Have You Seen Jesus Lately — David Ford

Y 'all sing with me, okay? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. T 'was grace that taught my heart to fear. And grace, my fears, were precious dear.

Let grace appear the hour I first detained. Church tolls and stares I have. All grace hath brought me safe thus far. And grace will lead me home. My shining hands, the sun, wind, wafer. Flawless days to sing God's praise.

Then wind, wafer, a name I love. I love to sing His word. It sounds like music. It's the sweetest name. He called, if I descend. Holy fire on me. Oh, purge me. Yes, cleanse me. Inflame my soul. If I, on me, ascend.

Holy fire from me. Ascend. Holy fire from me. A fragrance so pure. For thy clothe. Holy fire, holy fire. Through me that's lost. In the darkness of sin. He said, holy fire, holy fire. Holy fire that's lost.

In the darkness of sin. Oh, please say prepare. To be a sanctuary. And true thanksgiving. I'll be a leader. A dear friend of mine and I were standing. Am I on? Is this on? We were standing in Northfield, Massachusetts where D .L. Moody's buried and where he was born.

And there's an auditorium there that Moody had designed. And they had built a beautiful structure of brick. It was way high up. Looks like a, kind of shaped like a barn in a sense at the top. With big four windows up in the top to open up to let the warm air out.

The doors along the sides are huge doors. And they would open up both sides and there would be a crosswind to come through. And we were there and a dear sister in Christ had been there praying for 30 years for that campus.

She took us out around the back of the building and pointed over to a little house across a little road. And said, see that house over there? We said, yes. She said, that's where Fannie Crosby lived. And on one occasion she wrote a song.

And that hymn was sung in this auditorium for the very first time. And she said that song was, Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God.

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest.

I am my Savior, I'm happy, I'm blessed. Watching, and you know she was blind. Watching and waiting, looking above. Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long.

This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. And the dear sister said, go up there. There's a grand piano on the platform. The place was just the same as it was over a hundred years ago.

When Moody was there. An old grand piano. She said, go up there and play that piano. And I went up there and began to play that piano. The place was empty, about 3 ,500 seats or so. Balcony across the back like this.

You can just imagine people like C .T. Studd. F .B. Meyer. G. Campbell Morgan. A .T. Pearson. C .I. Schofield. All these men of God preached from that platform. And to hear that piano ringing through that auditorium.

The song, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine. God swept us from there into a prayer meeting. Almost like I'd never been in in my life. God met the three of us in prayer. Ernest couldn't even stand. He fell on his knees on the platform.

The dear sister who was there giving us the tour. She began to back away because God's presence was so heavy and real in that place. And God met us. Father, I bless your name today. I ask you, O God, to speak to our hearts in a fresh way.

I ask you, Lord Jesus, to open our eyes that we might see Jesus. You are not dead. You are alive and well. And Lord Jesus, you are seated upon that throne high and lifted up. That you neither slumber nor sleep.

That you're the same yesterday, today and forever. And that, O God, you stand ruling and reigning supreme as God Almighty upon that throne. Lord, you never fall asleep. You never lose track of what's going on.

You've never said, oops. You've never lost control for one second. And you know everything. You're omniscient. You're everywhere. You're omnipresent. You're all powerful. You're omnipotent. And Lord, I ask you this day to speak afresh to our hearts from your word.

And Lord, fill me afresh by your spirit, I pray. And speak, Lord, in the stillness while we wait upon thee. And ask our hearts to listen in expectancy. Speak, O blessed master, in this hallowed hour. And let us see thy face, Lord.

And feel and know thy touch of power. For this we thank you and for this we pray. Giving unto you all the glory and honor and praise. In Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, Amen. Take your Bibles and open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter number six.

Isaiah chapter six. A passage rich in biblical truth and teaching. In relation to revival, blessing and power. I will say this is just at the outset of what God has done in the past. Because we don't rest upon the past for the present movings of God.

We only take the past to disperse on to see the present movings of God. But I'll never forget when God moved in a church. And we went four months in one church in revival every night. Services would go hours in length.

We'd have morning prayer meetings. And I'd take off to the mountainside of the Ponderosa Pines of eastern Arizona. And get alone with God. We finally had to back off Monday and Tuesday nights. Because people had to pay their bills and get things accomplished.

That thing went on for four months. Most amazing. Maybe I can share some stories here and there about what God did during those days. But I tell you once you've been in a place like that you're never the same again.

Once God comes like that. You don't settle for church as usual anymore. You don't sit back and say, oh, another Sunday. People say, do you expect God to come every service? I say, every time, why not?

Why not? Why settle for less? Why settle for mediocre when God wants you to do something bigger and greater? Amen? Now we amen down south. Where am I? I'm in Missouri. I'm in the Midwest. Amen. So I'll catch up to that in a little bit there.

I have a camera back there. So that means I've got to stay right behind this pulpit. You know how hard that is? That is very difficult. But I'm going to try, by the grace of God. Isaiah chapter six. Let's stand together for the reading of the word of God.

And then we'll go into the text this morning. Y 'all look great. Amen. Y 'all just look good. Turn to someone and say, you look great. Y 'all look good. Isaiah chapter six. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.

Above us stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings, with two. He covered his face with two. He covered his feet with two. He did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar.

And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched your lips. And thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I sin?

And who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, not here I am. Here am I. Send me. And he said, Go and tell this people. Verse 11,. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until. Until. Father, we thank you.

Lord, thank you that the most only inspired part of this whole morning is the reading of the word of God. So fill us afresh by your spirit, father, to see and hear and understand and walk. And by faith, claim the truths of your word, the life of Jesus with it in Jesus name.

Amen. You may be seated. Regardless of what you and I have ever gone through. Regardless of our trials and afflictions and discouragements and pickups and letdowns. The answer to everything you and I need is a fresh revelation of Jesus.

It's not a new system. Not a new program. Not a new format. Not a new song as it were. Not a new style of song as it were. Not an old style of song as it were. We need a fresh revelation of Jesus. Here Isaiah was in the year that King Uzziah died.

He says, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. He was walking through the temple. Chronicles says Uzziah sought God in the days of Zechariah. Who had understanding in the visions of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.

I love that. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. So what do we do when the presence of God draws near in a given service? It isn't the time to back up and say, oh no, Moses, you go.

We're going to stay back. That's the time to press in to the presence of God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Uzziah sought God. Joshua sought God. Moses would leave the tabernacle, but Joshua would stay there. Seeking the face and the glory of Almighty God.

David said, oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsts for thee. My flesh longs for thee in a dry and barren land where no water is. But I might see, behold thy glory and thy power as I have seen you in the sanctuary.

So why do we come to the house of God on a Sunday morning? Not just to sing a song. Not just to hear a message. But to behold the glory and power of Almighty God. God will show up. The spirit of God would move.

They would say like in Chronicling in Corinthians, the New Testament. An unbeliever comes in and falls on his face and says of a truth. God is in this place. God is in you. Something so beatific. Something so real.

Something so vibrant. That people look around and say, oh, there's a woman of God. There's a man of God. There's a child of God right there. Why? There's a glory about him. There's a distinctiveness about him that the world does not have.

Uzziah sought God. Hebrews 7 and 6. Without faith it's impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. What does that mean?

That means I seek him until I know his presence in a fresh way. To seek the face of God is to seek the manifest presence of God. To seek the glory of God. To seek the wonder of almighty God. Until. Hosea 10 -12 says so do yourselves in righteousness.

Reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground. For it's time to seek the Lord until he come and reign righteousness upon you. Here's Isaiah is in the temple seeking the Lord himself. The year that King Uzziah died.

Uzziah himself became proud 12 years earlier in the temple. Offering incense himself. As the priest comes in and says, Uzziah, what are you doing in here? That's not your job. He became angry. A man of God.

He was smitten with leprosy. The last 12 years of his life he lives as a leper. Oh, but could you imagine one of the saddest things I see as I crisscross this nation. As I go in churches and I see men sitting in churches who used to pastor.

Who used to be aflame with the spirit of almighty God. Who used to be aglow with almighty God. Now all they have to talk about is something that happened 20 years ago. And they're sitting there doing nothing.

Why? Somewhere in their life they got mad at God. Somewhere they disagree with how God run his show. How God does things. And they became bitter. They became angry. They became dissatisfied. They became critical.

Judging everybody else. Yet they're sitting in a church somewhere doing nothing. For the cause and glory of almighty God. It's a sad sight to see and behold. I see it especially in the southern states.

It's heartbreaking. Uzziah the last 12 years a leper. Yet the man who did come back I believe and sought God's face and repentance. This was the year Uzziah had died. Isaiah is in the temple. There's a vision we've got to see.

He said, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. And His train filled the temple. There's the Lord that we must see in His sovereignty. To see Him in His sovereignty. To see the sovereign hand of almighty God.

That regardless of what you and I go through. God is sovereignly in control. I thought of that passage this morning. About Jesus walking amongst the seven golden candlesticks in Revelation chapter 1. Jesus walking Himself.

I recall hearing my mentor, my dear father in the faith. And it was there all the way up until he died. There in the hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. They called back to Arizona. And said David Stevens in the hospital.

Steven Olford. And I said, well do I need to come? They said, well it's up to you. I just felt like I needed to go. And I flew back to Memphis, Tennessee. I'll never forget how many times I heard that brother pray.

I was blessed by Steven Olford's preaching. But it was his praying that enraptured my soul. And how many times he would cry out to God. Oh God stand tall among us in your risen power. It was all about Jesus standing tall among us in His risen power.

I want to ask a question. Have you seen Jesus lately? Could you imagine that woman taking an adultery in the very act? Where were the men who set her up? How come they weren't brought in? Where was the man?

How come he wasn't brought in? And yet they brought her and cast her down before Jesus. And here she is on the ground. Jesus the Lord says. And they began to quote the Bible. Oh they had a down path. They knew all the answers.

The Bible says. What do you say? Jesus in grace and humility knelt down and wrote in the dirt. And we don't know what he wrote. I don't know. Did he write the Ten Commandments? Maybe. He wrote that in the Old Testament on the wall.

He wrote in the book of Daniel. You've been weighed in the balance and found lacking the hand of God. Writing upon the wall. Bringing judgment upon Babylon. He wrote on the wall there. Did he write their names?

Did he write the women who they had been sleeping around with? I don't know what he wrote. But I know this. Jesus was in a position when he knelt down to write that that woman on her face could see Jesus.

I'm glad Jesus stooped for her. And I'm glad Jesus stooped for me to the cross at Calvary. I'm glad he came down to my level and didn't judge me and cast me into a burning hell. But in his mercy and grace and loving kindness.

His father. I shed my blood for David. I shed my blood for the church of Jesus Christ. I shed my blood for the world. That's why I went. To give my life for the world. I'm glad he said that he who's without sin be the first to cast the stone at beginning and the oldest.

They dropped the rocks. They laughed. Jesus said, where woman, where are your accusers? Where are your accusers? She said, there's no man, Lord. Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

That woman at the well. In the noon hour. That woman saw Jesus. She goes out of the noon hour. The outcast. All the women went in the morning hours when it was cooler. Not her. She was socially shamed.

You see, she'd had quite a few husbands and she wasn't like the rest of them. And they'd cop an attitude toward her. But Jesus didn't do it. Jesus said, I need to go through Samaria. I must need to go through Samaria.

Jesus goes and he goes and sends them on to get food. And he's sitting there on the side of that well and that woman comes out there to draw water. And he said, woman, give me water to drink. How is it you being a Jew speak to me?

A woman. A Samaritan. He said, if you knew who it was speaking to you, you'd have this life. Go get your husband. Oh, I'm not married. No, you're not married. You've had five husbands and the man you're with now is not even your husband.

How'd you know that? Jesus saw her. Jesus spoke to her. Jesus searched her heart. Jesus saved her. Transformed. Ran back. Oh, come and see a man that told me everything I ever did. You've got to see this Jesus.

Why? Because she saw Jesus. That woman saw Jesus. Paul, going to kill Christians. Oh, he's going to take them out and kill them. All of a sudden, he saw a light. He heard a voice. He made a choice. Lord, what will you have me to do?

Paul saw. Saw Jesus. Transformed his life. I'll never forget hearing Roy Hession speak in Tempe, Arizona. I recall what he spoke on that day. He spoke about a man whose name was Saul, who was on his way up.

And the man full of the flesh, whose name was Saul, had a living encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. He had that beatific vision. And the man, he was going up in his own strength, humbled himself and went down.

He was a man of pride in basically four areas. He gave four words. I memorized it because I can make a word out of it. The word foam. Saul had the pride of family. Of the tribe of Benjamin. Listen, I know this about the southern states and a lot of the Midwest, all over the nation, but mainly in the south.

If you have the right last name, you can get a job in your town. How many of you know what I'm talking about? If you have the right name, you get a loan from the bank. If you have the right name, you'll end up marrying the guy in town who's got the money, quote unquote.

If you have the right name. And boy, old Saul had that. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I got the right. The pride of family. Boy, sometimes you meet people and you shake their hand and they tell you their name and what they're doing instead of telling you who they are.

They're advertising who they are. And you can feel it when they say it. That's pride. The pride of orthodoxy. Oh, he had his doctrine straight. Cut just right there. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.

The pride of orthodoxy. And I tell you what's in a revival in the Church of America today. There's a resurgence of the Reformation Movement teachings across this nation. And that's fine. Praise God for that.

But one thing I'm seeing rising with that is a very, very subtle arrogance within it. Many have become arrogant because their doctrine is so straight. They know what's truth. They know what's right. They got it all.

And they sound like some of the Pharisees. Jesus. She was caught in the door through the very act. The law says this. And I've met people that they minister out of that spirit. Of a Pharisaical heart.

Doctrine straight as a barrel. The bullet's there. But there's no gunpowder in their gun. All it is is head knowledge. Middle gymnastics theologically. And yet what happens is these young people come to church.

And they look for something divine. Something real. Something transforming. And all they hear is an intellectual message. And they don't come and sense the presence of Almighty God. They don't see the moving of the Holy Spirit of God.

And yet we get out of our purpose and go home. Oh, that was a wonderful sermon. What a wonderful outline. I could care less about your outline if God isn't on it. The pride of orthodoxy. The pride of activity.

Concerning zeal. Persecuting the church. Busy, busy, busy, busy. I recall what Alan Redpath used to say. Beware of the barrenness of a busy life. Dr. Saunders, Geraldswell Saunders. Speaking with him years ago when he was at Prairie Bible Institute.

He said this. He said, Never take on more ministry than you can adequately pray over. Isn't that good? He said, Never take on more ministry than you can adequately pray over. I want to insert this right here.

D. M. Panton defined prayer this way. He said, Prayer is God the Spirit talking to God the Father in the name of God the Son. And the believer's heart is his prayer closet. Do you realize in Jewish history anyway, regarding the tabernacle, that they said in their historical books, you could literally hear as it were a breathing sound coming from the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the wilderness?

The body, the human being, spirit, soul, body. You get regenerated and the Spirit of God comes into your spirit. Quickly you're making it alive to Almighty God. Flowing through the soul and out the body.

The spirit's for communion. The soul is for contemplation. The body is for communication. That's the heart secret of prayer. In the presence of God. That the Spirit of God indwells your spirit and my spirit and our soul.

Let's just surrender to the indwelling Spirit. And let Him flow. And He will flow in the place of prayer. And praise. And worship. And evangelism. And adoration. And preaching. Whatever it is. Sometimes God moves ever so gently like the wind.

You can hardly perceive but the wind. And John 3 says the wind is moving. It's in the present tense. The wind of God is always moving. Whether I'm living in the flow and catching the sail of that wind or not, is whether I'm living in obedience or not.

But the wind is always blowing. That's why when you come to the place of prayer, you may be quiet for a short season because what you're doing is, you're waiting on the wind of God to blow. You're not trying to turn the fan and plug it in and turn it on.

You're just waiting by faith. God, you said, the wind is always blowing. So, God, I bend my soul before your throne right now. Fill me with your Spirit, oh God, and pray through me right now. By your indwelling presence.

And hold on. Because He does and He will. Amen. Amen. I was in the church in Winona, Missouri a few weeks ago. I'll never forget Wednesday night. They had all the kids in there, about 60 kids and youth in there.

I thought it was strange when the service began, all the adults sat on this side of the auditorium, and nobody was over here. I thought, what's going on? This must be how they do Wednesday nights. They all come over here and sit down and take the little stand down here, you know, and do that.

I'm messing him up royally with that camera. I'm sorry, brother. And all the kids and teenagers came in. We began the service. They were going to send them out after a couple of songs. I said, oh, pastor, I don't mind.

I said, you can leave them here. I'd rather they be up here than down there doing something else. I want them to experience God. I said, it doesn't offend me at all. Please, if you don't mind, just leave them here.

He said, all right, well, I'll check in. So they did. We did a song or two. I was over at the keyboard. I had set up my sound system and all. And they had their singers up here. And they had turned it over to me.

We did a song or two. And I walked over. And God let them walk over and get a mic over here. And I went over there. And they were on their piano still. And I just wanted to do some other song. And God did it on my heart.

Right now, I opened the altar for the kids and youth and people to come and pray. And right there, I just opened. And those kids, they flooded out of their seats. I mean, some of them five years old, up in the teenage years.

And they knelt on their knees across the front of that place. And one kid was sad because he couldn't find the place to kneel. It was so full. And I watched those children begin to pray. And I watched them break in the presence of Almighty God.

I watched tears stream down their faces. Children! Stream down their faces. I watched them stand up and hug each other and hold each other and weep with each other and cry with each other. Why? Because they love God.

Some of them giving their hearts to Jesus. Children! Children! I wish I had a camera. But me, I want to keep this in my mind and heart. I'll never forget the rest of my life. I've never seen such agony come out of children and pray in North America.

I've seen it in Africa, but I've never seen it in North America. I thought, my Lance, God is moving here. Why? Because they're not full of fear and self-consciousness and selfishness. They just want to seek the heart and face of God.

I watched the kids go back and sit down back here. And all of a sudden, their hand would begin to go up in the air as streams of tears would flow down their faces as they would sit back there trying to sing and worship Almighty God.

I said, adults, this puts us to shame. I said, our nation is in a mess. It's a free fall. And that doesn't break our hearts to get on our knees and our faces and cry out to Almighty God in repentance and brokenness.

If what our nation is going through won't do it, what will? I said, maybe God's using these young people and children to break us older adults to get out of our stinking pride and arrogance. And that, well, that's just the kids.

It's okay. They can be like that. But I've got to, listen, I want to ask you a question. When you came to Christ, you surrendered your will to him. You surrendered your mind to him. But the last thing people surrender to him is their emotions.

Well, I've got to be reserved. I've got to be. Why? Who said? I'll tell you who said. Pride said. I can't let someone see me broken. They might think a little less of me if I'm the one that goes down.

Oh, you arrogant prude. We get so proud and arrogant. That we care about what someone else thinks and what someone else says. I was speaking to a man before he was going to speak to seminary students.

He was getting his stuff ready before he went up. And a friend of mine went up to him. He knew him. He introduced me. We met. I said, brother, he mentioned revival. They were having their spiritual emphasis week at school.

You know, we call it spiritual emphasis week nowadays because there's often no revival that happens. So, we call it spiritual emphasis week. I said to him, we talked about revival. I said, you know, I've just kind of seen over the years that when my desperation level, that when our desperation level rises above our embarrassment level, God will do something.

He said, that's my problem. He said, my desperation level hasn't gotten above my embarrassment level. I wanted to say to him, then why in God's name are you getting ready to ascend that pulpit and speak to those seminary students?

You have nothing to say. I believe there's a balance in this. I talked to a man recently in Tennessee. He has some friends involved in a ministry that works in countries where there's a lot of persecution.

They're praying vehemently. They're praying strongly for persecution to come to America. I know why they're doing that. You know why they're doing that because persecution does purify the church. But I believe persecution may be God's last measure to bring a church back to himself.

I believe persecution. I believe God will come either through devastation or desperation or persecution. I'd rather God come through desperation, wouldn't you? I don't want to see Chinese soldiers marching on our soil with guns because we have got so indebted to them.

They call in our debt and all of a sudden they're in charge of our land again. Don't think that's very far away. That could happen. And God's calling us. Can I tell you, we've got a lot of young people here.

I was in a church on a Wednesday night. God led my heart to preach on 2 Chronicles 7 14 back in Arizona, 90 miles away from home. And God gave me a solemn word that night. And that night, God led my heart to call the youth to come and get on their knees and cry out to God and repent toward God on behalf of America because of our sins.

I said, I can't explain it. I don't know why, but God sometimes shows me things in my heart that's going to happen in America. And I've seen them in my heart anyway. I've seen a massive explosion coming to America.

I can't describe it. It's like a liquid bomb of some kind. But we've got to pray in repentance before God. And we've got to do it tonight, y 'all. We've got to do it. We can't do it tomorrow. It's right now.

Those young people came and they began to weep and cry on their knees, crying out to God in repentance and brokenness on behalf of this nation. The service ended. God led my heart. Hurry. Get back to Phoenix.

Get home. I took off and went home. Walked in my place. He led my heart. Turn the news on. I did. And they were just coming out with the breaking news that they had just foiled the attempts of those guys over in Manchester in England of those 10 suitcase liquid bombs.

I called the pastor up and I said, Pastor, I left a message. I said, I know now why God called us tonight as a group to humble ourselves so that God would not allow another judgment to fall upon this nation.

So please don't think your prayer is unnecessary. Don't think your repentance is unnecessary. Your repentance and prayer is vitally necessary to the preservation of what God's doing in this land. Don't ever think you're praying and it doesn't really matter.

God isn't looking for someone big enough to use. He's looking for someone small enough to use and dependent enough to use. Pray when you feel like it. Pray when you don't feel like it, my friends, and pray until you do feel like it.

I'd rather have a child praying for me than most adults I know because they're so full of faith. Isn't that true? I saw the Lord. I'm glad we got five hours. It's only, it's only, it's only nine o 'clock in Phoenix.

I got plenty of time. Amen. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. You see, we don't see him as a guy, as some guy walking through the lily pads with us.

We don't see him in his exalted position as smacking our gums like God, God. And with such irreverence that there is today, he is holy. He is high and lifted up. I am glad. You know what I learn as I travel.

When you get on these high hills and high mountains, you can see everywhere. Now, God doesn't need it to see it. He can see everywhere anyway. I like the fact that God can see everywhere though. He knows everything.

Nothing takes him by surprise. He is exalted Lord of Lords and King of Kings. I recall years ago when that song came out, I exalt thee, I exalt thee. I remember some pastors used to come out and they began to say, well, why sing I exalt thee when he's already exalted?

I said, well, I know you're right in what you're saying, but have you read the Psalms yet? Have you read the Word yet? The Word says, because you failed to exalt him. That's the exact wording. He is Lord.

He is exalted. But have I owned that Lordship? Have I exalted him in my heart and life? Have I stepped off the throne of my heart? In every heart there is a cross and a throne. Either the eye is on the cross and the Christ is on the throne, or the Christ is on the cross and the eye is on the throne.

Now, let me tell you something. Many of us have been around for a little while longer. We've learned this and we're still learning this. That whenever eye is on the throne, trouble's coming. Whenever eye is on that throne, there's going to be a storm hit your life.

There's a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Listen, he that being often reproved and hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Oh, but the grace of God, let us stay off of the throne and let Christ live on the throne of our hearts and lives.

Amen? And live a crucified life. I'm not trying to crucify my... You can't crucify ourselves. I hear folks say it all the time. Well, I'm trying to crucify myself. Did Jesus crucify himself? No! I have been crucified with Christ.

Jesus took me in my powerlessness and crucified me on the cross with him 2 ,000 years ago. My hands are bound. My feet are bound with him 2 ,000... Why? That the life of Jesus might be manifested in resurrection power and divinity.

So many people have disciplined flesh, religious flesh, and they've never encountered a risen Christ. And friend, I do not condemn someone who does that. I know what it's like. I've been there myself.

I know the emptiness of trying to be good to earn God's favor, and it does not work. It leaves you empty. It leaves you guilty. It leaves you frustrated. It leaves you depressed and wanting to quit and give up and run away from life.

I know what that's like. I've been there myself. But mercy found me and grace touched me. His loving kindness redeemed me. His blood cleansed me. And Jesus saved me. Not only when I was seven years old, we are continuously being saved by his life.

I have been saved. I'm being saved. I shall be saved. I've been saved from the penalty of sin. I'm being saved from the power of sin. I shall be saved from the presence of sin. Have you seen Him? Do you have that quiet place somewhere where just you go and climb a tree or something?