In this sermon, the speaker addresses the internal struggle between the flesh and the spirit. He emphasizes the need for consecration in four areas for the end-time prophetic singers. The first area is fasting, urging them to maximize the potential of their ministry. The speaker then gives advice to John the Baptist, suggesting he change his location, diet, wardrobe, and approach to the people. However, the speaker acknowledges that John's focus was not on building a ministry or gaining a following, but on fulfilling his calling. The sermon concludes by highlighting the power of unity and generosity in the early church, where believers shared everything and were moved by an unholy anointing.

We're going to mess with the sound system, and work with the EQ, and get a... They put me right on the edge of feedback. So, I suffered a vocal injury 17 years ago. And since that time, my voice is very small. It's painful to use. I usually limit myself to once a day. But tomorrow, in the strength of the Lord, I'm going to do three services. I'm not going to talk anymore about that this morning. So, if you're new, if I'm new to you, and you want to know more about that whole thing, In his face, I talk about how it happened. And basically, all of my books are the overflow of my journey. So, if you read the books, you kind of understand where the Lord was getting me. Before we get going, Joseph, I'm going to put you to work. Come here and pray. If you would open your hands, and let's receive grace this morning. Father, we just thank you this morning for this opportunity. And Father, we just thank you for bringing Bob, the man of God, here with the word of the Lord. And Father, we just receive, not just from a man, but we receive from your spirit this morning. And God, your word says repeatedly, he who has ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. And Father, we just pray that over every church here, God, for Shiloh Church and all those represented. We pray that God, what you're speaking to these churches this morning, that Father, your word would be clear. Not only from Bob, but just in our hearts, that it would resonate in us. That it would go beyond just a morning, but you would set into course things that would change the scope of cities. God, this morning, we thank you for Bob and the vessel that he is. And how he's positioned himself, God, over the last decade and beyond, Lord, in this whole journey. And we thank you, God, for the man of God. We honor him this morning. And you said in your word, blessed are the feet of those who bring the good news. And Father, we pray this morning that, Lord, that you would strengthen him beyond anything he's known in the recent past. And we thank you for the word of God this morning. And so, Father, we receive from you today, God. We thank you for your presence in this place. We thank you for all that you're going to do and say, in the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. Thank you, Joseph. And I just want to mention, especially for those who are guests this morning, I am making my books available at $5. That's my way of saying thank you for the privilege of being with you. That's below wholesale. Okay, so this is your moment. I want to mention two books in particular that I'd like to draw your attention to. My most recent title is called It's Not Business, It's Personal. The Church of Jesus Christ is not a business venture for the Lord. It's the preparing of a bride. And when it comes to your love life, it's personal. The Lord helped me to see, through the journey I've been on, how I had used worship to grow my ministry. I want to say something very clear. Worship was never intended in the heart of God as a church growth tool. Worship is an intimate relationship between the bride and the bridegroom. And when our ambitions start to use worship to build our machinery, we start to enter into an adversarial relationship with the bridegroom, who now has a controversy with his leaders because he says, It's not business for me, it's personal. Now, if I had been around in the days of John the Baptist, I would have been willing to serve him as a ministry consultant. Because anybody who's looked at John's ministry knows he needed some advice. Because if he would have asked, I would have said, John, you've got a good thing going here. This thing really has potential. But you are not maximizing the potential of your ministry. Follow my advice and we'll take this thing to a whole new level. And I have four simple pieces of advice for John the Baptist. Number one, change location. You're out in the God-forsaken wilderness. It's taking people five days to get to your meetings. This is not the way to grow an international ministry. Just follow my advice, John. Move this baby, you got the right baby, just move the baby to a city. Namely, Jerusalem. I'm telling you, John, take your revival meetings to Jerusalem. We will rock this nation and we will take the nations by force. Number two, change your diet. You're always fasting and then when you do eat, you know, there's just not enough carbs in locusts. And you're skinny and gaunt and frail. And you just gotta get more carbs in your diet. Just a little bit of fish and a little bit of bread. Just tweak your diet. Third piece of advice, change your wardrobe. You know, John, we're trying to grow something here and you have this Elijah motif, this camel skin and leather belt. You have this foreboding, austere way about you and then that look in your eye, people just look at you and they just... John, you're skinny and scary. And my last piece of advice, stop insulting the people coming to your meetings. They walk for five days through the desert to get to the meeting and when they arrive, you call them a brood of vipers. Not the way to grow a ministry. So John, just take my advice, four simple steps and we will shake the nations with what God's put in your life. I can hear John's reply to that kind of counsel. I would hear him say something like this, you don't get it, I'm not in it to build a ministry. I'm not in it to get a following. I'm not in it to get more people at my meetings. I'm in it for a man. I was told that if I would baptize with water, a man would come and I would recognize him because the spirit would come upon him when I would baptize him and I do everything I do for a man. Beloved, I am asking that the Lord would restore to the church a personal passion for a man. I'm not after my name, I'm not after my ministry, I'm not after my profile, I'm not trying to sell books and CDs, I am after a man. Lord Jesus, would you make it personal for your people. So that book is for you. Nothing personal. And I want to mention Following the River, which is a very important book for me. It has to do with following the spirit of God in worship. I want to say a few things from this book as I'm following the Lord's heart this morning. And so I really want to encourage all the worship teams, you've got to get this book, go through it together, and it will put some, I think it will just equip us to follow the heart of God, kind of like how we already were doing this morning. And I always am relieved when there's some consistency between the message and what's being modeled. I'm like, okay, Katie. And if you have it already, you can give it to somebody that you might want to give that to. The river that we seek to find in worship, I like to use the scriptures of Ezekiel 47. Did you come prepared this morning? Let me see if you came ready. Did you come ready? Let me see it. Okay. Never get caught without it. Ezekiel 47. This river that comes to the ankle, comes to the knee, comes to the waist, and then it becomes a river you swim in. I like to apply it in a secondary way to the river of worship. How many know there is a river in worship that you can find, it gets deeper and deeper until, like it says in verse 5, a river that could not be crossed. There is a river in worship that when it flows deep enough and strong enough, it really doesn't matter what condition you come to the meeting in. You might be mad, glad, or sad, in a good mood, in a bad mood. You might be red-hot for Jesus. You might be a half-hearted, lukewarm sinner. But when the river of God is deep enough, it'll take you off your feet and catch you up into the glory of God. I've had enough of worship services that you get a little bit of mist on you. I want the river of God. I want it deeper, fuller. There's times that I just, when I'm in some worship services, I just want to raise a red flag to the worship team. We're going shallow. I wish that worship leaders would cultivate more seriously the mechanism to discern the water level. And when we feel the water level going shallow, it's like, okay, I'm not sure what to do right now. But I know if we stay on this course, we're going shallow. So we've got to change something right now. Lord, help us, because we want to find the river. And go deeper. Worship leaders are always looking for water. Let me get out from behind the podium here for a moment. We're always doing like this. We throw out a song, and then we're checking for water. Nope. Let's try this song. And really what we're doing in worship leading is river hunting. We want to find where the flow of the spirit is, and go with him. Now, the Lord gave me a very simple phrase one time, nothing profound at all about it, but I felt like the Lord spoke this to my heart once. Rivers don't follow straight lines. Service orders do. Song lists do. But the river of God doesn't follow a straight line. And here's what happens for basically every worship leader in every church. You come to a point of decision in a worship service where you look at the straight lines of your preparation, and then you look at the river that you're trying to find, and you have a choice to make. Do I stay with my list, or do I go with the river? Do I stay in the boat of my preparation, or do I get out of the boat and try to walk on water right now? How many know it's a whole lot more comfortable to stay in the boat? Because when you're the worship leader, and you've got 800 people out there, and you're responsible for taking this thing, and you're like, if I step out of the boat right now, am I going to be all by myself? Or are these people going to go with me? And your insecurity is just kind of, whoa, what am I going to do? And that's why I tell worshipers, come to the house with the flamethrower. Come to the house, and say to the platform with your heart, say, go for it. Get out of the boat. Let's walk on water. Let's go with the river of God, because I don't come to the house for your song list. I come to the house for the river. If I wanted a song list service, I would just stay home and turn on the CD. Because if you want a straight line, turn on your CD. Track one, track two, track three, track four, track five. But there's something you'll never get out of your CD player. You will never get the river out of your CD player. They might have been in the river when they recorded it, but by the time it gets into your CD player, that thing is just boom, boom, boom, boom. And let me just say this while I'm getting stuff off my chest this morning. If people can get the same effect by watching your worship service on the webcast, you are not unlocking the potential of worship. If all you're doing is a song service, if all you're doing is a CD playlist, if all you're doing is a song list service, stay home and watch the webcast. You just get the same straight line at home that you get in the house. But if you're following the river, you can't project the river through the webcast. On the webcast, they're getting the list, but in the house, we're in the river. And something should be happening in corporate worship that if you're not in the house, you missed it. Somebody says, well, I wasn't there. I'm going to get the podcast. Sorry. You can get the podcast, but you missed it. Because corporate worship, Sean, great to see you, corporate worship is a one-of-a-kind flowing relationship with the Beloved. It's moving in sync with the Spirit of God. It's a river that happens in the house. And if you're not there, Lord Jesus, would you give to us something in our worship that is so compelling that they come out of their hovels and out of their houses. See, there's a movement going right now in the whole world that is really bugging me. It's this house movement that says, we're not into the congregational thing. We're just going to stay home with our family on Sunday morning. We're going to do it with a couple friends. We do church at Starbucks. I'm saying, Lord, would you do something so deep and compelling in the house of God that they leave their Starbucks church in order to get into the river of God. Give it to us, Lord. Now, let me just make a couple comments about planning versus spontaneity. I am a planning guy. I believe in planning. I believe in bringing a song list to the meeting. I believe in rehearsal. I believe in excellence, getting the thing tight. I'm for all that. I do not see an incompatibility between planning and spontaneity. In fact, I believe planning is essential to spontaneity. Because if you don't have a structure, if you don't have an infrastructure, if you don't have something that we can hang everything else on, and you just show up to the meeting like, we don't have a list today, we're just following the Spirit. Well, now we have nothing to hang anything on. Give us a song list. Give us some planning. Put something together. Now, here's the thing. When you have a boat, which is your song list, when you have a boat, it makes you bolder to get out of the boat. Because if I start to sink, I can swim back to the boat. If this isn't working, we'll just come back to the song. Preparation is very important. In fact, it's biblical. When Paul talked in Ephesians 6 about the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace, see, I used to think, Joseph, that they were the shoes of peace. They're not. What you are to equip yourself with are the shoes of preparation. When you're not prepared, your feet are unshod, and you are not ready for battle. When you are prepared, now you got something on your feet, and you can go to battle with the preparation behind you. And now that you're prepared, you can be spontaneous. It's the preparation that gives you the confidence to walk on water and follow the Spirit of God. Preparation is essential. I'm kind of giving you my vision this morning for prophetic worship. I'm just sharing some things, and the message is going somewhere. I'm not there yet. But California, you have an inheritance in prophetic worship. I just want to talk to Oakland here for a minute, because going back a few years, San Francisco birthed something. Anybody here ever heard of a band called The Grateful Dead? I never really latched on to The Grateful Dead, and so what I'm about to tell you is actually research. It's nothing that I was personally a part of. When I was growing up, I had a few years back in the 70s when I was listening to Top 40. Not proud of it. It just happened. And I had the privilege one day of having a personal interview with a former band member of The Grateful Dead. And as I'm talking to this person, and I'm learning about what happened with the band, it was amazing to me. And I was like, Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead. Okay, let me think back. 70s, Top 40. And I couldn't pull out any hits. And that's because they said the power of The Grateful Dead band was not in their singles. The power of it was in their concerts. When you went to the concert, something happened. Now, here's how they described it to me, and if I don't have it 100% accurate, this is just my research. They would get in the concert, start doing their songs, and at some point in the concert, they would get out of the boat and start doing something improvisationally on the guitar. And they would start feeling their way, trying to find a groove, and start pushing on the envelope. And basically, what they were doing is they were trying to find out where can this concert go right now. And sometimes it happened, sometimes it didn't. But there were times when it happened. You say, what's it? It would be, they'd get in a groove, they'd start the guitar, the drummer, everybody's leaning into it, the bass, he's going like this, the keyboard, he's pushing the drummer, he's leaning into it, the singers. And they would together start pushing into this realm of spontaneity. And every once in a while, they found it. And when they found it, something would descend upon the whole concert hall, and everyone in the room knew when they had crossed the threshold. It was so tangible that they said it was a spiritual experience. It was spirit. They would step into a spirit realm, not by doing the lists, not the singles, it was the improvisational groove they would get into, pushing on the thing. And they would enter a spirit dimension that was so palpable that people actually made it their religion. And they called themselves deadheads. And they would enter into a worship encounter that was so moving. They said when that thing would fall on the room, people would start giving. Well, they're giving reefers, and you know, everything they got. But a spirit of generosity would fill the house, everybody sharing everything, and the thing would become one moving mass as the whole stadium or concert hall would enter into the thing with the platform and say, let's go with this thing together. And they would ride on an unholy anointing that was so powerful that they would get in their Volkswagen buses and drive to the next city to see will it maybe happen again. And they would literally follow the band around the country, because when it happened, it was so compelling that they said, this is what those... And even today, there is an internet industry, today still, of people exchanging cassettes of concerts, because they would allow them to record, bring their cassettes into the thing. And there is an industry today, they don't want to buy the singles. They don't want to buy the studio CDs. They want to buy those homespun, you know, scratchy cassettes when the thing blew open. The drummer, his name was Mickey Hart, had an expression for it. He said, it's when the seventh man shows up. Why did he call it the seventh man? Well, there were six in the band, basically recognizing there is a presence here that's greater than any of us here in the band. Now, why am I even talking about Grateful Dead? Because where there is the counterfeit, it only is a demonstration of the authentic. There is an authentic holy anointing that has been replicated and duplicated by an unholy anointing in the world, but the real thing belongs to the church. And I say it to our shame, the Grateful Dead entered into a greater dimension of God's intention and music than most of our churches. But may we be stirred to jealousy and say, we wanted it's ours. And I'm saying to the Bay Area here this morning, you have an inheritance in prophetic worship. You have an inheritance in the river of God. You have an inheritance to flow in the depths of the river of God. Take it, it's yours. Lord, help me. I'm trying to follow the Holy Spirit this morning. I'm trying to follow the river. There is a prophetic anointing that God wants to give to his worshipers in the last hour that is so powerful. Isaiah 42 actually points, that's Isaiah 42 verses 10 to 13, you can make note of that. There's a portion that speaks of the new prophetic song that God is going to release that culminates in the return of Jesus Christ to this planet. That's what Isaiah 42, 13 is about, the return of Christ. And there is a prophetic song at the end of the age that is actually going to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. Beloved, you have an inheritance worship teams, Levites, worship leaders, musicians, singers. You have an inheritance that's just more than getting a little bit of mist on a Sunday morning. You have an inheritance to sing a prophetic song that brings a mighty torrent of the river of God and actually invokes the return of Jesus Christ. There are prophetic singers that God is anointing in these last days to stand up with a clear spirit, with a strong voice, with eyes that see in the spirit, with a heart that burns like John the Baptist, burning and shining lamps with the prophetic song in their heart that sing the word of the Lord and declare the oracles of God and will even speak forth, come Lord Jesus, and Jesus Christ will return to a prophetic song from an end-time bride that will not be satisfied with anything less than Jesus himself. Come now to me. And we're on to an end-time anointing here in this word this morning. We're in the last hour. It's time for us to awaken to the hour we live in and become the burning and shining lamps that Jesus needs in this last hour. It's no longer just for playing around. Now, I'm going to say something that somebody's going to misunderstand, but I'm not one of these guys that's asking the question, are we having fun? That's not the question of this hour. Are you having fun is not the question. We are at the end of the age. This thing has got to come to birth. The earth is in birth pangs. To bring forth the manifest sons of God. And I don't care if you're having fun or not having fun. There's a fire that is to be kindled in this hour. And let me suggest, when that fire kindles your life, you probably won't have a whole lot of fun. Paul said, I'm doing what I do against my will. I'm not doing what I want. I've got a divine mandate on my life. I've got a fire burning in my spirit. And I'm about something. God, give us end time forerunners who have a fire in their spirit, who have a mandate from heaven, and who are stewards of a divine mandate that say, I've got to find a prophetic anointing. I've got to see in the spirit. I've got to hear the voice of God. And I am willing to pay whatever price tag has to be paid. I'm not trying to have fun. I'm trying to buy gold in the fire. Get a prophetic voice. Walk and step with my Lord. I'm entering into the battleground of the ages of good versus evil. And when you're in a war, it ain't always fun. But Abba, would you put a fire inside of us for your agenda in these last days? Malachi 3, I sent my messenger. He'll prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. Verse 2, But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. This passage is very personal for me because I consider myself a New Testament Levite. Anybody else? I think that's all of us. We're called as New Testament Levites to minister to the Lord. And there is a jealous fire that burns in this hour among God's Levites. I stand before you as a man who has come under some fire. And I'm going to be a little bit transparent with you this morning and just share because when the fire of God hit my life it was a whole lot more intense than I was ready for. And the dear little sister, she says, Can I join the worship ministry? I like to sing. I just want to say to her, Think twice. Because when you join the worship ministry and you get yourself on the platform, you're just painting one big bullseye on your chest. You're just saying, I am a Levite of God. I stand in the courts of the king at the end of the age to lift a prophetic song at the end of the age. Well, guess what you're signing up for? A refiner's fire and a launderer's soap because our God is so jealous that there be an offering in righteousness. And if you've got any personal agendas, and I just described all of us, how many know we all got them? We all have 5%, 20%, whatever the percentage we have our personal agendas. When you get up there, now the fire of God starts to burn in our lives because he wants an offering of righteousness. Now, let me just be honest how it happened in my life. I asked for it. I asked for it. I got to a place, I told you, I got to a place where I was so I was just like And I prayed the crazy prayer. Whatever it takes, I have to have the kingdom of God. And I prayed this crazy dangerous prayer to the Lord. I can't live without it. And a fire came on the heels of that prayer. I know that some people's theology is just a little bit stretched right now. I'm just telling you, the fire of God came and when he visited my life. When God visits you with his fire, it's not simply one issue. Because I was thinking, okay, Lord, deal with the issue. I'll repent of the issue and let's get on with it. Lord says, no, no, no, no, while we're at it. He just starts at A and doesn't quit till he's at Z. Because he's not simply after an issue, he is after a forerunner. He wants to make you into something. So you come out of that thing lovesick for Jesus with a fire in your heart, with holiness and righteousness, with a clean spirit, with clear eyes, and with a heart that can hear the voice of God in the end time generation. The flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit wars against the flesh. Beloved, I'm going to be straight. Many of our worship ministries are a war zone on Sunday morning. Because we get on the platform and we're sincere. We know we're called. We love Jesus. We want to do our calling. We want to sing the song of the Lord. And we're saying yes. But we have so much traffic in our souls because of issues that haven't been fully consecrated. And when we get on the platform, now I'm a war zone because the flesh is warring against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. I've got a smile on my face and I'm singing my prophetic song. And inside I'm a train wreck. And I'm just like, oh God. And I'm in pain. And the Lord says, if you will invite me into this thing, I have a fire. And when that fire explodes in your life, He will target issues. And there will come a desperation inside of you and a fervency inside of you that says, I have got to deal with this stuff because I have to have you. I have to have your spirit. I have to have your anointing. I was with a well-known worship leader. And if I mentioned his name, I dare guess 95% of you would recognize the name. Internationally known for his songs. The guy is incredibly talented. I mean, you talk about having a flow. The river, amazing. And I'm with the brother. Now, I don't know how much of this is accurate, but it just seemed to me, I'm watching him and I'm thinking, this guy is a war zone. He is in so much inner conflict because, and now I'm guessing, has he allowed himself to allow little compromises that he has rationalized somehow. And because of the little foxes and the little compromises, there's this huge anointing that is weighed down with all the weights of the fleshly issues that haven't been dealt with. And because his gifting is so strong, he's able to rise up in a Samson-like kind of strength and deliver the goods in a way that makes everybody in the house think he's okay. And I'm watching that guy. He's a wrestling match on the inside, a war zone, because of the flesh warring against the spirit. And you can even use your giftings to get everybody else in the house fooled, but you are at war zone on the inside. I'm going to address four things this morning that I felt God gave me for us today. Four areas that, and at the end, what we're going to do is we're going to basically have an altar call where we're all going to come forward. I think we've got enough room. So we're just all going to respond, all right? Is that okay? Just decide right now, I am doing this altar call. And then, Katie, the song we sang would work. If you have a better one, whatever. But the worship team will give us some language, and we will respond to the Lord. Four areas of consecration that I want to challenge the end-time prophetic singers in the house this morning. Number one, fasting. Now, when the guy starts like that, you know he took the boxing gloves off. Okay, here we go. Number one, fasting. There is no such thing as New Testament apostolic Christianity without fasting. It doesn't exist. And if you are going to be an end-time forerunner at the end of the age, you must have a regimen of fasting in your life. It is non-negotiable. Now, you can be a great American Christian, if that's your goal. If you just want to be a great American Christian, don't mess with it. But I'm trying to put a goal in front of you that is far beyond Americanized Christianity. I'm saying, God, would you give us burning and shining lamps in the spirit of Elijah according to the order of John the Baptist? That's what Malachi is talking about. He says, I'm going to send the spirit of Elijah at the end of the age. Beloved, the spirit of Elijah the John the Baptist, forerunner, anointing, is coming to the church in this hour to prepare for the second coming of Christ. And if you want in on that, fasting is non-negotiable. And I know I'm talking, not just in this room, but by CD, I'm talking to believers. Most of us feel like failures in the arena of fasting. Me too. And then a fire came. And when the fire exploded in my life, such a desperation filled my heart. My God, you have got to talk to me. I'm going to lose my mind. What are you doing in my life? Why are you burning everything? And the desperation, the only thing that I knew to do, was fast. Fast in prayer. And in the word. It's a gift of God. Lord Jesus, help me to share this this afternoon. It's a gift of God to empower your pursuit of the end time anointing. I thank God for fasting. It's not something to get guilty about and feel like a failure. It's something to reach for, to have an enticement in your spirit that says, I know that there's stuff available for me in God and I want it. And the only way to get it is the narrow road that includes fasting. The eyesalve of Revelation 3.18, he says, anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you may see. My personal opinion on the eyesalve, I don't know if I'm right, but my opinion is, the eyesalve, because if it's something you can do to your own eyes, it's something you can do to yourself. He says, anoint your eyes with eyesalve. That means I have a responsibility to do something to get my eyes clear. I believe the eyesalve is self-denial. Jesus said, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. And there is something about self-denial. Fasting is only one expression of that. Something about self-denial that is essential to getting a clear eye to be able to point like John the Baptist. He's the one. So, in a practical way, let me suggest, worship teams. Talk about fasting in your team. And if the Lord gives you grace for it, my recommendation is that you have agreed disciplines of fasting in your team. And everybody says, I'm going to do a water fast one day a week. Or whatever you decide, among your team, each one might have their own grace, their own commitment. And then the question is, how are you doing? Are you holding? Can we hold one another accountable? I would even suggest fasting together as a worship team. But let's get into it. Let's do this. I'm also a proponent. Patrick, I'm a proponent of lengthy fasts. And I'm not saying that everybody should be a 40-day faster kind of thing. I'm not trying to be legalistic or put something on. But I am saying that the way the Lord led me, lengthy fasts were strategic in the way God's led me. And I'll just say it. I'm going to be real clear right now. I would not be here today were it not for the gift of long fasting. I'd have been a casualty. I'd have been taken out. I came this close to just gone. And fasting and prayer and the Lord saved my life. And I'm here today. So I've got a little bit of energy on it. Because it's been my survival. Number two. A fierce commitment to the Word of God. Colossians 3.16 Singing to yourselves with psalms and hymns. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Singing with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It is essential, if you want to be an end time burning lamp in the presence of God, it is essential that you are eating the scroll. Not just nibbling on it. Not just getting fed by your pastor. I'm talking about a regimen of abiding in the Word of God on a daily basis. Eating it, devouring it, so that it dwells in you richly. I don't simply want to know the Word. I want to live it. I don't want to simply understand about holiness. I want holiness to enter my spirit. And I want to become a living firebrand of holiness. I don't want to just have a theology on righteousness. I want it to enter me. I want to eat the scroll until it becomes my flesh. And I flesh out righteousness in everything I do. I want to live in love. I want to live in righteousness. And I want to devour His Word. And it pains me the level that the body of Christ eats the Word of God. I'm in pain over it. Can I just get something off my chest here today? I was in a church recently, and I said, Sunday morning, turn in your Bibles too. And roughly 85% of the congregation sat there and stared at me. They didn't even have their Bible in the house. Not to mention a notepad. No, I don't say that to say, oh boy, ours isn't the body of Christ train wreck. I say that to say I'm in pain because there is an awakening to the Word of God that when you get it, you won't go anywhere without it. This book becomes so precious to you. Worship service. I would never go to a worship service without this in my hand. Worship God without having this. This is my worship resource. This is what kindles my heart. When I'm in a worship service, I'm always looking at stuff. I'm like, ooh, yeah. Look, there are words on the screen, the Scripture. Oh, yeah. This is what kindles my heart. When I go to a prayer meeting, I wouldn't get caught dead in a prayer meeting without this. This is what inflames my prayer life. I just say, Lord Jesus, would you awaken the bride of Christ to the power of your Word? I believe that one of the missing ingredients in the worship life of the American church is we haven't found the joy of worshiping with the Word. You've got 30,102 verses to empower your worship life, and you left it at home or sitting in your pew. So I'm like, man, worship team, get the Bibles out on the music stands and use the Word of God. That's what's going to unlock another prophetic level in your worship team. Every member on your worship team should have a Bible open in front of them, as well as every person in the congregation, which is why, and I'm just spouting off a little bit here today, which is why there's this movement that's international right now of turn the house lights down so that we get this ambiance. And I'm like, okay, I like how cool this feels, but we've just sent one big signal to the bride of Christ, you don't need your Bible during a worship service because nobody can read it. So I'm like, turn the lights up so we can get into the Word and allow the Word of God to interact. And I don't even know what you all do here on Sunday morning, I might be stepping on toes right now. But turn the lights up and let us interact with the Word of God that it can dwell in us and we can worship God while I'm feeling better now. Okay, number three, number one is fasting. Number two, live in the Word of God. Number three, Job 31. Here we go. There's a few guys in the house that know Job 31. You already know where we're going. Job 31 verse one. Job 31. I have made a covenant with my eyes. Why then should I look upon a young woman? Holy Spirit, I'm asking you to help me right now. I'm in this verse one day. The story I'm about to tell you goes back two and a half years. I'm 49 at the time. And I'm in the verse, and I'm praying this verse. And I'm like, yes, Lord. I'm not going to look at a woman. I'm just, I'm consecrating my eyes again to the Lord. I'm just like, yes. And I've got this resolve in my heart. I don't want to look at her fire. I want to look at your fire. How many know you've got to decide which fire you want? You can't have her fire and his fire at the same time. Which fire do you want? And so in my heart, I'm going, Lord Jesus, I want your fire. And I'm praying the verse. I'm, yes, Lord, covenant with my eyes. I'm just like, yes, yes, yes. And as I'm praying the verse, the Holy Spirit nails me. And he says, you know, you've never really done it. And what the Lord said to me is, you're yes, yes, yes on the verse, but you have never actually made a covenant with your eyes. I had made resolves. I had everything shy of a covenant. I'd go right up to the line. Because I'll be honest with you, when it comes to making vows with God, I'm scared. Because the scripture's real clear. Better not to make the vow than to make the vow and then break it. Because you don't mess with God with cheap vows. And I got enough fear in me that for years, the only vow in my life was one. I made a vow before God on my wedding day, and I was a one-vow guy for quite a while. Because I just don't go around making vows with God. I have resolves of heart. I will commit myself, you know, everything shy of a vow. And when the Lord spoke that to my heart, I realized with it came an invitation. And the Holy Spirit was saying, I am inviting you. Would you like to make a vow with your eyes? When that came my way, I was like, because every guy in the house knows what I'm talking about now. It was like, oh, this is scary. You know, I'm going to make a vow, and then I'm going to blow it. I just know I'm going to blow. And so I took several days with this. I was like, oh, this is serious. And the fear of the Lord came on me. And I decided, I'm saying yes to the invitation. It took me a few days to get there. But I actually wrote it out in my journal. Word for word, I've got a record. And I made a vow with God. I will not look on it. And when I made that vow, I got so scared. Oh my God, what have I just done? And I realized, see, there's two things you have to have working for you when it comes to purity. Firstly, you have to have a burning fire of love that pushes you into his heart. And you have to have a burning fire of fear that repels you away from that other fire. And when I entered into a covenant with my eyes, I invoked the fear of the Lord. And since that day, I am one scared guy. I'm scared stiff. I'm like, I've made the covenant. I've made the vow with God. And I walk through airports. I'm just like, oh, oh no. And now, every once in a while, I'll turn on the TV. And I'm like, OK, animal planet, animal planet, animal. No, no, no, no. And I'm like, I've got this thing that's on me. It's like, oh my. And I'm just testifying, guys. Since I made that vow with God two and a half years ago, I have had a level of victory in my fight with sexual temptation. A level of victory I had never before enjoyed. And I just want to put it out there to say, if he would invite you to it, and if you would pray your way into a vow under the fear of God, because when you make a vow, now you've got some teeth on this thing. Because if you break the vow, you are under the fear of God. I was with a young guy on a ministry trip a few months back. And turn in your Bible to Revelation 2 for a moment. Revelation 2, I want to give you the verse for it. Revelation 2, verse 16. The Lord Jesus is confronting a spirit of immorality in the church of Pergamos. And he says, Revelation 2, verse 16. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. I was with a young brother, 25. He's married, got a few kids. And he was telling me, we're on this trip together. And Patrick, when he told me this, I was like, this is forerunner material. This guy says to me, he says, I pray every morning, Lord Jesus, I give you my eyes today, and if I do anything with my eyes today that compromises my purity, I invite you to use the sword of your mouth against me today. And I'm like, this guy is living under the fear of God. If you, hear me, if you want victory in the battle with purity, if you want a clear, clean eye, you have to invoke the fear of the Lord. You just gotta be scared stiff. Pray it every day. If I compromise with my eyes today, I'm asking you to do warfare against me with the sword of your mouth. Make a vow. Now for me, I just felt like it was voluntary. I could have said yes, I could have said no. But I got something in my spirit. I want to be an end time firebrand for the Lord Jesus Christ. I want a clear, clean eye. I want a bright spirit. I want to hear his voice. I want to see him. I want to be an end time prophetic worshipper. And I'm going to do a covenant with my eyes. And let me just talk to the sisters for a moment. I think one way the sisters can respond in this, is to make a covenant in their heart with modesty. I will not be a source of struggle for my brothers in the body of Christ. And I covenant to modesty. I am not going to use my body. I'm not going to use my insecurities to find my identity in whatever kind of issues. I am saying yes to modesty. And even allowing other sisters in the body of Christ to speak into your life. And say, how am I doing? Am I on target? Because you don't want to trust your own solo judgment on this stuff. How many know that some of us need our meters adjusted? Is it making sense? We need others in the body of Christ. So there's something about this that applies to all of us. In the last one, I've talked about fasting. I've talked about the word. I've talked about a covenant with the eyes. Last one, and it's noon. Luke 11. I'm done. Because the stakes are so high in the glory of God that's coming. God wants to pour something upon our ministries, beloved. But it's got to come through vessels that have an offering of righteousness. Luke 11, 41. I'm going to just get right in and right out. But rather give alms of such things as you have, and indeed all things are clean to you. Almsgiving. For me, that means giving to the poor beyond my tithe. That's how I define it for myself. There's something about giving. I'm not just talking about the offering in the offering bucket. I'm talking about slipping 10 bucks to a single mom. Slipping 20 bucks. Just however the Lord leads you. But a generous heart that is giving to the poor. We have got to do warfare against the spirit of seduction in our culture. We have got to do warfare against the spirit of materialism in our culture. And Jesus said the way you cleanse yourself from materialism is through almsgiving. Right there, Luke 11, 41. When you give to the poor, you are washing yourself of the greed that wants to wrap around your soul. It's a cleansing. You're just washing. Get this off me, Lord. Give something away right now. Here's this 5 bucks, 10 bucks, 20 bucks. A missionary, just slip him $100. Whatever. I'm talking not the offering plate. I'm talking almsgiving. Cleanses you. Worship team, would you come? We want to say yes to the Lord. Fasting. The word. Covenant with the eyes. Pure spirit. In almsgiving. Now, we're just all going to do the altar call, okay? So, if we can get around here, worship team, give us some language. Let's respond. Let's say yes to the Lord. God, give us burning and shining lamps in this hour. Who stand in your presence offering an offering in righteousness. Who see clearly. Who hear clearly. Who can declare the word of the Lord. Who stand at the end of the ages lifting up a prophetic song. Come, Lord Jesus. We have got to have you, Lord. And we invoke the presence of Jesus in this last hour. Come on up.