In this sermon, the pastor shares a story about a new pastor who constantly hears comparisons to the previous pastor's sermons and services. One day, the new pastor visits a young widow and her daughter, and the little girl mentions that the previous pastor used to kiss her mother too. The pastor then discusses the importance of coming near to God's table and keeping His charge. He emphasizes the need for a commission and order from God in order to be effective in ministry. The sermon concludes with a story about a woman who had a powerful encounter with God and became a worshiper of the Lamb.

Ezekiel was a prophet of end times. Much in Ezekiel, in different ways, the Lord caused him to speak of things he surely knew not. Looking down through the millenniums, the times of the end. And we're going to look in chapter 44, which is one of the chapters that has to do with the temple, the temple of Ezekiel. Very, very specific directions, and measurements, materials, and so on. And yet that temple was never built. No one ever built Ezekiel's temple with all its directions and measurements and so on. Because that temple is a symbol. The temple is symbolic and typifies the Church of Jesus Christ. And when you look at it in that way, you'll find the more you can search out, the more you'll find how the different materials and measurements and so on typify the different aspects of the Church of Christ. It's a long study, and we're not going into it. But we are going into chapter 44. That has to do with the ministry of that temple. As I say, the temple was never built. But it does speak of the Church of Jesus Christ. So we're going to look at the ministry of the Church. There are three classes of ministry. The first is rejected, the second is restricted, and the third is the accepted, or the blessed. Now in the New Testament, in fact, even in the Old Testament, way back before Moses' time, and in the first part of Moses' time, the people were priests unto God. But then that changed. And God put in a restricted ministry with the priests and the Levites and the high priests. And so it was a substitute. But in the New Testament, He has made us kings or a priesthood, a kingly, a royal priesthood. God would have all of His people to be priests. However, we'll look back into the Prophet Ezekiel to see a picture of what God wants and how He will work with the priests of this day, with the ministry of this day. And as I say, priests, because God would have us all to be ministers in one form or another, in one category or another. So we'll go to the 44th chapter. I think about the 9th verse, is it? Yes. Thus saith the Lord God, No stranger uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, or any stranger that is among the children of Israel. That's what God says. So we'll go back two verses. Verse 7. In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my bread and fat and blood. And to have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. You've not kept the charge of my holy things, but you have set keepers of my charge and my sanctuary for yourselves. About 200 years ago, there was a very serious controversy in the church, both in the colonies of this land and in Europe and in England especially. And that controversy was was it necessary for a minister of the gospel to be converted? Did he have to be a believer? Did he have to believe what he said or just teach what was written? That was all. That was in the days of John Wesley, in the days of George Whitefield, in the days of Jonathan Edwards and men like that. They claimed yes, the minister had to be converted. But believe it or not, most of the ministers said no, it wasn't necessary. I don't know what you think about that. I know what I think about that. And I know what God thinks about that. I hope we're all thinking the same. God says I have a controversy with that. He said you have set up ministry. God hadn't. You have done it. We prepare them. We have our institutions of learning where we grind them out like sausages, so many per year. Now they come knowing everything and having received much of nothing. God says that's not what I'm wanting because that's what you have done. But saith the Lord God that no stranger uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall enter into my sanctuary of any strangers among the children of Israel. In other words, they had to be those that were born to serve God, born again, and have the work of God in their hearts. There had to be a circumcision in both their heart and their flesh. In other words, they were sanctified. That's the word really typified, circumcision. Sanctified inside and sanctified outside. Inside and outside, outside and inside, both. Because the outer holiness isn't enough. Paul makes that very plain. He says they're not even they're not even true Jews if they're only circumcised outside. If it's only an outer sanctification, then they are not a part of the true family of God. There has to be the inward. So now we're going over going on to verse 10. And the Levites that are gone away far from me when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols, they shall even bear their iniquities. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at my gates, ministering to the house, and so on. Before we go any further, I would like to go back to Ezekiel 14, 3. In the same book, the same writer, we read, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts. I want you to notice that. Ezekiel's not necessarily talking about outside idols, whether they're sitting on a pedestal in a church or in a temple or in a home. He's talking about the inside ones, isn't he? They set up their idols in their hearts. And so when we're speaking of this idolatry, that's what God is looking at. He's looking on the inside. Now I want us to take a few moments to go back and look at the idols of the Old Testament and what they signify. First, we have Baal, who's connected with Ashtoreth, incidentally. That is the ruler of both the political system, but he's the god of agriculture and of fertility, and the rites, the ceremonies, the rituals were very orgiastic and very immoral. He's the lord of joy and pleasure. And then we have another. Baal Berith. He's the lord of covenants and pacts and promises. And then there's Baal Gad, the lord of fortune, the lord of riches, the lord of greed. You see how these idols can get into your heart? You begin to look and see that you can have worship Baal and not have any outward idol at all, but the but the worship of riches, just the love of money is the root of all evil, isn't it? And incidentally, it doesn't say money. It says the love of it. And you can have very little of it and love it much. Do everything in your power. Sell everything you can sell to to get hold of it and still be poor. Those are idols in the heart. There's the Oh, we'll go to another one. There's several, but I'm skipping some of them. Let's take the time for them. There's Baal Haman, lord of the multitude that fits nicely into our democratic system. People power. You ever hear of people power? The multitude rules. Everybody does it. So that makes it okay to do. We follow the crowd. But I think Jesus said something about where the crowd went was the way to destruction, wasn't it? The way was narrow. Few there be that find it. Then there's Baal Haman. That is, God is good, but it becomes a good godism. There's no such thing as responsibility, no such thing as holiness. God is good. God is gracious. He just wants to do all his good things for you. And never any responsibility. That's good godism, Baal Haman. There's Baal Hazor. He's the lord of the enclosure. He's the lord of security, of natural security. There's no dependence upon God. We put our dependence on our armies. We put our dependence on our defenses and so on. And then there is the lord of architecture, Baal Kirjah. He's the lord of architecture. Some people worship that. Oh, everything, their lives just fits into that. Then there's Baalist, the lord of pleasure, hedonism. That's one of the Ammonite gods. And then there's a house god. People worship their houses. I know some, I've been in some homes. I know some women. I remember one especially that was delivered, but she just couldn't leave her house. She just had to be always keeping everything so spotless and just she was a workaholic in her own house, keeping everything so nice. Then there's the lord of the open doors and of the immorality, that everything's all right. Do anything you want to. Then there's a worship of nature in the sense of all the flowers and gardens and trees and all that all that part of nature. That's Baal Temar. And then there's another god. I don't think we have this god in our hearts. Beelzebub, or you've heard it probably pronounced together Beelzebub. That's the lord of flies. I don't think anyone here is worshiping that area. So we'll pass it by. We should let her swat him, wouldn't we? And then there is the god of war. And then there is Dagon. He's the god that represents the ego. Not going into a long explanation of it. Just to leave it at that. I can tell you more about it if you ever want to know. But he represents the ego, the worship of self. He was one of the big gods that only the ark, only the presence of god could overcome Dagon. David overcame the Philistines, but he never overcame Dagon. Samson, he had, he lost his life there when they were having a big party. Celebrating the capture of Samson. And that was the worship of Dagon. But when they brought the ark into the presence of Dagon, what had happened? Remember? It fell down. And they put it up again, and it fell the second time, and broke it so completely they couldn't raise it up again. That is Dagon. That's a symbol of self. It's a mixture of fish and man. And that's the worship of self. And the only thing that can overcome self is not strength, but the presence. That can melt us down inside, can't it? That can make everything fall, can't it? That presence comes, and suddenly all that resistance and all that strength begins to fade away. Knees get weak, and hearts get soft. He alone can overcome Dagon. And there's the Neushtan, which is the worship of religion, the worship of church, the worship of ceremonies. It's very interesting that many fights in churches, especially in moral line churches, have developed because they would change just one symbol in their ritual. I remember a church in England that they moved from the goblet in the service of communion to the little glasses. What'd they do that for? They had a major battle on their hands. Just that little thing. No way, no way, no way. They had a real royal battle. That was because they were worshiping their rituals. Neushtan is the brazen serpent that one time God used. And then they made it an idol. And it had to be destroyed years later. That's what happened. God uses something, but then we make a fetish of it. It becomes an idol to us. That's why God wants to keep changing so we don't lock in and say, this is it. Now we've got the formula. Finally, we've got it. Now we know what to do all the time. And that isn't what God is wanting. Then there's a God of education and a God of commerce. That's called Molok. And there is the God of fashion. There's a great deal of worship of fashion. I mean, some people wouldn't be seen outside the house with anything that was unfashionable. That's the God of fashion. And believe it or not, how much they are worshipped. How difficult for someone to break fashion. There are more in our hearts than we think we are, than they think we are. And so without going any more into that side of it, just the fact that when we talk about idols in the heart, it's not necessarily talking about a few idols on a God shelf or a few virgins raised up or religious symbols raised up in church. No, it's not talking about that. He's talking about idols in the heart. As I mentioned the other day, our first love, the things we love more than anything else, those become the idols to us. Those become what we mostly worship. But I think really Dagan is very strong. Very strong. It's one of the hardest ones to get out. And so that's why now God says, the Levites that have gone away from me when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. But, verse 11, yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary. And only to look at these ministries, there are seven of them, and these are the restricted ministries. There are seven. They shall be ministers in my sanctuary. That's like taking care of everything. We might call them janitors. And they will have charge at the gates of the house. The gates is a place of entry, isn't it? That's a place where people come in, that people go out. They shall have charge of the gates. That speaks of evangelism. God will use them for winning souls. He will use them evangelists, official evangelists or just private evangelism or one-to-one soul winning. That will be one of their ministries. They will minister to the house. That's speaking of deacons. They take care of all the things that are in the house of God. And the house of God is the church of God, the people of God, taking care of the people of God. And the different material needs they will have. Then they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people. I want you to notice they do not minister the blood. We'll find that out later. Putting it in crude terms, they were the butchers. They had to do the hard work. It is a lot of hard work to take a large animal, especially like a bullock, and slay it and prepare it for the offering. They did all the preparatory work. They did not minister the blood. We'll find that out later. They did not have anything to do with that, but they did have to do with the sacrifices and the offerings. They did the hard work. They did the preparatory work and all that was necessary, but they did not offer the blood. Also, they shall stand before them, my people, to minister unto them. There we have like Sunday school teachers or cell leaders or however you want to put it. Whatever form it takes, whatever the ministry is given to them, they are the ones who will be ministering to the people in that level. And it says, verse 12, because, here's why they can only do these things, because they ministered unto them before their idols, because they were sanctified, they were circumcised outside, but not inside. And so they joined them in their idolatries, their inner idolatries, and they caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity. If they do it, we can do it. And so away they went. And so now God speaks, and this is why they're restricted, Therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord God. Now, there's two other versions, Good Feeds and the Revised Version. It says, he has sworn by lifting up his hand. That's a form of making an oath. I have lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord God. They shall bear their iniquity or their guilt or their consequences or their punishment. They shall bear it, and yet they shall minister. But here's what their punishment is. They shall not come near unto me. They shall not come near unto me. They will never come into the presence of God. They will never be able to minister there, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near any of my holy things in the most holy place. They shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. That's why you can enter into many, many, many churches, but you'll not find the presence there at all. You'll not find the holy places. You'll not find the holy things of God. There won't be the anointing because the anointing that that sanctified and that made those things holy, the different furniture in the in the sanctuary. And so there won't be that touch. There won't be that anointing. There won't be that work. God says, I've lifted up my hand against them. I swear, I take an oath, they shall not come near to my holy things. They shall not minister in my holy things, and they shall not minister to me. They shall bear their shame and their abominations that they have committed. But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house. I have to take care of the house itself, all the repairing or carpentry work or plumbing work or whatever happens to be. For all the services there are and also one more that makes a service ministry for all that shall be done therein. Any odd job, anything whatsoever that needs to be done in the house of the Lord and in the service of the Lord. All right, they can do that, but they shall not come near to me. They shall not do the office of priest to me. They shall not come near to any of my holy things. They shall not even in the most holy place. They shall bear their shame. Now God is doing this thing. This is a picture of the church of Jesus Christ, and this is effective. It's effective now, whether people realize it or not, whether they know it or not, whether they want it or not. It is still effective now. But let's go on now. Now we come to Zadok, the sons of Zadok. The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me. They shall come near to me to minister unto me. They shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God. Over in Acts 13, 1 and 2. Now there were in the church that was Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manan, which had been brought up with Herod, etc., and Saul. And now look, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work where I have called them. There is a ministry unto God, not unto men. They ministered unto the Lord. They were just gathered together, just those seven people, prophets and teachers they were called, and they were not ministering to man. If you remember in the Old Testament, in the tabernacle, when the priests went in to minister to God, first they had to dress in special clothes and the curtains were dropped down. They were inside an enclosure, a tent, or a building, which is a temple later. The people were not in there. They ministered. They offered the incense at the golden altar. The light was burning, which was the symbol of the Holy Spirit illuminating, and everything was done. They ministered unto God. Although ceremonial, now in the New Testament, we find it's not ceremonial. They were not ministering to men. We have the idea that the only way to minister is to man. But by far, as we see as we go through here, the far greatest ministry is not to man. It's to God. In England, there are certain places that will have certain shops, catering businesses, and things like that, restaurants. They'll have a little plaque or a shield over their business. The queen ate here. Tailors to the king. Oh, that was a great thing. That was a great thing. That put them above all the other tailors. They ministered to the king. You see what I mean? For instance, if a catering shop had a contract going with a miners union to cater to 5,000 miners in a big union meeting. And then the chamberlain of the king came by and said the queen and a few of her nobles would like for you to cater their home in Buckingham Palace. And they want it on this night and this hour. Oh, the same hour as the union had planned. Now in one, they might get almost a fortune, and yet they wouldn't have nearly as much money involved. But who do you think they cater to? The king, wouldn't they? Oh, that gives them a prestige, a position. No one else could say, we have catered to the king in Buckingham Palace. You see, it's so much greater to minister to the king than it is to minister to subjects. It's so much greater to minister to God than it is to minister to man. And we have the idea that the only ministry that's valuable and the only ministry we can do is minister to people. Am I right or wrong? As soon as people think of ministry, what do they think of? As soon as people think of having a ministry, what do they think of? Standing up here behind a pulpit. Is that right or wrong? You see, we've got the wrong idea about it. These that were under restriction with an oath of God, they could not minister to God. They were free to minister to people. But what they couldn't do was minister to God. He said, they can't even come near to me. Let them go on worshiping their idols. Let them bear their iniquity. Let them have their shame. They called it a shame, didn't they? Let them bear it. They'll minister. Go ahead, minister to people. Minister the house. Do all those wonderful things. Have a lot of souls in. Stand at the gates. Entice everybody you can. They said, they won't come near to me. They won't minister to me. They'll bear their own ministry. They can't come near to me. I won't let them. You know, in this in the tabernacle, there were, you remember, there were embroidered chair films all around, especially on the curtain. And over the ark, there were two cherubim, weren't there? Bowed down, watching. What does that signify? What does that symbolize? They, the cherubim, are the guardians of the holiness of God. Who was it that stood at the gate of the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword and would not let Adam come near that tree of life? Cherubim, wasn't it? They are the guardians of God's holiness. I tell you, they stand at the door and no unholy person will draw near at the pain of death. And in his grace and love, he just won't let you draw near, because if you did, you'd die. Like Adonai and Sapphira. So he keeps it away. He keeps you away. The great ministry is ministry unto God. Who was Paul and Silas ministering to in the jail of Philippi? When they sang praises. Now, this took place. They're scourging, their punishment, they're locked in the jail, took place in the afternoon. It was midnight. And who in the world were they worshiping and praising at midnight? People? Who was there? Who were they ministering to? Who were they singing hymns for? God. And the angels drew near. You see, it's a different thing. We have to understand that this ministry to God is so much higher and so much more wonderful. But people don't realize what they're missing. They don't realize what they're locked out of. They don't understand. Just to come near, just to say, oh Lord, I love you, is worth 10,000 sermons. Do you know that? Because it's ministering unto Him. It's ministering unto Him. Madam Gayon, seven years in isolation in prison. Read some of the poems. Read some of her writings that come out of that prison. She had a gorgeous time. She was ministering to the Lord daily. And there wasn't anybody else to minister to, was there? But she was still ministering unto God. That's the ministry. What were the apostles doing when the Lord sent them on missions? And that's the first missionary enterprise. What were they doing? Were they gathering together committees and say, look, the world is lost. We've got to go out and save this world now and we'll get some mission committees and we'll get some financial committees and we'll work this all out. Was that what they were doing? They had to call because when God spoke in that day, He said to the ministry, which I have called them, so they knew what was to be done. That was already in their hearts. But it wasn't launched yet. But what were they doing? When it was launched, they were ministering to God. Then God spoke and gave them a commission, a charge, and they fulfilled it wonderfully. We'll get to that later, the charge. But you see, we have to understand there is a ministry that all of us are priests to offer sacrifices unto who? What does it say there in 1 Peter? Sacrifices unto God. And what are the sacrifices? There's a sacrifice of joy. Now there's a sacrifice of praise. Those are written as sacrifice of joy. It's in the Psalms. Now there's a sacrifice of offerings. A sweet-smelling savor. God calls it. There's all kinds of sacrifices. We're a priesthood to offer unto God. That's what we're called to be. That's what God wants. That's why He wants not only to clean out the outside, He wants to clean out the inside. Until they're sanctified inside and outside, circumcised inside and outside of the heart and of the flesh, until they're turned away from that and they're ministries and ministers unto God. Now let's go on. They shall enter into my sanctuary. That means, first of all, they can come into my presence. They can come into my presence. They can come on in to my sanctuary. He doesn't say yours. They can come in to my sanctuary. Furthermore, they shall come near. Let's see. Yes, they shall come near to my table to minister unto me. They shall come near to minister unto me, unto God. God will accept that. He'll receive it. He says that that's a sweet-smelling savor in my gospel. Minister unto God. They can come in and minister unto me. Not only that, they shall keep my charge. Wait, missed one. They shall come near to my table to minister unto me. In other words, they come into sanctuary. They come into the table of the Lord and they can stand before God like Elijah. They come in and stand at his table. He prepares the table before us in the presence of his enemies, those that that's a food, the wonderful things that God will prepare for us. But we'll go on. To keep my charge. There is a commissioning of God. There are the things that God gives you to do. When God spoke to Paul and Silas in Acts 13.2, He gave them a charge. He gave them a commission. He told them what to do. I remember when I was a young man at a time of God moving very greatly. I was a minister already in a in a common sense ministering to churches and people. But I felt I needed to go to the mission field and I knew I could not go without an order. And I sought the Lord for about six months and very intensely the last few weeks until one day He gave me the order. He told me he would send me. He told me that he had a place chosen for me. I didn't know it was Argentina. He told me he would prepare it and so on. That was a charge. That was a commission. That was an order that now here I want you to do this for me. Do you understand? They will keep my charge. They will do the things that I have given them to do. They will do what I have told them to do. We need to have orders. We need to have a charge. We need to have a charge for God if we're ever going to be effective and minister in approval in God's approval. We can't just go out and do our own thing. They will keep my charge. Now, let's go on. They shall minister to me and then I skipped a verse. I skipped part of the verse. They shall stand before me to offer unto me. That's verse 15. I skipped this part of verse 15. Stand before me to offer unto me. Now, if you remember it speaks of Elijah. The one thing it says of Elijah that he before the God before whom I stand. He was in the presence of God. He stood there in the sight of God and he said that's all it says of Elijah. That's all we know about him. He said I stand before God. That's it. He said you shall stand before me. You won't have to run out or anything of that nature. You'll stand before me and to offer unto me the fat and the blood. Now, that's why I said that was not given to the to the priest that the butchers that took care and prepared it off. They were not able to offer the blood. That was not accepted by them so that you will offer to me the blood. You will offer to me the fat. The fat speaks of of the anointing the anointing oil that the anointing praises with fat speaks of the praises And you will offer to me the praises that are acceptable. You will offer to me the blood In fact, there is this very interesting scripture in john the 20th chapter verse 23 Says whosoever sins you remit they shall be remitted And whosoever sins you retain they shall be retained Very interesting scripture, isn't it? And that was spoken after the resurrection Now that's something only the holy spirit can do. That's something only those that stand before god Only those that have that commission and charge and is given that that Charge to do For the lord They shall offer to me the blood many times and you find it in scripture nehemiah, for instance and daniel jeremiah You'll find where they in intercession They brought forth the release of a people And brought them into revival and brought them into releases. That's ministering the blood Until there is a release and joining in with the holy spirit joining with jesus christ and that ministry of cleansing It comes to the people because of that move of the holy spirit because of that revival Just give you an illustration. I remember one time I was in a healing campaign in in the city of barrio plata and it came before me a very Dilapidated debauched looking person I estimated his age about 50 55 at least And he was so debauched And he wanted prayer for his liver which drink had ruined and as I started to pray for him The lord said to me these words Can these bones live? And I answered In the words of ezekiel only only you know god, I don't know And then he spoke to me. He said whosoever sins you remit they shall be remitted So I switched over into english so he wouldn't know what I was saying And I remitted his sins and strange enough That man never took another drink He cleaned up his whole life Up to that time. He had never brought one wage home from then. He brought them all home Cleaned up his home cleaned up his family his whole family joined the church and served the lord You can minister the blood you can stand before me And minister the blood sayeth the lord god They shall come near to my table minister the lord and Where does that table come from? He prepares the table before me in the midst of my enemy at the table of the lord. There are so many good things to eat the bread the wine All the all the riches of his word as he gives it as he gives it to you as he nourishes you That's where we get our nourishment. That's where we get our source of energy We eat he says i'll feed you you can come to my table Oh when he opens that book, it's open When he begins to show you things you never saw before so you can come in and i'll feed you You come to my table. What a place to come What an invitation What a glorious Honor and privilege is given to eat at the table be divinely nourished and he said now he talks about about Further verse 17 It shall come to pass that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garment Now I want to stop there again I want to first notice this shall They shall be clothed It shall come to pass It doesn't say it must it's not something we do It's something he is going to do When they enter in at the gates of the inner court come into presence of god They shall be clothed that is you don't clothe yourself He's going to do it with linen garments and linen speaks of the righteousness of christ, doesn't it? They shall be clothed Remember when joshua the high priest stood before the lord and he his garments weren't clean He had filthy garments And the divine word came strip it off And clothed him anew remember Zachariah He didn't clothe himself that filthy thing was taken away and he was clothed You shall be clothed In the story of the prodigal son when he reached his father The son reached the father the father said now bring Those robes and put on didn't they? We don't close ourselves Because the linen garments were told in in revelation 19 speaks of the righteousness of saints the outer actions are Garments and scriptures speak of our outer actions what we do Linen speaks of the righteousness Of saints they're going to be doing righteous works. They're going to be doing the things that please god They're going to be clothed With that linen that righteousness of christ And while they minister in the gates of the inner court and with well, let's go back a little bit further They shall be clothed with linen garments And no wool shall come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner court Um incidentally Where does um Where does wool come from Sheep Does that mean there'll be no sheep fleecing Does that mean we won't be taking advantage and taking benefit from the sheep does that mean that Hmm I think so I think that's what it was talking about And it goes on They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads That speaks of our thought life the helmet of salvation remember When the holy ghost came on the day of pentecost and fire came and tongues of fire where did it sit On their hearts, didn't it? No, where did it sit Did I tell you anything They shall have linen on their heads too Or when it speaks of the warfare, where would the helmet go? On the head, doesn't it? And that's what he said and then he ends up with this and they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat Didn't he say my yoke is easy my burden is light When we have to sweat it out when we have to work it through i'm afraid we're doing it with the wrong strength The human effort in the book of ezekiel. I was giving some lectures one time on the first chapter verse by verse And and I got to the verse where it speaks of the wheels. Remember the wheels ezekiel's wheels And as I got closer to the wheels I got more and more nervous Because each verse getting me closer and I had not the faintest idea What wheels meant? And I looked in every commentary I could find and didn't tell me anything that's any interesting And finally the day came I had to let you on that particular verse. I said dear god, what do wheels mean? And finally just by an hour before class he gave me the answer He said it means wheels But then he opened my understanding Wheels are the greatest invention of man Wheels make things go easy. Don't we say it goes on wheels like it's on wheels There's no sweat There's no sweat Do not quote yourself that quote speaks of action anything that causes sweat Let it go on wheels Then you won't have to sweat at it. They don't have to push at it. Let it go on wheels Nothing that causes sweat And then he also speaks of another thing. They shall live in breeches upon their loins loins speak of fruitfulness There is a fruit unto god Hannah is a picture of that She said yes, I love you my lord. I love you. Love you. Love you, but I want a baby For 10 years she prayed till god gave her a baby and that baby samuel was a result of prayer, wasn't it? Remember it says in romans 7 we are to be married to christ and bring forth fruit unto god There is a fruit that comes out of relationship with jesus christ There is a fruit that he gives you there is a fruit. That's just yours And you don't have to sweat for it and you don't have to go out and work for it It will be given to you out of your relationship with jesus christ He said you'll be clothed with linen in your loins And when they go forth into the outer court even into the outer court to the people now, I want you to notice they do minister to people When they go out to minister the people, but it's a different ministry you'll see They're not ministering at the gates that's done by the levite that's done by those that were Rejected not reject. I'm sorry restricted by god But he said you'll go forth and minister the people But the first thing you do you're going to lace aside all these holy garments In other words, there's no display of the holy things There's no letting people know that inner relationship the first place you can't really in the second place god doesn't want you to Perhaps some of you had this experience You've been in the presence of god and he opened the scripture to you and it was so wonderful so beautiful And oh, it just thrilled your heart And you went to a friend said oh i've got to show you something, you know This is so wonderful. The lord showed me this and you showed them and it and They say oh, yeah, I read that yesterday And you feel like you dove off a cliff Oh You ever had that happen how many have had that happen look at that Lay it aside Don't take it out from there and give it to people Don't take it out and give it away. They can't receive it. It hasn't been given to them Do you know that you can't give away anything god gives you and nobody can ever steal what god gives you? Do you know that? No one can even borrow it. They can't take it away from you Because god gives it And you can't give it either only Only as the holy spirit picks it up and through your lips. He will give it that can be done But nothing else Well, let's go on They shall shave their heads Because it's a shame. They won't come into shame Nor suffer the locks to grow long long hair is a sign of subjection to man They won't be subject to men they'll be subject to god What did peter say when they when they took him in peter and john say when they took him in for preaching jesus christ They said who should we obey god or man? We will not be subject to the sanhedrin As number one will be subject to god as number one the sanhedrin comes second or third Let me go on Neither shall they drink wine When they enter in to the inner court, in other words, it won't be drunk and wine is It's an outward rejoicing. It's it's it's a It's mirth. It's happiness. It's rejoicing But not in there Not when you're in that presence that that doesn't that doesn't come when you go out we enter this courts with praise Is that right? But you enter into his presence with what Was singing Sing yourself into his presence come before his presence with singing come before his presence with oil They brought the oil into the sanctuary for the light. They brought they brought the light in the sanctuary they brought the bread in the sanctuary, but they didn't get Fill up with wine because that makes the mind makes the light a heart light There's no light there now when you come out you can come out and begin to sing and rejoice and have a good time But not in there And we'll go on Neither shall they take for the wives a widow Nor her that is put away But they shall take maidens of the seat of the house of israel or a widow that had a priest before now in scripture widow speaks woman speaks of the church and The romans 15 20 has a as a word perhaps it might be apropos here romans 15 20 No, i'm wrong Oh, yes, I said They say I have strived to preach the gospel not where christ was named lest I should build upon another man's foundation Every time he was in a church It was amazing It had never had another pastor He built his own He said I didn't build upon another man's foundation One of the hardest things to do is to take over another pastor When a pastor been there before and they really loved the man and then to take it over you've got a problem You marry a woman has been married before and you're always being compared with the last husband I remember I took over a church like that my second pastor And the man's name was park and mr. Parks Was very much loved in that church But he was just too loved they got so intimate with him that they didn't listen to his sermons They'd think about this and think about that and all I heard was parky Oh what the parky was here Oh, we had such a lovely time. What's such a beautiful picnic with parkney? We used to go down to the beach. We just had a lovely time with parky and and oh, you should hear his term parky I heard parky parky parky parky parky. They sang a song And I got tired of it I told him a story The story went like this There was a pastor who took over another church And he just kept hearing the song of the last pastor Oh, that was a beautiful sermon this morning, but oh when pastor so-and-so was here what a sermon he preached to us That's a beautiful communion service. But when brother so-and-so was here what a communion service we had And this went on and on and on that doesn't service sermons first service anything And then one day he went out to visit this this young widow with her little girl And after the visit he picked up the old girl and kissed her she said that was nice But when brother so-and-so was here, he kissed mommy, too I didn't hear much more about parky No, they shall not they shall not marry except a widow of a priest A church that is really dedicated to god A church has been built by a man of god That yes Then another man of god can take over otherwise He said you're not to marry a woman that's put away a divorced woman or a widow from somebody else Which is very interesting to say the least isn't it? Not take over another man's church or pastor unless it's a man of god Another thing they shall do they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane They shall cause them to discern between the clean and the unclean That's one of their ministries The ministers of people it should show them to give them discernment to give them understanding this yes and this no To make it a clean break to make it inside and outside to make it black and white and there's no gray To teach them that which god wants and that which isn't what god wants That these men will be able to do that because they've been in the holy place. They've been in my table They've been in my presence. They minister to me. They understand my nature. They touch my nature Their clothes of the linen they will be able to teach the people the difference show the people That which is acceptable to god and that which is not acceptable to god Then we go on in controversy They shall stand in judgment They shall judge according to my judgment They shall keep my laws and my statutes and all my assemblies and they shall holy make holy or hollow my sabbath And then this goes something very lovely And that shall be unto them for inheritance I am their inheritance And you shall give them no possession in israel I am their possession What a treasure What an inheritance What a possession So don't bother with that that i'm going to give them mine I'm going to give them my possession. I will be their possession. I will be their inheritance That's an eternal inheritance incidentally, isn't it? I am I am I am their inheritance I am is their possession Oh, what a gift Oh, what an inheritance what a possession God giving himself Why worry about what we're going to inherit in this land? Why worry about all the possessions we can gather together in this land that I am I am We don't need to mass the material things of this world We don't need to pack them up and if you get them packed up Too much and we have to us three or four times we get too much and god says oh, come on Leave it. So I take two suitcases and leave it Give it to people stay there I am I'm your possession We're not hungry. We're not trying to to amass. We're not our securities aren't in the things of this world I am their possession they can come in They shall eat the meat offering the sin offering the trespass offering and every dedicated thing in israel shall be theirs The first of all the fruits first fruits and the oblations And shall be the priest and given the priest the first of your dough. They may cause blessing blessing your house And he shall not eat anything That has died by itself or is torn by beast or something no poison food for him No food that's not unfit God says i'm going to do it because they come into the holy place They come into the presence of god They've learned to evaluate it They stand with joshua and the holy place they dare to come in and stand there in grace and say oh god Oh god And the word comes forth Strip those garments off And put clean ones on and put a turban on his head put a holy turban on his head, too Make him fit for my place The ministers the levites that went astray They were given seven ministries The sons of zadok zadok means righteousness meaning of the word the sons of zadok were given 10 ministries 10 Is the is the fullness the symbol one of its symbols is the fullness of grace That's what he's given Minister unto the lord or ministry unto man serving god or serving man Coming into the sanctuary or staying outside at the gates What was the condition What was it that made the difference? And that was the heart The heart was not clean I had a man come to me in in taiwan the other other day More six weeks ago or eight And he said I try and try and try and I can't get in He said well, why can't I get what do I have to do? And I looked at him. I said look there's only one thing keeps a man from god and that's sin Which was I don't have any sin. Well, I said that's the only thing keeps a man from god. So he went back He prayed about a half an hour And he came back and he said well, he said I have one sin And then he said well, it is a big one I never saw anything more of him I read in in church the other day a confession. It's the most beautiful confession i've ever heard. We took it On tape in taiwan And there's so much light in it, but the way it began Was the the The woman was a minister of god She was under the power And after laughing for a couple days Then she began to cry And then some other things begin to show themselves the evil spirits and then she She gave evidence And I saw that she she had something to pull out something to say So I didn't stay with her. I called on the other ministers Gone over and I said listen, this one's got to come out with it. Just stay with it till she gets it out So he did And she said what do I have to get out? She said well what's in there? There's nothing there She said oh, yes, there is What well she said she said well try try sin Well, she said I only have one Well, he said say that And once she did It opened the door and there poured out one of the most beautiful confessions i've ever heard so much light in it She saw herself in the light of god And out it came out it poured for at least an hour or two You remember that don't you steve? And that was that was Because she came into holy place And god cleaned her up So she could stay in there god invited it. He wants us in what does it tell us in in hebrews 10 Let us go in doesn't it? Pass the veil doesn't it all clear our way in to the holy place Through the veil through the blood through the through the cross through the through the flesh of jesus that was given to us We could come in god wants us in there He wants us to to move away from that from that restricted ministry from that cursed ministry Where he writhed up his hand and I swear against you cannot come in why? Not with all those idols in there get rid of them Get rid of them Don't let the lord search it out come open her heart before him say god search me I don't want to stay out here in the court. I don't want to stay out here at the gates I don't want to stay out here doing all the hard work I I don't want to stay out here and never come near to you never come into your holy place Never come into your presence never have a charge never be commissioned always out there doing the odd jobs and doing the janitor work and all the hard work, but Cannot come in He says let us go in Let us enter in Past the veil into the holy place We're invited But we'll have to stop there at the altar like joshua the high priest And let him do some cleaning jobs Let him take all those filthy garments off And that word filthy means excrement. It means the filth that came from him Not from other people God never deals with me about somebody else's sin. He only deals with me about mine Not my brother. No my sister, but it's me. He will never deal with you about somebody else's sin. One of the most Sad and pitiful things that ever happened was when was when esau Tried to repent for his brother and the bible says that Esau sought repentance and didn't find it. Remember he saw it with tears Didn't find it. Why not because he's seeking repentance for his brother He said my brother did this my brother did that He didn't say he did anything. Did he? My brother deceived me. He's the one that gave me that made me sell my birthright. Wait a minute who sold it He saw it didn't he? Who stole who stole his his birthright from him and the blessing from him? Jacob did not steal it. He had a right to it, but his father didn't recognize it Because he had sold his birthright that gave jacob the right to it Didn't it and his father's going to get to someone else and his mother rebecca realized that says no you go in there She disguised him. He didn't steal it. He got what was his own Esau would have stolen that otherwise Seek repentance for somebody else you will never never never find it I don't care what they've done. I don't care how they've offended you. I don't care how they how they how they Insulted you I don't care how they hurt you. You'll never find repentance for somebody else Don't try So you'll become an esau Think of yourself Let him deal with the idols the hidden idols we just mentioned a few And they're not trying to to throw some condemnation on you. That's the holy spirit's word But open your heart if you can't come in I'll tell you one reason why only one reason There's some idols someplace If you see other people going in you see them worshiping you see them loving you see them coming into that glorious atmosphere You see the glory upon them And you sit there with envy I'll tell you something There's only one reason There's only one thing. I'm sorry. It's late Taking so much time. I'm sorry. I don't usually do this. You know that people that know me don't have But i'll end up with this story fuchsia picket Had a genetical disease which her bones were disintegrating At the point of time i'm talking about She lived in a steel cage She couldn't stand up. She couldn't walk otherwise And this steel cage supported her spine so she could get along And it was disintegrating she had a little while left to live she had already purchased her coffin She had already purchased and had engraved her tombstone And suddenly afterwards she said you can't you can't sell a used tombstone She was a methodist Professor in a seminary and at this time i'm talking about she she Joined some a little pentecostal or a little um charismatic group and was filled with the holy spirit And some days after this She was in her kitchen and she was mopping the kitchen and she said suddenly She said a light flashed through my window and hit me said I went one way and the mop went the other And she said Oh, i'm sorry. I got ahead of it before this happened she was Instructed by the spirit to ask her methodist pastor to anoint her with oil and pray for her now. He never done that But who she was and her condition he would have it was a shame to deny it And so this sunday morning he anointed with oil and prayed for her Wednesday she was mopping when this light flashed to the women go to the window and hit her She said I was instantly healed Every wet hole and She said a little cloud formed and wherever I went I could see that cloud and for for quite a while This was noise in the papers went out to newspapers Big press picked it up and saw them all over the united states And people would come to her house and knock And she'd go to the door and opened up and smile and welcome them and they'd say oh, i'm, sorry. I didn't mean to To intrude upon your prayer time and just turn and walk away. She said I wasn't praying And quite a few people did then they just didn't walk in She invited me. Oh, i'm, sorry. I didn't want to intrude and left There was that presence So remarkable upon her And god instructed a certain man by the name of reverend bird he was formerly here in atlanta To bring her here to atlanta from texas And he said invite her to give her testimony and keep her there and instruct her in the ways of god So he brought her there and she came give her testimony But the first night he didn't let her give her testimony And so she sat there and the holy spirit was moving very beautiful way in that in that church in atlanta Several years ago and As she sat there after the the mission was given there was an altar call And people were coming here to worship and she sat there and watching and there was a young woman And she was just ministering to lord. She was just worship. She was lost in the love of god And sister pickett said I sat here. I said my god I've never worshipped you like that I've never been able to love you like that How could that woman do it? So she went up to her and said well dear the lord's really blessing you, isn't he? He said she ignored me Didn't even open her eye look at him Went back sat down Watched her He said I can't do that I can't honestly love god like that I don't know him like that. He said here. I am a professor of religion And I teach others I can't do that I can't love him like that. I can't worship him like that. I I can't I can't move into that presence like she does She went out again. She said well, honey. The lord is really pouring out his spirit upon you, isn't he? She ignored me come back sat down again Why is it I can't do that what does she have that I don't have How could she do it? Finally says I went out and I got around behind her and I let me know I said my isn't it wonderful The lord's drawing near to you Said she just ignored me And I went back and sat down. I said well can't they be polite in this place? and Said I just watched her And it was so beautiful She was really worshiping jesus And she was in love with him and her whole face was radiant and she was lost I said I can't do that. I wish I could worship like that I wish I could enter into that place I wish I could know him like that She went home that night She said I went home so miserable so sad She said oh I did. I just threw myself across the bed And I just wept I wish That I knew god like that I wish I could worship like that. I wish I could enter into that place like she does. Why can't I? It says as I wept that cloud just getting bigger slowly Bigger and bigger And suddenly out of that cloud a voice spoke And the voice said would you like to worship me like that young woman? Oh lord, you know I would He said all right I will ask you three questions You answer them the first question is When you enter the pearly gates And they close behind you and you realize That the devil can never never never come near you again. He can never harass you not throw one thought into your mind What will you say? Hallelujah And the voice said well say it then And that little method woman began to say hallelujah Right there. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. She said the more I said it the better I felt And she was just hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah and she would have a good time with it and then the voice spoke the second time And said all right I will ask you a second question Once you get through the pearly gates And you know the devil shut out your life And you look at me in my glory What will you say? I'd say Oh glory The voice said well say it then So now the method woman had two words to say glory hallelujah Glory, hallelujah. Glory. Hallelujah, and she was just going with it. She said I had a good time with him And then the voice spoke the third time Said my third question When you go through the pearly gates and you see my face What will be the first thing you ask? May I kiss your feet? And the voice said do it then I said suddenly I was caught away into another world She said I was there for 36 hours But she came back a worshipper Of the lamb a worshipper And I have seen her worship I can worship the lamb We can come in through the cross to the blood to the veil To his flesh It was offered for us he is a righteousness we don't have any But you have to let go of yours Until that linen clothes is put on and all the us take it off And that linen bonnet is put on And we can worship the lamb lord jesus christ there is a place There is a place So beautiful at your feet He said you make the place of your feet beautiful and you do there is a relationship There is a coming in before your praise through grace alone through pardon To repent through the blood to the cross And all the hidden things of the heart washed away There's nothing stand between There's a surrender There's a sanctification. There's a cutting off of the flesh within and without Until you are my possession you Are my inheritance You are all the world to me lord There is the place Where we can come in Into your presence at your table minister unto thee You brought us here lord to change us to show us There's a higher ministry There's a higher place. It doesn't mean we don't minister to people It means we add another dimension to our ministry A heavenly dimension instead of just an earthly one. Oh, we will minister to people It will always be different It'll always be when you're always first we feast at your table last master Into your presence I come Let there be That determination in every heart here this morning, that's what I want Like sister picket when she saw someone else worshiping that's what I want That's what I want Into your presence I come Only by their grace and your grace alone There's no works can get me there There's no formula can get me there. Nothing I can do will get me there You'll have to close me And wash me cleanse me And take me in