WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:02.729 Get our Bibles out and let's lift them up and wave them around. 00:00:02.729 --> 00:00:04.966 Make Jesus glad, the devil mad. 00:00:04.966 --> 00:00:11.330 Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad for Wednesday night because I'm hungry. 00:00:11.330 --> 00:00:18.611 Hungry for more of you, more of your Word, more of your spirit, more of your presence. 00:00:18.611 --> 00:00:33.351 Thank you, tonight, as you bring forth the Word of God into my heart, it will take root and it will be in grafted so that it will produce fruit in my life. 00:00:33.351 --> 00:00:35.960 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:00:36.621 --> 00:00:39.968 Let's turn in our Bibles, please, to Acts, the 20th chapter. 00:00:39.968 --> 00:00:48.000 I don't keep track of these things, but I sure have preached out of Acts 20 a lot of times. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:55.000 It's one of those places in my Bible that's kind of dog-eared, and we'll start reading with verse one. 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:57.609 All right, Acts 19, verse one. 00:00:57.668 --> 00:01:09.328 It came to pass that while Paul was at Corinth, paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus and, finding certain disciples, said unto them have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? 00:01:09.328 --> 00:01:15.000 And they said unto him we have not so much as heard that there be any Holy Ghost. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:16.868 And he said unto them. 00:01:16.868 --> 00:01:18.094 Unto them, what then? 00:01:18.094 --> 00:01:19.000 Were you baptized? 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.959 And they said unto John's baptism. 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:33.570 Then said Paul, john, barely baptized with water, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which had come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. 00:01:33.570 --> 00:01:37.959 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:48.427 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied, and all the men were about 12. 00:01:48.427 --> 00:01:58.980 And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. 00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:13.293 But when divers were hardened and believe not but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily in the school of one, tarenis. 00:02:13.293 --> 00:02:17.270 And this continued by the space of two years. 00:02:17.592 --> 00:02:42.271 So they all, that they which dwelt in Asia, heard that the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks or Gentiles, and God brought special miracles or extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body were brought under the sick handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed from them and evil spirits went out of them. 00:02:42.271 --> 00:03:01.032 Then certain of the vagabond Jews exorcists took upon them to call over them, which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying we adjure thee by Jesus, whom Paul preached it and there were seven sons of one, sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 00:03:01.032 --> 00:03:06.991 And the evil spirit answered and said Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? 00:03:06.991 --> 00:03:17.960 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:31.939 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus and fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. 00:03:31.939 --> 00:03:44.734 Many of them also, which used curious arts that's the occult brought their books together and burned them before all men and they counted the price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. 00:03:44.734 --> 00:03:49.900 So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed. 00:03:49.900 --> 00:03:54.979 And then in Beza's ancient copy it adds to verse 20. 00:03:54.979 --> 00:03:58.871 We'll read verse 20 again and then add this ancient copy. 00:03:58.871 --> 00:04:04.611 It says so mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed and the faith of God increased and multiplied. 00:04:04.611 --> 00:04:11.794 The faith of God, in other words, the God kind of faith, increased and multiplied. 00:04:12.942 --> 00:04:18.653 And so tonight I wanted to share a message entitled the power of the prevailing Word. 00:04:18.653 --> 00:04:37.853 You know this is the year of God's power and certainly we all I've been teaching and preaching about it all year in some form or fashion, and because I want to get it into us about God's power manifesting through the church, through you. 00:04:37.853 --> 00:04:42.550 And of course we need God's power in His Word. 00:04:42.550 --> 00:04:46.980 The Word prevailed there, the power of the prevailing Word. 00:04:46.980 --> 00:04:51.891 That's what the Bible says happened in Ephesus, an Asia Minor. 00:04:51.891 --> 00:04:58.235 The definition of the Word prevailed means to exercise force, to project power. 00:04:58.235 --> 00:05:09.572 To project power Sounds like a military term, and so the church at Ephesus is an apostolic church. 00:05:10.382 --> 00:05:12.980 By that I mean Paul finds 12 disciples. 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:19.829 They never heard of the Holy Ghost, they never heard of Jesus, they were just basically disciples of John. 00:05:19.829 --> 00:05:25.860 And so, hey, you know, you need to accept the one that John was preaching about. 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:27.899 He was preparing the way for Jesus. 00:05:27.899 --> 00:05:38.367 And so they did, heard the gospel, they got saved, and then they got filled with the Holy Ghost and they began, and that was the 12 disciples. 00:05:38.367 --> 00:05:40.432 That was the beginning of the church at Ephesus. 00:05:42.742 --> 00:05:48.774 And so when I see this testimony about Paul, I just see how he didn't give up on the Word. 00:05:48.774 --> 00:05:50.947 I mean, he didn't get results at first. 00:05:50.947 --> 00:05:54.946 In fact, he preached for three months he had 12 guys. 00:05:54.946 --> 00:05:57.956 That got saved, all right, but the rest you know. 00:05:57.956 --> 00:06:05.358 He starts preaching and teaching and he's got a whole bunch of people rising up and speaking evil of the way and creating problems. 00:06:05.358 --> 00:06:15.329 And so after three months he separated the believers away from these people that were unbelievers. 00:06:15.329 --> 00:06:30.163 He separated them and put distance between them and he spent the next 27 months teaching and establishing the church until in verse 10, all heard the word of God in Asia Minor. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:36.526 So I just think about how that Paul didn't give up at first blush. 00:06:36.526 --> 00:06:43.088 He didn't just pack his bags and move on and say, well, I guess God, you know, I guess God's got someplace else for me. 00:06:43.088 --> 00:06:47.466 No, I tell you what he kept preaching and teaching the word of God. 00:06:47.466 --> 00:07:11.071 Then I want you to notice, after 27 months of preaching and teaching the word, then God granted special miracles, or extraordinary miracles, so that from his body, handkerchiefs or aprons were brought to the sick and they were healed and people who needed deliverance got free of demon powers. 00:07:11.071 --> 00:07:15.067 And what a mighty see God. 00:07:15.067 --> 00:07:19.930 God says he'll confirm in Mark 16, he confirms the word was signs following. 00:07:20.019 --> 00:07:23.783 I mean, you know what if he hadn't pressed on and kept going? 00:07:23.783 --> 00:07:26.404 You know, we've been preaching the word out here 29 years. 00:07:26.404 --> 00:07:27.449 We just never stop. 00:07:27.449 --> 00:07:30.165 We just keep on preaching the word, keep on preaching the word. 00:07:30.165 --> 00:07:44.651 And I have to say some of the things God showed me all those years ago when we first started the church, I mean it just didn't seem like you know, it just seemed like it was pie in the sky almost. 00:07:44.651 --> 00:07:45.884 I just knew it was God. 00:07:45.884 --> 00:07:47.408 So I just kept on, kept on, kept on. 00:07:47.408 --> 00:07:52.968 But you know, we're beginning to see the fulfillment of things that God showed me all those years ago. 00:07:52.968 --> 00:07:59.009 I'm telling you, the word of God is growing and mightily prevailing and we're projecting power. 00:07:59.009 --> 00:08:03.110 And I say we, it's because we're preaching his word. 00:08:03.110 --> 00:08:04.786 It's not our word, it's his word. 00:08:06.279 --> 00:08:08.769 Well, that gave rise in Paul's day. 00:08:08.769 --> 00:08:10.346 It gave rise to pretenders. 00:08:10.346 --> 00:08:31.045 There's always people that'll try to hitch on to the word of God when it starts manifesting miracles and they'll try to hitch, hike along and try to hide and try to masquerade their lack of any knowledge of God's word by, just you know, claiming all kinds of things. 00:08:31.045 --> 00:08:35.793 And so we have this these vagabond Jews are wandering. 00:08:35.793 --> 00:08:37.285 They're going from place to place. 00:08:37.285 --> 00:08:45.192 They said they're exorcists and notice, it says they took upon themselves to call upon the name of Jesus, the name of Jesus. 00:08:45.192 --> 00:08:45.779 Paul preached. 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:55.224 They took upon themselves I think about that a lot of you know I like this saying you know, some people were sent and some just went. 00:08:55.224 --> 00:09:00.149 You know, some people, you know, just decided, okay, I'm gonna start a church. 00:09:00.149 --> 00:09:02.620 You know, there are no more pastors than their astronauts. 00:09:02.620 --> 00:09:08.279 You know, they just took it upon themselves and we saw the evidence of this during COVID. 00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:17.573 I mean, a lot of these churches closed, they folded, and I'll tell you, thank God for the word, the word of God is mildly prevailing. 00:09:17.573 --> 00:09:32.168 So they would come up to this young man who had demons and he said, in the name of Jesus whom we don't personally know, in the name of Jesus, that we don't have a personal revelation of come out. 00:09:32.168 --> 00:09:38.250 And so the Bible says the demons prevailed over them. 00:09:38.250 --> 00:09:43.302 In other words, exercise force, I mean stripped them naked and sent them on their way, beat them up. 00:09:43.302 --> 00:09:45.183 I mean, boy, what a. 00:09:45.183 --> 00:09:59.169 And so it illustrates the stark difference between religion and true relationship, and religion cannot save you. 00:09:59.169 --> 00:10:00.482 It's a lot of religion. 00:10:00.482 --> 00:10:03.467 We saw it again in the COVID area. 00:10:03.467 --> 00:10:04.182 We saw that. 00:10:04.381 --> 00:10:15.544 You know, god showed me all those, those abandoned locomotives in Galveston the beginning, the end of last year and I wondered why am I seeing these? 00:10:15.544 --> 00:10:21.426 A hundred, over a hundred of them lined up there on the sidetracks at the port of Galveston? 00:10:21.426 --> 00:10:22.785 They're just rotting away? 00:10:22.785 --> 00:10:31.249 I looked and they've been sitting there for five or six years now and they started off saying, well, we're just, we're trying to decide what to do with them. 00:10:31.249 --> 00:10:34.187 Well, they've got, they've added to the number. 00:10:34.187 --> 00:10:36.384 And I thought about all the church. 00:10:36.384 --> 00:10:39.307 Each locomotive to me represents church. 00:10:39.307 --> 00:10:41.147 It represents a wasting of power. 00:10:41.147 --> 00:10:42.705 Here's a, here's a mighty. 00:10:42.705 --> 00:10:48.089 I mean, there's no telling how many horsepower those engines are that drag this train. 00:10:48.089 --> 00:10:52.464 And here they are going to waste, and that's you know. 00:10:52.464 --> 00:10:55.927 Religion cannot drag a weight, the religion cannot do a miracle. 00:10:55.927 --> 00:11:02.063 Religion can't save you, religion can't do anything for you and it can't heal, it can't deliver. 00:11:03.500 --> 00:11:13.368 And so they were exposed, these, these vagabond Jews were exposed as frauds and really the whole thing backfired on the devil. 00:11:13.368 --> 00:11:15.287 The devil thought he was interrupting Paul. 00:11:15.287 --> 00:11:17.869 The devil thought he was going to hijack the move of God. 00:11:17.869 --> 00:11:22.447 See, the devil still thinks he can hijack the true move of God, but he's not going to do it. 00:11:22.447 --> 00:11:26.831 Church, I'm telling you, right now the true word of God is prevailing. 00:11:26.831 --> 00:11:34.730 And so it says in verse 20, so mildly grew the word of God and prevailed. 00:11:34.730 --> 00:11:39.418 It exercised force, it projected power, hallelujah. 00:11:39.418 --> 00:11:43.630 And the faith of God increased and multiplied. 00:11:43.630 --> 00:11:45.065 The God kind of faith. 00:11:45.065 --> 00:11:46.349 That's what the devil's after. 00:11:46.349 --> 00:11:54.530 He's trying to stop the exercise of the God kind of faith because he knows that's the only thing that can defeat him. 00:11:54.530 --> 00:12:00.128 That's the only thing that can turn things around for the church is the God kind of faith. 00:12:00.128 --> 00:12:01.602 Praise God. 00:12:03.789 --> 00:12:14.624 So I grew up in South Texas, a little town called Refurio, in my early life, and then we moved to Houston when I was in the fourth, going into the fourth grade. 00:12:14.624 --> 00:12:39.288 I was 10 years old, but before that we lived excuse me, I got it backwards we lived in Houston, then we moved to Refurio in the fourth grade and so we lived close to the coast in Rockport, 30 miles away, and we'd go to Rockport rather than go to Padre Island because it's closer and we didn't mind not going to the Gulf. 00:12:39.288 --> 00:12:41.167 We went to the Bay, copenote Bay. 00:12:41.167 --> 00:12:59.528 It's a little flat beach there and just I mean you could wait out for a mile, you didn't get waste, deep water, there's no currents, there's no undertow, there's no danger, just a nice place to spend a Saturday and lay in the sun, go swimming in the Bay. 00:13:00.761 --> 00:13:11.048 But on the way there you'd pass these gigantic places where live oak trees were growing together and my dad called them mottes. 00:13:11.048 --> 00:13:23.048 I don't know if that, I never have really looked that word up M-O-T-T-S mott, but it was a grouping of live oak trees that were growing together and the wind down there was prevailing wind out of the southeast. 00:13:23.048 --> 00:13:30.361 It blew so hard it blew, and that's why they have, right down the road from there, just about 20 miles, just a crow flies. 00:13:30.361 --> 00:13:35.826 They have a huge wind farm generating electricity today. 00:13:35.826 --> 00:13:38.707 I hate it because it just ruins the landscape. 00:13:38.707 --> 00:13:45.547 Looking out there and seeing those big old blades turning and it's not native to the country. 00:13:45.547 --> 00:13:52.207 But it's one thing to see a windmill, it's another thing to see one of these 150 foot tall wind turbines. 00:13:52.207 --> 00:14:07.768 But anyway, getting back to the wind, it just blows all the time down there and over the years the centuries really that wind has shaped the growth of those oak trees and they're molded into a beautiful shape. 00:14:07.768 --> 00:14:23.504 They're just like aerodynamic there's like a somebody came along with a fancy tool and cut them and made them all shaped together and they look like one big, huge tree, but they're not, they're a group of trees. 00:14:24.700 --> 00:14:31.248 And so what I'm saying is there was a prevailing wind that shaped the landscape. 00:14:31.248 --> 00:14:34.683 I'm telling you right now, the Word of God will shape your landscape. 00:14:34.683 --> 00:14:37.722 It'll shape the landscape in any region. 00:14:37.722 --> 00:14:51.025 It's shaping the landscape in Austin because we got out there and established a beachhead and projected power this last legislative session and we had church in the Capitol every Tuesday night during their regular sessions. 00:14:51.025 --> 00:14:59.842 And I'm telling you the whole landscape, I'm telling you the Word of God prevailed over the state Capitol and changed the entire atmosphere toward God. 00:14:59.842 --> 00:15:21.139 So I just want to encourage you tonight about the Word of God and what its power will do in your life and what it'll do for this nation, what it'll do for this region, what it'll do for the economy, what it'll do for anything and, if you continue to exercise it and proclaim it, the power of the prevailing Word. 00:15:21.139 --> 00:15:30.732 And so I've got one, two, three, four, four ways that it manifests, four ways that the power of the prevailing Word manifests. 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:49.225 You know, you need to see evidence, see, like I said, down in South Texas, those moths, the evidence of that prevailing wind and Ephesus it was there, had evidence there that that Word was prevailing in exercise and in exercise and in exercise, prevailing in exercise and force. 00:15:49.225 --> 00:15:57.707 So the first thing that I see the power of the prevailing Word manifest by extraordinary miracles. 00:15:57.707 --> 00:16:03.326 It wasn't until 27 months Now he might have had regular miracles. 00:16:03.326 --> 00:16:07.426 I'm sure he was laying hands on people, I'm sure people were recovering. 00:16:07.426 --> 00:16:30.561 But suddenly, after 27 months, the atmosphere had been so charged, the faith of God had so grown in that region of Asia Minor, that the Bible says God granted extraordinary miracles so that these handkerchiefs would go from his body and be laid on sick people and they would be healed. 00:16:30.561 --> 00:16:36.528 And if they had demons they would be delivered Extraordinary miracles. 00:16:37.995 --> 00:16:46.883 You know, in 1 Corinthians 1532, paul is talking about being in Ephesus and he's using his time there. 00:16:46.883 --> 00:16:56.616 And he's using an example because there were people that were saying that the resurrection was not a fact, there was none of being in resurrection. 00:16:56.616 --> 00:16:58.216 And he said this. 00:16:58.216 --> 00:17:06.778 He said in 1 Corinthians 1532, if I fought with beasts at Ephesus and there is no resurrection, what have we gained? 00:17:06.778 --> 00:17:08.335 What good does it do? 00:17:08.335 --> 00:17:09.419 If there's no resurrection? 00:17:09.419 --> 00:17:10.674 We're all dead in our sins. 00:17:10.674 --> 00:17:12.715 There's nothing to be gained. 00:17:12.715 --> 00:17:19.720 But he used that excuse me, he used that term, I fought with beasts at Ephesus. 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:20.693 What was he talking about? 00:17:20.693 --> 00:17:24.740 The demonic power structure in Asia Minor. 00:17:24.740 --> 00:17:26.916 And how did he fight with them? 00:17:26.916 --> 00:17:29.438 He fought by preaching the Word. 00:17:29.438 --> 00:17:30.575 He just kept preaching. 00:17:30.575 --> 00:17:31.493 He never gave up. 00:17:31.493 --> 00:17:33.757 We haven't given up 29 years. 00:17:34.873 --> 00:17:39.816 Next year is our 30th anniversary of Gloria's Way Church and it happens to be election year. 00:17:39.816 --> 00:17:54.936 It happens to be a very, very important presidential election year in America where I believe, if we don't get it right in 2024, I mean, we could be in deep trouble in America, and so it's kind of a pivotal year. 00:17:54.936 --> 00:17:57.858 And here it is our 30th anniversary. 00:17:57.858 --> 00:18:01.176 You know, there's just something that just kind of excites me about that. 00:18:01.176 --> 00:18:13.994 I think all next year we're gonna need to celebrate that by making sure that we have the Word of God prevailing, growing and mightily prevailing, not only over this region but all over America. 00:18:13.994 --> 00:18:14.517 Amen. 00:18:16.190 --> 00:18:17.957 And so he said I fought with beasts. 00:18:17.957 --> 00:18:33.818 And in 2 Corinthians 12, 12, he said to the Corinthians he said surely the signs of an apostle will wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. 00:18:33.818 --> 00:18:44.095 So what we see here in Ephesus, when those cloths were laid on people and they were healed, those extraordinary miracles, that's the sign of an apostle. 00:18:44.095 --> 00:18:48.737 That's why I say that church at Ephesus was an apostolic church. 00:18:48.737 --> 00:18:55.079 It was founded by the apostle Paul, who delegated that power into his disciples. 00:18:55.079 --> 00:19:08.434 In 1 Corinthians 16, excuse me, mark 16, 20, god confirms his Word with signs following, signs following. 00:19:08.434 --> 00:19:17.458 So I'm just expecting the rest of this year and all next year we're gonna see extraordinary miracles, because we've been on the job 30 years preaching the Word. 00:19:17.458 --> 00:19:19.536 I believe there's gonna be an outbreak. 00:19:19.536 --> 00:19:22.050 Come on, let's just lift our hands, lord. 00:19:22.050 --> 00:19:23.917 We're believing for an outbreak of miracles. 00:19:23.917 --> 00:19:26.920 We're changing the atmosphere, hallelujah. 00:19:28.192 --> 00:19:41.066 So a second thing the power of the prevailing Word is manifested by exposing dead religion, exposes dead religion, the failure of it. 00:19:41.066 --> 00:19:49.299 You know, there's pretenders today, as there was then, and I just looked out at the landscape, at all the churches that closed up. 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:52.503 They're just fake. 00:19:52.503 --> 00:19:56.234 They didn't really believe God's Word, they didn't really stand for anything. 00:19:56.234 --> 00:20:07.523 They, as soon as some government official non-elected official in most cases just declare something and told them they were non-essential, they just, they just shut up shop. 00:20:07.523 --> 00:20:09.714 They just, you know, obeyed. 00:20:09.855 --> 00:20:11.201 I don't see that in the book of Acts. 00:20:11.201 --> 00:20:12.621 In fact, I see the opposite. 00:20:12.621 --> 00:20:21.727 I mean, dead religion can't help you, dead religion can't heal you, it can't save you, it can't deliver you, you can't do anything for you. 00:20:21.727 --> 00:20:23.734 Let's look at 2 Timothy. 00:20:23.734 --> 00:20:29.402 Praise God, the failure. 00:20:29.402 --> 00:20:31.714 And that's part of what God's doing right now. 00:20:31.714 --> 00:20:33.734 He is exposing dead religion. 00:20:33.734 --> 00:20:36.694 He's contrasting the real from the false. 00:20:36.694 --> 00:20:42.227 2 Corinthians 3, excuse me, 2 Timothy 3, verse 5. 00:20:43.618 --> 00:20:48.714 About this he says these people have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. 00:20:48.714 --> 00:20:52.734 From such give your tithe To such give your tithe. 00:20:52.734 --> 00:20:54.734 No, turn away from them. 00:20:54.734 --> 00:21:08.625 I tell people, you know, if my church, if my church closed during COVID and it just didn't, it didn't, it didn't reduce down into a pile of nothingness, whimpering, simpering, bunch of nothing, I would leave there. 00:21:08.625 --> 00:21:17.586 I would leave there, I would dust the shoes of my feet off and get out, and ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. 00:21:17.734 --> 00:21:18.517 Verse 13,. 00:21:18.517 --> 00:21:24.059 Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 00:21:24.059 --> 00:21:29.443 I'm talking on Sunday mornings, right now, about, about defeating deception. 00:21:29.443 --> 00:21:34.734 There's a lot of deception out there, a lot of pretenders, and so all you have to do is look at the real. 00:21:34.734 --> 00:21:38.486 Look at the real where the Word of God is prevailing. 00:21:39.660 --> 00:21:42.674 Look at 2 Peter, chapter 2. 00:21:42.674 --> 00:21:51.758 2 Peter is an end time book and it addresses the end times, verse 17,. 00:21:51.758 --> 00:21:54.986 It's talking about these same kind of people. 00:21:54.986 --> 00:22:08.502 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried about with a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever, my whew man. 00:22:08.502 --> 00:22:09.714 I mean wells without water. 00:22:09.714 --> 00:22:10.818 That's what they are. 00:22:10.818 --> 00:22:17.653 Look at Jude, few pages over to the right, right before Revelation. 00:22:17.653 --> 00:22:20.222 Jude, verse 12 and 13. 00:22:20.222 --> 00:22:22.930 Talking about the same kind of people. 00:22:22.930 --> 00:22:23.734 Now they're still around. 00:22:24.297 --> 00:22:29.728 These are spots in your Feast of Agape, when they feast with you. 00:22:29.728 --> 00:22:32.582 See, they're right in your midst, they're right in, they're right in the church. 00:22:32.582 --> 00:22:35.492 Some of them are migrated when their church folded. 00:22:35.492 --> 00:22:41.042 Some of them migrated to churches like this, but not everybody that comes through the door is. 00:22:41.042 --> 00:22:43.320 Some of them are spots. 00:22:43.320 --> 00:22:48.681 They're spots in your Feast of Charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. 00:22:48.681 --> 00:22:49.563 Clouds. 00:22:49.563 --> 00:22:56.788 They are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without fruit. 00:22:57.090 --> 00:23:05.135 Now look at this one Twice dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. 00:23:05.135 --> 00:23:06.910 Twice dead. 00:23:06.910 --> 00:23:07.792 What does that mean? 00:23:07.792 --> 00:23:09.309 It means they were saved. 00:23:09.309 --> 00:23:25.032 It means they serve God for a season and then, when I was talking about their hearts hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, at some point they deny the faith, at some point, they turn away, they fall, and now they're dead again. 00:23:25.032 --> 00:23:27.909 See, they were dead, then they got saved and now they're dead again. 00:23:27.909 --> 00:23:28.451 And guess what? 00:23:28.451 --> 00:23:30.088 They won't be raised. 00:23:30.088 --> 00:23:32.186 It's it, that's all. 00:23:33.325 --> 00:23:36.872 And see, these people are floating around and God is gonna separate us from them. 00:23:36.872 --> 00:23:38.328 I mean some of you. 00:23:38.328 --> 00:23:43.712 I mean, you know, we just gotta get ready for some changes and really, to me, it's all good. 00:23:43.712 --> 00:23:48.231 So, you know, whatever God does is good, whatever the devil does is bad, amen. 00:23:48.231 --> 00:23:57.691 So, still talking about dead religion, and notice what it, verse 13, calls them raging waves of the sea. 00:23:57.691 --> 00:24:02.188 Some of these people are so mean and so loud and so critical. 00:24:02.188 --> 00:24:08.258 Raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame. 00:24:08.258 --> 00:24:13.992 Wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 00:24:13.992 --> 00:24:15.109 See, they're not going to heaven. 00:24:15.109 --> 00:24:16.848 They had their chance. 00:24:18.046 --> 00:24:20.404 Oh, pastor, I don't know if I can go along. 00:24:20.404 --> 00:24:21.569 Well, I go along with the word. 00:24:21.569 --> 00:24:26.912 The word says it, and it's in the end days we're gonna see these things, and that's what God is separating us from. 00:24:26.912 --> 00:24:31.669 He's separating, listen, he's coming for a church without spot, without blemish. 00:24:31.669 --> 00:24:36.332 See, that's why he's gotta get rid of the spot, all right. 00:24:36.332 --> 00:24:40.365 So another thing, and of course, preaching the word will do that All right. 00:24:40.385 --> 00:24:47.354 The third thing, the power of the prevailing word manifest is the increase in the fear of the Lord. 00:24:47.354 --> 00:24:53.076 Oh, if there's anything that's rare in America is the fear of God. 00:24:53.076 --> 00:25:09.053 If the fear of God is just hard to find, and even in the church, I'm sorry to say that there's such a familiarity or a looseness or a how can I say it Just maybe a lack of respect. 00:25:09.053 --> 00:25:17.634 Fear of the Lord doesn't mean being afraid of God, it just respect and revere and warning him above everything. 00:25:17.634 --> 00:25:20.511 Hunger for God, love God. 00:25:20.511 --> 00:25:23.334 You know, we've gotta teach our children to love Jesus. 00:25:23.334 --> 00:25:26.644 I mean, anybody could go to church and just go through the motions. 00:25:26.644 --> 00:25:27.824 That doesn't make them love God. 00:25:27.824 --> 00:25:29.285 It doesn't mean that they're going to heaven. 00:25:29.285 --> 00:25:32.704 You don't get to go to heaven just by sitting in the church. 00:25:32.704 --> 00:25:35.025 You're not made a car by sitting in a garage. 00:25:35.025 --> 00:25:38.155 I mean, no, it takes a personal relationship. 00:25:38.948 --> 00:25:42.664 So the increase in the fear of the Lord by magnifying the name of Jesus. 00:25:42.664 --> 00:25:49.054 That's the name of Jesus that these wonderful, extraordinary miracles are going to be done. 00:25:49.054 --> 00:25:55.250 Miracles are necessary, we need miracles, and so the more miracles we have. 00:25:55.250 --> 00:25:59.095 It gives people a place of decision. 00:25:59.095 --> 00:26:00.691 They have to make a decision. 00:26:00.691 --> 00:26:05.057 Are they gonna follow along in the narrow way? 00:26:05.057 --> 00:26:06.529 Are they gonna go down the broad way? 00:26:06.529 --> 00:26:09.813 Jesus said that he talked about the narrow way. 00:26:09.813 --> 00:26:13.374 It's just few there be that find. 00:26:13.374 --> 00:26:18.011 It is what Jesus said Broad is the way that leads to destruction. 00:26:18.011 --> 00:26:27.153 So we've got to continue in this preaching and teaching of the Word of God and see the fear of the Lord magnifying the name of Jesus. 00:26:27.153 --> 00:26:35.211 And the last manifestation of the power of the prevailing Word is deep repentance. 00:26:35.211 --> 00:26:38.515 When people get saved, they get really saved. 00:26:38.515 --> 00:26:47.214 They turn completely away from the world, the flesh and the devil, and they fall in love with Jesus. 00:26:47.214 --> 00:26:49.531 They give their lives totally to Jesus. 00:26:50.644 --> 00:26:57.037 Here in Book of Acts, they were involved in the occult and they took their books. 00:26:57.037 --> 00:26:59.471 It was worth 50,000 pieces of silver. 00:26:59.471 --> 00:27:02.338 I read somewhere that's $4 million. 00:27:02.338 --> 00:27:03.126 I don't know how much. 00:27:03.126 --> 00:27:03.387 That. 00:27:03.387 --> 00:27:04.673 I don't know how much it is. 00:27:04.673 --> 00:27:06.811 It's a lot of money and they burned it. 00:27:06.811 --> 00:27:07.949 They burned the books. 00:27:08.184 --> 00:27:13.095 You know we've got some people hollering because we want to get rid of these ugly, pornographic books in the library. 00:27:13.095 --> 00:27:19.550 And I'm not even talking about the school library, I'm talking about the public library. 00:27:19.550 --> 00:27:27.435 I mean, the public library is a cesspool now and we ought to put our foot down and not allow that. 00:27:27.435 --> 00:27:30.134 You know, whatever we bind on earth is bound in the heavens. 00:27:30.134 --> 00:27:32.553 Whatever we lose or permit, that's what's permitted. 00:27:32.553 --> 00:27:38.094 I'm tired of my tax money buying this garbage and putting it in and giving it respectability. 00:27:38.094 --> 00:27:41.372 So deep repentance. 00:27:41.372 --> 00:27:43.834 You know, they just didn't stop practicing the occult. 00:27:43.834 --> 00:27:59.113 They got rid of all of the and publicly got rid of all of the elements of witchcraft and all of the things that they use, the books and all of the things that they use, the tarot cards no telling what. 00:27:59.113 --> 00:28:00.249 All that got burned up. 00:28:00.249 --> 00:28:02.189 Deep repentance. 00:28:03.365 --> 00:28:11.290 And so when we see these things starting to happen, we see that the power of the prevailing word is beginning to take over. 00:28:11.290 --> 00:28:18.772 Some of these we're beginning to see, some of we have yet to see, but it's all coming because we're gonna hold to God's holy word. 00:28:18.772 --> 00:28:20.392 Amen, the power of the prevailing word. 00:28:20.392 --> 00:28:21.690 I hope this helped you tonight. 00:28:21.690 --> 00:28:23.390 Let's lift our hands and receive. 00:28:23.390 --> 00:28:24.286 Father. 00:28:24.286 --> 00:28:25.811 We just have honor to you. 00:28:25.811 --> 00:28:28.732 We thank you that you didn't leave us without power. 00:28:28.732 --> 00:28:31.492 We have that power of the prevailing word. 00:28:31.492 --> 00:28:50.238 It's prevailing and changing the landscape in each of our lives and each of our families, our homes, our businesses where we work, our neighborhoods and even our county, our state and even our nation, in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen, hallelujah.