[Singing:]  "I've got a river of life . . ."

Let's give the Lord a praise.  Amen.  

Everyone, your attention this way please.  We would like to . . .  We just have a certain amount of time left here before we go on the air, and we would like . . .  We're waiting for the phone call, and they have to make connections.  So we need to do this right now while we can.  

But we thought perhaps you would like to see a sneak preview of what the brothers have put together for the first few minutes of the television program.

Would you like to do that now?  Okay.  Let's see.  Turn these . . .  Turn the lights off in the front so it'll show up a little bit.  You'll see the introduction to the program and the first few minutes of the program.

And then, I wonder, could we fast forward it?  We're working off a little small tape.  If we could, maybe try to fast forward it and show them how the Scripture comes up.  I think that looks so nice.  

But let's just take a minute to see this as a preview.  

[Preview of television program:]

Hello, I'm Pastor Steven Shelley.  And you're watching the Eagle's Cry.  I want to welcome you to the broadcast today and tell you once again what a privilege it is to be able to come into your home, or wherever you're watching this program, with the Good News of Hebrews 13:8 - "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever."

I'm one of those old-fashioned preachers who believes that Jesus hasn't changed, and His Word is still the same today as it always has been, and whatever He was able to do yesterday, He's still able to do today.

In fact, I believe that the Lord Jesus is just waiting and watching and looking for a people that will raise up in this End-time and take God at His Word and watch and see just what the Lord will do.

I want to say to you that it's a special privilege to be able to come to you this week from our sanctuary in Alabama.  I think most of you remember that all of our programs thus far have been taped in the studios of the Gospel Channel in Iceland.

And I could never ever thank those wonderful people enough for their love and kindness to us.  They have helped us so much over this past year that we have . . .  Well, it's been really now over a year.  I think this past July was a year ago that we went the first time.

So about a year and a half now, we've known the wonderful people at the Gospel Channel.  And they've been so kind to us every time that we have visited.  We've been blessed and privileged to have them visit us here in Alabama several times as well.

But we recognize that in order to be able to come to you week after week with a new broadcast and not have to bring a lot of reruns, we would have to have a way to be able to tape some of our programs here in Alabama.

So I want you to bear with us as we get used to the equipment, and maybe we have to adjust the lighting or the sound a little bit.  But I think you know already, we want to be the best that we can be.  We want to represent the King of kings in the way that He should be represented.  But we don't want to be so polished and so refined that we miss the Anointing.

You know, I believe that the Anointing is what we need more than anything else in this hour that we're living in.  The Bible tells us in the Book of Isaiah that the Anointing destroys the yoke.  That's a little bit of what we're going to speak about today.

But I wanted to tell you, again, that we're privileged to be able to make this broadcast from the platform.  We've made a little mini-set here that we could come and tape the programs.  And I trust that they will improve as the weeks go by.

I'd like to do a little singing for you sometimes, and perhaps also show you some excerpts of our very anointed services that we have here at the church.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the style of our meetings.  

The format of the Eagle's Cry is kind of calm and relaxed.  And we're just kind of sitting here conversing one with another.  But when we get together in a regular worship service, we have a wonderful time in the Holy Ghost.  And I believe you, in the nations of the world, would be blessed to be able to see some excerpts of those services.

So that's in our heart.  And if the Lord will make it possible, we want to be able to do that for you real soon.

I also want to tell you "Happy New Year," for one thing, as we enter into a new year on the Gregorian calendar.  We can just call it "new beginnings" and believe that the Lord is going to accomplish many great things in our lives this year.

So contact us.  The web page is easy.  It's "revival.org."  The address will be given to you on the screen to write, and the phone number as well.

But I think it's time that we look right into the Word of God and see just what it is that He would speak to us today from His Word.  I believe His Word is the way that He speaks to us so wonderfully, so powerfully, so clearly in this hour.  So let's get right to the Scripture, shall we?

In the Book of 1 Chronicles . . .

I'd like to read in Chapter 14 of the Book of 1 Chronicles.

This was sort of the theme of our campmeeting this year in Alabama this past July.  The Lord dropped the theme in our spirit - "Now is the Time for Breakthrough Glory."

And you know, I tell you there are situations that we all face in life sometimes where just an ordinary move . . .  

[They fast forward and show a little bit of Pastor Shelley reading the Scriptures with the text showing on the screen.]


Well, it's a short few minutes here running it along, but it constitutes many, many hours of work.  So let's just thank the Lord again that they've been able to do that.

First of all, you have to come up with a design.  You have to know what you want to do.  Well, we don't, none of us, know what we want to do.  

"Well, what do you want?"

"Well, we don't know what we want.  But we'll know it when we get it."

"Well, how do you get it if you don't know where to start?"

So it was just a blessing that we were able to come up with what we were able to come up with.  

Let's welcome those who are streaming with us.

You know, last night we reached a milestone.  Forty-one streams were going out during the sermon last night.  Let's praise the Lord for that.  Forty-one . . . and if you include the telephone hookup, it would be forty-two different streams going out of here.  

And I would certainly say that that constituted more people than were in the meeting last night.  So we surely appreciate the Lord.  We appreciate all the feedback and the comments that we are getting from people who are out there who are very hungry.

You know, you just don't take things for granted when you don't have a place to worship, you don't have a church family to fellowship with.  And everything's real special to you.

So we just send love to every one of them.

If you want to go ahead and turn, as we're getting ready here, we're going to be reading from Genesis, chapter 28, this morning.  

We're just waiting for a signal.  We haven't had a contact from the radio station.  There's the contact.  

[Singing:]  "There's a Miracle in the Making"

If you believe He's a miracle worker, give Him praise.  Oh, hallelujah.  Oh, hallelujah.  Let's lift our voice to Him again.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord.  Oh, I thank You that You're the miracle worker.  I thank You that You're the God who never changes.  Oh, hallelujah.  

Blessed be the wonderful Name of the Lord.  He hasn't run out of miracles.  No, He's still creative.  In fact, when we say that word "creative," it opens up a whole new realm of the miraculous.  

Because we believe that in the last days that which God is establishing now in this hour, that that He's beginning to do among His people around the world, that that's one of the things that He desires to do is move us into the realm of the creative miracle.

You know, a lot of people who get the opportunity to travel and pray for the sick now a whole lot more than I do, they often say that miracles are happening, but the biggest portion of miracles that are happening are happening internally, you know, some internal condition that the Lord is healing.  

And of course, that can be documented, you know - not just because you feel healed or feel better.  But there's even documentation, doctors' reports, saying that conditions have vanished, that God has done beautiful things.  And we praise the Lord for that.

But many are beginning to feel like the next phase of the miraculous is going to be very external, very noticeable, very creative miracles.  And you know, this may sound far out for some people, but it's just in the realm of what I believe and in the realm of my faith, my scope of faith, that God is able to restore missing limbs.  He's able to raise the dead.  

God spoke to me many years ago, and He said one of the hallmarks of the last revival would be raising the dead.  And I believe that God is able.  And I know people right now who are believing God with their whole heart for these kinds of things and have been for years.  

I've literally had phone calls over the years from people who said, "We will not bury our loved ones until we know that you are agreeing with us in prayer that if it's God's will He raise them from the dead."  Talk about pressure.  That's pressure.  But it's happened to me on more than three occasions.  

In my mind I was just trying to think of the phone calls.  Most of them were in the United States, but then there was also an opportunity like that, or situation like that, that came up in Europe.  And they said, "We're just not going to allow an embalming to take place until we've prayed and until we know . . ."

Of course, you know, this sounds very far out.  But God knows how to make blood out of embalming fluid.  You know, don't put that kind of a limit on God.  He's going to put life in every dead body that's righteous before Him.  There's coming a resurrection - just around the corner.

Amen.  Thank you all for the music.  And Brother Steve's going to help me.

So let's look to the Word of God.  And we want to welcome those of you who have joined us by radio across the Chattahoochee Valley area.  We praise the Lord for you.  We pray the blessings of God on your life.  

And if I could give you a wish for the new year that's coming up, if I could give you a gift or pray a prayer on your behalf, it would be that God would give you a more fruitful year in Him.

As we enter into the last month of this year, we're looking forward in the Spirit to what God has for us in the new year of 2007.  Seven is a number of perfection and completion.  And so we're expecting something good from Him.  Can you say, "Amen"?

Would you stand with me for the reading of God's Word?  Beginning in Genesis, chapter 28 - Genesis 28 and verse 10:

10.  And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

11.  And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place . . .

Now, that's . . .  That is poetic language.  But perhaps there is some special meaning to what the Scripture says.  

11.  . . . he took of the stones of that place . . .  

Well, now, isn't that logical?  Would it be logical to think that he carried a backpack of stones with him everywhere he went?

But for some reason in Hebrew, and in the English, it carefully mentions that from the stones that he found in that place he put them together for his pillows - "pillows," plural, meaning it wasn't just one big stone that he put his head on, but it was a variety of stones that he piled together.

How many of you think that doesn't sound like a very comfortable pillow?  

I woke up this morning with a little bit of a strange pain or feeling - more or less a . . .  It's not quite severe enough to be a pain.  But I noticed it when I was praying this morning here in the altar that my head felt heavy.  

Have you ever felt that way?  I felt like my neck was too weak to support my head.  Was having this strange feeling of trying to stretch.  And everybody who came in the office, they saw me.  

I was trying to find new ways of stretching out my neck, or something.  No, I'm not making an appointment.

But, anyway, I was feeling that.  And then I sat down and started reading this Scripture.  

And I said, "You know, that's probably . . .  If it hadn't have been for a heavenly visitation, that's probably how Jacob would have felt when he woke up in the morning after making his pillow of all these stones that he found.  But he didn't seem to have any trouble because the Bible said he lay down in that place to sleep again.  

Another time, it mentions that he didn't just make his pillow from stones that he found in various places, but from the stones that he found in that place.

And it also says that it was in that place that he knelt down to lay down to sleep - that place, stones from that place.  And it was in that place that he laid down to sleep.

All right, verse twelve:

12.  And he dreamed . . .

So he must have got pretty good sleep.  Because you realize that it's not in the first levels of sleep that you dream.  You have to go into the deeper levels of sleep.  You don't dream in that early sleep, that rapid eye movement sleep.  You have to get into deeper sleep.  So . . .

12.  . . . he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven . . .

I believe all the way into the third heaven - that same place where the Apostle Paul was caught up in the Spirit.

12.  . . . and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

By the time Jacob saw the ladder, angels were already leaving the earth.

Notice it didn't say descending and ascending.  It said ascending and descending.

So by the time he saw the dream, or the vision or the experience, angels were already leaving the earth and another group was coming down.  That's a powerful thing to see.  

Verse 13:

13.  And, behold, the LORD stood above it . . .

Now this helps us to know that he was not seeing merely into the first heaven or the second heaven.  He was seeing all the way into the third heaven because above this ladder stood God Almighty, Adonai, the Lord of lords.

13.  . . . and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest . . .

It's a good thing he used stones from that place and laid down in that particular place.  It was not by accident that Jacob made his bed in that place.  

Because now God Almighty is saying,

13.  . . . the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed;

This was the land of the Canaanites.  And God said, "I'm giving you this land."

14.  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth . . .

Sounds like what God promised Abraham, his grandfather, doesn't it?

14.  . . . and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south . . .

From this particular spot you will spread to the north, to the south, to the east and the west.  This is the center of the land that I give you.  You understand that?  It's strategic.

14.  . . . and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

15.  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places . . .

I'm not just going to keep you in this place.  This is a holy, sacred, chosen place.  But I'll keep you at all places . . .

15.  . . . whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Just a few more verses, please . . .  I tell you what, let's pray.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God.  You know, I recognize that to some people out there these are dusty old Bible stories.  But I love the way the Spirit of God makes them live.  

And I love the fresh anointing that You place upon these dusty old stories.  And these aren't just the figments of someone's imagination, but these are the records of the exploits of the one true living God.  So we acknowledge You in Your holiness, and in Your sovereignty, and in Your power.  

And we thank You that You're the same God.  I'm serving . . .  By revelation, I'm serving the same God that Jacob served.  And as You heard the prayer of Jacob, You are hearing the prayer of faith that goes up from this place thousands of years later because You are eternal.  

And I bless You.  And I praise You.  And I ask for Your help in this meeting.  BaShem Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.  Amen.

And the church said, "Amen."  Would you give me all the help you can this morning?  You may be seated.

Verse 16:

16.  And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

Well, this is the condition of a lot of us.  The Lord is right here with us and we don't feel it.  This has nothing to do with feelings.  This is about faith.

"The Lord is in this place, and I didn't even know it.  I just happened through here."  

He didn't recognize that God was ordering his steps and leading him, directing him, pulling him, wooing him, drawing him.  

He said, "Surely the Lord is here and I didn't even know it.  I didn't recognize His Presence."  

Verse 17 said:

17.  And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! . . .

That word "dreadful" does not mean terrible or awful or horrendous.  That word "dreadful" means this is a place of reverence.  This is a place of reverential fear.  This a place of awe, or as we would say today - "awesome."

This is an awesome place.  Maybe your vocabulary's a little worldlier than mine and you might say "cool."  But I hear that word used so much, I'm not sure exactly what it really means.  And so we're going to say this is . . .  

Jacob said, "This is an awesome place.  This is none other but the house of God.  This is the dwelling place of God.  This is the house that God lives in.  How is it that I could happen through this place and not know that this is the chosen house of God?"  

And he said, "Not only is this the house of God, but this is the very gate of heaven.  This is not only the place that God chooses to dwell in in the earth - His house, his dwelling place - but this is the very opening of the door that leads into the realms of the unknown.  This is the gate of heaven."  I like that.

18.  And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows . . .

So don't be shocked.  There was one stone perhaps more prominent than the rest.

18.  . . . and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

19.  And he called the name of that place . . .

In English, we say Bethel.  Would you say Bethel?  Say it again - Bethel.  But can we say it in Hebrew?  Beit-el.  Beit-el.  But in English, we say Bethel.  

19.  . . . he called the name of that place Beth-el (or Beit-el) . . .  

19.  . . . but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

20.  And Jacob vowed a vow . . .

What is a vow?  A sacred, solemn promise that should not be broken.  The Bible said it's better not to make a vow than to make a vow and break it.

The Bible said we should be careful not to miss the opportunity to pay our vow.  It's a solemn promise.

You remember the man in the Bible, Jephthah, who made a vow that the first thing that entered through the . . . what we would call the dog trot of his house, he said, "That will I sacrifice to the Lord."  

It was a foolish vow because anything could enter in through that place.  It was not just a place for the animals to go through in the middle.  

Do you know what a dog trot is?  Do you remember in the South seeing these old homes that were built, and there was an opening that ran right . . . ?

Anybody ever seen "Old Yeller?"  There was an opening that went right through the center.  

In fact, in the older days, on the other side of that dog trot was the kitchen.  And on this side of it was the living quarters because the kitchen was separate from the main part of the living house to keep it from being so hot.

And in Palestine, in the land of the Bible, what we now call Israel, houses were also built like that with courtyards.  We have seen the ancient ruins of houses like this.  

And Jephthah said, "The first thing, the first whatever comes through this place, I'm going to sacrifice it to the Lord."

And guess what it was?  It wasn't a dog.  It wasn't a goat.  It wasn't a cow.  It wasn't a chicken.  It was his daughter.

And listen at what kind of a girl she was.  When he told her the vow that he had made, she was willing to allow him to carry out the vow that he had made to God.

She said, "Just let me go away for a few months into the wilderness and bewail my virginity.  Let me go and grieve a little bit for the fact that I'm dying a virgin and that my life is cut short, that I don't have an opportunity to live."

This is very serious.  I think people are too, too casual in the promises they make to God.  We talked about that what . . . last Sunday morning at the end of the service.  

Great friend of ours who fought in the Philippines and Guadalcanal, fought in the war - one of the bloodiest parts of the battle - he said, "I saw grown men crying out for their mommies."  

You know, that doesn't make me chuckle.  It makes me choke.  Because these weren't cowards.  These were brave men.  But in that moment of facing the end of their life, they needed comfort.  And the first comfort some of them could think about was the arms of their mother or their mother's kiss on their cheek.  You know, that stirs me.

And he said, "I heard boys that had cursed and swore and lived so loosely calling on God like true Christians, praying in ways I was shocked that they could pray.  I wouldn't have thought that some of these guys would have known how to approach God.  And they prayed like priests, with full knowledge of the terminology of common prayer.

And he said, "We all promised God that if He would bring us home, we would serve Him - if we came home alive back to our families.  But when we got back and the celebration was over, we went back into our lifestyle doing the things we had done."

And he told about that tent meeting where he was standing with other soldiers along the edge of the fence watching under the tent as the preacher was preaching.  

And the preacher stopped and pointed at them.  And he said, "You soldiers there lined up against that fence, you promised God in the foxholes and beaches of war that you would serve Him when He brought you home and you have failed to keep your promise.  And God is requiring that promise of you."  Serious business.

The Bible said:

20.  And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

21.  So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:

He just renewed his covenant with the God of his father and grandfather.  

22.  And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

This is before the Levitical requirement of giving tithe.  And so to that group of people around the world who say that tithing is a part of the Levitical law and not a part of serving the Lord today, and it's wrong to ask people to give tithe, and it's bringing people under bondage and legalism . . .

And I read articles like that all the time.  I want you to understand that the original concept of tithe was not a law; it was a response.  It was not a law; it was a response.  It was the way that Jacob's heart responded to the favor of God in his life.  

The heavens opened up - that portal between the third heaven and earth.  He saw angels ascending and descending.  And standing at the top of the ladder was God Almighty.  And God Almighty said to him, "I'm going to bless you and multiply you and give you this land, and to the north and to the south and to the east and to the west.  I'm going to be with you."  

And his heart's response was, "If You'll do what You said You would do, Lord, I'll make You my God and I'll give You a tenth of everything that comes through my hand."  

See, it wasn't a law.  It wasn't a legality.  It wasn't a rule.  It was the response of Jacob's spirit to the blessings of God.

Did you know that you can revolutionize the effectiveness of giving in your life if you change your attitude towards your gift?  Did you know that if this week you will put your tithe or your offering in and you will do it in a spirit, in an attitude, of thanksgiving and in a spirit of response . . .

"You have helped me this week.  You have healed me this week.  You have protected my children."

I don't know what's been wrong with me this week.  My wife and I both have been so sensitive to what was going on around us.  And she said to me, "There's so much sickness, and there's so much death.  And everybody's getting sick.  And people are dying everywhere."  

And we were, you know, just kind of feeling the fragileness of life.  

And I had had some . . . in the past couple weeks, some very . . . like you, like everybody else . . . but very extreme symptoms of something - very sharp, noticeable, different something.  

And my wife's first reaction was, "You are going to the doctor."

And I said, "Honey, thank you, but do you know what I want your response to be?"  

That's her way of telling me, "I love you.  And I need you.  And I don't want nothing to happen to you."

You see, you have to interpret for some wives.  All wives, somebody said.  And that was a woman who said it.  Wow, I'm going to have some water.  This is God.  This is revival.

But it doesn't mean the same when somebody says to you, "You've got to go to the doctor."  

And I said, "You know what I want you to say to me?  I want you to say to me, 'I love you.  I need you.  I am praying for you.  I know God's going to take care of you.  He's not going to let anything happen to you until you've finished what He's called you to do.'"

She said, "Oh, well that's what I mean."

So all these things going on, and then other people talking about their very serious symptoms and what it could be, what it might be.  You start thinking about all of that.  

And you start realizing that, wow, this is a . . .  I don't want you to think of it like a lottery.  But just . . .  You see such sickness happening in people's families and young people.  

And you think . . .  Then you start thinking about families having babies.  And birth defects are up.  And all this stuff starts going through your mind.  And then you begin to recognize the good . . . if you let it.  

If you let it go beyond that, you'll worry yourself right into a tither.  But if you only allow your observation to bring you back to your dedication to God, then it's effective to see what's going on around you; and then it brings you back to this place of giving God thanks.

And we just started thanking God.  Lord, we thank You for our health.  We thank You for Your blessing.  We thank You for Your provision.  And when you give to God it should be out of that kind . . .  Even if it's what you feel like God requires of you . . .

Did you know you won't receive the same benefit grudgingly that you'll receive cheerfully?  

"I give it to the Kingdom.  I give it as a response because You're so good to me - the way You care for me, the way You take care of me.  Even when I'm foolish You protect me.  Even when I cross the highway when I really should wait, You take care of me."  Come on.  

So everything we do for God, we will receive a greater blessing and a greater reward and a greater benefit if we do it with the right spirit.  

Did you know, if you come into this ministry and you say, "Well, I better do that because ain't nobody else going to do it . . ."  

That's not the way to receive the blessing for what you do.  

"Well, I guess I'd better go in there and vacuum because don't nobody else take the time to fool with it."  

Thank you.  It needs to be vacuumed.  We appreciate you doing it.  But did you realize that by your attitude sometime you're really missing the blessing.

God wants to look down and see somebody who says, "I'm not doing this for my preacher.  I'm not doing this because my name fell on the list and I got the draw, the short straw.  I'm doing this because I want to give something back to God because He's been faithful to me, and because He's blessed me, and because He heals me when I'm sick, and because He's never failed me."

Has God ever failed you?  Never, never, never.  And when you start doing things for Him with the right spirit and the right attitude . . .  

And don't let your loved ones around you steal the blessing from your life, either, by filling your mind with this stuff - "You're the only one that does.  You're the only one.  You know you're the only one.  You're the only one that does anything.  You're the only one."  

Don't let your loved ones cause you to miss the benefit of what you're sowing into the work of God.

You say, "That's all right if I am.  I'm doing it for God."

The devil said, "You can't afford to pay your tithe."  You tell him he's a liar.  You can't afford not to give God a response from your heart.

Now I want you to notice something with me quickly.  Turn backward in the Book of Genesis.  We're talking about this place Bethel - Beit-el.  And I want to show you some things.  

Look at Genesis, chapter 12, with me.  I think it would be interesting for you to kind of do this little study with me.
  
Genesis 12 . . .  We're going backward in the Bible, backward in chronology even.  

We're looking at Genesis, chapter 12, verse 6.

6.  And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh.  And the Canaanite was then in the land.

7.  And the LORD appeared unto Abram . . .

You believe that's figuratively, only spiritually, or do you believe that he literally saw something; he had an encounter.  I believe he had an encounter.  

7.  And the LORD appeared unto Abram . . .

Abram had an encounter with the Lord.

7.  . . . and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Can you imagine God standing there before you promising you blessing and multiplication and increase, and while God is standing there, you start pulling the stones together, acknowledging that God has visited you, and you build an altar right in the Presence of where God was standing.  Powerful encounter with God.

Verse 8:

8.  And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent . . .

This was the second place his tent was pitched in the Land of Promise.

8.  . . . having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

9.  And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.

Now, this is Abraham.  This is the grandfather of Jacob.  And yet the Bible clearly mentions that there was a place called Bethel.  And what does Bethel mean?  Beit-el - "el" is for God.  And "beit" means house, and Beit-lechem, Bethlehem, the house of God's bread, or the house of bread - Beit-el, the house of God.  

And so we don't understand exactly . . . except to find out that there's several references in the Bible that there was a mountain range near this place that was also referred to as Bethel or Beit-el.  We're not sure if it was renamed when the Bible was recorded.  We're not sure exactly how this was.

But it's evident that this became a hallowed spot.  This was a place that God came down and appeared to Abram and told him, "I'm going to do something."

Now, remember, it was many years before the fullness of this promise started coming into reality.  This was one of the initial tellings.  This was in one of the initial . . .  Remember Jacob?  Do you remember . . . ?

And we can give you the Scripture.  Do you remember that God told Jacob more than one time He was going to change his name?  Did you remember that in the Scripture, God tells Jacob more than one time, "I'm going to change your name from Jacob to Israel"?  Did you recognize . . .  Hello?  

Did you recognize that it was more than one time that God said to Abraham, "I'm going to bless you.  I'm going to prosper you.  I'm going to make a multitude of people around you.  Your seed's going to be . . ." - more than one time.  

What makes the difference?  Well, there's the initial giving of the promise, and then there's the ushering in or the reality of the promise.  

And so here God came down.  This is one of the initial times.  He speaks to Abram, "I'm going to give you seed.  I'm going to multiply you.  I'm going to bless you."  And what does Abram do?  He starts building an altar.  

Now, Abram has built altars before.  But all of Abram's altars that he had built before were not altars to the one true living God.  

He's just learning to walk in the ways of this Voice that speaks to him.  He doesn't have the benefit of the Torah, he doesn't have the benefit of the Tanakh, to know about God.  He's learning about God as God reveals Himself to Abram in relationship.

So the response of Abram's heart was "build an altar."  And it was not an original response.  He had built altars before.  But now he's building an altar.  He's making a sacred remembrance.  He's making a token.  

Brother Branham called it a memorial.  He's building a memorial to the one true living God - and not just any place, but in a particular place where God, Himself, has come down and stood on the earth.  And Abram builds an altar.

And the Bible gives us the location as Bethel.  And in the Scripture that we read . . .  That was 12.  

In the Scripture that we read a moment ago in 28, we have Jacob fleeing, of course, from his brother, passing through this very place that his grandfather has built an altar many years before.

And he thinks that it's because of the weariness of his flesh that he chooses to lay down in this spot, not knowing that God's divine order has led Jacob right through the same path that . . .

Where did Abraham go?  He left Bethel and went to Egypt.  But the Scripture tells us that when he left Egypt, he came right back through Bethel and blessed the Lord again in that very same spot.  

He remembered his visitation with God.  And when he was passing back through the land, after going down and being under Pharaoh . . .  You know how that took place and Sarah's wife, and so forth.  You know the story.

After coming back up through the land toward the North, he passed by that very place and he blessed God again.  And he remembered again this visitation.

Jacob didn't know that he was being led supernaturally to this very same spot.  He thinks he's laying down just because of the weariness of his flesh.

He has just left Beersheva in the South.  And he's moving up toward the North.  And he lays down and gathers up some stones.  

Do you think there is a possibility that some of these stones that he is raking together to make him a pillow . . .?  Do you think there's a possibility that some of these stones could be the very same sacred stones that Abraham used to build an altar to mark the spot?  

Was the altar still erected?  I doubt that because this was in the land of the Canaanites.  And if they found anything that they didn't build, they probably tore it down.  

So Jacob is passing by there, not recognizing that this is the very spot where Abraham, his grandfather, had a visitation from the Lord.  But he takes . . .

And the Bible in Hebrew and English is very specific to let us know he took stones from that place, put them together, made himself a pillow . . .  

I believe they were the very same stones that his grandfather had erected in a memorial, in an altar, to God.  This was a holy and sacred spot.

And he goes to sleep.  The heavens are opened in a dream.  He sees what we have come to call Jacob's ladder.  But it wasn't Jacob's ladder.  

It was God's ladder.  It was a ladder that actually set down on the earth.  The Bible said it was set on the earth.  

It went all the way into the third heaven.  Angels were ascending and descending.  And the Lord God Almighty was standing at the top of that ladder and spoke to Jacob.  

What did He speak to Jacob?  The very same promise, the very same prophetic promise, that He had made in that very same spot some years before to Abraham, his grandfather.

No wonder Jacob got up the next morning and said, "I had no idea that I was in the very Presence of God when I came here.  But I want to declare that this is the house of God, the dwelling place of El.  It's right here.  And not only is it the dwelling place of God, it's the very gate of heaven, because I have seen the tunnel, I have seen the vortex, I have seen the portal, I have seen the gate that leads from this realm into the very realm of heaven or to eternity.  This is the gate of heaven."

So there's something special about that spot.  Perhaps the same stones were used.  And even if they were not, the very same prophetic promise that God came down and spoke to Abraham, He has now spoke those same words from that same spot to Jacob, his grandson.  I think that is not a coincidence.  I think it's a holy place, a sacred . . .

You do believe that places can be holy and sacred, can't you?  You do believe that blessings can rest upon . . .  If you don't believe that, you'd have to throw away a great portion of the Bible because the Bible is very specific in telling us about hallowed, sacred, holy, chosen both people and places.

Now look with me, if you will, to Genesis, chapter 32 and verse 24.  

24.  And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

25.  And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

Again, I have to say - a physical reaction to a spiritual encounter.  Jacob physically received a dislocated hip as a testament to a supernatural experience.  So it's very powerful when we have a physical response to a spiritual encounter.  

Now, I wish all my friends could hear this because they come into a meeting sometime and they see people manifesting.  They see people trembling.

I remember when a picture appeared in "Newsweek" magazine of one of our services some years ago.  

We got a letter from a man who said, "If you people are so happy about the coming of the Lord, why is it that these women had Kleenexes in their hand as though they had been weeping?"  

Well, I wish that this could be one big party and that all we ever did was celebrate.  But sometimes we don't always celebrate.  Sometimes we grieve.

But sometimes we cry because we are happy and not because we're sad.  But you see, that was his . . .

You come into a Pentecostal meeting.  You see people jumping up and down, or running around the building, or shaking a little bit, or jerking, or moving and making some unintelligent noise out of their mouth.  

And people are quick to mock that and criticize that and condemn that.  And they say the Spirit of God isn't doing that.

I never said He was.  I never said that that was the Spirit of God that made somebody jump, or the Spirit of God that made somebody roll, or the Spirit of God that made somebody jerk.  

What that is - it is a response.  It is a physical response to a supernatural or spiritual encounter.  It is the way that your body has responded to what your spirit has felt by the Presence of God.  That's why some people respond differently than others.  It's not because the Spirit of God is necessarily heavier on one than on another.  

So for all of us (I'm preaching to us, now) who judge spirituality by physical manifestation, we're wrong.  You cannot always tell the response of somebody's heart by how they react in the physical realm.  

So if somebody gets out of line . . .  It's kind of hard to say somebody's out of line when you realize that that's how their flesh has chosen to respond to what God has done for them in the Spirit.

But to throw all of that manifesting out and the manifestation of the quickening power of God and say it's all of the devil, that's a very, very dangerous thing.  I can't do it.  

It's very Biblical for there to be a physical reaction to a spiritual encounter.  John's belly was bitter when he spiritually ate the book.  Jacob's hip was dislocated when he wrestled in the Spirit with an Angel, with a Servant of the Lord.  

So it's very, very Biblical for there to be physical reaction to what God does for us in the Spirit.  And you know what?  I don't apologize for it.  I would that it would increase over all of our lives.

26.  And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

Now, listen.  God Himself has had no problem coming down in broad daylight.  But this Angel, this Servant of God . . . Scripture even uses the word "man" which means a messenger . . . said, "I've got to go because the sun is coming up."

26.  . . . And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

27.  And he said unto him, What is thy name?  And he said, Jacob.

28.  And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29.  And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.  And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?  And he blessed him there.

Have you ever answered a question with a question?  Good move.  You need to do that sometimes.  This Angel of the Lord answered a question with a question.  And he got the blessing.

30.  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

You may wonder who it was that Jacob wrestled with, but Jacob didn't wonder.  Who are you to tell . . .  Who is some Bible scholar, who is some theologian to say today who it was?

When Jacob got up, he said, "I've seen God face to face."  And I guess he was there when it happened and he ought to know.

And he said, "My life is preserved."  

Do you hear that, sister?  

"My life is preserved."

31.  And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh (he limped upon his thigh).

32.  Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

And that's true even to this day.  Religious Jews will buy their meat from a kosher butcher who makes sure he cuts out that piece of tissue.  

And it's not just the fact that it's beef, and not pork, that makes it kosher, but it's how the animal is killed, it's how the meat is prepared, it's how it's butchered, it's how the blood is drained out.  Everything makes it kosher to the religious.  I mean, all these things make up the fact that it's kosher.

Now, this was not in Bethel.  It was in a new place that he met God face to face.  And God spoke, either through a servant or Himself, and said, "Your name is not Jacob."

Now turn to Genesis 35.  This is the last Scripture, I think, probably, for this morning.  

Genesis 35, beginning in verse 1:

1.  And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel . . .

Jacob's already been to Bethel.  He's already made his pillow there.  And let's not forget to mention again that from these rocks that he used as pillows, he chose one stone and turned it upside down, elongated it, and poured oil on it, and made it an altar.

You know, if we had time . . .  The British believe that they have that stone.  I've seen it.  The British believe that in Westminster Abbey they have that stone under the chair where the king received . . . or queen receives their coronation.  

There's a whole story behind that.  It's very interesting.  I can show you a picture of it sometime.  But there's a little compartment under the seat, under the chair, where this large, flat stone sits.  

And they believe that it's the actual stone.  Whether or not it is, I'm not sure.  Don't know.  Doesn't really matter to me except for the fact that I find it amazing that this is probably one of the stones that Abraham . . .

Talk about following in the footsteps of your forefathers.  He comes right to the place.  He anoints the stone again.  He pours oil on it and blesses it.  And now he's in trouble again.  He is going through some things, brother.

Between Genesis 28 and Genesis 35, he is experiencing some stuff.  And what does God say to him?  

"Jacob, get back to Bethel.  Get back to Bethel.  You need to go back to Bethel.  Don't you remember what I did for you in Bethel?  Don't you remember what you said about Bethel?  It's the gate of heaven.  It's the house of God.  You need to get back to Bethel . . ."

1.  . . . and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God . . .

Those stinking, stinking Canaanites have probably been in and tore it up again.  You need to go and make an altar unto God . . .

1.  . . . that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

God, reminding him of a visitation.  

Listen.  When you get discouraged, when you get to feeling lonely, when you get down and out, and down in the mouth, and however you want to describe it, come into the Presence of the Lord and see if the Spirit of God will not stir up your remembrance.  

And if He doesn't, you sit long enough until you begin to remember that there's been a visitation in your life.  There was an hour that God came to your rescue.  

There was a moment that He poured His anointing and His glory out on your life.  Go back to Bethel.  

Go back to that place and say, "God, this is where I met You.  I want the kind of blessing that I had when I started on this journey."  

I want to be able to acknowledge God in the way I acknowledged Him when I first met Him at Bethel.  I want to get up from a place of prayer and say, "Right here is the house of God, right here is the gate of heaven, because God has come and met with me here."  Hallelujah.  You believe you can have that?

Oh, listen.  I came through a movement that believed in building altars and praying in the woods.

I prayed . . .  I pastored people that came through old-line Holiness and old-line Pentecost in South Carolina.  And just about every member of my church, every man in our church, had an old rock altar somewhere on his property.  

And when I would go for dinner, when they would invite me for dinner, we would . . .  After we'd get through eating dinner, sometimes before dinner if it wasn't ready, they would invite me to their altar.

We would go out in the woods.  Somewhere along the way, we would stop and pick up a rock.  And when we got to that place, we'd add another rock to the altar.  And oh, what prayer meetings we had - yes, many, many, many wonderful places.

We know now that it doesn't have to be a particular place.  You don't have to set aside a particular place unless God has said, "I want to meet you here."  

If God says, "I want to meet you here," then here's where you need to be.  

Let me tell you something.  Bethel may be a physical location to some.  It may be a mental attitude to others.  

God may be saying to you, "Get back to Bethel.  Get back to that attitude that you used to have.  Get back to that softness that you used to have for God.  Come and respect Me like you used to respect Me.  Let it be a place of reverential fear.  Come before Me as though I am a sacred and holy God."

Why, the Bible said He would not disregard the broken and the contrite spirit when we come to God broken.  I think brokenness is something missing in a lot of our lives.  

1.  . . . go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

We've got to read quickly.  Help me.

2.  Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

3.  And let us arise, and go up to Bethel . . .

He approached this as a holy place.  What was wrong with Jacob that he let his household pick up the idols of the Canaanites?  

It hadn't been that long ago that he met with God in Bethel.  Now he's letting servants pick up these little gods.  And you don't want to know what they were.  You don't even want to know the kind of filthy gods that these Canaanites made and the filthy purposes they used them for.  And here he'd let members of his household pick up . . .

And God said, "Get back to Bethel."  

And he knows he can't take people to Bethel.  He can't go to this meeting place that he had with God with all these filthy little idols.  

So he said, "Get rid of all of them and change your clothes.  We're going back to Bethel."

3.  And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

Oh, my God, I wish the Holy Ghost would come down in this house this morning and inspire every true child of God to get back to Bethel in their life.  

I don't have time to elaborate on that, but oh, my.  Back to our first love.  Back to that place of passion.  Back to that place of desperation.  Back to that place of crying out in sincerity.  Back to that place of approaching God as holy and sacred.  A place of changing our clothes and changing our minds and spirits and attitudes.  Let us arise and go up to Bethel.

4.  And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears . . .

Amazing.  Amazing.  Every time people started going after other gods, they punched holes in their bodies and put earrings in.  And they started giving their earrings away.  

4.  . . . and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5.  And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

I'd like to know what it was that kept the tribes away.  I wonder what it was that saw these people passing through the community and dared to attack them.  

I wonder what kind of a look was on their face.  I wonder what kind of a determination must have been on display that it caused everybody to fear them.  

They were so determined to get back to Bethel, they were so excited and so enthused about getting back to Bethel, that somehow as they marched through these villages, the villagers were afraid to attack them.  

"There's something strange about these people.  They're on a mission."

5. And they journeyed . . .

Okay . . .

6.  So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

7.  And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel . . .

El-bethel - he called the name of the place El-bethel.  It was Bethel.  It used to be Luz.  Luz was the name of the Canaanite city that was once there.

Now it's called Bethel.  He named it Bethel after the mountains that were surrounding.  God gave him the inspiration.  He met God there.  He calls it Bethel.  

Now he comes back the second time.  He doesn't just call it Bethel, brother.  He calls it El-bethel - El-beit-el.  

What does that mean?  What does "El" mean?  "El" means God.  What does "beit" mean?  It means house.  What does "El" mean?  God.  

When Jacob got back, he didn't just say, "This is the house of God.  This is the gate of heaven."  

Guess what he said?  He said, "I want to name this place "the God of the house of God."  I want to name this place "the God of the house of God" - "El-beth-el, the God of the house of God."

It's not enough to get back in church.  You've got to get back to the God of the house of God.  It's not about seeking after a place.  It's about seeking after God.  

"They that seek Me early shall be found of me," says the Lord.  

I love this about Jacob.  Jacob recognized that not just by getting back to the right place was he going to have a transformation.  He had to get back to the God that met him in that place.  

So even though we're preaching and believing that there are places geographically that God has chosen to place His Name, Jerusalem being one of them, we also understand there are geographical places that God has placed a portal - a special point of access where God can visit us, where we can visit God, by passing all of the warfare of the second heaven.

Did you know that it's possible to receive from God and give to God without having to deal with all of that warfare that goes on out there in the second heaven between angels and demons, and Michael and the Prince of Persia, and all this stuff that Daniel saw in the second heaven, or talked about - the angel told him what was going on - all of this warfare?  

John saw it in the Book of the Revelation when he talked about the dragon being cast down.  

All of this terrible commotion that goes on out there . . .  It's hard to press in sometimes because we're trying to press our way through the second heaven.

And God is saying, "Stay out of the realm of the second heaven.  I've got something holier for you."

Now you won't remember this, but there was once a woman who was teaching and preaching radically - radically - about engaging spirits.  

She was teaching radically about calling down the princes and the overlords, and addressing demons by name, and addressing territorial hierarchy by name.  And a lot of things were going on.

And one day this woman sent out an e-mail, and it was sent to me.  This was many years ago.  How long have we been in this church?  Two and a half years?  This was seven years ago, or more.  

And this woman repented.  It's an amazing thing.  I have the article.  I got up and read it to the church.  

She repented because she said that God dealt with her so harshly and so heavily that we should be careful that we stay in the sphere of our God-given spiritual authority, that we don't try to put ourselves in places that God has not called us to be, that we should ask God to deal with the devil, we should ask the Lord . . .

We're not praying to angels, nor should we really be praying to demons.  And sometimes this Charismatic teaching that has evolved was almost going overboard.  

This woman wrote a tremendous article.  And this particular leader has gone through a lot of transition.

And it blesses me today, although I don't understand . . .  You know how I feel, and you know what I'm standing on.  

But I am very, very blessed when I read where this person has spoken very, very kindly about how God has visited this generation.  And I could elaborate, but I don't want to do that now.  But it's an amazing thing, really.  It's a long story.

But it's an amazing thing when you get out there somewhere and God kind of pulls you back in and says, "Be careful," and you're willing to say, "I was wrong.  And I don't think we need to be out there looking for . . ."

Remember?  We read the article, and then we talked about people looking for demons under every rock?

I believe in spiritual warfare.  But I want you to know that the hour is getting so desperate that I personally, myself, although I consider myself in some ways an intercessor, I find that life is so heavy, and the commission and mandate is so heavy, that I don't really have time to go looking for fights.

I don't really have time to go looking for spiritual battles to fight.  I have to fight the ones that I face.  

And perhaps this is why God has said to us, "I want to give you access to the heavens, bypassing the second heaven, bypassing the realm of all this spiritual warfare.  I want you to call on Me and know that I'm there."

Listen.  It's a realm of prophetic prayer that God wants us to walk in.  Don't be confused.  Don't allow the enemy to confuse you.  

I just believe that the manifested sons of God are not going to have to weep and mourn and groan forever.  I believe they're coming forth one day.  

And as they come forth, I believe that their commission will not be a life of spiritual warfare.  They'll ask God, and God will hasten to perform His Word - just like that.  

Somebody said, "Put it in Message terminology."  

I will - the power of the spoken Word.  We speak it.  God hastens to perform it.  

The second heaven is bypassed, and the third heaven is accessed by faith - a portal, an opening, like the one that was physically over Bethel.

Now, listen at these verses and we'll close by . . . at least by 1:20 or 1:30.  But I don't want to stop and come back and finish later.

7.  And he built there an altar, and called the place El-bethel (the God of the house of God): because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

8.  But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak . . .

And it goes on.

9.  And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.

10.  And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob . . .

Second time - the very same thing.  

I thought God had just told him, "Your name is no longer Jacob.  Your name is Israel."  

But now God meets him again, just coming out of El-beth-el, and He says to him again, "Thy name is Jacob."

You'd think God would lose track of His mind.  If He changed His name from Jacob to Israel, why is God calling him Jacob again?  

Because the promise has been given and now the hour of reality has come.

Listen to the rest of it.

10.  And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name . . .

Amen.  So let it be written, so let it be done.  But look at the next phrase.

10.  . . . and he called his name Israel.

It became a revelation to him.  The first time it was just a promise.  He didn't go to the attorney and start legal name change procedures.  

He just said, "Okay.  That's what God has said.  Thank God for that.  I'm walking on in it."  

But God came and visited him a second time and said, "You're no longer going to be called Jacob, but Israel is going to be thy name."  

And there was something about again coming into this Word.  He received it.  He accepted it.  And from that moment on, he refused to be identified by what he used to be, or what he used to be called, or the life that he used to live, or the mistakes that he had made.

"From this day forward, if God said I'm Israel, I'm Israel.  Don't call me Jacob.  I won't answer to that anymore.  I'm a new creature.  I am what God says I am.  I'm going to walk in the promise of the Word.  I'm going to take up my destiny.  I'm going to use what God has given me.  I'm going to go forth in the power of what has been spoken over me."

11.  And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

12.  And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

13.  And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

14.  And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.

15.  And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

The place where God spake with him again, he goes back to its original calling - Bethel, the House of God, the Gate of Heaven.

Now if I had time, I would show you . . . and you can find them in a concordance.  You can go to a computer and find something like Blue Letter Bible, or something like that, and type in "Bethel."  It'll bring up all the Scriptures of Bethel.  Or you can go to your "Strong's Concordance" and look up the word, Bethel, and it will take you to all the Scriptures, or go to the back of your Bible.

You would be amazed to see how in other ways Bethel was used and how the enemy kept trying to pervert the portal, to contaminate the portal, to put a stain on the blessing of the portal of Bethel.

You know what one of the ways was?  Do you remember what Jeroboam did?  

He reverted back to the worship of the golden calf.  He set up a false feast at Succot, at Tabernacles time.  

He sat up, established, a golden calf in two places in the north - Bethel, which is ten miles north of Jerusalem, and Dan which was the northern border.  

They have never found the ruins of the false worship that went on in Bethel, but they have found the ruins of the false worship that went on in Dan.

He established it just like the Temple.  It had an outer court and an inner court and a holy of holies.  And instead of the Ark of the Covenant, it had the golden calf.  And the people of Bethel were worshipping that golden calf with lewdness and dedication, with both praying to it and sacrificing to it, and also in pagan and lewd and filthy ways.

Why would the enemy do that?  Let's look at it this way.  Why is it that God would allow that to happen in a place like Bethel, or why would it happen, of all the places?  

Why would Bethel be chosen?  Perhaps it's because the enemy wanted to do everything he could to war against the promise, to close the portal.

You see, I can give you other Biblical examples that when people got in trouble, they went to Bethel and touched God.  And here the enemy comes to pervert that.  

People were coming to meet God, and what do they meet?  They meet the counterfeit.  They meet the false.  They meet the truth perverted.  Isn't that serious?  

And we could go on.  This place was used . . .  The Bible tells us that the Ark of the Covenant was kept in Bethel by Phineas, who was the grandson of Aaron.  

The Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 7 that Samuel the prophet would hold his courts in rotation.  The prophet was the judge in this time.  And the prophet would go from city to city.  He chose several cities to go to.  

And at the gate, he would hold court over the issues of the community of faith.  And Bethel was one of the places that Samuel would go and sit at the gate and judge the people.

Hosea talked about it.  He called it a house of idols.  He was referring back to the time of Jeroboam.  And he called it a place of idols.  And we could go on and on and on.  

This city existed during the time of the captivity.  Did you know it existed all the way up until the time of the Muslim occupation of the land?  There was a city there.

And to this day, in this hour, I'm very thankful to tell you that very close to the original spot . . .  The original spot is now the home of an Arab village.

But very close to the original spot is a beautiful settlement in Samaria on top of the mountain that is called, in modern terms again now, Bethel.

But when the Muslims came, it was one of the first things that they wanted to do - to destroy Bethel.  Perhaps they didn't even know why they wanted to destroy it, but they did.  So I believe the Scripture is clear.

And in closing, I'd like to read you just a Word that has been mentioned here many times, or talked about, or referred to.  Others have referred to it.

But this was a Word that was given a good many years ago about vortexes.  This was a word that Bob Jones gave.

He said, "Now, many places where these vortexes are, or portals, He begins to do a work there.  One of the main places where there is a divine vortex is Jerusalem.  A demonic vortex is like the Bermuda Triangle or a negative portal.  A heavenly vortex is like Iceland.  And there are many other places.  There are places where the Lord has a vortex, and it is like a hearing horn going both ways."  

Grant it, oh God - a hearing horn going both ways, a microphone going both ways.

I found this so amazing that just out of the clear blue he talks about Jerusalem and that he mentions this vortex or portal or open heaven over Iceland.

And with a little research, you'll understand that this has been picked up in the Spirit, not only by Holy Ghost-filled people, but it has been picked up by people who are . . .  What would you say?  Like New Age.  

And there are people who go on vacation to Iceland because they want to be closer to the spirit realm.  

And there's a whole industry of tourism that has developed around people like Sedona, Arizona.  How many of you've been to Sedona?  

When I first when to Sedona, it was a place, of course, where they talked about Indian culture, and shops and nice little restaurants and the beautiful red rocks.  

And I remember being there with the West's.  And that's where Sister West took her famous helicopter ride, I think.  But over . . .  And it was a place to go outlet shopping.

But over the years, it has developed more and more and more into a New Age mecca, a place of alternative religions, where people go and buy crystals and meditate and buy potions and all kinds of things.  

And they claim that in the presence of those red rocks that there seems to be a thinner line, a thinner barrier, between this realm and the spirit realm.  So people are going there in New Age mediation, and so forth.

Well, if I were living near that area, I would be wondering why it is that people are so fascinated with it.  

And I would say that if the enemy has counterfeited it, then there must be some reason . . .  There must be some positive spiritual things that God is desiring to do or has done in that area as well because the enemy always comes in to counterfeit the genuine.

And Jerusalem - there's an open heaven.  Here he mentions Jerusalem.  I want you to see that open heaven, or that portal.  

If you can't get any other picture . . .  Because last night you got confused because you don't know whether to look up or to look that way.  

These are symbols of spiritual things.  We can't get tied up in the terminology.  We can't get tied up in the vocabulary.  We've got to reach for it in the Spirit.

He said it's like having a hearing horn going both ways.  

"It is a place where you can talk to God."  Oh, I like this.  

"It's a place where you can talk to God, and then . . .  Guess what?  Huh? . . . shut up. "

"It's a place where you can talk to God, and then shut up and let God talk back to you. "

How many of you would like that kind of a place?  You've got it.  You've got it.  It's granted to you as believers.  You've got it.  

You've got an open heaven in your life if you're willing to reach for it.  You've got the promise of God.  And some of you really are blessed because you can walk in a double way.  

I believe . . .  You don't have to, but it doesn't . . .  You know, honestly, I'm to the place it's just up to you.  

But God gave us this place.  He gave us this ground.  He gave me a vision.  He showed me this ground before we ever came here.  

He showed me the cedar trees that were on it, and in the formation, and where they were - exactly like we found them.  

And I described it to several people and drew it on a piece of notebook paper and showed them where the trees would be in formation.

We found another piece of property out near . . . in the direction of Uniroyal, going toward Opelika . . . full of cedar trees.  

And I went to that property and spent three days there with different families from the church - walking that property looking for this place.  

We came to a place where it was full of cedar trees, but no place where this . . . what was like a triangle, perfect triangle, of cedar trees was.

We came to this property and walked it, and it was one big messy mud hole because they had just logged the hardwood off of it and left it in a real mess.

And we walked over it one afternoon for several hours and could not find the place, but felt very, very good about it.  I felt very good about it, but I could not find the place.

I came over either the next day, or the next day by myself.  Or either I think I came with people and went off by myself.  

And I ended up way down in the woods down here where the springs are, where the little creeks or springs or water flows through there.  And the Lord said, "Go up this hill here."

I said, "Lord, I can't go up that hill."

He said, "I want you to climb up this hill."

I'd climb up a few steps and slip back, and climb a few steps and slip back.

And I said, "There's no way I can go up this hill.  I think I'll just go around this way."

And I kept feeling the pull of the Lord, "Go up this . . .  Go right up this hill."

So I was able to grab and pull and hold on and drag myself up this little place.  And then I walked . . .  Then it was much easier to walk, and easier to walk, easier to walk.  

And I came up to a little place.  And I noticed my shoestring was untied.  And there was a tree bent over.  And I put my foot on the tree and tied my shoe and looked up.   And there was the tall cedar tree at the end and two cedar trees there and then the line of trees.  I took the drawing out of my pocket and opened it up and realized that I was standing right in that place that I had seen in a vision.

The Spirit of the Lord came in a wonderful way.  Prophecy had been given.  Words had been given.  

Every preacher that has ever come here that had a gift from God has said that this was a chosen place where God was going to meet with people.  And I really believe that.

I remember after going through such a deep, dark trial in my life . . .  In '97, we had no campmeeting here.  And the place was really falling.  We were too busy worrying about keeping ourselves together and living, and how we were going to live, all of us, and how we were going to come out of these trials.  

And the place was really going down in a hurry.  Things had grown over.  And it was one big mess.  In 18 months, it had really gotten a mess.

And God spoke to me, sitting in my yard reading the "Glory" book.  I was sitting outside in my yard, in a chair in the front yard, reading the "Glory" book.  

And the Spirit of the Lord spoke and said, "You go over there and take that place back for Me."

Lot of things had gone on.  Lot of ugly battles had gone on.  Lot of ugly things had happened.  We had nowhere else to meet.  And so some of these terrible confrontations took place right in the prayer chapels.  

And I came.  And I felt like the Lord was sending me.  And I prayed all over this property.  I walked all through the tabernacle.  I prayed in the prayer chapels with authority, believing, literally believing, that a warfare was going on - could feel the warfare as though the enemy didn't want to turn this place loose.  I know that sounds strange to some people, but you'd just have to have lived through it.  

But you know, the victory was won.  And, brother, when it was won, I had people say they heard me down at the bottom of the hill shouting at the top of my lungs because God opened the heavens over my life and over this place - gave us victory.

We realize that in this property and in this ministry, we haven't reached our full potential yet.  And like we said last night, we're not going on any further by feelings, but we're moving by faith.  

There's a people.  There is a people.  God reminded me this morning, praying.  There is a people.  I just wish they'd speak up.  I just wish they'd speak up.  But there's a people that have got a hold of something.  Hallelujah.  

And I just really, really, really believe that we should all make a fresh commitment to pray over these grounds.  Pray in the prayer chapels and pray in the sanctuary.  When we can, pray a little early before the service.  

When we're walking the laps, sometimes you want to fellowship.  Of course, you do.  Maybe sometime you slip over here by yourself, and you can do two things in one.  You can get exercise walking, and you can pray and praise and prophesy and declare and . . .  

Did you know this is how we get these things to open up in our lives and . . .

This is how we start receiving what God has promised, when we start letting God know, "I remember.  Lord, I remember what You said.  And I don't mean any disrespect, but I'm not letting You off the hook.  And I'm not insinuating that there's any failure or shortness on Your part.  I acknowledge that if this thing is late, it's not Your fault - it's mine.  But when I acknowledge that, I receive the power to change it."

Anybody want to say hallelujah?  

I read where Paul Keith Davis said one time the devil knows that he cannot do one thing to change what God has promised you in your life - the season, or the destiny, or whatever.  The enemy knows that he can't change it.  

But what he is doing is pushing it into the wrong time frame.  He's trying to push it farther out there.  And by . . .  

Did you know that by pushing it farther out there, it can bring it right out of the timing of the Lord.  That's serious.

God said, "I want to do something."  

He not only has an idea of what He wants to do, He has an idea of the season that He wants to do it in.  Amen.

All right.  Musicians are coming.  Thank You, Jesus.  Thank You, Jesus.  

We're not nearly militant enough in the Spirit.  And when I mean aggressive, I mean aggressively claiming and holding on and pulling down the promises of God in our life.  They're mine.  They're mine.  They're mine.  They're mine.  They're mine.  It's hard to be depressed when you're coming into the Presence of God every day.  

Let's stand.  

Hallelujah.  Thank You, wonderful Jesus.  Thank You, Jesus.  Hallelujah.  Lord, we bless You.  Father, we just bless You, and we thank You for the privilege You've given us to bless You.  Hallelujah.  

[Singing:]  "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God . . ."

Hallelujah, Lord.  Hallelujah.  We bless You.

Let's just sing . . .  Before we go, let's sing a little more of  "The Heavens are Open" like we sung last night.

[Singing:]  "The heavens are open . . ."

I was beginning to get a little glimpse of some things . . .  Let's sing again.

"The heavens are open . . ."
"You're beautiful, Jesus . . ."
"Sing Hallelujah . . ."
"Yi, yi, yi,yi,yi, yi . . ."

The Jewish people believe that music is a gift to God and that it doesn't always have to be about the words.  

The gift of God, the blessing of God, can be in the melody.  And that by using just syllables, like the Hassidics usually say, "Yi," the more mainstream say "li" or "la," they believe that in those moments when you're not trying to put words together, your heart can worship.  Your heart can sing.

[Singing:]  "Li, li, li, li, li, li . . ."