In this sermon, the preacher begins by praying for the congregation to be vigilant and alert in the face of conflict in the coming year. He emphasizes the importance of putting on the whole armor of God to stand against evil. The preacher then discusses the issue of seeking power in the charismatic movement, stating that what is truly needed is a desire for God rather than just power. He concludes by highlighting the significance of God's power and the need for a genuine relationship with Him.

The Lord has called you to be Bazion and Barzion. He has called you to be daughters of Zion. He has called you to be sons of Zion. Two thousand years ago, there were sons and daughters of Zion. And in that day, when their king was presented unto them, they rejected him. They said, this is not our king. We have no other king but Caesar. And the Lord comes to you today and he says, Bazion, reject me in this hour. We're king but the world. We have no other king but the flesh. We have no other king but those things that call us and bind us. The Lord says, I have called you Barzion and Barzion. And you are to say, we have no other God. We have no other king but Jesus. Will you not say, I'm Jesus? And he says, if I have called you Barzion, when you rejoiced in that name, there was a day when you rejoiced in that name, when you took it, when you marched forward in me, says the Lord. And what has happened to you? Why have you gone back into that hill of dung where I picked you up from? Why have you gone back to looking at the circumstances of your life? Why have you gone back to the bondages from which I delivered you, says the Lord? For I want you to act as daughters of Zion. I want you to act as sons of Zion. I want you to quit looking at the circumstances. I want you to quit looking at your sins. I want you to rise up and shake the dust off of your feet and say, I am a son of God. I am a daughter of God. I do not have to live with this filth any longer, says the Lord. Say today, we have no other king but Jesus. Well, when you pray, it sure makes a difference. Hallelujah. Well, Lord, we're going to try to pray more and more and more and more. Lord, as we come unto you this morning, it is with praise and thanksgiving for your presence. Lord, we solicit your presence. We ask for your presence. We enjoy your presence and are so thankful and appreciative for it. And Lord, we pray you will move on all of us as a church to pray more at home, on the job, driving, wherever we have the opportunity, Lord, and the time is made for us at church, that we'll get buckled down here and pray, because we know it brings your presence in a wonderful way. And that's what we want, Lord. We know we're in a year of conflict. We know the battle is going to be joined this year. Why I don't know, I'm not privy to your counsels, Lord, but I know it's so. It's been verified to me several times. This is going to be a year of conflict. Now, Lord, that tells us to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand in the evil day. So, Lord, help us not to be slothful or careless this year, but to be vigilant and alert, because I know that's the way you want us. Bless those who are working with the children. And bless us here, Lord, and those in the tape that are listening, that we may pursue that which you have for us today and give us perception in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. For those in tape land, our webmaster has reminded me to remind you of our website, www.wor.org. All right. Shall we then turn to Revelation chapter 10? We're going to read verses 1 through 6 together. I'm reading in the New American Standard. If you have that, you can read out loud with us. And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud. And the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book which was open, and he placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. And he cried out with a loud voice as when a lion roars. And when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them. And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land, lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be delay no longer. Now this is a far out passage, it is cloaked in imagery, it seems fantastic, and non-applicable, N.A., non-applicable to the distresses and problems that are hitting a lot of us at this time. Nonetheless, it is very practical and very urgent and very timely. If you want the scriptural backup and the theoretical backup for some of the things that I hope to say with the Lord's help, you'll find this in a book I have written called, The Two Witnesses. The Two Witnesses, if you care to go into that. Because this morning I'm not going to attempt to lay an extensive background, because I know some of you don't know the Bible that well, and you just need to hear what is practical and applies to you. So I will do that, with God's help, but if you wish to pursue this further, the book, The Two Witnesses, that you can get over in the old sanctuary at the rear in the book room, The Two Witnesses, will give you the background of scripture and theory for the assertions that we make. This angel is the seventh angel. There are seven angels in Revelation. The seventh one is the last one. And it's important to us because in 1 Corinthians 15, it says that something shall happen when the seventh angel sounds. Does anybody know what that something is? At the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, the Lord will be here and we will be changed. The chapter is about the resurrection, and it says it will take place at the last trumpet. The last trumpet is the seventh trumpet. There are seven. And here we are, the preceding chapters of Revelation have discussed the first six trumpets. But we are now in a time when many of these things are applicable. The angel characterizes what we can expect in our spiritual times. First of all, we notice that he is strong. This is going to be a day of strength, and strength is required. We need more strength. We need stronger doctrine. We need to get up to the table and eat. The day of being able to be a casual Christian is over. Believe me, don't prove it the hard way to yourself during 1998. The day of the casual Christian is over. Hell is rising up, and God is rising up to face it. And those believers who insist on a casual approach. That is, I don't mind attending church even once a week. Weddings and funerals. But as for my life, don't mess with me. Well, okay, that's cool. But you are going to suffer this coming year if you take that approach. And you are going to find endless trouble as God chastises your flesh to make you obedient. So don't give the devil the glory as God who is dealing with you to get you to pray. And to live as a Christian. And to keep his commandments. As your friend, I am telling you this in advance. So you don't have to learn it the hard way. It's going to be a day of strength. Strong people. Because the enemy is going to rise up in strength. And many people in the world today are ready to give themselves to Satan. They are ready to give. We are in a day I never thought I would see. When people are knowingly worshipping Satan. Knowingly. That's what they are doing. Some do it. Like the rock groups. So they will be famous and have money. They sell their soul to the devil. How many of you have ever read The Devil and Daniel Webster? I thought it was Noah Webster. It was Daniel Webster. About a man who sold his soul to the devil. And people do that for one reason or another. They want power. They may be witches or something. And they know that's where the power is. They may be members of the Illuminati or the Club of Rome or the Masons. I don't know much about these things. I know a lot of people are writing about them. But these are people who know they are worshipping Satan. They know that. And they figure he is going to win. And they want to be on the winning side. But right now they want lots of power. They want lots of free sex and whatever else. And the way they get it is by worshipping Satan. I never thought I would hear such things. I never thought I would hear such things. But today, I mean, yet with the youth culture, you'll hear more about Satan and Antichrist than you'll ever find in a church book. So, it's heating up. And it's no place for three points and a conclusion and bored people sitting in church wishing they were out somewhere else. You're not going to stand. You've got to have strength. And God has that strength for you. He has that. He always has. And He has it today. You need to read your Bible. You need to read your Bible. Every day. Some. You say, I can't understand it. Well, get a version you can understand. Get the Message. There's a new one out called The Message. It's great. I mean, boy, if you can't understand that, you better go back to the third grade because that is understandable. And right to the point. Contemporary. So, get us a version that you like. I kind of like the NIV. I've heard a lot of bad about it, but I haven't found it in the NIV. I enjoy it. But you get whatever you like. And read it every day. Blessed is the man who sits not in the seat of the scornful. Don't walk in the way of sinners. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate day and night. Day and night does he meditate. That was under the old covenant. What should we be doing? Strength. There's strength in the Word. The Word is core and strength. It's not marshmallows. It's strength. And prayer. You can't do it without prayer. Well, he said, I didn't have time today. Then don't eat. You have to deal with your body like that. Okay, body, you don't have time to pray. Cool. Then you don't eat. Pretty soon your body will get the Message. And you'll pray. So you get to eat. You have to do things like that, because we basically are lazy, cowardly people. I mean, that's the way our flesh is. And you have to treat it rough. Roughly? Strong. There's strength there in the spirit realm. For you. It's coming down out of heaven. The revival is not going to be, this revival of the seven angels will not be worked up. Now, it's fine to exercise yourself. There's no problem with whatever you do. But if the real stuff comes down, it isn't worked up. It comes down. And God has it there. And He's ready to send it down. I mean, we are in days of revival. We are in days of tremendous revival. And the illumination of the Word is present. The spirit of prayer is present. And it's just up for you to open up yourself, make time for it, take advantage of it. That's what God wants you to do. So He doesn't have to chastise you in order to get you to do what you should do anyway. It will come down out of heaven. Called to the cloud. Sorry if I have to keep drinking. That's the only way my throat is going to function today. I'll tell you that. A cloud always speaks of the coming of the Lord. Whenever you see the coming of the Lord, it's always with clouds. Behold, He cometh with clouds. So this angel is referenced to the coming of the Lord. The rainbow was upon His head. Lord, honey, do you have a cough drop? Oh, great. Anybody have a cough drop? Larry probably. Mark, bless you. Thank you. I hope this is a strong one. Alright. The rainbow. Where's the rainbow found? Whenever there's rain, that's God's covenant with the hands and the animals. And they look up. They see we're not going to drown again. You know, the people. But the rainbow is around the throne of God. And it tells us that God is ready to move. Now, God had a rebellion on His hands before the earth was created. Some of the big boys rebelled against God. And He has never settled accounts with them. He's never done it. He's let it ride. Because God accomplishes things by letting wickedness play out. Sometimes He doesn't let it play out, but sometimes He does. He lets it play out. He may let it play out in your life. You say, well, Lord, why didn't you spare me this? Well, because it wasn't best for you. I want it to play out. And when it plays out, and then you get to see what's in your heart or what's in the world. We're all pretty now. By now, the angels and people can see what's in Satan's personality. How can we see it? It's played out over 6,000 years. Say, there's nothing there I want. But you see, he's a beautiful creature. So if it hadn't have played out, they'd look at him and say, hey, this guy's a one-man band. I mean, he's really great. But you see, as it plays out. Same way is true of your heart and my heart. We think, boy, I'm a cool dude. I mean, I am all right. I'm with it. And God lets it play out. And say, oh Lord, have mercy on me. I'm the least of all people. But it has to play out. So sometimes God lets wickedness play out. And he's let Satan play out. Oh, you want to do that? You want to corrupt the earth? Oh, go ahead, sure. We'll all watch and see how it works out. That's the way he does, Bill. But we are close to the time when God is going to settle accounts with Satan. And when the Father rises up, that's the time that you want to make sure that you know where you are in God. Jesus said, don't worry about them. They can only kill you. Worry about him who has power to cast you into hell. And that's the Father. Loving as he is, the devils tremble at his name. They're not scared of the church, but they're scared of the Father. And that rainbow means that in the days of the latter rain, in the days of the end time, the harvest of the earth, harvest rain, the great outpouring symbolized by the rings of the tabernacle, the Father's going to act. The Father's going to act. I'm reading a very good book. When I find something good, I try to give it a little PR on the tape. A lot of the people sharing the good stuff. And this one's by a man named Michael Phillips. And it's called The Rift. How many have read it? Anybody read The Rift? Well, Michael Phillips is a well-known Christian author. And this book is a knockout. I mean, I am enjoying it. I like to read when I have a cold. Read, drink hot tomato soup. Take it easy. From what? Keep active, but take it easy. And I'm enjoying this book, but it's got a lot of stuff in there that Larry Burkett writes about and others write about, about this club of Rome and this group of powerful people that ostensibly control the world from Europe, have for several hundred years. You've probably all heard about the power of Taylor Caldwell writes about it quite a bit. I've heard enough. I don't go for this ain't-it-awful and peek-a-boo behind some weird things coming out of bushes. But enough responsible people have written about the Illuminati and the club of Rome and these other powerful groups of a few people that can cause stock market crashes whenever they want to, which apparently they can, that I'm inclined to believe it. So the book has to do with the power of these people and how they manipulate the economy of the world. And I had a thing about that and I thought, Lord, you know, what's with this? And the Lord said, I have enough power in my little finger to just wash this out. Don't concern yourself with it. I'm just using it to bring forth my sons. So there's great power, there's throne power available to those who are obedient to God. The key word is obedience. Obey Him. Whatever He says to you, do it. And if you do, if you sternly obey the Father, you can forget about the Illuminati. They're not going to touch you. You can forget about the club of Rome. They're not going to touch you. You can forget about the Rothschilds and all the other multi-billion billionaires. They're not going to touch you. One wiggle of Jesus' little finger and they're finished. And Jesus is with you and the Father is with you if you are obeying God. It's not enough to do the four steps of salvation. You must be obeying God this coming year. And if you will obey God, the Father will be with you, Christ will be with you, the power will be with you. And not all the curses of the witches on this earth are going to touch you. Okay? You don't have to be frightened. But you do have to obey God. You can't say, oh well, tra-la-lee, I said the four steps of salvation, so Brother Thompson said, don't worry, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you've got to be a real Christian. And if you're not, you're going to have trouble in 1998. That is my cheery news for you today. The rainbow, his face was like the sun. The sun stands for righteousness. Ours is a day, I told you that the Lord spoke to me when I went on the internet. And I know it was the Lord. I can tell pretty well. I know when I'm doubtful. I know when a thing is pretty sure. And he said, you tell the Christians in America, I want them to keep my commandments. And you're going to have prosperity for a few years. And I want my commandments kept during that time. If not, your nation is going to be judged. Since then, I've heard that from another source, that a person I don't even know, somebody told me about it, said very much the same thing. Which is all right, I knew it was the Lord. But in the same book, The Rift, this is what the author said, I didn't say it, this is what he said, this is Michael Phillips, wrote all this stuff about George McDonald and so on. I think he's from Eureka, California, I'm not sure. But anyway, he said you can forget about all this stuff about raptures and tribulations and all. He said that isn't where it is. He said what's going to happen from now on? The way he pictures it is these powers that operate, these big financiers, have sponsored humanism to the point that the church is dead in its rituals and its mythologies and so on. He said what's going to happen is while the majority of the church people do not know what's going on, listen to this, there will come out a remnant of Christians who will keep God's commandments. Wow! I read that, I got so excited. Lord, what a confirmation! Because this man, his books sell by the millions. So, just think of it. That's exactly what's happening. Forget about all this other stuff. That is not where the action is. He said while the church is fooling around with all of its traditions and everything, there's going to come out a remnant of Christians who will keep God's commandments. And brother, sister, that are the truth. His face was like the sun. In Matthew 13 it says, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. His feet were like pillars of fire. Now, the feet are very important. Remember it says, My God shall crush Satan under your feet shortly. And these feet, and God said in this word, I will make the place of my feet glorious. Now, I believe God wants this church to be one of the places of His feet. A place where He can crush the enemy. But in order for this to be true, there's got to be fire. There's got to be fire. All of us. I pray for God for fire on our whole denomination. I pray for God for fire on myself. I pray for God of fire on the church. What the fire does, it burns up that which is sinful. That which is self-seeking. It's the judgment of God. And it's greatly to be desired. Like David said, Judge me, O Lord. Try me. See if there's any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way of everlasting. He didn't say, Oh God, don't judge me. You know, put it off till tomorrow. Lord, judge me. I want to know. I don't want any horsing around. If there's anything wrong with me, I want to know it. Could you say that and mean it? There was a fellow that prayed like that, a young man. He said, Lord, if I'm doing something wrong, I know I'm doing something wrong. Stop me. He got in an accident. So after that, he walks with a limp. Saying, Praise God. The Lord delivered me. Do you love the Lord that much? Do you know you're doing something wrong? You say, Lord, stop me. Lord, stop me. Do you want to be stopped? That's a good prayer. There was a lady some years ago went out to her washing machine. Evidently it wasn't grounded properly and she nearly electrocuted herself. And you know what her response was? Praise God. He's still after me. There's a lot of people like that. There's a lot of Christians like that going around saying, Oh God, I wish you would deliver me. I know I'm in a mess. Oh God, will you deliver me? Pray that. That's a wonderful prayer. God, stop me. I don't care what it takes. Just stop me. Hey, can you hear me? I'm praying for our denomination and I'm praying for this church and I'm praying for myself. God, I want more of your fire. And what can be burned, I want it burned. I want it out of me. I don't want any nonsense about this. I want it out. Can you say that? His feet are like fire. God wants to make the place of His feet glorious. Jesus is waiting patiently at the right hand of God until His enemies are made His footstool. You know, we are the feet of Christ. We are the feet of Christ. My God shall crush Satan. That's Romans 16 about verse 23. My God shall crush Satan under your feet. I don't say under Christ's feet. It's under your feet. When you go stepping on Satan you better be sure what kind of feet you have. They better be feet of fire. They better be feet that can stand the judgment of God. Oh God, I pray, make this place, this church, the place of your feet, Lord. Because it's God's time to rise up against His enemies. What a year. Oh, hallelujah. I'm glad I lived this year. And he had in his hand a little book. That's scroll. That's God's word. We have a day, we are in a day in which there are many voices. Many things going down. Come see what we're going on. Come see what's going on here. Come see what's going on there. And I'm sure there are many wonderful things. Good things, helpful things. But when the Father speaks, it's a small scroll. It's a small thing. But it's all power and heaven and earth. Don't look for God to move always or even most of the time in that which is flashy or that which is spectacular. God's way is to work with mangers. That's the way He does. It's a little cloud like a man's hand. People are impressed with the spectacular, with the large, the flashy, the showy. God many times, I think of the temple where the wealthy Pharisees and Sadducees and priests are running here and there doing their politics, their nepotism, and their deals and running around making money from the peasants by gypping them when they change their money into temple coins. And Christ the King was brought into the middle of those people by His mother holding in her arms the God that gave the law, the thundering goddess Sinai. She had Him in her arms, the baby Jesus. What are you going to see? It's like any other baby. It's got a little blue blanket and whatever they used in those days probably a cloth. I want that stopped right now. I want that stopped. And if you two girls have to move over, move over. But these three young ladies are trying to pay attention and I don't want to mess with, okay? So let's bring that to a screeching halt right now. We're disciples in this place and I expect better things from you. I expect good things from you. So please, it's distracting me and the girl on your left is trying to pay attention. So let's not do that. Okay? Amen and Amen. Now where was I? A baby. And you look at Him it's nothing to tell from any other baby. But Anna and Simeon came in and they saw the Lord's Christ. But it wasn't spectacular. It wasn't showing. It was a little book. That's the way the Lord works. And so all the Pharisees and the Sadducees went on their business, their deals, their gypping the people and all worshiping. They fought that little baby but they couldn't see Him. We've got to watch it today. Don't be sure. The reason Anna, well let me ask you this. Why did Anna and Simeon, why could they see the Lord's Christ and not the others? Huh? Because they were praying. The others were busy in religious work. But they didn't know the Lord. You can be busy in religious work and not know the Lord. Do you know the Lord? Is He with you? Do you talk to Him each day? Are you hearing from God? Set aside time. Set aside time. When we're praying, when we come on Sunday morning at quarter of nine to pray, I expect that people from the age of five will come and pray. I regard you seriously as people and as believers. I don't want and I can't stand a generation gap. They're the enemy. We're here. We have to be here. No, I cannot live with it. You're a person and a believer from the age of five on up. Now if you can cut it, if you're younger than that, I don't know, if little Katie can hear me and can do better than that, that's alright. But probably not. But if you're five or older, hey, I'm not whistling Dixie. I mean it. I regard you as a person. Not as a kid, but as a person. And I want you to come and pray and pray out loud with the rest of us because we're only people too. We're only people too. And someday you'll be one of those hard things called an adult. It will happen to you. You are people and God views you that way. So when you come in and you see us praying, come on up because you're one of us. You don't sit back there and look while the adults pray. Okay? It was a little book. He didn't come with Adam Clark's commentary or the pulpit commentary or anything else. Just a little book. But that was God. So watch in your life for the little things. The small things. The down-home things. The little things. The down-home things. That's where God's work, that's where the Father is, that's where His power is. Don't get that confused with religious cosmetics. The religious cosmetics of Babylon. The little book was open. Everything in here is enormously significant. Kathryn Kuhlman said ours is a day of revival. It's just up to you to press into it. That is absolutely true. The book is open today. It's understandable as it never has been. To my knowledge, the things that are coming out today you cannot find in commentaries. They're not there. Again, regardless of your age, you can press in and understand the Lord. It's not a case of when you're older, you'll understand it. If you think that's the case, ask an older person if they understand it. They don't understand it either. Understanding comes by the Spirit. And as you pray, God will speak to you. And you will understand the Word because the book is open. He placed His right foot on the sea and is left on the land. Now what that's telling us is this angel of this last day revival is going to take dominion over the entire planet. Because the planet is just made up of land and sea. That's all there is. And He's telling you that the throne is coming down to take command. Now we're not used to that. We're used to revivals that are local. There's a revival in Indonesia. There's a revival in Nagaland. There's a revival in South Africa. There's a revival here. This is worldwide because the conspiracy against God, the extent of humanism and the New Age, Satan worship, and all the rest of this, not to mention the secularization of society, the acceptance of the ridiculous evolution as though a respectable hypothesis. It is hardly a respectable hypothesis let alone an assured fact. But yet these pressures have put it upon the populace and they don't know any better and they assume that all the bright men in the world are saying it's a fact and somehow they've proved it and none of this is true. It's a snow job but because of the prevalence of the media and the impact that we have, there's a thought control going on in society. And it's affected the whole planet. Maybe a lot of savage areas are not into it but even there, the internet, personal computer, and the television are causing a dissemination of knowledge which is global. And believe me, it is not friendly to the Christian church. The Christian church, the evangelicals, the fundamentals are being pictured as a bunch of know-nothing, backward, spoil sports. I mean like, what? You're a fundamentalist? In fact, sometimes it's come out in the paper that we are dangerous. There was at least one local politician who equated Christian fundamentalists with the people in Waco. It's all the same thing. They're all cults. They're all nuts. And this kind of thing is increasingly common. But God, we say, well if the Lord had come and catch us up to heaven, well that isn't what's going to happen. What's going to happen is God sending down an angel with one foot on the land and one in the ocean who's going to take command of this planet. There's going to be one last revival in which God says, hey, I'm here, I'm in control, you better believe and get baptized. When that's over, then we're going to see the rise of Antichrist and the one world government and Illuminati and all the rest of it. But not before this seventh angel prepares to sound. Hallelujah. You don't have to worry about these evil forces. You don't have to say, ain't it awful. Now the abortionists are winning. Now the gays are doing this. Now the rest of them are doing that. All they are is poor people in need of Jesus Christ. They're just blind. They're not to be the object of our invective. They are people for whom Christ died. Do you know that? How many know that? Alright. And they need prayer. They don't need to be cursed. You know it's a good thing when you begin to talk about the gays and the abortionists and all the rest of them. As soon as you do, just say, there but for the grace of God go I. And the only reason you're sitting in church without AIDS is because God was good to you. So have mercy on people who are bound with these goblin-like demons that they cannot see. And it's our job to deliver them. But we've been busy doing other things besides keeping God's commandments. So go easy on them. God's going to give one last wake-up call to this planet. One last wake-up call to this planet. And it's coming in the power of the Father. Hallelujah. I tell you, this is a very relevant passage. And he cried out with a loud voice as when a lion roars. Now, that's kind of stunning. Because we don't equate our nice religion with lions roaring. Oh, that's a noisy church. People in church should be quiet. Kind of like a funeral home. What you need is a quiet church where people come, they're dressed nice and there's an organ playing softly in the background. Huh? Amen? You know? Yeah? Well, that's nice and a lot of people do not like noise in church. Someone hollers, Jesus! I say, what is that? Well, can you think of any better thing to holler in church than Jesus? Huh? That's what you're supposed to do in church is get excited. Well, we're starting to get excited. We've been excited. We're getting more excited and I hope we get absolutely outrageously excited before we're finished with this thing. God is worth getting excited about. Hallelujah. So, the next thing is lions roaring. That may be a little rich for our blood at this point. Why can't they be nice? Why does the angels have to roar like lions? Why can't they be nice already? Yeah. You see an angel. You see a lot of them at Valentine's Day. They're little babies with wings throwing hearts all over the place. Oh, they're angels. How many know those are angels? Oh, yes. But you don't see many of them with one foot on the seas, one on the continents roaring like a lion with a rainbow around his head and feet of fire. That's the kind of angel we're not used to that kind of angel. But that's one of them anyway. I don't know what his name is. He prefers to remain unnamed. So, we'll just call him the seven angels. Alright, he cried out with a loud voice. Which you should never do in church. A loud voice already. You know, you wake up the people that quit snoring in tongues. Alright, he cried out with a loud voice. That's when a lion roars. Ordinarily I would demonstrate that, but my throat isn't up to it. People know I will demonstrate that, but my throat is not up to it right now. And when he had cried out, I mean, this thing is not going to be done in a corner. It's an earth-shaking world-wide demonstration of God's almighty authority. The seven fields of thunder uttered their voices. Now, whenever you see thunder, it refers to power. It refers to God's power. Whenever you see seven, it refers to perfection. So, seven fields of thunder means the perfection of the power of God. Now, there's a great cry in the charismatic circles today for power. The evangelists want power. One evangelist went to the to the tomb of Catherine Kuhlman and prayed there for her power. They want power. Much is said in charismatic circles about power. But, that's not that's not the best prayer. It's a good prayer, but it's not the best prayer. Because we don't really want power. What we want is God. There's a difference. You can have power You pray enough for it. You can get spiritual power and things will happen. Metaphysical power. But, it's not necessarily being sponsored by the Father. You've got to watch that one. Ours is a day when people want power in the spirit realm. But, you notice here the seven fields of thunder had spoken. I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying, seal it up. I don't want you to know what they said. I want this to remain a mystery. The reason for that is it'll be in my book, The Two Witnesses. You read the background. It's fairly elaborate. But, it has to do with the Psalms. It talks about, there's the hiding of His power. Once have I heard, twice has it been spoken that power belongs unto God. When you trace it back, it ends up back at the waters of Meribah. The time when at Meribah, the second time when Moses smote the rock. Moses smote the rock. Now, that was right toward the end of Moses' life. Must we fetch you water out of this rock, you rebels? And, God was so displeased with that that Moses was not permitted to enter the land of promise. And, the reason that the fullness of power is God does not allow it to tell the access to it or how you get it is because there's something God has to deal with first in His church. It has to do with the waters of Meribah. Just to put in very simple terms, self-will. It has to do with self-will. When we're at Pentecost, the self-will in us has not been dealt with. When we get saved, the self-will has not been dealt with. The charismatic move today knows more about God's power and God's gifts and God's ministry than any group of people have known in the history of the Christian church by far. But, the problem is that we have not learned about obedience to God. And, in fact, Michael Phyllis brings this out in his book, The Risk. The big issue is the prayer of relinquishment where you take your gifts and your person and you give them back to God. Imagine, this is all this guy who preaches millions of people and this and that. Amen, brother. What am I doing? You're telling the whole story. That's where the problem or the issue or the opportunity or the danger, however you want to record it, in the charismatic move of today resides. And it's nothing new. Christians of all ages, I mean the real stuff, not just the church members, but the real disciples, the people that have known God, have known that the only way you learn of God is by going to the cross, laying down your life and obeying Him. It's the hardest thing in the world. It's fairly easy to get saved, believe and be baptized, join the group and everybody will clap you on the back. Wow, wonderful. You're a baby. You get all the adulation that a baby gets in the house. Oh, we got a baby. Wonderful. And so it is. And then you finally get up to the place where you talk in tongues. You make some progress in there and it feels good. You realize you've touched God. And you begin to know about God's Spirit. Still, you can go that far and never lay down your life for Jesus. I think from what I've read that young people get excited about the mission field or maybe they go to Bible school and marry somebody that's going to the mission field or whatever. Or maybe they got sold on the fact I saw one advertisement that had disturbed me and I told Audrey about it. It was a group that trains young people and sends them out as missionaries. Well, on their blurb they had two things. I knew where they were going. First, they had a young girl. She was about 18 and she was holding a little baby of another nationality. She's going on a mission field to hold this little baby. What are they appealing for? It's kind of a romantic thing. If I go to the mission field I have these little babies and the little babies need me. And what do they have for the young man? He was out in the field with a backpack and his staff in his hand. I mean, this is going to be one grand adventure. When they put out blurbs for Bible colleges, I noticed on the front cover in all color are young men and young ladies in delightful rapport. That is not an accident. It's a pitch to get young people into a Bible school where they can meet a lot of hunks or a lot of gals. They know what they're doing. That's why you can go to Bible school or go on the mission field and yet never have laid down your life for Jesus because you've gone there you were enticed with a romantic spirit or whatever. Oh, I want to go to Indonesia. I'm going to go here. I want to go there. And listen, I'm for it. I am so deathly sincere with our young people. Now, we've turned over a new leaf with our young kids. They're going to be running. I shouldn't even say that. With certain members of our church who are going to be conducting a period we used to call prayer and share. Now I don't know what we'll call it. We'll have to see how it works out before we name it. And they are responsible for it. And they know that I said to them this is not a kid's stuff. We're not giving you something to do. You're young people. Now do you. We can give you a nice little thing to do. This is part of the church. It has the iron of the church. You're people. You're responsible. And if it goes bust, it's your fault. Nothing happens, we're out to the clubs. It's yours. Same way with me. If I don't cut the mustard, we're out to the clubs. And I am so deadly serious about that. I expect the best from you. And I will settle for nothing. I know what it will mean to you later in life, so I'm not going to let the devil have you. I don't think I'm going to, because I'm not. With God's help. Yes, we're going to be encouraging our people that are going to be conducting this service. And I told them, if you get any VCRs or missions or anything you want, I want them to be missionary conscious, service conscious. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not running down missions. Missions are a key thing in the role of the church. My only point is that you can do all this Christian stuff without ever having laid down your life. And until you do, you don't know the Lord. You're not even a Christian in the definite, technical sense of the word. Christians are disciples, and disciples are people who have laid down their lives. And until you have laid down your life, you're a beautiful person, you're a church member full of integrity, and a wonderful guy or gal, but you are not a true Christian until you come to Jesus and say, Lord, I am laying my life on the altar. Until that happens, you're not a disciple of the Lord. You're a church member, maybe a good, honest, hard-working American citizen, but you're not the real stuff until you've laid down your life. And that's the issue of the seven thunders. God isn't going to give the kind of power reserved for the end time until he finds people who are not going to use it. Did you hear that? Until he finds people who are not going to use it. Until he finds people that are going to go to Jesus and let Jesus use them and it. Greatest lesson, I think, today of all the burdens of the Spirit, God wants people who will lay down their life for Jesus. That's what a Christian is. And if you do it, it's not so bad. It's kind of like swimming in Portland, Maine in the first part of June. You hit that water and electricity goes through you. Shock! You're looking for the ice cubes in the water. So you tiptoe in and tiptoe out again. You can do this for three quarters of an hour. Not get any further than your ankles. There's only one way to go swimming at Willard Beach in South Portland, Maine in the first part of June. I'm saying this for the maniacs that may be listening on the tape. I know what I mean by Willard Beach. There's only one way and that's to steal yourself. And if you want to utter a few of those phrases, karate phrases, you know, whatever, to steal yourself and then run like a madman as far as you can go and flop on your face. And after the shock wears off and you come through and your head's spinning and you finally regain your equilibrium, you say to people on the shore, come on in, the water's fine. It's kind of like that of laying down your life for Jesus. You try to put your toe in. Too cold. You can do that for three quarters of an hour. You can do that for three quarters of your life wishing you were a Christian and afraid to be one. The best way to do it is to get way back up on the beach as far as you go. You can back up and look at the water and yell, HUNT! And run for all you're worth until you can't churn anymore, fall on your face, get it over with. And by the time you regain your equilibrium, you'll be saying to other people, why don't you lay down your life for Jesus? This is wonderful. Man, I thought it was going to be terrible and it's much easier than it was when I was dipping in and dipping out. You never know, you try it. I think I touch some people. I think, you know what I honestly think? That I don't prepare much for what I'm preaching. You can see what I do. I'll bet you there's people here today that never have really charged into the surf. You thought about it and you're like, oh, I'm afraid. What about my job? What about my hobbies? What about my boyfriend? What about my girlfriend? What about... I think there's some people like that here today. I don't know because I don't know you. You all may be sterling Christians, but maybe some of you need to take a flying leap today into the water. I'll guarantee you one thing. You'll never do it any younger. Seal it up. I'm almost through here. And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land you see, when these things are repeated in here it isn't because the author's getting a nickel a word. That's what they do with authors, you know. You pay a nickel a word. So, a book that could be twenty pages and you make it a three hundred. You get more for it. Standing on the sea and on the land. He's impressing on you. if you try to stand on the sea and on the land I know you can go down and put one foot in the surf and the other on the beach. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about he's got one in the center of the ocean or the earth and the other one in the center of the land mass which, incidentally, is Jerusalem. It is the geophysical center of the land mass of the earth. So, he's got one foot in Jerusalem one somewhere in the middle of the ocean. This is a big dude. Lifted up his right hand to heaven. He was doing something with it. Oh, he's got his right foot. Where was his right foot? It was in the land or the water? I put it in the sea. Interesting. Well, most of the land mass is sea. I guess that's what it is. And lifted up his right hand to heaven. Boy, I bet that thing went up there. Whoa! This colossus. The colossus of Rhodes. Up it goes. Into the clouds. And swore! They're always swearing in the Bible. That's because things are so significant. They're so necessary. And when you begin to live as a real Christian and your life is really hanging on the reality and faithfulness of God you'll understand why they swear. Because the devil and all his demons have one tech hobby. How many know what it is? You know what it is? They reason. They reason, reason, reason, all day and all night. And what they're getting at is it ain't necessarily so. In fact, George Gershwin finally put all the reasoning together and wrote a song about the Bible and it was it ain't necessarily so. So much for George Gershwin. Only it is necessarily so. And how do we know it's necessarily so? Because he raised up his hand and he said as God lives this is what is true. The demons can't do that. They reason, reason, reason, reason, reason, reason, it ain't necessarily so. Reason, reason, reason. God, as God lives that's why they swear in the Bible. But we don't do that. We're told not to do that. Who lives forever and ever that's a long time who created heaven and the things in it the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it. Now, why didn't they say created everything? Why drag it out to get a nickel of word? No, that isn't the reason. Because they want you to get the message. It isn't just everything it's everything. I mean, this is where the Father rises up in the days of the seventh angel when he prepares the sound. The angel comes down with the throne sign around his head. And he said this is what is true by the person who created everything. I swear this is what will happen in our whole age in every form of media that is expanding at an exponential rate is saying it ain't necessarily thou shalt not surely not you don't really have to serve God like that. You can still keep business as usual. You don't have to make that total change. You don't have to charge into the surf and go through the shock treatment. You can preserve your way of life and attend church and be nice and hope it comes out in the wash. Reason, reason, reason, reason, reason, reason, reason. I swear by him who lives forever and ever that there shall be delay no longer. No longer. God's saints have waited, waited carried their cross had the promise of God to them never saw it come in the past. Wait, the whole creation's groaning waiting in pain. God, will you move? How many more babies will be aborted? How many more young people will be messed up with drugs and AIDS and how many more women will be raped? How long will the wicked and the rich walk on the backs of the poor? How long will men, treacherous men take the credit for other people's achievements? How long will it go on? How long are you going to let it go on? How long are you going to let the mess in my house go on? You promised me my kids how long are they going to be? You promised me health how long is it going to be? That's the Christian life. And it's in that waiting that the saints are made. And so it takes a big dude to come down and say I swear by God almighty including the angels waiting the people, the martyrs waiting under the altar how long, by God almighty to all of you who love righteousness and are upset at the way our nation has gone I swear by God almighty that there shall be delay no longer in the days of the seven when he shall prepare to sign the mystery of God which people is Christ in you and the end will be here. Shall we stand? Thank you for bearing with me. Sorry to the people on the tape that's the best I could do. Father in Jesus' name look at these people, God look at these people any one of them is worth to you more than 10,000 heavens. Any one of them in here who would give himself or herself to you without reservation will make a difference in the lives of generations of people yet unborn. Such awesome potential such awesome potential my father look at it and God I pray for those here who are not eligible to participate in the tremendous advent of the Father and Christ into the creation because they're still themselves. They're still themselves they've never said God I prefer to be me. They've said that but they've never said Lord I don't prefer to be me I want to be you I want to be part of you Oh God will you speak to their hearts now and give them that something within them that says if I'm ever going to find myself in this life I've got to find it in God. I'll never find rest until I find rest in God. If you're here this morning even one person and you have never charged into this earth you've never laid down your life and said Jesus take my life now and remember this is for people five and older leap on forward now and kneel at this altar and tell the Lord that and take that little step of faith and tell God I want to be part of the advent of the Father I don't want to do it on my own terms because I know the pressure is going to be too great I cannot stand just knowing about God and withstand the hell that's going to rise up in our nation I've got to be part of something greater than myself if you're here and you need to come this is the time once you walk out that door it will be business as usual and reason, reason, reason, reason, reason if you're here and you have never laid down your life for Jesus then you are not a disciple and by definition not a Christian you're a good person and a church member and God loves you and we all love you but you're not eligible because God will not give his glory to another only to those who are part of him if you need to come this is the time come, oh hallelujah Father God help me I see such potential such potential for God's kingdom I can't stand to see it wasted oh Lord Father in Jesus name now I pray Lord if there's someone here who should have come forth and they hadn't Lord I pray that my words will come back to them and this year that you told me is going to be a year of distress I pray that distress will turn them towards you and not away from you Lord you told me many will fall away this year traps will be laid for many God don't let it happen to people in this room right now but rather let them be wise and give themselves to God get it over with and they'll find out the water isn't that bad it's perfectly swimmable enjoyable I'm going to let you go we're going to deal now with the altar you're welcome to stay in the presence of God but people people keep your minds on the Lord the battle has begun maybe a stand or bending or something you give us