The Gift of Prophecy

Oh, the presence of the Lord is in this place. The presence of the Lord is in this place. I can feel the goodness of God in this house. Hallelujah. There's victory in the air. There's victory in the air here at camp meeting. I feel like the anointing of the Lord to destroy the yoke is in this house, and it has been present all through the week.

I am so grateful to be able to be part of the portion of camp meeting that I was able to be part of. But I'll tell you what: I stepped into a fast-moving river. Amen. I walked into this place yesterday, and I could tell the saints of God had hallowed these grounds. The Spirit of the Lord is liberty, and liberty is here. Praise the Lord. And we're so thankful to God to be able to be a part of this great camp meeting. And my goodness — didn't we hear the word of the Lord this morning? Praise God. Brother Treadway and Brother Woodward — what wonderful preaching and teaching of the word of God. Amen. Thank the Lord.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be here with you in this great district — a district with much heritage and history, and many years of revival. And I could spend a long time celebrating the past, because there's a lot to celebrate — but oh my goodness, the future is so wonderful. The future is so wonderful. Amen. And Brother Krell, I can feel that unity you're describing. It's abundant. It's abundant. And we give God praise for it. And we give honor to our leadership. Could we give a hand clap of appreciation for the leadership of this great district? Amen. God bless each of you. Thank the Lord. There is so much that goes into producing the kind of camp meeting that has been enjoyed this week — much leadership that strategizes, plans, and visions, and executes. And we honor those that have done that — all of you that are participating in that, all of you that are here; that's a big part of it. It's one thing to have a great camp meeting, and then it's another thing for people to show up for it. And not only have people showed up, but people are out in the perimeter. God bless all of you for being at camp meeting. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. That's revival. There's revival in the Western District. Amen. And we give God the praise for it. Amen.

Going to give honor: Bishop Morgan — love you, sir. Honor you. God bless you. So thankful for you, and so thankful to see you. Amen. Wonderful man of God, whom we love.

I will invite your attention to the word of the Lord tonight, to the book of First Timothy, chapter 4. I want to say how wonderful it has been to spend some time with the McDonalds, my dear cousins — God bless them — and to reminisce about family and to hear great stories. Amen. Love them so very much. And it's just been a wonderful week. Had a great time with the [Granquists?] today. And so many people that are here at this camp meeting that I'm just so thankful to be with you.

Amen. From the book of First Timothy, chapter 4. And I want to begin reading at the 14th verse of First Timothy, chapter 4. And I want to read just a couple of verses of Scripture in your hearing. But this is what the word of the Lord says: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee."

I'd like to concentrate our attention on that 14th verse: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee" — and this gift that is in thee was given thee by prophecy. Amen. I want to speak to you for just a few moments this evening on the subject: The Gift of Prophecy. The Gift of Prophecy.

Could we lift up our voices unto God again in this house, and ask His blessing upon the preaching of the word? Lord, we humble ourselves before Your word. Your word is life. Your word is light. Your word is power. I pray tonight that You will anoint Your messenger to preach Your word. Give strength. Give clarity. Let Your word go forth with love, with accuracy, with boldness, with compassion, with wisdom. Lord, let it be so, for Your glory. Hallelujah. For unto You belongs all glory, and we give You the praise and the honor tonight. And we ask for this in Jesus' precious name, we pray. And everybody said, in Jesus' name. Everybody said amen and amen. You may be seated in the name of the Lord.

A lot of thoughts traverse our mind when we hear the word "prophecy." Perhaps when you hear the word prophecy, you might have a thought concerning the end time — the last days, last days in which we are certainly living. Maybe you consider the events, current events of our day, that correspond so accurately to events foretold in the Scriptures — and so you think of that when you hear the word prophecy. Perhaps you hear of, or think of, the idea and the concept of the word of knowledge, where somebody is let in by God on a particular thing that helps them to speak to you, and to give you insight into things that haven't even developed yet — but somehow, by the miraculous moving of God's Spirit, they're able to speak to things that have not yet unfolded — and they do so because they are operating in a prophetic anointing. And a lot of different things kind of crisscross our thinking when we hear the word prophecy.

But I want you to know that prophecy is not a scary thing. It's not a spooky thing. And it's not to be mystical to us. It's not to be outside of our reach. I want us to demystify the idea, if you please, of prophecy. It is true that the act of prophesying can work hand in hand with the word of knowledge. It is true that the act of prophesying occurred throughout the Scripture. This book is a book of prophecy. And it did in fact point to the last days, and it pointed to days that are unfolding even as we sit here tonight. But I want to put prophecy into a particular understanding for us, that we can wrap our minds around it, and understand just how accessible it is to the believer — because, in fact, the gift of prophecy is a gift of the Spirit to the church. And the Scripture says it this way: it says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Now, this book that I'm preaching from, you know and I know as the Holy Bible. It is the holy book. It is a book that is comprised of a series of prophets — those who spoke concerning the word of the Lord — and we have their words in written form, for which we are grateful, and we call that the Scriptures, because it is the word of God in script form. So it is the Scriptures. But the word of God is the voice of God, and the voice of God speaks, amen, to us. And I want you to know, ladies and gentlemen, that the voice of God will never contradict the written word of God. Amen. I like to say that the Bible is the hardback version, and the voice is the audio version. It's the same book. One will not contradict the other. If you think you've heard from God, all you've got to do is go to the book, and let the book inform you as to whether you've heard from the Lord or not. But we need a people — and God is looking for a people — who know His voice. He said, "My sheep know My voice."

And this Scripture — these Scriptures are the writings, the inspired writings, the word of God, the inspired writings of holy men of old. The Scripture came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost moved them to speak. And what did they speak? They spoke the testimony of Jesus. This entire Bible that I preach from is replete with the testimony of Jesus. Regardless of what you read, when you read the word of the Lord, regardless of what you read, you will look to it and discover that it is, in some way or another, testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The great evangelist Philip came upon the Ethiopian eunuch. He had come from the red-hot revival of Samaria, and was led by the Spirit to this chariot, wherein sat an Ethiopian eunuch. And the Lord said, "Go, join thyself to this chariot." And when he came to that chariot, he found in there this man who had the charge of all the treasure of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. And he looked over his shoulder, and saw that he was reading from the ancient text. And the place that he read was from the prophet Isaiah, and it simply was this: "In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter; as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so opened he not his mouth. Who shall declare his generation?" And the great evangelist Philip leaned into it. Amen — you've got to lean into that chariot. You've got to assert yourself into the hunger of people's existence and speak to them concerning the word of the Lord. And Philip just asked a simple question. He said, "Do you understand what it is that you are reading?" And the Ethiopian eunuch said, "How can I understand it, except some man should guide me?" And Philip began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

I've heard someone ask the question, or make the statement, that they're certainly glad that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from the prophet Isaiah — that way, Philip could just start right there and start preaching Jesus. Oh, but friend, I'd have you to know: it didn't matter where the Ethiopian eunuch was reading. Philip would have began wherever he was reading, and preached unto him Jesus. If he had been reading about a lion that David killed, or a lion that Samson killed, or a lion whose mouths were shut by the angel of the Lord in the lonely den of Daniel — Philip would have preached unto him Jesus. Hallelujah. If he would have been reading from Isaiah or Hosea, he would have preached unto him Jesus. Micah, Malachi, Zechariah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Haggai. If he had been reading from the books of the Law, or from the books of the Major or the Minor Prophets; if he had been reading from the books of history or poetry — it didn't matter where he was reading: Philip would have preached unto him Jesus. Because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And they were moved by the Holy Ghost to declare, through prophecy, the coming of Messiah. Oh, praise God.

I want you to know that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. The prophets are pointing to His first coming; the apostles are pointing to His second coming. But this whole Bible, Old and New Testament — all of it is about Jesus. Hallelujah. I want you to know, that's what prophecy is about. It all has to be about Jesus. There's nothing we preach that should be about anything other than Jesus. If you're giving a word of knowledge, it ought to be rooted and grounded and founded in Jesus. Hallelujah. If you're talking about the last days, you better be talking about Jesus. I know there's a mark of the beast, and there's an antichrist, and I understand there's war and rumors of wars — but hear what I'm telling you: the most extravagant, the most wonderful thing about these last days we're living in isn't about what's happening around us. It's about Jesus. I do still, and will always, have my eyes upon the eastern sky. It is about Jesus. Hallelujah.

Somebody said mockingly of apostolic preachers — they said, "Apostolic preachers are so narrow in their doctrines and their theology that they only have about five or six topics they can preach about." And I took exception to that. I didn't think that was a fair thing to say at all. I said, "We don't have five or six topics we can preach about. We've only got one topic we can preach about. We don't have any other topic we can preach about. There's only one topic. And it doesn't matter what you're preaching — it better be about Jesus." Hallelujah. If you're preaching about worship, it better be about Jesus. If you're preaching about Oneness, it better be about Jesus. If you're preaching holiness, it better be about Jesus. If you're preaching giving, deliverance, anointing — whatever you're preaching — everything we do, in word or in deed, we do it all in the name of Jesus. I want to remind the Western District: there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And at that name, every knee shall bow, and at that name, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Hallelujah.

It's time to open up your mouth and testify about Jesus. It's time to open up your mouth and get intoxicated with the spirit of prophecy. It's time to cry aloud and spare not. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors: the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. He is the King of glory." Don't you be afraid to declare — Hallelujah — that name, that word, that faith, that was once delivered to the saints. Open up your mouth and prophesy. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God.

Moses was a great prophet. But I want you to know: God does not want us to be bound by one person having the ability to prophesy. Moses was a great prophet in Israel, but he stood before that burning bush — that we heard Brother Woodward preach so eloquently and anointed about today. He stood before that burning bush. That was a life-altering experience for Moses. That's where he learned the name of God: "I AM THAT I AM." That's when God revealed to Moses the purpose of God for Moses, and the purpose of God for the people of Israel. This is where Moses interacted so up close and personal with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Moses walked out of that encounter, and his life was forever changed. From that moment forward, he was touched by the power of God. He was endued with a holy boldness. He walked into Pharaoh's throne room and declared, "Let my people go." He was waving that rod around, throwing it down on the ground, turning into snakes. He was dipping it in water, turning water into blood. He was applying blood on the doorposts of the homes, and the death angel had no ability to touch those in those houses where the blood of the Lamb had been applied. Moses was a prophet of God.

But this is what the Lord told Moses. He said, "I want you to get My people. I want you to bring them to this place. I want to know them. I want them to know Me. I'm going to reveal Myself to My people." At first He said, "Tell Pharaoh to let My son go. Israel is My firstborn son." The Lord said, "Tell Pharaoh to let My son go." God was ready to show Himself to Israel. He said, "We're going to prepare a feast, and we're going to teach them about who I am. And they're going to learn about the God of their fathers. And they're going to experience something like you experienced, Moses — standing in My presence, experiencing My glory."

And so here comes Moses, traipsing across the Red Sea. Miriam grabs her timbrel. They dance before the Lord. They're so thankful to be out of Egypt. They're coming out into this wilderness now. And Moses tells the children of Israel, "Hey — that's where we're going. That mountain up there — that's where we're going. And you're going to meet the God of our fathers. And you're going to hear His voice. And you're going to know His name. And it's going to be awesome." And they looked up at that mountain, and saw lightning, and heard thunder, and saw darkness and tempest and vapors of smoke. And the Bible says they heard words that were too much for them to bear. Hallelujah. The words were scary to them — all those words being uttered from the Mountain of God, that did burn with darkness and blackness and tempest.

I'm happy to tell you, ladies and gentlemen: we're not overwhelmed with a lot of words. We've got the Word. God took all of those words — all of those words like redemption, and sanctification, and justification, and love, and forgiveness — and all of those words, and He wrapped them up into one Word. And that Word was made flesh. And His name is Jesus. All those words — they just wrapped them up in the one Word. Words like High Priest. Words like Lamb. Words like Tabernacle. It's all wrapped up into one Word. And His name is Jesus.

Moses said, "That's where we're going." And the children of Israel said, "That's where — who's going? Yeah, I'm not going. I'm not going to that mountain." And Moses said, "Oh, guys — listen, I know it looks scary, but just come and go with me into the presence of the Lord. It's wonderful there. Once you get past the darkness and the tempest, once you get past all the lightning and the thunder" — that's what a lot of people think when they walk into a Holy Ghost service: they look around, and they see the lightning, and they hear the thunder, and they don't know — it looks crazy to them. We look like we're drunk with new wine. But just step into the water, and go down just a little bit deeper, and you're going to find the glory and the power of the living God, and it will change your life. Do I have a witness in the house of God on Friday night camp meeting? Oh, glory.

They said, "We are not going to that mountain, with all of that going on up there." And Moses said, "All right." So he goes up to God, and said, "God, they will not come before You. They will not come into Your presence. They'll not come any closer than they are right now. They have sent me to talk to You." And God said, "All right, then — that's how we'll handle it. I will give My word to you. I will give My law to you. And you will give that law to the people." When God gives Moses that law, it's directly from God to Moses. But when Moses gives the law to the people, it's from God, to a man, to the people. That is not the way God wants to operate. He wants to have a personal relationship with you. He wants you to stand before the fire. He wants you to hear His name. He wants you to hear His purpose for your life. But because Moses was the intermediary, the law that God gave to Moses — by the time it gets to the people, it's got 613 ordinances and statutes. God's law was simply, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." But because they didn't get it directly from God — they couldn't adulterate wool with linen; they couldn't adulterate soybeans with corn; they couldn't adulterate anything, because they didn't have a personal relationship with God. Every mundane activity of life had to be legislated by Moses, because Moses was their only link to God. And it was hard on Moses, and it was hard on the people — and it wasn't God's perfect will.

God wants to put His law in your heart. He doesn't want you to have to go check out 613 ordinances, and try to find loopholes so you can satisfy the flesh, because you don't really have a personal relationship with God anyway. That's not what God wants. God wants to put His law directly in your heart. He wants you to feel like worshiping Him. Oh, I feel — now, now, now listen. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, because it's true. You know, it doesn't matter if you feel like worshiping God — you need to worship God. When you don't feel like worshiping Him, you need to serve God. When you don't feel like serving Him, you need to be faithful when you don't feel like being faithful. But hear me: that is a stopgap measure. That's not sustainable. It's better to feel like worshiping God. It's better to feel like being faithful. It's better to feel like serving Him. And as long as you've got somebody standing between you and God, you're never going to really feel what you ought to feel in your walk with God. But you stand in His presence — just you and Him. You hear His name. You feel His call. You feel the tug of His Spirit upon you. And you'll let Him inscribe His law into your heart — and nobody's going to have to guilt you into not bearing false witness. Nobody's going to have to stand over you and threaten you if you steal or kill. It's just going to be in you.

Moses got ten commands — but by the time the people get it, it's turned into 613. And the Lord told us: really, it's just about two. You love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself — and you'll cover all of it. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous." There's going to come a point in your walk with God where the commandments of God are going to have to cease to be grievous to you. And that will never happen as long as you've put somebody between you and God. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." That one God is that one mediator.

So the children of Israel are just — every time they've got to make a decision, they go check with Moses. And it's so frustrating. Moses is like the lynchpin for everything. When he got that law, he came down off that mountain, and he's holding the Ten Commandments, and he looks — and he sees these people completely debauched, completely vile, and full of fleshly indulgence. And he's so frustrated, he lifts up those tablets of stone, throws them to the ground — and Moses broke all Ten Commandments at the same time. That's actually hard to do, and he did it. And God said, "Get back up here. We've got to put that back together. But this time, you're not going to hold it in your hands. We're going to put it in the Ark of the Covenant, and that's what's going to sustain it. If you try to keep God's law with your fleshly hands, you will break it every time. But when you put it in that covenant — of repentance, and baptism in Jesus' name, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost, and walking humbly before thy God, and loving mercy, and doing justly — you will keep the law of God."

So Israel was just — man, they were glad to just kind of let Moses take the relationship part, and we'll just do whatever he says. And it wasn't working. They weren't serving God. And so Moses — it was too much for Moses. And Moses said, "God, I can't do this." He said, "These are Your people, and You've got me leading them. I need help. I need help." And the Lord said, "All right. I want you to gather seventy elders. And I want you to put those seventy elders out there." And the Lord said, "You stand before them." And He said, "I'm going to take the Spirit that is on you, that I have put on you — I'm going to take the Spirit that I've put on you, and I'm going to put it on those seventy elders." Hallelujah. And so Moses stands out there, and those seventy elders are standing out there, and the Lord begins to take the Spirit that was on Moses, and He puts it on those seventy elders. And when that happens, all seventy of those elders start prophesying. Up to that point, Moses was the prophet. But here, these seventy elders are prophesying like Moses was prophesying. And don't get it mixed up in your mind: they didn't have their own prophecy. The prophecy is of no private interpretation. They weren't just saying whatever they wanted to say. They were saying what Moses was saying. Moses had the word of God, but he was just one man. God said, "I'm going to put that word that's in your mouth in the mouth of these seventy elders, because this word has to get out, and it's got to be in more than just one man."

I would to God there'd be some one-God, Jesus-name, apostolic, Holy-Ghost-filled people who will get close to their pastor, and let the Spirit that God put on their pastor — let that Spirit get on them. And you start saying what your pastor's saying. You repeat the vision of your pastor. You declare the word you hear from the man of God. And while everybody's prophesying — and these seventy elders are prophesying — something so strange happens. Brother Godwin: there are two guys who aren't even involved. They're not even present. And their names are Medad and Eldad. I guess they were born on Father's Day — I don't know exactly where their names came from. But Medad and Eldad — they're not even a part of this group, and just — something hits them, and they start prophesying. They start saying what Moses is saying, like these seventy elders. They're just prophesying. They just open up their mouth, and prophesying. And Joshua went to Moses and said, "Moses — now wait a minute. It's getting out of order. Medad and Eldad are over there prophesying, and they don't have any business prophesying. I knew: once we start letting folks prophesy — once we start letting folks start to speak — it'd get out of line and get out of order." And he was expecting Moses to go over there and do something. And Moses said, "What do you want me to do about it?" He said, "I would that you all prophesy. I'm tired of being the only one with a prayer life. I'm tired of being the only one who's fasting and seeking God. I'm tired of being the only one prophesying. I would to God that every single one of us would walk out of this place with a prophecy on our lips — declaring the testimony of Jesus, declaring the goodness and the glory and the power and the holiness of God." Come on — let it get in your mouth, and utter the word of the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said" — God said; He uttered His word, and said, "Let there be light" — and there was light. That's what we know about God: His Spirit moves, and His word is spoken. And when the word is spoken, it comes to pass. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the field, and breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. That breath of God went into man's nostrils as the breath of life, and man became a living soul. I want you to know that that breath of God was in every word that He uttered. That breath is the pneuma. It's the Spirit of God. And the word of God has the Spirit in it. There's not a word uttered that doesn't have breath in it. That's what the word is. Even as you and I speak words: we use our tongue, our teeth, the roof of our mouth; we use our lips, the front of them, the back of them; we use our whole mouth to frame the structure of the words. And we frame consonants using this structure, that just flows so easily — it glides out of our mouth. But there is a force; there is an unction that pushes the word out. And it comes out in the form of vowels. Vowels are interesting things — they're just breath, that's all they are. They're a-e-i-o-u. It's just breath , that's all it is. And it's the unction that pushes the structure. It gives life to the structure. When the word of God came forth, there wasn't a word He spoke that wasn't wrapped with His Spirit. And the Spirit and the word bring things to life. He put that breath in you when He formed you in His image. He gave you the ability to speak. He gave you the ability to utter words.

I want you to know that every time you open your mouth, you don't just need to be careful what you say — you need to be deliberate about what you say. You need to be intentional with what you say. Some of you are living in very adverse circumstances, and much of it you created. You just spoke so freely, so carelessly, for years. You cursed everybody around you, for years. You cursed your marriage, and your marriage is struggling, and you wonder why. You saw the negative in everything. You spoke defeat over everything. Every time something went wrong, you just kept ridiculing, and speaking negativity, and speaking defeat — and things became self-fulfilling. Things started just unwinding all around you, and becoming everything you were declaring it to be. You need to stop saying, "I'm depressed." You need to stop saying, "I'm sick." You need to stop saying, "I'm [unrecoverable]." You need to stop looking at your spouse and saying, "We'll never get through this. We'll never make it." You need to stop saying, "I can't do this. I can't — I can't get out of this. I can't." You need to stop it. It's time for you to utilize the gift of prophecy.

"I'm going to declare the word of the Lord. It's the testimony of Jesus. I am going to make it. My marriage is going to make it. My ministry is going to make it." Hey — I'm going to tell you something: I'm blessed. I'm blessed. You hear me? I'm blessed. I'm blessed when I rise up in the morning till I lay my head to rest. I am blessed of the Lord. I'm blessed in the city. I'm blessed in the field. I'm blessed when I come and when I go. You say, "But aren't you facing certain challenges?" Oh yeah, I'm facing certain challenges. But I'm not facing it alone. I come armed with prophecy. I do not come with the sword and the spears of this carnal mind. I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, of Israel.

You need to stop cursing your children. You need to stop cursing your church. You need to stop cursing your job. You need to stop cursing your finances. You need to stop thinking that you're broke, and talking like you're broke, and talking like you're impoverished. You need to open up your mouth. Lift up your head. Declare ye the word of the Lord. Hallelujah. Speak things that are not as though they were. Hallelujah. Don't look at your child and say, "You're nothing but a low-down, good-for-nothing, dirty, rotten whatever." If they're acting up, if they're acting out of sorts — if they deserve a good rebuke — tell them who they really are. Tell them: "This is not who you are. You are a child of God. You are set aside for His glory. You are bought with a price, with the precious blood of the Lamb."

Hear me: some people are not cursed until you curse them. That's right. And some people are not blessed until you bless them. Listen: even a false prophecy can come to pass, sometimes, when people believe it. I remember my childhood friend, who told me all about his uncle being in prison, and his dad being in prison, and his great-uncle being in prison. And then he laughed, because he knew my heritage, and he said, "I guess you could say you're destined to be a preacher, and I'm destined to be a prisoner." When I went to preach at the Howard County Jail, I walked in, in my suit and tie, with my Bible in hand. And he came walking up to me in that jumpsuit. His prophecy came to pass. He believed it — and it was so. That's what words do. Words are made flesh. They just have a way of becoming flesh. Everything we're sitting in and looking at — all of it started out as a word. There's not a thing among us or around us that didn't start as a word. Everything. This carpet up here, that concrete there, those chairs there, the nuts and the bolts — all of it, before any of it materialized into a tangible thing, it started out as a word. It was birthed in committee meetings. It was envisioned, and strategized, and spoken into existence.

God wants to sanctify your tongue. God wants to get your — listen: if He can get your tongue under control, He can get your whole body under control. The whole body will follow the tongue. The tongue will lead the body. Use your tongue to direct your body. Use your tongue to direct your family. Use your tongue to direct your ministry. Use the gift of prophecy. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

I had a sweet great-grandmother — Great-Grandma [Levinger?]. Her mother was Great-Great-Grandma French, one of the charter members of Calvary Tabernacle in Indianapolis, Indiana. Great-Great-Grandma French lived down the street from the church. She was the prayer warrior of the church. People didn't go to the doctor — they went to Great-Great-Grandma French. And if the doctor was the last resort, they'd go to Great-Great-Grandma French. And they'd call her up and say, "We have sickness in the house." She'd say, "Meet me at the church." And she'd bust out that front door talking in tongues. She'd get down to the sidewalk talking in tongues. She'd talk in tongues all the way down to the church. Every once in a while she'd take a breath and say, "I plead the blood of Jesus," and then she'd go back to talking in tongues. And she'd get down to Calvary Tabernacle, and most of the time, when she got there, they were already healed by the time she arrived. We're here because of elders who believed in the power of prayer. And we're here because of elders who prophesied. They prophesied these days. They prophesied this church. They believed the word of the Lord, agreed with it, and declared it to be so.

Her daughter, my Great-Grandma [Levinger?] — I knew her up till I was about fourteen years of age. She was my great-grandmother. And she would take me — every single time I saw her, she'd pull me in and just kind of pat me, and say, "God love him. God love him." I'm going to tell you: if other people didn't love me, Great-Grandma [Levinger?] loved me. I knew that for sure. And then she'd say — she'd say this, without fail, every time I was with her — she would say, "Many are called, Joel, but few are chosen. And you're chosen, brother [word uncertain]." I don't know if I was chosen before she started saying it, and I started believing it — but somewhere along the way it started registering with me: hey, God set me apart. God chose me for His purpose. She was prophesying. She was prophesying: "He chose you. He chose you. He chose you." You believe that. You stand on that. When the lightning's flashing, don't you forget it. When the thunder's rolling, don't you forget it. There's some people in your community who need to be prophesied over.

Hey — I got a question for you: can these bones live? Then prophesy to these bones. I want you to know that the dead, dry bones of your community — they can live. They can live. But it's going to take the gift of prophecy. Hallelujah. Stop saying this region doesn't want revival. Stop saying this city doesn't want revival. I rebuke all of that, in the name of Jesus. Who cares what this city or this region doesn't want? We've come with the Holy Ghost power from on high.

Brother John "Red" Fuller. John "Red" Fuller was a murderer. He was a young man. He was burglarizing a home, and the lady of the house walked in while he was burglarizing the home. He turned and shot her, and killed her. He went to prison — twenty-five years to life. They called him John "Red" Fuller for two reasons: one, because he had red hair; two, because he had shed so much red blood. He was a violent man. He was a devil-possessed man. He was a wicked man. He was an executioner inside that prison. He was a horrible man. Every one of those inmates were terrified of John "Red" Fuller. But that man was in that prison in Tennessee. And an old blind preacher would come down to the prison, and would preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He'd preach the gospel. They'd lead him to the pulpit. He'd hang on to that pulpit, and he'd preach the gospel. He'd get done preaching, and he'd say, "All right, now — take me to John 'Red' Fuller." They said, "Oh, John Fuller — you don't want to mess with him. He's bad news." He said, "Take me to John 'Red' Fuller." And that old blind preacher would be led down to that inner sanctum, where that wicked, violent, murderous man sat isolated. And he'd grab a hold of those bars — and couldn't even see him. Thank God for blind preachers, who don't see what everybody else sees, and who aren't afraid of what everybody else is afraid of. He fell onto the bars of that old prison, and he said, "John Fuller — God is going to fill you with the Holy Ghost." And John Fuller would start cursing him, and cussing him, and telling him to get out of here . "I don't want you around here." And they'd lead the old blind preacher out, and he'd go away. He'd come back for the next service, and he'd preach the gospel. And he'd get done preaching, he'd say, "All right — take me down to John 'Red' Fuller." And they'd take him down to John Fuller, and once again: "John Fuller — God is going to fill you with the gift of the Holy Ghost." John Fuller would threaten him, and curse at him. This happened time and again, until one day John Fuller said, "All right — I'm going to get this old preacher off my back. I'm going to go down to one of his services. Maybe he'll stop coming down to my cell." And he went. Sat in the back. He went to a meeting one night. His heart wasn't right. But something got a hold of that murderous man's heart. For the first time in his life, he saw a glimmer of hope, when he heard the gospel of Jesus. And he repented of his sins, and he was baptized in Jesus' name — and yes, he was indeed filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost.

When he got the Holy Ghost, that old blind preacher went to his little briefcase, and he unzipped it, and he pulled out a Bible. And he went and put it in John Fuller's hands. And on the front of the Bible was inscribed: "Reverend John Fuller." Nobody believed in John Fuller. Nobody cared about John Fuller. They were hoping he'd die, so he'd stop killing. But this old blind preacher believed in the gift of prophecy. And he believed he could prophesy that man into an altar of repentance. He believed he could prophesy that man into an acceptance of the call of God on his life.

Hey, hey: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee. Neglect not the gift that is in thee." Stir it up, child of God. It was given thee by prophecy. Use it. Use that gift. Tell somebody what the Lord has done for them. John Fuller started preaching the gospel in the prison. He started baptizing people in Jesus' name, who once were afraid of him. He was praying them through to the Holy Ghost, inside the prison. So persuasive was his conversion that the Tennessee District of the United Pentecostal Church went into the prison and licensed him with our organization, behind prison bars. The parole board paroled him completely, and he came out of that prison preaching the gospel all across the nation.

Hey — you want some faith? You want some faith that will move mountains? You want some faith that'll uproot some sycamine trees? You want some faith? I'm going to tell you where to find it. It's in your mouth. The word of faith is in your mouth. It's nigh thee, even in thy mouth. Stand up. Stand up, man of God. Stand up, woman of God. Open up your mouth. Declare the goodness of God. Declare the goodness of God over your family, over your finances, over your community, in the name of Jesus. Open up your mouth, and speak the word of the Lord. Hallelujah.

Come on, children of Israel: you don't have to wait for a super-prophet. The word of faith is in your mouth. You can declare the testimony of Jesus. You can declare the goodness and glory of almighty God. Yes, Jesus. Yes, Jesus. Hear me now. Hear me now. I want us to do something tonight. I want us to give God a prophetic praise. I'm going to explain what I mean. Let me tell you what the power of our praise is — and I'm coming to a close. Let me tell you what the power of our praise is. The power of our praise is not our emotion. It's not our emotion. We get emotional — you better believe we get emotional. Because when I think of the goodness of Jesus, and all He's done for me, my soul cries out, "Hallelujah." I could dance, dance, dance. I can shout, shout, shout. Yeah, I'm going to get emotional. But that's not the power of our praise. The power of our praise is in the truth we say about God.

The Bible says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places. The Bible says we bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, casting down imaginations, and every high thing. The devil wants the high ground. It's a strategic battlefield ploy, to get the high ground. And the devil's got the high ground in many of your lives, and he's looking down on you. You're like a little rat in the rat race, and he's looking down, sneering at you. You've got to get the high ground. I'm going to tell you how to get the high ground. Here it is. Ready? It's through praise. It's what we do when we lift Jesus higher. Higher than what? Higher than the high things. Higher — we lift Him higher — until He is the Most High God.

See, we're baptized in Jesus' name. If you're not baptized in Jesus' name, you need to be baptized in Jesus' name tonight. We're baptized in Jesus' name, which means we're in Christ. So when I magnify God, and I lift Jesus higher, it's like me being in an elevator. I get into the elevator, and I push the top-floor button. That elevator starts going higher, and higher, and higher. But because I'm in the elevator, I'm going up with it. And when I reach the top floor, I look out the window at things that used to look down on me — they're under my feet. They're under my feet. They're under my feet.

Listen: I know you're going through some things tonight. But I didn't come to exalt what you're going through. I came to exalt the name of Jesus. I came to lift Him high.

As you begin to praise Him, understand: you're lifting Him higher than everything that's been looking down on you. And as you lift Him up, you're going higher than those things. "I praise You, Lord." You've got to give Him a prophetic praise. "I thank You for victory from fear." Oh — I just went above fear. "I thank You for victory over depression." I just went above depression. "Lord, I thank You that with Your stripes I'm healed." I just went above sickness. "Lord, I thank You that my family is going to be saved." "Lord, I thank You that we're going to have revival in our city."

Let it go right now. Let it go right now. Let it go right now. Lift Him up. Lift Him up. Lift Jesus up. Lift Jesus up. Lift Him higher. Lift Him higher. Lift Him higher.