Welcome to all our visitors.
I want you to experience the presence of
the Holy Ghost, gold.
The Queen, the Queen in gold.
I'm going to read the entire chapter, just
follow me if you will please.
Psalm 45, my heart is indicting a good
matter.
I speak of the things which I have
made touching the King.
My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer.
Thou art fairer than the children of men.
Grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God
hath blessed thee forever.
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most
Mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of
truth and meekness and righteousness.
Thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of
the King's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee.
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of thy kingdom is a right
scepter.
Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness.
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes
and acacia, but of the out of the
ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad.
King's daughters were among thy honorable women.
Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen
in gold of offer.
Hearken, O daughter, consider and incline thine ear.
Forget also thine own people and thy father's
house.
So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty,
for he is thy Lord, and worship thou
him.
The daughter of Tyre shall be there with
a gift.
Even the rich among the people shall treat
thy favor.
The King's daughter is all-glorious within.
Her clothing is of wrought gold.
She shall be brought unto the King in
raiment of needlework.
The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall
be brought unto thee.
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought.
They shall enter into the King's palace.
Instead of thy father shall be thy children,
whom thou mayest make princess in all the
earth.
I will make thy name to be remembered
in all generations.
Therefore shall the people praise thee forever and
ever.
Look at verse 9.
King's daughters were among thy honorable women.
Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen
in gold of offer.
Heavenly Father, I pray for the anointing the
anointing of the Holy Spirit to be upon
my body.
This body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost.
Cleansed and sanctified, the word may come forth
pure and strong and let it affect our
minds and our spirits and our bodies.
And Jesus, may you be glorified.
We take your authority over every principality and
power of darkness, every lying spirit, anything that
would hinder the word of God.
Give us ears to hear.
God, give us ears to hear.
Lord, go deep into our hearts.
Probe us.
Let the anointing and the anointing of the
Holy Spirit be mine, Lord.
It is your spirit that is upon me
today.
Lord, I pray that you would open our
hearts and our ears and our understanding in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now, the 45th Psalm is a beautiful picture
of the bride and the bridegroom.
There's a great marriage about to take place
in this chapter, and the writer is actually
boiling over with excitement and ecstasy.
In fact, when it says, my heart is
indicted, means my heart is boiling over with
excitement.
He can hardly contain himself because he is
trying to describe something he sees in his
mind, an incredible marriage.
A grand and glorious bridegroom and a beautiful
bride dressed in gold.
Do you remember a number of years ago,
the whole world was mesmerized watching a royal
wedding in England, Princess Di and Prince Charles.
And they had what they call every television
station.
Our network had what they called color commentators,
and they were describing everything.
They described the royalty of Prince Charles.
They went into his history with film clips,
and they showed you his fancy horses, how
he played polo.
They talked about his duties as a prince
and also that he was going to inherit
the king.
The throne would be the next king of
England.
Went through all of his palaces as well,
described everything.
And then, of course, at the wedding, described
how he was dressed.
And of course, the descriptions for Princess Di
was incredible.
Romantic, breathtaking, gorgeous, you can name it all.
They described her gown to detail.
They described her flowers.
In fact, even when they were in the
church, there was a commentator whispering.
You could see it, but they were whispering,
isn't she gorgeous?
And look at her shoes and flowers.
And they were describing everything.
And this was to be, people all over
the world cried.
And I have tears rolling down, this gorgeous,
romantic marriage till death do us part.
Folks, we've lived to see that become one
of the ugliest spectacles on the face of
the earth.
But folks, we're talking now about a marriage
that is so grand and glorious that will
never stop, never end, an eternal marriage between
the bridegroom and his bride.
Hallelujah.
This marriage is full of romance, beauty, majesty,
and it's eternal.
It's about King Jesus taking a bride.
Hallelujah.
That's what this whole chapter, now I read
that and some of you missed it when
I was reading, you missed it completely.
The commentator here is the Holy Ghost.
He's describing.
This is marvelous.
The incredible scene that is unfolding and he's
showing it to us.
He's looking at a throne and the Lord
God, King Jesus is sitting or standing on
his throne waiting for his bride to come
with her retinue down before him in the
royal palace.
Now he is dressed in his military regalia
because the sword is strapped at his thigh.
All his enemies have been conquered.
In fact, every battle he's ever fought, everything
he's ever done in the way of mercy,
everything he has done has been for this
bride.
Folks, every battle against Satan, every victory the
Lord's won is for you, it's for me,
those that are under the blood.
And he's standing there in his military regalia
with his sword strapped at his side.
He's just come from his father's side.
The father is so excited because he has
prepared this bride.
He's come from the royal palaces where the
father has anointed him with the oil of
gladness.
All of his regalia is just full of
the aroma of myrrh and aloes and wonderful
aroma.
And he is absolutely overjoyed because this is
what it's been all about.
He is standing in his own palace.
He's waiting for her.
He's waiting for this wonderful woman who's going
to be his bride.
Scripture from 2 to 8 describes him fairer
than the children of men, full of mercy
and grace.
Hallelujah.
And he is just, he's excited.
And in fact this, the commentator, verse 1,
my heart is boiling over in a good
manner, this wonderful thing that's about to happen.
His spirit, his body, everything's boiling over.
He's exploding with excitement because he sees the
King, King Jesus, standing, waiting for his bride.
Do you know that you and I are
right now seated in heavenly places with Christ
Jesus, but he's waiting for the marriage?
There won't be a marriage, folks.
We are engaged to Jesus.
But soon and very soon we are going
to be married.
King's daughters were among the honorable women.
There were many, many beautiful, honorable women in
the kingdom, but he chose one.
There was one.
And upon thy right hand, verse 9, did
stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
Now people try to figure that out.
Ophir was simply the purest gold made in
those days.
Purest gold refined.
Mine didn't refine.
Some say it was South African.
Some say Indian.
Doesn't matter.
It was pure gold.
And upon thy right hand did stand the
queen in gold in Ophir.
Now I want to talk about this bride.
What a sight she is.
Being brought to the King.
She's glowing because her heart's pure.
This is not a harlot that's been transformed.
This is a pure-hearted woman.
And she is coming now toward the King.
She's being brought to the bridegroom.
What incredible needlework.
This is not some broad cloth that has
been picked out of some big yard.
This is all handwork, needlework.
She's dressed in needlepoint and the needlepoint is
all in gold.
She's glistening from head to toe with ornaments.
And she is, her face is looking toward
the King.
And what a sight that no wonder this
writer is just boiling over with excitement.
He is seeing this incredible sight.
Here she comes.
Being brought to the King and the trumpets.
What a, what a glorious sound.
Because behind her, as far as the eye
can see, and beyond, her retinue of virgins,
all dressed in white.
And she's leading this procession in a coming
to the King of kings and the Lord
of lords.
And the Bible says the virgins are companions
that follow her shall be brought unto thee
with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought.
They shall enter in to the King's palace.
Can you imagine that moment?
King Jesus, his heart full of joy because
this is the moment.
This is what he died for.
This is the purpose of all creation.
And this is the highlight.
This is a moment.
And here she comes, all dressed in gold,
the righteousness of Jesus himself.
Pure gold.
Here she comes, marching toward him and her
retinue with her.
All of the redeemed of all mankind.
All the virgins, wide awake and they're dancing
and they're singing.
And what a sound.
Tambourines and stringed instruments.
Can you see them marching and dancing?
Because this is the royal wedding.
Hallelujah.
I want to stop here for just a
moment.
Up to now, this sounds just like another
royal wedding.
In fact, there are some commentators who don't
see the messianic truth of this.
In fact, most of the commentators have not
seen the messianic picture of this, but I
agree with the more spiritual.
I believe the more spiritual see the messianic
part of it.
Those who see it just as a historical
wedding say that was simply King Joram of
Judah marrying Athaliah.
And there was a royal wedding at the
time and it was a great wedding, but
this is messianic.
It's very clear.
I don't see how anybody can miss it.
This is about Jesus and his bride.
Incredible.
I believe this is all my point.
I want you to go to Revelation 21.
I want to show you the bride.
Revelation 21.
Hallelujah.
Revelation 21, verse 2.
Revelation 21, beginning of verse 2.
And I, John, saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared, what?
As a bride adorned for her husband.
I want you to go to verse 9.
There came unto me one of the seven
ages, which had the seven vials full of
the seven last plagues, and talked with me,
saying, Come hither, I will show thee the
bride, the Lamb's wife.
And he carried me away in the spirit
to a great and high mountain, and showed
me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending
out of heaven from God, having the glory
of God, and her light was like unto
the stone most precious, even like a jasper
stone clear as crystal.
Now look at me, folks.
The angel is showing John a picture of
a city coming down out of heaven, but
he's describing a people.
He's describing the pure bride of Christ.
This, it has foundations.
Twelve foundations.
Those, that's the gospel of the twelve apostles.
It has walls.
You know, walls are to keep anything out
that's not invited.
Everything is impure.
These are people are walled in.
The devil has been walled out.
It has gates.
Let in everything that should come in.
That's the gospel.
The good things are allowed in.
The bad things are kept out.
The Bible talks about a pure crystal water.
That's a clear conscience.
It's all the bride of Jesus Christ.
I'm going to show you the bride coming
down out of heaven.
Where are we seated right now but with
Christ in heavenly places by faith.
We come to him right out of heaven
itself.
Coming down out of heaven, coming out of
that place seated with Christ, with a pure
conscience, spotless, based on the doctrines of the
apostles of Jesus Christ, walled in a wall
of fire round about us, and gates.
These eyes, these ears that hear, have an
ear to hear and eyes to see and
a heart to hear.
This is the city that comes down from
heaven and all the angels speak of that
great holy city descending.
And if you read that, take time this
afternoon or this week and read Revelation 21,
you'll see a beautiful picture of the last
day church of Jesus Christ.
And as the queen stands before her bridegroom,
the marriage is about to take place.
But a voice comes.
And folks, I take this to be the
voice of the Holy Spirit.
She has already had her heart won to
the Lord.
She's already committed to this man.
She's left her house.
She's left her land.
She's left her parents.
She's left her friends.
She's left all behind.
She's committed herself to this man.
She's full of joy.
She loves this man.
She's about to be married to this man.
But before she's married, a voice comes of
warning and admonition.
And look at it there in verse 10,
Psalm 45, 10.
Hearken, O daughter, and consider an inclined thine
ear.
Now notice she's standing at his right hand.
The marriage is about to be performed.
But a voice comes to her, an inner
voice, that you're going to hear this voice
of the Holy Ghost this morning.
You're going to hear him whisper to your
heart.
Now, folks, I want you to hear me.
If you've ever heard me before as a
pastor in this public, hear me this morning.
If you want to be in the bride
of Christ, if you want to be there
on that day, if you love him, folks,
the thing that, something that worries me, or
constrains me more than going towards God and
His hell, is to be absent on that
day, and not be in His bride, and
not be embraced, and not spend an eternity
with Him.
Here's the message of the Holy Ghost.
Forget all thine own people and thy Father's
house.
Forget it.
Forget everything of the past.
She's left it.
Folks, it's not enough to leave it.
He said, forget it now.
What the Holy Ghost is saying, what this
voice is saying to the bride, you're about
to commit to Him.
Now, when you marry Him, and when you're
with Him, what is going to be your
mindset when you're married to Him?
Are you going to give Him just lip
service?
Are you going to just give Him your
body perfunctorily, and just go through the motions?
And your mind is going to be back
on your old life, on your old things,
an old friend, an old lover, something in
your past.
Now, you've left it, but have you left
it in your mind?
Has it wholly possessed you?
Have you given up the world so there's
not even a memory?
There's not a memory of the past.
There's nothing.
It's all dead.
It's all gone.
From this moment on, you are his.
Are you counting the cost?
Is what the Holy Spirit is saying.
If you counted the cost, are you really
looking at your love?
Are you really considering the cost?
Jesus said, whosoever he be of you that
forsake is not all that he hath.
He cannot be my disciple.
Jesus said, in every forsaken houses, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or land, for my name's sake
shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting
life.
Now, beloved, this is not a call for
you to leave your wife.
Some people have used that excuse.
Some guys have run away to the mission
field.
God told me to leave everything and they
just want to escape from marriage.
This is not an excuse to forsake your
obligations and family.
In fact, the Bible is full of these
challenges and commands to provide for man.
Provides not for his own.
He's worse than infidel.
He's denied the faith.
And the Bible said we're to love and
honor our wives.
And the Bible said we're to raise up
the children in the fear of God.
There's all kinds of commandments and admonitions on
this.
So it's something much else.
This is not just a physical call.
In fact, God's own definition of being forsaken
by his children is that they simply turn
away from him and turn to someone else
or something else.
And he calls that idolatry.
When you turn your heart away from me,
he said, anything that possesses your mind, your
attention, your time, your money, and your main
focus, that is your idol.
And you have forsaken me and you have
turned to idolatry.
It's not bowing down before some little image
and worshiping that image.
It's giving your heart, your time, attention, your
focus to someone or something else.
It may be good, but it's still an
idol.
And they forsook the Lord their God and
served Baal and followed other gods, followed other
interests, in other words.
Now let me tell you what this is
all about.
Follow me, please.
It's a word to the bride dressed in
gold.
You say you're ready to forsake and follow
this man, but where is your mind?
I want to talk to husbands first.
Sir, most of you can say I'm a
good provider.
I work hard.
I bring home my money.
I try not to waste it.
My children are well dressed.
I put shoes on their feet.
I dress my children.
I do everything to be a good husband
to my wife and a provider.
I work hard at that.
I spend a lot of time at it.
It consumes my time.
That's commendable.
That's commanded.
That's wonderful.
God bless you.
But one day you have to stand before
the Lord, and you have to answer.
If you're a man of God, if you're
committed to this bridegroom, if you're in the
Bridehood of Jesus Christ, how much this is
what I call a forsaking, abandoning time, where
in your mind you forsake everybody, you abandon
everything, and you leave everything behind in your
mind, and you get along with God, whether
it's on the job, whether it's driving to
work, wherever it is, and you say, Jesus,
my beloved bridegroom, this is your time.
And you forget your family.
You forget your children.
You forget everybody else.
This is our time.
How much time do you have?
Or do you have what I call loitering
time?
We loiter.
We loiter at the television set.
We loiter, and it's just hanging around time,
where we spend time with friends and everything
else.
But we don't have time alone with Him
to get to know Him.
My dear wife, not my wife, but all
the wives, your loved ones, you say, but
I'm a good wife and a good mother.
I'm submissive, and I take good care of
my children the best I know how, and
I've got a lot of problems.
I've really loved the Lord, but one day,
grandma, grandpa, wife, husband, you will stand before
the judgment seat, and he keeps good books,
and he's going to weigh all the time
that you spent with your children, your grandchildren,
your husband, your wife, with your interest, and
he's going to put it on a scale.
And then he's going to add up all
the time that you've had for him, and
put it on the other side of the
scale.
Is the scale even going to move for
you?
You see, it's not the bad that's the
enemy to the Christian, it's the good.
It's the good.
It's family.
It's career.
It's job.
And folks, I'm going to tell you, it's
not the job that stands between you and
the Lord.
It's not the family that stands before you
and the Lord.
It's the loitering of your own time that
you could have taken and didn't take it.
Folks, this is burning on my heart, because
the Lord told me if I was to
be a true shepherd this morning, I had
to come before you and tell you honestly
that some of you that are sitting here
now are not going to be in the
bride of Christ, because when you stand there,
he's not going to say, oh, here's my
beloved.
Here's one who spent so much time for
me.
Here's someone just waiting for me.
Here's somebody been expecting me.
Here's someone just overflowing with love for me.
Here's somebody that's been in my word that's
just been saturated with my word.
Here's someone that couldn't wait to wake up
to meet with me.
Somebody would not go to bed without talking
to me.
And here you are.
We are one now.
Nothing will part us.
No, no, no, because you're going to stand
before me and say, I don't know you.
I don't know you.
You had no time for me.
You didn't love my word.
You were not seeking.
You went to church and you called that
good time with me, but everybody was around.
You had no private time.
There was no intimacy.
You were not with me.
I don't know you.
How shall we escape if we neglect so
great a salvation?
How shall we escape?
I'm not going to stand here and bless
you.
I'm not mad at you, but I feel
the spirit of the living God in me
who says, where is your time with me?
That's what the Holy Spirit is saying to
this woman.
She's about to marry him.
And so the spirit of God says, listen,
you better listen.
You better hearken.
You better hear it in your heart.
Forget these things.
They take care of themselves.
Are these things first?
You can say Jesus is first.
You can say, I love him.
You can come to this church every time
the doors are open, but what do you
do when the time is your own?
How many books have you read?
How many magazines?
How many newspapers?
How much television?
How much radio?
How many of these things have entered in
and you've loitered and you've loitered and you've
loitered, and now time is running out.
Jesus is about to come and you're going
to stand before him.
Some of you are being branded by an
iron right now.
It's being branded in your very soul.
And when you stand before Jesus, it's going
to be naked before every eye, branded, Christ
rejecter.
Because you rejected loving him as he wanted
to be loved.
He wanted your time.
If you love somebody, whatever you love gets
your attention, gets your time.
How many of you even know where your
Bible is anymore?
How many of you have it just sitting
there?
This is Jesus.
This is the Word.
This is Christ.
It's the revelation of his heart.
It's everything about him.
He's absolutely unmasked.
His soul, his being, everything about him is
unmasked here.
If you're going to go to him, I
would think that you loved him.
You want to know everything you could about
him.
You're going to spend eternity with him.
You know, there's some preachers that go to
this book just to get a sermon.
Teachers go just to get a teaching.
Folks, this has become my recreational reading, where
he refreshes.
I don't go to this book anymore to
get sermons.
I go to learn him and to love
him.
Now, let me show you something here.
It's just incredible.
The Holy Ghost is saying to the bride,
if you'll put aside everything, and this man
becomes the focus of everything, if you're ready
to pay that price and literally lay everything
in this world down, lay it down in
your mind, you still have to make a
living.
You still go through this, but that's simply
to make a living so you have time
to prepare your heart.
You're adorning yourself as a bride, getting ready.
Everything you do, you're adorning yourself, but all
you're spending time.
Folks, let me cut you wise first.
I know you work hard.
Some of you work even at a secular
job.
Take this past two weeks.
Come on, honestly, how much time alone, not
at the prayer meeting, not at church, for
you just shut the door, you shut your
children, your family, and everybody out and said,
Jesus, this is your time.
Nobody's going to take this time away from
us.
How intimate are you with Jesus alone, on
the job?
How many times have you stopped and just
shut the world out and said, Jesus, be
intimate with me?
You see, you can have your heart won
to Jesus.
Many people have had their heart won to
the Lord, but they've never been satisfied by
Him.
Well, there are a lot of people today
who say they love Jesus.
The Lord has won my heart.
It's not enough for Him to have won
your heart.
He has to satisfy your heart.
There are some people who've never been satisfied
with Jesus.
They're always up, they're always down.
They don't have that full satisfaction, and folks,
that satisfaction only comes when you know He
meets your needs, and He can't meet your
needs until you trust, so it all comes
down to trust.
Then, not only do you have to be
satisfied, you have to be suitable for the
bridegroom.
You have to be suitable to Him.
And that suitability is what I'm going to
talk about now, this beauty that makes Him
desire you.
Now, listen to this.
Look at verse 11 again.
So shall the king, first of all, incline
the ear.
Here's the message.
Forget also thine own people and thy father's
house.
That means no relationship, no job, nothing comes
between us.
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.
Look at me, please.
How many have heard of the beauty of
holiness?
Worship Him in the beauty of holiness.
The beauty is in His eyes.
It's what He sees in us that makes
us attractive to Him.
The beauty is not on our part, it's
what He sees in us.
It's in His eyes.
The beauty is not in our eyes, it's
in His eyes.
He says, then the king shall desire thy
beauty.
What is it that's making this bride beautiful
to Him?
It's that He knows.
This woman is submissive.
There's no one else in her life.
She is totally mine.
I have married many bridegrooms and brides that
have stood before me in my lifetime, and
there's not one that stood there and didn't
smile at his bride and think to himself,
she's all mine.
The beauty.
And the Lord looked upon the Holy Ghost
and saying to this bride, if you'll be
holy here, if you'll just shut the whole
world out and let Him know, you've got
to let Him know by your action, by
your submission, by your time.
You just have, you know what He's saying?
This woman, this woman, read less of me.
She'd rather spend time with me than anybody
else.
Does it come right to that?
You'd rather spend time with Jesus than anybody
else, including your husband, your wife, your friends?
She'd rather spend time with me.
I'm the apple of her eye.
They said that makes her beautiful.
I want to be beautiful in His eyes.
I want to worship Him in the beauty
of holiness.
Hallelujah.
But He is, He's not first.
He's everything.
Absolutely everything.
He will desire that beauty.
I mean, He can't stay away from me.
He couldn't desire me.
He's going to want to spend time with
me.
He'd want to be with me all the
time because He's desired me.
He's yearning after me.
In fact, the original, if you get into
the Hebrew, the word lust is in there.
In other words, it's spiritual lust.
It's a spiritual kind of reaching out.
This bridegroom so desires me because I've made
Him everything in my life.
I don't know what it is to have
Jesus come to me and say that to
me.
He said, you're beloved, David, because I see
you letting me consume your life, your love.
He's come to me a number of times
and just loved me.
There's times He can't leave me alone.
He just has to be with me because
He knows I want to be with Him.
So many times He just comes and whispers
His love.
He embraces me.
Have you ever been embraced?
Hallelujah.
He's so, it's incredible.
He so desires my beauty.
This bride is all-glorious within.
There's a beauty that shines from within because
she's so devoted to Him.
Now, I'm going to close with this.
If Jesus comes tonight, and He very well
could, will you be in the marriage procession?
Will you be approaching the throne?
Are you going to stand before a jealous,
jilted lover?
Because my Bible said He is a jealous
God.
For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is
a jealous God.
Paul said, 1 Corinthians 10, 22, do we
provoke the Lord to jealousy?
Do you know how we provoke the Lord
to jealousy?
He's yearning after us, wanting our time and
our attention.
He sees us spending so much time, so
much attention on other things, and He burns
with jealousy.
I know that.
I know that if I know anything in
my life, that Jesus is jealous, and we
provoke Him to jealousy.
In fact, the Bible says the day will
come His jealousy will smoke against you.
It will burst into flames.
What do you do when you stand before
Him on that day?
How do you answer?
He said, how should we escape if we
neglect so great a salvation?
He is the salvation.
And what He said, how are you going
to escape on that judgment day when you
stand before Him, and all your works burn?
Because there was not the height of devotion,
there was not the time, there was not
the heart, and not the mind.
You know what He wants more than anything
else this morning?
If you're convicted by the Holy Ghost, and
you hear the same thing.
See, you and I are the bride, and
the Holy Ghost is whispering to us the
same thing He whispered to this bride dressed
in gold.
Hearken!
Listen!
Forget everything else.
Start now.
If you have messed it up now, if
you have missed it, and if you're convicted
by the Holy Ghost, and you're hearing this,
oh God, oh my Heavenly Father, that's me,
that's me.
Then today, in this very service, now repent.
So blessed Lamb of God, I want to
be beautiful in your sight.
Blessed Jesus, forgive me for the neglect of
this part of yours.
Forgive me for spending so much time on
everything else, but you, and folks, if you
give Him the best of your time, your
attention, your thinking, your money, everything, just everything,
first to Him, all these other things He'll
take care of.
He'll go in covenant with you, He'll walk
in covenant with your family, He'll walk in
covenant with your job, He'll walk in covenant
with everything around you.
You don't have to seek after these things,
because only the Gentiles do, and the Gentile
means heathen.
Only heathen seek after these things.
He said, seek me first, all these things
will be added unto you.
God said, I'll take care of your family,
I'll take care of your needs, you put
me first, you love me, you put your
attention on me, you act as my bride,
and I'll take care of your needs.
Will you stand?
Beloved, I'm old enough now to be a
father in Zion, and I speak to you
as a father, and as a shepherd.
We have to stand one day before Him,
and we've got to answer as shepherds, and
even if you thought I was too strong
and came down hard, so be it, whatever
it takes, whatever it takes, God convict us,
forgive us.
You know the truth?
There's not one person, including me, there's nobody
in this building, there's no one hearing me
right now, whether this is heard on tape
later or here in this auditorium, there is
no one who's really given all that they
ought.
I'm asking God to make this message real
to my heart, make it a part of
my very being.
Hallelujah.
Thank God, out of New York City, there
are going to be hundreds and hundreds in
that retinue, dressed in white, coming down, marching
toward Him.
Hallelujah.
How many want to be dressed in His
righteousness and that wonderful gold?
Amen.
Holy Spirit, I have a heavy heart, Lord,
very heavy, and I feel it's your heart.
You let me experience a little of your
grief over many of your children who will
come to church, who will worship, who will
praise, but Lord, they have not yet developed,
they have not really, alone, in their own
time, been intimate with you.
They've not known the fellowship.
Other interests have come in, and it's blocked
the vision of Jesus, and the heart is
getting cold.
Oh, God, forgive us this morning.
God, forgive.
Now, while your head's about, I want to,
the first invitation I give this morning, or
for those that are here this morning, you
may have walked in, this may be your
first time, or you may have been here
other times, you may have been here many
times, but your heart is not on fire
for in love with Jesus, like it ought
to be.
If you don't give him, you've not really
given me your love, you've never known him
to satisfy you completely.
I'm going to have to use the word
backslidden, cold, indifferent, not what a bride should
be, not at all.
A bride should never be cold.
A bride should never be absorbed in something
other than her bridegroom.
If that's you, I want you to get
right out of your seat and come down
here and say, God, oh Jesus, I'm sorry,
forgive me.
If you've been straying from him, if you've
been lukewarm, if you've been cold or backslidden,
you're not right with Jesus.
The Spirit of God touches your heart, you
feel a pull, get right out of your
seat, up in the balcony, go down either
side, come down any aisle, we'll wait for
you here.
Please come in close, there's going to be
a lot of people coming this morning, so
move in close.
The blood of the Holy Spirit could just
turn the whole house into an altar, so
that every one of us.
Folks, I tell you, even in spite of
three weeks of praying for revival and everything
else, none of that makes sense if we
are not privately, when we're on our own,
throughout the day and the night, so given
to him.
That's what he's wanting.
He's wanting a people so in love with
him that all the problems of life don't
matter, all the things people say about you
don't count, you're so caught up with him,
nothing else matters, nothing else matters.
I want you to raise your hands, every
one of you, and let's repent.
Lord, we repent of not giving you the
time.
We repent, Lord, of being a little cold
and indifferent at times.
Lord, forgive us, forgive me, forgive me, Lord,
for not giving you the time that you
need.
Lord, for a lack of intimacy with you,
we want to be that bride dressed in
gold.
Oh, Jesus, our hearts captured, won and satisfied,
made suitable to the King.
Hallelujah.
Oh, Jesus, put it in our hearts right
now.
Put it in our hearts right now, to
change, to change today.
Hallelujah.
Lord, we love you.
We worship you.
We thank you for your Holy Spirit, who
is faithful, who whispers to us, and comes
and says, take heed.
Listen, listen.
Lord, I hear you speak.
I hear you, Holy Ghost, and I take
it to heart this morning.
I take it to heart.
Now, you that are up here at the
front, I want you to pray this prayer
with me right now, right out loud.
Jesus, come to my heart and cleanse me,
sanctify me.
Forgive me, Jesus, for spending so much time
on myself and my problems and my family
and my job.
Forgive me, Jesus, for neglecting you.
Now, draw me, Jesus, and woo me by
your love.
Change me and help me today to never
go back to my past.
Change me in different ways.
Now, let me pray for you.
Lord, I ask you by your Spirit to
just come upon us.
Lord, if we just listen to your voice
and say, yes, I hear you and receive
it, Holy Spirit, then you'll make the changes
necessary.
You'll give us the power.
You will woo us to the Lord.
You will draw us.
The Spirit of God draws us to Jesus.
Spirit, draw us closer to the heart of
Jesus.
Draw me as a pastor.
Draw Brother Carter.
Draw all our staff, our choir, our musicians,
all our workers.
Draw us closer to you, Jesus.
That's what this is all about, to be
closer and closer, because you're coming soon, Lord.
We want to be very, very close to
you in these last days.
Hallelujah.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Now, you shouldn't leave this service with a
heavy heart.
You obey the Holy Spirit, there should be
joy come into your heart.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
So the King greatly desires thy beauty, for
he is thy Lord, and worship thou him.
Give him devotion.
Give him worship.
Before we leave this service, let's just do
that.
Lift your hands again, and let's just love
him.
That's what he said.
Let the bride worship him.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
How I love Jesus.
He's my everything.