Embracing Transformation: From Brokenness to Spiritual Maturity

The sermon opens with a call for the congregation to seek a spirit of revelation and to challenge traditional interpretations in favor of biblical truths. The speaker leads a prayer for divine guidance and the release of angels to combat tradition, setting the stage for a deeper understanding of faith through teaching and revelation. The importance of coming before God in one's brokenness and insecurities is emphasized, as it signifies a return to the Father. The speaker reassures those feeling weary that God's rest is forthcoming and urges the prophets to awaken and herald the bridegroom's approach.

The speaker then delves into the biblical account of creation, contrasting the "beast" with humanity, which is created in God's image with dominion over the earth. This distinction sets the stage for a discussion on the mark of the beast, urging listeners to set aside preconceived notions and focus on scriptural truths. The speaker shares a personal story of loss and despair, questioning why they survived a tragedy that took their child. This vulnerability underscores the sermon's theme of faith being tested and revealed through trials.

The sermon continues with an exploration of spiritual maturity, emphasizing that true blessings often come disguised as challenges. The speaker suggests that some may already bear the mark of the beast, indicating a lack of genuine devotion to God. The congregation is encouraged to embrace the Holy Spirit's movement, to grow in maturity as God's children, and to shed the mark of the beast in favor of Christ's power.

The speaker also discusses the importance of understanding the Bible's language and cultural context, particularly the Hebrew concept of functioning as God's representatives on earth. The fall of humanity is depicted as a loss of this divine image, with sin leading to a cursed existence. The speaker draws parallels between biblical stories and the need for spiritual rebirth, emphasizing Jesus' sacrifice as the means to restore humanity's intended image.

The sermon concludes with a call to live by the spirit, contrasting the works of the flesh with the fruits of the spirit. The speaker warns against partial adherence to the Bible, stressing the need for complete transformation into God's image. The significance of names in the Bible is highlighted, as well as the importance of being alert for God's return. The sermon ends with a reflection on the story of Noah, the concept of rest, and the covenantal promise symbolized by the rainbow.

Key Takeaways:

- The act of coming before God in our brokenness is not a display of weakness but a powerful testament to our trust in His goodness. It is in this vulnerable state that we are most open to transformation and can become vessels of the gospel, sharing our experiences with others. This openness to God's restorative work is essential for spiritual growth and maturity. [02:06:08]

- The biblical distinction between humans and beasts is not merely about creation order but speaks to our unique role as God's representatives on earth. When we understand our purpose to function in God's image, we can resist the adversary's deception that leads to a beast-like existence. This understanding is crucial for living out our divine mandate and resisting the mark of the beast. [49:32]

- Spiritual maturity is revealed through our response to life's pressures and challenges. Just as the plagues in Egypt demonstrated the resilience of God's people, our modern trials can showcase the strength of our faith. This perspective helps us to see blessings in disguise and to embrace the mark of Christ rather than the mark of the beast. [01:44:35]

- The concept of being born again is not merely a theological idea but a transformative experience that mirrors the biblical stories of renewal and covenant. Like Israel passing through the Red Sea, we too must leave behind our beast-like nature and embrace the image of God, made possible through Jesus' ultimate sacrifice. This rebirth is central to our Christian identity and mission. [01:22:37]

- The fruits of the spirit are not just virtuous traits but the very diet of those led by the spirit, contrasting starkly with the works of the flesh. Living by the spirit means embodying love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, which collectively reflect the image of God and oppose the animalistic nature of the flesh. This spiritual nourishment is key to our growth as sons and daughters of God. [01:35:41]

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Genesis 1:24-26 (NKJV)**
> Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

2. **Galatians 5:16-25 (NKJV)**
> I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

#### Observation Questions
1. What distinction does Genesis 1:24-26 make between beasts and humans? How does this distinction relate to our role as God's representatives on earth? [50:26]
2. According to Galatians 5:16-25, what are the works of the flesh, and how do they contrast with the fruits of the Spirit? [01:35:41]
3. In the sermon, what personal story did the speaker share to illustrate the theme of faith being tested through trials? [01:47:43]
4. How does the speaker describe the process of spiritual rebirth and its importance in restoring humanity's intended image? [01:20:25]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does understanding our creation in God's image (Genesis 1:24-26) help us resist the adversary's deception and live out our divine mandate? [50:26]
2. What does the speaker mean by saying that true blessings often come disguised as challenges, and how does this perspective help us grow in spiritual maturity? [01:44:35]
3. How does the concept of being born again, as discussed in the sermon, relate to the biblical stories of renewal and covenant? [01:22:37]
4. Why is it important to understand the cultural and linguistic context of the Bible, as emphasized by the speaker? How does this understanding impact our interpretation of scripture? [54:46]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you felt broken or insecure. How did coming before God in that state impact your faith and spiritual growth? [02:06:08]
2. The speaker urges us to challenge traditional interpretations in favor of biblical truths. Are there any traditions or beliefs you hold that you feel need re-examining in light of scripture? [46:37]
3. How can you actively resist the works of the flesh and cultivate the fruits of the Spirit in your daily life? Identify one specific action you can take this week to embody one of the fruits of the Spirit. [01:35:41]
4. The speaker mentioned the importance of spiritual maturity being revealed through our response to life's pressures. How can you reframe a current challenge in your life as an opportunity for spiritual growth? [01:44:35]
5. The sermon discusses the significance of names in the Bible and their meanings. Reflect on the name "Christian" and what it means to you personally. How can you live up to this name in your community? [01:08:37]
6. The speaker shared a personal story of loss and despair. How can you support someone in your life who is going through a similar trial? What practical steps can you take to be a vessel of God's love and comfort? [01:47:43]
7. The sermon concludes with a call to live by the Spirit. What specific distractions or habits in your life are preventing you from fully living by the Spirit, and how can you address them this week? [01:35:41]

Day 1: Vulnerability as a Path to Transformation
In moments of brokenness and insecurity, approaching God is a profound act of faith. It is in these times of vulnerability that individuals are most receptive to God's transformative work. Embracing this process is essential for spiritual growth, allowing one to become a vessel for the gospel and share personal experiences of God's restorative power. [02:06:08]

Psalm 51:17 - "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."
Reflection: When have you felt broken before God, and how did that experience change your relationship with Him?

Day 2: Embodying Our Divine Mandate
Understanding the biblical distinction between humanity and beasts is crucial to fulfilling our role as God's representatives on earth. By embracing our creation in God's image, we can resist the adversary's deception and live out our divine mandate, rejecting the mark of the beast and its implications. [49:32]

Genesis 1:26 - "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'"
Reflection: In what ways can you more fully live out your role as God's representative on earth today?

Day 3: Blessings Disguised as Challenges
Spiritual maturity is often revealed in how one responds to life's pressures and challenges. Recognizing that true blessings may come in the form of trials can help believers embrace the mark of Christ and grow in faith. This perspective allows us to see God's hand at work, even when faced with adversity. [01:44:35]

James 1:2-4 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
Reflection: Can you identify a recent challenge that might be a disguised blessing, and how can you respond to it with a perspective of faith?

Day 4: Rebirth and Covenantal Identity
The transformative experience of being born again is not just a theological concept but a reality that mirrors biblical stories of renewal and covenant. Through Jesus' sacrifice, we are invited to leave behind our old nature and embrace our true identity as the image of God. This rebirth is central to our Christian mission. [01:22:37]

Ezekiel 36:26 - "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."
Reflection: How does the concept of being born again influence your daily life, and what steps can you take to live out this new identity?

Day 5: Nourished by the Spirit's Fruits
The fruits of the spirit are the sustenance for those led by God's spirit, reflecting His image and opposing our fleshly nature. Living by the spirit involves embodying love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. This spiritual nourishment is key to our growth as children of God. [01:35:41]

Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Reflection: Which fruit of the Spirit do you need to cultivate more in your life, and what practical steps can you take to do so today?

When there's a spirit of revelation that's in this room right now, would you just lift up your hands? I want you to pray a specific prayer. I want you to pray that heaven would open up itself into you, but you've got to open yourself up to heaven. I want you to open up your minds right now, and here's what we're gonna do: we're gonna cast down every tradition, everything we've ever heard. We want to hear what the Bible says, okay? That's what I want you to pray right now.

The reason why we want to pray that is because Jesus speaks to the Pharisees, and he tells them, "You have made the traditions of man the doctrines of God," and he's inviting them into revelation. That's what I feel is in this room. I feel that there's revelation that is coming to this room, but to do that, we're gonna have to just meet God where he is, and we're gonna have to let go of any traditions—all of us, myself included. Every time I read the Bible, it confronts me, okay? So I'm not the one up here confronting you; the Bible has already confronted me, and so we're gonna be confronted together tonight.

So would you lift up your hands and just say, "God, I want your word. I want everything that your word says. God, I don't want anything less, anything extra. I want just your word, your pure word, because I know that you are the word, God." And so by me wanting your word, I'm telling you I want you.

Father, in the name of Jesus, would you release angels into this room? I have no ability and no authority nor power to dispatch angels, but you do. And God, as a son, I come to you and I ask the Father, would you just release the angelic hosts into this place? God, within them, would they begin to make war against our traditions? Would they make war against everything that is contrary to you and release in this place pure revelation?

God, my intention tonight is to draw people closer to you and to draw our faith deeper. In the precious name of Jesus, we give you praise. Amen, amen, amen. Hallelujah.

It's good to be here again with all of you. One more Sunday, thankful, and I got the invitation back. So thankful to be with y'all again. Thankful for my friend. I'm thankful for Pastor Justin Michael. I'm thankful for the spirit that he walks in. I'm thankful for his zeal. I'm thankful for his passion for the things of God. You are very blessed; I hope you know that. You are very, very blessed. I'm thankful that he is sensitive to spiritual things and is such a breath of fresh air in our carnal world right now.

So you're a very blessed people. Man, honor his precious wife. I don't think that there's any more prophetic or beautiful thing in this earth than being a mother. I really do believe that. I know more about the bride of Christ just by watching my wife. As a man, I have no idea how to become the bride of Christ until I look at my wife with our children, and I have learned so much. You will never hear her preach, but you will hear her tonight, and you will hear her every time I minister because I've learned so much from my wife.

So I honor your wife. Honor her. She does more than just be a mother. I'm highlighting that because I believe that's the highest calling. I know that she sings; I know that she's powerful. I'm just—that's what I want to highlight tonight. I'm thankful for her.

If you will remain standing, this afternoon I felt just the spirit of teaching and revelation come over me, and that's what I intend to do tonight. Now, there's a mistake we often make when we hear teaching. We just kind of like, "Okay, well, that's just gonna be that. We're gonna have a lecture, and then we're gonna go home." That's not how this works. Spiritual comes in many different forms.

So I believe it is teaching that can lead us to a deeper faith and can lead us to a deeper place in the dimension of the spirits. That's what happens when we teach. So I don't want you to limit what can happen tonight just because I said the word "teach." Okay? Amen.

Genesis chapter 1, verse 24. I'm only gonna read a few verses here. Genesis chapter 1, verse 24 says, "Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind.'" That word "creature" there is the Hebrew word "behemah." Then it goes on and it gives it a different title, says "cattle," "creeping thing," and "beast of the earth." The word "beast" there—I'm thankful that the NKJV uses that word. I believe the ESV also uses it. It's very intentional, and that is the appropriate translation of that Hebrew word.

So I want to highlight the title that's given. It says it's a "beast of the earth," each according to its kind, and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and God saw that it was good.

On the same day, though, God creates another creature. And I use "creature" again because that's what we were called. The Bible refers to humans in verse 26 as creatures or a "behemah." We are not referred to as beasts, okay? That's intentional. When you read it in Hebrew, it's much clearer.

But look, on the same day—day six—two beings are made. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image." The "us" there is the angelic host. That is not debated within theology. I've had multiple professors in seminary; we have discussed this to great length. The "us" is—he's looking at the angelic host in heaven, and he says, "Hey, I got a great idea. Let's make mankind like this: free will agents that can do whatever they want to, but let's put some flesh on them. They'll be like us but in the natural realm."

So according to our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man—see that? See what happened there? God—it goes into singular speech—so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them.

I want to stop right there, and I want to talk to you tonight about the mark of a beast. Okay? Now, I want you to just kind of erase everything for a moment that you've ever heard. I want you to erase tattoos on a forehead. I want you to just kind of like toss all that aside for me. If you want to pick it up and bring it home with you later, that's up to you. But for these few moments, I just want you to hear the Bible, okay?

So let's toss all of that aside. Would you lift up your hands and would you ask God for the spirit of revelation? I'm not gonna pray for you. I'm not gonna coach you. I'm not gonna push you. I'm not gonna raise my voice. I want you to lift up your voices. Let God know you want revelation tonight.

In the name of Jesus, I thank you for your word. I thank you, Almighty God, for your spirits. Oh Lord, when your spirit moves, we will understand your word. I submit myself unto you tonight, Almighty God, that you would minister through me this evening in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Would you just say, "I believe I'm gonna receive revelation"? Amen. You can be seated.

I choose that passage because you have to understand that when you read your Bible, you are not reading a Bible that was written in North America. This is a Middle Eastern book. So when these authors that are later in the Bible—John and Paul and Peter—when they begin to speak, they're speaking a language. The language that they are speaking from is Bible.

It's kind of like when you have one of those close friends that lives through movie quotes. They're constantly cracking jokes about something they saw in media, and if you've never seen the show, you have no idea what they're talking about because they're speaking a language. For the authors of the New Testament, they are the ones who are speaking from their media. They don't have Netflix; they don't have Disney Plus. What they are speaking from is their media; they're speaking from Bible.

So to understand what John the revelator is saying, we need to understand his language. So part of their culture, part of the things they understand, goes all the way back to Genesis, as much does. And what we see here is God says, "Let us make man in our image."

I've had whole classes that were just on that preposition "in." Let me talk to you about that preposition "in." In Hebrew, the word or preposition "in" is used very similar to the way it's used in English. For example, I could say, "I wrote a letter in ink." The preposition is denoting the type that was used in writing. I could also say, "There is coffee in that cup." Prepositions now use differently. The "in" is telling you where the coffee is.

But then I can use it a third way. I can say, "I work in ministry." That is denoting my function. I'm not a minister; I am a human. So I am telling you my function. The way that the grammar breaks down in the Hebrew when he said, "Let us make man in our image," the "in" right there—don't have time to go into all the grammar—but the "in" we know is used as function.

God looked at humanity and said, "Wherever you are should be as if I were there." Image is a verb. You're an imager. You have the job of imaging. Wherever you are, you should have been spending time with the Father, finding out what he's like, and then replicating that so that wherever you are, it's as if he were there. That was the calling; that was everything.

So that's very important, but of utmost importance is on day six, two creatures are made. Humans are second on day six. The beast was created first, and to the second born on day six, God tells him, he says, "I want you to have dominion over the beast. Your diet is gonna be different. Here's what you're gonna eat: you're gonna eat fruit," is what the Bible says in Genesis.

And he says to the beast, "You're gonna eat from the grass of the ground." And the Bible tells us that there was a beast of the field; it was wiser than all the other ones. And it appears that he's not real keen on this dominion being given to the second born. And this adversary comes along, and with cunning and craftiness—the Hebrew word there for wisdom is "arum." It means it's cunning; it's wisdom but used for folly.

And he comes along and he cheats us out of—we sell him our birthrights of the birth order. He says, "You shouldn't—basically, you shouldn't have dominion over me. You're second. This isn't the way things go." And we sold our birthright.

Now watch what God does. He comes along, and this is the curse, okay? He tells us, he says, "Cursed now are you. You're gonna eat from the grass of the ground." What was our diet before that? Fruit. So what's happening? I mean, from the grass of the ground? What else? Oh, and he takes the garment of a beast and he puts it on Adam and Eve. You've become an animal. You're no longer in my image.

So what is important there is I know we like to use the word "sin," and when we say "sin," we're automatically thinking of a list of terrible things. That is literally not what the Hebrew word "sin" means. The Hebrew word for sin is "chata." It literally means "miss." In fact, did you know that sin—the English word—comes from the Latin word? It's an archery word; it means "miss."

So sin leads to transgression. Transgression leads to iniquity. What is transgression? Transgression is when you break a covenant. And did you know that if in Israel, if someone broke into your house and stole from you, did you know that they're not a transgressor? They're a thief. If your brother breaks into your house and steals from you, he's a transgressor. Why? Because you had no covenant relationship with the thief, but you do have a covenant relationship with your brother.

And so if he breaks covenant with you, he's a transgressor, which leads us to the third and final form, which is iniquity. That's the Hebrew word "avon." It means distorted, warped, disfigured. Now remember, our calling is image. And so when mankind missed the mark of dominion over an animal and loving that being in the garden whose image we were to replicate, when we love the beast more than the Father, we broke covenant.

And when we broke covenant, we were distorted. And God said, "Let me show you what you now look like from heaven's perspective." And he put hairy garments on the human and said, "You no longer look like me. Sin, transgression, and iniquity has had its perfect work in you. You are now distorted. You are no longer what I created; you are a beast."

Now watch the rest of the Bible. This is where I'm just—revelation's gonna start pouring out. Watch what happens right outside of the garden. Adam and Eve have two boys—firstborn and secondborn. The secondborn offers God an animal sacrifice, and God accepts it. The firstborn, God does not accept his offering, and the firstborn gets mad about it.

And watch what the graciousness of God does. He comes to Cain and he says, "Why are you so upset? Don't you know that if you would do well, you too would be accepted?" You see the beauty and the grace of God? God's not mean. He came to him with revelation, says, "If you would do well, you too will be received."

And then he tells him this: he says, "Sin is crouching at the door." In Hebrew, he uses all animal verbs. "You must have dominion over it." So there's a new animal out there now that I've got to have dominion over—the animal of missing the mark. Cain doesn't have dominion over it; he kills his secondborn brother.

It just—there's more and more. Who found favor in the eyes of God? Noah. And God has him build an ark. And watch what God does. He comes to him and he tells him about judgment coming. He tells him, "I'm gonna turn this world back into what it was before I showed up. I'm gonna allow the water that I hovered over in Genesis one; I'm gonna allow that chaos to come back and to annihilate everything. But to the ones who found favor in my eyes, those that have been like me, I am coming to you with a plan to avoid the chaos that's coming. So build a boat."

And here's how I'm gonna give you the instructions. I want an upper deck, a middle deck, and a lower deck. One boat. Don't build me three; build me one boat with three floors. Inside of it, there's gonna be one door in the side, and there's gonna be a window positioned upwards. And I want you to take pitch—what your English Bible says—put it on the outside and put it on the inside.

Now the word "pitch" is very interesting because that's the Hebrew word. That word shows up later on another ark called the Ark of the Covenant. It got translated "kafár." There, it got translated to "atonement." The word "kafár" means "spread" or "smear something on top of." And so the translator said, "Well, smear something on the outside, smear something on the inside. That must be tar because that's what you do to keep water out."

God was telling him, he says, "I want you to put atonement on the outside, put atonement on the inside. And here's what I want you to do, Noah, because you are in my image. I want you to have dominion over every animal and bring them into this little micro Eden."

Because remember, in the garden, there was a garden in Eden. Everybody talks about Eden being the promised place. No, the garden was Eden. The outer courts—the garden in Eden was the most holy place where humans dwelled with God. And outside of that was the wilderness portion. There were three levels to that creation. There are three floors, and that's what God has called us. He says, "Build me a little micro Eden, have dominion over animals, and it'll save you."

Oh, and by the way, Noah, do you know what your name is in Hebrew? It's "rest." Noah's not a name; that's a Hebrew word. It means "rest." And rest is inside of the salvation. And you know where the salvation lands? On top of Mount Ararat. That's not just some random mountain. You notice there's no steering mechanism on the ark because the wind was driving it. You don't drive this, Noah; I do. I send the salvation where I want it to go. You don't.

And that salvation landed on top of Mount Ararat, which is the Hebrew word for "curse." On top of a cursed hill is salvation. And Noah looks out and he sees nothing but chaos, and he sends the dove out. And the dove comes back, and he's like, "Nah, bro, don't leave, man. That's chaos out there."

Okay, he rests for seven days. Why? Because his father, Noah's father, Lamech, prophesied, "The Lord will send us rest concerning the toil of our hands, and he will heal our land." And his father, Lamech, died at the age of 777, and he's the one who named his son "rest."

And rest says, "Okay, there's chaos still out there. Let's rest for seven days." He rests for seven days, he sends the dove out, the dove comes back, and he says, "No, you ain't believe this. There are some olive branches out there. Eden is growing amongst the chaos. There's fruit happening again."

And he shows him, he says, "There's something—the chaos is diminishing, and Eden is emerging." And he says, "Okay, let's rest a second cycle of seven." He rests for another seven days, sends the dove out, the dove doesn't return. Noah rests seven more days—777.

He comes out of the ark, builds an altar, and God speaks to him, and he says, "It's a sweet-smelling savor. I'll never again destroy the earth, though the thoughts of man are evil continually." Well, that was why you destroyed the earth, was because our thoughts were evil continually. Now you're saying you will never destroy it again, and we have not changed. What's different?

Oh, that altar on that cursed hill—that's what's different. The rest in the salvation is what's different. Can you prove it? Yes, I'm gonna give you a sign, a good faith, and he sets a rainbow. Everywhere—trace it in the Bible—everywhere there's a covenant made with God's people, God never just said, "Hey, I'm gonna promise you I'm not gonna do this." He never did that. He always gave an accompanying sign that followed it. That's everywhere in the Bible.

And he says, "Here's the sign that I won't destroy the earth with water," and he sets a bow. Rain is not in the text; it's just "bow." God was a man of war, and he set his bow down and said, "No more war."

And then Noah comes down, and what does he do? He plants a vineyard, and he gets drunk on the produce. He's producing fruit, and he gets drunk on the produce, and he's laying naked and ashamed in a tent. Y'all, that's Eden part 2.

You fast forward, and then you start getting these heirs of promise, and you see Ishmael is the illegitimate firstborn, and the Bible said he was a wild donkey of a man. Then you have Isaac, and God says to the secondborn, "I'm gonna give the covenant." The firstborn, the animal, is not gonna get it; the secondborn gets it.

You go forward a little bit more, and you get Jacob and Esau. The firstborn, Esau, comes out a hairy man, and he's a man of the field. The secondborn comes out; his name is Jacob. And watch what the secondborn does. He gets a birthright back, but he does it the wrong way. He does it with deception. Thus, his name, "Yaakov" in Hebrew, which means "deceiver."

Deceiver wrestles with an angel, and this is what the angel looks at him and says, "Who are you?" He wasn't asking his name; he was searching for confession. And he looked at him and he says, "I'm me, Jacob," in Hebrew, which means "I'm a deceiver."

And he says, "Okay, you didn't blame it on your brother; you didn't blame it like Adam and Eve on the circumstances. You confessed and took ownership of what you are. Your name is no longer 'Yaakov'; your name is now 'Israel.'" Through confession, his name was changed because names are everything in the Bible.

Do you know why I had a whole class? You know why the devil has no name in your Bible? Satan's not a name, by the way; that's a title. Everywhere in the Bible, it's the Satan. Satan literally means "opposer," "gossiper," "slanderer." That's not a name. Lucifer is not a name; that's a Latin word that never got translated over into English.

That's the Latin transliterated verse; it literally just means "son of the morning." Devil's not a name; that means "demigod." That's "damon" on "demon." Those are not names; those are titles. He's a father of lies; he's a son of perdition, and he's an evil spirit. He's only given titles.

And I asked a rabbi, I said, "Why is the adversary not given a name anywhere in the Bible?" And he says, "Because he's not worthy of a name." And in our Jewish culture, when we take from you a name, we strip you of dignity.

This is why everywhere in the Bible they baptized in a name, because without the name, you have robbed him of his dignity. And the name that he was given is not just some random name. The name Jesus comes from the Greek "Iesous." "Iesous" comes from the Hebrew "Yahushua," which means "Yahweh saves," which is why Paul said there's salvation in no other name, because his name literally means "Yahweh saves."

So when you're in the water and you cry out "Jesus" in Hebrew, you're saying he's the only one able to save. And when you call on his name, that preacher who has his hand on you is not the one baptizing you anymore. When you said his name, he himself comes down into that water, and Yahweh is baptizing you as a representative of the one that you're imaging.

But then there's more. We have another set of firstborn, secondborn. Judah sleeps with his daughter-in-law because she clothes herself as a harlot because she really wants a son, and Judah has forbidden her from having a son at this point. And so she tricks him. She goes, "I must have a son," so she sleeps with him under the cloak of a harlot. Her name is Tamar, which is funny because it's the Hebrew for "fruit tree." He picked the wrong tree; it's the tree test. That's a whole other discussion.

But he sleeps with her, and she has twins now in her womb. The firstborn, Zerah, comes out, and his arm comes out, and the midwife wraps a scarlet thread around his hand, thus marking him. That's the firstborn; that's the one. There's two in the womb; that's the firstborn, so he's gonna get the blessing.

But then all of a sudden, the secondborn comes out, "Phares," which in Hebrew means "breach forth" or "breakthrough." Phares came out first, and so they didn't honor Phares in that culture because Zerah, his twin brother, his hand came out first, and it was marked with a scarlet thread.

So Zerah, even though he came out second because his brother beat him, he gets the firstborn blessing because his hand came out. He was the one marked. Why am I telling you that? Because when you get to the book of Joshua, Joshua was about to invade, and he's about to conquer Jericho. And as he's warring, he tells him, he goes, "Don't take anything there. Don't take any of the gold; don't take any of the silver."

There's a lot of gold, silver, there's garments, precious stones there. "Take none of that; that's all dedicated to God. You take nothing." And there is a guy there named Achan, whose father is Zerah. He's from Judah. His father is the one who came out with the arm marked, and he missed. He got the blessing even though he was born second. He should have gotten the secondborn, but he didn't; he's marked with a thread.

Achan goes in and decides, "I'm gonna steal the gold; I'm gonna steal the silver." He goes into Jericho. Joshua, by the way, that's the Hebrew name for Jesus in the futures—the only book in the Bible named after Jesus is named after him.

Josh was on the battlefield; they blow seven trumpets, that whole thing, and there's seven priests marching for seven days, seven times the seventh day they blow seven trumpets, the walls fall. Achan goes in and takes the gold, the silver, the precious coats, and all those things, and now they're no longer blessed.

Meanwhile, there is a woman in Jericho named Rahab who is a harlot, and guess what? She's marked with a scarlet thread just like Zerah. And guess what? She is now grafted into the tribe of Judah, and Achan is moved out. God moves Achan, who is the prince royal of Judah, and moves him out and puts a prostitute—a former prostitute—into the lineage of faith. She is now assuming through Phares the firstborn order.

I know that this is a lot; go study it yourself. But now a Gentile has been grafted into the tribe of Judah through Phares, who rightfully took the firstborn spot even though he was supposed to be secondborn. And both Zerah and Rahab were marked with scarlet.

He said, "I'm moving this marked by a scarlet out of the way, and I'm bringing that one that's been marked by scarlet in."

Let's look at Jacob or let's look at Elijah and Elisha. Now, Jews believe that the hairy garment that Elijah was wearing as a prophet was passed down from Adam. Can't prove that; I'm not gonna make a theology out of it; that's bad exegesis. But it's interesting because there he is. He is at a Jordan River, and he tells Elisha, "Elisha says, 'I want the anointing that you have.'" He says, "If you see me taking away, then you'll get it."

Sure enough, the chariot of fire comes, picks him up, takes him off, the garment falls. He takes the garment, strikes the Jordan River. The word "Jordan" in Hebrew means "to descend." And at the rivers of dissension, this is where this all happens. He moves out, and he still has the hairy garments. That's important; it's gonna come back later.

This is how we're supposed to read our Bible. They're speaking the language of Bible, so we're supposed to collect all their language and listen to them with biblical ears.

So Daniel—y'all know Daniel, right? Watch what Daniel does. Daniel goes into Babylon as a slave, and while he's there, he says, "Daniel 1:8, I will not defile myself with a portion of the king's meat." Does anybody know the diet he adheres to? Fruit. He goes back to the Edenic diet in a world called Babylon. Babylon means "confused" in Hebrew.

In his confused world, he says, "Y'all might be confused, but I'm going back home to Eden." And that's why he looked out his window towards Jerusalem three times a day and prayed. And guess what? The king, Nebuchadnezzar, is in Babylon, and he looks out and he says, "Look at all this kingdom I have made."

And immediately, an angel comes down to him and says, "Because of your pride, you're going to be—" you might know the rest of that story—"turned into a beast." And Nebuchadnezzar is out there eating grass with long fingernails, and his hair's grown thick and matted. He's an animal.

And Daniel has a vision of beasts rising out of the sea. The sea, to Jews, means chaos. I see beasts rising out of a chaotic system, but Daniel sees something else. Daniel sees one likened to the Son of Man. "Son of Man" just means "human." For example, if a Jew saw me, they would call us "sons of UPC." It's of the order you follow.

That's why the Bible calls them "sons of the prophets." It doesn't mean their daddies are prophets; they're of the order of the prophets. And so "son of Adam," "Ben Adam," it just means you're human. That's—you're of the order of humanity. And Daniel sees a human rising up to the ancient of days.

And the ancient of days is described; he has hair like wool, eyes like fire, feet like burnished bronze. The ancient of days does not speak. And so we see this, and like, "Well, man, there's gonna be two maybe? What is this? What is that?"

Jesus comes along, and watch how all of this comes together. There's tons more, but I'm not gonna drown you with stuff here. Jesus shows up; he goes into the Jordan River, and a guy wearing hairy garments baptizes him, and they think he's of the spirit of Elijah. He baptizes Jesus, and a dove comes down.

Now here's what we do in America: we formalize everything because we have formula. We have our alphabet; we have our mathematics; we have our sciences. They don't have that in Hebrew antiquity. In fact, they don't even have numbers; they count with their letters. They don't have separate things.

So they're not looking at a formula: "1 plus 1 plus 1 equals 3." They do not see that; that is foreign to them. That is us inferring our North American context over the Bible, and that is bad. As I said, Jesus—that means you're imposing something onto the text that was not there.

What they do is they see letters plus letters plus letters equals the rest of the story. So for them, what they do is they speak Bible. The dove that landed on Jesus—they're referring back to Noah, and they see Jesus in the water, the way, the truth, the life.

You see, people get frustrated: "How can he be the spirit?" Let me throw one harder at you. He said that he was the lamb; he also said he was the high priest; and he also said in John that he was the tabernacle.

Now do you understand how hard that is? Because the priests would go to the tabernacle and kill the lamb. How can you be the place where the lamb was killed, the lamb which was slain, and the priests which laid the lamb? Because I'm the way, the truth, the life.

So what they saw was the Father; they saw Noah's dove. What that was was the dove was coming down and said, "Do you see what's happening? Eden is in our midst. There is an Eden emerging out of the water right now. Eden is amongst us. He is the ark of our salvation," which is why Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. I am the first floor. When you come through me, you get to the second floor. When you get to the second floor, there's the third floor—the Father. But there's one boat; I am the door."

He said, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me." This is what Jesus was doing. They were speaking from a biblical language based on all of these scriptures. This is why Jesus said, "Come unto me, all that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

So you're better than Noah; I am salvation. You rest in me. He that is in me will bear much fruit. By the way, what was the job of a priest to do every single day? Kill an animal. You see, you talk all about the mark of a beast. Have you—has he might told you about the mark of a priest? Guess what was on the forehead of the priests? "Holy unto God."

And his job, day in and day out, kill animals, kill animals. Why am I telling you all this? Jesus, after he was baptized, the Bible says he was thrust into the wilderness in Mark 1:2 to be tempted of the Satan and was with the beast. What's that all about?

He reveals it to us when he comes out, and Nicodemus asked him the question in John 3. He has this question; he says, "I don't understand all these things you do." And Jesus looks at him and he says, "Except a man be born again with the water and the spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

"How can I enter into my mother's womb a second time?" He's like, "No, no, this is a different birth. That which is born of the flesh—pause—the word 'flesh' there is the Greek word 'sarks.' You want to know what it means? Animal-like behavior. That which is born of the animal is an animal, but that which is born of the spirit is a spirit."

Why did Jesus tell him that? Jesus was coming for a marriage, and according to Leviticus 18, it's an abomination for a man to lie with a beast. And so he looks at us; he says, "I cannot marry you because you're distorted because of the mark of a beast that's on you. I have to restore you through spiritual rebirth to get you back into the proper place to where me and you can enter into covenantal relationship. I cannot assign covenant to you as an animal. It is an abomination according to my law to lie with a beast."

So the only way that me and you can enter covenant relationship is you're gonna have to be born again. Well, how does that work? He says, "Look at the wind." I don't see the wind? No, exactly; that's what the spirit is.

How do you know it exists? By the sound that you hear thereof. Has anyone ever seen the wind? You see the effects of the wind when it hits the tangible, and you hear the effects of the wind when it partners with the tangible, and that's how you know it exists.

You have the way your faith has helped in believing in the wind is because of the effects it has on what can be seen and the sound that you hear when it hits what you can see. That's what Jesus said. He said, "And so it is of everyone who was born again of the spirit."

I don't have time to talk to you about going all the way back to Genesis when Adam and Eve failed, and they heard the voice of God blowing in the cool of the day. The word "cool" there is "ruach," which is spirit, and the voice of God right there is the Hebrew word "cool." It means "language."

I don't have time to talk to you all about when Moses went up to Mount Sinai 50 days after they passed through the Red Sea. By the way, did you know that Moses baptized Israel in the name of Jesus? Let me prove it to you. They come to the foot of the Red Sea, and they see Egypt closing in, and the Israelites say, "Did you bring us out into the wilderness to die? Were there not enough graves in Egypt? Did you let us here and Moses says, 'Do not fear. See the salvation of the Lord.'"

Salvation of the Lord is in Hebrew, "See Yah'shua." And when he said "see," the word "Lord" there, they replaced Yahweh with "Lord" because they were too afraid to say the sacred name. He said, "See the salvation of the Lord." He said "Yah'shua," and when he did, the waters parted, and they went through.

Mind you, they were one mile from going around the waters. They could have easily said, "Let's just go around the waters." If you do, Egypt never stops. But if you go through the water, then Egypt can never follow you again because Egypt will try to follow you, but they don't; they're beasts.

And so when Daniel saw beasts rising out of the sea, he's speaking from the language. He says, "I see one like Pharaoh, that antichrist, coming up out of chaos. He's being reborn; he's coming back for a season and a time." They're speaking from their language.

But Jesus doesn't stop there. He says, "I'm gonna give you a way that you can be born again. I'm gonna enter covenantal relationship, but I cannot marry a beast. I have to marry what's in my image." This is why Isaiah 53 said—remember what sin, transgression, iniquity means?

He said that he would be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. This is what Jesus said he would do. He said, "I'll go to the cross, and I will be beaten beyond recognition because you're beyond recognition. And the only way to get you back in the rightful image is I have to have this earthly image that I partnered with destroyed. I will take the penalty that you brought on yourself. I'll be beaten; I'll be mutilated."

And the result of all of that—I don't know why this is why the author of Hebrews says, "How can you deny so great a salvation?" I don't understand the argument; I don't get it. Why would you reject such a precious gift? I'm so burdened with the church nowadays that if I preach the gospel, you look at me and you're just like, "Well, is there anything else you got? I want to know about angels and demons and all that."

There is no better gospel. If I move past the cross where he was mutilated on my behalf, then I have been moved past a feeling. This is why Paul said, he says, "You have left the simplicity that is Christ." This is why Paul called Jesus the second Adam. I am the secondborn, and the first is last, and the last is now gonna be first.

And he comes out of the line—read Matthew—of Phares and Rahab. When he went to that cross, the cursed hill provided us rest. And at that cursed hill, he was rolling back sins. And then he comes out of the ground. What day was the trees made? Day three. He was buried as the prophesied seed of woman, and when he went into the ground, he resurrects on the third day.

And in Genesis, there were two angels guarding the way to the tree of life lest we reach out and grab it. The reason why God did that is because we were cursed, and if we get from the tree of life, we live eternally cursed. And so Jesus said, "Let me reverse the curse; then I'll give you eternity back. I don't want you to live eternally cursed."

So for a season and a time, I will disallow you access to the tree of life, but I'm giving it back. But first, we got to get rid of this curse thing. And so Jesus removes our curse; he goes to that cross, he's buried, resurrects on the third day.

Mary goes looking for him, which she is a type of Eden, Eve going back into Eden. And when she's there, she looks into the tomb, and what does she find? Two angels. That's the angels that were guarding the way to the tree of life and said, "He's not here."

She goes outside looking for him, and she sees a gardener. Why a gardener? Because in Genesis, God planted a garden in Eden. The most wondrous passage in the Bible is when she sees Jesus as a gardener. She's looking explicitly at God. He says, "I'm fixing this whole garden thing."

Then John the revelator—John sees what Daniel didn't get to see. He sees the ancient of days just like Daniel did, and he said he has hair like wool, eyes like fire, feet like burnished bronze. His voice was the voice of many waters. And then he says, "And the ancient of days spoke."

The ancient of days never spoke in the book of Daniel. John hears the ancient of days himself, and listen to what the ancient of days says himself. This settles the debate. Well, there's God the Father; then there's Jesus the Son. That "Son of Man" means that he came as a human.

And you say, "Well, that's too—" well, listen, out of the mouth of the ancient of days, which is God, listen to what he says to John. He says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the beginning and the end. I am the one who died, and I live forevermore." That is one human in all of human history. His name was Yah'shua, and he says, "I am the one who died on behalf of everybody else."

And here I am alive. That is—that's why Revelation opens up with, "This is a revelation of Jesus." Revelation's not a book for you to crack the end time code and figure it all out so you can know how close to follow the line so that you can get it right at the last minute. That's not the point of Revelation; it's a revelation of Jesus.

And guess what? That revelation book is based off of Joshua—the book of Joshua. No, brother Holloway, it's Daniel. Daniel is a brush stroke, but the frame is Joshua. There were two witnesses that were sent in to Rahab, right? And those two witnesses went to her, and they told her, said, "If you stay in this house, you will be saved. And if you put that scarlet thread blowing in the wind, you're gonna be perfectly fine."

I know you got a tainted past; I know you're not one of us; you're a Gentile. But if you hang that scarlet thread in the window, all is gonna be fine. And suddenly there are seven priests who marched for seven days and blow seven trumpets.

John is repeating all of that before—oh, by the way, Joshua, when he crosses through the Jordan, the Bible says that the waters piled up to a heap at the city of Adam, which is next to Zarathayn. Adam is Hebrew for "human," and Zarathayn is "pierced."

When Joshua's foot hit the Jordan River, all the waters piled up at the city of human next to the city of pierced. And when he crossed over, the waters gushed forth, and they spilled out, and he was entering into the promised land. And he started making war. He then sanctifies the people by instituting—reinstituting circumcision.

He sends the two witnesses into Jericho, and they tell Rahab because she protects them, "I want you to hang the scarlet thread in the window." All of that. And then they come out. When they blow the trumpets, Rahab is not feeling the way Jericho does. When Rahab hears trumpets, she's not fearful like Jericho because she knows, "I've got word from the Israelites that by hanging this out there, I'm gonna be saved from whatever comes."

There are two reasons why the Church of God is afraid during the end times when the trumpets are blasting. Right now, I don't know if you realize this, but we are right smack dab in the middle. There's no prophecies left. Israel and Hamas is not a prophecy; that is a result that's going to open up prophecy.

Did you know that Vladimir Putin just said a couple of weeks ago, he says, "That Israel is my target"? It means nothing to you until you read the book of Revelation, and it says, "And the King of the North will be given an evil thought." The King of the North has just received an evil thought, and the adversary just gave him a thought and said, "Put Israel in your crosshairs."

And he is focusing all his attention right now. He says, "Next time, I'm gonna war against Israel." And what that means is we are right in the middle of the end times. And if you're afraid of the trumpets blasting, it's one of two reasons: you don't have revelation of the scarlet thread even though you are spared, or two, you have some secret life like Achan that you don't want him to come back yet because you haven't made it all right.

That's the only two reasons the Church of God doesn't fear when the trumpet sounds, because through the ears of the harlot, we hear there's trumpets coming. That means my redemption is drawing nigh, and I'm about to enter into covenantal relationship with the tribe of Judah because through Rahab, she begins up with Salmone, and Salmone ends up with Boaz, Boaz with David, David with Jesus.

So now I ask you, what is the mark of a beast? Let me read to you Galatians 5. After Acts, you know why a rushing mighty wind came through that room? To the Jews, they heard the voice of God is blowing in the wind again. And what was the result? How do they know the spirit came into Acts 2? They knew it by the sound.

That is the reversal of Babel. Babel is where all of the nations were dispersed by a tongue, and God says in Revelation, he says, "Babylon is going to be that great harlot," and he speaks to, "If he was, has come out from her."

When in Acts, when they spoke with another tongue, they were leaving the old order of Babylon and coming into the kingdom. And so coming out of Babel has a sound, but it doesn't just end with baptism in the name and with a sound from heaven.

Listen, salvation is conception. The one who is conceiving is the church, and with the church is intimate with the groom because we're in covenant relationship. Babes are conceived. Conception happens when there's baptism and Holy Ghost and filling signs of speaking in tongues because everywhere he gives a covenant comes with a tangible sign.

And so when we are conceived, we are in the womb. You have not entered into the fullness of the kingdom yet. When we are called out of here into heaven, we will have been born into the kingdom. The firstborn has gone before you. Jesus has already entered in.

He came in the flesh as our brother. This is why Paul said the whole world languishes in travail and birthing pains at the revelation of the sons of God. But now that you're conceived, any mother in this room knows conception is a beautiful thing, and we celebrate conception, but we have peace when the baby grows.

Listen to what Paul says: "I say then, walk in the spirit; you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." The word "flesh" there is the same Greek word Jesus used. It starts—it's animal-like behavior. "For the flesh, the animal-like behavior lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law."

Now the works of the flesh are evident, and he tells us which are: fornication, adultery. Fornication is the Greek word "pornea," which is where we get our English word "pornography." It just means simply illicit sex. You are demeaning an imager into an object for your lustful desires. You have replaced a daughter of God with an object, and you have treated the highest image on this earth as such.

You'll notice that his speech builds upon one another: uncleanness, it's impure, lustful, luxurious living that leads to lasciviousness, unbridled excess. And then you see how it's warping, and it's growing, and it's maturing. The animal is grown.

Watch what it leads to. Uncleanness leads to lasciviousness; lasciviousness leads to idolatry. "I don't bow down and worship my things." Well, our phone bill shows our devotion. You know, you may not bow down to it, but your time betrays us.

Witchcraft—this comes from the Greek word "pharmakeia," which is where we get our English word "pharmacy." And before you demonize Advil, what they had to do in the ancient world is they had to get someone out of their mind in order to tap them into doing insane things they would never do otherwise in a coherent mind.

And so the only way that you could worship something false and really participate with these things was to be intoxicated by something. Now let me help you here. Before you start demonizing and saying, "Well, no more this, no more that, no more that," let me add one to the list for you. Did you know that it's already come out that your cell phone—every like on social media gives you the same dopamine hit as alcohol, sex, and drugs?

So congratulations, you may not be hitting the bottle, but you were intoxicated with a pseudo life on a world that isn't even real. And I'm not demonizing social media; I believe we're gonna have social media missionaries. I believe that we can reach the world through these avenues. I'm not demonizing that, but you have to have dominion over it.

I'm not this hardcore, "This and this and only this." I believe that everything needs your coherent mind saying, "Okay, that's enough. I'm getting more affirmation from these little digital hearts that don't even exist in reality more than I am from God who says that I'm his son and daughter."

Hatred, variance means having contentious with emulations. This is a good one: zeal. Emulation means zeal of defending anything just to do it. I know ministers of the gospel right now that can't even talk to each other over a football game. That's—that's an animal. That's not the image of—that's an animal. That's what animals do.

Wrath, it's passionate anger. Strife, it's a desire to put oneself forward. It's the king of the hill; it's the lion's pride; it's the ape beating his chest. Seditions, that's causing division. Heresies—this is a good one. It's a body of men following their own tenets. One translation calls it a political party.

You think it's interesting that all the world is divided over an elephant and a donkey? I'm not trying to make something out of everything here, but I do find it funny in being self-explanatory. It's dogs fighting over their own food.

Murderers, drunkenness, revelings. He says this is the appetite of an animal. They eat from the grass, which has no substance. But then he switches gears, and he does what Daniel did. He says, "But they which are led by the spirit shall be called the sons of God."

And listen to their diet: for the fruit—this is how you know you've come home. This is how you know. I'm so thankful for salvation, but I want to see the baby grow. I'm not—congratulations, you spoke with tongues and all of that, and you were baptized in his name, but you still cuss people out, and you still gossip all the time. Are you growing, or are you warped inside the womb?

Is there a birth defect in you? If you're not following the whole Bible and only part of it, there's a birth defect, and you're not fully transformed into his image—the full image of God. And the result of salvation is when you start loving people. When you have joy, you have peace, you begin to produce patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness.

And here's a good one: here's what's gonna have a lot of dominion over the beast. God's going to give you some self-control. Self-control looks at the animal and says, "No, I'm imaging the one whose image is highest in this world. He is the one who—he's my twin according to the flesh, and I'm trying to look like him because he has already been born into the kingdom through the flesh, and I'm following after on his heels. I want to look just like him. I have the same genetic code as him because I was baptized by the same blood he had, and so therefore I bear his name. I bear his image. I want to come into the fullness of his kingdom."

The kingdom is already here because you're in the womb, and you can hear sounds of the kingdom through the mother's womb—the church. And you can hear heavenly things, but it's still unclear right now because we're in the womb. But there's coming a day, and it's going to be any moment now where there's gonna be a trumpet sound.

And to the babies, to the Rahabs, the sound of the trumpet means something very different to me and you than it does to all of Jericho. According to Revelation, Babylon is worried about it, but John said, "Come out from her harlotry."

And those of us who have come out of Babylon through the reversal of Babylon through the tongue, you and I are coming into a kingdom. We're in a womb, and we're about to receive the inheritance. How do you know that, brother Holloway? Because the firstborn has already received it, and he is our inheritance. He is our guarantor. He is the one who says, "I was born into the kingdom, and everyone who's born like me, those that follow this pattern, get the same thing I got."

That's why he went and prepared a place for us. He is the dove that left and hasn't come back because he's preparing a place for us, and he is on his way. He says, "In my Father's house are many rooms." There was no room for me when I came to this earth; there was no room for me in the inn.

But what I will tell you is when you come to my house, there will be plenty of room for you. There's room for all of us. So do not fear the end times. Don't fret.

Now here's the thing: I'm coming to a close. In literary form, there's two types of major literature: tragedy and comedy. When you hear comedy, you think of laughter, but in a literary sense, comedy is set in contrast to tragedy. And the thing that separates the two is time.

Tragedy, for example, is when the protagonist is hit with a series of obstacles and doesn't come through in time; thus, it's a tragedy. Comedy is juxtaposed or contrasted to it on the other side. It's when the protagonist is hit with a multitude of obstacles but then comes through in time.

The book of Esther, in literary form, is a comedy. And the reason why is because how in the world—this looked like it was going to be a tragedy, but it all worked out in the end. Here's how: you're not the protagonist; he is. The book of Revelation is written in literary sense as a comedy because it sounds like a tragedy.

And this is where almost the whole church is divided: is he taking us out before or after all the problems? You see, the unique thing about Revelation, it's an epic. It's got comedy and tragedy. The church is going to go through some problems. We have not been appointed unto wrath. Why? He's not a wife beater; the world is, though.

So we're going to see what the word—the Bible uses a stable; it means pressure. And here's how the world's gonna know. Here's what God is waiting on for those of us who are growing up. I came for the mature tonight. I didn't come to you tonight with milk; I came specifically with meat because God is looking for maturity amongst our generation.

And here's what he's looking for: when we go through problems, the world gets a revelation of our faith. This is why Israel is hit with three plagues of the ten. Why? Because Egypt needed to see how God's people can handle the problems. But what you signed up for was the hashtag blessed life.

Have you read Matthew? Blessed are those who mourn; blessed are those who are reviled. I don't know what Bible you've been reading or what televangelist has been lying to you, but blessings come in the form of pressure. That's why Peter said, "Through manifold temptations, it worketh in you patience."

But a North American lazy beast-like church, we pursue our hungers. So this is what I ask you: are you marked with the mark of a beast? Because what John says is he says it be marked on the forehead and on the hand. Well, guess what? He's quoting from Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 6, by the way, he says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, your strength."

And he tells him, he says, "To never forget this. I want you to bind it on the frontlets of your head and bind it about thy right hand." So to bind something on your forehead and your right hand in Jewish culture meant you are completely devoted to something.

And John uses that terminology, says, "Here's how you're gonna know in the end times if they're wholly devoted to God. You'll know it by what's bound upon the frontlets of their mind and about their hands."

And here's what I know: some of us have already been marked with the mark of a beast so that when a literal mark comes, we'll buy into it. Because here's what I know: during a pandemic, when you lost your comforts, you will do—we have not been designed; we have not been trained for pressure. We have been prepped for comfort.

We are Laodicea. Let me tell you this: six years ago, after my little boy passed away, I had a dream. Before he passed away, I wrote Michael, and this is what the dream was. Byron Hippolyte was in the dream, and in that dream, Byron looked at me and he said, "You're two men away from getting everything God has promised he would give you."

I woke up the next morning; I was going into my prayer time, and my friend Byron called me. This is in real life. He called me the night after this dream. I'm going to the prayer room, and he called me, and he said, "What you doing?" I said, "I'm going into prayer." And brother Byron was coming out of it, and he said, "The Lord told me to tell you that he's assigned you two angels that will never leave your side."

I told him the dream; he didn't know what it meant. I had no idea what any of that meant. Fast forward, my son passes away in October. I am driving home from work. I was working at the church at the time. This is around January, and I just—I went on our story, went viral. We were all over Fox News and all the stuff because it was a horrific thing that happened. Our house caught fire, and our son passed away, so we were all over the news and all the stuff.

And I made the mistake; I went on the website, and I went and read all the comments of what people thought about me. People called me a horrible father. There were men on there pumping their chests up, said, "If I'd have been there, I'd have saved my son. What kind of a useless father can't save his own son?" All those thoughts I was already thinking of myself.

What they didn't know is I had 17 scars all over my body right now trying to get into a burning house. They weren't there; they just go based off of what they saw. And so I was at rock bottom, and I was driving home in January, and I said, "God, why didn't you kill me? I would have died like a hero. Why didn't you kill me?"

And God spoke to me; he said, "I did." He said, "Do you care about preaching conferences, about things, stuff, material things?" I said, "God, I probably never preach again, and we lost everything in seven minutes. What does it matter?"

He said, "Do you care about what people think of you?" I said, "Well, I see what they think of me. They didn't even—they didn't even have the dignity of sitting down with me and hearing the whole story. They're gonna think what they want to, whether they know the truth or not, so what does it matter?"

And I finally said, I said, "God, give me heaven; that's what I know is real." And this is what God spoke to me. He said, "Well, the two men that were in your way have just died. He said, 'And I'm sending you forth throughout the churches, and I want you to teach my people how to die.'"

Surely, God, you're not gonna do this to your people. No, he said, "It won't look like yours." He said, "But in the next two years, I'm sending North American problems because my church has gotten lazy and more obsessed with blessings. They want their best life now; they don't realize my salvation has given them their rest life now, and I want you to correct it, and people are gonna be mad at you when you do."

He said, "All right, well, I'm sending you out." Two years later, the pandemic hit. God is trying to teach the church how to have comedy in the midst of tragedy because your hope is in Christ.

You know, during the gladiators, they would send Christians out to be fed to the lions, and when the lions would come towards them, they'd start singing songs, and the Romans had to stop the event because people were being converted in the stands. "What is this faith? What is this faith?"

We are the tangible covenant; we are the proof that the spirit is at work and is real. People come and look at us, and they say, "Why don't you weep as those who weep?" And we respond with, "Because I have been given a living hope."

So I appeal to this great church: it is beyond high time for the people of North America to grow up and to learn how to be mature so that when somebody cuts you off in traffic, you smile with the love of God. When you go and you see somebody at Starbucks, and they're taking their sweet time and you got an appointment coming, you smile and say, "What is this in light of eternity?"

We have got to mature. We are not just—listen, you are not just some random people that are just here. God called you for the end times. He didn't put Moses here at the end; he didn't put John here at the end; he put you here at the end.

What you need is the Father. What you need is him. You can come through the revelation of son; you can come through the revelation of spirit and rise to the dimension of Father. That's the whole point of it; it's all within Christ, for he was our salvation.

All three floors are inside of the one man, Jesus. And when you come through Jesus, you get his spirit. And when you get his spirit, you are brought before the Father. Would somebody come before the Father right now and just say, "God, here I am as your son. Here I am as your daughter. I want your peace; I want your fruit; I want your image; I want everything that is you. I want to be like you, sound like you, talk like you, reach like you, preach like you, pray like you. I want everything that is you manifest in me. I want to be a twin in the kingdom. I want to have the same DNA as you, and I know that I have it through baptism."

So here I am, God. Use me. God, send me. God, anoint me. God, use me at this end time hour. God, I shed off the mark of this beast because you have given me better clothing.

Come on, that's it. Be clothed with power from on high is what the Bible says. When he said, "Be endued with power," the word "endued" means "clothed." Right now, the clothing of Christ Jesus is coming on some of you, not the clothing of a beast.

God didn't put the animal skins back on us; he put his image on us. Right now, receive the spirit. Would you walk in the spirit so that you can grow in maturity? God is calling us for the end times right now. We are in the middle of the end times, and God is looking for mature people who can walk in this image.

One of the signs that you're coming home to Eden was given in Leviticus. He says, "When you bring this sacrifice, it would take the knife; they would slit the throat, and they would take that fillet knife, and they would pull the animal skins off the sacrifice, and they would toss it outside the camp."

They were laying the sacrifice bare; it was essentially—it was naked. That was for us to get a revelation of because when Paul said, "Offer your bodies a living sacrifice," the sure sign that you are willing to come home is when you're naked and not ashamed anymore.

It's a true confession where you don't come in the room and just say, "God, I wouldn't have done this if my parents" or "I wouldn't have done that if the circumstances." You don't blame anybody; you just say, "Against you and you only, O Lord, have I sinned."

"In burnt offerings and sacrifices," David said, "you did not desire; if you did, I would have given them. But I see that you desire truth from my inward parts. In a broken heart and a contrite spirit, you will not despise."

The true sign that you're coming home is when you're able to confess, and you're not ashamed about it because you have a revelation of his goodness. It doesn't shame the person. Revelation to say, "I'm addicted to pornography," because I know that you won't turn me away because of this brokenness.

"I'm so insecure that I twist and distort situations so that I can work myself into the conversation." I confess that to you. That's one of the sure signs you're coming home.

And so I want you to work at laying this animal side and taking off the garments of flesh and tossing it outside the camp where it belongs and come before God and say, "This is what I am," and realize that his goodness will look at you and say, "Come on in. That's the way I wanted you was naked and not ashamed."

That's what God is looking for in this room. And when you get before his great face and you see his goodness, he's gonna begin to transform you, and you are now made like him because you have to go show everybody what you saw in him.

You now have to go and look at somebody else and say, "Look, I can't—I can't be mad at you because being mad at you would be mad at myself. All I can do is tell you about the one who I came near and didn't resist me."

And we then begin to be agents of the gospel, but none of that happens till we take off the animal skins as priests. So where are your devotions at? What's on the forehead?

I want to be holy unto God. I want him to be the one of my affections and desires. I will say this to you, and this may not be a hundred percent of the room, but I can't leave this service tonight until I tell you what God's been showing me.

There has been a spirit that has been released across the church; it is trying to wear you out. I have talked to countless men and women of God over the past two weeks, and I said, "Have you just been tired? You didn't feel like going to church?" Great men of God have said, "I don't feel like doing anything."

There has been a spirit that's been released to wear you down right now. And so if you're weary, if you have just—you haven't had any desire for the things of God, you're doing—you just feel like it's on repeat mode, and you're not doing it out of zeal; you're doing it out of habit, I want you to just lift up your hands.

God is wanting to give you rest. Your rest is in the salvation right now. I'm not saying this, that it's gonna fix anything. I still believe you might be tired tonight, but I want you to know that by you having self-control, having done all to stand, stand therefore is what I would say to you.

You may not feel fixed after this word, but right now God is wanting to let you know that your rest is in him. He is not beating you over the head because you don't feel like doing things. The fact that you are is the fact that you're standing.

Having done all to stand, stand therefore right now. I want you to just dig your heels in and say, "God, I am weary; I am tired. I know that there's been a spirit released to wear us down, but God, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving. I'm gonna be right here. I'm gonna keep pressing even when I don't feel it. I'm gonna keep pushing even when I'm frustrated. I'm gonna keep pushing because, God, our reward is on its way."

I don't want to fall asleep in the garden; I want to be wide awake because your word said, "Blessed are those who, if I come in the first, seco

"Blessings come in the form of pressure that's why Peter said through manifold temptations it worketh in you patience." [01:44:35]

"God looked at humanity and said wherever you are should be as if I were there; image is a verb, you're an imager, you have the job of imaging wherever you are." #!!55:28!!#

"The result of salvation is when you start loving people when you have joy, you have peace, you begin to produce patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness." #!!01:40:16!!#

"Self-control looks at the animal and says no, I'm imaging the one whose image is highest in this world." #!!01:40:16!!#

"Back to Eden is when you're able to confess and you're not ashamed about it because you have a revelation of his goodness." #!!02:06:08!!#

"There has been a spirit that has been released across the church it is trying to wear you out... God is wanting to give you rest; your rest is in the salvation." #!!02:07:34!!#

"Where are the prophets of God at right now... I believe the prophets are the ones who are tired but aren't falling asleep and they're the ones crying out to the church saying he's coming, he's on his way." #!!02:08:48!!#

"God, I'm ready to be in your image; I don't want to have the mark of a beast. I am NOT going to be obsessed with my hungers." #!!01:51:57!!#

"We are not fearful for the end times; we rejoice for our redemption is drawing nigh." #!!01:51:57!!#

"The true sign that you're willing to come home is when you're naked and not ashamed anymore... you just say against you and you only, Oh Lord, have I sinned." #!!02:04:56!!#