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I had another title, but I think that's
the right title for this afternoon's message.
I Won't Let Go.
Hallelujah.
Father, we thank you this afternoon that your
presence is truly among us.
Lord, you've been speaking to us all of
this week.
It's been the most wonderful week of your
presence, your dealing, your love.
God, we thank you this afternoon that one
more time we can stand in your presence.
Now, Lord Jesus, I ask that you bring
forth this word from my heart.
Lord, you're the one that laid it on
the very tables of my heart.
I haven't had to change anything according to
the natural mind.
You birthed this in my heart.
Now, Lord, bring it forth accordingly as you
have put into my heart.
You bring it forth by the power of
the Holy Ghost.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Turn with me back to Acts chapter 21.
We dealt with this scripture last Sunday night,
and we are back again at it this
afternoon.
Acts chapter 21, and we'll read three verses
together, the same verses we read on Sunday
night.
Acts chapter 21, verses 12 through 14.
And when we heard these things, we both
and they that of that place besought him
not to go up to Jerusalem.
Now, the people of that place, what he's
talking about here are Philip, his wife, his
daughters.
Agabus had come down and had spoken to
the Apostle Paul and taken the Apostle Paul's
girdle, tied it around his own waist and
said, the person who owns this girdle, so
you're going to be bound and be handed
over to the Gentiles.
And so everybody of that place, there was
Luke was there, Philip was there.
He's the evangelist.
His daughters are there who prophesied.
Everybody who had gathered to hear the Apostle
Paul.
And they were all saying to him and
besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Then Paul answered, what mean ye to weep
and to break my heart?
Why are you trying to break the purpose
of God in my heart?
We shared a little of this last week.
There was a purpose that they were trying
to break.
This man was committed to the purposes of
God.
And as the choir sang this afternoon, I
won't let go.
The Apostle Paul makes that statement.
He says, for I am ready not to
be bound only, but also to die at
Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when he would not be persuaded, we
ceased saying, the will of the Lord be
done.
It's one of those cliche words that they
end up saying.
Well, like we always say, well, God bless
you.
The will of the Lord be done.
I'm not sure that they believed it, but
they said it anyway.
So here is the Apostle Paul, and he
has a purpose in his heart.
Beloved, I want to speak this afternoon about
the devil trying to disengage you from the
purposes of God.
He's always trying to get at your heart.
This is a hard issue.
We're going to see all through the message
this afternoon, it's a hard issue.
That the enemy is always trying to get
at your heart to disengage you from the
very purposes of Almighty God.
As we heard this morning, if we could
understand for just one second, one moment today,
what the purposes of God really were for
our life, if God would just give us
a panoramic view of our whole life and
what He intended for us, there wouldn't be
a hesitation in any one of us today
to give up sin, to walk away from
our past and to engage in the things
that God has for us.
But we also have an enemy that's always
trying to disengage us from the purposes of
God.
So the Apostle Paul, he won't give in
to their fears.
We saw that last week.
He wasn't buying into their tears either.
It was a false compassion.
And there's a lot of people who have
a false compassion towards maybe the struggles you're
going through, but understand that when we go
through trying times, it is God who is
at work in our hearts and lives.
And we shouldn't try to dissuade what God
is doing in the hearts and lives of
people.
Paul lived by another code.
We saw this as well.
And that my speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but
in the demonstration of the Spirit and of
power.
And the Apostle Paul said, this was my
life.
This has always been my life.
My life has been lived by one code
and one code only, and that is by
the power of Almighty God.
My life has been changed by God's power.
I've lived by God's power.
See, this was his doctrine.
This is what he preached.
This is what he lived.
And so he's amazed at this point.
I think that the Apostle Paul is amazed.
He's perplexed that there is this dissuasion of
these people to try and dissuade him from
the purposes of God.
I want to tell you, the devil hasn't
changed.
And if he can dissuade you from the
purposes of God in your life, he's going
to do it.
He's going to do everything possible that he
can to change your heart.
I'm going to show that to you this
afternoon, some of the most simplest scriptures, how
the devil tries to come and dissuade you
from that which God has called you to
do.
Now, the Apostle Paul's doctrine was one that
was kept by the power of God.
And in Corinthians he said, For the love
of God constraineth us.
You see, all along through his ministry, even
when he was with the Corinthian church, he
told them, he said, Now listen, you've got
to understand and come to an understanding of
one thing, that when God lays hold of
your life, when God lays a hold of
a man or a woman's life, he will
keep them.
The word constrain, the Apostle Paul using this
word for the love of Christ, constraineth us,
the word literally means to keep.
So God says, and he's speaking through the
Apostle Paul, and he's speaking to this church
and he says, This is my doctrine, you
have to get this settled in your heart.
It's going to help you in fighting against
the enemy when he comes to dissuade you
from the purposes of God.
You've got to get settled one thing in
your heart, that when God calls you and
he lays his hand upon your life, he's
able to keep you.
The love of God, the love of God
is able to keep me.
The love of God is able to hold
me, even in a wicked world like we
are living today.
I'm confident of this one thing, that the
power of Almighty God through his love is
able to keep me.
There's no fear in my heart that I'm
going to go astray.
There's something that God puts into the heart
of the believer that God is able to
keep us and to hold us.
So the Apostle Paul says, this is my
doctrine.
Yes, I am kept from the power of
evil.
So when he talks about this word constrain,
that the love of God is able to
constrain us or keep us, he's saying, yes,
I'm kept from the power of evil, but
I'm also kept alive unto God.
You see, when God keeps his people, it's
always for a dual purpose.
Yes, he's going to keep us from evil,
but he's also going to keep us alive.
Yes, he will keep us from harm of
evildoers, but he'll also keep me as a
light unto wicked men.
So there's always the dual purpose.
Yes, he'll keep us from harm, but he
also is keeping us so that we can
shine in the world.
Yes, I am kept from hurtful temptations, but
I'm also kept with insight and discernment to
live for him.
Yes, I'm kept from foolish and damaging lusts,
but I'm also kept in holiness unto the
Lord.
Yes, I'm kept by the power of God,
but for what?
What is it that God has for my
life?
Why does he keep us?
Why is this the doctrine of the apostle
Paul, that God has the power with which
to keep any individual who puts their trust
in the living God, God is able to
keep them.
Because God has a purpose, he wants us
to be engaged in a work and a
purpose that he has that absolutely is mind
-boggling.
I tell you, beloved, this whole week, I've
just seen people's lives touched.
People have come to me so many times
through this three-day fasting on how their
lives have been changed, they've been delivered, they've
been set free.
If only we could have an understanding of
the power that God and the life that
God has for us.
I think we are so myopic in how
we see things.
We only see our block.
We only see where we live.
We only see the little things we're about.
But God sees things from all eternity's sake.
We're dealing with Almighty God.
We're dealing with a God who created the
heavens and the earth.
He's got a plan for us and a
purpose for us, and the devil knows it.
That's why he does everything in his power
to keep you from the purposes of Almighty
God.
It's like my grandkids.
I was sharing this on a Friday night
one time.
My daughter-in-law was dropped off at
the front of the apartment, and we're on
the 25th floor, and she had called ahead
on the cell phone and said, could I
meet you at the foyer just to help
with the luggage and the kids?
And I said I would, but I was
busy on the phone, and so I missed
her.
So I finished up on the phone.
I hung up, and I raced to the
elevator.
I went down, and I got to the
foyer, and I missed her.
I asked the doorman, I said, did you
see a young lady here with two little
things about this height and this height?
And he said, yep, they've already gone ahead
of you.
So I raced back to the elevator, and
I tell you, it's an amazing thing because
only grandparents understand this kind of stuff.
I was on about the 23rd or the
22nd floor, and I heard on the 25th
floor such yelling like I have never...
I'm three floors away from the floor where
I live on, and I can hear these
two grandkids yelling, Papa!
Papa!
They were screaming.
My daughter-in-law said they were yelling
louder than they've ever heard them yell before
because I wasn't there to open the door.
And the moment I walked out of that
elevator, I don't know what they think about
elevators, but they yelled my name, and here
I step out of the elevator.
And they were so excited.
They jumped up and down.
They ran to me.
I picked them up in both arms.
Beloved, let me ask you a question.
What do these kids know about my life?
They don't know my background.
They don't know my life.
They don't know where I come from.
But all they know is that this is
my grandpa, and when he picks me up,
I'm safe.
There's something that takes place, and as soon
as I got them into my arms, they
were kissing me on the cheek and hugging
me and pulling my ear, and there was
an impartation from my heart to them.
They just know that there's something about walking
with grandpa that they are safe.
You see, this is the doctrine that the
Apostle Paul was saying.
I can't tell you how God imparts the
understanding and the knowledge that when you commit
to Him, that He has the keeping power
to hold you regardless of the circumstances.
I can't understand it.
I can't teach you about it.
We can talk about it, but only God
imparts that unto the understanding of the person's
heart.
So when you commit yourself to God, there's
an impartation.
I can't tell you how He does it,
but I know that when I commit my
heart to Him, that there is an importation
that comes to me that He is able
to keep me through everything that I go
through in life.
Hallelujah!
God is able to keep us.
You can't learn it.
It's something that is received by the Holy
Ghost.
Just like those kids, they didn't spend hours
with their mom at two and one year
of age, understanding where grandpa comes from, what
he earns and where he lives, where he's
going, and, oh, okay, I can trust him.
It didn't come by knowledge.
It came by an association that they see
that we love each other.
I love my son and my daughter-in
-law, and they love grandma.
It comes by this association that when we
come into each other's presence, they don't care
about the past.
They don't care what they're going through.
All they know is, here is my papa,
and as soon as I held him in
their arms, there was a tremendous joy in
their heart.
Beloved, that's what God is all about.
That's what Christianity is all about.
That's the importation of God that He gives
to our hearts, a knowledge that He can
keep us and hold us, no matter what
we're going through.
Our God is able to impart that assurance
in the heart.
See, this is what the Apostle Paul has
received all of his life, all of his
walk with God.
We can read about all the stonings at
Lystra and all the persecutions at Derby and
Iconium and where he's left for dead.
We can talk about the shipwrecks.
We can talk about all the things that
he went through.
Why does he go back again and again,
not being persuaded away from the very calling
of God?
Because there is a continuous importation of God
and life into his soul.
And he says, I'm not willing to give
that up for any person.
He says, I'm not willing to give up
that which God gives to me by the
power of the Holy Ghost, not for any...
I'm not going to save my life for
it.
To be absent from this body is to
be present with the Lord.
Does that make sense to you this afternoon?
There's an importation that God gives to those
that love him.
Now, beloved, the heart needs to be engaged.
You see, there is a power that God
will keep us and that knowledge is imparted
to us.
It's imparted by the presence of the Holy
Ghost.
There's a knowledge and understanding He'll keep us
and that's given to us by the power
of the Holy Spirit.
But God intends, it's not enough just for
you to have an understanding that God will
keep you.
He is wanting your heart to be involved.
So many times we miss this crucial part.
God, yes, He can keep us.
He can guide us.
He can take us through storms.
But there's one thing that He asks of
us.
There's something that He requires that we engage
our heart with His.
That He has all of our...
He might have my life, but does He
have my heart?
I might come to the house of God,
but does He have my heart?
And see, this is what God established from
way back that He wants our heart involvement
with everything that He does.
The joy of the grandkids when they're in
my arms and giving me kisses on the
cheek and pulling my hair and my glasses
off.
It's their way of demonstrating.
I've got their heart.
They've got my heart.
There's an issue of the heart that needs
to be dealt with.
And so here in these last few days
of prayer and fasting, God has been speaking
to us, ministering to us.
And I tell you, the very thing that
He's after is the issue of the heart.
Does He have your heart?
We can come and be blessed, but God
wants to know, do I have your heart?
You see, in Exodus chapter 12, and this
is the scripture that the Holy Spirit put
on my heart for this afternoon.
In Exodus chapter 12, verses 5 and 6,
it says, He's talking about the Passover.
Your lamb shall be without blemish.
So He's talking to the children of Israel
and He says, this is the time of
the Passover and you need to get a
lamb.
It needs to be without blemish, a male
of the first year.
In other words, it's going to be a
year old.
And then it says, ye shall take it
out from the sheep or from the goats
and ye shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month.
And the whole assembly of the congregation of
Israel shall kill it in the evening.
So God is giving these people instruction here.
Now, don't miss what is taking place.
You see, God has promised them.
He said, on this Passover, this very first
Passover, when they're going to be taken out
of Egypt on this very first Passover, God
is giving them the assurance.
He says that when you take the blood
of the lamb and you put it on
your doorpost and you sprinkle it with hyssop
on your house, and God is giving them
a promise.
He says, there is going to be a
keeping power that will save you from death.
God is going to say, He's telling them
that you take this lamb, take the blood
and you apply it to your household.
And He says, then when the angel of
death comes, it'll bypass you.
There is a keeping power.
You will not be hurt.
There will be no damage to your life.
God will keep you.
But you've got to apply the blood.
Now, don't miss the import of the verse
of the scripture.
It says, you shall take it out from
the sheepfold and the goats, and you shall
keep it up to the fourteenth day of
the same month.
Now, that was basically four days from the
tenth to the fourteenth.
So, I began to look this up in
the scriptures, and there's a lot of commentators
who talk about this as they're trying to
find some deep significance on the four days.
Why should we take this lamb and keep
it for four days?
I'll tell you why.
They've got their own fandangled ideas.
They've got all their kind of things.
I just put that down.
And do you know what the Holy Ghost
said to me?
He said, very simply, because I want your
heart involved in it.
I want you to get the lamb.
I want you to look it over.
This is what He says.
He says, you shall keep it.
You shall take it out from the sheep.
You see, there's something that God wanted from
the people.
There's something.
So, you take the lamb.
He says, yes, the keeping power of God,
the deliverance of God is going to be
there for you.
That's the assurance of who I am.
I'm God.
I'll keep you.
But there's something I require of you.
I want you to take that lamb out.
And for four days, I want you to
look it over.
I want you to hold it.
I want you to behold it.
I want you to be involved.
There's something of the heart that needs to
be involved in this.
I just don't want you going out on
the day, on the night of the sacrifice,
going in and taking something and slaying it
and taking the blood.
No.
There's something.
I want you to take it beforehand.
And there needs to be a heart involvement
of you in this.
You need to see it.
Let me read a scripture to you in
John, just to show you this.
In 1 John chapter 1, it says, That
which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon and our hands
have handled, of the word of life.
This is 1 John, the epistles of John.
1 John chapter 1, verse 1.
And so here the apostle is saying, you
need to look with your eyes upon this.
Your hands have handled it, of the word
of life.
For the life was made manifest and we
have seen it and bear witness and show
it unto you, that eternal life which is
with the Father, which is manifested unto us.
That which ye have seen and heard and
declare, we unto you, that also we may
have fellowship with us.
And truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
And these things, right we unto you, that
your joy may be full.
See, it's the handling.
There's something about the heart when we look
upon Christ.
Christ is the Lamb.
And this is what he's saying in Exodus.
He says, you've got to take this thing
apart.
Look upon it.
Take four days.
Make sure.
In fact, Malachi says this.
He proves that God was wanting a heart
issue here, not just a sacrifice.
Isaiah chapter 1, if you want to read
that, it's a scathing report about them just
taking sacrifices.
God just didn't want sacrifices.
He wanted the heart of the sacrificer involved
with Him.
God doesn't want people just to come to
the house and just go through the motions.
It's not enough.
He says, I've got all this for you.
I'll keep you.
There's power.
There's deliverance.
My life will be imparted unto you.
But there's something I require from you.
I want your heart to be involved with
what I'm doing.
Don't be disengaged.
And this is what the Apostle Paul is
fighting.
These people want to disengage him from the
very purposes of God.
He says, I won't be persuaded.
I'm not going to be persuaded differently from
that which God has put into my heart.
And so this Lamb needs to be looked
over.
Your heart needs to be involved.
It needs to be touched.
Malachi says, and if you offer the blind
for sacrifice, is it not evil?
If you offer the lame and sick, is
it not evil?
In other words, and he says, you try
giving that to the governor.
Malachi comes along and says, why don't you
go to your pen and take some sick,
lame, blind animal and try and take that
to your governor and say, Governor, I brought
this gift for you.
He says he's not going to accept it.
But we're doing that with God.
He says, you're disengaging.
You're coming in, but your heart is not
involved.
You're coming in, you're going through the motions,
but where's your heart?
Is your heart involved in what God has
for us?
He's looking to the heart.
He wants to know, do I have your
heart this afternoon?
Check it out.
You make the decision.
You bring it to the Lord.
So when Jesus, talking in Matthew chapter 21,
and Jesus went into the temple of God
and cast them all out and sold them
that bought in the temple and overthrew the
tables of the money changers and the seats
of them that sold doves.
And he said unto them, it is written,
my house shall be called a house of
prayer, but you've made it a den of
thieves.
And I asked myself the question, what is
he talking about here?
I believe that one of the aspects that
they robbed, you see, this is what God
was showing me in my heart.
What they were robbing from the people was
their heart involvement.
God had said way back in Exodus, I
want you to be involved with this.
When I come into your life, I want
your involvement.
I want you to participate with me in
what I'm doing.
I've got a plan and a purpose, but
I need your heart.
I can't take you ahead if I don't
have everything that is in your heart.
And so what they were robbing from the
people was this, that the leaders of that
day had come and they said, we've looked
over the lamb, we've bought all the animals
that you eat, you don't have to be
involved.
All you need to do is bring us
the cash.
Just give us the money and buy your
animal and just sacrifice to the Lord.
You see, God says you've made it a
den of thieves.
There's something that God is showing to the
heart of the person.
He says, why have you robbed the people?
How did he rob them?
How did they rob them?
They robbed them because they did not give
the people the opportunity to have a heart
in coming to God.
That's why when afterwards he pushes all the
tables over, we see that Jesus brings back
the animals.
He says he opens up the doors and
he says, bring the blind and the lame.
And they came to him in the temple
and he healed them.
You see, when God opened up the doors
and allowed those people to come with their
heart, they couldn't get there because the people
had robbed, the leaders had robbed them from
coming and bringing their heart to the altar
and saying, God, I want to see God.
God wants all of our heart at the
altar.
And so when they robbed them of that,
they were held back.
And when Jesus pushes all of those tables
over, the doors then opened and the miraculous
power of God.
You see, what God is, I think, saying
to the people at this point, he's saying
that when your heart is involved, yes, I'll
keep you.
Yes, I'll deliver you.
Yes, I'll do all those things.
The keeping power of God is there.
But when I've got your heart, then you
will go forth with the mighty power of
almighty God.
You don't, you won't have the loss of
speaking words that like the apostle Paul says,
I didn't come with man's wisdom, but I
came with the power and the demonstration of
the Holy Ghost.
See, many times that's what's lacking in so
many people's lives.
And it's not because God has failed, but
it's because God hasn't had our hearts.
But when we get our heart, when God
takes a hold of our heart and he
has everything that is in our heart.
I tell you, I believe, beloved, those tables
go over in our hearts of our lives.
We no longer just letting somebody else get
the sacrifice, but God gets all of our
heart.
It's at that point in time that we
go forward in the name of the Lord.
And we begin to see the lame begin
to walk, the blind begin to see, the
deaf begin to hear.
Those that are dead begin to get raised.
Their life begins to count by the power
of almighty God.
And this is, in fact, Jeremiah was having
a problem.
Let me show you something in the book
of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah chapter 4, this is what he says.
He says in verse 30, he says the
people were going through the motions.
In chapter 4 verse 30, he says, And
when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?
In Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 30, he says,
Here is the nation, the whole nation has
been spoiled round about them.
Things are chaotic.
And he says, what will you do?
And so, he sees the people, Jeremiah sees
the people going through the motions.
Though thou closest thyself with crimson, though thou
deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou
rentest thy face with painting.
In other words, you deck yourself up, you
put all your eye shadow on.
He says, you make yourself look fair.
You see, Jeremiah was dealing with the people
who were going through the motions.
They were disengaged from the very heart of
God.
They were there in the house.
In fact, if you go to chapter 7,
their cry is in chapter 7 verse 4,
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The
temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord.
See, they were going to the temple of
the Lord.
They were saying, don't we have the house
of God?
Aren't we coming?
Don't we look fair on the outside?
They looked like everything was just fine.
Everything was great with their lives.
Everything looked as if it was perfect.
They've got all their right robes on, crimson.
They've decked themselves out with gold.
They've painted up their faces.
They look themselves fair.
Everybody on the outside looks at this holot
and Jeremiah sees.
And God says, even though they do this
on the outside, they are just game playing.
There's no power.
Their whole life round about them is being
destroyed.
They don't even recognize it.
They don't even recognize it all round about
them.
The whole nation is going to pieces.
And there's a destruction taking place.
They don't see it.
They don't understand it.
And they continue just to go through the
motions.
See, God isn't looking just for the motions.
He's looking, is my heart involved in this?
Does God have my heart?
Does He have everything that is in my
heart?
And see, the tragedy of this, beloved, is
in chapter 4.
It says, verse 22, For my people is
foolish.
They have not known me.
They are Sardish children and they have none
understanding.
They are wise to do evil, but to
do good they have no knowledge.
And so, He's saying that even though they
go through the motions, they are wise to
do evil, but to do good they don't
have a knowledge of.
He says, I want their heart.
I just don't want their actions, even though
they dress themselves up, even though they go
to the temple, even though they go through
the motions and they raise their hands.
He says that God doesn't mind that, but
He says, but there's something that's missing.
And the tragedy of this that Jeremiah begins
to speak out here in verse 23 is,
I beheld the earth and lo, it was
without form and void and the heavens, and
that they had no light.
And I beheld the mountains and lo, they
trembled and the hills moved lightly.
I beheld and lo, that there was no
man and all the birds of the heavens
were fled.
And so, He goes on.
So, what Jeremiah is saying is that when
there's a people who go through the motions,
and we see in the churches in the
world today that there's a people who go
through the motions, but the opposite, instead of
it being a creative work that is taking
place in the hearts and lives.
See, God's intent for every single person, that
He would impart to them a knowledge of
His keeping power.
He would impart to them, when God has
a person's heart, He imparts a knowledge that
I'll keep you, I'll deliver you.
But there's something else that He imparts.
He imparts a power that changes lives.
See, Genesis is a creative work when God
spoke, and the world, the whole world.
You see, what encourages me is that when
God spoke, it says the whole world changed.
It was once void and in darkness, but
as soon as He spoke the word, light
covered the whole place.
Life came about.
Which means that God, when we take it
to understand in our lives, is that when
God speaks into our hearts and lives, it's
the heart and the purpose of God, that
wherever we go, that people's lives change supernaturally
by the power of Almighty God.
We heard this morning how many of us
in our hearts struggle with speaking and praying
for homosexuals as Pastor David had mentioned so
powerfully this morning.
Why don't we pray for some of these
people?
And as he mentioned, I know that I
struggle with the same things.
It just struck a chord in me.
I don't pray for some of these relatives
of mine or pray for some of these
people who are way out there because in
my heart, I don't believe that they can
change.
I don't believe it.
And yet, the whole Scripture from Genesis onwards,
there's an understanding that God says, of course
they can't change.
There's no power for them to change.
There's no ability for them to change in
their own strength.
There's nothing that can cause them to change.
That's why there's no program that can lead
them to a place of change.
They can try anything.
There's no program.
But God is saying, but when they come
to Me, I can change them.
I can take that world that is void
and full of darkness and destitute of life.
I can take the worst sinner that is
so destitute of God.
You see, that's what the whole message of
Genesis is about.
It's a place that is darkness and void
and no life.
But God speaks one word into that life.
God speaks one word into that person who
can't change and immediately there is change.
The power, the almighty power of God comes
into that place.
You see, this is what God is wanting
the church to walk in.
I am firmly convinced that every one of
our lives has a divine purpose with almighty
God.
And that when He gets the heart of
somebody, He intends not only to keep you
and deliver you, but He intends for you
to take the very word of life to
men and women.
And when you speak it, God is there
to change their lives.
Hallelujah.
I believe that with every single thing within
me.
But here we have a people who, in
Jeremiah, who are game playing.
Here are people who are, they go through
the motions.
And see, the reverse is taking place.
Jeremiah says, don't you understand that when you
get disconnected with my Holy Spirit, that when
you don't have your heart involved in this,
that the opposite begins to happen.
The very life that was created begins to
revert back to chaos.
See, this is what he is saying.
He said, my people who don't understand, there
is a reversal that begins to take place.
How many people, you know who the most
miserable person on the face of the earth
is?
The most miserable person isn't only the sinner
who is in the depth of their sin,
but it's the backslider.
The backslider who has tasted and tried and
seen that the Lord is good.
That person is most miserable because they don't
fit into the world anymore.
They try, but they don't fit in.
How do you fit in with the world?
You can't, you've been taken out of it.
But yet you don't fit into the house
of God.
See, the backslider is the most miserable individual.
Why?
Because Jeremiah is saying that when your heart
is not involved and you're just going through
the motions, then there's an opposite work that
begins to take place.
That which was chaotic, that became light and
life to you, goes back into the place
of chaos.
People's lives go back into a time of
difficulty and hurt and pain.
And so this is what Jeremiah is speaking
about.
And yet, he says further on in the
Scriptures, he said, but if you come back
to me, he says, if you come, he
says in chapter 7, verse 3, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
amend your ways and your doings, and I
will cause you to dwell in this place.
The whole word dwell means that you will
come into a place of life.
He says, if you will just say in
your heart, God, I come back with my
whole heart to you, and you can have
my heart, I'm not just going to go
through the motions, I'm not going to come
and play games with you, I'm not just
going to raise my hands and pretend and
paint my face and say, you know, I'm
a good looking person and I'm in the
house of God, I'm here worshipping, but you
don't have my heart.
But God says, if you will just come
and give me your heart, he says, I
tell you what I'm going to do, I'm
going to cause you to dwell in this
place.
See, this is what Jesus was showing when
he turned the tables over.
Immediately, we see that the supernatural power of
Almighty God began to change men and women's
lives.
The very second that those things are turned
over, there comes light.
God takes the blind, the lame, the maimed,
and he begins to touch their hearts and
their lives.
And this is what God is speaking to
those who love him and say, God, this
is what I want.
Turn with me to one last scripture this
afternoon in the book of Mark.
We see the same thing with the disciples.
The enemy is always trying to disengage them
from the very purposes of the Lord.
In Mark chapter 10, verse
32, they were on their way to Jerusalem.
And they were amazed and they were afraid.
They were afraid to go on ahead.
There was something that was coming that they
weren't sure of.
And they took the twelve aside and he
began to speak to them what things should
happen and saying, behold, we go up to
Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be
delivered unto the chief priests and unto the
scribes and they shall condemn him to death
and shall deliver him to the Gentiles and
they shall mock him and scourge him and
shall spit upon him and shall kill him.
And on the third day, he shall rise
again.
Now, immediately after that, and by the way,
that's the third time he's trying to get
this message across to them.
And in chapter 8, verse 31, he told
them that.
In chapter 9, verse 31, he told them
the same thing.
And now in chapter 10, verses 33 and
34, he's trying to get this message across
to them that things are going to change.
And immediately he shares that with them.
In verse 35, James and John, the sons
of Zebedee, come to him saying, Master, we
should that you should do something for us.
We'd like you to do something.
Well, what would you like me to do?
He said, I'd like for one to sit
on the right hand and the other to
sit on the left hand.
Immediately, you see, Jesus is trying to tell
them the message of life here is that
when you are about the purposes of Almighty
God, the end result is going to be
life.
He says, yes, there's going to be scourging.
Yes, they're going to spit on me.
But he says, they'll kill him.
But on the third day, he shall rise
again.
The whole purpose of God is that when
the heart and the mind, the purposes are
with the things of God, he says, the
end result is always life.
Immediately, they come and they try to think,
well, is life going to be?
Can I sit on this side and that
side?
And then he goes into verse 42, and
he says to them, you've got to guard
your hearts.
Don't be disengaged from the purposes of God.
In verse 42, he says, know that they
which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles
exercise lordship over them, and their great ones
exercise authority upon them.
But so shall it not be among you.
Don't let these things get in your heart.
But whosoever will be great among you shall
be your minister, and whosoever of you shall
be chiefest shall be servant of all.
For even the Son of Man came not
to minister, but to minister and to give
his life as a ransom for many.
And so Jesus is saying, see, when your
heart is connected rightly with God, when God
has got a hold of your heart, the
end result of that is the power of
God being made manifest into life.
And immediately he goes, as they're walking, they
get close to Jericho, here comes blind Bartimaeus,
and we see the power of God.
What would you like me to do unto
you?
See, the whole lesson, don't just stop at
this part when he's teaching the disciples.
He's saying, don't set your focus on things
that will disengage you from the purposes of
God.
He says, when God has got your heart,
he says, there will come into your heart
a purpose in you to want to serve
and want to love people.
It doesn't matter what background they come from.
It doesn't matter where they're going or what
they're coming from.
God says, I'm going to put something in
your heart to love these people.
And at the end result of that, and
then he walks on the way, and the
end result is, here comes a blind person.
See, every time that Jesus went and he
communicated these things to people, the end result
of his communication, if you read the Gospels,
you find that there is the power to
change lives.
The power of God to set people free.
The demoniac, everywhere he went, as he's teaching
these lessons to the disciples, he says, you
let your heart be so absorbed in the
things of God.
Let God have a hold of your heart.
He says, the end result of that man's
life, you will see the power of God
touching men and women's lives, setting them free.
Beloved, as we go into praying for our
families and praying, as we heard this morning,
for those that we would not normally pray
for, let God, number one, get a hold
of our heart.
It's no good me praying for my relatives
if God doesn't have my whole heart.
If he doesn't have my whole heart, if
I haven't taken time to hold and to
see what he wants to do in my
life, and say, God, take my whole life.
Whenever God gets a person's life, the end
result of that person is the power of
God being unleashed in their hearts and lives.
Hallelujah.
Every time God will touch a life when
you give him your heart.
This afternoon, or when we come before the
Lord, there might be a case.
God, I've been going through the motions.
Yes, you've touched me.
Yes, I believe that you'll keep me.
But there's areas of my heart.
See, I believe that God will interfere.
He's like a mother-in-law.
He'll interfere.
I believe that with all of my heart.
I believe that God won't ever leave us
alone.
I think that God will come and he'll
interfere in my being.
He'll cause things to take place in my
walk.
He knows when I'm not walking with him.
He knows when my heart is there.
And he will interfere.
We sometimes think that God is a stand
-off God.
He doesn't get involved in our lives.
I've got news for you this afternoon.
God will not let you alone.
He will interfere with your life.
He'll arrest you.
He'll trouble you.
He'll shake you up.
He allows circumstances to come, and you'll get
so shaken up in your heart and life
until you say, God, I give you my
heart.
And as soon as he gets your heart,
I tell you the end result of that
is the power of God.
Always the end result.
Always the end result is that God wants
to have creative work done in men and
women's hearts, those hard areas changed instantaneously by
the power of Almighty God.
I can tell you, you have to know
it by the Holy Ghost.
This afternoon, is God interfering with your life?
Has he been disturbing you of late?
Have things not been going so well?
It's not the devil.
Or the devil might have a hand in
it, but God's allowing him to do that.
Are you shaken up?
Are there questions?
Are you troubled this afternoon?
I want to tell you, it's not that
God just wants to trouble you.
He wants to get your heart.
And as soon as he gets your heart,
the end result is the power of God
is made manifest.
Darkness changes to light.
Chains break.
Life gets turned around.
The purposes of God go on forward.
Hallelujah.
My altar call then is simple this afternoon.
Are you troubled?
Don't give up.
Are you troubled?
Then I can tell you right now, there's
something that God is after in your heart.
He doesn't have your whole heart.
And if you're troubled, and there's something going
on, I can tell you this right now.
He wants to arrest it, deliver you from
it, set you free, and then allow the
power of almighty God to replace that which
held you captive.
Amen?
Let's stand together.
Lord Jesus, this afternoon, we know that you
dig in our hearts.
We know that you come by the power
of your spirit to speak to us.
Lord, it's always the work of the devil
to disengage your heart.
It's always the work of the enemy to
get us into motions without it being our
whole heart.
It's like we can keep a reservation.
But God, this afternoon, I believe that you
are wanting to do some supernatural things in
men and women's lives.
There are people who are wanting to be
used of God.
There are people here today that you've put
your call upon their lives.
But they've been somewhere along the way persuaded.
They've been persuaded differently to what you've spoken.
And Lord, I pray that today you just
arrest that area, bring deliverance, and the power
of God into their lives.
In Jesus' name, amen.
These altars are open.
In the annex, you come.
If that is you, you feel troubled, it's
a very specific call, but you feel troubled,
and you want God just to touch your
heart, you come this afternoon.
God knows, and you know before Him that
area that you just are troubled in.
You trust Him this afternoon.
God knows as you've responded to Him.
He knows your heart.
And the promise of Almighty God is this.
As you give your heart to Him, He
replaces every last bit of darkness with light.
You see, the supernatural work of God is
so simple.
You can't learn it.
You can't have people impart it to you.
It's something that God and God alone does.
It's an exchange.
You say, God, I exchange my life for
Your life.
And in that moment of exchange, the power
of God comes and changes and does a
work that only God can do.
It's a marvelous thing.
You just raise your hands tonight, this afternoon.
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, I want to give You my
whole heart.
Lord today, You know what's been troubling me.
You know what's been troubling me.
I believe that You've taken it and nailed
it to the cross.
I don't have to carry it.
I might have participated, but I don't have
to carry it.
I give it to You today.
Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that You are God
and that You can change even the most
stubborn and resistant areas of my life.
I do not want to be persuaded away
from the purposes of God.
And this afternoon, I give You my heart.
I give You the problems and I let
the divine exchange, my sin, my struggle for
Your Holy Spirit and Your power.
God, I receive it.
Change my heart, my life right now.
I thank You that at this moment my
life is changed.
Not because I feel different, but by faith
the power of God has come into my
life and broken that area in my life.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
I give Him thanks.
Hallelujah.
Now Father, Lord, we thank You that You've
done a work today and we leave the
house this afternoon with the knowledge that You
will keep it.
Every good thing, Lord, You will keep it.
We are convinced of that.
Now Lord, bless Your church.
Bless Your people.
Let there be a joy unspeakable and full
of glory this afternoon that there's been a
divine exchange made and I'm different.
Hallelujah.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
This is the conclusion of the message.