To Release the Creation

Father, as we come unto you this morning, Lord, we are so appreciative of your goodness, and we thank you, Lord, again for your kindness toward Devin, that he didn't hurt himself worse than he did. We're thankful, Lord. He's a nice little boy, quiet, and we just thank you, Lord, that you've seen fit to spare his life.

We pray, Lord, for all the families here. Lord, it seems I've heard in the last couple of weeks at least three incidents of little boys getting hurt, and I just pray you'll put your protection on our families, Lord. Put your protection on our families, I pray, and give us peace and righteousness so that you can be pleased to be with us in our homes and protect us from sickness and from accident, Lord.

We pray now for the little children in the children's church, that you'll be with them, Lord. Open their understanding, and bless the teachers that labor there, Lord, and for the rest of us, you know what we need to hear. You know what each one of us needs to hear, and we pray the Holy Spirit will do that this morning for us, that no one is accepted.

In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. We'll turn in our Bibles to Romans 8. I think before we do the responsive reading, could you show that diagram that shows the six aspects of the inheritance? If you could do that, it shows the six aspects of the inheritance.

And then we'll read Romans 8, 18-23. So you can get a little better feel for it. I mentioned before, we're talking now about the inheritance that we've been in the book of Ezekiel.

We've been talking about applying the temple of Ezekiel symbolically to our being made in the image of Christ. And we're down as far now as the inheritance. And the Bible says we're co-heirs with Christ, right? Well, does two or three people agree with that? Anybody else? We are co-heirs.

King James says, join heirs, and that is truly a spectacular statement. Because Jesus Christ inherits everything of God. Everything of God.

Everything. And if we are co-heirs with Him, then we have a tremendous, tremendous inheritance. And the stipulation is always that we overcome.

All things go to the winners. It isn't true that everyone who professes belief in Christ is a co-heir with Christ. We might assume that that's true.

But there's a number of scriptures that tell us that it's not true. Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, for example. There's nothing that says a mere religious profession of Christ qualifies us to be a joint heir with Christ or co-heir with Christ.

There's no scripture for that. We have to go by the Bible. There are several verses that speak of our inheritance, and it's usually associated with suffer.

If we suffer, we'll rule with Him. So there are stipulations. And as I've said before, being an overcomer is not some far-out mystical thing that only five people in the history of the world have attained.

It merely means that at any given point in your Christian life, you can look up to the Lord with assurance and know that you're doing His will. That's all it is to be an overcomer. There's not a standard set out somewhere that something is true now, this minute, or it's not.

If you can look up this morning and you know all the things that God has challenged you with, you've said yes, then you have overcome to this point. You can only overcome moment by moment. It's like manna.

You can't store it up. You know, you overcome now. Tomorrow is another matter.

Today is the day of salvation. And if you can look up and your heart is clear, if you have prayed through, that is, the things that are buffeting you, that are challenging you, challenging your idols, challenging the things that you crave fervently, challenging these things, or challenge you in the realm of fear, something that may happen, something that maybe you've had a biopsy and you're waiting for the result, or maybe you're being sued, maybe your financial outlook is bleak, maybe there's domestic dispute, maybe there's a son or a daughter that is giving you cause for concern and worry. These are the kinds of challenges that are normal.

Everybody has these, saved and unsaved alike. Our temptations are common to man. And if you can say right at this moment, you're prayed through, you're willing to go God's way no matter what it entails, see, that's why we get torn up, is because there's something that we fear.

There's something in here. And if you'll analyze that fear, it's something that we're clinging to. Something that we're afraid will happen.

God does not want us living in fear. He does not want us living in fear. The way to overcome anxiety and dread and fear is to visualize the worst and say, Lord, if that's what's going to happen, praise the Lord, I can serve you in that situation too.

Then Satan has no grip on your subconscious. See, he deals, he gets in there, those fears that you're afraid to, must be somebody needs this this morning, I didn't intend to go this way, but since we're in it, let's do it. If there's something in there that you're afraid to face, I couldn't stand the thought of that happening.

You know what I mean? I couldn't stand the thought of that happening. Then you repress that, you push that down, you don't want to face it. You get out to pray and you see that thing, you spring up to your feet, I don't want to face that.

And that's what Satan uses to create burnout, to create anxiety and dread. He uses that subconscious fear, and what that fear is, based on a lack of trust in God's goodness, and that he knows what's best for us, and even if things, even if the worst of the worst happens, then we have the assurance of the Bible, all things are working together for good. And we just have to look up and say, Lord, I thought that was what I needed, what I wanted, but evidently, God had a better idea, and he just let it go.

And then Satan has no handle on you. Because he works through the dread of what might happen, and he doesn't want you living like that. He doesn't want dread and fear in our homes, and when there's dread and fear in your home, stand against it.

It's not God's will, it's not a premonition of disaster, that's superstition. God has given us love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit, and that's the way he wants us to live, great peace, love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. And when we're offended and fearful, how does that verse go, it's all about not fearing a bad report, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, how does the first part of that go? His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, that's perfect, he shall not be afraid of evil tidings.

Was that you Ruth? Who came up with that? Very good Lynn. Alright, he shall not be afraid of evil tidings, there was a period in our life when I dreaded to answer the phone, have you ever been there? And that verse, that whole act before me, he shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. And that, when we look up to God, we should be without condemnation.

And we're without condemnation when we know that what God has required of us, the report comes back to me that there's people that get angry with God, how in the world can we get angry with God when we think about Calvary? How can anybody with any sense of fairness become angry with God after Calvary? I mean, brother, sister, it doesn't compute, no, we don't get mad at God and we don't get mad at people, and we don't fear people, the fear of man brings us near. God wants us without fear, even without the fear of death, remember the scripture says in Hebrews, who all their lifetime were subject to the fear of death, and Christ has broken that for us. So we don't fear death, we don't fear sickness, we don't fear poverty, we don't fear any of these things because we're not clutching them, we trust in the Lord.

And you say, well that sounds real sanctimonious and wonderful to say, I'm talking about living the way God wants us to live, and we can live that way, we can live above fear and dread and sin by praying, pray without ceasing, and giving over to the Lord, Lord you want this? Great. You want that? Great. This is going to happen to me? Fine Lord.

You always pray and ask for what you want, you always do that, if you don't do that you won't survive. You always pray and ask for what you want, always, in everything, with prayer and thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and you always issue the disclaimer, not my will but thine be done, that is being scorned today, that if we say that then people won't get healed, they won't get the result, because it's a weak prayer, brother, sister, that's a lot of nonsense, it's the strongest prayer in the creation is not my will but thine be done. You don't have to worry because you didn't force your ideas on God and said not my will but thine be done, you're not going to get the answer, that's more nonsense.

You always pray, you always issue that disclaimer because you and I don't know what's best for us, we don't know what will bring peace and joy, we think we do, but we don't, but God does, and so we express faith in God that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. He does, he's seeking your good, he's not seeking to make you miserable, and when you're miserable and you've done God's will, it's because God is bringing to the surface something that needs to be brought to the surface, it's as simple as that.

So there's a skin cream, you can, it's by prescription, but you can get it to put on your arms, and it will bring up to the surface every potential skin cancer in your arm, you have to keep your arm out of the sun or you'll really be in trouble, but that ointment will bring up every potential thing to the surface so that your body can deal with it and so that the dermatologist can deal with it, and that's what God does, he anoints us and he brings up to the surface all this potential sin that we don't know about, and very often pain and frustration and anger will accomplish this, and so when God says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, that's exactly what he means, and all things work together for good to those who love God, that's exactly what he means, and he hasn't changed, and so be at peace this morning, and if there's something that you're battling about God's will, why don't you yield to God and give yourself a break, because you're not going to get anywhere forcing your own will on God, that's ridiculous, it worked out real great for Eve didn't it, 6,000 years of misery we've had because of that couple of people decided that they knew better than God what was good for them, and you don't know what's better than God, neither do I, and so the common sense thing is to say, well Lord have at it, and don't quit because of my wailing, just do what you're going to do, and you don't go out of church ever carrying a load of sin, ever, that's what the altar is here for, you get up here, and you, because you don't know if you're going to be alive tomorrow any more than I do, you don't, this may be it for you, so you keep your account short, save sanctified up to date, keep your accounts with God short, and don't be carrying a load of debt, get down there and get that taken care of today, you can do it now if you want to or when we're through, but don't go out of this church carrying a bunch of garbage, whether it's unconfessed sin or wrestling with God's will or fear and dread of God's going to do something you're not going to like or whatever it is, why should you live like that, you don't have to live like that, you don't have to, you can have, Paul, here's Paul in prison, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, in prison, rejoice in the Lord part of the time, right?

Rejoice in the Lord always, and Paul knew what it was to suffer, he knew what it was to lose everything, and what did he count it? Garbage, garbage, refuse, dung, so it's nothing, I'm after the gold, and he says let as many as are perfect be thus minded, so when we say that the promises of God and the inheritance are to the overcomers, we're talking about the normal Christian life, we're not talking about the subnormal Christian life that's true of America, we're talking about the normal Christian life, which is a life of cross carrying obedience, keeping your accounts up to date, praying, walking cheerfully in the Lord, giving over everything to Him, never, never, never saying no to God, the most foolish thing you can do is to say no to God, you always say yes to God, always say yes to God, you can live that way, that's the normal life, and everything goes to the winners, and for those who profess Christ and are not living it, not carrying their cross, not obeying the Lord, you are in for the outer darkness, hear me, you're wasting your talent, and you're going to holler, grace, grace, grace, little cows come home, I'm talking Bible, Bible, you waste your talent, your talent is whatever God has given you, to serve Him, you waste that, and you're facing the outer darkness, you can profess Christ all you want to, wow, that's a bit of reason, so I hope that helped somebody, if it didn't hurt me, I hope it didn't hurt you, these are the six aspects of the inheritance, first, and we went over God Himself, see these are all the inheritance of Jesus Christ, and we're co-heirs with Him, eternal life in the age to come, we went over that, and if you're into that sort of thing, it's on previous tapes, the nations of the earth, we talked about Tuesday night last, so if that interests you, it's on tape for last Tuesday night, now today we're on the earth, and thank you, now we're going to go to Romans 8, verses 18 through 23, and read them together in the NIV, which will be on the board directly.

The reason I gave you the stuff in advance is because this is about the manifestation of the sons of God, and that in our day has taken on a bad name because some have perhaps preached that excessively, but I want to tell you it's a very important passage, and it has to do with our inheriting the earth, and in fact, I'm going to run together inheriting the earth and paradise, which is numbers 4 and 5 in the inheritance, because paradise belongs on the earth, it started on the earth and it will finish on the earth, so we'll run the two together, and it's involved with the manifestation of the sons of God, so forget whatever you've heard of excesses in these doctrines, and we'll try to preach it in a scriptural manner. There we go. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed, for the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Now that is a tremendous, tremendous statement, a tremendous portion of scripture, because it orients our salvation toward the earth, and I guess in past history it has not been God's will to emphasize the salvation of the earth was enough that we die and go to heaven. We're in a new day, and we're close to the coming of Christ, and he's coming to inherit the earth. All these things up here, these six things, are all the inheritance of Jesus Christ.

And one of these is the earth. It's been so new to our thinking. Now consider here, the creation, that word means the physical realm.

Let me say something here. The kingdom of God is heaven clothed with the physical realm. Where do you see that? In the Lord Jesus Christ.

Would you agree with me that in Christ dwells the fullness of God, the fullness of all that is desirable about heaven? Would you agree with me on that? When it came forth from the cave of Joseph of Arimathea, what was that heaven clothed with? Flesh and bone. That is the kingdom of God. Now, in past time we have thought that the kingdom of God was the spirit realm.

There's no scriptural basis for that, that was just our tradition. But the kingdom of God, thy will be done, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We have the outward form of the kingdom in our bodies.

Of course, they will be glorified and purified and whatever when the Lord comes. We're not sowing the body that shall be, nonetheless. The body that we will have in the future will have this body in it, otherwise there'd be no resurrection from the dead.

You can think of a fossil, you can think of the imprint of an ancient creature or a leaf in a rock, a fossil. Our body will be like that, it will be fossilized, it will be, you won't be able to see it, but it will be present. God doesn't create things to have them vanish.

It will be raised from the dead, purified, glorified, and then within us will be the fullness of God. Hallelujah. Heaven clothed with the physical realm, that is the kingdom of God.

So it isn't so much a case of going to heaven, although that's a reality, but it's a case of heaven coming to us. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Isn't that a better message? You know, we think, the affair with little Devin and others always causes us to think about eternal things, and we know right away that we're not as anxious to die and go to the spirit realm as we think we are, or have our children die and go to the spirit realm.

And you say, well that'd be wonderful, they'd be up there playing with Jesus in the park, with the other children, wouldn't that be wonderful? Tell that to the mother whose child's had an accident. They're not that interested in the spirit realm, they're interested in the physical realm, and so we all are, we just play these religious games with our mind. The gospel, the gospel is that God so loved the world, he gave a son, that whoso believes in him should not perish.

If you read your New Testament, you'll find the word perish refers to the body. John 3.16 is talking about the resurrection from the dead. The reversal of what was lost in Eden, as Paul says, we wait for our adoption as sons.

Verse 23, what is our adoption as sons? Boy that's awful quiet. What is our adoption as sons? Take a hold of it, get a hold of it, believe it, that was Paul's goal, to have a body of righteousness. Now, verse 19, the creation, that's the physical realm, the animals, people, trees, rocks, the sky, the sun, moon, and the stars, you name it, the physical realm waits in eager expectation, Phillips says, standing on tiptoe.

The creation, not the church, not the Christians, the physical realm, God let us think in, alright, because we don't hear this every Sunday, waits in eager expectation for the sons, plural, that's you, the physical creation is waiting for you. Don't spend your time cursing the government, the problem isn't the government, it's us, they're waiting for us, we're not waiting for the United States to become a Christian nation, they're waiting for us, so don't spend your time cursing all the evils of government, the evil of American government is due to the fact that the church is unrighteous, that it's preaching grace, heaven, and the rapture, how in the world is that going to solve the ills of society, well I thought you'd like that. To be revealed, we're not revealed yet, we won't be revealed until the Lord comes, what needs to be revealed, what needs to be revealed is what God is doing inside of you, sometimes we get impatient with people, they irritate us, we want too much too soon, like the little boy said, God isn't finished with me yet, is God finished with you yet, and that's why you irritate other people, God isn't finished with you yet, but if we could see into one another, we could see the marvelous thing that God was doing, and if we would just have patience, patience, and pray, we might be surprised at what will happen to some of these people that we've given up on.

Into the truth, well the creation looks at the church and they can't see that that God is doing and they're creating patience and peace and love and self-control, they can't see that, it's inside us and it takes a long time coming to the outside for sure, but God is working on the inside, and eventually it comes on the outside and people say, boy they should ruin the Lord, last year, boy you couldn't stand to be around them, but now they're pretty mellow, it happens, happens to the best of us, happens to the worst of us, oh yeah you need to be patient with God, he's a marvel when it comes to changing us, so it behooves us to be patient with people and when we see the faults of our brothers and sisters, and who among us does not have faults, it behooves us to pray, not slander and gossip, say I told you so and step on their head, but anyway that's another subject. The sons of God, the creation is waiting for you, the physical world is waiting for you, not to fly up to heaven, what good in the world is that going to do, the physical creation, you take off here, fly out of Lindbergh Field and you're gone out of sight, now what good is that going to do the creation? I don't know, I never thought about it, well it won't do the creation any good, they've got to see you, in order for them to see you, you've got to be here. Wow, how logical we're getting this morning, logical.

Logic leaps off the Bible, it's amazing isn't it, how logical the Bible is. The creation, the physical realm, was subjected to frustration, if you've ever worked in a field with a hull, cultivating weeds, cultivating around, getting out weeds and cultivating them so they'll take the water, you know how frustrating that is, bugs, weeds, sick sickness, death, too hot or too cold, not enough food or too much food, nothing goes right, if you get a single day with no problems, man you need to put it on your calendar. Our creation, the physical world, we love it, it's all we've got, but it has been subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, it did not choose that to happen, and the creation doesn't know anything at all, but by the will of the one who subjected it, God subjected this creation of his to sickness and all these things, so they didn't come from the Lord, well Amos says there's nothing that happens that doesn't come from the Lord, in hope, in hope, now this is the hope we've got to have, that the creation itself, the physical creation itself will be liberated, now that's something to look forward to, the liberation of this creation, so we get rid of the bugs and the weeds and the too hot and too cold and sickness and death and everything else, this world is going to be liberated, from its bondage to decay, it's subject to decay, when things operate randomly they randomize into disorder and decay, they don't arrange themselves, which is one of the greatest arguments in the world for a creator, you leave things alone like a garden or anything else, you don't work on it, first thing you know you're going to have chaos, and this world would be chaos if there were no intelligent God making order of it, as the second law of thermodynamics.

Alright, and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God, now what that means is the freedom that we're moving toward in the church, the freedom of the spirit of God is a first fruit of what one day will be true of the whole saved creation, now unfortunately there will be people who will be lost, and the bible is very clear on that, so I'm not talking about everyone's going to be saved, don't misunderstand me, I'm not talking about that, but all that God has saved will be brought into the Holy Spirit of God, that's the promised Abraham, the Holy Spirit, and we have, what we have is a first fruit of what one day will be true of the whole earth, I want to be here when that's true, but notice that it is not going to come down from heaven, it's going to, it will come down from

heaven but it will come in the persons, in persons, in people called here the sons of God, of which Jesus Christ is of course the greatest and the ruler and the Lord of all, so it's God's will that Pentecost of course is the rain, now we're moving past Pentecost into the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, which symbolizes not rain, not the spirit as rain, but the spirit created within us so that out from our inward nature comes rivers of living water, and these are, these rivers are not for us, they're for the creation, now the river of God only flows from one source, and that is the throne of God, so what God is doing here is that he's doing for us as we're moving past the Pentecostal experience into the Tabernacles experience is creating his throne in us, now the way that works out in

practical terms is he is working out his will in us, which means that the burden of the hour, you want to know where the buzz is now, where the growing edge of revelation and of God's dealing with his people, the growing edge has to do with our learning to do God's will and to do it sternly and to do it exactly, now we can be saved, accept the blood atonement, receive the forgiveness of our sins, and still walk largely according to our own will, and this is true of many Christians, many Christian churches where the people are all saved and blood washed, find themselves in a state of division and hatred and bitterness, and whenever that is true, whenever there's division and bitterness between two Christians, it's because one or the other or both of them are not doing God's will, because

when you have two Christians that are doing God's will, there's no friction, how could there be, so hatred and division and bitterness which fill the Christian churches, I mean the people who are saved, comes from the fact that they are still largely operating out of their own will, their own nature, and they're not praying all the time, they're not giving all their decisions to Jesus, they're not entering into the death of the cross, they're pursuing their own way, and of course if you get two people pursuing their own way, you're going to have division, if you even get one person pursuing his own way, you're going to have chaos and division, because a self-centered person, a self-seeking person can do more harm than you can put together in a year, because he's insisting on his own way,

I'm going to have my own way, you want something, for relaxation I read detective stories, that is the old ones, you know, Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie, I don't have anything with any sexual stuff in it at all, the minute I see that or the four letter words or anything like that, out, out, out, I will not have it, back to the library it goes, but I found some, like the fellow that wrote Sherlock Holmes and all, that are very morally clean, and I enjoy them thoroughly, and they take my mind off a lot of things, but you know I learned something the other day from reading one of these experts on crime, these writers that write these things, they're really experts on crime, that one of the main, hey you won't believe this, but this is what he wrote, I was trying to think, it was an

Englishman, can't remember his name, famous English writer of detective stories, most famous, beside Agatha Christie, and Sherlock Holmes there, he said the most distinguishing feature of a murderer is someone who has to have what they want, you would think it would be, they're violent, or they're raised in corruption or something, this is this person's opinion, studies crime, the most distinguishing feature of a murderer is someone who has to have what they want, and will brook no interference, you know scheme and lie and work around, another one is they're stuck on themselves, there are three more, there are five characteristics in the profile of a murderer, but that's not what you would think of would it, but you see a murderer will want something so bad he's got to have it until

finally he kills somebody, get what he wants, whether it's a woman or a man or money or whatever, we see it every day in the paper don't we, people that throw caution to the winds, it's like they don't even care whether they're in jail, just as long as they get what they want, you ever notice that, it's becoming true of our society isn't it, so God is doing us nothing but good when he gets after our self will, and that is the move after Pentecost, that's the move, that's where the edge is now, the cutting edge is on Christians, now alright I said about Satan, now let's take Pentecostal people that speak in tongues and prophesy, you can do these things, you can exercise gifts of miracles and still have a problem with self will, and I read one time in the early days of the healing revival

that the healing ministries were competing with one another about who had the largest tent, the only thing people with such a tremendous gift from God would be so carnal, it's not instead of wishing their other brother had a tent larger than they do, which would be a Christian attitude, wishing for the advantage of your brother, it doesn't do it, speaking in tongues doesn't do it, prophesying doesn't do it, you can be saved and filled with the spirit according to the way we use the term, and still not have gotten at that self will.

It's a third step, I call the first death, death to the world, the second death, death to sin, Pentecost, the third step, death to self, death to self will, so we've got yards and yards of Pentecostal people who create division, who slander, who do mean things one to another, because they are asserting their self will. Now God has something better than that for us, he has something better than that, and that will be required of us if we are to be in the ranks of the sons of God who have the unspeakable privilege and joy of returning with the Lord Jesus Christ and setting the creation free, and it's a third step, you don't think that's going to be a joy, you never have ministered to someone and set them free from bondage as you were ministering and praying and all, how many have had that experience, you either bring someone to the Lord or you prayed for illness or you gave them wisdom that they needed, how many have had that experience?

You know what joy that is, that deep joy of knowing that you have blessed another person and brought them along the way, can you imagine what it will be like to ride with Jesus and set the whole creation free from the bondage of corruption, can you imagine the joy, but it's not enough to have accepted the redemption through the blood, it's not enough to have accepted the redemption and be filled with the Spirit, you must take this third step, your whole life must revolve around one of the last words of Jesus Christ, not my will but yours be done, that's very practical, you will find this afternoon a reason to say that, you will find tomorrow several reasons to say that, and as you do, as you say, not my will Lord, you want to do this, if this is what you want, I'm your man, I'm your woman, I'm your boy, I'm your girl, it's whatever you want, it's whatever you want, I don't even have to count the cost, I've already counted the cost, I'm already dead with you on the cross, just let me know the Father's will and give me the grace to do it, that's all, that's all I want out of life, is just to be sternly obedient to God, and when we make that decision, the Christian life becomes so simple and so transparent, sin always brings opacity, it always brings an inability to discriminate, Satan loves a gray area, keep it for I can't quite see the issue, God likes things cut in copper plate, just spell out, choose you this day, and if you're here and there's an issue in your life, and you know there's an issue in your life, and it's keeping you from that wonderful sense of the presence of God, freedom from conflict, on the nation, so that you can look up at God at any moment and say, Father, I'm doing your will, and it's such a joy to me, you know, we can bring many things around with our mouth, and I'm not talking about speaking the creative word either, I'm just talking about the way we are, and I can't use you for an example, I have to use myself for an example, because I don't know what you're doing, but a lot of times, and I don't feel like doing something, and yet I know it's important for the ministry, and instead of saying, God, I don't feel like doing this, or I'm too tired, or this gets boring, or whatever, I say, I make myself say, and you can do this, and probably have, what a privilege it is to serve God, what a privilege at the age of 75, to make these old bones serve the Lord, what a privilege it is to have one more day to acquaint myself with God.

To acquaint God's people with the way of righteousness, what a privilege that is, and you can say that, you can say it, or you can bellyache around, not saying anything, just thinking, do I have to do this, and I wish I was retired, and how come this, that, and the other, you can do that, or you can say to the Lord, just get up there and stand on your hind legs, say it, thank you, Father, for one more day to do your will, there's a lot to that, hallelujah, you want to be a son of God, you want to, see, John 1, 12, in English sometimes we don't make much of a play between son and child, but the Greek is very rigorous, two different words all together, and in John 1, 12, as many as received him, it's literally in the Greek, to them gave he authority to be children of God, technia, children,

not even to become, as I remember the Greek, it's to be children, technia, of God, but when you get here, this word here in the passage we're studying is not technia, it's not children, it's son, so there's a difference between a child and a son, you can't expect a child to take responsibility in the household, how can they take responsibility in the household, they don't have judgment, you expect a son to take responsibility in the household, God doesn't expect a child in the Lord to take responsibility, much less appear with him and release the creation, I mean, these are sons, so how do we grow up, you can sit in a Christian church where they preach the blood for 50 years and not grow at all, I've seen it, you've seen it, I've seen older Pentecostal Christians die and they're still

jealous and still envious and still living in the flesh, and they died and went into eternity like that, after having been church tongue speaking people for many, many years, it doesn't just happen, if you want to know the key, the formula for growth, it's in the last verse of Hebrews, the fifth chapter, it says, who have their senses exercised to judge between good and evil, that's the basis of growing, the sign that you're growing is that each day you're able to discern the Lord's will and do it, there's no other growth in Christ than that, memorizing the Bible is a good thing, but it's not growth in Christ, growth in Christ occurs as you say, not my will but thine be done, here's these attractive things, things that I want so badly, but it's obvious it's bearing evil fruit, maybe I go

back to the drawing board, there's red flags there, there's something that isn't working according to the Bible, what is it, well, you may not be, there may be something in your life that you're clinging to, and if you'll ask God, go to God and expect to hear the truth and tell the Lord, I don't care what it is Lord, I want the truth, oh I have seen people and you have too, and they're used to words from the Lord, not everybody gets words from the Lord, but many Christians just do in these days, the Lord's so close to his church, and I'll see those people clinging to something they should not be clinging to, they haven't discerned good and evil, and the first thing you know, I hear their words and they're phony, whereas before they were right on target, and I've told you many times, don't

give words and don't prophesy when you're under emotional stress, because they'll be warped, what you're going to hear is what you want to hear, God's going to answer you according to the idols of your heart, he does those kinds of things, believe me, you're going to hear that which is not true, you're going to hear from God that which is not true, and you're going to believe it's God and people are going to talk to you and warn you and help you and try to steer you right, and you're going to go wrong in your arrogance and pride, believing that everyone's wrong and you're right, why don't you spare yourself that trip into deception and darkness, spare yourself that, and come up to the altar and say, God, give me a report card, I'm beginning to feel I'm deceived, you know, that little tiny

doubt there is the beginning of light, and say Lord, I think maybe I'm not hearing, maybe there's something, maybe I'm not as much a hot shot Christian as I think I am, and come up and humble yourself before God, how many know that's a good thing, and sure you're going to be scared and sure you're going to be afraid that you're going to hear that what you've been doing is wrong, I've been there, I know what that's like, you're afraid of hearing that, but you've got to get down there and bite the bullet and say, God, I want the truth and I'm not sure, show me, and when that comes out of you earnestly, God will bring you to truth, and it may not be what you want to hear, better get it now before it grows into a tree of deception and leads you into darkness where eventually you do something

terrible, because that's Satan bringing you along a little bit at a time, he'll tell you don't bring it to the light, whatever you do, don't bring it to the light, don't confess it to another saint, don't do that, he could do no more than they do, it would spoil it all if you let them know what I've told you, that's Satan, the things that God does can be brought out into the light, he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are of God, so if you've got anything going, I don't know why I'm on this, somebody must be having a problem with the section I guess, but whatever, whatever, if you even doubt, boy I know what it means to be deceived, and it's humbling, it's humbling, if you notice there are those characteristics in you, this is something,

and you see the fruit is not good, and it's questionable scripturally, and you begin to doubt, that's the beginning of light, get yourself up to the altar, get before God and say I'm not sure this is correct, and if you can find another saint of the same gender as yourself, don't cross genders, that you think won't blab, and you may have to look hard, because they'll go home and just tell their very best friend, then you're sunk, well find someone you think is professional enough that they won't blab and say you know I've got a question in my mind, I thought I was right, but now I'm beginning to doubt, boy you confessed to somebody else, it brings it out of the realm of the subjective into the objective, and you know pretty quick where you are, just in the saying of it you'll know pretty

quick where you are, all those things came out of bitter experience, but therefore your blessing, let's stand, you're always at this altar, if you have a need, like to confess to someone, or extra help in prayer, you slip up your hand, let's train altar workers here, and altar workers don't cross the gender line, when you get into counseling somebody of the opposite sex, it's dangerous, it's dangerous, very dangerous, so if you see someone slip up their hand, make sure a woman goes to a woman, a man goes to a man, and you'll save yourself grief.

Alright, is there anyone that needs to come to the altar after all of that? Doesn't mean you're a big sinner, it means that the Holy Spirit spoke something to your heart, you don't go out of this church if you're not clear with God, hallelujah, and everybody said, all the people said, you do not go out of this church if there's a question in your mind about what I spoke about, about getting rid of dread and fear, and saying I will do it, or whatever, don't go out of this church. Why should you hurt yourself? This is God's time for you.

Father, when a musician's coming, Father, in Jesus' name, Lord, these are your sheep, you said, feed my sheep, I've been doing the best I can. Now Lord, if there's someone here, Lord, that needs a special touch today, Lord, we pray that they will break the yoke by coming forward into your presence, Lord, and praying to you earnestly and diligently, hallelujah. Father, through your Holy Spirit, show each one of us where we are with you, where our needs are, Lord.

This is a critical time in history, Lord, and we need to be right in the center of your will. Hallelujah. If anyone else needs to come, come on, this could be a critical thing, if there's something in your life you're not sure about, this is the time to come now.

You don't want to walk in these days with questions in your mind about your account with God, you need to come. If you're here and you're not saved, you need to get that way quickly. I mean, there's a demonic spirit that's going to get worse toward Halloween, and just ordinary people like you are going to do terrible things because of the demonic pressure.

You need to be saved, you need to receive Christ and tell Him that you need His protection, you need His fellowship, you need His blood to wash away your sins. If you're here and not saved, you need to get that way now. And whatever you do, don't get out of this church, don't go out of this church not knowing where you are with Jesus.

Day in which we live is very dangerous, very dangerous. If you need to come, come. I'm not going to haul up the rest of you, those of you that want to can come and stand behind these and just pray, give us a nice prayer covering here.

If you're at the altar and you have a special need, just lift up your hand and all the workers will come and pray with you. If you have a question about something, you think you might possibly have been deceived along some line, as I said, it's good to tell someone the same age, same sex as yourself who will not. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Praise your name. There are so many at the altar, I'm not going to have a concluding song, we're just going to continue as we are.

If you have to go, God bless you. If you want to stay and enjoy the presence of God, God bless you. Go up to the front here and pray, go to the altar service, so God bless you, keep you safe on the highway, you're welcome to stay.