Transcription
We desperately need God to change the course of our nation. Things are happening rapidly in the world. The devil is on a rampage, and it's affecting the work of God in many places. God must help us. God must help us. Can you say amen? God must help us tonight.
Come, Holy Spirit! Oh, come, Holy Spirit!
In 1 Timothy 3:16, the Bible says, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the nations, believed on in the world, and received up into glory."
In Deuteronomy 29:29, it says, "The secret things belong unto our God, but those which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
Now, the Bible is very clear that the kingdom of God is a mystery. When I use the word "mystery," it does not mean that it cannot be known; it means that this is something that God is revealing in His own time frame. The work of God is enclosed and given meaning in those words: mystery.
In this passage of scripture that we've read tonight, there is an unfolding revelation of profound dimensions. This is a time when God is revealing Himself through a manifestation of His presence by the Holy Spirit. Truth is not just a doctrine; truth in this context is an encounter. In that encounter, it is an experience with God in the Holy Spirit.
Oh, come tonight, Holy Spirit! Come, Holy Spirit!
Tonight, I'm not talking about religion; I'm talking about a manifestation of God's presence. God can change all the dimensions of our lives, our churches, our nation, and the world in one moment of time. When the Holy Spirit begins to manifest, I want to talk to you tonight about the manifested presence.
First of all, I want to discuss the biblical revelation in the words I've just spoken and in this passage of scripture in 1 Timothy 3:16.
First, we need to come to grips with a word called "Godhead." This word, when you begin to understand it, is clearly seen as a biblical word. The mystery of that confronts us when we begin to talk about the manifest presence of God. Romans 1:20 says, "For the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."
So here we're talking about the manifestation of God: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, eternally manifest in what is known as the Godhead or the Trinity. Enclosed in that is the thought of omnipresence.
Here we come to grips with an attribute of the divine nature. In Exodus 3:14, Moses has an encounter with God. God is going to bring deliverance to His people who have become enslaved in Egypt. In Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, "I am that I am." He said, "Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you."
Now think about that: "I am." Here is the eternally self-evident, self-existent, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator who has encountered Moses and says, "Say to them, I am has sent me to you."
We have solid biblical references, such as Proverbs 15:3: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."
Jeremiah 32:19 says, "Great in counsel and mighty in work, for Thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doing."
Hebrews 4:13 states, "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
So here is the Godhead. Here is the "I am." Here is the eternally existent Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here is the one who is omniscient; He knows everything. Here is the one who is omnipotent, meaning He has all power. Here is the one who is omnipresent, meaning He is everywhere present. He inhabits the universe; He sees, He actively moves, and He governs.
Jesus verbalizes this mystery in John 3:13: "And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven." Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who came by night, seeing the miracles that He did and puzzled by this.
Jesus speaks these profound words: "No man has ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven."
Now we're talking about a profound mystery. God manifested Himself in the flesh according to the text we have in John 1:1-2: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God."
Verse 14 says, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
So here we have God's presence everywhere, and this is spoken by Emmanuel, God with us. I'm not explaining this tonight; I'm declaring this.
Some may say, "I don't understand that." I don't understand it either. I'm not trying to explain it; I'm declaring it because this is the word of God.
We're talking tonight about the manifest presence of God. This has a redemptive element to it that we might not think about at first.
There are certain essentials we need to look at when discussing the eternal God. We must come to grips with divine justice. This God who governs and rules has certain laws, and in divine justice, it means that divine laws have been broken.
Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," or broken God's laws. Because of that, there is a demand for atonement. In other words, that broken law must be paid for, which is called sin, and it must be paid for because the just God cannot just say, "Well, we'll forget about that."
This has the thought of atonement, which explains the cross referred to in 1 Timothy 3:16. It says, "Believed on in the world."
In Matthew 16:13, when Jesus came to the borders of Caesarea of Philippi, He asked His disciples, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" They said, "Some say that you're John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."
He said unto them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Now that's the question tonight that you have to come to grips with in this service in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This explains the cross. Many witnesses witnessed what we read in 1 Timothy 3:16. One of these was the Roman Centurion who was there on that fateful day when Jesus was crucified. When he saw all this take place, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God."
There were various works and many witnesses who brought testimony to this. As he bore testimony to that, this is the vicarious work accomplished by God in justification, enabling us to forgive our sin and manifest Himself to us, in us, and through us.
In Romans 3:24-25, it says, "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation or a sacrifice through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God."
Let's ponder this for a moment. In 1 John 2:2, the Bible says, "And He, that's Jesus Christ, is the propitiation or the satisfaction for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Herein is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation or the satisfaction for our sins.
Not only that, but the Bible says this precarious act of Him paying the price for you and me has destroyed the works of the devil. In 1 John 3:8, the Bible says, "For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."
Now this is a theological term. In other words, the action has been accomplished; the deed has been done. But the benefit of that must be executed; otherwise, we're just talking about religion.
We're just gathering together, singing religious songs, wearing suits and ties, talking spiritually, and nothing is accomplished. But that must be executed in the spirit realm.
This brings me to the main point of this sermon tonight: the manifestation of the divine presence and victory over sin. Thank God, there is victory over sin!
I said there is victory over sin tonight!
Victory over sin! We're living in a generation when sin is triumphing. It's triumphing in the public sphere, in the realms of government, in individual personalities, and in churches where it should never triumph.
It's triumphing in leaders of churches, but thank God it does not have to triumph. Can you say amen?
Every time a human being responds to the message I have just preached, there is a spiritual transaction that happens. People are born again; they are delivered from the dominion of darkness.
Colossians 1:12-14 notes, "Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins."
Now we're talking about dominion. When dominion over sin and the powers of hell is gained, there is a manifestation of God's presence.
So now let's bring this down to where the rubber meets the road and talk about this glorious promise that we must grasp tonight.
Jesus emphasized this in John, and in the closing chapter, He gives the transition. In John 14:26, He says, "But the Comforter, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you."
This again is a mystery. I'm not trying to explain this to you; I'm declaring this. Did you hear what I said?
Christianity has become cerebral to most people who claim to be Christians. In the cerebral, they're trying to explain God. God is waiting for you to declare Him and to demonstrate Him.
In Colossians 1:26-27, it says, "Even the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Oh, what richness!
Come, Holy Spirit! Can you say amen?
Come, Holy Spirit in me!
Come, Holy Spirit in this congregation!
Come, Holy Spirit in this fellowship!
Come, Holy Spirit in this name!
This is what we need. This is what we must have because our calling is God made present.
Look at this text that we read: "Justified in the Spirit, made manifest in human experience," triggering an arena for the manifested presence of God.
The Bible says when Jesus was ministering, there went power out of Him and healed them all. We're talking about the manifested presence of God, and that's what God has called you and me to—not just to be religious, but to manifest God in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Now we talk about a promise of an experience. In Luke 24:49, Jesus said to the disciples, "And behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high."
In Acts 1:8, it says, "But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."
Manifested power, manifested presence—that is more than a doctrine; it is an experience.
Thank God Pastor Foley preached earlier this week. Not only did he preach, but he stopped and demonstrated, allowing people to be Pentecostal. Can you say amen?
He allowed people to manifest themselves in the Holy Ghost. That's what God has called us to perform.
In Acts 2:1-4, it says, "And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Peter stood up and preached and said, "This is that which was prophesied by the prophet Joel." In other words, this is a tipping point in God's manifestation.
Now there's going to be not just the Spirit of God coming upon those that believe, but now inhabiting, expressing Himself through them.
That's recorded in scripture, and it caused such a commotion that people came running from everywhere to see what on earth this was.
When I was a new convert in Phoenix, Arizona, in an old church where my wife and I were saved, I was kneeling at the altar. Some man laid his hand on my shoulder, and as he did that, there was no instruction, no hype going on, no program.
He just laid his hands on me as others were kneeling at the altar, and I heard the sound of a rushing mighty wind fill that place. I thought someone left the door open, but there was a feeling inside me, which was God coming inside to live.
Hallelujah! I was gloriously and wonderfully filled with the Holy Spirit, changed my entire life in that moment because God came inside to dwell in a new dimension.
The book of Acts is the book of the Holy Spirit. We recently showed a little video about the Asbury Seminary Methodist Seminary, a visitation of the Holy Spirit. I believe the title of that was "When God Comes."
Now pay attention to me for a moment because I've been reading books on revival, and it stirs me afresh and anew. We're talking about times when there is no instruction given.
We're talking about times when perhaps two or three people are praying, or a little band is praying, and God comes on the scene.
Let me read to you a very interesting quote from one of these books.
Set an example of this: When God comes, it happened at Amall on the Isle of Lewis in the 1940s. Towards the close of a prayer meeting in the home of an elder, the local blacksmith was asked to pray.
Listen, his prayer turned to the promises of God and his own thirst for God and concluded, "Oh God, Your honor's at stake, and I now challenge You to fulfill Your covenant engagement and do what You have promised to do."
A blacksmith, not a preacher—a blacksmith!
"Oh God, I'm challenging You to do what You have promised to do." At that moment, the house shook, and dishes rattled in the sideboard as wave after wave of divine power swept through the house.
When this group was praying, people closed the prayer meeting and went outside. They found the community alive with an awareness of God.
We cannot explain this, nor do we need to. It's simply an example of a powerful presence of God in revival prayer meetings.
The Bible tells us of people who went to get cloths from the Apostle Paul's body, and just by laying those cloths on bodies, people were healed—a manifestation of God's presence.
The Bible tells us about people who went to get the sick and laid them on the streets on cots so that the shadow of Peter passing by might simply fall upon them, and they were manifestly and wonderfully healed.
Because we're talking about the manifested presence of God.
Now listen to me carefully. In Luke 12, the Bible says Jesus said, "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached, and the violent take it by force."
In Luke 16:16, almost those same words are spoken, using terminology that gives us the imagery of people laying hold of a spiritual dimension by their actions that force things to happen in the spirit realm.
"Oh God, I challenge You to fulfill Your covenant and Your promise," a blacksmith prayed that prayer, and God manifested Himself not only among those groups in a visible manifestation but the whole community was stirred by an awakening by the hand of God.
Now go back to what I said. Jesus said in Matthew 16, just after Peter had confessed that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, He said to him, "I give you the keys of the kingdom of God. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Now all of us have read those three interesting texts, but when we're talking about keys, we're talking about someone who has been given authority.
We have people who have keys to our building. The reason they have keys is that they have the authority to be in that building and to open it. The keys are simply a conferral of authority to act.
So when Jesus said to these believers, "Yes, I am the Son of God," then He said, "I give you the keys." You have authority in the spirit realm to command spiritual dimensions, power over demons.
He had already given them power over sickness and disease. He was saying, "Now I want you to act upon that."
Let me give you a couple of hints. Greg told our congregation he was teaching on money. He said that when he was pastoring in Wickenburg, Arizona, even the mice were so dry that they were looking for water somewhere because nothing was happening.
A group of old folks hadn't thought about God in 20 years.
Here my wife and I are coming with five kids, going to pastor that church. The money was small and few and far between. God began to deal with me about this business of taking dominion.
I went into the church one day, and as I was praying, I said, "Devil, you take your hand off the money that belongs to God. I command you now to release that."
That same day, a knock at our door. A lady handed my wife an envelope. This would have been in 1961. She said, "I just remembered we sold a house, and we haven't paid the tithe on that."
Inside that envelope were eleven $100 bills.
Now I know you don't think that's very much money, but in 1960, that was an awful lot of money.
A little bit later, another lady came and said, "Pastor, I just remembered that I have some tithe of some $300 and something dollars."
That was a direct response to my prayer, taking authority over the devil in the realm of finances that belong to that church.
We're talking about taking dominion.
Many people say, "Yes, I've got the Spirit; I've got power." But what are you doing with it?
When you pray for the sick, let me let you in on a little secret. When I began to get results, I prayed for the sick. I had a bottle of oil in the pulpit. You're supposed to anoint people with oil.
I don't know how many people I prayed for, put oil on their forehead, and nothing happened. I never had a single soul ever say, "I feel better."
But I began to get some insight and change because God gives believers authority.
When Jesus gave authority to the disciples over sickness and disease, He expected them to exercise that dominion and authority.
I said this does no good unless it is executed.
I began to change how I prayed for the sick. I no longer asked God to do what He asked me to do and gave me authority to do. I took dominion and commanded the foul spirits of disease and infirmity to leave those bodies and spoke to the spirit world.
I began to see people get healed.
Many pastors have no clue that there are witchcraft covenants in your area that are exercising against you right now while you're sitting in this tent tonight.
If you don't know that, why be stupid? You'll never get victory and dominion in every community.
Many pastors have testified they found that out by accident, by backsliders being involved.
But you have to take dominion over the devil. God gives you dominion.
In Luke 10, Jesus sent the seventy out. They had been given authority over sickness and disease and demonic power. They came back and said, "Demons are subject unto us."
Jesus said to them, "Don't rejoice because the demons are subject unto you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
Hang on to this: that means that every believer who has bowed the knee to Jesus Christ and is born again has dominion.
They have been logged into what the ancients called in the city of heaven. They were written in a book.
So-and-so was born. From that moment, they had rights in that community they were born in.
When you were born into the family of God, your name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life in heaven.
At that moment, every demon in hell knew who you were and had to respond to your words.
We're talking about authority.
"I give you the keys."
I didn't know how to give you methodology. I didn't say, "I give you authority."
But that authority does you no good unless you exercise it against the evil forces of darkness.
Now I'm giving you a challenge in the conclusion of this: to pray.
That challenge is to pray for America. But when I say to pray for America, don't just say, "God, You've got to do something."
God said to you, "You do something."
Are you just simply coming to prayer to say, "Oh God, it's terrible; it's getting worse and worse. You know what Obama is. Lord, You know what Hillary is. We have doubts about Donald."
And God said to you, "I want you to take authority."
If you will begin to exercise your authority, you can begin to bind the powers of hell that have brought the horrible direction that our country is going.
You can change the course of this nation.
You can change the course of this nation.
We are executors of the kingdom of God.
Jesus said, "I give you the keys, the authority of the kingdom of God."
Where God's will is done, there is the kingdom present.
And with every head bowed, I want every eye closed.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.