(Singing)  "No one can touch you like Yeshua can . . ."

Just lift your hands to the Lord right now.  

We worship You, Lord.  Just whatever's in your heart, pour it out to the Lord in worship right now.  Hallelujah, Lord.  We just worship You.  We thank You for Your wonderful Presence with us.  Oh . . . (Tongues)  Hallelujah, hallelujah . . .

Why don't we just stand up a moment?  Hallelujah.

Whatever's in your spirit, just pour it out to the Lord right now.  Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.  Hallelujah.  We bless You because You're worthy.  You are so worthy.  You are so worthy.  You are so worthy.  Hallelujah, hallelujah . . .  Glory.  Glory.

Let Your Shabbat peace increase over this Land.  Hallelujah.  Hallelujah.  Peace.  (Tongues)  Glory to God, glory to God . . .

Well, I love this feeling.  Let's just worship.  Glory.  (Tongues)  

(Singing:)  "Hallelujah to the Lamb . . ."
                                
We give You glory and praise this morning.  Let's just clap our hands unto the Lord.  Hallelujah.  Wonderful is the Lord.  Amen.

Let's reach over and get our Bibles this morning.

Turn to Romans 11.  Romans, chapter 11.

And we want to welcome those who are streaming with us on the Internet.  We just send love to them from Jerusalem this morning.

We want to read from Romans 11.

And I'm really full this morning, but I won't be able to share with you why I'm so full, but I will when I can.  I had a very unusual dream last night that was very lengthy.  I know this may sound like an exaggeration, but I really believe that the dream lasted somewhere around 3 hours.

And it was very, very unusual and very detailed.  And I'll just share this one little part.

In the dream, I met the seven church age messengers, one by one.  And all of them gave the same message in this dream although it was different.  The details were different.

They spoke about different aspects of the same thing.  And that same thing was everyone of them were talking to me about the overcoming anointing.  

And each one of them was speaking to me about what it took, what kind of an anointing it was taking, to overcome in their church age.

And when I was privileged at the very end to speak with that seventh star that the Lord Jesus had in His hand, the messenger of the seventh angel . . .

He spoke to me, and just this one little piece I'll share with you now.  And as soon as I can assimilate it all, put it all together . . .  You know, it's big in my little head.

But when I spoke with him, one of the things that I would be willing to share this morning was that he spoke about the fact that . . . and this part I was surely aware of, but it was special in the way it was presented . . . that the evil of every other church age, all of these ages, he said was gathered together into this last church age that we're . . . as the Bride, we're moving out of.

But the world is still . . . the church world and the world is still experiencing the final days and stages of Laodicea.

But he said in the same way that all the evil of every age had been gathered together into Laodicea, in the same way the Anointing that it took to overcome - that special portion of His anointing and His glory that it took to overcome in each age - all of those portions of overcoming anointing, he said . . . they have also been gathered together into one measure, one great big measure.

And that's exactly the words that he used to describe it - one great big measure of overcoming anointing.

And he assured me that it was going to be released very soon upon those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.

And you know, I want my eyes to be anointed this morning with eyesalve and my ears to be anointed.  I feel . . .  We'll just pray that prayer together.  

Father, as we stand here this morning approaching Your Word, my heart is so full because of this visitation in a dream.  And although it wasn't the thing yet that we were looking for, but it was so much and so important to me because we need that, we know there's something.

We know there's a portion.  We know there's an anointing.  We know there's a mantle that as yet has not fallen upon Your Bride that will cause us to overcome all these things that the enemy uses against us.

And so we just pray together in this little place in Jerusalem with our brothers and sisters who have joined us around the world.

Lord, anoint our eyes with eyesalve that we might see Your Word for this hour, that we may not be caught lodging too long in the plains of the wilderness, that we would not marry ourselves to the past, but that we would have eyes to see.

And anoint our ears that we can hear the Word of the Lord for this hour - timely Word in season, oh God, from Your Throne.

Thank You for that great measure, great big portion and measure of overcoming anointing.

And it was . . .  Lord, I thank You for it.  Give us grace in Your Word today.  BaShem Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach.  Amen.  And the church said, "Amen."

You may be seated.

Romans 11 and verse 1 said,

1.  I say then, Hath God cast away his people?  God forbid.  For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.         

2.  God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.  Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias?  how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

3.  Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

4.  But what saith the answer of God unto him?  I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

5.  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

I believe that.  

6.  And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.  But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Just a few more verses.  Verse 7,

7.  What then?  Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
                
And we know that.  We know that's exactly how it happened in the coming of the Lord Jesus.  There was only an elected number, a chosen group of Israelites who were able to see and to recognize who He really was.  And then the rest were blinded.

Verse 8 is where I want to give you kind of a setting for the text.  Verse 8 says,

8.  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

8.  . . . eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

Now let's turn together into the Old Testament.  I want us to study together something that I feel like is very relevant for the hour that we're living in right now.  

Deuteronomy, chapter 29 . . .  

Some of you will be familiar with this reference and also this study.  

Deuteronomy, chapter 29, beginning in verse 2 through verse 9,

2.  And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

3.  The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:

4.  Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

5.  And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

6.  Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.
                
7.  And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:

8.  And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.
                
9.  Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

The Scripture that we read in Romans 11 is the apostle Paul, and he is quoting from the words of Moses in Deuteronomy, chapter 29.  

The only thing is Paul is taking the words of Moses from a day gone by and he's re-quoting them and sort of reactivating them several thousand years later.

He's saying, "The same blindness that was upon Israel in the day of Moses . . . that same blindness is upon them even in this day," the day that Paul was living in.  

And it's a very important thing because we see that they were able to see the miracles.  

They were able to see the provision.  They were able to eat the bread.  They were able to drink the water.  

But it was not given to them to be able to understand.  It was not given to them a heart to perceive.  And that word, that phrase, "a heart to perceive," means the ability to receive revelation.

It was not given to them in the wilderness the ability to receive revelation.  Although they saw the provision of God and they saw the miracles of God,  they were not able to receive with revelation the message that had been given by God to Moses.

And therefore, the Bible tells us in many places, they provoked God.  He continued to bless them with miracles, with signs, with wonders.

And yet they did not have a heart to perceive or to receive revelation and therefore it was not in them to obey the word of Moses.

It takes something in the heart.  I mentioned this some time ago that there was a vision that Bob Jones had that I still find very unusual.  

He saw a group of people, a multitude of people, passing by on a conveyor belt like you would see in a manufacturing plant where something is being manufactured.  

And it passes by on a belt for inspection, or either to have a part added onto it, and then it goes to the next station and another part.  

It's kind of like the Ahava factory down at the Dead Sea.  One machine puts the bottle on, and the next machine fills it up with lotion, and the next machine twists the lid on, and the next machine drops it into a box.

And these people were passing by on this conveyor belt, and the understanding of this vision was that God was somehow choosing the people who He would express in this last age, this last hour.  

And therefore he made this statement.  He said that God had handpicked every person that He would send into this End-time to manifest the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

In other words, it's that remnant that the apostle Paul was talking about in his day.

There was a remnant who saw who Yeshua was and the rest of them were blinded.  The fact that multitudes of people were not able to recognize who the Lord Jesus was . . . it didn't change the fact of who He was, did it?  Not at all.

But to them to which it was given, to those to whom it was given a heart to perceive . . .  Which means what?  

The ability to receive revelation.  They're the ones who knew who He was and who listened to what He had to say.

In this time of Moses . . .  I wanted to also say that Paul Keith Davis described it a little bit differently than that.  He didn't see it like a conveyor belt, but he said that God had specially woven into our DNA.

And you know, the DNA is the building block of life.  And DNA is a very serious thing because it can incriminate the criminal and it can set the accused free because there is in DNA a special fingerprint of a person in his DNA that is very, very traceable.

And it is becoming a very broad science to be able to study and to identify even a strand of hair.  They're able to take a strand of hair and examine that with DNA testing and get this huge graph that sometimes it would take page after page after page to print off this graph of the building blocks of this specific DNA structure that's in this little single hair.

And science is telling us that many things are reflected in somebody's DNA - not just their identity, but perhaps their personality, their hair color, their eye color.  

So many things about them, not only physically but also behaviorly, can be noticed in the DNA.

I read a book last year that speaks about this science of DNA and how it's being used to test the Jewish people.  

And they have found that the sons of the cohanim, the priesthood, those who are the direct descendants of the priesthood, they have a special little linking chain in their DNA that other people do not have.

And even though . . .  That's amazing to me.  And even though the Jews have been so scattered in the diaspora and have been so mixed with all of the other kinds of people and heritages of people, they're able to examine the DNA and find out . . . even if the last name has been changed.

I mean, it's relatively easy when a Jewish person has the name Cohen.  Then he's immediately invited to the blessing of the cohanim because he has the last name Cohen which means the priest.  And he's in the synagogue.  He's immediately identified as a descendant of the priest.

But what about the changing of names over the years?  And they're able to find this small little chain . . . there was even a picture of it . . . this small little chain in someone's DNA in one tiny little drop of their saliva or one tiny little hair.

It's an amazing thing.  And Paul Keith Davis said those that were going to overcome in the End-time, those who are chosen by God to be forerunners and to sort of usher in this adoption of sons, he said that in the beginning God . . . He just allowed something to be woven into their DNA.

Perhaps you can't pick it up in science.  But there's something just woven into their DNA that when they hear the Word of the Lord, they know it, they recognize it, they accept it.  It becomes a part of them.  They're not filled with doubt and skepticism, but they just say, "This is God and this is God's will."  And I believe that.

We call it a seed.  We call it a representation of God that's been placed in people.  Sometimes in denominational Christianity, they call it a God-consciousness, a special emptiness that is sown into our lives that can only be filled with the things of God.

And sometimes when people are on their journey and on their quest to find fulfillment, they try to fill that emptiness with all kinds of pleasure and sin and entertainment and activity and sports and all the things that the world so enjoys.

But they find that at the end, they're just like Solomon said - they're just chasing the wind.  And when they think they've got it their hand, they open up their hand and guess what?  There's nothing there because you can't hold the wind in your hand.

Brother Branham described it as this little woman at the well who had had five husbands.  The one she was living with at this present time was not her own.

And the Lord Jesus said, "I must needs go through Samaria."

There was something in her that was calling out to Him.  She had a need and that need was deep, and that deep need was calling out.  And he picked that up in His Spirit and He said, "I've got a reason to go by Samaria."

And the disciples, if you remember, they didn't understand why He wanted to go way out of the way.  

But it was that calling.  It was that representation of God in her that needed to come to some kind of fulfillment and peace.

And so He met her there at the well.  My little granny used to be a preacher, some of you know.  And she didn't know a lot about what you'd call the manners and customs of Bible times.  She wasn't a scholar in things like that.

In fact, looking back, I recognize that she spoke with such simplicity that it would probably be overlooked in most circles today.  

But I remember one thing that really stands out in my mind that she used to say about this woman at the well.

She said, "Normally, all the women would've been together at the well.  They would've gone together in the early hours of the morning, and they would've had their water pots on their heads.  And they would've been walking together, talking."  

And she would often say, ". . . gossiping, catching up on all the news and the activity of the village.  And they would've gone together.  They would've drawn their water together.

"They would've gone back into their homes - at least little groups of them, fellowship, social circles of them.

"But the Bible said that this woman . . . she was going to the well at a different hour of the day.  She was going alone."

My granny used to say she was going in shame.  She wasn't proud of the life that she had lived.  And the community had in some way ostracized her.

They had pushed her away because she had lived sort of a loose life, and she went in loneliness and in shame.

There was nobody to share the gossip of the community with.  There was nobody to comfort her, to ask about how she was feeling, or to share any kind of news or expression with.  She went alone.

But I want you to know it was the divine appointment that had her there at just the right time because the Lord Jesus walks up.

I don't want to go through the whole dialog.  But I like what Brother Branham said about it.  He said that when that woman was a little girl . . . he said her mother used to pull her up on her knee in the evening and would tell her all of the miracles of the God of Israel, all of the glorious things that God had done for His people.

And he said it placed something inside of her.  She knew there was a God because of these wonderful stories that her mother had shared.  And it witnessed with something . . .  Of course, we know it witnessed with something that was in her by God's foreknowledge.

And it began to grow.  But she pushed that yearning away and she went after her own pleasure, and she found disappointment and rejection and heartache, and so forth.  

But all of a sudden, when she came in the Presence of the Son, the S-O-N - God expressed in human body, in human flesh - whatever that seed was, however you want to call it - a God-consciousness, something woven into her DNA, or perhaps she passed by at the right time on the conveyor belt . . .

You know what I'm saying?

There was something in her that was laying there in dormancy, and when she came in contact with the S-O-N, it drew that out of her and she began to hear and began to recognize and she received the Lord Jesus as her Messiah.

And she went running and telling all the good things that the Lord has done.  Haven't you ever wondered how some people can be so sold out to God and yet there are close members of their family, maybe a husband, that totally has no desire for God it seems at all.  

And the wife is just so in tune with the Lord - or a parent and a child, or whatever the relationship is - even twins.

I've met twins where one . . .  And twins, you know . . . they share so many similarities.  You'd think everything about them is just alike.  

But I've even seen twins where one was just so committed to the things of the Lord and the other one was just as far out doing the things that they wanted to do, it seemed.

That doesn't mean they'll never be saved.  That's not what I'm saying at all.  But what I'm saying is it appears that for the remnant, for the Bride, for the elected of the Lord, that He gives us eyes to see what others seemingly are not able to see.

And He gives us ears to hear and to appreciate, a heart to perceive, the ability to receive revelation that other people just simply do not have.  

I want to share a few more verses.  

Psalm 106, and we'll get to something in a moment.

Psalm 106, verse 32 and 33,

32.  They angered him also . . .

This is Moses.  I want you to understand this sad story.  I believe it is tragic what happened in the life of Moses, God's prophet, God's general.  

And yet there came a time that he allowed the people to provoke him to such an extent that he spoke without wisdom and without the ordination of God.

We read about it here as the Psalmist David re-related the story in verse 32 and 33.

32.  They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

I want to say it again.  

32.  They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

33.  Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

Would you like a definition for the word "unadvisedly"?  It convicted me.  

When I read it, it convicted me.  But I'll share it with you anyway as long as I preface it by saying I've been guilty.  

33.  Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

The definition of the Hebrew word "unadvisedly" is "to babble angrily, to babble in anger."  And to babble means to . . .  

You know what it means?  It means to spurt forth - to spurt forth in anger.  Anybody ever been guilty?  No, of course not.  Just me.

33.  Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

He babbled angrily with his lips.  I want you to notice that the Scripture is very specific in saying whose fault it was.
  
Are you going to be offended when I tell you that it was not the fault of Moses?  The Bible clearly tells us in more than one place, it was the people's fault.  

He said in verse 32,

32.  . . . so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

33.  Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

Look at Deuteronomy, chapter 1, and verse 37.  It says,

37.  Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.

There was a provoking that took place.  Now you've got to consider it this way.  

In the text that we read in Deuteronomy 29, God is saying to Moses, "The people are going to see the miracles.  They're going to see My provision.  Yet they do not have a heart to understand."

Listen.  Moses went into this thing knowing that the people were not going to be able to receive his message.  You understand what I'm saying?  

He knew it when he went in.  The Lord told him from the beginning, "They do not have a heart to perceive."

What did we say that meant?  They do not have the ability to receive revelation.  They do not have eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day.  

And the apostle Paul was saying the same thing in his day - they still do not have a heart to receive revelation and eyes to see and ears to hear.

They could receive the miracle.  Listen.  They could even be partakers of the miracle.  They could even eat the quail.  They could even eat the manna.  They could even drink the water.  

They could benefit from the miracles that surrounded the giving of the Law.  But they did not have a heart to perceive the Law.

Can I tell you that the Jewish people . . .  And you know how we speak with great love and respect and a oneness in heart.

To this day . . .  We can say to this day . . .  Paul brought it up to date in his day.  I'm standing here and I can bring it right up to this day and say they don't have eyes to see, they don't have ears to hear unto this day.

And what is it that they can't see and hear?  They don't have a heart to receive revelation of the Law, the Message that Moses brought.  

Somebody said, "What in the world do you mean?"

That's the reason why they've built all these fences around the Law.  That's why they've added all these rules and regulations and restrictions because they do not have a heart to receive the Message that Moses was given.

How many of you know there's coming a day, there's coming an hour, when God is finished dealing with the Gentiles, when the last Gentile that's going to hear the Word of the Lord . . .

Somebody said, "We're coming into being one new man."  That's exactly right.

But the fullness of the one new man will not be known until God has finished His commitment to the Gentiles.  He's still calling.  He's still drawing.  There's still a Bride out there.

And we're almost in an overlapping period because we see God calling to the Jewish people.  We see God dealing with them and many of them are becoming more observant or, should we say, more religious.

But until God takes the scales off of their eyes, they will still not have a heart to perceive or eyes to see or ears to hear.  

So we can get as angry with them as we want to . . .  And I hear people getting very angry with them.  We can be as angry as we want to.

We can say, "Those Jews . . . they do it this way.  Those Jews . . . they do it that way."  

But we have to understand that even Moses knew when he started being a shepherd . . .  

I was listening to a little brother in our church who preached on Tuesday night about Moses, and he was talking about Moses . . .  God said, "Take your shoes off.  It's holy ground."

And he said, "Not only was God trying to say to Moses this is holy ground and you don't need your shoes on, but God was changing his profession.  He was no longer just going to be a shepherd."  

And when I heard that, I said, "Oh yes, he was always going to be a shepherd."

God trained him as a shepherd and he was always going to be a shepherd.  Just this time, it wasn't going to be sheep and goats.  It was going to be those kind of sheep and goats that give you the most trouble - the two-legged kind.

How many of you ever heard the apostle Paul say, "I faced those beasts at Ephesus."  

And when you read that you immediately think about Winnie the Pooh - lions, tigers and bears.  

But I want you to know . . .  No, not Winnie the Pooh - Wizard of Oz - lions, tigers and bears.

But it's not lion, tigers and bears that Paul was facing in Ephesus.  It was those beasts that walk on two legs.  

Those are the ones that gave Moses the trouble.  Those are the ones that give the Lord Jesus the trouble.  And those are the ones that are still giving us trouble.  Can you say "Amen"?

They didn't have a heart to see.  

Now, I want to share this with you as we just move into study, and we won't hold you too long.  

In Exodus, chapter 17 and verse 7 . . .

I'm not going to read there, but if you're making a note that is where God brought Moses up to the rock and tells him to strike the rock and the water comes forth.  The water comes flowing down.  

And then we read about this next time that we've kind of been talking about here - not the first time.  The first time God said, "Moses, strike the rock," and that's exactly what Moses did.

But the second time it came around, the people had been murmuring so and complaining so in Numbers chapter 20, verse 12.

12.  And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

13.  This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.
        
In verse 7,

7.  And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

8.  Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

9.  And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

10.  And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels . . .

He was already angry.  He was already aggravated.  He didn't call them precious brothers and sisters, did he?  He said,

10.  . . . Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

11.  And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

And then the Lord turns right around and said to them, "Because you did this, because you did not let me be sanctified in the eyes of the children of the people, then you're not going to be able to take this congregation into the Land that I have given them."

You see, it really speaks to us of a new order that God is revealing.  

Did you know that yesterday was the real 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street outpouring?  It was yesterday, on April the 14th.  Was yesterday the 14th?

It was yesterday on April the 14th that they moved from the little prayer meeting home where they were having prayer meetings.

The address was 214 North Bonney Brae Street, Los Angeles, California.  

It was in the home of Richard and Ruth Asbury,  214 North Bonney Brae, that William Seymour had been meeting with the people and having a prayer meeting.

If you'll remember, in 1905, William Seymour went and visited in Topeka, Kansas, Charles Parham's group that had been experiencing since 1901 . . .  They had been experiencing an outpouring where people had been praying in the Spirit and speaking in tongues.

Seymour went and remember, because of his color, he was not allowed to go into the classroom to study with the white students.  He sat out in the hallway.  He was not allowed . . .  

This is a terrible part of Pentecostal history.  He wasn't allowed to study with the other students.  He had to take his studies sitting out in the hallway.

In 1905, he received the call.  It could've been a little earlier than that that he was in Topeka.  But in 1905, he began to receive a call - "Come out to Los Angeles and teach us some of the things that you've learned."  

When he got out there, it was a woman pastor who had invited him to come and preach.

She lost her nerve and she locked the church and would not let him in to come and preach.  So he had traveled all the way out to Los Angeles.  

He had nowhere to preach, and he met up with a janitor, a black janitor of a bank.  And his name was Edward Lee.  

And this man said, "Come and live with me.  Just come and stay with me and we'll just have prayer meetings.  There's no place for you to have revival. They've closed the door."

He went the first night to the revival and nobody was there, and he couldn't figure out why.  And he went to open the door and the door was locked.  They'd cancelled the meeting.  

And so he went home with Edward Lee, and they began to pray.  

And they started praying in the home of Richard and Ruth Asbury, as I said a moment ago, and all of a sudden, on April the 9th, Edward Lee, this janitor of a bank, received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and began to speak with tongues.  That was April the 9th, 1906.

On April the 12th, 1906, William Seymour received his baptism in the power, and he began to speak in other tongues.

And on April the 13th, the crowd . . . just one night difference . . . the crowd was so big they could not get in the home of the Asburys.  They were meeting on the porch and they couldn't get on the porch.  They couldn't get in the home.  They couldn't even get in the yard.

And so they started looking for a building.  They found this old . . .  It had been . . .  In early, early days, it had been a livery stable.  The address was 312 Azusa Street, the most famous address in Pentecostal history.  

It had later been a Christian Missionary Alliance Church, I think it was - some kind of church later - and the roof had either been blown off in a storm or had burned.  It needed lots of repair.  But they went in anyway.

And on April the 14th, the first service was held in this Azusa Street Mission, 312 Azusa Street.

So we can say that yesterday was the 100th anniversary, although they're going to be meeting in a couple weeks in Los Angeles to celebrate it.  

Now, I think that every time we come to anniversaries like this - milestones, memorials like this - they mean something.  They mean something.

I don't believe we should over-spiritualize, but I believe we should be sensitive enough.  

Now, can I tell you something else significant that happened, very significant?  

On April the 17th, reporters came to the Azusa Street Mission - rather, probably they were there on the 16th.  But on the 17th, they wrote the first article.

April the 17th, 1906, they wrote the first article about the Azusa Street revival, and it was not very flattering.  It was terrible.  It talked about how they were babbling in some language.  It was very, very critical.  

But guess what else appeared in that same newspaper?  April the 17th, 1906, the front page was not about Azusa Street.  

The front page was about a great earthquake that had shook the state of California, especially San Francisco.

Lives were lost and the damage was outstanding damage, unbelievable damage.  So we're right now not only commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street revival, but we're also looking . . .

And listen.  It's not just Christian groups, but I've noticed that all kinds of news agencies are even marking the anniversary of this great terrible California earthquake.  

So really, we can see that there was a shaking in the spirit, and it was marked how?  By a shaking in the natural.

How many of you have learned in serving the Lord the natural types the spiritual.  There was a spiritual shaking and an outpouring.  

And in the same newspaper that reported for the first time this spiritual shaking, it also reported this natural shaking that had taken place.

I think there's also . . .  And I've mentioned it right here in this service before.  But I think there's also another interesting thing to consider when we consider this word "Azusa."  

It comes from an Indian word, an American Indian word, that means "blessed miracle."

And there was a father whose name was Juan Crespi in 1769.  He was on what is called the Portola Expedition to explore California.  

In 1769, this father, Catholic father, was sent out as an explorer and a missionary to see what was going on in California.  

And at that time, Azusa referred to the site of an old Indian village just south of present day Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Canyon.  

And the story was told to him that there was a young Indian girl whose name was Coma Lee.  

And she would pray and fast for the healing of her people.  She knew they were sick and she knew they needed help and she knew that their god, their Indian gods, American Indian gods, looking to the sun and the moon and the water and trees, somehow it was not helping.

And she began to trust in God.  And the chief of her tribe was dying with a very serious disease.  And someone suggested that he call in Coma Lee and let her pray for him.  And he didn't want to do it.  But finally, he allowed her to come in.

And she prayed, not really knowing, not really having an understanding of what she was doing, totally.  But she came in and the Indian chief was completely and instantly healed.  And he gave her the name.

He changed her name from Coma Lee to Azusa which means "a blessed miracle."  And for many years after that, the fame of her faith as she came to a greater knowledge of the Lord Jesus . . . it began to spread throughout all of California.  

And guess what people would say when they met people that were sick?  They would say, "You need to go to Azusa.  You need to go to Azusa.  She'll pray for you and the Lord will heal you."  

And so the fame of that little Indian girl, Coma Lee, whose name became Azusa . . .  And then people were saying, "Go to Azusa.  Go to Azusa."  

You know, God, in the late 1700's . . . He was turning people's attention to that valley, that San Gabriel Valley.  God was turning His people's attention there by telling them, "Go to Azusa.  Go to Azusa."

And then in 1906, as I said yesterday, they moved in and that great outstanding and outpouring of the Holy Ghost took place one hundred years ago - a  natural shaking accompanying a spiritual shaking.

I think we need to watch.  I think we need to watch and pray.

I even sense in my spirit that the weather is out of control, you see.  We've said that for years.  

But really, when they were praying for us - Sunday was a week ago - when we were leaving and Brother Edward felt led to put the sword in my hand, and they were praying and the people were really praying, the Lord was dealing, there was a Word that came out of my mouth and said that there would be many signs in the heavens, signs and wonders in the heavens.

I don't remember exactly how it was.  Elfrieda would have to send it.  But that Word came out - signs and wonders in the heavens.  

And, of course, I assumed that it would be over Israel while we were here.  And literally, it was.  Literally, it happened that way.

On April the 2nd, the day we left, there were terrible storms all over Israel, and there were two or three places that flooded and one person was . . . the next day was killed.  Several people the next day lost their lives in the floods.

Megiddo Junction was flooded and a car was floating away.  You could see pictures of it in a very flat place floating away.  

The next day, just before we went up to the Galilee, there was a tornado that was actually photographed as the first photographed tornado ever in the state of Israel.  

It was photographed, videoed.  They were able to capture it up in the North.  And hailstones were falling the size of ping pong balls.  It was a strange pattern.  

And do you know what's happening in America?  Every day I wake up to the news that another tornado has hit in America.  

In Iowa . . .  This is a little bit strange.  In Iowa, there were tornadoes yesterday that destroyed homes.

Guess what one of the places was that was destroyed?  The historic 500-year-old St. Peter's Basilica that was standing in this particular place in Idaho.  The roof of it was torn off.  Lives were lost.  

We woke up this morning - terrible storms in California.  In Tennessee, just a few days ago . . .  Every day . . . terrible storms and weather patterns.

I think the Lord is saying something.  Something is kind of shaking up in the heavens.

Well, you know what?  That's good news.  It's good news because if things are shaking in the heavens, in the natural, it means that things are also shaking in the spiritual realm.

The dream that I had last night to me is the most outstanding dream I've ever had in my life.  It was the most vivid and most real dream that I've ever had.  It was more or less like reality.  It was so real that I could see them.

I mean, I saw the apostle Paul in the dream and I knew that it was the apostle Paul.  I saw Irenaeus and Martin and Columba and knew that . . .

And Luther has never been my favorite person in history.  I know that's dangerous to say because there's so many former Lutherans here, you know.

But Luther's never been my favorite character.  But I recognized years ago he was one of the church age messengers.

God used him, although he was very confused about God's dealing with the Jewish people.  He was full of bitterness toward them and misunderstanding, by the way, that had been bred in him.

It didn't start with Martin Luther.  It started in his church.  It started in the Roman Catholic church that is bred with hatred and anti-Semitism against the Jews.

And listen, it's in Jerusalem today.  Serious, very serious things are happening.

You know, the Patriarchs are going to have it out this week.  They're worried about what's going to happen on the Orthodox . . .  Next Sunday is the Orthodox Easter.  Is that right?  

And there's this ceremony of the holy flame.  How many of you know what I'm talking about?

A lot of my people won't know about it.  But I've been reading about it.  I mentioned it in church last year.  I don't believe it's miraculous.  

I have to be honest with you and say I don't believe it's miraculous, and if it is, I do not believe it's from God because I don't believe that God is vindicating error.  

I believe God vindicates truth and not error.  So I'm kind of like our sister.  She sat right here, and I preached along this line and she amened me all the way through.

And that very same day, we went down to Bethlehem and she showed me a picture hanging in the Church of the Nativity.  

And she said, "Brother Shelley . . ."  She said it had been weeping tears.  The picture had been crying and people had come from everywhere to see Mary there with . . .  

It was Mary, wasn't it?  Or was it Jesus?  I think it was Jesus - a picture of Jesus hanging right to the left or the right of the door leading down into the grotto.

And it had been crying tears.  Liquid had been coming out and people had come to see this outstanding miracle.  

And she said that people were saying it was God.  It was a sign that the Lord was in that place, and so forth.

Well, some terrible dirty news came out right after that that some of these wicked priests - terrible, wicked, vile men - were taking young boys down into the very grotto, to the very place, that they marked the Savior's birth and were molesting these children down there.  And it came out to be public knowledge.

And I said, "Okay, no wonder Jesus was crying.  Okay, it was a miracle."  

But I don't believe many of these things are really coming from God.  

But they have this special ceremony.  Everyone has a candle.  The priest goes into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher into the room, into the actual chamber, phony chamber, that's supposed to be the stone or the sepulcher where the body laid.

And he comes out and miraculously his candle is supposed to have been lit by the Fire of God.  It's come down and lit the candle.

Literally, there are people who claim, standing there with an empty candle, that their candles are lit.  And they pass the flame around until all the candles are lit.  

Well, there's going to be some serious problems going on this year in one of these Orthodox groups because they have deposed the patriarch.  Remember?  

What was his name?  Was it Irenaeus almost, wasn't it, or something like that?  And they've appointed a new one.  

You say, "What's that got to do with anything?"

Well, a lot.  It has to do with a lot.  And this man who has been put out, he was put out because he  made some lease agreements with Jewish people.

He had made some lease agreements with church property to Jewish people.  And the church - all of the Orthodox churches here, including the Catholic Church as well which is the mother of them all - they all have this long reputation of history of being against the Jewish people.

Everyone knows that.  Everyone knows they're prejudiced against the Jewish people in favor of the Palestinians.  

And so because this man made this agreement, he was deposed.  He was put out.  You can't be . . .

Well, he refuses to go.  He's hiding.  He's hiding, and he refuses to go.  

And there's a rumor that he's going to show up as the patriarch at the lighting of the flame.  They're going to whoop one another, physically, down there.  No doubt about it.

And the real patriarch is coming and the man who thinks he's still the patriarch is coming if something doesn't change.  

They're going to have a real knock down drag out.  And the Lord Jesus . . .  Can you imagine how the Lord feels about such a reputation that's been given?

And this thing has passed all the way down from Martin Luther, all the way down from the Catholic Church.  The church is still prejudice against the Jewish people.

So I've always had this little problem with Martin Luther.  He was bald-headed, you know.  I've just never thought of him with enough respect, I know.

But in this dream I saw him as the most little, humble, sweet man you'd ever want to meet in all your life, even though I'd heard all those things he said - all those, "Christ killers be damned," and on and on and on he cursed the Jews.

He must have been having a terrible bad day because in this dream he was the most humble fellow.

And it was really strange because it was as though he knew I wasn't fond of him - in this dream.  It was as though he was intimidated, almost, by my presence instead of me intimidated by his presence.

He looked at me as though, "I know what you think about me."  Really, it's very, very strange.

And all of a sudden he began to talk to me about what it took and the anointing that was present to be able to overcome in his day and in his church age.
                        
And as he began to talk in this dream, I was so filled with love for him.  I've never loved Martin Luther like I love him now.  Hallelujah.  It was just strange.  And the dream was so real.  I believe all of these things that are happening are signs to us.

And especially the Word that Bro. Branham spoke in this dream . . . that this gathering together of all the anointing, that overcoming anointing that was present in every hour . . .  Remember the anointing that we have talked about in the Ox Age, and so forth - these powerful anointings.

And he was talking about how they had to be gathered together into this age and that we were going to overcome with a portion of that anointing that was really the overcoming portion of every age gathered into this age and that it would be released upon those that had eyes to see and ears to hear.

And I started thinking about this.  Poor Moses - he was speaking to a people that couldn't see and couldn't hear, and yet he still allowed them to provoke him to such anger that he was not even allowed to go in and enjoy the Promised Land.

I have a lot of things here that I wanted to share with you, but I don't think I'll have the time to do that.

But we talk about . . .  Just let me give you this quickly.  

In Deuteronomy, chapter 34, it talks about Moses' death.  We're all over the Bible here and all over creation getting distracted with one story and then another.

But anyway, Deuteronomy 34, verse 5,

5.  So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.

6.  And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

You know, it is a guarded secret.  The heavens have guarded the secret of exactly where Moses is buried although there are at least two places where his burial is marked.  

One of them is at Jericho.  Did you know that?  There is a small place on the right hand side of the road somewhere down in there.  

At one point, I thought I saw it and then I haven't seen it since.  And I know it hasn't moved.  But you know, you just see different things when you're traveling because it has a blue . . . I think it has a light blue dome on it - not a big huge dome, but just a little light blue dome over it I think I read in the description.  And it's one place where the Arab people mark the burial place of Moses.  

There's another place somewhere near Nebo that they mark it.  But the Bible tells us clearly that it's a guarded secret where the body of Moses is.

Hmm . . .  I wonder why.  I wonder why it would be so.  

What about the book of Jude - only one chapter in the book of Jude - verse 9.

9.  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

There was actually a conflict that went on between Michael the archangel and Satan himself about where the body of Moses was going to end up.  

And Michael could have really whipped up on the devil.  But instead, the Bible said he durst not bring a railing accusation against him.

This is a very strange thing, but I hope you can understand that in this angelic world, Satan used to be an official member of the heavenly host.  

How many of you know that?  He used to be an official card-toting member of the heavenly host.  

And Michael, who is the archangel and over angels, he certainly had a right to really tell the devil off.

But the Bible said he durst not bring a railing accusation against even the devil because this Satan used to be a reigning angel in the heavenlies - the anointed cherub that covereth.

And so Michael only said . . .  And believe me this was sufficient.  This was all he needed to say - "The Lord rebuke thee."  

That's powerful words, isn't it?  But why were they fighting over the body of Moses?  

Well, I believe Satan wanted everybody to know, and he didn't know and he was trying to find out, where the body of Moses was.  And Michael refused to tell him.

Why is it that Satan would want people to know?

I'll tell you why.  Because it was in his mind that everybody would now come around and worship the prophet.  

They would build a place.  It's in us.  It's in all of us.  It's in every one of us.  We have to watch ourselves very carefully.  

It is in the nature of man to set somebody up as an idol.  It's very, very much a part of who we are, and we have to watch very carefully that we don't do that.

That's why the Lord is bringing a maturity.  With this overcoming anointing, there will come a maturity that will cause the remnant to focus on Him and not men.  Men will be insignificant in this thing.  

In the most recent vision that Bob Jones has had, he saw this angel, Breakthrough, and he heard this angel talk to him about Benson Idahosa, and some other things.

He hasn't shared it all just yet.  But he said for 30 minutes the angel taught him about church history.  But what I thought was so significant is . . .

He was standing on a road when the vision started.  I heard him tell it just yesterday on the Internet.  And he was standing on a road, and there was a whole group . . . I don't remember how many he said now, forgive me . . . but a whole group of angels coming toward him, and this one said that he was Breakthrough.

But he said the others were none of them dressed alike, but they were all dressed in street clothes.  None of these angels were dressed as angels.  

There were none dressed in white robes and silver wings and halos and sticks with Christmas tree garland on them or anything like that.

They were dressed in street clothes.  And Bob Jones asked why . . . if these are angels, you know, why do they look like this.  

And he said that Breakthrough said to him, "Because God is going to use ordinary people in outstanding ways in this coming breakthrough, and it's not going to be superstars."

See, when maturity comes, we don't focus on people or the instrument.  We focus on the musician.  We focus on God.  We focus on the one who's using the instruments.  

God knew that the children of Israel would set Moses up and worship him.  They would have a memorial to him, and they would come and pray around his body.

It doesn't take a genius to see it's in their nature.  They pray everywhere.  Everywhere they think somebody might have been buried, they're lighting candles just like the Catholics and praying.  

And so God said you may do that here and there and everywhere, but you're not going to do that over the body of Moses.

You didn't have eyes to see.  You didn't have ears to hear.  You didn't have a heart to receive his message.  All you did was eat up the miracles.  You ate up the miracles, but you paid no attention to the message that he sent.  

This is a very important thing because they really could have done no differently.  They didn't have eyes to see.  They didn't have ears to hear.  

And listen at this Moses.  He's not even going to be able to go into the Promised Land, but he won't let God kill them.

In Numbers 14, God was ready to kill them all.  He said, "Just let me do away with every one of them.  They've made me mad the last time.  I'm going to put pestilence and sickness and disease upon them and wipe them all out.  And don't worry, Moses, I'll make a greater nation from you.  I haven't forgotten you.  I'll make a greater nation."

And what did Moses do?  He said, "Oh, pardon, I beseech Thee."  

He interceded and begged for the forgiveness of the people.  And in verse 20, God said, "I have pardoned according to thy word."  Because Moses, as an intercessor, he brought forgiveness for the people.

Verse 22,

22.  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

23.  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

But He said,

24.  But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit . . .

Not only did Moses and Aaron not have the ability to go in and see, but none of that generation.  The entire generation died in the wilderness.  The entire generation - they did not have eyes to see, they did not have ears to hear.  They could not see the message.  

What about Isaiah?  The Bible said Isaiah was sent with a message and told ahead of time in Isaiah 6, "The people will not hear you.  They will not receive your message."  

Wouldn't that be exciting - for God to call you and say, "I'm going to give you a message to preach, but just know ahead of time nobody's going to pay any attention to what you have to say."

Wouldn't it be hard to be faithful?  Wouldn't it be hard to go and preach it anyway, knowing that the people were going to reject it?  

And we could go on and on and on and on, but I'm going to close - just before 1:00 by reading Matthew, chapter 13.  I've had a reason for all of this.  

Matthew, chapter 13, verse 13,

13.  Therefore speak I to them (Is that it?) in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

14.  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

15.  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

But listen at what He said,

16.  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

17.  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Do you hear what Jesus was saying to them?  He was saying, "Oh yes, their eyes were blinded, they could not see.  But you have been allowed to see what prophets and priests and holy men have longed to see.  And therefore blessed are your eyes."

You see, there was a people in the time of Yeshua that was not only interested in the loaves and the fishes and the miracles and the provision.  

They wanted to hear the words of life.  Even the apostles, when He said to them all of a sudden . . .

Everyone's happy and everything's going fine.  And Jesus said to them, "Okay, eat My body, drink My blood."  And some of them, the Bible said, many of them which walked with Him walked with Him no more.  

"This man is a cannibal.  He's telling us to eat His body and drink His blood."

And the Lord Jesus looked at the disciple and He said, "Are you going to leave me also?

And what was the reply?  "To whom shall we go?  For You alone have the Words of eternal life."  

That sounds like somebody who didn't just receive the miracles and eat the loaves and the fishes.  It sounded to me like somebody that it had been given to him, it had been granted, it had been woven into his DNA, he had been chosen to hear the Words of the Lord.

Well, I want to say this and I know it may not be what everybody would like to hear.  

But I believe - I really, really, really, really believe with all of my heart - that when God releases this great deposit of an overcoming anointing, I mean the anointing to overcome . . .  

Somebody said, "Well, I don't even know what that means."

Well, I don't know what you need to overcome or I'd preach it.  But God does.  Ultimately, we all need to overcome the same thing.  What is that?  Self.  

Ultimately, we all need to overcome self.  But intimately and individually, all of us have different things that we need to overcome and that we need special grace to deal with.

And I believe when God releases that special overcoming . . .  I don't believe that it's by chance that I've had this kind of a dream.  

I believe it came to prepare me for this other visitation that the Lord promised.  Because in January of this year, when I saw these Four Living Creatures . . .  It's the third time that I've ever seen the Four Living Creatures.

And I saw them.  Sister Elfrieda has sent the information.  I don't have it in front of me.  But we found it very strange that I saw them on the same day.  And it was either one year apart or several years apart, but on the exact same day.

Now I think that's unusual.  Because this is not something I keep up with.  It's something that they keep up with and on occasion let me know.
  
And she said, "When I was looking for these two experiences where you just quickly saw the Four Living Creatures . . .  It happened on the exact same day (I think it was in the month of June maybe) . . . the exact same day several years apart."

But when I saw them in January, they were moving . . . not in a circular motion and it wasn't exactly a square, although that's how we've described it.  

It was almost more like a rectangle, to be honest with you.  It was a little bit elongated.  It was elongated.

And when they moved . . .  I could almost say an oval.  You know, I'm trying to get the right movement.  But they were moving around.  But it was definitely not in a perfect circle.  I saw all four of them moving around as though they were in worship.

They were moving in really great synchronization as I had seen them before.  And I saw the profile of each as they passed in front of me and made the circle or the motion, whatever it was.  

And then as they would cross in again over there in front of me, I'd see the other profile, the other side.  And I watched all four of them go around several times.

But finally, as the eagle, the one who had the face of an eagle . . . he came past me and started turning that way and all of a sudden stopped and turned all the way around and looked right toward me and said, "We have an appointment with you in Jerusalem.  The time is at hand," or "the time is near, draws near - the time draws near."

And so I believe that's coming.  But what does the flying eagle represent?  

Well, we preached right here in this basement that the flying eagle represented the anointing to soar into the heavens and to overcome.

So I feel like God is about to make overcomers out of us.  How many of you will be honest and say you don't always feel like an overcomer?  

I'm not even looking because some of you wouldn't say it.  But we don't always feel that way.  But I've got a feeling that our feelings are about to change.

And the only way they can change is when we receive a revelation of the fact that we are overcomers.  Hallelujah.  

God, we want those eyes to see and those ears to hear.  We recognize that You sent a great servant of God in this day.  

You gave Him a word.  It was hard.  It was straight.  It has been rejected.  It has been mocked.  It has been turned down by many, many people.

It kind of pales in comparison to some of the things that have happened in the past twenty years in the Charismatic movement in a lot of people's minds.

They just see it as very insignificant and some people go as far as to call it error.

But I thank You, Lord, that You have opened my eyes to it and my ears.  I thank You that You've given me a heart to perceive and the ability to receive revelation from what has already been spoken.  I thank You that You did not stop moving in those days.

I thank You there are still apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists.  I thank You that there is Truth today in many different streams.  

It doesn't all look the same.  It doesn't all sound the same.  But I thank You that there is great Truth that is being proclaimed in many different streams.

It is not my place to try to put pieces together.  It's Your puzzle.  This is Your season, Your hour.  And I know You will draw things together in the time that they need to be drawn together.  

I declare over this City that all religion would have to crumble, that all of man's ideas . . .

And I'm not declaring this over Jewish people.  I believe that day is appointed.  I believe Your Word is true.  I believe You will fulfill Your Covenant with them.  

I'm more burdened today concerning the religion of Christianity, the paganism of Christianity, the materialism of Christianity that has taken people away from the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

We agree in prayer today that You will shake everything that can be shaken in Jerusalem.  We pray that You will shake down the politics of Christianity, that You will get involved.  

If You have any will of who is to lead, that You will establish Your will.  It is not by chance that on Friday evening officially the tenure of Ariel Sharon has ended.

Officially, we have received now a new interim prime minister who will soon be sworn into office.  The only thing that I'm sensing in my spirit that makes that extremely significant is it is the changing of the guard.

And we recognize that when the guard changes in the natural, there is always a spiritual changing of the guard as well.  Let it come.  

We don't want to be fanatics, but we're sensing in our spirits that angels are going to be more involved in our everyday life than we have ever perceived before.

We will not worship them.  We will not make idols out of them.  We won't make statues and pictures out of them.  We know better.  

But we thank You that You have given angels charge over Your people, and we thank You that there is a real increase.  

We thank You also that with us today is a great cloud of witnesses.  We are not spiritualists.  We will not communicate with the dead.  

But we recognize that there are men and women of old who are cheering us on because they without us are not complete.

So we have angels fighting and worshipping with us and fighting for us.  We have a great cloud of witnesses pulling for us, coming to our aid with revelations and deposits of Truth.  We want to receive and recognize them all.

So we ask, oh God, today that You would give us eyes to see and ears to hear.  May we hear the righteous message that You have declared in this generation and may it be amplified and magnified in us.

Give us the anointing to break it down.  Give us the anointing to share it with those who have an ear to hear and an eye to see.  

We bind the hand of the enemy that raises itself against Truth, and we declare that in a new season that the Lord is ushering in, that people will be more receptive to the Truth that was rejected by the past generation.  It is our inheritance.
  
We thank You for the words that we have heard of late.  We thank You, oh God, for those things that we've been hearing.  

I heard last night, as I was laying down, a great preacher originally from India living now in Malaysia, and he was also preaching about the deposits of Truth and the great ministry of the past generation and how that You were going to sow into us the promises that were given in the last generation and not yet fulfilled.

We think about the great tent meeting, the tent vision, that is now being spoken about in circles of people that would have never considered it two years ago, three years ago.  

We thank You, oh God.  We believe that part of that is because of proclamations and declarations that have gone up from this City.

We thank You for the small part.  We thank You for every bootie that has been knitted.  We thank You that You're not taking Your people back into creeds and dogmas of men and into denominational structures and systems.

But we thank You that You're going to raise up a true apostolic model as the church of the Book of Acts.  

Oh, Lord, we're looking for the apostolic to come in now, men with that apostolic vision who will establish and set in order the business of the King - Kingdom principles.

We refuse some of the error that has surrounded even the term "Kingdom."  We are sometimes intimidated to even use the word "Kingdom" because of such false teaching that has surrounded the word and the terminology of the Kingdom.

But we thank You that Your Kingdom must be established in the earth.  We thank You that Kingdom purposes are being revealed and carried out in this hour.  We thank You that You have not forgotten Jerusalem.  Hallelujah.

We thank You that You have a desire for revival in this Land, and it is bigger than any of our personalities.  We thank You for the grace to look over one another's personalities because what You're doing is greater than that.  It is bigger than that.

We thank You, oh God, that Your purposes will be established in the City of Jerusalem and for the nation of Israel.  Hallelujah.  Minister to us by Your Spirit.  Hallelujah.  Lord, encourage every heart here in this room - provide.

We bind every demon of hell that holds back provision that is necessary for life.  We understand how the enemy would seek to keep us from expansion and from abundance.  But it's nothing but wickedness that would cause him to try to keep people from the very necessities of life.

And we bind his power and we take authority over him, and we claim the breakthrough that is needed for provision for every person that has a ministry in this City, however big or small.  We thank You for it.  Hallelujah.  We thank You for the changing of the guard, both in the natural and in the spiritual.

And Lord, we acknowledge that we did not choose Ehud Olmert for the prime minister of this nation.  It was not our vote that placed him there.  But we understand that Your will in the end will be established, and we thank You for that.  And we thank You that the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.  And it's not over until it's over.  You are still able.  

We thank You, oh God, that there must come a pure leadership.  There must eventually come men after Your heart.  We see that Eli has fallen.  His priesthood is finished.  He has compromised with his sons.

Lord, could it be that You will soon establish among us a Zadok priesthood - one that is pure and holy, one that discerns good and evil, even in the hearts of men and women, and one who refuses to compromise, even for their own blood, but will declare the Truth in righteousness and make decisions accordingly.

We welcome it.  We welcome it, Lord.  We welcome it.  Let us walk in the Spirit and not in our own flesh.  (Tongues)  

Let the wickedness of every heart be exposed so that religion crumbles and righteousness is established.

Let the justice of the Lord be upon this nation - the Lord's justice, the Lord's justice, the Lord's justice, the Lord's justice.  Hallelujah.  Bless Your holy Name.  

(Marybeth, come.)

Hallelujah.  Bless Your Name.  (Tongues)

(Singing:)  "What God's doing in me is for eternity . . ."

(Singing:)  "So glad I'm Yours . . ."

How many of you are grateful for the Lord's mercy?

I was reading an article this morning before I came over concerning the crucifixion.  And you know, it was . . .  

Did you know it's from the word "crucifixion" that we get the word "excruciating"?  It's the same root word.

It's the most severe of all pain.  And technically, it was reserved for the vilest criminal.  

It's really rare that Jesus would have even been crucified, according to Roman law, because His crime was small.  He had no crime.  But even that which He was accused of was not generally worthy of a crucifixion.

And yet it had to be a crucifixion because of the description of the prophecies of the Scripture.  But when we sung that phrase "so glad Your mercy has followed me," I was thinking about God's mercy.

And did you know that it was Roman custom . . . once the Romans came to Jerusalem, they changed their custom of scourging with a whip.

And most of the time, they restrained their lashes to thirty-nine.  How many of you know that?  And do you know why?  

They called it Jewish mercy, or the mercy of the Jews.  Because it was a tradition among the Jewish people never to lash forty times, but to always stop with thirty-nine in mercy.

I am so glad this morning that I'm not facing the mercy of the Jews, but the mercy of the everlasting, living, loving God because to me thirty-nine instead of forty is not much mercy, is it?  

But that was what the Romans did, and they called it Jewish mercy because of the writings of the sages not to go forty lashes but to stop with thirty-nine.

He took all of those . . .  Of course, you've heard people say that even to this day disease has been classified and divided into 39 major divisions of disease.  

And if that still remains the truth, and I think it does even to this day, it means that He took one stripe for every division of disease that humanity would suffer.

We are so blessed to know Him.  And you know, we don't celebrate Good Friday because we don't believe personally that the Lord Jesus was crucified on Friday because there's no way in the world . . .

Not even the greatest Bible scholar can get three days and three nights from Friday at 3:00 until Sunday morning.

But we believe He was crucified earlier in the week at the exact time that the lambs would have been offered at the Temple for the Passover sacrifice.  

And really, years ago we used to have sunrise services.  We personally don't have sunrise services anymore because we found out that the origin of them has nothing to do with the Lord Jesus at all.

In fact, it goes all the way back to pagan times.  And it's even mentioned in the writings of the prophets when the very priests of the Temple stood to face the sun.  They weren't worshipping the living God.  They were worshipping the sun god.  

And this idea of getting up very early in the morning and worshipping . . . it didn't start because of the resurrection, which, by the way, did not take place in the morning.  

What would be the reason to get up very early in the morning when Jesus didn't even raise early in the morning?

Now you're looking at me funny.  He didn't even raise early in the morning.  The Jewish day doesn't start at sunrise.  The Jewish day starts at sunset.

Somebody said, "But the Bible said that the Lord raised from the dead very early in the morning."

Show me in your Bible.  You'll never find it.  It never said it.

It said, "Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, Mary and the other women went to the tomb and when they got there they found it empty."

Hallelujah.  He had already risen from the dead.  So tonight . . .

Easter is a pagan holiday.  It has absolutely nothing to do with the resurrection.  It was the church's counterfeit - sad, isn't it, when you think about it - the church's counterfeit.

For three hundred years after Jesus, the church celebrated Passover - the church, the church.  Both Jews and Gentiles for three hundred years celebrated Passover.

It wasn't until the time of Constantine that it was forbidden for anyone who named the name of Christianity to celebrate the Seder or the Passover.

And so they adopted at the same time of the year - it just happened to be like Christmas, just happened to be the same time of the year - this festival of Easter, Ashtar, this goddess of fertility.

And that's why in America, it's a bunny rabbit because everyone knows that bunny rabbits are the most fertile animals on the planet.  They multiply overnight, almost, it seems like.  Also in Germany?

And eggs are signs of new life and fertility.  And of course if you study mythology, you'll find out that it was a great giant egg that fell down in the River Euphrates that this goddess came hatching out of anyway - crazy and terribly ridiculous.  

Even the Methodist church dyes eggs red . . . dyes Easter eggs red and puts them on the altar as some kind of symbol.  It's sad.

Somebody said, "But I love symbolism."  So do I.  Read the Old Testament.  I love symbolism.  I love ceremony even.  Read the Old Testament if you love ceremony.

If you love symbols, find God's symbols.  Find God's ceremony.  I said all that to say this.  I won't be . . .  

I'm not offended if anybody goes because it doesn't matter what time you worship God as long as you do it in the right spirit.  You just won't bump into me at the sunrise service in the morning.  But I tell you what I will do.

Tonight, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, when the sun starts setting, I want to remember.  I want to just for a moment in my mind, I want to remember that it was a very special thing that happened just after sunset on this very weekend.

And when we say that, we don't mean according to the calendar, we mean according to the season - this season of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Firstfruits.  

Very shortly after the sun was setting and the new day was dawning, a shaking took place down there in the garden somewhere - some garden, perhaps that garden.  We don't know.  But there was a shaking.

And the Lord Jesus had finished His work, that He had taken on, down in Paradise and in the heart of the earth.  

The Bible said He went into the heart of the earth.  He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.  He took the keys of death, hell and the grave right off of Satan's belt.

And that God took time to stop back by and pick up that Body that was broken - and when we say broken, we mean spiritually, not one bone of His Body broken - but pick up that Body that was laying over there in the tomb somewhere, and He raised from the dead.

And I believe it was just as the sun was going down so we would have no reason to celebrate the sun or to worship the rising of the sun.  

There's nothing exciting about the sunset except it's beautiful and He raised . . .  

So tonight, no matter where you are, whatever you're doing, instead of getting up tomorrow and putting on your Easter bonnet, tonight as the sun's going down, just think about what it would have been like.

No one to witness it . . .  God planned it that way.  No one there to witness it, nobody saw it happen, but it happened.  

He came out of the grave.  And by the next morning, He was already gone.  All they found was the napkin that covered His face.

And there was one who came there to Mary in the garden.  And she perceived that it was the gardener, but it wasn't.  

Where have you taken our Lord and laid Him?  Hallelujah.  I'm so glad that He lives.  I'm so glad that He's raised from the dead.

You can have all the crucifixes you want.  You can hang them all over your house.  But I don't need a crucifix to remind me of what the Lord has done.  I don't need it to remind me of His crucifixion.  

In fact, I can tell you that the Lord Jesus is not on the cross.  He is not on the cross anymore.  He lives and He rules and He reigns in my heart.

I know in the morning we're going to come in here singing all these resurrection songs.  But let's end this part of the service with something about the resurrection since technically it would be in a few hours as the sun's going down.

"Because He lives . . ." - just quickly.  

Let's stand and stretch our legs.  I hope the lunch is extra good because I held you so long.

(Singing:)  "Because He lives I can face tomorrow . . ."