In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of discipline and obedience in the lives of children. He uses the example of Moses, who faced consequences for his lack of discipline when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God commanded. The preacher also addresses the issue of Christian rock music, offering a free booklet to pastors and youth ministers to help them understand its potential negative impact. He urges believers to look around and see if they can witness God working in their churches, and expresses concern for the need of revival in many churches.

Well, it's good to be back with you again today on Eagle's Wings. I trust that you're learning to live by grace, to let God lift you up, to let Him be your strength, to let Him teach you how to fly on Eagle's Wings. It's one thing to crawl in the dirt as a caterpillar, and then to go through the struggle as a caterpillar does, and then come out a butterfly. That's what God wants you to do. He wants you to come through your struggles as a beautiful butterfly. The Scripture says, He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Well, we're really thrilled to be back with you today. God has been working in revival, God is doing things, God is encouraging. God wants to be glorified. If He can be glorified in your life and be free to do whatever He wants to do, you'll see amazing things happen. He wants you also to get to the point to where you're content to go through the drudgery of life, the day-by-day, mudane things, knowing Him. We're looking for the spectacular, we're looking for the unusual, and God is looking for the obedient, the faithful. He's looking for the heart that loves Him. I have a book by James Stewart entitled, Come Breath, Come O Breath, with an amazing chapter on Ezekiel. It's not a long chapter, but I wanted to share with you a little bit about revival from this chapter. You see, I have a burden for revival for America, and there are many in this country that do. And I believe many of you that are listening have a burden too, to see God come back and visit our land. North America is in a great need. And we have wars, and we're at war. Unless the war is ceased by the time this reaches you, I don't know how it'll be. Things change fast. But God is doing things. He may come. He may have already come by the time this tape is played. Jesus said that He would come in an hour that we didn't think He would. The church is asleep. Many don't believe that He's coming. But God wants to do a work in the church. And like Ezekiel, He wants to start in His sanctuary. There's an amazing passage, Ezekiel 9, 3-4. Ezekiel was recording what he had seen, what God had showed him. And if you want to get your Bible, you could turn there. I'm turning over there right now myself. He cried also in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side. And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. I believe if we're going to see revival, then we need to see God start in the church. That mysterious seventh person with the inkhorn is none other than, I believe, the Lord of glory. He sighs over the abominations of the people whom He's redeemed with His precious blood. He sighs over their barren spiritual condition. He sighs because He cannot deny His holiness and shut His eyes to their sins. Son of man, these men have set their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of it all by them? Ezekiel 14, 3. You see, God cannot answer their prayers. They are an abomination to Him. It's like Isaiah said, the mighty arm of Jehovah is paralyzed in the midst of such awful conditions. God does not hear putrid, sin-packed prayers. And my friend, we need to face the reality that we're living in today when iniquity abounds. And the love of many has waxed cold. And we have a form of godliness and no power thereof. You can go to church week after week after week in many churches in this land and never see anybody get saved. That's not the normal according to Christianity, according to Scripture, that's the abnormal. That's apostasy. That's lukewarmness. That's atrocious. It's sin. We have churches full of compromise, callousness. The Son of God is looking for Gethsemane companions, and what's He find? Partiers. Pursuers after pleasure. Where does He find you? Where does He find me? As He's gone through your assembly, suppose He was to walk through your assembly, how many would He mark? How many would He mark on the forehead that sigh, that cry for the abominations that be done in the midst thereof? Where does He find your heart? Are you burdened for revival? Are you burdened to see God work in your life, in your church? Does He find you among the godly remnant in these last dark days of a dying dispensation of grace, sighing for the abominations and sins of the church? Are you among the believers to whom God has become a little sanctuary, as He said in Ezekiel 11, 16? The marked ones are those who have claimed Romans 8, and they have their heart free to fellowship with Christ and for others. So many of us around. Though we have to spend our time sighing and crying over our own sins and failures. If the devil has you in the up-and-down mode, then you're not on the cross mode. The cross is a life of faith. It's a life of stability. It's the life of continual joy. It's the life of continual fellowship with Jesus. And the intercessors, those that are true intercessors, know the cost of Christian service. And they know that it's more than lip service. They know that God wants their all. And it is the heart agony of the Father expressed through us by the Holy Spirit, as He makes intercession through us, Romans 8, 26, that they have experienced. You know, we never really pray until our hearts and minds become the praying ground of the Spirit. You listen to the prayers that are said. If you go to a prayer meeting that's mostly for just all the sickness and the illness around, then that's a dead prayer meeting, no matter if there's a lot of people around. God is looking for spiritual prayers to reach out to spiritual needs. And I'm not saying He's not interested in the physical. We pray about the physical too, but primarily it's the spiritual need. By the way, what's this mark involved in the Ezekiel? Where He went and He put this mark? In Ezekiel's case, I believe this mark meant intercession of the highest order. Fullest identification with the sufferings of God for His backslidden people. Identifying Himself with the people in their idolatry. It's the highest mark. I believe only a Christian is the one that has the mark of an intercessor. And I'm not saying I'm an intercessor. I'm probably sharing something about a lot that I don't know of. I try to pray, and I don't pray enough. But I know that I've got a friend that's an intercessor. He's my buddy. The man that was my assistant pastor in the last church I was in. And God has taken him to the depths of the cross that I have not gone to yet. To where he's become an intercessor. Sold out. One day he took all his junk he had. He used to be a junk collector. He collected all kinds of stuff. Took it out to the dump. Cluttering up his life. Clearing things up so nothing distracts him from time to pray with God. Hours and hours and hours with God. And he's gone through it. In the plans and purposes of God, we are to be the instruments of the Spirit's intercession. And when we seek the gifts and graces of this high and holy ministry. And allow our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, to put his secret sign upon our forehead. We bear the burden in true identification for the condition of the church and the world. I don't know about you, but I feel the burden. That the church is in. It nauseates me. It burdens me. It breaks my heart. It makes me weary. Are you there? The moment we give ourselves to the Lord to be marked with a secret sign. That moment we must lay all on the altar of sacrifice. And ourselves become living sacrifices as Romans 12.1. Have you laid it out all to be an intercessor? Will you pray? Will you pay to pray? Will you pay the price? Would you pray for me? Would you pray for revival? Would you pray for this land? You pray for the world. Pray for the lost. Would you pray for those that are preaching the word? You pray. You pray about everything and anything if you're an intercessor. I called up a lady friend of mine the other day. She used to be in my church, an older lady. And my wife was ready to go. We were at her folks visiting for supper, for dinner that day. She kept coming in and kept coming in and kept coming in. And this lady started praying. And she was an intercessor. And she prayed and she prayed and she prayed. And I knew she was an intercessor. I counted it a privilege even though we were delayed leaving because she prayed so long. Are you a prayer warrior? It is imperative for God's ministers and people to recognize that revival begins when the abominations are cleansed from within the inner temple of God in the hearts of his saints. Revival is not a matter of believers going down the street beating big drums but of saints with broken hearts sobbing their way to Calvary. Revival is not so much the drunkard being saved as God's people being delivered from their abominations. Do you want revival? Begin at my sanctuary, says the Holy One. To all that seek revival and renewal. Begin at my sanctuary is the first lesson in the school of God concerning the theme of revival. I propose to you that we don't know much about revival. We have cluttered, sin-packed sanctuaries. And God is not free. And that's why I've been offering this booklet on rock music because our sanctuaries have become a haven for demons. They've been invited in by the droves with the rock music. We call it Christian rock. And for those of you that are pastors and even a youth pastor, youth minister, if you write to me, this is the last time it's offered this month, for this booklet on the rock music, the Christian rock, I believe you will find your eyes will be opened. I'm offering it to you free. Otherwise, I'm asking for a donation of $5 to help cover the cost. And I'm not in a money-making business. I go to God for my needs. But I want you to get this. As the supply is there. Begin at my sanctuary. Look around. As you go to church this morning, look around. Listen. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. He that has eyes to see, let him see. Just look and see if you see God really working. I hope you do. I know there's churches where God's working. But we're burdened for those where he's not. And the vast majority of them are in need of revival. Begin at my sanctuary. The church and the world are sleeping. Where shall we blow the trumpet? The answer is always the same. Begin at my sanctuary. Blow the trumpet in Zion. Joel 2.15. Judgment must begin at the house of God. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 1 Peter 4.17 and 18. By the way, if you're listening, my friend, and you're not a Christian, and you're not saved, and you've been judging the work of the church and turning your nose up at it, let me tell you, the church may be in a sad shape, but you're in worse shape. If you're not saved, you'll die and go to hell without Christ. And there won't be an excuse that you can hold before God that the church was asleep, that no one cared for you, that no one talked to you about your soul, because the Spirit of God is still knocking on your heart, telling you that you need Jesus. And you can go to all the things you go to, and you can try to listen to all the music you want to, and you can try to make all the money you want, but it won't get you into heaven when the judgment day comes, and you stand before God, and He wants to know what you did with Jesus Christ. You'll be in bad shape. You better repent of your sins. Today is the day of salvation, and trust Him as your Savior. The sanctuary lesson is a hard one for the church to learn, as so many of the leaders have given a new rendering of 2 Chronicles 7, 14, and what it really comes out, if the people of the devil who are called by His name shall humble themselves and pray and seek God's face. No, the Scripture is for if my people, if. The if of revival rests upon the obedience of the saints. If God is talking to you, my pastor friend, about the hypocrisy in your life or your church, and you're not doing anything about it, you're not obeying. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Whatever God is speaking to you about, do it. Do it. I ought to get my family to sing this song that we sang on Jonah. God told Jonah to go down to Nineveh, that old wicked town, but Jonah didn't want to go. So he packed his bag and went off on a boat trip. You know how it goes. But the Course says that when God tells you what to do, you better do it. You better do it. It doesn't pay to disobey. That's all there is to it. If God tells you to do it, you better obey. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, God said, which ye have profaned in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. Ezekiel 36, 23. When will God do these great and mighty things in revival? When he is sanctified and the saints begin at my sanctuary, God says. How about it? Are you ready for revival? Then ask God to start in your heart. Ask him to start in your church, in your sanctuary. Ask him to do it. Are you among the number who are weeping and are broken down before God? And because of the spiritual adultery and coldness of the saints? Remember, God says, If the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much, pray. Ask God to work. Hortus Barnash said, Not many lives, but only one have we, one only one. How sacred should that one life ever be, that narrow span, day after day filled up with blessed toil, hour after hour still bringing in new spoil. I'd like to take the rest of this time, I'm trying to share with you from the book of Exodus on the life of Moses to give you some practical viewpoints on the cross and what revival will do in the life. Now you take the mothers out there listening, you dear moms, cooking and washing, doing all the laundry, taking care of the children, day after day after day, let me encourage you to hang in there and keep doing it. And I know it's hard. We have five children, and my wife, she works from daylight to dawn. Bless her heart. But I've been trying to train my children to help more and more with the load. But you know, in the life of Moses was a key element that sometimes we don't think about how deep it was in his life, and that was his mother. The investment that his mother and father had on him. And if you remember the book of Exodus means the way out. The way out of what? The way out of bondage, and he used Moses to lead them out. And by the way, if I might throw something in here, the hardest man to set free is not the one who knows that he is a captive, but the one who is a captive and thinks he's free. This is why the preachers are so hard to reach for revival. I was one of them. I thought I knew it all. I had a lot of education. But I knew that there was something wrong, and finally when I come to the point when I was desperate, and I was tired of the hypocrisy in my own life as well as my church, then God moved in and he did something. Revival is coming to the cross and dying to self. Remember the message of Exodus is redemption. It's by the blood. And I think I'm going to skip over some things that I have to get right to the heart of what I want to say about the cross and Moses and the training that he had. You see his mother and dad only had him a few years. Maybe four at the most. Maybe up to five or six. We don't know for sure, but they had a very short time to train him. And the last time we've seen how God had tried to destroy the youth by the abortion attempt and all of that stuff, well, by committing Moses to God, they were able to keep him. And they got him back. And the amazing thing about it is that they were paid to take care of him. Pharaoh's daughter paid Jochebed to nurse him, to take care of him. Now what would you have done in that situation if you'd been Moses' mother? Huh? Well, that's what I want you to look at a little bit with me this morning. Now listen. The training of Moses, I believe, had three basic aspects. He was trained at home, he was trained in the world, and he was trained in the desert. Now the training of Moses at home was very important for the rest of those training periods. The training of Moses was in two key areas at home. First of all, there was a practical. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22, 6. And the three elements in the practical training that Moses was given, and all this is pointing to the cross, so you hang in there. The first was education. And they trained him primarily, I believe, in the area of education by Scripture. They gave him Scripture. They poured it into his life. He was given the Word. Deuteronomy 6, verse 7 says, And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. I'd like to ask you a question. If they knew they only had Moses a few years to train, and they believed that he was the deliverer for Israel, how much time do you think they would have let him sit watching TV, playing the Nintendo, running around doing foolish things, running with the crowd? None. Every day counted, every moment was precious. They had to pour into Moses enough Scripture in the few years that they had him to last him a lifetime. And they did a good job. The second was by way of example. They couldn't afford to slip up by their example. Not with the short amount of time that they had with their child. They say that 50% of our attitudes are learned by age 3. That is staggering. That 90% of our habits are formed by age 20. You're set by 20. I don't think they could afford to live one way before Moses, and then one day turn and live another way. They had to live consistent, godly lives. They believed that the future hung on Moses. They believed that their very lives, their very deliverance hung on Moses. And it was true. And let me ask you, is it any different really today for us? In our land, and if we believe God's going to work in our youth, are we giving our youth to the devil? Are we letting him train our youth? Are we giving our mind, the minds of our youth, to the devil? All through the week? And then expecting them to go out and turn the world upside down for God? Let me ask you, how many missionaries are your church turning out every year? There's where the tale is told. We're not turning out soldiers. We're letting our army be captured. The Bible says, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, or the outgoings of life. Actually, the outcome comes from the income. What we see and hear will come out. And then they train them in discipline. The area of obedience. And if your children don't learn this one, it results in rebellion. And this one area may have been the weak link in the life of Moses, because it got them into trouble. Enough to where God couldn't let them into the land. When God told him to speak to the rock the second time and he smote it because he was mad, that was an area of discipline. And rebellion. And he was angry. And his disobedience cost him heavily. And not only did they teach Moses in the practical, but they also taught him principles. Three of them, which I want to close up in sharing with you, I think are vital. From Hebrews 11, I think I can learn quite a bit, and you can too, about the life of Moses. If you turn over to Hebrews 11, 23 through 26, we have some key things. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw that he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Now, let me share with you. They taught him what to refuse, what to choose, and what to lose, or values. What to refuse was evil. What was the evil? It was the position in the world. Rank has its privilege. They said, listen, rank has its privilege, but it also has its price, and it won't be worth it. God won't be able to use you. And then they told him what to choose. They taught him to choose Christ, to choose God. And it says that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. So he was taught what to refuse, which was evil. And then he was taught what to choose, which was affliction versus pleasure. In other words, fellowship with God's children, or pleasure with the world. And Moses was taught to go with God's children, so when he come up to age, he took that choice. There's a time for fun, there's a time for fellowship. Then there's a time to get serious, and bear down, and realize that there's a war to be fought. And if you're willing to make sacrifices for some pleasure, that you're not willing to make for God, then it's idolatry. And are your children seeing these things in your life? You can't teach them by example, unless it's there. And then they taught him what to value, or what to lose. Lose the world, and choose Christ. I believe they drilled it into him. Choose God, esteeming, verse 26 of Hebrews 11, the reproach of Christ. Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had reconspect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. He knew who to fear, too, and it was God. Moses was taught to make eternity decisions. He was taught all of this by the time that he was turned over to Pharaoh's daughter in a few short years. And so he learned principles. He learned that it was not worth it to run with a crowd that was going to hell. He learned to walk separate. And Moses gave up three things. When he made that decision to step out, and his timing was off on it, to step out and lead Israel, and he got into trouble for that, but he went into a greater learning period when he went out into the desert. He gave up three things, and I want to close in giving you these three things. First of all, he gave up self-preservation. He couldn't provide for himself anymore. And then he gave up protection, self-protection. That was the power to be the next Pharaoh. And then he gave up position. And that was all the pleasure that it offered. Did you know that these temptations, these things, excuse me, they were not temptations, they were just facts. But these three things are the same things that Christ was tempted with in Matthew 4 and 1 through 10. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, he was tempted to provide for himself. Self-preservation was what he chose. He chose to give himself to God. The devil said, provide for yourself. He answered, verse 3, let me give you this. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But Jesus answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. When you come to the cross, and you're crucified, you're willing to let God provide for you. And Jesus met his temptation by saying that God will take care of me. He said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And then the devil slipped on down, and he says, he took him up into the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. And he said, if thou be the Son of God, cast yourself down. And Jesus said, no. Jesus said, it is written again, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. He said, I will let God protect me and take care of me. Provides for me, he protects me. And then the devil said, the devil took him into an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory therein. And said unto him, I'll give you all these things if you'll fall down and worship me. And Jesus said, get you hence, Satan. For it is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Jesus let God place him where he wanted. That was the position. Preservation, self-preservation, self-protection, and self-position. Christ committed all of these things to God the Father to let him take care of. These three areas, self-preservation, self-protection, and self-position, were the three things that Moses gave up to God. And God took care of all of those things. Moses was given the basics to survive in life by his parents. That was one, know God, and two, trust God. And whoever you trust is your savior. These lessons are all there in the scripture. Practical things. But, is the church teaching these things today? Is the church teaching the cross? You see, the gospel involves the cross, but I'm afraid we're leaving the cross out. Well, our time's gone. We're going to have to go. I trust that God will continue to lead and work in your life. I'm praying for you. I'm praying that God will do a mighty work in your church, and in your life, in your family, in your area. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my friend.