In this sermon, the preacher shares his personal experience of longing for something more in his preaching and his relationship with God. He expresses a dissatisfaction with just going through the motions and desires to see a greater impact on people's lives. During a meeting, the Holy Spirit takes over and a young man interrupts, confessing that he is the person the preacher had been talking about. This confession sparks a deeper desire for revival in the congregation, leading many to stay behind and ask what they can do to experience more of God's glory. The preacher encourages the congregation to be passionate and seek a deeper connection with God.

It's the longing of the Lord Jesus Christ to have a closer walk, you know, with us. I began by noting that there is more eagerness in the heart of Jesus to walk with us, much more than we could ever have expressed. And we're looking at how he keeps longing, knocking, and say, open to me, open to me. We have seen that cry in the heart of Jesus saying, open to me, let me come in, let me come in. We saw that in his, in his desire to come in, he could even put his hand on the hole, seeking to come in. And we saw, as we concluded yesterday, that there is a time to call upon him when he's near. There is a time to seek him when he can be found. And that if a man would delay or waste divine opportunities of encountering God, he will open himself unto the devourers. The men of the city, they may take away even your veil and the glory that could have been yours. Tonight, as a continuation of our series on a closer walk with God, I will now begin to look at, whereas I looked at the passion of the Lord Jesus yesterday, I'm now going to look at the passion of a soul after God. Now, I'm going to be looking at your own passion, our own passion for the Lord, passion for God's presence, passion to experience God. Passion, the Bible says, blessed are those who thirst and hunger after righteousness, they shall be filled. We shall be considering how to sustain passion for God, passion for his presence, passion for intimate walk with God, passion, passion instead of apathy, passion instead of whatever goes, passion, that heated desire to want to experience the Lord more deeply and more personally. And I'm going to be looking at this passion tonight from several, several brothers and even sisters that sought the face of God until something deliberate happened to them. And I would like you to join me this night. We're going to read that passage that I know you know already, but we're going to read it together before we begin to speak. We're going to read Psalm 42, Psalm 42 and Psalm 84. I would request that you would let us read the two Psalms together responsibly. When I read one verse, you will read the next. Let's just read scriptures together before we begin to study. Psalm 42 and Psalm 84, these are the two passages which I'll be leading, I mean reading tonight. As the heart panted after the water brooks, so panted my soul after thee, O God. My tears have been my meat day and night. Why do they continually say unto me, where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Deep calleth unto deep. At the noise of thy water sprouts, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. I will say unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Psalm 84. Psalm 84, O Lord of hosts, yea, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thy altars. O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Amen. May the Lord bring increase to his word as we read and as we study together tonight. Now, I'm dealing with passion, passion for God as the only thing that could sustain our closer walk with God that can keep us in constant experience of revival and of the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, the two passages we have read incidentally is a cry of a man who was longing for the presence of God. I'm still going to draw some few illustrations as I go ahead, but let me just ask you to quickly meditate on these two psalms as quickly as we can so as to lay a biblical foundation for the kind of passion that God must create within our spirit, passion that the spirit of God must bring back again in order to keep us on fire, in order to keep us constantly afresh so that even in our generation among men, among the women which, I mean, in whom we live, among those whom we walk, they might see a note of divine presence that has come to settle on your life as an individual. Now, the psalmist says, as the heart panted after the water brooks, as the deer pants after the water brooks, so panted my soul after thee, O God. The first word I noted there is panting, panting. And unless you have seen, you know, the deer panting after water, after it has traveled so long and you can see it's thirsty, you might not understand what the word panting has to do. And sometime because maybe you've not traveled in a very hot atmosphere where we come from, where you can come under a very, very intense thirst and there is no water you can take immediately there, I mean nearby, the panting just to get a sip of water to refresh you and to keep you, you know, refreshed inside. Now, the Bible is saying, as the heart panted after the water brooks, so panted my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsted for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My soul thirsts and my heart cries out for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night. Why they continually say to me, where is thy God? Maybe one of the things that is lost, one of the things that God must restore to us as we are crying for revival is the restoration of our hunger, our hunger for God, our hunger for his presence, our hunger for his manifestation, our hunger for a fellowship with him, our hunger for an unbroken relationship, our hunger for divine interruptions that comes upon our souls regularly. Usually when a child of God begins to lose this hunger, there are several parameters, there are several little, little things that manifest. When your hunger for God begins to die out, there are a few things that you will begin to see, that you will begin to experience. One of it is that that longing to be in the presence of God, that longing to hear the voice of the Lord over every issue, that desire to sense the presence of the Lord by you is no more than. When a man begins to lose his hunger for God, he could do without reading his scripture on a daily basis. He could begin to make do with some few phrases. When a man has lost his hunger for God, God no longer becomes the priority of his life on a daily basis. He could begin to live on residual knowledge. When a man has lost his hunger for God, his attitude towards sin and the things that offends God is no more sharp. When a man has lost his hunger for God, he could tolerate even compromises and go along with them as if nothing is wrong. When a man has lost his hunger for God, unrighteousness no longer causes him to cry. When a man has lost his hunger for God, quiet omissions in his own life, quiet omissions in his own character no longer cause him to cry. When a man has lost his hunger for God, he may become more logical. He might begin to rationalize his actions. He might begin to explain away several things and say, well, God himself should understand that condition is not easy. When a man has lost his personal hunger for God, personal holiness is no more a critical issue for him. Now, may I quickly say to you that the loss of hunger for God may not first manifest in group meetings. There are many people that they no longer have personal hunger for the presence of God, but they still keep going along with the company of Christians because they will not want people to keep asking, oh, we didn't see you in the fellowship. Sometimes some person just come to put up an appearance in the midst of the brethren, but he has not appeared before the Lord. Sometimes when the hunger for God has finished in a man's life, his closet life, which matters most, has become dismantled. His personal altar has broken down, but he could still manage with public activities. When a man has lost his personal hunger for God, his personal sensitivity to the Holy Ghost, sensitivity to the Word of God, sensitivity unto the things of the Spirit becomes dull. It becomes dull. When a man has lost his hunger for God, what pains God no longer pains his heart. When a man has lost his hunger for God, passion, passion for souls, passion to see men turned over from the kingdom of darkness unto the kingdom of his dear Son in the light is no more strong on his heart. When a man has lost his passion for God, and I want you to take note of this, the truth of the matter is that you cannot be passionate about two things at the same time. The way our heart is made, it is not possible for you to share your affection equally in between two things at the same time. So Jesus Christ said, you cannot love God a man. You will either choose one and let the other one go. There are no two ways about it. That's the truth. Even though we may not speak directly about it, people may not confront you with it, but the truth is this, you cannot be passionate at the same time about two things at the same time. You are either passionate for God or for something else. When a man has begun to lose his passion for God, it is always a replacement of passion for something else. Sometimes passion for God is lost and you become passionate about friends. You like to spend more time with people than with God. When a man has lost passion for God and passion for the word of God, you see him, he loves to listen to more news. He will love to spend more time before the television. He will love to read newspapers more than he will have read the word of God. When scriptures is no more sweet to your taste, when the word of God becomes dry and dreary, that even to read one chapter, you just read it as a matter of duty, not because you are enjoying it, not because your inner man is yearning and yearning for it. When you notice that what used to strike your spirit and break you quickly is no more breaking you, I want you to take note, maybe your passion for God and for his presence is already reduced. When a man has lost his passion for God, what else do we notice? His eyes are dry. Even though I am not preaching that you must be weeping every time for me to be sure that you love God, yet we cannot separate a broken and a contrite spirit from a man who is passionate about God. When your eyes are dry, when your heart is unnecessarily hard inside, when it takes a long time for tears to draw from your eyes, it is an indication that your passion for God, your passion for his presence is reduced. Passion for God is a function of a man's heart. This man said, as the deer panted after the water brook, so pants my soul after the old God. My soul thirsted for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before him? Let me ask you this night. Sometimes it is difficult to measure a man's passion. Sometimes church activities could make it easy for us to think you are still passionate, when actually right inside something has shifted, something has changed, something has moved, something has broken down inside. That is the first question that I would like you to check this night. This man says, and I want you to see the manifestation of a man who is passionate. As I am looking at Psalm 42 and Psalm 84, what are the manifestations of a man who is passionate? He says, see the first question, he says, my soul thirsted for God, for the living God. When a man is passionate for God, he is passionate for the person, the person of the Lord Jesus. Many people, they have lost their passion for God, but they are passionate for the things, for the benefits, for the gifts they will get from God and not from God himself. Are we together? Are we together? It is possible that you have lost your passion for the Lord Jesus, but you are only passionate about something you may get from God. That is the first question of the night. When you love the Lord, when you love the gift more than the giver, when you are more concerned about the miracle more than the miracle worker himself, when you are excited only about things, goods that you will get rather than God himself, are you still passionate about Jesus? Do you love him? Do you love him for his own sake? Does he mean to you anymore? Does Jesus occupy that special place in your spirit and you cannot do without him? Or you are satisfied if you just get some few things of him even if you don't have him. This man said, my soul thirsted for God, for the living God. That is the first thing. Passion for God is passion for the person, the personality of God. Passion for God is the desire, the desire to know him. Paul said that I may know him. I want to know him. I want to be close to him. I want to be acquainted with him. I want to become intimately, intimately acquainted with him. I want him. I don't want anything else. I will be sharing with you some men whose passion for God brought God into their situation, brought God into their lives, brought God into their ministry. And I'm praying that God will restore to me, God will restore to you tonight an unflinching passion for his presence. He said, when shall I come and appear before God? When a man is passionate for God, you don't need to invite him for fellowship. Am I right? You don't need to invite him because that is the highest point of his life. So I'm so glad when they say, let us go into the house of the Lord. When a man is passionate for God, and you will remember in the days when Revival was here, people woke up, 4 a.m., 5 a.m., they were seeking the face of God. When meetings close like this, they are not ready to go. They are not ready to go. Sometimes the church officials will have to be saying, well, please, we need to close up, but somebody is still there crying. Somebody is still holding the altar. Somebody is saying, Lord, I will not let you go. I cannot leave you now. I want to be here with you. It was nothing in those days that when men were passionate, a whole night of prayer, they went to be alone with God. Some just went back into their garden, and you hear them crying all night unto God and said, Lord, bless me. I will not let you go. I want to ask you, are you eager? Are you eager? And the question in your heart is, when shall I come and appear before God? When shall I appear before God? The parameter of a man who is passionate for God, he says, my tears have been my meat day and night. Why do you continually say to me, where is your God? When a man is passionate for God, he weeps for God. Oh, did you hear what I said? He weeps for God. He weeps for his presence. He says, my tears have been my meat day and night. Why do people ask me, where is your God? Where is your God? The cry of his heart, the powerlessness, the impotence that has come upon his life makes him to cry to God. But brothers and sisters, have we not lost that passion? When last did you cry for your powerlessness? When last did you cry for your impotence? When last did you cry out to God and say, Lord, why is it that I'm speaking the word of God and I'm not seeing conviction in the heart of people? When last did you cry? You know why I'm dealing with this tonight? Because I realize that even though God is longing to send revival, the word of God also says only those who thirst and hunger for righteousness shall be filled. There is this two legs that we cannot ignore. Whereas Jesus says, come unto me, I will give you rest. But yet he says, if any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But those who do not thirst, those who are not hungry, even if you give honey to a man who is not hungry, he will vomit it. This night, is there any tears left in your heart about your impotence, about your powerlessness, about the dryness, about the lack of power when you read scripture? One of the things that bothers me, that makes me many, many times restless, is not money. I have no problem if I had no dime in my pocket even for months. I don't worry about money. But there is something that makes me restless when I open scriptures and it does not open to me. When I read scriptures and it is becoming like newspaper, I know that something is going wrong. When the spirit of God does not break forth upon me very simply and very spontaneously again, I know I am in trouble. I know I am in trouble. And you know it is possible even for a preacher to become passionless when you just preach as a mere routine, when you just bring out scriptures as one of those old things, when you say, okay, I preached this message five years ago, let me just, let me just get it. When you just hold sermons and it doesn't cause you a cry, it doesn't cause you tears. When we come for church service and everything goes on normally and there is no divine interruption from heaven, you know the only ghost is not doing anything and you are not crying about it. You have lost your passion. This man says, my tears are being my meat day and night. Why they continually say to me, where is your God? How many of you ever cried that we don't see answered prayers again? How many of you, did it bother you, did it bother you that we no longer see the manifestation of the power of God and the move of the spirit each time we speak or each time we pray or each time we lay hands on people? How did we come to accept emotionless Christianity? How did we come to accept the truth? How did we come to settle down for a Christian experience that is not active? How did we come to settle down with a Christian life that is not sprouting, is not fresh? How did we come for a prayer meeting and we finished praying and none of us felt a fresh touch of the master? Where are the tears? I remember that if I were to be invited to go and preach somewhere, I would not be able to go if I don't see God's presence. And when I finished preaching, I remember I was invited to a church some years back to preach and I was to preach from Sunday to Friday. It was a week-long revival meeting and it was a very difficult meeting for me. I preached my first sermon on Sunday morning and nobody moved, nobody was touched. The pastor came and greeted me and said, Obradwile, that's a good sermon, that's a good sermon, that's very brilliant. He didn't know that the more he said that, it was like he was piercing my heart with a sword. Several people came and said, oh yeah, that's good, that's a good message. And those who were smoking, they went out and they continued smoking. I said, God, how can you put me into this kind of problem? What kind of ministry is this, oh God? I came back in the evening, the same thing. I came back Monday evening. When I finished preaching, nothing happened. Of course, you know, they had great hospitality for me, good food. They would just fill the whole table with plenty of food. And there were so many of their ladies coming to serve left and right. And they are saying, brother, you are not eating. So I called the pastor, I said, pastor, what kind of meeting is this? Oh, the man said, well, that's a good meeting. You know, this meeting is wonderful. We have been, in fact, my people have enjoyed you, they have enjoyed you. I said, oh, that's the wrong word to use, enjoy. Can fire fall on a man and he says he enjoys it? Can the sword pierce a man's heart and he says I'm enjoying it? It couldn't be an enjoyment. If I were an entertainer, the right word was enjoy. I enjoyed that entertainment. But if I were a man carrying fire, I expected tears. I expected men to break down. I expected hearts to pierce. So I decided, I told God that night, I said, father, if you are not going to move, I'm not going to continue this meeting. How I wish that that blessedness of a passion after God will never depart from my life. Because I want to tell you, he that seeketh, findeth. The truth that he that knocketh, the door is open to him. And he, he that will not give himself rest and say, God, unless you show me your glory, I will not let you go. God does not always disappoint them. And this night, brothers, I just feel that while God is passionate to visit me and you, maybe we are not as passionate as touching God. Maybe we are satisfied that, well, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. It couldn't be okay. Because as I saw other men of God, I saw that no, they will not let God go until something happens. So that night, I couldn't remember whether I slept at all. I was saying, oh God, oh God, if I would go for this meeting, this is the third time. I'm going to now speak the fourth message. And I have not seen a result. And I prayed and prayed and prayed. The Holy Spirit did something that day. With trembling, my heart was broken. And I was actually ready to announce to the person that after tonight, if I did not see what I'm longing for God to do, I would rather close the meeting so that everybody should go and rest. There's no need wasting people's time. And the Lord said, I will be with you this evening. I will go with you. I said, so Lord, what do I do? He asked me to take one man who had been a deacon in a Baptist church since 1962. I was preaching in 1985. He has been a deacon. But one day I was passing in front of his house and I felt like speaking to him, witnessing. I said, oh, can I speak to him? He said, yes, yes, yes. I said, are you born again? He said, what do you mean by that? I'm a deacon. I'm a deacon. And we have studied many churches. I said, no, I'm not talking about your position in church. I'm asking, are you born again? Is Jesus in your life? And the Lord led me as I opened the scripture. I think I was reading 1 Corinthians chapter 6. He said, no you not. There are neither fornicators nor effeminists and drunkards will have a part in the kingdom of God. No you not. And the Spirit of God arrested this man. He was sweating. He said, how did you know that I'm a womanizer? And I saw him sinking on his knees and he gave his life to Christ. God said now, take him along with you. Before you preach, let him tell him to tell the story of his life. By the time this man finished, the church was quiet. And I came up. I felt a different presence of God that night. Why am I sharing this with you? You can know the presence of God. The truth of the matter is that we can know when he is there and we can know when he is not at hand. I know there is that general Bible passage where we say, we are two or three, I gather together, I'm there in their midst. That's okay. That's a good passage. But we know when he is there and we know when he is not at hand. It may be all right to just quote the Bible generally, but all those who believe the word of God, they experience God. And I'm asking you, if you're a little more deliberate tonight and say, God, it's a long time I have felt your presence in my heart. It's a long time my spirit has been warm. It's a long time my inner man has experienced the push of the spirit of God within me. I will not let you go unless you do a new thing for me. And do you know what happened in that meeting? I had not finished preaching. I just started sharing from the word of God the same scripture I have read for the past four times. Now tonight his presence has come. And I saw something. And I must tell you, sir, just like you said, just as you said, even one night could change the life of a church. Even one night. And I've seen that before. I have seen something. I wouldn't call it a mighty revival, but I've seen sparks of revival. I've seen it happen several. And what did I notice? I was just speaking. And I don't know how the Holy Spirit was taking over the meeting. When somebody in the meeting, one young man just jumped up and he ran to the front. And I thought maybe I have done something. And he was annoyed. He came out. He said, stop it. Yes. Papa God, I'm in problem. I am the man this man had been talking about. I am a womanizer. I have been beating my wife. Will God forgive me? Will God forgive me? And he sank and began to cry. And I have not yet said one more thing. When another person ran out, when another person ran out, we did not give what I call when the altar was filled with men with tears. That day, that was Tuesday night. By Wednesday, by Thursday, something has happened. And that began the beginning of a fresh visitation of God over that particular congregation. I want to tell you tonight, sir, out of that particular meeting and in that congregation, several of them that came out to make their life right with God, several of them have become pastors. Some of them are pastors in churches that are numbering about 2,000, 3,000 today. Because God came down. I want to tell you, I want to tell you that we can know when God is around. And we can know when he's not there. This apathy of saying, well, we think God is there. Let's stop it, please. Stop it. If God comes to you now, you will know it. If God touches your inner man, something will happen. But you see, God waits for those who are passionate, who are hungry for him. I am in trouble. I am in anger. And I'm believing God that these three days of meeting that God has allowed us to have, God in his mercy, he will respond to our cry. He will do a new thing in our midst. Two years ago, sir, I was in a meeting in Ghana. Now, why do I need to tell you this? I wanted to tell you something because sometimes when you don't know what to expect in God or in revival, you may be vague about it. As a preacher, I have come to cherish. And nothing else satisfies me. I don't know anything else that satisfies me. I don't care about offering. I don't need money. God himself knows that that's not my desire. My desire is to see God. My desire is to see God doing his work in the midst of his people. I don't want to be a parrot. A parrot is that man that speaks and speaks and speaks and speaks and speaks and speaks and there's no result. And we were in this meeting, only pastors and church elders were gathered in this meeting. I think there should be about 300 of them. And I have been going to that meeting. But this particular day, I said, Lord, why would people gather in there? And why would I travel all the way from Nigeria to Ghana? For what? What does it pay me, oh God, to be going up and down if you will not move? And this meeting started casually. It appears as if nothing will happen. The first speaker finished speaking. Nothing has taken place. And I said, Lord, will you allow us to again gather and go back as if, as if you are like the God of Baal that cannot respond? And God said to me, I will help you. I will help you. And as the Word of God was going that day, again I was interrupted. One hefty man in the Methodist church, the Methodist, the normal Methodist, he was called a presbyter. He was next to the bishop. Suddenly, I just saw him, he just came. And he grabbed the microphone from my hand forcefully. And I said, ah, God, what have I done? And then the man stood there and said, all of you, you know me, you know me in this church, you know me. You know me. I am a pretender. You think I am doing well. I'm the presbyter. There are many, many churches under me. But I am a pretender. I want an answer. I cannot keep quiet again. The Word of God has hit my hand and I cannot keep quiet. And as he opened up and started confessing, I couldn't do anything else because the microphone now was in his hand. I'm just watching. And he had not finished. When he collapsed, I began to cry. And I didn't know what God did. Several people started coming out. And coming out, sinking on their knees and repenting. I'm seeing something. And as the Spirit of God arrested them, I was still waiting to see what would happen. The service was supposed to end. Nobody could go. They were singing and crying. And then the people, they said, what do you want to do about this? So I wanted to test whether they were serious or not. I said, if any of you have been so affected by God this afternoon and you want to take it forward, you don't want it to just be a mere ceremony, wait behind. I thought only two people would wait. I was surprised when I saw several, several. There were almost a hundred. And the question they were asking me, those beloved questions that I've been waiting for God to cause to happen in every meeting we go. They said, Brother Gbile, what shall we do? Tell us what you want us to do now. We are ready. One man came and said, I will follow you back to Nigeria. Now it is clear that I have not been properly brought up. Even though I've been preaching, I want to resign so that my life can be made well. That was the beginning of the work that God is doing in Ghana. That was the beginning. And I could see fire breaking forth. I want to tell you that where there is passion in our hearts, God will not fail to respond. But if you are satisfied with your fearless Christianity, if you are satisfied with dryness, if you have explanation for your impotence, God may say, well, he's okay. He doesn't need me any more than he has. But if there's somebody in this meeting tonight who said, Lord, I need something more, I must dig a little deeper. Jesus' love must be sweeter. I will dig a little deeper, deeper, yeah. Is there somebody that wants to go deeper with God? Is there somebody who is not satisfied, said, Lord, I'm not satisfied where I am? Some people may think, why are you worrying yourself? Why are you trying to be a fanatic? No, you are not a fanatic. If you are restless inside and your spirit is saying, how can I continue to face powerlessness? How can I continue to go about? And people are saying, where is your God? They are saying it to our faces all the time. But why did God keep quiet? Because you have kept quiet. Why hasn't God responded? Because it has not bothered you enough. Why hasn't God stood up to help us? Because we could still manage. We could still make do with dryness, tearless, and fruitless Christian experience. Passion for God is a critical issue for all those who sought revival. This does not depend on age. If a young man says, Lord, I cannot go without you, God will manifest himself to him. This can happen in the secondary school. This can happen in the ladies' meeting. This can happen anywhere, wherever men can no longer manage with empty Christian experience. The man said, when I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, for I have gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept holy day. Why had I cast down all that? When a man has contracted passion for God, do you know the other thing? His memory becomes sharp. Please listen to me. When your passion for God has been restored, your memory will become sharp. Memory about what? Memory about what God used to do with you. Memory about the way God used to move. Memory about what God used to do when you preached. Memory about what God used to do when you prayed. Memory about what God, what God, what God used to do when you sing. He said, when I remember these things, when I remember how I had gone with the multitude into the house of God, when I remember how I had gone there with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept holy day, when I remember, my heart yearns and I say, God, when will I see your glory again? Can I ask, some of you are old enough and you have seen the move of God some years ago. Why did you forget it? Why did you forget those, those critical prayer meetings that brought the glory down? Why doesn't it rise in your spirit again? How a simple word of God held you for hours and for days on your knees. When passion for God has been restored to a man's life, he remembers. He remembers the way God moved before. He remembers the way the spirit of God worked. He remembers songs that were sung and the spirit of God came down. But when a man has lost his passion for God, he also forgets the past deeds of God. He only focuses on recent actions. But when a man has not lost his passion, he cannot forget where God has dealt with him. And I want to say, brothers, sometimes what God must do in order to restore, to restore and to bring you back into revival is to remind you what he used to do with your life. To remind you what he used to do with your life. At the beginning of this year, as we are praying, something happened to my heart. I wasn't satisfied again with just preaching. And I wanted to know that I've been preaching. I've seen many people saved. I've seen many lives changed. And people ordinarily will say, yes, Brother Billy, you are doing well. But something inside of me said, no. If you continue like this, you may end in ordinary ashes. There's something more that you must get. There's something more that your life must mean to your generation. You cannot just go on like this. I'm still crying to God. And I came over here with the same cry in my heart. I'm looking for something more. There's something I'm longing to see in God. There's something I'm longing for God to do. There's something I'm crying to God about. This morning in my quiet time, there was a cry in my heart. I said, oh God, oh God, where's that promise, the promise you are holding out unto us, the promise of the manifestation of your glory and of your power? Brothers, I don't know where you are. Sisters, I don't know how far you have gone. But I say there's something more in Jesus that you are yet to touch. Thank God we have a good church, but we can have a better church. Thank God we have a good brothers and sisters, but we can see more of God's glory. We can see something more. We can see something fresh. Do you know as Richard plays the organ, as my brother plays, in the days when the Spirit of God moved, as they just raised the song, as we were announcing the song, many people melted and they started weeping and coming back to the Lord. It's a long time we see such things. It's a long time we see God coming through and breaking in the hearts of men. But what is the reason? We are not passionate. Something says it's okay. Somehow we think maybe it is God that doesn't want to come, but God inside says, it is you that doesn't want me to come. I've not heard you cry to me. I've not heard you passionately plead for me to come. I've just shared a few testimonies with you because I wanted to establish that when a man becomes desperate, God takes him serious. When a man can no longer go without God, God will go with him. I'm going to conclude with a short story of two people that couldn't do without God in their lives and he came for them. He came for them. He came for them. He came for them. Now remember, let's look at Moses in Exodus chapter 32. Exodus, I want you to please follow me quickly. Exodus chapter 32 and chapter 33. Are you in Exodus chapter 32? Are you in Exodus chapter 32? And I would like to read from verse 30. And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said to the people, you have seen the great sin and now I will go up unto the Lord for adventure. I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, oh, these people have seen the great sin and I've made them gods of God. Yet now, yet now, if thou will forgive their sins, alright, yet now, if thou will forgive their sins and if not, blot me, I pray, out of your book which you have written. And the Lord said to Moses, whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now, go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto you. Behold, my angels shall go before thee. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. Now, that was what God said to this man. So in chapter 33, please follow me to chapter 33. And the Lord said to Moses, depart and go up hence, thou and the people which thou has brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, saying unto your seed will I give it. And I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Hebites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up in the midst of you, for thou art a stiff-necked people lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these things, these evil tidings, they mourned, and no man did put on him his ornaments. Now, what was touching me here? Was that God even said to Moses, my angel will go with you. And I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hebites, the Jebusites, all the parasites, I will drive them out from you. But I will not go with you. Is it possible even for a man to be experiencing the miracle of driving out the Hittites, the Jebusites, the parasites, and God is not going with him? So again, you know, it's possible to even run a good church, but God is not with him. It is possible for him to sustain some church activities, and everybody will think things are going well. It's possible for money, for finance to increase, but for the presence of God, still not to be there. And Moses was sensitive, Moses said, no, it's not the Jebusites I want to push out, it's not the Perizzites, not the Hebites, it's not the Hittites, not all those sites. If you don't go with me, don't take me from here. Those who are passionate for God, they cannot take anything, they cannot take anything in the place of God's presence. Those who are passionate for God, it is God's presence that is their desire. It is not the things, it is not even the miracles, and they will not even accept angels. Angels are wonderful, but they are nothing compared with a man that carries the presence of God. And look at what Moses said to God, I want you to please follow me now, follow me quickly. In verse 12, maybe I should start from verse 11, the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaker to his friend, and he turned again to the camp, but the servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. Please take note, some of you may be young here, you are not the officiating ministers, but the hand of the Lord is on your life. Are you so passionate that even when all the ministers have gone, you are still holding God's hand and say, Lord, Lord, Lord, I'm too young to go without your presence. Do something deliberate in my life also, don't let me go like this. So Moses said unto the Lord, in verse 12, see, thou sayest unto me, bring up these people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou will send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know you by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. I was going to ask, didn't God say, I will send my angel with you? But as far as Moses was concerned, Moses did not regard angel as anything. He said, you have not told me whom you will send with me. I learned that you are saying angel will go with me. When did I start going with angel? If you are not going with me, look at what he said. He said, he said, now therefore I pray you, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is your people. And he said, my presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to him, if your presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. That's a man who cannot go without his presence, who cannot make do without the presence of God, who will not accept second best, who does not have an alternative to the presence of God. Brothers and sisters, please permit me to say, you know, when the children of Israel, when they were backslidden, and the king of Egypt, or the king of Babylon, came and carried away all the vessels of the temple, do you remember? He carried away the golden vessel and the silver and all of that, he took it away to Babylon. The king that was the king of Israel at that time, what did he do? He stood up to make vessels of wood and ordinary brooms. Where they used to carry gold, they are now carrying wood. Where they used to carry silver, they are now carrying ordinary things. And there were priests that were carrying those empty wood, going up and down. Because the divine presence, the glory of the ministry as a party, is it possible that some of us, we can go without his presence? Are some of us satisfied to continue with ordinary wood when the gold of his glory has disappeared? But I see Moses here saying, if you are not going with me, take me not from here. But did you see the result? Did you see the result? I want you to see the result. I'm reading verse 16. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in your sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth? It's only your presence that makes us special. It's only the presence of God that makes us peculiar. May I say to you, there's nothing that makes us peculiar if his presence is not there. If his presence is not the trademark of my life, there's nothing. And for me, I don't know anything else that I want to live for if his presence has left. I don't know what else my life will mean if his presence has departed. That's why it's a do or die battle for me. If I'm not going to have his presence, there's no need to be alive. If God is not going to walk with my life, what am I living for again? When this man cried, look at God answering him. God said, and the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have spoken. You know before God said, I will not go with you. But now God said, I will do this thing that you have requested. So you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. And the man said again, I beseech you, show me your glory. And the Lord, the Lord said, revealed his glory unto this brother because he was passionate for it. The last man was Jacob. You remember Jacob. Jacob had been wasting his life for years. And there was this night at Pen Year when the Bible said, a man came to wrestle with him. And when they could not prevail over this man, the angel of the Lord told him, he said, well, it is daybreak. I will leave you. I must leave you now because you are difficult. It was then Jacob cried. Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. When he became desperate, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Do you know that that was when a miracle took place? That was when God changed his name. Some of you are saying, I don't know, and there is this sinful thing that will not allow me to live a sanctified life. It is because you don't want to let it go. If you are tired of living an up and down Christian life, God has enough power to deliver you. If you have no other excuse, if it is no longer reasonable to you to live a life that is not experiencing the power of God, God has enough in his hand to help you and to help me. As we stop here tonight, as we call on the name of the Lord together, I want to ask you, what is your passion? Should we rise from this meeting? And just say, well, as it was in the beginning, so it is now and forevermore shall be. Or somebody is going to lay hold of God and say, Father, I will not let you go. Something about me must change. My prayer life must change. I need an anointing of the Holy Spirit on my life. I need an outpouring of the Spirit of God on my life. I am tired of impotence. I am tired of my weakness. Now Psalm 84, please read Psalm 84 with me as we draw our time of prayer. Psalm 84, the man now said, the prayer in Psalm 84 now said, my soul longeth, this is verse 2, yes, even fainter for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cries out for the living God. The sparrow has found a house and the swallow a nest myself where she may lay her young, even your altars. Oh Lord of hosts, my King, my God, blessed are they that dwell in your house, they shall keep you present. Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the wings of them. Excuse me, what's in your heart? What are you meditating about? What do you wake up to look for? What do you sleep looking for? What is in your heart? Are you one of these brothers who are crying to God and they go from strength to strength, every one of them seeking to get to Zion where they will appear before God. This man said, it were better a day in your court is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in your house than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. This is passion, passion and that's why God will not fail to reveal himself to them and to restore his power in their lives. As we speak to God tonight, I hear God saying, eat and seek it, find it. Eat and ask it, receive it. Eat and knock it, to him the door is open. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. I hear him saying, if any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. I hear God saying, come, come to the waters and drink. Why do you spend your money on that which is not satisfied? Why do you spend your money on that which is not meat, is not bread? Oh, come to the waters, all ye that thirst. Seek the Lord while you may be found. Call upon him while he is near. I charge you tonight and again permit me to ask you to pray, cry out to God for yourself. Are you dissatisfied with your present experience? Are you not happy with where your spiritual life presently is? Did you see something in the Word of God that is not working in your own present experience? Why do you keep quiet when God says, ask and you shall receive? Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Could it be because your heart has accepted this importance, that's why you are still where you are? Please join me as we cry to God tonight. And even if you don't have a reason to cry, I have a reason to cry. This is what I have already put my life into. If I don't succeed in this, my life is a waste. That's my problem. If I don't see the glory of God breaking forth, then I have no other reason to live. I can't be competing with anybody anywhere else. Again, I've broken my bridge. If I don't see God working in my life now, there's nothing else to talk about. So as we call on God tonight, and I want you to do that sincerely, God says, lead and ask and receive. I believe God is here. I believe the Spirit of God is here. I believe heaven and hell is listening, is waiting and saying, who among them is tired of managing importance? Who among them can no longer go ahead without my manifest presence in his or her life? Let him come to me and work. Wherever you are, you feel like rushing before God, do it. You feel like kneeling down and falling on your face before God, please do so. You feel like standing up and lifting up your hand to God, please do so. And if you must come to the altar just to lay before God and say, Lord, Lord, take away this dryness. Take away this emptiness. Take away this ordinariness that I've experienced for long. I'm crying. Men are asking me every day, where is your God? Will you stand up together with me?