The Identity Crisis

Well, good morning. Turn around, shake somebody's hand next to you, and say, "You look awful good today." Turn to the person on the other side and say, "Forgive me for lying." Amen. Why don't we give the Lord a good praise this morning? Amen. Oh, we can do a little bit better than that. Amen. Well, God bless you. Amen. All right, let's go to the Word of the Lord; what do you say? Amen. It's an honor always to minister the Word of the Lord, and glad to be a part of the camp, and plan on joining the camp and receiving something from God. I hope that's what you come for. Amen.

First John chapter 3 and verse number 1: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." Understand, this is the guy that probably seen — John seen Jesus in many ways. And so now he's talking about another way that he's going to see Him, and we're going to see Him. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." So if we see that He's pure, and we are going to be like Him, then that means we're supposed to work on being pure. Amen. All right.

Lord, thank You for this wonderful host of people. Thank You for the opportunity to minister Your Word. I pray that You help me this morning. Give me clarity of thought. Let me enter into that flow with You, and confirm Your Word today with signs following. Jesus' name. Amen. Everybody said amen. All right, God bless you. You can be seated, and I am going to hit some things pretty fast, and lay a little foundation here.

Several years ago — now, I'm going to just mention a few things that I've mentioned a lot, but I just need to do it for the sake of giving you an idea, and putting you in the right context. Several years ago — it probably would have been in 1991, so, a season of prayer — the Lord spoke to me very clearly and said, "I'll give you two revelations for the end time. The first revelation is: My people understand the mighty God in Christ, but they do not understand the mighty God in them." Second revelation — which I thought were completely separate, but later, through time and experience, I realized that they were significantly intertwined; it's the same coin, just two different sides. Second thing that He spoke to me was the story of the Syrophoenician woman, who came to Jesus needing a miracle. "My daughter's grievously vexed." She's asking for a miracle. And Jesus said, "It's not appropriate for Me to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs." So when Jesus referred to the miraculous, He didn't call it a miracle. He didn't call it deliverance. He called it the bread. And of course, the Scripture teaches us — and this is where hopefully we can end here this morning — the Scripture teaches us that it's very important how we approach Him, the manner in which we approach Him. I am convinced that a lot of reasons that we do not fully receive some of the things that have been rightfully given to us is because we have an identity crisis.

So I've been writing for some time, and working on it. The last few weeks, I've really fervently been working on it. While I'm talking about that, I have my first book out. It's over in the display area. I need you to go by there and buy all of them. I need to buy groceries this next week, and I'd appreciate it. Amen. But I started calling the second book The Sonship Story. And then a couple weeks ago, I just felt like it's not appropriately named or titled. So I've changed the name of it to The Identity Crisis. And I've already got the cover in my mind designed — which, if I wasn't a preacher, I'd be a wealthy, wealthy design, marketing, and all that stuff, because I'm a genius right here, I can tell you that right now. And — but I have the title, The Identity Crisis, and down below, just a big question mark.

Now, if you don't think that identity is important, then understand that the first thing that Jesus faced, as He entered into His ministry, was an attack upon His identity. "If thou be the Son of God" — remember, He'd just come out of the waters of baptism. He had just received the first witness that He was the Son of God. Now, I definitely believe that He was fully God, fully man — wholly God, wholly man — at His birth. But I do understand, at thirteen, He makes that statement: "I must be about my Father['s]" — So we start understanding that He had a comprehension. Now, you know, the Bible says that He grew in wisdom and in stature, and I think that was Him, as a human being, if I could say it that way. I think that's what it was talking about. God can't grow in wisdom, and God can't grow in stature. So we know it's not talking about deity, just talking about God; but it's talking about the teenager, the boy that was growing up. Amen. Now, He realized at thirteen that it was very, very important for Him to be about His Father's. He says "business" — but "business," in the King James Version, is in italics, which means it was inserted by the translators. So that tells you that what He said was not just, "I must be about my Father's business" — which would put it in a completely different light — than when He said, "I must be about my Father." See, you can be about your Father's business, but not know your Father. I want to say that again. That was so profound, I need to say that all over again, Brother Lopez. Amen. Sometimes I'm awesome-ized by my own awesomeness. Amen. And the deal is, again: you can be about His business, but not really know Him. And this is why it's so extremely important.

I believe that if we do not know who He is, and His relationship with God, or the Father — now, before I get into this: I do not believe that there's two. So just don't even go down that road. That's just a bunch of nonsense. Amen. But the deal is that I think that, in order for us to understand who we are, it's important to understand who He is.

Now, real quickly, let me just lay this here. To me, there are actually four dimensions of revelation. It all starts over in Matthew 16: "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" And their reply was: some say Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. "That's what others are telling us about You." And that is what I would call an external revelation. That is where somebody else is telling you their testimony, their revelation of Him — who He is to them. And so that's where it usually starts: Sunday school teacher, mom, dad, co-worker, friend, relative. Somebody was telling you their testimony. Somebody was telling you their view of Him. But then Jesus turned and said, "But who do you say that I am? I'm glad you told me who others say that I am, but I need you to say who I am." And so, of course, Simon Peter — you know, he seemed kind of bouncy — he got it. Boom, there it was. He said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood — what others say — has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven." Now, that right there, to me, is an internal revelation. He got it. See, a lot of people accept who He is just mentally, just because you think that the preacher is a good guy, just because, you know, somebody — to you — and so you just accept it. I've pastored people like that. They just accepted it. Didn't quite totally understand it, but they just accepted it, because they felt like we were honest and real people. But here's the thing: you can't keep going on what somebody else told you. There's got to be a place in your life — I'm talking to all of you here today; I'm not talking to the preachers; I'm talking to you — there's got to be a place in your life where you got it. It ought to be so burned in you, that that is internal.

Now, the next thing that Jesus said is: "Hey, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, son of Jonah; flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you. But I say unto thee — " Now He's about to get the eternal revelation. External, internal — now eternal. He's about to understand how this really is. "But I say unto thee, that thou art Peter" — Petra, rock; little rock. I even hate that word, "Little Rock." I spent five months in a hospital in Little Rock. I don't even like using that word. Amen. But the deal is, He was trying to show him an eternal picture. "This is what it's really all about. I want you to know who you are." And so, you know, Philip makes that statement: "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." And Jesus said, "Have I been so long time with you? Don't you know, when you've seen Me, you've seen the Father? Oh, come on, Philip. You ought to have this by now. You need to understand." And so I think that that's where a lot of apostolics are now. Just hear me. I think we know who Jesus is. But if we ever really get the revelation of who we are in Him — oh, boy. Okay. All right. Let me hurry on through here. Now, that's very important.

Now, the next revelation, of course, is what I call the relational revelation: how that you, as a child of God, and your relationship with your Father. Now, when I say "Father," I'm not talking about the first person of the Trinity. I don't understand why in the world — matter of fact, when I was writing the other day — and I've mentioned this in San Francisco, I think [El Cerrito?] — you know, now, you guys may want to fire me after this; I'm not quite sure. But there used — well, there still is — an old country and western song. I personally don't like country and western. You know what happens when you back-mask a country and western song? You get your dog back, you get your trailer back, you get your husband back. So I'm not a fan of country and western music. Now, just — I know some of you are, and I've already lost you. We're going to give an altar call here in a little bit, for you getting upset over secular music. Now, I got her. So here's the deal: there used to be a song — but there still is — and it's "Looking for Love." My God — no wonder we can't have a move of God. All you carnal — Okay, that was before Christ. I'll give that one to you. But "looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in all the wrong faces." Now, I know I was writing the other day, and that hit me. I thought, "Why would I be thinking — " And so it was like: take the word "love" out, and put "Father" in. "You're looking for the Father in all the wrong places. You're looking for the Father in too many faces." "Philip, show us the Father." See — and watch what He says: "Have I been so long time with you? Don't you know, when you've seen Me, you've seen the Father?" But watch: "Have I been so long time with you?" And here's the deal: there's a lot of people that have been around Him — Christians, they've been around Him — but they still don't know who He is. And so instead of going to the right face, looking for Him, and the right place, looking for Him, they go to creeds. They go to creeds. I don't even want to take time to get — there's three creeds that deal with the concept of the Trinity. It's amazing to me that a lot of Christian leaders, when they start talking about the Trinity, and they start talking about God the Father, they always have to go to a creed. They go to a creed. You're looking for Him in the wrong place. You're not going to find the true Father in a creed. You're going to find something that was concocted by man. You're going to find something that really has an idolatrous tone to it. But the fact is, if you want to know who He is, you've got to look in the right face. And the only face that you'll ever see the Father in, according to Paul, is in the face of Jesus Christ. Praise God. Hey, I'm glad I know who He is.

You know, and here's another thing: if you start talking about the Father — well, who is the Father of Jesus Christ? The very statement — co-equality, co-eternal — and then saying "Father" destroys all of that. There's no way they can be co-equal if the Father is the father of the second person of the Trinity. There's no way they can be co-equal. So, you know, but it says that — you know, what is it? They refer to the Father as the Father, and then the Bible says that the Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary, and that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost. Now, I know we're in California, and we get confused about a lot of stuff, but I think biologically it's still right that whoever you are conceived by is your daddy. So that would make the Holy Ghost the Father. So we got the Father, the Father; we got the Holy Ghost, the Father. Now, if you really want to complicate this, go to Isaiah chapter 9, verse number 6, because it refers to Jesus Christ as the Everlasting Father. So now we got the Father, the Father; the Son, the Father; and the Holy Ghost, the Father. Boy, that's a confused mess, if you ask me. I know that I'm dating myself, but there was a guy — well, boy, I'm used to going to all kinds of old country and western stuff. Amen. Secular stuff. But there's a guy by the name of Ray Stevens. Anybody ever heard of him? Y'all afraid to raise your hands now; you're going to get trapped. But he used to have a song that was called "I'm My Own Grandpa." And every time I start thinking that, that's the song that comes to me: "I'm My Own Grandpa." The fact is, is that there's only one God. There's only one Spirit. There's only one Spirit that created all things, and that's God. So when you deal with the Jewish writers, and the writers of the New Testament, when they referred to "Father," all they were referring to is God. That's the way — that's just it. This "Father, first person" stuff didn't start until two, three hundred years later. So we need to understand that when you see Jesus Christ, you have seen the Father. That's what He said. He also said, "I am in the Father, and the Father in Me." A lot of this stuff is about a dwelling place.

Now, I'm really going to lose a bunch of you right here, but John 14 — when it talks about "In My Father's house are many mansions" — I hate to tell you, that don't mean you're going to get a mansion when you get to heaven. Oh, Jesus. I lost a whole bunch of you there. Dottie Rambo, I hate to tell you: He's not going to build you a cabin in the corner of glory land. But when He said, "In My Father's house are many mansions," the word "mansion" is not elaborate dwelling place; it just means a dwelling place. So: in My Father's dwelling are many other dwellings. That's why later in John 14, He says, "I'm in the Father; you're in Me; we're in Him." What He was saying is: "I am the One to get you back into the right dwelling place with God. You lost that through Adam." Can you give me just a minute here? You lost that through Adam. Remember when they're expelled out of the garden? When they're expelled out of the garden, it was — God put a cherubim there — or cherubim, or whichever one — with a flaming, revolving sword. And He said, "I want you to watch this. I want you to keep the way, lest they get back to the tree of life and live forever." Meaning: "I do not want them back to the tree of life. I do not want them back to the right dwelling until I have dealt with the sin problem. It is not My will for them to taste eternal life still in — " Yeah. Now, it's amazing that Jesus says, "I am the way." You're looking at it now. This is what has been kept. "I am the way; I am the truth; and I am the life." Meaning: if you're going to get back to the tree of life, which is eternal life — which I believe is being Spirit-filled — the only way you're going to get back there is through Me. And I'm going to give you the truth on how to get there. So there's no other way that you can get back into the dwelling place. You can get back into the garden; you can get back to whatever you want to call it. There's no way you can get back there except through Me. That's why it's important to really understand who He is. But He said, "I'm not the only one that's supposed to be going there. I'm going to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also." So it's important for us to understand that God wants a dwelling place. Now you get into the tabernacle — tabernacle of flesh. You get into the temple of stone. It's all about the dwelling place of God. It's all about who we are. It's about who Jesus Christ is. Have I got that across? Everybody good on that? What about the rest of you? Everybody okay out there? Do we need to stand up and do head and shoulders, knees and — ? Notice I didn't say toes, because most of us could touch our toes if we tried. It's just head and shoulders. Some of you don't even know what I'm talking about. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

So here's the whole key to this: we need to understand who Jesus is, and then we need to start understanding who we are, and the relationship that He wants to have with us. See, we miss a lot of this. Again, let me go back. We think it's about our Father's business. But He said, "No, it's not about the family business. It's about a relationship that I want to have with you." Does that make sense?

Now, you've got a parable. You've got a parable. It's called the parable of the prodigal. Personally, I think it's poorly named, because it's not just about the prodigal. It's not just about the prodigal; it's about his elder brother. It's about two boys that did not have a proper relationship with their father. You ever notice, in that parable, you've got a truant mother? She's not even mentioned. She's not even in the story. I know where the Bible be silent, but, you know, that's just the way my brain kind of works. "Well, where is she at?" Because here's the thing: the feminine is the nurturing side of things — which is the church. And so, if people only have just them and God — the male side is the authoritative side. So if that's all you have, then you view God, if you're not careful, as nothing but just do's, don'ts, rules, regulations: "You can; you can't." But you've got the church, which is the nurturing side of it. Now, let me tell you something: to me, the pulpit also deals with the masculine, the authoritative side of things. The congregation is the feminine. You're to nurture people. You are not to correct people. You are to nurture people. I've been in places where I've seen the gifts of the Spirit used to correct somebody, that that person thought needed to be corrected. Oh, boy — there we go. Amen. No, no, no, no, no. And just as much as we teach against perversion, and females trying to act like males, and males trying to act like females, I think we need the same understanding about laity and God — the word, the authority. We need to understand that. And when the masculine starts trying to act like the feminine — and we think that leadership in God is all about coddling us and nurturing us — and then you've got the pulpit — you've got the pews trying to correct everybody. You've got it mixed up. I need a little help here right now. You've got it mixed up. Amen. I tell people: it's not my job to cuddle you, to be your best friend. It's my job to cut you. Well, if you understand your Bible, that's what it means: "To those He loves, He chastises." And a father — according to Jewish tradition, a father was responsible; if he didn't do it, he's held responsible — to make sure that that boy of his was circumcised on the eighth day. Meaning that Paul said, "You've got a lot of instructors, but you don't have many fathers." Instructors will instruct you. A father will cut you. He'll cut away excess flesh from you. I'm not giving all the ministers a license to get up in the pulpit and be mean. That's not what I'm talking about. "To those He loves, He chastises." Now, if you receive the chastisement, you're a true son. If you don't — well, read the biblical word for it: you're an illegitimate child. You need to be careful, when the Father's trying to correct you and you're not going to receive it. You're telling Him, "I don't want You to be my Father." All right, everybody good? I lost a whole bunch of you. Amen. Everybody still all right out there? All right.

Now, this relationship that we have — see, I think that when John said, "What manner — what's this? What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us." Now, we are begotten by the Word. So I could get into John 1, and 1, and First John 1, and all that. We are begotten by the Word. That is what we are begotten by. So you could talk about it being the seed. You could talk about, this is where life — you can get into all that stuff and all. But the deal is, is I really believe that God wants us to understand more about Him. Let me give you this. Let me go back. Let me go back. This one's going to sting a little bit.

So you've got this father. He's got a truant mother. He's got these two boys. The prodigal — he says, "I'm tired of all this. I'm out of here. See you later." Out the door he goes. Ends up in a pig pen. In your Thompson Chain Bible, in the margin, it says next to that story: "the insanity of sin." The boy lost his mind. That's the reason why I said, when he came to his senses, and he woke up in a pig pen — sin will cause you to lose any sanity about life, and things, that there is, because it's just filling the sensual, carnal side of you. And so you can get intoxicated on that; you can lose your ever-loving mind. But he comes to his senses. He says, "Wait a minute. Watch it. Wait a minute. What am I doing here? I can go back to my dad's house and just be a servant." Now you're starting to get a little glimpse of how they viewed their father. "Let me just go back and be a servant. For servants at my father's house, they're a lot better, you know." So he goes back. The father sees him. He runs out. He embraces him. Now watch what he does: he puts the robe back on him, which represents righteousness. He puts a ring on him, which represents authority. And he put shoes on his feet. Why did he put shoes on his feet? Because only sons wore shoes. So the father was letting that boy know: "You're not coming back as a servant. You're still my son."

I had a guy call me one time, and he said, "When do you think that people cease being your brother?" He was being all tough, and, you know, "Where do you draw the line?" I said, "Well, if I drew a line, it wouldn't be good enough for you." But I said, "Here's the issue: once it's a brother, it's a brother. I may not agree with him. He may be like the prodigal; he may be a disobedient son." But I mean — anyway, all right. All right. I lost a whole bunch of you right there, too.

But he brings him back, to put shoes on his feet. Now, the older brother's out in the field, and he hears music and dancing. So, for all you that like dead church — of course, if there's no reconciliation in the house, I guess you don't have anything to party about. But hey, when people are being reconciled back to their father — man, it ought to be a celebration. Angels are rejoicing. What about the church? What about us? I don't know. It kind of bothers me when we're baptizing people, and you look out there and all the saints are talking on; they're just not paying attention. My God, this is one of the most glorious moments of anybody's life, is when they're going down into a covenant with Jesus Christ. You ought to be rejoicing about this. Come on, Western District — we ought to be rejoicing when somebody repents. We ought to be rejoicing when somebody's baptized. Now, here's the sad fact. Here's the sad fact. Oh, God. I've got to remember that most of you out there are saints. Here's the sad fact. You know, the elder brother's out there. Watch this: he's out there in the field, and he hears all this stuff. He said, "What's going on down at my dad's house?" Well, that's telling you how sad their relationship is: you don't know what's going on in your father's house — which means you don't ever visit your dad. And the servant said, "Your brother's come home." "What? That backsliding, reprobate brother of mine?" "Yeah, yours. He's home. Your dad's killed the fatted calf." And this is the scenario that I get: so the boy starts throwing a little temper tantrum, and his dad had to leave the party and go out in the field. "Goochie, goochie, goo, little buddy. What's wrong? You're throwing your little temper-tantrum meter — " That kind of reminds me of being in a service, and then somebody out in the foyer is mad about something. They send the usher in, tell the pastor, "I want to talk to you." I've had people do that. I'm not a good pastor. I'm really not. I'm not a good pastor. I get cold; I get calloused. I just — I lose some compassion sometimes, because, to me, when they pull that kind of stuff, I say, "You go out there and tell them: I said it's just as easy for them to come in here while we're partying. I don't go out there and pamper you, little spoiled brat, acting like a — " old — "Well, you never killed me a fatted calf." "What? All that I have is thine. You own the whole farm. You could have killed a fatted calf, and made merry with your friends, anytime you wanted to. But what you're showing is: both boys didn't have the right relationship with their father."

And when you don't have a right relationship with your father, this is what happens. You ready? You either become a backslider, or a Pharisee. Oh, yeah — we got a few here today. I say I'm going to run out of here, but that's not going to happen unless God gives a miracle. Just listen. He said — the elder said — "All these years have I served thee, never transgressed Thy law, violated Thy commandments. You never killed me a fatted calf." And that's the way a lot of us look at it. It's our Father's business. "I've kept all the rules. I've done everything I'm supposed to do. You never killed me a fatted calf" — which denotes: you keep all the rules, and not have a real relationship with Him, which is what a Pharisee was. And that's what the parable was about. The Pharisees went to the disciples and said, "Your Master eats with publicans and sinners." Oh, I'm sorry — "Republicans and sinners." Amen. There's a story behind that. I was preaching in Indiana one time, and I just — being me, you know, kind of half comedy. And I said, "You know, I don't even know if a Democrat can be saved." But then I followed it up; I said, "Well, I guess they could." I said, "Because, you know, Jesus ate with Republicans and sinners." Oh, boy — that was the wrong place to say that. They were waiting for me out in the foyer. Four of them. They were hot. They were mad. But here's the deal: the Pharisees — and that's what Jesus was talking about.

Listen. Number one — I'll start to close in — number one is: you've got to get a real good glimpse of who He is. I'm going to use this term, and this could get me in trouble, but He is the firstborn. He's the first of many. That's why: "What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us." That's the first thing that you've got to say about your Father, is: He's a Father of love, and He's benevolent. And if you want to know how much He loves you, then I would give you a good suggestion: look at Jesus. That's how much He loves you. And He still loves us. Now, people come up all the time, and they say, "Why can't we wear this? Why can't we have this? Why can't we go there?" Okay — I'm sorry; it's just a San Francisco problem. Amen. "Why? Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to do that?" And the moment they start, you have already told me: you don't have the foggiest idea about who you are. You are only looking through the lens of a son of man. You're not looking through the lens of being a child of God. So everything to you is about flesh. But if you ever wake up and realize who you are, you'll start working on purifying yourself, even as He is. I think that one of the keys to what we would call the end-time revival, harvest, or whatever, is number one: a clear revelation — which I believe is about to happen — a clear revelation of who Jesus is. If you look at the whole charismatic renewal — you know, for years, I don't know about you, but I was raised in this. And, buddy, it wasn't popular when I was a kid to talk in tongues. I mean, "He's a tongue talker," you know. I mean, and five-fold ministry, gifts of the Spirit — all that was kind of taboo. But the deal is, the charismatic world started embracing this stuff. And so they follow along. Just listen. There's nothing else left for God to bring these people to, except to the revelation of who Jesus Christ really is, and who the Father is. And I believe that we're about to see one of the greatest moments of divine revelation. But in order for them to see that, they need somebody to model that for them. And if you're confused about who you are, and you have an identity crisis — I started with this. If you don't think identity is important — it was the first thing He went into, the temptation: "If thou be the Son of God." You know, one of the last statements to Him was on the cross: "If thou be the Son of God, come down." So when you first start into this, it's the first identity-crisis attack. The last one is when you're facing death, because if you're facing death and you don't know who you are — read over there where it talks about fear having torment, and talking about judgment. That's literally talking to you about: you shouldn't go into death fearful. You need to know who you are. And that's why the enemy is constantly bombarding you, trying to confuse you, and to downplay who you are in Christ. That's what this is all about. If he can get you confused, and you're in an identity crisis — it's about that. Brother, I'm telling you: you want to turn California upside down? Let the true sons of God get a revelation of who they really are, and what they really have. Now, everybody still okay? Any of that make sense?

Now let's talk about the second part of this. And I just believe — and this is only going to take a minute or two — so, it's how to approach Him. I watch people praying for the Holy Ghost. I mean, they're, you know — and we've presented to them, "You've got to have this faith to get the Holy Ghost." And they do. But, you know, we view faith as capturing something in our minds, and just — But to me, worship is faith. Hebrews 11:6: "For he that cometh to God — " that word — "must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that — " the word "diligently" derives to worship. So you could read that verse: "He that worships God must believe that He is." I mean, how can you worship Him if you don't believe that He is? So the very fact that you're in here today, worshiping God, is proof of your faith. But see, we complicate it. We want to make it look mystical and hard to accomplish. Hey, every time you, in your heart, throw your hands in the air, and you start worshiping Him and magnifying Him, you're letting Him know, "I believe in You. I believe that You are. And as God, You are a rewarder of those that worship You." I've seen more people get the Holy Ghost, and get miracles, worshiping. I've never seen anybody get the Holy Ghost quiet. I've had a few of them try it.

Oh, I forgot: this is the morning crowd. You're the non-emotional crowd. I forgot. You're the word-only folks in here today. "Don't get on that emotional stuff. I'm not emotional." Quit lying on God. A part of your triunity is emotionalism. So you can't even get to the Holy of Holies except you go through your emotions. That's why a lot of you don't ever get anything. Oh, here we go. That's why you don't get anything.

I had a lady one time in Illinois. I've told this a lot; I'll tell it real quick. A lady in Illinois. This is back in the early '80s. And so she was up there praying for the Holy Ghost. You know, she was one of those chronic seekers. She'd wear out the saints of the Most High. But I'm the evangelist. Bless God, I'm going to pray this woman through. And so I walked over to her, and she had her hands in the air like this: "Jesus. Jesus." She wasn't saying "Jesus"; she was saying "Jesus" — flat. I've been known to do a few crude things. So I did. I said, "Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Just stop."

I told a guy one time — he was another chronic seeker; maybe I'm on something here, right now. He was up there; he'd been praying for the Holy Ghost for like twenty-something years. He was good as any man in that building — which was his problem. So he's up there praying for the Holy Ghost, and I stopped him. I said, "Just stop. Just stop." So, I mean, I killed the whole service. Just stop. I said, "You need to go sit down. You don't want the Holy Ghost. You're bothering us. Go sit down." Uh-oh. Must be God saying, "You need to stop." So he stormed out of there. He's mad. The pastor came up after service: "What in the world were you doing? That's one of the best men I've got." I said, "That's the problem. He feels like he's okay without the Holy Ghost. So he really doesn't want it." So the next night we're in service. Oh, man, the whole church — and we were about middle way through the service. The back doors bust open. Here he comes, charging down the center aisle. Well, my first thought was, "Oh boy, we're going to have a fight right here." But he came up; he fell in the altar; he went to screaming out. I mean, fell on his back, went screaming out: "God, I want the Holy Ghost!" He went in the floor, max five minutes. He was talking in tongues. He had his legs up in the air; he had his arms up in the air. And he was just going crazy. Yeah. If you really get hungry enough for something from God, and you really get hungry enough for bread — oh, you don't mind to worship Him. But if you're not that hungry, then you're picky. Oh, God, I've got to get this done.

Let me go back to the lady. So I told her, "Just stop. Stop. Stop. Stop." I said, "You put some passion in it. You get a little emotional about it." She said, "I'm just not emotional." I thought, "Oh my God, I've met the first one." And so we leave. Service is over. I'm out there putting my Bible, my coat, in the back seat. And she's — you know, if I'm over here on the driver's side, looking over the top of my car — she's parked over here. She's got a little boy. I mean, he's just a little old — I call him Rugrat — just a little old kid. And he's out there running, playing with the kids. And she says, "Johnny, Mommy wants you to come get in the car." That kid's not paying a bit of attention to her. I mean, he's just going crazy; he's running, having fun. "Johnny, Mommy wants you to come get in the car." Now, if I would have been a compassionate man of God, I would have warned her right there: "Careful — you're getting close to becoming emotional." But I wanted to see how it played out. And so Johnny keeps running. "Johnny — " Now, ladies, I'm not picking on you, but men will know what I'm talking about. When a woman starts getting emotional — can you believe that one? And they're starting to get upset, their words get a little choppy. Some of you men are scared to death right now: "I've got to go home with her, Brother Morgan." "Johnny, Mommy said, come get in the car!" He came out another lap. Next thing I knew, she snatched him up. Now, this is back in the days of child abuse. She snatched him up; she shook him: "I told you to get in the car!" This is before car seats, even. She slammed him into the back seat, slammed the door shut — and then she discerned that she was being observed. So she turns and looks, and there I am. And I said, "Not emotional, are you?" True story. The next night, she was in the altar. It wasn't "Jesus" — it was "Jesus!" She was crying out. And I mean, God baptized her with the Holy Ghost.

So listen: if you really want Him to reward you — which is revelation, or Him manifesting something to you; if you want to know Him as a healer, you want to know Him as a deliverer — worship Him. Just worship Him. We're getting ready — I believe we're getting ready to see some miracles. I see some miracles.

Now, here's the deal: children's bread. If you're a true father, your children don't have to come beg you to go to work. They don't have to beg you to feed them, to clothe them, to take care of them. That's just what a father does. That's why Scripture says a man that does not provide for his own household denies the faith. Now, why would God require something out of me, as a man and a father, that He's not doing Himself? And so, when you approach Him today, through your worship, just don't beg Him. I think maybe somebody ought to get the Holy Ghost. I don't know. Maybe somebody here — they've been seeking for the Holy Ghost for a while. Dave, it'd be all right. It don't take five hours for you to get it. You can get it in two minutes. But the deal is: through your worship, you're approaching Him. You're not begging Him. He said, "If you ask your father for bread, does he give you a stone?" You just approach Him through your worship. Not even so much trying to. You're just worshiping Him. "Father, I need a miracle today. I need this. I'm asking You as a child of God. This is the bread that You give to me, as Your child." See, that's why it's important to know who you are, who He is. And if we get that down — okay, I'm about to miss the major deal here.

Have you ever read the verse of Scripture, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit"? See, here's another reason why you need to know who you are. Because if you don't know who you are, that's going to directly affect your relationship with Him, and your relationship with each other. You ever read that verse? "Grieve not the Holy Spirit." Read two or three verses before, two or three verses after: it's talking about your relationships — you getting along with people. And what that verse actually means is — I read this years ago — when the Father sees how His children treat each other, it causes Him to weep. I'd hate to think that my relationship with another brother or sister was grieving the Holy Ghost — He was looking at it, weeping. "That's not how you're supposed to treat each other." That's why it's so important. See, if you're not about your Father, and you don't get it right with Him, you're not going to have it right here. And I do not understand apostolic, Spirit-filled people that think that they can have an offense or grievance against somebody else, and just — whatever — and never deal with it, the way the Bible tells you to deal with it. See, John said: if you don't get this right, you don't have any confidence toward God. You could ask whatever you want to ask, but you don't have any confidence toward Him, because you know in your heart you've got something against another brother. Read it; it's in there. But he said, "But if you've got your relationship with your Father right, and you've got a sibling relationship right, then whatsoever things we ask, we receive, because our heart's not condemning us." You ever read that? "If thy heart condemn thee not." See, every time that you go to God, and you know that there's a relationship in your life that's not right, you go before God condemned. Why do you think that the biggest battles you have is with other people? "I love You, Jesus, but I can't stand them." It's going to affect your prayer life. That's going to affect — you're going to go before God condemned, because you know you don't have the right relationship. So we need the right relationship with our Father, and we need to work on getting the right relationship with each other. There is no such thing as what we believe — and all about revival, and all that stuff — if we don't get things fixed in the family. Let's not be a dysfunctional family. Amen. All right. All right. All right. I'm done.

You need a miracle — stand up. You need the Holy Ghost — stand up. Now, I shouldn't have to call you out, tell you what's wrong with you. He knows what's wrong with you. It's just a matter right now of not begging and pleading: "Please, God, I've been praying for this so long." How'd you like to know: you've been praying about something for so long, and then, the moment you decided to do it, you didn't have faith? Now, that parable, the unjust judge: "Though he bear a long time with them, shall he not avenge his own elect, which cry to him day and night, speedily?" Next verse: "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" That's still talking about the parable. That's not talking about the rapture. Still talking about the parable. What he's saying is: you can be in the asking position for so long, that when the miracle finally comes, you don't have faith to receive it. You don't believe that? Read the story of Rhoda. They're down there praying for Simon Peter to be delivered. He's knocking at the door. "Rhoda, what's wrong with you? You've lost your ever-loving mind. What do you mean, Simon Peter's knocking at the door? The miracle's at the door. Rhoda, you get back down here and pray. You know, we're praying for that miracle." See, you can be in that position for so long, but you can't move from asking to receiving now. I'm talking to myself right now. You — that can happen to you. I'd hate to think that when the miracle finally got there — thank God there's a few Rhodas, folks. I'm telling you, it's him. "Rhoda, you have lost your ever-loving mind. You're starting to believe what you're praying for. You get back down here and get back in prayer, you carnal outfit. You're always going to the foyer." So let's just believe this. Let's just believe that this morning, he's knocking. Your miracle's knocking. And the only thing that you need is to have some worship — which I believe is a component of your faith — and just ask Him, and then just praise Him, and worship, and let Him bring into your day what He has designed for it today. All right, everybody good? Okay. No altar call, right there where you're standing. "You gonna pray for anybody?" No. Not unless the Holy Ghost says to. Just lift your hands. Get a little emotional about it. That would help. Let the gifts of the Spirit operate right now. Let the gifts of the Spirit operate.