Hello Family! Welcome to the first post on the new site for Agnes’ transcribed messages! We are SO excited to share this with you! From here, you will be able to navigate to the blog, our facebook, even our website, all in one place! We pray this message touches your heart. We love you! – 12.3.12
A Strange People
We thank you, God, for your presence in this place. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for the provision that you have made for us that we might stand strong in you and in the power of your might. We thank you for each one that’s here and for that which you have purposed for each of our lives. Impart to us what you have for us and we give you glory for it.
Isaiah 28:1. “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty [is] a fading flower, which [are] on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, [which] as a tempest of hail [and] a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4. And the glorious beauty, which [is] on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, [and] as the hasty fruit before the summer; which [when] he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
5. In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of
beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6. And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble [in] judgment.
8. For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness, [so that there is] no place [clean].
9. Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? [them that are] weaned from the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts.
10. For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:
11. For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12. To whom he said, This [is] the rest [wherewith] ye may cause the weary to rest; and this [is] the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14. Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which [is] in Jerusalem.
15. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner [stone], a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only [to] understand the report. 20. For the bed is shorter than that [a man] can stretch himself [on it]: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself [in it].
21. For the LORD shall rise up as [in] mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as [in] the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass
his act, his strange act.
22. Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
23. Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
25. When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the
fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed
barley and the rie in their place?
26. For his God doth instruct him to discretion, [and] doth teach him.
27. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff,
and the cummin with a rod.
28. Bread [corn] is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break [it with] the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it [with] his horsemen.
29. This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, [which] is wonderful in counsel,
[and] excellent in working.”God says that all tables are filthy and there is no clean place. Who can He give knowledge and understanding to? God wanted to bring the children of Israel into His rest but the judges and priests wouldn’t do it. When He wanted to be the leader over them the people decided they wanted a king. As God dealt with them, He was still desiring to bring them into His rest.
He’s talking about a time and I believe that time is now. Jesus came and gave us the principles of the kingdom and He’s saying to us the priests and prophets were drunk and they were out of the way and not listening to Him. They error in doctrine and vision so the people were suffering because there was no one to teach them about what God wanted to bring forth to the people, by His spirit.
God has a plan in our lives; but He still has the same doctrines to instill inside of us. Do we really want it enough or are we letting everyone know that we can do it ourselves? God is saying, “I have a way I want you to walk; I want you to hear it and do it.” What was God to do? “I want to give them knowledge and I want to teach them the doctrine of my word; but they don’t want to hear it.”
10. “For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:
11. For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.”
He wasn’t getting anywhere with them before Jesus came. Jesus came and He ministered to them and they rejected Him and the word of the Lord. They didn’t want anything to do with His sermon on the mount; but it was given for those who would walk in it. So He said, “Here, I will give gifts in another tongue.” But that didn’t do any good either.
There’s a lot of pride in human beings that God has to take out and only He can do it. Only, as much as He does He isn’t going to get very far with it. We experience a lot of things in working with people. I want to refresh your mind to receive this word. Many years God burned inside of me the importance of us being trained by Him. It is not what we think and it’s not what we think the Bible says, but it’s what God is saying, today. But He’s going to teach knowledge. “Whom shall you make to understand doctrine?” If you don’t know what precept means I have a definition for you: it is a command or a principle intended as a general rule of action or conduct. Now God is saying, “I am going to put before you these things.”
I remember one time when I was just a little girl myself and I was raising my other siblings because my mother died so young, my doctor said to me, “Agnes, you have to keep telling them, that’s how they learn. You can’t knock your siblings in the head because they haven’t learned. You have to keep telling them.” Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; it’s a general rule of action.
So here He comes before this proud drunken people who refuse to hear Him and refuse to let Him give the principles that would bring them unto Him and keep them walking with Him. What is He going to do about it? “I will give them the baptism of the Holy Ghost;” but they had their own rules and regulations.
The God says, “I will give them my rest, so they can cause the weary to rest.” But they didn’t want the rest; they didn’t want to learn that precept must be upon precept and line must be upon line and here a little, there a little. God was putting something into them, something strong and mighty; but they didn’t want it. This was the refreshing and the rest so they could cause the weary to rest; but who cares if the weary rests? They didn’t care who was right or wrong. They didn’t want to do a thing about it, so He pours the Holy Spirit in them and they are still doing the same thing. They still have their own doctrines, bondages and still drunk with wine.
The Lord is so patience. He said, “You don’t understand what I’m doing here; I’m going to give you simple illustrations.” Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: and they went backward.
Why did they go backward? They wouldn’t follow the general rules of action, so God let them go backward; He wouldn’t let them do anything else. How patient God must have been as He is with us. Here we have these people that God wanted to train in knowledge. He wanted to teach them according to His knowledge and give them the understanding and they still went their own way.
14. “Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which [is] in Jerusalem.
15. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement.”
They settled to disobey the word of the Lord and allow Satan to take over their lives; they had no choice if they rejected Christ, no choice but to follow the devil. So the Lord said, “You say, ‘we are covered by lies our covering is falsehood and we’re not going to be afraid when that storm comes, we are going to be alright.’”
17. “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you:”
When we get out of the covering of God we’re in for problems. So He says, “…for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night…” It shall be a vexation to our spirit because we aren’t walking the way God has called us to walk, by precept upon precept and line upon line. God’s called us so that we can be trained by Him by the rules of action.
20. “For the bed is shorter that a man can stretch himself upon it and a covering narrow than he can wrap himself in it.
21. For the LORD shall rise up as [in] mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as [in] the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.”
He is already doing His work. He’s already doing this strange act. He said, “I’m not going to use these people, they are out of the way. They have erred in doctrine, in everything I have wanted them to do. I’m not going to use them, but I have a plan. He was angry. He had a plan, “that He may do His work, His strange work and bring to pass His act, His strange act.”
22. “Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
23. Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.”
He gave up on precept upon precept, precept upon precept; they didn’t want to hear it or learn it. So He let them go and the enemy over took them and God dealt with them. I want to give you a simple illustration:
23. “…harken and hear my speech.
24. Doeth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of the ground?
25. When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26. For his God doth instruct him to discretion, [and] doth teach him.”
Listen, every grain and person has a way of harvest. Why did God want to teach us precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little? He wanted us to get the rule of His action or put within us the conduct that He wanted us to have. But it was too much; so they destroyed themselves. But the Lord says, “I’ll give you something you will understand. You don’t do certain things with certain grains you do something else.
God wants to bring us through with these principles and make this rule in our lives so we know how to go out and win souls. Not by head knowledge and not by the doctrines of men; but the way God wants it done. He’s telling us how to do the fitches; you don’t thrash them with the thrashing instrument. Wheat is thrashed with a thrashing instrument. Then the cart wheels are turned upon the cumin but the fitches are beaten out with the staff. It’s the same with people; if we don’t know how to go there and deal with people, we don’t draw them to the Lord.
I tell you what I feel, if we don’t understand what God is saying to us in this place and we still go, determined to go our way and not the way God has determined for us to go, we will do the wrong kind of harvesting, if we ever get there. This is important for us to understand! Some people say, “I’m already trained, I don’t need this kind of training.” God said, “It looks like all of Israel feels this way, so I’ll just give them up and let them do it their way. But I’m going to raze up people that will do my work; I’m going to do my work and my act with these strange people.” They are going to do what He says to do. I will give you the simple truth; I will try, by His Spirit, to bring us into His principles of action. I will try to bring us into the work of His kingdom, so He can use us in His rest. All of the years, God desired to get them out of their struggles and bring them into a rest with Him; but they ignored and fought against the principles that would bring them into it. So He said, “If you don’t bring them into it, if you don’t bring them into this and if you do it wrong, you’re not going to be working in the harvest. I’m going to do my strange work and bring to pass my strange act. I’m not going to use the learned people, I’m going to use the unlearned; I’m going to change their lives.”
Jesus said, “I’m not going to use the learned and the wise people, they would be doing it their way and not mine. I’m going to take these people off the streets and out of the pit and transform their lives and use them. They will allow me to do it my way, precept upon precept; line upon line, here a little, and there a little. This is His strange work and His strange act that He’s doing in the world today.
When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount it was very simple; but it was according to His kingdom and His purpose. The Lord said, “I have a people that I am forming for myself.” Someone told me today they were down in the depth of muck and mire and couldn’t help themselves. This one was coming out of the gutters and destructive powers of the enemy. He was out there having a good time; but he got in a pig pen. He woke up one day and realized where he was.
I’ll tell you what I know: God is still requiring of us precept upon precept, precept upon precept. He wants to teach us and if we don’t learn it, we aren’t going to go anywhere with Him. Man can be haughty, high minded and proud. We are those whom God has taken out the pride that causes man to rise against Him. Here, as He is talking about this pride and about the principles, they didn’t hear it.
When Jesus came, He gave us the Sermon on the Mount which gives the rules of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “If the people don’t acknowledge me or praise me or go along with me the rocks are going to cry out.” When I was in Israel I saw those rocks. “If my people don’t praise me the rocks are going to cry out.”
You say, “God wants to use us.” Yes, He does, but on His terms! Not the way we want to do it; but the way He has lined it up in His word. He’s not moving contrary to His word no matter how smart we think we are or how learned we think we are; because God has a way for us to go. He chose things to confound the wise and He chose us and He is using us to do His will. He chose us to do precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line. He said, “I have something for these people that they might enter into my rest.” But they refused to do it!
The Lord wants us to know the joy of the refreshing of God’s word and allow Him to change our lives by the little things that don’t seem important. He said, “I will have a people that I will form for myself. Not these Israelites, I am going to let them go and form a people for myself.” When He is ready to send us, we will go and not hesitate. We will do what He has for us to do; but we have to hear what He is saying.
He said, “Some must enter into my rest.” If you have never entered into His rest you are missing what He has for you; it will take you through every situation. This rest doesn’t mean being lazy or that you can tell God what to do. No, it means you are going to trust Him and obey Him and do what He tells you to do in everything, according to this word. You will enter into a rest with the Lord as it says in Hebrews.
Why do we have to enter into His rest? Because we are living in the day when God is ready to do this strange work; we are living in the day when He is ready to bring forth His strange act. We must let Him put precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little into us. We won’t enter into His rest unless we have learned submission to the word of God. It isn’t all spiritual; He made us human as well as spiritual. He didn’t make us to be filled with death. He made us to be filled with Him; but the people chose one and covered up the other.
The Lord said, “I have set in the midst of you a foundation; a tried stone, a precious corner stone. None of us can do what it says in ourselves; our foundation is laid in Christ to enable us to do it. Christ lives in us according to His measurements, according to what He has purposed.
This is encouraging because these people, He is forming for Himself, have the rules. They will help lay that foundation in Him that will never fail. When the time comes to send us, the Spirit of the Lord will teach us to deal with each person according to their need.
He has called us in this hour to be those people He has formed for himself; but we need to let Him do the work inside of us before we can go. We will be entering into His life. In Hebrews He said that there must be those who enter into this rest. Those who enter into this rest will not be prideful or stubborn. They will be a people that He knows will do what He tells them to do.
I saw this because all of our young people came with a zeal that’s dedicated to God, so that whatever they would do, it was the Lord working inside of them. He is still building the same thing inside of us tonight and we realize that God still has a plan for us; and if we will do it we will feel the anointing.
I’ll go back to the natural things, because God told me if I would take care of the natural He will take care of the spiritual things. The Lord said, “If you don’t obey me in the natural I will not take care of you in the spiritual.” So there are ways of training; we are going to get training for them and it’s not going to be like it has been in the past. God will bring to us new instructions and we will obey His word and do it.
We are sharing what God will do and will walk you in it. We won’t come up like the Israelites did. We are going to be obedient servants to Him so we will be trained and ready to go. You won’t be afraid because you will do what He says and expects you to do. If we hear and obey we will grow very quickly in the things of the Lord. We will know how to minister His way.
Isaiah 29:14. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, [even] a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of the wise [men] shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent [men] shall be hid.
15. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
16. Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as a potters clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
17. Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
18. And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
19. The meek also shall increase [their] joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and
all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
21. That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
22. Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.
23. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
24. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
It’s a mighty word tonight of what God will do for us and you are here because God brought you here to hear what He has to say. I’m not talking about the spiritual that’s God’s business. My business is to see that you walk in the natural. Maybe you didn’t know that! The rest of it is God’s business and He will be able to guide you. Remember, precept must be upon precept; line upon line; here a little, and there a little.
Don’t go to Agnes and say, “I’m afraid! The Lord said to me, ‘They have to bring it to light.’ I’m afraid to bring it to the light.”
“Why?”
“I’m not going to deal with it.”
I want you to bring it to light, so you can get rid of it and be brought into His rest instead of all this being inside of you. He doesn’t expose it just to make you too good; He exposes it to make you free. If anybody laughs at you, they don’t belong here; because everyone is here to be trained by the Lord by the exposure of the stuff inside. It’s precept upon precept; dishes upon dishes; mops upon mops and food upon food.
We do it because the Lord said to do it and as we do it we do it unto Him. If we will allow Him to put precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little, we will realize we are growing very fast and all the junk is going by the way side.
Let’s gird up our loins and decide, this year, we are going to let God’s principles come into action and we are going to allow these principles to give us the joy and peace of the Lord. He has it all for us if we are willing to do it his way. He didn’t make us to be stubborn; He made us to submit to Him and work with Him. Are you ready to work? God is ready and you have come through some hard things, I think everybody has. I think you are the people He has chosen and because He knows you He can form you for Himself. I believe that!
So it’s up to us to out do the enemy through obedience, through the word of God and God will bring us forth quickly; He will transform our lives quickly. He will do it and we will all have the right spirit, with joy and anticipation. He will change our lives!
Ezekiel’s wheel is passing by and we have to be ready to come and go and do the work of the Lord. As He rests, we rest and as He moves, we move. There shall be a people who shall enter into His rest and let Him work in them.
Isn’t it great? You don’t have to do the work; you let Him work; you let him train you and you let him tell you what to do. You might not know how great it is, but I do. Let him teach us His way, there is nothing like it. Enter into His rest and let Him teach you and obey Him in everything He tells you to do. What a joy and a privilege we have, to know that He has formed us for Himself, to show forth His praise. We miss it if we don’t allow Him to deal in our lives His way. He has a purpose for us.
I remember when I was in India we were driving along the highway. They were harvesting certain grains on the highway and our cars ran over it. I had never seen it that way. They were running over it with the wheels of the car and we got in the middle of it and got tangled up. We had to stop our car and pull the stuff out from under our wheels because they wouldn’t go. We backed up and went on our way. I’ve never seen harvesting like that. They were harvesting millet and we went back and forth with it. On each side of the road they were separating the chaff from the millet.
God, sometimes, has to work a work in us so we will know the difference in the wheat, corn, cumin and rye. We will let God impart it inside of us and give us a determination that when our leaders come to you and say you are doing something wrong you’ll say, “Show me the right way.” We must go right and allow the Lord train us. God bless you tonight with His covenant of peace. The covenant of the Lord is sure and the precepts and laws are sure.
I want you to know we are beginning a new year with great emphasis on our willingness and obedience to hear what God has to say and do. We are going to grow up and not be babes; but become adults so the Lord can train us in the way He wants us to go. God bless you, tonight.
January 3, 1996
