Keeping In Touchpreachingbeyondwords.org/kitbulletin/2008/200811_November_WebKIT.pdfand gain the real power that God really wants to give the church. Now, the Lord has been speaking

November 2008November 2008November 2008November 2008November 2008

KeKeKeKeKeepingepingepingepingepingInInInInIn

TTTTToucoucoucoucouchhhhh...whether I come and se...whether I come and se...whether I come and se...whether I come and se...whether I come and see you, or else be absent,e you, or else be absent,e you, or else be absent,e you, or else be absent,e you, or else be absent,

I may hear of your affairs,I may hear of your affairs,I may hear of your affairs,I may hear of your affairs,I may hear of your affairs,

thathathathathat ye st ye st ye st ye st ye stttttand fasand fasand fasand fasand fast in one spirt in one spirt in one spirt in one spirt in one spirit,it,it,it,it,

with one mind swith one mind swith one mind swith one mind swith one mind stttttrrrrriving tiving tiving tiving tiving togogogogogetheretheretheretherether

for the faith of the gospel;for the faith of the gospel;for the faith of the gospel;for the faith of the gospel;for the faith of the gospel;

Philippians 1:27bPhilippians 1:27bPhilippians 1:27bPhilippians 1:27bPhilippians 1:27b

November TNovember TNovember TNovember TNovember Table of Contable of Contable of Contable of Contable of ContentsentsentsentsentsKids’ ChrKids’ ChrKids’ ChrKids’ ChrKids’ Chronicles: Josiah...................................................................................................................................30onicles: Josiah...................................................................................................................................30onicles: Josiah...................................................................................................................................30onicles: Josiah...................................................................................................................................30onicles: Josiah...................................................................................................................................30

Spotlight on Wynn Johnson by MelisSpotlight on Wynn Johnson by MelisSpotlight on Wynn Johnson by MelisSpotlight on Wynn Johnson by MelisSpotlight on Wynn Johnson by Melissa Trsa Trsa Trsa Trsa Trotototototttttter.......................................................................29er.......................................................................29er.......................................................................29er.......................................................................29er.......................................................................29

GirGirGirGirGirdededededed with Std with Std with Std with Std with Strength by Strength by Strength by Strength by Strength by Stacy Asbill.....................................................................................................13acy Asbill.....................................................................................................13acy Asbill.....................................................................................................13acy Asbill.....................................................................................................13acy Asbill.....................................................................................................13

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaved by the Heavenly Hosd by the Heavenly Hosd by the Heavenly Hosd by the Heavenly Hosd by the Heavenly Host by Tt by Tt by Tt by Tt by Terry Smith.................................................................................19erry Smith.................................................................................19erry Smith.................................................................................19erry Smith.................................................................................19erry Smith.................................................................................19

TTTTThank You: Ochank You: Ochank You: Ochank You: Ochank You: Octttttober 4ober 4ober 4ober 4ober 4ththththth Ba Ba Ba Ba Bake Sale......................................................................................................30ke Sale......................................................................................................30ke Sale......................................................................................................30ke Sale......................................................................................................30ke Sale......................................................................................................30

VisitVisitVisitVisitVisitors’ Corner..........................................................................................................................................................31ors’ Corner..........................................................................................................................................................31ors’ Corner..........................................................................................................................................................31ors’ Corner..........................................................................................................................................................31ors’ Corner..........................................................................................................................................................31

WorWorWorWorWord: Td: Td: Td: Td: The Churche Churche Churche Churche Church has Losh has Losh has Losh has Losh has Lost its Ft its Ft its Ft its Ft its Focus by Burt Asbill..........................................................20ocus by Burt Asbill..........................................................20ocus by Burt Asbill..........................................................20ocus by Burt Asbill..........................................................20ocus by Burt Asbill..........................................................20

WorWorWorWorWord: Td: Td: Td: Td: The Love of Our Fhe Love of Our Fhe Love of Our Fhe Love of Our Fhe Love of Our Faaaaather by Tther by Tther by Tther by Tther by Tom Sigwarth...................................................................15om Sigwarth...................................................................15om Sigwarth...................................................................15om Sigwarth...................................................................15om Sigwarth...................................................................15

WorWorWorWorWord: Spird: Spird: Spird: Spird: Spiritual Warfare by Cecil duCille..........................................................................................3itual Warfare by Cecil duCille..........................................................................................3itual Warfare by Cecil duCille..........................................................................................3itual Warfare by Cecil duCille..........................................................................................3itual Warfare by Cecil duCille..........................................................................................3

T T T T The heavens declare the glhe heavens declare the glhe heavens declare the glhe heavens declare the glhe heavens declare the glory of Goory of Goory of Goory of Goory of God;d;d;d;d;

and the firmament sheweth his handywork.and the firmament sheweth his handywork.and the firmament sheweth his handywork.and the firmament sheweth his handywork.and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Psalm 19:1Psalm 19:1Psalm 19:1Psalm 19:1Psalm 19:1

We, the K.I.T. staff would like to thank you for open-ing the pages of this November edition! We have workedhard to bring these articles to your doorstep, and we hopethat you find them encouraging and edifying! There ismuch to read, so pull up a comfy chair, wrap up in a blan-ket (for those of you whose location is getting colder),and settle in for a delightful time! May God richly blessyou and open the eyes of your understanding to His Word.

Until next time,the K.I.T. staff

P.S. You can contact us at the addresses on the backcover.

Saturday, February 23, 2008SPIRITUALSPIRITUAL WARFAREWARFARESPIRITUAL

Greetings, brethren. May the Lord God abundantlybless you and bless us all as we fellowship together. Hal-lelujah. We thank God for this great privilege. We under-stand that shortly we won’t have this privilege any more,therefore we have to make the most of it and understandhow we can overcome the lack of this privilege by com-municating in the Spirit of God. It seems to me that if welose this internet, lose this possibility, then God Himselfmust give us something greater. I know He has given ussomething greater, but we have not been able to use it be-cause we have so many other things to use. It seems thatthis is God’s way of forcing us to use the power of prayer,the power of moving in the Spirit one with another, thepower of strengthening one another in the Spirit withoutbeing able to communicate. We would not develop thatpower unless we lose this one. So, it sounds like bad news,but it is good news, that we are going to lose this powerand gain the real power that God really wants to give thechurch.

Now, the Lord has been speaking to me very stronglyabout our situation, our warfare, how we are handling itand that we are even being beaten up by the devil withoutnoticing it. Hallelujah. Amen. We get a headache and werush to the doctor, not realizing that it could have been ademon that disturbed us and we could have just rebukedhim and been free.

Let us read from Ephesians 6, starting in verse 10, Fi-nally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the powerof his might. 11Put on the whole armour of God, that yemay be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12Forwe wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin-cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark-ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in highplaces. 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour ofGod, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and

having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having yourloins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplateof righteousness; 15And your feet shod with the prepara-tion of the gospel of peace; 16Above all, taking the shieldof faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fi-ery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salva-tion, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word ofGod: 18Praying always with all prayer and supplicationin the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all persever-ance and supplication for all saints.

Praise God. This was written over 2,000 years agoand at that time they thought the battle was fierce againstthe Christians, but today that battle is 10 times worse andyet it seems that we are paying less attention to the thingsthat are happening. I have seen a great destruction in ourranks.

As a matter of fact, one sister was killed by demons. Iwent to her house by the leading of the Lord and as I steppedinto the house I lost myself. I just exploded and started tospeak to some unseen force and drove them out of there.The sister got up off the bed and was praising God, but herhusband was upset. Now, her husband was one of ourministers and he was upset because of his reputation in thecommunity as a minister. I want you to hear me, brethren.His reputation as a minister in the community was beinghurt by two kooks coming in and driving an evil spirit outof his gate, out of his door. The crowd started gatheringaround to see what was happening, so he asked us to leave.When we hesitated about leaving, he actually escorted usout - put us out - and closed the gate. Now, the demonswere very happy about that and after we had gone, theytook charge of the sister again. It was a long battle withher, up and down. As one disease was cured another onecame on, until finally she had polio. This polio was de-stroying her. They had her in the hospital. The doctors

WARFARE

Keeping in Touch November 20083

Cecil duCille

were around charting the progress of her polio. Hallelu-jah.

We could not help but intercede for her, so I went downinto fasting with the brethren. We fasted for seven days.One morning the Lord God showed us the whole situa-tion. The angel of the Lord went with me to the hospital inthe Spirit and rebuked the polio. The woman jumped outof the bed before all of the doctors and they were all shockedand frightened. She went back home, only to get anotherdisease. Finally, she died.

I have seen brethren who meet with one accident afteranother, one accident after another, one accident after an-other until they are down in sickness. This isnot the will of God. Brethren, wewrestle not against human flesh,but it is against princes andpalities. Meaning to say,not only the prince, butthe whole of his king-dom is fighting us andwe are relaxing andsaying, “Oh, God willtake care of me.”

What bothered meis, “God, why do You al-low this? Why do You allow this? Why do You allowChristians to be beaten up by devils?” Hallelujah. Overthe years I began to get my answers. I want you to lookwith me at Revelation 12:3 and I will show you an inci-dent here. And there appeared another wonder in heaven;(that means in the realm of the church) and behold a greatred dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and sevencrowns upon his heads. That means seven ruling areas onhis heads. Verse 4, And his tail drew the third part of thestars of heaven, meaning to say a third part of the preach-ers, the men who are the leaders. The stars refer to theleaders of the church. …his tail drew the third part of theleaders of the church and did cast them to the earth: andthe dragon stood before the woman which was ready tobe delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it wasborn.

Let’s look at this picture. Here is a dragon that hasseven heads - that means that God didn’t make them - andten horns. We are talking about seven leaders. What Godsaid up there was that this dragon was in heaven. So, weare talking about the whole church system that has withinit ruling spirits that rule over seven areas. I want you tounderstand that the seven areas represent the sevenchurches of Asia, which represent all of the churches ofthe world. Over these areas there were seven rulers, sevenkings - seven heads and ten horns. “A great red dragon,having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns uponhis heads.” We are talking about the bishops and the popes

and the leaders of the church systems that have turned fromGod and have now the image and the stamp of the devilupon them. This church is trying to destroy the manchild.That means by doctrine, by laws, by regulations, by hold-ing their members and by every means that they can use inthe world, they are trying to destroy the birth of themanchild.

We see, then, that this dragon believes that since hehad such success in hindering the woman thatmaybe hecan destroy the manchild. But the manchild is the firstfruitscompany that God has scattered all over the world andover the churches so that they might one day come forth

completely delivered, coming forth in the worldfrom God to rule the nations with a

rod of iron. Now, this is the pic-ture. I am just giving you the

picture as it is in Revela-tion, for I am sure someof us have never under-stood it. We thought itwas all different kindsof things.

But if you go downfurther now to verse 7,

And there was war in heaven:Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; andthe dragon fought and his angels, 8And prevailed not;neither was their place found any more in heaven. Let’stake heaven to mean the church. Hallelujah. There wouldbe no place found for this dragon in the church. We arecoming to the point in time when the people of God willbe totally delivered from the heads that rule in the churchand there is a coming forth, there is a birth that God isspeaking about that will occur in the church. Some of ushave already come forth, but God Almighty is going toanoint a manchild company that will be completely freefrom the woman church and will enter into the Christchurch, or the male church. In other words, Jesus Christ isthe head of the church and He is taking this part of thechurch within Himself so that the war can be won, andimmediately that happens, Michael will come and cast thedragon out. Now, remember, Michael is the angel thatstands up for Israel, and Israel means the sons of God.Therefore, it is not only the ancient Israel that Michaelstands up for, but Michael is now standing for our church.As I have said before, Michael is here and I can assure youhe is, because I have met him. Now, let us go a little fur-ther on.

Michael threw the devil out of heaven; that is, out ofthe church, but all this is not apparent to the person who isnot in the Spirit. Let us go back to Ephesians 6:12, For wewrestle not against flesh and blood, but against princi-palities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark-


ness of this world (age), against spiritual wickedness inhigh places. Let me show you another thing that is hap-pening in the church. Let us turn our Bibles to Hebrews11:40, God having provided some better thing for us, thatthey without us should not be made perfect. Pe-ter, Paul, James, John, all the brethren, mil-lions and millions and millions who havegone on before cannot be perfected untilthis enemy is defeated: this enemythat is hurting my brethren, thisenemy that is coming intoyour homes and splittingyour marriages, this enemythat has a special ven-detta againstwomen, trying todestroy ourwomen. Sisters,young girls, thisenemy is againstyou, because hefeels that if he gets you,he will get us.

Now Hebrews 12:1. Let’s see if we can understandthis verse. It has been a mystery for a long time for manypeople. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed aboutwith so great a cloud of witnesses, (the word is cloud, notcrowd; because they are in the spirit, the Bible calls thema cloud; they are spirits so the Bible calls them clouds) letus lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so eas-ily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that isset before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and fin-isher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before himendured the cross, despising the shame, and is set downat the right hand of the throne of God. Now what are wetalking about? A cloud of angelic beings! As a matter of afact, he referred to the brethren that are passed on as acloud of witnesses. Witnesses. What are they witnessing?They are here witnessing our overcoming the devils thatthey could not overcome. All of the devils that have op-pressed, depressed, destroyed, hurt their people, all fromGenesis right down to this moment, God Almighty saysthat the saints in heaven are there cheering us on.

The picture I see is a racetrack and here are the run-ners and the crowd of people around them cheering themon. We see, therefore, that God is saying that this presentday church has a lot of help, so much more help that evenPaul’s church did not have. If we didn’t have this kind ofhelp we would be dead, because the devil has increasedhis power. Every time the people go into hell, they be-come part of Satan’s army. We call them demons; we callthem fallen angels and whatever, but we had better know

that there is a whole army of spirits against us. They aremore than the people who are alive, because that army ofspirits is the people who have been dying from Genesisright up to this moment. Those who have rejected God are

in hell and they are being used of the devil. Just asthe saints are here helping us on,

urging us on in the fight, sothese men who have becomedemons (if you look up theword demon you will un-derstand that it has some-thing to do with a humanperson) have multiplied

and are ready to de-stroy us. Why?

Because theyhave no life.Outside of us,they have no life.God has not man-

dated to them anykind of life. The

s c r i p - tures say that in Christ welive and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). There-fore, all things persist, live, move and have their being inJesus Christ. He is the Life. Nothing could move withoutHim, therefore demons suck the life out of our world. Thisis the reason they can function. When Satan is about readyto do some big thing, he always causes a lot of deaths.When you notice a lot of accidents, a lot of plane crashes,this, that and the other happening, many people dying hereand many people dying there, Satan wants blood, for outof the human blood comes the human authority and thehuman strength. Demons cannot live unless they comeand attach themselves to some human person and suck thelife out of them.

Now, there is something peculiar about these devils. Ican tell you a lot of it. Sometimes people say I tell you toomuch, but the devils, once they hit you, they have the au-thority to continue to hit you. Unless someone deliversyou from the blows of devils they will continue to hit youuntil they kill you. Do you remember that scripture aboutthe sons of Sceva who went and tried to cast out demons inthe name of Jesus? The demon said to them, Jesus I know,and Paul I know; but who are ye? (Acts 19:15). Thescriptures declare that the demons threw the men and torethem up. One man beat up seven men, tore off all theirclothes and they ran out naked. Do you think those de-mons left them there? Oh no. The rest of the story is thatunless they got deliverance, those demons continued tobeat them until they killed them, because what the demonswanted was their blood. So, human authority is a great


thing.Now look at the other side of the story. Every victory

we win… “Wherefore we are compassed about with sogreat a cloud of witnesses.” Why? Because we are theforce that God speaks of as His great army that is going todestroy the devils who destroyed our people. Now, whatyou need to understand is that when a devil kills a person,the devil continues to live. Over the ages we have notbeen dispatching these devils as we ought to. But thechurch of God must rise up and awake and begin to seethat we need to recognize the work of Satan. Hallelujah.We need to recognize the work of Satan. Amen.

I am coming back to give you more examples so thatyou can understand. This sister that we were praying forover the years who eventually died went to every doctorthat could be found. She went to every doctor; every hos-pital knew her. She came in with one disease and went outand came back in with another. All of the prayers that thebrethren prayed were of none effect because the womanand her husband had rejected what God was doing. Whenyou reject one thing you accept the other. So, they hadrejected God, they put us out the door and they automati-cally accepted the devil. Now, we were doing this everyday. One sister was sick and she went to the doctor andthe doctor gave her medication. The Lord said to her, “Ifyou take that medication you will surely die. But if youbelieve Me, you will be delivered.”

It is as clear as A-B-C. We are putting some-thing else in the place of Jesus. If someone issick, the first thing you should do is pray andrebuke the sickness. The Lord says in HisWord, “I give you power over all thepower of the enemy, and nothingshall by any means hurt you”(Luke 10:19). This was whatJesus Christ gave to the disciples.God has given us enough powerto destroy every power that is onearth. But guess what? We donot realize it. Behold, I give untoyou power to tread on serpentsand scorpions, and over all thepower of the enemy: and noth-ing shall by any means hurt you(Luke 10:19). This is the Wordof God. Now, if we believe theWord of God, we are going to be-lieve that we can be delivered andhealed and that our people or whoever we pray for shouldbe delivered and healed rather than submit to the doctors.Now, I am not going against doctors. No, no, no, becausesome people need doctors and sometimes you need doc-tors. But I am saying that in my estimation, 75% (and I am

being very, very lenient when I say 75% - it could be 95%),but at least 75% of all our problems, sicknesses and alllike that, they come from devils. Because the devils’ posi-tion is that they are supposed to hurt you without yourknowing so that you won’t come against them. Hallelu-jah.

You can imagine the nature of the 6,666 devils thatwere in one man. One man, so that when Jesus came tohim and asked, “What is your name?”, the demons an-swered, “My name is Legion, because I am many” (Mark5:9; Luke 8:30). What happened? A Roman legion is 6,666men. So when the demoniac said that his name was Le-gion, it was the demons in him saying, “We are many. Weare strong.” Jesus said, “Get out of him.” They said,“Please send us into the pigs.” I never did understand thatscripture. Jesus sent them into the pigs as if they had somekind of right. Do you know why they had rights? Becausethe man allowed them in. So, the herd of swine went run-ning down the hillside and drowned themselves. Swinecould not live with those devils. Can you imagine that?The pigs could not live with the devils. When the devilsgot into the pigs, the devils sucked the life out of them andthey got crazy and ran right down into the sea. The manwas able to contain them and entertain them.

You can understand therefore all the things that peopleare doing wrong, all the wrong thoughts. First of all, Sa-tan comes with a thought. He drops a thought into your

mind. You start to think about it. Then you start toact upon it. Then he possesses you. Now, I

could not understand this thing foryears, how a Christian couldhave a devil, until one day Iheard the words, “A Christiancan have anything he wants.”

He can have as many devils as hewants, but a devil cannot have a

Christian. How come? The devil can-not have the Christian until that Chris-tian really turns back from God. TheChristian must reject God entirely be-fore a devil can take him. We haveseen Christians under great satanic op-pression. Now, we have been com-manded of God to go and to deliverthose people. But guess what? Make

sure that the people accept the deliver-ance is from God, not from you. Hallelu-

jah. Don’t do any mumbo-jumbo. Don’tmake any sign of the cross or do anything, because thepeople will say, “It was the cross that he made.” Let themknow it is Jesus! Hallelujah. If a person gets deliveredfrom an evil spirit or from evil spirits and they turn againstGod, they will get seven times more. The devils want se-


GOD CANNOTDELIVER YOU

UNLESS YOU USETHE WEAPONS THAT

HE HASGIVEN YOU.

curity, you understand, therefore they bring an army withthem so that they might be protected on all sides from any-body casting them out. Then when the church goes to castthem out now, they have to have the real power of Jesus.Some kinds “cometh not out but by prayer and fasting.”

So you can understand that we are in a battle and mostof us Christians don’t even know. Did you hear that, breth-ren? We are in a battle and we don’t know that we are in abattle. We are having a good time. “Oh, it is only so andso.” “It is only such and such.”

Praise be to God. We have seen demons work andthey work under cover. Do you hear me? Now, if youhave a bad thought and you entertain that bad thought thenthe devils have an inroad and they work on that road to tryto get you to think more bad thoughts so that they may beable to come in. When they come in, they hide. They hidethemselves; they don’t want you to know that they are there.Praise God. Then Jesus Christ is our head and if He is ourhead and we submit to Him surely no devils can comenigh our dwellings. He will give His angels charge to keepus in all our ways, lest we dash our feet against a stone.But remember, every time you do something…watch itnow. Jesus tells you to go down the streetand to talk to such and such a person andyou are so busy that you didn’t have thetime to go. Now you have disobeyedGod. That is the bottom line. Becauseyou disobeyed God you begin to qualifyfor a devil, to obey a devil. Amen. Thenext voice you hear telling you to go dosomething, it might well be a devil. Sothen you can drive God away by disobe-dience and encourage devils by obeyingthem, listening to them. Hallelujah.

The first thing a devil does i scomes and tells you somethingabout your brethren. Okay,how do we look at that now?The devil uses the gifts of theSpirit which you have.

“What? How can devils use my gifts? My gifts arefrom God!”

Sure. God gave you eyes. Once you have eyes, youare going to see. Once you see what God is going to showyou, you are also qualifying to see what Satan wants toshow you. Hallelujah. Therefore, God shows you this,then Satan comes and shows you that. Now, you have tohave the Word of God; you have to have the understandingof the scriptures and you have to have all of that to be ableto stand in that kind of a warfare. Hallelujah. For wewrestle not against flesh and blood, but against (princesand their palities) principalities, against powers, againstthe rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual

wickedness in high places. Romans 11:29, For the giftsand calling of God are without repentance. That meansthat God gives gifts to many people. It is not because youare worthy. God wants people to have gifts so that theycan help His church and His people. Most of us take thegifts and we use it otherwise. The moment you start doingthat, you find that the devil comes in. You have openedthe road to him.

Let’s go back to the basic thought. My family fromway back all the way up have been beaten and bruiseduntil they have developed certain family traits that we callancestral endowments, or spirits, in other words. This thingwas handed down to me. Now, I have turned to Jesus andthe first job that I have to do is to overcome where mygrandfather failed. Hallelujah. When I overcame whereone grandfather failed, I found that I had two grandfathers.When I overcame something that he had failed in, I foundout that he had more than one problem and all the prob-lems of the family come right down into my physical be-ing and brain and soul. Do you know what frightened methe other day? I discovered that you don’t only inherit theshape of your body and the function of your organs from

your parents, but you also in-herit - what do you think I amabout to say? - their souls.Your soul has the same shapeas your father’s soul, or yourmother’s, or yourgrandfather’s, or whatever,and spirits can discern thisvery quickly.

“Aha, this guy used todrink. Maybe I can get himto find a scripture to tell himto drink.”

“This guy used to do soand so.”

You know, I hear peopleuse scripture to quote fornication. Oh yes. There was achurch where they had free love. When we spoke to themthey said, “Ah, two white sheets can’t dirty each other.Rub them together as much as you want. Two white sheetswon’t dirty each other.”

I said, “Those are sheets. Those are not humans com-mitting fornication.” Hallelujah. So you see, once youbegin to have the gift of God, you are rising up. The gifttends to lift the man up to the gift. The gift is perfect, theman is imperfect and the gift begins to lift the man. As theman submits to the gift, he is submitting to Christ. Thegift lifts him. But guess what? When you are lifted upinto a certain realm, then you qualify to be attacked in thatrealm where you are. It is quite reasonable for the devil.It is giving him his due. People used to say, “Beat the


devil and give him his due.” His due is a good wallopfrom heaven. But the devil will attack you on a level thatyou have reached in the spirit and GOD CANNOT DE-LIVER YOU UNLESS YOU USE THE WEAPONS THATHE HAS GIVEN YOU. Take unto yourself “the helmet ofsalvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word ofGod” (Ephesians 6:17) You are going out into battle with-out a sword, or with a dull sword? You did not study thescriptures? You went to school and you became a plumberor you became a doctor or you became a lawyer - you be-came whatever you are. You knew that you had to go toschool and you had to pass that examination. You had topractice to become efficient in your calling. But then youdon’t know that you must study the Word of God to beapproved? You are in a battle and the helmet of salvationand the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God and you aredull, your sword is dull, you can’t use it efficiently in abattle. Satan is glad to have you to fight. “For we wrestlenot against flesh and blood…” There is a whole army andthe worst part about this army is that they are organized.They are not “riff-raff” running about; a wild spirit run-ning out here doing his own thing. No, sir! They are un-der the devil’s direction. They have to obey their masterand they are coming at you. At this time they are trying todestroy the church. At this time they are trying to destroyevery marriage. At this time they are trying to destroy allour human relationships.

When God said, “Love one another,” He said agapelove, He did not say phileo, although we need phileo.Amen. But God Almighty has something above every-thing that we have in the natural and when you reach up tothe one above, you have overcome the one below. So,God Almighty is telling us that there is a whole army outthere - in your bedroom, in your dining room, in yourkitchen, in your living room - an army of miscreants, anarmy of demons ready to give you wrong thoughts, wrongfeelings, to lead you astray and to destroy you. Can youimagine that? The worst part of it is that these creaturesdo not sleep. When you are gone to sleep they are stillworking. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

God Almighty is speaking to you. We look at II Corin-thians 10:4, For the weapons of our warfare are not car-nal… You see, some of us believe that we are fightingcarnal battles. If you get up in the morning with a wale onyour hand, you say, “I must have done this,” so you go seethe doctor, or you go look for medicine. YOU ARE SUP-POSED TO TURN TO JESUS FIRST. (For the weaponsof our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through Godto the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imagi-nations, and every high thing that exalteth itself againstthe knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity everythought to the obedience of Christ; This is talking aboutfighting. Verse 6, And having in a readiness to revenge

all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. WhatGod is saying is that an army of our brethren and angelsare depending on us to finish the job that was started wayback there in the Garden of Eden. Hallelujah. God hasgiven us the tools to do it and we are at the end of time andno tool will be spared. In Revelation 11:3, He said, And Iwill give power unto my two witnesses… We are talkingabout the manchild coming out of the church. And I willgive power unto my two witnesses, and they shall proph-esy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothedin sackcloth. Verse 4 tells us that this is the same thingthat we see in Zechariah, the two olive trees feeding thechurch with golden oil. The scripture is so beautiful, it isso much “one,” if we will only understand it. God is say-ing, therefore, that we are all to fight. We must becomeconscious now: become conscious of the demons that fightagainst us, become conscious of the devils that fight in ourhomes, become conscious of those that fight on the street.Do you know they will kill you if God Almighty doesn’tsave us? They would have killed us many times on theroads. Demons are sent, men are sent to crash us and to dodifferent things.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I told you this before, howa brother was coming to service here to this place in Ja-maica. He was backed up by some vehicles into a smallplace that there was no hope of getting out of because hewas doing a high speed and the vehicle coming towardshim was doing high speed and God Almighty translatedthe whole car out of there. When he looked behind him hesaw the other vehicle going on behind him and nobodyknows how they passed. But bless God Almighty. He willdo that for you, because if God has a job for you to do, thedevil cannot kill you. The devil cannot stop you.

Let us look at the picture again. We are compassed,we are compassed… I want you to understand that we arenot talking about four or five little brethren looking at you.The whole world, yes, the scripture did say that. Let uslook at that scripture. Romans 8:22, For we know thatthe whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain to-gether until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also,which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselvesgroan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit,the redemption of our body. It means that every humanbeing on earth is under satanic pressure, under the pres-sure of devils and God Almighty has made Himself war-riors and overcomers who will be able to rid this earth ofthese satanic beings. This is the reason why they mustattack us. But we have to become conscious, because Ican tell you, brethren, that many of us are going on uncon-sciously trying to be like “everything is natural.” We willnot even believe that a thing named a demon exists. Well,I am telling you that there are more demons here than hu-


man beings. Amen. One man had 6,666 and it didn’t drainthe demon force that was in the world. For we know thatthe whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain to-gether until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also,which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselvesgroan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit,the redemption of our body. Hallelujah. Yes. Praise be toGod.

We can understand, then, that God is calling us as Chris-tians to become conscious of what is happening. Well,you know, the Lord showed me something very sad thismorning, and that is that He cannot tell some of the breth-ren some of the things which they ought to know. Why?Because immediately they start fretting, immediately theygo into distress, immediately they go start suffering. Godwould like to be able to confide in you the truth and thatthe truth would set you free, knowing that God is able todo all things and that we can begin to trust Him to do thesethings. Do you know that God shows us some things inorder that we might stop them? Yes. It is like having aradar that tells you. You see a little blip on your radarand you know that there is something out therethat might be the enemy. So, because youcan see him now, you can prepare to meethim. But then, God shows us some thingsin order that we should stop it, and in-stead of stopping it, we go fretting aboutit. I hope nobody is thinking about 2008destruction. We won’t stop that one, be-cause God says it is His time.

Romans 8:38-39, For I am per-suaded, that neither death, nor life, norangels, nor principalities, nor powers, northings present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nordepth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separateus from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus ourLord. Hallelujah. You see, Jesus is encouraging us. If weare going into battle we have to know these things, to bearmed with the Word of God, because some people go intobattle and some devil tells them, “I am going to kill you!”and the person trembles. You see? But God Almighty istelling us that if we have faith, if we believe God, if wewalk in truth, then no devil can hurt us. In Colossians2:14-16, He says, Blotting out the handwriting of ordi-nances that was against us, which was contrary to us,and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15Andhaving spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shewof them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16Let no mantherefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect ofan holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:Praise God. Those things were just a shadow.

But God is telling us that He wants us to begin to armourselves for the spiritual battle that we must face. First

of all, your sword must be sharp. No man goes into battlewith a dull weapon. Your sword must be sharp. How doyou sharpen it? Study the Word, because the Word is thesword, the sword of the Word. Now, we are told by Godcertain things, certain principles, certain thoughts. We musthave these in the forefront of our minds and continue tomeditate on them. In other words, we ruminate, we chewthem and bring them up again and chew them again untilthey become flesh in us. No devil can overcome us.

Now, we have seen brethren who did not have theirweapons straight, who did not have things right, who arebeing hit by the devil. I mean, to see a child of God losetheir mind is one of the hardest things to see and to con-ceive, yet I have seen it done. All right. Here is a sisterwho is a pastor. She preaches every Sunday and she gov-erns the church. The first thing that is wrong is that thatsister is going contrary to the Word of God. Now, how youcan do that and the Holy Spirit doesn’t talk to you, I don’tthink it is possible. I think the Holy Spirit talks to you andyou think it is some other voice and you push Him away.

No sister, especially now, no sister has any right toput herself in the position that she is going to

preach the Word of God and lead a congre-gation. It is death. I am telling you, sis-ters, any one of you in any such position,resign immediately. Ask God Almightyto lead you and to deliver you, becauseyou cannot fight the spirits that are being

loosed now. Yes. Way down there in 2001somewhere we discerned that the four spir-

its were loosed from the river Euphrates. Whatare we talking about? We are talking about the

Garden of Eden where man began and where Sa-tan is still striving to gain his final victory. He is trying toget men to destroy the earth if they cannot be the leaders.But the point is that this poor sister, she was in a wrongposition. Who is going to tell her that she is in a wrongposition? Nobody can talk to her. But guess what? Thedemons told her so. Just like the demons taught a lessonto the sons of Sceva, demons possessed her. Why? How?You will be surprised to know how. How could I know somuch? She was attacked deliberately by a sorcerer whowas paid to throw her down. Now, according to our un-derstanding of the Word of God, that shouldn’t happen.No child of God should be able to be hit by demons. But ifyou are in disobedience to the Holy Ghost, you leave abig, wide, open highway for the devil. So the demons tookher. When they brought her to us, we did not know any-thing. All I knew was that my sister was being bound bydevils and I called to Jesus Christ to deliver my sister. Ididn’t go into the details as to what caused her to be bound,although I was baffled because my scriptures tell me that aChristian is not supposed to be bound by devils. Then I


...EVERY SPIRITUALBATTLE IS A BATTLE

FOR OUR LIVES.

laid hands on her, prayed for her, took off her rope, (be-cause they had to tie her to bring her to the service) and lether loose. The next thing that happened was the sorcerercame to me. Remember now, I didn’t know why it wasthat she had been bound - I never thought to question it.The sorcerer came to me andhe said, “I don’t understand.I have never been defeated by any man before and every-thing that I put, you pull.”

The truth is that there were two churches. One wasabout three miles from me and the other about four milesin the other direction and both churches were pastored bywomen and both churches were hit. This woman was de-livered. There was this other man that went crazy up there,an assistant pastor to his wife. God sent me up there todeliver him again. So this sorcerer came to me and ex-plained to me that everything that he puts I pull it. Halle-lujah. What does the Bible say about that? Ephesians 3:9-10, And to make all men see what is the fellowship of themystery, which from the beginning of the world hath beenhid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10Tothe intent that now unto the principali-ties and powers in heavenly placesmight be known by the church the mani-fold wisdom of God… In other words,you are teaching them a lesson. A devilcomes and you teach him a lessonand Satan is more and more be-ing taught these lessons by thechurch. But church, I am say-ing to you, in the name of JesusChrist, ARISE! Wake up and start r e -buking the devil! Because the Bible says that ifyou “…resist the devil…he will flee from you” (James4:7). He can’t stay there. Of course, if you are not walk-ing in righteousness, watch out. You may come in like thesons of Sceva. They got more devils. Those devils neverleft them. Unless they were delivered, they would eventu-ally die, because once the devil has the authority to touchyou, he has the authority to continue to touch you. I don’tknow if you knew that, but these are the unwritten laws ofthe whole demonic kingdom. You must know that GodAlmighty has given us power, (listen to this one) over ev-ery devil that is on the earth at this time and there are moredevils at this time than there was when that scripture waswritten. He has given us power over these powers.

Now, what happened? One night a devil came to killme. God came in first. God is not going to allow you to bein a position where a devil can kill you. God came in firstand lifted me up into a higher realm than the natural realm,so that my natural eyes could see through the wall and mynatural body could even go through the wall. The momentthat I realized that, I also recognized one thought, becausemy mind must have also been lifted up into understand-

ing, that I was going to be attacked by a devil. I recog-nized that this devil was a high up devil, not a demon, buta fallen angel, a prince of devils and that this devil was ina position to attack me. So, I stood up waiting for him.Even in that condition, hear me now, I lost certain under-standing that I should have had. First of all, if you aregoing to go into battle with a devil, cover yourself withyour armor first. Let the Blood of Jesus Christ encapsu-late you before you go into battle to fight against any devil.But I felt so comfortable that the Lord God had lifted meup into a higher realm, that I was going to now fight adevil and the devil would surely be beaten because I wasin a higher realm. I had a wrong thought. That devil wasdescribed by another devil as the “tallest thing in hell.”When he came, I opened my mouth to rebuke him and hecame through the wall like lightning and struck me down.My head was heavy, my arms were heavy, my tongue washeavy, but my mind was alive. Praise be to God. Amen.When God saw that, Jesus Christ jumped into the bed.Now, Jesus is not personally coming to assist you in a fight

unless there is some inequal-ity there. He has to bring theequalizer. You know, they calla gun an equalizer. No matterhow big the man is, if the littleman has a gun he can knockhim down. So, He brought inthe equalizer, and the equal-izer that He brought in wasthat His presence was there.

He touched me on my shoulder. “Don’t struggle.” Hesaid. “This is not a natural struggle, it is a spiritualstruggle.” When He said that, I relaxed. When I relaxed,I saw a vision of the cross rising up before me. The battlewas over.

What I want you to understand, brethren, is that al-though you are a Christian, there are different levels ofsatanic functions around us and we have to be preparedand ready. Hallelujah. Praise be to God. Luke 10:19,Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents andscorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and noth-ing shall by any means hurt you.

Now, then, we see that we are in a spiritual battle andevery spiritual battle is a battle for our lives. We see someof our brethren have been beaten up by devils. Hallelujah.I feel pretty bad about it right now. I think of a sister whowould go with us on the mission field and there was sucha comfortable feeling when you had her with you becauseshe was on a certain side that you couldn’t see. She wouldsee things. She would hear things. God Almighty woulduse her gift mightily. Yet satan never rested until heknocked down her and her husband – he has them bothdown and we sit down here as a church. We should all get


...IT IS TIME FOR USTO RECOGNIZE THE

DISTRACTIONS OF THEDEVILS THAT ARE

AGAINST US AND RISEUP AS ONE MAN AND

STRIKE THEMDOWN.

mad at the devil and say, “Loose my sister! Loose thatman now in the name of Jesus.” We as a church shouldrise up. She worked with us in Africa, in Nigeria. A lot ofthe brethren will remember who she is, because theyhaven’t seen her for a long time. Hallelujah. Today, thismorning, we had to be praying for her. Yes. I am gettingimpatient with the devil. I think, brethren, that we shouldrise up and strike down satan and all his works that he hasdone against us and against our sisters and brothers, forevery one. He would like to devour us but God Almightycan cleanse us and deliver us. Even when we open thedoor, God can shut it. Lord Jesus, we ask that You willspeak on behalf of our brethren who are sick, who are takenby devils. Hallelujah.

One sister in Oklahoma is taken by a devil and I’mtelling you, brethren, she has been a faithful sister. Shehas been a good person. She had all good intentions, butthe devil brought in something and opened the door thereand they have put sorcery upon her, sor-cery upon the son of God. Hallelujah. Iam saying, “NO!” Let it not be. Let usstop it now. Church, rise up in the nameof Jesus Christ and cast down the worksof satan, for God has given us the powerto do it. Let us not linger any longer,but let us march forward and do whatGod has told us to do. Hallelujah. Letus cry to God for the deliverance of oursister in Oklahoma, for our sister in Ne-braska and for all the other children ofGod. Every one of you that have beenhindered or are being hindered in yourbusiness, in your work, whatever hin-drances you are suffering, it is a devilthat has been placed there to hinderyou and not a devil, it is devils.

Some of our houses arecrowded with devils. Yes.Crowded with devils. We can-not see them and thank God. Whatwould happen if God would open your eyesto see these things? Oh, what a terror it would be to you.This is what I am saying. We need to be in a positionwhere we can see the things and we can believe God anddestroy the power of Satan. Now, understand what I amtrying to say. Because we have eyes, Satan will show uscertain things. I see Satan going after the women toothand nail and he is telling them things that turns them off ordistracts them. There is nothing greater in a battle thandistraction. Oh, yes. Amen. You distract the enemy, youget his mind off of it and immediately you have got him.So the devil is putting distractions in our lives. Almost allthe things that some of our wives and daughters are in-

volved in are nothing but distractions. They have no di-rect leading into the house of God and the glory of God.We are saying, brethren, it is time for us to recognize thedistractions of the devils that are against us and rise up asone man and strike them down.

Now, remember, there is something about a devil. Firstof all, he has feelings. Did you know that? Devils havefeelings. When you zap them with a rebuke from God, thepower of God strikes them and hurts them. You can cripplethem and put them out of action. God Almighty gives usone thought. He said, “Send them back to the abyss.” Wecan send devils to the abyss where they cannot come outand chain them until Jesus Christ comes to judge the quickand the dead. Hallelujah. We find that there were somedevils chained in the river Euphrates. What are we talkingabout? Devils chained in a natural river? No, no, no. Theriver Euphrates is speaking of the people of the Euphratesand the people of the Euphrates had this devil in them long

ago, because it was the devilthat first tempted Eve. Theyhave multiplied their forces.Now they have a doctrine tokill us. Their doctrines sayto kill all Christians, kill allJews, you understand. Theyhave doctrines to kill us, sothat little children are beingtaught how to kill us. We seeagain in Revelation 16, (thefirst one was in chapter 9),but in chapter 16:12 it says,And the sixth angel pouredout his vial upon the greatriver Euphrates; and thewater thereof was dried up,that the way of the kings ofthe east might be prepared.13And I saw three unclean

spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of thedragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of themouth of the false prophet. That means to say it is spiri-tual things. The world doesn’t have a prophet. The falseprophet is coming from church business. Therefore, thereare, in the church system, false prophets. In the churchsystem there is a dragon and God said that that will hap-pen upon the pouring out of the sixth vial. Well, we havenot gotten to the sixth vial yet. But what I am saying isthat very soon that sixth vial of wrath is going to be pouredout upon humanity and that men will die like flies. Amen.The uncleanness that is going to come forth is going tocome forth to take the whole world. Verse 14, For theyare the spirits of devils, working miracles… You know,the world people don’t advertise themselves as going forth


with miracles. We are talking about church business.…which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of thewhole world, to gather them to the battle of that greatday of God Almighty. The battle of Armageddon. Now, itis strange, but this man in the Euphrates area there, in Iran,he said that God has told him that he is the one that isgoing to bring forth Armageddon. Yes. That is a lie. Butnevertheless, he is only using wrong words. Amen. Hewants to bring forth great destruction in the end of timeand he might well succeed. Because of this, we are sayingto you, brethren, “THE CHURCH OF GOD MUST RISEUP TO THE STANDARD OR ELSE WE WILL ALL BEOVERRUN BY DEVILS.” Why? You have to believefirst.

I was preaching in one church in Pasadena and thebrethren asked me not to come back. I haven’t been backthere since then. Why? Because I speak too much aboutdemons. Amen. Well, you can imagine a person doesn’twant to hear about demons when they have hundreds ofthem in their houses, moving around with them, leadingthem, guiding them. We want to begin to make sure thatwe are under the guidance of God. Don’t you understand,brethren? What is going to make us one is not because wecan communicate by television or by internet. What isgoing to make us one is the oneness in Christ Jesus. Whenwe have oneness in Christ Jesus, communication will beno problem. We will talk to one another in the Lord. Amen.Don’t you understand? God Almighty is bringing us to ahigher level. The reason is that the battle is on a higherlevel now. I don’t know if you have noticed it, brethren,but the battle has moved up to a higher level now. Peopleare beginning to have certain feelings about other people,they are beginning to have certain words about other peopleand they have to recognize that not all the words that youhear are of God. If you can hear God, you can also hearthe devil. Please believe me, brethren. If you can hearGod, you can also hear the devil. If you have a prejudice,I am sorry for you. The devil is going to walk on you.Amen.

I saw it in a church. Again, another woman pastor.Again, she was in a church preaching. Again, she had avision. Three devils came in the church and sat in thefront bench. The unfortunate part about the devils is thatthey were three black devils. While she was preaching,three of the precious brethren whom I know very well,walked into the church and sat down right in the samethree seats. When the woman saw the three black peoplesit in the seats, she immediately decided that those werethe three black demons. DON’T YOU BELIEVE THATGOD IS GOING TO CALL YOUR BROTHER OR SIS-TER A DEMON! Don’t you believe it, brethren. Hallelu-jah. If you have a bad word about one of your brethren,you had better go talk with them and make sure that bad

word doesn’t have a thing in your heart.I’ll tell you a story. Yesterday, I started to think certain

things about a brother because of certain things that hewas doing. The truth is, the brother is not right, he doessome wrong things, but I started to think about it. No soonerhad I started to think about it, I got a call from a brother inthe United States saying, “I want you to know that thatbrother prayed for me and I was delivered. Thank JesusChrist.”

I said, “Thank you, God. Hallelujah.” That settles it.The man is a child of God. Therefore, no wrong thoughtsshould be entertained about him. If there is somethingwrong, talk to him about it. If he is of God, he will repent.He will turn aright, he will turn back. But don’t you allowthe devil to get any foothold in your heart or in your mindconcerning your brethren. God couldn’t call His childrenthree black demons. He couldn’t call them that. So, GodAlmighty is trying to teach us, and we are teaching theprinces of heaven and the princes of hell alike. Did youhear that? We, the church, are teaching both hell andheaven. Do you know why? God cannot manifest Him-self in an angel to preach down here. He has to manifestHimself in a human being. God wants the world to seeJesus in us. This is the first coming of Jesus. The firstfruitscompany will receive the fullness of God before anybodyelse. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus.

So, this is what we are talking about. Jesus Christ iswanting to see the church on a different level now. Re-member, now. We were on a certain level and in that levelwe operated a certain way. On that level, we could go outand we could rebuke a certain type of spirit. On anotherlevel, Jesus said that only prayer and fasting was going tobring you up to the level where you can deal with thatspirit. Yet, there are other levels of spirits. God Almightyis bringing the church up to a level. How? Begin to watchyour righteousness. Do you hear me? Begin to watchyour righteousness. Begin to see if your righteousness ismore than the righteousness of the scribes and the Phari-sees. For I say unto you, That except your righteousnessshall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Phari-sees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven(Matthew 5:20). Now, what was the righteousness of thescribes and Pharisees? Thou shalt not do this. Thou shaltnot do that. Thou shalt do this. Or give alms to the poor.Those were his righteousness. But now, the righteousnessof God is to do what God wants you to do. God has a willand a plan for every area, for every time, for every person.God wants us, you, to obey Him. Just as your hand obeysyou when you want to stretch it out, we are to obey Him inall things, that the righteousness of God be made known inall the earth so men will begin to see Jesus before JesusChrist the Son of God appears.

Lord bless you. Praise God. Amen.


You have girded me with strength,You have girded me with strength,You have girded me with strength,You have girded me with strength,You have girded me with strength,To do battle in your name.To do battle in your name.To do battle in your name.To do battle in your name.To do battle in your name.

Those that rose up against me,Those that rose up against me,Those that rose up against me,Those that rose up against me,Those that rose up against me,You have subdued under me.You have subdued under me.You have subdued under me.You have subdued under me.You have subdued under me.You have given me the necks,You have given me the necks,You have given me the necks,You have given me the necks,You have given me the necks,

Of all my enemies.Of all my enemies.Of all my enemies.Of all my enemies.Of all my enemies.And I shall destroyAnd I shall destroyAnd I shall destroyAnd I shall destroyAnd I shall destroy

All them that hate Thee and me.All them that hate Thee and me.All them that hate Thee and me.All them that hate Thee and me.All them that hate Thee and me.And I shall destroy them.And I shall destroy them.And I shall destroy them.And I shall destroy them.And I shall destroy them.

Girded

StrengthWith

by Stacy Asbillby Stacy Asbillby Stacy Asbillby Stacy Asbillby Stacy Asbill

This song seems to perfectly sum up the thingsthat the Lord has been working in my life lately. Isuppose, starting at the beginning, the Lord reallystarted speaking to me through a situation with one ofmy children. This past summer I went through somevery difficult times with one of our children. We havehad to spiritually battle quite a bit for this little oneand, in spite of the intensity in battle, I am thankfulbecause God has used it in my life to teach me pa-tience, endurance, and the necessity to have the agapelove of God in our hearts when dealing with one an-other. As the years have gone on, it seems that therehave been times and seasons of more intense battleand then times when it has not been so intense. Thissummer, though, we seemed to get walloped with atremendous battle on this child’s behalf. My priormode of operation could be summed up with the versefound in Ephesians 6:13, Wherefore take unto youthe whole armour of God, that ye may be able to with-stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Most of the time, in the heat of the battle and havingdone all that I knew to do physically and spiritually, Iwould “stand.” In other words, I would stand on thepromises of God for me and my children; laying holdto the promise of being confident of this very thing,that he which hath begun a good work in you willperform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians1:6). This particular time of battle, though, I realizedthat there was something more that needed to take placein order to assure victory – I just wasn’t sure what thatsomething was. One day a thought dropped into myheart that, instead of defensively fighting, I was to beginto fight offensively. Little by little God gave me in-sight on how to practically apply this thought into ac-tion. Just a little example of this; one of the difficul-ties our child has had was being very demanding. Ofcourse, if the demand wasn’t fulfilled, a fit would en-sue. So the idea was to help her go from being self-centered to thinking about others first. At night timewhen tucking her in bed I would say, “Tomorrow you


are going to do something special for someone; some-thing like coloring a picture for them, calling them upon the phone and saying hello, writing them a letter,or making them a little present. You think about whoyou want to do something for and tell me in the morn-ing.” This is just one of several different ways that theLord showed me how to help my child overcome.Basically, it is a preemptive strike; going after the en-emy of our soul instead of waiting to fight him whenhe comes after you!

Now, let me take this same principle and apply itto a different situation – my own, in fact. There hasbeen a particular spirit that I have been dealing withquite intensely and it is the spirit of fear. Many timesa thought comes to me and I immediately feel my stom-ach tighten and my heart begin to palpitate. One ofthe things that I have found out about the spirit of fearis that its grip paralyzes you. Another thing I havefound out is that I REALLY DON”T LIKE BEINGBOUND BY FEAR! So here I am fighting this spiritand, for me, it has kind of been like being in a boxingmatch and because your opponent has knocked youdown, it’s hard for you to get up and it’s easy for himto keep pummeling you. Needless to say, I reachedthe point where I had enough; I was tired of being thedevil’s punching bag. On the other hand, I was still allbeat up and felt like I didn’t have the strength to riseup. Well, thank God for the Body of Christ and for thelove of the brethren to pray for one another! I asked adear brother to pray for me concerning this attack Ihad been having and, by the time they were throughpraying, I felt like I was able to stand on my own twofeet. Little by little strength began to grow in me sothat I would be able to fight. During this time theLord was speaking to me about my need to go on theoffense in dealing with this spirit and not just deal withit when I would get hit. One of the practical ways thatI was encouraged to do this was to really get the Wordinside of me; to read it, think about it, and speak it out.This seems like such a simple principle and yet speak-ing forth the Word that specifically addresses the thingthat you are having to deal with not only addresses thespirit but it also gives you that confidence that comesfrom knowing that God is indeed on your side. God isour refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble(Psalm 46:1). Another key ingredient in spiritual battleis fasting. During one of our Sunday morning meet-ings a sister was sharing and one of the things that shesaid was, “If you are dealing with the spirit of fear,fast.” She went on to say that she had been dealing

with this particular spirit and after prayer and fasting,God delivered her from it. This so blessed me be-cause I knew that God was speaking to me. That weekI began to fast. The first day started off so well. Infact, you know how when a boxer first steps into thering and he’s bouncing up and down, throwing a leftpunch and then a right as if to show that he’s raring togo? Well, that’s exactly how I felt, ready to take any-thing on. Unfortunately, later on I got so hit by thedevil that it felt like my feet had been knocked outfrom underneath me. You probably could have usedme to wipe up the floor! Nevertheless I perseveredbecause we walk by faith, not by sight (II Corinthians5:7). No matter how badly things may go or how wemay feel, we should keep on pressing on in the thingsof the Lord. Jeremiah 29:13 says, And ye shall seekme, and find me, when ye shall search for me withall your heart. As time has gone on, I have continuedto have times of fasting and seeking the Lord. I havenot seen the total and complete deliverance from fear,but I know that God has apportioned it to me. And itshall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on thename of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mountZion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as theLORD hath said, and in the remnant whom theLORD shall call (Joel 2:32).

I think the main thing that I want to convey in thistestimony is that we don’t have to wait until we get hitby the enemy to begin to fight him. In fact, the Wordsays in Matthew 11:12 (I will add in parentheses thedefinitions of a few of the words), And from the daysof John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heavensuffereth violence, and the violent (energetic) take(catch it up) it by force (pluck, pull, take). Also, I amreminded of the verse in I Peter 5:8, Be sober, be vigi-lant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaringlion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.The word vigilant means to be awake and watchful. Itseems that if we truly want to be victorious in spiritualbattle, it behooves us to not just do “damage control”and fight when the devil strikes. Instead we should betaking the battle to the enemy’s gates and not just waituntil he is bombarding ours! When you consider thearmour of God spoken about in Ephesians 6, all of thepieces are designed for our protection but there is onewhose purpose is to attack and that is the sword. Weshould never underestimate the strength and powerwhich lie in the Word of God. Be encouraged todaybecause, by the Word of the Lord, we are madeovercomers!


As Peter was talking about his father, I began to think about my father andhow my relationship with him really began the day that I repented to him formy rebellion, for being a wayward son and for my inadequacies as a son. I wasthinking about how our relationship with our heavenly Father begins the sameway - when we repent. Our earthly father may have done things that didn’tmeasure up and we might point the finger. But, as we grow and become fa-thers ourselves, we can empathize and begin to understand the things that ourfathers went through. The day that I realized I had to repent to my father wasthe day that our relationship began. I’m thankful for my father. Like Peter, myfather has passed on. But I have an understanding of my heavenly Fatherbecause of the relationship I developed with my natural father when I repentedto him. As I sought to please my dad in his latter years and to restore ourrelationship, it encouraged me that I can do the same with my heavenly Father,and the place where it first begins is with repentance.

The Scripture that came to me is Isaiah 53 and I would like to begin there.Repentance is a wonderful thing, because there is a cleansing and a washing.

Isaiah 53:1, Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm ofthe LORD revealed? 2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, andas a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when weshall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He is despisedand rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and wehid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

You know, in Ecclesiastics 1:18 it says, For in much wisdom is muchgrief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

It says that our Lord was a man ofsorrows, and acquainted with grief.He had all wisdom and all knowledge.In that which He had, He saw the con-dition of man. He saw the conditionof our souls. He saw all those thingsand what we were really like. He sawwhat we had done and how we turnedour backs upon Him.

You know, we talked about thegarden of Eden today with what Evehad said to Adam, and the one thingthat the Lord asked not to be done, inour own arrogance, we did. Howmany things like that do we see withour own children, knowing we our-selves don’t touch those things? Thecommand to not eat or touch createdin us a desire to get over there and totouch it, to see it, to taste it. He sawall those things within our hearts yetthat did not stop Him.

4Surely he hath borne our griefs,and carried our sorrows: yet we didesteem him stricken, smitten of God,and afflicted. You know, I heard thisfrom a man one time. He said, “Theopposite of knowledge is not igno-rance, it is innocence.” So often welook at innocence as just being naiveté,but it is not. There are a lot of thingswe should not have knowledge of. Ourheavenly Father protects us from that.He told Adam and Eve, “Do not eat ofthe tree of knowledge of good and evil.It is not going to be good for you.” Butthey wanted that knowledge and withthat knowledge came grief and sorrow.Yet Jesus bore that. He took it uponHimself; He carried it.

5But he was wounded for ourtransgressions, he was bruised for ouriniquities: the chastisement of ourpeace was upon him; and with hisstripes we are healed. That is one ofmy favorite Scriptures, because it talksabout the fullness, the completeness,of what God has done for us. It saysthat he was wounded for our trans-gressions. Transgressions are outwardthings, things that we do to otherpeople. We transgress against some-one; we hurt someone. These are out-


TheTheTheTheThe LoveLoveLoveLoveLove ofofofofofOurOurOurOurOur FatherFatherFatherFatherFather

message by Tom Sigwarthmessage by Tom Sigwarthmessage by Tom Sigwarthmessage by Tom Sigwarthmessage by Tom SigwarthJune 15, 2008June 15, 2008June 15, 2008June 15, 2008June 15, 2008

For God so loved the world, that heFor God so loved the world, that heFor God so loved the world, that heFor God so loved the world, that heFor God so loved the world, that hegave his only begotten Son... (John 3:16)gave his only begotten Son... (John 3:16)gave his only begotten Son... (John 3:16)gave his only begotten Son... (John 3:16)gave his only begotten Son... (John 3:16)

ward things. A wound is an outwardthing. When you are wounded youbleed. The blood flows out from you.It is very visible. It is very noticeable,just like a transgression. When youtransgress against someone, someonenotices that, especially the personagainst whom you transgressed. Wefail that, but His Blood was shed tocover that transgression. He waswounded for that transgression tocover that transgression.

You know, we can sacrifice our-selves for one another; we can laydown our life. There are many thingsthat have a good outward demonstra-tion; you can obey laws and things likethat and they can take care of thingsand put things in a somewhat orderlyfashion. We can amend the rights. Wecan have laws. We can have justicefor transgressions. We can match thatin a sense, but this next thing we can-not match. That is, that he was bruisedfor our iniquities.

You know, iniquity is that inwardthing. It is that sin that dwells withinus, that fallen nature. It is that thoughtthat you may not hear me think to-wards you or towards another. It isthe way I do things. It is why I dothings. It is what motivates me. Iniq-uity is lawlessness within my ownsoul. But God in His infinite mercywas not only wounded, but He wasbruised. A bruise can be defined asblood that is being shed that neverbreaks the skin. Is that correct, Dr.Ona? Isn’t that what a bruise is?Blood that has been shed, but it neverbreaks the skin.

A lot of times you can kind of hideyour bruises. If you don’t realize that,you can live with your bruises veryeasily. They are more hidden in thesense of what is happening, comparedto a wound. But the bruises that Heshed for us were not only outwardlyfor our transgressions, but inwardlyfor our iniquities. He cleansed us.

He has given us the ability to bechanged. We can only change ouroutward things. We can will ourselves

to change outwardly to make a differ-ence that way, but we cannot will our-selves to change inwardly, in the sensethat iniquity will always pop up - un-less we realize and accept the sacri-fice and the Blood of Christ within oursouls. To allow the bruise that He hasmade to have effect, we must let Hisbruises, that Blood that He shed, workwithin our own souls. Hallelujah.

Isaiah 53:6, All we like sheep havegone astray; we have turned every oneto his own way; and the LORD hathlaid on him the iniquity of us all. 7Hewas oppressed, and he was afflicted,yet he opened not his mouth: he isbrought as a lamb to the slaughter,and as a sheep before her shearers isdumb, so he openeth not his mouth.8He was taken from prison and fromjudgment: and who shall declare hisgeneration? for he was cut off out ofthe land of the living: for the trans-gression of my people was he stricken.9And he made his grave with thewicked, and with the rich in his death;because he had done no violence,neither was any deceit in his mouth.10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruisehim; he hath put him to grief: whenthou shalt make his soul an offeringfor sin, he shall see his seed, he shallprolong his days, and the pleasure ofthe LORD shall prosper in his hand.11He shall see of the travail of his soul,and shall be satisfied: by his knowl-edge shall my righteous servant jus-tify many; for he shall bear their in-

iquities. 12Therefore will I divide hima portion with the great, and he shalldivide the spoil with the strong; be-cause he hath poured out his soulunto death: and he was numberedwith the transgressors; and he barethe sin of many, and made interces-sion for the transgressors.

I read this chapter from time totime to refamiliarize myself with whatHe has done and with Who He is.What a complete sacrifice on the cross.What utter abandonment He had to gothrough. What total sacrifice He hasmade for you and for me. He shallsee of the travail of his soul, and shallbe satisfied (verse 11). You know, abrother once said, “Do you know thedifference between the God of Chris-tianity and the god of Islam, or the godof any other religion?” He said, “Thegod of Islam requires you to send yourson to die for him, but the God ofChristianity has sent His Son to die foryou.”

It pleased Him. He was satisfiedwith the sacrifice of His only begot-ten Son. He made entry, but His entrywas not just outwardly, it was also in-wardly. It was a complete work, thework of the wound and the work ofthe bruise. Hallelujah. The Blood thatwas shed was not just outward, but alsoinward.

When I began to understand thatrevelation, I saw the hope that I hadfor all that I lacked; for all mySigwarth-ness, for all my heritage, all


The Blood that wasThe Blood that wasThe Blood that wasThe Blood that wasThe Blood that wasshed was not justshed was not justshed was not justshed was not justshed was not justoutward, but alsooutward, but alsooutward, but alsooutward, but alsooutward, but alsoinward. When Iinward. When Iinward. When Iinward. When Iinward. When I

began to understandbegan to understandbegan to understandbegan to understandbegan to understandthat revelation, I sawthat revelation, I sawthat revelation, I sawthat revelation, I sawthat revelation, I sawthe hope that I hadthe hope that I hadthe hope that I hadthe hope that I hadthe hope that I hadfor all that I lacked.for all that I lacked.for all that I lacked.for all that I lacked.for all that I lacked.

those things that I face on a daily ba-sis. When I realized that that Bloodwas shed, that His bruises would washaway that inward thing, it renewed myhope. Amen. God is so wonderful,for He has done a complete work.

I would like to turn to Psalm 119.When I look upon and see all that Hehas done for me, my cry is, “How doI respond to the Lord?” Psalm 119is the longest chapter of the Bible. Itis 176 verses. It goes through thewhole Hebrew alphabet, eight versesat a time with every letter in the He-brew alphabet. It is interesting that inthe Hebrew the first letter is Aleph, andPsalm 119 begins with Aleph, thenBeth and all the way through like that.It is quite an interesting study in andof itself. Why don’t we just read someof these?

Psalm 119:1, ALEPH. Blessedare the undefiled in the way, whowalk in the law of the LORD.2Blessed are they that keep his testi-monies, and that seek him with thewhole heart. 3They also do no iniq-uity: they walk in his ways. 4Thouhast commanded us to keep thy pre-cepts diligently. 5O that my ways weredirected to keep thy statutes! 6Thenshall I not be ashamed, when I haverespect unto all thy commandments.7I will praise thee with uprightness ofheart, when I shall have learned thyrighteous judgments. 8I will keep thystatutes: O forsake me not utterly.9BETH. Wherewithal shall a youngman cleanse his way? by taking heed

thereto according to thy word. 10Withmy whole heart have I sought thee:O let me not wander from thy com-mandments. 11Thy word have I hidin mine heart, that I might not sinagainst thee. 12Blessed art thou, OLORD: teach me thy statutes. 13Withmy lips have I declared all the judg-ments of thy mouth. 14I have rejoicedin the way of thy testimonies, as muchas in all riches. 15I will meditate inthy precepts, and have respect untothy ways. 16I will delight myself inthy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

He goes on. Deal bountifullywith me (verse 17). Great are thy ten-der mercies (verse 156). Quickenthou me (verse 37). Teach me (verse66). I would just encourage everyoneto read through that, because it putsyou in a mindset that all that God doesto you is for your good. He is tryingto bring you into a place where youwon’t be offended if you are walkingin His ways. Whenever I get offended,I ask myself, “What am I not walk-ing? Where is that thing? What is inme that is causing me to be offended?”

Hallelujah. Amen.Psalm 119:65, TETH. Thou hast

dealt well with thy servant, O LORD,according unto thy word. 66Teach megood judgment and knowledge: for Ihave believed thy commandments.67Before I was afflicted I went astray:but now have I kept thy word. Youknow all His chastisements are tobring you into a place of not straying.It says of Jesus, yet learned he obedi-

ence by the things which he suffered(Hebrews 5:8). Not that He was everdisobedient, but sometimes there is asuffering in the obedience that you do,because you desire something else.Even as Adam and Eve obeyed, theydesired to eat of that tree. They weretempted by that. If they had not giveninto it they would have learned obedi-ence, they would have learned a placein God. Hallelujah.

We see the world today rejectingthe things of God. They have no de-sire for the ways of God, the things ofGod. I was saying to a brother that welook at all the tragedy going on inAmerica from the hurricanes and allthe flooding and the tornadoes thathave happened and such. The worldwill be happy to tell you that it is be-cause of Global Warming. They wantto blame it on that. But if you say it isthe judgment of God, you are lookedupon as a “kook” or a “weirdo.” “Howdare you tell us that?” Because whenyou say that it is the judgment of God,you are implying that someone is sin-ning, that someone is not followingGod, whereas Global Warming is im-plying that you are not obeying what“we” want, what the world wants todo. Well, they have their agenda toget everyone into a place and this isjust one of their avenues to do it.

I just find it interesting that peoplewill blame everything and everyone,but they cannot see it as God’s judg-ment. Why? Because if they recog-nize it as the judgment from God itrequires a response and that responseis repentance. Amen.

It said He was not much to lookat. He hath no form nor comeliness;and when we shall see him, there isno beauty that we should desire him(verse 2). I read that and I think, Heis the beauty of holiness (Psalm 29:2).He is lovely. I would desire to lookupon His face, but I realize that until Irepented, I had no desire for that. Hewas nothing to me. I likened that againto going back to my dad; I just sawmy dad in one light and it wasn’t a


When I realized thatWhen I realized thatWhen I realized thatWhen I realized thatWhen I realized thatthat Blood was shed,that Blood was shed,that Blood was shed,that Blood was shed,that Blood was shed,

that His bruisesthat His bruisesthat His bruisesthat His bruisesthat His bruiseswould wash awaywould wash awaywould wash awaywould wash awaywould wash away

that inward thing, itthat inward thing, itthat inward thing, itthat inward thing, itthat inward thing, itrenewed my hope.renewed my hope.renewed my hope.renewed my hope.renewed my hope.

good light. I saw all of the wrongthings that he did to me. Not until Irepented did I begin to see the goodthings. Then I wanted to be with himand I desired to have that relationship.Then I began to see a beauty in myfather. I saw how he desired God inthe place that he was in. I began tosee his hurts, the things that grievedhim. I began to want to do everythingthat I could to please him.

I realized that it is the same withour heavenly Father. It was not until Irepented before Him that I could seeHim as He is. Yet the more I get toknow Him the more beautiful He be-comes, the more wonderful, the morecaring He becomes.

Amen. Brethren, it all begins withrepentance. In whatever situation youare involved in, whatever thing you aredoing, if you want to see beauty, if youwant to see how the other side sees it,in a sense, how that person you trans-gressed against sees it, you need torepent. We need to repent.

I know in my relationship with mywife that it begins with repentance. Inmy relationship with my children itbegins with repentance. In my rela-tionship with my brethren it beginswith repentance. I need to look insidemyself first and ask, “Where I havegone wrong?” What does it say?Thou hypocrite, first cast out thebeam out of thine own eye; and thenshalt thou see clearly to cast out themote out of thy brother’s eye (Mat-thew 7:5).

He hath borne our griefs, andcarried our sorrows (verse 4). So whyare we doing it? Amen. Whether thatbrother or sister or whomever of-fended me - do you hear what I amsaying? “I have a right to be offendedbecause of what they did to me.” No,I don’t! We have two rights in thisworld and that is to LOVE and toFORGIVE. There is nothing morethat we should do. Amen.

We love Him because He firstloved us. Do you ever struggle withthat? “What does that mean?” As you

get to know Him you begin to under-stand His love. I think of my dad be-cause a father should be a type of theLord and I think of all the differentthings that he did. Sometimes whenwe grow up we think of our dads as abroken down guy when he is 40, 50years old because he is not in his primelike I am in my when I am in my teensor twenties. We don’t realize why hewas just a broken down old thing. Yeta lot of it is because he gave up every-thing. He gave up all of his great plansand desires in order to raise up a fam-ily - to bring us up, to feed us, to clotheus and to shelter us. I thank God I hadan opportunity to repent to my fatherand I thank God that I had an opportu-nity to repent to my heavenly Father.Hallelujah.

I thank God that I do not have tosee things with natural eyes. I see avery beautiful thing. I do see thebeauty of holiness. I see a Father thatloves me, that cares for me so muchthat He sent His Son, that He bore mygrief and that He carried my sorrow.He washed me and picked me up andcleansed me, not only outwardly, butmost importantly, inwardly.

We sing that song, “Holy is theLord, Holy is our King, His righteous-ness shall fill the earth. And the gloryof the Lord shall cover all the earthfor He is Lord, He is the King.” Thereality is that He fills us inwardly withHis righteousness and we will shineoutwardly with His glory, like thetransfiguration. Amen. The reasonthat He could shine like that is because

He was filled with righteousness andHe was encased in glory. Amen.

So, brethren, I just wanted to sharea little bit about that, just the pictureof what God has done for us. When-ever you get a bruise, just look at itand begin to think of the bruises thatHe took for us inwardly. There is acleansing going on. That Blood isworking deep within our souls tocleanse us, to make us anew. Amen.Hallelujah. It is a mighty work. Withthat we can go on, brethren. “Thoughnone go with me, still I will follow.”Amen. Amen.

There is nothing in this world thatis going to come and be our salvation.We look at the world and the crazy wayit is turning and it is only going to getworse. But where sin abounded,grace did much more abound (Ro-mans 5:20). The Lord is always a stepahead. There is nothing that happensthat He is going to go, “WOW! Theypulled a fast one on Me.” No. God isaware of all that happens and He willhave a people. Thy people shall bewilling in the day of thy power, in thebeauties of holiness (Psalm 110:3).

I see a people getting willing forthe battle. Thank you for the opportu-nity today, brethren. We do appreci-ate you and, Happy is that people,whose God is the LORD (Psalms144:15). It is glorious what God hasdone and what He is doing within us.Amen. Thank God for His bruises andfor His wounds for He is doing a com-plete work in you and in me.

Amen.


We have two rightsWe have two rightsWe have two rightsWe have two rightsWe have two rightsin this world andin this world andin this world andin this world andin this world andthat is to love andthat is to love andthat is to love andthat is to love andthat is to love andto forgive. There isto forgive. There isto forgive. There isto forgive. There isto forgive. There isnothing more that wenothing more that wenothing more that wenothing more that wenothing more that we

should do.should do.should do.should do.should do.

I askedGod, “Is this

what Youdelayedme for?

SavedSavedSavedSavedSaved by the by the by the by the by the

HeavenlyHeavenlyHeavenlyHeavenlyHeavenlyHostHostHostHostHost

By TBy TBy TBy TBy Terry Smitherry Smitherry Smitherry Smitherry SmithOctober 7October 7October 7October 7October 7ththththth, 2008, 2008, 2008, 2008, 2008


This morning I was on my way to work, singingunto the Lord and meditating on the heavenly hostthat are all around us to take care of us. Usuallywe are not even aware of the divine interventionthat the Lord does for us.

This particular morning I had to take an alter-nate route to stop by the grocery store before

work. I quickly did my errandand when I got to the check-out lane, my check wouldn’t go

through. So, I just had towait, be patient and

apologize to theones waiting be-hind meand waitsome more whilethe 1st checkercouldn’t get thecheck to go

through; the 2nd checker couldn’t get thecheck to go through; finally, the officemanager came and couldn’t get thecheck to go through either, butfortunately she had the power toinitial it and pass me on throughthe line. I didn’t give it a thoughtas lines are not new and waitingis not new. God is doing His workwhile we are being exercised in patience.Right?

I was soon back in the car to go towork and this song came to me that Icouldn’t remember all the words to before; Icould only remember “let not mine enemies

triumph over me.”Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. Unto

thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.O my God, I trust in thee:

let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemiestriumph over me.(Psalm 25:1-2)

So here I was, driving down the road, taking adifferent route to work and singing this song thatthe Lord had refreshed to my mind.

Then...traffic slowed...Cars were stopping and waiting though there

was no stoplight...There had been an accident.I asked God, “Is this what You delayed me for?”

I knew by the quickening of the Holy Ghost thatthe Lord had intervened on my behalf to save me

from this accident.Immediately I praised the Lord

and thanked Him for His mercyand grace and gave Him all

the praise and honor andglory!

Brethren, just go-ing through our normalday, when our mindsare stayed on the

things of the Lord, we arein the best hands possible.We are a most blessed people

and I thank the Lord for Hisheavenly host and His divine interven-

tion in my life and in all of our lives.God bless you!

The Church Has Lost

Its Focus

Burt Asbill

message given

September 24TH, 2007

Czech Republic

If you have your Bibles you might want to openthem to the fourth chapter of Jeremiah, because I be-lieve that is where I am going to be ministering. I amvery glad that we can be with you here today.

There was a meeting when we got here Saturdaynight and I was told of the vision that came forth inthe midst of the meeting. I think it would be verygood for someone to share the vision later on, perhapsin its entirety. Perhaps you could write it down andpass it out. I think it is very indicative of the desirethat is in God's heart concerning this conference inparticular and also in the times to come. SometimesGod will give us an overall picture of what it is thatHe desires and the direction that He is going, verymuch like a blueprint. He will lay it out and give youthe ability to discern and to decipher what needs to bedone and when it needs to be done.

One of the problems that I think we have as achurch is that we do not follow through with what Godhas given us. I believe that God brings us together inthis forum for a particular reason. Number one is thatthere is a strength and anointing that comes as thepeople of God come together. There is a strength thatcomes via the anointing and the desire that is in God'sheart to impart something to people. The problem is

that we can go away from the conference thinking,"Well, that was a great conference. We had a goodtime in the Lord." Then come out doing our thing andmoving in the vein of ministry or whatever it is, asthough God never said anything in the forum that wejust came out of. It is not so much an individual faultas much as it is a church fault, a ministry fault.

One of the things that I noticed in the vision thatcame was that it was delegated into three definitivecategories or parts. The second part of the dream wasdealing with the ramifications in taking care of whatthe first part of the vision spoke about. In the visionthere was this field that had been plowed and in theplowing of the field there were these big hunks of dirtclods that had been brought up to the surface. I foundthis very interesting because just this prior week be-fore coming here I had been involved in an operationon our farm that was doing exactly what the visionwas showing.

In order for a piece of ground to get in that condi-tion, it takes a big piece of equipment. We call it "rip-ping the ground." The ground has a tendency to settleand to become compacted. Because of that it loses itsability to produce food. It cannot receive the waterand retain it in the way that it should. So it is neces-


sary to come in with this piece of equipment that wecall a "rip shank." It has a bar on it. It is hooked up toa big tractor depending on how deep you are goingand on the back of the bar there are these big pieces ofiron that are curved and have a very sharp point on theend of it. The object is to get that shank down as deepas you can get it so that it will break up the ground.As it goes through the ground, the ground begins tobreak up and heave. It takes a very strong tractor topull it if you want to go deep and break up the groundthe way that it should be broken up.

All of this is pertinent to you and me. It is perti-nent to the position that we are in and the desire thatwe have for God, or the need that we see in our livesfor God. Instead of a tractor and a piece of equip-ment, what God uses in our lives is tribulation. Ofcourse all of you like tribulation, right? We may seemto like it before, but never during and always after-wards (that is if it turns out all right). The churchtoday has a problem with the word of God. The wordof God is designed to go deep down into the inner-most recesses of our heart. Usually it doesn't pen-etrate very much farther than that portion of our brainthat works our mouth. That means that we can hear itand we can talk it but we are not so much interested inwalking it. One of the problems we have with thesetypes of gatherings is that as the word of God comesforth, the church does not take what is being spoken,breaking it down so that we, as a people, might beable to assimilate it and translate it from theology intothe reality of our lives. Hallelujah.

God is not interested in just making us betterpeople. God is interested in changing us totally, com-pletely and irrevocably so that we are never the sameagain. Hallelujah. Can you say, "Praise the Lord"?

We as the church are entering into a new dispen-sation with God. It used to be that by hook or by crookGod would pull you into Himself. I mean, I didn't getsaved because I wanted to get saved. I got saved be-cause God wanted me to be saved, because I reallydidn't love God in the beginning. I really loved my-self more than I loved God. So God had to createsituations that He put me in that were outside of myability to cope. He had to press me towards that edgeof that precipice of hell and then push me just enoughuntil I could not maintain my equilibrium. As I feltmyself falling, what did I do? I cried, "GOD, HELPME!" Can you say "amen," or am I the only one thatGod had to treat that way? God wanted me savedmore than I wanted to be saved.

I was a rebellious child. I was a rebellious young

man and I liked to participate in what the Bible calls"sin." But God knew the end of my ways and mydestructive nature that was going to bring me to aneverlasting place of torment and He did not want mein that position. Hallelujah. I can probably say that Iam more appreciative of the grace of God because ofthe knowledge that I have of my propensity to be bad.Glory to God. Glory to God. I have come to the con-scious conclusion, not subliminal, not back there some-how in an imaginary realm… I have come to a con-scious cognizant position of knowledge that "in medwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18a).

I think about the grace of God that saved me. Ithink of the divine intervention of God in spite of myrebellion, in spite of my stubbornness. Of course youare probably not stubborn, right? You probably don'teven know how to spell the word "rebellion," right?Because of my rebellion, my pride in who I am andwhat I am, all of that was rejecting God; pushing Godaway! Yet God in His magnificent magnanimitiesreached down into my personal hell and picked meup. Do you know what? We could just go one by oneby one by one by one by one and listen to testimonyafter testimony of the capacity of God to save to theuttermost!

My goodness. You are still in your seats. You arestill in your seats. I can't believe it. I think you haveglue on your chairs.

If it wasn't just the fact of my salvation, I can be-gin to think of the impossibility of my situation, thedarkness of it, the death of it, and the hoards of hell asthey have encroached upon it. God, by virtue of Hisown being, opened up Himself just a little bit. Lightcoming forth! Light coming forth! Darkness split-ting! EARTHQUAKE! Up out of the grave comes adead one who is no longer dead, but is ALIVE! Gloryto God! Glory to God!

So how is it that we can be a people that do notwant tribulation? How is it that we can be a peoplethat do not want trouble? Not for the sake of thetrouble, not for the sake of the tribulation, but for thesake of the hope of the glory that comes forth out ofthe midst of that trouble and that desolation. "Ohgrave, where is thy victory?" "Oh grave, where is thyvictory? Oh death, where is thy sting?" (I Corinthians15:55). Loose them! Loose them! Energizing power!My goodness! My goodness! How is it that I coulddesire anything else and yet I do? Let it splash, let itsparkle, let it fizzle and my eyes begin to go in thatdirection. My heart begins to yearn.

I think we are entering into a new dispensation. It


is not a dispensation of God coercing you or workingyou over, dragging you, manipulating your circum-stances so that you have no other way to go. I thinkwe are entering into a dispensation of "whosoeverwill." You have to desire God as God has desired you.You have to learn God. You have to love God even asGod has loved you. There is something that God isrequiring of the church in this hour. It is that theybegin to learn the position and the nature and to de-velop the disposition of giving out of themselves forthe sake of God.

Chapter 4 of Jeremiah is a hard chapter. There area lot of books in this Bible that are hard chapters. Butit seems to me that Jeremiah has more. Verse 1, Ifthou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, returnunto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abomina-tions out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.2And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, injudgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shallbless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

There is a scripture in Isaiah where it was talkingabout the Spirit of God and I believe that it was talk-ing about the Spirit of Christ. It says that God wouldcome and that He would lay judgment to the line.Isaiah 28:16, Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Be-hold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a triedstone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: hethat believeth shall not make haste.17Judgment alsowill I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plum-met: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

I think the church has lost its focus. I hope youwon't misunderstand what I am saying and I hope thatyou don't go out of here and misquote me. But I be-lieve that the church has lost the objective. I believethat one of the operations of the church should be thesaving of souls, evangelism, but I think that is a by-product. I think the church should be involved in Chris-tian activities and expanding the borders of their tent,but that is not the main objective. Nor is it a sign ofyour success in God, if the word that you hold is some-thing other and more than the fact of those things thatare working in a Christian environment. All of thosethings are by-products. If they become the thing thatwe are focusing upon then we have missed the objec-tive of why it is that God made us Christian in thebeginning. We can get very busy being Christian andnot obtain the position and the relationship with Godthat the word that we are hearing desires to produce.My God.

If you wanted to make heaven, then what you needis an Evangelical word. If you wanted to make heavenfilled with the Spirit, or baptized with the Holy Ghost,you need a Pentecostal word. But we are not preach-ing and God is not speaking an Evangelical or a Pen-tecostal word. That is not the word that you and Ihave heard. It is not just to be a church going mem-ber. It is not just to be a part of a congregation ofpeople who are worshipping and praising the Lord.That is not the intent of the word that you and I haveheard.

God is not preaching a word of discipleship. Hello!God is not preaching a word of discipleship. God doesnot want disciples. If God wanted disciples the Biblewould have ended with the twelve apostles. He wouldhave achieved the objective that He wanted in the verybeginning when He had His twelve apostles. God doesnot want disciples.

GOD WANTS SONS! GOD WANTS SONS! Hedoesn't want "children" sons. He doesn't want "ado-lescent" sons. He doesn't want a lot of havoc and con-fusion with somebody trying to rule over another andtrying to corral everybody and bring them into a placeof submission.

GOD WANTS WALKING, TALKING, MATURESONS! Those that are attached to Him first and notfirst to each other. I can have great harmony with mybrother. I can walk together with my brother. I can dogreat things with my brother. But if I have missed theobjective of God then I have disappointed or frustratedthe grace that God has given me. My God! I havefrustrated the grace of God that He has given me be-cause I am not achieving His objective. I am not ap-propriating His reality into my life.

If I am a son and this brother here is a son then wewalk together, not because we are in agreement, butbecause we are hearing the same word, the samethought is coming from the same Head. This footmoves and that foot moves together in unison and inunity. My God! We need to be careful that we don'tbecome a bunch of little "pastors" or a bunch of littlecongregational people bowing down to the "pastor".

Brother George had a dream. He had this remotestarter for his car and he was counseled by the minis-try that the ministry never boxes their cars in wherethey can't get away. Well, maybe you don't under-stand what that means, but I have a very good under-standing of it. Sometimes a "quick get-away" is a thingthat is needed.

The church has lost its vision or place of focus.First of all, it is the church and the operation of it and


those that have a responsibility as far as ministry isconcerned. Then it is in the congregational aspect ofthose of you who are just sitting there like "bumps ona log." You hear a word and then you go out and youlive like hell. You have all of the propensities and theproblems, and nothing ever changes. Oh, you maybecome more frustrated. You may become a little moredesperate maybe. But overall you seem to be satis-fied with your position and with the status quo of yourcircumstance and all of the time you hold within yourgrasp the power to change. But you don't change andit is not because you can't change.

My Bible tells me that there is nothing impossiblewith God (Matthew 19:26). God has demonstrated withthis person right here the reality of change. I thinkthat if I know that I have the ability to change, know-ing what I am and who I am and the propensity that Ihave as far as my flesh is concerned, there is withinmy grasp a rod of authority that gives me the ability tomake the difference. Hello! The only reason that Iwill not change or cannot change is because I do notwant to change. Hello! Let me put it another way. Itis because I want something else out there that is notof God. Loose! Loose!

You know my hopes, my aspirations, my desirecan be perfectly "religious." "Oh God, I just want tobless the people. That is all I want to do." But all thetime it is ME that wants to bless the people. It is notthe Spirit of God. It is not the compassion of God thatis in my heart for the people. Loose! Hallelujah. Theonly way that I am able to come to that position is if Iallow the workings of the cross to be worked out inmy life.

Brother Leonard Ravenhill says that the foot ofthe cross is always crowded. There never seems to beenough room at the foot of the cross, but there is al-ways room on the cross. We either want to huddle atthe base of it or we want to put it on our back andcarry it, but who in their right mind wants to lay on it?We have lost our focus. We have lost our objective.Fool, don't you know that: "except a corn of wheat fallinto the ground and die, it abideth alone:" (John 12:24)?It abideth alone! Oh "sonship!" When I first heardthis word of sonship, oh boy! My heart started beat-ing; visions started happening. I could see myself witha nice big crown with robes of splendor wrappedaround me with a golden scepter. Huh? Is it a scepteror a baseball bat, you know what I mean? "If youdon't submit to my authority, I will use my scepter onyou." I kind of missed something in the equation. Ofcourse you are probably not like that. Remember

James and John? "I want to be on your left hand." Iwonder how they came to the conclusion who wouldbe on what side? I wonder if there was even a squab-bling in and amongst them. "I don't want to be on Hisleft side. I want to be on His right side." "Well no,you can't be on His right side because I am." Of courseyou never thought that way did you? Ruling and reign-ing with Christ. Well, I think that we have the con-cept that because He did it, we don't have to do it. Mygoodness. We have lost it somewhere.

The devil comes in and he wreaks havoc in thechurch: cancers, all kinds of maladies, physical, men-tally, emotionally, depression, thoughts of suicide.Why? Because we have lost our focus. We are sopossessive of the things around us. "This is mine!""This is mine!" "This is mine!" "This is mine!" Wehave lost our focus and if you don't think that this wordis a serious word, then you are mistaken. If you thinkthat you can neglect the fact of what it is that God isspeaking, you are mistaken. There are so many ex-amples in the Bible that I cannot even imagine what itwas that God put the children of Israel through in aliteral natural sense to demonstrate the seriousness ofour set of circumstances.

We like to think that we are God's little honeys.We like to think that we are right up there somewherein God's sublime unconditional satisfaction. Hallelu-jah. I don't believe that is the condition. I don't be-lieve that is the set of circumstances. I believe thatGod is very saddened over the position of the church.God is looking for sons, not disciples.

Can I share with you a little bit of revelation, alittle bit of light that God gave me one day? It has todo with the Garden of Gethsemane. For three and ahalf years these men had walked with Him, talked withHim. Not just in this type of a setting, but they wereintimate. They slept and ate with Him. He was goingwith them through their ups and their downs and theirround abouts. Hallelujah. He was bringing them closerand closer to that reality that was in God's heart forthem. Can you imagine that kind of environment?Yet a man says to Him, "Show me God!" How muchplainer can He be than to say, "Well, Philip, if youhave seen me, you have seen the Father."? John 14:8,Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, andit sufficeth us. 9Jesus saith unto him, Have I been solong time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father;and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

It is a simple basic foundational concept that Godwants sons. Do you know that God can save you? He


can fill you with the Holy Ghost. He can make you agood person and you can become an excellent disciple.But He cannot make you a son. You have to want tobe a son. You have to want to be a son. You have towant it more than you want yourself. You have towant it more than you want life, because it is going tobe required of you to give your life.

You know, by all standards I think that you couldprobably say that the disciples were good men, espe-cially at the end of the three and a half years. I don'tthink that you could walk with them, except that youhad the spirit of perdition, and NOT change. Now letme tell you something. You are ALL born with thespirit of perdition. HELLO! You are all born dead!You were all conceived in sin. You were brought forthin iniquity. You lived for the devil until God cameand intervened in your life, but when God came intoyour life and deposited within your soul the seed thatis called Christ, that did not automatically eradicateor move out of the way that sin nature. What it did isput you in a position of control. My God! It puts youin a position of control. Do you understand what I amsaying? You are in control of your destiny!

YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF YOUR DESTINY!You have the ability to decide at the end of the day

where you are going to be and it can be in spite ofGod's desire for you. My goodness. We are so self-absorbed, so self-orientated, so self-conscious.

Go to Jeremiah 4:3. Four is the number of tribu-lation, three is the number of fulness. It is the fulnessof tribulation. Paul said, "I rejoice in my tribulation(Romans 5:3). Count it exceedingly joyful." Whenwas the last time you said, "Oh boy! I am in troubleagain!"? "Oh boy! I am depressed again!" "Oh boy!I am really having an anger fit again!" "Anger is com-ing again! Oh boy!" "Oh boy! Somebody took ad-vantage of me!" "Oh boy! Hallelujah! They don'tlike me anymore!" When was the last time? I'll bet itwas, "Oh me, oh my!" I'll bet it was, "Oh no! Herewe go again!" Or, "Who do they think they are?" Orhow about this one? "Why me, LORD?"

I think I am preaching to the wrong people. I haveto be preaching to the wrong people. They all seem sohappy. Fulness of tribulation. This isn't, "Thus saithBurt." This is "Thus saith the LORD."

Jeremiah 4:3, For thus saith the LORD to the menof Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallowground, and sow not among thorns. Do you knowthat when they talk about Judah, who they are talkingabout? That the scepter of authority was transferredfrom the tribe of Levi to the tribe of Judah. Do you

know that David was not only king, but he was alsopriest? God ordered that position for him by not smit-ing him with death when he came in before Him andhe had fellowship there in the presence of God.

Peter says you are what? "But ye are a …peculiarpeople;" (I Peter 2:9). That is why they put Christiansin an insane asylum when things get really tough. Theythink Christians are crazy because they "hear voices"and see visions. They call it hallucinations.

When He talks about the "men of Judah," whereare the men of Judah? I think God is having a hardtime finding the men of Judah and I am not talking inthe physiological sense, because in Christ Jesus thereis neither male nor female. (Galatians 3:28b) There isjust one entity, one position, one life, one Son.

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah andJerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow notamong thorns. He wasn't talking to the heathen. Hewasn't talking to the nominal Christian. He was talk-ing to the called out ones,- the elect of God. The electand the called out are determined by the word thatyou are hearing. If you are hearing a word that youare to be a son, then you are an elect. You are notBaptists. You are not Methodists. You are not even"come-out-of-ers." You are not even "end-timechurch." You are "elect." You are called. You areappointed. You are a "peculiar" person that is beingcollected and connected to a "peculiar" people.

He started it with Abraham. I don't know why it isthat we are so hard of hearing. What did He say toAbraham? "GET THEE UP!" (Genesis 12:1). Hedidn't wait to translate Abraham. I don't know whatAbraham's circumstances were, but I can assume thathe must have been somewhat comfortable, and some-what prosperous. Isn't that what the Bible says? Imean if I had all those goats, cattle, cows, pigs, ser-vants and maidservants, I would assume that I wouldhave been prosperous and successful. So Abrahamhad to make a decision. Now do you think that every-body was in agreement with him? How about themembers of your family? How about the members ofyour community?

"Where are you going?""I don't know.""Where are you going to live?""I don't know.""How are you going to live?""I don't know.""What are you going to do when it is all gone?""I don't know."We must think that it is like some sort of little fairy


tale. We must think that Abraham really didn't payanything, that he took it all with him. He had family.He had aunts and uncles. He had a father and mother.You know, there is an interesting thought. A lot of usare like Lot. Lot didn't have the reality of the vision,but he had enough sense at least to latch on toAbraham's coat tail. I really want you to get that. Hehad enough sense, enough spiritual discernment to say,"He may be crazy, but there is something here that Ihad better be careful of." "I had better be careful here.I had better just attach my wagon to his train." So Ithink we have a lot of Lots. I think we have Lot Jr.and Lot Jr. Jr. and Lot Jr. Jr. Jr. But having the dis-cernment, having the revelation that there was some-thing here was not enough. Hello? IT WAS NOTENOUGH! Lot didn't make the grade.

There came a point in the development ofAbraham's character that could no longer allow forcontingency liabilities. It wasn't that Abraham kickedhim out. Lot made his own decision! Do you want toknow something? Lot could have made a differentdecision. He could have said, "Well, you know uncle,I am the junior here. There is something going onhere that isn't right, but if you will give me one moreopportunity, let me take control of my environment.Let me bring it into authority. Let me talk to my herds-man and let's see if we can't work out some amicableagreement that will not cause a division and a separa-tion in the relationship that I have with you because Ilove you."

Self-interest, self-preservation, with a predomi-nant, inherent position and my rights won the vote.Some of us are making the same decision. Some of usare faced with the same set of circumstances. Do youknow what would have really solved the issue betweenAbraham and Lot? Do you want to know what wouldhave really solved the issue?

"Uncle, consider what I have as yours. No longerlet me be a relative, but allow me to be your servant."

What alternative would Abraham have had? Butthere was something working in Lot. It had been work-ing there all along. He hadn't been dealing with it. Itwas an attitude that was festering in his soul and thatposition of self-interest was not coming under the con-trol or the authority. He always held on to his positionof self-interest.

Do you want to know what is wrong with thechurch? Look at Lot. Do you want to know what iswrong with this church? Look at Lot. It is self-inter-est. It is self-preservation. We have lost the focus.We have lost the focus, if we ever knew what the in-

tent or the desire was from the beginning.Let me give you another example of something a

little closer to home and I referred to it a little earlier.At the Garden of Gethsemane, there were twelve men,(only eleven in the garden at the time) and out of theeleven, there were only three that were supposed to bereally close. Some of us are like Peter. We are "hitand run" people. We hit and we run. They were goodpeople. They had given up a lot. They probably sus-tained a lot of criticism and ridicule. You know thatthe rabbinical society didn't like them very much. Ifyou don't think that society was not vocal in their po-sition of opposition and their place of displeasure, youare mistaken. So it is not as though it wasn't costingthem something to follow Jesus.

Now I don't know what kind of father Zebedeewas, but I can guarantee that if I am doing somethingimportant and two of my sons walk out of the situa-tion and it is "cold turkey," it is not going to make mevery happy (without preparation, if they just walkedout on me). If I had two sons and we were involved ina project and I needed them in order for the project towork and they just walked away, I would not be happy.Jesus came and said, "Follow me." They said, "Bye,Dad!"

I would not be a happy camper. I would have prob-lems. I would not only have a problem with themdoing it, but that they did it to me. I would also havea problem with this man that was coming along say-ing, "Follow me!" and that they were following Him,without hesitation and all these years I have been work-ing with them and fighting through the resistance andthe rebellion and this Man just comes on the sceneand says, "Follow me!" I know what it is to sufferwith children. I know what it is to have children thatare rebellious. I know what it is to have grandchil-dren that are rebellious. I know what it is to workwith them in a relationship and to try to build some-thing and to have them just resist and fight and then tohave something come along and say something andthey "run off." So it isn't as though there isn't troublein the set of circumstances. I mean I can just relate tothe circumstances by the fact of my own life. Trouble!Tribulation! What it means to be Christian in the rightsense and the sacrifices that are made by individualsto be Christian. It is not something frivolous.

What I am telling you is, "if you desire to be a sonit is not sufficient to be a disciple." Every one of youis coming to your Garden of Gethsemane. Every oneof you has a place in the garden in the time of tribula-tion and trouble and the spirit of death, the spirit of


murder rises up to confront you. You had better havethe nature of the Son! You have to have the nature ofthe Son! The nature of the disciple wasn't sufficient,it was not sufficient. It took the quality and the natureof the Son. All the nature of the disciple could do wasto think of its own position of self-worth and self-life.

Jesus had just talked to them an hour previously.Matthew 26:40, And he cometh unto the disciples, andfindeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, couldye not watch with me one hour?One hour. Can thounot watch and pray with me for just one hour? "Lestye" what? Mark 14:38, Watch ye and pray, lest yeenter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but theflesh is weak. Lest you not succumb to the nature thatis within you. Lest you do not do what you are goingto do. He said, "Tarry ye here, and watch with me"(Matthew 26:38b). Watch and tarry with me. Theywere more interested in sleeping. They missed theopportunity to be sons. Hello! They missed! Theymissed! They missed! They missed! Do you under-stand? They missed! You and I can miss!

The Bible says that I am supposed to work out myown salvation. Philippians 2:12b, Work out your ownsalvation with fear and trembling. Me! Not in myown strength. I am not saying that, but I have a choiceto make. I am confronted with my way or His way!Or it could be my way or your way! Do you under-stand what I am saying? I have to be cognizant of theunction, the anointing of God in my relationship withyou, because God isn't necessarily going to come downin His splendid glory and give me this word, "Son!This is the way. Walk ye in it!" He may come throughthe vessel that I least want to hear from. He may comethrough the avenue that I least want it to be. But Ihave a responsibility to hear God. I have a responsi-bility, an accountability that is going to qualify or dis-qualify me and I cannot blame it on anybody else.

"You could have said it any other way but the wayyou said it." My God. My God. There is a conse-quence coming to the line of demarcation. I have totake the first step before I can take the second step orreceive the third step. Hallelujah. I wasn't born tolive. I was born to die, that I might live. We have lostour perspective. We think we are born to self-perse-vere. Jesus said, "For this purpose." What purpose?"I was born to be crucified." They said, "No, you can'tdo that. That would ruin all of our plans. That woulddestroy our ambitions and our aspirations." Isn't itfunny? The revelation of sonship always gets in therevelation of self .

I don't know how we missed it. I really don't. I

don't know how we missed it. Jesus said to the womanthat was weeping over the way that they were treatinghim and the way that it was going to wind up on thehill of Golgatha . How did we miss it? "Don't weepfor Me, sister! Don't weep for Me! Weep for thosethat are coming after Me." Luke 23:28, But Jesusturning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem,weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and foryour children. Verse 31, For if they do these thingsin a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? Howdid we miss it? Did we think that somehow, somewaywe were going to get "raptured" out of a position oftribulation and suffering? Did we think that we couldlive our lives in comfort and peace and safety and havethe decision to make as to whether or not we weregoing to be crucified? Did we think that crucifixionwas actually a historical event? Did we think that therewould be no position or place that we would have tomake a decision, that for this purpose, for this reason,for this aspiration and for this Word was I called? DidI hear? Did I respond? Do I not now have the obliga-tion and the responsibility? My God!

Our theology sometimes is, "No man takes my lifefrom me." We seem to forget the other part of it. "Iwillingly give it up and I lay it down" (John 10:18).So that I what? Do you know that if I don't willinglygive it up then I have no aspiration or desire or right topick it up again? Hallelujah! Is the thought of deathso absolute and so horrific in our imaginations andminds to think that there is no afterlife, or after-effect,or after-position of experience? Is heaven just some-thing of a figment of our imagination? Or is it really arealm that exists and moves alongside of this realmthat we call natural?

Jeremiah 4:3, For thus saith the LORD to the menof Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallowground, and sow not among thorns. "Break up yourfallow ground!" You have the right, the liberty andthe necessity, YOU! You know, I could have lookedat that tractor and that ground. I can think in my mind,"Tractor, go out there and plow that ground." I cancome day after day after day after day. The grounddoesn't get plowed. The tractor doesn't move. Theequipment doesn't do what it is designed to do. I havea responsibility to submit myself to my circumstancesand to facilitate the will of God in the aspect of mydying to the nature that is within me, that I might liveto that nature that is also within me.

Listen to what this says to the men of Judah andJerusalem. For thus saith the LORD to the men ofJudah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground,


and sow not among thorns. Loose them! My God!Do you remember the parable in Matthew of the sowerthat went out to sow? My God! Do you rememberthe analogy? Some fell among the rocks. Some fellamong the ground that seemed to be good but it saysthat the weeds and thorns sprung up (Matthew 13:7).Do you remember? He said what? The thorns and theweeds were what? The cares of this life (Matthew13:22). Isn't that what He said? That they were thecares of this life? The cares of this world?

You know, I have natural responsibilities. Nancyand I find ourselves in a season that we have neverever ever been as busy in life as we are busy now.What we have to do is humanly impossible. I don'tknow if you can really understand what I am talkingabout. It is humanly impossible to do all that needs tobe done. We are diligent people, we are responsiblepeople, we are caring people, which adds to the re-sponsibility and the position of diligence that has tobe exerted in the thing that we are doing. BUT I can-not use that as an excuse! If I allow it to usurp myposition and my desire for God, then there is account-ability and responsibility; there is a judgment thatcomes into my life because of it. God has given us thepower to maintain our position of focus upon Him andto receive from Him that which is necessary to do inthe natural and to do in the spirit.

I want to tell you something. The load in the spiri-tual sense doesn't decrease because the load in the natu-ral sense has increased! God always says, "Okay, onemore thing. One more thing."

I have a responsibility to work out my salvation.ME! I have a responsibility. My responsibility! MYRESPONSIBILITY! If you don't think people don'tbring problems, you are mistaken. Everybody comeswith their own suitcase full of problems. Everybodycomes with their own suitcase full of spiritual famil-iar things. If you do not think that they are as weedyas my garden is out there, you are mistaken. But Ihave a responsibility to tend my garden in the spiri-tual sense, as I have a responsibility to tend my gar-den in the natural sense. I learned that a long timeago. I don't think the church has learned it yet. Wecompartmentalize God. Working hours are workinghours and God hours are God hours.

You know, as a young man I grew up working formy father, both my heavenly Father and my naturalfather. I remember that I was involved in the ministryand I was involved in the work of my father. I want totell you something. God bless his soul, but my fatherwas a workaholic. He was a man that had great ex-

pectations for those that worked for him and what theywere supposed to do and how they were supposed todo it. My goodness. One day I got a little exasper-ated. I had a family. We had needs and not all of themwere being met. Nevertheless we were doing the verybest that we could with what we had. The work loadwas increasing in the natural. We had begun churchin our home. People were coming. The work loadwas increasing. The spiritual demand was requiringmore and more and I was getting a little exasperated.

I was saying, "God, You are going to have to dosomething about this situation. You are either goingto have to release me from the work situation and letme go into full-time ministry, or You are going to haveto release me from my spiritual obligations and let mego into full-time work." (Which I was very willing todo.) My contention that was with God was that "Icouldn't do them both." I labored before the Lord inprayer and fasting, seeking His face, while at the sametime, working at both obligations. You know, God isnever in a hurry, is He? How many of you know thatGod is never in a hurry? Have you found out God isnot like fast foods? You can't drive up to the speakerand speak into it and drive up to the window and getit. So I am kind of like a pot on the stove. So it is notreally turned down too low. It is turned up not reallyhigh, but a little bit too high. So you can imagine thesauce beginning to bubble and agitate and boil a littlebit. Now, I just want you to picture this because this iswhat my soul was like. You know how when you turna pot up a little bit too high, not real high, but a littletoo high, how it begins to spit. It begins to spit at youa little bit. Uh-huh! That was me! If you would saythe wrong thing at the wrong time you might get splat-tered with the gook that was in the pot. That was me!That was my soul!

So we hear that the prophet is coming and we werehaving home meetings in order to invite this ministryin. Of course I was being totally objective in my in-viting the ministry to come, right? The prophetic min-istry. Oh yes. Absolutely not self-oriented at all! Butthere was this little thought back here, "Well, you knowif the prophet is here, maybe he will give me the wordthat I want to hear. He will give me my sense of direc-tion. He will give me my release." Oh boy! I reallythink that God has something of a sense of humor totell you the truth. He let me stew just long enough tobubble and boil.

So the prophet comes and we are having our meet-ing. My goodness. I am really telling on myself. I'msure you probably never have any of these thoughts.


It was a good word that the prophet was sharing, but Ireally wasn't interested. I wanted him to get throughall the word and then to get to the prophetic part of it.Oh boy! So he ministered and it seemed like he wasnever going to stop. I was being good, I thought. Sofinally we get around to the end of the service and hebegins to move in that realm of prophetic utterance.There might have been 15 or 20 people there. So hebegins, he prophesies to this one and he prophesies tothat one. Then he walks over and prophesies to thisone and he turns around and prophesies to that one.He is prophesying to everyone except to the one that Ithink he should beprophesying to and I re-ally think he prophesiedto everybody but me.

Of course I am in-side kind of seething alittle bit. I'm thinking,"God, what are You do-ing? What is going onhere?" All of a suddenas the man was walkingback over to his seat, heturns around, he looks atme and he points at me.He says, "You reallydon't want to hear this.You really don't want tohear this. You really, re-ally don't want to hearthis." Of course, aboutthat time I am thinking, "Okay, don't tell me." Hesays, "I am going to tell you anyway. God says…" Isay, "Okay, okay, okay!" "God says…" I am on theedge of my chair, "Which is it going to be, work or theministry?" "God says, you will do both!" I said, "Youare right. I really did not want to hear that." I reallydid not want to hear it, because I wanted somethingelse. There was something more important to me thanhearing the voice of God.

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judahand Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, andsow not among thorns. Ask for the fire of God tocome into your lives. Ask God to give you tribula-tion, not for the sake of tribulation, but for the sake ofrighteousness.

You know, we just really touched the surface here.That piece of equipment that I have got on the back ofmy tractor, it has six of these big long shanks. I wouldsay that that equipment probably weighs a thousand

“For thus saith theLORD to the men ofJudah and Jerusalem,Break up your fallowground, and sow not

among thorns.”

pounds. You know, I have seen ground so hard that itjust skids across the top of the ground. Then I have tocome back again and again and again. Sometimes Ican get the shank down six inches and I need to godown 14 or 18 inches. I'm telling you it has big sharppoints on the end of it and I have to come back againand again and again until I feel how the tractor is pull-ing. I don't know how to explain it. I've got thoseshanks buried back there and the tractor is movingalong. You can hear it in the motor. You can tell theforce that is being required to pull it. You know andevery now and then you feel the kicking of it as it hits

the harder dirt, hard pan.You will look behindyou and there will bethese big boulders andclods of dirt that areheaving up out of theground. Then you knowthat you can go on to thenext field, you can go onto the next stage. Youcan do the next thing thatis required.

We have justtouched the surface. Weare just scratching thesurface. Let us be sensi-tive in the spirit in thedays that we are here.Let's not lose our focusas to why we are here.

Let us not lose our sense of orientation, because of thepeople, the food, the environment, the scenery, or be-cause of our personal position of care of want. Let usremain focused upon HIM.

The word of the Lord last night was that if youdraw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you (James4:8). The Lord was beseeching us last night that wewould draw nigh unto Him. That should be the crythat is within our heart. As we are talking to eachother we should be talking and discussing the thingsof the word. We should be examining the move of thespirit. We should not be frivolous with our time. Weshould be maintaining the harmony in the spirit witheach other, working on our position of relationshipwith each other. It is easy in our familiarities betweenhusband and wife and family to be distracted. Let usmaintain our equilibrium in the Lord and hear whatthe spirit is saying in this week to come. God blessyou. Amen.


One Sunday after fellowship, I invited Wynn Johnson to come share lunch with us and to talk to meabout herself. We had a pleasant meal together and then I began to question her. First of all, let me say

that Wynn recently moved here to Mahomet. She is working at First Fruit’s store and I think sheis pleased with how things have worked out regarding her being here. She came here at

the word of the Lord to her mother and at the witness of the Body of Christ so sheis trusting that God has her right where He wants her and is doing in her what-

ever is necessary so she will become a son of God.I asked her how she came to know the Lord and be saved. She answered

that when she was six years old, her family began to fellowship with the Chatticsin Sterling, Illinois, and so she grew up hearing what we call the gospel of theKingdom. Looking back, she says she really didn’t appreciate the Word andinstead basically went her own way. The Lord is faithful, though, and Wynnrealized she needed God. So, when she was 19, she gave her heart to the

Lord and was baptized. She wanted to make herself better somehow whenshe did those two things but in reality she didn’t want to totally submit herself to

the Lord. She said, “I had one foot in and one foot out for a really, really long time. Idefinitely had a desire for the Lord but very little strength or determination to walk

upright and make a commitment to God.” So, up until 2004 at the Jamaica convention, shestruggled with the Lord and learned things the hard way, as she put it, in order that she wouldchoose His way. In 2004, though, she made a sure commitment to the Lord and she said,

“Over time, I prayed and asked God to help me with certain areas and little by little He hasmade it worth it to lay things down.”

I asked Wynn if there has been any specific instrumental people in her life and thevery first one she said was her mother, Virginia Johnson. She said, “If my Mom didn’t

pray for me, I probably wouldn’t be alive.” She also credited Craig and BeverlyChattic with making sure she stayed in the right way. She said that Beverly, espe-cially, has the heart of a mother, and has been a huge help to her. When Wynn livedhere before, the Udegbunam family really took her under their wing and she learnedvery much from them. And now, she says, “The Asbills are really helping me and

looking out for me. So, there has always been someone there for me.”The last question I asked her was how it came about that she decided to move here.

She said that she and her Mom, being they live together, were seeking the Lord inFebruary of this year about direction for their lives. April came around and still they

hadn’t heard anything from the Lord. Wynn said, “It seemed it was the longest we hadever had a question before the Lord.” But then council was given to fast - really fast and

pray. Wynn related, “So I did, and during my second fast, the Lord told my Mom to move toMahomet, but He didn’t speak directly to me.” So, moving in faith, and with the opening of a job

at First Fruits, Wynn has moved here and just recently, her mom was able tocome here, also.

So, it was very nice to talk to Wynn and find out a little moreabout her! We are glad she is here - she has been a blessing

to us as a fellowship already! I trust that you, my read-ers, will continue to pray for her and her mom, thatGod will move in their lives and perform His perfectwill.

SpotlightSpotlightSpotlightSpotlightSpotlightononononon Wynn JohnsonWynn JohnsonWynn JohnsonWynn JohnsonWynn Johnson

By Melissa Trotter


where the Bibles were so that soon he becamethe center of abuse by even hisclosest friends. Even throughall this turmoil, mixed with thepleas of his science teacher (tojoin the Young Pioneers, denyGod, but still believe inside),Nikolai still stood firm in theLord. He even went so far asto take the smuggled Bibleswhen his father could not getthem when the KGB was fol-lowing him.

All this sets you thinkingabout what if we lived in aCommunist country; would I belike I am now or would I bedrawn to God’s Word and stand

up for God even when being persecuted?

Today I would like to talk to you about amovie called NIKOLAI. It is amovie about a boy who was per-secuted for being a Christian ina Communist country.

The story is told by a visit-ing missionary who is helpingsmuggle Bibles into Russia withNikolai’s father. Soon after-wards, Nikolai’s father is ar-rested for suspicion of hidingBibles. Because Nikolai willnot join the Young Pioneers (todo so he would have to denyGod) he was not able to join theswimming team, or enter in thescience fair. If that wasn’t theworst part of it, the KGB set ev-erything up so that it looked like Nikolai told

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all thosewho participated in the bake sale at IGA on Sat-

urday, October 4th. Thank you to all thosewho volunteered their time and resources to

bake such delicious things, help at the sale,and those who helped with the set up andbreak down. We also want to express ourgratitude for all those who kept this en-

deavor in their prayers; we participated in thisbake sale at the invitation of IGA and believe that

the Lord has given us favor and is opening doors for usto reach out to the community. So thank you, thankyou, from the bottom of our hearts!

sK id sChroni Cle

by Josiah

’


Visitors’Visitors’Visitors’Visitors’Visitors’A wonderful, warm welcome to

all of our visitors this month! We havebeen delighted to have you in our midst. On

September 14th, 21st, and 28th, Mederana Gomez’mother, Shirley, was here. Then on the 28th, Mederana’s

sister, Sharanda, and her husdband, Jason, and theirthree children, Jason, Kalela and Kaleel were

in the meeting. Also on October 5th, afriend of Peter Schneider’s was

with us, Chuck Nelson.

CCCCCornerornerornerornerorner

Sunday Morning10:00am Fellowship

Wednesday Evening7:00pm Bible Study

Keeping In Touch BulletinLiving Word Omega Message

PO Box 4092272 County Road 350 E

Mahomet IL 61853email: [email protected]

Directions: Take Hwy 47 North from Mahomet. We are the firstright after Briar Cliff Subdivision.

All Are Welcome!Meeting Schedule

Documents

Keeping In Touchpreachingbeyondwords.org/kitbulletin/2008/200811_November_WebKIT.pdfand gain the real power that God really wants to give the church. Now, the Lord has been speaking