“A People For His Rest: Zeph. 3:16-17”
Heavenly Father for demonstration of your love this afternoon. We thank you Lord Jesus this great love and compassion that you have for all mankind. We thank you blessed spirit of God. We honor your presence this afternoon to move in our midst. Pray Lord that our hearts shall be opened, our ears shall be opened to hear and to receive and to obey. Oh God we pray with thanksgiving with grateful hearts and thankful hearts. We come before you this afternoon. We thank you Lord Jesus that you made that way for us that we might have You abiding within us. Oh Lord Jesus this afternoon we pray the spirit of the living God’s hand move on every one of our hearts such as we have never known before. We might become more aware that the Lord our God in the midst of us is mighty. Oh God we thank You.
We thank You for this Training Center. We thank You for Van and Kathy and all these precious people that You have formed for Yourself that they may show forth Your praise and Your glory. Oh Jesus we pray that in this camp meeting Your praise shall be Your glory shall be in the midst of us. That oh God as we honor Your name, as we honor your word, as we give unto You all the praise and glory Lord You will honor us with Your glorious presence. Lord Jesus we thank You now as we abide in You and Your word abides in us so we can ask what we will in Your name and You would give it to us. Lord we’re asking now, the Holy Spirit to come in our midst in a greater way than we have ever known and reveal Yourself to each and every one of us. Oh mighty God we thank You now and give You glory in the wonderful name Jesus we ask it. Amen.
This morning the Lord was saying to me that He wanted us this day to praise Him. Now we, with the high praises of God in our mouth and a two edged sword in our hand, God’s given us a work to do. Amen? Read the 149 Psalm. He said, “This army hath all the saints.” Some of us don’t pick up the sword very much do we? Some of us don’t hear what He’s saying. But the Lord is saying with the high praises of God in our mouth and the two edged sword in our hand we can execute vengeance upon the heathen. And that don’t mean go out to people, it means goes out to principalities and powers that bind those people and set the captives free. You bind those princes, rulers, and princes, kings, rulers. Kings, you bind them with fetters. That’s what our intercession does. Bind them with fetters of iron so they can’t get free any more. Amen. So God is calling out and choosing people whose going to do exactly what He wants them to do.
The Lord said He created man for His to be unto Him the praise and the glory. God created us to be to Him the praise and the glory. Only can this be done through Jesus Christ. For as we open our life to Him and the high praises come through the Holy Ghost and we begin to move in that anointing and that authority of the Holy Ghost, then we can be to Him the praise and the glory. For God doesn’t need us, He didn’t really need man, but He needed someone that would love Him, wanted someone that He could entrust His love. Sometimes I look at people and I see things in the wickedness in the world today and I wonder how God feels about it. When He created man in the Garden of Eden they were perfect. Everything was perfect. He created man in His own likeness, in His own image. He created us with His love His peace, His joy, His righteousness, and His holiness. He created us to be under Him the praise and the glory. But when man fell He had to take them out of the beautiful garden that He had made for man. But oh, there will come a day when the Lord said He couldn’t find anyone on the earth that could do that sacrifice for sin to bring mankind back to God. So even as Satan had caused the fall of Adam and Eve, Jesus has caused through His death and resurrection a return of people to God. This same Jesus has given us everything that today we can be as He would have us to be.
You might have a little problem with a little thing called the devil, but if you honestly, earnestly with all your being love God and follow Him, that devil you can stomp under your feet and it can become ashes under your feet. Amen. You know we give too much praise to that rather than the praise that God has created us for His pleasure. He created us for His glory. And I think today He wants us to shake ourselves, enter into His presence and realize in a greater measure than we’ve ever known in our whole life how mighty is our God in the midst of us. Amen. I can’t get away from this one scripture, so bear with me on it. I believe wants it to be a part of this whole camp meeting, but I want to read something to you. I want to read from Zephaniah chapter 3, verses 16 and 17:
“16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: [and to] Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. 17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee [is] mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”
Now this is the Lord this is not us, this is the Lord, this is the response of the Lord. Isn’t that wonderful? He will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy. How much He longs so filled with His love, filled with His compassion that He can joy over us. The compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost that He can joy over us; not only joy over us it says, rejoice over thee with joy. And will rest in His love. Can we fathom what the Lord is saying? He created us for His pleasure. He created us that we might be under the praise and the glory. He said he will save, he will rejoice over us with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing. How many ever thought of the Lord in that way? True joy comes through Jesus Christ. True joy comes only by knowing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But He said He will rejoice over you with joy. Don’t you feel like you just want to snuggle up close. Don’t you feel like you just want to love Him more and let that love of His saturate us until we can feel His love over us. This is what the Lord has for us. The joy of dancing before Him. The joy of singing praises unto Him, but oh He has the joy in us and He wants us to draw close to Him so that He can share that joy. To rest in His love. How many of us know what it is to rest in the Lord? Amen. It’s wonderful to be able to rest in His love, but He wants to rest in our love. Amen. He wants to enter into a rest of His love in us. He will joy over thee with singing. Oh how much today the Lord wants us to just draw close to Him and let Him know how much He loves us. It’s real joy, it’s real rejoicing of God and singing coming from the Lord our God who is mighty in the midst of us. Halleluiah, halleluiah.
If only we could grasp what the Lord is saying to us today, we’d shake off, we would shake off all those heavy bands and we’d lift up holy hands, amen, before the Lord. But the Lord is crying unto us with His word and He’s saying how He feeling about us. But what does He want us to feel about Him? In the same manner, in the same way that He feels about. He’s preparing a people that will show forth His praise and glorify Him. But He can literally sing over, literally joy over and rejoice over. How can we get very far away from that? How can we get away from it? Do you want to get away from it? No. What makes us then not to enter in? Maybe we don’t understand what He’s saying. Maybe we don’t know what the Lord feels about us. Maybe your esteem of yourselves is so low that you think God feels the same way about you. But Jesus came to save you, to lift you up, to cause you to rejoice in the most high God and for the most High God to rejoice in you. Amen. We’re getting ready for the greatest outpouring of God’s spirit the world has ever known. I believe it’s already began, it has begun, but the time is the preparation of every one of us to make ourselves ready for that outpouring of God’s joy and God’s love and God’s rejoicing. Amen. What’s He going to do with us? He’s going to fill us with His praise. He’s going to fill us with glory. Going to fill us with His joy and He’s going to fill us with rejoicing and with singing. As the scripture says He’s going to give us a new song. And we say a new song, and we say a new song of praise. Halleluiah. God is drawing us into Himself that He might this people created for Himself. There is coming a day and it isn’t very far away we’re going to realize that God has placed us in His kingdom that shall never pass away. If you know when you’ve been born of the spirit and born and washed in the blood of Jesus and baptized, you are in the kingdom of God. Alright, this kingdom is not a mediocre kingdom. The king that rules this kingdom is King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen. He prefers us to enter in to His kingdom that He may not only transform our lives but cause us through Him to see other people’s lives change. Amen. So He has called us into His kingdom to mature, to be what He wants us to be. This could only be through Him, we must forsake all. You know if we hang onto our flesh and hang onto the devil, He said you’re not worthy. He paid the full price and we have to pay the full price of committing it to Jesus Christ. We have to do it or we cannot enter into His kingdom. Now this kingdom is mighty. We live so much in the natural, whether we lose sight of what God has given to us which is eternal. God has given unto us through Jesus Christ a kingdom made for man. God gave man a kingdom but what did he do with it? He gave it over to Satan. Is that true? God gave man a kingdom and man was to rule in that kingdom, not in sin and not in darkness. But we gave it over to Satan, so now today we have the kingdom of darkness. And we have the kingdom of God. So God is: what is He doing? He’s taking back those who would allow them to take them. He’s taking them out of the kingdom of Satan and He’s bringing them into His glorious kingdom, now in this world in this earth.
We lose sight of it, we need to remember that we had not only a body, not only human flesh, but we are flesh and God created us to love Him. He created us to be a praise unto Him and a glory unto Him. He created us as such. Alright, there’s only one way and that this can happen and that’s when He sent Jesus into the world to die for us upon the cross and shed His blood there and broke the curse of Satan off of His people that will come to the cross. He also took the old man of sin and when we’re water baptized He buries him down in that grave with him and with us. We do not have to give praise to Satan nor his tactics. We do not have to give praise to the lies of the enemy. We’re not in that kingdom if we have entered the kingdom of God. He has no right to intrude only if your flesh and the devil have things yet within you. It belongs to Him. He comes to claim that which is His. Jesus said there was nothing in Him that belonged to Satan. And that’s the place God has called us into, is to come into Him, then the place that He has ordained for us that the flesh is enmity against God, cannot please God and the devil cannot please God. So these two things have to be cleaned out of our life. And when we come into the kingdom of God we become aware that we are not only earthly beings, we are spiritual beings and that God has created us and God is spirit, and if we’re going to worship Him, we’re going to worship Him and in truth. God has formed a kingdom of man. Thousands upon thousands, upon thousands are in that kingdom. And one day Jesus is going to present that kingdom back to the Father. And when He presents that kingdom back to the Father He’s going to take His place beside the Father. The Father’s going to receive all the glory and the praise. Halleluiah.
Oh today if we can realize the place that we have in Jesus Christ. We have a place in His kingdom where He rules and reigns and He is also Lord over that kingdom and He wants to be Lord of our life and king of our life. Oh He wants to share with us this afternoon that great love. The price that He paid, the price that Jesus paid, that we might enter in to the kingdom of God. That we might grow up in the kingdom of God. That we might mature in the kingdom of God where He can send us forth in His kingdom to pull down the strongholds of the enemy. To bring about a change in the world through those that are in the kingdom of God. God has given unto us a plan. That plan is to go forth, but to grow up in the kingdom of God. Now what is in God’s kingdom? What’s in the enemy’s kingdom? You can tell us real quick what’s all in the devil’s kingdom real quick, can’t you. Cause it’s all around us. What’s in God’s kingdom: love, peace, joy, righteousness, happiness, holiness. How many of you have it today? Amen. Yes, you have it you have His kingdom abiding within you so why then are you worrying about the enemy? When he knocks on your door the kids sing a song. When he knocks on your door you say, no, no, no there’s no room for you here. Jesus lives here. Amen. I think we put too much emphasis how much the devil has rule over us when we’ve already given our heart to Jesus and God has changed our life. Quit letting the enemy wear us out. Don’t have to. Unless you got your flesh there and you want to hold onto it, then you’re making your own trouble, aren’t you. But if we give up that flesh and we give up the devil, he doesn’t have a hold on us. There isn’t any way he can pull us down. But if we give place to these other things then we can expect a reaction from the enemy.
But today God is offering you His love. He’s offering you His peace and His joy and He will sing over you. He will rejoice over you. He will rest in His love over you as you allow Him to take His place in you in His kingdom He has place within you. We would be very much out of place if God sent us to heaven without knowing His kingdom wouldn’t we. I think we’d turn and run as fast as we could run because there would be too many things in our life that would turn us away from what God has. That’s why He gave His kingdom to us, to prepare us and to use us to work the works of God through His kingdom. God is getting ready here with this camp meeting to change some lives that we need to enter first into His love, into His peace and just let Him fill these temples of ours with joy, His peace, His righteousness, holiness; so filled with it that the enemy won’t come near you. He’ll back off because he can’t stand the rejoicing. The battle is the Lord’s. But we’re expecting God in this meeting to come in the greatness of His love and the greatness of His joy, His peace, His righteousness. What is it that the backslider really wants? He wants to come back to Jesus, but there are powers there to prevent Him from coming back. We’re going to overshadow them with God’s love, so mighty that they can’t withstand it. Amen. We just fall before His feet with His love and cry unto Him and tell Him how much we love Him and we want to come back to Him. Today let’s draw close to Him with our whole heart. Let’s not hold back. Let’s present ourselves a living sacrifice unto Him which the word says is our reasonable service. But oh how He wants to put His arms around us. How He wants to sing in our hearts and to hear his love within us. Oh move out of the realm of the natural today, move into the realm of God’s kingdom with rejoicing.
Realize where you live. You don’t live in this world; you live in the kingdom of God. Doesn’t matter what’s around us, we’re not of this world, we’re of another world and within it we have something that this world doesn’t have, but God wants to give it to those out there who will receive it. Let your heart be drawn to Him. Let Him sing to you. Let Him rejoice over you. Let Him joy over you. And it overwhelms us. When we realize that it’s the Lord that’s saying that. That the Lord our God in the midst of us is mighty. The Lord our God in the midst of us is mighty. I hope that this camp meeting, in a new and living way, we will realize what the Lord has really given to us, but He’s given it to us that we might go forth and grow up and recognize within us that God’s kingdom, God’s power, God’s glory. Remember the Lord’s prayer? Thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”, the end of it is for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. And God is imparting it to us that we might rise up in Him and go forth. And one other scripture you’re going to hear this through the whole camp meeting because gave it to me the first moment of 1991. And this has been carried through all this year so far. Mighty is the word that God is given. We’re expecting even as this year ends to realize in a measure that we’ve never known what the Lord is saying in His word. “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings and ye shall go forth as calves of the stall for they shall be ashes under the souls of your feet in the day that I shall do this saith the Lord of hosts.” So what are we going to do? The Lord the Sun of righteousness is arising within us and He is going to have healing in His wing. And He is going to move forth in us, but He said Ye shall go forth, Ye shall go forth and take your place in the kingdom of God. And God is going to thrust us forth to pull down the stronghold of the enemy and destroy the works of Satan.
How are we going to do it? Jesus, King of Kings reigned in His kingdom. Amen. We’re going to rise in the power of His kingdom. He said those that fear His name. I pray today that God would put the fear of God within us in such a mighty way that we will fear His name and we will realize God is after us to make us as He is and to bring us forth in His kingdom to go forth and pull down and put under our feet the works of darkness. Oh it’s a very serious world we’re living in. It flows in darkness in the people and darkness in the world but when the light of Christ is come how bright is that light in the midst of darkness. How great is that power of God when there’s gross darkness in the people. Only God can change your life and my life and He has. Praise God. But there’s multitudes out there today who need us to arise, “For the Sun of righteousness arising within us with healing in His wing”. For what purpose? That we shall go forth, that we shall go forth put under our feet the ashes the ashes of the wicked. Get ready. But first we have to draw nigh unto Him. First we must feel this great love and compassion that He has for us and that He is feeling for us, so that God can truly use us to show forth His love, His joy, His rejoicing, His singing over us with joy. Oh we praise the Lord today. If we just get a better glimpse of what He’s talking about, that He may be able to say to each one of us He’s rejoicing over us with joy. He’s rejoicing over us with singing. I don’t know how you feel today, but I feel the spirit of the Lord just wooing and drawing and showing this great love and compassion that He wants to be in us so that we’ll have no fear of the things ahead that we will have to honor and fear His name so He can move through us to do the impossible, Christ in us the hope of glory. The Holy Ghost He’s given to us to be our teacher, our comforter, our guide, the power and the glory. Praise the Lord.
He said for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore I change not. Therefore you son of Jacob are not consumed. Thank God He doesn’t change. But oh He has a plan and if we will just enter in into His love, He will show us that plan. If we reach out other lives will be changed because we’ve allowed Him to change our lives. I remember and I believe this is true, the greatest witness of God are those that God has taken out of the world and changed our lives and others have seen it and they desire to have what God has given to us. The Lord says that they have their witnesses but God said ye are my witness that I am God. How many of you today are His witness that He is God and that’s what He wants us to do. And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye turn and discern between the righteous and the wicked. Between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. God’s getting us ready for something for miraculous, the Kingdom of God in demonstration. There’s a scripture I want to leave with you Matthew 24 verse 14:
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. What is God gathering together now? He’s gathering together His people in His kingdom. So that He can send us forth to be a witness unto all nations and then the end will come.
We have a task before us. God has called us to go forth, because the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings. God is calling us to go forth and grow up. Allow Him to remove these things from our lives that are rubbish. Trash, worthless, that we hold onto as though it wore something important. That truly, truly His joy, His righteousness, His holiness, His love, His peace shall reign in us in His kingdom which is in us.
Father we thank you for the word this afternoon. We thank you Lord for the sweetness of your presence. We thank you for the love that we feel that you’re putting within us oh God and drawing us unto Yourself that we might truly know this great and mighty God in the midst of us. That we might truly know how much you love us. How much you desire for our very whole being to be surrendered to you Lord so that you can show forth Your love, Your joy, Your singing, Your rejoicing through us oh God. Even this day draw us unto Yourself and be in the meeting tonight Lord cause us to enter into a place in You this afternoon that oh God our hearts will rejoice. We’ll have the joy of the Father abiding within us. We will feel the singing of almighty God over us. Oh Lord You’re truly in the midst of us and You are mighty. Oh Lord let it become a living part of us, even this day and from this moment forward for Lord You said it is a new beginning and God we honor that new beginning even as you are now showing us what it means for Your love to come to us and Your joy over us.
Oh God cause us to rejoice in it today that glory of Your Spirit that oh Lord the enemy cannot push away. Neither can the things of the flesh or the world. God bind us. Bind us in this love. Bind us in this joy. Bind us in the singing of the Lord, but oh God nothing else will seem important. But oh God draw with cords of Your love and bind us together with You and bind us together with one another that nothing can come between. Oh God if there are any here today that don’t know You, God I ask You to draw them with the cords of Your love this afternoon. Create within them a hunger and a desire to know the mighty God in the midst of us who is mighty. Oh God this day cause them to turn their lives with all their heart, with all that’s within them mighty God that they may know the precious joy rejoicing and singing. Lord God Almighty that saves us and rejoices over us this day Lord. We honor You and we thank You and with a thankful and grateful heart we praise You for Your word today that would draw unto Yourself precious Father. We thank You for the Holy Spirit of God that draws us unto the Father and unto the Son. We give You praise and honor now and all the glory in the name of Jesus.
Amen
August 18, 1991
