Full Redemption
Thank you, Jesus. You have given to us that we might become as you are. Lord Jesus reveal yourself unto this people that we may truly know you as you are in this world. God reveal yourself to us today that we might worship you in truth and holiness. We give you glory for all you have done and are yet doing and shall do in our midst and in the world. God we thank you this day for the privilege of proclaiming your work that we may be obedient servants unto you, Oh Lord, to take this gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. We give you glory now. We praise you Lord. We thank you for the word that you are going to give to us this morning. We ask you to open our hearts and ears to receive it. Let us obey it. We give you glory for it Jesus in your wonderful name Amen.
Turn to Micah 4: 10: “Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
11: Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.”
Chapter 5: 1: “Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
2: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be rule in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3: Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4: And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5: And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.”
Verse 2: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3: Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4: And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.”
We’re talking about Jesus; speaking about Bethlehem. He’s speaking about the city in which Jesus was born. God has given unto us His Son. He is speaking of Him in Micah and this 4th verse, “And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.” The fourth chapter of Micah is about Jesus and we want to give you what God has given you concerning Him.
We know He was born where the Bible says He was born. God kept His word. If He has kept His word down through the years He’s going to keep His word to us. We’re living in a generation that’s been blessed by Him. He didn’t give it to the generations before He gave it to us. What did He give to us? He has given to us the revelation of Jesus Christ, the resurrection power of Jesus, the mighty Christ, the living God, Christ the Son of man and Christ the Son of God.
When He was born He was called Jesus. He shall save His people from their sins. We are speaking about a savior; we are speaking about a deliverer, a king, and ruler. He has not chosen a temple of buildings, but temples of clay; these temples of clay. He has chosen to live in our temples of clay. We should be honored; we should respect the temple that He has chosen. He didn’t choose it because it was so beautiful. He chose us because He wanted to make us beautiful. We can’t do it in our selves. Praise God He’s the changer of lives. We have to let Him do it. He was born in a stable. He had a manger for a bed. He has given us His kingdom, power and glory.
Why are we sitting here like paupers? We are blessed beyond anything. We are blessed beyond our understanding and knowledge. We are blessed in the eternal plan of God. What are we going to do with it? We are going to let Him do what He will do with it. He has chosen earthly vessels. Maybe your vessel wasn’t like mine. My vessel had to have a lot of things taken out of it. Sometimes it wasn’t easy. Sometimes we bucked up against it. Then we realized He’s perfecting us so that He can live in us. We don’t have to live in our stinking flesh and anger and all that goes with it. We can give it to Jesus and He will clean us up. He will bring into us His life.
I read in His word He wants to make us as He is. He became nothing that we might become somebody. He came out of the realm of glory with everything that we don’t know anything about. We don’t know what Jesus had in heaven, but we need to know that He left it all for us, to become the son of man, that we might become the sons of God. I’d like for it to soak in.
I was in India having dinner with the Assistant of Air India Lines in his home with his family. There was a young man there a young Hindu I think. He asked me a question. He said isn’t any religion alright if you believe in it? About that time something happened to me. I don’t know what happened. The Lord took over. He said He would not hold anybody guiltless who rejected His son because it was through His son that we are redeemed and the only entrance into heaven is through Jesus.
I often wondered why the world treated God the way they treated Him. He is my heavenly Father. I can’t imagine anybody mistreating Him. I said, “Lord, they swear at you they call you evil they say all manner of things against you falsely and you let them get by with it.” So He loved me enough to straighten a few things out for me. He took me into the heavens. I don’t know what I said to those people as I sat at that dinner table. But He lifted me by the spirit and took me into the realm of eternity. I heard the conversation of the Son and the Father before the foundation of the world. They were discussing the creation of the world of man and also that He would give life. He was slain before the foundation of the world.
As I listened I begin to hear the very heart beat of God: His love for His Son and the price He would have to pay. God knew what would happen to the creation that He made; but He also knew what His Son would do. The Father knew that He would so love this world He would create, that He was going to sacrifice His son as a Savior to this world. As I watched this and heard it, I knew we don’t need to exist. He can make a puff of wind and we would all be gone if He wanted to; but He so loved us that Jesus died for us. The Father so loved us that He gave His son to us that He might show the world who Jesus is.
In Micah He is speaking about the birth of Jesus and what Jesus would do in the world. The word that stuck with me so strongly is the 4th verse. “And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.”
We haven’t seen that yet. We are about to see it. The Lord took me into the realm of eternity and showed me the heart of God, my heavenly Father. He showed how great was this love that God wants in our hearts and lives and the only way we can love God is through His love. The only way we can have God’s love is through Jesus. So what we need to do is surrender our lives to Jesus and let His blood cleanse us from all sin. He wants to do more than cleanse us.
I want to tell you as I went on with the Lord in that revelation I went to the birth of Jesus down through the centuries when He was resurrected from the dead. The dead in Christ arose, then I saw a heavenly host, a multitude of people making ready for the bride to come. They weren’t feeling sorry for you if you were going through your flesh they were looking at us hoping that we will shed the flesh quickly so that we can put on the garments of the Lord.
I praise God for the worship; this is what God has given to us. Fear not be not discouraged, God is able to do for us what we aren’t able to do for ourselves. He’s the changer of lives is what it’s all about. There’s a scripture in Hebrews that says there’s heavenly Hosts that are looking down on us, anxiously waiting for us.
I know a lot of people don’t believe in perfection but I don’t know how they are going to get to heaven without it. Jesus didn’t go through that just to do a half way job. He did a perfect work. It’s us that do a half way job! God’s not going to let us get by with that; I let you know that. We have to allow Him to clean our whole house. God gave me a vision one time of a mansion. It was a beautiful mansion but it was filthy. He said, “This is the way you were to me. I bought you as you were now I’m going to clean you up. You are like this mansion; cob webs, black walls, filth all over the place” and then the Lord said, “I’m going to rejuvenate I’m going to change you. You see if we would let Him do it.
We say, “I love you. I will let you clean my house” but the other rooms are locked. That’s the way we want to serve the Lord. That isn’t the way we are going to serve the Lord. We either open the whole house to him or He won’t take any of it. You buy a house and the former owner wants to live in that house and you pay for a whole house and he keeps three fourths of it. I don’t think that’s going to work. It’s the same way with Jesus we can’t half way serve Him. We have to come with all our heart, with all our soul, mind, and strength; body, mind and soul. Jesus paid that price. I don’t know maybe you don’t think heaven is worth that, but I tell you hell isn’t worth it.
I was 11 years old and I was supposed to take the place of a Mother. It was kind of heavy because they said, “You are my sister I don’t have to obey you.” I got discouraged and I threw everything overboard. When I was 16 I had gone pretty far down. Not angry with God, but angry with the whole situation. One night the Lord spoke to me. He showed me hell. He took the lid off it. It was very real. He said, “Agnes if you don’t serve me, that’s where you are going.” I surrendered my life to Him knowing that only He could save me from that pit. It is only He that can save us from hell. There’s no other way to go but through Jesus. We can’t play games with Him. He didn’t play games with our salvation. He paid the full price for us. Why do we think we can play games with him? We can’t, we have to be honest and open before God and know Jesus is the way, the truth and the light of the world. God has called us in this hour in new dimensions and the past isn’t known, it’s forgotten. He wants us to go forth. He’s getting ready to bring forth an army. He says, “Get your troops ready.” He’s talking to the old daughter of troops. He told me one time I was a general in the army. I was shocked I couldn’t see I was anything, but I’m not the general He is. I just let Him be the general. He is ready to bring His troops.
In this world we are seeing things happening in America. This wonderful country God has given to us they want to destroy it. If we love our country we better not forget to pray for our country, because God is getting ready to move in a mighty way. To the world you aren’t of any value; but to God you are everything. You are the ones He’s counting on to carry this gospel to the ends of the earth. We don’t live back there in the past we live here. We don’t have much time. If we think we do, we are mistaken but we only need God’s time. We need to allow Him to prepare us quickly, thoroughly, completely in His plan and purpose. We can’t stubbornly oppose what God is doing. We have to arise and go forth in the name of Jesus. Jesus is the captain, the host, Jesus in us that’s going to accomplish it. He is preparing us for that which we need out there. It’s very essential if you are in training here that you take heed to what is being done by the spirit of the Lord. It is very essential for you not to fight against the training of the Lord. Looking on it, it doesn’t look like anything.
When Jesus was born in a manger He looked like an ordinary baby. Without even a home or a bed, but He was the savior of the world. Jesus has called us to obey Him. He said I have finished the work. He said to the Father, “I have completed what you gave me to do now I give that work to you.”
What are we going to do? A lot of people don’t believe in missionaries. I believe we are all missionaries if we believe in Christ. Jesus so loved the world that He gave Himself. God so loved the world that He gave His son. We must so love the world for their salvation and allow Jesus to come forth in us. Our light must be bright in the darkness. His love must be the domineering factor in the light. His joy and peace must be in us and our lives must represent His righteousness, His holiness. The price that He paid for us was full redemption through His blood and in His name for His glory. He will use us if we will honor Him and let Him become all in all to us. It isn’t too difficult if we believe. There is a little word Jesus said, if only we believe.
I never had any trouble believing; therefore I don’t have any trouble receiving. I’m not a beggar; I’m an obedient servant unto the most-high God. He wants to be the one who rules and reigns in us. Why don’t we let Him? Why do we fight it? Why do we want to attain our own identity when we can have the identity of Christ? I don’t have any identity of my own. I only want Jesus to be my identity.
They asked me to make a tape for the Philippines. I had no desire to do it because I have no desire to be on television. I didn’t want to do it. I believe if I were there I know what I would do. I wanted to send someone in my place but they didn’t want anyone in my place. They wanted me to speak. It was difficult because I’m not one to push myself in the forefront. I’d rather have Jesus in the forefront.
Today I give Him glory. We want the spirit of the Lord to rule in this place. We desire that every person that is here for training will take heed to the Lord. It may look like you are scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen. You are a mighty man of God and you’re stooping to do dishes, or scrubbing floors. Think about Jesus. He had no place to lay His head. God has given us a beautiful place to be trained. We must come under His training. People say your people are such servants. No they aren’t. They are filled with God’s love and they are obedient to the Lord and to serve you. It isn’t what they are doing that is great. It’s what is in us that we are offering to you that is great; His love, His peace and His joy and we are glad to impart it to you. It is yours for the taking if you want it. It is the Lord to be honored it is the Lord that is changing our lives; taking out the old. Taking out bitterness, jealousness, anger, envy, and strife and putting in there His love. Love for people that we hated! He took it all out and gave us His peace. The anger we have He will take it.
Something happened this week with one of our men and he was rejoicing because he was raised in certain country and I know those people very well, because my husband was one of them. They aren’t so easily persuaded. But everything is in the young man’s life would rise up. The other night when Brother Andrew prayed for him, he felt the Lord doing surgery on his brain. God reached in and took something out. He realized God was transforming his life. Something was happening to him, he was moving chairs and he couldn’t move anything. Someone looks at him and says stand behind that person or they are going to fall. He couldn’t answer. The person got upset. What’s happening to him?
He came to me later. “I want to tell you what happened tonight” he said. “When the brethren were praying for me, God did surgery on my brain. I could feel it all through my body.” When this person yelled at him he couldn’t answer; but there was a time when he would have rose up in defense. But there was nothing there. It was gone. He came to me very excited and happy. I told him that is Isaiah 26. We see these miracles, wrought by God to change our lives.
I want to read this scripture to you. God did this many years ago. It was to affect my life. I was going backward instead of forward. One day the Lord shook me. He said, “I ask you to let go of that situation and you have not let go of it. If you don’t let go of it you will be destroyed by it. I’ve asked you now I command you.” It’s different when God asks, but now He commands you, we better hear it when He commands it to be done. So I said, “Lord I give it to you.” Do you know what He did for me and I didn’t know Isaiah 26 then. I read it years later and I realized what God was doing for me. He took from me everything that I had been disturbed about. He took it away completely. Then He did something in my mind that the memory of it couldn’t remain in my mind and it never affected me again.
This is God’s creative miracle that He wants to do in everyone’s life. This is why Jesus died for us that we might be changed with a new mind, heart and spirit; that we my walk in His spirit that He may lead us in the way, the way of His righteousness and His peace.
I want to close with this one word here. I want you to remember it. Isaiah 26:12.
12: “LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
13: O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
14: They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.”
This is ours today. This is a part of His redemption. We don’t have to live in the past or be tormented by the past. He will take it and destroy it and give us His peace.
The first thing Jesus said to His disciples when He came up out of the tomb and He met with them, “Peace, my peace I give to you.” That’s what He has for us. This Jesus who paid the price for our redemption so we could be filled with all of His glory and transformed into His own likeness! He became poor that we might become rich. He gave it all up that we might have everything. For “…God hath wrought all our works in us….” so if there are works in you that you don’t know what to do with give them to God, He will take it. If there are Lords there, that are tormenting you, he will take them out and destroy them.
We can rest in His peace and joy. This Jesus of Calvary, this Jesus the Son of man, the Son of God, who became of no reputation to bring us into the position where He could change us from these temples of flesh into temples of the Lord. He will dwell in us that He might use us to go to the ends of the earth to bring this gospel of the kingdom to every creature. It’s our part in His plan today. The plan which God has laid before us!
Maybe this training that He gives us seems too simple to you, maybe you think you are already trained in it; but there is a definite reason why God brings us this way. One thing is to change us. We get set in our own habit patterns, thought patterns and our own religion. We feel that religion is better than any other religion and we get bound by it. Maybe you can do it a lot better than we do it. That’s alright if you can. We’re not saying we are the best, we are saying we are obedient servants to the Lord.
There’s something inside of every human being that doesn’t want to bow. We think we are sufficient unto ourselves. Jesus has to shake us up. You might be able to do the job 100 times better, but that’s not the point. Jesus said, “Do it this way.” What do you think that’s for? Why do you think He insists on you doing it that way? One thing is we are full of pride and He wants to bring us down. Not to humiliate us; but to give us His humility that we might walk in His love and communicate with all people of all nations and let them know God loves them.
I’ve heard complaints in other countries and I’ve been very embarrassed by it; but if we go there in the name of the Lord and full of His love and compassion, even to the cannibal villages, they will hear what you have to say because God’s love is penetrating through all those countries. If we are going to make it in this army of the Lord, if we are going to be used of Him to the ends of the earth something has to happen to us. There has to be something within us that is going to ride the storm; that will ride all these things. And this Jesus has purposed that He shall arise in us and He shall take us to the ends of the earth with this gospel.
Then suddenly when He’s taking us to the ends of the earth we are going to hear the trumpet sound. The Lord is going to say, “It is finished.” This is what Jesus has for us today. Don’t sit and wait for Him. Arise and let Him use you. Let His spirit use you. Let us realize the greatest spirit anyone can have in this world is for Jesus to have us. Let Him use us to do this work in the last days.
Father, we thank you for this word. Stir our hearts as they’ve never been stirred before, that we may shake off the weights that have so easily beset us. That we may run the race that is set before us that we may do exactly what you have called us to do in the spirit of the Lord in your name Jesus. We thank you for the mighty plan of the redemption; but also the redemption of the multitudes out there to the ends of the earth. Mighty God this day we pray that you will drop in our hearts a burden and concern, a passion for those that have no one to pray or care whether they know or not. Bring forth the gospel in these places. That the world might know who Jesus is.
We give you glory Jesus. Spirit of the living God, make us what you would have us to be. Bless these people this day. We give you glory. In your wonderful name we pray Jesus. Amen.
February 5, 1995
