In this sermon, the speaker begins by acknowledging the deceitfulness of engaging in questionable activities with computers and movies. They express their desire for a deeper revelation of God and a visitation from the Holy One of Israel. The speaker then confesses their own struggle with using a computer for non-academic purposes and how it led them to watch questionable DVDs. They admit that their conscience became weak and they lost conviction, ultimately feeling ashamed of their actions.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, AFPA, 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Greetings to all in Jesus' name. Comforting words that soul, though hell endeavors to shake, will never, never forsake us. Praise the Lord for that. Seems like a little while since I've been here, but it's good to be back with the family of God. I was blessed with the opening meditation by Brother Daniel. He was sharing about the disciples out there fishing and how that Jesus was on the shore and he asked them if they have any meat and they said no. And then he told them to cast their nets on the other side and then they caught a lot of fish. I thought about a testimony I heard of a man from, an Anachanese man who was in Indonesia. His father had come to know the Lord through listening to the radio while out in a fishing boat. And his family greatly persecuted him. And his son grew up in this persecuted home and he wasn't sure about his father's faith and all the ridicule and all those things that came upon their family because of it. It almost turned him bitter. And the day came when he was seeking the Lord and he got in his boat and he went out there in the ocean and was desperately seeking for the Lord. But he was troubled and you know how those things go when you're in the middle of those things. He cried out to the Lord and he said, God if you're real, if Jesus, if you're real then help me catch some fish. And it was at a time of year when no one even puts their nets out for fish. The fish just don't, they aren't even there. And he threw his net overboard and he said, Lord you can make fish come to my net and they did. And he caught a large straw of fish. And he became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord still catches fish today. This man then, I think he lost his wife and several children in the tsunami there in Indonesia. But since then he has gotten married again. And now some folks helped him build a house. He lives out towards the airport there. So hopefully someday we get to meet him and hear his testimony face to face. But the Lord did meet with him there. I'd like to share a little bit this morning on, I guess out of the desire and longing of my own heart. As I reflect over 19 years of a Christian life. I think of how that my wife and I we came to know the Lord. And in the midst of a revival meeting. And I think of the beautiful things that God did back there 19 years ago. And there's such a longing in my heart for that kind of revival again. And there's a longing in my heart for a divine visitation from God. And so this kind of comes out of my desire, my heart there. I'd like to share on divine visitations from the Lord. But in studying and looking at the Bible and looking at the times when God did visit His people. I just meditated and thought about the Old Testament. And how that under the Old Covenant, under the Old Testament. When most of the time it seems when God visited His people. He visited them with judgment and destruction. Whereas in the New Testament the visitation of God was different. So I want to just walk through some of those things. And see what God has for us in light of some of those things there. In the Old Testament we can begin with Adam and Eve. And after they sinned God did visit Adam and Eve there. And He pronounced judgment upon them. But in the midst of that pronouncing of judgment. He also pronounced a blessing. And said that the deliverer will come. There will be a deliverance. And so there was hope in the midst of that. And as I study the visitation of God. When God visits His people. When He visited them in the Old Testament. He would bring judgment upon them many times. But in the midst of that there was almost always a deliverance likewise. But in order for there to be a deliverance. There also must be a judgment. Is kind of the conclusion I've come to. I think of the days of Noah. When God looked upon the face of the earth. And He saw that mankind was totally corrupted. And had gone their own way. And the Lord said that He was sorry that He made man. It grieved God in His heart. And He repented of making man. He was so grieved at the condition of the souls of men. That He repented of making man. He grieved Him in His heart. He was sorry that He had made man. And at that point it seemed like God may have looked upon the animals and so forth. And the rest of creation, how the rest of creation. It still flowed somewhat more in the sense of what God had made them to do. But as far as man was concerned. Man so corrupted himself. That it grieved God in His heart. That He had made man. And God decided to bring judgment upon mankind. He did that through the flood of waters. God sent a flood there. But in the midst of that judgment. Where He judged and condemned everyone on the earth. Except Adam and his family. In the midst of that judgment. God delivered Noah and his family. And that's the picture I see continually. If we would just walk through some of the other Old Testament examples. Of when God visited His people. When God came down. What did He do? I think of what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. Again God was looking upon the face of the earth. And He saw His people were so wicked. That He deemed them unworthy of deliverance. Unworthy of salvation. And He brought such a condemnation. And overthrew them with brimstone and fire in Sodom and Gomorrah. But out of that He delivered Lot and his two daughters. Also think of how God when He delivered Israel out of Egypt. He brought destruction and judgment upon the enemies of Israel. He brought destruction upon the people. He overthrew them with the ten plagues there in Egypt. Until Egypt was decimated. If you ever stop to imagine as you read through Exodus. What that country must have looked like at the time when Israel came out. You would certainly think there was total devastation there. The trees were bare. The insects had stripped them of everything. And the hail and the lightning had run across the ground. And had burned up things. And perhaps there were still piles of dead frogs. And there were dead animals. It was total destruction you might say. In the midst of that God delivered His people. He brought them out. Going through the Red Sea again. God saved His people by brought destruction upon the enemies of His children. I think of the nations in Canaan. How the Lord again took Israel into the land of Canaan. Why did God destroy the people of the land of Canaan? Why had God condemned them to destruction? It seems like it was because of their sin. Because of their wickedness. And that's the way that God dealt with sin in the Old Testament. He brought destruction upon the people. The people who lived in gross darkness. The people who practiced gross sin. God brought destruction upon them. But if there were people in the midst of those that were godly and that tried to follow Him. Those He delivered and He brought them out. Gideon. Think of how Gideon was delivered with 300 people. And many other of the leaders there and judges. You could look at those likewise. I thought of Elijah on Mount Carmel. Again, God brought a judgment upon the nation of Israel. And upon those 400 priests of Baal. But He delivered Elijah there. I thought of the destruction of Jerusalem. Again, now it's God's very own people. Who have now lived in sin so gross and so long. In such depth of immorality and idolatry that God finally. They crossed the mark and God brought destruction again. God visited them. And every time that God would come down and visit His people. Or how should I say? These are visitations of God. This is the way that God was visiting the people in the Old Testament. By bringing destruction upon the people. Think of how He dealt with Haman there in the book of Esther. Daniel in the lion's den. And God visited His people over and over again. And when God visited His people. He dealt hardly with sin. He dealt hard with sin. But He delivered His people out of it. Over and over we can see that. Divine visitation. That's the Old Testament. There's many others we could look at there in the Old Testament. But I want to look at the New Testament now. Of what happened when God came to visit His people in the New Testament. It was very, very different. Very, very different. The visitation of God in the New Testament was not that of the Old Testament way. I want to look at that a little bit. In Luke chapter 1. Here we have the beginning of the Gospel. And the beginning of the visitation of the Lord in the New Testament. We have had, if you look in history here. It's about 400 years since Israel had returned to Jerusalem. Or since the Old Testament prophet Malachi last spoke. And so there was about 400 years of no prophets in Israel. It was a time of silence. It's called the 400 silent years. When Israel or God's people basically did not hear from God. And there was basically no visitation. And Israel was longing for a visitation from God. As the nation of Israel continued to go backwards and down and become more religious. And other nations ruled over them. At the time of this, the Romans were ruling over them. Israel was not a nation on its own. But the people were longing for something. They were longing for a deeper reality. They were longing for God to come and to meet with His people. There was a longing for a visitation. They were waiting for God to meet with them. Beginning in Luke chapter 1. We have the story of how God visited His people. This is the beginning of the visitation of God Himself. We know how that in Hebrew it says that in times past God spoke to His people by the prophets. But in this time, now He spoke to them by His Son. And this is what we have the beginning of the visitation. God Himself has now come down and is going to visit His people in actual human form. Let's start reading verse 5 in Luke chapter 1. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the chorus Abiah, and his wife was one of the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. They had no child. Because Elizabeth was barren and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his chorus, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said to the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. Zacharias had a divine visitation from the Lord. And these are the words that were given to him. You are going to have a son. Your wife is going to have a son. And this son is going to be a great man. He's going to turn the hearts of the people to the Lord. He's going to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus to come. Zacharias didn't believe. Zacharias didn't understand. Even though this was an angel standing in front of him. I wonder what you would do if an angel of the Lord would come and stand in front of you and would give you instructions and directions. Would you believe or would you still be in unbelief? Zacharias said, How shall I know this? And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not in my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. Now he was smitten dumb, and when he came out of the temple, he could no longer talk. And the people wondered why he was in there so long. When he came out, he had to make signs and wonders to them, because he could no longer speak. But his wife, she did conceive, and she conceived and hid herself five months, it says. Then in verse 26, we have another divine visitation. God is beginning to visit his people. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. The angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. Now we have Mary's response. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. Then we have Mary going to meet Elizabeth there, and how that they met together. Let's read what Mary says in verse 46. She's speaking prophetically here. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. She's testifying of what has happened in her heart. You see, when there is a divine visitation by the Lord, then the people begin to speak forth. The people begin to testify. People's lives are changed. When there is a divine visitation, lives are totally changed. They begin to speak forth the mind and will of Christ. They begin to preach the word. Mary is speaking forth the things that God has done in her. Verse 49. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. Does anyone else here have a testimony like that? Has he done great things for you, and holy is his name? Have you had a divine visitation where you met the Lord Jesus Christ? And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. I continue to be amazed at what happens when the Lord meets someone, and how the spiritual understanding does open up wide. And that's exactly what I see happen to Mary here. She's explaining what she's seeing. She's prophetically prophesying. She's saying the things that God has done in her heart, and she begins to say great and mighty things. His mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. That's true. He hath showed strength with his arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. Wonderful words. And Mary abode with her about three months and returned to her own house about the time of Elizabeth's delivery for the baby. Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son. And I don't know why Mary didn't stay for this, but she went home. I guess the Lord had it all, it was all planned out. But Mary left before the baby was born, evidently, and her neighbors. But since Elizabeth's time came, she brought forth a son. Her neighbors and cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and called him Zacharias after the name of his father. Notice that Zacharias still was not talking. He wasn't speaking yet. Why not? The baby was born. Wasn't it all fulfilled? Not quite. The angel had said, I shall be dumb until this all comes to pass. Well, what hasn't come to pass yet? They had not yet named the child specifically. It was told of him that thou shalt call his name John. So until he named him John, it wasn't all fulfilled yet, and he couldn't speak yet. They named him Zacharias after his father. His mother answered and said, Not so, but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by thy name, by this name. And they made signs to his father how he would have him called. Can you imagine the emotion at this time in his family? The emotions are running high, and Zacharias is there, and he calls for a writing table, and he wrote saying, His name is John. And they all marveled. And then his mouth was opened up immediately, his tongue was loosed, and he spake and praised God. This happens when, may I say to everyone who has a divine encounter with the Lord, everyone who is visited of God, his mouth is opened up, his tongue becomes loosed, and he begins to speak, and he begins to praise God. This is what Zacharias did. Notice the words that he said. Reading verse 65, And fear came on all that dwelt around about them, and all these sayings were noise abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. What do you suppose people were saying? What do you think was noise across the hill country of Judea? Do you think they just talked about this little boy that was born, and how that his father was dumb? Or do you suppose they began to talk about the visitation of the Lord? Do you think the people realized that God was visiting his people? They knew something unusual was happening. They knew something was going on. What did they say? All that heard them laid them up in their hearts saying, Hmm, what kind of a child is this going to be? What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. That would be pretty interesting, wouldn't it? What do you think we would do if in amongst one of our families, there was this kind of divine visitation over the birth of a child? What do you think we would do? Don't you think you'd hide it in your heart, and you'd just wonder. And you would look. You'd go visit that family. You'd look at that little baby. What are you going to be like? You know that God has specifically visited this family. Listen to what Zacharias says. His father Zacharias in verse 67 was filled with the Holy Ghost. Interesting words there. We notice that Mary was filled with the Holy Ghost. We notice that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost and spake. Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and he spake, prophesied saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. That's the purpose of a visitation from God, is a redemption. God doesn't just want to come and visit us, but he comes with a purpose of redeeming us. Looking back to when I was first saved, I remember that. When the Lord visited me, and I saw my need of a redeemer, that's the purpose of God's visitation, is redemption for his people. He hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Notice, this is a prophetic utterance. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us, he was realizing redemption. These words that he spoke, yes, Israel was looking for a redeemer to redeem them and save them out of the hand of the Romans, but this goes a lot deeper than this. When there's a divine visitation from the Lord, each one of us that is visited like this, we will realize that yes, we have been delivered out of the hand of our enemies. We will recognize that the salvation of the Lord, it will open up a whole new dimension to us. There will be a divine kingdom that we suddenly see that we never saw before. That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. Once again, Zacharias in this divine visitation realized the salvation that had been promised for many, many years was becoming a reality. It became a reality, I believe, in his own heart and life. It was very true, it was very clear. Suddenly the Old Testament prophets were becoming alive in his mind. He began to prophesy of these great and wonderful things. These things are happening now. He's performing it now. It is already done. We already have this horn of salvation. It's already complete in Zacharias' mind. The oath which he swore to our father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and in righteousness before him all the days of our life. You see, he saw a clear picture of the power of God. He saw a clear picture of salvation by faith. He was visited by the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge. Look at this. Son. My son, he's holding his baby. You know. You shall be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways and to give knowledge to His people. To give knowledge of what? Salvation. Salvation. To give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins. Very, very clear picture. Oh, yes. To give knowledge of salvation. To give a full assurance of salvation. How? Through redemption. Through repentance. By the remission of their sins. And this is how salvation comes. If you're here today and you still are not saved, it is because there is sin in the way. Sin stands in the way of redemption. Sin stands in the way of salvation. Sin stands in the way of eternal security. May I say, of the assurance of salvation. Excuse me there. Sin stands in the way of holiness and righteousness. But this son, this child, this little boy is going to be giving knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of sins. If you have not yet experienced this kind of salvation, there needs to be repentance from sin. Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us. Present tense. Zacharias had had a visitation from the day spring on high. Who was the day spring on high? It was His Lord. It was His Master. It was God. This day spring from on high hath visited us. Has this day spring visited you? Yes. Probably most of us can think back to a time, right? I remember ten years ago. I remember nineteen years ago. I remember when I was eighteen years old or whatever it may be. Yes, I remember the day spring visited us. But that's back there, isn't it? How long it should be that the day spring would visit us again and again. Through the tender mercies of our God. Yes, God's tender mercy. Because of God's tender mercy, the day spring visits us. Verse seventy-nine. The purpose of that visitation is to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Oh, that would come fresh anew in my life and heart. I am longing for a fresh visitation from the day spring on high to give light, new light in my own heart and life. To dispel all the darkness, the shadows of death and to guide my feet in the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the desert to the day of his showing unto Israel. The New Testament visitations of the Lord are very different than the Old Testament, are they not? And how is that? It is because Does that mean that God no longer needs to look at judging sin? Does that mean that God just simply looks the other way anymore? No, that's not the case. But, God has laid upon Him our iniquities. He bears the sin of many. You see, God has already done that. It was already accomplished. Even by this time, it was already accomplished, already written. It's already accomplished, but in time it was not yet done. But, in the spiritual realm, it's as though it was done. And to those who walk by faith, it's reality. And that's why at this time, God's visitation to His people could be without judgment upon the people themselves. I think of what Jesus said in John 3, verse 17. He says that For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Jesus Christ came not to bring judgment. He came not to bring condemnation upon people. But He came to bring redemption. He came to bring salvation. He came to forgive us our sins. He came to draw us to the Father. And He came, and by His own life, and by His own death, He took upon Himself our sins, our judgment. He was judged for our sins. He died for our iniquities. And because of that, we can come into the New Testament era. We can come under the New Covenant. And under that New Covenant, there is no judgment at this time, may I say, from the Lord. But He comes and He delivers us out of that mire clay. I was so blessed with one of the family verses and songs at the missions conference about the first Thursday evening. How many of you were there and heard that family verse and songs? I was so excited just to hear how this man found himself in a deep pit. And he saw a shadow fall across the top of the pit. And there was Buddha. And Buddha refused to help him out of the pit. And there was others who came. And he asked that this man is crying out for help. He is crying out for deliverance. But there is no deliverance given until another shadow fell across the top of the pit. And there was Jesus. And the man cried out for help. And Jesus said that which Buddha and Confucius and other false religions won't do. He jumped down there beside the man in the pit and put his arms around him and lifted him out of the mire clay. That's what Jesus does. He takes upon Himself our sin. He took upon Himself our iniquities. Therefore, under the New Covenant, when God visits His people, He doesn't necessarily bring divine judgment as under the Old Testament. Does that mean that there is no more judgment these days? I believe God still brings judgment through natural calamities and so forth. Don't you think 9-1-1 was a sense of judgment on the US? Don't you think Hurricane Katrina was a sense of judgment? Don't you think the tsunami in the Indian Ocean was a sense of judgment? I believe it was. But God's people, we can come to God without condemnation. We can come to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ knowing that He took upon Himself our sin. And now today, when God visits His people today, what happens? It's not fire and brimstone like Sodom and Gomorrah. But there is what is called conviction. If God comes to visit us, conviction settles down upon the hearts of everyone around. And people begin to fall on their faces and repent and cry out for mercy in a divine visitation. How I long for that kind of divine visitation. Jesus Himself was born. God incarnate. He was a very present divine visitation from God. God in the flesh. And there He lived and walked on the face of the earth for 30 plus years, 33 years or so. And people saw in Him. What they saw in Him, they saw the Father. Those with eyes to see beheld Jesus. And they saw God incarnate. But there was people who did not believe. They didn't see the same thing as others did. What this does mean is that we have the wonderful opportunity to judge ourselves beforehand. We can go. We can come to the Lord. And when the Lord comes to meet with us, He deals with our sin. He shows us our sinfulness. And then we, through repentance and faith and acknowledging and confession of our sin, yes, opening up our mouth and saying, this is what I have done. This is how I have sinned. We can do that. And then, God by His Spirit, God takes the blood of Christ, and the blood cleanses us from all sin. Like it says in 1 John, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. But I long for divine visitation from God. Don't you? There's people. Some of you here that have never been, have never experienced a divine visitation from God. Either personally or as a church. And I would long that God would visit His church, visit His people. I believe that we desperately need a revival. I believe we desperately need a divine visitation from the Lord as a body. I know that I desperately need it. I think of how there was such a longing in the hearts of Zechariah and other Jewish faithful believers. A longing for God to come. A longing for something from the Lord. I believe that if there's a deep longing in our hearts, God will lead us to that place where He can visit us. Many people in Jesus' day, they had a personal encounter with Him. They met Him personally. I think of the many stories in the New Testament. Jesus met the woman at the well. That was a divine visitation for her. A divine encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. With the Lord of glory. She met Him. And Jesus talked with her. And she was set free from her sin. She was delivered. And that's what happens when you meet Jesus. There is a deliverance from sin. There's a new life that comes in. The man that was born blind, he met Jesus. His eyes were opened. Not only were his physical eyes opened, his eyes were opened spiritually. And that's what happens when we meet Jesus. There is a spiritual darkness. There's a spiritual blindness over the eyes of all who have not yet been born in the Spirit of God. There's a spiritual darkness and you don't even realize it. But when you have a divine encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, those blinders are taken off. Like Saul on the road to Damascus, some things actually fell off his eyes after Ananias prayed for him. And his eyes were opened. And what did he do? He prophesied. He spake. And he began to preach the Word of God with zeal. I think of Zacchaeus trying to see Jesus. He was climbing up in a tree. What did Jesus say? Come down, Zacchaeus. Today I'm going to meet in your house. And Zacchaeus took him home. And there he supped with Him. Amen. The demon-possessed, the Guderian, Mary Magdalene who had seven devils cast out of her, she met Jesus. She met Him. And she could testify of meeting Him. The woman caught in adultery. The woman at the well. The woman with the years of disease. All she needed to do was just to touch Him. His disciples, they walked with Him. They knew this is the Lord. They knew this was Jesus Christ. They knew He was the Christ, the Messiah. What about the Pharisees? The religious ones? They saw the same man. But they did not have a divine encounter with Him. And you can... It's an amazing thing. It's not by belonging to some certain church or so that you are saved anymore. No, it's individually. And while the whole crowd may see, if the whole crowd could see Jesus, yet some saw much more than others did. And that's still that way today. And maybe you are dead in trespasses and sins and you've never met Jesus yet. You know He's the Son of God. But you might not have yet met Him personally. We want more than that. We need, each one of us, to have a personal encounter with the Lord. Each one of us needs a visitation with the Lord. Each one of us, I believe, longs for more. I know I'm seeking and longing for more of the Lord. This is the great hope that lies in my heart. I know that without, without a continued revival, or without revival in my heart and life, without revival in the church, we naturally just drift down, away, cold. Other things come in. Very, very real. It happens. We need more. Will I see another divine visitation from the Lord? Or will I need to live the rest of my life without seeing it? I want to see another one, very seriously. I know He will come again. Someday, all eyes shall see Him when He returns from Heaven. What are the things that bring a divine visitation? Well, it's just kind of nothing we can do about it. It just happens, right? No, that's not right. Each one of us has something to do with it. And I don't have all the answers. I don't have it all figured out. I do know that the longing in our heart has something to do with it. But let's look just briefly at what happens when there's a divine visitation among God's people. What happens in our hearts? Number one, there's a definite shifting of our focus. Our focus shifts. Our focus shifts from the... There's many things that could shift, I guess. Number one, I would say our focus will shift from things that don't matter to things that are eternal. Our focus would shift from things that are small and trivial to the major things of Christ Himself. We would begin to major on the majors again. And we would begin to minor on the minors. That's what would happen when there is a visitation from the Lord. Another thing that would happen is there would be holiness. We would become holy. We would be holy. There would be a new power, a new grace to live in holiness. There would be a joy in our hearts when the Lord visits His people. Another thing that happens is that there is a different tolerance of sin. There's a great change in tolerance of sin. When there's a divine visitation, sin becomes extremely sinful. Without that, we tend to get used to it. Cold. And not really care. It's just a small sin. It won't really matter. This or that. Especially the things of our own lives. We tend to not judge ourselves. We tend to just excuse ourselves. That's what happens. Are you excusing your sin today? Do you think it's just a small trivial matter? Does it not really matter anymore? But when there is a divine visitation, when the Spirit of God comes and dwells in the midst of His people, sin will immediately become extremely sinful. And you'll begin to confess and repent. And repentance is another thing that happens very quickly. When God meets His people, there's a visitation. A visitation is guaranteed to affect our attitude of repentance. No longer will it be a repentance because I got caught. No longer will it be a confession of sin just because I got caught doing something wrong. No, there will be a quick, a readiness to repent because the Spirit of God has shown me within that I have sinned against God. That's what would happen if there were a divine visitation from the Lord. There will be a fresh love in all our hearts for each other. There will be a forgiveness. There will be a reconciliation. There will be a joy, a new peace flowing between brothers and sisters and so forth. Brothers and sisters, do you long for a divine visitation? I do. But I also realize that I have no power to bring it to pass. I have no power to bring it to pass. But my prayer is that somehow we would recognize our need for that. My prayer is that we would see our need for a revival. That's my prayer. May the Lord add His blessing to the message. Can we kneel together for prayer? Father, we are. We come to You in Jesus' holy name. I confess, Father, my need of revival. I confess that I am undone. I confess, Father, that without You, I can do nothing. I believe, Father, that we as a church are in desperate need of divine visitation from You. I think back, Lord, to many years ago and I remember. Yes, Lord, I remember. So, Father, create a soul first. First of all, my own heart and life. And also my brothers and sisters. Lord, we desire to walk in the fullness of Your Spirit. We desire to be walking in obedience. We desire to be walking in holiness. We desire to be walking in freedom from sin and having repentance and confessions clearing, Lord, our hearts, our lives. We desire, Father, to be clear in every area. We want to see the results of that, Lord. We desire that souls will be saved. For, Lord, without Your Spirit, we can do nothing. Without You, Lord, we cannot save anyone. Without You, Lord, we are ineffective in Your kingdom. But, oh, Father, would You look upon us in mercy. Would You look upon us like You did upon Zacharias. And like You did upon Mary there and Elizabeth, Lord. And You visited them from on high. You came and visited Your people. So, Father, come and visit Your people once again. That's my cry. And, Lord, not just this local church. We pray, Father, for this county. Lancaster County. We pray for the state of Pennsylvania. We pray for the U.S. We pray for North America. We pray for the whole world. Father, we know that unless You come and visit Your people, then there will be yet many souls perishing for all eternity. But, oh, God, come and visit Your people. Visit our hearts today, we pray. Lord God, we look to You. Without You, we can do nothing. And so we cry out, Lord, save us from our own ways. Save us, Lord, lest we perish. Save us, Lord, and visit us, lest our children would perish. Visit us, Lord, lest our neighbors would perish. Visit us, Lord, lest our families would perish. Oh, Father, would You in mercy visit Your people. Begin with us, Lord. That's our prayer. Bless this congregation, Father. Minister life to them, Lord. Not because of me, but because of Jesus Christ. In His name I pray. Amen. As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat, day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God, and with the voice of joy and praise with the multitude that kept holy day. Why art Thou cast down, O my soul? Why art Thou disquieted within me? Hope Thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. O God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember Thee from the land of Jordan and from the Herbanites unto the hill of Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts. All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast Thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with the sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, Where is Thy God? Why art Thou cast down, O my soul? Why art Thou disquieted within me? Hope Thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who hath the health of my countenance and my God. I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and He heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit and out of the married clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. And I've put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies. The cry of one who is longing for revival, who is longing for a season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. As the heart panteth after the waterbrook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. Brother Emmanuel, as you were sharing this morning, I thought also on my few short years here with the congregation at Charity, and I can look back with fond memories of seasons of refreshing and visitation from the Lord. And I agree that we can't manufacture it. We can't make it happen. And we don't want to. But we can thirst after God. We can cry unto Him. We can lift up our voice. And we can cry unto God that He would look upon us in mercy. We can confess our sins. We can repent and turn from where we've lost our way. And we can believe God that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and that He will visit His people in righteousness and in mercy. Thank you, Brother Emmanuel, for preaching the word of the Lord to us. The visitation of God in the New Testament. Oh, we could take a walk through the book of Acts and see the mighty acts of our God. And when He visited the people who sat in darkness and great light sprung up, and there was those who believed, and there was those who didn't believe. But oh, there was great joy in city after city as the gospel was preached, mixed with persecutions and tribulations and distresses and sorrows. But the gospel went forth and eyes were opened. Oh, do it again, Lord. Do it again, Lord. I need Him. I long for a fuller revelation of Jesus Christ, a more intimate knowledge of Him, a closer walk with Thee, O Lord. I want to open it up at this time for the congregation. If you have something on your heart you'd like to share, feel free as the Lord leads you. Is there anyone that would like to share? Raise your hand. The ushers will get a microphone to you. In the front here on the brother's side. I just want to say this morning I'm thankful to be part of a group of God's people that won't let Him go. I'm thankful for elders that freely admit they can't make it happen, but have a heart cry that He would come and visit us. I'm blessed with that. I'm thankful to be here. I couldn't help but thinking this morning as Brother Emanuel was speaking that if we will study the history of revival, either in the Word or in history, they both say relatively the same thing. And that is there must come a time in the walk of His people when the burden of that cry produces the action of examining our lives and saying what does yet hinder revival. And so it was with even as we heard this morning the ministry of John that was His way to prepare for the coming of the Lord was to cause the people to examine their walk and prepare a highway for the Lord. And I'm blessed with what God's been doing. I'm blessed with the work He did even using Brother Gerard in our midst. But I just must say, I must bear testimony that I don't think we're yet where we need to be in that walk. I think we're drawing closer. More desperate. But to really examine those things that hinder God from coming. He's the same yesterday and today and forever. He will come and will not tarry, but He's looking for souls. He's looking for those who will humble themselves and freely admit where we have sinned against Him and against our brothers. And I don't know all the answers. I am just another brother trying to find my way. But I know we must go there. We must find what it is that does yet hinder Him. And until we press Him, until we get the answer to that, I don't think we can anticipate that He will come through. Until He shows us the answer, we can't find it on our own, I'm confident. But He must show us. And if we'll not let Him go, I'm confident He will. I just wanted to share some real good experiences that in my life where revival was needed and I we had a real good Bible study back in Iowa about abiding in Christ. And what that taught me was to each moment I would ask myself am I abiding in Christ at this point? And usually I could the Lord brought me to the place where I could see if I wasn't abiding. And I would just ask myself, what's wrong Lord? What's in the way? And He would be faithful and show me. And He's been so faithful to me. And I thank Him for that. And I just really thank the Lord for those Bible studies we've had to come to revival. It's knowing Jesus, being in touch with Christ that we have revival. And that's where I want to be. And it's such a blessing that He gave us His Word. Thank you. I do have a confession to make this morning. God's been good to me and I want revival in my life. And I realize that I am undone. That there is great need in my life. And I had to come to a place to see the true wretchedness of days. Three weeks ago, I started a biology class at Hack. Hoping to one day get my nursing degree. I bought a computer. Didn't pay much for it. And I said, you know, I can control this thing. And until that time, God convicted me about having a computer because I didn't think that I could. God didn't think that I could handle it. Or God said that I couldn't. Well, anyways, I thought, well, I'm starting college and I can handle this thing. And I'm just going to use it for school work and, you know, just keep records and all. It wasn't long, I was in the library and I thought, well, here's a documentary here. And so I got a documentary and then another CD or DVD on Biola or I don't remember what it was, but that's here nor there. It wasn't long before I was engaging in some very questionable movies. I was in my apartment. It was during during during the Missions conference. And I had all these excuses why I couldn't make it to Missions conference. Well, the problem was not that I was so busy with work and all that. The problem was that I was watching, you know, questionable DVDs. And it was getting to the place where I didn't have any conviction, where I was just well, it's not, you know, pornography or anything like that. But it was getting very, very close and my spirit, my conscience was getting very, very weak until I got a movie from the library that I began to watch and it was there was no conviction when I began to see things that I that I am ashamed, you know, that I even got the DVD and I was, you know, I wasn't under heavy conviction. I just came to realization of how far and how quick you can go down a road that just totally causes God to leave your presence because God will not dwell in an unclean temple. I grabbed that computer. I wasn't under heavy conviction, just a realization that God wasn't there. God was not there. I grabbed the computer and I brought it into my car and I took it down to the park and I smashed it and I smashed it and I threw it into the river and when I did that, God's spirit came back and He was with me in my car and joy filled my heart again as I just renounced that and I said, God, I am sorry. I have let you down again but God was quick to forgive. He is faithful and He is quick but the flesh is deceitful. It is deceitful. And I just say this, you know, to maybe offer an encouragement or an admonition if there are some that are engaged in those questionable things with computers and, you know, movies and things like that. God has shown me the true wretchedness of my flesh and I am thankful for this body. I am thankful for the message that Brother Emanuel brought forth. That is my heart's desire for a deeper revelation of the knowledge of God for a visitation from the Holy One of Israel. And I have experienced God and I have experienced God and I want that freshness, that newness, that reality to be real every day. Every day. I ask for your prayers. In Jesus' name. Thank you, Dave, for sharing that. Someone else? Brothers or sisters? Very familiar verses that we all probably know quite well. 2 Chronicles 7 14, where God says that if my people, which are called by my name, speaking to his people, they shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face. And I was thinking too, Brother Merle, as you were sharing with our weekend in July, with Dale Gish here with us, those meetings that we had, and then with Brother Gerard here, and encouraging us and exhorting us to crawl under the burden of the Lord, as it were, and to seek him and to not let him go till he blesses us. God says, if they shall seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, there needs to be a repentance and a turning away. Says, then will I hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and will open the door, I will come in and I will sup with him and he with me. That's what God wants to do in our lives, each one of us. Anyone else feel led to share something here this morning? I might just give a word of encouragement here, if I may, exhorting us our experiences together. Experiences can come and go. Emotions can go up and down. What brother Emmanuel was talking about this morning is not just a good feeling, not just an emotion, that we feel good for a little while, but revival is walking with God. It's walking in the consciousness of the presence of the reality of God continually. And so I want to encourage us. You know, altar calls, yes, they have their place. It's a time to get up and confess and humble myself and acknowledge. And I'm not opposed to that, but I'm much more interested in what happens afterward. Because how we walk with God afterward, that's what makes the difference. And so I just want to encourage us this morning. Be not dismayed, but set your heart upon the Lord. He is a faithful God, and He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. And to those who keep knocking, the door shall be opened. To those who keep seeking, shall find Him. So dear Lord, yes, fondly, earnestly longing. Thank You, Lord, for what You've done in the past. I like what Paul said, the God who has delivered, who doth deliver, and will yet deliver. That's our God. Amen. Amen.