New Hope Revival Ministries: God's Marvelous Grace

God's Marvelous Grace
April 8, 2001 AM
Pastor Steven L. Shelley

Could we give the Lord a mighty praise this morning because He’s so worthy. I’m telling you, the Lord is worthy. He’s so worthy. Hallelujah. (Tongues) You’re worthy, Jesus. You’re worthy, my Father. You’re worthy. Hallelujah...

Oh come on, a little longer. We just want to glorify the Lord together because He’s wonderful and worthy. (Tongues) Thank You for what You’re done. Thank You for what You’ve done. Hallelujah... Amen.

You may be seated for just a moment.

Brother Shelley - You’ve been in the storm....

Praise God. Praise God. Hallelujah... Glory to the Lamb.

Thank you so much. Would you just reach over and get your Bible this morning.

The Lord willing, I don’t want to take a lot of time for testimony of the meeting this morning, but I’d like to share with you tonight some of the wonderful things that the Lord has done while we were away.

I am moving in a little bit slower gear. I know I’m too young for that, but I just trust that the Lord will give us the strength. All of us, that we need for the meetings ahead.

And it’s not very many times a year that I preach eight services in a row. And so I’m feeling a little under the weather. I just have to remind you, you know, that even medical doctors talk about the pressure on the physical body of preaching the Word.

And I’ve never been in a place where I was needed any more than I was needed for the past two weeks. And I think that it’s one of the most sovereign moves of God that I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

You know, everybody began to say that as we were getting ready to go. People began to say, “This is going to be the greatest meetings.” Brother Whittaker said many times to me, “I just feel like these are going to be the greatest meetings.

And of course, I’m always looking for the greatest. But I didn’t have that unction, you know. I didn’t have that revelation until I walked in the building. When I walked in the building that first night, I sat down and I said, “These are going to be the greatest meetings.” Hallelujah.

We have a little over a hundred people in the House this morning. And we have a lot of room here. Well, I want you to imagine that the whole church... I may be wrong, but I’m pretty close to saying, Brother Tom, (you can correct me) but I think the whole church building was about the size of this section of pews. Am I right? From front to back, that would be the whole church. Maybe just a little bit wider. It might would have come out in this aisle a little bit, but not much wider across.

And the last night, on Sunday night, they turned people out in the yard. There wasn’t any room for them to sit down. They had... They started out with fifty chairs, and then they put in seventy chairs. And then they kept adding them, so that you couldn’t even get to the bathrooms. Chairs were in the aisles.

And on Wednesday night we counted over ninety people. And some we didn’t count because they were outside in their automobiles. They had to go back out. There was no room for them and they went out in their automobiles and pulled out close to the windows and rolled their windows down to hear the service.

Every night that we were there we had to take out four rows of chairs on both sides, just to pray for people. There was no room to pray for people. I only had about this much room to move while I was preaching, or I’d bump into the piano or the wall.

But I’m telling you, God was... I said, “I feel like a sardine.” But God was so good to us. And I want to share some life-changing testimonies. Some were on the verge of suicide and God brought them to Himself by mercy and grace.

There were probably twenty-five people saved. Could be more than that. But I’d say it was probably close to twenty-five. And I don’t know how many claim to receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but I would say it would be somewhere over twenty people received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and miracles of deliverance.

And what was so beautiful was, the prophetic was so straight. You know, I appreciated God for doing that. It was straighter than I’ve seen it in a long long time. And I appreciate what the Lord is doing in that area. I can say today, “There is revival for the First Nation’s people in Canada.” I can say that God is visiting the Indians. Hallelujah.

You know, our kids get the idea of an Indian, they’re looking for feathers. I think I heard one of the people that were with us, first few days saying to someone on the phone where there weren’t too many Indians. And I thought, “My goodness, the night before there were about twenty-five there.” You see, they don’t wear headdresses any more to church. They don’t smoke their peace pipes when they come in the door. And they don’t say, “How... And they don’t Whoooo! (Brother Shelley imitates Indians.)

But usually you can tell them. You can usually tell them. We had some, we had some stereo-typical Indians that you could have known who they were across the road, because they had the, they had the hook nose and they had those high cheekbones. And you could have seen them. And then there were others that you might not would have known.

In fact the Pastor, unless you really look at him, he doesn’t even really look like an Indian. But he is, he is Chippewa.

But God just began to bring in the different tribes. And almost everyone of the tribes in Ontario was represented in that meeting. And the invitations to preach are so numerous, that it would take many many years to fulfill them all.

But I need a little time this morning. It’s thirteen minutes after eleven and I need just a little bit of your time. I pray you’ll give it to me. I have something that I need to deliver from the Lord.

The first reading is in Jeremiah, chapter 22, beginning in verse 24.

And I’m going to read through the end of the chapter, through verse 30. And then I’m going to ask you. If you can, if you can continue to give me attention for reading, I’m going to let you sit down because I want to read two other places, and I don’t want you to become weary in standing.

The meeting lasted every night until after eleven o’clock. Sometimes right at twelve. And then we would have cup of soup or something at the, at the (Oh, the Canadian Dunkin’ Donuts.) Tim Horton’s. And so it would be one, two o’clock before we could get into bed. And then get up the next day and do it all over again.

I did want to mention one thing. I went to the home of a little boy who is six years old, who is so desperately ill that they have given him only about two, only about four weeks to have any capacity of communicating or thinking at all. And he is having these terrible brain seizures. They don’t know what has caused them, but they think that it is a genetic disease that yet has no name. There are only a few people that have ever suffered it.

The day that we went to pray for him, (they invited us to come in their home) the day we went to pray for him he was actually running around. But only a few days before that, he was in the wheel chair, unable to move his legs. But they, they’re... What has happened is, he has no filter in his body to filter the toxins. And so all of the toxins that are released from the organs of his body run throughout his body and into his brain, and cause his brain to seize.

He has several kinds of seizures. One of them is the drop-seizure, where he’ll just be walking along and drop, in this violent, violent brain seizure. They have said that in four weeks he wouldn’t have any ability to speak or to walk.

The reason why he was walking all of a sudden is, they’re using very very powerful (again) animal medication to, to dilute the toxins. There is nothing they can do get them out of the body. There’s nothing they can do to put a filter in. It is, it is genetic and they know that it’s terminal.

But if they, if they redo his meds, you know, they can give him a few days of moving around and then it starts all over again.

But I left there so touched of God because of the mother. The mother’s testimony was so strong and so beautiful, how God had been with her and how He had walked with her. And she said, “I know that God is a Healer. I know that He can. “But,” she said, “I want Him to know that if He takes my child, that I’m a peace with Him, that I’m not going to blame God. I’m going to know that God is sovereign.”

I thought, “Lord, You didn’t send me here to pray for him. You sent me here to be ministered to.” What a beautiful testimony.

As I was leaving I felt like the Lord was going to take that little boy. I didn’t see in my heart his healing, but I saw that God would use it to speak to that man about his soul. And you know God wouldn’t have done that, He would not do that if that mother hadn’t come to that place where she had such peace. But I’ve never seen it.

Brother Whittaker was with me. I’ve never seen such peace come out of a woman whose child had gone through what he had gone through. That’s what Jesus can do. That’s what Jesus can do. Hallelujah.

And I can say this. We have experienced those kinds of testings and tormentings, and we have a family here this morning who has gone through that, and came through with great victory. And still fighting the battle.

But as I was sitting there this morning and people were worshiping the Lord, I saw a little hand go by the aisle. And I looked and it was Casey Hannah. And she was marching up and down that aisle, praising the Lord. I thought, “What a miracle that God has done.”

I’m so glad that this attack against her body is serving the purpose that it came for, and God can leave her here. Isn’t that wonderful?

Jeremiah 22, and 24.

24 As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

Verse 29.

29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man [that] shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Now I know you’re wondering what kind of rough message you’re in for this morning. Hold on a little bit. Would you?

Heavenly Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word. And we thank You for the people of God that are gathered here. And we ask a special touch, that You would pour Yourself out upon this congregation, and that You would cause the people to give complete attention to the Word of the Lord this morning, so that it might speak and minister into their lives.

And we will give You the glory and the honor and the praise for it all. For it’s in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. And the Church said amen.

You may be seated.

Would you please leave Jeremiah twenty-two with, for a moment, and turn to the Book of 2. Kings, chapter 24.

I always regret starting a sermon with a lot of reading, but I don’t think this is a story that you would so very familiar with. Most of you. And I want to give you a little background for a message entitled this morning, “God’s Marvelous Grace.”

2. Kings, chapter...

(I thought I’d go ahead and give you the title, so you could relax. I could just feel the tightness, you know. Here’s a man cut off. His seed is cut off. He shall never be on the throne. And I’m reading that for my welcome home text. I just could feel your shivers.) So it will help you that the message is about grace.

2. Kings, 24, verse 8.

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD,

(Jehoiachin did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father had done.

Now his father was Jehoiachin, and he was Jehoiachin.

Verse 10.

10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.

12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.

Now I think you know Nebuchadnezzar was a fearless man. He didn’t care who was in his way. He was out to destroy. It didn’t bother him at all to touch the holy things of God.

Here we see him cutting in pieces the golden vessels that Solomon had created and consecrated for service in the temple. And yet Nebuchadnezzar had no fear. He just kept right on rolling along.

But how many of you know in the Book of Daniel, God eventually

had a little attention-getting-session with Nebuchadnezzar. He had him driven out in the field. Can you imagine, the King of Babylon, who was used to sitting on royal thrones and wearing royal robes, was driven out naked and ended up as a beast in the field, eating grass.

God knows how to get your attention. He has grace though too. See? Let me be sure to put that in.

Verse 14.

14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, (that’s a lot.) and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

I want you to notice that he didn’t want the poor people. He didn’t want the diseased. He didn’t want the handicapped. He didn’t want the afflicted. He wanted the best of the best. He only left the poorest of the people in Jerusalem.

15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

(Stay with me.)

16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

(Notice that it wasn’t a son of Jehoiachin, but it was the brother to the king. It was Zedekiah or, as his name was before, Mattaniah.

Now I want to read one more background scripture in the Book of 2. Chronicles.

I really questioned the Lord about all this information. Sometimes we can choke people with information. But I wanted to get to a message, and yet I was not familiar until God spoke to me while I was away. I was not familiar about the story so much about Jehoiachin. I just wasn’t that familiar with it. But God began to show me some things. I think I had often gotten him mixed up with his father Jehoiakim, and missed some things that I feel like God wanted to speak to us about.

In chapter 36, let me read two verses.

2. Chronicles, verse 9 and 10, chapter 36.

9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

10 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

He united the kingdoms together. They had been divided.

Now this morning I want to show you something about God’s grace. Now it’s not the righteous that need His grace, it’s the fallen. They that are whole need not a physicians, but he came to seek and to save that which is lost. Now that doesn’t mean that church people don’t need help. It doesn’t mean that they don’t need deliverance, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we don’t the mercies and grace of the Lord every day of our lives.

I don’t have time to speak this morning completely on grace. But I want you to know that I doubt very seriously where very many of us have a real full revelation of grace. Because sometimes we still speak about things as though they were terrible things that happened to us and to others. We speak about things that are tragic, things that are a travesty, things that horrendous in nature, and we speak about them as though it was God’s curse in our lives.

But when we get a revelation of grace, we will understand that to our natural mind seemingly the worst thing that could ever happen to us is not necessarily happening to us because God is at odds with us, or because God wants to punish us, or He wants to destroy us. But He often allows tragic things to come into our life because of His grace.

He has a way of inching us and pulling us, and wooing us, and drawing us closer to His side. Sometimes the tools that He uses to act out or to carry out His work of grace in our lives... Sometimes His tools are sorrow. Sometimes His tools are pain. Sometimes His tools are trials and battles and tribulations and sicknesses. But I want you to know, it doesn’t mean that God is out to get you.

You and I need, brother, sister, a clearer revelation of our Father, and we need to see Him this morning as the Shepherd. And we need to know that His ultimate desire and goal is to draw you to His bosom. If He can do it with kind and gentle words, then so be it. But if it takes a rod across our back, or a crook around our neck, we ought to be of gracious and of thankful and a grateful people this morning for the marvelous of His grace, for the richness of His grace. Oh hallelujah. Glory be God.

Marvelous, amazing. These words fall so short of describing His grace.

You know, the first thing that pops into our mind a lot of times. “He doesn’t love me. Jesus doesn’t love me. He’s forgotten me. He’s forsaken me.”

Oh, I want you to know, watch. If you’re going through a battle, I’m preaching to you. But if you’re not going through a battle, I’m preaching to you because you will. Hallelujah. If you’re not going through one right now, you will before too long. It’s that cycle of mountains and valleys. Oh, we, we curse the valleys and bless the mountains. And sometimes I think we ought to bless the valleys and curse the mountains. Sometimes I think we have it backward.

But I’m telling you, no matter where you are this morning. If you’re on a mountain, if you’re in the valley, if you’re in the heat of the battle, if you’re in the furn..., that fiery furnace of affliction, where you stand this morning, God’s marvelous grace is holding you.

That crook. You know that shepherd’s hook and crook around your neck that pulls you, and sometimes you feel so strained and so pulled that you want to scream and you wonder why God is dragging you through the mud. He’s dragging you through the mud because you won’t use your legs. If you would use your legs, you’d walk through the mud. But you won’t use your legs. We’re dumb like sheep sometimes, and we have to be dragged through the mud, and dragged through the water, and dragged up the hill, and dragged down the hill.

And yet we sometimes become hardened at God’s dealing with us. But I want you to know, it is not hatred that you’re experiencing from God. It’s not judgment that you’re knowing from God. We might classify some of the things that happen in our lives as judgment.

I believe that sometimes God allows judgments to come in our lives to speak to us. Don’t you? I believe that He allows sickness to come into our lives sometimes to speak to us.

We had a brother come to the meeting one night from the reservation. He was sitting there. And he went out and nobody even knew. I didn’t know for days what had happened. He went out and didn’t come forward for prayer, but he went out and was feeling uncomfortable and ended up in the hospital with a heart attack. And someone went to see him expecting him to be at death’s door. He said, “Oh, no. I’m feeling fine. He said, “God just used that as an opportunity to get my attention and rest me and speak to me.

You know it would be hard to have that kind of attitude about a heart attack. That certainly looks like. And in one area, or one aspect, God does allow these little judgments to come in our life, these struggles and trials and hard times to woo us and draw us. I understand that. But if you’re a believer, if you’re a child of God, you can’t look at these things as judgments. If you do, you’ll begin to blame the Father. If you see these things...

Are they judgments? Yes, in one sense of the word. In one aspect they are. That’s how He draws us close. But if you focus on it as a judgments, you will eventually become bitter towards your Father. Instead of looking at it was God’s judgment or His curse upon you, can you ask Him to open your eyes this morning spiritually, and let you see it as His marvelous grace? Marvelous grace, because He wants to change you. God absolutely wants to change you.

Jehoiachin the king, his name means “Jehovah will establish. He will set upright.” And yet all we read about him is that he did evil in the sigh of the Lord. His, the two references about his three month and ten day reign, both of them mention that all he ever did was evil in the sight of the Lord. And yet his very name meant “Jehovah will establish or set upright.”

His mother’s name Nehushta means, “Bronzed.” And when we research that word bronzed through the Scripture in the original language, we find out it means what? How many of you know what the word “bronzed” means in Scripture? Judgment.

His mother’s name means judgment. But his name meant “To be established. To be set up. To be raised up.” And yet all we know about his life was that he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

But God used a wicked king by the name of Nebuchadnezzar to bring this king Jehoihachin to get his attention, to bring him down off of his high horse, and to bring him out of the land of familiarity, out of the land of ease, out of the land of comfort, out of the land of things, and made him feel at home and brought him to a strange land.

And if the king of Judah was expecting a welcoming party when he got to Babylon, he was sorely disappointed because his new home was not a palace. And his new home was not a mansion, and it was not that which is fit for a king. But the Bible said, he spent the next thirty-seven years of his life in the dungeon of a Babylonian prison. He whose name meant “God will establish.”

He was only eighteen years old, and yet he was already leading the people in the evil things of God. Only eighteen years old. How do you think such evil? (Stay with me.) How do you think such evil was sown into him? It was sown into him by Jehoiakim his father. He lived in that evil household. He saw the bruteness of his father. He saw the disregard to the sacred and the holy by his father.

And even at the age of eighteen... Are you with me? Even at the age of eighteen he was already leading the people down the wrong path, doing that which is evil in the sight of the Lord.

Was it eight? (I’m sorry. I keep saying it wrong.) Eight years old when he began to reign, and reign three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did that which evil in the sight of the Lord. (I don’t know why I keep saying eighteen. But thank you for bringing that to out. It makes it so much easier on the tape if I eventually say it right. It sure helps us.)

Only at the age of eight years old, just a child, just a little boy. How did he know this evil? How was it in him to do these evil things? Because of the influence of his father, because of the house that he was reared in. Amen? Because of the influence that he knew growing up.

And he stayed in this prison. He never returned to Israel. Never. You see, it was him that we read about, the first scripture in Jeremiah. His name Coniah. It is the same meaning. If you go and look it up, you’ll find out they had the same father. He was the same person.

God was speaking to him by his other name in the Book of Jeremiah, telling us he was never going to sit on the throne, and his seed will never sit on the throne again.

Now I want to read to you just a couple of other portions of Scripture that will show you that God was not finished with him.

2. Kings. Quickly, if you will. This time chapter 25 and not chapter 24.

2. Kings 25, verse 27.

Just studying this together. But I love this. I really love what I’m about to read. Chapter 25, verse 27.

27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon (now Evilmerodach was the son of Nebuchadnezzar.)

Evilmerodach. My, my, my. How would you like to grow up with a name like Evil-merodach? Somebody. I don’t know who that was at the... I don’t know if that was Sister? Who was that telling us about the devil? Somebody was sitting across. I don’t remember. I don’t think it was Sister Jones, but it was somebody. Somebody was sitting across from the table somewhere where I was eating and they said, “Why? Anybody ought to now the devil is evil.” Said, “It’s in his name. E-v-i-l. Evil.” All you have to do is add a d to evil to know who the devil is. (Get it? D-e-v-i-l?) Yes, Lord. No language barrier and I still had to repeat it.

27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;

Now isn’t that odd?

28 And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne (Listen at this.) And set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;

29 And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.

30 And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.

Brother, something happened to Jehoiachin in the Babylonian prison that changed his spirit. And when Evilmerodach, this great king, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, when he began to reign the first year of his reign, he said, “I want to bring him out of the prison. I want to make something out of him.”

Now remember. This Jehoiachin was once king of Judah. And it was the father of this Evilmerodach who brought the King of Judah of the prison and set him on the throne.

Somebody said, “Where are you going with that?”

Well, if you study a little bit, you’ll find out that in Daniel, chapter 4, when God was dealing with Nebuchadnezzar, when He let him grow feathers, when He let him wander around out in the field on fours like a cow, like a beast that he ate grass, while God was doing that, his son Evilmerodach was put on the throne in his stead.

And if you read some of the laws and some of the things that Evilmerodach did while his father Nebuchadnezzar was roaming in the field like a beast, he began to change some things that his father had done. And when God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to be restored back to the throne after he had roamed out in the field like a beast, and now he comes back to the throne, guess what the first thing Nebuchadnezzar did was? He threw his son Evilmerodach into the prison house. His own son, he put him in prison for two years.

And while Evilmerodach was in prison, guess who his prison buddy was? Jehoiachin, king of Judah. And they began to talk to one another. They began to have communication with one another. The son of the king of Babylon and the former kind of Judah. Mortal arch enemies.

The very reason why Jehoiachin was in that prison was because of Evilmerodach’s father. So there must have been some bitterness those first few days. They must have not exchanged a lot of pleasantries the first few days. It must have taken a time for them to grow on one another. But after two years in that prison, I want you to know they began to become friends. They began to talk with one another. And somewhere through that prison experience, the spirit of Jehoiachin...

Don’t miss this. I’ve given you the background now. Now I want you to know what God did. Somewhere in that prison dungeon cell the spirit of Jehoiachin began to change. And the bitterness of his life for being in prison began to ebb away and he began to somehow rest and become at peace with his present condition. In such a way that... No, he was never returned to Judah. No, he did never reign on the throne. Yes, his seed was forever cut off and he was not in the lineage of David nor the Messiah. He was certainly punished by God, as Jeremiah said that he would be.

But I want you to know, it’s not, it’s not where you are. It’s not your name. It’s not your reputation that makes you great. It is the quality of your spirit. You can be born into royalty and have a rotten spirit. You can go to church every Sunday and pay your tithes and live by the standard and still have a rotten spirit.

So sometimes God is not forsaking us when He allows us to dwell in a strange land, and when He allows us to end up in a prison with very poor conditions with not much food to eat, with only the rags of a prisoner. And yet we would look at it and say, “God has forsaken me. He has rejected me. He has forgotten me.”

But it was not that He forgot you. It was not that He rejected you. It is that He allowed these things to happen so that your spirit could be changed, so that you could have a right spirit. Somebody say, “God, give me the right spirit.”

Some of us will get the right spirit in a prayer line, but for others of us it will take the prison house. But whatever it takes, let me tell you there’s one thing for sure. You cannot inherit the Kingdom of God with a wrong spirit. I don’t care how holy you look. I don’t care how faithful you appear to be, you cannot inherit the Kingdom of God with a wrong spirit.

You know, that’s why I believe in Holiness, that things are so motivated and pivotal upon the spirit of man. I don’t believe that God has laid these standards for us biblically because He wanted to restrain you or cramp your style, or keep you from being beautiful. God likes beauty. He made a beautiful city. You know, He likes beauty.

I don’t believe that God did that at all for that purpose. I believe the reason why, one of the reasons why He instituted Holiness for His people is this. He wanted to harness our spirits. He wanted to hold us. Now if you want Scripture, I can give it to you all through the Old Testament concerning the harness of the Lord.

What’s He trying to harness? What’s He trying to restrain in you? It’s.. Somebody said, “I think God is trying to restrain my fashion, my fashion consciousness, or my flamboyancy.” You know, some people aren’t satisfied with the ordinary. They have to have the flashy and the gaudy, and the... Come on. The extravagant. Everything’s got to be, you know, the gaudier the better.

White people too. Spanish people too. Black people too. Indian people too. Come on. Don’t you put that off on somebody’s culture. Don’t you put that out on somebody’s race. But you realize that it’s just kind our nature sometimes to ...

God harnesses us by His Word, by Holiness. He’s not trying to harness these other things because they are only the product of what’s in your spirit. It’s your spirit that God wants to control.

Somebody said, “Why would He want to?” Because He knows that if He doesn’t put a restrain on your spirit, that your spirit will lead you to destruction.

Brother. Somebody said, “I feel it in my spirit.” You’d better throw that out the door. You cannot be led by your spirit. You must be led by His Holy Spirit. Somebody say amen. Your spirit will deceive you.

You know that one night in the meeting a woman stepped right up to me. And she wasn’t dressed godly. But her spirit was right. She stepped right up to me in the prayer line and she said, “Preacher, I heard what you said about the Holy Ghost.” She said, ‘I’ve been, I’ve been, I’ve been following. “ She said, “I know what you’re preaching is right.”

She called a man’s name up here, that used to have that kind of standard of Holiness. He used to have that kind of a life. But he certainly backslid from that standard and left the people that followed him guessing and wondering, “Where will we go and what will we do?” And they all ended up... Not all, but many of them ended up. His own wife and family just ended up going right the way of the world. Still preaching. Still praying. Still prophesying.

But this woman stood right here. She said, “I followed that ministry for thirty years.” She said, “I know what you’re preaching is right. But,” she said, “I believed that I had the real Holy Ghost.” She said, “But you said tonight that I didn’t. Because you said tonight that the real Holy Ghost is not in a person’s life, who continues to sin.” And she said, “I know there are things in my life that aren’t right with God.” And she said, “I want you to explain that to me and then pray for me that I’ll get the real Holy Ghost.”

There was no haughtiness in her spirit. There was no ugliness in her spirit. There was no meanness in her spirit. She wanted the real One.

So I just took an opportunity to teach what Brother Branham taught me. It is the real Holy Ghost that people feel all over the world. It is the real Holy Ghost in those Charismatic churches. I have no doubt that many of them are feeling the real Holy Ghost. And in some of those other ecumenical churches where they’re having... Even in the Catholic Church they’re getting a wave of something every now and then. And I’m not doubting one iota that that is the real Holy Ghost.

But what I preached several nights was. Do not be deceived by the fact that you speak in tongues and think that that means that you have the Holy Ghost. Because I want you to know, there are people all over the world that speak in tongues who do not have the genuine baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire.

And I said to those people, “The only way to know whether or you’ve got the real One or not is whether or not you can live by every Word of God.” When you come to that place that you can manifest what Jesus said and live by the Word, then you know you’ve got the Holy Ghost. Otherwise, the prophet taught us, we only have it on our flesh.

Everybody can get it. You can get in a good service where people are jumping around and feel it. I preached a tent revival one time in South Carolina and here came a girl right out of the bar. She had had a toddy for the body and she got in, you know.

Came in the meeting that night and the power of God got to moving. People got to jumping around. She was jumping around with them. Oh, she was just right in the middle of it. Jumping around just like they were.

Do you believe she felt something? I know she did. She wasn’t just doing that because she’d had a little, little, you know, Harvey Wall banger. Whatever they call them. She wasn’t just doing that because she had... She had come under the inspiration of what all the rest of us.

Now it was easier for her to lose her pride and come under the inspiration of what was happening, because she was not all there. She was a little out of her head. So it was certainly easier for her, just like it’s easier for people to get religion when they’re drunk. Because all their pride is gone, and all their... You know.

Anybody that would wear a lampshade on their head, you can surely get them saved. But the fear is, will it last? When they get out from under the influence of that alcohol and their pride comes back up, will it last? Well, nine times out of ten, I don’t think so.

But she was right in the middle. Now should I go and tell her that what she felt wasn’t real? No. I know it was. I saw the look about her. Her, there came a glow out of her face that I could see on other children of God. I knew that she had come under the influence of the real Holy Spirit of God.

However, I knew that it wasn’t running any deeper than her flesh. Her spirit remained the same. And most importantly, her soul remained the same. And that’s tragic.

That’s why I taught those people, the Holy Ghost has to go deeper than that. You’ve got to get Him in your spirit. The way, the way that God harnesses the spirit of man is by pouring His Spirit into them. And when the Holy Spirit grabs a hold of your spirit like by the nap of the neck, He can restrain you to the place that He can therefore move down into your soul and give you the change.

As long as you leave... I think some people aren’t catching that. As long as you leave your spirit uncontrolled, as long as you’re led by your spirit... (Help me preach.) As long as you’re motivated by your spirit and you do things by your spirit, it’s going to lead you not toward God, but away from God. Every time. Somebody say, “Every time.” The spirit of man is going to lead you in the opposite direction from God, because our spirits are in rebellion against the Creator. We, we’re born with that Adamic nature. God has to harness that.

That’s why I believe the old-fashion way. I believe in being saved. Then I believe in being sanctified. And then I believe in receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire. I believe that sanctification, true true true genuine sanctification is the harnessing of man’s spirit.

Oh, and what actually happens is, a change comes in your spirit. Now I can see people looking cross-eyed. That’s because you don’t have a revelation of what the very word means. It is the setting apart. Sanctification is the very setting apart. The very word means that. It’s the setting apart of your spirit. It’s out of your spirit that your will and all of these things flow. They flow from your spirit. Your will. Your thoughts. Your opinions. Your desires. Your ideas. They don’t flow out of your soul. They’re flowing out of your spirit.

May God harness us this morning. May He put a control on us until He changes us. Sanctification is not the mirror holding of your spirit. It’s the changing of your spirit. God has to catch you before He changes you. He has to grab a hold of you before He changes you.

Now if you want to know, when I’m hurrying along here. If you want to know the importance of having the right spirit. Do you believe it’s important to have the right spirit? It’s imperative. And the reason why I say that is. I’ve heard a man of God say, “You... It is better for you. It is better for you to have the wrong doctrine and the right spirit, than to have the right doctrine and the wrong spirit.”

A man walked up to me recently and said, “Brother Shelley. We could not have had this kind of a meeting in our church.”

I said, “Why is that, brother?”

He said, “We just couldn’t have, we just couldn’t have.”

Well, I wanted him to elaborate. Because if that’s God kind of meeting, why couldn’t it happen in your church? You ought to think twice about that.

And he said to me. (I knew he wasn’t being critical. I knew his spirit when he started speaking.) He said, “This was a sovereign move of God.” Said, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” And he said, “We’re not open for that. We’re not ready for that.” He said, “I realize that it just couldn’t happen.”

“First of all,” he said, “people wouldn’t come.” I’m telling you, that’s not what the church is for. When we raise our doctrine so high, and we publish and publicize our doctrine so big and so loud that people are afraid to come to experience the Lord, then our doctrine is taking a wrong place.

Every house of God must be a place where people can come and be changed. It is imperative that you hold the standard. It is imperative that you not yield to that spirit of compromise. It’s imperative that you hold on to everything that God has spoken. Because, if not, then you will be influenced, as I have seen in other moves of God. I’ve seen a people determined to hold a standard, but when worldly people who have no teaching or who have no standard start coming in, then it influences the spirit of those who are holding the reigns. And the next thing you know, the whole thing begins to go down instead of up.

And that’s why I believe that God is only limited that kind of a move among us by bringing other people in, because He wants to get us to the place where our spirit is right, and where will not be moved or motivated or changed by what other people around us do. But we’ll be salty and solid and stable and arrested by the power of God.

My father-in-law said one day, riding along to church, he said, “What we need to do is, go home and build that building. Because what God’s doing here, that’s what God has promised to do at home. We’ve got to get a place prepared, so they can come through.”

Oh, they’re coming. Oh, they’re coming. I’ll tell you, my hope is so renewed in the fact that Holiness can draw people who are hungry. I am so encouraged to know that you don’t have to lower the standard to win people in this hour. But people are so hungry, that they will listen. They may not immediately embrace, but they will sit and listen to what you say just so that when you get out of the way, they can know God’s power.

I spoke to a man one night as I was praying for him. And I saw it. I didn’t say this part out loud. But I told others. I saw the rod. First I spoke to his wife and I said, “Sister, I see you walking on eggshells. I see you just tiptoeing around because any false move causes an eruption in your life.”

She said, “That’s the truth.” She was weeping. She said, “That’s nothing but the truth.”

And then I connected and prayed for her husband. And I saw that a rod coming across his back. And I heard the words of a man saying over him, “You’re stupid. You’re no good.” I could hear those, those cursing words over him, you know. Breaking his spirit. Not only with verbal words, but with a rod across his back.

I didn’t speak that part out, but I spoke to him about the abuse that he had known as a child. And God began to minister in his life and talked to him about some things that had troubled him and hindered him.

Do you know, we found out after that meeting that he was on a pass. He was allowed to come form a group home. And since he was... How old, honey? When he was young. Do you remember how old he was? Thirteen years old or younger? Somewhere around thirteen, maybe a little younger. He was diagnosed with Paranoia Schizophrenia, and had lived in a group home almost all of his life. And God was ministering to him. And every time he came, back to the front he came. (That’s the brother you were ministering to, Brother Tom. The one you met.)

And every time the prayer line was open, he came and experienced the power of God. And one night he said to me. He said, “I want to stop my hand. I can’t stop my hand.” He said, “I want to stop my hand, but I can’t stop it.” He said, “I’ve never felt like that.” He said, “This isn’t the part of my sickness.” His hand wouldn’t stop. He came under the power of God.

I wished you could have seen night after night as that big old Indian that God brought in the meeting. Night after night, every night, eight nights in a row, God slayed him under the power of God. And when that big old man hit the floor, the building shook. The building shook. Hallelujah.

We gave him a Bible. The, Brother Al was going to buy him a Bible, but the Pastor called me and he said, “We’ve bought him a Bible.” And he said, “We don’t want to give it to him. We want you to sign it because we feel like it’ll mean more to him coming from you.” And I signed the Bible and gave it to him. And he came back a couple of nights later and he said, “You know, Brother Shelley,” he said, “I have to read it three or four times. I don’t have an education.” And he said, “I have to read a verse three or four times.” And he said, “I have to find myself praying over every verse, “Lord, help me to understand it.”

You know, that humbled me. That’s how we ought to get an understanding. Even those of us who can read. We still need to take time to say, “Lord, help me understand it. Show me. Speak to me. Help me to see.”

What is that? What is that? I’m telling you what it is. It’s God’s marvelous grace that says one day, “You do not belong in the prison. You’ve been here thirty-seven years. It’s time you were able to come up.”

How long does it take? (I need a few more moments, and then I won’t hold you long.) But how long does it take for the prison to work on us and get us to the place where our heart is humbled? I don’t want you to think that I’m saying this man became born again. I’m not even saying that he became a complete follower of God. I’m not saying that at all. I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t tell us.

But I’m telling you that his spirit was changed to such a way that when, when the king was put back on his throne, Nebuchadnezzar died and his son was elevated out of the prison. They... My goodness. It’s amazing. Nebuchadnezzar died and they had to go down to the prison to get the next king.

They went down and knocked on the door and said, “Ok, your dad’s dead. Come on back and sit on the throne. You’re the king of Babylon.” Well, after all, what does Babylon mean? Confusion. The very word Babylon means confusion. If there ever was confusion, that was confusion.

The king died and they went in the prison, pulled up his son and made him king again. His second term. But one of the first things he did during his reign was, he remember his friend he made in the prison. Jehoiachin. He said, “I remember him.”

Let me give you another reading of that in the Book of Jeremiah. And we’re hurrying.

Turn to Jeremiah 52.

The same prophet. Jeremiah was a prophet. And I want you to know that the same prophet that brought the words of judgment against him, the same prophet who said your seed is cut off and you’ll never be able to be restored back to your home country, is the same prophet, the same one, Jeremiah, who had to come back and record for all of posterity that God had redeemed him from the prison and; placed him back in society.

Now you found it. Now look at me. I want to say that again because I don’t think you heart what I said. I read to you at the beginning of this sermon this morning from Jeremiah 22, concerning the judgment of God upon this man. But I’m reading to you now in Jeremiah 52, how that the same prophet who brought the Word of the Lord against him is the same prophet who recorded for all the world that God had brought him up out of the prison and gave him a greater position than the one he had before.

Jeremiah 52 and verse 31.

The last thing he told, the last thing that Jeremiah told, he had to tell.

Verse 31

31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,

32 And spake kindly unto him...

That’s not how you treat a prisoner. He spoke kindly unto him and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,

33 And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life.

34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Jesus spent thirty-three years in the prison of our infirmity, in the prison of our flesh, in the prison of our existence, so that He might know our condition, so that He might know our feelings, so that He might be touched with our infirmities.

God allowed Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, to be sentenced by Nebuchadnezzar, his father, for two years in the prison house, so that when he was once again elevated to king of Babylon, he would know what it feels like to eat prison bread, he would know what it feels like to wear prison rags, he would know what it feels like to think with the mentality of a prisoner.

Jesus came in flesh so that He would know what it means to hurt and to have aches and pains and disappointments and sorrows and troubles. Because, if He was going to become our propitiation, if He was going to become our substitute, He would have to understand what it meant to live in a body of flesh. He would have to understand (Stay with me a few more moments.) what it means to think the thoughts of humanity. So God had to come and take on flesh.

I see a beautiful type in the King Evilmerodach spending two years in prison, so that he could have compassion for the prisoner. Oh Jesus. Marvelous grace. Marvelous grace.

I knew a long time ago that God had changed my spirit. Not all that needs to be changed, I’m sure. But I knew some time ago that God had changed my spirit toward people who didn’t see what I see, or know what I know, or believe what I believe.

But I didn’t know to what capacity He had changed my spirit until He paraded them before me night after night after night. And it was one of the most glorious things to look the next night to see not only the signs of an inward change, but to see the signs of an outward change, as God began to bring conviction.

I hope you won’t take this because, in any way to condemn anybody. I love everybody in this building with all my heart. And I labor for you in prayer. But I think you’ve known over the years my standard has been that a woman should not cut her hair. I think all of you know that.

And I was so touched and so moved as God began to deal with women who had once had that conviction. If you’ve never had that conviction, it’s a hard one to catch. If you’ve never had that revelation, it’s a hard one to get, you know. But these were women who had once walked in that way, but had been talked out of it by modern religion and by modern... Oh, to see them and to hear them.

To watch Marybeth one night walk down the aisle. She walked down the aisle. I thought to myself, “I wish she’d quit balling her hair up, because there’s so much said about it. There’s been so much said about, I wished she’d let it hang down at least one night.” And one night she walked down the aisle.

And I particularly think she has some of the most beautiful hair I have ever seen. The color just makes it shine out. And there it is, balled up again today. And she’s redder than her hair. But she let it hang down one night, way down passed her hips, as she walked up the aisle. And it was so delightful for me to look over at the Pastor’s family and his wife’s family sitting there, and how they reacted. So delightful.

The daughter looked over at me and she said, [Motions with hands.] And the Pastor’s wife looked over at me and she said [Motions with hands] She was pulling at hers, although hers was quite long to the, you know, the center of her back anyway. But it had certainly been pushed across.

And then it was so delightful to hear them stand in front of that mixed congregation with the spirit that couldn’t have offended anybody. There is no way that even someone who didn’t believe that could have been convicted by the spirit they had. Her sister is a Counselor on the Wapole Reservation. She is one of the ruling Counselors for the government of the reservation. And she came and God so changed her.

She said to me the last night. She poke me and she said, “For the first time in years I went shopping in a dress.” She said, “You people have really messed me up.” She said, “I feel like I’m returning to the heritage of my family.” Oh hallelujah.

And the Pastor’s wife was standing there. They were singing a song in Delaware, the Indian language. And they were giving... And the Counselor gave her testimony first, and she was telling how the Lord had been dealing with her. She said, “The next time you come, you’ll see that I’ve let my hair grow.”

This was in front of all kinds of people. It looked like a rainbow in there. All kinds of people, all races of people.

And then the Pastor’s wife, she gave a little testimony. Real humbly, quietly. She said, “You know, the Lord....” She said, “Now,” she said, “God’s been dealing with me about my hair.” And then she looked at all of those people who had very manly hair. It’s certainly not God’s will for a woman to have the hair of men, shaved up to their heads. You know better than that. Don’t you, people? That’s certainly not the will of God. That’s that unisex spirit. I call it another name sometimes, but I won’t call it that this morning and ruin the sweetness of this meeting.

But anyway. She looked out across that audience and it bothered her that she said it. She caught herself and she said, “I’m not saying that it’s wrong, you know, to have short hair. But it is.” Right there.

Now that wasn’t to offend anybody. But just to tell you. If God makes it real to you... If He doesn’t make it real to you, then that’s one thing. But when God makes it real to you, when He speaks to your heart, when He changes your spirit.. .

Oh God, if what I’ve said offends you people, please don’t let it because you’re missing the very, the very purpose of... God just wants not have a say-so in your spirit. Grace. Grace, grace, grace. (I’m going to be through at 12:30, the Lord willing.)

The first thing that is said. It said that the king lifted up his head, the head of Jehoiashin, the King of Judah, he lifted up his head. And the Bible said in Psalm 3,3. “He is the glory and the lifter of my head.”

When we look at that in Hebrew, we find out it speaks about changing his mentality. Oh my, “Change my mentality, Lord.” (Tongues.) Change my mentality. Thirty-seven years he had been a prisoner and he had the mentality of a prisoner. But by this king, a wicked king at that, but he remembered his spirit.

God, in that prison-house had changed the spirit of Jehoiachin. I’m telling you, he was a changed man. I don’t know the condition of his heart with God, but I know that his spirit was changed. And I’m persuaded that if you’ll let God change your spirit, He’ll be able to speak to you about every area of your life. He’ll have control over all of you, If God can arrest your spirit.

Oh, his mentality was changed. His head was lifted up. He was brought up out of the prison house. He no longer thought like a prisoner.

I’ve dealt with ex-prisoners. I started to say ex-cons. But I remembered that prison doesn’t always make you an ex-con. Some people go to prison and they still come out a con. It wasn’t the prison that changed him. It was the confidence that someone had in him to bring him up out of that condition. It wasn’t my words that brought change, but it was the people’s confidence in what God was doing that made them want to reach out and embrace the more. The more. I want the more. I want the more.

And anybody. There were fifteen from this church there, and then Brother Morris came and was there Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That was probably the hardest meetings he’s ever been in. There was no place to run. They drove all the way up from Ohio.

And then on Saturday night, I looked up and here was Sister Coppock and Sister Amy Broughton, who drove all the way up from Ohio. Sister Coppock came from Indiana, two hours, to get to Sister Broughton’s to drive on up three hours or more to the meeting.

And then on Wednesday we got back to the hotel and there was the Ohio van again. And Sister Amy had come all the way back from Ohio because her husband, Brother Jack Broughton, who has been here before. Even since my wife and I were married. He was sitting there that night and he was hurting. He said, “I’m hurting.” He has terrible heart problems. He was hurting.

And he said, “I think I want to go fishing.”

She said, “You’re hurting.”

He said, “I’ll hurt the same fishing as I hurt here.” He said, “I want us to go to the river tomorrow and go fishing.”

She said, “Ok. If you think you’re up to it.” You know them. Brother Richard knows them. And they’ve known him many years, more than we want to talk about probably.

And all of a sudden, Sister Phyllis had called down and Sister Amy said, “Well you know,” said, “the meetings have gone on.” She was saying it kind of loud. “You know the meetings have gone on till tomorrow night.”

And when she hung up, Brother Jack said, “Did you say that Brother Shelley’s meetings are still going on in Canada one more night?”

She said, “Yeah.”

He said, “You didn’t tell me that.”

She said, “Yes, I did.”

He said, “No, no,” he said, “you didn’t tell me that..

She said, “Well I did, honey, but if you don’t remember, that’s ok.”

He said, “I’m not going fishing tomorrow. I’m going to Canada. When we get up in the morning, we’re going to those meetings.”

And when we tried to leave to come home, they were walking through the lobby of that hotel. A move of God, God had moved on everybody. Everybody was in a daze. And we couldn’t even get people to go home from the hotel. And Sister Amy was still walking around. She said, “We need to be here three months.” She said, “I’ve never seen anything like this. She said, ‘I’ve never seen people so hungry.” She said, “Don’t you feel bad to leave them.?”

She said, “Oh my, they’re so hungry,” she said, “We don’t know hungry people like this.” So hungry that we had a prayer meeting right in the lobby of the hotel. When we were leaving to pray... One night the power of God came down so real that everybody left drunk. People were so drunk that, after had got home and got to bed, there was a commotion out in the hall like you’ve never heard.

I said, “Honey, look out there.” She was over that way. I said, “look out.”

“The people,” she said. “Oh, it’s that woman you prayed for.” Said, “She’s so drunk, she just fell up against Brother Morris’ door.” Drunk under the power of God.

And so they said... I said, “Too bad, we can’t call the manager,” because the manager of hotel was rolling across the hallway, drunk. We couldn’t even complain. There was nobody to complain to.

Some people came in there rowdy one night. She told me the day we left. Some people came in there rowdy one night, late, after they got home from the meeting. About two o’clock in the morning, and wanted a room. And she pointed her finger at them and she said, “Let me tell you right now. There’s a man of God in Room 102.” And she said, “You’d better not come in here with any foolishness.” She said, “We’re having revival in this motel.” Hallelujah. Praise God.

Grace. Grace. Grace. God wants to bring you out, change your mentality. I started to say...

You musicians better come and help me close.

I started to say, prison doesn’t change your mentality. I know people that have come out of prison, but they still acted like a prisoner. I know people that came out of the military, but they always acted like the military.

Pastor Williams of the little church there in Moraviantown just retired thirty-five years. (Here goes another testimony.) He just retired after thirty-five years with the Ontario Police Department. In fact, he gave me as a gift a beautiful, wonderful special Ontario police hat. That big brim kind. He said, ‘I only have two and they mean a lot to me.” And he said, “I want you to have one. I just want you to remember me.” And he gave me this nice wide brim police hat like they wear, with the chin strap. I’m beautiful in it. I’m not going to tell you what I look like. But it’s something nice to sit on the shelf and remember.

But I thought to myself, if I was in trouble, he’s the kind of policeman I’d like to have come get me, because he had this gentle spirit. Oh, he had such a gentle spirit. And I was amazed that he could even be a policeman. I was amazed that it could even happen that way.

I’m telling you. He gave a man a ticket one time and the man hugged him and thanked for the ticket. I’m telling you. I ain’t never had one that humble get a hold of me, that I’d want to hug him. Kick him maybe, but not hug him. But he has that kind of a spirit.

This man hugged him and he said, “Brother Shelley, I felt like a dog. He hugged my neck and thanked me for giving him the ticket. And said, ‘thank you, you may have saved my life.’” Come to find out, he was a missionary. And Brother is still in contact with him all these years later.

But I have seen people who spent their life in the military, who came out, quit or retired, or in the police department, or in the position of authority, and they never lost the mentality of it. Sometimes they make poor fathers, poor leaders because they wanted to rule as they were ruled. They wanted to put everybody through boot camp. If we had wanted boot camp, we would have enlisted.

You’ve got to have a change of mentality if God, by His grace brings you out of that prison, you’ve got to lose that prison mentality. And you’ve got to begin to think with the new thoughts of the Lord. Can anybody say amen?

Then God gave him a new language. Then God gave him a new position. Then God gave him a new garment. You don’t have to wear that old prison rag any more. (Tongues) Then He changed his diet. (I’ll finish this tonight maybe.) He changed his diet. You don’t have to eat that old bread and brother. You’re going to eat with the king again.

Remember how God delivered Mephibosheth? Here we see the same kind of deliverance. Down there in prison you got a crust of bread one day, and it might have been two days before you got another one. But God began to give him a new portion. He said, “You’re going to have a portion every day.” He said, “I’m going to give you an allowance every day. You don’t ever have to worry again where the net meal’s coming from. I’m going to give you a portion every day.” God just changed that old king.

And what I wanted to say in closing, and then I’ll hit some of these scriptures tonight if we make it. (I don’t mean if we’ll make it to church. I mean, if we’ll get that far in the service.) But this is what God wanted to sow into your spirit.

We’re entering a season.... God spoke this to me. “We’re entering into the day of the reversal.” I know that doesn’t sound very poetic. But I preached some time ago a little bit about reversing the curse. And that’s the day we’re entering into. A day where God is desiring to reverse things. You’ve had a prison mentality. God wants to give you a new mentality.

Brother, I’m going to tell you something. How many of you have got problems? Hold up your hand. How many of you need some help from the Lord? Hold up your hand. Do you know where it starts? It starts in your mentality. It starts in your mind. The greatest battle ever fought is not anywhere else but right here.

So if God pulls you out of prison, but you keep that prisoner mentality, you’re never going to be anything but a prisoner. Hahaha. Some slaves could never enter into free society because all they knew was slavery. They didn’t know how to be free.

Can you imagine what it would be like to sit on a stool and say, “Hey, I don’t know what it means to be free. I’ve never been free.” Children, who were born in slavery, they didn’t know what it meant to be free. I’m sure it didn’t take them long to figure out how. But sitting there, all you’ve ever known is bonds. I realize that I was ministering to people that all they’d ever known was bondage. And oh dear God, please hear what I’m saying.

I became so disgusted with church and with preachers, and with religion, because I had seen the band-Aids that were put over these people. And they were shoved in the floor and made to think that because God touched them, they were born and ready to meet Him. They were made to believe that because they talked in tongues...

Brother, that’s what this modern Pentecostal mess has done. That’s what this modern Charismatic mess has done. It’s fooled the people into believing that if they get caught up in a little intercession, or if they get caught up in a touch or a feeling, or some emotion, that they’re right with God.

And that’s why they reeked of cigarettes.

One right after another, people would step up and they’d say, “I think I have the Holy Ghost, but....” And that’s the reason I had to instruct them.

It’s made me so sick to my stomach. It’s like a whitewash over the problem. I said, it’s changed my understanding. I thank God. I see what’s happening. I’m telling you something. I believe in prophecy. I was called as just a child. A prophecy went forth when I was just a boy. “As Agabus was a prophet, so are you called to that office.” And I believe in that ministry. I believe in the prophetic.

But I’m telling you. It takes more than just putting a Word on somebody. These people have been prophesied to until their notebooks would be filled with positive words. And yet they’re bound by sin and nobody has taken a chance to tell them that sin, you can’t inherit the Kingdom of God with sin. You can’t. You can’t take your prophesies under your arm and think that that’s enough.

“But God said, but God said, but God said....” I’ll tell you what else He said. “You’ve got to be born again.” And I could see what that movement has done to people that came out of almost every Charismatic Church in the county.

(I’m closing. I won’t have much to testify about tonight.)

You know what my greatest inspiration was? A ninety-one-year-old Pastor who attended six of the eight services. Ninety-one. His wife was ninety-two, getting ready to turn ninety-three. He called her ninety-three. She said, “Hm. Ninety-two.” Very educated woman. She’s written two black history books that are used in the schools in Canada right now. And his name is Elder. Ninety-one years old.

When he walked in. He’s this stooped over. He walked down the aisle like this. But when they called him to testify and he got up behind the pulpit, he just rrrrr.... He’d just stand up straight. He’d sit there. Ninety-one. I thought he’d come one night and we won’t see him any more. Midnight he was hobbling out of there. And the next night, he hobbled back. About five minutes late, but here he’d come.

And the last night of the meeting, I was shaking his wife’s hand and she said, “I have a regret.” Her tears, eyes were filled with tears. She said, “I have a regret.”

I said, “No, sister. What was that?”

She said, “We were just so tired that we didn’t come Sunday night.” Now this was Wednesday night. She had been three nights in a row. She said, “I’m just standing here, regretting. You’re leaving and I’m regretting that we didn’t come Sunday night. But we were just so tired, I just stayed home. I’m so sorry because I know I missed something.”

And there he sat on that chair, old hard chair. And every time I brought a Holiness point home, he’d say, “Hm. Hm. Go ahead. Make it plain. Bring it on down. Come on now, brother. Tell it like it is.” Ninety-one.

And every night he’d shake my hand and he’d say, “I tell you right now, that’s how I believe it, brother.” He said, “I can’t preach it like you preach it, but I believe it anyway.” And down the aisle he’d go. What an inspiration. I thought they won’t come back the next night, they’d be too tired. And he’d come and he’d say, “I ain’t going to let no Holiness preaching like that go on and me not be there to hear it.” Hallelujah.

Why are you saying all that? I’m just, I’m saying it because of God’s marvelous, glorious, wondrous grace. I don’t believe that that’s the only place where there are people... Even in this city, I believe there are people who are sitting in church on Sunday morning with a whitewash over their sin, and they’re not happy. It these people were happy, happy....

I even would say hard things. I’d say, “We’re too crowded in here tonight. I’m going to preach harder, so tomorrow night there’ll be room for the new ones.” And the next night they’d come and bring somebody with them.

I said, “You people, we can’t even run you off. I’m trying to run some of you off to make room for new ones, and you just stick like glue.” Because people wanted more. “Just give us more.”

And I looked back over what I’d preached and I thought, “Lord, to me it’s just like a little bit of this and a little bit of that.” But when you realize what people have heard out there in that church world. Oh God. Spirit of the Lord.

Stand with me over this building. I know I’ve held you longer than I should have. Maybe I could finish this Scripture tonight. But I wanted to say was this. Grace. Grace. God’s grace.

That prison that you’ve known, that sickness you’ve known, that trial you’ve known, that heartache you’ve known, you thought it was God forsaking you. It was God’s grace, redeeming you and holding on to you. “Hold me, Lord.” Somebody say, “Lord, hold me. Hold me, Lord, in the palm of Your hand.”

Play, “Grace, grace....”

Hold me, Lord, in the palm of Your hand.

Father, I’m sorry that I’ve grumbled about the prison. I’m sorry that I’ve complained about the food. I’m sorry, Lord, that I’ve let my flesh feel like You had left me or forsaken me, or you didn’t care about my needs. I see, Lord, it’s been Your grace. It was Your way of teaching me, molding and making me. We just submit our lives to You afresh anew.

If you’re here this morning and you’d just like throw yourself on God’s grace again. I know it’s late. It’s quarter to one. But we’ve got a lunch prepared. We’d like to feed you. We’d like to have fellowship.... If you didn’t know about it, or you didn’t bring anything, we’d like for you to sit down and eat with us anyway. We’d like to fellowship with you this afternoon.

We’ll come tonight for a service, and then Communion and Foot Washing, but I just don’t want you to go home until you gather with me. If you’re here and you’d say, “Brother Shelley, I want to be able to have a quick eye to recognize His grace.”

You know, I’m afraid if we don’t recognize His grace in our life, that we’ll step on it and we’ll not be thankful for it, and we’ll not show Him enough gratitude for it? It’s grace. Somebody say, “It’s grace.”

I’m here this morning because of grace. My family is here because of grace. We’ve come this far by grace. Hallelujah. (Tongues) I could have been the one who was in need of a ministry to come by and help me. I could have been the one that was bound. I could have been the one that was deceived, but God’s grace brought me this far.

And if you’re here and you’d just say, “I want an eagle eye. I want a clear eye to watch for grace.” Brother, you won’t have to look very far, but you’re going to have to have a different mentality. If you try to live with that old prison mentality, you’ll call it judgment every time. You’ll miss it every time. You’ll never recognize it to be grace, sovereign grace, holy grace.

If you can relate to what I”m saying, fill the front with me right now. Everybody. There are no visitors here. There are no strangers here. Everyone is welcome before the Throne of God. And we believe that’s what the altar’s for.

It is, “Grace, God’s grace....”

There’s a need among us. We need the Spirit to come and teach us how to walk in what we’ve heard. Every Word that’s been spoken to us, every Word that’s been spoken over us, we need the Teacher to come this morning and teach us how to walk in it, to teach us what manner of man we ought to be, to teach us what manner of woman we ought to be. Oh, we need to be busy in the Kingdom of the Lord. We need to be seasonal. Oh yes, used. For this is the season.

We need to be instant and ready to do what the Lord would have us to do, wherever we go, wherever we shop, wherever we eat. Oh, our lives are living epistles, read by all men. They’re watching us. They’re searching us. They’re looking to us.

It was the Word of the Lord for this day. This is the day that God said, He would send them to us and they would grab a hold of us and ask us of the faith that is within us. Oh, I feel so unprepared and unworthy to minister grace. We’ve stepped over it so many times in our own lives.

Let’s pray together this morning. Everybody praying that God will evermore make us aware of grace. I believe if you had a revelation of grace, you’d live a godlier life. I believe it would compel you to live a closer life, a more dedicated and faithful life. Show us grace.

Everybody lift your faith and prayers to the Lord.

Jesus, here we are. We need that grace. (Tongues) Let the Spirit move on you. Some of you the Spirit is touching. Let His Spirit touch you right now. Let His Spirit quicken this Word to your heart. Let Him quicken it to Your heart. (Tongues)

We embrace it. We want out mentality changed. Oh dear God, we don’t want to think like prisoners. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Father, I pray for those on the hookup, wherever they may be. In Canada, in Holland, in Romania. We send the very faith of the Lord, the power of God in that direction, that You would sow into lives right now.

Oh, grace, grace, God’s grace....

Where would you be this morning if it wasn’t for that grace. Oh Jesus. Lord, I’m grateful. Jesus, I thank You for grace. No matter how it comes, no matter what it looks like, no matter what direction it takes me in, I thank You for holding me in Your grace.

Oh grace, it was grace, God’s grace....

Just slip a gentle and loving hand on somebody next to you. (Tongues) Just draw somebody into the great Spirit of God that’s moving right now. Just draw somebody into it.

Strengthen this your Church. Strengthen this Your people. (Tongues) Draw me in, Father. Draw me in right now. Let Your grace cover me. Let it draw me to Your bosom. Let there be strength for my brother. Let there be strength for my sister. Let them know the grace of God today in a greater way. Oh. (Tongues) Oh hallelujah...

Grace... (Let Your love so fill this house, that it just flows from one person to the next. May be realize that we stand level this morning at the foot of the cross. There’s no one above the other. We’re equal in Your sight, oh God. You love us all the same. You’ve redeemed us the same. You’ve chosen and called us the same. We may have different offices, but the same calling. We may have different purposes and visions, but we have, oh God, the same election.

You’ve elected us and called us the same.

Grace, grace, God’s grace....

I want you to love one another in the front of this church. Everybody alike, greet them. Greet them and love them and let them know you’re glad to have worshiped with them today. I’m so glad for the privilege of worshiping with you today. Hallelujah....

Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Go right ahead and love one another before we dismiss this morning.

If you want to slip towards your seat, you can do that. Hallelujah.

Won’t we have a time....

Hallelujah.... Praise the Lord.

Several people asked what it is. It is a Seder meal very similar to what would be celebrated in every Jewish home. This time. Passover began last night at sundown. And we do it as a, with the understanding that Jesus is the Passover Lamb. So it’s much more similar to what would happen in a Messianic Jewish home. We do it because we believe our roots are there, and we believe that Christ has fulfilled the Passover.

It’s a teaching experience. And we started doing it before it’s popular, but now it’s very very popular. They do it all over. Jews for Jesus, a big organization, they go all over the world having these Passover Seders. And even now some of the synagogues invite Gentiles in, because they want people to learn.

So if you would like to come, we need one thing of you. And that is, that you get a ticket. And the reason why... That’s only for Friday night. The reason why we ask that is so that we have enough that would be prepared. Only for Friday night. Every other night is regular service. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, regular meeting in here. But the Passover Seder begins at 7 o’clock in the fellowship hall in the back. And we would begin outdoors, not indoors. We begin outdoors, where we go through the little ceremony of showing the people how the blood....

And we don’t have any blood. It’s not real blood. We don’t use blood. But we use something red in color, and we put it over the doorposts and the mantel, so that people can see what it would have been like to hide.

We are hiding behind the blood, the blood of Jesus. What a wonderful thing.

And so that’s Friday night. And the rest of the night we’re going to have a wonderful time in the Lord. I don’t know what God’s going to give us. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to be speaking, but I know God’s going to be talking to us. Whatever it is. Whatever He has, that’s what we want.

Oh, change our mentality this morning. Oh, wonderful Jesus.

So let me say again, if for some reason you weren’t aware of the fellowship meal today, that is one thousand percent ok. Nothing will keep you from coming but your pride, because you are evermore invited. And we’ll see that there’s enough, if we have to go find it, because we want you to have a wonderful time of fellowship together.

It’s just a blessing to be able to walk together and talk together and eat together. And tonight we’ll have Communion and Footwashing, which I believe is one of the most special and important services of the church, to come together and fellowship with Christ by obeying His Word.

God bless you, Brother Greeley, as you come.

I thank you publicly for those kind words that you said about me. Only God knows that I needed them. We don’t always need them, you know. But this morning I needed them and it melted me. I appreciated it so much.

Pastor Steven L. Shelley
New Hope Revival Ministries