In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of responding to God's visitation and not hardening our hearts. He highlights the need for gratitude for past blessings and anticipation for future ones. The preacher also emphasizes the significance of reconciliation among believers as a precursor to revival. He uses the analogy of a wheat field to illustrate the process of growth and maturity in the spiritual realm. Ultimately, the preacher emphasizes the need for the church to be prepared and to radiate the same light that was in Jesus to bring forth salvation to all nations.

I believe we saw a beautiful visitation this morning. But it's still today. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. We do want to look back to past blessings, even if it is a few hours ago, unless it be in thanksgiving and praise for what he did and in hope and anticipation that it's just the foretaste of what God's going to do. For those who weren't here, we believe there is a great work of cleansing in the hearts of people and a great work of reconciliation between brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers, which I believe is a prelude to any real revival. That God would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. God said if that didn't happen, he'd have to smite the earth with a curse. And I remember way back in the early days of the revival of the 50s. I remember this man, Brother Hunt, saying the next revival is going to begin in the home. And it doesn't look like it when homes are devastated, torn asunder, children ripped apart from parents. It's beyond our ability to solve and the church is swamped with that. So what do they do? Hire counselors, educated counselors to give them the theories of men to remedy family life when God's answer is in coming to Jesus, letting the Lord Jesus be Lord of our lives and of our homes. So we're encouraged because I know God is arising in the earth for when darkness covers the earth and grows darkness to people, we have his promise of light shall arise upon thee. His glory shall be seen upon thee. The darkness that surrounds us is God's promise that there's going to be a light shining forth from his people. So we thank the Lord for what we feel he's, we know he's doing. I don't mean just here. I mean, that's his intention. All over the earth where darkness covers the earth, God's promise that the light is going to shine forth. Where? Out of the darkness. Where did it shine in the beginning? Darkness covered the earth and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. He said, let there be light and there was light. And the apostle says, God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. People say it's so dark, there's so much evil. God has promised there's grace. There's greater grace. If there's greater sin, if there's greater evil, there's greater grace. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Oh, we thank the Lord that he's on the scene. Our Lord Jesus stands at the throne of God. You say he's sitting there, I know, but in times of special occasions, he'd stand and John saw him, or rather, who was it? The man that was stoned to death, Stephen saw him standing. He's rising to take care of his church first. I've not been greatly enthused about missionary programs. God bless everyone whom God sends. But God wants to get his church ready. Out from the church, so go forth the light that was in Jesus, the same light, not another, not a lesser, but the same light that was in Jesus. God wants that to be in his people, that it will radiate from his church. That's God's burden. That's the desire of God's heart, his passion. For Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace. For Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until the righteousness there goes forth, the brightness and the salvation of his lamp that burneth. Not enough to send the gospel, send out tapes and books and get on TV that the gospel might go forth. God wants all nations to see the salvation of our God. They can only see it when they see it in his people. God's concerned about his people. He's going to have a glorious church. He's going to have a bride without spot, without wrinkle. Clean, pure, holy, and clean as Jesus is clean. Because there's nothing cleaner in heaven or in earth than that sinner defiled and unclean that's washed in the blood of Jesus. I didn't intend to say that, but that's the Lord for the star. I felt this evening would be an evening of thanks, great thanksgiving. God, we see you coming. We know you're coming. I'm not talking about coming in clouds and great glory. I'm talking about him coming to take up his habitation in his church and cleanse the temple of God, that the Levites, the priests of the Lord might offer unto God a sacrifice of righteousness. He might purge his house from all the uncleanness, all the defilement, which has been brought in by the entertainers. I mean, if we knew God well enough, we'd weep on our faces when we see what's brought into the house of God. Ezekiel saw it in his days, all kinds of four-footed beasts and creeping things in the temple of God. There's so much creeping stuff in their church, God's going to cleanse it. Creeping things. They bring in magicians and entertainers and they bring all kinds of innovative ways to worship God with their banners and ribbons and all the clatter tinsel to worship God, to adorn the worship of God. God wants worship where a man falls on his face before God. I've fallen on my back and other people fall on their back, but God wants the people so struck with the awesomeness of God's presence that they're going to fall on their face and worship before him. Crying unto God for the desolation of his temple, instead of entertaining the people to try to keep them coming. I pray God will put that spirit of mourning upon the church of Jesus Christ that they will mourn for the desolation of Zion. Instead of saying it's time to laugh and think it's wonderful if a person can laugh, God give us holy mourning in the church of Jesus Christ. Blessed are they that mourn because God is going to comfort Zion with the joy of the Holy Ghost. God's weeping over his church. He's grieved over his people. God was grieved for 40 years when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. He was grieved. He sent manna every day to get them water out of the rock. He healed them when they were sick. His cloud of his holy presence hovered over their tabernacle by night to give them light and warmth. Hovered over their tabernacle every day as a pillar of cloud. There was fresh manna every morning for them to go and gather. He healed them. He looked after them. He led them by his spirit. Wherefore, I was grieved with this generation, says the Lord, and they have not my ways. I swear my wrath, I shall not enter into my wrath. But you say he blessed them and healed them, poured out his spirit upon them, blessings upon them beyond anything he's ever done for any nation before or since. God says I was grieved with them 40 years in the wilderness because they have not known my ways. If you don't know God's ways, you don't know God very well. But Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. Oh, I want life. I want a service that's lively. I do too if it's alive with the life of Jesus. We don't know God until we begin to walk in his ways and his ways take us through a wilderness, through drought and famine and pestilence. God leads us in the wilderness ways, and yet God's hand is over us in the midst of it all. I fear for the church to think they're going to go laughing their way into the kingdom of heaven. I'm telling you, there's going to be a people who are going to be awfully disillusioned when God's judgements begin to fall on this earth, thinking that they're going to escape it an easy way. The only way we're going to find safety in that I don't mean just physical safety because the disciple is not a survivalist. The only security we're going to have then or now is in the secret place of the Most High and under the shadow of the Almighty. And I'd sooner be there on earth and that secret place of the Most High than any place in heaven. Because there's no safer place in this world or in heaven than under the secret place of the Most High. God says put on the whole armor. There's a battle at hand. God says because the day of the Lord is at hand, put on the helmet of salvation. Put on the girdle of truth. Put on the breastplate of righteousness. What for? Because the forces of evil have been let loose in this earth and manner that has not been, I don't think, from the foundation of the world. The church is resting under the false delusion. Don't worry about it. God will take us out of here before that happens. And he's given us the armor that with this holy armor of God upon us, covering the whole being, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace, the sword of the Spirit, we can face any enemy that will come against the people of God here on this earth. And he did all these things. In the Old Testament, they ordained trumpets for various reasons. And there was a feast of trumpets where it became pronounced preceding the Feast of Tabernacles. Feast of trumpets. Feast of atonement before the Feast of Tabernacles. A lot of Christians are excited about the Feast of Tabernacles, especially in a month from now. I hope God moves then by his Spirit. I hope he moves tonight. But as I said this morning, and I must continue to repeat it, there's going to be no Feast of Tabernacles for anybody whose heart is not prepared, who hasn't heard the sound of the trumpet, who hasn't found themselves walking with God in the secret place, and whose heart has not been cleansed from all defilement. That day can come and go, and you'll never know the difference. God help us to know you, help us to prepare our hearts today. And you've only got today to do that. You don't know anything about tomorrow. You don't know if you'll have it tomorrow. Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. God's going to begin to send forth a clear trumpet sound to his people, because it's a day of confusion. It's a day of apostasy. It's a day when people don't know what's right and what's wrong in the church. And that kind of a day, God sends forth a clear sound from his heart. He does that in the day of confusion, day of darkness, day of apostasy. He raises up an Isaiah, he raises up a Jeremiah, gives them a clear word in the midst of all the false prophets of Baal. And the priesthood became corrupt, unclean, defiled. And God warned Eli he was going to judge it. And Eli didn't know what to do about it. Couldn't handle it or didn't care. I don't know. Even then, God was preparing a little boy, the name of Samuel. And when the days of Eli were over, here was Samuel, a young man whom God gave a clear, infallible word. So clear that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was the son of the Lord with a clear prophetic voice. God's faithful in hours of apostasy to cause his people to know what he's saying. And you know very well, we don't know this day hardly from the various prophetic voices that are coming forth. You hardly know how to sort it all out. But if we have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches individually, we can have that awareness of what God is saying. And I believe the time is coming when all the church is going to know the Word of God is to be found in this anointed people. An anointed, a corporate anointed people that the world will know that in them there is the light. And that from that anointed people, there will come forth a clear word. That the nations will know that God is with this people. And that when they're in trouble and in confusion and in danger or various troubles that are coming upon the earth, they'll be able to go to this people and say, we've been in darkness. Show us the light. And the light will shine forth and they'll know that God is with that people. Not because of any special talents or anything that they have, but because there's a people who in this day and hour are seeking God and seeking his cleansing within them. That their hearts, their minds will be delivered from all the agendas of men and will be open to hear that clear word from God from the throne. As Jesus said to each of the seven churches, he that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. He wants to quicken our ears that we might hear what he's saying. Oh, you say I read the Bible, I hear good stuff. I know, but that God might open the ears of this people that he might hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. God quicken our ears, quicken our understanding that we might hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches in this hour. God is beginning to sound the trumpet that's going to be clear. Paul said, it seems to me that there in Corinth, there's an uncertain sound. And he says if the sound is uncertain, nobody's going to prepare for the battle. I don't hear that clear sound coming forth from the churches that's causing God's people to cry between the porch and the altar because of the desolation that's coming upon Zion. God's going to bring great judgments in the earth, but he's going to start with his church. He said so. Judgments will begin at the house of God, not because he doesn't love them, but because they're the apple of his eye. And because he has designed that through his church, he would reveal his own glory. That's why he said, for Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest till the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness and the salvation thereof is the lamp that burneth, because that's the way God's glory is revealed, that man might know who the true God is and what he's like. Instead of saying he's like Muhammad or the God of the Hindus or the God of Confucius, they don't know the difference now. That day they're going to know there's a lamb reigning on the throne of glory, that in him dwelleth all the fullness of God, had a bleeding lamb, who conquered and triumphed and is still seen in heaven as a bleeding lamb. You say you're looking to see the line of the tribe of Judah. You won't see him, because when John turned to see the line of the tribe of Judah, he saw a lamb as it had been slain, because that's how he conquered. You and I think victory consists of success in this world. Victory comes to us when we know what it is to be defeated in a terrible yet beautiful confrontation with our God, as it was with Jacob when he crossed the brook of Jabbok and was confronted with the Most High God. And there was a wrestling that took place all through the night. And Jacob didn't know what strength was, the strength of the Lord was, until God crippled him with a blow in his thigh. Only then did he discover the strength of the mighty God of Israel when God had crippled him and put him out of commission, causing him to be totally helpless and clinging to the angel, so that the angel was able to say, your name is no more Israel, the deceiver, the conniver, the trickster. Your name shall be Israel, Prince of God. He came out of his defeat. Oh, how the church, like the world, is crying out for more and more power, more and more power, more and more power. Don't we need the power of God? Yes, if we understand that the first need we have for the power of God is that we might be changed into His image and likeness and partake of, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the virtues of Him who called us, I can't quote it exactly, out of darkness to partake of His marvelous light, whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be made partakers of divine nature. His power is given to the church to become partakers of divine nature, and we think it's given to us to do great things so the world can see how wonderful we are. The power is given that we might have faith and add to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and Paul goes, Peter goes so far as to say, if you don't have that, you're blind. Thank the Lord for the gifts of the Spirit, presence of His Spirit, for the gifts of the Spirit, for every spiritual blessing He pours upon us. But if that spiritual gift and that spiritual blessing does not produce the fruit of the Spirit, it's of no avail. But you say people get healed, there's miracles, there's signs and wonders, wonderful things happen, good. But I say again, if the blessing that God sends from heaven falls upon you and I and does not bring forth the fruit that God intended, it is in harvest time, it is all in vain. For in springtime, the gardener comes into your garden to water it. There's seed there, either you planted it then or it was there from the year before, and we like the refreshing rains in springtime. And I know God's going to send rain in His heritage. He's faithful to send rain upon the good seed that was planted. He's going to do it for a short season before He comes. We had a great portion of it in the middle of this century, but there's a new generation. But in harvest time, God doesn't want to send rain. He comes to see if there's fruit. That's all He wants in harvest time. And so two, three, four months, the thing is growing, wheat, tomatoes, brings forth flowers, blossoms, beautiful. Fruit tree looks beautiful. Springtime, it's wonderful. God caused it. God sent the rain to cause it. But if He comes a month later in harvest time and there's no apples, there's a whole season totally, totally wasted. Is that right? But you say it had flowers, had leaves. It received the blessing of God, but that blessing of God did not bring forth the fruit that God wanted. And Jesus saw the fig tree and cursed it because there was no fruit on it. That was an old tree. So there should have been a little fruit from the previous season. The new season wasn't there yet. It should have been a little from the year before. According to what I understand, a fig tree, there should be fruit on it from the year before. God is just saying to you and I, if there isn't fruit, when He comes looking for fruit, I don't care how much He has blessed us. It means that all that blessing has produced leaves, flowers, maybe growth of some kind or another. God says there's nothing there in harvest time. Now that's pretty awesome, but you know it's true. And you know that that grain of wheat that grows, comes up as a sprout, receives the rain, it grows and grows and begins to send out a few leaves. And in the prairies there where some of come from, I've seen wheat fields, you know, like that, at least three feet. Green, it's wonderful, beautiful to see it waving there in the breeze, but not ripe yet. And then it begins to turn brown and they say, yes, it's ripe, now we can reap the harvest. And you know as well as I, that all that farmer wants is the wheat, not the straw. Although nowadays I think they might save it, they used to for bedding for animals, but it's chaff. When harvest time comes, all the blessing that produced the stock, all that blessing that was necessary to produce the stock and the head, God only wants the grain in the head and the rest is chaff. That's pretty solemn. When we think we've got a great ministry, we can prophesy, we can lay hands on people and we can heal them and we can do all sorts of things by the Spirit. But if the fruit does not come forth when God says it's harvest time, I'm looking for fruit and it does not come forth, all that's in vain. I'll leave you with that, because I don't want you to forget that. And to know that, dear Heavenly Father, we believe we're in harvest time. We believe the time is at hand when you're coming into your fields, coming into your orchards, looking for one thing, the fruit. And you've said of your people, as you said to Ephraim of old, Ephraim is an empty vine. He brings forth fruit unto himself. Empty, because he brings forth fruit unto himself. But Lord, you've shown us that you long for that fruit coming forth in your people, which we know, according to your own word, that the fruit is nothing less than the reproduction of the life of Jesus within us. Nothing less than that. Not the gifts you give, not the blessings you pour upon us, the blessings we need in the time of growth, but in the time of harvest, you say, I come to receive the fruit. Cause us to know, Lord, that now is the time when you're pouring out your Spirit in many places and in many ways and blessing your people. May that word come to them. Listen, I'm sending you this blessing because you need it, because I want fruit, and I want that fruit to appear in your life, or the blessing I send is in vain. Because Lord, we don't want to stand before you without the fruit. To testify that we've seen signs, we've seen wonders, we've cast out devils, we've seen miracles perform in your name, and hear him say, I don't really know you. Therefore, by their fruits you shall know them, Jesus. We want that blessed fruit to come forth in our lives, which we know to be the character and the image of Jesus implanted upon us. Not something that we can receive as a free gift from heaven, but something that must grow forth out of the branch that we are in the tree, out of the branch that we are in the vine. Not by our own doing either, but by the root, because of the root, because of the seed that you would bring forth fruit, and these which are called the branches. And that's what you're looking for, for you've declared the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience over it, so that he can receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye therefore also patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Establish your hearts. Get your hearts fixed on God. Get your hearts changed if you're blessed. Pray God, O God, you said in your word that if you're good to your people, your goodness is intended to bring us to repentance. So though we thank you for your goodness, we pray Lord, bring us to repentance in the midst of it. Knowing you're not good to us because we're so good, but you're good to us because of your great grace and mercy, and because you want to bring a vessel fashioned after your image and likeness, not for our glory but for yours. That we might be the example of Christ, the living representation of Christ in the earth, the people to whom the world will come if they want to find God. That others will say, I know where you can find God, there's a people there, they call it the anointing, there's something different about them, they're different than the world, they don't have any use for the world it seems, they're exclusive, they're odd and all that, but somehow they seem to know that God's in their midst. Restore that holy fear of God to your church, O Lord. It seems that the fear of God has pretty well gone out the doors and out the windows. The people feel they can do anything they want to do because they've got gifts to do it with. Cause us to know that if you give us a gift, if you give us a ministry, that ministry is yours, not ours, and you want to keep that gift, that ministry in your hand, even as it functions before the people. That in the expression of that gift, there'll be such a revelation of the Christ that your people will be compelled to fall on their faces and say God is in the midst of you, the truth. Come to your church, O Lord, with your holy fire. We've talked about the baptism and we talk in tongues and we enjoy prophecy and gifts of the Spirit. But Lord, we remember the day, though we haven't seen much of it even in that day, it was not our generation, we remember the day when older people in the church would say, thank God for baptizing me with the Holy Ghost and with fire. For they knew what it was for the fire of God to come in and cleanse and purge and clean them up. We pray for a restoration of that fire of God in the midst of your church. This Elijah ministry that you're sending forth will do its work, Lord. We realize one part of the Elijah ministry is to bring a famine on the land, that in their famine and their perishing condition, they might turn to him who is the living bread and cry out to him. And we remember how your servant was called out of hiding to build an altar of God and karma and to call the false prophets together to reveal who the living God was. And the test was to be this, the God that answereth by fire, let him be the God. And I know, Lord, we're asking for solemn things, serious things when we pray for the fire of God, but we still pray it. Oh Lord, God of heaven, send your holy fire upon the altar of the Lord. Help us therefore, Lord, to build that altar. Sincerely to build an altar unto you, an altar of repentance, an altar of contrition of heart, an altar of whole stones, everything we have, not chiseling off any of it, but putting the whole stones together for an altar. All that we have, not just the sacrifice of the praise of our lips, which we enjoy singing, which is good, but the sacrifice of the heart, of the liver, of the lungs, of the bones, of the feet, of the head of the whole man. That we hold back nothing. That we ourselves might be laying on that altar as a sacrifice, acceptable in your sight. That that holy fire of God might come down and consume the sacrifice. That we might rise to walk in resurrection life. Oh God, we might rise to walk in resurrection life. Oh God, send the fire just now. Send the fire, oh Lord. God of Elijah, hear our cry. Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire. Which will make us fit to live or die. Send the fire, send the fire. Oh God, we pray in Jesus' name, bless this people. Open our ears, our hearts, our minds to receive of your word, Lord. For this is an awesome time, an awesome hour. That when your judgments fall, let us understand it's for the sake of the church. That you might have a holy church walking in the fires of your judgment here on earth, filled with your holy fire. That will keep us immune to the fires of judgment. For the time has come when judgment must begin at your house, saith the Lord. God helps not to take this lightly, but to realize you're going to judge us first. The sins of the church. For our sins, yes, individually. For the sins of the church, you're going to judge us. We might be clean and holy in your sight. If so, be God might fill us with his holy fire to take the gospel of the kingdom to the nation. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Felt these two or three days that we just wanted to be sensitive to God. We're so thankful for the way he has moved so far. We pray he'll continue to hover over us and give us great and thankful hearts for what he has done. As we anticipate what he will yet do. But there's a danger in God giving us great blessings that we'll settle for that. When God is just giving the first drops, first fruits. There's always a danger that it's so good, so great. That this is fine. I'll accept this Lord. I thank you. It's wonderful. We like it here in the eastern side of the Jordan. It's pasture land. It's good for our flocks. Let us stay here, Moses. God wants to take them into the mountain country and the hill country and to Hebron, the choice part of Canaan. So Paul said, I fear less the promise being left us of entering into his rest. Some of you might come short of it. God doesn't want us to come short of the full desire of his heart. You're my heart's desire, you're my heart's desire, and I love you dearly, dearly, Lord. You're my meditation and my consolation, and I love you dearly, dearly, Lord. Glory to the lamb. I exalt the great I love. Glory to the lamb. I exalt the great I love. Oh, you're my consuming fire Oh, you're my heart's desire And I love you dearly, dearly, oh