Transcription
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I'd like to read just a portion of Exodus chapter 3, just a little bit, and then I'm going to Jeremiah, just to embellish this point.
Exodus 3:1. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. And of course, with all Moses' scientific Egyptian background, he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. I, I want to use that to sort of embellish where I'm going tonight. But notice, the bush was not consumed. It just, just kept on burning. And because it kept on burning, it captured Moses' attention.
In Jeremiah chapter 20, and as I thought about what happened in Jeremiah, and I knew this is where I had to go tonight. And verse 7. Jeremiah is now in the middle of his ministry, and at a point where I'm sure he's convinced by now that everything should be working smoothly. And in verse 7, he says, "Oh, Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived. Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed. I am in derision daily; everyone mocketh me. For since I spake I cried a violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily." Then I said, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name." But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
I want you to look at somebody and simply tell them, the fire won't go out.
I'm not an Old Testament preacher, I will admit that. I'm not a storyteller type. Hebrew is more descriptive, and Greek is more definitive. And I spend a lot of time defining and not describing. But I noticed something that is quite significant to all of us. And I would like to talk to gifted people tonight. I'll open by saying, for every everlasting relationship, God has put into place everlasting safeguards. Because whatever God puts in place to protect His purpose is as everlasting as the purpose He intends to protect.
I propose then that if you're going to deal with Jeremiah chapter 20, you've got to deal with Jeremiah chapter 1. And he's saying to the Prophet, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Which seemed to me then that God does not give Jeremiah's existence as a credit to his mother or father. He attributes the prophet's existence to Himself. I wonder, can you catch in your mind the fact that you might be here because God formed you for a reason, not attributed to parents? So you don't live for your parents. Your existence is not attributed to your friends, so you don't live for your friend. It's not attributed to yourself, so you don't live for yourself. If God said you were here because of Me, then you can only live for the One Who put you together for this life. He said, "I told you, yeah, sure, I fashioned." That means that I took time out to say, "Especially put you together for what it is I want you to do." If I put you together for what it is I want you to do, then I will dictate what you do. Because if I put you together for what I want you to do, and you don't do what I want you to do, then I didn't put you together for what I want you to do. Because whatever I put together does what I wanted to do. That's why you're losing some friends, because they don't fit in the plan of God for what God wants you to do. Oh, help me tonight. Can I take my time? They turn the clock. Oh, they turned it all. It is formed for His purpose. He didn't form you for your purpose. And so consequently, He has to get the notion of your purpose out of you in order to reinstate His purpose in you.
Now, the struggle is, once I have begun to move in my purpose, and God then begins to turn me from my purpose to His purpose, and that doesn't happen easily. I went to Moses just for a little bit here, and and and and I want you to see something that that that was profound in my thought. When God spared Moses, and I'm going to talk about Jeremiah, just allow me to, you know, just this little addendum. And he, he saves Moses from Pharaoh, but he puts Moses in Pharaoh's house. The decadence of Egypt now becomes a part of Moses' life before Moses becomes aware of God's purpose. If you notice, he spends 40 years in Pharaoh's house. Then God takes 40 years in the desert to get the 40 years of Pharaoh out of Moses. Oh, God. And then He puts him 40 years to take Israel from Egypt. Do you see what I mean? You see, you think God only began to deal with your life when you came to church? But God was working in your past to make your present more powerful. You don't want to admit where you're coming from, but if it wasn't for where you're coming from, you wouldn't be able to go where you go. Because of the purpose of God has to be established. Once we have begun to move in time, anything that God has purposed, He purposed before you got here. But you have to come to the cognizance, you have to come to the spiritual consciousness of what it is God intends for you to do.
Let's go to the next level here. When God has said it in eternity, it has to be revealed in time. Because everything that God purposes is challenged by the enemy. Any time He entrusts a gift in anybody, and He entrusts His purpose in anybody, the enemy attacks immediately. I couldn't understand this because I was confused. I thought that if God insisted, there should be no problem. And and this is Jeremiah's dilemma right through here. Because the gift of God is shrouded in mystery. Which means that through eternity, the enemy does not know what God intends. If you understand that, you understand then that the mystery only keeps the enemy away. Because the enemy cannot attack God anyway. He attacks God because God is pristine in His power. He is omnipotent, and there is nothing the enemy can do because the gift is in the hand of God, and it's shrouded in mystery. Once the gift is presented to the recipient or the carrier of the gift, that's the only time the gift can be attacked. Because the gift cannot be attacked in the pristine power of an omnipotent God, because there's no enemy that can get to God to stop God from doing what He's going to do. But once the gift is transferred into the human vessel, let me just see what you begin to pray. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." You have just volunteered your earthly vessel for a heavenly treasure.
Interestingly enough, the enemy did not know you were designated until God transfers an eternal gift in time. It is critical here because he cannot attack God, but he can attack you. I couldn't understand this. I got beside myself because I said, "When, Lord, how do you give me a gift and allow the trials of life to come?" And what God is saying here to me is, the gift, once I give it, opens the door for the enemy to attack your character. He can't destroy the gift, but if he can destroy you, you won't use the gift. Here, this is why when you're gifted, you cannot expect to be gifted and not attacked. Oh, God, I wish you could understand this, because there is no way that the enemy is going to get to the gift other than through you. But the only problem is, by the time the enemy finds out that you have the gift, how about I work this? How about I work this? You have to understand the premise. Can I teach? I'll hope a little later, but if you just allow me right through here, you see, how do you attack the gift? How do you attack the purposes of God? You were tapped by attacking the vessel that God has given the gift to.
Now, all of us believe Jesus is God. And the difficult thing here is, in James, he says, "God cannot be tempted, neither tempteth He any man." Jesus, the Son of God, is God. But Jesus can be attacked. Why can't He be attacked when the Father can't? Because Jesus has an element that the Father does not have. And that is because I know, I know, I know it on the negative, because to Holy Spirit. Now, can I? God is never reactionary. Touch your neighbors. I know you're going through something, but it's because you're gifted. I know, I know they're talking about you, but that's because you're gifted. I know they don't like you, but that's because it is here. Now that we grasp the significance, because of the mystery. Understand the mystery. On the mystery is, is it's something that God holds in His hand, and it's only revealed by His Spirit. It is not intellectual. It is not intellectual because you cannot gain this knowledge outside of the revelatory expression of the Holy Spirit. You can't get it. So when God reveals it, and you become cognizant of your calling, that's when the devil finds it out. He does not find it out before the end. He is going to do you.
You see, there's a difference now. And and I'm going to work. There's a difference then between seeking God to help facilitate your goals and dreams, and being given a divine assignment to fulfill His calling. I said to the Lord, I said, "Now, what are you talking about here?" He said, "He said, there's a difference between you asking Me to help you to do what you want to do, than for Me to reveal that I own you." I said, "Well, how is it different?" He said, "Well, it's the difference between being in the army and being in the reserves." In the reserve, you just come in every now and then and do your little bit. But now, when I called you, you're in My army. I said, "Lord, some of us might not get that." He said, "Well, it's the difference between taking a woman out occasionally when you have time, and marrying one." Because then you're with her even when you're not seeing her. I said, "Lord, help me with this." He said, "It's the difference between a request for bacon and eggs when you ask the chicken and the hog." He said, "Because the chicken can live and keep on living. But the hog, that's your guardian." You see, when you operate within the parameters of My choice, and operate in the parameters of His choice, you're dealing with something totally and profound. I said, "Well, that must take it theologically." And if you doubt it, just go to the wilderness with Jesus. As He walks in the temptation of the enemy, He refutes and refuses Him on every side. When I see Jesus under temptation, I see the Master, the Word. I see that Jesus gets me and now I have a total. When He's facing the devil, He can move things up and down. He is facing God to help Him get through 40 days of fasting. But when it came for His purpose, He began to say, "Nevertheless, not My will, but Thy will be done." It seems to me that it was easier to handle temptation than it was to handle the purpose of God.
Can I just take it a little further? You will not prevail over misunderstanding people like you will prevail over misunderstanding God. You will not prevail over losing a million-dollar house like you would over losing your church. You will not prevail. Oh God, I know it's truth, over losing your church. But you sure would have a problem losing your anointing in the middle of His mess. You can take my crown, you can take my kingdom, you can take my house, but one thing, don't you ever take from me. Don't take my anointing. Can I say this to you in all humility? It is easier facing the devil than it is facing God. Because when I face the devil, I got God to help me. But when I face God, I feel the Holy Ghost. And so now it brings me to the text. When you understand this, you see now that this man has been moved by God. Jeremiah understood. He said, "What? I know these people. I know their behavior, and I know how they act. I really don't want to do this. I don't want to do this at all." Moved by God, rushed to take the job. It's people who don't know what they're getting into. I feel like preaching in here. Yeah. Oh, yeah. If you run a poll on folks, and you go down checking people who have great ministries, they were not running into that job. They had something else to do that was making good money. This ain't about money, honey. You can't pay me to preach. Yeah, you ain't got enough money to pay me to preach. Because it's like fire. I let that alone for a while. Give somebody a high five. It is Jeremiah who is singing now, "Lord, I don't want to do this." And God begins to move on him to be a prophet. He is now prophesying, and the more he speaks, and the more God shows his gift, the more the enemy comes after him. He is not in the middle of his ministry, and it would seem now that he should have no problems. And all of a sudden, he is faced with a man called Pashur. Not sure held the office of Ben-Jamin, and the chief is the commander. He occupies the front. He is also a which means that he's a superintendent. Not only is he the chief, but he's the overseer of everybody in the house of God. I want you to notice that in spite of his position, God brings Jeremiah in, who is what we call a man of God. One man is inspired. So Jeremiah is in there because of inspiration. Because of oversight in terms of appointment. When you look at Pashur, he's in position because of his birth. Jeremiah is in position because of his calling. One man was born in place, another man was born out of place, but called in to place. God, I hope somebody's with me here tonight. Touch your neighbor and say, "It's calling that matters. It's calling. It's calling."
Now, can I take it just a little further? Pashur held the office of chief overseer in the house of the Lord by appointment of man, according to the virtue of birth, which means that he came into the job without any spiritual awareness. How can you be spirited without spiritual awareness? Now, if you will understand this, you will see then that Pashur is naturally selected, but Jeremiah is supernaturally selected. One man is coming by merit of his intellect, the other man is coming by merit of his contact. God, I feel it now. Anytime the devil notices your contact, naturally, because he wants to shut your mouth before it gets out. He wants to kill your gift while it's still in the belly. Now, Pashur is in place because of appointment. Jeremiah is in place because of anointing. One is appointed, the other is anointed. Can I take it to the next level? At this point, Jeremiah is the first man in a second position. I don't know. I've never been there. But think about David. And think about the song. God anoints David to make him king. He's still the king. David, and you have to be in the first person position. Victory shall be mine. Because when God gets ready, He's gonna flip. I feel like I know what's going on now.
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It was his duty to put you in. [Music] Around me. He's trying to understand. Outside power isn't always equivalent to inside power. Because it's the inside that determines. Are you really Paul? Or are you really gifted? Opposed role is over the supernatural. Now, remember that Jeremiah is God is. And Pashur's father was the natural. Always was. The supernatural is always. Is. I feel like preaching now. Some church. Jeremiah refused to complain. Sad in his heart. But one day, it hurt him so bad. He said, "Lord, thou hast deceived me." In other words, "I'm totally gone because I don't understand what I'm going through." With all the gifts that you've shown me, by now, folks wouldn't line up behind me and feel like I'm the best thing in the world. What it looks like, the greater the anointing, the greater the affliction. But I'm beginning to find out what is a real anointing. Because if it wasn't real, I'd quit a long time ago. Shake somebody's hand. Said, "I tried to quit." But the fire, I know it's real. They tried to walk on me. They tried to wipe me out. But every time I said to myself on the inside, shake somebody's hand, telling me they tried to shut me up, but I got more joy.
[Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in his house. [Applause] Just somebody won't go. I don't care what they go out. I know what you got is real. Here, that stuff is real. By the way, they hate you. Look at your father. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Somebody said, "What I got is real, but it's been tested." You're gifted. Gifted. I'm closing because I should. But I want you to notice something else at work now. What should get one person by both hands in a moment? Paul says to Timothy, he says, "Timothy, be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God." And I'm saying, that sounds awfully ambiguous, if not contradictory. Because I'm saying, "Lord, according to is not out of." I mean, I can have a billion dollars, and you say, "Brother, I'd say, 'I'm gonna give you something out of what I have.'" So fine, and I'll give you three dollars. I didn't lie. I gave it to you out of. But if I say, "I'm gonna give it to you according to," I'm talking about everything I have. And here is what seems ambiguous to me. If you were going to give me power out of all you have, why should there be any effect? And the answer is simply, if you're gifted, you're going to have affliction. Because you've got an inner sleeve, you got an outer sleeve, but it's one sleeve. And whenever God shows you that you were gifted, and when you realize it, the enemy found it out too. So now, when he attacks, the same power that gives me is the same power that protects.
[Applause] But the process rules that what I have is real. Take somebody by both hands. Preachers, get a hold to each other. If anybody ought to hold each other, we ought to hold each other. You're gifted. You're gifted. Peter said, "Think it not strange. It's not unusual for the gospel." You're gifted. You've been attacked. I know it was God's will for me to go to Jamaica because I was attacked. They pushed the bus like they wanted to push the saints over. Ah, but when folks began to speak in other tongues, and the anointing filled the bus, gifted Jairus. Head. And Jeremiah said, "I didn't understand, but I can't shut my mouth." Preach your way out of it. Sing your way out of it. Dance your way out of it. [Applause] Worship your way out of it. But give your way out of it. Whatever He gifted you to do, just keep on doing it because the fire won't go out. They've given you three months. That devil is alive. You can't stop what God has ordained from the foundation of the world. And He knew what you'd go through. I want you to hold your brother, your sister. Time to. I want you to hold them like they're on the edge of suicide. I want you to hold them like you know what they're going through. I want you to hold them like the anointing of God is going to pass from you to them. You have become against many trials. This has been a year of trials. Last year, the year before, the year before. But God told me to tell you that the trials are about over. God said, "I've proven to the enemy that you will not fall." Baa, baa, baa. I'm tired of us. I've proven to the enemy you will not fall because your fire will go on. God told me to tell you, "I'm getting ready to turn up your plane. I'm getting ready to put you on high. I'm getting ready to put you so high that you're gonna burn up the neighborhood with your zeal and with your anointing. I'm getting ready to turn you up that when you go in a nation, all over the globe will know that God has anointed you." When they bring up the lies, it'll consume it. When they bring up the conspiracies, it'll consume it. When they bring up the negatives, it'll consume it. When they try to put you down, they'll be consumed by the power of your anointing. And I claim it in the name of Jesus. Squeeze your brother's hand. I put in a new, fresh power of God. I'm turning up the fuel of the Holy Ghost, the fuel of the Word of God. Expect in the next few weeks an internal combustion that's going to light up your circumstance, your household, your family, in the name of Jesus. You are coming through a trial into a season of victory. You are all about. You have been strong, proven the fact. It's not by power, it's not by might. We hope this message was a true blessing. To inquire about other ministry products, write to us at Noel Jones Ministries.