Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Pleasing God Pt.1

I shared with you a couple of the excerpts of that birthday card. I thought I'd give you some of these other great nuggets, "Top Ten Hymns for People Your Age." Starting the countdown, number 10 on the hit parade: "It Is Well With My Soul, But My Back Aches A Lot." Can anybody say "amen" to that one? Number 9, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I Have Seeing" (seeing); "Amazing Grace, Considering My Age"; "Just A Slower Walk With Thee"; "Count Your Many Birthdays, Name Them One By One"; "Go Tell It On The Mountain, And Speak Up"; "Give Me That Old Timers' Religion"; "Blessed Insurance"; (I like this one) "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, I've Forgotten Where I Parked The Car." And the number 1 hymn: "Nearer My God to Thee." And so, praise God, time goes on, but all things remain the same. There's no new thing under the sun, and what a great opportunity. You know, in the kingdom the old adage should be true: "I'm not getting older; I'm getting better." Are you? Are we getting more conformed into the image of Jesus as time goes on? Are we maturing and old things constantly passing away as the others become new? It's an exciting thing to be able to grow in the Lord and to grow up into the Lord, and every year brings us a little more of an understanding of His love and His mercy, of our responsibility. Every year that goes by is a year that He is closer to coming for us, amen? Doesn't your heart just long for the coming of the Lord Jesus?

An exciting, exciting hour that we're living in, but the Scripture says that we're to occupy until He comes. We want to talk about that a little bit over these next number of sessions, the occupying. There's the blessed hope that motivates us to our sanctification. There's the understanding that the Lord is coming soon to catch us out and catch us unto Himself. He said, "I go and prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place I shall doubtless come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also." So we realize that there is that preparation that's taking place, but He has left us here for a purpose: to occupy. We're in a position right now of occupying a country in the Middle East. Occupying a foreign land is not an easy thing to do. We're here occupying. We're here holding together the established kingdom of God until the Lord comes for His precious bride. In the midst of this, there's a constant warfare that's going on of the kingdom of darkness, the principalities and powers of the air that are warring against the kingdom of light. Here we are, occupying until He comes.

That word "occupy," we said, means "to be busy with trading" or "to be busy about commerce," the Lord's business. We're busy about the Lord's business. What is the Lord's business? The establishing of His kingdom on the earth. When we're talking about occupying, we're not just waiting; we're building a kingdom. We are the very living stones that He's using to erect this tabernacle, the habitation of God, always with an expectation of His soon coming; at the same time, an expectation of dominance in the task that He's left us to accomplish. He said, "On this rock of Peter's profession (that "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God") I'll build My church in the midst of those that believe that, of a people that won't cower down, a church that understands who the Cornerstone is, a church that understands who the Captain of their salvation is, a body that understands who their Head is, a people who know their Lord." But we're left here with a task, and we can't get distracted with all the mundane things and all of the temporal things, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of things that come and choke the Word of God out of our hearts. We've applied that so much to sanctification. I want to apply that same principle to occupation in this series--the cares of this world that choke out the understanding of what it is that we've been left behind to do: to build a greater kingdom, to continue in representing His lordship, to realize that the kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. This is not something that's going to come to us easily. It's something that is going to have to be acquired with great effort as we reach out to finish the task that's been given to us.

We're going to look in this study a little bit at the Lord's Prayer. It's interesting to see that the prayers--the disciples came to Him and they said, "Lord--" as the Lord had separated Himself to pray. They had just seen the great miraculous demonstration of His power, and they understood that that power came to Him in fellowship and communion with Father, and they said, "Lord, we need to know how to pray." How many of you can say that tonight, "Lord, teach me to pray"? We need to know how to pray. We have all of the formulas, but we need the intimacy of touching the heart and the mind of God. We need the revelation of what prayer is going to cost us, because when you come into the presence of God, your priorities are going to change; your course is going to change. When He begins to teach you and me to pray, we're going to pray after this manner: "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." Of course as we've talked about this, the hallowing of the name of the Lord, we know that holiness talks about the uniqueness of His name, the separation of His name, a name that is distinct, a name that's above every other name.

As we come into His presence, and we pray, He says to pray after this manner: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). So we ask ourselves the question today, "What did we do today for the kingdom?" We were taken up with representing our vocations, our jobs. Some of you went on business trips today; you made business calls; you were representing whomever it is that has hired you; whatever course you were on today. Did the kingdom cross your mind today (not just the presence of the Lord)? I'm not talking about "Well, I was worshipping. I sensed the presence of the Lord." The kingdom, the establishing of the kingdom of God through the destruction of the kingdom of darkness. How conscious were we today of the opposition of the evil one, that we're living in a land of enemies that hate our God, a people that prefer darkness because their deeds are evil? We're living in the midst of a people who feast constantly on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17)--and we won't get back into that. We've talked about it so much in this last number of years, but there's a wisdom out there. There's a power, and it's effectual, and we see all of the fruit of it in all of the technological advances that we have. We see the rise of humanism, the "worship of the creature instead of the Creator," as the Scripture puts it (Romans 1:25). All things are focused on the glory of man and the ability of man, and we're walking in the midst of that on a daily basis. It's defiling our minds; it's defiling our very beings to the place that we forget who we are: a separate people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people called out, chosen to live separate to the glory of His name, a people who do things differently. We have different goals. We have different criteria for success. We have different methodology. We believe that when we're weak is when we are our strongest, when we're fearful we receive His peace, when we're perplexed He comforts us with the mind of Christ. So we're called to be about the business of the Master and establishing the kingdom. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

So we see, then, that we become the agents of God affecting His will on this planet. We're going to see it in Luke's gospel here in just a moment. Those that hear us have heard Him, amen? We've lost sight, beloved, of whom we are and what our sphere of authority is. We've lost sight of the high calling, as we've been placed as ambassadors of the kingdom of light. In this study, we want to stir up in us the high calling of God that has been given us in Christ Jesus. In this study, we're going to be talking about the renewing of our minds to where we understand the power that has been given to us: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts 1:8). So we want to talk about that power of God and the responsibility of using it effectually for the glory of God. I want to stir up that that you first believed, praise God. We want to see if we can go back to the promises of God and remove all of the doubts and the fears that would rob from us our immediate victory, our expectation of the great power of God.

His church is not as a lot of people say, and we talk about it, "Well, you know, the first century church" He only has one church. What did they do in the first century church? The first century church is to be no different from the twenty-first century church. So here we are, called of God, separated, filled with the same Spirit that they received, that initial outpouring on the day of Pentecost. I think some of us here need to be refilled just like they were. They were filled, and then they were refilled, and the place they were gathered was shaken, praise God! They went out, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness, the Scripture tells us. How bold have we been in our representation of this kingdom of which we're ambassadors? Since there is no change, it's the same church. "On this rock [of His headship] I will build a church." Then listen to what the good news is: "and the [what?] gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Now think about that! So many of us, as Christians, think so defensively. We give so much credit to the devil. We're always thinking the devil is out to get us. I want to tell you something. We're out to get the devil, amen? "Not me, bless God. I just want to leave him alone. I don't want to stir things up." You've been called to stir things up, to go into the highways and the byways and compel his prisoners to come.

We, as we're going to see here in Luke in just a moment--go ahead and turn to Luke's gospel, chapters 9 and 10. We've received all power and all authority over all the power of the devil, and nothing shall by any means harm us. So as we look back again at the establishing of the kingdom of God in our midst and the responsibility that we have to represent His kingdom in power, in grace, mercy, and love, we can't live to ourselves. We have to be absolutely free of any self-agenda and wholly yielded to God. As we think back about the original touch on the lives of many of these men, you always love to go back and meditate; and each one of us has experienced to a certain degree this same touch, because we've all been called. We've all been separated. Not all of us are privileged to be full time in kingdom service, but we are all called to serve in the kingdom. Your vocation is Christian. You're not a carpenter. You're not a butcher, baker, candlestick maker; you're a Christian. In that bakery, you've been set there to infect it with the kingdom of God. This is why in this country we're seeing such a move taking place with what appears to be good, all of these "hate laws." All those are going to become are laws that prohibit us from speaking the name of Jesus. What are you going to do when the laws are passed? I think most of us here have already determined we're going to throw the windows open just like Daniel, amen?

Here we are a people called, and we're separated for His purposes. If you haven't experienced this, then maybe you need just to spend a little time meditating on how you got where you are tonight, because every one of us has been called to a cross. Every one of us has been called to forsake all and follow Him. Every one of us has received the standard of commitment to Him and love for Him: "If you don't love Me more than these, you're not worthy of Me." We may not have experienced it in such a dramatic way, but we've all received the same call, the same mandate, to forsake all and follow Him. We see Peter and Andrew leaving the nets, with the sons of thunder following along and their great enterprises set aside. Matthew, a good government job; man, what benefits! I can't prove it, but I'd like to think that Matthew was one day away from retirement, and Jesus looked at him and said, "Come; follow Me," and the man got up and left it all because He said, "I'm going to make you fishers of men. I'm giving to every one of you opportunity to sow into the eternal and to become the salt of this earth. If the salt has lost its savor, it's good for [say it] nothing." What are we here for? If we're not affecting the people that we come in contact with, what are we here for? What are we good for? If we're not affecting the lives that are around us with the gospel of preservation--salt was a preservative; we're here preserving this kingdom; we're here preserving a people, a remnant that's been set aside for the glory of God--then what are we here for? You're the light of the world. You are the light of the world. Is there a bushel (whatever it might be: fear, doubt, slothfulness, carnality) that's been dulling the flame that may have at one time burned very brightly in your life? Maybe you've never affected anybody with light, but listen to me. The Bible says, "You're the light of the world," and bless God, it's time to let it shine, because the night's coming when no man can work.

If you can't sense the hour that we're in--we've just come off of a teaching, and the whole purpose, beloved, of the teaching on body and community was so we could be strong together, so that we could build one another up. Now we're moving another direction, and we're talking about personal empowering and personal responsibility because there's a war at hand. We're fortifying ourselves, and we're getting ready to do war with the principalities and powers. If you can't sense it, then I'd like to encourage you just to begin to stir yourself up. Spend some time and get quiet and hear what the Spirit's saying to the church. So here we are, called to be the light of the world, called to be the salt of the earth, called to be ambassadors of the kingdom of light, the kingdom of righteousness, a people that profess to be Spirit-filled. Acts 1:8 says if you are, you have "received power to be witnesses unto Me." Now that doesn't just mean handing out a tract or inviting somebody to church. The Scripture says if they see you, they're supposed to see Jesus, every one of us able to affect that that the apostle did: "Follow me as I follow Christ."

What we want to see as we look here into Luke's gospel is that there's no distinction. There's nothing that lets any one of us abdicate this responsibility. Mark says it this way: "These signs shall follow them that believe in My name. They shall" Amen? It doesn't mean, "if you need to, you can." It said, "They shall." And He begins to talk about destroying the stronghold of the evil one. There's a casting out of devils. There's a healing of the sick. There's a continual self-edification of praying in tongues. There's the promise in that responsibility that's been given to us that the enemy's going to try to destroy you, but you can even drink some deadly thing and it will not harm you. Now, remember what it's saying. You can take up serpents; you can drink a deadly thing. Remember what this is talking about. It's not the West Virginia snake handlers, okay? That's stupid! They think that's showing their faith. That's not what that passage is talking about. We've all heard the story of some guy that happened to get in there by mistake. They whipped the snakes out, and they started passing them around. They were all just screaming and jumping. The Scripture says when you speak in tongues, pray that you interpret. And they started to hand this guy the snake, and he spoke out. He said, "Hickemashy--Pass it on by!"

What does that mean? At that time, two of the greatest methods of assassination (you all remember Cleopatra) were the vipers and poison. People are trying to get rid of you. He said you can be about His business, and they can try to take you out, and they can try to get you with a viper, and if you take up a snake, it won't harm you. You can drink any deadly thing; it won't harm you. There is no weapon formed against us that can prosper, amen? Do you believe that tonight?

As we begin to set course, the enemy is going to oppose us. So as a people, begin to prepare yourself and understand that as we begin to emphasize this role and this responsibility, the enemy is going to try to hinder us. I encourage you to start praying right now. Jesus is the door, amen? He opens doors that no man can open, and He closes doors that no man can open. We're going over, and we're going to see the will of the Lord be done, praise God. I'm expecting in our midst the visitation of God that we've talked about for years. A people having gone through purification and preparation now for a number of years (many issues as a community dealt with, and we've got a long way to go), but I think we're getting into a place where Father can use us and can show Himself mighty in our midst and no one take the glory for it. That's the kind of environment that He can move in freely. As we go through, and we study this passage, we're going to see that when the disciples couldn't cast the devil out of the boy, they said, "Why couldn't we cast him out?" He said, "Because of your unbelief." He goes back and He reveals to them what that unbelief was. It wasn't an unbelief in an ability. They knew they had power to cast out devils. They had been successful at it, but something was hindering them. It's because they were talking about, as they walked in the way, whom was the greatest among them. I'll tell you who the greatest is: Jesus. As we're emptied of all of our own ambitions, and as we're emptied of all of this natural tendency to think of ourselves more highly, and we're content to be used as God wants to use us, we become candidates, I believe, for the power of God. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

Chapter 9, "Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:1-2).

So we begin to look at this responsibility that was given to these believers. Now turn quickly back to Mark's gospel, chapter 16. We're just real close there. Turn back and I want you to see again the great commission that the Lord had given us. The Scripture says He was upbraiding them because of their unbelief. They had been talking about the resurrection, and some just couldn't bring themselves to believe the promises of God. "Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen" (Luke 9:14). Beloved, you need to believe the testimony of the people who have seen the glory of God. Be followers of those who through faith and patience have inherited the promises of God. "Well, I won't believe if I don't see it." I want to tell you something. If you don't believe, you won't see it; but "If you believe, you'll see the glory of God," Jesus said.

Then He speaks to them, and He gives us this great commission. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be savedAnd these signs shall follow them that believe." (Luke 9:15-17). We've been given a commission. This is red ink; this is Jesus talking. It's not the only indication that a man's a believer, but this is an indication as to whether you believe or not. These signs shall follow the believer. How common are they in your life? Where is this in our midst? Those that believe in His name shall cast out devils. Now, I know that this can go to extremes, but beloved, we've gone to the extreme the other direction. So I'm not even going to try to address the extremes right now. I just want to say something to you. Besetting sin, besetting sin, besetting sin, dominant flesh--maybe it's a devil. I realize that primarily it is flesh, but beloved, we have come so far that many of us don't even consider demons anymore, and they are in our midst bringing confusion, speaking false doctrine, speaking against the Word and creating doubt in other people's minds of what God can and will do in our midst--demons of unbelief, spirits of humanism. And He said, "In My name, you're going to cast out devils, speak with new tongues, take up serpents, drink deadly things, and lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." The promises of God, we need that childlike faith.

Somebody just told me a story as I was coming in tonight that just so blessed me. You know, E.G. was in the hospital, and we prayed for him. The children sent him cards like they do so many times. All the little kids got together, and they sent E.G. a card in the hospital. And like they do, they always draw a picture of you and your hair is always like this [indicates hair sticking straight up]. Now, I don't know what it is about children, but this is interesting: not one kid had him in a wheelchair. I wonder what they see. Well now, psychologists would tell us, and sociologists would tell us, and educators would tell us that they don't have the capacity to perceive and to be able to--let's just use it as a little bit of an illustration and say maybe we could use some childlike faith and see some things change that we're looking at, amen? Begin to represent it in faith and begin to declare what God declares about it. Maybe next time you draw a picture of E.G., he ought to be standing, praise God! I've got a question. Is anything too hard for the Lord? He said, "You shall" and "They shall." So we have this mandate that's been given to us, and we went back to that great commission just to see that this ministry here in Luke 9 and 10 was not just a specific ministry for the time that Jesus was there orchestrating the establishment of the kingdom of God, but in fact, He tells us to continue on with this ministry. In Acts 1:8, He tells us where the enabling will come from as we receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon us.

Jesus begins to reveal to us in this ninth chapter the great contrast between these two kingdoms. The natural mind, the kingdom of darkness, always glorifies the powers of darkness. Evil is seen as so strong and that righteousness and light are just barely able to stand. It's the exact opposite of the truth, beloved. Whether it's "Poltergeist" or (what was that other thing?) "The Exorcist," the head spinning, guacamole shooting out, and all this kind of stuff, and the powers. Of course, what was happening there was true because it was Sceva and his seven sons. You see the spiritual person cowering over in the corner, and these powers are so great. No. He's the one that whimpers in the corner, praise God! We've received all power and all authority over all the power of the devil, and nothing shall by any means harm us. So we look here, and we see that this commission has been given to us, Mark 16. This kingdom is still being established.

It says in verse 6 that they--let me just share a couple of other thoughts with you as we go into verses 3 down through 6. This is important. "And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart" (Luke 9:3-4). In other words, when you go into a city and believers receive you in, and you go into a home, and you speak peace upon it, the Scripture says if you do, it will remain, and then if you happen to be there and it's a single-wide, and all of a sudden one of the brothers who has a double-wide invites you over, don't keep trying to move up. God will open doors for you. Just be content where you are, and those that first receive you, give them honor and realize that God's your source, not man. It doesn't make any difference whether it's a widow with her few little sticks and the last little bit of meal that He'll multiply. It doesn't make any difference, beloved, when we're out about the Father's business. It can be the five loaves and two little fishes. Take no thought for the morrow; it will take care of itself. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof, praise God. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these other things will be added unto you, amen? Then why are we so careful of all of this stuff? Those that are leaders among us should be examples of this ability to walk free from the cares of life. The distortion of that, of course, is the Catholic church's poverty vows and all these kinds of stuff. That's not what he's talking about here. I'm not going to get off into the fact of how at different times they had no place to lay their head and at other times, they were blessed and abounding. Paul said, "I know how to be abased; I know how to abound." The point of this whole passage is what? God is your source. Amen? Don't look to provide for yourself. God will be your source.

"And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them" (verse 5). Now, think about this for just a second. "Whoever does not receive you." Why? He goes on and He tells us, "Because to not receive you is to not receive Me." How do you see yourself when you're out ministering for the Lord? Are you a pauper, a beggar? Are you the one cowering in the corner? Are you apologizing for being there, or are you the one with authority who, when rejected, you shake the dust off against them? As you read this in other passages, you'll see that He said, "It's going to be more tolerable in the days of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than it is for you." Do you understand whom they are encountering when we, as Spirit-filled believers, bring them the gospel message, the kingdom of God, the power of God? When we as a people who are moving in faith--as we begin to get into this study, this is what we're talking about. We're going to be talking about the renewing of our faith. The title of this series is "Pleasing God." Hebrews tell us without faith, it is impossible to please God, amen? It doesn't matter what we're doing. We can be out and giving our bodies to be burned; we can be raising money for the poor. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Who's the source behind what we are doing? When we talk about faith, all we're talking about is trust, reliance, an assurance in the integrity of God. Faith is just trust, reliance, and assurance in the character of God, in His integrity, in His goodness, in His love. All faith is is believing that what God said He meant, and He'll do it; that He watches over His Word to perform it; that every promise of God in Christ is "yea and amen to the glory of God by us." Do you have that rest tonight? Do you have that assurance in those promises? Are they the most sure things in your life tonight, those promises? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Is your foundation the promises the God? Are your weapons the promises of God? Is your hope the promise of God, or do the circumstances cause you to wonder and to doubt? Children of light doubt the circumstances, not the promises. I doubt what I see, not what I've been promised. I doubt what I feel, not what I've been promised. I doubt the temporal as I embrace the eternal and the spiritual. What are we doing to feed our spirit man the Word of God and to stir up the faith and the gift of God in us? As we go on in the study, we'll talk about presumptuousness; but beloved, we're so far from being presumptuous as a people right now that we don't have to worry about it. I'm not even going to address it. Let's not worry about presumption. I think we need to get a little bolder. I think we need to get a little more radical. I think as a people we need to get out of the boat and see the power of God as we prepare ourselves in this hour that we're living in. "I'm going to give you power, and I'm going to give you authority to cure diseases and preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick."

"And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where" (Luke 9:6). It's interesting as they're out, and they're involved in this particular ministry, the Scripture says, "And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And He took them, and went aside privately into a desert place.And the people.followed" (verses 10-11). We can go do all the canvassing we want in this area. The people follow when they can't deny that a notable miracle's been done in our midst. You can hear about Jesus in every church on every corner, but you can't see Him in every one. Jesus needs to be seen. He's not a myth. He's not the father of a great religion. He's the Lord of glory, crucified, raised, ascended, and coming soon, and living powerfully in His church today; and they need to see Him in every one of us, the epistles that are read of men.

They came, and they listened. They received the ministry, and of course, we're all very familiar with this passage. They said, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place [There's no way that these people's needs can be taken care of]" (verse 12). It almost looks hopeless today as we look around us. You've been out on the streets. People are so hard; people are so deluded. But Jesus says, verse 13, "Give them something to eat." What do you have? "I don't feel like I have very much." What do you have to give? Is it available to God? "Man, there's no way that what I have can meet the need. There's no way that I can answer all of these deep philosophical questions. How in the world am I supposed to deal with the power that drugs have over some of these young people? How am I going to deal with the bondage of hedonism that chokes out our society? What do I have to give?" Good question! What do you have? "Give them to eat." Acts, chapter 3 (after the power of Pentecost had taken place, and the disciples are entering the temple, and the man is begging for alms), Peter looks on and says, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."

Don't talk to me about what you don't have. You have the name of Jesus, amen? "Give them to eat." We all know the story, and the multiplying of the loaves and fishes, as it was blessed, and everyone ate, and there were 12 basketfuls left over. Then Jesus sets forth in verse 23 the conditions of discipleship, the following of the Architect, Master Builder, Cornerstone of this new kingdom. "If any man [comes] after me, [he's got to] deny himself, and take up his cross [say the next word with me] daily" (verse 23). ".deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.save [your] life [you'll] lose it: but lose [your] life for my sake, [you'll] save it." Verse 26, "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own gloryBut I tell you of a truth, there [are some of you here that] shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God" (verses 23-27). On that day of Pentecost, as the Spirit of God was poured out and the kingdom revealed, the source of its power was made evident.

As we finish for tonight, I just want to encourage you. Let's not be doctrinal Pentecostals. Let's become practicing Pentecostals. Let's not believe in the power of God. Let's exercise the power of God. With this little introduction tonight--as we're going to spend time on Sunday and I don't know how long--as we begin to go in again into these principles of faith and the ability to walk in the presence and the power of God, the responsibility that we have to accurately represent Him, to without shame, openly from the housetops, declaring His promises with the spirit of the three Hebrew children: "Our God shall. But even if He doesn't, we don't bow down to yours."

We're going to take a little bit of time and go back and look at the great patriarchs of faith. Then as we go to the book of Hebrews, we see that greater things are supposed to be happening in our lives. Where are they? Where are the mighty men of David? Where is that young shepherd king? Where are the three Hebrew children and their leader, Daniel? Where are those that will take hold of the prophet and say, "I'm not turning you loose until you bless me, praise God. I want that mantle." A church being lulled to sleep, and, just as the prophet spoke, destroyed in their prosperity; and all the while there's a pearl that should be preeminent in our thoughts. When the pearl is recognized, everything else is liquidated that we might apprehend that for which we've been apprehended.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God tonight. We look ahead with great expectation, not so much, Father, at this moment trying to establish doctrine. We know the doctrine, but as this exhortation came forth tonight, that that is just trying to stir up hearts to say, "Yeah. It's ours, bless God. It's been missing, and we want it back!" Touch hearts I ask You, Father, tonight. Stir us with the mandate to pray "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Your eye is searching, and we cry out, "Here am I, Father; send me. I don't have much." It was only one little stone that brought Goliath down. It was just the fragments of five loaves and two little fishes taken into the hands of Jesus, lifted before Father, and blessed, that fed the multitude. Oh beloved, as I was in prayer this afternoon, I just was visited by the Spirit of God and so, so desirous to hear clearly again the voice of His Spirit that can so matter-of-factly call names: Simon the Tanner, the Way Beautiful. To hear the Spirit, to know Your power affected through us, to be able to say, "Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk." In our natural heart, we would cry out, "Father, I'd give everything for that." And He says, "You have to." That's not a noble statement. It's a requisite. It's the requirement placed upon us as unprofitable stewards. What a privilege, to be poured out for the glory of God.

Let's stand before Him tonight and just allow His Spirit to speak to each one of us. I trust that in the exhortation you'll get a hold of the direction we're going. Begin to open your heart, and prepare your heart to receive what the Spirit of God has to say to us. The hour that's coming upon us, a people being prepared, and our message is, "It's His name and faith in His name that's made this man whole." Faith is not a force. The faith teachers say, "Faith is a force." Faith is not a force. Faith is a commitment, a decision to believe in the force, the source, the person of Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit; and to make decision against every natural thought and method to allow God's Word to be preeminent, His methods exclusive, trust, assurance, reliance in the person, in the promises. Finish the work, Father, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Without faith, it's impossible to please Him." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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