In this sermon, the speaker shares a story about a man named Dunmighty who was told by God to set his house in order because all that he produced was wood, hay, and stubble. The speaker then references Paul's letter to the Philippians, where he prays for their love to abound more and more. The speaker recounts a conversation with a man who suggested that love is all that is needed and that doctrine and other things should be forgotten. The speaker introduces George, who has the gift of exhortation, and emphasizes the importance of both reading and exhortation in Timothy's letter from Paul. The speaker also highlights the need for unity among believers and the importance of seeking God's glory in reaching the world. The sermon concludes with a reminder that the highest form of relationship with God is when one lays down everything for His sake, and that only what proceeds from His Spirit and anointing is important in the sight of God. The speaker warns against being deceived by a mighty ministry or gifts, as all works will be judged by God on the day of judgment.

George, why don't you come. Many of you may remember George from when he was here a while ago. And I like the way George tells about himself, so I'm going to let him do that. But I'd like to read this verse to you. Paul wrote to Timothy and said, Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. And I really believe that George has the gift to exhort, to speak exhortation. And it's very different from what you're used to. My style is to pick a passage and go through that passage and chew it up and digest it and try to find the value of the food that is right there. George's style is different, but he will give you much scripture. But don't try to keep up with him. In fact, I would just encourage you to sit back and listen. Allow the river of water of life that flows from the throne of God to wash you and be exhorted by George's Word to us today. Father, I pray Your anointing on this servant of Yours. I ask that You would fill him with Your Holy Spirit and that Your Holy Spirit would bring to our ears and teach us those things that You have for us this day. I thank You for George and for his willingness to serve You. Anoint him, Lord, and bless us, we ask in Jesus' name. Good to be with you again. Trust the Lord will minister whatever He has in mind that we will abide under the anointing that He gives, that the words might be from His heart. That last song we sang, I Come to the Garden Alone, I've known that as long, I guess, as I can remember. But it sort of came with new meaning to me five or six years ago when I went to a certain church to hear this pastor from China. He had been in prison for 16 years because he was ministering the Gospel. He suffered much and was released. One of the jobs they gave him in whatever prison or work camp he was in, I don't know. Generally, he'd be with a gang. And he was mind cluttered up with different things. An iron-handed man in charge. And they gave him this job off by himself. And he said how he enjoyed that change. That he could sing as loud as he could. I Come to the Garden Alone while the dew is still in the roses and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known. And what was his job? Cleaning out his sewer pit. How he thanked God for that job. He said, Lord, I love You. I thank You for dying for me. God appreciates that. But the test of Your love will determine whether or not You will die for Him. You all know the chapter about the more excellent way. And I want to make a few comments this morning about the more excellent way. I'll just read a few verses from that chapter. 1 Corinthians 13. Charity suffers long. Oh yes, we have to have more love. You know, we've got to have more love. Sure, do you love me? Yes, I sure love you. And then something happens that it hurts you. And you suffer because of it. How long do you suffer? Love suffers long. We don't think of love in that dimension very often. Love suffers long. You want to be like God? You want to be like Jesus? Well, yes, make me like You, Lord. God is long-suffering. God suffers long. You say, oh, if I was God, I'd sure deal with it. All that's wrong in the world. You wouldn't be God then. You'd be a ruthless dictator. God suffers long. And His kind love envieth not. Vonteth not itself. It's not puffed up. We can read it quickly. And it's a beautiful chapter. And we need to read it often. But we should never read it with any other thought in mind that, Lord, I want You to do what it takes to bring forth this love in me. Because that's all the world needs. That's all it needs. I was ministering in Minnesota. At a convention a few years ago. I'm ministering much the way I do. Because you can't help the way you minister. God gifts you according to His own choice. You can't help that. You didn't choose it, really. You might have asked the Lord for the minister you got, but because that was in your heart, you felt that's what you needed, and so God gives it to you. But that was His plan. And that's why it was in your heart to have that. I personally didn't ask the Lord for any particular kind of ministry. But I did want to minister by His anointing. And all ministries should be in the anointing because we're to dwell in that anointing. For when our High Priest ascended to the throne of glory and the holy oil was poured upon Him, oh, I know it happened in the River Jordan. But it happened in a higher dimension when He ascended to the throne. We'll read about it. It says, Thou hast been anointed with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. Now He is the head of the body and the holy oil was poured upon Him again. But that holy oil that was poured upon Jesus did not stop at the head. It flowed down the head, down His beard, down to all parts of His garment. And the psalmist saw that. I mentioned this morning in the room here. That we're members of His body. That we are to partake of the same anointing. I mentioned how many of these things are declared in the Old Testament. And in the book of Psalms, those singers were prophets singing forth the Word of Truth. And they sang there on one occasion, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. So we say, oh, that's what we need. And often there's a system formulated to bring about unity. But no sooner had the singer said those words, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, that somehow God reminded them of Aaron the high priest, who when he was clothed upon with holy garments, clans first of all, stripped of his old raiment at the laver, laid his old garments aside, washed with pure water at the laver. And then holy garments were put upon him. All these beautiful garments that you read about in the book of Exodus. And then the holy miter upon his head. And then Moses took the oil and poured it upon his head. It went down his head, down his beard, and down his garments. And so this musician thought of that as God gave him these words. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head, even Aaron's head. It went down his beard and down even to the hem of his garment as the Jew of Hermon and as the Jew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. So that's the vision he saw. But we live at the other side of the cross. And we see our great high priest in the heavens. We're told the head of his hair was white as wool. His eyes were flames of fire. And he shone as the sun shineth in his strength. And he was clothed in a beautiful white garment. There he is, the high priest in the heavens, anointed with the holy oil of God, given all power and authority in heaven and on earth so that he has the totality of that anointing, but he shares it with his body. The same holy oil that's on Jesus flows down upon you and I. If so be we have been clothed with those holy priestly garments. The same anointing. John says you have an unction from the Holy One. And the unction that you have received of Him, he says, is the same anointing and it teaches you all things so that you need that no man should teach you. For the anointing teaches you all things and is truth and is no lie. Well, you say, well, we have teachers. Well, yes, but that teacher, if he's teaching truth, it's because he's under that anointing. It's the anointing that teaches. Let's always remember that. The same anointing that's on Jesus is to be upon His body. And the anointing is to bring forth and make alive, make active all those virtues of Christ so that the Holy Spirit has given us to take from Him and show it unto us. That's why He came. That's why He came to abide in you. That you might have the same Spirit of Jesus that He was when He walked here in flesh. The same Spirit as Jesus is. I am the truth. Jesus says, I send unto you the Spirit of truth. When I go back to the Father, I'll send the Spirit of truth. The same truth that He was. It's the Spirit. And so the anointing is truth. So that God's intention is to have a people in the earth like the Lord Jesus, like Him. So that, as John said again, as He is, so are we in this world. I used to read these things with condemnation. God, I'm not like that. And there's some who would try to tone it down to say, yeah, I've got that, you know. Until I came to the realization I don't have to water down truth to conform to where I am. But to ask God to lift me up into that realm where He wants me to walk as He is in this world. We're far short of it. We're far from it. It's alright. God says it's alright. But He gives us that ladder to climb that I mentioned yesterday. Add to your faith virtue. Virtue, knowledge. Knowledge, temperance. Temperance, patience. Patience, godliness. Taking on a godlike character? Wasn't Adam made in God's image? Didn't Jesus come as the expressed image of God? Isn't the Spirit of God in the church working in His fable to conform us to the image of His Son who is the image of God? For what purpose? To godliness? Brotherly kindness? To brotherly kindness? Love? Thank the Lord for the love in our hearts for Him, for one another. But please recognize we're so far from it. Ever since I heard that Chinese brother mention that, my thought was, you've come along. You're very close to the heart of God. When you can be down there with a shovel shoveling out the mire from a septic tank. Your septic pit. And singing to the top of your voice, I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses. God's whole purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son. And in the image of His Son, there's a people full of love and truth and righteousness as He is. Keep the vision high. Climb unto it one step at a time. The Lord is there to be with you as you climb that step. Never stopping along the way. You say, that's far enough. Isn't this now the fullness? No matter what He gives. No matter how He uses you. Don't be deceived if God gives you a mighty ministry where you can fill stadiums as they see the miracle-working power of God flowing through. Don't be deceived by that, thinking that you have attained to something. Because the highest form of relationship with God is when you come to that place where you lay down everything you have for His sake. When you give your life for Him. Not just sway the audiences because of the gift you have. And only that is important in the sight of God, which proceeds from His Spirit and from His anointing. So that on the Day of Judgment, the Day of Christ, we're told that God is taking all our works, great, mighty, massive, or small and insignificant. He's taking all our works on that Day of Judgment and He's throwing them into the fire. He's not going to weigh them. Oh, let's see now. You've won a thousand souls to the Lord. You've traveled all over the world. You've preached the Gospel to hundreds of nations. He's not going to weigh them. He's going to throw them into the fire. And the fire itself shall prove every man's work, what kind it is, what sort it is. Not how much it is. Not how heavy it is. Is it gold and silver? Or is it wood, hay, and stubble? I don't care how massive the structure. If it's wood, hay, and stubble, it goes up in smoke. It's awesome. And the awesomeness of it is the Lord would seek to impress upon us by admonishing us to make sure that we build gold, silver, and precious stone. He can only do that by His indwelling Spirit and anointing upon us. If it's your device, your plan, your idea, your agenda, and God blesses it, and you become a popular man out of it, God help you. I heard of this famous evangelist. I don't even know who it was. I was told the story. Traveled far and wide. Done mighty works for God all over the earth. And God said to him, set your house in order. All that you have produced is wood, hay, and stubble. So Paul, writing to the Philippians, said, chapter 1, verse 9, This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more. It's really all God wants. I started to say I was ministering there in Minnesota. These kind of words. A man came to me after one of the meetings and he said, now, I know that's right. We just need that love of God. Why don't we just forget everything else? Doctrine and everything we're doing. Forget it and just love God. I said, listen, any doctrine, any truth, any gift of the Spirit, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, all the gifts and enablements of the Spirit are given to us in order to bring us to know God, that we might come to know His love. You can't just say, oh, from now on, let's have that fullness of love. It's a fruit that grows. It's like you would go out to your garden in springtime and you see a little sprout there and you say, well, all I want from you is a tomato and I want it right now. If it isn't there, I'll cut you down. You know, as foolish as that sounds, love is something that's got to grow. Because love is life. Love is God. God puts the seed of life within you and you're born again by the seed of the Word of God, but that hasn't come to maturity yet in our lives until Christ Himself is formed. It was with purpose that the Apostle Paul said as he wrote to the Galatians, the one who had preached the Gospel and said, power of the anointing, that it says Christ was revealed in their midst, literally shown forth in their midst as crucified in their midst. Somehow by the revelation of the Spirit, they saw the crucified Christ and their sins laid upon Him and they were saved. But that didn't instantly change them. That was the beginning. That was the beginning. And they got back into the old ways, figuring that what they had started with in the Spirit, they would perfect in the flesh. Paul says, oh, you Galatians, for whom I travail, he uses a word like travailing in birth. He says, I travail over you that Christ might be formed within you. I know He's put the seed of life within us. He wants Christ to be formed within us. His work. It's not ours. It's ours to receive the Word like the parable says. Embrace it. Nourish it with an honest and good heart. Follow God till we bring forth the fruit that God has in mind. It's His work. Arise and shine for Thy light is gone. Oh, you say I've been trying to shine? He didn't say that. He said, arise and shine. Yeah, I'm trying, but what am I saying? Hear the word of the Lord. Know that only God can cause it to shine forth from your life. So, the same God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, Paul says that's the God who shone in our hearts. When God says light shine, well, it shone because it didn't have a carnal mind to interfere. It was a creative voice, but there was no carnal mind to interfere with it. But that same God, Paul says, the same God that called light out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's why we're exhorted, seek ye my face. Seek ye my face. That's why we encourage God to cause us to seek His face. Oh, you say that? Yeah, I do. Have you ever caught a glimpse of His face? I think I've just caught a bit of a glimpse maybe at times, but nothing that caused me like John who saw Him whose face was as the sun. He fell on His face. Your face can't look in those eyes and stand there. There has to be a transforming work when His face shines forth. God wants to come into our midst and shine forth with His mighty presence to show His face. As one man said, we want God to make bare His holy arm. Begin to do things, God. Start to work. We want to see Your hand at work. Yes, we do, but more than that, we need to see His face. But you say, no man shall see me and live. Quoting from Exodus, rightly so. So you want to live, do you? Moses persisted in seeing that glory, and I think he saw a portion of it. He saw a portion of it. God says, you can't see My face yet. It could kill you, Moses. But let me tell you, the time came when Moses was with Elijah up on a mountain there somewhere in Judea. Peter, James, and John were there also. For Jesus had chosen them and took them up in this mountain. And Jesus was transfigured before them. And the face of His countenance became shining as the sun. And Peter and James saw it. And I believe that God is going to repeat that transfiguration scene again and again. And I trust we'll be ready to go with Him up that mountain to see the transfigured glory of Jesus because you cannot look upon the face of Jesus and remain the same again. It's transfiguring. It's changing. It's transforming. That word transfigured used there in the Mount of Transfiguration is the very same word used where Paul says writing to the Corinthians, we all with unveiled face, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed, transfigured, transformed into the same image. The same image, but it's gradual. From glory unto glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. God's intention is that we go from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from glory to glory. Our tendency is to stop short once God does some great thing for us. To stop short there. It's in our heart to stop short. In our natural mind, we want to stop short. We get satisfied too quickly. And the burden of God's heart is not to fall short. You'll have many in the church warning you, don't go too far. But God says, don't stop short. You're not going far enough. I fear, said Paul writing to the Hebrews, lest the promise being left you of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Well, don't go over the deep end. Why not? I worked as a secretary in a Bible school one time. I'd get a lot of letters. It was up to me to answer the mail. This man wrote in. One of the teachers there was sending out writings. So I appreciate those writings that Brother So-and-so. He said, he goes off the deep end so often. And I wrote back. I said, well, remember Ezekiel? How the angel led him into the waters and got ankle deep? And he says he led him a little further and he got knee deep. And he led him a little further and the water was up to his thighs. And he led him further and he went off the deep end. Off the deep end. We don't like that. We want to keep our feet in solid ground. God wants us to be lost in Him. Abandon ourselves to Him. Abandon ourselves to the moving of His Spirit. People say you get fanatical. No. The Spirit of God is the One who holds the whole universe together. Keeps planets from colliding one with the other. Unless in God's intention He causes it. The Spirit of God is the One who holds all things together in this universe. If you're under His control, you're safe. You only get fanatical when you get over there in the flesh. That's why God gives us the Word sort of an anchor point. But the Word is not to be. You can't eat it as a Bible. You can only eat the Word as you receive it by the Spirit. So, Jesus said, the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life. And so, the exhortation of the apostles is always abound. Go more. Go further. Don't lag behind. This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment or discernment. That ye may approve things that are excellent. I read a couple of verses from the chapter that refers to the more excellent way. The more excellent way than we have known. It's the way of love. Oh, yes, if we could just say, forget everything else. But the only way you're going to come to that is when you come to know God, because God is love. You say, I know God. Well, I know. Follow on after the ways of the Lord twenty years from now. You'll say with the Apostle Paul, oh, I wish I knew Him. Oh, that I might know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. We know Him. Oh, such a little glimpse we know of Him. So, if you live to be older than I am, you'll still be crying out, oh, that I might know Him. Because God is so vast. You only see His back parts. You only see His hand working or whatever. God wants us to know Him. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness. Because in the fullness of the fruit of the Spirit, there is everything we need. In the meantime, we need the gifts. We need these enablements. But there's a more excellent way. That's the way of love. But until God leads us step by step and gives us knowledge and understanding and leads us up the ladder from faith to virtue to knowledge to patience to temperance to godliness to brotherly kindness to love. And even when you come to love, there are oceans there so vast, so deep, so broad, that it will take all eternity for us to comprehend that. Don't stop short. Pursue this. Paul says, you need the gifts. Desire spiritual gifts. Follow after love. That's the ultimate. Where you love God so much that no cost is too heavy, no price is too great in anything He asks you to do. You don't count the cost. You don't count the cost at all. But rather you consider the greatness of the joy of being able to give your life for your brother. Well, you don't have to do that today because you're still in a land where, you know, your brother's not going to be slain by the courts of the land. That might not always be that way. You see, not in this land. Not in that tent. You'd be surprised how quickly it could change. The reason we're not persecuted in Canada and the United States and other democratic countries is because the light of God is not powerful enough. When the light of God shines forth in the intensity that it's shown forth in the life of Jesus, you'll have the same reaction of hatred against you as they had against Jesus. Why do they hate Him? Simply because they love God with an intensity that convicted them. And they were either going to repent as they did on occasion, or they were going to slay Him. A more excellent way, a way of love, giving yourself to Him that He might do with you as He will. In closing, a little story from the Old Testament. David was a man after God's heart. A man whom God was grooming for the kingdom. Don't boast too much about what you're going to do and how you're going to reign with Christ until you recognize that the pathway to kingdom rulership is a pathway in which you suffer with your Lord. For they that suffer with Him, they shall reign with Him. And David had many good stalwart men who resorted unto him in the time of his rejection. And he had a company of about 400 there in the cave of Adullam. It seemed to be their headquarters. Sort of a stronghold, a defense. And there in their fellowship, it must have been great, the fellowship they had, but lonely, wearisome, always had to be watchful, sometimes lacking the necessities of life. But there developed a love between them that would give them the courage to lay down their lives one for the other. David, in his longings one day, didn't say he made a request, but they just heard him expressing his longings as he remembered those good days back there in Bethlehem where he herded the sheep for his father. And there, I guess laying there in the cave or outside the cave meditating, he said, oh, wouldn't it be wonderful to have a drink of that nice water from the well of Bethlehem? Three men heard that. He said, let's go and fetch him some water from the well of Bethlehem. Bethlehem was in charge and under the charge of the Philistines at that time. And they knew that. What was it that prompted them to risk their lives to go to the well of Bethlehem? They just loved David so much. David didn't ask them to do it. They just heard him express that desire. Wouldn't it be great if I had a drink from the waters at the well of Bethlehem? Three men got together and they said, we'll go and fetch some water. They come to the host of the Philistines. I'm telling you, they had more than natural strength at that time. They broke through the host of the Philistines, went to the well, got the water and came back and broke through it again on the way out. They took the water to David, risking their very lives out of love for David, that's all. A great, mighty thing. David had water, or he was, but oh, he remembered that cool water they used to drink when he'd tend the sheep from the water from his father's well. So they brought it to David. Here you are, David. Here's some water from the wells of Bethlehem. David is overjoyed. He took that flask of water. You mean to say you broke through the host of the Philistines to bring this just because you heard me say I would like to have a drink of that water? He did. He poured it out on the ground. What waste! They risked their lives for that. That's why he poured it out on the ground to God. He said, I can't drink. This is like drinking your blood. You could have been slain. You should have been slain doing that. Give it back to God. No wonder David was a man after God's own heart. No wonder these men risked their lives. Their life didn't matter. What mattered was their love for David. No wonder when the kingdom came into David's hands, they had some of the three highest offices in the kingdom of David because of their love. Love poured out. Seek God. Seek His face. So we come to that place where love is not just a doctrine, but love is something that motivates all that we do. Because only that kind of love will endure those fires which come against the people of God in this day and hour. That kind of love will prevail. Love for your brotherly kindness, but beyond that, after brotherly kindness, love. That's unconditioned love for everybody. That's love for your enemies. Love for your enemies. Very high standard there. So you don't just get love by hearing a word like this. But I promise you, if you'll let that word penetrate, you'll hold to that word. You'll keep it in your heart by God's grace, by His Spirit. You'll follow Him all the way. You can come to that kind of love. So Jesus prayed, and He's praying that we'll come to it. Do you know that? We have a little sample of His high priestly ministry in John 17. I know He's still on earth. But He says, These things speak I unto them while I am here. He wanted to speak it in their presence so that they'd have a little sample of the ministry that He was going to have when He was exalted. He spoke in their hearing. And read it. I read it often because it gives you an understanding of what Jesus desires for you and I. He starts out by saying, at least in the early part of the chapter, He reminds them that God's desire is not to take them out of the earth, but to be with them in this evil world. I pray not, Father, that Thou wouldst remove them from the earth, but keep them from the evil one. And let me tell you that God is able to keep us from the evil one. I don't care if all hell breaks loose on this planet, and there's going to be great tribulation, and the church is going to be here. Don't you ever kid yourself. And God has love and grace sufficient enough to keep you from the evil one. I don't care how hot the fires get. I pray not that You'll take them out of the earth. Keep them from the evil one, for they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And coming towards the end of the chapter, I just want to emphasize this. There's so much there. Father, I pray that the love for which Thou hast loved me may be in them, even as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee. He prayed that we'd have the same kind of love that Jesus had. I mentioned an instance of this man. He had an awful lot of that kind of love. And I know there's thousands of others. Just one story that came to my mind. Thousands of others who love him so much they give their life for their brethren. I know you don't need that kind of love today, but you're going to need to nurture it because the day will come and you'll need it. Or you'll fail God without it. Jesus is praying you'll have that kind of love. I'm not striving to be more loving. Forget striving to be more loving. You can't attain to it. As you walk in His way, it will develop. If you walk with Jesus, you can't help but be like Him. As you look into His face, you can't help but partake of that light out of which will shine forth love and truth and righteousness and all that's in the heart of Jesus. I pray that the love for which Thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. And then He prayed for something else or something consistent with that, along with that. The glory that You've given me, I have given them, that they may be one. Remember that as we seek unity with our brethren. The glory of God makes us one. Seek His face. Seek His glory. Then we'll be one. The glory of God that will do it. The glory that You've given me, I give unto them. It's a gift from God. He puts upon His people as we seek Him. He puts that glory there. A gift from God. You can't help but love your brethren and the world as far as that goes. That they may be one as we are. Thou in me and I in them. And that they may be one in us. That the world may believe that Thou hast sent me and has loved them as Thou hast loved me. You want to reach the world? The missionary program is going as far back as I can remember how they're going to reach the world. God has used many of them. I'm not denying that. But when I was going to school the age of some of you teenagers, there was two billion people in the earth that needed to be evangelized. Now there's six billion. Over half of them that need to be evangelized. What's the problem? Try to do it our way? Seek my face, God says. His glory will do it. His glory will bring forth in the earth a body after the image of Jesus. And the world's going to know that the Son of God is alive and that He's ruling on the throne. Because they see His glory reflected within His people in the earth. The world may believe that Thou hast sent me and has loved them as You have loved me. It's going to happen. Do you know how I know it's going to happen? Because Jesus prayed it and Jesus said, I know, Father. You hear me always. Heavenly Father, oh, we thank You, Lord. Thou art our great, exalted High Priest in the heavens, interceding for Your church because Your church is Your representation in the earth. You said You didn't need to stay here. You'd go to the heavenly throne. You didn't need to be here because You would send forth the Spirit upon Your people. The Spirit of truth, the same Spirit that You walked in. That Your Spirit abiding in Your people would be Your light in the earth, Your glory in the earth, the image of Christ in the earth, that in the fullness of time when the veils would be removed from the nations which You said You would do, they would see Christ revealed.