This sermon focuses on the concept of an 'eclipse of faith,' highlighting how individuals may experience a crisis of faith, feeling shattered, weak, and overwhelmed by life's challenges. The speaker emphasizes the need to trust in God's unwavering love and to rest in His promises, even in times of doubt and testing. Through biblical examples like Peter, Elijah, and Jeremiah, the message encourages listeners to recognize and resist the enemy's attempts to shake their faith, reminding them of God's faithfulness and love that surpasses all circumstances.

Thank you, orchestra. Thank you, choir, congregation. Jesus is here in our midst. Amen. I trust if you're visiting us that you have already had a touch of the Lord in your heart and the Holy Spirit has warmed you and touched you in a very special way. I came to the service this morning not understanding why God laid this particular message on my heart. I had no idea because I felt when I came to church this morning that the majority of you here would probably not relate fully and completely to the message that he's put on my heart. I didn't understand until I was in my seat and in fact just the last half hour or so I've been saying, Holy Spirit, why? What is this message about? To who is it addressed? The Holy Spirit spoke to me as clearly as he's ever spoken to me in this house. We started here 20 years ago. The Lord made this very clear. I'm going to speak to you about an eclipse of faith, an eclipse of faith, and this is directed now and I understand it clearly in the Spirit because if we walk in the Spirit and if we hear from the Spirit, he arranges services like this sometimes for one individual. He'll arrange it for two, for five, ten, twelve, fifteen. You see, this church is blessed. You have many preaching pastors here, anointed, and guests that come here that are truly anointed and to bring us the mind of Christ and the Word of God. But there are the times the Holy Spirit will fish. He will arrange a whole service and arrange it and bring the Word and the music and everything to bear upon certain individuals the Lord brought for that time and that place. And some of you came here this morning not expecting to hear a word that would touch what you're going through, but the Holy Spirit knows your heart. He knows what you're going through. There are some here this morning, and I'm going to give an invitation after I speak, and I don't expect, sometimes we give all the calls here and open the front of this church for people to come and open their hearts to the Lord or to be saved or touched by the Spirit, and some people come and it's filled all the way back to the lobby. If only six, ten, twelve come this morning, I'll know, and you'll know that God has found your heart. He knows all about what you've been through. There are some here now, maybe a pastor, who've known the Lord, used of the Lord, walked in faith, but you sit here this morning and your faith is shattered. Your faith is under eclipse. There are others of you here never intended to come, and maybe you came under that eclipse. Your faith is shattered or weak, you're so shattered in the problems that have come to you. You're so shattered by what you're going through in your life that you say, I just can't believe anymore. My prayers have not been answered. I've gone through so much, and I come to this church this morning. You sit here in pain. You sit here overwhelmed. Well, I have a message for you from the heart of God, an eclipse of faith, reading from Luke, the 22nd chapter, verses 31 through 34. Now, Lord Jesus, I pray that you speak clearly. I'm just a tool, I'm just a vessel, and I'm asking you to come and take control, sanctify this vessel, Lord, and remove me out of the picture and let me just be a voice. Let me just speak the mind of God. Lord Jesus, I need your touch. There are people here that have walked into this church, maybe in the annexes, wherever they may be hearing me, and Lord, this is a call right from the throne of God. Lord, you've arranged this time, and you have brought forth a word, and I want you to speak to their hearts, Lord, and open their hearts, and let them know that you're not angry with them. Let them know that this is a plea from the loving heart of Jesus Christ himself. Lord, speak clearly to us, those who are shattered in their faith, those who are wavering in their faith. Lord, to expose the devices of the devil and of Satan, how he tries to destroy the faith of those who really love God. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Verses 31 through 34, the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan is desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you that your faith fail not. When you're converted, strengthen your brothers. And he said unto him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both into prison to death. And he said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster, the cock will not crow this day before you have three times denied that you even know me. Well, folks, this is Passover. This is the Lord's last day on earth. And here sitting beside Christ in his last hour is a man by the name of Peter who says, though others fail, I'll not, I'm not going to forsake you in your dark hour. I'll not, I will not shake my, I will not be shaken in my faith. Now folks, Jesus turns to him and said, Peter, Peter, please. The devil has asked permission. In fact, some Bible scholars say that the devil has demanded that I turn you over for a sifting. He's demanded it. Now the devil would not demand, he would not ask to sift Peter. It was just a faith of froth. If it was just human flesh, it was just excitement. He's not going to go after that kind of faith. If you've got that weak faith and you've lived like that, you're not going to come under oppression. You're not going to be sifted and tested unless you really have a faith. Peter's faith was so strong. His testimony on the divinity of Jesus Christ was so strong that Jesus said upon this testimony, Peter, upon your testimony of faith, your testimony that you truly believe that I'm the divine son of God, I'm going to build my church on that kind of faith. So there was something in Peter of faith who really trusted God. And the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is warning Peter, Peter, you're, you're going into a test and you're going to fall. You're going to fail. He said, and when you're converted, in other words, when you come through this sifting and the Lord says he has to stand by, he's going to test. Peter, the enemy is going to test Peter. He's going to throw everything out of hell at this man and he's going, his faith is going to go through an eclipse. Now, an eclipse, you know what that is. You've, you've seen maybe an eclipse. The next one I think is in August, usually two a year. It's when the moon passes between the earth and the sun and blots out the sun and all of a sudden it becomes dark. It's the sun has not, eclipse actually means in, in, in, in the Greek absent and no longer there. It came out of medieval concept that the sun has, it was no longer there, that it was extinguished and that it was growing dark and that God or some of the gods had extinguished the sun. And he's going to go into this time of darkness. He's going to have his faith totally eclipsed. Now there are partial eclipse and there are total eclipse. And if you're walking close to Jesus, if you have really walked in faith, you've been a man or woman of prayer and seeking God, you're going to face times of eclipse. When your faith is so tested, when the enemy says, I, I am going to, I'm going to harass, I'm going to sift. To sift means to shake up and down, sideways, front wise in every way, shake and stir. How would you have reacted if, here's what Jesus said to Peter, I tell you before the rooster crows this day, you're going to have denied that you know me three times. Now, what would you have said if Jesus said that directly to you? I was sitting in my study thinking of that. What if Jesus said that to me? You see, Peter has, has had a genuine faith. Peter's been faithful. He's not living in sin and he's trying to figure this in his mind. And what would you think if Jesus said, now, now, look, I, I know you're faithful and I know you love me and I know you've walked in faith to this time, but that faith is going to be tested. The enemy is going to bring into your life situations and trials and voices and turmoil. He's going to bring things into your life. And what, what do you say? Well, Lord, what about all these promises? He said, never let me fail that you would hold me and all these promises you've made to me. You see, that's the problem with many of us when we go into our trials and our tests, we don't realize that it's because of our walk. We don't realize it because it was our hunger. It was because God was trying to bring up Peter to become a pillar of the church. He's going to stand at Pentecost there. He would have never allowed him to go through this. He would have never allowed this kind of test. What would you say to that? How would your faith hold up under that kind of warning that you're going to go through it? You're going to go through these things that are going to be, they're going to be so severe that you're going to end up saying things and acting things and doing things that you never thought possible. Because you see in the high priest hall that night, Peter's warming himself by the fire and the enemy comes for that sifting. He's, I can't imagine what the devil threw in this dear man's mind, the awful voices that came to him. How can this be the son of God if he allows such humiliation of himself? How can he save me if he can't save himself? How can he be God when he's not answering our cry and our prayer and all the things he told us now is going up in smoke? How can this be the son of God and he was being tested in his faith just as you and I are tested when we pray and pray and we don't see answers to our prayer. They seem to be delayed and bad goes to worse than to terror. We seem to be under this and folks, it is a satanic attack. You see the devil couldn't get Job. He tried and he failed. He couldn't get Jeremiah. He couldn't get Elijah. He couldn't get any of those. So now he comes into the New Testament and he knows that Jesus has said to Peter, you're going to be a pillar. This kind of faith is a kind of faith. I'm going to build my church and the devil said, let me test it. Let, let me see how strong this is going to be. And folks, he, he missed Peter. He failed with Peter. He failed with the New Testament church. He failed with all the martyrs, but he comes in these last days. The Bible says down on earth, having great wrath because he knows his time is short. And so he's going to come against the church of Jesus Christ in these last days because he has failed in every generation. And this is his last generation, his last opportunity. So I can tell you praying man, if you praying sister, if you go to this church and you've had the word implanted in you and you've grown strong in the Lord and you have believed and trusted him, all hell is coming after you. These are the last days. The enemy said he's going to create chaos. He's going to do things that will so worry and frighten the masses of people. Their hearts are going to fail them for fear. He's going to make you think you're going to lose your house. You're going to lose your children. You're going to lose your job. You're going to be in total chaos. And in that fear rob you of your simple confidence in Jesus Christ faithfulness. You know, see, we've all known afflictions. You see, I thank God for the day by day sustaining faith of the church of Jesus Christ. But most of our tests and most of our trials of the flesh lusting against the spirit, they're in the flesh. And these are not supernatural testings. They're testings of everyday flesh fighting against the spirit. Oh, but there's another test. It comes to the most righteous. It comes to those who have wanted God with all of their hearts and it comes with this satanic sifting, this satanic shaking. Jesus called this the hour and power of darkness. And that's what it was. It was an eclipse. A spiritual eclipse is a dark hour when the heaven seems, remember the word says absent, that God seems to be absent from our lives. He seems to be not working. And it leaves us when we're not, when we're under this barrage from the enemy. You can hear the voice of Satan. It'll come so loud and so clear that you're of no use. Your life has been mostly in vain, that it didn't, it doesn't count. You're so insignificant. You're not accomplishing anything. He'll come from, he'll come with raging voices and still voices from all sides to attack your faith. And you'll find this attack all through the Bible upon righteous people. Elijah, here's a man who truly hears from God. Bible said he stood before the Lord. Here's a man of great faith. He stands in Mount Carmel and he brings fire down out of heaven. Here's a man with a faith that can shut and open the heavens. Here's a man that can stand against the devil and all the oppression of hell and literally destroy the Baal religion that had crept into Israel, destroyed their faith. Here's a man that can outrun Ahab's chariot and he goes to Jezreel. And the enemy, the devil himself, knowing where this kind of faith will lead because it was going to bring Israel back to God out of idolatry. And the devil saw the consequences. If he let this man go, he possesses, he takes possession of the heart and the lips and mind of Jezebel, the queen. She puts a price on his head and lets everyone know at the entrance of the gate, let him know that there's a price on his head. He's as good as a dead man. And suddenly an eclipse comes over his faith, a dark hour. He's worn out physically, spiritually, and emotionally. And friends, you can be in battles. In fact, sometimes you can work so hard in the ministry, you can become worn out, especially if you're not recharging your batteries. And he is overwhelmed and he's spiritually, physically, emotionally overcome. Can you imagine the words, first of all, of Peter when he came to this point, overwhelmed and tired and not understanding. When the enemy came against him, he said, when he was asked, aren't you one of me? He says, I am not with him. The second time, aren't you one of his? He says, I don't understand what you're saying. I don't know him. And the third time comes and he screams and curses. I'm telling you, I don't even know who he is. Folks, that was a total eclipse of faith. His faith is shattered. And you say, he's crossed the line. He's talking like an atheist. How could a man of God who's cast out devils and all of these things and been used of God and had such faith, how can he say such things? How can he think such things? He said, well, he's crossed the line. But this man goes aside and he begins to weep. And he's saying, oh, I sinned not once. I felt a temptation once and then twice and then three times. There's some of you here that are right now living under condemnation and your faith is gone into a partial eclipse because you say, well, you don't know what I did. I did it not once, not twice, but three times. I repeated and I have sinned and I just can't seem to get to victory. So your faith is going into this eclipse and you can't believe God anymore for his covenant promises that he will work a miracle in your life and keeping you under guilt and fear and condemnation. And here's another man of God. And this man now, depression comes upon Elijah. Depression and fear. And he goes outside. He runs, literally runs. And he says, I, what he's saying, I quit. And he, he gives up on faith. He gives up on hope. He gives up on his ministry. And he said, I want you, Lord, to kill me. I want you to take me out of this mess. None of it makes sense. I've given everything and everything is blown up in my face. And you say, well, surely this man has crossed the line. How does a holy prophet of God who preached such holiness and such fear of God and such, such great things that he accomplished through his walk with God, can a man of God, can a woman of God be so tested and come to a place under satanic attack that you, you, you, you can feel like God has abandoned you and God no longer answers prayer. You say, well, surely God is angry at him now. No, he sends an angel and cooks him a hot meal, a meal so full of vitamins and minerals that lasted 40 days. God knew his heart. God knew that this was a battle that he couldn't, he couldn't jump in and deliver him from because he was taking Jeremiah someplace in Revelation. You find it with Jeremiah the prophet. Here's a man who suffered an eclipse of his faith, preacher of holiness, a preacher of repentance, a fearless prophet. And in chapter 20 of Jeremiah, Satan possesses a priest called Pashur. Preach, Jeremiah is preaching near the temple gate and he's preaching repentance and the fear of God. This priest Pashur invades the meeting, goes right up to Jeremiah while he's preaching repentance and preaching the coming judgments of God on the land and on the temple. And Pashur slaps his face and then has his unit take him into prison, lock him in the public, in the square in front of the temple and put him in stalks, locking his head and his legs and his hands in stalks. And for hours and hours, he is taunted and mocked by the crowds. He is released and as he's released and just before he returns to his home, he turns to Pashur and he says, Pashur, you, this church, this nation, all coming under judgment. It's all over. And having prophesied, he goes to his home and collapses. He literally goes to the throne of God. He goes to his prayer closet or wherever he he talked to God and wherever he met with the Lord when he said these words. Now, folks, think about this is Jeremiah. This is one of the most penetrating preachers in God's word. There's no one that's preached like Jeremiah ever in history other than Christ himself and maybe Paul the apostle. And listen to him, Lord, I quit. That's it. That's not all he said. Lord, you've deceived me. Every day I'm mocked and ridiculed. The word you gave me has become a reproach to me. The promises are of no avail. What do you do with a man like this? What would you say? Well, I've never said that. If you ask me, Pastor Dave, have you ever gone through that kind of a faith eclipse of you? Have you ever? I have never asked God to kill me. I've never told God he deceived me. No, I've never wanted an angel to come and take my life. In fact, I keep praying, Lord, just give me life. Oh, but you see, we don't use words now. Our actions speak louder than words. It's an attitude that we develop. It's something that we do to God when we feel that he has let us down. He has not answered our prayer. He's not moving on time schedule that we believe he should. The trials keep coming on and you don't understand it because you know your heart and you know God knows your heart. You're not his enemy. You're his friend. You're a defender of the faith. And yet, if you don't understand who's behind it, it's the devil himself. It's not something of your own nature. It's supernatural. It's the enemy coming against the church of Jesus Christ. It's the enemy coming after those who have best known and best loved him. And if you don't recognize the hand of the enemy at it, you'll be defeated. You've got to realize and say, this is not me. This is not the Christ in me. This is not the way I walk and act as a Christian. There's something coming as an invasion in my life. And if you say, well, the enemy will say it's because you really have never surrendered something in your life. You're really evil at the root of your heart. There's something there that the devil could work on. No, the devil doesn't need anything to work on except your faith. All he needs is to see you going beyond any place you've been in the Lord before in the matter of faith and trust and confidence in his utter faithfulness. You say, well, Jeremiah, you have truly crossed the line. No, the Bible says in the next chapter, and the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. The word of the Lord came. Now, what am I trying to say to you and say to my own heart? I say to those who have been so shattered in your faith because of situations in your life. No, no, no. You have not said, God, go or I quit. But you see, we give God the silent treatment. We just back off. And we don't pray anymore. And we just barely, hardly ever opened the book. Because you see, it's now becoming a dead book. And it doesn't seem to have any life because you say, I have not seen it work. The promises don't seem to work. And so we go into silence and we give him the silent treatment. And if any married people here are really honest about their walk in Christ, you know there's nothing worse in a marriage than the silent treatment. Oh, no, he doesn't yell. He doesn't scream. He just goes. He just walks away. And he won't talk to me. Or she won't talk to me. I'm glad Gwen and I got over that years ago. We won't do that. In fact, the big problem now, I can't even go in the kitchen. She'll say, where are you going? And she goes into the bedroom. Where are you going? I'm going to get a drink. But you see, the devil wants to so numb our minds in our problems and difficulties. He so wants to come between our God and our vision of his mercy and grace and his faithfulness and just block out the sun. And I know in my spirit that I'm speaking directly to some certain individuals, perhaps a pastor in this. It may be through the tape or through screening on television, wherever it may be. I'm speaking now by the spirit into the heart and the minds of those dearly loved by God, used of God, but something has happened. You started with a partial eclipse, just a thought. God is not there. God is not working. I'm not seeing what I prayed for. And it goes on and on and on. And little by little, the cloud, that moon goes between, that the enemy moves right in between our vision of God's faithfulness. And he's saying to you, I understand what you're thinking. And I'm not mad at you. Oh, do our unbelieving thoughts, do the things we say and do when we're in eclipse, does it hurt his heart? Yes, it does. And if it can lead to chaos, it can lead to disaster, and it can lead to atheism. If you don't stop for a moment and recognize the hand of Satan, and even though you don't have the energy to cry aloud, even you don't have the energy to get into the Bible and say, I'm going to stay here until I dig a well, until the water begins to flow. If all you can do is have a cry in your heart and say, oh God, I know something is happening to me. I know my faith is wavering. I know that I've given you the silent treatment, but now, oh God, I come to you. Hear the cry of my heart. And all you can give him is a cry. And I want you to go a step beyond that. I want you to come to the knowledge that no matter what you're going through, if you've given your life to Christ, and if you're not even giving your life to Christ, but there is a hunger in your heart to know him as you sit here, God will meet that. God will come and God will work. And believe it or not, sometimes when we're most unbelieving, sometimes when we have given up, God is doing the most work at that very moment. And then when the answer comes, and the answer usually comes when we're down and have not been at the peak of faith, and then we say, oh, if I had only believed. Because as I've always said, faith, the last, the hardest part of faith is the last half hour. But you see, the way out of the eclipse, two things I want to give to you, just practical. It is that to believe and rest in the love of God for you. We preach covenant here and covenant when you boil it all down and you get to the germ truth, you get to the basics of it. It's believing that God rests in his love for you, that he rests. Let me give it to you from the scripture. And this is Zephaniah 317. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over you with love. He will rest in his love. He will joy over you with singing. I want you to know no matter how you feel, no matter what you're going through, because when we don't believe, the Bible said, he still remains faithful. When we are not faithful, he is faithful and God has come to you and rested in his love. He said, I love you. That's it. It's settled. I have nothing to add to it. I'll not take from it. I rejoice in it. He has a settled love. He has settled it. And if, if you want victory, if you want to chase the eclipse, if you want the darkness to go, you have to, no matter how you feel, stand on this word of God that he rejoices in his rest, in his love for you and me. And he rejoices with singing, the Bible says. John Owen, the great Puritan writer said, he lives for joy in his rest, in his rest for his beloved. He rests in his joy. It's all settled. Nothing has to be added. You can't take from it. Right now, as you sit here, no matter how you feel, God has rested in his love for you. He's not going to steal it from you. He's not going to take it. You may be downcast. You may be weary. You may be worn, but he said, I am at rest. I am not uneasy about your condition. I'm not flitting in and out of your life. I'm not taking the Holy Spirit in and out of your life, according to your emotions and your fears, and the voices of the enemy come against you. I am at rest. Glory be to God. Folks, this is done more for my life over the years than anything I've ever preached or believed. That is covenant, that God rests in his love for us. There are some times I don't know how to pray. Sometimes, yes, it's hard to read the word of God because my mind is so taken by other things, but no matter, I can't come to him and earn his love. I can't wait. God doesn't wait. So as soon as you get the fire back, as soon as you get back into the word, as soon as you pray an hour a day, then I'll love you again. God doesn't work that way. No, no, no, not our merits, not our goodness, but that everlasting, eternal love of God for our souls. We who were sometimes foolish, disobedient, and deceived, the kingdom of God and the love of God appeared, which God shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ. And with this, I close. God said when everything was out of kilter, sometimes foolishness, sometimes disobedience, sometimes deception. He said in that time, the love of God appeared. I read it to you again, but the kingdom and the love of God appeared, which God shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ. And that word appeared there in Greek means superimposed. The word of God came when we were down under eclipse of faith, but the word of the Lord came. The word of the Lord of his love appeared. It is superimposed. God looks down and he sees the struggle, the fears, the worries, the questionings. He sees all of that in his children and he superimposes upon that picture, upon that scene. He appears or superimposes his divine love. It says no matter how things look, come to the rest. Don't fight it anymore. Don't walk in fear. Come to rest and that I delight in you, that I delight in you. Now I come to that place I said I've come to the conclusion. I haven't even gotten halfway through my notes, but I just feel I want to close this meeting with an invitation now to those that know, you know in your heart that what I've been saying has been reading your mail. You know in your heart that you have heard from the Lord's heart. I don't know who you are. I don't know where you're seated. We will not put you to shame. This is not a shameful thing. This is an hour of victory and deliverance. I want you to stand please wherever you are. If you're here this morning and you say, Pastor Dave, my faith is strong. I'm not under trial. Everything is fine. Thank God. Thank God for that with everything in me. Just park this message in your heart. You'll need it later. Did God speak to you up in the balcony here in the main floor? I want you to get out of your seat and come here now and say, Jesus, I'm bringing this to you now. And then in the annex, in the annex, I'm asking only for those that really have heard from God on this. Now, please don't come unless you've heard from me, unless you're among those that God is speaking to. In the annex, you can go to the hall, and I think we'll have room here. Go to the hall, turn and go back to the hallway from which you came. And actually, I'll show you how to get into this auditorium and come down this. I'll stand here and we'll pray. We'll believe, God, that this terrible eclipse will be moved while you're still in this house. Don't, please don't come unless you, you really, you said, brother, this, this, God is saving my life today. God is changing me. God has heard my cry. Now, Lord Jesus, lead us, lead us now into your heart so that what we hear will not be in vain. We allow it to change our hearts. Will you say this with me? God is not mad at me. Once again, God is not mad at me. If you can believe that now, that no matter the past, no matter anything before you walk down here, here you stand in the presence of God, you, you have got to convince your heart and lay hold of this. It's, it's a promise. It's his word. And it's that truth that will set you free. I am truly loved. Now, will you pray this with me? Dear Jesus, forgive my unbelief. Forgive the things I've said and the things I've spoken in haste, the things I've thought, the unbelief that has been in my soul. I bring it to you and to your love. Forgive me. You know my heart. I want you, Lord. I need you, Lord. And I surrender. Now, Holy Spirit, come into my heart with new strength. Strengthen my confidence. Strengthen my faith. And give me a complete understanding of the love of God and his rejoicing over me in my time of struggle. I am in need, Lord, but you have promised to meet that need. And I'll rest in that truth. Now, let me pray for you, Father. We thank you that we don't have to say long prayers. We don't have to weep a lot of tears to reach you. Those tears will come, Lord, when we understand your love and grace. But oh, Holy Spirit, now let the warmth of your love just embrace us, put your arms around us, and help us to be able to say, Lord, I will trust you. I will believe that you will hear me. I believe my prayers are going to be answered. Lord, I believe that you're walking with me. I believe you're doing something even now in my heart, in my life, and my family. In Jesus' name, amen. Give him thanks.