God is good. All the time. To me. Say it again. God is good. All the time. To me! Praise the Lord!
A couple of weeks ago I was reading through some of the prophecies that have come forth here in this church. I came across one from 2008 that’s titled “Love, Repentance, and Judgment.”
As I started to read through the prophecy, the Lord began to show me some things. We’re going to read through the prophecy this morning and I’m going to share some of the things the Lord shared with me.
“My love is so misunderstood. So many of the churches that name the name of My Son really do not understand My love. There are so many people, My children, and those that are lost, who truly want to know My love and truly want to understand Me. But because so much of the mind of man has been able to creep into the church and define My love, there are many who do not understand My love.”
Here in the first paragraph the Lord tells us why His love misunderstood. The mind of man has crept into the Church. We’re starting to define love based on how the world defines love.
Now here is what the Lord is saying and I want you to listen to me ladies and gentlemen. God is telling us that the church is allowing sin to define what is holy. Everything in this world is run by the evil one, run by Satan.
The Church has fallen into the trap of allowing sin to dictate what is holy. The Church has fallen into the trap of allowing sin to determine what is acceptable and not acceptable.
Yesterday I read a piece by the highly regarding research organizations, Pew Research. This particular article was about “8 facts about love and marriage in the United States.”
? The number of U.S. adults cohabiting with a partner is on the rise. In fact, it has increased 29% in a little over 10 years.
? One-half of those are younger than 35.
? Cohabitation is rising most quickly in the age group 50 and above.
I don’t have to tell you that cohabitation between a single man and a single woman is wrong, do I? I don’t have to tell you that cohabitation between a single man and a single man is wrong, do I? I don’t have to tell you that cohabitation between a single woman and a single woman is wrong, do I? Praise God! Because I have to tell you this then someone needs to get born again! As they used to say when I was growing up: someone needs Jesus!
? In this same research, it said large majorities of Generation Zers, Millennials, Generation Xers and Baby Boomers say couples living together without being married doesn’t make a difference for our society.
Did you hear me? Do you know why they say this? They don’t know The Book. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you what’s at stake here.
If you are a single woman and a single man living together, if you’re a single man and single man living together, single woman and single woman living together – and you don’t repent – heaven is not your destination. You are going to hell and you can quote me. I got scripture to back me up. You are not going to heaven.
But according to the world it doesn’t make a difference. It’s just what we do these days. Ladies and gentlemen, all of us have people in our lives who are living this way and they think they are Christians. If they are living this way and there’s nothing on the inside of them saying this is wrong, I have news for you and for them. They are not born again. They are lost. Say it with me: They are lost.
What is our role in this world as Christians? Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Now we are the ones who are to seek and save the lost. When we see people who are lost, especially family members and friends, and we don’t tell them they are not going to heaven, it is on us. God is going to hold us responsible.
Back to the 2008 prophecy.
“If you want to know what My love is like and if you want to understand how My love can work in your life, and if you want to know how much I love you, then you need to read My Word and accept what My Word says because in My Word I am constantly demonstrating My love.”
God says we need to read His Word and, and, accept what it says. When someone comes to you about subjects like cohabitation, you don’t tell them what you think. You tell them what the Bible says. And if you don’t say what the Bible says, you have not accepted His Word.
So, how can God’s love work in our lives? We know that we have God’s life and nature. We’re just like Him. Is there any doubt about that? Turn to
Philippians 1. We’re going to read verse 9. Paul says “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.”
In knowledge of what? The latest NBA score? The latest movie? The latest New York Times bestseller? The last message that you heard preached? No! It’s the knowledge of the Bible. The Bible is telling us that when it comes to love from God’s perspective, it has nothing to do with how you feel, nothing to do with emotions.
Why is this important? Turn to Galatians 5 and we’re going to read verse 6. “For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which workers by love.” And how do we get love? By more and more knowledge. Do you see this?
Now don’t get me wrong. Love is the best way we express how we feel about someone. But when it comes to your relationship with the Lord, love is more about obeying.
Now, what does it mean when God tells us “accept what My Word says”? We’re going to look at some passages in the book of Psalm 119.
(11) Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
(60) I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
What David is saying is this: I heard the commandment. I understand it. And now I am running to keep it! I don’t have to tell you that many in the Church are not running to keep God’s Word.
(89) For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
Let me tell you what this means. It doesn’t matter what you think about God’s Word or how you respond to it. He says it is established. It does not matter what you believe unless you believe it’s established FOR YOUR LIFE.
(104) Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
Every false way is a way that does not agree with the Bible.
(112) I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes always, even unto the end.
One of the things that’s missing in the body of Christ. The Jews talked about Father Abraham and the example he was to the Jewish nation. What they failed to see, and what we fail to see as Christians, is that Abraham was a sojourner. He knew this world was not his home.
It made me think about a song I learned years ago. “This world is not my home. I’m just a-passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open doors and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
(128) Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
Listen to what he says. David says that whatever topic the Bible speaks on is right.
(160) Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.
Now, how does God define Himself?
I John 4:7-8, 16
(7) Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
(8) He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
(16) And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
God is LOVE. LOVE is God. You can interchange the words. I have a question. If God is love, when we get born again, what do we become? Love! Now we have to get into The Book to understand what this love is all about but we become the same thing as our Heavenly Father.
When John says “God is LOVE,” he’s not talking about God having emotions or a feelings. He’s talking about LOVE that operates from a place of pure, uncompromising truth. If God is our Father, and He is, and God is love, and He is, and we have love in us then our love manifests itself in a pure, uncompromising way regarding truth.
We don’t compromise truth. That’s what Jesus meant when He said if you love your wife and your children and your family more than me you cannot be my disciple. You are willing to compromise truth and I am not.
Back to the prophecy.
“Many people have looked to the Old Testament and they have seen how I have judged sin. And they have carried that concept of judgment into their lives today.”
The Wildfires in California – Do you know that there have been men and women who have stood in the pulpit and said it happened because California is cursed and many live in sin? So God is passing judgment.
How many of you remember the death of the 50 people at a homosexual nightclub in Orlando? Remember all the ministers who said they paid the price for their sinful lifestyle?
Ladies and gentlemen, we know that God is not passing judgment in these instances. We know that some are saying in the pulpit is a lie. The Bible says God wants all men and women to be saved and come to a knowledge of truth. Why would He kill them?
So Bro. Barry, please tell me why these horrific things happen. Genesis 3. When Adam sinned he opened the door and the Bible says in Romans 5 that sin came in and brought along with it death. Things like this happen because sin is increasing.
Back to the prophecy.
“Many people have looked to the Old Testament and they have seen how I have judged sin. And they have carried that concept of judgment into their lives today. But I say unto you, go back and read My Word. Read My Word very, very closely.”
“For even in the Old Testament, what you have heard preached and taught has been misinterpreted. If you will take the time to read My Word, read the Old Testament, [and] read about those judgments, here is what you will find.”
“Every single time before judgment was poured out, there was much, much admonition through My prophets to repent. I sent those who knew Me and loved Me to those who were in rebellion, to call them to repentance. And this happened over and over and over again, and yet, those who continued to walk in rebellion were the ones who walked into judgment.”
It doesn’t say God was judging them. It says they walked into judgement. LOVE, God, is warning those who are walking away from Him and into judgment.
Turn with me to Jonah. We’re going to see an example of the Lord calling people to repent.
Jonah 1:1-2
(1) Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
(2) Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
Jonah 3:1-10
(1) And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
(2) Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
(3) So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
(4) And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
(5) So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fat, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
(6) For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
(7) And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
(8) But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
(9) Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not.
(10) And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
What do we see here? For everyone who says God is in control, we have just read where God changes His mind. Why would He do this? He changes His mind because the people responded to His Word.
Jonah 4:1-2
(1) But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and He was very angry.
(2) And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and [I knew that thou art] merciful, [and I knew that thou art] slow to anger, and [I knew that thou art] of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil [and I knew that if they decided to do what was right, you would change your mind].
There are a lot of Christians who don’t know the God we just read about. They still believe that God is ready to rain down judgment on them. This is what LOVE does and we have LOVE living in us. Praise God!
Remember how God says in this prophecy that if you read My Word and you read the Old Testament you will understand how I operate? Remember the story of Noah and the Flood?
Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He preached for 100 years, telling the people to repent. Did anyone take him up on his word? No. Ladies and gentlemen, please, let that sink in.
There are going to be people that you’re going to come across and I don’t care what you tell them and I don’t care if you raise someone from the dead – they are not going to listen to what you have to say. They are going to tell you “I don’t want your God. My life is okay.”
Don’t let that bother you. The Lord is saying that someone hearing this, who have family members in that boat. And He says don’t let that bother you. You can only preach the gospel. The results are not your responsibility. He says you bring them to My altar and put them there.
That’s all you can do. One of things I pray is that Lord, if they’re not going to listen to me, thank you for bringing someone into their lives that they will listen to. It’s not an ego thing for Barry. I just want the person in heaven. So whoever it takes, please, Lord bring them and let them speak into their lives.
Back to the prophecy.
“Today, I want you to know My love and I have revealed My love to you in My Word. I have revealed to you how My love works in My Word. My love goes beyond what you can understand in your mind. Because My love comes from a divine source, not a human source.”
“I do love you. I love you so much that I let My Son be tortured and killed on a cross for you. If you will accept this and come face to face with the fact that you were born into this life with sin, and I am the only one who can correct that, I can begin to touch your life with My love in a way you have never known.”
“And for those of you who have accepted My Son as your saviour, do not let the religion of man define for you My love.”
For far too long, the body of Christ has allowed a world ruled by sin and the Father of lies to define what it means to be a Christian.
For far too long, the body of Christ has allowed a world ruled by sin and the Father of lies to define true godly love.
The world says “love is love” as if all love is the same. That’s a lie from the pit of hell. I want to make sure I say this the right way. When we are told “love is love,” from a scriptural standpoint what people are telling us is “lust is lust.” If love is based on how the Bible defines it, then that’s the only definition that’s truth.
Back to the prophecy.
“And for those of you who have accepted My Son as your saviour, do not let the religion of man define for you My love. Let My Word define for you My love. For just as in a conversation with someone, when a word is used that you don’t understand, you either ask for the definition of that word or you will get a dictionary and look it up.”
“My Word is a dictionary explaining My love. If you will get into My Word, you will come to the greater understanding of My love — greater than anything man has ever been able to give you.”
How does the Bible define love?
John 14:15, 21-24
(15) If you love me, keep my commandments,
What does it say ladies and gentlemen? I don’t care how many times you tell God you love him, I don’t care Jesus you love him – if you are not keeping his word, you are lying to him.
(21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
From God’s vantage point, love has nothing to do with how you feel. But, love has everything to do with how you respond to God’s Word.
(22) Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
(23) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
(24) He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
Now turn to First John 5.
(1) Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
(2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
(3) For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
(4) For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Can you overcome the world if you don’t love God? No. And how do you know if you love God? You are keeping his commandments. Now follow me. It says the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. What did we read back in Galatians 5:6? Faith works, is energized, is developed by love.
There is no overcoming ladies and gentlemen, if you are living a life of love – if you are not being obedient to what the Bible says. You can forget overcoming!
I don’t care how many people you get to pray for you. I don’t care how often you get on your knees and confess the word. I don’t care how much you worship. I don’t care how much you pray in tongues. I don’t care how much you fast. If you are not doing what the Bible says you are to do, you are living a life of defeat.
The first thing you have to do is deal with your lack of obedience. Nothing else matters until you deal with this! Nothing! You have to take care of the first thing.
There is no such thing as knowing God and loving God if you don’t keep the commandments of Jesus.
“My Word is a dictionary explaining My love. If you will get into My Word, you will come to the greater understanding of My love — greater than anything man has ever been able to give you.”
“And if you will accept that definition of My love and receive it in your life and let Me touch you through that definition and through that love, you are going to have an experience with Me that is absolutely glorious.”
“I am God. I created all that is. And I love you and I long to demonstrate the fullness of My love to you. So let Me work this love in your life, says the Lord.”
Ladies and gentlemen, God’s definition of love is very simple. Whatever my word says, you do. Very simple. And if we are willing to be obedient like that, Jesus says “My Father and I will manifest ourselves to you. We are going to be in your midst. We are going to be where you are.”
Ladies and gentlemen, I want that and I hope you do to! Please stand.
