This sermon from Acts chapter 5 emphasizes the importance of not deceiving God and the consequences of willful deception. It highlights the need to align our values with God's truth, avoid self-focus, and walk in obedience to God's word. The message urges listeners to come clean before God, make restitution for wrongs, and not delay in making right decisions. It calls for a genuine relationship with God, seeking His mercy, and walking in His ways to avoid spiritual weakness and judgment.

Acts chapter 5 in the New Testament message title this morning. We can't escape the hard truths We can't escape the hard truths Now father, I thank you Lord for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I Thank you Lord for the strength that you give to bring this kind of a word to your people God give me grace today and give all of us grace to be able to hear deep in the inner man What it is that you're speaking to your people in this hour. I Thank you Lord that has abandoned my complete being into your hands. I believe that you will be glorified Help me to stay out of the mix of this message Lord, I pray for the grace to disappear that Jesus you may appear your voice is heard That only the power of the Holy Spirit is made known in this sanctuary Glorify your name Jesus. I Asked in your precious name Amen We can't escape the hard truths Now you remember Jesus came to His disciples in one of the Gospels and He told them he said unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood You have no life in you and many of the disciples although they had known the power. They'd seen the power of God They were among those that had gone out and seen the miracles They were highly offended by this and they became resistant to it and they said this is a hard saying who can hear this and Many of them turned back and the scripture says walk with him no more Now folks, they resisted that truth that they heard They rejected it. They ran from it, but you can't escape it Because every one of those persons would have died Of course historically at some point and have appeared in the presence of God Only to find out that what he said is what he meant without me. You have no life in you Doesn't matter how often they went to the synagogue. It really doesn't matter how much they stood in public and prayed Did all kinds of religious duty and devotion without the life of Christ in them? They had no life. They had no life on the earth and they had no life eternally Now the scripture also says that the the hireling sees the wolf coming and Runs in the sense fleas from what he sees because he's a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep I've really really really battled with this message in Preparing this for you today It was one of the worst preparation days I've ever experienced. I think in years yesterday Found myself pacing. I found myself groaning found myself pleading with God I'm somewhat thankful that messages like this don't come easy. They should never come too easy to somebody who stands in a pulpit This is a strong word. It's a hard word to hear but the hireling Sees the wolf coming that means those who stand in pulpits even in our nation today and they they see the devouring They begin to understand Even remotely in the scriptures what will devour people what will devour their testimony their lives their homes their families But for the sake of keeping the church full for the sake of not offending the big tithers for the sake of Keeping an appearance of life They will flee from preaching this kind of a message But folks in this church The pastors we committed ourselves to bringing a full counsel of God to you but I want you to know today that it's not easy and It comes from a heart that cares hearts They care the only reason I'm going to preach this today is because I care about you. I care about your eternity I care about your family. I care about the testimony of Christ in you There's no other reason and if you can get that down deep in your heart today that it will make it easier in a sense to at least hear this Because it comes from the heart of a pastor that cares about where you're going to go Not only outside the doors of this church when the service is over, but where are you going to go in eternity? What kind of a testimony are you going to have? The hireling tells the person who is living in rebellion against God that it shall be well with you The hireling will tell you whatever you want to hear As long as you stay in the church and put your money in the bucket They don't really care tell you anything and the airways are full of them today folks. Absolutely rife with hirelings Standing in pulpits giving so many people a false peace and a false security But we dare not turn away from the hard truths. There are hard truths in the scripture and Sometimes we just just choose to pass them over. I don't understand this So maybe when I get to the sweet by and by it'll be revealed to me, but the Lord wants to reveal it now Acts chapter 5 is a hard truth Now this is the early church in its infancy this this church is is moving together as One body they have one head and one purpose in the earth There's a care and a compassion one for another the scripture says there's great Witness and power is upon them. They're praying the place where they're praying and verse 31 of chapter 4 is shaken They're all filled with the Holy Ghost. They're speaking the Word of God with Boldness verse 33 says with great power in chapter 4 The Apostles are giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and great grace is upon them all so there's an environment of power an environment of God's provision for every need an Environment to change we sang about that the last song before I get up. There's great grace means the power to change is there Anyone who wants to change who needs to change who understands that change is necessary has that power of God upon them To change there is such a heart of God being birthed in this early church That nobody considers anything. They have their own Is it possible that we're moving to that kind of a time again? Is it possible that things are going to get so tough around us? That this kind of a heart has to be back in God's people again That everyone is looking to the left to the right to see to make sure everyone else's needs are met People are giving they're selling things that they have they're bringing it and giving it to the Apostles at that time So that distribution can be made and that no one among them called by the name of Christ is lacking Now we come to Acts chapter 5 But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession and Kept back part of the price his wife also being privy to it and brought a certain part and laid it at the Apostles feet But Peter said Ananias why Satan fill thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land While it remained was it not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thine own power? why has thou conceived this thing in thine heart that was not lied unto men, but unto God and Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost in other words. He died And great fear came upon all them that heard these things And the young men arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife not knowing what was done came in and Peter answered Unto her tell me whether you sold the land for so much and she said yea for so much Then Peter said unto her. How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them which have buried the husband are at the door and they shall carry thee out Then she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost and the young man came in and found her dead and carrying her forth buried her by her husband and Great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things Now years ago. I used to be somewhat perplexed by the severity of this judgment, I remember as a young Christian reading this and My initial response was this was a little bit severe. I mean Didn't Peter do worse than they did These people sold a piece of land Let's say 10 for $10,000 and they brought $5,000 and gave it to the church and kept five for themselves and they lied about it But didn't Peter do worse and he was forgiven and he was still alive. I mean they lied about the price of the land But didn't Peter lie about knowing Jesus the Son of God didn't he even swear and Bringing a curse of an oath upon himself. He said, uh, you know, he cursed and swore I mean he swore an oath and let there be a curse come upon me If I if you prove that I know this man, I mean it would seem to be in the natural This is a much more severe offense than these people committed and and yet it's Peter Who's actually pronouncing the sentence of death on these people for what they've done Now doesn't the scripture say those who have received mercy should be merciful Should don't you feel that sometimes that Peter just should have said to them? Well, you know, you've made a mistake tragic here I made mistakes also in the past and God forgave me now God will forgive you and Yet he's the one who was used of God to pronounce this sense of death really for what they had done In the natural it doesn't make sense But you and I know that God is just and his judgments are right So therefore there has to be something here That's very dangerous for the individual believer in the church as a whole a great truth Which you and I need to understand today and we can't run from it. It does you no good It does me no good to run from this truth in this particular chapter of Scripture Now we see in Acts chapter 5. It's the beginnings of the church They're going in to possess the promised land, which of course is Christ its life in Christ This is an absolute fulfillment of the Old Testament type that is found in Joshua chapter 7 when Joshua Went in with the people of God into the promised land now, they're going in to possess a physical place Called the promised land which we know to be the nation of Israel But in the New Testament, we are going in to possess a spiritual place, which is ours in Christ Which is the life of Christ? It's the redemption of Christ. It's the fullness of Christ. It's the blessing of Christ it's the power actually to Represent the risen Christ on the earth among men Now as they're going in and Joshua chapter 7 the people suddenly found themselves in a place of weakness and defeat because of a certain type of sin just as In Acts chapter 5 that found its way into their midst if you go to the book of Joshua please in the Old Testament and we start in chapter 6 and verse 18 Now the people were told that they were not to desire They're not to take to themselves the very things which had contributed to the destruction of the city before them Remember this verse 18 Joshua said to the people and you and any wise keep yourself from the accursed thing Lest you make yourself accursed when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it In other words, it's it's this simple. You are not to embrace the value system of A city before you that is perishing Now you and I folks we're living in a time. We see society literally perishing around us, don't we? There's an anti God spirit that is gripping much of the known world today We're watching nations begin to collapse around us. We ourselves are in a position of financial peril because of the greed of some who consider it their right and their entitlement to become wealthy at the expense of others and To do whatever they thought they needed to do to gain advantage To be the big players as it is in society and thought nothing of bringing the rest of the country into poverty I'm not saying anything new. It's in the newspaper. You and I know this there's a certain rage even Brewing beneath the surface of this society because of these things And Joshua said to the people There have there has been an embracing in this Among the people who are occupying this place that I'm calling you into and and the things that they have embraced have brought them into this place of powerlessness they have Fortifications and big walls, but these walls are soon coming down. They've built defenses, but their defenses are going to fail them and It's really only the power of God that's going to survive in this place Joshua knew it God knew it the people knew it and so he told them he said when we go in To this land do not embrace this fallen value system. Do not let it become part of your heart Don't think it's going to offer you any security It's offered no security to those who are outside of the kingdom of God all around you all their walls are crumbling All the defenses are failing panic is going to hit the streets of much of the Western world. We're living at that time folks It's coming five countries right now in Europe are on the brink of default any one of those countries could Seriously affect the currencies of all of Europe and perhaps even spill over into our borders today We live in one of the most perilous times in all of history It is reported that Iran is falling into a military dictatorship With a leader that considers himself with a messianic Entitlement or commission to bring chaos to the entire known world talk about perilous times Remember Paul said in the last days perilous times shall come. It's not a time to be unwise. It's a time to be wise It's not a time to be found in a place where we're going to be overcome By the things that are going to fail all men or outside of the kingdom of God if ever there was a time that you And I full fully embraced the heart of God than the will of God and the ways of God and the Word of God Oh beloved. It's now this is not the time to play games There's extremely dangerous time to play games with God Do not think there won't be a price for those who are living more or less half in and half out of the kingdom of God Let not the psalmist in Psalm 36 verse 11 and 12 said let not the foot of pride come against me and let not the hand of The wicked remove me for there are the workers of naked iniquity fallen. They're cast down and they shall not be able to rise We are called to flee you and I from the pursuits and trusts which are bringing many in our present-day societies to ruin Malachi speaks of the condition of our day In the last two chapters of his book in the Old Testament And he said in chapter 3 verse 15 And now we call the proud happy and those that work wickedness are set up And even those attempt God are delivered. That means they tempt the limits of the patience of God We call them delivered now. That's not even outside of the church I believe Malachi is talking about the condition inside of the church We call the proud happy those that say our voices are our own and who is Lord over us? And those that work wickedness are set up doesn't matter what they do They come into the house of the Lord and everyone is now got a miracle ministry Everyone is now got a marvelous destiny. Everybody's set up no matter how they live no matter what they're doing folks We are living at a time of incredible delusion if there's delusion among nations But there's also delusion in the great measure of what calls itself the Church of the Living God great great delusion Now Jesus said the light of the body is the eye if your eye is evil your whole body will be full of darkness now a Weakness came into the camp of Israel they won a phenomenal victory over Jericho and surely the people had to stand back and say only God could have done this and Subsequently the next town was a little wee town called AI. That's the way it's spelled AI AI and Joshua sends a scouting party and the scouting party comes back and says oh, well, it's just a little it's a little mop-up operation There's only a few there's there's hardly any defenses. They're weak And so he's just sent two or three thousand just just a quick cleanup operation. And so this Initial army goes out only to suffer a resounding defeat at the hands of a little defenseless city It was so severe it sent Joshua to his face and Joshua lying on his face. He said Oh God What what will we say? Well when when when we're unable to conquer these little enemies when our enemies overpower us What's our explanation going to be? Would be to God he said we've been content to dwell on the other side of Jordan I think these are words of Joshua never felt he would ever find himself saying These are the very words in Type that caused the people to live for 40 years in the wilderness and he'd been through that But now he finds himself speaking the same words and God says Joshua get up off the ground He said there's an accursed thing in the camp and this accursed thing has brought this weakness that you see and so they began to There's a system in the Old Testament of drawing lots, but it's it's not a gambling thing. It's divinely inspired by God and it starts by tribe and then When they find the one tribe that it goes to family to family to family to family to family finally, there's this one man left called Achan and Joshua says to Achan he says my son give glory to God and make confession in Chapter 7 verse 19 and tell me what you've done. Don't hide it from me and Achan answered Joshua and said indeed I've sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done When I saw remember the light of the body is the eye If your eye is evil your whole body can become full of darkness when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonist garment 200 shekels of silver that's about five pounds of silver and a wedge That's about a little over a pound one pound and two ounces of gold Then I coveted them took them behold They're hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver is underneath it when I saw You have to wonder what is in this man's heart Just as in Acts chapter 5 where we started. This is a time of power. This is a time of supernatural provision I mean this man had to be there. He was among the crowd that walked around the walls of this impenetrable city He knew that it was supernaturally defeated He had to have known that the God who did this is going to provide for us not only is he going to provide he's going to bring us into the fullness of our inheritance and It should have been in his heart to be excited about how deep that inheritance must be How profound that inheritance is going to be how marvelous and wonderful it must be this inheritance And I'm sure that was in the hearts of many of the people But you can see Aiken Clamoring in with the rest and going into the ruins as it is the ruins of a society that had lived apart from God Trusted in its walls trusted in its own ingenuity Trusted in its own gold and silver and garments and here comes Joshua not Joshua, but Aiken He's he's clamoring as it is perhaps with his family over the walls into this city and his eye Falls on a garment from Babylon Now that Bible tells us that the children of Israel had worn the same clothing for 40 years It never got old They had the same shoes on and they had the same clothing the shoes didn't wear out the garments never wore old It was supernaturally a covering that was provided for by God and he sees this Babylonian garment What could have ever been in his mind? When did he ever think he was going to wear this thing? How was he gonna put it on where was he going to put it on one day? How did he ever think nobody's gonna notice? Now the garments of Babylon were quite famous in the commercial trade of that day Quite often they had Golden threads interwoven in them and most often they had images of men and images of cattle Woven into the God very distinguishable garment. They were quite actually sought after in the trade of that early time they really represented the image of man and The the cattle represented prosperity. So really it was it was success and prosperity It's it's it's the world's view It's the view that This perishing society had of what was success and what was prosperity all woven into a garment and when he saw it He coveted it And said I want this for my life I'm not content to be part of a larger body as it is moving into the prom I'm not content just to be a little cog in this great big picture. I want to stand out among men I want to be different than other people are I want to be noticed among people I want to be successful and once that you see folks you only have if then I'd be evil The moment you and I look on something that God says don't touch it That's not the only thing that comes in the moment. We've opened that door There's a flood of darkness comes along with it. And once he touched that garment it was it was only a Half a step away when he saw some wedge of gold power one pound and two ounces Can you imagine trading the power of God for a pound of gold? Once it's once we have a wrong view of success Then we we also will adopt the wrong measure of how to achieve it. We're living in a world That's like that everyone wanted to stand out everyone wants to be on the cover of Time magazine Everyone wants to be the big player in order to get there. You need a little bit of gold You need a little more than everybody else. You need a nicer house You need a you need you just need more than other people around you have And folks and also with that he saw about five pounds of silver coins and he picked up the silver coins and I find it interesting Then when he buried it He buried the silver deeper than the gold in the garment the garment probably first and the gold and the silver was way down Because he said the silver is beneath it all and what he he saw something that he thought would bring him success and happiness, but what he failed to understand is The silver was a betrayal of God himself It was no different than Judas who sold out the Son of God for us a handful of silver It's all it was perhaps even very close to the same measure the same weight He failed to see that he was selling out the glory of God. He was selling out the Son of God. He was selling out The testimony of God that God wanted to establish and even more so he was bringing weakness into the camp of Jesus Christ folks we are in a position of Theological and practical weakness in our generation you listen to me because the Aikens of our generation are not They're standing in pulpits and they're giving a wrong value system to the people of God building up Each man's individual image and when you begin to do that, you're going to immediately move to gold It has there has to be money involved in this failing to understand The whole thing is a betrayal of the image of Jesus Christ His focus is on himself his own goals his own standing his own security his own plans He forgot he was only a small part of something much bigger than himself Self-focus brings weakness. It brings weakness to you to your house to your friends and to the church Self-focus this man took his whole family into a pit with him. He didn't go alone. He took his sons his daughters He took his wife. He took his cattle Everything went into darkness folks when you begin to focus on yourself You are opening the door to destruction in your own home. I want you to know that you say well pastor How do I do that? Well, here's an example. It's the man who gets it in his head Well, I'm not this wife of mine. You see I'm I'm destined for a better wife than this and He starts looking around at the office and as he starts looking around at the office Suddenly the covering is moved from off the top of his home Disharmony comes into his marriage the children begin to rebel against their parents and maybe even start kicking the dog Everybody in the house begins to suffer when there is something in the eye That God says you're not to go there. You're not to touch this. You're not to lay hold of it This is not where your happiness is. This is not where your destiny is formed Paul said to the Corinthian Church. He said you come to the communion table and He said there's there's such a self-focus in this particular church now you you've so moved to focusing each man on his own interests and You you come to the communion table and you you take the cup and you take the bread and you claim to be part Of the body of Christ, but Paul said you eat and drink damnation to yourself not discerning the Lord's body not understanding There are no big players in small players in the Church of Jesus Christ Yeah, I cannot say to the hand. I have no need of you. We're all part of a body We only have one head and we're moving together By that which every part of the body supplies. Oh, I praise God for this knowledge Yeah I get to stand in a pulpit folks But the reward I have is no different than than you if you as long as you're faithful to do what God calls you to Do as long as we're moving together as a body Paul said for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep and it's a spiritual application as well as a physical one This wrong focus let this man in his whole house Into ruin God severely judged this sin in both the Old and the New Testament because he did not want To happen to us what happened to them? We're not called to live the Christian life with our own selves as the chief focus We've got to get this in our heart If you're just coming into church this morning and every week it says what's in it for me this week. What's in it for me now? How can I better myself now? What and it's all just about you and you don't care anything about the person on your left or the person on your right? You have no focus outside of yourself Philippians 4 Paul says to for rather look not every man on his own things But every man on the things of others in other words, don't come into the house of God just focused on yourself There's your part now But much bigger family a much bigger body called the Church of Jesus Christ Look away from your own needs and seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness And these things that you need God says I will add them to you We must not use God for personal reputation Do not see the church as some vehicle for notoriety as it is a lot of people Couldn't make it in the world. So they come into the church I've seen this over and over throughout the years and suddenly there they've got a miracle ministry Suddenly, there's some great thing in the body of Christ and it's all just about notoriety It's all this inner it's to be something to be different than others to be seen to be visible to be great among men But yet Paul says let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus he made himself of no reputations No reputation Let this be in you. It doesn't matter if if even if you speak to crowds some day still keep that in your heart To be made of no reputation That means an inner understanding that I also I'm just a sinner saved by grace God's hand of mercy is upon me. I Don't care if you don't preach or you preach to a million people standing a day It makes no difference God takes his hand off of any of us and we're reprobates God takes his hand off and we will commit every sin every known to human kind And he became obedient unto death He sought no reputation and he became obedient unto death now, that's hard to do. I Have my own desires. I have desires just like you do have things I want to do. I have things that I'd like to Experience I've got Comforts I'd like to enjoy just like you do none of us are any different and so did Jesus But he sought no reputation and he became obedient unto death and I guess here's the key to acts 5 It's when we pretend to be fully with the program and we're not Pretending to be full fully with the leading of the Holy Spirit to be obeying the Word of God is a very very dangerous place to be Peter received mercy I believe because he was young Because what he did he did out of fear. It was it was a momentary thing. He was afraid he he didn't understand He wasn't yet formed in the power of the strength and the truth of God He was not moving with the church as it was in Acts chapter 5 And in Isis and Pharaoh were not afraid folks. This was calculated deception they They may have had a measure of fear in the beginning But you know the longer you hear truth and the longer you and I resist it the more we become entrenched in the wrong view You can end up in the house of God You can be living in adultery. You can be stealing on the job You could be lying through your teeth. Even your testimony can be a lie. I used to call them testifonies when I was young even your testimony can be a lie and You can be Violent and angry you can be into pornography You can be doing all of these things and many many more you can be prouder than a peacock in the house of God, which is the worst of it all and Somehow Get so hardened in it That you and I begin to think there's no there's no justice It doesn't matter what God said we can we skip over those verses of Scripture that warn about these things that where God resists the proud Gives grace to the humble that pride comes before Destruction that he who is often reproved and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed without remedy In other words, there'd be a destruction come and there'd be there'd be no way out of it It's very dangerous to pretend to pretend That you're with the program and God in his mercy will smoke you out for Lack of a better way of saying it You know when when a city would be sieged people would run into the tower as the last as their last place of refuge So they would the besieging army would build a fire with a green brush at the bottom and the smoke would ascend up the tower And they would smoke them out. That's where the expression came from. They'd either get out of the tower or die there They really had no other choice When I was a young Christian And I started coming to church. I really loved God with all my heart. I really did. I loved God from the moment I he introduced himself to me And I the church that I started to attend was very big on tithing They spoke a lot as a matter of fact on tithing and tithing was 10% of your income I remember I almost died the first time I heard it Now I was not raised in the church that tithe As a matter of fact it was not much more than nickels dimes and quarters went in the collection plate of the place I was raised in 10% I Remember just being so shocked by this And then I so I formed my own theology I I thought of you know 2% of 10% is not all that bad At 10% a lot of money, I mean I've got bills to pay I've got a commute back and forth to church I got gas to pay I got food to buy I got kids that need clothes and and My wife at that time is not working, and that's just a lot of money, so I I but you know I Pretended to be with the program But I was I was afraid and I was young thank God because I did the very Thing that an essence of IRA did in one sense if I had done it with knowledge And if it was deliberate that would be different But I was young and I was afraid that I'd not have enough to go around so I'd put my I'd put my $20 is what I would tithe every week and But you see I put it in the white envelope, and I put my name on it But I wouldn't put the amount on the envelope I didn't want anybody to see that and when the pastor would say you know that it's time to tithe now remember that being a good Steward of God tithing is 10% no It's actually you and I know that it's more than that in the New Testament It's everything but 10% was the Old Testament standard and so you know when it's time to tithe Sometimes we'd have to hold the envelope up and all this stuff. You know and I'd hold mine up. Yeah, man You know I'm with the program, but I wasn't with the program, but God is good He really really knows how to smoke you out of that tower Because they came to me one day and asked me if I would consider being an elder in the church and I knew I had to go through an interview, and I knew they're going to ask me if I tithe and Not only that they had a record of my tithing So it was do or die for me I either if I wanted to if I wanted to go forward in God if I wanted to take the step of faith I had to tithe and And folks I got to tell you when I started tithing That's when the miracles began to flow in my life. That's that's where provision began to come. That's where I began to see I Mean realistically You know people come to altars in churches, and they all you have my life. I'll go to Timbuktu I'll go to the mission field, but they won't tithe. They won't tithe. I mean who are we kidding? It's very quiet here right now isn't it very very quiet David said if thou Lord should mark iniquities who would stand but there's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared You see here's the key neither Achan nor Ananias and Sapphira were novices they were experienced They were familiar with the power of God they were familiar with walking in the miraculous They deliberately deceived others and they thought that they could deceive God That was that was the problem When you and I begin to make excuses for what we know the Bible says is wrong We will eventually get to the place where we think that we can deceive God That somehow it doesn't matter to God somehow one day We will appear before God, and we're New Testament now. We're new covenant now. There's such this this Incredible blanket of grace and mercy that covers us, and it's true, but not for the willful sinner And God said I have to set the record straight in Acts chapter 5 Before this church really gets going I have to set the record straight. There is still a judgment of death on willful deception Deception Now we're not talking about fear sometimes people are just afraid to make this step Sometimes you get saved and you're living with somebody and it's it's you can't envision your life without that person You don't know how you're going to pay the bills You don't know what you're going to do if am I going to end up in the street if I take this step and do What I know God's telling me to do and there are reasons why people Will take time Not this I'm not saying it's necessary, but they'll take time to make right decisions But the longer you wait the longer you stay the longer you continue to do What should not be done the harder your heart will become? until you get to the point where you're deceiving the church and Deceiving God in your own mind coming into the house of the Lord you're lifting your hands, and you're saying I'm with the program When the pastor says be holy you yell out amen You clap your hands to almost anything. Let's preach from the pulpit or sung from the choir, but there is It's only a pretense and God knows it There's a point where you're no longer a child folks. There's a point where you're not youthful You can't lean on that anymore. You've been long enough in the house of God. You've experienced some of the touch Of his miraculous power you've you've known and I've known his presence guiding and leading and sustaining you every day There's a time where you have to take the step of faith no matter what the cost is And do what is right? There's a time to make restitution for past wrongs You can't just you can't just rip a hundred people off as it is and just walk away saying It's all under the blood and leave other people in poverty if it's within your power to do something about the wrongs that you did You can't just walk away There's a time To do and to obey what God speaks to your heart No deceiver will inherit the kingdom of God Paul knew in the Corinthian church There were people there who are still committing certain practices and that's why I said being not deceived no fornicator No, no a famine that person nobody that's continuing in these practices is going to inherit the kingdom of God But then Paul says but such were some of you, but now you're washed now you're justified now You're sanctified by the Holy Ghost. You've come into the power of God. You've not played this double game The irony of it all is Ananias and Sapphira could have said we're not selling our land and still been part of the church They could have said here's half and it would have been fine. The issue was they pretended something. They were not that is the issue And it would have brought the same weakness into the church when people start pretending to be righteous It brings the same weakness into the church that was brought into the camp of Israel under Achan They have a self view that is wrong They have pursuits that take away the strength of themselves their families their associates and ultimately the church that they're part of The writer of Hebrews says take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in Departing from the Living God, but exhort one another daily while it's called today. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Now on the plus side the Lord speaking through the prophet of Hosea. Let me just read it to you for time's sake now talks about a bride That had given herself as it is to other lovers and she was decked in things that were not the righteousness of Christ She had adornments and garments and jewelry that were given to her by these other pursuits and God said to Hosea I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her We're all you've heard me say it before folks. We're all going into the wilderness Everything that we this society is known and trusted in is about to perish. It's all going to crumble But those who cannot be shaken in Christ will stand Those who have an honest relationship with God are going to come through the coming storm You and I will be like the Apostle Paul if we walk in truth We'll be like Paul to be able to stand on the deck of a perishing ship with bread in our hands giving. Thanks unto God God will give us strength Hosea said I'm God said to Hosea I'm gonna bring her into the wilderness and I'm gonna speak comfortably to her and I'm gonna Give her vineyards there and in the valley of a core, which is where Aiken and his family were put to death I'm going to open to her a door of hope I'm gonna draw her in and in that valley of trouble I'm gonna open the door to her and It's a doorway called hope and she will sing there as in the days of her youth as in the day when she came up Out of the land of Egypt. God says I'm not letting you go because you're my church You're my beloved bride, I'm gonna bring you into this place of trouble and in this place of trouble I'm gonna strip you of all the garments all the adornments all the gold all the silver all the value system of a perishing Society and in that place of trouble I'm going to open the door and you're gonna come through it with a song in your heart And you're gonna come through it with my name on your lips. You'll no longer call me master because master implies Restrictions on behavior and things given to do you will call me you see which means husband You will love me with all your heart and you will walk with me in the coming days He said I'll betroth you to be in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord praise be to God I was so her unto me in the earth and I'll have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy and I will say to them Which were not my people thou art my people and they shall say thou art my God Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah Folks this is not an hour to be running from the hard truths This is an hour to stand in the in the truth of God. It's an hour to say God Thank you for speaking to my heart Now give me the power to go through the door Now many of you are in trouble already. You're in trouble now You're if you weren't in trouble you're in trouble now after hearing this person, you know, you are and you say but God You've opened the door of hope to me. Thank you Lord for not judging me the way it is written in Scripture Thank you. God. I'm still alive in the house of the Lord. I still am at a place that I can hear your word I'm still the place God where I can get up from this place and go through this door into the life. You promised me I'm not staying here anymore. I'm getting up and I'm going through into the freedom of my God and my Christ I'm not going to worry about the voices in my heart No matter what Satan says no matter what the frailty in my own heart says no matter what everybody around me saying I'm going through that door and I'm going to begin to walk with my God The thousand shall fall at one hand and ten thousand at the other but you will stand in the days ahead You'll have the power of God in your heart the shaking folks We're gonna have prayer meetings where the shaking of God's going to come again. Just as it did in Acts chapter 4 The Word of God will be put into our hearts with great boldness We will be given the power to stand and give God glory in this generation We'll have a heart filled with mercy knowing that we ourselves have been the recipients of incredible mercy People will come from near they'll come from far prodigal sons will come home Many who've made a mess of the name of God will come into these these doors and they'll come into places like it But God will have given us his heart and enlarged heart as it is to receive them as sons and daughters and to guide them Gently and safely home again to the one who loves them. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. I Have to trust in my heart that the Holy Spirit has spoken to you and I plead with you if you're in the wrong place Get out of there. If you're doing the wrong things trust God for the power to stop Don't be found where you shouldn't be don't be doing what you shouldn't be doing Don't let your value system be intermingled with the systems of this world. Put it all away It's good enough to be a servant Oh If you're if you're really hooked on greatness The scripture says the greatest among you will be your servant Jesus said it that settles it then try to be the greatest servant That can be found in the church of Jesus Christ and you will have achieved this destiny that God has for your life Oh folks, please please hear me. The hour is late The rains are coming. I feel almost like Noah just before them the first day when the rain started It's not time to play games with God It's time to get right with God now, and you know that God is speaking all through the worship today He's been speaking his presence has been here. He always comes and confirms when he's got a living word He always confirms it in the sanctuary, but now the choice is yours and I plead with you with all my heart You see a Aiken it was too late If he had come forward, but he had to be singled out among three million people folks before he could finally came clean Joshua said Aiken my son give glory to God Tell me what you've done If he had if he had come forward perhaps in the beginning, he may have escaped the judgment You imagine standing before the throne of God one day and Jesus speaks your name and says tell me son Give glory to God. What did you do? What did you do to have your name taken from my lips? What did you do? I'll give you every opportunity for freedom. I give you every chance to walk in truth I gave you the power the covering the cleansing the anointing everything was there Tell me what did you do? Those would be some of the most fearful words I think it Aiken at this point knew that mercy was passed. He had to have known it. He'd waited too long Folks don't wait too long The door is going to the next great event in the world is the rapture of the church. Did you know that? In a moment when it's least expected As a thief in the night Jesus said the church is going to be taken from the earth Then all hell as the world has never seen before is about to break out We were probably very close to that day I Brought you this message because I care I Want to see you make it through If you're in a place you shouldn't be You're looking for the strength to go where God's calling you then this altar call is for you He said in the valley of trouble. I opened to you a door of hope that door is open today folks Do not play games with God get right with God The covenant is not for game players. It's for honest and sincere people Please get right with God today in the annex You can step up between the screens if you would please in the main sanctuary in the balcony You can go to either exit in the main sanctuary step out, but you've heard the word today And it's time to get right with God. I'm gonna ask you to come to this altar as we stand Let's all stand together. Please we're going to worship together You come just come Make your way and we'll pray together Want you to remember those that have come to this altar this morning that the Lord said in this place of trouble Which I brought you into Because God brought you here because he loved you into the place of trouble into an awareness that you're in trouble Because he loves you and he said once you and I are in agreement About these things then he said I opened the door before you And he said you're gonna walk out of that door with a song. You're gonna walk out. You're gonna call me husband You're gonna not just see me as a taskmaster that's setting a bunch of rules around your life But you're gonna love me and you're gonna know how much I love you We're gonna be in in relationship one with another and he said I'm gonna do that All you do is you just walk through no matter how fearful it might seem to you walk through the door And I'll give you the strength and the power and you'll never have to look to your own resources again It'll be the power of God that sustains you Hallelujah Hallelujah, let's pray together Lord Jesus Thank you for bringing me here today Speaking to me in the area of my deepest need I'm afraid Oh God But Lord, you're going to bring me through. I Believe you as I go through that door You'll give me a song and a heart to love you To know your will and your ways and your power God thank you for loving me enough to speak to me today For caring enough to bring me out of all bondage and everything that would captivate My life my family and my heart I trust you for the power today to Do what is right? And to obey your word God I thank you and I praise you in Jesus name Amen