Word & Spirit Conference, Session 5 — David Ravenhill

Father, I just lift David to you right now in the name of Jesus. Father, I thank you for once again imparting to him a wisdom Lord and Understanding and insight into your word Lord to help him to preach prophetically.

Lord we ask that you would anoint his words even at this moment Lord and I would ask that those words would cut deep into our heart and help us to fall more in love with you.

In Jesus his holy name Amen, let me just say how much I've enjoyed our time together over the last couple of days and you guys are Very fortunate to have the couple you do Martha and Keith as Oversight as pastors.

I've just sensed the integrity and transparency and honesty of their lives and just the whole desire for God what a Wonderful gift and blessing they are to you and I appreciate just a little bit of time we spent together getting to To know them.

The Habitation of God and the River of Life

I Want to share some thoughts tonight on the habitation of God. I was in a church on Thursday night of this week in Sacramento and I shared this word anybody here from that church still hear it again if they are Okay, good.

And I was sitting in the pastor's office just prior to the meeting trying to get a few minutes to pray. I've been traveling all day from Carlsbad and three flights and Just sort of sitting and and the thought of the river was going through my mind.

I was Thinking of the River of God going back To Genesis where we have the first mention of the river coming out from the tabernacle. If you've ever studied the Garden of Eden, it was a tabernacle I won't go into all the details on that.

But you can research it and there was a place of God's Presence the place where man had access into the presence of God and there was a river that flowed out of course brought life to The surrounding area and and so this sort of rivers was going through my mind and I found myself turning to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 you don't need to turn to it.

Because I'm just going to touch on it briefly and I began saying to those people they were very much into what God is doing very much into celebration and very similar to what we've seen tonight and just a real sense of joy and Appreciation of God's presence and pressing into God and I made this statement to them.

I said, I don't think I can add to your intensity, but I do believe I can add to your longevity. I've lived long enough 30 over 30 years now of ministry to see that things come and go. See that there are tremendous moves of God that the church has experienced and then you go back a few years later.

In fact, one of the tragedies I hear now is just in England a few weeks ago and there was a time when there was something like 400 Anglican churches that were set on fire by the move of God in Toronto and They said people were lining up to get into those churches and so on and just a few weeks ago I was making inquiry and they said there's hardly one of those churches doing anything anymore.

I thought what a tragedy. What an incredible tragedy. There's only one or two that are still sort of pressing on into the things of God and I was drawn to this verse of scripture in 1 Corinthians 10 and It says I don't want you to be unaware brethren that all our fathers were under the cloud all passed through the sea.

They were all baptized in the Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and they all drank from the river. For they were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ.

Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happen to them as an example for us and I was Somewhat taken back administered on this passage from a sort of different perspective before just the discipline of Paul and wanting to finish the race and so on and so forth and and yet I realized there Was something here That there was a river.

Supernatural river that came out of the rock. It wasn't just a normal river. It was a supernatural river that followed the nation of Israel those 40 years brought life to literally At least a million people and possibly 10 or 12 million if you add all the livestock and everything else that they had to exist on and so on.

I mean it was a supernatural river talks about the depths of the river in Psalms. So it was a major river and They drank from that river knowing that that river was supernatural and yet at the same time two out of that original Million people made it into the promised land.

I thought what a tragedy. What a tragedy. That we can drink at the river day after day after day and yet still not fulfill what God has and so I Said to them again, I believe that I can add to your longevity.

I may not be able to add to your intensity. I'm getting older I can't dance like some of you young men and so on used to run the mile have a little bit of better figure than I do now, but anyway those days have long gone and But I thank God for longevity and I believe there are some principles That will get us through.

Because the ultimate goal of God again as the Old Testament says don't brag about putting on the armor. Brag about being able to take it off. Remember one came to another. It says one thing to sort of brag before the fight.

You know you get in these boxing matches old and Muhammad Ali and so on and the opponent, you know bragging about our yeah fourth round take care of him, you know, it's easy to do that before it's when it's all over and Paul says run in such a way that you wait you may win and he says I have one fear and that is that lest I preach to others I myself should be disqualified and He says I want don't want you unaware brethren that all it's interesting to and I end up preaching this if I don't if I'm not Careful, but if you go back to 1 Corinthians 9 and underline the word all all begin the race, but not all win.

I don't want you to be unaware brethren. There's that terrible chapter division. I my pet peeve is chapter divisions. It's one thought Don't want you to be unaware brethren that all our fathers were on the cloud all drank the same spiritual food or Or eight of the same spiritual food all drank of the same spiritually in other words when the gun was fired so to speak Paul's analogy of a race a Million people started off from Egypt and two of them made it across the finishing line.

And he says these things happened as an example for us and there's a lot in there they fell with immorality. They fell with idolatry they fell with complaining and murmuring all sorts of things that we need to guard against.

Because the enemy is there with all the strategies and all the plans I understand in the original Olympic Games. Where it says laying aside every weight that one of the strategists they were so bent on winning in some of these Towns that they had a champion represented in the running that was competing with another province and so on there were people on these long Races that would take balls of gold and As the runner was rounding a bend they would run roll them across the road and the runner was would try and stoop because here Was a fortune a literal fortune that he could pick up and if he picked that thing up of course the weight of it eventually over the miles would finally take its toll and their winner would run and It's easy isn't it to reach down and pick something up?

That ultimately can disqualify us and make us lose a race, so I want to talk about the the habitation of God. I'm going to be using a number of words sort of interchangeably. The word atmosphere the word culture the word environment all of those words have a similar Connotation they talk about certain ingredients coming together that are conducive for something.

You know we go into a restaurant, and we can create an atmosphere. We can dim the lights we can have soft music beautiful tablecloth, and there's an atmosphere that is created. We have an atmosphere if you like in the animal kingdom.

We call it the environment where there are certain mixes of the right things as the right soil mixes right temperature humidity and so on and it's conducive for growth and The word habitat again means the same thing that you've got certain type of tree in a certain Temperature zone and so on so forth and so that draws you know certain birds and butterflies and all the other things and so on and the Other word is the word culture the way of doing something.

I've had the joy of traveling and also the joy of living in a number of countries and I realize as you has You have if you've traveled that not everybody does things the way you do things and the way you're used to doing things.

I was horrified when my father who was in the ministry for many many years 70 years he was in the ministry died at 87 started at 17 and He brought us to America when I was 14 years of age because he was traveling in this country extensively.

And we ended up in a Bible school where we based Ourselves that was our home for seven years in Minneapolis. And I'd only been there a matter of weeks and here were all these staff kids that I ended up be being friends with and I was horrified to find out that these Christian kids staff kids a School that was known for its holiness at sanctification that these kids were swearing and They were equally horrified to think that Leonard Ravenhill son was also sweating.

Until we realized we had a clash of cultures you see swear words in English or in England where I was raised were not necessary swear words in America and vice versa and We soon discovered that Even though we spoke the same language in one sense we had two different cultures that were represented there and I was horrified as they swore in words that to me were swear words not to them and I was swearing in their language if you like at least their culture and It's amazing isn't it that different cultures.

I? was visiting my daughter who was in university down in the South Island of New Zealand the city of Dunedin and Went down there for some ministry one weekend I was staying with a Friend of mine and picked up in a morning newspaper that morning waiting for breakfast.

And I was reading an article that caught my interest it was right on the front page of the Otago Daily Times that's the region down there and and the article spoke about a museum exhibit that was touring New Zealand and then going over to Australia, and it was a museum exhibit of Inca artifacts from the Inca civilization.

They had pieces of pottery and jewelry and clothing and various agricultural implements that they had unearthed. And the article talked about the pride and joy of this particular museum exhibit was the mummified remains of an Inca person.

And then the article zeroed in on the fact that New Zealand was the only country on this particular tour that these mummified remains were not on display and It explained why it says because the Maori people who make up I imagine my brother here would know better than I would 15 20 of the population.

They're the original inhabitants of New Zealand that they are very superstitious when it comes to death and anything to do with their death. And so the New Zealand government was sensitive to the culture of the Maori people unless they offend the Maori people.

They were not putting these this particular display on exhibit even though it was the ultimate sort of pride and joy of this particular exhibit and They were sensitive again that you can offend a brother.

Proverbs says if you offend a brother. Then it's harder to win that brother than it is to take a city and some of you have had that experience where you've done. Something has caused a breach and your relationship has been severed and you've done everything within your power to try and heal that Relationship, and you know how difficult it is once somebody has been offended and we can offend somebody by not understanding their culture and Again different countries do things differently than we do.

It's hard to believe that there's possibly more people that eat with the chopsticks and there are with knives and forks now. We find that difficult because we have never been raised that way we pick up our knife and fork and we're quite adept at using Them and and yet you know vast majority of the world Again would thrive more on chopsticks.

Hard to believe that English is not you know one of the major. Well, there's a major language, but there's more people that would speak some other languages than English and So there's different cultures different ways of doing things.

I've traveled quite a bit in Malaysia, and I remember on one occasion being up in a place called Penang very beautiful place. Staying with a Chinese doctor a very wealthy man drove a Mercedes Benz. We came up to his house beautiful home the gates opened automatically.

And there was somebody at the door to sort of greet us. And I remember walking in and I was just tapped and politely reminded to take off my shoes. Because you never ever go into a home There without first of all removing your shoes and every house no matter how rich it is or poor it is there is just dozens of shoes that are lined up there depending how many people are inside and Even though the most of the houses are not carpeted they've got beautiful tile floors, but you would never ever cross that threshold with your shoes on it's part of the culture and.

And so we get used to doing things and we think it's the norm. When my wife and I were in New Guinea many years ago, I had a missionary tell me of a Situation when he'd been in a very remote area of New Guinea Translating the scriptures and after he'd been there for a number of weeks one of the Nationals don't like being called natives, but anyway one of the natives came up to him and asked him a question.

He said I Want to know something? He said you people from America and England and so on he says I've noticed that you carry in your pocket a white cloth and he said When you blow your nose you very carefully Wrap that substance up and you put it in your pocket.

And we want to know and I've been asked to ask you what you do with that. Because we have wasted it for hundreds of years thousands of years. And obviously this is a very valuable commodity because you take out this very beautiful white cloth and you open it up very carefully, and there's obviously something that we don't know and you preserve that and While that's rather humorous it shows a clash of cultures doesn't it that we would never think of.

Sort of wasting it on the ground so to speak, but you know in a primitive culture like that. You know their mind was what on earth you do with it the fact that you treasure it. So you know and you wrap it up so carefully and that cloth is always sparkling white.

And you know you put it in your pocket. You must do something. We want to know what the what the key is. Again different cultures in the South Pacific some of the islands there. It's very common to see men walking along hand in hand and They may be 20 30 years of age, and they just got their hands together.

Just you know walking course in America. We would have Cause of to be alarmed, but in that country again. It's just part part of the culture in Thailand. Thailand has a culture that the foot the lower the part of the body.

The more despised it is and the the foot is the most despised part of the body and it's a major insult to sit and to sort of point your foot at somebody and especially to show the sole of your foot towards somebody and I was just sharing this somewhere recently and there was a lady who was raised in Thailand her parents were missionaries with the Finnish mission, and she said she said there was a occasion.

She said I remember when the king of Thailand Went into a two-story building and they made sure that everybody was evacuated from the second floor. Because if the king walked in he was ultimately under somebody's foot.

And that is one of the most despised things to think that the king with all of his nobility and his royalty and so on should be under somebody and They made sure that everybody was cleared out. Again, we wouldn't think of that, but in that culture.

It's very very real and you can offend somebody. I had a brother that I worked with in New Zealand. And he was there a year before I was speaking to the missionary conference, and he was speaking about David and Goliath.

He took his shoe off. And he threw it across the room to illustrate the stone striking Goliath. And I was there a year later, and they wanted to know. I had a number of people when they knew I was from New Zealand.

They said do you know so-and-so they named him. I said yes, and they said oh you do and There was still an offense there because of what he'd done. Simply taking a shoe and again throwing it and them being under that very despised in their culture that very despised Object and so culture is important.

I watched the television program a number of years ago that did a documentary on the White House chef and Initially I was going to turn it off. And then I got caught up in the program and the interesting thing was that not only did it talk about the culinary Ability of that man the ability to cook anything and decorate cakes and all the other goodies that he had to make.

But not only did he have to be a good cook he had to know who he was cooking for. Which was equal equally as important? Because you see if the head of state Say Netanyahu came to the White House to spend the night.

And he comes down to breakfast and the cook he may have the most delicious ham and eggs. But you would have a problem on your hands because it's not kosher. And you would offend a brother not understanding the culture that he came from.

Understanding God’s Culture and Ways

I share all of that to say this that I believe God has a culture. God has a way of doing things that we need to understand and God can be offended if you like by not Understanding that's why the Bible says teach me your ways Lord.

And your ways are not my ways and your way of doing things is not my way of doing things. I'm so used to doing things my way. I think this is the only way I think this is the normal way the natural way.

And it's only when you cross the sea and you go to somebody else's country that all of a sudden. You're the foreign and your ways are strange, and you realize listen these people are different they don't operate the same way that I operate and so on and.

And so you have all Different ways of doing things some cultures it's appropriate in the middle of your meal to belch and The louder the belch and the longer the belts the more you are signifying to the cook that you're enjoying the meal.

And that's a wonderful meal, and you're saying give my thanks to the cook now. We would be horrified to think that you know that would happen in our culture if the kid does it you know the mother looks At him across the table and reminds him that we've got guests or the father kicks him appropriately under the table.

Brother nudges him and you know it says quiet. You know we don't we don't do those things and so there's one area of China that I was just told about recently and that is in that particular part of China in some of the remote areas that they will grow their fingernail an extended thing in it for one simple reason that they like to pick their nose and There's nothing wrong with it in that culture.

They sit around. It's not an embarrassing thing to do. It's something that they just sit around in a circle and of course they you know the better your fingernails is shaped the more effective you can do the job and Again, we we laugh.

We're horrified. We cringe we think no. But you see we do things that are just as offensive to them as they would be offensive to us because it's a cultural thing. And it's a way that they do and they get used to it, and there's nothing wrong Malaysia.

You would never see people pick their teeth. They always go like this before they pick their teeth some Malaysians here. Know that and they sit around the table they would think that this was highly offensive I guess to just take a toothpick and pick away like we do and so they always cover them out and Again, it is a cultural thing now the word habitation in the dictionary means the usual place that someone or something is found.

Let me say that again the definition of the habitation in the dictionary is the usual place. That someone or something is found it talks about an abode or dwelling a house, but it is the usual place. A zoo is a very poor habitat for a lot of animals.

Many many years ago when we lived in Southern, California. We went down to the San Diego Zoo. That magnificent zoo supposed to be one of the best zoos in the world. We looked around the various enclosures lions tigers elephants giraffes and they were quite at home there because the temperature no doubt is similar to that of Africa and then we came to an enclosure with a polar bear in it and San Diego is not a good habitat for polar bears.

How many would you agree with that. Because it was designed to live about so you know four or five thousand miles north on a block of ice in sub-zero temperature not the heat of Southern, California and.

So the word habitation again the usual place that someone or something is found now the word habitation in the Bible. There's an interesting word. You can look it up if you like in your strongs when you get home.

But it means a dwelling it means a house it means a tabernacle it means To marry to settle to keep house to rest. And all of that speaks about a permanent abode a place where you marry you keep house you settle you rest you abide and All of us have got our lodgings if you like our abiding places most of us.

You will go home to your home tonight, and it's a place where you feel at home. You can sit down you can rest you're married you keep house. It's the place where you live you dwell and and So God has a dwelling place want to begin just with some scriptures first of all in the book of Exodus and.

God’s Desire to Dwell Among His People

And then move on but Exodus chapter 25 and verse 8 and. This is God speaking to Moses, and he said let them construct a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them. Now this is God taking the initiative.

This is God expressing to Moses his desire, and he says to Moses Moses I want to dwell with my people. This is not Moses at the end of 40 days of prayer and fasting. Twisting the arm of God and saying God.

It's about time you paid us a visit after all we're supposed to be your kids. This is God coming to Moses and pleading with Moses. How many of you know I am the Lord and I change not and God? Still has that longing to dwell with his people.

He still has that deep desire like any father to be with his family and so he says to Moses Moses I want to dwell among you, and I want you to make me a home. I want you to make me a sanctuary. This word sanctuary means a clean place and so first of all we have God expressing his desires.

God expressing his desire his desire is to dwell with his family with his people with you with me and He still wants to dwell with us. There's a beautiful verse in the book of James. It says the spirit capital s James 4 verse 5 the spirit that God has made to dwell in us Jealously desires us and a beautiful verse.

We've got all sorts of expressions of the father's love towards us. God so loved the world. He gave his only begotten Son and and so on but here is the verse that talks about the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit's longing to dwell with us and So God expresses first of all his desire, but then notice in verse 9.

He then goes on and he expresses his demands. And he says according to all that I'm going to show you. As to the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture just so you shall construct it.

You see God not only has a desire, but God has demands. He's got a standard and he says to Moses Moses. I long to come. I long to be with you. I want to dwell with you. I want to be your father. I want to be your God.

I want to dwell where you dwell and so on but Moses I Won't live anywhere. I Won't live anywhere, and I'm going to show you exactly What I want. I want you to make a home. I want you to make me a dwelling place a place where I can rest and marry keep house is the word and I want to come and I want to dwell amongst you, but I'm going to give you the exact details of where I'm Going to dwell and how I'm gonna live, and I don't want you getting any ideas.

Moses about thinking You know well this color scheme would suit him better. Or this room should be a little bigger a little wider or whatever just so you shall make it. I'm gonna give you the furniture.

I'm gonna give you the color scheme. I'm gonna give you the dimensions everything about this home. I want According to my pattern and so he takes Moses up into the mountain and he shows him the heavenly Tabernacle and he says Moses here is a pattern.

I want you to replicate duplicate this on earth. I want to have the same habitat that I'm used to in heaven. I want the same atmosphere if you like. I want the same culture here on earth. I want to feel at home On earth as I do in heaven and that really is the basis of all the whatever it is 30-odd chapters on the Tabernacle or maybe more than that.

It's really all summarized there. God's longing to be with us, but God's demands again before he comes and You know you can learn a lot about a person by visiting their home country. I Travel a lot sometimes.

I'm in home sometimes in a hotel and You can walk into somebody's home and immediately. You know, even though those people may not be at home. They may have given you the key somebody may have dropped you off and say make yourself at home.

They'll be home in a few minutes an hour or so. And when you walk into that home, you know something about the people even before the people get there, you know if the rich by the Wealth of that home, you know if they're educated many times by just looking at the book Shelf and seeing the sort of books that are there, you know about the person there may be all sorts of books on.

You know golf and you think this guy's really in the golf there may be all sorts of books on photography. You think this guy's into photography? There may be all sorts of medical books and you think somebody here is a nurse or a doctor or something.

Maybe all sorts of books on law and you think obviously somebody in the family studied law and just looking at the books. I always look at the books and You know, maybe travel books and you think boy these people really travel a lot.

You know if there's cookbooks you think this is going to be a great weekend, but. But You you look at the furniture and you know something about the person you see it may be all beautiful antique furniture.

Beautiful, you know ornate carved furniture. You know real furniture that had some sort of genius behind it at some stage and or it may be modern. You know plastic and chrome and you know, whatever and you know.

And you think you know something about that person just by looking at the environment that they live in the color scheme. You know the. You know something about them the way it's decorated you look at the walls and you see beautiful paintings on the wall.

Anything, you know this person appreciates art and then you go in other times and you see pictures that you could hang them upside down and doesn't make any difference and. And they call that art, too.

But you know about that person you you understand, you know. There may be a piano there a beautiful piano and you think somebody here plays the piano maybe a violin. Sitting there and you think somebody here is refined and you know plays that.

That instrument and and so just walking into a home tells you a lot about that person, doesn't it? And walking into the house of God Likewise tells us a lot about a person and I want you to go with me into the book of Revelation just a little while tonight into the fourth chapter Of this book and we're going into God's house we're going to pay a visit here and Find out something about God.

You see again when we go into his home, we learn some things and Verse 1 it says after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven so we know that God's got a door that goes into his house and From inside there was a voice that says come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things all.

Verse 1. And so John is invited in he's in the spirit. He's in the on the Lord's Day and he sees a door that opens in heaven. There's a voice inside that says John come on in. Come up here and immediately he's caught up in the spiritual realm and he walks in if you like into the house of God.

He says immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne. Was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne. And the first thing that John becomes aware of when he steps into the house of God the dwelling place of God.

He becomes very very conscious of the fact that there's a throne. In fact, that's all he sees initially he's overwhelmed with the throne of God and the throne of God. Guess what is occupied? And so we find that the usual place the word habitation is the usual place that someone or something is found and The place that God is always found is on the throne.

He's always on the throne swear not by heaven what it is the throne of God and Time after time. Old Testament New Testament. We had time to look at dozens of scriptures that talk about the fact that heaven is your throne.

The earth is your footstool and so on there's numerous references to the throne of God because our God reigns he rules. He's a king. We talk about his majesty his splendor his dominion his kingdom. Now you see God no longer dwells in temples made with hands in the Old Testament.

He did we have the tabernacle of Moses. We've got Solomon's temple and so on and God came down. He resided in buildings, but the Bible says in Acts 17 that God no longer dwells in temples made with hands.

But now he dwells in this temple. The Bible says your body now is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews says that we are his house. Moses was faithful over his house. Jesus was faithful over his house whose house we are and Again, the Holy Spirit longs to dwell within us.

And so you see God Still longs as he did in the Old Testament there to come and dwell with these people. He wants to dwell in the midst of these people. And he wants to dwell in your house. But guess what?

If he's going to dwell in this tabernacle and If we are not going to offend God and obviously where we don't want to offend God the Bible says if to walk together. They have to be in agreement and you see God says I am the Lord and I change not and we do the changing.

And you see if God is going to reside in your house, and he's going to reside in my house. He demands the throne. It's just that simple he demands the throne. Because that is the dwelling place of God and what that means is this that he demands the right to govern the right to rule.

The right to be in control of your life. He comes as Lord. He comes as master. He comes as King. He rules the nations. He sits above the other nations and Bible says he sits above the circle of the earth reduces rulers to nothing.

And if he's going to feel at home. Again, not a strange habitat. You see the polar bear is in a strange environment. He doesn't really feel at home there. He's been forced to live in an environment that he's not really conducive To him.

It's not his nature. You see sometimes we're trying to ask God to come into an environment that is not conducive to the spiritual growth. Some of you may wonder why is it that I never seem to make spiritual progress?

Why is it that I'm always sort of frustrated? I don't have the relationship with God that I want to have and it's because we don't understand the culture of God we don't understand the ways of God and Here this gives us an understanding of God's ways you see He wants the throne.

It's just that simple. And we need to come to the point and I did it when I was 18 years of age. I surrendered my life to God. I battled for four years accepting Christ as my Savior. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was a sinner raising a Christian home.

Good solid upbringing never smoked a cigarette all my life never slept with anybody other than my wife. Never had a beer never. No, you know, I should be in Guinness Book of Records, but haven't found me.

But you know, I knew I was a sinner a good Self-righteous sinner and I longed for peace with God. I longed for cleansing and so on but my issue was the issue of the throne. You see I had one goal in life one Thing that I want to do above everything else.

I wanted to go into the field of graphics. I had the ability in the area of arts and I wanted to pursue that and I knew somehow maybe God was gonna Take me in another direction and for four years. I literally battled.