In this sermon, the preacher discusses a confrontation between two realities: the reality of Satan, the false usurper, and the reality of God. This showdown has been ongoing since the beginning of time and will culminate in a final conflict at the end of the age. The preacher emphasizes the importance of watching and fasting, as these practices deny the desires of the flesh and align us with God's will. The sermon also highlights the need to recognize that God's reality is true and powerful, even though it may seem invisible compared to the false values and illusions of the world.

And in fact, in Ephesians, Paul makes quite clear that faith is not of yourselves. In chapter 2, verse 8, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. That there's maybe two kinds of faith. The faith that, have the faith of the Son of God, which is the divine and heavenly reality, as against the kind of faith that we're encouraged charismatically to develop, as if it's our baby through some kind of exercise. I'm not stating myself well because we do grow from faith to faith. It's a gift that's given, but there's a place for expansiveness and increase through obedience, to go from faith to faith, from obedience to obedience. But the initial gift is from God, and even the going of that new and extra mile is a grace that comes from Him in proportion to our obedience. He gives grace. The Holy Spirit is given to them that obey Him. And you remember that we talked about when the woman touched the hem of Jesus' garment and was healed, and Jesus turned and stopped and said, They said, what are you talking about? There's a whole crowd pressing in on you. Yes, but someone has touched me because I felt the virtue go out of me. And that virtue was healing power. So if it could go out, then how did it come in? Did it come with His deity as He was formed into man? Or did it come into Him progressively and cumulatively with every act of obedience? Because even for Him as a Son, especially as a patterned Son, the Holy Spirit was given as He obeyed the Father. Because His obedience were never casual, never convenient. They were always a remarkable requirement, even unto the obedience unto death. So the Father gave Him an enablement. The Holy Spirit is given. That touches the question, how is it we're in different places of faith? Because some have a greater measure. They've lived more dangerously. They've opened themselves more desperately. They've cast themselves upon God with greater urgency. And they have received something as Jesus received with every act of obedience by the Holy Spirit. But what we had not considered, and I had not considered, that the Holy Spirit is more than just an energy and a power. The Holy Spirit is God. So any manifestation of God is the impartation, not only of power, but of character. And that the certain versions would use the word virtue. I felt virtue go out of me. Virtue is a moral word. Virtue is almost a synonym for what is moral. Virtue is a kind of moral excellence that has come by a conduct that is in keeping with God's own character. And He felt the virtue go out of Him that must have come into Him with every impartation of the Holy Spirit through acts of obedience. And so that Jesus Himself had to walk as a Son and grow in grace and grow in faith through the obediences by which He suffered. Faith is intrinsic to God Himself. Faith is the milieu, excuse my language, the very environment in which God Himself lives and has His being. Faith is appropriate to God. Faith is the environment of God. He gave the gift of faith because faith is appropriate to Him. Because the antithesis of faith is action and conduct that issues out of man, out of his knowledge, out of his cleverness, out of his principles, out of his energy. But faith is a dependency on a supernatural source as a mode of being, of living and being by which obediences are performed that do not make the requirement of what is human, but demand and draw from what is divine. Every good and perfect thing comes down from above. So why is Jesus rebuking His disciples? Because they have not a measure that He thought that they ought by that time to have obtained. And then His answer, this kind comes not out by fasting and prayer, indicates that they had neglected the means by which this faith is to be obtained. That there is something about fasting and prayer that is profoundly connected with the drawing of God, the milieu, the environment of God into our own being. That we can face unpredictable moments and not fault it nor balk. So our problem is a deficiency in prayer and in fasting. But prayer and fasting of what kind? It's not prayer as we understand it as petition. Because when we make our petitions we end. But the prayer that I think that the Lord is talking about is the kind that He Himself practiced, which is to say devotional prayer. Prayer as a devotion, prayer as communion with God who is the source of every good and perfect thing. And that when you have that kind of communion through prayer, something is given by the one with whom you are in communion and that builds up in you as faith. So we stop praying when we should begin. Our prayer is too utilitarian. That's so much in the nature of our society and generation. We pray for what we need and we stop. But we don't pray as devotion. We don't linger, we don't enjoy the presence of God or are able to commune and keep with Him in prayer if there's an absence of the sense of His presence. We're so sensate, we're so sensual that if we don't have a feeling that comes from God, we quit. We need a payoff. And yet God is testing to see who will be a lover and a devoted son and daughter who will linger in my presence without a payoff. They're not there for a payoff. They're there because they recognize my majesty. They recognize who I am as God and therefore there's a response from them that is totally appropriate and has nothing to do with any benefit that they'll receive by extending themselves in the early morning hours while it is yet dark and before the day has begun. If that's true, and I believe that it is I'm seeing that truth in my own life and practice the issue of Israel's deliverance in the last days as I've said many times, is not the issue of heroism of last moment heroism, it's the issue of devotion. Isn't it remarkable that the whole destiny and the fulfillment of God's eschatological purposes for Israel through the church is not through the church's heroism but the church's devotion. Its relationship with its God in the secret place, in the prayer chamber in the quiet, that there something is formulated that when you come to the place of confrontation you've got something out of which to meet it. Here we have another instance where in two of the three accounts this kind comes not out of faith but by fasting and prayer and in another account in Matthew this kind is the issue because of your unbelief so how do we reconcile these divergent statements or are they coming at the same truth and the same issue from different angles and aspects is the issue of faith and belief the issue of devotion. Will you give God time in devotional communion through prayer except that you believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of all who diligently seek him that that reward need not be now it could be postponed and future or even not come as something that we experienced a feeling so you'll not give God a devotional attention unless you believe that he is and is deserving of that consideration so again we come back what is faith? Faith is an appropriate knowledge of God as God and once you have that knowledge how can you just use them for your petitions Lord I need this I need that my boyfriend girlfriend health body blah blah blah and then stop what is he your errand boy is he around just to take care of your immediate needs you have an inadequate knowledge of God he's much larger than the way in which you're employing him in fact your employment of him is actually disgraceful it's making God less than what he is he's much greater than your errands and he's not there for your convenience he has purposes of his own that has to do with cosmic redemption and the glory of God forever of which your little petty concerns are a minute little beep so how come you're not coming before him in sympathy and identification with him in the things that pertain to himself why is it always you you you Lord I I me I my ministry my need I I I what about his see communion is rising above your egocentric concern valid though it is into the larger place of God himself his glory and his honor to hallow him so that's an issue of faith and evidently the disciples failed here maybe because they saw Jesus in his humanity in such a way as to deflate their appreciation of him in his total person and they didn't take note of how he himself had a significant and continuous devotional life with the father that if he required that devotional life not just to be instructed but to give to the father the consideration of a loving son how much then do we need some measure of that same devotion yeah yeah yeah I'm pioneering I'm on the first rung of this ladder but I suspect and intuit that the word adoration is the ultimate statement of a believer's relationship with God and it's one to which I confess I've not yet myself come in fact everything in me from my Brooklyn origins and my history in life and in the world militates against adoration adoration is almost too ethereal too feminine for a masculine consideration interesting that the church should be known as the bride of Christ eternally unless we come into this feminine configuration exemplified by the woman who brought the alabaster box and broke it against the indignation of his own disciples and was extravagant in her love Jesus commemorates as being a good work so there's something about feminine love, extravagance, affection devotion and adoration to which we're called and we can't fabricate that we can't take a deep breath we've got to grow like I'm admiring the Lord in his faithfulness even in these days doubting that though I have been and somewhat tinged with unbelief and questioning and I look back now I'm seeing the Lord's unfolding the divine logic I'm admiring him for it I admire him for what he did in Africa and the places that preceded it so my knowledge of the Lord grows as I see his faithfulness and there's not a morning that I'm talking to the Lord that I don't begin first by citing his attributes how do you begin praying? when you go down in that corner of the bedroom or wherever your prayer chamber is and it's still dark out how do you begin? what do you say? for me, invariably I rehearse with God his own attributes I'm telling him how impressed I am with his unceasing faithfulness and his integrity and his love and his mercy as I'm experiencing it as a piece of dust that I am and then I go on from there as the Lord leads and sometimes I'll pause and all of a sudden what comes out of my mouth is no longer English it's something in a heavenly language that only he understands so it's good to rehearse God and the knowledge of him his attributes what he's showing every day more his grace the goodness, the kindness of God and I'll tell you I was telling somebody the other day I'm so spoiled like I said look, I don't need that oh yeah? I'm seeing that you have that you have a desire for me beyond my own thought or intention you've been lavish where I thought I had was adequate you know me? I'm a depression baby just enough for me to need you are lavish so I'm growing in the knowledge of the extravagance of God's love his faithfulness how he gives and that will lead to the place of adoration and when we come to the place of adoration it's like water turning into steam the nature of the thing changes its form because we've hit a temperature that transforms the one element into another I've never said that before I've never seen that before I'm going on record and I'm saying it now adoration when we come to the place of adoration we have come into another dimension we've turned water into steam by the heat of love and steam is power steam is power it moves locomotives so I think that there's a conjunction between adoration and authority and power in ministry and in life and I can see reasons for it how can God trust us with the spirit without measure and power if there will be any danger of a misappropriation of touching or stealing his glory or exalting ourselves through that provision we have got to be sons and daughters utterly selfless without any concern for what redounds to us by the grace of the authority and power God allows us to express and there are not many sons who have come to that when we come to adoration God can trust us because the adoration is so blinding, so overwhelming we wouldn't dream in a multitude of eternities to misuse that power or authority in any way that would have redound to our self-aggrandizement it's always for the father it's always for his glory it's always for his honor we are hollowing the name of God and therefore we can be entrusted and didn't the disciples see that? who were walking with him didn't they observe that? didn't they know that he was getting up early every morning to seek the father while it was yet dark didn't they know he needed his rest? the man was exhausted, the press of crowds and dealings for myself it's easier to preach than to minister to the saints after service the exhaustion comes with the saints a word that they want or need or a prayer giving the message is much easier than tending to the flock afterwards, but he was continually tending to the flock, so he was exhausted and they were tired didn't they recognize, and yet he's up early, without fail finding a place apart, while it's yet dark to seek the father didn't they get the message? that if it's necessary for him, who is the son of God, true man and true God, what's necessary for them but what were they doing? sleeping, even in the garden of the Gethsemane, he said could you not watch for me for one hour they slept flesh overruled them so, watching we were just sharing before the break is analogous to fasting, fasting is the denial of the flesh to the denial of food watching is the denial of sleep the body craves both more than they should, because the body wants to be spoiled and indulged and tells you that you need eight hours, or at least seven or three square meals a day the Elijah only needed two and so the body will always over express its need as if it is the most vital claimant to your attention and if you neglect it, it'll howl you get headaches and you feel like you're going to die and certainly you've got to eat because you're dying and what happened to Esau? Esau gave up his inheritance as the first born because of the need for pottage he was ruled by his appetite that's why God loves Jacob and hated Esau Esau was ruled by his flesh even to the point of giving up his legacy so we're in that contest this is what we're struggling, body and soul, body and spirit flesh and spirit the purposes of God our own demands, our own needs, our own security our own pleasure, our own gratification this is what Paul cried out in Romans 7 woe is me who will save me from this death, but praise God for Jesus Christ even as an apostle he's struggling in the contest of flesh versus spirit why is the issue of faith the issue of righteousness? without faith there's no righteousness it's only a righteousness by faith and in no other way because the alternative is a righteousness by works by human conduct, human energy our own ethical mindedness of what we can do or say but that's unrighteous why do you call me good? Jesus said, there's no man good there's no man righteous so then why is faith and righteousness synonymous? because it is not of yourself lest any man boast faith is a gift given of God, it is God it's the milieu that he occupies, it's intrinsic to his own Godness and he gives us this mode for obedience, it's called faith, and by it you can act and perform something pleasing because the issue is not you but him, he gets the glory, isn't that remarkable? and so in the last confrontation it's the very same thing it's not just taking a deep breath and I'm going to face this demon and I'm going to show him who, and you know what the demon says? Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you? he yawns in your face even while you're reciting the formula, the name of Jesus come out in the name of Jesus he's not at all impressed because he knows your faith is not the divine substance but a human equivalent by which you have learned to agree while certain doctrines certain confidences, you even quote the scripture to God and ask for the payoff because the scripture says that you deserve a Cadillac that will fail so now let's get to the point of what is at stake in this final confrontation and how must it be met if God is to be glorified and the demons are to release their captive before they kill him and if they do kill him can we like Jesus by faith stretch forth our arm and raise him up here's the remarkable analogy that this son represents Israel that has to be not only delivered from oppression but delivered from death that we have to have a faith that not only can rebuke the devil to let him go but having let him go he leaves him as dead that our faith will raise him up unto resurrection that the glory of Israel is the restored and resurrected nation not just the one delivered from persecution so ultimate faith is resurrection faith that raises the dead that's what's demonstrated Jesus performed that but the disciples could not so here's the way I like to see it this confrontation is a showdown and it has its inception from time immemorial comes to a final conflict at the end of the age where the issue of the son is Israel hanging in the balance now brought to death and it's a confrontation between realities the reality of the false usurper the liar the deceiver Satan who has created a whole mirage of things that are false illusory stinking values the wisdom of below to which the whole world subscribes as being real it's make believe and it's aided by fantasy and movies and films and stories and all of that crud and junk that even the cartoons that our kids watch are infused and shot through with that whole make believe of seeming power of explosions that's visible that seems to have the marbles seems to have the authority seems where the action is as against an invisible God who resides in heaven whose throne is in eternity and that somehow we've got to bring into the valley that reality that is reality because God is reality the throne is the nexus of reality what comes down is what is real and sane this is life and health what is below is disfigurement and grotesque caricature and devastation and foaming foaming at the mouth and power unto death and the two things come together and the question is which reality will triumph in that showdown which reality will have all the marbles the reality that is visible and even flings the victim down as dead or the reality that you bring by faith when you command that devil to let go and your command is not just I hope I hope I hope but your command rings with the authority of God which you bring by faith in the knowledge of him that you've obtained from faith to faith and now the measure is what will triumph the disciples failed and Jesus reprimanded them severely and the question is when we come to this we're moving toward this confrontation if you have eyes to see and can read history aright and understand the eschatological faith and the issue of Israel as represented in that sun and the hatred of the powers of darkness against that sun not content to molest but to destroy because if that sun is destroyed they continue in their false usurping rule over the nations they can only be defeated when that sun is made alive and occupies the place of God's intention and Zion becomes the center of the universe out of which the law goes forth and the glory of God and all nations come unto it the sun is that issue that's why to destroy the sun is to set back if not permanently destroy the prospect of such a kingdom and such a rule the issue is rule the issue is government and you know how even men once they taste the benefits of authority and rule will not let go like the guy in Zimbabwe he's now pushing 80 he's been the ruler since Zimbabwe came out of colonialism and the country is being devastated by the madness of this man and his arbitrary rule and anyone who opposes him is called a traitor and they're sent to prison you can't even have journalism that's honest and the elections are fraudulent and faked and he continues in power, he will not let go, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and once you enjoy its benefits especially as these men from Africa they will not let go to be enriched, they're garnering the whole wealth of nations to their own persons I told you I mentioned many times driving in Switzerland and passing a baronial property with high walls and you can glimpse over and see such remarkable buildings and we're driving for five minutes, we've not come to the end of it and I turned to my companion and said whose place is that that belongs to the president of Congo Zaire the guy who died of cancer and is rotting in hell right now this was only one of several of his estates because he has a fortune of fortunes in Swiss banks they garner, they usurp they take to themselves while their people are perishing for elementary nourishment and their children are beggars so, why am I saying all that? If that's man usurping through your rule, what about the powers of the air? Because who is it in Psalm 2 that rages against the Lord and against his anointed and want to break their bands the rulers and the kings take thought together against the son of God because they will not submit to his rule this is a conflict saints if you don't know this if you don't have this as the cosmic overview in which the church is set, you're nowhere you don't understand anything and church then is a succession of Sunday services and an occasional programmer or speaker this is the context a conflict between darkness and light of what is going to prevail over God's creation and what's that issue is the son. How long has this been going on? Since childhood why could we not cast it out? because this kind, this ultimate kind cometh not out except by fasting and prayer. So we need to dote consider, what is Jesus saying? That one account says faithlessness because you had not faith if you had faith, you could have moved mountains you lacked faith what is that? A technique? A method? or a knowledge of the majesty of God that is greater than all darkness, though it's invisible. That you can come against what is visible by your inward knowledge of what is really real although it is immaterial and not seen. That that which is not seen is greater than that which is visible. That you have the same mentality as Paul who counted the things that were invisible as being eternal and the eternal weight of glory that made his present suffering both momentary and light. He had such an appropriation of God in the invisible realm that it affected his present condition he did not feel his suffering in the measure that you would think because he wasn't living in his body his citizenship was in heaven he was in the eternal and invisible realm as being more real than that which is visible because that visible stuff is going to decay, turn to dust go up in smoke and will dissipate away. But the word of God endures forever. Believe us on this? So this is the conflict you guys everything is up for grabs to come to that confidence in the invisible God and his majesty as eclipsing and greater than the usurper and that we know that that usurper has been defeated that Jesus made of him an open spoil at the cross and disarmed him that though he can bark and growl and make noises, he has no power of what shall we be afraid greater is he who is within us than he who is in the world. And now we can prove it by our commanding of those things to recognize themselves as defeated and flake off, let go of that guy, right now this is immediate no option and do you know that we were tested even in these days? With our little brother Chad? You guys weren't even aware that yesterday morning at the prayer time as I'm sitting in my seat he was at the door with a puppy in his arms, so fetching wanting to be readmitted after all, let bygones be bygones even though we've had our differences and even though you have required of me that I leave can't I be readmitted? And when he came to the door and I saw him though you didn't know what was going on I stuck my finger out and I said, out! We have the reality, the authority in this place has agreed and come together that you are required now to leave and if you slip in again in your subversive cutesy way well, so we retract our command and the authority that we exercise to make allowances for brother, give him another chance the whole issue of authority would have been affected and been betrayed got that what I'm talking about? A little thing that a man at the door desiring to come in in a fetching way was a test of how we would insist upon the authority that we expressed in the Lord for the conduct of the school for which we were responsible and that if that man would receive that expulsion as a discipline needful for his erratic egoistic behavior and receiving it for the good he's welcome back at another time as a changed man, but if he tries to slip in now, subversively and cutely and to evaporate the issue of authority he will suffer loss and we will suffer loss, so we need to be jealous in these regards because the issues are great and any compromise in that area will be recognized by the powers of darkness and the one mock that I cannot stand to hear is Jesus we know and Paul we know, but who are you cats? So these are the realities that we need to take very seriously and grow in don't care what your profession is, what your business what your obligation, you can find time, you can get up earlier, you can go to bed earlier, you don't have to frit away your evenings in mindless chitchat and light things, go to bed at an hour at a time that you'll wake up early and be with the Lord at that early, undistracted time before the world begins there's not one of us who can have an excuse I've got a job, no fine time this is the fasting fasting means self-denial it's an emblematic word, it's not just the denial of food, it's the denial of sleep, it's the denial of bodily comfort, it's the denial of yourself as first getting up early at the ridiculous hour when your body is clamoring for more rest is a denial and somehow there's a principle that works in the cosmos that both God and the powers of darkness recognize that self-denial is contrary to the ethos and rationality of a world that says, take care of number one first see to yourself, after all if you don't, who else will? and you're number one and your body and your rest and your food and your energy and your complexion and your clothing you, you, you, you, is the logic of the world, that's how Satan rules and jerks whole nations for jealousy, envy, careers prestige, property value that's false and God says, all that will pass away but my word and my way endures, but do we believe that? so by fasting and denial of sleep we are making a statement both that is honoring to God and threatening to the powers of darkness, because it's a statement of our earnestness we're not just flaky vocabulary bearing saints who say the right things, but our life is earnest and real and on the line, because no one is seeing us, this is entirely private and personal and you can get away with it and no one observes, except in the public expression of your faith, you don't get away with it what you are publicly, in your prayer and witness and authority is altogether the statement of what you are privately and hiddenly in your relationship with God it's the audacity and arrogance of man that sees himself as first and God catches whatever few crumbs he can in a second hand way that's what's perverse, unbelief and faithlessness and unwillingness to give God the devotional attention that he deserves is a willful disrespect and it's perverse by it's very nature, how many of us are willing to bite the bullet and say our neglect of God is willful and perverse it puts us above him, that our sleep, our food our contentment is the number one priority, if there's anything left over we'll show up on Sunday that this is a perverse rejection of God's priority that he's holy this is the living God, the creator of the heavens and the earth we don't have breath except by his willingness, but we don't give him the attention and honoring that he deserves, by our unwillingness to get out of bed our unwillingness to make time for him that we put our pleasure and our fortune as a higher priority than the honor that is due him, we need to see this as perverse, because the Lord is not speaking that arbitrarily that unbelief is perverse it's a willful disregard of that God who deserves faith and trust and admiration and devotion even adoration unbelief itself is sick like well the scripture says, that which is not of faith is sin, unbelief is sin, as if God is saying to believe is the most natural and logical and right response to the reality that I am if you're not in that place you're in a sinful place that by every reckoning you should be in a place of faith but your unbelief is a statement that you're in a perverse place so, the issues are so great that we have every reason to be faithful and not perverse, look at the rendering in Luke at the end after Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, verse 42 healed the boy and gave him back to his father, isn't that a remarkable statement, you see the analogy you see the spiritual resonance of this healed Israel and gave him back to the father Israel has been out from the father all through its history but this healing, this restoration this lifting him up as dead is to give him back to the father and the purposes of Israel by the father, this is not just the actual physical thing, oh here's your son, no, it's much more, this is allegorical language this is charged with extreme symbolism and look at what follows and gave him back to his father and all were astounded at the greatness of God mamma mia mamma mia you know what you dear saints when Israel will be given back to the father after a lifetime of falling into water and fire and raised from the dead all the world will recognize and honor the glory of God for the so great restoration from the dead and that is hinted at in this very text and all were astounded at the greatness of God you might almost say that the whole thing is set up for that very revelation the issue in the end is God's greatness as is to be recognized the world over that the praise of him should be from one end of the earth to the other which he deserves but he's making it the issue of Israel's restoration because the issue of Israel will be visible to the world they'll see this son who has become demoniac and infested with devils and foaming at the mouth and epileptic and caricatured, deformed son capable of nothing and they'll watch this victim be brought out through the faith of the church in his relationship with God to defeat the powers of darkness and set him on his feet to be returned to the father for his glory all the world will be astounded so the issue is even more than Israel the issue is the world because this is going to be the factor that brings the acknowledgement of Israel's God to the consideration of Hindus, Muslims Confucianists and every variety of heresy paganism that exists worldwide there's only one God and he's the God who raises the dead but raises the dead through whom Jesus will not be there in that day we will be there in that day and this is a day that we need to anticipate and welcome every provision from God to bring us from faith to faith on what basis that he's not a man that he should lie that his promises will be honored his word will be vindicated because the trust is the trust in the character of God as holy and as righteous has God said yes and because he said it he will perform it right so faith is trust in God in his character but how do we know that character do we just assume or do we know it in different degrees, do some know God better than others how so and their faith grows in proportion to that knowledge so also is their trust because they have been led from faith to faith and he has shown himself faithful, I have to say in my 76th year and my 41st year in the Lord I don't remember and know of a single instance in which God has ever failed, not one when I began these trips, I despair Lord, seven countries I know I've been to Uganda and Kenya before, I know what it is it's going to be a horrendous requirement I'm going to be looking into those black faces and they come out of such conditions Lord that with despair of succeeding in any kind of elementary communication rather than you're going to bring them to some lofty thoughts that are apostolic or prophetic you despair before you begin but as you go through those days and you come to the end of them Lord I marvel you did not miss a lick, you did not miss a beat, not only did you supply a message you supplied the message that in every instance and case the word was spectacularly appropriate and decisive and came down from heaven as if you knew in advance what everything would be required and that these in fact were works to walk and establish before the foundation of the earth was laid and that you're doing this through a piece of dust frail subject to malaria and indigestion and diarrhea so the glory of God is revealed through the earthen vessel because you know your frailty and therefore you're all the more acutely aware of how great God is to manifest himself and fulfill every particular in those days because he's faithful, he cannot help himself, I keep telling him Lord you can't help yourself, that's what you are how can you be unfaithful it would contradict what you are in yourself this is you, you're faithful, you're trustworthy you're integrity, you are love, you're righteousness you're hope, you're power this is what you are in yourself do you know God like that and will you know him unless you allow him to bring you to Africa or the equivalent thereof, allow him to bring you to a place above and beyond any ability that you have in yourself that if God be not God and there's no resurrection, you of all men are most to be pitied that you'll come into auditoriums in the capital city of West Africa Burkina Faso designed in the French manner where the acoustics are pitiful and you're listening to the brother from Mobile moaning on and the people looking up at the ceiling, these men that have come from distant places, a hundred or more of these ministers and the acoustics, it sounds like an echo chamber there's no hope that you can even be heard physically let alone with a word that can penetrate and you're ready to quit you can see how how unaffected they are by the men who's preceded you and that something has got to happen in a building that is not suited for acoustics but for French design and sophistication and brah and so the brother from Israel who's a musician says Art, I said let's reorder the room somehow he said yeah, put the ministers up against the wall and you speak to the wall you speak to them, they'll hear you and it worked and from the first word those men, they blinked their jaws dropped they were hearing from God the word was authoritative, it was powerful they had never heard such perception such a vision of faith and reality and what it means to be a minister handling the word of God not only in principle but the man who's calling them to that reality is demonstrating it, he's the thing in himself it's a remarkable reality of God who's there and so when I come back to the room Lord, thank you for your exceeding great faithfulness because what was at issue today was not my reputation or my acceptance by men what was at issue today was the church of Africa because if it's not the church in Africa, there's no hope for that continent we cannot expect it politically or socially they are down and out they are the dark continent and if there'll be any light and any glory and any reality and any hope for suffering black mankind it'll come through the church, it'll not come at all and if it comes through the church, it's going to come through ministers who are responsible to bring the word and trust and believe God for it and not bring patsy sermons that they got at the last minute or that will get by something had to be demonstrated as well as spoken because the prophetic man is not only the expositor but the visible demonstration of what it is that he's bringing and God is faithful so what I'm saying to you is what about your Africa I'm a big boy now and 41 years with the Lord all over the world but where you are what is the challenge that's next that calls you out beyond yourself that if God be not God, you perish if there's no resurrection you'll be of all men, most of you perished and you're willing to suffer the shame of that and the collapse of that and trust God because the issue is more than your reputation the issue is the issue of God in that place where he's put you and you've come voluntarily and freely, you know why? because that's just how Jesus left the Father in heaven and voluntarily and freely chose to come into the earth and suffer the limitations and humiliation of his humanity as a servant even unto death a slave it's got to be free and voluntary and the issue is that the world might be astonished at God's greatness to see Israel's actual demonstration, actual deliverance before its own face because he will not hide this in a corner, he will do it before the face of all nations and he'll do it through the church that is the church or it will not be done at all so what reality do you bear? what is the principle the principle of reality in your life what is the foremost inward thing is it you or God? you have him in measure or is he the primary because that reality will be tested by the powers of darkness who are commercially bringing a pseudo-reality an unreality do you read the Sunday Supplement to the newspaper? the parade and the movie stars and the little biographies I almost puke they are non-entities but they're written about as if they count and mean for something and we have to know that this about them it's triviality and people suck that up suck it up, they go to supermarkets there's those magazines and Trump and this and this wife and that divorce they're awash with unreality and when they get married, they hope that their little dream will be something like what they saw in the magazine or the film but alack and alas their husband sweats and he's defective and lacking and boom their little mirage collapses because they've not been prepared for the reality of life as it in fact is so where is that island of sanity called the church by which men and women can come into an environment that is coherent and in keeping with the God who is who is truth and come from faith to faith and be perfected as sons and daughters and love what is real and love truth even as it is painful before it's glorious even the truth about themselves so Lord what shall we say my God because when we leave here we're going down into the valley we're going down and back and into those unpromising and discouraging places shot through with problems of a kind that make your guts cry out you want to spit out your guts in frustration and futility and yet we we don't circumvent that we're called to that and in that place to register the greater reality my God that we bear within so bless these sons and daughters Lord to carry a measure of the revelation of yourself as you have given it in the cross in the sun the issue of incarnation the great mystery and that you would be brought by them my God into that valley place so we thank you Lord that we would not hear a rebuke and a reprimand how long must I suffer you all faithless and perverse generation may we hear the great commendation well done good and faithful servants thank you my God oh Lord help us my God in your great mercy you know our frames were as dust we're weak we're frail we're easily discouraged my God our faith sags but grant us the faith of the son of God grant us his tested reality that measure that we inherit through which he has passed that is communicated when we receive the son thank you my God who is in us and the tested reality of his life that we don't have to go to square one he has gone through all of that we can receive a remarkable benefit and impartation by that experience through which he has passed and we thank you Lord precious God thank you thank you Lord bless him saints and reaffirm your covenantal relationship express gratitude for the privilege of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus that he has not left you and often that he has given you everything that pertains to godliness and to life his Holy Spirit his wisdom revelation his word his name his honor his character bring me from faith to faith my God grow me up as a son in the most high who can be trusted Lord with your glory who can be trusted with your power because we adore you and that adoration is expressed in the early morning hours while it is yet dark independent of whether we feel anything because you are deserving of the admiration of love and devotion of your saints thank you Lord thank you my God stir us and bring us to that reality day by day that if we miss the morning we know it the day is not right we have not begun as we ought we have not given you the first priority but we have gone immediately to our task to our problems to our obligations and have not considered you therefore everything will suffer loss we will be defective we will be lacking in authority we will be lacking in wisdom and inspiration and we will be just puffing it out out of our humanity because we did not stop first to consider and seek you as Jesus come my God start a revolution in the church that has to do with devotion the truth of the matter is we would rather build three booths than find ourselves in the place of devotion before the most time because we are still operating from the principle it is good for us to be there let us make let us make not let us pray but let us make we want to do rather than be and that power has got to be broken it is false false priority the issue is being out of which doing will come and not doing as an alternative to being we don't need to make we need to be seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all things else shall be added unto you believest thou this this priority not the things that you need but him first and all things will be added what a radical statement that one statement turns the world upside down and puts it on its ear can you believe that can African can the church in Africa believe that whose tongues are hanging out the most elementary things that if they don't look first to the to the practical and to the material and the needful and natural but look first to God and his kingdom that those things will be added and it's got nothing to do with their natural resources or their manpower their technology but their faith which means honoring God's priority because he has said so that's the issue of Africa and who can commend that issue to them who is not himself seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness or else our injunction to them is just a bit of white man's fluff that falls like a dead weight without any cogency we've got to be what we say we've got to trust God and make his priority and his kingdom first and trust that the other things will be added and in fact they are his word is true he's not a man that he should lie