My message this morning, how far are you
prepared to trust God?
How far are you prepared to trust God?
Hallelujah.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the living
Word of God, the truth that sets us
free when it's anointed by the Holy Spirit.
So I pray, Holy Spirit, you come now
and you speak to everyone within the sound
of my voice that no one leave this
church, this building today without being transformed by
your Word through your Spirit.
Lord, I acknowledge you.
I got this from you on my knees
and I pray, Lord, that it go directly
to the heart.
Sanctify me that I preach it in your
holiness.
Amen.
I want you to turn to the book
of Malachi and just leave it open, if
you will, please, the last book in the
Old Testament.
If you'll leave that open on your lap,
I'm going to be referring to Malachi, the
first chapter especially, the first chapter of Malachi.
Amen.
How far are you prepared to trust God?
In prayer recently, I put this question to
the Lord, Lord, how far can I go
in trusting you with every single detail of
my life?
How involved, Lord, do you want to be
in all my decision-making?
My question to him was, Lord, are you
ready to give me direction and answer for
everything I submit to you?
Are you looking for me?
Are you looking for that kind of relationship
that I can take absolutely everything, every problem,
every decision to the Lord Jesus Christ, to
the Holy Spirit, and get an answer?
And I'll tell you, my friends, the scriptures
answer that question loud and clear.
There can be no mistake about it, no
compromise with this truth.
It is all to the word of God.
Not only does God desire to be involved
in every act and every detail of our
life, he will have it no other way.
He will have it no other way.
The Bible says in Proverbs 3, 5, and
7, trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, lean not to thine understanding, in all
thy ways acknowledge him, consult him, go to
him, and he will direct your path.
Jeremiah 9, 23, God says, let him that
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and
knoweth me, that I am the Lord which
exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the
earth, for in these things I delight, saith
the Lord.
Now, what that means is simply this.
If you're going to say that you know
the Lord, God says, make sure you know
me in the way I want to be
known.
I want you to know me, that I
take pleasure in exercising or getting involved in
loving kindness, judgment.
The word judgment here is final decision in
all things.
The word judgment there in Hebrew is final
decision in all things.
God says, I take delight when you trust
me with every decision in your life.
That is my delight.
See, without faith it's impossible to please him,
but this is faith in trusting him with
every single decision, every detail in our lives.
He said, if you're going to boast that
you know me, know me in this way,
that I take pleasure in taking control of
your life.
I get my pleasure from that.
The Bible says, the eyes of the Lord
run to and fro throughout the whole earth
to show himself strong on behalf of those
whose hearts are perfect toward him.
That word perfect means fully dependent.
God says, I search the earth for those
children of mine who are fully dependent on
my mind, on my direction.
Not making their own choices, not going their
own way.
Now, this was given by the prophet Hanani
to Asa.
King Asa had sought the Lord for all
directions.
There came a situation in his life, a
crisis, when Israel was attacking, and rather than
go to God and consult him, he strictly
made his own mind up, consulted nobody, a
few of his princes, and they decided to
bribe the Syrians to come down and fight
Israel.
And Israel was attacked from the north, and
so that Israel left off attacking Asa and
Judah.
And this is the rebuke of prophet Hanani
to King Asa.
He said, what he's saying in essence, God
had a plan.
You didn't have to go to the heathen.
You didn't have to make up your own
mind.
God had a plan, because the eyes of
the Lord run to and fro throughout the
whole earth to show himself strong to those
whose hearts are fully dependent on him.
If you had depended on the way, but
now because you've chosen your own way, you're
going to have the wars and confusion the
rest of your life.
And folks, when you go your own way,
make your own choices, it leads to war.
It leads to war in your home, war
in your family, war on the job, war
in your career, everywhere, your business, because you
did not consult the Lord in all things.
The psalmist said, God looks down from the
height of his sanctuary.
From heaven the Lord beholds the earth.
The eyes of the Lord are upon the
righteous.
And here's what it means.
It means God looks down and he beholds
the earth and his eyes are on us.
He's absolutely involved in our lives.
And when it says he looks down from
the heights, his eyes are upon us, means
there's nothing escapes his attention.
Nothing.
I'm telling you that God is involved in
your life, whether you know it or not.
He has been involved from the very beginning.
The Bible said he's acquainted with all our
ways.
He's acquainted.
Scripture says he knows it when we sit
down.
He knows when we rise up.
Bible said he understands every thought afar off.
He compasses our path.
It means he takes notice of every detail
of our daily life.
There is not a word in your tongue
that the Lord knows it.
He knows it all together, the scripture says.
Thou hast beset me, surrounded me, behind and
before.
Such knowledge is too wonderful me, I cannot
even attain to it.
I'm going to tell you something.
Before you were born, God was involved with
you.
He numbered your parts when you were in
your mother's womb.
He absolutely numbered.
He knows every cell in your body.
Bible said he counted every hair that you
were going to have.
You didn't have any when you came out
of the womb, but he numbered every hair
you'd have to this very day.
He was involved.
He has been involved from the foundation of
the world in every detail of our lives.
Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance.
Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb.
My days have been ordained for me, when
as yet there had not been any of
them.
In other words, God said, I've chosen your
path.
I know all about you before you were
born.
Amazing.
Now let me tell you what all this
means to me.
God's been dealing with me about this very
powerfully.
This says to me, God has the time,
God has the desire, he has the power
to make all my decisions.
And if I would go all the way
trusting him in everything, laying every care upon
him, consulting him for direction on every matter
in my life, in my home, on my
job, my ministry, everything, I consult the Lord
and trust him, he will take over full
management of my life and ministry.
He'll take over the full management.
Now this has everything to do with a
scripture in Romans 12.1, a very familiar
scripture, a scripture that says, I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
you present your body a living sacrifice, holy
except the one to God, which is your
reasonable service.
Now this sacrifice, and I want to show
this to you this morning, this sacrifice that
Paul is talking about has everything to do
with going all the way with the Lord
and trusting him with every decision in your
life.
Now remember, it's not just a living sacrifice,
it has to be holy and has to
be acceptable unto God.
Now many people go to the Lord and
say, Lord, I give you my life, I
sacrifice, I lay my life down.
Now folks, it's not just talking about becoming
a martyr, it's not talking simply about being
willing to burn out for Jesus.
It goes much deeper than that.
I'm talking now to those of you in
this congregation, those who are hearing me, who
want to go all the way with the
Lord.
You're tired of making mistakes, you're tired of
all the turmoil that goes with things going
wrong and disorder in your home or your
wife or your life and your job.
Listen very, very closely about this matter, presenting
your body as a living, acceptable sacrifice unto
God.
Acceptable holy sacrifice simply means this, giving full
control of your life and future into the
hands of the Lord, giving up all management.
Folks, when the sacrifice was laid on the
altar, it lost all control of its destiny.
There was no more control of the destiny,
nothing.
All decisions were in the hands of the
high priest from that moment on.
The consuming of the sacrifice, everything.
The Lamb had no choice in it whatsoever.
But you see, if I come to Him
and just give Him my body, I'm giving
Him less than one dollar's worth of elements.
The body's made up with mostly water.
But if you count, if you literally want
to know the actual value of this human
being, David Wilkerson's elements are worth less than
a dollar.
In fact, they say, I think, 93 cents
now.
So I'm going to give him 93 cents
worth of value.
No, that's not where the value is because
in this body, there's a computer.
It's right up here.
It's a little mass of flesh.
Into this little mass of flesh is where
the will is.
And we put into that little computer our
calculations.
We calculate the risk when we make a
decision, the consequences, our desires, how it would
affect us, how it would affect other people.
We put all of these things, all the
decisions that are in our life, we put
them in this computer.
And we, out of that computer, out of
that mind, this priceless mind, this is the
only thing of value.
This is where the heart is, where the
will is.
And what we do when we come to
the Lord, we come to Him.
You see, this little computer of mine doesn't
want to give up control.
That's the flesh.
That's where the will is, self-will.
And it's so used to making every decision,
consulting nobody, doing, every man doing what is
best for himself.
This little computer is controlled by the flesh,
by the carnal mind, where the conscience is,
and it is often shut off by this
little computer.
We want to go to the Lord and
say, Lord, I entrust my future to You,
eternal salvation.
I trust forgiveness of my sins.
I trust You to bring me to paradise
and live eternally with You.
I trust all my eternal future in Your
hands.
But as far as giving You my computer,
I can't do it.
I can't give You full control of my
life.
And so we go through the fleshly motions
saying, I surrender, Lord.
I yield my body unto You.
I give You everything.
Oh yes, we give Him our pledge.
We give Him our promises, but we don't
give Him our computer.
We don't give Him our mind.
We don't let the mind of Christ take
over.
We don't let what Paul said, Christ in
me, living in me, making my decisions.
You know, for years I tried to figure
out what the Bible means.
If you live in the Spirit, walk in
the Spirit.
And I looked at books, studied books.
What does it mean to walk in the
Spirit?
If you live in the Spirit, walk in
the Spirit.
Folks, it's very, very simple.
The Holy Ghost lives in you.
Obey Him.
Listen to Him.
Let Him direct you.
Let Him make the decisions because He is
the very living Spirit of Christ in you.
Hallelujah.
I'm not talking about asking the Holy Ghost
what kind of cereal you're going to eat
and what dress you're going to wear today
and suit, but even I have to even
back up on that a bit.
And I'll tell you why.
Because you know, about a year ago I
was very, very sick with colitis and I
went to the Lord and I said, Lord,
I can't even pass this church if this
goes on.
I am literally being wiped out by this.
And I told you this, that I went
to the Lord and He dealt with me
about getting rid of sugar and watching my
diet and things that I eat and got
me on, the Holy Ghost got me on
my own nutritional program with barley greens and
everything else.
And there was healing.
And I am stronger than I've ever been,
even when I was 30 years old.
Because I turned it over to the Holy
Ghost.
I turned it over to the Lord and
said, this is your problem.
I'm going to obey you.
And folks, when it comes to dress in
the morning, I had a preacher's wife say,
she and her husband talked to me, we
aren't eating.
She said, Pastor Dave, every time I get
to go to church, I look in the
mirror and I say, Holy Ghost, are you
pleased?
Am I bringing attention to my flesh?
Is this sensual or is this godly?
Is the length of my dress or am
I showing off my body so that someone
would be tempted?
Yes, those decisions are to go into the
hands of the Lord too.
Some this morning, some here this morning should
have prayed about it before you came.
Are you in Malachi?
In Malachi, God is looking down from his
height and he sees something in the priest
that angered him.
Israel's priests had defiled the altar of the
Lord by offering polluted sacrifices.
Malachi 1.7, O priest that despised my
name, and ye say wherein have we despised
thy name?
Ye have offered polluted bread upon my altar.
Verse 8, and if ye offer the blind
for sacrifice, is it not evil?
If you offer the lame and sick, is
it not evil?
Now, listen to me, folks.
In Leviticus, the 21st chapter, verse 6, 8
and 12, don't turn there, but the sacrificial
lamb was called the bread of God.
That was the food of God.
Folks, we become the bread of God.
We are absolute sacrifice.
Now, folks, I'm only talking to people this
morning that are not satisfied to live a
half-hearted life for Christ, not satisfied to
live carnally for yourself.
I'm talking to people who have an urge
to see in their heart, I want to
give my life completely to the Lord.
You see, we've made so few demands anymore.
We have such a lazy Christianity today that
Jesus said the way is narrow and few
that find it, but we have a superhighway
Christianity now.
We have widened the streets and the borders,
and that's what they call now the seeker
-friendly church.
We have a gospel of accommodation to accommodate
people, and what they're doing, making a superhighway
to heaven, and it's not headed toward heaven.
The Bible said, why is the road that's
headed for?
Destruction.
And there are so few demands made on
us now, but there is a demand being
made in these last days, I believe, before
Jesus comes.
There's going to have to be a Christianity
evolved in the true church of Jesus Christ,
whereby the Holy Remnant begins to cry out,
say, I am not satisfied with the life
where I sit around like a cat's potato
watching television.
I am not satisfied that my family is
spinning out into disorder.
There's got to be some reason.
Lord, I'm not satisfied to just go to
church and get a little blessing.
There has to be something.
Rise up where the Holy Ghost said, Lord,
I want you to control my life.
Evidently, there's something missing in my consecration.
There's something missing in my living sacrifice to
you.
Now, what was this polluted bread that they
were offering, this unacceptable sacrifice?
Because I wonder if some of us here
this morning believe that you've made a living
sacrifice to the Lord, but it has been
a polluted sacrifice, and it's not acceptable unto
the Lord.
Now, that's strong language, but these are perilous
times, and I believe Jesus is coming.
Now, I know that we lose a lot
of people in this church that come to
visit, and they hear the message, and it's
too strong for them, and they go to
something a little more palatable.
And we probably have a list of churches
where we could recommend.
And I'm not trying to be facetious, but
I'm telling you, folks, you're going to stand
before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ one
day.
To me, this is not a job.
I'm not here making money.
I'm here to tell you what the Holy
Ghost is saying about how we should live
in this last day.
I want you to listen to what the
Holy Spirit spoke in my heart.
What is this polluted sacrifice?
The first thing that comes to mind, well,
the priests, they're living in sin, in adultery,
in fornication, and then they're coming into the
house of God with dirty hands.
Oh, folks, it goes much further than that.
It's even more wicked.
That's part of it, but it's even more
wicked than that in the eyes of God.
Ye priests despise my name.
Now, they didn't understand that when Malachi came
with this rebuke from the Holy Ghost.
What do you mean we despise his name?
Because, you see, they couldn't understand because they
were going through the religious form.
They were sacrificing.
They were lighting the lanterns.
They were going through the whole service of
the temple.
And here comes a prophet saying, nothing you
do is acceptable.
God doesn't even look at it.
It's all in vain.
Listen, what do you mean we're despising it?
We're making sacrifices.
We're worshipping the Lord.
Now, folks, this is very serious because there
are many, many churches in the United States
that I believe God doesn't even look at.
He doesn't even visit them.
I'm going to show that to you if
you're in just a moment.
What the Lord is trying to say to
them and to us, you refuse to submit
to the absolute authority of the Lord.
You have never surrendered to his total, complete
Lordship.
He said, if I'm your father, where's my
honor?
If I'm your master, your Lord, where's my
fear?
They had rejected absolute surrender to the leading
of Almighty God, whereby he could have spoken
by the prophets and by his Spirit to
what they were doing.
They were going out, and rather than getting
a perfect lamb, the best of the flock,
they were taking one with three legs or
diseased and ready to die and throwing it
on the altar haphazardly.
They were not serious about the things of
God.
When the Lord began to move with me
to prophesy to this nation about what is
coming to America, I've been a year on
my face, and I thought I was serious
about the things of God.
But the Lord named a whole list of
things that I had to change in my
life, things that you might laugh about, that
you may allow in your life, because we're
allowing so many things now.
You allow yourself, do you, and your children
to sit and watch some of these new
children's cartoons that are nothing but murder and
occult?
I can't even watch the TV news now
because if I sit and watch TV news,
I'm going to be watching Seinfeld, where there's
nothing but laughter and mockery at moral standards.
And I'm going to get hooked again on
these things, so the Lord makes it very,
very clear that there are things that are
changing.
If you're going to get serious about God,
if you're getting serious about God answering your
prayer and you want your family saved before
Jesus comes, there's going to be some changes
made.
They're going to get serious about God.
You're going to get serious about walking with
the Lord.
He said, a father is the one who
is in control.
If I'm, you call me your father, why
am I not in control of your life?
Why are you doing things your own way?
Why are you doing what a father is
supposed to do in your life?
If I'm your Lord, where's my Lordship?
Why are you not submitting to my Lordship?
Now, I'm instructed by the Apostle Paul to
go to the altar and give my body
to the Lord as a sacrifice that would
be acceptable in his eyes, an acceptable sacrifice
unto him.
Paul said, yield yourselves unto God as those
alive from the dead, members as instruments of
righteousness to God.
And the word yielding there means simply let
go, let go, let God have it, let
go of your control.
Every day in prayer, I bring this to
the Lord.
This is a strong argument I bring to
the Lord.
Every day I pray, every day.
This morning, every day this past week, every
day this past month, Lord Jesus, you said
that you did nothing when you walked this
earth without the Father.
You said nothing.
You did nothing but what you saw and
heard from your Father.
Lord, I am a weak, ignorant man.
If Jesus, the very Son of God, could
do nothing without seeing and hearing from his
Father moment by moment, how dare I think
I can?
So I say, Lord, I stand boldly before
your throne saying, I'm going to take a
step.
I'm going to go as far as I
can.
I don't care how anybody else lives.
I don't care what anybody else says.
You said if I acknowledge you in all
my ways, you'll direct my path.
You're willing to take that kind of step?
How far are you willing to go to
trust God?
In Proverbs 15, 22, we read, in the
multitude of counselors, purposes are established.
In the multitude of counselors, your way or
your purpose is established.
Now that sounds like, well, wait a minute,
Brother Dave.
And I know someone would think about that.
In many counselors, there's wisdom.
You just meet and you have a committee
meeting, do what the committee says.
But I want to tell you something, folks.
If you read the rest of the Bible,
that is a sin session.
And that's every man, every counselor in that
room has been on their faith before God,
fully trusting the Lord that corporately they get
the mind of Christ and are doing what
he has directed.
Let me explain that to you.
In Acts 13, there were many counselors, many
men of God that met in Antioch, planning
the future of the church.
They ministered to the Lord, they fasted, and
then the Holy Ghost said.
They didn't, they didn't strategize.
They didn't say, well, here's what I think,
here's what I think.
They all got on their knees, they fasted,
they prayed, and suddenly God spoke to them.
They got their directs.
In the upper room, there are 120 counselors.
These are godly people.
These are people who know the word.
These are people who have good wisdom.
And when Judas is to be replaced by
another disciple, apostle, they didn't vote.
The scripture makes it very, very clear.
They prayed and said, O Lord, thou knowest
the hearts of all men.
You show us who to choose.
Folks, that's the way this church is run.
It's run through prayer and faith in the
Holy Ghost that he will speak to us.
We, we do have ministers meeting in this
church, but it's a prayer meeting where we
try to get the mind of God and
we pray separately and pray and pray until
we get the mind of Christ, we get
the mind of God on our decisions.
Hallelujah.
So far, it's been working fairly well.
God told the priest, now listen closely.
Now God told the priest, if you cannot
give me an acceptable offering, shut it all
down.
I want you to see verse 10.
Who is there even among you that would
shut the doors for naught?
Neither do you kindle fire on mine altar
for naught.
I have no pleasure in you, saith the
Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an
offering at your hand.
Now folks, let me tell you what the
best original rendition is.
In fact, a number of the original manuscripts
voice it this way.
Listen closely.
All that there were among you that would
shut the doors that you may not kindle
a fire on my altar in vain.
All that there was somebody that would understand
that God's not going to accept an offering
that is polluted, that is not a full
surrender.
He's not going to accept it.
He said, if you're going to be haphazard,
if you're not going to give me everything,
if you want to be a living sacrifice
wholly acceptable unto me, then you're going to
yield control of your body, your mind, your
spirit, everything you're going to get.
You're going to turn all your decision-making
over to him.
You're going to go to him at all
times.
Folks, it doesn't mean you have to wait
for an hour too often.
You just, wherever you're at, Holy Spirit, what
is your mind?
Tell me, Lord, what is your will?
I do that now, God, helping me in
every decision I make.
Lord, what is your mind?
But folks, that's backed up by having time
alone with Jesus in the secret closet where
I'm saying, Lord, if you don't give me
that direction, I'm going to wait until I
receive it.
And just about, I don't care if it's
a businessman, he comes to me and he
wants a decision.
I don't care if he's Jewish.
I don't care if he's an atheist.
I'll say, I'll pray about it.
I have to talk to God about it.
And the Lord is saying, I am not
going to accept a partial sacrifice, a lame,
diseased sacrifice.
I won't take it.
I won't have it.
He said, it's better to shut it down.
Did you shut it down?
I don't want anything on that altar.
I would rather the door of the temple
be shut than for you to believe that
I would accept any offering from you that
was not wholehearted, any offering from you in
which I was not, where you gave up
full control and your destiny, total destiny was
placed into my hands.
Now, folks, I've told the Lord, I don't
want to put a burden on this congregation
or anyone who hears me that is overburdened
and not according to the mind of Christ,
the mind of the Holy Spirit.
I told you I'm talking, for some of
you say you're setting something now, Pastor Dave,
that's impossible.
Now, I told you that I'm only speaking
to those this morning who say, Lord, I
want to go all the way.
There is more.
I'm not satisfied because I'll tell you what,
until you make this living sacrifice, you'll never
know real peace.
You will never know divine order in your
home, in your life, in your job.
You won't know it.
It doesn't come any other way.
It does not come any other way.
The favor of God comes to only those
who say, God, I don't want to surrender
everything I am, all I have.
I give it to you.
I want you to live in me and
direct my life.
See, all of this is for our teaching,
for our instruction.
It's for us in the last days.
He's saying, if you're prepared to give me
full control, I'll lead you in all your
ways.
But if you're not prepared to trust your
whole life, your walk with me into my
care, unless you are prepared to allow me
to live in you and lead you, I
cannot accept anything less than a full surrender
of your will.
Your will has to be given to me
completely.
God said, I have no pleasure in you.
Then he adds these words, My name shall
be great among the Gentiles in every place.
In every place, incense shall be offered unto
my name.
This is verse 11.
A pure offering from my name shall be
great among the heathens, saith the Lord of
hosts.
And what he's telling through telling the people
and all the priests, he said, look, you
think that there'll be nobody left if you're
not accepted with your kind of offering?
But Lord says, no, I've got people all
over the world right through to the end
time that are going to give me a
pure offering, a holy offering.
I'm going to have a people.
And folks, you're going to have it in
New York.
He's going to have it.
I don't care where you're visiting from.
God may put a fire in your soul
this morning.
He is going to have a people that
are living sacrifices and testimony to the world
that you can live Christ, whereby he makes
every decision in your life, every single decision.
Hallelujah.
Glory to God.
Now God calls it rebellion when his children
follow their own counsel and make up their
own minds without consulting him.
Woe to the rebellious children.
This is Isaiah 30 verse 12.
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord,
that take counsel, but not of me.
They go down to Egypt.
They've not asked at my mouth.
They go down to strengthen themselves in the
strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the
shadow of Egypt.
Listen all through the Bible.
I find that God is simply trying to
get it too plain and simple.
Look, don't go to people.
Don't know.
There's nothing wrong with counseling, but folks, there's
an amazing, incredible thing has happened in these
last days.
Let me, I can't wait.
I've got to get into it right now.
In first Chronicles 10, we read these fearful
words.
So Saul died for his transgression, which he
committed against the Lord.
Saul died because of a transgression.
Now, what was that transgression that cost him
his life?
Now folks, this is strong stuff, but I
want you to listen to it.
The transgression, this is first Chronicles 10 chapter
verse 13, 14, the transgression was even against
the word of the Lord, which he kept
not.
And also for taking counsel of one that
had a familiar spirit to inquire of it
and inquired not of the Lord.
Therefore he slew him.
It didn't inquire the Lord.
He didn't consult with the Lord.
Didn't say God, what did, what would you
have?
Now he said, God isn't talking to me
anymore, but he would not talk unto God.
He was not consulting God at all for
years.
He had forsaken the Lord's counsel.
Now folks, that's, that's heavy.
That's strong.
You say that's not New Testament.
Oh folks, it is case after case in
the word of God.
You find that the more people backslide, the
further they get away from God, the less
they want to go into his presence.
I want to tell you something.
Anyone with hidden sin does not want to
pray.
They don't want to consult the Lord.
And I'll tell you why, because they know
intuitively that their sin will not stand in
his holiness.
Cannot endure the glare of his utter holiness.
So they stay away from the secret closet.
They don't seek the Lord.
They don't counsel with him.
In fact, that's why these priests were now
into an occult practice.
Now it's very, very clear.
The scripture makes it clear all through.
You no longer listen to the Lord.
My people as counsel at their wooden idols
and their diviners now give them advice.
They're diviners.
Now, if you study the timeframe Malachi speaking
about, the priest and the Israelite at that
time would go to these false prophets.
They would take two sticks and put them
lightly in the ground and they would mutter
incantations.
And the direction that they fell, supposedly under
demon influence, would give them the direction either
east, west, north, south.
And also they would throw little rods and
sticks in different directions.
And as they fell, in fact, the name
for it is called rhabdomyncy.
Rhabdomyncy is the divining through sticks and rods.
And here are people that have had the
oracles of God.
Here are people called by his name.
And now because they are so far from
God, because sin is so controlled their life,
they get no direction except from stupid, silly
sticks.
Now, today we have what is called bibliomancy.
This is taking scripture verses as if they're
magic by repeating them.
Bibliomancy also includes the same kind of offering
to the Lord.
Here's a person who does not pray, who
does not get direction from the Lord because
he's not in touch with the Lord.
He doesn't consult with the Lord.
He has no time.
It's time for everybody to consult with everybody.
Get on the phone, call anybody, call a
pastor, call a counselor, call somebody, get advice.
But because they have no relationship with the
Lord, they're not hearing his voice.
Jesus said, my sheep know my voice.
They hear when I call another voice they
will not listen to.
They will not heed it.
And because they have no inner voice from
the Holy Ghost, because there's no direction in
their life, because they're not praying, they fall
into this occultic charismatic practice.
And it's occultic, folks.
And it's occultic because it is offering to
the Lord a sacrifice that is pollution.
It's a disease sacrifice.
It is thrusting in the flesh of man.
There's some evangelist, there's some prophet somewhere that's
got a word for me.
Someone handed me a tape this past week.
A major crusade, a big evangelist and prophet,
so-called, and he was giving words.
And the words were something like this, you're
going to be given a ministry of compassion
and God's going to send you to China
and work with children.
Now, if God hadn't said that to that
man, why in the world would he listen
to somebody else?
Especially if he's got a wife and two
kids.
Another says within two or three months you're
going to get a name large sum of
money.
And some of the other words were, I
sat there and cringed.
I said, Lord, those dear people that are
sitting there, don't they know you?
Don't they hear anything from you?
Now, folks, I want to show you the
danger of running to somebody and have them
lay hands on you or give you a
word when you do not pray.
And I want to tell you something.
I know that many people running around the
world, all over the world, trying to get
a word, trying to get a touch involved
in this occultic practice.
Listen to me.
Now, I'm not wiping the brush with everything.
No, there are many sincere godly people who
take a friend or something and they love
the Lord and they're just saying there may
be more for me.
I'm not wiping everybody with this brush, but
all folks, listen to me.
People who pray, people who get their word
from God, they are being satisfied in the
secret closet.
They are hearing their word directly from the
throne room of God.
They don't have to go anywhere.
They don't have to have anyone touch them.
I believe in healing.
I believe in the laying on of hands.
But listen to me, folks.
The prophet Malachi is speaking against this.
In fact, he warns against placing yourself under
the influence of ministers whose own sacrifice before
the Lord is totally unacceptable.
How do you know that the man has
an acceptable sacrifice?
Or how do you know whether or not
God has shut it off and said, that's
enough, I don't want anything to do with
this ministry?
It's all written right here.
Let me read it to you here.
I'll find it here in just a moment.
Verse nine, and now I pray you, beseech
God that he will be gracious unto us,
that he may be that this has been
by your means.
Will he regard your person, saith the Lord
of hosts?
Now, folks, look at me and listen closely,
please.
I've got to get this through to you.
The original in its fullest meaning reads this
way.
Come, ask God's favor with your polluted sacrifices.
Make intercession for the people.
But will he accept you?
Will he bless or accept anyone because of
you?
You know what he's saying?
Go ahead and intercede for the people.
Go ahead and lay hands on people.
Go ahead and pray for people.
But it's in vain because, sir, priest, your
sacrifice has not been accepted.
It's all there, folks.
It's right there.
Go ahead and intercede.
Oh, folks, I've known.
Got a letter from a pastor's wife.
He just left her.
And he's an associate of an evangelist who's
had 11 illegitimate children.
He's on his third wife.
I have his tapes.
He's preaching to crowds today.
She said, Pastor Dave, I don't understand.
Lays hands on people.
He supposed miracles.
And she said, this man told my husband,
it doesn't matter how many wives you have
at one time, how many women you have.
And my husband bought it.
And he's been laying with at least three
women himself.
And hundreds and hundreds of people are coming,
having hands laid on them, being prophesied over.
Folks, judgment is at the door.
It's a dangerous thing not to be set
in with God.
It's a dangerous thing not to have discernment
in this day.
It's a dangerous thing to be tossed by
every wind and wave of doctrine that's sweeping.
Folks, those winds and waves are going to
get stronger.
They're coming from the left and the right,
the north and the south.
And the only thing is going to stand
in these last days are those people set
in with God, hearing his voice, knowing his
voice, intimate with him.
Finally, you have said, behold, what a weariness
it is.
And you've snuffed at it.
The word weariness, there's trouble and snuff means
who needs it in modern English.
I mean, who needs it?
And you know what he's saying?
You've said it's too much trouble.
Who needs it?
It's too much trouble to pray every day.
It's too much trouble.
How can anybody?
Folks, listen to me.
There's a discipline involved in seeking God.
We've been spoon fed.
We want everything in five minutes.
Even our news, we want news bits.
Folks, I'm going to tell you as a
you will not make it in these last
days until you come under this discipline.
I, I seek the face of God, but
it's a discipline.
When I went to prayer in my room
and shut the door yesterday, I didn't feel
like praying.
I didn't feel like it at all, but
I, I knelt there and I walked around
and said, Lord, I don't feel it, but
I know I want to be in your
presence.
I know I love you.
I'm just going to say hallelujah.
I love you till you come into this
room and touch me.
And folks, you stay in his presence and
you'll strike fire.
You stay in his presence.
You draw nigh to me.
I'll draw nigh to you.
I promise you he'll meet you, but there's
a discipline.
You shut everything away.
You stop it.
Folks, you've got time for everybody and everything
else.
You've got time for Jesus.
And if you don't, you will not make
it in these last days.
You're going to fall into unbelief and despair.
And you will be one of those who
say, ah, too much trouble.
Who needs it?
Well, my people, what have I done to
you?
What way have I wearied thee?
Testify against me.
He said, come on, tell me how in
the world, all I, all I have done
is told you that I want to be
involved in your life.
All I've told you is you'll turn over
to me.
I'll take your burden.
If you cast all your care on me,
I'll take it.
You don't have to live confused anymore.
You can live your life without fear or
without bondage.
And it's so simple.
He's made it so simple.
He said, I've been involved you from the
very beginning.
Even when you were a baby, a child,
I've been involved.
I know every move that you've made.
I know every move you're going to make.
He said, if you just turn it over
to me, if you'll surrender everything to me
and give me quality time, set yourself in
with me, I'll make my voice known to
you.
Now, folks, there is the word of God.
We live by the word.
We heard order my steps by your word.
You go to this word.
You obey everything this word tells you through
the power of the anointing of the Holy
Spirit.
But folks, this word is not going to,
there are a thousand decisions a day sometimes
that you can't find here.
You may find principles, but there are certain
things.
I, I, there's a, there's a building that
our charities has that, that we have to
sell because if we don't sell, it's going
to be condemned.
And I said, Lord, I turned it over.
I don't know what to do.
I said, but I'm going to trust you.
I am not going to advertise that building.
I'm not going to say a word to
anybody.
No sign on the door.
If you want it sold, you're going to
have somebody knock on the door and say,
I want to buy it.
Lord told me to trust him.
He said, if you just leave it to
me, I'll take care of it.
He said, if you'll just stay in the
secret closet, you seek my faith.
I'll take care of your family.
I'll take care of your finances.
I'll take care of everything that you have
to sell or buy.
I'll take care of everything.
Seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things shall be taken
care of.
Well, I'll tell you something, that building's about
to be sold because a man walked in,
not one man, but they're walking in two
and three a day now.
Within two weeks, that'll be gone.
And I, the Lord told me in prayers,
he said, David, because you trusted me in
this, I'm going to bless you by making
you very sensitive to my voice.
Very sensitive.
Every time you obey him, you become more
and more sensitive to his voice.
He begins to speak.
He'll tell you how to take care of
your kids, your children.
He'll tell you how to discipline them.
He'll tell you everything you need to know.
It's all, how can anybody live like that?
Folks, I'm setting out to prove to myself,
my own heart, that's the way I want
to live.
I want to live that way.
I'm going to make mistakes, but the Lord
is mercy.
He'll say, David, back up a little bit.
You made a mistake and there are going
to be some consequences, but I'll see you
out of it because I know you want
to do what is right.
The Lord will rule and overrule.
Even if you make a mistake, he will
overrule and bring glory to his name.
Will you stand?
Hallelujah.
Did I wear some of you out?
Don't you want a closer walk?
I have a strange invitation the Holy Spirit
just put in my heart while I'm standing
here.
This has to do with all our friends
in the annex building, all the overflow.
I say it to you lovingly, many of
you there and here in the balcony, in
the main auditorium, wherever you're seeing here, my
voice and seats are watching now.
My invitation, I never anticipated this.
I'm just going to obey the Holy Spirit.
I'm asking those that are here this morning
that have a wounded spirit.
I don't know where the wound came from,
but it's troubled.
You have a spirit that's wounded and troubled.
The Lord wants to heal you today.
And as we sing, I want you to
get out of your seat.
Over in the annex, you go to the
lobby, and the ushers will show you the
door into this building.
You come right down the stairs, come down
any aisle, meet me here at this altar.
I'm going to pray this morning that Lord
would heal your spirit, heal your wound, and
set you free.
If you're backslidden, if you've been running from
God, if you don't know the Lord Jesus,
come with these that are coming right now,
and let's believe the Lord now.
I don't know if it's been a marriage
problem.
I don't know how the wound happened.
Even your spirit troubled.
I say, Pastor Davidson thinks, I just don't
understand that are happening in my life.
I want you to come.
Please move in close, make room for those
that are coming, please.
To those that have come forward, what I
preached to you this morning is not theory
with me.
It's something God's been helping me to live,
something I believe in with all my heart,
that the more you give him of your
life, the more control you put in his
hands, the more pleased he is, the more
pleasure he gets.
That's faith, where I believe with all my
heart that I can commit everything I am,
all I have, into his loving hands.
Hallelujah.
Some of you have a wounded heart and
a wounded spirit.
That's why you came down for prayer.
I'm going to ask you to turn that
over to him right now and listen to
me, please.
I want you all next week to spend
no less, no less than a half hour.
You should be giving him at least an
hour of prayer a day, but no less
than a half hour.
We just put his presence and worship him.
Lay everything in your heart before him, be
honest, just speak your heart and your mind
to him, but do it in faith and
then just sit in a chair and say,
now Lord, speak to me.
I want to tell you something.
You say, well, how am I going to
know God's voice from the devil's voice?
Listen, it's very simple.
The devil will speak to you, and if
you love Jesus, there'll just be something, there'll
be something to rise up.
Wait a minute.
Say, I, Lord, I don't, I'm not sure
of this voice, because the devil doesn't want
to be questioned.
And if you just wait, don't accept the
voice right away, just wait, the enemy will
expose himself.
I was praying yesterday about something, and I
was sitting waiting, and at first I said,
Lord, I'm here to wait on you, and
all of a sudden I heard a direction
that didn't sound right.
It sounded too much like I wanted, something
I wanted.
If it's something like you want, be very
careful.
And I said, I, I just can't accept
this yet, Lord, just wait.
And then came, you stupid, dumb creature, and
my voice.
The devil exposed himself, because the Lord never
called me dumb, stupid.
He will always expose himself.
If you wait, he will expose himself.
God is that faithful, the Holy Ghost is
that faithful, because if you wait on him,
he's not going to write this in his
book for every generation of all time, and
let you be deceived.
If you are willing to do what he
tells you, and let your desires and your
will down, say, your will be done, Lord,
I'll do everything you tell me.
God will give you direction.
Oh, the devil will come and try to
put the, you just wait, even if you
wait two or three days, until the Holy
Spirit comes, that still small voice.
He will never tell you anything that's contrary
to this book.
Sometimes what he tells you is going to
be painful.
First thing he's going to tell you, he
said, I'm not going to talk to you
about that yet, that thing you're asking me,
but I'm not going to talk to you
about it until I talk about that besetting
sin that's in your heart.
Let's talk about that.
Then he's going to tell you how much
he loves you, and how much he's going
to stand with you, and how much he'll
work with you, when you are willing to
lay it at his feet.
You see, even victory over sin is a
matter of faith.
Trusting in his power, greater is he in
us than he that's in the world.
You trust him on that.
It's a matter of sin, oh Lord, I
can't fight it, I can't do it, I
can't run my life anymore, I'm tired of
it.
I give it to you, Lord Jesus.
But you see, that has to be backed
up, there has to be backed up with
a special time every day, quality time, where
you go to Jesus and say, Lord, I'm
in no hurry, I'm in no hurry, I'm
here, and folks, don't get all wound up
and scream at God and try to make
something happen.
Just sit quietly and love him and let
him love you.
Tell him how much you love him and
worship him, and I'll tell you, it's amazing
how if you just say, Hallelujah, Jesus, just
keep saying Hallelujah until it comes from the
gut, from the innermost, and suddenly it's like
a fountain.
A little bit of water and then suddenly
it's just flowing out.
Then you'll start singing love songs to Jesus
and you'll just have a wonderful time in
his presence.
But he wants to heal your heart right
now.
There's no use in my praying for you
right now until you have made a commitment,
Lord, I want to give all that I
am and all that I have to you.
If that's your desire, raise your hand high,
please raise your hand and leave it right
there a moment while I pray.
First, I want you to pray with me
and then I'm going to pray for you.
Pray this with me.
Jesus, I come to you with all my
burdens, all my cares, and all my hurts.
I surrender it to you.
Lord, you have to solve it.
You have to take care of it.
I don't know how.
I've been confused.
My way has been perplexed.
But I know you have a way.
You have a perfect plan.
You have a way out of all my
problems.
Help me to trust you now.
Forgive me, Lord, for doing things my way.
I want to do things your way.
Cleanse me.
Sanctify me.
Now, Holy Spirit, come and help me to
understand how to give my body and my
life as a sacrifice that you will accept.
Now, let me pray for you, Father.
You will accept every sacrifice this morning of
everybody that's here.
If we're simply willing to give up control,
just give up control of our lives into
your hands.
That very moment you receive it, it's an
act of faith that says, I will not
run my own life anymore.
Lord, I put my life in your hands
under your full control.
Hallelujah.