David Ravenhill shares his personal journey of faith and the divine guidance he has received throughout his life, culminating in his decision to leave his pastoral role in Gig Harbor for a traveling ministry. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing God's timing and preparation in our lives, drawing parallels to biblical figures who also experienced transitions. Ravenhill encourages the congregation to trust in God's plan and to remain open to the new season ahead, reminding them that God is in control and will lead them as He has led him. He calls for a fresh commitment to God and a willingness to give generously as they navigate this change together.

Let's just take a moment of prayer shall we? Father, we ask again this morning for the Lord, the power of your Spirit just to come touch us Lord, enlighten us. Lord, give us a sense of your purpose. Father, we ask God today that we would be Lord, made so aware of the fact that you're the Shepherd. Lord, as the Shepherd that Father, you guide us and you lead us and you know the end from the beginning. You're the author and the finisher. And so Father, give us that assurance again of your guidance with us at this time we pray. In Jesus name, Amen. I'm going to put our series on kings and priests on pause or on hold this morning. And I want to take some time to share with you some developments in my own life. And developments that ultimately will affect the life of the church. Ecclesiastes says there is a appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. In other words, there are seasons. A time to be born, a time to die, a time to weep, a time to refrain from weeping, a time to embrace, a time to love, a time to hate and so on and so forth if you read that chapter. I have become increasingly aware over the last number of weeks, the last couple of months that God has a change of direction for my life and for my ministry. That change of direction will necessitate me stepping down from the pastoral responsibilities here in Gig Harbor and taking up a traveling ministry to the body of Christ. It's something that I have known for many, many years that that day would come. And I have simply known also that God would release me in his timing. That he would make that very, very clear. And he would give me the direction that was necessary when the time came and so I've not been frustrated. I've known that God has had a work of preparation to do in my own life. And so I want to take some time this morning to trace some of the events that have brought about that decision. And I trust that as we look into this, even though it's very personal and I'm not one especially to share a lot of personal circumstances about my life. But it's necessary on this particular occasion in order to give you an understanding that if God is this concerned about my life, then how much more is he concerned about the life of the church. Our life individually, our life corporately. The Bible is full of stories about people's lives. In fact, the bulk of the Bible is made up of the way in which God led David, the way in which God led Solomon, this king, that king, this prophet, that prophet, this nation, that nation and so on. And so I'm going to be sharing some stories concerning my own life, some incidents in my own life with an understanding that it will, I trust, inspire faith and confidence in you that the same God that is leading me is able to lead you. I think many times we get discouraged. Many times we think, you know, if only God would speak to me. If only things would happen in my life the way they happen in this person's life or that person's life and so on. And I think one of the problems, in fact, with reading through the great stories of the Bible is that you can condense a person's life, 40 years of that person's life down to two hours of reading and tend to think, boy, this guy constantly heard from God. Something was happening sort of every hour on the hour and, you know, it's been a decade since anything's happened with me. Well, the fact is if you stretch those out, you know, Abraham and these other men, they were not hearing from God necessarily on a regular basis. But at certain times in their life, appropriate times, when God knew the season, God would speak. And certainly it's been that way in my life. And so I want to give you this understanding simply so you will know that God is in control at this time of transition. And it all begins in my life back in about 1961 when I became conscious of the fact that God had a call on my life. And at that particular time, there was a brother that has been a missionary now for about the last 30 years or more in South America who came to me while I was in Bible school and gave me a word that I was to have a type of prophetic ministry. In those days, the prophetic was not referred to. It was not talked about. We were in a Lutheran Bible college at the time. Nancy and I, it was sort of charismatic, but nobody was talking about the five-fold ministry. And so being somewhat confused and somewhat green as a young person, I took this word to the leadership, to a man by the name of Harold Brock. He's written a number of books, a very godly man. And I said, what do I do with this? And I think very wisely. He said to me, David, I would just sort of put it on the shelf. Those weren't the exact words, but I would get on with pursuing God and seeking God, get stuck into school that lies ahead of you here in the college. And I did that. And yet a seed was sown at that particular time. After Nancy and I were married, we moved to New York City to work with David Wilkerson. And while we were in Teen Challenge in New York 31 years ago now, I had another word from a man of God, a very, what's the word, a very mature, godly person that was known around the nation at that time as a man that moved in the prophetic realm. And I have shared parts of this with you before. We were in a room with a number of the Teen Challenge leaders, possibly 15 or 20 leaders, I would imagine. And this man, after he finished speaking, moved around the room. He was praying for different ones, giving words to various individuals as God led him. I was on the other side of the room, the other corner from where he was, and I was crying out under my breath. And the cry of my heart at that time was for wisdom. I was very shy, very nervous, very fearful. I had not done anything publicly at that particular stage. I shunned the microphone. I shunned even reading out loud in college, not because I couldn't read, but I was fearful of my own voice. I was very, again, just self-conscious. And so I was praying at that time for wisdom. And under my breath, without verbalizing anything, I began to just cry out to God. I said, God, if there's one thing that I long for, one thing that I need, it's wisdom. And within about three or four or five seconds, this man walked from one side of the room to the other side of the room. We were all kneeling, and he put his hands on my head. And the first thing he said, he said, God has seen your desire for wisdom, and he's granted it to you. Well, of course, I began to cry, and, you know, the fountains of the deep were broken up. I thought, God, this is amazing that you answer prayer. Of course, I'd just graduated from Bible college. I should have known that. But anyway, when it happens that radically and that personally, it was very much, I was made very much aware of the fact that God was interested in me. And then he went on to give a prophetic word, and the prophetic word was that God was going to take me before kings and rulers, that I was going to do some writing. And the more he went on, the more I thought, you know, you've got the wrong person here. I'm terrified of even speaking into a microphone. You're talking about going before leaders of some sort. And he had a vision at that particular time, and he said, I see you very clearly. He said, I see you speaking to hundreds and hundreds of people. They've got brown skin. They're sitting cross-legged in this great big field. And then he said, God's going to take you before kings and rulers. Well, again, I was weeping, and I was wracking my brain, as if you've ever had those sort of prophetic words, thinking, how shall these things be, you know, like Mary. I couldn't even think of a king. I'd been raised in England and knew that there was a queen, but here I was in New York, and I just could not think of anything. And so I thought, this man has sort of gone too far, as Paul Cain would say, a little bit of hamburger helper added to this prophetic word here. But again, a seed was sown in my heart that God had a ministry for me, and that I had to wait God's timing for that ministry. And I've shared with you several times that I've had prophetic words that go back 30 years or more, that I'm still waiting for the fulfillment of those prophetic words. And part of that was that God would release me one day to travel and to minister to the body and travel overseas. That, incidentally, that prophetic word came to pass about two years after that, when my wife and I went down to New Zealand. We introduced you through a mission to New Zealand that particular time. And I made a trip to Tonga. Tonga is a little tiny island. Try and find it on a map. It's difficult to find. But anyway, a little series of islands there. And we were there at the time of the coronation of the king. The queen Solodi had died about 18 months prior to this. Her son was being crowned as king. We had gone over there to minister, to witness. And I had been asked to speak the Sunday prior to the coronation. And the place that they normally held that venue for guest speakers was in another part of town. But because of the coronation, when my turn came to speak, it was moved to outside the king's palace, which is nothing more than a sort of a big southern mansion with a little picket fence around it, right on the outskirts of Nukalofa, which is the capital. And outside of that is a huge grassy field. And I stood with my back to the palace. There were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Polynesians, brown-skinned, beautiful people that had come in from all the various islands for the coronation that was that week. And I was handed a microphone. I was asked to speak. I got through speaking. And the team that I was with said, guess what? I said, what? They said, the king was standing there on the balcony as you spoke. And suddenly this prophetic word came back to me that that was the exact fulfillment of a word that I'd had way back there in New York, never ever thinking that it would come so dramatically. But there were other aspects of that prophetic word. And one was that I would write. Another was, again, that I would minister to the body. We then, and I'm jumping over years now, ultimately Nancy and I found ourselves in New Zealand following our time in New Guinea in 1975 to about 1985. We were there in 1973. But from about 1985, or 75 to 85 rather, we had a number of prophetic people come through that particular church. And on more than one occasion, I can think of about two or three occasions where I was pulled out of the congregation and I was given a prophetic word. And the prophetic word was about doing some writing. And it wasn't a word that especially that I wanted to hear. And most of the time, being a carnal-minded person, I sort of half the prophetic word thinking, you know, my father was known for his writing and therefore it was a sort of a transference in the natural sort of like, you know, you're Beverly Shays' son, I believe God's going to give you a gift of singing like your dad, you know, that type of thing, you know. And so there was a certain logic that I was using there. But when it came the third time, I thought this was again confirmation that God was wanting me to do some writing. All of this will sort of gel hopefully as I go on here. So just keep those things in mind. In 1987, Nancy and I resigned from the church. It was a large church in New Zealand. And we stepped out in faith. It was a major step of faith. We had two daughters in college, one in school still. We gave up a good position, church of about 1,800. In fact, it was one of the largest, if not the largest at that time, church in New Zealand. Wonderful staff, wonderful team of men that we worked with, all the security of the people in the program and just having a home there, having been settled there for many, many years, becoming known in the country, doing a certain amount of travel at that stage. And yet we felt this stirring in us that we were to make a move. And so we resigned in 1987. And during that year, I traveled a little bit around Malaysia and various areas. But I also wrote a rough draft of a book, a number of messages that God had given me, put them in a sort of rough draft form. And then in 1988, we moved to the States. We settled in Texas. And I, again, had a year in the wilderness. If I could put it that way, it was a year that I just pressed into God, prayed, sought God. Nothing seemed to be opening up, just a few meetings here and there. It was not my intention to try and force the hand of God. And in some ways, I think looking back, it was possibly presumption on my part, maybe thinking that this was a time that God was going to release me. Well, after a year, God directed us to Kansas City, where we got involved with the Kansas City team there and four wonderful years of working with Mike Bickle and some of the other leaders. And during that time, I sort of revamped this book and worked on it a little bit more. I had a lady or a gentleman look over it and do some editing work on it and so on. And it was basically ready to go. And I don't want to go into all the details concerning that. But it's been a long, long process, this writing process. Anyway, 1993. Oh, let me just backtrack. I somehow know in my spirit that with the release of this book would come a release into a full-time ministry. Don't ask me how I know that. I haven't had dreams or visions or anything else. It's just been a deep, deep sense of God's directive in my own spirit that there is a season for this book to be released. And with that season would come a release of ministry. And so literally for 10 years, this book has basically been ready to go and it's sat there. And I've willingly just offered it up to God and said, God, I don't understand why it's taking so long, but you do. And it was sort of an Isaac in some ways. And so in 1993, we moved here to Gig Harbor to take over this particular work and ministry. And some of you will recall that our very first Sunday when there was the, as they call it, the induction service where I was put in as pastor, that at the end of that service, there was an invitation given for various pastors and leaders to come and pray for us. And during that time, there was only one prophetic word that was given. It was given by Abe Mordkade of Tacoma. And the prophetic word, the gist of it was that we would not settle here, but we would move and we would move yet again. Now you can imagine after the upheaval of moving from Kansas City and just moving here and thinking finally, you know, we're going to put our roots down and so on, that the very first Sunday, and it was literally our very first Sunday that the prophetic word is you will not settle here, but you'll move again and yet again. And that was a little disturbing to us at the time. And yet we thought, well, this is in keeping with our life, certainly. Somebody gave me a word, I think it was Don Prozac, the first time that he saw me and he said, you have an Abrahamic call, or you're Abrahamic in your nature, you're calling. And as you know, Abraham lived in a tent because he was seeking a city whose builder and maker was God. Well, God's provided us a little bit of tent, but certainly we've moved. In 1994, I submitted to Destiny Image, the publishing company, the manuscript to my book. And they called me and gave me a good review on the book and said, we want to publish it, we'll send you out a contract. The only problem was they wanted me to help produce it the way that company worked at that particular time. They produced books for people that were traveling, doing conference work so they could sell them. And they would produce them and do a certain amount of marketing, but basically it was up to you to sell your own book. And they wanted $12,000 to do it. And I assured them that I didn't have the money. They called about three months after that and said, we'll go halves. If you've got $6,000, we'll put up the other six. And I assured them again I didn't have the money. And so then following that, they called me again and they said, occasionally if we feel the book is worthy of us investing the money in it and so on and so forth, we'll publish the whole thing. But they wanted to make sure that I was traveling. I said, no, I'm not traveling anymore, I'm pastoring now, and I don't foresee any big conferences or anything else. And so that was the end of that. During that year, I think it was 1995, Patrick over here gave Nancy and I a word that God had shown him that we would be here two and a half more years. And again, it was somewhat upsetting at the time. But nevertheless, we knew that somehow it was an indication that don't hold on to things too tightly, that this is not the end of the journey yet. And he had shared that word with a couple of men here in the congregation. Then, and I'm jumping ahead now to this year, I had a call back in June or July from Destiny Image, the publishing company, to say that they wanted to publish my book. And when I got that phone call that morning, I knew immediately that something was in the wind. I knew that this was God's sovereign intervention. I had not contacted them now for three years. They had not contacted me during that time. Now they call. They said, you know, we want to publish your book. We're looking for that sort of a manuscript and so on. I said to them, well, you know, before you go any further, I still don't have the money, you know. I wanted them to know that. And they said, well, don't worry. We're going to take care of everything. So that was the beginning of something. I knew there was some stirrings then because I had had this deep conviction for many, many years that this was going to coincide again with the release into another phase of ministry. It was right on the heels of that that I had a call from a gentleman down in Pensacola at the Revival down there who's in charge of their Bible school, a man by the name of Michael Brown, who has written a number of books. And he asked me if I would come down and consider sort of basing myself there, helping them in the school with some teaching. And at that time I said, well, I'm not sure, you know, I'm thinking more of traveling and having a sort of teaching role. And he said, well, even if you taught two hours a week and then you could have the rest of the week to travel. And so there was a little bit of an exchange there with him at that particular time. And then following that came an invitation from Steve Hill. Steve is the evangelist that God has used so wonderfully down there to ask me if I would come down and speak in Pensacola on a Sunday morning service. And he said, anytime. I said, when are you thinking? He said, anytime. You just pick the time we want you to come down and we want to leave it up to you. Well, that was, I think, back in June. So I just picked a date, August the 17th, and I said, you know, I've got a few things on and I'm going to be on vacation and so on. So just out of the blue, I picked August the 17th to go down there. And we later found that that coincided with the conference in Kansas City where Paul Cain, Mike Bickle, Rick Joyner, and some of those were ministering. And I know a number of you went to that particular conference. And just prior to going to Pensacola, Nancy had been in prayer with Lisa that's going to be doing the seminar. I don't know if they're here this morning, Lisa Reiners. And she had given Nancy a word to the effect that she had been praying about this particular trip, not knowing anything other than God. So God is going to give you, I believe the word was, a sort of unexpected surprise on this trip that you're making. Well, we went down there and I spoke on the Sunday morning, a wonderful privilege to speak in that particular church. And after I got through speaking, the pastor gave a word of affirmation concerning my own ministry and the gist of it was, you asked where some of the leaders are for this generation, and you're going to hear more from this man across the nation. That was sort of the gist of that word. I want to play it to you this morning. But a friend of mine that has been there for about two years, he said, I have never, ever heard the pastor say that. And it was almost like a prophetic word of confirmation. While it may not have meant that much to the congregation, it certainly sort of resonated in my own spirit that God was beginning to do something, was preparing me for a new phase of calling in my life. Again, prior to the end of that service, as they went into a time of communion, the pastor then turned to me. I was on the platform and he said to me, would you come back and speak at our National Pastors Conference in November? And I thought, well, you know, this is a tremendous privilege, something like 1,500 to 2,000 pastors from around the world, every conceivable denomination that is represented there. And I knew then, again, that God was doing something. All of a sudden, the accelerator was on, so to speak, and I was suddenly being catapulted into something. Following that morning service, I was speaking to Michael Brown, again the gentleman in charge of their school. And again, he gave me an invitation to come and base myself out of the work there. And we were speaking about the writing of books, and he's got a number of books that have been published by the same publishing company. And he said, David, it's one thing to write a book. It's another thing to get people to buy it, and it's another thing to get invitations as a result of people buying the book. You know, you need to get the book out there. And he said, what the pastor did for you this morning, I told him that he'd invited me to speak at this conference. He said, he gave you the other side of the coin. He said, the one side is the writing, the other side is the platform for that book to become known. And they asked that I would have a thousand copies of that book available. And with that, this gentleman said, well, come, invitations. Now, we are totally stepping out in faith. I want you to know I'm very cautious and conservative by nature. You know that by now. And I'm not one to sort of step out on the water. You know, if Peter does it ahead of me, I might follow. But I'm not the one to, you know, to take the initial plunge. No pun intended. But I knew that this was to be a time when God was going to, again, launch me into a new phase of ministry. Following that conference and that invitation, we went to Kansas City to the conference there. And we knew, of course, ahead of time, about a month ahead of time, a couple of months, that we would be going to these two conferences. And so I prayed earnestly. I said, God, I want absolute confirmation that this is the will of God. I don't want it just to be circumstantial. God can speak that way. I don't want it just to be that inner witness. I'd had that already, but I just want sort of the icing on the cake. And I prayed earnestly. I said, God, you know, if Paul Cain would just give me that final word, I would take it, you know, sort of like putting the fleece out, you know, a couple of ways. Well, the final night of that conference, and again, some of you were there, during the time of worship, a couple that I know that had been in Kansas City for many, many years, and they came up to me and interrupted the worship time and gave me a prophetic word or a dream that she had had some years prior to this. And she'd written it down. She said, God spoke to me a number of years ago in this dream, and in the dream I saw Mike Bickle, and Mike Bickle was announcing you to, or presenting you to this conference, and said, this is another voice that God is going to give to the nation. That was the gist of it. And the husband said, I want you to know that when my wife receives these words, many, many times they're very accurate. I've come to know that over a number of years. He was standing with her, and he said, we want to submit this to you. At the end of the service, or when Paul Cain stood up to speak, he gave possibly 15 or 20 prophetic words, and towards the end of those prophetic words, he called Nancy and I to stand. And I want to play you just the, it's only about one minute at the most, the word that he gave us, and you will see that if you listen, he gives a little incident about my father, and then he says, I believe I have a word of guidance, I think is the word, or direction for you. Paul normally doesn't do that, but let me play this, and you will. David and Nancy Ravenhill are here, and I just want to have them stand, if you will. We won't take time for this, we don't see much of them. David and Nancy Ravenhill, I've been talking so much. God bless you, God bless you. Your dear father has been on my mind. I was just speaking with an evangelical the other day that I've become very good friends with, and when he was in seminary, he used to travel with a judge, and when your father saw this young man come into the meeting with this judge, he would always say, here comes the law and the prophets, because this young man was going to be a prophet, and he's turned out to be that, but the church he's in hasn't recognized that yet. Well, what I have for you is most wonderful, I think, in the way of guidance. There is a way that the Lord is going to bless your traveling and itinerary ministry, but I see a heavy anointing coming upon you as a scribe, and you are going to write some new books that are going to really pick up where your dad left off and fill in the missing places, and he will give you this in increments, and it will be a very, very well-received series, even a volume of books when they're needed, and the Lord will give you titles. If he doesn't, I've written a hundred books already by title only, and I can give you the titles if you'll write the books. The Lord bless David and Nancy and all their children, and use them in an ardent way in these last days, and make everything they do from this day on successful. Make this transition smooth and helpful. Help them, dear Lord, I pray in Jesus' name. That was the word. Again, a word of guidance. Traveling itinerant ministry was the thing that I have known for many, many years, and when that came out, I knew immediately that this was sort of the final green light that God was giving us. With every prophetic word, I found that God always puts a little bit of salt in it, and the salt to me was the writing. I hate writing. I don't like doing it. I was never very good in my English class, and so, you know, that's the side that is going to be the cross as far as I'm concerned. But anyway, God said there'd be a grace there, and I would do it in increments, so that's at least a little bit helpful. But the first part was the part that was confirmation. We'll see about the second part. During that conference, I spoke with Jim Gall, and he reminded me of this in San Francisco just this past weekend or the weekend before, and he had told me, and for some reason I'd forgotten. He said about three or four months ago, he said, I had this tremendous burden, and he said, I almost picked up the phone and called you, but he said, I saw you having an invitation to Pensacola to speak, and that there was something of your father's legacy there that he wanted you to have, and that you would have this invitation to speak. Well, around that time, it may have been a month later, I had this invitation to go down there and speak. He did not know any of that, but during the course of intercession, God had told him that, and he'd had this burden, and confirmed it to me. Let me just give you some other words now before we move on. We came back and broke the news to the elders and to the wives initially, and during that week, God sold our house. I won't go into all the details concerning that. Some of you know that we have had sort of miraculous sellings of homes over the years as part of our guidance, and a couple here in the church said they would buy it, and so we again knew that God is sort of stepping up the speed of this whole process. When I was down in San Francisco just this past weekend, at least a week ago, Friday and Saturday, Mark Dupont, and Mark Dupont is the prophetic brother that spoke and gave the prophetic words about Toronto. Four years before anything happened in Toronto, he gave a prophetic word that was going to be a mighty move of the Spirit of God in Toronto, and I'd never met him before, but during one of the services, he turned to me and he gave me a long prophetic word. I don't have time to play that to you this morning, but the gist of it was that God was going to release me into a new anointing, that I was going to be a watering source for many people. God was going to put a sort of a Samuel anointing on me. I was going to release David, and that there was going to come a new prophetic anointing, and to no longer say you're not prophetic, but God has got sort of a prophetic teaching, prophetic preaching mantle. He went on to say also that there was a fierce preacher within me that God was going to release that I didn't even know myself. He said there's a man in you that you don't know that I'm going to release, so, you know, I don't know if that will happen before I leave or not, but I am well aware of the fact that God can put His anointing on a person and change them literally in a moment. Saul, on his way to, I can't remember where he was going now, but anyway, he was turned into another man, you recall, and prophesied along with the prophets, and Jim Golden followed that up by saying that you're going to have a new capacity to see, and again, say not that you're a prophet, but I've called you to be a seer, and so on. Part of my personal history that some of you may be aware of, others are not aware of, that I have literally spent, I imagine, hundreds if not thousands of hours over the last 30 years praying for that prophetic function to be a part of my life. Because of the impact of some of these prophetic words way, way back, 30 odd years ago, before it was sort of the popular realm that was going on in the church, God allowed me at least to taste a little bit of the nature of the prophetic, and it put within me a tremendous hunger, tremendous desire. I fasted, I prayed, I wept many, many hours asking God, and I said to Nancy, and I share this with you for encouragement, that I said to Nancy, I said, Honey, I don't care if I'm 60 years of age before God releases me, I want to be prepared for when that time comes. I've seen too many people, as the Bible says, an inheritance gained hurriedly in the beginning will not be blessed in the end, and I've seen a lot of people that have had tremendous inheritances, and yet have not lived to tell about it, at least spiritually they've not lived. They've had a nosedive somewhere along the line because of lack of character, and so on. And I have determined in my own life that I don't care when that anointing comes, when that release comes, I want to be ready for that particular season, and I've been very content. And yet, at the same time, there's always a measure of, when Lord, I'm human like anybody else. And so, again, that word was just a word of confirmation to my own spirit that God had a new realm. This is a stretching time for me. It's a time of enlargement. It's a time that in the natural I would shun from, but at the same time I know that God has prepared me for this particular season. Some other incidents that have come up, we had a prophetic meeting here about three weeks ago, and I had just broken the news at that time to the elders. And Don, you recall, we called a sort of a quick prophetic meeting. I think there was possibly a dozen people that came to it one night. And during that time Maggie had a picture that she saw, and she's given it to me in a little more detail. But anyway, she saw a room dating back to about the 1830s, and she saw this old fireplace with a British mantle. And in the prophetic words she referred several times to the fact that she saw this British mantle, and she saw the Lord sort of pacing back and forth and sort of emphasizing the fact that it is time, and I've written down some of it at least, it's time, it's time, it's time to move out, and it's time to do it. It's time to grow up and do the work that God has set before you. And she thought that maybe, and it may well be, that there's many times prophetic words can have many facets to them, and they can speak to many individuals, if not to the corporate church. But she made the statement, I think, at the end of it, I'm not sure where this fits in or what it relates to, and of course I just got through sharing with Don, and he said, made some comment I'd left at that stage, he said, I know where it fits, but we won't explore that right now, or something like that. And he told me the next day, he said, did you hear about the prophetic word? I said, no. And he said, well, Maggie had this word about this British mantle. And she kept saying, there's a British mantle, I see a British mantle. And there's this release, it's time to move out, it's time to do what God has called you to do. And at least in his spirit, that was confirmation to him of what I had told him just a couple of days prior to that. There's been a few other little things. He's not as great as maybe some of the others, but Wayne Hayworth spoke here maybe a month ago. He spoke on faith one Sunday morning. Some of you will remember him speaking. And a couple of weeks ago, he came up and we went out for a meal, and I broke the news to him that we were going to be leaving. And he said, well, that's interesting. He said, I had a dream recently. And I know that he moves in this particular dimension, at least Don has told me. And in this dream, basically, he saw me sort of interfacing with the governor of Oregon. He's from Oregon, from Portland. I can't remember the governor's name, but he said, your face would come, and then the governor's face would come, and then your face would fade away. And he said it was sort of kept coming and going. And he said, God spoke to me that there was a new sphere of government, basically, that God had for you. And there were some other things in that dream that I need to get clarification on. But, again, it was unsolicited by me. It was almost as though in the last month, all of a sudden, there's been all these little words of confirmation. I called Troy Robinson the other day, who is the regional director for the vineyard, and then I thought I would call Harvey Ham. Harvey Ham is one of the vineyard men in Yakima, and I've related possibly closer to him than any of the other vineyard leaders in the area. There's always been a rapport there. Not that there hasn't been a rapport with the others, but we've just sort of clicked. And I called his office, and his office said, no, he's at home. I'll tell him that you called. And he said to his wife, when the office called and said that I had called, and I talk to him periodically, he just turned to Judy, his wife, and he said, I don't know why, but he said, Dave's moving on. He said, this thought just came to me, just like a bold yellow blue, David's moving on. And so when I told him, he said, it doesn't come as a surprise. He said, I just turned just a few moments ago to my wife and told her that very thing. Anyway, I could go on and on. Let me just say this. Regarding timing, we are thinking sometime around December, latest January. There's a number of factors yet that we are not quite certain about. We're not fully confident that Pensacola is the place we feel that God's indicating that. In the natural, we would much rather go somewhere else to where our daughter is and grandchildren in Colorado Springs, and so we're weighing those things up. And I've had sort of guidance that it may be a season in Pensacola, and then we will go to Colorado Springs. So there's a little bit of uncertainty there. And so we would appreciate you praying with us. As far as somebody taking over the work here, we are deliberating on that right now. I have somebody that I felt God laid upon my heart, and we're in contact with that individual. And so we would just simply ask that you pray with us that God's will would be done. I've shared all this this morning not to in any way sort of elevate myself other than to show you the faithfulness of God, the faithfulness of God that is available just as much to you as it is to me, the incredible way in which God can be specific when he wants to be. And some of us I know sort of fret and fume at times, wondering, God, why hasn't this happened, and why hasn't that happened, and so on. And I've been through those seasons, dry seasons, wonderful seasons, and so on. But God has got his timing in all of this, and when he wants to just turn the light from red to green, he can do so very, very quickly. And all of a sudden you can be literally thrust out. It's been in some ways almost very unsettling for us, not knowing where we're going to go. We've got a house full of furniture, a four-bedroom house, and not knowing where we're going to land, and knowing that there's sort of a timing somewhere towards the end of the year, and all those things. And so I cover your prayers. It's not easy. We're human, and nobody likes to be dislodged or moved. I know it's not easy for you as a congregation. It's an unsettling time for all of us. But it's also a time of enlargement. It's also a time when God is going to do something in the body here, and He's very much got this congregation under His control, and we don't have to worry about that. In fact, there was a prophetic word just in the pre-service prayer time that God had something wonderful and something great for this church to enter into, and I believe that. I honestly do. My season is over. I know that. I'm convinced of that. There is another season that is beginning. It's been part of a development. In fact, when I talked to a friend in Pensacola just the other day to let them know some of our thoughts, he said Rick Joyner was here. He flew down in his plane. He was here for about 15 hours. He said your name was mentioned a couple of times. He said I was there in on the conversation, and he said Rick said to us, he said, I can never understand David going to Gig Harbor. He said obviously it was a learning experience that God had for him, but he said I know that God is ultimately going to thrust him out. Now he doesn't know anything about what I'm doing at this stage. I don't think, although he would have been in Kansas City, so he possibly knows a little. But again, there's just been numerous, numerous incidents, some of them big, some of them small, that have confirmed to us God's leading to us at this particular time. What I want to do now is just transition to a portion of Scripture in 1 Chronicles 29. I was reading this chapter in my own devotional time, my personal reading. I try and get into the office and first of all close the door and not answer the phone for a while and sit and spend some time reading the Word and some time in prayer. And so I've been systematically just reading through the Bible. This past week was in 1 Chronicles 29 and it deals with a time of transition. It deals with David surrendering the throne to his son Solomon. And I thought this is interesting that here is a time of transition in David's life. He's turning over the kingdom to somebody else. And so I just amuse as I normally do and sort of meditate and sometimes stop and pause and dig over a verse a little bit. Other times just read on. But I wanted to share some things. First of all in verse 1, And David said to the entire assembly, My son Solomon, who alone God has chosen, is still young and inexperienced, and the work is great. For the temple is not for man, but is for the Lord God. Now with all my ability I provided for the house of my God, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, the wood for the things of wood, and so on and so forth. David had made preparation for something that was to happen in the future. And I just felt God in my own spirit saying, David I've had you here. It's been a season of preparation not only in your own life, but it's been a season of preparation for the church. That you have prepared them for something great that is about to happen. In other words you fulfilled your obligation now, your season of preparation. Now David did not see the end result of all that he'd been preparing for. I hope I'm around to see it, but I may not be here. But I believe God is preparing something great. I believe He's preparing a temple for His glory, as He did here under the hands of Solomon. But David was the one that had to at least get some of the material together. He had to make sure that the gold was there for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and so on. And all of that again very interesting. Some of us are called to fulfill certain roles. There's gold, there's silver, there's bronze, there's iron. There's all sorts of ministries here in this congregation this morning that God is preparing. And then David challenges the people, knowing I'm sure that there could be a time of upheaval, knowing that this is going to be a difficult time. And he challenges the people in verse 5. He says, whoever then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord. In other words, he said this is a time to consecrate ourselves, not to Solomon, not to myself, but to the Lord. And I think I would add to that, that this applies to us as a congregation. So often we do put our focus on man, and I believe there's a measure in which that is right. God raises up shepherds in the natural. But more than that, our eyes need at this time to be on the Lord. We need to consecrate ourselves afresh to the Lord. He is the one that is going to build the temple. Even though David had made preparation, even though Solomon was going to eventually sort of put it all together and so on. Ultimately, it was God. I will build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. And God is going to build His church. And we have a part to play in that. But there needs to be a season of consecration where we give ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord. Verse 6, then the rulers of the father's household, the princes of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands, hundreds, with the overseers and the king's work offered willingly. And so there was a willing giving of themselves. They responded and said, you know, we're going to consecrate ourselves during this season. Again, David would be in the king for many, many years. Here is a new king about to ascend the throne and take over. And yet the consecration is not to either one of them, but it's to the Lord Himself. And so they began to offer willingly. I think, first of all, they offered themselves. Secondly, they began to give. Notice in verse 8, whoever possessed precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord. Verse 9, the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly. They made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart, and David also rejoiced greatly. And then David has that wonderful prayer in verse 11, Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord. Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all. Again, acknowledging His headship. Both riches and honor come from Thee, and Thou dost rule over all. And in Thy hand is power and might. In Thy hand lies power to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious name. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from Thee, and from Thy hand we have given to Thee. Now, the second thing that David asked for, he asked again that they would give. Now, you know that in four years, I have never once made any sort of passionate plea for finances. In fact, I am almost repulsed by that. I have been in churches where there is a mini-sermon every Sunday morning prior to the main sermon. That mini-sermon is to condition the people to give with curses attached and anything else that will work. And I have purposed not to do that. In fact, it's only recently that we even started taking an offering. We always just had the box at the back there. We have never ever put pressure on the people to give. And I hope that that remains that way. I believe when God's people are blessed, they will give. And with bringing somebody else on, at least for a period of time, because we hope to have a time of transition, a month or so, there will be added costs that will accrue to the church. And we need to be able to see that this is not a burden at this particular time. I don't want it to be a burden. And I am not wanting to stay any longer than my time. At the same time, I feel that I have had to give warnings so that we can pray, so that we can prepare, so that we can believe God to raise up the right person to come in. And so David here, very wisely, he says, first of all, you need to give yourself to the Lord, and then out of that giving of yourself to the Lord, there is an abundance that needs to be given. And notice what he says about this giving. First of all, let me read again in verse 14. Who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from thee, and from thy hand we have given thee. David said, listen, the only reason that we can give as lavishly as we have is because it comes from you in the first place. We need to realize that, we need to acknowledge that, that everything we have is because of the Lord's graciousness upon our lives. Verse 16, O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build thee a house for thy holy name is from thy hand and all is thine. So David not only says that this came from God, but he says really this belongs to God as well. He says all that we have given, again, comes from you. And it's from thy hand and all is thine. The recognition that even though God has given it to us, he's entrusted us as stewards, it belongs to him. I think that's important that we understand that. Verse 17, since I know, O my God, that thou triest the heart and delightest in uprightness, I in the integrity of my heart have willingly offered all these things. So now with joy I have seen thy people who are present here to make their offerings willingly to thee. Now notice in the context of giving, it says in verse 17, God, you try the hearts. The trying of the hearts related directly to giving. Let me just make that emphasis that the testing of your heart is very much proven by how you give. It's very easy to stand and sing some of the choruses that we sing, you know, my Jesus, I love thee, or whatever it is, and all to Jesus I surrender. He is Lord, he is Lord, and so on. Then when the offering is passed, all of a sudden we become Lord. And, you know, it's my money and I possess it and I'm not going to give it and so on and so forth. But God tries us, and one of the great tests of our affection, one of the great tests of our heart is whether we give or not. The Bible says where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And some of us hold on to our treasures because our heart is not where it should be. And so David made it very clear that, God, you're examining me in this process, but you're examining the people, and I thank God that they have given with joy. And all of that, I'm sure, Paul drew from where he spoke there to the Corinthians, and he talks about those in Macedonia in 2 Corinthians 8, where he says that first of all they gave themselves, and then he says they gave willingly. And God loves a cheerful giver and so on. The whole basis of that message is right here in this portion of Scripture. All of those things. So then David goes on to talk about worship in verse 20. Then the king said to all the assembly, Now bless the Lord your God. And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers. Because they bowed low and did homage to the Lord and to the king. And so there was a time of worship. And then finally, in verse 24, it says, And all the officials, the mighty men, and also all the sons of the king pledged allegiance to King Solomon. And so here we have the sort of the transfer of power, if you like, that there was the same allegiance, the same commitment, the same dedication as they pledged allegiance to what God was doing and to a time of transition, to really somebody that at this stage they really didn't know very well. But they gave themselves. And I trust that just the fulfillment of this particular portion of Scripture will be evident here. That there will be a fresh giving of ourselves during this time of transition. A fresh consecration to God Himself. Out of that will come the giving that is necessary over the next number of months for us to make it. And then, not only that, but just an increase in worship and glory to God. And then finally, an allegiance that will be passed on. I can honestly say, without any reservations whatsoever, this has been one of the most wonderful seasons of my life. In fact, let me just say one other thing here that I forgot about. About a year or so ago, Nancy was praying. No, it was in a meeting. And I've got it wrong. In a meeting. And God spoke to her and said, This is David's gig. Just sort of leave him alone. This is David's gig. And while I was at this prophetic conference a little over a week ago and Mark DuPont gave me that word, Jim Gohl turned to me. They were both up front and I was sitting on the front row. And he turned to me and he said, David, the gig is up. The gig is up. The gig is up. And... So, the gig is up. But it doesn't make it any easier. This really has been a wonderful time. I am deeply, deeply thankful that we have had no major problems, at least that I'm aware of. If they have been, don't tell me. We have not had any major issues to deal with. It has been a wonderful time. And I deeply appreciate that. I thank God for the love that you've had towards us. And I can say that our love for you is equal as well. We love you. I'm going to miss it. I'm going to miss it not only in the spiritual sense. I miss it in the natural. It's hardly a day that I don't drive through the harbor, that I don't thank God for the beauty. I'm sort of artistic and you can ask for a more beautiful place. So, I'm going to miss it in every way and have tremendous fond memories of it. But I'm not going yet. So, the other night people started sort of eulogizing or something. Don't do that. I share this morning so you would know that just as God has led me, he's leading you. And I believe that this church is ready to explode. I do believe that God has got something wonderful. I don't say that lightly. I believe there's come a tremendous healing. There's a tremendous stability. There's some very wonderful people. We've wanted it to be a family. We've not wanted to have a sort of a professional approach to things. And I don't believe we have. In that sense, we want excellence. But God has knit us together and I think there's some wonderful relationships. We want to continue on. And so pray. I would ask you to even fast and pray that God would give us his sovereign word now concerning the next move as a congregation. And I thought of calling maybe three or four days of prayer and fasting. I'm just going to ask you on your own honor to set some time aside for that. I've been challenged concerning fasting again. For a number of years, I fasted once a week. I let that slip a little bit last year. And I want to get back into that. And by the grace of God, I've endeavored to start that again. But this is a season where God is offering the church, not just this body but around the nation, something new. And Mark DuPont prophesied about the Toronto thing. He said God had shown him that there's a whole new sort of vintage of wine was his expression that God is going to offer to the church at the end of the last three months of this year. And I'm sure that he didn't say it would stop at Christmas. But there's a whole new phase. There are seasons. And we finish one season. We're going into another season. And it's a time when we need to really press into God as never before. And so I'm going to challenge you to do that. And if God gives you a word, then share it with us. But let's just endeavor to stay close to the Lord at this time and just see what he will do. Okay, let's stand, have the worship team come up, and let's just magnify the Lord for his faithfulness. There are some of you here I know that have got promises that have been given to you. Some of those promises go back, as they do with me, many, many years. Some of you are wondering, has God forgotten me? Let me assure you that if those words have been confirmed and God has witnessed in your own spirit that he's not slack concerning his promises. Thirty years seems slack to me, but he's not slack concerning his promises. He knows when something needs to be raised up. And let me also say this because I do not want to make it sound like, you know, I'm about to be launched into some sort of mega ministry around the nation. That's not what I'm thinking. There's many, many voices, wonderful voices, wonderful men of God. I've had the privilege of knowing some of those. And I am just simply going to have a traveling ministry to the body of Christ. And I don't envision that to be some big highfalutin thing. It's not my way. It's not my nature. And I want to make that very, very clear. I just know that for me it's a time and a season of enlargement and increase. And when I say increase, I know I'm going to be stretched. I know there are things that God's asked me already to do that I'm incapable of doing, don't really want to do. But that's all part of growing up, and we all need to grow up. So let's just, again, magnify the grace of God in our lives. Be encouraged this morning. If you're at that place where things don't seem to be working out, God can do it in a moment. And let's believe Him to do that. Amen.