In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of the harvest and the end result of God's work. He compares the time of soaring, which is good, to the harvest, which is even better. The preacher highlights that God is the gardener and He is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth. The sermon also emphasizes the need for rain, symbolizing God's blessings and truth, in order for God to have fruit in the end. The preacher concludes by discussing the example of Jesus as a bondslayer who learned obedience and encourages the audience to strive for intense light and obedience to God's will.

I swear to God it's bringing back the words, excuse me, of that course that I mentioned last night. It's not on your course sheet, this particular one isn't. But maybe I could share it with you and I think we'll be ready to receive the word. We'll save the announcements for the end of the service, whatever announcements that need to be made. You gave me a more perfect vision. You gave me a more perfect vision one day. I remember when I began to hear that there was something beyond the Feast of Pentecost, something beyond, that there was more. My heart was hungering for more and I was a bit overwhelmed with it all. But I remember when I started seeing a little bit and God began to give me a vision. That's what the Course says, you gave me a more perfect vision one day. You let me see, Lord, what you see. Not what man sees, not what ministries see. Things like people think God gives them a ministry and then they need to contact the rest of the world, tell the rest of the world to help them with their ministry. Where did that come in? Where did that come from? It didn't used to be like that. You gave me a more perfect vision one day. You let me see, Lord, what you see. And yet, with that vision, a burden you gave. You remember that? And that burden sanctifies me. It sets me apart. It purges me. It cleanses me. That burden sanctifies me. Don't take my burden. Don't take it away. Don't take it, Lord. Let it stay. Keep me, O God, on my face before Thee, but don't take my burden away. A lot of people are crying out, Lord, deliver me from this burden. But I believe the heart's cry of God's sons in this hour is don't take my burden away. Let it burden me right down on my face before You, Lord God. I'll just share that with you. Maybe the Holy Spirit will just minister it to your heart and make it really real to you. Well, we thank the Lord for every good thing that comes from his hand. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. With him, there's no, not even the shadow of turning. And so we thank him for everything he's done. He's with us, through us, for us. For what things seem good and what things seem bad, we know that he works all things together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. In the song, our brother Simon mentions the burden as well as the vision, and really that's the way it is. The vision God gives becomes the burden of our heart. I read there the first verse of Habakkuk, I think it was. The burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see. The burden that he did see. He said the burden he carried, the burden he saw. And so we thank the Lord that he sees fit. In bringing us into his yoke, carry that burden with him, which becomes a vision. To go where he goes, to do what he does, to say what he says, to think what he thinks, to be what he is. Because we don't think the way God thinks. A very simple way of saying what the prophet said. My thoughts are not your thoughts, saith the Lord, neither are your ways my ways. We don't think the way God thinks. Until we're in his yoke and learn from him. Take my yoke upon you, he says, and learn of me or learn from me, I believe. It's literally the way it reads. Not just learn about me, being in my yoke. But being in my yoke, you'll learn firsthand from me. Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. I thought I'd maybe read a verse or two from the prophet Zechariah. The children of Israel had gone back, according to the planned purpose of God, after their time of captivity. God raised up a man by the name of Cyrus. And through him, he put in his heart somehow to allow the children of Israel to go back to their land, rebuild the temple. He supported them, sent back some of the vessels that were used in the house of the Lord and so forth. And so time went on, they began to build the temple, but there was a lot of opposition, a lot of discouragement set in. Things were delayed from time to time. And then it says God sent them two prophets. One was Haggai and the other was Zechariah to encourage the builders in the past. So this vision we talk about is not really our idea at all. If it is, God help us to forget it. It's the burden which the prophet Haggai saw, something that God showed him. If the vision is ours, we can get into all kinds of wonderful works perhaps, doing many good things, stepping out in faith to do some worthy project that we think God wants us to do. We call it stepping out in faith. I'd like to pause there a little because you're stepping out in faith, you're moving according to the direction of God's Spirit. You're not just saying, I think I'd like to do this and I'm going to do it by faith, I'm going to step out and do it. And so much of that goes on, stepping out by faith and doing something. And without going into it in detail, you read particularly Hebrews 11 and you'll find that these men of faith, and we all call it the faith chapter and we call those who were involved the heroes of faith, they moved according to the direction of God. It wasn't just they got tired of what they were doing and let's step out in faith and do something different. It wasn't a case of Abraham saying to Sarah, this is a wicked place, let's get out of this place. We don't know where to go, but we'll just step out by faith and go somewhere. They had direction. They had clear direction from the Lord, by vision, by word, by that inward awareness of what God wanted. We're not going to say it has to be by any certain method, but we do must have the assurance that God is doing this. God wants this to be done. He lays that burden upon you. And so Zechariah and Haggai were the two special prophets God raised up at that time of their discouragement to encourage them to move on with the vision that God had given them for the fulfillment of which he had brought them back to Jerusalem. But opposition sets in and they stop the building. So Haggai says, take courage, go up to the mountain, take wood, build this house and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. He goes on to say, you build your own homes. And some say, oh, it's not time to build God's house. But he says, it's time for you to build your nice homes, but not time for God to build his. And God wants a home. You can't hardly conceive of that. The God of the universe, and the more you read about the galaxies out there, the more you would be inclined to think God certainly doesn't need us. I can't imagine God needing us. That genius over there in Britain, I forget his name, they compare him to Einstein. And they ask him about God. Oh, he says, when I see the greatness of the universe, I can't imagine that there could be a God that has any concern for us on a little planet Earth. And David was amazed also at that. I mean, he knew there was God. And the heavens declared the glory of God, the firmament showed his handiwork. But he went on to say, Oh, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Yeah, we stand amazed that God should be mindful of us. But we don't have a proper concept of God unless we see the God who's concerned about the little things as well as the great things. Because everything's so great, God couldn't be concerned about us. Jesus did consider the lilies of the field, consider the birds of the air, how they toil not, and do they spin. He had a saying to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these lilies. The birds of the air, they don't go to gardens and worry about how they will go. They just trust in the Heavenly Father. Of course, that's sort of a nice doctrine for those who just want to have the easy life. You know, live by faith, you know, without working. Until you start to analyze that, and those birds, they keep very busy. And they work hard. From early morning, you hear them chirping out there when you're trying to sleep. And there they are, up our way, we might start to get daylight. What, 3.30, something in the morning, in the longest day. They're up there before we are. And they're still working there when we go to bed. So they work hard. So don't use those scriptures for slothfulness. They work hard. But in rest, total rest. No struggle, no striving. Because God put within them a certain law, certain law that functions. And they just have to move along under the protection, under the guidance of that law. So you almost admire them. You almost think they've got something we haven't got. When we see the simplicity in which they move and the wisdom they have, you know, to build their nest and care for their young and protect their young from dangers that exist. All without any wisdom as we know it. For God has put a law within them that functions according to the law of life. But us, we try to live according to the natural law, but we're falling far lower than the other creatures. God wouldn't let them be superior to us, so he put a certain curse on them because of man. But God has put within us in redemption a new law, a new law of life called the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which is more powerful, more wonderful, higher than any natural law you see in the world about us or in the animals about us. The law of life. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Our problem being that because we don't see the effectual working of that law to the extent we should, we minimize it, we don't see the true value of it. We don't appreciate its worth enough for it to become a vision, a burden that we will not rest until God brings about in his people that which he has designed for his people, until we come to that place that God has desired us to be, walking in harmony with him and total union with his own heart, abiding in his yoke, going where he goes, doing only what he says, singing his song, walking under that burden of the yoke, which is not burdensome in the sense we think of it. Jesus says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So come, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. That law is there. We must continue to see God till somehow in the outworking of his ways in our lives and the discipline that he would bring upon us, he will have a people who will come into that full functioning of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Those led of the Spirit, motivated by the Spirit, doing only what the Spirit says, not with struggle but with rest, with confidence that he is leading because we found ourselves caught away in a new law. You don't stop the... You know, it's very essential that we breathe every, what, second or so. Very essential. We never stop even thinking about it because there's a law there that makes it happen. And so in this natural life we have those natural laws and we take it for granted. That heart of yours, you know, it just keeps pumping away there and pumping hundreds of gallons a day and we don't even say to it, don't even give God thanks many times for his goodness to us until perhaps that heart starts to fail or those lungs start to fail or some of our faculties start to weaken and we're concerned. God help us to appreciate the law that is put there by nature but to pursue that higher law, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It's a law that works but somehow we must so follow with him and walk with him and by his grace come under that yoke that he was under when he was here. Take my yoke upon you. He was in the yoke of the Heavenly Father. Now he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest into your soul. There's so much unrest amongst God's people. Dissatisfaction. Unrest. Turmoil in many cases. God would have us to come into that rest that pertains to the people of God. And it's there for his people. That's why God ordains this temple that God might have a habitation for himself. But you say, I want to know about my rest. We find our rest when God finds his in you and I. If God finds his rest in us, then we're at rest. His inheritance in us, that brings us into our inheritance in him. His inheritance is you and I. My inheritance is God. That's the vision we have. That's God's intention. That's why he told Eliezer and Joshua when they started to divide the land to give every man his portion in Canaan. Don't give any to the priests. Sounds mean. They were the ones who served in the temple. Don't give them any inheritance, God says. Because I am their inheritance. I am their inheritance. God wants to be our inheritance. How then can I apprehend God? So that's the struggle we go through. And God puts a struggle there. We talked about it, I think we did. I think it is here. Maybe it is in private conversation. Yeah, I think it was. Talking to a brother here. Paul talks about entering in his rest. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. And the word there is, understand, sabbatismos, sabbatismos, from which we get the word Sabbath. There remains a sabbatismos, a habit, for the people of God. For he that has entered into his rest, God's rest, has ceased from his own work as God did from his. And the next verse, labor therefore to enter into that rest. It doesn't signify, I don't believe, a feverish labor from our way of looking at things. I believe some even translate it as giving, killing. But it does involve a spiritual struggle to enter into this rest. But we must come away from that natural struggle and let it be the burden of the Lord, the struggle of the Lord, the burden of God. And as we take his burden upon us, we're finding rest even as we pursue the pathway that leads us into it. There's a rest just knowing that we're in God's will, walking with him, doing what he wants us to do. Even in that, there's a rest. Because we learn from him. You see, how could it be said that Jesus' yoke was easy? I wouldn't say it was easy. It was Jesus said my yoke was easy. Because he only did what the Father wanted him to do. He had no vision, no agenda, no formulation of plans how I and my twelve disciples are going to take over this kingdom. No such agenda. Just do the will of God. Oh, the agendas they got for taking over the kingdoms of this world. One man I remember reading or heard on a tape he was going to go to the White House not as president, but to be an advisor to the next president. Whoa, that was eight, ten years ago. I forget which president it was. But I don't think that he became one of the advisors to the president. I wouldn't want to advise any president or king. But I do believe that God will have a people. If God has a word for them to give to president or ruler or king or monarch of any dictator of any description God will say go and tell them this. I believe God will do that. It might not always be the nicest thing to do. He might be putting his head in jeopardy when he does it. But he's got to do it. There is a kingdom of the saints of God but it's the kingdom that functions out of our union with him. And it will be ruling and reigning with Christ Jesus. And God told him, rule in the midst of your enemies. You think, if I'm ruling and reigning I'm going to deal with all evil in the earth. You wouldn't. Jesus would too. But he's been 2,000 years doing it now and he isn't finished yet. Because God says, rule thou in the midst of your enemies. He's ruling. Come back here Lord and deal with your enemies. He went away to deal with his enemies. Because his enemies are not earthly they're heavenly. So God, when he raised him from the dead caused him to ascend far above all principality and power and might and dominion. Every name that is named. That he might have lordship over all created things. No use of being the president of the United States or the president of China or whatever they call them. You could take over that presidency but what about those principalities and powers up there? Unless you have rulership over them you won't change anything in this nation or anywhere else. Putting in the right man in the White House or some other country putting them on the throne. You're not changing anything. If you can change anything God wants you to change by coming into direct contact with the king of all kings and lord of all lords. We fail to realize that. Trying to maneuver things to get things right here. You can go straight to the king of kings and the lord of lords. But that doesn't mean he's going to go the way you want him to go. Go into his presence to inquire of him. God, I want you to oh, I don't know what eradicate all this evil in the United States. How are you going to do it? Use the power of the nation to do it. But with the power of Christ resting upon us we can do anything he wants us to do. Anything he wants us to do. Yeah, but you know if we just had this power we'd dethrone kings and kingdoms and set up righteous government. Don't you believe that Jesus the Son of God conquered over all things and is now king of kings and lord of lords and has all things under his feet? But that he rules according to the decree of God to rule in the midst of his enemies until they are subdued. Thou art priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. He goes on to say thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. There's coming a day of power when he's going to fully deal with all the iniquity in the world. In the meantime, God says rule in the midst of it according to the purpose of God. He's been ruling and reigning these 2,000 years doing many, many tremendous things. Keeping his church alive allowing it to go down to death's door many times where it seems it's almost extinct in the earth. God comes on the scene and laughs at his enemies and sends forth his word and brings forth a great moving of God and the land. We need it again and I think as you hear the voice of God I think you realize that God is concerned. If you're concerned God's far more concerned than you are. And if you've got a holy, heaven-sent concern it's because you're feeling the burden of God's heart. Because God initiates everything that is accomplished in the world through his church. God initiates it to begin with. He always initiates it. And so we read Isaiah 62 For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest Isaiah the prophet. Remember reading that one time? I'd read it many times till I almost lost my heart. And I realized, yeah, I know Isaiah's saying this but he's moved along by the Spirit. It's the Spirit of God himself in Isaiah saying For Zion's sake I will not rest For Jerusalem's sake I will not hold my peace Until the righteousness thereof Goes forth as brightness And the salvation thereof Is a lamp that burns. It wasn't just Isaiah's God himself saying I'm not going to rest. Until the righteousness thereof Goes forth as brightness And the salvation thereof Is a lamp that burns. God's not going to rest till that happens. He's preparing a people Who will be so filled With His power and fire and light That as they go forth to the nations It will burn and consume The way before them And prepare the hearts of the people For the unveiling of the glory of God Until it will be fulfilled That all the earth shall be filled With the glory of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. We get tired of waiting. Don't you think God gets tired of waiting? But that's part of His nature to wait. To be patient. To be merciful. To be long-suffering. Look at that word long-suffering. Long-suffering. Suffers long. God suffers long. You say, I can't stand it anymore. Well, you need long-suffering. You need God's long-suffering. Has God been able to endure? Oh, you say He's God. He can do it. What if God, willing to show His wrath And to make His power known, He desires to manifest His wrath Against the worst of evil in the earth. What if God, willing to show His wrath And to make His power known, Endures with great long-suffering These vessels of wrath Sitted for destruction? Paul says, have you ever considered that? That God is enduring with great long-suffering? These vessels of wrath That are being prepared for judgment? God's enduring. You know, if I had that power, I'd go out and I'd deal with it. I know, that's why God doesn't give you that power. Because He's got a Son With all power, with heaven and earth. He's enduring it the same as the Father's enduring it. Enduring it. You could deal with it, can't you, God? Yeah, I know, but While He's enduring with much long-suffering The vessels of wrath, He's preparing vessels of mercy. God made vessels of mercy for this whole world. And while He's enduring the vessels of wrath Who are persecuting and harassing the people of God, He's preparing them to be vessels of mercy. Vessels of mercy. Whom He hath aforeprepared unto glory. So there's two sides of God's patience And long-suffering And allowing God's people to go through trial and tribulation And difficulties of many kinds. As God is long-suffering and patiently causing you To endure these things. His heart is pained with your pain. He starts with the feeling of your infirmity. Because He has the heart of a priest Manifested in our Lord Jesus Christ. A priest must have compassion on the ignorant And on those who are out of the way Because He Himself also is compassed with infirmity. Oh, you say, God can't be compassed with infirmity. I know that's why He became a man. That He could be. That's why He came down into this realm Where He could become a man And as a man a priest. That He might be touched with the feeling Of the infirmities of His people. That as His people suffer God feels it. Because Jesus feels it. And as Jesus feels it, God feels it. Because they are one. God feels the suffering. Don't you think that God didn't feel? God felt every spike, every nail That He pounded into the hands and the feet of Jesus. God felt it. Because the Father was there And the Spirit was there overshadowing that sacrifice. We mentioned last night With the blood of bulls and goats And the ashes of a heifer Sprinkling those that are defiled Sanctifies them unto the cleanness of the flesh. How much more shall the blood of Christ Who through the Eternal Spirit Offered Himself without blemish unto God Purge their conscience from dead works To serve the Living God. Through the Eternal Spirit This precious blood was overshadowed This sacrifice was offered there Because of the presence of the Eternal Spirit Overshadowing that sacrifice Making it to be acceptable In the sight of God. God's concerned about His people. He says He will not rest Until the righteousness of Zion Goes forth as brightness And the salvation as a lamp that burns. He won't rest until that happens. To make sure He won't rest He puts that restlessness on the people Who will cry unto Him God we're not going to give you any rest Well God said He wouldn't But He puts that burden on His people. He calls them watchmen. Oh you see I thought a watchman Was one who goes out and warns The sinner to repent. Yeah I know He has watchmen to do that too. But I never realized That there was any other kind of watchman. He says I set watchmen on your walls O Jerusalem Who will never hold their peace day or night You that make mention of the name of the Lord Keep not silence and give God no rest Until you establish Until you make Jerusalem a prison here. Well God already said He wasn't going to rest Then why does He set up watchmen To say now God I'm not going to give you rest Until this happens. In the wisdom of God He's always designed To bring men and women Into His own holy council. Not to counsel Him But to share in His counsel To partake of His counsel and wisdom. Part of God's desire The very fact He made Adam Was to have a man who would represent Him In the earth one of whom He could have Fellowship and communion And share His own heart. For He shared His very likeness When He created Him. He shared His likeness We don't quite understand it but Made us in His image and likeness That we might be the shining forth of His glory The shining forth of His glory What God is. God's intention is that Men would know who God is and what He's like By looking at His people Who are made in His image. So we spend our time and energy Trying to get the world to believe That there's a God up there in heaven That there's a Jesus who died for them And that there's a Jesus who is the light of the world When God is making that light He wants that light in His people He wants Zion to be that light He wants Zion to shine forth His brightness And the salvation of Zion to be like a burning lamp God has put all He has into redemption That the fruits of redemption Might be such in a people That they will shine forth The glory and the presence of God In the world about us. There'll be no problem Preaching the gospel of the kingdom To all nations in one week's time Or in one month's time Or however long God might see fit It'll be as easy as can be When God has a people Reading the love and truth and brightness And glory of God in the earth We go with our feeble lamps Or with lamps that are almost extinguished With lamps sometimes that Seem to send forth shades of night Rather than shades of light As Milton said in one of his poems No light but rather darkness visible No light but darkness was visible Often that's the way it is And God wants that light to be in His people To be so intense He says that there'll be no part dark No part dark Oh you say, what do you say? We know these things I'm just trusting that somehow Whatever days I have left That God will send forth a word That will be an impartation Into the lives of His people Because the new covenant is impartation It's not just telling people what God wants It's an impartation of what God wants It's a ministration Paul calls it a ministration of life A ministration of righteousness It says also in the epistles of the Hebrews The new covenant is this I will write my laws in their hearts And on their minds will I write them He doesn't say this letter I'm writing Is a part of the new covenant We know it is But it's the letter The new covenant is when God writes it on your heart He's saying if we're writing it here And let's read it much But as we read it Desire and seek and pray God will take that word that is written there And write it inside Because that's only the new covenant When it's written inside This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days He says the Lord I will write my laws in their hearts And in their minds will I write them I will be their God And they shall be my people And they will not teach every man His brother and fellow citizens And say no the Lord For all shall know me From the least to the greatest of them And I will remember their sins And their iniquities no more It's the new covenant There's many many people in the church Who will not believe the new covenant Until God begins to manifest it You can't believe it because it's written If we don't see it we won't believe it God wants us to see it Before we believe it That it might come into being That which He has declared Might come to pass By our believing it first We say by hope By faith I know But hope gives expectation Of the thing we're hoping for Please stop the machine And turn the cassette over Until God begins to manifest it You can't believe it because it's written If we don't see it we won't believe it God wants us to see it Before we believe it That it might come into being That which He has declared Might come to pass By our believing it first We say by hope By faith I know But hope gives expectation Of the thing we're hoping for It's not a vain hope Bible hope is not something inferior To faith that's greater It's now about a faithful charity Because hope goes on from faith To anticipate what God says Anticipate what He says Look forward to the fulfillment of it So that the earnest expectation Of the creation is waiting For the manifestation The unveiling of the sons of God And they shall go forth With the unveiled glory of God upon them Creation is waiting for that They don't know it It's not a vain hope Bible hope is not something inferior To faith that's greater It's now about a faithful charity Because hope goes on from faith To anticipate what God says Anticipate what He says Look forward to the fulfillment of it So that the earnest expectation Of the creation is waiting For the manifestation The unveiling of the sons of God And they shall go forth With the unveiled glory of God upon them Creation is waiting for that They don't know it They're not consciously aware of it But in God's heart and mind He knows that's the need of the world And that's really what they're waiting for The day when God's sons will go forth With the unveiled glory of God upon them A man wrote me and says I heard that you no longer believe In the manifestation of the sons of God doctrine I'd just like to hear it from you directly And I wrote back and said Tell me what you mean by it And then I can tell you Whether I can say yes or no But without waiting for an answer I said this is what I believe About the manifestation of God's sons He's going to have a people on earth Walking in the same meekness And humility and love And patience of the Lord Jesus Christ They're not going to love their lives Even unto death They'll be ready to lay down their lives Even as He laid down His life They will be followers of Him They'll be like Him Not only in the power they manifest But in the life they live And in the patience and love And truth and righteousness That they display in their lives And I don't know how well I put it But the people walking like Jesus Walked in this church He had no agenda, no plan No ideas of the kingdom he had to fulfill But to do the will of the Father And in doing the will of the Father He perfectly fulfilled all Scripture Perfectly pleased the Father in so much On several occasions The Father spoke from Heaven Clearly saying this is my beloved son In whom I am well pleased He didn't come to earth to be a king In the sense that we know kings He came to be a bond slave That he would have an ear That was totally open to the voice Of the Heavenly Father Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not But a body hast thou prepared for me Whole burnt offering and sacrifice for sin He said thou hast had no pleasure Then said I, lo, I come To do thy will, O God That was his agenda Oh, I know he did many things And you can read about it in the four Gospels But it's all summed up in that word I'm just here to do your will, O God In so much that the commitment was so great So deep So wonderfully blessed He came to the place where he said I can't do anything of myself He said my God I can in my own self do nothing But what I see the Father doing, I do it I speak the words that he gives me I go where he wants me to go I'm in A bond slave He came to earth to learn obedience People say oh, he was disobedient No, he never was disobedient But up there there was no place For obedience to transpire in his life He was Lord of all He came to earth as a bond slave That he might learn obedience By the things that he suffered Learn the voice of God Learn walking in subjection To the Heavenly Father Coming into a realm where we are That having dealt with our sins He might become our example Until he deals with our sins There's no way you and I can follow him Or use him as our example But when he becomes our sin offering And our savior, the one who justifies us Then he becomes our example So we thank the Lord for this beautiful Plan of redemption Which he accomplished at the cross But ever since the cross he's been Continuing to work out The glories of his redemption And his people who are still in the earth Walking in the realms of infirmity And weakness, and often times sin And sickness All sorts of things that pertain to the old life Continuing to work in them His own good pleasures Until in the fullness of God's intention He will have in the earth A race of people After the image of the last Adam Just as he has now a race of people After the image of the first Adam And another race of people After the image of the firstborn He being the firstborn among So many brothers Firstborn of a brand new creation So we thank the Lord for that vision God's vision We pray that he will clarify our vision That we might see what God sees And hear what he hears And hear what he speaks Until we come to that place Where we can truly be approved of God As his servants in the earth Approved to fire, tribulation, death, trials I should return to the prophet Zechariah The Lord starts out in chapter 1 by saying The Lord has been displeased with your fathers Therefore say thou unto them Haggai and Zechariah were there encouraging them To go on with God, to build this temple To seek God for the way in which They are to conduct themselves And this new temple is to be built And therefore in type and shadow He's giving encouragement And instruction to you and I Say unto them, thus saith the Lord of Hosts Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord And I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts God starts this We've got to turn to God I know, but God starts it By saying, Zechariah, you go and tell the people To turn to me So God starts the whole thing Yeah, we're wavered from him Thank the Lord for the fact That he is the initiator of all things We don't initiate anything But he does want our cooperation He wants us to respond He speaks and he wants us to hear He speaks twice and we don't know his voice Three times like he did to Samuel And finally Eli realized It had to be the voice of God He says, you go back And the next time he speaks Say, speak Lord, for thy servant here So God speaks and speaks And we don't hear He speaks at him He initiates it Samuel didn't just rise up Because there was corruption in Israel And they needed a new prophet And God, I volunteer God came on the scene Preceded even Samuel's time Hannah, his mother God kept her barren Because God was going to do something Very tremendous So he kept her barren God does that Those chosen women in the Old Testament Very often were barren, helpless Cried out for sons, daughters Just because it was inherent within them I guess But God would keep them barren If he had something special in life So Sarah was barren Rebecca was barren Rachel was barren First season And it was a reproach to them many times Hannah was barren And she became a reproach But she kept crying unto God God kept her barren To keep her crying unto him God keeps you and I in a barren condition Many, many times Generally he'll do it for those who really love him He'll keep them barren and unfruitful Because he loves them Because he loves them Because he wants to be glorified in giving Causing the barren to bear seven Is Hannah praying May be fruitful But she must know the time of desolation And reproach Before she's humble enough Meet enough In the sight of God To be the chosen vessel God wants her to be Rachel cried out Get me children or I'll die Gently God gave her a son Then she said Call him Joseph Means he will add A minister friend visiting us He put it very bluntly He was saying I want another one I love this Joseph Give me another one Joseph, he will add God give her another one Gently So you see Rejoice thou barren that bears not Rejoice The prophet said For the children of the desolate Shall be more Than the children of the married wife shall be more And so it's the day for the barren It's the day for the poor and the helpless For those who have nothing, are nothing The day when God's going to come on the scene In great glory and majesty And give to those in the church Who love him but don't feel they are Effectual In the work of the Lord They don't feel they have anything To really present to God's people It's the day Because Paul says God is going to give He didn't say is going to He says he hath done it I know he hath done it But time is here when He will do it again I like those passages I've glorified your name I'll do it again God said I'm going to do it again And he'll keep doing it again Until he has That fruit that he has in mind He'll keep doing it again and again Until he has brought forth that Which delights his own heart Not enough that he'd get in the New Testament church He had to do it again Through church history We're always going back in church history To read about the wonderful things He did back there And that's good I like reading about that But keep this in mind If it's in church history And there's something in the past That we don't have now God's going to do it again And when he does it again It's going to be still greater Because the glory of this latter host Shall be greater than of the former God said He's the best one till the last He'll be glorified in the end times Far more than he was in the beginning He's both He says I'm the beginning I'm the end Jesus, I'm the end He's the one who is going to occupy What's the end times truth all about? It's about the Lord Jesus And his revelation in the end times End times truth Is nothing more than the Lord Jesus Christ Coming on the scene in the end times And magnify his great name in the earth The beginning was wonderful The end is going to be the consummation Isn't the harvest better than the time of sowing? You can't have the harvest Without the time of sowing But isn't it better? Isn't that what the husbandman was waiting for? The precious fruit of the earth? And had long patience for it? Ever seen the early and the latter rain? Oh, send the rain Lord Send the rain and beautiful chorus God must send it Because he's the gardener And he's looking for the fruit He's waiting for the precious fruit of the earth We like the feel of the rain And that's good We need that rain We only need it Because God needs fruit in the end Fruit from his people That the nations of the earth were vanishing For truth and righteousness Might come and partake of his people So Paul says you're one body but you're one bread You can have a people of whom the nations might partake of People who become that living bread In a vanishing world I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion With a great jealousy God is saying I'm jealous over Jerusalem Jealous over my people Paul said writing to the Corinthians I'm jealous over you Corinthians With a godly jealousy So I've espoused you to As a chaste virgin unto her husband That I might present you As a chaste virgin unto Christ He says I've espoused you I so ministered Christ among you That you might become a chaste virgin unto Christ I've heard of the phrase The husband ministry Apostles, prophets, evangelists Pastors, teachers It's wrong It's the wrong terminology Not a husband ministry It's a servant ministry And when this servant went To find a bride for Isaac He had to be a trusted servant One of his older servants One who he trusted He must have trafficked him to Manasseh Go down there and pick out a bride for Isaac And bring her back for Isaac And he was jealous Over his master's desire And to make sure that he'd get the right one For his master Isaac He had a godly jealousy And I believe the true ministry In this last hour That God's going to raise up a true ministry That's going to be Jealous for God's people Not becoming the husband of the church Or that he's got a bride That'll do anything he says But present that bride Chase pure bodies Unto the Lord Jesus Christ Because that's the purpose of ministry Not to be a husband ministry A servant ministry A do-love ministry Eunuchs as it were In the house of God That this virgin might come forth Pure and holy Worthy of Jesus Church doesn't think highly of that I mean, I'm saved, ain't I? I talk in tongues I'm ready to go When Rebecca went there When Isaac went there To pick out this bride He prayed earnestly That God would send the right one And he bought garments for her He bought gifts for her Gave her the garments that she would need For the journey home even And God has bridal garments for his people There's a cleansing that he must Bring upon his people To make us to be that virgin bride That's suitable, that's compatible With the Lord Jesus Christ Somehow I'm saved, it doesn't matter It matters as far as God's concerned It matters as far as Jesus is concerned That he has a bride that's Spotless Pure Holy Undefiled Oh, I know I'm that way I know we're not that way But redemption That's what redemption's all about To make us that way To cleanse us of so clean, so pure In the sight of God That God looks down and he says You've never sinned, you're pure You're holy You're clean I think of this story I read I don't know if I told it here I think I told it to one or two at least In this meeting some years ago They were having a The spirit was flowing freely And there were many prophets And they were praying over people Who had come forward for prayer And this woman was coming forward And she was broken and weeping And this prophet prayed Lord, what is it? And the Lord said She's grieving over her sins That she's committed And confessed She's grieving over them So when she came up to him He said you've been grieving over sins That you've committed And the Lord has cleansed and washed you And asked the Lord what those sins were And he says I don't remember It's part of the new covenant You have to remember things like that God says you've sinned here And think of this I remember no more of it God said you can do that We're human so we can't help but remember Oh the glory of the new covenant That we are unclean, defiled By redemption, grace, and mercy By the shedding of His blood And the application of it to our hearts God's intention in the full application Of the blood of Christ to our hearts and minds To be so clean That we'll be virgin in His sight Never having sinned You creatures Holy, spotless, without blemish In His sight Oh you say we'll get to heaven No before then By the washing of water By the word By the washing of the water By the word God's going to do that God give us that holy zeal That holy jealousy For God's peace to all Have you gone to stay up here Lest as the serpent beguiled Eve in its subtlety So your mind should be corrupted From the simplicity of the sword Christ He said that because he knew It would happen At least the enemy would make an attempt To beguile God's people To get them off Going off in another direction To get them listening to the voice of the deceiver Very prevalent today I believe That God's jealous over His people God's going to raise up Two menaces He's so jealous over His people That He surely is Servant Kept to the covenant with His master And did everything that His master Told Him to do By way of Giving this bright variety God's servants will Do the same They'll have a holy jealousy To see that individual That weak one Or that strong one Whatever their faults might be To see them so cleansed and purified Of the Lord That He will be able to say to them You're not mine You're not my people You're not my sheep You're His Not a husband ministry to them It's a servant ministry A do-lot ministry To present them holy unto Jesus Christ That the ministry is for Not to make great the ministry But that the ministry might decrease That it might increase Jealous over Jerusalem And for Zion with a great jealousy He's giving all these words to these people Who were discouraged because They couldn't seem to get this temple built They were working on the building God was working on the priesthood Joshua was the name of the priest Of this new temple And Zechariah showed Zechariah invaded This man Joshua the priest Who according to the ritual Outlined in the book of Exodus Must be clothed upon with holy garments Have a holy mitre upon his head Beautiful white robe He had the breastplate In which was held Urim and Summon They had lost that somehow It was no longer functioning We don't read about Urim and Summon Anywhere in this chapter Or in the other prophets That have spoken after Samuel I don't think we read of Urim and Summon And it bothered them That they didn't have all the instruments That they had in the first temple Not realizing That instead of having Urim and Summon In the pocket of the priest That somehow gave forth a clear word And clear direction God was beginning to put that Urim and Summon In his prophets So that that Urim and Summon Was there in the heart of Samuel Not that he knew everything But he knew everything God wanted him to know About any situation He was able to give clear direction And clear guidance to the people of God Is God going to restore that Urim and Summon? I know we've got prophets Some genuine prophets And I'm not denying that But I believe we're yet to see Such a purification of the prophetic ministry All ministries There's literally a prophetic people In the church A prophetic people In other words, the Lord Jesus Is so present in their midst That in a sense they're all prophets Because the spirit of prophecy is there And John saw that in the book of Revelation Or the angel said to him But the testimony of Jesus Is the spirit of prophecy The witness of Jesus That clear witness of Jesus Must yet come into the midst of God's people Which is the spirit of prophecy Which is higher than just having a prophet here and there To have that order in God's people Where they're so in tune with God And so illuminated with his light That that witness, that testimony of Jesus Is there in the congregation Which is the spirit of prophecy And so Joshua would have had All these beautiful garments on him As he prepared himself to minister in the temple But that's not the way Zechariah saw him He saw Joshua the high priest Standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan Standing in his right hand to resist him Perhaps Joshua didn't know But he'd feel those accusations I didn't feel worthy to be God's priest I feel unclean I don't feel clean enough To minister in God's house No doubt he had Many of those accusations that we have From time to time Not realizing that he was feeling that Because Satan was standing there to accuse him He was called the accuser of the brethren And the Lord said unto Satan The Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem Rebuketh thee Is not this a bran plucked out of the fire? The Lord rebuketh you This is a bran plucked out of the fire I know It should have been burnt It was just a burning bran I plucked them out The Lord rebuketh you We have a high priest on the throne And he's plucked us out He's justified us And if God justified us by giving us son Paul says Shall he not with him Freely give us all things Everything we need He gave us son to die for us That was the big That was the great thing that he did The lesser thing is to give us Everything else we need To bring us into God's intentions That was simple I mean the hard thing was for Jesus To deliver the cross from dying God did that Will he not with him Freely give us all things Everything else is simple That was the hard part We think it's very hard for God To bring forth the beauty of the Lord In his people Leave me out I know Because we feel like Joshua We hear those words of condemnation Rather than those words That follow upon our justification God has raised us up with him Made us to sit with him In high places in Christ Jesus God has raised us up Prepared us, created us Ordained us that we should be To the praise of his glory When you first saw him in Christ You're dead and your life is hid With Christ being God You're not your own You were bought with a price God wants you to hear those words Satan brings in the accusations We know all about that Any of you who have Gone on with the Lord And struggled to come into A higher place in God You hear these words of condemnation Others who don't care Well, I'm saved I believe in the Lord Perhaps they don't go through that But those who truly desire To go with God all the way They'll feel those condemning thoughts Those accusations that come Let us see our high priest saying The Lord's rebuked you Says the brand looked out of the fire I know he said it had burned I plucked him out And he answered and spake unto those That stood before him saying Take away the filthy garments from me This is new covenant This is new covenant truth It's not Joshua You're unclean Tear off those filthy garments I'll help you Tear them off I got some new garments for you Tear off those old garments Joshua New covenant I will write my laws in their hearts I will be as God They shall be my people Take away those filthy garments from him And on the end he said Behold, I have caused a dying iniquity To pass from thee And I will clothe thee with chains of raiment God said I will clothe you with chains of raiment I know he wants our cooperation Put on, said Paul, bowls of mercies And kindness and gentleness Put it on Take off the old, put on the new I know But it's a new covenant word And a new covenant word is creative God brings it to that place A new covenant word will come forth God's people is creative power God said that way back there in the beginning After the Spirit of God had moved upon the face of the waters For how many eons we don't know In the midst of darkness God said, let there be light And there was light I can come into this dark room And quote that scripture Why did it happen? Because creative power went along with that word God intends that this creative living word will go forth In the midst of his people who are assembled under him Where corporately they become the witness of Jesus The testimony of Jesus And the spirit of prophecy is there In that spirit emanating from God's people Whether it be in word or in deed There is a creative light that comes forth to his people Take away those filthy garments Clothe them with change of raiment And I said, let them set up their miter upon his head He probably had that miter that was ordained For the priest On which was written holiness to the Lord But Zechariah was seeing him as he really was He didn't have that holy miter of God Set a fair miter upon his head We have the mind of Christ, Paul says That's God's gift to us That's God's working within us His gift, yes, but it's the working within us As we present ourselves unto him Then the priest must be the work When they brought that offering to the priest They surrendered it to the priest Co-operated with the priest in it all That bandage was in the priest's hand And he would take all those members And put them together there in the fire On the altar of burnt offering And so our altar of burnt offering Is something like that Where God says, present yourselves unto him Present your bodies unto him A living sacrifice Holy and acceptable in his sight Which is your reasonable service And be not conformed to this world Be transformed I know, I try to do that But it's because we don't hear that creative voice I believe that time is coming When one will stand under the anointing of God's Spirit And say, be transformed by the renewing of your mind And there'll be a living word that will cause to happen What God says For in the New Covenant, what God says, it happens When God the Creator is speaking it And he wants us to be in such union with him That we'll be speaking out from the heart of God And then it happens That to be light, God said it And so it happens The same God is the God of the New Covenant Paul says, the God who commanded The light to shine out of darkness Shone in our hearts The same God who commanded that light back there Is the God who has shone in our hearts The light of the knowledge of the throne of God In the face of Jesus Christ God hastens the day when we will be so Committed unto him in the altar burnt offering That we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds Knowing what is that good and well-pleasing And perfect will of God For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you And so we cry unto God Because God puts a cry in the hearts of his people To cry unto him and give him no rest Till he makes things happen So intercession is a great ministry Some have it as a ministry God lays that burden And they can't help but cry unto God Do these things Lord The prophets are straying, do it Lord Isn't it enough that they say it? Well it's all something that God works together In the body of Christ And that body becomes truly the testimony of Jesus The spirit of prophecy Will be there in their message To not only declare God's word But to write that word upon the hearts and minds of his people Set a fair mitre upon his hand How we need that holy mitre Our minds get so confused, so cluttered up So divided Thoughts divided We don't know many times what the will of the Lord is That holy mitre I'm sure it will come upon God's people Assurance This is the way I must go This is the way I must take Because That's the witness I have in my heart And in my mind The confusion will be gone God's going to take away the confusion Of voices and the confusion of thoughts The confusion of all these agendas in the church For fulfilling the purpose of God He has the people so given over to him That they become the spirit of prophecy In the church To declare God's intention and see it come to pass As a shining light, as a burning lamp And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua Saying, let's say of the Lord of hosts That thou wilt walk in my ways Thou wilt keep my charge And thou shalt also judge my house Judge doesn't mean condemn, really It could bring that Judgment in the scripture is minister justice Minister righteousness You will judge my house with truth and righteousness And thou wilt also keep my courts And I will give thee places to walk Among these that stand by Hear now, O Joshua, that I preach Thou and thy fellows that sit before thee The dear men wonder at For behold, I will bring forth my servant The branch A whole new subject there about the branch The branch that the Lord will raise up Out of the sprout of David Our Lord Jesus Christ But our Lord Jesus Christ Who has many branches Yet one vine And we as members of that vine As branches in that vine Are vitally one with him Totally incapable of doing anything Except as we are in union with this vine Beautiful truth Simple, very simple I'm the vine, you're the branch Abide in me and I in you As the branch cannot bring forth fruit Except as abide in the vine, no more can you Abide in me and I in you So shall you bring forth much fruit It goes on to say If you ask anything in my name, I will do it So we grasp that And we're going to work on that Because there's so many things in me Read what precedes it God help us to abide in you Bring us so disciplined As the Lord by your spirit By your truth, by your words By your guidance upon our lives We come to that place, Lord That we hear your voice Above every other voice In the midst of the confusion That abounds, Lord We hear that clear word of the Lord Samuel, Samuel Give us that grace, Lord Not just to repeat the words But from our hearts to say Speak, Lord For thy servant here Bless your people, Lord This morning, open their hearts Minds, souls Cause them to lay it all down, Lord All on the altar there You might smell that Deep smelling savor of our sacrifice And that we might have new assurance I've done that which is pleasing in this time We ask in Jesus' name Amen