Steve Arsenault

"JUDGE THE MOUNT OF ESAU"

Lubbock Convention

Sunday Night, December 28, 2008

Father, we're so grateful to You tonight; not worthy to be here, but truly You have brought us to the Kingdom for such a time as this. Lord, grant us in this hour: the honor, the respect of this great place; that we would truly stand in awe of a people that are small--a people that haven't amounted to much, but Lord, You have chosen the foolish things of the world. So Lord we're gathered in Your presence here tonight; open our eyes that we can see, and our ears that we can hear, and lead us home, Lord, lead us home. In Jesus' name, amen.

It really is an awesome hour that God has brought us to and what a privilege it is to be gathered together in the midst of a people that are becoming of one mind and of one heart. Blessed is it when brethren dwell together--not just together--but together in unity.

And if we're seeing anything, we're seeing the people of God coming into a greater unity of the faith than we have ever seen before. And that's because there's becoming a greater and greater recognition, as we've already heard, of the need for only one teacher. The problem with division in the house--the reason there is division in the house, is because there are so many instructors. You're bound to have division when you have lots of instructors. But, when we get the teaching narrowed down to one, when it's all coming by the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Truth, and the stream like a mighty river begins to flow in clarity and power, God's people begin to line up and many streams begin to flow as one. And that river, when it's done flowing, is going to be the river of life and it's going to flow and heal--heal this world.

But, right now God is dealing with His house, because He said that judgment must first come where? To the house of God. The name of that house, as you know, is Zion and Zion is where God said He was going to put His name and He was going to rest there for how long? Forever! That's the place He was going to enter into His rest--it wasn't going to be just for a time, but forever, God was going to enter into that dwelling place--Mount Zion--and we are now somewhere in the early morning hours of the Sabbath Day; the day that God said He would finish His work and enter into His rest--enter into His eternal dwelling place--His eternal abiding place--the Zion that He loves. And that's the people that we are gathered together.

So, it should not come as a surprise when judgment arrives, because judgment is the true sign of God's mercy and God's grace and God's love being shed abroad. It's the only real sign--the only real fruit--that we're still on the path--that God is still dealing with us--is when He still chastens the son that He loves. And in fact it says in Isaiah chapter 1, that Zion is going to be redeemed with judgment and so, if God doesn't give us the right perspective, you would mistake the dealings of God for something else and most of the church, of course, has mistaken God dealing with them as the work of the enemy. And so, the very work that would perfect them--they rebuke as the work of the enemy.

That's because the way of the wicked is upside down, but we want to be a people that rightly divide the word of truth. And this is what walking with the Lord is all about--an increase of light; therefore it says that the light is sown for the righteous. There's a harvest of light here at the end of this age and it's getting brighter and brighter because the path of the just is as the shining light. And it's shining more and more unto the perfect day. We're beginning to see that daystar rising in our hearts because sunrise is just about here and it's going to rise on the day of the Lord, which really is a people--children of the day--children of the light. It's a people that God is going to manifest in this hour, but a people that are sold out to His government in their life; sold out and relinquished all control of their own lives.

We don't get there overnight, as we've noticed. It's a process that God has everyone of us in, in bringing us to the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ and aren't you glad that His mercy has been enduring long enough to at least get us to this point where now I feel like sometimes--I think Brother Buddy said it last night--when you get to the end of things, you find out you are really at the beginning. Because all this that God has been bringing us through, up until now, has been a structure--like pouring concrete.

You know, some concrete work requires very elaborate structure; I mean hours and days and sometimes even weeks just to build the structure. I don't know how many of you guys have ever tied rebar, but it is the most monotonous and lengthy job you could ever do, wire after wire, tying that rebar together--that reinforcing rod--and it seems like you are never ever going to get finished with the form ! But the form doesn't hold the power and everybody gets wrapped up in building the form of godliness and when God actually gets the whole thing together and just a little "poof"--He gets rid of the form--and the real thing has been hidden inside all along.

And so God has the pearl of great price hidden away. Anybody who has been given the eyes to see--once they find it, Matthew 13 says, once they find that great treasure, do you know what they do with it? They hide it. First thing they do when they find it is they hide it! They don't put it on display with big banners and huge titles; they hide it. And once they hide it, then it says, they go and sell everything that they have. I'll tell you why that is so: anything that you receive from God, the jeopardy has just begun, because when He returns, He wants to find out what you have gained by trading. So He initiates this program and if you are lucky enough or blessed enough--lucky is probably not a very good word--but if you're blessed enough to get a hold of that treasure--once you've hidden it in your heart, now the question is--will you go and sell all that you have to retain--to retain that which He is?

Here at the end of this age, the wheat and the tares are not going to remain together. While the form is going up, while the structure is being built, while all the glamour and glitz is there, there are wheat and tares. But, when God gets ready to put on display the real thing then that which is "in part" is done away with. And you know what? How many of you can say that the "in part" realm has been exciting? The "in part" realm has been great and you don't want to misidentify the finish line or else you get excited with the elaborate structure and when God gets ready to pull down the structure--you hold to the structure, thinking that was the real thing, and you actually miss out on the power of an endless life becoming flesh and dwelling amongst the people once again.

The beginning of this age started with the Word, as we've already heard, that became flesh and dwelt among us. And as Brother Buddy was saying, when you get to the end, you get right back to the beginning because what the whole world is waiting to see is that Word--that same incorruptible Word--not to remain out in an ethereal realm, but to become flesh and dwell among us once again.

I don't know about you, but I can't even express in English anymore, the gratefulness I have for this high call of God in Christ Jesus. As long as I can remember in my life, line upon line and precept upon precept has brought us to the Kingdom for such a time as this. God is unraveling all that has just brought us to this point so that now we're at the beginning!

Where you really see His face is when He just says, "OK, I'm done with the first two parts. It's been good up until now." But He says, "I take two parts and I cut them off" and they die--you don't need the form anymore--not when "that which is perfect" shows up. He does away with that, which is in the "in-part" realm, and the "in-part" realm includes all knowledge. The "in-part" realm includes faith that is so great you can remove mountains. The "in-part" realm is the ability to understand great and all mysteries. And you see a man that has that kind of anointing on him--that kind of understanding--and we say, “I want to follow this brother.” It's "in-part" ! And so, woe to those who are still on the breast when He returns-- woe to those who give suck! Because God says that it's just an "in-part" realm, but when that which is perfect is come...

This hasn't been in vain; for over 40 years now, God has had a people that caught--they caught sight of something and they heard something in seed-form. I recently, also, was going back over some of Brother Sam's stuff (messages) and I thought, "Did anyone understand what this man was saying back then?" I mean, my God, the word--the truth--has never changed! It has as much power now as it did back then; the only difference is now, it's becoming flesh and it's dwelling amongst us! It's not just revelation! There's a people in the house today that is standing as the first man did with their feet as finely burnished brass. Oh it's not just in their minds and in their heads anymore. It's beginning to be walked out because the Word has come again and it's dwelling among us! Come on Saints! You have to have to right perspective, for if we get close to end of this thing, you'll hold to that which God throws away! That elaborate structure!

I just came home from Columbia about two weeks ago and had three weeks of time, traveling to many different groups in Columbia. I met some brethren that I had never met before--brethren that were here right at the beginning--who gave their lives in establishing communities up and down the Caquetá. I sat with men for hours as they told the stories. I sat and cried, listening to the blood and the guts and the tears and the groaning that went into this elaborate structure. And, at least in some of those scenarios, God took it all down.

But I can tell you--I can testify tonight--it didn't disappear, it just revealed the real thing. And the real thing has spread around that country--no, not in great numbers--but the pearl of great price is hidden inside of a people who cherish it more than their necessary life. They’re holding fast to the word and as a result, it's becoming flesh and dwelling among us. And that's what the world has never seen--they've never seen it, but it's happening. If you can't see it happening, then ask God to open your eyes and start right here--start looking right here (in ourselves) and say, "Oh, God, grant me mercy. Open my eyes that I can see this great work that You have done."

So, it hasn't been for naught. Year after year after year--tying rebar--that's what it feels like, in the trenches. And people leave because they never get to see the concrete harden up. They never get to see the real thing. I don't know about you, but there are areas in my life, that I think we can testify that God has stripped away the structure. No, His work isn't finished yet, but there are some things that God has done and so we sing, "For All That You've Done, I Will Thank You". There are some roads we've traveled--there was a time in Apostle Paul's life when he said, "I have finished the race. I have run this race. I've finished the course." There's going to be a people that stand fast and have that kind of confidence at the end of this thing. No, it's not a "given" because you are made partakers of Christ IF , if what? IF you hold fast.

I want to look at something tonight, briefly. In the process--in this journey that we are in--which is called salvation, and it's salvation as it is in Christ . I underline it this way because in the church world, salvation is generally translated as that which happened when you were born again. But, salvation as it is in Christ requires something more than any experience you've ever had, including being born again, including being filled with the Holy Ghost, including moving in all the gifts of the Spirit--moving in all the power realm, and including 40 years of end-time conventions. Salvation as it is in Christ is not just an experience. Salvation is a life, as we've already heard, and it's that life that saves you. So you can never identify salvation or define it as an experience you've had. Although, the beginning of your salvation was an experience--a very necessary experience. But, the problem with the church is that every experience that God has led them into, that experience becomes an idol. So, you remember the serpent in the wilderness that healed the children of Israel from the plague when they looked upon it. The plague broke out and Moses raised the serpent on a pole and if they looked at that serpent, they were healed. But a generation later, it was the greatest source of idolatry in the nation. The Kingdom of Heaven is a great mixture and yet, most churches identify that as the finish line; that once they entered it, they just finished. It's very important for you and I that we don't misidentify the finish line.

I've been telling this story...a few years ago I went to a track meet and there were a bunch of young girls running, 13-14 years old. There was one girl who was a little taller than the rest and I said, "She's going to win. She's going to win this." The gun went off and away they went around the track and I was saying to the guy next to me, "I'll bet you. I'll bet you she wins." He said, "No, she's not going to win." and I said, "You watch. She's going to win this thing." So they went round and around the tract and as it got closer to the end, there were three girls up front--two in the front and the girl I had "bet" on was just tucked in right behind those two. I said, "She's going to get close to the end and she's going to shoot out past them. She's got it made." And that's exactly what happened. It was about 75 yards or so from the finish line and she took off and went right past those two and just made them look like they were standing still and all of a sudden she stopped. She stopped and everybody on the sidelines started screaming, "Go! Go! Go!" and she looked to the left and to the right and these other two girls went right past her. She looked totally bewildered. They had been using the field for other activities and there were several lines on the field and she had misidentified the finish line. I cried with her as she fell to the ground. And I cried because I immediately heard the Spirit of the Lord speak to me and say, "That's my people who have misidentified the finish line." And I want to tell you something, by the time you realize that the finish line is yet ahead of you--it is too late. And I'll tell you how quick that finish line came. (Steve clapped his hands together.) They went past her in a blink. And it was just in a second. A second's difference--less than a second between winning and losing. That's where it's going to be for you and me. Before it's over, the finish line will be based on... one thought...before it's over, your thought life...if you're not already there, fasten your seatbelt.

Brother Buddy and I were in Mexico and since that time, ever since April, I've been at home building a house, which is now finished--thank God...but, in that Convention in Chilomi, we were looking at The Three Dimensions of Salvation and the Lord has not let me get off of that (subject) all summer where I've been at home.

I've discovered in the Third Dimension of God's dealing with us in this process of salvation as it is in Christ ; God brings us through two parts where He divides asunder between joints and marrow. Then He moves on to soul and spirit, but, before God gets finished, the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword and it gets right into the thoughts and the intents of the heart. That's deep. And don't think you've found the finish line until every thought has been brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

And, I dare say if you're in the running for this program, that's where God has you. He's dealing deep. And I tell you, brethren, when Brother Bill talked about the beggar, something leaped in my spirit and I said, "God, that's me." When I wake up in the morning now, I have one prayer, "God, rule over me today. Rule over my thoughts. Reign in me. Order my steps." ...because I don't know about you, but I haven't been real successful at controlling my own thought-life, but I have found that if I will seek first the Kingdom of God...by the way, that's in the Book...seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness...you know what I found He added unto me? Mark the upright man; he's at perfect peace. He added that. You get your mind stayed on Him and He'll add all the things you were trying for so long to get added. All of a sudden you will find your mind...you are at perfect peace and you're a channel and the water flows clean and clear because you live with a conscience void of offense. If you didn't think you were headed there, wake up ad smell the Starbucks because God has got us out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Why do you have to be there? Because that's where the third part goes. He brings the third part through the fire. Our God is a consuming fire. If you're going to know Him, you're going to see Him as He is . And that's where He lives. So, everything up until the fire--"move a little closer"--has just been a preface--just been a preamble--it's a long foreword to a book. And then, God gets ready and He cracks the first chapter and we step into a brand new day and God says, "Now, we can get things started." That's where we are, people. I've been finding God has been doing more fireside chats than what I thought a good preacher use to do. All kinds of things God has changed in me recently. I found that...oh, never mind what I found...you'll find it, too.

As God deals with us in a deep way, it gets so finite. Nobody else even understands what you're talking about unless they're in the fire with you. We have no idea the level that God is going to deal with His people.

Let me give you a quick example: Not long ago, at home, a rumor reached me--and that should tell you something right there--but, a rumor reached me of what another one of our elder's had said about me in the congregation. It wasn't anything doctrinal because that doesn't bother me at all. If someone disagrees with me about doctrine--no problem. However, it was something we had all agreed on--as a ministry. And I thought, well, that's kind of nasty to spread a rumor outside of the eldership and do it somewhere else. Anyway, I let that fester for a couple of days...just a thought...that sort of lodged there...that I entertained and just wondered about...a little bit...not much...just a little bit. So, we were having a meeting together and we always eat together. I was going through the food line, had my plate, and I was walking back to the table. As I walked back to the table, I saw this person coming toward me on the left. I looked up and with hardly a fraction of a thought, I went to the right around the other side of the table, just so I didn't have to get too close and maybe avoid a greeting or something. Very subtle...very subtle...very nonchalant...not obvious...certainly not obvious to anyone else. But, I'll tell you who was watching...who sees all things…and as I sat down, I heard the Spirit of the Lord say, "Son, why did you do that?" And at one time, I can tell you honestly before God, I wouldn't have even heard Him say that--IF He would have even said it to me, I don't know--but I would have never heard Him say it, and if He would have said it, I would have made an excuse and forgot about it altogether. But when I heard the voice of the Lord say that, it just about put me on the floor right there. There was something that just ripped through my heart. There was a knife that just cut me. What was it? It was the intent of my heart...it was wickedness...it was evil. That's the deep dealing of God, where God strips away the structure and says, "If you're serious, I'm going to take the third part through the fire." ...because you'll never find out what the foundation is...wood, hay, or stubble...or gold, silver and precious stones...unless you get into the instrument God uses to reveal what you have been building on.

Therefore, we are the people of God who have been brought to this hour and to this place in a process of working out our own salvation as it is in Christ , because, when Christ who is our life shall appear...And it's not a "given" that just because you're born again that you've been living in Christ...that's not a "given" at all...you are made partakers of Christ IF you hold fast your confidence steadfast and to the end. It's something that requires ALL diligence. It's something that requires a daily sacrifice and whenever that daily sacrifice ceases, the temple is defiled. The word of a king cannot be changed and God is bound by an oath that a defiled temple must be destroyed.

So, because sentence is not passed against an evil work speedily, men just continue going a way that they've always been. And so, Ecclesiastes writes, 'So I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy and the memory of them was forgotten in the city where this was done. This, too, is vanity.' By the way, who are these wicked? Well, the born again Christian. Until you were born again, you didn't even have the opportunity to come and go. It's once He gave you the Spirit that you now have the option of coming and going; that's what put you in jeopardy. We were better off to have not known, than once you know, to not go and do. So, him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So of all people, we're in great jeopardy because to whom much is given...some people get very offended by being called the wicked...the question is, if you dared to come and go from the place of the holy, you've just demonstrated there is no fear of God before your eyes. That's what the fool says within his heart and I don't know of anyone more wicked than that.

God's going to wake a people up and is waking a people up that salvation is not as it was when you were born again; neither is salvation as it was when you were filled with the Holy Ghost or any other experience you've had in God. Salvation as it is in Christ ... salvation is a life you live...while I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live. Who are these two guys? I am crucified; nevertheless, I live. Well, this is the beauty of walking in Christ. We heard it last night. You're always dead and alive at the same time. If I'm dead to sin, I'm alive to righteousness. If I'm dead to righteousness, I'm alive to sin.

You know in the time of your ignorance...what does God do? He winks at that, so when you get started out, it took being born of the water and the Spirit to even enter the Kingdom. So now that you're in the Kingdom, everybody has misidentified the finish line. Just hang around the Kingdom and when God calls, we'll all receive our crown. No, the problem with the Kingdom that God brought you in, is that the Kingdom is unclean. The problem with that Kingdom He brought you into--it's unclean. In fact, come on Saints, we have to get a hold of this...the Kingdom of Heaven is actually like a mustard seed, that when that seed is finished growing, it grows into a great tree. And what's the tree home for? All the fowls of the air.

So, let me tell you why you're in great jeopardy tonight. We're in greater jeopardy than any other feast...we're in greater jeopardy than any other level of people that God is dealing with, because if you stick around in the process longer than the time that God has given you and I to complete it, the whole thing is leavened. The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven that a woman took and it says she hid it just in the first meal, right? No? In the second meal? No! In all three! And sometimes I hear people say that we're a third feast people or that we've heard this great third feast revelation. Let me tell you, if you don't follow on to know He who is the life , the third feast revelation you have sat under, will be leaven to the point that you'll be so puffed up in what you know that you'll never recognize the truth when it shows up. You're never saved by any revelation! You're not saved by any experience! You're not saved by the most anointed revelation that's been given across these convention platforms! You are saved by a life that you live as a fellowship with the Father and with the Son.

The whole thing will be leavened; therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a householder that takes out of his treasures both old and new. The whole thing is going to get leavened. God didn't make the goal--third feast revelation. Come on, we should have learned that by now. We thought we had it made years ago when we all went to the wilderness and we found out...talk about killing fields...it was killing fields! And we didn't have it made. God just got us out there in the trenches to blow away a bunch of people. God got us out there under the firing lines so He could whittle us down a little bit. His ways, by the way, are not our ways...that's in the book, too. So, unless you see Him as He is, you're never going to be like Him.

The Lord just told me to share something: We were in a little town called, Falandys, not too far from Bogota, and I was up ministering and a lady came in and sat in the back row. The reason I'm sharing this example is because, if we don't see Him as He is...if we don't actually do what God is going to require us to do, it's going to be "game up" and we're standing at that kind of an hour.

She came in and sat in the back. She had long dark hair and it was hanging all in front of her face, she wouldn't look up and I thought, my goodness this girl is under some amazing depression, shame, and bondage, and whatever else, and I said, "Lord, do you have anything for her?" And as we ministered throughout this meeting, I had more and more of a burden for this girl.

At the end of the meeting, I said to one of the elders that were there, "Who is that girl in the back?" They told me her name and said she came once in a while and she actually came tonight, as she wanted to meet you and wanted to talk to you. I said, "Well, bring her up here."

So they went back and got her and the second she stood up, she started crying--she started bawling. They brought her down the side aisle and up onto the platform and she was just sobbing her eyes out. I could see she was pregnant as she came--it turned out she was 7 months pregnant. She came up onto the platform and as she came up the stairs to the platform, the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me and said to me, "Ask her about when she was seven years old."

And so, she sat down on the chair and I told her, "This is a safe place for you. You don't need to be afraid. God obviously brought you here tonight and He is showing mercy to you. You've struggled with this depression and with the shame and with the hurt and all of this for a long time." And I asked her, "Do you want to be free? Do you really want to be free?" And she said, "Yes, I want to be free." I said, "Are you sure that you really want to be free?" I must have asked her this several times. I said, "Because if you do, I'm going to ask you to do something very difficult." She wanted to be free. I said, "Do you love Jesus?" She loved the Lord. I said, "Tell me about when you were seven years old." As soon as I said that, she just lost it. She started bawling and crying and said, "I've never told anybody. How did you know?"

It turns out that her father had locked her in her room with all of her cousins and she had been abused all night long. She had carried all this guilt and shame for 16 years. She was 23 years old, seven months pregnant; she'd been trying to run away from her home and just ended up with the first guy that would take her in, but here she was returning to the Lord...returning to the Lord.

This had not been revealed. Nobody ever knew about this. I said to her, "Do you really want to be free?" She said, "Yes, I do." And I said, "Well, you have to take accountability for that temple of yours. You have sinned. You have sinned and it has defiled your temple."

I was saying to the Lord, “Oh, God, I don't know if I can do this.” While I was talking to her, I was saying to the Lord... “I don't know...I really don't know if I can be faithful to the end.” Something inside of you wants to sympathize, really. We say there's no victim mentality in God, but here I was looking at one. Here I was looking at abuse and I said to the Lord, “Oh God, I know what You're saying; I know what the price of freedom here is, but I'm not sure that I can stick it through to the end.”

When I told her, "You have to take responsibility for your vessel. You have chosen ... you have chosen to harbor bitterness, resentment, and shame...all these things you have chosen. I am not condoning the act. There's nothing to do with what happened. Neither are we saying to forgive those guys." Some people have different views on that. I said, "I'm not talking about forgiving those people. This is a separate issue. What I'm saying is--do you want to be free? And if you do, you're going to have to take accountability for your own vessel."

And as soon as I started saying that, the Lord just opened my eyes, although I knew this--but I had never seen it in action quite like this--immediately she started saying, "Why? Why me? Why not my sister? Where was God? If God is a God of love, where was He? Where was He?" and she would sob and she would cry, but she could not do what was necessary.

I'd say, "I'm asking you, do you want to be free? Do you really want freedom?" She'd say, "Where? Why? Why did this happen?" We must have gone on like that for 20 minutes and then she just kept saying, "All I want to do is die. All I think about is killing myself. All I think about is ending my life." And as she kept giving into that, she got more and more violent with herself saying, "I just want to die!" And I said in my heart, “God, if You don't move here...You have to do something...I have to hold the line...and if You don't move in mercy toward this girl, nothing is going to break here...nothing is going to break.”

Deliverance is not something that another man can do for you. We've been down that trail. We've sat people in the chair and we've played tag; we've played hide and seek with the enemy, but unless you can get somebody to come to the knowledge of the truth and seek first the Kingdom of God and submit to God and resist the devil, you might as well take your hands off. The accountability and the responsibility lays with that person and if you want to help somebody, then ask God to help them get their eyes open to own accountability.

She was standing before God in defilement and her own iniquity was separating her from God and it's the worse, it seems like, the worse kind of situation to deal with because what had she done to deserve this? Nothing.

Well, what had Job done? You see, unless you see Him as He is...He doesn't have a red coat and a long white beard.

We have a God that said He created evil for the day of evil. We have a God that said He made the wicked for Himself. We have a God that says if you make your bed in hell, He'll be there! We have a God that will destroy two worlds in order to reveal one, wherein dwells righteousness! We have a God that doesn't have any problem with building structure and then tearing it all down. We have a God that it doesn't bother Him to take beauty out of ashes. We have a God that doesn't mind destroying everything and bringing you to the end of yourself and taking the greatest king of the earth and sending him to the fields to eat grass like an ox for seven years...just to establish that HE is the God of gods and the King of kings and the Lord of lords! We've got a God that before this is over, there will be irrefutable evidence that HE is the one true God and He's not going to just do it out there; He's going to do it in the midst of you and me.

He's going to show a people that will stand still--in the midst of trauma--in the midst of affliction--who have been through everything that could be thrown at them--and they come out of that saying, "HE ALONE IS WORTHY!" They come out having glorified God by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death! Therefore, God clothes them in white robes and He honors them through all eternity. They are the gems that make up His crown.

Come on, Saints, the Master Strategist is taking you in a way--guaranteed--that you would not go. Don't be surprised at what He uses to get your attention. He makes all things beautiful in His time.

We have a dear brother at home, Brother Kevin Autrey, who is back home with us, actually, living with us. He just started coming to meetings. God is cracking open a shell. Everyday I get on my face and I say, "Lord, You said Your mercies are new every morning." There is nothing too hard for God, but I tell you something, I have seen God work in mysterious ways and I know His ways are not my ways. Would God take a man--now this is his own testimony, so I'm not telling tales out of class. He's been sharing his testimony with some. He's still fighting tremendous battles with fear and torment. I don't know a lot about drugs, but I know this, if you served that devil, it takes years. If you've sown that, it takes years to get that stuff out of your mind. The torment and the fear and the delusions are amazing and the religious spirits that jump in there and try and hook on to everything is also amazing; however, God is able! And would God take a man who was an intellectual? Would God take a man who was self-made...had it all together...was even an elder in this move of God who had a great word? Would God take a man like that and drag him and let him go through the gutters? Would God take a man and let him ruin his life, loose his family, and drag him through everything unclean and let him go that way? IF that would be the doorway in the valley of Achor (Achor means “trouble”) to a brand new hope?

Come on, you know some...you know some that have been to hell and back and if they had the call of God on their life, then how many things work together for good? I tell you something; He alone has the power to take that which is evil and call it good. That's our God! That which is upside down; that which is unclean; that which is evil; that which seems completely wrong; God says, "Hang around! Hang around! Stand still! Stand still in the midst of the fire and the affliction and even what you don't understand! JUST STAND STILL!! And joy comes in the morning!

Somebody's going to dare to do this and they're going to stop asking, "Why?" They're going to stop crying about the past and they're going to lay hold of the “God of the Now” and say, "Lord, I don't know why; I don't understand; I don't why You did this or why that happened to me; all I know is that You and You alone have the words of eternal life and I will hold to Your hand"--God's unchanging hand. That's the only way you get called an overcomer. By the way, how did you get the title without something to overcome? You didn't get to write the script! I'll take this, this, and this; I don't want vegetables; I don't want community life; I want my house this way...God has a way of crashing and demolishing every image you've ever had! If you are the called. If not, He's going to leave you worshipping a vain imagination and you'll be busy with the rest of the church-world, under the power of Lucifer, chasing the provision of God and never knowing His life.

Therefore, they will never experience salvation in this dispensation; it'll show up later. Many of them will come later, but God's only got a little remnant and its says, "few there be that find it--very few" and what God's going to require of this people, He's not requiring of any other. Not every other people are going to be handed the scepter. Not every other people are going to be called "the Lord's Christ". Not to many other people are the kingdoms of this world going to be given.

I just started a book that Joseph had just given me on the training of the Navy Seals. Not everybody who goes into the military, goes through that kind of training. My God. Not everybody that's in the church--born again and filled with the Holy Ghost--have been through some of the things that this people has been through. Not everybody. God's a great general. He has all His troops in place. A little quarry here...a little quarry in Whitestone...a little quarry in Haines...a little quarry down here in Texas...God's got all these little quarries that He's chipping away. Nobody knows where they are and nobody knows what's going on and He says, "When I'm ready, I'm going to bring it together without the sound of a hammer and I'm going to show up and suddenly fill the temple." What a strategist! What a general!

And you know, we in our immaturity and our childishness show where we are. We go to this community and we say, "My God, I wouldn't do it like that. I couldn't live there." That's irrelevant! Come on! God has a field of flowers; we're not all tulips. God's got variety; aren't you glad? He's got beauty and it's all different! He can even use a donkey to speak if He wants. He can do whatever He wants and you can see the beauty of His face. Travel around this beautiful people. I challenge you; go to the communities and go to the little groups and see the tulips here and see the daffodils there and come over here and see another beautiful flower. When you get done, you see we're the richest people in the earth! It's not because we're all tulips! It's not because we all do it this way or we do it that way; it's because we all are under the same King! That's our God. He's getting us ready to put on display. Oh, we don't see it all now, but it will have been worth it all.

So, this little girl--her name is Judy--you can pray for her; she still has a road ahead of her. She kept saying, "I want to die! I want to kill myself!" I said (in my heart), “God, show this girl mercy or that's exactly what's going to happen.” All of a sudden that devil--that Spirit--grabbed her baby--I have never seen anything like this in my life--she had this nice, tight, round, little belly--7 months pregnant--and from every direction you can imagine--hands and feet were just sticking out, like 4 inches, and we all looked at this and I thought she was going to go into labor or something--the devil was just strangling that baby. It was fighting for it's life and so I spoke to that spirit and I said, "You let that baby go, right now; it belongs to the Lord and not to you." And the devil let go of the child and I said, "Judy, do you see the power of that spirit? He's going to take this child and you won't live 'til morning and he'll take your life. That's what he's out to do. Now that this is out in the open, he will not be happy...he will not rest until you've committed suicide. Is that what you want?"

I saw God's mercy on display. It was God to allow that spirit to grab the baby, because if that wouldn't have happened, she wouldn't have awakened to the power. She actually told me...she said, "I just want to die because if I die, I'll be with Jesus. If I die, the suffering will be over; I'll be in heaven. If I die...I just want to end my life because I'm tired of the torment and if I go to be with Jesus, there'll be peace!" I said, "If you die tonight, you will not be with Jesus; you'll be in the same hell that you're in right now. You won't have switched places at all, you'll have just lost your body."

And so, I've been asking people everywhere, "If you died right now--if you left this world's stage, where would you be?" And it's amazing, in this move of God, how many people still believe because you've been born again that you would go to be with the Lord--you'd go to heaven. "I'd go to heaven." How do you know? If you're not living in heaven right now, what makes you think you'd be there just because you lost a body? If you're not there right now, you won't be there if you exit this world's stage.

That's not the goal anyway...it's the bosom of Abraham that you want to be held in, until you hear the call, "Rise and shine." That's the Father of Faith (Abraham's bosom) and that's where you want to be tucked in. The question is not--whether or not are you born again...the question is, did you die in faith ? For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

You can see how clever the serpent has been to pull the wool over God's people's eyes...just get born again and your guaranteed...your guaranteed security if you die.

Heaven is not an eternal dwelling place; it's a mixture and the whole thing is going to be leavened. The Bible says we have to be found worthy to escape the bondage of corruption that is in the world through lust. As long as we're still held in the clutches of that woman...by the way, that doctrine comes from the woman...so that if we adhere to it, we're going to base everything on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life and the Bible defines that as the world, because that's where the woman lives. So, you can see that her #1 gospel is to win the world, because that's where she is. She's in the world to win it. When Paul got awakened to the truth, he realized the goal was to win Christ . That's what we have to wake up to.

So, as that spirit let go of that baby, I said to Judy, "Now, do you want to be free or not?" This time she thought about it a little more and said, "Yes, I want to be free." I said, "Then you have to repent." And I wept as I saw godly sorrow...you can't conjure that up. It's God granting you...it's the goodness of God...it was the mercy of God that granted her a gift of repentance in the midst of her bondage. And you and I...Ezra says...have been given a little reviving in the midst of our bondage and a space where we can repent...turn around from our own way--turn around from our iniquity. And as the tears flowed down her face and she asked God to forgive her for her resentment, for her bitterness, for her hatred that she'd been holding for 16 years...and as the Spirit of the Lord washed her and made her clean, I said, "Now, he (Satan) has no right there. You tell him to leave. You command that spirit to come out." And she did and as she spoke and as she started to say, "Come out!" immediately that spirit manifested itself and in one movement (it sounds like Steve took a big breath of air here) and then she just (Steve exhaled the air here)...a big breath of air and that spirit left and I'm telling you, it looked like she had been to the beauty salon. Her face was shining; she was clean. The tears of joy were running down her face.

Do you know what it required? Accountability in the midst of severe injustice. There may be some of us in here tonight that look at our injustice--so called unjust circumstances--where God has taken us--what has happened and in the middle of all of that, if the Spirit of God doesn't move to divide between the thoughts and the intents of your heart, you'll continue walking along, believing you already have something when in truth you've misidentified the finish line.

God help us...God help us...it's got to get right down to the secret faults. So, David prayed, "Lord, cleanse me from the secret faults."...the ones I don't know about. And as God gets this light bright...it's not to expose you. What the light is for, is to give you the opportunity to repent so that we can turn.

And as the prophecy came, "Wherein?...Wherein?" Oh God, wherein? Malachi...wherein shall we return? Sometimes you don't know where you need to return...sometimes we've grown calloused; sometimes we've grown hard; we've grown accustomed to this kind of bread; we've heard it for many, many, many years, but I'm telling you that the only ones who will return in this hour are the tenth--it's the remnant that will return.

And you know what God does with that remnant? In Exodus, it's called an omer, it was a tenth; it was the tenth of an ephah. And an ephah, by the way if you didn't know, was a measuring container and an ephah holds three measures. An ephah basket holds three measures--there are three meals--there are three feasts. But, out of those three measures, God is going to take an omer and He says he lays it up as a testimony in the ark.

Do you know what else is in there? The rod--this is a people who are under authority and therefore in authority and they have the law written on their hearts. This is a people who are sealed into that ark. Are you sealed in, yet? Going in and no more out? It's a tenth that shall return.

You remember the story of the 10 lepers? They were all healed and cleansed--that's the first two parts--the first two dimensions. In Isaiah God said Zion--her breach was great like the sea. We were separated from God because of Adam's transgression. When Jesus came it says, 'by His stripes you were healed'. What did He heal? The great breach! So He made of the two, one new man, there making peace. He healed that breach and then you're made clean by the Word that He's spoken unto you. All of them got healed and were cleansed, but only one returned with a different agenda--to give the glory unto God. Everybody else took the great things God had given them and continued right on seeking their own. "Bless God, He heals! Bless God this...Bless God" No, one returned, fell at His feet and gave glory to God. One will return--one tenth--because that tithe--that tenth--belongs to the Lord. Do you see yourself as that tonight? A tenth that is returning to the Lord to seek His mercies while there's time...while there's time. And if God would grant us that mercy and open our eyes, we would find ourselves face to face with Him with whom we have to do.

So in working out this great salvation--I want to leave this thought with you--it says that saviors--plural--will come up on Mount Zion. Zion is the name of the house of God. Zion is the resting place. The reason they are called saviors on Mount Zion is because, what is necessary for your salvation, is for you to do something that only you can do. What they're doing there is judging the mount of Esau. That's what those saviors are doing. That's why they get called saviors. The Lord showed this to me in a whole different light. I always used to think, oh wow, we're saviors! We come up on Mount Zion because we have something to offer. No, you're responsible to work out your own salvation and the only place you're going to work it out is in Mount Zion--that's the place of His rest--so you have to cease from your own works and enter into His rest and what you are there doing is judging the mount of Esau because judgment must first come to the house of God.

We all know what that mountain is...it says, 'Oh great mountain before Zerubbabel, thou art become a plain.' That's what God is opening our eyes to. Look at your mountain tonight; whatever mountain you're still dealing with...Oh great mountain! Oh great mountain before Zerubbabel, thou art become a plain! As saviors, we have been called up to Mount Zion, the house of the living God to judge the mount of Esau. And one little problem Esau had...he despised his birthright. Here's how he despised it...what good is this birthright to me if I have to go hungry?...if I have to deny myself?...what good is it to me? And he didn't recognize how serious his decision was until the second phase of what salvation is...and that was when it was time for the blessing. If you misidentify salvation as the right or the authority to become sons, which we've all been given--that's the birthright--we've all been given the power to become , but if you misidentify that as the finish line, you're in a lot of trouble. And the reason it didn't hold great value to him is because the real criteria is not until you get to the end. And when it was time to give out the inheritance--which is called a blessing--it's the reward of an eternal inheritance. It's the blessing of everlasting life. When it came time to give out the blessing, because he had not done what was necessary to possess his vessel , he couldn't find the place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Is anybody gone out in the flesh since you were born again? You know what you said when we did that? I like porridge better. Porridge is better. A little anger...a little resentment...if I can't have porridge...

You know growing up at Rock Creek in the Yukon Territory, in Canada, we use to have wheat cereal every morning and once in a while they had seven-grain cereal. That's all we ever had morning after morning. One dear lady felt sorry for us and she started making chocolate oatmeal. She put a little bit of cocoa or something in that oatmeal and mixed it up and oh, that was good. I like the sweet bread better...I like that oatmeal with something to look forward to, but we only got it once every other week because they couldn't afford the cocoa. So, it was very limited, but we all looked forward to that...something a little bit better...the same old same old...doing what's necessary every day...the practice of dying daily so that we get good at it... Seven grain cereal--there's probably a word in that, huh? It just gets boring! But, it's what's necessary...it's what's necessary.

Hello, saviors. Hello, saviors! Thank God for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who made it possible for you to do what's necessary to work out your own salvation. So may God grant that you find yourself standing on Mount Zion, doing what's necessary to eliminate the great delusion--the great lie--that your birthright is yours--that you have a right to be a son--once a son, always a son. That mountain must be judged--it must be judged. So before Zerubbabel, that mountain shall become a plain.

That's what He's gathered us here for--to open eyes--open ears--and to get deep into the thoughts and the intents of your heart. What is it you thought you could get away with? Ask Him. If you're serious, He'll show you. What little vain imagination? What little trend of thinking? Secret places of the mind and heart that are still lurking there--as secret faults. This is the hour when the hidden thing of dishonesty is coming to light--in the light of His countenance.

Don't you love Him tonight? Ask Him, "Wherein shall I return?" and let the Spirit of the living God search the deep, inward parts of the belly that we would be a people that please Him and hear Him say, "Well done." Amen.