[I haven't been able to double check everything some there may be some errors from my transcription. I pray that you are edified by this. ~Jeremy221]
The Bewitching of the Saints by David Wilkerson
Transcript
Bewitching the Saints by David Wilkerson
I’m going to talk to you this morning about the bewitching of saints, the bewitching of saints.
Galatians 3, please. First three verses.
"Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? That you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. This only would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirt, are you now made perfect by the flesh?”
Verse three again,
"Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh?”
Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?
Heavenly Father, I asked for an anointing of Your spirit upon my body, upon my lips, my mouth, upon everything that comes out of my mouth, out of my heart. Lord, I've been shut in with You and I heard this from your heart. Lord Jesus, this is not a complicated message but Lord, this is a message that can set many people free if they will hear it in the Spirit. If they'll ask the Holy Spirit to anoint it. Lord it will come out of my mouth anointed but we have to have anointed ears, we have to hear what the Spirit says in the inner man and that can't happen unless our hearts are open. Holy Spirit, open the hearts of those in the annex, those in that are here in the main auditorium and wherever I'm heard. Holy Spirit I thank you for your faithfulness. You're not going to fail to proclaim Your word through me. Lord, I'm just a vessel but I thank you Lord that you have cleansed this vessel and that the Word of God can flow freely. Let it flow like a river out of me, Lord Jesus. Let it be a refreshing. Let it be a conviction, whatever, you need it to be to every individual here. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.
There's one thing you can be sure of, if you're a seeker after God and you've made up your mind to serve the Lord with everything in you, you've put God on notice, "Lord God, I'm not going to let you go until I know your fullness." And you have set your heart not to be a part of this world's schemes. You set your heart to be a seeker after God, I can tell you one thing, Satan is going to attempt to bewitch you, he's going to attempt to deceive you. Now folks, this is a very, very important word and I want you to hear it. It has something to do with every believer in this house and those that are hearing me. The Devil sets a trap for those that are most sincere about going all the way with Him. He sets a trap. It's not a trap of sin, it's not a trap of sensuality, its this very thing that we're talking about in the third chapter of Galatians. Paul begins the letter in the first chapter, (don't turn there) but he begins his letter to the Galatians with this word, "I marvel," speaking to the saints, "I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him who called you to the Gospel of grace, the grace of Christ unto another gospel." What he's saying is, "You Galatians amaze me. You absolutely amaze me. God called you to embrace the gospel of grace. You went for a time, believing and trusting that you are saved by grace alone and faith in His finished work but what happened to you, you so quickly so suddenly moved into another gospel? You've moved away from the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, you've moved to another... you have been bewitched. In other words, you've been given over to an uninformed, unintelligent gospel that is not according to the mind of the Scripture. He said, you've gotten off course. He said that there are some that have come into the church to trouble you. That means to distort you. Who would pervert the gospel of Christ. He said, somebody has gotten to you. Somebody came in in your hunger for God and your thirst to go deeper in the Lord [and] you have been enhanced or you have been trapped into another gospel that is not the gospel of grace according to Christ and according to the word of the Lord.
When you look Galatian believers very closely, you find that they had truly heard the Gospel in its fullness. There was no false gospel. Paul was the founder of this church. Timothy ministered here. All of the great names of the Scripture ministered to these people the gospel. And Paul the apostle said, "Before your eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently," or clearly, "set forth crucified among you." Now these are believers grounded in the gospel. They are not novices. They have heard a pure gospel. They weren't a people having itching ears either. It's clear from the context. They were not chasing after false prophets and false teachers. There's not a word here about sensuality. There's nothing about the love of the world. Nothing about adultery. There's nothing about gross sins here. In fact, these Galatians were struggling to be perfect before the Lord because Paul says, "Are you now made perfect by the flesh?"
In other words, he says I know you're seeking perfection but how are you seeking it? What kind of gospel is going to maintain you? You got saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ and and His finished work and how to do you plan to maintain that? Somebody came along and said, "Yes, you're saved by grace but then once you're saved you have to maintain it be certain things that God requires of you. Circumcision. You've got to be circumcised. These were Jews that had gotten saved at Pentecost and these are Jew in the New Testament church that had given their heart to Christ. And really, they are sincere men who want to walk in holiness and fulfill the Law. That's don't commit adultery, don't curse God and don't covet and all these things in an effort to try to be holy and try to win the favor and blessing of God. And Paul was coming to them saying there's a twist, you're getting away. You're moving away into something. Somebody, some teachers are getting a hold of you. Now there's not a word about false teachers here. There's not a word about a false gospel. Nothing about a merchandizing gospel. There's nothing here about anything that's false. But Paul said there are troublers that have come. There are troublers that have moved in among and they are twisting you and they have an unintelligent, uninformed gospel that's not according to truth. And its a trap. It's a bewitching gospel, in other words it sounds right. It sounds so good because you see the flesh always arises and wants to bring something to God. The flesh is always striving.
Haven't you ever had that in your mind? Hasn't it ever popped up in your mind? If I could only pray more? If I could only be more diligent in the Word of God? If I fasted more? If I were more disciplined? I would be a powerhouse for God. The flesh is always wanting to come up and help God save us and keep us.
Now he said, you got saved the right way but now you are trying to maintain this experience with Jesus by adding something of the flesh. He calls these people, now these are Spirit filled people because he says, "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law?" So he is proving that they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Now get this picture, they are full of the Holy Ghost, they are well taught, they want to be holy, Jesus Christ has been clearly set forth before their eyes, and Paul speaking now to the whole church. He said, "You've been foolish. You've been bewitched." It means unintelligent, uninformed. It means professing something false.
He said the gospel that you are now practicing, the gospel that you are now believing in is not according to the gospel by which you were saved. It's another gospel.
Paul said there are troublers distorting in your midst the true gospel of Jesus Christ. They're distorting it. In Galatians the third chapter, the same chapter, Paul charges Peter being lead away by the Jews that came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. When Peter and Barnabas were there with Paul and the Gentiles, they ate with them, communicated with them, they fellowshipped with them but then these Judeaizers that came from Jerusalem church, a Pentecostal church, Spirit filled, men who wanted more than anything else to see the Church pure. They wanted to please God. They wanted to be holy. They come down to Antioch, where Paul is ministering and its meal time. And they are in the cafeteria, or wherever they were eating and the Jews from Jerusalem won't fellowship with [Gentiles], that's the old law. You don't touch a Gentile. A Gentile can't even touch your garment and you don't associate with them, especially at meal time because you're going to be contaminated.
So the Jews went on this side to eat. Peter and Barnabas, not wanting to offend the Jews go over there and sit at that table. And Paul and the Gentiles are isolated over here. And the wall is being erected, that old wall that was torn down at the Cross. And Paul was spiritually indignant and he rebuked Peter in the face of them all and Barnabas. What he was doing was he charged them, you are getting away from the true gospel. You are troubling the Gentiles.
Now you see, the Judaizers, can you picture what happened to the Galatians? The Galatians had listened to this gospel, the Jews had gotten down there prior to this meeting and they had told these Galatians, yes you are saved by simply believing in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross. Faith alone are you saved. But once you are saved, you must be circumcised. You must have the mark in your flesh. You have to know that every man must be circumcised according to the Law of Moses. It was the gospel plus works. It was I have to prove to God that I am worthy of this salvation.
Can you imagine how good the flesh felt when those Jews, they imposed their doctrine on the Galatians and they circumcised these men? And these men are now in pain. And they are thinking that their blood and their pain is added to the atonement, blood and pain of Jesus Christ? "I have proven to God!" They can sit back and feel their pain and they are in the healing process and they are thinking, "God, you know I love and that I want to do everything right." And so can always look to their flesh. "I have helped God. I have proven to God that I want Him and that I want to be holy and that I will do everything He asks me to do."
And Paul the apostle says that by the works of the Law, or the flesh, he's saying to the flesh, shall no flesh be justified. For by faith in Jesus Christ alone you are saved.
And he said to Peter, "You're frustrating the grace of God." For if righteousness has come by the Law or flesh then Christ has died in vain. He looks right at Peter and says if you're going to add something now, you suddenly come down here and say, "Its alright, I'm saved, I'm holy because I have the mark on my flesh you can have hypocrisy in you, you can have prejudice against the Gentiles because in your flesh you have done something to please God that everything is ok. Everything is alright.
Now let me get to the point of this message. The question has not changed since Paul's time. Having begun in the Spirit are you now made perfect by your flesh? Having started right, how are you maintaining your walk with God?
Let me ask you, how were you saved? How did you get right with God? What wonderful thing did you do? What sacrifice did you make? At what point did He look down and see you and say, there's an honest man, there's a good woman that deserves to be saved. To tell the truth, you deserved Hell. You were no good. You were an enemy to the Gospel. You were an alien to the Gospel. You weren't worth saving. All your works were filthy rags in the sight of God, all of us. There was nothing in you. You're not saved because He looked down and saw something of searching or seeking or anything else. No, no, no. He came down because of mere grace alone. You heard the gospel, you responded to it, He put a measure of faith in you and you came to Jesus by faith and He saved you.
Now the Bible says that you're not only saved by faith, you walk by faith. "The just shall live by faith," walk by faith. The same faith that saves you is the same faith that keeps you. Hallelujah!
In the past few years, two years, I've ministered in Macedonia, Romania, Poland, Finland, Russia, Canada. I've ministered to thousands. And everywhere I go, I see the enemy disturbing the hearts and lives of many believers. Everywhere I go I see pastors addicted to pornography. I see wives of ministers, just wives of laymen in the church, thinking of suicide that have walked with God, Spirit filled. Have thoughts of suicide, thoughts of giving up. Everywhere I go, I meet miserable Christians. Miserable in their marriage. Miserable in their home. Miserable on the job. Living in fear. Some of them have walked with God for 12, 15, 20, 30 and even 40 years. Many of them in their 60s and 70s and even in their 80s never have ever entered into the Promise Land. They're in a wilderness and many of them are going to die in a wilderness.
And I know for a fact that there are numbers in Times Square Church that have made trip after trip to this alter, every time there's an invitation you come to the alter, I'm not putting that down but where's the testimony and the victory that should have come out of that? How many times I see people time after time after time. I see it behind me, I see it in front of me, this is not a rebuke. This is a concern. My heart breaks over it. When I see people come in and they are so down and I want to make excuses. Its the city. It's New York. Its the busyness. Its subway where everyone is breathing on you and pushing you and cursing you. Its unkind bosses...I want to make all these excuses for the saints. And when I pray, I see faces from this congregation coming at me and keep coming at me and I know that there's not continual victory, not that overcoming life, that continuous joy of the Lord in their life and and they're up and down and they have to be propped up and buoyed by emotional something or friends around them. They have to be held and prompted and I go to God and say, "Lord! I've heard enough of this. It hurts."
I want to know why because here from this pulpit we preach a gospel, an uncompromising gospel. Jesus has been clearly evidently set before this congregation. You have heard preachers that have been on their faces before God. It should be producing a steadfastness. It should be producing something that you can not be tossed by every wind and wave around you. That you should be like a pillar. Like Paul said, "You ought to be teachers by now!"
Let me show you the danger that I am in as a pastor and I have love you. And I see, I know in the Spirit, I see and I feel it when I meet many, not just a few, but many and I can't give excuses anymore because Your word is true. And you see, here's the danger point, if I get a wrong attitude about this and I just get in the flesh and I say I've had enough. That's enough. I'm going to get up and shake this church. Then I'm going to preach some sermons about compromise and about doubt and about fear. And I'm going to get up here and say the reason you're not living in victory is because you have not prayed enough.
You haven't read your Bible enough.
You fast for an hour.
You watch too much TV. You watch dirty stuff on television and internet.
I tell you, I can stand here and I don't think that there's any preacher in America that could load you with guilt like I could. I could get you so loaded down with guilt you'd run back to the alter. And you'll cry louder than you've ever cried and say that's me, Lord. Yes, that's me. I'm not disciplined. I don't pray like I should. I don't read my Bible like I should. Yes, I have doubts and I have fears. And you'd confess and confess and confess.
Then you'd make a pledge to God and yourself saying, this is it. I'm going to get up early. I'm getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning. Oh God! Give me strength to wake up. An hour of my Bible reading every day. One hour. One hour of prayer. And when the pastors say fast, I'm going to fast. At least a day.
And we make all of these promises to God and ourself and we fail, we miserably fail.
You see if I get up and put you under some kind of guilt and start getting you to do something in your flesh, I have become a troubler. I have become one of these men. You see these men came out of the midst of the people. They came out of the old congregation. They were not preachers of false doctrines. They were not false prophets. These were those that were Pentecostal believers that were lay people and lay preachers. And I could be guilty of that.
Remember what Paul said, Peter was guilty of troubling the congregation. He was one of these that was really distorting the Gospel of Grace. And if Peter and Barnabas could be guilty, I could be guilty, any pastor could be guilty if they do not understand the Gospel of the Grace of Jesus Christ. And it's done unwittingly, it's done with good intention to get people to become more holy and more righteous. And when we put more pressure on people to become more holy and more righteous, then we have a tendency to get in the flesh and whip is up and get the flesh praying and get the flesh moving, get the flesh doing this and that. Until finally we feel we have something to bring as an offering to God. And after we had about a week of fasting and prayer we get proud. And we go to prayer and say, Lord, now You have to answer me. I got it right now, Lord. You owe me an answer to prayer because here I am, I am pure as the driven snow.
Folks, if you're a man or woman of God, if you're out for God, you will pray. It will not be a burden for you, it is a time of fellowship. It's a time to love Jesus more than you've ever loved Him because you know that that's where strength and power is. You will read your Bible and it won't be a task to you. You'll be reading this just to find out more about your lover Jesus. You will do that. You will fast not because you want to get something from but because it gives you time alone with Him. It shuts you out from the world and there's revelation that comes from that. You confess and it's true that many of you are carrying burdens and harassments from the devil because you haven't been praying, you haven't read your Bible and all of that.
But folks, we are always striving to bring something of ourselves to God. Of sacrifice and hardship and bring it to Jesus so as to say, Lord add this to your sacrifice. You see, that's the gospel of works. That's what Paul was speaking about here to the Galatians. Hallelujah.
Still with me?
What happens when under preaching you get convicted and you go to the alter and you make all these promises and then you fail? We've been driven then into a different gospel. We've been driven into this very bewitching gospel of the flesh. This is not a people turning to adultery and fornication. These are people that are hungry and want God with everything in their heart. And folks, I tell you what, when you begin to hunger and thirst for God, you want more than everything to walk closely with the Lord. You want His favor and blessing in your life. You enter a battle ground. It could be the most dangerous time of your life if you're not careful because the enemy, he's not going to try to get you to run off into pornography or adultery or fornication. That's not going to be the issue, the issue will be when the enemy comes on this battlefield, it's between two gospels.
Are you going to continue believing that through faith alone the Holy Ghost is given to you and that power is there through the Holy Ghost, not through what you do? Not any good thing that you do. The Holy Ghost comes down. He puts the fear of God into your heart. He gives you a desire to be with the Lord. He gives you a desire to pray. That's the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. You don't have to pray for access to the Father. That was done at the Cross. You don't have to pray for that. That's already done. He says come and take advantage of it. Come boldly with confidence to my throne because at Calvary the door was open. You don't beg me and pray for that because it was already done. None of your works.
Folks, I know, I'm not going to boast, but I know my position in prayer and in the study of the word. I give myself to prayer and word as the apostles did. And yet I know that my prayer doesn't merit anything with God. My Bible reading doesn't merit anything with God. Not favor, not grace, not mercy. Fasting for a week or forty days does not merit anything. Those can become works of the flesh if we go into that and try to just say, I'm trying to please God. You can do all of those things and still not be pleasing to Him because you were working and moving in the flesh. But when you come to Him by simple faith and say, Lord Jesus, it was at the Cross that you gave me access to the Father. It was you sacrifice that made Jesus love me. It was anything that I have done or anything that I have accomplished. It's all done through Jesus. You see God has one desire and that is to glorify His Son. Not to glorify you and your good works but glorify His Son and His Son in us doing the work.
See, my problem as a pastor is not to get people to pray and fast and do things for God. Go soul win. Do this. Do that. Folks we have churches all over so busy. People just running around and often it is a substitute for intimacy with God. All service must come out of intimacy.
Folks, if you're really intimate with Christ, no preacher has to beg you to go out and tell everybody about Jesus. You'll tell your friends and everybody else out of intimacy with the Lord.
And if its only because I'm up here trying. That's not my problem to try to get you to do these things. I have given up on that folks. I look over the messages I've preached in the last 15 years, and man, I've yelled and screamed and huffed and puffed and tried to get people to read their Bibles. I've given up on that. I've gotten people under conviction. I've been at pastors' conferences where a preacher gets up and rails against preachers for their lack of prayer because preachers often don't pray. They talk about it, preach about it but don't do it. I'm not putting them down but they just don't do it but that's just the gospel truth. One great evangelist told me, saying, you want to see something tonight? Do you want to see every preacher on their face? I'm going to preach about their lack of prayer. And he did. And everybody was on their face weeping and crying going back and don't change. Doing the same thing.
You see, that's not my problem. My problem is to get you to trust that Jesus has accomplished a full salvation. Not only to save you but to keep you. And all these good works are byproducts of you coming in, right now, taking access that He has provided. And out of that relationship, that loving relationship, a step of faith. It's all by faith. And then that faith begins to work out in your life in practical ways, a walk in holiness and righteousness before the Lord.
Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted for him for righteousness so then then they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
How blessed it is, the Scripture says, to walk by faith as Abraham did. And folks the reason, many who are listening to me now, are still struggling with doubt and fear and guilt and unbelief and depression, (now I'm not saying all depression is a result of not walking by faith, there's a lot of depression caused by chemical imbalance and many other things. That's a very serious subject and I'm not going to deal with that right now.) But that troubling of your spirit, that lack of steadfastness, it all boils down to this. You have not come into this blessedness of resting in what Jesus has accomplished at the Cross. You have never fully accepted it, fully believed. You're still striving to please God in some way in the flesh.
Listen to my closely, I'm going to close in just a few moments but I want you to turn with me to Colossians the first chapter. As soon as you get there just leave it open on your lap, if you will please and look this way.
More than anything else, as a pastor, and folks, you saw me preaching in Helsinki and Russia, St. Petersburg, in Moscow on this film and I know when I stand there I stand in tears before all of them. And I may not be weeping now but my heart, this is something I feel so strongly about. I'm not lifting my voice, I'm just going to tell it to you from my heart. My one great concern, that of Pastor Carter, Pastor Neil and all the pastors of this church, you can't be a true servant of God without having this passionate desire to see God's people steadfast. Not tossed to and fro. Not up and down. Now we all go through hard times but when you are trusting that you totally reckon yourself to God, that God is not mad at you. You were reconciled to God when you were still a sinner. You were in essence, in every practical way reconciled to God, totally reconciled to God. God was not mad at you. God was reaching to you when you were a sinner. When you were as far away as you could possibly be, the Holy Spirit was yearning after you. Jesus was praying for you. Jesus had His eye on you and He paid the price for total reconciliation.
I want to talk to you for a few moments about reconciliation. Reconciliation means restoring a friendship that has been broken. In other words, it was there. There were friends. When Jesus is talking about reconciliation, Paul talks about reconciliation, we are reconciled to God, it means that there is a fellowship that has been restored. In Colossians the first chapter, listen, if you will get a hold of this now, please, if you ask the Holy Spirit to make this real to your heart, you will have the power and strength as you walk out of this church today, if you lay hold of the truth of reconciliation, you lay hold of this with all of your heart, you have a weapon against anything the Devil is going to throw at you.
I'm a reconciled child of God. In my struggle, no matter what I am going through, God loves. I'm reconciled. Even though I feel unclean and everything, I am reconciled to God.
Colossians, first chapter starting at verse 19,
"For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell and having made peace through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all thing unto Himself by Him, I say whether they be things on earth or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated enemies," now look at the next three words, "in your mind" "by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of flesh through death to present you holy, unblamable, unreprovable in His sight if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard was preached to you."
Now look at me please.
Here's what happens. There's a comprise that comes into our life. Or we sin. Or some evil thing has taken hold of our hearts, taken hold of your heart, that has grasped you. Now you're under guilt and condemnation. And you say that God is angry at me. I am not what I should be. I am a hypocrite. If people know what I really was, if they really know my past. If they really know how undisciplined I am. If they only knew how weak I am...
And you see what happens, in our minds, he says in your mind you have been alienated yourself. You have alienated yourself. Nowhere says that God in His mind is alienated from you. It says, in your mind you have alienated yourself. You have made yourself an enemy. And what you're saying is that God can't be pleased with me. God must be mad at me. How can God, a god of holiness and righteousness, how could He be anything but angry at me when He sees what is in my life and in my heart?
Here you are coming to church, you're praising the Lord but you know there is something there. You know you have not been following Him as close as you should and all of these things that could bring a pile after pile of guilt upon you.
And you're convinced now that God is mad at you. He's wanting to judge you. That He's your enemy now. And I want to bring this to your attention again and "you that were sometimes alienated and enemies," where? "In you mind by wicked works, yet now," he's saying all along you've been reconciled. God did not walk away from you. God has not changed His mind about you. The same Spirit that has baptized you is still in you. The Holy Ghost doesn't flit in and out of your life because of your struggles.
No, I'm not where I should be Lord. No, there is still a work that You have to do in me. But I can't face it. I can't do anything about until I know that You still love me. That I am reconciled. That I am not alienated from you. I'm still your friend. I'm still in fellowship with you and I'm going to come running back because, you see, Adam sinned and withdrew because he was afraid. That's what sin does to us. Sin causes us to run from His grace. Causes us to run and then tries to work our way back. By faith, you say, I have been reconciled to God. And Paul cries out, "be ye reconciled." You be reconciled, God is already reconciled. You reconcile yourself now. You lay hold of the promises of God.
God's my friend. God's not mad at me.
Say it out loud. "God's not mad at me. God is my friend. I have fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost."
Go to II Corinthians 15. Let's start at verse 17,
"Therefore if any man be in Christ," he is what?
"a new creation."
Now tell when you stop being a new creature?
When you lost your temper? When you said something that was displeasing to God? Did you...? How did you go from being born again to being not born again? Did you die? If you died spiritually, why would you be here hungering and thirsting for the Lord? Why would you still be wanting fellowship with Him?
Is that what he says, a new creature? Old things are passed away behold all things are become new. All things are of God who hath, what? Reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That ministry of reconciliation is to our own hearts first. You reconcile yourself to God. You lay hold of His promises.
Be reconciled to God.
Verse 19, "To wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself and not imputing their trespass as is unto them and has committed unto us the work of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ that be ye reconciled to God for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him."
Hallelujah! Made the righteousness of God by faith.
Be you reconciled.
Reconciliation is God taking the initiative to restore broken fellowship. He said, I have already accomplished that. Now be ye reconciled to Me. I am reconciled to you.
Folks, the only power of sin, the only power over the enemy and thoughts that come of confusion and suicide, the only weapon against that that I know is to be totally, wholly convinced that God loves me. I am loved. He sees my condition and He says, "I'm going to present you, unreprovable, without rebuke. I'm going to present you wholly unblamable, unreprovable in His sight." What greater promise can that be?
God has made you a promise that when you stand before the judgement you will stand unreprovable, you're going to stand there holy and righteous before Me. I'm going to do that if you will trust that you are reconciled to me by faith.
Yes, we repent and confess. We do that because we know that He receives us because He said come boldly with confidence. The cross has made access, you come take advantage of that access. You don't have to run to anybody else. Don't spill your guts to somebody else. They'll never forget it, usually.
They'll say, "Oh, I'll pray for you. I will pray..." get right on the phone and tell somebody... Our people don't do that but people in other churches do that.
I'm reconciled.
I get up every morning, every morning and say, God's not mad at me. Hallelujah.
I got a headache but God's not mad at me. I don't feel good but I know that God's not mad at me. I am reconciled to God. Hallelujah! I'm reconciled to my father. I love Him and He loves me. I got a lot of work He needs to do in me. Hallelujah. Glory be to God.
Let's stand.
Hallelujah. It's only quarter to 12 and we usually preach to 12 o'clock, I preached a shorter message. Here's what the Holy Spirit's been prompting me to do and I want you to listen closely.
I'm not going to give an alter call for...I've got an alter call for one special thing but I want to turn this whole audience into an alter right now. The whole building and the annex. The whole place. I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit to come down in a very special way and for everyone that's been struggling, struggling with a habit, struggling with sin, struggling with misery in your school, struggling with just being downcast and you came into the service today even downcast, God wants you to remember His faithfulness to you. He wants you to remember that He loves you and that you're totally reconciled to Him. And I want to pray for you right now. I want to pray for everyone. I really don't want you just to run down to this alter again. Just because that can become common place. That can become just a ritual and I'm not interested in [that.] You know it makes a speaker feel good when he sees the alters filled and packed. You know, you feel like you have accomplished something. "You know, I got through." But that's not what God's looking for. God's looking for your heart to be changed. I want you now lay hold of this truth while you raise your hands. Would you just lift up your hands to the Lord while I pray all over? And in the annex,
Holy Spirit, I am asking you to come down now and make the truth living and real. That you God are truly no mad at your people. God, You are looking for a people that will rest. You said that there's a rest that remains for you. Lord, that rest is our confidence that Jesus has done a completed work. That Jesus has blotted out my sins if I believe that, if I repent and believe that, I am saved. I am not going to get saved and resaved. I am saved. I am born again. I am born again, I am His. I am under the Blood. I am cleansed by the blood of Jesus. And I will not let the devil rob me of this blessedness of knowing that my sins are not imputed to me that they are cast away by faith. Jesus, you did it all, it's all in Christ. We honor you and we respect You, Lord. And we give You the glory and the honor and the praise.
Lord cast out doubt. Lord cast out fear. Cast guilt and condemnation, Lord, that is not right. Lord, there is a real fear of God. There is a real true condemnation that comes when we know that we have grieved the Holy Spirit. But we know where to go that God will receive us. We have a place under the Father and say, Father, I come to be reconciled. I know that you love me but in my mind now, bring peace. Drive out of my mind every about perfection that perfection is in Jesus. Hallelujah! The perfection is in Jesus.
I'm going to open the alter now for those who are having a battle in your home. The enemy has come to try to destroy the walking in the Spirit and let his words flow out my heart. But you're here maybe visiting or maybe from the church here. Now if you fit this invitation don't be afraid to come. Well some of you are afraid that if I go down there, Brother Dave will say that there I go again. No, because this is very very important. Because the Bible says that if two agree on anything on earth it shall be done by your Father in Heaven. And you saw those people praying, pastors in Moscow, praying for their families. Everywhere I go, all around the world, God's given me a heart to pray for families, that God would restore, that God would chase the devil away from the kids, that the sons be as pillars and oaks planted by the living waters and every daughter become a jewel in His palace. That's what the Scripture says that we are to pray. That God keep the wicked one from your family. If that's you, you may be visiting, "Brother Dave, I walked here this morning but I carry a burden, my family or my children..." Pray specifically for that, I want you to come and I'm going to pray. I have faith and I believe God.
Up on the balcony, up the stairs on either side, and in the annex, just step forward between the screens, just step forward to isolate you from the congregation so we can focus on your need, wherever you're at, you come. Let me pray for you and you agree with me. And now that even while you pray that God's going to do something supernatural in your home and in your family to bring Holy Ghost conviction and I believe that with all of my heart.
Could be your marriage, bring it to the Lord right now.
If you're not saved, if you're not right with God, if you've been convicted, I want you to walk down this aisle and follow these that are coming. I don't know why you're here, only the Holy Ghost and you [know.] You follow these that are coming and let's believe the Lord.
Step in close please. Make room for those that are coming. Annex and here in the auditorium, I'm going to pray now that the Lord break every chain that the enemy has brought into your family to try to chain in you in bondage and put a yoke on you.
Look at me please. You have got to believe that God not only loves you but He's concerned. If He's not concerned why would He say cast all your care upon Me for I care for you. That's exactly what He says in His own words. Cast it all in His care. Now that's a step of faith, you have to believe it now that as we pray the Holy Spirit will go.
God knows where your family is, your husband, wife, children. He knows where they're at right now. He knows exactly where they're at at any place in the world. Any place and your prayers and mine together, our prayers, can reach through, all the miles, everything, and break through, every wall that the devil puts up. God's able to break through right now. Now I can't be just my faith alone. You've got to believe God with me. I'm going to pray in faith. I want you to pray in faith and I want you to believe God.
Now there are many that have not come forward and that's ok because you are praying about something that really needs a miracle. You really need a miracle in your home, it could be healing for your family, it could be cancer. It could be something in your immediate family, God is able, He wants to elicit faith from us this morning.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. Is that right?
Let's say it together, without faith it is impossible to please God.
Let me finish that for you, but he that cometh to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. That word diligent doesn't mean *grunt*, and pressing in, no it means resting in faith. Diligence has to do with your faith and the more rest. The evidence of faith is always rest. The evidence of faith is always rest.
If you really believe you're going to be at rest. You're going to accept it. You're not going to scream, you're not going to yell, you're going to say, "I believe it. I accept it." And that produces rest and confidence in the Lord.
Will join me in prayer right now? You just mention what it is. If it is your husband, just quietly name his name. If it is a wife, would you name your children? Bring them to the Lord. Name your children. Name that very thing that's the cause of your concern and why you came forward.
And in the annex and the main auditorium, let's pray.
Father, I know you hear me when I pray. I know you hear me. My words are not going to fall to the ground in front of me in this auditorium. My prayer reaches throughout this congregation, it reaches into the annex and it goes beyond that and reaches the very throne room of God. Father, You said that we are to come boldly with confidence to Your throne and we come with access provided by Jesus Himself.
And Father, I'm asking You now to do a miracle for everyone who is reaching out in faith right now. Lord, the enemy has come to try to destroy and put a yoke of bondage on so many here, on the families, homes, marriages, children...we ask Lord that every child here will come under the convicting power of your Spirit. God, right now. Right now, Holy Spirit, You're everywhere. Lord, You are spirit. Holy Spirit, you are a spirit and you cover the whole earth. You were there when it was all created. Lord, Holy Spirit, will you go now. Will you go to every child. Will you go to every husband, every wife? Will you break down the walls of opposition? God, tear down everything that the enemy has erected. Tear down the bondages, break habits. Lord, break habits. Break the power of sin in these homes. Heal and restore.
We preach reconciliation. Be reconciled to one another. Reconciled to You, Jesus, we pray. God, You're reaching out in love all over the nation.
Right now for those in the annex, I pray for them, and everyone here at this alter. Lord Jesus, we lift up our hands to you.
Now lift up your hands, lift up your hands and say, "Lord I trust you. You know my heart and I come now in faith." We're taking your authority Jesus over all the power of the enemy. Satan must release. Satan must release because God has spoken. Because the Holy Ghost has spoken. Because the Holy God is moved in and does His work. Now we give you thanks.
I want everybody to give Him thanks and praise. Lord we give you thanks. Lord, we give you thanks. We give you thanks, we give you praise. Hallelujah, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We praise you Lord.
