Now, Abraham was a ground zero man.
Abraham could say this, I am but dust
and ashes, and I've taken it upon myself
to speak to the Lord.
Do you know what kind of humility that
is?
We were in here today, we said, let's
pray.
We take it for granted.
I'm dust and ashes, so are you.
But the privilege of talking to the Creator,
that's being at ground zero when you go
into your prayer closet.
And when you get to that place, Job
got there, it took him a long time,
but Job got there.
But when you get to that place and
you see who he is and who we
are, I'm telling you, life comes, revelation comes,
victory comes.
It's in the prayer closet when there's none
of me, but all of him.
You know, Hannah, that great woman of God,
she's a great, great character to study.
I mean, she went up there to Shiloh
and she wept and the priest thought she
was drunk or something and she couldn't have
children.
And she believed God would give her children.
And she cried out and the Lord gave
her such revelation.
Listen to me, ladies.
Hannah, the name in Hebrew is grace, comes
from the word hen, one of the words
for grace.
This lady was such a prayer warrior.
God gave her a son, Shmuel Samuel, and
restored the prophetic movement in Israel through one
lady's prayers, that the nation started hearing from
God again through a prophet because some lady
prayed.
I'm telling you, she was at ground zero
and she was able to prophesy.
She was able to say, I poured out
my soul before the Lord.
He lifts up the beggars out of the
ash heap to set them among princes and
make them inherit the throne of glory coming
out of the ash heap, coming out of
ground zero to inherit the throne of glory
to rule and reign with Jesus, to sit
with princes, you guys coming off drugs and
alcohol.
Listen, I could tell you story after story
after story.
I'll tell you one.
A Russian Jew came to Haifa from the
ends of Siberia.
Joseph Stalin had sent hundreds of thousands of
Jews to the ends of Siberia, hoping they'd
all die and freeze to death.
Somehow they survived in this town and built
it up.
It's the third generation now.
This boy came from that town.
His grandparents had been thrown out there by
Stalin.
He was a drug addict on the streets
of Haifa.
He was dying.
We brought him in the house of victory.
He got filled with the Holy Spirit.
He got set on fire.
He went through our discipleship training program.
He got a great job and he fell
in love with a young lady from a
kind of upper middle class Swiss Christian family.
This guy was living in the garbage.
And he has this beautiful young lady.
I had the privilege of marrying them not
long ago.
His parents flew all the way across Siberia
and came to Israel.
They're Jews.
They didn't believe in God.
They came to Israel.
They came to the wedding.
They had heard their son was a drug
addict.
And here's this handsome young man marrying this
beautiful Swiss woman and all these Swiss Christians
that were very kind of aristocratic compared to
the rest of us.
I'm not saying anything against Switzerland.
I know the rich and I know the
poor over there.
Hallelujah.
It was a wedding of all these.
The ushers were all ex-drug addicts holding
up the hupai.
You put four poles and you have a
covering.
So I do the marriage, the wedding.
And then he wanted to testify.
And this is what he said.
And his parents are sitting there.
And he's speaking Hebrew.
And they speak Russian.
So he would go from Hebrew to Russian,
Hebrew to Russian.
And they're Jews.
And he's a Jew.
And so he said, I used to eat
garbage from the garbage cans of Haifa.
And now we're having this wonderful wedding banquet.
And my mother and father are here.
But more importantly, Jesus is here.
And we're all invited to the wedding one
day with Jesus as the bridegroom.
He went on his honeymoon at a big
hotel down on Haifa Beach right near where
we do these outreaches tonight.
A five-star hotel with his Swiss wife.
I saw him shortly afterwards at a barbecue.
And he said, you know what?
I looked out the window.
I'm in a five-star hotel.
I mean, that guy had no hope of
ever going in a five-star hotel.
And he said, I looked out the window
and I could see a place where I
used to eat garbage.
That boy got to ground zero.
Hallelujah.
And if we will get there to that
place of deep brokenness and humility, praise the
Lord.
Elijah, when he called down the fire, Elijah
was a ground zero man.
Elijah sat at that brook alone with the
Lord.
Hallelujah.
He was drinking from the Holy Spirit all
day long.
The bird was bringing him meat and bread,
the bread of the meat and bread of
the word.
He was hearing from the Lord.
The Lord says to him, go to Seraphat.
Seraphat means refining.
You want to go to the place of
refining?
It was Jezebel's hometown.
She was looking for him to kill him.
And he went, he got up and he
went.
Hallelujah.
He was a ground zero man.
You hear the word of the Lord and
you obey and you go.
That's the spirit of Elijah that turns the
hearts of the fathers of the children, hearts
of the children of the father.
He became a father to a heathen boy.
He's the forerunner of the one new man
of Jew and Gentile.
He raised that boy from the dead.
He stretched himself out.
Hallelujah.
We need to be stretched out in intercession
and brokenness for Ireland and for Israel.
I'm telling you, God wants to send a
revival here.
I see it.
I hear it.
I heard it at the, at the men's
breakfast.
Hallelujah.
But it's going to take people that say,
I'll get to ground zero.
I'll turn off the stupid television set.
I'll turn off the internet.
I'll turn off the iPod or whatever the
latest pod is.
I don't even know what Twitter or tweeter
is.
Get off all of that stuff and get
on our knees in the prayer closet and
hear the word of the Lord.
Hallelujah.
Praise God.
When he called the fire down, Elijah, he
had 12 stones around that altar.
You come to our congregation up on the
top of Mount Carmel.
We've got 12 stones, right?
Huge, big stone chopped out of the bedrock
underneath the building.
And the rock is Jesus.
And we're the living stones.
Amen.
And we have a skylight for the fire
to fall on the sacrifice.
I said, Lord, please don't send actual fire.
I don't want to build another building.
Just the fire of your presence.
Send the fire of your presence.
The fire fell up there.
The people fell on their faces.
They were at ground zero.
Can you imagine grandparents and children, boys, girls?
I don't know whether he was probably the
only, Ahab was probably the only one that
didn't fall on his face.
And they were screaming, Adonai, who Elohim?
The Lord, he is God.
It's not these false gods.
It's not Baal.
They were at ground zero.
Everything had been burned ashes.
They were at the place of ashes.
What does all that represent?
It represents the cross of Jesus Christ.
There was an innocent animal that was killed
there.
There was blood.
There was wood.
There was water.
It's the cross.
In fact, Jesus told Elijah that at the
transfiguration, I'm it's all about the Exodus, the
departure I'm about to make in Jerusalem.
It's all about the cross.
They were at ground zero.
Most of them didn't go on with the
Lord.
They had a great manifestation, had a great
meaning and went back to business as usual.
And there was Ahab, who should have been
the leader, who had brought Jezebel and all
the mixture into the church.
He's calling on the name of Yahweh and
he's calling on the name of Baal.
One foot in each camp, mixture man.
He's over there having his meal.
You read it.
Where is our ground zero, man?
Where's Elijah?
He's on the top of the mountain in
a fetal position, like he's birthing a baby,
praying in travail.
And the guy's running back and forth saying,
I don't see any rain.
I pray seven times.
Elijah had a word from the Lord, confront
Ahab and I'll send the rain.
If we will confront Ahab, the mixture, especially
in men.
I know Jezebel is a horror, but he
brought her in.
And I was so blessed to be over
there with these men and pure worship and
have Jay bring up a real word of
God about raise up some godly men in
Ireland.
That's what we're trying to do in Israel.
The men, women too.
Hallelujah.
I've used Han, I mean both of us.
He was the one that was broken.
He was the one that brought the rain.
He was at ground zero.
Isaiah, one of the greatest prophets.
Before I was a believer and studied literature
and all that stuff.
I have a PhD, if that impresses you.
It doesn't mean anything.
A doctor of philosophy.
Every philosophy you ever heard, I studied.
I ran around in circles and was just
confused.
But even those people would say Isaiah, the
greatest Hebrew poetry ever written.
But they didn't believe what he said.
Isaiah, the king got leprosy because of the
terrible sin.
Isaiah was broken.
Yeah.
But Isaiah was broken.
The prophet was broken.
He sees, has this vision in the temple.
He sees the Lord high and lifted up.
This train of his light filled the temple
and all the seraphim, the fiery angels flying
back and forth.
All they could say was, Kadoosh, Kadoosh, Kadoosh.
He's holy, holy, holy.
There was a sacrifice burning.
It was filled with smoke.
It's the cross.
He's high and lifted up.
He's the Messiah.
And when Isaiah, who walked with the Lord,
who knew the Lord, it was the prophet
of Israel, saw that he went, I am
undone.
I am doomed.
I am ruined.
Because he saw who this Jesus is.
Praise God.
The Lord sent an angel.
He came and burned his lips.
I'm a man of unclean lips.
I live in a people of, he was
the prophet who had the word of God.
But he was, that man was at ground
zero, brother.
When he burned his lips, it's not about
his lips.
It's about his heart.
Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.
There was something in that great, was it
attitude?
Was it criticism?
Was he mad because of what Josiah had?
I don't know what it was.
Had somebody offended him?
But once he dealt with it and the
Lord dealt with it, he said, anyone ready
to go?
Then he heard the voice of the Lord.
We need to get to ground zero.
That's where we hear the voice of the
Lord.
That's where transformation happens in us.
And we can be a vessel used to
reach other people.
Hallelujah.
Impurity is an outrage to the Holy Spirit.
Let me say it again.
I know the Lord took me out of,
you don't want to know where he took
me from.
Impurity is an outrage to the Holy Spirit.
And it's a lie from the pit that
you can't have victory over garbage you're watching
on the internet.
It's a lie from the pit.
Greater is he who's in me than he
who's in the world.
Hallelujah.
I'm going to read from Ephesians chapter five,
talking about ground zero.
Paul was a ground zero man.
Paul could say, I'm less than the least.
How can you be less than the least?
If she's the least, how can I be
less than her?
Paul was so broken in humility.
John the Baptist could say he needs increase
and I need to decrease.
Jesus laid aside his reputation at ground zero,
Gethsemane and the cross that we might have
the life of Messiah flowing through our mortal
bodies.
Jesus is the quintessential perfect ground zero man
who laid aside his glory and his reputation
and came and made himself of no reputation.
In Ephesians chapter five, verse 25, Christ loved
the church and gave himself for her that
he might sanctify and cleanse her with the
washing of water by the word that he
might present her to himself.
Jesus died that he might sanctify you and
me to present me to himself.
Is this amazing love?
He's done it all.
He's the bridegroom.
He's sanctifying the bride.
So he will have a bride for himself.
Have you ever looked at that in depth,
what this is all about?
He gave us everything that we might walk
the victorious life now, that we might reign
in life and be victorious, that the power
of God could rest upon us and flow
through us, that you could reach the people
of Dublin and the people of Cork.
He's doing it for his bride that he
might present her to himself, a glorious church,
no spot, no wrinkle, no stain, or any
such thing that she should be holy and
without blemish, no shame, blameless before the throne
of God, clothed as the bride.
Israel is coming to ground zero nationally.
The Lord wants his church to go to
ground zero to get clothed with that wedding
garment, that we are ready for the wedding,
and he's done everything for us if we
will just appropriate it.
He chose me.
He chose you in him before the foundation
of the world, that I should be holy
and blameless before him in love.
Carol, why don't you come?
Let's turn to Song of Songs.
We're going to finish there with Song of
Solomon.
Song of Songs, maybe your Bible says Song
of Solomon.
In Hebrew, the books are named by the
first words in the book, and by the
way, this whole thing is a prophetic song,
and it's called Shir HaSharim, Song of Songs,
because there's no other song like it.
It's the Song of Songs.
If you want to get deeper into a
love relationship with Jesus as the bride, soak
yourself in the Song of Songs.
Just soak in it.
In the Song of Songs, the bridegroom and
the bride, the rabbis know that this is
a prophetic picture for the Messiah coming for
the chosen people.
They know that.
They've written it for years.
You are already chosen.
I chose you before the foundation of the
world.
You're called to be the Gentile bride, but
the Jewish bride is starting to wake up.
The Jewish bride still is getting some oil
in her lamps and isn't still asleep.
So the Jewish bride is starting to come
in, and as Jews and Gentiles become a
dwelling place for God and the Spirit, with
both olive trees pouring the oil that they
have into the church, the menorah, the seven
-branch candlestick, and Jesus is walking around in
the middle of the church.
He's in here today.
That puts the fear of God in me
as the pastor of my church.
When he comes to my church, what does
he see?
So Jesus is the bridegroom coming for his
bride who has been prepared by him if
you'll let himself prepare you.
And in chapter two, verse eight, she says,
this is the bride, the voice of my
beloved, Dodi.
My name is David.
In Hebrew, it's David.
This is the same root.
My name means I'm beloved of God.
When I got saved, people used to call
me Dave.
I said, I'm not Dave anymore.
I'm David.
In Hebrew, I'm David.
In Arabic, I'm Daoud.
It's all the same thing.
But the voice, have you heard the voice
of your beloved this morning before you came
here at a place called ground zero where
there's nothing there but you and Jesus?
Behold, he comes.
Have you ever seen him or experienced him
leaping over the mountains?
He's coming leaping to your house.
That's how much he loves you.
This is the bridegroom coming for his bride.
That's what the purpose of the universe is,
to prepare a bride for Jesus.
He's skipping on the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle.
Look at this.
He's standing behind our wall.
He's looking through your windows.
Open up your shades.
Invite him in.
Hallelujah.
My beloved spoke.
Have you heard him?
He says, rise up.
Don't stay where you are.
Come on, let's go.
Let's go to the top of the mountains.
Let's go to victory.
Let's go down in the valley.
It's going to be difficult.
Let's get out on that beach and tell
those Jews and Arabs who Jesus is.
Hallelujah.
Go with your bridegroom.
Be equipped by the power of him.
In verse 16, my beloved is mine and
I am his.
That's the bottom line.
That's it.
Is he yours and are you his?
My beloved, is he your beloved?
Did you tell him you loved him today?
Imagine if I said to her, Karen, I
love you with 60% of my heart.
Do you love him with all your heart?
My beloved is mine and I am his
and his banner, the chuppah of the weddings.
We always pointed out his banner over us
is love when you know the Messiah.
Hallelujah.
Chapter four, verse nine.
You have ravished my heart.
Jesus says you have ravished, in Hebrew it
means his heart starts beating faster.
It's great poetry.
You have ravished my heart, my sister.
Then he says, my spouse.
You've been spoken for.
You're his bride.
You've ravished my heart with all the works
that you do, with all the Christian television
you watch.
You have ravished my heart with one look
of your eye.
Round zero.
Jesus and you.
Did you look at him today?
He's altogether lovely.
Hallelujah.
This is where we need to get, brothers
and sisters.
Chapter eight, verse five.
Who is this coming up out of the
wilderness?
You coming through a time.
You in the wilderness, you in the valley
of decision.
Are you going through difficult circumstances?
Who is this coming up out of the
wilderness?
She is leaning on her beloved.
The word in Hebrew means she's engraved and
attached and glued into him.
Focus on Jesus.
My sister, my
spouse ravished my heart with one look of
your eyes.
You are all fair, my love.
There's no spot in you.
A garden enclosed, my sister, my spouse.
A spring shut up, a fountain sealed, a
well of living waters.
Oh, you who were afflicted, tossed with tempest,
not comforted.
Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful
gems.
I will lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacle of rubies, your
gates of crystal and all your walls of
precious stones.
Hallelujah.
I will give you beauty for ashes, the
oil of joy for mourning.
I will clothe you with garments of salvation
and garments of praise and cover you with
a robe of righteousness.
Look with me from the tops of the
mountains.
Come away, my fair one, my love.
Arise, my love, and come away.
Come away with me.
Come away with me, my beloved.
Hallelujah.
Your baker is your husband.
The Lord of hosts is his name.
Although you were forsaken, you'll not be ashamed.
You shall run and not fear in me.
Hallelujah.
You shall walk and not faint.
Yes, I will go to wait upon the
Lord.
Shall renew my strength.
So arise, Let's stand.
Let's stand.
Arise, Church of Iowa.
Arise on eagles' wings.
On eagles' wings.
Arise.
Arise, my love, and sing.
So arise.
Arise on eagles' wings.
Arise.