Revival

Revival is something that doesn't stop once it's begun. Revival is an ongoing thing. You and I need to be continuously revived.

One of the first people who received this burden was King David.

In Psalms 85, verse 6 through 10, read,

"Will You not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your mercy Lord, and grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land."

Then he says,

"Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

Before we consider what revival is all about, we'll just spend a few moments in verse 10. "Mercy and truth have met together."

What does that mean?

It means, every time you show an act of mercy, the truth of God begins to manifest. The quickest way of coming to the truth, is to be merciful.

Not judgmental -- merciful.

Mercy is the opposite of being judgmental. Mercy is the opposite of unforgivness. Mercy is Love in action.

Every time you're merciful, the truth will be there. Truth follows mercy. Truth and mercy go together. Every time you're merciful, you can count on knowing the truth, which will set you free.

And then it goes on to say, "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." What do we mean by righteousness?

When you continue standing on the Word of God, and believing the Word of God, and walking in obedience to the Word no matter what the circumstances or what the situation is, that faith is counted to you as righteousness.

Because of that righteousness, you are going to have the peace that passes all understanding. It's the peace that comes with this righteousness.

Mercy brings forth truth, righteousness brings forth peace.

That, according to the Psalmist, is what happens when God revives us!

The revival spirit. If you look at Psalm 51, he says some more things that are vitally important. He prayed a prayer there, which we are all familiar with. In verse 10 he says,

"Create in me a clean heart oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

A steadfast spirit. When we talk about "renewal" we are talking about God renewing a steadfast spirit.

"Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation, and uphold me with your generous Spirit."

Steadfast spirit -- generous Spirit.

Then he goes on and says,

"Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation."

Revival, restoration and renewal results in sinners being converted, and you'll find that this is due to a generous spirit and a steadfast spirit.

It goes on here, verse 17:

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, these, O God you will not despise."

Generous spirit, steadfast spirit, broken spirit.

There is also something called a wounded spirit, but a wounded spirit is not inflicted by God. A wounded spirit is inflicted by others, or man.

A broken spirit is a spirit that results from repentance.

Now, this prayer of David is answered when you are born again. That's the Spirit of Christ that you received. The Spirit of Christ is a generous spirit, a steadfast spirit, and a spirit that is capable of being broken when it needs to be broken.

"A humble and contrite spirit", God says, "I will not despise". The word contrite is an old English word which means --- so broken that it floats in water.

All right, now, what is the purpose of revival? Why is it important for you and I to be revived? Because as I said earlier, revival is an ongoing thing. Only through revival can sinners be converted in large numbers, and God's intentions be accomplished.

The Church is God's Vehicle. Now I want you to look at Ephesians chapter 3, verse 10. Here, the apostle Paul tells us something about God's purpose. He says,

It was God's intention "that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul tells us what God's intention is: That the church is the vehicle that He appointed to reveal His wisdom to principalities and powers. He didn't appoint a single member. He appointed the church. And how much each one of us are "church" depends on how much each one of us are a part of each other.

Are you with me? It's so important to recognize this -- that unless we know ourselves and see ourselves as part of each other, there's no church.

In the book of Proverbs we read, "With wisdom, a house is built, but by understanding, it is established." Through wisdom you can erect a house, but if there is no relationship, that house is doomed. Understanding speaks of relationship. So when we talk about revival, essentially we are dealing with relationships.

Relationships. It is relationships that show up the need for steadfast spirit, a generous spirit, a contrite spirit, a broken spirit. Because you can't have a relationship without this. So here, the apostle Paul is telling the church -- he said, "Look. It is God's purpose that the church, His body (and don't forget that Jesus is the head and we are His body) declare His mind to principalities and powers."

We must get that fixed in our heads. He didn't choose each one of us, He chose the church. And how effective we are in declaring God's purpose in binding those principalities and powers depends on how much you and I are one. And he explains that in the same chapter. He goes on to say in verse 14:

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."

First he talks about church, now he talks about family. You know the most important relationship that you and I can enter into is the relationship that exists in the body of Christ. Because that relationship has been brought together by a very powerful covenant.

Do you know what covenant means? Covenant is an unequal agreement, where God agrees to take care of our weakness, our deficiencies, our lack with his strength. That's His part of the covenant.

For our part of the covenant, all we have to do is walk in obedience and He is under obligation to keep His part of the deal.

Covenant.

So we are a covenant people. As a covenant people, God is responsible for seeing that what He has undertaken will be released and will come to pass. But then, nothing's going to happen if you and I break the covenant.

We are going to come to that in a minute, but let's just go on.

Paul goes on to say,

"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love..."

Now let's just stop there. ...That you would be strengthened with might through His spirit in the inner man. The purpose of this strengthening is so that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith.

Let me tell you this: It's not enough to be born again. When you're born again, you receive the spirit of Christ. You're born of the Spirit of Christ. You have the spirit of Christ, which is steadfast, which is generous, but the ability to function in that spirit can only be conferred by the Holy Spirit. He's the one who enables you to move with a steadfast spirit, with a generous spirit. He's the one who strengthens you with might, so that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith.

In other words, without the Holy Spirit, you are going to find it very very difficult.

Very very difficult.

He is your empowerer; He is your enabler; He is your comforter; He is your consoler; He is your counselor; He is your advocate. We need to really get a hold of that.

He said,

"...so Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge."

Now, firstly, Christ needs to dwell in our hearts by faith; and He can not dwell in our hearts by faith if the Holy Spirit isn't around. That's why Jude says, "Pray in the Holy Ghost and increase your level of faith." Increase your level of faith, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

From the Head to the Heart. It's one thing to know something in your head, it's another thing to live with the truth of what you know in your heart. Today, much of the church is living out of their heads, not out of their hearts. And until their head becomes heart, they're going to have problems. And the person who's responsible, for getting it from the head to the heart is the Holy Spirit.

I'll give you an example: Sir Lionel Laklu is a very well known lawyer in Guyana. He was an ambassador to Briton at one time. His name was in the Guinness Book of Records for having never lost one of his 300 odd criminal cases. Also, he was a very good Christian.

I don't know how many years ago it was, but some Full Gospel Businessmen went to minister to him, and introduced to him the person of the Holy Spirit.

Now until then, he was a regular church goer and a very good believer, but, quoting what he said: after he got filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus took a one foot drop from his head to his heart.

There's a big difference between having something in your head, and having something in your heart. All you have in your head are facts, but what you have in your heart is truth. Until the fact descends, and dwells in your heart, you have no truth.

The facts will not set you free. The truth will set you free. And what converts the facts and makes it truth, is the Holy Spirit.

Soon after Sir Lionel got baptized in the Holy Spirit, Jim Jones got in touch with him and asked him to defend him against a federal congressional investigation in the United States.

Sir Lionel says that an inner voice told him, "Don't get mixed up in this."

Had he accepted the case, he would never have lived. You know how they were all literally killed -- 900 of them. The inner witness that was brought by the Holy Spirit would not have been there had he not been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

So the baptism in the Holy Spirit is essential! Why? The whole purpose is so that you can experience the life of God.

Now, here, the apostle Paul goes on to say,

"That you may comprehend with all the saints..."

Comprehend.

Now the word comprehend is to understand the whole dimension -- to take in everything. To comprehend what? "...comprehend with all the saints what is the width, length, depth and height..."

You see why I said "dimension"? Because it's got "width, length, depth and height."

Anything that can be measured has dimension. And he's speaking about the love -- the love of God. Love has dimensions.

And he says, comprehend, not by yourself, but together with all the saints.

It's one thing to understand the size of God's love, it's another thing to be able to understand it as a body.

We say God's love must be very big. We sing all these choruses, "wide wide as the ocean" and that song, "lift your banner high" and all that, which tells us how vast God's love is. Some how, many people get the impression that the vast love God has, has been especially reserved for each one of us only. But God says that love cannot flow until you are one with all the saints or that love will be choked.

We will consider later on how we can choke the flow of God's love.

First of all, why does it say that it is a love that passes knowledge? In God's mind, love is more important than knowledge. In God's mind, love is more important than study!

You just read I Corinthians 13, the first two verses.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

Here, the apostle Paul is telling us something so important. You see, today, much of the church is struggling, "I wish I knew what to do. I wish I knew how to proceed. I wish I knew what God was saying." God says, if you're flowing in His love, all that will be taken care of. That's what he means. If you're flowing in His love, you will know what to say, because you will be operating out of the mind of Christ. You will know what to do, you will know what God's intention for you today is, you will know what He is speaking of -- about you for tomorrow. You will know everything. Love brings a revelation of the truth. Do you remember how we saw that "mercy and truth have met together?" That's why the apostle Paul talks about a love which passes all knowledge. It's a love which passes all knowledge

And we need to understand something about this love. It's a love that's literally flowing in the body. It's a love that keeps the members of the body together and makes them one. That's the love which surpasses knowledge. Can you understand that?

And he says -- looking at the promise, verse 19 -- once this love is flowing, you're going to be filled with the fullness of God. Do you wish to be filled with the fullness of God? Be in the flow of God's love.

When you are in the flow of God's love, you are going to be filled with His presence. Not only that, you are going to come into contact with a God who is able to do exceeding abundantly above what you can imagine or dare to ask or think, according to the power of that flow. According to the power of that flow!

Now, I think it's essential to define this love. There are at least four kinds of love: the first is called storge. It's a love you find in members of a family. Then there's a love called Phileo. That's a love for friends. Then, there is eros -- sensual love, and the word for that is "lust." Now, unfortunately, lust means much more than sensual love.

What is lust, really? Let me tell you, if you are out to get something at somebody else's expense for your benefit, that's lust! Do you know that it's possible to lust after God? You can come to God, and say, "God, I demand that you do this!" irrespective of where you are, "...so that I might be blessed." That's lusting after God. Many people think it's impossible to lust after God because they don't understand the meaning of lust. To lust is to insist on having what you want, doing what you want to do at somebody else's expense for your benefit. It's so important to understand this.

Now, finally, we come to agape. Now, this is the hardest bit. This love was given to us in John 3:16, "For God so loved..." It's a love which gives, gives, gives, gives, gives, gives, gives -- at their your expense for your their benefit. Agape gives at your expense for somebody else's benefit. This is where the extra mile comes in. This is where you always consider the other person, not yourself. That is agape! Agape gives, lust demands. Agape is at your expense, lust is at somebody else's expense. Lust benefits you, agape benefits the other.

It's important for us to understand this. Because this is the love God says, "which surpasses all knowledge!" It says once this love is flowing, he says, you are going to meet a God, who is able to do exceeding abundantly above anything you can imagine or dare to ask or think according to the power of this love.

This love will make up for all lack of knowledge. That's why today you find people who are very new in the kingdom doing mighty things for God. Because they grasp this! It's not how much they know; it's not the faith that moves mountains; it's not how well they can prophecy. It's where they've really got a grasp of this love which comes from the heart of God.

And so, once we've understood this, we need to consider and ask ourselves, what is it that hinders this love from flowing in the body? What are the factors; or what are the conditions that come to interfere with the flow of love in the body?

You remember the story of the prodigal son don't you -- Luke's gospel chapter 5. Here was a young man who wanted his inheritance. He goes up to his father, and says, "Give me my portion." And the father gives it to him and you know the story. He squandered it; he lost everything that he had; he looked for a job and he couldn't find it; he finally found a job feeding pigs. The time came when he did not have enough food to eat, so much so he longed for the food that the pigs were eating.

It was at that point of time he received a revelation. Suddenly, a thought came to him. Do you know, no matter where we are, God doesn't stop looking for you. God doesn't stop going after you. So God went after this young man, and a thought struck him.

What was the thought? "Hey! My father has servants that are better off than I am! Maybe I should go and hire myself as a servant to him!"

Now he didn't stop there. If he had stopped there, he would have still been where he was. Something happened. With that thought, with that change of mind came a change of heart.

Today there are many people who have experienced a change of mind, but who have not known a change of heart. What do I mean by a change of heart? A change of heart is what caused this young man now to stand up and do a 180 degrees turn, and make for home. He was going back. Until you do that, a change of mind is going to do nothing for you. You can die with that new thought. Something had happened. You see, there had to be a change of heart.

Now, there are many people who have a change of heart, but what happens is, they continue doing their own thing to accomplish what God has planted in their minds. "I must do this! I must do this! I must do this!" and they do it their own way. They need a change of direction!

What is a change of direction? It's called repentance. Repentance has got three steps: change of mind, followed by change of heart, leading to change of direction.

Now, an incredible thing happened when the third step was taken. Where do you think his father was? He wasn't asleep. He didn't tell the boy's mother, "Now look for this fellow. When he comes, you let me know, I'm going to give him a thrashing!" No.

The boy didn't have to creep in by the back door and ask his mother, "Is he still in a good mood? Is it safe to talk to him after all that I've done?"

The father was out looking. As a matter of fact, he spotted him before he spotted his father.

My! What a father! He spotted this prodigal son even before the prodigal son saw his father! And do you know what happened? The father fell on his neck and kissed him.

Relationship was established. Fellowship was established. He was forgiven.

If you read that account there, the Bible tells us in Luke's gospel that God invested him with a new garment of righteousness; a new garment of righteousness much higher than he had known before; put a ring on his finger and gave him an authority that was much bigger than before; put on his feet the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace which he had never known before; and ordered for the fatted calf to be killed; he now gave him a joy he had never known before.

You know, every act of repentance brings us closer to God.

Some years ago, when Dr. Bruce Thompson was ministering on the "plum line" here in Penang, he brought with him an Armenian gentleman. I don't know why he brought him, but this man was a wealthy business man, and I asked Dr. Bruce why he brought him, and he said, "I need someone with big shoulders so that others can cry on." So after he had ministered, and given the alter call, this man had to stand there, and everybody came, and his job was to hug them and they cried on his shoulder.

When they were all finished, he came over to me and said, "Now who's shoulders do I cry on?"

He said, "You don't know me. Neither does Dr. Bruce really know me." Then he began to tell me the kind of man he really was. Let me tell you, whatever rotten thing anyone can think of, he was in it. He was a swindler, he was a cheat, he was everything that was rotten to the core! Now, his question was this: "Is it ever possible for God to forgive someone like me? I can't imagine that even God has got a place for me!"

While he was talking, the Lord gave me a vision. And in this vision, I saw a huge palace. The Lord was sitting there on the throne, and surrounding the whole throne room were a lot of religious people who had not made a mistake in their lives, who had not done anything wrong. They were keeping a certain distance. But standing right there, right in front of the Lord, was this man. Do you know why? Because he saw his need.

He saw his need.

He recognized his need, and his need brought him close. All the others had no need. They were "righteous." Our need will cause us to live daily in repentance.

But we need to be careful. If you and I don't recognize our need, we're in serious trouble.

We need our covenant with God. That's the only thing we have to stand on in our relationship with God. It's through the blood of the covenant that our sins are forgiven.

I said earlier, we are a covenant people, and that God is responsible for seeing that what He has undertaken will be released and will come to pass. But then, there's nothing that's going to happen if you and I break the covenant.

We can break that covenant by breaking our relationship, and once relationship goes, fellowship is out. You remember what the apostle John said in I John 1:7, "If you walk in the light, you will remain in truth as God is light, you have fellowship one with the other, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us of all sin."

You know, in the Lord's prayer, we're taught to pray like this: "Father, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass." The minute you stop forgiving, God stops forgiving. The minute God stops forgiving, you become an orphan. You're no longer His child.

Don't forget, healing is the children's bread. Every blessing is the children's bread. You start walking out of forgiveness, God's forgiveness stops flowing.

As a matter of fact, you don't realize what you're praying when you pray, "Father, forgive me my trespasses as I forgive." You could be saying, "Father, do not forgive me my trespasses, because I have not forgiven." If you haven't forgiven someone, that's what you're really saying! Immediately, you're out of relationship. Your covering is finished. Not only that, now you're out of fellowship also.

It's possible to be related and be out of fellowship. Now, if you have done something wrong, God says, "Confess. Acknowledge it, and put it under the covenant blood, and it's forgotten." If you don't, you're out of fellowship. You may be in relationship, but out of fellowship. But when you're out of relationship, fellowship also goes with it.

How can you have fellowship with someone you're not related to? Do you understand what I'm saying? How can you have fellowship with someone you're not related to?

Relationship before fellowship. These two are something you constantly have to check yourself up on.

Remember what I said earlier? The Psalmist tell us, when we exercise mercy, we're going to see the truth. You're going to know the truth, and the truth will set you free. When you start walking in obedience, and standing on the Word of God, you are going to have the peace which passes understanding. You see? And this is something that you and I really need to understand. Now what many of us have not understood is this: that without this love, that you and I are not going to come into the blessing in Ephesians 3 verse 20. You can quote it, and quote it, and quote it, and yet not meet the God who is able to do exceeding abundantly. Do you know why? Because that truth will only manifest when that love is there.

Releasing offenses. This is one area that we need to take note of, and I think that much of the church already knows, they cannot afford to walk in unforgiveness. We all know that if somebody offends you, you have to forgive them. I think that's nothing new.

But then, there's the problem: why is it that the people we have forgiven seem to be repeating their offenses? Someone will smartly come and say, "Oh well! This is not a new problem! Peter asked the Lord, "How many times are we allowed to be offended?" or really "How often do we forgive?" And Jesus said "Seventy times seven." So immediately the assumption is, if we have to forgive the people who offended 490 times, they are permitted to continue to offend us."

Is that right or wrong?

Wrong.

Well, if it's wrong, then what is the deduction? If it is wrong, why is it wrong? The Bible says, "Offenses must come, (Matt 18) but woe to those by whom the offenses come."

So why don't they stop offending us? What's holding them there? We are, by allowing ourselves to be offended and not releasing them.

If we've forgiven them already, what more can we do to release them?

This is a very important issue.

I'd say perhaps all of us in one way or another, at one time or anther have been offended. But what I want to ask is, what do you do after you've forgiven the person, and the offense keeps troubling you? You have forgiven, but the hurt, the pain, the offense keeps coming up, and when it comes up, you ask yourself, "Eh? How come? I thought I'd forgiven!"

And the devil comes and says, "No you haven't forgiven, because if you've forgiven, this won't disturb you."

Have you had that problem? I've had it. And let's be honest with ourselves because today, we can't really get any release unless we recognize some of our difficulties. And as I've been praying about this, I said, "Lord, what do we do with the recurrent -- not the offenses so much, but the memory of the offense."

Sometimes we say, "I have forgiven that person. I've dealt with the offense!"

Then four days later when you've been fast asleep, and waking up or we see that person, Slo-o-owly it rises up, then you get angry, and you say, "I'm not even going to talk to that person."

Then the devil comes and says, "Ha ha ha you haven't forgiven! You haven't forgiven! That's why you're all upset all over again!"

I'm sure you don't have that problem! You're so good, you forgive people so straight away that they can come around and offend you over and over again, you pat them on the back, and say, "Do it again!" But if you are like me, then the rest of this book is for you.

Now let me tell you something. The reason why the memory of these offenses keep recurring is because we have held them. I think you have heard the well known illustration about the monkey that wouldn't let go of the bar. You know that story -- how in Africa they trap monkeys. They get these little poles and paint them, and put them in a cage. The monkey puts its hand in and grabs the pole, and he won't let go. You can clobber that monkey to death, and he still won't let go. This is how many of us hang on to offenses. It's very easy to illustrate it like that.

Still, how do you get rid of it?

How do you release an offense? It's extremely important for us to get a hold of this, because if you don't understand this, you are going to have a big reservoir of undealt with offenses, and you will also open yourself up to the devil's bondage.

The devil specializes in loading you with guilt. The minute you remember an offense, he'll comes and say, "Hey, you've not really forgiven, you know?"

And you argue with him and say, "No! I have forgiven!"

"Then if you've forgiven, how come this thought is there?"

We receive the thought, and we go through the struggle. So how do we handle these offenses?

Let's look at what the Bible says about getting angry and offended.

Ephesians 4:26 says, "Be angery and sin not." It's okay to get angry, but the next sentence says, "Don't let the sun go down on your wrath." In other words, you have until sun-set to deal with your anger, or to deal with your offense, and then it becomes a judgment.

Every offense that is held past sun-set is a judgment.

So, now, it's many days, even weeks and months later. You've forgiven, and it's come back; you've forgiven again, and it's come back. Now, it's no longer just a simple offense. It's a judgment.

So, what do we do now?

Repent!

Repent of judging?

Yes, but now, it's not as simple as that. What does the Bible say about judging?

Matthew 7:1 and 2 says, "Judge not and you'll not be judged...with the same standard you judge, you'll be judged."

The offense you judged, you become guilty of that offense.

"But," you say, "I didn't do it!"

The moment you judged the other person, you became guilty of the offense. Also, the same nature that is in them that made them commit the offense, is also in you. That's why we very often find ourselves committing the very same things we've accused others of doing. That's why we say, when you point a finger at someone else, three fingers point back at you. There's a principal there.

So what do we have to do?

First, repent of the offense as though you were the one who committed that offense.

Secondly, repent of judging that individual. That is how you release them from the bondage to constantly repeating the offense.

Now, you've released them of their bondage, and you yourself are free to maintain an attitude of forgiveness. It works two ways.

Too often we've been dealing with the wrong problem. We've been trying and trying to forgive, when we ought to be dealing with our judging.

That's not the only area where we judge.

Judging. Another area that's already obvious to us is this: that none of us can afford to dishonour our parents. I think that, everybody knows. Deuteronomy chapter 27 verse 16, "Cursed is the one who treats his father and mother with contempt; and all the people shall say Amen!"

Ephesians chapter 6 verse 2 says, "Honour your father and mother which is the first commandment, that it might go well with and you might live long."

When do you dishonour your parents? When you judge them. Even if they are wrong, you have no right to judge.

Even if they're wrong.

All right?

As a matter of fact, the Bible doesn't allow us to judge anybody! Again, Peter says, "Husbands, honour your wives as the weaker vessel." I have to admit I never saw that for a long time! Husbands honour your wives as the weaker vessel. In other words, don't ever judge them. Honouring is so vital.

Let us look at one particular area that many of us have sort of fallen into without really being aware. Turn to Romans chapter 13.

It says,

"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law."

It's amazing! We are now stepping out of the boundaries of the church. We are stepping out of the boundaries of permitted and accepted relationships within the body. We're getting out of the church into the nation.

It says here,

"...the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'You shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself."

You shall love anybody that doesn't know the Lord as you love yourself.

Who is your neighbour? You neighbour happens to be anyone in need. The fact that he's not a believer doesn't make a scrap of difference. You shall love him, and her as much as you love yourself.

Let's go on:

"Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."

Now this is a passage, I don't know how many times I read, and at that particular point of time, I thought all that meant was, "Now you don't break any laws and blame the government. Now if you are living in this country, you abide by the laws." But it's saying much more than that.

Even if they don't know the Lord, you and I have no right to judge them. Even if they decide to be malicious and evil, you and I cannot judge them! The minute you judge them, you are in trouble.

Some people say, "Oh in my country, I will honour my primeminister, but when I go to China, I will tell them what I think." You have no right to judge any authority, anywhere, no mater how rotten that authority is! Don't forget, the Bible says all authority has been placed by God. You can pray for them to be removed; you can pray for righteousness, but what many of us in the church have not come into is, that you and I have no right to judge any of these people that God places there.

Now that is one particular area that I certainly fall short of. I wasn't aware. I use to read the newspapers, what's happening in China, what's happening in Sudan, what's happening in Africa, and I used to feel sorry for them. But let me tell you, if you start judging them, even if you have a good cause for judgment, you've broken the law. Now you see how serious it is.

All right?

Now this is one area that the church needs to understand and get hold of and come into repentance. We need to ask God to forgive them for every judgment we've made over civil authorities, authority on the national scale, authority in other governments. Where you've judged them, God says you repent. Because otherwise, that's going to go against you.

When you've finished repenting of every judgment, then, repent of all those offenses as though you committed them yourself. You'll do more good for the situation than if you had continued fuming and raving.

If the whole church begins doing that, istead of fuming, raving, talking and criticizing, what do you think will happen?

Other people's hang-ups. Now, there is another subtle form of judgment, and that comes like this: somebody comes up to you because they find you easy to talk to. They say, "You know, my parents are really hard la! They give me a hard time, you know? My sister's okay. She can get away with anything. But I have to perform like this, I've got to do this, I've got to do that."

All right?

Now, you could just receive it, and say, "I'm sorry about that."

But on the other hand, if you've now received it and have started judging her parents, you're in trouble! You see that?

How you handle what you've received.

The Bible says, "Cast your burdens unto me." God says, "I've not asked you to sit as judge." Yes, we receive, we hear; then we hand it back to the Lord. We don't sit, because he or she's your good friend, and start judging the person who is responsible for whatever it is with her.

And there are many today in all the churches like that. A very high percentage. 80 to 90 percent. What has happened to us? Somebody comes up and says, "You know, so-and-so is like this, so-and-so is like this." Let me tell you, if you don't stop it, you are going to find yourself guilty of the same sin.

As a matter of fact, you will find many of these people who come and unload on you, stop judging. And now, they've made you the judge and they shove off having unloaded their burden on you, and you have become a burden bearer that God has not asked you to be.

Are you with me?

So be careful of these people who love passing their things around.

I know people who come and say "Oh! They're like this, like this, like this! They do this, do that!" but they get on very well with the people who made it "like this, like that" for them.

And you pick it up and you start, "Oh! How can they do that to them! How can they do that to my friend! How can they do that to her!"

You've judged.

Many of us have fallen into this trap. It's a snare.

Judging God's servants. All right, now. Having said that, there is another level where judgments are even more dangerous, and that is when you deal with God's servants.

I remember sometime ago, when the tele-evangelists fell, and people passing their video around for everyone to see.

I said, "I'm not interested."

Do you know, that even if you even so much as talk about it you bring a curse upon yourself! And the size of the curse will be determined by the size of the ministry the man was involved in before he fell.

God says, "Pray for him. Don't judge him."

Be very careful how you talk about ministers. If they make a mistake, God knows how to deal with them. God has not appointed you to judge. Be very careful.

Now, my reason for sharing this is because, unless we get a hold of this, we are going to be happy where we are.

You'll say, "No! I've forgiven all my friends and people who upset me. No! I've forgiven, forgiven ... Oh I know all about that! Parents? Also yeah, I've forgiven!"

What about your boss? How many times have you cursed him?

Your boss? The principle of your school? The traffic warden? The establishment?

Oh! I've heard some people really curse! That's dangerous!

Dangerous!

Don't you ever judge them! Even if they do not know the Lord.

Read Romans chapter 13 again and again. It gives you no license to judge.

Now it is especially easy in a country where there seems to be some injustice, to find ourselves sitting in judgment. It's one thing to recognize injustice; it's another thing to sit in judgment over that injustice, and say, "How can they do that! How can they ever do this! How can!"

You are not allowed to make those judgments!

Guard your heart. Now, once this has been taken care of, two things are going to happen: you are going to be very careful what comes out of your mouth. Not only what comes out of your mouth, but what you entertain in your heart.

According to Psalm 139, right now, there is a teleprinter going before God, and He knows exactly what each of us is thinking. As a matter of fact, David says, even before the thought comes into my mouth, You already know it." Psalm 139. Before I even know what I'm going to say, You know it altogether. Because what comes out of your mouth comes out of the abundance of the heart.

All right?

So we need to guard our hearts with all diligence. We need to deal with those areas where we've stood in judgment against authorities that we thought it was okay to judge because they were not believers. Are you with me?

And you find that once you start doing that, you'll be more cautious with the church. You'll be more cautious with your brother and sister in Christ. You'll be more cautious because they're close to home. They're family members. You know, it's important that we understand that.

And once you understand this, you're going to recognize the need to check your heart every day.

Many people think repentance is done once in a lifetime for them to get saved.

I'm sorry. Repentance is an ongoing necessity.

As a matter of fact, in Germany, in Damstraf, there's a group of sisters lead by Baslea Schlink. We spent a few days with her in her place. They've got a printing press, they've got a number of things, and if for any reason the printing press stops functioning, they all stop working, they get into a room, and pray, and ask the Holy Spirit to show them, "Who has sinned?" Once they repent, the machine starts clicking again.

Amazing!

Don't forget, your very thoughts and attitudes can affect all that you have. You know that?

I was once visiting once with a believer who had a business. We were with him in a room in which was a major computer, and some very expensive things.

Suddenly, he said, one of the biggest machines -- I don't understand computers -- was just not ticking in the way he would like it to tick, so we went in there, and said just pray.

So we laid hands on it.

The Lord told him that he had not really forgiven some of his employees who had left him without giving him enough notice. The minute he put that right, it started functioning again.

It's amazing isn't it! How even machines respond to God's command.

All right? So if things don't take off here, you know what you have to do -- repent, and ask God to show you.

Let me tell you something else. Once that has been shown to you, it's no big deal to say, "God, I'm sorry, I blew it. Forgive me."

He waiting! He's waiting to forgive.

He can't wait to put it under the blood. But He can't do it unless you confess it -- unless you acknowledge it. He's not going to force himself on you. We are free moral agents.

Arise and shine. As we begin to deal with this on a consistent basis, let me tell you what is going to happen. You are going to come to the place that we read about in Isaiah 60:

"Arise shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has arising upon you."

Arise and shine for your light has come. You know the light increases in intensity as you live in daily repentance.

Once that light begins to increase, things begin to happen. Your ability to speak to others about Jesus, increases. You find yourself moving in greater authority. You're more powerful, because now, love is your guiding principal. That day is coming.

That is why today, God is purifying the church; preparing us to come to that place where His light may be seen in us. That's the glory of the Lord that the Lord has promised His church, His bride. I want us to really take note of this.

Everything that's in Isaiah 60 is worth reading and believe. How much you see will depend on how much you believe. God's Word will not do anything for you if you do not act on it. We act on the word of God by receiving it, agreeing with it, and believing it.

As you act on the Word by receiving it, agreeing with it, and believing it, what's going to happen is God will begin to act on your behalf and do what the Word says He must do. Because it's God who works to perfect and complete the work which He has begun. That's why the apostle Paul said, In the light of all this, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

Your reputatuon. Now, the biggest problem is this: after you're through reading this, you'll go into your closet and say, "What have I done wrong? Who have I judged?"

Oh, you may come up with a few things.

Then somebody might just come and tell you, "Hey what about this?"

Now if you hadn't thought about that you would reject that.

You would reject that.

The Bible says, "agree with your adversary quickly." In other words, receive what is being said even if you can't see it. This is the hardest thing.

Let me tell you, it's not easy, particularly if you think you're free of it, and somebody comes and says, "Hey ..."

Well?

"I reject it!"

But you don't tell him you reject it. Inside you say, "You dirty..."

I'm afraid it won't work.

You know, that's why the apostle Paul, writing to the church in Philippi said, "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ." And he begins to tell you exactly what our Lord had to do to come to that place where he had authority, not only in heaven, but on the earth, and under the earth.

The Bible says, "He made himself of no reputation."

Let me tell you something, the minute you start defending your reputation you've got serious problems. God hate reputations.

God hates reputation.

Recently in Singapore, I spoke of the man who lost face. I said, "Jesus lost face so that you and I could have face." If you don't lose face, you're gong to have problems. He not only made Himself of no reputation, but it says before that He did not take His position in the God head for granted.

He did not say, "I am part of the Godhead! I am the executor -- the executive director of the Godhead!" No. He put it aside. And the amazing thing is, it says, He made himself a servant of the Godhead.

He became a servant.

God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit live to serve each other.

And the Bible says, "Then, he became a man."

I tell you, everybody is trying to go up, He's coming down. Everybody's hoping for a reputation, for their name to be mentioned.

How often have you gone to minister to someone, and through your prayer a miracle takes place. Then later, during a church service, that person stands up and gives their testimony. You're waiting to hear your name being mentioned, and he doesn't even mention it.

"Ungrateful wretch!"

Who do you think was responsible for the healing?

Not you! The Bible says, when all is said and done, we are to think of ourselves as "Unprofitable servants." That doesn't mean make yourself unprofitable. Do you know what that means? "Good for nothing." You've just done your job!

Okay?

"...He made himself of no reputation, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death."

Do you know what that means? Everything that was leveled against him, he accepted. As if that were not enough, he became obedient unto death of the cross. In other words, other people's mistakes, sins and all that, He took upon himself.

And this is where sometimes we get very very uptight, when someone comes and blames you for something you know you have no part in. It's bad enough to take it when you think you could have had a part in it, but when you don't have a part in it, and they come and accuse you -- ooo!

Jesus did that

So you need to ask yourself, "Why am I reacting?"

What reacts?

F-L-E-S-H -- "gagi!"

As long as flesh is there, it will not only react, but it will suffer corruption and stink. When it stinks, let me tell you, demons are hovering around like vultures to come and nest, and have a wonderful time feeding on this flesh, so this is something we need to constantly deal with.

Ask yourself, "When was the last time somebody upset me? How did they upset me? What did they say that caused me to be upset?"

Obviously, there was still something of the flesh there that could react. The Bible says, "Crucify it!"

Crucify it!

This is how we participate in Christ. As we begin to deal with that, its amazing how you can take things that are thrown at you.

We don't live in a perfect world. We all stumble, we make mistakes, we react, we blow our top. And how we receive these things is going to determine what God does in this place.

Happy?

I'll tell you something else that I find now. When you come to God and acknowledge a weakness, He can't wait to put things right with you. He does it! Not you.

You say, "Lord, where do I begin? Where do I begin?" God says, "If you are willing, I will enable you."

It's not you, Its God.

"If you are willing, I will enable you."

What we need to do is before we go on from here, we need to search our own hearts. Not just today; everyday.

"Search my heart oh Lord, and see if there be any wicked way in me. Try me and know my anxious thoughts, and lead me in the way everlasting. Cleanse me from secret faults. And see if there be any wicked way in me. Let me be innocent of the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight oh Lord."

That needs to be your and my daily prayer. When you pray that prayer, you are going to come under conviction.

I've found the Holy Spirit to be such a gentleman that He won't even tell you anything! You have to ask Him.

He say's, "Oh, you interested to know? Okay..."

He never comes, wakes you up and bangs you on the head and shouts, "Hey you..."

He quietly says, "This is it."

"Oh."

And sometimes what He does is send people to come and tell you certain things. And very often we don't receive what we hear because we don't like the people who brought it.

Isn't it true? I mean if the visiting evangelist comes and tells you things, you'll receive it, of course! But if it's someone else who's not so nice, you say, "Who are you?" Remember, God can speak through anyone, and when He speaks, it would be good for us to receive, and listen.

And as we deal with it and put it right, let me tell you, we are going to go on with God!
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