I swear to God it's bringing back the
words, excuse me, of that course that I
mentioned last night.
It's not on your course sheet, this particular
one isn't.
But maybe I could share it with you
and I think we'll be ready to receive
the word.
We'll save the announcements for the end of
the service, whatever announcements that need to be
made.
You gave me a more perfect vision.
You gave me a more perfect vision one
day.
I remember when I began to hear that
there was something beyond the Feast of Pentecost,
something beyond, that there was more.
My heart was hungering for more and I
was a bit overwhelmed with it all.
But I remember when I started seeing a
little bit and God began to give me
a vision.
That's what the Course says, you gave me
a more perfect vision one day.
You let me see, Lord, what you see.
Not what man sees, not what ministries see.
Things like people think God gives them a
ministry and then they need to contact the
rest of the world, tell the rest of
the world to help them with their ministry.
Where did that come in?
Where did that come from?
It didn't used to be like that.
You gave me a more perfect vision one
day.
You let me see, Lord, what you see.
And yet, with that vision, a burden you
gave.
You remember that?
And that burden sanctifies me.
It sets me apart.
It purges me.
It cleanses me.
That burden sanctifies me.
Don't take my burden.
Don't take it away.
Don't take it, Lord.
Let it stay.
Keep me, O God, on my face before
Thee, but don't take my burden away.
A lot of people are crying out, Lord,
deliver me from this burden.
But I believe the heart's cry of God's
sons in this hour is don't take my
burden away.
Let it burden me right down on my
face before You, Lord God.
I'll just share that with you.
Maybe the Holy Spirit will just minister it
to your heart and make it really real
to you.
Well, we thank the Lord for every good
thing that comes from his hand.
Every good and perfect gift comes down from
the Father of lights.
With him, there's no, not even the shadow
of turning.
And so we thank him for everything he's
done.
He's with us, through us, for us.
For what things seem good and what things
seem bad, we know that he works all
things together for good, to those who love
God, to those who are called according to
his purpose.
In the song, our brother Simon mentions the
burden as well as the vision, and really
that's the way it is.
The vision God gives becomes the burden of
our heart.
I read there the first verse of Habakkuk,
I think it was.
The burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see.
The burden that he did see.
He said the burden he carried, the burden
he saw.
And so we thank the Lord that he
sees fit.
In bringing us into his yoke, carry that
burden with him, which becomes a vision.
To go where he goes, to do what
he does, to say what he says, to
think what he thinks, to be what he
is.
Because we don't think the way God thinks.
A very simple way of saying what the
prophet said.
My thoughts are not your thoughts, saith the
Lord, neither are your ways my ways.
We don't think the way God thinks.
Until we're in his yoke and learn from
him.
Take my yoke upon you, he says, and
learn of me or learn from me, I
believe.
It's literally the way it reads.
Not just learn about me, being in my
yoke.
But being in my yoke, you'll learn firsthand
from me.
Learn from me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls.
I thought I'd maybe read a verse or
two from the prophet Zechariah.
The children of Israel had gone back, according
to the planned purpose of God, after their
time of captivity.
God raised up a man by the name
of Cyrus.
And through him, he put in his heart
somehow to allow the children of Israel to
go back to their land, rebuild the temple.
He supported them, sent back some of the
vessels that were used in the house of
the Lord and so forth.
And so time went on, they began to
build the temple, but there was a lot
of opposition, a lot of discouragement set in.
Things were delayed from time to time.
And then it says God sent them two
prophets.
One was Haggai and the other was Zechariah
to encourage the builders in the past.
So this vision we talk about is not
really our idea at all.
If it is, God help us to forget
it.
It's the burden which the prophet Haggai saw,
something that God showed him.
If the vision is ours, we can get
into all kinds of wonderful works perhaps, doing
many good things, stepping out in faith to
do some worthy project that we think God
wants us to do.
We call it stepping out in faith.
I'd like to pause there a little because
you're stepping out in faith, you're moving according
to the direction of God's Spirit.
You're not just saying, I think I'd like
to do this and I'm going to do
it by faith, I'm going to step out
and do it.
And so much of that goes on, stepping
out by faith and doing something.
And without going into it in detail, you
read particularly Hebrews 11 and you'll find that
these men of faith, and we all call
it the faith chapter and we call those
who were involved the heroes of faith, they
moved according to the direction of God.
It wasn't just they got tired of what
they were doing and let's step out in
faith and do something different.
It wasn't a case of Abraham saying to
Sarah, this is a wicked place, let's get
out of this place.
We don't know where to go, but we'll
just step out by faith and go somewhere.
They had direction.
They had clear direction from the Lord, by
vision, by word, by that inward awareness of
what God wanted.
We're not going to say it has to
be by any certain method, but we do
must have the assurance that God is doing
this.
God wants this to be done.
He lays that burden upon you.
And so Zechariah and Haggai were the two
special prophets God raised up at that time
of their discouragement to encourage them to move
on with the vision that God had given
them for the fulfillment of which he had
brought them back to Jerusalem.
But opposition sets in and they stop the
building.
So Haggai says, take courage, go up to
the mountain, take wood, build this house and
I will be glorified, saith the Lord.
He goes on to say, you build your
own homes.
And some say, oh, it's not time to
build God's house.
But he says, it's time for you to
build your nice homes, but not time for
God to build his.
And God wants a home.
You can't hardly conceive of that.
The God of the universe, and the more
you read about the galaxies out there, the
more you would be inclined to think God
certainly doesn't need us.
I can't imagine God needing us.
That genius over there in Britain, I forget
his name, they compare him to Einstein.
And they ask him about God.
Oh, he says, when I see the greatness
of the universe, I can't imagine that there
could be a God that has any concern
for us on a little planet Earth.
And David was amazed also at that.
I mean, he knew there was God.
And the heavens declared the glory of God,
the firmament showed his handiwork.
But he went on to say, Oh, what
is man that thou art mindful of him?
Yeah, we stand amazed that God should be
mindful of us.
But we don't have a proper concept of
God unless we see the God who's concerned
about the little things as well as the
great things.
Because everything's so great, God couldn't be concerned
about us.
Jesus did consider the lilies of the field,
consider the birds of the air, how they
toil not, and do they spin.
He had a saying to you that not
even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed
like one of these lilies.
The birds of the air, they don't go
to gardens and worry about how they will
go.
They just trust in the Heavenly Father.
Of course, that's sort of a nice doctrine
for those who just want to have the
easy life.
You know, live by faith, you know, without
working.
Until you start to analyze that, and those
birds, they keep very busy.
And they work hard.
From early morning, you hear them chirping out
there when you're trying to sleep.
And there they are, up our way, we
might start to get daylight.
What, 3.30, something in the morning, in
the longest day.
They're up there before we are.
And they're still working there when we go
to bed.
So they work hard.
So don't use those scriptures for slothfulness.
They work hard.
But in rest, total rest.
No struggle, no striving.
Because God put within them a certain law,
certain law that functions.
And they just have to move along under
the protection, under the guidance of that law.
So you almost admire them.
You almost think they've got something we haven't
got.
When we see the simplicity in which they
move and the wisdom they have, you know,
to build their nest and care for their
young and protect their young from dangers that
exist.
All without any wisdom as we know it.
For God has put a law within them
that functions according to the law of life.
But us, we try to live according to
the natural law, but we're falling far lower
than the other creatures.
God wouldn't let them be superior to us,
so he put a certain curse on them
because of man.
But God has put within us in redemption
a new law, a new law of life
called the law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus, which is more powerful, more
wonderful, higher than any natural law you see
in the world about us or in the
animals about us.
The law of life.
The law of the spirit of life in
Christ Jesus.
Our problem being that because we don't see
the effectual working of that law to the
extent we should, we minimize it, we don't
see the true value of it.
We don't appreciate its worth enough for it
to become a vision, a burden that we
will not rest until God brings about in
his people that which he has designed for
his people, until we come to that place
that God has desired us to be, walking
in harmony with him and total union with
his own heart, abiding in his yoke, going
where he goes, doing only what he says,
singing his song, walking under that burden of
the yoke, which is not burdensome in the
sense we think of it.
Jesus says, my yoke is easy and my
burden is light.
So come, take my yoke upon you and
learn from me.
That law is there.
We must continue to see God till somehow
in the outworking of his ways in our
lives and the discipline that he would bring
upon us, he will have a people who
will come into that full functioning of the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus.
Those led of the Spirit, motivated by the
Spirit, doing only what the Spirit says, not
with struggle but with rest, with confidence that
he is leading because we found ourselves caught
away in a new law.
You don't stop the...
You know, it's very essential that we breathe
every, what, second or so.
Very essential.
We never stop even thinking about it because
there's a law there that makes it happen.
And so in this natural life we have
those natural laws and we take it for
granted.
That heart of yours, you know, it just
keeps pumping away there and pumping hundreds of
gallons a day and we don't even say
to it, don't even give God thanks many
times for his goodness to us until perhaps
that heart starts to fail or those lungs
start to fail or some of our faculties
start to weaken and we're concerned.
God help us to appreciate the law that
is put there by nature but to pursue
that higher law, the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus.
It's a law that works but somehow we
must so follow with him and walk with
him and by his grace come under that
yoke that he was under when he was
here.
Take my yoke upon you.
He was in the yoke of the Heavenly
Father.
Now he says, take my yoke upon you
and learn from me for I am meek
and lowly in heart and you shall find
rest into your soul.
There's so much unrest amongst God's people.
Dissatisfaction.
Unrest.
Turmoil in many cases.
God would have us to come into that
rest that pertains to the people of God.
And it's there for his people.
That's why God ordains this temple that God
might have a habitation for himself.
But you say, I want to know about
my rest.
We find our rest when God finds his
in you and I.
If God finds his rest in us, then
we're at rest.
His inheritance in us, that brings us into
our inheritance in him.
His inheritance is you and I.
My inheritance is God.
That's the vision we have.
That's God's intention.
That's why he told Eliezer and Joshua when
they started to divide the land to give
every man his portion in Canaan.
Don't give any to the priests.
Sounds mean.
They were the ones who served in the
temple.
Don't give them any inheritance, God says.
Because I am their inheritance.
I am their inheritance.
God wants to be our inheritance.
How then can I apprehend God?
So that's the struggle we go through.
And God puts a struggle there.
We talked about it, I think we did.
I think it is here.
Maybe it is in private conversation.
Yeah, I think it was.
Talking to a brother here.
Paul talks about entering in his rest.
There remains therefore a rest for the people
of God.
And the word there is, understand, sabbatismos, sabbatismos,
from which we get the word Sabbath.
There remains a sabbatismos, a habit, for the
people of God.
For he that has entered into his rest,
God's rest, has ceased from his own work
as God did from his.
And the next verse, labor therefore to enter
into that rest.
It doesn't signify, I don't believe, a feverish
labor from our way of looking at things.
I believe some even translate it as giving,
killing.
But it does involve a spiritual struggle to
enter into this rest.
But we must come away from that natural
struggle and let it be the burden of
the Lord, the struggle of the Lord, the
burden of God.
And as we take his burden upon us,
we're finding rest even as we pursue the
pathway that leads us into it.
There's a rest just knowing that we're in
God's will, walking with him, doing what he
wants us to do.
Even in that, there's a rest.
Because we learn from him.
You see, how could it be said that
Jesus' yoke was easy?
I wouldn't say it was easy.
It was Jesus said my yoke was easy.
Because he only did what the Father wanted
him to do.
He had no vision, no agenda, no formulation
of plans how I and my twelve disciples
are going to take over this kingdom.
No such agenda.
Just do the will of God.
Oh, the agendas they got for taking over
the kingdoms of this world.
One man I remember reading or heard on
a tape he was going to go to
the White House not as president, but to
be an advisor to the next president.
Whoa, that was eight, ten years ago.
I forget which president it was.
But I don't think that he became one
of the advisors to the president.
I wouldn't want to advise any president or
king.
But I do believe that God will have
a people.
If God has a word for them to
give to president or ruler or king or
monarch of any dictator of any description God
will say go and tell them this.
I believe God will do that.
It might not always be the nicest thing
to do.
He might be putting his head in jeopardy
when he does it.
But he's got to do it.
There is a kingdom of the saints of
God but it's the kingdom that functions out
of our union with him.
And it will be ruling and reigning with
Christ Jesus.
And God told him, rule in the midst
of your enemies.
You think, if I'm ruling and reigning I'm
going to deal with all evil in the
earth.
You wouldn't.
Jesus would too.
But he's been 2,000 years doing it
now and he isn't finished yet.
Because God says, rule thou in the midst
of your enemies.
He's ruling.
Come back here Lord and deal with your
enemies.
He went away to deal with his enemies.
Because his enemies are not earthly they're heavenly.
So God, when he raised him from the
dead caused him to ascend far above all
principality and power and might and dominion.
Every name that is named.
That he might have lordship over all created
things.
No use of being the president of the
United States or the president of China or
whatever they call them.
You could take over that presidency but what
about those principalities and powers up there?
Unless you have rulership over them you won't
change anything in this nation or anywhere else.
Putting in the right man in the White
House or some other country putting them on
the throne.
You're not changing anything.
If you can change anything God wants you
to change by coming into direct contact with
the king of all kings and lord of
all lords.
We fail to realize that.
Trying to maneuver things to get things right
here.
You can go straight to the king of
kings and the lord of lords.
But that doesn't mean he's going to go
the way you want him to go.
Go into his presence to inquire of him.
God, I want you to oh, I don't
know what eradicate all this evil in the
United States.
How are you going to do it?
Use the power of the nation to do
it.
But with the power of Christ resting upon
us we can do anything he wants us
to do.
Anything he wants us to do.
Yeah, but you know if we just had
this power we'd dethrone kings and kingdoms and
set up righteous government.
Don't you believe that Jesus the Son of
God conquered over all things and is now
king of kings and lord of lords and
has all things under his feet?
But that he rules according to the decree
of God to rule in the midst of
his enemies until they are subdued.
Thou art priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek.
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
He goes on to say thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power.
There's coming a day of power when he's
going to fully deal with all the iniquity
in the world.
In the meantime, God says rule in the
midst of it according to the purpose of
God.
He's been ruling and reigning these 2,000
years doing many, many tremendous things.
Keeping his church alive allowing it to go
down to death's door many times where it
seems it's almost extinct in the earth.
God comes on the scene and laughs at
his enemies and sends forth his word and
brings forth a great moving of God and
the land.
We need it again and I think as
you hear the voice of God I think
you realize that God is concerned.
If you're concerned God's far more concerned than
you are.
And if you've got a holy, heaven-sent
concern it's because you're feeling the burden of
God's heart.
Because God initiates everything that is accomplished in
the world through his church.
God initiates it to begin with.
He always initiates it.
And so we read Isaiah 62 For Zion's
sake I will not hold my peace For
Jerusalem's sake I will not rest Isaiah the
prophet.
Remember reading that one time?
I'd read it many times till I almost
lost my heart.
And I realized, yeah, I know Isaiah's saying
this but he's moved along by the Spirit.
It's the Spirit of God himself in Isaiah
saying For Zion's sake I will not rest
For Jerusalem's sake I will not hold my
peace Until the righteousness thereof Goes forth as
brightness And the salvation thereof Is a lamp
that burns.
It wasn't just Isaiah's God himself saying I'm
not going to rest.
Until the righteousness thereof Goes forth as brightness
And the salvation thereof Is a lamp that
burns.
God's not going to rest till that happens.
He's preparing a people Who will be so
filled With His power and fire and light
That as they go forth to the nations
It will burn and consume The way before
them And prepare the hearts of the people
For the unveiling of the glory of God
Until it will be fulfilled That all the
earth shall be filled With the glory of
the Lord As the waters cover the sea.
We get tired of waiting.
Don't you think God gets tired of waiting?
But that's part of His nature to wait.
To be patient.
To be merciful.
To be long-suffering.
Look at that word long-suffering.
Long-suffering.
Suffers long.
God suffers long.
You say, I can't stand it anymore.
Well, you need long-suffering.
You need God's long-suffering.
Has God been able to endure?
Oh, you say He's God.
He can do it.
What if God, willing to show His wrath
And to make His power known, He desires
to manifest His wrath Against the worst of
evil in the earth.
What if God, willing to show His wrath
And to make His power known, Endures with
great long-suffering These vessels of wrath Sitted
for destruction?
Paul says, have you ever considered that?
That God is enduring with great long-suffering?
These vessels of wrath That are being prepared
for judgment?
God's enduring.
You know, if I had that power, I'd
go out and I'd deal with it.
I know, that's why God doesn't give you
that power.
Because He's got a Son With all power,
with heaven and earth.
He's enduring it the same as the Father's
enduring it.
Enduring it.
You could deal with it, can't you, God?
Yeah, I know, but While He's enduring with
much long-suffering The vessels of wrath, He's
preparing vessels of mercy.
God made vessels of mercy for this whole
world.
And while He's enduring the vessels of wrath
Who are persecuting and harassing the people of
God, He's preparing them to be vessels of
mercy.
Vessels of mercy.
Whom He hath aforeprepared unto glory.
So there's two sides of God's patience And
long-suffering And allowing God's people to go
through trial and tribulation And difficulties of many
kinds.
As God is long-suffering and patiently causing
you To endure these things.
His heart is pained with your pain.
He starts with the feeling of your infirmity.
Because He has the heart of a priest
Manifested in our Lord Jesus Christ.
A priest must have compassion on the ignorant
And on those who are out of the
way Because He Himself also is compassed with
infirmity.
Oh, you say, God can't be compassed with
infirmity.
I know that's why He became a man.
That He could be.
That's why He came down into this realm
Where He could become a man And as
a man a priest.
That He might be touched with the feeling
Of the infirmities of His people.
That as His people suffer God feels it.
Because Jesus feels it.
And as Jesus feels it, God feels it.
Because they are one.
God feels the suffering.
Don't you think that God didn't feel?
God felt every spike, every nail That He
pounded into the hands and the feet of
Jesus.
God felt it.
Because the Father was there And the Spirit
was there overshadowing that sacrifice.
We mentioned last night With the blood of
bulls and goats And the ashes of a
heifer Sprinkling those that are defiled Sanctifies them
unto the cleanness of the flesh.
How much more shall the blood of Christ
Who through the Eternal Spirit Offered Himself without
blemish unto God Purge their conscience from dead
works To serve the Living God.
Through the Eternal Spirit This precious blood was
overshadowed This sacrifice was offered there Because of
the presence of the Eternal Spirit Overshadowing that
sacrifice Making it to be acceptable In the
sight of God.
God's concerned about His people.
He says He will not rest Until the
righteousness of Zion Goes forth as brightness And
the salvation as a lamp that burns.
He won't rest until that happens.
To make sure He won't rest He puts
that restlessness on the people Who will cry
unto Him God we're not going to give
you any rest Well God said He wouldn't
But He puts that burden on His people.
He calls them watchmen.
Oh you see I thought a watchman Was
one who goes out and warns The sinner
to repent.
Yeah I know He has watchmen to do
that too.
But I never realized That there was any
other kind of watchman.
He says I set watchmen on your walls
O Jerusalem Who will never hold their peace
day or night You that make mention of
the name of the Lord Keep not silence
and give God no rest Until you establish
Until you make Jerusalem a prison here.
Well God already said He wasn't going to
rest Then why does He set up watchmen
To say now God I'm not going to
give you rest Until this happens.
In the wisdom of God He's always designed
To bring men and women Into His own
holy council.
Not to counsel Him But to share in
His counsel To partake of His counsel and
wisdom.
Part of God's desire The very fact He
made Adam Was to have a man who
would represent Him In the earth one of
whom He could have Fellowship and communion And
share His own heart.
For He shared His very likeness When He
created Him.
He shared His likeness We don't quite understand
it but Made us in His image and
likeness That we might be the shining forth
of His glory The shining forth of His
glory What God is.
God's intention is that Men would know who
God is and what He's like By looking
at His people Who are made in His
image.
So we spend our time and energy Trying
to get the world to believe That there's
a God up there in heaven That there's
a Jesus who died for them And that
there's a Jesus who is the light of
the world When God is making that light
He wants that light in His people He
wants Zion to be that light He wants
Zion to shine forth His brightness And the
salvation of Zion to be like a burning
lamp God has put all He has into
redemption That the fruits of redemption Might be
such in a people That they will shine
forth The glory and the presence of God
In the world about us.
There'll be no problem Preaching the gospel of
the kingdom To all nations in one week's
time Or in one month's time Or however
long God might see fit It'll be as
easy as can be When God has a
people Reading the love and truth and brightness
And glory of God in the earth We
go with our feeble lamps Or with lamps
that are almost extinguished With lamps sometimes that
Seem to send forth shades of night Rather
than shades of light As Milton said in
one of his poems No light but rather
darkness visible No light but darkness was visible
Often that's the way it is And God
wants that light to be in His people
To be so intense He says that there'll
be no part dark No part dark Oh
you say, what do you say?
We know these things I'm just trusting that
somehow Whatever days I have left That God
will send forth a word That will be
an impartation Into the lives of His people
Because the new covenant is impartation It's not
just telling people what God wants It's an
impartation of what God wants It's a ministration
Paul calls it a ministration of life A
ministration of righteousness It says also in the
epistles of the Hebrews The new covenant is
this I will write my laws in their
hearts And on their minds will I write
them He doesn't say this letter I'm writing
Is a part of the new covenant We
know it is But it's the letter The
new covenant is when God writes it on
your heart He's saying if we're writing it
here And let's read it much But as
we read it Desire and seek and pray
God will take that word that is written
there And write it inside Because that's only
the new covenant When it's written inside This
is the covenant that I will make with
them After those days He says the Lord
I will write my laws in their hearts
And in their minds will I write them
I will be their God And they shall
be my people And they will not teach
every man His brother and fellow citizens And
say no the Lord For all shall know
me From the least to the greatest of
them And I will remember their sins And
their iniquities no more It's the new covenant
There's many many people in the church Who
will not believe the new covenant Until God
begins to manifest it You can't believe it
because it's written If we don't see it
we won't believe it God wants us to
see it Before we believe it That it
might come into being That which He has
declared Might come to pass By our believing
it first We say by hope By faith
I know But hope gives expectation Of the
thing we're hoping for Please stop the machine
And turn the cassette over Until God begins
to manifest it You can't believe it because
it's written If we don't see it we
won't believe it God wants us to see
it Before we believe it That it might
come into being That which He has declared
Might come to pass By our believing it
first We say by hope By faith I
know But hope gives expectation Of the thing
we're hoping for It's not a vain hope
Bible hope is not something inferior To faith
that's greater It's now about a faithful charity
Because hope goes on from faith To anticipate
what God says Anticipate what He says Look
forward to the fulfillment of it So that
the earnest expectation Of the creation is waiting
For the manifestation The unveiling of the sons
of God And they shall go forth With
the unveiled glory of God upon them Creation
is waiting for that They don't know it
It's not a vain hope Bible hope is
not something inferior To faith that's greater It's
now about a faithful charity Because hope goes
on from faith To anticipate what God says
Anticipate what He says Look forward to the
fulfillment of it So that the earnest expectation
Of the creation is waiting For the manifestation
The unveiling of the sons of God And
they shall go forth With the unveiled glory
of God upon them Creation is waiting for
that They don't know it They're not consciously
aware of it But in God's heart and
mind He knows that's the need of the
world And that's really what they're waiting for
The day when God's sons will go forth
With the unveiled glory of God upon them
A man wrote me and says I heard
that you no longer believe In the manifestation
of the sons of God doctrine I'd just
like to hear it from you directly And
I wrote back and said Tell me what
you mean by it And then I can
tell you Whether I can say yes or
no But without waiting for an answer I
said this is what I believe About the
manifestation of God's sons He's going to have
a people on earth Walking in the same
meekness And humility and love And patience of
the Lord Jesus Christ They're not going to
love their lives Even unto death They'll be
ready to lay down their lives Even as
He laid down His life They will be
followers of Him They'll be like Him Not
only in the power they manifest But in
the life they live And in the patience
and love And truth and righteousness That they
display in their lives And I don't know
how well I put it But the people
walking like Jesus Walked in this church He
had no agenda, no plan No ideas of
the kingdom he had to fulfill But to
do the will of the Father And in
doing the will of the Father He perfectly
fulfilled all Scripture Perfectly pleased the Father in
so much On several occasions The Father spoke
from Heaven Clearly saying this is my beloved
son In whom I am well pleased He
didn't come to earth to be a king
In the sense that we know kings He
came to be a bond slave That he
would have an ear That was totally open
to the voice Of the Heavenly Father Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldst not But a body
hast thou prepared for me Whole burnt offering
and sacrifice for sin He said thou hast
had no pleasure Then said I, lo, I
come To do thy will, O God That
was his agenda Oh, I know he did
many things And you can read about it
in the four Gospels But it's all summed
up in that word I'm just here to
do your will, O God In so much
that the commitment was so great So deep
So wonderfully blessed He came to the place
where he said I can't do anything of
myself He said my God I can in
my own self do nothing But what I
see the Father doing, I do it I
speak the words that he gives me I
go where he wants me to go I'm
in A bond slave He came to earth
to learn obedience People say oh, he was
disobedient No, he never was disobedient But up
there there was no place For obedience to
transpire in his life He was Lord of
all He came to earth as a bond
slave That he might learn obedience By the
things that he suffered Learn the voice of
God Learn walking in subjection To the Heavenly
Father Coming into a realm where we are
That having dealt with our sins He might
become our example Until he deals with our
sins There's no way you and I can
follow him Or use him as our example
But when he becomes our sin offering And
our savior, the one who justifies us Then
he becomes our example So we thank the
Lord for this beautiful Plan of redemption Which
he accomplished at the cross But ever since
the cross he's been Continuing to work out
The glories of his redemption And his people
who are still in the earth Walking in
the realms of infirmity And weakness, and often
times sin And sickness All sorts of things
that pertain to the old life Continuing to
work in them His own good pleasures Until
in the fullness of God's intention He will
have in the earth A race of people
After the image of the last Adam Just
as he has now a race of people
After the image of the first Adam And
another race of people After the image of
the firstborn He being the firstborn among So
many brothers Firstborn of a brand new creation
So we thank the Lord for that vision
God's vision We pray that he will clarify
our vision That we might see what God
sees And hear what he hears And hear
what he speaks Until we come to that
place Where we can truly be approved of
God As his servants in the earth Approved
to fire, tribulation, death, trials I should return
to the prophet Zechariah The Lord starts out
in chapter 1 by saying The Lord has
been displeased with your fathers Therefore say thou
unto them Haggai and Zechariah were there encouraging
them To go on with God, to build
this temple To seek God for the way
in which They are to conduct themselves And
this new temple is to be built And
therefore in type and shadow He's giving encouragement
And instruction to you and I Say unto
them, thus saith the Lord of Hosts Turn
ye unto me, saith the Lord And I
will turn unto you, saith the Lord of
Hosts God starts this We've got to turn
to God I know, but God starts it
By saying, Zechariah, you go and tell the
people To turn to me So God starts
the whole thing Yeah, we're wavered from him
Thank the Lord for the fact That he
is the initiator of all things We don't
initiate anything But he does want our cooperation
He wants us to respond He speaks and
he wants us to hear He speaks twice
and we don't know his voice Three times
like he did to Samuel And finally Eli
realized It had to be the voice of
God He says, you go back And the
next time he speaks Say, speak Lord, for
thy servant here So God speaks and speaks
And we don't hear He speaks at him
He initiates it Samuel didn't just rise up
Because there was corruption in Israel And they
needed a new prophet And God, I volunteer
God came on the scene Preceded even Samuel's
time Hannah, his mother God kept her barren
Because God was going to do something Very
tremendous So he kept her barren God does
that Those chosen women in the Old Testament
Very often were barren, helpless Cried out for
sons, daughters Just because it was inherent within
them I guess But God would keep them
barren If he had something special in life
So Sarah was barren Rebecca was barren Rachel
was barren First season And it was a
reproach to them many times Hannah was barren
And she became a reproach But she kept
crying unto God God kept her barren To
keep her crying unto him God keeps you
and I in a barren condition Many, many
times Generally he'll do it for those who
really love him He'll keep them barren and
unfruitful Because he loves them Because he loves
them Because he wants to be glorified in
giving Causing the barren to bear seven Is
Hannah praying May be fruitful But she must
know the time of desolation And reproach Before
she's humble enough Meet enough In the sight
of God To be the chosen vessel God
wants her to be Rachel cried out Get
me children or I'll die Gently God gave
her a son Then she said Call him
Joseph Means he will add A minister friend
visiting us He put it very bluntly He
was saying I want another one I love
this Joseph Give me another one Joseph, he
will add God give her another one Gently
So you see Rejoice thou barren that bears
not Rejoice The prophet said For the children
of the desolate Shall be more Than the
children of the married wife shall be more
And so it's the day for the barren
It's the day for the poor and the
helpless For those who have nothing, are nothing
The day when God's going to come on
the scene In great glory and majesty And
give to those in the church Who love
him but don't feel they are Effectual In
the work of the Lord They don't feel
they have anything To really present to God's
people It's the day Because Paul says God
is going to give He didn't say is
going to He says he hath done it
I know he hath done it But time
is here when He will do it again
I like those passages I've glorified your name
I'll do it again God said I'm going
to do it again And he'll keep doing
it again Until he has That fruit that
he has in mind He'll keep doing it
again and again Until he has brought forth
that Which delights his own heart Not enough
that he'd get in the New Testament church
He had to do it again Through church
history We're always going back in church history
To read about the wonderful things He did
back there And that's good I like reading
about that But keep this in mind If
it's in church history And there's something in
the past That we don't have now God's
going to do it again And when he
does it again It's going to be still
greater Because the glory of this latter host
Shall be greater than of the former God
said He's the best one till the last
He'll be glorified in the end times Far
more than he was in the beginning He's
both He says I'm the beginning I'm the
end Jesus, I'm the end He's the one
who is going to occupy What's the end
times truth all about?
It's about the Lord Jesus And his revelation
in the end times End times truth Is
nothing more than the Lord Jesus Christ Coming
on the scene in the end times And
magnify his great name in the earth The
beginning was wonderful The end is going to
be the consummation Isn't the harvest better than
the time of sowing?
You can't have the harvest Without the time
of sowing But isn't it better?
Isn't that what the husbandman was waiting for?
The precious fruit of the earth?
And had long patience for it?
Ever seen the early and the latter rain?
Oh, send the rain Lord Send the rain
and beautiful chorus God must send it Because
he's the gardener And he's looking for the
fruit He's waiting for the precious fruit of
the earth We like the feel of the
rain And that's good We need that rain
We only need it Because God needs fruit
in the end Fruit from his people That
the nations of the earth were vanishing For
truth and righteousness Might come and partake of
his people So Paul says you're one body
but you're one bread You can have a
people of whom the nations might partake of
People who become that living bread In a
vanishing world I am jealous for Jerusalem and
for Zion With a great jealousy God is
saying I'm jealous over Jerusalem Jealous over my
people Paul said writing to the Corinthians I'm
jealous over you Corinthians With a godly jealousy
So I've espoused you to As a chaste
virgin unto her husband That I might present
you As a chaste virgin unto Christ He
says I've espoused you I so ministered Christ
among you That you might become a chaste
virgin unto Christ I've heard of the phrase
The husband ministry Apostles, prophets, evangelists Pastors, teachers
It's wrong It's the wrong terminology Not a
husband ministry It's a servant ministry And when
this servant went To find a bride for
Isaac He had to be a trusted servant
One of his older servants One who he
trusted He must have trafficked him to Manasseh
Go down there and pick out a bride
for Isaac And bring her back for Isaac
And he was jealous Over his master's desire
And to make sure that he'd get the
right one For his master Isaac He had
a godly jealousy And I believe the true
ministry In this last hour That God's going
to raise up a true ministry That's going
to be Jealous for God's people Not becoming
the husband of the church Or that he's
got a bride That'll do anything he says
But present that bride Chase pure bodies Unto
the Lord Jesus Christ Because that's the purpose
of ministry Not to be a husband ministry
A servant ministry A do-love ministry Eunuchs
as it were In the house of God
That this virgin might come forth Pure and
holy Worthy of Jesus Church doesn't think highly
of that I mean, I'm saved, ain't I?
I talk in tongues I'm ready to go
When Rebecca went there When Isaac went there
To pick out this bride He prayed earnestly
That God would send the right one And
he bought garments for her He bought gifts
for her Gave her the garments that she
would need For the journey home even And
God has bridal garments for his people There's
a cleansing that he must Bring upon his
people To make us to be that virgin
bride That's suitable, that's compatible With the Lord
Jesus Christ Somehow I'm saved, it doesn't matter
It matters as far as God's concerned It
matters as far as Jesus is concerned That
he has a bride that's Spotless Pure Holy
Undefiled Oh, I know I'm that way I
know we're not that way But redemption That's
what redemption's all about To make us that
way To cleanse us of so clean, so
pure In the sight of God That God
looks down and he says You've never sinned,
you're pure You're holy You're clean I think
of this story I read I don't know
if I told it here I think I
told it to one or two at least
In this meeting some years ago They were
having a The spirit was flowing freely And
there were many prophets And they were praying
over people Who had come forward for prayer
And this woman was coming forward And she
was broken and weeping And this prophet prayed
Lord, what is it?
And the Lord said She's grieving over her
sins That she's committed And confessed She's grieving
over them So when she came up to
him He said you've been grieving over sins
That you've committed And the Lord has cleansed
and washed you And asked the Lord what
those sins were And he says I don't
remember It's part of the new covenant You
have to remember things like that God says
you've sinned here And think of this I
remember no more of it God said you
can do that We're human so we can't
help but remember Oh the glory of the
new covenant That we are unclean, defiled By
redemption, grace, and mercy By the shedding of
His blood And the application of it to
our hearts God's intention in the full application
Of the blood of Christ to our hearts
and minds To be so clean That we'll
be virgin in His sight Never having sinned
You creatures Holy, spotless, without blemish In His
sight Oh you say we'll get to heaven
No before then By the washing of water
By the word By the washing of the
water By the word God's going to do
that God give us that holy zeal That
holy jealousy For God's peace to all Have
you gone to stay up here Lest as
the serpent beguiled Eve in its subtlety So
your mind should be corrupted From the simplicity
of the sword Christ He said that because
he knew It would happen At least the
enemy would make an attempt To beguile God's
people To get them off Going off in
another direction To get them listening to the
voice of the deceiver Very prevalent today I
believe That God's jealous over His people God's
going to raise up Two menaces He's so
jealous over His people That He surely is
Servant Kept to the covenant with His master
And did everything that His master Told Him
to do By way of Giving this bright
variety God's servants will Do the same They'll
have a holy jealousy To see that individual
That weak one Or that strong one Whatever
their faults might be To see them so
cleansed and purified Of the Lord That He
will be able to say to them You're
not mine You're not my people You're not
my sheep You're His Not a husband ministry
to them It's a servant ministry A do
-lot ministry To present them holy unto Jesus
Christ That the ministry is for Not to
make great the ministry But that the ministry
might decrease That it might increase Jealous over
Jerusalem And for Zion with a great jealousy
He's giving all these words to these people
Who were discouraged because They couldn't seem to
get this temple built They were working on
the building God was working on the priesthood
Joshua was the name of the priest Of
this new temple And Zechariah showed Zechariah invaded
This man Joshua the priest Who according to
the ritual Outlined in the book of Exodus
Must be clothed upon with holy garments Have
a holy mitre upon his head Beautiful white
robe He had the breastplate In which was
held Urim and Summon They had lost that
somehow It was no longer functioning We don't
read about Urim and Summon Anywhere in this
chapter Or in the other prophets That have
spoken after Samuel I don't think we read
of Urim and Summon And it bothered them
That they didn't have all the instruments That
they had in the first temple Not realizing
That instead of having Urim and Summon In
the pocket of the priest That somehow gave
forth a clear word And clear direction God
was beginning to put that Urim and Summon
In his prophets So that that Urim and
Summon Was there in the heart of Samuel
Not that he knew everything But he knew
everything God wanted him to know About any
situation He was able to give clear direction
And clear guidance to the people of God
Is God going to restore that Urim and
Summon?
I know we've got prophets Some genuine prophets
And I'm not denying that But I believe
we're yet to see Such a purification of
the prophetic ministry All ministries There's literally a
prophetic people In the church A prophetic people
In other words, the Lord Jesus Is so
present in their midst That in a sense
they're all prophets Because the spirit of prophecy
is there And John saw that in the
book of Revelation Or the angel said to
him But the testimony of Jesus Is the
spirit of prophecy The witness of Jesus That
clear witness of Jesus Must yet come into
the midst of God's people Which is the
spirit of prophecy Which is higher than just
having a prophet here and there To have
that order in God's people Where they're so
in tune with God And so illuminated with
his light That that witness, that testimony of
Jesus Is there in the congregation Which is
the spirit of prophecy And so Joshua would
have had All these beautiful garments on him
As he prepared himself to minister in the
temple But that's not the way Zechariah saw
him He saw Joshua the high priest Standing
before the angel of the Lord and Satan
Standing in his right hand to resist him
Perhaps Joshua didn't know But he'd feel those
accusations I didn't feel worthy to be God's
priest I feel unclean I don't feel clean
enough To minister in God's house No doubt
he had Many of those accusations that we
have From time to time Not realizing that
he was feeling that Because Satan was standing
there to accuse him He was called the
accuser of the brethren And the Lord said
unto Satan The Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan
Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem Rebuketh
thee Is not this a bran plucked out
of the fire?
The Lord rebuketh you This is a bran
plucked out of the fire I know It
should have been burnt It was just a
burning bran I plucked them out The Lord
rebuketh you We have a high priest on
the throne And he's plucked us out He's
justified us And if God justified us by
giving us son Paul says Shall he not
with him Freely give us all things Everything
we need He gave us son to die
for us That was the big That was
the great thing that he did The lesser
thing is to give us Everything else we
need To bring us into God's intentions That
was simple I mean the hard thing was
for Jesus To deliver the cross from dying
God did that Will he not with him
Freely give us all things Everything else is
simple That was the hard part We think
it's very hard for God To bring forth
the beauty of the Lord In his people
Leave me out I know Because we feel
like Joshua We hear those words of condemnation
Rather than those words That follow upon our
justification God has raised us up with him
Made us to sit with him In high
places in Christ Jesus God has raised us
up Prepared us, created us Ordained us that
we should be To the praise of his
glory When you first saw him in Christ
You're dead and your life is hid With
Christ being God You're not your own You
were bought with a price God wants you
to hear those words Satan brings in the
accusations We know all about that Any of
you who have Gone on with the Lord
And struggled to come into A higher place
in God You hear these words of condemnation
Others who don't care Well, I'm saved I
believe in the Lord Perhaps they don't go
through that But those who truly desire To
go with God all the way They'll feel
those condemning thoughts Those accusations that come Let
us see our high priest saying The Lord's
rebuked you Says the brand looked out of
the fire I know he said it had
burned I plucked him out And he answered
and spake unto those That stood before him
saying Take away the filthy garments from me
This is new covenant This is new covenant
truth It's not Joshua You're unclean Tear off
those filthy garments I'll help you Tear them
off I got some new garments for you
Tear off those old garments Joshua New covenant
I will write my laws in their hearts
I will be as God They shall be
my people Take away those filthy garments from
him And on the end he said Behold,
I have caused a dying iniquity To pass
from thee And I will clothe thee with
chains of raiment God said I will clothe
you with chains of raiment I know he
wants our cooperation Put on, said Paul, bowls
of mercies And kindness and gentleness Put it
on Take off the old, put on the
new I know But it's a new covenant
word And a new covenant word is creative
God brings it to that place A new
covenant word will come forth God's people is
creative power God said that way back there
in the beginning After the Spirit of God
had moved upon the face of the waters
For how many eons we don't know In
the midst of darkness God said, let there
be light And there was light I can
come into this dark room And quote that
scripture Why did it happen?
Because creative power went along with that word
God intends that this creative living word will
go forth In the midst of his people
who are assembled under him Where corporately they
become the witness of Jesus The testimony of
Jesus And the spirit of prophecy is there
In that spirit emanating from God's people Whether
it be in word or in deed There
is a creative light that comes forth to
his people Take away those filthy garments Clothe
them with change of raiment And I said,
let them set up their miter upon his
head He probably had that miter that was
ordained For the priest On which was written
holiness to the Lord But Zechariah was seeing
him as he really was He didn't have
that holy miter of God Set a fair
miter upon his head We have the mind
of Christ, Paul says That's God's gift to
us That's God's working within us His gift,
yes, but it's the working within us As
we present ourselves unto him Then the priest
must be the work When they brought that
offering to the priest They surrendered it to
the priest Co-operated with the priest in
it all That bandage was in the priest's
hand And he would take all those members
And put them together there in the fire
On the altar of burnt offering And so
our altar of burnt offering Is something like
that Where God says, present yourselves unto him
Present your bodies unto him A living sacrifice
Holy and acceptable in his sight Which is
your reasonable service And be not conformed to
this world Be transformed I know, I try
to do that But it's because we don't
hear that creative voice I believe that time
is coming When one will stand under the
anointing of God's Spirit And say, be transformed
by the renewing of your mind And there'll
be a living word that will cause to
happen What God says For in the New
Covenant, what God says, it happens When God
the Creator is speaking it And he wants
us to be in such union with him
That we'll be speaking out from the heart
of God And then it happens That to
be light, God said it And so it
happens The same God is the God of
the New Covenant Paul says, the God who
commanded The light to shine out of darkness
Shone in our hearts The same God who
commanded that light back there Is the God
who has shone in our hearts The light
of the knowledge of the throne of God
In the face of Jesus Christ God hastens
the day when we will be so Committed
unto him in the altar burnt offering That
we will be transformed by the renewing of
our minds Knowing what is that good and
well-pleasing And perfect will of God For
this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you And so we cry unto
God Because God puts a cry in the
hearts of his people To cry unto him
and give him no rest Till he makes
things happen So intercession is a great ministry
Some have it as a ministry God lays
that burden And they can't help but cry
unto God Do these things Lord The prophets
are straying, do it Lord Isn't it enough
that they say it?
Well it's all something that God works together
In the body of Christ And that body
becomes truly the testimony of Jesus The spirit
of prophecy Will be there in their message
To not only declare God's word But to
write that word upon the hearts and minds
of his people Set a fair mitre upon
his hand How we need that holy mitre
Our minds get so confused, so cluttered up
So divided Thoughts divided We don't know many
times what the will of the Lord is
That holy mitre I'm sure it will come
upon God's people Assurance This is the way
I must go This is the way I
must take Because That's the witness I have
in my heart And in my mind The
confusion will be gone God's going to take
away the confusion Of voices and the confusion
of thoughts The confusion of all these agendas
in the church For fulfilling the purpose of
God He has the people so given over
to him That they become the spirit of
prophecy In the church To declare God's intention
and see it come to pass As a
shining light, as a burning lamp And the
angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua Saying,
let's say of the Lord of hosts That
thou wilt walk in my ways Thou wilt
keep my charge And thou shalt also judge
my house Judge doesn't mean condemn, really It
could bring that Judgment in the scripture is
minister justice Minister righteousness You will judge my
house with truth and righteousness And thou wilt
also keep my courts And I will give
thee places to walk Among these that stand
by Hear now, O Joshua, that I preach
Thou and thy fellows that sit before thee
The dear men wonder at For behold, I
will bring forth my servant The branch A
whole new subject there about the branch The
branch that the Lord will raise up Out
of the sprout of David Our Lord Jesus
Christ But our Lord Jesus Christ Who has
many branches Yet one vine And we as
members of that vine As branches in that
vine Are vitally one with him Totally incapable
of doing anything Except as we are in
union with this vine Beautiful truth Simple, very
simple I'm the vine, you're the branch Abide
in me and I in you As the
branch cannot bring forth fruit Except as abide
in the vine, no more can you Abide
in me and I in you So shall
you bring forth much fruit It goes on
to say If you ask anything in my
name, I will do it So we grasp
that And we're going to work on that
Because there's so many things in me Read
what precedes it God help us to abide
in you Bring us so disciplined As the
Lord by your spirit By your truth, by
your words By your guidance upon our lives
We come to that place, Lord That we
hear your voice Above every other voice In
the midst of the confusion That abounds, Lord
We hear that clear word of the Lord
Samuel, Samuel Give us that grace, Lord Not
just to repeat the words But from our
hearts to say Speak, Lord For thy servant
here Bless your people, Lord This morning, open
their hearts Minds, souls Cause them to lay
it all down, Lord All on the altar
there You might smell that Deep smelling savor
of our sacrifice And that we might have
new assurance I've done that which is pleasing
in this time We ask in Jesus' name
Amen