This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking God earnestly with a genuine heart, focusing on the need for compassion, purity of motives, and a deep seeking of God through prayer and fasting. It calls for a transformation in the lives of believers to reflect the heart of Christ, reaching out to those in need and being vessels of God's love and power in a society filled with evil and darkness.

Bless the Lord. Beloved, tonight we don't have a program. We don't have a program for Wednesday or Thursday night either. Every day, the leadership, we're just simply seeking God and saying, Holy Spirit guide us as to how you want us to pray and to what you want us to do. And this morning, in the time of prayer, the Lord spoke to our hearts and I believe I have a pattern. We have a pattern for what the Lord wants to do tonight. It's very different in a sense than anything we've done before, but I'm going to preach a message. It's called Bringing Revelation to Reality. And in this message, we're going to stop at intervals and pray about four times through this message. And there are elders that are going to come and lead us in prayer. You'll be asked to stand to your feet and we'll go to pray about these specific things. Now, the theme of this fast and the time that the Lord has brought us into is, Lord forgive us. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that you personally have done anything wrong, but we're gathering together to pray for the corporate testimony of Jesus Christ in this entire country, in the United States of America in particular. And I know for those listening on the internet, it applies to other countries as well. Remember when the children of Israel were in captivity and the Prophet Daniel began to pray, he included himself, even though he had not been there really for years and been part of it, but he included himself as part of the problem as well as part of the solution. And he said, Lord we have sinned against you and we have done this. And we are just simply agreeing sometimes on behalf of those who don't yet even know that they need to turn from a particular practice or perspective of God that they've gone astray. So we are coming as the body of Christ to the throne of God. Now remember these things. First of all, if you are Christian, you are clean. You are accepted as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. To have your heart and my heart searched by the Holy Spirit is never to condemn you. God does not condemn his own children. He will come because there's something in us or you or me that we don't see. But God already knows. He already knows it's there. It's no secret to him. He's not going to slap his forehead and tonight say, my goodness, I didn't know that person was like that. You know, he knows what's in us. He knows where we've gone three degrees or thirty degrees to the left or to the right in some aspect of our character. He knows that. We might not know it. And for some it can become a fearful thing to have the Holy Spirit search our hearts because we live under such condemnation as it is in such a hard world that the last thing we want is to come into the house of God and find another flaw in us because we're so aware of our flaws. But remember that God does it for good and not for evil. He does it to take us from a place where we are into a much nicer place, a more powerful place, a place where there's more of his life. So if you and I can see that, if we can understand it, it's like if you had a two-year-old that went under the sink and took out the Clorox and was about to drink it. And you came to your child and said, no, that's not very good. Let me take that from you. Let me give you a glass of orange juice. You might enjoy that a whole lot more. Now the child might whine and cry and think he's really being deprived of something. But as a parent you have more knowledge. You understand that what you're giving him is a whole lot better for his body, his well-being, than what he's got in his hand. And that's what God does with his church. So you don't have to be afraid of this kind of a message tonight. You can say, God, please, if there's anything in me that's hindering your life. If you're an honest Christian tonight, well, if you're a dishonest Christian, you have every reason to be afraid. But if you're an honest Christian, then you don't want to walk in dishonesty. And you say, God, please, if there's something there stopping your life, then I'm willing to have you show it to me. I'm willing to bring it to you. I'm willing to be forgiven. And I'm willing to be cleansed. Now realistically, it's not even held against you if you're an honest Christian. You are received as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. So please, I know it's a long preamble, but I I don't want anybody in here walking out with your head down, your hands heavy. This is a good day. This is a wonderful day. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Matthew chapter 17, please, in the New Testament. Matthew chapter 17, bringing revelation to reality. Now, Father, I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I pray, God, keep me into the parameters of what you want to speak. Don't let me go to the left or to the right of it. I only stand as a vessel in your hand, and I'm asking that you speak through this vessel. I'm asking, God, that the desires of your heart, Jesus, be satisfied tonight, that what you intended to accomplish be accomplished. Lord, I thank you for this anointing. I thank you, God, that you give an understanding of the Scriptures, and you give us the ability, Lord, to know that you've called us together as a body for what could be one of the most momentous times in our history. Oh, Jesus, God Almighty, I believe you intend on bringing revival to this city for a season, Lord. In your mercy, Lord, God, before we are judged, that you'll bring a wave of your glory and your mercy, Father. Help us to understand, Lord, that you're calling us as your people into agreement with your heart. I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Bringing revelation to reality, Matthew chapter 17, beginning at verse 1. After six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with them. Then answered Peter and said to Jesus, Lord, it's good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, Elias. And while he had spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him. When the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And just the first half of verse 9, And they came down from the mountain. Verse 14, And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him, saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he's a lunatic. And sore vexed, and oft times he falls into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to the disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. It's an incredible passage of Scripture, really, when you look at it. Peter, James, and John are taken up into a mountain, and in that mountain they're given a revelation that nobody, I suppose except for Adam, had ever had since the creation of man. They are seeing God in the flesh, in this body of a man called Jesus Christ, literally transformed into the image of God before them, and they're becoming aware he's not only fully man, he is also fully God. Moses and Elijah, both whom they knew to be dead, but now they begin to be very well aware are alive, are standing with him, representing the Law and the Prophets, and everything the Law and the Prophets spoke about was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. They're speaking about the death that he's about to accomplish at Jerusalem. They're now being given revelation of the cross, of the heart of God that was in God before even the world was established, before it was even founded. It was in God's heart to come and redeem his own creation. They're standing in this place of revelation. They're seeing this glory. They're seeing the power. They know he can raise the dead because the dead are standing before them. It's amazing revelation that they're being given. Peter is so enamored by it. He wants to build a tent and stay there forever. He wants to live there. He wants to live on the mountaintop as it is of revelation. They're getting revelation, folks, that comes to few in their lifetime. They're seeing these things, this incredible power of God resident, the purposes of God, that all the Law and all the Prophets are fulfilled in this man, and his name is the name above every name. They have to know this by this point. Then they come down from the mountain, and when they come down from the mountain, the other disciples are gathered around it. There's a man who's come, and he said, please, can you help me? I have a son, and another translation says, another one of the Gospels says, he has a dumb spirit, which means he's driven. He's driven into the fires of his uncontrolled passion. He's driven into the waters of confusion, and he can't speak. He doesn't know why, and nobody can give an answer. He doesn't know why he's doing what he's doing, and we can't stop him from doing it, but can you help? You've been with this man called Jesus Christ, and you have to have a knowledge of who he is and what he can do. Can you help my son? And the disciples standing around couldn't do anything, and it's a type of, I suppose, where we're living today. We're living in the church age where there's so much knowledge about. We have more teaching about Jesus Christ. We have tapes. We have ministries. You can turn on a radio. You can open a Bible. Some people have dozens in their home. You can get one at almost every corner of the city. You can open and read, and the knowledge is there, and people can quote scriptures to one another. We can memorize and study and hear the message of Christ and even have great revelation, but end up powerless to touch our generation. I feel the story is a type of what's in God's heart as he looks down on the church of our time, and I'm talking collectively of the whole testimony of God in Christ that's in his church, and he looks down, and we have a generation, folks. Is there any doubt in your mind that what's being described here is happening in our time? Young people being led into incredible passions. We're living in a... I hate to even look at any of the web pages of our modern news agencies because of all of the debauchery, all of the immorality that's now becoming almost normal. People led into the fires of passion. People led into the various waters of logical and spiritual confusion constantly, and I can hear the cry. It's a fading cry now because there's not much confidence left in the church. I don't know if you knew that or not, but society as a whole doesn't have a lot of confidence. Every time they turn on the television or any kind of the internet, they see some smiling-faced person saying, look, if you just play your cards right, you can be like me. Yet their sons and daughters are being driven into deeper darkness constantly, and I don't know if you hear it, but I hear a cry. I hear something in my spirit. There's so many widows out there, so many young mothers, so many people saying, God, please, can somebody help my children? Can somebody help me? Can somebody help my family? And here are the disciples, and they can't do anything. And you can see they're praying the prayers that they think they should pray, and they're doing the religious things they think they should do. They're doing it in Jesus' name, but nothing is happening. This kid is exactly the way he's always been. Jesus comes down, and this man finally, so fed up with trying to get some results from his own disciples, falls now at the feet of Jesus himself, and says, God Almighty, have mercy on me. And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and how long shall I suffer you? Oh, faithless. I don't think he's necessarily talking to this man. Now, this man, these are the children of Israel. This is the heritage of God, and this kind of captivity should not be there. But it's something beyond just this man and his condition of his son. I think he's thinking about the condition of his own disciples that have been walking with him. They've been, they know his miracle power. Folks, if you've been walking with God any amount of time now, you have to know his miracle power. Why are you even in your right mind tonight? Why were you, where did you get the power to walk away from former bondages? If you're an honest Christian, you have walked away. You have the memory of past hurts, but they're not dragging you through the streets any longer. They're not wounding you. You, you, you have a sense of hope and purpose in your life. You're moving forward in God. You do know the miracle power of God. You are aware of who you are in Jesus Christ. But he said, O faithless and perverse generation, and the word perverse really in the, in the Greek means it's, it's, it's a corrupted image. It's something that is turned away. It's something that is distorting the image of God. And he says, you have, you've lost faith and you've distorted my image. And folks, if ever, ever, that speaks of where we're at today. A lot of what calls itself Christianity, I suppose. It's a distorted image of God. It's distorted. It's these folks that are standing, and they're absolute thieves, many of them, standing in pulpits. And it's, it must be heartbreaking to God to see the masses that have been deceived by their rhetoric and robbed of everything. Doesn't much, not so much that they're robbed of finances. God can replace that. But they're robbed of the image of God. They're robbed of where the power of God really lies. And the disciples say, why, why couldn't we cast him out? Why? Why? Why? After all this time, we, we believe in Jesus. We believe in Your name. We believe, we've seen You feed multitudes. We've actually been in a boat and watched You calm the sea. We know what You can do. We were, we were called out of our place that we used to be. We're called into another place. We, we, we believe. But why couldn't we cast Him out? And this is a question that I think you and I, if we're going to stand in this generation, and we're going to make a difference, we have to ask this question. Lord, what, what, what's hindering me? And that's really what they're saying. God, what's hindering us? Now there are several, there are four things I want to talk about tonight that I see in the Scriptures. Number one, ambition and pride. Now they've just flopped in chapter 17. They have absolutely flopped. They've been called faithless and perverse, but they're not getting it. Chapter 18, verse 1, at the same, at the same time came the disciples to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now you could, you could rightly blame the disciples at the bottom of the mountain and say, well listen, they weren't with Jesus. They, they didn't, they didn't see the transfiguration. Peter, James, and John were there, but the other, the other disciples weren't there. But you notice that Peter, James, and John are not jumping into doing anything for this kid at the bottom of the mountain in spite of the revelation, in spite of the fact that they were called closer than others. They all seem to be in the same boat. They all seem to have fallen short of what the glory of God should be coming through their lives. But you see a clue to it in chapter 18. Who is the greatest? See, they're all focused on their own greatness still. Everyone is in this in measure for some kind of a reputation, for some kind of influence, some kind of authority. So they could get their name etched on a cornerstone of a decaying building somewhere. So they might be written in a history book. So what? What really does it matter in all of this? You know later on, remember James and John put their mother, I think they did, they put their mother up to kind of butting up to Jesus and saying, hey can you do me a favor? Can my son sit on your left and on your right and in your kingdom? It was in them. And folks, I suggest you in this generation, I suggest you strongly that ambition is in the ministry and pride is in the ministry all over this country. And it's driven a lot of pastors off into some kind of a spiritual space somewhere, so far from anything that represents Christ. Such a corrupted image of God standing because of pride and ambition. I got a letter this morning. I don't want to read it because it would implicate some people, but I can generalize it. A pastor wrote to me. It was just in a conference in a major city, in a stadium of all places. Pastors gathered from all over that major city and all of the speakers in that conference, not one a Bible-believing Christian. Not one. And he said, and it was all about success. And it's all these success and motivational speakers. Not one Christian man in that pulpit. Teaching the pastors of denominations, hundreds probably in that meeting, being taught by unsaved men. And this one pastor said, my heart was beating. My heart was breaking. I was saying in my heart, my God, does anybody see what I see? Does anybody understand what I understand? Where we've gone, what we've become. Because the ministry is driven by the lust for success as they see it. And success as the ministry sees it is a big house, a big car, a big name, a big ministry, and a big reputation. But I want to suggest to you, success in ministry is standing before the demon oppressed of this generation. And with the name of Jesus Christ, taking authority over every power of hell and seeing them released from the power of darkness. Let my name be forgotten. Let the name of Christ be honored in memory and be in people's memory forever. We need to ask the Lord's forgiveness tonight for the ambition and pride that has gotten into his house. Now it might not be your problem, but it is a problem. And if you can identify with it, if we can stand and say, God, please, God, please forgive your house. Forgive your ministers. God Almighty for the ambition and the pride that has gotten into the ministry. And it's so infecting the body of Christ that people have a completely distorted image of God. And because of it, there's no faith in the heart anymore. Because the work of God is not really the end result of why people are even gathering around what they believe to be the gospel of Jesus Christ. Would you stand please? Elder David, would you come? Lead us in prayer. Folks, your voice counts. You've got to come to before the throne of God with this and ask the Lord to forgive us for the ambition and for the pride. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Father, we come before you thanking you, Jesus, thanking you, Jesus, for opening up the word to our hearts, dear God, this evening. God, thank you for preparing our hearts, dear God, to receive what you would speak to your church this age. God, thank you. Thank you, Jesus, so much for your love and your mercy. God, that draws us, dear God, to repentance. Your goodness draws us to repentance, God. This is not part of a program. We're not repenting, dear God, because it's part of a list of a liturgical, dear God, sequence in our service, dear God. We repent, dear God, because your arms are open wide, because your heart is so stretched to us, dear God, because we see your holiness and your greatness. We see your heart, dear God, for the nations, and we see how far we've fallen, dear God, from your grace. We repent as a church age, oh God, Father, for misrepresenting you, oh God, and facing this generation without power, without an anointing, oh God, without Holy Ghost's backbone, oh God, to face the young people who throw themselves into the fires of passion, oh God, because there's a passion raging within our hearts, a passion of ambition, a passion of pride, oh God, to be seen, to be exalted before men, to be acknowledged before men. Forgive us, oh God. Forgive us, oh God. Jesus, forgive us, oh God. God, I see a people, a disciple coming down from the mountains thinking they're all that because you called them up to the high place, oh God, and I see disciples in the valley desiring, dear God, lusting for that position to be drawn into the mountain, oh God, forgetting that you shed your blood for each and every one of us, that your love is the greatest treasure we can ever embrace, oh God. Forgive us, Jesus. Bring us back to that place of acknowledging who we are in Christ Jesus, that we are your beloved, oh God, that we don't need to seek any other treasure but your presence, oh God. Cast us not away from your presence, oh God. We come before you, Jesus, asking that you cast us not away from your presence. Draw us back into the secret place. Draw us back into the shelter of the Almighty, where you satisfy the longing of our soul, where you embrace us, oh God, and that's sufficient. God, whether we have position, whether our church is bigger than any other, it's not about that, dear God. It's about being in Christ Jesus. Oh God, forgive us. Forgive us, dear God. One church looking to be bigger than the other, congregations seeking just to build themselves in numbers. God, instead of seeking your presence, God, we return back to you this hour. We come back to you, Jesus. We come back to your presence, oh God, your presence, where you could share your heart with us, where you could melt our hearts in your presence, oh God, for this lost and dying world, for the young people, for the older folk, for our neighbors, for our lost loved ones, dear God, for our co-workers, oh God. We come back to that place where you would melt our hearts, where you would just share your compassion with us, oh God, and let your cup overflow, dear God, within our hearts. Dear God, let your presence overflow within our hearts. Let us not be able to contain, dear God, the joy of the Lord, which is our strength. God, cause our cup to runneth over, God. Cause everyone around us to feel and to be drawn to your presence, oh God, because of what you've done in our life, because of our satisfaction in you, our contentment to be in you, Jesus. We thank you for forgiveness in your presence. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God, for what you're doing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Father, we pray for fruit in your kingdom, fruit in your church. God, you said this is the church that you are building. God, you are building your church. God, it's not up to us to build your church, dear God. It's not up to plans of man and schemes of man and strategies of man. You are the God who will build your church, oh God. We thank you, dear God, that there's gonna be fruit in the body of Christ Jesus, where one congregation that never spoke to another will embrace, dear God, one another once again and begin to cry out to you in one accord, dear God, for the lost and for this dying generation. God, we thank you for this, dear God. We yield our life now to prayer and fasting, to surrendering our life to you, to yielding our hearts and saying, God, shine the light upon our hearts. Expose the darkness, dear God. Expose whatever needs to be exposed. Cleanse us, wash us, empower us once again that your glory would be known to this generation. Is there not a cause, we say like David, is there not a cause that your name would be glorified, that they would see the Giants come down? God, bring down the Giants in our own heart and we give you the glory. We give you the honor because it belongs to you. In Jesus' name, thank you, God. Thank you, David. Praise God. Thank you. Thank you. You may be seated. Second reason why they had a difficult time, if not an impossible time, making a difference is because of unbelief. In Matthew chapter 17 and verse 20, Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, for at last I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you. Unbelief. Unbelief. Is it possible that unbelief comes into the heart? Because as Amos says in Amos chapter 3 and verse 3, how can two walk together except they be agreed? Is it possible that unbelief comes because our thoughts are not the same as God's? Our motives are not quite as clean sometimes as we think they are. Because of it, there's a lack of faith in the heart. Is it possible also that unbelief is in the heart because people win sometimes so little personal victory that how can they even start to believe in somebody else? Because they're still fighting so many battles. I want to suggest to you that it would be wise for you and I to start believing God now. At some point revelation has to translate into reality. We can come to the house of the Lord and agree that God will provide and we can all go amen. We can all clap our hands. But does that revelation, has it translated into reality in your life? Do you really believe that God will provide? Or is it just revelation? Because if it's just revelation and it's not reality, then how do you tell your neighbor what you don't really believe yourself? How do you stand in the hallway with a neighbor who's wondering how he or she's going to get through these coming days if you really don't believe that God is going to provide for you? You might say the words they stood there and said in Jesus' name come out, but nothing happens because there's unbelief in the heart that what God said He will do, He really will do. And I think it's wise for us to deal with this. I think we should be as the once man who came and was looking for freedom for his own child and he said Lord I believe, help my unbelief. I believe as much as I know how. God take me deeper, take me farther. God give me the grace to go against my own enemies. God I need, David could not face the giant until he faced the battles that were his own in secret places. I think it's time to start taking ground in our own hearts, our own homes, our own lives, our own minds. I think it's time to start believing God for one foot in front of the other in some areas where we have been paralyzed spiritually for years on end. It's time to win those victories and when you start winning those secret victories, those ones that nobody else but you and God knows about, then all of a sudden authority comes into your heart. Something comes into your mind. You begin to see God. I'm not required to know the whole Bible. I'm required to have faith as a grain of mustard seed. I'm required simply to believe what you've already shown me and if you've done it for me God, you can do it for somebody else. Is that not the gospel? Is that not the message of Christ? What God did for me, he'll do it for you. When I stand and say God has delivered me from fear, he delivered me from nine years of living in a hellish fear. If he did it for me, I believe he'll do it for you. I believe it with all my heart. But if I'm still taking Valium on the side and I'm not against if you have medication because you need it for some chemical condition, I'm not against those so please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. But if I'm still taking something on the side, where's my authority then to tell you God will set you free? No, I've got to win the battles in secret. I want to pray tonight that you and I have the courage to go into those secret battles that will never be public but God knows it and heaven knows it and win the fight there. Win the fight in the closet of prayer. Win that secret battle. Win that battle. Start walking in the power of God and watch faith like a grain of mustard seed come into your heart and suddenly you're standing against what used to be a mountain and now you realize, hey, this thing has no authority. This thing has no power. God is on the throne. God's word is in my heart. What God said he will do, he will do. Praise be to God. Brother Chooks, come pray with us please if you will. Would you stand? Let's pray that God give us the power to stand in our secret battles and deliver us from unbelief. Our Heavenly Father, we're so grateful that you've called us to come and worship you. But Father, we cannot worship you the way you will want to worship you if we do not stand to ask you, oh God, search our hearts. Search our hearts, oh God. Remove everything, oh God, that's unlike you. Remove every act of unbelief that's in us. Remove everything that has crippled our faith as we look up onto your face, oh God. Oh Jesus Christ, you are powerful. Father, we are not going to shout at you. We are not going to shout at you any moment. But we are asking that once again that the mercy and your grace which we extended, oh God, at the valley of that place, oh God, to touch the demon-possessed child that once again you show us that mercy. Show us that mercy, oh God. We are coming to you as a church age, oh God. Confessing of our sins of unbelief, depending too much of our strategy, oh God. Depending too much on our own plans, oh God. Depending too much on the things that we can do for ourselves, removing you entirely. And that we have allowed this to spill over onto the society, oh God. That the society has chosen to remove you, Jesus. And that we come, oh God, to accept the society's norms, oh God, as the way of life. Oh Jesus, we are asking that once again that you empower us. You empower us with your belief system. You empower us where we can stand and say to them, oh God, that what they are doing is wrong because of who we know you are, oh God. Oh Jesus Christ, we call upon you, oh God. We call upon you tonight, oh God. We call upon you every moment of our lives, oh God. That you come with your might and your power, oh God. To dissolve everything, Jesus Christ, that stands against your testimony, oh God. Because we've all witnessed every benefit of yours, oh God, coming into our lives, Jesus. We thank you, mighty God, because we are here because of who you are. You are a merciful God. You are a merciful God, Jesus. You are a merciful God. You are a very kind God. You are a wonderful God that has transformed us, oh Jesus. Let us see your face, oh God. A glow in this assembly, oh God. Oh Jesus Christ, may we live here, Jesus, oh with your face, oh God. Glowing upon our hearts, oh God. That we'll be able to say that our God is a good God, that he has changed us, and that he has power, he has power, he has power to change anyone who comes unto him, oh God. Father, we repent. We repent, oh Jesus, for who you are, Jesus. We can never be who you want us to be, oh God, because we are too much, you know, into our own selves. But I'm asking once again, once again to have mercy, once again to have mercy upon us, once again for us to see that the wars of yesterdays, oh God, have been fought and defeated by you, oh God. Father, you are the source of our victory, oh God. Oh Jesus Christ, we thank you. We thank you for the belief that you will still in us this day, oh God. That we will leave this house this day, oh God, being empowered, oh God, by you, oh God. Oh Jesus, that we will see your light, oh God, shine once again in our hearts, oh God. We will see your burning desire, oh God, as a way of life, oh God, because we love your name, oh God. Oh Jesus Christ, our experience with you is more than enough. Oh Jesus, you show this to us, oh God. When, when Peter and John, oh God, met the man of the game called Billiful, Jesus Christ, they say silver and gold, they have none. But all that they have is your name. With that belief established in your name, oh God. They say that the lame must walk, oh God. Oh Jesus Christ, we are coming to you this night, oh God. With that belief that when we use your name, oh God, the blind must see, oh God. The deaf must hear, Jesus. Oh Jesus, the deaf must hear, oh God. Oh, the oppressed must be set free, oh God. The demonic must be healed, oh God. Oh, the fatherless must find comfort in your house, Jesus, and they'll be shut of victory in your house, oh God, because you are our God of victory, Jesus. We are not going to cower before the devil, oh God, because Jesus Christ is your power that is making the difference in our lives, oh God. Oh Jesus, come once again. Come once again and be glorified in your house. Be glorified in your house, oh Jesus. Oh Jesus, we thank you. We thank you, oh God. We thank you for what you are about to do because you've called us to fast and pray, oh God. You've called us to fast and pray. Jesus Christ, the pastor did not come with this idea, it's your idea. Father, you have the blueprint. We have nothing but to follow you, oh God. Give us all that it takes, oh God, to stay, oh God. Asking you to touch us, to touch us, oh God. That when we stand, may we stand in your power, oh God. May we preach, may we preach with your power, oh God. May the gospel that we preach, oh God, carry the power, oh God, that brings healing, oh God, to the hearers, oh God. Oh Jesus, I just want to thank you. Be glorified in this house tonight, oh God. Let everyone here this day experience the wonderful touch of Jesus Christ because Jesus, you are a good God and we proclaim blessing upon everyone here this night who wants to know who Jesus is. That your word, oh God, will be able to search our hearts, oh God, and remove every adder of unbelief and set us free, oh God, from our yesterdays fears, oh God. And then we'll be able to pluck us into the hands of the victorious king of kings because Jesus Christ, you are God. We just want to bless your holy name because you are a good God. We thank you in Jesus' mighty name. Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Now, Father, we take authority now in the name of Jesus Christ over every weapon of hell and darkness that has been formed against any child of God in this house and those that are listening by the internet. Satan, we resist you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and make a declaration. God almighty, we're asking you now, God, to free everyone who's troubled in their mind. Free those that are troubled in their body. Free those, God, that have lived under a lie that they can go this far and no farther. God almighty, you have a mighty army. You have a body. You have a bride in the earth in this generation. We speak to the mountains that the enemy has set before us. And in the name of Jesus, we command you to move, move, move out of the way, move out of the way of the church of Jesus Christ. We speak to every mountain, every darkness, every valley of hell, every demonic power, every weapon of evil. We command you to move in the name of Jesus Christ. Move, move back, move out of the way. We stand against you. You have no authority. You have no right to this city. You have no right to our youth. You have no right. We command you in the name of Jesus Christ to be moved. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you for victory. Thank you for victory. Thank you, God, for victory. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Oh, God, we praise you! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Glory to God! We're broken through! We're through! We're through! Every barrier, every mountain, we're through! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're through! Praise God! Praise God! Praise God! Please be seated. Number three, reasons why they couldn't make a difference in their generation at this particular time. These are reasons that the Lord spoke to my heart. The lack of a proper motive. Matthew chapter 9 verse 36 tells us that Jesus saw the multitudes and he was moved with compassion because they were like sheep that had no shepherd. Matthew chapter 14 verse 14 again tells us that he saw the multitudes and was moved with compassion and he healed their sick. I'm not convinced that our motives are always pure. I'm not convinced that everything we do is born out of a heart of compassion. Something that comes from the very heart of God. I'm not convinced of this. I'm not convinced of it in my own heart, let alone yours. I do know that if I ask God that he will give me his compassion, that reaching out to fallen humanity will have no hidden objective in it. It might be an objective that's hidden to my heart, but not to the heart of God. I want to be moved with compassion. I don't want to be moved by the sense of just wanting to win the argument or win the moment or appear to be successful or to have, not to have somebody just walk away and it looks like I've gone down in defeat in that particular effort to reach out. No, I want to be moved with compassion because that's who Christ is and if Christ is in me, he's still moving with compassion to the multitudes that don't have a shepherd. I don't want to look at the kids in the streets of this city and be annoyed with them, with all of the profanity and the cursing and swearing and the fighting that's going on now. I don't want to be annoyed. I want to be moved with compassion. I want to see young people that have no shepherd. I've seen more than one time love won the day. I remember when I was a young Christian, I was invited to take somebody else's place at an outreach. I don't know if I'd ever spoken before up to this point. I agreed to go to this outreach and when I got there, I found the whole room was filled with people who were in a halfway house. They'd all been released from prison. Most were not Christian. There were about, if I remember correctly, there were 21 people there, but it may, for me in those days, it may as well have been a million. I was just as nervous before two as I was before 21. And I didn't know what to say to them. I wasn't a preacher at that time. I was just a brand new Christian. But I got up and I began to weep and all I said to them is, I only know one thing, God loves me so much and God loves you. I said, in spite of what you've done, where you've been, he's willing to forgive you. I didn't know anything else other than John 3 16. I could preach it from every possible angle that come into my mind. And surprisingly enough, I felt the love of God in my heart for these men and women in this room. And surprisingly to me, I saw the tears start to come and the weeping start to come and the brokenheartedness start to come. And a great, great victory was won in that room that day. All but one surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ. And then we had a testimony meeting. My wife, Teresa, was there with me. And I remember this one man in particular, he stood up and said, I am, now I'm a, I'm a cop at this time. And he stood up in that meeting and said, I am in court charged with armed robbery. I have pleaded not guilty. He said, but I want you to know tonight, I did it. And he said, if you remember that, and he said, if Christ can do this for me, the least I can do for him is my time. I'll do my time. I'm going to go to court and say, I did it, but I'm a new man. I found Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. Elder John, come lead us in prayer. If we would all stand, let's pray. God move us with compassion, move us into the city with compassion, move us into our families with compassion, move us God with compassion. Father, we thank you Lord. God, your word says that in all our afflictions, you are afflicted. God, you're a God of compassion. God, you relate with us because God, you were broken for us. Lord, you were wounded for us. Lord, you feel our infirmities and God, sometimes God was so short of compassion. God, because we're so afraid God to go through pain. We're so afraid to go through failure, but God, sometimes it takes God failing in order to be an encouragement to others that fail. God, sometimes it takes God being broken. Sometimes it takes being stepped on, Lord, being rejected. God, that we could have compassion upon others. God, we can be so prideful. We can be so self-righteous that time, and we see others fail. We see others fall. God, and we can have compassion upon them. God, because we first have to experience it, God. God, I ask that you will come tonight. Lord, and that you will break us, Father. Lord, break our hearts, O God, that we can see out of broken hearts, God. God, that we can see out of wounded hearts, God. God, there are people all around us. God, in our very jobs, in our very neighborhoods. Lord, in our very families, God. Lord, that are hurting. God, let compassion come into our hearts, O God. Let your love saturate, God, our hearts, O God. Let us see as you see them, Lord. God, we've been seeing with our own eyes for too long. God, thank you for what you're doing in our hearts, O God. God, thank you that this is your word that's coming to us, God. Lord, this is not the word of a man. This is the word of God. God, forgive us, God. We've been so caught up in prosperity, God, that we've forgotten the poor, Lord. God, forgive us for seeking to prosper. God, come and touch us once again. God, touch our hearts. Lord, melt our hearts, God. Let your love come, Father, and God, thank you that even tonight, God. God, you're moving upon our hearts, O God. Lord, you're doing something, God. Lord, you're changing us. Lord, you're transforming us. God, you're giving us love. God, you're giving us compassion. God, thank you. God, I pray for those, God, who work in difficult places. God, who work with people that are difficult, O God. God, I pray, God, that you would help them, God, to see their co-workers, Lord, in a different way, Lord, God. Lord, sometimes people can rob us the wrong way, but God, I ask that you will give us compassion, God. God, that we could call people aside, God, and begin to pray with them, that when we see co-workers, Lord, coming in, Lord, discourage, Lord, downcast, that we could call them aside and say, let us pray, let us pray, God is able, God loves you. God, do it, do it, God. We get so easily offended, God. We get so easily belittled, though, God, but God, thank you that tonight, God, you're changing our hearts, O God. God, starting tonight, starting tonight, God, when we wake up tomorrow, God, let us look forward, God, to praying for people, to loving people, to having compassion. God, do it in me, do it in me, God, more and more, God, and we thank you for what you're doing. God, we see your glory. We see your glory, God. We see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ, God. God, thank you so much. We praise you. God, we thank you. We give you glory, Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah, Jesus. Praise God. If you'd be seated just for the last time. Talking about the reasons why these disciples at this particular juncture in history were having little effect in the situation with this young man, the last reason the Lord spoke to my heart is an in earnest seeking of God, seeking of God that's not according to the depth of heart that God requires from us as his people. In verse 20 of Matthew 17, he talks about if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, and you can say to this mountain, remove from here to another place, it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible to you. However, or how be it, verse 21, this kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting. This kind, when society has gotten to the place where there's no longer any control, when society has gotten to the place where passion is guiding and governing the lives of the people, unbridled and unholy passion, we're there, folks. This is an evil time. You know it and I know it. We're living in an evil time. We're now at the juncture in our present day when evil is being called good and good is being called evil. There's a very, very quick turning in this society away from all that is godly and turning into worshiping, for lack of a better word, what is ungodly. This kind doesn't come out but by prayer and fasting. But that doesn't mean that we can just go without food for two days or three days and then all of a sudden everything's going to be right. No, the prayer and fasting speaks of the depth of the seeking of God. It speaks to me of a desperation. It speaks to me of you and I coming to the throne of God and saying, Lord, I want my heart to be like yours. God, I want to be used as a catalyst in your hand to make a difference in my generation. God, I want these people to come out of captivity. I want to see freedom among people and I want to see your name glorified above every other name in our world and our society today, oh God. And I'm willing to throw my life into this cause. It's much more than just fasting. It's coming to God with an earnestness in our hearts and saying, Lord, whatever it costs me, I'm in to this fight for righteousness. I'm in it, God, not for my sake but for the sake of others. I'm in it, Lord, so that the people around me don't have to end up in hell. I'm in it so that your name might be glorified in the earth. I'm in it, God, Lord, so that I might be changed from image to image and glory to glory. I'm in this, God, for wherever you want to lead me in my life and whatever you call me to do. I'm not going to draw back through unbelief, Lord. I'm not going to say it can't be done if you called me to do it. I'm not going to say it can't be spoken if you called me to speak it. I'm not going to say this person can't be touched if you called me to touch them in a holy way for the name of God. I'm not going to back away, God, from wherever you send me and whatever you ask me to do. I'm asking, Lord, that your name be glorified. I'm asking, God, that you begin to set people free. I'm asking, God, that there be dancing of our children in the temple one more time. I'm asking, God, that the young men and women be given a reason to live and be given a hope for the future. I'm asking, God, that you do something in me and do something through me, God, that will glorify your name. I'm coming to you with fasting. I'm coming to you with prayer, but I'm not just coming for you to do something outside of me. I'm coming for you to do something in me and do something through my life for the glory of your name. Isaiah 58, the people were saying to God, how come we fast and it's as if you don't even care? They said, how come we fast and it's like you take no notice? Why are we afflicting our soul and you're not even interested in what we're doing? And the Lord answered them and said, because you fast for strife and debate and to make your voice to be heard on high. You fast because you want to be known as the ones that brought revival into your community. You want to be known as holy. You want to write the book on how it's done so everyone else will follow and look and say, whoa, isn't that great? You want to have seminars. You want to teach everybody how to do it. You fast to make your voice to be heard on high. But he said, this is not the fast that I've chosen. The fast that I've chosen is that you undo the heavy burdens. You let the oppressed feel free. You see the naked. You cover him. You visit those that are in prison and you don't hide from your own flesh. And he said, if you do this, then you call upon me and I'll say, here I am. He said, then my glory will break out all around you. I'll be before you. I'll be behind you. And he said, you will have great success in what I send you to do. And I'm paraphrasing, but this is what it says in Isaiah 58. And you'll raise up a whole other generation and you will be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of paths to dwell in. He said, this is the fast I've called for. That you throw your life in with your prayers, for lack of a better way of putting it. I don't want to in earnestly seek God. I don't want to just do it out of some, the Pharisees fasted. But what good did their lives do? Other than serve as a bad example in the gospels. They did nothing. They fasted. They tithed. They did all the religious things that they're supposed to do, but their hearts weren't in it. They were far, far from the heart of God. They didn't care if the whole world died around them, as long as they had fancy robes, a nice home and a great seat in the house of God. The rest of it, they didn't care about. But they would fast and they would do all of these things and they would tithe and they would offer long prayers for a pretense, but they would devour widows houses at the same time, according to the words of Jesus Christ. No, no. I don't want an in earnest seeking of God. It has to be for real. It has to be true. It has to be according to the heart of Christ and it will always lead to people. It will always lead to human need. You seek God, you're always going to find that he's going to be leading you somewhere to somebody who has no helper. He's going to be leading you to somebody who has no food, if you don't do something to help him to eat. He will always be leading you to someone who's depressed and crying out. And you don't hear that cry, but God hears the cry and he knows what every person is thinking on the street. And when you begin to seek him in earnest, you'd be surprised what he begins to open up in your mind and in your heart. The giftings of God begin to flow. Words of knowledge and encouragement begin to come. Words of wisdom come through your life and you begin to realize, hey, it's another life being lived through mine now. The work of God is going on through me. I am part of the church, the true church of Jesus Christ in the earth. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. No, no. We're not going to go out in the street on September 20th and ask God to come down, do some marvelous thing, and everybody just go back to doing their own thing. It doesn't work that way. You and I are going to be thrown in with our prayers. Praise God. What a privilege it is. What a life it is. What an awesome life. Elder Donovan, if you would come. Let's stand one more time. We're going to pray that we seek God in earnest these three days, and then we're going to sing. Greg, if that's okay. We need to rejoice tonight because the Lord is answering your prayer. You must have a sense in your heart that God is hearing us and God is answering your prayer. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus, you're good. You're merciful. You're kind. You're wonderful. You're a good God. Father, you've called us forth to pray, to pray for this city, to pray for this nation. On September 20th, oh God, we're going forth and we will be praying prayers of faith. You've called for a people who will pray in faith because you are saving God. You're a God who heals. You're a God who delivers. Tonight, God, we thank you that you're still in the business of saving people. Oh God, we ask you to energize our hearts. Motivate us, oh God. Do something in our lives to bring us to that place where we'll recognize God. Our one aim, our true desire ought to be to see your kingdom established, to see your glory expanded, to see your name exalted. You're good, God. You're good, and we just declare it tonight. Father, we just want to thank you that tonight, oh God, you're exposing to our hearts even areas of our lives, God, that need to be brought into order. We ask you to forgive us. Forgive us, oh God, for seeking you in the wrong way. Forgive us, oh God, for fasting in the wrong way. Forgive us, oh God, for trying to follow liturgical formulas. Forgive us, oh God, for doing things according to rote. Oh Father, in a mechanical way, in a way, God, that seems to work for other people. Oh God, but our hearts are not right before you. We ask you, God, to forgive us. Forgive us, oh God, because before we can see things happen in the lives of this nation, of this generation, of young people, of single mothers, of seniors, of the poor, of the homeless, oh God, before change can occur, it has to happen in us. And so touch our lives, oh God. Touch our lives. Father, we repent. We repent, oh God, because even as believers, we have not put each other first. Even as believers, we will confess that we don't like this one. Even as believers, oh God, there'll be envy, and spite, and jealousy, and anger in our hearts. Even as believers, oh God, and as spouses, sometimes we refuse to forgive our spouses. Sometimes on unforgiveness and bitterness, oh God, even just consumes us. Father, we repent tonight. We repent, oh God. We ask you to give us your heart. Oh Jesus, you declared that your heart was for the stranger, the homeless, the naked, the sick, the depressed. Oh God, that you wanted, oh God, for us to visit the sick, for us to minister to the prisoners, and oh God, even as the young people of this generation are caught up, caught up, oh God, because the spirit of this age has thrown them into the fire. The spirit of this age has tried to drown them. God, we ask you to give us a heart of compassion. Give us a heart that would reach out, oh God, even as the water of depression and discouragement, the water of anguish, of unbelief, the water, God, of abuse and desperation, the fires of passion and unbridled lust, the fires of anger, the fires of violence. All of these things are seeking to consume this generation, but you declare, oh God, that a generation will seek you. You declare, oh God, that you have raised up for this time a generation that will be called by your name, and so God, we ask you to give us a heart that will agree with you, a heart, oh God, that will be burning, burning, God, to see change come in the lives of people around us. So move us now, God. Move us to touch those in our neighborhood. Move us to be kind at home, at work, at school. Move us to be generous to the poor, to the homeless. Oh God, move us, oh God, so that unkindness, oh lack of generosity will no longer be named among us. Oh God, change your people. Oh God, we ask your forgiveness. Forgive us, Lord. We want to see your glory come down. Let your glory come down. Oh Jesus, Jesus, we want to praise you tonight, God. We want to thank you that you know the end of the story. It doesn't end here, God. It ends with you getting praise, all the honor, all the glory, all the praise. Oh Jesus, we thank you for this. We thank you that you will be lifted up. You have the last laugh. You, oh God, will be glorified. We thank you for this. We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you God. The end result of an honest dealing with God is always joy and strength. Joy and strength comes when we are met with Him face to face. We have agreed with God. We've let Him touch our lives where they need to be touched. The end result is always joy and strength. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you God. You have reason to be happy tonight. The Lord is here. The Lord is speaking to us. We'll meet again tomorrow night at 7 o'clock. And again, there is no agenda. If the prayer meeting is over at 8.30, it's over. We won't drag it out. But thank God for His presence. Thank God that He's speaking to us and guiding us. Father, I pray Lord now that you bless everyone on the way home. Keep us safe from all harm. Father, give us opportunities Lord to be a vessel for good in your hand. Lord, take us way beyond our natural borders now of this human body and experience and God, let the life of Christ begin to be manifested in us. Lord, let us feel, Lord, tenderness in our hearts, even on the way home tonight, just seeing people who are lost and confused and hurt, that we would see them with your eyes now, Jesus. God help us to be salt and light in this city. We thank you for it with all our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen.