Isn't God good?
God's been faithful to you.
That was a weak Amen.
God's been faithful.
I want you to turn to 1 Samuel,
the 16th chapter, if you will please.
1 Samuel, 16th chapter.
Continue to pray for our teams over in
Nigeria.
And as Pastor Neal mentioned in the New
York Times today, there's quite an article about
the violence right now in Nigeria.
In one of the provinces there, they have
an incredible murder spree, a horrendous murder spree
with people being beheaded with machetes.
And it's quite a frightful article.
They need our prayers for protection and that
God will move in a mighty way.
The next meetings they're in, they're in a
Muslim territory.
And Jocelyn, we pray that God break down
those strongholds and this murder spree, horrendous murder
spree with people being beheaded with machetes.
And it's quite a frightful article.
They need our prayers for protection and that
God will move in a mighty way.
The next meetings they're in, they're in a
Muslim territory.
And Jocelyn, we pray that God break down
those strongholds and this move in a mighty
way.
So please continue to pray.
I make it a point to fast one
day a week.
It should be every week all year round.
You know, sometimes we fast three or four
days at a time.
That's fine.
But folks, it's more consistent.
I found I'd rather have a 52-day
fast.
That's 52 weeks.
One day each week.
Choose any day you want.
Now, I choose the Daniel fast because I
have a problem with my bowels.
And so I fast with juice as did
Daniel.
And I usually have a piece of just
dry toast in the morning.
Sometimes that's all.
Maybe later in the day if my stomach
is growling, I'll take another piece of toast.
But the idea is not that you can
boast, well, I've had no food and no
water or anything.
That's not it.
It's are you focused all day on the
Lord?
Do you have your mind fixed on Him
and not on food?
You'd be surprised how addicted to food we
are when you try to do without it
for a while.
So I recommend that you fast persistently, regularly,
one day a week.
Choose any day that you can, and especially
while our teams are overseas.
My message this morning, when the Holy Spirit
departs, when the Holy Spirit departs.
The 16th chapter of 1 Samuel, beginning to
read at verse 10.
Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to
pass before Samuel.
And Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord hath
not chosen thee.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are there here
all thy children?
And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest,
and behold, he keeps the sheep.
And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and fetch
him, for we'll not sit down till he
comes hither.
He sent and brought him in.
He was ruddy and with all a beautiful
countenance and goodly to look to.
And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for
this is he.
And Samuel took the horn of oil and
anointed him in the midst of his brethren.
The Spirit of the Lord came upon David
from that day forward.
So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from
Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord
troubled him.
And Saul's servant said unto him, Behold now
an evil spirit from God troubled thee.
Heavenly Father, we bring an important word this
morning, a word to my own heart, a
word to this congregation, and to all who
have an open ear to hear what the
Spirit has to say.
My God, I pray that you speak in
mercy and love today.
I pray, Lord, that I receive that which
I speak and bring to my brethren.
Lord, anoint the word.
We thank you.
We thank you for your presence in this
church.
But Lord, we look at the future.
We look ahead.
Those things that you expect of us, oh
God, to maintain the work and the moving
and the touch of the Holy Spirit in
our lives.
Lord, convict us all.
Convict me first.
And then encourage me by your word.
We open up our hearts to you now
to receive, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon
David, but the Spirit of the Lord departed
from Saul.
Now, Saul started out with the Holy Ghost
anointing upon him in a great way.
I want you to keep your Bible open,
the 10th chapter.
Go to the 10th chapter, and you can
follow me from then on.
Chapter 10, verse 1.
See how Saul started out.
Chapter 10, verse 1.
Then Samuel took a vial of oil and
poured it upon his head and kissed him
and said, Is it not because the Lord
hath anointed thee to be captain over his
inheritance?
The Spirit of the Lord will come upon
thee.
First chapter, verse 6.
Look at verse 6, 10th chapter, verse 6.
The Spirit of the Lord will come upon
thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and
shalt be turned into another man.
Now look this way, if you will, please.
I want to show you from the Scripture
that this man started out right.
He was anointed of God.
I just read that to you.
He was chosen of God.
In fact, when Saul came before him, God
said clearly.
He said, Behold the man.
This is the man that's been chosen.
In fact, God intended that he establish Saul's
kingdom as a permanent kingdom.
He told him that later when he'd failed.
He said, God's intention, Samuel told him, was
that your reign should continue all through your
seed.
Now here's a man who had the Spirit
come upon him, and he had a new
heart.
He was changed.
He became another man.
The Scripture said he had the word of
the Lord.
Samuel said to Saul, Stand thou still for
a while, that I may show you the
word of God.
And he was open to the word of
God at one time, because Samuel came to
him one time.
He said, I want to speak to you.
I have a word from God for you.
And Saul stops everything and said, Say on,
say on.
I'm ready to hear.
Now think about this.
This is a man that God loved, a
man that Samuel loved so much he wept
over him when he failed, when Saul failed.
He wept over him for days and mourned
for him.
It's a man that represents a Christian, a
believer, someone who's called and anointed, and the
Spirit of God is upon them.
It's amazing how David's anointing was so close
as was Saul's in the Scripture.
Because when David was brought to Samuel, the
Lord said, Arise and anoint him, for this
is he.
In other words, behold the man.
Same thing was said to David.
The Bible says, I just read it, the
Spirit of God came on David.
And both of these men, anointed, called, chosen,
a new heart, both of them under the
tutelage of one of the godliest prophets that
ever walked the face of the earth, represent
two kinds of people in God's house.
Two kinds of people respond differently to the
moving of the Holy Spirit upon their life.
Because you see, while Samuel is now in
Bethlehem, and pouring a vial of oil over
David's head and anointing him, the Bible says
in Bethlehem where Saul and David were at
this time, because Saul had already failed.
Saul had already turned away from the Word
of God.
Down in Gibeah, at the house of Saul,
something tragic was happening.
While one man was receiving the Holy Spirit
in great measure, one man's being touched by
the hand of God.
Another man who'd had that same experience, who'd
had the touch of God, the anointing of
the Holy Spirit and everything else.
In the house of Gibeah, Jerusalem hadn't been
conquered yet, so he was in Gibeah.
In his own house, something happened.
It's almost incredibly hard to believe.
I tried to picture the scene because the
Bible says at the moment that the Spirit
of God is coming upon David, the Holy
Spirit is removed from Saul.
Now, I can't think of any more tragic
words than these, and the Spirit of God
departed from Saul.
I tried to picture the scene.
To be in David's house, was he walking
in the garden?
Was he in a meeting with his captains?
Where was he?
Was he sitting at the table with his
family around him?
Because suddenly, as the Spirit of the Lord
lifted, a troubling spirit from God, the Scripture
says.
Helen Sparrow, in the original Hebrew, says that
it was a melancholy spirit that came from
heaven.
That's depression, bitterness, rebellion.
It was a depressive spirit, total depression, despair
came on this man.
And it was so sudden, and it was
so quick, and it was so dramatic that
his servants and his family said, Saul, something
has changed, you're changing.
He changed right before their eyes into another
man.
Because you see, when you don't have the
Spirit of God upon you, you don't have
the liberty, you don't have the peace, you
don't have the direction.
There's an emptiness, there's a despair, because the
Spirit of the Lord has departed.
And they said, we've got to do something,
we're going to have to bring somebody that
can play a musical instrument and quiet your
spirit, because there had to be some manifestation
happening that they said, you have become a
madman.
In essence, something happened to you, Saul.
And they acknowledge that the Spirit of God
has left you, you, you.
Let me tell you where I'm going with
this message this morning.
I want to show you that what God
did to Saul, what happened to Saul can
happen today in the body of Jesus Christ.
The same thing can happen that you can
provoke, it's possible to provoke the Holy Spirit
in a way where God has to lift
His Spirit from certain individuals.
Samuel was told by the Lord to go
to Saul.
You see, Saul was told to go to
Gilgal, and just to wait seven days.
That was the first instruction he was given,
as clear a word as he'd ever had.
Samuel said, God told me to tell you
this, that whenever you go to battle, you
go there and you wait for me.
You wait till I come.
You wait seven days, seven days.
Now, that was to prove whether or not
he would hear the Word of God.
The seven days, he could have come because
Ramah was only, not more than a two
-day walk, and he could have been there
in any two days at any time.
It was, here's the Word of God, will
you obey?
I'm asking you to reverence the Word of
God.
Saul, do you have reverence for the Word?
Wait seven days.
Now, the Philistines were coming with a huge
army against Saul and Israel at the time.
And Saul was frightened.
People were running.
They were hiding in caves and dens.
Some of them were going over to the
Philistines just to save their skin.
And he waits seven days, and Samuel doesn't
come in the seven days.
So, he calls for those to bring sacrifice.
They slay it, and he offers the sacrifice.
He took on the role of a priest.
He totally disobeyed the Word of God.
And here's a man who's not willing to
wait for the Word of the Lord.
He's not, because Samuel told him, you wait
until I come so I can give you
the Word of the Lord on how to
go against the enemy.
I give you the Word.
He refused to wait on the Word, and
now, sacrifice.
And now he's called his captains together, and
he's going out without a word from God
against the enemy.
He's going out in his own strength.
He's going out in the flesh.
This man, from the very beginning, had no
reference for the Word of God.
He didn't tremble at the Word of God.
And so, he went on his own.
And Samuel came shortly after, and he sees
the altar sacrifice.
He sees the burning, and he says, what
have you done?
You have transgressed against the Word.
The Word of the Lord, the Bible says.
Thou has rejected the Word of the Lord.
So, the Lord has also rejected you from
being king.
But like Saul, we have so many today
who have no reference for the Word of
God.
They hear it, but they won't obey it.
How many of you here this morning, like
so many all over the world, especially here
in the United States, where you have such
a clear gospel from so many pulpits, how
many of us leave a service, and we
compliment the preaching, and we'll say to our
friends, that was some powerful word.
But how many of us go right home?
You know, in the past few weeks from
this pulpit, almost every message that's come forward
has to do with coming against unbelief and
doubt and fear, and to begin to get
the promises of God, and like hold them
because of what is coming.
And how many of us take that Word
of God, and we love it, we hear
it, but we don't reverence because we don't
apply it.
We are not reverencing the Word of God
until it is at work in our hearts,
until we can take that Word against every
doubt the enemy comes and throws in our
mind, every fear of the enemy, every lie
of Satan, until we can take the Word
that we have heard.
And folks, I'll tell you something.
The Word that really sticks with you is
what you get yourself on your knees when
you're shut in with God.
Not from anybody else.
Thank God for the anointed Word.
God uses the preaching of His Word.
He uses that to open our minds, but
it's that Word that we receive privately from
the Lord that is most valuable.
Samuel cried out, Thou hast not kept the
commandment of the Lord thy God which he
commanded you.
Now your kingdom shall not continue.
You know what God was saying to this
man?
He said, I can't walk with you anymore,
Saul, because you have a heart that pretends
to hear and love the Word, but you
don't tremble at it.
You don't apply it.
You go your own way.
You hear it and then you go and
do whatever you please.
You go back to your murmuring.
You go back to your complaining.
You do not allow the Word of God
to change your heart.
And he said, I can't have you as
a representative.
You can't represent who I am.
I can't have it said that the Spirit
of the Lord is on you and you're
among the prophets.
I can't have it said of you that
you represent me before a doubting society.
I can't do that.
I have to lift my spirit from you
because you no longer represent who I am
to the people.
You don't represent who God is.
I want you to go to the 12th
chapter.
Let's start at verse 16.
Now, let me give you the background before
we go into this portion of Scripture.
They had asked for a king, remember?
Philistines were coming against them.
A big army was coming against them, Ammonites
and Philistines.
And Nahash, I believe it was, the king.
They're coming against Israel and they said, we've
got to have a king.
We're going to have it.
Now Saul has been anointed.
And now they're called together.
Samuel calls them together.
And here is the message as he calls
them together.
Saul is there.
He's here with all the people now in
chapter 12, verse 16.
Now therefore stand and see this great thing
which the Lord will do before your eyes.
Is it not weed harvest today?
I will call unto the Lord and he
shall send thunder and rain, that you may
perceive and see that your wickedness is great,
which you have done in the sight of
the Lord and asking you for a king.
So Samuel called unto the Lord.
The Lord sent thunder and rain that day.
And all the people greatly feared the Lord
and Samuel.
And all the people said to Samuel, pray
for thy servants unto the Lord thy God,
that we die not, for we have added
unto all our sins this evil to ask
of him a king.
Now you see, Saul is there.
Saul hears the thunder.
Now he's the king and Samuel is saying,
you have done a wicked thing, people of
God, in choosing a king.
Now you have this king.
Can you imagine what God is trying to
say to Saul?
Trying to put God's fear of his word
in his heart.
Samuel is trying to give them an illustrated
sermon.
This is for Saul especially.
And Saul is there.
He sees the rain, the harvest is being
destroyed.
And the people are repenting and saying we've
added the sin and asking for a king.
This great wickedness.
Now you see, Saul had no fear of
God in him.
Had no fear of the word.
In other words, to him the word did
not bless him, nor were there any consequences
as far as he was concerned for disobeying
the word of God.
And also, he turned down the word of
mercy.
Because if you go on to verse 20,
look at verse 20.
And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not,
you have done all this wickedness, yet turn
not aside from following the Lord, but serve
the Lord with all your heart.
Turn not aside, for then you shall go
after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver
for their vain.
For the Lord will not forsake his people
for his great name's sake, because it is
pleased the Lord to make you his people.
Now folks, listen to me please.
The incredible mercy of God.
You see it here as vividly as any
place in the Bible.
Here's what he's saying.
Yes, you've committed this horrible wickedness.
But when you've committed this horrible wickedness, don't
go and hide from me.
Don't go away from my presence.
Don't turn aside from me.
Come back and repent.
And I'll have mercy on you, because God
has chosen you, he's blessed you.
And this was for Saul as well.
Saul, if you fall into iniquity, don't turn
away from me.
He says, return to me, and I'll have
mercy upon you.
I'll not turn you aside.
Folks, that's the message you and I need
to hear right now, and this is why
God's Spirit had to be taken from Saul,
because he heard this merciful message.
And when he first sinned in not waiting
on the Word of God that Sam had
given him for waiting seven days, he could
have repented on the spot.
He could have remembered this Word.
He could have obeyed the Word of God
that says, all right, you've committed wickedness, because
Samuel tells Saul, when he didn't wait and
when he sacrificed his own sacrifice, you've done
wickedly.
But where did he hear that word before?
You have done this wickedness, but don't turn
away from me.
Listen, I speak to this, I'm hearing me
now.
You've fallen into some kind of wickedness.
You've done something you never thought you could
do, and I'm speaking in the Spirit.
You have failed God miserably.
You have been guilty recently of something that
is abominable in the sight of God.
And God is saying to you, yes, you
have failed me, yes, you've done wickedly, but
don't turn away from me.
Come back and repent, so that I can
continue moving by my Spirit in convicting and
wooing and loving you through my Spirit.
And the Spirit of God is there always.
The Spirit of God was on Saul at
this time, wooing him, dating with him.
Come back!
Folks, I've met so many people that have
fallen into some kind of deep, gross sin,
and rather than turn to the Lord, they
say, I can't get back, and they go
and chase off.
The Bible said you'll chase vain things.
There'll be all kinds of idolatry, all kinds
of sins creep in, all kinds of wickedness
follow, because you have not heeded this Word,
you have not respected the Word of mercy.
There's a Word of mercy going forth from
this pulpit right now to you, wherever you're
at in this building or who would hear
it on tape.
I'm telling you now, He is a God
of mercy.
Don't turn from me.
I'll restore you.
The Spirit of God will remain with you.
You'll have the touch of God, but don't
turn aside, for the Lord will not forsake
you, for His name's sake, because it's pleased
the Lord to make you His own.
It's pleased God that He called you.
It pleased God at one time to save
you and anoint you.
Now because you've committed this wickedness, don't run
from me.
Stay with me.
But Saul turned this mercy call down.
It seems drastic.
It seems horrendous.
Why would God take His Spirit from a
man?
It seems incredible.
I can't think of anything more sad than
to read and to understand that the Spirit
of God can be lifted from a person's
life, a man or woman's life, a servant
of God anointed and touched by the Holy
Ghost.
How can that happen?
God would not do this because it's a
last resort.
He's a loving God.
Why?
What kind of provocation would cause this in
a man or woman's life?
What kind of sin was Saul guilty of
that God would take such drastic action and
lift His hand from him, lift His Spirit?
I want to know that because I don't
ever want to provoke the Holy Spirit out
of my life.
Here's Saul's own confession.
I've sinned.
I've transgressed the commandment of the Lord in
thy words.
He said, I didn't heed the Word.
I ignored the Word.
I heard it, but I just ignored it.
Folks, this is something I don't understand for
the life of me.
So many Christians can sit week after week,
even in this church, and hear such a
clear Word of God preached in love and
power and anointing.
To hear it so clear and go out
and ignore it, not allowing it to work
its work in their heart, not to tremble
over it and face all the problems of
life and not lay hold of a promise
and stand on that promise and believe God
to see them through, because thou hast rejected
the Word of the Lord.
That's why I've rejected you.
You've rejected.
You have ignored.
You have not taken my Word to heart.
I've met men and women of God who
were once mightily used, and their faces just
run across my mind even now.
I meet them.
They're lifeless people.
There's such a dreadfulness about them.
There's a spirit around them.
You feel it.
You sense it.
And there's one thing they all have in
common with Saul.
Every time, they unburden a heart to me.
I've seen it in Italy.
I've seen it in Russia.
I've seen it everywhere I go.
I've seen it all over the United States
over the years.
Those once were walking in the Spirit, mightily
used of God.
Not just preachers, but parishioners of all kinds.
And I meet them, and you see this.
And one thing they all have in common
is this.
God doesn't speak to me anymore.
I don't hear from God.
I pray, and I don't hear anything.
That's what Saul, that's what happened.
As soon as his spirit left, he tried
to consult, and he said, God doesn't speak
to me anymore.
Not by angels, not by dreams, not by
priests.
I don't hear from God anymore.
I'm shut off from God.
I hear preacher after preacher tell me that
some of them say it was because they
dabbled into homosexuality.
Others say it was because adultery ruined their
life, and they lost touch with God because
they disobeyed the Word of God, and God
had dealt with them time and time again.
They always give me a reason, and they
say, I can't reach God anymore.
One preacher in Italy, he said, Brother Dave,
I've read every book you've written.
And he said, I listened to every tape.
But he said, I can't call on God.
God doesn't answer me.
I'm wholly given up.
I was never homosexual.
I went into a movie just out of
curiosity, and I tried it out of curiosity.
Married a wife and two children.
Never had thoughts like that.
But when I went the second time into
that theater, I was possessed.
And that man looked at me.
He said, I can't cry.
I have no tears.
There's nothing.
The Spirit of God is gone.
I lost my wife, my children, my church.
I'm on the streets.
The Spirit of God was gone.
And to tell you the truth, there's no
way I could reach that man.
I'd give him a little counseling and tell
him.
I said, all I can say is call
on his name, call on his name.
But this man was given over to his
sin.
But you see, you don't see that in
Saul.
Saul, evidently, you don't see him as a
sensual man.
He's not committing adultery, as David did, and
murdering his lover's husband.
You don't find him cheating the poor and
robbing the widows.
You see, the point I'm trying to make
is that we focus so much on the
purity of life, and that's the way it
should be.
And we like to think we are witnesses
to the world because we don't smoke, we
don't drink, we don't use drugs anymore, we
don't use alcohol.
We're clean.
Thank God for that.
That is the standard.
That's what we're supposed to be.
I don't smoke anymore.
Well, praise God.
But that's not the sin that provoked the
Holy Ghost out of his life.
You don't find that in Saul.
Not a sensuous man.
I'm talking to congregation here this morning.
I'm not talking to drug addicts here, alcoholics.
I'm not talking to adulterers and fornicators.
And I don't think there'd be a handful
of you into pornography.
Not a handful.
So you say, well, Brother Wilkerson, I'm safe,
then there's no way I could provoke the
Holy Ghost out of my life.
But folks, the greater sin, the sin that
has so provoked God from the beginning of
time, the sin that provokes this Holy God,
ten times Israel did it to him, ten
times until God said, Will you ever have
any faith in me?
It was the unbelief and the faithfulness of
Almighty God.
Unbelief and the faithfulness of God's care.
And folks, this is so important because of
what we're about to face in this country.
Folks, I know I'm not a prophet, but
I know I'm a watchman, and I see
things in the Spirit.
And I know that.
God speaks to me about things to come.
And what we are facing, what is coming,
I wouldn't even try to describe to you.
People don't want to hear it anymore.
But folks, I want to tell you something.
We are going to have to come to
a place where we get a hold of
the Word of God.
The only thing that's going to keep you
and me in the days ahead is going
to be such a confidence in Almighty God,
in His faithfulness and His keeping power, that
He will never let you down.
Never!
And the sin isn't like Saul.
You can be under the ministry of godly
prophets.
You can be, the Bible said, not one
word of Samuel fell to the ground.
Not a word!
And you can be under anointed preaching.
You can have the Holy Ghost upon you.
You can have the Word hidden in your
heart.
But if you are murmuring and complaining against
God, if you're going around saying, Can God
keep me?
Can God do this?
What am I going to do next?
Where do I go?
You are sinning against the Holy Ghost.
And you can provoke the Holy Ghost right
out of your life.
You say that could never happen under the
New Covenant.
It can happen in the Day of Grace.
But folks, Ananias and Zephyrus were after the
cross.
They were in the Day of Grace as
we are today.
They had every promise that we have today.
The promise of Jesus, I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you, I'll go with you
to the end of the world.
In spite of having all the promises you
and I have, they were consumed by the
Holy Ghost.
Consumed.
Because they didn't believe there were any consequences
to disobedience.
Didn't believe there were any consequences.
You don't pay.
Saul came to a place where he could
go his way.
He thought God would never touch him.
God just let him do his own thing
in the flesh.
Samuel said to Saul, To obey is better
than sacrifice.
And to listen to God are harkened then
to the fat of rams.
You see, Saul had been, if you look
at chapter 12, verse 25, listen to what
Saul said.
After he preached mercy and grace, verse 25,
But if ye shall still do wickedly, What?
It shall be consumed, both you and your
king.
Samuel is speaking to Israel and to Saul.
He had been told clearly, Saul, I want
to keep my hand on you.
I want to lead you and guide and
direct you.
I don't want you to ever turn away
from me.
You see, Saul could have repented at any
time.
He could have repented at any time.
The Spirit would have come.
You find an occasion when the Spirit did
come on him.
One time when he goes to Ram and
the Spirit comes, and all night he lays.
The Spirit just twisting and turning him, trying
to woo him back to repentance.
He could have come at any time.
You see, he had this word, But if
you still do wickedly, It shall be consumed,
both you and your king.
He could have turned.
You see, the Holy Spirit never leaves those,
except when, there's a word for it the
Lord gave me here, rendering him powerless.
And this is exactly what happened to Saul.
He rendered the Holy Spirit in him powerless.
You see, the Holy Spirit was now convinced
that he would never respond to the wooing
of the Spirit.
He would not respond to the message of
grace.
He would not respond to the fear of
God.
There was no way the Holy Spirit can
get into this man's heart.
There's nothing any man or prophet can say
to this man now because he's set in
his ways.
This man now is full of jealousy.
He's full of bitterness toward David.
He has fear in his heart, the fear
of man.
Because these things all follow when you do
not trust the Word of God.
You can read it.
You can be an avid reader of this
book and still not believe it.
Still not allow the Holy Spirit.
It's just a dead letter unless you allow
the Holy Spirit to come and say, Lord,
I receive it.
I accept it.
And I believe it with all my heart.
With whom, the Scripture asks, was the Lord
grieved for 40 years?
Was it not with them that had sinned?
And what was their sin that grieved God
for 40 years?
Because they believed not the Word of the
Lord.
They believed not the Scripture says.
I have something God showed me that has
helped me so much that I want to
share with you a very simple thing.
And I have to say this.
God's been speaking to me all week long.
David, beware.
Beware that you heed My Word.
Rejoice when you hear of My mercy.
But go and sin no more.
Be careful what you hear and what you
read to let the fear of God grip
you until you obey it.
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
And the Lord said, be careful that you
do not grieve the Holy Spirit.
Be careful that you render the Holy Spirit
powerless in your life.
So why would God walk with a man
or a woman, no matter how pious they
may seem, no matter how many prayers they
pray, no matter how many good deeds they
do, no matter what they do, but down
in the gut, down deep inside, there's this
knowing, you may not even speak it, but
it's in the heart, that constant fear that
God may fail you, that constant fear of
the future, that constant fear.
God dealt with me and said, David, you've
got to get a hold of something.
And months ago, something happened to me that
changed my prayer life and brought faith into
my life like I've never known.
The Lord said, take one promise.
And I found my one promise.
It doesn't even take a dozen promises.
You can find one promise and stand on
it right to the judgment day until Jesus
comes, take you through hell and high water,
take you through floods, take you through unemployment,
take you through every need.
Folks, nobody in this church is going to
starve.
None of God's people are going to starve.
God's going to take care of His people.
But the Scripture God gave me, seek ye
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto
you.
So I don't spend all my time anymore.
Oh, yes, I bring my children, my grandchildren
to the Lord.
I bring the church.
I bring the future.
I bring everything to Him.
But there is such a faith.
I'm just thanking Him for what He's going
to do.
Lord, I'm not going to fret about it.
I'm turning it over to You.
All You asked me to do is to
seek You with all my heart.
So here I am, Lord.
I'm going to call on You.
I'm going to worship You.
I'm going to praise You.
I'm going to trust You.
You made me a promise, and I hold
You to it.
Every time I go into my prayer room,
every time I go into my prayer room,
I tell God this.
You said, when you pray, go into the
closet.
Lord, I'm in the closet.
That's my prayer room.
Shut the door.
I said, Lord, You know the door is
shut.
I just shut it.
You said, pray to the Father in secret,
and nobody's here but You and me, Lord.
And the Father who sees in secret shall
reward You openly.
That's how I start.
God wants You to hold Him to His
Word.
That's going to be the testimony.
I'm not going around saying, well, hey, there's
a man who doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink,
he doesn't run with women.
That's fine.
But that's not the testimony.
The testimony is that You are clean and
pure, yes, but you have hell coming against
you.
The devil is against you.
Everything's against you.
Everything looks dark, and you have a smile
on your face.
That is the peace of God in your
heart.
And I've said it once.
I'll say it again.
The evidence of faith is peace and rest.
Glory be to God.
You seek Him first.
All.
Folks, that means all.
When God says all, He means all.
All things.
He's going to take care of it.
Name one area in your life, and I'm
closing, name one area in your life where
there's fear or doubt or unbelief, and deal
with it.
Deal with it.
What a peace.
What a joy.
Finally, it doesn't matter what happens.
You'll be like those the Apostle Paul spoke
of.
You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods.
They took everything away from you, but you're
still joyful because you have found a hope.
You've found the Word of God to be
faithful and true.
Hallelujah.
Now, it's one thing to be able to
say that when you're 20 years old.
Another thing to be able to say it
when you're 71.
Glory to God.
Hallelujah.
Will you stand?
Folks, sometimes the Holy Spirit, God will lift
His Spirit for a season to test us
to see if we'll come to Him.
He does it in love and mercy and
grace.
But I'm going to ask this morning for
confessions regarding doubt and unbelief.
I'll tell you something.
Unbelief becomes a spirit once it's harbored, once
it's allowed to roam freely in the mind
and in the heart.
It attaches itself, and then comes the questioning,
and then comes the murmuring, and then comes
the complaining, and then the questions.
Can God?
Will God?
And oh, how that incensed the heart of
God.
Until finally, He says, even in our days,
when He comes, will He find faith on
the earth.
Here's my closing words.
Last night, in prayer, before I went to
bed, the Holy Spirit spoke a word to
my heart, and I want you to listen
to it.
And here's what I heard.
God spoke clearly to my heart that this
is the most unbelieving generation in the history
of time.
Worse than Israel.
This is the most unbelieving generation of believers.
Talking about believers.
The worst in all of history.
And God said, David, make it clear that
I am going to lift my spirit for
many who have hardened themselves in unbelief, who
have rendered my spirit useless.
It can't work.
Any more than Jesus could work where there's
unbelief.
He said, I can't work where there's unbelief.
I can't do many mighty works there because
of unbelief.
And when the Holy Spirit sees that He
can't accomplish any more work, why would He
stay?
That's only as a last resort, and He's
here now.
The Holy Spirit's upon you to draw you
out from all unbelief.
Now, folks, you're going to have to start
talking faith.
You're going to have to get the frown
off your face.
Seriously.
Get that frown off your face because the
whole world sees it.
You tell them you're a Christian, well, why
are you frowning?
Now, I usually, I think I was born
with a frown.
That's my nature.
But down in my heart, God's been dealing
with me more and more.
People recognize a godly smile.
They can recognize one that's originating from confidence
and faith in God.
And I'm telling you, God's speaking.
Now, are you going to hear it?
Are you going to hear it?
Alright, if there's been unbelief in your heart,
oh, what God says, you've done wickedly.
Unbelief is wickedness in its worst form.
I'll say it again.
Unbelief is wickedness in its worst form in
the eyes of God.
Worse sin than any sin you could commit.
If you're guilty of that, I want you
to confess it and bring it to the
Lord.
We'll open the altars.
You can confess it there.
But there are some of you who walked
in here today and God brought a word,
hit you right between the eyes, didn't he?
Because he loves you.
He's trying to bring you into a place
of rest and peace before you walk out
of here.
Some of you are backslidden.
Some of you have been drifting away from
the Lord.
I want you to come back.
Only those who have to confess, I have
not been trusting God in my life.
There's been unbelief and doubt and a lot
of fear.
I have a word from the Lord very
clear to everyone who's responded, everyone in the
house.
Listen, please.
I'm going to ask you, within the next
24 hours, listen closely, right from the throne
of God.
I want you to get what I'm calling
a master promise.
One promise from God from his word.
It may be a different promise for every
one of you.
But you get in the word and you
get one promise and you mark it indelibly
in your mind and say, this is mine.
I'm going to stand on this God and
I'm going to bring it to you and
make you stand on it.
God wants us to challenge his word with
faith.
I'm going to stake my life from this
promise.
Now, folks, it's a wonderful thing.
A house is built on four walls.
The best thing is to get three others
with it, four walls upon which to build.
Get four of them if you can, but
get your master one.
I have my master one.
It's that you seek first the King of
God and his righteousness and all these things
shall be added unto you.
That is my master promise.
That's where I'm building from.
You do that today.
Get that promise and say, this is mine
and you claim it.
And every time you get ahold of God,
every time you pray, everywhere, on the subway,
on the bus, everything, you quote it all
day until it becomes a part of your
very life.
You breathe that promise.
It just absorbs you.
It masters you.
It's a master promise.
How many will do just exactly what the
Spirit's saying?
I'm going to take that master promise.
Glory be to God.
And then get the other building blocks that
go with the three other promises that you
can stand on.
Now, I've told you mine.
You can tell anybody.
Tell the devil most of all what it
is and tell him this is where I
stand.
Now, a lot of people responded to this
invitation, but I believe the whole house needs
to pray the prayer I'm going to ask
you to pray.
I mean every one of us.
I'm going to pray it.
Remember what the man said?
He said, Lord, help my unbelief.
We're going to ask, forgive my unbelief.
Ah, folks.
God has to have a New York City.
He's got to have a people who trust
Him.
He's got to have a people who are
not going to be shaken by what's coming.
You get that promise, you can hear any
news and you'll never be shaken.
Glory be to God.
You'll not be afraid of a sudden telephone
call.
You won't be afraid of any disturbance in
your family.
Nothing can move you.
Oh, there'll be that temporary tang feeling.
But oh, then the fresh Word of the
Lord comes and you stand on that and
then there comes the Spirit of the Lord
to quicken.
Pray this with me loud and clear.
Lord Jesus, forgive my unbelief.
Forgive my murmuring and my complaining and my
doubts and my fear of man and fear
of the future.
My God, I confess I've been in unbelief.
I've doubted You.
Oh God, forgive me.
Now lift your hands to the Lord and
say, Lord Jesus, give me strength.
Give me Your promise now and help me
not to grieve You, Holy Spirit, with doubts
and unbelief.
Smite it in me, oh God.
Send the power of the Holy Ghost and
work in me a miracle of faith.
In these last days, I want to be
a witness to the peace of God that
comes from believing God.
God is faithful.
God keeps His Word.
He would be faithful to me.
Now I want you to thank God for
His faithfulness to you.
Thank you, Father.