Transcription
Isaiah chapter 43. And forgive me, media team. I'm going to, I'm going to test see if you're in the Holy Ghost tonight. See if you, you can follow me as best as you can. I promise not to get mad at you. It's my fault. Maybe it's God's fault he just put on, put all of this on me today. And I say thank you to everybody that's here tonight. Allow me just to go right into the word. But I do want you to know that I'm thankful to be here. Uh, to Brother Nate and the youth committee, thank you so much. Isaiah 43. And I do honor my wife, who's taking care of our two, two kids at home so I could be here. And I should have given them a picture. Uh, you, you wouldn't believe, uh, how beautiful my family is looking at this ugly face up here, but I got the most beautiful family in the world. And, uh, thankful for her sacrifice. And, uh, she's, she's an apostolic woman of God who wakes up every morning at 4:00 a.m. to pray. And she prays three, four, five hours a day, raising two kids and a third kid right here.
But Isaiah 43, God speaks through this prophet in verses 15-19, saying, "I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters." See, I'm, I'm talking like, quiet sort of, but you, you just missed what I read. Um, I, I basically just read the words to the song Way Maker. So, I'm, I'm going to read it again and see if, see if we can get an amen or something. "Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters." See, God's bragging right here. He said, "Hey, in case you didn't know, I'm, I'm the way maker." Verse 17, he said, "This is what I do." And see, God can brag because he backs it up. He said, "I bring forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power. They shall lie down together. They shall not rise. They are extinct. They are quenched as to. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, verse 19, I will do a new thing." Now, everybody say, "Now." Everybody say, "Now." Now. It shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." One more verse. Verse 21. "This people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise." I'm just going to talk to you and preach to you in the Holy Ghost just on the subject, "Now." Turn to your neighbor and say, "Now." Say, "Now." Not tomorrow. Not next year. Right now in the Holy Ghost. Somebody just lift a hand to Jesus and say, "God, speak to me. I'm ready to hear your voice and your word. Uh, I will receive. I will respond to your word tonight. Uh, demonstrate your power. I release the gifting of healing, uh, the gift of faith, the working of miracles in this place. Uh, there will be a prophetic anointing upon this service, uh, by your word and your love for your people tonight. Uh, and everybody said, 'Now.'" Amen. You may be seated in Jesus' name.
All right. Now. Now. Not tomorrow, but now. Remember when Jesus was about to ascend into heaven after he was resurrected from the grave and he spent 40 days in his resurrection state? And he was just about to ascend into heaven. And he thought, "Well, before I go, I better have one more devotion with my disciples." This is where we find what we call the great commission. The great context to me is even greater than the great commission because the great context of the great commission is that he was speaking to 11 and not 12. That's, that's very important to understand because they were 12 brothers in Christ in the gospel and one of them had taken his own life, committed suicide. I, I dare not be insensitive to any of those here that have suffered this type of tragedy in your family, home, or your network of friends. But what a tragedy to experience just a few weeks ago. And it is, it is a very real thing in 2022. I'm not really here to talk about it so much. It's not my assignment, but let me just pass by it. Two or, excuse me, uh, four weeks ago at a youth camp here in the States at a United Pentecostal Church youth camp. During that youth camp, two young people tried to commit suicide. One of them was found hanging just in time. They, they were able to resuscitate him because this is a very real thing that we're dealing with. And here, here's what you need to understand is the reason why, um, the spirit of perversion, the spirit of sexual sin and perversion and confusion and the spirit of suicide are linked together is because statistically, those who struggle with sexual perversion and gender confusion are 300% more likely to commit suicide. That's why there's an uptick in that tragedy of suicide in our nation and even in the church because the devil knows, I don't have to kill you if I can just confuse you. If I can confuse them, they'll kill themselves because he can't kill you. He doesn't have the power to kill you. So he says, "Since I can't kill you, I'll get you so disrupted in your mind and confused in your mind that you'll take your own life." They had lived with this brother Judas for several years. They had watched him preach, teach, perform the miraculous like the rest of them. They watched him be possessed by Satan and betray Jesus. Yet moments later, they all betrayed Jesus. He wasn't the only one. Did you know that Jesus prophesied that this would happen? He prophesied. He said, "One of you will betray me." Read a few more verses. And he says, "But all of you will desert me." They all turn their backs on Jesus. But there was something about Judas that allowed his sin to isolate him to the point of condemnation till he couldn't take it anymore. He was not the only one that failed. They all failed. It is the enemy's weapon to isolate you in your failure and make you think you're the only one. You see, something I like to do when the enemy tells me I'm the only one. I like to point my finger back at him and say, "Yeah, but you were the first one." You, you missed a good point right there. See, when the enemy says, "You sinned and you're the only one with sin," you ought to point to him and say, "You're the first one." You broke the ice. How dare you criticize me as if I was the only one? The Bible says that there, there is no temptation except that which is common to man. Which means the temptation and sin you fight with is the same sin everybody's fighting with. There's not some unique devil with your name on it. Anyways, the great context, and this isn't even my sermon, but I'm just talking to you tonight. Y'all have curfew? All right. Um, Jesus is talking to 11. Imagine going to youth group next Friday night or whenever you have youth service or whatever, knowing that your brother, your friend that you always hang out with at youth night, he's not there because he took his own life. Last week he was in the altar. Last week we, we had that last supper and Jesus washed our feet and we took communion together and now he's, he's in hell. Imagine the grief. Do you know the first sermon Peter preached in the upper room? It wasn't Jesus and it wasn't, "This is that spoken by the prophet Joel." He preached Judas. That was his first sermon in the upper room. And did you know, I know you don't know this. I don't get any amens on this because y'all didn't know this. Did you know that the upper room that they were in on the day of Pentecost was the same upper room that they were in when they had the last supper with Jesus and Judas? The same place which was the last place that they shared a room with Judas in would become the same place that the Holy Ghost would fall for the very first time. Do you know how there came 120 people into that upper room? Well, the Bible says that they were in that upper room. And if you read it in a literal translation, it says that they were praying. It was just 11 of them. Just 11. Judas is gone. And they're, the Bible says that they continued daily in unity and in prayer. Even though Jesus was gone, even though Judas was gone, they continued daily in unity and in prayer. In other words, they said, "We won't give the devil one inch or one second to divide us from what God has called us to do." Jesus said, "Wait for the promise." And although I'm grieving, I'm not going to stop waiting. I got to hurry. But it's interesting to me. Let me, let me try to break this down for you. I'm just teaching. Y'all don't have to go too crazy. You know, um, you know how it is. Midweek Bible study. God can't move on midweek Bible study. But you know what's interesting to me is that there Jesus is standing with the 11 just before he ascends into heaven. And I love, I love it. He tells them to get to Jerusalem and do what? Wait. He commanded them, "Wait." See, "wait's" one of those four-letter words that that we don't like to say or do. I, I didn't get an honest amen right there. You got to wait on your sister 'cause she's been in the bathroom for three hours curling her hair for the 10th time. You got to wait for your brother 'cause he's doing this and that and the other. And you got to wait for your parents and, and you got to wait for this and whatever. I hate waiting. Anybody with me? That's why I, I, I don't go, I don't go to other fast food places much anymore. I go to Chick-fil-A because you don't have to wait very long there. Come on, somebody. There'll be like three lines wrapped around Chick-fil-A and it'll be like, "My pleasure." Five minutes later, you're walking away with a chicken biscuit. It's 'cause they, it's 'cause they're Christian. You know, Jesus, watch this. This is so, let me get down here for a second. What's so funny about this to me is that they had been waiting for hundreds of years. They had been to Sunday school and, and they had heard their Sunday school teacher say, "One day we're going to receive the spirit of God. One day it's not just going to be brother so-and-so all by himself in the tabernacle one day a year. One day all of us are going to get to experience the Holy Spirit of God." They preached that message for hundreds of years and they just kept waiting and waiting and waiting and just days before, just 10 days before Jesus said, "Hey, I want you to wait." They had already been waiting and Jesus kind of just states the obvious. Keep waiting. But 10 days later, the wait was over. "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, and they were in one mind, in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing." Isn't that funny? Rushing is the opposite of waiting. God says, "You wait until the time is ready. And when the time is ready, I'm not going to make you wait anymore." When the time is ready, when the fullness of time comes, I'm going to rush to your prayer and rush to your need and rush to your call.
Watch this. That's why, see, Jesus told them to wait, right? Well, Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse two, he quotes Jesus himself. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 6:2, if they have it, that's fine. If not, that's okay. Hey, they got it. Look, it says this. "At just the right time, I heard you. Watch this. At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you. Indeed, the right time is now." Today is the day of salvation. Isn't it amazing that one moment Jesus says, "Wait." But the next moment he says, "The wait is over, baby. You ain't got to wait no more. You can lift up your hands, and I can pour out my spirit right now." That's why when scholars say that there was 10,000 or so people that came around that building when the Holy Ghost was poured out, why do they believe 10,000? Now, preachers and pastors will agree with this because when you preach, you usually get about 30% participation in response. There was 3,000 people added to the church that day. So, a lot of things I've read said there could have been as many as 10,000 people that came to that building looking in the windows and saying, "Hey, what's going on in here?" They mocked it. They said, "What does this mean?" They, they accused them of being drunk at 9 in the morning. And Peter stood up and said, "This is that spoken by the prophet Joel." You see, but he didn't have to quote any scripture. He was speaking to Bible quizzers who had the entire Old Testament memorized. And when he said, "This is that," they knew because they had been studying it and memorizing it and hearing it every day of their lives. And when he said, "This is that spoken by Joel," what they heard was, "The wait is over."
You see, here's the problem though that we're facing right now is we are allowing, oh God. We are allowing, now I'm gonna have to say this three or four times, okay? We are allowing our physical perception to determine our spiritual reality. I'm sorry I'm not screaming. I could scream and this thing could be done in five minutes, but I, I feel I'm in the Holy Ghost. We are allowing our physical perception, that means what we see in the flesh, to determine our spiritual reality, which means what God has spoken by his word in the spirit. You see, you know, there to some degree the, the, the saying is true. Perception is reality. I'm 5 foot 8 with with shoes on and we were singing my dance and I was so encouraged by that because I was thankful they didn't say my, my good dance. I'm too white to have a good dance, you know? I, I just ain't got it. But I ain't dancing for you. So there are some perceptions that are my reality. I, I'm 5 foot 8 and a half and I, I, I promise you at a 10-foot goal I can't dunk a basketball, believe that or not. But my physical perception does determine my physical reality. There are some things that you can't do in this kingdom, the carnal kingdom, the, the fleshly kingdom, if I can say it like that, because of your physical perception. But when you are born again of the water and of the spirit, you are now born into a completely new kingdom where what you see in the flesh does not determine what you're going to experience in the spirit.
So, let's, let's, let's look at this a little bit more. If you're tired, you're dismissed. We'll see you next year. Amen. But let's look at this just a little bit more. Uh, you see, he said what Peter said, "This is that spoken by the prophet Joel." But when he said Joel, they understood all three chapters of his book. Not just Joel chapter 2 verse 28. They understood all three chapters. They understood the context. And did you know that the physical perception of what they were seeing in that moment was a devastating reality? You read Joel chapter 1 and you find the context of this is that Joel chapter 1, it tells us that there was a global catastrophe. And if you study it and read different scholars, you find that there was a locust plague of unprecedented proportions. Most of you probably never seen a locust. It's like a cricket on steroids. It's like the Hulk Hogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger of of crickets, okay? You know, they walk around like this. They got sunburned armpits. I mean, it's like a cricket has eaten 25 other crickets and still alive. And every cricket they ate, they're even stronger. It was a locust plague of unprecedented proportions that had filled that land, devouring every grapevine, every crop, every food, every seed that they planted was eaten by that locust plague. Meaning they had no food to eat. But not only that, the animals of the stock of the flock were dying off in droves because the animals had nothing to graze. They had nothing to eat. And so this, this compounded the problem because animals in those days were not just their food and their meat. It was their worship to God. So the people then were coming to the temple having nothing left to bring to the table. You don't have to raise your hand. We're doing okay. Okay. But over the last two, two and a half years, how many of you have felt that when you come to church, you just have nothing left to bring to the table? You, you feel like your worship in some ways has been diminished. Your personal worship, your personal devotion and walk with God. Amen. And so this locust plague was devouring their land. Scholars and things that I've read say that that people were dying off by the tens of thousands because they had no food. And to further compound this plague, there was a drought that had scorched the land. No rain, no fruit, no vine, no crop, no gardens, no animals to feed, no water to drink. They were dying off by the thousands and thousands and thousands. Now they, they can't bring a fatted calf to the altar and worship. Now they bring their dead child to an altar. What, what a tragedy to go through. And this is the context of this is that. So what would God do during a time like this where their physical perception was such a devastating reality? Continue reading Joel 2:12 from the New King James. Look at it like this. Watch this. Joel chapter 2:12. Remember the context I just described to you and look at the first word. Now. Not tomorrow, not when the rain is restored, not when the locusts are devoured, but right now. Watch this. What does he want us to do now during a time where our physical perception is giving us such a devastating reality? He says, "Now therefore, says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart." Look at this. I love this, Brother Nate. "With fasting." Y'all love that f-word, don't you? Fast. You like that one, right? Yeah. Don't act, don't act spiritual. Don't nobody like that word. You don't ever say, "I'm going on a fast. This is the best day of my life." But watch this. Look how wise God is. You're going to laugh at this, but look at the wisdom of God. God says, "Oh, y'all don't have any food. Why don't you call it a fast? It's okay. I'm trying not to get too deep, but they didn't have any food to eat in the first place. They were dying off." And watch this. God said, "Oh, well, watch me. I'll turn what the devil meant for evil and cause it for good. You don't have any food in the pantry. You don't have any food on the table. Why don't you stop saying the devil did this and start declaring this is a fast?" You see, that's our problem. We lose our, we lose a job and we say, "Well, the devil got me fired." Maybe God gave you an open door to spend more time in the prayer room. You ain't got no food to eat. Why don't you call it a fast, with weeping, with mourning?" He said, "Now, in the middle of your devastation, turn." That word literally is to repent. He said, "In the middle of this devastation, I want you to repent." And we've been saying, "We want revival. Send us revival. Give us revival. Send the rain." God said, "Send me the repentance. I'll send the revival." You can be seated. Look what he says. I, I'll just, I'll just read through it real quick. Verse, verse 25. Look at this. No, let's go up to it. It's too good not to read it. Look at verse 18. "Then the Lord will be zealous for his land and pity his people. The Lord will answer and say to his people, 'Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them. I will no longer make you a reproach or a shame among the nations.'" Verse 25, step two, he says, "I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten." There's been a global catastrophe of a locust plague. Repent and I'll restore. You know what the word in the original means to restore? Three definitions. Number one, to give back what's been stolen to its original owner. I got two head nods. Guess y'all haven't had anything stolen. Told him about getting jacked this time last year. Headed to Louisiana camp meeting. Go in to eat some fajitas in Houston. Don't get out of your car in Houston. We got out of our car for 45 minutes. Walk back out. All the windows are bashed. They stole $7,000 worth of our, our, our luggage and iPads and and MacBooks and and everything. They stole everything but this Bible. So, I got to preach from the Bible that week. They did. You, you may not know who this is, but they stole one of my books written by T.W. Barnes. So, I figured that by now they're either saved or cursed. I don't know. One of the two. Hopefully saved. It's like stealing the Ark of the Covenant, you know. Anyways, all right, let's try that again. Restore. To give back what's been stolen to its original owner. Y'all hadn't had anything stolen except for the two head nods. Okay. Number two, to repair what's been broken back to its original condition. I'm just talking to you tonight. Don't get too hyped up. See, it's not to repair something that's been broken. It's to repair it back to its original condition. You can't do that in the flesh. He says, "But I can make you and restore you to a place as if it never happened to you." To restore. Here it is. To restore. To bring back to life that which has been dead. But look what he says he's going to restore. He said, "I'm going to give you back the one thing this world can't give you." Time. Time. Brother Nate. How many of you can look back honestly over the last two and a half years and said, "Man, I didn't waste one second. I gave it all to the Lord." Or maybe you're like me now. I had some good seasons over these last two and a half years. I had 40 days up on a mountain and praying and stuff. It was awesome. But there's been some moments I thought, man, I wish I could go back and use the time that I had. And what happens is condemnation begins to move with momentum. And we begin to think, I, I lost that time. And God says, I can give you back the time you lost. In fact, I can do more with the time you've got left than the time you've lost if you let me restore you. Hear me. Before there's going to be a great revival, there's going to be a work of restoration. "I will restore to you the years that this plague has taken from you."
Verse 26, he says, "And you will eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dwelt wondrously with you, and my people shall never be put to shame." Verse 28, here's the revival. "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh." I got to hurry. You can sit down because I, I got to go somewhere. I don't feel we, we're there yet. You see what's stopping our "now"? You know what's stopping our "now"? Well, there's several things, but I ain't got time for several things. But the Lord dealt with me this morning. I get on the plane and the Lord spoke to me and said, "The thing that's stopping them from their 'now,' it's not their shout, it's not their dance, it's not their faith, it's not their understanding of the gospel of truth." He said, "It's their walk with me." Go back to Isaiah 43. Watch this. Something you didn't catch. So, watch what he says. Let's, let's go to 15 real quick and I'm going to hurry. He says, "I'm the Lord, your holy one. At least I should be your holy one. Your only one, the creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the Lord. I make a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters. I bring forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power." What's he talking about? Well, prophecies always, they reach back to the past elements of the past to throw into the future to forecast what's about to happen in your future. And God says he's reaching back to the past of the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt when the chariot and the horse and the army and the power of Egypt went after them into the Red Sea. Remember that? He said, "I will bring," he's, he's reaching to the past elements. He said, "I will bring forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power. They will lie down together. They shall not rise. They are extinct." You know what the word extinct means? Does not exist anymore. In other words, your past cannot stop your present. Why? Because it doesn't exist anymore. He was saying to them, "What are you doing letting an enemy that I destroyed in the ocean years ago? What are you, oh, someone going to hear me in a minute. What are you doing letting an enemy that I destroyed in baptism?" The Red Sea was their type of baptism. That's where God destroyed them. And they could not get rid of the fear that plagued them of their past enemy. Watch what he says. "They're extinct. Remember ye not the former things." Stop remembering the failures of yesterday, young people. Stop remembering. Stop letting your addictions of last year and your failures of yesterday stop you from fulfilling the promises of God today. He says, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old." Watch what he says. "Behold, I will," not I might, not I can, not I want to. "I will do a new thing." But when are you going to do it? Now he said, "It shall spring forth." But look at the next few words. "Shall you not know it?" The Lord said, "I'm doing a new thing. Stop trying to go back to 2019. Stop trying to go back to how it used to be. Stop asking for things to go back to how they once were. I'm doing a new thing." Watch this, watch this. I feel I'm in a safe place to say, see, we think, "But what about the president and the government and the Supreme Court and the economics and the politicians?" I know you're young people, but and you may not think of those things as much as you will later, but some of you are thinking about it. "What about this? And what about that? And what about what they're teaching?" It's the same question the 11 disciples asked Jesus before he ascended into heaven. Acts chapter 1 and verse, Lord, or at verse six, "Will you at this time restore to us our government, our politics, our kingdom?" Because they were under the rule of the Roman Empire. They were quarantined. They were, they were being oppressed and mistreated. And Jesus is about to say, "Peace out, boys." And they thought he came here to put in their own president and their own government. And just before he ascends into heaven, after he told them, "Wait for the promise," they had the, I'm trying not to say a curse word here. They, they had the audacity. Is that okay? Audacity. Is that a, I could say that, y'all? Okay. They had the, the, the mind of, okay, I'm just going to say it. An idiot like me. I'm sorry. Take that out. But they had the mind of a fool to look at him and say, "You want us to go get the promise of the Father, but aren't you going to give us our president and government back?" Watch what Jesus said. "I can't promise you your politics." Watch what he said. "But I can promise that when you receive my Spirit, you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you." But he didn't stop there and he said, "After you get my Spirit and you're filled with power, you shall be, you, you don't read Acts 1:8. You shall be witnesses." See, we think, and I don't, don't misread me. Don't misread me. But we think a witness is handing somebody a flyer. Hand them flyers. But that's not what that word means. The word witness in the Greek is martus, where we get the word martyr, which means to die a painful and grievous death for one's beliefs. He said, "You're going to get, I can't promise you your president and politics, but I can promise you you're going to have so much power of my Spirit that it's going to send you throughout the world and you're not going to have any fear of persecution and opposition. You're going to have so much power. You're not going to be afraid of the devil's opposition. You're going to say, 'God, open a door that no man can shut. I'm ready now.'"
They say to young people, they say, "You're not supposed to preach past, speak past 20 minutes because they don't have the attention span." It's not an attention problem. It's an appetite problem. I'm, I'm not talking about Arkansas. I'm talking about the other districts. You know, we say, "I, I can't listen to a speaking or preaching longer than 20 minutes, but then we go home and watch Netflix for 5 hours. What's that all about?" It's not about attention. It's about appetite. It's about what you're hungry for. If you're hungry for the word, uh, and hungry for the Holy Ghost, you could sit here all night and fall out the window like Udicus and come back in and say, "Keep on preaching." The Lord spoke to me this morning. You, you, you, whatever you feel to do, you do it. Okay? You believe what you want to believe. But I know what I felt today. I could not stop. I could not stop feeling this. All throughout the day, all throughout the day, we went out to eat. I kind of shook it off for a little bit. I go to the hotel room and I'm just crying like I'm at a funeral or something. I'm like, "God, what is going on?" And the Lord is telling me, "I'm grieved at people who know how to run, but don't know how to walk." He said, "I'm grieved at people who know how to shout unto God with a voice of triumph, but don't know how to walk with God with a heart of submission." The Lord told me to tell you, uh, that the battle is not going to be won. Uh, the walls aren't going to come down just by our shout. Uh, we're going to have to learn how to walk Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And then when we get to Sunday, uh, then we can shout and watch the walls come down. Uh, but it's the walk that gives the shout the power.
You may be seated. I want to show you, and this is what I felt in the spirit. It's the same thing Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:3 and 4. Look at Paul. Look at what he said. He said, "I fear, I'm afraid of something that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted. Just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent." Look at this. Isn't this amazing? Paul could have said, "I fear, I fear that the people in Corinth are going to kill you and the Romans are going to overthrow you. I fear that I fear that you're going to be, uh, taken out and defeated." No, he said, "I fear that your pure and undefiled walk with God is going to be corrupted." Look at verse four. He said, "You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach or a different kind of spirit than the one you received or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed." I'm going to preach the Bible for the next few minutes, and you'll just have to believe me. I'm preaching the Bible. I didn't give them this verse. Deuteronomy 13 and verse 6-11 from the New Living Translation. Deuteronomy 13:6. I'm reading the Bible. Okay, you trust me? "Suppose someone secretly entices you, even your brother, your son or daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend, and says, 'Let us go worship other gods. Let us be distracted from worshiping our God. Gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known. They might suggest that you worship the gods of peoples who live nearby or who come from the ends of the earth.'" Verse eight, I'm reading the Bible. "But do not give in or listen to them. Have no pity and do not spare or protect them. You must put them to death. Strike the first blow yourself and then all the people must join in. Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away from the Lord your God who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery." Now, what's true of the physical in the Old Testament is true in the spiritual of the New Testament. God is saying, "Stop just resisting them. Stop just denying them. Stop walking with them and thinking you're going to be all right." He said, "If you have a close friend, a brother, a sister, a loved one, and they're telling you to walk away in a new path," he said, "I want you to silence them. I want you to kill that voice in your life. Uh, I want you to completely rid yourself of any voice that would separate you from walking with me."
This is why. This is why I'm so radical. Don't, don't, don't let me think. Don't let, don't let me make you think I'm mad. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the devil. Here's why. Because I, I can't get one more phone call from a pastor. I can't get one more phone call from a youth president, a youth pastor that after an amazing youth event, "Well, we had a girl take her own life." We had two young guys run off in a homosexual relationship. I'm getting these phone calls all the time and text messages. Pastor's daughter, a pastor calls me recently after it was prophesied over his daughter, she's going to be the catalyst of revival in that church. Two weeks later, he calls me and says, "My daughter's in a straitjacket in a psych ward." 1st Samuel chapter 4, the Bible says that the people of God went to battle against the Philistines and they lost 4,000 soldiers. 4,000. Now, you think that's a big loss? Wait until you read the end of the story because they lost 4,000 on the battlefield. And they said, "What's the problem? What happened? How, how did we lose?" And someone said, "We forgot the Ark of the Covenant." 1 Samuel chapter 4, go read it later. We forgot the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is rep, what represents the presence of God, the power of God, the favor, blessing, and anointing and direction of God. They didn't take that to the battlefield with them. But it gets worse. They said, "Okay, well that's our best weapon. Go get the Ark of the Covenant." Several dudes ran out and got the Ark of the Covenant back at the temple, brought it to the battlefield and go read your Bible. It says that when the Ark of the Covenant arrived at the battlefield that the Israelites got so excited that they began to shout. They shouted so loud that the earth began to shake. You think we've shouted? Can you imagine? We shout so loud that there's an earthquake registered on the Richter scale. And the Bible says that the Philistines heard. Imagine that. The Philistines are the winners of the battle that day. And they hear the losers going crazy. They're dumping Gatorade on Joshua. You know, the Philistines said, "What's, what's going on?" They sent spies. Spies came back. They said, "Uh, hey boss, we got a problem. They got the Ark of the Covenant. What are we going to do?" Watch this. Now, the Philistine commander said, "Well, it's over for us. We're going to die. We're going to lose. So, we might as well fight as hard as we can." So they go out to the battlefield to fight one more time. And guess who loses? The Israelites lose 30,000 more soldiers. A total of 34,000 soldiers even though they brought the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield. But they shouted. How can you shout and still lose? They shouted and they still lost. Because you can't shout unto God with a voice of triumph until you walk with God with a heart of submission.
No, here we are. Here we are. There's, I feel the prophetic anointing of God right now. I prophesy in this place right now that there are young people here so desperate for God to step in and fight their battle, for chains to be broken and shackles to be loosed. There are young men right now so desperate to not go back to that relationship and pornographic addiction. Uh, there are young women in this place, uh, that are so desperate to overcome the darkness of your depression. Young people, I want you to hear me right now. I feel the prophetic anointing of God right now in this place. And I prophesy under the unction of the Holy Ghost. The Lord says, "Your battle will be won tonight when you walk in my Spirit. By the authority of the word of God, uh, and by the power that's in the name of Jesus Christ, uh, I release the gift of faith, uh, in this house, uh, for you, uh, to take up your cross, uh, and walk, uh, in the Spirit, uh, daily."
This is the last word I'm going to give, at least for now. The Lord says, "Stop waiting. Hear the word of the Lord. Stop waiting on me. My Spirit is available. I'm waiting on you to walk in my Spirit. I'm waiting on you to walk in my Spirit. I'm waiting on you to decide when and where you're going to follow me daily. I'm waiting on you not to shout louder or run faster or jump higher. I'm waiting on you not for more faith. Uh, not for more of this or that. I'm waiting for you to make up in your mind right now that, God, I choose to walk in the Spirit and follow you. Now, now, now, now, now." I got a whole lot more to preach, but I feel right now God is in this place now. "Now, now, now shall you not know it? Uh, I will make a way in the wilderness. I will bring streams to the desert. Now, in the Holy Ghost, I will restore to you the years that this plague has eaten. I will restore to you the time that you have lost if you will walk in my Spirit. You shall not fulfill, uh, the lust of the flesh. Uh, if you walk in my Spirit. Uh, the walls of Jericho will come down. Uh, if you walk in my Spirit, uh, your kingdom that's against you is coming down. If you walk in my Spirit, now, now, now, not next year, not next week. Right now, make up in your mind. Make up in your spirit. I will walk in the Holy Ghost.
Hello. Come on. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is what I want us to do. We're going to pray together. This is what I want us to do. This is what I want us to do. Hallelujah. The Lord prophesied in Isaiah and said, "Remember ye not the former things, nor consider the things of of old." Or in other words, stop considering the things of your yesterday. He said, "I will do a new thing now. It shall spring forth. Shall you..."
"not know it?" Look at what he says. He says, "I will do a new thing." And then he says, "I will even make a way where?" In the wilderness and rivers where? In the desert. That means none of you are in a place or position where God cannot reach you. God said, "I'll make a way in the wilderness and I will bring rivers of water to the desert."
But then look at verse 21. He says, "This people, this people, what people? The people that I had to go out and find in the wilderness and in the desert. This people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise." It, it, it reminds me of of what Peter said in in 1 Peter 2 and nine when he said, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." Watch this now. That you should show forth the praises of him. Watch this. Who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
What I can't stand, and this is just me, okay, you, you just write me off, but I can't stand that people who God has literally pulled out of darkness and put into his light that have the audacity to come and just sit and stare and be silent. God said, "I didn't bring you out of darkness and put you in my light so you could sit there and stare at me. I pulled you out of darkness and I put you in my marvelous light so that you should show forth the praises of him."
Watch this. Verse 10. "Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." God is saying to you tonight, "I am doing a new thing." Everybody say it with me. "I am doing a new thing." Turn to your neighbor, point to them, poke them in the arm and say, "Will you know it?"
Turn back to them and say, "Will you be a part of it? Will you be there when it happens? Are you going to be a vessel of the new thing [screaming] that God is doing? [applause] Or are you just going to sit on the fringe and sit on the back row and show up late and leave early and sit there with your arms folded and say, 'I'm happy just going to church.'" Let me say it like I feel it. You can have whatever you want. If you want to sit there and do nothing, you can have nothing. But if you want to be a part [screaming] of the new thing that God is doing in this hour, [applause] there are people. I, I was going to talk a second. There's people that are receiving the Holy Ghost on un, in unprecedented proportions right now. People all over the world receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. And I get to talk to missionaries that I know. And I get to talk to pastors that I know. And I get to be there sometimes when I get to watch.
"How old are you, young lady?" "10." I watched a girl who was a year younger than you. She was an American girl. We were in Africa and she prayed a witch doctor through the gift of the Holy Ghost. A witch doctor. [applause] I have a picture on my phone of this girl. She's standing on the platform because she's, you know, about 4 foot or whatever. And she didn't even know she had her hand on the head witch doctor of that, that little village. He came there to curse us. And this little girl laid her hand on him and he received the gift of the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues. I remember being there. I remember being there. [applause]
I, I remember, I remember preaching a youth camp about five or six years ago and the third night of that youth camp, this 16-year-old boy comes running up. I found out later who this boy was. He came up to this altar in the middle, I mean, 10 minutes into my sermon, messed up the whole thing. He didn't know the rules. He, he just didn't know. He was a first-time visitor. He came up to the altar and I found his story out later that his parents used to be apostolic Pentecostal people. But before he was born, they backslid and became atheists. They didn't even believe in God anymore. He was raised in an atheistic home until his friend at high school invited him to this youth camp. He came to that youth camp and the first two nights he's just kind of looking around like, "This is kind of weird." That third night he couldn't even wait. 10 minutes into the sermon, he was shaking and trembling on the third row. I remember he stood up and started doing this thing right here, you know, trying to get, "Excuse me, excuse me." I thought he's got to go potty and he, "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me." He gets to the middle aisle and I'm thinking he's going to go to the bathroom, man. He's got to go. And, uh, he gets to the middle aisle and starts running down to the altar. He gets to the altar, stands right in front of me. I'm like, uh, and point number two, you know, trying to keep my cool and he lifts up his hands and says this, "God, I'm so hungry for you." When he said that, [applause] I'm standing right here at the pull pit and this 16-year-old says, "I'm so hungry for you." I watched him instantly start speaking in tongues for the first time as God filled him with the Holy Ghost. He left that night or he left the, the, he left the service and we baptized him in the pond outside. We baptized him in Jesus. He called his parents and he said, "Mom and dad, I got to share something with you." He said, "I'm Pentecostal now." Well, he didn't know that they used to be Pentecostal. And they said, "Well, son, we've got something to tell you." They told him the story. His dad came back the next day to the last day of the youth camp and that 16-year-old boy laid his hands on his dad and God refilled his dad with the gift of the Holy Ghost. [applause]
I was, I was, I remember preaching to a youth group of 12 young people. 12. One of them, his name was Kyle. I got to spend a few hours with them at Starbucks and going to the mall on that Saturday morning or afternoon. Me and Kyle got to talking and I found out that at 16 years old, he was now 18, but at 16, he came to that [clears throat] church that I was preaching at, got the Holy Ghost, baptized in Jesus' name, went home, told his parents, they said, "You, you have a decision to make. You, you either pack your bags and leave and we'll never see you again and you can go back to that church or you tell us you'll never go to that church again and you can live with us and be our son." He went to his room and he prayed for a little bit. This is going to make some youth pastors nervous. He called his the youth pastor at that church and said, "Can you come pick me up? My parents are downing me right now. Can I come stay with you?" The youth pastor picked him up an hour later. He went and lived with that youth pastor. Here's what's crazy is I'm preaching at this church two years later and he's telling me this whole story at the mall, you know, walking around the mall. I'm just in tears like, "Oh my word, you've been downed by your mom and dad and your sister hadn't seen them in two years and I'm sucking my thumb like I've got some bad breaks in my life or something." He comes on that Sunday morning to, to the altar and we had a healing service and he stands at the altar and said, 'I need to pray for healing.' I said, 'You, you, you didn't tell me you were sick or what?' He said, 'I'm not.' He said, 'On my way to church this morning.' He said, 'I got a phone call from an unknown number and I answered. It was my mom.' He said, 'My mom told me that my grandmother was dying and she was in hospice and that she would die that day of cancer.' He said, 'So when I got to church, I thought, well, we'll pray for my grandma.' He said, 'Will you pray for my grandma? I want to stand in place of her healing.' I said, 'Sure, I'll pray for her, but I'm going to pray for you that God will open up a door of opportunity for you to go and lay your hands on her.' So, we prayed.
Like eight or nine days later, the pastor of that church calls me and he says, "Chris, you remember that guy, Kyle?" I said, "Yeah, yeah." He said, "Well, when he left church on Sunday, he got a phone call from his sister who he hadn't talked to in two years. She said, 'Kyle, you, you, you can come to the hospice center. Here's the address. We've just decided you can come and pay your respects to grandma before she dies.' He went to that hospice center. He said he stood in the corner with his arms folded, real afraid and intimidated. He said his parents wouldn't even look at him. He stood over here and just prayed real quiet. 'God, in Jesus name, if you can heal my grandmother, if you can heal her, God, heal her in Jesus name.' He said, 'Wait a second.' When Brother Green prayed for me, he said, 'You'll lay your hands on her and she'll be healed.' And he said, 'I got to go lay my hands on her.' He walked up to her bedside and said, 'Grandma, can I lay my hands on you in Jesus' name?' She said, 'Sure, you can. Nothing else has worked.' So, he laid his hands on his grandmother's head and began to say, 'God, I command this sickness to leave her body.' Well, there, there was no fire that he saw. There was no angel that he heard. There was no trumpet that was sounded. Instead, and when he turned around, his dad was standing there. His dad said, 'You can leave now.' He left.
On Wednesday, his sister called him back and said, "Kyle, I need to tell you about grandmother." He said, "Did she die?" She said, "No, she didn't die. On, she was supposed to die Sunday. She didn't die Sunday. Monday, on Monday, she was starting to breathe on her own again and starting to sit up. And on Tuesday, she started to eat again." And he said, his sister said the oncologist, her doctor, just came to the hospice center. They did scans and all sorts of stuff. And they said, "There's no cancer in her body. She's released to go home." [applause]
What I'm telling you is this. If God can do it for that Kyle, if God can do it for that other person, he can do it for you. And, ah, no, no, no. Hold on. Time out. I messed up. I, I, I spoke a lie. I said he can do it for you. Let me stop and redo it. He will do it for you. I said he will do a new thing. "You shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. These signs, uh, shall follow them, uh, that believe, uh, in my name shall they cast out devils in my [screaming] name. They will speak with new tongues." [applause and cheering]
I want you to close your eyes right now because I want to tell you what I can see in my spirit. I see young men and I see young women standing before thousands of people speaking the name of Jesus. And at the sound of his name, thousands of people with hands lifted beginning to speak in other tongues as the spirit of the Holy Ghost and fire begins to fall upon them. Can you see it? Will you know it? Can you see it? I said, can you see it? Can you feel it? Uh, can you hear the sound of an abundance of rain? [screaming] It's coming. Uh, it's coming. Uh, there's a deluge coming. Uh, there's a wave coming. Uh, there's a fire coming. There's a revival coming. You got to be ready. [cheering] Lift up your hands right now when I say in the name of Jesus. I want you to shout the name of Jesus as loud as you can in this room as a sign unto God that Lord, I will walk with you and where you go, I will go. That's why hear me somebody, this is why David could say, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Hear me, young people. "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies." That's where you're going, young people. You're going to the presence of the adversary. And in that moment, David said, "Hear me, young people. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over." I prophesy in the Holy Ghost, uh, an anointing that's about to overflow when you will walk with God in the valley. When you will walk with God in the presence of your enemies. Uh, when I say in the name of Jesus, uh, I want you to shout his name as loud as you can and let God fill you [screaming] up with the Holy Ghost and fire in the name of [screaming] Jesus. Speak with other tongues. Uh, receive the Holy Ghost. Be filled with the Holy Ghost and fire. Walk in the spirit. [cheering]
[cheering] [cheering] That's it. Now I speak it. Now I speak it. Now break forth. Uh, now breakthrough. Uh, now march in the Holy Ghost. Uh, now [screaming] now lay your hands on the sick. Uh, now stand up and prophesy. Now in the Holy Ghost right now. Right now. Right now. Now in Jesus name. Come on young people. Why don't [screaming] you grab a hold of somebody? Uh, why don't you grab a hold of a brother or sister? Why don't you jump over a pew? Uh, why don't you march an aisle and grab a hold of somebody, uh, and prophesy in the Holy Ghost. [cheering]