In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of fearing God and having a genuine encounter with Him. He emphasizes that God comes to His people on His terms, often as a refiner's fire, to call them back to Himself. The speaker shares a powerful example of a church experiencing a visitation from God, where people openly confessed their sins and wept at the altar. He highlights the significance of such visitations and warns against mistaking them for ordinary events. The sermon is based on the context of Malachi 3:1, which speaks about God sending a messenger to prepare the way for His sudden coming to the temple.

For some time I wondered how a minister of music and worship could stay so thin, until I saw him directing the choir. And I realized he just works it all off, just leading that choir, and if you were not here Friday night, that choir was something else. They left because I'm speaking, but I mean every ounce of their being was moving, and their feet were moving, and their hands were moving, and they were singing their hearts out on Friday night. I've never seen a choir so expressive as that. And then I realized they love Stephen and his leadership, and I had come to love him too. He's a man after God's own heart. He's not just a performer, he's a worship leader. And the songs he chooses, he does so with incredible care, and wants our hearts to be moved toward the God we serve, and the God who is present, and prepare us for a response to God. So these days with him leading have been enormous for me. Now I remember, believe it or not, how slim I was when I had my first position in a church, which was minister of music. And I bounced around and lost some weight, and then I became a pastor. Of course, you're an exception, I realize that. But then it's been much more difficult. But what a delight to be with you, and to be present when God has chosen to touch a church family. And so this morning I want to talk to you, to prepare you from the scriptures of what to expect in the unusual encounter of God when he touches his church. Now I have noticed that so many of you have been praying, and long before this conference many have been praying, and in small groups, and different times of the week you've been praying for a touch of God. And that is a God-initiated activity. He causes you to want something, and then enables you to do it. But I felt it would be helpful, because I've been through some moments when God deeply touched his people. And I realized there's a uniqueness about what God does when he comes to a church. And many times, because God's people are not familiar with the scriptures, where God has told us what to expect, I felt it would be helpful for me to sort of alert you to what is now happening, and what will be happening in the days to come, because God surely visited your church family. I happen to have had the honor and the humble granted by God to be present, to watch him as he touched so many lives, and then to hear so many come up to me, even this morning, and tell me the magnitude of what God has done, and how significant and life-changing has been these moments in your church. Now many of you may not have been here. That was a choice you made. Your leadership had planned to host a Great Commission prayer conference. That doesn't come to everybody, and it doesn't come at all times. But it did come to your church. But for those of you who are not here, and did not experience the visitation of God upon his people here, I need to alert you, because you need to recognize what God is doing, and not resist what God is doing, simply because it doesn't match what you want him to do, but you weren't here to see what he did. And for those of you whose lives were so deeply touched, and I still remember talking with that beautiful little nine-year-old girl, and saying to her, you need to be very, very sensitive about your ninth year. God probably did more things in my life when I was nine than any other time in my life. And I described some of that. And it was fascinating, because her dad came to me later and said, I just want to thank you for talking to my daughter. She came to me and said, Dad, I think we need to spend more time reading the Bible at home. Do you think God touched her heart? He did. Then I remember two fifteen-year-olds coming to me, and they had heard me say that in all the studies done, we lose more of our young people at fifteen than any other age. Now you know how I know that God touched their hearts? They came to me and said, could you tell us what we need to anticipate, because I'm fifteen, and the other young guys said, I'm going to be fifteen in just a short time. But they wanted to know, what are the things that they face? How can they prepare themselves? And there was just a uniqueness about God's encountering the people of your church. All ages, some in their fifties coming, saying, this has been one of the deepest encounters with God I've ever known. He is calling me out of what I am now involved in, and I sense he's calling me to a completely different involvement with God. I've had some even this morning talking to me about how that they're retired now, and I sat with this one person who I think may be here, and I said, when's your birthday? And he told me, and I said, now, I want you to know that I'm a month and a half older than you, and I expect a little respect. But he said, through different circumstances, he's sensing at this point in his life that God has something much more, and I said, there's no limit on what God can do through any individual who is wholly yielded to God. You can be ninety-six like my father-in-law is. I often wonder why God let my father-in-law live to ninety-six, but he has, he's in Oklahoma, but I sense that even at that age, he is standing with a unique encounter with God, and there's an inner sense that God has something more, and it may be that in your life over the last little while, and as you have come into worship, that you anticipate an encounter with God, and you know that there's a stirring in your heart that there is probably much more that God has planned and purposed from eternity for him to do through your life, and it may be that you sense that God has a global involvement of your life, which you cannot put words to, but you sense that. The Holy Spirit is very gentle and very kind, but very thorough. When the Holy Spirit has been assigned by God to make sure you don't miss what God's about to do, he puts what I call a holy restlessness in your heart. That's him. He is shaking you loose from where you are, because if he didn't create a holy restlessness in you when he finally shows you what he wants you to do, you would not go, because you're too tied to what you're now doing. So, he gently, but very specifically, begins to shake you loose emotionally and mentally from where you are, and you really don't understand it, but you do sense there's something more than what you've been experiencing that God intends for your life. Well, that's true. Wherever you are now is simply God's way station for the next place he wants you to be. And when you get there, it's simply the next step, the next place that you have to be before he can take you further. And there is an amazing verse in John 16 about the middle of that chapter where he says to his disciples, now think about your own life if he were to say this to you, and maybe he is now saying it to you, you've not been able to put an identity to it. But he said to his disciples, there's so much more that I want to tell you, but you couldn't take it now. But he said, the spirit of truth, when he comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own authority. Whatever he hears, that's what he's going to say, and he'll tell you things to come. But Jesus basically said, right now, there's an awful lot that I want to say to you, but you don't have prerequisites in place. You have not been responding to what I've been saying. You've been living your life on your own, and you sort of call me in to help you be successful to your plans, but you have not yet listened to what I have in mind. So if you had been listening over a period of time, I could now tell you much, much more that would dramatically affect your life. But I can't tell you that now because you couldn't take it. If I were to share it, you would simply argue with me and tell me you believe it couldn't be God because he's not doing what you've told him to do. But could it be that in this worship service, unexpected, the God who has purposed your life from before the foundation of the world, and who has been working in you up until now, may one more time seek to get your attention and to get you to understand it's him, it's God, and he has a significant purpose for your life, and he's about to lead you to the next step. You're going to have to decide whether you go or not. You're going to have to decide whether it's God or not, and some of you have not been spending time with God, so you don't recognize his voice. I don't know about you, it would be the most fearful thing for me to neglect a daily time with God to the point where I am now unfamiliar with his voice, and when the God of the universe speaks to give me perfect direction for my life, I wouldn't even recognize that it's him. That would be a frightful thing for me personally. Now if you'll turn with me to Malachi chapter three, we're going to read the context of the verse we want to speak to you about. I'll read the verse from which we're going to speak, and sort of unfold to you what God is trying to say to his people through Malachi. Now, for those of you who may not be familiar with the scripture, Malachi is exactly the last book in the Old Testament. And let me encourage you, never come to worship, never come to meet God in worship without your Bible. This is what the Holy Spirit uses to bring you into an understanding of the ways and the person of God. The sword which the Spirit wields is the Word of God. So I'm always trembling when I open the Word of God because I'm face to face with God. The verse we're going to look at for a moment is verse sixteen of chapter three, Malachi three sixteen, and here's what it says. You're going to look at what happens when God visits his people. Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on his name. And then in four two it says, but to you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings. Now let me read you the context of what happened when God visited his people and those who feared the Lord began to talk with one another. And whether they realized it or not, their conversation was being heard and that God was writing a book of remembrance of what he heard them talking about. Now we'll talk about that in a moment because I have watched, and that is exactly what was happening in your church. And some of you are going to find several people talking together about their encounter with God. And you may or may not be able to identify, but do not take that moment lightly. That is a moment orchestrated by God because the hearts of those who are talking with each other are hearts that have an incredible unique fear of God. And they are meditating on his name and on his word. And God is listening. And God is writing what he hears in a book. And God intends to place it in front of him so that he will always have before him what's on your heart. And he will then be initiating other activity in accordance with what he heard you say. Now that I have watched. And I've watched a number of you. And over the mealtime you met together and several of you met together at the altar. But I heard you talking. You were talking out of the encounter you were having with God. And you were letting each other know. And there was an awesome sense of the fear of God. But you just need to understand while you were doing that, what was God doing? And what is the implication? I just want those of you who have been doing that to be greatly encouraged and greatly alert to what God may be doing next. But I also want you as a church to understand what's happening in those men. What's happening in those ladies who had an encounter with God in the last couple of days. And they just seem to want to talk together. And they're praying together. They're thinking together. They're planning together. Where did all that come from? Your church had a visitation from God. That's what's happening. And don't ever mistake it for just ordinary event. It isn't. You cannot plan it, you cannot orchestrate it, you cannot make it happen. But when it does happen, this is what you'll see in the life of your church. But in the second service, I'm going to be speaking from verses 1 to 7. And that's the context of people speaking together. So I want to read it for you. And I'll read it slowly in some places because it has an incredible dimension about it. And you just need to understand that when God visits His people, this is what happens. Malachi 3.1. Behold, I send my messenger. He will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple. Even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver. That they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord. As in the days of old and in former years. And I will come near you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers. Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans. And against those who turn away an alien. Because they do not fear Me, says the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, I do not change. Therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers, you have gone away from My ordinances. You have not kept them. Return to Me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you said, in what way shall we return? Or, we don't think we've left. So how can we return if we have not left you? He said, I'm just announcing to you that you have left Me. You're not keeping what I commanded. You're not even looking to see what I did command. But we'll talk about that in the next hour. That first part of this third chapter. Malachi 3 has been a very deep word from God to my own life. And as I walk among God's people. Across all denominations, in all parts of the nation and the world. I see some common things. And God has let me be present in a number of places. In Fort Collins, Colorado. God let me be present among the global gathering. Three to four thousand of the campus crusade leaders. And this whole scripture that says, The one you're seeking will suddenly come. That happened while we were there. And God's people had been profoundly seeking after God. They had been praying in the stairwells and under the trees. And everywhere they would have been praying. And suddenly, there was an incredible encounter with God. And for 21 hours straight. The campus crusade leadership came under the severest conviction of sin. The one they had been seeking suddenly came. But they came as a refiner's fire. And the scripture says, Who can stand when he appears? They couldn't. And I remember sitting next to Bill Bright. And he said, Henry, I've never been in moments like this. You have. Would you help us? And so, I stood at the microphone helping them repent. For nine and a half hours straight. And God let me be present to see this scripture come to pass. God was announcing, If you seek the presence of the Lord, He may suddenly come. But who can abide the day of His coming? He doesn't come on our terms. He comes as a refiner's fire. Because He's seeking to call His people back to Himself. Some of these were leaders of Bible studies in Washington, D.C. But their hearts had turned from God. And they were now in incredible sin. But they could not stand while God was present. And so they ran to the microphone. And they began to confess openly their sin. And then they turned and went to the altar and began to weep. And I saw an amazing thing happen. Because as friends saw their friends weeping and sobbing at the front. They came alongside of them. And I heard them saying, because I was standing fairly close. Now, don't feel so bad about this. All of us have these kind of things. And don't feel so bad about it. And I just announced to the whole group. Don't any of you try to make a person who is being convicted of their sin feel better. Don't you relieve them of the encounter with God. Let God have His full work. And when God's through with them, then you can talk to them. But don't come and try to relieve the pressure that comes when the Refiner's fire comes. And when God comes to your church, you'll see some. Who profoundly broken before the Lord as they have in the last couple of days. Come to this wonderful altar. And there they have poured out their soul. And I have watched over and over and over again. The moment one is in great distress, someone comes alongside. And my prayer would be that you would not try to relieve their burden. Let God bring the fullest kind of burden. And it will be the most painful experience they've ever been through. Don't try to lighten or interfere with the convicting presence of Almighty God. He deals gently but firmly. They'll know when God is through with them. But don't you shortchange that one. If you want to come and kneel and pray with them, do so. But don't talk to them. They're there to talk to God, not to you. But you can come alongside. But you need to understand what happens when God comes to His people. Well, this scripture says, Suddenly, those who have had a deep fear of God, That is, they have an honest understanding of who God is. And they are increasingly having an honest sense of what's on the heart of God. That God is profoundly concerned about the sin in His people. And those who fear the Lord will talk with one another. Now, I've been in a number of moments. In the church I pastored in Canada, where we saw a visitation of God on the entire city, and in our church for seven and a half weeks. And it was an awesome moment. And God let us see what was on His heart. We were forever trying to tell God what was on our heart. And God was trying to say to us, It doesn't matter what's on your heart. What does matter is what's on my heart. What's on your heart will not determine the course of your church family. What's on my heart will. So, those who feared the Lord, those who had a sense that there was a radical difference between them and God, and suddenly they began to sense a trembling in the presence of God. Two verses that you need to be aware of. God cried out to His people, Should you not tremble in my presence? He says that often, but He does make that statement clear. So, let me help you to understand where you may be in your relationship to God. If you can make your way into this auditorium and say, We're in the presence of God, but you say that without any trembling, God will say to you, Should you not be trembling in my presence? Do you not know who I am? Do you not have any awareness of my holiness and your sin? Do you not understand how close you are to my judgment? You've been taking lightly the Word of God. You've not even visited the Word of God very often. But you claim to be in my presence. I know your works. I know that you don't care whether you know my will or not. Should you not now tremble in my presence? Because I've been aware of what's in your heart all along. And it may be that today I will bring you under great conviction. So as I have been invited to be among you, there was a trembling in my heart. Because I knew that many had been praying that God would show His presence, God would let us know that He was present. And He did. And those who feared the Lord, those who had an accurate understanding of what it is like to stand in the presence of God, an accurate understanding, they will talk with one another. They'll sort of find each other. And many who had not necessarily been close friends, suddenly, when God is among them, their hearts beat as one. And they begin to sense we both have the same sense of trembling. The other word that God says is, Should you not tremble at my word? In other words, when the God of the universe speaks, He is God. And when He speaks, He always does what He says. And if He happens to speak to you, convicting you of sin, you need to tremble at His word. He does not forever overlook your sin. He will deal with it. And when God deals with your sin, it is very thorough, very deep, and very severe. And it may show itself in your children or your grandchildren or your workplace or your health or your finances. God has a thousand ways to speak directly to your sin. But you see, in our generation, it is not popular to speak of sin. And if you're a pastor, I don't know his preaching. I have understood he's very biblical and very thorough, for which you need to be grateful to God. But across the land, it is not popular to speak about sin. It's not seeker-friendly. And when you don't speak about sin, God's people come under no conviction, and they go deeper and deeper into sin, and then there comes a clash. I talked with a key leader of the state of Tennessee yesterday, and we had supper together, and we're talking, and he was saying he's going about an hour and a half from here to preach in a church that this last Sunday, previous Sunday, they had lost 46% of their membership. They had a church split. Now, you know what some of those people will have the audacity to do when they come to worship this morning? Some dear soul who's totally disoriented to God, but is always asked to pray. He will come in his time of prayer and say, Oh, God, would you bless us today as we gather before you? And if he listened to God answer him, God would say, I'm not here to bless you, I'm here to condemn you. You just denied the entire gospel. When I saved you, I gave you a ministry of reconciliation. The message of the cross is that God laid down His life so He could reconcile us to Himself. And He gave to us now a ministry of reconciliation. That's the heart of my message. But the whole of this society knows you did not reconcile with one another. Don't ask me to bless you. You need to tremble because of what you've done. But nobody preaches on sin. And so we say, well, not all of us have the same mind or heart. And it probably is best if those who disagree should move on and start another church. That is straight from the pit of hell. Don't ever justify a church split by saying it would be better because at least we started another church. That is straight from hell. I pastored a church. We never had a split. But we started 38 new congregations out of that one little congregation. God doesn't start churches out of splits. He starts churches out of healthy churches who understand they need to take the gospel to the other towns and villages also. When God visits a church, those who fear the Lord, those who have a conscience toward their relationship to God, will find each other and begin to talk together. Now in that conversation, if you're among those who I have observed, you're talking with each other. You need to understand the Holy Spirit has brought you together and He will orchestrate what it is you're going to talk about. He's going to guide you from where you are to where God can now speak to you much more thoroughly about what is about to be. Because when God sees those who fear Him talking together... Now let me give you a contrast. I belong to a very fine church, a fairly large church. We probably run 23, 400 in Sunday school every Sunday in First Baptist Jonesboro, Georgia. And I deliberately chose several weeks in a row to come early into the church family and to sit there and listen to the conversations. Now would you not expect that when God's people come to the house of God, they come to meet God. They come to talk about Him. For three weeks in a row, for 30 minutes preceding the worship service, I never heard one conversation about God. Never heard one conversation about the Lord Jesus. Never heard one conversation about the encounter they had with God. They were talking about the sports scores. They were talking about their grandchildren. They were talking about everything under the sun. And then the gracious worship leader has to come and tap and get all of our attention and get us away from everything that's on our mind and try to get us thinking about God. I thought that worship was focused on God. Now you think back on the time that you came to the service today. Were you hurrying to the place where God's people gather because you had such an encounter with God this week? You could hardly wait until you could tell your Christian friends what God was doing. Or was the last thing in your mind that you had come into the presence of God and there would be a trembling inside because the God of the universe would meet you and he would review for you what he had been doing all week long. And he'll want you to come and express that to the fellow believers and cause some who are discouraged to be encouraged because you have a testimony to give. Have you come into the place of worship to meet God? Well, could I suggest to you that only those who fear the Lord does God listen to. Those who fear the Lord, God listened, heard and listened and then the God of the universe began to do something that seems so strange and yet wonderful. The God of the universe listening to those who fear the Lord and those who tremble in his presence and those who meditate on his word whether given during the week or given in their quiet time. They meditate, they stay there, they linger there to get everything that God has in mind to say to them. Now, those individuals God pays special attention to, would you be among them? Or would he have to pass over your life and say, this one obviously has no fear of me and does not meditate on my word. Therefore, whatever they're saying, I will not record. I'll not even listen to. But I'm going to look for those who fear the Lord and let me encourage you to understand. God did visit your church. In these last two days there was, and I say this out of years of walking with God in revival and awakening, God did visit your church. And you'll notice there are small groups of people who are talking one with another because everything in their walk with God is on high alert. And they're sensing that God met them and that he has reinforced their sense of the fear of God. But they may not be aware, as I bring to your attention this morning, that God listened and heard and a book of remembrance was written and placed before God from those who feared the Lord and who meditated on his word. Now, what's God intending to do? Nothing is placed in the presence of God. Nothing is placed before God without the intention that the eyes of God will constantly be upon it so that he can now implement in the lives of those he heard what was on their heart. And without a question, those who fear the Lord and talk together and meditate on his word, they are the ones that begin to see the incredible activity of God working in their lives, their families, their children, their grandchildren, their churches. They're the ones that make a difference in the life of every church because God has in his presence a book that was written as he listened and heard what those who feared the Lord were saying one with another. So I would say to those of you who are in that category, be very alert to what God will be doing in the next little while. Make a connection between how the Spirit of God focused your heart during these two days and that you found those of like heart and you talked together and you prayed together and you let the other know what was on your heart and you let them know what God was saying to you from his word. Be very, very alert. And to those of you who that did not happen to or you were not there, don't be quick to judge when you see some people with a deep sense of excitement talking together. Understand what has happened. God visited your church and there were those who had a sensitive heart toward God and they began to talk with one another. And they may even come to your Sunday school class and they may even begin with enthusiasm to try and talk to you about the encounter with God they had. Don't quench that. Don't say, I always hate to hear people say that God spoke to them. Now the only reason you feel that way is because God's not speaking to you. And you don't want to be around anybody who says God spoke to them. Be very careful that you do not quench the Spirit. That is an awesome thing to do. Listen. And listen to the testimony of those whose lives were touched. Your pastor, he will be sharing with you out of the crucible of his own personal encounter with God and out of the thrill that he has been experiencing watching his people sobbing at the altar and then getting up with great joy having settled some things with God. This weekend was God's moment to visit your church. What will it look like? At least one of the things it will do it will cause individuals to talk with one another. And those who fear the Lord out of that encounter God will listen and hear and write a book and put that book in his presence. Now I don't know how to explain that except he uses terms we understand. All I know is that God has designed to listen and hear those who have a huge heart for him recognize his presence and are now standing waiting to see what God will say next and they are now meditating on God's word to see if there is something fresh. God will begin to work. It may be in their personal life. It may be in their marriage. It may be that things for which they have prayed in their children's life or their grandchildren or their workplace will suddenly begin to take place and they will see victories happen out of their life with God. That's what they talked about and that's what God heard and that's what God put before him and that's what God now is implementing in their life. Now you are a church most fortunate. Not every church has had an encounter like yours has. I know many who long for it and yet they still have not had that kind of an encounter. But I wanted to alert you what happens when God visits a church. Well this 16th verse will tell you at least a couple of things that happens in the hearts of his people and in the heart of God and in the combination of God taking that and bringing into their lives what their hearts have yearned for. Now it's not too late. If even in this message we have borne witness from the scripture what God I have seen do in your church and there's a stirring in your heart to say Lord somehow I missed it. But Lord I don't want to miss it anymore. I don't want to stay where I am. I want to go on with those whose lives have been touched. I want you to visit with me. That's a choice you make. That's a choice you make. Your life and mine is the product of choices we make with God. Do you know that you can have a powerful prayer life anytime you choose to. You can have an incredible life of faith anytime you choose to. Your life right now is an expression of the choices you've been making with God. Everybody around you sees where you're at. Sees where your focus is. Sees where your conversation is. Sees where your goals are. And they know you're there because of choices you've made with or without God. So this morning as we bring this part of our service to a close the altar will be open and we'll simply just have a time of prayer and quiet. If perchance the Spirit of God has moved in your heart and you know it's Him and you cannot stay where you've been in your walk with God and you want to go a lot farther with Him you may want to come and pray. You may be at a very critical moment of decision in your career or in your life or in your education and you're wanting God to make clear His will for your life. I believe that God has put a DNA in every believer to want to know and do His will. And you'll be totally dissatisfied unless you're there in the middle of the will of God. This morning may be that surprise visit, that sudden visit of God to your life. So I want you to bow your heads with me as we pray but then we'll leave the altar open for any who would like to come and say by coming I'm not going to stay where I've been. My coming to the altar is an acknowledgement that I'm moving from where I've been to where I know God wants me to be. I'm dissatisfied. Let's pray and then we'll just be quiet and our invitation moment will not be long because it doesn't take a person long to say yes, Lord. Two words. Father, in this service, I tremble because I know that these past two days you have chosen this place. Your ears have been opened and your eyes have been opened to this place as a place set aside for your dwelling. And it has been both humbling and awesome for you to let me be present to see it happen. And Lord, the whole congregation every one of them being a member of the living body of Christ called First Baptist Powell they will be experiencing and feeling and knowing that you have visited. Father, may there be a chorus that will arise from the hearts of your people here the staff, the deacons, the elders the leaders, the Sunday school teachers the workers with children the leaders of youth and the youth themselves a huge sense Lord, here's my life use it as it seems best to you may there be a chorus of thanksgiving and acknowledgement and may they talk each with each other constantly knowing that you are listening and hearing so guide these few moments for any who would like to simply come to you and let you speak to them confirm to them what it is you've already been doing so Lord, we give these few moments to you guide us each one we pray in your name