Oh, there's nothing wrong with the Church of
Jesus Christ, the gates of hell will not
prevail against it.
But you know as well as I do
that there are many of us who are
sick.
Now, the question now, as far as the
Prophet Malachi is concerned, the question is, now,
what can my faith get me?
Well, that question is, this idea, what miracle
will he perform for me now?
That's not the question.
The question now, who shall stand, the Prophet
said, who shall stand when he appears?
The question no longer is, how do I
see you?
How do I get happiness?
How do I get the desire of my
heart?
That's not the question of the hour now.
The issue now is, have I neglected Christ
in this midnight hour?
Has he been calling me and calling me
and I've been turning him away?
It's not a matter now of miracles and
casting out devils and healing the sick, or
demonstrating power, but am I pure in the
sight of God?
Because it's possible to do all these things
and the Lord said to you on that
day, depart from me you wretches, I never
knew you.
That's not a handful, that's a whole class
of society he's talking about.
People who did mighty works in his name.
The purge is going to begin in the
pulpit.
The purge is already begun in the pulpit.
He shall purify the sons of Levi.
And how is he going to do that?
By turning up the heat.
He's going to turn up the heat, gentlemen,
on all of us.
He's going to make things so hot, so
intense, God's men are going to be driven
to their knees.
This is the fire of the Holy Ghost,
but it's the fire of persecution.
If God's men will not come back to
him willingly, he'll do it sovereignly.
And I believe he's here to do a
new thing in our midst.
He's got the silver, he's in his holy
place now, heating the fire seven times hot.
And we are so
me-conscious.
We don't like to hear people come along
and prick us with this kind of preaching.
But you better believe it, folks.
You better believe it.
We are going in hard times in prosecution.
No one's going to escape the purging.
God's determined to get all the dirt out
of us.
He wants a holy priesthood.
He's going to sever us from our backslidings,
he's going to sever us from our worldliness.
Hey, look, I'm not castigating the ministry.
These are my brothers, and they're all through
the audience.
These are holy men of God.
And I believe, like me, they're hungry for
holiness.
And I suppose I need this more than
any man in this place.
Because I feel the past nine months I've
felt the white heart.
God has been scrubbing me down.
He's been working on some ugly spots in
my life.
And oh, if you have a heart for
God, any man in this place has been
on his knees.
Any man or woman has been plagued.
Watch out.
John the Baptist didn't see Jesus coming as
a divine Santa Claus.
He saw him coming with an ax in
one hand and a fan in the other.
And the ax he laid to the roof,
too.
All you holy ghost people, get ready.
Get ready to expose all your secret sins.
All adultery.
All foolishness.
And I am one of those who don't.
How are you going to play games when
he throws you in the fire and everything
around you is boiling?
How do you stay group warm?
The holy ghost is going to put some
fire in your baptism.
Malachi said, the day cometh it shall burn
as an oven.
And all the proud and all that do
wickedly shall be stubble.
And the day that cometh shall burn.
There's another part of this prophecy that blesses
me.
God has promised that along with the purge
in his house, he's going to start pulling
down the strongholds of the devil.
I have never believed that God would turn
a whole generation over to drugs and sex
and alcohol and nothing about all the divorcing
and the breaking up of their homes.
I've never believed that God's getting ready
to take care of all the children.
And here it is.
Here's the promise.
And I will come near to you in
judgment.
And I will be a swift witness against
the sorcerers.
And against the false swears.
And all that turn away the stranger from
his right.
And all who fear me not said, the
Lord God is going to deal sovereignly, folks.
I'm leaving in a week or two to
spend the summer in the streets of New
York and Los Angeles and Washington, Philadelphia.
People are talking about...
Listen to it.
He said he's going to...
All the chaff, he said, they won't even
have a congregate.
He's going to put them aside, put them
on the shelf.
They're going to be burned out mountains.
He said he's going to call his church
back to repentance and holiness.
He's going to see a people offering praises
and true righteousness.
He's going to bring a revival to our
young people.
Drug strongholds are coming down.
Alcohol and divorce will no longer be controlled
in America when Jesus comes.
Oh, there'll be two streams, the wicked going
this way and the right.
He said there's going to be a sound
of prayer again in his house, intercession.
People are going to discern between the holy
and the profane.
God's people are going to go back to
his word.
Christ is going to come again and reveal
to the church a new kind of prosperity
preaching.
And I believe there's a new kind of
prosperity preaching already being preached in the land.
It's moving away from anything that's material.
And it's coming now to revelate to the
true riches of God in Christ Jesus.
Hallelujah.
1820, 1806, I think it was.
Presbyterian pastor, one of the great praying saints
of God in American history.
Praying patient in the middle of a great
depression in America at that time.
He wrote a letter to his mother.
He said, dear mother, the depression is so
severe in Portland that all the businesses have
failed.
Men are committing suicide because they have no
place to support themselves.
The poor houses are filled.
He said people are being scattered to the
four winds.
He said almost all the people, especially the
young married couples, have lost their homes in
my church.
But he said, mother, don't say poor Edward,
say blessed Edward.
Because in these hard times, even though I
have only pennies to live on and can't
afford to get married.
He said God has been revealing the true
riches of the glory of God in Christ
Jesus.
And he said this, mother, my people are
taking joyfully the spoiling of their goods.
He said my prayer is, and listen to
this, folks, how different from what we've been
hearing in these last days.
He said, mother, it's my prayer that if
God has any material blessings in store for
me, he would be pleased to turn them
into spiritual ones instead.
If God has anything material in store for
me, would he be pleased to give me
his grace instead?
Turn them into spiritual blessings.
Now, folks, I don't have a heavy burden
to lay on you tonight.
Because Christ didn't come to condemn us, but
to save us.
And just like you, I'm struggling with temptation
and trial, weakness and times of disobedience.
And to tell you the truth, I have
read more books on theology in the last
year than I have in my whole lifetime
combined.
I've gone through all the Puritan writers.
I've gone through all the great holiness preachers.
I've gone through Wesley.
I've gone through it all.
And even though my heart is so hungry
and I pour over the scriptures, I tell
you honestly, I don't understand all the doctrines
about holiness and righteousness and purity.
I don't understand anything about these great doctrines
that I could just...
And the more I read sometimes the less
I feel I know.
And I think like Zwingli, I feel, oh
God, I have to put it all aside.
And just like Paul...
And I'm not standing here telling you I'm
a great praying man because...
I used to walk the streets and cry.
I'd get on the steps, I'd walk
the streets of Harlem.
And when I stood in the pulpit, God's
word was heard.
But we'd get away.
My altars were full.
But there was a contradiction at the center.
I hadn't fasted in 20 years.
The first two years in New York I
fasted and I prayed.
And I'm telling you, thank you God.
And the Holy Spirit that I have has
come to...
And I'm ashamed.
I'm really ashamed.
That every sermon I've preached up to nine
months ago I don't want to even look
at.
Because nine months ago God spoke to my
heart and said, If you really believe that
it's the end.
If you really believe I'm coming.
Why are you playing games?
Oh God will come to us time and
time again and say, Pay the price and
we go so far and we stop.
And I said, God, this time I'm going
all the way.
I'm not going back.
And I tell you now, I take time,
I take days, I take...
I've canceled everything from August to January for
five months.
I'm going to shut myself in with God.
Now maybe you can't do that.
And I'm not saying that to boast you.
I'm telling you that I feel I need
it because I don't know where I'll be
in.
God is trying to say something to turn
to Jesus Christ.
And we're so into happiness and joy.
God got in my attention.
Here's His way.
Go get your attention.
The only power I want now is His
purity.
I want His righteousness.
And I can't get it by anything I
do.
It's a gift.
It's His grace.
Hallelujah.
It's time for a cleansing.
It's time for a purifying.
And the fire is here.
Have you sensed it lately, the last few
months in your heart?
Hasn't there been...
Hasn't the Holy Ghost been saying to you
what He's been saying to me and so
many others?
I hear from preachers all over America say,
Bro.
Dave, I don't know what it is.
I've been drawn to Him more than ever.
I'm so restless.
I'm not satisfied with what I've had.
God has to do something in me and
for me.
Well, folks, here's one preacher not giving up
until I touch God.
I'm not giving up.
I'm going to press in.
I'm going to press in until God says
something in my heart and God's trying to
say that to His...
I'm back to the prayer closet.
The Holy Spirit is walking among us tonight.
But He is saying, Exalt the name of
Jesus.
Exalt in His presence.
We really hope that this teaching has ministered
to you and in some way drawn you
closer to our Lord Jesus.