Ah Ooh, ooh, ooh. Ooh, la la la la la la la la la Hallelujah. God ruler of the universe, you are. There is There's no one like you, God giver of the deepest dreams you are. There is no one like you.
God think of what tremendous thoughts you are Thinking for God Royal, holy, true you are And there is no one like you Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Welcome to Love Never Fails. In these last days, revival will come. but begins with our individual walk and personal relationship with Jesus. Let's join Brother John now.
Well, good morning. This is Brother John, and I really really want to talk to you today. about the smoke and mirrors of the of the modern church. And I want to be sincere in saying to you that I don't want to tell you things to give you ammunition to use against a preacher. We're not interested in that.
What I'm most interested in is Mm-hmm. Equipping you to understand How to break free from where you are. You know, Just recently, we were overseas, and before we went, there was a gentleman that had never gone on a mission trip before, and he said to me, he said, I just want to see God move. I want to see more. I want to see more than what we're seeing.
Right now he goes I'm I'm really just kind of I want to see what God wants to do. And, you know, and I told him, I said, yeah, there's more. And, you know, he would ask, he asked a lot of questions. But you could hear the desperate cry of his heart that he wanted to see God move. He didn't just want to keep being the good American Christian.
And I know this guy, he gives, he's got a good heart, but he's just. desperate to see God move. And So My Prayer for him as we went is that he would see God move, that he would learn and that his eyes of understanding would be enlightened, that he would know the hope to which God has called him, as well as begin to understand: hey, there's more than what we're seeing. Right now. And I would say to you, if you're listening, you've probably looked around.
You maybe you go to church Sunday and and and Wednesday and you're like, there's got to be more. There's I mean, what about all this that I read about in my Bible? And so I want to encourage and say, yes, there's absolutely more. But maybe you're in a place or doing some things that kind of. prevent you from seeing What God wants you to see.
And one place I would start right off the bat. Is that The majority of miracles, signs, and wonders that I've seen in my life did not happen in the church. They did not happen inside. The four square walls with A bunch of other Christians standing around. I've seen it, but the majority of what I've seen has always been out in the streets.
It's been in the Crusades. It's been out in public.
Now, at the same time, you have to understand what kind of a person I am. My situation might be different than yours. If you were to ask me, hey, John, how's the church doing right now? I don't know. I don't pay attention.
I haven't watched Christian TV in a couple of decades. I don't listen to Christian radio stations. I don't know who the popular preacher is right now. I don't know any of that. What I can tell you is.
That I'm in the word, that I'm praying, that I'm studying, and I talk to God. And I do go overseas, I go do crusades, I go do street evangelism, I go do pastors' conferences, I do a lot of different things, and of course, we do the radio show and.
So I don't think I'm immune to what's going on in the church because The scriptures tell you what's going on, and it doesn't change. The packaging might change, the key word might change, but the. The thing is, is that what we're seeing in the church right now, there's two churches. And so, as we go forward in this show and as we talk about this. I'm going to refer to one as the bride and one as the church.
The church, I'm going to tell you, is a smoke and mirrors church. And I'll show you that from scripture. We're going to talk about how some of that happens, and then I'm going to leave it up to you to decide. What am I inferring? What am I talking about?
But then at the same time, I want to talk to you about the bride: who the bride is, and what the bride is doing, and what the bride is seeing. Because I don't know if you know this or not, but revival is taking place. And it seems to me as if Much of the church is missing out on it already.
So. One of the things I want to do is is talk to you excuse me for a second. Year years ago, I did a study on the bi book of Leviticus. A book that I never really wanted to read. Seemed like it was always being used as the do's and don'ts of why you can't do this, why you can't do that.
And I remember after I became a born-again Christian in 1987, I would argue. With the youth pastors and everybody. Why can't I go play cards? Why can't I go dancing? Why can't I do that?
Why can't I? Why can't I? And, you know, well, you can't do this. You can't do that. And oftentimes they would go to Ezekiel to Leviticus.
and they would lay down the law.
Well then You know, in nineteen ninety somewhere around 1998. Um I have a little church that I was supposed to go preach at. And I just asked God, I said, What do you want me to preach on? And I laid there on that couch for hours. Just praying.
And that was the cry of my heart: what do you want me to preach, Lord? And after a while, the Lord gave me seven things. And they all had to do with love. And I mean, I got upset. I was like, why, God, am I?
Why are you having me study love? Because I had the same mentality about love. And uh that's related and portrayed to us through Hollywood, through being teenagers in high school in modern America. And I had a worldly idea of what love was. And as I began to study love.
After six weeks, I repented. And I cried out to God and I said, I don't think based on what I'm reading about love that I'm even born again. I don't see how I can be. And I repented and I asked God, teach me about love, teach me how to. Not just walk in love, but become love.
And Over the next few weeks, before I went to that church, I really got into it. And when I went to that church, and preach that message on love. I had a man that had been a Christian. He came up to me. He was in his 70s.
He came up to me and he said, Brother John, I've been a Christian over 50 years and I've never heard that preached. And oftentimes, what I've seen over the last 25, 26 years since then. Is that people hear, oh, Brother John preaches love, and they equate what I preach without hearing it. To what we see in Hollywood and what we see through the media and through all the world influences. And I can tell you, that's not it.
You know, Zachariah chapter 10, verse 1, and I've written about this in our books, I've preached about this numerous times. It talks about a church that is. distracted and confused. And literally in verse 4, it says, and therefore the sheep. wander as without a shepherd.
Verse 5, he says, and I blame the shepherds, the pastors, for this. But if you study the first three verses, excuse me, he's talking about the end times. He says, ask ye therefore rain in the time of the latter rain, and I'll give unto you men. Men with the lightnings of God.
Now, when you read that, it reads a little different. I'm telling you what it says in the original language: it says, I will give you bright clouds. and and the latter rain. And when you study that out, Best interpretation of scripture, scripture, you find out that what he's saying is, I will give you men with the lightnings of God in the time of the latter rain, which is the last revival. It's a whole other teaching.
You can go listen to other episodes about that. But the point is is that In the last days, Zachariah saw the idol. He saw the idols that everybody had. And through those idols, the sp The idols were speaking to them, kind of like in the 80s, Max Hedrum, the talking heads, and all these media people. You see them from shoulder up, and they look like.
You know, they look like talking heads and they look like idols. If you were, you know, 4,000 or actually 2,500 years ago, if you were looking forward to the curtain time, you would have. How would you have related to what you see on TV and through your cell phone and all these different devices that we take all of our time and all of our energy and were in front of our face all the time? Those would be idols. And so Zachariah nailed it on the head and he said, These idols speak.
Vanity. They speak uh fantasies and false Falsities. They do not, they give vain comfort. You know, and yet Psalm 1 says, where we should get our comfort from the presence and the word of God. And then we will be rested like trees that pull their energy and their sap and their everything from the rivers of flowing water.
But when we have dedicated our lives to these idols and these devices that are constantly speaking at us, Then we're living a life that's controlled by these idols. And in Zachariah chapter 10, verse 1, he literally says, and because of that, My anger is kindled against the pastors. Because as a whole, the church has not come out against that. We, as churches, we entertain these idols. We go to the movies.
We go to all these different things. And I'm not saying to you, don't do any of that. But what I am saying to you is how much of your life do they have? How much of your time do they have? And where's God?
If those things are in your life, controlling your life, then where's God in the picture? Where are you getting your comfort? what you're supposed to be doing. You know what I'm saying? And so, your comfort, your strength, your truth, your true north comes from the Word of God and from the Spirit of God.
It doesn't come. From a device. And I see these preachers, these I call them the internet prophets, who are they rightly should be called internet historians, not prophets, because we're not seeing these people actually prophesy about things ahead of time. They're reacting to what's going on in the world. They're not prophets, but yet every all these people want to be called prophets.
There are a few. Trust me, there are a few. There's one that has proven to be very accurate who's already passed on, and his prophecies are still coming to pass.
So I would say to you, yes, there are some, but they're few and far between. The majority of the church. Remember, there's a church and there's a bride. The majority of the church uses their. Christianity, their doctrine, and their ministry.
To live off of, to make money, to succeed in what the world sees as success. And yet I would say to you that what we see as success is nothing. Like what God sees at success. And yes. I'm a prosperity guy.
I believe in prosperity. I am not a prosperity gospel guy. Deuteronomy 28 says. Uh that If we hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, which is Old Testament for. In the New Testament, we call it being led by the Spirit.
And then he says, and if you obey his command to love.
Well, his one command in the New Testament is love.
So if we will. Be led by the Spirit and walk in love, then the promises of Deuteronomy 28 will take place, verses 1 through 14. You will be run down and overtaken by the blessing of God. I absolutely believe in that. Absolutely.
Absolutely. I absolutely believe that God wants to meet your needs and take care of you. But I also believe that there are a lot of people out there who are using the gospel. for their own sake. I'm going to share with you.
This is going to end up being a few episodes. I want to share with you how I began to learn the difference between the church. And the bride. And a lot of it was just when I would read the word, things would just make sense to me. I realized, wow.
That is absolutely. What I see going on in the church, the tickling of the ears. And I would read the word, I go, wow, he's talking about the church of today. The condition existed back then, too. And it still exists today.
Years ago, I was at a missions conference. And I'm in this conference and there's a I guess he was a world-famous minister. I didn't really know who he was, but then again, I don't really chase after. other ministries or preachers or anything like that. But This A world-famous minister was up preaching and is walking from one side of the church to the other, and a lot of I and me, and this and that going on.
And all of a sudden, He he's walking to the left, but I see him lift it up. in the air above us, on the right side of the church where I was sitting. And I was probably sitting three quarters of the way back in the... Sanctuary And The Spirit of the Lord began to show me his hair. His perfectly trimmed mustache, his perfectly, you know, everything about him, his shade, everything was just immaculate.
His hair, not a single hair out of place. I saw his collar on his, what I, knew to be a custom suit. Tailored just to fit him, and his white shirt, you know, sticking up just perfectly all the way around, the suit resting on his shoulders exactly as it should. I mean, it was just all custom-made. I saw the sleeve, his watch, and his rings, and his, I could even see his cufflinks, and a little bit of his white shirt sticking out from under the sleeve.
You can see his cufflinks. Everything is perfect, everything is immaculate. And then I come down to his slacks, and his slacks have a perfect crease in them. Everything is beautiful. And I'm thinking his shoes are going to be, you know, now I'm a soldier.
And, you know, we would do the whole Spitzhine thing.
So I really expected to see these Spit Shine, beautiful shoes. And instead, I saw hooves and they were dirty and nasty and covered like they'd been running around in a pig pit. And I recoiled a little bit and I'm kind of gagged. And the Spirit of God said to me, How beautiful are the feet of those who carry my gospel? I got up and ran out of the church.
I was like, I'm not going to listen to this guy. And the gentleman ended up dying not long after that. I can't tell you anymore because I'm not a name-dropper when it comes to things like this. And I'm. You know, what other people are doing is between them and God.
And yes, God showed it to me, but I had no access to this guy. He had bodyguards and all that. And he died not long after that. I'll just say, in an unusual way. And.
You know, I began to realize, said, wait a second, here's a... Here's a man that In the church world, Uh and not everybody's uh was running after him. I I know the man had critics But Um He was He was getting away with it. Can I say it that way? He was not, obviously, according to God, was not preaching the gospel, and he was getting away with it.
And, or at least that's what it looked like. And when I ran out into the lobby of the church. He had tables from one end of the church to the other in the lobby just covered with all his merchandise. And You know, people say to me now, Brother John, why don't you go after support? Why don't you do tapes and books and all that?
I did, I've done books. And I give them away. You know, I've written books, I give them away. You know, we put these programs on Spotify for free. The radio station, I, I, Any permission and every permission.
I don't care. I'm not interested in being. You know, I want to preach the gospel. I don't want hooves. Can I, you know, I don't want to be that guy.
I want to preach the gospel and know that in the Lord's eyes, Uh I have beautiful feet. And so I am very cautious. The Lord showed that to me. And that's not the only time I've seen things about preachers and. You know, other things that I've seen, and God has revealed some things to me that you can't always tell people that stuff.
And so, you know, I would tell you that there's two churches: there's the church, which is all about smoke and mirrors, but then there's the bride. There is the bride that is carrying the gospel, that has the anointing, that has the oil. They're the ones that become the bridegroom and they enter in with Jesus. The other five on the outside wondering what happened. They looked apart, they look like Christians, they look nice and.
religious But they're missing the oil, they're missing the fire. And they don't even realize it. And so, when they finally go get the fire and they come back to the door, they're bewildered as to why Jesus won't let them in. And so I would say to you that We see even Jesus saying that there are going to be people saying, Did we not do miracles, signs, and wonders in your name? And he says, Depart from me.
You know, and one of the things he says, he says, I was the man on the street you ignored. When did you feed me? When did you clothe me? You know, which is so interesting because you literally now, if you've been to church, For long, you've probably heard people say this. Oh, don't give to the man on the side of the road begging for money.
Don't give to that. person over there. And yet, that's exactly what the Bible says. Who cares what he does with the money? Did God tell you to give?
Then give. Don't wait for a pastor to come and go, no, you don't want to do that. Give it to us and we'll give it to him.
Okay, Pastor, great. Can I go with you when you give it to him? I mean, if that's how your pastor is, don't give your money to those people out there begging for money.
Okay, well, can I go with you when you go give it to them? Ask them. Why not? Hold them accountable. Because most of them are not.
They say, give it to us, and then they pay for the brick and the mortar and their salaries with it. And that's not what I see in the gospel. That's not what I see in the New Testament or in the demonstration of love that Jesus gave us. That's not at all how he did things. And so, you know.
I would say to you is you need to maybe break free of a mindset. of religion. And I'll give you an example. There's a man that argued with me for months, months, and months. And uh It just kept coming at me, coming at me through.
Uh, some social media, and I said, Well, why don't you do this? Why don't you do that? Why don't you walk in love here and go do that when you're in Walmart and the person in front of you struggling to count out her pennies? Why don't you just reach over and pay for everything they have? And he's like, Why would I do that?
I'm like, Why not? You know, you claim you want to see miracles, signs, and wonders, but you're not willing to think and step outside of the box for them to happen. You know, I I was at a grocery store the other day and this and the grocery store happened to have a technical flaw and some internet issues and so they could only take either credit card or cash. And his lady kept trying to use her debit card. And immediately I was like, I know what to do.
and i reached over and i put my credit card in she's like what are you doing i said ma'am I said, you know, I saw you fumbling with that and I just knew the Lord said to help you. And I said, I was looking for an opportunity to jump in there and help you. And I said, by the way, my name's Brother John.
Well, I'm so-and-so, and this is my daughter, so-and-so. I said, nice to meet you guys. And of course, the cashier is going, oh, you have to do this, you have to do that.
So I paid for their food and I paid for their stuff. And it's not a big deal for me, but it opened the door for me to talk with them. And sometimes it opens the door for me to pray with them. I've seen miracles, signs, and wonders because of that. And it's not in the church, but it's in the grocery store.
It's in the restaurant. You know, I'll tell you this, that when you're out in the street, I'll give you an example. There was a hurricane. And My family was in a hotel in our hotel. We had to move up to another floor because the hurricane was coming in and the bottom floor was flooding.
And that night we went out to eat, you know, one possibly one more meal because the hurricane's coming. We don't know if we're and we would get to this restaurant and I don't know why I told you all that, but we get to this restaurant and we get sat. And then a waitress comes over and she she's got a cast. And she's like, oh, I'm done for the night. They're sending me home because of my leg.
We're like, what happened to your leg? She says, oh, it's broken. And we were like, aren't you supposed to be honest? She goes, yeah, but I can't afford to be. And so we ended up, you know, moved to our other section, and I tipped her.
Thank you. I I tipped her. And I gave her $100. And she's like, what are you doing that for? I haven't waited.
I said, no. I said, I just want to help. I didn't have a leading from God. I didn't have some great Holy Ghost, hallelujah, that heavens opened up, give that girl $100. None of that.
But I've developed it in my life over the last few decades that I just believe in blessing people, even when I don't hear the Holy Spirit say it. And as we sat down, my daughters were like, Dad, why'd you do that? Why'd you? I said, They come back. They go what?
I said they always come back. And maybe three or four minutes later, that waitress was done with all her duties, came back and sat down and ate dinner with us. Spent the entire meal with us, and we got to talk to her about God. We got to encourage her and pray with her. They always come back.
When you're willing to step out and actually act like you know Jesus, and it does not need to be trumpets blowing and all kinds of stuff where you go, okay, you know, I had this great, you know, Jesus appear to me, a 400-foot Jesus appear to me and said, Bless that person. You don't need that. If you're pursuing God and you're walking with God and you're pursuing this love relationship and you want to know the Holy Spirit, then just do it. And you don't always need to be led to do it. And so I say that to you because, you know.
You can do things. To spurn yourself on towards what God wants in you. And we can talk about this. We've talked about it before on other episodes. Romans chapter 13, verses 8, 9, and 10.
In verse 8, go read it. Romans 13, verses 8, 9, and 10. And read it with this understanding. In verse 8, he uses the word love. He used the word agapeo.
Agapeo. is the action of love. Does that make sense? It's the daily practice of walking in love, it's the action of love. It's what I do.
When I'm at a grocery store, or I'm out, or you know, I've had times where I saw a guy and I thought for sure I heard the Holy Spirit say, Go get that guy. And I went, drove over there. I had to find him, and I pull up. I'm like, hey, man, he turns around and he just cusses me. He's a hopeless guy.
Homeless guy. I found him on the back side of a building. He starts cussing me up one side and down the other. He goes, You Christians, I mean, he called me out. I was like, you sure?
He's like, yeah, man, get out of here. You know, of course, he didn't say it that nice and politely. And I drove away, just kind of chuckling, said, Okay. I guess I deserve that Holy Spirit. Maybe I missed it.
Maybe I didn't. Who knows? But I I at least tried. And so, you're not always going to get the result that you want. But.
So many people say, I want to see the signs and wonders that you see. And I tell them, then live. Like nobody else. I mean, that's what it boils down to. You've got to be willing to buck the system and live like nobody else.
I've had pastors call me and go, You should not be going there. You should not go there. Like, I'm going. And then I get there and see miracle signs and wonders. And then they flip out.
They're like, How could you see those same men will say, How can you see miracle signs and wonders that we don't? I'm like, Because I go places you tell me not to go. I go do things you tell me not to do. Years ago when I first got called to missions. I t I uh A man that I'm now a partner in ministry with after 30 plus years.
In 1993, the Lord spoke to me and said, go to nations. I argue. I argued. And then finally, I yielded. I said, okay, just don't make me out to be a liar, God.
And I grew up not going to church. I grew up not knowing who Christians were. I didn't know what it was to be a Christian, but I saw a Christian preacher said, I don't want to be like that. I said, so don't make me a liar like that, God. I don't want to be one of these.
Lion preachers. Who, for the most part, most of them are deceived, which is their biggest issue, and we'll talk about that. But.
I ended up Sign it up. uh to go with the missions organization. that summer and I got accepted shocker and The next summer, I was supposed to go. I went to their leadership camp at the time, I was a drill instructor, and I went to their leadership camp. Got a, you know, they accepted me that summer.
I got out of the military before that. And so, um, That summer I said, Lord. I said, I don't have any money. How am I supposed to you know get get to Miami, Florida from Oklahoma. I said, you want me to take a bus?
Do you want me to fly? Do you want me to drive? Do you want me to walk? And I said that part in jest. And as soon as I said it, the Lord said, Yep.
Yes. And I was like, no way, Lord. And so I went out and bought a backpack. And as I threw the backpack in the trunk of my car, used backpack, I said, Are you for real, God? Do you want me to walk?
And I got the confirmation.
So at the end of May, or sometime in May, my roommate drove me to Dallas. Dropped me off. He's like, Are you sure? I said, Yeah. And I started walking.
And it took me 14 days to get to Miami, Florida. And I got rides. People picked me up. Miracles, signs, and wonders happened the whole way, all along the way. And What I did not know.
is the pastor of the church that I was coming from out of there called my father. and said, hey. Your son. has lost his mind. and is walking cross country to go on a mission trip.
And my dad, who was not a Christian, chewed them out, ups custom out, upside one, down down the other. And people will not believe in you. People will, people, religious people will say, I can't believe he's doing that. And you go out and do it. Then, in the same breath, years later, they go, Well, how come you see miracle signs and wonders?
They'll come to you and say, How come you see miracles, signs, and wonders? And you say, Because I choose to live differently. I don't choose to live according to the four walls of the church and their doctrine. I don't do it. And so let me talk to you for a few minutes.
about some things that I'm going to give you some examples. Maybe these are things that you've heard taught from the pulpit. And they're not right. But I but I what I want to show you is the Smoke and mirrors example. And for instance, Jesus said He said, in speaking of the temple in Matthew, he said, not a single stone.
will be left unturned.
So here's a thought for you. Jesus, in speaking about the temple, said there will not be a single stone left on top of another.
So my question for you is Jesus a liar? Or are we deceived? in what the Western Wall is. Because there are so many people who flock to the Western Wall and claim that that's the temple. I've done the study, I've done.
Everything I can figure out, and I can tell you that I personally do not believe that the western wall has anything to do with the temple. It's part of the old Roman fort. Because when the Romans came in, they have documents that talk about this: that when the Romans came in and destroyed Jerusalem and they destroyed the temple, they filled the valley. They dismantled the temple and then filled the whole valley, buried it all. And what they did is they connected the two mounds.
Together, there were two mounts, and their fort was on one, and then there was the other, uh, which It's escaping my name. I have two names in mind, but I can't figure out which one it is. But they filled the valley. They filled the valley where the temple was.
So there was no so one, it's buried. Secondly, the other problem I have with that is that throughout scripture, we see that there is a spring that runs out from under the temple. The Guihon Spring. It still exists today. It's a siphon spring.
And every so often, as the cavity fills up with water, It creates an overflow which then gushes out and flows out and supplies water. That was the water supply for Jerusalem and the temple in that day. And the scriptures specifically talk about that spring. And that spring does not come out anywhere near. the Western Wall.
And even, I believe it was Hezekiah. You can look up Hezekiah's tunnels. Hezekiah built tunnels underground to feed this stream to different parts of the city. And uh You can look those up for yourself.
So there are a number of issues about why the Western Wall can't be. Uh the the temple. And my number one issue is that Jesus said not a single stone would be left upon another. And I would rather believe what Jesus said than what all the historians and everybody else wants us to believe, especially the tourist trap people. I have a friend that's in tourism.
And every year they take people to Mount Catherine, which is in Egypt. And they claim that Mount Catherine is. Mount Sinai. And I'm going, okay, then where's Elijah's cave? And okay, then where's the burnt top?
And then, okay, where's the record of them crossing into Saudi Arabia and then back over into Egypt for Mount Sinai? There is no record of that. Mount Catherine cannot be Mount Sinai, and yet now. As things are coming out, we now know where Mount Sinai is. It's in Egypt, or no, excuse me, it's in Saudi Arabia.
I believe it's Mount Wally. It begins with a W, and they've got it fenced off. But there's so many artifacts there, even to the split stone that Moses split water came out of, to the burnt mountaintop, all these different things that add up the distance, the actual evidence that's there. Even the whole thing of in scripture, it says, and everywhere you shall tread your feet.
So the Israelites made, like out of, they made their own, I'm going to call it cement. And they put their footprints in it. And those are all over the base of that mountain. There's effigies and the things where they write on the stone, carved into the stone of a golden calf and all these different things. All of that exists.
But yet the tourism industry wants you to go to Mount Catherine because they're dependent upon that dollar bill. Tourism industry wants you to go to the Western Wall because they're dependent upon that dollar bill. And so there are many reasons for why we've been deceived, why we're being lied to, for whatever they are. I'll give you.
So, Jesus, when he was talking about the temple, when he said, Not a stone will be left on the other, he also called them a brood of vipers and deceiving the people. And let me talk to you about what the temple was like in the day of Jesus. One, There were two high priests.
Well, that in no way, shape, or form. lines up with what The law says And Leviticus. You cannot have two high priests. Yet in the day of Jesus, they had two high priests. One Pharisee, one Sadducee, all because of politics.
And the priest said, Oh, we can change the law because we're the representatives of God. And God's like, No, that's not even in the word of God, but they do it. Modern preachers, Christian preachers, do that too. They add to the word of God.
So that's one. The other thing is, you've probably heard the story about. The priest would tie a rope around his ankle and put bells on it. And if the bells ever quit moving, they would drag the dead body of that priest out.
Well, here's the problem with that. That's smoke and mirrors. There's no way that could happen. And yes, they did it during the second temple because they were able to get away with it. Why were they able to get away with it?
Well, let's back up for a second. One, Yeah. There was no ark in a temple. When the ark was rebuilt, or when the temple was rebuilt after the 70-year Uh ye year time frame that Daniel prophesied about. Jeremiah Daniel Read with understanding what Jeremiah had said that in 70 years' time.
that the exiles would return to uh Jerusalem when David read that He then began him and several other preachers, Ezra, Haggai, all these guys, began to go back. And Cyrus said, Yep, go back. Here's some money. You can rebuild it.
So Nehemiah rebuilt the wall. Haggai brought some of the older exiles back, exiles who were well into their 70s at this point. And the reason we know that is because they had seen the temple when they were children. 70 years later, they're returning, and it says this in Haggai, first chapter, that when they saw the temple from the distance. Returning to Jerusalem, when they saw the second temple, which was still in existence when Jesus walked on the earth, they fell on the ground and they said, This: Is it not as if there's no prophet?
presence, no glory. on this temple. They could tell the difference because they'd seen the temple, the first temple, and the glory of the Lord that was on it, the presence that was on it.
Now they see the second temple, and there's no presence, there's no glory on it. And they fell down and cried. That temple was still in existence when Jesus walked on the earth. And so he sees the temple and he knows there's no presence. Why?
Because, one, there's no ark in there. The ark disappeared. Jeremiah and the people of the way did something with the ark, which we still don't know what's going on with that. But they got rid of the ark and the artifacts.
So the only miracle that ever took place that we have recorded that happened was in the outer court or in the inner court with the Maccabees where the oil didn't run out. But there was no ark inside the Holy of Holies, which means there was no presence of God in the Holy of Holies. And here's another little teaching that you can go study this for yourself. When the first temple, you remember how the story of Exodus, he said, I'll lead you fire by day or smoke by day and fire by night. That's true.
He did that. And then we know about the fire on Mount Sinai. That Sinai, when he came down out of the The Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, that's what we call the holiday or the feast of Pentecost.
Okay, so that's Pentecost. That's where Pentecost comes from. And so, Throughout all these scriptures or these feasts. Our holidays because of something significant that happened.
So we know that when Solomon dedicated the temple, the fire and the clouds showed up. And the presence of God entered, went from the tabernacle to the temple.
Okay, because they put the ark in the temple and everything transferred over to the temple. And then it says, Solomon did all these sacrifices and then he prayed, which he was not the high priest. Isn't that amazing? And he prayed. And when he prayed, the fire of God fell on the temple and accepted the sacrifice.
We know that even Elisha, when he gave that sacrifice with the false prophets, what happened? The fire fell and consumed or licked up the sacrifice.
Okay, so this is something that is recorded, and we're The Israelites were taught to teach it to their children's children.
So every year they would go in and they would sacrifice out in the outer court. And there's rules to this. You could just do whatever you wanted. God, read Leviticus. God is a very exacting God.
So, and we know that because remember, they were transporting the ark.
Somebody reached out, a priest reached out to stabilize, and he died instantly. We know Aaron's sons, they let the fire go out inside the Holy of Holies or inside the inner court.
So they lit their own fire, and God called that a strange fire because the only fire that could be lit to light the altar inside the inner court had to come from the brazen altar.
So the fire had to come from the brazen altar, which is a symbol of the cross.
So people say to you, oh, well, you can come to God many different ways. No, the only way you come to God is through the blood of the cross. That is the brazen altar. Then you can enter into the inner court, and the fire has to come from the cross.
So if that weren't the case, then God owes Aaron's sons. And Aaron, an apology, which, but they used strange fire. They came to the altar and entered into his presence with the wrong kind of fire. And so we know that God is an exacting God.
So, one thing we know is when the ark was placed, there were very specific rules about how the high priest could enter in. He only entered in on the day of penalty. Passover, and they would kill the animal exactly the way they were supposed to. He would then enter into the Holy of Holies. He had to be consecrated seven times.
He would go into the Holy of Holies with a cloud of smoke from incense between him and the altar. He would sprinkle the blood on the altar, and then he would not turn his back.
Meanwhile, as he's beginning to back out of the altar, out of the Holy of Holies, the people of Israel are outside singing specific psalms. There are psalms in the book of Psalms that the people would be in the outer court throughout the city surrounding the temple singing those psalms at a specific hour. They would be doing all of this. And then the high priest would back out as the people are worshiping God. He would back out.
And until he got into the outer court, he never turned his back on the presence of God. Then he would turn around and with his arms out to his side like a cross, he would say, It is finished.
So, if you think about all that that I just shared with you, I just kind of demonstrated to you exactly what happened on the day that Jesus was killed. He was killed on that day, and he could hear the songs being sung to him, he could hear all of that happening from Galgotha. And so when when The second temple came along. After the ark was disappeared, none of that happened. The high priest would go in.
Yeah, he'd sprinkle the blood. He would go in with that rope tied around his ankle. Why could he do all that? Why could a different high priest go in the next year? Why could they share the duties even though they weren't allowed to?
because there was no art, there was no presence on a second temple. And so I say to you, we have a picture of two different churches. We have the church. that has the fire, has the cloud, has the vapor. And has the evidence of it by the acceptance of the blood sacrifice on the day of Pentecost.
And then you have the modern church, the second-day church, the second temple that has no idea. And they're splitting duties. Their politics have entered in. They're using schemes like ropes around the ankle with bells on it. They're doing all these different things they were not supposed to do.
And I mean, just trash stuff, smoke and mirror stuff, all about keeping the money coming to the temple, all about keeping the Leviticus, the preachers in the good. And God, there are 242 verses in the word talking to these people, saying, you're in the wrong, and God's going to judge you. He's going to take care of this. And yet, Have you ever heard any of that from the pulpit in America? No, you you might have heard about the bell being tied around their ankle.
Well, the only reason that story exists is because it's smoke and mirrors, and they were able to get away with it because there was no altar in the temple. And yet, when Jesus died, When he died, and the earthquake happened, the eclipse happened, all of that happened. It says that the temple curtain, which was three inches thick, ripped from top down. And I love that because it did two things. A lot of people say, I grew up hearing this, not grew up in a church, but when I became a Christian, I heard this one time, and I've since learned it's not true.
Sounds good, but it's not true. Oh, it was ripped from top to bottom because God was ripping it to let the Holy Spirit out. Uh no. I mean, outside of the omnipotent Omnipotent presence of God. There was no Holy Spirit in there.
Because there was no altar in there. The reason it was ripped from top to bottom is, yes, because God did it to expose the lie. To expose the lie that there was no altar in the temple. He tore those curtains down so all the people looking over the shoulder of the high priest who's saying it is finished could see. There's no alter in there.
Here's another thing that did not happen in the second-day church. You know, people say, Is this as good as it gets, Brother John? Is there more? And I say, There's absolutely more. But the problem is, you don't have the fire in the cloud.
you don't have the presence of God. And they go, what do you mean? I said, you don't have the presence of God. I'll give you an example. In the first temple, one high priest would go in and sprinkle the blood on the altar.
He would back out, do his duties correctly. He would say to the people, it is finished. They would have to wait 50 days. In that meantime, who cleaned the altar? Who took the blood?
off the altar. No one did. The blood was cleaned off the altar on the day of Pentecost when the fire and the smoke showed up. And it was a visible sign. to the people, to the nation.
that the offering was accepted. Didn't need a priest. Because God showed up. in blood, fire, and vapor of smoke. to say The sacrifice has been accepted for another year.
So, what happened after Jesus? The curtain is rent from top to bottom. There's no altar, which means there's no blood sacrifice. But what happened on the day of Pentecost? Acts two four.
And all at once in the place that they were gathered, a mighty rushing wind filled. and what looked like tongues of fire sat on them. The blood had been accepted. The sacrifice. and and and of and obedience of Jesus.
had been accepted. By God. That's what that is. That's what it is. And so, you know, think about it.
If you were living in the church in the second day. And your kid said, Dad. Why do we do what we do? Because the scriptures, the Leviticus and... The scriptures, the law taught The people teach this to your children's children.
You tell these stories. You tell all this to your children. And so, as they would travel on their journey to these. Festivals like Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, they would be expecting to see the firefall. That's how they knew.
And they would share that story and it would encourage them and edify them. But then in the second temple, none of that happened. Why? Because there was no art.
So now the story that one generation had witnessed and another generation is gone. Most of them are gone. A few saw the second temple. who had seen the first, but the but a generation had to die off. And when that Next generation, the grandchildren came.
came back to Israel. And They never saw what their grandparents had seen. or told them. And what would that do to you? How desperate would you become?
How And how much would you ask? Is this as good as it gets? Isn't there more?
Meanwhile, the Spirit of God is saying yes, yes, yes. And so There's two churches. Two different churches. And you've got the one that had the presence of God, the blood, fire, and vapor, smoke. Then you had the one that did not.
But they had all the smoke and mirrors. They had the double priesthood. They had the rope tied around the ankle. They had the empty altar. They never saw the power of God and the acceptance of the sacrifice on the day of Pentecost.
Never saw any of that. And that's where you and I live now. We are coming into a day and age where the bride and the church are about to collide and collide hard. And I'm saying to you that the church is running out of excuses. The church is running out of what it's doing.
There are more people leaving the church than there are joining the church, and that's been ongoing since the 80s. Since the early 80s. And they and why do they leave? Because that question. Is it not as if there's no glory on this church?
That is the question of the day and the age. Is there as if there is no glory on this church? Because there's not. There's glory on the bride. Just glory on the bride.
That's where it is. The fire, the oil is with the bride. Their lamp is lit, and I'm telling you, they're out there. They're out there, but you have to say, I want that. Show me where they are, God.
They're out there. You've got to go find them. If not, you've got to become them. You need to be doing what you're supposed to do to fulfill your own role as part of the bride. And it is not.
The church system. The church system, as most of you know it, is broken. It's broken. Show me in scripture where it says pastors are in charge. Much less pastors are charging the money.
And then some of you go, oh, well, no, no, no, the apostles are the head. Really? Show me that in scripture. Because it doesn't say that. What it does say is the prophet, apostle, pastor, teacher, and evangelists are for the perfecting of the saints.
Perfecting of the saints. But yet we've turned it into: let me serve and protect and help all these ministry gifts. The ministry gifts are servants. not masters. But that's not what you see in the church today.
in the church system. And so, what I want to say to you is, you need to seek out. God's face on this matter for yourself. Where have your eyes of understanding been closed? to things And that's why you're stuck where you are.
If Paul said, I pray that your eyes of understanding will be enlightened, that you may know the hope to which you've been called. And so you see, that hope is out there. It's like a carrot out in front of you. But you keep reaching for it, but you don't know because why? They're not telling you, they're not teaching you.
They're not edifying you. Saying, go for it, go for it, go for it. They're not doing that. They're saying show up. Be a part of what we're doing.
Be a part of my vision. Be a part of what I'm. And listen, there's a place for all of that. But at some time, I would think maybe at least after three and a half years. You begin to do it on your own.
See, Paul even said we need to leave behind the elementary teachings in Hebrews. He talked about that. But how many of us keep having to go back to the elementary teachings? How many Sunday mornings are you going to go back to your church and get the elementary teaching instead of becoming mature and attaining to the fullness of God? Ephesians prayer, Paul again.
You see, the goal, the end game is not you and I would go to church until the day we die and never find out what we're supposed to do. The end game is not that you and I give all of our money and all of our time and all of our whatever we've got to the church And help that man fulfill his vision when God's saying to you that all of creation, Romans 8:19, is waiting with eager expectations. For you, you, if you were listening to this, that's your word. You don't have to like the way I've said things right here. You don't have to like everything that I've said, but I'm telling you, the word says that all of creation is waiting.
For you. To become a son of God, a child of God. With eager expectation. But yet, what are you going to do? You're going to keep doing everything the way it is.
And then, when you meet me, you see me, or you see somebody like me, and go, Is this as good as it gets? Why can't I do what you do?
Well, it's your own fault. I'm sorry, it's your own fault. Yes, maybe there's some deception, and yes, you've been deceived, and yes, yes, I understand that. But at this point, why are you not questioning? Why are you not digging for the truth?
Why are you not reading your word? Why are you not fasting and praying and asking God to open your eyes of understanding? I mean, you can call me whatever ministry gift you want. You can call me a jerk. I don't care.
I've been called every one of those names in the book. Oh, prophet, this, apostle, this, evangelist. I'm like, no, no, no, no. I don't care about any of that. You know what I care about?
I care about that the person in front of me is becoming what they're supposed to become in the nature of God. See, my focus is not on the title, my focus is on the mission. And the mission of any preacher, of any preacher. is to edify and perfect and bring the church into maturity. Interesting.
being a bride prepared for his return.
Okay. And so, yes, I'm an absolute believer there's going to be a lot that are left behind. I'm an absolute believer that the revival has already begun. Most people are not seeing it. You're not seeing it.
And you're going to have that heart cry all your life of why, why is there not more? Is it not as if the glory on the church is not there? What's going on? You have that heart cry. But it's not on a preacher.
To change your heart. It's on you. I cannot, my revelation and studying of the word and my knowledge of the word does you no good. I could sit here and quote scripture for you all afternoon. And it does you absolutely no good unless you act on it.
You have to act on it. I mentioned earlier, and I didn't finish this, Romans 8. Chapter 8 verses Romans chapter 13, verses 8 through 10. In verse 8, he used the word agapeo, which is, I told you this, is the practicing of love. the daily practice of love, meaning you're leaving.
Your house, you're going out and you're interacting with people, even some you may not want to have to interact. You may get cussed up one side, down the other, you may have people try to take advantage of you.
Okay, but go out and love, practice, and you'll get better at it. You'll get better at it. I mentioned earlier about that friend of mine that was arguing with me for months and months and months, and then he disappeared. He quit arguing. Then he came back after six months and says, I've been doing what you said, and my walk with God has changed.
I'm beginning to see things. I'm understanding things. I'm beginning to experience God like I've never experienced. Why? Because he took his eyes off of himself and he began to do what was required of him outside of his home.
Outside of his own self, he went out and did. What are you supposed to do? in the streets loving people, trying, trying. to love people. And it revolutionized his walk.
And he said to me, he goes, my walk with God has not been like this since when I first got saved. He said, when I first got saved, it was so glorious, so amazing. He goes, I remember waking up and it was like every day was exciting and new, and everything looked different. He goes, and I lost that for 30 years. And then I got mad because you tried to tell me about it.
He goes, so then when I did what you said and I just started focusing on others, I started taking care of others. He goes, It came back. After thirty years it came back. And so Romans. 13 verse 8, he uses that word agapeo, and he says, Therefore, those who agapeo.
Fulfill the law.
So, those who practice the law of love on a daily basis fulfill the law. Verse 9, he deals with the commandments that specifically talk about how we treat others. Hmm. Isn't that interesting? How we treat others totally reflects on our agapeo, our practice.
But then, verse 10, he uses a different word. If you read it in English, it almost sounds like he's repeating himself, but he's not because he uses a different word. He doesn't use the word agapeo, he uses the word agape. This is the noun of love. It is who God is, it is who you and I were created to be.
You and I are created in the image of God. John 1, 1 John says, God is love. That's the image of God. God is the image of love. The image of love is God.
That's why Jesus came here and became a demonstration of that image in earth. For he so loved. He's so loved. He's so agapeoed that he was so full of love that he had the love. You and I, our destiny, our goal in life, our purpose is to become love.
And so here we see in Romans 13, he says in verse 10, he says, So therefore, the person who is love, The noun. See, you've become a noun. He's not talking about God, he's talking about you and I. When you and I become love, we fulfill the law.
So, there's two ways we can fulfill the law: we become love and we. Practice love. And what I would tell you is that by practicing love, You become love. And it and it's addictive. It's fun.
It's amazing. You begin to see things and do things and be in places that you're like, how did this happen? And you'll look at your spouse, you'll look at people you know, and go, wow, I can't, I'm amazed that that happened. You know, that's, I know that's what most of you want. You want that.
You remember that movie, The Incredibles? Remember that movie? And in the movie, Mr. Incredible is coming home from his doldrum work every day. And at one day, the kid is that kid on that bicycle with the bubble gum.
Is staring at Mr. Incredible. Mr. Incredible says, What are you looking for? He goes, and the kid says, Something amazing, I guess.
I'm telling you, you can be something amazing. And the world, Romans 8:19, all of creation is waiting for you to become.
Something amazing. It's in you. It's you have that ability. You've got to make changes. You've got to study the word.
You've got to have conversations with God.
Well, Brother John, I don't know. Just start. Make a cup of coffee. Go outside. Sit down.
Leave the phone and leave all the internet stuff in the house, go outside, sit down under a tree. They just start talking. And what if I don't hear anything? Good. Get up the next morning and do it again.
And In between those two times, Try to love somebody. You see somebody on the side of the road with a broken tire. Talk to him. Help them. Oh, brother, I don't just help them.
Not everybody out there is trying to murder and kidnap you. You know, I know that's that's fear. You know, there are people that have needs that you can meet those needs, and nobody needs to know. Nobody needs to know. I share examples of it, but I do it all the time.
So much so that there's places I don't go to anymore because when I walk in, people recognize me.
So, I don't go to those places. And probably one of the greatest insults I've ever had is somebody said to me, Oh, well, that's just your flow with God. And yet, this was a person who had been a Christian longer than me, had been preaching the gospel longer than me, and they're going, Well, that's just your flow with God. That is not my flow with God, that is God's flow with the bride. With the bride.
You can see miracles, signs, and wonders. You can see lives change. You can see people. Become hungry for God, and you can see it in their eyes. I'm not going up to people like if I'm at a restaurant and the man in front of me, you know, and the Lord's, or I just feel like I'm going to pay for that man's meal.
I don't do this. Here's what I don't do: I don't pay for the meal and then turn around and go, God says if you don't repent, God says if you don't get your heart right. I don't do that. I don't do that. If I see somebody broke down on the side of the road and say, hey, can I help you?
What do you need? I don't get a door open through love and then turn around and rail on them for sin. I don't do that. People already know their issues. And let me explain it to you like this.
Think about the upper room. Peter had denied Christ three times. denied Christ three times. Thomas was doubting that Jesus was raised from the dead. The other people who were in there were hiding from the Romans and they were scared and in fear.
So their sin abounds in this room. And they're all up there hiding. And then Jesus walks through the wall. And did he walk in and start railing on them about their sin? Did he start naming all their sins?
Did he have a word of knowledge and begin to point out all the sin in the room? No. He walked in and he said, Peace. He loved them. and accepted them and encouraged them and edified them.
You know, I can tell you that. In 30 years of this, I have. A few times Been allowed to see Sin. And it's somebody's life. A few times.
The majority of the times. If I've seen that three times, probably the other thousand times. That God has had me speak to people. and many of them imperfect people. He shows me the goal.
He shows me the desire. He shows me where they're supposed to go. He doesn't show me their sin. Isn't that amazing? And that's exactly what I see in Scripture.
What does he say? He says, go sin no more. He didn't call them out. And yet even think about the the the woman Who was caught in adultery? It was the religious leaders who were calling out her sin.
And then Jesus stoops down and writes in the dirt. As if He was the one who wrote the law. He put his dirt, his finger in the dirt, just like he did on Mount Sinai, and wrote the law. He never called out her sin. He just said, go sin no more.
He loved her. It was the religious leaders, the religious people who were pounding them for their sin. I believe with all of my heart, with all of my soul, with everything that is within me, that if you're struggling, If you will begin to walk in love and act in love, even though you carry that guilt and that condemnation. It'll melt off of you. you'll begin to find freedom.
The perfect answer for sin It is to walk with God and love relationship because it will draw you out of that. It'll draw your desire away. You will become hungry for the things of God, hungry for a move of God. that you won't want to do those things. I can tell you that when the Lord dealt with me about alcohol, I was able to drop it.
in a heartbeat. You know, the Lord said to me, I want all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind. And that word mind was like, earth shattering in my head. And I realized I gotta quit the social media. And I had the power to do it.
And so I say these things to you because our focus is not on the sin consciousness. Our focus is on the eternal consciousness, the eternal purpose, that your eyes of understanding may be enlightened. Not so that you know your sin, but the eyes of your understanding be enlightened that you may know the hope for which he's called you. What is the hope for which he's called you? I can tell you.
It's to become love. To walk in love and become love. That's the end game. When you become love, you become a child of God. Think of that.
That's it. I mean, it's so simple, but yet it's so. It's a battle. It's Romans 6. Because Paul even said, when I endeavor to do good, sin is right there with me.
Yep. That's right. And so I say all this to you to tell you: there are two churches. Which one are you? Do you want to be a part of the systematic church?
That has no altar, has no presence, has no glory, and leaves people asking, oh, is it as good as it gets? Or do you want to be part of the bride? Do you want to begin to walk in and experience the things that God has for you? Do you want to be the person that people say, call him when you're sick, call him when you need a miracle sign and wonder? Do you want to be that person?
Do you want to be the person that says people go, oh, well, that's just your flow? Listen. Who I am today versus who I was 30 years are two different people. But it's not because something special's happened to me that others don't have. Everything that I've experienced and I've seen and I've done.
Is open and available for everyone else. I don't have partners. I have people that give to us once or twice a year. I mean, we probably have a few thousand dollars a year come in from outside sources. The rest of it, I pay for with my blood, sweat, and tears.
with my work. I'd love for somebody to write a big check. But I believe in what I'm teaching and what we're doing so much. that I'll pay for it myself until others. or God provides.
I don't need any of the church system to do it. To obey God. And neither do you. Oh, brother John. Hey, stop going, oh me, oh my.
Stop coming up with excuses and say, God. Here's what I got. What can I do with it today? Hey God, You know, I get up many mornings and say, hey. Who we talking to today, Lord?
What's your plan today, Lord? While I'm on my way to work. Hey, God. Who do we need to talk to today for you? On my way to work.
It works. And I get to see things and do things that people go, oh, I wish I could do. Oh, you're just a miracle sign of one worker. No. I'm just like you.
I'm just like you. I have to renew my mind. I have to get in the word. I didn't even want to do this show. I didn't want to do this show.
I've been fighting for weeks. We just got back two weeks ago from overseas, and I preached my guts out.
Okay. So much so that Sunday morning, there were so many miracles. I gave the rest of it out three days, four days of preaching. And I did like 20 hours of radio shows while I was there. And by Sunday morning, I was preaching just Sure off.
inspiration is all I can tell you. And when it got done, I went back to the hotel, and nobody in the meeting knew this. Nobody saw any of this. I got back to the hotel. I didn't even want to get out of the car.
And I sat in the in the vehicle. Just exhausted. Empty. And I said to the God, I said, Sir, I really don't want to talk to you right now. I'm a little bit.
scared of you. I said, I'm a little bit frightened, God. I don't know what to say to you because this week has been so amazing that so many people were blessed, so many miracles happened, and so much happened, and you just go. Wow, it scared me. It scared me.
It reminded me who he was and who I wasn't. Does that make sense? And so I say this to you because I'm a guy that I'm married, I have kids, and my kids aggravate me sometimes, but I'm going to miss them when they're gone. You know, my Wife left the cabinet door this morning and she was on the other side of the kitchen. We were cooking, and I reached up and shut it.
I thought, boy, some things haven't changed in 27 years. But I love that woman. I'm so grateful for that woman. And so I don't say these things. You go, oh, he just digged into us.
No, I say that to tell you: listen, I'm a man. I'm a man. I'm a man, though, that believes the word. and the spirit. You can call me up, you can debate me, and I say this at all of our conferences.
I don't mind debating. But there's one rule to our debate, there's one judge to our debate, and that's the word of God. If you have something you want to say or something that you believe is right, then show it to me in the Word of God. If you cannot show it to me in the Word of God, we're not going there because that's what I'm going to use as a judge. is the Word of God.
And so I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to say, oh, you know, I don't accept your opinion. No, but God's love for you outweighs your opinion. My love for you outweighs your opinion and my opinion of you.
So, the best way to avoid it. or avoid opinions is to use the word of God. Use the word of God. You know, and now I'm also a spirit guy, so I absolutely believe in the blood, fire, vapor, and smoke. I absolutely believe miracles, signs, and wonders.
I believe all of that. I'm not interested. in debating People for the sake of debating. And there's a particular group of people you get around and all they want to do is debate and argue. I'm like, yeah, nope, uh-uh.
not interested because, you know, Unless you've got something more. I'm pretty content. I just want more of God. I want to be consumed. I want to be so full.
of his love and grace that you know Mm. The shadow. Heals people. Why not? It's happened before.
Then it happened with Peter and Paul. Peter at the uh It says that he was walking in even a shadow. was healing people. Why can't that be my flow with God? Why can't it be your flow with God?
It's it's it it's possible. If it's in the Word, it's possible. And so I want to share with you that, yes, there's two churches, and we're closing. There's two churches. One's the bride and one is the system, and the system is broken.
and the system's going to be left on the outside. Look it in. There's no way I mean there's No other way to put it. And and it's be and they've done a lot of good things. But they don't have the presence, they don't have the anointing, they don't have the oil.
So You know, I want to challenge you. to escape and figure out what it means to be the bride. You've got to start loving. And you've got to become love. I mean, that's what it boils down to.
You've got to become love. And as you become love, you'll start loving others the way God loves them. Even people who don't agree with you. People who don't look the same. They're out there and they're waiting for you.
to become what all of creation is waiting for you to become. Remember what Paul said. He said, All he said, This he said, I pray that your eyes of understanding would be enlightened, that you may know the hope to which. Has called you. He goes on to say that being rooted and grounded in love, may come to know.
With the rest of the saints.
So he wants you and all the rest of the saints to come to know this love. And he goes on to say, he ends the prayer with this, that you become. that you attain to the fullest measure of Christ. And what is the fullest measure of Christ? Love.
Love. You become a creature of love, a being of love, which is the image that. Man was originally created in. The spirit is love. And when you're born again, that love was deposited in your heart.
Romans 5, 5, 5, 8. That was deposited in your love. It is your job to exercise it, grow it, and. become agape. That's the goal.
That's the end game. If you want to be a part of the bride, you've got to get away from the deception of the church system and the religious leaders of the second-day church and become. Love. That's all there is to it. and then you will hear well done, thy good and faithful servant.
So we love you. We appreciate you. We are glad you're listening. Remember. Remember this.
Jesus loves people. And love never fails. Colour.
