In this sermon, the speaker begins by ensuring that the sound and environment in the room are suitable for the audience. He then focuses on the central theme of the sermon, which is Paul's role as a minister and the purpose of God's creation. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding why God created all things and highlights the depth and significance of this topic. He suggests that the book of Ephesians is often overlooked but contains profound insights into the purpose of creation.

The servant that the Lord sent to us in art cats, would you welcome him? Good evening. Good evening Hello everything okay, the sound is Natural normal clear reaching the back of the room. I Have proof you can't hear in front of the room Hey You can't hear She can yes, okay I'm always adjusting the the windows. I'm an ex-school teacher. So I make sure that the room is ventilated The lights are proper. The hearing is the conditions are appropriate and conducive Especially tonight because you don't dare miss a syllable what I consider to be a subject so central to the understanding of the faith and So little understood or even known That it will require your full attention So we have already prayed that you will not be over fatigued By these messages every night and that the Lord would give you a fresh and enlarged capacity to receive this subject and The launching point for it is the great statement in Ephesians chapter 3 And Probably one of the most difficult books to read even Paul's authorship is disputed among scholars because it seems to have a note of Eloquence and use of language that's not to be found elsewhere in Paul's epistles I believe he's the author and I believe that he was Moved into such a realm of Vision understanding and exposition That the fault of the church historically and presently is to read Ephesians through as if it's some kind of Flowing rhetoric to give us a kind of a lift an emotional sense of things but we don't really dwell on the content the content is awesome and The intensity of that content the concentration of what is expressed in a few words is Beyond any literature that I have ever considered so of all of the scriptures, I think the book of Ephesians is the most demanding and the most neglected For example if I were to say that in the verse to be read now Paul is going to explain the purpose for all creation Can you believe that? Can you believe that any man however astute in God can express in one verse? What is the purpose of God's creation? What did you think that it didn't require a purpose? Well, that is just something that God chose to do on An occasion to alleviate his boredom or to give him some object of interest for his own deity One thing we know we have a purposeful God and the remarkable thing that is called creation the universe The heavens and the earth and all that in them is and the stars also Are the clear work of the living God who creates? But why create? Is it just novelty? Is it just look my no hands. I'm able to do this. Oh, I will That would be an uncommon un-un-un Becoming thought about God So it behooves us to have a little understanding of what of why God has created all things and You're going to be surprised to learn that we are the central object and purpose of that creation according to this text so Lord if ever I have asked grace for speaking and Grace for hearing I ask it now if this text is dear to you and you are the very God who has inspired it and expressed it through Paul and intended for all the church then I'm asking my God a remarkable occurrence of your presence the spirit of understanding clarity Lord the open heart the the projection of meaning into ourselves Which need not be totally grasped by our minds But can go directly into our spirits and later on you can call for it later on You can let it rise up to the level of thought and consciousness But let not a syllable fall to the ground Communicate something so Foundational for the church for these people my God who have callings in your creation the nation's That it will serve them in good stead. Thank you for the Privilege my God of speaking from this text and we ask your grace both for speaking and hearing Your presence with us your mercy in Jesus name. Amen Paul is very difficult to leap into you want to start with chapter 3 and The principal verses for verse 9 and 10, but it's almost an a rude assault to leap in like that so you have to go to the beginning of the chapter and Then the beginning of the chapter draws you into what preceded it and in fact you realize that Paul Just rolls it out by the odd There he's like God himself there's no beginning and no end but because of time I Have to pass by such juicy morsel more morsels as Paul explaining the mystery of the body and the gospel that has come to the Gentiles which I have mentioned in a previous time and get down to the centerpiece for tonight Where Paul speaks of himself as a minister in verse 7 according to the gift of grace of God given unto me By the effectual working of his power unto me who have and less than the least of all saints is this grace given That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see What is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world? Hath been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now in order that and I'm gonna stop or else you'll be lulled in to a kind of Tranquility that will miss the point entirely Paul is about to tell us what the intent is and the purpose for which reason God has created all things So, how dare you sit there as if you're hearing a mere sermon How is it you're not leaning forward in your seat with your hand cupped at your ear that you should not miss Any syllable of this answer? From the the Apostle who was given such grace to preach These riches and to make this mystery known to the intent that now Unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord so the whole purpose of creation from this text is that there would be a platform for a phenomenon called the church and That that church would have something to fulfill for which reason God did not think it Extravagant to create all things and that purpose has nothing to do Explicitly nor directly with the benefits that would come to men through the church or to the nation's or to the church itself Rather it's to make a demonstration of something called the manifold wisdom of God to some Dimension of reality that is above the world and invisible Called this the principalities and powers of the air and that this is the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus as My Danish wife is one to say. How do you like them apples? This is staggering it's contradictory it pulls the rug out from under our seat our feet and Provides a purpose that we had never once ever considered and Paul says is the very reason for all creation What kind of a church is it that could go on from generation to generation and Never once consider and take to heart seriously God's purpose for all creation for which reason he has established the church How dare we promote our programs and consider our activity? independent of this Central purpose for our being as church. I Want to say that the church that gives scant attention to this that chooses to ignore it Or to that dismisses this as some kind of euphoric play on words That is nice to hear but not to be taken seriously is ipso facto not the church It's an institution. It's a band of enthusiasts who are Itching to promote their own ministries and perform the things that they think to please God It's not a church that is concerned with that which Pleases God according to his own definition and according to his own word That God thinks it important He doesn't explain why that a certain demonstration be made By the only agency on earth that can't conceivably make it and for which reason he's created the earth that it could sustain this phenomenon called the church and That purpose is for that church to demonstrate to this invisible realm of principalities and powers whoever they are The manifold wisdom of God and that is the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus Well, I'm going to attempt by the grace that is given to expound what that means and to tell you if you've gotten the book yesterday that a whole long chapter is Devoted to this very subject from which I will likely be drawing tonight it sounds like an Irrelevancy to be occupied with those things that are eternal The eternal purpose of God won't that take care of itself when the time comes? No, the church that is the church takes eternity into its present consciousness and Seeks the fulfillment now Paul uses the word now To the intent that now this demonstration might be made though it has eternal ramifications because anyone with so much as a drop of apostolic sap in their blood knows That only if we are occupied with the eternal Can we be of any significance in the now? The church that is only occupied with now that gives scant attention to those things that are eternal is strangely and ironically irrelevant But what kind of wisdom is God speaking about and Who are these powers to whom the demonstration should be made and why is it important to God? The question for us is we're not required to have an explanation All we need to know that it is important that it's so important that he did not hesitate to create all things in Order to provide the fulfillment of this desire Because the church that is not taking the desire of God to its heart However, irrelevant and may seem to itself however, devoid of practical consequences However, it does not hint that there's going to be blessing or significance for men or for ourselves and yet take that to itself As the first purpose for its being is the church that is the church indeed because that willingness to take God's purpose to ourselves all the more When it has no promise of bringing us blessing But on the contrary it will mark us before those very principalities and powers as An object of their attention their opposition and their persecution if you want to be left alone just ignore this text you want to go on with business as usual and promote your individual ministries just ignore this and Then they will say Jesus. We know and Paul we know but who are you? You're not even worthy of our consideration that own that church that that Requires our attention and that cause us a stark fear is a church That does not have to have a payoff and receive a benefit for taking to itself a purpose in God even if that purpose Threatens a consequence that will be painful All the more is that very willingness itself the demonstration of that wisdom? Because there are two wisdoms in collision And you need to understand that in this context Paul is not talking about wisdom as cleverness or wise procedure or behavior on the basis of knowledge or experience maybe the better word for the kind of manifold wisdom that God is wanting made known is a Way of value a system of values a way of understanding There's a collision between value systems one originates from below and has the Prince of Darkness as its author and The whole world is enveloped and taken up with it and never once questions its truth or legitimacy For example take care of number one if you don't who will seek your own self-interest The Declaration of Independence the self-evident truth of the pursuit of happiness as being the commendable purpose for human existence avoid suffering and pain pursue pleasure Seek and take care of yourself avoid loss sacrifice the wisdom of this world by which the whole world lives its life is predicated on that which comes from below And in and in some and many cases gives an appearance. I won't say of sanctity, but of legitimacy it sounds rational It's reasonable. It's addressed to the self-evident needs of men To put themselves first It's an appeal to self-interest. It's an appeal to self. So what about a church? That is willing to adopt something as central to its whole purpose for being That offers no promise of any reward to itself No advantage no blessing But on the contrary that this will mark you before these powers Because you're a people of such a kind as to put the eternal purpose of God before every other purpose So you're willing even to suffer the opposition of the principalities and powers? Because you want to see the eternal purpose of God fulfilled Even though it offers no prospect of improvement or betterment or blessing but only trial opposition persecution That is the wisdom of God the very adoption of God's eternal purpose as being primary and foremost is itself that wisdom Because it contradicts all to which the world subscribes that is unquestioned unchallenged approved And made the the normative Understanding by which men are to live their lives which excludes eternity Has no reference to that which lies beyond this life and its greatest lie Is that this life is the purpose for our being and requires all of our attention our energy our consideration It's a lie. It's a deception It leads men into bondage and into death It prompts them by motives of lust ambition fame fortune It appeals to the to the carnal appetite to the lust It makes this life everything It omits God it makes you God determining your own fortune pursuing your own course and No one will blow the whistle on you you'll have the approval and the sanction of virtually everyone So we need to understand that there are two wisdoms in collision and They're both vying as to which wisdom shall prevail in creation itself the wisdom of God or the wisdom of the powers of darkness Who seem to have all the marbles who emphasize prestige wealth fame reward So this is solely and exclusively something that satisfies the heart of God and Only those who have a concern for the heart of God and the satisfaction of that heart will make his purpose their own independent of any benefit that comes by doing that and That is the church in Apostolically speaking The church that we call the church today that has ignored this text doesn't understand it doesn't desire to implement it Sees itself as established to provide men with certain blessings by meeting their needs is a Distortion and is not the purpose for which God has established the church Church is not something that panders to men It's not something institutional that has been established to requite the interest of men by establishing programs and services The church at large even in its best forms has regrettably come to that pitiful condition only for the absence of the knowledge of the eternal purpose of God for the church and in fact until we identify with that purpose and Look to the fulfilling of it. We never will meet meet the needs of men If we put the needs of men and the blessings of men as the foremost purpose for our being we ironically will never meet them But if we put the purpose of God as the first purpose God men's needs will be met by a church that is aligned with God and is more disposed to give them significant answers for their life even the Communication of the wisdom of God that is other than that than that of the world Instead the church is itchy wanting to find something to do Has to have a program needs to justify its existence Precisely because it does not see its existence in any of the terms But in responding and meeting the things that are immediate and about them It has not seen what would have given its security and foundation in God namely to taking up of the eternal purpose It would have freed it from the necessity and the ditch to do and to perform something that precedes that is greater than doing and performing is being and What issues from us should issue from our being and not be a substitute? Doing should not be a substitute for being The church that takes to heart God's purpose Even though it has to deal with a realm that is invisible Has to be something in order to demonstrate that wisdom Paul does not say articulate that wisdom. He doesn't say that the church is called to set it forth Programmatically or make statements about it It's to demonstrate it and only a church can demonstrate it because the wisdom of God is a way of being and it has to be made visible and Demonstrable in the relationship and life of a people together that is called the church This is an ultimate requirement. It's one thing to be able to articulate statements about or Wisdom but to demonstrate the wisdom of God is to bring heavenly values down to earth in a way that is so Unaffected And so true and in what we are about and how we relate together That even the powers of the air are terrified at that demonstration They don't often have to see it. I don't know how often they have had occasion to see it But I believe that these purposes must be fulfilled before the Lord comes So this needs to find a place in our hearts and our Understanding or we are crippled in our service for God as well as our knowledge of God We need to understand the cosmic context of the entire faith itself we need to understand that there's a drama of a moral and Cosmic kind that has had its inception from the beginning and is moving toward its conclusion and that this final thing is To be fulfilled by the church itself These are the mysteries of which Paul was a steward the cosmic context of the church the thing that is before time and ends time the Contest that God has with his rival seeking to bring into the earth Systems of value that's that have every appearance of benefit and yet are false and bring to men both bondage and death and that the only agency that God has created that can Unmask this fraud blow the whistle on this deception is the church not just by Identifying it verbally but by themselves presenting the very alternative in their own life together It's a wisdom that I'm saying that requires to be demonstrated It's a wisdom that puts its emphasis on that which is foolish and weak as for example in Psalm 8 Where God says that out of the mouths of babes and sucklings He has perfected praise in order to stop the mouth of the adversary that God in dealing with these powers has got to defeat them not on their ground but on God's ground and God's ground is the choosing of that which is foolish the choosing of that which is weak To confound what the world esteems as wise and as strong out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God has perfected praise has perfected wisdom to stop the mouth of the adversary The adversary has got to be defeated on moral grounds. I don't know how to explain what that means I'm trusting God that The Spirit of God will impart to you a sense that what underlies the whole reality of which we are part and we're only operating at the surface of it is a cosmic conflict and a struggle of a moral kind over the issues of life of truth of reality of meaning and of purpose and this has ever and always been so and That the church itself not recognizing its call has been seduced and sucked into the wisdom of the world So that when we ourselves in order to promote the purposes of church will employ techniques and methodologies and promotions of the kind that the world uses to advance its interests if our pastors become CEOs and executives and whiz kids of Ability to to perform and to influence and move audiences or gather up funds or to Speak in such a way to affect feeling as so as to obtain a certain response and satisfaction We have lost all credibility We have lost all Challenge to the powers of the air for we are playing our game in their terms Manipulation Manipulation is the name of the game They know how to manipulate. They know how to jerk. They know how to pull the strings They know how to play upon mankind they know how to play upon fear ambition lust all the kinds of things to get men to be puppets and to influence Nations and men and races in ways that feed the gluttonous appetite of the powers of darkness That are the powers of chaos death and destruction and violence You can't understand Racial genocide, you can't understand Rwanda. You can't understand black people killing each other in mindless bloodletting Not white against black black against black. You can't understand this Serbian thing about Ethnic cleansing men without conscience The massive rape of women as a as a military expedient you can't understand the rock culture You can't understand sport craze. You can't understand commercialism and the whole consumer mentality of Our world except that you understand that there are there's an influence Pressing upon men upon nations upon races that are called the principalities and the powers of the air Don't think that there's some mirage don't think that they are effectual yes, Jesus met them at the cross and made of them an open spoil and Disarmed them, but he didn't destroy them. So they are a disarmed and yet very effectual Phenomenon who refused to believe that they are defeated and still have the grandiose Vanity and egotism that in the end they're going to succeed over God But that's the very nature of Satan and the very nature of these powers which are the fallen angels that have followed That fallen cherub and vie for power and want influence and have obtained it Paul says in 1st Corinthians If they if they had known if the rulers of this age had known they would not have crucified the Prince of Glory Well, I thought it was performed by Romans under the influence of antagonistic Jews who were not themselves able to bring a capital punishment, but Influence the authority so as to see to the death of Jesus Paul says had the Had the rulers of this age known what would be the consequence of his death? They were too stupid to see it. They only wanted to remove this great threat to their false Rule they would not have crucified the Son of Glory. So they're capable of a crucifixion they're capable of taking over the whole nation of Germany and Turning it from one of the most brilliant liberal cultures in the world that produced great writing fiction poetry philosophy theology and making of them an instrument for the massive annihilation of the Jewish people and Bringing the world that there's such conflict as to threaten the whole of Western civilization in ten years If they can take possession of an entire nation of that kind and Someone has wisely said that what they had instigated was defeated in World War two But the powers yet remain over Germany seeking its next opportunity I'm one of the few souls that did not rejoice for the unification of East and West Germany Because I said uh-uh dump the dump dump Germany again a threat yet a third time in our century. Their unification is not a happy note And if those powers that preside yet over Germany and have never yet once been identified by the German Church Let alone contended against by that church Ventilate again their characteristic wisdom and power on that nation We best brace ourselves for what is yet to come in our time through that people a Church that does not recognize the reality of the principalities and the powers of the air is Boxing at the air is making motions that that Have only a minimal prospect of consequence if then unless they have first understood met and contended and brought some Dislocation of those powers over the very locality that they occupy what would they say tonight about us and all of the Worship and Enthusiasm and and everything that we have expressed Would that intimidate them? Would they would they count themselves threatened? Would they draw back and recoil or? Are they yawning? When one of the most flagrant boasts in our charismatic generation is taking cities to worship As if by turning up the amplifiers, we're going to unseat those powers who have had uncontended sway for Generations and decades since time immemorial It's going to take something more than that it's going to take a demonstration of that which is contrary to their own wisdom as it is expressed by a People who are living without fear without intimidation who cannot be threatened who cannot be cajoled who cannot be intimidated and who? Themselves do not manipulate We have to avoid with great fastidiousness any condescension To a method a technique an advantage that would come that is in any way manipulative for in that we are Echoing the wisdom of the powers that God calls us to defeat We have got to be willing for that which defeats them which is not our Devices or our manipulations, but our foolishness and our weakness We've got to be willing to bear the humiliation of weakness To stand up before big crowds Who think that you're some kind of pro and you can turn it on and off like a faucet and you know what you are you're just a collection of Weakness and trembling in the ineptitude to speak a subject like this and yet to stand and trust that God is going to give grace to Communicate that for which did our whole environment and history has not prepared us Are you standing for a reason brother? I'm preaching your message. Okay, pray for me while I'm speaking I'm astonished. I Didn't hear that Not only am I honored I'm surprised that that's all we've had And we're not over yet because I want to tell you dear Saints and this is no commendation of myself I didn't choose the subject tonight. The Lord has chosen it But if I know anything, I know this if the powers of the air Can nullify this night and make it a non event. It will be a tremendous victory for darkness They have never been so threatened in the history of your fellowship in your movement as this night And I'm getting a Holy Ghost chill as I'm saying that That's why it's got to come forth in the way it's coming forth and I'm amazed it's got to be this faltering and jerking thing because God's means must be relative to his ends He's not going to give you a smooth professional Statement That would become would contradict the content itself If the defeat of the powers has got to come in a way that is contrary to their wisdom Then the very message about that must come in a way that is contrary to their wisdom It's got to come in a way that is not professional that is awkward That is stumbling that doesn't know what the next line is And and that is out of a weakness of a man who knows the subject so well he could speak it in his sleep. I Don't know of another man. I have not met another man who knows it as well as I and yet I'm I'm going from the text of the book as if I'm bumbling through for a first time never having spoken it and I Understand that that is an utter necessity for tonight Because what I tell you before that the prophets are required not only to proclaim but to demonstrate and You're going to be called to exactly this foolishness to exactly this weakness If the powers of the air are going to suffer eclipse and defeat and be loosed from their orbits Which they have enjoyed in an uncontended and uncontested way It will be because there's a pocket of foolishness below that is believing God and trusting God For that for the consequence. However, the foolishness is that that speaker has got to taste and to expect to experience It's not competence that we need. It's a willingness to bear the humiliation of foolishness and weakness That's why there's hope for you That's Why we have been selected That's why we are elected not because of our distinction but because of our non distinction because we're babes because we don't have a credential that the world would recognize and The moment that we begin become credential conscious and title conscious which is so inviting and To draw us in to a levels of prestige and acknowledgement on basis of title We're already losing ground before those powers. It's a rare man. I hope this is one who can enjoy the benefit of title without the loss of influence against the powers of the air who promote that whole credential and prestige system of titles which is which undergirds the whole world I I Don't have to take the time to tell you of the struggle that I've had in such institutions having a master's degree in history and in theology, but they didn't want to give me the one in theology and Gave me every reason why they I could not be granted it though. I had fulfilled every requirement in fact my book on the Holocaust was that the the last thing that I was to present and Then they found objections a week before graduation and gave me new assignments that would be humanly impossible to fulfill and The Lord gave me grace to fulfill it within that week I wasn't going to come up on a platform in the great Lutheran Cathedral of st. Paul for a blank piece of paper Not that I want credential but somehow What else is new You know, who's who oversees and inspires the whole realm of technology Well, I'm so grateful for the day of graduation Because I watched my professors with whom I had been in collision here and there Coming down the aisle in the ceremony of that graduation wearing their their gowns and their PhD Identifications depending on the institution and and the Subject in which they received their PhD or their doctorate. They had colored stripes. It's a very impressive display and when they sat together in one section of the auditorium and My eye fell on them. I sensed such pride such arrogance such stateliness of What the world applauds and for which men have labor to obtain and can sit there in and then I recognized in one fell swoop seeing that and the president on the platform and the lesbian professor that was called from the East Coast to be the the One who would preach to us that day I saw a system I saw the design of the world I saw what it was that I was bucking against Invisibly now made made Vivid and real. Oh, there's that Saints. The world is system power prestige title wealth Stature We need to hate it it's opposed to God it said enmity with God It's contrary to God and it needs to be defeated It needs to be identified by those who have such a sensitivity to Understand the evil that is in the world and to despise the systems of the world because anything that is system Invariably is the work of man And to and watch that we don't ourselves slip into system out of the very necessities of the things that we are about We've got to walk in so circumspect a way that we need The operation of the Holy Spirit than the wisdom of God to avoid the pitfalls that are before us even religiously or Michelle I say especially Religiously for of all of the institutional realms that the powers of the air Influence and occupy there is no greater influence and no greater expression of that power than in the realm of religion you buck against it and You'll know how fierce that is and when its mask is off and its teeth are bared because you have dared touch it and Challenge it you'll know how how real those powers are that have swayed through those men who are not at all aware that they're being influenced and operated upon The church needs to blow the whistle It needs to free the captives Not just by the announcement that they are deceived and under systems of bondage for ambition and fame and title That that will leave them without eternal hope That that when they come to the end of that line They can't take it with them and they've been defrauded of real truth of real value of real Understanding of the things that constitute reality They've been playing the wrong game But everybody else has played it and so they've gone along because there has never been an alternative presented to them And that alternative has got to be presented only by the one agency that God has appointed the church That God has created all things in order that through the church the manifold wisdom of God all of its complexity and richness Contrary in every point in particular to the wisdom of the world needs to be Demonstrated made manifest to the principalities and powers of the air That will call us to be the church because Paul doesn't say God is waiting for certain virtuosos within the church to make the demonstration He's saying that God has great old things and all that through the church Only the church the whole corporate Knit of it the whole diversity of it of male and female and older and younger and fat and skinny and black and white and Every shape and size and description and all of its diversity and uniqueness and individuality only that church Together and what it is in the genius of God as a real body Tempered and moving by another wisdom and hearing another drummer having another incentive another purpose can demonstrate to the victims That there's an alternative to their death To make that demonstration together as the church is for us to cross Because so long as we are under the influence of those powers so long as we are fearful and insecure so long as we require Recognition and esteem so long as we are looking for titles and any of that of those things We are we constitute no threat. We ourselves need to be totally freed From those things that intimidate and threaten men and jerk and manipulate them For it's in that freedom and the exhibition the demonstration of that freedom that those that are captive will it can be known of their bondage So the church that chooses to be ignorant of the eternal purpose of God It does not give itself to that purpose as the first and foremost purpose for its being By that self same thing cannot be the church the church that is indifferent to the eternal purpose of God Let it be however impressive in every other way is not the church in any apostolic and prophetic sense Which is to say in any authentic sense in order to be the church that is the church in truth We must embrace the eternal purpose of God Even though we do not see any practical or utilitarian consequence for doing so because the whole world system is predicated on utility So much given for so much received What do I have to do to graduate how many courses do I have to take how long do I have to serve? I remember the first question that I got in every semester that I was a public school teacher. Mr. Katz What must I do? What what minimal amount is necessary in order to? Pass to get by We are a utilitarian world And you know how we express that spiritually we come before God with our petitions and then we stop We've got off what we want him to consider and to answer and that's the end of our prayer time When it ends is where we should be beginning and continuing We don't even know what what prayer as communion means And what Jesus meant when he said this kind cometh not out but prayer and fasting He didn't he didn't mean prayer of petition that is not indifferent to our petitions But our petitions are only the beginning of the relationship that is expressed in prayer if we are just utilitarian We're willing to give in so much in order to obtain that much that will characterize our prayer And so long as we're in that utilitarian mode We're not a threat to the powers of the air for that's exactly how they they govern and rule over men By in terms of utility what you get for so much invested what's in it for me? What what's required for me in order for me to get this is the spirit of the world and a church that can break that power That is not ruled by that that could be lavish as that woman was who came and broke the alabaster box and poured the ointment Over the head of Jesus and the even the disciples had indignation at the waist Don't know what your God is yet waiting for for the principle of waste is the principle of power It's extravagance that God is wanting and we're utilitarian. We give him so much time attention of our substance We're playing the enemy's game It's beyond utility that real relationship with God is Obtained and By that same measure that we constitute by that reality that's obtained in that fellowship of Union and devotion and opposition to the powers of the air They want to keep us at the level of utility Because the wisdom of the world is predicated upon self-interest and practice practicality that says what is the benefit for me if I do this? What's in it for me, but the wisdom of God which is contrary is altogether sacrificial It does not rest on the benefit that one receives it rest on the benefit that God receives There's no benefit for us But rather the likelihood of embracing suffering in order that he receives his fulfillment and this is so contrary in every point in particular To the ruling mentality of this world the wisdom of the world says take care of number one See to your own self-interest be concerned for your own security. You have only got this one life And that's why our divorces are as frequent and as numerous as those in the world It's a scandal that the church is as much given to the phenomenon of divorce as the world Well, I tried I gave it my best shot. This guy's hopeless I don't expect he's ever going to change and I'm hearing from everyone that I still have my good looks and while I have them and life is short, I should drop this guy this character and Try and try again Whatever happened to covenant Whatever happened to believing God? whatever happened to the faith of a wife That that God can an instant snap his finger and bring those changes that could not otherwise humanly be expected How can we be induced when to divorce when we know God says I hate divorce and yet we lack the patience We don't want to continue. We can't bear the struggle the tension We want something conducive how many ministers have shed wives who are not fomenting and aiding their ministry I could name names and Overnight go from divorce to another marriage and the and the body of Christ can't even blink and take notice that it has happened Look my no hands It's a quickie and the new wife is so much more conducive to the to the ministry of that man that you can almost say He did the right thing it aided and abetted his ministry To suffer a wife that would have been difficult and the trial and believe for ultimate Resolution and reconciliation from God that suffering In the relationship that God has given that no man should break Would have been a testimony to the powers of the air and to the church itself But if we are ruled by a mentality that says well If we suffered long enough, that's enough and it's time now to change and and I deserve it. It's another wisdom It's it's the world's wisdom So the wisdom of God Will require a suffering the wisdom of God is contrary to the wisdom of this world It doesn't make our self-interest and our enjoyment and our betterment our first principle The first principle is what glorifies God what serves his purpose? What is his will in this? The man who thinks that his ministry is being aided by a much more appropriate wife doesn't know that his ministry will never be of any Consequence or significance in this age. He'll be another charlatan another glib Of Actor another performer. Yes populist all get out and and raking in this the funds but not affecting anything and the powers of the air can yawn right in his face because he has Removed any kind of a ground by which you would have to be recognized. He's just another performer another one for the religious systems So There's a power of self-interest even in spiritual things that needs to be broken and The principal thing that God gives us to break the orbit of self-centeredness is the subject of the eternal purpose of God This is not God as some egotist who needs to be recognized that his eternal purpose is beyond any Consideration of yours. It's for your sake that is giving you a purpose for your being that alone has the power to break the the Inexorable power of self-interest even spiritually speaking Only taking God's eternal purpose to your heart Can break the power that will yet express itself even in ministry even in religion even in spirituality This alone is God's provision That's why it's first and that's why it's foremost So we are out of whack and warped until eternity has come into our hearts and into our consideration for his sake That this is of an interest to him. This satisfies his soul. He thinks it's important. That's all I need to know He wants to make that demonstration that's all I need to know it doesn't do a thing for me But if it does something for him, that's all I need to know And once you've come to that ground you're on holy ground you're on true ground You constitute a threat to those powers. They know you you're marked That Power can only be of self-interest can only be broken by embracing a purpose greater than us and other than us Namely the eternal purpose of God and if you have not taken that purpose to your heart and made that first and foremost Are you going to tell me that you're going to be able to extend yourself to Jews in the last days? Who do not serve your personal interest and are not an advantage and a benefit for you In fact for you to relate to them and extend yourself to them in that time of Jacob's trouble is to put your head On the block and threaten and imperil your life and you're going to do it Not if you're taking care of the number one first Like that German man that older man that I met in Berlin who described to me how he looked down out of his apartment window and Below the brown-shirted Nazis with the swastikas on their arms in the early time of Hitler We're breaking the Jewish shop windows and pulling the beards of old men and making them to scrub the sidewalk with Little brushes and beating the children. I said you saw that. Yeah, and what did you do? Well, he said art. What could I do? I pulled the shade down and I turned away You'll pull the shade down If you're living for self-interest, however thinly disguised you'll not be able to come to the place of sacrifice for another For that sacrifice for another that brings no benefit to you But threat to your life and to your interest is the wisdom of God and that's the wisdom that was demonstrated at the cross When Jesus gave himself for the other for ourselves for all mankind for Israel ultimate sacrifice Because that the cross was the collision of two wisdoms two ways the powers of darkness emphasizing violence threat intimidation having their victim in their hands and able to turn them in a spit and Ventilate all of their malicious bitterness against him and even threaten him to say Don't you know that if you say uncle and and throw in the towel and give up your vain enterprise? You need not be crucified For Pontius Pilate said I have the power both to crucify you and release you. Oh, do you well Let me tell you that I'm thoroughly Misunderstood and really there's no valid charge against me And if you let me go you can be assured I'll do nothing in any way to threaten your system of government Jesus without blinking in complete calm Knowing what crucifixion meant and the agony of the forsakenness of the father when he became sin for all men Said you could do nothing against me except it was given you from above That's the way we need to walk through this world Without fear because fear is the enemy's way of manipulating Making cowards of Believers and and having them to betray the Lord and aspects of the faith in one another But to be without fear to know that whatever comes there's a grace Appropriate to that requirement and it will not come except the sovereign God allows it and to walk through this world fearlessly Is to do this to the powers of the air and to make them turn in flight Imagine a whole church like that I'll tell you the Saints. We're not going to come to it by ourselves alone Oh, I know there are individuals here of the heroic kind who pop and perhaps can it's going to take the whole strength of the church it's going to take being able to pray for one another and and Give counsel to one another and to identify for one another those things that we couldn't see for ourselves I Came back from an overseas trip to the fellowship in New Jersey where I'd lived For some years to find that the three or four most significant spiritual women in that congregation Had all gone a-whoring had all forsaken their husbands had all run amok Morally, I couldn't believe it the most spiritual women and from our own fellowship the most spiritual woman Left her husband Had a union with her employer had a baby by him and is now married to him and the one message She loved of all of my messages was daughters of Sarah the message of submission and she completely Freaked out and blew it all So, how did it happen that the most spiritual women in the congregation had become notorious whores I said to them Didn't you know in advance What wasn't there any evidence? any suspicious thing that you had noted about any of these women before their final collapse and the Catastrophe of the ruin of their marriages their families and the shame that has come to the congregation surely, you must have seen some evidence of flirtation or absence from meetings or something Why Didn't you see it Weren't you together right weren't you rightly related weren't you speaking to one another in the fear of God? Didn't you know that sin is deceptive about itself and that next week is too late, but that today we have to speak to one another We're not going to make this we're not going to be this testimony We're not going to see those powers defeated Except we received all the benefit that God intends for us as the church to strengthen to receive counsel To keep us in the way everlasting To pray for one another to know to be able to confess our faults one to another and pray for one another we might be healed Yes to acknowledge that we're a congregation of sinners being saved and this It's an atmosphere and an environment where we don't have to hide and have our lonely struggles with Skeletons in the closet that God will never allow us Somehow to find solution unless we will find it in the church in the body and with one another face to face We want a private solution. We want a non. What's the word? Threatening non Embarrassing solution and God says no My church is to be in the light as I am in the light It's it's godliness is to be perfected by the sanctifying influence that each of the members are to each other and In that they are a testimony and a statement of my wisdom and can unseat the powers That have had sway over the locality they occupy Just by being what they are in God That what they are in God in the truth of that they have come in the reality that they exhibit in the true values by Which they live Is enough to unseat the powers that are over them They themselves as they are in the truth of the their spiritual reality is an answer to those powers There the powers of the air are only obliged to recognize one thing Authenticity Reality truth And they can see through the appearances and therefore you on but they know when they encounter the reality of God in men and women They know whom to fear. They know whom to avoid They know whom to tremble and whom they can safely disregard So when I was in the Philippines speaking to a congregation of ministers, I Feared then you should be esteemed and known by men and be applauded. Oh, yes, they said that's right okay, I said how many of you will stand and Be and let God know you're willing to to lose Esteem and recognition by men that you might be feared by the powers of the air for you cannot have both You're going to be feared by the powers of the air You must necessarily discard and reject any desire for the esteem and the acknowledgement of men and I'm talking to third world ministers who have who are out of poverty and To become a minister of the gospel is to have some food on a table some income some dignity for your life and I'm saying get up and be willing to forsake that and Be known by the powers of the air and feared and these men stood with trembling They chose another wisdom and God will keep take them at their word and the powers of the air will know whom to regard This is a struggle we wrestle not against principle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers the rules of this world's darkness but we wrestle and Paul is not just plucking some metaphor out of the hat He's speaking of the most arduous form of combat and opposition that wrestling represents It's more than just the issue of strength. It's more than just the issue of skill. It's the issue of grit It's the issue of determination It's the issue of moral quality and moral character of who's going to win in a combat That is eyeball to eyeball and fingertip to fingertip we wrestle But of course there's got to be a we It's not an individual It's got to be a corporate body that can be engaged in wrestling and this kind of combat that will decide the issue for mankind So if the church lacks this Orientation this desire this purpose it will necessarily become in time another institution Summoned by men to provide human needs which have a life of their own a purpose their own reason for being that needs to be preserved and perpetuated and Anyone who has encountered these institutions knows what I'm talking about. They take on a life of their own They may have had the most admirable Origin of men on their faces in the sawdust crying out to God and from that day of beginning over a course of time out of the logic of the necessity to Organize and to arrange and to oversee and all of the other kinds of things that move the organic work of God by the spirit into system They become an institution and the foremost purpose for its being is not the eternal purpose of God but its own preservation and its own perpetuation and The powers of the air go. Oh, huh? Have your rallies have your programs Phil charisma magazine with your big splurgy Advertisements of the great thing that your conference is going to do and going to mean it's blah It's sound and fury that signifies nothing. It's empty. It's vain. It's loud. It's noisy It's it's a pompous activity that will obtain nothing Better the quiet ones who are unseen and Travailing before God and are living in a disciplined way and carefully avoiding any subscription to the world and its spirit who are fighting the fight of faith and Are not allowing themselves to be intimidated nor intimidating others and what goes on in bedrooms? in in the realm of private relationship between married couples and the way that a wife can cool and placate and Get her way And the man condescends that's manipulation Saints if you if you will Condescend to that kind of tactic in order to Gain your end for the moment. You're you're you're in another wisdom. It's not God's wisdom and The man can do the same and go out and buy yourself a hat or a bribe or do It's play acting it's performing It's it's unreality and the powers of the air love for you to continue in it and then come and have your Orgiastic delight on a Sunday in a blowout of a worship time and then go back from that To living in a way that is more in keeping with their wisdom than God for the rest of the week There's a war on powers of the air are brooding over Pensacola over the over Florida over cities over the entire nation and Only one agency given by God by which they can be recognized and combated the church but a church of what kind a Church that is freed from its influence and has seen to it. However, painful that freedom is and maintains that Because they are together with the people who know That there's a war on and it's not going to be won by going to significant places of location and Praying there as if by that activity you have turned the historic tide The same one who was performing that has is now Stamping approval on other ministries that are submitting to their great Apostolic and prophetic program that is now worldwide and someone local to in Minneapolis think thinking himself a prophet Who's mailing I got and the corner was approved by that that that ministries He's come into the system He can use the name There's a prestige that goes with it. He can be recognized. He's one of the boys. He's in the system And it's called apostolic My god, I want to spit my guts out and I've told them time again Listen do what you want play any game you want leave the holy words of God alone don't dare employ prophetic and apostolic for your machinations and your self-seeking programs and and full-color advertisements and all of the groovy things that you're doing with your International global prayer centers as if that's a hub that affects anything Leave the great words alone because of those words are desecrated. What foundation have we? This is apostolic This is given to us by the the great apostle the mystery that God has created all things in order that through the church the manifold wisdom of God Might be demonstrated as it was demonstrated on the cross when utter malignity had to meet utter magnanimity When utter viciousness met the charity and patience and forbearance of God the forgiveness of God There came the defeat of those powers by the willingness of Jesus to bear the total onslaught and the remarkable character of God The wisdom of God is the character of God and when that is displayed by the church the powers are defeated Jesus and there when Paul know they know but they don't know them yet in us The system is cloying and wants to bring us in be one of the boys go along receive the benefit And to be out of the system is to be a pilgrim and a sojourner and a stranger in the earth You're not one of the boys. You're not good fun. You don't subscribe You're looked upon with suspicion as I am by those very things that I'm describing But I'm not at liberty to identify by name You're you're the square peg in the round hole. You don't go along and I and I said to one of these brothers About their prophetic conferences. I said, how come I'm never invited. I Was in this long before you you ever heard of in fact, if you have any credibility at all, it's from my tapes That have found its way into your books. How is it? I'm not invited. Well, Artie said You're just not one of the in-house prophets You're not one of the boys. You can't be counted on to go along You're liable to sound the note that upsets the whole apple cart, so we don't invite you You're not in the system You don't need our approval and our prestige. You don't hanker to have the comforting glow of men who surround you who have names that are World-renowned and count you as being one of the boys and a prophet whom they will recognize I Don't need that. I don't want that. I only want his recognition Because I'm jealous to fulfill the eternal purpose of God that must come through the church and know that that system that wouldn't that now is alienated from us and Find this finds us not only outside of their influence, but even constituting some kind of a threat It is not too distant from a time when they will kill us and claim they are doing God a service Count on it. So if I know anything about God his most significant work will be performed through men whom no one knows Paul said this about himself unknown, but well known unknown to men But well known to God the powers of the air also know those who have authority and who have kept themselves from the spirit of the World they see those who wear cellular phones and their belts and are exhibiting Pride and prestige I Had to make mention of that in the Philippines at some pastor striding the platform Whose cellular phone was almost like a gun in the holster. I Thought is he going to have to make a call in the very midst of the service Or does he enjoy the heft of something on his hip? That signifies to the poverty stricken congregation that he's in a place of such esteem with God That he can afford this electronic device Do you see how we strange prophets? Look, they're throwing their phones away How we see what those things represent, you know, my message was that night I came without a message it was humility It was Jesus coming down on the back of an ass upon which never man sat Though he said to his disciples go to that village and you'll find a donkey and it's and it's Cult bring them both and if anyone stops you tell them the Lord has need of them and so they found them and they brought them both and Jesus instead of sitting on the mature animal upon which man had sat to go down the precipitous Mount of Olives, which is even humiliating to walk down you can't keep an erect structure chose that fall and that cult upon which never man sat and They shouted Hallelujah for the kingdom that has come Hosanna for the king for your king shall come to you lowly and meek or he'll not come to you at all and his kingdom shall come lowly and meek or it will not come at all for the lowliness and meekness of God is the wisdom of God and he'll not come in any other way than that Which he has come and will again come and must come even through his body, which is the church Anything that we pick up any device any strutting any arrogance any Macho display is contrary to that wisdom a Little thing can undo us God has chosen the foolish and the weak thing and we need to live without the need to possess to have to see Prestige and to be recognized the guileless and the childlike manifest the wisdom that defeats the palace the Christianity that becomes prestige dignified acceptable and respectable becomes apostate Every true obedience is a reiteration of the cross Every true preaching is a reiteration of the cross Every true witness is a reiteration of the cross that I can be in a Lutheran seminary for two years and attend the daily Chapel services, and I don't remember one message ever spoken that each one though was elaborately developed and fully Biblical and doctrinally sound I don't remember any of them. There wasn't one Professor who would dare take the chance of trusting God without coming equipped to his fingernails but he he saw to it that his reputation and Name would remain unscathed because he gave a perfect Formulated message because he knew months in advance when his day would come Where was the man who's willing to stand and trust God and come with an open Bible or the barest presentiment of what the theme is and let the Lord unfold it and suffer the indignity and the humiliation of choking and waiting for the next word That is death and that is humiliation and that is the cross and that is the power of God those messages Sink in those messages penetrate those messages constitute event and the other just Something that passes over us with without consequence wherever the cross is reiterated wherever there's true prayer that cost something wherever there's a witness where there's palpitation of heart and an embarrassed fear of Being contradicted or facing a Jew and all of the arrogance of Of their worldly wisdom and ability and your willingness to do that and trust God in that is the reiteration of the cross And wherever the cross is expressed the power of God is expressed and the powers of the air are set back by that demonstration So maybe we'd be a people willing to bear again that cross If it doesn't cost of cost us if there's no threat if there's no trembling We may well wonder if we have fallen into something less than other than what God is waiting for and desiring Because we're afraid we're afraid to fail. We're afraid to lose the affection or the steam of men and We will then see to it that what we speak is so well covered and assured that there'll be no loss But the powers of the air then remain totally untroubled Wherever there's an obedience unto suffering where there's a trust in God rather than a trust in yourself Wherever the power of the air sees the cross reiterated in that place and in that moment They are defeated and set back is not only the cross proclaimed But the cross demonstrated every time the cross is demonstrated namely the suffering of it the death of it in that moment The power of it is released and the powers of the air are required to flee It is the demonstration of God himself What Jesus demonstrated at the cross was the wisdom of God it is the character of God it is God himself Self-sacrifice The cross is the demonstration of God in the willingness of the God-man to yield up his life To suffer the misunderstanding the taunts and the jeers of his own people Come down save yourself The very thing that he could not do was willing to bear the insults the calumny the pain the suffering That willingness is the wisdom of God It's another wisdom Contrary to that self-saving preserving careful for one's name one's reputation one's life It's another wisdom It's what God is and which and what the church itself needs to demonstrate in Itself as a body and bring the final defeat To the powers in the same way that they experienced the initial defeat by that demonstration of that wisdom and that value That Jesus expressed at the cross every time we defer immediate gratification It is an act on earth that verifies and substantiates that there's a God in heaven These all died not having received the promise, but they were faithful and again received a good report They didn't need their reward. Now. It could be deferred. They knew it would come at a later time Those that were stripped of their earthly goods Received it with joy knowing in themselves that they had a greater recompense in heaven All of that kind of testimony is contrary to the wisdom of the world That once it's fixed now once it's gratification now once it's reward now those people who can defer reward that it will is not even to be obtained in this life, but in the life to come and yet serve as completely and courageously and Devotedly as if the reward would come in this life are giving evidence by that ability That there's a God who is invisible unseen but for whom they live and serve and have their being Got the idea They're living by another wisdom. It's real living. It's without fear It's confident in God that though the reward will not come in this life It will come in the life to come and we have such an assurance of that Expectation that we can live valiantly and bravely in this life and don't need to pay off now It's contrary to the wisdom of the world that says utility you extend yourself now get rewarded now Well, you'll have to read this entire chapter I Want to pray for a church That will take to itself as its first purpose of being the eternal purpose of God Though there's no benefit though by doing so you You're mocked before the powers of the air and far from receiving reward you'll receive opposition But your very willingness to do so is itself the wisdom for which God waits and the wisdom that they hate And if you could if you could do that now for God you can do that for Jews later. It's the same wisdom If you can extend yourself for Jews as a Gentile when there's nothing in it for you, but the prospect of threat of Imprisonment the loss of life you are demonstrating Not only the mercy of God that will be salvific for those Jews but the wisdom of God that defeats the powers that observe you and I want to say that unless you're progressively day by day growing in that wisdom and and Avoiding the wisdom of the world and any surrender to it in any form However, subtle you'll not be able to demonstrate that wisdom and that mercy in that hour The issue of the Jew is the final testimony of the church as the church Because both groups say to Jesus Lord, when did we see you naked thirsty hungry and in prison? They both say Lord, but one did not see and was not able or willing to extend mercy and the other did because God calls them the righteous a People who do not live for themselves but for the purpose of God and if the purpose of God is going to be furthered by the return of a remnant of world Jewry as the redeemed of the Lord to Zion then it's worth dying for and The issue of the willingness to die the issue of martyrdom not as it has necessarily to be experienced But in your willingness to bear it as being intrinsic to the faith is another wisdom to look upon yourself and Understand the faith as an invitation to martyrdom. That is not to be decided in that final moment. But now It's a mode of being it's a way of life by which your life is not your own and those that overcome do not hold Their life as dear to themselves. There's something more dear to themselves than their own life It's another wisdom. What is more dear than their life is the purpose of God is the honor of God is the glory of God And they have settled that So let's pray for that church my god Lord Save us from system save us from prestige save us from title save us from all those kinds of things that have seduced and Nullified some of the bravest movements that have ever had their origin in this earth that was born out of travail and suffering and anguish and opposition and martyrdom and become in time an Accepted system look at the Methodist Church today an upper middle-class Institution for people who want a 45-minute service that will release them for the golf course From a movement that fasted twice in the week by a founder who was up four o'clock every morning in his prayer chamber And walked into mobs that were ready to tear him limb from limb with complete boldness and calm Because his life was not his own a single man who stopped the French Revolution from coming to Great Britain and destroying that Anglo-saxon heritage and soil out of which our own nation was birthed and had come One man four o'clock in the prayer player every morning One man who lived for the glory of God One man who counseled those who followed him to fast to deny themselves to be disciplined. That's why they were called Methodists they had a method And what has that become today and the assemblies of God and Pentecostal ism that has come out of that method of some institutions by and large of a self perpetuating kind Concerned for the preservation of themselves more than the issue of the glory of God the powers of the air therefore unchallenged unrecognized uncontended against Influencing the lives of millions of victims who don't even know that they're being acted upon and denied essential reality of what this purpose of life is about and Only living for themselves and their gain their pleasure their satisfaction and are on their way to an eternal hell My God raised up a church Whose very being is the wisdom of God whose very face and voice and posture and gait Indicates that there's eternity. There's an eternity That means everything and that this life is the transient and passing thing and that the powers of the air have controverted all of the values and taken the absolute and ultimate things of God and made them to sound cheap and passing and In the cheap and passing things of football and basketball and sport and music and jazz and and all of that nonsense and made that Somehow to seem to be ultimate It's a controversial of value for which people are dying until someone will identify it and blow the whistle Not only by what they say, but what they are together So do I pray Lord blessing for this church the willingness to bear the kind of humiliation that I've had only small Opportunity to taste in these days and to remember that out of the mouth of babes out of the weak out of the The ones without prestige with ones without recognition Comes the wisdom of God that stops the mouth of the adversary. I bless this church Lord. This is sacrifice This is suffering. This is humiliation. This is the cross Keep us from programs that have not first recognized until the powers are dealt with that hover over us and keep The locality bound our programs are going to bounce back with but little consequence They need first to be challenged and moved out of their orbits by the presence of the people who are free from intimidation from fear from lust from desire for fame for recognition Who will not themselves be intimidated nor intimidate others They will not so much as have the pianist come up and to play on the platform as the invitation goes forth That that those that come might have a conducive Emotional environment for their their response as I have had to tell musicians. Thank you, but no Thank you. If they're not going to come up by the power of God in the Word of God. They don't need any additional Accoutrement. Oh, I may be wrong in that Saints But I'd rather be wrong in that then go along with those conducive things That make us manipulative Even without our recognition and steal the the truth and the wisdom of God from the church Lord teach us these things give us an understanding Bring us to be this people I bless them my God Send them home with something in their hearts and spirits that this is only the beginning of the opening of a massive Cosmic subject that must be taken into their deepest consideration and all the faith considered in that context Bless them Lord Let them affect their generation by defeating those powers that have not even been so much as recognized and Wait for that one agency alone that can perform it the church. That is the church. I Bless this church Lord Thank you for this word to them and this calling May they receive it with rejoicing and be that demonstration is my prayer in Jesus name Amen In a moment, we'll dismiss those who want to leave and invite everyone else to come and spend time in the presence of the Lord I just want to say that this is a word from heaven sent by God to us here at fire. I Would say in our short history the most important message that God has sent us I believe to the extent we respond to it and Continue to seek to pattern ourselves after those things will be the extent to which God smiles on what we're doing And to whatever extent we have blind spots and and don't see where we're not Conforming to this I trust that God will show us and speak to us in particular that have responsibility for leading the flock so may God give us ears to hear and Just so you understand even this whole night Right at the outset there was one brother that I knew there were some things out of order and I was concerned that there'd be A disruption. So the moment he opened his mouth, that's why I jumped on it. This has been a sacred night that God wants to guard Make sure you read carefully the chapters In arts book in particular that speak to this let's get the tape. Let's make this part of us Let's take it before the Lord. Let's pray it through We've been birthed for this purpose, and I believe that we're young enough in our development that we can really Honor God in this and live according to this. So let's all stand and Those that want to go please leave quietly and And Take this before the Lord as you leave those that want to come forward and spend some time before the Lord responding Please do so we don't judge things by your outward response But those that would like to take some time Come forward or stay in your seats and we'll request that those that want to talk about anything could just please Go outside and do it so that those that want to stay in their seats can Lord. Thank you again for your grace Lord may we be very sensitive now that no birds of the air will come in and steal Things because there are many things that you've spoken to many individuals May we have ears to hear in Jesus name Amen, if there's something Specific God's dealt with you about a course of action or something. He requires you write it down before you leave Don't just think you remember it write it down take hold of it. God bless you. We'll see you tomorrow at New Hope at 7