In this sermon, the preacher shares his experience of being led by God to preach in a church in Arizona. He felt a strong conviction to call the youth to repent on behalf of America due to its sins. The preacher also mentions seeing a vision of a massive explosion coming to America, urging the congregation to pray and repent immediately. He then shares a personal story of playing the grand piano in an empty auditorium, reflecting on the history of the place and the presence of God. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the transformative power of encountering Jesus, using the example of Saul's conversion in the Bible.

Y'all sing with me, okay? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. T'was grace that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand years, Christ shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise. Than when we first begun. We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when we first begun. There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its word. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Because he first loved me. Descend, holy fire, on me. Descend, holy fire, on me. Oh, purge me, yes, cleanse me, Inflame my soul. Descend, holy fire, on me. Ascend, holy fire, from me. Ascend, holy fire, from me. A fragrance so pure for thy glory. Ascend, holy fire, from me. Please send, holy fire, through me. Please send, holy fire, through me. To a world that's lost in the darkness of sin. To a world that's lost in the darkness of sin. Oh, please send, holy fire, through me. Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, Pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary for you. And spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Break me, melt me, fill me, and use me. Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Fall fresh on me. Fall fresh on me. You are Lord. You are Lord. You have risen from the dead, and you are Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, That Jesus Christ is Lord. A dear friend of mine and I were standing in my own... Is this on? Oh, it is, okay. We were standing in Northfield, Massachusetts, where D.L. Moody's buried and where he was born. And there's an auditorium there that Moody had designed. And they had built a beautiful structure of brick. It was way high up, looks like a... Kind of shaped like a barn in a sense at the top, with big four windows up in the top to open up, to let the warm air out. The doors along the sides are huge doors, and they would open up both sides, and there would be a crosswind to come through. And we were there, and a dear sister in Christ had been there praying for 30 years for that campus. She took us out around the back of the building and pointed over to a little house across a little road and said, see that house over there? We said, yes. She said, that's where Fannie Crosby lived. And on one occasion she wrote a song, and that hymn was sung in this auditorium for the very first time. And she said that song was, Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I am my Savior, I am happy, I am blessed. Watching, and you know she was blind. Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. And the dear sister said, go up there, there's a grand piano on the platform. The place was just the same as it was over a hundred years ago when Moody was there. An old grand piano. She said, go up there and play that piano. And I went up there and began to play that piano. The place was empty, about 3,500 seats or so. Balcony across the back like this. You can just imagine people like C.T. Studd, F.B. Meyer, G. Campbell Morgan, A.T. Pearson, C.I. Schofield, all these men of God preached from that platform. And to hear that piano ringing through that auditorium, the song, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine, God swept us from there into a prayer meeting, almost like I'd never been in in my life. God met the three of us in prayer. Ernest couldn't even stand, he fell on his knees on the platform. The dear sister who was there giving us the tour, she began to back away because God's presence was so heavy and real in that place. And God met us. Father, I bless your name today. I ask you, O God, to speak to our hearts in a fresh way. I ask you, Lord Jesus, to open our eyes that we might see Jesus. You are not dead, you are alive and well. And Lord Jesus, you are seated upon that throne, high and lifted up. That you neither slumber nor sleep. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. And that, O God, you stand ruling and reigning supreme as God Almighty upon that throne. Lord, you never fall asleep. You never lose track of what's going on. You've never said, Oops. You've never lost control for one second. And you know everything. You're omniscient. You're everywhere. You're omnipresent. You're all-powerful. You're omnipotent. And Lord, I ask you this day to speak afresh to our hearts from your word. And Lord, fill me afresh by your spirit, I pray. And speak, Lord, in this stillness while we wait upon thee. And ask our hearts to listen in expectancy. Speak, O blessed master, in this hallowed hour. And let us see thy face, Lord. And feel and know thy touch of power. For this, we thank you. And for this, we pray, giving unto you all the glory and honor and praise. In Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, Amen. So take your Bibles and open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah, chapter number six. Isaiah, chapter six. A passage rich in biblical truth and teaching in relation to revival, blessing, and power. I will say this just at the outset of what God has done in the past because we don't rest upon the past for the present movings of God. We only take the past as disperse on to see the present movings of God. But I'll never forget when God moved in the church and we went four months in one church in revival every night. Services would go hours in length. We'd have morning prayer meetings. And I'd take off to the mountainside up in the Ponderosa Pines of eastern Arizona and get along with God. We finally had to back off Monday and Tuesday nights because people had to pay their bills and get things accomplished. That thing went on for four months. Most amazing. Maybe I can share some stories here and there about what God did during those days. But I tell you, once you've been in a place like that, you're never the same again. Once God comes like that, you don't settle for church as usual anymore. You don't sit back and say, Oh, another Sunday. People say, Do you expect God to cover every service? I say, Every time, why not? Why not? Why settle for less? Why settle for mediocre when God wants you to do something bigger and greater? Amen? Now we amen down south. Where am I? I'm in Missouri. I'm in the Midwest. Amen. So I'll catch up to that a little bit there. I have a camera back there, so that means I've got to stay right behind this pulpit. Do you know how hard that is? That is very difficult, but I'm going to try, by the grace of God. Isaiah chapter six. Let's stand together for the reading of the word of God. Then we'll go into the text this morning. Y'all look great. Amen. Y'all just look good. Turn to someone and say, You look great. Y'all look good. Isaiah chapter six. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above us stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings, with two. He covered his face with two. He covered his feet with two. He did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched your lips. Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, not here I am. Here am I. Send me. And he said, Go and tell this people. Verse 11, Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until. Until. Father, we thank you. Lord, thank you that the most only inspired part of this whole morning is the reading of the Word of God. So fill us afresh by your Spirit, Father, to see and hear and understand and walk and by faith claim the truths of your Word and the life of Jesus within. In Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. Regardless of what you and I have ever gone through, regardless of our trials and afflictions and discouragements and pick-ups and let-downs, the answer to everything you and I need is a fresh revelation of Jesus. It's not a new system. Not a new program. Not a new format. Not a new song, as it were. Not a new style of song, as it were. Not an old style of song, as it were. We need a fresh revelation of Jesus. Here Isaiah was in the year that King Uzziah died. He says, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. He was walking through the temple. Chronicles says, Uzziah sought God in the days of Zechariah who had an understanding of the visions of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. I love that. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. So what do we do when the presence of God draws near in a given service? It isn't the time to back up and say, Oh no, Moses, you go. We're going to stay back. That's the time to press in to the presence of God. Amen. Amen. Uzziah sought God. Joshua sought God. Moses would leave the tabernacle, but Joshua would stay there seeking the face and the glory of Almighty God. David said, Oh God, Thou art my God. Early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsts for Thee. My flesh longs for Thee in a dry and barren land where no water is. But I might see, behold Thy glory and Thy power as I have seen You in the sanctuary. So why do we come to the house of God on a Sunday morning? Not just to sing a song. Not just to hear a message. But to behold the glory and power of Almighty God. And God will show up. That the Spirit of God would move. That they would say like in Chronic and Corinthians, the New Testament, an unbeliever comes in and falls on his face and says of a truth, God is in this place. God is in you. Something so beatific. Something so real. Something so vibrant that people look around and say, Oh, there's a woman of God. There's a man of God. There's a child of God right there. Why? There's a glory about Him. There's an instinctiveness about Him that the world does not have. Uzziah sought God. Hebrews 7 and 6, Without faith it's impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. What does that mean? That means I seek Him until I know His presence in a fresh way. To seek the face of God is to seek the manifest presence of God. To seek the glory of God. To seek the wonder of Almighty God. Until... Hosea 10-12 says, So do yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it's time to seek the Lord until He come and reign righteousness upon you. Here's Isaiah is in the temple seeking the Lord Himself. The year that King Uzziah died, Uzziah himself became proud twelve years earlier in the temple offering incense himself. Azariah and the priests come in and say, Uzziah, what are you doing in here? That's not your job. He became angry. A man of God. He was smitten with leprosy. The last twelve years of his life he lives as a leper. Oh, but could you imagine one of the saddest things I see as I crisscross this nation is I go in churches and I see men sitting in churches that used to pastor, who used to be aflame with the Spirit of Almighty God, who used to be aglow with Almighty God. Now all they have to talk about is something that happened twenty years ago. And they're sitting there doing nothing. Why? Somewhere in their life they got mad at God. Somewhere they disagreed with how God run his show, how God does things. And they became bitter, they became angry, they became dissatisfied, they became critical, judging everybody else. Yet they're sitting in a church somewhere doing nothing for the cause and glory of Almighty God. It's a sad sight to see and behold. I see it, especially in the southern states. It's heartbreaking. Uzziah, the last twelve years, was a leper. Yet, a man who did come back, I believe, and sought God's face and repentance. This was the year. Uzziah had died. Isaiah's in the temple. There's a vision we've got to see. He said, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. There's the Lord that we must see in His sovereignty. To see Him in His sovereignty. To see the sovereign hand of Almighty God that regardless of what you and I go through, God is sovereignly in control. I thought of that pastors this morning about Jesus walking amongst the seven golden candlesticks in Revelation chapter 1. Jesus walking Himself. I recall hearing my mentor, my dear father in the faith, and it was there all the way up until he died. There in the hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. They called back to Arizona and said, David, Stephen's in the hospital. Stephen Oliford. And I said, well do I need to come? They said, well it's up to you. I just felt like I needed to go and I flew back to Memphis, Tennessee. I'll never forget how many times I heard that brother pray. I was blessed by Stephen Oliford's preaching but it was his praying that enraptured my soul. And how many times he would cry out to God, oh God stand tall among us in your risen power. It was all about Jesus standing tall among us in His risen power. I want to ask a question. Have you seen Jesus lately? Could you imagine that woman taken in adultery in the very act? Where were the men who set her up? How come they weren't brought in? Where was the man? How come he wasn't brought in? And yet they brought her and cast her down before Jesus and here she is on the ground. Jesus the Lord says, and they began to quote the Bible, O the head of downed path, who do all the answers? The Bible says. What do you say? Jesus in grace and humility knelt down and wrote in the dirt. We don't know what he wrote. I don't know. Did he write the Ten Commandments? Maybe. He wrote that in the Old Testament on the wall. He wrote in the book of Daniel. You've been weighed in the balance and found lacking the hand of God writing upon the wall bringing judgment upon Babylon. He wrote on the wall there. Did he write their names? Did he write the women who they had been sleeping around with? I don't know what he wrote. But I know this. Jesus was in a position when he knelt down to write that that woman on her face could see Jesus. I'm glad Jesus stooped for her and I'm glad Jesus stooped for me to the cross at Calvary. I'm glad he came down to my level and didn't judge me and cast me into a burning hell. But in his mercy and grace and loving kindness says Father, I shed my blood for David. I shed my blood for the church of Jesus Christ. I shed my blood for the world. That's why I went to give my life for the world. I'm glad he said that he who is without sin be the first to cast the stone. And beginning at the oldest but they dropped the rocks, they left. Jesus said, Where, woman, where are your accusers? Where are your accusers? She said, There's no man, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. That woman at the well in the noon hour, that woman saw Jesus. She goes out at the noon hour. They outcast. All the women went in the morning hours when it was cooler. Not her. She was socially shamed. You see, she'd had quite a few husbands and she wasn't like the rest of them. And they'd cop an attitude toward her. But Jesus didn't do it. Jesus said, I need to go through Samaria. I must need to go through Samaria. Jesus goes and he goes and sends them on to get food. And he's sitting there on the side of that well and that woman comes out there to draw water. And he said, Woman, give me water to drink. How is it you being a Jew to speak to me, a woman? A Samaritan. He said, If you knew who it was speaking to you, you'd have this life. Go get your husband. Oh, I'm not married. No, you're not married to me. You've had five husbands and the man you're with now is not even your husband. How'd you know that? Jesus saw her. Jesus spoke to her. Jesus searched her heart. Jesus saved her. Transformed. Ran back. Oh, come and see a man that told me everything I ever did. You gotta see this Jesus. Why? Because she saw Jesus. That woman saw Jesus. Paul, going to kill Christians. Oh, he's going to take them out and kill them. All of a sudden, he saw a light. He heard a voice. He made a choice. Lord, what will you have me to do? Paul saw Jesus. He transformed his life. I'll never forget hearing Roy Hesham speak in Tempe, Arizona. I recall what he spoke on that day. He spoke about a man whose name was Saul who was on his way up. And the man full of the flesh whose name was Saul had a living encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. He had that beatific vision. And the man who was going up in his own strength humbled himself and went down. He was a man of pride in basically four areas. He gave four words. I memorized it because I can make a word out of it. The word foam. Saul had the pride of family. Of the tribe of Benjamin. Listen, I know this about the southern states and a lot of the Midwest and all over the nation but mainly in the south. If you have the right last name, you can get a job in your town. How many of you know what I'm talking about? If you have the right name, you'll get a loan from the bank. If you have the right name, you'll end up marrying the guy in town who's got the money, quote unquote. If you have the right name. Boy, old Saul had that I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I got the pride of family. Boy, sometimes you meet people and you shake their hand and they tell you their name and what they're doing instead of telling you who they are. They're advertising who they are. You can feel it when they say it. That's pride. The pride of orthodoxy. Oh, he had his doctrine straight. Cut just right there. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. The pride of orthodoxy. And I tell you, what's in a revival in the church of America today, there's a resurgence of the Reformation Movement teachings across this nation. And that's fine. Praise God for that. But one thing I'm seeing rising with that is a very, very subtle arrogance within it. Many have become arrogant because their doctrine is so straight. They know what's truth. They know what's right. They know what's wrong. And they sound like some of the Pharisees. Jesus! She was caught in the door through the very eyes. The law says this. And I've met people that they minister out of that spirit of a Pharisaical heart. Doctrine straight as a barrel. The bullet's there, but there's no gunpowder in their gun. All it is is head knowledge. Little gymnastics theologically. And yet what happens is these young people come to church and they look for something divine, something real, something transforming, and all they hear is an intellectual message and they don't come and sense the presence of Almighty God. They don't see the moving of the Holy Spirit of God. And yet we get out of our purpose and go home and oh, that was a wonderful sermon. What a wonderful outline. I could care less about your outline if God isn't on it. The pride of orthodoxy. The pride of activity. Concerning zeal. Persecuting the church. Busy, busy, busy, busy. I recall what Alan Redpath used to say. Beware of the barrenness of a busy life. Dr. Saunders, Geraldswell Saunders, speaking with him years ago when he was at Prairie Bible Institute, he said this. He said, Never take on more ministry than you can adequately pray over. Isn't that good? He said, Never take on more ministry than you can adequately pray over. I want to insert this right here. D. M. Panton defined prayer this way. He said, Prayer is God the Spirit talking to God the Father in the name of God the Son and the believer's heart is his prayer closet. Do you realize in Jewish history anyway regarding the tabernacle that they said in their historical books you could literally hear as it were a breathing sound coming from the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the wilderness? The body. The human being. Spirit, soul, body. You get regenerated in the Spirit and God comes into your spirit. Quickly you're making it alive through Almighty God flowing through the soul and out the body. The spirit's for communion. The soul is for contemplation. The body is for communication. That's the heart secret of prayer in the presence of God. That the Spirit of God indwells your spirit and my spirit and our soul lives in surrender to the indwelling Spirit and let Him flow and He will flow in the place of prayer and praise and worship and evangelism and adoration and preaching or whatever it is. Sometimes God moves ever so gently like the wind. You can hardly perceive but the wind and John 3 says the wind is moving. It's in the present tense. The wind of God is always moving. Whether I'm living in the flow and catching the sail of that wind or not is whether I'm living in obedience or not but the wind is always blowing. That's why when you come to the place of prayer you may be quiet for a short season because what you're doing is you're waiting on the wind of God to blow. You're not trying to turn the fan and plug it in and turn it on. You're just waiting. By faith, God, you said the wind is always blowing. So God, I bend my soul before Your throne right now. Fill me with Your Spirit, O God and pray through me right now by Your dwelling presence. And hold on because He does and He will. Amen. I was in a church in Winona, Missouri a few weeks ago. I'll never forget Wednesday night they had all the kids and there were about 60 kids and youth in there. I thought it was strange when the service began all the adults sat on this side of the auditorium and nobody was over here. I thought, what's going on? This must be how they do Wednesday nights. They all come over here and sit down and take a little stand down here, you know, and do that. I'm messing him up royally with that camera. I'm sorry, brother. And all the kids and teenagers came in. We began the service and they were going to send them out after a couple of songs and I said, O pastor, I don't mind. I said, you can leave them here. I'd rather they be up here than down there doing something else. I want them to experience God. I said, it doesn't offend me at all. Please, if you don't mind just leave them here. He said, all right. Well, I'll check in. So they did. We did a song or two. I was over at the keyboard. I had set up my sound system and all and they had their singers up here and they had turned it over to me. We did a song or two and I walked over and God let them walk over and get a mic over here and I went over there and they were on their piano still and I just wanted to do some other song. And God let on my heart right now open the altar for the kids and youth and people to come and pray. And right there I just opened and those kids, they flooded out of their seats. I mean, some of them five years old up in the teenage years and they knelt on their knees across the front of that place and one kid was sad because he couldn't find their place to kneel. It was so full. And I watched those children begin to pray and I watched them break in the presence of Almighty God. I watched tears stream down their faces. Children! Stream down their faces. I watched them stand up and hug each other and hold each other and weep with each other and cry with each other. Why? Because they love God. Some of them giving their hearts to Jesus. Children! I wish I had a camera. But me, I want to keep this in my mind and heart. I'll never forget it the rest of my life. I've never seen such agony come out of children and pray in North America. I've seen it in Africa, but I've never seen it in North America. I thought, my Lance, God is moving here. Why? Because they're not full of fear and self-consciousness and selfishness. They just want to seek the heart and face of God. I watched the kids go back and sit down back here and all of a sudden, their hand would begin to go up in the air as streams of tears would flow down their faces as they would sit back there trying to sing and worship Almighty God. I said, adults, this puts us to shame. I said, our nation is in a mess. It's a free fall. And that doesn't break our hearts to get on our knees and our faces and cry out to Almighty God in repentance and brokenness. If what our nation's going through won't do it, what will? I said, maybe God's using these young people and children to break us older adults to get out of our stinking pride and arrogance. And then, well, that's just the kids. It's okay. They can be like that. But I've got to... Listen, I want to ask you a question. When you came to Christ, you surrendered your will to Him. You surrendered your mind to Him. But the last thing people surrender to Him is their emotions. Well, I've got to be reserved. I've got to be... Why? Who said? I'll tell you who said. Pride said. I can't let someone see me broken. They might think a little less of me if I'm the one that goes down. Oh, you arrogant prude. We get so proud and arrogant that we care about what someone else thinks and what someone else says. I was speaking to a man before he was going to speak to seminary students. He was getting his stuff ready before he went up. And a friend of mine went up to him. He knew him. He introduced him. We met. I said, brother, he missed in revival. They were having their spiritual emphasis week at school. You know, we call it spiritual emphasis week nowadays because there's often no revival that happens. So, we call it spiritual emphasis week. I said to him, we're talking about revival. I said, you know, I've just kind of seen over the years that when my desperation level, that when our desperation level rises above our embarrassment level, God will do something. He said, that's my problem. He said, my desperation level hasn't gotten above my embarrassment level. I wanted to say to him, then why in God's name are you getting ready to ascend that pulpit and speak to those seminary students? You have nothing to say. I believe there's a balance in this. I talked to a man recently in Tennessee. He has some friends involved in a ministry that works in countries where there's a lot of persecution. They're praying vehemently. They're praying strongly for persecution to come to America. I know why they're doing that. You know why they're doing that because persecution does purify the church. But I believe persecution may be God's last measure to bring a church back to himself. I believe persecution, I believe God will come either through devastation or desperation or persecution. I'd rather God come through desperation, wouldn't you? I don't want to see Chinese soldiers marching on our soil with guns because we have got so indebted to them. They call in our debt and all of a sudden they're in charge of our land again. Don't think that's very far away. That could happen. God's calling us. Can I tell you, we've got a lot of young people here. I was in a church on a Wednesday night. God had it in my heart to preach on 2 Chronicles 7 14 back in Arizona, 90 miles away from home. And God gave me a solemn word that night. And that night, God had it in my heart to call the youth to come and get on their knees and cry out to God and repent toward God on behalf of America because of our sins. I said, I can't explain it. I don't know why, but God sometimes shows me things in my heart that's going to happen in America. And I've seen them in my heart anyway. I've seen a massive explosion coming to America. I can't describe it. It's like a liquid bomb of some kind. But we've got to pray in repentance before God. And we've got to do it tonight, y'all. We've got to do it. We can't do it tomorrow. It's right now. Those young people came, and they began to weep and cry on their knees, crying out to God in repentance and brokenness on behalf of this nation. The service ended. God had it in my heart, hurry, get back to Phoenix, get home. I took off and went home, walked in my place, and He had it in my heart, turn the news on. I did. And they were just coming out with the breaking news that they had just foiled the attempts of those guys over in Manchester in England, those 10 suitcase liquid bombs. I called the pastor up, and I said, Pastor, I left a message. I said, I know now why God called us tonight as a group to humble ourselves so that God will not allow another judgment to fall upon this nation. So please don't think your praying is unnecessary. Don't think your repentance is unnecessary. Your repentance and prayer is vitally necessary to the preservation of what God's doing in this land. Don't ever think your praying and it doesn't really matter. God isn't looking for someone big enough to use. He's looking for someone small enough to use and dependent enough to use. Pray when you feel like it. Pray when you don't feel like it, my friends, and pray until you do feel like it. I'd rather have a child praying for me than most adults I know because they're so full of faith. Isn't that true? I saw the Lord. I'm glad we got five hours. It's only 9 o'clock in Phoenix. I got plenty of time. Amen. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and His train filled the temple. You see, we don't see Him as some guy walking through the lily pads with us. We don't see Him in His exalted position as smacking our gums like, God, God. And with such irreverence that there is today, He is holy. He is high and lifted up. I am glad. You know what I learn as I travel? When you get on these high hills and high mountains, you can see everywhere. Now, God doesn't need it to see. He can see everywhere anyway. I like the fact that God can see everywhere though. He knows everything. Nothing takes Him by surprise. He is exalted Lord of Lords and King of Kings. I recall years ago when that song came out, I Exalt Thee, I Exalt Thee, and I remember some pastors used to come out and they began to say, well, why sing I Exalt Thee when He's already exalted? I said, well, I know you're right in what you're saying, but have you read the Psalms yet? Have you read the Word yet? The Word says because you failed to exalt Him. That's the exact wording. He is Lord. He is exalted. But have I owned that Lordship? Have I exalted Him in my heart and life? Have I stepped off the throne of my heart? In every heart there is a cross and a throne. Either the eye is on the cross and the Christ is on the throne or the Christ is on the cross and the eye is on the throne. Now, let me tell you something. Many of us have been around for a little while long and we've learned this and we're still learning this that whenever I is on the throne trouble is coming. Whenever I is on that throne there's going to be a storm hit your life. There's a wave that seems right under a man but the end thereof are the waves of death. Listen, he that being often reproved and hard as his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy over the grace of God let us stay off of the throne and let Christ live on the throne of our hearts and lives. Amen? And live a crucified life of not trying to crucify. You can't crucify ourselves. I hear folks say all the time I'm trying to crucify myself. Did Jesus crucify Himself? No! I have been crucified with Christ. Jesus took me in my powerlessness and crucified me on the cross with Him two thousand years ago. My hands are bound. My feet are bound with Him two thousand years ago. Why? That the life of Jesus might be manifested in resurrection power and divinity. So many people have disciplined flesh religious flesh and they've never encountered a risen Christ. And friend I do not condemn someone who does that. I know what it's like. I've been there myself. I know the emptiness of trying to be good to earn God's favor and it does not work. It leaves you empty. It leaves you guilty. It leaves you frustrated. It leaves you depressed and wanting to quit and give up and run away from life. I know what that's like. I've been there myself. But mercy found me. Mercy and grace touched me. His loving kindness redeemed me. His blood cleansed me. And Jesus saved me. Not only when I was seven years old we are continuously being saved by His life. I have been saved. I'm being saved. I shall be saved. I've been saved from the penalty of sin. I'm being saved from the power of sin. I shall be saved from the presence of sin. Have you seen Him lately? Do you have that quiet place somewhere where just you go and climb a tree or something? Somewhere. If you're over 20, don't try that. But somewhere. Or you just get along with God. People say, I don't know how to pray. I say, just talk to Him. What do I say? Tell Him I don't know what to say. Beloved, there's many times I don't know what to say. I met a guy at Prairie. Worked out on the ranch. The dairy farm, rather. It was winter. Freezing cold. The ground was frozen. He slipped and fell. Hit his head on the frozen ice on the ground. Ended up in the hospital that morning. I'm leading chapel that day. The whole student body is supposed to greet everyone, lead a song, open in prayer, introduce the speaker, and then sit down and close the prayer at the end. And it was my day to do it. What do you pray? What do you say when a guy is on his deathbed about to die? You don't get up and say, God, heal him! No! You cry out to God in brokenness. And you say, God, I don't know exactly how to pray right now. But I know this. You're sovereign. You are Lord. You are King. And you are able to deliver and to save. Like Daniel and those guys in that den. Before they went in, they said, King, our God is able to deliver us. If He doesn't, we're still going to praise Him. We're still going to praise Him. See Jesus in His sovereignty. See the servants in the ministry. He said, I saw quickly. We'll go quicker now. He said, Above us stood seraphim, burners. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he did fly. The seraphim. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the post of the door mooted the voice of Him who cried. And the house was filled with smoke. The servants of God. With six wings. Two they covered their face. Two they covered their feet. Two they did fly. And the covering of the face speaks of humility. Humbleness. Listen. God begins to move in precious revival. There's something about it. I saw it in a fresh way last Saturday night. Down in Branson at our family reunion. God met us at a time of singing and worship. It was spontaneous. Not really planned. It just happened. And God came in such power and might upon us. All we could do is sit there and weep and cry. And you didn't even lift your head because His presence was so heavy and so real. Humbleness. With two they covered their feet. Dependence. Oh God. We're dependent upon You. With two they did fly. Obedience. Obedience. You recall the Old Testament story. The prophet of old. God spoke to him. Go to that widow Zarephath. For there I've commanded her to feed you. And he rose up. Because the brook ran dry. He rose up and he left and he went. And when he did, the provision was made there. And here's the biblical principle on that. Your blessing lies just beyond your obedience. People say, God, do this. What does God say? Stretch forth your hand. Jesus, we're out of wine. Throw the water pots. Bill McCloud once told me, I said one time, I said, brother, it seems like to me. We were on the phone. He was in his church in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan that the revival broke out. I said, it seems to me that God almost always tells me to do something before I ever preach or sing or anything. He'll prompt me to do something. And if I do, I'll see God move up. I don't. It's, it's, it's tough sawing. I said, is that biblical? Is that? He said, David, he said, he said, I recall I was heading to speak at a Christian college. Maybe a bar cross. I don't recall. It was in Canada, I believe. On the way there, the Holy Spirit prompted me to pull off at a rest stop and pass out tracts to people at the rest stop. He said, I know this. When I got to that campus and ministered, heaven came down. God met us in a glorious way on that campus. But I know this. He said, if I had not obeyed God at that rest stop and handing out those tracts to people, I would not have seen the glory of God on that campus. What's the biblical principle? We don't earn God's blessings, but the principle is this. God gives the Holy Spirit to those that obey him. Let me say this. When God begins to move in his service, how do you see the spirit of God move more in our own prayer life? How? By obeying whatever he says to do. Many times, I've wanted to pray this way and I've sensed the presence of God lift right off of me in prayer. I wanted to go this way. And all that was the proof, I hadn't died to it yet. Well, how do I pray? I want you to pray for that person who despitefully, whatever. I want you to pray for Greg's needs right now. I want you to pray for Don's needs right now. And you say, but mine are like this. And compared to... It seems like his are like this in my eyes and mine are like this. God says, yeah, but you have to die to yours first before I'll take care of it. When you die to yours and focus on what I tell you they are someone else's, watch how quickly I take care of yours. Obedience. There's a joy in obedience. There's a sheer joy. Oh, the vision. And there's the confession. They said, I woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, defiled, polluted. The glory of God. Notice how the glory of God filled the house. The house was filled with smoke. Notice it was in the manifest presence of God that conviction came. I recall years ago. Have you ever been this way? You say, God, I'm tired of reading about revival. I want to see a move of Your Spirit. Have you ever been that? I got that way. You know who God used to convict me? An unregenerate boxer. Doesn't know Jesus as far as I know. I think I'm pretty accurate in that. Mike Tyson. You say, how could God use Mike Tyson to speak to you? Well, God can use anybody, amen? And Mike Tyson was being interviewed one time for a fight. And the interviewer asked him and said, Mike, are you going to win this fight? And Mike said, I won't be denied. And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit in my heart said, David, do you have that tenacity for revival as He does to win a fight? I said, oh, no, Lord, I don't. But I want it. God called to a season. I won't go into all of that right now. I'll never forget that not long after that, about a week or two after God met with me in a fresh way, a pastor called. They wanted to close the doors of their church. I had met him like six or seven or eight years earlier. He asked to come out to his church and let's just see what God does. And I went out there. Long story short, that went four weeks every night. The first time I'd ever seen God move beyond scheduled dates in the church. Four weeks. Could you imagine that? You wouldn't have to water the garden for a couple of days, amen? Four weeks every night. I'd get about a mile from that church and all of a sudden, you'd be overcome with the presence of God. You'd just begin to worship and praise God. Or you'd just begin weeping because God showed up. People began driving from Phoenix out to that church in West Valley. And you know what's interesting? Excuse me. I now live right across the street from that little church where God broke out in revival several years ago. I saw the house years ago. I said, I like that house. I think it's a new house. I would like to live there someday. That's where I live now. In that house, out in the country, in the middle of nowhere. When God shows up in this man of faith, God showed something during those days. He sent forth his word and did melt it. He caused the winds to blow and the waters did flow. The book of Psalms. And God showed this to David. The secret to the moving and effecting of lives is in my manifest presence. When I come in my manifest presence, you have to do very little. So, what do we ask God to do? To come in His manifest presence. And when He does, hearts are convicted. Children begin weeping and crying, watching what God's doing in His service. Adults break. Deacons' wives get saved. Amen. There's a few deacons getting saved too. Amen. I'm amazed how easy it is for churches nowadays to kick pastors out. Why don't we kick some deacons out? Amen. I've been to some places. Maybe they all need to go. I don't know. Dr. Oakwood used to say, resist the devil, he'll flee from you. Resist the deacon and he will fly at you. But there's a lot of good godly deacons out there too. Amen. The presence of God. And then this. Woe is me, for I am undone. I am cut off, because I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo! Maybe Simpson has an outline for this chapter. Woe, lo and go. That's Simpson's outline for this chapter. Verse 7 Lo! This has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away. And your sin is purged. Your guilt, as great as it is, is taken away. It's a completed action. And your sin is purged. He is the God of new beginnings. He is the atonement for our sin. I am so thankful for this. The confession we must say. The remission we must receive. That if I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. You say, now wait a minute. How could God be faithful and just to forgive my sins? Let me get back to the Believer's New Covenant. The blood covenant. Jesus is the one that cut covenant. He cut covenant with the Father. It is the seed. Under the seed were the covenant promises made. Jesus Himself is the Father's faithfulness to the Son and the blessings and all the blood of the covenant to fulfill to us and in us and through us what He promised the Son He would do when He cut covenant on the cross 2,000 years ago. He is faithful and just to the covenant promises. I love one of my favorite verses in all the scripture. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I am glad He didn't take my sins and move them over here to my right hand until a later time. I'm glad He didn't put them on a shelf in my drawers in my bedroom at home. Oh, when Jesus died on that cross He took all those sins I've ever committed and He bore them on that cross. He was wounded for my transgression. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement for His peace was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed. And that's me. That's you. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to His own way and the Lord has laid on Him, Jesus, the iniquity of us all. Jesus took every sin that you and I have ever committed on His back on that cross 2,000 years ago. To forgive means to send away. In the Old Testament they laid their hand upon the head of the animal and send it away off into the wilderness commemorating, symbolizing how Jesus is going to take away our sin. Can I get personal with you? I don't like to very often but sometimes I think it's important to tell just my own story what I've gone through. I won't go into detail but someone sinned against me greatly years ago. I was going to ask this girl to marry me. And she called me up. Told me that something happened. Massive betrayal to me. And the first thing that God laid on my heart was this, David, when I saved you, you did not do one thing to earn my forgiveness. Don't you dare make her earn yours. God gave great grace to forgive her right there on the phone. We talked for two hours as to why she did what she did. And yes, it's the worst you could imagine. You know what unforgiveness is? Unforgiveness would be like to go to the back of Jesus and say, Wait a minute, Jesus. Wait a minute. What she did... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's like going to Jesus and taking the sins committed against him off of his back and putting it back on their back. It'll be a cold day in the middle of Hades before I ever trust you again. And we give them that unforgiving heart. And our flesh rises up and wants to say, I'll make them pay for what they did to me. And yet, Jesus said, John said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin. He took it away off his back on the cross of Calvary. Every sin ever committed against you by anybody. Jesus took it all. And real forgiveness is saying, Oh God, I release and I acknowledge that you took that sin that was against me, let alone my sins. You bore them on your back on that cross 2,000 years ago. I don't hold it against them. I forgive them. As a matter of fact, oh God, look for the grace of God, it's me. And oh Jesus, I sure love them. Then you can pray, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they did. Then you and I can pray, Stephen, Oh Father, lay not this sin to their charge. Why? Why? Because Jesus took it all. Stephen knew it. Stephen knew what grace was. He knew what a wretched sinner he had been. Paul knew his pride of family, his pride of orthodoxy, his pride of activity, his pride of ministry. What did he say? Oh, my righteousnesses, I still do ask, I follow after you, if that I may apprehend that which I have apprehended. Beloved, the way to the glory and presence of God is the way it has always, always, always been. It's through the blood of Calvary. What did God say? Israel coming out of the bondage, coming out. He said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That same word, pass over you, is in Isaiah to mean to hover over. You ever watch those chickens hover over those eggs? You ever watch that chicken hover over those little bitty chickies? And that mother hen hovers over those little bitty babies? That's the same imagery used when God says, when I see the blood, I will pass over, hover over you. When I see God move in revival, and I sense God lifting off of us in the meetings, I tell the musicians and singers, everyone, get back to the blood! God says, when I see the blood, I'll show you my presence. When I get honest with God, and God shines the light of his holiness and his word upon my heart and life, I simply say, God, I'm not going to argue with anything you tell me. Whatever you say, you're right, you're right. It's sin, I confess it, I'm sorry, oh God, I'm sorry. It's sin. It's sin. And I begin, and you and I begin to experience the confession of sin, the continual cleansing of the blood of Jesus. Isn't it amazing? The deeper we go on brokenness and confession of sin, the more we know the glory of Almighty God. And all of a sudden, you want to repent! You want to get right! Because all of a sudden, the Spirit of God, how much more should the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works? Why? To serve the living and true God. Why do many come in to churches on Sunday mornings across this nation, dead as a dodo bird? Ah, fly away, blessed is the Lord. I'll tell you why they don't know the cleansing blood of Calvary. I close on this. If I would confess and know the blood of Jesus, I can, by faith in the covenant promise, claim the manifest and the indwelling filling of the Spirit of the living God. God's been here this morning, amen? One last thing. When the high priest was being consecrated, they would take blood and put it on the right earlobe. They'd take blood, Aaron's sons, and even the leper, and put blood on the right thumb there, on the right thumb, and the right big toe. And here's the biblical truth. There's a commission we must seize. The vision, the conviction, the confession, the remission, the commission. When did Isaiah hear the voice of God? After he did the cleansing of the blood from the coals from off the altar? After his own personal sins were purged away and cleansed away? Did he hear the voice of God? Who will go for us? Did I hear Him? Who will go for us? He said, I hear of I. He said, me. When the high priest was being, Aaron's sons, consecrated, dedicated for service, the blood on the right earlobe. If I would have a perception of the voice of God, I must know the cleansing blood of Calvary, amen? If I, in all that I do, if I want the favor of God, if I want the hand of God upon all that I do, I must walk with the blood of Jesus. If I want my wall to be protected and blessed of God, then I must walk with a judgment-bearing transparency to the convicting, cleansing, purifying hand of God and know the cleansing blood of Jesus on my right toe because the blood is in the power of the blood that liberates me to walk with God the way I should walk with God in brokenness and humility or however God calls us to walk with Him in love and truth and purity. But it doesn't stop there. I love this. On top of the blood, y'all know this, you know your Bibles. On top of the blood, they would apply oil. On top of the blood, it's still there, on the earlobe, the thumb, and the toe. And the biblical truth is this, where the blood of Jesus cleanses, the Spirit of God anoints. Why are so many swinging their axe handle with no axe head? They won't come to the blood. Why do you get up and fake it until they make it? Trying to make something happen. Trying to crank it all out. Why do you get up and say, let's all sing loud on the second verse this time. Come on, y'all, sing loud now. Why? They haven't yet come to the blood. When you come to the blood, you know the glory and the presence of God. And when you know the glory and presence of God, you just hold on. Because the wind is always blowing, and God begins to move. How does it increase? Because we as a body, unitedly enter in, in one heart, in one accord, in surrender, submission, repentance, confession, brokenness. And what happens when God bridges the brokenness? The deeper the brokenness on this side, like a submarine going deep, and coming up out, the deeper you go, the higher you go on the glory side. Many want to go like this with God. That's all they want. Don't call me deeper. Don't call me deeper with God. I just want to go like this. And all they know is about that much of the glory of God. The deeper the brokenness, the deeper the confession, the deeper the confession, the deeper the cleansing, the deeper the cleansing, the deeper the healing, the deeper the filling, the deeper the usefulness. Well, I confess, when you and I confess, God cleanses. Whom God cleanses, He fills. Whom God fills, He uses. Right here, out of the campground. Out in your tree someplace at home. Right there. You, as a believer in Christ, see Him in the heavenly, heavenly place. You can see things globally change and transform in the place of prayer. Because you're in union with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And as long as we give Him the glory, He'll use us. Amen? Father, we thank You, Lord. You said, who will go for us? Who will go for us? Who will go for us? The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. I believe there's some here in this auditorium this morning. Somewhere in this last hour, the Holy Spirit has touched your heart. He has revealed to you a longing in your heart that you need it to change. You need an answer. You're tired of it. You don't want it. I believe there's some here that you're wondering why prayer doesn't work for you. You say, David, I love God, but prayer's not working in my life. But the Holy Spirit has led you out of that wilderness today. And you're saying, oh God, that's me. I believe there's some here this morning even. If the truth were known, you have never been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. You wonder why you don't really understand. Friend, I'm not condemning you. Jesus is not condemning you. You wonder why you really don't understand some things. It's because you've got to have the Holy Spirit. Will you receive Him? Is your heart crying out to Him? Are you longing for Him? Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Beloved, on behalf of this nation, we as a church, we must repent. I can't think of a better time than right here in this auditorium for us to come and get on our knees and say, oh God, we come to you as a church in repentance for this nation. We come to you in repentance for the church of Jesus Christ. We come to you in repentance for our families. We come to you in repentance for myself. I'm just going to open up this front right now. There's carpet down here. I know y'all love to pray here. I've heard about you already. Can we just come and kneel in prayer in repentance? I'm just going to go to the piano and I'm going to play something quietly. I don't know what your heart cry is, but you know what it is and God knows what it is. You just come while I just play. You just come and kneel and say, God, that's me. Folks, let's just get honest with God today. Amen. Let's just get honest with God. Let's get real with Him today. You just come. Men, women, everybody, you just come and just pray.