Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Hard After Thee Pt.1

Hallelujah! Amen! Good to be in His presence. Amen? I really don't have to teach after the utterance that came forth this morning, as Tony [congregant] was bringing us a word from the Lord. That is the message that the Spirit of the Lord has for us this morning. We're going to continue, in the next couple of sessions, to really spend some time in studying that and realizing that God is seeking a people that He can show Himself mighty, so that men could see our good works and we could build large denominations and monuments to ourselves and have lives of ease and comfort--[no,] Jesus said it was so that men would see our good works and do what? Glorify our Father which is in heaven.

We're finishing this course. We're the people that are going to see the coming of the Lord. Isn't it exciting to look around and look at the condition of the world today? It is so much sooner than when we first believed. Amen? I remember as a young man just believing the Scriptures, having been born again, excited about the coming of the Lord Jesus, expecting His return imminently. I think that's one of the things that's motivated me all of these years since I've been a Christian.

I just had my spiritual birthday, as I was out in California--February 5th, 1967, at Northeast Assembly of God. I started to drive to Fresno on my birthday--we were in Bakersfield; Fresno's about a hundred miles north of Bakersfield--on my spiritual birthday. That is a birthday I get excited about. My natural birthday, May 7^th (coming soon--those of you that are shopping--to a theatre near you)--it doesn't excite me. In fact, I'm really kind of at the point now where you just wish they wouldn't come, but the alternative is all that's left. But the spiritual birthdays, you look forward to, because it means you're hopefully one more year like Him, one more year mature (the wisdom of God hopefully working in our lives in a more mature way).

As I thought about driving up to Fresno, looking at that particular facility--we went there a number of years ago; I took the kids by and walked in to the very spot where I first accepted Jesus into my heart and stood there and just remembered the goodness and the grace of God. Just a kid, twenty years old--I'd experienced a lot of the world in those twenty years, and I watched the blood of Jesus just cleanse it away. The things you used to love you now hate, and the things you used to hate you now love--a new creature, a heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh, a mind already set on its own course now becoming a mind of Christ with thoughts that are higher than our own and ways that are beyond our understanding. As a young man, I was just excited and open to a course, going not knowing where, as Abraham did--excited and forsaking all to follow Him. As I've shared the testimony, I was disowned by family; accepting Jesus cost me the beautiful home that I was living in. Now I'm sleeping in a car; I had $20 to my name and spent $18 on a Thompson Chain Bible. That Bible is in my office in the back right now as a memorial to God. I had no place to live; I had nothing to eat, but I had the Word of God. I devoured it day and night, and it became the joy and the rejoicing of my heart.

People today that look at us (the course we're on) and think we're strange and think we're fanatics--I don't know any other way. This is how I've been raised; this is all I know--as I sat at the feet of men like Ralph Riggs and Frank Boyd, and I had hands laid upon me by Arnie Vick. I had people like Ethel Hook, a true prophet of God, say, "My prayer is, when I go home in my chariot of fire, that my mantle would fall on you." I shared that with some old-time friends as we were out having lunch with them in Bakersfield, and tears filled their eyes. They knew Ethel very well. In fact, Terry, the man that we were eating with, was the guy that I shared with you would tremble. He wouldn't go to the meetings when Hooky was going to be there. He was afraid of her, literally. He would show up, and sure enough, she'd be preaching and stop all of a sudden and start looking across the congregation. "Mr. Johnson's son-in-law"--that's what she called Terry; didn't even know his name--"Mr. Johnson's son-in law, stand up!" thus saith the Lord. He's saying, "Dear God, I took off work! I stayed home, I prayed, I fasted. I confessed every sin that I knew I'd ever committed." That's the kind of woman she was; that's what it was like. I don't know anything else, and I'm sure not going to change now.

What's happened to this breed? We're a rare people, folks. We're a peculiar people, this royal priesthood that's been called to show forth the praises of Him Who has called us out of darkness into a marvelous light, of liberty from the flesh, of liberty from the world and the philosophies of the kingdoms of this world. The new churches that are beginning, like the one at Regal Cinemas--did you all get the handout? Come and hear the series of sermons on the latest movies like Harry Potter and something else. It said you can eat popcorn in church, just no making out in the back row. That's for you old people like us that used to try to get in the balconies. What's happened to the church, which has been called to show forth the praises of Him? The glitter, the glamour--it's about man and not about God. The books in the Christian bookstores are all self-help books, wanting man to feel good about himself. Feel good about yourself--how can you feel good about yourself when in you there is no good, amen? "...in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth [say it] no good thing..." (Romans 7:18)--but feel good about yourself. I feel bad about myself! I despise my flesh; I hate the old man! My ambition is to put him under on a daily basis, not exalt him, not pick him up and whitewash him and dust him off; kill him, that I might be raised in the likeness of His power and His resurrection, that I may know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. Amen? What's happened to these people? Who are they? I'll tell you who we are; we're a strange breed in this generation. We need to begin to count the cost, because the Scripture is very clear that in the last days this great whore of popcorn eaters is going to kill us and think they do God a service. We have to realize the reality of that hour that's upon us. This that God's afforded us isn't going to come to us automatically. It's something that's going to have to be sought. As God's eyes are searching to and fro, He's looking for a people, a person. God doesn't bless organizations. God doesn't bless nations. God doesn't bless fellowships. God's covenant is with individuals--amen?--in whom He can show Himself mighty.

I was blessed as I was talking to someone yesterday, and what a blessing it is to hear someone out of the congregation here saying, "We're just so thankful for what God is doing here in our midst and thankful for the leadership that we have and thankful for the brothers and sisters." The thing that blessed me was what he said next. He said, "You know, I've been reading E. M. Bounds [a chaplain during the Civil War, the middle 1860s], and he's saying the same thing that we're hearing from the pulpit. Then I began to read someone who ninety years later began to write, and it sounds like it's as contemporary as reading the newspapers, as his contemporary is coming and sitting in the service. It's like we're hearing the man speak, as ninety years later I hear A. W. Tozer, and he's saying the same thing. Now, sixty years later in Sterling, we're hearing the same message."

It is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen? The Word hasn't changed. The church hasn't changed. Jesus hasn't changed! But visible Christianity has changed; American Christianity has changed. The spirit of antichrist that's dominating the world and bringing about a one-world religion--who would have ever thought you would hear Rome embracing the Islamic faith? As these whores deceive and are deceived, as they each compromise, believing that the other is for them, one thing is going to be in common, and that's the spirit that never ceases to amaze me. You can see it in the people that leave this fellowship. People that didn't even like each other when they were here have become best friends. The Herod and Pilate syndrome--one common denominator: they hate Jesus Christ and His Word and will unite with anybody to stop it! That's the generation that you and I are facing in these last days. Isn't it an exciting time to be alive?

I longed to go up to Fresno. I didn't get up there, but it's an exciting thing. As we drove through Bakersfield--Greer brought home some pictures that Richard was excited about getting. He's putting together a little scrapbook for us. Next month we will have been ministering here for thirty years. How exciting to drive by, and Greer was getting some pictures of different places. One of them that we missed, which I wished we had--many of you don't know a good friend of mine. He's gone to be with the Lord, but Ron Wahlrobe, who was pastor here many years ago, an outstanding young man--I've shared the testimony with you. I'll never forget as Ron stepped off that bus in Bakersfield, California and spoke a word of knowledge. He said, "You've just resigned here haven't you?" I said, "Yes." He had no way of knowing that. I'd resigned my position; I had no idea what God was going to do in our lives at that time. I just said, "God's through with me here."

You've heard the testimony of the offers that we had in L.A. and deacon boards that didn't want to influence us. "Brother Scott, we don't want to influence you, but you tell us what you want us to pay you." That's the only time I've had anybody tell me that--I should have answered them. Carte blanche--before they said that, where they had left off was to offer a home that by today's standards would be about a $700,000 home. I was twenty-three years old! "We'll give you this home. You tell us what you want us to pay you." See, what they had seen and what they had heard was that there was a person who was preaching the Word of God, who was seeing signs and wonders following the ministry, someone who wouldn't compromise the Word of God. The only problem was they were trying to acquire it in the natural, and it's not for sale. Can you say "Amen" to that?

I'd been offered that in Los Angeles, and Ron says, "God told me you just resigned." I said, "Yeah." He said, "Where are you going to go?" I said, "I don't have a clue." All I knew at that time was that I wasn't going to Los Angeles. He said, "I'm going to take a little church in Herndon, Virginia. My wife is pregnant, and I'm going to settle down for a little bit until the baby gets older, so I'm going to go back there for a short period of time until I can go back on the field. [He was an evangelist.] Why don't you come and work with me?" I said, "I'll pray about it." Here's what I want to share with you--and you've heard the testimony. We have pictures of everything but this motel. That afternoon as he went to the motel and he lay down for a nap, Jesus appeared to him. He told me later it was the only time in his life that Jesus had ever appeared to him. He was a teaching scholar; he wasn't given to dreams or visions or "the Lord said," but he said Jesus appeared to him and said, "You're not the pastor of that church; he is. You're the vehicle I'm using to get him there." That's a pretty humbling experience for an individual, isn't it? He never said a word. He didn't come to me the next day like the guys in Los Angeles and make some kind of an offer or even say, "The Lord appeared to me and said..." He just said, "What are you going to do?" I said, "I don't know. I'll pray about it." He said, "Okay," and he left town. I received a letter a short period of time after that: "Have you heard from the Lord?" I responded to him and said, "Yes, the Lord said come." He wrote back and said, "Make sure it's God." See, he'd come back here [Pastor's humor, referring to the remote area Herndon was at that time]. He said, "Make sure it's God. We really have no money to give you. We might be able to pay you for four to six months. You're going to have to live in federally-subsidized housing." That's a nice word for the slums--and God said to go.

Thirty years ago we drove up Rt. 606, and the Lord has never released us to this day. We've had a lot of people try to kill us [destroy us] in thirty years and run us out, but if God is for you, who can be against you--amen? You see, Jesus sent me here. Did He send you? I'm right where God wants me. In all these years the message hasn't changed and the course hasn't changed. I believe there's more of a zeal to know Him than there ever has been in my life.

Are you willing to walk into a hospital and make a fool out of yourself for Jesus? As I walked into the hospital here years ago to a young man who was dying--they gave him no chance to live at that moment, and we walked into the hospital. I told them that the Lord had sent me to pray, and they said, "You can't go in." I said, "I'm going in." They said, "You can't; we'll call the administrator." I said, "Good, he can watch too." "We'll call security." "Good, they can watch. I'm going in there to pray, praise God. I've been sent here by Jesus." They were mad--these doctors were mad; the nurses were mad. I went in there and prayed, and God raised this kid up. The next day I came back to visit, and I stopped at the desk and said, "Is this young man here?" They said, "No, he's been moved to the fifth floor." I said, "Is that here in this building?" They said, "No, this building only has three floors; it's over there." I said, "Well, it would be kind of tough to get there then, wouldn't it?" They said, "Not for you!"

Do people understand the resolve that you have to be about Father's business? Are you known to be somebody that says, "I have meat to eat that you know nothing of: to do the will of my Father Who sent me"? The eyes of the Lord are searching to and fro. It's not just going to fall in our laps, beloved. This is something that has to be acquired. There's a pursuit that's involved in apprehending this knowledge of God, this presence. Without it, there is no power. Without it, there is no purity. Without that presence there is no life, for it's in Him that we live and move and have our being! We live in a generation when we want everything handed to us. We want everything instantaneous. We want to push a button and have it, and the Kingdom doesn't work that way. It's done line upon line, precept upon precept. It's done by proving ourselves faithful in the small things that He might make us a ruler in the great ones. You live by dying. You're exalted by humbling yourself. We live in a different kingdom, beloved, and we can't use the world's methods to be successful. But He's looking for a people--the eyes of the Lord. Are you willing to pay the price? It's going to cost you everything. You see, we want to make investments, and in the Kingdom there are no partial investments, there is no diversification. It's all put into one stock, the character of God--"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death" (Philippians 3:10).

So we drove through Bakersfield and a picture of a little house, I can still see the excitement on those teenagers faces as they came back to share. It's like when they went out two by two, and they came back to share with Jesus, and they were excited because even the devils were subject to them, praise God! He said, "Don't rejoice in that, but rejoice rather in this, that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). Amen? It is exciting to go out in His name! He said, "In My name I want you go out, and I want you to do exploits and I want you to preach the gospel. I want you to lay hands on the sick and watch them recover. I want you to raise the dead." Are we doing that today? That's what we've been commissioned to do.

We got a picture of my little office there where these young people came back. I can still remember them cramming into this office. My office was about 8 by 9 1/2 feet. I'm sitting in there and we have about twenty kids in there. I had a sofa, my desk--you could barely get around the sofa to get to my desk, and here are kids. They would stop in after school. I'd sit in there, and the kids would come in after school. They were sitting on my desk, on the floor, on the sofa. They just wanted to be there--they just wanted to hear about Jesus; they wanted to hear about the Word of God! It wasn't always like that. When I got there these kids were dead--they were dried up. The only question I had when I came down there from Bethany Bible College, given opportunity to minister--I showed up; there were twelve kids there, and I thought, "Dear Lord, can these bones live?" (Ezekiel 37:3) Some of you have found out that I'm no respecter of persons. I never have been. I still remember when I went in there, and one of the first things I did was throw the pastor's daughter out of the youth group. How many of you think that was wisdom? How many of you would make that one of your first ventures as associate pastor? I threw her out. I said, "You're not coming in here to play games. We're serious about seeking God. You go in there and sit in church with your mother. When you get serious about seeking God, come and tell me." So we came in to pastor--twelve kids in the youth group, praise God. We had a revival! After about a month, we had seven. It was great! Then God began to move in our midst, and we became the fastest growing youth ministry in the nation. The next thing you know, God began to do wonders in our midst.

In this one little house that we have a picture of--I'll never forget it. I've shared the story with you, as I sent these kids out two by two. We studied the book of Matthew. We studied the life of Jesus. We studied the great commission. We saw that He would confirm His Word with signs following, that He would go before us, praise God, and make a way. His glory would be our rear guard, and He would follow where we went, confirming the Word that we spoke with signs following. This one little house, I can still remember, these two kids went; they knocked on the door. A lady answered the door. These kids stood there with a big Holy Ghost smile on their faces. They said, "We've come to share the love of Jesus with you." She said, "I don't have time; my husband's in the back room dying." Before she got the word "dying" out of her mouth, those kids slipped by her through her house, into the back room--the guy was lying in there. He opened one eye up, kind of, and saw these two kids standing over him. "We've come to pray for you in the name of Jesus." He moaned something. They laid hands on him; the power of God entered his body, and praise God, he was raised up from the deathbed. He was in church.

He'll confirm His Word with signs following--amen?--but His eyes are searching to and fro for a people in whom He can show Himself mighty. I think we're that people. I don't mean as a group, because God doesn't bless groups. We've got people in here that aren't going to make that kind of commitment, but there are a lot of people in here who are, praise God. That's the blessing. That's what's exciting to me, and the privilege to be a part of that and to hear a young man, as I was talking to this young man yesterday, just saying, "I've been reading." Not being spoon-fed from the pulpit and that's all he gets. "I've been reading. I've been studying E. M. Bounds. I've been studying Finney. I've been reading Tozer and I'm excited, and I'm hearing the same thing from the pulpit." God is the same yesterday, today and forever, praise God!

When you read guys like Tozer, isn't it interesting? You'd think he was talking about last week, wouldn't you? That's the way the truth is; it's true in every generation. I think that's why we've had some of the successes that we have when we go overseas, because when I go overseas to minister I don't change anything that I do or say based upon culture, race, academic or monetary stature, because man is the same. Sin is sin, depravity is depravity, flesh is flesh, and the Word is true. It's man that wants us to change based upon culture--"Their culture is different than ours." Their culture is the byproduct of sin! We are all of one blood: Adam. Amen? Isn't that what the Scripture teaches us? We all need to be redeemed, and there's only one way: it's the blood of Jesus Christ. So He's looking for a people in whom He can show Himself mighty.

Turn to Psalm 63, if you would. Let's take a little bit of time and--I wasn't planning on spending that much time visiting, but it is good to be home, praise God. In the 63^rd Psalm, a psalm that we're familiar with, verse 1, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee..." Do you seek Him early? It doesn't mean you get up at 4 a.m., though that may be a benefit. Basically, it means this: first--I seek You before I seek my own natural methods; I seek You before I seek natural wisdom, natural strength--early. You're my first stop, in need. Isn't it interesting how most people make God the last stop? We try everything else, and then things get so bad we have to pray. Why don't we pray first? Why don't we seek God first? "...early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee..." Jesus stood up in the midst of the temple and said, "I am the water of life. If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. Not like that water that came from the well. Anybody that drinks from Me will never thirst again." Isn't that what He told them?

You know, there's nothing else that will satisfy you; there's not anything else that will satisfy you. People are going around drinking every new fad--"Praise God! We're drinking Gatorade, Powerade, Kool-Aid!"--and only one thing can quench our thirst, and that's the water of life. Once we've tasted of it, it primes the pump within us, and out of our innermost being flows rivers of living water. Once you've tasted of Him, you never have to drink again, because now it's in you, and it flows out of you--the refreshing of the Holy Ghost. Out of our innermost being flows rivers of living water! Have you tasted the goodness of God? Have you tasted the living waters? "...my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. [There's a compulsion within me.] To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." Don't you want to see God in your everyday life like you know Him in your prayer time, in the sanctuary, in your studies? The psalmist said, "I want to know You practically; I want to know You on the street like I know You in church." That's the evidence that God is really at work within you: when it gets into your everyday life; when you trust Him for your daily bread.

It's a dry and a thirsty land, beloved, in which we live. You can't find teaching prophets in very many places today--people that will tell us the truth. Some will tell it; very few require it, but you can't even hardly find people that will tell it anymore. That's why I thank God for teachers like Adrian Rogers. I don't know how they conduct their fellowship and what's required of the people, but thank God that he brings us a good word that can set us free as you hear the teaching. You hear different degrees, things that aren't to the place that I'd like to hear them stated; but there are people that edify you, as you listen to an Adrian Rogers or you listen to a David Jeremiah. It's a dry and thirsty land that we live in, beloved. Thank God for this Word of life, this meat that we have to eat of, this bread of life that sets us free. It's there for the taking, and there's no other way to acquire the presence of God than by drinking this water, by washing ourselves with this water, by eating the bread of life. What is that bread? He said, "I have meat to eat, bread to eat, that you know nothing of. It's to [What?] do the will of He that sent me." You see, there's a lot of talk about the Word, but not a whole lot of people doing it.

The Old Testament typology of the temple just shows us what it takes to enter the presence of God, to be able to walk in the anointing and the power of God. We're all a generation now of kings and priests. Every one of us has been given access to the presence of God; we can now enter in boldly through the blood of Jesus. The veil has been rent from top to bottom, praise God. Why aren't you entering in, if you haven't tasted to see the goodness of God? We sit here this morning in this congregation, a group of people, every one of us having the same opportunity to access God, and then we sit around and complain because God hasn't blessed us. "I don't know why this one's blessed. I don't know why I'm experiencing so many trials." "Why are you cast down, O my soul?" Hey, we're all battling the same battles, but some of us have paid a price to access the presence of God. And in the midst of trials and temptation and adversity and hardship and sickness, we've tasted and seen the goodness of God, and we've chosen to worship and to obey rather than to quit and to accuse the Lover of our soul!

You want to know what it takes to acquire the presence of God? I'll tell you one thing, bless God: you've got to stop at the brazen altar. There's a sacrifice that has to be made; there's a death that has to occur. There's an offering that has to be given God: "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you might prove the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2). Many of us want to enter into the Holy of Holies and not stop at the brazen altar. You've got to die. There has to be an offering made; it's going to cost some blood. You may sweat that blood in Gethsemane, in agony; it may be wrung out of you in trials and tribulation, but you will bleed and you will die if you're going to access God. His eyes are searching to and fro looking for a vessel in which He can show Himself mighty.

In that same entrance to the presence of God, not only an altar, but there's a laver there. You've got to stop at the water of life, and you've got to be cleansed--washed by the water of the Word; daily cleansing your mind and renewing your thought processes and refreshing yourself, as you're cleansed from all the filth of this world! That laver was made from the looking glasses of the women of Israel. They were dismantled, and the gold and all that kept these looking glasses--some of the glass was used to adorn this. Beloved, look at the typology in all the Scriptures. This [the Bible] is the mirror of God. We look into it so we don't forget what manner of man we are. We need to stop at that laver and see who we are and what we are and how we need to be cleansed to access a holy God! Are you taking time on a daily basis, or are you just wanting God to e-mail you wisdom and knowledge? Are you wanting to access His presence and belong to the Bless Me Club and have Him make all of your problems go away, and you want to enter in defiled--when He is a holy God? He's a consuming fire! You're not going to access God with this world's filth on you, but if you'll stop and make that offering at the altar, if you'll stop at the laver and wash yourself with the washing of the water of the Word and refresh yourself by the infilling of the Holy Ghost, so that you can pray in other tongues and so that you can edify yourself, then you begin to prepare yourself to access the presence of God.

We enter into that holy place, and in that holy place is the altar of incense. Are you a man or a woman of prayer? That incense that burned within the holy place is the perpetual prayer of the people, the sweet smelling savor that accesses the nostrils of God--the praise and the worship! Oh, how my soul was blessed as Richard [Pastor Miller] just poured out his soul this morning and honored God--the bigness of God, the worship of His majesty! You could hear it coming from his heart. That's prayer, beloved. When you're worshipping, does it flow? Is there evidence? Is there fruit from your heart that you've been in the presence of God, that you know His goodness? How easy is it for you to praise? When you're worshipping--and I'm not talking about singing songs of praise that somebody else who had been in the presence of God wrote; I'm talking about your own heart--how much of your own heart pours forth prose and poetry? How much of your own heart quotes the Word of God and boasts in the majesty of the Eternal One in all of His holiness, Who transcends knowledge, Who leaves us dumb in His beauty, and we fall at His feet broken and weeping as we're overwhelmed by His loveliness and can say nothing but "Thank You," because of His goodness.

There's a table in that holy place called the table of shewbread, the bread of life, the meat that's eaten that so many know nothing of--a satisfaction of doing the will of He that sent us. I was supposed to be in Louisiana this morning doing something that I've wanted to do for a long time, something that's ego-driven. I became smitten in my heart that this wasn't the time, that my heart wasn't right for this. I was on the phone with Richard, and I asked him to thank everybody who had been helping us here in preparation; but I told him, "My heart's just not right concerning this right now. I want this too bad. It's meaning too much to me, so therefore I abstain; I'm coming home." You see, I used to love to play golf. I haven't played for years because it meant too much. I could probably play again. We were down in Orlando. Greer and Jeff and my brother Dennis were there. My brother was hitting a few balls and amazing them with his ball-striking ability. He's turned into a pretty good golfer; he's shooting in the 70s. His swing hasn't changed a whole lot, but he's played so much now that he repeats it--the swing is repeating itself. He knows exactly what he's going to do, and he's turned into a good golfer, shooting in the 70s. If it gets any warmer than that, he doesn't play [Pastor humorously implying he is referring to the air temperature rather than his brother's impressive golf average]. We stopped by to visit him, Greer and I did. He was on the golf course, out there beating those ol' men out of their money. He plays five days a week. They had just gotten back from Hawaii (he went on vacation). I said, "How do you go on vacation when you're retired, man?" This guy's young. He's fifty-nine years old, playing golf five days a week. I said, "What kind of life is this, man? Get a job!"

We were down there, and he's hitting the balls--I hadn't swung a club in I don't know how long. I said, "Let me see that thing." He was hitting a 3 wood, actually, off the ground. So I dropped the ball down there, and I took that 3 wood--hadn't swung a club in a long time and just kind of smoothed one about 225, 230 [yards], dead down the middle. So I dropped another ball and did the same thing. So now he's hitting irons over on the green, and I said, "Let me have that thing." I took this 9 iron--you've got to open up your stance just a little bit, you know, and take this 9 iron--smoothed a couple on the green. I handed him the club and said, "That'll do; that'll hold me for another six years." He said, "Why don't you play again?" I said, "I don't want to play again." Do I think I could play again and not become obsessed with it? Probably, but why bother? It doesn't satisfy. There's only one thing that satisfies: it's the water of life; it's the bread of life. All of the things that we think will make us content--they still leave us empty, don't they? There's only one thing that can fill that void, and it's the love of God; it's the presence of God. Getting married is not going to do it, those of you who want to get married. Ask Greer. If you're not full of Jesus, nothing else will fill you up; nothing else will satisfy you. The fame, the fortune--it's not going to do it. There's nobody in here you can ask about that, but you can hear the testimony of those who have acquired it, and it doesn't satisfy. But there's an access to every one of us: "You that have no money, come, buy, and eat" (Isaiah 55:1). There's no caste system. This isn't the world where you have to earn status. Every one of us has the same privilege. "You that have no money, come, buy, and eat." You can become great in the Kingdom of God. Everything we do to be successful in this natural--how much of an effort are we putting into the spiritual realm, to be like Jesus?

There's that table of shewbread; there's that altar of incense. You see, all of these things that we're doing, beloved, are preparation. This is the holy place, and you know what? Some of us have entered the holy place. Some of us have moved beyond the court of the priests, the altar, the laver. Some of us have entered into the holy place, and we've taken the worship of God, the shewbread, the incense. We've come into that place where the candles burn, where no natural light can enter. Nothing from the outside brings illumination--no wisdom from the outside, no natural light; only the light of God, only wisdom, only inspiration is in that place. We need no illumination from the world and its wisdom. The illumination of the presence of God--it's called inspiration. I shared with you before how some of the real scholars of our day--I've been privileged to sit around with some of these men. The blessing, the greatest compliment that I ever had, one of these men gave me one day. He said, "I have all of the books that you have, all of these commentaries. Where do you get this stuff?" I said, "From the presence of God." They can read Greek; they can read Hebrew--I can barely read. They've got huge, megawatts of worldly wisdom, and I don't profess to have any of that--but I've got this little candle that I read by, that I got from the holy place, that lets you look into the heart and the mind of God. There's not a lot of confusion as to what you're seeing when you've accessed the illumination of God. It's pure; it's simple, and it sets a course that's straight and narrow. It doesn't illuminate a broad way. You can only see this path; walk in it. That's what it takes to access the presence of God.

Not a lot of men have acquired that over the years. Tragically, a lot of people get hung up on the journey. There are books--volumes--written on all of these subjects of prayer and fasting and sanctification, and we begin to worship the access and forget about the acquiring--the touching the face of God. There's another room, beloved. It's called the Holy of Holies. Many of us are content with holiness; we need the Holy of Holies. We need the presence of God. We don't just need to be free from the world; we need to be in the presence of God--that place where He's chosen to put His name, that place where the shekinah glory dwells, that place where you're not consciously aware of His presence at all times. It would be great if every day there was the fire of God that fell upon our lives, but there isn't. It comes momentarily; the awareness of His presence--that manifest presence comes only a few times in a lifetime, but it will keep us waiting on our face before Him, knowing that He's ever present with us, praise God, that He'll never leave us nor forsake us! Like Joshua, we're content to sit at the tabernacle and wait for the visitation of God! The treasure--it may only happen once, but what about a visitation to where the coal is taken from the altar and put upon your lips? How many of those do you need in a lifetime? It may only occur once, but when you come to those whom God has called you to minister to, with two tables in your hand, and you say, "Written by the finger of God," it doesn't have to be every day. One visitation will change your life forever! The prophet said, "I've purposed that I wouldn't speak anymore concerning these things, but Your Word is like a fire in my bones!" Is the zeal of God's house eating you up? His eyes are searching to and fro looking for those that He can show Himself mighty.

Let's finish with this for this morning if we can; this is turning into being the introduction. As the psalmist cries out, he says, "...my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." Is your soul hungry? Are you taking the time to access God through the typology of the tabernacle that we were just sharing? "Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee." Your lovingkindness is better than life. "For me to live is Christ; to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).

Janet and I made a decision, a number of years back, to divest ourselves of everything personally. Very frankly, it was one thing that she struggled with. It wasn't because she didn't trust God; it's because she knew what was in man. She said, "I don't know if it's the right thing or not--whatever you choose; whatever you decide." It just dawned on me--I hadn't really thought about it that much--just this morning during worship, it flashed through my mind. I was thinking, you know, she doesn't really have to worry about that anymore, does she? About whether there's going to be sufficient--that which was saved up, would it have been enough--when you give it all away? It's not anything she has to worry about anymore. How much of our time is being spent worrying about things that may not be an issue tomorrow? What have you done to lay up treasures in heaven? As we were at Lake Tahoe, I thought back to last year. I thought, Who would have thought (as we were out here enjoying ourselves at Lake Tahoe last year) that in six months she'd be gone? Life's a vapor. What are you doing to invest in the eternal? It's amazing how we destroy ourselves in the trivial things. We lose sight of what the real treasures of life are.

There's some interesting passages that we want to look at, and one of them is in Isaiah. Look there with me for just a moment. Keep your finger in Psalms; we'll go right back. In Isaiah 47:8, listen to what hinders us, so many times, in our pursuit of God's holiness. Each one of us here wars with our own flesh; we're all the same. Those who have accessed God have done it because they purposed to do it. God is no respecter of persons. You have received the same measure of faith, the Scripture tells us. Why are we not all at the same place? Why haven't we all tasted the goodness of God? We've talked about stopping at that altar, and the fact is, many of us have not chosen to empty ourselves, to divest ourselves, in our own will. The prophet said it this way in Isaiah 47:8, "Therefore hear now this, thou art given to [self] pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart [and see if this doesn't express where man is and where you might be this morning], I am, and none else beside me..." "It's about me--I'm unique; I'm different. I understand the rules, but they don't apply to me. I understand what it takes to acquire God's presence, but surely this will change for me. I'm special. It will be different for my children. I am, and no other. The world revolves around my comfort and good and ease and desire." You'll never know the presence of God. "I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children." Really? His rain falls upon the just and the unjust; God is no respecter of persons. You're not special. We're all depraved; we are all in need of continuous purification of mind and body. It is not about you and yours; it's about the glory of God.

The Scripture tells us, as we read Psalm 63:3--do you really believe His lovingkindness is better than life? If you do, your lips will constantly be praising Him. You'll not be asking, "Why, God? Why these trials; why do I have to go through this? Why is it that we have to sacrifice so much and experience the adversity of people toward us when we choose to do Your will?" His lovingkindness is better than life! To obey is better than sacrifice! "Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name." "Thus will I bless thee while I live."

You know, the Scripture makes it very clear that it's appointed unto us once to die and after that, the judgment. We send our works before us, the Scripture says. "I'll bless You while I live." Do you know the day is coming when no man can work? Today is the day of your salvation. Are you blessing Him while you have opportunity, while you live? "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice." And to finish this introduction, here's the title of our teaching: "My soul followeth hard after thee..." As the hart pants for the brook--in the midst of this dry and thirsty land, are you panting for God as the hart does the brook? Have you ever been to that place of thirst, of dehydration? Is there a longing for the presence of God to that degree in your life? "...my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee." "Here am I, Lord; send me."

Father, we thank You for Your Word this morning. We're a people in need. We're a people, Father, living in the midst of a crooked and a perverse generation. We're a people in Babylon. We're a people in Sodom and Gomorrah. We're a people opposed by Rome, but we are not unique, for no temptation has taken us but such as is common to man. With every trial, You make the way of escape. If we die in our sins, if we die under the persecution, if we are overwhelmed by the weight, then it's only evidence of one thing: that we've not cast it upon You, for Your yoke is easy, and Your burden is light. If You are for us, no one can be against us. Call us, Father, to Yourself. Be glorified in us, we ask, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand before the Lord.

As we honor the Lord this morning, very quickly, we're going to ask Danny and Colette to see if they can round Isabella up. They want to dedicate her to the Lord this morning. We're going to do that in the midst of our worship here. Thank God for parents that want to raise their children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Danny was this young man that I was talking about--as we were standing around yesterday, discussing the goodness of God. How is it that Danny happens to be here? A young man raised up in Calvary Temple School, who made it through the times of trials, who so many times talked about the pressure being put upon him as we stood in those classrooms and said, "Everybody who's going to follow God, come over to this side of the room." His heart was challenged, and he would stand to obey, while many of his contemporaries would not. This young man went to a secular college, knowing that God had something else for his life. He obeyed and went to school, and as [Pastor] Jeff was able [baby Isabella begins to cry]--that's okay; bring her in--as Jeff went and touched this life, thank God for the fruit of obedience. Amen? That's okay; bring her in here. They're supposed to cry, praise God. That noise is acceptable. It's adult noise that's not acceptable--we know better. Come on; let us pray for you. I'd like to ask the pastors to come, and as Gary plays for us, we're going to just worship the Lord. We're going to lay hands on Danny and Colette and believe that they'll have a boy next time so that they can knock this off [Pastor humorously referring to the fact that they now have three little girls]. God knows that we need more women, praise God. I love women. There's nothing better than a godly woman--a helpmeet. Should Jesus tarry, what a privilege it would be to stand and dedicate Isabella Hope's children to the Lord.

You say, "Pastor, who do you think you are? Methuselah?" There's no reason at all why I can't be here if Jesus tarries. I was just spending time with my Grandma. She said, "Don't forget to send me my fourth rose next month." I said, "Okay." You see, for her ninetieth birthday, I sent her ninety red roses, and I told her, "If you're around next year, you're only getting one; we're starting over again." Last year I sent her three, and she said, "Don't forget my four roses." I said, "If the Lord tarries."

What a privilege, and see, it doesn't end with Danny and Colette raising their children; but it says your children and your children's children. We live in a society that says, "Hands off, grandparents." Now, of course, we know the nation says that the children belong to them; they don't belong to the parents or to anybody else. If you're a godly man or woman, God mandates that you speak into the life of your grandchildren. These are a godly seed; we're not investing our time for the world to consume these children. We will not allow God's glory to be robbed because we don't do our job of raising up a godly seed. It's not about soccer; it's not about college. It's about God--a people who hunger and thirst for His glory and His righteousness. That's why we have kids. We don't have them to fulfill ourselves. They're the heritage of the Lord. It doesn't mean we've received them of the Lord for our glory. It means they're God's, and we're raising them up to perpetuate His Kingdom.

As we sing this together and the brethren lay hands on Danny and Colette and Isabella, let's thank God for another empty slate on which the Word of God can be written. Let's sing it together. Hallelujah! Oh, Father, we thank You for this man and woman of God and their commitment to the Kingdom, Father. We come and commit ourselves with them for the raising up of this precious child. Father, we lay hands upon Isabella, and we bless her. We speak peace upon her and the anointing of God, and that she will become a vessel to Your glory. For Danny and Colette, Father, strengthen them and cause them to continue being faithful, that You could be seen in their lives. For that, we're going to give You all the praise, in Jesus' name.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! [Pastor holds Isabella so congregants can see her.] We both have jet lag. This is what it's all about. Amen? A godly seed to show forth the glory of Him Who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Father, thank You for this child. Thank You for the childlike faith that You've given us. Help us to be faithful, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Greet one another and say, "As the hart panteth for the waters." Amen. God bless you, praise God. Isn't the Lord good? Another blessing.

Back to Top | Audio   |   Purchase Audio   |   Bible Teachings   |   Print