In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the presence of a faithful and obedient people throughout church history who have been able to overcome the powers of darkness and fulfill God's purposes. The speaker expresses anticipation for future triumphs and expects mighty things from God in the coming years. The sermon highlights the example of Jesus and Paul as bond slaves of the Lord, who listened to and obeyed the Father's instructions. The speaker encourages the audience to seek God's vision and carry the burden that comes with it, reminding them of the humility and selflessness demonstrated by Jesus in his earthly ministry.

I hope it doesn't happen here, but it has happened where to prove it the Lord, I'm embarrassed. But if he has to do that, it would glorify him to do that, that's what I think. Jesus, the Son of God, said, I can't do anything. I can do nothing of myself. Have you ever wondered if he was maybe just trying to be a little humble? I can do nothing of myself. But there's a simple reason that he came to earth to be a man amongst men, to take the lowly position. I better read the passage concerning it first, in Ephesians and Philippians chapter 2. It starts out by exhorting the Philippian Christians to take the humble position, not to strive after anything that's inglorious, to be lowly in mind, and considering others, and being concerned for the welfare of others. Then he says in verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. I never come across a passage in the Authorized Version like this, and I use the Authorized Version, but God never allowed any man or any group of men to make an absolutely perfect translation. So I don't object to certain modern translations, and I'm quite confident that other versions bring this out more clearly. It speaks of grasping, and therefore they use the word robbery. But what Paul is saying, who being in the form of God, did not consider it to be a matter of grasping to be equal with God. He did not consider he should have a grasping attitude to be equal with God. And the context bears that out. Rather than having a grasping attitude to assain to equality with God, he went the opposite direction, and made himself of no reputation. The literal rendering, I understand, being he emptied himself. It was on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And so Jesus is saying, Paul is saying, have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, who in the form of God, he was, I'm not sure just the implications of all that, but there was the form of Godhead in which he lived. We mentioned this morning, the word was with God, the word was God. The Logos was with Theos, and Theos was the Logos. That's literally the way it reads. He was with God, and God was the word. The word was with God, and God was the word. And so I also encourage you not to try to figure things out when God purposely leaves it in the realm of mystery. With God he was God, and so he was in that form of God as the Logos. So what is your word? Is it not the expression of something that's within you? You want to communicate that to somebody else? And so you try to find the right word. And hidden in the heart of God were all the attributes of deity, including wisdom, knowledge, love, truth, power, you could go on and on. And God wanted to express that, and he does so in the Logos. Just as you would express the best you know, something that's within you in a word, God expressed himself in the Logos. Of course, in the Old Testament he expressed himself so many different ways, through angelic visitation, even taking the form of an angel this time, and other times speaking through angels, speaking through the prophets. Paul says in diverse ways and in diverse manners, he's spoken to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken unto us through his son, or literally, two Greek words, in son. The son being that spoken thought of God. The son himself being that, not just that Jesus spoke God's words, but he was the full intention of everything that God had in his heart. The written word was inadequate. The word on the table of stone was not sufficient, wasn't enough. The words of the prophets wasn't complete, but the son was the complete unfolding of the heart of God. But he came down to earth to make that revelation here in the earth, so that the Logos was not really God the Son. God the Father stayed there. God the Son came here. But rather God the Father spoke a word, the Logos, and that Logos, that thought of God, that very expression of God, came down to earth. There wasn't another God. The son was the incarnate expression of God the Father. The very expression of God's heart, yet coming from the Father, and then in the fullness of redemption going back to the Father. Now, I'm not trying to explain that, but I'd like to, and I'm not trying to be theological or doctrinal in mentioning that the son was the expression of God the Father. I just, to me it's the most beautiful thing. You go up to the Pentecostal, you get the thought that there's almost like three gods in heaven, and they had a discussion, and they decided the son would be the one to come down and redeem, and the other two persons wouldn't, you know, they'd be involved. And so we get the notion that there was a difference somehow, that God remained intact, but the son didn't have horrible manner of suffering. And one man told me, he said, I always loved Jesus. He said, I never had a problem loving Jesus, but he said, I always had a problem loving the Father. The Father seemed so distant and so cruel and so harsh, and a good friend of mine, and I never said anything at the time, but I loved Jesus, I always loved Jesus, but I found it difficult to love the Father. But when you see that when Jesus came down to earth, it is God Almighty humbling himself in the Logos, his son, and that the son was the expression of everything that was in the heart of the Father. And he was humbling himself and coming to earth to reveal the Father as a man, because man was made in God's image, and Adam was supposed to have been that expression of the Father in the earth, but he spoiled that image through disobedience. And so we have the story of the havoc that went on in the human family awaiting the day of redemption, something that God had preordained and something that was in his plan from the beginning, because only in redemption could the fullness of God's heart be revealed. Only in redemption could the fullness of God's heart be revealed. Those attributes of love and mercy and sacrificial giving and forgiveness, he couldn't manifest it amongst angelic hosts. He could only manifest the fullness of it, the depth of his eternal heart in a man born in the earth from God, in the form of God, but coming down to earth, emptying himself so that he could go into the very depths of humility on earth, showing that God is loving and true and kind and merciful and patient and longsuffering. Whether or not you understand fully what I mean, I think you understand what I'm trying to say. And therefore, if you have any questions in your heart concerning what God might do, you just come to him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he came to earth to reveal the heart of the Father. Don't think for one minute that the Father is up there just waiting for a chance to cast you into hell, but the Son is here to love you, as if there's any difference. He came here to express the very heart of the Father. Jesus talked about the Father, the Father so much that it comes to him once, he says, well, you've been talking about the Father, show us the Father, and that's all we need. So he says, show us the Father. See, if I've been with you these three years, you haven't realized that what I'm saying is the words of the Father, that the works I'm doing are the works of the Father. In other cases, the Son can do nothing of himself. Why? If he came forth from the heart of God to reveal God on the earth, why? Because the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. We were the ones whom he would redeem, and therefore he took our flesh, our helplessness, our weakness, took upon himself even the likeness of sinful flesh, and Paul is careful to say that, the likeness of sinful flesh, because he never sinned. It was the same kind of flesh that Adam had before he sinned. And he had to come down into that state of humility to bring about our redemption. God took that. And so I'd rather mention how it boggles your mind that you think out and out and out there and then how telescopes have been able to reveal some of those distant galaxies that are so far from us that a mind can't even begin to be boggled with it. The infinity of God. And yet, one of the early Russian astronauts who went up there was able to come back boasting, I was up there in space and God wasn't up there. I never found God up there. You know why? Too far away. God, just as God might have revealed himself on the earth, down here, humbled himself and took upon himself the form of a man, once a man, like the similitude of man, in every respect, except for sin, that he might be our redeemer as well as our example. And I know that was always a great barrier to me, that, yeah, I could say that he could be my redeemer, but my example, when he was sinless and I'm a carnal soul under sin, until I realize that in the fullness of redemption there's such a dealing with sin and the carnal nature that we are as he was in the earth. Not that we have attained to it, but that redemption is not completed here in our mortal flesh until the sin principle will have been crucified in the flesh. And we can live and move and walk on the earth like Jesus walked when he was here. Paul says, have this mind in you that within Christ he emptied himself, he emptied himself, poured himself out, emptied himself. I don't, I can't, I can't grasp the whole meaning of it. I can hardly say that he was no longer God, but he emptied himself of every prerogative that God had in the heavens. He was down on earth as a man. He wasn't in a position, half God and half man, where, oh, I'll go out and visit those people that are going across the lake in a boat. The storm has come up and so he walks on the water and therefore he was God. And then on another occasion he got tired and he slept and so he must have been man. I used to have that sort of a thought. He's half God and half man. He could step out of one or into the other at will. I think many still have that concept. And I realized he emptied himself of all those prerogatives of power and authority and to become a man in the earth, but a man in total dependence on the Heavenly Father. Total union and dependence on the Heavenly Father. Never stepping outside of that total dependence on the Father. And because of that, he became our Redeemer. I say because of that. It's because he went to the cross, I know, but he went to the cross because he was totally dependent on the Heavenly Father for every word he spoke, every healing he performed, every miracle he performed, and totally dependent on the Heavenly Father for guidance. He knew he came to die, but he must die in the will of God. He did not just go on and go on and commit suicide. Some, you know, have that thought. He committed suicide. He came to die totally misunderstanding the nature of redemption. As we start to point out, he came a light into the world to confront the darkness. Darkness and light won't mix. One must confront the other. And if the light is strong enough, it dies out the darkness. He came to confront the lost, sin, and death. He came to overcome the lost, sin, and death with the law of life that functioned within him. It was life against death. It was righteousness and holiness against sin. It was truth against error. It was good against evil. And that's what brought his cross. Because when he came a light into the world, immediately evil sprang up against him. Hatred sprang up against him simply because he was God revealing himself in a man in the earth. Jesus said, the world cannot hate you. He came to his own brethren. But me it hateth because I testify of it that it's work for evil. Or you say, I tell the world that there's work for evil. That's not what this testimony was about. He was such a living expression of the righteousness and holiness of God that by his very presence he testified of the world that it was evil and they knew it. They hated him for it. So it's not just a case of marching on Washington and saying we don't agree with this thing. That's not the kind of testimony that God's going to raise up. I'm not condemning them for doing that. There's not a change in anything. When God has a people who are the living testimony of Jesus Christ in the earth, you'll be hated by the world. You think you've got freedom down here in the states and up there in Canada? And because of your form of government? Let me tell you, it's because that presence of God is not permeating the church of Jesus Christ. That's why we're not persecuted. That's why we have this false freedom. Freedom to do anything you want. They don't care what we do. They don't care what the church does. As long as the church leaves them alone, we're not making any inroads into the areas of darkness in the earth by marching, by protest, by getting involved in the political scene, getting involved in social things. We're not making any impact on the powers of darkness. I know I get into trouble saying things like that. What are you going to do at all these things? Are you just going to sit there and let them do it? Are you just going to let them do it? Are you going to object to it? I'm not talking about being passive. I'm talking about unless the church of Jesus Christ comes to a place where they're in union with the Son and are walking and ministering in union with the Son of God in heaven, I don't care what kind of political power you've got on the earth, you're not going to change it in this nation or in any other until we come to the place where we have power against those principalities in the heavens. They're the ones that hold the stronghold over the affairs of man. You can get in the White House or you can get in the judicial system or in the Supreme Court. You can fill it with Christians. But until you have a voice that penetrates the heavens to shake those principalities and powers there, you're not going to change any situation in this country or in the world about us. So we're not talking negatively. And I know, I tell you that because although of course we can't see that, and so you can go on your hopeless way trying to resolve things by getting in charge of the government and you won't succeed. But when we come into union with him who is king of all kings and lord of all lords and do what he says, we will accomplish in the earth exactly what Jesus wants accomplished for this day and hour. And I qualified it for the simple reason it's not a case if we come into union with Jesus we'll just go forth over the land and wipe out all the evil and establish the kingdom of God here or any other nation. I said according to the mind and the will of the Son of God we'll do anything he wants us to do. Because Jesus himself has been reigning on the throne of glory for 2,000 years almost with all power in heaven and earth and still the world is full of evil. For the simple reason that God told him to rule and reign in the midst of his enemies until all enemies are exterminated. He gave him a mandate, you rule in the midst of your enemies. Rule in the midst of it. I'm not going to destroy all enemies yet. It's going to be little by little. It's going to be according to my plan and purpose. But the time is coming when the Father said all enemies are to be put under the feet of Christ. And he reveals to us that glorious mystery which we only see in part. That we are to be joined unto him in that one body. And that we are to be his hands by which we would serve him. We are to be the feet by which the gospel of peace will go to the nations. And that when the kings of this world are put under the feet of Christ we are to be under the feet of the church because we are that. Those members of the body of Christ. All according to God's timetable and God's schedule. Away with the thought that once we get this great power we're going to go forth into the earth and make things really work. Jesus himself with all power in heaven and earth has allowed, permitted the evil to be in this earth for these two thousand years. And yet all through that time there has been a people. Sometimes Very insignificant. Sometimes it seemed that there was no real church in the earth. But all through church history God had a people who so walked with him and learned obedience that they were able to shake those powers of darkness and to bring forth the mighty work of God that God intended for that day and hour. Yes. Amen. It fell short of total conquest. Because God says you rule in the midst of your enemies. We're anticipating ultimate triumph And I don't know what might immediately happen in the earth in the church in the next year two or three years. We expect mighty things from God. But far be it for any of us to say once that thing comes we're going right on and we're going to subdue the whole earth for Christ. There's no room for any of that kind of boasting. God just wants the people to know his voice so clearly that if God says to a group of people and it doesn't have to be a large group that God will be able to speak clearly to his people I want you to stop this whatever's going on whatever it might be in your city or in this nation I want you to get together and speak my faith in intercession that you might overthrow those principalities that are controlling this horrible evil whether it's abortion or homosexuality or anything else if God indicates his will I want you to deal with that then the spirit of God hears what the son says and the spirit of God communicates it to his people and because the spirit of God communicates it to you and I it lays upon us the burden that's on the heart of Christ and it comes forth in intercession to pray to God to do that thing and it's done and it's happened all through church history and it'll happen again God just wants the church walking in union and harmony with the son of God in the heavens he's king don't think he's coming back here to be king he's king there in the heavens hallelujah he will be king when he comes back but he's king now consternation and amazement and dismay and perplexity When he rose from the dead or before he rose from the dead. He says I'm not going to be here long I'm going back to the father and it devastated them Holmes is good that he was going back to feed it for them that he said he should go back Because God hadn't just appointed him to subdue the Romans in Palestine but to subdue sin in in this world and to subdue principalities and powers in the heavens and And therefore he gave him a stone higher than any stone in the earth and higher than any stone in the heavens He might have authority over the whole realm Isn't that much better than if they build a throne room over there in Jerusalem or in England or here in the United States? There's some believe it's going to happen Getting in the white house, what does Jesus want to get in the white house for? When he's seated on the highest throne in that universe Authority over all that and if people have it in union with him, but they've got to come into union with him God's way And he shows us the way and the mind in you which is in Christ Through though he was in the form of God did not consider His quality with God something to reach out after to strive after But emptied himself and took upon him the form of a servant a do-lot a bond slave And was made in the likeness of men Coming in the form of a man was great humiliation for God But God is a humble dog, I don't know if I've ever read that in the attributes concerning God The humble does he humblest himself? To behold the still in a man and he humbled himself You can go and identify with you and I Let's say it's a high and holy one that inhabited the eternity I dwell in the high and lofty place with him also that is Humble in the country and so you go up there and you see the high and the holy one But you can't really find him there. You know, he's there And like we were talking today as kids, you know, and I get it too you just think about God where he comes from and How big is he in you your mind goes out and out and out and oh I don't know billions of miles few more billion till you you have to stop thinking and and then still you're not there high and Holy one the lofty one that inhabits eternity, but he says I dwell there. I know but he says with him also that it's Contracts of a humble spirit To revive the heart of the contract ones and to revive the heart of the home. That's as I dwell there Do you want to find God? First of all, be sure you have a humble heart And then he will show you that humble place where God is because God is going to reveal himself in the earth once again And people will be traveling to and fro when they hear of great things happening God's working over there. I've got to get down there if I can scrape up a plane fare I've got to get there because I hear God's working there And they go and they say God's working there. All right, but does it find God? You say surely if I go where God's working, I'll find him That's what Job's up Sitting there in the ash pile Devastated lost everything. He says I go forward. I can't find him. I go backward. I can't find him I go to the right hand where he's working. I can't find him. I go to the left hand. I can't find him But right where God is working didn't find him people can sit in a meeting where God is working. They don't see God Then something came to Job that encouraged him. He knows the way that I take When I'm tried I still come forth as gold God was leading Job to a place where he would find God and so he led him this way God led him that way. I know you're saying your faith healers. I Could to point out that Job brought his troubles on himself Because it said he the thing that he feared came upon him. So he brought it all in himself. Don't fear anything Then you won't have it, but God didn't witness that way. He said Job has spoken, right? He's turning in God did that which was right with Job And What he did was in response to a challenge from the devil He said Job is serving you because you're good to him When you take away what he's got then Job will persecute faith If God challenged him, if God hadn't challenged him, the devil probably wouldn't have done anything about it. God literally started this thing Satan appeared one time with the other sons of God I shouldn't say the other sons of God. He appeared with the sons of God before the throne and God says, where are you? He's going through and through on the earth and walking up and down in it God says while you were doing that, did you ever notice Job my servant? He says Job, did he serve God for nothing? He made a rich man out of him. He's wealthy Prosperous, good family, everything lovely God whispered that into Satan's ear For his own honor and glory. So God says go ahead and we won't go through the show you're doing, but you know what happened So Satan kept coming back to get more and more authority and God let him have it so far. Don't touch his life Wonderful to know that God puts his constraints on the devil Only do what he permits him to do. He's not all-powerful. He doesn't have the mastery. Jesus is his Lord But for a chance to feel the impact of Satan, recognize that God let him do it Jesus said to Peter Peter, Simon Satan has asked for you I'm told the Greek says he has got you because he asked for you So I pray for you that your faith stand out So God didn't hesitate to let Satan have a time there with Peter because he knew he was going to come out all right Didn't come out the better for it? So did Job come out the better for it? And unknown to Job, God's purpose in it all was that he might reveal himself to Job in greater fullness And I think unknown to many, many of God's people, many of whom I know Some are severe, severe trials. People I know, I just, I see them coming forward It's great, but I see them coming forward knowing God as they never did before So we don't ask for suffering. We just ask the Lord to lead us in his way and to bring us to a place where we will know him And to do that, God may use any instrument he chooses But Lord, we want to know you better. Lord, we want to know you. Lord, it is all over God lifted his heavy hand up to us So we're going to say, I heard of you before, but I never saw you before I have heard of you by the hearing of the ears, but now might I see you And I repent of my sin. I've heard of you, now I see you I really believe that God has a revelation of himself that's far beyond what was known We rejoice in the word, the written word, the word we hear, which Paul calls the word of hearing The word of hearing. In other words, it's the word that God has given us spiritual hearing, to hear Because there's such a thing as having ears and not hearing. And we rejoice in that hearing that God has given us. I know you have it But there's something better. He says, I heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now might I see you see And therefore I abhor myself and repent in death and life See you now I'm talking about seeing him and I don't mean in a vision. I don't know really what form It will be, but in a manner so clear that when we see him, we'll be able to say to one another I've seen the Lord I've seen the Lord Don't think for one minute Because we're 2,000 years removed from the day of resurrection That we lost out On that great visitation of Jesus after he rose from the dead when Peter saw him when the women saw him at the tomb and they told Peter and John went down and they saw the empty tomb Came back and they gathered together and the Lord appeared somewhere to Peter and to James and then all the apostles and they shot him He said, what what a marvelous experience. He used to think I probably missed out by not having lived in that day I believe the Lord Jesus had the revelations himself for you and I Just as great and just as glorious as any visitation that they had in the early church Paul had a visitation that was just as real to him as the one that came to Peter and James and John Because it seems that the It was recognized for a man to be an apostle he had to have been with the Lord Jesus and seen him Paul wasn't around those days. Yeah, he was made to be an apostle Paul Paul said writing from Trachean But the Lord Jesus when he rose from the dead, he was seen of the apostles and five hundred brethren at once And he says I saw him too. I Saw him I saw me. This is really a Peter song He took that as a credential for his apostleship because they said well Peter's an apostle. He saw Jesus Paul said I saw him too That same Jesus appearing in glory From light with which he's enthroned in glory. God let that light come down to earth and he saw him as truly as Peter saw him and That was after the resurrection. It wasn't that the first appearing of Christ. It wasn't the second coming of Christ. He's in between There was that glorious appearing of the Christ And so he did it once he can do it twice and he can do it again And I believe that before that open manifestation of the Lord from heaven, which is certainly going to happen There's nothing to hinder him from appearing to God's people any time. He wants to right that same Jesus And I anticipate He walked with his disciples there prior to his ascension, I believe he will walk with her once again prior to his coming again Jesus was taken up from you into heaven shall so come and like manners. You've seen him go He was with them before he went communing with them talking with them revealing himself and went I believe he'll come back and reveal himself to them and talk with him before he's openly manifested to the inhabitants of the earth But we have to be prepared to see him you have to be humble to see him Humble shepherds saw him in a major and knew he was the king of Israel wise men came to me Without very intellectual humble They came to me he saw his star, where is he called the tribes and the thirties together to inquire Where Messiah was to be born because Herod was afraid if another king is due to be born. He did Or they said in Bethlehem of Judea for that that is written in the prophets and all Bethlehem Judah of Assyria and Bethlehem Bethlehem of Assyria Howard know the least of the tribes of Israel to thee shall come forth a governor who shall rule my people Israel Had the scriptures right in there right on their tongue. That's all right And so he told the wise men to go down to Bethlehem and find him I've been modest in that dream They weren't humble The hearts were humble. They would have said the Messiah is born in Bethlehem. We're told that's so So he grew up in their midst and they never saw him Well, still a baby was taken into the temple and there were prepared hearts prepared hearts and they saw him Simeon saw him Anna saw him Marian Joseph, of course And speak of him to all those in the temple area milling around in the temple area So busy with their religion bringing the goats and the bullets and the pigeons Dedicating their babies and everything carrying on this is glorious institution. Haven't we got a great church to know see what's going on here Hi, I was there in the midst and they never saw right Simeon came along and put some office in the Messiah. Let me die now look He literally said that Thank you. Awesome. Sparks pointed out that it is a burden upon because God has said you're not gonna die for this even Messiah So apparently he's getting older and older and getting more people and wish they could die, but you couldn't die Because God put a burden on you can't die you see the Messiah Now Lord the word is spotted from which we get the word death but Not that he was calling God Almighty a death pot in the way we use it, but it does signify an authoritarianism You put me under this burden. You gave me this vision that one day I would see the Messiah now Lord. I've seen you Salvation of the Lord a life that you're prepared to invite in the Gentiles now, let me go and die in peace Release me Release me Lord, I fulfill my duty in the earth Not only with the Vision of living to see the Messiah, but with any vision you have It's God-given be it of a lower plane or a higher plane I don't care what Category you might put it in because God does give and expecting people's vision and hope And we only pray that God will increase and enlarge and purify it and clarify that vision that it might be the vision He wants us to have But with that vision there comes with it a burden which you must carry It sounds good when you see it when you hear it's great Lord my son now shall be a great prophet of the Lord now shall stand and prophesy my you know, he gets up quite With that vision they'll come a great trial fire protection That's good. He killed That's Jeremiah. That's Isaiah. That's you on the Baptist I Say true prophet of the Lord they didn't ask to be a prophet. They would gladly lay down a minister any time Jeremiah later time He means that he's going to bring forth the people walking in the footsteps of Jesus graciousness But to do that he means that there's a humble himself as he did no matter what their calling is No matter how great they might be in the eyes of men a prophet that can speak forth words that reveal the secrets of men a healer that can Heal the sick and raise the dead and no matter how great it might seem in the eyes of men God says That ministry must humble himself Become a bondservant. We're in the likeness of men by birth so we don't have to be made in the likeness of man, but Be made in the likeness of bondservant Regardless of your calling Talk to Paul that says Paul a bondslave of Jesus Christ Paul a bondslave of Jesus Christ. I therefore Paul a prisoner of the Lord prisoner of the Lord He took the humble position Did you say God led him that way? I know but the reason God was able to lead him that way was because Paul had said like his master Lord, I will follow you Let this mind in you which is also in Christ Jesus You read that and you stumble over it because we say Lord, I'd like to I'd like to be humble and meek and lowly as my master Help me to do that. Show me the way and So then he begins to show us the way And he reveals to us that he's the way I Am the way the truth and the light Life, that's what we want truth. That's what we want. Well to find truth and to find life We must know Jesus as the way in other words. We must walk in his way If we're going to know truth if we're going to know life We must learn to walk in his way And as we walk in his way God's way brings us down to humanity Because God's a humble God and God wants to walk on earth with man But he will not walk with the proud or the scornful Humble I shall to walk with God All him that the Easter thing and really can't be found Leave all him humble. I shall to walk with God Just as a stream finds a bed that is lowly So Jesus walks with the pure and the holy Cast out thy pride and with heartfelt contrition humble I shall To walk with God we talked about the River of God that God's gonna release a river that flows through the land It's gonna flow in low places The stream always seeks out the lowest place And so Jesus said have this mind Paul said have this mind that is in Christ Jesus Seek out the lowly place. The apostles argued amongst themselves. He's gonna be the greatest. I don't know Jesus hurt us Physically or hurt it in the spirit But they were lagging behind a little and when they drew up close. He said what was that you're talking about? It was on it give a little child and send them in the midst He would be great amongst you Let him be as this little child. He would be great in the kingdom of God. Let him be servant of all Let him take the lowest position You come into the banqueting house. You don't know where you're to sit. Well You're down to the end of the table sit there at the back and that if the Lord be said to promote you He'll call you up Take the lowest position brother here was saying just before the meeting Why is it that men can be used so mighty of God Man is towards the end of their life. What a tragedy that somehow You seem to get away from that original humility. They had We've got a walk in God's way Haven't they walked in God's way who might have judged but it must be that somewhere along the line They listen to the voice of the tempter Because they had a great ministry, we've got to keep it going if God is saying let it dry up But it pulled up. Oh, that must be the voice of the devil God doesn't do things like that man has a great ministry of healing and God comes to him and says you've been healing the sick now these many years. I'm gonna lay You aside as far as that ministry is concerned and speak my face and walk with me and let me be against I wonder if God has said that whispered that to many of these some of these who have fallen and They were not prepared to do it. I know a prophet that went to some of these outstanding leaders Warned them that they were on the wrong road They didn't listen So God does give warning He gives opportunity To humble ourselves and by his grace he has given us the ability to humble ourselves Because he leads us in the way. He wants us to go and if we walk in the way he wants us to go and Avoid the pressure that because we have something from God we could enlarge our ministry and void that avoid that pressure. That'll be faithful To leave you and I in the right way and so before our Lord Jesus Before the father permitted him to go forth in ministry For one thing he was 30 years of age. I'm not saying that's a pattern in any sense of the word Nevertheless he was mature Even though he had the gift of God even though he was God's gift in the earth Even Though as a young boy, he was able to confound the doctors of the law with his wisdom It wasn't the father's time for him to go forth in ministry I've always Felt very sorry when I hear of some young child that it's in gifted of the Lord Like a young man I heard of back when I was younger a real prophet as a young lad And they organized his itineraries and had him preaching all over the nation thousands of people Because he was a prophet ordained of God had his true prophetic ministry Maybe God will raise him up. Yeah, as far as I know he may still be living But the Son of God Went back and went to work with his father until he was 30 years of age when the father released him And then he gave to John the Baptist the word that when you see one coming and You baptize him And as you baptize them, the Holy Dove will come down from heaven and rest upon him. That's the one That I sent you To introduce Israel, he's the one and John recognized him even as he saw him walking up He told the Lamb of God was taken away the sins of the world And he baptized him and the dove came down from heaven and a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased Did Jesus go from there to hold these big evangelistic crusades? Because he was anointed with this mighty power and anointing He was driven by the spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil God was going to lay upon his son the greatest ministry this world has ever seen Forever will see The ministry of Messiah the Son of God But because he came as a man he had to live as a man Totally dependent on the father couldn't rely on his deity and laid aside all that What shall I say? I don't know how to express it the prerogatives of deity to live as a man in the earth in Union with the father that he might be a pattern and example for you and I to show us Who are not divine? He came to the place where he put himself in our position. It's not only as a man, but as a bond slave And a bond slave is one who simply listens to the call of his master does nothing except what the father says Doesn't try and do all sorts of things and then is subject to the correction of the father But waits for the father for the master to tell him what to do. Yeah a bond slave and before God as a bond slave here with the father has to say Jesus was that Paul became that also and Until we become bond slaves of the Lord God prevented from going out into any great ministry I figure that's much of the problem. I got filled with the Holy Ghost. I got this gift from God I can heal the sick away. I go to change the world Without having been driven into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil Say well a man he can't go into the wilderness and find that I'm just saying That if he has this knowledge of God and this understanding of his word, he will say to God God Don't send me forth in ministry until you have proved me and tried me Don't send me forth in ministry until You prove me and tried me without knowing these truths that I'm speaking as a young man. I Did pray to the Lord Lord. I know you have a ministry for me, but don't let me go forth If you know, I'll make shipwreck until I'm ready That means maybe two three more years And I was ready and willing to go but I still say that And I go out very little I Thank the Lord for when he does release me because I feel there's a purpose and I think I know his voice and I pray that I'll always know his voice Cuz I like going out when he sends but I've got frustrated at times when I went when I thought maybe he was sending wasn't sure and I don't want to go through that I Want to know when he sends I want to know his voice clearly and I I felt I heard his voice to come here So I was coming with anticipation But it's not that I'm trying to get on the road traveling in ministry I thank God don't send me out if you know what pitfalls that are there I don't want to go out Lord if I'm gonna make shipwreck at this late stage. I Nearly made it younger years. I could have made shipwreck very easily and I started out in ministry and I Couldn't find that over that anointing. I couldn't find that pleasure of God in it and Decided I'd go back to work and I stayed at my job But I could see if I just tried to continue on I could have very easily made total shipwreck Because of the temptations round about you if you're not walking in God, I don't think ministry is a place to make you spiritual Ministry is not the place to go if you want to be spiritual You stay in your home church and seek God and love him and do his will and learn his voice very clearly until you're ready Till God's ready Until there's a standing by a spirit that you're aware. It's the voice of God here and God will be pleased and he knows where you are Trying to prod me all my life to get out minister because you've got this word for the church I say God knows where I am Just one man friend of mine he used it against me. Oh, what's George doing? Oh, he's up there in Canada and carpentry and he told me God knews where he is if God wants it But I didn't say it that with that thought for that attitude There's only one thing I ever had in mind to do in my life and that was to be a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ God I don't want to go forth unless I'm prepared of you and anointed of you and led of your spirit. I still say that Let her the spirit of God Wherever I go And I want to be confident God is leading me He gave me this verse one time as I anticipated ministry several years ago and I was out for two months and I thought maybe now is the time when I'll be out full-time and I was out for two months and came back and I Didn't see really that Depth of anointing didn't see any particular fruit from it. Not that that always matters. I didn't feel confident that I that it was a profitable thing that I did and I had left my job to do it and Came back in the bar third of its home and phone me and took me back into the Cabinet shop so I'm working from then on. I don't think I was anxious to get out And that's why I said to my friend God knows where I am and I want to be hearing from him and I'm glad to go but you know, she's got my address and Someone says well, maybe you should be out there and you can't hear God. He wants you to go out I'm sure but you can't hear his voice And the answer is so clear if I can't hear his voice telling me where to go I don't want to stand before the people Declare God's way to them That's right. I can't hear his voice leading me where to go. I Don't want to go to ministering Made himself of no reputation and to himself to perform in the form of a service which made him the likeness of men This is the pathway that Paul says I want you Philippians to take Compare that with any other pathway that you have in mind that will lead to success That will lead to the fulfillment of your vision That will lead to an enlargement of your vision thoughts will come people will come The sensor will come to show you how you can enlarge what you have Isn't it logical to enlarge what you have? You increase what you have. Isn't this a day of big things? Isn't God a big God doing big things? God is a big God doing big things But the big things are insignificant in the eyes of the people And the great things in the eyes of the people are insignificant in the mind of God What are great things? Is John the Baptist a great prophet? Yes, how do you know? But if he hadn't said so And you just heard that there was a John the Baptist a voice crying in the wilderness calling the people to a sentence Just had that written account of it. Would he go down and preach history as the greatest prophet that ever lived? He performed no miracle. He didn't go around holding crusades He went out in the wilderness and can't tell it there Somehow the word spread around there was a strange prophet out there in the wilderness and people began to go down to see He's the one to go down to see We've taken in the wind He just said among those born of women there hath not arisen a greater prophet than John the Baptist We're quick to add, but least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he It was never a greater Prophet than John the Baptist. Jesus had reminded his disciples of that and it didn't appear that way He started to get disciples around him and all of a sudden they started to leave him Because he said here's the Lamb of God and they started to leave Jesus, leave John to follow Jesus And they come to him. Aren't you concerned about this John? He says I must be preached But he must be preached. Increased Jesus said he was the greatest prophet of all He had the right attitude. I must become small that he might become big. I must come to nothing that he might be everything The Son of God said of mine own self I can do nothing As I hear I judge and my judgment is just But because I seek not my own will but the will of the Father that sent me The Son of God said that. So it mattered not that Jesus if he preached to 15-20,000 people if he did on occasion Or go and sit down at a well at Samaria and minister to one poor old devastated lady That God arranged to be there when he got there shortly after It's the same to him Because in either case this is the will of the Father To do the will of the Father and to know that the Father is pleased with it ought to be our greatest joy our greatest pleasure God no doubt looked down and thought that that was a great meeting you had there for that old man and his daughter I think God would take notice of that Because God takes notice of little things that people do in his name Because we're a people that want to do big things for God That are big in the eyes of men God wants us to do things that are big in his eyes whether they're big in the eyes of men or not And so if they stood there in the temple doorway and The people were throwing their money into the treasury and little lady came along a widow woman Didn't have much She threw in two mikes Jesus gave attention to it Jesus gives attention of his disciples To this little woman that put in two mikes. The other said we see what about it. She put in more than all the rest Going in their gold coin. She put in most of all. That's God's estimation of greatness So let's carry God's estimation of greatness Because God's idea of greatness So far above our thoughts It's amazing You can hardly believe it How far is God's estimation above ours? Just by natural reasons I mean the natural Reasoning we have As the heavens are high above the earth So are my thoughts higher than your thoughts And my ways above your ways That's the chasm that exists Between God's way and God's thought And your way and my way as man sees it The thing is he's successful Go down to any Christian bookstore And you can find all kinds of books On how to be a successful Christian A successful leader A successful pastor A successful preacher A successful apostle or whatever If you want to know the roadway to success Go down to the Christian bookstore And it's flooded with books along that line If you want to know the pathway To success in the mind of God Read this passage over and over Let this mind be in you That was also in Christ Jesus He did not think it To be a thing to grasp after To be equal with God But emptied himself Took upon him the form of a bond slave Was made in the likeness of man And being found in fashion as a man He humbled himself How can I humble myself Just walk in God's way If we knew the secret of humbling ourselves I think we'd do it Heat ourselves with a whip Or walk on fire Or put stones in your shoes Like they used to do in the Catholic Church You know to do something To make yourself humble But if you walk in God's way He leads you in a way that leads to humility So when he led them out of the wilderness On the way to Canaan He led them in the pathway that would humble them They thought they were on their way to Canaan And they were But what's the 40 years all about then And that's the thing that bothered them Tormented them No Canaan here, no figs, no pomegranates, no flowing rivers No fruit trees No houses built As God promised A waste and howling Wilderness is what Moses called it And after it is over God tells them why he led them that way The wilderness that you and I are called to go through Be it long or short That's all in God's choosing And all according to his plan for your life But it's the way intended of the Lord To humble you To the point where you'll hear his voice So clearly Having been obedient To walking his way He'll lead you in pathways Which will produce humility And so God said 40 years later I have led you these 40 years in the wilderness And I fed you with manna And I caused you to hunger As you might know that man Does not live by bread alone But by every word that was speaketh Out of the mouth of the Lord He led them that way to humble them To prove them To know what was in their heart To manifest what was in their heart Not to torment them But to show what was there That he might deal with it That he might prove them Humble them Leading them with man all along the way That they might know that man does not live By bread alone but by every word That was speaketh out of the mouth of the Lord That he lived So God is leading you that way So that you'll know his voice To know his word His living word, the word that proceedeth Good to have this word Which is written But God's intention is to take this word Which is written and make it alive Till it proceedeth Present tense Every word that proceedeth Out of the mouth of the Lord that man liveth This is the way Jesus went Learning obedience Became obedient How far? Unto death What kind of a death? Even the death of the cross That's the pathway to the throne Oh you just wonder What people are leading them With all these thoughts of We're the church of Christ, we're going to take over the kingdom We're going to knock Satan's throne under him We're going to sit there in the government's place We're going to take over the White House We're going to get Christians there in the Supreme Court You're going to do nothing of the kind If you're going to come to God's kingdom You're going to go the way of the cross If you're going to come to God's kingdom And the cross will be one that the world about you That you're trying to reform Is going to form for you to die on If you're truly that witness Of Christ in the earth to do that They will make that cross for you Upon which we will suffer Disappointment, perplexity, Trial, testing Out of which Will come The assortative king Obedient unto death Even the death of the cross Wherefore God Hath highly exalted him Oh how strange that people Can somehow get those crazy thoughts We just, because we've got the doctrine Of the kingdom, we're going forth and we're going to take it In Jesus' name This is how Jesus died Do you think you're going to get it an easier way Yeah Yeah Therefore, said Paul, if they suffer within We shall also reign Wherefore God hath highly exalted him And given him a name Which is above every name That is the name of Jesus, every knee should bow And every tongue shall sing to heaven And things in earth and things under the earth And that every tongue should confess That Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory Of God the Father The reason Jesus Is enthroned in the heavens With all power in heaven and earth Is not simply because he lived a good life here in earth Because he was the Messiah from heaven Because he healed the sick Or raised the dead Because he evangelized the crowd And preached good tidings To those who were in prison And set the prisoners loose All of these things he did Because of his anointing that he had But the reason he was exalted To the throne was because he humbled himself And learned obedience to the Father In learning obedience he became a bond servant A bond slave And in learning obedience he became obedient unto death The very end And not an ordinary death, the death of the cross That's why God exalted him And gave him a name which is above every name He wasn't exalted because he was the Son of God Because he was the Messiah Because he was the King of Kings And Lord of Lords by divine election He was exalted to the throne Only because He learned the Father's way Walked the Father's way Learned obedience, humbled himself Went down as low as any man could have gone By way of learning obedience Therefore, therefore, wherefore God has highly exalted him I can't just somehow Compel my mind to do it But I can walk in obedience I can do what he says God is faithful Let us know the way we should walk If we really want to know But having been saved in the Spirit And getting a few gifts I've got to plan my life And I I want to get in ministry And I want to be a successful minister And I want to do this I want to have a ministry Like Oral Roberts I want to have a ministry like him Don't have any such ideas Because God has made each One of us distinct A distinct Creation of God I know in speaking about the Body of Christ we think of the beauty of The Oneness and all that And that's true But the difference between this and this As a society is that Or a commune or communism Is this that each Member is distinctly the Creation of God Distinct Gift Distinct place in the earth And in the body We're not seeing too much of that That's what it's all about And before it's over we're going to see Every member of the family of God Something so special and distinct from the hand of God That every other member will recognize it We're quite a ways from there yet But that's what God has in mind That there'll be no emulation, no striving to be Something that you're not No vision to be anything but To do the will of God And recognizing Christ And how Christ moves in other lives As they will recognize the Christ Living in your life We long for that, but it can only come As God tempers the body together We make way for it And we're pleased to see from time to time A little of the gifting of God's spirit On the congregation But the Bible says It'll come with the tempering of the body The tempering of the body together With the holy oil of His anointing God has tempered the body together Giving more abundant honor To those parts which lack That there be no scissors in the body But that the members might have the same care One for another We've had large movements started up And some of them still exist Showing how to eradicate Scissors in the body of Christ It will come under certain systems We'll be pretty consistent Because you've got leaders at the top And leaders below them, and below them, and below them And the people under them And if you follow this particular pattern We'll eradicate the divisions and scissors in the body of Christ God has a way That's very simple And He says when He puts His honor On the individual members in the body And you know God has given me this You don't desire to be anything else But this thing that God has given me Because then you'll have a care one for another You've got something that you can minister to somebody else I think God's starting to do that Let's look for the fullness of it For God has tempered the body together Giving more abundant honor to those parts Which lack that there be no scissor in the body No scissor in the body But that the members will have the same care One for another A caring church Church full of the love of Christ Each one caring for the other God's working towards that end This is the way Take the humble position before God I can lead you in this way and He'll lead you Into the humility of Christ May the Lord bless us with your heart Amen Amen I believe we have to acknowledge That we've heard the wisdom of God haven't we? I was just thinking Oh dear God if I'd had somebody to tell me this When I was a young man The grief and the things They would have kept me from But even that worked out for good I just think of all the tragedy out here In the land of Christianity All the havoc, all the shipwrecks That could be averted If this knowledge of the coming of God Was known Really known, really believed Amen Are you writing a book about this? There's a book here Well There's things here That's not brother There's some things here That I believe are books I just want to say that There's a book here Amen Amen I just want to mention that I know you'll be better than the Lord in it But the Lord wants me to say something And I don't want to take away the Word That's impossible But the Lord's been speaking to me To say to you To be careful That you don't strain your neck And swallow a camel We know there's giants in the land right? There are false apostles and prophets And a lot of times your people are so afraid That they can't enter in They can't even let their weight down And the problem is They don't trust the Holy Ghost with them You've got to trust that Holy Ghost That's coming to you He said what? He would lead you into all the truth He'd testify of that which is of God And you've got to trust that inward witness That inward voice You know what? The way I've always heard truth that God's given to me I've heard it in my innermost being And my spirit has leaked And done handsprings and shouted In the burning sensation of God And sometimes when I was hearing truth My mind was saying This don't agree With what I've been taught This don't agree with what I've heard This isn't mainstream Christianity And what this leads to is confusion And people not letting their weight down in God Not ever putting their hands to the plow Confusion, always off balance It's like sometimes God will lead you to a place But because you're so suspicious And so afraid of being deceived That you strain in the neck And you swallow a camel And you can be deceived My brother mentioned God led him by a pillar of fire And a cloud A pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day And he went to seek out a place for him Didn't he? But when that cloud or that pillar stops What it is we'll know Camp out Now can you imagine the whole camp Of Israel free man or whatever it was Wandering around every day saying I wonder if this is it Can I really put my tent up here Can I really get my suitcases out And really unpack What did they do? When that cloud stopped by the leading of God What did they do? They set up a tabernacle They pitched their tents God had an order of how they were to be pitched And say when God leads you trust the Holy Ghost And then let all of your weight Down in him in that thing That God is telling you to do And where he's telling you to camp out He knows where you are And when he's ready to move He's well able to tell us isn't he This is a tragedy Like one brother said that church growth in America Is just fish changing tanks Amen Well I encourage you because I know a lot of you Are skeptical even this church And you may be skeptical brother Is this a man of God I'm not here to defend myself I'm not here to prove anything about brother Warnock We can't But hear what the Spirit Is saying to your heart And then let your whole weight Down in God In that water He will not let you down He will not lie to you If you simply obey him and love him And are sincere he will not let you down He will not let you I'm a testimony To the grace of God I'm a testimony to his faithfulness And his power and his leadership Because in the beginning God, I was one of those young men Brother that God gifted At times God would confirm Every word I said was fine and solid And I thought I was ready to go But God in his mercy Pulled the rug up from under me It wasn't that he told me to let down I didn't have no choice God just pulled the rug up from under me And took it And put it in a safe deposit box Why couldn't I? Men wanted to promote me I had people offering to take me around the world They would rent auditoriums for me And it was so exciting Oh man, you know what I mean? You want to go, brother Robert Tom One of the greatest prophets I've ever known I know he didn't mean to do it But dear God he said come Calvin Come with me And I wanted to quit my job Oh I came I don't know every time he came I would come that close To quitting my job And I would have missed God I would have missed God But the Holy Ghost within me That faithful witness Would always say uh uh I didn't know why But thank God Because I tell you I was a loaded shotgun And I would have blowed people's heads off And mine too And I would have I don't guess about it I know I would have been shipwrecked And I would have made multitudes of people shipwrecked I'm so thankful tonight That he kept me from my father in my youth It's good to wait on God I didn't know it was going to be this long But thank God However long it takes As a young man I used to grieve Sometimes I didn't like to read about Moses Because I'd hear those words 40 I'd hear 30 about Jesus And 30 about Joseph And I'd hear this And I'd think oh God I'm 26 years old I thought dear God 30 years, 40 years I'll be an old codger Watching an old codger Because now I am an old codger But I saw something in the Lord God sent me Moses A meek man A most humble man by God's own words Look what on the face of the earth And God told me that a man or woman That will wait on God That when God does bring him forth Prepared and equipped And clothed with his authority Look what Moses did Not Moses But God what In Moses He brought down the mightiest nation on the face of the earth Didn't he Never to rise again in one day And I saw that I saw dear God And I saw I saw Oh God I saw by the grace of God One man That's waiting on God And comes forth Only at God's bidding Can do more in one day Than ten zillion of these so called Preachers including this preacher here And that's not a passivity That's not a cop out That's the ways of God So I want to encourage you What God's bringing We're not saying you to come here If God sends you here great But if he sends you here Put your whole weight down Connect yourself to that Not to me but to him Amen And so I just feel I had to say that And so Lauren I pray that the young people will hear this word I pray that you get these tight Because I don't think you hear all this In one city But if you live in Safari If you've got a long time in here You might hear all this But get these tight in here and here and here Amen How can I stand Amen