End Times Church - called for such a time as this - Will Brocker

End Times Church - called for such a time as this - Will Brocker by Will Brocker

Connect With Grace & Truth Church 

Website: https://gtchouston.org/

Visit Us

Sundays: 10:30 am service (10 am fellowship)

21902 Northwest Freeway Access Rd, Cypress, Texas 77429

(in the VFW Post 8905 small hall - next to Carl's BBQ)

Onine Giving

https://graceandtruthchurch.churchcenter.com/giving

Connect with Pastor William Brocker

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@willbrockermin

Follow on Socials: 

https://www.facebook.com/GTCpeople/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

When you don't know what else to pray, just say Jesus. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Good morning, Grace and Truth Church. Everybody be seated, please, if you want to. You don't have to. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God is good. Amen. Woo! Oh my goodness. Praise God. Love you all. So wonderful to be here. What an honor. What a privilege to be with God's children. This is a house full of amazing, strong disciples of the Lord. Wow. And that is what God called us in the Great Commission to go and create disciples, not converts, not just take scalps and turn in a prayer card. He said, Go create disciples. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. How many of you know how important that is these days? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning into this house of worship. Your children, your church, Lord Jesus, your body. This part of your body has come together to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, that you have given us this unspeakable gift in your Son. And we thank you, Jesus, for your resolve to fulfill everything that you came to do. And you did it. It is finished. It is done. The victory is won. You are resurrected and you are at the right hand of the Father and you live today. And we love you, Lord. You are even interceding for us even now, Lord Jesus. And your spirit is here with us now, Lord Jesus. We ask you to have your way in your church. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Anything you want to do in your church, amongst your children, do it. Do it. Do it. Help us to hear you clearly, to be obedient, to be submitted to you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. How many of you know we have authority over all the works of the devil? Hallelujah. But in James, he he had a scripture, James 4, 8, I believe, but but it started out. There was something that he said prior to resisting the devil and he will flee. There's a promise there, but he told us to do something first. What was it?

unknown 3:07

Obey God.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Ah, obey God. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Hallelujah. I just want to be a submitted, committed, resolved vessel and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. Until I see him face to face, I want him to say, Well, son, I had one complaint from a lot of folks about you, but I'm not mad about it. They said you talked about me too much, but I'm glad you did. So welcome. Well done, good and faithful servant. Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful? That's what I'm talking about. Praise God. Welcome to all of you who will be seeing or hearing this message at any other time and any other place. My brother and great friend Joey over here was just telling me earlier, he said, I keep seeing over and over and over again that there are rooms full of people hearing your messages. And he goes, and it's not just one place, it's other places, right? We're talking about the fact that he said, you know, no matter what our, we were talking, I'm summarizing now, but no matter what our humble settings are or what it looks like around us, the fact is that the entire globe has almost now been touched, as we can see, just by the audio messages. And we're trying for the whole thing, right? From right here, from this little pulpit here. So we can make a difference. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, we can make a difference. Hallelujah. I believe we are making a difference. Glory to God. Hallelujah. My resolve is to do everything in my power, having submitted myself to the Lord. I'm dead, and then now it's Christ living in and through me. So I pray that that I don't get back in his way, and that I do everything in my ability, him working through me, of course, not in my own strength, but to see that everyone I know or meet or have any influence or contact with, that they meet us in heaven. Amen. Isn't that good? Isn't that the whole thing? That's the real kingdom, that's the lasting kingdom. That's the forever kingdom. Wherever Jesus is, that's our home. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is all gonna burn up. Hallelujah. Glory to God. But while we can, as long as we're drawing breath, we can make a difference. God has given battlefield commissions here. It doesn't matter what age you are, what provisions you have, what strength you have. If you long as you have utterance, you can pray. And if you can pray, you can make a difference. You can change the world, praise God. Hallelujah. Oh goodness. This is the end times. When they were writing the new covenant, the new testament. Everything after the blank page between Matthew and Malachi, which made a big difference, that blank page. A big switch. A divine exchange has taken place. Thanks be to God. But they said, we're in the end times. That was almost 2,000 years ago. And we have every reason to believe that it's approximately 2,000 years after his ascension that he will be returning. Nobody knows the day or the hour. I'm not trying to be one of those guys. And then just make an excuse for why it didn't happen and change my prophecy later. No. I like the fact that I know just a little bit. Because the more I do know, the more I realize I don't know. And the more I go, thank you, Father, that I don't have to carry the load that you do. You just tell me what I do today with the grace you've given me for today, and I'll go spend it all. And then tomorrow we'll start over when I put my foot on the ground and give you praise and glory and thanks. We are in the end times and we are called for such a time as this. God knew what he was doing when he created you, when he knitted you together in your mother's womb. He knew you before the foundations of the world were laid in place. Oh, it's too vast to even. You don't have to get it. You just have to say, Wow. Wow. He knew. He didn't create you with a switch to this robot I would have choose me, I'll choose, I'll create this one not to choose me. He's not evil like that. It's his not his desire that any should perish. But everyone would come to know his son Jesus Christ, accept him as Lord and Savior, because he's the only way to the Father. That's why. In the times we live in, you people are so cautious. They put a guard over their mouths. And when they're talking about the Lord and about the Bible, let me think about it first. Instead of just running it through the filter of the Word of God, which is the only thing that should matter, motivated by the same, is this going to be construed as political or mean? Let me tell you, everything in the Word of God regarding the kingdom of God, every truth has a political ramification in this life. Don't make that your main thing, but don't be afraid that it might fall into that category or be thought it doesn't matter what people think. You don't have the right to withhold God's truth from them. Amen. Praise God. When the good morning, good morning. Welcome. When the uh I put a cross in my yard. You know, I have one of those that uh you get from KSBJ that's it's white on one side and you put it up on on Good Friday, and then you flip it around before anybody wakes up on Sunday morning and says he is risen. And I leave that up. I leave it up for 40 days after. And why? Because it's what, and now we don't go by religious holidays and all that sort of thing, but the fact is he it's called Ascension Day, right? And this year it'd be on May 14th, I think. But for 40 days after Easter, Jesus walked the earth in his resurrected body. He ate, he was, he was real. Amen. So I leave it up there because I know I want to get a letter. They sent me one once about 15, 20 years ago, said I couldn't have a religious thing in my front yard. And I'm like, well, that's I'll just disregard this because I don't have a religious thing in my front yard. But no one pushed it, so I still do it. But I leave it up because I want somebody to go, you know, you can take that down now. Easter's over. Oh, wait a minute. Let me, you know why I leave that? So I'm looking for those kind of opportunities, right? After he resurrected, he ministered for 40 days, preparing his followers for their mission to be his witnesses. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, he appeared to the women at the tomb, he appeared to Peter, he appeared to the disciples, he appeared to the two on the road to Emmaus, he appeared to all the disciples except for Judas and even O'Doubting Thomas later on, didn't he? Hallelujah. Good to see you, Sister Terry. And he even appeared to five hundred at one time. Isn't that something? The Bible says he instructed them about the kingdom of God. And he interpreted scriptures to them. From the Old Testament, which all pointed to him and his kingdom. Isn't that something? Acts chapter 1, verse 8. Before he ascended, he said, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And the last part of that says, and you will be my witnesses. He didn't say, now I'm going to the Father, and I've taught you everything, so go be my witnesses. He did not. Matter of fact, he told them, When I go, don't you do anything. Don't don't go do it. And they were the most prepared of anybody in the world.

unknown 13:55

That's right. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

He said, When you receive the power, the promise from my Father, the one that I said, it's the reason that it's good that I leave so he can come. When he comes, you'll be my witnesses. Because you'll have power then. Hallelujah. Now, I just want to remind us of a couple of simple things today. Because the gospel is not complicated. Some people running around saying they just they're not going to let anyone prohibit them from preaching the gospel. Well, I haven't heard the gospel from them yet. That's the truth. Now, Samuel, if you go tell someone, listen, you you got to change and commit to Jesus or you're going to go to hell. That is the truth, isn't it? But it's not the gospel. That's not the gospel. If you just go and you tell everyone, God is love, and we should love everyone. That is very true. It's essential. That's not the gospel. The gospel is the almost too good to be true news about what Jesus came and did for us, shedding his blood on the cross of Calvary and the whipping post and in the garden and everywhere else. He shed his precious blood and laying down his life and taking it up again on the third day, and then ascending and taking his seat at the right hand of the Father. And that gift is free to everyone who will receive it by faith, that grace. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's it. Muslims need to hear that. You're not loving them if you're not telling them the truth. You don't have the right to withhold it. Buddhists need to hear that. Jehovah's Witnesses need to hear that. I'm not telling you to invite them into your living room and debate them. Don't do it. Pray for them. Everyone needs to hear it, is my point. Sharing it with those that you know are opposed to it or who have rejected it is not mean, it's love. Now, you have to be led by the Spirit. Sometimes he'll say, Don't say anything. Other times he'll say, Go, go, go, go, go. That's when he's opened the door. He sees their heart is plowed and prepared. Other times you're just throwing gasoline on the fire. Not the holy fire. But in Christ, we are a new creation. We know that. If we really believe it. Some things come become so common to us. Familiarity breeds contempt. Jesus saw it in his own family, in his own hometown. That's why we didn't do communion today. I told some of our leaders this morning. I said, my wife and I were talking, and I we do communion so beautifully here, and it's wonderful, and we love doing it. I encourage you all to do it at home. It doesn't have to be a preacher or anyone with their collar turned around backward to give you that. But it's become when the since the Lord told me to do it every week, now I feel like you told me just to pull back a little bit because we don't want it to become mundane or so common that it's just hurry up, get this in, get this done. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's so much more. So we are a new creation in Christ. Hear that fresh and new today. And believe it. See yourself. And we have resurrection power inside. You don't have to wait for a special anointing or a famous preacher to show up. Now there are ministry gifts. When Jesus ascended, he gave us some gifts. He gave gifts to the church in the form of the five-fold ministry: the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher, and they are very much alive in the body of Christ today and always will be until he returns. And there are gifts of the Spirit. But they are gifts of the Spirit. He's the caretaker of everything that God has, right? You can't conjure it up. Trying to provoke you to thought here. He wants to bless people and heal people and deliver people more than we even do. He's right here now. If you came expecting to receive, just go ahead and get it. Don't leave without it. Open your mouth and tell him you want it. You came to get it and you're not leaving without it. He's gonna like that. He uses willing vessels. I love the fact that I'm in a room full of willing vessels, submitted to God, disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the kingdom of God is within us. Jesus said in Luke chapter 17, the kingdom of God does not come with observation. You know, Joey? I can't put you in my pickup truck and drive you over here. Let me go, let me take you over and show you the kingdom of God. It's right over out here. You can't do that. The kingdom of God is within us. That's why I say live inside out instead of outside in. Not only forward ever, backward never. Forget about the past. There's no future. God is a God of today. Hallelujah. But we're not to live from what we see either. We're supposed to live from what we know to be true. What we can see was created by things we cannot see, and that's the world, the kingdom we are from and belong to, and is within us. Amen. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you and gives life to your mortal body. Amen. Amen. You died with Jesus on that cross. Yes, Lord.

unknown 21:26

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Now you're a Holy Ghost powered. That's a super nuclear weapon right there. No devil in hell can harm you if you just realize your identity and start using your authority. Now that's everyone who's been truly born again. Amen. John 3, 3, 1. Jesus told Nicodemus, the religious leader, he was a good man, but uh not good in the sense that he had God, and only God is really good. So without God, he said, unless a man be born again, he he cannot see the kingdom of God. He just no, what he he cut, Jesus just answered a question that it's like that guy didn't ask you that. Jesus just cuts right to the chase sometimes. Hallelujah. He had the biggest church there was one day, turned around and told him, You got to eat my flesh and drink my blood, or you got no part in me. And they got offended. And in John 6, 66, many departed and followed him no more. He didn't run them after them and say, Let me explain. Hold on, you don't understand. You never had communion, but you will. But right now, what I'm referring to, he didn't do any of that. Instead, he turned to the 12 and he said, You want to leave too? That's submission to God. And it's not always fun, it's sometimes lonely. Even though we always have the Lord with us, it's a narrow path. So true conversion is essential, obviously. There's a lot of Jesus fans out there. I encounter many of them. And they tell me, here's how I see it. Sorry. None of us have that luxury to create a Jesus of our imagination. Understood. I have, if you read The Real Jesus that I wrote, I have a couple of my false conversion stories in there to my shame. Once I was drunk, and I was only doing it. Wasn't for any of the right reasons, had no real encounter with the Lord. I was an admirer of his, didn't know anything about him, didn't know him, and didn't put him first in my life. There was no encounter with the Lord, you see. But then there was. And oh, what a day.

unknown 24:56

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

It's like it's like your marriage. You you may not even remember the date, some of you men, but you remember the day somebody moved into your house, took up residence there. I asked him that day if you'll come into my home and in my heart today. I'll never ask you to leave. No, he came running. He's a good God. But if you're saved, if you're born again, then that's why you can be strong at midnight. That's one of my big things. I love the five-fold ministry. I love the ministry gifts. I love that he has people in the body of Christ who have great healing ministries. My friend Andrew Womak says, if it weren't for those guys coming through town every once in a while, half the Christians would be dead. If it wasn't for them and doctors. So we thank God for both. And he's not saying that in a nice way. He's saying because we don't use the faith we have, and we don't take hold of the identity, our new man, our new creation, the kingdom of God within us, and the authority and the power that we actually wield in Christ. But you can be strong at midnight. And I say that to let you know, because most of the times when the enemy comes and tries you, the worst is when he has you separated from the flock. When you don't have a pastor or a healing minister on speed dial and it's late in the night and it's dark, and there's no one else around but you and the Lord, and you need to know that he will never leave you or forsake you, and that everything that he has is at your disposal. As he is toward you right now in this world. Second Corinthians 5 17 tells us, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Behold, old things have passed away, behold, all things become new. All things. All things. That's in that born-again spirit, man. You have to learn to draw it out into this soullish realm, your mind and will and emotions, where you can come into agreement with the word of God and begin to, from the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak, and then you'll begin to see what you say instead of having what you see. Romans 8.11, if if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

unknown 27:48

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Glory to God. You have everything you need right now. Just as Christ Jesus himself. That's the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Amen. 1 John 4, 17. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. That means right here, right now.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Had to wrestle a little bit. I got a late start. Church on every corner. They all disagree. What am I supposed to say? What do you want me for? You've already got me. What do you want me to be a preacher for? They're not what you think. It's not what you think. Talking about his ministers and the church, and not all of them are his, and he wasn't saying that out of meanness. He was telling me, believe me. You need it. And I do want you. He had to beat me over the head with it a bunch. He spoiled me rotten. I fleeced him a bunch, and he was so kind. But he let me know then. The end times bride, my church, will walk adorned with all the gifts of the Spirit, walking in victory and power and authority. And I believe this end times bride must be marked by love first and foremost. And power. Not for the sake of power. And you must understand this. So many chase after. Paul said all these wonderful things about the gifts of the Spirit. He said, eagerly desire those gifts. But it's not for our own sake, not for the sake of power, not for the sake of prestige or personal gain. But for people to come to know Jesus for his glory and to model his love. Jesus said the world will know we are his disciples by our love for one another. The church starts with us. A great man of God who's gone on to be with the Lord, he said, Jesus gave that command. He said, That's how the world will know that you're my disciples, your love for one another. So if they look and they're looking through the window or sticking their toe in the water, and they see the church not loving one another, they have every right to judge you for that. So it starts there. But in these last days, and we are in the last days, the world is drowning in deception. And so they must also see the power of God. Signs and wonders and the gifts of the Spirit are not really optional. They're essential. Hear me on this. They're essential to the world. So that they can tell us apart from every other voice. This is why the book of Acts church is our blueprint. It's not just a nice history lesson. We must display God's love and pray for the gifts and power. That's all I'm saying. And I want you to pray about that. John 13, 35, by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have loved one for another. Just so you know there is a real scripture that says that. And it was Jesus speaking. John 13, 35. And Acts 4, 33 says, and with great power. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony. You see? To the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It's all about Jesus, or it's all about nothing. If he's the only way to the Father, it's all about Jesus, or it's all about nothing. And great grace was upon them all. I believe that if you pray and earnestly seek God, that your testimony of his resurrection life would be marked with signs and wonders confirming the word. I believe that God will begin to honor that as you step out in faith and give it a try. People say, Well, I've never raised anybody from the dead. I say, How many have you tried to raise? I've only tried to raise one from the dead. I was at a conference in Colorado and one of the ministers, a couple that was staying upstairs in the lodge that I was in on campus there at Karras, passed away in the night. Prayed for a couple hours. I was so excited. I thought she was going to be with us at the conference the next day and we're going to get to talk all about it. Honestly. Then her husband called us off. He finally said, We're going to stop, fellas. I'm okay, it's your wishes. You know what? That's fine. He said, Yeah, she said if this ever happened again, she was going to go on and be with the Lord. I said, Man, if you'd have told me that, I'd have got some sleep tonight. She ain't coming back. She's with Jesus. And she had also told somebody that on the shuttle bus coming over anyway, the the day before. I said, man, so Andrew Woman got me to get up and tell a little bit about what happened tonight. Anyway, it was interesting. But I've done some home goings and I've done some funerals, and there's a difference, and and uh I haven't really earnestly tried to get any of them up out of that coffin, I'll be honest with you. I have seen a lot of people healed, though. I've seen a guy that could barely walk, jump up and run all around and say, oh, that knee's been busted for so long, and it's blah, blah, blah. And I tell you this, I asked him about that a few years ago, because it happened like close to 20 years ago now, 18, whatever. I asked him about it, and he said, huh? I had to remind him. He didn't even really remember. And then he goes, Oh, well, yeah, it still bothers me sometimes. Whose fault is that? It's his. I'll just leave that alone for now. That's another message. God loving. God doesn't change his mind about his healing or about his love for him at all. So don't take me wrong. Don't send me any messages. Great grace was upon them all. They were submitted to God. They were out for the glory of God to witness and to testify to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And because of it, power was in their ministry, and great grace was upon them. 1 Corinthians 4.20 says, For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. Praying about it. Does that mean that preaching is not necessary or God doesn't know it says a lot more times that Jesus was preaching and teaching. It says a lot more times he was teaching than preaching, actually. So it's essential. We have to be filled with the word. But don't elevate one over the other. We heard a testimony here last week from the man of God about the need for the power of God to manifest in order to help others to come to Jesus Christ. He was talking about the fact that he just came back and in Turkey he had ministered, and God sent him over to minister and straight to this young man there. And anyway, someone came up to him and he just said, I they needed to see something more. They needed to see power. You see what I'm saying? That's why he was sharing the story with us and the necessity for us to seek God about these things, like the Bible tells us to. Because not everybody grew up here where there is a church on every corner. The places some of them grew up, if there is a church on a corner, it gets burned down, and sometimes the people get killed that are in it. So to get them to lay down a false religion, an ideology they have had their whole life, they must have an encounter with the true and living God. And you are his hands and feet in this earth. But that's the reason. To glorify God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and to mark us out as the chosen sanctified bride of Christ. Amen? Yes? So that others will not be deceived by false teachers. Because the devil has people planted everywhere. And the closer you get to the Lord and the more you seek him, the more the enemy turns up the noise. Now I want to talk to you about our motives because that's kind of what I was talking about anyway. This will be the last thing I want to mention to you today. Because our motives matter, don't they? It has to all be for Jesus. Everything we do in His name or even in our lives as His children, His disciples, it must flow from a heart of love. And many times that's not a feeling. Some of you can bear witness to that, but I'm telling you, that's okay. If you find yourself crying before the Lord and calling out to Him, Lord, I because this is what I happen to meet. After a year or two into the ministry, I said, I've got to, you have to just remove me. I have to quit. Because I love you. And you told me you love me. But you also said, if I say I love you and I don't love my brothers and sisters, then I'm a liar. So I'm a liar and I'm sorry, and you just have to take me out. I'm having real trouble. I'm telling you this because some of you have been there. Maybe weekly. It's not always gonna be a feeling. Many times it's not, it's a choice. Amen. And I've made that choice. I do want to see everybody. I don't care if friend or foe or who anybody, what they think of me, what they've done to me. I died, and now I'm alive to Christ, and only because of the great forgiveness and mercy He has shown to me. I forgive everyone, and the best thing could happen to your worst enemy is that God get a hold of their heart and change them, and then you get to see them in heaven. And that's what I want for everyone. No matter what. And I know that. So I don't go by my feelings. I control, I control them. They don't control me. We're supposed to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. God wouldn't have told us to do it if we didn't have the ability that He had put in us to do it. Amen. The only time I get into fear or doubt, and I like to say that, is when I'm concerned that I'm not hearing Him clearly. And so I wonder if I'm doing, you know, is this what you told me to do? You know, until you get the course correction made and you get confirmation or encouragement or like we're talking about or something like that. You know, or you go back and you you see it in the Word and say, Lord, this is what I'm doing, and this is what I think you want me to do, if you don't have a clear word. And I believe He sees that as faith. And if you just won't stay tied to the dock and you'll get out on the waters and head in that direction, he'll make the course correction for you if needed. He's that good, amen. If he just tells me, I look, son, here's your ministry for the rest of your life. Go out your back door and go preach to that pear tree right there.

unknown 43:59

And I

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Knew it was him, I would just okay. I'd walk out there and start preaching. And I would be happy, I would be content. I may not understand it, but if I knew that I knew that I knew it was him, I would be in a good place. You see what I'm saying? In Numbers chapter 22, in Balaam's story, we see about motives. This is where one of the things when I was first devouring the Bible for 16 hours a day for the first few years of I came to this place in Numbers chapter 22 and I couldn't get past it. I said, Lord, I can't go on until you help me understand. Because Balaam is someone, God told this man to do something, and then he got mad at him when he went to do it. And I said, I can't, I don't know what to do with that. And so he showed me. Balaam was a prophet for hire. Huh? Motivated by money. Peter mentioned him, and so did Jude, and he's described as loving the wages of unrighteousness. Now, Balak, I'm just summarizing briefly, just to give you a point. Balaak was the king of Moab, the enemy of God's people, the Israelites, and he wanted to pay Balaam a large sum of money to go and curse the Israelites. Can I give you a can I throw this one in for free? Word to the wise. You never want to curse what God has blessed. Oh, so many need to know that today. Not here, necessarily. You never want to curse what God has blessed. Balaam really wanted that money, though. He was smart enough initially to go and ask God first. But God said no. You know, I've had people come to me as their pastor. And come to me and tell me something, here's what we're going to do. And if I did not approve or told them no, they got angry. Even to the point of saying, well, who most people wouldn't even come talk to their preacher these days. That's not something people do anymore. Look, we even did that one. Listen, you came, you heard my heart, and it's from the word, and I believe it's from God. You're free to do whatever you want. Not with my blessing. And they went and did what they wanted, and they destroyed a lot of the stuff. Nevertheless, God still loves us. So he asked God first. God said no. They offered more money. And well, let me go ask God again. Remember that? I'll go ask him again. Unwise. As if the increased profit for Balaam was gonna change God's mind, you see. Bargaining. Look, God, they're offering us. I already have the cattle on a thousand heels. Interestingly, God had another plan. Sometimes he does. Most often he does. He's working in all directions at all times, I like to say. He intended to use Balaam to bless and not curse the Israelites. And that's what he ended up doing. He didn't even know why. He just knew that that's all he could do. So God told him, okay, when he asked him to say, he said, okay, go with them. These representatives of the king who came with the treasure and the offer, right? He said, Go with them, but only do what I tell you to do and say what I tell you to do. And then the next morning when he took off to go do it, God opposed him. He had an angel of the Lord standing with a sword in the road, and he would have killed him had it not been for his faithful donkey, who he was very mean to. Kept taking him off course, even rammed him up against the wall on his leg, I think. And uh and he started getting onto that donkey and beating him, which he got in trouble for by the angel. And the angel, I mean, the donkey even spoke to him and answered him back.

unknown 48:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

And he didn't even freak out then, like, oh, what's going on? This must be God. He just talked back to him again. That's how crazy you can get. The love of money. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. So he he owed that faithful donkey for saving his life. So God used the donkey to protect him by veering off course, even though he beat him. You can read the story. But God, yeah. God can use anyone. God does use all kinds of people. He uses the foolish things, the despised things of this world to confound the wise in their own minds. And he's doing that today in our culture. People see the current political situation of the world and the unsaved as well as the those who profess to be Christians, the Christian Pharisees of these days, I say. They don't like it when God uses someone that they feel is unqualified. It's always been that way. Keep that in mind. You know what God does? He laughs at them. Those who are wise in their own eyes. To think that he can't use whomever, whenever, however he chooses. God finally told Balaam, just go with these men. But he was angry when he went. And here's what God taught me. It was because of his motives. We look on the outer appearance. God looks on the heart. Balaam's heart was not right. He had unpure motives. He must have been contemplating how he could, based on scripture, even what Peter and Jude said in the New Testament. And the fact that God did it, even though he told him to go, he was angry. So there was something. We don't have to know everything. God knows. But he must have been contemplating how he could play both sides of the fence. Remember what I tell you about the fence. The fence belongs to the devil. Do what God said. He wanted to go and get the treasure and uh do what God said at the same time. You know. Seems like a good idea in the natural. Motives were wrong. Our time, our attention, our resources, our gifts. They must all be motivated by love for Jesus and a desire to glorify him, not ourselves. I mean, the scripture does say we are to be dead to ourselves and alive to Christ, doesn't it? And if that's true, then this shouldn't be so hard. I'm finishing up here. But in a couple of weeks, I'm gonna turn 61. So middle-aged. Moses was 120. His natural strength was not abated, nor his eyesight dimmed. And we have a better covenant with better promises. So but I'm that halfway mark. And I become more and more aware that this is not a dress rehearsal. Yesterday really did end last night. And this is the day the Lord has made. And we have to press on to complete the mission that God has for us. To finish strong. We are blessed to be born for such a time as this. This is the hour of what I'm believing for a billion soul harvest, I keep saying. For the kingdom of God, for Jesus Christ. But I don't want to limit God to even that. I pray He gains as many children as he wants, as many brothers and sisters as Jesus deserves, which is limitless. Amen. So to that end, we're gonna work and strive in all the strength that he gives us, submitted to God and allowing him to work and flow and speak and move through us as long as we have. But to help facilitate this, Jesus' bride, his church must be pure in motives, in our hearts, strong in love, and bold in power. And resolve. I love have it hanging in our living room. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 1 through 3. Paul said, if I speak and see, now he mentions a bunch of things, and people say, see, those things are nothing. That's not what he's doing. What Paul's doing here, he's making a comparison by naming some very good things, things he recommends highly and tells us to seek after and are pertinent and necessary, and he compares them to love, saying that love is greater. But he's only doing that by using some things that he calls very good to show you how amazing and special love is. If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, he says, I wish I speak in tongues more than all of you. I wish all of you spoke in tongues. So it's a good thing. Speaking in tongues builds you up in your most holy faith, it builds you up in love, it edifies you. So if I speak in the tongues of men and angels but have not love, I'm just a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, now doesn't he tell you, eagerly desire the spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy, he said. So here he is saying, if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, we know faith is a good thing. Jesus said, When I return, will I even find faith, which means it'll be like the thing he's looking for. So it's about all faith so as to remove mountains, which tells you it's possible. We heard a testimony here of a literal mountain being moved by God through his servant. So as to remove mountains, but if I have not love, I'm nothing. If I give away all I have. And the Bible goes on and on and on and on and on. Jesus said, your giving is the very basic building block of your understanding of the kingdom of God. Your giving says that I am showing that I'm in partnership with God and that I believe I can do more with 90 cents than I can with a dollar if I give in partner with the Lord. And so it's a good thing. And it's how God gets multiplies the seed into the kingdom and then back to you a thousandfold return, I always believe for it. So it's a good thing. But he says, if I give everything that I have and I deliver my body to be burned, but I have not love, I gain nothing. So the motivation must be love. I tell people and throw them off all I say, the biggest philanthropist in this world will go to hell without Jesus. We have to walk in power. Seek God about this for yourselves. I'm just asking you to do that. And for your church family. I can see it breaking out even in our midst in this place. And it does from time to time. But not on the level that I believe God would have it to. And as we continue to grow and seek the Lord, I think we're gonna see more and more as revival begins to catch fire here. I'm gonna do everything I can to let the Lord ignite me. Jesus, I'm not talking about burning myself up like some monk in the streets of Vietnam in the old days, foolishly. I'm talking about the fact that the Bible says Jesus is going to baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost. That holy fire. If you'll catch on fire for the Lord, the world will come and watch you burn, is what I'm saying. So we want that holy fire, and I'm asking you to ask God and seek God about it for you and for our church family. Your authority in Christ is greater than anything the devil will try to do against you. Anything. You have authority over all the works of the devil. Some people misconstrue that and they think they have authority over the devil. You know there are demons all around you all the time? Who cares? You have angels assigned to you from God. And let me tell you, I saw, I and I just thought of this, but I saw a testimony of a young man who went to heaven and uh and and spent time with Jesus there, and then he was sent back. I've seen so many of these. You notice none of them ever go up there and they saw Muhammad or Buddha and came back? No. They always see Jesus. But anyway, he was up there and he said that he was with Jesus, and he could, he got the father was there, but he didn't go to the throne. He couldn't, you know, but he was there with Jesus. And he the way he explained it was so powerful and so beautiful. And you know, people never really have the real words. They have revelation of what he allowed them to see and to put it into words that'll be good for their ministry to help people. And he said that Jesus was speaking to him and he was saying, but I, you know, because he was a young guy and he was had been full of sin. He was a Christian-ish, you know. Like, anyway. I'm gonna, I think of so many stories, I want to blend a bunch of stories in. But he said he was there, and Jesus had a big, beautiful golden bowl sitting over there, and it was it was just being filled continually with all the, and he said, What is that? And it was the prayers of us, of all the people on earth. And they were continually going into the bowl, and then Jesus would breathe on them, and then they would go straight to the throne and to the Father. And they became his prayers, you see. And he said, not only that, he says, but think of a bowl or two bowls on your on above you. And he said, and when you when you speak the word of God, when you speak faith, when you speak the promises of God and the prayers to God, that there's a bowl there, and then there's another bowl that the demons feed off of. And these are the things that we allow the devil to deceive us and to see, he can't create anything, never has, never will. You were created in the image of God who created everything with his words, and so you have created power, and if the devil can deceive you, he'll get you to do some creating for him. Because you're the one with the power. And if you fill that bowl where those demons to feed off of, they will. You get that? So we're directing the course of our lives with our words. So no matter what comes against you though, no matter what sort of problem you face, God is greater. When you get to a place where God is all you have, you've come to a good place. Amen. For every deadline, my friend Reinhard Bonkey, my acquaintance, gone on to be with the Lord. He said, for every deadline, God's gonna throw you a lifeline. So just rest in that. Know that he loves you. No one can snatch you from his hands, and you have great authority. Your identity in Christ is real. When God looks at you, he either sees fallen man, Adam, the first Adam, or he sees the last Adam, his son Jesus Christ. Fallen sin nature, corrupted seed, or the reborn, regenerated, redeemed, blessed children of God in Christ Jesus. That's it. That's how simple it is. Don't be moved by the mountains that confront you. You command those mountains to move in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Let's give the Lord a hand clap of praise. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your precious manna from heaven. We receive it today. We love you for it, Lord, and we just thank you for allowing it to go deep into the plowed ground of our hearts and take root and bear fruit in our lives. Thank you for the gentle rain upon the seed, Lord, from your Holy Spirit. Thank you that you love us so much. Help us to grow up and into the calling and the and the ministries and the lives that you have for us, the great adventure. Help us to fulfill the mission that you have for us all the days that you have written for us. And we just thank you, Lord, that we have the power and the ability and your presence to accompany us. And that the Holy Spirit is the paraclete who comes alongside us and takes hold together with us against everything that confronts us in this life. So we're never alone. We're never without. All provision has been made. Everything that we need for this life and godliness has already been granted to us because of your Son Jesus Christ and his perfect sacrifice has shed blood for us, Lord. We thank you for the resurrection power, the kingdom of God within us. Help us to live inside out from the kingdom of God within us. Lord, if there be anyone hearing this message or seeing it in any other place at any other time, and they do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, I just pray with them right now, Father. If you just have heard this message and your heart has been pricked and you say, That's for me, and I know that God is drawing me to Himself, I want you to pray this prayer if you mean it from your heart. Father, I thank you that Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe that. I believe He came to earth and lived a sinless life. I believe He died on the cross for my sins, that you raised him from the dead on the third day, and that he lives today. I ask you, Lord Jesus, to be my Lord and Savior. If that's your prayer, say Amen. And if you meant it, I'll see you in heaven. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Amen.