In this sermon, the preacher highlights the lack of time people have for prayer and Bible study due to their busy lives and distractions. He emphasizes the importance of prioritizing God and spending time with Him. The preacher challenges the audience to consider if they would still love and serve Jesus if they received no worldly blessings or miracles. He also references biblical stories where Jesus demonstrated his power over death and the devil, but was rejected by his own people in Nazareth. The sermon concludes with a call for a revival of Bible study and a personal testimony of a friend who experienced a spiritual transformation.

In Mark the 5th chapter, Jesus demonstrated his power over death and the devil. You see him cast the legion of demons out of the Gadarenes, who'd lived among the tombs. In the same chapter, he raises the daughter of Jairus from the dead, while the whole household of people laugh at him. He astonished the crowds, and then marveled at his power. You see him in the 5th chapter, spreading his fame far and near. In the 6th chapter of Mark, we find Christ coming to his own country, Nazareth, to visit his own people. These are his friends, his family, his citizens, those who know him best. But he came to his own, and his own received him not. They were offended by him, the man who had just demonstrated all power over death and the devil, could do no miracles in their midst, and he marveled at their unbelief. Christ was incredulous, unbelief had tied his hands. But it was in Nazareth that Jesus spoke these very profound and prophetic words. You hear it. A prophet had no honor in his own country, among his own kin, and in his own house. He said that to Jews, who all their lifetime had prayed and yearned for Messiah, but when he came, they cast him aside. John the Baptist, the prophet who baptized him, later had doubts about him. His own brothers and sisters didn't believe in him. God's chosen people became his greatest enemy. And how true that scripture, a man's foes will be they of his own household. You know, today we marvel at the blindness of these people. How could they not know the Son of God? How could the Savior of mankind walk among the men of this world and be a stranger? But we're no different. The words of Christ were so prophetic. It's possible for Jesus to get less honor in his own house, among his own people, than anywhere in the world, because the worst kind of rejection comes from those who are supposed to love us the most. And Christ keeps coming to his own again and again, and his own receiving not again and again. And so it is at this present time, because I believe that Christ often in our own service has walked as a stranger among us, as surely as he walked among the Jews, ignored and cast aside. And all they used him, they brought to him those sick and afflicted to be healed. They came for the loaves and the fishes. They brought their children to be blessed. They wanted their water turned to wine, and then they discarded him. They put him to an open shame. They killed him. His own people did it. And we're still putting Christ afresh to an open shame. We still ignore him. We still discard him. And I tell you that it's possible to gather thousands of spirit-filled people in one place, praising and lifting up their hands, and still have Christ walking among us as a stranger. Now he said where two or three are gathered, my name, there am I in the midst. But he can be in our midst as a stranger, ignored, unrecognized, even by those who say they meet in his name. The Jews did the same. They gathered every Sabbath in the synagogue. They spoke of his name. They prophesied of his coming. They praised the Father who promised to send him. They spoke his name with awe and reverence. Then when he came, when he walked among them, he was unrecognized. He was a stranger. Could it be possible that in the midst of a spirit-filled congregation, Christ walks as a stranger to those who speak his name, to those who worship the Father who sent him, a stranger to those who sing his hosanna and call him Lord, Lord? Yes, absolutely. And it's happening today. And let me tell you from my heart three ways that we so-called spirit-filled people, and I don't like the term it's a gift that others are not. Well, let me tell you how charismatic people often are guilty of making stranger of Christ in our midst. First of all, we make Christ a stranger by giving the Holy Spirit preeminence over him. Christ and Christ alone must be the center of all our life and our worship. This has been God's plan from the foundation of the world. He loved his own son and gave him his fullness even before the foundation of the world, before we were ever created. That they may behold my glory, he said, which thou hast given me, O God, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleads the Father that in him all fullness should dwell, that in all things Christ might have the preeminence. That means he's distinguished and spoken of above all others, having first place, that not even the Holy Ghost be exalted before his name, because the Holy Ghost leads nowhere but to the cross. The upper room must never overshadow the cross. The blessed Holy Spirit is not the Lord, he shows us the Lord, he brings us to the Lord. And I believe he's desperately trying to get all Pentecostals back to the cross. To the cross. When the Holy Spirit alone becomes the center of our attention, the church gets out of focus. You see, the Holy Spirit did come down upon Christ in the baptismal waters and he came as a dove. And the dove said, this is God's beloved Son in whom he is well pleased. Hear ye him? Now, the attention was not on the dove but the Lamb. The dove came to exalt the Lamb of God. Christ told his disciples that Pentecost was coming. The Spirit would be outpoured but for a single purpose, to give power to men and women to witness to the resurrection and the atonement of Jesus Christ. To give power to those who would witness to it. It was to be a power given to all who would lift up the name of Jesus. And I resent power being turned in any other way but to give glory to Christ. Nothing else is power. But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall be witnesses unto me to the uttermost parts of the world. And Jesus made it very clear, when the Spirit comes he will not draw attention to himself but he will focus on my words, he will exalt me. When he, the Spirit of truth has come, he shall not speak of himself, he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and he will show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore say to you that he shall take of mine and he will reveal it to you. He will show you my glory, my power, my kingdom. He will remind you of all my words. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is not fellowship. It is not ecstasy. It is not to teach you an unlearned tongue. The Spirit has come to exalt Christ. To bring all mankind to the truth that Christ alone is Lord. The Spirit is not joy, it is not peace, it is not comfort, it is not truth. Christ is. The Spirit guides us to him who is all in all. The Spirit did not bleed in God. Christ did. Christ alone is the Redeemer. Christ alone is the Advocate. If you tell me the Holy Ghost is your Advocate, you are wrong, you are unscrupulous. Christ is the Advocate and the Holy Ghost comes to make that way into the world. It is not enough to say that the Spirit is bringing us closer to each other. He has got to bring us closer to Christ. We often speak of the Holy Ghost ten times to one over Christ. We talk about a baptism above an atonement. There is nothing wrong in trying to get people baptized with the Holy Ghost. We better understand what we are promoting. We are promoting Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit because a baptism of the Holy Ghost is a baptism of the love of Jesus Christ. It is a baptism of Christ's fullness. Anybody who speaks with tongues has got to know it is a gift simply to help us glorify Jesus all the more. And if it is used any other way, it is wrong. It didn't come just to make us better buddies. He sent the Holy Ghost to fire our souls over lost humanity, to get us out in the highways and hedges to the unsaved, to shake up our lazy lifestyles and get us back to doing His work. And I believe the Holy Spirit will withdraw even from charismatic the moment men try to exalt Him above the Son of God. He will not permit His power to be abused by those who want only the gift and not Christ the giver. The Holy Ghost is given by Christ. What is a truly Holy Ghost meeting? I believe we went to a Holy Ghost meeting tonight. Is that where everybody speaks with tongues? Is that where people are being simply healed and where saints are jumping for joy? Where the people are prophesying? Oh, more, much more than that, folks. It's where Christ is being exalted, where His holiness is piercing the soul, where men and women fall before a Holy Son of God and say, Oh, it's me, sanctify me, cleanse me, O Lord. The moving of the Holy Spirit is a moving closer to Christ. It's a deepening in Christ. It's a greater submission to His Lordship. And if you're going to speak in the Spirit, it's when you say, Be exalted, O Lord Jesus. Secondly, Christ is made a stranger when people praise Him but will not praise to Him. We praise a Christ to whom we will not praise. We praise a Christ to whom we will not praise. We've become a praising people but not a praying people. For many of God's people, charismatic people included, the prayer closet's a relic of the past. Why ask God for what He's already given? Why ask God for what He's already promised by here at faith? Just get a promise and claim it and go after it. We don't want Christ anymore. We want only what He offers us. We want escape from pain and suffering. We want our troubles to vanish. We're so caught up in our escape from pain. We need the true meaning of the cross. This is a generation to refuse crosses and losses. We don't want Gethsemane. We don't want a sweat drop of blood. We don't want any nights of agony. We don't even know the suffering Jesus anymore. We don't know Him. The church once confessed its sins. Now it confesses its rights. How many of us would serve Jesus? How many of us would love Him and serve Him if He offered us nothing but Himself? No healing, no success, no prosperity, no worldly blessing, no miracles, no tithes, no wonders? What if once again we had to take joyfully the sporting of our goods? Our houses bankrupt? What if instead of the clear sailing and problem-free living we so desire, we face shipwrecks, fears within and fightings without? What if instead of painless living we suffer cruel mocking, stoning, bloodshed, being sawn asunder? What if instead of our beautiful homes and cars we had to wander about in deserts and steep skins, hiding in can-dens and caves? What if like Stephen we had to be stoned? And like James had to be killed? Like Paul shipwrecked? And what if instead of prosperity we were destitute, afflicted, and tormented, and the only better thing offered for us was Christ? You know the Lord Himself said it's possible to do many mighty works in His name, to cast out demons, to heal the sick and still not know Him? It doesn't matter how much you pray in the formula in the name of Jesus. It doesn't matter how many people you heal in His name. It matters not how many demons you can scatter in the authority of His name. It matters not how many great things you accomplish in His name. What really matters is do you really know Him? Do you? Very few of God's people pray anymore. We're too busy working for Jesus to talk to Him. Ministers especially, and all this is the grief of my heart and my troubles. Ministers are becoming too busy to do kingdom, they're so busy doing kingdom work there's no time left to pray. You see Christ come into the shadows standing outside the office door and He says to the pastor, Man of God, can I have an hour please? Not now Lord, I've got a counseling session, I've got to try to save a marriage. Again the Spirit calls, Man of God, may I have an hour with you? Not now Lord, I'm meeting with my architect and building committee for your new church. We'll be busy till midnight. Again the Lord calls, what about tomorrow? May I have even one day with you now? Not now Lord, I have no time. I'm leaving for South Africa for a missions conference. Very soon Lord, not just now, souls are dying, I need it in Africa. And oh there you have it. I had a minister tell me recently who has time to pray. A minister of a great church two weeks ago said, David, I haven't prayed in two years, or rather one year. I've had meditation, I've had devotion, but I haven't prayed. And that's why they came up frustrated building contractors. We have time to visit, to build, to travel, to vacation, to attend meetings for recreation, reading, counseling, visitation, but no time to pray. Preachers who do not pray become promoters. When they lose touch with God, they lose touch with their people and their needs. Preachers who don't pray have egos that spin out of control. They want their own way, they substitute sweats for unction. They get whipped up like a circus horse running in circles. Evangelists who do not pray become stars, storytellers. They lack humility, so they manipulate the crowds through emotional gimmicks. Their preaching becomes a contradiction at the very center of their hearts. Preachers who don't pray don't even know what the times are saying. They preach their headlines, but they don't preach the mind of the Holy Ghost. Preachers who do not pray have no power over the rulers of darkness. They don't even know that this battle is going on. They're on the sidelines playing with some earthly pet project. They're not in the Holy Ghost battle because only praying men touch God. I'll tell you there'll be less and less clapping as I go on. How many pastors have cried this? Oh, I've heard it all over the country. How many pastors cry this? Oh, God, where can I find an evangelist who doesn't care about money? One who's not promoting something. One who can bring heaven down and make Christ real. Oh, God, give me at least one man, one praying man to bring my congregation to its knees. God, give us one evangelist. God is not obligated to teach the unction on anyone who doesn't pray. The shame of this generation is that we have too many talented men and only a few touching God in prayer. And there's even less praying in the congregation. Now, I'm 100% for getting prayer back in our public schools. 100%. But that's not the problem. Not at all. That's not God's problem. His problem is to get prayer back in our homes. His problem is to get priests to pray. To get Christians to pray. His own chosen people to pray. And I say, you're phony. You're phony. If you fight for school prayer and you neglect your secret cause of the prayer, you can go all over the country promoting it. But unless you have a dynamic prayer with Jesus Christ, it's nothing but Tommy Braxton's inkling symbol. It means nothing. Do we pray? Oh, yes, we pray when we need something, when we've got this formula down pat in the name of Jesus. But all we seem to need Jesus for is to counter-sign a petition check before the throne of God. Just counter-sign a check. In the name of Jesus. You know, I'm weary of hearing people say, this is such a busy, fast-paced generation, we don't have time to pray today. No, it's not a lack of time, it's a lack of desire. You'll make time for what you really want to do. Look at the assistant brothers on the racquetball court. Sweating, concentrating, serious, hours and hours on the racquetball court. Imagine now he's got a Coke in hand and he's got sandwiches probably going to watch three hours of cowboy time. These are the men who tell me they have no time to pray. And here's the dear lady, she spends her time at Tupperware. She's got baby showers going. Tomorrow she goes shopping, the afternoon she's got to see what's going to happen to Laura on TV. And she tells me she has no time to pray. Look at the young people in America. Wasting their time, playing Pac-Man, Galaxy War, goofing off, bored, restless, looking for action. No time to pray. All right, teenagers, I want you to listen to me. And I have a mind of God now. Instead of playing around and goofing off, if you would spend even one day seeking Christ in prayer out of the month, if you spent just one hour a day seeking the face of Jesus, your life would become a powerful force for Christ. He would begin to show you a dying world. He could even lay an angel on your heart. He could raise you up and make your life really count. He could take you out of this restlessness of this world. He could set your soul on fire and use you. He could use you, but you don't pray. You don't talk to him. How can he get through to you? Will God somehow get this generation on its knees? Break it, not just the Lord's prayer, but a Holy Ghost communion. You say you have no time to pray, yet the very Son of God who has the care of all the multiplied universes, He has the time to pray for you. He takes the time to see before the throne of God. He prays. You say you have no time. He does. We're working so feverishly for Christ we ignore. We'll go anywhere. We'll do anything in His name, but we will not pray. We'll sing and cry, but we won't pray. We'll visit the sick and the prisoners, but we won't pray. We will counsel the hurt and needy. We'll stay up all night to comfort a friend, but we won't pray. We'll fight corruption, but we won't pray. We'll crusade for morality, but we won't pray. We'll stand up against nuclear armaments, but we won't pray. We can sit here for two hours praising God, but we won't go home and pray. We'll attend crusades and seminars, go from meeting to meeting, lift our hands and sing and shout and praise the Lord, but we don't pray. And probably because we don't believe in works. Prayer is not just a bunch of words running out of our mouth. It's not just a bunch of words to compare to people just saying words. No wonder the devil is fapping the spiritual strength of this generation because prayer is a bloody battleground. Prayer is a bloody battleground. It's where the victory is really won. It's where you die. You're part of the final conflict of the ages. Well, God doesn't need prayer. You can't get God any more interested in us than He already is. We don't have to extract God like He was some miser waiting for the highest bidder. No, He's any more willing to give than we are to receive. I think the perverted view of prayer is pagan, to think that we have to wring something out of God. No, folks, the only man who tried to wrestle with God ended up crippled the rest of his life. We don't wrestle with God, we wrestle with the giant in ourselves. We wrestle with self. No wonder the devil fights you when you go to pray. The Holy Ghost waits until the glamour is gone. He waits until the half-hearted is gone, until the pride is gone, until you quit demanding selfishly, until you're ready to lay down that secret sin in your life. And that's where our wrestling comes in. I believe that the devil will throw hell to any man who says, I'm going to pray and seek the face of God. The devil's not afraid of power-hungry saints, but he trembles at the sound of a praying saint. He knows when a man or woman has touched God. I believe the devil fears a praying man or woman more than all the religious activities in the world combined. And because we neglect prayer, we neglect His Word. We wear our Bibles like a hat or a purse. It's a nice leather accessory to bring to the crusade. We wear it. There was a time God's people didn't need a paratrooper army of psychiatrists and psychologists and family counselors. We didn't need that. I'm not against it, but there was a time we didn't need it. Because people were students of the Bible, they had the sword in their hands, and no demon or devil could withstand their power. They were into the Word. There was a time God's people had no tapes, no library of self-help books, no retreats, no specialized seminars, but they had the Word hidden in their heart, and the Word was the lamp to their feet. Now we have all these special effects. We've got the specialists, and yet we've got more despair and depression and fear and anxiety. Why? Because through our neglected prayer and the Word of God we're lost. We become spiritual sluggers, unwilling to go into the secret closet and dig out the solution, dig out the truth. We want some teacher to hand it out and spoon it out to us. And if there's anything needed in the charismatic movement, I didn't come here to set anybody straight. I'm preaching to myself these are things I've been dealing with me, and I tell you we need a revival of Bible study. Honor to goodness, Bible study. Ten years ago I had a millionaire friend who went bankrupt. He lost his mansion. And in a way he got mad at me, and I don't know why. He began to talk about me, and I lost touch with him for ten years. Two weeks ago he showed up at my front porch. Big man, with a bear hug around me, said, David, God has touched me. Oh, he was just filled with the Spirit of God. And I said, who was the preacher and where was the revival? He said, David, no preacher, no revival. Three months ago I got so desperate I'd lost everything. God told me if I'd get into the Word I'd find the answer. For the past three months I have been nothing but reading the Word of God. God has restored my spirit and soul. I'm making all my wrongs right. You're the last one I have to see. It was through the Word of God. Thirdly, Christ has made it strange, and I miss when we want His power more than His purity. We want His power more than His purity. The leader here was a friend of Brother Ravenhill. He was Englishman and director of the Pentecostal League of Prayer. And at one time he challenged a large congregation on this matter of purity and power. He said, I want everybody that wants power to line up to my right, and everybody that wants purity line up to my left. They lined up ten to one for power. Now in the book of Acts, if I read it right, Pentecost was synonymous with purity and not power. Peter told the council to listen to what God did to the house of Cornelius. He said, God gave them the Holy Ghost even as He did to us, purifying their hearts by faith. Now Jesus died to break the power of sin, and to deliver us from guilt, and He wants to raise up a holy pure body. He said, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a special people. Who is the man, who is the woman that has the power? It's the man or the woman who has the purity. It's not the one who can heal the sick and raise the dead. It's not the one who can just talk in tongues and prophesy. It's not the one who draws the biggest crowds and builds the greatest church. No, it's the righteous man, for the righteous are as bold as a lion. Who is it that has the boldness that says, enter the Holy of Holies? Only those whose bodies are washed with pure water, having their hearts sprinkled by the blood of Christ from an evil conscience. The prophet Malachi prophesied of a supernatural purging that's going to come to the house of God before Jesus comes. Now, if you are into prophecy, I don't know much about prophecy, but I know prophecy when I see it. I'm not quite a prophecy preacher. But nothing could be clearer than this prophecy of Malachi that before Jesus comes there's going to be a general purging in the church. He said, the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to His temple. Who can withstand the day of His coming? Who shall stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller soap. And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them of silver and gold that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Now, this is a dual prophecy, speaking of both His first and second coming. He's going to come again suddenly as it is in the night. But before that happens, the prophet said, God is going to purify His church. We are not ready for the coming of the Lord. Is this the kind of triumphant, covetous, divorcing, depressed, worldly-minded preaching of gospel, of prosperity, lukewarm, competitive, redolent, rich and increased with good, unawares and naked? No. No. Is this the church, pleasure-loving, recreation-minded, consumed with force and politician power? Is this the church simply coping, filled with fear and anxiety, satisfied only with health and happiness? My Bible said He's coming back for an overcoming church without spots, without wrinkles, one whose affections are on things above and not on things of this world, with clean hands and pure hearts. People are looking for His coming. People with a New Jerusalem state of mind. A New Jerusalem state of mind. Oh, there's nothing wrong with the church of Jesus Christ. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. But you know as well as I do that there are many in our midst who are sick. Now the question now, as far as the prophet Malachi is concerned, the question is not now, what can my faith get me? That question is gone. This idea, what can Christ do for me next? What miracle will He perform for me now? That's not the question. The question now is, how shall I stand before Christ? How shall I stand at the judgment? Who shall stand, the prophet said? Who shall stand when He appears? The question no longer is, how do I feel? How do I get happiness? How do I get to deserve my heart? That's not the question of the hour now, folks. The question of the hour is, how can I withstand that moment? I stand before the judgment seat of Christ. How do I withstand that hour when I've lived carelessly, when I've been so selfish, and I've neglected this great salvation? Am I going to stand on that judgment day? That's the question. The issue now is, have I neglected Christ in this midnight hour? Has He been calling me and calling me, and I've been turning Him away? It's not a matter now of miracles and casting out devils and healing the sick, or demonstrating power, but am I pure in the sight of God? Because it's possible to do all these things, and the Lord said to you on that day, depart from me, you work of iniquity. I never even knew you. Never knew you. That's not a handful. That's a whole class of society He's talking about. People who did mighty works in His name. The purge is going to begin in the pulpit. The purge is already begun in the pulpit. He shall purify the sons of Levi. And how's He going to do that? By turning up the heat. He's going to turn up the heat, gentlemen, on all of us. He's going to make things so hot, so intense, God's men are going to be driven to their knees. This is the fire of the Holy Ghost, but it's the fire of persecution, it's the fire of tribulation, the fire of rebellion, the fire of unbelievable hardships, ridicule, gossip, financial problems. He's going to shake. The Holy Ghost is going to shake. Everything is going to be shaken. Even our faith is going to be shaken and tossed into this fire. If God's men will not come back to Him willingly, He'll do it sovereignly. And I believe He's here to do a new thing in our midst. He's come now to refine our fire of silver. He's in His holy place now, heating the fire seven times hot, and we are all going into this crucible. I know people don't like it when I talk about the coming persecution in trial. They don't like to hear preachers preach that because we've got it for years and we've become so, so me-conscious. We don't like to hear people come along and preach us with this kind of preaching. But you better believe it, folks. You better believe it. We are going in hard times in persecution before Jesus comes. We're going into a crucible because He comes now to refine our silver. No one's going to escape the purging. God's determined to get all the dirt out of us. He wants a holy priesthood. He's going to sever us from our backsliding. He's going to sever us from our worldliness. He's going to sever us from our secret sins. Hey, look, I'm not castigating the ministry. These are my brothers, and they're all through the audience. These are holy men of God, and I believe, like me, they're hungry for holiness. And I suppose I need this more than any man in this place because I feel the past nine months I've felt the white-hot heat of testing. God has been scrubbing me down. He's been working on some ugly spots in my life. And oh, if you have a heart for God, any man in this place has been on his knees. Any man or woman has been praised. Watch out. John the Baptist didn't see Jesus coming as a divine Santa Claus. He saw Him coming with an axe in one hand and a fan in the other, and the axe he laid to the roof, and the fan would blow out all the tap and leave only the leaves. It's going to spread from the pulpit to the pew. You better get ready, saints. All you Holy Ghost people, get ready. You get ready to expose all your secret sins, all adultery, all foolishness, because when He, the Holy Ghost, comes, He will what? He will reprove the world of sin. Yes. And I am one of those who don't... I do not believe we've seen yet the fullness or the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. We've only seen a few sprinkles, because when the Holy Ghost comes and pours out His Spirit upon all things, there will be a general conviction of sin around the world. Men and women will tremble in the presence of the Holy Ghost. If we had the true fullness of the Holy Ghost, nobody in the house could sit comfortably in their sin and fall on their knees in His presence. How are you going to play games when He throws you in the fire and everything around you is boiling? How do you stay glute warm? The Holy Ghost is going to put some fire in your baptism. The old Malachi said, The day that cometh shall burn as an oven, and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn. The day that cometh shall burn. There's another part of this prophecy that blesses me. God has promised that along with the purge in His house, He's going to start pulling down the strongholds of the devil. Now, people, like Brother Robinson, I have never believed that God would turn a whole generation over to drugs, infection, alcohol, and abandonment of the devil. I have never believed that the Lord would sit behind and do nothing about all the divorcing, the breaking up of the homes. I've never believed that the Lord would let that go by very long without doing something about it. And God said He's about to do something about it. God's getting ready to trample on the drug and alcohol problem in our schools. And I tell you honestly, if I have never heard anything else from God, I know I have heard this. We are on the brink of the greatest outpouring of God's Spirit in all high schools America's ever seen. There's a revival coming to our schools. A little poor man down in Texas, 100 miles from me, gets sick and sad of all the drugs now coming to school. He starts fasting and praying. Last I heard, 300 were saved in the whole school. All the drugs now called gone. God killed it overnight. And here it is. Here's the promise. And I will come near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers. Those are the drug butchers, the sorcerers. And against the adulterers. And against the false swearers. And all that turn away the stranger from his right. And all who fear me not, says the Lord of hosts. I'm coming to my church. I'm coming back to send judgment on this. And God is going to deal fervently, folks. I'm leaving in a week or two to spend the summer in the streets of New York and Los Angeles and Washington and Philadelphia. And folks, we're taking 1,500 workers. There is such an excitement, I can hardly sleep. Because while people are talking about how dark the age is, the Holy Spirit is going right on down the street. And hundreds and hundreds, even homosexuals are being converted. Some of those who are in drag, drag queens, are getting saved and preaching the gospel now around the country. I can name three outstanding drag queens. God just now saved one of those drag queens down in New Orleans a few months ago. And what an anointing he has now, totally delivered. He's going to do something about this problem, folks. Before he comes, he's coming back after a display of his power. He's going to let the devil and the whole world know who has the power. Now, if God's going to do everything the prophet said he's going to do, we've got some glorious things coming ahead. Listen to it. He said he's going to purge and purify the preachers, the ministers, and the evangelists. He's going to purify them. All the chaff, he said, they won't even have a congregate. He's going to put them aside, put them on the shelf. They're going to be burned out mountains. He said he's going to call his church back to repentance and holiness. He's going to see a people offering praises and true righteousness. He's going to bring a revival to our young people. Drugs, strongholds are coming down. Alcohol and divorce will no longer be controlled in America when Jesus comes. Oh, there'll be two streams, the wicked going this way and the righteous this way. But God's going to give a sign, a tremendous sign to this world of his overcoming power, a marvelous display. He said there's going to be a sound of prayer again in his house in his sentence. People are going to discern between the holy and the profane. God's people are going to go back to his word. Christ is going to come again and reveal to the church a new kind of prosperity preaching. And I believe there's a new kind of prosperity preaching already being preached in the land. It's moving away from anything that's material, and it's coming now to revelation of the true riches of God in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. Praying patience. A little book Brother Ravenhill gave me, it's out of print, 1820, 1806, I think it was. Presbyterian pastor, one of the great praying saints of God in American history, praying patience in the middle of a great depression in America at that time, just 30 years after the Declaration of Independence. He wrote a letter to his mother. He said, Dear Mother, the depression is so severe in Portland that all the businesses have failed. Men are committing suicide because they have no Christ to support themselves. The poor houses are filled. He said people have been scattered to the four winds. He said almost all the people, especially young married couples, have lost their homes in my church. But he said, Mother, don't say poor Edward. Say blessed Edward, because in these hard times, even though I have only pennies to live on and can't afford to get married, he said God has been revealing the true riches of the glory of God in Christ Jesus. And he said this, Mother, my people are taking joyfully the sporting of their goods. He said my prayer is, and listen to this, folks, how different from what we've been hearing in these last days. He said, Mother, it's my prayer that if God has any material blessings in store for me, he would be pleased to turn them into spiritual ones instead. He said if God has anything material in store for me, would he be pleased to give me his grace instead, turn them into spiritual blessings. Now, folks, I don't have a heavy burden to lay on you tonight because Christ didn't come to condemn us, but to save us. And just like you, I'm struggling with temptation and trial, weakness and times of disobedience. And to tell you the truth, I have read more books on theology in the last year than I have in my whole lifetime combined. I've gone through all the Puritan writers. I've gone through all the great holiness of preachers. I've gone through Wesley. I've gone through it all. And even though my heart is so hungry and I pour over the scriptures, I tell you honestly, I don't understand all the doctrines about holiness and righteousness and purity. I don't understand this great conflict between Calvin and Arminian. I don't know anything about these great doctrines that I could dispute with you about. And the more I read sometimes the less I feel I know. And I think like dwindling, I feel, oh God, I have to put it all aside. And just like Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you, said Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I don't know all those doctrines. And I'm not standing here telling you I'm a great praying man because the last nine months, God has shown me that he's been putting me back to prayer and fasting. How far away I've gotten from all of that. International profit. I used to walk the streets and cry. I'd get on the Staten Island Ferry and I'd cry. And hundreds of people looked at me like a crazy man. But I looked over that Brooklyn skyline and I cried for hours. I walked the streets of Harlem and I cried. And I prayed. When I drove my car, I had to stop and pray. Every sermon I've preached up to nine months ago. And I'm ashamed. I'm really ashamed. But every sermon I've preached up to nine months ago, I don't want to even look at. Because nine months ago, God spoke to my heart and said, if you really believe that it's the end, if you really believe I'm coming, why are you playing games? Oh, God will come to us time and time again and say, pay the price. And we go so far and we stop. And I said, God, this time I'm going all the way. I'm not going back. And I tell you now, I take time. I take days. I take weeks. I've canceled everything from August to January for five months. I'm going to shut myself in with God. Now, maybe you can't do that. And I'm not saying that to boast you. I'm telling you that I feel I need it because I don't know where I've been. God is trying to say something to the church of Jesus Christ. And we're so into happiness in God. And that has its place. And that, too, is the work of the Holy Spirit. But can you imagine what would happen if 10,000 people would go home and pray for the two hours you spent praising him? We would turn this world upside down if 10,000 people didn't intercede tonight. God got my attention. Here's His way. He's going to get your attention. The only power I want now is His purity. I want His righteousness. And I can't get it by anything I do. It's a gift. It's His grace. Hallelujah. I didn't know what kind of response or what God was trying to say to you. I know what He's trying to say to me. It's time for cleansing. It's time for purifying. And the fire is here. Have you sensed it lately in the last few months in your heart? Hasn't the Holy Ghost been saying to you what He's been saying to me and so many others? I hear from preachers all over America, saying, Bro. Dave, I don't know what it is. I've been drawn to Him more than ever. I'm so restless. I'm not satisfied with what I've had. God has to do something in me and for me. Here's one preacher not giving up until I touch God. I'm not giving up. I'm going to press in. I'm going to press in until God says something in my heart and God's trying to say that to His church. Come back to the prayer closet. All right. I'm finished. But the Holy Spirit is walking among us tonight. What He is saying, exalt the name of Jesus. Exalt in His presence.