In this sermon, the speaker shares his personal journey of discovering his calling to be an evangelist. He emphasizes the need for churches to embrace the different gifts and functions within the body of Christ. The speaker also highlights the spiritual battle that is taking place in our culture, as the forces of evil seek to disintegrate the Judeo-Christian ethic. He encourages believers not to draw back in the face of this battle, but to move forward with the Lord, allowing Jesus to work in their lives and demonstrate His power through their good works. The sermon concludes with a reminder that Jesus Christ is not yet ruling in the world as He desires, but there is hope and anticipation for what God has in store.

I was reading in the Psalms this morning, back in Psalms 78, a passage that the Lord just brought to mind when I woke up this morning. If you remember when God was leading Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land, there was a verse in verse 9 that just was, to me it's always been a staggering verse, and I'd like to start off today reading this verse, and it's this. The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. Heavenly Father, we just thank you now for this time to be here with you. We praise you and we worship you. From the rising of the sun to the setting down of the same, the name of the Lord is to be praised. You are worthy of all praise and honor. Father, we pray that you take out of our life all self-will, all self-effort, and all self-glory. That all of our will would be tied in and absorbed in your will, and that all of our efforts would be the effort and the working of the Holy Spirit, and that all the glory would be thine, for thou art worthy of all the glory and all the honor. And now, Father, I pray that you'd open up our ears to hear. We pray for anointing by your Spirit upon our ears, and upon our hearts, that we would not be hard, that we would not turn back in this day of battle, and that our lives would be lived for the glory of God, that we wouldn't come down off the cross. Father, I pray now that you would anoint my tongue to speak, and I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. I have so many things in my heart this morning to share, but it's comforting to know that God will lead us along. This is one of those days that God's just changing me. I had some things I was going to share, but I always stay open to the Holy Spirit. And last night, as I was getting dressed for some company, the Lord, I was listening to a verse in Hebrews. It's just like, you know, you're listening along, and God just knocks you on the head, boing, there, take that one, what do you think? And that one just stuck out, and, you know, it's one of those verses you hear all the time, but it was this one, in Hebrews 10.38, Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Just that one verse along. Now, we know the context is talking about those that hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, because he says in verse 39, But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. You see, my friend, you could be close to salvation, but not saved. You could be around all there is of Christ, by being in a church and being around other Christians, but yet not have had that life-changing change in your heart. You have not been born again by the Spirit of God. You see, the scripture says, But as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. One of the things, when I go into a church, I watch to see for the leading of the Spirit of God in the leadership and in the lives of those that I talk with. Now, I don't look for perfection. We're all human, and we make mistakes and things, but I look for the leading of God in the life. And the scripture says, The just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. I went over and looked that word up in the Greek real quick, and I looked over at J. Vernon McGee's commentary on that drawback, and I like what he said about that, how he brought the Greek out and the meaning of that. It means to draw in the sale. Let me tell you, we are going into some tremendous days ahead. Now, we can focus on all of the bad stuff that's going to be coming, and I don't think we've seen anything yet. As a matter of fact, I just grabbed the paper to the radio station as I came in here. I got it right here, and it says, Arab leaders call for peace. Now, let me tell you something. They do not intend for peace. They've always said one thing, and they mean another thing. They mean to take Israel. Israel's not theirs. The legal title deed, if you have a Bible, you hold a copy of the title deed, is Israel's. It says, Cairo, Egypt. Arab leaders urge Israel to prove its commitment to peace by resuming negotiations without delay, then begin Saturday to confront Arabs' other difficult disputes among themselves, and it goes on and on and on. What's going to be happening in the next few days, maybe, months, probably for sure, is going to be just awesome. We have the witness of the Spirit of God that things are coming in now, and I'm excited. I don't like tough times. You know, I like things to work right. I like the lawnmower to work right, and when you get in your car, you want it to run right. But things are not running right, because Jesus Christ is not the Lord yet. He can be the Lord in your heart, but He's not ruling in this world the way that He wants to, and we're heading for some things. Israel is the key. You watch Israel. But there's something that I believe God has for us personally. What are we to do as we go into these troublesome times? Friday, I was up in Kansas City at a pastor seminar, and I was not up there as a pastor. God's called me to work in evangelism, and as a matter of fact, we're going to make some changes in the radio broadcast here. We're going to get a new Find Thine Own Eagle's Wings tape, so I can cut that intro and outro. Everybody likes that. God has just been confirming things that He's showed us years past, how He wants us to work in an evangelistic ministry. You know, when I first went off to Bible college, I knew in my heart that God wanted me to be an evangelist. But after being in there six years, I come out thinking God wanted me to be a pastor, because they didn't teach me the functionings of the different gifts and everything. Everybody's just lumped like into one mold, and it just set me off on another track. But God has just so confirmed in the last few months what He wants for me and my family, I am excited. Matter of fact, I'll try to get back on these trails I've been going, but I want to thank you for praying. We have been going through in the last seven weeks a tremendous interesting thing in our lives, in my life especially. And I told Carol when I came in here this morning, and I'm still not convinced that this whole thing isn't just spiritual, that I've been knocked out of commission the last seven weeks. I've been, I preach as God gives me opportunity. If not, I pray. If He wants me to work, I work. I like to work, but it just seemed like my body has just been having to go. This is a change of life, huh? Just haven't been able to do it. My hands had broke down to where I couldn't work with a carpenter. So when I couldn't do that, I just went to praying. I went to interceding. And when I did that, something really happened. What you might say, the bottom fell out. But I had such a change in my body to where in the last few weeks I haven't been able to even function some days with my head hurting so bad. And this week they gave me an MRI. We've been following God and had the praying by the elders and anointing with oil and just been following the Lord. And so they gave me an MRI. My doctor's been very concerned maybe that I had a tumor. And so we had the MRI and they took some neck x-rays and things. Well, the MRI, I could have told them there's nothing up there. And sure enough, there was nothing up there, you know, abnormal. So we're going on, and you just pray for me. Sometimes, like right now, I have sort of like a tingling and a hurting right up on the top of my head. But some days I just can't even function at all. But I am convinced that God is up to something, and we are moving ahead. And this is why I believe this message today is so important for you. We'll get back to it now. God is moving ahead, and he's fixing to make, and he is doing it now. And he's making a paradigm shift in the church. And at this pastor seminar Friday, Mr. Gothard shared with the pastors and had a little time to talk to him about this paradigm shift. What I see is that God is wanting to move the church back to a more biblical basis of operation with the foundations being built upon the apostles and the prophets and having the elders functioning. And now, what you've been coasting along for the last few years is not going to work if you don't move with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is shifting the church to another paradigm. And a paradigm is this. If you remember years ago, those of you that are older, I remember the first McDonald's that came out in our town, and it stayed there for years and years. It may still be there. I think it is the original one with the old golden arch and stuff like that. And I don't recommend McDonald's by saying this. I think you could find some better hamburgers. But listen, they understood something about marketing their product, and that was get people to drive in and get their food. And because they jumped on that, that was a paradigm shift in the food area. And so they got ahead on that, and they've been successful. God is doing a paradigm shift in the church. What has worked in the past is not working anymore. The world is not impressed by the churches. The world is not impressed by all the meetings and the churchianity and all this stuff. Matter of fact, the world is mad and angry because there is no power there. They just hear words. They just see all these things. They hear all the sermons, but there is no power in the church. They will not receive it, and they will attack. And there's going to be coming a purging and a cleansing. And if you're not careful, you're not going to move with the paradigm shift that the Holy Spirit is doing now in the church. I don't know what all is going to happen. I don't know what all is involved. I do know this. I am committed to go all the way with what God shows me. I'm not turning back. Ephraim, being armed in the day of battle, turned back. And God was just really ministering to me. Even as I came here this morning, I was able to meditate on these Scriptures. My wife came with me, so I could sit over there and meditate on these Scriptures in the Psalms. And God was just, you know, three times. Three times in that Psalm 78, that turning back is mentioned about Israel. And I want to take you over to Psalms 102 here, quick. I hope I don't get too many bunny trails here. But listen, I don't think any of this is bunny trails. The Spirit of God is speaking to the church today. And if we don't listen, we're going to get left behind. And it's not going to be good for us. By the way, if you're walking in the light, God gives you some light and some revelation on something. If you turn back, you're going to go back into darkness. You keep walking in the light because Jesus is going on ahead. And the only way we go with Him is to stay in the light that He gives us. If we turn back and go back into the darkness, we go back into confusion. And the church that does not listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying, or the believer today, is going to be confused by what's happening in the future. Let me tell you, God is doing some tremendous things in this country. All we hear is the bad news and everything, but God is doing some tremendous things. You know, there was one town in Brookhaven, Mississippi, that God just impacted in the last couple weeks. There were about 70 or 80 homeschooling fathers in the ATI program that went down there and served that community. They went down and worked on widows' homes. I read some of the men from this area, some of the couple of roofers I know for sure, went down there and worked for a week helping widows. Do you know that that so impacted that town that they were open to the gospel? The whole town, the leaders, the mayor, invited these men to come in. And God's doing something down there, and He's beginning to do that around this country. But if we're not, and this is the principle of doing good works. We go in and do good works. What do we want to do today? As Mr. Gothard told us Friday at the pastor's seminar, we want to do good sermons. They're not interested in our sermons. They're interested in seeing Jesus working in our lives. And by the good works of these fathers and the families that went down there, the community was just overwhelmed and was open to what God was wanting to say to them. It's just the beginning. And He's beginning to do this around the world. Let me tell you, I believe we have high places in our churches today. We have high places. As a matter of fact, I'm going to get to that in the Psalms, if I don't get sidetracked too much here. We have high places where Jesus Christ is not the Lord in many of our churches. Back into Psalms 38, these three places, first of all. In verse 9, Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. This is where the church is. We are armed to the hilt. We have all we need in Christ Jesus to defeat the devil. And if He's not being defeated in your life, in your church, then there's something wrong. You're not doing it right. If you've got all the weapons you need in Christ to defeat the enemy and He's not defeated, then there's something wrong. That doesn't mean that He doesn't continue to attack and whatever, because we're in a battle, we're at war. Listen to this one in verse 41. Yea, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. Our turning back will limit God from working in our life. The just shall live by faith. We move ahead by faith and we don't turn back. Listen to this one. He fed them, and you know all this stuff. He fed them in verse 57. But turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. And if you can imagine this, it says in Psalm 78 verse 54. And He brought them to the border of His sanctuary, even to His mountain which His right hand had purchased. He cast out the heathen also before them and divided them as an inheritance by line and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God and kept not His testimonies, but turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger with their high places and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images. One of the most dangerous places in our church, in our country today for a Christian, is in a church where they have the high places. The youth are not safe if there's a high place of rock music in that church. The youth, the family's not safe in a church if there is a high place of tradition that is just like the tradition that Jesus met up. They're going to do what they want to do because they've always done it this way. And they are not open to the Holy Spirit to lead in the church. To lead through the pastor and the elders. If we're not open to the Spirit of God, that becomes a dangerous place and we may have a high place. Listen to this. Let's go over to Psalms 102. I want to share this with you. This is so good because this is where I've got some fresh off the press news articles from Israel. I get a direct line from a Jewish man in Israel. This probably came from last week from Israel. Israel's the key. And this Psalm 102 talks about God building up Zion. When God begins to build up Zion, then we better watch. Our redemption's drawn nigh. The Lord's coming back soon. We don't know when and where and all of that. But just before He comes, there's going to be some tremendous things that happen with Israel. Listen in Psalms 102 and verse 16. When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory. I believe God is beginning to build up Zion right now. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer. This shall be written for the generation to come. And go back to Psalms 22 and verse 30, there's a reference to this also. And also Isaiah 43, 21. You can write those down. Psalms 22, 30 and Isaiah 43, 21. But this shall be written for the generation to come. And the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. For He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary from heaven to the Lord. Behold the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner. To loose those that are appointed to death. To declare the name of the Lord in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem. When the people are gathered together in the kingdoms to serve the Lord. Well, we don't have time to go into all the eschatological ramifications of this passage. But let me tell you this part about it. When God begins to build up Zion, then we need to pay very close attention. The Arab nations are getting all stirred up to attack Israel. When Israel is attacked, then you watch out. You watch out. It's going to affect the whole world. It's going to affect us. We need to learn how to pray. We need to know what a church is. By the way, Charles Finney said, If the presence of God is in the church, the church will draw the world in. And what he meant by that? That if the presence of God is in your life as a believer. You will draw the unsaved. Those that have a heart and a hunger for reality. You will draw to Jesus through Jesus living in your life. I really like the way one German girl said this the other day. That shared with us. Came over from Germany. Two girls came over from Germany to give a witness to the church in America. To this particular church I was in in Kansas City. They came. They didn't know they were going to be talking to a lot of pastors there. At the lunch hour. They just come in. They said, We are dead in Christ. Christ lives His life through us. We are buried and we are raised to walk with Him. And I thought, Wow, that's the cross. That's the testimony of the cross. And then they gave a challenge to that church. That's why they came. So they gave the challenge to the pastors. To walk in Christ like they were walking. I thought, That is really an amazing testimony. A couple of teenage girls coming over from Germany to give that message. And then Charles Finney went on to say, If the presence of God is not in the church. Listen. If the presence of God is not in the church. The world will draw the church out. My friend, there is a paradigm shift going on now. The Holy Spirit is moving out of many of the churches. By the way, I was thinking about this coming. How in the past I was sitting in the church. In a church just listening to the Spirit. Ministering and working and teaching. Through the different parts of the service and the worship. It was really good. But when the pastor got up. The Holy Spirit walked out. And I thought, Lord, why did you leave? I might as well leave too. Do you know if the Holy Spirit is present in your church or not? Could you tell when he would walk in and when he would walk out? My friend, many of our churches have Ichabod written over them. But God is wanting to do a work. Let's go with him. One godly leader in our country. Up in Canada this spring. Made this statement. By the way, Dr. Wesley Duell. He's an elderly statesman. Works with OMS International. This is the mission that Hudson Taylor started. But he said this. It became clearly evident. He says that the times in which we live. Are challenging the very core of the truth. In which we believe. A spiritual battle is raging. As the manifold forces of evil are disintegrating our culture. Founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic. Our social order is being fragmented by the forces of darkness. And he goes on to share about some of that stuff. Let me tell you. If we're not careful. We will draw back in the day of battle. We will not move ahead with the Lord. And let me leave you with this statement. You listen very carefully to this statement. The church is never a place. But always a people. Never a foe. But always a flock. Never a building. But always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray. Not where you pray. I'm going to give that to you again. And then I'm going to go. The church is never a place. But always a people. Never a foe. But always a flock. Never a building. But always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray. Not where you pray. Father, I pray that you take the words of this message today. And that we would listen to what you are saying to us. And that we would not draw in sail. Like J. Vernon McGee said in defining Hebrews 1038. That we would not draw in the sail. That we would not turn back in the day of battle. But that we would move on. Father, I pray for those listening today. I realize it's dangerous times for the believers to be in a church that's not a proper biblical authority. I believe it's dangerous times for us to not walk in the light that you've given us. That we'd be very careful to order our steps in your word. So that no evil way could take hold on us. And I pray for your blessing on the folks, Father. I pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon their lives. I pray for the fathers. That they would be godly fathers. And that they would lead their families with resolution and determination. Even though they don't see outside the realm of light that you've given them so far. But that they would stick to the task. That they would be the leaders that their families need. I pray for the pastors, the elders, the evangelists out in this area. For anointing of fresh oil. Lord, would you pour out fresh oil upon us. We see these signs along the highway. We pray for a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit upon us. Oh, how we need this fresh anointing upon our lives. Oh, we praise and thank you now for this time we've had this morning. We ask for the blessing. We thank you that you've given us the blessing. Help us to recognize it. And to receive it. And to walk in the blessing that you give us. In Jesus' name. Amen.