Archive for October, 2017
Our Guest Ryan LeStrange
RYAN: Another attribute of these revival hubs is what I call the power gifts. The Apostles, you know the Lord said to me He said, “Apostles were not theological people that stood and gave you their doctoral dissertation for two hours!”
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHING]
RYAN: “Nor were they kind of stuffy guys that had huge networks! They were people of great power! In Acts 14 Paul is preaching and the Bible said people are being saved but the city was divided! Many times there’s a move of God that the city is divided. This group says, “We don’t want it”, this group says, “We do”. But guess what? The glory of the Lord, the knowledge of the glory is going to cover the whole earth, and I’m going to be on the side of the glory!
AUDIENCE: Yes!
RYAN: You might not want to be on the side of the glory but you and I we’re going to be on the side of the glory!
AUDIENCE: YES! Amen!
RYAN: But we need the power of gifts! The Apostles they didn’t wait to find a fire. They lit a fire and we need an Apostolic spirit upon us, a spirit that we begin to light fires! I say, Lord, raise up the fire-starters in this hour!
AUDIENCE: [CLAPPING]
RYAN: Raise up the daring ones! Raise up the bold ones!
AUDIENCE: [CLAPPING]
RYAN: Give them God-sized dreams Lord! You may say but you don’t know who I am. I’m so overwhelmed. Abraham was overwhelmed! Moses was overwhelmed! Elijah was overwhelmed! Listen! All that qualifies you, is you. YES! God’s not looking for your gift! God’s not looking for your talent. He is looking for your YES!
AUDIENCE: Yes! Uh-huh! Yes! Amen!
RYAN: Amen?
AUDIENCE: Yes! Amen! Yes! [CLAPPING]
RYAN: God is looking for your yes! If you just say yes to the Lord it’d be amazing what God could do!
AUDIENCE: Yes!
RYAN: And so we need revelation and the Lord is going to bring a mandate of revelation that we’re going to begin to preach. Some people think revival is just falling on the floor. That’s part of it. But revelation is like the oil being poured into the furnace of revival! We need revelation! Amen, These revival hubs are places of habitation. The marker is the presence! That’s the main deal. It’s the presence! There are places that have radical hunger. Psalms 27 says: One thing have I asked the Lord. That I may seek and may dwell in His house. God always answers hunger! These revival hubs are going to face opposition when they dig wells! See the devil’s not going to let you open up a well in a territory and just say okay, you got a well open. He doesn’t want you to open up a well in your family. He doesn’t want you to open up a well in your home. We’ve got to get to the place we’re not living to catch somebody else’s anointing! We’re digging a well in our own family so when the devil comes and attacks us we can go to that well and catch that anointing! Amen, But there’s going to be opposition. Isaac dug the wells of his father and there was opposition. Paul encountered opposition in Acts 14. These hubs are presence-driven. The presence is the marker! See we’ve got to get away from the concept of the marker is how many people are in seats. It’s the presence!
AUDIENCE: That’s right!
RYAN: Transformation is the mandate! Transformation means being stretched!
AUDIENCE: Yeah!
RYAN: We live in an age where we’ve taught people that the Holy Spirit wants to make you comfortable! But really the Holy Spirit wants to make you uncomfortable! He wants you to get outside yourself and there’s a realm of awakening and revival. God’s inviting us into that’s presence-driven and takes us outside our comfort zone! These hubs are prayer-fueled! Prayer is the fuel! We need the mantle of the intercessor upon the people of God! And these hubs releases the sound of heaven! The Lord told me, there’s going to be a marriage between intercession and worship. He said the main room is going to become the prayer room! You’re not going to know where intercession ends and worship begins. And we’re going to see in these revival hubs the type of worship that’s been born out of intimacy. That we don’t want to just hear you sing the song you sing really well. We want you to open up the bottle and pour intimacy out!
AUDIENCE: [CLAPPING]
RYAN: And out of that intimacy, we’re being invited, into the secret place and Gods raising up the new sound! Every culture has a sound. God’s raising up the new sound. I say Lord raise up the psalmist! I say raise up the minstrels! I say raise those that will build atmosphere’s of glory in homes and families and churches and regions. Raise up the hubs God! Raise up the places of habitation! Raise up the sounds of the Lord!
AUDIENCE: Hallelujah!
RYAN: God said in Zephaniah He sings over us. In the Old Testament, they would say bring me a minstrel. They understood that sounds unlock atmospheres!
AUDIENCE: Yes. Mm!
RYAN: See these hubs are places of sounds. The sounds of intimacy! The sounds of longing! The sounds of groaning! You can sing How Great Thou Art but not have any intimacy on it.
AUDIENCE: That’s right.
RYAN: You can sing There is a river, but not have any intimacy on it. God wants to unlock a realm of intimacy. Thank God for the prayer rooms and thank God for the people who’ve prayed before and after gatherings! But I just say Father, let the main room be invaded! Jesus said My house shall be called a house of prayer. Let the main room be invaded! Let us see Sunday morning gatherings that are overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit!
AUDIENCE: Yes!
RYAN: Let us learn to live the life of an intercessor and become the fiery ones! Amen?
AUDIENCE: Amen!
RYAN: In Colossians, he said: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” It’s Colossians 3:16. “In wisdom and teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” At least one-third of our corporate worship should be in a prophetic flow! Think about that. We’re admonished to sing spiritual songs. That’s prophetic worship! It stretches you cause now you’re not working on a script. You’re working in intimacy and that’s one of the things God wants to raise up in these hubs! Amen?
AUDIENCE: Amen!
RYAN: I want to release a mantle of awakening in this place and to those in the mentorship program and I want to stop where I began and say this: Has God ever asked you to do something that was overwhelming Well you’re standing at the doorway to the greatest miracle realm you’ve ever walked in! I see John the Baptists in this room! I see instruments of healing in this room! I see families that will serve the Lord and leave a legacy of revival in this room! I see psalmists and minstrels in this room! I see ministers that are going to create places of habitation! I see in the mentorship class people that are being invited to open up your business as a kingdom outpouring center! I see it! The Lord is inviting you! I see somebody being invited to write prophetically! So I want us to pray right now and I want to release this Impartation. Thank You, Lord! Thank You, Lord! Thank You, Lord! Those who are joining us now watching this just lift your hands up. Father, I thank You right now for the mantle of awakening and revival! I thank You for the revival hubs that you showed me that are rising up! I thank you for the mantle of intimacy! I thank You for the activation of spiritual gifts! Lord, I release over Your people, I release over those ones right now THE MANTLE OF REVIVAL AND AWAKENING! I RELEASE THE BURNING DIMENSIONS OF FIRE! NOW IN JESUS NAME!
AUDIENCE: Yes!
RYAN: I release healing mantles in the name of Jesus! I release prophetic mantles in the name of Jesus! I release building mantles in the name of Jesus! And I say the complacency and the fear of man, is being destroyed! I hear the Lord say there’s a deliverance from the fear of man! You shall not stand before man and be diminished! But you shall stand in my presence and soar on the winds of My Spirit says the Lord! Lord, we loose those mantles!
AUDIENCE: Yes! Thank You!
RYAN: We loose, those mantles!
AUDIENCE: Hallelujah! Praise You!
RYAN: I see this key and the Lord has turned the key and the Lord said this is a time in many of your lives of divine transition and I’m giving you those Isaiah 22:22 keys. That the key of David will be laid upon your shoulder and you shall open and no man shall shut and you shall shut and no man shall open! The authority of the Lord is coming upon the revelation! Father, I thank You for your sons and your daughters arising in the name of Jesus! Lord for those watching this I thank You for the keys being given out to them right now! In Jesus name! In Jesus name! I want to do one last thing. I want you to stand if you’re in the studio audience. Because of time and the demands, I can’t pray for everybody but I want you to put your hand on your neighbor. Just put your hand on your neighbor. We’re going to release a mass Impartation right now in the studio. We’ve done it for the mentoring class but let’s do it in here. Okay, now I want you to receive this now. Are you ready?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
RYAN: FIRE!
AUDIENCE:
RYAN: HAHHHH! FIRE! Oh, let it out! Let it out! Let it out! FIRE!
AUDIENCE:
RYAN: LOOSE THE FIRES OF AWAKENING!
AUDIENCE:
RYAN: LOOSE THE FIRES OF REVIVAL!
AUDIENCE:
RYAN: WE RELEASE FRESH FIRE LORD!
AUDIENCE:
RYAN: IN THE NAME OF JESUS NOW!
AUDIENCE: YES! NOW!
RYAN: [speaking in tongues] Come on! Cry out to Him! [speaking in tongues]
AUDIENCE: HALLELUJAH!
RYAN: BE FILLED! BE FILLED! BE FILLED! THOSE IN TRANSITION YOU’RE BEING FILLED WITH FRESH OIL!
AUDIENCE: JESUS!
RYAN: [speaking in tongues]
Our Guest Hakeem Collins
HAKEEM: I believe we have a dimension and a revelation that we can move in the revelation and move in the volume of our prophecy. We can become our dream. This is such an hour as we align ourselves with heavens view. We will begin to see I believe in this hour prophetic vision will begin to open up. Just lift your hands, those who are watching, just lift your hands. I just want to release such an ability right now, just lift your hands. There is a tangible anointing. There is an angel that’s in this area. There is an angel that is around you. Everyone has an angel. Everyone has been assigned. And I believe that some of our angels are unemployed because we stopped praying. Some of our angels are unemployed because we stopped speaking but I believe right now that even as your hands are lifted God is going to release your angels. They’re going to make every crooked place straight. He said He made His angel winds and He made His minister a flame of fire. I believe there is a glory that is being released right now. I believe there is an anointing, a tangible anointing that’s being released right now. I speak prophetically right now there’s a tangible glory that is being release. Your angels, these winds, I feel winds right now, those who are watching you’re going to feel the winds of God, you’re going to feel your angels. They are getting ready to be assigned to your word. They’re going to begin to be assigned to your prophecy, to your dream. Father right now I release prophetically over your people, those who are watching right now, the day will begin to cause their angels to excel in strength. They will begin to marshal and they will begin to protect and they will go. Father, there’s gifts and anointing’s that are being released right now. I prophesy over those that are watching, those that are here, Father I release a grace and an ability that they will begin to know that You have more for them. This, this will be a season where they will know that there is more with them than is against them. Father I thank you that as new mantles of faith there’s an anointing on me like Enoch that is being released that You’re taking them to a new level of faith. You’re causing them to ascend to a new level of glory. That you will cause them to prophecy and to speak life. To speak those things that be not as though they are. We will co-partner with heaven and we will begin to declare what You are saying. Father, I release right now, some of you right now you’re thinking about your children, you’re thinking about your grandchildren, you’re thinking about those loved ones and I just release right now, just lift your hands. God is going to begin to cause your angels to cause salvation to be released to your loved ones. I believe prophetically that your loved one’s going to be touched with the glory of God right now! I see supernatural mass, personal revival coming to some loved ones, some children, some grandchildren. I release right now there’s even a healing anointing that’s in this place. Angels of healing is being released. Father right now I release healing virtue that will be released right now! Even someone right now, even diabetes, I hear the Lord saying I’m going to begin to heal you from diabetes. I am breaking diabetes right now off of you right now. There’s someone with a kidney, there’s something with their abdominal, their kidney issues right now the Lord is releasing healing right now. He’s touching your stomach area. Someone that’s watching right now God is healing you from hypertension and high blood pressure, it’s almost like I sense a stroke on the left side, a stroke God is healing you! We release angels of healing right now! We send the Word right now! We prophesy healing right now! Right now you’re feeling the heat. There’s someone right now in this place that you even got a bad report in regards to even some, it look like, it look like a colon, in your colon, even a male, God is touching you right now in your colon right now! There’s no, there’s no, you’re going to feel heat in your stomach. God is touching you right now! Father I thank You. Just lift your hands. Father I just thank You for the healing. I speak the Word, the power of the spoken Word, there’s someone right now I even sense where there even there was an accident, even while I’m here I feel burning in my knees, there’s an accident of some sort, of your knees and someone with knee problems right now and God is healing your knee right now! Creative miracles. Even your tendons, your muscles and your bones I command that they’ll be healed right now in the name of Jesus! Your bones are now coming together! Your knees are coming together healing! Oh I just see where someone has excess fluid, there’s excess fluid. It’s almost like you know it’s overweight or something of that sort. But God is healing you! I see supernatural weight loss right now! In the name of Jesus we decree and declare right now Holy Spirit have Your way! I see the winds of God is blowing right now! Angels of the Lord are camped around this place! When I use the word angels of the Lord are camped around that word camped around it talks about the angels. When you see it in the scriptures that the angels of the Lord are camped around you. In other words the assignment of the angel is to make everything beautiful.
AUDIENCE: Amen!
HAKEEM: To make things new! Whatever’s been out of order it’s going to become in order! So right now just lift up your hands. Father I just release right now in this place and those who are watching Father that there will be such an ability where Your angels will now encamp around Your people. Father anything that’s been out of line, anything that’s been out of order, anything that’s been in disorder we decree and declare that the angels are now encamped around Your people and they making things beautiful! They’re beautifying things. Father I thank You right now even as Jesus sent the word to the centurion’s servant, Father, and in that same hour they were healed, I release the Word of healing! Even someone with kidneys, there’s someone with your kidneys. Lord, it’s healing! And even I see gallstones, something with gallstones. I’m not an expert in this area, I’m not a doctor but by the spirit I see something with gallstones and the Lord is removing supernaturally those gallstones right now! I see where the Lord is even healing you right now those who are watching with gallstones. He is causing the gallstones to supernaturally be removed! You’re not going to have no issue. Right now I release healing right now by the power of God! I send the Word! Right now someone with even some there’s headaches, there’s chronic headaches, there’s chronic migraines, it’s almost like even when you’re at work it’s hard to see, something with your vision, even now and the Lord is healing the, just receive it, Father right now I release healing right now for those that have chronic headaches and migraines. Let Your healing release! Let Your water of Your Spirit be released! Father I thank You right now for healing virtue it’s being released right now. That even headaches, those pains right now it’s going in Jesus’ name! We command right now that healing virtue is being released by the power of God!
AUDIENCE: Yes!
JEREMY: Oh, yes arthritis, and I know we talked about it, but there’s arthritis. I sense it in the hands. Sometimes your hands even will sometimes move. Your fingers, Lord, is releasing even the pressure in the knuckles in your hand I just release healing right now. Arthritis I command you to go in the name of Jesus! I command you to leave right now! This is not their report! This is not their portion! So Father I thank You for this season where they’re being healed! If you believe that come on just give God a shout and give God a praise!
AUDIENCE: Woo! Woo! (CLAPPING)
HAKEEM: Those who are watching you know God has healed you! You can check that area. You can touch that area. God is healing you! He sent His Word! You don’t need a prophet to lay hands on you! You don’t need an evangelist to lay hands on you! Right now you just need heaven to touch you! I believe heaven is about to lay hands on you! Heaven is about to touch you! This is a season where we’re about to see a miracle release and revival that we have never known before!
AUDIENCE: Yes! Woo! Woo! (CLAPPING)
HAKEEM: The Bible says in Matthew chapter 12, verse 37: For by your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned. I believe that in this hour that what we say, what we speak we have to be able to be governors and good stewards over it because what we speak we can be judged by it. And so what we speak we can also condemn others. I believe even prophetically that God is using the prophetic gift and the prophetic anointing and the prophetic spirit not to tear down people but to use it as a vehicle to release the heart of the Father to build up people! I always say that the prophetic is for construction, not destruction.
AUDIENCE: Yes!
HAKEEM: Whenever you receive a prophetic word from God and it is a true word from God it should not allow you to leave that place if it’s a true word of God it should not allow you to leave depressed. It should not allow you to want to end it all. It should want to build you and establish you. That is the power of prophecy. That’s the power of the spoken word! Even Ezekiel had to understand that when he was in this condition and he saw this condition it broke his heart. I believe that God is placing upon the Church a new burden. He’s giving us His burden and He’s going to show us things and He’s going to allow us to feel things. As a seer I feel things and I sense things and I see things. God uses our bodies as that vessel and as that channel where He can get our attention. It’s those things that He allows you— you know some of us have been like, you know like Isaiah. Lord, here I am use me! Lord, here I am send me! But then when the phone call comes we’re not answering it.
AUDIENCE: Mm.
Our Guest John Bevere
SID: Of course.
JOHN: Okay? I said you’ve given no respect to the Holy Spirit. So I speak to them for 75 minutes on the fear of the Lord. At the end of that, now this is amazing what I am about to tell you. I said every person in here, you say you’re born again but you lack the fear of God, stand up, and you’re willing to repent, stand up. 75 percent of the whole auditorium stands up. Now this is what’s amazing. The moment they stand up the presence of God comes in. First time in two hours. And people are weeping, right? So it lasts a few minutes and it lifts. And the Holy Spirit speaks to me and says lead them in a prayer of repentance. So I led them in a simple prayer of repentance. Forgive me for my lack of reverence, for Your presence, Your work. All of a sudden another wave of His presence comes in. It’s even stronger, lasts 3 or 4 minutes. It lifts. So now we’re all there and the Holy Spirit speaks to me and He says I’m coming one last time. Now what I’m about to tell you I got emails on this 8 years after it happened. Okay? The only way I know how to describe what happened is you’re at the end of a runway and a Boeing Jet’s taking off right in front of you. That kind of a sound of a violent wind came blowing in to that auditorium. When it did, the people started screaming. Now can you imagine thousands of Latinos screaming? You know how loud that would be. The wind was louder. So that same thing that happened in Malaysia happened to me there. I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’ There are like goose bumps on my goose bumps. And I’m standing there frozen, and I’m like ‘Whooooa…..’ because it’s awesome! …what’s going on, and terrifying. And I remember it lasted for about 90 seconds and it left in its wake people collapsed on the chairs, people weeping and I’m like, ‘God, what do I do? And the Lord’s like, ‘I’m through with you.’ (laughing) So I turned and I looked at the leader and I said ‘It’s all yours.’ So he comes up, they walk me out into the car. And the singer, the national singer and her husband get in the car. She screams, I mean literally, you know how passionate Brazilians are, ‘Did you hear the wind!?’ And I said, now I didn’t want to say it, I said, ‘Maybe it was a jet airplane flying right over the building.’
AUDIENCE: (LAUGHTER)
JOHN: And she got angry at me. She said, (yelling) ‘What are you talking about? I saw fire all around the building.’ And her husband’s a lot more analytical and quieter. He quieted her down, he said, ‘Sir, that wasn’t a jet airplane above the building. I said, ‘How do you know?’ He said because there were union security men all around the outside the building. He said most of them aren’t even saved. He said when the wind started blowing they came running in to see what was going on and they started saying to our leaders ‘what’s going on?’ He said I was at the sound board, because I had to check the levels for my wife. He said the decimal beaters were at zero the whole time the wind blew. It was 90 seconds the wind blew. He said ‘not one ounce of the sound came through our sound system.’ I said, ‘My God, take me to my hotel room.’
AUDIENCE AND SID: (LAUGHTER)
JOHN: No kidding, I didn’t even go out to eat that night. And I remember I just sat on my balcony and worshipped ‘til 1:30 in the morning. And so you’ll never find the Lord in an atmosphere where He’s not held with the utmost respect.
SID: I want to ask you to do something.
JOHN: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
SID: I would like you to speak just a little while on the fear of the Lord and then lead us in repentance. Would you do that, John? Thank you.
AUDIENCE: (CLAPPING)
JOHN: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Okay. So, what, what is the fear of the Lord? All right. Let me say this. And I’m, I’m going to say to you tonight, I’m going to repeat some things I just said on this program because I need to lay a foundation again. What is the fear of the Lord is NOT to be scared of God. And as I said, when Moses led Israel out of Egypt, and let me ask you as an audience, when Moses led Egypt out of the audience, or out of, excuse me,
AUDIENCE: (LAUGHTER)
JOHN: Yes, he led Egypt out of the audience, that’s what we’re doing right now! (laughter) I got a,when Moses led Israel out of Egypt where was their destination. Everybody say it really loud,
AUDIENCE: The Promised Land!
JOHN: The Promised Land. No. What did Moses say to Pharaoh, what did Moses say to Pharaoh over and over again. “Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go that they might worship me in the desert.” Why do you want to bring them out of Egypt into the Promised Land without first bringing them to the “Promiser? Okay, if you bring the children of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land without first bringing them to the Promiser, you’re going to, you’re going to get a bunch of people that are going to make the Promised Land into a place of idolatry.
AUDIENCE: Wow, that’s good.
JOHN: Okay? This is what we did in the 80’s and the 90’s in the church. We preached more of what Jesus would do for us rather than who He is. So we spawned disciples that started seeking God for what He can do for me not who He is, right, and that’s like a woman who marrying a man because he’s got a lot of money. She marries him out of love but for the wrong reasons. You see I find something so amazing. I look at Israel. Israel is abused by Egypt. Correct? They live in the slums, they eat the worst, wear the worst, they’re working all their lives to build somebody else’s inheritance. Their children are put to death by the Egyptians. They come out of Egypt and they’re constantly saying: ‘Let’s go back to Egypt, it was better for us.’ But then I look at Moses. Now think about Moses. He’s raised in the most beautiful home on the planet ‘cause his grandfather Pharaoh is the wealthiest man in the whole planet. So that means he’s got a Maserati, he’s probably got a Lamborghini, he’s probably got a Porsche, he’s probably got an Audi, the top of the line Audi, he’s probably got every Harley in the collections, he’s got every “I-” this and “ I-” that. He’s got assistants. He can have any woman he wants in the whole nation and can even ask for other nations because he’s a prince. But he comes out of Egypt and he never once says “I want to go back to Egypt, it’s better for me back in Egypt.’ And what’s the difference? He had one encounter with God face-to-face at that bush. Israel had a chance when he came down on the mountain. You see you have to remember, the burning bush was at Mount Sinai. So what Moses wants to do is he wants to bring these people straight to the One that he met at the bush. Because getting in to the presence of God, that took away his appetite from the world forever! He never, ever said ‘I want to go back to Egypt.’ Now remember Egypt is a “type” [symbol] of the world. His appetite for the world was gone, because he had one encounter with God. You see we’re always trying to get people to pray a formula “sinner’s prayer” at churches. And don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to make a movement of people saying ‘well, you know that’s not what we’re going to do.’ But what one thing I’m sayin’ is that we should add on to that is why don’t we give the Holy Spirit time to minister in the presence of God to them so that now all of a sudden they’ve tasted the heavenly gift? Okay? Moses tasted, he saw, he tasted at the burning bush. He said I’ve got to bring these people out there. So he brings them out to that mountain. God says, all right, Moses, you tell them the whole reason I brought you out of Egypt was to bring you to myself. Go look it up in Exodus 19, it’s amazing. The whole reason I brought them out of Egypt was to bring them to myself. It’s in there. Read it. It’s amazing. So He says I’m so excited I’m going to come down there and introduce myself to ‘em on the third day. So get ‘em ready the next two days and the third day I’m going to come down, which is prophetic, and I’m not going to go into that. So Moses gets them all ready, they wash their clothes, God comes down on the mountain and what do they do? They all run away, and they say Moses, we can’t handle God. You talk to God, tell us whatever he says, we’re going to hear and do it. And that’s amazing to me, right? And so Moses is heart-broken. And so his response to the people is Exodus 20:20, where He says, “Do not fear,” now look at me, do not fear because God’s come to test you. What’s the test? To see if His fear is in you so that you may not sin. Wait a minute. Do not fear, because God’s come to test you to see if His fear is in you so that you may not sin. He’s not contradicting himself, he’s differentiating between being scared of God and the fear of the Lord. As I said earlier, the person who fears God, well the person who’s scared of God, I should say it this way, has something to hide. That’s why Adam hides from the presence of the Lord. Okay? But the person who fears God has nothing to hide. Okay? They’re scared to be away from God. So the first definition of the fear of the Lord is to be terrified of being away from Him. You know I’ll never forget, back in the 1990’s, it was 1994, Jim Bakker had read a book that I had written called “Victory in the Wilderness,” it was the first book I had ever written. He read it in prison. He had been in prison for 4 years. When he read it he contacted his assistant from prison and he said could you please find this author and ask him to come visit me in prison. So I remember I agree to do it. And I walked into the prison and he comes out in his prison garb and grabs me and he holds me and he hugs me and he won’t let me go. Finally he grabs my shoulders and he said ‘Did you write it or a ghost writer?’ I said, ‘No sir, I wrote it. I’ve gone through a wilderness but not near what you’ve gone through.’ He said ‘We have so much to talk about. Sit down.’ And I remember he looked at me and he said this prison was not God’s judgment on my life, it was his mercy on my life. He said because John, honestly, if I would have kept living the way I was living I would have ended up in hell forever. When he said that to me I thought, okay, you have my attention, complete, total attention. So after about 20 minutes I felt very, very comfortable with him and I thought I’m going to ask him some questions. My first question was ‘Jim, when did you fall out of love with Jesus?’ At what point did you stop loving Jesus? Because You have to understand as a little boy I grew up in Whitehall Michigan which was 15 minutes away from where he pastored in Muskegon Michigan. So I said, ‘When did you stop loving Jesus, how’d it happen,’ And he looked at me and he said ‘I didn’t.’ ,What? What do you mean you didn’t fall out of love with Jesus? I said, Jim, you committed adultery with Jessica Hahn, you did all this mail fraud, all this stuff you’re in jail for. What do you mean you didn’t fall out of love with Jesus? And I’m perplexed and he sees I’m perplexed. And he looked right at me and he said, ‘I didn’t fear God.’ And he said, ‘There’s millions of Americans just like me. They love Jesus, but they don’t fear God.’ You see, you have to understand the New Testament teaches that He is Abba, Daddy. But the same New Testament says He’s the consuming fire. Okay? So you have to understand something. If you don’t have the love of God and you don’t have the fear of God you’re going to end up in a rut. How many of you know that Jesus said the road to life is a narrow road? Right? How many of you know that every road’s got two ditches on both sides? Right? So the first ditch is called “legalism.” Now the church in the 1960’s was in a legalistic ditch. Now I wasn’t a Christian back in the 60’s, I didn’t saved until ‘79. But let me tell you something, I saw the remnants of this legalistic move. Because women would wear their hair up in a bun, remember, they didn’t cut their hair and wore it up in a big bun, and they didn’t wear any make-up, and they had dresses down to their ankles. You know you can have a dress down to your ankles, you can have your hair up in a bun, you can have no make-up but still have a seducing spirit up to your eyeballs. Okay? That’s not holiness. Okay? So it was all about an outward form to try to hide a deficiency that was in our hearts and we were in legalism. Right? So what happened in the 60’s? God brings a revelation to the church. You know what the revelation was, he used one man to do it. God is a good God, and something good can happen to you. The man was Oral Roberts, right? And then the Charismatic move began. Right? And we found out our Daddy loved us. What did the love of God do? It delivered us from the ditch of legalism. But you know what we did? We said I went so far from that ditch I’ll never fall in again and we went to the other side of the road and fell into that other ditch. And the other ditch is called lawlessness or lasciviousness which is an excessive, fleshly, worldly, disobedient lifestyle. And God’s given us a force that keeps us, keeps us out of that ditch. It’s called the fear of the Lord. So you see it takes the love of God and the fear of God to keep us healthy. Okay? It’s like two sides of a coin, you got heads and tails, if you don’t have tails you don’t have a coin, you need ‘em both. And so when we understand that God is Abba, Daddy, but He’s also the King, He’s also the consuming fire we understand that yes, we can jump in His lap, there are times for that but then there’s other times, let me tell you, I didn’t feel it was the time to jump in His lap when He came into Brazil like He did. You understand what I’m talking about. When I was in Malaysia and those girls, those women were getting baptized in fire. That’s just not a time you’re jumpin’ in his lap. And so there is a right way to understand that God is so much greater and more complex than our simple little, well He’s Daddy and here’s grace and it doesn’t matter how you live you’re going to get to heaven. That is a complete lack of the fear of the Lord. And you see if you’ve got the fear of the Lord, Paul says, it will perfect holiness. We work out our salvation, in the New Testament it says, with fear and trembling. If you look at the church in the early, in the Book of Acts, you know what? They were all drunk on the Day of Pentecost. I mean they were experiencing Daddy’s love, so they got a little too familiar, they got a little bit loose, and so now this couple who’s in good standing, they’re members of the Church of Jerusalem bring up an offering and it’s a big offering, it’s a big chunk of the land they just sold, and they lay it at Peter’s feet, and the next thing you know they’re dead. And if you read in Acts, chapter 5, verse 11, it says “So great fear came upon the church.” Not upon the city. Yes, it said somewhere else great fear came upon all those who heard these things. Great fear came upon the CHURCH! So what is the fear of the Lord? So first of all it is to be terrified to be away from Him. The person who fears God doesn’t say how close can I get to the line of sin and not fall in. The person who fears God says I want to be so far away, so close to Dad, so close to my Daddy, that I’m so close to Him I can’t even see that line of sin. Okay? That’s the attitude they have. You understand what I’m sayin’, they’re not sayin’ how close can I get and not, and not fall in. What is it to fear God? It is to venerate Him. That’s a big word which means to honor, to respect, to esteem, to value, to reverence, to stand in awe of Him more than anything or anyone else. We firmly embrace God’s heart so we love what He loves, we hate what He hates, what is important to Him becomes important to us, what is not so important to Him is not so important to us. Remember Jesus said there are weightier matters. Are you with me? What is the evidence that somebody truly has the fear of God in their life? Okay? Now remember, the Holy Spirit, one of His manifestations is the fear of the Lord. Remember He’s the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of might, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of knowledge, and the Spirit of the dear of the Lord and Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord. What is the evidence that somebody truly has the fear of the Lord in their life? Okay? Well, number one, they reverence His presence. I talked about that in Brazil. But the second thing that you see in their life is they tremble at His Word. Do you know how the Bible talks about trembling at His word? What does it means to tremble at His word. Number one it means that you’ll obey Him instantly. Okay? Huh, I, I still see some looks and I want to make sure you’re really clear, [and] you who are watching this video. When I say what is the evidence of the fear of the Lord, let’s put it to you like this way: let’s say I’ve got an outlet and I want to know is there, is that outlet is it live or is it dead? Well if I put a brand new blow dryer in and it’s a working blow dryer in that outlet and I turn the switch on and hot air starts blowing, that’s evidence that that is a good outlet. Correct?
AUDIENCE: Yes. That’s right.