In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of gathering together under God and making Him the Lord of our gatherings. He encourages the listeners to expect to hear words from the Spirit of the Lord that will convict their hearts, rather than just seeking a social gathering. The speaker also highlights the unity of the family of God, both those who have passed away and those still on earth, and urges them to comprehend the message he is sharing. He emphasizes the need to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters, showing compassion and love, rather than relying on external systems like welfare. The speaker concludes by urging the listeners to nurture the measure of love God has given them and draw the Spirit closer to them.

In the past number of months, I thought it was a word that a sister spoke in a casual conversation. I don't think she was even aware of what she was saying, but it just entered into my heart in a way that I cherish. It's just been on my heart to just desire God to bring us to the place where our religious self-consciousness is something that doesn't hinder our fellowship one with another. Scripture says that when Moses came down from the mount, he says that he wished not that the skin of his face shone. He wasn't really aware. He didn't have a self-consciousness of his trying to witness, if you know what I'm saying. But that sister, we were just sitting around the table and sharing together, and I don't think she really was trying to say anything to me, and I'm not going to say who it was or what it was, because it was something exceedingly precious to me, and I've hidden it in my heart, thanking the Lord for reminding me of that. And at times, we get a misconception of just what it really means to walk in fellowship with the Lord or to feel vital in the body of Christ. And because I don't have an active part in ministry or something like that, well, I'm in the body of Christ, but I'm not really very useful or very valuable. And I know this sister doesn't think herself to be very valuable. She has a very low opinion of herself, I think. And yet there we were, just speaking together, and she spoke a word that penetrated my heart more deeply than anything has in the past number of months. And so let's all be aware that, you know, I have a little clipping at home on my bulletin board that says something like this. It's our unconscious Christian witness that makes the biggest impact on other people. It's not the witness that you witness that you're conscious of trying to witness to this person or whatever. But it's that spiritual radiation in your life that other people, that you're not really aware of, that people are seeing. Like they say of Moses, he whisked not, but the skin of his face shone. And Frank Bidelman, in his book on the Azusa Street Revival, before that revival came forth, he said he had such a burden in his heart that God would deliver him from his religious self-consciousness. And I know that is a deep work of the Spirit. It's a very tremendous work when God can succeed in accomplishing that in our lives, so that we're not self-conscious of our religious walk, but delivered from that sense of our own awareness of ourselves and just seek to be conscious of the glory of God and the needs of His people. So pray the Lord to cause us more and more to abide in His house. To seek one thing of our desire to the Lord, that will I seek after, just to dwell in His presence. And if we do that, it won't be a matter of somehow trying to have something or trying to bring something forth, but it'll just be a spontaneous flow of our relationship with Him. I'll just place this on my heart. I think that we all have a longing within our heart to walk with God and to see Him come forth in our midst. And the need is very apparent. And we know that we still have a great sense of anticipation, and we know that there is some hope. There is some space to walk yet, until Christ be fully formed within us. And I just would exhort you and we should exhort one another to not... There's such a tendency in this hour to want to just throw in the towel, in the final leg of the race, to waver and to perhaps settle for some lesser thing, to settle for something where people seem to have evidence, and we have little evidence, but it's a tremendous thing to just keep your hand to the plow and to remain faithful and to not settle for anything but God's fullness. I just want to read something from Hebrews that bears us out, and it just says, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And there's such a tendency to waver, but God help us by His Spirit not to waver. This thing of steadfastness is one of the most important things, one of the most important qualities that God needs to and is working in our hearts. Then it says, Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. And we need to stimulate one another and uphold one another, and truly receive God's burden, His burden for one another. Then it says, Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. Don't throw it away. Don't throw in the towel. Don't grow weary in the last leg of the race, for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. So it would seem, and in our experience, I'm sure we can relate, that when we have done the will of God and done all that we know to do, to cry unto Him as only these bodies can cry unto Him, when we have done everything that we know to do, then there seems to be a time, perhaps a little lapse of time, before the promise is received. But it is in a time like that that we need to be patient, we need to uphold one another and not grow weary. For yet a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. So God help us to have this in our hearts. It's just when we consider it, there is nothing to go back to, there is nothing. In Timothy it talks about a soldier who doesn't entangle himself with the affairs of life, and it talks about an athlete who runs for the prize and all that it requires. And it says here, For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it eternal glory. So God help us to endure what he has given us to endure, for the sake of those that he has yet to show this eternal salvation. God help us to uphold those round about us that God puts in our way. And even in this day, when we do not have an apparent life to give, God help us to come to that place of death, and not to cling to our own life, but to come to that place of death and gladly just submit unto death, that the day may come when the life of Christ is truly formed within us, that we have a life to give. I think of a situation in my work, where I'm working with troubled people, and this 14-year-old boy that just had no hope, and he had to attempt to try to kill himself, and God laid such a burden on me for this boy, and God broke me in his presence, and I could just weep and sob, and this boy tried to comfort me. But I just said to him, well, it's my desire that you have Christ so in your life that you will desire life. But even in the midst of that grieving that God placed upon me for this individual, God is showing us that we need to come to that place of death. We need to die so that that boy can live. We need to die, and we need to be encouraged not to cling to our life. We do that. These last little vestiges of our own self-life, we just hang on to them so tightly, and God gives us the grace to let go, so that he can truly come forth in all his fullness. It is a trustworthy statement. If we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. So we are himself. That's what his people are, himself. He cannot deny us. And God just gives us the grace to guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you. Guard through the Holy Spirit. God help us to guard. It's a thing that needs to be guarded, because there are so many things that would come in and just rob us, because the hour is so crucial, and God is going to break forth within us shortly, yet a little while. So faint not. Don't settle for anything less. Don't run to where there seems to be some evidence of some life, but run to Christ, and he will bring forth that life within us, and he is faithful. Very much of Bill's heart, and I believe all of our hearts here, how we long to see that sovereign move of God in his people. The Lord just reminded me of the scripture where Jesus cried over Jerusalem. He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. That was a word to Jerusalem and Israel of old. How much more has the Lord wrought in our hearts to be faithful unto him, and how the cry of his heart is to gather his people unto himself, is to pour out of his fullness in his people. And I was so blessed, as was ministered yesterday, when the two disciples came to that wide road, and they chose that Jesus may to go on in this direction. And the disciples constrained him, but they had a knowledge of the hour in which it was. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. We recognize that the day is far spent. We say, Lord, where is thy move? But the Lord has spoken to us very clearly and concisely this weekend, that he desires to draw more out of us. He wants us to have that longing. He wants us to cry after him, as Bella shared. Hold fast to that faith. And I just remember in Proverbs, My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou impline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart unto understanding, yea, if thou cryest after knowledge, if thou liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth, cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth their ways. And then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path. He longs. His heart is so much more ready to pour out upon us these things, if we will cry unto him. We thank the Lord for the wonderful ministry, for the wonderful words that he has given us this weekend. And I believe he would have us to go home to our different places after these gatherings, and cry unto him, and to seek unto him, and cry for wisdom, so he can pour out a greater measure of his love being upon us. The passage from Ephesians chapter 4, a passage I've memorized, and quoted, and ministered from it many, many times. And yet every time I've ministered on it, I've realized I hardly scratched the surface and I know I'll be the same this morning. There's such a depth, such a depth in the truth of this passage here. And like I've mentioned so often, when the Apostle Paul was writing to the Ephesians, he was writing of such depth, of such fullness, of such heights, of such expanses, that he knew it wasn't within the ability of man to hear or to receive what he was saying. Then why would he say it? Well, he says it because you and I who have the Spirit have the capacity to hear words which are inaudible, to see things which are invisible, to comprehend things which are beyond all comprehension. We have the capacity if we have the Spirit. I say the capacity, that that capacity must become enlarged and enlarged by the Spirit of God in order that we might be able to embrace the heights and the depths of the infinite expanses of God's truth and of his love and glory. And so when Paul would declare something, then he'd stop and pray. Chapter 1, that God might give them the spirit of wisdom and the revelation and the knowledge of him, the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, that they might know. He must stop and pray that God would give them that. True, they had the Spirit, but he still prayed that they would have the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We're inclined to put such a sense of finality upon experiences we have. I've got the Spirit. I remember when I was baptized with the Holy Spirit. And so did the Ephesians, for it was Paul himself who came to Ephesus and found a few disciples and laid his hands upon them and prayed that they would receive the Holy Spirit. That was many years before he wrote this. But here he's praying to God that they might have the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. You can't put a sense of finality on experiences we've had. Yes, I know God, but still I must come to know him. And the more you come to know him, the less you feel you do know him. And that's inclined to cause you to enter into a certain sense of frustration and you say, I don't know him as much now as I did ten years ago. And it's only because your capacity has become enlarged and your concept of God has become enlarged. Whereas ten years ago you thought you knew him, now you scarcely know him at all because he has become much greater, much vaster in your comprehension, in your understanding. And so once again, in Ephesians 3, he says, Wherefore, for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I've got to pray about this. I've got to pray that God will grant you something. And he's declaring something, but he says, we can't receive it. It's beyond our ability to comprehend. And I say, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. God is a family, the whole family. There's a family of God. Part of it's in earth and part of it's in heaven. And we're the whole family of God. And on the earth, that one family might be considered as many families. But together in the purpose of God we're one vast family, whether it be those who have gone on or those who are still on earth. And he says, I bow my knees unto the Father because he's speaking to Father's children. He wants the children of the Father to comprehend what he has to say, that he would grant you, that God would grant you. It's not something you can just take it and, well, I got it. I memorized it and I got it in tape. And I'm glad I got these tapes because I forget some things. So I'm glad I got it in tape. Well, it's all right that you have it in tape so that you can play it over. But you could play it over a million times. And apart from the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, you wouldn't hear, you wouldn't see, you wouldn't understand what God is saying. So don't put as much emphasis on the tape or on the book or on the writing, but put the emphasis on that ability, that divine ability from God to be able to hear, to be able to comprehend, to be able to see with the ears of the Spirit and with the eyes of the Spirit. And so Jesus said, as Brian mentioned yesterday, not take heed what you hear, but take heed how you hear. Because unless we have the capacity from God to hear as God would have us to hear, to hear in the Spirit, to understand what he is trying to say, we're not going to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. Paul says, Though the outward man perish, yet the inner man is renewed day by day. And God is working on the inner man. God wants to bring forth that man from within, that new man, that new creation man. God wants us to begin to walk in new creation life. And we hear some of the precious things in God's Word and we stumble at it, we get frustrated at it, we turn away in frustration because we say, I can't because we're thinking in the realm of that old creation mind. But Paul tells us, as I quoted last night, that there's only one thing that is of any avail and that's new creation life. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, there's only one rule by which we can walk and that's new creation life. And so we constantly are condemning ourselves or condemning others because we see the old creation life and we recognize it's there. But God doesn't want us to dwell on those things. He wants us to put on the mind of Christ. He wants us to put on the whole armor of God, the helmet of salvation, that with the helmet of salvation we'll think with a new mind, we'll have attitudes that spring from a new heart and a new mind. And we recognize the old is there, but as we put on the new creation life and walk according to new creation life, we'll begin to enter into that glory of the new creation life. And as many as walk according to this rule, there's a new rule for you and I to walk. And the new rule is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. God condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. And so the secret is there, and it's very simple, a people who will walk after the spirit. You say, I know it's simple, but why don't we enter into it if it's simple? Because the old creation man, the old creation law, the old creation rules are constantly there seeking to thwart us from entering into new creation life. And so we must begin to think new creation life. We must dwell on that. Paul says, whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. I know it's not something that we can grasp and live hold of with a natural mind, but I believe that's why there's a ministration of the spirit that God has raised up, a ministration of the spirit that he's raising up in this day and hour. And that he's going to anoint more and more that when they stand and minister, they'll minister words by the spirit. And the ministration of the words of the spirit of God will bring them to being that which the word declares. So it's not really difficult. It's just that we haven't given the spirit of God his right of way in our lives or in our assemblies. It's simple enough, but we hear the wrong voices. We're tuned into the wrong things. We're tuned into the programs of men. We're listening to high intellectual preachers. We're listening to those who've got it all laid out there with their study of the scriptures greatly diluted with human philosophies and human psychologies, diluted and perverted and polluted with all these things. And God is going to cleanse His ministry. He's going to cleanse His church that out from the midst of the body of Christ there will go forth that pure, clear, infallible word from the mouth of God. He's going to do it not because those ministries or anything, but because the Lord is jealous for His people and because He rises up in this day and hour jealous for the people of God that He might present unto Himself this glorious church. And to present this glorious church unto Himself there must go forth that pure, clear word from the mouth of God, a creative word that whenever it goes forth it will bring into being in the hearts of God's people that which God desires. And so it's very simple. As simple as when God said let there be light and there was light. It's just that simple. Because God spoke it came into being. It's as simple as that. The problem is finding the vessel through whom God can speak. The problem is God finding that pure heart that in that pure heart He might mould the very heart of God. And I say it's a problem and I know it's a problem but God has dealt with it. He crucified the mind at the cross where a crown of thorns was laid upon His brow. He crucified the works of man on the cross because the hands of the Son of Man were known to the cross. He crucified the wayward works of man because on the cross there was a man whose feet were pierced. He crucified the corruptible heart of man the wayward heart of man because a soldier took a sword and thrust it into his heart. So He crucified the carnal flesh at the cross God condemns sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. God did the work at the cross and God does the work in your heart and mine when we give the Spirit of God His worship in our hearts and lives and in our assemblies when we gather together. But what God did at the cross is now in the Spirit for by the Eternal Spirit it was that Jesus offered Himself without blemish unto God. He offered Himself without blemish unto God by the Eternal Spirit so that the Spirit there at the cross of Christ was absorbing into His holy being all efficacy of the work of the cross and of the blood of Christ absorbing it into His own being and the man coming to abide in His temple that the efficacy of the blood and the work that God accomplished at the cross might be manifested in and throughout the body of Christ because of the presence of His Spirit because in the Spirit there is also the blood and the water the three precious witnesses that God has given us the blood and the water and the Spirit and the three in one so we want the word the cleansing of the word we believe in the blood of the cross the blood of our redemption when Jesus died on the cross we believe all that and it's all so hysterical but it is the Spirit that beareth the witness it's the Spirit that brings forth the truth concerning it it's the Spirit that brings forth the efficacy of it and because we give not the Spirit of God His Word we have known His Lordship and in this we don't partake of the efficacy of the blood and the working of the cross in our lives the day and hour when the Lord Jesus Christ is rising up in the midst of this church and He said too long have you used My Spirit too long have you prayed with My gifts too long have you been praying church My Spirit cometh forth in the congregations of the saints in this day and hour to exercise His Lordship in the body of Christ and that congregation that group of people that gathers together and refuses to give the Lordship of the Spirit His rightful place is going to have as has been witnessed over and over again that congregation of people that church is going to have Ichabod written over the doors the Lord Jesus Christ reigns supreme in the universe and He's been King of kings and Lord of lords these two thousand years He's not coming back to be King of kings He's that now and He's reigning from the throne to continue and to perfect the work that He has started in the body of Christ and to bring it to a glorious conclusion and now because we have come to the end time the Lord Jesus Christ the King of kings and the Lord of lords says My Spirit whom I have sent into the earth in My stead and in My place He has My word to declare to my church and I'm going to close every mouth that does not submit to the Lordship of the Spirit of God in the midst of His people We thank the Lord for every work that He is doing in the church every ministration that goes forth every manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit and we're witnessing in this day and hour a new wave of gifts of the Spirit we hear of places where much healing is taking place we thank the Lord for all that He's doing our brother said not to get our eyes away in any of these things that are happening and it is right we thank the Lord wherever He is working for whatever He is doing but until God's people come to the place where the utmost desire of their heart is the utmost desire of God's heart we're not going to come to that firmness that God desires in His people and God wants to bring His people unto a firmness unto a completion unto a consummation unto the finishing of the work which He had begun that's why the Lord Jesus Christ rises up and we see Him though in the book of Revelation declaring Himself to be not only the Alpha but the Omega He's not only the beginning He's the ending He's not only the one who begins He's the one who brings to a conclusion He's not only the one who is the seed that was planted into the ground and sprang up as the blade He's the one who comes forth in His people in the time of harvest as the full corn in the year if He's the Alpha He's the Omega if He's the beginning He's the end if He starts something He's going to finish it and He who has begun that good work in His people will complete it He'll bring it to a conclusion He's not going to cut His shirt along the way because His people refuse to go on He will bring forth the people that will go on if the people whom He has nourished and cherished and enriched with spiritual gifts and blessings and bestowed upon them all manner of spiritual blessing if they refuse to go on God says I'm not going to cut I'm not going to delay the work which I have begun on the earth I'm still going to bring it to a conclusion if you can't find those who will come to the wedding feast to come to that place of intimate union and relationship with me I'm not going to stop the wedding proceedings just because you're not ready for it you've got the invitation invitation goes forth to all of God's people everywhere lay aside all your doctrines all your programs all your ideas all your psychology all those things that you have mixed up with the pure gospel of Jesus Christ lay it all aside count it as refuge count it as dying lay it on your ash heap and win Christ but continue with those things and be left where you are and God says I'm still going to do what I've declared I'll go to the Indian people who have been rejected I'll go to the colored races that have been rejected I'll go to third world countries that have been rejected and through them I'll do the work that I've declared I'm going to do in the body of Christ and they will hear it because they're ready for it God's not going to delay the work which he has promised and which he has planned and when the religious world said I don't want it I don't want that far out stuff we're too busy we're working for God we've got too much to do to be involved with a lot of those so called in time truths I'm too busy the master was angry he says go out into the lanes and the byways find anybody you can anybody at all good or bad he emphasizes good or bad and bring them in that my house might be filled we're going to witness the coming in of the dejected the oppressed the downtrodden the harlots the prostitutes the scum of the earth they're going to come in and they're going to be glorious with the garments the wedding garments of Christ many religious people are going to be left aside we're not to be sidetracked or come short of the fullness because we see God doing something wonderful out there I know he's doing wonderful things and we thank him for that the most wonderful thing of all is the thing upon which we have set our eyes and that is coming unto the Christ and abiding in total union with him finding our habitation in God as God would find his habitation in us coming into perfect love coming into the fullness of the love of God everybody agrees with that and so they say why bother with all those so called deeper truths all we need is love I know that's all we need but we say a thing like that you know with a sort of a dropping voice we just need love as if love is some little thing you can just go and pick up and grab and use anytime you want love is God love is a mention you can't comprehend and that's what we need I know you've got a little cup of it just because you go down to the Pacific Ocean with your little cup and take a glass of water and you say I've got some of the ocean in my cup it might be true but you don't have the Pacific Ocean in your cup God wants us to come into the fullness of it because only in the fullness of it are we going to satisfy the heart of God and only in the fullness of it are we going to be that people in the earth who will be the expression of God to the earth so we begin in love and we grow in love and love is all that matters and love is all that counts but we want to grow into it until we come to the fullness of it you and I know very well that though we talk about love and sing choruses about love and in a big meeting where there's a lot of human activity a lot of human entertainment love is emphasized so much in the all the songs that come forth love is emphasized we know that but you know that love is lacking and love will continue to be lacking I don't care how much you talk about it it will continue to be absent from the body of Christ until the body of Christ goes God's way and comes to know God because God is love enough just to say forget all those doctrines unless just love forget the doctrines yes but you've got to come to know God if you're going to have love and Jesus said Jesus ministered here in the earth three, three and a half years to reveal the Father to his disciples that they may have love wasn't just something he come down and said your disciples just go and love one another goodbye ministered with them three, three and a half years in order that the love that was in him might be imparted to them and he says I've declared unto them thy name Father and I will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved in me may be in them and so it takes a declaration from the mouth of God it takes teaching it takes the unfolding of truths it takes the sending forth of truth by the Spirit of God into the hearts of his people it takes a revelation of the character of God and the will of God and the desire of God for his people and planted in their hearts it takes all that to produce that love in God's people you say forget all those things let's have love you've got to have that in order for the love of God to be revealed in his people Jesus said I've declared unto them thy name never once did he go and say my father's name is Jehovah he declared unto them the Father in what he was and what he said and what he did in all his works and in all his teachings he was doing nothing more nor less than unfolding the heart of God to his people and so it shall be in the Bible of Christ when that minister rises up in union with the Son of God because of the Spirit they too as they minister as they speak as they speak out from the heart of God they will be revealing and expressing the Son in the earth and the Church of Jesus Christ is ordained to be the fullness of the Son in the earth just as the Son is the fullness of the Father in the earth so as Jesus revealed the fullness of the Father by walking in union with the Father by speaking the words of the Father by doing the works of the Father by declaring nothing out from himself but declaring the truth of God out from the mouth of the Father so he revealed the name of the Father to his own and so he said I declare thy name unto my brethren I declare thy name that the love were with you had love never at God's right hand Peter says he's sent with this which you're seeing here because he's exalted as king you want him to come back to be king yes we all do but he's exalted as king now and the kingdom has been in the earth two thousand years the kingdom of God is two thousand years old I'm not speaking parable it's true the kingdom of God doesn't splash down on the earth from heaven it grows out of the earth when you read the parable Jesus couldn't declare it to the disciples to the multitude so he sent it forth in parables don't look about you and don't see some great thing happening out there the disciples say no there's the kingdom of God beginning to start doesn't come that way he says it comes from a grain that's planted in the earth and springs out of the earth first the blade and then the ear and after that the full corn in the ear we're talking about completion we're talking about the full corn that's coming but the kingdom's been growing these two thousand years next is the full corn but the kingdom's in the earth in the hearts of men and there's so many who are not interested in the full corn they call it far out teaching far out doctrine forget about this stuff of coming into the fullness of Christ the purpose for which Jesus died gotta happen because the son who died is now living as king of God's right hand he's looking for the day of harvest he's been waiting and waiting for the day of harvest blessing his heritage with rain and sunshine from heaven we receive the rain and the sunshine from heaven we say thank you Lord this is the last move come any time Lord this is the last move we've got the rain now it's the last move of God no the rain must dry up and it's the heat that brings forth the full corn in the ear it's the heat it's the dry weather that brings forth the full corn in the ear you feel so dry and withered and feel you're nothing it's because God is seeking to bring to nothing the loss of the old life that had been functioning within you that the new law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus might begin to form the full corn in the ear the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ himself reproduced not in a single corn of wheat but reproduced a hundred fold in the body of Christ love is all we need love is the divine ultimate and that full corn in the ear is the perfection of love in God's people but it only comes forth as this people hear from the heart of God as God's heart is made bigger to them as truth comes forth from the heart of God as divine nature flows forth from the heart of God as the word of the Father comes forth through the Son through the Spirit through this people I have declared unto thee thy name thy nature thy character thy majesty thy glory the beauty of your being I've made it known said Jesus because I've been here these three and a half years and I've been the expression of the Father I've declared unto thy name and then he says I will make it known because he was going to heaven and once again he would make it known as true as he made it known when he walked this earth he would make it known again from the exalted throne in the heavens because having been exalted at God's right hand he shed forth this said Peter which you now see and hear and in sending forth that which you now see and hear he raised up apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers and a body of Christ on the earth filled with the spirit and anointed in the spirit that they might be the expression now in the earth of the Son who is exalted we had a limited exhibition of it expression of it in the early church and it was glorious but it was the first fruits and Pentecost is a harvest of first fruits and now we come to the day of the fullness of the harvest and so God wants a people who will hear and know that the reason they are frustrated and the reason they are drying up and the reason they feel discouraged is because the old law is beginning to die and it dies hard and it wants to retain some of its authority but in the midst of it all we hear the rule of new creation life and as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them there is a new law in the earth it's the law of new creation life because of the law of new creation life we have seen the spreading of the seed we have seen the bleed we have seen the ear and now we are coming to the full corn in the ear the day of completion the day of harvest the day of fullness the reason for which Jesus died the reason for which Jesus the reason for which Jesus died the reason for the reason for which Jesus died the reason for which Jesus died the reason for which Jesus died the reason for which Jesus died the reason for which Jesus died the reason for which Jesus died the reason for When you boast that you've got love, you've just got a little cup. That little cup is sufficient if you give it to the Master. As long as you go tooting it around saying, I don't need any more because I've got a cup of it, you'll never come to know the vastness of the oceans of God's eternal love. We would have been grounded in love. Faith is the first principle of love. Faith that doesn't work in love is no good. Faith works in love. We're rooted in love. We were saved because of His divine love. But we mustn't stop at the little cup. But being rooted and grounded in love, God wants us to be able to comprehend, and it's greater than that, it's apprehend. It's not just talking about somehow being rooted and grounded in love, we might understand something, but that being rooted and grounded in love, we might be able to lay hold, apprehend with all sense. If I could have attained to this myself, just by seeking God earnestly and fasting and praying and reading the scriptures and studying and memorizing the Word, I would have done it because I'm sort of a hermit at heart. I'd just like to have found this by myself. And that's why I think God would not let me, has never allowed me to have a ministry, just for the sake of ministry's sake. If there isn't a people who are able to hear this kind of a message, I don't have anointing to go minister to them. Why haven't I been out ministering? You should be out ministering, George, you know. Heard that the last 40 years. The Church needs this Word, don't you know, George, the Church needs this Word? I know the Church needs this Word, but if they don't know they need it, I haven't got ability to give it. The Laodicean Church needs this Word, but they don't know they need it. God grant that this famine which is coming upon the land will steadily overtake the Church of Jesus Christ because I know that only the famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord is going to cause them to go down to Egypt to find a Joseph that has bread to sustain them in the time of famine. That's the way it is. The famine of the Word is coming and it's so close to us. People aren't able to discern the blood of God from the blood of devils. They're just not able to discern it. And something comes up and they say, that's the same as your teaching. Sounds something the same. I got a letter the other day. Did you have any connection with the New Age moment? They're talking about three festive occasions. Three annual festive occasions. I don't think you do, she says. You see, I don't hardly know anything about the New Age moment. What I've heard, I just know it's full of the philosophies and psychologies of men. Totally false. But if it's totally false, it's going to be so close to reality that people who don't have ears to hear and eyes to see, they're going to look and say, well, yeah, that sounds like what they're saying over there. Yeah, three feasts? Oh yeah, they've got three feasts over there. But you see, you're not going to stay true to God or be able to discern the true from the false by reading up on all the cults that exist and studying them. You see, try and discern what's... You know this is wrong, and so now I'll know what's right. But no, you've got to know what's right in order to know what's wrong. The bank manager said to his teller who came to him, new in the job, can you show me some $20 bills, some counterfeit ones, do you have any? I could study them a little. No, he says, we don't do that. Study the real ones. And then you'll be able to understand the false. Because the false has got the Queen's picture and the signatures of the Governor General or whatever and the dates and all the little markings. It's got all that. But it's totally false. Don't go to any of these false things and dig out a little because you say, well, yeah, I know this is right and this is right and this is right. It's totally false. If it doesn't proceed from the mouth of God, totally false. Satan's best masterpiece of a counterfeit is to bring forth something that will be just so much like the real that people who do not have discerning eyes and ears will fall into the trap. God wants a people who become so totally occupied with Christ and our gatherings unto him to be such that we're so totally occupied with him that if a false prophet comes in and stands up and ministers, we're not all upset about it. We just know that's the voice of the enemy. That's not the voice of the Good Shepherd. That being rooted and grounded in love, we might be able to comprehend, to apprehend, to lay hold upon with all saints. I couldn't do it as an individual, and you can't do it as an individual, and therefore many of us, not of our own choosing, find ourselves bound together and fellowshipping together and worshipping together, not really of our own choosing, but we come to a place where we realize we need these people who are walking in the light. We need these people who are walking in the light. We love the others who are not walking in the light, but we don't try to fellowship with them if they're not walking in the light. There's no fellowship. There's no purpose in it. We love them. We pray for them. We pray God to reveal himself to them in a greater way, but just to go down and say, you're all Christians, you know, and so we've got to love one another, and so you don't have fellowship. Though we might do that on occasion. We have no objection to going and sitting in where they're having their entertainment. Perhaps there's some people of God there that are really hungry for God, and we love them because of that. Why don't you come, you know, and have fellowship with us? We'd gladly go and have fellowship with you if you're walking in the light, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, but if you're not walking in the light, there's no fellowship. You might love Jesus, and you might sit there and sing the songs, and you might raise your hand and go through all the motions of worship and praise. You sit there in the congregation with the rest, looking at the back of somebody's neck, shake their hands, and go home and go away. You didn't have any fellowship. You heard some entertainment. I'm not categorizing everybody who had big churches as being in the realm of the false, but so much of it is pure entertainment. So much of it is just a pure social gathering. God wants the people who are gathered together under him make him to be lord in their gatherings and expect to hear words from the Spirit of the Lord, words that will not only tickle their ears, that should not tickle their ears, but words that will convict the heart, words that will lay bare the secrets of the heart, words that will be as a sharp two-edged sword that pierces and cuts asunder and divides souls from spirit and discerns the thoughts of the intents of the heart, so that an unbeliever coming in or someone who is not living right coming in will sense such a presence of God that as the apostle Paul says, if they stand and prophesy in your midst, an unbeliever coming in will fall down on his face and say, God's in your midst. But we're content if we have a dozen prophecies and no one falls on their face and says God's in their midst, and if a whole bunch of bullshit we had a good meeting because we had a dozen prophecies, two or three messages in tongues and a few interpretations, good that you had all that, but when you come to that place, when we in our fellowship comes to that place, when the Spirit is Lord, when there's a ministration of the Spirit in our midst, one stands with a prophetic audience that will crack and pierce and divide and sunder, and the secrets of the heart are made manifest and men will fall down and say God's in their midst, I'm unclean, I'm undone. But we don't want that in a nice church. So God's raising up the people who are prepared to let Him move in their midst and to bring forth devastation if need be. For we know that in the day of harvest there's going to be devastation. There's going to be the gavel out of the tares and they're going to be bound into bundles to burn. And not only that, but there's going to be devastation amongst the standing wheat. As God takes that good wheat, that standing wheat, and puts it through the threshing floor, puts it through the threshing machines, there's going to be devastation. And all that chaff is going to be ground to powder because God is after that grain, that ultimate, that grain, the full corn in the ear. That's what God is after. All else becomes chaff. As Brother pointed out one time, that which was chaff in the day of harvest was necessary in the day of the growing period. So while the grain was growing, there was the stock, the blades that went out, all very necessary. But in the day of harvest it was no longer necessary, and that's why God dries it up. I believe any minister of God who has come to a place of success, so to speak, by way of building churches and so forth, if he truly recognizes that this is the day of harvest and commits himself to God, and says, Lord, I know it's the day of harvest. I want you to bring forth fruit for your glory in this congregation. And that you and you alone is all that I want. And if he really meant it, and if the people of God really meant it in that assembly, we'd see the threshing wheels begin to turn, and we'd see a lot of devastation. And we'd rejoice in it when we saw it, because we'd know that God is after that grain. He's after that grain in his people, and that's all he wants. In the day of harvest that's all he wants. It's the ultimate, the completion of his purposes. And I can scarcely touch on this without reminding the people of God, that if they do not go on to the fullness of the desire of God's heart, and if they've known blessing, and if they've known growth, church growth, growth in numbers, if they've known the presence of the Spirit, if they've known gifts, if they've known prophecy and tongues and interpretations and healings and the working of the gifts of the Spirit in their midst, then do not come to this ultimate, that all that went before is but chaff. In the light of the harvest it has not accomplished the desire of God's heart. It has failed in the purpose for which God sent forth his blessing. But it's only with all things, you see, because every saint must contribute to this expression of Christ, and it's the expression of the Son that God would bring forth in the earth. Because when Jesus came it was the expression of the Father, and now that Jesus went away, God would bring forth the expression of the Son, because if the expression of the Son comes forth in the earth, the Father is brought forth also, because the Son is the expression of the Father, and the church expresses the Son, we express the Son and the Father. You don't get theological about one, two, three persons. No. The Son was the expression of God the Father. The church is the expression of the Son, and the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Jesus, and the Spirit of the Father is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of his Son, who comes down to inhabit this church to make the church to be the living expression of the Godhead in the earth, to make the church to be the expression of the Godhead in the earth, and I'll have to read it, that they might know the love of Christ which passeth not, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Talking about you and I becoming gods, talking about you and I as sons of God becoming nothing, saying nothing, doing nothing of our own, coming down to total devastation, unable to do anything in ourselves, but a people in such union with the Christ that through him we can do all things, all things that he desires, not anything we want. To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with or unto all fullness, which means completeness, filled unto the completeness of God. And that completeness of God is the full display of the oceans of his love, the length and the breadth and the height and the depth. To know the love of God which passeth knowledge that we might be filled unto all the fullness of God. I always liked reading John's epistles, but they always left me so helpless. Somehow Paul's, they seem to be more, you could make doctrines more out of Paul's writings. You could pigeonhole them. I don't say John's writings were deeper, but there was such a methodical way in which he presented that it's very easy to formulate doctrines, doctrines of redemption, doctrines of justification by faith, doctrines of sanctification. And not to say that doctrines do not have their place. There's such a thing as the doctrine of truth which is the living word of God, which we know is based on the scripture. We're not despising doctrine in the scriptural sense of the word. But Paul admonishes us to have healthful doctrines, healthful doctrines, doctrines that are living, vital, truth that proceeds from the throne of God. But John did not speak doctrinally so much. And he would declare things that would leave you sort of feeling helpless and hopeless. And then he'd say, what I'm writing in all is not grievous. You know. His commandments are not grievous. And they weren't grievous either to the new creation law. But you and I, in the old creation, we read it with the old creation mind. And we read John's epistles and they're so grievous. So grievous. Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. The love of God comes to a fullness if we keep his word. And I've memorized a lot of the scriptures. You know. I study them a lot. But then I read that the one that keeps his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. And I knew I knew very little about love, much less about the perfection of it. But just you keep his word, that's all. Until I began to realize that it's this word that comes from the Spirit that's formed in our hearts. Jesus says, I've declared unto them thy word. He did it. Three, three and a half years. And I will declare it. He's been doing it these two thousand years. He's dealing with greater emphasis these days. These days it's going to come forth that pure word, just as pure as the words that came forth from the lips of Jesus are going to come forth in this day. He says, I have declared it and I will do it again. With no indication whatever that when he does it again it'll be less pure than when he did it the first time. How could it be? Because it's the voice of the Son of God from heaven. The Spirit hears his voice from the time it leaves the lips of Jesus. Is the Spirit not the Spirit of truth? Is that word going to come forth to lead it then in the congregation of the saints? If the Spirit of God takes the words from the Son and speaks them to us, you know very well that that word will be just as pure as when the Lord Jesus comes out of it. And you know very well that the defilement comes when we realize that my lips are the lips through which the Spirit speaks. That's why we need that revelation of the Lord in our midst. We might see his glory. We're going to see his glory. And when we do we're going to say the undefiled, the unclean, and the man of unclean lips through my eyes have seen the Lord, the host, the King of glory. And there's true repentance and there's true repentance. There's a remedy for true repentance. God doesn't show you your defilement to crush you. The devastation shows you your defilement that you're in your repentance and you're in your acknowledgement of your defilement crying to him because he has burning coals of fire to touch your lips to make you clean. When God sends our baptism of fire into the congregation of the people and we see the glory of the Lord and we realize our utter defilement and helplessness and hopelessness before him let us in that day say, Lord, I'm unclean, I'm clean. And that crying to God causes the God, the Lord of hosts, the King of glory to send a messenger, to send a man who's on his throne with coals of fire to touch your unclean lips. But after that visitation and after that touch of the burning coal, when you stand distinct, it'll be as pure from the mouth that you have as it is from the mouth of Jesus because your lips have been touched with the coal from his altar. Not only that, but the people to whom this word goes, this pure word whose hearts have likewise cried out unto God for reality will have that word so imprinted upon their heart that they will know what it means when they say, The word of God abides in me and therefore I love because I've heard the words of the Son of God from heaven and because the words of the Son of God of heaven have taken have been able to take from the heart of God and distribute it to his people. We have been able to partake of the goodness and of the gentleness and of the humility and of the meekness and of the holiness of the Son of God. Not through any effort of ours, but because we find the key to walk according to the rule of new creation life. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain or abide in you, ye shall abide or continue in the Son and in the Father. And so again, I read John 15. So simple. Abide in me and I in you. If you abide in me and I in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done. So simple. And I say, Lord, I want you to do this and he doesn't do it. And I blame God and I quote the scripture. I stand upon God. You said it. You said it. You got to do it. And we try and twist God's arm. Jesus is talking about a people who have come into such union, into such an abiding relationship because the Word of God has been embraced within us and formed within us. That when we pray, when we speak, when we pray, we're praying from the heart of the Spirit. And anything that we ask God does it because it's not the prayer of my carnal mind. It's the prayer of the Spirit of God who has come to abide within. And we pray in the Holy Ghost. It's simple, I know. But just because it's simple it doesn't mean it's simple for the old law of the old creation. It's simple for the law of new creation life. And again I say when we begin to move into the reality of Romans chapter 8 we're going to discover it's just as simple, just as easy to walk in the Spirit as it was for us to walk in the flesh in the days of our bondage. Easier. Because is there not much more power in the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives than there is in the power of the old Adamic creation within us? Are you saying that the old Adam is more powerful than the new Adam? It's our heritage and God's bringing the people into their heritage. We'll learn to continue. We'll learn to abide in the Son and in the Father. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. I don't hate my brother but sometimes you find a brother where you can't say brother I really love you. If you did you'd know you were sort of talking deceptively. But if you don't love God calls it hate and I don't like that John. But you see he's talking about this love that's brought into our lives and into our beings as we embrace the word of God the word from the Spirit the word from Jesus the word from the Father the words that Jesus spoke when he was on earth the words that he's now speaking and throwing in the heavens the pure word of the Son of the Father given to us by the Spirit with such creative power that the word abides in us so that we love as we are loved not because somebody says please try and love one another you know God wants us to love one another brethren just forget everything forget differences forget tonality and sin overlook faults and just love one another the case of God so purging this temple and the word of God finding that abiding place in them when the Son and the Father abide in the midst of this people and in love as Jesus loved like we said last night we said this morning it begins in love it grows in love and it consolates in love but we mustn't stop along the way we must come to the fullness and along the way we can nurture this love and we can provide in our hearts a suitable habitat for the Spirit of God that he might come and abide you and I can learn to provide a habitat for the most high a tabernacle for the most high David said I will not give rest to my eyes until I find out a habitation for the God of Jacob and God is raising up watchmen upon the walls of Zion we will not give him rest and God won't give them rest until he has established until he has made Jerusalem a place in the earth so we can begin in our longing for him and our desire for him not for ourselves but in our desire for the body of Christ and for the Lord of the body we can begin to nurture that measure of love he has given us and he has given us a great measure of it nurture that in order that we might draw the Spirit to us more and more and so John comes off with these outstanding statements and he says hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren there's the fullness there's the testimony of the fullness of love we lay down our lives for the brethren and so we say Lord I lay down my life for my brethren and then John comes up with another profound statement following that whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brethren have need and setteth up his bowels of compassion from him I dwell with the love of God in him Lord I lay down my life for my brethren knock on the door you know well isn't there you know don't you have welfare man tapped me on the shoulder outside of a big church in Edmonton one time could I have fifty cents you know so I reached in my pocket to get fifty cents and the elder ran up we don't do that here George you know because you know they'll they'll overdo it they'll this is a you know this is a sanctuary we don't want all these bums coming he didn't say that but and I was just sort of a little surprised you know poor guy wanted fifty cents and you know he didn't want me to give him fifty cents because outside the doors of the church the word would get around and he'd tap on there in the door day and night but you see God wants you to come to perfect love and I really love that lay down my life for the brethren that's good too because that's a way off there in the future but who says this world's good you've got something that your brother doesn't have and you share it a little it's a manifestation of God's love and that will attract the Holy Spirit it'll draw him don't hesitate to prepare the atmosphere of your life prepare the atmosphere of your life and the life of your assembly it'll be an attraction for the Holy Spirit rather than trying to prepare our sanctuaries that they will attract the society of our day prepare the sanctuary of our hearts in love and mercy and truth and forgiveness and compassion that as we begin to manifest those things in the measure in which God has enabled us that we might attract him to us until as we continue in that we'll grow and grow and grow in this love until we're literally lost in the fullness of the oceans of his love God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world I don't know how you're going to make a doctrine out of that and I don't know how you're going to believe it except that the Spirit of God enables you to say that if you and I are totally committed to him and the word of his grace and the love of the Spirit of God and have his Lordship in our midst that we can be the expression of the Lord Jesus Christ in the earth as he was when he was here the expression of the Father may the Lord bless this word and God grant that as these people go their various ways to their various homes that this word Lord will not only be something they'll take away in a tape but something they'll hide in their heart and that you will fulfill the desire of your heart in them to make them to be the tabernacle of the Most High in union with all saints that this body of Christ which you have left in the earth to be the expression of the Son in the earth that the needs of humanity might be met might begin to grow and grow and grow and grow until it becomes a great mountain that fills all the earth bless every one Lord we pray be with them on their way encourage them in the ways of the Lord in times of difficulty in times of discouragement in times of devastation in times of seeming defeat cause them to know that if death is working in them it's because you want life to work in others in Jesus' name we pray Amen Lift it up We want to see the Lord and his eyes are like the fire See the Lord I see the Lord He is high and lifted up And his strength fills the temple He is high and lifted up And his strength fills the temple And the angels cry Holy The angels cry Holy The angels cry Holy My Holy is the Lord I see the Lord I see the Lord And his eyes are like the fire And his face like the lightning And his eyes like the fire And his face like the lightning And the angels cry Holy The angels cry Holy The angels cry Holy My Holy is the Lord