Andrew Wommack Podcast_The Shocking Prophecy for 2026 (The Future of Israel & The Land)

About that it is God's will for you to hear his voice. It shouldn't be abnormal. It ought to be the normal Christian life. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice." And yet, sad to say, that is not the experience of the average Christian. The average Christian struggles and says, "How do you ever hear God speak to you?" But it it's normal. And one of the reasons that I think people Miss God speaking to them is because they, and I've explained this previously. If you haven't been here, go back and get the teachings and stuff, but

it's because they're in the flesh. They are trying to contact God through some physical natural way. People are always looking for a fleece. They're wanting an audible voice. They're wanting someone to come prophesy to them. And God can and does do all of those things. But that's abnormal. The Number one way that God is going to speak to you is that you now have the mind of Christ on the inside of you. 1 Corinthians 2:16. And you know all things. 1 John 2 20. You've been re renewed in knowledge after the image of him that

created you. And that's uh Colossians chapter 3 10. God's not going to speak to you and say, "I think you should do this." But your spirit and Christ spirit are one. You know, Charlie and Jill sang this tonight About, "Oh, what a joy it is to be one with the Lord." And 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." And the word one there is the Greek word hes ei. And it means a singular one to the exclusion of another. It's not one like this that we are close together

and similar. It's like that we are one. Everything that is true of Jesus is true of your bornagain spirit. >> Your spirit and the bornagain spirit, The born again spirit and Jesus spirit are identical. They aren't similar. They are one. You are one with him. You have his mind on the inside of you. And most people find that hard to believe because they stagger through life just wondering what should I do? And it's because you are trying to contact him in the flesh in some physical natural way. Last night I used 1 Corinthians chapter 2

where it says that the natural man cannot receive The things of the spirit of God because they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. And most people aren't trying to contact God spiritually. They're trying to contact God emotionally, in a physical way, in the physical realm. And so when God just imparts knowledge to you, you have the mind of Christ. Your spirit doesn't say, "I think you ought to do this." Your spirit will say, "I think this is what I'm supposed to do." And people miss it because it's

coming from them. But it's not your carnal you. It's your bornagain you. And God speaks to you in the first person, not third person. He doesn't tell you, I want you to go do this. When he spoke to me about starting this school, I desired to start this school. And I talked about this last night. I did remember that one. You know, a little bit of explanation. I know some of you think I lost my mind Last night when I was telling the same story, but see, I just told that same story on Tuesday night

live Bible study. uh just the hour before I came over here and so I thought that's where anyway it's not like I totally am spaced out. I just I tell the same stuff so often I forget where I say what but anyway last night I know I did talk about that all of a sudden I just desired to start the Bible school and that's one of the ways that God speaks to you. Proverb or uh Psalms chapter 37:4 delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. That doesn't mean

he will give you whatever you want, but it means when you are putting God first and truly uh loving God more than you love yourself, God puts his desires in your heart. And this is one of the ways that he leads you. And there's mo I would say the average Christian is afraid to follow the desires of their heart because they've Been taught that we are so sinful and ungodly. Actually, this was said in the church that Jaime and I grew up in. I actually heard this taught when I was a child and they said

if you want to know what God's will is you you take whatever you want to do and do the exact opposite and that's God. And did you know that's accurate if you are a carnal Christian? Because the Bible says that the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's the opposite of God. So if you aren't Seeking God and if you haven't uh renewed your mind and things like that, well then that is a true statement that the carnal mind is against God. But you know what? You can renew your mind and you can delight yourself

in the Lord and you can get to a place where you do what you want to do because God has changed your want to. Come on. >> I remember I was over in Germany and I was preaching through an interpreter and this interpreter did not like what I was Saying. And so he was struggling with it. I was preaching on the grace of God and he didn't like that at all. And so I was making this point and I said I commit all the adultery I want to commit. And my next statement was going to

be I don't want to commit adultery because God has changed my heart. But when I said that he just freaked and he started saying I don't know. He he talked for two minutes and finally the pastor had to come have him sit down Because he just couldn't handle it. He didn't understand what I was saying. But I'm not saying that I commit adultery and I'm not saying I go out do do this. I'm put God first in my life and God has changed my want to. I don't want to commit adultery. I don't want to

sin against God. >> I don't want to do those things. God changed my heart. >> And that's what that verse is talking about. So one of the ways that you can Be led by the spirit of God that's on the inside of you is just what if first of all it's a big if if you delight yourself in the Lord. If you are putting God first then you can do what you want to do because God will change your want to you know I want to bless people. I want to minister to people. I want

to go minister to them. I don't have to. You know, people will get up and say, "Well, God told me to do This and I didn't want to do it." And then they'll talk about how they struggled and for a week or two they just went through agony and finally God just wouldn't leave me alone. And so I went ahead and did it and everybody claps and I think that's terrible. That's terrible. >> That God Almighty, who's got a universe to run and millions of people crying out to him and he takes the time to

speak to you and tell you to do something and Then you debate whether or not you're going to do it. That's a sorry testimony. I guess it's better than saying you just totally refuse to do it. But it's just marginally better than that. Man, if you delight yourself in the Lord, once I know what God wants me to do, I'll do it. Amen. >> I'll do it come hell or high water, whether it's going to look like it benefits me or not. When you truly have committed yourself to the Lord, you know What? He will

put his desires in your heart. So anyway, let me share another thing with you tonight out of Colossians chapter 3. And this is something that the Lord used in the very beginning of my walk with him. I got born again when I was 8 years old. But when I was 18, I had this encounter with the Lord on March the 23rd, 1968. And it just radically changed my life. And uh one of the first things that happened, I just fell so in love with God. You talk about God putting his desires in your heart. Prior

to that time, I was just, you know, a typical kid. Up until I was in high school, I didn't have to think about the future because my future was dictated. I had to go through school and so I never thought about it. Then they started talking about career day when I was a senior in high school and I got serious about God, what is your purpose for my life? I knew God had a purpose. I knew it wasn't up To me to just do what I want and ask God to bless it. And so from

my senior year all the way through that and then through the first seven months or six months of my uh college uh I was staying up until two or three every morning just praying and asking God, God, what is your will for my life? Show me what your will is. And then I had this encounter on March the 23rd, 1968. And when that happened, I was consumed with God. Consumed with his love. For four and a Half months, I was just gone someplace, caught up in the love of God. And I had a horse that

I rode every day of my life. And it was four and a half months later before I thought about that horse. I didn't know if anybody had fed the horse, if it was still alive. I had literally forgotten the horse. I was just consumed with God. And the very first thing that happened was I lost all desire to be in college. I mean, it just it repulsed me. And prior to that time, I loved it. I just loved it. My mother was gone. She was getting her uh master's degree in Durant, Oklahoma, and she only

came home on the weekends. I was living by myself at home, going to school. I was on my own. eyes out and I was just having a great time in college and then the Lord touched me and all of a sudden I wanted nothing to do with college. I was so excited about the Lord I couldn't think about going and listening to somebody Talk about I was a math major and talk about all of this and I'd go to witnessing to a person and you know it'd be time to go to class and I couldn't

let them go to hell because it was time to go to class. So, I'd keep talking to them and I'd miss that class and then by the time I got through leading that person to the Lord. Well, um, the next class was already going and so I'd find somebody else and I'd talk to them and then it'd be time. And anyway, for two Months I I went to class every day, but I never made a class. I never made it to class cuz I was talking to somebody. I'd witness to anything that moved. People would

come out of the 7-Eleven with a cigarette pack of cigarettes and I'd say, "You're going to hell. repent or else turn or burn. I didn't have a lot of wisdom, but I had a lot of zeal. And uh so anyway, after two months of this, uh I was just going to quit school cuz what's the point in paying money to Go to school if you never go to class? So I just made the statement, I'm going to quit college. And boy, my mother did not like that. and I was still living at home even though

she was gone to school and only came home on the weekends. I really honored my mother. My dad died when I was 12, so my mother and I were real close. And when she said, "No, you can't quit school. You got to stay in school." Plus, I was getting $350 a month from the government to pay for my School, from my father's social security. Uh, he died when I was 12 and so I was getting money for that. And I had a deferment from the draft as long as I stayed in school. So, if I

quit school, I was going to receive the rejection of my family. And it turned out my church, they uh voted to kick me out of the church. They threatened to kick me out of the church if I quit school and said God told me to do it. And so, I was going to receive the Rejection from people. I was going to lose money from the government and I was possibly going to be drafted. And so, anyway, when all of these things happened, I said, "Well, okay." So, uh I said, "I'll stay in." But man, it

was terrible. And I think out of from March the 23rd until school was out at the end of May, I think I made one or two classes because I was be witnessing to people and I stayed up all night long studying the word. I actually had two Other guys move in with me so that we could stay up and study until 4 or 5 every morning. So I was only getting an hour or two sleep. I was so excited about the Lord. And uh one of the few classes I made, I was so sleepy and

I was so bored that I was sitting on the front row and I fell asleep and fell out of my desk and landed on the uh instructor's feet and he never missed a word. He just kept talking and I thought, well, he doesn't Care. So I just put my head down and I went to sleep. So anyway, it was a it was a bad experience and this is this is what was going on and I just hated the thought of school because man, I just had fallen in love with the Lord and I had no

desire to get any kind of a teaching degree. That's what everybody in my family was was some kind of a school teacher. And so anyway, this was going on. But I would go over and I would meet with People every night and we would study the word. And one night we were reading in Romans chapter 14 and verse 23. And here's what Romans 14:23 says. It says, "And he that doubtth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith." This is talking about not eating meat that's been sacrificed unto idols. And really, there's

nothing wrong with the meat, but it's the fact that it was dedicated to an idol. And if a person is has a weak conscience and believes that This is somehow or another partaking of that idol, well then they're damned if they eat is what he's saying. So you you can't violate your conscience. You ought to get my book on who told you you were naked. It would explain that. So it says he that doubtth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And I read

that with my friends and I mean it was just like a dagger went in my heart and we stayed up usually till at least 2:00, sometimes 3 or 4:00 in the morning just studying the word and praying. We were so excited about all the things we were learning. But this was like 8:00 at night. And when I read that, I said, "I'm in sin because I believe I'm supposed to be out of school and yet I'm in school because my mother told me I had to stay and other people and because I'll lose money from

the government and I could be drafted and I'm letting other things control my life instead of what I Think God is speaking to me." And I said, "I'm in sin." And I said, "I'm going home." I said, "I'm not going to be in sin tomorrow. I'm going to figure this out what I'm supposed to do. So, I left and I went home and I started praying and studying the word and saying, "God, I've got to know for sure. Do you want me to stay in school or do you want me to get out of school?"

And I remember this is just like um uh two months or one or two months after I'd Had this miraculous encounter with the Lord. And I had read the Bible every day of my life since I was a little kid. Uh, so I knew scripture, but it wasn't revelation knowledge. It was all in my head. It wasn't something that was living in me. And so I was really green in the word. I didn't have a lot of understanding of the word, but I was desperate. And I made a decision. I'm not going to be in

sin tomorrow. I'm going to make a decision. God spoke to Me and said that even if I made the wrong decision, but if I made it in faith, he could bless that. but is if I stay in indecision, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. >> And he told me it's just as bad to be wavering and not make a decision and to be in unbelief as it is to go out and commit adultery. That is as it is to lie or steal. You got to do what you have faith to do. And if it's

not a faith, it's sin. And so I said, God, I've got To have an answer. And anyway, here in Colossians chapter 3, as I was reading that night, this is back in 1968, I was reading and asking God for wisdom on on this. And in Colossians chapter 3, verse 15, it says, "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called in one body, and be ye thankful." And God just, you know, we were talking last night that you have the mind of Christ and the Bible is nothing but

the Mind of Christ written down. And when you read it, if your heart is open and if you are asking the Holy Spirit for direction, when you read something that your heart, your spirit man is trying to tell you, there will be an instant uh recognition, a relationship. Like you saw in that video tonight, there was this girl that was a little skeptical and she clicked on it and yet she said that her heart just said yes. Her spirit, the mind of Christ on the inside of her was bearing witness with the words that I

was saying. And that's the way it is when you read the word. If your heart is open, God can speak to you through this. And what it is, it's your spirit identifying. And it's the same thing that your spirit is saying to you. And it's a confirmation. So that's what happened to me that night. I was reading this verse and the Lord just spoke to me. He says, "Here's your answer right Here. Let the peace of God rule in your heart." And I started looking up every one of those verses. I mean, every one of

those words in the dictionary. I looked on a reference thing to uh reference about peace and everything. And when I got to the word umpire, the word uh excuse me, the word rule, it is the same word that we get our word umpire from, it literally means you need to let the peace of God be like an umpire in your life. And you know, if You're familiar with sports, like in baseball, when they throw the ball, the umpire doesn't just sit there and look at it and think for a while and say, "I'm not sure.

play o play it over. Throw it over. No, that's not what an umpire does. An umpire has to say ball or strike, >> but you've got to make a decision. And they don't make every decision, right? But an umpire, you just make a decision. And it has to be like that. And this is what this is saying. You need to let the peace of God be an umpire in your life. And I used this verse last night. Galatians 5:22 and 23. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and

temperance. Every born again person has the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your spirit. You always has have love. And some of you think, boy, I don't. I hate this person. No. In your spirit, you Always have love. You don't have hatred in your spirit. If you have hatred, if you have fear, if you have unbelief, you've identified the problem. You aren't in the spirit. You are in your flesh. You are in your emotions. In your spirit, you've always got love, joy, and peace. Always. This is why when people come to me and say, "Would

you just please pray that God would give me his joy?" No, I won't Do that because God's already given it to you. You've got it. Well, I don't have any joy. What? You've identified the problem. You aren't walking in your spirit. You aren't living in the revelation of what God has done. You're going totally by your emotions and you're wanting your emotions to just change. No, God changed it in the heart and then you have to renew your mind and then the the peace of God will manifest. But you've always got peace in your Heart.

And you know, to me, peace is one of the most important fruit of the Holy Spirit because you can imitate uh love. It's a poor imitation. But this world talks about, "Oh, I love this man." A man talking about I love him. This is my my love. Or a woman talking about another woman. And we perverted it so that homosexuals and things like that will say, "But we're in love." It's not love. It's lust. It's not God's kind of love. It didn't come from God. Because God's love will never function contrary to what he tells

you to do. So there is a cheap imitation of love. And there's a lot of people that are into, you know, in the Greek there's four different words for love. And the word aeros is talking about a sexual love. And this is what most people they when they talk about that I'm in love with this person, they're in lust with that person. They love them because they're just so beautiful. And to prove it, when they Get older and things change, like if you were watching this video tonight and seeing me in 2000, I look different

than I do today. You know, the man is all buff and he's like Arnold Schwarzenegger. And then he gets the Chester drawers disease where his chest is done dropped down into his drawers and the woman married the guy because he's got this long wavy hair and then he loses his hair and all of a sudden they Say, "Well, I'm I'm not in love anymore." You never were in love. You were in lust. as long as it's, you know, satisfying you. But the moment it comes to where they need you, well, all of a sudden, I

just don't love them anymore. That's not God's kind of love, man. God's kind of love can be it's different than the world. But the world has has perverted it. And there's people that you can be confused about what love is and joy. There's people that think Getting high makes you feel good. That's not God's kind of, you know, that's one of the things that's wrong with dope. They've legalized marijuana here in Colorado. And we've even had some of our Bible college students say, "Well, I don't believe marijuana is addictive. I don't believe it's a uh

what do they call it? A gateway drug. I don't believe that that does any damage." Which I disagree with every one of those things. But even if you believe that, it would Still be wrong just because you are using something else to satisfy you instead of God. >> You are substituting. You've made an idol. you are leaning on something besides God. And that's an ungodly principle. So anyway, people can manufacture things that'll take away your depression. You can take a pill that will numb you to a lot of your pain. So love and joy can

be counterfeited poorly, I think, if you Really understand what true love and true joy is. But there's people confused in that. But you know when it comes to peace you I I you just can't uh manufacture peace. It's >> true. >> You either have peace or you don't. And the fact is most people even many many Christians do not have peace. They're worried about their marriage. They're worried about their kids. They're Worried about their uh income. They're worried about their health. And they just don't have peace. Peace to me is one of the easiest fruits

of the Holy Spirit to identify because when you are flowing in the the fruit of the spirit, peace, it just defies logic. There's a peace that passes understanding. >> That's good. >> Jamie and I have been in the midst of situations where in the natural we should have fallen apart like a $2 Suitcase. We should have crashed and burned. And yet there was just supernatural peace. When they told us that our son died, we had a supernatural peace. And we were able to believe and praise God, the Lord raised him up after 5 hours in

a morg dead and he's alive and well. He's the one that puts up these screens and controls these screens for us and he's functioning fine. It's a miracle. But we had a supernatural Peace. There is a peace that is totally unrelated to circumstances. And that's God's kind of peace. >> And I tell you, the peace of God, once you've ever experienced it, there's nothing like it. >> So I say all of this to say that you're supposed to let the peace of God rule in your heart. Overcome anything else. And when I saw this that

night in 1968, the Lord spoke to me and he says, "This is your answer right here." And so I began to pray and I said, 'All right, God, I'm going to let the peace of God rule. I'm going to let whatever I have peace about dictate what my decision is on this. And to be honest with you, I didn't feel total peace in any direction because if I quit school, I was possibly going to get drafted and sent to Vietnam. if I quit school, I was going to lose money from the government, which everybody told

me that that was stupid and that I'm not taking advantage of the things that were given me. And I was going to be in big-time trouble with all of my friends. I had every person, every person except uh two friends and one relative told me that this is of the devil. You're wrong. You're missing God. And here I was, an 18-year-old and had just recently had an experience with the Lord. And I was countering people that were 40 and 50 and 60 years Old, the pastor of our church and all of these other people that

were saying, "Thus sayeth the Lord, no, you are not supposed to quit school." So there was a conflict. I didn't feel total peace when I thought about quitting school because of these criticisms. But when I thought about staying in school, I felt zero peace. Zero. I mean, I hated it. I could spend the rest of the night telling you how much I hated the thought of staying in school. And I know some of you think I'm amp I'm making a bigger deal out of this. But it just it grieved my bornagain spirit for those couple

of months to be doing something that I felt I wasn't supposed to do. And I hated it. And I bet you for 20 years after that, I had a dream at least twice a year, usually about once every six months. And in this dream, I was back in school and the bell would ring or it would be time for class and I couldn't find my locker and I didn't know what class I Supposed to be and I'd wake up in a cold sweat just like, "Oh god, what's happening? I'm not supposed to be in school."

But I was worried. I had been criticized. People told me, "You'll never make it. It's impossible for you to make it if you drop out of school." And it weighed on me. And there's a man in Colorado Springs, uh, Dan Funkhouser. He used to pastor here in Green Mountain Falls. He teaches in our school. And I was in his church. And Dan Funkhouser is A funny guy. You'd have to know him. But anyway, one of the things about Dan is he just doesn't give a rip what anybody thinks. He is one of the most secure

guys I've ever seen in my life. >> When I was an elder in his church, we would go over there for a party and at 9:00 he'd come out in his pajamas and he says, "I'm going to bed. Turn the lights off when you get through." He didn't care if he had people over at his house. He didn't care. He just didn't care. He didn't care about anything. He He just It was different for me. And anyway, the reason I bring that up is to say I had this dream at least once every 6 months

for 20 years and I never made it to class. It was just always this frustration and I'd wake up in a cold sweat like, "God, what's wrong? Why am I dreaming this?" And finally in the last dream, Dan Funkhouser was I actually made it to class and it was my third year class. I Don't know why all of this happened, but it was the my third grade class. I remember. And I walked in and here I was sitting in this little tiny kid's desk and I was sitting there thinking, "What am I doing in here?"

And I looked over and Dan Funkhouser was sitting next to me and I said, "What are you doing here?" And he says, "What are you doing here?" Why do you care what people think about you? >> And he says, "You just are worried about What people are going to think." He says, "Let's get out of here." And I said, "Okay." And I So, we both got up and walked out. And as I closed the door, I stuck my head back in and I said, "I'll never have this dream again." And I never have. And that

was it. And I got set free. But the only reason I say that is to tell you how much I hated school. It was like, "If you wanted to torture me, give me a dream that I was back in School." It just it I knew it wasn't what God had for me. So anyway, my point is that I didn't feel total peace about quitting school, but when I thought about staying in school, I felt zero peace. And so based on Colossians 3:15, I said, "God, I'm going to let the peace of God rule in my

heart. I'm not certain about it, but if here's here's what I thought. I just thought, God, if somebody sticks a gun to my head and says, "You've got To choose right now. make a choice and if you choose wrong, I'm gonna kill you. I said, if it was life and death like that and if I make the wrong choice, somebody's going to kill me, which it, in a sense, it was because I could get drafted and sent to Vietnam and it could have been my death. And I said, if somebody was going to put a

gun to my head, and if I made the wrong choice, I' I've got to choose, but I' if I make the wrong choice, I get Killed. I said, "I would, if I had to choose under those circumstances, I'd choose to quit school." I said, "That's the one I feel the most peace about." And so, I made that decision. And I said, "Father, that's my decision. I'm letting the peace of God rule in my heart. And even if I make a mistake, I believe you're going to bless it because at least I'm doing it in faith.

I'm no longer in sin because whatsoever is not of faith is sin." And so, I made that Commitment and I went to sleep. And the next morning, I went to the three people who had criticized me the most and had spoken against me. And the reason I did this is because I was new in this. I wasn't absolutely sure. And the Lord uh told me to test it. He says it's like getting in a boat that you know, you got a rudder on that boat, but you could spin the rudder 360 degrees, but if you

don't move, it won't give any direction To the boat. You got to start moving. You got to take a step in the direction that you think God is leading you. And then if you're wrong, he can move and change and direct you in a different direction. But as long as you are in indecision, God could spin the rudder 360 degrees and it gives no direction to you. And so I said, "All right, I'm going to test it out." And I went to my youth director who was there the night that God changed My life. He

was the one that was praying and God really used him and I really respected him and he had told me he says I doubt that you could be a Christian and say that God told you to quit school and some of you don't understand this but that's not an exaggeration that I was in a highbrow Baptist church where education was everything. If we had a visiting preacher, they came from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and you would have to sit there With a dictionary to listen to the sermon. They thought that using these words and

you know, the more educated you were. And so anyway, education was everything. I'm the first person in my family in generations that didn't graduate from school. So anyway, it was a big deal. And so I went to him and told him I made my decision. And when I told him, he says, "You know what? I think that's God. I was just shocked. I was braced for him to fight me and Instead he said it was God. And then I went to this lady who was a teacher. She was a school teacher and she was a

personal friend of my mother and she was a outspoken Christian when I was in high school and we had become friends. And I told her I was going to quit school. And boy, she erupted on me when I did when I said that, thinking that she was defending and helping my mother to keep me in school. And she just told me, "You you are wrong. This cannot be God." And She had said terrible things to me. So I went to Mrs. Ellis the next day and I walked in. I said, "Miss Ellis, I made my

decision." And she said, "What is it?" And I told her I was going to quit school. And man, I was braced for an onslaught. And she just looked at me and then she started crying. And she says, "I'd give anything to be in your place." And I was just shocked like why? And she she I forgot how old she was. You know, when you're 18, A person that's 50 or 60 looks ancient. And I thought she was really really old then. I don't know how old she was, but anyway, she says, however old she was,

she says, "I'm this old and I've never known for sure what God told me to do." She says, "I'm just hoping that what I'm doing is pleasing God." And she says, "For you to be 18 years old and to have heard from God and to know that God is directing your life, I'd give anything to be in your shoes." And by the time I talked to those three people that day, I was 100% convinced that God led me to quit school. And immediately I got classified 1A. I got sent for my induction physical. I got

drafted and sent to Vietnam. And you know what? It didn't look good at the time, but I never doubted it ever because I was letting the peace of God rule in my heart. And you know, in hindsight, that was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made In my life. And to think that it was just one or two months walking with the Lord. And yet, I made one of the most important decisions that ever happened. And when I went to Vietnam, there was hardships and there was a lot of things about it I

didn't like. But you know what? I went to Vietnam a Baptist and just out of desperation because there was so much ungodliness. I actually stayed in a bunker, a transient Bunker for a while, and it was papered with nude pictures of women on the ceiling, the walls. There was so much marijuana and dope in there that people wondered how I kept from getting high just sleeping in there. And there was so much ungodliness that the only way I could survive was just to stick my nose in the Bible like this. And I spent 15 hours

a day for 13 months reading the Bible, studying the Bible. And I mean, because of all the nude Pictures, you couldn't even, you know, read and then put it down and think about it. You just were like this. Amen. I was just like this. And in hindsight, I went to Vietnam as a Baptist. And when I came out, I went back to my Baptist church that I had been the youth director in, and they didn't want me. I'd changed. I was believing stuff that wasn't Baptist doctrine anymore. And I'm not sure that God would have

ever have Done those things if I would have stayed where I was. Looking back, it was one of the greatest things that ever happened. I came out of Vietnam a thousand times stronger than I went in. And I can see the wisdom of God in it. And it was one of the greatest decisions I ever made in my life. And you know what? I have applied this literally thousands. Thousands is not an exaggeration. Thousands of times. I have to make decisions and I believe that God I am your sheep. I hear your voice. You are

speaking to me. So what is it that I need to do and then I'll look at my options and I'll just pray about it. And then the one that I feel the most peace about, I'll follow it. And that has I have proven this that that is the direction of God. I'm telling you I don't I don't usually get a prophecy. I don't usually get an audible for fleases. Satan can give you circumstances. >> Man, I could give you some great examples of what I'm talking about. There's times that anyway I'm not going to take

the time to do it, but I've had people come prophesy to me that lived hundreds of miles away, had never seen me, and says, and they prophesy to me in a Dairy Queen and say things to me supernatural. It was super. There's no way they could have known it. But it wasn't God. And it nearly cost me my life. I nearly died. But I've learned to let the peace of God. It was not. It says, "The wisdom that's from God is first of all pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

James chapter 3, I think it's verse 17. And man, it it it wasn't peaceable. And I nearly died because of that. But you know what? I just determined to let the peace of God rule in my heart. I've done this hundreds and hundreds, thousands of times, and it has Worked. This is how I've made decisions that all about Caris Bible College and the things that we do. You can ask the people that work for me. They'll ask me something and I say, 'Well, send me an email about it and let me think about what I'm

doing. I'm letting the peace of God rule in my heart. I'm sitting here considering what the outcome is. So, you sit down and you see, all right, if I make this decision, what's going to happen? if I make this decision. And Then you believe that you've got the mind of Christ. And in that mind, you have love, joy, and peace. And that peace is always going to be there. And what you've got to do is just shut down all of the other voices, all the other people that are telling you what you should do. Shut

down. You know, one of the things that really hinders this is people always trying to evaluate what God's will is by how much money they have. Come on. >> Well, God, I don't know. This couldn't be you because how would I afford that? Forget that stuff. God didn't tell you you have to pay for it. You just have to believe for it. >> That's right. >> But see, we limit God. And we and you got to get rid of all of that. You got to get your mind focused on the Lord. Get to where you

are delighting yourself in the Lord and then look at your options and whichever one gives you the Most peace is what you go with. And let me put this um parenthetical phrase or underscore this point. If you all of a sudden are having problems in your marriage and you say, "God, should I stay married or should I get a divorce?" And you don't have any peace about staying married, but man, you think, "This would be awesome to get rid of this person and get another one. I'm going to let the peace of God rule in

my heart." That doesn't line up with the Word of God. >> That's right. The word of God says Malachi 2:15, God hates divorce. He doesn't hate divorcees. He hates divorce. There may be some occasions when divorce is a better option than murder. I'm not saying that there's never a time that you can't divorce under certain circumstances, but 99% of the time, if you are just wanting to get away and think the pro, if I could just get away From this person, everything' be okay. Okay. And then you go into the next relationship and you have

the same problems and you wonder what's the deal. The only uh common denominator in those two relationships is you. It may not be the other person that was a problem. It was you. The way you're responding to the other person. Anyway, you always have to check things by the word of God. If I was trying to make a decision and I felt peace about going Out and robbing a bank, I'd look at that and see, does this match up with the word of God? No, it does not. Would I go out and lie to gain

some advantage? No. It's only the devil. He's the father of all lies. >> He's the one who instigates it. But I sit there and even maybe it's not a lie. Maybe it's just not telling the whole truth. The Bible says you shall not bear false witness in Exodus 20. It's one of the ten commandments. You always check Anything that you think is the leadership of the bornagain spirit, the mind of Christ with the written mind of Christ. And if there is a difference here, it you always let this trump any feeling or any uh discernment

that you have. And so this this means that if you don't know the word of God, you're going to have a really hard time hearing the voice of God. If you're young and don't know the Lord, you need to be under somebody who is mature. And not just Somebody who's been a Christian for 30 or 40 years, because there's a lot of carnal, old Christians. You need to have a spiritually mature person. You need to sit under and bounce some things off and check it out. I am not saying that you just take the first

thought that comes to you and whatever you feel like doing do. No, you have to delight yourself in the Lord. And if you'd be honest, you know whether God's first in your life or not. That's >> right. >> I can tell you when I was in um I think I was in Childris, Texas. It's somewhere around 75 or 76. It was about 5 to seven years after I had had this encounter with the Lord. the first time that it just dawned on me that I am seeking God with my whole heart. And I might have

been seeking God with my whole heart before that, but that's the first time that I knew that I was seeking God with my whole heart. You know whether you Are, if you'd be honest, you know whether God's first in your life. And if God is not first place in your life, well, first of all, make him first place, >> right? But if for whatever reason you aren't going to do that, well then forget everything I said last night and tonight about, you know, u God giving you the desires of your heart and letting the peace

of God rule in your heart. If you're if you're that I'm Assuming that that you really love God and if you are sincere seeking God, it doesn't have to mean you're perfect, but it means that you are seeking God with all of your heart. And if you're serious, he'll put his desires in your heart and he will guide you by peace. And if you don't have peace, don't do it. Amen. >> That's really simple. And there's a few times that I've violated that. And Nearly every time I've paid for it. Matter of fact, we had

a situation come up within the last year that there was a person that moved up in our ministry. And I even told him, I said, "Look, I don't have anything against you, but I just don't know you. I'm not confident with you. I'm not I'm not uh I was actually talking to Billy and him at the same time." And I said, "I have a 100% confidence in Paul Milligan because I've had a relationship with him for 30some Years and he's proven himself to me and so I trust him." And I said, "Billy, I don't know

you as long as I've known Paul." But I said, "Man, I have a great relationship with you, and I trust you nearly as much as Paul." And then I told this other person, I said, "I don't have a thing against you, but I just don't know you. I don't trust you any further than I'd throw you." Some people think, "Well, you you said that. Yeah, I didn't mean anything bad, But I was just telling him I don't know you." Amen. And so anyway, he worked his way up through the ministry and nearly cost me my

ministry and had to leave and and stuff. And I shouldn't have even allowed the other people to put him in that position because I didn't feel peace about it, but I didn't have any reason. I didn't have any knowledge about anything. But it turned out I should Have just let the peace of God rule in my heart. There's a few times that I violate this, but very few. And the older I get, the less I care about what somebody else says. I'm just going to do what I feel peace about. And if I'm wrong, God

will bless me more for being in faith than he would for me to sit there and just follow the advice or what circumstances dictate. And yet, I don't feel right about it in my heart. I just do not violate the peace of God that's In my heart as much as I can. That's that's one of the ways that I hear the voice of God. So anyway, I'm sharing this with you to say that this is this is how simple it is. People make it complicated. It's not complicated. You have the mind of Christ. You know

what Jesus knows. You know everything that he knows, but it's in your spirit and it has to be spiritually discerned. How do you do that? The words that I speak unto you, They are spirit and they are life. God's word will unlock this. Psalms 37:4, Colossians 3:15. They will unlock this mind of Christ and you can start receiving direction. And if you do that, I guarantee you it'll transform your life. And let me make this application. And again, I know that some people will think that I'm manipulating or I'm saying this for selfish reasons, but

I believe that this is true for a lot of people in here. And so, I'm going to Obey God. And I don't care what you think, >> but there are many of you that have a desire to come to Caris Bible College. You've thought about it and you have a desire, but you let what other people say, you let your circumstances, you're worrying about, well, what will I do for a a living? We had a person one time say, I live under a bridge. How can I come to school? I said, we got bridges out

here. I said, come out here and live Under a bridge. I had two one person say, "I got two dogs." How? And I won't tell you what I said because I always get in trouble. But you can have dogs out here. Amen. It's just amazing the thing. And I've had people say, "If look, if I could just do what I want to do, I it's in my heart. I really believe that I I want to come to Bible college, but I'm just not sure it's God." Do you think that the devil Would put it on

your heart to come to Bible college for two years or three years and sit under the word? Is this the devil? Is it your flesh? Has your flesh ever made you want to sit and study the word for four hours a day, five days a week? The >> point I'm making is there's many of you that if you didn't think about what somebody else had to say about your kids, your grandkids, your dogs, Selling your house, what am I going to do for if you if you could just forget that stuff and say, "God, what

are you speaking to me?" Many of you desire to be here. Many of you have peace about it, but you got all of these other things and you're letting it stop you from doing what the peace of God is leading you to do. And I'm telling you, you're missing God. Now, there's some of you that know that God's got something else for you. And That's fine. If God doesn't want you here, we don't want you here. You'll be a problem. But I'm telling you, there's many of you that you have the desire and you have

peace. she would just love to be here, but you're letting other things hinder it. I was talking to a couple here tonight about something and and one of the things they were talking about was family and how that they've got responsibilities, kids, grandkids, and Stuff and what's going to happen. And you know, one of the things I think about often is Abraham. He was told to leave his father's house and his country and go out to a land that God would later show him. And he only partially obeyed God. He brought his nephew with him

because his brother had died and his nephew was fatherless. And I'm sure that Abraham thought that, you know what, I've got a responsibility to a family member and I need to help him. And Probably every person in here would say, well, that's a good thing. That's a that's a great thing to end up living in Sodom and God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. His wife looked around and turned into a pillar of salt. He had at least two daughters. It says he went to his daughters plural in Sodom and tried to talk them into leaving with

him and they mocked him and said there was no way. So he lost at least two daughters plus son-in-laws and possibly grandkids And two of his daughters came out of Sodom with him and they actually wound up committing sodomy and having children by incest. Let me ask you how it could have been any worse for Lot if Abraham would have just obeyed God and left his kindred and have not brought Lot with him. When you start trying to take what God is telling you to do and say, "Well, God, I'll do it, but I I'm

going to do it this way." And you start adding to It, you always mess stuff up. >> I'm telling you, if God is telling you to do something, do it. If it hair lips ever devil in hell, >> just do it. >> Well, but if I do that, what's going to happen to my retirement? Who gives a rip? >> Well, I'm only two years away from retirement. Well, excuse God. He didn't know that when he told you to come. He's just not as sharp as you are. Man, if you'd stop and think about it, man,

once God puts something on your heart, just do it. >> Do it regardless of what the consequences are. >> If you can prove to me that God tells me to do something, I'll do it if it means my own death. And somebody said, "Well, yeah, it's easy to say." Well, I did it 51 years ago. I quit school and got sent to Vietnam and I nearly got killed twice in one day and I faced death many times And I was willing to do that because of what God told me to do. You can't tell me

that, well, you're just blowing smoke. I'm telling you, I've done it and I'd do it again. And God has never failed me. God has never disappointed me. God is faithful to the max. I'm telling you that if God is telling you to do something, you ought to do it. And somebody says, "Well, man, how do I do it? When do I do it?" It's like I was saying, you got to start moving in some Direction. And you know, if you start doing something, the spirit of God on the inside of you, the peace will either

amplify the more you get closer to what God is telling you to do or it'll diminish. And so, you just you just make a decision. Head in that direction. And if you aren't sure, you know, give it some time and just make some decisions. Head in that direction and either you will gain confidence or you will think, nope, This isn't the right time or the right place and you can make an adjustment. But God could spin the rudder 360 degrees and if you're doing nothing. I want to share some things with you. If you were

here this morning, I started talking about the power of imagination and how that relates to your healing. that if you can't see yourself healed on the inside, you won't see it on the outside. And this is a major problem with most people Because they see themselves sick, they think sick, they talk sick, and then they pray for healing. It just doesn't work that way. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. And I shared some scriptures. I was talking a lot about this Hebrew word ye t s e r that is translated mind

in Isaiah 26:3. The Lord will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon him. But that same word was translated imagine or imaginations Uh five times in the Old Testament and I gave some of those references and the actual definition of that Hebrew word means conception. Your imagination is your spiritual womb. And you have to conceive things. And as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. That's talking about as you see things, not as you pray and beg and plead. And many times people will say, "Oh, God, this is serious." And

they'll tell God how bad it is. And they try and get God to move because of Need. If the Lord moved because of need, things would be totally different than they are today. Some of the people who need the power of God the most uh are the furthest from it. And God doesn't just move because your need is there. He moves through people who believe. Just like Ashley was giving testimony. That was such a great testimony about he didn't buy healing >> but he needed to believe. >> And the scripture says in Luke chapter 16

that trusting God in the area of finances is the least use of your faith. If you can't do that which is least, you can't do that which is greatest. And there's people there's probably people right here that you are desperate for a healing, but you you're afraid to trust God in finances. You wouldn't dare give everything that's in your savings or that's in your checking account because you really do trust that. And yet you're believing for a healing. Did you know Trusting God for finances is not near as important as healing? You can't buy healing.

That's right. There's people that spend millions of dollars. There are billionaires that are dying because you can't buy healing. Healing is infinitely more important than finances. And if you can't do that which is least, if you can't trust him in finances, then you can't trust him in something greater. So there's people here praying for a breakthrough and yet you've never Trusted him in that area of finances. You need to do that. You need to conceive a miracle. And when he took that step of faith and gave those finances, that's not buying anything from God, but

it was it was trusting God. It was believing God. And I tell you what, that releases the supernatural power of God. God is a good God that wants us all to prosper. >> His will for every one of us is prosperity. Third John 1:2, "Beloved, I Wish above all things." Above all things. That's above all things. >> In the Greek, that means all things. He wishes above all things that you might prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. God wants to prosper you. God wants it more than you want it, but we

block it through our doubt, through our fear. And so, you have to get out of that place of fear and doubt and worry and start taking a step of faith. And again, it starts with finances. I could Merely preach on finances, but I've talked about all of those things. What I want to do, if what I was saying this morning was true, and if your imagination was so strong that the Lord had to come down and confuse the languages at the Tower of Babel to stop people from imagining and doing things. If imagination is that

powerful, how come all of the references to imagination in the Bible are negative? I dealt with this for a couple of years Praying God why is this and I used a number of scriptures this morning. Let me use one more over in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 tonight and read this to you. This is a New Testament scripture about your imagination. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and in verse three it says, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God

to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Did you know our spiritual weapons, people will teach that, man, the devil is this huge force and Satan is fighting against us and you got to intercede and bind and do all of this stuff. I believe Satan is real. I believe he exists. I believe he is outgoing about seeking whom he may devou devour. But exactly as Carly said this Morning, his only power that

he has is deception. He is a defeated foe. He doesn't have the power to make you sick, to do anything unless you believe it. >> He has to have your cooperation to do anything. >> Thank you for that thunderous silence. Most people don't believe that because, well, I didn't believe for this. I I didn't ask for this cancer. I didn't cooperate. I wasn't out living in sin. I wasn't doing anything. Cancer just came At me. I didn't have anything to do with it. Yeah, you did. If nothing else, you bought the lie that you're only

human. >> That's right. >> And then after all, cancer and these kind of things happen. And what can you do? I mean, it's incurable. And oh, God, help me. And the moment you come to God and say, "God, I can't do anything." The doctor says, "I'm dying." You cooperated with the devil. >> That's right. >> The Bible says that no plague will come n your dwelling. But it says there in Psalms chapter 91, it says, "I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust." You

have to say it. The power of God is voice activated. God created the heavens and the earth by words. He spoke everything that's physical into existence. And even the germs and even the viruses and things that had been corrupted since the fall of man and now They're destructive, those things were created by words. They will respond to words. And you have to speak words. And when you say, "Oh God, I am nothing. I have nothing. And I can do nothing." But we know that you can do all things. God, would you stretch forth your hand

and heal? You cooperated with the devil. You are believing that you're powerless. >> And people will say, "Well, it says in John 15:5, Jesus was speaking and he said, "Without me, you can do nothing." Well, that's absolutely true. I agree with that 100%. Without Jesus, I'm a zero with the rim knocked off. I am nothing, but I'm never without Jesus. >> He's never going to leave me nor forsake me. And so, even though I in myself am nothing, I in Christ am awesome. I'm greater than any sickness or any disease. And the moment you start

praying and saying, "Oh, God, we're just powerless. The doctor says it's incurable. There's nothing we can do." You cooperated with the devil. You may not realize it, but you have. You have believed a lie. You believe that sickness, paralysis, disease is bigger than you. There's nothing I can do about it. That's a lie. >> Amen. >> I know that there's many I don't have anything. I didn't have anything to do with this. I can guarantee you Satan can't do anything to you without your consent, cooperation. >> You have to believe a lie somewhere. If you

were walking in the fullness of the power of God and if you were appropriating everything he had done for you, I guarantee you no plague would come nigh your dwelling. But see, you've got to see this. And so anyway, I got off on that by saying people are rebuking the devil and fighting demons and stuff and they do exist. I'm not saying they don't exist, but They have to have your cooperation. This is why that man that was demonpossessed, his demons were called Legion. Those demons beg the Lord to let them enter into the swine

because a pig has more authority than the devil. >> The devil doesn't have a physical body. Only people with physical bodies have authority in this earth. And so Satan has to gain some cooperation. He, you know, a a caterpillar slime has more authority than the devil. >> It's got a body. >> It can do something. And that's the reason Satan has to inhabit a demon. If it was just up to the devil, he goes about seeking whom he may devour. But he cannot devour everybody. If it was up to the devil, every one of us

would be dying. Every one of us would be paralyzed. Every one of us would have a death sentence. But he can't have everybody. >> That's right. >> Because you have to cooperate. And it's not always because you're out there sinning or saying, "Devil, I love you. Come fight me. Come devour me." That's not what you're doing. But you have believed a lie that you're only human. that there's nothing you can do. The doctor says it's incurable. So, what can I do? You can believe God. You can begin to start renewing your mind and find out

who you are and take your authority and speak to that devil and command it to Leave. >> Some of you think, "But mine isn't a devil. It's just something physical." >> Anyway, our spiritual weapons, what are they used for? to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. That's another thing that see most people have just given their thoughts Over to the devil. They don't think you can keep your mind stayed upon God. But I've already quoted that

verse once. Isaiah 26:3. The Lord will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon him. That's talking about your imagination who you are taking the word of God and thinking on it until it paints a picture of you of victory of authority of control over the devil that's coming against you. And when you think that way and keep your mind stayed Upon him, not just, you know, the Bible says the just live by faith. They don't visit there. They don't vacation at faith. This is where they live. You live by faith. You can

bring every thought into captivity and under obedience to Christ. You don't have to have these negative thoughts. >> You can't necessarily keep a negative thought from coming. Kenneth Hagen used to say it this way. You can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you Can keep him from landing and making a nest in your hair. You can't necessarily keep negative thoughts from coming because we live in a fallen world and you're going to hear a bunch of negative stuff. But you can take every thought captive and in obedience to Christ. And there's many

people, I would say the vast majority of Christians do not believe that's possible. It's not even a goal. And you willingly play pay hundreds of dollars a Month to have unbelief and doubt and adultery and murder and bad news piped into your home. And you spend every available moment on the telephone watching and learning all this stuff. And we wonder why we don't want to keep our mind stayed upon God. >> It's not even a goal for most people. Most people don't even believe it. You know, if that's what you're doing, then you have unwillingly

maybe, but you have cooperated with the devil. And that's Giving him place. >> One of the reasons I believe Adam and Eve lived to be 930 years old is because they didn't know how to be sick. >> They didn't have somebody telling them, "It's flu season. have you got your flu shot yet? And so they had fear and started planning, oh man, I got to watch it or I'll catch the flu. They didn't know about the flu. They didn't know that when you were over 30 or 40 that you were over the hill. And nobody

gave them black balloons and started giving them the pins and talking about you're going to need these and preparation h and stuff like that. They didn't know about these things. It took the devil 930 years to convince them about how to die. They didn't know how to die. We've been taught how to die. We've been taught how to speak death. We've been taught how to expect it. Whether you realize it or not, that's cooperating With the devil. >> This is not the way God made you to be. >> God did not make you to be

sick. >> By the stripes of Jesus, you are healed. We've heard that a hundred times already. And yet the average Christian has been prepared for sickness and defeat. >> So here's a negative use of your imaginations. If imagination is this powerful, how come it's not talked about in a positive way? I asked that question For a long time. And then one day I was just reading over here in Romans chapter 8. Let me turn over and read this to you. And remember that the definition of an imagination, according to the dictionary, it's the ability to

see what isn't real or present. It's either something that's that's real, but you can't see it. It's removed from you. Or it's something that hasn't come into being yet, like these buildings. I saw these buildings before they were here. They were in my imagination. So that's the definition of imagination according to the dictionary is the ability to see something that's not real or present. And one day I was just reading in Romans chapter 8. And in verse 24 it says we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a

man seeth, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not. Then do we with patience wait for it? And I was just meditating on that and thinking about It. And all of a sudden it dawned on me. Hope is seeing >> something that you can't see, >> which is the definition of imagination. >> And I believe that the Bible calls a positive imagination hope. >> And so, man, that just opened up all kinds of things to me. >> Imagination is always spoken of in a negative way. The only uh

the only use of imagination that wasn't just totally negative is 1 Chronicles 29:18. We read That this morning and that's where David prayed to keep this forever in the thoughts of the imagination of his hearts of their hearts and that was talking about your memory. But other than that it says that the thoughts of men's hearts were only the imagination of the thoughts of men's heart were only evil continually that Luke 1:51 that he's going to take them in the imagination destroy them in the imagination of their own hearts. So Imagination is used primarily to

describe a negative imagination, but a positive imagination is what the Bible calls hope. And this is what Daniel and Carly were talking about this morning. They got off on this. Hebrews 11:1, I'm going to say some of these things very quickly because I got a ways to go. But Hebrews 11:1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Substance is talking about something that is tangible, that's Real. This pulpit has substance. And so faith gives substance, tangibility to things hoped for. And that's talking about your imagination. If you

don't have it in your imagination, faith doesn't have anything to give substance to. >> And Daniel and Carly touched on this this morning, but most people give hope a bad rap. Like people say, "Are you you know are you believing God for healing?" "Well, I hope so." And they say, "Well, Don't quote don't hope so. Believe." But you know, over in 1 Corinthians chapter 13:3, now about faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Hope is mentioned right there in between faith and love. It's one of the big three. It's a powerful

force. Hope isn't the end result, but it is a necessary step along the way. Charles Caps, I heard him teach on this one time and he gave a story about a guy who lived in the back woods someplace and he only Came out every few years to get supplies. and he came out and he went to a church service and there was a lot of people in the church and they it started getting hot and he started fanning himself and about that time one of the ushers came up and turned this thing on the wall

and when he turned it within just a minute or so this guy started feeling cold air blow on him and he he he forgot everything else he couldn't even listen To the message cuz he was just so impressed with this cold air blowing and so as soon as the service was over he went up to that usher and he says what was that thing on the wall that you touched. And he says, "Well, that's a thermostat." And he says, "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen." You turn that and cold air started blowing. And

he says, "Can anybody get a thermostat?" And he said, "Well, sure." He says, "Where do I get a thermostat?" And he says, "You can get them at the hardware store." So before he went back to his cabin in the woods, he went and bought a thermostat. And he put it on the wall. And when it started getting hot, he went over there and turned that thermostat thinking that it would blow cold air. And nothing happened because the thermostat doesn't blow the cold air. It controls the power unit, the air conditioner that produces the cold air.

But that with without that thermostat, The uh power unit is useless. >> Well, faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Faith is powerful, but hope is what activates faith. And I tell you, once you get a hope, I wish I had better words to say this. I It's one of those things that it's easier caught than it is taught. >> But once you once you get a hope, once you meditate on something, you pray, and all of a sudden you see it. >> Again, I wished I could say this better. I'm asking the Holy

Spirit to help you understand this cuz there's many of you that have squelched your imagination for so long that it's hard for you to relate to what I'm saying. But once you pray about something, meditate on it, and all of a sudden God speaks a word to you and you see it. You know God has spoken to you. I guarantee you once that happens, faith will kick in like that. You will find some way to maintain this thing. Faith will give Substance to things hoped for and evidence, physical proof to things not seen. It didn't

say things that don't exist. They do exist, but they exist in the spiritual realm. But it will give substance to things hoped for and evidence to things not seen. You know, Jamie and I went to look at a car one time. We just needed a car and we didn't have money for a car, but we knew we needed one. So, we thought, we're going to go to a dealership and just look at a Car. It wasn't emotional. We we had a dog of a car. It needed to be replaced. And so we just thought we're

going to start the process. And we went down there and we told the salesman, "We don't want to do anything except just get some information. How much is it going to cost? How much do I need to believe for? And what's the, you know, what what are we looking at? What kind of car is in our price range?" And so that's what we were going to do. But When we went there, these salesmen know the power of imagination. And his salesman said, "Oh, no. You don't just want information. Go sit in the car." I said,

"I don't want to sit in the car. I just want some information." He wouldn't give me anything until I went and sat in the car. And then he says, "Man, doesn't that smell good? Doesn't that feel good?" And then, "C can't you see yourself driving this Car?" And then he says, "Let's drive it around the block." I said, "No, I don't want to drive it around the block." He says, "No, I want you to drive it around the block." So, I drove it around the block and compared to our car that heard had all kinds

of noise and rattles and and it was the shocks were bad and everything else, this one was smooth. And did you know I saw myself in that car? And anyway, I had enough self-control to Tell this guy no and we went home. I didn't make any commitments, but I stayed up half of the night thinking, how can I do this? How can I make this happen? Once I saw myself in it, boy, all of a sudden, my creative juices started flowing. And see, that's what happens when once you see something, once you can get it

in your imagination, I guarantee you, it's just a matter of time until you will see it and touch it. >> But the problem is most people are Praying for something that they've never conceived, that they don't see. You don't see yourself well. You don't see yourself the victor. You see yourself the victim. >> Yeah. Don't look at me in that tone of voice. I pray with lots of people, thousands and thousands of people, and I would say that the majority of people come up and say something to the effect of, "Could you please pay?" And

they get pitiful, Hoping that that'll touch my emotions. Would you please pray for me? The doctor says, "I'm going to die and I've got three children and I've got this and what and they start and what they this is how they see themselves. I'm nothing. I have no power. I even had one man come to me uh just a month or two ago and he says, "I know what you're saying and I know that by the stripes of Jesus I was healed. I know what the Bible says. I believe what you're saying, but I just

Don't have any power." And you know, the first thing I said to him is Proverbs 18:21. Death and life are in the power of your tongue. You got power right here, but you're using it to kill yourself >> by saying you don't have power. You're hung by your tongue. You need to start speaking the word. >> But see, most people come in some form of I'm desperate. I don't have any power. Would you please do something? The moment you approach God like that or approach any of his messengers like that, you have just cooperated with

the devil. >> You are seeing yourself as a loser. That's how you see yourself. And then you wonder why you lose. You wonder why you're still sick, why you still have these problems. You don't see yourself well. You don't talk well. You don't think well. >> Amen. Or old me. >> We're saved by hope. And the word saved here, Greek word soozo, it's not only talking about forgiveness of sins, but it's talking about healing. Healing is a part of your salvation. You have been forgiven of sins, but you've also been healed just as much as

you were forgiven of sins. I'm going to say something right now that the vast majority of people don't get and they misunderstand. But that's your problem, not mine. But you know what? I believe I am redeemed from sickness as much as I'm redeemed from sin. >> I fight sickness as much as I fight sin. I wouldn't have a cold. I wouldn't get sick any more than I'd commit adultery. >> I won't do it. And some of why I don't have any control over that. You just cooperated with the devil >> by thinking that. >> Well,

I can't control whether I get a Cold or not. Yes, you can. >> Amen. >> I know many of you think this is just totally weird, but you know what? It's been 50 years since sickness is one in my life. I've I've had some sickness try and knock on my door. I was making radio one time and had the flu attack me right in the middle of a radio program and I started having aches and chills and I stopped for about 30 minutes and prayed in tongues and got over it and went back And finished

up the deal. I've had sickness fight me but I had sickness hadn't won in my life in 50 years. I don't get sick. I don't believe in getting sick. I will not get sick. You can't make me sick. And many of you are saying, "Well, that's not true. You can't live that way." That's the reason you're sick. As long as you can be sick, you will be sick. But when you get sick and tired of being sick and said, "I will not do this Because Jesus has purchased it and I've got authority and power. Death

and life are in the power of my tongue, and I'm going to walk in healing." When you get to that place, then it's just like Psalms 91. No plague will come nigh thy dwelling. Only with your eyes will you see and behold the reward of the wicked. A thousand will fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come nigh you. >> That's the promises of God. >> But did you know all of those promises in Psalms chapter 9, it says, "I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge

and my fortress." It's voice activated. The power of God is voice activated. You got to start speaking this. You got to start saying that by his stripes I'm healed. I refuse this sickness. You got to fight against it. Let's turn over to the scriptures that I think it was Daniel was using this this morning or Carly anyways, one of the two or both of them In Romans chapter 4 and in verse 17. As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations before whom him whom he believed, even God, who quickenth the

dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they are. Did you know that this is a quotation from the Old Testament when it says that he calls things that be not as though they were? And what it's talking about is Abraham's name originally was Abram, which meant exalted or mighty Father. And he says, I'm changing your name from Abram from being an exalted father to being Abraham, the father of many nations because a father of many nations have I made you already done. Past tense. Amen. >> That was 26 years before Isaac came

along. >> And God called him a father of many nations 26 years before he had a child. That's what it's referring to. God calls those things that be not as though they Were. He spoke it into existence. And then in verse 18, talking about Abraham who against hope believed in hope. There was no hope in the natural. in the natural. He was 99 years old when the Lord appeared to him finally in the 18th chapter of Genesis and told him this time in the next year your wife will conceive and have a child. He was

99 years old and Sarah was 90 years old and the scripture says it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women. She Had been through menopause. It was impossible for her to have a child. And so in the natural there was no hope. But he against hope, against all of the odds, he believed in hope. And hope, what is hope? >> It's a positive imagination. He had a vision of having a child in his old age. >> And that's the reason I think again Carly and Ashley mentioned this this morning, but this

is the reason that God Says, "Count the stars in the sky or number the grains of sand on the seashore. If you can count them, so shall your seed be." That's how numerous your descendants are going to be. And I believe that the reason God gave him those is because it helped him to see. It helped his imagination. Every day he didn't have boots like I do. He had to walk in sandals and he got dirt on his feet. And every day he had to clean the dust and the grains of sand off of his

Feet. Every night they didn't have a building like this. They sat out under the stars. And every night he saw the stars. So day and night for 26 years, every time he looked up there, it was so shall my seed be. Every time he looked at the grains of sand, so shall my seed be. For 26 years, he conceived this. That's the reason God did this. He gave him something that he could see. This is the reason the Bible says, "Don't take away landmarks." There are scriptures About it's a it's forbidden. You could be punished

by death if you take away your neighbor's landmarks because we need to have landmarks. We need to remember things. >> I've got a rock that's that tall and about this big. It weighs over a ton that rolled over my head. And I got a landmark, a a thing right there where I wrote the scripture down out of Psalms that says, "The Lord preserves the simple." And uh I said, "God saved my Life when this rock rolled over my hand, the arm, and the head." And it was right before I started on television. It was 1999.

And I've got that. And every time I walk down that trail, I see that and I remember Jesus, you got a purpose for my life. You kept me from dying. >> And I've got these memories. We need to imagine things. We need to remember things. >> We need a vision of where you're going. >> If I was to ask most of you in here to Write down your vision for your life, there's many of you that have a wish list. You wish you would have more money. You wish you could do something, start your own

business or do things. But what do you really see for your life? I've done this in other services and over usually over 80% of the people in a service like this don't have a clear direction for your life. You're just doing what Circumstances you had to have a job and so you got a job. It's paying your bills and so you're doing it. that many of you hate what you're doing, man. You get up on Monday and talk about blue Monday and then on Friday, TGIF, man. If you're excited about taking the week off, it's

because you haven't found what God's called you to do. >> Man, I love what I'm doing. I actually had I walked through the break room one day and one young guy was going TGIF. And I said, "What does that mean?" He said, "Thank God it's Friday." And I said, "What's so great about Friday?" He says, "I don't have to work tomorrow." I said, 'I can fix it so you don't have to work any days. I said, 'd do you not like working here?' And he goes, 'Oh, no, I like it here. I said, 'Well, then

why are you so excited about getting off of work? And boy, he started backpedaling. And anyway, he doesn't work for me anymore. But I'm telling you, if that's the way that you are, and if you're it's a drag and it's a burden on you to go to work, you have not found what God's will for your life is yet. Come on. >> And there's many people that just work a job because, well, I've got to do it and I don't know. I just put in a one I answered a one ad and this is what

happened. But you don't know that God called you to do that. >> You know, this is not a dress rehearsal. >> You're burning daylight. >> And if you aren't if you don't know what God has called you to do or if you don't have some direction and are pursuing that, waiting on further instructions, then you're wasting time. If you aren't living on the edge, you're taking up too much space. You need to be out there doing what God called you to do. >> And let me just put in a plug for Caris Bible College. This

is what it's all About. There's a lot of people that know that there's more than what they're experiencing. They don't know what it is, but they there's got to be more to life than what I'm experiencing. And they figure that God is the answer. And they figure it's in the word. And so they come to Bible college and I tell you, we have thousands and thousands of people that discover what God's will for their life is and it takes on meaning And it just totally transforms your life. Man, if you don't know for sure what

God called you to do, I'd recommend Caris. It'll it'll change your life. >> Absolutely. >> Absolutely. >> And I have people say, "Well, if I if I could just do what I wanted to do, I would come I'd come to Caris Bible College." but I'm just not sure it's God. And so I tell people all the time, I Say, "Well, I understand what you're saying. It might be the devil that wants you to come sit under the word four hours a day, 5 days a week for two or three years." Or that might be your

flesh. This sounds like the devil, like just the flesh that you want to come to school. You know what? If you got a desire, guess what? God put the desire there. >> You need to satisfy it. We've got all kinds of ways. We got an ecaris that you Can take out there and get an iPad and the whole first year is loaded on there. You don't even have to have an internet connection and anyway good things. So why did I get off on that? >> But it was good. >> You got to have a vision

for your life. That's what I was talking about. Thank you, Greg. And so most people don't have a vision for their life. They're just like on a treadmill and they're just going and they don't know where they're Going. They're going nowhere. Boy, that's that's a wasted life. >> God's never made a piece of junk. >> Amen. >> God has never made you to just occupy space. >> God has never made anybody to just go through life and then when you die, nobody misses you. >> You didn't touch anybody. You didn't do anything. >> True. >>

I'm not saying this to condemn you. I know many people I don't want to think about that. Well, the only time you can do anything about it is now. After you're dead and gone, it's too late. So, you need to deal with it now. It may not be pleasant, but I'm telling you, you need to know what God's purpose for your life is. I was born for such a time as this. >> I know I'm where God told me to be. You know, I went and spoke one time at a A guy who was a

partner of mine and he had 30, 40 employees and he asked me to come in and speak to him. And so I spoke to him, saw some people born again, saw some great things happen. When I walked out, there was a new lady, an oriental lady that was sitting at the reception desk. And I said, "You weren't back there with the rest." And she said, "No, I'm the new kid on the block." And they wanted me to answer the phones while everybody was in the back. And she said, "Who are you?" So I told her

my name. She says, "What do you do?" And I said, "I'm a minister." And boy, her eyes got big and she said, "For who?" And I said, "For the Lord Jesus Christ." And she says, "You're the one." And I said, "The one what?" And she told me that she was a Buddhist. And the night before she was going through all of her rituals that she goes through and she just stopped in the middle of it and she says, "God, this can't be it." She says, "I know that there is a God. I know that you

exist, but this can't be it. Who are you? reveal yourself. And she said a ball of light came in front of her and it was pulsating and she heard an audible voice saying, "Tomorrow I'll send you a man who will tell you who I am." And she said, "You're the man." And I said, "I am the man." Praise God. And I got to lead her. I led her into salvation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that was great to see what God did for her. But when I went and sat in the car, I

couldn't even start the car up. I just sat there praising God, thinking, "God, I was in the right place at the right time. I was in the perfect center of God's will." And that feeling >> is amazing. >> To know that you're exactly where God wants you to be. >> And brothers and sisters, I love you, but there's some of you that have never had that. You don't know. You're hoping So. You hope that your life is going for something, but you aren't in the driver's seat. You're just in the back seat along for the

ride. You aren't controlling anything, man. That'll kill you. >> That's not what God intended. So, I forgot I got up on all of that. But God's You got to have a vision for your life. And so, he had a vision. He knew that he was going to have a child. And he had been waiting. And even though he Was near, he was a hundred years old when Isaac was born, he had a vision. And look at this. It says, "Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations, according to

that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be." That is a quotation from Genesis chapter 15 where he says, "Count the stars in the sky. If you can number them, so shall your seed be." Five words. Abraham believed God with five words. We've got millions of words. >> But the word painted a picture. If you can count the stars, if you can count the grains of sand, so shall your seed be. The word of God sparked his imagination. This is the difference between fantasy and imagination. Imagination, godly imagination, is based on the word of God.

You let the word paint a picture. >> Man, I got so much I want to say. Put a little comma here. I'm going to come right back to this and I'm not Going to turn over there lest I stop and preach on it. But in Psalms chapter 1 verse two it says the godly man who is blessed his meditation is in the law of the Lord and in his law do he meditate day and night. Then in Psalmsap 2:1 why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The word imagine in Psalms

chapter 2 verse 1 and the word u meditate in Psalms 1:2 is the exact same Hebrew word. You can't meditate without imagining. Meditation in the word is when you read the word, you take that information, but then you close the book and you wait until those words form a picture until it affects your imagination. >> This is why when people go to Israel, they come back and they say, "Oh, the Bible just came alive. There's such an anointing on that place, man. Everything was awesome." There isn't a greater anointing in Israel than there is right

here. That's right. >> You know what happens in Israel? >> Things that you've read about, but you didn't meditate until it formed an image. Now you can go over there and all of a sudden you see these places and it sparks your imagination. >> I took a tour to Israel and when they went down to the valley of Ela where David fought Goliath, it was a hot day and the bus parked on the side of the road and there's nothing there and for miles it's just open. It's very similar The way it was in David's

time. And the tour guide said, "This is where David fought Goliath right here. Does anybody want to get out?" And it was a hot day, so nobody wanted to get out but me. And I got out and made them all wait. And I walked down to this dry to this dry rivered or stream and I got five smooth stones. And I stood there and held those stones and looked around on the mountains and thought about what would it be like to fight Goliath. You know What? I was seeing it. I imagined it. It quickened my

imagination and that became real to me. And I've got a whole series that I taught about David because I didn't just read the words, but I read it and I saw it and then I saw myself fighting my Goliath, >> my giants. See, there's people that will read it and you could tell me what David did and how it worked for him, but you've never seen yourself slaying the giant. >> That's your imagination. That's how you meditate in the word. You have to you can't meditate what you haven't read. So yes, you have to read

and you have to study and you have to put the information in, but then you need to sit there and see these things coming to pass. If the Bible says greater is he than he that's in you than he that's in the world, have you ever seen yourself greater than the devil? Greater than the problems that you're Facing? Or do you see yourself overcome? Do you come up to somebody and oh, I'm in such a bad shape. I'm going to die if the Lord does. That's not seeing yourself greater than the problems that you're facing.

>> Many people can quote the scripture, but they don't see it. You got to see it. So, Abraham saw it. And it says in the next verse, "And be not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old. Neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb." The word consider, if you look it up in the dictionary, it means to study, ponder, deliberate, examine, meditate. He never thought about his body being dead. Let me ask you, if God told you and if you wanted a child when you

were a hundred years old, Carly was mentioning that this morning. I that's not something I'm believing for. Praise God. But if you wanted a child, if you'd been believing for it your whole life, And if God came to you and said, "You're going to have a child this time next year," what would most of us do? We'd Google it. What's the oldest that any person's ever had a child? And we'd go check it out on the internet. And then we might, you know, go to the doctor and get checked out or have our wife checked

out. You know, is it possible? could she still have? And you accumulate all of this unbelief and Then you've got this mountain of unbelief that says, "No, it's impossible. It can't happen." Then you go back and say, "God, are you sure about that?" And he said, "Yes." And then you say, "It's so hard to believe." Why is it hard to believe? Because you considered all of the other stuff that says no, it can't happen. Abraham never considered >> his own body now dead. He never even he I'm sure he had the knowledge that he Was

hundred years old and his wife had ceased to be with her after the manner of women. I'm sure that he had the facts, but that's not what he focused on. He wasn't considering it. He wasn't studying it. He wasn't pondering it. He wasn't examining it. But most of us, the first thing we do, if the doctor says you're going to die, man, we go research it and look it up and find out how long have I got to live? Has anybody ever beat this? And you study all of these Things and then wonder why it

is that it's so hard to believe God. >> Man, I've got so much I'd love to say. I got a great series, Hardness of Heart. And one of the great points in it is Hebrews 11:15 that says if they had been mindful of the country they came out of, they might have had opportunity to return. And for them, opportunity to go back to the Calaldes would have been unbelief. So, it's saying that their unbelief, their Temptation was linked to what they thought on. Here's another way of saying it. You can't be tempted with something you

haven't thought. >> You have to go there in your mind before you go there in your body. It's like being in a tunnel. You can't just walk through dirt and rock. You got to hollow a place out and make a vacancy before you can enter in. That's the way it is. You got to go someplace in your mind first. You can't commit adultery without Thinking adultery. >> You can't commit sin. You can't operate in unbelief without thinking things that produce unbelief. And again, most of us pay hundreds of dollars to have unbelief pumped into our

house and listen to people talk about and ridicule God and ridicule things and talk about how bad everything is. And we wonder why we struggle to believe God. Abraham. If you were to take Abraham and somehow or another just Transport him in a time machine into your life watching, listening, reading, thinking the way that you do, he wouldn't have been able to produce a seed any more than you are. But on the other hand, if you were to take you and transport you into his life so that every day at night and at day, day

and night, so shall my seed be. And for 26 years, if that's all you thought, and then when God appeared to you, you didn't even consider anything else. You'd get the same results that Abraham got. Abraham didn't have greater faith. Your faith is greater than Abraham's. >> The problem isn't that we don't have faith. The problem is we got so much unbelief >> that counterbalances and negates our faith. >> Man, I I've got another two hours in that little passage right there. But let me turn over to Hebrews chapter 11 and and wind this thing

up. I know that the Heart can't absorb more than the seat can endure. But here in Hebrews 11, this is talking about Abraham again. A matter of fact, I just read verse 15. It says, "And truly, if they had been mindful of the country they came out of, they might have had opportunity to return." You can't be tempted with anything that you don't think. That's the reason the Lord told him, "Don't ever go back." And when Isaac was born and God, Abram wanted to Go take a a wife for him. He took his servant and

he says, "Under no circumstances ever let my son go back to that area." They didn't go back. They didn't look at it. They didn't think about it. They burned their bridges behind them. >> That's the way you got to be with healing. >> You got to get to where I'm healed. I'm not considering anything else. And then it says in the next verse in Verse 16, "But now they desire a better country, that is a heavenly where wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city." By

faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the promised seed or the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. So, this is talking about Genesis 22 when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son as An offering. And it says that's what it's talking about. And look at what it says right here in verse 19. Here's what he was thinking accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him

in a figure. >> The New Testament says that what we have is greater than what any Old Testament man had. and so so much greater that what they had has no glory compared to what we have. >> So Abraham was inferior to what I have. My faith, my covenant is so much greater than Abraham. And so based on that, I honestly sat down one time and tried to figure God, would I have enough faith to literally sacrifice my son if you told me to do it? Now, we live under a different covenant. And God never

intended this. He was just testing Abraham is what it says. uh seeing if he was willing. Actually, I could go into a lot of detail, but God can only do Things on this earth to the degree that somebody yields and submits unto him. >> He doesn't move sovereignly. >> He doesn't move independent of us. >> Ephesians 3:20, now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power that works in us. If there's no power working in us, God can't do it. And I per I personally

believe that the reason God wanted Abraham to be willing to offer his son is because until some person Took that stance and believed God could not send his son into the earth. He had to have someone to flow through. And so anyway, that was a part of bringing Jesus. And it just so happened that the place that he was offering Isaac was Mount Mariah, exactly where the temple is and exactly where the ark of the covenant eventually stood and where the veil was written to. There was a lot of things going on here. So anyway,

I was thinking, God, if what I've got's Greater, could I sacrifice one of my sons? And you know what I got to think? I got to imagining what it would be like to see the life drain out of your son and know that you were the one that killed him. And then I imagine when I went back home and Jamie said, "Where's Joshua or Peter?" And I said, "Oh, I killed him. I was imagining all of this stuff and I tried my best to say, "Father, I'm believe." And I just had to say, "Father, I

couldn't I can't imagine myself doing it." And then I saw this verse. You know why Abraham was able to do it? Because he never saw his son dead. It says he was accounting that God was going to raise him up even from the dead if he had to. He never saw Isaac dead because Isaac was the promised seed that would be produced children as numerous as the stars in the sky. And he wasn't married at this time. He hadn't produced a child. And so he had to live. Abraham was so focused on God. He had

this vision so strong in front of him that if his son would have died, he figured God had raised him from the dead. He never saw his son dead. >> You know why you are struggling with things? Cuz you've seen yourself sick. >> You've accepted that diagnosis. You've seen other people who suffered with it. You've got that image of this is what's happening to me and you're conformed to it in your inside. And as a man thinks On the inside, so is he. >> I'm not saying this to condemn anybody. The Bible says we perish

for a lack of knowledge. We're destroyed for a lack of knowledge. And most people don't know the things we're talking about. And so out of innocence, we've adopted the way the world thinks. But I'm telling you, you do not have to live that way. >> You can take the word of God and you can paint a picture on the inside of you of of you being well and you having Authority and power and you resisting the devil and he'll flee from you and you will have what you say. And you can take all of these

scriptures and you can meditate on them until those things come alive and you can become so pregnant with your healing that you just can't help but be healed. >> You know, when a woman gets pregnant, she's pregnant before she knows it. It takes a while for a woman to recognize she's pregnant, but then she recognizes Some changes taking place. And so, she knows she's pregnant before anybody else knows she's pregnant. But then after a while, everybody knows she's pregnant. It's beginning to show. And then eventually you deliver that child and people say, "Well, man, that

was a quick delivery. It only took two hours or you know, something like that." But no, it took 9 months and two hours. >> And it was a process. And I'm telling you, if you'll get into The word and start doing the things we're talking about, meditating in it, taking all of these truths, you'll get pregnant >> before you even realize it. You'll think, "Well, nothing's changed. I don't feel any different." But something's happening on the inside of you. And pretty soon, you'll begin to start saying, "You know what? I feel different." Instead of being

hopeless and in despair, I've now got hope. >> I'm beginning to see this. And you will see it. Nobody else will see it. >> But you keep meditating on it. After a while, it'll become so real. People will say, "When are you going to deliver?" man, you're like you're ready to pop. And I guarantee you, you can get to a place where everybody can see that, man, you're believing God and they they get faith because they see that you've got faith. But it's a process. And I'm telling you, it'll work for any person. Every one

of you have this potential. The only thing that can stop this is if you aren't truly born again. Now, this will work to a degree if you aren't born again. But when you get born again, you become a brand new person in Christ and God himself moves on the inside of you. And then the baptism of the Holy Spirit is when you receive this power. When you have the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the ability to pray in tongues, I tell you what, that moves you to a different Level. >> So the only restrictions

I'd put on this is you need to be born again. You need to have made Jesus your Lord. Not just know about God, not just believe that he exists. It says in James 2:e 19, you believe that there's one God, you do well. The devils also believe and tremble. But won't you know, oh vain man, that faith without works is dead. You got to do more than just believe that he exists. You got to yield your Life to him. You got to commit your life to him. And there's a lot of people that know about

God, but they don't know God personally. When when you experience God, you get changed on the inside and you have God himself move on the inside. True salvation is not just an acknowledgment of something, but it's an experience. You acknowledge that Jesus is your Lord. You commit your life to him, but then you experience it and you become a brand new creature that never Existed before. And if that hasn't happened to you, that needs to happen. And then once you get born again, Jesus told his disciples, "Don't go anywhere. Don't tell anybody." The greatest news

in the world that Jesus rose from the dead and that he was the Messiah. Don't tell anybody until you receive power from on high. And when they received power, these men who had denied the Lord and ran in fear. All of a sudden, they stood boldly before the very people who Had crucified Jesus. And they said, "You judge yourself which who we ought to obey, whether you or God." And man, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. And it was just a few days later. What was the difference? The baptism of

the Holy Spirit. Matter of fact, it says in Romans chapter 5:5, it says that this love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. The Holy Spirit will cause the love of God to just Explode in your life. So, every person in here needs salvation and needs the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Those are necessary things. And I don't want to let us go through this and just assume that everybody in here has those two things. You know, if you don't speak in tongues, you need to

receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. >> And I know that there's some people that are taught, well, I got the Holy Spirit when I got born again, and that's that's All I need. I'm not even going to go there and explain all of this, but I'm telling you, if you aren't speaking in tonesues, you're missing out on the power of the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tonesues is for us today. It is powerful. This building would not exist without speaking in tonesues. I have spent thousands, tens of thousands of hours praying and conceiving and and

the money that came in. We've spent $75 million in the last 7 years debt-free on All of this and it was through believing God. So I'm just telling you somebody said, "Well, I'm not sure about that speaking in tongues." Well, then I I am. >> Amen. >> If you aren't sure, trust somebody who is sure. I'm absolutely certain. Is there anybody in here that either isn't certain that you've committed your life to Jesus? I'm not saying you're a bad person. All Of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But people think,

"Well, I'm as good as this person." God's not going to degrade you on a curve. It's not comparative to other people. You have to make Jesus your personal Lord. If there's anybody in here who's not certain that you've done that, I want to pray with you. And if you've already been born again, but if you don't speak in tongues, you need to experience that. Is there anybody in here who needs one Or both of those? And you want me to pray with you? If that's you, I want you to raise your hand right where you

are so that I can see it all over this auditorium. Praise the Lord up there in the balcony. Man, that's awesome. That's awesome. You know, if you raised your hand or if you were supposed to raise your hand and didn't do it, would you get up out of your seat and come right down here and we want to pray with you and help you to Receive here this evening. So, if you raised your hand, just come forward right now and we're going to pray with you. And man, this is going to change your life. Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord. I know that there's many of you that have things you want to do, but would you wait just a moment so that these people that are coming forward can get down here without having people exiting. Let's give priority to these people. Man, this is a deal changer. This is a lifecher. We need to support them in this. This is important. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Man, I don't know how you made it this long without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and Jesus being Lord. I tell you what, I just

don't know how people that don't know how to pray in tonesues and have the Holy Spirit speak supernatural things to you. I don't know how you survive. And I'm sure some of you have had a rough time. This is going to change your life. This will totally, totally, totally transform your life. My life changed more through receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, than it did through getting born again. Now, being born again is essential and it's the first step. I'm not minimizing that, but I'm talking About that was inward. When I

received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it changed me outwardly. This just transformed my life. Praise God. Boy, this is awesome. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. All right. Before I can pray with you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, the Bible says that Jesus is the one who gives the Holy Spirit. So, you have to receive the Giver before you receive his gift. You have to make sure that Jesus is your personal savior. And like I said during that invitation part, there's a lot of people who say, "Well, I

believe in Jesus. Isn't that enough? The devil's believe. You got to do more than just believe that he exists. You have to make him your personal Lord. He's already died for your sins. There is no question about will he forgive you. He's already paid for it. All it takes is you Receiving it. And it says in Romans chap 10:9 that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. That's more than just saying that word. That's making Jesus your Lord. turning your life over to him, saying, "God, it's not my life anymore. It's yours.

You're the Lord." Now, that's not a promise that you'll never sin or you'll never make a mistake because you can't live up to that. We all fall short of what we should be. But you have to be willing to make him the Lord of your life. And it says, "If you will confess him as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes and with the mouth confession is made." Is there anybody here who's not certain that you've done that because you

won't be able to receive the Holy Spirit until you receive Jesus who gives the Holy Spirit. So if you aren't sure, here's another way of saying this. If you were to die Right this moment, do you know where you would go? >> Yeah. >> Some people say, "Well, I hope so." No. The Bible says that you have a witness in yourself and you know that you've passed from death unto life. If you're just hoping that God will accept you, that's not good enough. You got to make him Lord and then you will have a witness

in yourself. Is there anybody here who's not absolutely certain that You've done that? That you've made Jesus your Lord. If that's you, I want you to raise your hand. Here's a lady right here. Anybody else? Here's a number of people. If that's you, raise your hand so I can see it. Here's another one. Here's one over here. Other people. Here's some back here. Praise the Lord. Number of people here. Thank you, Jesus. Well, like I said, Jesus has already made the price. All you got to do is receive. You don't have to say, "God, Will

you forgive me of my sins? He's already paid for them. Will you accept it? Will you make him Lord?" So, what I'm going to do, I'm going to lead you in a quick prayer and I'm going to ask everybody in here to pray this with me so that you won't feel like people are just listening to you. And I'm going to pray a prayer based on that scripture that I wrote read you. And uh it says, "If you will confess Jesus as your Lord, you shall be saved." So if you will pray This prayer with

me out loud and mean it from your heart. It's not magic. You have to believe it. But if you will believe this, you're going to become uh instantly changed. Your insides are going to completely change. You're going to become a brand new person. Isn't that awesome, >> man? That is the best deal you will ever get. So let's everybody say this. Say, "Father, >> I'm sorry for my sin. I believe Jesus has already paid for my sins. >> I believe Jesus has already paid for my s. >> And I receive that forgiveness. >> I receive

that. >> Jesus, I make you my Lord. >> I am my Lord. >> I believe that you are alive. >> I believe that you are alive. >> That you now live in me. >> That you now live in me. >> I am forgiven. >> I am saved. >> I am >> in Jesus name. in Jesus name. >> Amen. >> Do you believe that? Yes, sir. >> Do you believe that? >> Amen. Amen. You know, if you prayed that and if you believe it, then according to the Bible, the Bible says, "Whosoever call on the name

of the Lord shall be saved." So if you believed it, you just Now became a brand new person. You know, on the outside, you're still the same. If you were a woman, you're still a woman. If you were a man, you're still a man. And in your mind, you're still the same. You still got your thoughts, not my thoughts. You have to renew your mind. But there's a third part. That's the spirit. And in the spirit, you became a brand new person. And the dead part of you, the part that was driving you towards sin.

The part that was by Nature a child of the devil is gone. And you now have God himself, his seed on the inside of you. Man, that's awesome. And the Bible says for all the rest of you now everybody up here has prayed some prayer like that. The Bible says that you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. That's significant because that means God created you to be a dwelling place for his Holy Spirit. So this is what you were created for. God would not refuse a Single one of you this baptism of the

Holy Spirit. You were made for this. Some people think but I'm not holy. I'm not living holy. I've got problems in my life. If you could get holy without the Holy Spirit, you wouldn't need the Holy Spirit. >> If you got sin in your life, you're the very one God is wanting to fill with the Holy Spirit to start giving you power so that you can overcome this. So don't let any sense of unworthiness or something Stop you. The Bible says in Luke 11:13, it says, "If you being evil, know how to give good gifts

unto your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask." All you got to do is just ask and receive. So, we're I'm going to lead you in a simple prayer and we're just going to open up the doors of our temple and welcome the Holy Spirit to come in and say, "Holy Spirit, we want your power in our life." And then we're going to start Speaking in tonesues because the Bible in the Bible when people receive the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tonesues. And here's my last instruction

before we pray. There's a lot of people that when it comes to speaking in tongues, they just open up their mouth and wait on God to make him talk. That's not how it works. It's very similar to how I taught tonight. I believe that God spoke through me. But if I would have said, "Oh, God, don't let it be me. Let this Be pure Holy Spirit." and I just opened up my mouth and waited on God to make me talk. You still wouldn't have heard a word. He didn't force me to say a thing I

said. I spoke. It was me talking. But I believe it was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That's what the Bible says. They spoke with tongues as the spirit gave them the utterance or the inspiration. You have to speak just like I had to start speaking. That's the reason it came out in Texan. It came out with my sense of humor. It was me talking, but I believe it was inspired of God. Speaking in tonesues is like that. He doesn't force you. The Holy Spirit doesn't speak in tonesues. He inspires you and you have

to start speaking. So, we're going to pray a simple prayer. We're going to open up our heart. Welcome the Holy Spirit to come. And then after we pray, I want you at that time to start thanking God that he gave you the Holy Spirit because he Promised that he would. Take a step of faith. Start thanking him. And then all of us who already have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we're going to pray in tonesues cuz the Bible says that when you pray in tonesues, you're giving thanks. So, we're going to thank God for

giving you the Holy Spirit. And as we start praying in tonesues, I want you to start praying in tonesues with us. Amen. And don't wait on the Holy Spirit to force you to do it. Start speaking Something by faith. And it may sound weird at first, but anyway, I've got a book I'm going to give all of you. It'll explain the whole thing. Amen. Y'all ready? >> Bible says believers will speak with new tongues. I want you to say, "I'm a believer." >> I'm a believer. >> And I will speak in tongues. >> Father, thank

you for all of these. Thank you for these tonight that made Jesus their Lord. We believe that according to the word, now they are a brand new creature. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. And we believe that in our spirit, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, Father, we open up the doors of our temple and Holy Spirit, we ask you to come fill us. You said you would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. So, we're asking right now for this infilling of the Holy Spirit and this

Gift of speaking in tongues. We ask and we believe that we receive right now in the name of Jesus. Now, I want you just like when somebody sticks a gun in your back and you put your hands up, say, "I surrender this. This is raise your hands. The Bible says when you lift up your hands in the sanctuary, you bless the Lord. So now start thanking him that he gave you the Holy Spirit. Just out out loud, talk out loud. Thank you, Father, for giving me the Holy Spirit Because you promised that you would. Thank

you that I am Godpossessed, that I have the power of the Holy Spirit living in me now in Jesus' name. And those of you who speak in tonesues, let's start worshiping the Lord and giving thanks. And as we pray in tonesues, you join in with us. Quit thanking him in English and go to thanking him in tongues. Thank you, Jesus. The Bible says that when you pray in Tongues, you're giving thanks to God. You're bypassing the doubt in your brain and you're praying straight from your spirit. You got to open your mouth to pray in

tones. You can't pray in tonesues with your mouth closed. The Bible says that you are edifying yourself. You're building yourself up on your most holy faith. Praying in tongues. Man, God's delivering people. There's People being delivered, set free right now. Healing will come as you speak in tongues. If you need a healing in your body, just speak out. You're you're releasing the Holy Spirit without the limitations of your mind. You're praying from your spirit. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Father. Man, that's powerful. Lots and lots and lots of these people are

praying in tongues. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Father. Let me have your attention here for a minute. Whether you spoke in tonesues or not, you receive the Holy Spirit. Because God said he'd give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. >> But until you speak in tonesues, until you get over whatever fears you have about it, it hinders the Holy Spirit. So you need to speak in tonesues. The first time I prayed to receive the Holy Spirit, speak in tonesues. I didn't. It Took me three and a half years. But that's because I was a

Baptist and I was taught that this was of the devil. And I was so afraid I was going to get something from the devil. I just wouldn't do it. But I kept seeking and finally I now speak in tongues a bunch. And u I've written a book about all of this. The first half of this book talks about to those who pray to make Jesus Lord. It explains what that is. It will give you understanding. The second half Is all about this baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. And it'll tell you all

of the problems that I had. I don't think anybody had more problems speaking in tonesues than I did. And so I've had literally thousands of people who would read this book. And after reading it and getting understanding than they spoke in tonesues. So I want to give every one of you a free copy of that book. It's entitled The New You/Holy Spirit. And I'd like to give every one of you a free copy. So where do we have Mark Jones? Right here is Mark Jones, the man with his Bible in the air. And Mark, where

are you going to take him? downstairs 109. >> All right. So, anyway, if you wouldn't mind following Mark for just a few moments, he's going to uh be there and they'll give every one of you a book. And if you have questions about this and want somebody to answer your questions, There will be other people with Mark that'll help you. So, I know it's uh I guess I'm long- winded, but man, it's worth it. This will change your life. Amen. And we want you to get the full benefit of what happened. So to do that,

you've got to get understanding. And this book will explain things to you better than what I had time to do tonight. So if you would please just follow him. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat.