In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that there is something of God that will not let go of us. He speaks of God's love, mercy, and compassion, and how He sends His servants to bring healing. However, there comes a point when God must apply discipline and judgment. The preacher references the book of Ezekiel, where God warns the people of Israel that the end has come and He will judge them for their abominations. The sermon concludes with a call to know God intimately and to seek forgiveness and cleansing from bitterness.

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. We have been preaching for the last few years on the Covenant. The Covenant book will be out at the end of this month, the New Covenant Unveiled, and they'll be available here at this church at the end of the month, and you can study it. But you know, it's not just enough to have a promise. You've got to know the person who did the promising. A number of years ago, when I first started in Teen Challenge, I was in California at a church and in great financial need. And I just asked the congregation during my preaching if they would pray, or before I preached, if they would pray about it. And after the service, a man came up to me, highly recommended, and he handed me a card and his name on it, in big bold print, President of Ponderosa Lumber Company in Canada. And someone said, my, that's a very rich man. And he came up and at the service, he said, here's my card, brother Davies. I've been deeply moved. He said, God told me to give you four million dollars. You see, that's why you need to know more. I was so excited. I went home and told my board, and I mean, it was just wonderful, because I asked, you know, oh yeah, he's a very rich man, and this guy's got money, and it's as good as gold. Well, I, he said it'll be in the mail next week, you know. The week went by, there was no check. Two weeks went by, and after two months went by, I got very suspicious, because when I called his office, there was no answer. There was no secretary. There was nobody. And so I called a very, another wealthy friend of mine, who is president, his name was Mr. Stone, who owned the Stone Insurance Company, and he had given us the money that was used to build Team Challenge down in Brooklyn. I said, I don't want any money, but I said, I know you have a company that you own that does investigation. I want you to investigate a man who promised me four million dollars, and I didn't get it. I said, just find out who this man is. Two weeks later, I got a dossier, I've got a stack of paper, one of the biggest crooks in America. He was such a swindler that he could go into an airplane company and so convince them he was going to buy a fleet, they would fly, they flew him to India, they flew him all over on these private jets. He was smooth. He went to, he had a set of plans he had borrowed, and he went to a large air-conditioning company, and he said, I want you to furnish all the air-conditioning, and the company had taken two weeks off for vacation, shut the place down, and he signed the order for 2,000 air conditioners, and they called the company back and got the thing going, and they found out he was a crook, and how they got, how he did that, I don't know. But you see, I had his name, I had his word, I had his card written, I had his promise, but I didn't know anything about his character. I didn't know anything about his nature, and you see, you can have the covenant, you can have all the promises of God, and God was aware that we could call him a liar, because he says, the very fact that he had to say, I can't lie, I'm God, I will not lie, implies to me that he knew our hearts, that we could think he's a liar, and the very fact that he had to make an oath to tell us who he is. In reality, God only has one name. He explained that to us, he explained it to Moses, he says, I am, I am what I need to be at any particular time, that's who I am, I am your resource, I am everything you name, everything you ever want, I am, that's my name. Now people have called these various Hebrew names, the names of God, where as God has one name, what we're talking about are the Hebrew expressions of his nature. What he is like, who he is. Now, I want you to listen very, very closely on this, because it's very, very important. When my children relate to me, they don't relate to me by my name, they don't relate to me by name, my name whatsoever, they relate to me by their experiences they've had with me, and ever-increasing knowledge who I am over the years, because of the way I reacted in their pain, in their crises, and in their needs. You see, I'm their father, I have four children, eleven grandchildren, and I relate to them as a father, I'm a father, that's the definition of my role, I'm a father. Now, a father implies that he's going to take care of his children, he's going to do his best to have shelter and food, and take care of them when they're in need. Now, that's fine, that's my role, but I don't want to be recognized or related to with my children by my role, I want to go beyond that. I want them to know my heart, because I could fulfill my role as a father, put a roof over their head, give them food, and still my heart wouldn't be with them. I have to be related to with my children, my children relate to me, I would feel terrible if my children knew me like many of us seem to know God, and I went up to a stranger, somebody came to my children and said, Who is your father, and what's he like? And all they knew, all they could say was, my father's name is David Wilkerson, and he lives in Midtown on 50th Street, and he helps pastor a church in Times Square, and that's all they knew, and that's all they could explain about me. They might even say, well, he's a good father, but that's not saying anything about me, that's really not knowing me. I would hope that if I were good father, and had a true father's heart, when they say, What's your father like? I would hope they'd be able to say, well, he's a patient man, he's a loving guy, he's always been there when I needed him, he's there in my crisis, he's been patient with me, and he never dumped on me, I would like to, I'd like to hear some expression of my nature, and what I'm like. I never had to pronounce to my children, or announce to them what I was. I didn't wait till they got to be age of accountability, or even were three or four, and went into the bedroom and said, I'm your father, and I'm very kind, and I'm patient, and I'm long-suffering, and I'll tell you what I am, and I want you to know that. I didn't make that proclamation, they learned it by their experiences with me. It was an ever-increasing revelation of my heart, and folks, that's ongoing, my children are married, it's their grandchildren now, they have a whole new set of crises, and they're still learning who I am in these very complicated kinds. Oh, it was easy back then, now there are bills, and their grandkids, and their diseases, and their hurts, and their financial needs, and grandpa, or dad, is being known in a different way now. They never knew me that way before. They're learning, and I hope it's a good experience, and it will be that way as we go on. You see, it's the same way about knowing our Heavenly Father. From Adam all the way to the cross, there has been an ever-increasing revelation of God's heart, to His people, about who He is. Now, let me tell you something. It's not enough to be able to rattle off all of the Hebrew terms of Jehovah. Many of you, you've sung about it, you've talked about it, and you can run off El Elyon, and El Shaddai, El Olam, Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Rafi, Jehovah-Nisa, Jehovah-Saba'ah, Jehovah-Mak- Makka, I got to read them. But I know people that, I mean, I was in a meeting once when someone said, hey, we've got a teacher here that knows all the names of God. And she got up and just rattled that off, and she could even give you the explanation of what they mean. But you see, you can know all these names, you can write about it, you can teach about it, but you see, all of these revelations were not given by proclamation. They were given in crisis situations, where God revealed Himself in those crisis. The knowledge, the proclamation came after God acted in the crisis. He didn't say, this is what I am, I want you to go learn it. They learned it in the crisis, and after the crisis, let me explain that to you a little bit. We went over it last week from the pulpit here, how, how Abram learned the nature of God. He had his name, but he knew so little about his nature. He grew up in a heathen, heathen atmosphere. And the three names that we went over last week, let me quickly review them. Now, they were all revealed in a crisis situation. Remember when he had to go to war with the confederated armies that came against and invaded Sodom and Gomorrah and took Lot and all the spoils? That was a crisis, and after he came home, remember there were two kings that met him, the king of Salem, which is Melchizedek, and after Melchizedek, he was about to meet the king of Sodom. And folks, when we talked about the spoils that were about to be offered, we're not talking about a couple wagon loads. I told you it was the spoils of seven nations plus Sodom and Gomorrah and all their treasures of gold and silver and everything, and folks, this was going to make this man one of the wealthiest men. He was not wealthy at that time as we know him further in the scripture after many, many years. But this was going to suddenly, overnight, make him probably the wealthiest man outside of some of the major kings of the East. He's going to have to have that revelation. So in that crisis, that's when God revealed to him to Melchizedek, just before he went to see the king of Sodom, he introduced him to the discovery of the name of God, El Elyon, which means possessor of everything in heaven and earth, creator and possessor of everything in heaven and earth. You see what God did? He trivialized everything else. He trivialized everything that the king of Sodom was going to offer him. He made it so majestic, he gave him such a revelation who God was and all the glory that he owned the cattle and a thousand hills. He possessed everything and so that in this crisis he comes out. He can face this crisis. He can quickly turn down everything the devil offers because he has a revelation of who God is. His second revelation, remember, came when he's 86 or rather 99 years of age and this is a crisis of faith now. He has said it's absolutely impossible, too many obstacles. It's absolutely impossible. I'm 99. I'm dead. My wife is dead. There is no hope and he gave up hope. And in this crisis, and this is if people talk about the faith of Abraham, he really didn't come into the fullness of faith till he was 99 years of age. And here he is now and God sees this crisis of faith. And the Lord comes to him when he is he's arguing with the Lord or suggesting that Ishmael become his heir and the Lord speaks clearly. He says no and this was the word that came in the crisis. One out of your own loins shall be your heir. And in that crisis he was introduced to El Sida'i. El Sida'i. Hallelujah. And you know, of course we all know what that means, don't you? How many remember what El Sida'i means? Hmm? The God who removes obstacles. The God who removes obstacles. The revelation came in the crisis. God said I'm going to remove every obstacle now and a year from now your wife is going to conceive. The obstacle was removed and he had this great revelation came out of this crisis. And his final and grand revelation of a manifestation of who God is came 30 years later. He's 130 years age. Remember? Isaac is 30, 29 to 30 years of age. He's told to offer his son. He takes him to Mount Moriah. The knife is about to come down. The angel says stop. I know your heart now. And in that revelation, in that crisis time he had a revelation, a manifestation of the nature of God of Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah Jireh means God will see to it. God of provision will see that every provision is made. That's when he saw a ram. But it was only after the ram was sacrificed, after that crisis was endured, that's when the revelation came. God says from now on I'm going to provide for everything in your life just as I provided this lamb. He saw to it that Isaac was lifted out of the out of the grave, so to speak. He has seen to it that we have had a Savior who saved us from all of our sins. He saw to it and he's going to see to it that he provides everything you and I need till Jesus comes. He is, he is Jehovah Jireh. I will see to it. I will see to it that every provision you need to live an overcoming life, I will see to it that the Holy Ghost will come upon you and anoint you and keep you from the wicked one. I will see to it that you have everything in the Holy Ghost you need till the end of the world or till Jesus comes. Those were the revelations that came. Now we skip over now to Moses. The children of Israel on the victory side of the Red Sea. They've witnessed God's destruction of Pharaoh's army. They were singing and dancing. He has cast the enemy into the sea. All the soldiers were cast into the sea. They sing and dance and play their tambourines. A great time of ecstasy. They travel for three days from that point and that experience they travel three days about 40 miles. They're going southeast and they're although all the time they're going 40 miles only 12 miles from where they came from. They could right across the river. They could see Egypt. They come now to a place the Bible said where they found no water. They spot a body of water probably those spies who went ahead and announced there was water and they saw this great pool of water and I suppose when the cry went up water water and this was only three days that they had camped. They had water at that time and probably last them a day or so. It couldn't have been more than two days without water. But they're murmuring now. They're complaining about water and they are led to this place called Mara and probably the the strongest runners and the healthiest among them. I mean they just broke camp and they just ran ahead because they were selfish. Or perhaps a father for his children. For a wife that was pregnant going to get their water bottles full and run back with it. So I see the strongest and the healthiest running and some of them leaping into the water and everybody down face in the water taking big gulps and all of a sudden you hear them spewing out the water everywhere and a cry goes up bitter poison don't drink it and others who disbelieved it went ahead and tried it and learned their lesson. It was bitter. It was so bitter. It couldn't be swallowed. The Bible says the name of the place was Mara because the water was bitter and the people murmured against Moses saying what shall we drink? There was not a single voice raised. You've been hearing this all day about believing in God. There wasn't a single voice raised that has been recorded. It could have been that Joshua and Caleb and and the true believers were occupied in the movement of the temple or setting up camp. We don't know but those around the water there wasn't a single sound among them a voice raised in faith and confidence in God. They had seen all of these great miracles they just come from the opening of the Red Sea and the Bible said they murmured at the Red Sea even at the Red Sea as who can believe that anyone could doubt God after such a miracle and I'll tell you something else that I got to thinking about this past week. You want to know one of the great miracles? Was about the crossing the Red Sea You would think that any thinking Leader and any army captain and even soldiers you would think coming down over hillside and you see a two three hundred foot wall of water and you see dry ground. You'd think somebody's oh, wait a minute This is supernatural I'm not touching this You can go if you want. I don't care if any soldiers there. I don't care if he said well You'll be in rebellion and then they'll throw you in jail We get back to Egypt if I were there I don't think I'd want to go if I had any sense left and so the big miracle is that God took away their senses God took away It was judicial blindness who but blind senseless stupid people Would go into that now the children of Israel had been commanded and they knew their God, but these were heathen and Did they not see that wall around? held back by wind in the hand of God That's a miracle It can you imagine the people on the other side seeing them come and knowing what God said he's going to destroy the enemy and Finally those waters began to cave in and the Israelites are gone How in a world? They had to be blind what a miracle it was and yet in spite of all of this These people are murmuring and complaining and the point I'm trying to make is that you don't get to know God's heart through miracles You don't get to know who he is through signs and wonders that had the signs and wonders of Egypt and they forgot them They saw these miracles and we've got people running all over the world trying to see signs and miracles to get to know God You will not get to know God that way God comes to you in your crises He reveals who he is you get to know God when things are hard and Difficult and God comes and meets you and reveals himself to you in your trial Now, why did God lead these people directly into the waters of bitterness? You know, he could have spoken a word and cleansed those waters before they got there Look what he did to the Red Sea how he controlled those waters He could have spoken a word and those waters would have been healed you see God created a mirror and that Waters of merit nothing but a mirror Where they could look in and see a reflection of what was in their hearts God brought them there to deal with them He was about to build his wilderness church and he could not because there was a deadly disease Every almost everyone in that camp was infected and he would not take them in he had just purged It took him 400 years to deal with these people's cup of iniquity was being filled for 400 years and he not about to take his people in now diseased deadly disease that pool of bitter water mirrored the infection of their own part They were bitter in Their spirit and in their hearts. These were a bitter people. They were bitter even when they danced They were bitter when they praised they were bitter when they made promises. They were bitter even when they were circumcised There was a bitterness that had never been dealt with and the first place God takes him is to the pool of bitterness And he said I want you to take a look at your heart Bitterness is the world's deadliest disease I'm sure my own thinking is that God waited till the next day before he sweetened the waters And they gathered together with their clans and they gathered together in their tents and wondered why the favor of God was Was lifting from them. Why why suddenly there's no praise. There's no sense of worship There's no sense of the nearness of God. It seems like God has left and folks That's the result of bitterness wherever it's found in any generation If you've got bitterness in your heart, you're going to be you'll have that sense of the disfavor of God You will not truly be able to praise him In a manner that's acceptable to the Lord and this is exactly what's happening to this people You see folks. I I'm really not interested in this story just as history I'm not interested at all that way I'm interested in what God's trying to say to us what he's saying to me in particular about bitterness in my heart and How it affects the Church of Jesus Christ and that's what this is out This is about and this is how God brought forth this revelation of Jehovah Rafa. I want you to Really listen to me because God's going to deal with something in the hearts of many that are here tonight God's been saying something to my heart. I Dread the very thought of My permitting any root of bitterness to take hold in my life Because I've seen the consequences I've seen people die literally die I've seen people whose bodies are crippled now folks not all arthritis not all heart disease Not all of these things are a result of bitterness, but I'm telling you I know I know all the years I've pastored and ministered around the world I have seen the deadly results on the physical body of that which is in the heart called bitterness. I've seen how the body Reflects what is in the soul in the heart and in the mind and some of you I've really come to the conclusion that most bitterness among believers can be traced back to some Disappointment they have with God Almost every time I've talked to somebody's bitter they are disappointed with the Lord now they focus on people But really that's not the primary cause it goes deeper than that It goes back to a crisis in their life where they prayed about something and God didn't answer They think it was not on time if it did come God is allowed to be in a situation that is overwhelmed them. It may be a financial situation. It may be a divorce Be a death it may be something God has permitted in their life And they're saying how could God have allowed this? Why did God permit this? I loved the Lord I prayed I believed I Know a woman tonight while I stand in this pulpit She goes every day to a hospital her husband is comatose he's been comatose for I think six weeks And she goes in every day almost two months now They say he's not brain-dead but he's dead in other ways totally Comatose, I don't know if he opens his eyes, but he goes in every day It's costing her every dollar and she bays him and talks to him and there but boy the bitterness is growing and the bitterness is mounting and it's how Why I prayed I had faith Why would God put me through this is going to cost me gonna wind up penniless and and on and on there's a bitter Bitter spirit and it's disappointment with God Disappointed with God Childhood with wounds traumas from way back when you were young Perhaps you were raped Or you were misused you were abandoned You were abused and it's left a trauma in your life. I hear in our letters my wife and I read letters and From people wives who write to us especially and sometimes husbands about their wives how they hate Christmas And the reason they hate Christmas, let's say well my husband Despises Christmas Mocks people who give gifts H Decorations because you see when he was a young man. His father was a drunkard never had a Christmas and He still remembers the hurt of the day. His father went into a garbage dump and brought a broken toy to him And all the other kids were showing off their toys and he couldn't go out and it left a mark on him and all these Years since he's got that thing in him and there are many like that My wife grew up in a home like that a father Who later got saved a good man, but he had to go to work at 11 to support a whole family 11 years of age sweeping in Westinghouse and then later having to put but Christmas When I met Gwen he would never her father would never come out of the room you couldn't give him a present He wouldn't open anything because when he was 11 years old and had to give every dollar and all the work of the labor He was traumatized of having to be the main supporter and I Think sometimes that's why Gwen wants such a beautiful Christmas. Our house is Decorated from top to bottom. I mean it's like Macy's because she too is traumatized Many many years almost to a teenage year before she got a doll Father was a good man. He got saved later in life marvelously saved and Godly godly mother who was a saint Just him talking about that that trauma that causes bitterness You see the the the bitterness in Egypt I believe went way back Time they were in slavery and I believe where it started was when Moses came with this great proclamation in Exodus and 4 chapter 31 as and all the people believed he said the Lord has sent me he showed his signs and suddenly after all these years of Bondage these iron furnaces and here comes the word of hope This Believed in when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he looked upon their affliction Then they bowed their heads and worshipped But instead of deliverance, you know what happened down came the whip of the taskmaster on their back their bloody backs no straw to make hay and Coming out of that meeting with Pharaoh the leaders and the princes of Israel Met and they met Moses and Aaron and when they left Pharaoh's presence they met Moses and Aaron as they were Waiting for them And they said to Moses and Aaron made the Lord look upon you and judge you for you have made us Abominable in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hands to kill us It was then that they were disappointed in God in his promises and in the servants of God there was a Disappointment folks and we know that for 40 years in the wilderness they carried their little golden mice and their golden gods of Moloch and they never did get that idolatry that that that that thing they had against God that Disappointment that way back there in Egypt and they brought it across the Red Sea and God's trying to deal with it He's trying to open their minds to show them what's in their heart now folks I've got to confess that I've been over the years. I was very impatient up to recently Up until this message. In fact That's the gospel truth. God dealt with me this week. I You talked about preaching art I had some of the hardest messages on bitterness any preacher in America's ever preached You talk about hellfire and brimstone. I preached on this. I couldn't understand how anybody could not recognize what Bitterness in their heart would do to them and I was praying and Lord was putting this message in my heart this past week and when I got to this part of the revelation of Jehovah Rafi Rafa, I just broke down and I wept and sobbed and cried and said God Please give me that kind of love and patience with people Who have been traumatized and who have bitterness in their heart God give me that patience I've been totally impatient with them. Oh, I would just if they came to counsel with me I'd say get on you didn't bully your hands on cast the devil out here period You see God could have wiped these people right off the map. He had every right to I mean after all everything that he had done and opened the Red Sea and all these miracles and all these promises and here they are three days and They are questing whether God is with them questing the servant of God full of doubt and fear and unbelief and instead of wiping them out instead of Chastising them He shows Moses a tree He says cut it down and cast it into the waters and when he cast it into the waters the waters were healed Now folks I could digress right now and there's a whole message on the representation perhaps of the cross where There was a man Who was called the tree of righteousness who was cut down and he was passed into the sea of our bitterness of sins And sweetened the waters of grace There's a whole Message in that but that's not where I'm going. That's not what I believe Is the revelation and this manifestation their discovery of the name or the glory of God in this episode and it is here after The waters are healed He revealed his name to Israel Through Moses his servants. He said my name is Jehovah Rafi it means I Am the Lord that healeth thee but in the root word it means to mend and fix God says You are full of bitterness You've had this in you for a long time. You're mad at me You've got something you don't want to voice it but deep down inside You're saying why did God allow it what's there and folks are many of you sitting here listening to me right now You have that you don't want to name it. It's there. It's a root. It's down deep It's behind all of the bitterness that's in you I don't care who the people are that you're aiming it at Underneath it all is some how did God let that person do that to me? You may be divorced How why did God let my husband do that to me or my wife to me do that to me and that that? Disappointment because I'm a Christian. I'm a believer. Why did God allow that in spite of my prayers and The Lord comes to this people. He could have wiped out and in all love. There's a Discovery of something about his nature. He says I'm inclined Even though I have every right to disown you I am inclined to fix you and mend you and get this out of your heart Folks I'm here to tell you God I've asked God not to let me preach this unless he gave me some of this this Holy Ghost compassion Some of this grace of the Lord Jesus Christ for some of you. The Lord is patient with you He's coming to you in in your bitterness That bitterness you have that you said you couldn't let go that bitterness is bringing strife into your home and your life and your family Because people that are in bitterness talk about nothing else, but their bitterness That's all they talk about But he said if you will recognize my name what I'm like he said I am inclined. That's my nature My nature is not to cut you off my nature. This is who I am I am Jehovah God, but my nature to you my inclination to you as that in that Bitterness that's in you. I know where it came from And I'm telling you I don't care where it came from tonight. The Lord's message to you tonight in all love and compassion From my heart and his Lord says I want to mend you I Want to pluck that out of your heart. I want to heal you so you don't have to carry this another day You can come back into the peace and joy that I desire for you you can come back into my loving arms I want to fix you and I want to mend you I am Jehovah, brother Glory be to God You see this is what really convicted my heart God saying this is what I'm like I'm waiting to heal your body your soul your mind your spirit. I want you to know this about me Folks take that into your heart and ask the Holy Ghost to make that real to you God said you've been worshiping me. You've been praising me. You said you know who I am I'm telling you something about my heart. I'm telling you something about my nature. I am Absolutely positively inclined my desire for you is that this very night this very day Your bitterness problem is solved. It's fixed. I'm going to mend your heart If you just confess if just come and bring it to me tonight, I'm gonna make it all right You see even if you have bitterness in your heart tonight, you're still the Lord's possession He still loves you And he wants to heal you But folks I've got to before I go any further. I've got to reveal another name to you that is a discovery of his nature and Most of the list of the names of the attributes of God and the the character of God Most of them that I have read neglect this name. I don't even see it on the list It's Jehovah Makkah, and I want you to listen very close to this because you see he comes to you as Jehovah Rafa He comes to you with great love and says I have all the power I can take this out of your heart if you're willing to surrender it You see I've had people come to me and say I don't care what you say to me I don't care how many scriptures you quote. I am NOT going to forgive you don't know what I went through God's just going to have to deal with this one person said because I can't forgive I'll never I'm going to take this to my grave and He sure will He won't take it to his grave because I will not forgive. I will not let this go You don't know if you only knew well God knows God knows how it started. He knows the seed He knows the root. He knows the blossoms of it He knows it all and he says if you'll come I am Jehovah Rafa in love. I'll forgive you I'll cleanse you. I'll give you a new heart But he says if you reject me as Jehovah Rafa, you're going to meet me as Jehovah McCall Hebrews 1026 27 if we sin willfully After that, we've received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins Now you've received the knowledge of the truth of God's nature concerning bitterness Haven't you? How many heard what I said you just got the revelation ask the Holy Ghost to make it real to you And what does the Paul say if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of truth? there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries If you reject the knowledge of Jehovah Rafa that revelation, he says then you will meet me as Jehovah McCall now, this is serious business very serious business God reveals himself in Love and he offers to heal and pluck out all the roots of bitterness and restore you to absolute health a clear conscience peace of mind and favor but where there's a willful rejection a Stubborn holding on to that unforgiveness This provokes according to the scripture the fiery indignation of the heart of God Listen to this powerful warning Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Peace with all men and without it No man shall see the Lord if you sit here and you don't have peace with somebody and there's bitterness in your heart There's no chance. You will see the Lord none See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God That's any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled That word there and many be defiled the word in Greek is contaminated Less many be contaminated Unless that bitterness is in you contaminate your children your friends those you work with on the job and Folks there comes a time where God has to isolate you Less that virus and that disease contaminate many of his godly ones He has to quarantine you I Want you to go to Folks didn't I tell you that all these revelations come in a crisis Bitterness is the problem that one of the greatest crisis a man could or woman could ever face This crisis has to do with facing Jehovah Macaw, but you see This revelation also comes in a time of crisis I want you to go with me to Ezekiel 7 and we'll see where he reveals himself is Jehovah Macaw The seventh chapter of Ezekiel God is speaking to his own people. He's not speaking to heathen. He's speaking to his own people and I'm going to start at the first verse and go right down to verse 9 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me Ezekiel 7 Saying also thou son of man thus saith the Lord God to to the land of Israel And then the end has come upon the four corners of the land Now is the end come upon thee Now just if you'll read the previous chapters the Lord in great mercy has been calling to him trying to reveal his love and his grace And now they've rejected he shall send mine anger upon thee and I will judge thee according to thy ways It will recompense upon thee all thine abominations my eyes shall not spare and neither will I pity but I will recompense thy ways and upon thee and Abominations because you see bitterness is an abomination Shall be in the midst of thee and ye shall know that I am the Lord verse 6 The end is come the end is come it watcheth for thee behold. It is come the Lord said that's enough He reaches a point where he said I've got to deal with your bitterness The morning has come unto thee. Oh now that dwellest in the land. The time has come the day of trouble is near Verse 8 now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee and accomplish my anger upon thee I would judge thee according to thy ways will recompense thee for all thine abominations and my eyes shall not spare Neither will I a pity I will recompense thee according to thy ways and the abominations that are in the midst of thee And here's the revelation and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smite it The Lord that smite it is Jehovah Makkah in Hebrew, I Am the Lord that smite it now folks. Look at me, please. You say where's the grace in that? It's all grace the Why why does the Lord say in Proverbs? when you have a foolish child put the rod on his back because foolishness is bound in the heart of the child and the rod of correction will drive it far from him and The rod of correction the Lord is one smile I will spank you is what he's saying He said you hold that bitterness and you're going to see confusion. You're going to see things Unravel, you're going to see everything go wrong in your home and everything around you You will think finally that everybody's against you Because you see when you turn down this wonderful offer of Jehovah Raphae Here is the last hope God has to redeem you the last hope he has Because he so loves he doesn't want to lose any one of his children, but he says I am Jehovah Makkah the God who smites That is also in his nature it's been in my nature ever since I've been a father I Told you every time my dad would spank me. He'd make me come and hug him You know the story this hurts me worse than to hurt you It does hurt God worse than it hurts you and me You said that's not the nature of God. It is God says it that's his own description of his nature There there is something in God that will not let go of you There's something that God says I will not let this go on the time has come the end has come I have come to you in love. I've come to you with great mercy and compassion I've sent my servants to you to bring you healing now. I have to apply the rod there has to be a smiting After that they have borne their shame When I brought them again from the among the people and gathered them out of the enemy's lands and have sanctified Them in the sight of the nation's then they shall know that I the Lord their God Was the one that caused them to be led into captivity Now I'm going to close in just a few moments, but listen closely to me, please Here's here's Here's what I believe. I Believe with all my heart If you have bitterness in your heart and you will not come to Jehovah Rafi, you're welcome and be healed You saw no, this is hard Lord, and I've carried this a long time, but it's time. I want to be delivered I want to be free You can walk out of this church tonight Absolutely free you will sing and shout and dance all the way home. I don't care if it's on the subway I don't care how crazy people think you are a Holy Ghost will give you peace like you've never you'll sleep tonight Like you haven't slept in ages and and and God you'll be back in God's favor God will begin to work new things in your life and to give you hope that's the true message. That's what he wants for you But if you refuse that and say I'm not letting this go and you walk out of this church tonight You carry that bitterness in you that root is still there. You say I don't care I can't forgive my mother my sister my brother my son my daughter. I can't forgive him. I can't forgive her I just can't do it And I think God knows how I hurt and I think when I stand before the judgment he'll take note of that Hmm. No, no, no You see I'm telling you now that you cannot be healed of any disease cancer I don't care what disease you cannot be healed of any disease until you're healed of your bitterness Why would God heal you to strengthen you in your bitterness Why would he heal you and give you a stronger heart and give you hell so that you can spread your virus Think about it Did that go over your head Why would God heal any disease why would he heal anything until he gets to the bitterness which is the cause of everything else He says the rod has blossomed in the next verse the rod is blossomed He said what's happened that bitterness that's in you is is now blossomed the root that that's that the Remember when Aaron's rod blossomed it was authority it was power and it was the it was represented power He said what's happened. This has taken dominion over your life It's taken full authority it's blossomed now and when it fully blossoms becomes pride proud and beyond underneath every root of bitterness As if pride is pride The root is pride. I will not let go it's Too proud to humble yourself If you will not come to Jehovah Rafa You've stopped at his Holy Covenant. You've stopped at the very definition. He's given if his own nature You've rejected the glory of him as a healer And you will never be given strength to indulge any further in your bitterness He will not do it. He will not heal you Don't even pray for healing for anyone else. Don't pray for healing for yourself. Don't come to the healing line Don't ever come up here and ask one of our elders to lay hands on you for healing I don't care what kind of sickness disease or anything else until this root comes out Until Jehovah Rafa is allowed to heal your bitterness You can't go a step further See he wants to heal your bitterness Then he wants to heal your cancer. He wants to heal every other disease that's in your body That's the healing process you get it started and God will take it the rest of the way. Hallelujah. Thank God for Jehovah Rafa Will you stand please You know what I think some of you are thinking Brother Dave you said You were merciful now to people with bitterness and boy you come down with Jehovah Maka Maka You got a revelation Jehovah Maka Because of his grace and his love and his mercy Hallelujah whom the Lord loves He chastens. It's all a sign of his love Should I say any more but if you have roots of bitterness in your heart come down here now Don't move don't come unless the Holy Spirit's dealing with you until you're ready to say I don't care What it takes I'm going to stay here this all or tonight and I want this out of my heart in the annex I'll tell you what you do in the annex Why don't you just go into the lobby and come right down into this building usher show them the way down to the altar here You come here and join us and we'll pray for you those that are in the annex Come on down here and we'll pray for you We'll believe God those that are here all of those in the annex and any other rooms up there in the annex Move in close, please I Jehovah Rafa is going to stretch out his hand to me Hallelujah, this way all of you that have come forward and in the aisles where you are. I Can't pray with you and I don't believe anything will happen until you're prepared tonight To make it right with somebody If the bitterness is against the person or caused by an individual I'm going to ask you to Make a commitment tonight that you will write a letter or make a telephone call or a visit and You will make it right you will confess it You will say I've carried bitterness in my heart and I've repented to God I repent to you You talk about a cleansing now, God will begin the work tonight God will begin it and He'll lift this load for me because if your heart is set on that God will see you through to the end of it The good work he's begun. He said he will finish But you have to make it right And furthermore, this is something God dealt with me a number of years ago Lord had me search my heart to see If I had caused bitterness in others that I was the cause something I said or did I caused somebody get better against me and in the process angry at God and I made 15 telephone calls and I made it right and I'll tell you you talk about joy I had a joy that was supernatural. God blessed me everyone. I called cried and wept and said, thank you Whenever went up one after another says and I'm just saying this humbly before the Lord everyone who says now I know that you're a man of God They'll say I know you're a woman of God. I know you're a man of God now I know because people don't do that unless God directs and gives them power Are you ready to say To the Lord first Lord take it. I want to lay it down here tonight I'm not gonna carry it out of this place But you've got to make restitution if you're if there's somebody in this church You go to this church Times Square Church, and you're bitter towards somebody or somebody's caused bitterness in your heart I don't care if they caused it and you're not at fault You go to them the Bible says you go to them and say look, I'm sorry I've had bitterness in my heart toward you something that was said or something was done and I feel bitterness in my heart I'm sorry. I don't want to carry this. I repent And whether they accept it or not, you're free You're free And you can rejoice go your way the Lord Get on the phone and write a letter how many willing to go that far raise your hand, please raise it high Raise it high. All right pray this with me. Now if you've raised your hand dear Jesus, I Thank you for a revelation of who you are Jehovah Rapha The Lord that mends me It fixes my heart That heals my hurts in Jesus name I Lay down my bitterness. I Lay it all down now Jesus pocket out of my heart Forgive me Cleanse me Sanctify me Thank you, Jesus for reminding me Of what was in my heart You showed me what's in my heart. I Thank you Lord Jesus, I don't want your rod on my back Even if it's in love I Want to come as a willing child in answer to your love Lord Jesus Give me the wisdom and the power to make things right Now let me pray for your father in Jesus name you heard this What a mighty God Lord that you would so love us that you would reveal your nature your character So that we can say oh, I know who my God is Because I've experienced it I know who he is. I know he's loving-kindness. I know he's tenderness I know he's ready to forgive Because he came to me when I needed that and he gave it to me He revealed his heart to me and I've experienced it Oh God forgive and cleanse now break the chains that bind pluck out every root of bitterness in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus Hallelujah folks listen to me This is going to be a series. I think of eight messages. You've heard number two number eight if you can sit in your seat You haven't heard a word because you're going to find out that every name That we learn about Jehovah Is all wrapped up in the name of Jesus He's all of it Hallelujah hallelujah Lord, I thank you That we can get to know you Lord, that's what intimacy is it's not just spending hours just Reading the Bible Lord, we've got to have the knowledge give us the knowledge open our eyes and open our understanding So that we can truly be intimate with you knowing who you are now Lord if we'll obey you on this You'll open the rest of it to us If you if we will obey each step Lord, you'll find we will come into a place in you It's heaven on earth literally heaven on earth in Jesus name Amen, hallelujah Glory be to God Let's praise and lift your hands and praise the Lord Thank God for Jehovah Raphael. Thank you father for the revelation of your heart hallelujah We worship you Lord, we just praise you we magnify your name we glorify the name of Jesus Jesus is Jehovah Rapha. Jesus is Jehovah Jireh. Jesus is all in all Jesus Jesus you're my firm foundation Jesus you're my firm foundation Jesus is Jehovah Jireh. He is Jehovah Rapha He is all of those names that we call the names of God He is all of that it is in Jesus Christ our Lord what a provision he's made. So why are some of you still frowning? Turn around and create a smile and everybody around you and a good handshake a good god bless you in Jesus name This is the conclusion of the message