redirected my thinking into something that I have wanted to do for a long time, and that is to begin a series on the blood of Jesus. I have written out on the backs of some scraps of paper a revelation that God gave me years ago on the power of the blood. So for this week and the next 7 Friday’s I’m going to be giving you truths that came not by any type of research but they came right direct from God’s heart to me. I wanted to give a little setting included with this lesson. One Saturday night I had gone to sleep before 12 and God began speaking to my heart, I thought I was asleep, maybe it was a dream but it seemed as though I was awake and listening to Him and even conversing with Him.

He spoke to my heart so definitely and asked me “How important the blood of Jesus is to me?” It seemed like the eyes of God were right in my heart and I have preached on the blood and it took normal importance to me, but this question just seemed to be one of a penetrating sort right into my heart. And I told the Lord I know it’s important and I have preached on it occasionally. But it didn’t really satisfy God. Then He asked me, He said, “If the blood is important to you, let me ask you some questions about this so I can get your feeling on the blood,” but of course He knew all the time anyway. But He asked me a question. “What do you consider to be or how great do you consider the power of the blood of Jesus to be. What is the power of the blood, how great is it?” “Well,” I said the power is the greatest, that blood washes away sin, it covers sin, and I started saying a few things. Then the Lord said, “Let Me show you a few things of how important the blood is to Me. He let me see the worth of the blood. And He practically worded it in simple ways.

He said the worth of the blood would be determined by the value of the life that that blood flows thru. The value of a chicken’s blood would be of very little value because it flows thru the life of a chicken. The blood of a human being is very, very valuable because it represents, it has the value of the life or the person that it occupies. If it’s the president of the United States the value of that blood would be considered a tremendous loss when it was spilled. Then God pointed out, the value of the blood of Jesus is determined by who it flowed thru. And then He said that when you think of the value of the blood, when you think of the power of that blood, think of the power and the value of that life. That in Him dwelt all of the fullness of God. You can’t go higher than that. That blood then becomes the most valuable ingredient in the whole world because of who it flowed thru. So God emphasized that night when I spoke of the blood to remember that the power of that blood represented all of the power of the universe because the whole Godhead was represented in that blood.

Whether you want to say God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit, the fullness dwelt in Him so the blood of Jesus that flowed represented the authority and the power of all that there is. And when you think of God taking that blood and giving it to you He’s giving you the most valuable thing in the whole universe. And if a person can get excited in their sleep, I was excited when God told me how powerful it was. I had it visualized that it’s power was only in the fact that it was something He used to wash away my sins, but I didn’t realize how or where it got the ability to wash away my sins and take care of those things. For that entire night God dealt with me and He took me from Genesis to Revelation, asking me questions, giving me Scriptures, two hundred scriptures I had never searched out. And He burned them into my mind. And oh what beautiful truths they were, and I preached on them for months. It seems like I couldn’t get away from them. So I wrote out all of these 200 references and do you know that every one of them was just exactly the way God gave them to me. Many great truths stand out as beacon lights in God’s revelation of Himself to man.

We see His love, His knowledge, His power; we see His foreknowledge, His grace. But no truth occupies the place of importance in God’s heart as does the blood of Jesus. In this study we will follow a crimson trail thru the Bible and discover the unique place given the blood from the beginning to the end of God’s revelation to Himself to man. Now we have four different sections here as God revealed it to me. Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice then Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous God testifying of his gifts and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” Abel offered a sacrifice that God had ordained a sacrifice of blood. We learned from this lesson that from the very beginning there can be no approach to God, no fellowship with Him even by faith, no enjoyment of His favor apart from blood. There are people who like to say that their faith takes the place of blood. Your faith can take the place of your own righteousness and good works and these other things and the Bible tells us this and faith replaces that but faith can never take the place of blood.

Now God has given us His truth and His grace. And His grace makes a way for us but both truth and grace cannot be brought to us only by blood. Blood is the one ingredient that follows thru on God’s demands, His conditional promises and also His grace. So we have nothing to offer, to earn anything from God, still what God makes real to us even His free gifts come to us by the blood of Jesus. Then at Mount Ariat when a new beginning started, when judgment had fallen in a flood, that new beginning in order to start with fellowship began with blood. Just like that dispensation when they were banished from the Garden of Eden it started with blood. In Gen. the 9th chapter, the first thing that Noah did was sacrifice. And Noah took every clean beast and offered it a burnt offering on the altar and the Lord said it smells good. And He accepted him see, it was favorable to Him and God gave a covenant then because of a sacrifice that was given.

Now at Mount Mariah we see that trail of blood again on these mountain peaks of the Old Testament where Isaac’s life was spared a nation was formed. But the Word tells us not without blood and you read this over in Hebrews the 11th chapter about verse 23. Then in Egypt when the children of Israel went down into the land of Egypt and a new day another new beginning was about to happen as the children of Egypt were going to be evacuated out of the land of Egypt. Three million people were delivered by blood. God spoke to Moses and (Ex. 12:13) said, “The blood shall be to you as a token upon the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you.” So blood became another significant thing in the beginning of a whole new day. So every new life, when a person comes to the Lord and new life begins for them, it comes because of the blood. Great fear has come into many people’s hearts because of a misunderstanding of communion thinking that they’ll take it the wrong way and drink the cup of damnation. But Jesus Himself told a bunch of people many who didn’t even know God at all and He said, “If you don’t eat of this you aren’t going to have any life in you if you don’t eat of Me and drink of Me.

And when He spoke of eating and drinking unworthily He wasn’t speaking about eating and drinking unworthily by just in partaking of that, He said, “you’re doing it unworthily when you’re putting your faith in anything else outside of this blood,” when you’re saying it’s because I’m so good, now I’ve examined myself I haven’t done anything bad here and if I had done something bad here I have asked the Lord to forgive it and I guess everything’s clear it looks like I’m not as other people I can partake but I sure hope sister so and so doesn’t take because she’s got some things that maybe the Lord doesn’t know about there she better not partake. This feeling of spiritual achievement that people have had down the years that people have told them that it’s by their own efforts by it’s what you have done and making yourself ready to have communion. That has denied God’s blessing and God’s smile for hundreds of people down thru the years. And I’m so glad and thankful that God let this truth as one of the truths that surfaced that the blood of Jesus Christ is more available or at least more needed to the one that doesn’t know Jesus then the one that does. So that’s the reason why I tell people if you will put your faith in what Jesus has done and take the cup and by that act of taking that cup you are saying something to God that you haven’t been able to say in any other way. God I’m putting my faith in what this cup symbolizes the blood of Jesus. This is your source of life. Turn over to second Chronicles chapter 30. God burned these verses on my mind during a communion service in my office one day. God let these people know that He’s a lot more concerned about people then He is procedure.

And He said these people are coming, that’s the reason I had this procedure to get them here, and here they’re coming without it. And I’ll take them. Verse 17, there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified, therefore the Levites that had charge of the killing of the Passover that were not cleansed to sanctify them unto the Lord, for the multitude of the people had not cleansed themselves, yet they did eat of the Passover. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, “The Good Lord pardon everyone that prepares his heart to seek God even though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary, he’s prepared his heart even though he hasn’t prepared some other things.” And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and He healed the people. And He gave them such a revival, there was tremendous gladness. They even defied the tradition; instead of 7 days of feasting they said we can’t stop this revival. We got to go another week, they said the gladness increased, the joy increased, because God had hearkened and He had forgiven the people even bypassing what looked like His own regulations in doing it. This lets us know that the glory of God that is coming today to the world is full of grace and truth. The truth says, “This is how it is and reveals to man God’s way and reveals to man God’s condition.

But so few can actually meet God’s way and His condition God says they got to have help in other ways so the glory cloud has another segment in it and that is grace, it’s a free gift that comes. God says this tells you how a situation is but my grace shows you the way out. So wherever you see God moving by His Spirit people are finding God, not on the basis of their works, not the basis of their goodness, but on the basis that God’s grace is sufficient. Hallelujah. The second most important truth to me is the grace of God, blood on top then grace. Praise God. When God’s covenant came, His agreement, He said it would only be effective thru blood. God said “Take the blood and sprinkle the altar” which signified God’s connection with them, sprinkle God’s side. Now He said, “Take half of it, half of it is for God’s side. Now take the other half and sprinkle the people and God said this blood is the one thing that mankind and God have in common.

They divided; half of the blood was to take care of the wrath of God. His wrath is turned away from us. At the cross this happened, the wrath of God smoked Jesus; the wrath of God was turned away from us onto Jesus. God said we have one mutual interest, when you say, “God I’m putting my faith in the blood, you’re putting your faith in something that I have confidence in, you become partners with me, you become part owners with me in covenant. The death of Jesus Christ was not only for man it was for God. There was wrath in God’s heart toward man and that wrath had to be appeased because God was displeased and so the blood of Jesus Christ turned away the wrath of God on that side. So that’s why God allowed for this beautiful picture, this beautiful symbol. Sprinkle half of it God’s way and half of it man’s way so that we will have a common meeting ground. And so at the cross Jesus reached up into heaven with one hand and He reached down into the earth with another that is the joining link right there, the blood is the joining link between God and man. We see in worship, even the golden throne of God, the altar the mercy seat in the holy place had to be sprinkled with blood.

Not without blood could anyone approach the mercy seat. The mercy seat underneath that golden lid there was a box called the ark of the covenant and inside of that ark, God said mankind has broken the laws of God and every law God saw and He said, “Moses, take the broken laws of God and put them in that ark. Put this golden lid over the top of this box so that I can’t see the broken laws. Now take the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it over the top of the mercy seat so that now when someone comes to me asking for mercy I look down and I cannot see their sins because they’re hidden under the blood. And every person who comes to me by the way of the blood has identified themselves with the sacrifice that has already been made.” God said that judgment has already been meted out to this person because there’s the blood. When you come God cannot see one solitary thing. Jesus Christ is the golden covering. His blood and His sacrifice covers every sin that we ever had or will ever make. There isn’t going to be another sacrifice.

The weakness of confession is that if it’s based on the completeness of our confession some might miss things because there might be something that we forget. But sin as a principle, there may be 100 sins but it’s still sin. As a principle, anything that will hide fellowship with God, that thing needs to come and say, “God I need you, there’s something in between,” and God will wipe it out. But basically, to the person that belongs to Jesus, you don’t have to come to God and confess a whole lot of things because of your desire to please Him as you walk with God. Twenty four hours a day that blood keeps on flowing. This is the life of the blood that we are going to have in another lesson. It just keeps on cleansing even if you don’t even know about it. You don’t have to keep coming to God and say, “God I did this thing will you forgive me. God sees the needs of human life and there would be nothing more insecure in the whole world then salvation if every time something attached itself to us we had to find out about it and run to God for help. We’d be so insecure, 9 hours out of every 10 we’d be out of fellowship.

We’d be lost 9 hours out of 10. But when you put yourself in God’s hands and you walk with Him, God says when you walk in the light as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son, we have fellowship with one another, Him and us, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Well, some people say when you’re walking in the light you don’t have any sin. Well then why did He say that He cleanses us from sin if there wouldn’t be any sin there? And if He’s cleansed us as we walk with Him, why would we need a further cleansing from sin if when we’re walking in the light there’s no chance for sin? What’s He’s telling us is that you’re going to have things attach themselves to you but there’s a constant cleansing. No life without the blood. When John saw him, John recognized Him and said, “This is the Lamb of God.” No covenant without the blood, but the new covenant begins with blood. Jesus said, “This is my blood of that new covenant.” God’s new agreement is your sins and iniquities I will remember no more forever. Your faith in His blood is the activating principle, that’s what turns the switch on.

We’re not only freed from the guilt of sin in this life but we’re freed from the punishment for sin. The blood that is shed for us is now given to us. That death was for every person, but until they avail themselves and take what God is offering them they’re not availing themselves for what God is offering them. It’s already been done for them, every sin of the world has already been atoned for thru the blood of Jesus but as we take the blood that blood is given to us. Jesus took that cup and He gave it to them. And every time we have communion, Jesus is giving us the blood that was shed for us, that life that is greater than all the forces of the universe. The power of the whole Godhead is now taken and given for us. It’s a celebration of life because of the power of God, the blood of Christ that is given to us. There’s nothing in the whole Bible, and nothing that God does for us that is not tied with the blood of Jesus. Because of the blood you can suddenly be bold and enter into the throne room, then sanctification, resurrection life.

God asked me what was the power that raised Jesus from the dead, and I told God it was the power of the Holy Spirit. But He told me that it was the power of the blood. So God let me see three keys, He said, “this blood brings you three keys that will open three barred doors.” There’s nothing in the whole universe that could open these three barred doors. The first door was the grace, then the 2nd door was the door to heaven, then the 3rd key is to God’s own heart. The blood of Jesus opens God’s heart for us. When you put your faith in that blood three doors are opened to us. Always be content with what God has provided for you. When He gives that “Be perfect as I am perfect,” He’s talking about sharing in His nature and life. He doesn’t want us the smartest people in the universe but people that are like Him in nature.

After this earth is done, the blood occupies a tremendous place in God’s heart in heaven, and so from the closing of the gates of Eden to opening of the gates of heaven, the crimson stream flows. All of the wonders of grace are focused here; His love, righteousness, justification, life, fellowship, joy, and atonement are all but rays of light reflected upon us from the blood of Jesus.

Chapter 5 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #2

I’m going to read the introduction. In all of creation we see the intricate detail in God’s planning. The structure of the grass of the field or the leaves of the trees shows evidence of His thought. From the tiniest insect to His highest creation we see the mark of His hand. So it is in fellowship and oneness we share with Him today. The victories over sin and sickness, the divine life we enjoy in these mortal bodies. Yes these are part of a divine plan born in God’s heart before the world was made. Perfect and complete in every detail.

In this plan we see a revelation of God’s heart. His desire and love for man. We see man occupying a bigger place in the heart and mind of the Creator than any other part of His creation. In this study we will look at the very heart of His plan. Redemption by blood and the blessings it procures: Reconciliation, cleansing, sanctification, restoration, victory, and life. I would like to remind you of how detailed God is in all of His creation. Have you noticed even those tiniest insects that look so small how beautiful each of them are put together, each of them having a definite purpose in His overall plan, the world and science calls it ecology but it’s God’s planning is what it really is see. It fits into His plan. The big fish will eat up the little fish. God knows those big fish will get real hungry so He has a million times as many fish and eggs that will grow because it’s God’s plan, and God’s great cycle.

And when we think of the design of God and how it’s stamped, I think of the trees in Kauai, one of the rivers in Hawaii. Did you hear the story about the leaves of those trees? Kauai has more rainfall than any other area around there. These rivers flow, God has to make it rain up there every day because those rivers aren’t very long and there’s not much place to gather moisture so God just keeps turning on the facet, so it’s like God’s pipe down there providing all the water. God wanted us to see His handiwork. And so there are literally billions of leaves that grow along these rivers, and every one of these trees has a map of this island. It’s the shape of the island, and it has the peak in the middle, and so the islanders there say that God really smiled on that island and put His mark on all of these trees that line the rivers each of them showing a design of the island. God did this. And there’s hardly anything in nature that you can’t find a beautiful design and a reason why He’s put it together. I think of the stag horn beetle. God made that male beetle with long horns that stick out about 4 inches.

The female doesn’t have any horns. But when the butterfly lays her eggs, they all look alike, she goes 8 inches deeper and puts the male egg 8 inches deeper than the female egg, because God told that little old bug that if that male beetle when it hatched had to have some room for its horns to grow. Researchers have discovered that there has never been a male beetle egg found less than 8 inches from the surface! Talk about design. Little old atoms, the world in general. God did it. Now God in this great design, the biggest most important design in His entire universe, don’t you think He spent some great deal of time on the big plan, oh you know He did. In laying this out He said, “I’m taking my own Son, He’s going to be a Lamb that is going to be sacrificed. You were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ that was foreordained before the foundation of the world. For the life of the flesh is in the blood. Life is in the blood, this is where the power comes from.

He said that life is in the blood, so the value of the blood is determined by the kind of a life it flows thru. This blood that is so precious didn’t just flow thru an animal, or thru an ordinary human being. It flowed thru one who was direct from the hand of God. In Him all of the fullness dwells, the fullness of the Godhead dwells within Him. So you are actually saying that the power of the whole universe is in that blood. Boy this makes me feel safe, when I know that the blood has been applied the power of the whole universe is wrapping me up. Life was given to satisfy God’s demands. He said without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins, you cannot be redeemed. But when blood covers the individual, sin is so entirely covered and atoned for it can no longer be identified with the transgressor. The worst murderer in the whole wide world, Paul said I am the chief of all sinners, when that person puts their faith in that blood, there’s an atonement that separates this person from this pile of sin and crime and there is no way in the entire universe, there’s no way that God has to ever identify that person with His crimes again.

The blood is that great equalizer. People that are way down, it brings them up, and people that are way up it brings them down. God has it all written out paid in full for everybody but there’s a lot of people that haven’t come to Jesus yet and said hey give me my receipt. Paid in full. There are a lot of people worried about where their sins are, and thru these verses you can show them where they are. Blotted out as a thick cloud, all of their sins in the depths of the sea. And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more forever. One Sunday morning God gave me a reference in prophecy. God has made us His spiritual Israel. The blood destroys the power of sin.

The Holy Spirit is His dynamic force. The power of the blood is God’s silent force that works whether you realize it or not. Within you there is a little organ that keeps pumping and unless you’re scared you’re not always conscience that your heart is beating or not. In the natural your heart keeps pumping 24 hours a day, Paul said, “whether I’m awake or whether I’m asleep I am the Lord’s. Whether you’re sleeping or not your heart keeps beating. The same goes for the blood of Jesus. So the blood of Jesus, the great heart of God, it just keeps on beating out to you 24 hours a day, whether you’re awake or whether you’re asleep, or even if you get mad at someone the blood of Jesus keeps beating out to you as long your heart’s desire is still there to please God. So if our hearts only beat when we thought it was beating then we would be in trouble. So when things go wrong don’t suddenly say, “Heart start beating!” You don’t have to. God says you’re tied in with the heart of the universe.

It’s all right to remind Him, and God won’t make fun of you if you do, but He wants us to know that He’s on the job all the time. There’s no place in the whole Bible where you could ever read, “plead the blood.” I’m not putting this down, it’s not something that displeases God, but it’s so comforting when we know that whether we awake or whether we sleep that blood keeps on flowing giving us a constant cleansing! It was the power of the blood that raised up Jesus from the dead. His blood destroyed the power of death, hell, sin, and the devil. His blood gives entrance to eternal life. God’s eternal righteousness guarded the most holy place. God said that we can come now because the blood has turned God’s wrath away. God’s anger is pacified, judgment has been complete. That same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will quicken us also thru the blood. A lot of people don’t realize how intricately God ties His plan all together.

The Holy Spirit comes when a person puts their faith in the blood of Jesus.

Chapter 6 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #3

God told Moses, “take a vessel of oil and dip your finger into that vessel and put just a little tiny bit on the ear and the thumb and the toe.” Now He said that indicates the persons thinking, mind and senses. That indicates his service, his walk. There are a lot of people putting a lot more emphasis on the walk then the spiritual life. But God says; “now Moses I want to show you the emphasis that I put on the abundance, the joy, the overflowing, and the excitement.” He said take all the rest of that oil and pour on the top of his head and let it run down over his beard and down his clothes. What He’s actually saying is that there’s more of the Holy Spirit for the abundant life than there is for all of these other things put together. So that’s why I jump every once in awhile. If all I did was hard work all the time it could get kind of boring.

But God says you can mix business with pleasure. But this isn’t available until the blood of Jesus is applied. So you get the cleansing when you recognize the power of the blood, when your faith is in that blood it not only makes salvation available to you, it not only opens the door of heaven, but it makes the power of the Holy Spirit available to you, you’re a candidate when you ask God. Our study is the power of the blood of Jesus, and we’re on lesson #3, reconciliation. Now are Scripture reference is Romans 5:1-11, and 15-21. We are reminded once again as we ponder the power of Jesus’ blood of the overwhelming love of God. So great was this love that his entire purpose revolves around this plan to restore man to a place of fellowship. Though this revelation of His love is seen in all of His dealings with man, it reaches its highest peak in the message of the atonement. This message is woven into every part of the Bible and shows us the importance He places on the completed sacrifice of Jesus. In this study we will consider the need, the importance, the power, and the results of reconciliation.

First of all the need. Sin became a barrier between God and man. There could be no fellowship until this barrier was removed. God’s wrath appeased. A brief picture of this plan is seen in Romans 5. “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace thru our Lord Jesus Christ. The benefits that have been made available to us thru the blood are: number one justified, justified by blood. Number two, we have peace with God. The separating barrier that sin had raised is destroyed thru reconciliation. And you have peace with God.

Number three is access to God’s grace. Then He said not only peace but also the doorway. The wall between you and God has a doorway, an open access. So he said, “By whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” We have hope, we rejoice in hope. Then in verse five it says, “Hope makes not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.” So because the barriers are down now and the cloud is erased in between, the warm rays now of God’s love are coming in. And the term shed abroad is the same term for light. All of these are made available by His blood. Then he said, “Now much more than being justified by His blood,” but He said even more we shall be saved from wrath thru Him.

A promise and an assurance that we’re not only going to be saved here, not only has the enmity been destroyed but we have assurance of what is going to happen tomorrow. That on that judgment day, “for if when we were His enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more shall we be saved by His life.” Underline the much mores’. I would say one of the greatest problems people have that see me are their fear that they might fall, but the Lord is able to keep us from falling. And Paul said I discovered this that if you believe He gave this justification much more. Then he gave his reason for believing this. If when you were his enemies, and you didn’t love God at all and you were in a force that was opposing God, you were His enemy, He was your enemy and He justified you and picked you out, if God justified you when you had a gun pointed at Him, how much more now when you’re a member of His family shall we be saved by His life. As long as you know He’s living there, He’ll keep you from falling. He won’t keep you from falling if you want to fall. You can wrench yourself loose and fall.

But He wants you to know for those who desire to live for God and the people that are having all this trouble aren’t people who want to quit living for God. It’s some of God’s choicest believers who are filled with fear constantly, and God wants us to relax in Him. He said the blood was a gift of grace, meaning something you can’t earn or merit a special favor from God. He tells us because of the blood, because Jesus died for us, because of the sacrifice we can receive the gift of His grace. Then because of the gift of grace you can have the ability to control your life. I realize that many people have up and down experiences in the Lord but you don’t have to have them. When you can understand your position in the Lord you can have a life that is a life of victory. God would not be God if He wasn’t able to provide you with a life of victory. So He tells us the basic things that we need to have this life of victory are denying themselves, there are so many people who feel that their relationship with God is based on their ability to produce righteousness, goodness and to meet certain demands. They think, “And if I could do this then I could have a life of victory, I’ll be able to make it.

But that isn’t what God says. God didn’t say that those were the kind of people that would reign and have control in this life. He said much more they that receive the abundance of grace, that free gift. Those that reach out and say, “God I’m taking it, I didn’t earn it but you gave it to me anyway. Those who receive an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, what Jesus has done. Jesus I’m taking that covering that you have for me, I’m going to pull it over my life, which is the atonement that is so real and rich. It’s not of works lest any man should boast; it’s by grace that you’re saved. It’s His grace, so when we accept that free gift of grace this is something that grows, and spiritual victories are a product of accepting His righteousness first. People that are struggling with bondage and that are stumbling along with constant fear so that they’re not able to have enough spiritual energy to produce what they want to produce. When they quit struggling and they just accept that free gift of His righteousness and start loving Jesus and drawing that strength that comes from Him, they begin to grow and they’re able to kick the devil right out of the way.

One of the worst concepts that believers have is that Christ wants to reign in our lives. Indirectly yes. But He says, Christ says to you; “let me put you in the driver’s seat. You can reign, I’ve given you the power, I’ve given you the grace, and I’ve given you the righteousness.” When you see something coming you can say I have the power to overcome this thing. But when we feel like its God job to do the driving and we fall and we say I sure don’t know why Christ didn’t help me that time, I prayed and I asked the Lord but I don’t have any direction. Reigning comes about by the blood of Jesus. God wants to direct you but He wants you in the driver’s seat. Because man was separated from God he had to have reconciliation, enmity had come, God said that the soul that sins shall die, and the very justice of God demands judgment on sin. And that sin was there and so the wrath of God was there pulsating striking out at sin.

But the blood of Jesus Christ and God’s judgment upon sin where He took our sins, the wrath fell, the anger in God’s heart was appeased and the Word tells us now His anger is turned away from us. Now it’s at the very heart of God’s plan this reconciliation. It wasn’t an afterthought; it started way back before the world ever began. We see it in the sacrifices, in the tabernacle, in the feast. Colossians 1:20-22. This is the whole purpose of Jesus coming, Praise God. “And having made peace thru the blood of His cross.... and you who were once enemies He reconciled...”When the Lord took me into the throne room to let me see things the way He sees them, the first thing He did was make me feel at ease so I didn’t have to feel under strain, I didn’t have to worry if I said the wrong thing or if I looked the wrong way with the wrong kind of expression that He was going to reprove me.

He let me know that I didn’t have to worry, that He wasn’t looking for something to reprove me for. I didn’t have to feel I was walking on eggs around Him and be pious. God’s plan for His people was to bring them to a place where nobody could lay a charge on them, that nobody could blame them for anything. And this is why it says in Romans the eighth chapter; He said that God refuses to listen to any charge laid against His people. This is the unblameable part. Oh there are a lot of things you do wrong but God isn’t going to listen to them. He refuses to accept any charges against you, you’re unblameable. This was His plan, people have got so mixed up in reading the Bible in taking little bits and pieces and they miss the whole plan. God’s plan for people right at the very beginning was to bring them to a point where there wouldn’t be anything that they could blame man for. Then He used another word, He didn’t say that they would be unreproved that would be present tense.

But those who’ve slipped their hands into His and are wanting to walk with God and are putting their faith in that blood, He said that you’re unreprovable. That means that you can look right up into God’s face now. You might do some things and say some things but the blood of Jesus keeps washing away. But sometimes you’re aware of it but God can’t find anything to reprove you for, but you can find it and your family can find it. So God was very careful to add a little word, in His sight. Not in people’s. So don’t go around and say I’m the most perfect guy around here, you and all of your friends know that your blamable, and you’re reprovable and you need to get kicked in the seat of your pants to get moving sometimes. But because your faith is in the blood, He has a gift of grace and righteousness over us and when He looks down at that gift of righteousness which is imputed to us you know what He’s looking at, He’s looking at the righteousness of Jesus and He says, “I can’t find anything to reprove here.” Hallelujah. Quit being afraid.

God says we can have victory in this life, we can reign in this life, and we can be right on top because of the blood of Christ. See it not only does something between us and Him but as we go into this study of the blood we will find out how the blood then begins a work under this covering. We’re going to be taking sanctification next week, how the blood sanctifies and cleanses underneath this covering. He does a work that helps us to minister to people and to let people see what’s happening underneath the covering. The blood doesn’t just stop working there but you have to know that reconciliation exists before you can have any other. You can try any method you want to but if you haven’t taken that free covering that God puts over the top, you’re working off the wrong end. Unreprovable, unblamable in His sight, did you underline that? In Ephesians 1:4, God’s plan for us before He even made the world would be that we would be holy and without blame not before the world but before Him. Our problem is that we look at how we see ourselves, we look at how people see us and then we project that up to God and say, “God look at me and all my failures and everything else,” God wants us to know that we can look up at God’s face unreprovable! That word propitiation means reconciliation for our sins. The blood is given for the reconciliation of us. Rom.6:14, sin shall not have dominion over you.

So He removes the power of sin. We often think that it’s still there, but because of faith the power of sin is removed, not only the power of sin but also even the guilt of sin is removed. Thru the blood of His cross the guilt is gone and we can look up into His face and say, “ah thank you Jesus it’s gone.” And then it removes the barrier of God’s wrath. In Romans 5:9 it says that God had removed the barrier, when we were His enemies we were saved and we shall be saved from wrath now thru Him.

In reconciliation His love and His wrath join hands. His wrath destroys and consumes the separating barrier. Because God’s a just God, He could not justify us while sin was still there so there has to be love and the wrath together. His wrath destroys and consumes sin because it has to fall on sin and disobedience. It destroys the barrier and the sin. And when Jesus took on His own self the sins of the whole world the wrath of God reached out and darted forth and struck that sin. Jesus took the full charge there because of the sin that was on His life. And now any barrier or sin that would come in between God and man when man looks to God in faith the wrath of God that would be reserved for that sin and that would also strike man because he was associated with that sin, the wrath of God reaches out and consumes that sin and then turns around because it sees the blood and the reconciliation turns around and hides itself in the love of God. So this is why Paul could say, “I could still be just and the justifier of the one who puts their faith in the blood of Jesus. My wrath is still there for sin but I can justify that person because my wrath sees the blood and knows judgment has already struck and it turns around and hides in the love of God.

Don’t fear His wrath today, when your faith is in the blood the wrath of God cannot penetrate because it has already spent its charge on sin. Then the fourth thing on the blood is the removal of remembrance of sin. God’s taken care of it. He removes the power of sin, He removes the guilt of sin, He removes the barrier between, and now He removes even the remembrance of sin from His memory. “I have blotted it out,” it’s gone from His memory. You can stand before God and say, “God you remember this and this about me, I’m so glad you took care of that.” God will just have to look at you and say, “I can’t remember a thing about it.” He removes the remembrance of sin. Let’s go to the results. We shall be saved from wrath thru Him.

Reconciliation is made up of three Greek words. Helios which means: to make cheerful, to remove the reason for gloom to lift the fallen countenance, to cover sin, to find God gracious, and merciful. Then the last of that word is to overt calamity because the world is heading towards judgment. But there’s reconciliation for those who place their faith and trust. It averts the calamity. Thru the blood we are restored to divine favor or the original position with God. Restoration. To restore to put back in its original condition. So this word means the taking that life and that life which was in such fellowship and such peace where they could walk with God and talk with God and have wonderful fellowship as they did in the garden. So when reconciliation is complete man is restored into a place where they can slip their hand into God’s and say let’s go for a walk.

We can talk and we’re not wondering what about all of those things that I’m sure God has in his heart about me; I wonder when He is going to start telling about it, and the fear of coming into God’s presence. But as you walk along with Him, you can know that you’re unblameable and unreprovable in His sight and you don’t have to worry about the situation because you can’t hide from Him anyway. He can look right smack thru you. He knows all that’s there so there’s no point in being anything but yourself. But when you’re with Him you’re in the safest place there is in the whole universe. Hallelujah. Don’t you love this study? You know why it’s so rich and wonderful? It comes right out of God’s heart. This is the heart of the Bible; it’s the heart of His whole plan. “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away and behold all things are become new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and has given unto us the ministry of reconciliation.

When we have been reconciled then He says, “I want you to go out there and apply this to some other people, let them know how real it is,” He’s given unto us the ministry of reconciliation, of taking the barrier down, of taking people’s hands and linking them with God and letting them know the goodness. He’s given us the ministry of reconciliation. Not imputing their trespasses, or blaming them for their sins or reproving them. God was in Christ doing that because this was in His heart. Then He said and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. God says, “You tell them that I’ll do it and I’ll back you up. And I’ll do it.” That’s the word of reconciliation. So because of this we become His voice, “now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you beg you by us, we pray you in Christ stead, be reconciled to God and allow this to take place in your life.” This is the word of reconciliation, be ye reconciled to God.

Now people need to know what it is. They need to see reconciliation written all over you. They need to see the lack of fear and the joy; they need to see the relaxation they need to see it rubbed all over your face. And then you can say here have a bite, praise God. And He tells us why for He has made Him to be sin; He took the full stroke of God’s judgment for us who knew no sin that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him. We’re just going to have to stand now and worship the Lord. I’ll tell you God is so wonderful. We got to tell Him in our own words not in any canned phrase or anything else just in your own words how much you love Him and how much you thank Him for the reconciliation. As you leave today, don’t allow any fear to come but a new life of victory over sin and anything else awaits you as you have your faith and trust in what Jesus has done. Jesus we praise you for what you mean, for what you have accomplished, we can look up into your face with our hearts as clean and spotless as new born children. Praise God. Oh the richness of the love of God which passes all understanding. Glory to God. How we love you Jesus, Praise the Lord.

Chapter 7 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #4

This is New Life Clinic. The study is the power of the blood of Jesus, lesson number four, power to cleanse. The importance of the blood in God’s plan of salvation is seen by the more than 700 references to it in His Word. It was never far from His heart and became the key factor in all of His dealings with man. The purpose and power of His blood takes on added meaning by a comparison with human blood. Note these striking characteristics. Early this morning I was thinking of the blood system. And here again is God’s design, in God’s planning, in all of His dealings in some way He shows us this picture and points to His great wonderful plan of what He is doing. And when I started reading about the power of the blood, and when I started analyzing the purposes and the power of the blood and the human life, I could just see God when He was laying His plans and said, “How shall we make blood? Well let’s weave in the blood my story of redemption, let’s weave into it the story of the blood of Jesus.” And in this first paragraph we can see the story of the blood of Jesus.

It’s necessary for life. That blood in your system carries to every cell in your body the nourishment your body needs to live. It carries it. It makes this full circuit, once every 23 seconds. You don’t have to have to turn on a switch and say now heart start beating; it’s going whether you’re awake or whether you’re asleep. It just keeps on doing its job, and the blood of Jesus Christ as you put your faith in Him, His blood keeps bringing us life, to every cell in the body of Christ. There’s enough of this cleansing life-giving flow for every individual, for every little cell. And it ties us together; it’s the blood that ties us together. We’re made of one blood all people, it’s the blood of Jesus that ties people together, we’re blood brothers in Christ, but that blood going from cell to cell makes a tie. This blood cleanses, carries off wastes and poisons, that blood of Jesus as it flows thru your being, those things that may attach themselves to you, that blood just keeps on working, keeps on cleansing, it’s a built-in cleansing system that God has made for our bodies.

So the body of Christ of which we’re all a little part, His blood keeps flowing while we’re in fellowship and in harmony with Him. The blood just keeps right on flowing, taking care of those things that would destroy or hurt. This blood also in you protects you. Did you know that you have within your blood veins a silent army of soldiers ready to attack anything that would bring infection to your body? They’re called white corpuscles. When you cut yourself, and infection would begin, immediately the soldiers are summoned to duty and they head down there to protect you and to ward off and to fight off the infection. The blood of Jesus Christ has been given to us to ward off any attack of the enemy. The Lord wrote His story in the natural blood. Then another thing about the blood is that it will defend against disease. They tell me that you can become immune to certain types of diseases by having a little bit of the blood turned into serum by someone who has been attacked by the disease and have that injected into your veins, and it causes you to be immune. Now here’s a striking picture here.

Jesus Christ was smitten with a curse of sin. The Word tells us that God made Him to be sin for us and He took the full force of God’s judgment. Now His blood injected into us by the hand of God creates an immunity from judgment. Hallelujah. He took the full force of it. You’ve had an inoculation. They call these anti-bodies, a little substance that provides immunity. Then I think of the fact that there’s a constant cleansing, every 23 seconds going thru your system. Every cell in your body is tied together by this life. The importance of cleansing and how it fits into God’s plan.

Now in justification God covers your life. Now some people have started from the other end, and have thought that God wants us to make ourselves clean, and to lay aside these various things as a starting point and it sounds too easy to say that the sin that may be in a life, while it’s still there can be covered so that God can’t see it. People for some reason or another like to struggle, and to feel that there’s something they’re doing that they’re accomplishing here, but you’re starting at the wrong end. When you start at trying to get rid of, you’ll never make yourself good enough for God. So God said that before you can take care of that stuff, you got to be covered. The first thing that has to happen before we receive anything is to have the wrath of God appeased. So when God sees that blood, His wrath is turned away. But then He said, “I’m not thru working with you just justification.” Justification is one of the most marvelous messages in the whole Bible. But God isn’t thru with just justification.

He says now that you’re all covered the blood that was shed for you is now given to you. It was shed for you in covering your sins, but now He gives it to you and then it starts flowing thru you and underneath this covering, those things that have ruined your life, the pollution of sin and these other things the blood of Jesus Christ takes care, cleanses as we walk with Him. So it’s not a matter of saying, “oh God, you’re simply buying a pack of pollution here if you just cover up a bunch of raw,” well God knows what He’s doing. He covers that up so that He won’t have to look at it while He’s operating on you. He can’t stand sin, so He covers it, and He says, “Now you’re accepted, accepted in the blood of Christ.” My wrath is turned away and that blood that was shed for us now is put within us and His blood working thru us oh hallelujah. It makes not just a life of misery only made bearable because we know his blood is there, but it even brings metamorphosis to us thru and thru, Hallelujah. It makes us like Jesus. That’s why Paul could say God’s ultimate plan was that Jesus was made sin for us, sin clear thru. He was made sin for us that we might be made not just covered with righteousness that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

That’s because of His blood flowing thru. You see the blood of Jesus, the blood of Adam flowing thru us had the seeds of death in it. It’s corruptible. But thank God that the blood of Jesus has the seeds of life that destroys the seeds of death. This is why we can say when you accept Jesus Christ you have eternal life; it doesn’t mean that you won’t have a time of transition period from one area of life to another. God doesn’t consider the cessation of breathing and the activities of this life an end at all. Life to Him is on both sides of the river. Jesus Himself said, “God isn’t the God of the dead, He’s the God of the Living.” He’s the God of Abraham and Abraham’s alive. He’s the God of Jacob and Isaac, and they’re still alive, they’re just on the other side of the river.

And those loved ones of yours that are gone, they’re not dead. He’s their God and He said, “I’m not the God of the dead but of the Living.” We’re rejoicing here. I believe those loved ones over there have a pretty good idea of what you’re doing over here, because the Spirit can carry them the word and the message. The reason why I believe this is, is because there are a couple portions of scripture that talk about examples of this.

God doesn’t want us probing to deep in this area otherwise He would of put more of it in the Bible, but He gave us just enough. In reconciliation the barrier was destroyed, God’s wrath was appeased. In justification the records were destroyed and in cleansing the pollution or the seeds of sin and death are destroyed. Praise God. In justification God hides sin from His sight, in cleansing He takes it away. 1 John 1:1-9. In fitting in to God’s plan and making it work, I like that verse over in Isaiah 1:18. “Come now let us reason together says the Lord, let’s talk about this thing. Though your sins are as scarlet they shall be white as snow.” This is God’s plan, this is His call.

And so people may wonder those who are weighted down with sin; I’ve talked with many of them. Down inside they hunger, their hearts desire is “how in the world can I be free from this thing that is dragging me down?” Christians who are failing to live victorious lives have the same thing. I would say probably more than any other request is, “I want to be free from this thing that seems to be hurting me and dragging me down.” God gives us the first of the way here. He says “come. You can come now, my wrath is turned away now you can come and talk to Me about it. Come now and let us reason together, I’ll take care of all that.” He does it by the cleansing blood. He takes care of it. Then living in fellowship.

Let’s take a look at verse 9. If we confess our sins so thru confession now you can have this fellowship. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, that’s justification and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that’s the cleansing within us. In 1 John 1:7 it speaks about living in fellowship with the Lord. In all evangelical schools and from the pulpits of many evangelical churches and many others it is preached that your relationship to God hinges on the amount of light that He has given you. So this statement is made, “that person isn’t walking in the light that they have and here’s a person that has all kinds of light and knows all kinds of things about the Bible, so he has a lot more to walk in.” That night when God dealt with me, He put his thumb right on that in a blazing magnification on this verse. He said, “what do you believe, how do you interpret this verse, how have you been preaching it?” I explained to the Lord that in all the other commentaries that’s how it is said. Much evangelical teaching is not based on revelation from God or from enlightenment from His Word, but it’s on a lack of definite direction from God and they’ve tried to do what they could. When I said it’s walking in all the light of knowledge that you have, then the Lord said, “Do you walk in all of the light that you have?” I said, “No God I’ve really missed the boat an awful lot.

Then He said “If your cleansing is dependent on your walking in the light and you’re not walking in all the light how can you expect to have any cleansing?” Funny I didn’t think of it, and the person in front of me didn’t think of it or the person behind them didn’t think of it either. And if you can’t have no cleansing He also asked me, “If you do walk in the light, do you walk in it like Jesus walked in it?” And I said no, you know I don’t. And He said “do you know anybody that does?” I said no, I never met anybody who did. And He said, “Then nobody is going to be saved, nobody is going to receive any cleansing.” Do you know what the Lord did then? He lifted my eyes and He said “let Me show you what light is. It’s not knowledge; if it was based on knowledge then you would be earning your cleansing. You’d be earning your fellowship, but this is something you can’t earn. It’s by grace that you’ve been saved.” And I could see it blazing then in verse five, “this then is the message that God is light. He lights every man that comes into the world.

And that light is life, God is light.” And then he goes on to say because God is light, He’s shining out and lighting people and as long as you walk in this fellowship with Him, walk close enough so you can say, “hi God,” and know that He’s there, have that fellowship, he said “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses,” it flows just as far as His light does. The blood flows as far as His fellowship. It flows as far as His light comes in His fellowship. And the blood flows the same distance. In this plane, walking in this light, it’s impossible to sin according to some because of sanctification, you may make some mistakes but you don’t sin, but that isn’t what God said. God said that while you’re walking in this light, there’s going to be some sin that will overtake you and some of you are going to sin. I don’t want you to, but you can sin and still be in this plane.” The reason why, and He had this verse, that blood is flowing there so that sin may overtake you or blight your life, but the blood keeps on flowing and keeps on washing it away. That word cleanses in John is present tense.

The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin. You walk in fellowship with Jesus and you don’t have to walk around with your head bowed down in fear wondering whether or not you’re going to make it when Jesus comes, you stay in fellowship with Him and all of hell can’t take you away because God has a built in cleansing agent there. It’s all mixed in with His light, and with His fellowship. Hallelujah. There may be some thoughts that come into your mind that you know displease God, but the blood just keeps on cleansing. You may lift your voice and get mad at someone but the blood just keeps on cleansing. “This then is the message that we’ve heard from Him, that God is light,” God is cleansing, God is our fellowship. We have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous, if we sin, and he said that He has become the propitiation. That’s a person becoming a propitiation. That word propitiation is the same word as translated as mercy seat.

So when you read about the mercy seat that God has put there in the throne of grace, in the tabernacle of worship, it’s a golden lid something of tremendous value. Underneath the mercy seat is the ark of the covenant inside of the ark of the covenant are all of the broken laws of God signifying all of the sins and the guilt and the transgression put under the propitiation, this golden covering. Then God said, “Now take the blood just to make this true picture. Take two goats, kill one of them and take the blood of one of these goats and sprinkle it over the top of this mercy seat. You want to come and make contact with Me. There’s only one place in the whole universe that I’ll meet with you, only one place, and that’s the door that the blood has opened.” That’s the power of this cleansing blood. God said when you come now to this mercy seat and you identify yourself with that, God said there will I meet with thee and I’ll talk with you over the cherubim’s. So there is a spot where the sin is covered. Now the beautiful picture of this is, God said not only am I the propitiation and covering for your sin but underneath, the blood of Jesus is doing a continual constant cleansing work also.

This mercy seat has the covering for the sin and God accepts the sinner. That’s the covering that we talked about over the top. Picture that blood covering over you in the Spirit right now. Be free. But inside of the ark there’s still the remains of the broken laws, so now God says take this other goat, it took two animals to fully make God’s picture. He said “take the believer and put his hands on this goat so that he could be identified with this goat and pronounce the sins of this person upon this goat. Then take this goat way out in the wilderness into a place where he could never be found.” When you have put your faith in the blood and it’s covered and God said, “now that it’s covered then we’ll take it all away. He’s working right underneath that covering and He’s removing the sins far away where it could never be found again. When God took sin away He really took it away.

Reading in 1 Peter, “For as much as you know you were not redeemed with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ. As of a Lamb without blemish or without spot. The incorruptible blood of Jesus. You weren’t saved with corruptible things, but you were saved with incorruptible.” That word incorruptible means it can never pass away, it could never lose its power, and it could never be destroyed. The blood that flowed from Jesus’ back, that blood that was shed did not stay in the ground and become corruptible and become mixed with the corruption with this earth. That blood is incorruptible; every drop of that blood was saved and taken to heaven. That blood is still there. So when Paul had a glimpse of heaven, there was God the Father of all, there was Jesus, there was the spirits of just men made perfect, and there was an innumerable company of angels. And he said “by the way there’s the blood, it’s still there.

He let John have a look in Revelation. And he said there’s the blood, it’s still there. As the animal in the Old Testament was slain, every drop of blood had to be caught, not one drop was allowed to be lost, and God was giving them a picture here that with Jesus, His blood, these were just types of His blood. God says it’s got to be so exact because not one drop is going to be wasted. It’s incorruptible, it can’t be destroyed and it avails for sin forever. There’s plenty of cleansing for everybody. There’s enough immunity in the blood that God applies to your life to ward off spiritual sickness. There’s enough to warm your life, there’s enough to feed you, to protect you. The blood has never lost its power. And in that injection, the corruptible is injected with the incorruptible, the seeds of death have been destroyed with the seeds of life. Hallelujah. How could a person get so excited over a few words of print like this? You know why because it’s His living Word, it’s life.

Chapter 8 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #5

This is New Life Clinic. And our study is on the power of the Blood. This is lesson number five, and the topic is sanctification. We have seen the power of the blood of Jesus at work in justification, in cleansing and reconciliation. In this lesson we see the flow continue in bringing life to the one who has been reconciled and cleansed. Contrary to accepted teachings that sanctification has to do with the absence of sin and the destroying of the old nature and so forth. We have discovered that it is the bringing to the believer the very life of Jesus. It is this life that brings beauty and purpose to all of the other provisions He has for His people. As we explore these Bible truths keep your heart and mind open, for this could be the greatest revelation of your life. We will consider what it is, agents in activating and the results.

The lessons that I’m giving you on the power of the blood came direct from the heart of God. Read Hebrews 9:11-15. God let me see the blood as a mighty river flowing. And as it flowed from God’s heart across the arena of human experience there was a great big barrier in the way, a barrier of sin. But the mighty river broke loose from heaven when Jesus died. And the dam broke and that mighty river of the blood of Jesus and the life of Jesus flowed and it swept away the barrier. So that was reconciliation by the blood. So that was the first important thing that swept away the barrier between God and man. Then as that river flowed, the records that are recorded and God records everything that happens in the human life and those records that were against us, the Word tells us, that mighty river took hold of those records and washed them away into God’s sea of forgetfulness, never to be remembered against us anymore forever, every record gone. That’s justification by blood.

And then as that river flowed on the records of pollution written in the human life, that mighty river flows on and destroys the pollution of sin, that’s the cleansing by the blood. The cleansing is not the sanctification. Sanctification comes after the cleansing. When the Word says the blood being our sanctification He’s saying it’s adapting the power of the blood or all of the power of heaven to human life and use. You know there are great transformers around carrying electricity. But before they can come in here and light the room they have to be converted into a way that they could be used here. It’s the same way in the power of the blood. God asked me, “What is the power of the blood.” God let me see that the power of the blood was in the life of that one it flowed thru. The value of that blood is determined by the value of that life.

And the word tells us that in Him was all of the fullness of God. So when you think of the power of the blood what you’re actually saying is the power of heaven, the power of the universe is flowing, it’s the power of the universe that swept away the barrier, it destroyed the records, and it wiped out the pollution, and that mighty surging power now, of all of the fullness of God Himself is bringing the very life of Jesus. Sanctification is saying, “God let the flow of your life go thru them. We’re talking about the river of the life of God. What is sanctification? It’s the sharing of Jesus’ life in our mortal bodies. The life of Jesus is so much more important to us. He didn’t want to point to us the dark day but the bright day of His life. It is possible for the believer to be so involved with the dark side of the cross which was Jesus’ side that we fail to see the bright side of the cross which is our side. So He wants us to have not only His death but as we accept that we move around to the other side where the life is.“This is the will of God even your sanctification.

God wants us to have the life of Jesus flowing thru us. Life is in the blood. In the blood of Jesus dwelt all of the fullness of God. And we are being filled with all of the fullness of God. So Jesus gives us His blood to flow thru us, He gives us His life to flow thru us. God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. When the life of Jesus flows thru the life of a believer there are times when they are in heavenly places. So He has raised us up with Him to sit in heavenly places. When that river flows and the life of Jesus touches the human body, the glory of God touches that life. God’s glory is the pulsating atmosphere that comes from the throne of God, the glory of God.

As that river flows carrying with it that sanctifying power bringing with it and making available the life of Jesus, the glory comes. The glory actually activates all of the wonderful life of Jesus. The glory of God actually sanctifies the life of a believer. So sanctification is actually adapting to the life force of Jesus. The truth will open up the floodgates and cause Jesus’ life to flow. Faith and the Holy Spirit causes Jesus’ life to flow. Faith activates the blood of Jesus. The Spirit keeps the river flowing. Jesus sanctifies us. The life of Jesus begins to flow thru the name of Jesus. As I have people begin to say that name, His life begins to flow. All of these things are brought about by His blood. His life in us brings the cloud of glory! 1 Peter 1:2. You can’t really have peace until you quit struggling. You can’t really relax until you realize that God is taking care of those things that could bother you. Grace and peace are ours because of the wonderful flow of God.

Chapter 9 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #6

New Life Clinic. Our series is on the power of the blood. Its lesson number 6 entitled, “fellowship with God.” The death of Christ opened up a mighty river of life from God’s heart to man. Its flow destroyed the separating barrier. Reconciliation is what God called it. It erased the records of all charges against us, this is justification. It removed the inner pollution in men’s lives which is cleansing and brought life, vigor and happiness which is sanctification. In this study we will see the river of life carry us into the very presence of God. Removing all distance, providing fellowship thru the blood of Jesus.

We will consider our right to stand before Him, the results of living in His presence and what it means to minister in His presence. In the course of the flow of this river you will find the removing of the barriers, the sweeping away of that barrier that stood between man and God. Removing the records as that person puts their faith in the blood so that God cannot remember in fact He not only forgets your sin, He forgets He’s forgiven you. So you can’t say, “God I thank you for the 70 times you forgave me,” God says, “what 70 times?” Because His forgiveness is so complete. Then the real cleansing that comes, that under the beautiful covering of His righteousness, the blood that was shed for us is given to us and it moves thru us, killing the seeds of death and wiping out the pollution that’s in the world thru lust the Word tells us, but the blood takes care of all of this. Then there’s the beautiful story of sanctification that we went into last week which is not cleansing but it is the bringing of life. Not the eternal life but the actual life of Jesus being felt in our mortal bodies, His life, His incorruptible life. The blood that fell from His brow, the blood that came from His side and from His hands and back, the blood that may have fallen and dropped along the way, not one drop of that blood was wasted or just went into the soil and was corrupted for the Word tells us that His blood, because it contained all of the fullness of God Himself, that blood was preserved because it’s incorruptible, it can never be destroyed. That blood the Word tells us, John had a chance to visit heaven and he said, “There it is, there’s the blood of Jesus still there.” As the ages of eternity roll on, the blood that purchased us and does it’s cleansing just continues on and on and on.

Paul had a chance to see it. Did you know that Paul was caught up and had a chance to visit in the heavens? And he tells us, “when I was there, there was God the Father of us all and there was the Holy Spirit present, His mighty influence and there was Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. And then he said, “There’s all those spirits of just men made perfect” and then he said, “What an innumerable company of angels, there all over the place” and then he said, “There it is. There is the blood and it’s still speaking and it’s still saying, “count that person just, they’ve put their faith and their trust in Me.” Hallelujah, the blood is there. These lessons are not the product of research or of study. These lessons came directly from God’s heart. About 8 years ago on a Saturday night God ministered to me and gave me such a message on the blood I have divided up for these 8 lessons. In this there were two hundred verses of scripture that God just poured in and proved the message that He was bringing. And it didn’t do violence to the word of God but because of the Word of God it shed a big search light on what God was doing.

And at that time because I had not yet seen what God is doing in our day and the measure that I’m seeing it, I was not aware fully. I knew of the great cleansing of the blood but in the area of sanctification I couldn’t quite see it, in fact I didn’t worry about it but it still wasn’t something that I could relate to because I wasn’t seeing it. But now as I took out those notes and I looked at it and I looked at the notations that God had me write down that were notes right from His heart to help shed light, oh I could see what God was doing. When people have felt the flow of His life and the old burden was lifted and their eyes began to shine and radiation began to come out of their face and they could move out in a victory they never had before, kicking the enemy out of the way. I had realized what had happened; Jesus had adapted the power of the universe that was in the blood to human life. And the life of Jesus was being felt in those mortal bodies. And as we’ve studied last week all the way thru when he spoke of sanctification, this is what he was talking about: The application of the life of Jesus, of the God-head, of the power of God to the human life. And to show you what this means, it’s not a cold fearful force. But a little bit of that atmosphere of heaven shines thru when God’s glory is revealed and every person who drinks of that life becomes a reflection of what heaven is really like. It’s not a hard thing, it’s not an unhappy thing, and it’s not a pious thing.

What God is doing today is making them like Jesus. Today we want to do a little bit of reading in the Word of God and enjoy. Another thing that the Spirit of the Lord has made real to us that the blood has purchased for us and that is a wonderful is fellowship with God. 1 John 1. “That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen from our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. That you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things write we unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the message that we have heard of Him and declare unto you that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

That’s why as these people come with their heaviness and the darkness of spirit and they look unto Him and they’re lightened, they’re drawing then of that beautiful light that comes from heaven that brings fellowship. In Him there is no darkness at all. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the Light we have fellowship one with another.” You and me in Him. “And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” Just keeps right on cleansing. This robs the teaching that when you’re in this place of fellowship and of sanctification there is no sin that can come, there may be mistakes but there is no sin. But the Word lets us know that there may be definite sin each day, there may be sin in thought or in word. There may be some things that you have practically defied God on but the hunger and desire in your heart is to walk with Him and serve Him.

You’re already cleansed when you start the day because of His blood. When you’ve laid everything out before God, you’re cleansed. As you walk in this wonderful light all sin is gone. You don’t have to wrestle and struggle and be so concerned. The main thing for you to be concerned about is loving Jesus, and looking unto Him. I had a man who was struggling to try to please the Lord to the point that he almost lost his mind. He feels that 24 hours a day he practically has to be on his knees. He may make half a sentence and then say, “Oh God I want your holiness and I want your sanctification” until he’s a nervous wreck. I told that fellow, “I don’t even want you to read the Bible or quote the Bible.” The enemy is using everything that you have learned there to whip you in the ground.

And he tried to use the scripture on Christ too you know. So I told him to quit reading the Bible for a few days, God has saved you and He’s written your name down in heaven and he wants you to know it. But He wants you to develop not just a big fat spirit just constantly concerned about keeping the flesh dead and your humanity, making it non-existent. God intends for you to be a well-rounded spirit, soul and body. If you don’t take care of these other sides your spirit’s not going to be worth two cents. So I gave him a national geographic. And I said I want you to read thru that and I want you to report on it. Then he took two or three days and he called me last night and he said, “I’ve read thru the geographic and I read thru the reader’s digest you gave me.” He said, “I learned some interesting things about those coal mines” and for the first time he’s relaxed because his soul is beginning to be restored. He was told what God expected of him, he was raised in a setting similar to the children of God or the moon people where 8 hours a day they try and program them where there’s such a tension in their mind and struggling, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that and they practically are trying to get some hand holds on a steep cliff trying to reach where God is.

Each time they make a few inches they slid back a foot and there’s a constant feeling of failure if I’m ever going to make it. I told him I want you to let the Spirit lift you up. It’s going to take a little bit of time to get rid of the junk. When I say junk, when it comes to mankind’s traditions and rituals, when it ties people up in bondage like that, that’s what it is, its garbage. I can’t understand people being so down and wanting to be so pious and feeling like it’s such a hardship to walk with God when it can be such a wonderful thing. When you can be so happy and you can be yourself, and the person that God created you to be you can pull the mask away and come forth and be yourself in the Lord. He would have made you some other way if He wanted you some other way. But he doesn’t want you just a whole bunch of rubber stamps, everybody programmed the same old way. He made everybody different because He made you that way. There’s no point in getting that old wall in front of you, step out of it like Lazarus did.

So He’s calling you come forth. Notice our right to come here. When he says made nigh He says something happens. When you’re way off there from God He doesn’t say if you’ll take some steps here and come a little bit closer and do this and follow this guidebook until you get right there then I’ll listen to you, Oh no. He said if you call unto Me from the farthest point away I’ll remove the distance by a miracle power. It reminds me of when Jesus and the disciples were out in the boat and they were toiling there. But when they called upon Jesus He came into the boat, the Word tells us He quieted things down and immediately they were where they were going. He just caused the distance to disappear. He has this ability. Ephesians 2:13.

He tells us how far off people were but then he said, “But now in Christ Jesus you who were sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Jesus.” I still remember the excitement I had when the Lord made this verse so real to me, when I saw the distance just melt. You were far off but you’re made nigh by the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 10:19. Hebrews is one of my favorite books in the whole Bible because God gives the pattern of what’s going on in heaven all the time here in the book of Hebrews. The whole gospel, God’s whole plan is seen in operation in this book. Beginning with verse 16, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, because of the blood He said I will make this covenant. I will put my laws into their hearts and their minds will I write them. And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” There’s no more offering for sin.

Then because of this you can get real bold. People down thru the centuries weren’t able to approach God. There had to be a fear because if they did one thing wrong their lives would be taken. They had to come with such fear knowing that everything had to be perfect because it was typifying what Jesus would do. But now Paul was saying all of this carefulness is gone now because the cake has already been made, it’s already frosted and it’s not going to fall. You know how you have to walk around in your kitchen when the cake is rising and if you step hard, you ladies know this. You have to be a little more careful then. This is what happened in the Old Testament but now God says it’s done, it’s all finished. And the reason for being so careful now is already done, the work is done. So now you can come in boldly and say God here I am.

He said we can come boldly before the throne of grace. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The blood opened the way. And that holiest is where God lives, that’s the center, it’s the heart of God. And we can have boldness to come right into where God is. This seems to fit so good with that experience that God gave me where I felt like I had to walk on eggs so carefully. While God was drawing a plan and asking people to fit into the plan as a reenactment before it happened of the death of Jesus, that had to be because God said the plan of Jesus had to be so exact but now He says you can come boldly before the throne of grace. You don’t have to walk carefully now. You can come skipping and jumping and leaping. And you don’t have to come with silence.

There could be no speaking at all in that holiest place when the priest was there; the blood had to do the speaking. The Bible says it was the blood that carried the message, there could be no sound. But now He says we can come and shout a loud. Praise God. When John had a chance to visit heaven and saw this beautiful throne of God he said there I saw these people before the throne and they were shouting with a loud voice and it sounded like a great waterfall because they were praising God for what He had done. All of this carefulness has been removed where we can come into God’s presence in Jesus name. Don’t you love Him? So we have boldness to enter. “By the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He had consecrated for us thru the veil that is to say His flesh and having a high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for faithful is He that promised and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but so exhorting one another and so much the more as you see that day approaching.” So He tells us we can come.

God has not only invited us to come but He’s prepared a spot for us. He says I have a very honored spot for you and you can come now as kings and priests unto God. Revelation 5:9-10, this is what John had a chance to see, he says we are made kings and priests, a real special place that God Himself honors. Then I want you to notice the results of living in His presence. David discovered this; because in His presence, that’s where the fellowship is you see. In Psalms 16:4, “Thou will show me the path of life, in His presence there is fullness of joy and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” This is what happens in the presence of God. It’s joy, it’s not a drag. It’s joy and this is why when He beams down of His life there’s joy, there’s a real bounce that comes to them. Then in Psalms 65:4, “Blessed is the man that You choose and cause to approach unto You.

That he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, even in Your holy temple.” So there’s satisfaction, there’s protection in His presence. Psalms 31:19-20, “Oh how great is Your goodness that You have laid up for them that fear You, which You have wrought for them that trust You before the sons of men. You shall hide them in the secret of Your presence from the pride of man. You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.” Regardless of what people may say against you, there is a hiding place, there’s a place by Him. There’s a little truth here in that word secret, when he says the secret of His presence. His presence is beautiful but there is a secret force or power that is emanating from His presence. It’s something that people cannot see from the outside; it’s an invisible force in that secret of His presence.

The enemy may wonder how can God protect those people, they look like they’re all exposed there. He comes roaring up to hit you and he finds that there’s a force field around you. That’s the secret of His presence. People that are close to God are more interested in what God has to say then what people have to say. 1 John 1:7. He speaks of the fellowship we have with Him. Communion with God is something more than communication. Communication may be the passing of information, getting the thoughts straight, getting the words straight. But communion is when your heart speaks, and there’s a heart fellowship, there’s a oneness of spirit with God. This is what communion is.

Have you noticed this with people sometimes you can have heart communion with them and you haven’t said anything but there’s just been something you’ve drawn. There’s a feeling, he’s my brother, and she’s my sister in the Lord. This comes because God has let us come into His presence. I want you to notice the last heading here. This is something the Lord made so real to me. I wept before God when I asked the Lord to make this as real to me as it was that night when you spoke to my heart. And God did make Himself so very real to me there. He is our High Priest. Hebrews 7:23-28. There’s so many beautiful verses here that I would kind of hate to leave some out but I would like to have you read them when you get home.

We read these words, “and there truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death but Jesus remains a priest forever; his priesthood will never end. Therefore He is able to save everyone who comes to God thru Him. He lives forever to plead with God on their behalf. He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has now been set apart from sinners, and he has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. He does not need to offer sacrifices every day like the other high priests. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when He sacrificed Himself on the cross. Those who were high priests under the Law of Moses were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made perfect forever.

Here is the main point: Our High Priest sat down in the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. There he ministers in the sacred tent, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. In verse 5 he says, “They serve in a place of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. But Jesus is up there in the tabernacle that God pitched, making intercession for us. So what God has asked us to do when we come into His presence is to come like those priests did and to minister to God. Now these priests as they ministered took their incense and burned it which wafted up into that alter of incense as a sweet savor unto God. God said, “I am pleased, I am satisfied. I enjoy this sweet savor of this offering. They ministered unto the Lord. It was a daily routine.

Their daily routine actually became a priestly service. And our daily routine, the job that you’re on, you ladies that are doing the tasks around the house, you men, some of you may work in the yard, you may have jobs, but whatever it is, that daily routine becomes priestly service because a priest is performing it. Did you know you were a priest now? “Whatever you do in word or in deed do all for the glory of God, do all in the name of Jesus.” Do it for God’s glory. Now this is called ministering to the Lord. God’s pleased with it. When you sit in His presence and you just draw from Him and you love Him, you’re ministering to Jesus, you’re serving Him. The biggest lie that the enemy would like for us to believe is that feverish activity is serving the Lord, is ministering to the Lord. That’s not. You may be getting a few things done and you may not be but you’re all tied up in knots trying to do God’s work.

God’s work is to make you calm and your undoing God’s work. But ministering unto Him, just loving Him. Doing your job with a song in your heart, you’re ministering unto the Lord. This is what God has asked us to do. By the blood we can minister as unto Him. Then we minister to others. We minister thru prayer, thru intercession. We minister by activating God’s vast network of resources considering ourselves as priests doing His work. 1 Peter 2:5-9. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple.

What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ. This is what we’re doing in His presence, we’re offering up some sacrifices acceptable to God. Then in verse nine he tells us how much God likes it. “But you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, and his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” You’re a royal priesthood; you can come right into God’s presence. This is what we do you see in ministering unto Him and then in ministering unto others. Ministering to others, we do it thru prayer. And thru prayer we activate the resources of heaven.

God gave me a vision of the Christian in prayer and how as that Christian prayed he would push the buttons that would activate God’s hand that would send whatever agency was necessary to get the job done. At God’s command were hosts of angels that could come down and do it, there were people that didn’t even know God, unbelievers, God could needle in and say get going and help that person. There were other believers and God could say that person needs a five dollar bill, give it to them. God’s put it in some of your hearts to minister to people. There’s a person who needs a little bit of help over there. They just need a word of comfort, and you go and do it. See God sends the people to do it. Then there’s the power of the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Spirit thru His gifts. Then God has an agency that readjusts the circumstances. Not always do circumstances change, God often will change the person and leave the circumstances the same but God can even readjust circumstances.

Then in that vision God let me see Him calling His forces of nature, His creation to getting a swarm of bees to get out and do the job for Him. Bees can do two things, they can hasten people along, and they can do some other things. But I’ll never forget when my wife and I were in Washington and a bunch of aphids were eating up, they just came in overnight and landed in a big apple orchid. A man had only been a Christian about 3 months that owned the orchard but he had been told that God was real and he knew God was real so he figured if God was real He knew how to take care of things. So he went to fellowship meeting and asked, “What can I do against all of these aphids anyhow? So he went and told the people, told them to have a word of prayer with him so God would be reminded that there was a need over there. When he came home in the middle of the afternoon he heard a strange humming sound. And when God listened to that prayer he said, “What would be the best method to get rid of all of those. I could take a big wind and bring my heavenly vacuum cleaner and suck all those leaves clean. Now I’ve got a bunch of hungry bees over here that need the food, I’ll do two things at once.” So He gathered millions of hungry bees and dumped them into this man’s orchard and they had the biggest feast they ever had in their life.

They picked every aphid off of those leaves. There wasn’t one left. But God only sent enough bees to clean out that one field. Everybody else’s orchards were still filled with aphids. God has access to whatever agency, He knows. If it’s the weather God can change that. God isn’t bound in following only one little narrow channel in answering prayer like we think He is as long as He is in control of the whole universe. So in prayer we can minister and carry the blessing of God to others and share with them of His life and His love. That’s why we read that verse in first John the first chapter that our job is to declare unto others about this wonderful fellowship. And surely the thing that you really need in your life is to have fellowship with our heavenly Father.

It’s the search, it’s the hunger of men and woman down thru the ages just to be able to get close to God again and he said here it’s happened so we share it with you. And the work that we’re doing, the work that you’re doing in helping people, the main aim of that work is so that they can have fellowship with Jesus. Isn’t that right? Fellowship was made possible because of the blood. Without the blood there could be no fellowship at all. In conclusion, Jesus unlocked the grave with His blood. Hebrews 13:20 where it said that by His own blood He came forth from the grave. He unlocked heaven. With His blood He entered in the presence of God. With His blood He unlocked God’s heart. Hebrews 10:19 and 7:23.

Having therefore brethren boldness to enter now by the blood of Jesus, opened God’s heart. Hebrews 8:1. This is the summary of the whole thing. We have a priest now who is seated at the right hand of God. In the Old Testament priesthood the priest could not sit down. He had to stand the entire time that he was working signifying the fact that the work was never quite completed; it was a continuing thing year after year, year after year. But now it says Jesus finished the work and He sat down. He got it done. So we have a High priest today seated at the right hand of God. His sacrifice has been accepted, His work has been completed.

It’s all done. He looked at it and He said it’s working, there it is, the blood is there it’s incorruptible; it will just keep right on working. And Jesus looked at it and said, “Father how does it look?” God said, “I accept it, it’s done, it’s done, here have a seat.” He sat down, Jesus isn’t struggling. He’s not worrying. God isn’t worrying about it. God knows it’s good. It’s been good for nearly 2000 years and it’s not going to stop. Jesus is resting in assurance that it’s done. It’s made forever, no more need to be done.

And so He can’t figure out why in the world we’re so worried about it. God isn’t worried about it, He said it’s working. Jesus isn’t worried about it He sat down, He said it’s done. Let’s quit worrying about it and sweating about it. The blood has never lost its power. No never. Jesus’ blood avails for sin forever and will never lose its power. So he said there remains a rest for the people of God. When they can realize and catch a little bit of the message that Jesus had brought, that the blood will never be destroyed. That it’s incorruptible and that it will keep on doing the work, that it’s all powerful, it will just keep on moving, it will never, never, never cease.

When we can catch that glimpse then we can enter into that same rest. “For he who has entered into this rest has ceased from his own labors as God did from His.” I got so excited when the Lord revealed this to me that I could hardly stand it. And I would just love to have rubbed a little bit off on you. So He wants us to quit struggling. Right now God would be pleased if we would lift our hands toward heaven and thank God for the blood that’s still effective, our High Priest is still there, Hallelujah. Jesus we love you, thank you for the blood that has never lost its power. Jesus if there’s one person that feels that there’s distance between them and You I ask that at this moment it would be destroyed because of the Blood. To us what is that river? What is the visible tangible channel, what is the pipe that draws this river, that washes away the barrier, that washes away the records, that washes away the sin, that brings the life, that destroys the distance that’s between, what is the tangible thing that we can lay hold on? It’s the name of Jesus. This is the reason why I encourage people, and I’ll never get away from this because I see it’s the most effective way of drawing what God has provided that there can possibly be is asking people to call the name of Jesus, for as we call that name that name becomes a mighty pipeline and God pours thru it of this Life to us.

They that call on the name of the Lord, that name Jesus, shall be saved. That river flows, washes away the sin, and washes away the barrier. So all of these things that come to us, come to us by the name of Jesus. Right now I’m going to ask everyone in this place, I know there are different kinds of needs. I’m going to ask that we lift our hearts and breath from deep within the name of Jesus and let Him do whatever is necessary in our lives as that river flows from God’s heart right thru us. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus….

Chapter 10 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #7

The message God wove into His Word on the power of Jesus’ blood is like a brilliant diamond sparkling with many beautiful facets of truth. As the light of Heaven shines upon it we are overwhelmed by the beauty and the completeness of God’ plan of restoration. In this study we have seen a river of life from God’s heart burst forth at Calvary sweeping away the separating barriers, destroying the records of sin, bringing with it Divine Life, carrying us in its current to a place close to God’s heart. Another facet of beauty we will view in this lesson is the life of this blood and what it means to us. This is something that God made so real to me. He let me see the tabernacle in heaven. God let me see the beauties of the tabernacle. When he was dealing with me that night He let me see the tabernacle in heaven. It was cold, powerless, and lifeless; it was there put together and planned before the foundation of the earth. There it was, not in operation, waiting for the application of life which is in the blood.

And God let me see Jesus then taking His own blood and entering in and God said, “I want you to see the power of this blood, the life is in the blood.” So as Jesus went into the tabernacle He sprinkled the articles of furniture with His own blood. Suddenly all the wheels of God’s great plan began to turn, every sin from Adam on that was atoned for by the substitute plan that God had given in the earthly tabernacle and other ways that God had given thru blood. Suddenly all of those things that had been waiting, a great big back log waiting to take it away but God said those sacrifices could never take away sin being brought. Year after year they were waiting until the machine in heaven would start to move. The only way it could run would be by the blood of Jesus and all of these things that were waiting then, all of the sins and iniquities were destroyed. God let me see the power of the blood of Jesus in God’s great plan as it worked, reach out across the ages that still had not happened, clear to the end of time and draw every sin, every iniquity and also destroy the power of them. You realize there are many people that are still carrying sin. They haven’t availed themselves of what God has done. That’s why Paul said they are suffering the motions of sins that are already taken care of and that’s why John could say that He has become the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, for the sins of the whole world.

That’s why Paul said in Hebrews 10 that this Man when He made one sacrifice for sin forever. It’s done, it’s working, and He sat down at the right hand of God. It’s going to take care of the past, it’s going to take care of the present, and it’s going to take care of the future. I’d like to have you turn to Hebrews 9. I’m going to read it from the Living Bible. Now in that first agreement between God and His people there were rules for worship and there was a sacred tent down here on earth. Inside this place of worship there were two rooms. The first one contained the golden candlestick and the table with special loaves of holy bread upon it. This part was called the holy place. Then there was a curtain and behind the curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies.

In that room there was a golden incense altar, and the golden chest called the Ark of the Covenant completely covered on all sides with pure gold. Inside the ark were tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments written on them and a golden jar with some manna in it and Aaron’s wooden cane that budded. Above the golden chest were statues of angels called Cherubim, the guardians of God’s glory with their wings stretched out over the ark’s gold cover called the mercy seat. When all were ready the priest went in and out of the first room whenever they wanted to doing their work. But only the high priest went into the inner room and then only once a year all alone, always with blood which he sprinkled on the mercy seat as an offering to God to cover his own mistakes and sins and the mistakes and sins of all the people. And the Holy Spirit uses this to point out to us that under the old system the common people could not go into the Holy of Holiest as long as the outer room and the entire system it represents were still in use. Now this has an important lesson for us today. For under the old system gifts and sacrifices were offered but these failed to cleanse the hearts of the people who brought them, for the old system dealt only with certain rituals. What foods to eat and drink rules for washing themselves, rules about this and that. The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God’s new and better way.

He came as High Priest of this better system which we now have. He went into the greater perfect tabernacle in heaven not made by men or part of this world. And once and for all took blood into that enter room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, He took His own blood and with it by Himself made sure of our eternal salvation. “If under the old system the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of young cows would cleanse men’s bodies from sin just think how much more surely the blood of Christ will transform our lives and hearts. His sacrifice frees us from the worry of having to obey the old rules. God wants us just as clean and like Him as He always did, this is His highest goal. But He freed us from the worry of having to do it ourselves. His sacrifice frees us from the worry of having to obey the old rules and makes us want to serve the Living God. For by the help of the Eternal Holy Spirit, Christ willingly gave Himself to God to die for our sins.

He being perfect without a single sin or fault Christ came with this new agreement so that all who are invited may come and have forever all of the wonders that God has promised them. For Christ died to rescue them from the penalty of sins that they had committed while still under that old system.” Now let’s look at this and pick out a few verses from the Bible that you have, I want you to see how important this is. He said there was a tabernacle made and he tells all about it. All of these things were so important because God was showing here His attitude, His plan for helping man thru this life. There was the candlestick to give him light, God’s light. There was the table of showbread that spoke of communion that He had made it possible for man to have communion with Him. There was the brazen altar where it made it possible for a substitute for sin to be taken and there was that Holy Place. There was a laver of cleansing so that there would be that constant cleansing as we walked thru life. The cleansing was set right in the center of the laver so a person in walking toward where the throne was had to go past the basin, it wasn’t off to one side.

And then the beautiful alter of incense where he said, “Your prayers please God when you come to Him, and they ascend up as sweet incense in the nostrils of God. Then there’s that throne room where the heavenly beings stand with their wings outstretched over this altar, this throne of God. God said to Moses in Exodus 25, He said “there’s only one place in the whole universe that I’ll meet with man and that’s right there, there will I meet with You.” That’s the spot where you come and you identify and you’re accepted because all of your sins are underneath the mercy seat and I can’t see them, and all I see is the blood that’s sprinkled on the top of that and you can have fellowship then with Me, I’ll make myself real. Now all of this was already made in a pattern in heaven but it wasn’t working. It meant nothing yet, it had to have some life to work. This was a tedious thing for Israel to have to go thru every year; it had to be so detailed, so perfect. Because Christ was the one who followed those details. I’ve heard people teaching on the tabernacle and say in your worship every detail has to be just exactly perfect. You’re not Christ; you’re not preparing yourself for the sacrifice.

The work is already done there so it isn’t a matter now of you having to go thru. Christ sat down and made one sacrifice forever. He finished the work and the wheels were set in motion in heaven and they’re still turning. Christ provided the perfect sacrifice. He sat down at the right hand of God forever. He said it is working. In verse five He tells about that mercy seat, then in verse seven he said that the priest went in once a year but not without blood. Blood was so important to God because that was His plan and then he tells us in verse eight and this was the verse that God gave to me so clearly that night, “The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest where as yet the first tabernacle was still standing.” I see something here that God really spoke to my heart and that is this. People who are putting their faith in what their able to do by ceremony and by their own production cease to avail themselves of what Jesus has done and they’re still struggling.

There’s still that work, that detail, that frustration, the worry over these things. Paul mentioned this in Galatians chapter five verse four where he said, “Christ has become of no effect unto you,” He’s got the job all done but you’re trying to do it over again yourself. So we can’t justify ourselves by what we’re able to produce. We just as well say, “God I’ll come your way.” It’s a lot better anyway isn’t it? But sometimes people say, “No thanks God I’d rather do it myself.” Let’s just open our hearts and reach out and embrace what He has done. Praise God. Verse 11 and 12, “So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that great, perfect sanctuary in heaven not made by human hands and not part of this created world. Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves.

He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation forever.” I wish people wouldn’t try to weaken what God says by saying you don’t want to get too strong on things like this because if you do you might be bordering on eternal security. Well God didn’t say for us to shun eternal security, He says to claim eternal security because it’s there. He said He obtained eternal redemption for us. He did tell us that He wasn’t going to force it on us and if we took a bite and didn’t like it He wasn’t going to tie us there. He doesn’t want anybody in heaven who doesn’t want to go there. God does not do things half way. God doesn’t do things that aren’t good and He wouldn’t have given us a vehicle to carry us from this earth to heaven that would only get us half way. His plan was for a complete and wonderful salvation that would sweep us right on into heaven because He doesn’t do things half way. Whatever He did, the Word tells us, “He saw it and it was good,” and He did a good job.

So if we would quit looking for holes that we could fall out of and look at what God has prepared and what He’s doing we would be a lot better off. Leviticus 17:11 and verse 14, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given you the blood so you can make atonement for your sins. It is the blood, representing life that brings you atonement. The life of every creature is in the blood. That is why I have told the people of Israel never to eat or drink it, for the life of any bird or animal is in the blood. So whoever eats or drinks blood must be cut off.” These facets of truth that I want to show you, the power that the life of Jesus brings when applied, I showed you that the tabernacle in heaven and all of God’s great plan didn’t go into effect until the blood was applied and then it started to move. Now the same goes for the atonement. Because His blood is living and the blood of Jesus has all the power in that blood of the entire Godhead, all the power of creation is in that blood.

And so God told Moses “I want you to take that blood and because the life is in it it’s going to be able to make atonement, it’s going to be able to speak. When God looked down at that mercy seat and saw the blood, the blood carried a message to Him because the life of that animal that was slain represented life, and in tabernacle worship the priest could not say one word while he was in that holy place. There was to be no sound in that place. They couldn’t even make any sound in that place when they were building it. That was a holy place. When he came in, God wanted to let the people know that He listened to another kind of a voice. When he came in with that blood, the blood spoke. So when God let Paul have a glimpse of heaven and he saw the Father, Jesus, and an innumerable company of angels, he happened to look and he said, “There’s the blood and look it’s still speaking.” The blood he said is speaking to God. It’s eternal; it will never lose its power.

It carries a message, “God they’re forgiven, I’ve taken their place, and their sins are atoned for.” The blood is speaking before God. And so when Christ went in, His blood carried a message to God and when He applied it to that tabernacle all at once God’s ears picked up the message. The blood was speaking, it was saying, “they’re forgiven, their sins are destroyed, the records are gone, that blood of atonement.” God’s planning is so unique and beautiful. Every little old part of God’s plan is so well synchronized with everything else and to think that God would even make a word that would say what He wanted to say when there’s so many thousands and thousands of words. How could he put one together that was there, but He did. So in looking up the definition of this word which is in the Hebrew pronounced Kawhfer. And this word has nine definitions in that Hebrew dictionary. God included in that atonement when He made that atonement it just said everything that needed to be said.

The blood was speaking and here are the things that He covered in that. That word means first of all to cover. That’s what the blood’s doing. That atonement covers. God can’t see the sin. When you said, “Jesus I give you my life,” God took a blanket and covered your life. He imputed to you righteousness. You were covered with His robe of righteousness. You read that in Romans 4:22-24, “And because of Abraham’s faith God declared him to be righteous. Now this wonderful truth that God declared him to be righteous wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit.

It was for us too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead.” When you believe, and accept what He did, not what I’m doing, a couple of big angels takes that and covers your life. And God looks down at you and He says, “Perfect, perfect.” And so God looks at people, some real good people, some medium good people, some medium bad people and some that are real bad but they’re all putting their faith in Jesus and He says, “They’re all level.” Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:5, “not that we are sufficient to think anything of our self. But our sufficiency is Christ. Christ has become our sufficiency.” So what really has happened you see is that Jesus has to stand in the gap for this person way down here that’s real bad that hasn’t done good at all and Jesus makes up the gap. He doesn’t make him stick way above everyone else, He just makes him level. And so that person that’s standing on their tip toes, the most moral person in the world is a little bit short and Jesus says here quit stretching, let me make up the gap.

There’s no way we can reach it so He has to be our sufficiency. 1 John 2:2. “He is the propitiation for our sin and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” The word in the Greek for atonement is propitiation. So it means Jesus has become the covering for our sin. The second meaning that this word had was to expiate, to remove the old thing that was in the way, to cancel the dept. That’s what atonement is doing. When the enemy comes up and says, “Hey God, that person’s really in dept. I know they did this.” God says, “There’s a voice coming from this blood that says the dept is all taken care of.

And it has to keep speaking because we keep getting ourselves in trouble and the blood just has to keep on talking. It’s a message that just keeps on going up before God. The third meaning is to appease the wrath or the remove the cause of wrath so God is not angry anymore. We’re not enemies anymore. 1 John 1:7. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” It means to cleanse then. Then to disannul, this meaning is included. Disannul. This means to render the charges void or any records that were there, to render them void.

To obliterate the pronounced sentence, to remove whatever is there. The pronounced sentence of death abolished. The soul that sins it shall die but the atonement says, “I’m disannulling this thing that was against you, I’m destroying it.” Leaving this body isn’t death but that sentence of death that separates you from God is destroyed. 2 Timothy 1:10. “And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life thru the good news.” The sixth definition was forgiveness, restored to the original place in God’s heart the spot that He had when He created Adam and Eve. Then another meaning is to obtain mercy. The best definition is kindness with sympathy. People can be kind and still not feel.

But when mercy is shown, it’s kindness with sympathy. Hebrews 9:14. “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?” It purges. This atonement has a purging, cleansing influence. The last one mentioned there is to reconcile and to make peace. The third great work that the life in the blood does, you notice it made the tabernacle come alive, it made the atonement go to work because of the life of Jesus, it makes God’s Word come alive. Because of the blood the Bible can be more to you than just a book. It can be a living pulsating Word from God Himself. It is alive. Its life is in the Blood.

Hebrews 4:12. “For the Word of God is quick and powerful… God’s Word lives because Jesus is alive and so He said the Word is quick. Now that word quick means alive. So the Word of God, because of the blood of Jesus becomes a living, pulsating thing, different from all other books. The Bible has life circulating thru every page and every verse, it’s alive. No wonder it gets a hold of you and will do things for you that no other book can do. John 6:63 hear what Jesus said, “It is the Spirit that quickened, the flesh profited nothing. The Words that I speak to you are spirit and life.” 1 Peter 1:23-25. “For you have been born again and your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death.

But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living Word of God. As the prophet says, people are like grass that dies away; their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of wildflowers. The grass withers and the flowers fall away. But the Word of the Lord will last forever.” And that Word is the Good News that was preached to you. He spoke about the incorruptible seed. Peter tells you we have not been redeemed by corruptible things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ. Every drop that fell to the ground did not fall into the ground and become part of the ground and lost. The Word tells us that His blood was incorruptible. God kept every bit.

The picture that He gave in the tabernacle was when the blood of the sacrifice, when the sacrificial lamb was slain where it was butchered there, there had to be a little trough. The reason why he had to have it so exact God said, “I’m not going to let any of this fall to the ground. It is preserved forever, it’s incorruptible.” That’s why he said, “Forever oh Lord Your Word is settled and will never be destroyed.” Infidels have tried to destroy it, people have burned up the paper and the print but the Word just keeps going on. The Living Word. What are some of the blessings of the Word when it is alive? It comforts you, it inspires, and it brings peace. The Word is actually a companion. It rebukes us, it speaks to us. It convicts us.

It makes us feel like we’re standing on solid ground. It provides assurance. I jotted down a few of them here. The Word feeds us; the Word says that’s the way to go. The Word says if you can’t see where you’re going, here’s a light. It’s a light to our path. It reveals Jesus, the Word of God holds Him up in all of His beauty to us. The Word convicts and shows us where we have gone astray. Abundant victorious living is within the reach of all because of what has been accomplished by the blood of Jesus. Now we can have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

The past, present and the future are all included in the atonement. One of the things that trouble many people is the past. Then there’s another bunch of people that are afraid of what hasn’t happened yet. But all God gives you for strength is just enough for today so we get in trouble when we start pulling yesterday’s problem. We get in trouble when we pull tomorrow’s because you may never get there. Hebrews 9:24-28, “For Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear now before God as our Advocate. He did not go into the earthly place of worship, for that was merely a copy of the real Temple in heaven. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again like the earthly high priest who enters the most Holy Place year after year to offer the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary he would have had to die again and again ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all time, at the end of the age, to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial death for us.

And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died only once as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again but not to deal with our sins again. This time he will bring salvation to all those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Everybody knows that death is certain. If you believe that death is sure you can also believe that He will appear. So the blood of Jesus Christ tells us because of the power of His blood that He’s going to come back for us without sin, this time unto salvation. Without the living blood, God’s great plan of the sanctuary would be like a highly developed engine without a force to activate it. A lot of people don’t realize the present work of Jesus. The sacrifice flows as far as His light. This ties in with 1 John 1:7 where he said, “if we walk in the light, in fellowship with Him as He is the light, His blood just keeps on cleansing us all the time.

But if you quit and say God I know that you hate this thing but I’m going to break fellowship for a little while, I’m going to go out and do this thing that you hate, God says the sacrifice doesn’t flow that far. He has to come back and say, “Jesus let your blood flow again.” It’s a dangerous business for a person to take themselves out of God’s care. The Lord knows the way of the righteous and everything that happens in that sphere, beautiful fellowship. But the way of the unrighteous, those that get out from under this fellowship that are proving their unrighteous by wanting to willfully disobey God, that person is in an area where they will perish. The enemy can do a lot of things to you when you’re out of fellowship with God. Many are called but few have chosen to accept the call. God’s chosen them all. He wasn’t willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. He said when you’re making the foundation for the door of the tabernacle, take the name of every person, take a half a shekel and have one for every person in Israel and melt it all together and make the foundation out of it, so that the names are already recorded.

God will help them and urge them to get them to the door but there He said you have to choose. And they don’t confirm what God has until they choose themselves. So the thing that God wants us to do is to know that that sacrifice and the beautiful intricate plan that seems so complex but still so beautiful that even the very word that God chose would say everything God wanted it to say, the atonement, the blood is still speaking. When Paul had a chance to visit heaven he saw the spirits of just men made perfect and he said, “There’s the blood and it’s still speaking.”

Chapter 11 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, The Power of the Blood of Jesus #8

We see many bright rays of truth beamed to us from God’s message in blood. His wrath is turned away, the records of sin gone, distance between us has been removed, guilt is gone, and His life flows thru these mortal bodies. Though each of these truths speaks of a different need God meets thru his power, each is closely related and part of His total plan for man. In this study we will take a look at possibly the highest purpose God had in mind thru the flow of this crimson stream. And that is restoration to a place of communion, a oneness of spirit between God and man. And this folks is what communion really is, it’s not just the act of the taking of symbols of his death but it is a oneness of spirit between you and God. We see the importance first of all in communion. Exodus 12:13, 14, 24. In the Old Testament the communion as we know it was called the Passover. And so we’re reading about the Passover here.

“The blood you have smeared on your doorposts will serve as a sign. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt. You must remember this day forever. Each year you will celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. Remember, these instructions are permanent and must be observed by you and your descendants forever.” That word instruction or ordinance is a law and in this particular case because God gave it, it became a divine law. God gave this as a law because there’s no life in the individual without partaking of Jesus. And this Passover was a symbol of the Lamb that would come. And these families partook of the Lamb.

They used the blood for protection; they used the body for food for their physical health. And so the Word tells us in speaking about this that the body of Jesus, the reason many people are so weak and sick is because they haven’t discerned the Lord’s body. Their accepting the forgiveness which comes from the blood but they haven’t discerned the body. And when we partake of His life then we are not only taking the blood but of the virtues of His body. Now we may think the human body isn’t worth very much but to God it is of tremendous value, because in the atonement and in his plan before He ever started the world, He made provision for the health of the body. Because in His great plan He included, that’s why in Isaiah 53:4 he could say, “By His stripes we are healed.” Not discerning the Lord’s body, they’re weak. But when we are in God’s presence and we take the full focus of what He intended thru communion we receive emotional healing, physical healing, and spiritual healing. That’s why Paul in his prayer in the fifth chapter of first Thessalonians said, “I pray God that your whole spirit, your whole soul, and your whole body will be preserved.” Well, God made room for preservation and any time we get off on just one little binge or another we’re missing God completely.

His life provides this. It doesn’t mean that if a person is sick that they’re not partaking of His life. God’s timing and God’s purposes, He’s looking at it from a different angle than we are. His mercies are new every day and each day may be that day that we look forward to. And even physical health isn’t always what people assume it to be but when you come into God’s presence and He shares His life with you, you feel that glow and that flow. There are people that have the anointing of the Spirit just as strong that may not receive the physical evidence of healing. But they have evidences that His life is there. You can go your way happy, rejoicing even though you may have some symptoms of these things that are there. If God has touched you, you can thank God. Many of the people that I have seen healed in just recent weeks have been healed without them even asking God for it, without me knowing anything about it.

But God certainly knew and when His life came it took care of it. I think of one lady in particular, Ms. Cora. She came in my room almost dead and left almost dead. She came in sad dead and walked out happy dead. But it was 3 days later when the symptoms of health came to her life. This beautiful provision that God has made, He said, “I want it to be a law forever.” This was the Passover. And so the children of Israel every year had to keep that Passover. When Jesus came He said, “I’m taking away the old covenant, I’m bringing in the new at the completion of my sacrifice.

Now the Passover isn’t done away with, but the real Passover lamb has come. Now you’re able to partake of the real Lamb and the real blood. It won’t be a matter of postponing or the symbol of the real, you will be partaking of the real. So when we think of the power of the blood, of the breaking down of the barrier, the reconciliation, of the removing of the records, of the removing of the pollution of sin. All of these things were brought to man in order to bring about communion. God wanted to prepare man so he could have communion with him once again. The only guarantee of acceptance before God is the blood. That’s why it says the blood shall be to you a token and when I look at it, when I see that the blood is there you’re accepted before Me. And that blood is the mark. John 6:53-57.

The blood is the only source of divine life. “Jesus said, I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them at the last day. For my flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. All who eat my flesh and drink my blood remain in Me, and I in them. I live by the power of the living Father who sent Me; in the same way; those who partake of Me will live because of Me.” There’s that fellowship, that communion now, partaking of Him and we live by Him, we have this life. But He said if you don’t do it you have no life in you and in this case He said if you do, we’ll abide together, we’ll have fellowship. And then the promise of the resurrection or of the rapture which ever case may be.

1 Corinthians 11:30. “For this reason many are weak and sickly among you.” The verses leading up to this is telling about communion and the need of partaking of Him. And it speaks about eating and drinking unworthily. And this has been held as a threat to people for years and years and years. And the interpretation has been totally wrong, that the drinking unworthily would be if you had something in your heart that wasn’t right. But what he’s telling you here if you eat and drink unworthily you’re eating and drinking if your faith is not in the blood. If your faith is in what you have accomplished, if you can sit there and say, “I’ve done this and this and this and everything is okay so I’m worthy, you’re not availing yourself. He used the term here that he has never expanded into a doctrine so what he says here about eating and drinking damnation he’s using as background material showing that a person is not availing themselves of the life that there is. Jesus said in John 3:17-18, he said, “he that receives Him not is condemned already.” So you’re just eating and drinking in that state of condemnation because you haven’t accepted Him, His life and His body, you’re depending on what you can do.

And I think that many times Christians because of teaching and God has not judged them because God knows the reasons why and God looks at the heart, where we look at the action and in many cases God doesn’t write it down because He sees the pressures that are causing it and knows it is not the true feeling of a person’s heart. They’re doing what they feel is expected in pleasing God and God sees this but it does rob the person then of the ability to let their faith take hold of what Jesus has done. When we feel that I can’t take today because there was a little something that passed into mind that wasn’t right, I’m guilty of some sins of omission, I could have done some good that I didn’t do. We had a little altercation at our house and I didn’t speak as nice as what I should have spoken. And we start looking at all of these reasons and when you start looking for reasons why you shouldn’t partake of Jesus, Satan will never let you run out of reasons. He’ll keep them piped in there coming just as fast. So the Lord said don’t look for those reasons, look for the reasons why you can, that blood is for you. The blood that was shed for you in communion now is taken now and given to you. We can partake of it and let it become part of our life, the injection of divine life. When your faith is not in the blood it’s got to be in something else and usually the emphasis is on, have you examined yourself to see whether there are some things in you that would keep you from God.

There’s no mention of that at all. When he says let a man examine himself and so let him eat, he’s letting a man examine himself to see whether he’s putting his faith in that blood. God isn’t looking for reasons to condemn people; He came that we might have life. For the first 1750 years of the Christian experience they didn’t teach that, that didn’t start until the last part of the last century. Somebody got an idea where they needed to start putting people with that. But it wasn’t in any print; it wasn’t accepted in any of the writings of the people down thru those years until the last part of the last century. And then all of a sudden people started saying, “you’ve got to struggle and climb to a place of almost perfection before you could even take the life.” It’s as much as saying you need to be strong and perfect before you’re even alive. Jesus said if you don’t take it you don’t have any life. I’m encouraging people if you want Jesus you hold the key right in your hand when you hold that cup, and put your faith in what He has done.

And the Lord isn’t making it just a psychological thing with them, a change of mind. He is saying I like that and He’s pushing the switch and their lives are turning around. The new birth is coming and it happens. Our real communion that we have with God when we accept Him is not necessarily the celebration that we have. We feed on Him and He feeds on our fellowship as we are in His presence. Everyday we’re having beautiful communion but those times when we have celebration we’re celebrating what we’re doing. The blood that God has sprinkled on our life, you can’t see that but God can. It just happens every day as you’re in fellowship and you’re communing with Him. You’re feeding His heart and He’s feeding you, that’s communion. I’ve had some church of Christ people ask me how come you don’t have communion every Sunday.

I would hate to have to wait seven days before I had communion. The Lord wants us to have it every day, and if a person wants to celebrate every week, wonderful. But that is just a symbol of what really happens. And the Lord comes and celebrates with you. God wasn’t nearly as interested in the details as He was in getting people into communion. That’s the reason why you notice under King Hezekiah in 2nd Chronicles 30:17-20. There’s the story of those people who hadn’t purified themselves after the purification of the temple. They hadn’t examined themselves to see whether they had some bad feelings or other things and here they were taking of the Passover and scared the Priests half to death. And so the Priests came to Hezekiah and said, “What are we going to do? Those people haven’t followed the rules.” And Hezekiah said “well, let’s find out what God thinks.

And so he said, “God what about this?” And God said, “I like it” and He forgave all of them. Then it’s placed in New Testament worship. The completed sacrifice of Jesus activated a new covenant. So it fulfilled the Law of Moses and began the law of Christ, the law of love which is written on the heart. And he tells about this in Hebrews 8:6-13 about how Christ began the New Covenant, he said that new law I’m going to write on the fleshly tablets of the heart. He was ushering in a new covenant. The new covenant is this and I want you to memorize this new covenant because this is what you’re living under right now and this blood is the seal of the new covenant. Here it is, “I will be merciful to your unrighteousness and I will not remember your sin.” That’s the new covenant. And he said this blood that I give you is the blood of the new covenant.

It’s the life of the new covenant. I will be merciful to your unrighteousness; He didn’t say I’m going to spare you people that are righteous. I will be merciful to your unrighteousness and your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more because here’s the blood. God made this real to me and included it during that night when He gave me this message on the blood. But because it hadn’t yet been revealed in the way that God is moving now, the impact didn’t strike me and for several years I didn’t move into that though I had it written out. I had forgotten that I even had it written there until I took them out and put them together for these lessons. I saw that the thing that God revealed to me then and made real to me was the same beautiful truth. There’s another truth here. Jesus made that statement; there is no life without the blood. In talking about communion, Matthew 26:26-29, “As they were eating, Jesus took the blood and blessed it and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “take, eat, this is my body” and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, “drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

But I say unto you I will not drink hence forth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father’s kingdom.”” One of the things that was so beautiful when I pulled out these notes and read the truth that now takes on new meaning. As I read this and looked in the commentaries and the Greek and Hebrew Scholars and all, they have put this time that Jesus is speaking about into the kingdom reign where Jesus said this is the last time; I will not do it until my Father’s kingdom. But in looking at these notes that I scribbled out that God put in my heart, Jesus said, “the completion of my sacrifice began the kingdom life.” He tied that with Isaiah 55:3 where he said the kingdom covenants and also in Isaiah 54 where He said, “these are the covenants of the kingdom that I will make to the people who incline their ear and listen and their souls begin to live and are sharing that life.” The kingdom is theirs. All the kingdom life and promises belong to the people that are part of His kingdom. I read those notes and got so excited because I had written down in the New Covenant that Jesus in Revelation 3:20 said, “Look, I stand at the door and knock, now if any man hears my voice and will open the door, I’ll come in and we’ll have communion together and we’ll sup together.” It isn’t something that’s way off in the future but it’s right now. Jesus is there supping with us right now.

And God was concerned about this because I had written right there that if this were something of a future date then we also have to put the promise of the new covenant of a future date where His mercy to unrighteousness and His forgiveness of sins would have to be some other time because that’s the covenant. It’s all the same. I will not eat with you until that kingdom day but my New Covenant is when it begins, your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more. So if we take that we have to take the other two that the kingdom promises aren’t right now. So when you take communion and you hold that cup in your hand or in the morning or any time when you have wonderful communion with God, Jesus Himself is supping with you. He’s there. If you ever want to get right close in His presence at communion, look across the table so to speak, Jesus is there. He’s there supping with you. Communion means a two way street. Just one person doing all the talking isn’t communion.

So Jesus said, “I’m feeding you of My life but you’re feeding Me with your life because I feed on your worship, on your love. When he told the disciples, “I have meat to eat that you know not of,” He wasn’t eating something else, He was merely drawing from the adoration of a person that He was leading to Himself. And when Martha said, “Lord command that lazy sister of mine to get out here and help get your meal ready.” Jesus said, “I’m eating right now. This is the best meal Mary’s giving me. I’m feeding, I’m having communion, there’s oneness of spirit.” So what the Lord is telling us is that when I finish my sacrifice and the Old Covenant is done away and I bring in the new then we’re going to have another time of communion together.

Chapter 12 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Pillars of Eternity #3

We’re on number three of pillars of Eternity. Everything that God is doing and has planned is pertaining to man. Can you imagine how great God is with all He has to do with the trillions and trillions of stars out there and billions of angels, and still his highest work is yours. When we think about the fact with all that God has to do, and think of the expanse of time and how it goes on in every direction, and in spite of all of this we’re the most important thing that God has to do. People are God’s highest business. When you look in the mirror you got to quit looking at yourself as some scrub, no good fifth string. You’re worth so much to God that everything He’s doing is based on how he can help you. We talked about the value of man; we talked about the death of Jesus and the great time of Passover. Today I feel that this message is one of the most important of all of these great pillars. When I think about all that God has to do, one of the most important things is making a way where you can come back in where you can have some fellowship with Him.

One of God’s pillars of eternity is the fact that He wants to talk with you and have some fellowship. That’s where communion time is, communion means the intermingling of our spirits, our heart, it’s a two way street. It’s pretty hard for me to have communion with Nate here if Nate’s looking around and has a thousand other things on his mind and I keep talking to him and I don’t get anything back from him. That’s just talking. But in a service I can hear the agreement of recognition of God’s truth, I know we’re having communion. This is a high priority with God. There are seven pillars of eternity and one of the most important is communion and fellowship with God. Genesis the third chapter verses 8-10 and 23-24. There was a time when man enjoyed communion with God. It was so rich, so wonderful.

In the cool of the day the Father came down and walked with Adam and Eve and there was fellowship. He came again one day and something happened. He came again in the cool of the day and Adam hid himself from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees in the garden and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, “Where art thou?” And Adam said, “I heard your voice in the garden. And I was afraid because I was naked I hid myself.” Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from where he was taken. So he drove out the man and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim’s and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Man had wonderful fellowship at one time but fellowship was broken and man walked away from God. He walked and got farther and farther away until man became so depraved. But God laid a plan whereby man could be restored to fellowship. God wanted people in heaven who wanted to be there because they chose to be there.

And before God ever made the world he made a plan whereby fellowship could be restored. Now for a long period of time, God did not lose touch with man but man could not come into His presence. He had to have a representative go in for man to God. God had a great veil hung in the tabernacle. The high priest went in once a year on the Day of Atonement. God kept contact with man, looking forward to a time when the veil would be removed and all mankind could come back into His presence again. Matthew 27:55. In this portion of scripture telling about that great sacrifice where Jesus’ blood was shed, you see, Jesus when He died, He not only died one death, he died two deaths. In His physical death, he literally felt the flash of judgment. In that spiritual death He felt the sting of separation forever and He tasted that second death for us.

In this death, verse 51, “and behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent.” You notice in verse 50, “Jesus when He had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost, Jesus Himself when He died had cried it is finished.” And he died and when he died that veil which was a type of His flesh of the doorway into God’s presence ripped from the top to the bottom. It was a thick veil, it was very heavy cloth woven but it wasn’t torn as man would tear it. Man could not make a way into God’s presence but God Himself reached down those heavy hands and He tore it open. He said, “it’s my plan, it’s a pillar of all of eternity that I find a way to restore man back, and here it is. And from the top God’s side to the bottom the veil was rent. When Jesus died. And all mankind, Gentiles, Jews, Arabs, whoever who would come to Him because of that body that was torn, Jesus in His death, putting their faith in what He has done. Hebrews 10:19-20.

When Paul was in the presence of the Lord, God gave him a beautiful view of this. I think it’s so terrific, the clarity and the unfolding of God’s big plan here. He’s talking about this death of Jesus and verse 10, “by which we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.” I like it even in verse five where Jesus is speaking and he said, “a body has thou prepared me?” God’s planning was so beautiful, that penalty that was due man could be taken care of. And then in verse 19 and 20, now because of what happened. “Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest, the place where God dwells, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us thru the veil, that is to say His flesh.” Boldness, how about it, have you been there lately? Have you had some communion and fellowship with God? Have you just chatted with Him like you can chat with a friend? Do you know that stereotyped prayers just don’t get the job done? Stiff, formal worship smells in God’s nostrils. His great desire is come, let’s talk it over. Come, let’s reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, when you come they will be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool.

Can you see how much God loved you? See His plan was to make the way so that you could come back into His heart. Don’t you love Him? Right where you’re seated why don’t you just look up and give Him a big thanks for what He’s done for you. Father we thank you, we love you, we love you this morning, we’re glad that you have made the way whereby we can come and have fellowship again. Praise God. Then he tells us since this is the case, since its open, let us draw near, let’s come because He’s called us and it’s what we need. Draw near with a true heart and a full assurance of faith. Then the call that God has told us to issue to people is to come into this fellowship. 1 John 1:1-7. Here is the message that God has for the world today; it’s for every one of us. “That which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you might have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” He said we’re telling you these things, we’re writing it; we’re declaring it so that you can have fellowship. The result, the purpose of every message that comes with a heartbeat is so that you can have fellowship. It’s important to God. It’s one of the pillars of eternity. It’s that important to Him. Then he goes on to say not only that you might have fellowship, but when you have fellowship your joy will be full, you can be happy again. “This then is the message that we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” As we’re walking arm in arm with Jesus in fellowship with Him things may fasten themselves on us but the great heart of God is beating, beating, beating and the blood is flowing, flowing to every part cleaning away our spiritual systems just as your heart keeps your body clean, it’s a cleansing agent, it’s a life giving agent. The blood of God. As long as God’s heart is beating, while your faith is in Him you can be cleansed. There’s cleansing every day, every hour. When you go to sleep at night, you don’t have close your eyes with fear hoping that if something happens to you and you die before you wake up, His heart keeps on beating all thru the night keeping you cleansed, the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin. Then in Revelation 3:20, Jesus Himself is making a call and He said, “behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into Him and sup with him and he with Me.” We’ll have some fellowship, we will have some communion. And then he tells us in verse 17 of the last chapter in the Bible, he said, “the Spirit and the Bride say come,” the veil is torn.

The barrier has been destroyed, you can come now. And the Holy Spirit is so active today and is speaking and ministering to men and women everywhere and His message is this, “come, you can come now, God is inviting you to come and shake hands with Him. Come and have some fellowship.” The Spirit says, “Come. The Bride which is the church, the church everywhere in these days is echoing the call come, come. God says, “You can come now.” That’s why we read over in first John 1-7, telling you all of these things that you might have fellowship, you might be able to come and have fellowship again with God. Then he went on to say, “let him that thirsts, let him who hears say come.” People are hearing the call, they’re seeing what God is doing and they’re echoing the words. Then those who are a thirst regardless of where they are, the call goes to them, “come and whosoever, let him come and take of the water of life freely.

Hallelujah. I can’t help in thinking of the restoration of fellowship thru Jesus’ death, thru His body, I can’t help but thinking of an incident I heard one time. There was a problem between a husband and wife. And the problem became so critical, it didn’t seem as though they could settle it. They lost communication. They lived in the same house for awhile but it was like living with strangers. They got by with yes’s and no’s that was about it. They had lost communication. Finally the husband moved out, it’s pretty hard to live in a place and keep your sanity if you don’t have communication. God feels the same way about you; He wants to communicate with you.

But the husband moved out, their little six year old girl became very, very ill after they have been separated for a time. And everything was done that seemingly could be done. The mother had many, many nights that she could not ever sleep because her little daughter was sick. The doctor told the mother one day that it didn’t seem like there was anything she responded to. No type of medication and so it’s only a matter of time. Where’s your husband? Would you call your husband, the desire of this little girl is that she at least gets a chance to see her daddy. The girl didn’t know how sick she was but down inside she may have. So after a little search they found the father and he came, and the father and the mother still were not speaking, it was an embarrassment to the two of them to be in the same room. But the little girl told the mother would you kneel down by my bed and she did. She asked the father if he would kneel down at the other side of the cot, the father knelt down there.

And then with the last little bit of strength that she had she reached out to her mother and took her hand. She reached over and she took her father’s hand and with what little bit of strength was left in that weakened body she pulled their hands together and held them there. This was the last thing that little girl did. When I read that, and it has been numerous times that I’ve thought about it, how God has planned for us in that plan in restoring communication and fellowship. Jesus reached out with His Divine hand and took hold of the Father’s hand. For God and man were enemies. The Word tells us this, you read it in Ephesians the 2nd chapter, and “while we were enemies we were reconciled by the death of His Son.” Jesus reached up and took hold of God’s big hand and with His human hand He reached down and took hold of ours. And there on the cross He pulled ours together. A man whose drifting enmity with God again had an open light of communication.

Jesus did it and His death, the most important thing, one of the pillars that supports God’s plan for the ages to come is the fact that He wanted you so badly that He took the very best that He had, Jesus, allowed Him to take our place in death that we might take Jesus’ place in God’s heart. Doesn’t that make you love God? That’s exactly what He did for us. Today there’s that constant reminder, that communion, communication has been restored. Then I think of the emblems of our communion service. I hear that loud message that because of what these stand for, my sin has been judged on Jesus’ body. When God’s wrath, God’s justice, justice was met when God’s wrath struck Jesus. My sins have been judged, yours have been judged. As you hold that piece of bread in your hand God is reminding you that right there your payment was paid in full, your dept was paid in full. Every sin that you could ever commit of all time, those that will ever be committed was placed on Him. Your sin was judged there.

God knowing that we would need to be reminded of this gave us and told us to have services just like this. Where we remember when it happened and how it happened and we can be reminded ourselves and we can hurl this message in the face of the enemy. As we hold the cup in our hands we can say, “My sins, every one, have been atoned. My body, my soul and my spirit can be free because of what Jesus has done.” Now as Paul said I can come boldly before the throne of grace, boldly in fellowship with Him. Many, many people are still living, even believers as though the veil was still hanging. And they have no fellowship. They still feel that somehow they have to atone for their own sin. They live as though that veil is hanging. Worship is mechanical, a mechanical action, and a cold formal lifeless thing.

Others are living as though this veil has to be torn every few days over and over and over again. In order to have peace with God each time they come there has to be a tearing again of the veil but God says He did it once and for all. I think we ought to let the heavens echo with a loud hallelujah on that. Will you do it? Hallelujah. Praise God. Jesus did more than knock a homerun for you. He literally opened up a way for man to have fellowship, the most important thing of our lives. So the Spirit is saying, “Come,” the Bride is saying, “come,” those who hear are saying “come.” His church is saying, “come” and then Jesus said, “I am here standing at the door knocking” because not only does God want to have that fellowship and communion but He wants to have it with you. Praise the name of the Lord.

Praise God. “Jesus, you opened up a way, oh Jesus because of your love for us.” Hallelujah. Praise God. Some of you have come this morning with such uncertainty, such a longing. You’re thinking if only I could reach Him and have fellowship but you’ve held back. There have been some things that have stood in your way. God is telling you now the barriers are down, you can come. I had a young man in my office yesterday whose heart was so warmed. He came in and said he had been a member of another faith but that Jesus hadn’t been as real as he desired.

And someone allowed him to read the book where he read about what I’m talking to you about this morning. And he came in and we had some prayer. I felt God selected him to hear. Now we’re going to have communion right now. We’re going to literally say, “Lord since you opened the door, I am coming.” And as we partake, these emblems are given to us by God to remind us of the great plan that He has made. And I want just the breathing of your spirit to go out to Him in a two way communion and fellowship. There’s healing in this communion. There’s life in this communion, brand new life. There’s hope in this communion, the darkness can be moved away.

There’s liberation from bondage, and from depression in communion with God because He is the Light. There’s cleansing in this light. This communion is not only for believers but those of you who have come who have longed for fellowship with Jesus. I want you to come and by holding that cup in your hand, I want you to say, “Jesus my faith is in not in my ability or lack of ability. My faith is in what you have done for me.” As you hold it, I want that to be your prayer as you hold that cup and something is going to happen to you today. A new birth takes place, God becomes real. A whole new day dawns for you. So we encourage every person here, those who may have been following the Lord a far off. Those who may have been like Adam and Eve, hiding themselves from God, I want you to come out into the open.

God is restoring fellowship with you today. Praise God. When the Lord gave Himself, His atonement was for all three areas of your life. He took care of your spiritual sickness thru the shedding of His blood. He took care of your emotional and your physical needs by the breaking of His body. So today as you partake you can literally draw from Him of His life. If you’re depressed, depression must leave in the presence of Jesus. If there are bodily afflictions, God has your answer. Every communion service there are people who are healed in their seats who observe this communion. Our last communion service there was a man sitting right here in the front row.

And as he lifted the glass to his lips the cataracts that were on his eyes that made everything seem like it was in a fog was blown back by the breath of God and it’s still off, the fog is still gone. Because Jesus was there proving Himself. He took the very best that heaven had in order to make the plan that you might be brought back. God wanted us so badly. Today we express the same feeling. We want you more than anything in this whole life. We must have you Lord. And Jesus opened up the way.

Chapter 13 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, The Throne Room Experience #1

On Saturday evening I was seated at my desk, and I was praying and meditating, preparing my heart for Sunday. I had my head down on my arm at the desk and suddenly it seemed like I was transmitted right out of that room. I was aware of the brightness of God’s glory. God spoke to me and said, “Come with me into the throne room where the secrets of the universe are kept.” And it was like, boom, we were there. Space means nothing with God. While there I had a chance to look over God’s shoulder at some things and the things that I could only see thru a glass darkly were clear and I could see how the pieces fit together of what God is doing. There were countless numbers of angels everywhere on this earth. Another thing that was so beautiful to me, the seeming piety that people want to apply to their lives when they think about the things of God was totally absent, there was none of it. Everything was on a light, happy relaxed basis, real brightness.

I didn’t feel like I was walking on eggs, I didn’t have to walk on eggs. I was just there. And I didn’t have to think twice what I was going to say for fear I would displease someone, it was just openness. But one thing that the Lord so emphasized to me was, for us to quit worrying about His responsibilities. And He actually let me see people who are trying to produce by how much they can get their mind possibly in tune with Him. And by thinking just exactly right or saying the right word at the right time or thinking the right thing in producing these things. God so emphasized to me, “that’s my business, you worship me, walk with Me, and put your hand in mine, and I’ll give you the privilege of moving with Me.” But he said, “Let me do my own worrying about My business, about what I’ve promised, because I’ll take care of it, I haven’t failed in all of this time.” Not one word has failed in all of His good promise, it isn’t about to fail now. He let me know that money isn’t going to have a whole lot of value, except as it’s used for God, as people throw themselves in it for God, but those who will, He will open the channel wide.

There will be no limit to what He will bless them with thru them. He also let me know that things aren’t all that bad here; this earth is a wonderful place. And the whole earth is filled with His glory. He let me see a continued increasing of turning of people to Himself. Not a backing away, not a surrendering of the church, not a church heading underground, but a church triumphant. One thing He did for my help, he showed me a paper that He had prepared that would pertain to me and my ministry and this church, and others who would be affected by the church. That paper had well over 100 events listed with dates when they would happen, and the names of the people that would be involved. There were events of tremendous victories, and as I saw it, it was like imprinted on my heart. He took me into my office and let me see a lady that had been involved in witchcraft. He told me to bind the spirits and remove them from her and set her free.

So I did. On Tuesday night she came to my office, so I bound the spirits and set her free. I was totally relaxed and at ease with God. I want to let you know, you don’t have to put your best foot forward when you’re with the Lord because He knows even what your worst foot looks like. No use putting on an act or trying to make an impression, just be yourself around Him. I was seemingly with the Lord for several months. I could have filled a volume of several hundred pages of all of the things I saw. But there’s something about the dimension of eternity that you can’t quite identify with time. Less than 5 minutes had gone by on my watch. I wouldn’t have had time to even have read that paper and digest it in that five minutes of time.

That’s all of the time that elapsed. But with God, with eternity it’s not run by time or calendars. Time is just for this earth. So eternity isn’t going to be a long drawn out thing that you have to start pulling the pages off of the calendar to measure what time it is. It isn’t some long boring extension of time. It isn’t time at all. It’s just a glorious experience of being. I want you to know that things aren’t half as bad on this earth or as far out of control as we think they are. God still knows what He’s doing. And the numbers of angels are innumerable.

It’s an innumerable company of angels. If it comes to your turn to leave this earth, don’t worry about it because it’s not a drag. And if things get bad here don’t worry about that either because the Lord let me know that this is still a pretty good place down here. Make the most of it, live it for God and be happy. Use all of the beautiful things that He’s put together because God isn’t as concerned about a lot of little things that people have put their red flags on as what we are. He asks us to walk with Him and love Him and we aren’t going to have to look for all the poisons and these other things, but He wants us to look at what He’s doing. The grace of God and the glory of God fill the whole earth.

Chapter 14 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Throne Room Experience #2

Like Paul of old, the wonders and glories of that place find no adequate description in human language. In the first message I referred to a list of 120 events that God handed me. During that visit God gave me a glimpse of the secrets of the universe all bearing the same beautiful trademark. He took me from Genesis to Revelation giving me an overlay of truth that added a beauty and unity to the whole bible. He allowed me to view His record and planning books. He allowed me to see the believers standing with God and the safety and the sureness of God’s defense for every person who has put their faith and trust in God. He allowed me to see blueprints for many lives. He allowed me to see the plan book of the apostle Paul. God in the planning of his life determining that he would be used to bring the gospel to kings and rulers and men in authority caused him to be tutored by the great teachers of his day, finally being tutored by the greatest teacher of that day Gamaliel. He gave me a peek into Abraham and Sarah’s record book.

I saw records of things as their hospitality to strangers. How they watered their camels, and the compassion they had for those who had less than they did. I failed to find the times when Abraham stumbled. So I asked God, “where is the other book?” God said, “I have no other book. But I do not record failure.” This is a beautiful hope. God allowed me to see loved ones who had gone on before, and believers who had passed from this life to watch them come. He let me see families as they were alerted by the angels that a loved one was coming home and for them to ready themselves to meet them and welcome them. And these people all had heavenly bodies. They were identifiable, they looked just exactly as they looked here minus the cares and the hurts and the other problems.

There was tremendous joy and excitement and happiness. Every day was a day of new expectation for them, because the things of God were so real and it was a place of continual discovery of the beautiful things of God. One of the greatest truths this message brings to each one of you who hear is the assurance that God has scheduled each day of your lives as well. As you walk with Him He will direct your path, and though unknown to you will bring to pass His purpose for you just as surely as He caused to happen the events given to me that day in the throne room.

Chapter 15 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Religion or Relationship?

There is something so special taking place in the world today. People that have gone to church for years, people that have had various creeds they had been following, people that had a certain faith in following the steps of their parents are finding a new awakening taking place in their heart. God is putting His finger on millions of lives and they’re not being turned away from things that are real to them but they’re finding a sense of incompleteness. This awakening is causing them to reach out to see if there is something more that God has for them. And as a result the nominal Christian is beginning to find a new stir as the life of Jesus touches them and they have awakened and they have met God. And their religion turns into a relationship. When you meet Jesus that’s exactly what happens. The definition of religion tells us what it is. Religion is a system of faith and of worship, a system of discipline. Religion is something that has become a binding substitute for a God ordained relationship.

Before Jesus came, God in an effort to point people to His plan instituted a religion for the Hebrew people and it was filled with forms and with rituals. Other types of religions based on followers, depending on the country, have their religions. There are so many different kinds of religions today you would have a hard time identifying all of them. In India there are over 800000 separate gods. But in Hebrews 8:10 he said the old laws, the old religion that was written on tables of stone that became such a binding way for the children of Israel that they could not even abide by the laws, he said He had taken them out of the way and instead had written on their hearts, brought them into a relationship with Himself and He said, “I will be to them a God and they will be to me a people. We will change religion into a relationship. They will be mine, I will be theirs.” Praise God. I would like to have you turn in your Bibles to a verse of Scripture over in Isaiah 57. We’re going to give you a number of verses to follow along.

I trust that God will minister to our hearts as we look at the relationship that the Lord desires for us to have. Reading verse 15, “For thus says the high and the holy One that inhabits eternity whose name is holy. I dwell in a high and holy place, God’s throne, God’s dwelling place in heaven. With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” I want you to think of God as awesome as He really is. Think of the billions of stars out there. Think of the universes that exist, think of the vastness. Mentally travel out there ten trillion miles and draw a line. Take a fast rocket out there for a couple of million years. Take another look out there and you’ll find just as much on the other side.

When you stop and think about it, can you comprehend space? It is vast, it’s beyond our comprehension. When we think of one personality being in control of the whole thing, it makes God look awful big doesn’t it? I think of a verse in Isaiah that tells us that God measures all of the vast heavens with a span of his hand from the tip of his finger to the tip of his thumb. God is big, God is mighty. And if he didn’t control those things think of all of the collisions you would be having all of the time. God’s plan is so intricate that the entire universe moves like the fine machinery of a clock. This universe as big and vast as it is stays right on all of the time. It is so accurate, they have instruments where they can count back down thru the years, 2000 years, 3000 years, 4000 years and they can tell you exactly where each star was at a given time. Someone has even invented a little model where you can create the heavens the way they are on any given day just by adjusting them. Isn’t God a big God? People recognize there has to be a great Creator. Many of them know Him as the great Creator but can you imagine this now, this great Creator that dwells in a high and holy place somewhere running all of this told me that I want to live inside of your home.

And so I’d just like to tell you this today. If you love God, this One who is in charge of everything is living in your house. I dwell in this place but also with you to revive you, to help you, to strengthen you. Then He tells us all of the good things He does for us. When you think of God I want you to think of this personal relationship now. He is your personal God, He belongs to you. You don’t have to say like some of the writers, He’s the God of Abraham. Or He’s the God of Jacob. But you can say He’s my God. In Him I’m going to trust.

Beautiful relationship. When we think of God we think of worship. Every person that’s born in this life has a sanctuary that’s built, God shaped. You put anything else in there and it’s like putting a piece of a picture puzzle that’s cut wrong, it just doesn’t fit. And the world today keeps cramming something else in that void God left for Himself. It’s there. Man has to have an object, somebody to worship, somebody to fill that void. And they’re reaching for one thing and then another but its God shaped and a man or a woman will never be completely happy and satisfied and fulfilled until God comes in and takes the place, until He’s invited in and takes that place. And then it is not just knowing that He’s there. It’s not just having some ritual to follow but it’s becoming related to Him, He is my God, my very own God.

Talk about worship. Worship is so important. True worship. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. And in our day there is a great new awareness of the meaning and the value of worship. We can worship God as you’re doing now seated, listening to the Word of God. You can worship in thru singing. These girls at this meeting the other night worshiped God, one of the girls told me that it was 2:30 in the morning and Jesus came and filled her with His Spirit. The leader of the missionetes made a statement that time stopped with these kids because they were in worship. You know when you’re just loving Jesus it turns into a little bit of eternity.

Time somehow stops and it becomes a state of being, you’re in His presence, you’re loving Him. Oh how we need worship. We’re living in such a busy, rushed world. We must have time to quiet our hearts and just worship our God alone. Not just the whole church but we need that secret place, that place of quiet rest of drawing from Him. When God says I am your God, I’m going to live with you, God is telling you He belongs to you, and He is your personal God. When we think of God it also speaks of a real respect. A respect because of who He is. Respecting His Laws, His desires, His person, his house, respect of warnings. When we think of God it not only speaks of worship and respect, it speaks of reverence.

We’re coming to a point in just a moment showing you how God does want us to be relaxed in His presence. But there’s a difference between being relaxed and not having respect and not having reverence. And I would say one of the key dangers of some of the casual ways that people look at God and think of God today is the lack of respect that enters in. Ways that we associate the blessing of God. Tying it in with something that may not be acceptable as far as our lives are concerned. It’s easy to show a lack of respect, a lack of reverence in an effort to lean away from the bondage of ritual and formalism to lean clear over and to bring God into disrespect. But because of who He is you can show the utmost respect for Him and still be totally relaxed in Him. God wants us to know who He is. He wants us to show this reverence. Hebrews 12:25-29, “see that you refuse not Him that speaks for if they escaped not who refused Him that spoke on earth much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven whose voice then shook the earth who has promised saying yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven.

And this once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things that cannot be shaken will remain. Therefore we who are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire.” We need to be reminded of the reverence to God, reverence to His house, reverence to the things of God. Not taking the things of God too lightly. This is very, very important. It also speaks of a trust and a confidence that God will finish what He started. Then I’d like you to notice some other areas. He’s our Lord. I came to 6800 times He’s spoken of as Lord in the Bible. The Lord means hey God you’re not only my God but you’re also my Master.

The word Lord means master. That means we’re his servant. And he said because He is our Master He wants us to walk with Him and to do those things that He tells us. Not only is He our God, our Master, but everybody needs a good friend and this relationship says I want to be your friend. John 15:14. Jesus said, “I have called you friends now, not only am I your God out there that you may worship but I’m coming a little closer to you now. I’m your Master, now I’m your friend.” Proverbs 18:24 says that there is one friend that sticks closer than a brother. So Jesus is with us. Matthew 28:20.

He said, “I’d never leave you nor forsake you. I’m with you always.” Hebrews 13:5-6 says, “Because I am with you, you don’t need to be afraid of what anybody can do to you because I am with you.” This relationship is so beautiful to know that He is with us. He’s not only our friend, members of your family can be your friend too, He’s our Elder Brother. For you boys and girls I’m going to tell you a story that happened when I was just a kid about 8 years old going to school, riding a school bus. I was always in trouble with big bullies. We had a big bully on the bus named Lester. He used to take my thumb and bend it back until it would pop. He used to torment the daylights out of me.

Sometimes I would walk the 3 or 4 miles just to get away from Lester. He would always find a place by me and if it wasn’t empty he would move the person and he’d sit down there and it was literally awful for me to ride home. One day, I had an older brother who always rode his bicycle. He never rode the bus. I couldn’t get him to ride the bus, he would ride the bicycle. My brother isn’t really a big man but he was sure a big boy, at least I thought he was because he was 8 years older than me. Instead of getting shoes half sold to the shoe maker he would cut out big old pieces of the tire, good year tire, heavy tread and he’d nail those on the bottom of his shoes. One day his bicycle broke down and I knew about it. Lester didn’t know about it. And so my brother didn’t know I was going to get him involved in anything but I made it a point this time to look Lester up and get where Lester was.

And I tormented that young fellow who was about 17 years old. I tormented him until he couldn’t stand it. He was going to tear me limb from limb. But I wasn’t afraid of him at all. He thought what on earth has come over you, you little fellow, what are you doing here? We got ready to get out of the bus he started yanking me; he was going to give me what for. And all at once I saw Lester take a little orbit out of that bus. With a great big good year tire tread pushing him. He wore good year tire tread where he sits down for a long time. I suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore because I knew my big brother was there on the bus with me. So I wasn’t afraid.

Paul tells us we don’t need to be afraid what man can do to us when we know that we have our big brother there. He is there. Hebrews 13:5-6. He says you don’t need to be afraid because your big brother is there with you. And He has ways and means of handling situations. Not only is He your friend but this is the best of all. David discovered this in Psalms 103 and verse 13, where he said “like as a father pities his children so the Lord pities those that love him.” Jesus was praying one day and it was just before He was going to go to the cross, He was under tremendous pressure in his heart and He said I want to have a visit with my father, I need special strength and there was such a good relationship that I have with my heavenly Father so he went alone and kneeled down. And instead of just talking with God like He usually did He used a special word, He said, “Abba Father I’m preparing for this but you will be with Me.” He called Him Abba Father.

Now that word Abba means my very own personal Father. It’s one thing for God to be your God, another thing for Him to be your Lord and your friend. But stop and think about this, He said He wanted to be our Father born into His Father, born into His family, members of His big family, His own children. Oh what a difference this is than just having some forms and other things but no real personal relationship. That religion takes on meaning when it becomes a personal relationship. My very own father. Somebody has said whatever term you use to call your dad in enduring terms, and it’s not a show of disrespect, Jesus was saying, “Dad I’m coming to you now I need a little special help.” If you call your father dad, think of the warmth, the meaning that that word has. When you can add that word Abba, God you’re not only controlling all those stars and everything out there, all this world and all of the things you have to do, you live at my house and you’re my Father, my own personal Father. Then in Romans 8:14-17 Paul is telling us that we can because God has given us the spirit of adoption; He’s brought us right into His family.

We can use the same term. In Galatians 4:6, to make it all the more real so you won’t just have to hold your tongue in your cheek and say well I’ll do it because you say to do it, no. God said He gave us the spirit of His Son Jesus down inside. So now we can really say it and say it right because we have the very spirit that said it in Jesus’ life. And we can say Abba Father, that word is only used three times in the Bible but it denotes the very closest, the most wonderful relationship you could possibly have. A place of respect, of loyalty, serving Him not out of fear but because you love Him, that close wonderful relationship. And this wraps all of the other things up together. God isn’t in four different pieces but He’s known to us in all four of these ways where we can have the love for our father, our respect, our reverence, confidence and we can still be at ease with Him. There’s not one parent here that wants to have their children cringe in fear and be able to say my family is the most obedient family in the world, they better be. They might be when you’re around them.

They might be on the outside while their heart is seething. But God has something better for his people. God wants us to enter into a relationship. When we have a need or a problem to come and say “Dad I don’t know how to handle this,” that might not be the term; it may not be familiar to you. “Father I don’t know how to handle this. I need a little special help.” And you can chat, you can visit. When we went to Germany I told the German congregations how I felt about God after that experience I had with Him. I told them how that God told me “you can’t prove anything to Me anyway, just be at ease and relax, be yourself.” So I told them I’m just being myself.

There was a real godly woman, I didn’t meet her but I heard about her. She had done quite a good work in Germany. She didn’t have a chance to meet me or hear it in the context of how I gave it. But she put out a warning to different congregations around. She said beware of that man that comes from the United States that is so at ease around God. I went to different congregations and they were all ready for me and she did a lot of good publicity for me. They came out; they wanted to see who this fellow was that was so at ease around God. But God wants you to know, He occupies all four positions at once. As our God He has to have that respect, that love, that reverence. As our Father He wants that love, that warmth, that obedience.

As your Lord and Master He wants your service, He wants your loyalty. As your Friend He said “I’m going to be with you closer than a brother.” Philippians 4:5, he tells us the Lord is at hand. Jesus said I’m standing right at your elbow, I’m your friend, I’m your Father, I’m your Lord, I am your God. Relationship sure means a lot more than religion. And this is what’s happening around the world today. Religion is having to back up and give place to relationship. And if you have had a lot of religion but you haven’t yet had a relationship, and you haven’t met Him, He’s not real in your life. Today open up your heart and say I accept you as my Lord and my God.

Chapter 16 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Divine Breakthrough

We’re talking this morning about a divine Breakthrough. Something that took place that was the result of tremendous planning. For long before this earth was ever made, God had you in mind. God planned a beautiful redemption, a way, a means of making Himself real to us, a means of restoration, in bringing us back to Himself. I think of the purpose of God and God’s intention for us. You know one of the reasons people get into trouble in studying the Bible and often times go down a blind alley for awhile and wonder just where they are and often times they are confused and often times there may be so many, many different interpretations for the same scripture is because people fail to realize God’s intention is for them. They fail to realize what God is wanting to do and what He plans to do. And their interpretation and explanation may be alright in a technical sense of the word. But when it comes to the actual purpose behind it all it takes on a different meaning when you see Him in action and Him actually moving. God’s great plan for his people was that of reconciling His people unto Himself.

You see man had many barriers between him and God. God’s plan was the removal of all of the barriers. That first big barrier was the barrier of sin that stood as a mountain or a wall; Regardless of whether man found a key of taking away the other things, there were still mounds that stood between him and God. He still couldn’t get there because there was one big barrier left. And even today people are trying somehow or other to make themselves good and move in that direction without accepting this one facet of God’s plan, reconciliation. God said, “I must move that big mountain of sin so that I can have fellowship with man, so that man could come, and so that my wrath can turn away.” And this God did. He reconciled the world by the death of Jesus to Himself. Then another barrier after the mound of sin was removed was the records of sin written on the hearts of people and written in heaven. So God in his beautiful plan said I’m destroying those records.

And He did. This was His plan, a part of his beautiful plan. This He called justification. He said I’m going to count that person just as though it had never happened. My dear sister told me that she had fallen flat on her face ten times in the last couple of weeks trying to serve God. She said, “I hate to come back to God again, what will God think of me? He might tell me when are you ever going to quit failing. Well I’ve had to forgive you nine times already in the last two weeks.” She was really concerned so I was glad I could tell her, “God doesn’t know He forgave you 9 times in the past two weeks.” All He remembers is right now when you come; he said, “Here’s someone who needs help.” When God forgives you, God forgets that He forgave you. I want you to think about that for a minute. Forgiveness wouldn’t be complete if God still remembered that He forgave. But He forgets that He forgave you. He said, “I take it off my records; I pull it out of my memory so you’re free, clean.”

Then the third great barrier was the barrier of pollution and so God in His great plan devised a scheme by the constant cleansing of His blood to rid the human life of pollution so that we could face Him. Then He said, “Those poor people down there are carrying around in their lives the curse of sin and death. The weaknesses that have come about thru the fall of sin, and that curse is a tremendous barrier to them, the seeds of death within them. So God’s great plan and purpose all the way thru was to remove from us this curse. Then He said, “I want man close to Me now.” And so He removed the distance and the separating barrier of distance. And so God’s plan in our lives is to bring us to Himself. This is it. To bring us to Himself. Ephesians 2.

He tells us how this great plan is in operation and what’s happening to it and what it means to you because it’s in operation. “And you has He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins where in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we’ve had our conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. But God who is rich in mercy and for His great love by which He loved us even when we were dead in sins has quickened us together (which means “made alive”), with Christ. By grace you are saved and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us. See his plan was for us and unfolding down thru those centuries. It is in operation right now as we are part of His plan. But it keeps on going way down there a million years from now. He’s going to be showing all of the other people and the angels and everyone that’s there in the ages to come. He might keep showing you the beautiful storehouse of riches of things He’s prepared for those who love Him.

He let Paul take a little walk into one of them and Paul said you’ll never believe it. He said it hasn’t entered into the heart of man and your eyes have never seen anything like that and in the wildest stories you’ve never heard of anything like that. But God has prepared it for you. Once in a while He said you could stand a little bit and by the flow of His Spirit He’ll peel back a little bit of the curtain of it and say hey take a look. God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. Oh, what a wonderful plan that the Lord had for us. This plan as it unfolds, God intends for us to know about it, He intends in this great Breakthrough that He had to actually experience His divine life and touch. There are many, many different faiths; different philosophies where people say you must take it by faith. People who are glory seekers are looking the wrong direction and you’re looking for the wrong thing if you’re just looking for experience. In fact there are people right here in town that talk about you when you’re not there and say those people, they are just too lazy or don’t have enough faith to take it by faith they have to ask God for some kind of experience.

Well why not? If God’s plan for you included a beautiful experience of His love and of His presence, why not ask Him for that experience. Jesus’ mission in coming to this earth was to come and bring life to us even when we were dead in sin. Now the coming of this life has been made very real to me in the past 2 years. I have watched people as they have come to me and this church, many of them with deep lines on the forehead because of fear and worry. Their eyes dulled or filled with fear and I have watched them as Jesus moved away one of the barriers even many of God’s people still allow to stand in the way. I’ve watched as something happened and in the place of the coldness and the fear and the death, life began to show. I’ve seen those lined foreheads become absolutely smooth. This isn’t just a figure of speech. This actually happens. I’ve seen others who were troubled by things that they couldn’t change.

The circumstances were unbearable. They said they couldn’t take another day or minute. But as God activated or shared with them something very special from His own heart, the circumstances didn’t change but they changed. They were lifted up above them where the weight of the thing was not upon them. They were able to see the direction to go and they left still facing the problem but stepping high with a real victorious note in their voice, words of praise on their lips defeating the enemy. People have come in absolutely defeated and bound by enemy power but because of what Jesus is doing they have left that office completely free. Free from alcoholism, free from tobacco poisoning, free from drug addiction, free from bitterness and hate from the years. People that have already known the Lord, people that have already been walking with Him, they have already been cleansed and reconciled but they had been carrying some marks that the Lord has included in His great plan to remove. I’ve wondered just what is God doing? I know that God wants to do this for people. It seems as though for so many years we have given other means and other areas in tapping what God has.

But today I wanted to give you a little picture that is so special. I’ve wondered about this because I’ve sat back and I’ve told others. We’re just watching, God’s given us a front row. I can’t say it’s because we’re doing something different or something right that we haven’t done before but God has let us see Him at work in a very beautiful way. I’ve tried to relate it to things we have already claimed. There’s salvation, there’s the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there’s times of renewal. But it’s not any of those. What is it God? And it wasn’t until a few months ago that I pulled out some pieces of paper where I had written down some truths that God gave me by inspiration. God ministered one entire night and talked to me about the power of the blood and what the blood has done. And He talked about the forgiveness by the blood, the justification by blood, reconciliation by blood, cleansing blood, sanctification by blood, the assurance of heaven by blood.

That by his own blood He opened up heaven, he went into the very presence of God and he opened the very heart of God. 200 verses God gave me. As I was reading these pages God let me see something that I had read. God was letting me see something there that He was going to start doing in a very special way now. I didn’t realize really what sanctification was. I have heard one group say, “Sanctification is the eradication of the old nature.” Another group says, “It’s the putting to death of the old man.” Another group says without a whole lot of explanation, “sanctification means set apart.” Someone else says it means cleansing. Someone else said it means victory over sin.

And I have a theory and it was good and this hasn’t changed it at all except it’s given it a whole lot more light. That sanctification was the freedom from sin and cleansing from sin because were tied into the bloodstream of Jesus. But as I read these notes that God definitely put in my heart. On these pages God ministered to me and asked me questions about sanctification but it didn’t sink thru good at that time. Many beautiful verses on sanctification and then the conclusion that came right out of God’s heart that I wrote down is that sanctification is God’s great Breakthrough in adapting His life to the human body. I wish I would have dug those papers out before. As I watch people as God ministers to them and there’s that tingle and that surge. And this act of sanctification takes place many times. It isn’t just a one shot definite work of grace or a single cleansing. It’s something that happens every time you move into that presence and God thru His divine pipeline pours into your life of His life.

It happens without us really knowing about it but when we know about it, it somehow puts some spring in your step because it really means so much. How does this relate to these other teachings? These things that you’ve heard are tied in. But they are the results of sanctification. They are the results of Jesus’ life within you. That power to live above sin that people who may have felt that sanctification had something to do with their own efforts or their arrival and the only way they could have a life of victory was for themselves to be dead, are discovering and have discovered that though they thought they were dead there were failures and problems cropping up all the time. Many of you are experiencing victories in your life that you struggled with day after day to overcome, but as that dynamic surge of the life of Jesus goes thru you, you’ve found that you can tread on these things, that you can climb those mountains as though you have eagle’s wings because it’s the life of Jesus within you. The problem we have so often, if we know God’s intention, God’s whole intention and His plans before He ever made this world. God’s intention is summed up in this, that those people will share My life. That’s His intention. When you know what God’s intending to do then all the things that go along with it can fit and it has new and wonderful meaning to you.

When we take a word and we say now I’m going to find out what this teaching really means here by analyzing the word. You have a correct analysis of the word. For example, I’ve been thinking about football. I haven’t seen a football game in so long and I don’t get to watch very much of anything on T.V. because there’s too many things to do for God. But I watched these guys and I saw the execution of some beautiful plays. I saw about 60000 people go crazy. They about lost their minds, and the reason they about lost their minds was because somebody made a touchdown. Now if you were to take somebody from a foreign country that wasn’t interested in sports and didn’t know anything about football.

And they were to look at the paper and get out their dictionaries and analyze this foreign language of America, and say what is this? Football, what’s happened here, they scored. What did they do to score, well we read here that they had a touchdown and we’ve got to find out what there is about this touchdown that would make 60000 people almost turn wild. And so they get out their dictionaries, touch = make light contact. Down, that means make light contact somewhere down. So we know the purpose now of football. To take a little leather ball and make light contact with the earth. And so folks come out and hear our explanation of football. But the thing that we can’t figure out is why a little thing like that would make 60000 people get so excited. Light contact with earth. But you know, those guys out there doing battle knew there was something more.

That was the end, the goal, the result of a lifetime of discipline and practice, of physical conditioning, of bruises, of miles of tape and frustration. We think of all the struggles that go into it with one thing in mind, to win. To those 60000 fans, to the people that are in there that are grinding it out and working so hard, there’s something that they’re aiming toward. It’s that little chalk line, 6 points, to get more if they want to win. But that person that doesn’t know anything about football would ask, “what on earth, football, why get excited?” Do you know the meaning could be right, the ball was touched down and there’s a score. But the same thing is true when I think of the word sanctification. I take out the dictionary and I find set apart. Set apart sounds like touchdown to me, without the rest of it. Set apart from sin, set apart. But when I go back and see the plan of God that He made before the earth, His great game plan and I ask God what is your purpose in all of this that you’re doing? And He said touchdown, I have a plan.

I think of the other people that are parts of the plan. The prophets of old and the different parts of the team as the work went forward. And then finally on that day when Jesus carried the cross instead of a ball and He broke the last tackle and He went across the line, I could hear the angels in heaven shouting and cheering, touchdown, Jesus scored. We’re number one, the enemy’s defeated. What was your purpose Jesus in breaking down the barrier so that you could shake hands with man, what was the purpose of destroying the records, what was the purpose of this cleansing? He said, “My purpose was that I might score, and what was my score? To take my life and inject it into you that you might be partakers of the divine life.” When you think of sanctification think more than set apart. That injection of His divine life doesn’t mean that you’re not set apart it means that you can be set apart. It means that because you have that divine life in you, you have power over sin. Hallelujah. And it gives you something to cheer about.

Sanctification is not death, its life; His life. Don’t you love Him? Jesus did it for you and all the angels in heaven are rejoicing when you open yourself up and you let His life begin to move thru you. When you feel that joy and that lift, when you feel cool breezes from heaven there’s a lot of different sensations that people get but in this life there are definitely some physical sensations. Do you know that I think the idea that we’re not to be emotional as believers is a cop out for a bunch of people that don’t know how to spell touchdown. They go down to the football field and they get emotional and the greatest win in the world is nothing compared with the win that God has given us. I believe there may be some here this morning, you’ve had an experience with God; you’ve accepted Him and your sins are forgiven but somehow or another you’ve shied away from making yourself available for this flow of divine life. There are ways that the Lord does this. In first Corinthians 6:11 he tells us that we are sanctified by the name of Jesus, we share His life. The name of Jesus becomes this pipeline thru which God pours his divine life. And as you really mean it and call out Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, surging into you comes that divine life because the Lord has already won the battle and the enemy is defeated.

Another means of bringing this life is the blood of Jesus Christ. And then in Exodus 29:43, this is one of the verses that God had me put down at that time, that when the tabernacle was completed the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. What it says is the glory of the Lord sanctified the tabernacle. It made the tabernacle come alive because God was there. But do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and the glory of God from heaven, that mighty move, that charismatic power that causes you to sing and to laugh and to be free and have victory over the devil, that’s the glory of God? You share His divine life when you live in that glory. This was God’s plan; this was His intention for you. All the way thru his dealings with the children of Israel. He said, “Israel when you camp I want you to camp in my glory where the cloud stops, when you move, I want you to move with the glory because it’s your life. And the glory of God still brings our life to us and that rich glory that you feel this morning is bringing you life. There is life in Jesus’ name.

What happens then, as we’ve said, this is the culmination, the capstone of what God has done. And the amazing thing, as the life of Jesus flows thru people, He takes care of many, many other things. Most of the healings that take place in my office and even in this church where they’re seated, we do not know about it. I haven’t asked God to heal them, they didn’t ask God but they just called the name of Jesus and the life flowing down thru them as it circulated as it lifted the load as it broke the chains going down thru them. That life finds things that may not be right and it rights them. It destroys the seeds of death within us. This life of Jesus even though you still may have plenty of problems, you’re not in heaven yet but as far as God is concerned you read it in Hebrews 10:10-14 that this sacrifice of Jesus, this great accomplishment that He had that made all of the angels of heaven stand in awe as He completed the work. He said this great accomplishment has perfected forever those who share His life. Hope you say I’m not perfect, His blood, His life is perfect. And God is looking at the life of Jesus in you. And we’re accepted in Him.

Chapter 17 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Why God?

I have some very important things to bring to you this morning. Some words that have come from God’s heart because of some needs people have this morning. I’m going to read several portions of scripture and then we’re going to talk a little bit about the needs that I feel the Lord wants to minister to and meet. I’m going to read Romans chapter eight beginning from verse 29. I’m going to read it from the Living Bible this morning. “For from the very beginning, God decided that those who came to Him, and all along He knew who would, should become like His Son, so that His Son would be the first of many brothers, and having chosen us He called us to come to Him. And when He came He declared us not guilty.” Don’t you like that? When you came He said not guilty. “He filled us with Christ’s goodness and gave us right standing with Himself, and promised us His glory.” What can we say to such wonderful things? “If God is on our side who could ever be against us?” Hallelujah.

“Since He did not even spare His own Son for us but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also surely give us everything else. Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? Will God? No, He is the one who has forgiven us and given us right standing with Himself. Who would dare condemn us? Will Christ? No, for He is the one who died and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God pleading for us there in heaven. Who will condemn you?” Jesus said, “Not I, not I.” “Who then can ever keep Christ’ love from us? When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down or destroyed, is it because He doesn’t love us anymore? And if we are hungry, or penniless, or in danger, or threatened with death, has God deserted us? No, for the Scriptures tell us that for His sake we must be ready to face death, every moment of the day. We are like sheep awaiting the slaughter,” I like this little bit right here, “but despite all of this, overwhelming victory is ours thru Christ who loved us enough to die for us. For I am convinced that nothing will ever be able to separate us from His love. Death can’t, and life can’t, the angels won’t, and all of the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when He died for us.” Hallelujah.

Don’t you love that portion of Scripture? 2 Corinthians, 5:8. “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed or broken.” Has this ever happened to you? “We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do.” Have you ever been perplexed because you didn’t understand why? God isn’t going to hold it against you for being perplexed. We get perplexed. But here’s some good advice, “we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did. So it is clear to all that it is only the Living Christ within that keeps us safe.

I’m going to turn in the King James Version and read a few verses. He’s speaking now about all of the troubles that may come our way. Verse 16, “for which cause we faint not, though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction that is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Those afflictions, those problems, those question marks that you may have, have become servants of God working for you. They go to work for you when you recognize what they are. They’re working for us while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal. Praise God. Hallelujah. Aren’t you grateful to God for His Word? He didn’t tell us that He was going to take all of the water away from us so that we wouldn’t have to get our feet wet.

He didn’t say He was going to stop the river upstream a ways so that we wouldn’t have to cross thru it. He didn’t say that He would pour water on the fire so that we wouldn’t have any tests. But He did say “when you pass thru the water, I will be with thee, and thru those rivers they will not overflow thee, and when you pass thru that fire, you will not be burned.” Because God has a way of pulling the sting out of it. Praise God. “Father we love you so much today. You are so precious to us. You have revealed yourself to us in so many beautiful ways. Today many, many people are perplexed. Father they’re looking to you, they’re yours.

I ask today that you will cause the hurt and the effect of unanswered questions to have a solution that you will turn it to their glory and their strength and your honor. I ask these things in your name.” We have a family here whose lives are like many of the rest of you, miracles of God’s grace. Some months ago you’ll recall of a young man giving a testimony. He was a part of a mob, and was in prison. God met him, saved him, and turned his life around. And this young man has done a lot of work as far as the government is concerned since in putting down some rackets, some rings, but he is here this morning and he and his wife have brought a new little one that Jesus gave to them. You have these scriptures that you’re going to let soak up in your heart. God loves these little ones so much, and God is so interested in families that He would stop, do you know that He would stop anything in the world He was doing just to get next to a little family, did you know that? We are living folks in absolutely the greatest days of all of history. It’s a great day of salvation.

There has never been a time in all of history when it was easier for people to find God. God is literally carrying the door to men and women. It’s a day of salvation. They that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. People around the country are saying Jesus, and Jesus says, ok I hear you. Hallelujah. They’re receiving a lot of divine help. The Spirit of the Lord is bringing conviction to men. The angels of God have moved out across the land and as we mentioned last Sunday, they’re searching them out from every hill and he even said from every hole in the rocks, there’s no place to hide. God has his eye on you.

What would you want to hide for anyway? There are a few folks that are trying to squirm down out of sight and are saying well You’ll miss me but God has some pretty good detectives, trained in heaven, a lot of experience. There is no place to hide. They’ll go in after you. I would be a little bit squeamish going down here in one of these joints in rooting you out, it would bother me, but it doesn’t bother those angels. There were a whole bunch of them down in some of these clubs last night. They weren’t drinking, but they were “get going here,” reminding people of God, they’re working today. It’s a day of salvation; it’s a day of answered prayer. People are finding God. I’m hearing reports all the time, it’s just so wonderful. Can you believe it, God heard little ole me, I just gave a little prayer for something and the answer is so definite and so real, there it is God listened to me.

It’s a beautiful day of answered prayer. It shall come to pass that they shall call and I will answer and say here I am. And He’s doing it. Prayer for guidance, wisdom, and help. It’s a day of deliverance. Bondage, habits are being broken. We have in my class this morning a man that God reached down and drew to Himself this week, snapped some habits. Made Himself real to him. It’s a day of great deliverance, a day when snares are being broken. A day when people whose hearts have been filled with bitterness for 20, or 30 or 40 years are finding the bitterness snapping.

And healing of their inner spirits is taking place. Talk about a day, a wonderful day. A day of success, a day when God is helping people to rise above things that have troubled them for many, many years. It’s a day of spiritual prosperity, and physical prosperity, in many cases as people yield themselves to the Lord. In Hebrews Paul said, “God has put all things under Jesus’ feet.” God’s big picture shows it. All of Satan’s forces and imps, all hurts and bad feelings under His feet, all the marks of sin everything under His feet. There it is. I saw tragedy take place Paul said, that God didn’t seem to care, I don’t know why the parents were hurt, wounded. A little life in the prime was snatched away and I don’t know why, I can’t tell them why.

I don’t see all things under His feet yet. What am I going to do? And the thing is happening over and over again. We’re seeing questions arise, tragedies that occur. A little child two or three years old crippled with some disease, the parents looking ahead to a life that unless the Lord does some miracle and they’re so discouraged and they question whether that miracle could come. And here, that little child, and they say “God why?” Possibly it’s mind is not quite right, never going to be able to grow up and be like other children and their cry goes out from their heart, “God why, why God aren’t you in control, don’t you care if sickness is of the devil and You have whipped the devil how come?” And people are groaning under the burdens, under the frustrations, under the perplexity. They feel the pain as a young person in the mid-teens is killed in a train crash. I had the experience this week in talking with a family who two years ago a 15-year-old daughter was killed in a motorcycle accident. Two years later, another daughter that had turned 15 was killed in an automobile accident. And I heard this mother say while we were waiting in the hospital as that life hung in the balance. Oh God, why, why, why two of them, I can’t stand it, I can’t live with this knowledge.

How come? And those big why’s, those questions seemed to respond with a hollow answer that was not satisfying to her. Words could mean so little. But these why’s are there. And we look at that little tiny piece of the picture, God’s big picture is here we look at that little piece and as we focus upon it, it grows and becomes big enough to fill the whole frame. And we see that tiny little piece of the picture blown up and we see none of the parts that have been accomplished, we see only the part that isn’t done yet on that little tiny picture that is blown up until it fills our whole vision. But in verse 9, I love verse 9, Paul said I’m not going to spend my time on what hasn’t happened yet, what hasn’t been done yet. He said we see not all things under Him yet, but we see Jesus. So Paul said I’m going to project Jesus on this part that I can’t understand and suddenly the whole picture, that part goes back into the spot where it belongs. The whole picture comes into focus. And sure enough, there it is, in God’s great picture everything is in control.

Jesus is in control. Praise God forevermore. We often times ask ourselves “what shall I do?” When God doesn’t seem to care or understand, shall I condemn myself to failure, shall I refuse to recognize, shall I grit my teeth and bear it, shall I just quit? We need to do like Edison did when he looked at the ashes of a factory that had taken years and years of gathering funds, it was over a million dollars, and the day of the open house that was going to give promise to many, many great inventions. And as he walked around it the next morning surveying that pile of ashes, one of his associates said to him, “Tom, there is our laboratory, we’re ruined, our laboratory in ashes, we’re ruined.” Tom looked at him square in the eye, and he taught him something that I’ve picked up and I like to use it too. He said, “Keep your facts and your opinions separated.” He said, “It’s a fact that there’s our laboratory down there, but it’s just your opinion that we’re ruined. We start in the morning to rebuild.” Hallelujah, I’m glad Tom did that aren’t you?” So you often times survey the problem and the wound and you say it’s there I’m ruined, it’s there I’ve failed, I prayed, God didn’t answer. It’s all right if you state the facts but don’t mix them up with your opinions.

It’s a bad time to make opinions while you have magnified the thing that hasn’t happened yet. God want us to turn our eyes away from what hasn’t been done to all that has been done. So Paul looked and he said look we see Jesus, here He is, He was made a little lower than the angels for the purpose of suffering and death. He was brought down here that he might suffer for us, that he might destroy him who had the power of death. And he went on all the things that he knew, and he could say I know Him, I know Him. I know God. Praise God forevermore. And he rose above this thing. And the question marks ceased to trouble him; they may have still been there. God’s alternative to understanding, Jesus.

God’s alternative is Jesus. Paul said, “Shall He not with Him when you have Him, freely give us all things. Praise God. I know when you’re hurting, and when you think of all of these things, the reason I mention these this morning, so often we hear of all that God is doing. But mingled in with that shout of victory, we hear that cry of pain that comes, God why? There it is. There are many people who are seeing your family saved but their own seem to be going the other direction. There are many that are seeing God answer prayer but their own prayer are going unanswered. There are some that are seeing God meet them with prosperity and financial help and you’re in a financial crisis and it seems like all you get back is the empty echo of your own voice as you pray. I know this to be true I deal with so many people. I know that mingled with the greatest shout of victory of all history, that’s being made today, there is that undertone.

Oh God why not me, God what is the reason. People are examining their hearts they’re looking for some answer that will satisfy, the Word tells us, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and these things seem to fade into insignificance. Oh Hallelujah, like Paul said, these things become servants for us, working for us, these light afflictions are working for us over there. There not all that bad, put some wings over on those question marks, let them fly over on the other side, knowing that they’re working for you a far more greater and exceeding, oh he just loaded this down with adjectives didn’t he, exceeding weight of glory, it’s there, praise God. Don’t you love Him this morning? So he asked us to put Jesus in the picture, I liked what Paul said, there’s several things, he said He came to grind that old arch enemy of mankind under His heel, destroy him that hath the power of death, and he said He came to deliver people who all their life time were subject to fear and death, fear of death, to deliver. And then he said He came to offer help to you when you are hurting. He suffered everything that you’re suffering. So He could say when those why’s stand out there to you, “I’ll come and help you because I had some myself.” He suffered everything that you’re suffering, and He can help you. I know how people feel, I heard it so many times, in the midst of the shout that cry of pain.

But today Jesus comes, as He came to those people in the storm of the boat. And He said “peace be still.” When He speaks something happens. And immediately there’s a great calm. Praise God forever. Someone asked the question, “It just doesn’t make sense.” Because it doesn’t make sense now doesn’t mean it will never make sense. Look a little farther down the picture. It might not be clear to you yet, but it’s on the picture. On that picture all things are brought under His feet.

That picture is complete. It’s there. Sometime it’s going to make sense. You’re going to understand. I’m going to give you a few thoughts here. And you can do your own Bible studying, you could look up the references I have them here, I’m going to give this without references, I would like for you to use your concordances at home and do a little studying. I am going to give you just some key words to some verses that tell you how things really are, not only the way they look, but the way they really are. Job said, “Though He slay me, still I’m going to trust Him.” Job understood, later on down the way. He tells us prophetically, “as your day is so shall your strength be.

When those pressures push you down, there’s a beautiful strength that comes to you. He said “when you pass thru the waters, I will be with you,” He said “fear thou not for I will help you, I will uphold you, and I will sustain you.” That’s what He said. Mark down those things, and look them up. He said we may have some problems, we may even face death, but he said we are the Lord’s. It doesn’t make too much difference, he said whether I’m awake or whether I’m asleep, I am the Lord’s. When you can look up into God’s face and say I am the Lord’s, somehow it shoves other things back. He is my Shepherd. If He is your Shepherd, He knows how to lead, He said that none of these things that could come our way would come our way but what He would make a way of escape. He said there were two things that you could look for.

One would be an escape hatch. You just think that the wall is blank and suddenly you hit the right button and whoop, and you come flying out. Make a way of escape, or he said if you don’t happen to spot the escape hatch, I’ll make your muscles get big, and I’ll give you a calm and a confidence and you will have strength to bear it. I’ll do it; I’ll take care of this thing. It isn’t that He doesn’t know He has other ways of taking care of it. Then I like what Paul said, “None of these things shall separate. There’s some things coming but they shall never separate me from God’s love. I just love that verse again in Hebrew chapter one, where he said speaking about Jesus’ coming. “The scepter of His kingdom is the scepter of His righteousness. The scepter of His kingdom is a scepter of righteousness.

His mark of ruling power which was the scepter, the mark of the King, it’s a symbol of His ruling authority. The scepter of His kingdom, the mark of Jesus’ Kingship is the scepter of righteousness. And you mark this down. That word righteousness has nothing to do with sin. It has to do with God’s character, and that word righteousness means His unfailing ability to always do the right thing. And so I can look up into God’s face and I can say I can affirm my faith, I can trust Him; He will do the right thing by me. Praise God. Praise God. And then I like the Apostle Paul when he said “I’m not worried, for I know Him, I can trust Him.” How do you feel about that? I wonder how many people here today have had big old question marks; you’ve wondered you’ve struggled with a thing, wondered why.

Oh I know that God put this in my heart to bring you because there’s so many that have battled this thing. Turn your eyes away from the problem. When you’re looking for reasons why your prayers aren’t answered, and you’re studying it out, now if I do this and this and this I’ll be able to get God to answer my prayer, you’re conditioned toward the problem, you’re problem conscious even while you’re looking for a way out. All the things that you’re doing, you’re doing because there’s a problem. But the Lord’s, the Apostle Paul’s advice there is to turn your eyes on Him, “but we see Jesus,” then you become Jesus conscious, and when you’re Jesus conscious you become victory conscious. And you’re not so concerned about building up on this problem ways that you’re going to have to meet this great old problem that’s coming your way. But you’ve turned your eyes, hallelujah, and you can say with Paul, Paul you mean those rocks pelting down upon you was light? Well they were light when I look this way. When we look not at the things that were seen but at the things that are not seen. This lady that I referred to at the funeral of this 15-year-old girl this week, she was weighted down. She and her husband’s mind were filled with these questions, why, why.

But in the hurt and the strain, they looked away at something that could have caused devastation in their lives and they projected Jesus, and drew strength from Him. The whys were still there but it was behind them, now she was looking toward Jesus. I’m going to read to you in conclusion just to show you a living example though we have the buildings full of them. I want you to hear something so cutting and seemingly so cruel, and so many people said “why did it have to happen if God was on the throne?” And so many people were saying the devil killed her. And these people were concerned how come God let the devil kill her. And all these why’s came. I want to let you know that the devil doesn’t have the power to do that. Quit thinking the devil’s going around and killing people. I tell you, we’re all in bad shape if we’re in danger of getting killed by the devil. Quit looking for all the blowing up of the devil’s strength.

He isn’t going to hurt you. You read Luke chapter 10 verses 24-27, you’ll hear Jesus say, “I was watching and I saw Satan fall from heaven as a flash of lightning. It is true; that I have given you the authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, I have given you authority over all of the power of the enemy,” and then He said “nothing shall by any means do you any harm.” Hallelujah. I wish people would quit being so fearful that Satan is going to choke them to death. All you need to do is stick your tongue out and say “Boo.” And let him go. That’s right. Satan cannot stand the name of Jesus. Use the name of Jesus, project Jesus into your problem, Jesus is the Light.

And His light pushes back the powers of darkness, it destroys it. God’s answer to darkness is light, and Jesus is Light. I hope I’m blasting someone’s theology this morning all to pieces. I would rather you know how strong Jesus is then the enemy. We sometimes give him some rights in our lives by walking around in fear, but Jesus came to destroy him who had the power of death even the devil and deliver people who all their lifetime were afraid of him. That’s what Jesus came to do, to deliver people who have been afraid of him all their lives. Listen to this, this mother wrote this poem a moment away from the anguish. “Lord will the heart ever mend from the hurt and the pain. Do the tears stop falling like new fallen rain when the lost of our loved ones tears us apart? Does a crack ever mend that’s torn in our heart, do we ever find peace and learn to bear this cross we’ve been given by You to share? Are we chosen for this for some special deed? Do we learn to accept out of some kind of need? I guess the answer is have faith and pray. And you will answer us all on that glorious day, but oh Lord, give us strength to carry us thru until we will all be standing with you.

And let us know as there’s noon and there’s sun, precious Jesus from Heaven Thy will be done.” This came right out of the heart of someone who was completely drowned in grief, but she projected Jesus unto the grief. And the hurt went back into focus and the big picture went back into place. And she saw things not the way they looked but the way they are. One more little verse that she wrote. “In the garden stood a rose bush, it was early in the spring; she was putting forth her buds with more promises to bring. As the buds grew into blossoms in the summer in the fall. She bloomed in all her glory, her beauty pleasing all. As the blossoms slowly withered and her petals drifted to the ground it was like the rose was crying silently without sound. And thru all this she was saying I’m just going for a while.

Though I’ll sleep thru winter, in the spring I’ll be back with a smile.” I wanted to give you these this morning because of truth that is connected there. When you see Jesus, you will not need the understanding of those whys. Turn your eyes upon Him. Things are going to fall into place when you do. “Somebody knows when our problems and our trials need chasing away. Somebody knows when you’re weary, tired and discouraged, and blue. Somebody wants you to know Him and to know that He truly loves you. He wants you to know. Oh Jesus.

Jesus. “Jesus there are people standing before you now whose hearts have been hurting. Jesus there are some out thru the congregation whose hearts are hurting. Jesus we ask that by Your Spirit you would move across this entire congregation, bring the healing balm, the salve of the Holy Spirit that would bring that healing, that would remove the hurt and the sting and the resentment of the years. Oh God may this be a new day beginning today for these who have come to your presence. Praise God, we thank you that You’re here. I pray dear God that this day will be the beginning of a whole new horizon of life for each of these that stand before You. For every person in this building may we behold Jesus in a way that we’ve never seen Him before. Praise God, Praise God, Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Chapter 18 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, What Lies Ahead

The title of my message today as a springboard into some things that are very, very important. I’ve titled this, “What lies ahead.” We can hear of a lot of things ahead and we wonder just what is right. Are we facing dark days? Is there going to be a great depression? Is the church going to suffer great reverses? What does lie ahead? I feel that the Lord has placed upon my heart. And possibly some of the things that you have read do lie ahead. There are dark days, there are days of departure from the faith. There are days of lawlessness and wickedness and defiance of God where people have no respect for the laws of God or of men. It is true evil men will wax worse and worse. That man’s inhumanity to man will increase. There will be those who literally deny the existence of God.

There are days when suicide almost becomes a popular thing where people want to descent loudly enough. We’re living in the days where even the weather is shaking up. But what does God want us to do in view of them? Do you know what Jesus said? He said, “When these things begin to come to pass, lift up your heads, and look up for your redemption draws nigh.” Great days are ahead for us. For the believer, for God’s people, the greatest days of all history lie ahead for us. They are the best days, they are days of continued renewal, they are days of revival. They are days when life is going to be springing forth from the seeds that have been planted and sown. I can’t help but think of the way that God dealt with me thru a ministering angel in the Philippines and spoke to me about a seed that had been sown down thru the past centuries. Being humans we think only of what’s happening right now. And I thought that since this was my first time in the Philippines maybe it was this angel’s first time there too.

But he didn’t intend just to give me a history lesson but I learned a few things about history. He told me about Magellan coming to the Philippine islands in 1532 and landing on Cebo Island. He told me some various things, the people that had come and the angels had supported them as they came and represented Jesus to those early people 400 years ago. And thru the years, gospel seed had been sown and that country now that is teaming with people the seed is there. They’ve heard about God, they know He is there, they know what God is like, they know what to expect. And God now in this day is raising up men and women who are shining with the light of heaven. And as the sun warms the kernel grain in the ground and causes it to spring forth there is warmth that’s beaming from the lives of men and women who are like Jesus, who are warming the seed that has been sown. And it’s germinating and springing forth into life all over those islands. I went out with a challenge, he wanted me to be like Jesus to let Christ shine thru my life and let Him walk around in my shoes. And I asked God to help me do it.

And the warmth that God beamed thru my life to them, I saw 100’s of people who had seeds sown in their lives, I saw it spring forth. And I saw them like little green shoots just reaching out to the sun, they reached out to God. And around the world the gospel seed has been sown. Seed has been sown and people know what to expect from God. And now God is challenging His people, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you, let the sun of righteousness arise in your heart. Can you see the purpose that God has for you? He wants to shine thru your life like a living sun warming that seed that’s been sown. He wants that seed to be continued to be sown, but it’s sown everywhere in hearts and lives. This angel didn’t even tell me that those were Catholic people that were there in that early day when he was helping. He said that they were people of God. “Lord, I’m so glad that you don’t read labels.

But that people who have the life of Jesus in them can be used of you. And that great harvest that You’re going to be reaping in this day, it will come not only to those who have sown the grain; we thank you that word from Paul that one has sown and the other has reaped.” God is bringing His people together into a great family reunion. These are days of visitation. But since they are, we have an added responsibility in fitting into the plan of God. When I was giving the message of the believer’s position to a Filipino congregation, I had one come up to me and say, “If we really believe that Jesus has covered our sin, we’ll just get happy and sit back and not do anything.” So I asked him before they knew of the covering what made them become lazy. You see, when we know, when we can use our spiritual energies serving God instead of cringing in fear 24 hours a day God can use us. Paul did say “use not the liberty that God has given you as an excuse to let up, to become lax and prove to God that you don’t really believe what He said.” But God wants us not to continue in sin of any kind because grace is abounding.

God wants us to cast off the works of darkness, and to yield ourselves to Him. He asked us to wake up; it’s high time to wake up out of sleep, to lay aside every weight, to clear the deck for action. God is calling upon His people at this moment to lay aside every sin and weight that may beset them. I had somebody tell me that because of what God was doing in his life God has convicted them, they kept a few cans of beer in their house and he had to throw them out. God does care; He wants you to be the best for Him right now. He wants the world to see you like Jesus, and because men and women are lost and it’s the life of Jesus within you that is going to cause them to come alive and awake we need to be like Jesus. What have people seen in your life? Have they seen an “I don’t care attitude?” If there’s anything that’s keeping us from being our best for God let’s throw it away. Does that mean anything to you? Can you see the duel message? The message that ascends towards God and the message that He’s bringing towards us. Praise God. Now because you’re accepted, now because you can quit struggling with that, start putting that energy to work for God.

I have something here I would like to read before I take communion. Early this morning at 2 o clock I was awakened. And these ministering angels from God’s own heart spoke so clearly to me for several hours. And I wrote down some of the things that had such a message to my own heart. And I want to share them with you because they are so applicable to what God’s doing today. I want you to listen to them and apply them to your own heart. “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have each gone after a way after his own choosing. But the Lord saw no difference in these paths. All of these paths were empty and futile.

In His love and His desire to restore, the iniquity of every man was laid upon Him, Christ. The deceit in man’s heart, which was the seed of Satan, planted in man’s life blinds him to the truth. And results in efforts to justify his own way.” Some of the things that I didn’t get down in the message that he was giving me, that the various ways of religion that people are walking on, the deceit that was put in the heart of man at the fall, causes man to do the thing, feeling that the deeds of every man are right in his eyes. And he seeks to justify what he is doing and the way that he is going. And for this reason, efforts have been made to support one path or another. But God said that these paths of religion are futile and empty. And God in His desire to bring man to Himself laid on Christ the iniquity of all so that He can bring all back to the beautiful path of His atonement. Praise God forever. “Now He invites you to walk in His ways without fear and without penalty.

Don’t look at the ways of another and ridicule and or set at naught your brother. The Lord has laid on Jesus the grievous penalties and the other things that may be wrong as far as your brother’s concern. God’s taken care of that, the Lord has laid on Jesus all of the wrongs in that way. Jesus has paid the penalty for that that He might open up a new way. Now you are brothers by one blood. The seeds of death that came on all men have been replaced by the seeds of a divine life. The anguish of uncertainty, the plague of every man, the fear which shrouded every life was born by Him, because of God’s desire for you, not because you loved Him so much but because He loved you so much. He bore your grief’s and carried your sorrows. In His blood that is given to you are the conquering seeds of His divine life, power over sin, power over sickness of mind, power over sickness of the body. The time is come to cast off the works of darkness, the pointing of the finger, the harsh words about others.

For God has included all of them, He has received them in His plan. God has chosen you to be a light, a light burning with this message of hope, a light ushering a new day for His Body during earth’s darkest night. Lift up your eyes, look away from your own ways, and pass the walls of the ways of others. And discover your family, those born by the same blood and having the same Father.” Hallelujah. These are sketches that I wrote down of the conversation. That God is pulling people from all of the different religious ways that they have gone. He’s pulling them. The Lord has laid the iniquity of people of all of these ways upon Jesus. And He’s asking us now to look for men and women born by the same blood, having the same Father, with the same Life.

This week as your heart and spirit witnesses with those who come across your path who know Jesus, why don’t you put out your hand and say, “Hi brother?” Because you have the same Father. Do you know what God is doing? He’s fulfilling that prayer that they might all be one.

Chapter 19 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, God of the Valley

Where there is a reed that is bruised and almost broken, God says I’m going to make something of it; I’m not going to break it. And where He sees a little fire that’s gone clear out and just barely smoking, a smoking flax He will not quench, but He can start a fire again. And even from a pile of ashes He can salvage a life and make something of it. Even though dreams may be shattered, even though things may have happened that would be impossible to go back and undue. God can take your life from where it is today and bring you into His perfect will. He can make the days ahead of you His perfect will for your life. He doesn’t have a first, second and third will. He has one that is perfect.

Never be in self pity and say I could have been in God’s perfect will but until Jesus comes I’ll have to settle for something that’s less than His best. Tell Satan to go tell his lies to somebody else. God will take you from where you are as you surrender your life to Him and make it the best. I have a message this morning and that is He is the God of the Valley. He is the God of the valley. Faith alternative to success is another way to put it. The Word is so filled with promises. Many promises have conditions to them and many are directed to a certain situation but there are decrees that God has made that are pillars of eternity that can never change, that no one can move out of the way; decrees that will stand forever. Too often believers have been encouraged to hold onto promises that may not relate to their situation but God’s decrees relate to every situation. I’d like to refer to some of these.

Deut. 33:25. “As your day is so shall your strength be.” This is a decree that God has made that you’ll never have to suffer more than what He has the strength to carry you thru. As your day is so shall your strength be. I see this happen with people when problems come into their home. And I’m dealing with some now that they have actually been pressed beyond measure. They have taken more in their life then any human being ought to take. But they’re strong, God has proven it, He’s turned up the strength. As the day, as the need demands so shall your strength be.

Then I like Hebrews 5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you so we can boldly say the Lord is my helper, I’m not afraid what man can do to me. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear.” I think of another great decree that the Lord made, when we put God first and His interest is above ours, He said you can’t beat this because when you do this it becomes a key to the very storehouse of heaven. If you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness all of these things, He’s talking about earthly things now, everything you need will be added to you. That’s a decree. Romans 8:28 is a decree that the Spirit of God gave to Paul to bring to us, that we know all things work together for good to those that love God. And even those things that look so hard that you may be facing, they work together for good because you love God and you’re called according to His purpose and He’s working on His purpose in your life. Hallelujah. Then there are decrees that God has made for our protection.

Matthew 16:18 is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. Three years ago when I went to Mical and I waited before God, God met me and I want you to know this verse, He took it and wrapped it up and wrote my name on it and dumped it into my heart and it’s been so real to me ever since. I use it every day. The Lord in paraphrasing this, two main things that I’m doing here, I’m building my church. On this rock I’ll build my church, I’m building it, this is My purpose. I’m putting together a body of people for My name and I’m going to take that church. Then He said in putting this church and you’re a part of it, He said all of the might of hell will not prevail. So what He’s saying here is, “I’m going to protect My church. I live to protect My church” and He said, “I’ll drive back any force that comes against my church.” This body of people is a church but God reduces it down a whole lot smaller than that, that two or three who are gathered in His name is a church and when you stand all by yourself alone you are a complete unit, you are the church.

You’re His body, you’re the temple of the Holy Ghost and Jesus said, “I’m going to protect you and all the might of hell is not going to prevail against that church.” When these people go around and start telling you that every morning you have to cast out a few demons out of yourself that has crept in and gotten into the believer’s life, they don’t know God. They need to have a fresh glimpse of God. Know the intent and purpose of God. God’s intent and purpose is to build His church and protect His church and to carry it thru. He’s going to have a victorious church. It’s already written out, it’s already planned. In God’s great picture in heaven you’ll see that the church has gone right thru triumphant, it isn’t going down the tube anywhere. Somebody sent me a book in the mail the other day, if you have this book burn it up. If you don’t have it don’t go and buy it.

I’d hate for anybody to think that it got to be a best seller. It’s a book that’s entitled, “pigs in the parlor.” And this book is all about demons inhabiting believer’s lives. That just makes Satan so happy. “I want people to think how big and strong I am. I want them to know that Jesus isn’t quite strong enough to defend against me. And he’s got holes all thru in the armor here for me to slip thru and everyday they’ve got to kick me back out again.” Any book that you get a hold of that tells you that a believer can be a habitation of demons, burn it up. When Jesus is in your life darkness can’t be in because He is light. Light is stronger than darkness.

John said that darkness couldn’t overpower the darkness. The might of hell will not prevail against you. He said that He would back you up and support you. He said that when you were in a time of trouble, He said, “call on Me and I will answer you and I will deliver you and you will glorify Me.” Isaiah 43:2. He said no trial would ever be too severe for your life. He didn’t say He was going to take all of the deep rivers out of your path but He did say, “when you pass thru the waters I will be with you, thru the rivers they will not overflow you, when you walk thru the fire you will not be burned neither will the flame kindle upon you.” Oh praise God for these decrees. Now real quickly I would like to show you how great God is and that He is not only the God of the mountain top, He’s not only the God of days of success but He’s still God all of the time. The Syrians had mounted an attack against Israel and were defeated.

They outnumbered Israel but they were defeated as they fought in the hills and mountains. A year later they were trying to go over their strategy and wondered what went wrong. Finally they decided those Hebrew people have a God that helps them; they couldn’t win because after all we had superior numbers 3 or 4 to their 1. They had outside help. But we made a discovery; they can only get help when they’re on the mountain top. Their God is a God of the mountains. And do you know that Satan is giving that lie to a lot of Christians today? He’s saying that your God is effective and powerful when you’re on top of the mountain. And you can go along merrily success, success, success, prosperity. People are looking at success and prosperity thru the world’s eyes, not thru God’s eyes. God doesn’t spell it quite the same.

Things that God spells success on may not even look like success to a lot of people. Things that God says are real prosperity, somebody might say you call that prosperity, if that’s prosperity I would certainly hate to see poverty. They’re looking at things that, your God is just the God of the mountains. Kings 20:23. Following this little conference they had, the servant of the king of Syria said unto him, “Their gods are the gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain and surely we shall be stronger than them.” So you read down in verse 27 and 28 that they lured them down into the Valley. And Israel looked so small beside all of these people. It says they looked like two little flocks of sheep out there in the valley.

And there came a man of God that spoke to the king of Israel saying, “This is what the Lord says, because the Syrians have said the Lord is the god of the hills but He is not the God of the valleys, God says I want to prove something to them. Therefore will I deliver this entire great multitude into your hand and you will know that I am the Lord, not only of the mountains but of the valleys. So they fought and in one day 100,000 Syrian soldiers were slain. 27,000 of these fellows ran into the city, they said we’ll get some protection in here but some angels followed them in there and they hid behind one of the city walls there. You read about it in verse 30 that those angels pushed the wall over. It would be a pretty good sized wall because it killed 27,000 of them by that wall. Though the enemies of the Lord may look superior, though it looks like, “what can you do?” Remember this, that He is the God of the Valleys. You remember when king Nebuchadnezzar was on an ego trip. He was filled with fury because Shadrach and his friends wouldn’t bow down to the image he made. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo said, “Our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace and He will deliver us out of your hand o king, but if not be it known unto thee o king that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image.

They were saying we know that God has things well in hand because they were speaking in faith that if God didn’t answer the way they had stated He would have some other way. Because they fully expected to keep on defying the king after that experience. When the king looked into that furnace he said, “Didn’t you throw three men in there, how come I’m seeing four?” And the fourth one looks like the Son of God. He may not always be visible to human eyes but He’s always there. Believers I’m asking the Holy Spirit to take a truth and then plant it deep on your heart. That faith spells success. But more than that, faith has an alternative to success. And if believers can learn that they do not have to come out with strong absolutes in order to convince God and say this is it period and build up criticisms against people who may not see just the way they do. Learning from these Hebrew children, faith has an alternative. It’s God.

Faith’s alternative to receiving the thing that you may be asking for is having God Himself. And it’s ten times more important to have God then the thing you might be looking for. Faith’s alternative to success is God. When you can put your faith in what God is doing for you instead of the One who’s doing it, if He has another plan if your faith is in what He’s doing you’ll fall on your face. But if your faith is in God you can say but if not we have Him. He is with us. Do you remember Paul and Silas when they went into jail? Their backs were bleeding and were bruised and they had been beaten and they were sitting in the most uncomfortable position that a human body could find. “What went wrong,” Paul and Silas could have asked. They knew faith’s alternative. And so at midnight they said we just as well sing and praise God.

So with their backs bleeding and their feet in the stocks they said we may not have received the thing that we have asked God for, the deliverance, but we still have God. So as they sang God shook the prison and they were free. Some of you today are facing some pretty hard things. You’re being torn because somebody said its God’s plan that everything works out just right. But it isn’t working out just right and there’s a tendency to ask what went wrong. The thing for you to do is to quit worrying about whether you faith is strong enough or your faith has failed because things have gone the way they are. Instead start looking around for God. Like Moses out there in the wilderness with 3 million people, a bunch of crying babies. No place to cook. Moses, when he started praying he said, “Hey God this is a pretty rotten place, it’s a narrow place, a hard place but it’s a place that you possess, where you live in. Next time you get into that squeeze say, “hey God you live here right with me.” Faith’s alternate to success is God Himself. Look to Him instead of how things have turned out.

Chapter 20 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Believers Norm

There is an awakening that the world has never experienced before. It’s not confined to the walls of one particular church. God totally ignores those walls and those barriers. He looks at the needs and the hungers of the hearts and He looks at His plan and purpose. And He sees these vast areas of people and he says “I paid for them. I have so much invested in them, I want them.” When he was telling me, what a beautiful thing it was to watch all of these Catholics to get together in these huddles and to pray for each other. I said this might surprise you but this is happening in the Episcopal Church, the Lutheran church, the Methodist church. Some weeks ago when I received a message direct from the Lord by heavenly messenger, I was told when God founded his church it was like a beautiful pool of men and women living and bathing in the love and light that Jesus provided. But as people moved away from the center and each went his own way towards his own likings, they went into their own pastures and this pool was like a watering hole with fences running out like spokes away from it.

And as a result each pasture is labeled now with what they happen to be. There’s the Baptist pastor, the Methodist pastor, the Pentecostal pastor all different kinds. But this heavenly messenger said that what you are witnessing today is God by the power of the Holy Spirit and by his heavenly hosts are moving the sheep back to the pool where there are no fences. Doesn’t that make you feel good? That’s why in this congregation today, you’re sitting besides people a few years ago, you couldn’t have had good fellowship with them because you were fundamental and they were liberal, or you were a Nazarene and you were LDS. There’s a little warfare that goes on between them but down in the pool there are no fences. We’re here together this morning and God is doing such a beautiful thing. I believe that should the Lord tarry you could look forward to a great Catholic, Protestant revival meeting crusade. This priest that was here prayed about this very thing. The normal Christian life is an awareness and the recognition of what the Spirit is doing. It is normal for the believer to experience the capabilities, gifts and the ministries of the Holy Spirit.

The normal Christian walk is this kind of a walk. First Thessalonians 5, the apostle is pointing ahead to this day in which we’re living. And if you wanted to put a title on this chapter, you can call it, last day guidelines, guidelines for your life, for this day. The Word definitely tells us we don’t know the day or hour of the coming of Jesus but we can know the time and the season. “But of the times and of the seasons brethren you have no need that I write unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman with child and you shall not escape. But you brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of night nor of the darkness, therefore let us not sleep as others but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night and they that be drunk are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

For God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” And if you’re interested in the times, the awful days of the outpouring of God’s wrath that are definitely described in God’s Word. It is something that is coming. If you’re interested in that, He tells you as believers He has not appointed you to wrath, but He’s appointed you something else. Those of you who are willing to put their faith in what Jesus has done will never face the day of God’s wrath. He hasn’t appointed us to wrath but He has appointed us to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with Him. Comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as you do. Do you notice there’s something here that’s beautiful? The 18th verse of chapter four, he tells them to comfort one another because he’s talking about the return of Christ. Here when he comes to emphasis on the return of Christ he says the same thing. The Spirit knew that there would be people trying to scare people half to death with the message of the second coming.

I don’t know how many millions of people there are in the United States alone when they hear that Jesus is coming they tremble in their boots, scared to death. Because they feel that their acceptance is based on how good they’ve been and how much of a performance they have and they’re quite sure it hasn’t measured up. Is there anybody here that has ever trembled when you thought of the coming of Jesus? Why, that’s almost everybody, but he wants you to know that Jesus tasted death for you and already bore the penalty and because you’ve put your faith in Him you don’t have to be afraid anymore. And this is why he said comfort one another, get a hold of your brother, get a hold of your children, let them know that they’re not going to have to face God’s judgment, or his wrath. Let them know. Kids are living with so much fear today. There’s fear on every hand. God wants us to bring some comfort to the world. Do you know why the Holy Spirit came, one of his purposes? Somebody says well, we know that word comfort means just being called alongside to help. Quit showing how smart you are.

True, you can make it say that, and if that one called alongside you to help you is one that comes there because he sees how bad you’re feeling and comforts you, why then you’re right. But whether you know the Greek interpretation or not, God said “I’m going to send you somebody to comfort you, to stand by you. Comfort one another, this is his work. Comfort one another, and edify one another. Build each other up in view of the fact that Jesus is coming. And we beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake and be at peace with yourself. The normal Christian walk is listed right here in this chapter. “Now we exhort you brethren warn them that are unruly.” You young people or adults who are not behaving, if somebody warns you don’t say those people are jumping on me, its normal Christian life. Expect it.

“Warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble minded.” If somebody wants to come and comfort you, don’t take it wrong, maybe you need it. “Support the weak be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man but ever follow that which is good. Both among yourselves and unto all men. Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing make sure the lines of communication are up all the time.” It doesn’t mean to stay on your knees twenty-four hours a day; it means that you can get the signal thru when you need to get it thru. “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit.

Don’t deny Him, a place in your life. Don’t stop Him from doing the thing that He wants to do for you. “Quench not the Spirit.” Let the Spirit warm your heart, let Him fill you, let Him empower you. Let him cause the fruit of the Spirit to come forth in your life. “Despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, and abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God that your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Last week I told you how that you could be preserved blameless. It’s blameless in His sight.

“Be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one that choose you and called you will do the job. Faithful is he who called you who also will do it. Brethren pray for us, greet all of the brethren with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” You might remember to write last day guidelines. Now I know that there are people that are wondering because of the many different cults and breakdowns of religion. You’re wondering “where does this fit into the picture, what about it?” What about that person who desires to be so spiritual that you cannot even hold a conversation with him? Did you ever meet anyone that you couldn’t hold a conversation with because they were afraid they might lose their contact, fellowship? The reason why I’m saying this is I’ve had a number of you ask me about this. I’ve tried to talk to this person; all I can hear is praise the Lord.

God wants you to praise Him, but he also wants you to talk to people. God wants you to communicate and to be able to talk to people. I had one lady come to me, and she told me “Pastor Buck I don’t know what I’m going to do for my husband.” She said we used to have such good fellowship till I gave my heart to Jesus. And now she said I can’t talk to him and he acts like he doesn’t love me anymore. The more I try and love Jesus the farther away he seems to get from me.” I said well what are you doing? She said “well I try and pray every day and I get out nice bits of good Christian material and I lay it down where I know my husband’s going to sit. I tell him good things and I try and talk the language of my spirit to him and try and talk about the Lord and so on. And I looked at this lady; her husband didn’t know the Lord and I told her that she was developing into a great big fat spirit. Your spirit’s so healthy and you’re afraid to encourage or nourish any other part of you.

All you are is a big fat spirit. Your husband has no way of relating to your spirit. He doesn’t know the Lord. Your soul is shriveled up and it’s dying. Your soul is your humanity. And your husband looks at your shriveled up soul and he says I didn’t think I married that. You used to be able to talk about food, trips you’ve made, things that were of mutual interest. Now there’s nothing you can talk about that he relates to. There’s no way that you can relate to him. So I talked to her what a normal Christian ought to be.

God is putting people who are normal people in this building and in his body today, God is building normal wholesome people. Paul knew about it. He said “I pray that your whole spirit, your whole humanity, and your body be preserved blameless.” God paid the price for all three. Without spirits we reach upward to God and we touch Him and His life pours down into them. With our humanity we reach outward to people. There’s the spiritual, then there’s the human. God’s love and His life can not only occupy our spirits but can occupy our humanity too. God doesn’t mind if you have a good sense of humor, He gave it to you. Wouldn’t the world be a dull place to live if you didn’t know anybody with a sense of humor? He gave you that personality.

He gave you that radiance, that spark. He gave you certain gifts and talents, God gave them to you, that’s your humanity. So I told her, what does your husband like to do? Well she said he likes to fish, when it’s not fishing season he likes football games, she said I detest football games. And she said I just have to sit and read the Bible all the time while he’s watching football games. She said I don’t know anything about it. So I told her, I’m going to pray for you but before I do I’m going to tell you something. I want you to get yourself all the information you can get on these football games that he’s watching. I want you to learn what a tackle is. I want you to learn what a touchdown is. I want you to learn what a first down is.

I want you to learn some of these plays. She said I don’t want to do that. So I told her to do it anyway. She said “oh it’s so carnal.” I said you have to allow your humanity also to come back to life. If you want to have some fellowship and help that husband of yours, there’s going to have to be something that he can relate to there and be yourself. And cook some of those good meals. Don’t serve him just a can of soup or cold crackers. She just about quit everything you see because she didn’t want to break the chain of her spiritual life. You don’t have to be some kind of a nut to be filled with the Spirit and to be Christian today.

I believe that spirit-filled Christians should be the most normal wholesome people in the whole world. He wants us to be normal; He wants us to have that flow of His life. This lady gave me a good illustration to give to many, many others who have come. In their desire to serve God, in their desire not to do something to displease Him they have allowed themselves to become shriveled up inside their humanity. There’s something that you can do, that you love to do. There are areas of your humanity that God wants to be developed. He wants you to be a real person to all of those people that you know. He wants people to be able to relate to you, to your kindness, to your love, to those deeds you perform, to just being a good neighbor, there’s so many ways. Well this woman came back. She said you just can’t believe what this did.

She said I’ve got my husband back again. She said we’re happier than we’ve ever been in our lives. When I saw her again it was hard to even recognize her as the same one who came in so crushed and fearful. But now she was just radiating the joy of the Lord. Talk about a normal Christian; when you live the kind of life and let the Spirit live within you, you become wholesome in spirit, soul and body. And God has provided health for all three areas in the atonement. His blood was shed for your spirit, your spiritual needs. He was bruised and beaten for our grief’s, that’s the emotional part. And his body was broken and he received the stripes for our body, for our physical healing. God has health for all three parts of our being.

As you partake of this communion service today, I want you to remember the Lord’s Body, that there was provision there for all of your needs. Ask God to help to make you that whole complete person in Him. I know that God is going to minister. There are some here who are sick in body; you’re going to find physical healing during this service. There are some who are weighted down and depressed, you’re going to find emotional healing. And there are some of you who have never known Jesus Christ. You’re filled with fear because you know there’s a day coming when you’re going to be standing before God in judgment. But as you partake this morning and as you hold this morning the cup that signifies the blood of Jesus Christ and the penalty that was paid for your sins, as you hold in your hand that cup and you let God know by that token that you’re not putting your faith in what you can do, what you have done but in what Jesus did. Something is going to happen to you. God is going to blot out all of the records against you. He wants you to put your faith in that blood.

Chapter 21 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Streams in your Valley

God is interested in you as an individual. God cares about us. The very nature of God, if you knew nothing about people and all you could read was the nature of God you would have to say there’s a needy people somewhere of those in need because God’s entire nature is structured to minister to needs of people. He cares about us so much. When I think of what God is doing in the lives of believers I see the excitement and confidence that they have in God as they have found Him real. Colossians 3:1-4. For a few moments I want to spend a little time in this portion of scripture because it tells such a story of the believer and what this new life is. He tells us this new life besides being a brand new way of life with a new source of life, it becomes a new fellowship. It becomes a new way of worship. It gives new family life; every area changes.

It gives new business life it tells us here. So first of all we’re going to look at what happens to the believer in this new life. “If you are raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God. The first thing is raised with Him. In Ephesians the second chapter he tells you a little bit about what you rise from. A place of death, a place of separation from God, a place where there’s no hope. You’ve been raised with Him. Then he said you have new affections, new love. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. He’s telling us here that are physical being is not dead but we have shared the death of another.

Jesus died; we accept and identify with His death. For a reason here, that our life might be hid with Him, we might be covered with Him, His love. “When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall you also appear with Him in glory.” So the picture is this, the Lord has given us new life, He has forgiven us of our sins, He has covered us. We’re wrapped in His love. If you have the living Bible and would care to read Ephesians 1:4 you’d read about how you’re all wrapped up in His love. You’re covered with His love. So when God looks down at you He doesn’t see the unsightly things about you. The faults, the failure, the mistakes. You’re wrapped up in His love, covered with His love.

That’s why he said, “Now your life is hidden;” when God looks at you He says, “Oh perfection.” You know what He’s looking at? You’re hidden in Jesus. That’s why in 2nd Corinthians 5:30 he tells us that He was made sin for us that we might be made His righteousness. Wrapped up in His righteousness. This is the reason why we can have peace with God. We can walk with Him. Romans 5:1. “Therefore being justified by faith, counted as though we’ve never sinned, all wrapped up in the love of Jesus.” You finally have peace, and God has called us to peace. Colossians 3:15, he tells us that the thing that He’s called us to, the greatest need in the human life is that we might have the peace of God in our hearts.

Not only the peace of God, but he has allowed us to make peace with God. This is the position of the believer. You folks who have found Jesus real to your heart, you have been risen. You have partaken in Christ’ resurrection, His life that came about because of that. You have His life flowing thru you. It’s a brand new life. Then he tells you now with this new life, set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. And I might emphasize something here that God has put the handle of your affection in your hands and he tells you that you can steer that love whichever direction you want to. Love is not made in hell. There’s no love in hell.

Love is made in heaven. God gives it to us. But oftentimes we are guilty of misdirecting the love that God has given to us. Husbands love your wives. Turn your love in that direction. Wives love your husband’s; turn your love toward heaven. Turn that love toward people in need. Let the love of Christ beam out to others. We have the control here on that love. Set your affection on things above.

Then I would like to say this also, that in the great drama that’s going to happen soon that he speaks of right here in verse 4, Christ is going to appear. There’s going to be a time of meeting Him. Then there’s going to be a great appearing of the Lord to the earth and here the Word tells us when Christ who is our life shall appear because you have been risen with Him, the great drama that’s about to unfold includes you in it. Because you have been raised with Christ, it’s going to happen. It isn’t just a life of ease, a life of fellowship with God, but when God saves us He also does something for us that helps us to get along with other people. So His life includes how we look to Him, our fellowship with Him, He sees you all wrapped up in Christ’ love. Justified. Just as if you have never sinned. This is important to have this on the top. A lot of people say the most important thing is that something develops in you that people see first and then God will accept you.

But God says it’s not so. He says you can’t really please Me until you’re covered, until you have this first part. So notice the first part here. This is how you look to God. But God didn’t make a plan that didn’t work. His plan was that we would be helped all the way thru. A beautiful plan of fellowship with Him. And then He says now this gives you a life that others can see too. Not only something that God wants to see, that’s all taken care of. But now He says since you’re going to appear with Him, since you’re sharing His life, since your sins have been covered, since you’re hidden in Christ in God, you need to let other people see what Jesus has done for you and is doing for you.

Life before others. Verse 5; “mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, covetousness which is idolatry.” That word mortify actually means choke the life out of these things. This isn’t the work that makes Christ accept you; this is what He says to do because you are alive to Him. Choke the life out of the old way. Paul said that since we have this new life in us, choke out the old life. Praise God. Then notice verse 8, Put off all of these, this is the life lived before people, “put all anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth and lie not one to another seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds.” Can you imagine the apostle Paul telling some people who were already hidden in God that they had to put off anger that they had to put off wrath. That there were some things that they said that weren’t good? How could you accept that? You said you’ve already been hidden with Christ in God.

Well certainly a person hidden in Christ in God certainly wouldn’t be doing any of these bad things. You’d be surprised. So that’s why Paul said it. He said your life is hidden with Christ in God. Now in drawing this new life God says He wants you to live before the world that the world can see what Jesus has done for us. Now that you have this new life you need to clear some ground, lay aside those old things you did when you lived in them, lay them aside, clear some ground so that the new life will have some room to move in, the new man can grow inside of you. Get rid of this stuff so the new man can live and grow. So people can see it. This is the kind of the gospel when you get first things first that you can live. When you get this first and the other second you’ll never get to the other.

Because all your life will be spent in struggling, working, striving trying to please God, failure after failure. But when you know that your life is hidden with Christ in God. And now with His help with that new life surging it isn’t going to be a matter of life or death. If you happen to not reach your highest effort that you’re trying to make. People can live in such fear and such turmoil because they never quite reach the goals that they set for themselves, the spiritual goals. And if was a matter of reaching those in order to be ready for Jesus’ coming, no one would make it. Because we don’t know just where the line is. And we keep wanting more and more of God, I still don’t have all I want of God they say, this is the hunger that God has placed in there. But with this new life the Lord can help us to lay these other things aside. There are people who know what Christ has done for them, they’ve experienced the new life but fail to recognize their responsibilities before God.

And they oftentimes move out of God’s protection, move back into those old things that God has delivered them from. Oftentimes as these people have been ensnared by the enemy, their minds almost go haywire and they look for things to justify their sin and their wickedness. And they will go from one believer to another saying this really isn’t so bad is it? Tell me it’s just because I’m weak, looking for someone to strengthen their hand in wickedness. You know what God wants you to tell those people because you know what God has done for them. God wants you to tell them I’m not going to let you destroy yourself. I know what God’s done for you. You might go out and do it anyway but I’m not going to push you out I’m going to pull you back in. They might not accept it. They may go out and say that person was my best friend but they don’t like me anymore. I tell you it’s because you do love them that you’re not going to let them go so easy.

And if you’re here this morning thinking of throwing your spiritual life away, shaking your fist in the face of God who lifted you and let you share the greatest thing there is in this whole wide world. It’s one thing where you may not want to support the traditions of men or the forms of religion and God isn’t going to hold it against you because He’s not too high on breaking tradition either. But when you break His word, that’s so clear and so definite, and know it and don’t care and are looking for something to try and justify it. Do you know that you can find plenty of scripture to justify any sin that you want to get into? But it’s not taken in the direct way that God wants it to be. One of the big battles that I have in ministering to people is that they’re looking for scripture to somehow justify sin. If you’re considering or harboring sin and rebellion and are making plans to leave the place that God has brought you to, don’t do it. There’s no peace. It’s peace that God is drawing us towards. When people try and stop you, if you saw one of your friends put a gun to his head with a thought of pulling that trigger, you’d grab that gun so fast and pull it away from his head. Never pat his back when you see him destroying himself in sin.

He wants us to live before others and let them see what Jesus has done. Then he said the new man is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him which created him. Where there is no Jew or Greek, bond or free but Christ is all and in all. God has a brand new order of life here that He is over all. Religion doesn’t make the difference, Nationality doesn’t make the difference, Social standing doesn’t make the difference but having Jesus in your heart makes the difference. That’s where the life comes from. Can you imagine Paul calling these people that still got mad and had some malice and some of these other things, can you imagine him calling them holy and beloved. The only way he could do it was he knew they were all wrapped up and Jesus’ holiness was covering them and they were beloved of God. Now he says put on these bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and long-suffering. You know what he’s telling you there? The same thing he did in verse 10.

Where he said you’re going to be in the image of God, God’s nature is love, joy, peace, gentleness, long-suffering. You read it in Galatians 5:22. God’s nature being lived in us, being reflected in us. That’s the new person because it’s His life growing within us, and then people could see His life. Humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. “If any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye. And above all of these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfection,” it’s the cement that holds all of these other things together. The love that Jesus has. “And let the peace of God,” here it is, not only the peace with God which we read about in verses 1-4. When you have peace with God the war is over, you’ve made peace and it’s all settled and you have his forgiveness, you have peace with God.

There are thousands of Christians that have never have received God’s peace. They have peace with God but they don’t have the peace of God, the peace that let Jesus sleep in a storm. That allowed the conflicts to pass Him by. That’s the kind of peace that He has called us to. You notice here in the 15th verse He said, “This is what I called you to. I want you to have peace with not only with Me but My peace, my very own peace.” John 14, when He was telling His disciples He was going away and He said “I want to leave you the very best thing I have.” He ran thru all the list of things that He might be able to give and He said the thing these people need the most is My peace. So He said, “My peace I give to you.” That’s His plan you see.

That’s living the new life. It’s a brand new way of life as far as the world’s concern. It’s a new way of worship, verse 16. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Here’s spiritual worship. That time when you may sing a song that’s never been put down on paper yet. It even makes good family life when you have Him. Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as is fit to the Lord. Husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them. Today I’m so aware of the hurts in people’s lives.

Nearly every day someone or more than one comes, whose heart is hurting so badly. They’ve been raised with Christ, their lives have been lived for God and they’re striving to please Him but they’ve suffered a blow that has hurt them so badly. And they wonder, where do I stand with God? What is the answer? Does He really still care because I’m hurting so badly, I’ve prayed to Him but it seems like the heavens are brass, I haven’t been able to get my prayer thru. Romans 8:35 in the Living Bible tells us, “who then can ever keep Christ’ love from us? When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down or destroyed is it because He doesn’t love us anymore? And if we are hungry or penniless or in danger or threatened with death, has God deserted us? No. For the scriptures tell us that He is with us. That overwhelming victory is still ours because He died for us.” In 2 Corinthians 4:4, “we are pressed on every side by troubles but not crushed and broken.” Could this be you this morning? Listen to this. “We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do.” Can I see the hands of those who are perplexed? There are a number of people that wonder why things happen as though they do.

We are hunted down but God never abandons us. These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did so it’s clear to all that it’s only the Living Christ within who keeps us going. That is why we don’t give up. Though our bodies are dying our inner strength is growing every day. Listen folks, because you’ve given yourself to the Lord, because you have His new life, because you’ve been risen with Christ doesn’t mean we’re in heaven yet. And it doesn’t mean that it’s all your fault if things go wrong in spite of what some people say. The Apostle Paul I believe knew God and lived close to God but he spoke of the times of when he was beaten and shipwrecked, the time when he was stoned. He suffered but he did it for the gospel’s sake. If living for God meant that all troubles would just be completely gone people would be living for God not because of who God was but they would be doing it like they get food stamps. It would be an easy thing to get and it would be convenient and food stamps have served a real good purpose and this would serve a real good purpose.

But one of these days it’s going to happen when you get, “over there.” But in this life instead of saying the rivers are going to all dry up for you when you come to them, the fires are all going to go out when you have to walk thru them. Instead of that He said, “When you pass thru the waters I will be with you, thru the rivers they won’t overflow you, when you walk thru the fire you’re not going to be burned because I am with you.” Just as the Hebrew children went thru the fire. God is still with us, Hallelujah. Praise God forever. But He has promised that there is a shelter that our spirits can hide in safely, even while the storms are going on around us and the conflict rages. I think of that verse in Isaiah 32:2 where he speaks of Jesus becoming a great rock in the weary areas and in the dessert and this great rock provides shelter in the time of storm. You can hide under His shadow. Then there are times when it seems like Job, I wonder if there’s anybody here that has ever experienced the things that Job has experienced.

Job really had it rough. He lost everything he had. He lost the members of his family. God let him get things in perspective and he said, “Though He slay me I’m going to trust Him.” Then he said, “There is a path that the vultures eye has not seen, my spirit is walking down a path where the lions cannot roar against me, where the little nagging things in this life, the lion’s whelps can’t pester me. It’s a place that’s protected; it’s a hidden path near to the heart of God. God said, “Aw, that’s where I wanted to bring Job to, he wouldn’t have found it otherwise. Now I’ll heal all the boils and I’ll restore him and Job had 10 times as much at the end as he had at the beginning. He didn’t say it was all going to be easy but he said it was going to be right and He was going to be with us. I’m reminded of that passage in Psalms 84:6 where David in talking about the burdens that people would have and the dry places of life.

And I know that every person here has suffered real desert experiences. You’ve walked thru some dry places. You’ve wondered if God was really there and if He cared. God has spoken to my heart, several people right here this morning He’s given me your names, I’m not going to give them that have been troubled by this and you know who you are. You’ve felt like you’ve been completely encased outside of God’s care and God’s love. You’ve been in the valley of bitterness and sorrow. And in this beautiful verse of scripture he said that God has given us the right and the ability as we place our confidence in Him as we walk thru the valley of sorrow and bitterness. That word Baca mean bitterness, sorrow, heartache and some of you this morning are walking thru the valley of heartache. The reason it was called that, that’s the place where they took Achan, a man that disobeyed God out and stoned him. And they put him in this valley and they called in the valley of Baca because it was the valley of sorrow.

But he tells us today, when you are going into that valley of bitterness, of sorrow, and of heartache, your home is broken, your husband or your wife has told you they don’t love you anymore, or your children have come home and they’ve been involved in deep pornography with magazines that have been handed to them, and of taking of drugs, or there’s been a problem in the home, a daughter that is expecting a child out of wedlock or your son has been involved in burglary or some things that have just shocked you and they’ve hurt you. You wonder “how can I ever stand it?” But he said because you have Him, because you have been raised with Him in the middle of that valley He causes an artesian well to spring up and you can still be refreshed, you can still find Him, you can still receive the help from Him, Hallelujah, you’re not defeated yet because the well is there. Then I come to that beautiful verse of scripture Isaiah 35:6 that are God because of His care for us knows where your deserts are this morning and He said He provides streams in your desert. And the source of those streams is the heart of God, His love, His compassion, His care flowing to you. Streams in your desert. Hallelujah. When I was thinking of these streams in the desert, God reminded me that those who except Him drink of Him, He said out of your innermost being shall flow rivers. And as I thought of these streams I could see God’s children labeled God’s streams and thru your life flowing comfort and strength to some of the people that are hurting as you come to them, they can be refreshed by your life as you carry the water of life and the refreshing from God’s heart to them. We can sometimes offer to them nothing but a mirage. We tell them what it is but we don’t show it.

That’s the reason why these verses that I gave you are so important to clear out the old things and let that new river, that new life flow thru, that when people come with that need of help and that need for life, we can offer it to them. Not a mirage but a real stream of life. Then I think of the call of Christ where He said, “come unto Me all that are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You will find rest for your soul if you will come and learn about Me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest for your souls.” There may be some things we go thru but His promise will never change. He said, “I will not alter one word that comes out of My mouth. I made a promise, I’ll be with you, I’ll help you, and I’ll stand by you.” Hallelujah. I’m going to ask at least 20 of our prayer workers to come and stand here right now. There are some people with real needs this morning.

Chapter 22 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, What is God Doing?

God has definitely thru a very supernatural means, has shed a light, a spotlight on the Word. He has made truths to come alive. And as I’ve given this to the congregation here and it’s been taped in the public services, these tapes are the tapes they’re referring to, the messages of truth that God has for our day. And it’s so important. These truths are so important. You remember the first message that I gave you after this visitation was a message that God’s heart was desirous of the hearts of the fathers to be again to the children, the children to the fathers and to prepare a people for the Lord. This is what He’s doing. God is preparing a people for the Lord. I know hundreds of people that are now in fellowship with Jesus. Since God began circulating this message it isn’t something that is stopped here.

The work of God’s hosts working in this world hastening men and women to God is going on and there are literally millions of people that have been turned to God. God just brought the message to us of what He was doing. Praise the name of the Lord. In my ministry of the Philippines I was made so aware of my need of putting these messages down into print as well as in tape. So these men could take these truths and support them with scripture and use them, mix them in with their messages giving the truth to the people. While I was speaking at the Far East advanced school of theology in Manila, the president and the instructors there, all of them learned men, most of them with doctorate degrees stated that they needed this material to give to their students. And I’ve had telephone calls and letters from many, many pastors in this country saying would you give us some material. We have calls or letters from many foreign countries saying the same thing. And with God’s help we’re going to get this out to them. In my advertisement in the paper for the services today, I asked the question “what is God doing?” Something is happening in the world today that’s never happened before.

What is God doing? We here statements, we hear reports of victory in all parts of the world. We here about Catholics fellowshipping with Pentecostal people. We hear about Mormons and Catholics getting together. Something very, very special is taking place. God is hastening His work. People often look at what the Lord is doing and they often wonder “what’s this going to mean to me, what’s this going to mean to my church? I’ve had a number of people ask me the question now how is this going to affect the assemblies of God, where I had my ordination. While I was in the Philippines I had a group of Baptists come and ask me how this was going to affect the Baptist people. God isn’t really too concerned about these denominations. I’ll tell you why, what God is doing today is so much broader than any church group. God did not say for God so loved one half of one percent of the world that He gave his only begotten Son for them.

Oh no, you take these various denominations it’s just a fraction of a percent. But God said He loved the world. So He’s doing something very special today. He’s not building his church from one denomination. He still comes thru with the message that he brought to Joshua as he stood by the river. Joshua walked up to this messenger from heaven and he said “are you with us or are you with your competitors.” He didn’t use that word but he did say are you with us or with our enemies. You remember what this angel said? He said I’m not too concerned about you or your enemies as groups of people but as captain of the Lord’s hosts I have come. And they came with orders, they came on assignment, Joshua didn’t know at the time what that assignment was but he soon found out. That Israel’s job was to work from ground level and they were to obey God’s orders and they marched around those walls and here there was a human army marching under orders from God, while up above was a great army from heaven and it made a great pincer movement against the enemies of God.

And when a shout was given as this army of earth marched around the walls, one of the most foolish orders that were ever given to an army of people, march around the walls. That was poor battle strategy. I venture to say some of the people in those days who would like to think logically could have said “well this doesn’t fit human logic, marching around the walls.” There are people today that read that and they want to believe God so they try and figure out some way that those people got the walls down by marching around it. I even read in one place where they said these people were such good marchers that they marched with such good rhythm that they created a vibration that was felt in the earth crust and it caused the walls to come down. I tell you that would take quite an army to make a vibration like that wouldn’t it? There are some other theories because the walls went down. But you know what really happened? When God gives us a job to do we sometimes say it can’t be done, it’s humanly impossible. God says “you do the human end of it, what I tell you to do, and I’ve got some super human forces at work that will do what you can’t do.” Listen folks, when God gives you something to do, you do what He’s given you to do and He’ll do what you can’t do. So these people walked around the walls, they did what the Lord said, they shouted.

And I supposed some of them were about ready to say I told you so nothing happened by just walking around the walls and shouting. But when they shouted that was this captain’s signal. He had sealed orders that God had given him and he looked at them. And so he sent those angels out and they got on that wall and they pushed it right down into the ground. Have you found yourself into tough spots? Can’t do it God, don’t worry. God has the captain of the Lord’s hosts and heavenly forces out there working for you. Did you ever wonder why he was called the Lord of Hosts? It’s because God commands another army too. So the question is “God are you with us or are you against us?” It’s a classic question that is still being asked. We need to take a little closer look at our attitudes. There are some denominations that are saying we are it, if you’re going to go to heaven you have to be what we are.

You have to learn and accept our truths, and then you can go to heaven. And heaven is prepared for a little tiny fraction of the people. Just a small place. Next time you hear somebody say you have to accept this particular teaching to go to heaven. I want you to mark down right off that they’re wrong because God isn’t going to support that. But there are people who say, “Oh I would never say a thing like that. I would never say that people have to come our way.” But there are people who are saying if it’s really of God it has to come thru us. Do you know that I had a minister telling me that? If God was going to bring some truths and highlight the truths that He’s put in His Word we have some well educated PhD’s, well God will use them. And if God doesn’t use them it must not be of God.

If God’s going to do something why isn’t He doing it thru us? When God does something let’s not care who it comes thru. We’ve prayed for God to do it, and when God moves let’s be thankful. Let’s praise God for it when God moves. Then there are some in practice by provincial attitudes they’re excluding people from God. I was telling some people what God is doing in the Catholic faiths. God is waking up a great sleeping giant in the Catholics today. And I was mentioning some people that God had so beautifully moved upon, blessed. And these two men looked at me and they said, “Have they taken the statues out of their church. Have you asked them whether they quit praying to Mary? Have they thrown away the beads that they had around their neck?” Listen, God did not make us the authority. God can take things that have been written clear off by man and can use them.

He said He can even take a worm and thresh a mountain with it. People may stand by and say “hey what’s that worm doing, he doesn’t have authority. Worm put the mountain back in shape.” But I tell you, when God moves God has His reasons for the way He moves. So this is one of the things that God isn’t doing, He isn’t building his church from the inside of one denomination. Another thing that He’s not doing is glorifying super churches. Though there are massive congregations that are coming together as a result of what He’s doing. But the fact that they may have a super organization does not mean that that’s what God is going to use. He is not glorifying super personalities. One of the dangers today of the Christian world is if God does start to use an individual people want to take that individual and practically mount him on the wall and light some candles in front of him.

If there happens to be a move of God thru healing or though salvation. There are people that would venerate that individual when God Himself wants to have the glory. What God is doing is not glorifying man. This great move of God is not to glorify churches or man. What is God’s plan for the world? There are people who say well if God is in it God wants to make the world a democracy. You don’t know how wrong you are. God never planned democracies. Democracy is better than the other governments compared with it. A lot more liberty and a lot more freedom and I want you to thank God for where you live. But this isn’t what God wants to do with the church today.

His plans for the world is not to take democracy and spread it around the world. Though God does honor and has promised to bless men and women where He is honored whether it be a democracy or a monarchy or whatever it is, when God is honored he has promised to bless because of what He is doing. God has plans for this world. And the bottom line of what God has planned for this world is that it’s going to be a great kingdom with Jesus as the King, a great theocracy. Jesus Christ in charge. Oh, Hallelujah. God gave me a living panorama of this picture just last Sunday morning. It’s something that is going to be happening. God allowed me to see the greatness of what’s going to be taking place. I could hear voices in heaven.

I heard Michael and Gabriel and other great angels of heaven shouting the words “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever and ever.” And while they were shouting, it was literally reverberating from one side of heaven to the other. I saw the 24 elders that were there and they fell down in the presence of God. And as they were lying on their faces before God the Lord allowed me to see the veil being drawn back from the temple in heaven. And as I saw that temple He focused my attention on the Ark of the Covenant that was there. And there in the ark was the bloodstained mercy seat. And he said his covenant would never be broken. That those whose sins were under the blood Covenant, those who had put their faith in what Jesus has done, those who have met God at this mercy seat, their sins were covered. You know in the ark that was on earth, the broken commandments that Moses had were kept in that ark and covered with this mercy seat.

The mercy seat was a picture on earth of Jesus Himself. Hallelujah. Throughout the eternal ages in heaven the cost of our salvation is going to be in prominence. The temple was opened and exposed, was the ark and the blood. Praise God forever. Some of you might wonder is that scriptural? It is scriptural. He did make reference to the fact that in the 11th chapter verse 15 thru 19 it’s just referred to in brief. But that living panorama was so beautiful. Just to see what’s actually happening. God’s plan for this earth is that Jesus is going to be the King.

Hallelujah. Following that, the earth will be purified by fire and there will be a new heavens and a new earth. But Jesus is going to be the King. That’s what God’s plans are for the world. I’ll tell you what God is doing. God is unfolding His plans for His people. God’s plans for His people are included in these divine acts. One, His plan is for reconciliation. He wants to reach out and draw men and women back to Himself. He wants to tell them “come, you can shake hands now, the wrath is turned away.

You can come.” That’s his message of reconciliation, that He wants to restore and bring you back into a place of fellowship with Himself. Second, He wants to give you life. These are the plans that God has for His people. The Lord so emphasized this to me and I’m going to mention it again. I feel that if this is so important to God that He would by divine messenger bring these truths and this message and say get it out. I feel it has greater importance than we could possible place on it ourselves. It is important to God. God wants the world to know that He wants them. He wants them to know it.

There’s a beautiful truth that He made so real to me last Sunday morning, early in the morning as Gabriel met with me in that office and spoke to me about what God is doing, God’s methods today. He spoke to me about the seeds that have been sown in the hearts and lives of people around the world. That the gospel message, though it may not have been received, it may not have been germinated. The seed has gone forth and it has been sown in many, many, many lives. And that God’s plan for believers is that you take on and become the light of God to these people. That you actually have the nature and partake of the nature of Jesus, this is His plan for you. 1 Peter 1, this is God’s plan for you. He isn’t necessary wanting you to become the greatest Bible teacher in the earth. He’s not intending for you just to grow in great stature as far as moving people is concerned. He wants you to be like Jesus.

God’s highest plan for you is that you be like Jesus in this world. I’m going to read from verse two. “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you thru the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, who according to His divine power has given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness thru the knowledge of Him that has called us unto glory and virtue. All things that pertain to this life, which pertains to godliness, have been given to us when we learn to know Him, see Him as He is. Whereby given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature.” God wants you to be like Jesus. Partakers of that divine nature. “Having escaped the pollution or the corruption that is in the world thru lust.” God has a beautiful escape as you get to know God. Those things that you have been battling will fall away and you’ll have victory over them in the beauty of Jesus.

God wants literally millions of representatives each of them representing the beauty of Jesus in this world. Then he goes on and tells us the things about the nature of Jesus. “Give all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity, all of these things are the characteristics of the nature of Jesus.” He said add these things to your life. If these things be in you and abound they make you that you should be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. “He that lacks these things is blind and cannot see afar off and has forgotten that he is purged from his old sins.” God’s desire for you is for you to be like Jesus and not to slip back into an old way. “Therefore brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you will never fall for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I will not be negligent to put you into remembrance of these things though you know them and you be established in the truth. God wants us to be like the Lord.

Now let me draw you back to this world as a great field that’s been planted. Seeds have been sown. Often in many places they’ve been watered by the tears of people. God’s great work that He’s doing today in drawing people close to Himself and allowing them and leading them into a place where His life is being seen in them that the life of Jesus is being seen, Jesus’ life is light. The Word tells us that in Him was life and that life was the light of men that lights people in the world. So look at it this way, God has set you in the world as a light and now He says “it’s time for you to arise and shine for your light has come, the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” The looks, the nature of Jesus has risen from you, the glory of the Lord is streaming from you. What is the purpose of this? To give you a place of beauty and of prominence? No. That likeness of Jesus that’s streaming from your life becomes the warm rays of God’s love, of His gentleness, of His nature that goes forth. And as this mighty angel was speaking to me he said that the seed has been sown and as we partake of the nature of Jesus and we shine, the warm rays from our life will cause a germinating of the seed that is sown all over the country and there’s going to be life springing forth because the seed of the gospel is there.

He doesn’t say to stop sowing but he does say that as we move about in this world as we are living and ministering among people that something in their heart is going to come to life. Hallelujah. The seed is going to spring to life. And they’re going to come to know Him. People that are dead in sins are going to come to life because the seeds are going to spring forth. Hallelujah. There are some of you here today that may not know Christ. But I want you to think of times that seed has been sown. You’ve been probably in a home and seen a mother or a father that has loved God. Or you’ve been out working and you’ve looked up into the sky and your mind seemed to drift to the things of God, there must be a God out there somewhere.

Or you’ve been spared some grievous accident by God’s help. Or you were listening to the radio and you heard a song that told about God and there was a softness in your heart. You may have even had to dab a tear away from your eye as a seed was sown and your heart was touched. You may have heard a message sometime a long time ago, a seed was sown. I think of this telephone call that we’ve received from up in river country. And this man called weeping, they had listened to that tape in a saloon. And he told me that 16 years ago he heard a sermon and that his heart felt that he should surrender to the Lord that some seed was sown. But he said that as he was listening to this tape it all came back to him. And he came to the phone and called and asked how he could find Jesus. I was able to pray for him over the phone, he slipped his hand into the Lord’s.

And then he said; “now I’m going back and I’m going to tell these other 16 men who were weeping as they were listening to that tape how to find Jesus.” Praise God. God is warming by His life, by His presence, by his work thru believers, by divine visitations, by all that He’s doing. God is causing and readying a people for the Lord. And while Gabriel was telling me this I feel that I have not been able to communicate it the way it was communicated to my own heart. That the world is ready and the seeds are ready to spring forth as the light shines upon them. As he was speaking to me about this something happened that I will never forget and I felt so awed by it I couldn’t even talk about it here in the church but while he was speaking to me suddenly a shaft of light about 18 inches across came into that room over at the house, my office there. It did not diffuse and go out into the room; it stayed together like a blue white pipe. It was a shaft of light. I looked at it but it was so dazzling I couldn’t keep my eyes upon it.

And I felt so absolutely consumed by the brightness of that light. Gabriel who was standing by me stopped, and this other great angel that was there stopped. It lasted about five minutes. They begin telling me about the Light, the warmth of that Light that was going to be germinating the seeds of life. Oh God have I taken this, has this been important enough to me? How important this must be to God that by supernatural means let me know that He wants His believers to be shafts of light beaming warmth, love, and kindness into the world. That the seeds that are sown in lives everywhere will suddenly germinate and they’ll say “oh I need God, I want Him, I must have Him.” What is God trying to do? God loves people. God is not seeking to condemn people. He’s seeking to bring them to Himself. And Jesus, when he stated what He came to do, He said, “I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.

Praise God. I was reluctant to mention this, there’s so many things that people may hear that they may have to sort out in their minds. I don’t know yet what this light was but I can’t help but feel that God Himself moved into that room to emphasize the importance of this message. Light. The Light of heaven. I felt that the light had risen on my own life. I felt that it had to be important for these mighty angels to stop in total awe of Him. I feel that when I’m speaking this morning God is here. I wouldn’t even be surprised if some of you here would even catch a glimpse of that light that was so dazzling. That your lives would never be the same.

I have to tell you this morning I cannot take what God’s doing lightly. It’s the most important thing right now in my whole life because God is carrying the message out to the world, He’s saying, “I want you, I love you.” He wants the world to be loved thru you, thru the beauty of Jesus. Oh, Jesus. I can’t continue this message; there are some other things that are of tremendous importance. I feel that God is here in such a powerful way. I feel that He’s putting His hand on lives. I feel that seed that has been sown, not only gospel seed but seeds of hope, seeds of desire for service for God, seeds of real faith and belief that have been sown in your heart because of the warmth of what God is doing are springing to life. Do you feel this morning that there is a quickening in your own spirit? Oh, the quickening of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah.

Some of you may never had the courage to place your hands on someone and pray that life would go thru them that they may be healed. But today God’s presence and the light of the gospel that’s shining in your heart, that light that’s risen on you is causing a growth of that faith. And God wants you to pray. You’ve never had the faith to talk to someone, you didn’t know whether they would listen to you but all of a sudden there’s a confidence coming and you’re able to share the beauty of Jesus and the beauty of this message. God loves them; God wants them, that He has room for them. God is telling you today that He is not angry with you anymore. That His wrath is turned away and the seeds that have been sown in your life, that knowledge that you have about God are springing to life.

Chapter 23 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, What Meaneth This?

There are many people who would like to put a test on the Lord. But the test is measured by whether it fit’s the creed or the theory or the concept that they may have. When Paul was preaching about the life on the other side, the place that God has prepared, he had some people say hey you’re a cultist talking about life after death. In our day there are people who have a hard time believing that God can do anything. They have an idea of God somewhere. But when somebody brings that idea into focus and shows that something is tangible and no longer just an idea somewhere, they get a little uncomfortable because all of this time they’ve been content and happy with their position. Some of the folk have come to me and said Pastor somebody said to me that the things that are happening in Central Assembly really aren’t of God because they don’t seem to fit what we have in our minds, in our doctrine. But instead of saying in their minds or in their doctrine they said it doesn’t fit the Bible and so you must stay away from it. And so these people have come back really worried. So I just wanted you to know that you are the authorities on whether this is real or not.

Not those people out there who have never been here. Is God among us or isn’t He? You know that He’s here; you don’t have to take a back seat for you know what God is doing. God is doing a very special thing. And forces who feel that what He’s doing here are a threat to them have had an opportunity now to gather some type of a counter attack and they’re attacking you just like the Sadducees attacked the Pharisees. Every message that has come is not bringing another gospel but they are supporting what’s in the Word. There are some people that say well I was looking in the Bible and I don’t find any precedence for some of the experiences that may have happened. Well do you know that if God put everything every way that He works in the Bible it would take more books than you could fill this room with? His ways are passed finding out and God reserves the right to do anything He wants to do that is consistent with His nature. That’s what they said about Jesus when He went out in the field and decided to pick a little bit of corn. But they found some things in the Bible that said you’re not supposed to do such a thing on a Sabbath day. Jesus said God is not going to be bound by your interpretations of this book.

God has another law where He said when people are hurting I’m going to help them. So Jesus said so what? My Father works on this day in helping people and I’m going to work. And people can imply their ideas about Scripture anyway they want to. The work of God and what He’s doing needs no defense. But I felt I owed you a little insight so that when people would ask you and seek to undermine your faith, you wouldn’t feel they were bringing you something that would offset or in some way point out that what God was doing is not real. All those people that came up here this morning that were delivered from afflictions one way or another, that’s God’s character, God wants to help people. And He promised to help people. They are God’s fingerprints on what God is doing. God is more interested in people than He is in proving a point. So remember that because you feel that you don’t have arguments to prove what the Lord is doing, don’t worry about it.

We’re not trying to prove anything; we’re trying to make Jesus real to a whole bunch of people. Last week for three nights we had some services here where people saw a lot of things that they wondered about. And there may be some people here tonight that need some questions answered. They need to understand so their mind might be at rest. The work that God is doing, what you have witnessed is God keeping a promise. He promised that in the last days I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. And there are many outpourings in our day. We are watching God at work. Some of the things that you have heard with regard with supernatural things that were taking place, are these things really for us? There are articles that say that all of these things passed away with the Apostles and there’s no need for them anymore and that God can no longer perform His miracle power. They forgot to tell God that.

God had other plans. I don’t know how in the world anyone could be content serving a God that they could never make contact with or that could never do anything for them. But thank God He is moving. He is on the march. I like to put the truth of God in an easy way to remember. So I’m going to ask you to write down three little lines here. The people that watched a great stirring take place in Jerusalem just after Jesus went away. They saw the disciples move, they saw people being healed and they cried out what meaneth this? And then Peter answered them and told them and I’m going to put what he said in just a real simple paragraph here. First God made a promise. That promise was found and referred to in many places in the Old Testament.

But Jesus in Luke 24:49 said “behold I send the promise of My Father upon you.” That was the promise of His Spirit you see. “But tarry until you are endued with power from on high.” Acts 2:33, a great event took place that the religious leaders of that day couldn’t understand. They said these folk are drunk. And there were a lot of derogatory remarks made about them because of the moving and stirring of the Holy Spirit. Peter said this Jesus hath God raised up where we are all witnesses and therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost He hath shed forth this which you now see and hear. What happened on that day of Pentecost that these disciples that these people saw and heard was God keeping His promise. The third line would be God included you in His promise. God made a promise, God kept a promise and He didn’t stop with the disciples as a lot of people would tell us.

So he said this promise is unto you and unto your children and unto all that are afar off. All that are a far off, down thru the centuries. The Lord made that promise to us. That there would be something that was real, something that was vital. So when He spoke to them about salvation he said they that believe shall have life. Then He said they that come shall have life. Then a little farther down he said it shall even come to pass that those who are dead shall hear His voice. He’s not talking about people in the grave because a couple of verses farther down, he said there’s coming a time of resurrection when those that are in the grave shall hear His voice. But He’s talking about people who are walking around but have their ears closed. There are people who are totally unresponsive to the Word of God.

Jesus said I even have a way of getting to them. They won’t listen to your voice, but God said I’m not going to tie my hands by anything that people think I might have said. There’s coming a time when those dead people, I’m going to get my loud speaker system right up to their ears and I’m going to jar those people. Those dead people are going to hear not your voice but His voice. And He said those who will listen shall live too. The Lord is bringing people to Himself, He’s speaking to them in a lot of different ways and life is flowing. God is doing it. God keeps His Word. He’s not bound by men’s idea. He’s not bound by tradition.

But He is bound to keep His nature and His nature is to minister to people. God must prove He is righteous. The word righteous means His unfailing ability to do that which is right. I talk to some over in the Philippine islands. Many of the church groups that were there said we can’t do anything; we just don’t have enough people. These people are unresponsive and so on. They said it just looks like we’re getting farther behind all of the time. I told them not to worry about God’s part. Those people that are unresponsive are not going to be left without some kind of a challenge; God’s going to speak to them. And the Lord placed it in my heart to challenge these missionaries to get out because they have a bigger duty to fill now than ever before because people all over those islands are going to be hearing the voice of God who have been long separated from God.

God is keeping His word. What did Jesus say about the coming of the Holy Spirit, what was the purpose of the Spirit? In John 16:7-15, (He reads it) What Jesus is actually saying here is that the Holy Spirit will make Jesus real to you. Have you noticed that when people are just worshiping God and the Spirit of the Lord is in their life, the tears may be running down their face, but they’re not just praising the Holy Spirit. They’re saying “Oh Jesus I love you so much,” Jesus is so real it just seems like you can reach out and take hold of Him. He has come off the printed page and they can hear His heartbeat, Jesus is glorified, He is real to people. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. The second thing is to make the Word of God real. He will take the things of mine, the things of the Word, and He will make that word live to you. Those of you who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit haven’t you noticed how the word suddenly comes alive? You like to read it and it seems like God speaks to you out of every page? Well that’s what the Spirit came for to make the Word real. Then He said He will make heaven real to you.

He will reach out and take just little bits of heaven, the goodness of heaven, He will take it and give it to you. He will show you those things that are going to come. Praise God. Do you thank God for the Holy Spirit? He has a real definite purpose for His coming. Now on the day of Pentecost, those people spoke in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Some people have asked me “what was the purpose of this prayer language?” Oh it has a tremendous purpose. Do you know what a physiatrist does when somebody has a lot of pressures on them and it feels like there’s a dark cloud following them around? He has them lay down on his couch and then he has them lay out layer after layer after layer of things that are bringing pressure in their mind until maybe he gets down to a pressure point and he tries to replace that with something else to make them feel better. Well the Holy Spirit does a whole lot better than that. He not only makes you forget about something that may be hurting you, He not only relieves you but the Spirit searches out those deep things, things that we may not even know about. Things that are hurting us, and he lays them out before God and then have you noticed as you’ve prayed in the Spirit, worshipped Him, you feel just like you’ve been filled with His love and power? Hallelujah.

I wouldn’t trade this experience for any other type of praying experiences I know, because I know what it does to me. Just to be able to lay things out before God. If I were to pray of the things that I felt were important, I could start listing some things and I could say “now these are the things in the order of priority.” Some of you would come up and look at them and you’d say those aren’t the important things at all. I know some things that are more important than that. And if I were to get 100 of you here everyone would have a different list. Some of you would think I was unfair. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t make that kind of a mistake. I can only pray and talk to God when I am searching out the needs, the things the way they look to me. But the Spirit who knows the deep things, the Word tells us He searches out those things that are really important, where the real needs are and then as we give God our faculties and the Spirit the control of our faculties, the Spirit then taking our lips, our tongues, our voice and as we pray regardless of what those sounds are, the Spirit rearranges those sounds, they come up to the ears of God and there it is, beautiful prayer reaching down to where the needs really are.

And while He’s doing that you’re just ventilated, lifted and the surge of His life is going thru. You may be healed; God may have given you the direction to go that you needed because the Word tells us He would guide us into all truth. These things are so important. So never hang your head and say I do speak in tongues once in awhile. You are the recipient of God’s highest gift, His Spirit and He says here I’m giving you the Spirit. I spoke of praying in tongues, let me give you the purpose now of the promise that God gave for His Spirit. There are two reasons. When Jesus promised the power, the first place was power to be, to be like Jesus. You couldn’t be like Jesus if you didn’t have the Spirit of Jesus. It would be impossible.

I could act like some of you but unless I had your spirit I couldn’t be you. God’s promise was, I need people in this world who are like Jesus and the only way they are going to be like Jesus and let the world know what Jesus is really like is to have the Spirit of Jesus within them. And so He’s given us power to be like Jesus. He wants you like Him. And so the word tells us in Galatians 5:22 that the fruit of the Spirit, the character, the nature that the Spirit builds within you is love, joy, peace, and gentleness. All of those traits of Jesus are the things the Spirit develops in you. God wanted to see Jesus. He wants them to see Jesus in us. He wants the world to be able to say Jesus is still alive; there He goes walking around in those people’s shoes. That’s what He wants, that’s the real reason for the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then the second reason for the gift of His Spirit is power to do, power to accomplish. He not only wants us to be like Jesus but then He said you will receive power to do the things that I did and greater works than these will I do, but we have to keep it in the right perspective. There are some people that are teaching that the purpose is power first without being. God says no, I won’t have it that way; I want you to be like Jesus first. And then power to do. The Spirit has many different ways that He manifests Himself. Human nature has a bad trait of looking for reasons why a thing can’t be instead of looking for reasons that it can be. There are many people that are saying if what God is doing thru the power of the Holy Spirit fits my little brain capacity, if I can relate it to the few of the little things that I have up here then it’s of God. But if I can’t relate it here it’s not of God. Oh how egotistical can people be? If God was no bigger than what could fit in that little peanut brain of yours He wouldn’t be any bigger than you are.

But His ways are passed finding out and He can do whatever He pleases. He would rather have us yield ourselves to Him and not be bound by the traditions of man. Not to restrict the Holy Spirit. God says get out of My way; I have a job to do. He said in the last days I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And right now in Catholic churches, Baptists, you name it; the Holy Spirit is reaching down and touching lives. God is bringing the churches back to the kind of a church that He founded on the day of Pentecost. He founded it on that day because it was in His plan; it was in His heart that there would be a church that was directed by the Spirit of God. And I just so appreciated the words of God as He brought them to me by an angel that the Spirit of the Lord now is reaching out where denominations, each of them have gone after their own way, they’ve built their own little code of ethics and their operational plans. He told me it was like a big lake with fences running out in every direction.

And the denominations, the different concepts that people accepted were like these fields running away from the pool. And as these people joined together and got farther and farther from the pool the fences got higher and higher and higher and higher. But God is doing a new thing in our day. He called a halt to the building of the fences and the Spirit now is moving in every denomination and He’s pushing people now back to the pool where there are no fences. Because He’s coming again and He’s coming for the kind of a church that He founded on that day. That’s what it all means. That’s what’s happening today. That’s what’s happening when the thrill of the charge of the Holy Spirit comes, when people are healed. Well, what about these people that have fallen down under the power? I had a lot of people say what on earth is happening? Somebody told me well I don’t see any sense to all that. I just think that Francis Hunter pushed that man over.

If a surgeon can take care of an illness better by standing on his head when he operates and gets it all taken care of and really gets the job down fast and smooth. Why let him stand on his head. And if God can quiet people down by getting them flat while He’s doing a little work on them, let Him go ahead. I don’t care if somebody pushes them down, but there are a whole lot of them that the Lord had to push over Himself. I don’t push people down but if I felt like you could get what you need from God by pushing you down then I would sure do it. I don’t mind helping the Lord a little bit. The main thing is that God is moving by His Sprit and the Lord wants us to let Him have a little working room. And rather than make ourselves the judge and say I’m going to test this. Do you know that God never told us to be the judge of spirits, angels, God or anything else? Did you know that? You can’t judge the Holy Spirit. What He’s asking you to do is to judge whether He’s trying to tell you something or not.

Whether He has something for you, He wants you to look at your heart and say hey is He trying to tell me something? It might be that He’s trying to tell somebody else something. But when you hear from God always open your heart to see whether He wants to tell you something. But never judge and say God you can’t do it that way. Anytime we set ourselves up to judge the Holy Spirit we’re saying to the Lord, “move over off that seat there, and let me take your place there for awhile.” The Word of God was never given to regulate God, but us. He can still do whatever He wants too. He does all things after the counsel after His own will. He has allowed us to participate in the greatest awakening this world has ever seen. And it’s the awakening that’s going to climax in a sound of a trumpet from heaven as the Lord reaches down and pulls people from every nation, tribe and tongue, every denomination. There will be individuals who have looked and their hearts have cried to God.

His church has an invisible boundary that flows in and out of denominational lines. The Lord knows those that are His. Let’s just stand together and in the presence of God, let’s stand with our hearts open and our hands raised for just a few moments. The Spirit of the Lord is here and I know that as we respond to Him something is going to take place. Do you have a need? Is there a cry in your heart for God? Let that cry be heard to Him right now as you stand in His holy presence for He is here. Praise God. We know that what we see happening is God at work. He made His promise, He kept His promise and He has included all of us in His promise. Praise God forever. Hallelujah. “Jesus we ask that You might be formed in us that the beauty of Jesus might be seen in us.” Hallelujah.

Chapter 24 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Selected for the Hour

Our skills reach their highest purpose in this day. You have been selected by God for this moment. Those skills will reach their highest meaning now because you brought yourself to God. And when He has you, He has what you have. These skills are his because you are his. For this day of special visitation He asked that you be led by Him, that you be used by Him, that you have the privilege of being accompanied by Him, and He asks and has made provision that you be like Him. Made like Him in your nature and in the work that you’re doing. My message this morning, I believe is something that has meaning and can become a part of everyday of our lives. It’s not something that we hear and we move away from to something else. When God has made a statement, when God has laid a plan, that plan is fulfilled and goes into action.

Praise God. But in this challenge of yielding ourselves to God, we cannot be what he wants us to be without His help, His power. So a long time ago before He ever made the earth, God laid a plan where you could do the thing that God wanted you to do and that was by the help of His Holy Spirit. Now there are a lot of different ideas out in the world today as to what this charismatic movement represents. Jesus received the promise of the Father and gave His Spirit to us. This was planned before the world was ever made. It was God’s concern. One of God’s priorities is that you be filled with the Holy Spirit. In speaking to me about this he said you can find reference to this when God gave Moses the plan for the tabernacle. Well, that tabernacle was actually a little miniature of God’s great plan for the whole earth.

He said it was taken from a pattern in heaven and given to Moses. There were some feasts that Israel was asked to observe. And each of these seven feasts referred to and symbolized these seven priorities that God has. Well, one of these was the feast of Pentecost. It was something that was so important to God. It followed 50 days after the feast of Passover. The feast of Passover was symbolized by the separate stocks of wheat that were being waved before the Lord symbolizing the individual lives of the believers before Pentecost. There they were, these individual Christians. But God said, “I’m going to turn these individual Christians into a solid body, into a church; His body of believers. So the day of Pentecost 50 days later, instead of the single stocks of wheat, the wheat was ground into flour.

And it was needed and made into loaves. Now on that day the feast was called the feast of Pentecost where the individual believers were all blended into one. God made it so real on that day of Pentecost and he had it recorded, they were all with one accord, they were all blended together. All of those individual disciples where each of them were going their own way, now they were all blended together, His body. Praise God. Now God cannot stand sin, He cannot look upon sin. God has made a covering for us, His perfect Son, Jesus. The very word atonement means covering and he has covered us with that atonement. But so that we could see and His church, His believers would be able to know when they look at themselves and see some things that aren’t perfect, they’d look at others and see some things that aren’t perfect, they would not be discouraged and say I guess God didn’t do His job. Do you know what God told them to do so that it would be a true picture? God wants us to know that in ourselves we’re undone.

There’s a lot of weakness, there’s a lot of imperfection. And we cannot be accepted on the basis of how good we are. Though his plan is that we become like Jesus, and His Spirit has been given to us to help us fulfill this plan. We can never be accepted on the basis of how good we are. We have to be accepted on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done for us. And He’s covered us. So in showing this symbolically how important it was, He said to Moses, “Take some leaven which is a type of sin and mix the leaven in this bread and this bread is a type of the church. There are some things that may not be perfect but the atonement is covering them. And they’re accepted in the atonement. But he said when they come to me for fellowship as an individual he said at the table of showbread there was absolutely no leaven in that bread.

He said, “When I sit there and I look at them and I talk with them their lives are covered, it’s all gone.” Hallelujah. The coming of the Holy Spirit was not just to give us a good time. There were two purposes that God had in mind. The first purpose was to give you power to be like Jesus. God wants us like Jesus. He sees us like Jesus. He wants the world to see us like Jesus. So he said if you’re going to look like Him you are to have his nature, his Spirit. So I want you to have the Spirit of Jesus in you.

And so on that day of Pentecost when the Spirit was outpoured, it was not the dynamic things that they were doing that stirred up Jerusalem. Satan thought that he had put Jesus to death; his followers thought that they had put Jesus to death. But God said, “I’m going to give this nature, this same Spirit that motivated and made Jesus what He was, I’m going to give that same Spirit to all of the people that follow Him. And so on that day the Spirit was given and the world didn’t know what in the world to think. They didn’t know what happened. They said, “Here we put him to death, we put Jesus to death, he gave us so much trouble, just one person. And now here we find Jesus is walking all over the place. People who have His Spirit within them are all over the place.” God wants to produce His own likeness in us by His Spirit. Unless you have the Spirit of Jesus, you will not be like Jesus.

He’s given us His Spirit. The reason for the coming of the Spirit was to give us power to be like Jesus. The second purpose was giving us power to do like Jesus. And that is power to help us accomplish the things that Jesus accomplished in alleviating the hurts, the cares, and the needs of people. Do you know that the manifestations and the ministries of the Holy Spirit were never given just to be signs for people? The Lord would never perform a sign just to show people a sign. Do you know why He performed those miracles? Somebody had a need and Jesus cared about people and He wanted to alleviate the need. Praise God. And God is still doing that today. He said where people are hurting that’s where I live, and I want to lift those burdens and I have some people that I have poured the Spirit of Jesus into. So remember this, the first thing, you can never do like Jesus, have that power to do, it will never work until you recognize the power to be.

That’s called the fruit of the Spirit, the likeness of Jesus in your life. This is the truth. Go out with that Spirit of Jesus; let the world see Jesus in you. What the world needs is Jesus, just a glimpse of Him. The world needs Jesus more than food, more than clothing, more than peace, more than anything because He becomes to them all that they need. Jesus, all we need is in Jesus. So we have been selected by God today in whatever position we’re in to be a Jesus. Let the world see Him thru us. Isn’t that a beautiful task that God gave you to do, to be like Jesus? I just love some of those choruses, “To be like Jesus, to be like Him.” Today is communion Sunday and one of the ways we can be like Him is to recognize what God has really done for us.

One of the other priorities that came first was God’s appreciation of the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s recognition, His feeling toward that blood, its top priority that we recognize our position in the Lord. In that it refers to the body of the Lord. This truth that I brought you at the last communion service discerning His Body is not a truth that we brought to fill up a little time on a Sunday morning and then move on to something else, something that would give us a little shot in the arm for that time. It’s something that God has promised to recognize forever. And He wants us to be able to recognize it forever. And with that in mind I’m going to read again words that the audible voice of the Spirit gave to me a month ago. I’ve read these many times in times of devotion because I know where it came from. Often times these truths take several hearings to really have the meaning that God intended. The Holy Spirit said, “Write, preserve the words I have spoken to you.

They shall become a light to many. I will not only minister thru you but I will accompany these words and give them life wherever sent even as I have already given wings to my messages brought to you by the angel of the Lord. Fear not to speak in His name for the words I give are not your words but His words and are established forever. Are they not found in his eternal living word? Long closed doors of many peoples and nations will be penetrated by these words of life. I command the hosts of the Lord who have been sent forth for this hour to hasten the gathering together unto Him a people for his name and to prepare them for that great day of the Lord. They will both precede and follow these words from the Father to make ready the people, to scatter the forces of darkness, and to gently care for the multitudes who will hear. Because of the accusations of Satan, because of the daily reminders of sin, of failure, and of human weakness you often forget what He has done for you. You must be reminded, you must remember, God in His wisdom has provided a time and a way for this to be accomplished. This is the purpose of His holy communion, a time to remember what He has done. Here he asks us to look upon His body.

To see your sin and the sins of the world placed on Him by God. Every lie, every sin against yourself or others, murder, all adultery, all immorality, all dishonesty, all cheating, all rebellion and idolatry, all enmity thru witchcraft and Satanism, yes everything with which you could be charged with is laid on Him. He has become sin bearing the concentrated dregs of the rottenness of billions of people. He points to his body, to your sin and tells you your sin is already judged, you are free. As you behold him smitten of God with the searing stroke of His judgment you see there the canceled sin of the world. With this reminder of your peace with Him you can speed the message to the world, that you can come now you have been accepted, that God’s wrath has been turned away. The heart of his plan is the sacrifice of Jesus. He tasted death for you. See him as the spotless Lamb prepared. See him now, the sin bearer coming before God with filthy garments.

See him stricken of God. See him now as the high priest sprinkling His blood in heaven over the book of the covenant. See him totally remove the need for pardon by removing the remembrance of sin.” Hallelujah. Today as we observe once again at communion time he asks us to discern, to see this body that was made sin and absorbed the stroke of God’s wrath that was directed towards us. He diverted that stroke of judgment and wrath to his own body. You remember in that service I emphasized to you the meaning of that burned sacrifice. God chose that this sacrifice of the Old Testament be burned in order to perfectly symbolize the fiery stroke of His judgment upon his perfect sacrifice Jesus. And so as that body of that sacrifice, that heifer was turned to ashes. All of the sins of that Old Testament time that were placed upon that heifer were burned.

And those ashes were held in remembrance, taken and placed in a clean place where they could be recognized as the cleansing and the acceptance, and the mark of acceptance of the people that came and put their faith in that sacrifice. So Jesus came and I want to read from Hebrews 10. As you see not a little piece of bread, but as you see it, see there the ashes, see there the cinders of those sins that Satan would hold up before you and accuse you of. See there are those sins that he would remind you of day after day. There they are, already judged, nothing but empty cinders. There power to hurt you destroyed. So God says He has made a plan where as we observe this time we can close out the many voices of the world, the accusations of Satan and we can look again and say there is the remains of my sin. Hebrews 10:4. He’s speaking here about what Jesus did. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

Therefore when He came into the world he said, “Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared for Me?” In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure,” then he said, “I come in the volume in the book it was written of me to do thy will oh God.” Above when he said sacrifice you would not, these only cause the sin to be covered a year at a time. Then He said, “I have come to do your will oh God. We are sanctified thru the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. “Every priest stands daily ministering an offering which can never take away sins. But this man after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God. For by one offering he had perfected forever those that are sanctified.” What does sanctified mean? God’s meaning of sanctification is the adaptation of His life to the human body. Those who have accepted His life have been covered; have been made part of His family. One sacrifice forever.

So today ask God to let you see the burned cinders of sins that have plagued you. See not only those things that have been a part of your past, the idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, wrath, all of these things. See not only those things but there are some things as you behold ashes of things that you have not even committed yet that may happen tomorrow or the next day as you may be ensnared in some way. There’s not going to be some other sacrifice. Every sin of this whole world was laid on Him. He became sin for us and the stroke of God’s judgment hit it. A man can go out and can say I’m going to take care of my own death penalty. But God is calling and he said “the news is good, you can come now, you can be accepted, and somebody else took your place.” Today as you observe this communion would you ask God to help you to see what it really means to see His body? When you see His body you will see your sins are already gone, they’re judged. And you can say in your heart, “I am free.

I have been accepted.” Discern, see His body. And as you see it you will not be a sick Christian, a weak Christian. You will be a strong Christian because of what Jesus has done. I encourage those of you who may have never accepted Christ as of yet to partake of this communion. I’d like to have you take of the cup and of the bread and as you hold it in your hand just send up a word to the Lord, “Father I’m putting my faith in what You’ve done.” And God is going to be made happy because of what you’ve done. People who have struggled and wrestled with sin, honest hearted believers, when God has allowed them to catch a glimpse of His body, and there they have seen the burned out cinders of these things that they were struggling with, immediately God helped them to rise above that thing. Would you carry this message to somebody this week? Let them know that the stroke of God’s wrath has been diverted. Jesus took it.

Chapter 25 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, The News is Good

I think of a miracle that happened in Budapest. There was a lady that came into a healing line. I didn’t ask for a line, it was a church that was recognized by the communist government so it had to be run just more or less so. My wife and I had been to an underground church and some of these people had heard what the Lord had done in the meeting of the underground church, so when they came out to this fairly large church, there were four or five hundred people there. And following the service there was a row of communist officials back there to make sure that nothing was said against their government. But these people came up to the front and there was such a flow of them that you couldn’t stop them, and I don’t think the government officials could stop them. It kind of looked like an infirmary of some kind had been turned loose. But there was a lady that came, and they were coming so fast, and I didn’t know their language, I was just praying because God knew what I was saying, He knew what they needed. But one lady came with someone walking with her. And then I saw another lady who looked just like her.

This lady was blind and couldn’t see. What was happening was she kept coming back. She asked for a hymnbook and she read everything there on it. It reminded me of that little lady who came to Jesus and touched the hem of His garment. But I’m looking forward to these things. This ministry in the Philippines was something that God has had in mind for a long time. And He let me know about it over a year in a half ago when He let me have that visit to heaven, and He gave me that paper. And on this paper was written that God was going to give me a ministry in the Philippines. Hallelujah. We had a call from some people that the Lord is using around the world, it’s called trance world missions with John and Linda Olsen.

It’s a beautiful ministry. They’re going to be sharing here Sunday night. Tell your friends about it. I’ve been asking the Lord for guidance and direction in the type of ministry and what type of preparation I should have or how I should be preparing for this ministry. And the Lord seemed to speak to my heart and calmed my spirit. I believe it was last week that I said I seemed like I was taking a leap into an inkwell. Not knowing where I am going. I only know one thing that I’m going to be at the Far East Advance School of Theology. It’s going to be at four different islands. I mentioned to my wife that I wish I knew a little more of what God wanted me to share there.

At 1:28 a.m. this morning, my dog whimpered like she does when there’s company, so I woke up and took her downstairs, but she didn’t want to go out, but I had some heavenly visitors there. Mike asked me if it got to be a common thing. And I want you to know that it’s as fresh and real as the first time. It can’t be a common thing, because there’s such a radiation of divine power even connected to being in their presence with them because they come from God and I’m almost paralyzed. It’s not a common thing but it is a beautiful, gratifying assuring thing. I wanted to know more, what should I tell them over there, I don’t know what they’ve been studying. But this great angel told me that the heavenly forces have been at work preparing the way. And many, many, many hearts are filled with great expectancy.

Just to make it brief though he was there for three in a half hours. The angel told me that those people need to hear that the King still reigns. This excited me because when he talked about that he let me practically see the glory of God in all His power, that in spite of nipping things that come along, God is in control and He rules over the whole earth. He let me tune in on the chorus of angels singing again. Telling me more about what God is like. Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord. He explained to me in detail what the meaning of holiness was. And it was such a beautiful thing, and it did no violence to the Word of God. Holiness is the character of God, the very nature of God. And as they sing, and as they magnify and exalt His holiness, I could see the magnificence of God Himself and how little all these other things are in the light of God’s presence.

And he told me that the people in these islands are going to be made glad that God is on the Throne. And he spoke about this, and then he said that the whole earth is going to be gladdened with this message. That God is on the throne, that He’s still ruling, that He’s in charge. If you were there and felt the Living Force of this truth, you see God is doing something so very, very special. And He encouraged me; this angel did mention how God was pleased with the sharing that many, many of you people have been doing. He told me that God was pleased. Keep doing it. I asked him if there was some reference that he could give me so I could, when I went to the Philippines here it is right in the Bible what God has to say. So he told me that God had arranged all this in his ministry and as he met with David, David wrote down the very things that he was telling me.

In Ps. 96, and he even mentioned the first part of Ps. 97. It was beautiful just to see the Living Force of this Truth. “Say among the heathen that the Lord reigns. The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved, He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad, let the sea roar in the fullness thereof, let the fields be joyful.” What he told me regarding this before hand is that the field, and the trees, and the sea and everything is praising the Lord. The whole creation has reached a time in God’s great plan where they’re praising the Lord. The sea as it roars is praising God, the fields as they’re bringing forth are praising God, and the trees as they move in the wind are saying praise God.

Praise God. Hallelujah. So when I read this I could see the real beautiful meaning here. “Let the fields be joyful, and all that there is therein, and then shall all of the trees of the woods rejoice before the Lord, for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with His truth. The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of the isles be glad.” I really needed that. Let the multitude of the isles be glad because of that message of hope and confidence that God is in control. He wanted me to tell them what God is like.

He mentioned also that many of them are living in a kind of a gloom that they feel that they have to stay in because of the depressed life that they live, the oppression of the enemy. But he said take a look at what God is really like. And I could actually see the throne of God. It’s anchored in His righteousness and His justice. Righteousness is His unfailing ability to always do that which is right. Then He says, “the forces of light, the brightness of God’s presence is strong enough to destroy and to push back all of the forces of darkness.” Oh, praise God. So I could see something that God is going to do, He’s going to push back some darkness over there because the people are going to be able to look up and see God on His throne reigning, being fair to them, bringing to them a real touch of His life and His message. “A fire goes before Him and burns up His enemies round about. The brightness of the Lord, the forces of light shall push back all of the forces of darkness.

He did drop a suggestion, he told me to tell the people here to go out and tell everybody else that God still reigns, that He’s in control. Let them know how God feels about them, that He loves them, and that He cares for them. When he talked to me about holiness, the very character of God, and how that God has allowed us to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. This holiness, the very nature of Jesus, is being developed and is growing in the lives of His people today thru the power of the Holy Spirit. And it’s called the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit at work is developing in you the fruits of holiness. Holiness is described in Gal. 5:22. Someone asked what holiness is in my class this morning. And nobody said it was for the ladies to have long hair.

And no one said it was the ability to overcome the commonly known sins. But what real holiness is, is letting the life and the nature and the beauty of Jesus shine thru. And so holiness is, love, joy, peace, gentleness, long-suffering, goodness, meekness, faith. This is holiness. This is the nature of Jesus. So real quickly I’m going to give you a little Bible study on the first little flash, this is like a diamond with flashes coming out all around it. But one of those, the first one is love. The fruit of the Spirit is love, holiness is love. And the Spirit in this day, the outpoured Spirit is producing these evidences in the believers’ life. It isn’t only the struggle.

It isn’t looking at a person that is hard to love and saying, “I’m going to love this person if it’s the last thing I’ll do.” Do you know there are little quirks and not everyone fits the same mold, and there are personality clashes that people have, and you know for too long somewhere down the line some place, people turned their eyes away from the Bible, away from what God has done to what people could do. And they have much have said God we would rather do it ourselves. But I just love those old hymns that exalt the greatness of God, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.” What a beautiful truth is in that song. “A mighty fortress is my God.” Some of these old hymns are so beautiful and bring out the character of God, and tell us what He is like. But something was lost because people decided, “How can I mold myself so I can be how God wants me to be?” But there’s that tremendous effort of trying to produce something that you just can’t produce. The great renewal the world is experiencing is due to increased supernatural activity. God is restoring His church, and preparing His people for the greatest day of all history, the gathering together of His people to Himself.

The present day move of His Spirit is to help complete the task of readying His Church for that day. Much has been said about the dynamic work of the Spirit, of the operation of gifts and the demonstrations of power which are so evident among us. Of equal importance is another purpose of the Spirit, that of implanting the nature of Jesus into the lives of believers. Something on the inside is taking place; the Spirit is at work today putting the nature of Jesus, love. People that come into this assembly, I’ve had them over and over again tell me, “Oh I felt such a warmth, such a love in that congregation.” The Spirit was at work producing the nature of Jesus. God wants His people to be like Jesus. When He speaks of bearing fruit He is referring to the Christ like traits seen in Gal. 5:22. Most of the nine characteristics mentioned have to do with our relationship with others.

How we could let others see Jesus. We conclude then that the Spirit was given that the world may see the beauty of Jesus in our lives and be drawn to Him. The world wants to see what Jesus is like. Now if you have your Bible and would like to turn to Corinthians 13, there is a beautiful chapter on love.”If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than a blaring brass or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God and if I also have absolute faith that can move mountains but have not love I amount to nothing at all. Yes even if I give my own body to be burned but have no love, I achieve precisely nothing. This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience, it looks for a way of being constructive, it is not possessive, it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners, and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy; it does not keep account of evil, nor gloat over the wickedness of other people.

On the contrary it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, or no fading of its hope. It can outlast anything, it is in fact the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen. For if there be prophecies they will be fulfilled and done with, if there be tongues the need for them will disappear, if there is knowledge it will be swallowed up in truth, for our knowledge is always incomplete and our prophecy is always incomplete. And when the complete comes that is the end of incomplete. When I was a child I talked and felt and thought like a little child. Now that I am a man my childish speech and feeling and thought have no significance for me. At present we are men looking at puzzling reflections in a mirror the time will come when we shall see reality whole and face to face. At present all I know is a little fraction of the truth. But the time will come when I shall know it as fully as God knows me.

In this life we have three lasting qualities, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”You might want to jot down just a couple of thoughts here. That what the Spirit is producing in you. I wonder how many of you have ever had a real longing to talk with that person who couldn’t speak, or thought how you could see the full restoration of that person. I bet all of us have thought that one time or another. Love is the greatest of all of the Spirit’s work. Without love nothing else works. Love is the thing that makes it work. Praise God.

Love is greater than faith, greater than wisdom, it’s greater than prophecy. I had a lady tell me the other day, “Oh I wish I could be used in giving prophecy, but I saw that her eyes were shining and there was a radiance from her life, just the love of Jesus. And I said, “God has given you the highest and best gift He could possibly give you, let that love shine. And the Lord will use you in other ways, but that love is so important. The second heading, love adds meaning to all of life. He tells us in these verses that we just read, love never fails. It never fails. That love constrains, it activates the gifts of power. Galatians 5:6, He tells us that faith, that gift that everybody wants that power that everybody wants, faith is activated by love. So pursue and ask God by His Spirit to develop in you this likeness of Jesus, that love.

The times that I have seen God do something really special has been times when my heart literally overflowed with compassion. And as that compassion went out, it just seems like God’s hand went with it. Faith works by love. It adds a dimension of life to life that puts a halo around even the drab things. Those routine things suddenly get a halo when the love of Jesus is there. Praise God. Now I want you to know the evidence of love. Now this is a picture of someone that the Spirit has added the force and the power of this love and has developed this part of Christ’s nature within. Rom. 13:10, “love works no ill,” actually could be paraphrased to read this way, “abstains from things that would hurt another.

Gal. 6:2 “bear ye one another’s burdens.” He said get under the load with your weaker brother. He said “you that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.” How is it seen? That love will give you a willingness to forgive. Is there someone you haven’t forgiven? You said I’ll just give them a partial forgiveness, I’ll put a band aid on their sore and write forgiveness, I’ve forgiven you but I won’t forget the thing. Forgiveness, willingness to forgive. 2 Corinthians 2:7-8. Here is a case of a man who had been convicted of a very gross sin, and he had been disciplined more severely than what God intended. People picked on this guy, but God had to tell these people.

He said sufficient to such a man as this punishment which was inflicted of many, so that contrary wise you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one shall be swallowed up with overwhelming sorrow. There may be people that you feel are in trouble with God because of things they have done. God says, “Go to them, help them, go to them.” Confirm your love toward him. Oh what love, God wants us to forgive. Satan takes advantage of unforgiveness as you read in verse 10 and 11, “to whom you forgive anything I forgive also for if I gave anything to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I in the person of Christ, lest Satan should get advantage of us. For we’re not ignorant of his devices,” and I want you to know that Satan will take advantage of unforgivness faster than almost anything else there is. I wonder how many of you in the past had experiences where you held a grudge and you had bitterness and Satan took advantage of that thing. And people were hurt by it. But he said forgive, that just like Jesus, in the person of Christ.

Because if you don’t Satan will take advantage of the thing, and you’ll leave a loop hole for him to get thru, but when you forgive then you spare him and you confirm your love one to another. Now the next thing, it is seen by restoring the fallen. Gal. 6, “brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.” Now there are a lot of people who have said yes I’ll forgive but that person will never be in the spot again in my thinking. They let me down, they hurt me, and they can’t be the same. I have to put them over here and watch them, yes I’ve forgiven them for this thing but that’s about it.” It does remind me of that song that we used to sing right in church, that the bird with a broken pinion never soared as high again. And it could be, but we’re not birds and we don’t have pinions. I suppose they’re talking about wings.

But the Word tells us that God’s restoration is so complete that you could soar higher than you could ever soar in your life. Praise God. And so in our forgiveness with another, in restoring them it means to put them back just the way they were. To do anything else would be incomplete. Put them back in your love, put them back into your heart. But you say, “That’s a horrible thing they did.” Restore them, restore them, restore them. This is His love. But do you know what? It’s hard for you to do this yourself. But as you wait in the presence of Jesus, you partake in His nature, then you can see what Jesus wants to do and you can stand there in the presence of Jesus, like Paul who said I forgave in the person of Jesus, you can do it knowing that you are representing Jesus Himself.

You can take that person and lift them out of that pit to where they have sunk. Lift them back up into the place of your thinking, in your heart, in your love, restore them. Do you know anyone who needs to be restored that you can restore, start thinking and then wait in Jesus’ presence, and let the love of Jesus beam out from you as you set them back into the place that God wants them. Do you know what we’re talking about here? We’re talking about the beauty of holiness. This is true holiness. This angel told me that holiness was neither the absence of sin, nor the presence of works. It was Jesus, the nature of Jesus; it had no bearing on either one of those. It was the nature of Jesus. Praise God. And the absence of sin was the result you see of holiness but not holiness.

That’s what holiness does, it makes us abhor evil. Let’s quickly go to another one here. Eph. 4:1-3. He tells us to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. He’s actually referring here to putting up with the faults and the quirks of other people. Have you noticed that there are a lot of quirks? Love helps us to reach out and accept people. This love that Jesus is producing is slow to lose patience, looks for a way to be constructive, it is not touchy, does not account of evil. How many times have you said to people, “You’ve done that 10 times?” Have you ever kept account of evil? But love never knows a limit to its endurance. Have you thought to yourself, “how much more can I ever put up with, how much more, how much more does God expect of me?” I’ve had a number of ladies tell me, “How much more does God expect me to take.

Love, this work of the Spirit within knows no limit. We reach a point where we feel we can’t go one step further but He builds within us the strength and pushes back some walls, and you go a little bit further and a little bit further. There’s no limit to the endurance of love. No end to its trust, no fading of its hope, it will outlast anything. It is the cement of the church, love is the bond he tells the church. It’s the highest priority in this day. So I want to encourage you today to allow yourself as the Spirit is at work today, God has poured out of His Spirit in these last days. I want you to see how this fits God’s plan. God has a two-throng liberating thrust today. He is using heavenly hosts in drawing people, in ministering to people, in helping people.

Then He is using men and women filled with the Holy Spirit with the Spirit producing within them the nature of Jesus to go out and to draw people, to let them see what Jesus is really like. It’s the drawing power, the motivating power of the life of Jesus within us. So God has two arms working in the world today. He has believers that He is controlling by the power of the Holy Spirit, the seen force; He has the unseen force that is also controlled by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is sent forth at God’s bidding. So today in the great move of God, God’s revealing His desire, and the favor that God has shown on the world today. So He says, “get busy, let Jesus be formed in your life. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen because the world that the Spirit and that the angels are working on in bringing to the point of choice are going to be drawn by your life. We’re working together, we’ve got a job. It’s a great pincer movement on this earth. The forces here, and the forces there, are bringing people to God.

Aren’t you glad you’re a part of that great army? Oh hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. The words that have been used so often to me, and I’ve used them and given them to you. That you are highly favored of God, highly favored of God. What does that mean to the unbeliever? They may not know God, but they are highly favored. God is reaching for them. In talking to me about this early this morning, this messenger from heaven said that the favor of God is actually life. There’s death in the world, the sentence of death is upon it but God’s favor opens up the door of life. God is saying to the world, “you don’t need to die, you don’t need to die, here’s life, here’s life.” And he even gave me a verse of Scripture. In Psalms 30 verse 5, he let me know that God’s favor is life.

Oh, hallelujah. God’s favor is life. Praise God. Praise the Lord. God is doing so many things. I’ve committed this congregation to The Lord a couple of weeks ago. And I said, “God we’re not going to fail, but we’re going to let the world see the beauty of Jesus. This is what He wants to happen. He already sees us looking just exactly like Jesus, but now He wants the world to see Jesus in us. His acceptance of us will not be on what degree Jesus is formed in your life and what people see.

His acceptance is already complete. He accepts you because you’re complete in Christ. But to be effective for Him He wants us to be like Jesus. And I know that’s your desire. Let’s stay close to His heart and like the iron that’s in the fire partakes of the nature of the fire. It becomes warm, the dross turns into sparks and burns away, and then that iron takes on even the appearance of the fire as it radiates and glows its warmth. That iron doesn’t have to say, “I’m going to shine, I’m going to radiate,” it shines and radiates because there’s something working within it. It has partaken of the nature of the fire. Praise God, Praise God, Praise God, Praise God. Jesus, may the beauty of Jesus be seen in us today.

There’s a man here from Washington. Yesterday when I was praying with this brother, I didn’t know how important his trip to Boise was. But early this morning this angel told me to give a message to this man. That God had in his preparation for the work that he’s doing in his contact with people, God was preparing this man to carry this message that God reigns, that He’s still in control and that the beauty of Christ might be seen in his life. I don’t normally do this, but I had distinct orders from the heart of God thru this angel to do this. And I’m going to ask this whole congregation to stand. And I’m going to ask Von Robertson if he would come here and stand with me. And I’m going to in Jesus name God is going to anoint this man for a work that he didn’t know anything about. In fact there was a distance between him and the Lord till he came. But he told me early this morning to dedicate and consecrate this man for this work that I’ve prepared for him.

It’s not the giving up of his secular work, but it is using the skills and the talents to be used of God where he is. Hallelujah. Come over here Von, you didn’t realize that God cared that much did you? Sometimes you wonder. How do you feel about taking on a challenge like that? Well He put me here, I’ll work for Him. Would you pray with me for the consecration of this man? Probably we are praying for you because you will be used in the moving of some lives that could not be touched otherwise, because there are lives that your work will carry you to. “Father, I thank you today for bringing this man to yourself. You had your eye upon him a long time ago; you prepared him thru training and education to touch lives that others may never touch. And Jesus, in your great love and your great care, because of the shortness of time you have brought this man. And today you have called for him to offer himself and his talents to be used and he has come. And at your order dear Lord we’re offering him to you.

We’re asking that an anointing of the Holy Spirit will come upon him. We’re asking God that the Spirit will truly begin this great work of forming Christ within him. That the beauty of Jesus will shine out from him to others. We know that there may be some risks but they will be risks well worth everything. In Jesus name, in Jesus name. May he feel that glow, may he feel that glow that touch of God. Praise God.

Chapter 26 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Discovering your Potential

I’m going to have you turn in your Bibles to first Peter chapter one. The Lord has prompted me to read this to you. There may be people who are suffering, not only physical trial but some type of trial of faith today. And I don’t know who all of you might be, but I know the Lord has prompted me to read this portion of scripture to you. There may be a tremendous pressure and a strain on you and the message that I’ll bring just a little later in your potential in God, if you did not realize and feel and hear the voice of God lifting you, you could possibly feel that this was a hollow mockery of you and an echo of misery because of the condition that may surround your life or be pressing upon you, so I just feel constrained of the Lord to share this little portion of scripture. Your trials, your problems are not an indication of whether God loves you or not. For you can love the Lord and be right in the middle of His will and still have some problems. But the Word tells us don’t be surprised concerning the fiery trial that is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. I realize there are people that would challenge that statement but I didn’t make it, it’s in the Word. God made it; He’s going to back it up.

There are some trials that come not because of disciplinary reasons, but there are things that come our way that God brings glory to Himself thru lives that our touched. There’s a scent of perfume that fills the room thru the crushing of the rose that would never come otherwise and so I’m going to read this portion of scripture. I trust that God will make it real to your heart. “Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Asia. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father thru the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that faded not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God thru faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time where in you greatly rejoice.” Notice this. He’s pointing ahead.

It’s something reserved for you and this is your reason for great rejoicing. “Where in you greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be you are in heaviness thru manifold temptations.” I literally felt the weight today of some people that are in heaviness here thru a trail. Probably not one trial but manifold trials, and I thank God that He has given my spirit this sensitivity. I can sense it, and God is going to minister to you right now by His Spirit while we’re reading. You’re in heaviness but He said look up, there’s something reserved for you; something very special. It’s an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and it fades not away. “If need be you are in heaviness thru manifold temptations that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried by fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” That may not be that far off. The appearing, there’s going to be a tremendous revelation of what has happened.

Found unto praise, honor and glory when Jesus comes. “Who having not seen you love in whom though now you see Him not, yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” Another portion of scripture, 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “This precious treasure, this light and power that now shine within us is held in a perishable container.” That is in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and it is not our own. “We are pressed on every side by troubles, can it be? It happens. But not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down but God never abandons us, we get knocked down but we get up and keep going.

These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did, so that it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within who keeps us safe. Yes we are under constant danger to our lives because we serve the Lord but this gives us constant opportunities to show forth the power of Jesus Christ within our dying bodies. Because of our preaching we face death but it has resulted in eternal life for you. We boldly say what we believe trusting God to care for us, just as the psalm writer did when he said, ““I believe and therefore I speak, we know that the same God who brought the Lord Jesus from death will also bring us back to life again with Jesus and present us to Him along with you. These sufferings of ours are for your benefit and the more of you who are won to Christ the more there are to thank Him for His great kindness and the more the Lord is glorified. That is why we never give up though our bodies our dying; our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. These troubles and sufferings of ours are after all quite small and won’t last very long, yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever. So we do not look at what we can see right now.” Don’t look at what you can see right now. The troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not seen.

The troubles will soon be over but the joys to come will last forever. In your Bible you read that these light afflictions, they become servants for us, working for us over on the other side. While that tooth is hurting, don’t look at the tooth look beyond it, something is working for you on the other side. Oh, I picked a real small thing like a tooth; you’ve got something big bothering you. You’ve got a lot of big things working for you over there. A far greater exceeding weight of glory is being worked for you on the other side. Hallelujah. If this meant something to you I want you to say a big loud amen. Amen. Oh, now I’m glad I read it.

Praise the Lord. That means I’m not going to be able to give you the introduction to my message. I’m going to just have to wade right into, down toward the bottom line of it. I had an experience last Friday, speaking of angels. Every time I have an experience I think this is the greatest, it can be no greater than this, but each time I almost forget the time before because of the awe and the stimulation and the truths that just seem to penetrate and become so real and the additional truth and Bible verses that just fasten themselves upon my mind and my heart so that I could never forget them. One of the portions of scripture that the angel referred to and brought to me from the Lord was the 54th chapter of Isaiah. A verse the Lord gave to me one time when I was standing here without realizing it came by inspiration, without the Word being opened, and it came complete with the reference. I think some of you will remember that. But this is something very special to God and it’s a message that He wanted us to hear, this was a little part of what He talked about and so I’m going to read this portion of scripture as a little spring board into a couple of other truths that I promised to give you. Isaiah 54:6, I might say here the direction of these words was toward Israel, but the same truth and the same love is toward all of us.

Because when God spoke and gave a promise to people He may have had an immediate target and those He was directing it too but when it comes from His heart He is merely telling us what He is really like and how He feels about people everywhere. And here He tells us, “For the Lord has called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit; a real God calling at a time of real mental turmoil and conflict. And He likened it to the torments and some of you know the torment of rejection and the breaking up of a lasting relationship and how it tears your heart out. So the Lord said He called us from a place of great anguish. Then he goes on to say, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee.” God how can it be? But He did. “But with great mercies will I gather thee and a little wrath I hid my face from thee but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee says the Lord thy redeemer.” Then He goes on to say that the great rainbow in the sky, God’s reminder to Himself and the world that He would keep His promise. He said when you see that rainbow you could not only remember that there’s not going to be a flood but you can remember something else. You can remember that the work that Jesus has done is complete.

“It’s finished and I will not be wroth with you anymore.” We read it here, “for this is as the waters of Noah unto Me, for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed says the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” Oh Hallelujah. This is all such a beautiful truth. I’d like to drop down to verse 16, God is speaking still and He said, “Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire that brings forth an instrument for his work. I have created the waster to destroy.” God here is telling us the fact that He Himself has drawn into the blueprints of our lives. The desire, the channels, the drives within, God Himself has drawn that right into the blueprints of our lives. I’m just going to read a few verses from Psalms 139 the Living Bible here.

I’ll read from verse 13, “you made all the delicate inner parts of my body, and you knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it. You were there when I was being formed in utter seclusion. You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book.” What He’s telling us here, he said He saw all of our members, the inner parts of our body, the planning. When Gabriel was speaking to me about this he said that David gave a verse in Psalms 87 and verse 7 when he’s speaking about how beautiful Jerusalem was and he said all of our springs, the springs that are within us of life are in you Jerusalem. But Gabriel said of the believer, that all of the life forces within us spring from God.

Hallelujah. I don’t know if that means anything to you but it sure means a lot to me. Those peculiar characteristics, you remember many times I’ve told you about God allowing me to see in the archives of heaven His plan book for each life. This was so awesome, it was staggering. I could hardly look on it. This was during that visit to the throne room and I have been awed at this. I’ve shared it with a lot of people, that the path those things that happen are ordered, there laid out in plan. But it was only Friday that I realized a little more fully that in God’s planning it was not only the events that would transpire in a person’s life and the path of life, but His planning included those little peculiarities within us that make us, us. God wrote into the person’s life like this Al Mars in here. When he was a little boy, I haven’t talked to his mother about this but I imagine it was so.

That he drew little lines on paper. His teachers at school, when they got the papers turned in would see little lines going every which way and designs made with a pencil and so on. Did that ever happen Al? I venture to say there were plenty of them. The rest of you have probably done that. There were things that were of interest that God had put there, springs of life. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jerry Teal there may have had some 40 story buildings drawn on some of his papers that he turned in, in the second grade. He’s an architect now you see. And those springs had their beginning way back; God wrote those things within us. The reason this message he brought me was so exciting, it put everybody God created all on an equal plane before God. Each with a little different design in their life and the planning and the steps that go, each of them would fit as God prodded and prompted would fit a different direction.

All of these things are so important. There are some I can almost hear some wheels saying that sounds like fatalism. Sounds like not much left for us to do. Oh there’s a whole lot to do. And that is linking arms with God and really moving with Him and having some excitement in watching all of the things, because you don’t know all of those things that God has planned for you. But nevertheless He has really laid out some beautiful complete plans. I remember Ted when he was a little rascal. He used to take his money down; he would devise a lot of schemes to get it by the way. It wasn’t only just a couple years ago that he had to go down to provident federal and rewrite his signature. Because they looked at that passbook and they could hardly read it.

Here it was printed in kind of childish letters. He had it down there; he put that on there when he was about 3 years old. But I remember the other kids in the family who also had found ways and means to scrounge money. But they were always broke. And I still remember those days when Ted had that little book and he had wrote down Sharon owes me ten dollars. You think ten percent interest is pretty high you should have seen the interest he charged back in those days. We could look at a lot of your lives, there are different tendencies, and there are organizational capabilities. Have you ever seen a little child in putting their shoes away in the closet? They can’t stand the right one on the left side. They have to have them both stuck together. Everything has to be in right order.

Have you ever noticed that? This is the way it is with some children. The Lord see, built that into them in the blueprints because somewhere along the line He wanted to use them in some organizational capacity. He knew what He wanted out of Al. He knew that he would be drawing up some of the land around Boise here and subdividing. God knows what He’s planning. Don’t you believe the Lord knows what’s happening right here in Boise area? Why sure He knows. In fact this is a very special spot to Him; He’s using it for a touchdown spot right now to bring some messages that are going all over the world. God knows this place. He knows the whole world. I mentioned in the earlier service, I saw Ed Schmidt back there.

And I read the 16th verse just especially for him, “Behold I created the Smith that blows on the coals in the fire and that brings forth the instruments for His work.” You see God doesn’t want everybody to be a school teacher. He never did plan for, well I think Ed could teach school alright, but I think he just loves to watch what happens when that iron gets to moving under his hand. It was something that was built into him as a child. And in all these things God has made us what we are. And He wants us to be the best what we are that there is in the whole world. It’s God that built that into him, God did it and those gifts that you read about in Romans the 12th chapter; they are not special gifts of the Holy Spirit just for believers. Those are capabilities that God has implanted in everyone’s life. There’s the capability of administration, there’s the capability of teaching, there’s the ability to give, to be in a position to give. All of these things are capabilities; there are the capabilities of the arts, music, and drama.

Why there are some people that couldn’t act if they had to. But you take Michelle; she made me cry Easter Sunday. I cried four different times when she gave that. And I knew what was coming but she did it so real, she didn’t look like Michelle, she looked just like I’d think Mary would look in talking, someone who had lost their loved one. But these things that God has drawn into us, you know when Sharon was about 3 or 4 she used to line her dolls up on the stairs, and get Charms dolls, and the neighbors dolls and then she would get all of the little kids around and sit them on the stairs and then right out in front of them she would put on the most terrific Easter pageants and Christmas pageants you ever saw in your life. Boy she’d put them together and she even had her mom and dad and some of the other mom’s and dad’s coming in to watch. God wrote those and twisted the wires to make it come out right. She would have an awful time with some things that you’re able to do. But the Lord has given her that ability to dream of dynamic ways of communicating a truth thru music, thru the expression of song and the presentation. This is a powerful thing.

Every one of us has something. And it’s easy for us if everybody isn’t just like us. It’s easy to say well that stupid nut, they’re just stupid in a different way than you. But the Lord has definitely planted within us and drawn within us a blueprint. And He wants to make us something. He wants to make us the best possible for Himself. Now people who don’t know the Lord, the Lord may have given them a gift like the apostle Paul who was picked long before he had given his heart to the Lord. All of the people, there is something, because God loves people and there’s a certain amount of success because God implanted it there. But because of greed, because of self, because of sin often times the pipeline that God expects that fountain where the spring of life is to come thru is warped and twisted, there are times when it becomes all plugged up and very little comes thru. But it’s there, with some it may be some coming thru and there’s a certain amount of success that they do have.

There may be some business men here today or other people that may not have known the Lord, in order to make yourself the best at what you’re doing; you’ll go to seminars of one type or another. You will prepare yourself in order that you might be the best. But I have a secret for you, it’s a key that God has a way of making those qualities, those capabilities in you reach their highest and their purpose ever and that is make Jesus the Lord of your life. Let Him have a chance, when He has all of you and He is your Lord, He not only has you, He has the potential of your life. Do you believe that? Hallelujah. He has your potential. Did you know that God doesn’t expect everybody to make a lot of money? Did you know that? There have been some real famous artists down thru the years that have almost starved to death. But today the message that they put on canvas, beautiful as they sat there and dreamed how they could best present the image that was in their mind of someone or something. They spent time thinking and so carefully worked, some of them took hours and hours and hours as they wanted to put what was in their mind down on the canvas. God put that in their heart.

They could care less, they wanted to stay alive and keep body and soul together but some of them suffered some privation. To them they wouldn’t have cared if their shoes were setting straight or not, they were lucky if they had any. But today there’s a message that still comes forth. And those pieces of art that were written by Picasso and some of these other great people are bringing inspiration to millions of people. Of course their lifetime was short but their work really lasted. God prepared them for something special. When He prepared the apostle Paul He prepared him to put God’s message down that would last for eternity. The apostle Paul said, “I’d been beaten, I’ve been in ship wrecks, I’ve been stoned to death, I’ve had everything go wrong.” But the words that God inspired are inspiring us today. You see this life isn’t the only thing we’re living for.

There’s a whole lot that goes on beyond after things stop here and God has a beautiful place for those that love Him. I think of those of you who are working with children. God has prepared you with a special desire to help them to learn. I think of the teacher of our first grade Maranatha School. She was talking to me the other day and she said I prayed, and asked God, “God how can I make this real simple and interesting so these little children will learn it and never forget it? I pray and tears come down my face, and I ask God to help me so that I can help these little ones.” There could have been somebody else saying, “You could do a whole lot more than that; you could be a model if you wanted to. But she’s not interested in that, she’s interested in these little kids. I think of sister Mien. The Lord prepared her and she had such a desire somehow or other, to train to be a librarian. She had to put in a lot of hard years down by Los Angeles but now God has taken that skill and our little kids come up and go in to hear sister Mien read to them in our church library.

It’s something that some of the rest of you might not enjoy but it’s added a real ministry and purpose there. God prepared, and trained you see. There’s beautiful goals that God has within our lives, the things that God wants us to do today is to commit ourselves, “God make me the best possible, whatever you’ve planned for my life. Those desires, those drives within. Do you know that those desires, those things that you would secretly love to accomplish, they’ve been placed in your heart by God Himself. And He said that if we acknowledge Him in all of our ways, that if we trust in Him with all of our heart, if He’s Lord of all that we have, He will make those desires reality. And this gives everyone of us an equal chance because God doesn’t expect us all to do the same thing. I realized that in our day there’s been so much emphasis on money and earning, and we know that it takes an awful lot to live these days, but there’s been so much emphasis that you’re really not doing anything for God unless somehow you’ve been able to tap an oil well or a gold mine and be able to bring in huge chunks of money for the work of the Lord that the work might go forth. Do you know that the work of the Lord is whatever work you are doing, because God prepared you this way? And He wants that work to be the work of the Lord. Praise God.

Some of you may never be able to handle a business situation. That may be the farthest thing from your mind; it’d be like asking a scarecrow to dance or to run a hundred yard dash. I mean it’s just as foreign. The scarecrow does a whole lot better job of scaring the black birds out of the corn than somebody over on the track running a race. See everything; everybody has its own purpose. We have a purpose folks. Those of you that God has skilled in giving business talents, God wants you, I think we ought to read that over in Matthew 25:14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one. To every man according to his several ability.

Jesus was saying this, and he knows how he made people. Straightway he took his journey, and then he which had received the five talents went and traded with the same. Took them out and said, “Hey I’m going to put them to work.” Boy I’d get in trouble with some areas in talking about this. Jesus is coming, why go out and trade; he said when the Lord comes make sure He finds you so doing whatever thing He’s put in your heart. This question has come up several times; some of the kids in high school asked me, “what shall we do?” Shall we quit school or shall we quit what we’re planning on doing because if Jesus is coming this soon and since we know that He is coming, He said, “stay with what you’re doing.” He said, “Occupy till I come.” When the Lord comes may He find you being the best, allowing Him to help you to reach the highest potential in the thing that He’s put in your life in the capabilities, qualities that you have. Then he went and traded and made them another five talents. Pretty good job wasn’t it? And likewise he that received two had also gained another two.

But he that received one said, “I know that the Lord is coming and it’s something that He has given me and I must protect it for Him. I can’t afford to put it on the market; I just have to make sure that when Jesus comes I cannot risk the loss here. I’ll save it. And so he dug in the earth and he hid his Lord’s money. After a long time the Lord of these servants came and reckoned with them and so he that received the five talents came and it was an exciting day for him and this day’s just about here. And he brought the other five talents saying, “Lord You have delivered unto me five talents, and look I have gained beside them five more.” And his Lord said to him, “well done thy good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” He also which had received two talents came and said, “Lord you have given me two talents, I have gained two other talents besides them.

His Lord said unto him, “well done thy good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things; I will make you a ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Then he which had received the one talent came and said, “Lord I knew thee that you are a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not sowed and I was afraid and I hid my talent in the earth and lo here it is, every bit of it Lord. Here is that that is yours. But his Lord answered and said unto him, “you wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I sowed not and gathered where I had not sowed. You should have therefore put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine with interest. Take therefore the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten, for everyone that has shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he has. The Lord wants us to know today, we’re speaking of a money measure here but this fits every area of our life. What we have.

The Word tells us that there is not one good thing that we’ve received that hasn’t come from the Lord. The question was asked, “What has thou that thou didst not receive?” You had to get it from somewhere, it came from the Lord. Hallelujah, we’re his. I could just see from this congregation this morning, people that the Lord has given some capabilities. I could see a lot of you people that the Lord has put a real love and an ability to communicate with children. When they’re around you they just love you. And the Lord is saying, “Here let me be Lord of this quality that you have. Start something in your home and in your neighborhood where you can bring those kids in and tell them about Jesus. Come and see Sue Carpenter, find a job here in ministering to these children in the Sunday school. Some of you have such an ability in the area of communicating to people you may not even know.

Mike is just crying for some people to help him to man the bussing program. I told him that I believe there are people there that God has put the capabilities that today could be the most successful type of communication for the people that we’re reaching for God this way that’s possible. And from this congregation I believe there are people that are going to say, “Hey God, I’m not going to turn over this capability just the way you gave it to me, I’m going to put it to work.” Make it do something for God.

Chapter 27 - Priority 5, The Great Commission, Jesus Lord of All

I had an exciting experience this week. I was scheduled to minister in San Jose this week to share some of these truths that are so liberating and so real. On the Friday that I boarded the plane I heard somebody call out pastor, so I turned around but didn’t see anybody and I heard it again. And I recognized the voice then. I don’t mean to sound trite when I say this. But I recognized Gabriel’s voice.

And the people heard him too and were wondering what was going on. But he said, “I’m bringing a young man to you that God is bringing to Himself.” I want you to minister to him because the Lord wants him and has something for him to do. And so I thought this was really going to be a blessing, when I was in San Jose I was going to keep my eyes peeled for this individual. So then he gave me his name. His name was San Run Toro. And so I took out a piece of paper from my pocket and wrote it down. It gave me something to think about on the way to San Jose. I was wondering just who this individual was and how I was going to approach him. There’s a few little unknowns connected to a thing like this.

So I went in the plane and took the assigned seat and after a little bit the stewardess came by. The one assigning the seats didn’t notice that he had assigned a mother a certain seat and her little year and a half old boy a different seat. And the boy didn’t want to sit back in the seat that was assigned him. Would you change places with that little boy. So that’s what the stewardess came to ask me if I would do it, I thought it was a good idea but this was all part of a plan. The plane took off and somebody was concerned because they were in the wrong spot evidently, not sitting next to somebody they were supposed to be sitting with and got the stewardess to move a gentleman. And she got next to him and moved him and here he came and took that empty seat next to me next to the window. I looked over at him and staring me right in the eye was a name tag. It said Toro. There had to be a little juggling to get us together there.

So I just told him, “is your first name San Run?” And he said, “Yes it is, where did you ever hear that name?” Nobody calls me San Run, they call me Toro. That was a name my mother named me when I was a little boy down in Cai Phan. He was just being transferred to a term of service in Korea. So I told him that the Lord had given it to me because He wanted for him to give Him his life. And that he had served himself and other gods long enough and God wanted him now. He said, “I don’t think so.” He said, “God doesn’t know how bad I am.” He said, “I’m really the worst one in my outfit. I’m terrible. My mother’s Protestant.

I even wonder if there is a God up there. I have to be the wrong one.” So I had a chance to let him know that even when we’re God’s enemies He brings us to Himself and He makes peace. I told him that he was very special to God and that God knew each individual. This almost blew his mind to think that God with as much as He has to do could know everybody’s name and be concerned about him. And he turned his life over to Jesus right there. Praise God. All the way to San Jose, this man was praying and talking to the Lord. It was such a new and wonderful experience for him. I heard him telling God, “God I’m going to write every person I know and I’m going to tell them that You care about each person and that this is good news that we can come to you.

And at least ten different times I heard him say, “God you can count on Toro.” I think the Lord would like a lot of other people tell Him that too. Toro told me that he was going to tell all of the men in his outfit, he was going to let them know that even though they were far from God, God knew about them. He learned a lot about God just by his thinking, following on from the thought that God cared for Him, things he could tell other people about how wonderful God was, and he was going to talk to his parents. He was so pleased. He had a grin from ear to ear while he was worshiping the Lord there and talking. He said a couple of times; he said, “I’m so glad that they moved me here where I could sit down because this had made my day.” He said, “This has made my life.” It gave me a lot of excitement to go on down to that meeting. I told my brother Al and his wife who drove up from San Diego and they roomed in the same motel.

I thought it was such a beautiful thing. There’s a young man today, he was going to leave early this morning for Korea. He’s on a plane telling the one on the seat next to him how God cares for each individual. I don’t feel that in any of our lives that it just happens especially when we’re walking with Him. The San Francisco airport is a long way from San Jose. It was already arranged for me to be picked up by a limousine at the airport and taken to San Jose. What do you do? Five totally strange men none of them knowing each other riding in a car that long together. After just a little bit of small talk I decided we just as well take advantage of the time. And told them what I was doing down there, I was going to be speaking at Bethel Church in San Jose. And I let them know what God was doing.

And I told them about the message that God wants the world to hear what Jesus has done and about the covering for believers. And one man in particular was listening to me. Finally he said it had to be God that put us together here. He was involved in a church in Los Scalos but had allowed fire that was once burning brightly in his heart, allowed it to die down quite a bit. But he said a few years ago when Pat Robertson started the 700 club, he said that he was his chief assistant. He prayed with many, many people but he got a little distant from it. But he said one of the first things he was going to do was to call Pat Robertson and tell him that the fire was burning again. When we can learn about God thru watching Him at work it’s exciting. And if you can love Jesus just a little bit more and feel a little bit of that excitement because of what you’ve heard that God cares, the interesting thing about this man was that he felt he was on the very bottom of the totem pole of his outfit. He’s only 5’3 and he doesn’t speak English very plain.

I was expecting to see some person that might have a great organizational plan and structure that he could work thru but in this case God picked somebody who thought he was absolutely a nobody just to let him know and me know that their lives are just as planned out, way, way back somewhere before this whole world was ever made. God had it written out in that book that on that particular time that man would come to grips with God’s call for his life. He turned his life over to him. “God who at sundry times spoke by the prophets has in these last times spoken to us by His Son by whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power when he by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Being made so much better than the angels as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent than they, for unto which of the angels said He at any time, “you are my son this day have I begotten you.” And again, “I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.” And again when he brings the first begotten into the world he says and let all of the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels He makes his angel’s spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto his son he says, “Your throne oh God is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.

I’d like to stop on this verse for a moment. We have been talking about the attributes of God, what He is really like. And one of the highest attributes of God is that He is righteous. Righteousness is not sin; it has no association with sin. Righteousness is the nature of God. And that word righteousness means His unfailing ability to always do that which is right. And when we read here, there are many different opinions that people have. And there are people who are looking up at God’s face and are saying God you’re not fair. Look at this thing that happened and this thing. And oftentimes believers are questioning God, you didn’t do right, you helped this person and you didn’t help me.

That person, there are even some this morning that are saying, “What did Toro have that I don’t have? Look at that guy who hated God and God still met him and He’s never come to me that way,” and there may be a feeling of unfairness. But God wants you to know that He will do the right thing by you. God is just so interested in people; He’s bringing all types of force into play to move people towards Himself. He’s doing it constantly. Underline the words the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. What He’s actually saying is that the trademark or the mark of your kingdom God, of your ruling power is that there’s not one slightest percentage of a chance that you will not do the right thing. The ruling symbol that you have is because you do the right thing. The scepter was something that signified the king’s power and it would identify himself with his power. And he said now the scepter, the thing that identifies Jesus as the ruling power of heaven and earth is that His character is righteous. You can count on Him to always do that which is right.

Can you say thank God for that? The very mark of His kingdom is a mark of righteousness; He is doing the right thing. Then he tells us a little more about this in verse 9. “You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” There are a few people that think if they serve God they’ll get into a kind of an insipid sort of a thing where nothing tastes hot or cold, sweet or sour. It’s just of a kind of a sterile type living where you couldn’t be happy until you were getting ready to die when you didn’t intend to have any more fun anyway. But he gives us a little example here. He said that because you loved righteousness and you hated iniquity, speaking of Jesus, and the same thing goes because this is the feeling that there is in God’s heart, that when He sees a person who wants to follow Him and turn their backs on the ways of sin and to renounce their old master the devil, he said you’re not going into a insipid and flat world, you’re moving into life at its fullest and best. It’s a life that has an anointing stream of gladness coming upon you and the very atmosphere of heaven is an atmosphere of gladness. “You have anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows. And you oh Lord in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

When Isaiah was speaking about this he said you took those stars that one out here that’s 6 trillion miles on this side and the one that’s 20 trillion miles on this side and you reached out and you put your little finger on one of them and your thumb on the other one and you measured them. God’s letting you know how big He is. And when he was making reference to this he said all of those nearly 4 billion people, he said after you empty all of the water out of a bucket till you’ve got it clear dry, tilt it to one side a little bit and you’ll see a drop down there, all of the nations of the world put together are like a drop in the bucket to Him. He’s that big. But how in the world could a God that big be so concerned, but he said this big God cares for you so much that he picked you up like a little lamb and holds you next to His heart and he cares for you as a shepherd cares for the lamb. He shelters you. Oh God is so big. He’s the Lord of all but He’s not so busy being Lord of all that He can’t be Lord of all. Hallelujah. I just feel so good I could do some prancing up here because what the Lord is doing is so fantastic that it literally invigorates and revitalizes His people.

All of these things he said are going to perish but You remain. “They shall all wax old as a garment. And as a vesture shall You fold them up and they shall be changed but You are the same and your years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said He at any time, “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool?” Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word that was spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. And here’s how God is confirming it and He’s still confirming His message today. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and with gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will.” This is the Jesus who we’re talking about who is present here in the service today.

And by His Spirit is living in your life. This is Jesus. He is Lord of all. Just for a moment, I want you to look at the reasons why people are having tremendous difficulties in this world. There is fear at every hand. The world definitely is in crisis. It reminds me of what Isaiah said in the last verse of chapter five. He said that everything was dark in the land; there was no light any place at all. There was a funeral, a king died and at that time God revealed Himself to me and I saw the Lord high and lifted up. I saw what He was really like.

And then I had a chance to take a look at the world, he said, “I saw that God was Lord of all. I saw him in the beauty of worship and the seraphim’s crying holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” And then I heard them carrying the message about how things were down in the world. And he said those angelic beings were crying out to the Father the whole earth is filled with His glory. When he saw the Lord it took away all of his guilt. He said, “While I was there in the presence of the Lord I said oh God I’m so guilty.” Those who’ve seen the Lord realize how weak and insignificant they really are. And the eyes of God and the light of His smile lets us see how we have nothing good in ourselves. And we cry out in words similar to what Isaiah said, I’m undone, I’m a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. Then one of the seraphim’s, a worship angel came and he said, “the Lord has sent me with a coal from the fire of the altar of God to touch your lips and now that I’ve touched your lips I have a message to give you, a message that comes right out of the heart of God.

And that is your iniquity is taken away, your sin is purged.” Isaiah was so discouraged, he didn’t want to do anything and suddenly now he heard the new challenge that there’s work to be done and he heard God saying who will go for me. And Isaiah said, “Hey I can go now, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” Oh what a change, if your heart is weighted down because of the pressures and the fears, the guilt of sin as you behold Him high and lifted up then the things that are bombarding you from this whole world, that are causing such a tension and such nervousness suddenly are pushed back and you can’t hear them anymore and another sound is taken place, it’s a choir of angels as they sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty He is righteous and He will do the right thing. And then as you take another look at the things around you, you see things as they really are, not only the way they look. When I think of Him as being the Lord of all it reminds me of His word in Matthew 28. Where he told the people that, “all power is given unto me in heaven and earth and lo I am with you always.” It reminds me of the word that Peter spoke when Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit and he said He’s alive alright, He’s alive, He’s resurrected, He’s in the presence of the Father, He said when He got there He was going to pour out His Holy Spirit and here’s His Spirit so He is there. And this Jesus whom you have crucified has made Him both Lord and Christ. Christ his contact, His presence with man that man could embrace and receive who is Lord and Master of all.

Jesus the one who lived among us has been made Lord of all. He’s calling people together today for an all out attack against the gates of hell to bring the good news to people still held captive. The good news, though you’re in slavery to Satan, though the might of hell seems to hold you, you can be free, your dept is paid. And really his real meaning when he speaks of the might of hell, in this place He’s talking about His mighty church that He builds going out against the enemy. And he said, “The gate of the stronghold as you move against them though they have demons sitting on the walls shooting at you the might of hell shall not prevail against the church.” Think of the stronghold that person is bound in, those loved ones that Satan has built about them, but the might of hell will not prevail. I think of this man that sat there on the plane. The enemy was so secure in the fact that he had this man blinded and no one was talking with him and he had him along with many others. You know Satan does not know everything. People have a bad habit of taking the attributes of God and putting them on the devil.

That he can know everything that he can be every place, he can’t. And God is beating down the strongholds of hell because there’s an army that’s marching today. People who have been liberated and freed are marching in that army. And the gates of hell cannot keep them out as they move and liberate people who are bound. Aren’t you glad that you are a part of that army? Oh what a challenge, what an opportunity God has given us to be a part of the great moving army of God. He is Lord of all, death could not hold Him. While He was in this life, death still reigned but death could not hold him. He came forth victorious. Demons have to bow at His command, angels obey and do His bidding, all nature is subject to the voice of Jesus, and all creation hears His voice and the stormy seas and the gusty winds have to listen to His voice, all of creation from the largest animal to the smallest insect. Do you know that they obey the voice of God? Of all of God’s creation mankind is the only type of his creation who refuses to obey God.

He is Lord of all. This is why he is saying you who have not listened to his voice and obeyed him let Him be Lord of your life too, He is Lord of all else. Just the little tiny insects have to obey Him. When an army did not want to move, God told a bunch of bees, gave them each a secret order, said, “go put your fiery end against these individuals or at least make them think that you’re going to do it.” And a swarm of bees got things moving. Let me share with you a truth that I have held back because I didn’t know what impact it would have but I’m going to share it with you anyway this morning, I feel God has given me a little release for it. In that experience that God gave me over two years ago He talked to me about His creation and that even the bacteria that He has created, it’s His creation and has a purpose in this life. And in diseases that take place in people’s lives, it’s just part of the depravity, the change of direction or purpose even in these insects because of man in sin and his life going astray and has given ground, affliction all came because of sin you see. All creation groans and travails together and just as mankind has fallen and did not fill the purpose that God had for him. The earth is groaning and the germs that God has placed on this earth for a definite purpose, Satan didn’t create those.

They had a purpose. Bacteria for example are very necessary for the cleaning up of the earth and for the deterioration of things that need to be changed from one substance to another and there’s a definite purpose. But the result of sin even changed the purposes that were at work that were being done as a result. I just mentioned this to you because God spoke to me that this is the reason why diseases, they’re not demons, why diseases because the germs themselves and the bacteria and the virus, all of this is also subject to the voice of Almighty God. And when He says to a germ hey get out of that person, they have to go, because all things are subject to the will of God. The demons tremble, when he says, “go,” they go. Do you know that demons obey the voice of God a lot better than people do? He tells people you’re going to have to choose yourself. They don’t have a choice when He speaks to them. Don’t let this hang you up, just do a little thinking about it sometime when your mind is fresh how that the Lord is Lord of all, over all creation. And you’ve wondered how a person can say something to some germs and it has to go, “tuberculosis leave this body,” and that tuberculosis is gone.

This has happened many, many times. Other types of viruses have to go. They’re not demons; they’re part of God’s creation that’s gone awry because of the fall. But Jesus is Lord of all. When Paul was talking about this, he said, “I feel kind of bad God that although I don’t see all things quite under your control back there’s a few things here that aren’t brought back yet but they’re coming.” And he was talking about that and then the Lord quickly reminded him don’t spend your time on what hasn’t happened yet look what’s happened. Hebrews 2:9-13, “but we see Jesus who has been made a little lower than the angels for the purpose of suffering,” and for the purpose of tasting death and suffering the judgment of God for every man. We see Him now in His great work in reconciling the world to Himself. We see Him blotting out the records in heaven that were against you. We see him taking care and restoring you back to Himself. So God’s great purpose of this whole world is restoration of his creation.

Chapter 28 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Men of Destiny

In all phases of His work for His church, He is moving the design that man has made and followed into focus so it fits what He’s doing. Men at some time looked for reasons to stay away. And they would ask, “give me one good reason why I should be in church. I’ve got some things that are a lot higher priority than going to church.” But God is bringing into focus and men are beginning to see where the priorities really are. And men from all levels of society from all walks of life are beginning to feel the nudge of the big angels of God and the pull of the Holy Spirit and their coming. From everywhere men are streaming to God. Men who have reached pinnacles of fame in the athletic world are saying this isn’t where it’s at and they’re turning to God and finding all of these other things may have a purpose but the real happiness and satisfaction comes from Jesus Christ in their lives. Men who have spent years amassing wealth and have discovered secrets of turning whatever they do into funds. I had one man tell me that there are just some simple laws to follow that produce funds.

He said he had learned how he had gained fortunes and thru poor judgment had lost fortunes but he said it’s no real problem to me to make money. But men who have reached a point of tremendous wealth are saying this isn’t where it’s at and they are turning to Him. I get excited when I read in the full gospel business men’s magazine of men from here and there, and the names we’ve heard before connected with other things here they are connected now with telling people here’s where it’s at. We’re living in a tremendous day. It’s not only a day of destiny as far as men are concerned. But when I use the term men I use it collectively to cover mankind. This is a very special time in God’s plan for man. I’m going to have you turn with me to a verse of scripture in Isaiah chapter 14, I feel that we need to be reminded that God is on the job and that when He purposes, when He sets in motion those forces that are His will there is nothing in heaven, no big angel can pull a fuse, no man is big enough or strong enough though some try to get in the way, and all of hell may try to say we can’t let it happen, but just like that song on the resurrection, but it did, Jesus came.

When God purposes it will happen, praise God. Isaiah 14:24-27. “The Lord of Hosts hath sworn saying … (Congregation reads text out loud) Amen.” Don’t you like that? God says when I decide to do something I will do it. When He speaks of the Assyrian there, was laying siege to Israel. Bringing oppression to Israel. It was an attacking force on Israel. And when you put your name in there and read that as your message to you it reads that I will break the attacking force in your life. And that thing that has come against you, because I have a purpose. So if you feel that you’re under pressure and the enemy has attacked and the enemy has attacked and has put pressure on you, look up.

God has a purpose, he said my hand is stretched out and nobody is going to disannul my plan. I wanted to share that with you as a little springboard into the few thoughts I’d like to give on the fact that this is a day of destiny. And people when they fit into a spot that God has foreordained then they become a part of His plan of great destiny. There is no argument with this, I realize that this is not very familiar theology with a lot of people but it’s the story of the Word in God’s great plan and purpose for people. “Father I thank you for Your Word, I thank you for the miracle power of God that we have witnessed that is present among us. I thank you for a work that You are doing among this congregation even at this moment because you are here. Not one of us is here by accident today. We’re here because you brought us here. And you brought us here because there’s something that you want to add to our lives. There’s encouragement, there’s motivation, there’s power, there’s faith, there’s something that you desire to share with us.

We realize that every time we come into your presence that you have a plan and a purpose that is being fulfilled. I thank you for your word this morning and I pray that you will abundantly anoint and bless in Jesus name Amen.” You know so often when we think of men of destiny we think of men that have become famous because they have accomplished something or their names have gone down in history. We think of men like father Abraham. The father of God’s people way back there in ancient times. Or we think of a man like Moses whose life God had put His finger on even as a little child and he was spared there in the bulrushes and you see evidences of God’s hand all the way thru until he was called to lead the children of Israel out. That man was a man of destiny. Or we think of David. David a man when he was a boy, the Spirit of God came on him and he tore a lion in half and he tore a bear apart. He was able to go against the giant and slay him.

We could say that David was a man of tremendous destiny. Then we think of others thru the New Testament. We think very definitely Paul had to be a man of destiny. For God told Ananias, he said this man was a chosen vessel to carry the gospel to kings and people in authority. You’re going to have to tell him, I’ve got a message for him you get in there don’t be afraid of him. So we have to say Paul was a man of destiny. Then we think of Peter and John and some of these great people who have accomplished so much whose names are not only written down in the Bible but they’re written in the pages of history, they’re written down in God’s book, they have accomplished these various things and we say those are people that God chose to do a great work with, we say those are men of great destiny. But God keeps a different set of books then people do. And though He definitely had a part for these people to fill every person, everyone in God’s great plan and program can’t be a chief. There has to be a few Indians.

But God has made those that serve Him in areas that may not receive quite the same recognition; God has included them in His plan and purpose for ministry that unfolds everyday and they too as they yield themselves to God become men and women of destiny, foreordained for a work for God. I would like to have you turn to a verse of Scripture over here in 2 Timothy 1:15-18. I feel that they have real special meaning today. The Apostle Paul as he was doing this mighty work for God, there were times when he found himself in prison, there were times when he was lonely. And he thought back at people whose lives had touched him and had helped him and he thought, “Well there’s Peter, Peter’s a great person, there are the other apostles but they had their place, Paul said you know there are times when I think I would have failed if it wouldn’t had been for some unknowns here.” And as he was thinking about these people who had helped shape his life and without their help, without God using them or someone like them, the tremendous work that he accomplished around the world and that is still living today thru these epistles would not have been complete. And he’s thinking now about these people. And here he’s talking about one person whose name is only mentioned one other time in the Bible. And here’s what he said, “You know I expect that all of those in Asia have turned against me, Phygilis, Hermagilis among them, may the Lord have mercy upon the household of Onisiphorus, many times did that man put fresh heart into me. He was not in the least ashamed of my being a prisoner in chains.

Indeed when he was in Rome he went thru a great deal of trouble to find me. May the Lord grant he finds his mercy in that day and you well know how many times he helped me in Ephesus as well.” I want you to think about this man. Many times did that man put fresh heart into me. I wonder today if this was the day when the apostle Paul was doing his work. And we were to hear about that fanatical preacher who talked a lot about revelations and other things and he said a lot of things that didn’t fit the theology of the day and he was kind of independent. He just somehow or another was cut from a little different cloth. I wonder if he were down here in the Aida county jail because of some of the ideas he was presenting. I wonder how many of us would care to go down and see him and identify with him. I just kind of wonder.

We’d probably say, “Well that rascal is a right winger. He needs to be in that place, why he’s even said some things that are against the king or the governor or the president and I know he said some things that are against our county government. Let him rot down there.” That’s what Paul was saying here, he said I suppose you know by this time that all of them have left me, I don’t have anybody, they’ve all forsaken me. You read in the 4rth chapter of this same epistle down to about verse 14. He said not one person stood with me, nobody. Doing everything you can do for God and not one. But I’m glad Paul added a little word here. He said but the Lord stood with me. And when he thought about that he had to think about this young man again named Onesiphorus, and he said when you see Onesiphorus greet his family for me, I think he has a terrific family, the household.

We might say well how does Onesiphorus here fit into the destiny. How could we some way tie this in. He was just doing what was right; the thing expected of him, well there’s more to it than that. When Onesiphorus’ mother was pregnant and Onesiphorus was just about ready to be born. The Lord spoke to his mother and said “hey don’t name this fellow John or Mark or something else. Give him a kind of a stupid sounding name here, one that I just manufactured. Call him Onesiphorus.” What? Well we don’t have anybody in our family named Onesiphorus. Why would you want to call him a name like that? Well God said it took all of these roots of these different words to say what I want to say about this fellow that’s going to get born. And so she called him Onesiphorus and I got something leap up inside of me when I looked in the concordance and found out what God had in mind and that word Onesiphorus means a bringer of pleasure.

One who creates or inspires joy, one who gratifies. Oh, I tell you the Lord had it mapped out for Onesiphorus and He helped him to live up to his name. There were times when Paul didn’t need just a good prayer meeting; he had plenty of those he could get a hold of the Lord and the Lord stood with him in prison. But it’s sure nice sometimes when I get somebody with skin on them. He knows the Lord is here and the Spirit is here but to get somebody that cares, and sometimes I have to have a good laugh and who in the world could I look to? Ah, it’s Onesiphorus, he comes in with some of the greatest puns you ever saw. He can even make some puns about this chain that I’m wearing. Onesiphorus was a man that took a hold of my spirit and flew out thru the prison bars with my spirit, let me rise above where I could look at the stars and the sun and breathe the free air. He often refreshed me. Do you know that in that man of destiny, Paul, in God’s plans as He put it together way back there before the earth was ever made, God said an important spot just as big and just as important as the work I have mapped out for Paul is somebody that’s going to make sure he gets the job down. There are going to be some people that will yank Paul’s heart out.

That will make it pretty rough on him. But I have a guy in mind here that will put the heart back into him every time. Hallelujah. Praise God. I’m looking at this congregation, at deep pools of water. People who are refreshing others, people who have brought joy and pleasure. They have gratified that person so they felt it’s worth it, there’s purpose in my life. They have strengthened the hands of others. They have been able to look past the pressures and the hurts and the hard times. They have turned a deaf ear to criticism and instead looked to see what God is doing.

And I want you to know that I’m looking at some deep pools this morning. I can go on naming people throughout this congregation who have ministered to me. God has put you; he has foreordained you for this day. It’s a ministry. I think of several of you that you have not to be concerned if your name hasn’t gone up in neon lights somewhere. You are fitting into a beautiful plan that’s unfolding for this day. You mom’s if you are able to help those little one’s at home. You dad’s that are able to some way add your influence by letting the young people in your home know that Jesus is just as important at home than at church. God had this plan for you, a destiny that some life is going to be helped because you have been faithful. Don’t whip yourself if you missed God in the past, get in there and be what you can for God.

If you fail, God’s got another well to drink from. I think of another one named Barnabus. The name Barnabus means the son of Nemus but there’s a meaning that goes way beyond and that is one who serves, one who waits upon, one who runs the errands. Not everybody’s going to be a D.L. Moody. And I only know of one Billy Graham around. But I sure know a lot of Barnabus’s. And every time Barnabus went to do something he was thanking God. When Paul accomplished something big, Barnabus was handling all of the machinery and doing the leg work and taking care of the details.

The Lord is not only causing people to be pools of water, but He’s causing them to be channels to carry this water to many, many other lives around. You have a spot to fill. There are times in our lives when we don’t need a good sermon, we don’t even need the singing ambassadors to sing for us and boost us into the third heaven. There are times when you don’t even need someone that’s a real spiritual person to make you feel spiritual. There are sometimes when all you need is somebody to know that he’s there, that he loves you in spite of your faults, that knows all of your quirks and problems and troubles and he still hangs around. You call them a brother or a sister. There are times when you just need to know somebody’s around, somebody’s hanging around there. And of all things, Paul mentions the name of a man, God has a great big page written for him up in heaven because he was one as with the rest of us, there’s a blue print all written out and a ministry and a path with which we’re following. Every little old bird that drops to the ground, God’s eye sees it. He knows exactly all about it.

He watches the grass as it starts poking it’s head up thru the soil and he’s got a billion other worlds a lot bigger than this one that He’s got to keep from bumping into each other all the time. His plans are just so vast. But when you take His plans for people, 4 billion of them and each of them having different things coming to pass or opening up each day and each minute. I was in confusion but the Lord ministered to my heart, I remember so clearly and one thing that he let me see about this was that every day is the fullness of time for some phase of His plan for every person. It’s fullness of time; time has come up for something in your life. Every day you can look ahead, hallelujah. God has planned something; don’t know what it is exactly. You might go to bed that night and say well nothing happened today. Just your presence near someone may have given them a cool drink. Just your ability to carry a burden without complaining may have helped someone else to get down under a big load and inspire them, without you realizing you may have put somebody’s heart back into them that had lost heart.

Hallelujah. Aren’t you glad that God cares about you? You see in His book, He doesn’t have some big blue prints and some little blue prints and some that are supposed to be important and some unimportant, there all the same. He just wants you to fill the spot that He’s put you in and as He leads you and opens up each day in the fullness of time. Men of destiny, it’s our day; let’s make this day tell for God. Let’s carry the influence of the life of Jesus that’s flowing so full and so free thru this place. Let’s carry it to people all over this community. There are people dying for just a little sip of the water of life that’s within you. Let’s become those wells that are open and ready. This man that I’m referring to that was nothing more but it was written down in Paul’s book as a brother, in God’s big book He said he is a man of destiny. Because those times when Paul needed something else other than the spiritual force.

He needed a human being; he needed someone with skin on them. He needed somebody to talk to or somebody just to be there. He said that old quartus never fails. The word quartus doesn’t mean very much. It just means a fourth. Even his name doesn’t mean much but he was a brother. How about going out there a being a brother or a sister. Carry some joy, refresh some lives, be a well. Or if you have to run some errands like Barnabus but I want you to know something, that God has given you a spot in the greatest work in the whole universe. And one of these days when the saints go marching home God isn’t going to have certain fellows standing on platforms way up above everybody else.

He’s going to say, “did you fill the spots in that little blueprint of your life that I gave you, well done thou good and faithful servant.” Old Barnabus and Onisiphorus are going to hear well done just as loud as Paul is going to hear it. Enter thou into the joys of thy Lord. “God I thank you today that the men are coming, I thank you that women are coming and are taking their place and the youth are coming. But on this particular day I ask that special anointing upon these men who have heard the call of God who are looking for ways and means to minister, to find new direction for their lives, Oh God I thank you for them. I thank you for their strength. I thank you for men that may not ever had privilege of becoming fathers. You have need for their strength, for their direction, for their capabilities. I pray that this day would be a day of new thrust of new power of new direction, or of increased desire and drive in the direction You have put us in. I ask that this will happen today in Jesus name.

Chapter 29 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Listen, He Calls Your Name

Listen your name is being called. In looking thru the word of God I find many times where God moved in close to an individual life and He called them by name. And He had a reason and a purpose for the call. I think of Samuel in an hour of darkness and blackness in the land of Israel, they had drifted from God, God was left out of their thoughts and their hearts and a voice was heard, “Samuel,” God speaking to the heart of a boy. I think of Moses as he drew near a bush that he saw burning and he heard that voice, “Moses, Moses the place that you’re standing on is holy ground. Moses I have a job for you to do.” And God spoke to Moses, He prepared Moses for a time of great deliverance and He let him know of the power and the presence of the supernatural God, I think of the time that he called Saul. He said, “Saul I have a reason, a purpose for your life. There are some rulers, kings and men of authority that won’t have a chance to hear if you don’t get on the ball.” God called him.

It took a rough kind of a call but he listened. His writings have given hope to people down thru the ages. I think of Adam. The word tells us that in the cool of the day God would come down and He would speak with Adam, they would commune together. Talk about a wonderful fellowship. But sin separated Adam and Eve and because of fear they hid themselves. You remember God called out and they hid themselves because of the fear of God. God cried out, “Adam where are you?” I often thought God who knows everything, was he trying to find out where Adam was? I believe that God knew where Adam was don’t you? He knew just exactly where he was hiding. But I believe that question came to Adam to let Adam answer his own need. He could ask himself let’s see where am I? Where am I in relation to the call of God, where am I in relation to the position that God has given me? What about those days of sweet communion and fellowship? Here I am now separated from that.

Where am I? Where am I in regard to the days of judgment coming? So God’s call went out to Adam and he had to answer it. He had to come out and say, “God I was hiding because I was afraid because I had disobeyed You.” I mention these things today to bring us right up to date. God is still calling men and women. His voice is still sounding out. There are many, many general calls in the Word where he calls out, “come unto Me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” There’s the call that we’re to come and reason with Him and though are sins might be as red as crimson He said they would be just as white as snow. God gives that general call. Everyday people are coming into my office; you’re meeting people on the job in various places. And you’ve probably heard the same question; people are asking themselves and me, I don’t really know for sure what brings me here.

I don’t know, I don’t know why I am here. But there was this circumstance in my life, there was this thing, this people said something. Linda brought a young lady into my office that gave her heart to Jesus, so that was her spiritual daughter. Her spiritual daughter brought her sister and she gave her heart to the Lord this morning so now you’re a spiritual grandmother. This is happening to many people. But the words that they’re telling me is, “I don’t know why I am here, it just seemed like well this worked out and this and this” and there are probably hundreds of you out here this morning that if you were to try and pin point and find an exact reason why you happened to land here in central assembly you would be hard pressed to find an answer. But I have an easy answer for you. God called you. He zeroed in on you. He spoke your name.

I have a letter that I haven’t shown anyone else; I’m going to go see someone this week. Someone’s heart is crushed because of a tragedy that came into the home and in the letter they said I just can’t understand why God would do this to me and my children. I just can’t understand God doing this?” I’m going to let her know what I’m telling you now. God didn’t bring that tragedy. But I’ll tell you what God does. God uses these tragedies and these things that come, circumstances in our lives, situations that may be unpleasant. God uses them to channel His voice thru to our hearts. He sees the opening because of the hurts. And God Himself uses those things that sometimes look so hard that come are way as a telephone line right into your heart. And he says, “Listen I’m standing right here, I am able to lift you above this thing, I have something better for you.

And he speaks to us thru the storm. Have you seen that happen in your life? God is calling, God is speaking. Praise God. So I’ve had the joy of mentioning to many of these people as they come, they wonder why am I here, what about these circumstances, what about these pressures that have come my way? I have the joy of telling them, that they’re looking at the pressure, but Jesus called them and their there. He called them by name. His desire is to add new purpose, new meaning to life. I had a young man stop by my office last night. It looked like the sun had gone down in his life. Sorrow had come, he told me that he almost felt like, well what’s the use of going on living because the pressure and the hurts were so severe in him. But he has a friend that comes to the church here and he felt possibly if I come maybe I can have a little ease, maybe I can find out a little bit some way out, some light, some lift to this load.

And he came last night. While he was sitting in my office he recognized that in the sorrow God’s voice could be heard, Bill, Bill I want you, I have something better for you. Bill opened his heart and said Jesus I want you. Bill told me a strange warmth came down over his life. The cold chill that was pressing in left him. He listened to God’s voice as God zeroed in. He heard many calls, he knew what God could do but at this moment of heartache and sorrow he could hear his name being called and he answered the call. The pressures, the heartaches, well God doesn’t only speak thru them, God speaks thru some of those good things that He’s doing for you did you know that? He tells us the goodness of God leads you, he says come on and He calls your name. And his goodness his blessing on your life, those many times when He smiled on you when you didn’t deserve it. God was calling your name and saying come on, I love you, I’m showing you my favor and I want you to be mine.

So he’s calling today. Many, many of you are here this morning who haven’t as yet responded to the call but you have felt that awakening, that strange beckoning toward Him. And the voice of the Lord has gone out thru all of the earth. We’re living in a time of the closing era of this dispensation. And God is moving by His Spirit, His voice is being heard. And He’s not only calling you but He’s waking you up that you might hear the call and He’s calling your name. He’s offering you new purpose, new hope, new life. And you can see the examples of what He is doing by these many, many people who have found Christ even in just recent weeks and months, their lives have turned around. There are people that feel that I’m too far off can God do anything with me, it just seems as though I’ve failed and I’ve fallen flat on my face every time I’ve tried to do anything that was decent. Yes He’s calling you; your name is being called.

Some of our young people who were bound and ensnared by the enemy in this wave of homosexuality that’s sweeping the land, God totally delivered them. They’re different people. But they felt yesterday that because of what’s being printed in the newspapers, in time magazine and other areas of the media, that this is a way of life that a person involved in this cannot change that the only thing that will free them is death. And these men that the command of faith, the liberating power of God performed a miracle and freed them. And they couldn’t stand to think of these words going out and young people that may being led in that direction knowing there’s no hope anywhere, and so they went down to the newspaper office yesterday. And sat for an hour, half being interviewed by a reporter. They had their pictures taken. They said we’ve counted the cost, we don’t know what people will think of us because there’s so many people that will wrap their robes about them and say I don’t want anything to do with anyone that’s been involved with that sort of a thing. But they’re washed, they’re cleansed new people and so they’ve counted the cost. So don’t be surprised if you see some pictures and some names of some people and you’re going to be shocked and you’re going to say, you mean I was hugging that guy and he was a homosexual.

You sure were. And that’s not all, you’re probably sitting beside someone that has had troubles like that. But God has forgotten all about it. Their lives are turned around, homes are restored. Regardless of what the background may be, that awakening that stirring, that longing for something that He’s offering to you. That purpose, that hope, that whole new life. He’s calling your name; He’s calling your name. Where there is just from a dissatisfied life, whether it’s from a religion that’s burdensome and that’s weighing you down, your name is being called. Your name is being called. But the challenge comes to you what are you going to do about it when He calls your name? Hebrews 3:7-8.

We have a definite warning and a promise. That if you will listen to his call, if you will answer his call He’s waiting there to receive you. To welcome you into his family, to put his best robe around you, that’s a robe of righteousness that makes you acceptable to God. Imputed righteousness. But for those who hear his call as He calls over and over again and asks us not to turn away or harden our hearts. “Today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation in the wilderness, Israel hardened their hearts.” Verse 15, “if you hear his voice don’t harden your hearts but yield to Him.” Draw near to Him. They that draw nigh unto God He will draw near unto them. Do you know that the longing of your heart that brought you to this place this morning, you have already answered the call of God, you felt that yearning, that longing and your searching and you’re like that son that Jesus spoke about, he turned toward home and while he was still a way off his father saw him and he didn’t say, “I’m going to wait till he gets up the steps and in the house and goes thru a month probation and then I’ll see if I want him back.

Oh no. The father saw him way off and he ran to where he was and your father saw you. He saw you as you came. He knows the questionings that are in your mind and the search. He knows the perplexity that you’re going thru, the desire for something better. He sees all of this. Do you know something? He has run to where you are. He’s right with you now and he’s saying let me usher you right into the very best that I have. I’ve got a big fatted calf I want to kill. I want to have a banquet because you have turned towards home.

Let’s go together and he’s link arms with you. Praise God. And there’s great rejoicing when you come walking thru the door into his dwelling place with Him. Have you heard his voice? Listen I’ve spoken mainly to those who have been away from the Lord but He’s calling all of us. He’s calling some of you for real service for God. He’s calling some of you for the experience of being filled with the supernatural power of God as Moses saw the supernatural and was called for a time of great deliverance. Each one of us. God is putting his finger on our lives and we’re hearing our names being called. He has a place for everyone in his great service. Listen, this morning your name is being called, God’s voice is being heard.

Chapter 30 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission: Chapter 30 - Mission Philippines

Today we’re going to give you a little glimpse of God at work in the Philippine islands, my recent trip there. You’re going to have the privilege of having a front row seat in the arena of God in action. In speaking about this to individuals I have used the comparison that it almost looks like a chapter of the book of Acts being reacted. I am going to make reference to a log I have kept each day. Before you see all of the pieces put together you’ll see that one piece as a picture puzzle and wonder just how the next piece is going to fit in but God proved that He had all of the pieces for the puzzle for the picture during this trip. I’m going to begin by reading my entry for Saturday the first day I arrived in the Philippines and I’ll read the jottings that I put in my log as I review the happenings of the 36 hours just previous from the time I was in the San Francisco airport until I arrived. It happened that when I arrived in San Francisco I had a 6 in half hour layover before the plane was going to take off. The plane was due to leave at 12 midnight. About 11 o’ clock I checked in and sat down in the pre departure area. There was an empty seat beside me and a young Pilipino man sat down beside me.

I had a good conversation with him. Just to give you the entry that I placed in my log I’m going to read this to you as I reviewed it. San Francisco airport, great crowd. At 11:30 p.m. Pilipino takes seat next to me in the crowded terminal. Good communication with him. 12 p.m. all aboard, all seats assigned, next to me this man again.

I got out my list of names given me by Gabriel to check things out. At the top was the name Sariano. I asked this man if this was the way he pronounced his name. He was alarmed. Seemed to be spooked to use that term. It turned out that he was Sariano. Going back for a visit after 13 years in the United States. I told him that God loved him and was going to make this trip more than a visit. That he was chosen to carry some good news to his family who were tribal people. He accepted Jesus as His Savior and became an instant Missionary.

The week before I was to leave for the Philippines the angel Gabriel met me, spoke to me about the work, and gave me assurance in my heart that what was happening was something that God Himself had planned. And in speaking to me he referred to the names of the people that he had been ministering to that I would possibly come across or the names that he would minister to as reference points not that they were tremendously important but for confirmation that this visit was from God. And my work there was not just a visit but something that God had ordained. And one of the names was the name Sariano. This was of tremendous importance. When I spoke to Sariano, asked him if that was the name he pronounced his name, Sariano took another seat on the airplane. He looked at me and he moved without saying a word. And for 5 hours I had his seat and mine too. I was able to sleep on that plane. And for the 5 hours to Honolulu he was in another area.

When we took off from Hawaii on the continued trip to the Philippines which would be another 10 hours. The stewardess said that everyone must take their assigned seats. So this man reluctantly came back to sit down beside me. And when he came I thought it would be well to calm him down. I didn’t want him to be uneasy all the rest of the way. 10 hours is a long time to be uneasy so I told him how I knew his name. And I think I even then came on a little bit too fast, too strong when I said, “you wonder how I knew your name? Well the angel Gabriel told me who you were.” And he looked around again but there were no more seats, nowhere to go so I was quick then to tell him that God had his eye on him and knew him all along and cared for him. He said, “How could God know me? I don’t know Him. I go to the priest and the priest probably tells God about me but I don’t really know God.

So explained to him that God knew him and that God had prepared him and had arranged what he felt would be a reunion or a visit because God had use for him. And that God had directed things and had given me his name. And that God had seen to it that when the seats were assigned to these 300 people that his seat would be right next to me. I told him that God was doing the whole thing. His eyes were wide when I talked to him about this. He said, “You mean that God really with all that He has to do, He’s really interested in me, just one person that doesn’t even know Him?” I said, “He is. He wants you and He wants you to commit your life to him to let Him know that you’re thankful, as great as He is that He cares for you.” And so this man turned his life over to Christ right there on the plane. Then he said, “Let me tell you about my family, my father. I remember many times when my father would look up into the night sky and see the stars and look around, he would say “surely there has to be a God someplace.

If only we could find Him.” Now I’m going to be able to go back and tell my dad, dad you were right, there is a God and I have found Him.” Then I asked him about his family. I thought probably when he referred to his family he was referring to his immediate family. And he said I’m going to tell all of my family, they’re all going to be together because they all live in a cluster. He said when I left my family there was about 400. He said now it’s probably about 700 and maybe more. But he said I’m going to tell them all. He said it’s alright if I tell them isn’t it. He said if angels were interested enough in me don’t you suppose their interested in my family.

I said, “It’s because they are so interested in your family that God gave me your name. You’re going back there as God’s representative.” He said that this was the most important task in his life because he recognized that I had no way of getting his name, there was no way except by God. And so that man went back to his family. My first service in the Philippine islands was on Sunday morning. My entry reads: the Holiday Inn, a magnificent place. The meeting is part of a worldwide organization international hotel ministry. The auditorium was packed. It looked like the top of the line citizens. Among those coming for prayer was the wife of a high government official.

Also, there were high ranking officers and their wives. These people asked for my schedule and are promoting my services thru their offices. This was very interesting to me. I had pictured the Philippines a place of poverty. And my very first introduction was to a group of people who were affluent in one of the nicest buildings I’ve ever been in, in my life. People who were all dressed in suits, ties, and the woman were dressed fit to kill. They were a sophisticated looking bunch of people. And it made me wonder did I actually just make a few circles around one of these big American cities. It looked like these people were anywhere but the Philippine islands. About 60 people came forward for prayer.

And they entered in and worshiped God. I didn’t realize that it could be a country of such extremes. My second service was in a place called Manila faith assembly. I walked into this place and I didn’t see any of the wealth. I saw people who in spite of their poverty really loved God. These people were so turned on for God that I sat there and 7 different ladies went up to share something with the congregation. One thing that I discovered when I was in the Philippine islands is that it’s a ladies world. The gals are in control over there and the men like it. Those women are very confident. Every church I went in had ushers who were ladies.

Instead of deacons there were deaconesses. God loves the men but He certainly isn’t going to stop His operation if He doesn’t have some. He’ll pick out some gals. And they were praying for the sick. I was so pleased with what I saw. The women make the decisions in the home. I was staying in a place called Wycliffe translators guest house. They have about 70 guests at a time. So I was able to fellowship and minister to people who have dedicated their lives to translating, and learning the languages of tribes that have no language. On Monday night there was a fellowship meeting of missionary couples.

They welcomed me like I was some great important person that they wanted to hear. And they had such an eagerness to hear and such a response to the truths that I shared. And to me it was such a high point to minister to these people who were there actually doing what they could, surveying the field and seeing the various needs. And it was an evening I will long remember. And in this service, during a prayer time the president of the Far East Advanced School of Theology. God knows what He’s doing. I had told these people about the angelic visitation and it was new to some it was a little difficult to weigh it and know what their acceptance would be. But during prayer time, the president of the school felt the heavy hand of an angel on his shoulder. And he looked around and there was no one there. He thought maybe somebody had put their hand on him to pray for him, but when he looked around the hand still stayed there and it even gripped that shoulder.

And so he told these people about it. He said this is real, God has confirmed it. He said though I can’t see it I know that this angels’ hand is upon my shoulder. I didn’t see Gabriel there but it was interesting to know that he was around, that he had found his way to the Philippine islands alright. At that time I received my schedule where I was going to be. I was troubled about the schedule because I looked at it and 7 days were going to be spent in two churches. And inside I was asking myself the question why if I would of wanted to go to two churches to hold some meetings I could of gone to Colwell or Nampa, I wouldn’t have needed to come clear over here just to hold some meetings in a couple of churches. The reason this troubled me was because at the Wycliffe house I was dealing with people that were telling me some stories of being way up among the tribes where they didn’t know any English at all. And many of them still carried bows and arrows and so on. I thought this is really interesting and the Lord helped me inspire these people by letting them know that I was sent by God and placed by God there with this message that God was concerned about the families and about people and He’s preparing a people for the Lord.

Well these people got so excited; some of them even cut their rest time short to go back where they belonged back up into the hills. On this Monday I met with one doctor and with a professor and two pilots. They had just come back from way down in Minda where there was a tribe that had been discovered only a year in a half before. They had been there and the professor was able to put together some type of a communication bridge to them. They said we don’t need to rest let’s go tomorrow; we want to take you down there to that place. God’s in this, we want to take you down there. But I couldn’t tell them I could go because I knew that I was going to be having another schedule and I committed myself to it and it troubled me. So I laid there thinking boy I really muffed it. I got ahead of God here by telling them to go ahead and arrange a schedule for me. God really wanted me to go here and help this new tribe.

And here I missed it. And so I wrestled and it was hard to sleep. About 4 in the morning the light came on in my room. I was half asleep and I opened my eyes and I looked over and there was Gabriel and Chrioni, the angel that travels with him. I was sleepy still, normally I wouldn’t have talked to them the way I did. I said how did you find me here? You know, you should never ask somebody that’s representing God how he can do something but they didn’t seem to mind. He just said, “We didn’t have any trouble at all finding you. We arranged for you to be here. We’re the ones who arranged for you to be here. We wanted you to mingle with these people so they could get a hold of this message.

The reason we have come is because God has sensed the concern in your heart that you might be wasting your time over here with these churches. And he said God wants us to tell you not to worry about that schedule because it is so ordered and arranged that every person that meets with you will be divinely selected by God to meet with you and hear what you have to say.” This was so interesting to me to know that regardless of whether I was in one spot or another, was God’s doing and God’s direction. And so I didn’t worry anymore. I began anticipating, I wonder who God’s going to bring. So I went ahead and spoke at the Bible school at the Far East advanced school of Theology. God had arranged that this influence could go thru the Wycliffe workers up into roots of the Philippine islands. Now He arranged for it to go to the different places throughout Asia. And I have a letter here that I want to read just a little from the president of the school. He wrote this letter is to express heartfelt appreciation to you for sharing the ministry of Pastor Buck with us.

The faculty and staff and the student body were deeply moved as the Holy Spirit used Pastor Buck to minister to our spiritual and physical needs. The Holy Spirit bore witness that Brother Buck’s coming to us was ordained of God and very timely. We know that his coming to us represented sacrifice on your part in being away from the church. So the best thing we can do is say thank you for sharing his ministry with us. Since F.E.A.S.T. is an international school, his ministry will spread thru the lives of our students to other countries including Burma which is now closed to Western Missionaries.

So this ministry is not just in one spot but God had it arranged you see. Then in another area the first church I was going to minister in placed me in the best hotel that was available. So I stayed at the hotel and I felt if it’s true what the angel told me he’ll bring some people around. But I didn’t stay in my room very much. I wanted to be in the right place at the right time. The first evening nothing happened much. On Sunday morning I went down for breakfast. There were two business men there and said we saw you here last night and we wondered you don’t look like a tourist to us and we wondered can you come over here and sit with us at our table and tell us what you are doing here? Well that’s all I needed because I wanted to tell somebody what I was doing there. And so I began right off by telling them, “I don’t know how you are going to accept this but an angel met me and said that everyone that I speak with is especially selected by God to hear what I have to say. I believe that you men have been selected by God because we’re here and we’re talking.

The fact that you have been selected, all of your training and your background has been directed by God and God is calling it into account at this time because He doesn’t do things promiscuously and he has selected you for something special. This is His plan and His purpose. Everything that you have has been given to you whether you know Him or not.” These men said it sounds strange but we believe you. And so they said what’s the next step if we’ve been selected. I said, “He wants you to say God here I am, I’m glad that you cared enough for me and I’m ready to do what You want me to do and here’s my life I accept you.” And these men really felt I was from God to them. And without any hesitation at all both of them reached up their hands and said, “God we want to put our hands in yours, if we’ve got something that You can use that you have given to us we want You to use us.” And they worshiped and prayed and we talked to God together. They said we’re here on special business and all of our training has been in the area of politics and government control.

They said the rest of our lives our given over to God for this. I told them then that the area of my ministry would be in the area of liberation. And God is bringing liberation to spirit, soul and body. I said, “They’re so impoverished, and so oppressed in their humanity. These people have been under oppressors for hundreds of years. There was the Chinese, the Spanish, the Americans, the Japanese and now the Pilipino government. They’ve been under the heel of oppressors and God wants to set them free,” they said “we’re in that position where we’re going to help and put some wheels in motion to set them free.” I just couldn’t help saying Hallelujah. It was something I hadn’t planned on. All I knew was that God was concerned about the whole being, all of the people and their needs there and He was smiling on them.

I went to the service that morning; God gave us a tremendous service. I said that God is making it easy who refuse to come there, He’s making it easy for them to come now and to accept the Lord. And they are still coming every week. On Monday morning I met a man at the hotel. I walked over and said you look like an American to me. I came to find out that he was a German. Then he asked me, “What are you doing here?” It gave me the same opportunity. I said, “I don’t know whether you will believe this or not” but then I told him, I said, “An angel had met me, and told me that those people that I would talk to were selected by God.” I said, “You have been selected by God to hear what I have to say.” I told him that all of his training and background God had use for.

Well this man opened his heart. He said, “Well I never realized God really cared that much about what I did. I would like to have a little bit more purpose in my life.” I talked with him, prayed with him, and told him that the Lord had use for his talents and his training and skills and He wanted him to turn his life over to Him. And I noticed he was sobbing and speaking softly to God and I looked over and his eyes were open. He was looking up and had both of his hands up and he said, “God just think I’ve only been In the Philippine islands one day and already I have a new boss.” So I asked him what brought him there. He said that he had been sent to the Philippine islands and he was a member of the U.N world committee and that he had been sent to the Philippine islands to develop food resources for the underfed peoples of the land. So I explained to him, God said that this message and these people that are selected are involved in the liberation of these poor people and you in your position now, you’re going to help liberate the bondages of hunger.

And he said that’s the thing I’ve been skilled at and trained for. So he surrendered himself to the Lord for this. They’re using their entire committee now to bring together ways of liberating these people that have been in these far corners of the Philippine islands. So there was liberation in body, soul and spirit. I went to the island of Negros by ship. In the city of Bacoade my hotel happened to be right down in the middle of the city. I didn’t tell anybody in the church what I was doing in the day. But I felt, oh look at all of these people, my heart went out to them. And they couldn’t speak English so I couldn’t communicate with them. So I nudged a whole lot of people and I couldn’t find anybody who could speak English, till finally I found one young man who could.

He stayed with me all the while I was there. Early in the morning when I’d come out of the hotel he was standing on the steps waiting for me. Just like the Lord to kind of put him there to help me because I couldn’t communicate with those people properly. As we walked down the street the first day, I saw a lady who was weeping. So I spoke to her and he interpreted. I said why are you crying lady, I’m here to help you, I’m a pastor and I want to help you, God cares about your need. And so the boy told her and she said tell the man it’s not important. So I told her anything that’s important to you is important to God. So I took hold of her hands and prayed that God would put His strong arms about her and help her with whatever the need was. And it was just exactly like the sun came up.

The clouds were pushed back and I heard her say something to this boy and he said she’s asking me if your name is Jesus. She said, “I’ve prayed many times but nobody has ever cared before whether I cried or not.” And she said this man cared whether I cried. I wasn’t aware of it but all around there were people watching to see what was going on. I was violating the rules that you get as a tourist coming in. And it went around thru the market place that I cared for this lady. And in the course of the day I saw a lady carrying a big old bag of rice. She was so old and it looked like her legs were so old carrying that. I asked her how long she had to carry that and it was a couple of miles. I took her bag of rice and I carried it.

I carried it for a long ways. People saw this and the whispering continued on thru that city. I noticed as I went back thru the market place people would start following me and they would stop me and would want me to talk to them. There were several men just in talking to them were healed of different afflictions. There were some that were badly twisted with arthritis. Their limbs were straightened out. I wasn’t praying for them, I was just talking to them about Jesus and how much he cared for them. And there were some deaf mutes that were healed without prayer of any kind. They couldn’t hear what I was saying but the Lord healed them and they could both speak and hear. The outcome was that God proved that those people were selected by God because they really made a run on my hotel.

I want you to know that hotel was a busy place. They came day after day while I was there. I prayed with so many people out in the lobby of that hotel and ministered to them. When I got ready to leave the typhoon was in full force on that night. The typhoon was supposed to hit at 8 0’ clock. The meeting started at 5:30 and I kept the people there. These people have lived with fear because there are 20 typhoons a year that hit the Philippine islands. But this was the worst; it was called a killer typhoon. We prayed that God would bend it so it wouldn’t knock down the buildings. Sure enough the typhoon bent.

This was a beautiful thing just to watch the Lord in action. I’m going to read a little bit more from my log here. This is dated Thursday 5:30 a.m. “Had another great meeting last night. The building was more than full. I was quite uncomfortable because of the steaming and intense heat. They say it gets this way before a typhoon hits. I hope my plane gets away on time or it will be several days before I can leave. Then I got the word flight canceled.

What now? How long will typhoon Cading last? What about my reservations? They are now obsolete. All flights are full until Wednesday. That would have been a full week away. Oh well, God knows He brought me here.” I happened to think of the general who came for prayer the first Sunday at the Holiday inn. He told me that he spoke for the president and if I ever needed help to use his card, his name. I needed help now so I decided to see what would happen. When I gave his name and his conversation wheels began to turn. I have never been treated so royally. Within minutes a seat had been provided. Connections cleared for top priority clearance. God knew I would need this help and He provided. The names that were given to me by Gabriel were all identified.

Chapter 31 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, This is Our Day

We so appreciate each of you who are here this morning. God is doing something so supernatural in our day. He is here, He is guiding, He is creating a great current in His River and He says, “Jump into the flow of His life.” God is doing some things today, letting people know that He’s interested in people. He’s not only interested in history, He’s not only interested in events, He’s interested in people. Hallelujah. I’ve chosen to call this message this is our day.

We must not let it pass us by, it is our day. A very special day is upon us. It’s a day of ministries of the Spirit in daily operation by the body of Christ, not just by certain picked individuals but as the Spirit moves and sees the needs and people are available God is using men and women. It’s a special day of visitation. In Luke 19:41-44 Jesus spoke of a special visitation that Jerusalem, the people of that day experienced but He said He wept as He looked over Jerusalem and the reason why there were divine tears that were shed, was because they didn’t know the day of their visitation. They didn’t recognize it. He cried out, “if only you would have known in your day the time of your visitation; if you only would have known the things that were important the things that would bring peace to your heart. But you didn’t know and there’s coming a time when they’re hidden from your eyes.” And I feel that God today is bringing to us a beautiful visitation. This is a day of visitation.

And I’m glad that today as He looks over the world at this point He is not saying it’s hidden from their eyes. Across the world the cry has gone up, “thank you God for visiting us.” And I’m sure if you could somehow hear the choirs of angels sing it would be the world is responding to God’s visitation. That’s why you’re here this morning; you know the world is being visited, by great revivals, by visitors from heaven. I’ve had so many people ask me, “how come God allowed you to witness visitors from heaven?” The important thing is this; you have been visited and are being visited. What’s happened to me is not an unusual thing. It’s just that the Lord allowed me to see what was happening and let me know that what was happening there is happening with everyone of you. Most of the time we’ll never know or see but it’s there; the presence of God. For He did say to His angels take charge of those people. And the angels of the Lord encamp around about those who Fear Him.

God is bringing messages to the world in many ways. The Spirit of God that dwells within your heart is the controlling center; the Spirit of the Lord Himself is the One who controls all of these other great experiences. So don’t turn your eyes away from Jesus and say, “He must not love me, He hasn’t let me see an angelic being.” Do you know something? You have within your heart a person that is far greater than all of the angels put together. Greater is He that is in you, the Spirit. An angel cannot visit with you; an angel cannot stay visible to you only as ordered by God. But Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you but will stand by you. I thank God for the perspective that these angels have given me of how great Jesus really is. This last visit, he said that their highest purpose of work regardless of what their function was in God’s order, in God’s program was to worship Jesus. All of them have the same highest purpose and that is at the name of Jesus they all have to fall and bow and worship Him, at the name of Jesus.

Worship is their highest purpose, worshiping God. And to me, Jesus is in a position of honor and of glory by things in this earth, things in heaven, all of creation, Jesus is ascending to a point, of a place where in the very near future, everything is going to be turned over to Him. The One that said, “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.” The One that said “I’m your friend, I’ll stand by you, I’m yours.” I wanted you to know; this is a day of special visitation by God in the various ways that He would come. My purpose of this message today has three main objectives. One is to point to you an open door of hope for those of you who are searching. I know there are many here today who are searching. You’re fed up with religion as such but your heart is longing for God and you’re reaching, reaching for Him. God wants you to know that He is in control, that He loves you, that He wants you, that He has room for you.

And God has added another little clause to this message that He’s made part of my life and that is that He’s come looking for you. That He will not let you go. You may turn away in your direction but God wants you, God loves you, God’s concerned about people. This is our day. God’s angels right now are sent forth into the world to do a very special job. And that is to reach men and women everywhere and to not listen to their objections but to bring them to a point of choice and if they refuse to make the right choice, God isn’t looking for some reason to cut you off and to throw you away. He begins the cycle all over again to bring you to that point of choice. If you refuse He’ll begin it again. He is not trying to prove something to you, He’s not wanting to just fulfill His obligation by saying I gave you a chance. He’ll give you a thousand chances if you will just give Him the opportunity to help you.

Every life is so valuable to God. As you sit here today, you are so important to Him. The things that are happening in your life aren’t just happening. God is doing it. God is putting it together. He’s not doing it just for one church, one individual, one denomination; God is working with people today and giving them a job to do. This is our day. Every generation has had a special move of God. I can think of a number of special moves in my lifetime. I can look back and down thru history there have been special revivals under men that God has raised up but the revival that God is bringing to the world today is different and far more reaching than any revival the world has ever known.

It’s not because of great individuals that God is raising up. It’s because of believers, members of the body of Christ who are becoming God’s voice, who are taking on the likeness of Jesus because of His Word. I was reading Colossians last night. I read it over and over and over again. As I read that third chapter I could see how God’s desire for us was that we look to the world just like Jesus looked to the world, His love, His heart and that we represent Jesus. They don’t see Him, they see us. John 20:21. He tells us about the divine commission He has given to us. He said, “As My Father sent me so I send you. You’re going out just like I went out with the same job I had.

We have His commission, we have His power. Acts 1:8, He said, “you will be witnesses unto Me, and I’m sending you the promise of My Father, the power. You will be endued with power from on high after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. I’m giving you my work; I’m giving you my power to see that it’s done. Then He said, “I give you my authority.” John 20:23. He tells about the authority of His name. With what God is doing today with all of these angels at work bringing people to the door to a point of choice and a decision, we become the door. Jesus says, “You are the door. As my Father sent me out here to be the door I am sending you out to be the door, the doorway right to God’s heart.

So these angels are going to be bringing people across your pathway. Don’t hesitate to be alert, so that you’ll be ready when the Spirit says, “here comes one, bring them in.” The angels aren’t going to push them thru the door but they don’t mind you pushing them thru. You have a job to do. Get them in. You as individuals are being appointed as God’s representatives. You are representing Jesus and letting the world see Jesus in you, letting them feel His compassion, His love, his heartbeat. Let people know that your meetings with them are not accidental. You have authority. God has opened the door of ministry for us today.

There are people all over who are saying “I want to be used of God.” Here’s the way. John 7:37. He said that the water that God gives will become a river flowing out of you to other people who need God, the life-giving water that they so definitely need. There are some things that Jesus said that He gives you and that with these things you can represent Him and His authority. John 20:19, Here’s my peace, when this peace is real to you, then you’re going to be able to share. The people had a chance to see Him. They saw the Lord and they were gladdened. They didn’t have an experience that was sour and resentful and bitter or an experience that was dead and cold but there was gladness. Now He said because you have the peace and because you can get glad and happy for what has happened to you, then He said “I’m going to send you out to take My job.

And then He breathed on them and said here’s my Spirit now to do the job and to clench it. Then comes verse twenty-three where He gives you this authority. This authority does not come to people who know the Bible by heart. Who are able to give you the meanings of words and have it seemingly all mapped out. No. It is people who have seen Jesus and are glad and have His peace, they are experiencing the very reality of His Life and the rivers flowing out from them, those are the ones that the Lord is using. And people are finding God today all over the country by people who may not know that much about the Bible, but they know Jesus. This isn’t minimizing the value of the Word, this Word is so important in our hearts and lives. But it is not the thing that will give you His authority. There are theologians all over the country that don’t have enough authority to tell a person your sins are forgiven.

They don’t have it. There are some who do know the Bible and they can quote somebody else but they can’t speak with authority. The difference between Jesus and the scribes of His day, it said, “He spoke not as the Scribes but He spoke as one having authority.” There’s a lot of difference between having authority when you know Him and you have that peace and what you’re talking about is a real experience you can share it with others and people want what you’ve got. When you know Him, here’s your authority. Whosoever sins you remit they are remitted unto them. When you see that person open their hearts to Jesus and say, “I want Him,” you can tell them with authority your sins are gone. Jesus said that. God says I’ll back you up because you know Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:20.

He said that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Telling them their sins were gone. Now he said that He’s in us giving us this same ministry. So we can reach out and get a hold of people’s hand and reach up and get a hold of God’s hand. We can pull them together. The word is that you can come now. God said there are a lot of stubborn people who don’t want to come. They have to have a little help, so He gives us the ministry of reconciliation. He says get behind them, push them, pull them, get them in there, and pull their hand and God’s together. Put it together.

The ministry of reconciliation. What He’s telling you is that He has given you the right to make it happen. You can help that person right into fellowship with God. This is a day of hope, of service. “Father we thank you that You’ve given us the right to represent Jesus. And in this day, this revival, You have made everyone of your believers your evangelist’. And they’re feeling the call and they’re being sent by You. We thank You for this. We know dear Lord; something special is in the air. Something is happening.

We don’t have all the details but we know something is happening.” Because of the kind of revival that God is bringing today, this could be the last revival for the last generation. I had many people ask me; “did those angels who ministered to you say anything about the return of Christ?” I asked him and this angel said I can’t tell you the exact time because I don’t know but I will tell you this, that he had observed in the courts of heaven greater excitement and greater activity than he had witnessed at any time since Jesus came the first time. I thought I was going to be raptured right there. He said that the excitement is building up in the courts of heaven. Let’s lay down those petty little arguments we have. Forget about little old things that you don’t like about serving the Lord. Open your heart and expose yourself to the mighty flow of what He’s doing. And let the world see the gladness and the joy of the fact that you have met Jesus and there’s a freshness there of His touch in your life.

Chapter 32 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Good News for you and your Family

You are a complete church inside of you, you’re complete in Him.

I received this message from God thru an angel. I really fought with myself before I finally brought this message. Three weeks ago I was awakened by a touch on the shoulder. So I sat up in bed. I heard a voice in the dark and I learned that this was a messenger from heaven. This wasn’t a vision or a dream, but it really happened. God’s message is important. He wanted me to bring you this message. This conversation with this angel lasted about two hours. He shared certain truths.

God wants to be a living reality to us. Last night the messenger came again with some beautiful truths. My wife told me she was aware of the warmth of God’s presence. You got to realize that every person in this building is here by divine appointment, you’re concerned about your family. You’re concerned about your relationship with God. With this new revival there are new attacks from the enemy. In an effort at getting back at God, enemy forces are attacking the home. The home is the closest thing on earth to the heart of God. This attack on the home has been going on since the beginning. When Moses was born Satan tried to kill him and all the other babies.

Satan can’t read your mind; if he could then he would know to go after Moses. The same thing happened with Jesus. God sent an angel to tell Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem. God’s plan of salvation is not for a single person. He saves single people but when He saves them, He writes the names of those in their in family, in His book. God Himself started this. God cares for the family; God has plans for the family. He has it in His beautiful plan that He gave to Moses. He took if from a plan He has in heaven. He gave Moses the plan and the tabernacle.

And He said, “I want the name of every head of the house made out of the shekels of their redemption. Going to be melted and the gates are going to hang on the very fact that God has included all in His plan. Someone said, “well I thought you have to give your heart to the Lord yourself in order to be saved.” You do! Because you have a reservation out in an airplane to fly somewhere doesn’t mean that you’re on the plane. It doesn’t mean you’re there. You have to confirm that reservation. You have to say hey, let’s confirm it. God is doing something special today with working with families. God loves the family. God loves the family so much, that you remember when Rahab saved the spies, in Jericho, and the spies by inspiration of God said, “Rahab, call all of your family here to this house and they’ll all be saved.

Rahab brought all of her family there and they were all saved. Because God cares for the family, God’s plan is a family plan. God has something very beautiful that He’s doing today. God’s plan for the family does not stop when people’s forms, their bodies, are put in the ground. All the beauties of home and family, the ties, and good things about your family are eternal. And you’re going to have joy such as you never had dreamed. Those children of yours are going to have that warm place in your heart. And there’s going to be a bond that’s going to be beautiful. Jesus said, “Don’t worry over My business, you take care of what I give you to do and let Me take care of what I have to do. The enemy wants to spoil God’s plan again by hurling some heavy artillery into the homes.

Causing husbands to lose feelings for their wives, causing that restlessness, causing things to fall apart, causing children to hate their parents, they don’t want anything to do with them, not even to want to talk to them, causing parents to not want to talk to their children. An enemy has done this. God says he’s not going to get away with this. He’s going to make you pretty miserable if you want to go your own way, and follow that course. God always has a backup plan. Events that He has decreed have to happen. He let me know that when He decrees it, an irreversible force is set in motion that nothing can stop. It has to happen. People that He has included in His own unfolding plan are not irreversibly stuck to that plan unless they want to be. Because God has predestinated the event but for individuals He has foreordained, giving them a spot but He said, “I won’t hold you to it but if you link arms with Me there will be joys and happiness in it for I have foreordained you to be a partner with Me in the great work that I am doing.

There are two opposing forces at work but God has already decreed that He is the winner. The angel told me, “God has sent me to you with a message from His heart, to tell you that the prayers of the people have been answered.” I thought does that mean the lost family members are all saved? No, because God, to answer that prayer, doesn’t mean He’s going to violate the free right of choice He’s given to people. It means that He’s going to do everything necessary to bring them to a point where it would be easier to make that choice of surrender. I heard someone say, it’s a good way to make it hard for people to come to God, that way they will appreciate it. God wants to make it real easy to come and real hard to get away. He’s looking for every reason to hold you, not to cast you away. You can stop praying now. Those who have laid your loved ones out in sincerity in faith before God, you can quit begging God for them because God has already answered your prayer. You can start praising God now, He is on the job.

He has released forces that would bring about circumstances that would make it hard to get away. I saw Abraham’s book in heaven. Only the good things were recorded. I asked God why the bad things weren’t in Abraham's book and God said no. He said, “I don’t record failure. I’m not interested in people’s failures. The angel told me that God was interested in restoring homes into the kind of unit that God could bless and restoring communication between children and parents. God made the home before He made the church. He wants the parents to feel the hurts of the children. He wants the mother’s hearts to be opened in compassion toward the children.

God wants to reach the rebellious children. He wants to bring them to a point to where they know how complete God’s forgiveness is. That not only does God forgive them, but He forgets it ever happened. He won’t record failure for His own children. He wants them to know the joys of His justification. God not only justifies godly people, but God justifies the ungodly. God wants to justify the ungodly. Justify means just like their sin never happened. God wants those away from Him to know how complete His justification is. He wants them to be able to look up in to God’s face and know that they don’t have to hang their heads and be ashamed, “but when I see them, I see them as a first class member of My family.

God wants His people to get ready for that great day that is coming. In Acts 27:22-24 it talks about how God would save Paul’s shipmates. And God is saying to your mom’s and dad’s that He will save your unsaved children. Cheer up! God is working on them. Some of the shipmates wanted to go their own way so Paul told them that they better obey because God has plans to save them and will help them with that choice, the right decision. Paul helped them make that important decision. God will make it easier for your unsaved loved ones to accept Him. He didn’t come to condemn the world but that thru Him the world might have life. There are more angels in here than there are people. “Rise up Lord, let your enemies be scattered.

The bottom line of this is this. You wives who have husbands who don’t know the Lord and you’ve really prayed for them, you’ve laid them out on the altar and you’ve honestly prayed for them. Quit pestering them to death. Quit preaching at them. They’re getting enough preaching, and pushing, and pulling right now, from another source. That big angel that stood facing Joshua, Joshua said, “Are you going to be on their side or our side. You with us or with are enemy?” The angel said, “You are wrong on both counts, but I have come as a leader of another army and we’re taking our orders from Heaven. Your God who is giving us orders knows what the needs are.” Wherever men or women honestly lay out their loved ones in prayer. It means that if there is a relative who knows Jesus, every family member is put on a special list.

They are highly favored by God. This angel told me he would give a Bible reference to tell who he was. It turned out that this angel was Gabriel. God let me see Jesus smeared with all the filth of the world when He returned to heaven after He was sacrificed. Jesus had filthy garments on. Gabriel told me that at God’s command he took those filthy garments from Him, and destroyed them and then brought Jesus new garments and put it on Him. “I took a crown and put it on His head” said Gabriel. On the crown it read Holiness unto the Lord. Gabriel said this is your High Priest and the message that He is carrying to God the Father thru all of eternity is this. “Father count all of those people whose sins I carried.

Count them holy in your sight.” They may not be holy in the eyes of man. There may be a lot of mistakes and a lot of faults and failures but Jesus said, “Father count them holy in Your sight.” If you’re putting your faith in what Jesus has done and you’re putting out your hand and saying, “I accept what You’ve done for me. I confirm my reservation.” Suddenly you have identified yourself with the beauty of His holiness and your sins are gone. You have hope, a new life. You’re His brand new members of His family. If there’s been a time when you were going to accept Jesus, now is the time because there is special help from heaven like there’s never been. God tells us that the angel’s are on assignment.

You may be able to resist God but it’s not going to be easy, because God made a promise to your loved ones. He cannot let His faithfulness fail. Gabriel is the chief angel who works with God in the unfolding of His plans. Whenever a new chapter is going to be started in God’s time line, Gabriel is a part of it in the announcing of the message.

Chapter 33 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, God Wants You to Know

This morning I’m going to be speaking on the subject, “God wants you to know.” There are some things that God definitely desires that we know. Many of the things that we learn we can well do without. There are things that people are clamoring for to hear and to learn but in the long run it’s not going to make much of a difference whether you know them or not. Did you know that there are even Bible truths that could make little difference whether you know them or not. In fact you’d be better off not knowing them if it kept you from knowing some of the important things.

So often we substitute the important for the unimportant. I think of some things that are quite important but the apostle Paul in showing what the real important things were had to minimize some of the less important and it was quite a surprise in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians when he took prophecy from the top shelf and put it down a little ways. He said if there be prophecies they shall cease, then he took the thing that so many people today who have felt that the training of the intellect was the most important thing in the whole world. A few years ago I saw a cartoon that was drawn depicting a characterature of the desire and the hunger for knowledge and people wanting to learn, learn, learn. And it said, “At the rate that things were going, by the year 2000 this is what people will look like.” And I looked and boy I hope they don’t look like that in the year 2000. It was a great big head with a forehead that stuck way out and a little tiny face and little arms and a very tiny body. But this great big head. And I thought to myself when I saw that, this is the way people are going to look in the year 2000 at the rate they’re going, I wondered what they would be able to do with all of that knowledge. They wouldn’t have enough muscle to get out there and put it to work.

And they wouldn’t have enough stomach to enjoy the things they had created in the way of food. They would just have a big brain. The Lord needs more than just big brains however He created big brains so they’re alright if they’re used for Him. There are some things that are optional in the way of knowledge. And the Word tells us, it speaks of certain individuals who are ever learning, learning, learning, learning and still never able to find the truth. He spoke of some who have such a desire to learn that their ears are actually itching. And the only thing that would stop the itch is to put a little abrasive knowledge in thru them and keep pouring it in and that takes care of the itch for a little while. It’s alright for you to know prophecy. But do you know that you can get into trouble studying prophecy because about the time you figure you’ve got it all mapped out and you know exactly what’s going to happen and what the Bible actually means by this and this and this. Someone else will come along with a better idea and another opinion and all that you’ve learned is kind of obsolete so here you’ve had many hours that you kind of have to brush that aside and if you’re going to stay up to date you’ve got to put in a bunch more stuff in your head and in a little while that will be obsolete.

I remember so well when the president of the school I attended who was a great prophetic teacher. And this is not speaking derogatorily of the man because we’ve all done it, everybody that’s taught the Bible has gotten off on a limb somewhere or another. But he was teaching so definitely back in those days that Mussolini was the anti-Christ. He was so concerned about who that anti-Christ was. And his sermons would pack the building with people who wanted to know all about the antichrist and what was happening. One day he came to school, his face was crest fallen, he looked so unhappy. One of the teachers approached him in the hall and asked him why he was so unhappy. And he said, “They just shot my anti-Christ to death. Mussolini had died. But some of the people who were really interested in making sure all these niches were filled created another one and they had quite a few.

One of the last ones that came across the horizon that reams of paper were printed about and people were held spell bound as they heard about Kissinger, how his name was just exactly right, and the fact that his background, his birth, his nationality and his ability to move people, he was the one. I had a man who came to speak here at our church, in fact he came and I let him preach but I didn’t let him preach on what he wanted to preach on. He wanted to tell you all about Kissinger being the anti-Christ. I said, “Do you have another message?” He searched around and said, “Well I’ve got one around here somewhere but it’s not as interesting.” So I had him dig that one out and it wasn’t really good either. I won’t tell you who he was. When you become involved in something that God didn’t intend for you to become involved in you can trade the better for the lesser. There are some things that God definitely wants you to know. He doesn’t care whether you know what Babylon means in Bible prophecy. In fact He could care less.

It’s not important. He’s not really concerned whether you even understand who the lost tribes of Israel are. These are little things that you could waste your time on. One man asked me the other day, and he was very serious about it and so I was kind and I didn’t make light of what he said but I gave him something better to think about. He asked me, pastor can you tell me really where Cain got his wife? There are people who feel that somehow if they can find these evasive answers that would open the doors of heaven and bring revival. But there are some things that God does want you to know. They aren’t just the study of words, understanding what words are, they’re not the study of opinions. Do you know they’re not even the study of cults? I’ve had many people say, “pastor why don’t you teach us a course on what the cults believe.” It’s not going to do you one lick of good to know what the cults believe. God wants you to know what His Word says.

He wants you to know the truth. While people who are cluttering their mind with a bunch of junk they’re missing the point of the things that God really wants you to know. This morning I want to give you some very important things that He does want you to have, things that are important to your abundant living right here and to your effective ministry right here. One of the first things is the fact that God has included you in His plans. God loved the world, the whole world, everybody in the world. 1 John 2:2, gives you a little hint of this and it’s repeated in other places. That He has become the propitiation not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world. There’s enough salvation, there’s enough love, there’s enough room in God’s heart for every person in the world. Not every person is going to accept. We know that there are many, many who are not going to turn to God but God wants the world to know that He has room for them.

That He loves them, that He wants them. Praise God. He wants us to know this. He wants us to know that He cares for us. That every need of life is God’s care. Philippians 4:19 is a beautiful expression from Paul’s heart as he thought about God. He said my God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory. God is concerned about your material needs. He will supply he said. I wonder if there’s anybody here who when they had some real material needs did you ever wonder, God how are you ever going to supply this need? A few honest people.

Some of you are thinking, I don’t have to say its past tense, I’m wondering right now how in the world God is going to do it. You have some needs there. But as you look back at God’s great plan and purpose, He doesn’t always supply that need in the package that we may expect. He doesn’t supply it in just exactly the way, but today you can look back a year ago to pressures that you had and some way, you’re here. You got thru them, you thought you couldn’t live another week. You thought that things were so bad that you were going to wind up in Blackfoot or some other place, but you’re here instead. His provision includes not only for material things and actually from this congregation we have enough to fill a book of examples of how God has supplied your need. Praise God. I want every person to bow their heads. We’re not only going to talk about the thing that God wants you to know that He can supply your needs, the reason He wants you to know it and be sure of it is so that you can reach out and take what He has and have faith to believe Him.

I want you to join hands and believe God for those needs, the fact that you lifted your hands there was something very important here, these were material needs. And God knows the answer, He knows and understands. Father you saw these hands and you care. Oh God in Jesus name we don’t know what they are God but they’re spelled out to you. And right now they’re held there in remembrance before you. You know the pressure, you know the hurt and I ask the Spirit of the Lord right now would come into this place in power, that you’d move dear Lord to those who are feeling the hurt and the pressure. God there’s some that employment is so necessary. The needs of their home may be piling up for lack of income. But God you have told us to ask of You that there’s nothing that we could give you because of what you already own. The cattle on a thousand hills are yours.

The gems, the material wealth of a million worlds belongs to you. God in Jesus name as hearts are reaching out to You, may the supply come in the name of the Lord. God you want us to know this. It’s important to us in our life to know that you care for us and that You will supply and we believe you. Our trust is in You. You are a God who is a God of action. And by the recognition of this need, the placing of this hand in yours today, the great forces of heaven have been activated. Glory to God. I remember reading the same incident several times but others like it, where a family had nothing really to put on the table. This man was a pastor in a very struggling work.

They were depending much just thru the people for the people there to become God’s channel for their help. There was nothing, it was Thanksgiving Day. This woman gathered her family and they joined hands and they thanked God for His goodness. And while they were praying they said God we don’t know where it’s coming from but we know that you care and we thank you for the food we are about to receive, there wasn’t anything on there yet. But the night before, God knew this was going to happen because God knows things a long time in advance. He put it in the heart of one of the families in the town; they didn’t come to the church. They said, “We’ve never done anything really to show our thanks to God for what He’s done. And why don’t we surprise these people and set a complete food basket on their porch. So there was food that was prepared and ready to eat. And they set it on the porch and left, and the plates were there and everything else was there but the food and so they went out and got the food and set it down.

They had already given God thanks so there they were. This was an unusual circumstance but God is the God of the unusual and if every person here would write something about some way that God’s provided we would certainly have a variety of things here. Has God ever provided something for you in a unique way? Would you write out this incident? I’d like to get about a 1000 of these. Because people are coming in and their faith is way down, and you might have your faith way down and I’ll thumb thru them and pull out the one that you’ve written and show it to you and remind you, “hey look what God did before you, He’s still God.” He wants you to know that He’s concerned about your material needs. He wants you to know that He’s concerned about your physical needs, that God has divine health. People oftentimes point to what looks like failure, it isn’t failure at all. God’s great picture is complete. God wants us not to focus on one little spot but his promises are complete and fulfilled in His picture, he has health for us. He cares for and provides for our emotional needs bringing us peace.

He provides security for us. He’s able to keep us from falling and present us faultless before His throne. He’s provided freedom from the fears. This world today is bound by fear. In my trip to the Philippines God made me so aware of it, but this whole world since I’ve been back, I’ve found people in this country are filled with fear also. Spiritual fear, emotional fear, physical fear, there’s so many things that press in upon them. But God wants you to know that He cares about your emotions. He doesn’t want you to write out and say your emotions have nothing to do with God; you must be totally unmoved constantly all the time about spiritual things because you’re going to get into trouble if you’re emotional. That’s as much as saying you’re going to get in trouble if you’re alive. Well I suppose if you weren’t alive you wouldn’t get into trouble but that’s not what we’re referring to.

God wants us to be emotionally alive, to be able to feel Him, to be able to know and get excited about Him. God has made provision for our emotional strength and health. He’s provided for our spiritual freedom. I heard a man speaking last week talking about a Russian bear that had been held in captivity. And this bear while he was in the cage would walk nine steps, which was all the cage would allow him. And he would go back and forth nine steps. Some people some way got a petition up and the bear was released. They said he’d been in captivity long enough so they gave him a little bit of freedom. They took the bear out of the cage and set him in a wide open space. The bear looked around, took nine steps and then he came back nine steps, then nine steps again.

There were no bars and no cage but the cage was in his mind, he had been bound so long. Jesus came to set the captives free. He tore down the bars and the prisons that bind us but still many, many believers are still taking nine paces to the right, nine back to the left. God wants them to know that the bars are down and they can move out into the full open pastures that God has made for them. Another freedom God wants to bring addresses the fear of whether God has accepted you. While I was in the Philippine islands I spoke to the students at the Far East advanced school of theology. And I gave them a message that God gave to me and confirmed to my heart thru an angel. The Lord placed it upon my heart this morning and I talked about it in my class. And when people lifted their hands and said that this really spoke and ministered to their hearts I knew that God had so directed me. And I feel that this morning this is also something that God wants you to know.

Not just to hear, He wants you to know it so that you’ll be able to apply it to your own hearts and to have the freedom that God has given to you. The president of the school and his wife were there and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me mentioning this. Following this service she said pastor I’ve jotted down this little diagram that you’ve given us and she said I feel it’s the greatest truth that I’ve ever heard. She said I have an eight year old boy. She said my eight year old boy goes to bed at night after I tuck him in and kiss him good night. She said he doesn’t want me to know about it but I’ve come in and heard him sobbing. And he cries himself to sleep nearly every night because he’s so afraid of God. She said I’m going to take this to him and I’m going to help him with it. She said my son has told my husband and when I’ve asked him about why he’s crying he said, “I’m afraid I’ve committed the unpardonable sin, I’m afraid I’ve haven’t been quite good enough to please God. And because I haven’t pleased Him if Jesus were to come if I would die I would be lost forever and I just can’t stand it, and so he would cry himself to sleep.

She took this message that I had given and she said if for no other reason that I’m glad you came to the Philippines, it was for this. And she said I told my boy how God really feels. And I drew the picture out in simple form so he could see it. And he said mom I don’t have to be afraid anymore. He laid back and slept no more crying and no more fear. She said she saw him return to the normal life of an eight year old boy with confidence and faith. God never intended for anyone to be strapped with fear all the time, let alone a small child because somebody tried to keep somebody in subjection. It wasn’t necessarily anyone’s particular fault. But the fact that people in wanting to do the right thing have not weighed the impact in wanting in some way help people to walk in a narrow path that was hewn out for them. They’ve brought fear and damage to others.

God wants us to know what the real truth is. This was the message. I told these students to take a piece of paper. And up at the top write a circle representing the eye of God. Down at the bottom of the page to write man, and to draw man representing man’s viewpoint. This message that God had made so real was this that under the eye of Almighty God man cannot be accepted because there are three barriers or hurdles that keep him from coming and being accepted by God. The first one that keeps him from being accepted is called sin. God wants you to know this. Don’t let it go in one ear and out the other. God wants you to know it.

If you have any paper jot it down or pick up the tape and listen to it over and over again. Sin separates. You cannot be accepted because of sin, if there’s even one little tiny sin, if you’ve gotten rid of everything and you had some sin of thought or of omission it keeps you from being accepted of God. The second line is fault. God cannot stand fault in a life. The priest, when God chose him said if there was even a mole on this priest or a limp or anything that would be some fault in his physical being. God cannot accept something that isn’t without spot or wrinkle, flawless. There are a lot of people who feel if somehow if they could find the answer to stop sinning and if they can make themselves good enough then surely they could be accepted of God but they have not been able to do but should they be able to do it God would still say I cannot accept you because you have no way of removing those faults. I wonder if anybody here has ever known a person that was absolutely free of all fault. Are any of you husbands here whose wives have not even one fault? Can I see your hands? I could put mine just a little ways up but it has to come back down because she has some that I don’t know about it.

Have you ever known of anyone without fault? There was one more line that if somehow or another you were able to sterilize a person completely so that there was no sin and you were able to bleach them completely so that there was no fault of any kind. Then the worse fault then they would have would be that they’re worthless I guess. But they still couldn’t come because there’s one more. And that 3rd line is failure, failure to keep His Word, failure to meet His standards that He’s laid out. So in God’s eyes none can measure up, none can be accepted. But in Ephesians 1:4 and I’d like you to write this down. “Before God ever made the world, He chose us to be holy, faultless. He chose us to be holy and faultless and to have no failure.” This was God’s plan for us before He ever made the world. He wanted us this way.

Well how in the world are we ever going to do it? We can’t make it. But God planned that way, his plan was to send someone that was totally faultless, totally sinless without failure to take our place and to wrap us up in this person’s character and so then He could say you are accepted in the Beloved. So the angel had me draw a big wide line over the top of these three separating barriers, a big wide one. I even filled it in. And on cross that was the love of God, Jesus’ blood. So when this man down here puts his faith in the blood, then as God looks down thru the blood and sees you because your faith is in the blood He sees you looking just exactly like Jesus. It’s the only way He can accept us. In place of sin the word holiness comes thru because that’s what Jesus was. In place of fault, blamelessness comes thru because Jesus was blameless. In place of failure the word unreprovable comes thru, nothing to which God could ever call you to task for, nothing with which He could ever charge you with.

Unreprovable. So here you have it. God’s eye. And in His sight now because of this covering you are holy, unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Colossians 1:22, He has wrapped it all up in one little verse here because of the body of Jesus’ death that we have accepted. We have been made holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Hallelujah. Now underneath this covering that you have, draw another eye down here, and write man’s eye. Man can’t see you the way God sees you. So man looks at you and you look at yourself and you say Oh, Oh God I don’t know, I’ve failed you and I’ve failed so miserably.

You see yourself, your friends look at you and they say fine Christian that person is. In the eyes of man you are not holy, you are not blameless, you’re not faultless, they see them. But God in His great plan and His desire is that people would see Jesus in us. He has given us the Spirit, He’s given us the Word, he’s given us His message and he said, “Now with the help that I give you let your light, not to be accepted by Me because you’re already accepted but so that you can help people and let them see Jesus. I want the world to see you just like I already see you. I want the world to see Jesus in you. Isn’t that a beautiful picture? If man sees the faults and the failings even though you are in fellowship with God man might come to God and say hey God I know something about that person. God says beat it. Well come down here God and look underneath you’re covering here and take a look, you could see them. God says, “I’m not going to listen to anything that Satan tells me, I’m not going to listen to anything that man tells me.

Nobody can lay anything to the charge of the one that I have covered, that’s put their faith in Me.” He’s going to listen to nothing from Satan and nothing from man. Praise God. You read that over there in Numbers 23 and 24 where God showed how effective that covering was. He wants us to be holy; He wants us to know that He wants us clean in His eyes and the eyes of the world. But we are covered and He wants you to know this. God wants you to know it, it’s important enough for you to know that in the daily routine of life there may be things that trouble you and trouble others but because your faith is in the blood they cannot be seen by the eye of God. That’s the reason why He cannot mark down failure when your faith is in the blood because it can’t get thru. He sees nothing with which He can charge you. If an eight year old boy can understand that God wants every one of you adult Christians to understand it too.

Does this have meaning to you this morning? God wants you to know this because it’s important to your friends and your loved ones and to those you are ministering to that they know what you’re standing is before God. I’d like to see the hands of those that this has had special meaning to. Oh, praise God. Lord I thank you that You’ve given me this opportunity to share with these people today. May they know it, may they leave with that assurance that as you look down on them they’re covered. There are only two things that will take you out from under that covering. One of them is rebellion; don’t want God to be my God. The other is idolatry. Don’t allow those things to creep into your life. Don’t say I don’t want to go God’s way, I rebel, I know what God wants on my life but I rebel against his plan.

Don’t allow rebellion of spirit to pull you out from under God’s plan, God’s love. Some of you may say well what does this really mean to me? So many believers have been troubled every day because they never knew just where on the scale of their living that they reached a point of being accepted by God. And as a result some have felt the only time they were really ready or accepted was when they were praying. And even then they questioned it. But now you can know and you can go your way with confidence. God wants you to know that you’re accepted. That He’s looking down at you and He sees you looking just exactly like Jesus. And He wants you to praise Him for it. He wants you to go out and live for Him and feed on His Word so that the fruit of the Spirit grows in your life so that the world will see the characteristics the love, the joy, the peace, gentleness, longsuffering. And tie this chapter 3 verse 7 and 8, he tells us that these things as we let the fruit of the Spirit grow it will not justify us, we’re already justified.

But he said this is good and acceptable to men, those that you’re wanting to work with and help, when they see Jesus in your life. Praise God. Can you see why that little boy started feeling better. Have you ever been afraid of the same thing? Are there some that came this morning not knowing just for sure where your standing was with God? I want to know and I want you to know and I want God to know that you’ve learned this truth today. God wants you to know it. Can I see your hands? Oh, praise God. God wants you to know that you have eternal life right now. Jesus said, “I give you eternal life.” I had somebody ask me when eternal life actually started because we have to die now so this can’t be eternal life, so when does eternal life start? Do you know that you have eternal life now, did you know that? And when you pass from this life the life support systems for just the physical body that’s made for this world might be unplugged but when you accept Jesus you’re plugged into a big life support system that can never be pulled out. Jesus said, “I give you eternal life and you’ll never perish neither will anybody pluck you out of my hand.

And in case you think that I’m not strong enough, God said I’m going to make real sure that nobody gets you, I’m going to put my big hand right over the top.” And he said, “no one is going to pluck you out of my Father’s hand.” God put a double security on your life. Hallelujah. The only way, the only place where that hand could be opened, there’s a little latch on the inside. You say, “God I don’t want to serve you anymore. He makes the lock a little sticky because he wants you to consider it good but He won’t keep you against your will. But as far as any pressures of this life are concerned, God wants you to know that eternal life starts right here. We had a funeral here yesterday and I so appreciate this family and the close bond that they had. I was so glad that I could tell them that life hasn’t stopped, it’s continuing on.

That you have eternal life within you and as you walk with God because your faith in Him you’re never going to perish. This is what He tells us. You’re just going to pass from a night of earthly existence into the bright day that God has prepared for you. Those loved ones of yours are happy in the presence of God. They all have heavenly bodies totally identifiable. God even took care of that. God wants you to know, He doesn’t want you to be ignorant of this, He tells you this. And that experience where God let me see these people there, I saw many people whose funerals I’ve had right from this church. They were there happy, rejoicing, and full of life and vigor. Their personalities were still keen, it was them.

But they were there minus the pains and the hurts. The things that have blighted this life are gone, but the personality, the part that makes you, you, is going to go on. This is why He tells us that when man became a living soul that soul will live forever. You know what that soul is? That soul is your humanity. You’re going to carry those characteristics that are typically you right to heaven with you.

Chapter 34 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Your Potential and God

When God gave me this song, I just relived my justification. And it was very exciting to me because I began to really realize what Christ did, what Pastor Buck spoke on last Sunday. (Song, a lady sang) “I wasn’t pardoned, I was justified today. For the precious blood of Jesus, well it washed my sins away. There’s not one sin left to remind Him of the old nature that just died, because I wasn’t pardoned, I was justified. He didn’t sign a piece of paper stating I was free; instead He took my sins and failures with Him to Calvary. Not a charge stands against me when I come before His throne, and what people say doesn’t matter I’m not facing them alone. I can stand so in His righteousness, I no longer have to hide; for I wasn’t pardoned I was justified. Now I’m a citizen of heaven and my rights, there all intact. In Christ I stand complete and there’s not one good thing I lack, well it’s just as if I’ve never sinned.

I’m clean deep down inside, for I’m not pardoned I was justified.” Wasn’t that a beautiful song? Praise God. It wasn’t only beautifully done. But God really took the heart of that message and dropped into your heart and mine. Praise God. The greatest need of men today is to know God, to really know Him. I would say the second greatest need which goes right along is to know our position as His children. And for some reason, I don’t know why, these truths have escaped God’s people. In all honesty and sincerity, much of the teaching, much of the preaching has really missed revealing God as He is. God’s intention, God’s purpose for believers, true saints of God whose lives have been exemplary, who have obeyed God, who have lived for Him, often times have lived in fear, constant fear because they did not know where on the scale with relationship with God they would reach a point that would please Him.

Or if in their thinking or their attitudes they would somehow waver just a little bit below the line of acceptance and it’s created real problems to them. Bondage has come to many saints of God who have failed to realize that they have not only been pardoned with sin being remembered again every year, but when they can realize that the memory of it in God’s eyes from God’s position has been destroyed. And we have been restored back to that place that man originally held with God. A state before sin began. When we know that this is what God has in mind for us it’s His plan for us, we can rest. I felt that during this week God definitely put all the pieces of the meeting I held in Everett and also Spokane. I’ve had several people when I’ve talked about what the Lord did in ministering to those people in the Philippine islands. And I mentioned how the Spirit of God moved and the eager expectancy in the Word of God. I had a number say it’s just too bad that the people here in the United States are so closed to God that there isn’t that same eagerness and there isn’t that same excitement. But I have discovered thru taking this same meeting to areas where they are still in bondage to fear and problems that they want to know, that they’re just as eager.

And I saw a building that normally is very rarely filled with people on Sundays. On Tuesday night, the first night one half hour before the service was to start, because of the messages that people had listened to on tapes thru the area and they brought their friends in, that building was packed. There was not another seat. The second night it was the same way, it was literally packed with people. Following the service on Wednesday night there was a lady who came up the aisle, a lady who had been serving the Lord for many, many years. A real true saint of God. One that the Lord recognized and loved very, very much. But she came up just beaming. She said, “I have been serving God for over 50 years. But to be real honest with my own heart, I had fear.

I never knew quite for sure and I would cry and ask God to help me. And I would pray sometimes at night, dear Lord don’t come during the night, maybe tomorrow I can do a little bit better. Maybe my thoughts will be a little bit more on You.” And there was a constant strain within her of trying to find what could be termed an acceptable spot on the scale where she could be accepted of God. She didn’t know just where it was. But she told the people and she told me that tonight I could go to bed for the first time and say Jesus I can trust you. It’s all taken care of. Praise God. There were about 40 young people lined up who wanted to talk to me. I got them in a circle and they shared with me their feelings.

They said, “This is the greatest thing we ever heard in our lives, this is what we can take out and tell people. Our friends have to know this because they heard it all wrong. They need to know that God wants them and that they’re worth something to Him. And that His highest plan for them is to make them acceptable in His sight.” This is what the Word tells us. God’s plan was before He ever made the earth was to make people acceptable in His sight. Praise God. This does not do away or remove our responsibilities of our obedience to Christ. There are some people that are a little fearful when they hear this kind of a message. I had a number of people come to me and try to caution me and say, “Pastor you better watch this, some of these people are going to go out and live for the devil if you tell them that their lives are covered.

They’re going to feel that there’s no responsibility in living for God. You have to kind of keep them afraid or they won’t live for God.” I was glad I could tell these men, I could read something here. The apostle Paul you know had this beautiful revelation, he’s the one that God first gave it to and he gave it to the world thru the Pauline Epistles. But he had a little problem with some folk too and listen to what they said to him. This is in Romans chapter three from the living Bible, he was talking about how great it was to have this great justification that God brought to the world. And in verse five in the Living Bible, he said, “but some say our breaking faith with God is good and our sin serves a good purpose for people will notice how good God is when they see how bad we are. A bunch of nonsense if I ever heard of any. But that’s what they were saying in those days and there are still some people that might say that. Then he went on to say “is it fair for Him to punish us when our sins our helping Him? That is the way some people talk, God forbid.

Then what kind of a God would He be to overlook sin? How could He ever condemn anyone, for he could not judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty brought Him glory by pointing up His honesty in contrast with my lies.” If you follow thru with that idea you come to this, the worse we are the better God likes it. But the damnation of those who say such things is just some claim that this is what I preach. They were saying hey Paul this is what you’re saying. I’ve heard some people say hey the pastor doesn’t believe that we have responsibility with the Lord because now he’s preaching a little bit of a different message. Do you know that the message of man’s responsibility with God has been covered; it’s been ingrained in people’s lives. It is there. The neglected area has been the message of justification of what God has done. And this is one reason that I believe that God has sent this message by divine messenger because, to bring His body back into balance. I would like to say today that because of what Jesus has done, does not give believers an excuse or a license to sin.

Here’s what Paul tells about this in the same chapter in the last verse. He said if we are saved by faith does this mean that we no longer need to obey God’s laws? Just the opposite, in fact only when we trust Jesus can we truly obey Him. You just can’t quite do what you wanted to do without this trust and this knowledge. That He, knowing what His plan is and what He has accomplished. All of your energies that God desires and your trust and your faith and your service for Him are used in a struggle to try to reach a certain point. And you may climb a foot and slide back two feet. You reach for handholds to climb up that cliff to get up to that spot that you know God has for you and you keep sliding back. You know this is the truth, but as you recognize that you’re not having to struggle for your acceptance with God because God desires to make you acceptable to Him, you can use those spiritual energies to live for God. And that person who wants to use this truth as an idea to go into sin, hasn’t really met God, doesn’t really know and cannot really say, “God I love you more than anything else.” That person can’t say, “God I appreciate what you’re doing and here’s my life.

They have not caught a glimpse of what the Lord has really done. But I wanted to share this with you today. God’s purpose is so beautiful. In that experience that the Lord gave me it will be two years ago the 22nd of this month. The Lord allowed me to see, to go thru the Bible with Him from Genesis to Revelation. And this particular truth was the first that God wanted me to see, was how much He loved people and His desire and His plan to make them acceptable in His sight. You look into Ephesians chapter one and verse four where He tells you we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. That we should be acceptable. In the Living Bible that is so beautiful. “Long ago before He made the world, God chose us that we should be His very own because of what Jesus would do for us and He decided then that He would make us holy in His eyes so He could accept us.

God’s plan was then that we should be accepted by Him.” He’s not looking for reasons to disown you, but God is looking for every reason to accept you. He has so much invested in you. And even now in order to hasten men to Himself He has a force of angels thru this earth that are drawing people pushing and pulling them to the Lord. I had a number of people this week who definitely told me that they were there because they knew that God had put the real pressure on them to bring them that they might find Christ. Praise God. And this overlay of truth first is like covering the scriptures that had nothing to do with the believer but would highlight those scriptures that would prove His acceptance and we went thru the Word. And my heart was filled and thrilled as I could follow the path that God had drawn and that He intended to use in bringing His people to Himself. Then He gave me another overlay of truth, and this overlay of truth showed His desires for people when they knew Him, His desire for what they should be underneath the covering, they were already recognized and He saw them because of their faith in the blood, He saw them looking like Jesus justified, but under the covering He has a beautiful plan for them. And as I went thru this from Genesis to Revelation the truths stood out, beautiful truths that because we are Christ’ then He added these various things.

Then another overlay was an overlay of service. What God’s desire was that we might be effective in our service for Him. Then there was a fourth one which showed God’s interest in the details of every individual’s life and I talked about this one to you. That each plan, each life was so detailed, so complete that when we link arms with Him and accept our position, those things that happen to us, the Word says that we are foreordained to experience these things. The events that transpire are definitely predestined, they have to happen. But those of us who are a part of what God is doing. We are foreordained we can choose or we cannot choose. If we choose we will be blessed, if we don’t choose we will be selling ourselves short of the things that God has for us. But just a little bit of the overlay of truth in being prepared to serve the Lord. And I believe it is the desire of every believer to be used of God.

Have you ever cried out in your heart as you had been praying, “God use me, God see something in my life that you can use.” Well God wants to use you. I’m going to read a verse from second Timothy, chapter two and verse 21; in fact we might read several verses here. “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal the Lord know those who are His. And let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” The first thing is to depart from those things that you know displease God. This isn’t to be accepted. This is because you belong to Him you see. Then he goes on to say, “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and earth. Some to honor and some to dishonor.

If a man therefore purge himself from those that would be dishonorable or hurt or bring dishonor to the great captain of our salvation, to our Master. If a man purges himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use and prepared for every good work.” You’re ready for the Master’s use when you recognize some things that dishonor God that would be a hindrance to you in your walk with God. Then he tells us some other things that would be a hindrance and there are many young people and many adults, and I’m sure that you’re aware of this. Not only young people are troubled by youthful lusts did you know that. Some of you fellows 50 years old, some of you 60, maybe 70 still have some youthful lusts. You ladies too. Youthful lusts don’t just belong to young people. Here’s what he said to be used of God, “flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord with a pure heart.” Fellowship with other believers and following after righteousness, that word righteousness actually means the right way the right things, those things that God has laid out before us.

I’ve had several young people come to me and say oh this is such good news that there is a covering there because I’m real weak and there’s some things that I can’t just help doing and now I won’t mind so much. There are a lot of people who are looking for some reason to sin. God didn’t give you that reason. What God has done was to give you a reason to come to Him and to be accepted. But often times like Paul said “do not use God’s grace as an excuse to sin.” So you see there are two sides to the coin. And this side people know and they should know. But so that you all know in the Lord’s message and in His desire that people could see their position in the Lord that they do not feel that the Lord is condoning sin and those things that would be displeasing to Him. Then he went on to say “foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing they do gender strife. And the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men, Apt to teach and patient,” here’s some traits that He said that are part of the nature of Jesus that the Spirit of the Lord will build up in your life as you wait in His presence.

“And in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves if God peradventure would give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil that are taken captive by him at his will.” So he’s asked us to prepare ourselves for the Master’s use. Then in Philippians 2:5 he tells us to let the very mind of Jesus be in us which was in Christ. And there are some people who take this completely wrong. He tells us what he’s referring to here; it’s his attitude toward God, toward the world, toward believers, toward those who needed God, and even towards themselves. But he said, “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found and fashioned as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven, things in the earth, and things under the earth and every tongue should confess Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father.” When he tells us here, this mind that compassion, those attitudes of Jesus towards God, towards self, towards others, He’s not saying here that you’re going to know everything that Jesus knows. I heard a man speaking about this on the radio one day, that because God said to have the mind of Jesus that that means that we know everything Jesus knows.

But it makes people feel good I guess to have built a little fantasy out there and say well I know just as much as Jesus knows but I’m certainly glad that He has access to a little more knowledge than what I have. If I didn’t know anymore about what’s coming and the days ahead, and if you didn’t know, we would have an awful time relying on Him to know those steps before us and be able to link arms with Him and trust Him. I’d be a little leery of saying “well Lord if you don’t know any more than I know why I’m wondering whether I should link arms with You or not, I’m going to keep searching, maybe I can find somebody that knows a little more.” But let this mind be in you, he did not refer to the knowledge but he referred to the attitudes of Jesus, Jesus’ mind, Jesus’ heart towards the things of God. Then he said another thing that the Lord wanted in preparing us was that His Spirit might dwell in us completely. Oh, what a beautiful portion of scripture, Colossians three. There’s a whole chapter telling us God’s desire for us. Do you remember the message that the angel brought to me some months ago when he said that God’s desire for our lives was actually our potential? What God desired for us we can have. And he said it should be our goal. Well his desire for us is that the mind of Jesus be in us, that the Spirit of Jesus lives within us, that His Spirit that caused Him to act as He acted.

Then he said not only the mind and the Spirit, but he said the deeds of Jesus, the example of Jesus. I’d like for you to read from Colossians 1:9-10. “For this cause we also since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, walking, pleasing God being fruitful in every good work.” Those works will not make you accepted of God. But when you’re accepted of God then those works please God. You follow? This is very important that you have it. And increasing in the knowledge of God He wants us to learn to know more about Him. Then in Titus 3:8, these verses I’m bringing to you have been brought to me by revelation from the Lord. This is part of the dual message of grace.

That covering has two messages, one goes upward to God and says these people are justified according to the song we heard this morning, they’re justified. Titus 3:7-8, that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. God seeing us looking just like Jesus. Hallelujah. Then he said “now since that’s the case this is a faithful saying, in these things I will that you affirm constantly that they who believe in God, those who are justified, might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto man.” Those people that you want to bring to the Lord, those people that are looking to you and that God has put under your influence, those things that point them to Jesus that make them realize what God is really like. I could give you many, many more scriptures on the things that the Lord desires of us but I’m just going to give you one more before we have a chance to open our hearts and ask God to help us be more like Jesus, and that is, God’s desire is that the very nature of Jesus, His love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith all of these things he calls them the fruit of the Spirit. That is the nature of Jesus, and the beauty of Jesus might be seen in your life. In second Peter 1:4 he tells us that we are partakers of the divine nature by the things that he has given to us.

Then, 2 Corinthians 3:18, if you have your bibles open, it would do you well to read this verse and do some underlining. He tells us how this happens, how we can get the beauty of Jesus and the nature of Jesus. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Even as you wait in His presence drawing from Him and His Spirit and His nature, suddenly the characteristics of your face and your image change. People may not see what your features are, but they sense, I see the beauty of Jesus. And we’ve sung so many times “let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me” and that beauty will be seen as you wait in His presence and allow the Spirit of the Lord to change you and it’s not going to be a drab uninteresting time but He said you’ll go from one point of great glory to another from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. The very thing that your heart desires will be found and underneath the covering in the view of man’s eye something will be happening, and man will be able to see the likeness of Jesus formed in you. Paul’s prayer was this, after he had shown them the great covering of God and told them about the beauties of Jesus and he said “I travail again, I agonize again that Jesus might be formed in your body.” Hallelujah. Can you see it folks? I want you to know, I don’t want anybody to leave this place to say the pastor has ignored all of those writings and the word of God that tell us to live lives like Jesus.

God wants us like Jesus and it’s only as we recognize what He’s done for us can we ever attain being like Him. Right where you’re seated I’d like to have you lift your hands towards heaven and we’re going to sing that chorus ‘let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,” while you sing open your heart to Him and allow an infusion of His Spirit to come while you behold the glory of the Lord. “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All of His wonderful compassion and purity. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.”

Chapter 35 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Angel’s Food

It is so beautiful to know what the Lord has planned for us. This psalm that you heard that has been a source of strength for so many for so long encapsulates God’s plans for Israel but is symbolic of his plans for all people. You see God gave a little rehearsal of his big plan there with the children of Israel in the land of Egypt. Egypt has always been a type of this world, and the things of this world that God has planned an escape from. Then when He led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, He led them out following their acceptance of the Lamb.

Jesus is God’s lamb. But they accepted the Passover lamb. And they were to remember this every year and be reminded that they were saved because of the death of this substitute in this lamb. And God performed beautiful miracles for the people. Several times when I read the story of Moses, I thought to myself, there was probably only one person in the whole universe that could have enough patience to work with a bunch of people like that.

God has been so good to me in giving me a congregation of people that love God. They’re easy to work with, if they get mad they do it off in a corner somewhere and I never hear about it. But poor old Moses, when he tried to give them God’s word, why there was one fellow in particular that would stand up there and tell the people don’t believe a word he’s saying, he’s lying to you. Do you know what I would have done with a guy like that? I would have banged his head against the wall. Then I would have got some type of a real good gag and put it in his mouth. Israel was about the most stubborn, rebellious people that have ever existed. But God still loved them. And in spite of their failings, their hurts, what they did. God said I’m not trying to get even with these people, I’m trying to help them. And so when he could get their mouths closed long enough from their complaining he said here stick some food in your mouth real fast, I am taking care of you, I’m giving you water to drink.

If God would have recorded against Israel in his books in heaven he would have certainly had a big book. But God has let us know that He does not record failure, but there are two things that brought the wrath of God. There are two things that take you out from under the covering of God. Those two things are rebellion, where your spirit rebels against God, you don’t want Him anymore. And idolatry. You can read thru the Old Testament and you will find that whenever Israel rebelled, it caused the wrath of God to rise up against them. And there was only one way back, and that was repentance, and someone to take the judgment that was there for them. I have four things I’m going to talk about today. One, were going to look at the times that we are living in today. Two, we’re going to look at God’s plans.

Three, we’re going to look at human response to God’s plans. And fourth, we’re going to look at God’s answer for these things. We today are living in the same confusing times that Moses was in. There were some of those people of Israel that literally exploded with faith and excitement with what God was doing. There were some that didn’t. But our day as we know is a day of great awakening. God has rolled up his sleeves; God has sent forth the hosts of heaven. God’s angels are moving thru this world. People by the thousands are turning their lives over to God that haven’t had the privilege of the human voice. In various parts of the world.

One report that I had was that in the Burma area, there was one community of over one hundred thousand people, no person has ever been there with the gospel but some angels came in and told them God’s plan. These people have the same basic gospel. They’re living for God and are experiencing healings in their midst. They are baptized with the Holy Spirit; some of them have even spoken in English as God has baptized them with the Holy Spirit. And those who visited, a group from the army were so amazed. The enlightenment in caring for one another, it wasn’t the hedonistic practices but the light of the gospel. The Bible is not only for the spirit. There’s the soul and the body. There’s the social life, there’s the physical life. God made it real to these people.

This is just a little example, all over the world it’s happening. Brother Elijah when he was here said that he took several trips back into the Bush country. He said he was in areas that made him shiver even though he could blend into the scenery there because as you know he’s a black man. But he said even then he felt very uneasy there, but he said he came across large groups of people who were worshiping and praising God with a new life in them. When I mentioned to them what the Lord had let me see of God’s plan in reaching people, he said this answered something to me. He said I’ve been to Bible school and I learned that people couldn’t be saved unless somebody talked to them and he said it was such a puzzle to me and here they knew the Lord as well as I did, maybe even better. It was such a simple faith. He was so glad when I told him about that. This is happening today. God is moving.

God has a plan. He wants to reach people. He has a backup plan. He would first of all allow us to work with Him; He’s given us the right to be His partners. But because God is God and He’s not going to be caught short, God has a backup plan. And he’ll get his job done. God is moving by His Spirit. Oh what tremendous days the Lord has allowed us to live in. Some of you that are here today, you may not know God but there’s been a drawing on your heart. God brought you here.

God wanted you to feel the excitement and the life of this group of young people up here who love God. God wanted you to know that He has your name already written down and He’s brought you to this place today to tell you, “hey confirm your reservation, slip your hand in mine. I already have your name written, reach out, put your hand in mine.” And let new life come to you, new hope, a new horizon opened up before you. God is doing a speedy work in people’s lives. One man that accepted the Lord in my office, an LDS man, but he was away from God. Many of the LDS like many people of other faiths have already met Jesus but this man hadn’t. He was looking towards works, he didn’t know the Lord. God brought him in somehow and at first he was leery about me touching him because I wasn’t a priest or a bishop. I told him, “well, you shake hands with Gentiles so put your hand here anyway,” and so he let me shake hands with him.

But God did something with this man when we shook hands. I didn’t feel one thing but God somehow triggered a dynamic spark that went thru this man and he jolted as an electric shock. He said, “I can’t believe it, I’ve never felt anything like this in my whole life. I felt a current of electricity go clear thru me,” and he turned his life over to Jesus. Yesterday I had a call from his wife. She said he was in the hospital, almost ready to slip into the gates of heaven. Very severe coronary but he wanted me to come up. He said this touch of God, the awakening of his spirit was something that had been so real to him since he was in. He just wanted to talk to me. And I feel the Lord is going to bring him back because there is such a beautiful touch of the Lord.

God is doing so many wonderful things and He’s doing a speedy work. Many of you that have only known the Lord for a few weeks or a few months have grown as much in the Lord in a few weeks or months time as some people have in 20 years, because God is stirring you on. The Word is being made clear to you. You’re opening your heart in prayer, you’re wanting to pray for the sick and see the power of the Lord move thru you. It’s a tremendous thing what the Lord is doing in our day. He is creating a speedy work but He’s also giving a strong growth. It’s not the growth of a pumpkin but of an oak tree. Not only is it a great time to be alive but these are also days of caution; days of great danger; days when many, many people fall into a slumber and someone next to them with this growth and this excitement and cannot come out to the services often enough. They’re coming to the church not only to see what new thing that they can hear but their coming because they’ve prayed for individuals, they’ve invited them, they want them here. They’re excited about seeing what God is doing and there’s a work that they’re doing, they’re not only observers or hearers but they are doers of the Word.

But there is this danger of people a little more folding of the hands a little more slumber, a little more rest. After all I feel like maybe I put in my term in service for God, we’ll let someone else do it. And after all maybe I get enough church once a week. And I’ve heard that before, why I should hear it again. There is restlessness, there is a slumbering, there’s unhappiness, there’s a groping, there’s a lack of purpose in the midst, and it’s like two rivers flowing side by side. The one with a clear cool stream, the other that is dead water that’s not moving that has a stench within it. But when we look at God’s plans, God’s plans were never for his people to settle down and to coast and say everything is as it ought to be and I’ll just coast along in this way. God’s plans were that he might provide us, oh hallelujah. This Psalm that Mike read, I was reading it in the Living the Bible and several other translations and I put down some of the things that God has planned for his people because it’s God that’s doing it. He’s not bringing us to a place of hurt, of wait.

God’s plan is to relieve the pressures of life. Not to add more pressures on you. It’s to relieve those pressures. His plan is to lighten your burden, not to make it heavier. But there are people who are groaning under their burden for living for God. But if God puts a burden on you He’ll also make bigger muscles for you and give you bigger wages for it. His plan is to provide for your needs. Not to lead you into destitution and poverty. His plan is to provide and this is what He did with Israel, he gave them bread from heaven, he gave them water. It lasted forty years while they were there.

His plan is to not rob the spark from your life but to put sparkly in it. There are many people today that say I’d give my life to the Lord alright but I have enough troubles of my own already. They’ve been looking at the wrong people. His plan is to care for you and to guide you thru the dessert experiences. Israel got the notion; they said, “Hey Moses we’re going to charge you and God together here. We’re going to bring an indictment against, we’re going to include you and God together. It’s you and God that have brought us up out of the land of Egypt. We had the best onions in Egypt you ever saw, we can’t even grow good onions out here in the wilderness. And we had a lot of garlic.” But they said to Moses, “now you and God have collaborated to lead us out into the wilderness to a place where there is no water or food.

Our souls loathe this light bread. And you’ve brought us out here to let us die in the wilderness.” You see God’s plan was to guide you thru the dessert experience to a place that He has promised. Not to let you die in the wilderness. His plan was to stand by you, not to forsake you. As Gideon said to the Lord, “it’s your fault God that we’re in this spot. You’ve forsaken us; you led us out here and left us.” God said, “Not so. My plan is to stand by you and I will never leave you nor forsake you. And you can tell the world the Lord is my helper I don’t have to be afraid.

God doesn’t take you to heaven on a flower covered blanket and coast you along and say, “Hey angels go real easy, that person is so delicate there, don’t shake it too much, take it real easy and gently. Cover their heads so the sun doesn’t get on it. And make sure they only have a little baby food diet because there in pretty bad shape, they can’t eat anything else. And just take real good care of them and carry them to heaven on a flowery bed of ease.” God didn’t plan that for you. God planned something better than that for you. Praise God. And he will see us thru. Now the Apostle Paul seemed to describe the condition of the children of Israel. That bunch of people became a wretched nation.

They had everything they could ask for. There was the cloud of God’s presence; there was the fire; God even brought divine water out of the rock and they had everything. But they were a wretched people. The apostle Paul, after he gave himself to the Lord, discovered that it’s possible for a person to be wretched. Wednesday night I asked a question to the people here if it was possible for a person after they gave their lives to Jesus to be wretched. And I thought maybe they’d be nice and say if you give your life to Jesus everything is going to be real good and you’re never going to feel bad; feeling bad is only for the unbeliever. I almost fell off the pulpit when everybody in the building raised their hands, that they’ve had some wretched times. And I guess it’s good to be honest, that’s what Paul was being in the 7th chapter of Romans. Paul said that he cried out in verse 24, “oh wretched man that I am.” He said, “I can’t lift myself out of my troubles, I’m trying to, but I can’t do it.

I can’t lift myself out and the problems that I’m in. I’m wretched.” We might ask Paul, “Paul why are you wretched?” He said, “I’m wretched because I’m looking at my failure, at my own hopelessness.” He said, “I’ve tried to do some things.” He said, “the good that I would do, I do not, and the evil which I would not, that I do. I don’t want to do those bad things I want to do those good things and I’m just not doing it. And I’m looking at myself and the more I look at myself the more wretched I get.” Did you ever do that? Wretched is one step lower than miserable. That is the base that misery stands on; Wretched. He was looking at his own failure.

He said, “There’s no way out. Nobody can help me.” Then he looked around at other people. Misery loves company. Pretty soon you have a whole bunch of people with their heads down. Here’s another bunch of people saying, “Hallelujah, Jesus is on the throne, He’s coming, look what God’s doing.” And these poor wretched people, I know I can’t make it, I’m going to have to face God with all that record of things and there’s no way I can, and I’ve tried and I want to serve God and there’s nothing to do; I’m lost. Oh yeah he forgave me of my sin alright but I just hope Jesus comes pretty soon to get me out of this mess that I’m in. Oh wretched man that I am. Doesn’t that feel awful to feel wretched? I feel that the enemy is leading some people into the same trap that Paul found himself in before he got wretched.

Looking at their own inabilities, looking at their lack of production, looking at their weakness, looking at other people’s problems and their weaknesses, looking at circumstances that are bad that they’re not able to change. It really boils down to one thing. In looking at all of these things they heap upon themselves condemnation, I’m condemning myself because of situations, because of things I’ve tried but I can’t do it. Who will deliver me, these poor people that are down here with me can’t do it, and I can’t do it. Who will deliver me? But I’m glad that the apostle Paul didn’t end the story there. He swung into that beautiful testimony of faith in the first verse of chapter 8 of Romans. I thank my God thru the Lord Jesus Christ there is victory. I’m going to take my eyes off of my own failings, I’m going to turn them to what He has accomplished and I’m going to feel new strength coming. My acceptance of Him isn’t based on what I’ve been able to accomplish but in what He has accomplished. And you start coming up out of it.

And you stop looking at church as a burden. I’m damned if I stay at home and I’m wretched if I go. Isn’t that an awful situation? But there is now no condemnation, I got rid of my condemnation when I looked and saw that Jesus didn’t come to condemn me but he came that I might have life. And he condemned sin in his own body, he carried my condemnation already. I can walk, I can move forward in faith and in strength because of what Jesus has done. “Paul, how’d you get rid of it?” He said, “I got rid of it by making a discovery, not to base my happiness on my own abilities or inabilities, on my own achievement. But on what He has done for me.” Praise God. In 1 Corinthians the 10th chapter he said these people murmured and complained and he said those things were examples to us that we need not fall in the example that they did. God said in spite of how you may feel inside I have something for you if you will take it.

Don’t loath it like Israel did. It’s angel’s food. I can see some of the people as they recognized it was coming from the hand of God, boy I’ve never tasted anything like this. It’s something you can eat every day. You can fry it, you can boil it, you can eat it raw, you can bake it, and you can mash it. It was a food you could make cakes out of. It tasted like honey and it had such a good taste. And there was enough everyday where they could get their supply. The reason why people get wretched, there are some that say I’m too lazy to get mine every day. I’m a good shrewd business man.

They get what they think is a pretty good blessing. They stick in their cupboard. But do you know what happened to that manna? It was only good for one day. The second day it was full of worms and it stunk. And isn’t it horrible when a believer has an experience that stinks, and is full of worms. The thing to do is toss it out, get out where you got the other. Get some fresh. And you know Jesus you can get some fresh angels food. Turn to Isaiah. I’m going to have you underline a portion of scripture.

Because the Lord brought this to me in a supernatural way. I’ve been reading the word for a long, long time. But I want you to know you’ll never exhaust the resources of the Word. It’s something fresh, there’s something new all the time. But God here was speaking to Isaiah and was telling him that one of the things that Israel was guilty of was idolatry, and that all of the other things had the same thing. In going into that sort of a thing he said they were feeding on ashes. And the reason they were miserable, they were feeding on something that had no nourishment. Isaiah 44:20. If you hear someone say to you I just don’t feel like going to church, I was there two weeks ago. Let’s sit down here and stay at home together and talk over our troubles.

You let them know that there’s no nourishment in talking over the troubles. It’s feeding on ashes. Here’s the verse. He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And there are some deceived hearts among God’s people, they’re honest hearts, they’re sincere hearts but the enemy has deceived them. Saying, “Hey this thing is wrong, that’s wrong, we can’t help ourselves, we’re getting weak. Let’s find some other people that look the same way and we’ll feed them a few of our ashes and maybe we can get a cluster of people that will feel ashes like we feel ashes. And we don’t want to come out to the Wednesday night service; after all we have a pile of ashes we better feed on instead of what the Lord is bringing in, this angel’s food. We have a good ash pile here. Let’s go to church today, no I’m going to have some more ashes.

And after awhile these people are so weak, spiritually they don’t know what they’re going to do. You know why? There’s no nourishment in ashes. But there’s nourishment in manna. How about feeding on that manna? Don’t let a deceived heart turn you to an ash pile. As long as God is on the throne, as long as the manna’s still coming down from heaven. Don’t feed on these ashes and here’s why. “Remember these oh Israel. For you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant.

I will not forget you. Furthermore I want you to know I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgressions and as a cloud your sins. Return to me. Get out of the ash pile for I have redeemed you.” That ought to make you jump. Then he said, “don’t just come to me, let the world know, sing oh you heavens, for the Lord had done it. Shout you lower parts of the earth, break forth into singing you mountains for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel.” This is what the Lord says your redeemer and he that formed you from the womb. “I am the Lord that makes all things, that has stretched forth the heavens alone, that has spread abroad the earth. That makes diviners mad, and that turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish, that confirms the word of his servant and performs the counsel of his messengers.

That says to Jerusalem you shall be inhabited to the cities of Judah. You shall be built and I will raise up the decayed places thereof. The places that you feel have been weakened,” and so on. God will raise them up. That says to the deep be dry and I will dry up the rivers. Then he goes on telling his plan, he knew all about what was coming. But God has a message for every one of us today. Let’s not feed on ashes. Let’s do like Paul and when we cry out I can’t be delivered, no one can deliver me. So God has to say turn your eyes to Me for I am your deliverer.

Chapter 36 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, God’s Privileged List

The title of my message is God’s privileged list. It has been said that the Lord is no respecter of persons but I’ve discovered in reading the Bible that God is a respecter of persons. How do you like that? Would God contradict Himself in saying He is no respecter of persons and prove that He is a respecter of persons? Well you can figure that one out yourself. I want to tell you that God has made some statements here where He said He would respect people but He’s true on both counts. He isn’t actually respecting the person as He is respecting someone else and their desires and you are the gainer for it. Some of you mom’s are here this morning, you have prayed for your families and God wants you to pray for them. And God has helped them, God has answered those prayers. But do you know that the biggest thing that you can do for your family mom’s is this, give yourself to Jesus Christ. Listen when He calls and that’s the best possible thing that you can do for your families. I told this to a mother this week and she said, “Well I realize that it will help me to be better to my families if I have Jesus,” I said, “more than that.

The reason why it’s the biggest thing that you can do for your family is not that it helps you to do more for your family but it puts your family, not because God respects them so much but God has a spot that He respects and your name and the names of your children go into that spot that God said is so special to Him because you as a mother love God. Now the references that I want to give to you are very familiar references. Is. 55:3, “if you will listen, if you will come to Me and drink and feed upon Me and accept what I have to offer. If you listen to me your soul will begin to live.” This call is for every individual when you hear; your soul will come alive. And I will make a promise to you that lets you know how much I care. “I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David.” If you’d like to turn back in your Bible’s to Psalms the 89th chapter, you can find out what happens when you get on God’s privileged list here. I want to show you what it does for you as an individual to be on God’s list.

Psalms 89 verse 15. I’m going to give you the bottom line of each of these verses. God said you would be blessed of Him because your soul was alive. This is where that everlasting covenant is described. God said, “I will make the same promise that I made to David.” And here’s the promise He made to David. I will bless you, I will smile on you, and the light of my countenance will be upon you. Oh, you can’t have anything better than God smiling on you. Then He said you would be happy and exalted and the Lord Himself will be your defense. Talk about a blessing.

This is the list. This is the privilege that God gives you. That He would defend you the Lord round about you. Then He said that you would be anointed. The Holy Spirit would be poured over your life. He said you would be strengthened. He said, “I promise you victory from any attack of the enemy.” He will not exact upon you. The Lord Himself will be as a shield around about you because your soul has come alive. Somebody told me just recently when I was sharing this, he said the world has to hear that message because they are so full of fear that they are vulnerable to the enemy and they don’t know what to do about it.

But he said if you hear and your soul shall live I’ll give you the same promise that I gave to David and that is that the enemy isn’t going to get you. He said, “I’d promised you victory, constant victory.” Then He said, “My mercy and my faithfulness will not depart from you.” Oh, there are ten privileges that God has given to the person who has listened and their soul has come alive. And now especially you mom’s I want to slip you into this position here. The highest thing that you can do for your family is to hear and let your soul come alive. And listen to the tenth favor that your family will be highly favored of God. Verse 28 to 34, “my mercy will I keep for him forever more and my covenant shall stand fast with him, his seed also will make to endure forever.” I’m going to slip the word her in here because we’re talking about mothers. “If her children forsake my laws and walk not in my judgments.

Mom’s do you have some wandering kids this morning? “If they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.” Have things been going wrong for them? Are you here this morning, a son, a daughter of someone who knows the Lord? You’ve wondered why everything has turned upside down for you. Everything’s going wrong; you’ve walked away from God. It just seems like everything has gone wrong. It could be that there’s a visit with some rods and with stripes. But listen to this. Nevertheless because they’re on my privileged list my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail, my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips. Mom’s you may feel you haven’t prayed for your children like you should. God wants you to pray for them. But God made a promise to you that is effective even if you do not pray for them.

Even if you’ve felt like you’ve miserably failed God. God said, “Notice that I cannot break this covenant and I can’t even change it. I’m going to stay on those kids of yours. My loving-kindness that I’m beaming down on them is going to stay with them; I’m going to stay right on them.” It doesn’t say that they’re saved, that they’re going to heaven for sure, but God says, “I’m going to stay right on them, I’m going to give them every opportunity, I’m going to keep the door right in front of them. My loving-kindness will I not change or take away from them.” And you that are here this morning, you may be away from God. You have a mother or father that knows God. Why don’t you quit fighting God? God said He wasn’t going to let up on you because He made a promise to your mother. Are you here today mom’s and dad’s and you have a boy that’s living for Jesus.

God’s not going to let up on you because your boy or girl loves God. God’s made a covenant with them. Are you here today and you’ve had trouble with your husband or wife. And you’ve prayed so hard for the husband that’s been so wayward in fighting God. And you’ve about given up, you’re separated or you feel like separating and you’ve prayed constantly for them and today you’ve seen evidences that God is beginning to do something that they’re beginning to surrender to the Lord. The stripes may have been on them, they may have been hurting. But the enemy would say to you well what’s the use, you’ve given him the best of your life, why should you give him anymore, or you fellows why should you give her anymore. But God made a covenant with you and He said, “as long as your faith is firm in Me, I’m going to stay on them.” And just when God begins to move or just as the clouds begin to slip away don’t give up now. Stop and take another look, that husband or wife in another city today, because of your faithfulness to God, God has brought pressure.

His loving kindness is there. God is pulling, God is working. Hold faithful, don’t surrender when the wheels of heaven are moving for them. Moms and dads don’t give up on those kids, God’s wheels are moving. God has put those members of your family on a privileged list in heaven. And He said, “I’m going to stay on them. I can’t make their choice for them but I can sure stay on them. And I’ll prompt them, I’ll work at them, I’ll pull them. I’ll keep the door right close to them, I’ll stand near and when they cry I’ll listen.” Do you know why God’s doing that? It’s because He’s made a promise to you.

It’s the same promise He made to David. Because you’ve listened, because your soul has come alive, God is listening to those members of your family. And there doesn’t need to be a broken circle of your family up there. Whether you believe in the rapture or not that doesn’t make any difference to God. Whatever comes, you need the uniting of God’s Holy Spirit in your family as what God has planned for you. And mom if you’re out of fellowship with God today, the greatest thing that you can do for your family, your husband, and those children is to turn your life over to God. Dad, the greatest thing that you can do for your family is to keep your faith and trust firm in the Lord, and though you may not in any way be able to reach them, God Himself is staying on them. Not because of what you are doing but because you have listened and your soul is alive. God said, “I can’t break that covenant.” Some of you are quite miserable here this morning because you have a mom or dad or relative that knows Jesus.

You feel a little uneasy because there are some big angels prodding you and saying, “quit fighting you just as well give up, what are you fighting for? You can’t win.” When you put yourself on the opposite side of God to try to fight God you just as well know to start with that you’re fighting a losing battle. How about surrendering?

Chapter 37 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Day of Discovery

While I was in Alaska I had many people tell me that they made the greatest discovery of their life. They discovered that they could rest and not be afraid. Some of them told me that in Alaska it was considered the great day of discovery when gold was discovered. One of the men said we’re going to get this word out, God’s going to help us; it’s going to spread. This is the greatest that Alaska has ever had. That God has made a way whereby we can be accepted without fear. Where we can come boldly right into the presence of God and not have to worry and be afraid. You see Satan is the accuser. He is the one that comes up to people and says are you sure? Some of you wives spoke a little sharply to your husband’s yesterday. And Satan comes up to you and says if Jesus comes right now you’re not going to make it because you acted like a human being.

Some of you men have reacted to some of the things that have come your way. Do you know that Satan and all of the demons of hell are constantly reminding you and wanting you to believe them that your position with God is questionable? That you may have done something to have lost your hope. But God is giving wings to this message and people are finding out how true it is. You know God prepares people a long time before they ever know Him. One of the things that I thought was so interesting in Washington was the pastor’s wife was an Indian lady. She seemed like she was happy enough to me. But as this messenger from heaven spoke to me, he said I want you to bring a message to this pastor’s wife that she is very special to God. She has a very poor image of herself. She thinks she’s worthless. She thinks she’s not accepted as she ought to be because of her race and so on.

She needs to have this message that God loves her. God’s put her right where she belongs. That she is special. I told her husband. He said you can’t believe how right on this message is. She needed to hear that. Then I told them some other things, about this message and why the sacrifice has been so important in the messages that he has brought to me. And I didn’t realize how closely associated the function and the ministry Gabriel had to the sacrifice of Christ. I knew it from Scriptures that he had given me that he was there but he built up on this again. He told me the tremendous need that people had of hearing this message that God had taken care of everything that it was covered because, and then he went into a description of the Old Testament.

You can turn to some of the verses here, Hebrews 10:3. Paul was speaking here and he said that the sacrifices were made at that time for the atonement had to have been made year after year. But in those sacrifices there was a remembrance again of made of sins every year. Then he told me where I could find these beautiful truths. In Luke 1, an example here of the critical hour that took place when the sacrifice for the year had come to an end and the other one was going to be made. The importance and the meaning had been lost down thru the centuries but now people were being reminded. And he said that men and woman who have not recognized the truth of the constant covering that Jesus Christ had provided are in the same position exactly as Israel was when they came to the end of the year when the covering was over and it had expired. They were again standing naked and hopeless, helpless before the eyes of the eternal God. That all of the charges that were against them were again under review by God. He saw their sins, He saw their guilt.

Then Gabriel told me, I was present at every sacrifice for the atonement standing in the presence of God whose position was above the altar in the holy place. He said my position is in the presence of God. When God moved in I moved and stood there but unseen. Then he said that the world had forgotten the real meaning of that incense that was to be offered by the priest. But he said to show you here while the priest was there and taking care of this, in verse 10 while he was preparing to offer the incense, the whole community was standing and trembling. Their acceptance was based on the observance of certain rules. If the priest would not have thrown in the incense, you read it in Leviticus 16:12-13 that he would die because there was no covering. As perfect as he could possibly be made could still not do his priestly duties without the covering. So he said the priest was there at the time of the burning of the incense and as he fulfilled this obligation and the cloud rose and covered him and God could again smile because the sins were covered for another year. He smelled the sweet savor.

The fire of His wrath struck the incense instead of the priest. God said to Gabriel you can appear in full form to Zechariah. Zechariah saw this giant angel and it scared him like it scares me. But the angel said to him fear not Zechariah your prayer has been heard. And farther down it reads, “I am Gabriel that stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and show you these glad tidings.” And every time he has appeared with a message throughout the year it has been a message of good tidings. God is allowing him to be seen and it’s still a message of good tidings. The covering is complete. The festival of atonement of the Old Testament was a reminder that their probation had expired.

That one year of probation, that their covering must be renewed. It was time for the annual sacrifice for sin. For this reason man was given certain guidelines based on complete obedience so that he would earn a reprieve during this time of exposure. Gabriel mentioned to me that the sad thing that is happening in so many lives is that many people feel that they are still living in this time of reprieve and their acceptance is based on what they are able to earn by the completeness of their achievement and for that reason there’s a fear constantly. Then he went on to say the remembrance of sin every year, the sacrifices by these animals could never make these people perfect. A substitute had to be used. Hebrews 10:12. “This man after He had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God. For now on expecting all of his enemies to be made his footstool. Whereby one offering He has perfected forever those that are being sanctified.

That word sanctified means the sharing of His life. He has perfected forever those who share His life. He took care of it. One sacrifice forever. Now I’d like to read what he gave me about Jesus’ sacrifice. As the fire of God’s judgment struck Him who was the sacrifice by the offering of Himself, He didn’t offer something else, He offered Himself. As the fire of God’s judgment struck Him a cloud ascended that covered all time and all space. It was carried on the wings of grace until it stretched backward across the ages to the beginning of man erasing all of those charges that kept coming up every year. It spread outward from Calvary across all ages to the end of time completing a plan that was formed in God’s heart before the world began of making man acceptable in His sight. Today you’ll remember a time when it happened, this is the remembrance of our atonement today at our communion time.

You’ll remember a time when it happened when sin was disposed of once and for all. When all charges against us were satisfied. Today in coming you reaffirm your faith in the one sacrifice that was made forever. Then what about those who sin and remove themselves from the covering thru open rebellion and thru idolatry in their rejection of God as their leader and King? He said that those people place themselves in that same position under the blazing eye of God open, exposed to the eye of God. They place themselves in the position that believers who are under the covering fear that they are in all of their lives. They live subject to fear because they feel that they are exposed to the eye of God. But he tells us that they are covered. He said there will not be an offering for them. There’s no other way accept to say Jesus I accept the offering that you made and I repent, I’m sorry for trying to go my way and I come back. And the cloud covers them and they’re at peace again.

This is the message that God wants the world to hear today. He wants people to know that the sacrifice is complete and that the cloud is still there. God in His great plan has desired to make it easy to come to Him and hard to get out. So at this communion time were looking again and were reaffirming our faith. Our guilt is covered and washed away because of His blood. Now we can come boldly into the throne of grace.

Chapter 38 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, From God’s Point of View

We’re here because You brought us here. Your presence is so real. God I would ask that every life here receive a new awareness of who You really are, of your might, of your power. God I also ask that we would have a new awareness of who we really are and are position, are standing with You. God may we see it today. May we have a confidence, may we have a faith that will echo from everything and be reflected from everything we say and do. Thank you for this service, thank you for those that have come. We thank you for bringing them. In Jesus Name. Amen.

My message this morning was entitled from God’s view point. I think so often because we feel that we have no other way to see a thing we look at things the way they look instead of seeing them the way they really are. So much of our information is based on the way things seem to appear, when God tells us to look past them, there’s something more. And we can look at things, we can look at our lives, we can look at situations, we can observe when we read the word of God how God sees things. How they look from His view point thru His eyes. It seems as though so much of the time we are concerned with really how we look to people; how it’s going to be accepted whether it’s favorable or not. And this is good; God doesn’t want us to in defiance hurt people. But he doesn’t want that to have our top priority. He wants our priority to be, how does this look to God, how does it set with Him. Today in this message we’re going to look at two or three things from God’s view point and I trust that God will give us an answer not only for our own hearts but for people who may be disturbed and hurt in other ways.

It’s my intention this morning not merely to draw attention to the evils about us. I know it’s possible for us to be so sin conscious, so problem conscious that we’re not God conscious, and not seeing Him. But I want to make us aware this morning of a problem and then turn our eyes to the great problem solver, the King of all the earth. There are some tapes with a message on it circulating thru the country that are magnifying the work of the enemy. Some of you may have received them. When I first heard of them I didn’t feel that it would be necessary to bring this message because I felt that people especially believers would have their spiritual defenses up to the point where it wouldn’t trouble them. But I have discovered that people need to know and that with the sinister attacks of the enemy often comes the spirit of delusion and the truth is hidden in the fog and the deception of the enemy comes to them and they believe a lie. There are many different attempts that Satan has made to hurt God and to destroy his work. And by reason of these lies and this deception the way of truth is evil spoken of. These are quotations right from the Word of God that I’m giving you.

This tape has been circulated by many people but it was given by a man by the name of John Todd. John Todd claims to have been a witch. And I wouldn’t discount his claims and at this point I’m not going to go into a lot of things that are supported there because I don’t feel like dignifying these statements but I will say this, that it has caused great devastation in the lives of many people. It has led them into fear. The Lord has helped me by the liberating truth to deliver these people that have come to me from fear. I see this happening in various parts of the country. On Monday a formal youth pastor of this church was in California; visited a very fine Charismatic church in the Bay Area. And the pastor was literally heart sick because of something that had happened in his church thru his people listening to this tape. And the messages as it penetrated their minds led from one thing to another until a repetition of the Jim Jones story is taking place. Because the enemy when he comes with his deception often brings a smoke screen and hides the truth and hides the warning, it hides good sense.

And these people are buying weapons now. They have bought a piece of property in Montana and they’re planning on building some type of a commune there similar to the one in Guiana. Two hundred people from this one church. And many other groups of people from other churches are embracing this wholeheartedly and will be joining forces with them. I have here a paper published by another group that thru listening to this has bought a large campground in Michigan where they’re doing the same thing. The reason why they’re storing up these weapons and food is because the fear, the message that is being brought is that witches are taking over the country and own all of the chain stores and other things. And so they’re getting what food they can. They’re planning on raising what they can in these places but they have the weapons so that if they happen to be overrun or attacked by these satanically controlled witches they’ll have the weapons to shoot the witches with. Sounds foolish, it would almost sound humorous if it wasn’t so serious. This thing is not going to go very far.

I have some inside information that it’s going to be short lived. But the reason I’m giving this message this morning is there are going to be some people hurt by this that we can keep from being hurt if they know about it. I want this tape to go out to everybody that you know of that has this other message. Because what I’m going to give you is Spirit directed, from God’s heart that will remove fear and restore faith and it’s got to get out. And I want you to keep this in mind when you hear this message I want you to be sure and get that order. I’m going to come back to this in just a moment but I want to give you something else first. If you have your Bibles I’d like to have you turn to Psalms 24. Listen as we read. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in the holy place? He that has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness form the God of His salvation.” This is very important to know that your righteousness doesn’t come from inside of you, doesn’t come from your efforts, and doesn’t come from your accomplishments. It’s a free gift that Jesus purchased for you and gave to us. “This is the generation that seeks your face o Jacob. Selah. Lift up your heads o ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, the Lord strong in battle. Lift up your heads o ye gates. And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. Unto thee oh Lord do I lift up my soul. Oh my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemies triumph over me. Let none that wait on you be ashamed. Show me thy ways O Lord, teach me thy paths, lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all of the day. Remember Oh Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth.

According to thy mercy remember me for thy goodness sake oh Lord.” This reminds me of that book the Lord showed me of Abraham and Sarah’s over there. And when I asked Him where all of those other things that were against them, God said He didn’t record the failure. And David found this out. David had a chance to ascend and take a look at things over God’s shoulder. He was looking at it from God’s point of view. “Remember me according to thy mercy.” That mercy is that covering. “For your goodness sake. Good and upright is the Lord therefore will He teach sinners in the way.

All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such that keep his covenant and his testimonies. For thy names sake Oh Lord pardon my iniquities for it is great. What man is he that fears the Lord, him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease.” You don’t have to be in an uproar and in torment all the time. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. And he will show them His covenant.” His covenant is found over in Hebrews the tenth chapter. Hebrews 10:16-17. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days saith the Lord.

I will put my laws into their hearts and into their minds I will write them. And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” That’s God’s covenant for you. He’s letting people know where they stand with Him. The messages that God has been bringing to me by supernatural messenger has been messages just along this line. This is so important to God. He wants us to know where we stand. Who does the world belong to anyway? It’s God’s. The world belongs to God. Now I realize there’s a little conjecture here.

People say well wasn’t Satan made the prince of this world. God let him live here but God made this world for us to be inhabited. He very definitely spelled it all out that He made this world; He created it that we might inhabit it. Way before He made the earth He planned who was going to live here and that’s you and me. This earth belongs to God. I don’t care who would say Satan owns it. Satan does not own one inch of real estate here. But the great fear is that Satan owns this and he’s taking it over. He won’t go very far, don’t worry about that. We don’t want people to get hurt by him.

But I want you to know that God is in control. Praise God forever more. Satan may control some parts of this earth. He may control some possessions and some wealth and some means of this earth. But he can only control what people have who are serving him. And he can control that thru those people. But those people only have use of it for a little while, it’s not really there’s. God owns this earth. God let David have such a beautiful insight here. Do you know that the Lord allowed David to see His whole plan? He let David see His plan of grace and salvation, not by works not by the law.

In fact if the religious leaders of that day were like the religious leaders of today they would have crucified David. He would have been branded the worst heretic there was. Because he was talking about salvation by grace and he was living in a dispensation of law. But he found this beautiful grace and he talked about it all of the time. So I want you to write that down some place, Satan does not own one inch of real estate and he has no power to create any. Then we read about this great God, He is the King, He is mighty in battle, He’s not going to lose any bouts with the enemy. God’s view of the believer is so beautiful here. He lets us see not only a view of the world from His view point, this world is His and God knows what He’s doing. He’s in control and He’s not going to allow Satan to call his shots for him. God knows what He’s doing.

And the believer from His viewpoint is cared for and loved and protected. I’d like to ask you the question what do you have to do to merit God’s love? Somebody said nothing. Do you think that God loves people that don’t love Him? What would you have to do to get Him to quit loving you? Totally reject Him; do you think that would cut off His love? Do you know that because you can’t do anything to earn His love you can’t do anything to remove His love? Romans 8:35-39. Paul also had a chance to look at it from God’s view point. He said it’s just so deep, it’s so broad, it’s so high, and finally he had to say it passes human understanding. It passes all power of thought, all of the ability that we have to understand. And the apostle Paul in talking about this said wars, famine, problems, things present and things to come, height, depth and then he said I’m probably not naming some things that are going to happen down there in that 20th century so then he said, “things to come” and then he said, “well I still might be missing something” so then he said, “any other creature.” Nothing, nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God. You could close yourself out so that you aren’t aware of it, and you’re not receiving it, you’re not taking what God is beaming down to you by you not seeing it, not perceiving. But that love is there and He tells us that He loved us even when we were His enemies.

Romans 5. He says sometimes for a good man somebody would even dare to die but God loved us so much that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Then he said, “If when we were His enemies he loved us this much.” So there is nothing, and I believe that Paul said it all when he said, “there is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God.” Why? Because God’s nature is love. God is love. There are some people around quite a few that would say Pastor Buck has watered down the gospel and He’s weakened it and He’s talking about God being a God of love and he ought to preach the wrath of God more instead of the love of God. And a few years ago there have been people almost crucified for telling people what God was really like and so they got frightened and they didn’t do it. It took a lot more courage to tell people that God was a God of love then to tell them that he was a mean old man. Because the concept that many people have of God is that He is that great Ogre that walks around with that huge club with that big spike driven thru the end looking for somebody to make a mistake, and because heaven is so overcrowded He’s got to start eliminating people and throwing them away, looking for reasons to cut you off.

But heaven is so big and because God has it in His plans and He wants you and He loves you and He has plenty of room for you, He’s looking for every reason in the world to pull you in. And when He sent Jesus to die, He died not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. And He has enough covering for everybody, everybody who puts their faith in Him. This is what God is like. This is your position in God’s view point. When He looks down at you because you have put your faith in what Jesus has done he sees you looking just exactly like Jesus. Last Sunday morning God let me have a glimpse of another aspect of that total clear standing that we have with God. This must be very, very important to God to send these truths down. God let me as you remember see this, Jesus as the high priest with the filthy garments on. And the garments being removed and destroyed carrying the sins of the whole wide world.

God let me see another time Jesus the lamb that was sacrificed there and as He rose victorious He rose with all power of the seven horns depicting, horns standing for power, 7 depicting the completeness of God’s program. So when Jesus came back to the earth after His resurrection, he said, “all power in heaven and in earth is given unto me and I’m with you always.” He covered up the broken laws in the tabernacle in heaven completely with His blood. Jesus fulfilled the law, He didn’t come to destroy them, He fulfilled them completely. Now we’re accepted, the blood is there. We’re identified with Him. And now some of you husbands and wives may have had a scrap over something and you violated some of those laws in the old covenant. Don’t worry about them, there under that blood. Tell your wife to forgive you and go your way because God doesn’t have any record of them. This is something so important to God.

God wants people to be free from fear. This is God’s view point. It’s different than your viewpoint. This was God’s plan. Satan at his strongest is not God. He is not omnipresent. He has no power of creation. The only real power that he has as far as his ability to hurt you would be what you allowed him in his deception and thru your fear you could be hurting yourself and bringing yourself into bondage until you could practically be destroying yourself. Satan still has the power of an archangel. He can still cause grief and problems, and possibly illness and the things that he does thru people who have surrendered to him, but he doesn’t have the power of God.

In Colossians 2:13-15. “You who were spiritually dead because of sin God has now made you to share the very life of Christ. He has forgiven all of your sins. He has wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments which always hung over our heads. And has completely annulled them by nailing them over his own head on the cross. And then having drawn the sting out of all the powers ranged against us, He exposed them, shattered and defeated them in his final glorious act.” Satan plays on fear, he is a deceiver. He has deceived people down thru the ages. Jesus said he cannot tell the truth neither is there any truth in him. He can mix some facts in with his lies.

Satan is doing his level best in putting out some false propaganda. Do you know that Satan does not have a timetable because there is nothing that he is able to produce? All that Satan and his evil forces are doing are having an annoying tactic against the church. There’s nothing that they’re shooting for. They know what the end is. But once in a while people will believe the lie and he’s able to take that person and as they yield themselves to him they become useful to Satan. And it could be in the form of witchcraft, spiritism, or Satanism. But the only ones that he can capture are those that believe his lies. And then while they are with him he pours his lies into them. What’s happened with this John Todd, he believed Satan’s lies and he got into witchcraft and then he decided he was going the wrong way and he turned his life over to the Lord. And I will not question this because I don’t know the man, if he said he turned his life over to the Lord that’s his story and I’m not going to question it.

But what I do question is this; that the information that he learned from Satan is the kind of information that Satan puts together. It’s his false propaganda. All he has are what people who serve him have. And when people live for God, all that they have belongs to God. God owns this world and those things that belong to you when you belong to God, I don’t care who has used them in the past, they belong to God. He has given us the authority to overcome all of the enemy’s power. There is nothing at all that can do you any harm. I want you to thank God for his care, His concern. His plans are to reconcile, that is to make peace, to restore you into fellowship with Him and then to reunite you with Him in His home. Three R’s of the Christian; Reconciliation, Restoration and Reuniting.

Chapter 39 - Priority Number 7 - Jesus is Coming Again, Ready to Go

I’m going to be speaking on a subject this morning that makes some believers look up with expectation and say, “Hallelujah” and the hope just stirs within. It makes others a little fearful, for fear it might happen before some things that they may be doing or take place. It’s a message that may make others say I certainly wish that pastor would get wise to the Word and know that there’s been a little misinterpretation concerning the return of Christ. But regardless of which position you have taken, I want you to recognize that what I’m giving you is something that God has challenged me with. Not for the sake of putting people in categories or for doctrinal argument. For what I’m giving you today is not on the basis of doctrine. It’s on a basis, a drive that God has placed in my heart, a truth that I would miss God if I didn’t share. And in given it it’s no way a putdown of people who see things differently. For when Jesus returns He will not open up our heads to see how intelligent we are or how well we have known the Bible, He will look in our hearts and see if Jesus lives there. And it is Christ within that is our hope of glory.

I told a man this week. He said he was a little concerned about missing the light on this particular subject. I told him we’re brothers, we love the same Lord and about half way between the earth and heaven, you may be kind of surprised but it won’t make you feel bad. You’ll be glad you were mistaken in your thought because of what Jesus is doing, in taking us to be taken with Him. Since this is so important to God it must get out and I know the Lord will honor it. And as He has given the other messages wings He will give this message wings. He wants us to know that something is happening. In thinking about the coming of Jesus I thought of it in God’s big plan like a picture puzzle. How many of you have put a picture puzzle together? I helped my daughter put one together once. I had a piece that almost fit right in the middle.

It had the right points but it just wouldn’t go and I got out a paring knife and it only took a little tiny bit of shaving on it on one spot. I got it to fit so good. But do you know what happened a little farther down? There were about six other pieces that touched that piece and nothing fit. So when we have to tailor a truth to fit what looks like it would be a situation or condition, we might make it fit that little spot that we’re touching at the moment but watch out, there’s coming a lot of other pieces that won’t fit. One thing about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, every major truth in the Bible touches it. And if you carve a little piece of it to fit a certain situation, watch out. You’re going to have to start carving and your paring knife; you will never be able to put it down. And I’d like to mention some of these truths, the certainty of the return of Christ. Jesus spoke of His return and gave a lot of different parables and illustrations about his coming. But some of these pieces to God’s great big picture look like a puzzle to us.

He spoke of his people as being watchers. Watch, for that day is coming. What I say unto you I say unto all, watch. So it becomes then that the watchers look for day. If you don’t have the second coming we somehow lose the connector for those people he says to watch. Watch for His return. I think of Jesus Himself saying that He has purchased us with His own blood and He’s coming back to claim his purchased possession. So it is the purchaser’s redemption day. When he comes with the blood marks and says “I have paid the price. I’m taking the one that I have purchased.

It is the purchaser’s redemption day. Without that second coming, that part of the puzzle doesn’t fit. Then Jesus spoke about the building. He said that we were builders and He’s a builder and He’s building a great edifice of His church. And He said that day when He comes is going to be the day when the last nail is driven. That body is completed. He’s going to be taking that church. That body with Him. It is the builder’s completion day. Without the hope of Jesus coming we leave the building incomplete.

Then he speaks of the great harvest day, there’s coming a time when the harvest of the world is going to be reaped. And so it is what He terms in the Bible, Husbandman’s harvest day when he gleans the harvest. We have to leave the harvest incomplete without this. Can you see how many things tie to it? It has to be, it’s a requirement, and it has to take place. Then he spoke of it as the laborers pay day. On that day when Jesus comes, He has sent laborers out into His field; some are laboring long hours, some maybe for a brief time. But he said it is the laborers pay day. Then he spoke of his people as being the sons of God. Now I realize that there are people who in an effort to try and find something a little more deeper than what He is really saying have been able to put together a doctrine here and who the sons of God are. And they picked and set a certain little group of people out; these are the sons of God.

But do you know what the Word tells us that beloved, and it’s written to all of us, it does not appear what we’re going to be but when He shall appear we’re going to be like him for we shall see Him as He is. And the verse just before that says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called His sons.” And John is talking about the same thing Paul was referring to. John is saying that this manifestation day is when we are going to be like him. It’s the sons’ manifestation day. The key part, the thing that it’s all about, the bottom line of all of these things would be incomplete if Jesus wasn’t coming back. Then He spoke of the church as being a bride and the bride is in expectation of her wedding day. And this is the bride’s wedding day. There’s going to be a marriage supper of the Lamb that’s held. Hallelujah.

Then not only is it going to be complete for the bride, the Word tells us that Jesus is going to be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. There’s coming a time of coronation. Now I realize that in a sense, every believer who’s accepted Him has already crowned Him. But there’s coming a day when universally he is going to be crowned the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It’s the coronation day. We can’t miss that. So we know very definitely that Jesus is coming. Then not only that, then not only the various expressions from parables and other teachings but the very resurrection itself is bound up in the teaching that Jesus is coming. You cannot read of the resurrection in the Word without reading of the return of Jesus. You read about in the 15th chapter of first Corinthians the beautiful story of the day of the great resurrection and then he said the return of Christ in that moment, “in the twinkling of an eye the corruptible is going to put on incorruption.

Those who are alive, the mortal, shall put on immortality. And we’re going to be like Him in sharing His life.” In first Thessalonians chapter four where he tells us not to worry about those who are already asleep. When Jesus comes, God is going to bring them, their spirits with Him. And the body that is sown is not going to be raised but a body coming forth from the seeds of that death, is going to spring forth a glorified body. It’s tied to the coming of Jesus. Oh what a gloomy life this would be, the sun would be forever set if Jesus was not coming. For if in this life alone we have hope we make ourselves miserable. The thing that makes all of these other things good is the fact that Jesus is alive and we have hope beyond the things of this life. Romans 8:18-19.

I’m going to be bringing you some truths that have been brought to me that I have picked out of the various messages that Gabriel has brought right from God’s heart. I feel it’s something so important. I want it to be clenched in your heart because there are people here that will never be the same as a result of this message. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of Him who had subjected the same in hope because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption unto the glorious liberty of the children of God. And not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our body.” Not only is God going to take care of our spirits and make us a spirit person. But God’s great plan, and as he created these bodies of ours, God made provision that these bodies also by the divine current of His life and of His power be redeemed. We’re waiting when we will not be subject to the hurts, the pain, the sickness, the bondage.

We’re waiting for that day when Jesus comes and we’re going to be released from the bondages, from the lock of time and space that holds us here. It’s coming. It’s about ready to happen and that’s what takes place when we read those verses in John the third chapter, that when he shall appear as we catch a glimpse of Him thru the eye contact of seeing Him, there’s going to be a divine current that goes down thru us and the faults and those things about us, those mannerisms and quirks, those other things that make us unlovely are going to disappear. Human weakness is going to dim and fade and we’re going to be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. It’s going to happen. Jesus is coming. Now I realize that there’s quite a teaching about people making themselves by tools that God has given to us, making ourselves perfect without spot and without wrinkly. They feel in their heart, they’ve been taught that in order to stand before God, in order to be in that number they’re going to have to be without spot and without wrinkle spiritually speaking. And I’ve asked hundreds of people that have contended that this is the truth; I’ve asked them, “right now if you were to stand before God, are you without spot and without wrinkle of any kind?” And I’ve seen them hang their heads. I have yet to have one person positively say I am without spot and without wrinkle in my own physical being.

But it’s something they must strive for they say. God would not create a plan that didn’t work. He has a plan and it’s his responsibility as we place our faith and our trust in Him. As that source of divine energy goes thru us the wrinkles are going to be ironed all out. The spots are going to disappear. We’re going to be like Him for we will see Him as He is. I wonder how many of you have entertained fear of that day of standing before God without spot or wrinkle and you’re really concerned about this wondering how in the world you were ever going to reach that point. Could I see your hands? Alright, the Lord tells you that you don’t have to be concerned about that, that’s His concern. Do you know what your concern is? Abiding in Him, keeping your arm linked in His, keeping that faith firm in what He has accomplished. When you know that those things that may look like mountains to you that you’re having such a hard time in overcoming, when you know that they’re not between you and God but they’re something that God wants you to shave free from your life that you might bless others still more.

But when you know that those things are not separating you from God you can push them off and kick them out of the way. It’s when those things look like mountains to us. Anything that you would feel would keep you from heaven suddenly becomes a big thing if it’s no bigger than a thread. That little old thread looks like a giant rope if you feel that thing is somehow standing between you and God. But when you realize that you belong to Him and He has so much invested in you that because of your faith in what He has accomplished. You’re able to shove that old dirty thread off to one side. And people are finding victories they never thought existed before because they quit wrestling with things and they’ve started using their spiritual energies to be a blessing to others. Jesus is coming folks. Praise God. It’s a divine certainty.

Jesus made reference to it in the teachings throughout the Word. That even our restoration, His whole plan of restoring us and presenting us to the Father has to do with the return of Jesus. It is a certainty because the scheme of redemption all the way thru the bible is not complete without the return of Christ. His coming for the first time was as an offering for sin. The Word tells us when He comes again it will be without an offering for sin but to redeem those, and bring those that He has redeemed. The first time He came to be crowned with thorns. The second time it will be to be crowned King of the universe. Now I wanted to present a couple of thoughts as to what the return of Christ looks like from God’s side. I remember so well that first night about two in the morning, the thought of an angel was the farthest thing from my mind. It was on June the 18th last year of 1978.

And I felt two giant hands on my shoulder sitting me up in bed. I knew the door was locked. I really had a jolt that night. I thought someone had gotten into our house. And if someone got in, a thief or someone to do bodily damage I always figured that I would be a pretty good match for them. But I did have thoughts at the moment when I found I could not twist even out of the grasp. I had a fleeting thought; this is the wrong kind of a person to be coming in here. I was totally helpless and I sat up in bed. He brought me that message good news for you and your family. And that night the very first time he came his message was not the message from the heart of an angel it was from the heart of God.

That first message, he went back into the Old Testament and into the new. He showed me the places where he was referred to and his great function in the unfolding of God’s plan. One of the things that he referred to was the fulfillment, he talked to me about God’s great timeline and how it was never late or early but always on time. He made reference to the children of Israel being in the land of Egypt. And God said “you’re going to be down there 400 years and after that I’m going to bring you out with a strong arm.” When the time was up God came down and he led the children of Israel out. He told Noah how long he was going to be in the ark when he told him how long it was going to rain. He pointed out different things thru the Word of God. He pointed out about Israel being in Babylon for 70 years and after 70 years it was over. He pointed out the promise of the coming Redeemer from a given point until Jesus was to come and become a sacrifice for sin was 483 years from a given point.

It happened exactly as he said it would happen. He was the one, Gabriel was the one, the messenger from heaven that brought the word that another phase from God’s plan was unfolding, that a chapter was being closed. Then he asked me the question, would you like to see in heaven when one of these things took place, when the time clock rang and it was ready to go. And I said I would like to hear about that. I’d never seen anything from that side before. And he gave me a living panorama of what was happening. I saw there the angel of the Lord coming to God the Father. And he said, “How long are you going to leave the children of Israel, Your people, in captivity in Babylon?” he said, “how long are you going to be angry with them?” God said the time is up, the 70 years is up right now. And he said He spoke favorably, comfortably to the angel. And he said, “angel take this message back to them, it’s a comfortable message, tell them that they have hurt long enough.

And it’s time for them to go back home. That everything is all in readiness. I’ve put all the pieces together. Tell them that though I was angry with them that right now I’ve turned from my anger and that I feel with them and am merciful and am preparing their escape.” Then Gabriel said, “Now would you like to see what happened on earth during this time?” And he let me see a panorama of truth, a time of Ezra. And as I saw this king that God had chosen long before who did not even know God who suddenly told some of his friends “I feel something stirring around down inside of me, I wonder what it is.” They said what do you feel? He said “you’re going to think I’m crazy or something wanting to get rid of all of these slaves we’ve got. But I feel like the Lord God of Heaven wants me to build Him a house over there in Jerusalem.” They looked at him like he had lost his mind. But he said, “My heart is stirred up, I’ve got to do it.

Furthermore so that I won’t be able to back out of it, write it out, seal it, it has to happen.” Then this angel that stirred up his heart, a bunch of others went around to all of the people and the children of Israel suddenly felt a signal, a stirring down inside of them. Excitement began to mount. And then he started to stir up all of the people who were staying there. And he said hey I think it’s the most wonderful thing that you’re going back. And they gave them all kinds of money and equipment and people to help them on the way. This was taking place right on the earth. The children of Israel felt the literal stirring in their hearts. The scene in heaven is found in Zechariah 1:12-16. You might not read it in the same words that I gave it in but not once have they quoted the King James Version or any other version but they’ve let me see the truth that is there.

The other is in Ezra chapter one where the Spirit of the Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus the king. And then, if you want to read something exciting and boy my own heart got so excited because of the message on families. You see, he was tying it all together again that he wanted the families; the families were going to be going home. God loves the family so much. And he showed me all three of those first chapters of Ezra and you’ll get so tired of reading it because as you read verse by verse, “and the family of so and son, and the family of so and so,” they all got together and they decided to go back home. It wasn’t the individuals but God takes plenty of individuals but He’s concerned about your whole family. So as you read this it was such a clincher to that truth that the families were under focus and they were being led out. I asked Gabriel at what time if he could tell me about how near the return of Christ. He said “I cannot tell you, I do not know. I have access to everything on God’s timeline except this one thing and I do not know.

God has reserved this for himself.” But he said “I can tell you this. That right now there is more excitement and activity in the courts of heaven than there has been at any time since Jesus came the first time.” Praise God. Something’s about ready to happen. It’s a fact too that the angels of heaven have been sent forth, brought into the world to bring people to Himself. I think of a parable in Luke, Jesus is talking about the time when there’s going to be a great feast that’s given. He said that a lot of people had been invited to the feast and they didn’t want to come, they all had different excuses. So he said they went out and they called some other people and they came. Then he said go out and call and get the people that have no right or reason to come, the blind, the halt, the maim, people that could in no wise come before God because there’s something wrong with their walk or sight, they’re crippled, they’re not the kind that could be chosen to come to this great supper but go get them anyway and so he did.

He said there’s still some room, now I want you to go out and this time don’t listen to any objections, go out there in the highways and into the hedges, behind the rocks and the trees, in the holes in the ground wherever you can find them and compel them to come in for there is room in my house. Then he told me about the force of angels that he had brought into the world. And there instructions are “do not listen to any objection.” It’s the final call. Jesus is coming. You don’t have to hang your head, and don’t worry about it if someone doesn’t agree with you. The most harmful ammunition that Satan could ever have would be if God’s people were to fight over something that is the glorious hope. God doesn’t want us to because he wants us to know that He’s coming. But if a person somehow is unable to see it, but they have Jesus in their life, they’re still your brother. I’m giving this message as a reminder of the blessed hope of the church.

Often times in our day there are many people who know the truth of the second coming and have this hope in their hearts but have gone to sleep because he hasn’t come yet. They’re slumbering and they’re sleeping. They’ve gone to sleep with the message on their lips. They need to hear the cry that is given at midnight a cry was given, “behold the Bridegroom comes, go out and meet Him.” They need to be awakened to hear this cry. Then there are some who have felt that since Jesus didn’t show up and it might fit what we see happening a little bit better that they have taken the paring knife and have cut the corners of that piece to make it fit in all honesty, and they have been moved away from the hope of their calling, the second coming of Jesus, that hope that He speaks of, the return of Jesus. They called this the blessed hope of the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. They said don’t be moved away from the hope, and for those who may be moved away from the hope because it looks like he may not be coming and we must find some other way to understand this, he is saying turn your eyes back to the east for the Son is getting ready to arise. All of the forces of hell cannot keep the Son from arising. Jesus is coming.

Then there are those who have never accepted any truth at all of the coming of the Lord. They may be reminded you may scoff at the song of the mockingbird but you’ll never get that mockingbird to quit singing or any other. We may point and curse the sun that may be rising but we’ll never get it to stop rising. You cannot scoff the sun out of the sky, it’s there. Then the fourth group and that is those people who have looked for and are expecting His return. This message comes to you as an assurance, as a bright ray from heaven saying it’s going to happen. Keep that expectancy high. For one of those days those people who have thought that you were as nothing, they’re going to see that you were truly one of the sons of God. When we see Him we’re going to be like Him. Then another great truth that was brought to me from God’s heart was on the seven great priorities.

Beginning with the death of Christ and His resurrection, then the baptism of the Spirit, and the carrying out of the gospel message. The last one of these great priorities just like all of the other things, His plan would not be complete without Jesus coming. The last one is the gathering together unto Him. Just before and to prepare the world and God’s people for that day that they can be their best He wants them to cease from their own struggles and their own efforts to try and climb a slippery rock. To learn to lean back and to rest on the Lord and His finished work. He said “therefore there remains a rest for the people of God.” They that have entered into this rest have quit struggling and they said, “Ok Lord you can do it better than me anyway.” And that message today, the last one before the gathering together unto Him is the message of the covering, the completeness of the covering so that people could realize their position of safety in the Lord. That the plan that God made for us is good and it’s working. And when Jesus saw it, He saw this great plan of destroying all of the sins that had mounted up against the world when offered his own blood as a sacrifice he saw the giant arms of this plan moving, destroying and shredding every sin in the world.

Then he looked and he saw the destruction of sin clear down thru to the end of time. Every sin. And he said they’ll never have to be another sacrifice. He made one sacrifice for sin forever and he said, “Father it’s working, its working good. His father looked at that great plan as it moved and He said, “It’s working, sit down Son, and He sat down at the right hand of the Father. Sin has lost its power. Hallelujah. Jesus is coming. The theme for today is look up, Jesus is coming. And you’re ready for his coming, not because your struggles have reached a certain point; you have proven that you could not make those garments without wrinkle.

You have proven that there are still some faults in your life. You just as well as admit it and say Jesus I accept what you did. And as you do you’re going to find victories that you never knew existed. Things that have troubled you, habits that have bounded you are going to fall off like the leaves of a tree as the new life of spring comes thru them. Praise God forever. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. Remember it’s not what you know or how you pray, because the Spirit has to change things around to make sense to God anyway, when you pray. He makes it sound like a real prayer even if it’s just a groan, the Spirit does it. It’s not how we understand things. Our safety is based on the finished work of Christ. When your faith is in what He has done, quit worrying. Jesus said “I want this to be your hope, this is the good news. Comfort one another with these words.” Jesus has paid it all. We can rest. We can trust Him. Take the words of the apostle Paul. So whether I sleep or whether I’m awake I am the Lord’s. From your heart praise Him.

Chapter 40 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, He is Coming Again

The message that God is bringing today in no way weakens His hatred for sin. He will not condone it, He hates it. But He also wants us to know that He has made provision for those who want to walk with Him. Today I’m speaking on God’s Priorities. What I have here is a little paper that I jotted down at my house about six weeks ago. I was visited by some angels from heaven with some very important truths. Things that are very important to God. And any time something is as important to bring by special delivery though it’s been in the Word all along, but so often we allow the Word to be covered up or it’s cloudy to us. And they brought these truths from God’s own heart. There are seven of them here.

I would like you to begin to speak about them to other people. You’re wondering what can I talk to people about, talk to them about those things that are important to God. A lot of different things that may look like happenings of the day, events, but there are some way you can tie them to these priorities. Speak about them; teach them, you that have classes with children or adults. Tie them in; weave them in as foundational truths. Search them out in the Word. Look at the Word, find out what He has to say about these priorities, read about them wherever you can, talk to God about them. Let them literally grip you. Soak them up in your innermost being. They are truths that I believe that will not only change your life but they will help you to produce what God wants you to produce.

Today we will deal with one of these priorities in detail. The first of these priorities is the power of the Blood of Jesus, the message that God gave His Son for us. It is actually an expression of the Love of God. Message in Blood. When it was shed it became available for everyone. That blood was so important that not one drop was wasted. It’s the only blood that has ever been referred to as incorruptible. This was God’s plan. That blood even now if somehow you could move into the courts of heaven even as Paul had an opportunity too, and he said there it is, there’s the blood, and forever throughout eternity the blood has a place. Another great priority is that God wants fellowship with you.

God wants people not only believers; God wants those who are far, far from Him. And He said if you would just call to Me from wherever you are, from the very farthest point of all of creation I will remove all of the distance from you and Me. I want you to come so bad. If you would call unto Me from thence I will hear and I will forgive. God wants you. He is not looking for reasons to disown you. But He is looking for reasons to help you, and to bring you, and to draw you. He is saying come let us talk it over, come let us reason together says the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be white as wool. These are the words that God Himself is giving to you.

The third priority is the truth that Jesus is alive today. Jesus is alive today. And His life is being witnessed around the world. And it’s the witness of His life that draws people to God. When Jesus went away He said, “You will be witnesses unto Me.” He didn’t say you will learn how to have a formula for presenting a few ideas. No, He said you will be witnesses that I am alive. Praise God. So all thru the book of Acts you read wherever that word they gave witness you have to see they gave witness to the power of the resurrection that Jesus was alive. And those people that thought they had put Him to death.

They looked and they saw those who had belonged to Jesus and they saw that Jesus was living in them and instead of one Jesus to contend with they had a whole lot of Jesus to contend with. Because all of those that served Him were reflecting the power and the life of Jesus. So the life of Jesus, God said is important today and people need to know that He is alive, and the way they’ll know He’s alive is seeing Him living inside of you, and you reflect that life. Then another great priority is the promise of the Holy Spirit. He said this is high priority with God today. The power of the Holy Spirit. He wants men and women to know that there’s more power available to them then what they can generate themselves. The fifth priority that He gave me was that the world needs to hear, the world must hear the good news. The world needs to hear the good news. You know what good news is? The good news is that you can come now, God will accept you, that His wrath is turned away, that somebody else has took your place in judgment.

The thing that troubles people all their lifetime is that fear of meeting God. You read it in Hebrews 2:9-14. He tells you the fact that you could come, you’ve had a substitute in the judgment of God, and that He came to deliver those who all of their lifetime were subject to fear. Then the sixth priority is the truth and the fact that those who put their trust in Jesus Christ and what He has done are covered and shall not come into condemnation because they have passed from death into life and they’re covered. God wants people to enter into the rest that comes from knowing that Jesus has paid it all. “All to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain but He washed it white as snow.” That is top priority with God today, the message that you are covered. The seventh priority is that Jesus is coming again to take His people to a place that He has prepared. It’s top priority with God. He’s preparing a people for that great day.

We’re going to spend some time on this one, the fact that Jesus has prepared a place for those who love Him. The message that was brought to me by Gabriel himself is that the angels don’t even know the hour. The only statement they gave me regarding the return of Christ was that there is more excitement and activity in the courts of heaven today than there has been in any time since Jesus came the first time. There are many indications that we are moving closer to the end of time as we know it. If man’s stay on earth from the time of Adam and Eve could be placed in a clock with 12 hours I believe that we are right at the end of the 11th hour. Jesus is coming. Praise God. He did tell us we can know the times and the seasons. We can see the seasons because a season has indications when that season is coming. When spring comes the grass starts turning green.

When fall comes everything turns brown. And Jesus said you could tell the season when He is coming. How much time is left? We don’t know. But we do know this that God has permitted each of us to live in the greatest days of all of history. Days when congregations and various parts of the world are responding to God and what He is doing. There are many churches that haven’t caught the vision but as Jesus tarries they’re going to because people from all faiths, from all walks of life, from all nationalities. This move that God has brought to the world today is crossing every denominational line. You can’t keep God out and you can’t hold Him in. And the barriers are coming down. The most important thing we can stand on is the Word of God.

God will not violate his Character or His Word. John 14:1-2, Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am there you may be also.” Jesus said He was coming again. Luke 21:25-28 He said there would be certain things that would be happening in this world, indications of great fear, of men’s hearts failing them for fear. But Jesus said when these things begin to come to pass, lift up your eyes and look for your redemption draws nigh. Jesus is coming. Acts 1:10-11. There were some angelic beings visiting the earth when Jesus was here. As Jesus went up to heaven two men stood by them in white apparel and said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand here gazing up in heaven, this same Jesus that is taken up from you shall also come in like manner as you have seen Him go.” Did you notice the word, this same Jesus is coming.

Don’t try to figure it out. If you could figure God out He wouldn’t be God. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 that if you believe that Jesus died and He rose again you have to believe that He is coming again. Paul believed that Jesus is coming. He said concerning this, it’s part of the good news. That God is taking care of things. So you don’t have to worry as you walk with the Lord. You don’t have to be concerned or in a constant frenzy wondering whether you’re going to be ready when Jesus comes. If you’re serving Jesus, you’ve linked arms with Him, there may be a lot of ups and downs in your path. But you’re in His family.

You don’t have to fret or worry. There are a lot of people that feel that if you let people know how God really feels that people will get careless. God doesn’t want you to change what He said because of some fears that you have. The real thing is that people are finding new victories when they can relax and stop putting their energy into that struggle that they have and start letting the river flow thru their life. That flow thru of life will take care of those things that are troubling you. In that last verse of 1 Thessalonians 4 he says, “When you talk about the coming of Jesus, comfort one another with these words.” So you got something to talk about to people. When you see them looking down say, “cheer up, Jesus is coming.” James talked about it, James the fifth chapter verses 7 and 8. He said, “Be patient brethren unto the coming of the Lord.

He may not have come just when you thought He was going to, but be patient, because He is coming, He has some things that He is looking to accomplish, but he said be patient unto the coming of the Lord. Peter talked about it; he said you can quit worrying about all those things you think needs to be done in your life before He comes. You can rest in the fact that God is bringing a special load of grace with Him when He comes. So he said instead of looking at weaknesses, hurts and the hard times around you start looking for the grace that will be brought to you at the appearing of Jesus Christ when He is revealed in heaven. To know that He’s compensating for us, not that we’re sufficient you see to think anything of ourselves but our sufficiency is in Christ. Christ in us is our hope of glory. John spoke of it in 1 John 3:2, and he said, “it doesn’t yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears something is going to happen, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Jude spoke of it over in Jude the 24th verse where he said, “now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before His Father.” He was encouraging these people, quit worrying about falling, God is big enough to call you and help you and deliver you of your sins, and He’s also big enough to keep you. All of the markers of history tell us that He is coming.

There’s no question about it, something is happening today spiritually today in the world and you’re a part of it. Jesus is coming. The message that Jesus is coming is so important. When this great angel gave me these priorities, he spoke to me about these priorities as being a part of God’s plan before He even made the earth. And that there all embodied and contained in God’s plan that He gave to Moses in Leviticus 23. Then he made reference though all of these truths are of top priority that in sequence they happened historically, that Christ was prepared for the cross, the Passover, He died and gave His life, He restored fellowship with man at the feast of unleavened bread. And then there came the feast of the first fruits which spoke of the resurrection that Jesus is alive. Then there was the feast of Pentecost that came 50 days after. And that’s exactly what happened 50 days after the resurrection Jesus poured out His Spirit upon the earth on the day of Pentecost. Then He said to His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.

But He said before you go I want you to partake of this part of God’s great plan, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. So when you go out to do His work you’ll have His power to do it with, you’ll have His nature to show to the world. The next feast was the feast of trumpets, trumpeting the good news to all the world. Then came the feast of atonement. And this is the one he said in sequence is the message that though all of the other priorities are there and there all included, this is the message that will prepare the hearts of men and women for the next one that’s about to happen. And that is the feast of tabernacles. This refers to now at this time He’s dwelling among us in the power of the Holy Spirit, but the word tabernacle means a house. And there was something to do with their feast of tabernacles where the children of Israel built little booths as a type of some places only on a very miniature small scale of what there is in heaven. But he said at the feast of tabernacles you are depicting a time when you’re gathered home to be with Him. And He has gone to prepare that place for us, and He’s coming back to receive us.

So the great message today is that message of atonement. And that message of atonement actually means the message of covering. Atonement means to cover. Praise God forever. It’s God’s plan. And the angel gave me that one diagram that I gave to you, of how God could not see thru the covering that was over man when his faith was in the blood. There was a covering that was there. God wants you people to get this message in your heart. Get it into your mind, talk about it to people wherever you are. And this message of atonement has a three way message.

It has a message to those who are living for God; it has a message for those who are careless. But it also has a message for the unbeliever to let them know the awesomeness of God. Write this down. At the bottom of your page write the word man. There are three things that stand between man and God, 3 reasons why he cannot be accepted. One is sin. The next one is fault, and the next one is failure. All things at this point without a covering are open to the eyes of the One with whom we have to do. God cannot stand sin even with the least degree of allowance. God cannot stand fault.

Even the priest had to be without blemish in order to function as a priest. The sacrifice had to be without blemish to be used for God is a God of perfection. God allowed me to see the Old Testament priest as he went in with the sacrifices for the children of Israel so that they could be covered from one year to the next. There is no flesh that can stand before God, so when the priest went in, God allowed me to see him coming, and an animal had to be slain just for this priest. And the blood of this calf had to be taken and had to be applied to him, and put on all of the articles of the room where he went. But this priest could not begin his work in the holy place until something else happened. Aaron the high priest at that time was told to take a handful of incense, it was incense that was a type of Jesus, it had been beaten, and it had felt the scourge of suffering and pounding. And some live coals had to be taken off of the fire which was a type of judgment. The incense as Aaron took them into the holiest place where God was, he had to quickly put that handful of incense on this fire, these live coals. And a cloud ascended from the incense.

And it went over the top and Aaron became engulfed in a cloud, a sweet smelling incense that reached up and pleased God Himself and God then looking down saw Aaron thru the cloud which represented Jesus Christ and His suffering. Then Aaron could place the blood over the Mercy seat and the other places in that holy place for himself and the people. Then knowing that he was covered, knowing that the cloud was covering him and God looked at him thru the cloud, then Aaron could bring the people to that place where they were covered. God said, “You’ve got to do this or you’re going to die Aaron.” He spoke to me about Jesus. He said because Aaron could only die for himself. God had provided a way whereby he could be accepted but he said Jesus, the sinless Son of God went in as the High Priest with no atonement for Himself. No covering. He went in before God, the sin bearer and the stroke of God’s judgment and God’s wrath penetrated Him and He became the real incense then as He took the stroke of God’s wrath. And that incense ascended up and it covered all who would put their trust in Him.

Everything in that tabernacle was a type of Jesus. But the most beautiful thing of all was Jesus becoming our covering thru offering a sweet smelling incense unto God. So those who come to Him are covered. Gabriel told me you can read this in Leviticus the 16th chapter verse 11 and 12. Then you could see what happened to the people after Aaron offered the sacrifice. He said that the goat was taken then which was also a type of Jesus, one of them blood was placed over the top of the mercy seat that contained all of the sins of the children of Israel and they were covered. Then after they were covered it took another animal, it took of them to represent what Jesus did. In verse 16 it speaks about the sacrifice, and as the hands of Aaron were placed upon this goat which was called the scapegoat and he pronounced over this goat all of the categories of sin that Israel had entered into. He said that now that sin is covered it can be taken away. God wants you to know that when He covers your sin, He’s not going to leave a rotting pile of sin there just covered; he says, “I cover it first so I can accept you, and then I have a plan of taking it all away.

And all of the sin was placed upon this scapegoat and he was led out into the wilderness into a place where he could never be found. And that’s what’s happened to your sin. It’s not only covered but it’s removed as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your transgression from you. And over the top is the covering of Jesus Christ. And so when God looks down at you all of those things that happened in the normal course of this life are hidden. And you are accepted in Him. He only asks that you put your faith in what He has done for you.

Chapter 41 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, Countdown

I’ve prepared a kind of a bible study for you tonight. I may just bracket some truths. If you have a pencil and paper you could follow along. But I do want to highlight God’s particular message to you that are here. Not only what He says in the Word but what He says to you. There is possibly no greater controversy today among full gospel people, and I hate to use the word controversy but what else do you call it? If it’s divided people it’s a controversy. You know what Jesus said when He saw people divided? He said an enemy did this. He came to hurt and destroy and separate brethren. And so there has been a division because of different preferences of position. And usually a person will support a position that they may have been influenced in at the time they find God.

With the help of the Lord I would like to turn us away from positions, from phrases, from things that cause barriers and let’s just open up our hearts to God and say God have at it, whatever you in your great purpose have planned to do we want you to do it. Hallelujah. Just a little verse that comes to my heart right now and I feel that the Lord prompts me to share this verse with you. In Acts the fourth chapter, do you know that there were some controversies in the Bible days? Peter and Paul were both hot headed fellows. Can I use a truth as a picture of an elephant? They were both looking at the same elephant but one was looking at one end and one the other. And so they kind of fought over what the elephant looked like. One of them said the elephant is like a wall as he felt the broad side. The other one said no he’s like a rope as he got a hold of the swinging tail. Remember those blind men, the story, another one got a hold of the leg and he said, “I knew you were crazy all the way along, but now you’re proving it. The elephant isn’t like a wall or a rope, he’s like a tree.

He hugged the elephant’s big leg. This is what happens. And even Bible writers had a little problem with this. And Paul and Peter, the Word tells us, had to have a dispute that got so sharp that Paul said, “Well in order to be our best for God we should probably work different sides of the street here.” They both loved God and they agreed to each do the ministry that God had placed within their hearts but tonight with the Lord’s help, I want us to turn our minds away from phrases, from positions, from doctrines. Turn them back unto the Lord. I just love what Peter said here, when he was so close to that outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts the fourth chapter. He was praying here and here’s a little bit of the prayer that they made, I’m going to read this prayer, I feel that this is a kind of a prayer that we all ought to pray once in a while. Maybe we can make it our own tonight. It starts with the 24th verse.

They had been whipped and a lot of trouble with the law and they went to their own company and they had this prayer meeting. Here’s what they said, “when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and they said, “Thou art God,” we can have one accord on this, “Thou art God which has made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.” We’re all in agreement right now aren’t we? You see there’s unity, and when we start looking to God first we can really have some unity here. He is our God. Then he said, “who by the mouth of thy servant David said, “why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou has anointed. Both Herod and Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. There was a unity even in opposition here. Then he said here’s why they were gathered together. Oh I like this he’s saying God your still in control.

Listen to it. “For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” Boy I hear some wheels turning in there. Somebody’s saying well pastor it sounds like you believe in predestination here. Well I was just reading something. Do you know something? I do believe in predestination. What’s wrong with that? That’s not a big bad word, it’s used in the Bible, did you know that? Not for people but for events. People you see, God foreordains us to have a part in what He’s doing. But He says I’m not going to make you like a little ole puppet because I would be violating my plan and my purpose, my promise to you. But I’m going to give you the right to choose.

And here’s what I’ve planned for you, if you choose this you’re going to be blessed. But if you decide not to choose to have a part in the thing I have planned, you’re not going to keep it from happening. Because I don’t let somebody whose dragging their heels ruin my plans. There are some people who have such big egos. They think they’re big enough to control God’s plans. The heathen can rage you could do a whole lot of things, you’re not going to change God. He’s going to accomplish what He said He would accomplish as His hand and His council determined to be done. And He made some statements of things that were going to happen and this was one of those statements. That Jesus was going to suffer and was going to die. And these people who had set themselves against Christ were fulfilling and were a part of the great unfolding scheme of the gospel.

It was determined beforehand. When God makes a statement, when He determines something to be done, and here I come to a definition, to a quote, I just love to quote this because it didn’t come from my peanut brain, God said it. And here’s what He said, “when He states that something will happen, an irreversible force is set in motion that nothing can stop. It has to happen.” Do you believe that? And here’s what he prayed now, God you’re in control of things. We had some ladies drive over from Washington recently, they visited with my wife and I and they said for about 3 years they have been learning how to accomplish things by the way they said certain things. By certain prayers they would pray, the way they would pray. They had it all worked out so beautifully and they said that we have it down and it’s so terrific and we’re even teaching other people how to do it. I said what are you accomplishing by it? Have the things happened that you have been wrestling with to get done? Oh no nothing has happened but we have sure learned how to do it good. Do you know there are a lot of people learning how to do a lot of nothing? In an effort to try and get something done.

God is not displeased with people when they try and accomplish something. But when all is said and done, we’ll get a whole lot more done by looking up and recognizing who God is. In that faith and that love and resting back in His arms saying God I know you’re righteous. The word righteous means His unfailing ability to always do the right thing by us. And that’s exactly what Peter is saying here. God you did it and whatever you do is right and I can trust You for it. So these ladies at first felt like 3 years were wasted when they were talking to me. I didn’t hurt them, I didn’t even argue with them. I just said hey now let’s look away from this stuff, I want you to look up. And I talked to them and they couldn’t get enough.

They talked with me for hours wanting to know all I knew about God. And their eyes gradually turned upward. And they left with a new look at God. And felt like now instead of trying to accomplish something by holding their mouth just right, by saying just the right word. Their prayer even had to say the very things, if they said the wrong thing that God would do that wrong thing. What kind of a God is He? He already knows, the Spirit already has to twist everything around we say to make it make sense anyway, you see. We’re not going to influence God by what you say. If you tell God, hey God kill that person. God isn’t going to listen to your prayer and kill that person. I know this is kind of shaking some people up by saying this because you’re sure that the power of life and death is in the tongue.

Because there’s one verse that says that in the Bible. Well I tell you there’s a whole lot more verses, you’re going to have to put that in a different perspective. There’s a whole lot more verses that tell you that God is in control. And you can hurt a person by what you say but you’re not going to change God and you’re not going to change circumstances by what you say, you’re just going to change you and how those people feel about you. “And now Lord behold their threats and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth thy hand to heal. And that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were all assembled together. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” When all is said and done, it isn’t so much the position we take that counts. It’s what is happening in our lives? Has the place been shaken? Are you speaking the word of God with boldness? I told somebody the other day; I have no bones to pick with someone that wants to create something with their lips and their words.

If you have found the secret of making something happen. Don’t you drop it, do it. God wants you to produce by it. But don’t allow anger to come up in your heart towards someone who may not quite see it that way. For God wants us each one to feel the flow of His life. And He wants us to be in the main stream of His flow and if the Lord has led you a certain trail and His life is there and He’s stretching forth his hands to heal and signs and wonders are happening. Hallelujah. Let’s back up the person that’s producing. Praise God. So the place was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Now I said all that to say this. The important thing today is not so much what position you have taken. The important thing is, are you in fellowship with God? Is He moving in your heart and in your life? Is there excitement in your experience? Is His hand laid bare as you seek Him and look to Him? Are you making sure that nothing is keeping you from being in one accord with your brothers and sisters in the Lord, not allowing differences of ideas to separate? I had to say these things. Before I make some other statements, because immediately I might divide people into camps and I don’t want you to be divided into camps. We’re here together in one accord. A tremendous excitement to the believers, the fact that the blueprint for every life and for the world was complete before the earth was made. This is not only positively stated in numerous places in the Word. Such as, “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.” So many, many places. But it is proven by fulfilled predictions in many parts of the Word of God.

I could go thru over and over many, many fulfilled predictions to show that the thing that God knew happened just exactly as He said it would happen. That experience that I had in the throne room where God took me and allowed me to see the archives of heaven. And I saw the plan books of billions of lives. I couldn’t see inside of them, but God let me know that they were planned in detail, just as clearly as those He did pull out and record in the Bible. I did have the privilege to see some of the Apostle Paul’s plan book, God’s beautiful plan for him. God allowed me to see some things that would happen in my own life. Just a little tiny fraction. He didn’t let me see the book. But He let me see these things and they have happened in sequence because God doesn’t fail. But He let me know this that those things that happened, 120 things took place one after the other.

These things are no more reliable because I happened to see them. They are no more complete because I happened to see them, than what He has written for each one of your lives. It’s complete. God has it all complete. Well you say do I have to ask God everyday now, God just what am I going to do here if all these details are complete? You know what God does with you? He gives you a renewed mind that helps you to think like He thinks. Hallelujah. And there are things that pop into your mind that you wouldn’t have even thought of. And God steers you and guides you and directs you and moves you and so every day the thing that He wants you to do is to make sure that you’re stuck to the vine. Our responsibility is staying hooked to the vine. Abiding in Him and all of these things will be taken care of.

The timeline as I mentioned this morning that God had was so complete. When He referred to Israel going into the land of Egypt, staying there 400 years, afterwards being brought out with great substance that they received from the Egyptians. The time that Noah was in the ark. The exact amount of time before the rain was going to start falling after he was in the ark 40 days and 40 nights, it was going to rain. And the amount of time that he was in the ark. It happened; God’s timeline was so perfect, all the way thru. God’s timeline that He has, when we bring it down to the small minutest parts of each of our lives. That timeline just moves right along as we link arms with Him. If we miss Him on some turn of the road, His plan for us begins fresh every day. Every day is a complete orb of a plan of God for your life.

And He doesn’t want us crying and sweating about some bad turns we made back here. God says, “Let me have your life today. I have a complete plan for you.” And each day we can begin fresh, because the mercies and the compassions of God are new every day. Hallelujah. So I want you to and God wants you to quit worrying about the turn you missed back there some place. Say ok God I want to be ready. And your beaming out signals, people are going to be meeting you tomorrow. You may not even say one word to them, but you’re beaming out signals of hope and of faith. They’re watching your life.

Hallelujah. We’re sowing seeds wherever we go. We’re sending out messages. Then there are times when He gives us a chance to speak. But we know that the coming of Jesus, the great plan of the ages is unfolding. It’s unfolding day by day as the pages turn. And its tremendous interest to everyone is that great question. What will happen next? How clear is God’s word on this subject? From a close look at what the Bible says about the present times we can present just a little flow chart of God’s timeline. If you have a pencil and paper you might like to mark some of these things down. And this is not a flexible statement.

There could be a lot of changes in clarifying happenings in these. But these are the mountain peaks the exact definition of what takes place. When you look back you could say hey that sure is plain now, it’s funny I didn’t see it before. But He has let us see a few mountain peaks. And here they are, here are six things that are going to happen in the days ahead. And this is in the order as near as we can tell from the Word of God. And this is not by divine inspiration; this is just a look from the Word. I can tell you by divine message that the return of Jesus is very, very near. But these other things stand out as mountain peaks in the Word. The first one, probably very, very near.

Just ahead is the gathering together of God’s people to Himself. It’s been called the rapture. A word that causes to thrill with excitement. It causes others to feel a deep thud because somehow there has been distaste for the word. But the word rapture merely means the extreme excitement or ecstasy. And I believe that it will be a day of real ecstasy, don’t you? 1 Thessalonians 4:16, following that, just how soon will actually unfold and develop we do not know, but what looks to be for the people on earth a time called the great tribulation. There may be some saying well those things that are to happen there already happened under different individuals down thru history. But there is nothing that has happened or that will happen that has not had a preliminary rehearsal of the thing. For example, the peace now between Israel and Egypt, there has been an uneasy peace at different times down thru the years. But this does not mean that God’s time clock has been slowed.

There is an uneasy peace. I knew about this peace because God had given me this information long before I knew about the Camp David meeting that they had. Long before it ever happened. I had a definite statement from the Lord that this effort between the Arabs and the Israelites was a study in futility. But God honors efforts at peace, wants people to do what they can, God honors this and it pleases Him. But the outcome is a study in futility because God has other plans. You could mark that down, my neck isn’t out here. I’m just passing on something that has been given to me. If there are arguments you can go to a higher source here for this. That will happen on the earth Matthew 24:21-22.

Then while the tribulation is going on down here there’s going to be a time when the believers are going to hear those words from the Father, “well done thy good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.” A place that He has prepared. The books are going to be opened. The judgment seat of Christ that many, many people fear. And the word that was given on this is that this day is not a dark night thru which the believer must pass before breaking out into that eternal day. But it is a day in which God has chosen to say thanks to His people. That day, is going to take awhile, it’s going to last approximately 7 years. And it is listed by the month, and the day and the year. You see reference to this thru the 13th chapter of Revelation.

Then there’s a little problem that people have with the return of Christ because there’s actually a time when the Word says He’s coming for His saints and He’s coming with His saints. When He comes for His saints He will not come clear to the earth, we will be caught up to meet Him. Then when He comes after this great uniting with the Lord, He will come to the earth. And so this is the return of Christ with His people which will end the reign of the anti-Christ and the tribulation and will usher in a kingdom that he promised to David a long, long time ago. Now the millennial reign is not God’s eternal kingdom. It’s a kingdom that has an end. This will be a kingdom upon David’s throne. But God Himself is going to usher in a kingdom that will not only include the promise to David, but His kingdom will have no end. And He will reign forever, and ever and ever, and ever and ever. You might think well eternity is going to sure be boring if it’s that long.

But really eternity is neither long nor short. It’s a beautiful big present. Hallelujah. Then references for the return of Christ with His people, Matthew 24:27-30, Revelation 19:11-16. Then the millennial reign of Christ will begin in Revelation 20 verse 4. You see some references to it, Isaiah 35, Zechariah 14. Then following the millennial reign will be the great white throne judgment. And never pray that you’ll be present at this great white throne judgment. For no believers will be there. This will be only for those who missed God.

A time when the books will be opened and people will be judged from those books. Revelation 20:11-15. Then following that, God brings into being the new heavens and the new earth where in dwells righteousness. And it will last forever. Some may say where is heaven? It would be almost the same as saying light and heat could not dwell fairly close together. They’re two different dimensions. Heaven is a different dimension then this earth. It could be a whole lot closer than you think. I believe that there is an atmosphere and that heaven is not very far away. Hallelujah.

But it’s a dimension that we cannot see. But it’s more real than this dimension. It’s a place that’s very, very real. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on that but just give you a little sketch of those things that are ahead. Now let me read another little brief mention of what actually we can expect and where we are now. And allow none of these terms that are here, some may say well Jesus will come before the tribulation, some say in the middle, some say afterwards, some say not at all, and some say there won’t be a tribulation. There are so many different ideas. So what? Whatever God has determined in His foreknowledge and council is going to happen anyway. So whether you’re right, whether your neighbor’s wrong don’t let it worry you. Just keep your heart open, be ready for whatever Jesus does.

Hallelujah. Can you live with that? Praise God. Because He didn’t ask us to make it happen anyway. He’s going to take care of it. The countdown for this world has begun. Something big is about to happen. Could it be that the end is in sight for our world as we know it? It has not been too many years since the idea of the world coming to an end seemed ridiculous. Only the naïve would accept this. But things have changed. Factors contributing to worldwide problems have snowballed.

Limits to the population have been reached. Pollution is at dangerous levels. The energy sources are quickly being drained. Air and water have been contaminated. Fear and violence plague the world. Today it is not the preachers sorry to say or religious cranks that are spreading the alarm that the end is approaching. But educators and leaders and those in positions of authority are saying something big has to happen. Something has to give. Men who may be atheistic in their concepts are admitting the same. Something has to happen.

But that something that they’re talking about is a part of that great plan that God in His council determined to be done. I want you to know this regardless of what comes. Our God is in control. And the whole earth is still filled with His glory as He said. God is in control. Praise the name of the Lord. Jesus is coming. God in His true word gives us the sequence of events leading up to this time. And I’m not going to take the time tonight to go into each of the events that I’m sure were so well aware of that we’ve seen. But the hope of Jesus’ return is still the only hope of a fear filled world, facing they know not what.

We have a little ray of light to hold out to people. And Paul said we’re holding forth to those in darkness, the light. Let’s never drop it, let’s not let it down. Let’s point to the fact, cheer up, Jesus is coming. Comfort one another with these words. Jesus is coming. It’s not all dark. Look up, there’s light up there. The Son of righteousness is arising with healing for the world in His wings. Praise the name of the Lord.

God’s plan for the ages speaks of the last days. His plan calls for an evacuation from this earth of millions of people before His judgment strikes. The key person in this great rescue operation is Jesus who will return and will take with Him those who are His. And you can find this so beautifully written in the word and John 14:3, Jesus said if I go and prepare a place for you, this old world has about had it, I’m preparing a place if I go you can be sure of it because I’ve never failed to do the right thing. I’m coming back and I’m going to receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also. Jesus is coming. The angel said He would come. Acts 1:10-11, “this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you’ve seen Him go into heaven.” All of the apostles believed it. Listen to them here, Paul, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16.

He said, “If we believed that Jesus died, and the world believes that. If you believe that He rose again, and we believe it, Easter, universal Easter told us that. He said you must also believe this. That Jesus is coming. Paul believed that He was coming. You might ask John what do you say about it. 1 John 3:1-3 he said, “He shall appear brethren, He’s coming. When He appears we will be like Him. For we will see Him as He is.” James what do you have to say about it? James 5:7-8 he said, “have patience brethren, He’s coming.

He’s coming. Have patience to the coming of the Lord for He is coming.” As you read thru the Word of God you find that every one of those who had a part in that early foundation of the church believed that Jesus is coming again. Some of it got lost but Jesus is coming. Praise God. His coming is literal not figural. Jesus made this statement in flat statements. He said if I go I will send. If that was figurative he wouldn’t have been talking about going, He wouldn’t have been talking about sending. But He said if I go I will send the Holy Spirit.

Well He went and the Holy Spirit came saying that He meant just exactly what He said. Then in practically the same breath He said if I go I will come. So He finished that first part you could count on it. That he was speaking in literal terms. I am coming again. If he went I will send, He kept His promise He went and He’s got another promise to keep. Jesus is coming. John 14:3. We don’t have the day nor the hour but 2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us a whole lot of things that there’d be a tremendous restlessness in the world and there’s restlessness today that the world has never seen before. He said there would be coldness; natural affection would be at a low ebb.

And I’m in a position to know that there are couples today by the multiplied hundreds who have lost feeling for one another. Parents have lost feeling for their children. Children for their parents. Natural affection, the very word natural affection would be at a low ebb. And it’s happening, coldness love is warped. False accusers. People looking for some reason to sue somebody else. Crooked attorneys encouraging them to make this happen to find some reason to make a case to accuse. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. We’re seeing that happen where people would rather fulfill and worship the god of their own desires than to worship God.

Forms of godliness. And I tell you the world is full of these forms of godliness but their denying the power of the Holy Ghost. He said this would happen. But He said when it happens, I didn’t use to tell people this but I have to now because God so definitely emphasized it. From such turn away if they deny the power. He said that the days of Noah Luke 17:26-28 that they would be days of violence. You read it in Genesis 9:12-13. He said as it was in the days of Lot so will it be. That day when homosexuality was a way of life. So shall it be in the day when Jesus returns.

We’re seeing that. Somebody said well that’s always been that way. It has never been accepted as a way of life since that time. And it’s being accepted as a way of life. And there making laws to make sure that we have to accept it as a way of life. Is this right? You know it’s the truth. You know what this is? It’s another finger saying hey look up, Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. Another sign of the last days; Nations in turmoil, Luke 21:25-26 and there certainly is turmoil. Scoffers are in the world today.

2 Peter 3:3-4, saying hey it can’t happen. People have been talking about that for a long time. I’ll tell you they’re just another finger pointing to His coming. Then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that has never been seen as it has today. In the last days I will pour out of my Spirit upon on flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, the singing ambassadors can lift their hands towards heaven and a message in tongues and interpretation breaks out among them. The boys and girls experience the flow of the Holy Spirit. God is doing something. Hallelujah. We’re living in the greatest days of all of history. Jesus is coming, look up He’s coming.

When is He coming? It so excited me when I passed on this information in different places where I’ve been that people can quit being worried and quit trying to even figure out who the anti-Christ is and how they’re going to get along in the tribulation. When I told them, by His own words that for His people to undergo the days of His wrath would be contrary to the character of God. That He has planned a rescue for us. In Thessalonians 5:9, everybody ought to mark this one down, because here He tells you that He did not appoint you to wrath. He appointed you to something else. He appointed you to salvation and to stand before the Son of Man at His coming. Hallelujah. But there are some who are not aware; it’s been hard for them to see the great covering that the Lord has. And if we’re covered isn’t there something that He’s going to do if we’re going to live with Him. What about those faults and failures that we do have.

Is He going to be able to take us to heaven with those within our lives? I remember so well an evangelist was preaching in a church not too many miles from this church. And he seemed so frustrated and helpless when he said, “What are we going to do?” He said, “If none of us are without spot or wrinkle we’re not ready, we’re not perfect. God certainly isn’t going to take time when He decides to come to take care of us and make us ready.” And instead of lifting the people up with the good news, he was making them feel terrible. I remember that day, it happened to be at a fellowship meeting. I had over 30 people stop me and ask me instead of them eating lunch if I would talk with them and tell them what was really going to happen. So I talked with these people. And I was able to give them something that encouraged their hearts. One woman said, “I only feel like maybe when I’m praying, is the only time during the day I would be ready when Jesus comes, because there are thoughts that may come, there may be some little things that I forgot to tell the Lord. And even when I’m praying I’m not sure that I’m going to be ready.

And so the Lord by revelation has given me some beautiful truth on this. That when Jesus comes, and listen I’m going to give you these verses, they will help you. 1 Peter 1:13. When Jesus comes in order to make us not only covered and we can live down here but to make us enough like Him, just like Him so He can take us. When He comes He is bringing along a special modifier. Some special dimension of divine grace. Peter knew all about it. And he said we’re looking for the grace that shall be brought to you at the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. We’re looking for grace, something special that is to come. You know what it’s going to do? Paul spoke of it this way.

It will change our vile bodies and those things that the Lord has had to cover with that great atonement but it will change them until we will be made like unto his own glorious body. The locks that hold us are going to be opened up and away we’re going to go. And we’re going to stand before the Son of Man spotless. Without one thing with which He could charge us. Hallelujah. You don’t have to sweat and worry how in the world He’s going to do it. If you knew everything that God knew He wouldn’t be a very big God, He wouldn’t be very smart either. But we don’t know how He’s going to do all that He’s going to do. But we do know this; we can trust Him to do it. He said He would do the right thing by us.

Can you trust Him tonight? You need to get out with this message, will you if you can’t buy one of these tapes, will you just ask for one and take it. Listen to it; share it with your friends. I believe everybody not only in the country but I believe our own community here needs to hear the message that you’re hearing tonight. If you believe that I want you to say amen. Praise God. I thank you for that. Now I think of those neighbors, the family members, some of them in your own family that are cowering with fear wondering what’s going to happen. But when Jesus comes He’s not so concerned about those little old quirks because He has special grace that is going to come and there’s going to be a glow that starts within you, a dimming of those things that have been a part here, He’s not going to remove anything that’s good. All He’s going to do is remove the things that can’t survive in heaven. Praise God.

And when we see Him we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is. Then over in Jude 24. Jude said, “Hey I can go along with these fellows, I’ll agree with them 100%, no controversy here.” He said now I have so much faith and confidence, “now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling,” and then you Peter with your impetuous spirit and Thomas with your tendency to doubt and some of you other people with all of your weaknesses and problems and a bunch of you people that are here tonight that can’t stand each other, those little old mannerisms and quirks and so on. He’s able to present you, he didn’t say sinless here that’s already taken care of, but he said He’s able to take care of all of those faults, and present you faultless. He’s going to say, “Father, did you ever see anyone as perfect as this.” Hallelujah. Present you to His Father. And you know He had to add a little word there. He didn’t say, and there’s going to be a smile that comes across his face.

Oh no, he used a term that expressed somebody jumping up and down with joy. He said He’s going to present you before the Father with exceeding joy. Hallelujah. There’s going to be joy and laughter that’s going to reverberate from one mountain peak of heaven to the other. It’s going to circle all of eternity. The joy, the joy as the saints go marching in. Jesus is coming. Let’s just stand and lift our hands towards heaven and let the spirit of the Lord that has already made us ready for His coming. Let it surge thru you, share, already enter in, you’ve already had a taste of the earnest of our inheritance.

Chapter 42 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, When God says Thanks

This message was brought to me by an angel of God. There were 3 main areas the angel spoke about. The angel said that because of the days we’re living in, and what God is doing, we must rally the people for the Lord. He talked about how there are many record books on people in heaven. I was taken up to the throne room and saw Abraham’s record book, but could not find any bad things recorded. God told me that He doesn’t record failure for believers. God made it clear that the judgment for believers will be from all the record books of only the good things we have done. The angel reminded me also of the great covering that God has provided for everyone. The three areas were knowing God’s character, what He is really like, the desires of His heart towards people. The things that are important to God.

The second area was your position in God. The third was about the preparation for that day when we will all be judged out of our record books. In Numbers it talks about Balaam and how he wanted to curse Israel because of their type of living, he thought they needed to be wiped off the face of the earth. So God showed Balaam the prophet, Israel from different angles. God wants us to know our position before Him. God showed me the sacrifices and how Israel put their trust in them. These sacrifices were a type of the great sacrifice of Jesus, that we’re putting our faith in. Israel, in-between sacrifices were covered. God stated that He looks at man from a different level than man does. God’s eye view is on the top side of the great covering, atonement of Jesus.

Man’s eye view is on the underside of this covering. In Numbers 23:21, Balaam said Israel looks terrible, he said to God, “Look at all this evil in the camp. God said that He had not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has He seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of the king is among them,” Hallelujah! Then He said “I have not beheld this, I can’t see their sin thru this covering.” He said furthermore “I am not going to look under the covering, where man looks.” In the 23rd verse, He said “I am not going to let Satan bring any charges, and I am not going to let man bring any charges. There is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination in Israel.” Balaam was probably thinking, “God how could you do it!” Some of those people lost their temper this morning. Some of them had other problems. Then God let Balaam take a look at things they way He saw them.

God said “you’ve looked at them thru man’s viewpoint, look at them now thru My eyes.” Then Balaam wrote “Now that my eyes are opened, I see things thru God’s viewpoint.” He said “how goodly are they tents O Jacob, not evil.” Now God said plainly that there are two things (other things may fall under those two categories), but two things that will take man out from under the covering. It’s not that God removes the covering or that He goes down to look under it. But there are two things that cause man to remove himself. One is rebellion. And the other is idolatry. If you look in the life of Israel, you’ll find that whenever God had to smite them and punish them, it was because of rebellion and idolatry. God wants us to know our position in Him.

That as we desire to live for God and want Him as our God that blood covering is there. He sees us thru that covering, looking like Christ because we are accepted in Him, and all wrapped up and covered in His love. Paul talked about how he committed some things for that day, referring to the believers’ judgment. Not everyone will be present at the believers’ judgment, which is a judgment for reward as an athletic event. Only those people who are under the covering of Jesus’ blood will be there. You put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ when you put your faith in His sacrifice, what He has done, and then you’re covered. This angel really stirred my heart two weeks ago, when he spoke of many, many people, and when their hearts were rebelling against God who were saying, “I’ll serve God if it’s convenient. But if it isn’t I’ll find some other way.” One lady told me that if God demanded the life of immorality that she was in, and someone told her she could live in, and still have fellowship with God, she said if God don’t want me the way I am, I’m not going to serve Him. It isn’t something you’re going to have to do some other time, you’re already rebelling in your heart, you’re already out! She was filled with great fear when I told her that, you’re already out because you already rebelled against Him, by not wanting to walk with Him and not wanting His plans.

God hates rebellion. People who already know what God’s Word says and still say in their heart, “I will take my chances against what God said; God said your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. He said those that defile the temples of God, God will destroy. If you’ve been defiling God’s temple the only way in the world you’re going to be a part of that day when God says thanks to His people is to return to God in confession, giving yourself to Him. I know that angel is here tonight and I have to give you this message. There are people who are rebelling against God because of their failure to love some other brother or sister in the Lord. They wanted resentment to boil up inside of them. And the Word says to take heed lest a root of bitterness, resentment springs up inside of you and you’re hurt by it and a lot of other people are troubled because of it. If there is resentment in your heart towards anyone, because of God’s desire to prepare you for His coming, get rid of that resentment. Go to that person if it’s the hardest thing you do, and ask God to melt you together, that this resentment will be gone.

If you have made a god of other things, and if the choice is there between serving God or serving your own appetites and you say “I’ll take my chances and serve my appetites” and the Word speaks of those whose god is their belly. He’s referring to appetites, things that they would rather do than serve God. They love those things more than they love God. And He warned us against loving pleasure more than God, this message is a warning and one of great joy. When you are in rebellion or idolatry, it takes the covering away from you and you stand exposed and naked before God. If some people come to your mind that you know you have resentments or bitterness towards then contact them and be reconciled to them. Forgive them so you can be a candidate for that great day. The angel told me that there are a lot of things people are doing that are good things and they are things of this life and they are necessary things. Things that need to be done and they have real value while here in this life. It isn’t that the things you are doing are worthless, they have a reason here but they are not all things that are going to remain and last on.

Books that people may write, who spend all their time writing books, those books may have value, but they’re not going to remain. God has plenty of books there. Performance, singing, unless it’s directed to a need of a life can be a performance and have a definite meaning but it will not go on. Even sermons that are preached, that may be giving out some information but may be preached to a crowd of people but not to the need of a person, they may help guide, motivate, or steer, but they will not be something that actually remains. Buildings have a great purpose but God doesn’t need buildings. Programs, giving, if it’s given for credit He said, “You get your reward right here. People’s missionary vision has been hurt because people have said, “can I get some credit if I give so much for missions.” And it’s all right if people have to be motivated but their giving isn’t going down in God’s book there because it’s going down in someone else’s. You will get your credit right here. The angel told me that these things may have satisfying rewards in this life, and they are important, but they will not remain.

I asked him, “What will remain them?” In Philippians, 4:17, “you brought a gift for me, but I desire that you may have fruit towards your account. Not for reward but for the Lord.” Jesus’ prayer for your life was that the fruit of your efforts would remain. God wants us to have something up there that’s in that book that will last forever. I remember hearing a voice in the hospital saying, “Strengthen the things that will remain.” God says that people are important to Him. God has involved Himself with people. If you want to know where God lives in this earth, look where people are hurting and you will find His address. God wants to help people. Things done with a performance will not remain because we haven’t involved ourselves with the needs of an individual.

When you get down on the level of personal human need and you take a person in your heart and arms, something starts writing down in that book in heaven. Your personal love, care concern, not what you put “saying” I owe this to God and I hope it gets to an individual, but when you see someone hurting and your heart hurts with them. When you care, that’s when it counts. I asked the children tonight, “What is Jesus like?” They told me that Jesus is somebody who loves to help you. If you’re hungry, He’ll provide for your food, if you’re hurting He wants you well. He cares about you. God’s desire is that we be like Jesus. We know that Jesus was always helping people out. God desires all men to do good. God wants us to represent Jesus to others.

There may be a person who is lonely, or a person who may be hurting, or one filled with frustration. You can help these people. Jesus said “If you have done this unto one of the least of these my brethren, you’ve done it to me.” And it’s going down in the book. The angel said to me that more important to God then your witnessing to people about His salvation was your being like Him in their area of need. We’ve been so conditioned and we feel we aren’t doing anything for God unless we were able to get out and witness and be able to skillfully use the Word and share the various parts of the Word. But this angel said when you’re out there, helping people, you’ll become to them the living word. The word is a book that says, “I care and God cares.” I care because God cares. This is something that anyone can do.

Instead of witnessing we become a witness of what Jesus is really like. What you are to them. You’re bringing the heart of God to them when you care for them. There are some people whose books are pretty empty. Let’s get out there and get that book full. Not doing it for that reason, but mainly doing it because that’s how God’s heart beats for them. And as you’re close to God, that’s how you will feel about it. Things that are done because of His love, His Spirit are placed in our account. Matt. 25:34-40, He says that all of these things that we do, when we do it unto people we’re doing it unto Him.

That visit to a rest home, to cheer up some person who has had their downs and ups. That time when you watched someone’s child just to help out. When you’ve shown kindness to an individual, letting them feel that they’re worth something. When they’ve been battered and beaten down and they’re depressed. And it seems that their self-esteem is crushed. You can go to them and lift up those hands that are hanging down. This is what Jesus did, all the time. God wants to be known by kindness and the only way, He’ll be known by kindness is thru you, and this is why it’s important to show kindness. Only “glory in this, that you know God, that He is the God of justice, a God who is filled with kindness, a God who will always do the right thing, a God who is fair. In these things I delight says the Lord.

When we go out to do the work of God, people have gotten it so mixed up. They thought the only thing you could do for God was in a spiritual way. But it’s hard to relate to a person’s spirit. But it’s not hard to relate to their physical needs, their bodies and emotions. God’s Spirit gives you that love for people. Caring for those not in your family is important also. Caring for the widows, and fatherless is good. Don’t worry about all the times you failed. I heard someone talk about the judgment day for believers. He said that God would project all of their sins in front of everybody.

He said every sin you did after you were saved had been recorded. This isn’t true. God destroyed all the records of sin for believers. He doesn’t want to embarrass any of His children. Christ is our foundation. We are put on this foundation after we accept Christ. God tells us, “all you have done that’s been like Jesus is going to be permanent and lasting.” All those things that have held you back will be peeled away so that only the things like Christ will remain. God will remove the chaff. God is going to liberate you from all the bad things in your life.

There is not going to be one person present at the believers’ judgment who will hear one harsh word of condemnation. Jesus already bore our condemnation. God is looking forward toward this day. 1 Corinthians, 4:5, The Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. And will make manifest the counsels of the heart. Then shall every man have praise of God. God will say thank you. I asked the angel about the hidden things and the counsels of the heart and he said that there are 1000’s of people who are serving God doing things you’d never have expected. Doing things constantly every day. Nobody knows about it.

Hidden in the dark corners of the heart. Things to help people. God is going to turn the light on these dark things so He can tell you thanks. I believe more people will turn to the Lord when they see you being a living word then witnessing to them about God’s salvation. Don’t you feel like helping someone in need? When you do this, Isaiah 58:8-14, “Then shall thy light break forth like the morning and thy health will be brought forth speedily.” You want some divine health. Here’s some good stuff, that you can have right here. You don’t have to wait for that day. “Thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be your protection, your rear guard,” the enemy can’t sneak up on you. You don’t even have to look over your shoulder.

The glory of the Lord will be your guard. “Then you shall call,” God said; “now I’ll answer your prayers.” If you do this you can find your prayer getting thru. Then thou shall call and the Lord shall answer. “Thou shall cry and He shall say, “Here I am.” “If you draw thy bread to the hungry, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and the darkness shall be thy noon day.” You will have confidence. He will give you purpose in life, and guidance in life.

Chapter 43 - Roland Buck on Angels, Ministry of Angels

God is on the move, He does not want us to put our eyes on the messenger but on the message. But we cannot ignore the messenger and the greatness of what God is doing. I feel almost a feeling of awe when I even talk about God’s goodness in bringing messages to His people thru angelic beings. Because I know that when I look at an angel and hear a message I know that that message says that God cares about us enough. It isn’t the angel that stands there, I think of God who cares enough to bring that message to my heart. It just makes me feel like I love God so much more. Praise God forevermore. About a month ago I had had two encounters with Gabriel in bringing these messages that I have brought with you. There was no question mark about his presence or the message. Because when he came, he grasped my arms when I was asleep.

Wanted to be sure I was awake I suppose and he pulled me right up in bed like that. And it scared the daylights out of me the first time. What would you think if you were sleeping if somebody grabbed you and set you up and was so strong I couldn’t even twist around? And I was frightened because there’s such an awe there. And when he told me that God had sent him because the prayers of his people had been heard and he’d been sent with the message that God had answered the prayers. I felt better than. Praise God. But even then I had a strange feeling whether or not the message would be accepted or not. Because you don’t hear about many of these kind of encounters. Two weeks after Gabriel came I happened to notice a bluish light coming up from the staircase, and I thought possibly I had left a light on in one of the other rooms and it was just a dim light coming up from the stairs. So I decided to get up and go down and turn that light off.

And about half way down the stairs the stairway light came on and I saw two of the largest men I had ever seen in my life. It could have been fright I don’t think it was totally fright but I feel that there’s a radiation because of the fact that they come from God’s presence of divine power. My knees buckled and I started to fall down the stairs. The one that was the spokesman reached out and took hold of me and my strength came back. He told me who he was, that he was Gabriel. And he introduced me to the one who was with him and gave me his name. And I’ve met him since from that time to. His name is Krioni. I assumed from that that all of the angels have names. And no two of them look alike.

They have didn’t sizes, different hair do’s. One angel was a warring angel. And Gabriel is a ministry angel. But a warring angel travels with him. He looked to be about 25 years old. He would weigh I would say close to 400 pounds. Huge, seven feet or more in height. I asked them, “Why are you here?” They said that the Holy Spirit and I learned some things, some beautiful truths that the Holy Spirit who monitors the whole earth at one time. Academically I knew that the Spirit was everywhere at once but it didn’t ring a bell inside until he told me about this. He said, “The Spirit monitors the whole earth and picks up the signals from everywhere.

He can even hear the bird as it falls to the ground from wherever it is; he can hear the softest footstep. And He cares. But he said that in monitoring and seeing what’s happening thru the whole earth, He sensed a massive build up of satanic forces that wanted to attack me. The Spirit not only monitors but He sends out the orders and so He sent out the orders to go and scatter those enemy forces. I was a little concerned I didn’t want them hanging around there if those enemy forces were going to attack. But they said we have already got the job done. I asked them then, what does it take to get the Spirit to send out these forces to help people. And I asked him if it was an answer to a call for help. And he said “no,” he said, “If the Spirit waited until we knew about an attack, we would have already been in trouble.” And he said “this isn’t anything unusual, we’re doing this all the time with everybody.

We’re holding back the enemy forces, we’re scattering them.” Then he asked me to take a look out the window and there were about a hundred warring angels in the driveway. And they were just casually chatting with each other. And it made me feel pretty good that God has ways of taking care of His people. He told me about the spirit of iniquity that is working in the world today, and an attempt by deceiving spirits to try to get God’s people sidetracked from embracing the Living Christ. Christ wants to be a living, pulsating person to every one of us. But he said there’s a tendency today because of these deceiving spirits to cause people to take their eyes off of Jesus and what He is doing. And heap to themselves teachers longing for the Bible to be so dissected and put into pieces and categorized that it loses its life. But he said, feed on it, let it become the Living Word to you. Hallelujah.

Not just some columns of truth or opinions of men divided up. He referred to Christ being known as a blackboard Christ or as a diagrammed Christ, or as a printed Christ, or even as a flannel graphed Christ. He said “Instead, He wants to be known as the Living Christ walking off the pages of the Word with us.” This was a message that I felt was so terrific, but he did say that thru these other things that sound spiritual. He said people would be ever learning, by the time they learned one type of a study or an opinion it’s kind of out of date and they’ve got to start again. Over and over again these people are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of truth. But he said, “feed on the Word,” don’t settle for the dissected word to where it’s all torn into little bits and it’s analyzed in its sections. Keep it the Living Word. This was exciting to me because there’s no substitute for Jesus with you and in your life. Then he told me a little bit about the different ranks of angels.

There are the praise angels, the worship angels, there are the ministry angels, and there are the warring angels. But he said regardless of their function they all have one highest purpose and that is when the name of Jesus is sounded in heaven or on earth they have to fall and worship the name of Jesus. Praise God. Because He’s so exalted before them. He talked to me about how everything God has promised is already completed as far as God’s book in heaven is concerned. In trying to help me understand I have a very crude diagram that Gabriel took a pencil that I had in my hand and I was writing some things that he gave me and he drew me just a rough sketch of a picture frame. Everything God has promised is complete in this, but he said here in a little ole spot we often will look at something that we don’t think is done yet and that whole thing fills the frame and hides what God has done. But he said when you look to Jesus instead of the problem, he used the verse when you pass thru the waters of trouble, He will be with you. He said if you look at the waters of trouble it will hide the picture. But if you look at He is with me, then that little piece that looks so ominous to you has to shrink back in its place and you see the whole thing complete.

Everything God has promised, all of our why’s our complete in Jesus. Praise God. These angels were back a week ago Sunday morning. And Gabriel spoke to me a long time. That was when he spoke to me about the real meaning of Jesus’ death. I saw that it was not physical. He said his soul suffered and was pressed to death. It wasn’t his body; his very life faced that death. And when he told me about this, I sobbed I couldn’t help myself. Then he said, “Let me show you now what happened after that suffering and death, and the crowning of Jesus as our great High Priest as He went into the presence of God.

He left the throne of heaven as a spotless Lamb, He came back laden with the sins of the world with the filthy garments upon Him and then this garment was taken from Him and destroyed and removed forever where it will never be found. And then the crown was placed upon Him and a new robe.” Then this angel said, “You know what happened when He sent forth His Spirit?” Jesus said I’ll take of the Father, I’ll receive of the Father the promise, and I’m going to send Him out to you. “But let me show you how it actually happened.” And he let me see Jesus as the Lamb that was slain as the sacrifice lying there still and dead. But then as He was before the throne of God this Lamb stood up in resurrection, but instead of a Lamb standing up, it became a mighty ram that had 7 huge horns on top of his head. He let me see it as John saw; he said that the horns in that day represented power. When they spoke of the horn it was always the horn of power. And he said that the fact that this ram had 7 of them spoke of the completeness. The number 7 is divine completeness wherever it is used in the Bible.

And this ram had 7 horns speaking of complete total power. And he said, “This is what Jesus meant after the resurrection when He came down and walked with his disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 where He said, “All power in heaven and earth is given unto Me.” When Jesus came forth from the grave, He came forth with all power in heaven and in earth. Then he let me see the Holy Spirit being given to Him. And it was likened unto 7 eyes and he gave me the references for this. In Zechariah 3 verse 9, the permanence of what he wanted to picture, he showed him seven eyes and a stone because a stone was so enduring and the Holy Spirit is eternal. Stones were considered eternal in that day so in order to let him see it and fit with his own thinking he let him see it as a stone with these 7 eyes. But those eyes represent the different capabilities of the Holy Spirit which is ours. Then he gave me the reference in Revelation 5:6 where this Lamb was seen, and that Lamb had the same seven eyes as he rose. And that’s the Spirit of the Lord, the seven is the complete knowledge, complete understanding, complete power, all of these things the seven again is the completeness.

So what he’s telling us is that “all knowledge, all understanding, complete, and all power is given unto Me and lo I am with you always.” Someone asked me if the angels mentioned anything about the return of Christ and they hadn’t so I asked Gabriel if he could tell me anything about it. He said that Jesus is coming but it’s something that God had reserved in His own knowledge; he said that everything else that’s been predicted he has the timeline except this, for God has kept this in his own power. But he did say, “I can tell you this, that there has never been such excitement and activity in the courts of heaven since Jesus came the first time as there is right now.” He reemphasized to me the fact that these ministering angels are out there working and bringing people, and he emphasized again that we must gear up and we must be prepared to help these people that come. And then he gave me a little bible lesson, he said, “you have accepted the teaching that Jesus is the door, but God wants you to know that you are the door. And that when Jesus said, “as my Father sent Me so I send you” and as He is so are we in the world, and He’s given us not only His Holy Spirit but He’s given us His job. We are the door then. People can’t find Jesus as such in this world but they can find us. And we become the doors all over the place.

And he wants us to take the same authority these angels are taking and not listen to anybody’s objection, when they come. Not everybody that comes your way will be brought by the Spirit, but God wants you to be sensitive enough to where if you hear the words that they are saying or sense the discouragement or in some way he indicates to you that this is one being brought, he wants you to be on your toes and ready to pull them on thru. Let them know that angels are at work and that if they cannot get the angels out of their hair by saying I’m just going to refuse I just don’t want you, it’s because they won’t listen to that. They’ll start the cycle all over again. And if they refuse again they’ll start it again. But they don’t get discouraged. They’ve been working with people too long. They’re taking their orders from heaven. He said we’re the door. He also said we’re the living word.

When we feed on the word we actually become the living word. When we feed upon the word of God we become the living word. And we give the word to people; we can speak in His Name. Then we get his authority as we read in John 20 where He breathed on them and He said receive ye the Holy Spirit. Now you can follow His authority, whosoever sins you remit as they come God’s way and they say Jesus I accept you, you tell them, that’s what God asks you to do. When you sense that sincerity you can tell them that God has accepted them. You don’t have to let them stumble around in a fog. Waiting for them to tell you what salvation is. God has made you the authority, you’re his representative. And you can say because of this and God will back you up in everything you say.

He said He would. Whosoever you free he said I’m going to free. A week ago Sunday when I went downstairs and this big warring angel was in the kitchen chatting with another warring angel, the two of them were there. Gabriel told me that he had to go and take care of a problem that someone in the church here was having. And these angels were picking up messages in the Spirit all the time. The first time I actually saw them when they would get these messages they would converse together but not in English. It was evidently a heavenly language. They would talk together back and forth. They would pick reports I suppose of great victories. They would just laugh and they got so happy about some of the things they were hearing.

Gabriel went to the door and he said, “I’ve asked Chrioni to stay here in your house with you during this time that I’m gone, but he said I’ll be back. It seemed so strange, while I was looking at him he just literally vanished. There was no flash or sound. I was looking at nothing. I was talking with a firm solid individual and the next instant there was nothing, he vanished. When I found these two in the kitchen talking, the first time this warring angel couldn’t speak to me because he had not been directed by the Lord. I went in the family room to write down some of the things that Gabriel had told me. I didn’t know that these others were down there. I started writing and I heard them talking and I heard the deepest voice that you could ever imagine. I went around to look in the kitchen and when he saw me he said that God had given him permission to speak with me.

And that he would be glad to talk with me about some things that might be of interest. Well I didn’t really know what to ask him, I knew he was a different kind then Gabriel. The clothing and skin glowed. Their eyes were like balls of fire, they were of compassion like you could feel it. It was just like holes that seemed to be able to look right thru you. I could see why when John saw Jesus; he said His eyes were as flames of fire. I asked him, “What do the angels do in between the times that we know of their appearances because I said there were 300 to 400 years that went by in the Bible before we read anything about them or heard anything about them. How do you keep from getting bored? He looked at me so puzzled when I asked him about that. He said well all of those appearances were times that the Lord just happened to open the people’s eyes so that they could see us. He said, “We’re busy all the time, as long as there are people around to take care of,” he said, “we’re just busy as can be.

They’re already in eternity. Time means nothing to them. Age is nothing to them. They’re already in eternity. They mentioned of the work that they were doing. He talked about different things than Gabriel did. He said that God cares for people so much. That human beings would never, never know how much God cares for them, even people who hate Him. He cares for them and loves them. And they have to take care of wicked people, ungodly people.

They are taking care of them all the time. He said, “You could never know the love of God, it’s just too great, you could never comprehend it.” And he said that it was so amazing to them how that people could curse and hate God and turn their backs away from God but God would never turn His back on them. Because He loves them so much and His arms keep reaching out to them. Hallelujah. I asked him “could you tell me about one of the greatest experiences that you’ve had.” He said, “one of the most exciting and was vivid in his memory was when he helped lead the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.” Again I was reminded how old he must be you know. But he said, “God gave us the right, told us to punish the Egyptians in any way that we wanted, we could use any of God’s weapons to punish them.” He didn’t say it was fun but he did say it fixed itself in his memory as a real tremendous time as a great deliverance when the sea was pushed back.

He said God let them use every form of punishment that there was on the Egyptians. He said they threw lightning bolts at them, they shook them up, they pulled wheels off their carts. In reading the Psalms I find out that that’s exactly what they did and it says there that there was not one thing that God used to punish man that he didn’t use on the Egyptians on that day. Then he told me of another interesting time, when Israel was on a forced march. They had orders not to interfere with man and with what God was doing in man’s normal course of life. But there orders were to intervene, but not interfere. He told me about Israel being weary. And they had another real terrific experience, where a whole bunch of these warring angels made ice balls. Israel was too tired to fight and God already decreed that Israel would have the victory and so they had to have the victory, but they were too tired to fight and they would have got wiped out. So he said these angels took these ice balls and threw them down on top of the other forces, just blasted them with ice balls.

And he gave me the portion of scripture and it says that God threw hail stones at them but he said they were ice balls so I suppose it means the same thing. And they didn’t just fall, they threw them at them. I asked them about modern times. He talked about helping people in these days like creating fog for people to hide in, bringing up wind and other things. He said there’s so many ways they’re helping people. He said you can’t imagine it; we’re always doing it, ministering to people. Things that people think are coincidence he said, “We’re just on the job.” We haven’t realized the forces that God uses to get His job done. Paul said, “every one of them are sent forth of God to minister to those who will be heirs of salvation.” God doesn’t want us to worship them but He does want us to be aware of them.

Gabriel did tell me there would be many people because of their desire to witness what He’s doing in the work of God thru angels that they would be fantasizing, that they would be bringing reports here and there, “I saw an angel here, I saw an angel there,” but he said this would be something because of people’s imagination that would be normal. But he said there will be definite times but they will come not with just the imagination but with the awe and the tremble, people’s eyes will be opened. He said most people would not see. But he did say that to those people that God was just as near, that the angels were just as near, that they were doing God’s work and protecting them just the same as what I have heard. This made me feel good. I hate to be somebody that’s different. He did tell me that I wasn’t any different, that he’s working with everybody. If nothing else could happen because of this service that you could feel that love that God has for people. He wants people. He’s not willing to let them go.

He wasn’t willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. And He’s making that effort today. And this is what God is doing today, was God’s backup plan. People will oftentimes grieve the Spirit as the Spirit would call and draw them. They grieve the Spirit by their rebellion. That they discourage people from talking with them. He said these angels are instructed not to listen to any objections at all when they come. They cannot be discouraged.

Chapter 44 - Roland Buck on Angels, Angels on Assignment

I’m going to speak a little bit more on the message I started last Sunday, “Angels on Assignment.” I asked God to not only help us to know and realize the validity, the fact that angels are with us, and that we might be aware of their presence and know that we can expect God’s help thru this army of heaven. This is a day of renewed spiritual activity. Strange things are happening. People are being awakened. Enemies of Christ are leaving the enemy’s camp and are moving over to God’s side. New voices are being heard proclaiming the good news. Do you know that what you’re seeing is the evidence of an army from heaven that’s on the move? I’ve heard so many testimonies from people who are completely away from God. Friends and members of the family have talked with them, but they were stubborn, and it looked like they would be the last ones to come to Jesus. But in God’s great plan and purpose, He had planned to send divine power, a divine emissary and their lives have turned around.

It’s happening in all areas of life. It’s happening in the athletic world, the sports world, it’s happening in the business world and the entertainment world and the political world. It’s happening. People are turning to God and finding Him real. And this is all evidence that the hosts of heaven are on the move at God’s command. If you’d like to turn to Judges 13 beginning with the first verse. There’s a real beautiful truth that we want to share with you. “Then the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years. And there was a man of Zora, the family of the Danites whose name was Manoa. And his wife was barren and bear not.

You see in God’s plan book there, He had destined these 40 years, and when the 40 years were over God had some other things in mind planned for them and He had prepared a family thru which he could bring a deliverer to the people. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said to her, “Look now you are barren and bear not but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore beware I pray thee and drink not wine or strong drink, nor drink any unclean thing. For lo you shall conceive and bear a son and no razor shall come upon his head for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.” Then the woman came and told her husband saying, “A man of God came unto me and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God. Very terrible but I asked him not where he was from neither did he tell me his name. But he said to me that I will bear a son and I am not to drink any wine or strong drink, nor am I to eat any unclean thing for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb until the day of his death. Then Manoa entreated the Lord and said, “O my Lord, let the man of God which you sent to us come again to us and teach us what we shall do unto the child which shall be born.” And God listened to the voice of Manoa and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field. But her husband was not with her.

And the woman made haste and ran and told her husband that the man who came to her the other day was here. And Manoa arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said unto him, “are you the man who spoke unto the woman?” And he said, “I am.” And Manoa said, “Now let your words come to pass, how shall we order the child and how shall we do unto him?” And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoa of all that I said unto the woman let her be aware. She may not eat anything that comes from the vine neither let her drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing. All that I have commanded her let her observe. And Manoa said unto the angel of the Lord, “I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.” And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoa, “Though thou detain me I will not eat of your bread and if you offer a burnt offering you must offer it unto the Lord.” For Manoa didn’t know that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoa said unto the angel of the Lord, “what is your name so that when these sayings come to pass we may do thee honor?” And the angel of the Lord said unto him, “why do you ask what my name is, seeing that it is secret?” So Manoa took a kid with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord and the angel did an amazing thing. And Manoa and his wife looked on for it came to pass that when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.

And Manoa and his wife looked on and fell on their faces to the ground. This is a beautiful story with some truths that are so up to date and important for us today. I would say one of the most misunderstood subjects among people is the subject of angels. I have actually heard people knowing that angels were around commanding angels to do this and this and this. You see angels could take on an appearance of a person. But there image or appearance is not necessary for their presence to be there. They’re already here. But this angel appeared so that it could be seen with the natural eyes. And the angel taught a lesson here that God wants us to learn and know in connection to angels. And that is we are not to pray to angels.

The Word tells us that angels do God’s bidding. There His messengers. He gives the signals; He calls out the orders to them. And for this reason when Manoa prayed and asked God to send the angel, then God answered his prayer and sent the angel. Another thing about angels; they are not to be worshipped. And so this angel said, “don’t give me any honor at all.” Because the angels are so ordained and created that there is no place in their entire being for praise or honor. Their only purpose is that they might serve the eternal God. They are called the host of the Lord. And as this angel, the message that he brought, God saw to it that it came to pass.

There are many beautiful passages bringing out stories about the angels thru the Word. I think of Ex. 14:19. The Word speaks of the angel of God that came as a protector. Let me give you several scriptures. Judges 7:12-20. Joshua 5:13-14. At this point the children of Israel were ready to cross over to the Promised Land. Joshua went out and he saw a man with a sword in his hands. And he saw that he was a warrior.

Joshua addressed this man and said are you with us or are you with our enemies over here. And if an angel were to tell believers today what that angel told Joshua they would feel so bad. They would say God isn’t on our side because this angel said wrong on both counts. “I’m not with your enemies and I’m not part of your army.” I’m part of another army. I have come with orders from God. And you can’t see them Joshua but standing close to us all around are myriads of angels. There is a host of them. The Lord’s host is here and I’m the captain of the Lord’s host. You see God in His great planning had everything all mapped out.

He knew just exactly how He was going to get Jericho conquered. Jericho was a city with high walls. It was the first one they came to. And with this going down the other lands that they were going to conquer would fear and the kings of those lands would quake if they could see the great miracle that God was on their side. So God sent this captain down with some orders. If you could somehow pull those orders inside of his coat pocket and take a look at them, they would say: the children of Israel are going to march around those walls 7 days. They are your allies, host; those people are your allies. Now they’re going to march around seven days and the last day they’re going to march around 7 times. Now we’re going to have to do here so in these orders, when you hear them, I’ve already given them their orders, they are to shout at a given signal. Now in order to correlate things angels, when you hear their shout, push the wall down.

So the angels took their positions on top of those walls. Hovered around real close. Israel didn’t even know what was going on. The angels did. God did. And they waited and at that given sound when God said for Moses to shout. And as they gave that shout of victory every angel there with all their might and strength. And great big thick walls that were big enough to build a house on. If they would have tipped over they still would have been a wall because they were as thick as they were high. So it wouldn’t have done much good to tip them over.

So God said to the angels “push them down.” And the Bible tells us that the walls fell down flat. They didn’t even have to pick their way thru cracks. All of these people that were gathered around the wall just went in because the walls were down. This was an act of those angels. But this captain of the host in looking at his orders, he said there’s something of a special order for one little part of this wall. And as the angel looked at that he said it seems like there’s somebody there that God has made a deal with. And so you two angels get over there and when everybody else pushes the wall down you hold the wall up in that spot because that’s where Rahab lives and God made a promise that the wall won’t go down where you are. You’ll be spared. I’ve been told in the archeological findings, the diggings of old Jericho there’s still evidence where Rahab’s house was.

God has a host. God isn’t left without resources. Well He could do everything because He’s God. But He has a host working with Him besides those who are working with Him here on this earth. In Numbers 22:22-27 the angel of the Lord kept Balaam from cursing Israel. Israel wanted to go on record as being an enemy of God and curse Israel for some money. God said angel don’t let him do it. And Balaam tried to curse and every time he started to curse the angel twisted up his tongue and he blessed them. He said what’s a matter with me, I’m losing my mind. And he’d try again.

And he’d get some of the big long curses all rolled up in his tongue and he would say them and again it would be a blessing. He didn’t realize there was a big angel standing there putting a different record in his mouth to play and Israel was blessed. This was so much an order of God that God even made a mule talk and scared the daylights out of Balaam. He tried to force that mule to move. Mules are stubborn anyway as you all know but not very many of them talk. Some of them laugh. But this mule turned around and he said, “Balaam haven’t I served you well all of these years?” Why would God ever allow such a story to be printed in the Bible? You know why He did? Because it happened, that mule spoke. But that mule didn’t know how to speak. The angel had to stick a little recording in that mules mouth to play at the right time. It was because of the presence of God’s angel that this took place.

They are great in mighty and power. And they are still here to hinder that person who willfully says, “I’m going to throw my life away, I’m going to destroy this thing.” That person that has had prayers going up for them, I want you to know you’re going to have a harder time fighting God in going your own way than what you think. God will let you do it. But I want you to know that if you find things going kind of rough for you, don’t look now but there are some big angels there. God has given angels some orders, and He’s said, “Take charge.” God doesn’t mind if we talk about angels a little bit. Because when we talk about angels were talking about God’s great plan and what He does and the ways and means that He takes care of His plan. I think of the angel that came to Zechariah and gave the message that John was to be born. God is so concerned about His unfolding plan and the angels of heaven get excited when they can bring a message concerning that unfolding plan.

They came with that message to Zechariah and Elizabeth that John the Baptist would be born. An angel came to Mary and told Mary that Jesus was going to be born. That God’s plan was unfolding, that God was on time and as He had written down and prepared and planned before He ever made the earth that He was unfolding that plan. And in order for everything to correlate, God had to allow a little time in developing so that at the given moment everything would be in readiness. And He allowed just exactly the right amount of time so that on the given day everything was in readiness. Jesus, the day that He offered Himself was exactly the day that God intended for Him to do it. It wasn’t something that God decided just a few years before it happened. He let Daniel take a look over his shoulder, He said look here Daniel, it’s kind of an interesting thing, I’m going to show you some of my plans here. So Daniel was up in that room where God took me that time. And he let him look over His shoulder and he said, “Daniel, Israel is going to go into captivity for 70 years, did you know that?” Now when they’re in captivity, when the seventy years are up there’s going to be a decree going out by a king and He named him to rebuild Jerusalem.

Then if you would like to start counting and count 483 years, a man that hasn’t even been born yet. He gave a lot of little things that would happen in there. He gave the march of Alexander the Great. He told about the four generals that would be taking over in place of his four sons. God told all about that because God had a plan for some reason that way. But he said at the end of the 483 years, Jesus is going to give His life for the world. He’s going to die, not for Himself but for the sins of the world. And exactly on time Jesus died for the sins of the world. God cares so much about us. Everything that God does is telling us He loves us, that He cares for us, that He wants us, that He will help us.

Here are some other verses to mark down. Luke 1:11-20 and Luke 11:28. Matthew 2:13, Matthew 4:11, Luke 22:43. We read that angels of God came down and strengthened Jesus; ministered to Him. They were present to minister to Him. When He was in the wilderness suffering and being tempted of the devil as He took His stand, God said, I like it, angels here’s an order, go down and strengthen Him and let Him know that He’s done the right thing. Then at the tomb, as another great plan was fulfilled and Jesus came forth. God said, angels get down there with a special message. There’s going to be some people coming to the tomb; they’re going to need to know what happened; they have kind of forgotten what they heard; you’re going to have to tell them. Then when Jesus went up to heaven, every great event in the unfolding plan of God, there were angels that became visible.

And when Jesus went back to heaven here they stood again, two men. All kinds of others were there but only two of them made themselves visible. And they said, “What are you fellows looking up to heaven for? The same Jesus that’s going away is coming back in like manner as you have seen Him go.” God is on the job and the hosts of heaven are on the job. And when Jesus returns another great part of His unfolding plan will be accomplished. The angels of God are going to be visible. This time not just 2 or 3, but the multitudes upon multitudes; the hosts of heaven. Matthew 25:31 as Jesus returns He will return with the angels of heaven, following in His train. Then Jude 14 and 15, Jude tells us, “The Lord is coming with tens of thousands of His saints and all of the holy angels with Him.” Now these angels have definitely been sent.

Turn to Hebrews 1:13, he’s speaking about the position of angels in the earth and how great God is. He’s higher than angels. Verse 14, “but to which of the angels said he at any time sit down at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Then he tells them they’re not to receive this kind of honor. “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to help you?” You can write your name in here because you’re an heir. I want you to underline sent forth. They’re on orders from God; they’re on assignment from God. You could write the names of your loved ones and many people who are so far from God now. You’d think there could be nothing from heaven or earth to possibly turn them towards God. But there’s some angels tagging and following them along.

Because God knows those who are His and He knows those who will be. They’re sent forth to minister to those who will be heirs of salvation. The angels led the children of Israel thru the wilderness. Ex. 23:20, He sent His angel to lead them. The angel of the Lord is sent to clear the way for God’s people. Ex. 33:2. Ps. 34:7.

The Spirit had David write these words, the angel of the Lord is sent forth. The angel of the Lord encamps around about them who fear Him. 2 Chronicles 18. One of the prophets of God came to bring a message to some kings that were rallying for battle. And they wanted to find out what God’s direction and will was but they were asking everybody else instead of asking God. Well this prophet said I just came, God let me have a vision of something going on in heaven. And I saw God in all of His glory and I saw all of the hosts of heaven standing on the right and left hand. The armies of heaven are there. And they are there and ready to move. God’s still in business.

In all of these years there hasn’t been one angel that has died. They have not decreased in strength. They’ve been sent forth to help us, care for us, provide, to encamp around about us. Ps. 91:11. He’s given them to take charge of us. I think of Daniel when he was thrown into the lion’s den. The king thought sure Daniel would be eaten up. The king didn’t sleep that night. He thought about Daniel and the terrible thing he had done in throwing Daniel to the lions.

So the first thing in the morning he ran to the lion’s den and looked in and he cried out, “Oh Daniel was the King that you serve able to deliver you?” He didn’t really expect an answer back but he thought he would try. Daniel said, “Settle down king, I had company in here last night. The angel of the Lord that I serve and the angel of my God came in here with me. And all he had to do was touch the mouths of the lions and they couldn’t even open them.

Chapter 45 - Roland Buck on Angels, Visitations Overview

Two in a half years ago God took me right into the throne room and let me see some things that really set a little stage for the angelic visitations. While visiting God in the throne room, He spoke to me about this earth and the conditions on this earth. He said there were two ways of looking at things here. We could look at them the way that they looked or we could see them the way they really are. There’s a ground level view. Many, many people are looking at things just from ground level. We hear all of the bad rumors that come. We hear about gas going up to two dollars. Well so what. God knew about all that.

He put all of this together. So in talking to me about this He said that Isaiah had a very similar time. He reminded me of Isaiah the fifth chapter and the last verse where Isaiah was complaining. He was giving a little expression of what the world looked like from ground level. And he said there is darkness, blackness everywhere, what are we going to do? And then all at once God said come up here and take a look. And let him have a vision of Himself. And then he started speaking in different terms. And he said my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Is that the same place I was looking at? He said what I see now is an earth that is filled with the glory of God. The whole earth is filled with His glory.

God is still in control. There are some things that we feel that sting us but God, our God is in control. Praise God. This experience that I am referring to happened on January 21st of 1977. I was just finishing up on Saturday night getting me ready. I had a message that was all ready, but I like to soak up in the Lord’s presence and feel that if I didn’t have a solitary thing to present I would still have all of that life and that love that God pours in you know. And I had my head leaning on my arm when suddenly I heard a loud voice say, “Come with me to the throne room where the secrets of the universe are kept.” I didn’t have a chance to say, “Well I’ll think about it.” I didn’t even have a chance to say I think it’s a good idea. I was there.

I was in the presence of God. I’ve had at least a thousand people ask me what he looked like. You know I never even thought to look. I was conscious of a tremendous light beside me. But I wasn’t curious; God seemed to have pulled all that curiosity away from me. But there were some things that troubled me a little. I knew it was God and He was asking me some things that had to do with positions and my own personal life. And as He would talk with me and ask me questions, if it would have been Brother Gordon I might have trembled just a little bit. But if it would have been some of my friends I could have gotten by faking it, giving out fairly decent information. But I knew that was God.

And so I was very reluctant on answering. And God sensed my nervousness. Can you guess what He told me? He said, “Relax, I already know you and you can’t prove anything to Me anyway.” And I’ve been relaxed around God ever since. Praise God. God isn’t uptight about anything. He knows that Satan isn’t going to take things over. He knows He’s in control. Satan does not have a plan that he’s following. All he’s doing is a little pestering and a little delaying action for the things of God.

But actually Satan has no timeline that he’s working on. It’s God who has a timeline. Satan isn’t even quite sure what God is doing. But he’s trying to hinder things along the way. But our God is right on schedule. He allowed me to see some things that were so utterly fantastic. One of the things that God allowed me to see while I was there was a glimpse of the great archives of heaven. Now I didn’t die and go to heaven and have the opportunity as some people have of seeing all of the beauties of heaven, the green hills and all the things that are there. And by the way I might say right here if you hear ten different people describing their visits to heaven and they all sound differently. Don’t feel that their all a bunch of fakes and they ought to get their heads together before they put out their story.

You see, heaven is far greater and more vast than this earth. And if ten different people from parts of this earth would describe the world even, they would all describe it differently. Because after all they spent a life time on this earth and they can’t even get together. But how in the world would somebody in heaven for fifteen minutes know what all of heaven is like. But God didn’t let me have that type of a view. He had something that He wanted to give to me to share with people that had to do with His great unfolding plans. I wasn’t quite aware of all of the things that God had in mind, I still am not aware of all the things, but I’m seeing the pieces of his great plan unfold. He allowed me to see these archives and let me know that God has a detailed plan for every life. This really shook me up. I saw those archives reaching as far as I could see.

I said, “How in the world could He do this?” He said, “They’re here, the plans and blueprints for every life are here.” He said that there were only a few that He pulled out and actually recorded in the bible. But that didn’t mean that the others weren’t recorded. There were some that were recorded so that we could have faith in what the Lord was doing. Cyrus is one of those that He recorded or that He actually spoke about. Years before Cyrus was born He said, “He’s going to build Me a house for Me over in Jerusalem.” I was so staggered by seeing all of these plans. And God saw that I was staggered. I could not quite grasp or comprehend something that was so vast. God said, “Let me show you a book, one of these blueprints that maybe you can relate to a little bit.

So he pulled out one that said R. H. Buck on it. It didn’t say R.H. Buck on it but I knew it was mine. He said it was. And so I thought this is going to be terrific, I’m going to be able to look over. I’ve always wanted to know what God’s got planned in here for me and so I was going to peek a little bit but God said, “no, you can’t do it.” He would not allow me to see it.

But He said, “I’m going to pick out a few things that are just a few little markers along the way. There would be a lot of things in between. I’m just going to pick out a few little things that you are going to see in your ministry or that you will see as far as the world is concerned in your life, in the next couple of years that are before you. But not by any means everything, just a few things.” And so He prepared a paper for me that had 120 of those things on it. There were dates, names, places, and events on it. At least 20 of the things had dates on it; God was really getting Himself in a box here. Well, He wasn’t in too much trouble because He had four billion or more other plans out there and a lot more than that and He had dates on those to. These were just simple things that He picked out. Then He said, “while you’re here I’m going to show you not only the plan book, the blueprints, but I’m going to show what kind of records I keep up here.

So He reached over and pulled out a book and to my amazement, it was Abraham and Sarah’s book. And He said, “by the way I showed these to Paul when he was up here.” And it seems as though God allowed me to somehow speed read so quickly I looked thru that book and I couldn’t find some things that I was looking for. I wanted to read the Genesis record about Abraham, I wanted to see what God had to say about some of those ornery things that he did you know. And so I asked God I said, “God where is his other book?” And God said, “I don’t have another book on Abraham. I don’t record failure.” Praise God. He doesn’t record failure. Oh, I saw things that were written there that were so beautiful. And I saw the very words that Paul wrote there in Romans the fourth chapter that he staggered not at the promise of God thru unbelief.

Do you know that the apostle Paul literally as far as theologians and the purity of transcribing the faith from one testament to the other really fouled things up? Genesis says he staggered at the promise of God. Paul wrote down he staggered not at the promise of God. Then over in the book of Hebrews, incidentally if you’d like to know who wrote the book of Hebrews, Paul did. I know this because I saw the same thing that Paul said about Sarah, where he said that she judged him faithful who had promised. Genesis said she said, “aw God that can’t happen.” But what God did, He pushed all of these doubts and these misgivings to one side. He looked down inside. Hallelujah. And God has another ear that He hears with. And He heard something that was not heard before.

He saw something worth saving to put in his book. Praise God forever. Later on after I had a visit from the angels the second visit that I had. The angels told me to bring this message to the world. In it, it is entitled “when God says thanks.” They made the statement that the believer’s judgment is not a dark night thru which the believer must pass waiting to break out into that eternal day. This is the actual quote that they gave me, but it is a day in which God has chosen to say thanks to His people. Hallelujah. And then I could see what God is going to do, those books are going to be opened and on that day of award, that court of honor when every man is going to have praise of God. I’ve had people ask me, “but Pastor Buck over there in 1 Corinthians 5:4 where it talks about this, it talks about those hidden things of darkness that are going to be revealed, what are they?” Why would God say, “I’m going to pull out a bunch of nasty things that the enemy has and give everybody praise for them?” I like the explanation that God gave me a lot better.

He said, “There are a lot of things that you have done and are doing for God, you’re doing it not for thanks or for reward. No one has discovered them yet. The light of credit and of recognition hasn’t yet shined on you. But those things are going to be pulled out and you’re going to be so surprised.” You’re going to say, “But God I didn’t even tell anybody that I gave that person that 20 dollar bill when it was the last one I had. I didn’t even tell anybody that I helped that person who was sick when I went in and cleaned their house.” God said there are some hidden things I’m going to take and that’s what the world is going to be able to see. Hallelujah. In Romans it talks about that if when we were His enemies He loved us enough to destroy everything how much more now that we are His. I came back from that terrific experience and about four months ago the last of those 120 things were fulfilled.

The things that had dates on them were fulfilled right on the day. Some of those things had an international impact. One of those things was the selection of our present pope. Another was the reestablishment of negotiations with Red China. And the paragraph that was written on that was to not panic or fear when negotiations with Red China had been resumed. God allowed me to see that every individual life was so beautifully planned out. But to me it was still staggering, how in the world could God do this? Because think of all the different little things He has to put together every day. He did state this, that every day is the fullness of time for some part of God’s plan for each life. It’s the fullness of time. But God didn’t tell me at the time that He had a bunch of special helpers that helped Him put together these plans.

He didn’t tell me that He had planned a long time ago and had been using the angelic beings for His helpers in working, following people up, bringing the various pieces that were supposed to fit, putting them together. The Holy Spirit knowing every individual was assigning and directing these angelic beings as they work with you, causing the pieces to fall together every day for God’s plan for your life. God said, “Events are definitely predestined, but those that God has chosen in the events are foreordained into that plan. But they have the right to drop away or to go along with it, if they do there’s great blessing for them. But he said that if they chose to drop away, the plan would continue, the event would happen. And here’s the quote that he gave me that, “when God speaks an irreversible force is set in motion that nothing can stop. It must happen.” Then he spoke about Esther. And He placed this in the Bible for this reason. He said that with Queen Esther when Mordecai spoke prophetically to her and said, “who knows but what you have been placed in the kingdom for such a time as this.

Now he said if you do it, great blessing will come to you and your father’s house. But if you don’t do it know this, that deliverance shall arise from another source. Deliverance is going to come. You could be a part of it or you can drop away but it is going to happen. Then he gave me another example, he said when Jesus was riding into Jerusalem and the people were shouting. The religious leaders of that day said, “Hey this is not right, it’s irreverent for people to shout like this.” Jesus knew that it had already been decreed and already recorded up in God’s big book in heaven were praises that were coming up at that time. He told these people “too late.” It’s already written down. If these people be quiet the only thing left around here are all these rocks.

The shout has to happen. The unity that God is bringing today is not necessarily a unity of intellect. For too long people thought that in order to get along with various groups and types of backgrounds that we all had to think just exactly the same way. But God has other plans. He said, “Well even people in their own family don’t have the same opinions on everything.” So He said “the unity that I am creating in bringing My great body together in answer to Jesus’ prayer that we all might be one is a unity of the Spirit.” Jesus dwelling inside. That’s the reason why there may be people from 25 different denominations in this hall loving God, you all left your labels on the outside, the barriers being pushed down and Jesus’ prayer is being answered. On June 18, 1978, the last thing on my mind was angels. Even though I had been a preacher a long time I didn’t know much about angels.

I was the most unlikely suspect, I didn’t study about angels. I didn’t ask God to send angels to me. I thought they all looked alike. I have learned to know Jesus better thru these experiences. About two in the morning I felt two strong hands on my shoulders sitting me up in bed. I began to tremble all over inside. This great being, I could see the outline. I saw this form of a giant being there and I was totally frightened and he sensed this and he said, “Don’t be afraid. Your Father has sent me with a message for you to bring to your congregation, to you and the world.” My head told me to not be afraid, to quit shaking but the rest of my said oh yeah and kept on shaking.

I was just as afraid now as I was before but in a little different way. He said because of your concern, your interest in families, God has come to you. For two weeks prior to this time I had preached about the families. For several years I have spent hours often as high as 90 hours a week in putting homes together. And God saw it and during that time over six years I was able to put over 600 couples together who were already living apart. 125 of these couples were already divorced; I remarried them in my office there. And with God’s help was able to get that new love back in there heart for each other. God opened up a new day. The angel said, “I have this day led Special Forces into the world to help in bringing these families into a relationship with God and bringing them back to each other.” There were other messages that he brought about lost loved ones.

He said, “If one person in the family knows God, every member of that family is highly favored of God.” And reservations are already made for them in God’s big family. Then he gave me Isaiah 55:3 speaking about the covenant he made with David. He said “when you hear and your soul comes alive I will make the same promise to you I made to David, even the sure mercies of David.” In Psalms 89, there are ten beautiful portions there referring to the covenant he made with David. The part that refers to families, “if his children forsake my law they will be beaten with rods and with stripes, nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. I will not alter one word of this promise.” What He’s saying here is they’re going to get in trouble if they don’t go God’s way but nevertheless they’re highly favored. This refers to parents and children. God put an example in the Word just for this reason.

In Joshua 2:18. He was speaking to a young lady who had only come over to God’s camp just a few days before. They were in Jericho. This particular lady was a prostitute who had turned her life over to God. She was now on God’s side. The spies prophetically spoke, “if you now will go get your fathers family, all of your fathers household and tell them that they’re highly favored because of you. And there’s a spot for them. When the city is destroyed and judgment comes, there’s a place of safety already reserved for them. And the good part was that they believed her and they came and they were spared. I went ahead and gave the message and within a week, over 100 people scattered around the United States, stated that they had given their lives to Jesus.

God spoke to me and said in order to give that message the way He wanted it given that I had to literally see and know and have a glimpse of the tremendous cost of salvation. I had to be aware of the sacrifice of Jesus. I had to see how complete the job was that He did. And so from many, many different aspects He showed me the sacrifice of Jesus. I wept, and wept till I could weep no more. And I literally felt the anguish and the pain. And I saw it in Zechariah chapter three in verses one thru five. How He came in before the Father in those filthy garments. I saw it in Revelation chapter 5:6 where He was the Lamb that was slain lying there crimson before God. I saw that Lamb as He rose and came forth with the seven horns upon His head and a great ram and the angel said this ram now, the horns speak of great power and the seven is the completeness of all power.

So when Jesus came forth and returned to his disciples he could say to them, “all power in heaven and in earth has been given to Me.” He allowed me to see Jesus going into the presence of God with the blood to sprinkle. I’ve seen it from practically every angle and my heart literally broke. But tonight I have a confidence in God that I’ve never had. When the angel first came and told me to give the message I hesitated because I had spent 28 years in the community preaching the gospel and I didn’t want to in one night destroy something that I had built up for so long. I didn’t give the message right away. And three weeks later those same strong arms sat me up in bed and said, “You haven’t given that message.” I felt that I was in trouble but the angel said, “Your Father knows how you feel about this. He knows your concern and He’s going to help you.” Then he gave me some more scripture.

He told me the story in Luke the first chapter of God’s great love for the family that He showed thru John the Baptist. He said that thru John the Baptist He would turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the children’s hearts back to the fathers. Then he would take the rebellious generation and weave them back into the family and prove to them the total forgiveness and restore them to a point of total innocence. He said the reason why so many young people cannot communicate with their parents is because their lives are completely filled with guilt. They have been ensnared and trapped by the rottenest and the stench of this whole world and they can’t. But God is out to let them know that they do not have to carry this guilt anymore and that His forgiveness is so complete that He will bring them to the wisdom of the just. That He would help them to comprehend and to know what the full blessing of being justified really meant. The wisdom of the just. They would comprehend what it meant to be justified, totally forgiven, and restored to a place of total innocence. And He will prepare a people for the Lord.

And the angel told me who he was. I looked up the verse he gave me and it said, “He that speaks unto you is Gabriel who stands in the presence of God.” As near as we can tell over 200,000 people have turned their lives over to God since these tapes, and these messages and the book have gone out. Hallelujah. The third time the angels came I saw what they looked like. Gabriel is 7’2 in height with blond hair. The other angel who was with him was about 7’6 in height with black curly hair. He probably weighed about 400 pounds. The other angel had a deep low voice. Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit who monitors the whole world all the time and can even pick up the slightest sound of a sparrow’s wing on the ground has sensed a massive build up of satanic forces coming against you because of the task that God has given you to do.

And the Holy Spirit said, “go down and scatter those forces,” so he said “we did.” I said, “Is this going on very often?” And he said, “24 hours a day there are bands of God’s angels around this world getting their messages from Holy Spirit as He witnesses and watches and monitors every life.” He said that if the Holy Spirit waited for people to call for help they would already be in trouble. So He is pushing back those forces of darkness 24 hours a day and you don’t even know about it. He’s on the job. God’s on the job. Then he told me about the exaltation of Jesus. He said there are four different kinds of angels that God has. He said there are the ministering angels who live among people who ride in their cars with them, who live in their houses who are camped around about them all the time. They have orders from God that have been given to them saying, “Take charge of those people.

And they’re with you all the time. There’s that type, that type of angel looks exactly like a human being so you wouldn’t even know you saw one unless you happen to see them suddenly disappear in front of your eyes. Or if you saw them do some super human feat. Then you would know that it was an angel. There are so many of them, there are a far greater number of them then there are human beings on the earth. Then the next group of angels is the worship angels. Worship angels are the only angels with wings. God allowed me to witness them when He took me right down into a living drama when He let me see Jesus rising as that Lamb that came forth. I saw Him rise and then I saw all of these angels as they bowed down before Him. And as far as I could see in every direction were these angels.

As you see them bowing down it’s the most graceful beautiful thing. Lucifer was one of these worship angels. He was the arch angel of the worship angels. And the seraphim and cherubim are a high order of these worship angels. Then the third type of an angel is the great warring angels. Because they come from the presence of God there is a strong glow that comes from them, a radiation that literally even when I’m not afraid I could never get used to their presence because it just saps my strength and I go down until they touch me or pick me up. And then it insulates me against the weakness and I’m strong again. After they have left there’s such a tingling sensation in my legs and I do deep knee bends and run in place because there’s such a power that’s hard to handle in these earthen vessels of ours. Michael is the arch angel of all of the warring angels. Then there are the Special Forces which include the messenger angels that God uses to bring announcements and messages and so on to the world.

And also to work in various ways in the unfolding of God’s plan. Gabriel’s chief purpose is in the unfolding of God’s plan. In a closing of one chapter of the book and an opening of another, every time he’s been referred to in the Bible this is what he’s done. He’s brought the announcements of a new day dawning and opening. And after he told me what his function was, it made me wonder what he was doing down here now. Could it be that another chapter is about ready to close and another one opened? After telling me about these beautiful angels he told me the highest and the greatest in all of heaven is Jesus. And at the name of Jesus when that name rings out in the course of heaven every angel regardless of their rank fall in worship before Him. He said, “There is more excitement and activity in the courts of heaven then there has been at any time since Jesus came the first time.” On two occasions I’ve been told that God’s plan before He ever made the earth was to take us to be with Him. This is His plan.

He’s given me such beautiful support in the Word of God. And though people fail to agree as to whether they may go thru the tribulation or thru half of it or no tribulation at all. He said “when Jesus comes, He’s not going to look at people’s minds and see what position that they hold on this but He’s going to look at our hearts to see if Jesus lives there.” He said that it would be totally contrary to the character of God for even one believer to go thru even one day of the tribulation time. God has sent Special Forces of angels and additional ministering angels now into every country of the world, not to relieve believers of their responsibility but to help believers get the job done. We are more responsible now because angels can only bring a person to a point of choice but he said you as believers can help pull them thru and help them make the right choice. And that’s the reason why Paul was saying, “I’m persuading men, I’m helping them make the right choice.” So God is bringing them to us, we become a doorway right to Jesus’ heart and we pull them right on thru to them. It really jolted me when I was in the throne room and God said, “one of the greatest misconceptions of believers is the fact that if they don’t do the job it won’t get done.” But He is too wise, this plan is too important to Him to put the total responsibility on whether it goes or not in the hands of man.

But thank God when we link arms with Him He can sure use us. And He wants to use us. And He gives us the first opportunity of serving Him. The purpose of these experiences was for me to see God as He really is. I want to share about Morris Plots; it was very interesting to me. I’ll just start with this paragraph in my journal. He then introduced me to a ministering angel from Kenya Africa where God has released a large host to ready people of that country for the words of life. He was a big black angel. Because when God prepares them, He makes them look like the people that they’re working among like the one in China, so that they could do it in incognito. Then he stated that a prince with God who had been sent to this body Morris Plotts will be happily surprised to hear of the allies from heaven sent to aid him in giving his words life and in scattering the forces of darkness.

This angel was dressed like a westerner. He explained that this host was active throughout the country. His personal assignment had been Nairobi but was ministering to a family in a village on the south coast when he was directed by the Holy Spirit to appear in Boise. I told Morris about this and he said, “Nobody knows about that village, it’s not even on the map. That had to come from God because nobody knows about that.” These things that I’m telling you about are true. God cares about people; He loves people more than you’ve ever dreamed. He’s not looking for reasons to throw people away; He’s looking for reasons to reach people. He said that men and woman have made it so difficult for people to get in and so easy to get out when in reality God wants to make it easy to get in and hard to get out. And that’s just like Jesus.

He said that men and woman to a large extent had their idea of God upside down. God wants to be known as a God of love. In Jeremiah 9:23-4, “let not the rich man glory in his wealth, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me. That I am a God of loving-kindness, a God of mercy, and God of justice, a God of righteousness. The word righteousness means His unfailing ability to always do the right thing. This is the kind of God that He is. And then he says, “In these things I delight says the Lord.” Then when Moses cried out, “God let me see what You’re like and God hid him with His hand in the cleft of the rock. Then when God passed by He spoke to him from the cloud, God described Himself to Moses, and he said, “The great God full of kindness and mercy and gentleness and the God of love. And for those who reject there’s the judgment and condemnation and so on but his first desire, the things that He delights to be known in is love.

He told me that men and woman have had the full orb of truth. They have both His love and His wrath. But they have it upside down. And men and women in trying so hard to appease the wrath of God are struggling and struggling and struggling when Jesus has already appeased the wrath of God with His sacrifice. But He said while they’re struggling, if they struggle long enough they can drop thru into the love of God. But the message that God has given me is this. Roll the orb of truth over. Tell men and women to plunge themselves into His love and then they’ll never need to worry about His wrath. You get lost and all wrapped up into the love of God and you’re not going to have to worry about that wrath. He told us that when He told Moses about that, He said, “for those who accept Him there’s the righteousness, the love, the blessing the loving-kindness.

Hallelujah. Now I’m going to read to you something that I feel is very, very important. God gave me, about seven weeks ago, another beautiful visit. “One of the most profound and inspiring encounters that I have ever experienced occurred last Sunday morning. I was writing this on September the second. I was awakened about 1 a.m. and was ministered by God thru the angels He had sent. In the course of this ministry He allowed me to witness again His great plan in operation in making us acceptable in His sight. Of covering us, of making us look just exactly like Jesus.

Did you know that is what God’s plan was? Colossians 1:22, He has made us look just like Jesus when our faith is in His performance instead of our performance. Then something happened and I was translated into the presence of Jesus. Like Paul I am not sure if I was in body or spirit. I saw Jesus for the first time. I met Him, I talked with Him. I saw Him not in His earthly appearance but in His eternal appearance which was identical to that which was described by John in Revelation 1:13-18. He appeared as the great judge of all. It is possible that He will take on a different appearance upon His return. People are most used to that he had when he was here on earth, I don’t know. What I was allowed to see was His eternal appearance.

His white hair hung to His shoulders, His face shone like pure white light. He wore a wide gold belt that was contoured to partially cover His chest. His shoes shone like polished copper. His eyes were much like Gabriel’s. Could it be that these garments and this appearance is characteristic of those who dwell in God’s presence? My spirit leaped within me as He stated that His servants the angels had been sent forth to compel men and women to come to this point of choice. He made reference to me that what He told His disciples was that in the final call that He said to His servants referring to the angels to go out now and to compel men and women to come to this point of choice. They can compel them but they must choose.” Then incidentally in this compelling, he gave me the example of Lot when he was in Sodom and judgment was going to fall, and Lot tarried. And he said he hastened Lot and said Lot hurry up! And Lot didn’t want to hurry. And so the Word tells us that the angels took Lot, now it doesn’t say that they picked him up but it does say they took him and brought him outside the city and set him down.

Now they couldn’t have set him down if they wouldn’t have picked him up in the first place. They took him even when he wanted to stay there. And this is what they have come to do. He also spoke of the numberless hosts that have been sent into all the world to help prepare the precious fruit of the earth, the redeemed souls for the harvest. He then summoned representing every part of the world. I saw angels from the arctic, the Antarctic countries, I saw them from South America from the islands of the sea. Not all the hosts but one representative from each place where God had sent them. Several of these I recognized as ministering angels that I had previously met. His purpose for this meeting was to remind the world of the urgency and the importance of linking arms with Him and of telling the world that He cares, and of telling the workers around the world that they are not alone. I am still not sure if I was there in body or not, but it seems like I was.

When I returned I stood alone by the stream at the rear of the house. It was almost like I was between two worlds. I was dazed but more aware than ever that the countdown is nearly finished. The sickle has been thrust in. While in the presence of Jesus I was allowed to see the terrible days of tribulation ahead from God’s viewpoint. I met many of Gabriel’s angels who will be extremely active during that time. I was allowed to visit briefly with Michael who also has an important role to fill. Jesus stated, now I want you to listen to this. Some of you are so concerned about your loved ones because you’re wondering if Jesus were to come suddenly and they’ve been so stubbornly resisting even though the angels are working on them. God has not forgotten them.

And here’s what He said, and this was something so beautiful. Jesus stated, “That even tribulation would not separate men from His love. And that millions would be saved by death in standing for God in those days.” And He gave the reference in Revelation 7:9-18. Where it speaks of John seeing a number that no one could number from every place that were slain. He said, “these are the ones that actually heard the message and they’re so highly favored of God that even tribulation could not separate them from His love.” Then He went on to say that the prayers of those who love God for their loved ones will still be effective and that these people will die for their stand and be united at the resurrection at the close of those days of sorrow with loved ones who were taken in rapture before those awful days. He said that he had prepared a word that he used only once. A word that in the Greek is paralambano. He said this word He used, He made for this occasion which literally means to call to one side in an affectionate manner as a groom would call His bride.

That word is found in Matthew the 24th chapter where he said one shall be taken and the other left. Now there are some people confused, they think this means they would be taken in death. No, that wouldn’t be calling to His side in an affectionate manner. But what He said is that as a groom would take His bride, He is going to take His people in an affectionate manner. I looked this up to find out if Strong knew about that in Strong’s concordance and sure enough he knew, it’s there paralambano used one time only in the whole Bible. Hallelujah. Jesus is coming folks. We don’t know how to correlate God’s calendar and ours. But one thing that God does want us to remember is this. That when we have linked arms with Him, we are right now in the spot that God wants us to be.

We’re lights in a dark place. He doesn’t want you to leave what you’re doing and go do something else. He wants us to occupy and be faithful until He comes. Because we do not know His calendar, the sand in His hour glass is just finishing, running thru. We don’t know how eternity correlates with time. But we do know this on God’s calendar it is about up. And God brought you here tonight. You have been selected by God to hear me give this message. A week ago Saturday night, I told them about this lady, and this week ago Saturday night when this lady called from Sacramento. God knew all about her.

But one of the reasons for those angels being there for several hours was in talking to me about this particular trip that I’m making. That He had prepared people in each of these places to hear this message. He had prepared them. Did you know that you have been prepared for week’s possibly month’s maybe even years just for tonight? To reach out and to take a new hold and to get busy and write a few letters, to get on the telephone, call some of your friends, let them know that they are highly favored of God. Because Jesus is coming. One encouragement to you in praising the Lord and we’re going to bring this service to a close and probably one of the greatest praise times that I know that I’ll ever be in because I heard you praising God while John Hall was singing and I almost went to heaven right there, I know we’re going to have a real time. But I was awakened one morning, my dog often times will come up and poke her nose right against mine and she’ll go woof, woof real quietly. The only time she does it is when there are angelic visitors downstairs. So I decided I’d better get up and go down and I went down. And here Gabriel and Chrioni were and there was a young man with them.

Now I wondered, "What’s this young man doing here." I thought this was more or less an angel business you know. He was about 6’1. Gabriel said, “I want to introduce you, this is one of the ministering angels from the Boise community of angels.” He said there are a lot more angels here and as there are in other places then there are people. But you just don’t see them. There’s a community, a different dimension that they live in. But they’re there working all the time. Now he said, “This one is Siprion. The reason we brought him, the Holy Spirit wants you to know so you can share with others the true value of praise.

He said, “There are times when people feel that they failed, when things have gone wrong and when things straighten up then they can praise God, but while they’re having a rough time everybody else could praise Him but they can’t praise Him.” He said you could tell them that praise has an elevating value, that from the highest of the angels of heaven on down thru the warring angels, the worship angels down thru the ministering angels down to lowly human beings. But he said, “From the lowest to the highest you’re all on the same level before God during praise. It lifts you to this level with God.” Hallelujah. And he said now God is going to give you the privilege of praising with the angels. Again I didn’t have a chance to say I think it would be wonderful. It was like God opened up a big valve up inside of me and a river roared out of me and the angels were there praising God. And I was praising Him in a language that I’d never learned, one I’d never used even in praising Him in tongues. It was beautiful, just like a river.

My wife heard us down there praising God and she got up beside the bed, she said she could hardly stand it because of the power and the beauty of that praise time. After about 30 minutes I recognized I was still on earth, I thought maybe I had gone to heaven. It was sure wonderful, but I looked around and there was Gabriel standing there still praising God in that beautiful language. And here his head was as high as Chrioni’s so I looked down at the floor and his feet were right level still but they were about 4 inches off the floor. Well that’s not a hard trick for an angel anyway but it looked a little strange you know when I wasn’t used to seeing him that way. Then I looked at this ministering angel and he was only about my height see, so I looked at him, boy his head was up there. And I looked at his feet and they were at least 18 inches off the floor. Then it dawned on me, I was looking right straight across myself at them. And I took it kind of easy at first and without looking down I pushed a little bit and everything was solid there. So I looked down to see and I don’t yet know how God made things so solid but I was 18 inches off the floor.

My feet were flat, I couldn’t push them down. God had a way of doing it. But the thing that God wanted to emphasize was this. That during praise, he gave me a visual demonstration, I was level. Now physically you may not become level but spiritually you will rise regardless of how low you feel as you open your heart and you praise God. Now you see these worship angels, God has prepared to worship Him in the throne room of heaven. There are only a certain number of them that are praising God at a certain time. The rest of them God has the Spirit out looking all over the world who are worshiping Him in Spirit and in Truth. Hallelujah. And when He finds an individual or a group of people like this He notifies those worship angels and there are so many of them, there are literally billions of them.

He said move in, there’s a congregation over there in New Orleans that are worshiping God, move in there with them and there’s a great number. And as you worship and praise God the angels of heaven worship with you. They lift your praises up before God. Sometimes after you quit singing or quit worshiping and praising you can almost still hear the sounds. Many people have, they’ve heard the sounds after they’ve been thru, and I’m seeing this happen. We haven’t had healing services as such but in every service as people are praising God there is a mighty river of healing that breaks loose from somewhere up by the throne of heaven and flows thru over the congregation. I saw a Southern Baptist lady with arthritis in her fingers and she saw people with their hands lifted and she lifted hers and started worshiping God and when she put them down she heard a thud and the ring that was embedded in her finger practically because of the gnarled finger, it dropped to the floor, and she looked at her hands. There was not a mark on them. The arthritis from her arms and hands was gone. Immediately she came to see me and she said, “I’m going to see my friends and the rest of my family to tell them what Jesus has done for me.

Last Sunday morning a man in our service during the time of praise while he was just beginning to worship and praise he felt a breeze blow by. The angels had just dropped in and breathed a little bit of that heavenly atmosphere across his eyes. And he said it was just like a fog moved off and he came up to the platform Sunday night, he was shouting hallelujah, and his eyes were healed of his cataracts. People that have never known Jesus stand and worship together. They’ve heard His voice in a service like this and they’re reaching out and they’re letting God know, “God me too.” God says, “Yeah, you bet you too, I brought you here for this reason.” You can praise Him, as you do something happens to that load of sin, that disappears because you’re calling the name Jesus. They that call on the name of Jesus shall be saved. I think we can’t do a better thing right now than to stand and praise the Lord from the very bottom of your heart. Lift your hands, as God lifts your spirits up to the very level of the highest of the angels.

Hallelujah.

Chapter 46 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels

South Bend Indiana. The Hunters speak so highly of this congregation and this work. Brother Sumrall said that he’s kind of grown up with it so he doesn’t realize what it looks like to a first time visitor. But I would have to say that less than half was told by the Hunters. This is a tremendous work for God. My heart is encouraged. While we were at the T.V. station this morning I was reminded of one of the messages that were brought to me with regard to the necessity with getting these messages out to the world. And over and over, nearly every day I have occasion to either think it or speak it.

The word spoken to me on that first visit when he said you must give this message. Your responsibility will be that of giving it. God’s responsibility would be of giving it wings and of accompanying those words and giving them life wherever sent. Now the reason for this being the words in that book and those messages are definitely words direct from the Word of God. Everything that has been brought to me has been anchored in the Word. So what He was actually saying is that God will honor his word and will give it life, and give it wings. While I was on channel 40 in L.A. I mentioned to the Crouches the word that God gave me and that He would give it wings. Jan responded saying our satellite that we have up there is called gospel wings.

And so in reality God is using television to do a work that man could accomplish in no other way. And God has two armies at work. He has the Spirit filled believers, and He has our allies from heaven. And together our great supreme commander is making a pincer movement against the forces of the enemy. Satan doesn’t have a chance. A few months ago a tape came out with a message by John Todd on Satan’s timetable, how he was planning on taking over America. Before I ever knew such a person as John Todd existed the angel mentioned this message and I didn’t know I was going to bump into it. But what he did say was that Satan is a liar, he cannot tell the truth, there’s no truth in him and he cannot tell the truth. Therefore the angel said when you hear reports of any individual who states that they have been one of Satan’s followers and their bringing words of Satan’s plans know that they are lies because Satan even to his own followers cannot tell the truth. There’s no truth in him neither can he tell the truth.

And when Satan says that he has a timetable for various things that he’s accomplishing, know that it is a part of his lies. He has been divested of all of his authority, all of his power and at best all he can do is create a delaying action and a nuisance type action against the work of God but that he has no plan on anything that he is doing because his doom is already sealed. Then he gave me the verse of scripture over in Colossians the 2nd chapter where he said he spoiled the principalities. That word spoiled, and I didn’t realize this but that angel said God had prepared this word for this one occasion and that spoiling literally meant the divesting him of all of his authority, of all of his power. And then He threw the word away because Satan would never be given his authority back again so it would never need to be used in the believer’s language. We don’t have to keep spoiling him over and over again because his authority has never returned. That word is used only once in the entire bible. And that means he divested, striped from Satan all of his authority. And he never gave it back to him and so that’s the reason why we can walk out there, and that’s why Jesus said in Luke 10 “I give you power over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you,” get out there and get the job done. This is God’s great plan and purpose.

The first question is do angels have free will like a human? I don’t know. I believe that they do have definite personalities but in their dealings with mankind I do not believe that they are free to exercise a will of their own. Because the Word tells us they do his commandments as you read in Psalms 104. So when it comes to their work with us they are not free to exercise their own will. But what happens otherwise it seems to me that they have a free will to a certain extent anyway because I saw them out there in the yard visiting with each other. When the angels are visible to you would they be visible to someone else in the same room? I cannot see why they wouldn’t be because they have become solid substance you see. Just like everybody else, they’re solid. When they sat at the end of my bed they pushed it way down and so there’s plenty of matter there. One day Gabriel walked out of the office door and went down to the other door and if my dog doesn’t see them she certainly puts on a good act. She walked along behind one step behind her tail wagging as he walked along.

What do they do when the angels leave? Gabriel one time walked to the front door of my home and put his hand on the door knob, he said that he had been summoned by the Holy Spirit on assignment but he said I’m leaving Krioni and the other warrior angel there. But up until that time Gabriel was the only one that had spoken with me. When he left God had permitted the other angels to speak to me. He put his hand on the door knob but while he was standing there talking to me he didn’t open the door to go out he just vanished. On another occasion one morning Michael was there with Gabriel and there is an order of responsibility among the forces of darkness the same as there is as the forces of light because a cross section followed Satan you see. There are princes of darkness as well as the lower level of the angels but this is what troubled Daniel. Some of the princes of darkness wanted to delay the answers to his prayers there. But on one occasion Gabriel told me that the princes of darkness had a design that was very evil. The Holy Spirit said Gabriel take Michael with you. Gabriel said that there is tremendous might and power in Michael and his angels and he described to me the thing that happened with Daniel and so he said, “when I spoke to Daniel and I said only Michael stood with me,” because God is looking thru them literally, they are extensions of God, he knew the feelings that I had.

It sounded like he was short handed, he said only Michael stood with me but what he said was all it took was Michael to come because of the force and the might as the arch angel of all of the warrior angels. Then he introduced me to Michael. And Michael seemed to infer though he didn’t say it in so many words that this was a very unusual thing that he was speaking to a human being because his entire work is that of combating and pushing back the forces of darkness. The messenger angels or Special Forces such as Gabriel are those who make contact usually when there is a message to be brought. But as Michael spoke with me he said “at God’s decree I’ve shown respect for Lucifer down thru all this time” but he said “I have an assignment that at the time appointed I will battle Lucifer not to push him back but to totally defeat him.” And he said that they are accusing God’s people day and night constantly all the time with things that Christ has already forgiven them for. He said that he will not leave room and this is very interesting and he seemed so satisfied with this statement. We will not leave room for even one of them in all of the heavenlies but we will cast every single one down to the earth and this will happen during the great tribulation. But the believers, he made it very clear that during that time it would be contrary to the very character of God to allow any of His believers to be here at the time when Lucifer and all of his hosts are assembled on this earth. But he said “we will not leave room for even one of them.

Then he said, “If you care to read this because it comes from God’s heart and is directed and God knows what He put in the Word,” he said you could read it in Revelation 12:7-12. Michael had a look of command and decisiveness. Gabriel had more of a rapport as far as people were concerned. I could still sense the same spirit of Christ in Michael. Are there evil spirits that are over certain cities? There have been and there possibly are but this would be information we get from the Bible. I don’t know whether they’re locked into a spot any more than God’s angels are locked into a spot. God can assign them there for a day, for an hour, for a month and he prepares them for that particular assignment. So I imagine that the evil angels would also move around. Last night you mentioned an angel visiting you that was ministering in Africa. Did he bring you any messages as to what God was doing in Africa.

Yes he did. The message was that hosts of angels have been sent into the world to help prepare the work that God has designed. Now he has given human beings first opportunity to link arms with Him in getting His job done. But he will not depend solely as something as unpredictable and undependable as human beings to complete responsibility of a plan as important as His plan of reaching people. So He gives us opportunity to link arms with Him, to work with Him but He is not depended on this. If you miss out on God He says, “I’ll roll up my own sleeve and I’ll go down there and bring some salvation to those people.” And God is rolling up his sleeve today and sending out these angelic beings to prepare people and to bring them to the missionaries. He’s preparing people thru the television ministries. Those people are being prepared. The statement that he made was that this one missionary, but it could have been many other missionaries but he mentioned this man because he had been a couple of weeks before in our area.

He said, “A prince with God, Morris Plotts will be happily surprised at the allies from heaven and the work that they’re doing when he returns to Kenya Africa.” This man is 73 years old. He’s going out again for another term. He’s one of the greatest missionaries and has accomplished so much for God as he goes. Sunday morning I had the experience of seeing these ministering angels from every part of the world including the Arctic, from South America, from all of these parts and Jesus said in symbol the sickle has been thrust into their hands and they have been sent forth to help in the preparing of the precious fruit of the earth for the harvest. Can an angel get anybody saved? I’m sure they do. George Foreman and a whole lot of other people were moved on and cried out, “Oh God save me” and we’re living in a time when he said they that call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. They gave me seven different places in the Bible of different ways that people have turned to God. One of them was just looking unto Him and being saved. Those who apparently were dead, that are unconcerned that have turned off people that have closed their ears, they’re dead, unresponsive, God even wants them.

And He said those that are dead will hear His voice. He wasn’t talking about people in the grave. And as many of them will listen to His voice shall live. You see they’ve turned our voices off, they’ve closed their ears but God’s going to get down there and shout at them. And He’s doing this with people and they’re feeling the thunder of His voice, and as many as will listen to Him shall live. So you can rest a little bit easier knowing that His program isn’t going to fail because somebody you had a lot of faith in happens to fall. In your book you speak of the angel bringing you something to eat and drink for your health. How has your health been since this happened? How did you feel when the miracle was taking place? One morning Gabriel brought me something that looked like a cake. He said “the Father,” he always refers to God as your Father, “wants you to take this for strength for the work for which you have been chosen.” Well I was feeling alright but I took it and ate it.

It was hot and it had a strong taste of honey. And when I took it, it almost melted in my mouth. Then he produced from nowhere, I thought boy this is very strange, producing a silver ladle full of water. And it had huge grapes and leaves engraved on this ladle. He said, “Now the Father wants you to take this.” I went ahead and took the water and immediately a sizzling, fizzing feeling started taking place under my skin. And it just buzzed and then as I mentioned last night about this river of praise, this is the first time it happened when I took this. I started praising God, I could not stop. Usually I could stop and start as I please, I couldn’t stop. It was a river that just roared out from me.

It was a beautiful experience as I worshiped God. It seemed that people who I got close to would feel this or would be healed. That Sunday morning without prayer being made for even one sick person, 20 reported miracles with such things as discs being removed, deaf ears were opened, arms and legs were healed. Just by being close, but I didn’t know that there would be anything particular happening to me in this experience. But I got on the scale Sunday morning and it read 225. Monday morning I got up and got on the scale, and it was 220. Tuesday morning it was 215. On Wednesday morning it was 210. On Thursday morning it was 205. I am as hard as a rock on my stomach whereas before I could almost bury my hand in fat.

It got down to 195. I didn’t diet but it did change my taste buds or desires a little bit. That Sunday I told my wife “what happened to the food? It’s saltier than you ever made it.” I could hardly eat that food. She said no it’s just like it always is. But God had somehow made my taste buds, brought them back to life, evidently they had kind of been numb and I was eating things pretty salty. But she had to almost leave the salt out because I could pick up every little flavor. Instead of some kind of snacks that I had been eating, all I wanted was fruit and a few other things; I had a tremendous craving for it. But in the early part of July this happened again. I had the most man killing schedule that you could possibly believe.

And I was worried about it. So he came again and he said “the Father has sensed your concern over your ministry this month” and he brought me the wafer and the water again. And this time it lasted almost a week. It was uncomfortable but it wasn’t something that was bad but I’m just not used to having something buzzing in me all the time like that but I’ve had tremendous strength. The day that he gave that to me a lady that had just been saved a week before who was eaten up with cancer. I went to see her, her eyes were sunk way back in her head and she was so filled with fear I didn’t even think to pray for her healing I was just asking God to remove that fear and I left. But that afternoon God restored that gal. She went to a clinic the next day and they couldn’t even find one trace of that cancer. There was something about this vibrant source that actually came from heaven that was influencing and effecting people. Are the angels on schedule, do they have a schedule? Angels are around all of the time but their appearances to me have been very irregular.

There’s no way in the world that I could summon an angel. There’s no way I could say, “hey God would you please send some angels?” Because He may have some other agency He wants to use to bring about the answer to my need because He has many agencies. He might be some person that He’s commanding instead of an angel. Are there female angels or are they all male? I don’t believe that their either male or female because of what Jesus said, “They’re neither male nor female.” But the ones that have come to me have actually looked like male. But there are many worship angels that I’ve seen that look like they’re female and there are other ministering angels. God will use those that will fit the situation or the need. So there’s probably plenty around otherwise they couldn’t appear unawares if a bunch of gals were gathering together who were needing some help. He probably wouldn’t send a male looking angel in among them because he wouldn’t be unawares you see. He’ll fit them to the need.

Have any people in your congregation or of your family or your acquaintances seen angels besides yourself? No. Not that I know of. People in the congregations have seen apparitions, a cloudy pillar but I haven’t seen these at the time. Does an angel take everybody that belongs to God to heaven when they die? And does a soul go directly into the presence of the Lord? The believer’s soul will go into the presence of the Lord. In eternity time is neither long nor short. It’s instantaneous even if there were a lingering moment. I’ve talked with many people who have literally felt the presence of their loved one lingering with them for a time and some that the Lord has permitted to return have said that they’ve lingered there for a time. But as far as God is concerned to be absent is to be present with the Lord. Now there’s a little interim, transitional period and if you ever hear of anyone coming back this place is where they had been. There have been unsaved people, we can’t hide our heads in the sands and say it just didn’t happen; there are too many reports of people that have.

They have come from this transitional period not at their choice because no one ever gets a second choice but God can do as He pleases, He’s still God. And so from this particular spot before they reach that spot of their final abode God has returned them but He has never opened the gates of hell to let people out you see. But there have been some believers who have gone clear on it at His prerogative. This is something to think of in that book. It’s at God’s choice. Some have thought that at a choice of the believer or individual they could come back or go on but nobody has a choice over there because once you die your choices are all done but God is still God and He can do as He pleases. Is Michael Israel’s special angel? No, Michael is not Israel’s special angel. They would take on the title according to the assignment they had and Michael has been assigned to at times to Israel but Michael regulates and directs the warring angels in all parts of the world. But because Israel was God’s elect at that time before we became God’s elect and they will be God’s elect after we’re gone and then Michael had a special affinity with the care of Israel. What do the angels have to say about praising God here and also in heaven and what part does praise have in healing for a person’s body? Praise literally activates a stream of life and this stream of life flows, you see it’s His life flowing thru us really that brings our healing.

It’s Jesus’ life. And we are able to enter right in thru praise. Into the gates of heaven, into His courts, the Word tells us this. We don’t have to get this from an angel. It’s in the Word but it’s proven to be true and so healing comes oftentimes during praise. Are you permitted to ask an angel to talk to God in your behalf to convey a message thru an angel to someone who is in heaven? Probably so, but I seem to be tongue tied as far as asking very many questions are concerned. I suppose a person could but God has given everyone of us open access to Himself thru Jesus, thru Jesus’ name. So our prayers literally, He doesn’t ask them to go thru an angel to God. I received a lot of letters from pastors and it’s exciting. I’ve had some ask me if it would be violating the Lord in seeking an angel.

And I did ask this question and I felt that the answer was so beautiful where Gabriel said “tell men not to seek after an angel. An angel cannot hear your prayers. An angel cannot accept your worship. An angel cannot abide within you. But you have one within you greater than all of the angels. And He asks for your prayers, He invites your worship and He’ll never leave you. Seek Him.” He said, “All of the roots of our life for our nourishment come from Jesus not from an angel.” Can you describe the face of an angel? If you’ve ever seen this type of an angel you’d never mistake it again. Their eyebrows, the bone structure seemed to be a little bit higher than a human beings.

And their eyes were not color red like fire, they’re dark but it seems almost like they were rays, they were penetrating and you’d think almost like you were looking into a pool of fire, a dim glow. But it’s not something that scares you but you could almost feel that compassion as they’re looking at you. But they’re not something that would make them look inhuman. Their skin also glows. The worship angels look like a broad variety of people. I’ve even seen some that look like small children. Will we know angels by their names in heaven? I believe we will because there all over the place and you’ll have a chance to see them and mingle with them. There part of God’s creation. Did the angels ever tell you why more and more Christians don’t see them? He said that man’s weakness has been to turn away from Christ to something else that would seem a little more tangible and follow him. He said an experience is as a gate thru which a person would pass into some other area of life or understanding.

And so the actual encounter is merely a way into comprehension or understanding a little more about God. But if an individual stood in the gateway of an experience, and all they did was talk about that experience they would soon tire of looking at the gates even though they were beautiful. Then he said it would be like Israel saying we want to keep going back and forth across the Jordan. And people themselves will become very weary of you just describing something that they don’t have an opportunity to participate in. But if you move on in and you take those beautiful truths from the Word and the message from God’s heart and you begin sharing truth, people do not weary of the Bible, they do not weary of God. And so any experience that you have, do not live in that experience but ask God what are you saying to me thru this and take that truth and that scripture that’s been made real and share the scripture rather than the experience. What do you do after an angelic experience? I go back to bed. But I can’t go to sleep. I never can become accustomed to this. It’s just like it happened the first time.

I watched two of the warring angels disappear. Are there different angels for each nation on the face of the earth? No. I believe that God has assigned angels but it isn’t for an everlasting period of time. They may be there for a day, a week , a month, or a year to accomplish a certain task. They have jobs to do. And then He will change them to fit wherever they happen to be. The Bible is given as our guide and God will not violate that but He will not be tied to precedent in the Bible. He still reserves the right to do anything that is consistent with His love, and His character and the principles of His righteousness. Are there any people that Satan would try to possess other than leaders? It looks to me like he tries to possess everybody that he can. But he can’t do it; God has some barriers built around.

There’s four barriers built around every unbeliever, there’s seven around every believer that have to be torn out of the way first. The angels are protecting and caring for people that don’t even know Him yet. Jesus’ prayers are still going up for people that don’t even know Him yet. Once a prayer is prayed in earnestness and honesty it never stops. There are a lot of people that are demon possessed but he doesn’t have an easy time of getting to them. You see there are barriers that have to be pushed out of the way first. Do angels carry a sword regularly? I’ve never seen them with a sword. If a person could be strengthened by their concept I suppose God could put one in their hand because there are some people who wouldn’t think they had any protection unless they saw what was in their mind and the Lord often times will humor us and will help us to fit the concepts that we have. Have these angels indicated that there are people like humans in any other part of the universe? They’ve never indicated this. They did say to me one time that God’s highest concern of the universe was man.

And that He literally made the earth to put man on. He created it to be inhabited. And then He cared for man enough that He looks past their rebellion. The first time that God allowed Krioni to speak with me. Krioni said that “you’ll never, never fully understand the love of God. It is so great.” And then He went on to say, “The Spirit directs us to help people who have literally defied God. They’ve shaken their fists in His face, they’ve sworn at Him. They have broken His laws and they hate God but God says go help that person they need help.” He said, “You’ll never know how great the love of God is.

If God for some reason in His providence or choice would decide that there was something that was still unfinished that He wanted to do, from that corridor He would send you back. And for believers He has sent them back from farther on in. Did you know Glen Horast? Did you hear his amazing story? God let him go clear on in and then sent him back. While I was in the throne room the Lord allowed me to see so many things that were absolutely fantastic. He let me see people whose funerals I’d had. There was such a lightness and the personalities of the peoples were even sharper than before. Their sense of humor was alive because it was something that God made. I saw a number of people there whose funerals that I had had that I didn’t even know they’d gone there. But here they were. I didn’t expect these people to be here and the Lord said that “these people called on the name of Jesus before they died.

And He said “they that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And there was no way for them to get into any trouble after they had called, they went right up. The thing that troubled me, I thought that everybody who went to heaven until the time of the resurrection was a kind of a spirit floating around. I’d just assumed this. I’ve taught it in mentioning it at least. But I saw these people with bodies. And I said, “Father what about these bodies here, I didn’t know that people had bodies till the resurrection” and He said when Paul had visited Him he brought back a message on these bodies and he made reference to it where Paul said I desire to depart not that I really desire to be unclothed, disembodied spirit, but I desire to be clothed on with my house that is from heaven. Now these bodies are not made for matter, they are of a different dimension. They’re made for a different dimension. They don’t know that they couldn’t handle matter because they’re in that dimension and they’re complete in this way.

And so when Paul was praying about it he said I have a desire not to be unclothed and go up there floating around for a century or two as a disembodied spirit but I desire to be clothed on with my house which is from heaven. And so those people have celestial bodies and they’re going to have those until they turn them in for the resurrected glorified body which can handle matter and substance and the things of this earth. People have asked this question about babies that die; when they go to heaven will they have to meet a stranger that’s all grown up and so on. The impression that I received while I was there was that these children would be held in the state that they were in the memories of their loved ones until the time of resurrection and then they would have the privilege of watching these children grow to a state of maturity so they wouldn’t feel like they were suddenly thrust into an area of a bunch of strangers that they didn’t know because the family bond is still going to be there. There are two family bonds that are going to be there. The big family of God, we’re all members one of another. But there is also a bond; those things that are precious to us here are still going to be precious to us there. So children will become adults? In time, but not in the waiting period. What are the seven barriers around a believer, the barriers that Satan would have to go thru? There’s a barrier that’s built-in within us. It’s an inner hatred of evil or things of Satan.

It’s an armor that repels us from evil. And unbelievers have this one too. Then there’s the angelic force that God has sent forth. And this is their work. Every person in the world, there is help that God has given because God loves people even when they don’t know Him. “While we were still His enemies God loved us.” So this protection is because of the love of God. Then there are the prayers that we refer to of Jesus that are never dying. He said “I’ve prayed for you Peter” and then He told the Father, “I’m not only praying for Peter, I’m praying for everybody.” So His prayers are there.

And then there’s the power of the blood about the believer. That power that is so strong that when Satan sees the blood he doesn’t only see blood he sees all the power of the Godhead wrapped up there and that mark is on us. So there’s a beautiful protection there. And then there is the Holy Spirit within us. “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” And the Spirit of God in sending out that force field about us. The only way that Satan can get in is for us thru our fears to open the door and say hey come on in here. But there’s that force field, that greater is He, that’s why God wants us to put on those hob nail shoes and trample him into the ground and come against him. Then there’s the hedge that He has built about in Psalms 19 and verse 1 when he speaks about “preserving me Oh God.” The Hebrew word there is hedge; literally “build a hedge about me Oh God.

You know this hedge that God placed about Job, He opened up a little crack and he told Satan he could stick his dirty finger upon him but he couldn’t get in. There’s a hedge around about. And the other is the believer, other believers in the strength. If two of you shall agree I am in the midst of you. Jesus Himself being in the midst of His church, the strength. Other believers can provide a strength and where one person can chase a hundred, two will put 10000 to flight, you see there’s power in the fellowship of God’s children. Is ancient mythology related to angelic phenomena in any way? I don’t know. I suppose it would be. You see Satan has used a lot of things that God made. In fact everything that Satan uses even in heathen worship is something that God made.

Do you know that Satan does not have the power to create one solitary thing. He cannot create anything. I don’t know what you think about the pyramids. They have been used in mythology; they’ve been used in cultism. I heard somebody say “hey Satan built those pyramids.” He can’t build anything. When I was in the throne room, God gave me the basic design of everything. He said, “Come with me to the throne room where the secrets of the universe are kept.” I learned the cellulose arrangement for fiber of all different types. I learned the gases, the changing from one substance to another by just the changing of the molecular construction.

But in all of the things God allowed me to see, everyone of the things, His basic design is the pyramidal design. Everything. There’s the triad of energy that begins with. It’s the very basic beginning. In His construction from that little basic unit and follows its way on up. And God’s trademark of your life body, soul, and spirit. He’s put His trademark on everything there is. Like the little atom. That little atom is made of three basic parts. There’s the electron, the neutron and the proton.

And it becomes a little universe. God allowed me to see an atom and made it big and He took a snow flake and said “now look, if I draw some lines between the points, like a little universe an atom is.” He said, “If I were to draw lines, points to the various neutrons that are circling in this atom I would have the same basic design as a snow flake. No two atoms are just exactly alike but no two snowflakes. But they all have the design of the crystal, the triangular look. There basic three pointed crystal that makes up. So that the stars are all, if you will examine them under a microscope they’re made up of the three sided crystal. And the little plants as they come up out of the ground, they come up with their three leaves. And even the construction of the church. I saw the metals as they were made in stacks of molecules but they were made in stacks of pyramidal molecules and to change from one type of metal to another it was just a rearranging, just a little bit.

When I brought this to a chemist when I came back I said “boy this is the strangest thing I ever saw what do you think of it” and I showed him. He said it would take me black boards full of equations to arrive at that, what are you talking about here? So he was literally amazed. I’m getting telephone calls from the scientists from the universities asking me questions. I can’t give them any questions, there looking at it from the ground level and I couldn’t dig out all of those things that they’re saying there. But they want to figure out how to make new forms of energy, ways of capturing electricity and all of these things. I said all that because we started talking about the great pyramid. When God in His great creation He said that He placed His trademark on the earth with the great pyramid. He didn’t say that He made it with His own hands, whether he used angels, whether he used man. But when you do something for God it is God that’s doing it. When an angel does something it is God that’s doing it.

So what force? God didn’t tell me. But he did say right there is my trademark. He said that in various parts of the earth He has literally burned into the surface of the earth the message of redemption so that angelic beings as they view the earth are able to see and be constantly reminded that earth is marked for redemption.

Chapter 47 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels #2

It’s such a beautiful thing to see the way God Himself smiles on people. God is selecting, has selected people and is pouring out His Spirit upon them. Why has God chosen in such an extraordinary way to bring messages to the world that are already in the Bible? And the answer has been found in the different messages that they have brought. One of these verses is in Jeremiah 9:23-24, where God is stating that He wants the world to know Him as He is. In those verses He said, “Let not the mighty man glory in his might, or the rich man in his riches, or the famous man with his fame but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me.” Then he went on to say “that he understands and knows me as a God full of loving-kindness, a God of mercy, a God of justice.” Then he went on to say, “In these things I delight says the Lord.” The world as a whole has the truth about what God is like but they’ve had the truth upside down. God wants the world to know that He cares for them. The world’s theology has had a picture of God.

They’ve had that orb of truth that God is God of compassion, that God is a God of wrath. Both sides. This is true. But God thru an angel said they have the order reversed. They have the gospel inverted. And the message to a large extent if not presented in this way, practiced in this way, that we must see Him first of all as a God of wrath who must be appeased thru various ways, various efforts. And somehow you can appease the wrath of God by what you do, what you are able to achieve, how you perform. You may drop thru this area of His wrath and enter into His love. Because the message of His love has always been bound and wrapped in the package of conditions, if we do, He will do. But God says the reason for this, even though they have the Word and the Holy Spirit, because of the influence of those who have gone before they’ve been afraid to give the gospel the way God has it in His Word.

When he spoke to Moses, you remember how Moses cried out, “God let me see you. I want to see you as You really are.” God said, “You can’t see me.” But Moses said, “I want to see you face to face, I want to talk with you.” God said, “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’ll put you in this little cleft in the rock. I’ll put my big hand over the top and then I’m going to pass by and let you get a little feel of the glory. And then I’m going to tell you personally, give you a personal picture of how I want to be seen, what I’m really like.” And so you read it in Exodus 34:6-7. Where he said, “the Lord passed by and He spoke to Moses out of a glory cloud and said, “the Lord God, full of loving-kindness, gracious, full of compassion and mercy.”

This is how He wants to be known first. Then so Moses would have the full picture again, then he said to those that refuse and reject, there’s the wrath of God. So this message today has turned the orb of truth over. And God is saying, “Let men and women know that if they would plunge into My love and share my love and accept it. They will never experience my wrath.” But if they have his wrath first, then their seldom able to really accept His love. Because there’s always that fear. And there so conditioned to the wrath it’s difficult to enter into the love. God has ways of cleansing and causing those memories of the past to lose their power to hurt. But he says go out and carry this message.

And the world is so anxious to hear this message. A week ago when my wife and I were out ministering, and it’s the same place every place we’ve gone. The buildings are filled long before service time is to start, crowds of people. In Dallas alone hundreds of people there have the book but they didn’t know I was going to be there. Some heard about it thru the T.V. station. But that building with over 1200 chairs in it, another 1000 out in the foyer and in the rooms, and still there were throngs of people unable to get into the place. It’s happening all over. The world is so longing to hear the message to know what God is like.

So this would be the answer to the why. God wants the world to see that He really cares for them. And that He hasn’t cut them adrift on a doom planet and said, “If you can somehow boost yourself up high enough I may be able to help you a little bit.” God says man couldn’t do it, he couldn’t find the ladder so God sent the ladder down to him in the form of His Son Jesus Christ for God so loved the world that He gave. These truths are exciting people all over. The message that Jesus sent out to the world was this. The gospel means good news. He said carry the good news. The good news is, man is already condemned, but the good news is there’s a way out of your condemnation. Somebody took your place.

So that’s the good news that He has. Jesus paid it all. The believer’s accepted on this basis, not of his performance but of God’s performance. I like the verse over in Romans 5:17, where he tells us when we accept this full gift of grace, it’s the unearned gift that God gives. When we accept it then and only then can we really learn how to reign, we can be victorious. When you accept His grace and the gift of righteousness, not what you’ve earned but the gift that He gives you, then you can start reigning in this life. You can then start having the victories over those things that have been troubling. Those of you who have read the book, you know the message of the atonement, what God has done, that beautiful covering. Here’s another question that has come. Will we know each other up there? There’s a lot of teaching today that heaven is going to be just God’s family and no human family.

But do you know that our human physical life is not going to be present there because God has a better life for us, the immortal life. But our humanity, that part of you that makes you you is still going to be there. And those things that have been important to that part of you that will never die, the soul, your humanity that will never, ever, ever die is still going to be alive and active. Your sense of humor is going to be sharper than ever. Your personality, the brightness is going to be there minus the things that could hurt or destroy. And God has a job cut out for Him that nobody in the whole world could ever figure out. But Jesus said enough about it when they asked him a hypothetical question. But Jesus told them you don’t have to worry about it, it’s God’s business not yours. And He has ways of taking care of things that we struggle and worry about. You see up there we’re not going to take those traits that have caused hurts and problems and jealousies and all of the other things that have plagued this life.

There, the Spirit of the Lord that God has given us here is still going to be active in His fullness and we are not only going to know each other but we’re going to love each other. There’s going to be joy and peace and happiness. Heaven is a very real place and it’s a wonderful place and it’s a place where your loved ones are abiding. I had a number of people ask me about loved ones not having the opportunity to participate in some of the practices of the church because they’ve died so suddenly or they were taken before they had a chance to. I can see a purpose for every experience that He’s given to me because it’s providing answers that have plagued people’s minds and hearts. When the Lord allowed me to see and witness loved ones, people that I have had funerals for right here in the church, and one of the things that surprised me was I saw some that I was in doubt about making it. And God gave me a truth that I have been using since that time. He let me know that when an individual from their heart cries out even if it doesn’t pass their lips, His ears are tuned not to the sounds that beat on the human ear that we can hear but His divine ear picks up cries that we can never hear. There are times that you have longed to express yourself but you didn’t know how but the Spirit of the Lord carried that prayer to God and these people had cried from their spirit, “Jesus!” And He tells us it shall come to pass that those who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. He let me know that that is what happened to some of these people.

God has so much invested in you that He lives to protect that investment. Another question that has been asked is, “will the family of a believer automatically be saved?” The angels of the Lord are moving and are bringing them to a point of choice. But the answer to that question is they will not automatically be saved. They have a reservation. But if you were going to take a trip and you had a reservation on a plane, unless you confirmed your reservation and got on that plane you wouldn’t get there. The reservation has been made but you’re not on that plane. And you haven’t done the little thing that’s necessary until you have said, “Lord I come to you now, thank you for your care, I confirm my reservation by accepting Jesus, calling on His name.” There was a pastor in town that stopped to see me. And he said, “I believe you’re honest but you’ve been deceived, these are evil angels.” I said, “What do you mean they’re evil angels?” He said, “Every one of those messages I can accept, they come right from the Word of God there substantiated.

But Satan couldn’t have deceived you if he didn’t bring messages that were right on with the Word, you wouldn’t have accepted them.” I said, “Is that right?” I would rather give God the credit for bringing true messages then to give Satan credit for it wouldn’t you? There is not one instance in the entire Bible of a satanic angel appearing in bodily form, in substance. But there is ample evidence of God’s angels appearing. Now the reason for that is, God can speak the Word, give the order and any of his angels can appear to do a job. He has a reason for it. Even Gabriel cannot appear at his own volition. God has to say “Okay, you have a mission to do, you can appear and he can do it.” But God isn’t asking Satan and his angels to do this. There’s no way in the world any of Satan’s forces could ever appear in a solid body. This is the reason why evil forces are constantly searching for bodies to inhabit, they cannot appear, it’s totally impossible.

I feel that many, many believers have become so demon conscious that they have given more freedom to the enemy in their own thinking then they have to God. One other question that has come up, “Did Joshua worship an angel?” Because the Bible says that the angel said, “Put off your shoes for the place you’re standing is holy ground. And Joshua fell down. Did he worship an angel? No. You see an angel isn’t standing there of his own volition. God is there, God’s holy presence. And if a person told me that they had seen one of these holy angels and didn’t find themselves bathed in that holy atmosphere I would say you had a little fantasy that’s all. The holiness emanates from them because they come right from God’s presence. Don’t get after some Bible character if he fell down in front of an angel. I believe every individual here in this building would fall down.

You wouldn’t be worshiping an angel but you would know somebody else was awful close by and the ground was holy. God cared enough. When Joshua said, “Are you with us or are you with our enemies?” And the angel said, “not yours, not your enemies, I’m captain of another host.” This angel went on to say Jesus would never have told Joshua, I’m not with you. He would be forsaking, He was the one who led them this far. And He said, “I’ll lead you all the way. I’ll go before you.” Jesus would never have said, “I’m not with you” because Jesus is the supreme commander. He commands Joshua’s army and this angel said He commands my army too. He’s the commander, calling the signals for both armies.

If you’d like to jot this down, these are some words that are from God’s heart. “Those who believe need no sign. Those who do not believe would challenge any sign that was given.” Another question is, “is there really going to be a rapture? God in His great plans before He ever made the earth has planned for a great rescue operation. He allowed me to see this and showed it to me in the festivals given in Leviticus 23. There are seven of them. And each of them were so important to God. There was the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, fellowship with his people, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, going into all the world and preaching the gospel. There was the great message of the covering. Then the seventh one was the gathering together to Him.

And in the festival God had the children of Israel rehearse each of these festivals every year. They had to rehearse the Passover which had to do with the death of Jesus. The last one was every year they were going to leave their homes and go out into the wilderness for seven days and there they would live in temporary shelters. And it was a time of great joy. And they would cut down the palm branches and they would shout and sing and that first day as they went out was the greatest jubilee of all as they went out into the wilderness. Why would they shout about that? God told them to get out there and make a joyful noise because they were rehearsing something that is going to be a great happening. And so every year they had to do this. God was taking them out of the world but they had to leave their homes for seven days and then come back to their homes. And this He called the feast of tabernacles. The time when He’s looking ahead to taking us, the word tabernacle means a home, taking us to His home to live with Him.

He said it’s going to be a beautiful time. There’s going to be what He terms the greatest feast of all as He feasts with His people. Then He said, “After seven years, you’re going to come back down and the time of the great millennial reign where you’ll rule and you’ll reign with Him for a thousand years will begin.” So it’s a matter of going out and away from your homes for this period and then coming back. There is no other possible explanation for this priority that God gave. It had to be rehearsed every year because it was important to God. So listen, God has something planned for you. The sickle has been thrust in. I don’t know how God’s time compares with our time but I do know this, on His calendar things are heading up. That word taken in Matthew was a word that God invented, and it means called to one side in an affectionate manner.

And the Lord is going to call us as He’s likened it as His bride to His side. And the word is probably a very poor Greek pronunciation. And its spelled paralambano. If God doesn’t record a believer’s sin or fault or failure, how can we reconcile that with the places in scripture where it says that we have a believer’s judgment that we’re going to face and there be rewarded or suffer lost for deeds done in the body and so on? When the Lord is speaking about this he said that the foundation is Jesus. He’s the foundation. Then He said what we build on this foundation of the nature of Jesus, the likeness of Jesus is going to be preserved. What isn’t the likeness of Jesus is going to be stripped away. This judgment is as you have often seen at a fair or a race track, is a judgment for awards, a court of honor, those who have something that will remain thru that time. And he tells us to strengthen those things that will remain. Now the removal of the wood, the hay, the stubble, the chaff is not a painful operation to a believer.

There are things in your life that you have struggled to be free from, things that are not built out of the same stuff that Jesus is built out of. And those things you’re going to find the freedom that you’ve looked for all of this time as He reaches down and pushes all of that chaff off to one side. He says, “I don’t have any reason for all this junk here so I didn’t build some warehouses to store that in.” So He said, “I’m going to push that over here and burn that up.” But the individual even though it might be just a couple of kernels of grain, whatever it is in your life that you have done that is like Jesus is going to be saved for all of eternity. So the foundation stands that Jesus made, but the things that wouldn’t fit in heaven have to be stripped off.

Chapter 48 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels #3

God is bringing believers together from every faith background. He is creating a unity of believers that has taken a totally different turn than what people anticipated. It’s not a unity based on intellect. But it’s a unity based on a unity of spirit, Jesus in your life. After all, the Word tells us Christ in you is your hope of glory. There may be some pre-tribulation people here tonight; there may be some post tribulation people. But when that clock strikes and God’s great plan and the trumpet sounds, God isn’t going to open up our heads and take a look and see which position we support. He’s going to take a look at our hearts and see if Jesus dwells there. He tells us not to be moved away from the hope of His calling. One of the most often asked questions that I have received has to do with the rapture of the church.

There seems to be a trend away from this blessed hope. And God knew it was going to happen and that’s why He said, “be not moved away from this hope.” Because Jesus is coming soon He is doing some things in hastening His work today. About three weeks ago I started getting telephone calls from medical doctors. They were asking me the same things. One of them said, “If this is what God is like, He is the kind of a God that I want to serve.” And I said, “He’s that kind of a God.” And he surrendered his life to God along with his family. I received 47 calls from pastors who had just about given up hope but as they have heard the messages from God’s heart they have returned to the ministry with new excitement. It’s God on the job.

He made a statement thru an angel to me. He said you give the message and I’ll give it wings and accompany it wherever it is sent. These are the greatest days of all of history. God is in control. About two in a half years ago I had an experience with God that changed my life. He spoke to me about the world, about His great control. He allowed me to see the world the way He sees it. He reminded me of something that happened to Isaiah. Isaiah was looking at the world from ground level. He said there is blackness and darkness everywhere.

And then in the first verse of chapter 6 he saw the Lord, he got a vision of the Almighty. He heard the song; the whole earth is filled with His glory. I could almost hear him saying, “is that the same place I was looking at?” God is in control and the whole earth is still filled with His glory. It all goes back to a happening on June 19, 1978. I wonder how many people here have the book Angels on Assignment. There are some here who haven’t heard. Before some of you may draw conclusions, I could tell not everybody knows quite what to do with this. I have been quite conservative. Don’t feel bad if you feel a little skeptical. In the middle of the night on June 19th I felt these strong hands grip me and wake me up in bed.

The angel sensed my fear and said, “Don’t be afraid. The Father has sent me to bring a message for you to bring to your church and the world.” And then he went into the beautiful message on the family. He said to carry this message not that people would quit praying, but to begin thanking God that He was bringing their family to the Lord. He loves to have us talk about our families but we could quit begging God, “God please will you answer prayer for my family in saving them?” You see God cannot save your family. He can bring them to that point of choice; they themselves must make the choice. The family is not saved because God is working on them. But this angel said that God had sent him into the world leading a great host of angels and they were instructed to listen to no objections of the people, but that when one member of the family knows God then the rest of the family is highly favored of God. And when that one member of the family’s name is written down in God’s book, God has a special book of reservations where the other members of the family’s names are recorded. Doesn’t mean they’re saved, they still have to confirm their reservation and make that choice.

I had a reservation to come to Spokane today but if we wouldn’t have confirmed that reservation and gotten on the plane I would still be in Boise. It doesn’t mean that you’re automatically going to be in heaven because some member of your family knows the Lord. But it means that God loves you so much that He’s got some things going for you. He reminded me of Exodus 30:8-12 where he’s speaking about the children of Israel. God gave Moses the plan of redemption in miniature when he gave him the tabernacle. It was God’s plan of redemption, the sacrifice, the covering of sin, the work of the high priest in the intercession. All of it was pictures of Jesus and His work. He said to Moses, take a half shekel and number all of Israel. See that every head of the household receives one of these half shekels. Gather together these half shekels, it was a ransom for their souls.

He said melt them all together to make silver sockets to suspend the doorway into God’s presence the great veil. Make hooks, and these hooks would fit into the sockets. Every family in Israel was represented in the supports for the veil. The Veil was a picture of Jesus Christ. He was the door. God was saying that the very way into His presence, His plan of redemption was suspended on the fact that He cared for the family, that you were included. Every family of Israel was represented. God cares for families. Another thing he told me as he gave me this message, in Zechariah 1:12, the angel Gabriel who is the angel who stands in God’s presence. And he said, “God those children of Israel have been in bondage for 70 years.

How long are You going to allow them to stay in bondage. The time is up.” God said, “Tell them that I have turned to them with mercy and I will bring them into the land that I promised them. I will keep my promise.” Then God gave me the beautiful picture that this promise was very symbolic of the day when Jesus comes to take His own people back. We have been in a country other than the country that God has prepared for us and we’re going. And so the angel went down and he stirred up the heart of Cyrus and then he stirred up the hearts of these people. God said, “I knew you Cyrus before you knew me and you’re going to build this house.” The 70 years of bondage was up. Cyrus told the people, I don’t know what’s happening to me but it seems like the Lord God of heaven asked me to build a house for Him over there in Jerusalem.

I have to let these people go. The angels of heaven stirred up the hearts of the people, they wanted to go. In Ezra 2 and 3 he names those who were prepared to go. Here you do not find one single individual apart from his family. Your family is highly favored of God because you know the Lord. In Joshua 2:18 it talks about Rahab, the one who hid the spies on the wall who were visiting. The spies by inspiration of God told her that there was room also for all of the members of her house to be saved. And the whole house was spared. On God’s clock in eternity time has almost run out. I don’t know how it relates; it could be a longer period of time on earth because there’s no real way of comparing eternity and time.

Eternity is a state of being; it’s neither long nor short. But things are happening so beautifully. There are four different kinds of angels. There are the warrior angels, there are the worship angels. The worship angels are the only ones that have wings. And their wings are almost like a worship garment. There are 3 of them on each side. The seraphim and cherubim are high orders of worship angels. Lucifer was the arch angel of all of the worship angels. He loved the beauty of worship so much that he desired it for himself.

I have watched these worship angels as they have taken these filmy almost like garments that don’t look like wings but they’ve put them up over their face as they have bowed down. There are other wings on the side that drape around the feet kind of like a Bride’s train as she folds it around her feet. Beautiful configuration. Then there are two shorter ones that cover the back as they bow and worship. These angels are not all assigned worship in the throne room of heaven at the same time. When they are not assigned God has sent them into the world and there are literally billions of them. God is searching for individuals who are worshiping God in spirit and these angels come and lift that worship and that praise to Almighty God. They come into buildings such as this where men and women are praising the Lord and though we do not see them, this room tonight has a greater congregation of angels here then there are people. These worship angels as you lift your heart into worship to God, they take the worship sounds and they lift it up into the presence of God. It adds meaning and purpose.

I’ve had it happen at least three times in the last couple of weeks where people have said after the worship and the singing in the Spirit had subsided they could still hear some music and some singing. The voices of the worship angels have such a range it seems almost impossible. The range will run up so high and so thin, it sounds like a beautiful violin on the highest notes being played from there on down thru the depths of the chords that you hear. Those were those angels lifting some notes of praise. God tells angels to praise Him. Psalms 148. In courts of heaven when the name of Jesus is sounded every angel regardless of rank has to fall and worship Him. The ministry angels live right on this earth. They’re in a different dimension, they don’t live in houses. You don’t see them, only when God tells them to appear.

They look just exactly like people. And you have probably seen many of them but you just didn’t know who they were. Unless you saw one of them carrying a car around or if you saw them disappear before your eyes. There present all over the place. The first ministering angel that I saw was from the angelic community from the Boise area. I thought I knew all of the communities around there but there’s a dimension, an angelic community. But he said there are a far greater number of angels in this community then there are people. And so it is all thru the world. These angels are assigned to help you. He tells those angels to take charge of those people, minister to them, camp around them and keep them.

God Himself because of His love for man has sent hosts of angels into all the world to help prepare men and women for God. I’ve had a ministering angel from Russia come. And it’s an exciting thing to hear them talk of how God has assigned them and the work that they’re doing. Some of you have probably heard how that the secret police often times among these believers and just before these secret police converge on them, people hear about it and they change the meeting time and the place. Many, many, many ministering angels are working among the people there in body as humans. Now they couldn’t do that in this country because we get to know each other so well. But there they can’t get to know each other very well. If they do and then they happen to be captured by the secret police there’s too much they know about other people so there’s not quite the knowledge about one another. So these ministering angels can come in and minister and don’t have to worry about any type of exposure and the people actually think they are human beings that are working there. But these ministering angels are getting messages from the Holy Spirit and the Spirit, “hey you’d better change the time from 5 o’ clock to 12 and you’ll be all thru here by the time that raid comes.

Or you’d better find another little spot because there moving this way. This is the most frustrating thing there is to these secret police, they know that that’s where they’re supposed to be but somebody’s telling them. Do you know that that happened way back in Elisha’s time? They kept wondering how in the world Elisha knew. “Every time we’re going to attack him, all of a sudden he knows” and they had quite a strategy meeting about this, “how does he know?” Well the angels were telling him. The Word tells us they were. They are just having a great time preparing people for the harvest because the countdown has begun. Gabriel met me on Saturday June the 2nd at 10 p.m. He brought me word about what God is doing in China. He brought me one of the ministering angels from that part of the world.

He spoke about a brief time of freedom, also about 1000’s of Bibles being brought in without restriction. He mentioned a real hunger being felt throughout the country. And in one Providence Fukian, over 1000 gathered openly to hear the word. Many angels were present to make this possible, closing the eyes and the ears of those who could be of hurt and giving the believers favor. Isaiah 49:8-12 appeared before me in a living drama. People in darkness stepping out into the light. Throngs of these people being Chinese. As I turned to the Bible after this experience and read they shall come from the land of Sinim, I looked at the references on that and sure enough he was talking about China. About 6 weeks later I received a newsletter about the ministry in China and it was so interesting to read the very things that had been told me. When God prepares these angels to work in a certain place, He prepares them to look just exactly like the people that they are working among.

A big black angel came and said he was from Kenya Africa. He had on western clothes. I talked to some missionaries from there and they said that’s exactly how people dress like. On September 3rd 1979 I was awakened again about 1 a.m. and was ministered to by God thru angels He had sent. In the course of this ministry God had allowed me to witness again His great plan in operation of making us acceptable in His sight. God has a plan, and it’s a good plan. When you put your faith in what He has done God immediately applies to your life the great covering of His blood and you are accepted of Him not on the basis of your performance but on the basis of Jesus’ performance. Coming alive before me was the message of the greatness of Christ and the fact that He was the head of all of God’s forces.

I saw Jesus literally strip from Satan all of his authority. He may come around and pester you but he has lost his authority. God has now made us to share the very life of Christ, He has forgiven you all of your sins, He has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments which always hung over our heads. And has completely annulled it by nailing it over his own head on the cross. And then having drawn the sting of all the powers ranged against us. He exposed them, shattered, emptied and defeated in His final glorious triumphant act. Then something happened and I was translated into the presence of Jesus. Like Paul I am not sure if I was in the body or spirit. But I saw Jesus. I met Him, I talked with Him for the first time.

His appearance was identical to that described by John in Revelation 1:13-18. He appeared as the great judge of all. It is possible that He will take on a different appearance at His return. His earthly appearance. What I was allowed to see was His eternal appearance. His white hair hung to his shoulders. His face shown like pure white light. He wore a wide gold belt that was contoured to partially cover his chest. His shoes shown like polished copper. His eyes were much like Gabriel’s.

Could it be that these garments and this appearance is characteristic of those who dwell in God’s presence? My spirit leaped within me as He stated that His servants, the angels had been sent forth to compel men and women to come to this point of choice because of the Father’s great love for them. Then He reminded me of what He spoke to his disciples that in the last days He would send forth His angels to help with the harvest. He reminded me of the parable that He gave to his servants, go out into the highways and the byways and compel them to come in. He also spoke of the numberless hosts sent into all of the earth to help prepare the precious fruit of the earth, redeemed souls for the harvest. He then summoned representatives from every part of the world. Several of these were ministering angels I had previously met from every part of the world. There were angels from South America, from India, from the Arctic. His purpose for this meeting was to remind me of the urgency and the importance of linking arms with Him and telling the world that He cares and telling the workers around the world that they are not alone. Any missionaries here tonight? God wants you to know you’re not alone. When I returned I stood alone by the stream behind my house almost like I was between two worlds.

I was more aware than other that the countdown is nearly finished. The sickle has been thrust in. We must be alert, awake, and full of faith and make each breath count for God. In the presence of Jesus I was allowed to see the terrible days of tribulation from God’s point of view. I met many of Gabriel’s angels who will be extremely active during that time. I was allowed to visit briefly with Michael who also has an important role to fill during those days. Jesus stated that even tribulation would not separate men and women from His love. Then he stated that millions would be saved by death in standing for God in those days. Many that have been prayed for that God has promised salvation may not have accepted in this life will turn to God in that time. The Spirit will still be working on the earth at this time.

He said the prayers of those who loved God for their loved ones will still be effective. They will die for their stand and be united at the resurrection at the close of these days of sorrow with loved ones who were caught up before these awful days. He said that one believer in fellowship with Him will not taste the wrath and the fury of even one day of tribulation. Praise God. His love goes beyond human comprehension. Did you know that on the job you’re in because you love God that you are in full time gospel work whatever your doing? When you have linked arms with God, everyday of your life is planned by Him and it isn’t a struggle that you make trying to say well I wonder if I’m making the right step here, the steps are even ordered by the Lord. Your path is even directed by the Lord. The input of your thinking when you’re in right relationship with God, it comes because God helps you to think the thoughts that are steering and guiding your life. Because you love Jesus you are in full time gospel service. Those skills that you have were given to you by God.

That training you have was something that God directed you in. Stay busy for God. Occupy till He comes.

Chapter 49 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #1

We’re going to be talking this morning about God. About His nature, about getting a further glimpse of God as He really is. This song exposes the heart of God and His care for us. “I would love to tell you, what I think of Jesus, since I found in Him a fragrance strong and true. I would tell you how He changed my life completely; He did something that no other power could do. No one ever cared for me, like Jesus, there’s no other Friend as kind as He, no one else could take the sin and darkness from me, oh how much He cares for me. Every day, He comes to me with new assurance, more and more I understand His words of love. But I’ll never know just why He came to save me, till that day I see His face in heaven above. No one ever cared for me, like Jesus, there’s no other Friend as kind as He. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.

Oh how much He cares for me.” I’m going to have you turn to Psalms 23. There’s something you’re going to discover in this Psalm. I think my mother read the whole book of Psalms 100 times. I don’t think you could ever wear out this beautiful portion of Scripture. In this Psalm David is giving us a little picture of his feeling about God. Do you know that, I don’t believe there is another area that people have greater misconceptions then about God? There is such a wide variety of ideas that people might have if people were to try to describe to you about God. But David learned something about God. He learned that God was a very personal God. In this Psalm he just tells how God has come walking out of ivory palaces, He has come walking down from the farthest control room star of heaven down and has become someone that cares for him.

He’s a friend, so strong and true. I would like you to read the entire chapter, Psalms 23. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leads me beside still waters; He leads me beside green pastures. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. You anoint my head with oil, my cup runneth over. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Notice a little insight here that David had here regarding God.

And that is the personal relationship. Now God doesn’t mean to you as He wants to mean to you until you can say, “He’s mine, He’s my Shepherd,” and then tell all the things that He does. I took out my pen and I drew little boxes around all of the personal pronouns here. You can’t imagine just how many times David talked about himself there. Until you can talk about yourself and God in the same breathe, you still have a way to go. In fact we still have a way to go anyway. But we’re a little short at what God intends. Do you know that in this tiny little chapter, there are a total of 17 personal pronouns? I heard someone complaining one time about an individual giving a testimony and they said, “well all I hear is I, my, and it seems they are just relating it to themselves.” It kind of made me feel like shouting Hallelujah. You can really testify when God does something for you personally.

When it’s something that is just hope so, it doesn’t have the same punch. But it’s pretty hard to pull something from someone that which they know as it relates to them. David discovered here that God is a true Wonderful Shepherd. Now it’s important that we learn to know God aright. We are living in the greatest days of all history. We’re living in a day when God is moving by His Spirit. We’re experiencing days of restoration. People are being restored back into fellowship with God. The mighty supernatural ministries that God Himself initiates are being seen in action again among His people. Happenings such as Moses experienced when he stood by the burning bush are taking place.

Do you realize what happened in the case of Moses? Moses had a definite spot that God foreordained him for in His great plan and purpose. God spoke to Abraham 700 years before and said your decedents are going down into the land of Egypt. And in Egypt they’re going to be slaves for 400 years, and after that I’m going to bring them out with a strong hand. The fullness of time came. God said, “I have heard the groaning of those people in that land of slavery” and His clock that He had set, the alarm sounded and He said, “I have come down to deliver them.” It was the fullness of time for their sojourn there in the land of Egypt. In this preparation, God had prepared Moses; He had spared Moses’ life as a babe. Moses was out in the back country for 40 years, the call had been in his heart for 40 years he was out tending sheep. I wonder if God hasn’t forgotten me. I want to do something for God so bad, and here I am, the only types of life I influence are these sheep.

But in the fullness of time, Moses was doing what God had given him to do. God was not behind, He was not ahead, and when the fullness of time came, the time to deliver His people, He saw to it that His plan was carried out. God met Moses at the burning bush. Moses saw the bush but it didn’t burn up. God met him. It was a supernatural manifestation. Moses knew, he was convinced, Moses had to have this revelation of God’s power or he could have never led the children of Israel out. He could have gone back down there and turn his back; Moses already felt he was kind of insecure. I heard when you live around a bunch of sheep you get kind of like that, when you talk to sheep like you would people. And then when you find people you talk to people like you would sheep and it doesn’t look so good.

So Moses said, “I can’t talk,” you remember the story. But because God was with him, God proved Himself; Moses was able to lead his people out. But today God has made us another promise, He has told us in the fullness of time, Gabriel will pick up the trumpet and give a blast and God’s people will be delivered from this world. Egypt is a type of this world. But in preparation for this hour, God is bringing men and women to the burning bush, they’re seeing the fire. God is speaking to them. He says, “I have a job to do,” people are saying well I’m unable, I’m not adequate, but God is saying, “I will be with you, I’ll help you.” Constantly people are telling me that God gave me a chance to witness and He was helping me to say the right words. This great renewal and awakening is coming because of the fullness of time. Jesus is coming back and God has His people out readying folk for that great evacuation from this earth.

Praise God. God revealed Himself in a beautiful way to Moses. And in this day, in that day, those that God used before they could be used of God, God had to give them a revelation of Himself. Now there are a lot of people asking about spiritual gifts. And they’re looking for a key to get their gifts into operation before they get a glimpse of God and see Him as He is. But God’s order is, when we see Him these other things will fall into place. I thank God for this pattern that He has set. I’ve seen not only Moses with his experience, but Moses in Exodus 33 cried out to God, “Show me Thy glory.” He wanted to see God more than he ever saw Him before. He would allow him to see this.

God let him see what He was really like here. God said, “I will make all of my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” But some people said, “God you forgot to tell Moses that you’re going to show him your wrath to. People are so concerned that when you start talking about what God is really like, you’re going to make people reckless and turn away. That’s nonsense; people can’t really live to please Him until they see Him as He really is. He wants us to be God conscious and not sin conscious. They’re used to be books printed all about the wrath of God. This is in the Bible, but the wrath of God is reserved for those who refuse to accept Him and walk with Him. I want you to know that every time God makes mention of Himself to His people, He’s telling about His true nature. In this message this morning on the portrait of God, I want you to see what God is really like.

The love of God is one beautiful facet; it’s like a flash from a diamond. And His righteousness, I don’t want anyone to miss this message on God’s righteousness. This is a part of His beautiful portrait. And then I will talk about His mercy, and then the faithfulness of God. And so He said, “I’ll let My goodness pass before you and in the 34th chapter in verse five he tells us how the Lord met him. He said, “You can’t see My face, but I want you to know that I’m going to stand right there beside you. I’m going to hide your eyes there so you can still live because I’m so bright in all of My glory that you couldn’t look on Me and live but I want you to know that I’m going to stand right there with you. And I’m going to tell you what I’m really like. So the Lord stood with him there and He proclaimed the name of the Lord. And then the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord.

He’s describing Himself now, “the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.” But again somebody said, isn’t there somewhere there mentioned about God’s wrath. People have it backwards. God says, “Here, here is what I’m like. But those who refuse Me, there is a dark side.” And that is the wrath of God that would be meted out upon all those who refuse to serve Him and live for Him. But in His portrait of Himself that He gives to the world, and the door of hope that He opens up to people is not a door of fear into Himself, but it is a door to see God as He really is, how He wants to be your Shepherd. How He wants to lead and guide you, How He wants to feed you. And those pastures that are so green and let you drink there by the still waters, bring peace to your soul, and bring restoration to you. See God is saying, “I want you, I’m interested in you.

Those things that are important to you are important to Me.” Not only did Moses have these experiences in seeing God as He really was, but in Isaiah chapter six he said, “I saw the Lord,” I had a glimpse of Him. Isaiah had been a pretty good guy up to this point, but nothing really got a hold of him until he saw the Lord. And when he caught a glimpse of God, he said, “Oh what beauty, what glory,” and he said I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among people who have unclean lips, because my eyes have seen the King. If you want people to see the rottenness of sin let them get a glimpse of God as He is. He cried out, “Oh God what am I going to do?” God said you don’t have to beg, you don’t have to try to lift yourself to another level because there is nothing you can do. That awareness of seeing Me, and knowing your helplessness that there's nothing you can do is enough. He said Seraphim take a live coal from off the altar, touch this man’s lips and carry a message and say that your iniquity is purged. Your iniquity is all taken away, forgiven. What brought it all about? His eyes caught a glimpse of God.

Paul caught a glimpse of God. Oh what a difference it made to him. He said he was caught up into the third heaven, “and I heard things that I couldn’t describe, and I got a glimpse of Him and now I’m able to share it with you and tell you what God is like.” I remember the disciples in John the 14th chapter and the 8th verse, they said, “show us the Father.” Like these men of old when they caught a glimpse of God, and their whole ministry changed and their ability to help people was increased, God in this great renewal today is placing His hand upon people’s lives. He’s lifting their gaze; He’s letting them behold Him in all of His fullness and glory. And in areas where the supernatural acts of God are being outpoured and being manifested, in every case that people have seen the Lord, their message is the same. God has been moved from that description, that page, where people are looking at Him totally wrong as though somehow they have to earn, or beg, or catch God in the right mood for Him to care for them. After Moses had a chance to see God in all of His glory, God said, “Now let Me tell you what's going to happen. I’m going to do things so great and wonderful that you’re going to stand back in awe and wonderment, because you have seen Me.

I have had reports of people saying to me that they have had to stand back in awe and tell me this had to be God. I’ve had several come to me asking me if there was some kind of equation to get the supernatural in operation in their ministries. Once again people are looking for the thing without the vision of God. Just as it happened with Moses before the great evacuation took place, God is preparing people. He’s putting a hunger in their heart and saying look to Me. Look to Me. And He’s creating restlessness, and that hunger within hearts, and people are coming off of that 40 year stint in the dessert and God’s bringing them to burning bushes. Glory to God. And the arm of God is moving. Can’t thank God enough.

A lady, who only had one fourth of her brain working called me up and said, “I’m all healed, my mind is back!” This was after prayer and God’s touch. It doesn’t have to be a loud noise for the enemy to leave, he recognizes authority. He knows that I know what God is like! God let me see who He was, what He was really like, and He wants us to take a good look at God. Jesus said, “If you want to know what God is really like, take a good look at Me, my gentleness, my long-suffering, my peace. See how I love you and how I care for you. Praise God, Praise God. Because Moses caught a glimpse of God, he described what God was like when he was talking to the children of Israel. Moses was describing what God is really like, and His love for them. He talked to all the 12 tribes here and told them something wonderful. And all these feelings that God had for them are for us to.

He loved the people. All of His saints are in His hands. So what are you worrying about? You’re in His hand because He’s your Shepherd and He cares for you. And they sat down by His feet. He cares enough for you to say, “Hey, you’re close; I want to be your personal God, your God.” They sat down at His feet and they received His words. He turned his word here into the Living Word. In the 12th verse he’s talking to the tribe of Benjamin, and he said, “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long. And he shall dwell between His shoulders.” That place of strength, he’s going to be taken care of by God, he’s letting us know what God is like.

He’s giving us a picture, and when he says that He’s going to cover him all the daylong he’s talking about His covering of righteousness over the top of you all day long and all night long. So that you can say to the devil when he comes to you, what a fine Christian you are, look what you thought, look what you may have said. You just kick him in the shins and tell him he’s a big liar, that God’s covering you all the day long, He’s covering you. And as long as you want to live for God, there aren’t enough devils in hell to pull you away from Him. It took a glimpse of God; Paul had this glimpse when he talked about it in the 8th chapter of Romans where he said that nothing shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ. You can get up and walk away if you want to, but who in the world would want to walk away from Him? Turn their back on Him? Some people do. Then I would like you to notice His care there when He speaks to Asher, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass and as thy days so shall thy strength be. There is none like the God of Jeshereth, who rides upon the heavens in thy help.” He’s telling you that He cares enough about you that when you’re in trouble He’ll swoop clear across the heavens to help you. Praise God.

“The eternal God is thy refuge, you have a place to hide, and underneath are those everlasting arms.” If you say, “I just can’t stand it and I’m going to fall.” It’s all right, you’ll fall right into His arms, underneath are those everlasting arms. Then he said the enemy might press you on every side, but you feel that you know you’re supposed to be strong enough to hook the enemy, but he said just in case you’re not He shall thrust out the enemy from before you , and He shall say, “now he’s on the run, get out there and destroy him.” Praise God. Then that 29th verse, “happy art Thou Israel, who is like unto thee, all people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, who is the sword of thy Excellency and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shall tread upon their high places.

The strongholds of the enemy will have no chance, when you catch a vision of God and what He’s really like. And the strongholds of the enemy are falling today around the world because people have caught a glimpse of how God is. Praise God. I have to mention Isaiah. 63:9. He saw a glimpse of how God was really like, and so now he could tell all the people that were afflicted, when we’re hurting He hurts too. In all of our afflictions, He’s afflicted too. But he said, He helps us during that time and carries us thru. Then in Isaiah 49, he said mothers might even have been known to have forgotten their kids, but God will never forget you. This God is such a great God, and He cares about you so much that He will totally remove all the records of sin on your life.

He’ll destroy them as far as the east is from the west. This is the God I saw. Paul caught a glimpse of Him to over there in Ephesians chapter 2, he tells us that we who were dead in sin, now were made alive, so we share His life. He brings His glory to us and so He’s raised us up to sit in heavenly places with Him beholding His glory, so He shares His life. This great God shares His glory with us. And then he said, “The God that I discovered cared so much about us that He even let us in on His plan that in the ages to come He’s going to show us His loving kindness. He’s going to let us taste of that love throughout the ages to come. Oh Hallelujah! If you really want to know a clincher for the truth that is found in the other parts of the Bible ask Jesus about it, “Jesus what is God like, is He really a God of Love? Does He really care about people?” In John 17:22-26, He said, “Father the glory which thou gave Me, I have given them that they might be one just as we are One. I in them, Thou in Me that they might be made perfect in one. And that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me.

That the world may know that Thou hast loved them as Thou has loved Me.” Jesus do you mean that God loves us as much as He loves You? Doesn’t that make you feel good? God loves you just as much as He loves Jesus. In verse 26, “I have declared unto them Thy Name and will declare it, that the love that Thou hast loved Me may be in them. Hallelujah. Ask God to give you a revelation of Himself and you’ll see it’s true. That one who leaned on His breast, someone asked John what is God like? John said God is love. And then the experience the Lord has given me, I feel honored, humbled, I don’t understand why, but I’m thankful for it. People are catching a glimpse of God. The atmosphere in heaven is bursting with joy. And happiness! Praise God.

And in each experience I have learned to know God a little bit better, and I have never been so relaxed around God since God told me, “Sit back and relax, you can’t prove anything to Me anyway, I already know. You can’t make an impression on Me, so you just as well, and I love you just the way you are.” So I’m not going to sweat, I’m not going to make it hard for making Him to love me. If He loves me just the way I am, I’m just going to accept it. And I don’t feel like I have to walk on tip toes around God, I don’t feel like walking softly around Him because He’s my God. He’s a God that is ours, we can embrace Him. He’s mine, He’s mine, and when you can say He’s mine, and He cares about me, Hallelujah, the devil isn’t going to have a chance with you I want you to know that. Because the enemy will be destroyed. Hallelujah! And as you catch a glimpse of God, you will never be the same again! What the world needs to see is Jesus! Just a glimpse of Him. When we catch a glimpse of You, we will also hear that message the earth is filled with Your glory. He’s here, He’s here. And all of these other things are made available when we first catch that glimpse, that vision of Him!

Chapter 50 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #2

The theme of my message this morning is based on a truth that can never be changed. A truth that when people see it and catch this glimpse of God it will do something for them that nothing else can do. The bible speaks of some very, very important places that we can enjoy. David said, “I have found a place where I can lay down and go to rest. Because I can count on God that He will do the right thing. I don’t have to worry, He knows so much better than I do. So why should I and God worry about the same thing. When He knows what to do and I don’t. I will lay me down in peace and sleep.” Over in 2 Tim. 1:7-12, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, but be therefore a partaker of afflictions in the gospel according to the power of God.”

What kind of a statement was Paul making there, asking people to be a partaker of afflictions? He must not have discovered all of God’s provisions, in making a statement like that. No, on the contrary, he could make a statement like that because he had made the discovery; he had seen God as He is. “According to the power of God who has saved us and called us to a holy calling not according to our own works but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ before the world began, but has now been made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. Who has abolished death, who has brought life and immortality to light, thru the gospel, where I am appointed a preacher and an apostle, and a teacher to the Gentiles. For which cause I also suffer these things nevertheless, I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him for that day. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast received and heard of me, in faith and in love which is in Christ Jesus, that good thing which was committed unto thee. Keep by the Holy Ghost which dwells in us.” I would like you to notice verse 12. Paul reached a point, “Well so what, I know Him. I have caught a glimpse of Him.

When Jesus was praying to His Father, He said, “To know You, this is eternal life, to know Me and to know You the One who has sent me.” Paul also made a statement in Romans, “Whether I wake or whether I sleep, whether I live or whether I die, I am the Lord’s. And I know that He will do the right thing.” Last week we introduced the subject of the beautiful portrait of God. We looked at His love. And today we’re looking at His unfailing ability to always do the right thing, the fact that you can count on Him. This is all wrapped up in a word God made called righteousness. The real meaning of righteousness is rightness, justice, and the knowledge and the ability to always do what is right. And when you talk about the righteousness of God you’re talking about the fact that somebody knows what to do and you’re strong enough to do it. Praise God.

The ability to always do the right thing. Here in the fourth chapter in verse 9 thru 16, he said there was a place where we could stop and rest and quit worrying because you can count on God. And until you can see this facet of God, that He will always do the right thing, then you can’t stop and rest, because you don’t know whether He’s going to do it or not. But when you can see it and when you can have that confidence, you can say there’s a rest that remains for the people of God. Let us labor therefore to enter His rest, and he that has entered into this rest has ceased from his own works as God did from His. “Let us labor to enter this rest lest anyone fall in unbelief. For the Word of God is powerful and quick, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of joints and marrow, and the dividing of soul and spirit. Nor is there any creature that is not manifested and naked in His sight.” He sees even the smallest creatures, the insects, every creature that God created looks to Him for His care, His help. Since God is this careful, and He knows our need, and He has the ability to do that which is right without fail, we can have some rest.

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed into the heavenlies, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but in all points was tempted as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, to find help in time of need.” God will do the right thing, you can find that grace, you can find that help when you need that help, you can trust Him, You can count on it. Moses cried out, “God let me see You as You are.” God proclaimed Himself to Moses, and said Moses there's a place by Me where you can rest, where you can have a glimpse of Me, and see Me as I really am. And in that place by Him, you’ll hear that declaration, the Lord God, the Lord God, Merciful and Gracious, full of goodness and loving kindness, God who is more interested in the needs of not only His people but in the needs of all of His creation. Job started asking God a lot of questions and he started wondering if God was doing the right thing, and he started complaining against God, “do you really think You’re doing the right thing God?” And he couldn’t rest, and it was horrible. “Look at the ungodly their having everything God, and the righteous and I’m having everything bad. But God talked to him, and finally Job decided to listen, and all at once God said, “Here let me show you a place where all of these things aren’t going to disturb you.

There is a path that the vulture’s eye has not seen, or the lion’s have not trod there on. There is a place in the midst of trouble and problems where you can fold your arms and say, “so what, I am the Lord’s?” The vulture’s eye has lost its power, and the vulture’s beak has lost its power to pick at you because you are the Lord’s. Because it’s a secret path you see right in the middle of a lot of trouble, there’s a river that flows. I like that song, “beneath the troubles and cares of this life, there's a hidden river that flows on.” This is speaking about His peace. Oh, Hallelujah. The righteousness of God shows you God in a light that you could never see Him in any other way. We so often think of God only as the salvation of His people, and the preparation of a place beyond for them. We think of Him in judgment of sin, but the righteousness of God shows God as the One who goes into the realm of everyday living, everyday needs, into the area of all of His creation; as I said the insects, the animals. And I know God loves dogs.

He takes good care of them. Psalms 145, this brings out the way God feels about all of His creation. And this isn’t connected so much with the spiritual as it is with the natural things of creation. Verse 14, “the Lord upholds all that fall, and raises up all of those who are bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon Thee. And Thou gives them their meat in due season.” God is doing the right thing; He is sustaining all of His creation. He’s providing and sustaining all that He has created. There are so many people who only see God in a spiritual light. But this whole world and all of these planets and everything else would be in the biggest mess if God was only interested in the spiritual things.

God is controlling the material things, and He is sustaining all of His creation. If He didn’t He wouldn’t be righteous, He wouldn’t be doing the right thing. But you can count on Him; He’ll do the right thing by you. This is what the Word tells us all the way thru. Jeremiah 9:23-4, Psalms 103, Hebrews 6:10, Romans 3:25-6, Psalms 98. I would like for you to get them down, and read them when you can. Psalms 98:2 says that “the Lord has made known His salvation, His righteousness He has openly showed.” How? Well, by remembering His mercy, His grace, by showing you His salvation, by executing righteousness, by making it happen, by bringing it into action, by God doing the thing that He said He would do. Then He showed it by being merciful and gracious, and being slow to anger. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins.

God would not be doing the right thing if He were dealing with you according to your sins. You know what He would be doing, He would be allowing evil to determine what He did and God doesn’t let evil call the orders for Him. He’s not regulating it by the sin, God hates sin. He hates sin more than anybody but nevertheless He is not going to let that sin rob you of His help. He’ll keep prayer from getting thru, but He won’t keep help from getting thru. If He would we would all be the sorriest bunch of people you ever saw in your life. God helped every one of us while we still had sin. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us, He helped us; He loved us while we were His enemies. He has not dealt with us according to our sin, nor rewarded us for our iniquities. He showed His righteousness again, as far as the east is from the west, so far as He hath removed our transgressions away.

He’s telling the world that He will do the right thing by us. I am showing My righteousness like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him. Then He said by making allowance, for the fact that you’re made out of some pretty cheap material, for He knows our frame. The word man in Hebrew means dirt. So he’s says Mr. and Mrs. Dirt created. He remembers our frame, just dirt. He said can’t expect too much, but give them a little bit of what I’m giving them, and the potential is unlimited! Praise God. Well these are ways He’s showing His righteousness.

He said the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for them who fear Him. And His righteousness (the unfailing ability to always do the right thing again), His righteousness unto children’s children. Then righteousness is seen in sustaining and providing. For some of you who are working hard for God and you get little thanks, His righteousness is seen by the fact that He will not be unrighteous by forgetting you. He will not forget, He will remember your labor and your work of love. Then His righteousness rises to the highest purpose when He proved to the world, the angels and the devil, that He was righteous in taking the fallen race and making provision for that race to come back into fellowship with Him. He still proved that He was not only righteous, but He had justice there by allowing the judgment and the penalty of sin to fall on His own sin by allowing His judgment to fall on His own sin. By providing a substitute, God proved to the world that He was righteous. He declared to the world that He was righteous by taking His own holiness and draping it over the top of sinful man, so that we again can be back into fellowship again. God did it! God was showing His righteousness again.

Then He gave the Holy Spirit, this is the mission of the Spirit. He said, “When the Spirit has come; He will prove to the world that I am righteous, that I have done the right thing and that I will do the right thing and that my righteousness is everlasting and that I will never quit doing the right thing.” You may say how does this relate to God, and you feel that God is unfair and unjust. Like what about other races and other peoples and so on, could God be just in dealing with these people rightly? We don’t know all that God knows, we don’t understand, but we do know this, that God has developed and is developing strength. He has made Himself real, He’s opened us a channel. He did not say He would take away the rivers of sorrow, but He did say “when you do pass thru the rivers I will be with you. I will hold your hand.” When you get into the fiery trial and the heat is turned up and you don’t think you can stand it any longer, He said, “I will be with you.” He didn’t say the problems would be removed but He did say that I will be with you. In His righteousness, doesn’t mean the problems will always overwhelm, but He did say to be aware that it does not detract from His righteousness.

And the feelings that people have had with regard to God were given because they have been given a wrong view of God. They have seen God as a must-steer God who is making an effort to prove that He is the supreme ruler and has to work hard to prove it, and that His intention is to strike down humans, His program is planned. This view of God is an incomplete view of God. The view of God that you don’t know, that He is not concerned about your welfare, that He is unfair, and that it just doesn’t seem fair. The heart that cannot see Him as the righteous One, the One that will do the right thing by us cannot rest. They haven’t discovered the path that the vulture’s eye hasn’t seen. They haven’t yet discovered the place that there is by Him. They haven’t discovered the rest there is for the people of God. Where we could fold our arms and rest in the Lord while the storms move around us. In the Living Bible the Apostle Paul talked about saying we are often perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as the way things do but we’re not going to give up and quit.

Because God still is righteous, and will do the right thing by us. And somewhere we’re going to be able to look back a little ways and see, while looking at some hard things and say, “the Lord did the right thing. Look what came of it, look what happened. God did the right thing. He revealed Himself. He strengthened me. He prepared me. He saved me from something worse, God did the right thing. And when you can know this you can rest in God. Hallelujah.

Young people, you can know that regarding the heathen out there who haven’t heard, you can bank on this, that God will do the right thing with them. This is why in Psalms where He said He has showed His righteousness openly to the whole world, there are people being saved in all parts of the world that have never heard the gospel message. God is rolling up His sleeve. If somebody says, “God, I’m not going fit into the spot that you foreordained for me in carrying the gospel.” God says, “I will do it Myself if you won’t do it,” with His own arm He wrought salvation to them. And I’m hearing of it all the time. And I think of Mike who God sent an angel in the form of a humpback man to him to tell him about the way of salvation. I think of reports in the Burma area where whole tribes of people have come to know God just exactly the way that we know Him, including the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Sounds like a dream. “Well what’s the use of sending people out then,” somebody said.

I want you to know it’s the greatest privilege you have ever had. God says I have foreordained you to help Me. And you can have the privilege of your life in being a partner with Me, but if you’re lazy and you refuse and miss the blessing God has for you, deliverance will rise from another source for I am not going to let the laziness of people spoil what I want to do. Read Isaiah 14:24-27. God says, “As I have thought so shall it come to pass, and so I have purposed so shall it stand. My hand is stretched out. This is the purpose that is purposed upon Me. The whole earth and this is the hand that is stretched out to all nations. For the Lord of Hosts has purposed and who shall disannul it?” Theologians? Some say that Jesus is not really divine. Those silly fellows are going to get laughed off the face of the earth.

Jesus is called the arm of The Lord. His arm is stretched out. I’m giving you a picture and a side of God that has little been seen. He is not only the God of spiritual renewal but He is the God of the universe. His righteousness is also seen in that He has allowed judgment to fall on sin because He cannot stand sin. He made a decree and He has to keep that decree. The soul who sins shall die. But God showed His righteousness by sending a substitute to die in our place, Jesus. Why is it that men and women who hear this saying and reject, it’s because they’re saying, “no thanks God. I’m going to take my own punishment.

Judgment is going to fall on sin. Men don’t have to die. This is the reason why the Spirit of the Lord cried out thru the prophet, “Why would you die? Why would you die when you don’t have to?” Life is yours, His hand is stretched out. Praise God. There is a rest for the people of God. Reach out your hand and put it in His. He says let’s shake hands, I want you to have fellowship with Me. Don’t allow circumstances or situations tell you God is not fair. And don’t feel He’s going to condemn you for it if you find yourself asking this. There’s a place where the lies cease.

Hallelujah. We’re going to have communion time this morning and I encourage you whether you’re in fellowship or out of fellowship with God to take communion and as you hold that cup in your own hand it’s a message from God’s heart that God has done the right thing by you. And I want you to say, “God I’m putting my faith in that, in what You did.” Because we are going to utterly fail if we put our faith in what we could do. God’s plan is to bring you to Himself and to take you to a place that He’s prepared. And He’s more interested in getting you there then He is in a lot of the things that people present. He’s more interested in people then He is procedure. We’re here in God’s presence. I feel that God placed this message on my heart today, because some, who haven’t known God or have, haven’t seen this side of God. Jesus, though if for the present if need be we’re in heaviness thru manifold trial, we know that you are doing the right thing because we know the trial of our faith is working something very special for us a far greater weight of glory.

This is the kind of God that you’ve searched for, longed for. But today you’ve heard this message and you realize that God Himself has spoken to you thru this message. Thank You Father that the trials in our life our working for us a far greater weight of glory. This is the kind of God that you've searched for, longed for. At this moment may new life flow thru them. By taking communion you are activating the greatest force in the universe. (Song) ”This is my body broken for you, take and eat it, each time you do, do it in remembrance of Me.”

Chapter 51 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #3

I have a message for you on another facet, two facets of God. We’re continuing this morning on the portrait of God. The picture that God Himself beams to us to let us know what He is like. I mentioned last week that this will be my final message on the portrait of God. But people have asked me, Pastor, where does God’s wrath fit in? What we’re hearing is the goodness, the love and this is exciting, this opens up hope, this gives a light and a warmth to the nature of God but where does His wrath fit in? And so this morning, I’m taking these two facets that God uses together, and my text for this, actually just one verse of a text here, and then we’re going to use a lot of scriptures we will move along here. In Romans chapter 11 and verse 22 the Apostle Paul is speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And he speaks about a whole nation being cut off, and then he speaks about the possibility of others who fail to recognize God and His plan and them being cut off. Verse 21, “for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God.” If you have a pen I would underline those two words here.

Behold the goodness and the severity of God. And in these messages, I’m pointing out here the difference between what God says to an unbeliever and a Christian. To one who knows Him there is a distinct difference, drawing a line, but in seeing this you’ll be able to reach out and have a deeper appreciation of God’s feeling toward you and you’ll also have a great fear and a hatred in moving into that area of God’s frown and God’s wrath. “Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God, on them which fell, severity, but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness. Otherwise thou also will be cut off.” Now I’d like to read Romans 2:4-11, “Despise thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that His goodness leads thee to repentance?” God’s goodness you see is beamed out to the whole world. It’s beamed out to men and women who don’t even know Him because God wants to lead them out of the area of His wrath. The goodness of God leads you to the gateway where the sunshine is. It’s God’s goodness that is leading you. And he says, “Despise thou the riches of His goodness?” Would you let God bless you and supply your needs and give you health and strength and let His sun shine upon you and not recognize and not honor Him? This is what he’s saying here.

In despising, there are many, many people today that God has blessed abundantly. Men and women pull away from God that God has blessed, but they’re despising. The word despising here means to count it insignificant, to count it unimportant, or to put it in an area of little respect. But he tells us that His goodness has purpose, a reason in it. Because God’s plan for men and women, God’s intention, God had more in mind then just giving people a good crop at a given time or helping them at a certain time. God had more in mind. God said, “Everything that I’m doing, I’m prodding and helping and opening up doors so I could get that person back in fellowship with Me.” This is what He wants; this is God’s plan, God’s pattern. So we read on here, “despises thou the riches of His goodness and the forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart you are treasuring up for thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.

But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also the Gentile. But glory, he’s given you the end now of the path of repentance, the path of the impenitent, but glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God.” All right, now we’re going to show you first of all this mercy of God, how it’s seen, and the path that God has opened of His mercy. We want you to see this facet of God’s face as it shines upon us so we can recognize His care, His concern. And we who are believers and I believe most of us are this morning; need a continual glimpse of God. We need to see God as He is, then we’re going to be able to help other people to see Him as He is. I would like to have you turn to Deuteronomy chapter four way back in the Old Testament here. We’re going to look for areas of mercy, glimpses, and portraits of God here. We’re going to see mercy declared, mercy revealed, and mercy extended.

Here in mercy declared, notice first of all I’m going to drop clear back to verse seven, I’m just going to pick a couple of these verses and then over to verse 23. “For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all of the things that we call upon Him for? Our God is great, He’s doing it. Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life. But teach them to thy sons and thy son’s sons.” Now we’re reading from verse 23, “take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make you a graven image or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God have forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. When thou shall begat children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land and shall corrupt yourselves and make a graven image or the likeness of anything and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God to provoke Him to anger. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land, where unto ye go unto Jordan to possess it, you shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. Now he’s telling us here that this is God’s truth, God’s indictment upon people who fail Him, who remove themselves from Him. But read on down now, the mercy of God is something that God does not enact that something we can claim but rather plead for.

His truth states the condition, God’s love, God’s indictment, and God’s demands of us. But notice as we go along here how the mercy of God is seen, “and the Lord shall scatter you among the nations and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen wherever the Lord shall leave you. And there shall ye serve gods, the works of men’s hands which neither see nor hear, nor smell.” Listen now, “but if from thence, thou shall seek the Lord thy God thou shall find Him if thou seek Him with all of thy heart and with all of thy soul. When thou art in tribulation and all of these things come upon thee, even in the latter days if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shall be obedient unto His voice,” now He’s telling you why, He can make a definite statement that you’re going to be destroyed and still help. Here’s the reason, “for the Lord thy God is a merciful God. He will not forsake thee neither destroy thee.” What is it God here, you say you’re going to destroy and now you say you’re not going to destroy. God says in My truth and in My justice I must destroy, but because I’m God in My grace and mercy I can provide a way to escape. Praise God.

One of the things that God has helped me do in this community is open a door of hope for men and women who have refused God. They’ve gone their own way, they feel like they’ve been cut off and others have told them the same thing, but He in His mercy says, “I will not destroy you. If you’ll call unto Me, I’m leaving you an option. I’m leaving you a door open,” Hallelujah, can you see God, can you see Him?” He is not the rigid God, that many people paint Him to be, and hold Him out to be, that one trip up or a dozen or fall into the very lowest depth. This area that he spoke of here was the farthest point away from God a person could get, but He said if you call unto Me from thence I will hear you. His whole key is call. Then He went on to say He will not forsake thee neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He swore unto thee. Well, praise God. I just wanted to give you a little picture of His mercy there, and here He is revealing His mercy and He’s extending it clear to the farthest end. He’s given a guarantee.

This is part of His restoration strategy; this was written right into His plan and His purpose. Now I would like to have you turn over to Psalms 125 beginning with verse eight. The whole book of Psalms is so beautiful, a lot of extolling God for what He is and for who He is. But I’m going to read beginning with verse seven, “They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and sing of Thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all and His tender mercies are over all of His works. The Lord is nigh unto all them who call upon Him, who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them who fear Him also He will hear their cry and save them.” I’d like to go back to Psalms 86. These are verses that can be a message, a voice from God to your heart.

Verse five, “For Thou O Lord art good and ready to forgive, plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon Thee. Verse 15, “But Thou O Lord art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, plenteous in mercy and truth. Now these verses that were given are stating God’s position. They’re letting us see God and giving tees to find Him. He tells us, “If we call unto Him, mercy will be open. Now He tells us if we confess, in Proverbs 28:13, “He that covers his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.” Praise God. He that covers his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesses and forsake them shall have mercy. Psalms 103 verses eight to 18. There are some beautiful things to underline here.

David discovered this. Though David fell into some deep gross sin, David felt the cold rays of the dark side of God upon him. Now he cried out in verse eight, “The Lord is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy.” And here’s how it’s seen. “He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever.” He will not, so there’s anger that rises in the heart of God thru the wickedness and rebellion and all these things. When a man turns toward Him and confesses and forsakes, He will not hang on to that anger any longer. He will not keep that anger forever. “He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.

As far is the east is from the west so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him for He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass. As the flower of the field so he flourished for the wind passes over it and is gone. And the place thereof shall knoweth know more, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon all them that fear Him and His righteousness unto children’s children.” Now He mentioned the goodness and the severity of God. God in His own declaration of what He was like to Moses over in Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7. He gives both sides of the picture. And he tells them regarding His love, His goodness, the bright side, His intention for man. The thing He desires for man is His grace, His mercy, His love, and His peace and so on.

But He does tell us that there is definitely a dark side and here where He showed Himself to Moses and proclaimed what He was like and declared what He was like, the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, “the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.” God said this is first to Moses. This is first, this is what I, my intention I’m giving you first. But this does not erase the fact that there’s something else. But where mankind has made such a mistake and gotten himself into such trouble, man has reversed the order and they have started in on the wrath of God and the darkness of God and destroyed the hope and the possibility of people really seeing Him. And so many, many times people live all their lives in torment because their view of God is one that is of His wrath first, that they themselves must appease the wrath of God and Christ has taken care of that for those who call upon Him. But then He does tell us that even those who are away from God, God keeps mercy for them. He beams His goodness upon them and His truth, and His ministry and His love He beams unto them. He says that because He shows His mercy, because He shows His goodness does not clear them. They still must accept.

Now there are a lot of people that feel that because God hasn’t smitten them, hasn’t stricken them dead, that they’re okay. And there are messages that, and philosophies that because God isn’t willing that any should perish and because He has every name recorded down waiting for confirmation, that everyone is just automatically part of God’s big family and is going to make it without any particular act on their part. God Himself gives His picture here, He says, “because I keep mercy for 1000’s, forgive iniquity, transgression and sin, because I do that, this will by no means clear the guilty.” They’re going to have to come and take it. He’s keeping it for them and He’s showing it to them and He has it ready for them. He’s made provision for all of them, but He says, “You’re going to have to take it. I want you to want what I have for you like I want to give it to you.” Praise God. All right, let’s turn to Isaiah chapter 55 verse seven. Here He speaks about the abundant pardon that God has provided for those who love Him and walk with Him.

“Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy.” There’s that word again, “upon him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither My ways are your ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” It’s God in His mercy who is drawing people to Himself. In Jonah as God spoke to Jonah God said He was slow to anger and pleasant, plenty in mercy. Micah 7:18, He said He would not retain or keep His anger; we brought that out in another verse as well. I would like for you now to turn to Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter nine verse 16. Now God is speaking here about a people that had pulled themselves away from God, but God said that He was ready when they would cry, listen to it here.

“But they, and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their necks and hearkened not to thy commandments, refused to obey, neither were mindful of Thy wonders that Thou didst among them but hardened their necks and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou are a God ready to pardon,” underline that little clause ready to pardon, “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and a great kindness and even in all of this Thou forsook him not.” And he went on, speaking of these things, verse 18, “yea when they had made them a molten calf and said, “this is thy god that hast brought us out of Egypt and had wrought great provocations, yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsook them not in the wilderness. And the pillar...to testified against them to turn to Thee and they wrought great provocations. Therefore thou delivered them into the hand of their enemies who vexed them, and in the time of their trouble when they cried unto Thee, Thou heard them from heaven according to Thy manifold mercies. Can you see those rays, those flashes of light of God’s mercy? Can you see it? Verse 30 and 31, “yet many years didst Thou forbear them and testified against them, by Thy Spirit and the prophets, yet they would not give ear, therefore gave thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for thy mercies sake, Thou didst not utterly consume them nor forsake them for Thou art a gracious and merciful God.

I wonder how many of you can relate to that today. How many times did you defy God, did you turn from God? How many times in your own heart did you wonder, “How can God have anything to do with me?” I wonder if there’s anybody here this morning that ever felt like that. Let me see your hands, okay there’s a lot of you. God in His mercy, God in His mercy kept after you, kept after you, kept after you, because His mercies were from everlasting to everlasting and He wanted to bring you to that place of renewal. He wanted to bring you to that place of reconciliation more than He wanted to destroy you. In His plan, all of these things, He said that there’s still a little bit of hope, it’s like a little fire that has gone out but there’s still a little bit of smoke there. He says, “I’m going to fan it so I can get a blaze. It’s like the reed that was broken, bruised and it’s lost its stiffness there. He said, “I’m going to see if I can make that reed grow again.” This is God’s mercy that’s extended to us.

With all of this mercy God gives now the other side. He said don’t despise this mercy, don’t despise it. When I think of a little verse over there in Micah the sixth chapter and the eighth verse, He said, “Son of man, what is it that God requires of you?” Have you ever in your heart as you’ve heard so many different things going out that were God’s requirements, have you ever wondered, “God what in a nutshell, what in a capsule of truth do you really require? What could I ask my heart and answer that You require?” And here God told Micah what He required of the sons of man. He said, “I require that you love mercy first of all, that you be so thankful that I’ve shown mercy to you, that you love mercy. That you walk humbly with thy God, to do justly, to be fair to God, fair to your own soul, fair to others, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. God has shown us what to do: to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. When God shows us this mercy, and I’m giving this to you this morning, it may be somewhere along the line that the enemy will want to tempt you to turn away from God and you will discount, feel tempted to discount His mercy. But I trust this morning that we will appreciate that we will thank God for that mercy that He has shown to us over and over and over and over and over again. If God didn’t show mercy to us today where would we be folks, where would we be? Would you like just to take a minute right now and give God a great big audible word of thanks for His mercy, would you do it? Let’s everybody right here, let’s just lift our hands and thank God right now for His mercy that’s been extended. “Jesus we do thank you, we do praise you for the mercy of God that has brought us to this place this morning.

The mercy that has been beamed from your heart to us. Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, may your mercy be sensed and felt and appreciated by every one of your children this morning. Oh Hallelujah, we love your mercy today. Praise God forever. Praise God.” And He tells us not only to love mercy, not to despise it. But He tells us what causes His wrath to come. Ephesians chapter five beginning in verse one, “Be ye therefore followers of God dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given Himself for us an offering as a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.” Actually those two verses go with the last three verses of chapter four. He gives the walk of the Christian, of what God expects, of what God wants from His believers, beginning with verse 29, “let no corrupt communication precede out of your mouth but that which is good for the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers.

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God for by ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ’ sake has forgiven you.” You’re going to be showing that you love mercy in this way. Now here’s what He tells you to avoid, “but fornication and all uncleanness, covetousness, let it be not once named among you as becoming saints. Neither filthiness nor foolish talking, nor jesting which are not convenient but rather the giving of thanks. For this you know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you of vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience going their own way, refusing God. If they even hear, if they call upon Him, He said He would answer. He’s listening but this is the path of the wrath of God and I want you to underline something in verse six there. There are a lot of people, do you know that every person who defies God and goes their own way has some way of justifying what they’re doing? Many times they’ll search the scripture and find verse after verse after verse and say, “well look,” well Satan can use verses too you know.

If you’re seeking for verses to justify sin, you’re looking the wrong direction. But no man he said deceive you with vain words. So what? God doesn’t really care. God does care and His Word is so plain. God cares, for these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. “Be ye therefore not partakers with them,” then he tells us, “for you were sometimes in darkness but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of Light. From chapter 4:29-32, He tells you how children of Light walk like. Turn over to Colossians chapter 3 and verse five thru six, “mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil conscience, covetousness which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” Listen folks, we’re living in a day, when Satan is taking dead aim on people in one area, possibly more than any other area.

And that’s in the area of their mortal. He’s attacking them, he has directed those who have sold themselves out to him and removing the sacredness and seriousness from sex and caused it to be something that’s wide open, promiscuous, and that anyone who takes a stand against this looseness of our day is just an old fuddy duddy. And some religious groups, they even tell us are trying to find ways and means of looking thru the Bible. I read of one organization that is called PHC, to try and find out to put a new twist that sex is not part of the marriage bond. That it has no bearing upon that, in that people regardless of what their type of philosophy of life is, whether it’s homosexual or whatever, that they have a right to their own. God says you don’t, He said His wrath is going to come. So don’t let somebody with some vain, empty words and some reasoning tell you differently. I believe that today we ought to build a strong wall around our own lives, that wall of faith. We ought to determine before God that the enemy, though he comes, he’s not going to find a place to get a hold of us in this area. I believe that you husbands and wives ought to band together in Jesus name.

Take a new look at your own position, for God has told us that He is the author of love. He puts it in our hearts, but He asks us to make sure we control the focus of it. He said you can set your affection on things above. He said, “Husbands set your affection on your wives, love your wives.” We can turn our affection, He said set them not here, and not here, but in that direction. He said the wrath of God for those that defy God, and with their empty words and reasoning justify it. We need to return, recognize God’s mercy and also recognize the dark side here, the wrath of God that is reserved for those who turn away from Him. Turn to Romans chapter two. We’re going to close on a note of victory because every one of us is going to slam the door on what the enemy is trying to do to us. Look at verse five.

He’s talking about those who would despise and turn away from the goodness and the longsuffering of God. He said but after thy hardness, and thy impenitent heart. Do you want to know what brings the wrath of God? It’s when God reveals His light and helps you and deals with you and tugs at you and shows His mercy towards you and there's impenitence there. “But after thy hardness and thy impenitent heart, you’re treasuring up unto thyself wrath. You’re putting wrath into that bank account, stored up against the day of wrath, though God’s payday is not every Saturday night, it’s there. Some people may say that since an evil work is not speedily executed that God doesn’t care. He does care, He does care. But the thing that I want you to know is that there are two sides, His mercy, His mercy, His mercy, His wrath, His wrath, His wrath, and He’s calling, because of His mercy that He’s beaming on these people that are storing up wrath for themselves, that mercy is not because He does not know their condition. That mercy is shown to them so they can repent. Aren’t you thankful that there is the bright side of God? Wouldn’t it be awful if we had to live in this dark side, just looking forward to nothing but wrath and judgment and fire and condemnation? We’re still on this side where we can accept His mercy, call on Him and know that when we accept His mercy, when we’re repentant toward Him, that those condemnatory challenges of His Word are not against us anymore. Right now let’s all stand and worship the Lord. And in some way from your heart, express your love for Him.

Chapter 52 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #4

My message this morning continues on the portrait of God. Two weeks ago we brought out that shining facet on the features of God. Love, God is love. And we saw how that love was manifest. Last week we went into the righteousness of God. Showing that God not only has the ability, but He has the wisdom to do the right thing and you can count on Him to do it. Today we’re looking at another beautiful feature of God as we search the Scriptures, and that is the faithfulness of God. God’s faithfulness. The Hebrew word that describes or gives the definition of faithfulness is translated from, gives this meaning: something that will prop you up, something to lean upon, something that gives support. What God is telling us thru the word faithfulness is that He won’t let you down, you can safely lean on Him, He’ll give you support.

But you have to lean on Him to get that support. There are a lot of people trying to lean on nothing and down they go. But when you find out where He is and what He is like, and you say, “Now I’m putting my full weight, my full trust upon You.” You can safely lean upon Him. David realized this and David writes a song here that expresses God the way God had revealed Himself to him. And the things that God says or that David says about God here applies to every one of us. David is talking about a covenant or an agreement that God made with him. It was something that God gave directly to him, a message direct from His heart. God in Isaiah 55 verse 3, says every person who will lean on me, it says, “Incline their ear,” meaning to lean over. Inclines their ears to me and they hear, their soul begins to live.

And he said “I have a certain feeling toward people that I expressed to David, it was my covenant that I made with David. That covenant was an agreement; he called it an everlasting agreement, one He would never break. And He said I didn’t just make that so David could have a little special agreement. I was merely letting David see how I feel about people who are willing to put their trust in Me. So now in this verse in Isaiah 55:3 He said, “I will make that everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David,” here they are and so David now is talking about this. I would like you to hear it as I read it to you; I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations. That means our generation too. “For I have said, mercy shall be built up forever, Thy faithfulness shall thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto my servant David, thy seed will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

And the heavens shall praise thy wonders oh Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heavens can be compared with the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all of them that serve Him. Oh Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee, or to thy faithfulness round about thee thy rule the raging of the sea when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them.” O Hallelujah. I had somebody in my office this week, their hearts were beaten by a storm, it was raging. I told them, “I’m going to ask Jesus to make real to you the words that He spoke to that raging sea, peace be still,” and as I allowed my lips to be the lips of Jesus and said “peace be still,” you know what happened? The same thing that happened when Jesus spoke to those waves. Immediately there was a great calm. And the storm subsided, the winds quit blowing and that person reached out in peace just embraced the Lord who was there with her. Hallelujah. This is what He tells us.

This is the God that we’re talking about. “Thou hast broken Rehab in pieces as one who is slain. Thou hast scattered thy enemies with thy strong arm. The heavens are Thine. The earth also is Thine, as for the world and the fullness thereof. Thou hast founded the north and the south. Thou hast created them, tabor and Harmon. The mountains shall rejoice in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm. Strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand.

Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” Oh I like that, I like that. This is what the Word speaks of when Jesus came, “we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace, truth, that grace, that carrier of mercy. Praise God. “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound, they shall walk oh Lord in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day and in thy righteousness they shall be exalted. For Thou art the glory of their strength and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defense and the Holy One of Israel is our King. Then thou sparest in a vision to thy holy one and said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty, I have exalted one chosen out of thy people,” now I want you to notice especially the rest of these verses on down to 34.

Get out your pencil and do some underlining because here are the agreements. In these other verses, David was expressing what God was like to him, all of His faithfulness. Now he said, “These are the evidences; these are the reasons why I know God is like this, what He means to me. I just can’t help praising Him,” he said. So we read from verse 20 and you can take the name David out and put your name in because you heard and your soul is alive, and this covenant is yours and these are the sure mercies that He made to David. “I found David my servant,” oh Hallelujah, I have found Buck. “And with my holy oil have I anointed him,” oh can you feel that oil, the anointing of the Spirit? “And with my hand, with whom my hands shall be established, my arm shall also strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him, and I will beat down his foes before his face and plaque them that hate him.” You better be good to me. Oh Hallelujah, you better be good to the one sitting next to you unless you want to get on the wrong side of God.

Here’s what He said He would do. This was the agreement, this was the covenant, and these were the sure mercies that He made here. “But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea and also in the rivers. He shall cry unto Me, Thou art my Father, My God and the rock of My salvation. Also I shall make him my first born, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore and my covenant shall stand fast with him.” I’m not going to break that covenant, that agreement was an everlasting agreement. In seeing God, in seeing His faithfulness there’s no way. He cannot be God and break His agreement.

He has to keep it. “My covenant will stand fast with him forevermore. His seed also will I make to endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven.” I would like to say to you, those who have praying mothers or family members; you may think that you just earned a little special favor from God even if you’re not serving Him. And you may think I’m out here making a good living and God is blessing me just as much as He is blessing these other people. Quit your bragging. You know why He’s blessing you? It’s because of those old fuddy duddies praying for you. There are some of you who had some things that have been pretty rough and things have gone really bad. But God hasn’t forgotten you and He stays on you because He has something better for you. He makes the same covenant with you as He did with your loved ones but you have to lean on Him, not on your own understanding.

He will not let you down. Let’s take these other verses and I want you moms and dads to thank God from the bottom of your heart that this is not just some empty statement. This is a covenant that God has made and He can’t break it. He can’t break it. Even if those kids of yours have gone the very farthest limit, He made another covenant for you. The Palestinian covenant that said “even though they get carried away to the farthest point and are worshiping other idols, and care not about Me. If they call unto Me from thence I will hear them.” There's another covenant you see. God cannot break those covenants that He made. These covenants reflect His attitudes and His feeling toward people.

He wants you, He loves you, He has room for you, and He’s going to stay on you in that effort to bring you to Himself. Here's His covenant: “if his children forsake My law and walk not in My judgments, if they break My statutes and keep not my commandments. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless will I not take my loving kindness utterly from them, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. You ought to circle that word faithfulness there. That means something that can’t change; you can safely lean on Him for support. He will not let you down. Are you putting your faith in Him? He’s not going to let you down. Praise God. “My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Once I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David,” I will not lie unto Buck. I got my name in there, got yours there? This covenant is yours if you listen to His voice and you pay attention and incline your ear to Him, listen to Him, and Life begins moving within you. The life that you feel within you cannot be stopped. Bullets can’t stop it. Floods can’t stop it. Atomic bombs can’t stop it. It’s life, His eternal life flowing thru you. The passing of this life into His presence can’t stop His life. It just continues on in a greater and fuller measure. Praise the Lord Forever.

Do you know it’s so important for you to know what God is like? I see people in several different categories or different levels of security of faith, and weighing them wondering what the difference is, why are some people so firm in their faith when the same things are going wrong with them, then with someone else? And this other person can’t seem to make, and investigating I found that the person who is able to stand and cannot be moved from their position is a person who has caught a glimpse of God as He really is. The other person may hear the words the way they’re written but they don’t see God the way He is, and their apt to hear anything the enemy would like for them to hear and these are the reasons for these messages. I would like you to see God as He really is. And then as you read the words you can rightly divide it. This is for the rebellious, that’s not for me. I think the enemy would like to have God’s people constantly search the Scriptures for something to condemn themselves with. Christ isn’t in the condemning business right now. He’s in the business of justifying you. It’s the enemy that’s condemning. Now some of you said Pastor what about the wrath of God, are you one of those people that kind of ruin things by just preaching the love of God.

Next Sunday when I preach on the mercy, I’m preaching on the mercy and the wrath of God. But don’t boast that you want to hear the wrath of God. When you say you want to hear more of the wrath of God you’re giving an indication that you have not seen Him as He really is. There is definitely two sides, there is the dark side of the cross where Jesus weighted right into the teeth of the wrath of God and took upon Himself the guilt and the wickedness of the world and felt the sting and the searing heat of God’s wrath and God’s judgment. But He did that for us so that we might live in the bright side of the cross, God’s rest. That we might take His place in God’s love, and God’s mercy, but people who refuse to identify with Jesus and say, “no thank you Lord, I’d rather carry my own sin,” they’re going to have to face the dark side of the cross and the wrath of God. And the wrath of God can only be measured by the extremeness, the total opposite of His love; human love can hardly comprehend the love of God because God’s love is so much deeper, and fuller, and greater. By the same token, human wrath, cannot comprehend the depths and the extent of the wrath of God because we can only relate to the human wrath and evil as we know it. But the wrath of God is so much more complete, but still dictated to by the justice of God. But I want to emphasize this to you to show you the portrait of God that He has toward you is not weakening the gospel, it’s letting you know what God wants you to know.

For His Word first of all was given as a revelation of Himself. He wants us to know what He’s like and if we look for something else other than that revelation of Himself we will get a warped view of the things we are looking for because we cannot see them then in the light of what He really is, His nature. That true portrait of God gives us a frame of reference that we can align with other things too. But if we do not see God as He really is we are going to be at sea on every subject you find in the Bible. You must see Him first of all. His Word is the revelation of Himself both thru the words and the messages that He gave to man. He showed what His heart was like in His dealings with man; He showed how He felt toward him. In His object lessons, the patterns of worship, the types and feasts, all of this He showed again what He was like. He reveals Himself in His plan and so that’s the first and the highest purpose. That’s what David saw as he wrote this 89th Psalm and in my reading of the Word, I thank God for this revelation of God.

And if in my ministry I am telling you what God is like, we need to know what He is like. Now real quickly I’m going to give you some references to look up. I want you to see how we can see God’s faithfulness, how He proves His faithfulness. Hebrews 10:19-23. You see the picture of the work that Jesus came to do. Our great High Priest that opened up a way where we could come into God’s presence. And then He said He opened up this way, He promised it, He made it possible, faithful is He that promised who will also do it. If He made the way, He’ll see to it that you have the way to get there. Praise God. And in first Kings 8:56, while Solomon was praying and thinking about all of the things that God had promised the children of Israel, Oh what a great God He said He was, full of kindness and love and truth, and he said there was not one promise, not one word of all of His good promise, He proved that He was faithful.

Then we gave you the reference of Ps. 89:33-34. God’s display of His faithfulness, of those you love. Look up Lamentations 3:22-23. In this light God proves His faithfulness. Now this might shock some of you, He proves it by standing by His people and saving them, even when they fail Him. No, that can’t be. Well let’s read it and see what He says here. Here it is. This book in Lamentations is a book of terrible weeping and poor old Jeremiah, caught a glimpse of God like we have to do.

And he said, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed. We have earned the wrath of God but it His mercies that we’re not consumed,” why? “Because His compassion's fail not, they are new every morning,” oh God, great is Thy faithfulness. God is so faithful; He knows what His aim is. He knows what His goal is; His goal is not to prove what a stinker you are. His goal is to help you and provide the means so you can get back into fellowship with Him. That’s what His goal is and so He’s faithful to follow thru with the goal that He has for your life. Let’s take another one here. 1 Samuel 12:20-22. God was dealing with the children of Israel because of the sins of the people and Samuel wasn’t trying to scare them but he wanted to show them the reason why they should want to live for God, that God wasn’t closing the door on them. You know what God did? He sent some real scary things, He sent thunder and lightning and rain.

He said, “You people have defied Me, you’re living in My wrath, you better get back” and God was letting them see some divine judgments at that time. Now here’s what Samuel said, they had asked for a king and God didn’t like it. God wanted to be their ruler and Samuel said unto the people, “fear not, ye have done all of this wickedness, you’re guilty yet turn not aside from following the Lord. But serve the Lord with all of your heart.” What a terrific opportunity. Samuel missed to skin those people; he missed the best opportunity of his life to really crack the whip there. But he said though you’ve done this, Samuel caught a glimpse of God, he said, God doesn’t want to kill you, He wants to save you. Though you’ve done all of this wickedness, don’t turn aside now but get in there and follow Him, go to Him if you want to follow Him with all your heart. Then he said, “Why turn aside, if you should turn aside then you should go after vain things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are vain.” But here’s what he said, “Though they had done this wickedness, the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.

Hallelujah. There are some of you who have displeased God. You’ve gone after your own way, you’ve defied God and you know there’s nothing you can look forward to but His wrath and judgment. But God is telling you today, don’t turn from Him. Now is the time to come to Him. He is the God who loves you, He wants you, He has room for you, He will not forsake, His loving kindness is still going to stay on you and He’s going to have some angels hounding your steps. Can you see a glimpse of God there? I don’t believe there’s anybody here if this wasn’t God’s nature. God had to stay on us, we’ve missed Him so much but instead of listening to those discouraging words from the enemy, you’ve gone and done it. Now you just well go all the way, there’s no hope for you, you’ve gone and done it. God is saying here, “The Lord will not forsake you, He chose you, He wrote your name down before He made this earth, and He wants you.

He wants you to pick up your reservation to confirm it by following Him. It’s a bunch of nonsense that if there is only one person in a congregation who is not in unity that God can’t move. If someone is crying out to God, God will meet them. Jeremiah, 51:5, “For Israel hath not been forsaken nor Judah of his God, of the Lord of Host. Though their land was filled with sin against the God of Israel, against the Holy One of Israel,” God said I’m not going to let that sin give me directions. I’ve got some people I want to help. Hallelujah. Satan tried to give God some directions a few times but God wouldn’t listen to him. You don’t think He would listen to him now either do you? There’s a lot of wickedness around but God isn’t going to take His cue from them. God says, “I have purposed, I know what I’m going to do and nothing is going to turn Me from doing what I want to do.

Praise God. And this is our hope. It’s only of His mercies that we are not consumed. Then there are times when we miss God and we have a hard time, and we can’t understand how God could be so good to us, how these promises could be so. And so we fail to believe Him. 2 Timothy 2:15, “He abideth faithful,” we may not believe, we may not comprehend, but God said, “I cannot deny Myself, I made a promise, I made a covenant with those people , I cannot deny Myself, I’m going to have to do, I cannot deny Myself.” Hallelujah. I had a man in my office who said I just can’t believe, and I said it makes no difference if you believe or not. My statement to him wasn’t the same statement I might have made to you but I wanted him to get his eyes off of what he may have been thinking at the moment. He was trying to measure his belief and he couldn’t really tell whether he believed or not.

I said, “What brought you here?” Oh he said, “I came all this way because I’m just hoping God will do something for me.” So I told him, you’re not here by accident. I have an agreement with God you see. Nobody gets in there that God doesn’t bring. And I know that when God brings them, He isn’t going to back up there and take another look and say woops I made a mistake, this guy doesn’t believe. He’s there, I know God’s going to help him and when I told him that God wasn’t going to pay a whole lot of attention, God had already made up His mind about it, tears started running down his face and he started quivering all over just weeping before God and you see God hears words that we don’t hear. God has a third ear that listens to the heart and longing. God ministered to that man and helped him. Rivers of laughter and joy gushed from him. And God helped him.

Mark this down, that God never did give you a scale that you could measure your faith in, so don’t sit there and say well I don’t have enough faith, I have this much and this much, you don’t know. Whether you know it or not most people who say they have a lot of faith, by demonstration don’t seem to have quite so much. They’ve been mislead, they misunderstand God. You know faith to God, what reads faith to God, to us it may read perseverance, it may read sensitivity, and it may read hunger. But that sensitive person who loves God, who says I don’t have any faith. God sees them and says, “I see their faith” and when God looks at a person and says they don’t even have anything that spells faith but they need help so bad, then His grace spills over to them and ministers.” His grace becomes the determining factor, becomes the pipeline that transmits all of God’s power. So let’s remember this that His faithfulness is seen even when people don’t deserve help. Then it’s seen by confirming and establishing those He has called in keeping you from evil. 2 Thessalonians 3:3.

He said, “Faithful is He who called you who will also do it. The Lord is faithful who established you and will keep you from the evil one.” First Corinthians 1:8-9, he said, “the one who called us now will see you thru.” First Thessalonians 5:23-24. He said, “He is faithful to do the thing that He promised He would do.” John 10:20-29. Jesus said, “I give unto you eternal life and you will never perish. Neither shall anyone pluck you out of My hand.” You’re right here in the safest place in the universe. Jesus said I know that some of you are going to wonder about My ability to hold you.

God wants you to know so much, how true and faithful that He is in keeping His promises, that not only is the everlasting hand of Jesus but the Big Hand of God comes right over the top. Jesus said, “My Father which gave you to Me is greater than I am, He has a bigger, stronger hand and He puts His hand over the top.” Now whichever way you happen to be all twisted around, you got divine hands all around you. Hallelujah, “I give unto you eternal life and you shall never perish, neither shall anyone be able to pluck you out of My hand.” What about eternal security? Do you know eternal security isn’t half as false doctrine as people who go around pulling the rug of your security all the time? Now just so you won’t go out thinking that I have jumped ship somewhere down the line and that people that are ungodly and have taken themselves out of God’s care and are living for the devil are going to be in God’s favor, no one is going to pluck you out of His hand but God gives you the right if you don’t want to live for Him. If you choose to go the way of the enemy, God will open up that hand, you can walk out. But He’s not going to let anyone else pluck you out. But you can walk out if you want to. But who would want to? If we would look to our source of strength and realize the faithfulness of God, we could settle back and hear those words, fear not, I’m on the job. You may feel like everything is going out from under you, but I want you to know, settle back and rest, for not only is My hand there, but I’ve got some big strong arms there, underneath are the everlasting arms.

Hallelujah. When you read the Word, look for flashes and glimpses of truth. Look for the gracious words that fall from His lips that He wants you to hear. If your desire is to live for God, don’t go around looking for verses that are only going to condemn you all the time. Kick the devil in the shins; tell him he’s a big liar. Hallelujah. When you know Him, you’re not going to take everything He said here and apply it to yourself. He may be speaking to rebellious people; He may be speaking to the devil in the spot that you’re reading. But when you know God, you will understand the things that He says in the light of His Word; you will be able to rightly divide the Word of Truth. These things He’s saying to the rebellious, I’m not going to rebel, I don’t want those things on my mind.

These things He’s saying to those who want to serve Him, walk with Him. He’s not saying them to the perfect because nobody is perfect. He’s saying to the person who is putting their faith, that’s leaning on Him, Hallelujah, don’t you love Him? Praise God.

Chapter 53 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Zeal of the Lord

Isaiah chapter 9, verse 2, 6,and 7. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light shined.” He’s talking about the whole world here. Then He tells us why, he ties verse 6 with this, it’s a conjunction the word for, they have found light, “for unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace, and upon His government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment and with justice from hence forth, and forever.” How is it going to happen? The zeal of the Lord of Hosts, will perform this. “Father I thank you for allowing us to watch your hand at work.

Those who were bound by different types of bondages, set free. Thank you for doing what you promised. Thank you that you are performing your promises.” Isaiah 7:14, “therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel. We have a statement of God’s plan, some things He definitely wants to accomplish, but these things are totally impossible. He’s giving; He’s couching His plan into some phrases of events that can’t happen. Against the law, His law, the law of nature, that a virgin shall bear a Son. And then that all of the governments of this world shall somehow come under His subjection but we read that it’s going to happen because God is on the job. One of the angelic beings that visited me in speaking about the Lord’s hosts spoke of that term host in connection with God as He moved into action. He always refers to the hosts of heaven, the Lord’s hosts.

And His hosts are working as God is performing the thing that He has promised. God is on the job folks, He’s here, and you’re here because God is working, because the zeal of the Lord of Hosts has performed something that God has promised. God heard the unspoken cry of your heart and brought you to Himself, Because God is so interested, because God is so concerned. Today we’re going to consider the greatness of God, His credentials, His ability, the fact that He is able to do the thing that He has promised. Turn to Psalms chapter eight, David as he spoke was thinking about the greatness of the eternal God. He looked up into the sky and he saw those millions and millions of stars. He saw the beautiful handiwork of God here in this earth; it’s hard to look at what God has made and not realize that there is a great God out there. It’s hard to look at the greatness of God without realizing how small you really are. So David is speaking here “when I consider the heavens the works of Thy fingers, the moon and stars which Thou hast ordained. What is man that Thou are mindful of him and the son of man that Thou hast visited him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands. You have put all things under his feet.” When you stop to think about God how great He actually is you can’t help to think how insignificant you are. I want you to see what God has to say about Himself. David expressed it when he spoke of the awe of God. God said in Isaiah 40 verse 12, God’s speaking now, pointing to Himself. He said, “Who has measured the waters and the hollow of His hand?” I thought the Pacific Ocean was a tremendous ocean when I flew to Hawaii, it took us 5 hours. When I flew to Hawaii I thought, “Oh what a tremendous amount of water. But when I went to the Philippine Islands I had to go 10 more hours! That’s a lot of water.” If you want to visualize how big God is take all of the water in the Pacific Ocean, all of the water in the Atlantic Ocean, all of the water in the lakes and rivers, and it will make a little wet spot in His hand.

See how big God is? God is well able to do the thing that He said He was able to do. Then He went on to say, and he put his little finger on a star clear out on one side of heaven and He reached out His thumb which is the measure of God’s hand and He measured with His hand, this is a span, the span of the heavens. How big is God? How big is God? How big is God? Then he said He took the mountains and weighed them exactly, and the hills in a balance, “and who has directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his counselor has taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed Him understanding? Behold the nations are but a drop in the bucket, and are counted as the small dust in the balance. Behold He takes up the isles as a very little thing. Verse 12, verse 18, this great God with billions of stars, with just your naked eye you can see more than you would want to count. They say there are billions and trillions of stars. Our God made all of those, He made them. He’s a great God. But our God has greater interest in something else that is far less significant than all of these. Why this earth is one of the smallest of the heavenly bodies that He has created.

By comparison with the sun, with these other stars it’s just a piece of dust in this universe. Listen to these verses, “I have made the earth, and created man upon it, even My hands have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded.” Verse 18, “for thus says the Lord that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it. He had established it; He had created it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none else.” God said “in all of the greatness of my creation, its’ beautiful, it’s so vast, but in all of this creation I bring the earth into focus, and then I expand the picture and I see the nations as a little drop in the bucket there. And I expand the picture more and I see men and women walking in this life with their needs, and their hurts, and their cares. And I expand it still more and I can see one individual and my heart reaches out and beats for that life. Hallelujah.

With all that God has, each individual is precious. Out of all of the four billion people, each individual is precious to God. What is God’s interest, what’s on those other planets? I was telling my wife this morning that God’s interest on this earth, and on people in it is so great, God had only One Son. And the inhabitants on this earth are so valuable to God that He gave that only Son just for this earth. He doesn’t have any more, He gave the very best. He took from His own heart, the essence of His nature, He took the beauty of the stars and of the heavens, and the music from the angels song, and He wrapped these valuables from His own nature in a little human form to the world, and called His name Jesus, He shall save His people from their sin. I want you to know that God hasn’t forgotten the earth, He hasn’t forgotten you. David when he was speaking about this, when I realize and I have to look at myself and say, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” He asked God, and the Bible is full of what God says about man. God what is man, that You are mindful of him. Why are you concerned when you got all of the stars and the angelic host? Why is man so important to You? In verse 18, of Isaiah 45, God said that this earth didn’t just happen.

God said I’m interested in this earth because I made it as a special place to put the highest creation that I have on it. I created it with just the right tilt so that it would give the earth its seasons. I put it at the right speed so that the earth would be maintained. I put it at exactly the right speed around the sun so that the earth would maintain its given spot. If it was a couple of miles per hour slower, it would drop into the sun. If it was a couple of miles per hour faster it would gradually spin out into space and everyone would freeze to death. But God says “I created this earth just to be just right for man. And then I took man and I made man so that he would fit right into this environment.” He tells us that man is not just an afterthought. God had man made in His mind before He even made the earth.

In Ephesians it says that we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the earth. He had the full picture completed before it ever happened. There are a lot of questions you may have but I want you to ask God. God knows a few things that we don’t know, and He could do a few things that we can’t quite fathom how He can do it, and He doesn’t have to ask anybody how to do it or whether He can do it or not, He just does it. If you can be simple enough to accept such a simple answer you can rest in peace. You don’t have to tear your mind apart to try to figure out how God does the things that He’s promised He will to do. Man is not an afterthought. God created man. In God’s heart God planned for man that he should not only dwell on this earth, but in God’s great plan, God planned to put him here as a preparation time. You see eternity is neither long nor short, it’s a big present, completed, it’s there, it’s there.

God Himself, His picture is complete. Hallelujah. And God says I’m big enough, and I’m strong enough and I desire it badly enough that I’m going to get the job done. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts is going to perform the things that He said. So He set man here on this earth. As we ask God the value of man, God says “I made him in My image, My likeness, and as I look down upon man I have to look past his sin. I have to look past his rebellion. I have to look past his enmity and drunkenness. And when I look at a man who is fighting me and hating Me, I see not these things that he’s known by that people see. But I see in that man a never dying soul.

I see in that man, that one individual man something of greater worth than all of my other creation put together. For the stars are going to dim and go out and the mountains are going to crumble and turn to dust, and the blazing suns are going to lose their light. Paul said “as a vesture they will fold up and they can be laid aside but God remains.” And as long as God lives, that soul within you is going to live. Jesus said “what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” What will it profit if a man gain the whole earth but loses his own soul? That soul is so valuable. So as God would consider the billions and the trillions and all of the vast wealth, if every star was a diamond the size that it is. All of them put together could not buy one soul. So David said “What is man, Oh God? Why do you think about man, why does he occupy such a great part of Your heart?” God says, “That soul is worth too much to Me, I have too much invested in that man, I am not going to let him go. I have plans for him. My plans include taking the very best that I had, My own Son and sending Him down to take that persons place.

2 Corinthians 5, God took all of the sin of mankind, or our lives and poured it into Jesus. And then He took all of the goodness of Jesus and poured it into us. And as we read of God’s plan, “man is worth so much to Me, and I am going to do some impossible things, a virgin is going to conceive, is going to bear a Son and My plan that was complete before I ever started this world is going to happen. And those that sit in darkness in the valley of death will see that great Light. Light has come, for the zeal of the Lord of hosts has performed it. It could have been well said by the angels when Jesus was born, “The zeal of the Lord of Hosts has performed this.” God’s plan is not only for life after this life, but God’s beautiful plan is for His care in this life. Isaiah 40, God why are you mindful of me? There are people who think that God doesn’t know anything about them because they’re too insignificant. That He’s passed over them. God doesn’t care about me, there’s a person here and there and someone here who has been good that God cares about, but He doesn’t care about me.

So God answers “why sayest thou O Jacob, and speakest to Israel My way is hid from the Lord, my judgment is passed over from my God. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth fadeth not, neither is weary? There’s no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the faint, and to them who have no might He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” We read over in Isaiah 41:17-18, “when the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, then I the Lord will hear them. I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in the high places, fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land, springs of water.” I care for people God said, in Isaiah 58:6-7, His earthly address is with people.

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? That thy bring the poor out to thy house, and when you see the naked that thy clothe them, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” God is saying that “people are worth so much to Me. They’re worth so much to Me.” God what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? God cares for us folks, God cares for each one. He cares for us so much that He decided to reconcile and make peace with Himself thru Jesus. And He says “you can come now, my wrath is turned away,” come shake hands with God, you can come. He came that He might restore us back into a place in His family, and then He came that He might take us from a world that has been cursed and reunite us in His Home, that He’s preparing for us. God cares. Isaiah 40:11, Even though He’s so great and mighty, He said, “like a flock do I care for them, I take the lambs in my arms and I care for them.” God is so sure that He’s not going to fail. That before Jesus went away He said “I’m going to build my church, people of all different faces, nationalities and colors, I’m going to pull them together,” and He said “all of the might of hell shall not prevail against Him.

It’s already said, it’s already sealed, and it’s already written down, it’s in God’s big picture that the church is going thru. Don’t you believe it when you hear people saying that the church is going under, it’s not going under. That church made up of God’s people, even one individual life being so valuable, God’s church is so valuable to Him. He has put the universe on automatic pilot. He said “let it run by itself, I’ve got some work to do down here with people,” Hallelujah. This is God I’m talking about, God cares for us. He’s still on the throne; He’s still on the job. He said “my plan is to draw men and women to myself.” The zeal of the Lord of Host has performed. Praise God.

Romans 4:21, What God has promised He is able to perform; He’s able to do it. “The one who begun that good work in you is able to finish it, to complete it, to perform it.” He is able to finish what He started. The zeal of the Lord of hosts. He’s excited about what He’s doing. It’s not just a passive thing; it’s not just a passing thing for Him. He’s excited about what He’s doing, He’s full of zeal. He says “it has to happen; it was part of my plan before I mixed up the mud for this whole earth. It has to happen, there’s no way that it can fail.” The Lord of Hosts will perform.

Praise God forever more. I think of that great day that is coming. Last night God gave me so many beautiful references. God stated that He lives to perform His Word and His plan and His purpose. And that we’re so valuable to God, we’re not just an afterthought. Not too far in the distance somewhere down the line, there’s going to be a great coronation day. He showed John, he said “Oh, look at the millions and billions of people, here they come.” Oh Hallelujah. Then I could practically hear that great archangel as he stood, and he reiterated the truth way back there in Isaiah. In Isaiah he said, “The Lord of hosts shall perform it.

But I can hear this morning those words that will ring on that day, “The Lord of Hosts hath performed it.” He did what He said He was going to do. And the redeemed of all of the ages. God has plans for you, not 100 years on this earth, that’s just a little old spot in His plan; God has plans for you because that soul in you is never going to die. Sometime, over the hills of eternity, if you happen to stumble across a grave that says, “Here lies God,” then you’re in trouble, but until the eternal God dies, you’re going to live because He took His eternal life and shared it with you. Hallelujah. The Lord of Hosts will perform what He said. Those promises that He made to you, He lives to keep them. I would like to think of some of the ways He’s performing it. The word gospel means good news.

He said take this gospel, this good news around the whole world. Tell people, let them know that they can have hope, that they don’t have to die in their sins, that in the darkness the light has sprung up. Let them know the good news, that God cares for them, that they’re worth something to God, that He’s looking thru the failure and the enmity they’ve had with God, and He sees within them something that is of tremendous value. They need to know the good news. For too long we’ve held it back from them. Some of the ways that the Lord is performing, His zeal is performing is, is sending men and women with the message of good news. God has given men and women who have yielded themselves to Him His Word; He’s given them His power, His authority, where we can give the Word. Jesus wants you to come. We have the power to witness for Him, and He will stand with us. We have that authority to tell men and women, your sins are forgiven because of what you have done (placing your faith in Jesus and His sacrifice) and He will back us up.

Things are happening fast as God is hastening His work. Gabriel has led a host of angels into the world today to hasten men and women to God. Not only as we men and women filled with the Spirit of God carrying the message, but these angels not listening to objections, if men refuse, the cycle starts all over again. Bringing them to that point of decision and we stand with those that they are bringing. God has put His last day back up plan in operation, and there’s a great work being done. He is the Lord of hosts. When He speaks of hosts He speaks of that great army of heaven, the zeal of the Lord of hosts. God said “they move at my command, and they’re out there doing it.” And since that first message of Good News for you and your family, millions of people have turned their lives over to God because the zeal of the Lord of Hosts is performing it. Hallelujah.

This is our day folks; let’s get with it. Let’s not let anything keep us from all that God has for us. There may be some here this morning, you’re thinking of yourselves as failures, and you’re ashamed to come to God, but God has brought you to this place, you’re here by divine appointment. God is looking at the soul that is within you that will never, never die. He says “you’re worth so much to Me,” He’s got everlasting plans for you. Forget about your failures, I’m so thankful for that beautiful truth that God gave me that He does not record failures, and all the records that can be held against us are destroyed when we’re willing to reach out and touch Him and take what He has for us. God has sent His hosts to hasten men because He cares, God’s zeal will not let Him rest. The Lord God is neither weary, nor fainteth not. He is on the job 24 hours a day. God is calling people to Himself; He’s making it easy for people to find God.

God said “I’m making it easy for people to find Me; I’m setting before the open door. If you miss the first time, I’ll set it before you again.” There are three terms that He has used 1) Come, 2) Call, 3) Look. He said “they that come,” He’s calling us to come to Him to find Him, to accept Him and be saved. Come and be saved. But many won’t come out of their own stubbornness. So then He said “Call unto Me, they that call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” From wherever you are, He said if you call unto Me from thence, He said I will hear you and I will accept you. And then there are those who are too weak and ashamed, filled with failure to even call. He says “ok, just look.

Look unto Me and be ye saved all of the ends of the earth.” God wants people today. The zeal of the Lord of hosts is performing it. The Word, the message has to get out. I remember feeling such keen pressure after I received the first message from Gabriel. Those tapes are being multiplied; God is putting it on people’s hearts to get these messages out. There are at least 100,000 angel tapes out there. What’s happening, God is doing it, God’s zeal is performing it. What God is doing is something He planned way back before He made the earth and His plan is completed. God’s has a place for you up there in heaven.

God’s plan for you is complete. Praise God. There are some of you who feel unworthy to even look up to God’s face, but God wants you to know that within you is a soul that will never die. God is out not looking for reasons to condemn you, you’re already condemned. God is looking for reasons to lift you out of this despair, out of this darkness and not hold those things against you. He’s not looking at drunkenness, He’s not looking at debauchery, He’s not looking at immorality, He’s looking at something inside of you that belongs to Him, and He’s saying give it back.

Chapter 54 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Pillars of Eternity #1

She already preached the introduction to my message with that song. Praise God. How big is God? Praise the Lord. It always excites me when the Lord gets a notch ahead of me there. Then the testimonies, the songs that the choir sang, did you notice this, speaking about the greatness of God and the songs that the congregation sang, Hallelujah. You know what I feel; God is trying to tell us something. That He hasn’t grown old and tottery, He hasn’t retired. But He’s still on the job still in control. Praise God forever. I went again this week on an assignment for the Lord.

Southern California. And I have to say; God keeps on doing and doing and doing it, over and over again. The same things that have been happening in Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Washington, all these various parts of the country happened in Southern California. People could not get in the buildings, there were so many hungry to hear these truths. Hallelujah. The last night that I was there in a church in La Mesa, the church building is made to seat about 900 people. It has an auditorium that looks out this way. And then because the congregation group they made it running out like this, it’s like another congregation, they can’t see each other but there they are out that way and then there’s another one that goes out this way. All together they’ll seat about 900 people. Somehow they managed to get 1300 of the people that came into that building on that Thursday night.

It was just literally stuffed. And people around the front, the whole platform was packed with people, then out in the foyer like that though they couldn’t see they had it completely full of chairs. And a real, real beautiful move of God. Many, many people were healed of various afflictions that came. One young man met me in the foyer and said that two or three weeks before, and this is something I haven’t heard before, that the Holy Spirit was bringing healing to people accompanying the words that are in “Angels on Assignment.” See, those words, that book is different than a book that somebody would write. I am not responsible for that book; the Hunters aren’t responsible. Because those words came right from God’s heart. And this young man, about 25 years old had very severe sugar diabetes. He had to take a needle every single day and put it in him and eject some insulin to control sugar.

But he said that he was one of the worst representatives of God’s family that there was, he said that he was so Luke warm, and was not really a typical believer. Was unfaithful in his giving, refused to tithe and to give to God, his disposition was bad, he was up and down in his Christian life. But he said that his wife brought that book home, and he said when she wasn’t around he picked up that book and started reading it. And somewhere in that book while he was reading he felt a kind of a glow come over him, a warmth start thru him, and it caused almost a shuddering, and he kept giving himself shots like he always did, but the shots had a bad reaction on him, so he had to go to the doctor to find out what was going on wrong. And the doctor took a couple of weeks giving him all kinds of tests to find out what in the world the story was, and found out that he didn’t have sugar diabetes anymore and he wasn’t supposed to be taking those shots. Hallelujah isn’t that beautiful? Praise God. God did that; no one was around to take any credit or glory. God did that. So he made it a point, when he got out there, he said, “I’m just feeling so good because that happened like three weeks before,” and the Lord just seemed to take care of the whole thing. I just wanted to pass this on to you.

God continues regardless of where, there’s a hunger in this land, something is taking place. Fires are being lit, and they’re not going out. They’re moving. Hallelujah. Oh, praise God for what He’s doing. Now this morning I am beginning a series of messages of eight messages on mountain peaks of truth. God has literally in eternity planted seven great mountains. These are the peaks of His plan and His purpose; it isn’t that they follow in sequence though they do as far as man is concerned, though in eternity they are occupying a great space, a great place in God’s plan, God’s purpose. For within these mountain peaks of truth, God has wrapped up and embedded His purpose, His plan for all of redemption. The great redemption story is complete.

Those things that are important to God are in these mountains of eternity. Oh, they are tremendous, and when we think of how big God is, it makes us wonder, what is so important to God, or what in all of His great vast domain, of His endless life, of one end of eternity to the other, what would He consider to be so important as to call them his very anchor points of His entire creation and universe? If you have your Bibles I would like to have you open to Psalms chapter eight. And in my notes I have written just a couple of lines of the song that our sister sang. How big is God? He’s big enough to fill this mighty universe, but He’s small enough to dwell in my heart. Now David was a Shepherd, he had a lot of opportunity to wallow away some time and to do some meditating and often times he was out under the stars at night. And he had the opportunity of just thinking about God. And one of the spiritual exercises that we as God’s people often miss is the art of meditation, musing about the things of God. It was Jeremiah that said, he started musing one day about the things of God and he said, while I was musing the fire burned. So when you start meditating about the things of God, there’s a fire that starts going inside of you and God takes the proportions and the perspective that He wants to have for your life thinking about Him. And as David was looking up into the stars at night thinking about how big and vast God was he said, “When I consider the heavens,” this is verse three, “a hundred million miles that direction and 50 trillion stars out there and the same distance the other way.

And that direction, every direction, up down, sideways.” He said, “And to think it’s all the work of your fingers. Makes you wonder just how big God really is. If His fingers reached out and put all of that together, how big is God?” We were talking in my Sunday school class this morning that, and have you folk ever kind of been staggered by the immensity of the universe, have you ever thought about it and just kind of staggered and had to kind of put it out of your mind to keep from going batty? How far is it out here to the end of the universe? Can anybody that’s smart enough here tell me how far it is out there? I had one real answer from my class this morning, from a lady who really knew. She said it is a long ways. Safe with that one aren’t you? Do you think that 100 billion miles would be a safe guess? What do you think? Do you think it’s that far? 100 billion miles, your real smart there Chris, do you think that 100 billion miles would get you there? Do you think that’s too far? Well let’s just say its 100 billion miles out there. The thing that gets to me is if you could somehow blink your eyes real fast and suddenly be transported over there and get there, what would we find on the other side of that line? Another 100 billion miles, and you get out there on the end of that one and draw a line, what’s on the other side of that? Another 100 billion miles. And you just stop and think. Our human minds are made to comprehend things with bounds in them, lines, things that we could figure out. But God is so big, and so broad.

How wide, how wide His vast domain and in the middle of this vast, limitless, boundless, endless, it’s actually space and time are very similar become an eternity. There’s a little tiny yellow speck of dust with some green lines on it called earth. No wonder David got kind of staggered on that. And then he said that God is so big, that He has to minister the vastness of this universe. David had to ask the question, “God how in the world can you find time for man. How in the world can you even find him? In that ocean, that wilderness of stars, how can you even find this little one, when there are so many billions of stars and heavenly bodies out there? With all the important matters that God has, those great seven pillars of eternity that hold it up, so important to God, God how do you find time for man?” And we’ll find out a little bit about this great and mighty God if you would turn over to Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 11 tells us that even though He’s a big God out there He has time for us. Listen to verse 11, “He shall feed His flock, like a Shepherd, He shall gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom and shall gently lead those with young. God, with all of those things out there, how could you possible care for me? Then verse 12 tells how big God is. He said He was big enough to take the Atlantic Ocean and put a little drop on one side of His palm and the Pacific Ocean on the other side and weigh them and look at that little drop there. He measured the waters in the hollow of His hand.

And then He decided He would find out how far it was from that star that was 20 trillion miles that way and this other one way over here, and He put His little finger on one and His thumb on the other, that’s what a span is. Now you don’t think God’s big enough to take care of you? Think of how big His hand is. He measured the heavens with a span. Does that kind of stagger you? How big is God? Hallelujah. And He still cares for people. And then he went on to say in verse 15; the nations are like a drop in the bucket. Take all of the people, all four billion of them, and empty the bucket completely out so that there’s only one little drop left in there. Put it down in God’s bucket. There’s a drop in the bucket to Him. How in the world can He spread that drop out four billion different directions and find me? You’re lost in that drop in the bucket.

But He’s big enough to fill the mighty universe and small enough to dwell in my heart. But when we think of the way God looks at us, He recognizes that there’s something so valuable in the heart of man, He pushes away all of those extra things that we see, the failures, the problems, the characteristics that would make a man worthless and undesirable and He pulls open that person’s chest muscles, opens the rib cage, really He doesn’t do that , but He looks inside, and He says, “inside of that individual, is the most valuable thing that I have ever made; the soul of man. Hallelujah. Talk about important. Talk about important. Every one of these pillars of eternity, these mountain peaks the foundations of these peaks is based on man. Everything, every priority that God has made for eternity is based on His love for us. How do you like that? With all of the billions and billions, and billions of planets that are there and in all that He has to do we are at His heart. Never think you’re worthless, you are valuable to God. Praise God.

And when we recognize that we are really worth something to God and He cares for us, we begin to move into the spot where God can use us, where we can be happy, where we can feel real purpose, we can look into that mirror and say, “hey you’re a son of God, you’re a daughter of God, you’re a member of God’s big family. See when God made this earth He said there’s something in His heart, in fact before He threw all of those stars out there, in His heart He had you and me. And the Word tells us, long ago before He made the world, God had plans for us. So when He made the earth He said I’m going to have to fix a kind of a comfortable place for these people that I have in my heart to live in. So He made the earth to be inhabited. He made it just to have the right temperatures, He threw in a few cricks, and rivers to put some fish in so man could have some fun. He made a few mountains to climb; He made some lakes so that we could do a little swimming. God made a good place didn’t He? He made it a good place. He said He made the earth to be inhabited. He didn’t say He made any place else for that.

There might be some other beings out there, but He doesn’t have any more sons to give them. They better be careful they don’t fall because He doesn’t have any left. He only had one Son, His only begotten Son, and He already gave Him for this world. So I don’t know whether there’s anything out there or not, but I do know that God made this earth to put the thing that was dearest to His heart upon, and that's us, Hallelujah. Oh, Hallelujah. I just feel like I’m worth so much this morning. After I woke up at four o’ clock with that last telephone call, I didn’t go back to sleep. I just laid awake thinking about God, how big He was, and how it made me feel to know with all that He had to do He still could say He could care less about all those other things, the thing that I’m interested in is right down here. Praise God. Won’t you thank Him folks.

Hallelujah. I want you to lift your hands and just love the Lord, go ahead and give Him a clap offering while your hands are raised. Hallelujah, Praise God. How big is God? Praise God. Psalms 139, I know that most of you know this so well. Beautiful song, I’m reading from the Living Bible. “Lord you have examined my heart. You know everything about me. You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought.

You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say before I say it. You both precede me and follow me and place your hand of blessing upon my head. This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe. I can never be lost from Your Spirit. I can never get away from my God; if I go up to heaven You are there. If I go down to the place of the dead, You are there. If I ride the winds to the farthest oceans, even there Your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. If I try to hide in the darkness the night becomes light about me.

Hallelujah. For even the darkness cannot hide from God. To you the night shines as bright as the day, darkness and light are both alike to you. You made all of the delicate inner parts of my body. You knit them together in my mother’s womb.” Some of you ladies are pregnant here this morning. The Lord is knitting together a little life. You’re closer to God, He’s closer to you than you think. His hands are down inside of you, putting things together just the way they ought to be. This is what he said; “You knit them together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. It is amazing to think about, your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it. You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion. You were there.” Isn’t God close? God is there. You don’t need to be embarrassed by me saying this. This is a beautiful thing I’m talking about. Birth and the creation of a new life is one of the most beautiful things God does. Don’t be embarrassed about that. If you haven’t told anybody yet about your condition, go out and start telling some of them how good the Lord is to you, that you’re going to be a dad or a mother.

Then He goes on to say, “You saw me before I was born. You scheduled each day of my life.” One of the things that He showed me that changed my whole feeling about God, when I was with Him in the throne room; He showed me the great archives where the blueprints of lives are kept. And He let me know that every life was so important to Him, each one He had gone into in fine minute detail in the plans. Hallelujah. Way back there, before He made the earth He had it all mapped out. You can’t figure it out, I can’t figure it out because we’re not God, but did you know that if you could pull out His book for this day before He made the earth you would see that He scheduled that you be right where you are right at this moment. God scheduled each day of your life. He brought you here today. Because He loves you, because you’re so important to Him.

Now you’re more important to God, a lot more important than all these billions of stars out here. He said, “They could fade and go out, but the soul that I put in you will never die. It’s going to stay young. When the blazing suns have dimmed and gone out, and the stars have fallen, you’re still going to be that living soul that can never die.” Can you think about it, how important we are to God? I feel like God wants me and has impressed me to impress you with this, you are valuable to Him. You’re worth alone more than all of the rest that He created. Because He expected those things to crumble, He said this, “they shall perish, they shall grow old,” you read it in the first chapter of Hebrews. But He said, “You’re still going to keep on living, and you’re going to be God’s companion throughout ages upon ages.” How big is God? What is man, man then suddenly takes on some different proportions as God looks at him and says, “There is my masterpiece.” Oh Hallelujah.

Can you shout a big Hallelujah again? Man you’re a masterpiece from God’s hand. Quit getting down on yourself. You can do so much toward creating the right kind of feeling within yourself, by recognizing who you really are. God wants you to know who you really are. So God scheduled each day of your life before you even began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book. That’s Psalms 139. He says another little thing here. He says how precious it is Lord to realize that you’re thinking about me constantly. If you were to look at God’s mind and say hey God what are you thinking about? You’d see your image, you’re there.

I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me and when I awaken in the morning you are still thinking about me. Praise God. Praise God forever. And all of the things that God has planned for the times see these other things will fade away, but these anchor points of eternity, these great mountain peaks are going to last forever. And every one of them is resting on the foundation stones of His love and care for you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. How does that really make you feel this morning? You’re worth something to the Lord. Praise God. Praise God.

What does this mean to us? That those things that are important to us are important to God. Those things that are important to you are important to God because you’re important to Him you see. Then because of this, 2 Peter 3:9, God told Peter about this, He isn’t willing that any should perish, you’re worth too much to Him. God made a plan; He doesn’t want any of them to perish. God doesn’t say well I got so many of them I could throw 3/4’s of them away. No. We’re all worth something to Him. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to that repentance that He has provided. And then He said, “Because they are so important to Me I didn’t do just a half of a job,” first John 2:2, I have enough cleansing for everybody. So when John was speaking about this He said that He has become the covering for us, our sins, but not for ours only, also for the sins of the whole world.

Though there are going to be a lot of people that fail to take advantage of what God has, God has provided for every living soul. Praise God. Then He has given us diving security. John 10:28-29, He said, Jesus said, “nobody’s going to pluck you out of My hand.” Oh hallelujah. And you remember how big God’s hand was, He said, “My Father who gave you to me is greater than I am and He puts His big hand over the top and He said you’re secure.” This is called divine security. Don’t mix it with the term eternal security which really isn’t as bad as a term as some people think, but divine security says it all. It’s security, that because of God and His love for us, His plan, divine, means that He’s not willing to lose you. His Word tells us that He’s not willing, there are some people who are too willing to be lost, but He isn’t willing.

Divine security. Then I think of the great victory that He has where He says that you can approach the gates of hell. I think of this lady who called Brother Strayer this morning, and there had been two others who have called who have been totally delivered from the clutches of Satanism thru the ministry of that book “Angels on Assignment.” The Word tells us, Jesus Himself said, “As you approach the gates of hell, as God’s army moving ahead, see the gates aren’t going to move, it’s you, you move against the strongholds of the enemy, you blast them, and those gates of hell cannot stand. Hallelujah. To the advancing army of Jesus, people, Praise God. So this means to us that we are important, things that are important to us are important to Him. That his plan is we don’t need to perish, that there’s cleansing for all, that there’s divine security, and that there is victory in every battle. Now something as great as this presented to us, demands a response. I told you about the attorney that I rode with from Denver to Oklahoma City, and he gave me that beautiful concept.

We are talking about the supernatural work of God and how that many people couldn’t accept it when it was presented to them, and he gave me the picture from his view point that things as long as they are in the realm of the ethereal or fantasy, people could make them any shape they want to, their ideas or their imaginations. But he said that when something comes out of the ethereal, out of the fantasy world and it takes size and shape and becomes substance, it becomes real, then he said that people must do something with it. They are forced to do something with it. Either they are forced to say I reject it or I accept it in their thinking. And today the bigness of God, the worth of man has been pulled down out of some ethereal statements and it has been brought right before us. And it stands; this truth stands before us in living substance, that God cares for us, that He has plans for us, that we’re worth something to Him. And it demands a response; we must do something with what God has placed before us today. We have to. We can’t say again, I’m going to push it back into the ethereal it stands in substance before us. It’s real, those of us who know Him, Psalms the ninth chapter goes on to say that we owe Him our praise.

It’s a beautiful chapter; you need to underline every verse there. He says that you can respond by gladness by a note of rejoicing, that because of His presence you can claim victory because He is with you, His presence. In verse four He says that you can express your confidence because of His righteousness that He will do the right thing by you, every believer should constantly affirm this I can trust Him, He will do the right thing by me. This is God’s plan, God’s purpose. Verse nine says that He is a refuge, we can exult in the safety that we have because He is our refuge. Verse 10 tells us that by knowing His name we can have a beautiful experience of assurance, we’ve learned the power of His name. Then the last thing I bring, to those who have not made that surrender. You have not made that commitment, I either accept, or reject. This challenge confronts you today. What are you going to do? David faced it, what is man; today you face, it who is God? Who am I, what am I going to do with Him? Shall we bow our hearts right now? “Father we thank you for this service, we thank you for your love.

And as we are bowed in your presence right now, I know that you are here, and I know that people are here that you have planned to be here. I thank you for this. I thank you for those that you have already recorded in your book that are going to respond to You in recognizing who you are and are gladly going to accept you as their Savior. That they might be fulfilled and have that purpose not only for life, but also for eternity. God I thank you for these who will respond, their names are already recorded in that book of responses to You, and dear Lord I thank you for this, in Jesus Name.” While heads are bowed, I would like to see these hands, I know God has brought you here. People that feel and know that they have come face to face and today is their day of commitment to Him. Let me see your hands throughout the building. Yes I see your hand, yours. Up in the balcony, God has brought you face to face, what are you going to do? I see your hand up there.

Way up at the top. And right here. How about over to my right? Yes there are hands all thru this section being lifted. How about to my left? God has challenged you this morning saying, “I am real, though I am big and vast I’m real and I want you, I love you, I have plans for you.

Chapter 55 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Power of His Word

I had the privilege this week of going to the LA area and being a part of the TV program called “Praise the Lord.” And I was told when I got there that I would probably be on the early part of the program. But the Lord arranged it so that I was on the early part and the part that wasn’t so early and the later part too. This program begins at eight o clock. I was on the program well over 3 hours. It seemed that the messages that the Lord has made so real to my heart found such a ready response with the people that were there viewing and also the people that were watching on the television. Brother Paul Crotch asked me if I would give a challenge to the people that were watching on the television and let them know just exactly what was going on and so I did. I let them know that the restlessness, that striving, the conflict within was undoubtedly God moving upon them. I let them know that if a member of their family knew God that God had a special place for them and that He was not angry with them but that they were highly favored with God. And I encouraged them to slip their hand in God’s and take advantage of this display of God’s love and this kindness towards them.

People called in from everywhere. Following the program Paul brought a stack of papers of people who had called in, most of them to turn their lives back to God, many of them backsliders that had come back to the Lord and many who had parents that wouldn’t listen to anymore. He said that this stack of names represented according to polls that they had probably only 5% of the people that had really been moved on. But there were about 2500 that had called in during that time and said we want to get back with God. And if that was only 5% that would be conservatively speaking 25000 people dropping on their knees and calling out on God. Wasn’t that worthwhile? Praise God. When I got home on Friday the phone had been ringing before I got home. And the first call that I took was from a lady from Boston. She had been reading the book and she was reading the chapter where it says that the family members and their reservations were made but they need to confirm their reservation and that God was working on the families. So she called to tell me that she was really concerned about members of her family, her sister’s and other members of her family.

And I could tell the way she was talking, the Lord spoke to my heart that this lady didn’t know the Lord either. And so I said, “well how is it with you?” And she said well I don’t know Him either. I knew she was fishing for that. I could hear another voice besides the one that was on the phone. And so she turned her life over to God right there on the phone, just half way thru the chapter about the families. About 15 minutes later another lady called up, this time from Virginia and she said, “I just have to turn my life over to God.” She had heard just a little announcement of it on the 700 club and so I prayed with her and she turned her life over to Jesus. Hallelujah. There had to have been at least 20 long distance calls, many of them turning their lives over to God, others that just wanted prayer that God would take the proper place in their lives and that they would be a blessing. God is doing what He said He would do.

And I feel so excited about what He is doing and so confident and happy in the Lord knowing that when God makes a promise He lives to keeps His promise. I know that the angels of heaven are rejoicing over what’s taking place. Things are happening. This morning our hearts are filled with real expectancy. But I want to point you not to the experience but to what the experience is leading us to. The broad truths of the Word of God that may have been a little cloudy, they may have been unclear but God is bringing illumination to the Word of God and making the Word come alive, and making it real. The truths that are in that book are truths that are found in the Word of God. Not one of those experiences has come without taking me back to the Word of God, and strong support of the Bible. Now there are two dangers that are present. The first danger is in turning God off and saying, “Well there’s nothing to it, so what, what’s so great about that.

I’ve heard a few reports of people who said, “Well thank God we have the Word of God, we don’t need anything else to quicken us or to show us, we have the word. We know what the blazed trail down thru the middle of the word says and so we’re content with that. And as a result honest hearted people have oftentimes closed their minds. Unbelief has cut them out of the broad pastures of the Word that God has opened up to them. The second danger is for people to glory in that experience and use that experience as a dwelling place where they stop, not realizing that God has used and intended that experience to be a door way leading into new dimensions of truth and hope and life. It would be like the children of Israel standing on the brink of the Jordan river and seeing the great cloud of water on one side and enjoying the little trip across that river so much that they would say, “Joshua, why don’t we change our plans here, and we know this is a path into the promise land but it’s so much fun looking at that big wall of water and walking across the gravel. Here let’s draw a line right here and just go back and forth and live in this great experience all the rest of our lives, what do you say?” Well there wasn’t anyone who said that but Joshua let them know, “hey there are other great experiences as you move ahead, there’s a lot of ground to conquer.” So we need to keep in mind, never despise what God is doing. But in going ahead do not forget the gateway, do not forget the great experience, but don’t live in the experience. This is very, never important.

Now there are some who, and here’s the danger in living in the experience. The posts of this gate can become wearisome after awhile because it’s not leading you anywhere, you’re standing in the gate. The reason I feel that this is very important is because we’re living in a time when God is going to be revealing Himself in new ways. This is a time when there will be many, many more angelic appearances. There will be visions, there will be dreams, and there will be times when it seems that the earth will almost shake with the moving of God’s Holy Spirit. But people will become involved in a variety of experiences so that they may each one be in a different doorway, none of them with a definite commitment to God. Now the experiences can grow old if you just stand in the door of experience. But the word of God never grows old and the experiences that He brings to us, and I am thankful to God that the experiences that I have presented to you have come from God’s heart. And God in knowing that the Word lives and abides forever has wrapped these experiences in the Word of God to the point that the Word of God means more to me right now than it has ever meant in my whole life. I can quote from the Word truths and references by the hundreds.

God is honoring His Word and He’s making His word real to us. I’ve had some say, “well why remember the experience if it’s the Word that He wants to make real?” Do you know that in every experience when God moved supernaturally that’s recorded in the Word they recorded not only the truth that was made real and was opened up, they also recorded the way that God opened up the area of truth? It’s there, the Jordan experience was recorded in detail. The great experiences of defeating the gods of Egypt before they left were recorded in detail. The breaking of the bread that Christ did and it was such an experience that those people could tell their grandkids and great grandkids. As he took five loaves and two fish and fed such a great multitude and still had more left over then where he started. It was a tremendous experience but it’s recorded in detail. What God does is never a light thing. And it’s never a thing to be spoken of derogatorily; it’s never a thing to take lightly as far as our minds are concerned. But by the same token it isn’t the end of what He came to do, but it’s a station along the way as God leads His people. I don’t know for sure what God intends with the way that He has ministered.

I do know the messages that He has brought have been pointing to Himself in a way that He wants to be known. He wants to be known as a God who cares. He wants to be known as a God that has made people His business. And he wants us to make people our business; He’s let us know that. He’s let us know that worship is the most important thing in all the world. And in worship we’re brought to a level of the highest angels. One of the ladies who was here in the early service this morning told me of a letter she’d gotten from a friend whose life had been turned around. She read it to me over the phone and talked to her this morning. This is going to be happening, you’re going to be hearing about it. There’s no way in the world that we could keep track but God is keeping track.

Hallelujah. When He said to Bavrield, “Bavrield take that host of special forces angels out into the world and turn them loose on people who have loved ones who know the Lord. He did it. And He hasn’t withdrawn them. They’re still working. Praise the name of the Lord. Praise God. But I wanted you to know in the experiences that you may have, never stop at that experience. If that experience has made God more real than take the word of God and when you talk about the richness of God and the truths that have been made real to you. Don’t relate them, don’t forget your experience, but don’t relate your truths to the gate, relate them to the Word of God.

And as you read the Word, you will discover wonderful passages of truth that remind you of how good God is. I mentioned to the people at the Montana camp that if they kept talking about me for the next six months to their friends they we’re going to get all of those people to start hating my name and they would rule the day that they ever invited me to be their camping speaker. The reason I said this, there were several of the pastors that we’re wanting to do this in their churches, they were going to start quoting me. I said, “You can’t do that.” So I brought it right into them in the last sermon. I don’t want them to be quoting me; I’d rather have them quote the Bible because all of those truths are bible. And I want to encourage you when you see what God is doing, it’s good to remember the way that God introduced the truth and it’s good to thank God for the sun that’s shining down and making the truth light. But let us remember this that it is God; it is God’s Word that lives and abides forever that’s going to get the job done. And He cares for you. I think of what it means to behold the beauty of the Lord.

Every person that the Word speaks of that saw the Lord suddenly had a change in themselves, in their own lives. I think of Isaiah, if you want to turn to Isaiah the 6th chapter and the last verse of chapter 5. Isaiah was talking about the bleakness of the old world. One of the blessings of this experience that God has given has been showing us the Word and how we’re supposed to look at things. He said there’s nothing but blackness everywhere. But he said one certain time the Lord revealed Himself to him. He said, “I saw Him high and lifted up.” Oh what a beautiful experience this was. But he said, “when I saw the Lord, then I looked down and I saw the same earth that I was looking at before and instead of looking so black and so bleak and everything was lost and ruined and destroyed” just like the world today, he said, “I looked down and I said can this be the same place?” After seeing God as He was and then beholding the earth as it was seen under the glory of God. He said, “The whole earth is filled with His glory.

Now in this world today things look pretty black. Things are discouraging. If we started looking around our hearts would be filled with perplexity. But God says, “Look up,” and as we look up and let the Word reveal and show us what God is like. We can look at this whole world and say, “hey is that the same place I was looking at?” The whole earth is filled with His glory and God is still in control. I think of Balaam when he saw the Lord, he looked up and he said now this is the way it looks to the man whose caught a vision of the Almighty. It looked pretty bad, everybody looked bad to him. But when he caught a vision of the Almighty he said, “Oh everything looks so beautiful.” I’m reminded of Phillip when he cried out to Jesus he said if you would show us the Father Jesus it would be sufficient. There was a cry in his heart to see the Father.

Oh I want to see Him. Moses had a chance, didn’t get to see His face, but He cried out, “Oh God let me see what you’re like, let me see what you’re like. And when God came by and told him what He was like, he said, “I want to tell you what I am like. You’ve had an idea of what I am like but you had it mixed up. I’m a God of wrath, I’m a God of mercy, and I’m a God of love. But you had it upside down. You had me as a God of wrath. Now I’m going to tell you what I’m really like. I’m a God first of Love.” You read it in Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7.

I’m a God of love, a God of mercy, of loving-kindness, a God that’s filled with compassion and righteousness. But He said this doesn’t mean that I’m going to accept sinners without them repenting or turning their lives over to God. He said this will no means clear the guilty but it will let them know that I love them. And then he said for those who refuse then they experience my wrath. So God is letting us know. I’m giving you some of the truths that have been made real to me thru this experience. God letting us know what He is really like. But you see when we have it upside down, and this is one reason why He used these extraordinary means to let us know what God is like was because the world as a whole had the truth upside down. They were looking at His wrath and somehow in trying to dig down thru his wrath to his love, their lives became so conditioned in fear, it was very hard to accept His love. But if you roll it over, God said if you get bathed in His love you’ll very likely as you live in the light of His love, you will never have to get down to find out what that other side is like, for its reserved for those who refuse God.

I’m glad the Lord didn’t worry about what people were going to say if He sent an angel down since they couldn’t see it themselves. And sent the angel down to say hey roll that orb of truth over, the way God wants to be seen. And for those who may not have this particular reference that he gave to me in Jeremiah 9:23-24 where He said, “I delight to be known as the God of loving-kindness, of mercy, of justice. I delight to be known in this way.” He wasn’t doing away with the other but this is how I want to be known. Then he sent this special messenger because the world wasn’t seeing it to remind us that the word gospel means good news. And when Jesus said to take the good news to all the world, he meant to take the good news that Jesus saves, that He has made it possible for us to move into fellowship with God. That’s good news. It’s true there are messages of wrath and of judgment but they are not part of the good news. They are for people who refuse the good news.

Aren’t you glad for this news? You see for centuries people have been looking in the Word of God but somehow it’s been hidden from their eyes. But God said time is getting short and man is going to have to have a little bit of help here in seeing what I really want them to know. And it’s the Word that’s being made real. There are going to be things happening that people may anchor their hope to an experience but God says no. Love the experience, revel in it, enjoy it, but go on out into the truth that the experience is leading you to. I want you to take that book “Angels on Assignment” and get those truths into your heart. Tie them to the scripture and as you talk to people say this is what the Bible says because that’s what it says. I believe that there are people here this morning that have come with their hearts hungry for God. You have come because you have heard what God is doing and the move of God’s mighty angels in the world today is not just an experience thru which people pass. It is going to be a continuing thing until Jesus comes. And we have been made a part of what God is doing.

Chapter 56 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Day Appointed

God is doing so many beautiful things today. God is keeping His word. His plans are unfolding. Something very special is taking place today. And it’s something that is no surprise to God at all. He’s following a beautiful plan. Nothing can stop Him. All of those things that have been recorded that God has decreed are going to happen. When He speaks an irreversible force is set in motion that nothing can stop. People have the right to choose to link arms with Him and be blessed.

Those who are tied in with His plans have been foreordained to fit in with it. But they still have the choice. If they choose not they will be selling themselves short of what could be a great blessing. But as they say hey God I’m walking with you. They have the right to be a part of the unfolding plan of God. Some of the things that I may mention today may stagger your mind because we have such a difficult time trying to fit the unlimited God into our limited understanding. I believe this is one reason the Word tells us that His ways are passed finding out. I mentioned to my class this morning that if we could fully understand God He wouldn’t be the kind of a God that we really need. But our God is so big and so vast and He’s doing so many, many things. The words that I’ve chosen to title this message fall so short of giving you the heart of this message.

It is Day Appointed. Every day is the fullness of time for some of God’s appointments to be fulfilled in different lives, every day the appointments come due on His great calendar in some area. It’s happening. When we can somehow grasp the truth that God is so much bigger and those little guidelines that we think we follow that we find in His Word for us were regulated by what is written here. Because it’s been written for man. But do you know that God is not regulated by what’s been written here? Oh no. He will honor what He has said here but God is so much bigger that this whole room full of books couldn’t contain all of the possible options that God has at His disposal. He’s not limited. When we think, “well God we’ve tried everything that you’ve given us and we’re just sunk because every door is closed,” God says, “I have a thousand doors you don’t know anything about.” Praise God.

We’re going to be talking about that day that has been appointed, or the completeness of God’s plan in many, many appointments. I realize that there’s room for controversy. I would like us to consider the details of the plan, even of God’s creation, how complete it is. Stop and think about the millions of stars that are out there. I was reading a book not too long ago of some ancient people who had identified certain heavenly bodies and those heavenly bodies are still right where those people thousands of years ago saw them. They haven’t changed. God has everything so complete and so exact that they follow their courses. And our clocks are set by God’s heavenly bodies that He has put there. God is so exact in His planning and He has appointed these stars, He has set them in their appointed places. They’re so complete that the astronomers can tell you where they’re going to be one hundred years from now.

They can tell you what positions they had thousands of years ago. The same God is not going to suddenly get sloppy in His planning for people. All of His beautiful planning and the things that God has done are because He loves people so much. It’s for us. Praise God. His details are so beautiful, His plans are so complete, and His timing is so accurate. We would ask what in the world does God have in mind in what He is doing. In everything that He is doing, His righteousness, His love, His mercy, His faithfulness, everything is seen. I’d like to think way back to show you how exact God is in His planning. When He told Noah about the flood He said, “Noah it’s going to rain so many days and so many nights.

And you’re going to be in that ark so long and I’m going to turn the faucet off.” And the Bible tells us that when Noah was in the ark God had remembered His promise that He made to Noah. He said, “Time is up,” Gabriel was there and he said, “God it’s time to close the faucet,” and it was done. God’s people were taken into the land of Egypt. God told Abraham. He said, “Abraham would you like to take a little look over my shoulder and see what some of your grandkids are going to be doing?” And so God let Abraham look over His shoulder and Abraham said, “Wow, I didn’t know that I was going to have that many grandkids.” God said, “they’re going to be carried into the land of Egypt, a land that was not their own. They’re going to serve them for 400 years and after that I’m going to bring them out with a strong hand. And I’m going to judge that nation, and they’re going to have great spoil. They’re going to go out with a lot of property that they picked up while they were in that land that they borrowed from.

But the Bible tells us that when the 400 years were up God remembered Israel. It doesn’t say He didn’t remember them before but the clock had ticked off the time. God’s timing is so accurate and He started stirring the hearts of those people. And they began crying out and they begin getting so restless and God had it all ready. God heard that and He put things together. Remember the story when Israel left the land of Egypt. God asked Daniel, “Hey Daniel would you like to look over my shoulder to see what’s going to happen to the Jewish people?” And Daniel said, “Yea I would like to see that.” He said, “Now you’re not going to understand it because a lot of these things are for another time down the line a ways but it might be of interest for you to see some of these things.” So he opened up the book and Daniel took a look. God said, “Now look here Daniel, I’ve reserved here 490 years for the Jewish people and it’s going to be divided among sections.

In 483 years from a given starting point here, the Messiah is going to come and He’s going to give His life for the sins of the people. After your long dead there’s going to be a king that will rise by the name of Cyrus. And he’s going to free these people from a bondage that you don’t know anything about. When he gives the decree, by the way, your city is going to be torn down too Daniel. The day that the decree goes forth that the city is going to be rebuilt, whoever reads this, your followers and those who come along later will know that from the day the decree is given to rebuild Jerusalem, start counting, there’s 483 years till the day that Jesus gives His life. Oh it was exact on God’s calendar. And historians have taken the Jewish calendar and they’ve started counting back. They’ve counted the exact days of those 360 day years of the divisions that were given there and it came out to the day. God with all you’ve got to do how in the world can you keep such accurate books? When you got billions of stars out there and you got all of that to take care of and still you’re this definite in your planning. He said, “I’ve saved 7 years still to deal with Daniel’s people but that will be at another time when the times of the Gentiles have been fulfilled.

Jesus, when He came into Jerusalem just before He was to be offered up, He looked at Jerusalem and He began to weep and He wept, and cried out, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem if only you would have known that in your day the time of your visitation that you have been visited from heaven, if you only knew where this is on God’s big calendar you wouldn’t just be lying around sleeping, you’d be doing something about it. But you don’t know. It’s been hidden from your eyes, you haven’t seen it.” And that was the day that He was talking about, the 483 years being completed for the people of Israel. They still had 7 years left which is still ahead. Whenever the day approached things took place. For example when Israel was going to leave Egypt, the children of Egypt there began to groan and cry and the taskmasters made it rougher on them and they began crying out to the Lord and their cry went to heaven. When Jesus was going to come into Jerusalem that day it was getting real close and it was predicted that Jesus would come into the city on a colt that had never been ridden on yet. God takes care of all of the details and Jesus knew all about it because He had taken a look at those books before He came down. And so He told the disciples, “I’m going to be going into Jerusalem,” and He said, “I want you to prepare a Passover and in these preparations I want you to go into the city and I want you to borrow the little colt there.

So what He told them was, you will know which one it is by a few markers here. He said, “You will see a man carrying a pitcher of water on his head.” Those disciples said, “Hey Jesus come again, men don’t carry water. That’s a job for the ladies.” Jesus said so that you’ll know God has arranged this so particularly that there’s a man that’s been practicing for a year down there so he could balance that pitcher on his head just because God’s getting everything all ready here. And so He said, “When you see a man with a pitcher of water on his head it will be evidence to you that I’m telling you something that couldn’t just happen because men don’t just do that. Then he said, “You’ll see this colt tied when you see this man. So I want you to untie the colt and bring him to me. Now someone’s going to ask you why are you stealing the colt for? And all you’ll need to say to them is the Master has need of him and he’s going to say ok. I’m going to even prepare his heart so he won’t turn you into the police.

God had every little old detail prepared. And it was so complete in God’s book, just as complete as if it already happened and so he mounted that little old colt. And it had never been ridden before. And horse colts would probably give you a rough time unless their broken. Jesus got on this colt and started into Jerusalem. And in God’s big book 100’s of years before He let the prophets see it and the prophet wrote down that there would be great shouts of hosanna as Jesus marched into Jerusalem. And so it was already recorded in heaven, God let Him take a look at it. And so when Jesus started in, all the people saw Him coming and there was something that was stirred up in their heart, the Lord had already made preparation. And here they were all over the place. And they cut down palm branches; they took their coats and laid it out in front of Him.

And here He was a great King coming in for coronation. And the people were shouting hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. There were these people, there were a lot of religious leaders around, there were a few Pentecostal preachers who cannot get to used to the supernatural, there were a few Baptist, Methodist, some people who just can’t stand emotionalism stood around there and said, “I think we better form a committee here and send them over and tell Jesus that this is going to set religion back 50 years or even more.” So they came to Jesus and they said, “Jesus tell these people to be quiet, they’re being irreverent. Did you ever kind of fell that way in a church where people got a little bit too excited? I know some of you may have cringed when you had some real fine dignified businessmen here in the community come out here and the pastor gets a little excited, and you think, Oh I wish he would have picked another day to do that, I have my friend here today. That’s the way some of these people felt. But do you know what Jesus told these people? He said, “It’s too late to stop it. It’s already written down in God’s big book up there. It was recorded before we ever made this whole earth.

It’s already recorded that today shouts went up that the King was coming.” When God speaks, that irreversible force goes forth that nothing can stop. Jesus said that it’s already written and if these people hold their peace, well the only thing left around here is all these rocks. He said these rocks will cry out, but it will have to happen. It has to happen. Hallelujah. God keeps His appointments. He marks them down and keeps them. In every case where He has recorded the appointment in the Word, things, the preparation for the day to happen and the event to happen, there were a lot of things moving around falling into place. There’s another great appointment that has been made.

It’s called our day. The great day of the revelation of Jesus Christ to His people, the day when He’s going to say hey come up higher I’ve got something planned for you. And in preparation for that day, He has the angels of heaven out working overtime. He’s stirring people’s hearts, they’re feeling things going on that they never felt before. There are cries going out, there are people turning to the Lord that nobodies talked to about the Lord. Things are happening today, things are moving. There’s a shaking and a moving. There’s a cry in people’s hearts, Jesus come quickly. That day is almost here. Jesus is coming.

There’s a day that’s appointed. Paul said, “I’m not afraid, I know the One who’s going to be present on that day. And He will keep all of the things that I’ve committed to Him. I don’t have to be afraid.” There are a lot of people that haven’t committed anything to Him yet, they’re going to be trembling because He tells us that there’s coming a time when every knee is going to bow, every tongue confess to God. These days are coming and they’re really not very far off. I like what Paul tells us over in 2 Corinthians 3 where he tells us that this is a day, there’s a special day for the believer, a day when God has chosen to gather us together and say, “hey thanks for all you’ve done to help me.” That day is coming. Every living person and every person who is dead has an appointment made for them. Do you know that there’s even an appointment that God has made with you for death.

The day when you’ll go into His presence? Hebrew 9:27, he tells us that it is appointed; we know that man is going to die, but it’s appointed for him to die. In God’s great calendar it’s there. And when you link arms with God, Satan may growl and roar around you but there isn’t much that he can do because God has already planned it. I’ve taken a little time to tell you about these great big appointments that are going to take place. I’m going to focus attention on an individual life. Those things that happen in your life each day as you walk with God don’t just happen. Everything that takes place in your life, this is staggering, there’s so many questions that you can ask me that I don’t know how to answer. But in knowing God as I know Him, I know that those details of your life are all planned by God. Acts 15:13. And after they had held their peace, James answered saying, “brethren listen to me, Simon has declared how God at the first visit to the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.

And to this agree the words of the Prophets as it is written. After this I will return and build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, I will build again the ruins thereof, I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all of the Gentiles upon whom My name is called says the Lord who does all these things.” God has a plan in operation and He’s keeping track of it and He is fulfilling it. He’s talking about fulfilling His plans, the tabernacle, the Temple of Jerusalem, the time to be rebuilt, the time of the Gentiles when they will call upon God. Those who will call the name Jesus and line up with Him, He’s bringing to Himself. Verse 18. Known unto God are all of His works from the beginning of the world. He knows you. He knows what’s going on. Two years ago God took me into the throne room of heaven.

That experience was so breathtaking, so awesome. In this experience one of the greatest things that God allowed me to see were the record books of heaven. And it was so vast, every individual had a book. God talked to me about this, I could not see God face to face, I was aware of a great light there but I never once even had the urge to look to see Him because I was so engrossed in other things and this type of a desire was gone. But God spoke with me and I know He knew my heart. And I said, “God I feel that the great events that you mentioned in the Bible, you have them planned in detail. Like the great plan you have of salvation. Plans for Israel, plans for your church you have in detail. And people who are part of these plans, you have in detail.” This was something that I had kind of put together so I could live with it.

But when God said because I made reference in the Bible like to Cyrus in Isaiah, I made reference to Cyrus there and to some of these others doesn’t mean that they’re the only ones. I just happened to pull theirs out as a little reminder to the things that were going to happen for a little confirmation. But that does not mean that these are the only ones whose lives I have planned. God let me know then that His plan book included a plan for every life. And He has a set of records, complete records of every life. As I looked at the vast records, can you imagine plan books for billions and billions of people? My head was staggered. It was too much for me. He let me see the Apostle Paul’s book. He said just see how accurately its planned. God laying out his plan before him even as a small child, before he was born He created him with a great big brain capacity so that he would learn real fast because God said, “I had planned for the Apostle Paul to speak to kings and rulers and men in authority and then I want him to write a good clear picture of My plan.

That’s what I had planned for him.” So it all happened just the way God said it would happen. I saw these and I was staggered. Then God spoke to me and said, “This is too much for you, it’s too vast but I have a complete plan for every life and I’m going to pull a book that you’ll be able to relate to a little more.” And I saw Him pull out the blue print for R.H. Buck. And I wanted to look and see what all was in that. It was a thick book, a lot of things there. He said, “You couldn’t take it if you saw all that was in there.

But I’ll write down 120 of the things that are there that will happen in just a short span. Then when they happen it will be a confirmation to you just what I’m talking to you about. It doesn’t mean that everything I write down is all that’s going to happen. There will probably be ten thousand details for each one that you know about but I am going to put this down.” There were names, dates, events, and people. About 20 of these things had dates on them. Some of them had paragraphs describing in detail what was going to happen. And as I looked at it, it was burned onto my mind. When God spoke to me about that, I asked Him, “God what about other people that don’t know about these things, that you haven’t written something out? Is your planning just as complete for them?” And God so lovingly spoke to me and said, “Theirs is just as complete though they may not know about it, it’s just as complete, for I care for everyone.” Praise God.

I’m not going into a lot of detail except that those things began happening in sequence the way they were on that paper. I know it’s staggering when we see how God is able and has the equipment that’s necessary to put together every detail even though those details are so difficult, they seem impossible. Think of all of them; multiply it by all these billions. But every day is a fullness of time and with your arm linked in God’s it’s an appointed day between you and God. Your sitting right out here today because God brought you here, it was written down before God ever made this earth. This afternoon God has some things He’s going to bring into your life. Tomorrow there’s going to be people brought across your pathway. God has foreordained you for a very special time. What’s it all coming to? That big appointment that’s coming is that time is running out for this whole world. God has other plans, and He’s starting to stir people moving them together. You’re a part of what God’s doing. I want you to thank God that He has included you in His great big plans.

Chapter 57 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, That You Might Know

The message that we’re considering this morning is one I feel to be very, very important. Not in any sense a defense of the gospel or what God is doing. But rather to bring to us an identity of what He is doing to His Word. Reminding us, illuminating to us, opening our eyes and making His revealed Word clearer and more real. And this is the purpose of this message. I felt a real need of bringing this message because of opposition, because of objections people are having. Because of the foreknowledge that the Lord has allowed me to witness because of efforts that will be forthcoming to downgrade, to detract, even an effort to destroy the truths that God has made real. There will be some who will even deny their own faith that they have supported, their attack on what God is doing will also be an attack on their own foundations upon which they stand. But God will not be defeated. When He has made a decree, an irreversible force is set in motion, nothing can stop it.

He has not had one defeat and He’s not going to have any defeats. Praise God. So this has not come as a defense to the Word, God will defend His Word. God has emphasized to me, make no effort to defend what He is doing, make no effort to try to prove it to be correct. But rather share the truth that has been made real. And what we’re doing today is not in violation to God’s command not to defend it, but rather to add support and credence by identifying these truths with the solid Word of God. Praise God. I would entitle this message that you might know. God does want us to know; there are a lot of things that He wants us to know. But one thing especially that we’re dealing with today, He wants us to know the things that are freely given to us of God.

That we might know the things that He freely gives to us. Now the purpose of these messages that God has brought in such an unusual way that He has brought thru the voice of an angel has been to point out what God has prepared, what God’s plan is for His people because He wants us to know His plan. He wants us to know how He feels about us. And so we’re going to be considering these things in bringing these things to you today. We’re going to be reminded of the messages that God has brought and what they have done and just even from the testimonies that you have given here today how they have made God more real. They have let you understand His purpose; I’ve heard some of you say that. They’ve let you understand what heaven is like. The dimension that’s beyond, it’s taking it out of a nebulous cloudy misty understanding and brought it down into a very real thing, which even makes the things of this life seem kind of misty by comparison with the fullness of what God has planned and prepared for those that love Him. And I would say the first thing that He wants us to know and He has shown thru these visitations has been to give us a glimpse of the Father; to show us who He is. This has always been a cry in the hearts of His people.

God where are you? Can we see you, can we find you? These are the words that Phillip gave to Jesus in John 14:8 where he said to Jesus, “show us the Father and it is sufficient.” And today it’s still sufficient. When you catch a glimpse of God, other things can really fade away. It’s sufficient when you see Him as He really is. And this is in these messages brought by the angel the supporting scripture in which there are well over 2000 portions of scripture that was made real. He’s burned them into my heart, I’ve seen them as a living picture as well as complete with the reference. I don’t have to use a concordance. God burned it on my heart and mind. He has stamped them on my heart because of this unusual visit. The golden text of the Bible that these angels have gone back to again and again and again in Jeremiah 9:23-24, he tells us the things that man glory in are not the things that are of interest to God at all.

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the wealthy man glory in his riches. But if somebody wants to glory, let him glory, let him bask in the sense of assurance and reality that he knows and understands Me.” That’s what God said, God is speaking here. He said now what shall he know and understand about Me in order to give him something to glory about. That he understands that I am a God of vengeance with that great big club with a spike on the end. Loving you with My club. My club is comforting you. The least little step out of the way, I got you.

Well no that wasn’t what He said, he said “if he glories and gets happy and excited about anything let it be in the fact that he knows Me that I am a God of loving-kindness, a God of mercy, a God of justice, I’ll be fair and right;” a God of righteousness. And as you know, that word righteousness means His unfailing ability to always do that which is right. And so a person may have things a little bit rough, but when you know that God hasn’t turned His back on you. That word unfailing means He can’t miss. His unfailing ability to always do the right thing. You can rest when you know He’s going to do the right thing. I’ll tell you, people get themselves into the most awful turmoil when they don’t know God in this way. But the person who knows God can settle back. Someone may say “why are you so settled and calm, you’re going thru as many bad things as we are, what happened?” Well I can glory in the knowledge that God is doing the right thing. I can trust Him.

His ability is unfailing. Hallelujah. And then God said “for in these things I delight. These things make me not only happy inside but they make me express my happiness, by beaming those warm rays of my smile.” You see, you could be happy down inside with a mask on your face, but when you express it, it turns around maybe some other expressions to when you know that God is smiling. Hallelujah. I had a lady come in yesterday so torn. There was no reason for brightness, for hope anywhere. She needed God so badly. But I told her, “God is smiling on you, you’re not in here by accident, you’re here because God smiled on you.

He heard that cry from your heart. And I want you to look up right into His face, God is delighted. He’s smiling. I want you to smile back.” And as she did, and this happens every time, a river inside of her just burst loose and weights and fears and bondage that she had for 10 years just snapped. Just such rejoicing. I drove out to see a lady yesterday afternoon, a lady that has cancer. And it looks like there is very little hope without God. Didn’t know the Lord, so fearful, her eyes showed it. They were hollow pools of fear and dread.

And even the stretching of the skin showed marks of fear, it was written all over her in torment. But I told her the same thing. She said, “God must hate me an awful lot to do all this to me.” I told her, God isn’t doing that to you. I said if it wasn’t for the love of God it would be ten times as bad. God doesn’t do these things to us. But he does give us grace and strength when we face these things. He loves you and I said is there anything that you can thank Him for. Oh yes, He gave me five of the most wonderful children and I should have been dead 29 years ago with some affliction but she said I lived and I have all of this wonderful family. So I said well you see God was so good to you and He blessed you in spite.

So we talked together and I told her about God’s big smile. When she looked up into the Lord’s face, she felt the icy chill of fear leave her. She started to weep and rejoice, something was turned loose in her. Her daughter was there and only recently found the Lord. And she told her daughter “I’m not afraid anymore, I’m not afraid anymore! She was just rejoicing in God, she caught a glimpse that God was not a vengeful God bringing judgment upon her but loving kindness. This does not erase the truth that God is also a God of wrath. But God wants us to know that His gospel is a gospel of good news. That He is a God that delights in His loving-kindness and His tender mercy and His care. And as we point people to what God is really like. Those who accept His loving-kindness and this side of God which He delights in will never have to experience the other side, his wrath.

But this guilt ministry has rolled the truth of God over until people somehow if at all possible have to wade thru His wrath and His frown and the things that God has pronounced upon those who have rejected and refused Him to somehow find His love. And many times they are so tainted and so steeped in the hurts and the wrong concept of God that even when they get to His love they have a hard time accepting it because they are so calloused because they are so conditioned against even feeling that God could ever have this kind of feeling toward them. And for this reason God is telling the world I feel thru this extraordinary means He’s telling the world, “see what I’m really like? And if you accept Me, see what I’m like. Accept my love and my care and you’ll never have to experience the other phase of my nature.” Does that have any meaning to you? Oh, praise the Lord forever. I like Jeremiah 29:11-13 where God Himself is speaking again. And He said “I know the thoughts that I have toward you.” People are trying to tell God all the time what He’s thinking. But God says I know my thoughts toward you, and they are thoughts of good, not evil. And He said my plans weren’t just made yesterday and I’m not just picking them up as I go along.

I had them made even before I made the earth. And I have it all set up here and I’ll bring you to the expected end, the thing that I have decreed. I know my plans; I have good plans for you, good thoughts for you. And He’s speaking here to them about Israel at that particular time about bringing them out of Babylon and back into their home land. But what He was doing was literally opening a window into His heart and is saying “I’m not only interested in these people in doing it but I’m interested in everyone because this is my heart that I’m exposing.” And so with us His plans are complete and He’s going to bring us to that place too. This is a glimpse of the Father. Then when Moses cried out, you remember Exodus 34 verse 6 and 7. Moses cried out, “Oh God show me your face. Let me see You God, I want to see you and know what you’re like.

And I think that every person that’s had a hunger in their heart has wanted to draw so close to God, they’ve wanted to know what He’s really like. And this is what Moses felt. God I want to know you as a friend. And God did speak to him as a man speaks with his own friend. And He said, “Now Moses, it would be totally impossible because of the brightness of my presence for you to see Me in the flesh and live but I can let you feel some of the warm rays of my glory. And so Moses I’m going to put you here in the cleft of this rock and I’m going to pass by and I’m going to let you absorb the glory. And then when this happens I’m going to tell you what I’m like. I’m going to describe Myself to you.” And so in these verses he said to Moses, “Moses I am the Lord God, plenteous in mercy and compassion and love towards those who keep my commandments and who walk after me. And to the children of those who walk after Me.

Now he said, “don’t get me wrong Moses, because I show this loving-kindness doesn’t mean that they’re in heaven or that their sins are all forgiven, I love them while they’re still in their sins, while they’re still my enemies. I love them.” He said “this will by no means clear the guilty. They have to still come and accept before they can be cleared.” But he said “my loving-kindness is out there.” Hallelujah. Then he said for those who reject this part that I delight in, then he said the next couple of verses that there is the side of His wrath, “I also keep wrath and judgment for those who reject and refuse. But God says make sure you keep the right side up. This was a mistake that was made in the middle of the last century. People felt that somehow God couldn’t quite handle His responsibilities.

And it became a gospel of man instead the gospel of God. And the entire message that was given regardless of what denomination, it was a gospel zeroed in on man, man, man. But the highest purpose of the Word is to view God. And so God today is taking that beautiful light of truth and He’s turning it away from man and back to God. When we see Him, only when we see Him as He is can we effectively serve Him, can we effectively walk with Him and please Him. Then not only does He give us a glimpse of the Father thru these angelic beings and this message but He gives us a glimpse of His purpose. And His highest purpose for man all the way thru His word this is a book of God’s dealings with man. And we can see what God is like by the way He has dealt with man, by the way He’s cared for them, by the way He’s spoken to them. And so His purpose is to reconcile, to knock down all of the walls between man and God. 2 Corinthians 5:19, this was God’s great plan and He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.

Then He’s in believers as we go out, he said He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That ministry of making it happen. Not only saying well I sure hope God saves this person but He said I give you the ministry. See the word of reconciliation is that beautiful message that you can come now. And the angels cannot really make it happen. They can bring people to that point of decision. But we as believers can take the hands of these people and influence these people, and influence their decision. We can persuade them. We can take the hand of God. This is the difference between the word of reconciliation and the ministry of reconciliation.

The Word tells them about it the ministry is taking hold of their hand and making it happen. Pulling the hand of God and man together. I love this ministry. Do you know I never tell a person I’m going to pray for you that you might be saved? I say hey we’re going to do it, pull you together right now. If they’ve reached that point you see well I want to find God. I feel that we’re doing the wrong thing if we say well we’ll be sure to pray for you that the Lord will do it. And then we call up some friends and we say so and so is very close to giving their life to the Lord, let’s pray for him. Instead of that, when you sense those signals of hunger know that God didn’t only give you the word to give them but he gives you the right because God is here right now, he said let’s get together. And so this is beautiful. And then this restoration brings us back to that place of fellowship with God that was lost when Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden.

They were in a place of total innocence. There was no reason why they had to hang their heads. They were in fellowship with God. They knew God, God knew them, they walked together and they had wonderful fellowship. God has zeroed in on this. This was His plan all the way thru now. I want man to be restored back because I created him for this kind of fellowship and I want this kind of fellowship. So God is bringing this plan and purpose thru these messages. I’ll never forget the message that Gabriel brought me before Christmas Sunday. He explained to me the work that God had done in bringing Christ and that His plan in sending Christ was that man would be restored.

He said that the highest position that the Old Testament believer could reach in God was a position of pardon but that their terms of the pardon and their sins had to be reviewed every year. And the pardon rewritten. It would only last one year and then another sacrifice and another sacrifice. The terms had to be reexamined and another pardon written. But he said when Jesus came; His purpose was to remove the need of pardon by removing the remembrance of sin. And in the Old Testament the sins were remembered every year. You read this in the 8th chapter of Hebrews. But in the 12th verse of the eighth chapter you read about the remembrance of sin year after year. I’m going to turn to that briefly because I feel that it’s important enough to have this before you. In the tenth chapter and the tenth verse, “by which we are sanctified thru the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

Every priest stands daily ministering often times the same sacrifices which could never take away sin. But this Man after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God.” See what He’s telling us here is that there doesn’t need to be a reminder of these sins in the first couple of verses of this tenth chapter he also makes reference to this where he said, “for the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of these things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers there perfect, just pardoned you see. For then would they not have ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. That’s verse 3 in Hebrews 10. So what the angel was telling me was that every year those sins were remembered again and again and again but God does not want to keep on remembering your sins. So in His great plan of sending Jesus He made one sacrifice for sins forever. There doesn’t need to be another. I remember when he gave me the beautiful verses in Isaiah 53 where he said that Christ travailed because of the pain and the anguish and the reason for his travail, He was fulfilling the plan of God that a whole new race be created and be born.

And he said “He shall see the travail of his soul, He shall see that new nation those individuals those new lives and be satisfied. And it works so I never have to make another sacrifice” so you’re a part of that new nation when you accept Jesus. This is what the new birth is. You’re born a new person, a new race. And what is this new race? The angel said that was as high as those Old Testament people could go. But when Jesus came, He created the new race. And he said for this reason you will never find the word pardon in the New Testament. He said it isn’t there because God has erased the need for pardon by erasing the remembrance of sin. Doesn’t that make you feel good? What has He done with it then? He has replaced that message of pardon with the term of justification. Justification throughout his New Covenant now is you’re counted just like you had never sinned.

So God does not have a pardon and say “boy that person was horrible, look at this guy he committed robbery 25 times. Oh what a horrible thing. I really had to do a lot for him. And here’s that immoral person. Look at all the things that they have done.” When God looks at us now He says, “they have never sinned, they have never sinned.” If you’re going to be restored, restored means put back in the original condition. So when God looks at you now, he looks at your record, there’s no difference with any of us, we’re all restored to the innocence and perfection of Jesus. And do you know that there’s no way in the world that God can accept anybody unless they do look like Jesus. For he tells us that no flesh can stand before God because of the imperfections and the faults of the human flesh.

Aside from sin no flesh can stand before Him. So Jesus was made flesh and in flesh bore all of our weaknesses and all of our infirmities the whole bit, He didn’t only bear our sins. On Him were placed all of these things so when God looks down on us wrapped up in Jesus Christ, He sees us looking just like Jesus. So that’s the message of restoration. Then comes His great priority, the message of reuniting. A time when He is going to bring us back, reuniting in fellowship with Him. Hallelujah. Three basic R’s and this is what the message is. Then he speaks of His responsibility. His rights and His doings.

All of these things are things that God is doing and what you had to say today, you confirmed that this is true, it’s happened to you. Now God is illuminating His Word thru the visitation of angels. It has not replaced the Holy Spirit because God has been visiting the world and people with angels since time began. It hasn’t changed, the only difference is and it’s really not so much difference only we happen to know about it. He has spoken thru angels. Paul said He has spoke thru angels before in Hebrews 2 and verse one, he said “if the word spoken by angels was steadfast,” God honored it, God backed it up, it came from God. He said we better pay attention to the things that we have heard because they are steadfast. So the Lord is speaking, it has not changed the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the controller and the director of all of the angelic activities. There are people who feel well this is changing my concept of God.

I always felt that God was so interested in me personally that He was the One that would come down and take care of this person over here and four billion people that He was having to run to the cry of one to the other. Even God would have an awful time with that because all of the confusing cries. But why if God has created billions of angels and God is a God of such order that even the stars in their places and their courses prove that He is a God that takes care of minute details. How would a God like that make six or seven billion angels and say “now you sit around on stars out here and play your harp while I go down there and do all the work.” He created a lot of people down here and we all have jobs to do but we’re doing it for Him. He created an army up there and He said you’ve got a job to do and He’s giving them jobs to do. There are four different orders of angels and all of them given their function, they’re doing His bidding and His command. There are the great messenger angels as Gabriel that are the special shock troops of heaven that bring messages to people that are busy serving God. God’s Special Forces. There are the great warring angels whom Michael is the arc, the very top angel.

There are the worship and the song angels; Lucifer was the archangel of all of the worshiping angels. This is the only type of angel that has wings. But the wings are literally tools of worship that God has placed upon them as they shroud themselves, as they’re singing and crying out to God in worship. And though they are a part of them they literally fall in the most beautiful folds. And the confirmation of these wings, using that terminology on these angels is the most beautiful, graceful appearance you could possible imagine in your life. I’ve watched them as they have fallen down and watched these wings fall in the most beautiful folds as they bow down before the God of heaven. There are actually three on each side. There face is draped with these filmy wings. Their feet are covered but even that looks almost like a bride’s train in the folds about their feet. And their back is draped with the beautiful folds of these wings.

There are three on each side that cover them. There are literally millions of them and when they’re not involved in their particular assignment and worship at the throne of God, they are down with God’s people assisting and aiding His people in their worship to God. Whenever you worship God there are some that come, and it doesn’t take them a long time to get there. They can move with the speed of thought, that’s fast and they’re there. The Holy Spirit says, “Hey there’s some people worshiping,” and they move in. Then there are the ministering angels whose address is here on this earth. A community of people here on this earth. There are people who feel that they must defend against anything they cannot understand with their minds. And people have been trained to say if it fit’s the Word I will accept it, if it doesn’t fit it I won’t accept it. But what they’re really saying and I feel that this was the trick of the enemy against what God is doing.

Not everybody has the same level of understanding of the Word. So as a result, if they had let’s say one half of one percent and they could take something that God was doing and they would test it by the one half of one percent of the information that they had of the Word, they’d say “no God it doesn’t relate to my one half of one percent.” Well even the most astute students of the Word, great theologians have little more than three or four percent. So they look at something, they say well I have to fit this with the little three or four percent of my understanding. So if they make a statement, they should always add the words according to the four percent of the knowledge that I have it is my opinion it doesn’t fit this four percent but it still has 96% to go you see. God isn’t going to have His hands tied by man’s puny mind. Why that Word is so great, it’s an unfolding truth. It’s like a great field that you can reap a crop. And it just keeps growing up because God has implanted in the Word truth that keeps on growing and growing. But it has been one of the most crippling things in God finding room in people’s hearts because of the bondage that has been given to them; make sure it fits that little tiny speck of the Word that you know.

You know what God says in place of that? He said you test these things by the principles of God. Not by what you know of the Word of God. By what God is like, God is love; does this have the marks of love? God cares for you. Does this care for people? God is not concerned about Himself but His thoughts are going outward. Is this a selfish thing that a person has? If it’s reaching out and it’s given in unselfishness you could see the marks of God. The Word needs to be tested by the principles of God not by abstract verses that you find here and there. I don’t mind if people say well I’ve tested it by the Word if they will add this, “I have tested this by my limited knowledge. And by my limited knowledge my opinion is this. But when they make that flat statement they’d better watch out. So we want to identify what God is doing with the Word and God Himself wants this and so every time that a message is brought to me it comes complete with supporting scripture.

None of the theologians are the writers of the commentaries knew anything about what was there. But oh how beautiful it is that He turns the light on, He proves that that little path that man has hewn thru the forest is only just a little tiny bit of what He has. There’s a verging timber out there that is still to be explored. Praise the name of the Lord. In an answer to critics, there are some that say are you sure these angels are from God? And today you gave the reasons in favor why you knew they were from God. Because they are doing God’s work in God’s Spirit. Wouldn’t Satan be stupid to do what these angels are doing. He’s awful wicked. But he’s not dumb. But he would be so stupid if he would win more souls to God in a year’s time then most of the servants of God are winning.

Then he would suddenly become one of God’s servants you see. But when you weigh what God is doing several hundred thousand that I know of that have turned their lives over to God because of what God has done thru these angels. Satan would really have lost his mind. He even attacks one little Christian that tries to do something for God. He gets a black eye when just one person finds God. So these angels are from God. The objection even by godly people has been this. Could they not possibly be evil angels appearing as angels of light? Using this word appearing as the Word states not to be surprised if Satan would work because if even Satan himself could appear as an angel of light, the word appearance here does not mean a physical appearance at all. For example, the term appear means to be like something. Someone can hear a message, and say this message appears to be saying this.

In other words it seems like it. There’s a relating likeness to it. It doesn’t mean a visible appearance. Because things could appear to us that have no physical substance. My words may appear to you like the Word speaks of words appear as the voice of God and so on. It appears, it seems like. A person would be on the wrong track thinking that evil angels have more right to appear than God’s angels. But just so you will know if somebody comes along and says hey now you better use caution here because Satan said he would appear as an angel of light. Do you know something? Satan cannot take on a physical appearance neither can any of his angels. Did you know that Michael and Gabriel and all of the angels of God cannot take on a physical appearance? No, not in their own right.

Satan was an arch angel like Michael and Gabriel but Michael and Gabriel can’t do it. They have told me this. They can only do it as God would direct and God isn’t directing evil angels to come around and appear to people you see. But He is causing the appearance of others. So you can write down that they can’t appear, evil angels can’t appear even as doing good, they’re very deceptive but not in a physical substance but more in their deeds or actions. Now another objection I would like to answer on this so that you can relate it to the Word. The question what about the angel that Joshua met and the one that Gideon met who when after they had gotten attention and introduced themselves to these men, then when they were ready to give the message they changed their wording and said now the Lord says to you. The Lord spoke. And there have been people who have looked for reasons why these truths are not from God, are not real by saying that these appearances of angels in the Bible were not actually angels, it was the Lord appearing. So they make what they feel like is a very strong argument against.

But this is no argument against. An angel if he speaks at all, it has to be the Lord speaking because he cannot speak. Only as permitted by God. And he has no message of his own only the message that would be given of God. And the same is true in many, many of the appearances that I have had. They have spoken to me and then as they’ve referred now there’s a message that God would have you to have. And the words have come out so strong and clear. The Lord says to you and then the message comes, not from the angel from the Lord. The Lord speaks. Hallelujah.

So this is no objection, there merely proving the point. It’s God that’s doing it thru an unusual way in bringing attention and opening a channel thru which He can speak. In Joshua 6:2 you’ll find this message. I told one theologian who is having a little trouble with a few things I said go ahead spend all the time you want to digging on that little point. Because God is pouring in so many of these truths that you’ll be ten miles behind before you ever find out anything there anyway. I said you’d never be able to keep up. I’ve had a lot of telephone calls from these people. They don’t know what to make of all of these things. Some of them are worried about the Bible truths and here are the objections. One of them says that well you say the angel said that people become the doorway to God and He’s set us here for that.

He said that this is impossible, that this is against the scripture. So I asked him if you were to talk to someone about Jesus, can you actually relate Jesus to that individual who doesn’t know Him. How are you going to describe Him to that individual? Well I might use this scripture. Well I said you can’t even relate him to the scripture. He’s dead; he doesn’t even have life yet. So when the angel said God has set his believers all over this world to make easy access to God as doors and he said you are doors all over. You are doors, that thru you people can come to Jesus. Your little door leads to the big door. Right into the very heart of God. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I told this one believer, can you imagine what you’re doing? You’re literally chipping away your very foundation out from under you in what you are saying. And they’re going to find this out. But you are the door, you are the light. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” then He went on to say “now you are the light of the world. You see, you’re taking My place here,” and he said you are the life, thru you men are going to find Life. Let men feed on you, on what comes from your life as the water of life goes thru you as the fruit of the Spirit develops in you. Life. Let people come to you and feed and as they feed on what God is producing in you they’ll become enriched. And if we can’t feed people with what God is doing for us we’re not fulfilling the job God has given us to do.

Chapter 58 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Lest We Forget

Today is a special day. It’s called Memorial Day. When God created us He took part of Himself and He placed it within us. Many of the characteristics of our lives are parts of God that He has given. And though depraved in man’s fall and departure from God, those things are still there. To those that may feel, that wonder is there really a God, does he really care? All you have to do is to look inside and know that there are the fingerprints of God. There is evidence that the eternal God has taken part of Himself and placed it in you when He created us in His own image. That little part that I’m speaking about now is called memory. Memory literally was planned and drawn into the framework of our life by God Himself. And this memory, because it’s a part of God is a powerful force within us both for good and for bad.

Now there may be some of you this morning who are troubled by bad memories. You may not even realize just what the problem is but memories that have been buried down inside from tears that have been unshed, from wrongs that have never been satisfied in your mind. From hurts that you could not quite understand. But they’ve gone down into the innermost parts of our being and they act as a man pointed dart of some type within us that hurts us. Psychiatrists and psychologists will tell you that oftentimes the things that bring about depression and problems are things you seemingly have forgotten with your conscious mind but your being, all the rest of you has not forgotten and it creates that pressure and weight upon you. They have stated that things that happen as small children that create these hurts live to haunt people in later years. There placed in an area of memory that may not be expressed in the conscious mind but is felt throughout a person’s body. I realize as people come to me for deliverance from depression and other weights, God has allowed me to have a discernment and in that discernment I can see sharp pointed darts that hurt and injure and trouble that person. And those memories are constantly, some that they can remember, some that they can’t remember are giving them trouble and I cry out to the Lord and many of you have heard me cry out to the Lord and say, “God today by the rush of your life will you now blunt these points and cause these memories that hurt to lose their power to hurt” and God comes thru. And their memories are still there but they’ve risen above them and they have been insolated so their memories can no longer hurt them.

Praise God. And there’s a freedom. I know that many, many of you can witness of this fact that are here today, God has delivered you and he has healed memories that have been afflicting. Hallelujah. I believe right now in this service before we go any farther we’re going to ask God to heal some memories in this place today. I feel prompted of the Lord to do this. And you know what? He’s going to do it. When I pray for you, the moment I ask for Him to remove that burden I want you to lift both hands. “Father you asked me to do this today because you love people and you want to set them free. You’re going to remove burdens and the hurt and the sting of things long since past.

Praise God. “For you are here, you’re here and we love you for it. Jesus as you look at each heart your spirit is reading every life and you know those deep things within.” Those words seem so empty and adequate to express our feelings; the Spirit of the Lord is taking that groan from within and is rearranging and bringing it into a full prayer in the ears of the almighty God. “Dear Lord in Jesus name we ask that by the flow of your life that these memories will lose their power to hurt. And right now as your people lift these burdens up to you I pray that there will be a warm glow of holy oil as it flows over them. May this be the moment that it happens where new life, new hope begins.” Lift those hands, everybody up here. Let that holy oil fill all thru you. God did this for a reason today because He’s dulling some memories that are not going to hurt you but He’s putting another memory in your heart.

A memory of His voice saying I have taken it from you. And when the enemy comes God wants you to remember what you heard this morning. That the voice of God saying I took it from you. Hallelujah. He tells us there are some things that He wants us to forget and there are some things that He wants us to remember. I’m going to read from Isaiah 49:13-16. We mentioned that the memory that you have comes from God. And it’s so beautiful that in God’s memory those things that are important to you are there, they are important to Him. And those times when it seemed like nobody knew, nobody understood, everybody forgot, nobody remembered, God was there and He remembered. Beginning with verse 13 and there’s reason for joy all over the universe because of this.

“Sing oh heavens and be joyful oh earth and break forth into singing oh mountains. For the Lord has comforted His people. And will have mercy upon His afflicted. But Zion said the Lord has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me.” We need to keep our facts and our opinions separated. It reminds me when Edison’s great factory burned to the ground. It had never opened for business. It was a great laboratory. It had not been opened even one day and that night it burned to the ground. All of his life’s dreams were ruined and wiped out.

He stood there by the ashes that were smoldering the next day and some of his associates tried to comfort him and with a tear drop in their voice they said Edison, isn’t this an awful thing that has happened. The dreams of your lifetime are in ashes and were ruined. Edison turned to him and said, “Keep your facts and your opinions separated. It is a fact that the building is destroyed but it’s just your opinion that I’m ruined.” It’s true we have trouble but He didn’t forget you. The fact is you’re having a lot of troubles but the fact is He didn’t forget you. “Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion upon the son of her womb? Yet they may forget but I will not forget you. I have graven you upon the palms of My hands. Your walls are continually before Me.” If you were to see God’s big hand you would see the name Pastor R. Buck.

You’d see every last one of you, He’s written your names down on His hand. If His hand is big enough to measure the heavens with the tip of his finger on one side and his thumb on the other, He’d said He’d measure the heavens with a span of his hand. And if he could put all of the nations as a drop in his hands he has plenty of room to write. I was praying last night in preparation for today and as the Lord often does He gave me a living panorama of truth here in my office. Letting me see in such an unforgettable way that He does not forget even when people forget. God opened up His divine memory and I could look and see what God was remembering and He let me see one particular person. His name was Joseph. I haven’t thought a whole lot about Joseph. I didn’t realize all that Joseph was suffering in jail. I saw Joseph with his feet tied with cords tight and they were all infected and hurting, sores because of the tightness of those cords.

And my heart went out to him and God said, “I cared when Joseph was down there. I care about each individual.” Then I saw him with his hands in irons. I asked as I was meditating, is this anywhere in the Bible? And he said that it was so much a part of God’s memory that He would never forget. That the world may suffer and people not know and seemingly not care but God cares. And those things that are important to us are important to Him. He said with David, hundreds of years afterwards he allowed David to see inside of his memory and He instructed him to write down these things that you see and he said you can read this Psalms 105 and verse 17 and 18. Here he allowed him to see what happened to Joseph. He loves us and remembers our needs and hurts. He remembers those little details of our lives.

But we think that God doesn’t even know about, and God has forgotten about us. And here it is, “He sent a man before him even Joseph who was sold for a servant whose feet they hurt with fetters and he was laid in iron.” Do you know why God remembered that? God felt those hurts. And He tells us that He Himself is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows how you hurt when you’re hurting. He remembers us. He says He cannot forget. He said this woman may forget her son but I cannot forget. Noah in Genesis 8:1. Think of the helplessness of Noah on that ark.

He didn’t have a motor; he didn’t even have a rudder. All he had to go on was God’s promise. But it happened sure enough just exactly as He said it would. God is in control. I just know Noah was looking at those skies. All of a sudden, just like a facet is turned off, it stopped. God remembered Noah. His plan was being fulfilled just exactly as God said it would happen. Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow know what the plan is so, you’ve been hurting fifty days already and you’re wondering, it would be so nice if God would let you know what His plan is so you could gear yourself for those next few days if he has more time but we don’t know. But what we do know is that we can trust Him.

I think of Abraham, Genesis 19:29, when the angels went into Sodom to destroy it. Lot didn’t want to leave but the Word tells us the Lord remembered Abraham. When he was there he remembered Abraham and saved Lot. God is remembering your mother, your father, a friend who loved you and God is remembering and helping you because He remembers them. I think of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:19 where she wanted to have a child so bad that she went to church when no one else was there. She went up to the front and started praying. And she prayed and prayed and prayed. And the priest there looked at her and said her lips are moving but she’s not saying anything. Her heart was praying. The priest couldn’t hear a word she said but there was another ear that was listening and there was another voice that was crying, the voice of her heart.

And God said, “I am listening” and the Bible says God remembered that He made a promise. And she became the mother of Samuel. I think of the different times when God remembered when Israel was in the land of Egypt. In Exodus 2:24 the Word tells us, it got time to get out of that place, God said, “You’re only going to be here 400 years. The nation of Israel, and I’m going to bring you out.” It was a covenant that God made to Abraham. God remembered the covenant that He made with Abraham. In opening up His big memory and said way back there I remember talking to Abraham and saying Abraham I’m going to bring those people out of there with great spoil. God remembered His covenant. In Genesis 3:15, He spoke to Moses and said, “Moses I have a certain part of Me that I want to be a memorial to the people forever.

And that is I never go out of business, I never change my mind, my promise is always good.” He said it’s got to be written on everybody’s minds. They’ve got to know about it, that I AM. Who? Moses said if they ask the people who sent me what am I going to say? God said, “say I AM has sent you.” Then he said, “I Am that I Am.” Then he told Moses, the fact that I Am is a memorial that you are never to forget. That I Am. He is still I Am. What he means by that is when I made the promise, I had certain feelings about you but I haven’t changed, I Am, I carry them right on along. He is the Father of eternity, yesterday, today and forever He’s the same.

What a beautiful memorial He’s given. Then I think of God’s memory in Exodus 6:5 as the children of Israel groaned and God said, “I’ve heard their groanings. And it’s come up before Me.” There are so many beautiful expressions here telling us what God is like. But because God has proven Himself, that He can be trusted, that He hasn’t forgotten you in His memory. He tells us there are a few things I want you to remember. Because you’re so prone to forget, you’re not I Am like He is, you forget. There are a few people walking around that are saying I Am but they’re not. They even forget like I do sometimes. I found a letter in my pocket that has been in my pocket for 3 weeks.

I went and mailed it last night. It wasn’t a letter that my wife had given me. It was somebody’s marriage license. I had 30 days before they would cancel your marriage but you see we’re all the time proving that we forget. Psalms 103, “Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me. And forget not all of His benefits. Who forgives all our iniquities.” Some of you men that got angry and spoke a little harshly to your kids or wife yesterday, right now you’re afraid, you’ve laid it out before God but if you were to stand before God you’d say God I’m so sorry I did that thing. God would have to look at you and say what are you talking about? All of your iniquities. And for this reason we all ought to be grateful to God.

Then, “healing all of your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns us with loving-kindness,” the very crown is the unearned favor of God and when you can’t look to God and say God I have done the right things now I’m going to claim this promise and you haven’t met God’s conditions. God looks down at you and David knew this and he said, “Oh God you’re crowning my life even when I don’t deserve it. You love me even when I don’t deserve it and you’re showing mercy on me. I kept a little report on my desk for quite a little while asking people as they came in, did you do the right things, do you feel like you met God’s conditions in claiming this answer to your prayer. And over a period of at least a year only 5% said I met the conditions so I could literally say God do this for me. The 95% received God’s help and God’s love but they said it’s only the mercy of God, I didn’t deserve it, it was God’s grace. God looked down and said there’s no way in the world that person could ever earn, they just haven’t met the conditions but they need help so bad and I can and I will help them. And so David was saying I didn’t meet the conditions but He crowns me with His loving-kindness and His tender mercies. Praise God forever. “Who satisfies your mouth so your youth is renewed like the eagles.

What He’s talking about here is that life doesn’t need to be boring it can be exciting because of the good things that God keeps bringing us. So our spiritual youth and life is maintained. In fact not only our spiritual youth, we had somebody come to vote in the church a while back. And some of the ladies came to me and said, “What do these people do around here to look so young?” And I said, “What do you mean?” They said, “Well that lady there now, she’s got to be at least 30 years old but she only looks 24 or 25 years old. What do they do to look so young?” I said, “Every one of those that you picked is past 35. Then he tells us we can thank Him because he does the right thing. He executes righteousness. The word righteousness means that he cannot do the wrong thing, He’ll always do the right thing by you and the word execute means He puts it into action. He does the right thing by you. Therefore we can thank Him.

Never forget this. Then in verse 10, “He has not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” How is He rewarding us, how is He dealing with us? It’s according to his covenant. The promise that he made, His covenant is ever before Him. He does not allow wickedness, other things to dictate to him his course of action. That dictates what happens to people, their course, but with God his love reaches out still. In verse 12, here’s another thing that He wants you to remember, when the enemy comes to you and says look at this thing, God is going to hold this up for you in the judgment. God wants you to remember as far is the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us. And when you think that God doesn’t care like as a father pities his children so the Lord pities those who fear him for he knows our frame, He remembers that we are but dust. Verse 17, “but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him and His righteousness unto children’s children.

Then in verse 20, “bless the Lord you angels who excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word, doing whatever God tells them to do bless ye the Lord all ye hosts, ye ministers of his who do his pleasure. Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion, bless the Lord oh my soul.” Will you remember the Lord today? I’d like to read a thought that the Lord seemed to impress me with while I was praying yesterday. Since God has given this quality, this little part of Himself, your memory is a dynamo with power to release that mighty force for good and bad. With our memories we open the rich treasure chest of days gone by. We are moved by events that have long past. We hear, we see, we feel that which was but is no longer here. Today some of you have heard again the good bye’s of a husband, of a son, of a sweetheart as they answered the call of their country and never returned. Because of this part of God within us, some have lived again the last days of one held dear. And your life has been mellowed because of it.

Though we can never forget, it is good to have these times of special reminder. Today you have already thought in your mind you have been able to reach back and cause to live again scenes that were before, this is part of God. God today is in his memory is thinking of that day when your heart cried out to Him, and you said I want to be yours. God is remembering, He can never forget. Hallelujah. Let’s make this Memorial Day in the truest sense of the word. Knowing that you can count on God, He will not forget you, let’s determine in our heart not to forget Him.

Chapter 59 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, God’s Warning Signals

My message this morning is on God’s warning signals. There are some definite warning signals in the Word. By God highlighting His plan, His acceptance, His covering for His people, He is not deleting the warnings and His call to people to walk with Him and live for Him. The warnings that He has given are just as sure as ever, but He wants them to be put in their proper perspective. He wants people who love God and who desire to live for Him to know how safe they are. But He wants people who are fooling around with Him and with the gospel and not taking Him seriously, He wants them to know that the path they’re on could lead to real trouble. The conclusion from the congregation was this: given in a little illustration that people who are not law breakers, who are law abiding citizens are not worried every day because there happens to be a jail downtown. In fact they can walk straight up to a police man look him in the eye, shake hands and say good day. They don’t need to worry because, so what, they’ve been minding their own business. You folk that are here I wonder how many of you have thoughts about the county jail every day.

Can I see your hands? Oh three or four of you, well we won’t tell who you are. My wife gets a little nervous around police men. Especially when she doesn’t have those tags on the license plate you know. But you know in carrying this over into the Christian life. People who have no reason to be afraid of God at all have been living in fear for years and years and years. Because there are some warnings that are given. Those warnings do not apply to that one who desires to walk with God. That warning is for the one who wants to see just how much they can get away with. How close to the edge they can walk. That person when they see the thin ice sign, that warning that’s marked out there, that warning isn’t given to people who aren’t careless.

That warning is given to the one who takes matters into their own hands and who defies the signals that are there. God does have definite warning signals. But the gospel is a gospel of good news. This is established. The word gospel means good news. Did you know that a message of fear and of doubt and of blackness, a message pointing to other things is not a message of the gospel? It can’t be, because the gospel means good news. Now God is a God who has two sides and there are messages and warning signals that He’s given in the Word but they aren’t part of the gospel. His gospel, His good news is, you can come now, God’s wrath is turned away. God loves you, God wants you, and God has room for you. God responds to your need, God is able to help you.

When we realize what the gospel really is, He said, “Go into all the world and tell this gospel, the good news to every creature.” I like Romans 8; in fact that whole chapter is a beautiful chapter. I was reading a different commentary from the Living Bible and I thought it was real good. Don’t worry about parts that may give you a hang up here or there but there is a thought here that will help you to see what the Lord is really saying. I’m going to read from verse 30. “And having chosen us God called us to come to Him, and when we came He declared us not guilty.” Isn’t that a good message? “When we came He declared us not guilty.” And then He did something else, “He filled us with Christ’ goodness. And He gave us a right standing with Himself,” and said, “I’m going to beam down on you the very atmosphere of heaven. I’m giving you a little foretaste of what it’s going to be like up there.

Why this is the reason why believers are happy. The Lord has literally given us a foretaste of what He has for us. He gave us the promise of His glory. Then in verse 33, “Who dares to accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? Will God? No, He is the one who has forgiven us and given us that right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ? No, for He is the One who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the highest place of honor next to God pleading there in heaven for us. Who then can ever keep Christ’ love from us? When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down and destroyed is it because He doesn’t love us anymore? And if we are hungry or penniless or endanger or threatened with death, has God deserted us? No. Despite all of this, overwhelming victory is ours thru Christ who loved us.” I wanted to share those verses with you. God has given us this right standing with Himself. God does not condemn us.

Jesus’ own words, John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world.” A lot of people think that He came to condemn them; He didn’t send His Son to condemn the world. But He sent His Son so the world might have life. And then Jesus said, “For those who believe on Him are not condemned, they’re not condemned but those who believe not are condemned already. God is saying this world is lost, they’ve lost their way. They need a way out, there’s condemnation, there’s a cloud that has settled over this world. And my purpose in sending Jesus is to remove the condemnation. And that’s what He did when He sent Christ. Those three big barriers that I told you about that separated you from God.

That condemnation Jesus came to remove. He did not come to condemn us but to save us and to give us life. This is the truth of the gospel. There may be some here today, your life has been miserable, you’ve wanted to serve God, you’ve wanted to please Him, but there were words ringing in your ears that robbed the beauty of God’s plan and purpose from you. And there were constant reminders of the fact that you may not have achieved a high enough spot, a place on God’s ladder and you hadn’t quite found the place of acceptance. And God had set you on a slippery place and said, “Now one little move from this line here and I’m going to disown you.” It’s like seeing a person walk along a slippery pole with a great shoot on each side, both shoots lead to damnation and God sets us on that slippery shoot there and He says if you can walk down this pole on this spot and if your sense of balance is good enough and if you’re lucky enough maybe you’ll get across. And so believers are walking in fear that they’re going to fall. That’s the picture they have when God says take another look on what you’re standing on. In the Word we see a firm solid highway and we see around us great angels from heaven for He said to his angels, “take charge of those people.

And they’ll bear you up lest you slip a little bit. For God did not save us to condemn us but to give us life. And His plan was not to see how good of a balance we had. But his plan was to take us because He has plans for us after this life is over that we should be with Him. His plan is to restore us to a place of fellowship and then reunite us with Himself in heaven. This is God’s plan. Hallelujah. So those of you who desire to live for God stop being afraid. God has you covered with the atonement. The word atonement literally means God’s cover.

The atonement literally covers you so you can be at peace with God. I mentioned to several different groups this week that the word atonement, the definition that is often given is not really the definition. And that is at peace with God. That is the result of atonement. The atonement means to cover anything that could keep you from having peace with God. That’s what He did in the atonement. The reason I emphasize this, God’s word is so positive, and so real and so rich. In this day the final message before the call of the trumpet that we might come higher, that final message is the message of atonement. This follows the pattern that God gave in His plan of salvation before He made the earth. He wants people today to know that they’re covered.

It’s the plan. The next message will be the sound of the trumpet which says you can come now. Praise God. And this is why the Lord wants this message to get out for the world. The world needs to know what God intended for them, what He had in mind for them, that they might come and be at peace with Him. Praise the name of the Lord. This is God’s pattern, it is God plan. So those of you who desire to live for God need not to fear. I have a letter in my office that I haven’t answered yet, I’m going to be answering this week. A lady wrote, she was very fearful, she heard my message in Spokane, this message of how safe the believer is.

And I mentioned that there were two ways and all the other things would fit into these would fit into these two things that lead them out from under God’s cover, rebellion and idolatry. And her heart was filled with fear. And she said, “I just feel that though I want to live for God I’ve rebelled in some ways, and so I’m afraid that I would be out from under His covering because I’ve rebelled.” And she told me in the letter what she had rebelled against. She had rebelled against some tradition, she had rebelled against some of the teaching that had brought bondage and hurt and weight. And I mentioned to my group on Friday, why here’s another guy that would rebel against that. God isn’t talking about you rebelling against the bondage and the weights and hurts that would be heaped on you. He’s talking about rebelling against what He’s doing for you. And even then He gives you those warning signals and says, “Hey that trail leads out from under the covering. It leads to death, it leads to destruction.

And here’s a way to return.” So I’m going to be writing her a letter that’s going to make her happy because that woman really loves God. Here’s the picture really. Without this message of covering, everybody, people who are living for God, people who are fooling around, people who could care less are all in the same bracket. All of them feel they are exposed under the eye of Almighty God. This message of the covering tells people who desire to serve God, honestly have surrendered their life to Him, and He says, “Hey quit worrying.” And He says you folk are under this covering. So it isn’t a matter that a person living away from God suddenly can continue living in his sin and say hey now everything is alright. You’re not included in that. Oh, no.

In order to be included you have to move where He is and follow Him. Now real quickly, we know that God’s covering allows Him to see us and I want to emphasize this again since it’s His message for today. That you are sinless with your faith in Him, you are blameless, and you are unreprovable. Colossians 1:22, Ephesians 1:4. These verses get them in your heart and mind. There are many others that would follow that. God is not only a good God, a God of love. He is also a God of wrath for those who refuse and reject. Nothing can separate you from his love. He loves even the most ungodly.

But he does tell us in Exodus 34:8-9 He tells you that though His loving-kindness reaches out from generation to generation that it will not clear the guilty. He loves those people that are guilty, clear away from Him though His love is reaching out over the whole world and people clear away from God are feeling His love. God said it will not clear the guilty. Because He loves you does not mean you have a ticket to heaven. It means that you have a good call and the opportunity to choose Him. The only thing in the world that will clear the guilty is for a person to accept what Jesus has done for them. That’s the only thing that will clear the guilty. Now I would like to go just briefly to give you some of these warning signs. If you’d like to write them down. Warning signals, just putting in modern terms the things that are referred to in the Bible and then I’m going to give you the references.

The first one, I feel this is so prevalent today. It’s a loss of sense of importance of spiritual things. There are many, many old time believers on the road of lethargy. It’s easier to stay home; it’s hard to generate excitement and zeal for the things of God. Well I got a few other things I really should do today. God will get along all right without me there in church and fellowship with His people. You read in Hebrews 10:20 where He tells us to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. So much the more as you see the Day of His coming approaching. Remember if you feel numb and cold inside and it’s kind of a weight and a burden to you to think, “well here I am, another weekend, I just have to go to church, I don’t want to fail God, but it’s a duty,” there’s no excitement in your spiritual life. You better watch out.

That road could lead from under that covering because of putting something else in the place of God. God no longer is your God, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Often times this is the case. Then the second thing, the second warning sign is when a person stands aloof by unbelief. You might have a real interest in church, in working for God. But you’re one of those kinds of people who feel that God has given you the gift of skepticism. And if you see something that God is doing, instead of looking for reasons why it’s so, in your mind you’re running over this thing is wrong, this thing could be different and so on. If you tell me that you believe in the supernatural and give me one reason why you believe it and nine reasons why you don’t believe it, why your words are just hollow echoes. I would have to say by your words you don’t believe in the supernatural. God wants us to have an awareness and a warmth and know what He’s doing and believe the supernatural giving God the benefit of the doubt.

So if in your heart your standing aloof, and Hebrews 3:12 gives us a verse, I like the amplified where it says, “beware or take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” In the amplified it says in causing you to stand aloof from God. And there are too many people that are standing back, observers standing aloof saying, “well I just can’t get to involved I just kind of have to see first of all, I’m just more or less neutral.” There’s no neutral ground. You’re either pulling one way or the other. If you are neutral you’re as much as telling the world you don’t believe in God. It’s not important enough to you. There is no neutral ground. And you know this. You’ve had plenty of people say well I’ll just wait and see.

You know they don’t believe what you’re telling them. It’s just another polite way of saying I don’t believe you. But God doesn’t hear that sort of thing. He says they’re standing aloof in their acceptance and their belief of what He’s doing. There looking for reasons to doubt the supernatural instead of defending. Willing to defend what God is doing. We need to be like Peter and Paul and the rest of these men who were willing to stick their neck out on the block for God. And I believe there are plenty of people today that are willing to do this. I don’t believe there has ever been a time where people were more dedicated to what God is doing then they are today. But for those who feel like they can stand aloof these are warning signs that God wants us to notice.

Another one, Proverbs 14:14, “the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.” When you start drifting back, long before you get clear away from God you’re interested only in those things that pertain to you, not the things of God. Paul refers to another one, Romans 6:1. The grace of God is this beautiful cover. It’s God’s grace that covers us. It’s something we didn’t earn; it’s something we couldn’t buy. It’s there. It’s something God gave to us, His grace. And a study that the Lord has led me in, in grace; it’s such a beautiful truth throughout the word of God. Paul referring to it in Romans 6:1 said to use not the grace of God as a license to sin.

Don’t use this liberty as an occasion to sin. There are some that say, “Well God doesn’t really care so much after all He’s got me covered, I think I’ll go out and in doing that you’re rebelling in spirit away from Him in wanting to presume on the grace of God.” 2 Corinthians 6:1 says, “See that you receive not this grace in vain.” Don’t receive it in vain. It’s something God did for you. But you make it ineffective when you receive it in vain. I’m going to read here from 2 Corinthians 5 and 6. This was in connection with His covering that He was giving this warning. And the last verse of chapter 5 he said, “God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then in exchange He poured God’s goodness into us.

Now he said, “As God’s partners we beg you not to toss aside this marvelous message of God’s great kindness. God did this for you.” And oh, what a beautiful word of assurance He’s giving. But he said don’t toss it aside. This marvelous message of God’s great kindness for God said, listen to it here, “your cry came to me at a favorable time when the doors of welcome were wide open.” That’s what has happened today. God has really thrown those doors open and He’s heard your cry. Now that He’s shown you don’t toss it aside for these other things. “I helped you on a day when salvation was being offered.” Right now God is ready to welcome you, today He is ready to save you.

Here’s how you can keep from tossing it aside. Listen to it. “We try to live in such a way that no one will ever be offended or kept from finding the Lord by the way we act. So that no one can find fault with us and blame it on the Lord. In fact everything we do we try to show that we are true servants of God.” Hebrews 10:15 speaks of another warning signal, doing despite to the Spirit of grace. That word despite actually means to scorn or to degrade or belittle the power of God’s grace, to consider it an invaluable cheap sort of a thing. But he said that those who do despite to the Spirit of Grace also find themselves on that path that leads away from God. When you rob it of its value. Now in one little spot the apostle Paul puts it altogether in 1 Corinthians 10.

These are police men walking around among God’s people, they have badges but you don’t have to worry about them when you desire to live for God. You don’t even have to have a law book at home to show you whether you’re going to be safe from the police or not because in your heart you’re living above the things that would cause the police to be on you for. Occasionally we’ll have some trouble and we’ll get a ticket and once in awhile the Lord has to remind us if we do like my wife did and forget to put the tags on. But that isn’t a sign that you do not want to keep the law you see. There are times when the Lord has to even discipline us and jolt us along the way. The plan that God has for us is a plan that we can relax in Him because we’re covered, we’re walking with Him. But for that person who is not recognizing or does not appreciate what God has done and lets that grace of God come to them in vain. There are these warning signals. That’s where the message of rebellion and the message of idolatry come in. And all of these fit right here.

1 Corinthians 10:1, “moreover brethren I would not that you be ignorant how that all of our fathers were under the cloud and all passed thru the sea.” There was a cloud, a beautiful covering that God had over them there. They were all passed thru the sea, they were protected and spared. They were separated from Egypt which was a type of the world. They had everything going for them. Then he said, “They were all baptized unto Moses and the cloud and the sea and did all eat of that same spiritual meat. And did all drink of that same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was Jesus Christ.” The rock that followed them. He was there in type in the Old Testament and following them.

And they were refreshed. But even then though they had this beautiful experience, though they had the cloud cover, though they had the supernatural experiences, with many of them God was not well pleased. Why? They were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. So lust is a part of the example that he gives us right here, that you lust not after evil things. What is an evil thing? It’s a thing that God says leave alone. People that are hungering after those things that God says leave out of your life. And there are plenty of them that will drag us down. Don’t do it, it brings displeasure. Then he went on to say, “Neither be idolaters as were some of them.

As it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” Idolatry. What kind of idolatry? Oh, it was idolatry of putting something else in the place of God. Calling Him Lord but not doing the things He says. He said neither let us commit fornication as some of them did and fell in one day 23,000. There is a kind of a false report; teaching going around in the world today that the very idea that fornication is wrong is just some old fogies idea of another generation that’s trying to keep the generation today from having any fun. God gave this to Israel over 3000 years ago. And it didn’t start with a generation back or a couple generations before that. God put it there because God hates it. And He said if you’re going to rebel against Him you’re getting yourself on a path that leads out from under the cover.

I had a couple in my office just recently. They said they were so glad to hear about this covering. That they had realized they had only recently given their lives to the Lord. And they were a little bit worried because they had never been married and they had been living as man and wife for about 3 years. And they said we’re so glad to know that the Lord has covered us and we’re not going to have to worry about this. They were just smiling and grinning and oh we could keep on sinning. I told them you’ve got another thing coming. I’m not even going to talk to you anymore until I get your assurance that you’re going to split when you leave this office. And they split and I was able to marry them right. Praise God.

Now these people were ensnared by a trend today. By hearing what people have said, even churches, even many of the directives that are coming are saying, “well we’ll have to find ways and means of accepting this and working this into the doctrines of the churches.” And so it’s not always the peoples fault. But when God leads us out and He lets us know, “I hate that thing, it stinks.” And the thing about it is that people usually do not have to wait for somebody to tell them. The voice of the Spirit says, “Ok, this is wrong.” Some of you young guys that are telling these girls that you’re living for God and when you get them out in a car by themselves you tell them that it’s God’s will for you to mess around. I want you to know you can’t look to God and say hey God you’ve got me covered. God says hey you’re on thin ice. There’s a warning sign.

God has entrusted into your care for that evening a very, very choice precious jewel. And He said, “You don’t think any more of Me then to destroy and hurt someone so precious to me?” I’ll tell you, it’s time to start watching for those warning signs. And quit defying God. This is His Word, these are warning signs. “Neither commit fornication,” God said that I hate it. And 23,000 people were killed because of it. Then there are some others that show their lack of respect for what God has said. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. You read over in Numbers the story of the serpents that came among them. God spoke to these people; they cried out to Moses, they murmured against God and against Moses.

They said, “You’ve led us out into the wilderness to die. God you’re cruel. And then they said, “God you’re weak.” You can’t do anything about it. Then they added another charge. They said, “God you’re ignorant, you didn’t know that there wasn’t any food or water out here.” You’re ignorant. And God said, “I’ve had enough of this, I’ve had enough of it.” And so He provided a way out but He did tell us here, and this comes right direct from God’s heart to Paul and I know it was something that God Himself put there because it’s the way God is looking at things today. “Neither let us tempt Christ as they tempted.

Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.” Now he said, “All of these things happened unto them for examples and they were written for our admonition upon the ends of the world had come. Therefore let him who thinks that he can do these things and still stand, this is what he’s saying here, take heed he’s on a path that’s pretty shaky. Now those of you that have written it down somewhere that pastor Buck is light on sin. I want you to write something else down over the top of it here. I want you to know that God is not light on sin. And that I do not condone sin but I feel that God wants people to hear that message of good news and to reach out and find the leverage and the power to be lifted out of these things first and only those who defy Him and walk in their own way are those who find themselves on thin ice because they’re defying God. But God’s desire is not to condemn you. He’s not looking for reasons to condemn you. He said that’s the reason why He’s posted the signs. I want to save you. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Praise God.

Chapter 60 - God’s Golden Keys, Blessed Assurance

Romans 8. There are so many uncertainties in this world. God has the answer to them. In praying about the answers to life’s problems, I thought of what God has provided for us as the golden key. And this golden key is like a master key. It opens up the various needs, the various doors to the answers to the needs that we as God’s people have. I think of Christ Himself as being the key. The various doors that need opening, believers need protection, there’s a beautiful key marked the Holy Spirit that comes when you have Jesus. There is the need that we have as we face the forces of darkness, a need for authority. And we find Jesus granting that authority when He gives us His Name.

There is a need for fellowship. This world would be such a lonely place if we didn’t have fellowship with our great Creator, but He provides the best fellowship that there is. Fellowship and real courage again come thru Jesus by His presence when He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Another great need of the human life is identity. People who wander thru life as just a little speck of dust out there have no identity with things that are important. We need to have that sense of worth, that sense of belonging, that sense of intimacy. So He provides the key. It’s again from Jesus and that’s the touch of His hand. Just to feel His hand upon ours provides that intimacy with Jesus Himself. Then another tremendous need that we have, I would say the greatest need of a dying and a dead generation, He tells us we were dead in trespasses and sins.

The greatest need of a dead man is not a new suit of clothes or a new automobile. What is the greatest need of a dead man? Life. So the Lord in looking down and seeing the tremendous need says that golden key that opens that door that the entrance of His Word gives life. There’s a key, there’s a door marked the Word of God that’s opened up and the treasure house of life is made real to us. Then there is another door and this is the door that we’re going to deal with today. The other doors we’re going into the next 6 Sunday mornings. So often we look for the answers without Jesus. We’re looking for little keys. There are books printed by the dozens giving us keys to receiving a whole lot of different things when the Word of God gives us a golden key named Jesus.

Romans 8:1-4. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of Life set me free from the law of sin and death. …..that the righteousness of God”… verse 14, “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father, my very own Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ if so be that we suffer with him we may be glorified together.” Verse 26, “Likewise the Spirit also helps with our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.

And he that searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” There are often times when people make the statement, “God if this is your will, will you do it.” They are put down or discouraged in making a statement like that because to say God if it be your will is as much as saying that maybe it possibly couldn’t be God’s will to give the thing that is asked. It is possible to ask things contrary to the will of God. Now the reason why God’s given us the Holy Spirit is so that He can take our prayer and rearrange the words just a little bit so that they make sense to God and pray for us according to the will of God. The reason he has to do this, we look at the situation and we see just a little bit of the skin of the situation and so we’re asking God, “God we know this is your will, we don’t have all the facts, we may have maybe one percent of the information we need but we see God, we command you, we demand you, you’ve got to do it because I’m asking in your will and I can’t change that and I’m going to grit my teeth,” and God says, “grind away,” the Holy Spirit says, “God don’t answer it the way he says it at all, he doesn’t have the basis of information but I was down there digging around there a little bit and here’s the way it ought to be.” So the Holy Spirit is given to us to help us in our praying and here He said He searches the hearts and knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Another companion scripture says he searches the deep things, those things that we don’t know about and He helps our inabilities to pray. The Holy Spirit does and so when it comes up before God He says, “Now Father adding to the little tiny bit of information this person knows is the rest of it here and now I am interceding for them according to your will.” Hallelujah.

People that have listened to somebody else and haven’t even thought things out for themselves they’ve heard somebody say what in the world is the purpose of those tongue talking people, what’s the value of tongues? And they immediately without even investigating relegate it to something that is stupid. There as much as saying, “hey God didn’t you stop and think what kind of a mess this was going to create when you decided to put this in the Bible?” They have to admit that it says it in here but they think that God didn’t use His head in creating a thing like this. But God says, “Take another look. I have given you an aid in every area of your life that you need because your human mind is so limited.” We see only what we think the need is. But the Holy Spirit even looks down inside of us and things that have long been hidden and this vehicle of understanding that passes our understanding. We don’t know, that’s why Paul said, “When I pray in the Spirit my understanding is unfruitful, it isn’t quite getting the point. But the Spirit is making intercession according to the will of God.” You see if you did it yourself you would probably say; “Now Lord I know that this is my need and this is my need and this is my need.” But if God gave you those needs you’d still be in trouble because the real thing that you needed would still be there.

But the Holy Spirit helps our inabilities to get the job done and He prays for us according to the will of God. And whatever is asked according to His will, He hears it and He does it. And the Spirit makes it possible. Don’t try to rule this out of your life by finding a few scriptures here and there and saying, “hey if we put these together in this fashion maybe it will say something else.” Why do you want to make it say something else? God knew what He was doing, He wanted to help us. He wanted to help us get the job done for Him. Let’s read on, “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. To them that are called according to His purpose. For him he did foreknow he also did predestinate.” Oh God help us, we get ideas of interpretation and we say it must be interpreted this way, and somebody else says it must be interpreted this way.

I heard two theologians. One of them said that the messages in my book were totally unscriptural, another theologian that teaches in another, both of them the same denomination one of them used a different key and he said everything in here is right. And I’m going to teach my students this year what I was teaching them cold truth last year, is going to be living truth this year. So it’s possible for two people to begin at the same point by using different keys to arrive at totally opposite destinations. The thing is with God we need to not try and get Him into a little box and not become analytical and not allow little differences. You can’t get mad at a person because somebody’s handed him a different key than what you’ve been handed. But rather knowing that we’re all human and we can all make some errors but we have so many more things that are alike than we have that separate. We can major on those beautiful things. I had such an interesting thing at that bookstore in Seattle because the people that were coming in were from all kinds of different backgrounds. And they were throwing questions at me.

There were questions that if I had answered one way I would have had a bunch of people saying you’re a prophet. And the other batch of people would be saying you’re an emissary of the devil. But in answering the questions I showed them we have so many more things in common when we belong to Jesus. And that Jesus in our lives was our hope of glory. And I had those people hugging each other and they didn’t know what background they were because they found out when they had Jesus, that was the big thing and all the other little things didn’t seem to worry them too much when they knew they had Jesus in their heart. God’s going to do things He’s planned anyway. One of the things that I mentioned to my staff meeting was over the idea of the Lord’s coming. Some of them were pre-tribulation rapture, some of those people were mid-tribulation rapture, some of them were post-tribulation rapture and some of them were no rapture at all. I had 4 different groups in there and every one of them asked me questions about that. And I knew that if I said it this way I would get ¾ of the people mad at me whatever thing I said because they had 4 or 5 different things they were needing.

So I let them know that they weren’t to get themselves over a big stew over this. And to let Jesus who is living in our hearts do what He pleases. And one person said, “Well what will happen to all those people that don’t believe that Jesus is coming? If He honors these people and He comes, what’s going to happen to them?” I said, “Don’t worry about them because the criterion is Jesus in their heart. He’s not going to open up their heads and see what position they are supporting; He’s going to open up their hearts to see whether Jesus is there.” And so all-4 groups had a prayer time. Whom He did predestinate them He also called, and whom He called He also justified, and whom He justified them He also glorified.” He has a pattern here. That word justified means declared innocent. And those that He declares innocent, there’s going to be a time of glory, glorification, a pattern that God’s already lined up, it’s already there. What shall we then say to these things? Here’s the key, the crux of it for every faith and background.

If God be for us who can be against us? And as God looks over the world and His plan and desire to restore men to Himself and His love reaching out to their hearts. If God is for us how can that puny mind be against us. Not if you’re willing to give Him half a chance. Then He went on to say why it was so important. “He that spared not His own Son took the best that heaven had but delivered Him us for us all. How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Shall He not with Him feely give us all things?” What He’s saying is if He already gave us the best that He had it wouldn’t be too much to ask Him to give us those lesser gifts. He’s already given you the best He had. And this best He had is God’s golden key, Jesus in your life. I believe God would like to hear that shout Hallelujah from this whole congregation. That word means praise be to God regardless of what language you speak.

You freely gave us your best Lord and you’re not going to deny the lesser gifts, giving us all things. Praise your wonderful name forever. The greatest need that believers have around this world is to find the answer to fear. Believers of all kinds are afraid of the uncertainty of standing before God. This is a fact. It has largely come because of the misguided feeling that in order for people to move toward God they had to be made to feel guilty and the message of guilt of believers feeling guilty after they have been in prayer and accepted the Lord and their sins have been completely destroyed never to be remembered against them anymore forever. If they can somehow re-identify you with sin and these things to make you feel guilty you’d probably do some moving toward God. But that’s contrary to God’s plan and purpose but because of this type of a message; people have fear in their hearts. And I have in my office every day saints of God afraid of what’s coming, afraid to stand before God, what if it doesn’t work? What if somehow I haven’t reached that point of full acceptance with God, what if? I’ve had to tell them if you’re totally perfect, you’ve reached clear to the top of the pole you still can’t be accepted of God. Because no flesh can stand before Him and be accepted.

So if you’re the most perfect person in the world you’ll never make it. This is a little jolting statement to people but they have to realize it before they can ever rest in the Lord because they can’t be accepted because they have their humanity and the faults of humanity. They still have the failures. The unrighteousness means your inability to always do the right thing, for God is righteous. He always does the right thing. There’s no one in this building or in the world who has always done the right thing. So God had to let us know that He had a better way, that He gave us someone who was totally perfect, sinless, faultless and righteous. And He said, “I am accepting Him in your place so when you come to Me wrapped up in His love I don’t see the things that would cause a separation but I see the reason for accepting you in Jesus.” So I wanted to just touch on this real lightly this morning but it is so important. This key opens the door to assurance where we can each day live in peace with God and with ourselves.

We can lay our heads down in the pillow at night not worried, “I hope that Jesus doesn’t come before morning; I hope He doesn’t come when I’m not awake and just in case there might be something that I can do to kind of vault myself in a little higher position with the Lord.” But the Lord wants us to know that the power of the blood was so great. I remember when God so miraculously let me see the message in blood thru the Bible. He asked me questions I couldn’t answer about the blood. But then He told me regarding the blood that it was powerful enough to open the grave. He gave me Hebrews 13:20. The blood of Jesus was not like any other blood that falls to the ground. Peter tells us that that blood that has redeemed us was incorruptible and not one drop of that blood was ever lost. God let Paul have a look around in heaven and he said it’s still there and it will never lose its power. It stands before God as the indication that was accepted because of what Jesus has done for us.

Then you read in Hebrews the 9th chapter that not only is there power to open the grave, verse 13 and 14, there is power to open heaven itself. The Word tells us not by the blood of bulls and of goats, but by His own blood Jesus entered into Heaven. He held it up, it’s my badge, I can enter, it’s my pass into heaven. By His own blood He entered into heaven for us having obtained eternal redemption. The application of Jesus’ blood on your life is your badge, your passport into heaven. Then he said there’s power in that blood to open His heart for us. So we can be accepted when He sees the blood. His heart is open because He remembers what it stands for and He remembers the completion of His plan and we are accepted in the Beloved. Jesus is our Key to real assurance. There’s so much power.

When that blood started flowing, that night when God allowed me to see it, I saw the blood as a great reservoir in God’s heart and His love for the world. He took the very best that He had and gave Him to the world and when Jesus died and rose again the dam in God’s heart broke loose and a great torrent cascaded out over all of the ages breaking away every barrier. First the great mountain of sin that separated, and then the records that stood in our way were destroyed and wiped away. Then the distance that kept us from God was all removed. We were drawn near to His heart. Then the seeds of death in our life that’s sown in every man were attacked by the seeds of His life as His blood flowed thru us and it’s still flowing. So God reached out His hand on Calvary and He said, “Put her there. I’m not angry with you anymore, my wrath has been spent, it was diverted from you to Jesus.” We have every reason in the world to have confidence, to have assurance. 2 Corinthians 5:19.

This was so important to God that we read that God was in Christ telling men and women you can come now. The word says reconciling the world to Himself. That word reconciliation means peace. You can come now. God took His own Son and poured into Him all of our sin and our guilt and allowed His wrath to strike Him. Then He took all of Jesus’ goodness, all of the marks of son-ship and He poured them into us. And let us stand before God complete, complete in Him. I remember so well a friend of mine who is still a friend of mine though he’s on the other side, because passing that river doesn’t put him out of existence. Glen was a missionary to China and he caught a very disastrous disease. Glen was in the hospital and the disease took his life and he later was brought back but he said when he was leaving his body he saw himself down there and it seemed as though he was taken to the river he must cross.

Because of the feelings of having to somehow by his own merit achieve a relationship with God, he felt like he hadn’t been good enough, he hadn’t done quite enough, he hadn’t merited this and there was such a fear in his heart. He had to cross over that river and he wondered if what he had was good enough. As he stood there looking across that river so fearful he thought, “I wonder if this will stand good now that I’m going to have to face God?” Then all of a sudden he heard a heavenly choir began to sing, “Jesus paid it all, all to him you owe, though sin had left its crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.” And he was transported across that river, he met with the Father, God let him see the glories of heaven. And He said to him, “I wanted you to experience this because there are believers who are afraid to come to the river because they’re not good enough,” because they haven’t merited what they feel a high enough position in God; He said, “I’m going to send you back.” Glen said he didn’t want to come back but God said, “I want you to go back.” God took him back and he said he looked in the room as he came in he could see himself lying there in that still form. He looked on the dressing in that room and there was the death certificate all signed. He had been gone quite a long time. God allowed him to enter back into his body.

The records are still in the hospital there in Springfield of this great experience. But Glen came back full of strength and courage and a brand new ministry. And his ministry until the time the Lord took him home to stay was based on this theme, “Jesus paid it all.” It was based on the theme that it’s not only good in this life to trust Him but you can count on Him to stand by you, you can count on Him against that day that He will keep that which you have committed unto Him, the keeping of your soul see, that’s what you’re committing unto Him really. You can count on Him so that when you stand at the river, Glen’s message was, it’s still good. He looks for the marks of the blood and judgment passes by. At this time I would like for those who know Jesus, those who may have had struggles even in their heart and their life and fears come against them over and over again but today, you’re going to rest in what Jesus has done. And as he tells us in Hebrews 3, there is a rest for the people of God and those that enter into this rest have ceased from their own struggles, they’ve been able to recognize what Jesus has done, they’ve found a key that’s marked God’s golden key and they’ve heard that message, “Christ in you is your hope of glory.” Not something else, Jesus in you. Today I’m going to ask believers to stand, I’m going to ask people who are here today who have never known Jesus.

By your standing I want you to let God see your acceptance of what Jesus has done knowing that you cannot ever stand before Him in your own strength. But God has given you a key. Your uncertainty hasn’t been able to find answers to, but that wonderful key, Jesus in your life. Jesus and His blood applied is your key to assurance. And regardless of what you face in life when you have that assurance that Jesus paid it all, all is well. Would you lift both hands towards heaven? There are many people who are taking their position on God’s side in this room, God’s heart is gladdened and He’s quickly coming to you. Let’s sing that chorus Jesus paid it all and watch the peace that floods into you. I would like to read this verse to you, “and when before the throne I stand in Him complete. Jesus died, my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat.” God wants you to repeat it here, he wants you to tell it to the world, he wants you to tell it the devil, he wants you to tell it to yourself, he wants you to tell it to Him.

And as you come across with that blood on your life, your badge, your entrance and God remembering those words, “those people who pass with the blood give them entrance.” I want you to sing it now with those hands still raised. “And when before the throne I stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save my lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.” I would like to have every person who feels as they look into the future as they think about standing before God, I would like for those of you whose faith has been strengthened and today you can repeat and know you can repeat when you stand there Jesus paid my dept. I want you to say a loud amen. AMEN. Hallelujah.

Chapter 61 - God’s Golden Keys, Believer’s Authority Thru His Name

We were so pleased when a Nazarene Pastor told us, “I’ve finished your book today and God spoke to my heart thru that book. He said, “I have just spent three solid hours in prayer thanking Him and asking God to make his life and ministry come alive.” He asked me about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and before he hung up he said, “It’s for me, I’m going to have it.” Then he said, “one hour ago I chucked tradition.” These calls, these letters are just so stimulating because it’s not a programmed thing. The Spirit of the Lord is liberating lives and they’re calling at all hours. God has let me know that what He’s doing is not because of me alone, I’m just one of the factors. But this congregation has provided an atmosphere; it has provided the right kind of soil for this message to spring up and to grow. Do you realize that God would not only have to prepare a person but He would have to prepare a congregation to provide a base for what He is doing in this way? I don’t know of another group of people that are as open to God and are as flexible as this group of people. And for this reason without speaking from an egotistical standpoint, God saw something in you thru which he could bless the world.

I feel that the Lord has already introduced my message this morning. I’m going to bring you an application of a tremendous truth. Last week I began a series on God’s golden key. That key with which He gives us everything else is Jesus. The first door that was unlocked with this golden key was the doorway to assurance thru the blood of Jesus Christ. God gave us that assurance. All is well now and as we cross the river; all is well on the other side because Jesus lives to guard the thing that He’s purchased, our salvation. The next need of every believer and of human life is the need for authority to actually put into practice the things that God has prepared for us. So with Jesus, with His own Son He gives us His authority. There’s a key, His golden key that opens this door.

And that is the power of the name of Jesus. Jesus’ name is our authority. There was a lady here last Sunday; today she’s up in Minnesota spreading the good word of what Jesus did for her. She had arthritis in her hands and the ring that she had on this finger was so embedded because the knuckle was so swollen and twisted that the ring would not come off and the swelling was there so that it more or less was not embedded to a point of danger but it was still quite puffed up around the ring and her knuckles were enlarged because of this and twisted. Last Sunday morning we had our hands raised and we were praising the name of Jesus. She has another faith background but she was here. She put her hands up too while people were praising the Lord just worshiping the Lord. When she put them down she didn’t know anything happened. When she put her hands down the ring slipped off her finger and fell on the floor or on the pew. And she looked at her fingers and everything was ok.

The flesh is still deeply discolored where that ring was under such pressure. So she headed back to Minnesota and she’s going to be telling everybody up there what Jesus did for her. She’s going up there and she’s going to start building a lot of fires. We have a lot of reports of victories that have happened because of the power of Jesus’ name. He’s on the job folks. I’m going to read a portion of Scripture. Colossians 2. God let the Apostle Paul see the power of the name of Jesus. He used that authority that power that is in Jesus’ name. “For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and as many that have not seen my face in the flesh.

That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in who are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” This is from the Phillips translation now. “I wish you can understand how deep is my anxiety for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have never met me how I long that you may be encouraged and find out more and more how strong are the bonds of Christian love. How I long for you to grow more certain in your knowledge and more sure in your grasp of God Himself, more certain and more sure in your grasp. May your spiritual experience become richer as you see more and more fully God’s great secret, Christ Himself, God’s golden key. God’s secret is Jesus. For it is in Him and in Him alone that men will find all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Praise God. God’s golden key to the treasures of God’s storehouse. “And this I say lest any man should beguile you with enticing words for though I am absent in the flesh yet am I with you in the spirit, joyful and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you thru philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. For in Him dwells all of the Godhead bodily.” Here’s what I want you to underline, this is His promise to you. “You are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principalities and power.” The big boss. “You are complete in Him, and whom also you are circumcised with a circumcision without hands.” When this term is used in the Word he’s making reference to the adherence to the law, the keeping of the Law of Moses. So he’s speaking now that you in Christ because Christ kept the law, every bit of it, He fulfilled every letter. So when He hung on the cross He could cry it is finished.

He kept the law and so what he’s saying is because you’re complete in Him, when Jesus kept the law God looks down at you and says you kept the law because we are accepted in Him. “We’re buried with Him in baptism and also you are raised with Him thru the faith of the operation of God, which raised Him from the dead.” The operation of God. Do you know folks I just want you to think about this for a minute, you could probably chew on it all week. We have programs in every denomination. People have their little schemes and plans. And we have all kinds of operations of man and they have their purpose, they get things done. But there’s only one thing that will give you that divine life. And that is your faith in the operation of God. God’s big operation.

We’re talking about that great plan of God that He set in motion. His great big plan before He ever made the earth was that we might be gathered together to Him. His great plan before He made the earth. Faith in the operation of God who have raised Him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh which the inability to keep the law. He said we were accepted by the keeping of the law and by a method not made with hands. And you read that in verse 10. But he said now, “You hath He quickened together in Him having forgiven all of your trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, he took it out of the way nailing it to his own cross.” The enemy points to those things where in we have failed, the things that are literally iniquities and he accuses us and would attempt to hold those things up as charges against us, but Jesus said, “I’m going to take that and I’m going to pay the penalty for all of those things that were against us.

All of the possible charges and those things that were over our heads He took and put them over His own head and had them nailed to the cross. Then he went on to say, “And having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them. Now let no men therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect to a holy day which is a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ.” I’d like to discuss for a moment the power that there really is in the name of Jesus. It is literally a key to God’s heart. You read it in John 14:14 he said, “If you shall ask anything in my name,” there is power in prayer, in Jesus name, unlocks heaven. There is power to reach into God’s storehouse thru the name of Jesus. It’s a beautiful key and pulls out salvation. It shall come to pass that they that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. His name, Jesus.

Many of you have found real life by simply calling Jesus. And He listened to your call and thru your call He turned it into a pipeline, the name Jesus into a pipeline and He poured the love of God down thru it to your heart. It’s a great key in liberating people from bondage and fear. Whoever you loose will be loosed and whoever you bind will be bound. I think of the power of the name of Jesus in heaven. Hebrews 1:6 says that all of the angels of God must fall and worship Him. David had a glimpse of heaven and the power of Jesus’ name. And he cried out, “oh come let us exalt His name together, come magnify the Lord, let us exalt that wonderful name.” It is a name that is above every other name, a name that causes demons to tremble. It’s a name that is so special regardless of what language you use that name in.

I like the sound of the name Jesus but while I was praying with some men over in Germany they had just as much effect with God. I remember one man in particular; I still hear the words ringing in my ears, Jesunamen, Jesunamen. I think he was saying in Jesus name. Colossians 3:17 he said, “whatever we do, do all in the name of Jesus.” We spoke of healings in that name, we spoke of salvation in that name, there is victory, and there is power in that name. This chapter was so highlighted it literally vibrated within me. God let me see it and the power of the name of Jesus and what He actually did in His great plan thru that operation of God. And verse 15 is the verse I want to draw your attention with and you can do a little underlining there. “And having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show over them triumphing over them in it.” The Lord spoke to my heart and let me know what that word spoiled means.

He said it means stripping him of all of his authority, all of his power. And then he made this statement to me. He said that this word was not used again in the entire Word; it was not used even before it in the New Testament. It’s the only place it’s used. He said the reason for this, and believers need to know it, they don’t need to somehow each day try and snatch away from the devil his power because after Jesus stripped him of it he never got it back. He said he didn’t allow that word to be used anymore. You don’t need to spoil him anymore he’s already spoiled. There was a young lady that flew in from Indiana that was so totally depressed. Fear filled her mind and she couldn’t seem to get the victory over this thing so I let her know that the enemy could not hurt her. He could only use the fear and the fear with that handle we could hurt ourselves with it.

So I told so many people that the enemy comes to you like great big rubber balloons in grotesque shapes with horns sticking out and weird looking eyes and those big balloons frighten you and you draw back in fear because of that ugly face looking at you and then he comes with another suggestion, more fear, more fear. So I talked with this lady and said now we’re going to use Jesus’ name and as you use that name I want you to see it with a point on the end of it. And I want you to wade into that and everything the devil brings to you and watch how empty and how powerless those big balloons are. You’re going to prove that they’re nothing but a bunch of hot air. So we prayed and I had her get up even though she was nervous and self-conscious and she didn’t want to do it, I said you’ve come too far now to go away without getting a little something more. So she waded into those old balloons of the enemy. Now she likes to do it. She said just let him come around now. And you find out how little substance there really is. I like the way this verse is worded here in the Phillips translation.

“God has now made us to share in the very life of Christ. He has forgiven you all of your sins. Christ has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments which always hung over our heads and has completely annulled it by nailing it over his own head on the cross and then having drawn the sting out of all of the powers ranged against us, He exposed them, shattered, emptied and defeated in his final glorious triumphant act.” Does Jesus say anything about that? Luke 10. The disciples said, “Lord even evil spirits obey us when we use your name.” “Yes,” said Jesus, “I was watching and saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. It is true that I have given you the power to tread on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all of the enemy’s power. There is nothing at all that can do you any harm.” Quit giving him handles to try and scare you with. I had a man in my office this week and his mind was cluttered about thoughts about demons.

Every church he’s worked with majored on demons. He said I discovered after I got into these places that there’s demon activity in everyone of these churches just so strong. In fact he said that we found out that my wife had 9 demons and one of the men pulled out all of those 9 demons out. Then another person said he didn’t get them all and he said this other man pulled out 101 more demons. But this fellow said hey there’s still about 4 more in there and there too stubborn for me to get out; we have to take her some place where somebody’s a little bit stronger than I am. I told this guy you poor man. Satan’s making a little smoke puff and you’re running around all over the country. People working for hours trying to get a few demons out. Trying to get a lady to cough and each time she coughs another demon comes out. Finally she was so tired she couldn’t cough anymore, that’s why they had to send her down for those last 4.

I talked to him on Thursday and on Friday after coming out of my class I saw him come out with his wife. There was quite a nervousness and a problem that all these different type of things that gotten into her but these folk are rejoicing in God so happy because I let them see that Satan has no power over them. And the thing that was troubling them was a little bit of shyness because of all of the things that have happened. But when I showed them the victory that they had and when I said now get out there and tread on the snakes and the scorpions yourself, kick them out of the way. And I let her know, God’s given me enough discernment, you don’t have a demon of any kind in you. And this made her explode in the Lord because of all of these things. Beware when you’re around people that are talking so much about demons. If the enemy does have any chance to work at all, that’s where he has a chance to work because people are letting him work on their fears. But thank God we can talk about Jesus and when you talk about Jesus it gives Him a chance to work. You remember those disciples on the way to Emmaus.

They were talking about Jesus and He listened and he said, “Hey there’s somebody talking about Me,” and so He went with them. And then he tells us, “Whenever two or three are gathered in My name, there you have that name again, that authority, he says there’s where I want to be. So we’re gathered in His name, we’re magnifying His name, we’re exalting His name, and Jesus has to come. Wouldn’t you rather Him than a lot of those old demons. He is God’s golden Key. Let’s stand to our feet and lift our hands towards heaven and worship the Lord and love Him. Give that shout of victory that God has placed within your heart.

Chapter 62 - God’s Golden Keys, The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit in His beautiful providence and love has preached my sermon for me. We’ve been speaking about Jesus being the golden key with Him God will freely give us all things. Our first message on this key was the blood of Jesus, which brings assurance. We know that we can count on Him because if He loved us this much when we were His enemies how much more now that we are His children. Real assurance, we can count on Him. And last week we spoke about the great authority that God has given us the power of the name of Jesus. And today my message is on the third of the doors that are unlocked that God chooses to minister thru Christ. And this is Jesus’ Spirit or the Holy Spirit. God has given us a complete plan, a beautiful plan and I feel that the Holy Spirit today has unlocked hearts so that God could pour into His life and His love. The Holy Spirit will unlock this week the lives of your friends as you go to them.

Even if it may not be a specific effort, just being you with Jesus’ spirit in your life, doors are going to be unlocked. For the world today needs Jesus. There is probably no subject taught or given in the Bible that is misunderstood more than the message of the Holy Spirit. Many people have a very incomplete view of the purpose of the Holy Spirit or who the Holy Spirit is or why God gave us the promise, why He wanted us to have the Holy Spirit. When John was speaking by inspiration of God he said, “One is coming after me far greater than I am. I’m not even worthy to tie his shoes,” he said, “but this person that comes will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. He will give you His Spirit.” And you know what Jesus’ Spirit did when He was here in this earth. His Spirit went to people who were down, people who were hurting and lifted them up. He loved them.

People that felt like they were worthless suddenly felt like they had a friend. There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one. So when He went away God’s plan was that the whole world would know what Jesus is like. So when Jesus went away God took this Holy Spirit, the Spirit that was in Jesus, the Spirit that made Jesus what He was and He poured Him out so that every individual who accepts Him turns their life over to Him can literally be a temple where the Holy Spirit dwells within. There are a lot of good benefits, a lot of bonuses of having the Holy Spirit within us but the great purpose that God has is that the world might come to know Him because they’re seeing Jesus in us, His Spirit. Now there are many people who are trying to put on an act. They want to be like Jesus and they’re trying to do some of the things that Jesus has done but there’s no way in the world that you can just put on an act and be like Jesus. In order to be like Jesus you have to have His nature. That’s the reason for the message that Paul gave in Galatians 5:22. He said the Spirit within you will produce the very nature of Jesus, his love.

Do you know that the greatest need in the whole wide world is love? I’ve asked a lot of different people and they seem to feel this way. They need love. It’s the greatest need in the world. There are some who are quoting scripture at people and saying for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, but the people still are cold and empty because they’re hearing a quote. God said I give you His Spirit, which is the spirit of love and instead of quoting the verse let them see Jesus’ love in you. Instead of saying for God so loved the world you can say I love you. Instead of just saying I love you we can show them that we love them by the true compassion that comes from the heart. The world needs love. Jesus’ work was lifting people up from their low estate. Where they felt worthless and He said, “I want you to see how much you’re really worth.

That living soul in you is worth more He said than all of the gold that is buried in this earth. For it could crumble and turn to dust but your soul will live on. He said, “It’s worth more than all of those valleys of gems.” They will disappear and lose their value but your soul will live on. He said, “It’s more enduring then the stars,” those heavenly bodies that we see out there that Columbus saw and that others down thru the history of thousands of years have seen the same stars. They look like they would last forever. But he said, “The stars may dim and go out but your soul will still be young.” You’re worth something to God. So God is saying here I am giving you the Spirit of Jesus to make you like Him. So in Acts 1:8 where he said, “you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost shall come upon you and you shall be witnesses.

He’s telling us, the highest purpose in giving us his Spirit is to make us like Jesus. You will be witnesses, witnesses of His life. Then the other truths are there, also that you may be able to do the work of Jesus. So there’s power then in His Spirit. Then to be able to speak as Jesus spoke, there’s the power to speak. So if we get it in the right order, there are many people who are looking for power, power to do. And there commanding God to do this, and this and this. At the same time there’s harshness and a bitterness in their heart and resentment. God I claim this because you said you would do it when the Holy Ghost comes and there’s often times such harshness. God said you’ve got the truth all right but you have it upside down.

You better be witnesses and then have the other things that come with it. Have his love, his nature within, love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, longsuffering, faith. All of these things are the nature of Jesus. When Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians the 13th chapter he said, “if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and I don’t have love, if I’m not being like Jesus what good is it going to do? If I discover the secret of performing some great miracle and I don’t have love, what good is it going to do?” He said, “I just become a clanging cymbal, that’s all.” But he said, “I give you my spirit so that you can be like Me.” Don’t you want to be like Jesus? That’s what God wants us to be. It’s a key; it will unlock storehouses of God’s goodness when the Holy Spirit is within us, His Spirit. Do you know that His Spirit within us, the Word tells us, you read it in 2 Corinthians 3:18, he tells us that we are changed into His image by the Spirit of the Lord, By His Spirit? And the world needs the beauty of Jesus more than anything else. We can feed them, we can clothe them, these are good, that’s what the Lord wanted to do but if we don’t have love for them we’ve missed the boat. Aren’t you thankful for what God is doing today in pouring out His Spirit? And literally the fruit of the Spirit is growing all over the world in places that have been so barren.

People that have had a nominal religion could have cared less about their neighbors suddenly because of the flow of the Holy Spirit in their life; they’re beginning to care. That’s why He tells us in His Word in those last days I will pour out of My Spirit and Jesus, the likeness of Jesus will again be seen in the land. Let’s take that key and not only are we a blessing to somebody else, it becomes abundant living to us. I mentioned last Sunday that I had received an unusual experience right from God. I’ve had many people ask me if I would share it. Last week I was almost dazed for part of the day because it was so real and so awesome. And I know that I can’t convey the impact of this experience but I’m going to read what I marked down which is a brief outline of what happened which again portrays the great love of God in a way that I have never ever witnessed. And so God has been letting me see each time, it seems to grow the greatness and the impact and the weight and the breath and the height and the depth of the love of God in ways that I hadn’t seen in the past. So I’m going to read this from the book that I keep these in. “One of the most profound and inspiring encounters I have ever experienced occurred last Sunday morning August 26, 1979.

I was awakened about 1 a.m. and was ministered to by God thru angels that He had sent. In the course of this ministry God allowed me to witness again his great plan in operation of making us acceptable in His sight. This was from Colossians the 2nd chapter, oh that beautiful truth of Jesus snatching all of the authority and power that Satan had and spoiling him never giving it back to him. And that tremendous work that He has done and accepting us in all that Jesus has done. Coming alive before me was the message of Paul in Colossians 2:9-17 concerning the greatness of Jesus. He is the head of all of God’s forces. I saw the believer not only sharing in His life but in His accomplishments. The fulfilling of the law, the keeping of every letter was applied over to us.

We kept the law completely when Jesus kept the law. His death, His resurrection became ours because of faith in God’s operation.” I was a little amazed, I’ve read the Bible so many times but I didn’t even know the word operation was in the Bible. But he did mention it that we have so often endeavored to put our faith in man’s operation, all of the things that we can plan and do and all of the neat little tricks that we have. But he said, “All of these are made available when we quit putting our faith in our operation and put it in God’s operation.” It’s written right there in the 11th verse of that chapter. I saw Him strip Satan of his authority, never restoring it. He clothes us with confidence, forgiving every sin. “Then something happened, I was escorted into the presence of Jesus by His angels, literally translated into the presence of Jesus. Like Paul I am not sure if I was in body or in spirit.

Seemed like I was in body. I saw Jesus, I met Him, and I talked with Him for the first time face to face. His appearance was identical to that described by John in Revelation 1:13-18. He appeared as the great judge of all. It is possible that he will take on a different appearance upon His return. What I was allowed to see was His eternal appearance. His white hair hung to his shoulders, His face shone like pure white light. He wore a wide gold belt that was contoured to partially cover his chest. His shoes shone like polished copper. His eyes were much like those of Gabriel.

Could it be that these garments and this appearance are characteristic of those who dwell in God’s presence?” My spirit leaped within me as He stated that His servants, these angels have been sent forth to compel men and women to come to this point of choice. He made reference to the word that He Himself has said that when His angels said there’s still room, he said go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in. This is what He’s doing now, God’s last call to the feast. This is all because of the Father’s great love for them. He also spoke of the numberless host sent into the entire world to help prepare the precious fruit of the earth of the harvest, the redeemed souls that He has purchased and prepared. He them summoned representatives from every part of the world. I saw some that had the appearance of Eskimos working among the arctic circle; I saw them from different spots of the earth. Several of these I recognized as ministering angels I had previously met. There was one that had been in my home three times from Russia, he was there. I saw Shaloma, the one that God brought to me from the Arab countries.

I saw the ministering angel representing the multibillions of angels in Red China. He was there. There were many black angels, there were from India, from the islands of the sea. God had said that these were summoned from among the forces that had been sent out into every corner of the world in preparing the harvest. His purpose he stated for this meeting was to remind me and to remind the world of the urgency and the importance of linking arms with Him and of telling the world that He really cares, telling the world, telling the workers around the world that they are not alone. There are missionaries in many places that feel that they’re working all alone and He wants them to know there are workers sent forth with sickles ready to work beside them in the preparing of the precious fruit of the earth of the harvest. I’m still not sure whether or not I was there in body but it seemed like I was. When I returned I stood alone by the stream almost like I was between two worlds. I was dazed but more aware than ever that the countdown is nearly finished; the sickle has been thrust in. We must be alert, awake, full of faith, alive with His Spirit and make each breath count for God.

While in the presence of Jesus I was allowed to see the terrible days of tribulation ahead from God’s viewpoint. I realize that there are many different views and concepts about the tribulation but I’m just telling you what God allowed me to see from His viewpoint. I can’t tell you everything in detail but from His viewpoint it’s going to be a terrible time in this earth. I met many of Gabriel’s angels who have been assigned to these tasks all of them wearing the same type of garment that he wears who will be extremely active at that time. And God let me see at that time and made reference that what I was looking at in this tremendous activity of angels was not something that He had assigned for them just at that particular moment but it was part of His great plan and great purpose. And that we may not have been aware of but the angelic host has been just as active when it hasn’t been a time of tribulation, they’ve been active in God’s great unfolding plan. This is just another phase of His plan but they have been active all along. I was allowed to visit briefly with Michael who also has an important role to fill at that time. Jesus stated that even tribulation would not separate men from His love and that millions, this is something that almost jolted me because I have taken a view I didn’t know how in the world anybody could ever possibly make it thru that time if they couldn’t live for God now but God let me see something real special here. That millions would be saved thru death in standing for God in those days.

He said that the prayers of those who love God for their loved ones will still be effective and that these will die for their stand and be united at the resurrection at the close of these days of sorrow with their loved ones who were taken before these awful days. His love goes beyond human comprehension. Then he gave me references to read and put in my heart and said I could understand better in reading Revelation 7:9-14 where he allowed John to see 1000’s, he said there was a multitude that no man can number. And John said, “Who are these?” And the angel said, “these are they who failed to make a stand for Jesus before the days of tribulation but are members of families who have and are people who have heard but have put it off but by their own death they’re going to prove to God their acceptance of Him and His plan and that the prayers of Jesus even include these people that God loves them and that even tribulation will not separate them from His love. It is a multitude that no man can number from every nation, tribe and tongue. From every part of the world there are going to be people in this number who are going to die for their testimony. But over in the 19th chapter of Revelation he said when the tribulation days come to a close there’s going to be a great resurrection. And these people are going to be united with the remainder of the body of Christ and are going to rule and reign and live with Jesus, the thousand years of the millennial reign. Now this does not encourage people to suffer the days and to have to feel the searing heat of the outpoured wrath of God but He’s letting us know that even there God cares. He let me see and hear some of the messages that will be given by the angels before the wrath is outpoured and a message will go out to the earth.

God is righteous. And then they will explain God’s righteousness before His wrath is poured out. God is righteous. And I felt that even though I have to leave a page or two that I can’t read to you now that these words and the message on this tape need to get out because there’s such confusion that people have. Some have seen this verse of scripture of these people that are there and feel that God has failed or will fail in His promise but He isn’t going to fail. Those who have put their faith and their trust in Jesus, their faith is in His blood and His covering, one of these days, and it may not be very far off, are going to find themselves moving right into His presence. And I had a little experience of that; I know it’s good. You don’t want to miss it. Don’t put it off and say I’ll get along over there in the tribulation time. Somebody told me well you have a risk there, you’re going to make people want to wait and go thru all of the suffering and so on if you tell them there’s going to be a chance there. I’m not giving you my own message when I give you this; I’m giving it from God’s heart. He said this is the way it is. Let’s stand and lift our hands and worship the Lord. He wants the world to know that He’s righteous, that He’s doing the fair thing to them, that He loves them.

Chapter 63 - God’s Golden Keys, The Touch of Jesus

There’s a longing in people’s hearts in knowing what God has, what He’s able to do and how much He cares, how can I make this available to myself? And it isn’t a selfish thing for us to say how can I avail myself of the things of God? God has prepared and has had you in mind in the provision that He has. I like that verse of scripture, “my God shall supply all of your need according to His riches in glory.” So Jesus then literally becomes the key. There are various needs that we have, doors of need. And we wonder how can I reach this, how can I have it. We talked about in our first study on God’s golden key how the blood of Jesus Christ opened up that door of real assurance and made available to us a confidence that the battle had been settled. That we could face God without fear, that our dept was paid, Jesus paid it all and gave us beautiful assurance. Then we talked about that key that every believer needs to know that there’s an authority that we’re not on our own, that when we come before God there’s a definite key that will open His heart; the name of Jesus. I think of the power of that name, how it unlocks various things. I was allowed to see something like this in action.

It made a good illustration for me. You remember when I was in the Philippine islands in October. There was a tremendous typhoon that came and it came just at the wrong time because it came the day I was supposed to leave. And as a result my reservations were wiped out and the next day because it was still raining those reservations were all wiped out and it left a lot of people without. Then those who still had reservations the following weeks had priority of course because their names were already listed as passengers to leave. In order to get back on the reservation list it would have taken 10 days to 2 weeks because there was so many that lost their places when no planes were going out. And I heard that there were over 10,000 people stranded there because of the typhoon. I just couldn’t see staying there that long. It was nice to go there but I had been there all the longer I wanted to be there. I was about ready to start swimming but in the airport I remembered a man that had come to me the very first service in the Philippines.

It was in a hotel, the big hotel room where I was having a meeting. In this hotel I asked for people that wanted the fresh touch of God to come forward and we’d pray. We were supposed to be out of that building close to noon because it was one of the agreements that they had and I didn’t know about this ruling but the ones who were sponsoring this knew all about it. But nobody seemed to be worried. The people that would normally come in and set the chairs up didn’t seem worried at all. They knew something I didn’t know. They knew who one of those people was up there praying, his wife. And they prayed. Everybody else left and they kept on praying, these two people. After they were thru and I prayed with them and they asked that God would give them this confidence and this assurance and help them.

Then the man told me he said you’ll have problems in travel because they don’t have a lot of respect and there are times when you get stuck but he said if you ever do, ask them to extend courtesies to you in my name. And then he gave me his card. And here it was, assistant to the president of the Philippine Islands. I thought well I’ll take his card but I sure won’t use it because I don’t like to try and be a name dropper and I didn’t think I would ever need that card. Here in the United States it wouldn’t do you any good at all you see and I didn’t know if it would be the same over there. But when I stood there wanting that reservation, wanting to get home and no way to get home because of all of the planes being already full of people that had reservations for months on those succeeding flights. So I told them what had happened. I said when I first came I met this man and he said if you’re ever stuck ask them to extend courtesies in my name and so they said who was the man? And so I pulled out of my briefcase this man’s card and they looked at it and boy things started humming so fast and it just really started moving. They said we can’t get you on the manifesto, we’ll have to type it on the list here. So I saw them busily typing, they put my name down as a special unlisted passenger by the courtesy of the vice President of the Philippine Islands.

I want you to know I got courtesies that I never thought I would ever be able to buy for a million dollars. We still couldn’t take off but they checked everybody in and then herded them to a big hotel. Those first flights out, they were taken to this hotel. We walked into the hotel and I heard my name being called, “Pastor Buck,” from the desk. And I came over there and there was a bellhop standing there with a key and they said we have orders to take you to a room. I said I don’t have a room here. They said we have orders by the instructions of the vice President we’re to take care of you. I couldn’t talk them out of it; they said no these are our instructions that we are to take care of you. So I followed the bellboy and I thought probably that I was going to have a real nice room but I had no idea they were going to take me clear to the top of that place where there was a room with big windows running full length and they called it the V.I. room. And there they stuck me and I felt so sorry for all of those people there in that lobby.

There was almost enough room up there for all of them. I thought then of the power of the name. When we met Him he said you’re going to have some problems in this old world, there’s times when you’re going to have special needs but he said when you come knocking at heaven’s door, you say I need some help and you come and in His name all of the angels in heaven start moving pretty fast because you have come and God said in His book, extend divine courtesies to that person who comes in the name of Jesus. Aren’t you glad for the power of that name? Then he said there’s going to be some times when the enemy starts harassing you and you feel like everything’s going to fall apart. He said all you have to do is look at your enemy and say beat it. The enemy might say by whose authority? You say beat it in the name of Jesus, he has to go. We have a key. Then we talked about the key of the power of the Holy Spirit that’s within us that will help us in those times when we don’t even know all of the problems that are around us. God has placed weapons in our hands but he said when the enemy comes in, like a flood the Spirit of the Lord knowing the designs of the enemy will raise up a standard against him and will protect us. Hallelujah.

Today I just wanted to real briefly mention the fourth key. Oh what a beautiful key this is, that will literally release forces in heaven for us. I was reading in the Word about how wonderful the touch of Jesus’ hand was on people’s lives. I thought of the way the parents in those days brought their children. They could see what Jesus did, how He was so gracious. Something happens to us when He touches us. That chorus that has been sung that has meant so much that has brought new hope and life to many. “He touched me; Oh He touched me, Oh the joy that filled my soul. Something happened and I know now He touched me and made me whole.” The touch of God released power.

It released forces within us that respond to His power. The touch of Jesus. I think of the leper that came to Jesus in the third verse of Matthew 8 and when the leper came Jesus put forth his hand and touched him. I get kind of creeps when I touch a leper. But Jesus didn’t seem to mind. He touched him and he was cleansed of the leprosy. When I was in the Philippine islands, we don’t have the same feeling that the Lord does but He wants us to have it. One brother in the church said, “I want you to pray for my leprosy.” Did you know there are hundreds of thousands of lepers in the Philippine islands? Here was a leper that didn’t get into the colony and he came to the service that I was having and he said, “Put your hand on my sore hand.” It looked all scaly and rotten and he said, “Pray for me that God would heal me.

So I grabbed his hand and was holding that spot and then he told me, “I’ve had leprosy all of my life.” I really scoured my hand after that but the sad part was I went up into my room in the best hotel in that city and this man happened to be the one that tidies up the rooms and he was spreading my sheet out with that hand that didn’t even have a bondage on it. The Lord didn’t seem to mind. The Lord reached out and put his hand right on that leper and the leper was cleansed. I think of those blind men, two of them came and they said, “Lord if you will you can make us well. We want to see we’ve been walking in darkness all of our lives.” And Jesus said, “This is what I came to do. I came to open the eyes of the blind,” and so He put His hands on their eyes and he opened them and they saw. I think of the man that was blind and his family and friends were attacked and harassed. They said, “Don’t you suppose He did the wrong thing by touching you?” And this man said, “Once I was blind but now I can see.

I don’t know a lot about Him. But I do know this, I know a lot about me, once I was blind but now I see.” The touch of Jesus. How many of you have felt the touch of Jesus? Have you noticed in your own life when things are going heavy and your burden seems to weight you down how when He touches you everything changes? It’s all the same out there but everything’s different because He has touched you. But this morning I would like to talk to even a larger group of people. Do you know that the testimonies that we hear are oftentimes testimonies of people that have found the handle to God’s key and have learned how to turn it. They have learned the power of Jesus’ name and they saw it work. They have learned the release of God’s forces in these many ways. But when you sum it up this might only be 5 or 10% of the people. The others are saying, “Oh I wish that I could somehow find the secret of getting God to do it for me.

I’ve had many business men come to me after listening to some successful person at a full gospel businessmen’s convention. And they’ve said we’ve tried the same things, we’ve done the same things but it just doesn’t seem to work for us. What’s a matter with us? The problem is this. We receive a lot from God but I believe I would even be stretching it if I said that even 5% of what we receive we actually have met the conditions to where we could say, “God I found the combination, I’ve turned the key, I’ve opened the door you give me this.” Less than 5% of what God gives you do you receive because you have met the conditions. Most of the things that we receive, we receive because of the grace and mercy of God. If we got only what we deserve how much would you receive? One of the Pastors in Texas was telling us about a statement that he made that if God were to strip us of everything except what we had somehow earned or had the right to claim he said most of us would go around pure naked because we really have nothing that we can really say I earned the right for this thing. If He rewarded us according to our iniquities we’d really be in trouble too you see. God’s grace is there but so much time, and this is the message the Lord’s put on my heart that the charismatic world is spending almost 100% of its time working on the thing that’s only netting 5% of the gain. If I could twist this lever, say these words pull this string; we’re spending our time on this.

But the Lord wants us now to shift our eyes and to see that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all man. The word grace means unmerited, unearned favor. And his mercy then is what we have. “When we haven’t found the key to turn, when it seems as though we haven’t been able to find God’s touch for the things that we need, God is telling us that He has not left any of His bases uncovered. His plan is a complete plan and He has never made a plan that isn’t good or that doesn’t work. So let us read Hebrews 4:14-16. “Seeing then that we have a great high Priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to Him and never stop trusting Him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.

There we will receive mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.” This ought to make you shout because you know you haven’t met all the conditions. Maybe 5% of the time you met the conditions. What about all of those other times. His mercy endures forever. David found a real secret. His mercy, His mercy, His mercy. And when we find his grace it helps us to rise above those things that were struggling with and have victory over a lot of those things that are troubling us in our life. Hebrews 5. “For every High Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God.

That he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins who can have compassion on the ignorant. This High Priest that we have,” mark this down, if you can’t remember one other thing about this message I want you to remember these lines. “He can be touched.” He can be touched. Hallelujah. He can be touched. You can reach Him. Then he said, “He can have compassion on those people who don’t know enough.” They don’t know the conditions. They have missed it.

He can have compassion on the ignorant. Then he said but for those people who know better, there’s no compassion for them, no, he said for those people who have lost their way, they should have had better sense, they’re in trouble because of their own mistakes. Those problems we find ourselves in that we know were the result of our own ignorance, of not listening, of our stubbornness and we say the rule has to apply that a man will reap what he sows. I’m not going to deny this. That is truth. But you know what God tells us about Jesus? Our High Priest, when He came he said that we have beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. Truth says this is the law, you’re going to reap what you sow, you’ve gotten yourself into a mess and you’re going to have to get yourself out of that mess. And there are a lot of believers who are listening to this, all they know is the truth shows them what a rotten situation there in but God’s grace says, “I love you anyway and even those who have gone out of the way.” Look at it there. I’ll even help them.

My grace is something they don’t deserve. I want you to shout a loud amen if you know this has meaning to you. AMEN. Somebody’s saying if you say that a person doesn’t have to reap what they sow you’re taking the teeth out of the gospel. The truth of the matter is you do have to reap what you sow except for God’s grace. But when He came He brought you truth and He said I still can do what I want to do. If I want to keep that tree from bearing I can do it. God still is Sovereign and He does all things after the counsel of his own will. He will not do anything in violation with His nature, God is love. So this isn’t telling you to go out and sin.

But for people that have sown a lot of rotten things instead of going thru the open door that God is given to you, you keep looking at that thing that God wants you to know that your free from. And you can go out of here knowing that you don’t have to reap what you sow when your faith is in Jesus Christ. God is not going to penalize you for a lifetime for some of those mistakes that you made. If all we had was what we earned, truth says we will. But God says I died and I came down and I felt the pain and the torture and he was tested in every one of the points that we’ve been tested so He can have compassion on those who are hurting. And so He himself was encompassed with infirmity so that he could help us. Now do you know how we touch God even when we feel like we’re too low, we have these circumstances against us where we can’t reach out and touch Him? God says, “I feel fingers and hands other than your human fingers and hands, I feel your weaknesses reaching out, and they’re reaching out there and they’re touching me. I feel them.” He is touched by your infirmities. Your weaknesses and your inabilities and then His heart flows over with love and with grace.

He himself feels the throb of the hurt that you feel. He feels the strain and the pressure that you’re under. God feels that and it reaches up and even when you feel so low, I can’t touch you God, there’s a cry coming out of your soul, there’s a voice, there’s a hand reaching from your life that is not a flesh and blood hand but it’s an arm of your weakness that is reaching and even if it’s short and weak God bends real low so you don’t have to reach very far. He’s touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He can have compassion on us. He knows those needs that we have and the release of God’s force is something that we do not realize but if it is true that at least 95% of what we receive comes when we haven’t met the conditions do you know what God is telling us? God is telling us, I’ve given you a plan of reaching Me and I’ve smiled on you in giving you this but because I have so much invested in you, because I love you so much your needs, your weaknesses are reaching out. Hallelujah. And the world today needs to feel this warmth and this love instead of the harshness, you’ve missed it, you’ve messed things up, you’ve made a wrong turn and all of these things and God can only forgive you so many times. Ah listen, His forgiveness is so great, our High Priest has things covered so beautifully that when you, that’s why he has here in this verse that his forgiveness is complete. The reason why is because God knows the enemy would continue to throw things at us.

Dave sitting here, he could come to God and say, “God I realize that I’ve failed you and this thing has troubled me 10 times and your love is just so great and you’ve forgiven me over and over all of those 10 times, God the thing has overwhelmed me again. Can you find it in your heart just to forgive me one more time, can you make it 11?” God looks down at Dave and He says, “What are you talking about? This is the first time this ever happened.” Dave says, “You know that I’ve done this 11 times.” God has to tell him I don’t have any records of it. God, your memory is complete you could never forget. God says, “When I destroy from my records I also pull it from my memory. I don’t even know that you had any problems before. This is the first time.” That’s grace to help in time of need. He would say it’s all complete. When I forgave you I forgot that I even forgave you.

Chapter 64 - God’s Golden Keys, Answer to Loneliness

I think that Pentecostal people and holiness people were trained to pray wrong; they were trained to speak in tongues wrong. It had to be on a crying note to be effective. But thank the Lord He's letting people know that they can be happy even when they're talking to him. One of the biggest areas of education that I have in my office is retraining people to pray with a smile on their face and a smile in their heart. We have been talking about God's golden key. Jesus is God's golden key. "If He loved us enough to give us His own Son how much more with Him will He freely give us all things?" Thank God for Jesus. Praise the Lord. I am constantly asked on the telephone if it would be ok to ask God for angelic visitations. So I quote them the word that comes from God's heart and that is, "seek not an angel.

An angel cannot abide within you. An angel cannot receive your prayers. An angel cannot accept your worship but you have one within you greater than all of the angels. One who invites your prayers, one who desires your worship and one who will never leave you." The Holy Spirit is taking Jesus and glorifying Him in us. When Jesus went away He said when the Holy Spirit is come He will glorify Me. He won't speak for Himself. So when you sense that surge of divine life that's brought to you by the power of the Holy Ghost, Jesus is being glorified within you. His life is being transmitted to you. That's the life of Jesus.

God's highest goal for us is that we be like Jesus. So many have gotten the wrong view for the coming of the Holy Spirit. There are some who think the highest purpose of the Holy Spirit is to give them power to do some things, power even to speak in a way that they could not speak otherwise. But God tells us; Jesus Himself told us that when He, the Holy Spirit has come to you He will give you power to be like Me. You say where is that verse found? Acts 1:8. Is that what that says? Well maybe the words are a little different but that's what He's saying. You shall be witnesses unto Me. Now what He's really saying is when people see you they will know that I am alive because my nature is beaming out from you. My life is within you. The highest purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus in our lives.

That beautiful fruit of the Spirit that Paul spoke of in Galatians 5:22, he said the nature of Jesus that the Spirit grows in you is this: love, joy, peace, gentleness, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, faith. He refers to these things. He said there is no law on earth or in heaven that's against a person being like Jesus. That is what God wants us to be. To be like Jesus. The golden key that He's given to us gives us power. Literally it's a key to become like Him the Holy Spirit forming and embodying the likeness of Jesus within us. Hallelujah. He's with us, he's within us, He's around us, and he's close to us. Last night we received a call from Washington D.C. and the planning is going on right now to bring this message of what God is really like to our nation's capital. Praise God.

Books are being ordered for all of the congressman and all of the senators. And men in high places are hearing and they're talking about what the Lord is doing and I am to receive a call this week stating what date they have been able to reserve the constitution hall. They say that is the biggest meeting hall in Washington D.C. for this meeting. Praise God. Did you know that you have a room inside of you where the real you lives. It's a room that your friends cannot invade. It's a room that members of your family cannot go into. It's a room where you face those dark realities that trouble you.

And the world today is visiting the little rooms inside of themselves and are feeling pains of emptiness and loneliness. One of the reasons for what God is doing in the world today is to answer that cry within the human heart. If I were to take all of the needs that have been brought to me in my praying with people and counseling, one need would have a stack that would far exceed all of the rest and that would be the condition of loneliness that exists within people. Those that you look at that look like they are the happiest, that have the biggest smile, that can laugh, those who seem to have everything going for them when they retreat into that little room and they look at themselves where the real them lives there's a cry in emptiness. The world is sick today with a plague, with an epidemic of loneliness. We have talked about the other keys; the other needs that the Lord has ministered to and met. And today we're going to talk about this key for just a few moments here ... this key, God's answer to that loneliness down deep inside.

Even believers as they go inside that little room find themselves so lonely even though they have a family around them, they have friends but there are occasions when they cannot even take their family or their friends. The world is dying of loneliness. Thank God for that beautiful word, shall He not with Him also freely provide the answer to this hurting need? Praise God. I think of some of the songs that have been written by people who have felt the weight and the hurt of these needs. I was thinking of one this morning. "Somebody knows when your heart aches and everything seems to go wrong. Somebody knows when your shadows need chasing away with a song. Somebody knows when you're weary, tired, discouraged and blue. Somebody wants you to love Him and to know that He dearly loves you." There's another one that I'll try out on you.

"Does Jesus care when my heart is pained to deeply for mirth and song? Oh yes He cares, I know He cares His heart is touched with my grief. Though the way seems weary and the long nights dreary I know my Savior cares. You'll find Jesus, He's the one who always cares and understands. Standing somewhere in the shadows you'll find Jesus and you will know him by the nail prints in His hands." And I realize that in our service for God there are many times of tremendous joy, exuberance, times when it seems as though we would explode with the dynamite of God's presence. But following those times like the man Elijah who ran in front of the chariot for 27 miles. And then he just finally started crying before God and he said God let me die. He was so glad God didn't answer his prayer. In fact I don't even think the Lord listened to that prayer. The Holy Spirit changed the wording a little bit and said, "God I'm lonesome, I need your care, I need some help.

But the man that was so exuberant had a real let down. I wonder if this is still true today. I wonder how many of you have times occasionally when you wonder where the fire and the flash and the joy have gone. Does anybody here ever have any letdowns? There are a few in the balcony that haven't had but everybody else. That's why they sit up so high. They're on a high all the time up there. But this is the reason why God said I have an answer for you. I have a key for you, Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

He is the one that can be with us when as those disciples were so exuberant with Him and the songs were songs of triumph but then Jesus was the One also who went with them in those low places. He stood by Mary in the garden when the tears were filling her eyes. She didn't even recognize Him. I'm going to give you three P's this morning. The first one is the predicament. This whole world is really in a predicament. There's this disease of loneliness. The second point is Promise. God made a promise to us. He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you, therefore even when you may be feeling kind of down you can boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man may do to me.

Matthew 28:20. He said you're going out to work for me, you're going to get into a lot of problems and troubles but I am with you always. God gave us a key. He gave us the answer to the lonely heart. Jesus never, ever leaves. You may think He does but He never, ever leaves. The third P is for performance. Did He do what He said He would do? Did He perform? We could have a thousand testimonies from people here of how God has performed. You could think of those real low times in your life when you stood by the bedside of one that you loved and you wondered whether He would really prove that as your day is so your strength shall be but He proved it to you He was with you. Mark 16:20, the Word tells us that the disciples did what Jesus told them to do.

He said, "go out there into the entire world and preach the gospel and lo I am with you always." So they went out and what do you think they found? Jesus was with them. And that verse Mark 16:20 said they found the Lord right there with them just like He was before working with them performing, confirming His word with signs following. When Jesus is there signs follow. It's wonderful to have the evidences that He's there. But this is one of the dangers that we have. We know what God can do and we've watched Him at work but so often we turn our eyes towards a sign and we start following the signs and we think that we're just about there, we have learned all of the words and the routine to get that sign to happen and that sign somehow or another turns into the will of the wisp. And we can't get it; it's like a firefly before our eyes. But he tells us if we walk with Jesus, He says don't look now but something is following you, signs of his presence. Jesus is here.

Jesus is with you. Do you know that God would a whole lot rather have you following Jesus and let the signs be where He intended them to be having them following you. It gives you a lot more answers, a lot more of a key to the problems of this life when you follow Jesus. Mark 6:45-52. This is going to be the message this morning right here. He did perform the thing that He said He would do. And if you have a pencil or a pen be sure to do some underlining here because this is some real good stuff, right here. "And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida. And when He sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray and evening came, the ship was in the midst of the sea and he was alone on the land. And he saw them toiling and rowing.

Underline that. He saw them toiling. Does that say anything to you? You're out there and you wonder if He's paying any attention to you and the storm and everything to you is contrary to you. And He saw them toiling for the wind was contrary to them. Everything that they tried to do there just seemed to be failure and frustration it was contrary to them. At about the fourth watch of the night He came to them walking upon the sea and would have passed by them, why do you suppose He would have passed by them? Do you think he really would have? He was playing a little trick on them I think. He knows us and He loves to hear us call Help. So He got close enough to them where they could see Him but the disciples were very superstitious and do you know that our biggest problems come by the things that aren't real, things that we just suppose. Have you ever been troubled by things that you were just supposing and you found out why did I get myself into such a stew? The thing wasn't real at all, I just supposed. And our fears were supposing all the time and here their fears suddenly got so bad.

They thought they saw a ghost, a spirit. It's a spirit out here. People aren't afraid of people but they're sure afraid of spirits. So He passed by them and he wanted them to call out to Him. When they saw Him walking upon the sea they supposed it had been a spirit and they cried out, "Lord if you're anywhere within the sound of our voices would you please come and save us from this spirit?" Little do people realize that Jesus comes oftentimes garbed and veiled in our fears, in our problems. Just like with Mary. He stood there, right before her. She thought He was the gardener. But Jesus came; Jesus came to them when they cried. For they all saw Him and were troubled and immediately He talked with them.

And He gave the words to them that could only come from the heart of God. Do you know that this is the same message that God is bringing to the world today, be of good cheer I am in control. He's looking; people thought He had forgotten them but they're toiling with the rowing. Don't worry He's watching. He's watching you and He comes. He comes oftentimes in what seems to be the dark hour, in the storm, the thing that is hurting and went up to them into the ship and the wind ceased and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure. That means they couldn't quite contain themselves. Measure means you could only hold so much. But they were amazed beyond measure, they were acting like a bunch of silly kids because Jesus was there, the storm was over. But that wasn't all that they needed, they needed to get across.

Jesus said, "I want to go across to the other side." But the disciple thought He had changed their orders suddenly and said I want you to go to the bottom. But when He came into the boat they had the beautiful experience of divine transportation. Immediately when He got in the ship, zing, they were there where they needed to go. And we sometimes say oh it's such a long way, the thing that I need to accomplish I just don't know how it could ever happen but when Jesus comes on the scene He has a way of pulling all of the distance out. God's golden key and He's put Him into our hearts. He's around us, He's watching us. Jesus is God's answer to loneliness, the greatest plague in the whole world. God has given us the answer in Jesus. I think of the time when He came to the leper and the leper was cleansed and he thought I'd never get better, I thought I would never get rid of this stuff.

I remember when Sharon was about 4 years old. She came home and we use to like to ask, "What was the Sunday School lesson about?" She said, "It was about that poor man." I said, "What was the matter with him?" She said, "You know that poor man that had seeds all over him." I thought seeds all over him, what kind of lesson is this that the Sunday school teacher is teaching. I couldn't imagine what they were teaching. She said, "There were leper seeds all over him. Well this poor man that came to Jesus had leper seeds all over him." He probably wondered if there would be anytime in this life where he could have this experience. But Jesus the same one that came when He saw those disciples came to the leper and the time frame changed. The circumstances change when Jesus comes.

Look what happened at that boat. The sun came out, the clouds pushed back; it was a beautiful day because Jesus came. I think of the blind man as they sat there in a little world of their own because they could not see, crying out, "Jesus, Jesus you've come, do you have a key for us?" He says, "I do," He slipped his key into the latch of those locked lids and they can see. He had the answer. The important thing is this. He still comes, He still sees you toiling with the rowing, where it's so hard. It seems like you have a rougher row than anybody but Jesus sees. His presence is that beautiful key. That key when you cry out, "oh God are you there?" He says, "I am here, I will answer, I am here." And there are those hard times in your life.

Isaiah 43:1-2, he tells us we are not going to escape some pretty rough times in spite of what we'd like to think. He says, "You're going to have some water to go through, you may have some rivers to cross." But when Jesus is with you the real hurt is gone because the real need is having Him there. You read it in Isaiah 43, "When you pass through the waters I will be with you, through the rivers they will not overflow you, when you walk through the fire neither shall the flame kindle upon you because I am with you. When Paul spoke of it in Corinthians 2, He said, "We're often perplexed because we often don't know why things happen as they do. But we do know this. That though we're knocked down we're not knocked out. We can rise up and keep going again because He is with us. In Romans 8 he said, "I am persuaded that there is nothing that will ever be invented that can separate me from the love of God." Still he comes, oh think of the value of Jesus being with you.

Some of you have just experienced the valley of death because of a loved one that is gone but it was such a comfort to David when he could say, "yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," had he not been able to say, "You are with me" he would have really been in trouble. He would have said, "Why go into that valley of the shadow of death. All darkness is going to cave in on me and the uncertain sounds of something that I have never known torments and darkness that I have never been through before. But instead of worrying about that he could say, "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me." You know what happens when Jesus is with you? He turns the real fears into shadows. Have you ever considered how little harm a shadow could actually do to you? If I had a sword up here with a light behind it and I swung that sword through Mike and that shadow reached out and went right through his neck, he could twist his neck around and his head wouldn't roll off. He would be unscathed cut clean through with a shadow. A shadow can't hurt you. A shadow of a sword can't cut; a shadow of a dog can't bite you. The shadow of these things that lurk in our lives cannot hurt us.

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no death." Remember this. That you may go through the shadow but it takes something to produce a shadow. It takes light to produce a shadow and as you walk through the shadow, the great light of heaven is waiting for you. Jesus is your light. I will fear no evil for You are with me. Praise God.

Chapter 65 - God’s Golden Keys, Praise, The Key to Unlock His Power

The act of praise is something that’s for every living, breathing individual. Not only people. God has even given animals and birds and so on an opportunity to praise Him. He tells them to. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. I saw something happen this week that I literally did not think I would ever see happen this side of heaven. I was in the little town of London Washington. And there were people there, in fact some of the people in that church had been praying and at times talking about it for 24 years since their church was built. It was much too large for the congregation or the community that had so many churches in it. It seated about 500 people.

And they prayed, “Lord would you perform a miracle, let us see this building filled.” Some folk who were getting up in years when it was built were quite old, came to me with tears in their eyes and they said, “God has answered our prayer.” For that church building was not only full, it was packed with people. They not only overflowed, they put a closed circuit television in the basement. They filled the platform with people. 700 people on Monday night. 700 people on Tuesday night. They came from many different areas. They came from Canada. But the thing that I saw happen was something that John heard as God let him have a visit to heaven in the book of Revelation as he was carried away by the Spirit he heard what seemed to be the voice like a great waterfall.

It was a roar that picked up and it swelled and would echo and flow thru the courts of heaven and reverberate. And he looked to see where all the sound came from and it was the sound of God’s family praising and worshiping God. Tuesday night though there was praise during the day, there were at least 20 denominations present. There were church of Christ people there. There were Lutherans, there were Baptists, and there were Methodists. The bishop from the Anglican Church from British Columbia was there. But following that service there seemed to be a spontaneous explosion in that congregation. And I saw people standing to their feet, not those who went on record as being full gospel or charismatic but people who have never been in a charismatic service. But that congregation started standing with hands raised towards heaven. They had caught a glimpse of what God is like.

As they were praising, just normal praising in the English language suddenly it seemed as though a great river opened up in heaven and that sound started to swell as people burst forth in rivers of praise very similar to the time when God allowed me to praise with the angels, something that couldn’t be stopped. It lasted for 30 minutes, just a volume of praise ascending towards heaven. One of the most expressive was a loud voice, was the bishop of the Episcopal churches of British Columbia. After the service he told me, he said, all my life I looked forward to such an expression of praise I didn’t know if it were possible but he said I felt like I was literally in heaven. Quiet Dutch reform people were standing, tears running down their face, it was literally a giant waterfall like John expressed the voice of many waters. It’s going to happen soon for everyone of God’s children as the saints go marching in when Jesus, that irreversible force that is set in motion that is moving close to a great event that is going to be soon, Jesus is coming. And as we crown Him Lord of all the praises of the saints are going to sound like the voice of many waters. But I believe should He tarry that we’re going to see this happening more and more, and more and more as people of all different denominations recognize that what God is doing is not for one percent of the populous but it is for people everywhere. Let me here you shout a big hallelujah. Oh praise God.

I know the echo is still being carried on there in the courts of heaven by the angelic hosts. I’m going to read you 3 Psalms. Psalms 148, 149, 150. “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him from the skies. Praise him all his angels. Praise him all the armies of heaven. Praise him sun, moon. Praise him all you twinkling stars.

Praise him, skies above. Praise him vapors high above the clouds. Let every created thing give praise to the Lord for he issued his command and they came into being. He established them forever and forever. His orders will never be revoked. Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and storm, wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, reptiles and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven. He has made his people strong, honoring his godly ones, the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song.” One of the ways that we praise Him is in song. There was a time not long ago when I wondered about the thing that people call praising in the Spirit, but I have found that as we open our hearts to God and sing the melody that’s down inside it’s a song that hasn’t been written, it’s a new song. He said, “Praise him making that melody in your hearts to the Lord.” And the word tells us in this way we praise him in this way. With songs, with hymns, with spiritual songs. Songs that haven’t been written yet, making melody in your hearts. Not to people, not only for your own satisfaction. That’s why he said here a new song. “Sing praises in the assembly of the faithful.

O Israel, rejoice in your Maker. O people of Jerusalem exult in your King. Praise his name with dancing accompanied by tambourine and harp. For the Lord delights in his people; [When you praise Him it makes Him happy, He takes pleasure in you.] he crowns the humble with salvation. Let the faithful rejoice in this honor. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds. Let the praises of God be in their mouths, and a sharp sword in their hands to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with shackles and their leaders with iron chains, to execute the judgment written against them. [Anything that’s against God can be held back, any attempt, any attack against God when you have that power and that sword of God in your hand that comes thru praise.] This is the glory of his faithful ones.

Praise the Lord. Praise God in his heavenly dwelling; praise him in his mighty heaven. Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness. Praise him with a blast of the trumpet; praise him with the lyre and harp. Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing; praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes. Praise Him with a clash of cymbals; praise Him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Doesn’t that somehow just get inside of you? God said this, told David to write it down. He tells us now a beautiful key to unlocking, using praise to unlock God’s power, to push back the attacks of Satan, to break the bondages that come to many of His believers. There is a key; there is a certain quality, a certain ingredient in praise that is present every time that the key is turned.

It’s a golden key that God has put in our hands. You read it in 2 Chronicles 5:13 when the temple was going to be dedicated. The release of God’s power came, a key was pushed into the lock in heaven and the word tells us that the singers and the musicians were all as one to make one sound in the praising and the magnifying God. And they were to say praise the Lord for His goodness and his mercy endures forever. God is telling the world today what he is like. That he is a God of loving-kindness. That He is a God of mercy, not only a God of truth. He’s been presented as a God of truth for years and years and people have been in fear of the God of truth because the truth has shown them their lost condition, shown them their inability, shown them that they have not met the conditions that truth demanded. But God is a God of mercy and truth. We find that where He mentions truth in the Word, mercy comes along.

They’re twins. Mercy is God saying that person does not deserve this. They haven’t met those conditions but they need help so badly and I can and I will help them. So everyone who recognizes that what you’ve received from God didn’t come because you did everything right, because you said all the right words. When you realize that what we have from God came from His big heart of love then we can say, “Oh God your mercy endures forever, you’re good God.” But this ingredient has been present every time the key has been turned. And as they praised the Lord the word tells us God took that key, opened the door, and the glory cloud from heaven came down and filled the place and people were overcome by the great cloud of the glory of His presence. I feel that that’s what we’ve experienced so often in this service, the glory cloud of heaven. When we praised the Lord, God did it. When Israel was being attacked God said, “You won’t need to fight in this battle because I’m going to create a different kind of an army for you, an army of praise.

And when this army of praise began to praise the Lord what did they say? Exactly the same thing. They said, “For He is good and His mercy endures forever.” The same notes of praise. Not the fact that they were able to keep all of God’s laws. It was the fact that God’s mercy and kindness was extended to them and they were recognizing this and God said, “I like it.” He told Michael to get a big bunch of warring angels and said, “Get down there.” And he hid them behind every bush. And as this attacking army came they jumped out at them, they scared the daylights out of them. Those people, I don’t know if they saw them or not but they started sticking each other with swords. Israel was saved but they were saved when they turned the key of praise.

Not just a certain group of people that are a little off centered. Everybody praise the Lord. What about the apostle Paul when he was in prison there. Remember when he was in prison with Silas? They could have complained. When we get into trouble we complain, we say I don’t have anything to praise God for. You can’t guess how many people tell me that when they get in prison so to speak. They seem like they’re restricted in their movements spiritually and otherwise because circumstances, situations are all against them, why praise the Lord when everything like that is gone wrong? But at midnight Paul and Silas sang praises to God. I can’t think about this without thinking of the great trio that sounded. Silas sang tenor and you know what they were singing? They were singing for he is good, his mercy endures forever. And as they were singing God said somebody is praising down there I can feel the key turning.

And God came down and He sang bass. Really had a trio. And those old foundations began to shake when He sang and the rocks fell off and the cuffs fell off their hands. They were liberated thru praise. Men and women are liberated when they praise the Lord. Sing unto Him a new song from your heart, one that’s never been written. Lift your voices right now and sing.

Chapter 66 - God’s Golden Keys, Grace

I really feel that this message God’s Golden Key. We’ve gone into doors that God’s Golden Key opens. The power that has been made available to us thru One, Jesus. He is the Key. “If He is already given us the best that heaven had, Jesus, will He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Jesus then becomes the key who opens the various doors, the doors of our need. We’ve talked about the need for protection that believers have and how that the Holy Spirit was brought to us by Jesus to give us that protection against the enemy. The Spirit is on the job constantly monitoring our needs and has given us this help. We’ve talked about the authority, those times when we need something that we can use to ourselves to bring strength and hope and comfort. Something that we can use to others, to share with others, something that we can use as a weapon against the enemy and something that we can use as we approach the throne of God. And that is the name of Jesus.

That was another great key, the need of authority that is released. We talked about the times when we felt we just needed somebody with us to give us courage. In those hours of loneliness someone to tell us I am with you. Others have failed, they have run, but I will never leave you. There was the power of His presence, another door that was opened because of Jesus. We talked about the need that every individual life has for identity. The sense of knowing that we’re worth something, that He has touched us, the power of His touch. We talked about the need of life in a world that smells of death all around but a source of life. And we found His word, the power of His Word, the entrance of His Word into our lives brings life, it taps the very resources of heaven. We did talk about the need of every believer for assurance.

That need of knowing that the promises that God has made that there is a place prepared that if our faith is in Him that the promise is still good. He has given us a key that opens up that door of assurance called the blood of Jesus, the blood that opens the door of heaven. The Word tells us that Jesus entered in by His own blood the blood that opened the door of His heart. When He saw it He says, “I’ll accept you.” All of these doors have been opened by the key that God has given to us, a key to all that God is and all that He has. But there are times, there are some here this morning, you’re under pressure. It seems as though you’ve knocked and the door hasn’t opened. You’ve turned keys but there are some things in your life that just don’t somehow seem to be covered. You’ve heard the conditions of turning the key but you failed. And so many of the promises of God seem to be for somebody else because those people had been able to meet the conditions, fulfill the demands and they were receiving but not you and you stand at the side.

You feel lonely and rejected and the stream of God’s grace goes by. Some may say well that must be a very small majority of people who haven’t been able to have taken advantage of all of these things that God has done. But surprisingly it’s not the small minority that fits into this category. There are times when every believer feels alone and cut off and the sky seems like its brass and it seems that your prayer isn’t getting thru and nobody really understands. I know because I love people and I deal with people. I hear the calls that come over the telephone every day. People who are reaching, searching and they’ve heard that God has moved in a special way and they feel possibly there might be a little bit of hope here, they’ve tried everything else. And the people I’ve ministered to right here, I find the same thing. “God why isn’t there an answer somewhere?” But God has taken that beautiful Golden Key, His Son, and has asked us now to turn our eyes to a great big door, the biggest package of His love that He has yet made and He says, “it is for those people in their hour of need, when they haven’t met the conditions, when all they have to offer Me is failure, when it seems as though faith is at a low ebb. And I look down at them and I have to say they don’t deserve a thing.

When it comes right down to it, if all we got was what we deserved we would sure be paupers. That’s why David could say, “I’m glad He didn’t deal with us according to our iniquities. God has another thing in mind. Down thru the past 50 years theologies have been put together placing the responsibility of the work of God into the hands of man. But God is saying, “You’ve got things a little bit wrong.” I am certainly glad that God didn’t say, “Ok because you wanted to take it into your hands you could have it.” Wouldn’t we be in a mess? Aren’t you glad this morning that your salvation doesn’t depend on what you’ve been able to do? God has given us work to do but the key to divine help is not based on what we’re able to do. You ought to shout hallelujah for that. God is smiling because He said, “I know man’s weakness and I’ll let them link arms with me and give them the first right to move with Me and get a job done but I’m certainly am not going to put as something as important as the key to My great big storehouse here in the hands of failing man.” God has it.

And that key is spelled GRACE. 1 Corinthians 15:10. Now the Apostle Paul here is making a statement. He says, “I am what I am by the grace of God.” You wonder how I got where I am Paul said, he did plenty of things but he said even the things he did was the grace of God at work in his life. “But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.” God is bestowing grace and with some people it is in vain and he says to see that you receive not the grace of God in vain. He also said, “I do not frustrate the grace of God.” God has great power that is working; great force at work and he said, “don’t frustrate every effort that God has trying to help you.” Don’t frustrate, let him work.

Recognize that God is at work. But I labored more abundantly than they all, he started to boast a little bit now. God gave me some grace but look what I did thru this then, all of a sudden nudged him and said woops you better add a word here. And he said, “Not I but the grace of God, which was in me.” God was doing something, stirring up all of those capabilities, the drives, the powers within me, I didn’t accomplish this, yet not I but the grace of God. This takes the ability to brag away from people. Hey look, I’m going to hang up a shingle, I prayed for somebody and they got healed, now folks you come to me I have the gift of healing. You better watch out, you better say not I, the grace of God. Because God doesn’t mind if He lets you fall on your face once in awhile. I’ll never forget this man that the Lord blessed and he went out and prayed for a few folk and the Lord healed them and he gave the Lord the credit.

He got to thinking one day and some people said this is great; you’re the one to do the praying, when I get sick I’ll call on you. And so he asked me if he could make an announcement. I didn’t know what it was going to be. He stood up here and said, “Now folks if any of you are sick I want you to come and let me pray for you because God has given me special anointing to pray for you.” God didn’t seem to pay much attention to him. And the people that came went away like they were before. He was discouraged; he wondered what was a matter. He came and asked me about it. So I said, “Recognize where it comes from.” Let them know that it isn’t your ability to pray it has to be God’s kindness and grace towards us.

So there are times when we are able to push the right button and get something to happen. But about 95% of the time when anything happens supernatural it is the grace of God at work and not because we’ve earned a solitary thing. That takes the bulk of us and it takes that small little group that says I’ve met all of the conditions, and it puts you all right out in the middle of God’s great big funnel of love. So Paul made that statement. He said of what I did, it’s what God did. 1 Corinthians 1:4-8. And Paul is saying now “you are what you are by the grace of God.” I trust that the Lord is speaking to your heart, letting you see that you’re not excluded even in those times when you feel like you can’t get thru. You have a power working for you. There’s a door that God holds the key on.

We’ve used some of these other keys but God’s Golden key says you’ve kind of missed the boat and there’s no way but I’m not going to let you hurt if I can help it. And that grace comes thru, mercy for the sinner, help in the hardest place, everything for nothing. That is grace; God has the key to it. So I am what I am, and you are what you are by God’s grace. “I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God that is given to you by Jesus Christ. That in everything you are enriched by Him in all utterance.” God helped you to testify and witness for Him. In all knowledge, He even let you understand some things that you didn’t know before. It wasn’t that you were so smart it was just the grace of God again. Then he said, “even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you so that you came behind in no gift waiting the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who shall also confirm you until the end that you may be blameless,” here it is justification.

All the way thru God’s going to confirm that state of innocence because your faith is in what He has done and not in what you have done. He will confirm you until the end that you might be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants you to know that if your faith is in what He has done in His performance and not in yours, you can quit sweating in waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:3-7. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places according as he has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.” You see before the world was started you really hadn’t accomplished very much yet had you? Just stop and think about it. You were chosen; God’s grace chose you before the world started. “That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of His grace.

That force from heaven that’s so strong and big that nothing can stop. “Wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved.” I want you to notice that little word here wherein, it’s in this grace you see, you’ve been accepted. Then He helps you to stand because of His grace as you walk with Him. You have been accepted in Jesus because of something that you didn’t earn. We’ve been accepted by something we didn’t do because there’s a force in action. We have been accepted by His grace because of this grace. Then he goes on to say some of the other benefits of this grace of whom we have redemption. That grace was valuable enough to take care of buying us back, paying our dept. We have redemption thru His blood and the forgiveness of sins, everything wiped out according to the riches of His grace.

Talk about rich. This is a key that God has given, God maintains, but a door that He opens with it for every human being in this whole wide world. His grace, his grace. Because if it was only for those who’ve earned it we’d all be left out but it’s by his grace. You that have excluded yourself from these other things, this is for you. Then he goes on to say the forgiveness of sins and then also it’s abounding towards us in wisdom and prudence and so on and then he goes on to say that his plans as we read on here in verse 10 they include sharing with Him the joys of heaven, a beautiful future that He has provided for us. We’re justified, we’re made innocent thru His grace. In Romans 5:15-17. “And what a difference between our sin and God's generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin.

But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God's bountiful gift. And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins. The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God's wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” (NLT) Paul is saying God wants to put you in the driver’s seat. You know that we’re so often moved by circumstances and other things, we’re not in control, somebody pushes down on one end of the teeter-totter and we go up. They let go and we come down. We’re not really reigning. Somebody does something and we hit the reaction. There’s a domino effect constantly going on.

But he said instead of you just being taken by every little whim of this life you can steer. Because you’ve been tapped into Him, the river of His grace, you can reign in this life. There are a lot of people that say that they can’t help themselves, they say I was born Irish can I help that. I’ve had people come in and tell me that and I tell them that’s a bunch of nonsense. We don’t have to be ruled by these things that are negative things of this life. We don’t have to be ruled by disturbances that people feel, the moods that come our way. The psychologists have kind of tied our hands and have said you can’t help yourself, you fit into a pattern and you got to stay in that pattern, when that bad thing happens you have to go down, all your life you have to look forward to being defeated, every little bit. Thank God that the Lord came, it’s kind of like an Olympic swimming pool that they have with those ropes running down, the psychologists say you’ve to stay in your line but the Lord said not so and He took all of the cords out of the way. And you want to get over there where that person is swimming in victory; He says you can move there from any spot. Hallelujah.

Don’t accept defeat that easily, don’t accept it at all. Not as long as Jesus is alive, not as long as He still has the key to that big storehouse of Grace. You can reign in this life. Some of you that are bound by smoking, it’s true you’ve created a habit and your cells scream for that tobacco. But that cigarette doesn’t jump out of the package and build some wings and fly up there to your mouth. And it doesn’t come up there already lit. We cannot literally say we’re taking advantage of God’s grace when we’re frustrating His grace by doing the very things. And the Lord is going to prove Himself to many of you by liberating you and letting you know there’s a river of grace there. I’m going to reign in this life; I’m not going to allow these things to call the shots. There are many people who have found that God has a plan where you can reign in this life.

What we’re seeing is God at work. I love that verse of Scripture where He tells us it is God at work in you both to will and to do, this is in Philippians 2:13. Since God is holding this particular key you can expect some help. He has the key. And the Word tells us this grace that’s at work there by His grace; He’s giving you the will, which means that desire. There are a lot of people that have good desires but they say I just can’t do it. But if God has given you a desire to serve Him, a desire to be free. The other part of that gift is the power to do. He’s given you the will; He’s given you the go-power. What strings do I pull? You can’t pull any; it’s God’s grace.

So he said those who accept, say oh God I just have to admit I can’t do it I want your grace, they reach out and they take the free gift. Those who accept the abundance of His grace will reign in this life. Isn’t that a beautiful message, God’s grace? It comes to its highest meaning here, in Hebrews 2:9, God allowed me to see afresh and anew the scenes that He’s allowed me to see before that Jesus Christ by the grace of God, here it is, God’s grace now, what He’s given to us reaches its highest purpose and meaning when all of mankind in the whole world had to face damnation, eternal damnation, God’s great plan said they don’t deserve it and there’s nobody that has earned it but I’m giving my Son free, I’m giving Him that He should taste death for every man. Not just physical death, if He tasted physical death for every person his plan isn’t working because people are still dying. What was it that He came to do? It was to taste that agonizing separation from God. That’s why He cried out on the cross as He began to feel the bite of that second death, “Oh God why have you forsaken Me?” And God turned His back on Jesus and when He did the whole world tasted a little bit of that darkness that Christ was tasting, when darkness filled the whole world for several hours there. Listen, there’s a fear, mankind, even believers fear that terrible punishment that God had planned for Satan and his angels and that mankind brought upon himself in sinning. The soul that sins shall die, but Jesus by God’s grace, that free unmerited favor smiled on us but turned his back on Jesus and Jesus went out into the darkness of an eternal night. He tasted that agonizing cry of a damned soul with no chance, no hope, the futility, the emptiness, the lostness, never a ray of light, not a nightmare that would end, not a bad dream, not the agonizing pain of an affliction that can be cured but the eternal damnation of a damned soul. Why did He do it? Because of the grace of God, that kindness of God.

He did it so that not one person in this whole world would actually have to face the judgment of God. Now there’s a lot of people who are going to be in that place because they have received the grace of God in vain but God wants the world to know and He cried out to them, “Why will you die, why will you die? I’ve already died for you, why will you suffer hell when I’ve already suffered it for you? He didn’t have to go for Himself. That’s why the Word tells us that the sins of the whole world were placed upon Him. Can you see, can you feel that agony of soul that He felt for you? It was by the grace of God that He tasted. That key that God holds in His hands where God said man has no way of making it so I’m going to provide the way. All of man’s efforts to somehow build a ladder to get into God’s presence wouldn’t work. So God said I’m going to build the approach from my heart down to man. And Jesus became the road. Can you see this key today? The other keys we’ve talked about that God has placed in our hands to take advantage, the thing that He has asked us to do here, our part in this activating His grace is receiving. Accepting.

God I can’t do it. It doesn’t hurt for you to cry out, “God help, I can’t do it.” It doesn’t hurt. In fact God would like to have you say that He’s looking for an opportunity to help you. I wonder today while we’re taking this communion service if you would just cry out, “Lord I need your help.” Thank Him for His goodness, all that He has done but remember all of these things that the Lord has done for you bringing salvation, redemption, justification, bringing you victory in this life. And then finally, victory over all time from the damnation, the eternal separation from God. That’s something we all ought to thank God for. While we’re participating with this communion service, God has made it possible for us to have a reminder of what He did. And what you have here in this communion, when you look at that bread your saying, “I put my faith in what He has done. Your actually saying to God, “God I’m accepting your grace.”

Chapter 67 - God’s Golden Keys, Declarations of Faith

I have called this Paul’s confession of faith, and also his declaration. Confession, when it is truly believed calls for another statement, which is a declaration. Because of this I can say, praise God. And so this is what Paul did. He confesses and then he declares. Romans 5, “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul’s confession here is, “I am innocent, justified, declared innocent before God and since I’m declared innocent I have peace.” I would say the greatest need that every individual in the world has today is for peace. Peace is a product of salvation, of knowing God. But peace is something that we must have, that peace of mind.

Many believers do not have peace of mind. There are a lot of things that come against us, robbing us of peace of mind. It may be something that someone says, it may be a relationship that seems to be frayed and we don’t know how to put it together again. There may be hurts, wounds, things that people have said. But when we can look up and firmly believe that God said and made the statement and that his plan was to restore us to that place of total innocence, and that when Jesus hung there on the cross, He said, “it is finished,” the thing that He came to do. And as He went into the right hand of the Father instead of standing there doing the work continually now the continuing work of a High Priest and the taking care of the guilt of sin. There were no chairs in the sanctuary or in the tabernacle, which was a type of God’s dwelling place in heaven. There were no chairs or any place to sit down because the work was never finished. The pardon had to be re-written, the sins and charges had to be reviewed every year. But the Word tells us when Jesus finished His work He went into the presence of the Father and the Word tells us He sat down.

I have visualized this happening. Jesus coming in, the Father saying is it working? Was it complete? Did the sacrifice literally destroy those sins? Jesus said, “It is working, take a look.” God looked at it, He said, “its working, there will never have to be another sacrifice.” He made the one sacrifice for sin forever, and sat down. The job is done. When we know the job is done and we’ve placed our faith we’ve literally told the Lord and mean it that our faith is in His performance, not in ours. The Word tells us when we know we’ve been justified by faith in what He has done; we can take that big breath and have peace with God. The job is done, Hallelujah. You can literally hear God say, “I’m not angry with you anymore, My wrath has been turned away, it was diverted to somebody that took your place.” Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God.

Declare it. The world is so tossed, there’s so much turmoil. They need peace. In your heart confess, God I believe you did it, the job’s done. There are a lot of people that have confessed but they have failed to make their declaration. I want you to, and God wants you to make that real declaration. “By whom we also have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God not only so but we glory in tribulations also. Knowing that tribulation works patience, patience-experience, experience-hope and hope makes not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us. For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one day yet peradventure some may even dare to die but God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we yet sinners Christ died for us.

While we were yet sinners Christ removed the guilt and the stain because we called upon Him. Those who are troubled fearing that judgment of the believer, and it has been presented by many different groups out of ignorance but nevertheless bringing fear to people’s heart. That before you knew Jesus God’s love was so great for the sinner that He literally removed every trace of sin and He erased the records as far as the east is from the west but for those who have given themselves to the Lord He has a different disposition of those sins. He stacks them up in a neat little package, waiting for the judgment of the believer and then he pulls them all out and He says people have to know what a rotten Christian you really were because you did all of these things after you gave your heart to the Lord. So he has a big overhead projector and He has that screen and everybody’s going to know those things, those things that were done in secret are going to be shouted from the housetops. And they get this from the reference the hidden things of darkness will be exposed. What he’s literally saying there about the hidden things of darkness, he’s merely telling you that those things in your life that you have not yet received credit for. You’ve done them not for a reward, not for glory. You’ve done those things for Jesus. People don’t know about them but God’s going to turn His big light in there.

Why would he add the words right immediately after that, then shall every man have praise of God if He’s exposing bad things. He’s exposing good things. I think we can make a declaration of this. One of those good declarations is that shout Hallelujah. Jesus has done it. The feeling, the teaching and there is a pamphlet out right now, somebody has quit telling people about Jesus and they’re starting to tell people about how ignorant Pastor Buck is in putting such a thing in a book. A thing that people are being blessed but it’s not because it’s the right truth. There’s a little pamphlet out that states the unscriptural approach that God has given. I’m not going to take any credit for it, I’ll take blame for human error, for missing the crossed t and the misspelled word but I’m not going to take credit for the truth that God has given. They’re stating that I said that the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment of the believer was a day in which God has chosen to say thanks to people.

I was just passing on the good word and people across the country have raised the shout Hallelujah, God is just. And here’s the reason for it and you read it in the 9th verse, “Much more being justified by His blood we shall be saved from wrath thru him.” What he’s telling us here is, if we were sinners and God cared enough to erase the thing. Much more now that we’re His will He will take care of anything that we need. Much more now, you’re in the much more category now. You’ve reached the bonus situation because you belong to Him. People across the country are so hungry for these truths that they’re literally jamming the buildings. Anything else would be totally contrary to the character of God. God doesn’t need a whip to hold over you. If He can’t control you any better than that He’s not the God that we know Him to be.

He doesn’t have to threaten us. But He did tell us that the believer’s judgment is not a dark night thru which the believer must pass before breaking out into that eternal day. But it is a day in which God has chosen to say thanks. Can you imagine God calling you in and saying thanks to you? He cares for you. Each individual means so much to God. Praise the Lord forever. “For if when we were His enemies we were reconciled to God thru the death of His Son,” another much more, another bonus situation. “Much more than being reconciled we shall be saved then thru His life. And not only so but we joy in God thru our Lord Jesus Christ thru whom we have received the atonement.” Verse 17, “for if by one man’s offence death reigned, from much more they which receive abundance of grace,” hey there’s another much more that you have to underline.

How much has death reigned? Everybody you know that is either facing death or those people that you’ve had to say goodbye to who have already faced it, death has reigned, that means it’s in control. Every human being born into this life faces death. You begin to die the day you’re born. Death reigned. Every single one faces it. But here’s the bonus, much more, multiply it a hundred times, you have more chance of being in control of your life because of Jesus’ promise to you than death has of taking you. Much more will you reign, you can tell the enemy beat it, I belong to Jesus. We’re His. Much more can you be in the driver’s seat with His hand upon your shoulder and His Spirit filling you. You don’t have to just become subject and have to react constantly to the different moves of the enemy but you can respond to the love of God and reign in this life.

You can take those cigarettes and grind it under your feet in Jesus name. You can take that bottle of booze and in Jesus name you can have victory over it. About 200 of you out here know that, God’s delivered you from it completely. God wants His people to be positive people. There may be some who say it’s a psychological gain to them, telling them to be happy. Well if a psychological gain could do this I’m not going to be too hard on psychology. But I do know this, that there may be some psychological lift because that has do to with all of your feelings inside you see. But it comes because Jesus lives and He made a promise to us. We’re seeing God do something real special today. God has allowed us to live in the greatest days of all of history.

A great shaking is taking place. I mentioned last week about this spiritual revival in Russia. God is shaking something that looked unshakable. How can you reach young people who all their lives have only heard of God in disrespect? But God found a way because He doesn’t follow the rules of man. And what we thought was impossible and what has been preached for years that it’s impossible, we’ve lost those people because the statement is if you give a child from the ages of 4-8, whatever it is, to a certain ideology there’s very little chance that they’ll ever be changed and it’s been preached from our pulpits and we’ve believed it and we’ve passed on Satan’s lie. But God says I can save anybody, I can break the strongest fetters. And so today the great move of God is among this generation, that we thought was lost. But God said not so. He has a way of injecting His life, letting them see how shabby, how empty what they hold, the castle that they built for their life looks like it’s made out of paper. God is saying look what I’m offering you.

A great shaking is taking place. The breaking down of century old barriers and traditions, a God-planned oneness is taking place. Man tried by the various efforts to create an ecumenical movement to bring different church groups together. But they said now if you’ll do it our way we’d like to come together, but your fudging a little bit here and you know there is just small little hair splitting differences but they don’t want to give up their part of the hair and so they couldn’t get together. But God’s doing it. He’s doing it by saying, “I can’t clear up that mess up in people’s minds; there will always be people who disagree, even people that are members of the same family.” One likes green and another one like’s red. One likes this particular philosophy and the other one likes this. They’re more comfortable with it. So God said, “I’m going to bypass the whole thing.

And the oneness that I am bringing is a oneness of spirit.” Not so much the position and the doctrine in the head but who inhabits the heart. I think of the stirring and the excitement especially in the catholic community here in Boise. One of the priest’s told me the only thing that could make the priest’s, (there are 30 of them in a meeting), that could make them any happier than the prospects of this great meeting out here in the stadium would be if Pope John Paul II came himself. They’re just so excited about what is happening. So on the 2nd week of July 1980, all of you people, and all of the catholic churches of this community and all of the other churches that aren’t too afraid of them and us are invited to go along with it. And one of the most powerful voices for God in the world today is going to hurl out the challenge, you need Jesus in your life. John Berlucy is going to be there. And the statement that I heard that many protestant faiths, people have a religion without Jesus. But this is an effort to bring Jesus to the community.

God is doing it; He’s breaking down the barriers. There’s a supernatural wave of healing going on, body, soul and spirit. Minds being healed, emotions are being healed, and bodies are being healed. God has opened up and is restoring men and women back to that point they enjoyed before sin first came. God’s three R’s are Reconciliation, Restoration, and Reuniting. He’s in the act of reconciling now and of restoring people to Himself. In restoring them He has to take care of the sickness of the spirit. He has to take care of the sickness of the mind and the emotions and He takes care of the sickness of the body. God is doing it. He’s doing it without a whole lot of help from people to.

There are too many pessimistic believers. You know that’s a paradox. Do you know that a pessimist is not a believer? You can’t be a believer and a pessimist. A pessimist is a pessimist because he doubts it, he doesn’t believe. But there are too many people who say they’re believers, who are so pessimistic; they’re looking for reasons why a thing isn’t so, instead of reasons why it is so. I’ll never forget this pastor that sat out in the car with me. He wanted to help me to recognize the deception that I have been troubled with. I asked him don’t you believe in the supernatural and miracles? He said I believe in a miracle as long as nobody has one. And I’ll believe in angels as long as nobody sees one. He’s a real believer.

But he said if somebody comes to me and says my arm was healed, immediately I’ll say it probably wasn’t hurt in the first place. Never boast about being a pessimist. Ask God for grace and help to remove that spirit of unbelief. Paul spoke of it as in the days of Moses when they crossed the Red Sea into the Promised Land; the word tells us they held themselves aloof by unbelief. They stood aloof. They said I’ll just wait and see, time will tell. They never want to get in on the forefront of what God is doing. They’re just afraid that God isn’t going to do it. They wonder whether He’s really alive or not. There are some that couldn’t go into the Promised Land.

Unbelief had shut them out. There are people today that have been right within one step of the Promised Land but unbelief had shot them out and turned that step into a million miles. Thank God for what He is doing today. We’re living in a day when we can realize that our expression of confidence, our confession of faith brings salvation. Do you believe that Jesus died for you? Yes. I believe He died. Ok. You can make the confession because Jesus died for me and I have accepted it I am saved. If there’s any question in the minds of any who are here today I want you to look at that little simple statement. He died for you, He lives for you, you’ve accepted what He’s done, and you are saved.

And God has given every believer the right to pass this word on to people who have been accepted by their confession Jesus Christ, did you know that? He’s given us the right to say you are saved. And then He’s given us the right to say ok now you confess it, I am saved. Romans 10:9-10. “If we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord,” we pull the switch that activates something that destroys every record that could ever be against us in heaven. And it removes from God’s memory those things so when we look up into His face we see Him with our hearts as clean and as spotless as a newborn child, because God said it. Why do we know this is true? The highest thing that He came to do was to restore us to that point of innocence. That’s why he used the term justification. Justified by faith, we have peace with God. And if He justified us we’re innocent, justified by His blood. “Much more being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath thru Him.

You’re justified, counted as innocent. Declare it, confess it. So salvation is made real and is clenched thru our confession. God doesn’t mind if we cry out our lack, our need. After all confession is an admission of need. Peter, when he was having struggle in this life confession is still good. It doesn’t hurt to tell God; sometimes we’re too proud. God already sees you; He already knows you so if you’re having a rough time, tell Him you’re having a rough time. That’s what Peter did. You remember when he was walking on the water? He started to sink, and he cried out, “Lord save me, I perish.

Boy, he had a bad confession there. He just didn’t know how to walk on water very good but the Lord appreciated his confession and there are times when we just need to bellow for help. God doesn’t mind, in fact He’s listening for you. Because as long as we say I think I can make it, then we have to have to have a deep sea rescue operation, so don’t try to hang on to long. We need to remind the Lord every day, “you died for me, you took my place, I am saved.” We also need to confess our daily position in the Lord. “I am covered. I have peace with God, I am covered.” Because my faith is not in my performance but my faith is in what He has done. I am covered.

It’s not boasting husbands for you to look at your wife when she’s accusing you of all of those bad things to look at her and say, “Hey I’m innocent.” Wives you can say that to your husband. In fact it might be a good thing to help you to keep from taking things to seriously because the place where it really counts is where God is looking and if your faith is in what He has done you are innocent. There are a lot of things that haven’t been done yet. Lot of improvement down on this side but the Lord never said you were perfect down here but He did say you were innocent, justified. We need to confess to God, God my trust is in You. We need to confess to ourselves and let ourselves know where we stand. When God asks Adam and Eve where they were, it wasn’t that He didn’t know where they were; He wanted them to confess their need where they were. Then Adam confessed his guilt and then the Lord provided a way out and it was a blood sacrifice that was made. In Acts 20:24 Paul makes another declaration.

They had a sharp rise in the interest rates at that time. And the economy looked like it was going to fall apart. And besides that he was threatened with bankruptcy. And because he had some bills he couldn’t quite pay they were going to throw him in jail. And everyplace he went there were prophecies that everything was going to be real gloomy, and a lot of prophecies that were coming from people’s minds and not from the Lord. The Lord is talking to His people in a little different tone of voice. He said that though these things may come to pass I will fear no evil. A real declaration. So Paul’s words here were when they came to him and said, “You’re going to go to jail, you’re going to be hurt, and you’re going to suffer.” They said you better not go Paul.

You better quit doing those things that you have as goals for your life, I know you want to go there to preach to kings and I know God said you were supposed to go there and that was your calling and He prepared you for it but I don’t think you better go Paul, you better wait until the economy changes. So Paul looked at them and said, “None of these move me.” How about that for a declaration for today? None of these things move me. God wants you to use good sense, after all He’s given you a renewed mind, and you have 1000 times as much help as people that don’t know the Lord because you have a renewed mind. And you can move with the wisdom and the direction that comes because you’re in fellowship with the One who knows tomorrow. Do you believe God cares for you and knows things about your life? He knows tomorrow and you’re in His hands. So Paul said, “None of these things move me.” But they said, “what about these threats of death Paul?” Paul said, “Neither count I my life dear unto death.” I’ve got a bigger job to do. That just makes the devils run and hide because here’s a guy that isn’t even afraid.

“That I might please Him who has called me and placed me into this work.” And he walked right up to Nero’s chopping block, laid his head down on that block and the big old axe came down and his head rolled off on one side and his body off on the other and his spirit went right up to the Lord real fast. All he found was a release. He wasn’t afraid. He said, “I’ve finished my course, I’ve fought a good fight, I have kept the faith henceforth there’s laid up for me a crown which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me on that day,” and not me only but about a thousand or two at Central Assembly who love His appearing. These are his words but also those who love His appearing. God has a crown. It is going to be an honor that God bestows upon those that love Him. So we can say with Paul in 2 Timothy 1:12, when it comes to the future why should I fear? I know Him, I know the One I’ve committed all of these things to and I can trust Him. So we need to make some of these confessions.

I am saved. I am covered. I will reign. None of these things move me. I know Him, I can trust Him. And there is power in this kind of confession. You remember Abraham and his followers confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. They said, “I don’t want to get too attached to it.” And God smiled the Word tells us and He said He was not ashamed to be called their God. He said, “Since you like a better place than the best places there are down here, watch I’ve prepared you one right up here.

We academically say the Lord loves every one of us, the Lord knows us. But it hasn’t really hit our comprehension until we suddenly hear something that awakens this and we see an example of it suddenly. I haven’t had an angelic appearance in six weeks. God speaks to us thru so many ways. I never know from one time to the next whether it will be the last one. But last night in my office I found out that the one six weeks ago wasn’t the last one because Gabriel and Krioni came in while my head was down. I was looking at scripture and meditating and they came in just like those people from Star Trek. They were talking to me about God’s concern for the total person; our humanity even is really a concern of God’s. Then I got a telephone call. A little lady called.

I let it ring a few times; I kind of hated to be bothered with menial things like that while Gabriel was standing right there. And I let it ring but she was persistent so I picked it up and one of her first questions was, “have you seen any of them angels lately?” Then she told me, she said, “I’ve asked preachers to pray for me, I’ve asked my friends to pray for me and nobody seems to know how to get a hold of God and I don’t know if God even knows.” She said, “I’m 79 years old and my husband is sick and I have these problems” and she said, “Would you next time you see one of those angels, will you ask them if they would tell God that I really need some help?” I said, “Well they’re in here right now.” She gulped a little bit and so I said, “Do you want me to ask them now?” I said, “That isn’t really their work because you have the same kind of a connection as they do to talk to God. And she said, “Please ask them” and so I was going to turn and ask, not because I expected it to happen but Gabriel had been listening to the conversation and evidently has a way of picking up the sound without listening to it thru the receiver and he told me that he heard what she said. And he said, “Tell Bonnie Thompson that God already knows her need and He cares for her.” And so I told her and she let out a yell over the phone. She said, “You mean He even knows my name?” She had never told me anything about her name and I didn’t know so I hadn’t told him but God knew what her name was because He knows everybody. She already believed that God knew all about her just like you already believe but when you suddenly hear that God knows your name and each thing about you it’s so much more vast, it staggers you when you think that God knows all those little things about you, four billion people and He knows all those little old things about you. He even knew the name that they called her when she was a girl.

Bonnie. That really surprised her when they said Bonnie Thompson. She’s just a little kid to God. We have a hard time keeping tabs of the names of our children. I call Ted Walt sometimes, my brother, and I call my brother Ted. The Lord isn’t making any mistakes like we do. He knows you. He knows your street address, He knows where you sit at the table and He knows a lot of things that you never told Him because He hears your heart when it’s crying to Him. He hears expressions because His ears aren’t tuned only to vocal sounds; He hears the cries that come. How about just standing and confessing your love and your faith in our wonderful Lord.

Chapter 68 - Roland Buck’s Coronation Service, November 1979

“It is with keen anticipation that we come before You this morning with a feeling of confidence and trust and security knowing that You never make a mistake. You do all things well. Therefore we lay aside any doubts or fears or misgivings. With confidence we stand in Your presence covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. You said one day you would present us spotless before the throne and we have come to know even now because of our Intercessor and our High Priest our faith being in Him You look upon us as being fit for heaven right now. We want to say thank you for this and the knowledge of it, which has become more real in these past few years. Lord thank you for the wrath, the condemnation and judgment which was lifted from us and placed upon Your own Son that we do not have to bear it. Therefore we enter into the Holy of Holies with a freedom that man never had before. And today we want to thank you for this privilege that we have as we have gathered here for one of Your precious saints that You chose to take home. One whom you had anointed greatly and mightily and yet so many times as he had said I am but a man, just a vessel that God is using.

So unto You is the glory and the praise and the honor forever and forever. Thank you for the strength that you are giving moment by moment. So Jesus what can we say, we love you and we thank You. In Jesus name Amen.” I think this Scripture that the Apostle Paul shared with Timothy is so befitting and speaks so much of Pastor Buck and these last few months especially. 2 Timothy 4:6-8. Phillips Translation. “As for me I feel that the last drops of my life are being poured out for God. The time of my departure has arrived. The glorious fight that God gave me I have fought.

The course that I have set I have finished. I have kept the faith, the future holds for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the true Judge will give me in that day. And not of course only to me but to all who have loved what they have seen of Him.” And I think that very well describes these last few months especially, the message is out, he felt that he was finishing and winding up what God wanted him to do. And truly that’s exactly what happened. Bowed his head and the Lord took him home. We are happy because he right now is so happy and complete. Pastor Roland H. Buck was born June 13, 1918 at Everett Washington and lived the early years of his life there. He attended North West College at Kirkland Washington and entered the ministry in 1939.

He married Charm Jacobson on June 13, 1942 in Seattle Washington. Pastor Buck pastured churches in Granger and Yakima Washington and Gooding Idaho before coming to Central Assembly of God church in Boise in 1950. At the time of his death he was Pastor of Central Assembly Christian Life Center in Boise and was a member of the General Council of the Assemblies of God. His book, Angels on Assignment has been the number one bestseller in the Christian book category each month since August 1979. The first printing of 525,000 has been sold out. And another 125,000 are presently being printed. Over a million copies have been sold in all. His worldwide speaking engagements included Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, the Philippine Islands and many, many radio and television appearances throughout the United States. Surviving him is his wife Chairman Buck of Boise, three daughters; Sharon White of Boise, Chairman Arnison of Spokane and Marylyn Buck of Boise. He has one son Ted Buck living in Boise.

Three brothers Alfred Buck of San Diego California, George Buck of Fresno California and the Reverend Walter Buck of Spokane Washington. Three sisters Dorothy Garcia of Everett Washington, Margarite Ward of Yakima Washington, Gladys Willoscofe of West Germany and he also has 6 grand children. The personal influence of Pastor Buck in my life cannot be calculated. Maybe I’ll never know it. But he made God much bigger to me than I’ve ever seen Him. He showed me the meaning of praise as he expressed himself with great depth. He took something out of my vocabulary that formerly had been part of me and that was the words I can’t, and he helped each of us say I can, I can, I can. And we are. He demonstrated to me the value of people, of each person, the value that God places on that person and he demonstrated it by showing me the value that he placed on each individual. He always had time for us, each of us.

And our problem was his problem because God was concerned about what we were concerned about. He showed me the possibilities of what God can do thru a man or a woman who surrenders their life to Him. He was a man who was the most consistent in life and words that I have ever met. In sum I would like to say it wasn’t what Pastor Buck said, it wasn’t even what Pastor Buck did. But it was what Pastor Buck was. And he was a man’s man, he was a pastor’s pastor and above all he was God’s man. Hebrews 11, “Now faith means putting our full confidence in the things that we hope for, it means being certain of the things that we cannot see. It was this kind of faith that won their reputation for the saints of old and it is after all it is only by faith that our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God’s command. That the world that we can see has come into being thru principles, which are invisible. Verse 15, all these whom we have mentioned maintained their faith but died without actually receiving God’s promises.

Though they had seen them in the distance they hailed them as true and were quite convinced of their reality. They freely admitted that they lived on this earth as exiles and foreigners. Men who say that their eyes are fixed on their true homeland. If they had meant the particular country they had left behind they had ample opportunity to return. No. The fact is that they longed for a better country all together. Nothing less than the heavenly one. And because of their faith God is not ashamed to be called their God. For in sober truth he has prepared for them a city.” They sing, “It is well with my soul.

The choir sings a song that meant a lot to Pastor Buck. They sing, “Come to the Life Giver.” “Behold the Lamb,” is sung also. We’re standing on holy ground today. I’m sure that everything that has happened up to this moment is just exactly the way my brother Roland would want it to be. And I’m not going to put it even in the past tense because we haven’t lost him. We know where he is don’t we? We are encompassed about with a great cloud of witnesses and he is part of that cloud. Very busy, very happy, egging us on. I could just hear him now saying all right now sick him. I want you to know that this is holy ground and I do not feel really worthy hardly of untying my brother’s shoes.

I feel very honored at the privilege of standing here today. This platform has become a forum of one of God’s very good friends and one of His most productive mouth pieces that has declared rich and supernaturally conceived, life changing truths. You attest to that fact, this church full of people whose lives have been changed thru the life and thru the lips of this low-key unassuming brother of mine. Father of these beautiful young people who have sung and directed the choir and blessed us thru this beautiful man God has chosen to touch not only an entire city but far beyond the borders of this city. The influence of this life thru tapes, publications, platform ministry across the length and breadth of this nation and around the world, the influence of this life is awesome in its outreach. Now I know that we’re not here to make people forget Jesus, the very thing that epitomized my brother Roland was the fact that he always wanted to stand aside and let people see Jesus. And we want to do that today and yet it is very difficult for us to talk about Jesus without talking about Roland because they were very close. They walked very close together. My brother’s life was intertwined with the loveliness of Jesus Christ. I would like to say to you dear friends that Pastor Roland Buck was somebody extra special not only to his wife, family, church and community.

But I feel that he was very, very special to God. He was very special to God. God had chosen to use my brother in such a way that those of us who knew him the best just had to stand in awe maybe almost a little envious at times but in awe. Jimmy Swaggart just yesterday received his magazine the evangelist and I was captivated by a little sentence that Jimmy Swaggart printed concerning Roland’s tapes. He said, “I listened to the tapes with rapt attention and a tremendous stirring in my heart. I sensed I was in the presence of Almighty God.” He said, “The things that have happened in this life are probably one of the greatest miracles of the twentieth century.” My brother had the joy a year in a half ago of preaching the spiritual emphasis week at North West College. I would preach the first morning, he would preach the next night. The President came out with a line that I thought was a classic concerning my brother.

He said, “Young people we’ve had two different kinds of people here this week.” He said, “One of these men have kept us on the edge of our seats and the other has kept us on the edge of eternity.” You know why my brother was keeping people on the edge of eternity, that’s where he lived. He was living in two worlds at the same time and he just got closer to the other world than this world and God said, “Hey there’s no point in you going back.” I’m so delighted that before the Lord took him home he received from his peers the recognition that was long overdue. I’m so thankful for that. I feel that the cycle had been completed and what happened to my brother Roland is what should have happened. God is perfect in his timing. My brother lived right up to the ninth degree until the Lord took him home. He was sitting in his office sharing Jesus with a lady.

He got her thru and he said to her why don’t you just look up now and smile at Jesus and then he sat back and smiled and his two angel friends came and said now come on let’s get on to phase two. For the Christian death is precious in the sight of the Lord. That word precious means He places a high value on them. So precious is their death that He watches over them every moment of every day to prevent it. We are living immortal lives until our work is done. I believe that Pastor Buck was immortal until his work was done. And then he moved into glorious eternal immortality. Here’s what God said about us in Isaiah 27:4, “I the Lord do keep it,” concerning his church and individuals, “I will water it every moment lest any hurt it.” There is no weapon formed against His people that shall prosper. The man who walks with God is walking very close and is immortal till his work is done.

There is an appointed time I believe when God has accomplished His good work. I never saw Roland in a situation he couldn’t handle. Our times are in His hands and Roland’s times were in His hands. God had scheduled every moment of Roland’s life. He knew all about Tuesday of this week. I’m not so sure that with the kind of a life that Roland was living kind of going in and out going thru the veil and back and thru the veil and back. I’m not so sure if we analyzed his journals I think that probably he knew about Tuesday too. When we walk with Christ and we’re led by His Spirit, when we possess His life as Roland did until that day comes we can say to whatever would cast a shadow on our lives you have no power against me except it was given you of God. I asked him one day “how in the world do you keep going like you do.” He said, “Well the Lord just kind of moved my own heart over to one side and connected me to His heart.

No doubt there are times in each of our lives when we feel that we’ve accomplished our mission. Peter had this experience one time in his life. He was left in prison, right up to the night preceding his execution and then he was delivered. Probably one of Roland’s angel friends delivered him. Paul was stoned one day and left for dead but God had other plans, he had more books to write, more churches to plant, more lives to touch. That’s kind of the way it was with Roland. He’s had several other times in his life when he probably thought his time had come. I remember he suffered a very smashing coronary. But God told him that His plan was good and then he said it will be accomplished. And I believe that that plan has been accomplished.

He was like Enoch, he walked with God and he was not for God took him and he’s there. One little thing that touched me, I was in the Evangel bookstore a couple days ago in our city. Beside me there was a table stacked with a couple hundred books entitled Angels on Assignment. And the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart and reminded me that though he is dead in our human parlance, though he is dead yet he speaks. And Roland’s voice is being heard again and again. Do you know what the word the Holy Spirit dropped in my heart was? That his ministry rather than dying is exploding. And God only knows the end result. Some of the things that combine that make the passing of a Christian a glorious triumph some of the fragrant memories left behind. He met God at a very early age. Roland never played church.

We have a bundle of happy memories. Spiritual things were always important to Roland. The theme of his life was that God cared about people. The going home of a Christian is precious because the hope of a Christian is realized. Roland said, “When your time comes to leave this earth don’t worry about it because heaven is not a drag. If things get bad here don’t worry about that either, God wants us to make the most of our lives while on this beautiful earth to live for Him and to be happy. Eternity is not going to be a long drawn out existence; it is not some long boring extension of time.” He said, “It’s not time at all, it’s just a glorious experience of being. God also allowed me to see loved ones who had died. Then he let me see believers who were passing from this life.

I saw their families in heaven being alerted by the angels that a loved one was coming home and for them to ready themselves to welcome them. Paul referred to these people as having heavenly bodies. This clarified for me another eternal dimension. They were identifiable and appeared exactly the way they looked here minus the cares and the hurts and the other problems. They were constantly experiencing tremendous joy and excitement and happiness. For heaven is a place of continual discovery about the beauty of God.” Sometime around two o’ clock on Tuesday I could just sort of see some of the excitement that went on in heaven. Somewhere around that gate was a fine young man about 29, my son Jack. Word got around heaven, “hey uncle Role is coming home.” And I could see Jack running over to get my father, Roland’s father and mother, and saying, “hey come on let’s meet Roland.

Faith has become sight, hope has been fulfilled. Now he’s in the throne room. Many times he sang that song, “that will be glory for me,” and now he is singing this is glory for me right now. Why should we sorrow except from the one dimension, which is human? Roland is home and his mission is accomplished.

The Hallelujah Chorus is sung.

From www.RolandBuck.com

Table of Contents

Life Teachings of Roland H. Buck

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus and Discerning His Body

Chapter 2 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, He Tasted Death

Chapter 3 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Pillars of Eternity

Chapter 4 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #1

Chapter 5 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #2

Chapter 6 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #3

Chapter 7 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #4

Chapter 8 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #5

Chapter 9 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #6

Chapter 10 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #7

Chapter 11 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, The Power of the Blood of Jesus #8

Chapter 12 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Pillars of Eternity #3

Chapter 13 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, The Throne Room Experience #1

Chapter 14 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Throne Room Experience #2

Chapter 15 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Religion or Relationship?

Chapter 16 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Divine Breakthrough

Chapter 17 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Why God?

Chapter 18 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, What Lies Ahead

Chapter 19 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, God of the Valley

Chapter 20 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Believers Norm

Chapter 21 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Streams in your Valley

Chapter 22 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, What is God Doing?

Chapter 23 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, What Meaneth This?

Chapter 24 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Selected for the Hour

Chapter 25 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, The News is Good

Chapter 26 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Discovering your Potential

Chapter 27 - Priority 5, The Great Commission, Jesus Lord of All

Chapter 28 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Men of Destiny

Chapter 29 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Listen, He Calls Your Name

Chapter 30 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission: Chapter 30 - Mission Philippines

Chapter 31 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, This is Our Day

Chapter 32 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Good News for you and your Family

Chapter 33 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, God Wants You to Know

Chapter 34 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Your Potential and God

Chapter 35 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Angel’s Food

Chapter 36 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, God’s Privileged List

Chapter 37 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Day of Discovery

Chapter 38 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, From God’s Point of View

Chapter 39 - Priority Number 7 - Jesus is Coming Again, Ready to Go

Chapter 40 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, He is Coming Again

Chapter 41 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, Countdown

Chapter 42 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, When God says Thanks

Chapter 43 - Roland Buck on Angels, Ministry of Angels

Chapter 44 - Roland Buck on Angels, Angels on Assignment

Chapter 45 - Roland Buck on Angels, Visitations Overview

Chapter 46 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels

Chapter 47 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels #2

Chapter 48 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels #3

Chapter 49 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #1

Chapter 50 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #2

Chapter 51 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #3

Chapter 52 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #4

Chapter 53 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Zeal of the Lord

Chapter 54 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Pillars of Eternity #1

Chapter 55 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Power of His Word

Chapter 56 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Day Appointed

Chapter 57 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, That You Might Know

Chapter 58 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Lest We Forget

Chapter 59 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, God’s Warning Signals

Chapter 60 - God’s Golden Keys, Blessed Assurance

Chapter 61 - God’s Golden Keys, Believer’s Authority Thru His Name

Chapter 62 - God’s Golden Keys, The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Chapter 63 - God’s Golden Keys, The Touch of Jesus

Chapter 64 - God’s Golden Keys, Answer to Loneliness

Chapter 65 - God’s Golden Keys, Praise, The Key to Unlock His Power

Chapter 66 - God’s Golden Keys, Grace

Chapter 67 - God’s Golden Keys, Declarations of Faith

Chapter 68 - Roland Buck’s Coronation Service, November 1979

Table of Contents

Life Teachings of Roland H. Buck

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus and Discerning His Body

Chapter 2 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, He Tasted Death

Chapter 3 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Pillars of Eternity

Chapter 4 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #1

Chapter 5 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #2

Chapter 6 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #3

Chapter 7 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #4

Chapter 8 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #5

Chapter 9 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #6

Chapter 10 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, Power of the Blood of Jesus #7

Chapter 11 - Priority Number 1, The Sacrifice of Jesus, The Power of the Blood of Jesus #8

Chapter 12 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Pillars of Eternity #3

Chapter 13 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, The Throne Room Experience #1

Chapter 14 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Throne Room Experience #2

Chapter 15 - Priority Number 2, Fellowship and Communion with Jesus, Religion or Relationship?

Chapter 16 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Divine Breakthrough

Chapter 17 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Why God?

Chapter 18 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, What Lies Ahead

Chapter 19 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, God of the Valley

Chapter 20 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Believers Norm

Chapter 21 - Priority Number 3, Jesus is Alive and Within You, Streams in your Valley

Chapter 22 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, What is God Doing?

Chapter 23 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, What Meaneth This?

Chapter 24 - Priority Number 4, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Selected for the Hour

Chapter 25 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, The News is Good

Chapter 26 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Discovering your Potential

Chapter 27 - Priority 5, The Great Commission, Jesus Lord of All

Chapter 28 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Men of Destiny

Chapter 29 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Listen, He Calls Your Name

Chapter 30 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission: Chapter 30 - Mission Philippines

Chapter 31 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, This is Our Day

Chapter 32 - Priority Number 5, The Great Commission, Good News for you and your Family

Chapter 33 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, God Wants You to Know

Chapter 34 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Your Potential and God

Chapter 35 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Angel’s Food

Chapter 36 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, God’s Privileged List

Chapter 37 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, Day of Discovery

Chapter 38 - Priority Number 6, The Atonement is Everlasting, From God’s Point of View

Chapter 39 - Priority Number 7 - Jesus is Coming Again, Ready to Go

Chapter 40 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, He is Coming Again

Chapter 41 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, Countdown

Chapter 42 - Priority Number 7, Jesus is Coming Again, When God says Thanks

Chapter 43 - Roland Buck on Angels, Ministry of Angels

Chapter 44 - Roland Buck on Angels, Angels on Assignment

Chapter 45 - Roland Buck on Angels, Visitations Overview

Chapter 46 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels

Chapter 47 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels #2

Chapter 48 - Roland Buck on Angels, Questions and Answers about Angels #3

Chapter 49 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #1

Chapter 50 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #2

Chapter 51 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #3

Chapter 52 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Portrait of God #4

Chapter 53 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Zeal of the Lord

Chapter 54 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Pillars of Eternity #1

Chapter 55 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Power of His Word

Chapter 56 - God’s Character: What He is Really Like, Day Appointed

Chapter 57 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, That You Might Know

Chapter 58 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, Lest We Forget

Chapter 59 - God’s Character, What He is Really Like, God’s Warning Signals

Chapter 60 - God’s Golden Keys, Blessed Assurance

Chapter 61 - God’s Golden Keys, Believer’s Authority Thru His Name

Chapter 62 - God’s Golden Keys, The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Chapter 63 - God’s Golden Keys, The Touch of Jesus

Chapter 64 - God’s Golden Keys, Answer to Loneliness

Chapter 65 - God’s Golden Keys, Praise, The Key to Unlock His Power

Chapter 66 - God’s Golden Keys, Grace

Chapter 67 - God’s Golden Keys, Declarations of Faith

Chapter 68 - Roland Buck’s Coronation Service, November 1979