In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the urgency of being prepared for the future and not being consumed by the distractions of the American way of life. He warns that those who do not make the most of their opportunities and talents will face an angry Christ. The preacher discusses the significance of technology and the United Nations, highlighting the scheming and lack of transparency in the world. He urges listeners to pray and seek God's guidance in navigating these challenging times and to prioritize their relationship with God over worldly pursuits.

Lord, as we come unto you tonight, it is with great praise and thanksgiving, Lord. We just worship you and give thanks to you, and thank you, Lord, as you help us along, and guide us in your faithfulness, the details of our life. We're so appreciated, and Lord, we pray that your blessing will be on each home represented here. Let your peace be there, the solution to problems, Lord. Just grant us your presence in our homes, Lord, we ask, in the name of Jesus. And Lord, help us tonight, Lord, as we go ahead, that we will just say and perceive that which is of the Holy Spirit. We ask in Jesus' name, and thank you, Lord. Amen. Now, I'm stuck on John 14, starting with verse 13. I want to go over this again with people here who are not here Sunday night. So, I'm trying to cut the difference here. So, I'll try to go real slow and plain, and then if you have any questions, just raise your hand. Now, what this is talking about is the experience that comes after Pentecost. And the idea is that God forgives our sins through his blood, through the blood of Jesus. And then he gives us his Holy Spirit. And the blood gives us the authority to be children of God. And the Holy Spirit gives us the power to pursue the plan of salvation. Today, we have to think, when we are saved and filled with the Spirit, we've arrived. The truth is, we've just received the way of starting on the plan of salvation. And the end of salvation is to be filled with the fullness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To have your flesh and bones raised from the dead. And to be clothed with a body like that of Jesus. That's the goal. The goal of salvation is to be filled with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To have your flesh and bones raised from the dead. And the whole clothed upon with a body like that of Jesus. And then you are ready to serve. That's when your service begins. And what we do in this world is preparatory to God's great plan. Now, is there any question about that? So you see that that being the goal, that when we receive the blood atonement for the remission of our sins, and the Holy Spirit, we haven't arrived. We just have the means of starting. And it would be kind of like getting on the airplane, getting strapped in with your child. Maybe you sit there for 15 minutes while they're doing whatever it is they do. And your child turns to you and says, Mother, are we there yet? When you haven't taken off. And that's kind of the way we've been in Pentecost. You know, the next stop is heaven. No, the next stop is salvation. Which is the change from Satan to God. From Satan's image to the image of God. Now, is there any question about anything I've said? Sunday, if you're interested in this sort of thing, we talked about the same thing from the third chapter of Ephesians, where Paul talks about being strengthened with God's Spirit, so we might be filled with all the fullness of God. And what I'm talking to you about is being filled with all the fullness of God. Okay? The moral transformation. And I probably should add that moral transformation is a prerequisite for being filled with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's kind of interactive. As you make progress in moral transformation, you can receive more of God, and as you receive more of God, you have the power to be transformed further. So, every one of us tonight is in an interactive cyclical process. You are either sinning, which leads to more sin, or you're getting deliverance, which leads to more deliverance. You're either cycling downward or cycling upward. Given the spiritual pressures that are on us, it's impossible to stay still. And that's what Jesus said when he said, you're either gathering with me or you're scattering away from me. There's no middle ground in which you can say, well, I'll wait for a while and then I'll decide. To not press into Christ in any given day is to choose to cycle downward. I tell you that the times are more critical than we are aware. We have a little window of opportunity now to grow and to serve. Two great forces are on the horizon, and the future doesn't look too good. Two major forces are on the horizon. One is the increasing power that's being given to the United States. The trend is away from national sovereignty toward global sovereignty, meaning that the courts and the police forces and all will be international. Of course, this does not bode well for Israel, because the UN will always strive for reconciliation. Reconciliation for the Arabs means that East Jerusalem is their capital, which seems reasonable to the unsaved and to the Gentile. The unsaved Gentile seems very reasonable that Jerusalem should be divided. I don't think that the Jews will ever stand for a divided Jerusalem. They may, but I doubt it. But they won't have any choice, because the UN, with its experience in Indonesia, Bosnia, Kosovo, is already establishing a pattern of intervening where they see genocide or torture or any of the other abrogation of the rights of people. China and other nations like this will vigorously resist the UN, because they don't want the UN telling them what they can do with their dissident groups. The same is true of Russia. But the United States is really buying into this with the present administration, and there are not too many voices in the land crying out against it, and those that are downplayed by the media as being right-wing fundamentalists, whether they are even Christians or not, that's a handy stereotype, and it obtains for anyone that doesn't want to really join the UN. Of course, we are now in the process of giving away the Panama Canal that was set in motion by President Carter. This will be done in a short time. It will be finally consummated. We are already pulling out our forces there, and the Chinese are already moving in. And these powers are so great, the only ones that are resisting it are people that are regarded as right-wing fanatics. So, the UN is greatly increasing its authority. I expect in five years it will pretty much have the say over any action in any nation that appears to be against the general standards of the UN. It's a diminution of national sovereignty, and it's well underway in the United States. That's one force. The second great force has to do with communication. Now, where we are with our cell phones and our Internet, compared to what's on the drawing board now, I mean actually on the drawing board, and I didn't get this information from any religious source, but from a technological source, a non-religious source among the great communication companies, such as Bell Telephone and Qualcomm and others. This is what I'm talking about. They anticipate that within five years, there will be a communication skin that will blanket the United States to the extent that communication will be far advanced from anything. Let's say, dialing on your telephone will be only for the history books. I was saying to Audrey, like if Audrey was visiting in Phoenix, all I would do would be to just say, Audrey like that, and she'd be online. I mean, I'm not talking about Buck Rogers. I'm talking about what is on the drawing board in terms of the miniaturization already accomplished. You'll have a video phone on your wrist. All this is wireless, and one of the things is, for example, if your refrigerator starts acting up, your refrigerator will notify the service company, telling them what's wrong. I'm not talking foolishness. I'm telling you this communication skin, I've been telling you for years that what we're in is a horse and buggy on this thing. I'm talking now about information coming out of Qualcomm and General Electric and Bell Telephone and the other companies that are working on this communication skin. So what we have now is just, it'll just be in the history books. This is five years. Now, put these two forces together, the political and the electronic, and you see when we begin to move past Pentecost, we are in areas that are arcane. That is, they are the information given to a privileged few, and that makes it suspect, and so when it comes to the education of children, you can be sure that you do not want them being taught anything like taking up your cross and following Jesus, living by his body and blood or anything like that, and they will be well able to perceive what you're doing. Now, there will be a total loss of privacy. So this was projected as being five years away by these major electronic sources who see it, of course, only as good. They've got their nose stuck in their computers. They don't see this other force rising up. Now, I'm not saying that to say it's awful or it's terrible or nothing. I'm telling you that the day, today, now, now, is a little window of opportunity, and it isn't going to last forever. And if we spend our time on our hobbies and things that are less than critical, we are really going to regret it because this is not going to last. And so that means that everything you do in your family should be brought to prayer because a lot of things are not sinful and they're American hip-hop, you know, they're just nice and they're cool, but they're not sensible in terms of what we are facing. Now, am I making sense? You see this thing coming five years away, this monster. This is not a day to be immersed in the American culture. Okay? What do you do about it? Pray. Pray. That's what Audrey and I do. Pray and ask God how to get the most out of each day. I don't spend any time playing golf. The time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night, I am on to this communication thing, giving what God has given me. That's my little contribution. And you have one too. But make sure, because if you don't, if you allow this time to go by while you fiddle-diddle-daddle with the American way of life, you're going to find you will not be prepared in the day to come. Furthermore, you're going to face an angry Christ because you have information and opportunities that most people in the world do not have. And you'll say, what did you do with your talent? Well, I was busy making a living. And that consumed all your time? Well, so it seemed. I'm only telling you as a friend, this is what you're facing. The facts I've given you are facts about the UN. The facts I've given you about communication are facts. They're not out of some preacher's skirm and bring them to church. I'm telling you about what is happening. So, what it does to me, I'm not afraid of the future. I just want to make sure that I make this Tuesday count for God with whatever strength I have. Does all that make sense to you? Okay. Now, God is ready to take his people past Pentecost. We have the blood, we have the spirit. Now, where do we go? Alright, if you look in verse 15, If you love me, you will obey what I command. Now, this appears three times in this short section from 15 to 23. And everything is based on this. Everything is based on this. You must read your Bible every day and the Lord will speak to you and tell you what to do. You're not going to get it all at once. He'll only give you what he wants for the day. If you don't pray for the day, you will have no idea what you're doing. You'll just go through the routine until you're in a nursing home. That's what's going to happen. Don't tell me about it, I've lived to see it. Okay. You just have all the best intentions in the world but you didn't pray, you didn't know God's will for that day which makes it more difficult the next day to pray and so on and it just slips, slops, slips, slops. The years go by. Believe me, the years go by. And you always thought someday will be the golden time. It never arrives. You have to take it today and grasp it like a drowning man to get out of this pressure that's on us in America, this materialistic pressure. You have to grasp it like a drowning man to climb out of it. You have to pray. As you pray and read your Bible each day, God will show you what to do that day. That doesn't look good back there. It just doesn't look good. Be better. Lynn, you're a strength in this church and I want you to be a strength in this church. Okay? Now, where was I? What was I saying? You've got to pray and read your Bible every day to hear what God is saying to you to that day and God will speak to you from the Word. He'll speak to you from the Word. He'll tell you what to do. And that you have to do. Now, we've had more bad teaching in our country on this very thing. The idea is Christ did it all or you have to wait for Him to do it. So you just have to wait for Him to do it. Or you're saved by grace and it doesn't matter whether you do it or not. And how many have heard these kinds of things? That is 90% of evangelical teaching. Colleen, I'm sure you've heard it. Alright, that is because Satan does... Look what Jesus said. If you love Me, you will obey. If you love Me, you will obey. Not that you'll think about grace or be saved by grace or anything else. If you love Me, you will obey. We've got to get that in our heads. And the Lord has been talking to us about that. About obedience. We can't always explain everything we do. The Lord sets up organization in the church and it just has to operate that way. And we have to do what Jesus said. The day of this grace and everybody does his own thing, God will not buy it. God will not buy it. Now, the Lord has told us certain things in His word like take up your cross and follow Me. Deny yourself. Well, that is not an option. We have to do that. If we don't do it, what I'm talking to you about tonight will not happen. It will not take place. You can forget about it. You'll go on from here and play church and that will be the end of it. You'll go nowhere. It's everything that's predicated on obeying what Jesus said. And in order to do that, you're going to have to turn your back on the church world because they will not hear it. They're not used to obedience. They will not have it. They're Americans and they're used to pretty well dictating what it is they're going to do. We're not Americans by culture. We have, just like all cultures, we have things in which we're strong and we have things in which we're weak. And one of the things in which we're weak is we are sassy. We will do what we will do. And we know from the Old Testament how God dealt with people when they reacted like that to the leadership. We know what they did. I'm not the last guy in the world to throw my weight around, as you know. But I'm telling you, it isn't obeying me, it's obeying what Jesus said. We've got to get in this idea. It is not a choice. We have to do what He said. He said, present your body a living sacrifice. If we do not do that, this that I'm telling you about will not happen. It's all based on reading the Bible every day as the Bible says in His law, you meditate day and night, we pray without ceasing, we do it with all of our might, and then this begins to operate. But apart from that, it will not operate. It will not operate because you understand it. It will not operate because you're a member of this church. It will not operate unless you do what it says and I do what it says. Otherwise, I tell you, we are in a fool's paradise. In America, the problem is that we haven't in the last few months laid on the ground and the ice and our frozen vomit like the Muslims did in Kosovo. See, we're not acquainted with that. Now, it was just recently, I noticed in India, and it got buried somewhere because there was 400 people that died in the earthquake, a new earthquake in Turkey, but there was something like 10,000 that died in India recently from a cyclone. 10,000! Well now, if 10 people die in the United States from an earthquake, it's like, oh man! Front page! California is dropping into the ocean. But if 10,000 people in India who are just as precious in God's sight as we are, well, you know, it's somewhere in the back page of the paper. We're in a fool's paradise. And God looks down and He equates all this and He says, here's these people, they've got the Word, they've got food, they've got everything, and here's these other people whose families are being ripped apart by earthquakes and by cyclones. It ain't right. And what we need to do, we can't do everything, we can't feed all the hungry in the world, we can't go and bring back to life, but we can do whatever God has appointed to us to do. And do it with all our might. That's all that God asks of anyone. We cannot carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. But we can go to God each day, keep His commandments, and say, Lord, what would you have me to do? And God will accept nothing less. If we do not do that, the blood of these people will be on our hands. Because we have the message. Now, God may not call us to speak it, or He may. But whatever we do, we're a member of the body of Christ, and that body acts together. It's just like in a human body, the whole thing isn't the mouth, but there's parts of your body that act, and they have to be healthy, or your mouth is shut. Is that right? That's the way you are. You're a part of the body. I'm the mouth, and others in here are the mouth. But the whole church isn't the mouth. But the mouth can only operate as others pray, and give, and do whatever it is. And thank God, there must be half of the people in this church that are involved one way or another in what we're doing here. Actively involved. Giving of themselves. Actively involved. At least 50%, which is pretty good. But what I'm concerned about is you as an individual, and me as an individual, that I'm faithful in telling you that the challenge goes beyond what we comprehend. And God doesn't change. He's told us plainly what He expects, and that's it. So, everything is based on obeying His command. Now, if we do not obey His command, what is that true of our attitude toward Jesus? We do not love Him. We say, I love you, Lord. He says, obey my commands. If we do not obey His commands, we don't love Him. We're just saying things. We don't really love Him. We're just saying things. Any questions about that? Okay. And I will ask the Father, and to understand this, as I said before, you have to understand that Jesus is not the Father. Now, in evangelical teaching, the implication, though it's not stated as such, but the implication is that Jesus and the Father are the same person. There's a very heavy presumption in evangelical teaching. Now, I remember one evangelical, and I can't remember his name, he wrote a book, and it was endorsed, as I remember, by Multnomah School of the Bible, which is pretty centrally located in fundamentalism. And in his book, he had God coming down to earth and going through the sin and giving His blood and all, and the throne was empty. Yeah. This is a book endorsed by evangelicals. I'm going to say Multnomah. I'm pretty sure that's what it was. But there are other evangelical leaders endorsing this book. The throne was empty. That is how deeply involved in this... As I said before, it's a spurious elevating of Christ. It's spurious because it's not scriptural. And it renders numerous passages of the New Testament, such as what we're reading right here, so that you can't see them. I will ask the Father. Does that mean He's asking Himself? Who is He asking? And who's doing the asking? Yes? How do you get around by saying that the Father is in you? Well, Christ is in us and that doesn't make us Christ. Of course the Father's in us. The Father dwells in us. That very fact shows that there's two persons. That very statement shows that there's two persons. Because how could God dwell in Christ if there weren't two persons? So, until you grasp that, you're going to have an awful problem with this passage and numerous others, in particular, Gethsemane. Because Gethsemane becomes a farce. There were not two persons there. Not my will, but mine be done. No way. But it shapes a lot of people when I say this, believe me, more than just about anything I teach. Yes? ...passage that it renders absolutely incompetent. See, it doesn't mean what it's saying. So, until you see that Christ is God's Son and not God Himself. Now, I have to be careful there because God is not the name of a person. See, that's where the confusion becomes. Is Jesus God? Yes. Is He God? No. In the first place, you mean, is He divine? Yes. Is He the Father? No. God is not the name of a person. God is a title. Like someone said, Pablo Casals said, Bach was the God of music. We use a term like that, meaning something elevated. Alright. Now, is Jesus, can we worship Him as God? Yes. Because the Father has made Him God. Is He the Father? No. Because then you have absolute confusion. God set Christ at His right hand. You could say, God set God at His right hand. Or, the Father set His Son at His right hand. But they are not the same person. Mike? Don't you think, though, that is basically... Definitely is a fact. That definitely is true. And we'll see that as we go down. You cannot understand the Godhead by study. You have to experience the Godhead. Or it's just words. You have to experience the Godhead. There comes a time when you know. Turn to... Somebody read Matthew. What we want is Matthew 11.27, I believe it is. Just before it says, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. You can only know the Father by revelation. That's it. You cannot know the Trinity, if you want to call it that, by study. You can speculate on it. But you see, it transcends physical laws. Because in our physical domain, three cannot be one. One is one and three is three ones. But in the spirit realm, one can be three. So, you cannot understand it. It's like infinity and eternity. You can speculate on them, but you cannot grasp them mentally. Our brain is not capable of grasping infinity, eternity, or the oneness of the Godhead. It has to be revealed to you. And when it is revealed to you, what happens is, you begin to realize, God is my Father. That's something that you didn't know before. You knew about Jesus, and you knew about the Holy Spirit. And you probably prayed to Jesus. And there's nothing wrong with that. But there comes a time, as it says in Matthew 11.27, that you realize, God is my Father. And you relate to Him from inside. And then Jesus said, I ascend to my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God. So, there's a time when you know Jesus. As you progress in the Christian walk, you come to know the Holy Spirit is not just tongues or a good feeling, but is a person. And then beyond that is the Father. And that's the fullness of God. So, we're moving on. And this is arcane, as I said. This is not the common possession of mankind. They can understand Jesus, and maybe the Holy Spirit to a certain extent. But beyond that, we're in trouble with the UN. Yes? Yes, they do. In Passover, we learn about Jesus. In Pentecost, we learn about the Holy Spirit. And in Tabernacles, the Father becomes more real to us. Now, someone would say, but we have it all in Jesus. And I have nothing to say about that. That's absolutely true. It's all in Jesus. And when you have Jesus, you have the Father. That is absolutely true. You say, how can that be? I'm telling you, it has to come by revelation. There comes a time. Stan and I were talking tonight about the Logos Library. Now, the way that software library is, they give you this tremendous library on CD of commentaries, translations and all, but you can't open them. You have to contact Logos, tell them what you want, send them your check for $15 or what, and then they give you the key to open that particular book. So you have it. It's there. It's all on the CD, but it's not available. Well, that of course is a faulty simile, but nonetheless, there's a lot of truth there. You have the whole thing in Jesus, but it has to be played out until the parts become more available and more real to you. Does that make sense? Yes. It's a title of respect. It's a title of respect. Some have made a great case out of the fact that in Genesis, the term Elohim is plural. Again, it's a title of preeminence. Probably one place you can see the Trinity is the three men that came to Abraham. That's pretty solid. But otherwise, you get into Hebrew, the Hebrew expression for, I use father to denote someone who is elevated. Like we say, George Washington is the father of his country. If you love me, and I will ask the Father, this is Jesus praying to the Father, what is Jesus doing today for you? Huh? He's interceding. He's interceding. He's making intercession. That's what Hebrew says. Well, no, He's not making intercession to Himself. And the fact that He's making intercession tells us a couple of tremendous facts. One is that even though God has everything laid out from the foundation of the world, there still is opportunity for things to be swayed by prayer. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn't be praying. The second thing it shows us is that God is greater and in possession of power that Jesus doesn't have. Else, why would Jesus be interceding? Pleading with God for you and me. And then we know from the New Testament that Jesus doesn't know everything that God knows because He said, no man knows the day or the hour. See? Only the Father knows. It's not mine to give, He said, about those on His right hand and His left. It's not mine to give. And the opening verse in Revelation is very significant. It says, the revelation which God gave to Jesus. Meaning that God had it before Jesus did. So, that's a very small example of the numerous Scriptures that are wiped out when you assign a spurious, seemingly good and reverential, but nonetheless spurious, exaltation of Christ until He becomes the person of the Father. Then you cannot understand the Feast of Tabernacles because the Feast of Tabernacles is fulfilled when Christ is dwelling in you. How does that go? The Father is dwelling in Christ who is dwelling in you who are dwelling in Christ who is dwelling in the Father. It's the wheel in the middle of the wheel. And so, it's like Jesus said that they may be one in us as we are one. Which means that through marriage to Jesus, we are being incorporated into the very person of God. That's holy ground. But that's what the church is. It's a furtherance of the incarnation of God. It is not separate from God. It is of God, by God, born of God, part of God. That does not make us the Father and it does not make us Jesus Christ. It brings us into relationship to Jesus Christ as He is in relationship to the Father. And when Paul said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. He's expressing the same relationship to Christ that Christ has to the Father. It's no longer I am living, but Christ is living in me. That's what Christ said about the Father. It's not I am doing these things, it's the Father who is doing them to me. It's the very same thing. Now, this is where we are going. This is the goal. This is what is after Pentecost. And it all depends on what? Obedience. And that's something we've got to learn. And obedience is a question of will. It's a question of will. And the issue of will is the fundamental issue of the kingdom. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. Because that's where sin began was when Satan went against the will of God. Now, we're saved, and we're filled with the Spirit, and now we've got to learn obedience. Obedience to God, and sometimes in the church, not always, and not to an excessive point by any means, or a slavish point, obedience to the elders. Because without that you have nothing. God will not work apart from government. He will not do it. That doesn't mean anybody is any better than you. I'm just talking about God's government. Another counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. Now, the Holy Spirit does everything in the church. You can't think of anything in the church that isn't done by the Holy Spirit. He's as Eliezer, who has come from Abraham, a type of the Father, to get Rebekah, a type of the church, to bring to Isaac, a type of Christ. And that's the great story of Rebekah and Isaac. And that's the Holy Spirit. So He comes. He gives gifts. You know, people today are enthralled. The churches are enthralled with the gifts that the Holy Spirit is bringing. Aren't they? They're really trying to make much of them capitalized upon, which is fine. What they don't realize is the Holy Spirit has not come to give, but to take. All these gifts, revivals, blessings, manifestations, are only the Holy Spirit getting the family of Rebekah ready for Rebekah to leave. The goal is Rebekah. Abraham could have bought 140 camels loaded with wealth. They'd probably been to this day counting. It meant nothing to Abraham. He had 400 servants in his house. He had so many male servants, he had an army of his own. It didn't mean anything to him. Money. And so, that's a great danger today because the Holy Spirit comes in and gives gifts in the church and everything, and all of a sudden, attendance is built, and everything's going, and the pastor's all excited, and he builds them. Of course, this is the way it should be and the way God wants it to be. But we must always keep in mind that the signs are not the destiny. The signs are not the destiny. The gifts are not where it is. Where it is is the bride. If you picture Isaac, Isaac, I guess, was around 30, wasn't he? Andrew may know. I'm not sure that's right, but I think he was around 30 at the time. And he was out in the field. I don't know if you've ever been down in the Negev and looked. I mean, that's where he was, down in the Negev, meditating. Boy, that's a place to meditate. I mean, that you can see as far as you can see. And it's quieter than a church. It's a beautiful thing to see. Just sand as far as you can see in the Negev. Well, he was meditating in that beautiful place. What do you think he was thinking about? Do you think he knew where Eliezer went? Oh, yeah. He knew where Eliezer went. So what do you think he was thinking about? Do you think he was thinking about the camels? Do you think he was thinking about Eliezer? Do you think he was thinking about, oh boy, look what he brought. What a dowry already. Five million dollars worth of spices and nose rings and earrings and bracelets and everything else. Solid gold. Do you think he was thinking about that? Keep it. Where is she? What does she look like? Is she going to take the place of my mother? See, he brought her into his mother's tent. What's she going to be like? Is she going to be a good mother for my children? Is she going to raise up strong sons for me? This is what he was thinking about. Being a man of that period. He was thinking about her. Her. Not camels. Not Eliezer. Her. Do you believe that? I think so. Do you agree with that? Be careful how you answer. Alright. Having some fun here with you. Alright, now. Yes, he was thinking about her. Now, you see what happens is these things come into the church, they're not worried about bride, they're not worried about anything else. They're worried about the gifts. So their idea is, look, Rebecca, take care of this old guy. Marry him if you have to. But this is where the action is. Does that care anything about some dude over in the Negev meditating? Or about the fact that Christ is actually, can you hear me, excited about the idea of getting married? So that perked you up. Alright. Christ is actually excited about the idea of getting married? Meditate on that. See, we don't think about that. The gifts. You know, Eleazar. Now they're praying to Eleazar. They're praying to the Holy Spirit. Trying to get more gifts. Eleazar, more gifts. Eleazar, more gifts. More gifts. More gifts. That's what's going on today. People are praying to the Holy Spirit. Not a verse in the Bible to support it. The Holy Spirit doesn't want to hear it. Eleazar was faithful. Boy, you read about that guy. This was the chief steward. He had control over all of Abraham's house and Abraham's inheritance would have gone to him. But he was utterly faithful. He didn't go there and sandbag the thing to make sure that he got the inheritance, which is what would happen today with our marvelous integrity. He was so total. He said to them, look, if this is the one, tell me. If not, let me go on my way. I'm serving my Master. He didn't even pray to God. He prayed to the God of his Master. God of my Master Abraham. O God of my Master Abraham, if you prospered my journey, let her come and water the camels. Let me know. And then they wanted to keep her for a while, sing and dance like that. They wanted to have ten days of dancing, tambourines and food and wine and everything else. And Eleazar said no. No. No. No line dancing. Nothing. That's what they do. That's big in that culture, you know. That's big. A wine flows like a lake. Those people were all wealthy. The Laban was wealthy. They were all wealthy. They had a blast. Eleazar said no. Just ask her if she's ready to go. I'm on a mission here. And Rebecca says I'll go. I'm out of here. Now, that's the way it is today. People are trying to detain the Holy Spirit. God doesn't want that. He's only interested in getting the bride and the bridegroom together. And our eyes are to be on the bridegroom. Not on Eleazar. But on the bridegroom. Who's waiting patiently. He's never been married before. He'll never be married again. This is a one time thing. And boy, God has made sure that she is perfect. Don't ever go flirting. Once you start toward Christ, God is looking to see if you're going to be a worthy helpmate. Don't forget that. He doesn't want some bride that's got one eye on him and one eye on somebody else. Or something else. Or some other situation. The Father will not permit that. This is a bride, the counterpart, the extension of His Son. She's coming into the royal family. And boy, she is a select person. So, you can lose the first blush. Don't do it. Once you come to Christ, you make sure you never turn back. Because you read, study Song of Solomon, the sixth chapter. There's all kinds of queens and concubines floating all over the place. Solomon getting his shekels and everything else. My love, whatever it is. The only one of her mother. She's called out from the churches and everything else. The religious, Solomon stands for religious. She's called out of religion. She's called out of everything. She's pure as the moon and the sun. And she's very warlike. Terrible as an army with banners. Maybe we better look at that. Song of Songs, sixth chapter. For those of you that are looking for it, it's in the plum middle of your Bible. Because it tells of the love of Christ for His bride. And that's why it's right smack dab in the middle of the Bible. Get the same number of pages on each side and you'll be at the Song. Okay, look at, scroll down. Now, do you see that? Sixty queens there may be and eighty concubines and virgins beyond number. They're all over the place. In religion, there's women all over the place. I'm speaking spiritually now. I'm not talking about physical women. But my dove, my perfect one is unique. So people understand there's a church within the church. There's a church within the churches. And the promises to the overcomer in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 are a love letter to this lady here. The only daughter of her mother, the favor of the one who bore her. The maiden saw her, called her blessed. The queens and concubines praised her. Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession. Scroll down. There, there, that's what I want. Come back, come back, O Shulamite, come back, that we may gaze on you. Why would we gaze on you, on the Shulamite, as on the dance of Mahanaim? That's how it's pronounced. Mahanaim. And it means, you'll see it back in Genesis, where Jacob, after all of his fooling around with Laban, came out on his way back to his own land. He met, he came to Mahanaim. And you see it in, though not in that Hebrew term, you see it in Joshua, where the army of Israel came and they met the leader of another army. And Mahanaim means two armies, or a double camp. And it's the army of saints, who are judges, and the army of angels, who fight the battles. And I like what Rotherham says, he says, instead of calling it the dance of Mahanaim, he calls it the dance of a double camp. And that's what this firstfruits, that God is calling out now, that's why I tell you it's so important, because the rest of the churches, in the days that are coming, when we have this communication skin, and we have the UN telling us what we can do and what we can't do, and everything, when we have this, the average church life that we're in will not serve. But there will be numerous churches, but they'll be supported by the government, as in China today, and most Christian people in America are so soft, that's probably where they'll go, because not to, is to lose your ability to live in any decent manner, unless God protects you in the wilderness. Now, this firstfruits of the church is getting ready today. I mean, they're not bemused by the American way of life and all involved in the things of America, which can consume 100% of your time if you allow it to. They're not consumed like that. They're getting ready. They're getting ready for what is coming. They're learning war, because the Lord is speaking about war. They're becoming beautiful. They're becoming pure as the sun. What do they say, like the stars? Majestic as the stars in procession. We're talking about this, that Christ is developing all over the world. In this church and that church, there's one and two and four and six and whatever. In the meanwhile, the church organizations go on, assuming they know what's happening. They don't have a clue, because it's done in the hearts of people that God is calling. And they either respond, or they figure, well, later. And that's to lose it. You have to grasp it. You have to keep at it. I haven't had it now for a long time. I'm still at it. Man, you can't let a day go by. You spend one day fooling around at a party, or doing something else, you can set yourself back five years. I don't mean you necessarily will, but you run that risk, because Satan's all the time looking, looking, looking, looking. All he needs is... I'm not saying you should never have a time to relax. You've got to, or you'll crack up. I'm not saying you shouldn't do things that are pleasant. I'm not intimating that. I'm saying when you do, make sure that God is with you. Man, American Christians go out, waste time, play golf, do whatever they want to. Act just like they had good sense. They don't understand what's going on. You say, why do you get excited? Because it's an excitable thing. It's the only significant thing in the world today, relatively speaking, is this that's coming out of the churches. This unique one. And he said, why would you look at it? The whole Song of Solomon is symbolic. There's tremendous meaning in it. All right, now we're back to John 14. Thanks, boy, you got onto a song quicker than I thought. All right, the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. And that's where we come into trouble at the UN. Once they get access to the American way of life, they don't understand the Holy Spirit. They don't understand a thing about it. And they're very suspect. Jesus they understand. He died, He's a man, He lived, He's a carpenter, He died for our sins. But what do they know about the Holy Spirit? Because the whole world is a lie, and the Holy Spirit is the truth. The world cannot accept Him, it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him for it. Now notice the two different prepositions here. With and in. He lives with you, and will be in you. See that? Now God's kingdom is both in us, and will be with us. It will have an internal dimension, and an external dimension. The internal is the most important, and comes first. Without the internal, you cannot have the external. Now why am I emphasizing that? Because today, everything in evangelical preaching is external. The rapture is external to us. Going to heaven is external. Mansions are external. They expect to be with the Lord in heaven, walking around, external. That's all they can grasp is the external. Not realizing that the main thing, and the most important, first and significant aspect of the kingdom, is that is the internal. And the coming of the internal into you necessitates the changing of a will-driven life to a life in which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit sit on the throne within you, and when you're ready, you with them, and among you, your life is operated. It isn't the case that you become a puppet, or some kind of an empty skin in which God lives. He only will dwell in there with your absolute cooperation. Now people miss this. They think what he's talking about is passivity in which I wait till God moves me. He will not do that. You have to invite him in. You have to reciprocate and interact with him continually, and at first he has to do most of it, but gradually he'll let you back on the throne of your own life. And that's what he wants. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and you in a body that can be the chariot of God. Revelation 3.21 They say that's a high calling. It is the highest. You will never go any higher than that. That is it. That's the omega of salvation. And God is giving it to us today because we are coming close to the UN. Because we are coming to unprecedented international government and unprecedented communication. And so God is giving us the fullness today if we've got time enough to think about it. Alright. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit What's the preposition? With. With me on my throne just as I overcame and have sat down with my Father on His throne. Now, it is true that Jesus Christ and we are with God on His throne. It is also true that God is on the throne in Jesus and Jesus and God are on the throne in us and we with them. Colossians 3.1 Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Because we have been raised with Christ. Verse 3. You died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. So we are in Christ at the right hand of God. Okay. Now we want second Thessalonians 1.10 Okay. On the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have belief on that day Christ will be with us He will appear with us That's the one I wanted was Colossians 3.4 Don't get it just yet. How many see that in the day of Christ appearing He will be in us? Do you see it? Is there anyone who can't see that? Alright, now Colossians 3.4 That's the one I wanted. I want to show you the in and the with that is coming. He's going to appear in us. That's the internal kingdom. And with us, that's the external kingdom. The external kingdom makes no demands on you. You can see it. You'll see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sitting down in the kingdom. You can see it. You can see it probably while you're in the outer darkness. But you can't be part of it. Now, Colossians 3.4 Then you will appear with Him. How many see that? Do you see in Thessalonians it was in Him? And now it's with Him. In Him. Now picture to yourself. Think of your own self. Which is going to make the most demands on you? To be with Christ or to have Christ in you? Oh yeah. There's no demands on you to have Christ with you. You can come in the room right now and stand next to us. There's no demands. The demands are His setting up His kingdom in you. That is what it's all about today. That's why the rapture and mansions and all this is a spur track. Because that's not where the kingdom is. The kingdom is in us and will be revealed to the world through us. So, when we're looking to go to heaven, see, we're looking to go to the external. And that's why it's so innovating. Because we think, oh, someday I'll be raptured or I'll die and I'll go to heaven. That won't accomplish a thing. Not one thing. For you. Except to get you out of the miseries of life. But as far as God's kingdom, not one thing will be accomplished by dying. It's only accomplished as you come to Jesus Christ in faith and do what He says. There's nothing that will accrue to you just by juxtaposition, just by being next to Him. The work is within you. And it's being done now with us. Most people in the world don't have a clue. There are many people who do. We're not the only church that God is moving. I don't imply that. But you know Him for He lives with you and will be in you. Verse 18 is it? I will not leave you as orphans. He's not talking here about the Holy Spirit. No, He's talking about Himself. Thou. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Before long the world will not see me anymore. But you will see me. He's not talking about the Holy Spirit here. He's talking about Himself. Because I live, you also will live. We live by His life. Audrey was telling me about someone she read about A kidney that was donated to a man's wife. And he lived for 30 more years and the kidney worked perfectly in his wife. And he died two days later, the kidney failed. Huh? Oh, it was her father. Her father. He died and the kidney failed. And we were thinking about that. Could there be a connection? There's connections in this world we have no idea. You take a carrier pigeon. It can be 60, 100 miles from where it's going. It goes up in circles and then BANG! It goes to where it's supposed to go. It doesn't go by smell. How does it go? We don't know. There's so much we don't know. What animals know before an earthquake is going to hit and so on. We just don't know. And so I think that that kidney, all the while the father lived, was relating to the father. When he died, the kidney died. Maybe not. But we live because He lives. By His life. And if we do, if we're really living because He lives, and that means abiding in Him at all times, then we are indestructible. And we don't have to worry about being destroyed in the coming things. We don't have to be because to overcome us, Satan would have to overcome Christ because we live by His life. Now that just doesn't mean you took the four steps of salvation. This is talking about today. Are you living by His life today? Or are you living in the flesh? That's it. Alright? Before long you will see me because I live on that day. Now that day is referring to the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord is the day when everything is put down. It's in Isaiah chapter 2. And the day of the Lord, starting with verse 12. When you see the expression in Isaiah, in that day, Jesus is referring in that day. That day is the day of the Lord. The day with a capital D. In that day, the Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty and all the oaks of Bishan. And that means that if you are stuck on yourself and proud, you will be brought down in the day of the Lord. Every mountain will be brought down. All towering mountains and all the high hills, that's referring to government. Every government will be brought down in the day of the Lord. Every trading ship and every stately vessel is referring to commerce. Commerce will be brought down. See, today our country is built on commerce, built on a cash flow. No more. No more. The arrogance of man will be brought low. And the pride of men, humble. The Lord alone. Now this is the key to that day. When he says, in that day, you want to know when you've come to that day, on that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am you. That day is the day when everything in your life has been brought down under the feet of Christ. When that is true, you will come to know the Father and the Son. He will be exalted in your life. Okay? The Lord alone will be exalted in your life and the idols, and that's what I told you, whenever God comes across your will and you have a struggle with it, that's an idol. That's something that you're worshiping without realizing it. You should be and I should be in the place where everything, every relationship, and every circumstance is on the altar of God to the place that if God took it, you would go on your way without being crushed. Remember, Gio and Jana, build your marriage on the Lord. I'm not talking nice church talk. I mean, picture a triangle like that. Okay, God's up here. Gio's here. Jana's here. This is the way you love your husband, Jana. Not this way. This way. And you love Jana up through God and down. If you don't, she'll become an idol or he will become an idol and God will have to deal with the situation. He will have no idols. You want your marriage to be long and lasting? Establish it in Christ before you establish it with one another so that you're related through Jesus Christ. You want a marriage to last, that's the way it will last. Otherwise, you'll get on each other's nerves interminably. That's why Paul says that you'll have trouble in the flesh because, and the same way you have a child, think of the triangle. You don't relate to the child this way. You relate to the child, up to God and down. And then if God sees it's in his will to take that child, for some reason best known to God for that child and for everybody concerned, you don't go to pieces. If you do, you've got an idol going. I know it's hard. I know what I'm talking about. It's hard. Of course it's hard. But it's well worth the effort to cultivate that and not to get too engrossed with anything, relationship or circumstance in this world because all of it is dust. And Satan was condemned to eat it. That's why he zappers all the time because we're dust. The only thing in the world that has eternal significance is Jesus Christ and the part of you that is of Jesus Christ. Everything else is dust. And the only thing that you are to desire is what God makes desirable to you. If God has not made it desirable to you, then it's an idol. God works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. Everything else is dust. And that's why Paul, referring to his whole life, his background as a Jew, all of the constant, everything said, it is garbage. I said dust, which is better. The two, I'd rather have dust. Paul said garbage or dung, whatever he said. I want Christ. That seems like a high step and hard to do. But it's like anything else of value. It's well worth working on. Because God will not have idols in you. See, the idols He shall utterly abolish. And the way He does that is by getting into your life and looking for the things that you're related to but that are not related to through Him. And He doesn't want that. He wants to be your God. And He doesn't want anyone else up there with Him. He wants everything. He wants... That'll give you peace in your marriage. It'll make it last. It'll give you peace with your children. Then if they get mortally ill or something, you won't go screaming mad. Just say, OK, Lord, give me the grace to go through this and teach me what I should do. Mike Job says, God gives, God takes away. God is God. The dust I am to the dust I will return. And see, Satan is condemned to eat dust. We're not. Except as Satan is in us. Then we condemn ourselves to eat dust. That is to be totally engrossed in the things of the flesh. And that's a bondage. That's not liberty. The only freedom there is is slavery to Jesus Christ. There is no other liberty. Just slavery to Jesus Christ. This world is dust. And the wicked are condemned to eat it. They can't help themselves. Satan cannot help his lusts. He couldn't stop murdering, lying, lusting. He's trapped. And so are we. Until Jesus defeats him in us. We're dust eaters. Isn't this so? Doesn't sound very romantic, does it? The idols. But I see the older saints nodding sagely. Men will flee to caves and the rocks and holes in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of His Majesty when He arises to shake the earth. And that day men will throw away to the rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold. And that's what all the Krugerrands and all the gold that's laid up as a hedge against Y2K I'll tell you where it's going to go. Because it's no good. When the Lamb appears in the sky men will cry out to the rocks and the mountains hide us from the face of the Lamb. Money can't touch God. God can't protect you in that day. Their idols of gold is a throne. You have to remark on the fact that Judas threw 30 pieces of silver down. That was a lot of money. That was enough to buy a real estate. He threw it down. Guess what? The priest went around scrambled and picked it up. I'd like to have seen that. And Judas went out and hung himself and the priest took it and said what do we do with blood money? So they went and bought a field to bury strangers in. Pottersfield. Can you imagine the priest scurrying around getting under the chairs with all their turbans on and their robes and everything and all their wonderful adornments of the priesthood of Israel and here they are down on their hands and he's picking up these 30 pieces of silver. But Judas threw them to the moles of the bats because he knew then that they were worthless. They couldn't save him. He was the son of perdition. And that's when the lamb appears. See, the terrible thing is if it was a lion that would appear it wouldn't be so bad. But an angry lamb. Too much. Imagine them crying will this mountain will you please fall on me? People have got to be pretty desperate to pray like that. We're talking about reality. This is going to happen. And God wants us prepared. Okay? Looks like we're pretty close to it. Okay. Shall we stand? Hallelujah. Praise your name. Father in the name of Jesus. Lord, we know what was said is true. It's biblical and it's factual. We know that we're living in a fool's paradise in a dream world here in America at this time. We read the paper. We cannot comprehend what is happening to other people in the world. We cannot comprehend the significance of the technology or the United Nations or all the scheming that's going on that we don't even know about. We're not allowed to see on our sanitized news. But yet Lord, we know it's true. And we know that this life is not a bed of roses. We know we're not put here to be happy but to learn righteousness and the fear of God. Now Father, arrest us. Do something Lord, lest we should fritter away these so very important moments in which we are living. Arrest us Lord. God, don't let us be bemused and thus miss our destiny. But help us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Oh God, help us to obey your commandments. We are all commended to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Now Lord, we don't want to be part of the backslidden churches. But we want to serve you Lord and do your will that we may serve our generation by the will of God. And that we may hear well done, good and faithful servant and not be rebuked because we were Americans who wasted our time. Jesus, help us Lord. Help us. We're asking for help for us and all the members of our church and all Christians everywhere Lord, that you'll do something in our country to wake us up and we'll see the reality of life. Realize that Satan has given us the impression that the world is our friend instead of realizing it is cutting us to pieces and destroying our spiritual life. Now Lord, we need help tonight. We're a needy people and the people of our church are needy. Other people are needy. We all are needy Lord. We need you to come and wake us up Lord so that we do not be found among those who were foolish in the day of harvest. God, help us to serve the King. Now Lord, we want to know your commandments. We want to know them. We want to do them. We need help to do them. And we want to be aware at every instance of the gravity of Calvary, of the world today, and of what we're doing. You put us as watchmen on the wall Lord and I know we're going to be accountable for the blood of multitudes if we waste this time. So help each one of us Lord to do what it is we are to do, to do it with grace and peace and love and joy in your presence and strict attention to your will. We thank you. Now keep us safe on the highway Lord. We're coming into a holiday season and it will be a drunken orgy in our country. People, even Christians, forsaking God and stuffing themselves and not giving a thought to what they're doing. Now keep us Lord as soldiers, not entangled. Keep us safe and bless our homes. We pray in Jesus' name and thank you Lord. Amen.