welcome today to our midweek bible study
called morning glory
i am very happy that you're here i want
to invite you grab your bibles
and today let's go to luke the third
chapter
and let's talk about this area of
the voice of the lord the word of god
coming to you in a very unusual place
the place
of the wilderness praise god we're going
to be in luke chapter 3 we're going to
start
in verse 1 and let's pray heavenly
father we asked as we go into your word
that the eyes of our understanding
be illuminated we ask for prophetic
sight eagle type spiritual
vision and father as the sons of
issachar
knew the times and seasons the spiritual
times and seasons
we pray also that we are able to pick up
on
your heartbeat as well what you're doing
what you're focusing
and help us to dig deeper in order to
find
that main thrust of your spirit now
father we thank you for your help
in jesus name and we all pray and agree
and say amen
now verse 1 now in the 15th
year of the reign of tiberius caesar
pontius pilate being governor of judea
herod being tetrarch of galilee
his brother philip tetrarch of idarea
and the region of trichonitis and
lassenius
tetrarch of abilene while annas
and caiaphas were high priest oh
this is amazing okay so you have
governmental structure revealed
in the local authorities and then
you have represented the very
high religious authorities through the
high priest you have
annis and caiaphas and it says
in contrast to that now you have to note
the extreme
contrast that the holy spirit is
emphasizing here this is done on purpose
and it says here in verse 2 while anas
and caiaphas were high priests
the word of god came to john
the son of zacharias in
the wilderness so you have
jerusalem and you have all of the
religious activity taking place there
which is logical because that's where
the temple is at
and then you have all of the roman
influence because
ancient israel at that time its boundary
and also far beyond that boundary were
under the control of the roman
empire of course the jews didn't like
that nobody likes to be
forced into captivity and
subjugate it to ideologies
and rules and uh so much other
religious culture that's going to be
pressed upon you
in an effort to get you to conform to
that but it's just the way
it was you could say they were under the
nose of rome
and rome had a very big nose now
in contrast with all of this and the
great influence of rome
and various cities uh being governed
through these roman uh authorized
officials and then all of the hubba that
all of the religious activity
going on in jerusalem you would think
that god
doesn't even speak outside of jerusalem
that's where the temple is at
but we have the most unusual statement
here
that it says the word of god came to
john
the son of zacharias of course his
father
also being involved in temple service
but yet john it came to him the word
came to him
in the wilderness so this is a dramatic
break
from what we would call the orthodox way
of doing things or the expected
way of doing things we see
just in this verse one political
structure
and within our nation and of course many
other nations of the world
you see all of the political elements
what can happen
and so often does is that politics and
what's going on in the politics with the
hustle and the bustle and the
jostling for position and things like
that often that can creep into the
church
where the church itself can become
bogged down it can become like a swamp
it can become engaged in church politics
it's different from
uh you know the normal worldly type
politics of trying to get a political
office
but the same type of jostling and the
same type of
uh you know clamoring for the microphone
or
wanting the attention or wanting to be
the predominant party
or the predominant ministry and on and
on it goes a lot of that can be seen
in the church praise the lord
and i think it's fascinating that god
was not speaking in the normal way
but the word came to john where way out
in the wilderness
now how did the word come it doesn't
really tell us
did it come through an angel did it come
through a voice
did it come through uh some other form
of communication we don't really know
all we know is that it came
he heard it he understood it he knew his
assignment
and he was on it and he was doing a
really good job
so the word of the lord can come to you
particularly in the wilderness
situations i would call them
out of the box type situations
where you get away from the clutter
it doesn't mean you have to physically
get away but you have to be able to
realize that
there is so much clamoring to be heard
and to get beyond all of the voices
and all the stuff that's on the airwaves
naturally and spiritually you're going
to have to get real quiet
and that's why a wilderness scenario
a wilderness setting can be very
very beneficial now one time
when we led a tour to israel we went
down to the dead sea area and you get to
a place eventually called kumerin
and if you've read about the dead sea
scrolls that were
discovered in these caves and you know
been there for
you know hundreds and some thousands of
years
it was one of the greatest discoveries
in the archaeological rental
of all time fascinating stuff i love all
of that but
also when you go down there
it's just a very remote place and you
had
the essenes that were living there and
you had basically what we would call a
monastic type group
a splinter group that broke away from
all of the
religious activity in jerusalem which in
many ways
was so full of tradition and so full of
a lot of baloney
that there were those who just got fed
up with it and said you know what
this is this thing is turned into a
machine
and we just want to get separated and we
want to get back to god we want to get
close to god
and uh skip all of this the
circus that it seems to have turned into
well some people some theologians even
say that
perhaps john could have been raised
there taught there
by the essenes we don't know that and
i'm i'm not
really convinced of that myself but i
would probably
think that he did know them and they
knew him
because john was down in that part of
the neck of the woods as we would say
he was in the wilderness and so when we
had a tour
and we went to kumerin i remember one
time
that while we kind of just lingered
there because
of the beauty of of the desert the
remoteness you're certainly
out of out of jerusalem and you know you
have the dead sea
and you have a beautiful view of that
and it's just desert
it's just raw desert that while we were
there
the most ravishing fragrance
supernaturally began to manifest
and it was one of the most beautiful
fragrances i have ever smelt
in my life and it was it was thick and
it was heavy
and i was like lord what are you trying
to say to me and
pastor kelly she picked it up
immediately uh some others
uh that were uh hanging around towards
the back of the of the tour group line
they began to pick it up uh it was
really
uh quite beautiful well
i believe that there is something
special
about drawing near to the lord and
getting real quiet
and digging deeper to hear not just what
all the prophets are saying in jerusalem
but what is god really saying from a
wilderness perspective what is he saying
that would be the full unbridled truth
that would cut through all the chatter
and give you
the clarity that you need to know what
is really going on i believe god has a
word for you
in the wilderness praise god now
let me say this concerning
the wilderness or the authentic
experience with god there are
many in the church that love the lord
but
they actually prefer what i would call
the circus they prefer the hype or the
machine
and they like all of that they actually
think
that's what it's all about uh you and i
know that's not
the heart of christianity but there are
those that
they're like they don't care if it is
too hard or not they like it and they
want that
uh to keep on going to feed them with uh
whatever euphoria that gives them and so
they don't even really have an interest
in knowing
what is the true word of the lord they
have no desire for
some separation to get along with god to
hear
what is god really saying well my
friends
that's that's something that we have to
realize hasn't changed
let me give you an example it says here
in verse 3
that he that would be john he went into
all the region around the jordan
preaching a baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins
so here he is around that southern area
of jordan here's just a classic example
of how this works when you take a tour
to israel they will offer you
the opportunity to go to the baptismal
site
where perhaps you yourself would like to
be baptized in the jordan river
and the spot they will offer you in the
spot that most tour groups go to
is a place that is at the south end of
the sea of galilee and i must admit
it is absolutely beautiful i i've seen
it have driven right past it
the water is uh it's a very nice green
color there so it's not like a green
slime
it's like a green blue it's very very
pretty
and it's at the south end of the sea of
galilee and it's called
it's called yardaneet and that is this
place
where most people go and the walkways
down into the water
are very very uh nice uh you have uh
all the the towels and the robes and all
the
all the things you can buy all the
accessories and it is very
very pretty it's a beautiful place and
the jordan river
in and of itself is beautiful but that
place is very nice
but here's the catch john was never
baptizing there
and jesus never was back jesus didn't
get baptized at that location
nothing happened there historically at
that location
at all but that's where so many for
whatever reason
still want to go i find it uh
very very interesting now it is a clean
site
it is a beautiful site but historically
nothing biblically ever happened there
okay
now for those of you that
just for whatever reason you want what's
real
you want what's authentic you want to
cut through the chatter you want to cut
through
maybe the circus or the or the stuff on
the tour that's
not even real they're going to take you
there but hey this this is not even the
real site why are we going here oh
this is just what we do well let's let's
just mark that off our tour we don't
want to do that
and that's what we do on our tours if
it's not authentic we don't want to see
it why
it's a waste of time it's it's not it
didn't happen there so why pretend that
it did
why pretend this is the word when it's
not
and i'm not saying that's not a good
word but i'm saying
we must have authenticity we must know
the real thing
praise god and if you dig enough you
actually can
discover it well
the the real sight of where john was
doing his baptisms and the actual site
where jesus came to be baptized by john
at
it was reopened in 2011 and before that
it had been closed
for 42 years and they had to close it
because it was a dangerous area it was a
military zone
but the problem they had was all the
land mines
that were just everywhere out in the
desert so you know this is not like a
place where you could get off the bus uh
go see the site and maybe just walk
around well you could walk around step
on a landmine so they had to
uh clear all of those landmines and make
sure
there was nothing left over from the
elements of war that could hurt or maim
somebody
and so they eventually got that area
cleaned up but
this site also really it's out in the
middle of nowhere uh
you have to go far south and you travel
and you travel and you get there
and it's fascinating now
the site is called by the jordanians
the casser el yahood now remember
the jordan river actually is a boundary
line marker on
one side you've got israel and on the
other side you have the nation of jordan
so on the hebrew side this place of the
authentic site is called
bethabara and it means in hebrew the
place of crossing
now having been there multiple times
let me tell you this about the authentic
site
and why a lot of tour groups pass by it
and don't want to go there the moment
you get to the real site
the first thing you'll notice is the
overwhelming
presence oh pastor stephen the presence
of god
no the presence of flies and i don't
really know why
they're everywhere they'll land all over
your face all over your arms all over
your legs
and it's not like it's dangerous or bad
it's just
weird and you think why are all of these
flies here
and uh they're flying around all over
the place maybe somebody needs to get
some bug spray and i don't know why
they're there
but they are there but if you want to
see the real spot and go to the real
location
the flies will be the first ones there
to greet you
and that alone is why some
would prefer the northern place way up
north
just below the sea of galilee they'd
rather go up there
no flies no flies at all but that's not
the real place
so let's go for the authentic okay so
you have the flies
and they're all over the place too um
next you'll know that it's not nearly as
nice
as far as presentation as compared to
the
fake site up north but
when you get to the jordan and you see
it
the water is not the beautiful kind of
green
turquoise looking water green blue
it's actually brown and it looks just
like chocolate milk now they say that
the water is tested
daily and i believe that and although
it's brown
it there's nothing detrimental to your
health if you go into the brown water
so it's not like this is some kind of a
you know
pollution or sewage or something like
that it's not it's actually very clean
but it's picking up a lot of minerals as
it gets further south and those minerals
are
carried into the water and it gives them
it gives the jordan that brown look
and there's a lot of people they don't
want that that doesn't look good on
camera we don't want brown water
we want the green blue water well you
know if you don't want the authentic
there's always something else out
out there that's willing to uh present
itself to you
so uh there are those
elements of why certain people don't
want
the real place uh the real place also uh
you know there's no stores around it
it's just kind of
out in the middle of nowhere but this is
the real site where john was baptizing
this is the real site where john
baptized
jesus this is also the same
exact site where the israelites crossed
over now moses had died
and under the new leadership of joshua
joshua
leads them into the promised land that
place where jesus was baptized is the
exact same spot
where the israelites cross the jordan
into the promised land now we also know
that's where
the the priest carrying the ark of the
covenant when they
got into that water with their feet the
water backed up
all the way to a small town called adam
but all of that happened
at the authentic site there at that
place
right in that area not in that exact
spot but about two miles north
is the location where the prophet elijah
released the mantle to his young
mentor his protege elisha and that
happened all
right in that area and so if you don't
go to that area
you miss all of that and so there's a
lot of people
that say well i don't care i'll just
give me somewhere else that's
got the bells and whistles and kind of
maybe we'll
recreate the the atmosphere although
it's not real
you could only get the real atmosphere
in the real place
praise the lord and i'm not saying god
can't speak to you
in the city that's not what i'm trying
to say but i am trying to say that if
you really want to know
what god is up to and you're not
satisfied
with all of the religious activity and
what it's
generating or producing or saying i
would simply say
dig deeper and you can find the true
word of the lord praise god
the word of god came to john the son of
zacharias
not in jerusalem not something that was
published on the jerusalem post or put
all over social media
it came to john in the wilderness and he
had the word
and as she began to preach it began to
bring
the people praise the lord hallelujah
and it was a different type of word but
it was the word of the lord for
that hour it was a very strong word
centered around repentance
verse 12 it says then tax collectors
also came to be baptized
there at the jordan river and said to
him teacher
what shall we do now
there are preachers that would probably
try to work
that situation there are preachers that
maybe uh would talk to a really
uh how can we say famous tax collector
and say hey
come over here to the site for a minute
i want to talk to you
um is there are there some things we
could do to work out where
you know as far as taxing goes maybe you
could just pass
me by and i could lay hands on you in
front of the people
give you a blessing but then you could
exempt me personally from personal taxes
and uh
you know just don't report me and my my
income uh to the government
okay can we work something out over here
on the side
so uh stuff like that happens
i've uh i've seen ministers under
tremendous pressure
because they have done things on their
taxes
and then they've had a scare and thought
they were about to get caught
and you talk about pressure because they
know they get caught they're gonna
they're gonna go to prison and so um and
plus you know have to pay all the money
back that they're
that they were not paying i'm not
talking about ministry or corporate
taxes because most ministries are tax
exempt
under 501 c 3 status
but still as an individual like even
like myself
on individual money on personal money
you have to pay taxes on that
but there are certain preachers that
uh they just thought they didn't want to
do that
and so when you compromise yourself like
that and compromise the word
you can never minister with clarity or
accuracy
you can swing an axe but it'll be so
dull it won't cut anything
so if you're going to preach it you have
to live it
and john was living it and so the tax
collectors
show up and he said to them collect no
more than what is appointed for you
can you imagine john the baptist type
preachers
today and let's say you have the word
and you're
you've heard from god and you're
ministering that word and
what if in your meeting which is out in
the desert or out in the boonies
somewhere
what if in your meeting here comes some
famous
politicians and they say you know what
mr preacher
wow you sure have preached a strong
message and i tell you what
we know we're not living the way we
should what do we need to do
and what what would it be for
a preacher and by the way this this is a
real prophet
not somebody who's going to take
advantage of that situation for their
own personal gain
but would tell a person honestly the
truth and say
stop taking all of these bribes stop
taking money from all of these special
interest groups
stop taking money from george soros stop
selling yourself for money
so that you can just pad your own wallet
serve the people serve the people uphold
the constitution
uphold the laws of your country whoo
praise the lord
well i don't want a prophet like that
well
you know um the lord has them
the lord has his prophets and there are
those
you'd be surprised if you really serve
the truth straight
they actually want to be told the truth
they actually want
to get their lives right but if the
political machine
is running not just in politics but if
the political machine is running in the
church
the the true word is often circumvented
it will go somewhere else it's not going
to play
that game hallelujah praise god
thank you jesus whew
how many more prayer meetings the
churches have to have
when before they realize that
hey where's the pastor how come the
pastor never comes to the prayer
meetings
see this is all the politics in the
church
where they expect others to do as they
say
but don't do as i do why because they
don't pray
there's a lot of pastors have no prayer
life at all they are very good
administrators
and they do have a call but as far as
being a spiritual person
uh that's something on the box they
can't check off
because they have no prayer life and
they don't plan on changing but my
friends
the word is coming to those whose hearts
are removed from all
of the religious
hype the circus and so forth praise god
thank you lord jesus hallelujah thank
you lord
collect no more than what is appointed
for you likewise the soldiers
asked him saying and what shall we do
so he said to them do not intimidate
anyone and of course they could they
they had authority they could
they could mess you around they could
and plus they have weapons
and you're not allowed to have the
weapons and so uh things could get ugly
really quick and what shall we do so he
said to them do not intimidate anyone or
accuse
falsely because they could certainly do
that and there's not much
you could do about it they wanted to
throw you in prison they could
well you could say well i have my rights
they could say well
yeah but you know we have ways of uh
suppressing
your rights and you know you're
outnumbered and they've got more money
and they've got they've got uh the
authorities behind them so
you could see how they could very easily
excuse me easily abuse their position
and obviously they had that's why that's
why john said that do not intimidate
anyone or accuse falsely
and be content with your wages
wow praise the lord so he was just
honest he told them the truth and
he had an independence now that doesn't
mean that he did not submit to true
authority
that is a hallmark of humility is
to submit to true authority but john
had to get away from jerusalem he had to
get away from all of that
so that he could not
be in a place where he's controlled
by voices or by individuals who would
like to turn him into a puppet
praise god don't don't let anybody turn
you into a puppet
where you become a yes man or a yes
woman
when you really want to say no but
you're forced to say yes you're forced
to go along with it
and don't ever rock the boat that's a
bad situation
you can have some independence and god
will honor that god will support that if
something
else has become your source
uh you're you're you know that that
you're in a place where you're
you're provoking the jealousy of god um
hallelujah praise the lord god should
always be your source
yes you thank god for your your employer
you thank god
you know for the different
mediums and platforms he works through
to bless you
but you must remember that god can
take care of you god is the one that's
blessing you
every good and perfect gift comes from
the lord
praise god thank you jesus and and so we
should honor
the lord praise god you know um
i enjoyed the story that arthur burt
told about the time there was a
really strong revival that took place
in a very unorthodox church in a very
unorthodox way
matter of fact arthur bert who lived to
be 103 he passed away a few years ago
he said that the church that this
revival broke out in
was a church that he actually used to
pastor
and he said that when he was the pastor
he didn't enjoy pastoring there
and the young people there was a group
of young people not that large
but a small group of young teenagers
that had
zero interest in god none
zero interest and so uh
arthur burt eventually he's he goes to
pastor a different church
but he hears about a revival and he said
well where where's the revival at
and the people said oh it's over at that
church and he said no hold on just a
moment i used to pastor that church
there's no way there could be a revival
there well guess what there was a
revival and guess
guess who god was mainly working through
now yes god's working through the pastor
but he had his hand on one in the
individual in a very special
way you know who it was it was a young
teenage
teenage girl that while arthur burke was
the pastor
she would sit in the back and chew gum
and smack gum
and just look down and roll her eyes and
had no
interest in the message at all and so
when they told him that oh god's working
through her he's like there's no way
there's absolutely no way it actually
made him angry
so he went to his old church
that he had formerly pastored to check
it out for himself
and there was a meeting going on at
night so he went to the night meeting he
said when he walked
through the doors into the sanctuary
when he said when he opened the doors he
said it was like
walking suddenly into a furnace there
was a presence
of god that was so overwhelming
and so powerful that you couldn't deny
that god was there
but he said he was still angry he said
he was angry
there's no way that god would work
through a young person like that
especially that young person
jew and gum and you know uh never paying
any attention to
any of his sermons or anything like that
so he was mad
and so he's standing over on the side
observing all of this and god was moving
and god was actually working through
that young teenage girl
when he had come in he was working
through her through the gift of prophecy
and so she began to prophesy to people
and she's coming towards him now the
whole time she's
doing this her eyes are closed and she
is so yielded to the holy spirit
that even with her eyes closed and
people that are laid out all over the
floor laid out in the glory
she's stepping over them she's not
tripping over anybody she's not
stumbling
she's being led by the holy spirit and
she comes up to him and she's coming up
to him arthur burch said he was
so angry still so mad how could this be
how could this be she reached out
and touched him and when she touched him
the power of god
hit him so strong it totally completely
knocked him out and it knocked out all
of that bitterness and hatred and
all of that resentment and he got up a
changed man and he was then
100 behind that move of god
oh oh but ward began to get out
that oh there was a true move of god
like out in the jordan so to speak
because this was not
in you know this was kind of like out of
the realm of the big
churches and the you know uh all of the
uh
the famous churches and so forth so
eventually word got up to headquarters
to the domination headquarters about
this so-called move of god
so the the very head of the denomination
over all of the churches there in great
britain that belong to this denomination
maybe i'll just tell you who it was it
was assemblies of god
and it was donald g who was the
man over all the churches all the
assemblies of god in great britain
he went to go check it out himself and
he took a bunch of his big wigs a bunch
of his uh yes men with him
and so they went into that meeting
not that very night it was some time
later they arrived
show up you know uh and they go into the
meeting
you know with the look of like you know
we're here to take over and all that
stuff and so
uh here here comes the spirit of god
moving again he moves upon that same
young teenage girl whose father
if i'm correct was an alcoholic and had
beaten her many times
and the very fact that she would have to
go home at night
after these glory meetings these
incredible meetings and go back to a
house
uh that was uh oh
the stuff going on in the home was
horrible that's a different story but
god had his hand on this young girl in
comes donald g with his whole entourage
and she yields to the holy spirit she
starts walking doesn't start stepping
over people doesn't even know where
she's going
and she comes up to him doesn't even
know who it is because her eyes aren't
open
maybe that could help some of you
prophesy a little better praise the lord
just close your eyes and go for it
instead of looking at them thinking oh
i've got to get a good word for this
person
well why not just say what god would
have you say well
that's what she did and she stood before
this person not knowing who it was
because her eyes are closed and she said
thus saith the lord you are a proud
proud man i'm not talking about like a
good type of pride we're talking about
arrogant you know boastful and she
under the anointing laid into him and
just
just i mean it was like cut cut slice
dice cut i mean it was
it was a severe word of rebuke and
correction
and his yes men got so angry and said
they were just like who does she think
she is doesn't she know who she's
speaking to and he mr donald g
said men leave her alone
everything she has said is true
leave her alone
[Laughter]
i don't want words like that pastor
stephen we need to keep the circus going
we need to keep the the religious uh
you know element of the hobnob and you
know all of this highfalutin
all of this you know keep all of that
rolling
well if you want that i'm sure there's
plenty of places where you can find that
and they're going to keep that going no
matter what happens
praise the lord but if you if you really
want to know the true word of the lord
your heart has to be in a in a place
where
you're hungry for the real thing
praise god and i'm not saying you have
to go out into the sinai peninsula i'm
not
saying you've got to go out into the the
deep reaches of the niger
and get way out into the israeli desert
or something like that
i'm not saying that but i'm saying
you're going to have to dig deeper
praise god
praise the lord because why because
there's a lot of politics in church too
there's clamoring for attention there is
vote for me vote for me now they're not
saying that but
the behavior and the conduct
is no different from that so often what
we see
in our political battles every two years
or every four years except in the church
it's just going on all the time
whoo praise the lord
praise god the lord wants to manifest
his glory the lord
wants to reveal himself but so often
he he needs
the wilderness scenario to be
established so that you can hear clearly
i've heard a lot of people say
pastor stephen i want revival
but i can tell they don't even know what
they're talking about because the moment
real revival or a real move of god comes
it dramatically can alter your life and
if you're not willing
to go with that it'll end it'll end
sooner than you can even
just when you think it's going it'll be
over with it'll be totally finished
now dr brian bailey he's in heaven now
a very godly man he had a special
anointing
that when he ministered he carried the
anointing of the spirit of the fear of
the lord
and dr bailey said after his many years
of ministry
that there were only two churches that
he ever
went to from time to time where the
glory of the lord was so strong
in those two churches they were both in
england that you could not even sit
in one of those churches if you had any
type
of sin practice going on in your life
you couldn't sit there he said it's too
hot way too hot
blistering fire of god in the meetings
in the services and
if you did not immediately repent and
get it right
it would get so hot you couldn't take it
you'd have to get up and walk out
the glory was too intense or you're
going to get called out publicly
through a supernatural word of wisdom or
word of knowledge from the pastor
or somebody's going to stand up and you
don't you don't it could be anybody
because the spirit of god is moving
somebody's going to stand up and in
tongues or interpretation they're going
to expose
anything going on in there that would
not be holy or pure
suddenly you know there's a lot of
people that are like well i don't know
if i want to go to a church like that
yeah you probably wouldn't if you're not
if you're not really
ready for that that probably would not
be a good fit you understand that
most people choose a church today
based upon the children's church
why they want to go to church the
parents want to go to church and just
drop the kids off and get rid of them
it's not so much let's go to church
where we can be fed learn the things of
god
and get strengthened with the word and
be developed to walk with god no no it's
just
let's find somewhere that's got a
children's program with all the bells
and whistles
we can drop our kids off and be free
from our kids for three hours
you know you know and that's a lot of it
how it functions and a lot of
these churches they've got all of that
figured out they have marketing
techniques figured out
they have all of that look it was the
big show in jerusalem they they knew how
to
put on the big show and i'm not knocking
uh large churches or large ministries
that's not what i'm trying to say but i
i'm just trying to say
that there is a lot of politics in
church
and if you want to get into a deeper
walk with the lord you're going to have
to realize there's a lot of chatter
and so often very very little
of what god would say is in that chatter
praise the lord because any true prophet
is going to tell you to repent
they're not going to excuse your sin
they're not going to say
it's okay and it doesn't matter if
you're a big wig
you know uh you know like just like one
of the disciples came up to jesus and
said hey
uh lord the greeks are here and he's
just like he's not in the mood
for that he's like unless a grain uh
a corn a grain of wheat falls into the
ground and dies
you know you can't have a harvest and
they're just like what in the world is
he talking about he's got his mind
on paying the penalty of sin for the
whole world he's not really in
the mode right now of meeting the greeks
there'll be plenty of time for the
greeks or
for the nations of the world after
the resurrection takes place but until
then he's like i've got to stay on task
and
accomplish what i'm supposed to do here
but i'll tell you what
john the baptist he was a preacher and
he would tell you honestly
what you needed to hear it maybe wasn't
what you wanted to hear
but it's what you needed to hear verse
18
and with many other exhortations he
preached to
the people but herod the tetrarch
being rebuked by him oh john don't
rebuke herod
maybe maybe he'll hold a large meeting
for you
and he'll let you speak to the royal
court and then
we could get your we could get a picture
of you on the front page
of the newspaper won't that be wonderful
so
john give give herod a good word
john um he had no interest in that
god had burned all of that out of him he
didn't he didn't have any respect for
that
now he had he had respect for people he
had respect for
for office because god creates offices
and he'll honor the office
he knew that but he's not here to
whitewash things he's not here to
you know act like everything's okay when
he knows it's not
look what he did but here at the
tetrarch being rebuked by him concerning
herodias
his brother philip's wife and for all
the evils which herod had done
also added this above all that he shut
up john in prison
oh pastor stephen we better certainly
not say anything to him we might get put
in prison
well you know nobody wants to go to
prison we're not trying to self-inflict
uh needless persecution upon ourselves
but john he had to be faithful to his
calling and that
meant if you're placed in that position
don't compromise don't compromise
there have been ministers in america
with very large platforms one in
particular i won't say his name
a couple of years ago got put on the
biggest talk show in the world and the
talk show host
asked him is jesus the only way to
heaven
and he basically said no he basically
said
there's other ways
wow what is that that's certainly not a
john the baptist
what is that that's that's all of the
religious politics
that go on where you try to get
everybody to like you
and then you try to speak something
that's that everybody's going to accept
and you before you know it the the true
word is so diluted or so polluted or
sold
so lost that nobody even knows what it
is so you have to dig
to find it praise god i was reading
about
saint simeon saint simeon uh the stylite
actually they called him by the way a
stylitist
would be a person and i'm not talking
about a hair stylist
but a stylite was a person that lived
from the 5th to 7th
century that would go up on
what we would call a large pillar they
would sometimes call
pillar saints or pillar preachers and
they would live
up there saint simeon actually lived on
top
of a 50-foot pillar for 42
years and he was quite a preacher
he preached twice a day and he drew
large crowds
but he would always he would always tell
you the truth he would tell you
what you needed to hear and we need to
have
more of that today we need to have
preachers that'll just be honest
and tell what the word is by the way he
was out in the wilderness
well nobody's going to go out there to
hear him if you have the word
they'll come they'll somehow start
showing
up praise god glory to god
my friends i believe that god has a word
for you but you
you have to keep digging deeper that's
something that say
simeon the skylightest he he had an
angel speak to him particularly when he
was in a monastery
but when he was in the monastery he just
noticed that a lot of the monks really
didn't
seem to have much of a heart for god
didn't really seem to have that much of
an interest in god although they are
monks
but they were just very mediocre in
their
service to the lord but he had an angel
that would speak to him
and say you have to keep digging deeper
you have to keep digging deeper the
truth is deeper than what you're
seeing right now there's something
deeper that god wants you to get into
and he kept digging and he kept digging
they eventually
uh they asked him to leave the monastery
they thought he was too
little too serious a little too um
aggressive in his service of the lord
and so
he moved into a different phase of
ministry and so forth but eventually
he found his stride he found his unique
place in ministry
and was it unorthodox yeah i would say
extremely unorthodox
standing on top of a 50-foot pillar and
never coming down
and the whole top of the pillar the
diameter of it was only about three feet
in diameter no
no wider than that well pastor stephen
that's not even room to
lay down that is correct he never laid
out he didn't have room to
stretch out
[Laughter]
glory to god but it doesn't matter
where it is or what it is if
if you can keep digging you're going to
find the word
that god has for you is there a place
for what we would call the
political scene i think so there's a
place for that
that's where most people live and the
bible is actually called when i'm
talking about people i'm talking about
christians and the bible is actually
called the outer court
you have the outer court and then you
have the inner court
you have the holy place and you have the
holy of holies
sometimes called the most holy place so
it's just it's up to you
where you want to dwell at where you
want to live at
most people are in the outer court most
people are saved that are christians
they love jesus
but that's that's good enough for them
they just want to go to heaven
and uh you're going to find them in
jerusalem you'll never find them out in
the wilderness
but if you really want to find god's
word for you
i would just encourage you today dig a
little
deeper and you'll find god talking to
you praise god and don't be surprised
don't be surprised if the very word you
receive
could be something that would be a
little bit different
praise god a little bit well that's
unorthodox
yes that's probably god hallelujah
because the the thing that everybody's
saying the repetitive thing that
everybody's saying and then they had
to try to maybe change just a little bit
so that maybe they could have a little
bit of distinction but it's still along
the party line
um no that's that's not where the gold
standard is at
praise the lord
[Laughter]
thank you lord jesus praise god
no more is the real sight of where jesus
was baptized up there by the sea of
galilee no no
wasn't even anywhere near that you're
going to have to go down south
and fight through the flies and uh you
know
drive a lot further and things like that
but there is the authentic
it's always there may we dig for it
and may we not be satisfied maybe we
thank god for the other but may we not
be satisfied
with just religious politics
praise the lord i felt led to share this
message today because if you think
national politics are flying high right
now
uh it's the same things going on in the
church world
and so you you're going to have to go
deeper if you want to get
the real the real word praise god
father thank you for your word today
we give you praise father that a true
word will always center around
repentance living right obeying your
commandments
and being fully devoted to you
thank you father god thank you father
god that you're bringing
many many into
the wilderness setting in order to hear
your word because so many are not
content with what they have been
spiritually fed they know there's more
and so they're left hungry so right now
i just pray
that the heavenly father will draw you
into the wilderness setting so that you
can hear
the word of god heavenly father i just
ask
that the hearts of your people that are
hungry
knowing that there's more knowing that
they're not getting the full meal
that you would desire to feed them with
the full word
i pray father they would dig and dig
and get into the spiritual gold thank
you father god
we give you all of the praise we thank
you for separating
the chatter and all of the activity
and picking up on the true wavelength
of heaven now father we bless you in
jesus name we pray
amen hallelujah my friends
hearing the word of god as it says here
about the prophet
john where it says
here in verse 2 it says the word of god
came to john
the word of salvation comes by hearing
the preaching of the gospel
and as you have heard the gospel
presented
through bible teaching you can now
open your heart to receive christ as
your lord and savior
and if you would like to do that and
receive
forgiveness of all of your sins then
right now
pray this prayer after me
say lord jesus i am a sinner
and i repent of all of my sins
i turn from them lord and i turn
to you jesus wash me
with your precious blood i give my life
to you right now thank you jesus
write my name in your book of life
thank you lord jesus and save me now
thank you jesus i give my life fully to
you
today thank you for saving me in your
name i pray
amen and amen
praise the lord hallelujah glory to god
let's take holy communion together today
and grab some unleavened bread and
some grape juice praise god let's pray
over it
heavenly father thank you for the bread
the juice
we consecrate it and set it apart as
holy
through this prayer we thank you father
that as we receive
the body of christ we thank you for
wisdom
wisdom the ability to discern difference
the difference from all the flutter
and activity in jerusalem
and the true word the clear word
spoken with great clarity in the
wilderness
oh god we praise you now we thank you
that as we receive the body of christ
we thank you for your word your
prophetic understanding
coming to us we give you praise in jesus
name
let's agree and say amen
i was in a meeting one time overseas
it was a very large conference
and i knew the speakers except for one
speaker that was there for the first
time
and this speaker
to me seemed a little bit out of place
the person was
very administrative the person oversaw a
large ministry work
but the person did not know how to
flow in the anointing and so myself and
the other ministers we knew how to
move in the the anointing and operate in
the holy spirit but this person didn't
and this person actually couldn't
but nevertheless they're there at the
conference and
you have to you have to really walk with
the lord because any time there's
the spirit moving things are going to
happen that
don't normally happen in a service when
the holy spirit's not allowed to move
so the person it was a lady
who was this new speaker she was
scheduled to be
up next she's going to be speaking in
like
just a couple of minutes the host of the
conference
made a mistake it maybe wasn't
even a mistake that he i know he didn't
do it intentionally
but a mistake was made i actually think
it was a prophetic slip i think god
allowed it
and so just before she's supposed to
come up and speak
the host made a mistake and put another
speaker up he thought
the host thought it's this person's time
to speak he didn't realize that on the
schedule
it's her time to speak so when he made
the mistake and called
brother so-and-so prophet so and so up
to speak
that lady exploded in anger
she got so angry and so mad now she
hasn't even spoken yet nobody
has even heard her minister but she got
so upset why she's
big shot don't they know who she is how
dare them do that to me
she stormed out of the meeting caused a
big scene
and uh went back to her whole hotel room
you know pouting and mad and all this
stuff and you know because i talked to
the host later about it he
he uh he and i are good friends and he
said oh brother stephen she got so angry
she said she's never coming back and
you know we you know still gave her a
very nice
large honorarium and you know we we
covered all of our hotel expenses and
covered her international tickets so she
could fly back comfortably and
we apologize for the error that we made
of putting somebody else in her time
slot we told her it was an accident
and it totally was we didn't mean to do
it so we tried to make it just as good
as we could
and i said i said you know i said i feel
sorry for her
because the lord wanted to pull her in
into the prophetic
and she missed what maybe would have
been the only opportunity she's ever
going to have to
get exposure to the prophetic to be able
to come into that
and to be able to know a
new dimension in the lord and the host
told me he said yes he said i
i saw that also that she missed an
opportunity and she allowed this
this slip up to be something that to her
was a total trip
up and it was something that she was
supposed to overcome
but she couldn't why she was from
jerusalem
she was from the headquarters and uh we
we do things differently yep and you
don't have god move either in your
meetings
[Laughter]
so she could go back to her you know
uh thing that she oversees and runs and
uh talk about all the money that comes
into the ministry
they can have all of that and they can
be just as dry
and dead as they were and are so
but if you want god to move
you're going to have to have a
flexibility in you
where you you're like the wind you're
you can just go with it you can move
in old-timey pentecostal meetings they
would bring the ministers together
for these conferences who's going to
speak who's ever got the anointing
that's whoever had the anointing and had
that message for that moment that's the
speaker
well the i was on the itinerary i was on
the schedule that's nice but it's
it just changed because the holy
spirit's on that person right now
so you know things things are very
different when the holy spirit is moving
now heavenly father we thank you for the
blood of jesus
hallelujah help us to be in that flow
yes father we thank you for structure
there is definitely a place for that
but father there must be the yielding to
your holy spirit or else we all become
dry bones and that's no fun so father we
thank you for
the joy of your spirit the moving of
your spirit
help us to dig deep in jesus name amen
let's receive the blood of christ
glory glory to god
hallelujah this is unusual i'm getting
this from the lord right now
this is wednesday morning and usually
only on sundays do i talk about tides
and offerings
right now somebody's watching that
you're supposed to sow a special seed
into the ministry and the lord will
bless you and i don't know who you are
and i don't know what the amount
is but i know it's something special and
it's something that's
it's large it's a larger gift that
you're supposed to give and you have the
ability to give it too
and the lord's tugging on the
heartstrings
of your heart and you know that's you
and so if you will honor the lord
the lord will certainly bless your seed
and he will certainly bring the harvest
into your life in the area that you need
it praise god
hallelujah so go ahead and sow that seed
and obey the lord
praise god hallelujah my friends thank
you for joining me today
and dig dig when i mean dig that's
like what john had to do you have to get
out in the wilderness
and i'm not talking about again you have
to go off to the mountains or something
like that
but i'm saying dig in your in your
prayer time your devotional time to
have the word of the lord come to you
that has no guessing about it where you
know
that you know you've heard from god so
many people right now are prophesying
this that and the other
and it's all coming out of their soul
i'm not saying that some aren't
accurately prophesying
some of it is accurate but there is so
much
uh because there's so much political in
the natural
that often gets reflected in the church
with all kinds of uh
political stuff going on in the church
too and so you're going to have to dig
to get the true word of the lord glory
to god
glory to god and i know you know how to
do that i know the words coming to you
when here's something i've always
learned when the true word comes
you know that you know uh that you've
heard from god and it and things are
settled
things are settled whatever that word is
whether it was something you were hoping
for or whether the word
shared some things with you that were
like well that's not the way i thought i
actually had jesus come to me one time
after
a prayer session where we had a
collective prayer meeting
and we all came together we'd been
praying often for the the elections
and the lord came to me and he thanked
me for praying but he basically
let me know it's not going to go the way
you thought
but he did thank me for all the prayers
that we had invested
but um i i didn't want to hear that but
you know what i'd rather have the truth
and sure enough the election went in the
direction that we didn't want
that's by the way not the current
current election that we're
working through this was uh years back
praise the lord but i knew at that
moment that
this is going to go a different way so
you want to have the truth and god will
certainly give it to those
who seek him thanks for watching i'll
see you back next time bye bye