In this sermon, the preacher talks about the experience of soldiers being cast into the sea and their subsequent celebration. He emphasizes that there is something of God that will not let go of us and that God will intervene when necessary. The preacher then discusses the need for discipline and correction, stating that sometimes God has to apply the rod to bring about healing and sanctification. He encourages the congregation to turn their frowns into smiles and to know the person behind God's promises. The sermon concludes with a mention of a forthcoming covenant book and a personal anecdote about a man who was moved to donate a large sum of money.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge PO Box 260 Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 903 963 8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. Thank you, choir. We welcome you to the service tonight and especially to our guests. It's been a marvelous day here at Times Square Church. The Word has come forth so richly and powerfully from this pulpit all day and I've been blessed by it this morning. The Lord just poured it on us and again this afternoon and we trust he'll open our eyes and our ears again to hear the Word tonight. We have been preaching for the last few years on the covenant. The covenant book will be out at the end of this month. The new covenant unveiled and they'll be available here at this church at the end of the month and you can study it. But you know, it's not just enough to have a promise. You've got to know the person who did the promising. A number of years ago, when I first started in Teen Challenge, I was in California at a church and in great financial need. And I just asked the congregation during my preaching if they would pray or before I preached, if they would pray about it. And after the service, a man came up to me, highly recommended, and he handed me a card and his name on it in big bold print, President of Ponderosa Lumber Company in Canada. And someone said, my, that's a very rich man. And he came up and said, here's my card. But I've been deeply moved. He said, God told me to give you four million dollars. You see, that's why you need to know more. I was so excited. I went home and told my board. And I mean, it was just one because I asked, you know, oh, yeah, he's a very rich man. And this guy's got money and it's as good as gold. Well, I he said it'll be in the mail next week. You know, a week went by, there was no check. Two weeks went by and after two months went by, I got very suspicious because when I called his office, there was no answer. There was no secretary. There was nobody. So I called a very another wealthy friend of mine who is president. His name was Mr. Stone, who owned the Stone Insurance Company. And he had given us the money that was used to build Team Challenge down in Brooklyn. I said, I don't want any money. But I said, I know you have a company that you own that does investigation. I want you to investigate a man who promised me four million dollars and I didn't get it. I said, just find out who this man is. Two weeks later, I got a dozier. I've got a stack of paper. One of the biggest crooks in America. He was such a swindler that he could go into an airplane company and so convinced that he was going to buy a fleet, they would fly. They flew him to India. They flew him all over on these private jets. He was smooth. He went to he had a set of plans he had borrowed and he went to a large air conditioning company and he said, I want I want you to finish all the air conditioning. And the company had taken two weeks off for vacation, shut the place down. And he signed the order for 2000 air conditioners. And they called the company back and got the thing going. And they found out he was a crook and how they got how he did that. I don't know. But you see, I had his name. I had his word. I had his card written. I had his promise. But I didn't know anything about his character. I didn't know anything about his nature. And you see, you can have the covenant. You can have all the promises of God. And God was aware that that we we can call him a liar because he says the very fact that he had to say, I can't lie. I'm God. I will not lie. Implies to me that he knew our hearts that we could think he's a liar. And the very fact that he had to make an oath to tell us who he is. In reality, God only has one name. He explained that to us. He explained it to Moses. He says, I am I am what I need to be at any particular time. That's who I am. I am your resource. I am everything you name, everything you ever want. I am. That's my name. Now, people have called these various Hebrew names, the names of God, where as God has one name, what we're talking about are the Hebrew expressions of his nature, what he is like, who he is. Now, I want you to listen very, very closely on this, because it's very, very important. When my children relate to me, they don't relate to me by my name. They don't relate to me by my name whatsoever. They relate to me by their experiences they've had with me and ever increasing knowledge who I am over the years because of the way I reacted in their pain, in their crises and in their needs. You see, I'm their father. I have four children, 11 grandchildren, and I relate to them as a father. I'm a father. That's the definition of my role. I'm a father. Now, a father implies that he's going to take care of his children. He's going to do his best to have shelter and food and take care of them when they're in need. Now, that's fine. That's my role. But I don't want to be recognized or related to with my children by my role. I want to go beyond that. I want them to know my heart because I could fulfill my role as a father, put a roof over their head, give them food and still my heart wouldn't be with them. But I have to be related to with my children. My children relate to me. I would feel terrible if my children knew me like many of us seem to know God. And I went up to a stranger. I went up. Somebody came to my children and said, who is your father and what's he like? And all they knew, all they could say was my father's name is David Wilkerson, and he lives in Midtown on 50th Street. And he helps pastor a church in Times Square. That's all they knew. And that's all they could explain about me. They might even say, well, he's a good father, but that's not saying anything about me. That's really not knowing me. I would hope that if I were good father and had a true father's heart, when they say, what's your father like? I would hope they'd be able to say, well, he's a patient man. He's a loving guy. He's always been there when I needed him. He's there in my crisis. He's been patient with me and he never dumped on me. I would like to I'd like to hear some expression of my nature and what I'm like. I never had to pronounce to my children or announce to them what I was. I didn't wait till they got to be age of accountability or even were three or four and went into the bedroom and said, I'm your father and I'm very kind and I'm patient. I'm long suffering and I'll tell you what I am. And I want you to know that I didn't make that proclamation. They learned it by their experiences with me. It was an ever increasing revelation of my heart. And folks, that's ongoing. My children are married. It's their grandchildren now. They have a whole new set of crises and they're still learning who I am in these very complicated times. Oh, it was easy back then. Now there are bills and their grandkids and their diseases and their hurts and the financial needs and grandpa or dad is being known in a different way now. They never knew me that way before. They're learning and I hope it's a good experience and it will be that way as we go on. You see. It's the same way about knowing our heavenly father from Adam all the way to the cross. There has been an ever increasing revelation of God's heart to his people about who he is. Now, let me tell you something. It's not enough to be able to rattle off all of the Hebrew terms of Jehovah. Many of you, you've sung about it. You've talked about it and you can run off. El Elyon and El Shaddai, El Olam, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rafi, Jehovah Nisa, Jehovah Saba, Jehovah Maka. I got to read them that I know people that I mean, I was in a meeting once when someone said, hey, we've got a teacher here that knows all the names of God. And she got up and just rattled that off and she could even give you the explanation what they what they mean. But you see, you can you can know all these names. You can write about it. You can teach about it. But you see, all of these revelations were not given by proclamation. They were given in crisis situations where God revealed himself in those crisis. The knowledge, the proclamation came after God acted in the crisis. He didn't say, this is what I am. I want you to go learn it. They learned it in the crisis and after the crisis. Let me explain that to you a little bit. We went over it last week from the pulpit here, how how Abram learned the nature of God. He had his name that he knew so little about his nature. He grew up in a heathen, heathen atmosphere. And the three names that we went over last week, we'll quickly review them. Now, they were all revealed in a crisis situation. Remember when he had to go to war with the Confederated armies that came against and invaded Sodom and Gomorrah and took lots and all the spoils. That was a crisis. And after he came home, remember, there were two kings that met him, the king of Salem, which is Melchizedek. And after Melchizedek, he was about to meet the king of Sodom. And, folks, when we talk about the spoils that were about to be offered, we're not talking about a couple of wagon loads. I told you it was the spoils of seven nations plus Sodom and Gomorrah and all their treasures were gold and silver and everything. And, folks, this was going to make this man one of the wealthiest men. He was not wealthy at that time, as we know him further in the scripture after many, many years. But this was going to suddenly overnight make him probably the wealthiest man outside of some of the major kings of the East. He's going to have to have that revelation. So in that crisis, that's when God revealed to him, to Melchizedek, just before he went to see the king of Sodom, he introduced him to the discovery of the name of God, El Elyon, which means possessor of everything in heaven and earth, creator and possessor of everything in heaven. And you see what God did? He trivialized everything else. He trivialized everything that the king of Sodom was going to offer him. He made it so majestic. He gave him such a revelation who God was and all the glory that he owned the cattle in a thousand hills. He possessed everything. And so that in this crisis, he comes out. He can face this crisis. He can quickly turn down everything the devil offers because he has a revelation of who God is. His second revelation, remember, came when he's 86 or other 99 years of age. And this is a crisis of faith. Now he has said it's absolutely impossible to many obstacles. It's absolutely impossible. I'm 99. I'm dead. My wife is dead. There is no hope. And he gave up hoping in this crisis. And this is if people talk about the faith of Abraham. He really didn't come into the fullness of faith till he was 99 years of age. And here he is now. And God sees this crisis of faith. And the Lord comes to him when he is he's arguing with the Lord or suggesting that Ishmael become his heir. And the Lord speaks clearly. He says no. And this was the word that came in the crisis. One out of your own loins shall be your heir. And in that crisis, he was introduced to El Shaddai. El Shaddai. Hallelujah. And, you know, of course, we all know what that means, don't you? How many remember what El Shaddai means? The God who removes obstacles. The God who removes obstacles. The revelation came in the crisis. God said, I'm going to remove every obstacle now. And a year from now, your wife is going to conceive. The obstacle was removed. And he had this great revelation came out of this crisis. And his final and grand revelation of a manifestation of who God is came 30 years later. He's 130 years age. Remember, Isaac is 30, 29 to 30 years of age. He's told to offer his son. He takes him to Mount Moriah. The knife is about to come down. The angel says, stop. I know your heart now. And in that revelation, in that crisis time, he had a revelation, a manifestation of the nature of God, of Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah Jireh means God will see to it. God of provision will see that every provision is made. That's when he saw a ram that was only after the ram was sacrificed. After that crisis was endured. That's when the revelation came. God says, from now on, I'm going to provide for everything in your life, just as I provided this lamb. He saw to it that Isaac was lifted out of the out of the grave, so to speak. He has seen to it that we have had a savior who saved us from all of our sins. He saw to it. And he's going to see to it that he provides everything you and I need till Jesus comes. He is he is Jehovah Jireh. I will see to it. I will see to it that every provision you need to live an overcoming life. I will see to it that the Holy Ghost will come upon you and anoint you and keep you from the wicked one. I will see to it that you have everything in the Holy Ghost you need till the end of the world or till Jesus comes. Those were the revelations that came. Now we skip over now to Moses, the children of Israel on the victory side of the Red Sea. They've witnessed God's destruction of Pharaoh's army. They were singing and dancing. He has cast the enemy into the sea. All the soldiers were cast into the sea. They sing and dance and play the tambourines. A great time of ecstasy. They travel for three days from that point and that experience. They travel three days, about 40 miles. They're going southeast and they're all the time. They're going 40 miles, only 12 miles from where they came from. They could right across the river. They could see Egypt. They come now to a place, the Bible said, where they found no water. They spot a body of water. Probably those spies who went ahead announced there was water. And they saw this great pool of water. And I suppose when the cry went up, water, water. And this was only three days that they had camped. They had water at that time and probably lasted a day or so. It couldn't have been more than two days without water. But they're murmuring now and they're complaining about water. And they are led to this place called Mara. And probably the strongest runners and the healthiest among them. I mean, they just broke camp and they just ran ahead because they were selfish. Or perhaps a father for his children, for a wife that was pregnant. They're going to get their water bottles full, run back with it. So I see the strongest and the healthiest running and some of them leaping into the water. And everybody down their face in the water, taking big gulps. And all of a sudden you hear them spewing out the water everywhere. And a cry goes up, bitter, poison, don't drink it. And others who disbelieved it went ahead and tried it and learned their lesson. It was bitter. It was so bitter it couldn't be swallowed. The Bible says the name of the place was Mara because the water was bitter. And the people murmured against Moses saying, what shall we drink? There was not a single voice raised. You've been hearing this all day about believing in God. There wasn't a single voice raised that has been recorded. It could have been that Joshua and Caleb and the true believers were occupied in the movement of the temple or setting up camp. We don't know. But those around the water, there wasn't a single sound among them, a voice raised in faith, in confidence in God. They had seen all of these great miracles. They'd just come from the opening of the Red Sea. And the Bible said they murmured at the Red Sea, even at the Red Sea, as if who can believe that anyone could doubt God after such a miracle. And I'll tell you something else that I got to thinking about this past week. You want to know one of the great miracles was about the crossing the Red Sea? You would think that any thinking leader and any army captain and even soldiers, you would think coming down over a hillside and you see a two or three hundred foot wall of water and you see dry ground, you'd think somebody's, oh, wait a minute. This is supernatural. I'm not touching this. You can go if you want. I don't care if any soldier there. I don't care if he said, well, you'll be in rebellion and they'll throw you in jail. We get back to Egypt. If I were there, I don't think I'd want to go if I had any sense left. And so the big miracle is that God took away their senses. God took away. It was judicial blindness. Who but blind, senseless, stupid people would go into that. Now, the children of Israel had been commanded and they knew their God, but these were heathen. And did they not see that wall around held back by wind in the hand of God? That's a miracle. Can you imagine the people on the other side, seeing them come and knowing what God said is going to destroy the enemy? And finally, those waters began to cave in and the Israelites are going, how in the world they had to be blind? What a miracle it was. And yet, in spite of all of this, these people are murmuring and complaining. And the point I'm trying to make is that you don't get to know God's heart through miracles. You don't get to know who he is through signs and wonders. They had the signs and wonders of Egypt and they forgot them. They saw these miracles and we've got people running all over the world trying to see signs and miracles to get to know God. You will not get to know God that way. God comes to you in your crises. He reveals who he is. You get to know God when things are hard and difficult. And God comes and meets you and reveals himself to you in your trial. Now, why did God lead these people directly into the waters of bitterness? You know, he could have spoken a word and cleansed those waters before they got there. Look what he did to the Red Sea, how he controlled those waters. He could have spoken a word and those waters would have been healed. You see, God created a mirror. That waters of merit, nothing but a mirror where they could look in and see a reflection of what was in their hearts. God brought them there to deal with them. He was about to build his wilderness church and he could not because there was a deadly disease. Almost everyone in that camp was infected and he would not take them in. He had just purged. It took him 400 years to deal with these people's cup of iniquity was being filled for 400 years. And he's not about to take his people in now, diseased. Deadly disease. That full of bitter water mirrored the infection of their own heart. They were bitter in their spirit and in their hearts. These were a bitter people. They were bitter even when they danced. They were bitter when they praised. They were bitter when they made promises. They were bitter even when they were circumcised. There was a bitterness that had never been dealt with. And the first place God takes them is to the pool of bitterness. And he said, I want you to take a look at your heart. Bitterness is the world's deadliest disease. I'm sure my own thinking is that God waited till the next day before he sweetened the waters. And they gathered together with their clans and they gathered together in their tents and wondered why the favor of God was lifting from them. Why suddenly there's no praise. There's no sense of worship. There's no sense of the nearness of God. It seems like God has left. And folks, that's the result of bitterness wherever it's found in any generation. If you've got bitterness in your heart, you're going to be, you'll have that sense of the disfavor of God. You will not truly be able to praise him in a manner that's acceptable to the Lord. And this is exactly what's happening to this people. You see, folks, I'm really not interested in this story, just this history. I'm not interested at all that way. I'm interested in what God's trying to say to us, what he's saying to me in particular about bitterness in my heart and how it affects the church of Jesus Christ. And that's what this is out. This is about. And this is how God brought forth this revelation of Jehovah-Rabbah. I want you to really listen to me, because God's going to deal with something in the hearts of many that are here tonight. God's been saying something to my heart. I dread the very thought of my permitting any root of bitterness to take hold in my life, because I've seen the consequences. I've seen people die, literally die. I've seen people whose bodies are crippled. Now, folks, not all arthritis, not all heart disease, not all of these things are a result of bitterness. But I'm telling you, I know. I know all the years I've pastored and ministered around the world. I have seen the deadly results on the physical body of that which is in the heart called bitterness. I've seen how the body reflects what is in the soul, in the heart and in the mind. And some of you, I really come to the conclusion that most bitterness among believers can be traced back to some disappointment they have with God. Almost every time I've talked to somebody that's bitter, they are disappointed with the Lord. Now, they focus on people, but really, that's not the primary cause. It goes deeper than that. It goes back to a crisis in their life where they prayed about something and God didn't answer, they think. It was not on time. If it did come, God is allowed to be in a situation that has overwhelmed them. It may be a financial situation. It may be a divorce. It may be a death. It may be something God has permitted in their life. And they're saying, how could God have allowed this? Why did God permit this? I loved the Lord. I prayed. I believed. I know a woman tonight while I stand in this pulpit, she goes every day to a hospital. Her husband is comatose. He's been comatose for, I think, six weeks, and she goes in every day, almost two months now. They say he's not brain dead, but he's dead in other ways. Totally comatose. I don't even know if he opens his eyes, but he goes in every day. It's costing her every dollar, and she bays him and talks to him and there. But, boy, the bitterness is growing, and the bitterness is mounting. And it's how, why? I prayed. I had faith. Why would God put me through this? It's going to cost me. I'm going to wind up penniless, and on and on. There's a bitter, bitter spirit. And it's disappointment with God. Disappointed with God. Childhood wounds, traumas from way back when you were young. Perhaps you were raped, or you were misused. You were abandoned. You were abused, and it's left a trauma in your life. I hear in our letters, my wife and I read letters from people, wives who write to us, especially, and sometimes husbands about their wives, how they hate Christmas. And the reason they hate Christmas, they say, well, my husband despises Christmas, mocks people who give gifts, hates decorations. Because you see, when he was a young man, his father was a drunkard, never had a Christmas, and he still remembers the hurt of the day his father went into a garbage dump and brought a broken toy to him. And all the other kids were showing off their toys, and he couldn't go out. And it left a mark on him. And all these years since, he's got that thing in him. And there are many like that. My wife grew up in a home like that. A father who later got saved, a good man. But he had to go to work at 11 to support a whole family. 11 years of age, sweeping and westing house. And then later having to, but Christmas, when I met Gwen, he would never, her father would never come out of the room. You couldn't give him a present. He wouldn't open anything. Because when he was 11 years old and had to give every dollar and all the work of the labor, he was traumatized of having to be the main supporter. And I think sometimes that's why Gwen wants such a beautiful Christmas. Our house is decorated from top to bottom. I mean, it's like Macy's. Because she too is traumatized. Many, many years, almost till teenage year before she got a doll. Father was a good man. He got saved later in life, marvelously saved. And a godly, godly mother who was a saint. Just him talking about that trauma that causes bitterness. You see, the bitterness in Egypt, I believe, went way back. Time they were in slavery. And I believe where it started was when Moses came with this great proclamation in Exodus 4, chapter 31. And all the people believed. He said, the Lord has sent me. He showed his signs. And suddenly, after all these years of bondage, these iron furnaces, and here comes the word of hope. The people believed. And when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. But instead of deliverance, you know what happened? Down came the whip of the taskmaster on their back, their bloodied backs. No straw to make hay. And coming out of that meeting with Pharaoh, the leaders and the princes of Israel, met and they met Moses and Aaron. And when they left Pharaoh's presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them. They said to Moses and Aaron, may the Lord look upon you and judge you. For you have made us abominable in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hands to kill us. It was then that they were disappointed in God, in his promises and in the servants of God. There was a disappointment, folks. And we know that for 40 years in the wilderness, they carried their little golden mice and their golden gods of Moloch. And they never did get that idolatry, that thing they had against God, that disappointment that weighed back there in Egypt. And they brought it across the Red Sea. And God's trying to deal with it. He's trying to open their minds to show them what's in their heart. Now, folks, I've got to confess that I've been over the years, I was very impatient up to recently, up until this message. In fact, that's the gospel truth. God dealt with me this week. You talk about preaching hard. I had some of the hardest messages on bitterness any preacher in America has ever preached. You talk about how far I've preached on this. I couldn't understand how anybody could not recognize what bitterness in their heart would do to them. And I was praying and the Lord was putting this message in my heart this past week. And when I got to this part of the revelation of Jehovah Rapha, I just broke down and I wept and sobbed and cried and said, God, please give me that kind of love and patience with people who have been traumatized and who have bitterness in their heart. God, give me that patience. I've been totally impatient with them. Oh, I would just if they came to counsel with me, I'd say, get on your knees and lay your hands on and cast the devil out of you. Period. You see, God could have wiped these people right off the map. He had every right to. I mean, after all, everything that he had done and opened the Red Sea and all these miracles and all these promises, and here they are, three days. And they are questioning whether God is with them, questioning the servant of God, full of doubt and fear and unbelief. And instead of wiping them out, instead of chastising them, he shows Moses a tree. He says, cut it down and cast it into the waters. And when he cast it into the waters, the waters were healed. Now, folks, I could digress right now. And there's a whole message on the representation, perhaps of the cross, where there was a man who was called the tree of righteousness, who was cut down and he was cast into the sea of our bitterness of sins and sweetened the waters of grace. There's a whole message in that. But that's not where I'm going. That's not what I believe is the revelation in this manifestation, their discovery of the name or the glory of God in this episode. And it is here, after the waters are healed, he revealed his name to Israel through Moses' servants. He said, my name is Jehovah Raffi. It means I am the Lord that healeth thee. But in the root word, it means to mend and fix. God says, you are full of bitterness. You've had this in you for a long time. You're mad at me. You've got something you don't want to voice it. But deep down inside, you're saying, why did God allow it? And folks, there are many of you sitting here listening to me right now. You have that. You don't want to name it. It's there. It's a root. It's down deep. It's behind all of the bitterness that's in you. I don't care who the people are that you're aiming it at. Underneath it all is some. How did God let that person do that to me? You may be divorced. Why did God let my husband do that to me or my wife to me, do that to me? And that disappointment, because I'm a Christian, I'm a believer. Why did God allow that in spite of my prayers? And the Lord comes to this people. He could have wiped out. And in all love, there's a discovery of something about his nature. He says, I'm inclined, even though I have every right to disown you, I am inclined to fix you and mend you and get this out of your heart. Folks, I'm here to tell you, God, I've asked God not to let me preach this unless he gave me some of this holy ghost compassion, some of this grace of the Lord Jesus Christ for some of you. The Lord is patient with you. He's coming to you in your bitterness, that bitterness you have that you said you couldn't let go. That bitterness is bringing strife into your home and your life and your family, because people that are in bitterness talk about nothing else but their bitterness. That's all they talk about. But he said, if you will recognize my name, what I'm like, he said, I am inclined. That's my nature. My nature is not to cut you off. My nature. This is who I am. I am Jehovah God. But my nature to you, my inclination to you is that in that bitterness that's in you, I know where it came from. And I'm telling you, I don't care where it came from tonight. The Lord's message to you tonight in all love and compassion. For my heart and his Lord says, I want to mend you. I want to pluck that out of your heart. I want to heal you so you don't have to carry this another day. You can come back into the peace and joy that I desire for you. You can come back into my loving arms. I want to fix you and I want to mend you. I am Jehovah brother. Glory be to God. You see, this is what really convicted my heart. God saying, this is what I'm like. I'm waiting to heal your body, your soul, your mind, your spirit. I want you to know this about me. Folks, take that into your heart and ask the Holy Ghost to make that real to you. God said, you've been worshiping me. You've been praising me. You say, you know who I am. I'm telling you something about my heart. I'm telling you something about my nature. I am absolutely positively inclined. My desire for you is that this very night, this very day, your bitterness problem is solved. It's fixed. I'm going to mend your heart. If you just confess, if you just come and bring it to me tonight, I'm going to make it all right. You see, even if you have bitterness in your heart tonight, you're still the Lord's possession. He still loves you. And he wants to heal you. But folks, I've got to, before I go any further, I've got to reveal another name to you that is a discovery of his nature. And most of the list of the names of the attributes of God and the character of God, most of them that I have read neglect this name. I don't even see it on the list. It's Jehovah Makkah. And I want you to listen very close to this, because you see, he comes to you as Jehovah Rapha. He comes to you with great love and says, I have all the power. I can take this out of your heart if you're willing to surrender it. You see, I've had people come to me and say, I don't care what you say to me. I don't care how many scriptures you quote. I am not going to forgive. You don't know what I went through. God's just going to have to deal with this. One person said, because I can't forgive. I'll never. I'm going to take this to my grave. And he sure will. He's going to take it to his grave because I will not forgive. I will not let this go. You don't know if you only knew. Well, God knows. God knows how it started. He knows the seed. He knows the root. He knows the blossoms of it. He knows it all. And he says, if you'll come, I am Jehovah Rapha in love. I'll forgive you. I'll cleanse you. I'll give you a new heart. But he says, if you reject me as Jehovah Rapha, you're going to meet me as Jehovah Macaw Hebrews 10, 26, 27. If we sin willfully after that, we've received the knowledge of the truth. There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Now you've received the knowledge of the truth of God's nature concerning bitterness. Haven't you? How many heard what I said? You just got the revelation. Ask the Holy Ghost to make it real to you. And what does the apostle say? If we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries. If you reject the knowledge of Jehovah Rapha, that revelation, he says, then you will meet me as Jehovah Macaw. Now, this is serious business, very serious business. God reveals himself in love and he offers to heal and pluck out all the roots of bitterness and restore you to absolute health, a clear conscience, peace of mind and favor. But where there's a willful rejection, a stubborn holding on to that unforgiveness, this provokes, according to the scripture, the fiery indignation of the heart of God. Listen to this powerful warning. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Peace with all men and without it, no man shall see the Lord. If you sit here and you don't have peace with somebody and there's bitterness in your heart, there's no chance you will see the Lord. None. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. That word there, and many be defiled. The word in Greek is contaminated. Lest many be contaminated. Unless that bitterness is in you, contaminate your children, your friends, those you work with on the job. And folks, there comes a time where God has to isolate you. Lest that virus and that disease contaminate many of his godly ones. He has to quarantine you. I want you to go to... Folks, didn't I tell you that all these revelations come in a crisis? Bitterness is probably one of the greatest crises a man or woman could ever face. This crisis has to do with facing Jehovah Makkah. But you see, this revelation also comes in a time of crisis. I want you to go with me to Ezekiel 7 and we'll see where he reveals himself as Jehovah Makkah. The seventh chapter of Ezekiel. God is speaking to his own people. He's not speaking to heathen. He's speaking to his own people. And I'm going to start at the first verse and go right down to verse 9. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, Ezekiel 7, saying, Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God to the land of Israel. And the end has come upon the four corners of the land. Now is the end come upon thee. If you'll read the previous chapters, the Lord in great mercy has been calling them, trying to reveal his love and his grace. And now they've rejected himself. Send mine anger upon thee and I will judge thee according to thy ways. I will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. My eyes shall not spare and neither will I pity. And I will recompense thy ways and upon thee and their abominations. Because you see, bitterness is an abomination shall be in the midst of thee. And you shall know that I am the Lord. Verse six. The end is come. The end is come. It watches for thee. Behold, it is come. The Lord said, that's enough. He reaches a point where he says, I've got to deal with your bitterness. The morning has come unto thee. O thou that dwellest in the land, the time has come. The day of trouble is near. Verse eight. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee and accomplish my anger upon thee. I will judge thee according to thy ways will recompense thee for all that abominations. And my eyes shall not spare. Neither will I pity. I will recompense thee according to thy ways and the abominations that are in the midst of thee. And here's the revelation. And ye shall know that I am the Lord that smite it. The Lord that smite it is Jehovah in Hebrew. I am the Lord that smite it. Now, folks, look at me, please. You say, where's the grace in that? It's all grace. Why? Why does the Lord say in Proverbs when you have a foolish child put the rod on his back? Because foolishness is bound in the heart of the child. And the rod of correction will drive it far from him. And the rod of correction, the Lord is once my I was. Thank you. Is what he's saying. He said, you hold that bitterness and you're going to see confusion. You're going to see things unravel. You're going to see everything go wrong in your home and everything around you. You will think finally that everybody's against you. Because you see, when you turn down this wonderful offer of Jehovah Rapha. Here is the last hope God has to redeem you. It's the last hope he has because he so loves. He doesn't want to lose any one of his children. But he says, I am Jehovah, the God who smites. That is also in his nature. It's been in my nature ever since I've been a father. I told you every time my dad would spank me, he'd make me come and hug him. You know the story. This hurts me worse than it hurts you. It does hurt God worse than it hurts you and me. You said that's not the nature of God. It is. God says that's his own description of his nature. There is something in God that will not let go of you. There's something that God says, I will not let this go on. The time has come. The end has come. I have come to you in love. I've come to you with great mercy and compassion. I've sent my servants to you to bring you healing. Now I have to apply the rod. There has to be a smiting. After that, they have borne their shame when I brought them again from among the people and gathered them out of the enemy's lands and have sanctified them in the sight of the nations. Then they shall know that I, the Lord, their God, was the one that caused them to be led into captivity. Now, I'm going to close in just a few moments, but listen closely to me, please. Here's here's here's what I believe. I believe with all my heart. If you have bitterness in your heart and you will not come to Jehovah Rothy and be healed. You say, I know this is hard, Lord. I've carried this a long time, but it's time. I want to be delivered. I want to be free. You can walk out of this church tonight. Absolutely free. You will sing and shout and dance all the way home. I don't care if it's on the subway. I don't care how crazy people think you are. The Holy Ghost will give you peace like you've never you'll sleep tonight like you haven't slept in ages and God, you'll be back in God's favor. God will get to work new things in your life and give you hope. That's the true message. That's what he wants for you. But if you refuse that and say, I'm not letting this go, you walk out of this church tonight and you carry that bitterness in you, that root is still there. And you say, I don't care. I can't forgive my mother, my sister, my brother, my son, my daughter. I can't forgive him. I can't forgive her. I just can't do it. And I think God knows how I hurt. And I think when I stand before the judgment, he'll take note of that. No, no, no, no. You see, I'm telling you now that you cannot be healed of any disease, cancer. I don't care what disease. You cannot be healed of any disease until you're healed of your bitterness. Why would God heal you to strengthen you in your bitterness? Why would he heal you and give you a stronger heart and give you health so that you can spread your virus? Think about it. Did that go over your head? Why would God heal any disease? Why would he heal anything until he gets to the bitterness, which is the cause of everything else? He says the rod has blossomed. In the next verse, the rod is blossomed. He said, what's happened? That bitterness that's in you is now blossomed. Remember when Aaron's rod blossomed? It was authority. It was power. And it was represented power. He said, what's happened? This has taken dominion over your life. It's taken full authority. It's blossomed now. And when it fully blossoms, it becomes proud. And underneath every root of bitterness is pride. It's pride. The root is pride. I will not let go. It's too proud to humble yourself. If you will not come to Jehovah, Rapha, you've scoffed at his holy covenant. You've scoffed at the very definition he's given of his own nature. You've rejected the glory of him as a healer. And you will never be given strength to indulge any further in your bitterness. He will not do it. He will not heal you. Don't even pray for healing for anyone else. Don't pray for healing for yourself. Don't come to the healing line. Don't ever come up here and ask one of our elders to lay hands on you for healing. I don't care what kind of sickness, disease or anything else until this root comes out. Until Jehovah, Rapha is allowed to heal your bitterness, you can't go a step further. So he wants to heal your bitterness. Then he wants to heal your cancer. He wants to heal every other disease that's in your body. That's the healing process. You get it started and God will take it the rest of the way. Hallelujah. Thank God for Jehovah, Rapha. Will you stand, please? You know what I think some of you are thinking? Brother Dave, you said you were merciful now to people with bitterness. And boy, you come down with Jehovah, Maka. You got a revelation of Jehovah, Maka because of his grace and his love and his mercy. Hallelujah. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. It's all a sign of his love. Should I say any more? But if you have roots of bitterness in your heart, come down here now. Don't move. Don't come unless the Holy Spirit's dealing with you until you're ready to say, I don't care what it takes. I'm going to stay here, this altar tonight, and I want this out of my heart in the annex. I'll tell you what you do in the annex. Why don't you just go into the lobby and come right down into this building? Usher, show them the way down to the altar here. You come here and join us and we'll pray for you. Those that are in the annex. Come on down here and we'll pray for you. We'll believe God. Those that are here, all of those in the annex and any other rooms up there in the annex. Move in close, please. Jehovah Rafa is going to stretch out his hand tonight. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That have come forward and in the house where you are. I can't pray with you. And I don't believe anything will happen until you're prepared tonight to make it right with somebody. If the bitterness is against the person or caused by an individual. I'm going to ask you to make a commitment tonight that you will write a letter or make a telephone call or a visit and you will make it right. You will confess it. You will say, I've carried bitterness in my heart. And I've repented to God, I repent to you. You talk about a cleansing. Now, God will begin the work tonight. God will begin it. And he'll lift this load from there, because if your heart is set on that, God will see you through to the end of it. The good work he's begun. He said he will finish. But you have to make it right. And furthermore, this is something God dealt with me a number of years ago. The Lord had me search my heart to see if I had caused bitterness in others, that I was the cause, something I said or did. I caused somebody to get bitter against me and in the process, angry at God. And I made 15 telephone calls and I made it right. I'll tell you, you talk about joy. I had a joy that was supernatural. God blessed me. Everyone I called cried and wept and said, thank you. One after another says, and I'm just saying this humbly before everyone who says, now I know that you're a man of God. They'll say, I know you're a woman of God. I know you're a man of God now. I know because people don't do that unless God directs and gives them power. Are you ready to say to the Lord? First, Lord, take it. I want to lay it down here tonight. I'm not going to carry it out of this place. But you've got to make restitution. If you're if there's somebody in this church, you go to this church, Times Square Church, and you're bitter towards somebody or somebody's caused bitterness in your heart. I don't care if they caused it and you're not at fault. You go to them. The Bible says you go to them and say, look, I'm sorry. I've had bitterness in my heart toward you. Something that was said or something was done, and I feel bitterness in my heart. I'm sorry. I don't want to carry this. I repent. And whether they accept it or not, you're free. You're free and you can rejoice. Go your way with the Lord. Get on the phone and write a letter. How many willing to go that far? Raise your hand, please. Raise it high. Raise it high. All right. Pray this with me now. If you've raised your hand here, Jesus, I thank you for a revelation of who you are. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that mends me, that fixes my heart, that heals my hurts. In Jesus name, I lay down my bitterness. I lay it all down now. Jesus, pluck it out of my heart. Forgive me, cleanse me, sanctify me. Thank you, Jesus, for reminding me of what was in my heart. You showed me what's in my heart. I thank you, Lord Jesus. I don't want your rod on my back, even if it's in love. I want to come as a willing child in answer to your love. Lord Jesus, give me the wisdom and the power to make things right. Now, let me pray for you, Father, in Jesus name. You heard this. What a mighty God, Lord, that you would so love us, that you would reveal your nature, your character so that we can say, oh, I know who my God is because I've experienced it. I know who he is. I know he's loving kindness. I know he's tenderness. I know he's ready to forgive because he came to me when I needed that and he gave it to me. He revealed his heart to me and I've experienced it. Oh, God, forgive and cleanse now. Break the chains that bind. Pluck out every root of bitterness in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Folks, listen to me. This is going to be a series, I think, of eight messages. You've heard number two, number eight. If you can sit in your seat, you haven't heard a word because you're going to find out that every name that we learn about Jehovah is all wrapped up in the name of Jesus. He's all of it. Hallelujah. We can get to know you. Lord, that's what intimacy is. It's not just spending hours just reading the Bible. Lord, we've got to have the knowledge. Give us the knowledge. Open our eyes and open our understanding so that we can truly be intimate with you, knowing who you are now. Lord, if we'll obey you on this, you'll open the rest of it to us. If we will obey each step, Lord, you'll find we will come into a place in you. It's heaven on earth, literally heaven on earth. In Jesus name. Amen. Hallelujah. Glory be to God. Let's praise and lift your hands and praise the Lord. Thank God for Jehovah. Thank you, Father, for the revelation of your heart. Hallelujah. We worship you, Lord. We just praise Jesus. You're my firm foundation, Jesus. You're my firm foundation. Jesus is Jehovah Jireh. He is Jehovah Rapha. He is all of those names that we call the names of God. He is all of that. It is in Jesus Christ our Lord. What a provision he's made. So why are some of you still frowning? Turn around and create a smile in everybody around you and a good handshake. A good God bless you in Jesus name as we sing. He's my firm foundation. The program contained in this audio cassette is for private use only. Any other use, copying, reproduction, or performance in public, in whole or in part, is prohibited. CCL license number 1624795. All other songs used by permission.