Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
us when you ascended back to heaven jesus you sent your holy spirit your comforter your sheer power your presence your glory to be in us and upon us and lord forgive us for every time we've grieved the holy spirit quenched or resisted the holy spirit in our in our lives god because we need your glory we need that anointing we need that power to destroy the works of the devil and lord i just pray god that you teach us how to lay hold upon that how to pursue getting you to rend the heavens and step down and manifest your glory in the church again and in the community again until there is revival well we pray that this morning in jesus name amen and amen yeah i think we're going to do something a little different today what makes us different than any other religion on the face of the earth what makes us different than any other church on the face of the earth there's all kinds of churches there's all kinds of dead religion there's all kinds of demonic false religion in the world [Music] the first thing that makes it different is that we are absolutely positively sure that the bible is unique to all religious writings it's ever been written [Music] bible is absolutely proven to be god's inspired infallible word through archaeology through history through prophecy we've seen it really the most ignorant statement somebody can make is that the bible is not god's word or it's full of errors or all this different stuff that all these so-called intelligent people try to claim but they show their foolishness and they show they really just don't know matter of fact i've started to just tell some of them when they comment on facebook or i hear them say something and they try to sound intelligent by saying the bible is fiction and i said you probably one guy told me recently said the bible fiction ha ha ha laughed you know i said you probably believe evolution now that's some fiction [Music] but folks let me tell you right now you can either be an anointed christian with the glory of god the
power of god on you and flowing through you or you can be a dead christian did you know that [Music] and you know what's so bad sometimes is it's hard to tell the difference because the dead christians have a form of godliness they have a form of christianity meaning on the outside it looks like they have christianity but he says but they deny or they reject the power of the holy spirit and we've talked a lot about that over the last few weeks but i feel like the lord wants me to just completely shift gears this morning and talk to you about the importance of obtaining the glory of god in your life and in the church and when i say the glory of god you see a lot of people don't even know what you're talking about when you talk about the glory of god and some people think it's only an old testament thing that the glory of god only appeared actually manifest in physically in the old testament but how many of you know that that's not the case the glory of god i'm talking about the presence and power of god literally at times became visible to the people of god and even to the wicked in the new testament see this is what i don't get listen folks if anything we need to just realize we serve the living god he is i am that means he is present now in our present he is living and just because he is he is alive with glory and with power and he has a presence that he carries with him and if you get close enough to him it rubs off on you and sometimes if you'll get close enough sometimes if you'll dive in deep enough sometimes if you'll press on into it if the glory will become so strong it'll actually become physical you'll actually see it in the physical realm and you'll see it with your eyes and you'll feel it with your body not just your spirit not just your mind but you will feel the presence and power and glory of the lord jesus christ that will shake you and change you [Music] the glory of god the presence tangible manifest presence of god is what every christian needs it's what every church needs it's what every community needs but we we chase after other things we sin you know why the bible says all have sinned the word says and come short of the glory of god sin keeps you from the glory of god sin blocks you from having that presence
and that power and sometimes that sin can just be pride or a bad attitude or rebellion or laziness it doesn't have to be lust or drunkenness or pornography sometimes it's just the fact that you're lazy you don't pray you don't fast you don't hunger and thirst you don't desire him more than everything else don't complain about the pastor the church or anybody else if you don't have the glory and the presence of god in your life that's on you friend but i can tell you this if enough people in a church will get filled and covered and immersed in the glory of god and bring that glory with them when they come to church the church will be filled with god's glory [Music] this is what you want to know what revival is i love what the old minister who led the hebrides revival duncan campbell said he said revival is when god steps down from the heavens and truly manifests himself among his people and folks this is a new testament concept and i want to tell you we're teetering here on the brink we're teetering around the veil you know i want to share with you you think this is odd we're going to i'll share with some new testament scriptures in just a second about this but just to share with you how important the glory and presence of god the tangible manifest glory you know a few weeks back right before christmas and i don't think thomas cole or katie would have a problem with me sharing that they contacted me and thomas had been coming to the bible study and he'd been sharing what he was learning with his girlfriend katie and they they text me and said can you come see us we want to get saved and we want to do it right and so they said we want to get saved and we want you to to show us what we need to do to get saved so i went to thomas's apartment right before christmas and i sat there and i made sure that they understood what they were doing i made sure that they understood what it meant to totally surrender your life to repent and turn from sin to become a disciple of jesus not just say i believe and we went through for about two hours before i did just pray with them for about two hours we went through the scriptures and we talked about did they really understand
and we talked about what it meant to be truly be born again born of the spirit a supernatural experience when you truly make jesus christ lord of your life when you give up your sin your rights your plans your dreams your desires and you completely surrender to the lordship of jesus christ not just him as savior but he becomes lord of your life lord means master it means boss see a lot of people want a savior but they don't want a lord well you can't have him just as savior if he's your lord he will be your savior if you are lord of your life he will not be your savior matter of fact i don't know you can just check me on this look at how many times the bible calls him lord versus savior it's unbelievable [Music] but we talked about that and what was powerful is as i shared with them i asked them okay i said are you guys ready to pray and ask jesus to forgive you of your sins to come into your heart to be your lord and savior and you're going to give up your life and your sins and your own plans and you're going to give your life to him and they said we're ready to pray now we prayed i led them in a prayer because the bible does say for with the mouth right for the heart man believes into righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation you have to confess it the lord jesus you have to believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you have to believe it in your heart and confess it with your mouth and repent and turn from your sin and your life so i led them in prayer and after i led them in prayer i bought i could see katie just tears running out her face dripping on the and i said just keep your head bowed because i want to get up and i want to come over and lay hands on you and the presence of god came in that room y'all the glory of god came in that room so strong and i walked around and i laid hands on both of them and i prayed for both of them that god would touch them and reveal himself to them and god would become real in their life and i don't know what all i prayed but when i walked back around to the other side of the coffee table and sat down in the chair where i had been sitting katie looks up with tears running down her face so she never felt anything like what she was feeling thomas looked up and said i feel so much of god's presence he really says he said i just feel like i'm drunk he said and then they both said that they saw this light around me
and they didn't tell each other well thomas said it but katie didn't say it but later they showed us this past week they said we we told each other you draw what you saw and i'll draw what i saw we'll see if it was same exactly the same thing they drew they literally saw the glory and light of god all the way around me and i and you know what i told him it freaked him out i said it's not because i'm special i said what you didn't realize is the glory of god was on you just the same way you just god was just letting you see and see that's when you talk about where paul talks about in corinthians when he says my my speech and my preaching was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom but in the demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of god christianity is faith in the presence and power in reality of god almighty the lord jesus christ not just that he was but that he is and will evermore be that he is powerful that's why i don't even comprehend the christians and the churches that say he doesn't heal anymore he doesn't speak to people anymore or the gifts are not for us anymore i don't even understand that because god is sheer living power he is life itself anything in the universe listen listen scientists don't understand the power that holds atoms together they don't understand the powers all kind of different powers in the universe i mean it's funny they call some things dark energy and dark matter and the god particle that's one name they call stuff they don't understand but the bible's always said jesus said he is before all things and by him all things consist or are held together by the word of his power god our god is a powerful the most powerful being in the universe beyond the universe beyond our imaginations now doesn't it stand a reason that if we are his people and we are his children through faith in the blood of jesus christ and we've been born from above and we've been reject regenerated as the bible says and we have passed from from death to life from darkness to light it doesn't it makes sense that once in a while at least we ought to encounter his glory and his presence and his power so much that we're in tears that we're shaking that
we find ourselves on the floor on our face that people around us go something is different about you i see something different about you i remember one of my best friends that i grew up with from elementary school and we grew up drinking and smoking dope and doing drugs and partying all the time and i remember when i left college and i remember one of the last times right before i left he and i hung out together right before i left and went to arkansas when i really got saved and gave my life to jesus and was transformed and baptized in the holy spirit and the glory of god came in my life and upon my life and i really repented and turned from all my sin i remember i was there for about a year almost and i came back here to opelika and i went to his house first thing i got here matter of fact it was november the 1st i remember it like it was yesterday it was november the 1st 1987. and i got back here slept for a little while got up went over to his house a bunch of us got together because we hadn't seen each other a long time played basketball cut up did the things we used to do except you know they they had a cooler full of beer getting ready to drink and i wasn't touching it but here's what he said his name was craig here's what he said later when he got saved this is how he described it he said i knew you he said but you look different he said your eyes he said i could see that it looked like something and and he didn't he'd never been to church he wasn't a christian he didn't know christianity goes it looked like something had cleaned you up on the inside it looked like light was coming out of your eyes your face looked different he said we m we had heard that you had given your life to jesus and we mocked and laughed about it he goes but when i saw you and what he saw was the glory of god shining he saw the life of god shining through me couldn't deny it he had seen the olding with the eyes full of sin and full of death and destruction of my soul it was being destroyed by sin and the devil he that's what he knew the dirty the unclean the darkness that ruled my life but folks when god comes in and the blood of jesus washes you clean and the holy spirit comes in [Music] you're supposed to be different something different should shine through your eyes and it's the it's the glory of god it's real you guys
it's real it's tangible there have been times and i've shared this with you there were times i remember preaching different times especially preaching at tutwiler prison the state prison here in alabama for women and i remember preaching there and the glory of god coming on me so strong that people around me couldn't even get near me couldn't even walk beside me because the glory of god would just knock them down and knock them out i've seen the glory of god is it because i'm special no i believe any christian that loves god with all of their heart that hates sin with a passion that wants to do jesus will they may not be perfect it may not do everything perfect doesn't mean you'll never sin but you hate sin you don't want to do it and you're walking all you can do to walk against the flesh and against the devil and against the culture and this world this world system and you want jesus i promise you that the lord will come along the the holy ghost will come along the comforter the helper the teacher the guide will come along and empower you the only reason there's a lack of power in the church is because there is a lack of hunger for holiness and purity and and and to walk with jesus in obedience there if we could ever get that across there would be no lack of his presence that's why god said he gives the holy spirit to those who obey him imagine that right i know i'm just flying off the cuff here not even turning to these scriptures but there's so many instances in the bible let's let's look at a few for just a second just to see what happens when the glory of god shows up let's just see goodness let's go to second chronicles chapter five one of my favorites now some people say well now you're going to start in the old testament yes i am because i believe all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for correction for instruction right but here's the thing here's what the book of hebrews says in hebrews chapter 7 hebrews 8 here's what the book of hebrews tells us that we
have now in the new covenant a better covenant with better promises it even talks about that the glory of the old covenant doesn't even compare to the glory of the new covenant right it's greater glory here that once jesus christ died on that cross and shed his sinless spotless blood it became our sacrifice our perfect sacrifice there was no need for the blood of bulls and goats anymore there was no need for a passover lamb to be slain he became the perfect sacrifice the god man laid down his life to break the power of sin and to open the door again for the the people to come in for people to come in and be cleansed and be able to experience the presence and power of god in their life but look in this old testament story god directs david to build a temple that he said his son will build it and so they build the temple and he obeys solomon does it according to everything that god had instructed his father how to do it and here's what it says let's read second chronicles 5. [Music] are you there go to verse 13. and the priest and the levites came with their instruments in verse 13 it says it came to pass as the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the lord and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and the symbols and the instruments of music and praised the lord saying for he is good for his mercy endures forever that then the house was filled with a cloud even the house of the lord so that the priest could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud for the glory of the lord had filled the house of god we sing these songs like this morning about the glory of god filling the house and some people will say you know some preachers will say oh yeah well you know the bible promises where two or three are gathered together in my name there i am in the midst listen there's two different things we have to understand about the presence of god god is omnipresent meaning he's everywhere all the time but there is a difference between his omnipresence and when he manifests his presence somewhere [Music] i guess a good way to say it is in their oxygen in the air but what do hospitals do for people who really need a dose of oxygen they concentrate the pure stuff
in one spot in a tank in their nose right well that's the best way is to give you a little example yes god's presence is everywhere but when he chooses to intensify it and magnify it in a place in a person that's called what the bible calls god manifesting his glory amen and that's what happened here they obeyed god's directions they built the temple just like he told them to build it and when the priests and the levites got in there and they were praising and worshiping god it said the glory of the lord filled that place in a different way in a special way so strong that the priest could not even keep standing up it doesn't say that they chose to kneel down it says they could not stand up to minister could not different than they knelt down right let's go to the new testament y'all with me for a minute here let's go to acts chapter 7. are y'all there now this is when stephen you know the apostles took seven men and ordained them to be the first deacons basically the first helpers in the church and they said stephen was a mighty man of god and did great signs and wonders among the people and of course the pharisees the religious people couldn't stand it and so they they take hold of stephen and stephen begins to preach and basically stephen as he's before the sanhedrin he's before these religious leaders who hold you know life and death in their hands for him at this moment he stands before them and he preaches the whole basically almost the whole old testament story of the history of the
jews he let him know he was no dummy he knew the word of god and he talks about that and says as he was preaching let's go on down he talks about solomon building the house are y'all with me trying to see how much of this we're going to read always so much here i'm looking for the part here where it says his face shone like an angel where is it in the beginning that's right it's at the end when they begin to stone him that he sees the glory six ah is it chapter 6 why am i ah yes verse 15. that's right yes look at verse oh we'll start there verse 13. well let's just back up to verse eight and stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people then there arose certain of the synagogue which called the synagogue of the libertines and the cyrenians and the alexandrians and of them of cilicia and of asia disputing with steven and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake then they s suburn men which said we have heard him speak blasphemous words against moses and against god and they stirred up the elders of the people and stirred up the people rather and the elders and the scribes came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council and set up false witnesses which said this man seated not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and against the law for we have heard him say that this jesus of nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which moses delivered us and all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an angel so basically his face i believe shone or or something changed about his face that showed forth the glory of god and they didn't know how to explain it any any other way than it looked like an angel and what happened every time an angel appeared light from heaven right so here's stephen god's glory manifest on him now god allowed him to be the first martyr of the church
but still the glory of god was on him and it was a witness to him and it was also a man standing there that it shook and that was paul or saul of tarsus who became the apostle paul you say pastor dean how do you know that that glory shook this man who hated the church and hated christians and only want to put people in jails because when jesus appeared to him jesus said it's hard for you to kick against the pricks that means that paul was kicking against the holy spirit conviction and bothering see from the time i believe that he saw the glory of god and heard what stephen said and he saw the power come on stephen he couldn't explain it because his theology was wrong and he was so zealous about his theology but he was in this conflict between seeing the glory of god on a man who was preaching a different thing than what he had been taught but he saw the glory of god and then of course if you go to chapter 9 you see another manifestation of god's glory chapter 9 verse 1 and saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the lord went into the high priest and desired of him letters to damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of this way whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto jerusalem and as he journeyed he came near damascus and look at this right here this is this is the glory of god manifesting in a place powerfully visually it says here and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth people think it's odd that people fall out in church sometimes or people fall on the floor i've never found that odd you know why because it's in the bible novel thing there in it it's in the bible the glory of god shows up people fall down the glory of god shows up people shake the glory of god shows up some people seem as though they're drunk because it's hard for them to stand because the body cannot take the intensity sometimes of the manifestation of the glory of god you know what that's okay i know a lot of people that need to be laid out on the floor in the glory of god maybe they have changed their attitude and that's what it took for the doctoral theologian saul of tarsus it took the glory of god to knock him to the ground [Music] listen folks why am i saying this there's a lot of people like saul of tarsus who aren't going to get saved who aren't going to be delivered from their theological error and their deception
and their their zeal but their zeal that's not according to knowledge they're not going to be delivered from it unless they encounter the power and the glory of god and let me just say that nine times out of ten that god wants them to encounter that power and that glory through you amen that's what happened with stephen god used stephen to shake saul and to begin a work of conviction and drawing but then god had to come and let his glory shine from heaven and not saul of tarsus or paul to the ground and look what it says and he fell to the earth verse four and he heard a voice saying saul saul why persecutest thou me and he said who art thou lord and the lord said i am jesus whom now persecutes it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks and he look at this trembling trembling and astonished said lord what will you have me to do and the lord said arise go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do so the glory of god comes in and guess what again we see people falling to the ground shaking but getting converted getting saved you know i think a lot of people a lot of people think they're christians but they've never encountered the glory of god the greatest disservice the church has done to people is to make them think they're safe because they said a little prayer instead of convincing them they're saved when they repent and make jesus lord and when they have the witness of the holy spirit in them that they're saved you know what i can't tell you if you're saved or not you have to know that you have to know that you've made jesus lord that you've repented of your sin that the glory of god's come in you and you've been born again if you hadn't had that happen you're not saved i don't care how much you go to church i don't care if you've been baptized 10 times i don't care if you sing in the choir i don't care how many church roles you're on i don't care if your baptist method presbyterian pentecostal charismatic or a roman catholic it doesn't matter if you haven't made jesus lord of your life turn from your sin and had an encounter with the glory of god you are not born again
you are a professing christian you are a dead empty shell you have an outward appearance of godliness or christianity but you don't have the power that's transformed your life and then if you have christian and you have been born again then god says something else he says you need to be baptized in the holy ghost you need to be filled with the holy ghost till you're overflowing you need to be speaking in tongues you need to be healing the sick and casting out devils and in prayer meetings and in worship services and witnessing to people and letting the power manifest through you and if you get dry and you get dull then it's time to fast and pray until the glory of god comes back on you it's time to repent until the glory of god comes back on you let me read it acts go to acts chapter 3 oh we need the glory of god we need anointed people acts chapter 3. we have peter's second recorded sermon after the church was born verse 11 he says and as the lame man which was healed held uh held peter and john all the people ran together under them and the porch that is called solomon's greatly wandering him and peter saw it he answered and said to the people you men of israel why marvel you at this or why look ye so earnestly on us as though i don't by our own power or holiness we have made this man to walk the god of abraham and of isaac and of jacob the god of our fathers has glorified his son jesus whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of pilate when he was determined to let him go but you denied the holy one and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and you killed the prince of life whom god has raised from the dead whereof we are witnesses and his name through faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know yea the faith which is by him jesus that is hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all all know brother and all now brethren i want that you through ignorance did this as it did also your rulers but those things which god before she showed by the mouth of all his prophets that christ should suffer he had so fulfilled now listen to what he says here verse 19 repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the lord and he will send jesus christ which was before was preached unto you but this is so important repent repent means change your mind change the
way you think and change your actions turn from sin turn from laziness turn from selfishness turn from lukewarmness and if you'll do that times of refreshing i love what the word in the in the greek here means times of refreshing or reviving this is a revival verse here shari you're a nurse who needs to be revived people who are dead or what dying right [Music] you know some folks some folks are dead and dying and they just need you know cpr other ones have to be shocked [Music] there's a lot of people dying right now in churches not just in the world they're dying spiritually they're dying emotionally and even physically they're dying because they are not encountering the glory and the presence of god because their church has taught them it's not for today or they've taught them it's okay to live in sin and you'll still go to heaven or you can be lukewarm and god won't spit you out of his mouth and all these lies that people believe or you know what you don't need the holy ghost you got the holy spirit when you were saved funny i think jesus told them to go to jerusalem and wait there's more paul got saved on the road to damascus but god said go and wait i'm going to send a man you're going gonna be baptized or filled with the holy ghost folks if getting saved was enough jesus and the bible and woodens have said there's more y'all hear what i'm saying oh there's so many more the glory of god you got to be hungry see let me let me tell you what happened at brownsville and i want you to do this brother i want you to queue up and we i want us to watch allison moore you can find it on youtube before we leave this morning some of you haven't seen this some of you have and if you have you need to see it again [Music] but what happens in revival when god's people repent when god's people pray when god's people get hungry and thirsty when god's people get filled with the glory and presence of god here's what happens things start changing
compromise lukewarm christians get on fire for god they turn off the tv and they start praying in tongues and weeping before god for the lost people around them some of us it's not tv we can turn set the phone down [Music] shut the computer the old saints used to say they love the sweet hour of prayer most christians now don't even have five minutes a day well folks i want you to see this because when the glory of god you got to remember brownsville assembly of god prior to 1995 the summer of 1995 was already a good church they had a good pastor they were a good church but according to the testimony of pastor john kilpatrick who had been the pastor there for 14 years before the revival happened according to him he was dying on the inside he knew there had to be more he said we had some good services we'd have a few people get saved we would have somebody get healed he said but you could just tell there just wasn't there just was so much more we weren't getting there and he was so discouraged and he was so frustrated but he he began to encourage his church two years before the revival happened to start praying for revival to start praying for god to move to get hungry for something more than what you have listen the worst thing a christian can do is settle for where they are i don't understand not wanting more of god more truth more revelation more understanding more anointing more glory more power more ability to see people saved and healed and delivered i don't understand wanting to sit in a pew and rot away and die don't understand it the people of god should be pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in christ jesus what is the high calling in christ jesus i believe it's john 14 12 when he said the works that i do whoever believes in me the walks that i do shall he do also and even greater works than these shall he do that's amazing to me i want you to see how god touched this teenage college age girl allison warden i've met her i went to this revival many many days many many nights
a friend of mine was the children's pastor there so this is not something that i talk about as if i don't know about it i went there sometimes weekly sometimes i would leave on wednesday night after prayer and not come back till saturday and stay at this revival because the glory of god was so strong and the anointing and glory was so different and the power of god was falling and people were repenting and weeping and praying for hours and and sinners were coming from the community and all over the world and backsliders and prodigals and all kind of people were coming to this church because the presence of god was there and people were getting saved and they were repenting of sin and they were they were they were just it was amazing to watch i mean i prayed i had read about revival history i had prayed for revival i had seen many moves of god in my own life and ministry but this was beyond and this happened in the beginning of the revival so i want y'all to to watch this is this where's the li right here all right brother crank it up