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In all of us, Lord, lead us and guide us, Lord, draw us closer and closer, we pray, Lord.
Lord, give us the hunger, the desire, Lord, give us, Lord, the want to, to be with you, to obey you, to walk with you, to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Lord, really, at the end of the day, that's all that matters is how much we love you. We don't have to question whether you love us or not. Do we love you with all of our heart? Help us, Lord, with that, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. You may be seated this morning. Welcome, everyone. Hallelujah. Everybody feeling all right today? All right. Well, I hope you have your Bibles with you today. The Lord definitely gave me a word for you today. Actually, it's not really something I think I've ever preached on or talked about. But yesterday, it's funny how some of these things happen sometimes. I was working out, lifting weights out in a shop by myself. And I just started talking to the Lord. And some of these things started coming out. And I realized how important this is because he just made me remember things. We were watching a documentary, a Brownsville documentary. I think it was really focused on lindall and worship. And didn't it just come out? Did it just come out? It was really good. But Steve Hill's first message at the Brownsville Revival was remembering the deeds of the Lord, or what the Lord has done, from Psalm 77. And then several years into the revival, he redid that message with an update, but remembering the deeds of the Lord. And I was there when he did the update that night. And it's one of the most powerful nights that I've ever been there. But I was on the bottom floor in the very back row. And I remember the Holy Spirit hitting me so hard that I was just weeping my eyes out. That's how powerful it was. But it all comes back to what I'm going to talk about. So y'all can put up the title today is one of the three. I want you to turn with me. We're going to go to Luke first. Luke chapter nine. We're going to be a lot of places here, probably. I'm going to try to convey something to you that I hope you can grab ahold of. Because we live in a crazy, crazy world.
The deception's only going to grow. The animosity towards Christians is going to grow. There's going to be a falling away. It's going to be that falling away apostasy. People falling away from Jesus is going to grow. The love of Christians is going to grow cold. And that love that's going to grow cold is not just for their fellow man, but the love that grows cold first is the love for God, for Jesus. And we hear that word love a lot. And I think we think we know what it means. But most of the time, we do not know what it means. Because love is not passive. It's not always sweet. Sometimes it has to be corrective. I mean, anything you see Jesus doing is a manifestation of love because he always walked in love. He was the only one perfect that never sinned and always walked in love. So the day he made the whip and drove people and animals out of the temple and flipped the tables over, that was love. The day he looked on the Pharisees with anger after he healed the man with the withered arm, that was love. Because if you love people enough, you will bring correction. And it's not always going to be pleasant. There is righteous anger that has to be demonstrated at times and patience. You have to know when those things are needed. Sometimes you can talk sweet all day long to a child, but they finally need to get a good, nice rebuke and yell and correction into their face. I've noticed kids sometimes over the years as I've been raising children that I can say real sweet voice, you know, don't do that. Don't do that, honey. Don't do that. And they'll just keep doing it. And then I say, hey, stop. I said don't do that. They'll jump and then guess what, they'll stop, all right? And that's not being mean, that's love. If I saw one of my children, especially when they were a little running out into this busy road, I can assure you I wouldn't be going stop, honey, right? And I'm only saying this because, again, we have in our minds what we think love is. And because we base it all in human emotions, we tend to think God is like us. And one of the things he says over and over again is I'm not like you. I don't think like you. I don't do like you do. And you need to understand that, okay? So when I throw out the word love today, agape has much more meaning than it just feeling fondness for someone. Maybe the Greek phileo means having a fondness or brotherly love towards someone. But agape means that you love somebody or someone enough that you are willing to do
what's best for them even if it harms you. That's why Jesus said greater love is no man than this than a man laid down his life for his friends. So this is something that a love that does not take its self-preservation, self-satisfaction into account. It's a total abandon of that. Remember what Paul said? He said, I don't even count my life dear to me anymore. I am here for one reason and one reason only, and that is to do the will of the one who sent me. That's it. And Paul was doing the will of God in his life and laying down his life and giving up his life he could have had because he loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. It didn't matter to him whether he was famous or whether he was popular or whether he was loved by people, whether he suffered, whether he was beaten or imprisoned or shipwrecked or even dead. None of that bothered him because he loved the Lord so much. And that's why he said, I have such a desire to be with Jesus. He said, but. I can just see him saying, but to remain here with you is more needful at the time. He loved Jesus. And that's the mark really that we see, and I'm going to show you of the three disciples. You say the three? Yeah. The nine weren't there yet. The 70 weren't there yet. The multitudes weren't there yet. Let's read this. Luke 9, and we're going to go down to verse 28. The transfiguration is what it says in my Bible here. This is also in Matthew 17 and Mark 9. But it says here, and it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James. Say Peter, John, and James. Three, the three, not the 12, the three. He took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment or his clothing was white and glistening. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep.
And when they were awake, they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass as they parted from him, Peter said unto Jesus, master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said. And while he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the clouds. Somebody say they entered into the cloud. Think about this. The three of them entered into the same cloud of God's glory and presence as Moses did on Mount Sinai. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, this is my beloved son. Hear him. And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone, and they kept it close and told man in those days any of the things which they had seen. Now I wanna go to Matthew 15, I mean, 17, I'm sorry. I wanna read it there too, because we get different viewpoints and different things that the Holy Spirit wanted to emphasize. So Matthew 17, verse one, it says, and after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into the high mountain and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And while he spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, this is my beloved son, and whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid of the fear of God upon them. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, arise, be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, tell the vision to no man until the son of man be risen from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise, shall also the son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood, and he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Now, this right here, as I was praying yesterday
and just talking to the Lord, this just came to me. And see, let's just say this. The Lord Jesus died on that cross for all mankind. And it says, the Bible tells us very clearly that he loved us even before, right? Before he went to the cross, before he, you know, we ever came into being, he's loved us, all right? That is not, again, that is not the question, ever the question. And though he loves us, and though all of us can be saved in the same manner by grace through faith, it doesn't mean that we all have the same relationship with the Lord. And that comes from what we decide to do, the choices we make from the time we get saved on, and whether or not we let things distract us, the devil dangle the little carrot in front of us, or we start to love the world and the things that are in the world more than we love him. I find it very interesting that Jesus would call these three aside, and he did this more than once, as later on in the Garden of Gethseman, he calls them aside. Now, let me just share with you that I believe these three had a different relationship with Jesus than the nine, than the 70, but why is that? Were they perfect men? No, remember James and John, the sons of thunder, they wanted to call fire down on people. Be like Elijah, we wanna kill a bunch of folks. The Lord said, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what we wanna do here now. We got a different plan now than that, right? That's why he called them the sons of thunder. It's like, you guys are something else. Y'all need to chill. Y'all need to learn that's not the mission right now, okay? And then, of course, there's Peter. Everybody knows about Peter's issues, right? I mean, Peter was a little, just like in this incident, the only one that opened their mouth was Peter, making suggestions that was not even part of the plan, right? Talking when he should have been listening, right? In fact, this right here in Matthew 17, and it also shows you in Luke nine, but this was right after Jesus had to rebuke Peter and call him Satan, all right? So it doesn't mean, none of this means that you have to be a perfect person. You are not going to be a perfect person. You're not going to do everything right as you seek to follow the Lord and draw near to him and get to know him.
But what I really, as studying the Bible and looking at the disciples and looking at the prophets and looking over these things, I just found that there were some people that really just absolutely fell in love with God. And you can see it with John wanting to lean on him at the Last Supper, even though among menly men, that's kind of weird, right? If it was just a group of men, anybody trying to lean on me, it would be like, hey, hey, hey, hey, you got the wrong person for that. Personal space, dude, personal space, right? Especially in our society today, okay? But see, that tells me, because they were men, they were real men, they were fishermen, they were tough, they were your blue collar folks. And for John to be doing that and the rest of them to not think it's weird is because they knew he wasn't just another man. They knew who he was. They knew he was the Messiah. They knew he was the Lord of all. They knew he was the creator. And you see John wanting to just be right up on him. You see them arguing about who's gonna be the greatest. And really, yeah, there was a little pride in there, but can you blame them? They wanted to be close to him. I think about that. Lord, who's gonna sit next to you in the kingdom? I want it to be me. I wanna be right there with you. Hold on, you need to chill, buddy. That's not for me to give you. But they wanted to be there. And we know what Peter did, cutting off the high pre-servant's ear, zealous, but not according to knowledge, right? Wasn't discerning that this wasn't the right time for that. Peter saying, I'll never deny you, but then he does. And then we look at Peter and say, well, Peter denied him three times, but Mark's real clear. Mark 14 says that when it all went down and they came and got him, he says they all forsook him and fled, right? So not one of them was perfect. At different times, he rebuked them for their unbelief, right? He told them sometimes you won't believe unless you see miracles. The only reason you believe he told them at times is because you saw the miracles
of the feeding of the 5,000. How long shall I suffer you? He told the nine, because the three were with him on the mountain. The nine couldn't cast the demons out of somebody. He's like, what am I dealing with here? My point is, this is not about being perfect, but it is about having a heart that loves the Lord completely. And see, there's a lot of people that have a divided heart. They go to church, they read the Bibles, they pray, but their heart's really not fully set on loving the Lord with all their heart. And the reason I'm going here is because, you know, after the interview with USA Today, and the article came out yesterday, and a little bit of the back and forth, and then, you know, just some of the crap that's been going on, the attacks that I've been getting in the press for this, what I believe about the Bible, about creation. When I was out there working out and just praying about this, the Lord just told me, he said, not everybody is meant to see these things or understand them or to know them. I didn't take them all on the mountain, he told me. And some people aren't meant to know because they just don't have a heart to know. God reveals things to those who draw near to him, and others don't get the same thing. I mean, and that's, you can say that's unfair all you want. The Lord knows whose heart is fully surrendered, not who's perfect on the outside. He knows whose heart is fully surrendered to him, who is chosen to be his servant, who loves him no matter what they go through. A lot of people get mad at him when things don't work out the way they want. I was thinking about that how many times, y'all just don't know how many times I thank God that I had somehow had the grace from him to hold onto him through my darkest times, to not let go, to not wanna lose him.
And I don't know about y'all, but this is a regular prayer I pray. Lord, I don't want to miss being with you for eternity. So if you see me in the future doing something that would take me away from being with you, I'd rather you kill me. I'd rather you let me die than I should fall away from you and not get to be with you for eternity. You ever prayed that prayer? See, that's where you have to be. I love my family, but I wanna be with him. I love y'all, but I wanna be with him. I don't really love this world very much. I'm talking about the system. It's kind of annoying, but there's a whole lot of people out here that is needful for us to stay here for a little bit. You know, I thought about Stephen, the Lord's first martyr after he started the church, and I thought, you know, he didn't get too long. His ministry wasn't very long at all. Yet you hear the Lord talking about him later, my faithful martyr Stephen. And I think Stephen was one of those, the Lord said, this man's heart is completely mine. So I'm gonna allow him to be my first martyr. He can just come on up here and be with me and be the example that you're not always gonna escape the pain or the persecution and even death. You're not always gonna escape that. Death's part of life now. That's part of our lives until we move into eternity. But this right here, I wanna show you something. Jesus had several groups of people that listened to him. He had the religious leaders that, they listened to him from afar in the multitudes, sometimes up close, but they didn't know him at all. In fact, they rejected him. They thought they had it figured out. They thought, this can't be the Messiah because Elijah's gotta come. They didn't understand John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah to fulfill that prophecy. They thought Jesus came out of Galilee. They didn't understand he was born in Bethlehem. They didn't look hard enough. Their pride, their hardness of heart, their religious pride.
And let me tell you, if you don't think we have a problem with religious pride in the Christian church world, you better wake up and smell the roses because it's everywhere. And what boggles my mind is that these theologians out here that know so much of scripture, but they don't know the Lord of scripture. Nor do they love him. They love their knowledge. They love their degrees. They love their seminaries. They love the sound of their voice, of their hermeneutics and, not hermeneutics, hermeneutics and, what is it, elocution lessons that they took, right? Oh, you can hear the ones that been taught how to preach in certain ways, you know what I'm saying? It's annoying because it's fake as the day is long, right? Don't, I can't stand a preacher that preaches with some kind of, you know, what do we call it, hoo-ha? I don't know. What's that, drama, made up drama? Yeah, I don't know. Sing song in it. Some of you say, well, I love that. Well, okay, enjoy yourself. I don't, I'd rather somebody talk plainly to me, you know? Now there's nothing wrong getting fired up, but you can tell again when it's made up, right? But Jesus had these religious leaders, but they didn't know him. And then there were the multitudes. You see that in Matthew 23 and other places where it says he spoke to the multitude. The multitudes were there. And the multitudes are people that wanted to hear him. This reminds me of the mega church world. The multitudes want to hear him. They'll go hear him. They'll go hear some 30 minute sermon. They'll go hear these things or 20 minutes and a video and three songs. They'll go hear it. And, but, and the multitudes are the ones too. They're the ones that want their needs met. They like the bread and the fish he provides. They want their needs met and they come to be healed, but they don't really love him and know him. They're not ready to lay down their lives for him. Does that describe most of the American church world to you? They would fall in the category of the multitude. And think about it. When Jesus asked in Matthew 16, right before the amount of transfiguration, when he said, who do men say that I am? And what did they say? Some say you're John the Baptist raised from this.
Some say you're Jeremiah. Some say you're Elijah. So the crowd, the multitudes had all these opinions of who he was. They knew he was doing miracles that no other man had ever done. And they knew he was providing for us and he knew he could heal people and we could get our miracle. Think about the church and come get your miracle. I mean, Lord, that's how they advertise. Come get your miracle. I'm just like, if that's all you come to Jesus for, you don't love him. Oh, money, yeah. Yeah, you don't get that miracle without that seed money. Yeah, but that's the multitude. And then there was the 70. Let me see this in Luke chapter 10. Did he sent out 70? And they were closer than the multitudes, of course. And they were given some responsibility and they started trying to obey and do ministry for the Lord. But remember when they came back from casting out demons and healing the sick, they were still called babes by Jesus. He rejoiced that they got this thing about authority in the name of Jesus to cast out demons and heal the sick. Jesus was excited about that. He was happy that babes could get this. He's always happy when we understand stuff and go do it and we come back fired up about it. But this right here is the group of people that I believe have drawn a little bit closer to the Lord. They're starting to try to do some ministry. They found out, hey, as a believer in Jesus Christ, I do have power to cast out demons, to lay hands on the sick, to speak with new tongues. I do have these things and get excited about it. And that's all good. But I see people like that still, maybe they have the understanding of spiritual warfare and some deliverance principles, but it doesn't mean that they're mature in their walk with Jesus. They're still babes. And they get excited about this newfound ministry they're doing and they pretty much dwell there because they like the excitement of it. They like people going, wow, you cast out demons, man. You do deliverance ministry, man. See, we just had some babes that's enamored with deliverance ministry, but they're not mature yet. And you can fall in love. And this is where you have to be very careful
that you don't fall in love with ministry because a lot of people find their worth and satisfaction in ministry. And ministry becomes an idol in front of loving the Lord and obeying the Lord. Are y'all understand what I'm saying today? See, I've been through all this. You know why I've been through all? Because I did all this. I did all this. I've grown up through this whole mess. I made all the mistakes. Ministry became an idol to me. Ministry became who I was as a person, as a man. And I remember one of the best things that ever happened to me was it all being ripped away from me. And when it's all ripped away from you, everything. Then you gotta find out who you are again. What's important, and I wanna tell you something. If something becomes an idol in your life, like ministry, becomes an idol, you better hope the Lord rips it away from you. Because if he lets you continue that way, you're in trouble. I think that all ministers at some point, if they're called to the ministry, they need to be sat down at some point by the Lord. Sit down, shut up, do something else. It's the best thing that ever happened to me. Because in that time of not being in the ministry, not having that to, you know, stroke my ego, make me feel like I was something, make me feel like I was special, blah, blah, blah. And when I was all alone, forsaken by my family, friends, fellow pastors, I had to find me and Jesus again. Just me and Jesus. Because, you know, before that, right before that happened, I would be honest with the Lord in my prayer time. Because there were times that I would be in prayer, study, getting ready for Sunday morning, and I would admit to the Lord, if I was not preaching tomorrow, I would not be doing this. I would not be praying. I would not be studying. And I knew I was in a bad spot. But you gotta be honest with yourself.
See, sometimes we think just because we're doing ministry, like we're gonna get up preaching, that means I'm right with God. I know it doesn't. The gift will still work while your heart's far from me. And my problem at the time was not that I didn't love the Lord, I was just loving ministry and life more than Him. And because He didn't wanna let me keep going down that road, He allowed the devil to come in and strip it all the way from me. My income, my church, my church family, it was rough, but needful. But I just kept saying, Lord, if I never preach again, I'm yours. I'll do whatever you want me to do. I still want you if I'm never a preacher. You wanna know why I got through that, why it didn't destroy me? It's because of that right there, because I was like, Lord, I'm hanging on to you and I want you and I don't care if I ever preach again, I don't care if I ever get married again, I don't care. None of these things are idols anymore to me. But that's the 70. Then there was the 12. His inner circle, the circle of trust, remember? Yet, in that circle of trust, there was a Judas, right? So even in the 12 who got closer to Jesus, spent more time with him, talked to him more, knew him more, got more explanations of what he was talking about, meaning they got more understanding. They saw more of the miracles than anybody else. They got to do more of the miracles themselves. You still had someone there with their own agenda, someone there that their idea of the way the ministry should go, Judas' idea of what he thought Jesus should be doing, becoming king of Israel, delivering them from Roman authority.
That agenda there became an idol even to one that close to the Lord. Remember, Jesus picked him. I've chosen you. One of you is a devil. But at that moment, Judas was not, well, that's not in Judas' mind to betray the Lord. It just was in Judas' mind that he was in this for his own benefit. Boy, there's a lot of people that think, well, if I can get close to Jesus, then I will benefit. That's why the prosperity, word of faith, prosperity movement took off. Because you know what? You can be close to Jesus and have another agenda. And what gets me is even the other eight did not get it when Jesus would say, I'm going to be taken, crucified, but I'm gonna rise from the dead the third day. He told them many times, it was like, went over their heads. And remember in John 15, he told them, I have many things to say unto you now, but you cannot grasp them at this moment. And they were the close ones. They were the inner circle. And he said, I got things you need to know, but you can't handle the truth yet. I think about some of these Christians out here. There's Christians that I know if I get around that there's certain things I can't talk about because they will lose their minds or get angry and start foaming at the mouth. And it's not just biblical cosmology. It can be the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It can be correcting them about their once saved, always saved doctrine. It could be Christians having demons. It could be, I mean, you name it. I got so many that offend people. I've lost count. I mean, I'm not a pre-trib rapture guy. So, you know, just why I don't have any pastor friends, y'all, except for this guy, I'm sorry. I forgot about this guy. I'm just talking about others in this region here. I'm sorry, Troy. You know what I'm saying? There's not one. I even went to a pastor's meeting, a local pastor's meeting in this area a few years back.
And the first meeting I went to was a bunch of Baptists, Presbyterians, I don't know. I was in there. So they asked me to share my testimony. Mistake. I shared about how I got saved, how the Lord appeared to me, how he gave me a choice, how he spoke to me. He said, son, you can have everything the world has to offer and go to hell, surrender your life to me and live forever. How I repented of my sins, how I realized I wasn't once saved, always saved. How shortly thereafter I got baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues and the gifts of the Spirit started operating in me and my first convert was a Satanist, high priestess in training. Yeah. So the next meeting, I was gonna come back to the next meeting. They told me where it was gonna be. They told me the time and I got there and they weren't there. They didn't bother to tell me they had moved it. I said, hmm, I wonder if that was an accident and I never heard from them again but I shared my testimony. Now can you imagine? I mean, I have people, I led to Jesus that won't have anything to do with me because I don't believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. They actually haven't spoken to me in years. One of my best friends, I led to Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit years ago and taught him how to witness to people on the street, hasn't spoken to me in years. It's just because about the pre-tribulation rapture and I don't even know how many out there are just like stepping away because it's a flat earth. I mean, there's people they're afraid of, they're even afraid to have dinner with me, lunch with me, but Troy's not. Pastor Troy's not. Pastor Troy and I have known each other so long. It's just kind of like, I just think of him as a friend, not a fellow pastor. Pastor Johnson, Pastor Wong. Now I'm not talking about these guys that are graduating from our school and becoming, I'm just talking about over the years. I've had some too that I've lost, that just walked away. But I mean, and that's with people, think about that. That's with people that I know know Jesus too. My own brother. I love my brother. We did a lot of great things together over the years. But man, when I got into biblical cosmology, he stepped away from me. Y'all can listen, go back, listen to some of the old prophecy quake shows. He would come on with me. We had it out last year, a good one, about the firmament. Faith got to see that.
Got a little heated in there, didn't it? Everybody was like, oh God, what's gonna happen next? And I know he's uncomfortable around me and I hate that. I mean, he's always afraid. I guess when we get together, it might come up. And I'm not trying to be difficult, but you know, and that wasn't me starting that. That was Ben and Mary, my nephew and his fiancee at the time, who's now his wife, they started it. And that's the colonel's daughter. So the colonel, you know where he stands. So I was looking at them like, oh, I can't believe y'all just did this, but here we go. And I went from Genesis to Revelation about what the firmament is. But you could tell, I mean, it got hot in there and it wasn't me getting heated, but I hate it. I hate it. You know, I realize though, I still think my brother is one of the nine. He just went and called up on the mountain to get this revelation. You understand? And that doesn't mean he don't love Jesus and he's not ready to go to heaven and he's not being used by God. None of that means that. It's just, some of us are gonna go. The Lord's gonna say, come on with me and we're gonna go. And he's gonna show us things that the others don't get to see. Just the way it is. And people often think it's not fair, but he will invite you. Come on. Just like he invited, he said to all of them, come out and walk on the water. Come on, everybody, come on. Only one did, right? Have to be that same fella named Peter. See what I wanna be and what I, I think I am and what I wanna continue to be because you can fall away from this. But I wanna continue to be one of the three. I want the Lord to go, you know, I know. He loves me. So hey, come up here on this mountain. Let me show you something. See, the secret of the Lord, Psalm 25 says, the secret of the Lord is to them that fear him and to them he shows his covenant. John 17, seven, I think, 17, 17, I think. What is it where it says that if any man will do his will, he will know the doctrine. See, the difference between the religious crowd, the multitudes, even the 70, even the nine,
the difference between the three is, I believe, it's like they are literally deep down in their hearts obsessed with being close to the Lord, not praying for the sick, not casting out demons, not preaching a sermon. Remember when it said he called the 12, the first thing it says, he called them to be with him and to cast out demons and he was sick. That's what I like that part, to be with him. Now there it is, seven, 17, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. You see, and let's go to John 14 real quick. John 14, see, I don't even know if I'm conveying this to the level I want to or need to, but go with me to, let's go down to verse 15. And Jesus said here, if you love me, speaking to his disciples, he said, if you love me, keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a little wild, the world seeth me no more, yet you see me because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father and ye and me and I in you. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. And Judas saith in him, not the Judas Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? And Jesus said unto him, again, if a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. When the Lord says here, I will manifest myself to those who love me and you love him by showing your commitment to obey him and not just the written word of God,
but what he says to do for your life, showing that you're willing to lose everything, lay down your life to do his will, that your family's not an idol, that your job's not an idol, that ministry is not an idol, the knowledge you have is not an idol. And he says I will manifest myself. This word here, I think it's actually emphasizeo, or emphasize, where we get our word emphasize, but the Greek word means that he says it means he will make apparent, he will appear. Somebody say appear. Appear. You see, what he did to them on the Mount of Transfiguration is he said, the rest of them know just this physical side of me that they think is just a man. That's what they see and that's what's embedded in their heart. Now, there's a side of them that knows there's something different, he's a Messiah, but they were still dealing with, just looking at a regular man and going, it's hard for me to conceive that this man in front of me from Galilee is God Almighty. But when he went up on that mountain, he showed him who was God Almighty, didn't he? Because the glory came out of him. The power, the cloud overshadowed them. Moses and Elijah stood there showing, guess what? He was greater, the greater one than Moses or Elijah, showing that all the law and the prophets talked about this one. They got to see, they got to the full revelation of what he was gonna accomplish in Jerusalem. He heard them talking about his crucifixion and his resurrection, that he was the Lamb of God, that he was the atonement for our sins. They got to hear Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus about what was about to happen. The nine didn't get that, the 70 didn't get that, the multitudes didn't get that, are you with me? The Pharisees and the Sadducees did not get that. The great teacher Gamale did not get that. No, three fishermen who loved him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength
got called up on the mountain. You gotta decide. Because see, I believe now he invites us all to come up on this mountain with me. Somebody said, well, I'm too busy. See, throughout my life, there's been times the Lord has actually appeared to me. I had him in, I was in a church service, I've shared this. I had him one time, there was a lady preaching on the ministry of Jesus Christ and what we are supposed to do in the five-fold ministry and all that. And I was a very young man and Jesus was behind her and he stepped out. And I was in the, I was sitting in the aisle, you know, it was pews, but I was in right on the aisle and he walked out like this in front of the podium, walked down the aisle, walked straight up to me like about where Gary is. And he was telling me, I've called you to this and you're gonna be all right. I'm gonna be with you. Now I could see through him because I could still see the woman that was up preaching. One time I was going through a really painful time and I had my head down on my desk and I was just kinda depressed and in agony about some things. And I had my eyes closed this time. That time I saw him with my eyes open, but I had my eyes closed and I had my head down like this and he walked up behind me. I saw him walk up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. He appeared to me, I saw what I imagine the amount of transfiguration was like in the open vision of him in October of what was it? 1987. And there's been many times that I've seen him. And some of you think, well, that's just, that's weird, that's odd. No, and none of it came through visualization or chanting because sometimes my eyes would be open and I would see through him. Why is this important? Because Ezekiel 13 says the false prophets have seen nothing. They've only seen the imaginations of their own heart.
But true men and women of God who get caught up on the mountain get to see him. They get to experience him come in fullness. They get to know the peace and the joy and the sheer power that is almost overwhelming. And when you know him like that, you don't want anything else. You don't want the world. You don't want a mistress, an adulteress. You don't want to be famous. You don't want to be rich. You don't want anything other than that. And that is the great problem we have. Remember the parable Jesus told the pearl of great price. When the man discovered the pearl of great price in this field, he wouldn't sold everything he had. And he came back and he bought that field because he wanted that pearl. Is Jesus precious to you? See, I believe you don't have to backslide. You don't have to fall away. You don't have to stay in darkness. And I believe that the things that I've learned over the years that God has revealed to me through sometimes telling me to fast and then at the end of the fast or somewhere in the fast, God would reveal to me something that he wanted me to teach you. Most of this stuff I didn't figure out of my own at all. No, I've been on the mountain with him. Have you? Are you still on the multitude? Are you still the religious crowd? Are you maybe the 70? Are you maybe the nine? You gotta figure out where you are in this. Are you one of the three? That's where I always wanna be, is one of the three. Because that's where you find out secrets. That's where you really find out the plan of God. Not just the plan for you, but the big plan. And there's nothing like it, y'all. There's nothing like the glory of God. See, I've been in that cloud. I remember that cloud when I got saved at 11 years old. I remember that cloud. I didn't know what it was then, but I walked in it, man. The moment I let go of that pew and stepped into that aisle, I was walking, I was inside of a cloud that was so intensely powerful
that I didn't have words for it. That's why even when I fell away in my teenage years and didn't understand what it meant to walk with Jesus and ended up in college and had my big brothers in the fraternity trying to turn me into an atheist, agnostic, trying to give me all these arguments against the Bible, against Jesus, nothing was gonna convince me that Jesus was not real and that the Bible was not the truth because I had been on the mountain at 11 years old. That's how Sal got saved, the mountain. He didn't deserve it. He didn't earn it. He wasn't doing anything right. The demons were about to kill him. The drugs were about to kill him. Or one of his cartel members were about to kill him. He was in a bad place. Or he was gonna end up in prison for life. But Jesus appeared to him, revealed himself to him, gave him understanding, took him up on the mountain, said, come up here, and Sal said, okay, I'm gonna come up here. What I feel sorry for is the people in this world that have never encountered Jesus Christ of Nazareth like that. But can I tell you, it's because they have chosen not to. See, Jesus did not drag Peter and John and James up the mountain. That's not how they got there. They walked. They climbed. Probably the reason they were sleepy and tired was because they climbed up that mountain. They're fishermen. They used to be in boats not climbing mountains. Are you willing to climb the mountain? And what it is, it's a mountain of love for God. This is something, if I had to, and I've said this many times, so people are gonna go back one day when I'm gone and they're gonna go, he said this many times it'd be his sermon, but this is one of them. I mean, if I had to pick three or five things, if I knew this was my last sermon I was ever gonna preach, or if I wanted to leave a last word to my children or my grandchildren, it would be love Jesus with all of your heart. If you will give him your whole life,
he will manifest himself and reveal himself to you and you will know him. You will experience him. You will gain understanding. You will have revelation of his secrets in his heart. You will understand the scriptures. You will understand sound doctrine. You have to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, willing to die to yourself and everything else and live for others and live for him. I just want, I want my children to know him like I do. And see, they see just a regular man every day. They see a man that's still not perfect, that makes mistakes and does things he shouldn't do, but I know him. And my daughters know this. Even the ones being stubborn right now, they know it. Because God has spoken to me such specific things about their lives and I've told them, and then it's come to pass and they just like, they think, not talking to me or trying to hide somewhere. I'm not gonna know what's going on. Wrong. But I want them to know. I want them to answer the call to the mountain. I want them to be one of the three. I want you to be one of the three. Everyone watching and listening, I want them to be one of the three. I want one day for us all to be standing in heaven talking about how we climb that mountain. There's nothing here. There's no sin, there's no pleasure, there's no ministry, there's nothing here that's worth missing out on knowing Jesus and having him manifest himself and reveal himself to you and to be in the cloud of his glory and his presence and to hear from him. You know what I was saying, I did that interview the other day, off the cuff interview. And while I was talking about the ether, I was just thinking about that whole revelation which is both spiritual and scientific all at the same time and I'm not a scientist.
But that revelation came straight from me on the mountain with the Lord when I said, what is that that I'm seeing through this camera that looks like water around the moon? And the Lord said, that's the ether. So I started studying the ether because I didn't know what that was. And that led to a whole discovery. But that's one of those secrets. It's like, Lord, what is that? Can you tell me that? See there up on the mountain. Lord, why do they say, why do the scribes in the first, why do they say Elijah must come first? Why do they not believe? Now we know you're the Messiah, now we know you're here, but Elijah must come first. We don't understand. There's scripture, says Elijah comes first. And he has to explain it to him, he has. They just didn't understand it. See, think about it. They knew what scripture said, but they didn't understand it. But with him in that glory on that mountain, that's where he gives you understanding of the scripture. Cause he's the one that wrote it. So he knows exactly what he meant. That's like somebody asking me, pulling one of my books out and reading me part of it and say, what'd you mean here? I can fully explain that. Cause I wrote it, right? Be one of the three. That's all that's going to matter. I don't care what happens in the world, what ends up going on in the United States, be one of the three. If you're one of the three, you're not going to take the mark of the beast. The Judas's will, what's sad is many of the multitude will, cause many of them aren't going to be willing to die. They're going to try to preserve their life. Many of the religious will take the mark, but one of the three won't. I can tell you those three won't. They'll be like, you're going to chop my head off. Chop away. Let me stretch out. See, get it good right here. I don't want you to miss. I'm ready to go. Say, Pastor Dean, you want to die? No, not at all. I want to be with Jesus. I hate that there's times he makes me walk by faith and not by sight. I hate it. So I said, Lord, sometimes I just hate this because I've been sitting next to you with my head on you many times. And that's where I'd rather be.
But now I got to walk through this sewer-filled world by faith when I feel rotten spiritually, mainly emotionally. I got to just keep walking by faith and not by sight. And then, you know, I'll be walking through all that, just going through all kinds of crap. And then all of a sudden, because I just keep climbing the mountain all the time, boom, the glory of God, the presence of God, the revelation and understanding. And when you're in his presence like that, guess what? You fall in love with him even more. I've cried my eyes out there saying, I don't want you to leave. Don't want you to leave. And he doesn't leave, but that cloud and the glory of his presence, it fades back to reality. And it's like, I got to deal with this place again. Be one of the three. Let's stand. I want to do that last song that we did there again. It's only four minutes, y'all. And I didn't start preaching to almost 15 after. So guess what? It's been short message. I'm getting back to an hour. Maybe that'll help some of the heathens out there. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your love. Thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your truth. We love you. We want to draw near to you. And I think most everybody here and those listening understand that it's up to us if we're going to be one of the three, climb the mountain to experience the fullness of who you are, that you are the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that you are the glorious creator, the almighty, all powerful one, the only Savior, the only Redeemer, the Lamb of God that came and died on that cross, took away our sins, and that you made the way where we could be forgiven, cleansed, and receive eternal life. You rose from the dead to prove that we who follow you will, our bodies will also be raised up. And I look for that day, Lord. I long for that day to be with you, and I don't have to leave the mountain.
But Lord, help us do, help me do, all that we need to do here before that. None of us want to die before our time, Lord. We want to accomplish your will here and be with you forever. I pray this in Jesus' name. Is I to honor you.
Have your way in me, I pray. Lord, help me get up that mountain to be with you every possible time I can. Help us all to love you and come to know you and be in that place where you can manifest yourself to us, where you can make your abode with us, where we can dwell with you and you dwell with us, where we can understand the scriptures and the future and your calling upon us, your purpose, your plan. We want to be in that place in the secret place of the Most High. We want to be in that place, Lord, where you reveal secrets and give understanding to doctrine and we just see you, know you, experience you, where no wonder can change our mind and no sin and temptation can pull us away. We pray this, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, you know the drill. Hug some necks before you leave. Good to have everybody next time. Happy birthday to our, what month is this, May? Who's May today? Oh, one, two, three. May, all right, cool. Happy birthday, May folks. We'll say happy birthday to you out there as well.