This is what Nebuchadnezzar did.
We got our bread with the peril of
our lives because of the sword of the
wilderness.
Our skin was black like an oven because
of the terrible famine.
They ravished the women in Zion and the
maids in the cities of Judah.
Princes are hung up by their hand.
The faces of elders were not honored.
They took the young men to grind and
the children fell under the wood.
The elders have ceased from the gate, the
young men from their music.
The joy of our heart has ceased.
Our dance has turned into mourning.
The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe unto me that we have sinned.
Jeremiah said it's because we have sinned, speaking
on behalf of Israel.
And Jeremiah did it.
I mean, Nebuchadnezzar, and God was able to
humble him.
He used him to humble Israel.
Bring them to their knees.
And then God said, I can deal with
him.
And he humbled Nebuchadnezzar.
So I don't doubt that God put the
president there in view of the judgment that
are coming.
And therefore, to uphold him, not because of
what he's doing, but in spite of it.
If for chance God would have mercy in
the time of his wrath.
It's a prayer of the prophets, Lord in
wrath, remember mercy.
In wrath, remember mercy.
When he went to see Clinton, he says,
Mr. Clinton, when I heard of your policies,
I was totally shocked.
God told me to give you a message.
Now, Rick Joyner, I think it's very probable
that he puts it all together and interprets
it in a way that maybe is wrong.
And there's a danger in doing that, I
think.
When the prophecy comes forth, I don't think
we should get together and try and figure
it out or analyze it.
Because when it happens, it's generally very different
to what we imagined.
So, I mean, I know we're going to
have real trouble up where we are, too.
I mean, I can see it brewing.
A prophet whom I recognize as a valid
prophet said there's a holocaust coming for Canada.
And I couldn't see how it could happen
when it came forth, but I can see
it now.
There's such unrest.
One province wants to separate.
It's like if California and Oregon decided we're
going to separate.
You know the effect it would have on
the whole country.
And the native people want self-government.
And in places where they've had a taste
of self-government, it generally hasn't worked.
A lot of suffering, and many of the
native people don't want it, but they're listening
to the leaders.
And I can see how trouble could brew
there.
But God's got a strong native church in
Canada, and in the States.
There's a strong native church.
And I believe God's going to move my
family.
I just take it for granted.
There's great trouble coming.
As well as in ours.
As this prophet said, dig deep and hide
in the rock.
Because God will have a place for his
people in there.
Time.
We talk about, you know, the church doesn't
get raptured right away.
It goes through the tribulation, becomes a doctrine,
and almost...
Sometimes it becomes a doctrine like, no, I
believe in free tribulation.
No, I don't.
I believe we're going through it, and so
it's a doctrine.
If we know we're going through trouble, we
better be sure that...
I don't mean to be survivalist in any
sense of the word.
Because God's disciples are not survivalists.
Trying to survive, trying to run to the
mountain, and dig a hole in the rock,
and store up food and water.
I mean, God's disciples do what God says.
And if he says, stay here in Huntsville,
where there's a danger of being blown up,
you stay.
But by the same token, if you're walking
with God, he could say some evening, get
in your cars and go somewhere.
And we've got to have that communion with
God.
Our safety is not in our armaments.
And God's going to demonstrate that to this
powerful nation.
As he demonstrated in Soviet Russia.
That just almost overnight, the thing collapsed.
In its present form, we don't know.
It could rise up again as a threat
to the world.
And here they are in great trouble.
And we look on, and it's a point
of interest to see what's going on there.
But you ever imagine that things like that
could happen here?
I think of Jeremiah, you know, warning and
warning and warning the people.
And refusing to defend.
And then the elders come to him.
And they sat before him to inquire of
the Lord.
Jeremiah says, I won't be inquired of by
you.
The elders of Israel.
God's complaint in America.
It's not with the judicial system.
It's with the president.
Any of these governors, God puts them there.
I don't care how you vote.
I've said that many times, and I know
people think I'm crazy.
I don't care how you vote.
God's going to put a man there that's
compatible with the hearts of the people in
the nation.
In the name of God.
That doesn't mean you do everything they say.
You might have to resist them.
Then they
go, you know, okay, live forever.
But yet, and still, we will not bow
down.
We will dance with all things scripture to
respect the authority.
And to respect human beings.
Because they are an image of God.
But yet, we have a God beyond their
authority.
And not to rail against dignity.
Not even against Satan.
Rail against the power.
Michael, the archangel, the captain of the hosts
of the Lord, would not dare rail against
Satan.
But said the Lord rebuked him.
You know, I know we're inclined in a
far way, you know, even Christians.
Maybe I indulge a little, poke a little
bit of fun at some of the leaders
in government.
But I don't think you should.
They're there, once again, in office.
They're subject to principalities and policies.
They're subject to those principalities.
That's why we pray.
According to the mind of God.
You can't, you can't change the mind of
God.
But if people live in the spirit.
They'll sense what God wants.
And can pray and thwart those principalities and
policies.
It happened during World War II.
Many times.
Praying people thwarted what Hitler was about to
do.
Change his mind.
And made him attack Russia instead of Britain.
If he'd attacked Britain, the whole situation could
have been different.
And God does that.
And I'm looking for the time when there'll
be a church.
A church in the earth.
And in this nation that is non-political.
And I know I've read Gerald Johnson's writings.
And boy, he's against anybody.
What are you going to do if this
happens?
And if this happens?
Are you going to sit by and do
nothing?
I'm not saying do nothing.
I'm saying I don't care what you do.
You're not going to change anything.
Until you have a vital relationship with the
King of Kings.
And Lord of Lords.
And then you can do anything God wants
you to do.
And that's our problem.
Not that we haven't got enough Christians around
in governmental places.
Because we don't have authority with the King
of Kings.
And Lord of Lords.
Because we don't have that.
Well, we've got to get the right governor,
the right prime minister.
And God isn't doing it.
God's shown the church in America.
He's doing what he's going to do according
to his plan.
And that he's there because of the state
of the nation.
And therefore, and particularly the state of the
church.
Particularly because of the state of the church.
So our burden should be the state of
the church.
And not always to think that the church
out there and we're different.
You know when you read Jeremiah, read Lamentations.
We have sinned.
Daniel said we have sinned.
We have disobeyed.
A true prophet and a true priest of
the Lord will identify himself with the people
to whom he ministers.
They have sinned.
Well, Daniel didn't sin.
But in his prayer, we have sinned.
He's identified with them.
So is Moses identified with the people.
True priestly ministry is what God wants to
bring forth for who identifies with the people.
We're part of the church.
I mean, I know we can't find fellowship
there.
We meet here.
God helped us to know that he's simply
calling us unto himself to be a priestly
people who will be able to minister to
our brethren.
It's not that we're something special.
We're going to make it.
We'll suffer whatever the church suffers.
But priests unto God, they bore the iniquity
of the people.
They went into the holiest of all.
God said he would bear the iniquity of
his people.
And he carried them upon his shoulders and
the breasts of their names.
He went in there on their behalf.
And I know we're all kings and priests
unto God.
But it doesn't mean that we're all functioning
that way.
And like I've been trying to emphasize, we
read a scripture.
Oh, we're all kings and priests.
Fine.
But there's more to being a king and
priest than having the title.
Nadab and Abihu were priests of God.
They were sons of Aaron.
Upon them would come the ministry of the
priesthood.
When Aaron died, one of them would become
the high priest.
They were priests unto God.
Along with Eliezer and Ephemer.
Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's four sons.
God said they'll come into the holy place
and minister unto me.
But when Nadab and Abihu decided, well, my
father goes in there and offers up fire.
We're priests.
Let's go in there and offer up fire
to the Lord.
And they did.
And fire came out from the presence of
God and consumed them.
Right on the spot.
Don't just boast I'm a priest as if
you can do anything you want.
If there's anything that's significant about the priesthood
is that they're confined and restricted.
Far more so than the people of Israel.
They're confined and they're restricted to the way
of God and to the plan of God
and to the purpose of God.
Restricted to that.
And so, fire came out from the presence
of the Lord and consumed them.
Because the Bible says, because they did, they
offered fire which the Lord had not commanded.
Simple as that.
The Lord hadn't told them to do it.
And so everybody in the church is a
king and priest.
And all the evangelists and prophets and apostles
and teachers and pastors, they're kings and priests
unto God thinking they can do anything they
want.
No, because I'm an apostle, I can do
this.
I'm a prophet, I've got a right to
do this.
There's a higher ministry than an apostle, prophet,
evangelist, pastor, teacher.
And that's the ministry of priesthood.
And it's not another ministry.
These ministries are supposed to be that.
Whether you be an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor,
teacher, the overall ministry of all God's people
is priestly ministry and it's higher than those
offices.
And so it's wonderful when you see an
apostle who's a true priest, or a prophet
who's a true priest.
Ezekiel, a prophet, who was a true priest.
He was a prophet, yeah.
A priest.
His concern was for the people.
He wasn't out to prove that his prophecies
were right.
I mean, he just prophesied the word of
the Lord.
One occasion he prophesied the word of the
Lord as God sent him to reprove Israel
and the man fell dead.
Ezekiel was shot and cried out to God
for mercy.
How many prophets would cry out to God
for mercy?
It scares me when I see some of
these mighty men.
I haven't seen him, but I heard about
this man.
Somebody was doing something he didn't like and
he says, for that!
Down he falls on the floor.
Oh, what a mighty man of God.
Where's the priestly ministry?
He might have power.
Where's the priestly part?
Moses said, Lord.
God said, I'll have to destroy this nation.
It's alright Moses, I'll still fulfill my word.
I'll still fulfill my word.
I'll make you to be the head of
the great nation.
And I'll make you to be a greater
nation than Israel.
I'll wipe them out and I'll make you
to be the great nation.
Moses wouldn't have it.
He wasn't an opportunist.
Is that priestly heart in us?
Is it in the leadership in the church
today?
He's failed, but I'll wipe him out and
I'll exalt you.
God, purge our hearts.
Look deeply within and uncover the secret motives,
attitudes, intentions of the heart.
That's why David was a man after God's
heart.
He didn't only search his heart like you
and I do.
I search my heart and this is what
I find.
But he says, God, search me and know
me.
Try me and know my thoughts.
Search me out, Lord, because there could be
things there that I'm not aware of.
See if there be any wicked way in
me.
Lead me in the way everlasting.
God's after the heart.
He's looking for the right heart.
We're out looking for some way to enlarge
our ministry, make it successful, make it to
be approved.
Longing to be accepted, longing to have power
and authority.
Searching God for it, seeking God for it.
Really, that's what I fasted and prayed for.
Because brought up in Pentecost, you're not Pentecost
until you have the power of God.
And I didn't have it.
Sought for power.
Innocently.
And yet I prayed even while I was
seeking it.
Lord, don't give me any kind of power
or authority until you know I'm ready, able
to receive it.
I still pray that.
And if necessary, let me die praying it.
I don't want to have a power if
I'm not ready to handle it.
Some of you know what I'm talking about.
You look around and you see people that
have great power.
Brother was telling me, why is it?
Use mightily of God.
Tremendous miracles, tremendous ministry, tremendous results.
Yet, this happened.
We don't understand.
I understand it.
I think we should all understand it if
we read the scriptures.
That having the power of God and having
all the gifts of the Spirit and great
manifestation does not make a man spiritual forever.
It can do the very opposite.
It can do the opposite.
Having a great manifestation of the gifts of
the Spirit and the power of God in
our lives can do the very opposite of
God's intention.
It ought to humble us and bring us
down and make us meek and lowly if
the heart is prepared of God.
But if the heart isn't prepared, it can
do just the opposite.
It can build up pride, conceive, self, establish
the human ego.
Those gifts from God can do it.
Doesn't God send forth from his heart every
good gift from himself?
Isn't it all good that comes from God?
Yes, James says that.
But I'm talking about the effect it has
on the unprepared heart.
Longing for the rain, isn't it?
Isn't it good?
Yes.
But what if there's a wrong seed there?
Well, it won't affect that.
Is that right?
It'll cause that wrong seed to burst open
and sprout and grow.
The rain from heaven, God's precious rain from
heaven, will nurture the weeds, the tares, the
thistles, as well as nurturing the wheat and
the barley and the flax.
I never saw that and I really got
it because of something that William Branham said
many years ago.
Before he went out in the ministry, the
Lord told him to go to a certain
place and observe.
And as he observed, the Lord pointed out
a man.
Vibrant, enthusiastic, praising God.
He says to look at him.
He was just like another brother that the
Lord pointed out.
Doing the same thing.
He says they look similar.
Very bright, vibrant, loving the Lord, praising him,
hands raised, whatever they do at any cost.
And the Lord said, this man's heart is
right.
He loves me.
He's got a pure heart.
That man's heart is totally corrupt.
He found out at the start.
And God spoke to him about Hebrews 6,
and I never forgot that.
Hebrews 6.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain,
verse 7, that cometh oft upon it, and
bringeth forth herbs made for them by whom
it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.
The earth drinketh in the rain, that cometh
oft upon it, and bringeth forth vegetables, fruit,
suitable for those, intended for those, by whom
it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.
But that which beareth thorns and briars is
rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end
is to be burned.
And I hadn't noticed until I heard him
say this, that it's a result of the
rain in even days.
Is it not?
You say, oh, God's blessing couldn't do that.
It can.
God's blessing can blind the heart.
Because he's blessing me.
I can talk in tongues, I can prophesy,
I can heal the sick.
I've seen it.
I've seen it happening.
Oh, I could name different ones.
A mighty ministry.
And their hearts were not right.
I'm not judging whether or not they repented
in the end, or if they were hypocrites
from the start.
I have to leave all that.
But this one man, I had me visit
in his church.
I was there for a few days, and
he'd be around laying hands on people and
prophesying.
He had a big church, a couple of
thousand people.
And then I heard later that things weren't
quite right, and I didn't know for sure.
I hoped it wasn't so.
Finally, one man came to me and said,
you get out of this city and never
come back.
If you come back, you'll be put in
jail.
He said, I mean it.
He had reason for saying that.
The man disappeared.
He knew what this was all about.
The next thing I heard two or three
years later, he was gone.
One man, under 50 I think.
It's unbelievable, really.
Of course, we've heard of other things.
Gone on.
We ponder, how can that be?
We shouldn't ponder it anymore.
The rain comes down from heaven, and waters
the weeds that are there, as well as
the good seed.
And our prayers should be like that.
Lord, search me.
Know me, try me.
That I might know where to pluck up
these weeds that are growing.
I might pluck up those thistles that are
growing up.
Those things that could ruin my ministry.
Search me and know me.
Try me.
Know my heart.
We don't like to pray that.
Lord, try me.
We feel we've had enough of it.
But God wants to try people, that he
can bestow upon them fullness of his presence.
People will go forth in the image and
likeness of Jesus.
Jesus went down into the Jordan, and John
baptized him, and he came up out of
the water, and John saw the Holy Dove
descend upon him, and remain upon him.
So it wasn't just a passing experience, it
abode upon him, the blessed Holy Spirit, and
a voice from heaven said, this is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
And he went into the synagogue of Nazareth,
and opened the book.
Word was written in Isaiah, the spirit of
the Lord God is upon it, because he
has anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek, unto the poor, to open the
prison doors, and set the captive free, and
so forth.
But I didn't mention one thing, and I
purposely left it out, to show that God
had anointed and imbued him with the Holy
Spirit, that he might go forth and heal
the sick, and raise the dead, and cast
out devils, and set the prisoner free, and
preach the gospel of the kingdom with power.
But before God allowed him to do that,
he drove him into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil.
And I don't hear much of that, in
these great ministries that are coming forth.
And I ask myself the reason for that.
Did God give them that opportunity?
Did God want them to go into that
wilderness?
Did he make them to know that he
wanted them to go into that wilderness?
Or did they somehow, just ignorantly, get this
great power, and feel they didn't need the
wilderness?
Or was God seeking to leave them there,
and they thought it was the voice of
the devil?
Because I've got the power of God now.
If the power of God doesn't do that,
I don't know, I have no idea.
But I do know that that's the reason
they fall.
The reason any of us would fall, could
fall, will fall, if we haven't known the
dealings of the Lord in the wilderness experiences.
Forty days and forty nights, he was tempted
of the devil, there with the wild beasts.
I believe they were literal beasts, but I
don't doubt they were beasts of a satanic
nature also, that were running around, trying to
terrify him.
And the tempter came to him.
After forty days, he was a hundred.
The tempter came to him and said, will
thou turn this stone into bread?
You're hungry?
Take this stone, which is the son of
God, you're hungry?
Turn it into bread.
Why would that be a temptation?
If a man's hungry, and he hears a
voice saying, well, don't you realize you've got
a gift of miracles?
You could pick up that stone there and
make bread out of it.
What's worse, what's worse, what's more wicked?
Would you say it would be wicked to
turn a stone into bread, or to turn
water into wine?
Would there be any difference in it?
Any difference really?
To turn water into wine for a wedding
feast?
Or to turn a stone into bread if
you're hungry?
I wouldn't see any difference in it.
Then what was the difference?
The Father did not tell him to turn
the stone into bread.
Nadab and Abihu offered up fire which the
Lord commanded not.
God had told them to do it.
The priesthood is under restriction to do only
what God says.
It's under that restraint.
Confined.
The priesthood is confined to the will of
God.
Confined to the sanctuary in the days of
their ministration.
Because they took turns in Israel.
The ministration of the priest took turns.
When the time came that there would be
courses of ministry.
There were twelve courses in the year.
So their course was at a certain time.
They were confined to the sanctuary.
Somehow the thought is liberty.
If you've got power from God you're a
priest unto God and you've got the anointing
where the Spirit of the Lord is there
is liberty.
And they pervert the meaning of liberty in
the things of God as if liberty meant
doing anything you want.
The liberty to do God's will not to
do anything you want.
Freedom to do God's will.
I mean we're finding difficulty in doing God's
will because we search for it.
I'm not sure God wants to bring us
into a liberty where we'll be free to
do what he says because you'll hear his
voice clearly.
So that was the test.
You're the son of God.
Because I'm a son of God am I
going to do these wonderful miracles?
That seems to be the concept of what's
going to happen when God manifests his son.
They'll just you know they'll just overthrow everything
on the earth.
They'll just go forth in power and might
and just wreck all the kingdoms of darkness
and just I mean just devastating everything that's
not of God.
Is Jesus doing it in the heavens?
King of all kings and Lord of all
lords has all power in heaven and earth
to do it.
But God said rule in the midst of
your enemies.
For how long father?
Perhaps he doesn't know.
He might know now but on earth he
didn't even know when he was coming back.
But the point is this he has all
power in heaven and on earth but he
knows he has to await the day of
his power.
So for two thousand years he's been ruling
in might and power over the universe and
over all nations and I know a lot
of people don't believe that.
They believe he's coming back to Jerusalem to
reign and I read where he tells sit
at the father's right hand till all enemies
are subdued under his feet and at his
feet is the church and that the kingdom
of God doesn't come with observation but is
planted in the earth and grows and at
the end of the kingdom he says the
end time is the harvest.
The kingdom the messianic kingdom that they talk
so much about and that Jesus came to
establish was not delayed two thousand years.
He set it up when he has sent
it into the heavens and sent it to
God's right hand he could have set it
up in earth and that's what they wanted
that's what everybody expected he would do the
people said it would be glorious when he
comes back and sets it up in the
earth he went away so that he'd have
a power over the earth and over the
heavens because that's where our real problems are
principalities and powers in the heavens the Lord
said unto my Lord sit at my right
hand till all enemies are under your feet
quoted from the New Testament or referred to
eight or ten times as what happened when
Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into
heaven far above all principality and power and
might and dominions in every name that is
named and hath put all things under his
feet put all things under himself until the
time would come when God would say subdue
the last enemy which is death so that
hasn't been subdued yet so we know that
there are many other enemies that haven't been
subdued yet little by little along through the
church age there has been a manifestation of
the power of the king of kings and
who rules in the heavens ruling in the
middle of his enemies ruling in the midst
of his enemies ruled all in the midst
of their enemies well we won't come to
that right now but the thing is he
had to learn obedience he had to learn
the voice of the father he wasn't here
he didn't have this power just to do
wonderful things he was under constraint he was
a priest of God he was under constraint
to do the father's will he wouldn't turn
the stone into brick as the father had
told him he could have done it but
you you see a great miracle how could
a man do a great miracle like that
unless he had the power of God probably
he couldn't but was he supposed to do
it Solomon thinks that God will give a
man great power will give a prophet great
power and he can abuse that power and
use it for wrong purposes I had a
talk with William Brown once and he said
now mind you he says I'm just speaking
to you as a friend I have an
older brother than you he says you got
to do what God says he says if
any prophet tells you to do something or
he says if I tell you to do
something you still got to know the voice
of God yourself and do that he said
a prophet can be wrong and then he
said something I've pondered over ever since he
says Elisha was wrong when he cursed the
young people that came out and made fun
of him but he shouldn't have done that
I don't know but I mean he was
saying a prophet can be wrong I mean
the greatest prophet of this century said a
prophet can be wrong I mean and we
know a prophet can be wrong we know
that Jonah was wrong God corrected him and
so God help us to know that the
power he gives is not a release to
use it as we will that's why God
is showing us these things because he wants
to lay upon his church the full presence
of God by which we can do anything
God wants us to do but unless our
wills are so constrained and so broader the
dominion of the Holy Spirit we ourselves will
do wrong things to our own sorrow and
to the sorrow of the church we've seen
it happen it's learned from what we've observed
instead of wondering how could it happen maybe
they were right I mean God's given us
understanding to know it's not right to stand
before the people and say this thing reported
it's wrong send in this money send in
this money or God's going to take me
home surely if we have a little bit
of discernment we know that God doesn't speak
that way Christian people send in the money
keep it going for us I'm not criticized
I'm not forbidden God wants us to understand
in love understand let us love them so
much that we'll have true discernment because I
discovered that love comes out of out of
love will come true discernment proposes I pray
that your love may abound yet more and
more in knowledge and in all judgment which
means discernment I pray that your love will
abound more and more in knowledge and in
discernment that you may approve the things that
are excellent love so let us pursue love
let that always be our pursuit no matter
what other area we're talking about let the
love of God be our pursuit the real
love and
so we can't go wrong you can go
wrong if you have a gift of discernment
where someone says that man's heart's corrupt you
can go wrong I know a prophet that
went very very wrong because he was a
prophet and he had that kind of discernment
and it awed people to think that he
had that first thing you know he had
a cult had total control over them it
wasn't for the fact that he got in
trouble with the law might still have been
going but he was a prophet whose heart
was not motivated by the love of God
pardon me but a heart that's truly motivated
by the love of God will have true
discernment so that when you when you see
those things some of which I mentioned and
I trust I trust it will be received
in the right way I'm not trying to
criticize I'm just using an illustration I'm not
their judge God'll be the judge but when
I heard of things like that and the
power of this great prophet and the attitude
I I just don't I don't find that
relieving I can't I can't relate to it
and others can't relate to it we don't
want to judge no we don't but let
in love let discern that your love might
abound more and more in knowledge and all
discernment in love and if there's a chance
the time comes God sends you with a
message to such one fine but he's God's
servant he's not mine and may there be
love and compassion for those who we see
may be going astray and if God sees
fit go to them with the word but
let love be the word of God because
true love will sometimes be very harsh sometimes
get thee behind me Satan he said to
his beloved Peter because there was something there
a temptation to avoid the cross Jesus knew
it had to be and he told him
I got to go and down he sensed
the wrong spirit there not you Lord no
you're going to be the king you're going
to reign get thee behind me Satan and
so the temptation you see that the wilderness
we have to go through to come to
this place where God can entrust us to
go forth he said I got the anointing
I know Jesus had it and he got
the anointing before he went through the wilderness
he wouldn't turn the stone to bread to
the mountain to the pinnacle of the temple
to cast yourself down for it is written
he will give his angels charge over thee
to keep thee lest thou dash thy foot
against the stone Jesus replied thou shall not
tempt the Lord thy God ask thyself down
the angels will oppose you tempting God I've
heard preachers say put God to the test
do this thing that I'm telling you maybe
it's an offering you want maybe you don't
have the money put God to the test
write out a check for a thousand dollars
and prove God test him the Bible says
thou shall not test the Lord thy God
if he tells you to write a check
for a thousand dollars fine you're walking in
obedience but you say I'm going to do
it I'm going to test God in this
that's wrong they tried to throw him over
the hill when he came out of the
synagogue Nazareth was just walked away from him
God protected him they tried to stone him
I don't know what happened whether they just
bounced off him it wasn't God's time he
was walking in the will of God nothing
could hinder the purposes of God as a
man walks in his will but to go
to the temple because Satan challenged him you
know that much of the strategy of the
church is built on meeting the challenge of
the devil he does something we don't like
we're out there to challenge him at least
to respond to his challenge are we supposed
to be confronted with Satan yes in God's
will in God's timing in God's methods by
God's leading I know David accepted the challenge
of Goliath but he was sent there in
the will of God his brothers were approving
him he says there's a cause if they're
not a cause God had ordained that didn't
mean from that day forward he had all
power of the kingdom to go and establish
the kingdom for which he was anointed in
fact the very sword he used to slay
Goliath was taken from him but when he
needed it when he was ready for it
when God's time came he got that sword
back again thrown him running for his life
running from Saul but he needed a weapon
and he went to the priest and he
said haven't you got a weapon here?
he said well just the one you used
to slay the Goliath with he said give
it to me nothing like that one it's
been laid up there in the sanctuary for
a long time be encouraged if you were
used mightily of God once and now it
doesn't seem to be happening be encouraged God's
got any weapon you need laid up in
the sanctuary which you will receive in God's
time and it'll mean more to you then
than it did in the time of your
youth when you were depressed filled with pride
and zeal and ready to go and get
the job done and you did one mighty
work and everybody marveled and started to puff
you up and God says no this I
can't let David have this kind of exaltation
cause David was a man after God's heart
whom he was preparing to be after his
own heart whom he would send into a
wilderness for many many years before he would
be able to rule as a righteous and
merciful king so
he knew many wilderness wanderings he had to
go through the wilderness before he could manifest
this kingly power it's consistent with God's ways
Moses had to go through the wilderness Joseph
had to go through his wilderness before they
were prepared best to use the power that
God had for them so you don't test
God you don't tempt God along the way
but recognize he will test us and he
will tempt us and that's his prerogative but
it's sad when they reverse it and test
God and that's what God said to Israel
in the wilderness you tested me and you
proved me and you saw my work 40
years they tested God when God was testing
them they turned it about and tested God
God was testing them and withholding water and
withholding bread and withholding some of the good
things that he had for them he was
testing them in that and in the error
of their hearts in the darkness of their
hearts they turned it about and tested God
and said can God furnish a table in
the wilderness is the Lord among us or
not have you brought us out in the
wilderness to slay us they were testing God
when God was seeking to test and approve
them to be a nation approved of God
to go into Canaan as conquerors Jesus wouldn't
test God let Satan taunt all he will
you say you're the son of God throw
yourself down on the mountain that will prove
whether you are or not you're God's son
the angels will uphold you wouldn't test God
he wouldn't go by Satan's instructions he wouldn't
try to meet the challenge of the devil
he would yes he would in a sense
in God's way he quoted a scripture which
Satan had pulled out of context he quoted
the scripture that applied in that situation the
applicable scripture in that situation was not throw
yourself down and the angels of God will
look at you the applicable scripture in that
situation was thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God temptation three he
showed the son of God all the kingdoms
of the world at a moment of time
all the glory of the world I read
where one man said he had hallucinating dreams
out there in the desert no this was
very real God subjected him to that it
was a test he was a man fasting
40 days very weak we fail to understand
this we think of him as the son
of God you know the devil couldn't he
couldn't possibly defeat him but it was a
real temptation and we know in God's election
he couldn't fail but as far as the
situation was concerned at that time he was
vulnerable God was approving his son and he
let Satan have the power to show Jesus
all the glory of the kingdoms of men
I don't think necessarily as it was then
but throughout until the end of time he
showed him the glory of the kingdoms and
glory that has caught away many of God's
servants in the church the glory of the
world about us he said don't have it
all you'll serve me you and I say
well we wouldn't accept a thing like that
we wouldn't we wouldn't go for that we
don't think it a great thing that Jesus
refused it but it was a temptation so
I know that in his state of weakness
and vulnerability it is a real temptation because
the Bible says he was tempted of rebellion
if you'll fall down and worship me I'll
give it all to you here again God
had all the kingdoms of the world for
him and the time will come when the
kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of
our Lord and the kingdom
of our Lord and the and the kingdom
of and
the kingdom of our Lord and the kingdom
of our Lord and
the kingdom of our Lord and the kingdom
of our Lord and the and the and
the and the and the and
the and
the kingdom
of our Lord and the not a strange
thing.
Something that the temptation comes and they're not
ready for it because they've lacked the wilderness
experience.
Intended of the Lord to confirm our allegiance
to the Lord Jesus the Noah's voice so
well that open doors nothing to do with
it.
Appearances is nothing to do with it.
What seems right in the eyes of the
church or maybe your godly friend in the
ministry or maybe some great prophet or apostle
might seem right to them.
You and I've got to know that because
it is true and I've talked with Paul
Kane and I believe he's a true prophet
of God and I think he'd be quick
to acknowledge that a prophet of God could
miss God.
That he'd be quick to acknowledge that.
He needs to be of help because he's
subject to a lot of advice and counsel
from a lot of people and rightly so.
He brings us into fellowship but we've got
to know the voice of God clear enough
that we're not going to be swayed by
it.