In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of visualizing and seeing the teachings of the Bible in order to remember and apply them better. They use a chart to explain the concept and make it easier for the audience to understand. The sermon also touches on the topic of gratitude and the need to give thanks for the provisions and blessings that God has given. The speaker mentions the Nine Graces of Galatians, but does not elaborate on them.

As usual, Noreen talks about thanks. And we'll find out by the time we get done this morning that there is a great deal of area in our life where we need to really give thanks. And by the time we're all finished this morning, I trust that our hearts will be filled to overflowing with what the Lord Jesus has done for us and all of the provision He has made for us. He has set before us a banquet table. And He says, come eat. And so many times, you know, we don't do what He has provided for us. And He has provided a great banquet table for us. And I trust this morning that we will be able to go to that table and say, Oh, Father, I thank You for the spread on that table. One of the ladies, too, said that wouldn't it be nice if the Lord put it upon the hearts of the ladies in Grand Prairie? Not Grand Rapids today. That perhaps once a month or once every two months or something, that the ladies of all of the churches should come together in fashion and be led in God's Word, a time of sharing and a time of growing. Wouldn't that be nice? And all we can say is if that is in God's mind for Grand Prairie, He will put it on the hearts of some of the ladies of Grand Prairie. You have become our team. And we are all working for the same Master. So let's be sensitive to what He's saying to us these days, right? So we're really excited about that. And this is about the 2, 4, 6, 7th time we've been together. And it's just been exciting, ladies. It's been exciting one morning after another. And I feel that God has talked to all of us. I didn't bring my circle this morning. But that does not mean that God's not going to be talking to me this morning. Because you know God is always talking to us and making us grow. And we're so thankful for that. And, oh, Mike, we never get the idea that we have arrived. But God continues to talk to us. And I'm so excited about that again this morning. All right, let's just have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, so often we feel just like Moses. We kind of bristle against the fact that, oh, Father, we are just not capable to handle Your Word. But, Father, You just said that we are to be available and that we are to be tools. And so this morning we handle carefully Your Word. And all that I ask this morning is, Lord, the things that are not to be said will go unheeded. But, Father, Your Word will be lodged in the heart of every one of us this morning. And if it's lodged in our hearts, Lord, then You are the one that will bring the harvest. Lord, we can't be, but You bring the harvest. The harvest all around us is ripe. And, Father, even in our room here this morning, there's a great harvest. And we thank You this morning that You have given us the privilege and the opportunity to share Your Word with our sisters all over the place, and especially here again this morning. Father, You have given us an opening in these days to share our lives, to share our testimony. Oh, how long we have put a bushel over our candle. And the little song says, hide it under a bushel? No. And so I pray this morning that even in these days, it's only a beginning for us to let our light shine just the way You want it to shine, dear Father. Father, we just thank You again for what You're going to do. We thank You for Your faithfulness day by day. In Jesus' name, amen. I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to you ladies again for hanging in here, for coming so faithfully, for working in the nursery so faithfully, for bringing the coffee and the refreshments so faithfully. God bless you, and may He reward you greatly. It's much appreciated. Thank Noreen and the girls for every day so faithfully taking care of these things. Sometimes it falls on our shoulders and we have to do it, and you know it's very difficult since we don't know the ladies in the area. But I just want to thank the girls, especially this morning, that God has put you in the place and used you, and that perhaps in days to come, we'll have a greater door of opening for this area. That is our prayer this morning. Well, when we were in Tucson last fall, my husband has done this teaching in effect. But last fall, when we were in Tucson, the Lord led me to reaffirm this study done just a little bit differently than my husband has done it. But all of the ladies said we needed that reaffirming. And so this morning, no matter what I tried to say, I was going to bring a topic on why we can't forgive and the circle of forgiveness and freedom. And somehow I always went back to this, remembering what the ladies in Tucson said. We are so glad that one more time you showed this to us so we can understand. And when we're finished, I'm going to give to you sheets, copies of this, so you can take it home. And the prime reason for that is that in days to come, you can refer to it. And if you have difficulty, doubts or questions in your Christian life, you can refer to it and say, I know exactly where I am. I know exactly what to do. For aren't all of us interested in the pattern of victory for our personal lives? And I think that's why we're here this morning. Each one of us is interested to be able to say, I know how it is to walk in victory in my personal lives. And when we're done this morning, I'm going to give opportunity again to share. And I trust this morning that you will take that opportunity to share with us again what God is doing and continuing to do in your hearts and in your lives. That's so refreshing to all of us, so we thank you for that. So anyway, we'll go on then in that each one of us is interested in personal revival and each one of us wants to have victory in our own hearts and lives. And that's why we're going to talk about that this morning. Now, for the ladies that were in Sexsmith, I did this in Sexsmith. But I trust that I always say that in a Bible study, repetition is good. Because if we repeat sometimes the things that we learned the last week, it helps us to remember. If you are like I am, I have to hear it several times, many times, before it really grips me. And so I trust this morning for you ladies from Sexsmith that you will learn more and catch more and probably will be done even just a little bit different than it was out there. But we have to remember that there is a pattern in God's Word for us to have personal victory in our Christian lives. And that basically is to walk in personal revival. And you know, then we don't have to frustrate so much and say, I am praying for a great outpouring. First of all, we are going to be in a position where we say, Lord, I want personal revival in my own heart and life and then let God prepare our hearts. One young man came up to me last night and I was so excited to hear this. A relatively young Christian. And I have been watching him in these days. I have been watching him. And you know, there's a spark in his life. He's a tall fellow. And you know, he came up to me last night and he said, you know, he said, I just feel like I am right now ready to know what it is to walk in revival. And I said, praise the Lord. That's what we trust and pray. It will be in all of your hearts and lives that after these days and after these three weeks you can say, I feel like I am just now ready to start walking in personal revival. And that I can know victory in my own life. And that God does have a pattern for me to walk in victory. That God has not put us out and let us go on our own. That He does have a pattern. And quickly we are going to go through that pattern and then afterwards we will pass out the little copies of this and you can work with it yourself. Well, to begin with, I always have to take this off too much, I guess. To begin with, this is not going to be hard. It's very simple. Perhaps you have done this many times. The reason I have put it on chart is sometimes it's so hard to explain to women what I'm trying to say. So I thought, I'm going to make a chart and as I share this, I will let them watch what it is. And this pattern that you will be seeing this morning, you may well already have done in your lives many times. But this morning I trust it will be a strengthening process for you. And say, Lord, I understand better now because I see. They tell me that once you see, you remember a whole lot better than if you keep hearing. So this morning as you hear something that you may have heard before, but as you see it and as you refer to it later, I want it to be a pattern in your life for personal victory. Not for these three weeks, but from here on in. Forever. Until you see Jesus. That's what it's all about. And so we deal with the three S's, which you have seen a number of times during this crusade again. But we deal with the three S's. First of all, we're going to talk about the sin. I think all of you can see this. I have walked around and I think you'll all be able to see it quite well. And we will start right here. What is sin? Forgiveness and cleansing. First of all, I want to say that many times we don't understand forgiveness. We have a lot of ladies say that I can't forgive myself for certain things. But the reason they can't forgive themselves is because they don't understand divine forgiveness. And now before we move on, I wanted to say this. That this morning we are not going to deal with specific sins. We're not going to deal with the sin of anger, the sin of dishonesty, or whatever. Today the theme will be the problem of a defeated Christian life. How many of you in the past year have felt so defeated in your Christian life? And you've felt it so many times. I feel so defeated and the word victory for my Christian life is hardly ever around. And you get to the place sometimes you say, I want to give up. How many of us have been to that place? And you know, girls, it doesn't have to be anymore. Yes, there are times of difficulty. But there is an answer. So this morning, remember, it's not picking at any sin in your life. It's picking over the whole thing that I as a Christian woman have been defeated too many times. And I have not known victory. Very little victory and sometimes none. But you know, we must be convinced of one thing. Can I say it again? We must be convinced in our hearts of one thing. And that victory for you and me as a Christian is possible and available. God has made it possible and he has made it available. So he never intended for us as Christians to be defeated. God has made victory possible and we will see the pattern this morning. So we must understand that personal victory is not only freedom from our sin, but freedom from our selfishness and from our bondages. So it is for us then to find out what is the root cause of our defeated Christian life. And unless we find out the root cause, we will be up and down, in and out, warm and cold, just like a yoyo. Our Christian life is constantly bouncing. And then after a while we say, I am so tired. I feel like giving up. And then God says, I have a pattern for you. And I want to show you the pattern so that you can walk in personal victory. So then I think probably I hear some of you say, yes, that's true in my life. Yes, I have been up and down, in and out, warm and cold, really on fire one day and down the next day. And we are going by our feelings, bouncing with our feelings. And you know, our feelings will bounce. If it is cold outside, it is going to be different. Our feelings will be different. If it is hot outside, our feelings are going to be different. If someone has crossed our path, our feelings are going to be different. And our feelings are always bouncing up and down. But this morning we want to know that God has a firm pattern fixed for our victory. It does not depend on our feelings. It depends on what God's Word says to us. So let's move on then. And remember that there is both the possibility and the availability of victory for the Christian woman. That's good news, isn't it? That's good news. Last night he said, where there is conflict, there must be a conflict in order to have a victory. There must be a conflict in order to have a victory, right? And so if there is a conflict in your life, praise the Lord because He has the victory for you in it. And when you walk through the victory, then you will grow and your faith will be expanded. Well, forgiveness. The author of forgiveness is God. He is the author of forgiveness. No one else can forgive. Forgiveness is not man-made. God is the author of forgiveness. And since we have broken His law, then it is only He who can forgive us. You know, I can forgive you for breaking my china cup or smashing my car. But only God can forgive us of our sins. How awful it is to go through life always wondering, am I forgiven? Has God really forgiven me? Am I really forgiven? And we go back time and again and say, oh God, I've asked you to forgive me so many times for the same thing. God, did you really forgive me? He is the author of forgiveness. He has forgiven us once and for all. And I think the time has come this morning, ladies, for every heart in here this morning, to say once and for all this morning, I am going to believe God that He has forgiven me, period. Signed, sealed, and settled. In Luke 23, 24, He says, Father, forgive them. He didn't say forgive them for part of the things, but He said, Father, forgive them. And when He said it is finished, it was finished. Did you know that forgiveness was a very personal blessing? Father, I am forgiven. Before I even deserve it, I am already forgiven. Did you know that forgiveness was a priceless blessing? A priceless blessing? Did you know that forgiveness was a permanent blessing? It is a personal blessing, a priceless blessing, and a permanent blessing. Forgiveness is a permanent blessing. So when you know this morning that God has forgiven you, you cannot come back tomorrow morning and say, God, have you forgiven me? He said it is permanent. Believe Him. Believe Him. Psalm 103 says, As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed His sins from you. Forgiveness is a permanent blessing. It's yours. Take it. Have you taken it? If you have never taken it, for sure, forever, settle it this morning and say, forgiveness is mine. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. And the poem says this way, God said, I will cast into the depth of the fathomless sea all your sins and transgressions, whatever they be. Though they mount up to heaven, though they reach down to hell, they shall sink in the depths, and above them shall swell all My waves of forgiveness, so mighty and free. God said, I will cast all your sins in the depths of the sea, in the deep, silent depths, far away from the shore, where they never can rise to trouble you more, where no far-reaching tide with its powerful sweep can stir the dark waters of forgetfulness deep. God said, I have buried them there, where no mortal can see. I have cast all your sins in the depths of the sea. P.S. And He says, no fishing allowed. Isn't that great? No fishing allowed. And if He said it, do we believe it? You know, so often we don't believe His word. Isaiah says, for thou hast cast all my sins behind your back forever. Now tell me, how many of you are guilty this morning of coming to God over and over again and asking Him to forgive you over and over again for the same, same, same, same, same, same thing? I think all of us. But if I can get anything across this morning, say, God is the author of divine forgiveness, believe that He has forgiven us once and for all, and don't keep asking Him all the time to forgive you for the same thing. So it is high time for us to go back to the cross where He shed His precious blood for all sin and linger there until once for all, forever, we accept His divine forgiveness. Do you know what someone has said? Forgiveness is something I do for myself. The fruit of forgiveness is freedom. Freedom from the bondages of all my sin and freedom from defeat. And so, once we understand forgiveness, then we'll come in the cleansing. And God has made cleansing for our sin possible and available again. So God has made all the provision needed. Sin needs to be forgiven, and if God has forgiven me, then I have no reason not to forgive myself or others. So forgiveness, the provision for forgiveness is made, and the cleansing is there, and because of the forgiveness and the cleansing, we can have a cleansed life. Right? So, God says in Mark 2.5, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. And then comes cleansing. Who but God can cleanse? For the psalmist says this, Cleanse thou me from secret faults and keep me from presumptuous sin. After we understand forgiveness, then comes the emptying process, and we understand that God can only work through a vessel that is forgiven and emptied and cleansed. Right? And so, no sin is bad enough to permanently disrupt or destroy my relationship to God. And you know this other thing? Remember this. God does not require a golden vessel, nor even an empty vessel, but He requires a cleansed vessel. You know, our lives are a vessel. He does not require a golden vessel or a silver vessel, but He must have a cleansed vessel so He can fill us. Fill us. Cleanse from the core to the circumference. You remember? God's people were met with an overwhelming defeat when there was sin in the camp. When Achan had sinned, and God had to deal with the sin from the inside of the camp to the outside of the camp. And then, when the camp was once again cleansed of the sin, and then, guess what? Then, there was victory. God works the same way in our own hearts and lives, that when we are cleansed from within, and once again, taking care of the hidden things in our hearts and lives as was in the camp when Achan had sinned, God withdrew His blessing and victory when there was sin in the camp. I like to think of that in our own lives. God withdraws His blessing and victory from our own lives if there is a hidden thing in my camp. Right? And then, when we are reminded, God said to Joshua, get up off your knee, find the sin, take care of it so that I can fight your battles. And so many times we are in defeat and we know no victory is because we have blocked. And there is the Babylonish garment in my heart, or the wedge of gold, that God said, don't take it. And Achan thought he could get away with it. And God withdrew His blessing. There was no victory. They just had come through a tremendous victory. And because of the small thing within the heart of Achan in the family, God withdrew and they were in great defeat. They went out to try to fight against Ai and they lost. After coming through a great victory, they had a great defeat. Because within their hearts, there was sin. There was a hidden thing. And so God is saying, you are forgiven. And then after you are forgiven and you understand how you are forgiven, there is a cleansing process that God requires. And so the blood of Christ alone provides the necessary remedy for forgiveness and cleansing. Forgiveness and cleansing of all of our sins produces a cleansed life, but only, absolutely only, because of the blood of Christ. Nothing I can make. Nothing I can dream up. But all of this pattern, all of this provision is here only because He has already given me the pattern. Hebrews 9.22 Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. But we are forgiven and cleansed through the offering of the body of the Lord Jesus once for all. After He has offered one sacrifice for sins forever, He sat down on the right hand of God. And do you know what, ladies? That's where He is today. He is sitting there today. The blood was shed for our sin and He has offered it once for all. It's finished. Never to be offered again. Never to be sacrificed again. It is finished. It is there for us to take. And so the basis then of, so the basis of forgiveness and the basis of cleansing and the basis of the cleansed life is the shed blood of Christ. And when He shed His blood there, He said, it is finished. You are all forgiven. The plan of redemption is done. That's it. Ephesians 1.7 says, In whom we have the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to His riches, to the riches of His grace. If I were up to it, I would have taught you all a chorus here this morning. If I had time, I would have gotten Marlene on the side and we would have just learned that chorus. But Roy Hischen sings a chorus before he preaches. Roy Hischen who preaches in our Crusades on occasion on our weekends. And God gave him a chorus before he preached the message. And it was this, It is surely sufficient for me. It is surely sufficient for me. If the blood of Christ is sufficient for God, is it surely sufficient for me? You say, my sin is so repeated and so much. But ladies, if the blood of Christ was sufficient for God, who are you, who am I, to say that it's not sufficient for us? It is surely sufficient for me. I hope one of these nights that we will sing that chorus. It is surely sufficient for me. If the blood of Christ is sufficient for God, it is surely sufficient for me. Sufficient in every area of my life. I'm going to have you girls join with me this morning and read different scriptures that I've given you because after all, I don't have to do all the talking. I like when we interact. I like when you share. I like when you read because then we are sort of doing it together. And so this morning, how sufficient is the blood of Christ? We're going to look just exactly how sufficient it is. Someone has 1 John 1.7. Sufficient for all the cleansing of sin. And what does he say we should do? What is the provision? The pattern is this. Let's see what someone has. 1 John 1.7. How much sin? Who said it? God said it. If the blood of Christ is sufficient for God, it is surely sufficient for sin. And so that provision is made that all sin is taken care of because of the blood. But what must we do? Someone read 1 John 1.9. What are the first five words of the verse? Okay. I have that in the back of my Bible that when I deal with people, I say there are two parts to that verse. The first five words are for me and all the rest is for God. All the rest is for God. If we confess our sins. So that is for me. God has already started and made the provision. Step 1. Step 1 is there. Step 2 is for me. If we confess our sins, then He does all the rest. You see, we are not machines or robots. God asks us to come to Him and asks us to accept the forgiveness that He has provided for us. Someone has Proverbs 28.13, I believe. The covering of sin brings what? Can anyone tell me? If I keep covering my sin, what does it bring? The opposite of defeat. Defeat. To cover our sin brings spiritual defeat and offers no pattern for spiritual victory. The only way to forgiveness and cleansing is to deal with our sin. And I think we've heard that in these days already, that if we lift up the corner of the carpet and sweep our sin under there, God cannot forgive covered sin. We need to bring it out. So we need to confess our sin. For he that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. The psalmist says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Have your prayers bounced from the ceiling? How many times? Oh, how many times we go to the Lord and we pray and we feel that our prayers are going just that high and they fall right back down. And the psalmist David said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, if I allow sin in my heart, the Lord won't hear me. But God has a pattern for that too. That is included in His pattern. This verse is so simple that all of us can understand it. But you know, when it comes to our confession, the confession of our sins, so many times in days gone by, we have had sort of a band-aid kind of a confession, right? Just over the top. But God is saying in these days, if we have a band-aid confession, ladies, we are going to have a band-aid victory. Right? But if our confession is true according to what God wants us to do, we will have victory in our hearts and lives. The provision is there. So the psalmist David gives God the green light. He says, God, you search me. There is no point in my saying, Lord, what is there in here yet and start pulling myself apart. That brings defeat too. But God is so kind and He is so gentle and He will search us. He does the searching. And if there are areas in your lives, He will do the searching. You know, we always talk about sins of commission on the outside. And I just mentioned a few. I'm going to mention just a few of the sins of omission in our lives, which so very often we don't think about. But nevertheless, there are sins too. And one of them is by not loving God totally and putting someone or something ahead of God. That is a sin too because we are to love Him supremely. And then I think Marilyn touched on that or Noreen or one of you did this morning. We can read the Word, but we can read it carelessly. We can sing, but we can sing carelessly. And I was just thinking this morning when she was leading the choruses. It is so easy for us to sing from here up. But you know, it's true. The second time we sing it again, we say, Lord, don't let me sing it from here up. But Lord, let me sing it from the innermost being of my heart. And it makes a difference. And it does create praise. How many times on a Sunday morning have you sat? We call it a worship service in our churches and everybody's mind is wondering every which way and we're singing the words and our hearts are far, far from the Lord. And we do call it a worship service. And God said, Ah, that's not worship. That's not worship. You know, when we worship Him, we shut ourselves in with Him and our hearts are in tune with Him. And then He brings the spontaneous worship within our hearts that we can't help but overflow. That when we do speak, that when we do sing, He is overflowing. Like John says, and out of the abundance of our hearts flows the living water. It's not the water that I fetch out of a broken cistern, but it's His water that flows through my life. Oh, I tell you, how often I sit in our Sunday morning service at home with about 700 people and I say, Oh, Father, Oh, Father, teach us to worship. You know, we have such a full schedule on the bulletin. And God is set aside and we call it a worship service and we don't worship Him. And so ladies, if the platform isn't made in our church, we still have a pattern. God still has a pattern. And when you're alone at home in your worship time, you can have your own altar at home. I do. And you know, I don't know if you are like I am, and I think I mentioned that to one of the ladies these days already. I am very easily distracted. And so when I spend time with the Lord and reading His Word and praying, I put a washcloth over my face. I shut myself out. I shut myself out. I look at this and I look at that and my mind thinks I need to do this and I need to do that. And I close my bedroom door so that if the phone rings, I shouldn't hear it. But you know, God wants a little bit of our attention, all of it. He wants us to worship Him. And you know, even though we don't, we can have a beautiful time of worship in our own hearts and in our own homes. And then, you know, that overflowing praise runs over onto those with whom we come in contact with. And you say you must be very easily distracted because you have to put a washcloth over your face. Well, you know, I thought I had a real bad back problem. And the only way I could get relief from my back is I had to do the knee chest, right? Like the mothers have to do after the baby is born. Get down on your knees and put your chest on the floor. Well, that gave the release to my backache. And I found that the absolute best time to have time of prayer and worship. It was just really great. God taught me something. Really taught me something. You know, to get down before Him just in the low situation and say, Oh, Father, what a good position to be in just to be able to let You talk to me. And you know, also, that's true. We can learn to worship. We can learn to let Him talk to us. And then, let the song and the words flow out. And you know, even on a Sunday morning when the songs are chosen in the church, you know, you can shut yourself in. You can shut yourself in. You can close your eyes. And you know, if everybody else isn't, you can shut yourself in with the Lord and say, Oh, God, what a short time we have here together and worship You. So anyway, God has made the provision. Someone has 2 Corinthians 7.10. Yes. For what kind of sorrow? What kind of sorrow? Right. Right. And I think when God says, For godly sorrow worketh repentance. And my heart would say too if people respond to an invitation, I trust it will be a godly repentance and a godly sorrow. Repentance like confession must be complete and for the right reason. Why do we respond to God's call? Is it a godly sorrow for our sin? I wonder sometimes if we respond to God because it's going to make life a bit easier for us. I wonder sometimes if we as wives want our husbands to become Christians and the leader of our homes, it's going to be easier for us. I wonder sometimes if our motives are just a little bit off. And you know, God talks here about godly sorrow and true repentance toward God. Could we say that if our repentance is not godly and it becomes a selfish kind of a repentance and out of that kind of a selfish kind of repentance we will know very little victory because God has provided a way and if we do not have a godly sorrow we are spurning the provision that God has already made. So godly sorrow includes the sin of understanding the consequences of sin. Godly sorrow includes, means a complete break with sin and a complete and a total surrender to God's will. Godly sorrow includes forgiveness, cleansing, restitution and reconciliation. When God, when we forgive people and our hearts are cleansed then God says we are willing to go and make restitution and then be reconciled for God's glory. That the work of the, that the shedding of the blood may be made of a veil in our lives so that we know what it is to walk in victory. Then someone has 2 Corinthians 4, 1 to 3. My, my, what a, what a, what a, what a verse. All we are trying to say here is that God sees the heart. He knows how we ask Him to forgive our sins. He knows what kind of confession we have. He knows what kind of repentance we have. But He also knows about the honesty of our heart. And He is asking us to renounce the hidden things of dishonesty. And the example was again with Achan, right? God is asking us to renounce the hidden things of dishonesty. Oh, doesn't it feel good if you can just look at the Lord and say, Lord, as far as I know this morning I have been honest. Doesn't that make you feel good? I have an overhead that says, is an open book and says, read me, read me. I'm an open book. Lord, read me. As far as I know. I'm not going to search anymore. My book's open and here's this great big book right above me. Say, read me. That's freedom. That's freedom. And that's what God is asking us to do. It's not that hard. God has made the provision. He has paid the price. He has given us the pattern. He has made victory possible and reachable. It's not that hard. All God is saying is, I want your will. I want you to come. I want you to confess. And I think we need to stop here for just a moment. Just a moment and say, Lord, as far as I know in this step one I have taken care of all that I know there is to be taken care of. Father, as far as I know in this pattern I have done what my heart has told me to do. And then we can say, Father, I thank you for the provision and for the first part of this pattern for me. Lord, yes, I have done it. As far as I know, it is done, Lord. And say, thank you, Lord, for that provision. What a price! What a price! What a price of true forgiveness and what a price, the shedding of the blood. So why don't we accept this pattern for victory? But, dealing with the sin life is not enough. We need to move on to number two. T. A. Hagree said this, Even though past sins are thoroughly dealt with, unless a person will surrender wholly to God, it will reoccur. No partial surrender will do. Our surrender and our repentance must be so complete and so total that the only word that is properly able to describe it is death. Death to our selfishness. And so God has made all of this provision, but just stopping here would not particularly give us victory in our personal lives. We need to move on and say, Lord, I accept all of this, I thank you for all of this, but I'm going to move on because still in my body I am in bondage to a lot of things and I want to see, Lord, just how does this work? And so we move on into the deliverance and release section. I like to put the word freedom over here. Freedom from self, freedom from bondages, and God has made that provision for us as well. The eye of the old Paul and the eye of the new Paul. You remember how the Apostle Paul was on the Damascus Road and God met him in a very special way? And then later on in chapter 7 we see what strife he was in. You see, he was already a Christian by this time because God met him on the Damascus Road, didn't He? And so I can say this morning, we as Christians, we are Christians here, but we can still have a real battle. And Paul here is showing us there need not be a battle, that there is victory. And so you can see in the 7th chapter, Paul is in such defeat. He is in such defeat and he says the old eye of Saul is fighting against the new eye of the Apostle Paul. And you know, that kind of a struggle within always brings defeat and frustration, doesn't it? And Paul finally gives up and he says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And so that's what we will be looking at at this time. So sin, just as we have dealt with the sin life, so we must deal with the self life. Just as the blood was sufficient for this, so the cross is sufficient for all of this. And we're going to go into that and someone has, Romans 6, 6. Yes. Okay, Paul is saying, I want you to know something. The terminology is difficult, but he says in Romans 6, 11, I want you to know something. Paul, what do you want us to know? I want you to know that the old man is crucified with Him. That the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. So what Paul is trying to say, that because of the finished work of the cross, it says we are crucified with Him. I don't have to create it, it's done. And all God is saying is, we have to agree with Him that it's done. All the work before the cross and all the sin, once and for all, once and for all, God has taken care of that in that work of the cross. And so we are to reckon, we are to agree, say, God, I know that you have taken care of all of the sin and all of the bondages of the self life. Everything is met here. No sin is too great. But the cross is the answer to all of our frustrations and defeats. We are dead in Christ, therefore we must agree to the death and make it a personal living reality. The reason we so often have no victory or no personal victory in our lives is that we are filled with our own ways. We say, yes, in my head I know that's so, and yet I am filled with my own ways. And it says that we are filled with our own ways and we know not that it is both possible and available, that victory is both possible and available to us. Proverbs 14, 14 says that the backslider in heart is filled with his own ways. Do you mean to tell me that if I am filled with my own ways, that means I know no personal victory? Yes, that's what it's saying. That if I am filled with my own ways, then we'll know no personal victory. So he says, the backslider in heart is filled with his own ways. And so the essence of backsliding, the essence of backsliding and our own ways is if we are filled with our self-centeredness. And God said, I have made a way for you. And all you need to do is accept that freedom and that release into a committed life. Accept it as the finished work right there. There's nothing we can add to it. God has already finished that work. And if we accept that, then God says, I will show you the pattern of victory. So let's go on to number one. We've read number one. Let's go on to number two. Galatians 2.20 Just saying again what Paul said in Romans 6. Knowing this, that the old man is crucified. And Paul says it again in Galatians 20. And the whole theme is in the one verse. There it is again. Frustration goes again. Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Oh, how often I've heard people say, my faith is not sufficient. I don't have enough faith. But when I read this, I am encouraged because it says, I live by the faith of the Son of God. It's His faith, not mine. You mean to tell me I don't have to drum up a lot of faith? No. Because he said, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. So it is done. And to say that I have to crucify myself is not necessary. It's already done. I don't have to work at it. I say, Lord, it's done. I agree with You. It's done. And I thank You for it. I thank You for it. Someone else has Romans 12, 1 and 2. And because I thank Him for that, our life comes into the area of a full and total surrender to what has already been done. Nothing that I have to make, nothing man-made, but what is already done. Amen. That's a whole section in itself. Someone else has Isaiah 57, 15. Helen read that in German and now you read it in English. Thank you, Helen. Good. Amen. All right. And so, God has given us the pattern for all of this and you say, Yes, Lord, I understand this and I can apply all this to the pattern You've already given me. Yes, Lord, I know that I cannot stop here, but I have to recognize all of this and say, Thank you, Father, that You have paid for all of my sins, all of my bondages. You have delivered me and freed me from all of them because of the cross. What is left for me to do? Say, Yes, Lord, I surrender fully. Thank you, Father. Yes, Lord, I surrender fully to what You've already done. Now is that so hard? Now is that so hard? Now. He has given us the pattern. He has laid everything out so clearly and all He's saying, I want you in full surrender to what I have already done. We can't add. We can't add. Nor can we take away. But He said, It's done. It's done. Just take it. The provision is for you. And I wonder this morning, how many times have we just said, Father, I thank you for the provision, for the blood and for the cross. It is finished. Completely finished. And God is saying, I want you to take it. And that Romans 12.1 is some verse, isn't it? He is just saying, I want you to do one thing, and that is to surrender to my plan and to my pattern. And if you do, there will be victory in your life. There is a pattern. He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. That's your reasonable service. You're not doing God any favor. It's just saying, Father, I owe you that. You've already paid the price. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now I tell you something, when we as God's women, we ought to be different. We ought to be different. The world around us keeps pulling us down, here, there, and everywhere. But God is saying, we are not to be conformed to the things of this world. Do you know that the Godless people around us are looking at the Christian, crying for help. And they look us, and they see no difference in the way we act, or dress, or talk, or treat our neighbors, or our kids. And they say, they have nothing to offer us. But God is asking us to be different, to come out, to be a peculiar people. And you know, we all like fashions, and we fall easily into fashions, but God's still saying, I want you different. I want you to be special. I want you to be peculiar. I want you to be my special person. And isn't it a delight to say, Father, no price is too great for me to be fully surrendered to God. Nothing in this world should be able to pull me down to conform to the things of this world, simply because my citizenship is in heaven. Are we not to be getting ready for heaven? And I said to you girls before, if we don't learn the tune, and the style, and the walk, and the talk of heaven, now, we will be uncomfortable in heaven. We will be uncomfortable in heaven. What kind of a song are we singing now? Do you know what the activity of heaven is going to be? And again it comes out, what Marlene said, there's going to be singing and worship. There's going to be singing and worship. There's going to be singing and worship, and more and more. And we can't begin to imagine what this is going to be until we see who we are going to sing and worship. And so, ladies, we are in the foyer of heaven. Isn't it a great place to be to prepare? Have you gone to a wedding, and just before you went into the main part, it's the foyer of the wedding. And what an illustration we had. Just this past summer, we were invited to a special wedding. It was going to be a special wedding. We had never been to a wedding where the parents of the bride were very, very, very wealthy. And I thought, what will it be like to go to a wedding where the bride's parents are millionaires? I just wonder what kind of a wedding this is going to be. You know, and we were excited to go see. And here they took us downtown in Akron, and we went up seven stories in a building, and there was a big foyer. And, you know, we didn't know. There was a lot of people in there. There were orders in that room. We thought this was the banquet hall, but it was only the foyer. And everybody was eating all the orders and all of this, and we were all talking around, walking around, and all of a sudden they said, this is not the banquet hall. It's in here. And here they took us into the banquet hall, and here was the banquet hall. And I thought, isn't that true? This old world is just a foyer to heaven. And we better be preparing ourselves for the greatest wedding supper of every wedding supper we've ever been at. They had a banquet spread for the people, but it wasn't a banquet table like we're going to have at the greatest supper time of them all. We're not even going to ask what the menu will be. We will be taken up by the king. And I think we need to get ready. And all God is asking us to do, I've done it all for you. I've given you a pattern. I've shed my blood. I've given my life. And all I am asking you to do is surrender all. And in our fleshly ways, sometimes we partially say, God, I'd like to sweep some of it under the rug and keep it for myself. We're not willing. We're all guilty, girls. And then in repentance, sometimes it's not a godly sorrow. And I want to tell you something. If you go to the place of prayer and you've seen that many times, and it is not a godly sorrow, that kind of repentance does not last. It's godly sorrow that lasts. Godly sorrow is not towards people. It's towards God. Godly sorrow. That's what He wants. And God is teaching us honesty. Not honesty always just alone with our fellow man. That is important. But honesty of heart toward Him. And He wants us to rid ourselves of the hidden things of dishonesty. And be glad for the pattern He has given us. And all down through here. But all He is saying to us in these days, it's all ready. Come take it. The banquet table is spread. We are in the foyer of heaven. We really are. And I believe every one of us are born again here this morning. You are in the foyer of heaven. But I'll tell you something. We need to learn the walk, the talk, the living, the lifestyle, the surrender here because the King is special. He didn't say for nothing that we are to be special and peculiar. If you are not being persecuted for being different, if you are not having people come to you and say things that you really are different, then we need to take another look at our lifestyle. I want to be what God wants me to be. I want to surrender to everything I know. I'm not going to destroy myself and dig in again. But I'm just saying, Father, this morning, I have taken care of the first S, as far as I know. Father, this morning, I have taken care of the second S, as far as I know. And Father, to the best of my ability this morning, I praise You that I have fully surrendered. We need to make that final surrender. And really, in one sense of the word, we need to re-surrender ourselves in a fashion daily. Say, Father, this is a brand new day again. When the first thing, we open our eyes in the morning, and I say, Father, You have given me vision. I see those around us who have no vision. Father, You have given me the ability to stand on my two feet and to be able to know how to get dressed. There are a lot of them that don't, and You know we spurn that so many times. Father, You have given me a temple. Isn't it a delight and a joy to say, Father, this is Your temple, and I want to give it to You as fully as I know how. How small we are sometimes to allow the silly little things to hang on, the selfish things. And God is just wanting us to say it's all His. Oh, the bumper crop of our selfishness so many times. Vance Hafner has said this. One of our problems today is that all over this country, we rededicate ourselves, and we rededicate ourselves, and we rededicate ourselves, and we rededicate ourselves. And God, and He said, we are running an old Adam improvement society. And that old self-life can never, never be improved. It has to come to the cross and say, Father, I agree with You. He said, we are running an old Adam improvement society. And He said, an unsanctified flesh that has never died and risen to walk in newness of life cannot be used of God even if it's rededicated a thousand times. God wants us to come to the place and say, Thank You, Father, it's done. I agree with You, and I praise You. And I think we'll just take a very brief moment, and if you want to just bow your head and say, Father, so far this morning, I am agreeing with You. I'm not going to be looking for tomorrow or the next day, but right to this point, as far as I know, Father, in Your quiet, gentle way, I know that I am agreeing with You. And if not, Father, my life is spread before You and surrendered for You to do exactly what You want for You know best anyway. And I want to thank You for the provision You have made. You have left no stone unturned how cruel we are not to accept every provision. I thank You this morning again that already this morning You have made so many provisions for all of us in Jesus' name. So let's move on to the third S. Yes, we deal with the first S. Yes, we deal with the second S. And all of the provision is made for so far. But if God stopped right here, we would have no life. So the pattern goes on for our personal victory. And again, I say, the load is off of us again. You know, God is so kind. All that load isn't on us because the load is on the shedding of His blood. He has taken care of it. No load on me. It's for me to surrender. All this load of the many, many bondages of our lives is not on us. He has taken the load. He has taken the whole load. Here is the cause. All He has asked is to come. And so here again now He has provided for us victory in our lives. Victory and power in our lives that we know nothing of as far as our own flesh and blood. But the dove, the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit who comes into our hearts at the moment we are saved. That's true. That precious dove, the night you gave your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, that precious dove came into your heart and saved you. But how selfish we've been. We have crowded Him out of the living room. We have crowded Him out of the kitchen of our hearts. We've put Him in the spare bedroom and locked the door and said, I know that I'm going to heaven. It's a good fire escape from hell. But other than that, I want to run it. And you know that gentle stranger has never forced that door open. And he's waiting for us to open the door. And he wants all of our hearts, right? And so what we have done is we have shoved Him off into the small corner of our hearts and said, I know I'm saved. I know I'm going to heaven. But as long as I am in this world, I want to run my own life. And you know that gentle stranger says, if that's what you want, fine. But there comes a time in life that he puts pressure on us because he loves us. Someone has Ephesians 5.18. Please read it. But the inner life walk and warfare of the Spirit, once we move down and say, yes, I agree with you, Father. Yes, Father, I agree with you about this section. Lord, I agree with you about this section. And Lord, I agree with you about this section. And once we allow the Holy Spirit to take over in our lives, He obliterates all the hang-ups of our flesh. There's nothing... You know, there is a hang-up in our flesh that we cannot get victory over. How many times have people said, I cannot get victory over this. But you see, the pattern of victory for personal revival is not my power, it is His power. And I heard someone say to me just yesterday or so, said, I could not get victory over this thing in my life until I finally said, Father, I can't do it. And the Father said, that's where I want you. Now let me do it. And I think one of the ladies was sharing with me, it was regarding a hang-up in her life, that I've tried everything. And finally she said, Father, I can't do it. And He said, let me do it. And He did. And He did. And so we have to recognize that the provision is made all the way down here. That blessed Holy Spirit who is... Do you remember when Jesus left and the Galileans said, He's gone, He's gone, He's gone. But He said, it is expedient that I go. Because I'm going to send you a comforter. Because if Jesus was here in His body, He couldn't minister to everyone specifically like, you know what would be, where would we be today if He was here in the flesh. He said, it is better for me to go. It is expedient for me to go because I'm going to send you a comforter. And He can be with all of us. And do you know something? That comforter is with us still today. It is at our disposal. He is part of the pattern. But you know, for too long people, we hear messages about God the Father which is great. Messages about God the Son which is great. And we have spurned the third person of the Trinity who is in us, around us, works through us and in us. And we have spurned Him. And He's been misused and abused by so many people. This gentle stranger. And He said, I want to fight the battles for you. And do you know, because we don't recognize that He has already come and how well we know that the hundred and twenty were waiting in the upper room. Waiting. And He came. And He's still here. And He will be with us until He takes us away again. What a privileged people we are. We are so privileged. But do you know, we spurn Him. We put Him off in the spare room of our hearts. We grieve Him. We quench Him. But He said, if you will surrender and allow Me to work in your lives, I want to take the defeats in your life and I want to turn them to victory. None of us are here this morning and can say that I don't have a defeat in my life now or have had in the past month. But the gentle stranger said, if you will open your heart and surrender to Me, I will turn your defeat into victory. He's given us the pattern for victory. Why is it that it takes so long for us to understand that? Someone else has, John 14, 16, please. Yes. All right. And someone else, well, no, I'm not going to have someone read that. But He has made every provision. He is my communion. And the Matthew 6, 19 to 24, I'm not going to have anyone read this, but I will just give you in essence what it means. When He is to be Lord of my life, He wants all of us. Same thing again as a full surrender. A full Lordship. Full. He said, if you're not going to fully surrender to Me, I can't be your victory. You might have a little part of, a little time of victory there, there or somewhere else, but He says, I want to be your victory. And what He's saying in Matthew 6 is, I just want you to know that you can't have two Lords in your life. I want to be the Lord of your life. And just as soon as you surrender, then I will be the Lord of your life. You cannot serve two Lords in your life. And then there's holiness. Did I give Romans 6, 18 and 19 to someone? In essence, for far too long, we as part of the Bride have yielded ourselves unto the things of the flesh and sin. And all He's saying is, it is time we yield ourselves to holiness because God is holy. And if He is holy, He wants us to be holy. And if we are not, then God says, you might feel out of place in heaven. Just some other scriptures that we're not going to read about. The Bible is so full of holiness. And the awesomeness and the holiness of God, as we read all the way through the Old Testament, when at times He said, He said to Moses and Joshua, I think the two of them, at different times when God came, He said, take your shoes off. This is holy ground. Trying to show us that God is holy. That He is the great I Am. That we are to recognize Him as a holy God. And I was saying this morning to one of the ladies here, it is so easy for us to bring this holiness down and try to make Him like we are. But He is holy. And when His presence is with us, have you ever felt like you want to take your shoes off and say, Lord, this is holy ground. Was it not the three apostles that said when God was with them, let's make a tabernacle here and stay here forever. When you sense His holiness and know His holiness, you want to stay in His presence. And God is saying, He is holy. Let us not try to make Him as a man. But Father, teach us what Your holiness is. And He will show you. Teach Him. Ask Him to teach you what He means when He says He wants holiness in our hearts and lives. He will show us. But there are many, many things along the line of holiness. But some of them are, there is glory, there is glory, glory in holiness. There is beauty in holiness. We are to serve Him in holiness. Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We are not called to uncleanness, but we are called to holiness. And He says, we are to behave as becometh holiness. And so many times, oh, we don't like holiness preaching. This is not holiness preaching. This is just saying, Father, I surrender to Your will and You will show me what You want for each one of us. And so, when we surrender, when we recognize this, we say, yes, Father, I recognize this, thank You. Yes, Father, I accept this, thank You. Yes, Father, I thank You for that blessed Holy Spirit. I have Him in my heart and life. And today, to the best of my ability, I'm going to give Him full sway in my heart and life. I'm going to open that spare room that I have locked Him away, starved Him to death and quenched Him. Yes, He's there. But You have quenched Him and starved Him until Your life knows little or no victory and the gentle stranger in Your heart is grieved. Who are we? Who am I that this gentle stranger should want to come and take up residence in my heart? Who am I that this gentle dove should want to come and take up residence in my heart? But He did say that my heart, my life is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And He's come to take up residence in my life. If the Queen of England were to come to your home, I can imagine what you would do. You would be running all over the place, preparing a menu, cleaning your house, washing the clothes, putting the best sheets on and putting out the red carpet and all this, welcoming the Queen. None of us. I'm sure none of us will ever be in a position where we will have the honor to have Queen Elizabeth come to our home. But if she did, what an honor that would be, wouldn't it? What an honor. But do you know, we have a greater King that's coming and we need to prepare ourselves and be ready for that. Well, praise the Lord for the provision that He has made for us. If indeed all of these things are true in our lives and they could be true in many of our lives this morning, in most of our lives, and I trust so, but do you know, while we are on this pilgrim journey, that blessed Holy Spirit keeps gently, like someone said, taking us to the cleaners. But I would say, ladies, that a truth that you have read in Scripture maybe a year ago should be more powerful in your life today than it was a year ago. I should like to say that things that you have known about Scripture a month ago should be more exciting in your life today. Shouldn't it? I think it should. And so we should free the way for the Lord Jesus to do His work by His way and by His will in all of our hearts and lives. And you say, well, I've done all of these and I thank the Lord that if there are yet things to do, I am saying, Father, Your will be done in my life. I fully surrender. And you say, that I have done. And now what do you do? Some of you cannot see that back there maybe. But anyway, that daily walk is very, very important. You say, I've done all this, revival has come to my heart, revival, I understand it better, but what about my daily walk? You mean when the meetings are all over, it's going to be over? And if there's anything I want to leave with you this morning is the nugget to say that for everyone in Grand Prairie that God has nudged your hearts, let it say, a brand new treasure has been born in each one of your hearts that will take you on your pilgrim pathway all the way to Heaven. That you can recognize who you are, you can recognize what your sin is and deal with it, you can recognize the bondages of the self-life and deal with it, you can recognize who the Holy Spirit is that is in your heart and praise Him for it, that He's interested in the victory, He's interested in fighting your battles, and if nothing else in these days, say, Father, I have begun, it's only a launching pad for my Christian life, only a launching pad, and if I should come back here six months from now and see every one of you saying, yes, that was a launching pad, and I have freed that gentle dove in my heart to live in my heart and do what He wants to do so that I can minister to my family and to my church and to my people, and you know what? Maybe you feel like you're the only one in your family, but do you know what? He has a pattern for your victory in your circumstances. He knows. He knows. We need to react just the way He wants us to. He knows. Every one of your homes has a different situation, but He knows, and do you think just because there is a conflict or a mountain in your home that there is no victory for you? There is. There is. A lady shared with me the other night that God was really dealing with her 15-year-old son and could have brought a confrontation with the son and the father. These are confrontations that you will face all the time with your children, but He knows, and I say, you cannot tell your son how to react, you cannot tell your husband how to react, but He knows it all, and what He requires of us to do that it is not, I do not have to fight for my husband's victory, but the victory is a personal victory in my life first, and then let it go out to the family and so forth, and God will. So there is a daily walk, and I have it down there with the three A's. The daily walk is, yes, I acknowledge my sins. If there is sin, yes, Lord, I acknowledge my sins. Going through the same pattern again, and that can be done in your mind quickly, and that is current cleansing, and then go to the second day, yes, I acknowledge my sins, yes, Father, I agree that it is all paid for, it's finished, that Christ died for all sin, and that includes my sin and all of His bonuses. He said it is finished, I accept it, I ask Him to forgive me and cleanse me and surrender completely and move on. And when there is a bondage or a sin in your life, it could be yet today, then you don't go under with it. You say, Father, I know what it is, I recognize it, I deal with it, I thank you for dealing with it, and move on. But you know what the problem is? You take a nine-month-old child and it starts walking, well, it surely doesn't run across the room the first time, does it? But it keeps falling. And do you know what the mother does? She goes there and kicks it. No. She goes there and says, Honey, come, let Mommy help you. And the next time she walks a little farther, Mommy will help you. And the next time she falls, then, come, Mommy will help you. And do you know, each time Mommy helps, she walks a little farther. And it's the same way with us. And God will pick us up if we fall, and we fall or fail and we feel we've defeated, then we have to believe that God is greater than a mother. Then He comes and says, I love you so much. How much did He love me? How much did He love me? Everything. He will keep picking you up. And say, come. Each time you will walk a little farther. Then don't look at your defeat. Say, Father, you've taught me a victory, and I'm going to walk farther next time. Amen. And so it's a walk. It's a walk. It's a pattern of victory. For my personal life, it doesn't matter what comes into my life. It's a pattern of personal victory. So that if you do fall, don't stay down there and say, I blew it. As long as you are in this old flesh, there will be times of blowing. Right? Somebody say, Amen. Yes, ma'am. As long as we are in this old flesh, there will be times of falling. But do you know what my Father will do? Walk a little farther next time. And do you know what? Believe it or not, before you know it, that little child is walking on his own. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that beautiful? And so we acknowledge our sins, agree with God what it is, and ask the Spirit of God once again to take the spot that I took from Him. You see, if He lives in my heart, then I have totally surrendered. And the minute I allow some sin or something to come in my heart, we have taken a spot in my heart again. Right? And I say, Dear gentle dove, I am sorry, but that spot I'm going to give to you again. Fill up my heart. Full. Full. That means I don't have to frustrate. I don't have to be, think, well, I can't walk this Christian life. That gentle stranger, He walks with you exactly where you are. Isn't that neat? Huh? Isn't that neat, Evelyn? So we don't have to frustrate and say, I can't walk the Christian life. I can't walk in the pattern of victory. He takes you where you are. In your home. On your chair. That we might walk. That gentle stranger will never make you feel out of place. Let him have your way. And now we come back to the same thing these girls started off with this morning. I said, as usual, in these days here, always the choruses and the songs and the whole tenor of our meetings always dovetail, and no exception this morning. And here's the same feeling again. Do we stop here then, for those of you who can't see? Everything, the whole pattern is down here. Then what should we do? Tell. Keep saying. When is the last time we have thanked Him for the pattern, and the price, and the provision? Have you ever heard of the nine graces of Galatians? Hmm? I'll tell you something. This beautiful pattern that is so easy, and every one of you girls know about this pattern. It's not something new. It's not a new teaching. It's an old, old story just put on paper. That's all it is. Do you know the nine graces of Galatians? He will give you the nine graces of Galatians, and you know them all. The inward graces, the three inward graces. There are nine. The first three are inward. Love, joy, and peace. Who doesn't want love, joy, and peace? That's inward. The other three are manward, long-suffering gentleness and goodness.