In this sermon, the pastor urges the congregation to focus on their relationship with God and not be distracted by worldly matters. He emphasizes the importance of hearing from God and spending time in prayer. The pastor then turns to the book of Revelation, specifically chapter 12, which describes a symbolic vision of a woman giving birth and a dragon trying to devour her child. He encourages the listeners to be alert and ready for the coming battle between Christ and the antichrist. The sermon concludes with a challenge for the congregation to fully commit their lives to God and not just be passive church members.

Lord, as we come unto you this morning, we have so much to be thankful for, Lord, so much to be thankful for. We praise you, Lord, that little Isaiah has been brought into the world, Lord, a healthy child. We thank you for that, Lord, and we're believing also that you're going to bring in a pancreatic baby, Lord, healthy and strong into the world. We pray you will bless and strengthen Kathy right now, right this very minute, Lord. You will be with her, and she'll feel the strength of God, and this child will be born healthy and strong. We pray, Lord, for each family represented here. We know there are many burdens. There are people here this morning with problems, and, Lord, we ask you through your Holy Spirit to reach and touch and do the things prophesied by your sovereign power, Lord. Break that yoke in Jesus' name. Intervene, Lord. Intervene in our lives, Lord, so that we leave this place with yokes broken. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We need it, Lord. We need help this morning. It goes beyond the ability of man to help, and so we ask for your help, Lord, in the name of Jesus. We pray you'll bless the little children, Lord, and their teachers as they're out for the children's church, and today we pray that God will speak to us. Speak to each heart and break yokes, Lord, moral and spiritual and physical that we need to have broken. I ask in Jesus' name, and thank you, Lord. Amen. You may be seated. We'll turn to Revelation 12, kind of a far out, verses 1 through 5. It's kind of a far out passage, but it's what's going on. It's just couched in symbolic terms to hide it from the idly curious. Where did Jeannie go? She always gets me water. Jeannie, I need water. You're falling down there, gal. All right, and there we are, and you can read off the board if you want to. Revelation 12, verses 1 through 5. A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven. An enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his head. His tail swept a third of the stars, thanks to you, out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter, and her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. Now, as I said, this is in symbolic language to hide it from the eyes of the idly curious, but it is what is going on today in the Christian church. Notice that it says it appeared in heaven, and I want to call your attention to that. Christianity has a way because we are all human beings. How many here are a human being? Are you a human being? Because we are human beings, we tend to make our salvation, our religion, earthly. It is earthly and there is an earthly part to it, but primarily it is a heavenly thing and primarily it is a thing to please God. We need to know that in America because we keep turning the gospel into something for our benefit. It is for God's benefit. You know, in Israel, all of Israel was a holy nation, a royal priesthood it says, but within that holy nation, God made divisions of holiness, and the highest cut was Aaron. And God said to Aaron, I think this is Exodus 30, I forget the verse. God said to Aaron, no, numbers, numbers. God said to Aaron, you are not going to have any inheritance with these people. This is before they divided the land. You are not going to have any inheritance here. I am your inheritance. So they were more holy than the rest of Israel. Holiness is not talking about your desire to be ascetic. It is talking about closeness to God, and it comes by calling. As it says, no man takes his honor unto himself but it is God who calls. And so, without doing anything any better than anybody else, Aaron and his descendants were made more holy than all the other people. And they could do stuff that the others could not do. They could wrap up the holy furnishings, and five of those furnishings in the tabernacle, the lampstand, and table of showbread, and the altar of incense, and the mercy seat, and the ark, could not be seen even by the Levites. The law was if a Levite, even by accident, happened to see the table of showbread, or the lampstand, before the priests had covered it, they were to be killed. And the Levites were more holy than the rest of the Israelites, and they had no inheritance. They lived from the tithes of the people. And then they in turn tithed the tithes they were given to Aaron. Now, all of that is by calling. It isn't by the fact that the Levites were more religious than anybody else. It's what God just said. What I'm trying to convey to you is that the kingdom of God is sponsored by God. It's not an earthly thing. It's a wonder in heaven. And even today in the church, there are people who are called to be close to God. And if that's in you, it will leap within you while I'm talking. If that's your calling, you see, are some called closer to God than others? Yes, they are. They have that calling. And it's hard for them to understand the rest of the Israelites, because they say, how come they don't want to pray all day? And the rest of the Israelites or Christians say, how come all they want to do is seek God? What a drag. It's a calling. And do you ever stop to think about the 24 elders seated on thrones before the throne of God? Do you ever think about them? And all they do all day and night, of course, in God's very presence, there's no night. And all they do is cast down their crown and cry, worthy is the Lamb. Now, you might say, I'd much rather have a mansion and do stuff, talk to my friends. I wouldn't care to spend all my time just throwing my crown before God and saying, I wouldn't mind that for, say, an hour. But if that's all I was to do forever, you know, I'm not so sure. If it pleased God, OK. But if I had my druthers, I'd like to do some things around with people. Isn't that true? But you see, there are some who have that calling. They just want to be close to God. And that's a first cut out of mankind. We see those in Revelation 14. It says, such are firstfruits to God and the Lamb. Now, the whole church, according to James, the first chapter, is a firstfruits to God from the world. But out of the church, there is a firstfruits to God who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They're more holy than the others. Doesn't mean they act any better. It's the calling of God. And it's in their heart. They sing a song that no one else can sing. If that's in your heart, that's all that you want is God and more of God. But that may not be your calling. Your calling may be to work with people. And that's what you love to do. That's the frequency that you vibrate on. You love God. Of course you love God. And you love to work with God's people. Some love to work with the unsaved. They just love to work with the unsaved. Some love to work with the down and out. They can't figure out why everybody doesn't want to do that. And so it's very helpful to us to understand ourselves and to have compassion on other people to realize that God draws each one according to his will. And so it's important to find out, to be happy with your calling and don't let anything interfere with it. And I'll tell you why. Because all of this is not for us. It's for God. Love is the strongest motivator in the world. And those that God has called to just love him and worship him, motivate God on the behalf of the rest of us, it makes it all worthwhile. Because he's got someone that he can love. It's so true. And it helps us when we see these things not to get too bogged down as though the church is something God has set in the earth to assist civilization. There are some who are called to do that and have taught people in primitive areas irrigation and erosion control and other valuable things. Christians have done this. That's their calling. They vibrate on that frequency. They love God. That's what God has called them to do. But there are others that are just drawn to, Madame Guyon called them torrents. They're just drawn to God. All they want is God. And if that's you, don't be intimidated by those who ever have other callings. And on the other hand, if you see someone and they just want to talk about God all the time, spend hours in prayer, don't consider them impractical. That is what they're called to do. Does that make sense to you? But first of all, it made sense to a brother Smitter. What I'm trying to show you is that the source of our religion is not the earth. The source is the heart of God. And he's arranging everything the way he wants it. With people. So there's no need to be discouraged. We often become discouraged because we're pursuing an image that we have from people's expectations or what we think God's expectations are, something that's been preached to us. And we're pursuing that. And that's why we get discouraged because we're not meeting the standard we have set for ourselves. And so I guess one of the most insightful things, self-revelation that in turn, how did you say that one, Audrey, when we find out about ourselves, we worship God? There's one for you. Self-discovery plus repentance brings reconciliation with God. So when you discover, it's very important to discover, you know, take note of yourself and just forget this thing your quote should be. And just please the Lord. And you'll find out that he's very easy to please. He is really very easy to please. He's not as hard on us as the church is, or our friends are, or we ourselves are. So we go to God and we repent of this trying to be something we're not. And then God said this morning that he would lift the mountains and lift the loads. And indeed he will. And you don't have to be all bowed down and discouraged. If you are, that's a choice you're making. Because God is not asking you to do that. And I say that realizing that some of us have some very heavy loads to carry. And those are seasonal. But just don't make it harder than it has to be. Are you with me so far? There's a great sign in heaven. A woman, and that's the church, clothed with the sun. That's the glory of Christ. The sun represents righteousness. Fiery righteousness and holiness. And that's what we're clothed with is the glory of God in Christ. The moon represents the created realm because it has no light of its own. It shines by borrowed light. It borrows its light from Christ. And it's under the feet of the church. In God's vision, the church is in control of the creation. And it has a crown of twelve stars on her head probably representing the twelve apostles minus Judas plus Paul. But you can think of the stars as representing all of God's outstanding people. According to Genesis, we do not plot our course by the sun and the moon, but by the stars. And so it has been throughout history that we do not plot our course by the church, but by the stars that God has set in the heavens like Daniel and Job and Paul. These are the ones that guide us. So the woman has this great crown of the illustrious that God has given her. She was pregnant. Now, this is probably the focus of the burden this morning. This is probably the focus. She was pregnant. Of course, that's on our minds because of Yvonne and Kathy. But when the church becomes an agent to, well, even to preach or to help the needy, they're all necessary and biblical things. But you see, something else is more central to God. And that is that there's a pregnancy here. So no matter whether God has called you to be a really busy worker in his kingdom or wherever, just remember you're pregnant. There's something in there that is being formed. Cellular mitosis is taking place. A little organism there, a little embryo, and then a fetus. Something being born in us. In the church today, it is time. I talked Tuesday night about the fact that according to the prophets, Micah and Isaiah, as well as Revelation 12, there's coming a time when Christ will come to maturity in his church. It's not an open-ended thing. It's not, oh, we all ought to do better. There are some things that God does in his time. And those times are reserved for a specific people. We would have loved to have been on the earth when Jesus walked in Jerusalem. But that was given to just a few people to see that. Or to go up on the mountain with Moses and the elders and see the God of Israel. And to eat there at the table in his presence. That was not given to you. It wasn't given to me. No matter how much we may have wanted, it wasn't given to us. It was just given to specific people. To be on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus was only given to Peter, James, and John. How we would have loved to have seen Moses and Elijah dead so many hundred years. And trying to find out the meaning of Christ's death in Jerusalem. But that was given only to three men. And God has the power to do with whom he will, what he will, when he will, and where he will. And my point is that things in the kingdom move like that. They're not a great suit that we all kind of waddle around in and try to do our best. Of course, that's part of it. But there come times of refreshing. Acts 2, around 30. Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. There was a tribe in Israel that knew the seasons. Well, that's why God puts prophets in the church at every age. To know the seasons. To hear what God is doing. And so the prophets are speaking today about God cleansing his people. Well, we're in the time when Christ will be brought to full stature. Now, this has never been true, except in isolated incidents. But for the church to bring forth Christ. Now, I want you to consider something. And this is in Matthew 13, somewhere around verse 40. But you remember in Matthew 13, the parable of the wheat and the tares. How many remember that? Have you thought much about it? If people thought much about it, we wouldn't have this any moment catching up being taught. Because it doesn't fit the parable of the wheat and the tares. Now, the tares is that which is sown by Satan. Sown by Satan. And you can picture it as being wicked people in the world. We see wickedness today in our time. Dictators that do things that stagger the mind with the wickedness of it all. But it also is true of what Satan has sown in you and me. That also is tares. Anything that is sown by Satan is a tare. Can you go for that? Anything that is sown by Jesus Christ and is Christ is God's wheat. Now, God said, and this follows the natural growth cycle of wheat. It does not grow uniformly. That there is a full planting whenever they plant wheat. And there is a time of when the mysterious things of God are occurring in germination and primary growth. But then there comes the latter rain, the spring rain, to bring that up to maturity. Bring the heads of wheat to maturity. And then comes the burning sun to harden the heads so they can be threshed and the grain can be beat out of the head. And then winnowed and so on and ground into flour. Now that's the reason that parable is in there because God says that's what's going to happen. He said, let the wheat and the tares grow. Let it grow. Because if we try to deal with wickedness at this time, there's so much of it in my people that when you go to ripping out the tares, you'll destroy my church. So he said, let it grow to maturity. Let it all grow to maturity. And then when it has grown to maturity, then what I'm going to do, he doesn't say, then I'm going to take the wheat to heaven. He says, I'm going to take out the tares first. And then he said, the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the glory of their Father. Now, we, and I speaking now universally of the church, are coming to a stage where there's enough of Christ in us that God can begin to take out the tares without killing us. And that is precisely what is going on, what has begun. Call it the day of atonement or call it whatever you want to. But you see, when we're at the very early stages of Christianity, whether historically or personally, we can't deal with judgment on sin. Why? For 2,000 years, what's mainly been preached is imputed righteousness because it's taken that long for the church to comprehend that God is not requiring that we earn salvation, but that it comes by the sovereign action of God. And that's why God has permitted imputed righteousness to be preached for 2,000 years so we get away from the law of Moses and get away from our own works and understand that righteousness comes from God. But, of course, imputed righteousness is a placeholder. It's something to hold things steady until God can create people who are actually righteous. Now, that's where we are today. This is the time that we're in today, is that God wants us to have enough Christ in us that when He shows us the sin in our life, we can judge it. And that's the important thing, is judgment. You see, when God shows you that you have in your life lust or lying or pride or hatred or whatever it is, the important thing is that you judge it. See, the minute the Holy Spirit shows you that, you have a decision to make. You can justify it and say, well, it's because of this or that, or you can blame people. It's their fault. Or blame God. Or blame your ancestry. Or do whatever you want to. You see, you have that option. If you do that, the terror will remain in you. And when God begins to take the terrors out of His kingdom, you will go out with it into the lake of fire. Now, the lake of fire was given authority by God over specific personalities and specific behaviors, and they're found in Revelation 21.8. And you can read them to find out what they are. And immorality is one of them. And fear is one. And sorcery is one, and so on. And the Word of God has given the lake of fire authority. And when they are in us, the lake of fire, whether we're a Christian or not, has authority over that thing. But Christ suspends that until such time as the Holy Spirit has a chance to reveal to us clearly that that's in us. And when we're strong enough to cope with it and not faint. So when the Holy Spirit reveals to you or to me that we have lying in us, or we have murder in us, or witchcraft, or even fear, any of the other things that are mentioned in Revelation 21.8. Is that up there yet? Revelation 21.8. Friends, if it's possible where our senior typist is occupied at the present time with a more needful task. Revelation 21.8. You need to understand that the lake of fire. Judgment has been given to Christ by God, who in turn has assigned the keys of the kingdom to the church. Now, when God shows you something like that, it is of extreme importance that you judge it. Even if it's still in you. Say, this is wrong. It does not belong in the kingdom of God. I judge it as sin. It's very important. I cannot impress that on you too strongly. Then God will bring you through sufficient fire, or whatever means he uses to get that out of you. But first, you must judge it as sin, and not pussyfoot around with some excuse. Not pussyfoot around with something that will keep Satan from feeling the full bore of your judgment. So, you pronounce it as unworthy of the kingdom of God and sin. You cannot deliver yourself, but you can judge the thing when the Holy Spirit shows you. And then fasten your seatbelt, because once you have done that, then God will be faithful to forgive you, and he will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Sometimes immediately, sometimes 30 years later. But once you have made that judgment, that thing is going to go. Hallelujah! Qasidiyyat Allahundayat. You realize how important that is. Something we thought would never be possible. Never be possible. We looked at ourselves and we said, we're human, we're frail. It is not possible. But a statement concerning the thing, if you confess your sin, to forgive it and to... Well, the time has come. Matthew 13 is upon us. And the Lord is removing from his kingdom all that offends. But he begins with us. And he takes out of us that which is offensive to God. And then when he's through with that, he's going to take out those who offend from the kingdom. Whether or not they call on the name of Christ or not. When we call on the name of Christ, the Bible says we who believe and are baptized shall be saved. And that means saved from wrath. Saved from wrath. It's not talking about all this other I told you about being drawn close to God or anything else. It just means saved from wrath. Okay? God says, alright, you call on my name. Yes. So then God will begin to deal with you about your sin. Then your part is to do what God said and confess it. Doesn't mean you'll be saved regardless of how you behave. It means God says, okay, you want me? I'll come down and I'll help you. Because God is going to make an end to sin. He's going to drive it right out of the world. Alright. Now, this is what God said. The wheat and the tarry shall grow side by side. Let them both come to maturity. Now, basically, for our intentions that we're dealing with in the world, the tares are the Antichrist. And the wheat is Jesus Christ. And of course, behind Antichrist is Satan. And behind Jesus Christ is God. So Antichrist, in the days in which we are living, Antichrist and Jesus Christ will be facing each other in the final confrontation. Everything else is irrelevant, really. Wars, rumors of wars and everything, they're just the things that go on because the sin has not been driven from the heavens. That's why they go on. But they're not of the point. There's no solution. They've been going on for 2,000 years and will continue. The thing that is of the solution is that we have come to the time when God is ready to bring forth Christ in His church to maturity. This is the time. Is anybody out there? Are you surviving? Almost? Okay. You want me to tell you God's words? You know, I'm telling you God's words, you know. And all I'm doing is repeating the Bible. The wheat and the tares represent Antichrist and Christ. These are what have been planted in the world. And you're going to see a mature... All you are is saved and baptized with the Spirit. You don't have enough to stand. You've got to press into God. You have to go further in with the Lord if you're going to stand. You've got to have more of Christ. And He has that for you. He has that for you. Don't let anything distract you. My goodness, if you try to go along with business as usual, you see yourself in 10 years, you're going to be in bad shape because the spiritual pressure is going to increase. But at the same time, God is giving us more. He's ready to enter your life in a way He has never entered before and reinforce you from within. Where grace abounds, where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. So the provision God has made for the last days is more of Christ. More than being saved. More than speaking in tongues. More than the embryo and then the fetus. In Isaiah 66.9 He says, Will I bring to the birth and then close the womb? No. He is going to bring forth Christ in His church in the day in which you're living and you are the people appointed to be present when this happens. You weren't on the Mount of Transfiguration. You weren't on the Mount with the elders. You weren't in Jerusalem when Jesus was there. But you're here when God is doing that which is in the prophets. So expect. Tremendous thing. And don't get distracted and don't get discouraged because God's calls on you. She was pregnant. The significant thing about the church today is not it's programs, it's that it's pregnant. You're something to be born. Cultivate it. Nourish it. If you get pregnant, now of course only the women can understand this, then you may have to keep working for a while. Possibly if you're supporting yourself. You're a working gal and you got pregnant and then the man left or whatever. You might have to keep working. But the central thing in your life is that you're pregnant. Am I correct or not? Or is the job more important? Which is more important? Well, you know what's more important. And she cried out in pain. And so we have pain. We have things we're going through because Christ, He has something better for us. And so we have sometimes, not always, but sometimes we have to suffer to get ourself in the shape where we're doing what God wants. Because we must give place to this. I mean, this is something that's happening within us that is important. Something's being born. It's important. Aha. Then another sign appeared in heaven. I wish there was just the woman in heaven, but there's something else in heaven. An enormous red dragon with seven heads of wisdom and ten horns of power in the world and seven crowns, the authority that God has given him to do God's will in the earth. So never fret yourself about evil. Don't fret yourself. Because God is in control. How many believe that? God's in control of Yugoslavia. He's in control in Kosovo. He's in control of everything. Say, why does he permit it? Well, he didn't cause it. It's not God's fault. People want to kill each other. But he's there and he's with individuals when they call on him. God is there to help them. There's a lot of Christians helping too. But God has, God has a program and he allows the wickedness to continue because he is bringing forth a royal priesthood. And it can only be brought forth in this domio that we live in. And that's why he permits it. And when he's got what he wants, we'll have a new world. Have faith in God. He's in control. He'll set a table before you in the presence of your enemies. Not your friends. Your enemies. His tale. The dragon's tale swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. Well, I always figured that's a third of the rebellious of the angels. A third of the angels were rebellious and Satan tore them down. But you know, it doesn't make a great deal of sense. I need Daniel 10, 8. Daniel 8 verse 10. Does it make sense? Could be. I wouldn't argue with anybody. In fact, I wouldn't argue with anyone anyway, because I don't like to argue. But I wouldn't argue. You say, oh, it was angels. Fine. Go out and have a hamburger. But it doesn't make sense because he knows he's going to have to fight with Michael. Why would he cast down to the earth a third of his army? That doesn't compute. So we go back to Daniel. Daniel, speaking of Antichrist, says it grew until it reached the host of the heavens. And it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. Now, when we read down, it set itself up to be as great as the prince of the host. This is Antichrist. See, I mean, dark times are coming. Hey, this is the newspaper up here. All right. And the place of his sanctuary, that's Jesus' sanctuary, was brought low because of rebellion, the host, and then the NIV put in there of the saints. Whoa. Joe, I don't believe that. I, I. Brother Thompson, you're done. Quit preaching there. That's not right. Well, all right. We look at Colossians 3, verses 1, 2, and 3. How many believe the Bible? Seven people. Since then, you have been raised with Christ, passed, set your heart on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on things above, not on earthly things, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ and God. So where are you? Huh? Oh, you say, well, I'm persecuted in one city, so I'll flee to another. All right. We go to Ephesians 2, verse 6. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Now, where are you? I don't see any future tense in there. Do you see future tense in there? I don't see any future tense. I don't even see present tense in there. It's already happened to you. So where are you? I don't believe it. You have to believe it because it's the Bible. You don't have any choice. Now, consider we have seen in our lifetime ministers, some known and many that we don't know, who were in Christ at the right hand of God, right? And were torn down to the earth by immorality and covetousness, right or wrong? Make sense? So it's telling us that in the end time, the Christians, I mean, this is the way I view it, you know, you know, we better watch what we're doing because outstanding Christians and ministers and pastors are falling today and many through immorality. They were with Christ at the right hand of God and Satan has managed to tear them down to the earth and to trample on them. We better watch our business because it's going to get worse. We have to be very careful to be close to the Lord and not to allow Satan to entice us down from our high place in the Lord. God raised you there when you were saved. He took you born again nature and put out his right hand. Now you have to stay there and you can be torn down. You can be torn down from that place through lust, love of money, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, lying. He'll read your profile. He'll find out what moves you and he'll tear you right down. So you've got to pray. As long as you pray, read your Bible, do what God says, you're fine. But this is no time for carelessness. Amen? When we see the ministry falling down, it's terrible. It's not that they're bad people, it's that they've been wounded. They've been hurt. Satan has seven heads and has ten horns and has seven crowns. It's nobody to trifle with. It's only Christ. That has the wisdom and the power. And so we cannot afford. Let me tell you something. We can do a lot of things that are not, quote, sinful. But neither are they of the essence. And particularly in America where there are so many inviting things to do. We can occupy ourselves with any number of extraneous things, frittering away our time. And we don't realize it, but it's of Satan. It's of Satan. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. The Bible tells us to meditate in the Word of God night and day. The Bible tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The Bible tells us to present our body a living sacrifice. The Bible tells us to give and serve and do everything else covetously, the best gifts. Now, when we do not do this in the American culture because we're too busy and we're too tired to do this, we become ripe for deception. And it's very subtle. And you don't recognize it. And little by little by little by little, and the first thing, bang, you didn't even realize it was happening. But you've been pulled down from your high place in God. Yes, that is the way it happens. So we have to keep exhorting one another today. Hey, get in there. Don't, you're getting off here. You're becoming too occupied with this, that, or the other. Do you realize that it isn't the world? The world is passing away. But what are you doing? Are you in touch? Are you hearing from God? Are you really hearing from the Lord? Or are you going around in your mind making judgments? How long did you pray today? Are you waiting? Are you hearing from God or is something sidetracking you? Does that sound like a good pastoral exhortation? Not bad. All right. The dragon, he, God, Satan wants you flung down to the earth. That's where he wants you. He wants you down on the earth where he can deal with you. I don't want you up in the heavens. I want you down on the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth. Now, the woman is the church. Satan could not care less about all our churchy do. Hang on. You know, we could have eight million programs. We could have 150 million people all get together and have a march for Jesus. I think we're doing something. He's, I mean, he'll sell popcorn there. He's not concerned about that. He's just concerned about one thing. And what is that? The child. That's all he's concerned about. He isn't in front of the woman to devour the woman. He's not concerned. You can sing onward Christian song. But Christ, Christ is the one he fears. And so when he stands in front of you and me, what he's after is that which is being formed in us. Not our church, not our ministry, not who we think we are, our testimony or anything. He wants to keep us alive so that we don't go down into the death of childbirth and Christ come forth because he is terrified of Christ. Satan is terrified of Jesus Christ. Remember how when he went and the demons, he didn't yell and pray in tongues over the demons. They did the yelling. And maybe they prayed in tongues too, for all I know. We know who you are. Have you come to torment us? What are you going to do, Jesus? He didn't have to exercise himself. He just was there. The holy one of God. Please let us go away into these pigs. He answered their prayer. Go into the pigs if that's what you want. How we wrestle as the woman against Satan. And there's a place for that. But the main thing is that Christ is born. And that means you're going to have to go down into the valley of death. To bring forth, just as all mothers do, to bring forth another life. A supernatural life. Who is, in fact, the kingdom. Who is, in fact, your eternal life and your salvation. It's not in religion. It's in Jesus Christ. We know that. She, to devour her child the moment it was born. Can't you picture him there with his great dragon jaws wide open. Breathing out fire. Gonna get that child. She gave birth to a son. A male child. Who will rule all the nations. With an iron scepter. And that, we don't like that because it's not very democratic. Isn't that so? How would you like it if Mr. Clinton was ruling with an iron scepter? And he bopped you on the head when you didn't do what he wanted you to. We're not used to that. I'll vote you out. I'll get a lawyer. I'll do something. I'll write to my congressman. That's a new ball game, people. It's not the same old stuff we're used to. The ruler is being formed on us. The ruler. The ruler. I'm gonna rule the nations. I'll do what I say. The ruler of the nations. The male son being formed in you. That isn't even you. You may be a very mousy person. How many in here are mousy? You're a mousy person. You don't want to rule anybody with a rod of iron. You're a mouse. Well, that which is being born in you is not a mouse. It's different from you. How wonderful it is when God asks us to do something for which we're totally unprepared. Oh, that is so wonderful. Because that means we have to lean on God for every inch of stuff we do. And finally, what happened to the child? What happened to him? He's caught up. He's caught up to God and to his throne. Because he will not appear until the Lord appears. And then he will appear with the Lord. He's caught up to the place of rulership. And you'll feel that within you. Some of you may be in that place now. Where you're battling Christ within you is battling to ascend to the Father. And you're striving in the flesh. And your flesh is making demands on you. And you're thinking this and that and the other. And it's distracting you. But you can feel within yourself the pressure. And God wants the last bit of your personality to pop open. Just like a chrysalis. Just like a moth or butterfly coming. Do you feel that within yourself? Are you struggling to overcome? Are you tempted with something? Should I? Shouldn't I? This sounds awful far out to me. Christ within you wants to ascend to his Father. And you're still trying to hang on to the earth. Let it go. And when it goes, you'll have a new song. And that doesn't mean all your problems are over. You'll be all much easier to maintain. But it has to be born in prayer. Shall we stand? Some of you may be there this morning. And there's strength here, I think. And you can come up and pray. What do we do? Are you there yet? Is it struggling within you? Are you trying to overcome? Yes to God. Are you doing that? Hallelujah. But I do know that's where we are today. I do know that's where we are today. Christ wants to be born in you. Are you willing to let go and let God rise up in you? Are you going to play church games for a while? What's it going to be? Church games or birth? Birth. You can go on playing church games until you're in your rocking chair. And you'll be the same as you are today. Or you can get a hold of God and make it all the way Jesus is ready to go all the way with you. Are you ready to go all the way with Jesus? It's the thing. Here we are. All the base camps have brought us this high. God is looking today for people building on everything that's gone before us in the history of the world. We're ready now to give it all to God and to have Christ. Are you ready to give it all to God? You're going to hang on a little. What are you going to do? Praise the Lord. Eka sili alabaha nalalabaha shiki sili alabaha. Oh, hallelujah, Lord. Are we going to give it all to God? Or are we going to temporize? Let me hold my life a little bit longer. No, there's no time. You know, we're being drawn into World War III. God knows how this thing has been alerted. Times, they are a changing. Yes, Christ is going up because so much crude oil has been consumed by the jets flying over Yugoslavia. So it goes up on the pump and people are yelling. This is peanuts. It goes up to $10 a gallon. It's nothing, nothing, nothing. Christ and Antichrist are ready to face each other in maturity. Do you want to be a church member? Just a church member? Or do you want to do it? Do the real thing? Hallelujah. Well, you can come if you need to. Father, we come unto you this morning in the name of Jesus the Lord, the Son of God. Oh, hallelujah. Pray with me, people. You know, let your voice be heard. Before his throne, he's looking down. Jesus, what a climactic hour with the Pacific people to come to maturity and to make up our mind. For the choice is ours. Oh, hallelujah, Lord. Now, Lord, let the yoke be broken. You prophesied this morning about mountains being removed, burdens being done away. Lord, do it. Do it. We confess our sins to you, Lord. We're not able to do it, Lord. But from your place on high, Almighty Father, we cry in Jesus' name. We want to go all the way. We want the child to be born. The mystery of God should be completed. We know that means Christ will be revealed in his church. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Help us, Lord. Help us this morning. Help us this morning. And let those with burdens, Lord, be released. Let them be released, Lord. See the need that we have. That Christ may come forth. Every chain, every physical and spiritual bondage, break it this morning in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, that's all I got. So you're welcome to stay and pray and worship God. And work out your salvation with fear and trembling. God bless you.