In this sermon, the preacher discusses the dangers of seeking power and position in the work of God without paying the right price. He uses the story of Simon in the book of Acts as an example of someone who tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit with money. The preacher emphasizes the importance of having a servant's heart and humility in order to be used by God. He also highlights the consequences of rejecting and mistreating God's messengers, using the parable of the vineyard in Matthew 21. The sermon concludes with a call to repentance and a warning against bitterness and iniquity.

Now, there are a number of converted witches going around the United States warning that satanists and practicing witches are infiltrating the church, especially the charismatic churches. And there have been a few books written about the subject and some of you may have read them and they suggest there's a diabolical plot to move into the churches posing as super spiritual Christians. And they've come to deceive and separate the pastor, seduce the pastor, and also bring multitudes into occult worship and satanism. These converted witches claim that the evil witches are already firmly established in numerous churches and that they're already in control of certain pastors and they're controlling congregations and they're causing death and divorce and wickedness and great confusion. We get a number of letters in fact in our office and often it's hard for me to tell whether some of them are just mad at the preacher and suggesting his rule of the devil. I don't know but some of them are very legitimate. Now, I thank God for all the witches that are being saved because I believe the Holy Ghost has power to go to any witch's coven. He can go anywhere into the dredge of hell and send Holy Ghost conviction and save the great dredge of humanity. Hallelujah. I believe that with all my heart. And I thank God that those who worshiping satan are turning to Lord, many of them. But we, listen to me please, we dare not allow the devil's power to be magnified in the house of God. We dare not give him more power than God has permitted him and he is limited in his power. Remember the disciples that came back after Lord said go out and heal the sick and raise the dead? They said even the devils are subject unto us. Now, the only pastor or pastors that can fall under the control of a witch is one who is indulging in secret sin. If a pastor is living in secret sin and he's driven by greed or he's driven by a need of success, he's betrayed the Lord with a spirit of unbelief, he's neglected his word, he's neglected the study, he's neglected the house of God in prayer, he has opened his heart and he is capable of being seduced or controlled by other spirits. But a man who walks in the Holy Ghost and he's mortified the deeds of his flesh and he has the sword of the Lord in his hands, he will know the enemy, he will discern the trap and he will take the sword of the Lord and he will defeat the enemy and he will not be seduced. A slave girl in fact, they'll do what Paul the Apostle did and Paul the Apostle was a true shepherd and Paul the Apostle in Philippi had a slave girl possessed by the devil. She was a practicing witch with a spirit of divination and she sought to infiltrate Paul's ministry and Paul knew that she was not truly converted and she would go everywhere Paul went crying out after him. These are the servants of the most high God, they show the way of salvation. In other words, he tried to infiltrate Paul's ministry. Paul's spirit was disturbed, he knew there was something wrong, he deserved it, discerned there was a trap in him and he turned and spoke to the evil spirit in that witch and he said, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out the same hour. Paul was unmoved by these evil spirits, unmoved by witches, unmoved. We've got Christians who are scared to death of the Haitians moving in here New York City and putting curses on them. We've had numbers at this order under terrible bondage and terrible fear and then when we hear that there are so-called witches moving into the church that are going to control, listen, there is no congregation on the face of this earth who can fall into deception if they are controlled by the Holy Spirit, they're up in the Word of God, they're living in holiness and they're covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. That congregation will not come under deception. They're covered by shepherds who are walking in the Spirit of God. There are ministers of the gospel who do fall into deep sin. They fall into evil degradation, but I want you to know they've not been leaped upon by the devil. Now the devil did leap on the seven sons of Stephen and these ministers' sons who were not living for Jesus saw them casting out devils and he tried to exorcise the devil out of a man and those demons inside that man said, Paul I know, Jesus I know, but who are you? And they leaped on that, those seven sons and tore their clothes off and they were running in panic. Panic, why? Because they didn't know Jesus. They weren't walking in the Spirit. They were not mortifying the deeds of the blessed. And there are some ministers who have given place to the devil, but the reason they did, they went out flirting in the devil's territory. They got off of God's ground and moved into the devil's territory and when you do that you open up yourself to demon powers. Now a congregation that's bathed in the presence of Jesus does not have to scream commands of the devil. You don't have to scream at the devil. We've never screamed at him here. I've heard people screaming at the devil as if, you know, as if God were deaf and the devil was deaf and the people were deaf. You don't have to scream. In fact, I'll tell you what, you know the greatest wall of fire against the devil and demon powers is the very presence of Jesus. When Jesus comes, the demons of hell and the powers of Satan cannot coexist with the actual presence of Jesus. So that's why it's important to go to church where you know Jesus manifests himself. Hallelujah. Boy there have been times, there was one witch that came in. It was near the sound table back here and one of our ladies in the choir stood looking at her. She was in all these incantations and going through these signs and I'll tell you what, when the presence of Jesus comes they begin to back away. You can see him shut right up. They cannot coexist with the presence, the actual presence of Jesus. Hallelujah. Now you ask me, brother Dave, are there churches today that are controlled by witches and evil spirits and demonic powers? Absolutely yes. I think of one large Pentecostal church in America that had over 2,000 members. The pastor had a lustful evil spirit. He committed one act of adultery after another. His wife got involved and he introduced a whole new doctrine he called spiritual connections. And this spiritual connection, he had tape after tape, a whole doctrine he developed where he said you come in, they introduce ballroom dancing right in the church. The music is very demonic and sensuous and he said that's the spirit of God and when you look around, he said we're going to dance. They started dancing, men with men and women dancing right in the church, arm in arm and he said look in the eye and when you make a connection, that's God. And so they were committing adultery. The deacons, the elders, the pastor and the wife, wife swapping. Then they had a room, six different rooms where you elevated until finally you got up in the one room where nobody knows what went on in that room. That pastor, I got involved in that on a network up there. They called, asked, I said it's the devil himself. And it was in the newspapers. That preacher's son, that Pentecostal preacher's son committed suicide. The daughter, his daughter divorced and ran off with another man. The wife was almost in a nervous breakdown. A young mother so distraught that her husband went off with another woman, drowned her baby in the bathtub. The whole church's wife was suicide and divorce and now that church is in one lawsuit after another because of marriages and homes broken up. You see, that was a man who had a spirit of lust and that one separate, that one man full of Satan opened up his whole congregation to demonic powers. Folks, whether you go to this church or not, be careful where you go. Be careful that you have a spirit of discernment because you can sit under a separate that has been open to the devil and he can open up your heart if you don't know the Lord. If you're not walking in righteousness, they can open up your heart to these things. Now, my message tonight has to do with another kind of witchcraft which is far more subtle and dangerous than the occult and it's not brought into the church by witches, but it's brought by a multitude of Christians who don't even know that they're under the spell of this particular witchcraft. Now, the kind of witchcraft I'm going to talk about tonight and this is not a trick, this is not a joke, I'm not trying to sensationalize it. This is God's own definition of witchcraft and I'm going to show it to you in just a moment, that this witchcraft is in Times Square Church, it's in every church in America, it's in every church on the face of the earth in some form or another. It may be just a seed, but it's there. Now, listen to me please. How can the devil possibly deceive God's elect? How could the devil come? Is he going to come into a church that has spiritual discernment and bring witches? No, because that is too obvious. We would discern that, we would see it, we would deal with it. What is he going to do? Is he going to bring in some kind of occult seduction? No, you see, when you walk in the spirit and have discernment, you become aware of the devices of the devil, but there's one device, there's one subtle device, so subtle that we've missed it. Many people miss it and it opens you up to all kinds of demonic activity and I want to deal with it tonight. It's so subtle that very few in this house tonight that have the seed of this witchcraft in them could even know it until it's exposed. Now, I'm asking the Holy Ghost tonight through the power of His Word to expose it, pull the covers off. When I saw it, it shook my soul. I want you to see it firsthand. 1st Samuel, 15th chapter. 1st Samuel, 15th chapter. You'll see that I'm not trying to stretch this. You'll see it just as it's written. 1st Samuel 15. I'll wait till I hear the rustling of the leaves stop. Are you in 15? 1st Samuel 15, go to verse 22. And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams, for rebellion is as the sin of what? I'll read it again. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord. Therefore, I reject this thing. It goes on. All right, look this way, please. Here is a, here's described a witchcraft far more dangerous than the occult is kind of been talking about. And it's controlling pastors. It's controlling entire congregations and some in this church tonight. It's a rebellion against the word of God. He said, you've not obeyed the word. And he said, that disobedience causes rebellion and that rebellion is his witchcraft. And that's God's own definition. That's not my definition. God put that definition on it. Now, before you relax and sit back and say, oh, well, thank God that's not me. I don't have rebellious spirit against God's word. I love the word. I'm walking in obedience. Let me tell you, that's what I thought and I believe I am. But God began to show me the seed deep inside and where it could lead to. You may have in your heart now the, the seed, the beginning influence of this evil charm that leads finally to this open witchcraft. Jesus gave us a parable that totally exposes this kind of witchcraft. Now, I want you to go to Matthew 21 and see it. Matthew 21. And all week long, all week I've been in this one parable and the Lord said, in fact, I got that directly from God. I was praying to the Holy Spirit, whispered, David, this was Monday, I believe. I want you to preach Sunday night from Matthew 21 and Mark 12, the same story. And I read it and read it and prayed over it and I couldn't see it until Friday night when God showed me that it's a story, a parable about witchcraft, spiritual witchcraft, this disobedience, this rebellion. And I'd never seen it before in all the years I've studied this one parable. All right, Matthew 21, verse 33, beginning to read. Jesus said, hear another parable. There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about. He digged a winepress in it and built a tower and he let it out to husbandmen and went to a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him. Let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him. When the Lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do to those husbandmen? They said unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen which shall render him the fruits of their seasons. Now look at me, please. Usually, we don't go any further than this. We interpret it like this. Well, Jesus is talking strictly to Pharisees because you'll find further down, verse 45, that when the chief priest and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake to them. And in addition, it is saying that God sent to the Jew prophet after prophet, watchman after watchman. They rejected all of this and now finally Jesus is coming. He's speaking to Pharisees. They're going, he said, You're going to kill me, you're going to crucify me. But this is strictly to the Jews. They're the husbandmen that have crucified the Lord and then God's going to give it to the Gentiles, another group of husbandmen who will do as the Lord pleases. That is, yes, that's part of it. But I'll tell you what, when Jesus speaks, he speaks to his church. He speaks to his body. And I saw something and it's burning in my heart and I want the Holy Spirit to bring it out. He's speaking something much deeper than that. It's more than a parable about Christ's battle with Pharisees. There are two powers at work here. It's the power of Jesus Christ looking for submission and obedience because that's what the fruit is. The fruit of righteousness is obedience. And Jesus, God looking for obedience sent his servants, prophets, teachers, watchmen, warning, saying, Where is the fruit? Trying to produce obedience in us. There's another power here. This is a supernatural battle between two great supernatural powers. The power of Jesus Christ and the power of Satan. And they're after one thing. They're after the inheritance. And who is the inheritance? You and I are Christ's inheritance. All things were created by him, for him. We are his inheritance. We belong to Jesus. And all through this, you're seeing a great battle that you and I are engaged in right now. And whether you know it or not, you're going to fall in one category. You're going to be under the submission and obedience of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Christ, or you're sitting here tonight under the influence of this other satanic power trying to get you, to break you away. They said, There's the inheritance. Let's go after the inheritance. It will be ours. That's Satan talking. That's the devil himself talking. And that's exactly what is happening in the church of Jesus Christ while I speak to you right now. The key to understanding this parable is this very phrase. This is the heir. Come let us kill him and let us seize his inheritance. In other words, the devil says, I'm going to take that seed that's inside them. In fact, we were born with this seed, the Adam nature. That seed that has a propensity toward evil and rebellion. And this is what broke out in the garden. This was rebellion. And the devil says, We're going to cause that to grow because they've given us a place. And I'm going to cause that to be open rebellion. And then finally they will end up crucifying him and we will be in control. This is Satan speaking. I will be in control of this vessel, this body. This inheritance will be mine. Now follow me closely please. I believe with all my heart that he's speaking to us and I can prove it to you. I'm reading from Hebrews, the sixth chapter of a people. Don't turn there, just listen. A people, listen, who tasted the good word of God and the power of the world to come. How many in this church have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come? That's the Holy Ghost. How many have tasted that? All right. Who is it? The Bible says that this people who had tasted the good word of God and the power of the world to come, they, they crucify him to themselves the Son of God afresh and they put him to an open shame. He's not talking about homosexuals or witches. He's talking about those who've tasted the good word of God and the power of the world to come. They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and they put him to an open shame. Now think of it for just a minute. It is those who have heard and tasted the true word of God. They've allowed a spirit of rebellion to take root and Satan moved in and in the end they wind up possessed, totally possessed of the devil so much that they'll crucify Christ and put him to an open shame even though they tasted his good word and of eternal things. It's frightening. And listen to this, that same passage, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, if they should fall to renew them again to repentance. If those who tasted the Holy Ghost, tasted the word of God, were walking with Jesus, fall. It's impossible to renew them. What does that mean? Well folks, it's, I see it in the light of this. Repentance is of no effect whatsoever where there's rebellion. If there is rebellion, if there's rebellion, it's impossible to renew you again to the Holy Spirit. If rebellion against the Lord, if this witchcraft is in you, God says, I can't hear you and I'm going to prove that tonight. He doesn't hear your prayers until you see that rebellion and deal with it in the power of Jesus Christ and the power of his word. It's impossible to renew you, the scripture says. Now let me get right into this matter of the witchcraft God's talking about. First of all, the witchcraft of rebellion begins with a little root of bitterness. A little root of bitterness. Now I'm going to ask God to come down on this and dig it out. I want to talk to you tonight about being poisoned with the gall of bitterness. Poisoned with the gall of bitterness. Now Paul introduced this phrase, gall of bitterness. He was speaking about Simon. Simon had been into the occult. Simon had been very affected. He had masses around him and he was using false magic and he was a phony. But he did have a heart for people. He wouldn't be doing what he was trying to do, what he tried to offer later. But you see, he saw Paul and the apostles casting out devils and they laid hands on people and they began to speak with tongues and were filled with the Holy Ghost. And he offered money to buy that power so he could do it. In fact, I want you to turn with me, if you will please, to Acts the 8th chapter. Acts the 8th chapter. It's better to see it in black and white. The 8th chapter of Acts. I'll tell you what, God's conviction is going to come down here in just a few minutes on all of us. Acts 8, 17. Speaking of Paul and the apostles. Acts 8, 17. Then laid their hands on them. They received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying unto the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered the money, saying, Give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall, this is King James, the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Look at me please. Gall is green. It's gangrene. It's poison. And it means envy. It's gangrene. You know what? You ever heard the expression green with jealousy? Green with envy? That's gall. And what Paul the apostle is saying to Simon. Simon, look at him. He's a young convert. He claims to be a convert. In fact, the scripture says, and it's in verse 13, Simon himself believed also. Look at it. Verse 13. Simon himself believed also and was baptized. He continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. He never missed church. He followed Philip. He followed Paul around. Everywhere they went, he was watching. You know, he was saying, I can do that. I'm a gifted man. And there was an envy that came into his heart. And follow me please because I'm going someplace with this, with the help of God. Here's a saved young convert baptized with the Holy Ghost, baptized in water at least, baptized. And at every place he looks, he sees this happening. But Simon has a dangerous mixture in his heart. A dangerous mixture in his heart that is destructive. And it's this. Listen to it. A desire to be used of God mixed with a desire for preeminence. A desire to be used of God but a desire to be in the forefront, to be recognized, to be first and not second or last. And what a dangerous mixture this is. He truly wanted God to use him. But he also had this need to be recognized. In fact, the Bible says he himself considered himself some great one. He had ability, was self-assured. He said to himself, I can do that. I feel for people. I've got compassion. And really he just wanted to receive the Holy Ghost. And there are many converts who say like that. Well, why can't I be used of God? I have the ability. I have all these things. What's wrong with me? Simon wanted the power and the place without paying the right price. He tried to buy it with a shortcut. And so it is in the work of God today and in the church of Jesus Christ. So many people trying to take shortcuts to power and usefulness and place. And these shortcuts have to do with talent and ability. I have the talent. Listen, you can have the talent, but if you don't have a servant's heart, God can't use you. If you don't have a servant's heart, you can't be used. You've got a dangerous mixture in you. And there's nothing more sad in my eyes and my heart than to see talent that is not submitted by humility. Anyone with talent that's not humble is dangerous to himself primarily and to the work of God. I've been pleading with God all afternoon to help me preach this with love. I want the love of Jesus to come through on this, because God's trying to save some people here tonight, trying to save us from something that's very, very dangerous. In 3 John, the third verse, we read this. Don't turn. We read of a man in the church named Diotrephes. And Diotrephes loved to have the preeminence among the brethren. He loved to have the spotlight. He loved to be noticed. And when things didn't go his way, according to John's Gospel, or 3 John, it says, Diotrephes began to pratt. He was pratting with malicious words. Now, a pratter is one who babbles about trifles. Babbles. It just pours out. You know that I see this man, Simon, first of all. Paul says, no. He said, you have no place, you have no lock in the work of God, because your heart's not right with God. And I can see Simon going away. He's beaten down because he's been rebuked in front of the whole crowd. He's been rebuked. A man of God pointed his finger at him and said, no, you're in the gull of bitterness. You've got a root of bitterness in you. There's something down inside, very, very deep in you. And so, what happens if you don't have the Spirit of Christ in you, if you don't see what the devil's trying to do to you, you'll begin to hurt, you'll become wounded, and then you begin to pratt. And that's to just build this trifle into something so major that it eats up your spiritual life. He became offended at John's actions and message. And he became irritable. And he began to engage in gossip. His vanity was pricked. His pride was wounded. And he went about telling a story of being wounded by other people in the house of God. And he disturbed the peace of the brethren. And more than that, he began to win many people to his arguments because he sounded so right. He was so hurt. But you see, he had the sin of impatience. He couldn't wait until God would do the work in his heart. Listen to me. I want to make a statement. And this comes right to the heart of what God's trying to say to us tonight. A wounded spirit is fertile ground for a root of bitterness. A wounded spirit is fertile ground for a root of bitterness. Proverbs 18, 14. A wounded spirit. Who can bear it? Who can stand a wounded spirit? Follow me. Isaiah, looking at backslidden Israel. He's looking at these people. It's become a cage of unclean birds. Wickedness on all sides. How did it happen to God's people? How did they become so possessed by demonic powers? How could a chosen people become so depressed? So... In fact, he said, they're like an isolated booth in a vineyard. He said, they're like they're standing all alone like God doesn't care. He said, what's happening to these people? And he begins to explain it. He said, from the sole of the foot, even to the head, there's no soundness but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed. Neither have the wounds been bound or softened with ointment. Then he went on to warn the people of God. Those who wouldn't have their wounds healed. Those who went about with their sores, bleeding, bruised. He's saying, as long as you won't go for healing, as long as you go around bleeding with your wounds. In fact, he said, there's blood on your hands. I'll read it to you. Spread forth your hands. He's speaking to those who go about wounded with sores. No soundness in their flesh, putrefying sores. He said, when you spread forth your hands, I'll hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear you, for there is blood on your hands. Whose blood? Your own. You've been wounded and you're bleeding. You've gone around bleeding on others. You've got a putrefying sore. Somebody in the house who got wounded you. Somebody in your family, somebody in the job, you've been wounded. You've got a root of bitterness. And you go about with this soreness, bleeding. Your sores, bruising, blood and corruption. And you won't come to the Master for healing. You won't run to him. You don't realize the devil's trying to get you into this witchcraft of rebellion. You see, the husbandmen of this vineyard in the parable I read to you, somewhere they allowed, now this is the Lord who, this is His vineyard, remember. This is the Lord's vineyard He's talking about. And the Lord gave them commandments. He said, I'm expecting a harvest. I expect fruit, and that fruit is righteousness leading to obedience. And somewhere along the line, before the harvest came and the Lord called them up for account, somewhere a root of bitterness sprang up. I don't know what it is, but it had to do with authority. It had to do with submission. They were not going to do all this work. They're not going to put forth all this effort without a little more piece of the action. And all this rebellion began to build up. And you see the hand of the devil behind all of this. Folks, this parable is profound yet simple. It's beyond the Pharisees, beyond everything else. It's a battle for our souls and our minds. Here, let me show you how dangerous rebellion is. And why God calls it witchcraft. Look at this, go back to Matthew 21, if you will please. Go back to Matthew 21, verse 34. And when the time, when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants and beat one, killed another, stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, he sent unto them his sons, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir, come let us kill him and seize the inheritance. Look at me please. Now, these husbandmen represent children of God engaged in religious work. They're engaged in religious activity. Now, I ask you a question. This hit me today. How could, how could Pharisees, who are supposed to be so upright. Now, these Pharisees were known to be super cautious about the law. In fact, they were so cautious and so bound by the law, that they counted every mint leaf and tithed every mint leaf that they, if they had a garden and they had ten mint leaves, and each mint leaf, leaf plant had fifty leaves on it, they would pick the leaves and count and give God his ten percent. They loved their children. There's much evidence that these men loved their children. They loved their wives. They were family men. They spent their Sabbaths in the synagogue, pouring over the law, reading Isaiah, talking about the coming of Messiah. These men would go all over the world to reach one convert, the Scripture says, to make him a disciple of the law. Then how in the world did they become so vicious, that they would stone and kill and murder and crucify? What happened? How does that happen to a religious bunch, who have a law that they cling to, it says, thou shalt not kill. And yet they've got murder in their hearts. Where did it come from? That's not human. That's not human at all, to come out, take a man out of the city and stone him to death, and kill the messengers of God. That is super human. That is not of the flesh. That is out of this world. That is demonic. Where did it come from? They knew what the Master demanded of them, but there was a rage, a rage. Oh, if you hold that root of bitterness, nothing short of rage is going to follow. There'll come a rage in your heart. There'll come a rage in your heart, that you'll be able to sit in any Holy Ghost meeting, and hear the holy men of God, filled with the Holy Ghost, holding the sword of the Lord, loving you. And it'll come on deaf ears, and you'll rage. And you'll stone the prophets. You'll crucify Christ and put Him in open shame, because that's a rebellion that's come as a result of a root of bitterness that was never dealt with. And then you'll gather with others of like wounds, and you'll have gall gatherings. Where all you do is share your gall. Gangrene spills all over the room. The truth is bitterness blinds. Now listen to this statement. I'm going to make it twice. You lose your spiritual vision in proportion to the growth of your bitterness. In other words, the more your bitterness grows, the blinder you become. So the word of God, the word of the prophets is watch many shepherds. Let a root of bitterness keep festering, and let the wound turn to gangrene, and let the sore spread poison all through your soul, and you'll end up just like these violent Pharisees. I've seen that rage in Christians. I've seen it. I saw it once in this church when two sisters were fighting over a seat. That's my chair. I said, sister, what's going on? That's not the spirit of Christ. You know why that rage is there? There's a root of bitterness somewhere. It's not been dealt with. Christ cannot bring out His virtues in you. He can't bring out His graces in you. He will not try to fight through that rage in you. You've got to deal with the wound. You've got to have the oil of the Holy Ghost applied to that wound, breathed on, healed, bandaged. That's what He's trying to do tonight. You'll end up pratting, throwing stones at God's servants and God's people. You will open up every door and window of your heart and soul to demon possession. You'll end up a mouthpiece of the devil. Your tongue will become a spear that pierces the side of Christ. You will turn off all preaching and prophets. I'm going to tell you something. The work of God will go on. It always does. And God will replace you. But I'm telling you tonight, the invitation of the Holy Ghost is to deal with it in this church. I'm not trying to get you established in this church. I'm trying to get you established in Jesus. And whether you go to this church or not, if you don't deal with that root of bitterness, if you don't get that wound or that hurt healed, you'll run from church to church. You'll get in one mess after another. And it'll get worse. You'll finally become demon-possessed. And you'll put that spear right through the heart of Jesus again, right through the side of Jesus. You'll put Jesus to an open shame everywhere you go. Everywhere you go. If someone wounded you, if there's a root of bitterness in you, I'll beg you tonight. The Scripture says, Don't let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all the malice. Put it away because it's of the devil it'll destroy you. Secondly, the witchcraft of rebellion ends in a lack of reverence for Jesus. Oh, listen to this, verse 37. But last of all, He sent His Son unto them saying, They will reverence My Son. Now, I know the primary applications to the Pharisees in this religious Sanhedrin that He was addressing. They had shut their ears to the prophets and the watchmen. In fact, Jesus said, Behold, I'll send unto you prophets and some of them ye shall kill. You'll crucify them, some you'll scourge in your synagogues. And you'll persecute the prophets from city to city. Beloved, listen to me closely. I've got to get this into your heart. Jesus is speaking of a very profound thing here. He's trying to expose the work of the devil, what he's trying to do. Jesus said to them, the Pharisees, Why do you not understand My speech? Even because you can't hear My word. Because you're of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do. I speak the truth to you, but you believe Me not. Look at Me please. How? How will you sit through this message tonight? And I know I have the Spirit of the Living God upon Me. You've never seen or heard this senior pastor under more anointing than God has on Me right now. You're hearing the Living Word of God. How do you sit there and not hear it? And say that's not Me? How do you sit there with the wound? That wound may have gone way back somewhere. You may not even be able to look someone in this church in the eye. I don't know. Someone's bypassed you. Someone's been promoted over you on the job. Or it could be in this church. It could be in the music program. It could be in the hostels. It could be anywhere. And here you sit. And the Lord's trying to embrace you in love. Saying, don't you understand? You're being caught as a pawn of the devil. He's trying to possess you. He's going after the inheritance. He's trying to seize upon the Lord's inheritance. You are the Lord's inheritance. He doesn't want you to be a Simon. He wants to get that gull of bitterness out of you. Don't end up like these Pharisees. He said, why don't you understand? And that's what I think so many times. I'll preach my heart out. And I know that there's some people that need to break and say, Oh, Brother Dave, that's me. That's why things are so wrong in my marriage and my home. That's why things are going wrong. There's something wrong. Yes, there's a root. There's a wound. There's a putrefying sore. He said, you don't understand me. You don't hear me. Because you're the father of the devil. And the lust of your father you will do. I'll tell you the truth, but you won't believe me. And I'm telling you the truth. I'm looking you in the eye. Because I have to stand before God and answer. One day, if this root of bitterness destroys you and drives you back to where you were, you begin to live for the devil. And that bitterness eats you up. And that wound crosses you to the ground. When all the while you knew that Jesus stood there with his open eyes, you knew there was a way out. You knew that you could be healed. And I'm telling you there is healing. There is gracious healing in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. You know what Jesus said? He asked the Pharisees, what will the master do when he comes and makes these men give an account? You know what the Pharisees, they pronounced judgment on themselves. He said, why? The husbandman will miserably crush those men and destroy them. And all the while they knew he was talking about them. See, that's where you finally come to where you don't even fear judgment. You don't fear hell. You don't fear anything. Because you're blind and you have been left senseless. No more sensitivity to people, to God, to the Holy Ghost, to the preaching, because a stubbornness is set in. The Bible makes it clear in that very verse that he gave, Samuel gave concerning Saul. Saul got so hard, he wound up visiting the witch of Endor. He said, God doesn't speak to me. Nobody speaks to me anymore. I'm not hearing from God. So he goes to a witch. Brother, sister, that's where it ends. And I grieve that some of you in this church tonight may end in that if you don't hear. You see, the Bible says, and last of all he sent his son. You know what that means? In the last day, to a last day people, when Jesus came to the earth. That was the beginning of the last days. He said, the last. Jesus is the last thing God has to offer humanity now. He said, the people, they've turned down my prophets. They've turned down my watchmen. God said, I'm going to give them one last check, one last resort, one last hope. My son and brother, sister, we live in a day where it's Jesus or judgment. There's nothing else left. And if you will not accept the claims of Christ tonight for healing. If you will not let him pluck that out by the roots. There's nothing left. God said, I don't have anything left. You won't listen to the prophets. You won't listen to the pastors. You won't listen to the shepherds. And you won't take Jesus. You won't reverence him. Reverence for Jesus. He said, don't reverence my son. They didn't. Reverence for Jesus is not a feeling. It's not some mystical party where you say, Jesus. It's not some holy, sounding, false party. Reverence is something you do. It's obeying his word. It's obedience to his word. Hearing it in the spirit and say, yes, God, that's me. I hear it. That's me. If you go out of here tonight clinging to your wound, holding to your grudge, justifying your bitterness, you not only do not reverence Jesus, but you're putting him to an open shame, and you're crucifying him all over again. I want you to go to the hope. I want you to go to Psalms. There's hope. Psalms 107. You know I don't preach a hard message unless I close with hope. Psalm 107. 107. Folks, before we go any further, just hold the Bible open there and look at me before I close. Is there rude bitterness, a wound, a sore? Is there rebellion beginning to rise up in your heart? Have you talked to others about your hurt and your wound? Oh, you'll find a sympathetic ear, but you won't get God's ear. He said you can pray all you want. I won't hear you. You can raise your hands. I won't hear you. You can praise and worship. I won't hear you because you've got a bleeding sore. You've got blood on your hands. You're not going to lift bloody hands to me when I promised you deliverance, but I'll tell you this. I said, God, if you're going to have me preach that, you've got to find the hope for me. I've got to leave this people with hope, and I have to have that hope because that seed of rebellion is in me. It's in all of us, and it has to be plucked out. It has to be dealt with. We have to see it. There's no one on this stage that doesn't have the potential of that rising up, and it has to be cut down by the Word of God and the Spirit. Look at verse 9, beginning of your read. Psalm 107, verse 9. And when you read this with me, if you've had a root of bitterness or wounded, any rebellion at all, let this bring hope to you. For He satisfies the longing soul, and He fills the hungry soul with goodness, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God and condemned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of all their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and break the bands in thunder. All the men would praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men. He's broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars in thunder. Hallelujah. Those who were in rebellion, they cried out to God, and God heard them and delivered them. Stand, please. Now, please, no one help the Holy Ghost. Let's just quietly in His presence. He's going to deal with the Holy Spirit. Bow your heads, please. Bow your heads. Spirit, Holy Spirit, Spirit of the living God, I'm asking You now, Holy Spirit, to confirm Your Word in the hearts of this people, up in the balcony here on the main floor. Oh, God, I plead for this people. I plead for us. Lord, we as workers, shepherds, and leaders, those who sit in the congregation, none of us are better than the other. Lord, we all fight the same battles, but You've brought a Word to us tonight that we have to deal with. God, by Your Spirit, open up hearts to You tonight. Heal the brokenhearted. Heal the wounds. Heal the sores. Heal the hurt, so that those who've been wounded and hurt can come forth into greater victory than they've ever known. They can again be embraced by the whole body of Jesus, and again they can fall down and raise their hands, and the heavens begin to open again. Bring that open heaven, Lord Jesus. I don't believe there's anybody here who wants to have a closed heaven. They want to be heard on high. Lord, I believe this people love You. We love You with all of our hearts. Now, Jesus, pluck out any root of bitterness. If there's one person we can think of now that we're bitter toward, or anyone that's wounded, or with a sore that's festering, I ask You, Lord, in this service tonight, in this next few moments, to bring healing, absolute healing, in Jesus' name. Now, all over this house, while we're in His presence, the choir begins to sing. You see, Brother David, the Word shook my soul. You can look at me right now. I'll tell you. If I look you right in the eye, I feel the holy thunder of God in my heart. God is saying, if you don't deal with that, you're going to wind up in open rebellion and be totally demon-possessed. You can't begin. You think in the world you had problems. You don't know what it is. You don't know the terror of that, having tasted the good things of God and said it's impossible to renew you because you stay in that state of rebellion. If you've been dealt with, I've tried in love. I know I get loud, but it's only because I feel it so strong. But I'm not shouting at you. God's called us to love you. And maybe you're here for the first time. I don't know. But I know, as sure as I stand here, God spoke. And He's speaking to us now. If you've got that root in you, don't stand here another five minutes. You get down here, when you walk down the aisle, you say, Jesus, this is it. I don't want this wound to go festering anymore. I want to be healed. Now, you're going to have to take a step. You may have to go to somebody. You may have to embrace somebody. You may have to say, I'm sorry. You may have to repent to somebody beside God. But I'll tell you, when you do, they say that when steel breaks and they solder it together, it's stronger at that solder than it is any other place. And the Lord starts soldering and healing. You'll have more strength there than you've ever known. Then, you let Jesus bring forth the healing. Oh, I don't want to see anybody walk out heartbroken, wounded. Jesus wants to heal you. I believe with all my heart, He wants to heal. There's going to be a great healing here tonight. If that's you, if God spoke. Now, if you've been coming... Now, listen close. I say it in love. We have some people come for every invitation. If you've been coming almost every invitation, I want you to stay back for a while. Unless you're deeply wounded or something. For those... So, you're not just filling it up. We don't have room for those because this whole place is going to be filled tonight. But if you have been dealt with by the Holy Spirit, I want you to come right now while the choir is singing. We're going to ask God for a miracle for you tonight. We're going to ask God for healing right now. Hallelujah. Sing together. Sing together. Up in the balcony, come down the stairs. Now, lest the enemy try to kill you or anyone here that I've preached directly at you, look down here at all these that stand here who received the Word of God and felt it was directed by the Holy Spirit to each one, every heart. Now, you that are standing here right now, I'm going to ask God. I don't know how the Holy Ghost does it. You don't have to scream at Him. You don't have to beg Him or plead with Him. He said, I'm more willing to give than you are to receive. He wants to give you healing. But you have to be willing to take a step of faith right now. I want you to think of that person, individual or the hurt. I want you to look at it right now and say, Jesus, by Your grace, I lay that down here. I'm not going to go back to my seat carrying this burden anymore. I want it out. And many of you standing here are going to have to make a call or go to somebody. Or else you're just going to have to say, Holy Spirit, right now, remove this from me. I don't want this thing to take root anymore. I want it plucked out by the roots. Hallelujah. How many of you that are standing here need God to heal you right now? Raise your hand. Raise your hand high. You want a healing from the Lord. Keep your hand raised. Keep it up. Church, will you pray with me? Will you believe God for... And some of you in the audience, you may need right now. You didn't come forward, but you need the same healing. Father, I pray that you will bring that healing to those that stand in front of this church tonight. Many dozens up here who need to be delivered from the bondage of a root of bitterness, a spirit of rebellion. Oh, Jesus, come now by Your Holy Spirit. Reach into every heart. Pluck it out by the roots. Cast it out, oh God, because here stands a people ready to be healed. The Lord God shall heal. He shall heal, sanctify, and deliver. I want you that are up here to pray this prayer with me and pray it from the depths of your heart. Oh, Jesus. Louder, please. Oh, Jesus. I need help. I need deliverance. Pluck it out. Heal my wound. Heal my heart. Forgive me. I don't want to carry it. I lay it down at Your feet. Jesus, send the Holy Ghost. Fill my heart. Cleanse my mind. Give me a new heart and a new mind. And let the glory of Jesus fill my soul. Now, just raise your hands and thank Jesus right now. Lord, I thank You for Your healing power. I thank You for Your Holy Spirit. I thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Beloved, it doesn't take God all night. The moment you're ready, He's ready. Some of you that are standing right now, just let the Spirit breathe on you right now. Let's sing it again. Spirit of the Lord that you were singing, just look up to Jesus right now and receive from the Lord. He's here to heal. He's here to change your heart, give you a new mind. God's able to take it all out and bring that healing. Whatever it may be, let Him heal you right now. Just stand in His presence. Let's all sing it. Let the healing power of Jesus flow into our hearts.