This sermon emphasizes the significance of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, highlighting how it launched the church. It delves into the prophecy of Joel regarding the pouring out of God's Spirit on all mankind, the signs preceding the great day of the Lord, and the assurance of salvation for all who call on the name of the Lord. The sermon challenges listeners to embrace their spiritual inheritance, walk with God like Enoch, preach righteousness like Noah, and prophesy to build up, challenge, and comfort others in preparation for the second coming of Christ.

In the New Testament, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is the most significant and most important thing that happened to the disciples and that's what launched the church. And when the people asked the apostles, what is this? We read in Acts chapter 2 that Peter got up and said in verse 16, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel, that in the last days I will pour forth my spirit on all mankind and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams and on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour out my spirit and they will prophesy and I will set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billowing smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come and it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I don't know whether you noticed that when we speak about the last days, Peter spoke about the last days beginning on the day of Pentecost when they asked him, what is this thing that's happening? He said, this is what the prophet prophesied that in the last days I will pour out my spirit and he said, here what you see around here is the fulfillment of that in the last days, God pouring out his spirit and then he speaks about wonders in the sky above, verse 19 and signs on the earth and blood and fire and smoke. The sun turned into darkness and moon into blood and before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. You see there, there's a combination of what's going to happen when Jesus comes again and I'm certain that Peter himself did not know that there's going to be 2,000 years there between that first outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the last days and the return of the Lord. Jesus said that he himself when he was on earth did not know the date of his second coming. So it's quite amusing to me when I see Christians who predict the date. There are different Christians through the years who have predicted different days when they said Christ would come in 1080. Somebody said that he'll come in 1841, 1844, 1994, different times people said he's going to come and it's almost as though they know more than Jesus himself who when he was on earth said no one knows the day or the hour when he's coming. So Peter didn't know when Christ would come and he must have thought this is just going to be maybe a few days or a year or so and then Christ would come back and there'll be this great and terrible glorious day of the Lord shall come and between that period before that day comes, verse 21, everyone who calls the name of the Lord will be saved. So in that prophecy and Joel also who prophesied this did not know that these two events, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the great and glorious day of the Lord, Joel speaks of it all in one paragraph but what's mentioned in verse 70 and what's mentioned in verse 20 is a gap of 2,000 years. It's something like you know when you climb a mountain, you go up into the mountains and you see a great peak there and then behind that you see another peak and you think that the distance between those two peaks is probably a hundred yards but when you come there you realize it's miles and miles and miles before you see to the other peak. It's something like that. The prophets when they looked into the future they saw the first coming of Christ like one mountain peak and behind that they saw the second coming of Christ like another mountain peak and it looked to them as if it's pretty close by but we know now that it's a period of 2,000 years and so if we look at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in verse 17 and verse 20 and 21 verse 20 the great and glorious day of the Lord when he's going to come again. Verse 19 also speaks about that final time when there'll be signs and wonders in the sky and all those things haven't yet happened but they're going to happen when the sun will be darkened and the moon will be turned into blood. Between these two events the first coming and the second coming Christ the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in verse 17 and coming of the Lord verse 19 and 20 what is mentioned here? What are we supposed to be doing? Look at this passage like that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit I will pour out my spirit on all flesh in the last days so the last days began on the day of Pentecost. It's very clear Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and he's explaining what's happening right now is the beginning of the last days and God is pouring out his spirit and the last days are going to end with signs in the sun and the moon and the sky and the Lord will come and in between is the period we are in. You know what you and I are supposed to do during this period? It's written there we are to prophesy. Look at it like that verse 17 is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit verse 19 20 is the coming of the Lord in between twice it says when I pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters will prophesy and there is to be no difference in that. You know there are many things that the Bible says which we can claim as ours only if we see this is our inheritance. It's something like if your father was a multi-millionaire and wrote a will you know leaving a whole lot of property for you. You don't claim it. Somebody else will take it but it's yours but if you're too lazy or sluggish to find out what your inheritance is then you can live in poverty when you could live in wealth but when it concerns earthly wealth and inheritance from our parents I tell you every Christian is pretty shrewd. I've never met a Christian who's not shrewd when it comes to getting one's father's inheritance even fighting for it but when it comes to their spiritual inheritance I find the vast majority more than 90 percent of Christians they don't claim it they're not bothered and the thing is when we stand before the Lord in the final day we will discover that all that inheritance you got from your father and your uncle and all your relatives will all perish and go it won't be worth anything all the things you fought for and were so eager to get and you will discover that the spiritual inheritance which you're supposed to get which you didn't claim is the thing that's going to bring loss and let me mention this eternal loss to you even if you go to heaven. I feel sorry for the Christians whose only aim in life is to go to heaven. In fact I seriously question whether such people are even born again. Shall I surprise you by saying that from the time I was born again nearly 50 years ago I've never been interested in going to heaven never not when I was converted and never in all these 50 years and I'm in no hurry to go there either because I see that's not my goal never I don't I'm not taken up with these songs of mansions of there and streets of gold and all that to me heaven is that Jesus is there I want to be with him and before I get there I want to be saved from all the sin that I inherited from Adam that's what I'm more interested in than I'm going to heaven and that's why my life's become very happy I see a lot of people are waiting to go to heaven they're pretty miserable and gloomy they're waiting to go to heaven that's not why we're saved there is an inheritance for you my brother sister are you a son or a daughter of God you're not born again of course forget it then you need to be born again first there is an inheritance written in God's will for his sons and his daughters you know when a father before he dies he writes a will not for every Tom Dick and Harry in town but for his sons and his daughters so here is what God has willed for his sons and his daughters which is not available before the day of Pentecost because nobody was a son or a daughter of God you know that Abraham was not a son of God he was a friend of God the Bible says not David not even Daniel not even John the Baptist and even on the day before Jesus went to the cross before he died on the cross the day before the night before less than 24 hours before he died he told his disciples in John 15 till now you have been my servants but now I call you my friends they were still not his brothers no they were his friends in a general way but once before when somebody asked him told him his mother is waiting outside who's my mother and my brothers he said these who hear the word of God and do it he said in a general way but he never called his disciples his brothers not even once because they were not his brothers he was Lord and they were his servants then just before he went to the cross he said I give you a promotion I'll call you friends that's great when a servant becomes a friend but three days later when he rose up from the dead that was the greatest promotion of all when he told Mary Magdalene at the tomb go and tell my brothers see what happened go and tell my brothers that I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God suddenly something had happened now they had become his brothers and sisters and so they had become sons and daughters of God which nobody from the time of Abel right up until the day of Pentecost could be that's why it says in the old covenant even though they experienced wonderful things the last verse of Hebrews 11 says God has provided something better for us so what has God said for his sons and daughters they shall prophesy that's my inheritance and just in case we miss it he goes on to say even my bond servants men and women just in case you miss out on that emphasis sons and daughters men and women I will pour out my spirit and once again they shall prophesy we're living in a day when a lot of people want to do miracles if God were to appear to you in the middle of the night like he appeared to Solomon and said to you out of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which one do you want my guess is that 99 percent of believers would say give me the gift of miracles or healing I'm absolutely sure what would you say I know what I'll say I'll say Lord give me the gift of prophecy you will discover in the final day when Christ comes back that a million times more were accomplished was accomplished through the gift of prophecy than through healings and miracles you know how many miracles Jesus did and at the end of it all you know what they shouted crucify him do you think among those who shouted crucify him nobody was healed I'm sure some of those people who shouted crucify him were people who were healed but experienced miracles do you know that Jesus did not defeat satan by the miracles he did was when he died on the cross that satan was defeated the greatest gift that God has given to the church in our day is the gift of prophecy and I'll explain in a moment what that means but the first thing I want to say is if you're a son or a daughter that's your inheritance now you can let the devil take your inheritance if you want that's up to you but I'm not going to let the devil take my inheritance I see lots of Christians around me who just let the devil take their inheritance go ahead you who would fight for earthly property you who will not allow a neighbor to encroach two feet into your compound how much you allow the devil to take away what God wants you to have and don't say you're a woman on my men both men and women sons and daughters they shall prophesy and that is the way that the church is going to fulfill its ministry until verse 19 the day and 20 when the sun will be turned to darkness in the great and terrible day of the Lord will come so right from the time the Holy Spirit's poured out right up until the time of the second coming of Christ the church is supposed to be prophesying now this was another thing which is not possible in the old testament under the old covenant occasionally a prophet would arise I mean there were hundreds of false prophets who studied in the bible schools of those days and got their certificates and called themselves prophets but the true prophets of God in the old testament never came from a bible school there's never a prophet in the history of of humanity whoever came from a bible school not in the old testament not in the new testament they lived before God and came forth from God's presence filled with the Holy Spirit anointed with the gift of prophecy from him and so these prophets would arise Enoch was a prophet he'd read about his prophesying in the book of Jude how he and you know what he prophesied he prophesied about the second coming of Christ the first person in the old testament who's a prophet turn for a moment to the book of Jude the last second last book of the bible it says in the book of Jude towards the end of that letter small letter it says in verse 14 Enoch the seventh generation from Adam prophesied he was a prophet and the first prophet never did any miracles the first prophet in the old testament never did miracles what did he do he walked with God that's a lesson for us the greatest gift that we need immediately before the second coming of Christ my brothers and sisters is the gift of prophecy which all of us must have because it's our birthright it's our inheritance Enoch prophesied he prophesied saying the Lord came with many thousands of his saints that's not the first coming of Christ first coming he came in a cow shed there were no saints there when he came he's talking about his second coming Enoch spoke about the second coming of Christ when Christ hadn't even come the first time the first prophecy in the bible was by Enoch he prophesied about the second coming of Christ imagine a man who lived more than 4,000 years ago 4,500 or something years ago what was he looking forward he was looking forward to the second coming of Christ oh the Lord is going to come with thousands of saints and here are people are living just a few days before the second coming of Christ and they're not prophesying about it isn't that a shame and he said he's going to come to execute judgment oh he was a prophet who spoke against sin he didn't do miracles but he spoke against sin to convict all ungodly people of their ungodly actions and deeds and and also the things which they have done in an ungodly way and their ungodly speech it's our actions and our speech that's going to be judged and the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken yeah he spoke against sin that was his prophecy he warned people that God would judge sin be ready the Lord will come and he's going to judge sin so turn from sin and Noah was another man like that Noah never saw Enoch Jesus said the last days would be like the days of Noah which means you know you read in Genesis 6 that there's a tremendous amount of sexual evil and tremendous amount of violence in the days of Noah men were evil it says all the thoughts of their mind was evil that's how it was in the days of Noah so and we know around us today the last days are exactly like that I remember a time when I was much younger when believers would never go to a cinema theater would not watch movies but it's all different today the filthy movies that believers see I tell you we are in the days of Noah there's no doubt about it and it's infiltrated people who think they are born again it doesn't seem to disturb them those images that they see that provoke them to lust and that they remember later on months after they finish seeing the movie it comes back to their mind in their dreams and you think they'll stop no they'll go and see and watch another one Enoch spoke about such people who didn't have any fear of God who didn't have any interest in holiness and Noah spoke about such warned them but nobody listened in Noah's day nobody listened to what he said but he saved his family and they're going to be very few who are saved I'll tell you that just make sure you saved everyone in your own family take that seriously Noah took it seriously that I've got three sons three daughters-in-law they must all be saved and I don't think they were just saved automatically he must have really prophesied to them shared God's word with them I believe the reason why we have so many believers today whose children are not born again we're on their way to hell for marrying people who are also unbelievers is because the parents have not taken their responsibility seriously we're in the days of Noah they're like lot who couldn't care less they are busy making money and so the daughters go and marry some unbelievers and the wife is interested in the things of Sodom those are the days we're living in you can be like lot or you can be like Noah the Lord said there'll be two types of people in the last days the last days will be like the days of lot and the last days will be like the days of Noah some people will be like Noah and some people would be like lot some people will be like Noah who got the everyone in their family saved and some people would be like lot who's got loses his wife and loses daughters and loses sons-in-law loses everyone that these are warnings you got to take seriously but prophecy Noah prophesied he was a preacher of righteousness the Bible says let me show you that verse says about Noah in Hebrews in chapter 11 by faith Noah being warned by God prepared an ark by which he condemned the world he lived that life and then we are told in 2nd Peter and chapter 2 that he was a preacher of righteousness in verse 5 2nd Peter 2 5 Noah a preacher of righteousness when God brought a flood of judgment of the ungodly so they prophesied in relation to the judgment is coming that's what Noah said what did Enoch say judgment is coming turn from your sin what Noah preached it's called here a preacher of righteousness Noah never did any miracles but he prophesied he prophesied means he preached righteousness he preached about the coming judgment that's what prophecy is that's what we are supposed to do that's what we are supposed to proclaim righteousness to turn people to God now the reason why we look at them is because that's what our ministry is supposed to be every brother and sister in those days it was one man Enoch one man Noah and through the years there's been you know one Elijah one John the Baptist one Jeremiah to be one lone man and then there'd be a hundred years before another prophet turned up but it's all going to be different after the day of Pentecost where if 3,000 people were born again 3,000 people were to be baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost nobody was to be left out it's not that 3,000 were born again and about 50 of them got baptized in the Holy Spirit that was never God's will if 3,000 were saved on the day of Pentecost 3,000 had to be baptized in the Holy Spirit that's how God wanted in the church if there are 100 people in a church who are born again then all 100 must be baptized in the Holy Spirit and all 100 must prophesy prophesy doesn't necessarily mean you got to stand up in a pulpit that may be a special gift to be a prophet or an apostle teacher which God gives to some people mostly men but prophesying men and women I want to encourage you my brothers and sisters to take that seriously don't let a sense of shyness and being reserved and all that type of thing hinder you from taking hold of your inheritance so this is the thing that's important I want to explain what prophecy is in the New Testament in the Old Testament if you read the many people they're understanding a prophecy comes from the dictionary now I've said many times that if you get the definition of a word from the dictionary a biblical word you may get it wrong for example if you want to understand humility you go to the dictionary you'll get the wrong definition Jesus said learn from me for I am humble my dictionary is Jesus it's not Oxford dictionary or Chambers dictionary it's Jesus he's the dictionary and if I want to understand what humility is I don't have to go to a dictionary I look at Jesus so when you want to understand prophecy you got to go to the Bible and if you read the if you see the Old Testament and in the dictionary the earthly dictionary definition of prophecy is foretelling the future prophesy means you say this is going to happen that's going to happen and the multitudes of false prophets like this even in Christendom today particularly in Pentecostal charismatic circles who prophesy this that and the other about other people and collect their fees deceive people that's not what prophecy is about in the Old Testament there were a few prophets who prophesied about the future but do you know the greatest prophet of all in the Old Testament who was the greatest prophet up to the time of Christ who was it John the Baptist Jesus said that he said he's the greatest prophet that's ever been in the history of mankind in fact he said in Matthew chapter 11 he was not only the greatest prophet he was the greatest human being he was the verse Matthew chapter 11 there is no one who is arisen born of women for Matthew 11 11 until today until the time of Jesus other than John the Baptist he was the greatest prophet of all and what was significant about him he preached repentance he was a prophet of repentance and you know there another thing about John the Baptist John chapter 10 and verse 41 I don't know whether you know this John chapter 10 verse 41 the last part it says John did not do any miracles but whatever he said about Jesus was true listen to this John the greatest prophet from the time of Adam till Christ never did a single miracle but everything he said about Jesus was true so what do we learn the greatest prophets at the beginning of the Old Testament Enoch and Noah they never did any miracles but they proclaimed holiness they preached righteousness and prepared people to be ready to meet with God to escape the judgment we saw that in Enoch's prophecy we saw that in Noah preaching for 120 years but nobody listened to hardly anybody listened to Enoch and hardly anybody listened to Noah it's outside his own family when you hear of men like this what do you find in your heart I remember when I read as a young man and I read about John the Baptist I said Lord this is the type of person you need in the last days you find a challenge comes up in your heart like that when you read of these men they never did a single miracle John never healed a sick person he never opened a blind eye he didn't even heal a man of a headache but everything he said about Jesus was true he preached repentance listen to this this was his message let me show it to you in Luke's gospel chapter 3 John came verse chapter 3 verse 3 Luke chapter 3 verse 3 John came preaching a baptism of repentance now why is John the Baptist a great example for us I told you Enoch is a great example for us in these days because he preached about the second coming of Christ Noah was a preacher of righteousness he's a great example for us because he preached about a coming judgment and the ark would be the only way to be saved and the ark is a picture of Christ and the church and Jesus said the last days would be like the days of Noah that's why Noah is an example why is John the Baptist an example I mentioned two Enoch and Noah and they've got some connection with the last days John the Baptist he prepared people for the coming of Christ and we've got to prepare people for the coming of Christ that's why he's an example for us he prepared people for the first coming we got to prepare people for the second coming today the John the Baptist is not one person it's the whole body of Christ the whole church every brother and sister here I tell you in the name of Jesus if you're a son or a daughter of God in the times in which we live you need the spirit of John the Baptist and if you haven't got it seek God for it it says here in Luke chapter three that he came to all the district around Jordan Luke 3 verse 3 preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins his message was repent turn around 180 degrees turn from sin that's just like Enoch just like Noah so the greatest prophets right at the beginning of the old testament and the last one at the end of the old testament they never did any miracles why is it I mean our human logic says listen if you do a few miracles don't you think thousands will get converted after all the thousands of miracles that Jesus did how many people were waiting for the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost 120 the greatest preacher that ever walked on this earth Jesus Christ who did the maximum number of miracles amazing miracles walking on the water turning water into wine and raising people who are dead for three days and feeding 10,000 people with five loaves of fishes imagine if a man who did all this today and thousands are healed everybody in a meeting gets healed Jesus healing was not like a one percent getting healed or somebody who's partially deaf hears a little more on no no no no no they were absolute miracles and at the end of it all how many people turned away it turned to turn to the Lord you know when 10 lepers were healed once only one of them came back even to give thanks they're not interested in anything further it's like that today a lot of people are healed that's all they get their healing and they go on but prophecy that's what turns people God has decided to save people through the foolishness of preaching and not through miracles and that's why the greatest prophets that we see in the old testament they never did miracles but they prophesied they preached repentance and all the great prophets in the old testament they never did any miracles Jeremiah he didn't do any miracles they didn't do miracles they preached holiness they preached holiness we mustn't forget that they preached to Israel about their sin to turn them from sin now in the last days your sons and daughters will prophesy it says here that he preached this repentance as it is written verse four in the book of Isaiah the prophet the voice of one crying in the wilderness that's one of the things about these old testament prophets they were not interested in people knowing them they couldn't care less whether you even knew their name they were a voice a voice from God yeah and if you ever heard one of those old testament prophets you'd remember them all your life you'd never forget it think of it my brothers and sisters that you and I can be like that that people who come across us they may oppose us they may criticize us but they'll never forget us I believe that God's spirit when it's poured out upon you the most important requirement for you to be ready for the coming of Christ is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire and to remain filled with the Holy Spirit and to prophesy to share the word so that you can prepare people for the coming of Christ please take it seriously and what shall we say this is our message today also make ready the way of the Lord verse four make your path straight you crooked people all time get rid of the crookedness from your life there's no time to be depressed every valley has got to be lifted up there's no time to be proud every mountain has to be brought low all the crooked is going to become be made straight and all the roughness in your life has to be removed and made smooth and then Christ will come then we'll be ready for the coming of the Lord that is what we we are to preach today I want to spend all my days only being in a church where that message is preached because then I know I will be ready for the coming of Christ I'll tell you honestly I'm not interested in being in a church that's doing miracles and allowing people to live in sin I'm not interested one bit I want to be in the company of Enoch and Noah and John the Baptist when I read of these men something stirs in my heart does it stir in your heart as I told you you know if you read back in the Old Testament well sometimes it's good to see read carefully it says in Genesis chapter 5 about Enoch that I did a little calculation here once it says Enoch was 65 years old verse 21 Genesis 5 21 and then he got a little child called Methuselah and the meaning of the word Methuselah I believe it was assumed for 65 years Enoch was not a religious man he was just like many of us in our unconverted days ungodly but something happened when his little son was born he got a revelation from God do you know that Enoch was the first person who got a revelation from God about the coming flood it was not Noah by the way he didn't know exactly what it would be but God said to him name your son Methuselah which means when he dies the judgment will come when he dies it'll come and if you calculate there it was Methuselah lived for 969 years he was the longest living human being ever in the history of man showing that God is very reluctant to judge man there's a message in the length of his life God didn't kill him off in 30 years when he dies the judgment will come and God waits and waits and waits and waits and waits allows him to live longer than any other human being to teach us that he is long suffering but in the year in which Methuselah died a flood came you can calculate that and see Noah was born when Methuselah was 369 years old and the flood came when Noah was 600 years old that's the year Methuselah died the Methuselah died and the floods came the rain came but Enoch didn't know that Enoch only knew this little baby that's born as soon as it dies judgment will come now imagine if you have a baby and the Lord tells you when that baby dies that's the end of the world I tell you it'll really make your life pretty serious you'll start walking with God immediately that's exactly what happened to Enoch that's what changed his life from that day he walked with God every time his child had a little fever he became serious said everything right because he knew the moment the child dies the judgment is going to come and not only that every time he called him hey when you die judgment will come come here when he dies judgment will come come here imagine saying that so many times a day when he dies judgment will come that's his name he lived Enoch lived in the reality that judgment was going to come and he walked with God when God told Noah that the flood is going to come he never told him when it was going to come but he knew it was coming how many of you know that this world is going to be wiped out just like Noah's day if you really understood that you'd live for the things that are eternal that would be the most important thing we live on this earth and use the things of the earth but we don't live for nothing because it's all going to perish and pass away and when Enoch died as I told you he was he died when Methuselah was 300 years old because Enoch walked with God for 300 years from the age of 65 and then Enoch didn't die rather he was taken up when he was taken up to heaven Methuselah was 300 years old and 69 years later his grandson Noah was born and I can imagine little Noah as a little boy going up to his grandfather and telling him grandfather tell me about your father how is he I heard he walked with God I want to know and there were a lot of other young people there there were other grandchildren that Methuselah had they were not interested but this one boy was interested when you hear that somebody walks with God when you see a godly man do you find a desire coming up in your heart Lord I want to be like that I've met very few men in my life I said Lord I want to be like that I read about a few men in scripture Lord I want to be like that you see if there is no desire God's not going to do anything I'll tell you something God is not a rewarder of lazy people the Bible says in Hebrews 11 6 he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him it says in Jeremiah 29 verse 13 you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart otherwise you won't find me and Noah was sort of laid back and lazy he'd never have been what God wanted him to be and none of us would be alive you know that we're all children of Noah by the way in case you didn't know we're not just children of Adam we're children of Noah I'll tell you when you get there go and shake his hand and thank him for being faithful that's why you and I are going to get to heaven otherwise we wouldn't exist it is one man's faithfulness and that's because he had a longing as a young man as a little boy perhaps and he'd go and say tell me about Enoch my great-grandfather how is he how did he walk with God what was his life like how did he he had children and he lived a normal life he wasn't sort of some hermit living in the jungles he had to know he had sons and daughters during those 300 years how is it how did he live a normal family life and walk with God and Noah Methuselah told him Methuselah himself didn't walk with God but he told Noah about his father and you know what is the result it says here in Genesis in chapter 6 that Noah verse 9 walked with God the only two people about whom it's mentioned in the Bible that they walked with God one is Enoch the other was Noah both of them were prophets who spoke about righteousness and by the coming of the Lord I see a close connection between a true prophet and one who walked and walking with God John the Baptist was like that out in the wilderness he was walking with God so he spoke what God spoke to him but how did Noah walk with God because he had this hunger to learn from his grandfather he never had a opportunity to meet Enoch Enoch had died 69 years before Noah was born but he wanted to know wanted to find out everything and that produced in him a great longing and he walked with God you find something like that in your heart brother sister when you see a man or a woman who walks with God whose life seems to be undisturbed by what happens around him because he walks as it were in the clouds with God though he lives on earth you find it challenges you say Lord I want to be like that and Methuselah must have told him told Noah you know my my dad Enoch boy you should have heard him preach he was fiery that gave Noah a longing in his heart I want to be like that I want to be a fiery preacher and he became one you know that our nation of India needs a lot of young people who have that longing to walk with God to be fiery and proclaiming the truth of God to prepare people for the coming of Christ are you missing out on your inheritance don't just sit back and listen to the devil this is all that's not for you you'll never get nothing good will ever come out of you I've heard of foolish fathers who keep telling their children you're useless nothing good will ever come out of you nothing good you'll never amount to anything and you know those children grow up and they become like that they never amount to anything because their father's told them you're good for nothing you'll never amount to anything they become like that and the devil's told that to God's people for years you're useless think of all the stupid things you did in your life because other people don't know when the world's God gonna pick you up and use you and you listen to the devil you don't believe in the blood of Jesus that can make you whiter than snow not only whiter than snow just as if you have never sinned in your life let me ask you you think God could use you if you had never committed one sin in your life so then perhaps God will use me but you see I've made committed so many sins how can God use me that means you don't believe that the blood of Jesus can justify you and make you as if you had never sinned in your life dear brother sister I have a burden in my heart I'm not preaching a sermon I'm trying to communicate a burden which I believe is the burden of God's heart and that is he wants many of you sitting here to really take it seriously on the basis of what you hear today to seek to walk with God firstly and don't let the devil ever tell you you're good for nothing no you can't stop him from telling you that he'll keep telling you but don't listen to him anymore don't let him remind you of the past and say you may bungled up so many things in your life nothing good will come out of you or he'll say oh your personality you're so shy and so reserved that's what I was you wouldn't believe it now would you but it is true I was shy and reserved and the devil said all that but I said that's fine what can I do if I was born with that type of temperament but everything gets equalized when you get baptized in the Holy Spirit in fire it doesn't make a difference it doesn't make a difference what type of wood with what type of tree you put into the fire when it burns it burns what does it matter whether it's expensive teak wood or some ordinary jungle wood it burns it's on fire when it's on fire it doesn't it doesn't matter whether you're teak or jungle wood that's how it is so don't let the devil devalue you let there be a longing in your heart say lord I want to be what you want me to be in these days I want to turn now finally to 1 Corinthians 14 before we close 1 Corinthians 14 verse 1 Paul is writing to the Corinthian Christians pursue after love that that's to walk with God I wouldn't say I would say it means walk with God brothers sisters pursue after when you walk with God you'll learn to love God and you learn to love others it's true you can't love others just by hearing an exhortation but you walk with God and you learn to love him and you learn to love others and earnestly desire spiritual gifts especially not miracles not healing prophecy that's God's word eagerly desire prophecy for whom is it brothers and sisters sons and daughters men and women servants kings or queens makes no difference because the one verse three when a person prophesies listen here's the definition of prophecy in the new testament it is not predicting the future it is speaking to human beings to build them up to challenge them and comfort them may not be all three at the same time but to speak to people who need encouragement and comfort let me ask you do you think there are people around you who need little encouragement and comfort you're surrounded by them and to challenge them you think there are people around you sluggish believers ungodly people who are more interested in movies than God's word do you think there are a few people around you like that who need to be challenged who spend more hours watching television than reading something spiritual you think there are people around you like that who need to be challenged oh there's plenty plenty comfort encourage challenge and built up built up that means a little better a closer walk with God all around you there are people like that prophecy is to do that who's going to give us the words you know these old testament prophets God gave them the words you don't have to produce it my brother and sister it's one of the great things I discovered in my ministry I don't have to multiply the loaves and the fishes I only have to distribute them thank God what do the disciples do they just when the basket was empty what did they do they went back to the Lord he multiplies give it out give it out I want to tell you in Jesus name you don't have to produce a message to give to other people if you walk with God he'll give you the words you just learn to walk with God he'll give you the words according to the need of the people who are around you if they need challenge he'll give you a word of challenge if they need comfort he'll give you a word of comfort if they need to be built up he'll give you a word to build them up he will give it that's why it's called a gift of the spirit prophecy is a gift of the spirit how much do you pay for a gift tell me if you paid for it it's not a gift it's a gift on all my sons and daughters I'll pour out my spirit and you shall prophesy that is how we're going to prepare people for the second coming of Christ in the spirit of Enoch in the spirit of Noah and in the spirit of John the Baptist let's pray now I want to encourage you not to take this just as a challenging message and to forget all about it when you go home but to go before God and say Lord I want your spirit to be poured out upon me I want to take things seriously I want to be one of the wholehearted ones to do my little part Lord I've got a little hunger in my heart today when I hear of these men who walked with God when I hear of these men who shared the burden of your heart with their generation Enoch in his generation and Noah in his generation and John the Baptist in your his generation and you and me in our generation and you young people in the generation that is coming before Christ comes again take it seriously Heavenly Father help us to do our part to claim our inheritance be what you want us to be to walk the way you want us to walk in these days to speak as you want us to speak we pray in Jesus name. Amen.