The Great Shaking - John 13-19 - Out of the Old Into the New Part 1 — Phil Beach Jr.

A Prayer for Humility and Spiritual Transformation

We bless you, Lord. Your presence is majestic and heavenly. We are humbled in your presence, Lord. Your presence enables us to see our frame and how frail we are, and how we are but dust. We are ashamed, Father, of our pride.

We are ashamed of our arrogance. We're ashamed of the glory that we so often emulate from our lives, creaturely glory. Arrogance. Wanting to make ourself better than someone else. Lord, when we stand in your presence, we feel ashamed because your glory is so pure and so clean.

It's so holy and so right. We are in such need today, Lord, of multiplied grace. We are in such need today, Lord, of multiplied grace and mercy to be humbled and lowered. Lord, we need you to increase our appetite for the things of God and decrease it for the things of this earth.

Oh, Jesus, please, we ask You, be in Thy Word today and through the Holy Spirit, get to the heart and change us, Lord, from glory to glory, from faith to faith, from Thy strength to Thy strength. Oh, God, we pray, give us listening ears, listening hearts today.

The capacity to hear Your Word. We thank You, Lord, for Your mercy. For Christ's sake, Amen and Amen. At the beginning of the year, the Lord quickened to my spirit two prophetic words from His Word. And recently, I have felt the release.

I'm going to touch on that today. And God willing, if we finish, we'll continue on in God's Word regarding our need to pray for the heart of a son and to be delivered from our selfish ways. I'm going to read a number of Scriptures, so I invite you, if you'd like to follow, if not, to listen carefully.

Because this reflects what God has begun and is doing and shall continue to do in our lives and in the lives of His children all over. The two thoughts that we're looking to God's grace and God's Spirit to communicate this morning are the thought, number one, is the thought of pruning.

And secondly, the thought of shaking. Pruning and shaking. A time of unprecedented shaking and pruning is upon us as the body of Christ. A time of unprecedented pruning and shaking is upon us as the body of Christ.

The Day of the Lord and the Purpose of Shaking

The purpose of the pruning and shaking is to remove whatever can be shaken, whatever can perish, so that only that which cannot be shaken, that which cannot perish, will remain. Our lives, our homes, our profession of faith, together with our relationships and our friendships, will be subject to the fires of God's testing.

And everything, everything through the fire will be revealed and exposed. And the nature of what we're made of will be revealed. I invite you to turn to 2 Peter 3, verse number 10. 2 Peter 3, verse number 10.

This is a prophetic word concerning things that shall be. However, however, God is doing in this age, in the lives of those who will be subject to His fatherly discipline, a preview of what will happen at that great and final day, the day of the Lord, the day of Christ.

If there is anyone in here, and I believe there are, whose hearts have been apprehended by God, you have been laid upon by the hand of God, and your desire, your heart passion, is to know the Lord. As last week, we ministered on Psalm 39, and saw in God's Word how those who are after the Lord, who are laid hold of by the Lord, and their only desire is to know the Lord and to do that which is pleasing in their life, according to that Psalm, they are subject to the discipline and chastening hand of God to the point where they come to realize their own vanity, they come to realize their own nothingness, they come to realize their own fruitlessness in themselves.

They come to realize how frail they are. That is the work of God in the life of those who truly want to know Him. And we saw that Psalm 39 was a cry, a cry that God puts in the heart of you and I who are after Him because He has apprehended us.

A cry. Oh, dear God, make me to know the length of my days. Help me to see how vain my life is, how empty it is, if I ever choose my own way. One of the Father's passions in this late hour that we're living in is to make every one of His children to know how fruitless and how unprofitable it is for us to choose our own way in anything that we do.

Anything that we do. He longs for us to see that you were created, I was created for Him. And as we have been showing from the Word of God, Gentiles are after things. Gentiles are after things. Things become the idols.

But God does not want that condition to be present in His house. He wants His house to be filled with living stones who are not seeking after things, but are seeking after Him. He is the one that we're after.

And so in order to procure and secure that living reality within our heart, because it can only be wrought by God, our Father takes special care to implement into our lives the pruning-shaking process.

Here is a picture of what the pruning-shaking process looks like in principle. And at the day of Christ, when God brings this age to an end and hurls us into the new age, the new millennial kingdom age, when the Lord shall reign together with His Christ, we'll see it in a very literal way, but understand the principle that the Spirit is speaking here through the Word because this is what the pruning-shaking process will do in our lives.

So may I quote the word from Peter? Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that shall try you, as though some strange thing is happening. Count it pure joy, brothers and sisters, when you fall into all kinds of trials and temptations.

Count it pure joy. Don't allow your soul to be brought so low where you sense hopelessness. But there is a God in Heaven who knows and understands what you're going through. He has a purpose. He has a purpose in every trial, every difficulty that you are encountering and that you will encounter.

Verse 10,. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. It's the day of the Lord. It's the day when the Lord will have preeminence. Brothers and sisters, please listen. The Bible says in the book of Colossians that Christ is to have preeminence in the church.

There's coming a day when Christ will have preeminence in the world. But now, now, the Lord is wanting to establish the preeminence of Christ in our life. Do you know what the preeminence of Christ means?

The preeminence of Christ. He is established in our life as the sovereign Lord and boss of everything. The preeminence of Christ means that it is no longer I who is sitting in the driver's seat deciding which way I'm going to go, how fast I'm going to go, but He becomes the preeminent, the first.

He's the first. So the first characteristic, listen, the first characteristic, the first evidence of the Lord establishing this truth in our lives now as a preview of what will happen at that day is that we become increasingly aware of the Lord's discipline and the Lord's child training and scourging in our life that forces us to acknowledge He must have preeminence in our life.

He must have first place. I must be dislodged from sitting on the throne of my life and making my choices based on my tastes and what I think is best. The work of grace must be so raw in our life, in the house of God, so that we can become a distinct people, a peculiar people, a people that are different than the world, a people that are characterized by those who live under the authority of a sovereign God.

The great controversy, the great battle, the great war that is going on in the heavenlies now is the war over who is going to reign supreme. Is it Christ or is it man? Is it Christ's will or is it our will?

That's the great battle of the ages. That battle must be won first in the house of God. In the house of God. Before God takes that issue up with the nations of the world and causes them to bow down and acknowledge that He is sovereign.

And the Spirit of God is crying out to you and I. This is the nature of His move this morning. This is why He was so gracious. It's because He's inviting us to come to Him that He might establish His preeminence in our life.

It's the day of the Lord. He's the One. Now watch what happens in that day. In which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt or be dissolved with fervent heat. And the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved or shall melt or shall be burned up. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

Seeking the Eternal Kingdom Rather Than Earthly Things

Nevertheless, nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for, underline that, circle that, put an asterisk around that if you mark your Bible. Those who are apprehended by the Spirit of God, who are being filled ever continuously with the Spirit of God, are ever, ever, ever looking for something other than what is here in earth.

They're looking for something other than what has its roots here in earth. The nature of the shaking and the purging and the day of the Lord is seen by God dissolving, causing to melt, causing to perish all the works of earth, all the things in earth that are not eternal, that are not of eternal value, that are not of eternal significance.

They shall perish. They'll be burned up. You remember, brothers and sisters, several weeks ago, these statements. Listen carefully. This is why God is moving the way He is. Every single one of us, together with all those who have the Spirit of God in their life, and they're not wanting to play religion, but they're wanting to know relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

All of us are being subject to the dealings of God to produce these spiritual realities. Now listen. Here's what we mentioned a few weeks ago. It would be profitable to read it again. Listen carefully.

Whatever rules your heart will exercise inescapable influence over your belief, your words, and your behavior. Whatever rules your heart will exercise inescapable influence over your life, over your beliefs, and over your behavior.

The dealing of the Lord in our lives will result in exposing any area in our life, any area in our heart that is being ruled by something that is earthly, that is destined to perish, that is destined to dissolve.

You see, the day of the Lord will be a day when everything will dissolve that can be dissolved. That is an inclusive statement. That includes everything that is vanity. The new $50 ,000, $60 ,000, $70 ,000 Lexus will dissolve at that day.

The new $250 ,000 ranch home will dissolve. Your job will dissolve. Your protocol will dissolve. The esteem that you have by other men and women will dissolve. Nothing will last. Your selfish ambitions will dissolve.

Your possessions will dissolve. Your money will dissolve. Everything will dissolve. And so the cry of the Spirit of God is that He would produce in the church the heart of sojourners and pilgrims and strangers, those who live in the world but are not of the world, those who live in the world but don't serve the gods and the idols that the world is serving.

Yes, we can possess possessions, but God help us when our possessions possess us. Yes, we can have some money in our pocket, although the apostles said, silver and gold have I none. I have none. But fine, if you have money in your pocket.

But if your grip on that money gets so tight your hands turn white, you are in danger of setting up another god. Earth. What is the earth destined to do and the works therein? They're destined to burn.

They're destined to burn, brothers and sisters. We have been given a kingdom that endures forever. We've been translating out of the earthly kingdom into the kingdom of God's dear Son, wherein dwelleth righteousness and holiness and purity and love of God and obedience to the Word of God.

There is a spirit that comes from hell that is seducing so many dear Christians and is being propagated by so many ministers who have become deceived, promoting the idea that the Holy Spirit wants to put in our heart the desire for things.

That is ludicrous. The Holy Spirit does not inflame you with passions for things. The Holy Spirit inflames you with a passion for God. A passion for God. A passion to know God. The Holy Spirit convicts us of covetousness and greed.

It doesn't put a desire in our heart for things. The Holy Spirit doesn't say get more, more, more. The Holy Spirit says give more, more, more. Give, give. Don't hoard. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, not the work of the world, nor the work of the deceiving spirits that are working in the religious world.

This is why we need to feed on the pure, sincere milk of the Word of God which will never lead us astray. The milk of the Word of God is so pure. And so why is God purging and pruning our lives? Why is God submitting us to fire and testings?

Discipline as the Evidence of God's Love

Is it because He is angry at us and doesn't love us? No, of course not. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. For whom the Lord loves He chastens. Brothers and sisters, if we be chastened now, Paul said in Corinthians 11, if we be corrected now, if we be trained now, then we will not have to go through the pain and sorrow and trauma of this day.

Because this day is a day when everything of earth will perish. But if we go through it now, then at that day, we will have already gone through it and we will be able to rejoice knowing that God already wrought those realities in our life.

And that's what God wants for the church. God wants the church to be a picture in this age of what God's thought is for the age to come. Peter said that He wants us to be a peculiar people. A peculiar treasure.

So that we can show forth the praises. We can demonstrate. We can express the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. God wants to display a people in the earth who are not serving the gods of the nations.

Who are not seeking after things. Who are not under the power of greed and control. But who become a house in which the preeminence of the King of Heaven and the Lord of Glory is displaying His eternal perfections.

How many of us woke up this morning and we were reminded by God that the reason why we're here is to display today the eternal perfections of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters and to a lost and dying world?

Or, how many of us got up and just began to think the way the nations of the world think? The way Gentiles think? Well, what am I going to do today? I wonder what I'm after. See, we need the Lord to truly transform us and to renew our minds so we can understand why we are here.

Why we are here. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved. Don't value anything in earth because if you do, you're setting yourself up for a sorry, sorry disappointment.

Don't value anything that is going to perish. Jesus said, labor not, work not, strive not, sweat not for that which, what? Perishes. That which is perishing. That which is subject to corruption. But rather, labor for that which is eternal.

That which endures to everlasting life. What are the things? What are the things that endure unto everlasting life that every single child of the kingdom of God should be seeking after? What are they?

What are they? Brothers and sisters, several weeks ago we went through it. It's the profile of a son. We are to be seeking those things that make up the heart of Jesus Christ. What did Paul tell young Timothy?

He said, flee the love of money. He said, flee greed and covetousness. But seek after what? Faith, holiness, righteousness, self-control, temperance. There's five things that will never perish. Are you seeking after them like you would treasure?

No, I'm not, brother Phil. Then something's wrong. The Holy Spirit is not in your life working the way He wants to. Well, that sounds a bit extreme, brother Phil. It is extreme. It's very extreme. God is a God of extreme.

Truth, Love, and the Warning to Laodicea

Doesn't it sound extreme for a loving Savior to look at a backslidden Laodicean church and say, you are making me so sick to my stomach I'm about to vomit you out? Well, doesn't that sound extreme? I thought Christ was a loving Savior.

I thought He was gentle. I thought He was patient. He is. But He's extreme. He does love us. But His love is always married with truth. Truth and love are inseparable. And because He loves us, He tells us the truth.

Human love doesn't tell the truth. Human love wants to love without truth. God says, I love the adulterer, but I hate your adultery. And if you continue in it, you're going to suffer the judgment. But human religious love, I love the adulterer, and I can't judge their adultery.

It's okay. It's okay. No, that's not right. That's perverted human love. Always remember this, brothers and sisters. God's love is always married to God's truth. That's true love. That's true love. So brothers and sisters, don't value anything.

Ask God. Say, Lord, listen, Lord, what do I value that is destined to be part of the bonfire? What do I value? What's important to you? If it's not rooted in the kingdom that cannot be shaken? If it's not rooted in heaven?

If it's not rooted in the things of God and the things of the Word of God? Brothers and sisters, our hearts are being exposed then. And we are in danger of suffering great loss. As Paul says that we're going to read right now in 1 Corinthians 3, great loss will come if we don't experience now, now the shaking, now the pruning.

Because at that day, we will have a lot of baggage that is just going to turn into smoke, chaff that the wind will carry away. This is a message of hope. This is a message of joy. Those who have the greatest joy are those who find the most pleasure in God.

God is most glorified when we find our pleasure in Him. God is most glorified. Not by lip service. Let me tell you, God is not interested in a song that is lip only. The prophets in the Old Testament continuously chided Israel because with their mouth they what?

Worshiped God. They had all the right words down, but their hearts were what? On earthly things. After earth. Like our brother read this morning. Our hearts are warring with one another. Our hearts are fighting with one another.

Our hearts are engaged in evil thinking and contention and arguing. God wants to cleanse our hearts. He wants to purge our hearts so that what we say with our mouth and what is in our heart becomes one.

What's the word called when our mouth says one thing but our heart is in another place? Hypocrisy. Double-mindedness. Both correct. You know what the word hypocrisy means. It was used in the New Testament to describe actors.

People who acted. They put on a mask. They role-played. They pretended to be someone that they weren't. God, help us. God, help us. Lord, deliver me from hypocrisy. Deliver me from acting. Deliver me from running my mouth in this direction when my heart is going in another direction.

Lord, Thou hast desired truth. Where? In the inward parts. Not outward truth. Not outward form. Not outward religion. Not outward systems. Thou hast desired truth on the inward part. Inside. Inside. That's where God is wanting to establish His kingdom.

Whatever rules your heart will exercise inescapable influence over your beliefs, over your words, and over your behavior. If you give a greedy man money, what will he do with it? He will use it to fulfill his greed.

Why? Because greed controls his heart. And so if greed controls his heart, anything he gets a hold of will become a means that he will use to fulfill what controls his heart. You see? Nevertheless, verse 13, we, according to His promise, look for...

Looking for the Coming Kingdom

That word look for, as we mentioned earlier, to underline it, it is a very, very important word. It means to stand up on tiptoes. To stretch out and stand up. The character quality, the indication, the sign, that the Holy Spirit of God is working in your life and you are being filled continuously with the Spirit of God is not how faithful you are in religious duties.

It's not how often you read your Bible or how often you do your works before men. It's whether or not your inward eye, your inward focus... Remember, if your eye be single, your whole body is full of light.

It's your inward eye. It's the thing that's fueling your life. Looking for something that nothing in earth can give you. Listen, please ask yourself these questions. Am I, after today, something that I can get by my own power and by my own strength and by my own efforts?

Or, have I come to realize that the thing I really need, the thing that will really satisfy me is out of my grasp. I can only get it by faith, by trusting in a living God and by looking to Jesus Christ.

When you go to bed at night, what is it that you're looking for? What is it that you're longing for? What is it that you're anticipating? Is it something that has the potential to be destroyed overnight?

If it is, then it's not going to last. Listen, we live in an age when the pendulum is swinging way on the side. And God is sending a reactionary message by His Holy Spirit. A warning to the church. Church, don't become affectionate toward the things of this world.

Brothers and sisters, don't become affectionate toward the things of this world, because the nature of this world is perishing. Perishing. We look for new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, seeing you look for such things, what are you looking for? Young people, what are you looking for? What are you looking for? What's putting that happy song in your heart today?

The prospect of meeting that perfect One? Or the prospect of meeting the perfect One, the Lord Jesus Christ? What enables you? What enables you to wake up with a song? Please hear the Spirit of God. Is it the fact that it's spring and the birds are singing and the weather's nice and you can go out and tan?

Or is it because today God is available for your ultimate satisfaction? What is it? What is it? Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of Him in peace without spot and blameless.

The Shaking of Heaven and Earth

Hebrews 12. Very quickly. Hebrews 12. Verse 25. See that you refuse not Him who is speaking. For if they escape not who refuse Him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth.

But now He has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. Listen to verse 27 and 28. And this word, yet once more signifying the removing of those things that are being shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

There is where the Lord has got us. He wants our life to be held together by and motivated by a desire for the things that cannot be shaken. Not for the things that can be shaken. And He has given us the Holy Spirit.

He has given us the Word of God. He has given us multiplied grace. He's given us the power and promises of a new covenant in order to what? Produce these realities in our heart and in our life. Blessed, blessed salvation.

Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire. 1 Corinthians 3. Beginning in verse number 9, please.

1 Corinthians 3, chapter 9. For we are laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry or God's farm. You are God's building. Please, please listen carefully. You are God's farm. You are God's building.

This is why we exist. This is why we live. According to the grace of God which is given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon.

For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest.

Listen, every man's work shall be exposed. Every man's work shall become evidently clear for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is or shall try every man's work in order to determine what it's really made out of.

What our work is really made out of. Now watch this. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive reward. But if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved.

The Heart of a Son and the New Covenant

Very, very, very simple. Look closely. There's two hearts. You have the heart of a son, which is the new covenant promise. New covenant promise. And then you have the heart of a Gentile. We've taught on this extensively.

We're going to keep teaching on it until we get it. When the Bible speaks about suffering loss and getting a reward, building upon the foundation, it's simply referring to this. What is it that is the ruling factor of our life?

What is ruling our life? What is governing our actions? We saw the Gentiles with a desire for what? Things. Jesus said Gentiles seek after things. But you, you seek first the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus Christ and His reign.

So, Christ is the foundation. Okay? Christ is in our life. Christ is there. His heart. His Holy Spirit. Now, we build upon the foundation. This is our life. Is the building of our life the result of us following and being in union with the desires and the motives and the purposes and plans of Christ?

Is that what is building and erecting our life into a house? Or, is Christ in our heart and our life is being built by other? That's self. That coincides with the disposition of the Gentile. Out of self, we have what?

Selfish ambition. We have greed. We have covetousness. We have the love of praise. We have the desire to be in control. The promise of the new covenant. I will give you a what? A new heart. See right here?

The new covenant promise. A new heart. Now, you remember? I will write my law where? In your heart. In your mind. And I will put my fear in you. Okay? And I will cause you to what? Obey. There's the new heart right there.

Now, we defined heart as what? The heart. The motive. The purpose. The intention. The thing that rules us. You see? The thing that motivates us. A new heart looks like the heart that Jesus has. That's the new heart.

What motivated Jesus as He walked on the earth? Was it to make a name for Himself? Was it to make a buck? Could He have had those? Absolutely. Absolutely. He was the most popular man in His day. Revival, riot, or repentance followed the ministry of Jesus Christ.

He either started a revival, a riot broke out, or men and women began to repent. But, see, if He was ruled, listen, if the underlying factor of His life was I want to make a name for Myself, what would He have done when all the crowds came and said we want you to be a king?

He would have said, well, come talk to my secretary next week and maybe we can arrange something. What did He do? He slipped out the back and walked through the crowds and left the city. Why? Because His heart was ruled by one and one thing only.

To know and do and finish the will of God. That's what we should be seeking after. The heart qualities. The heart qualities that are in the New Covenant, that are demonstrated in the Son of God. The heart, the mind, the fear, the obedience that God promises to put into our heart.

Look, when our hearts become one with the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ and our life building, our life is built out of, out of, out of the things that come from the heart of the Son of God with the right motives, the desire to please God, the desire to bring glory to God, then we won't suffer loss.

We won't suffer loss. All of our works then will be preserved and they'll bring glory to God. But the works that are destined to be destroyed, they're the ones that spring out of love of men, love of praise, and wanting to control greed, covetousness, selfish ambition, Gentile things.

That's the difference between the Son and the church and the Gentiles. And so, these are the things that the Lord is doing in our life. These are the things that God's doing in our life. John 15 is another one.

Pruning for Greater Fruitfulness

He's the vine where the branches He purges. I've been working with a landscaper who does a lot of purging. He plants and purges. It's very interesting. Prune. He prunes. Very interesting. He prunes. A shrub will be bringing forth really nice blossom and he'll go and snip it right off.

And I asked him, what does the pruning do? What does it really do? Why do you cut the snips off? Why do you snip off the things that actually look good? He said, the reason why you prune is because in cutting off that which is bearing fruit, you're making way for more fruitfulness.

A greater concentration of fruitfulness. And so, together with this process of purging, together with this process of shaking, the Lord is in the midst pruning. Pruning. Cutting things away. Things that at one time maybe the Lord was using for His glory, for His honor, but He cuts it away.

He cuts it away. We experience pain in pruning. We feel fruitless. We feel barren. We feel misunderstood. We wonder what's wrong. What's the Lord doing? But He's setting us up for more fruit. More fruit.

A Prayer to See the Glory of the Lord

Okay, beloved. Let's just bow our hearts for a moment and let's look to the Lord to give us grace. To give us grace. Father, we thank You for Your Holy Spirit. We thank You for Your Word. And we thank You for this window of opportunity that You've given us today.

We thank You, Lord, for taking Your Word and interpreting our life for us. Explaining to us, Lord, what You're doing. What You're after. Why we're going through what we're going through. And now, Lord, we just want to commit these next few moments to You.

Please, Father, perform the promise of the New Covenant. Give us a heart more and more that is like Your Son. Purge us and cleanse us from all sin and all iniquity. Deliver us, Lord, by the power of Your Holy Spirit from idols, from things, from desiring things.

Show us, Lord, the depths to which we are driven by greed and covetousness. Show us, Lord. Rescue us, Lord, from this horrible state by giving us a fresh vision of the Lord Jesus Christ and a fresh revelation in Your Word which alone is able to restrain this horrible lawlessness that's within.

God, we cannot see unless we see You. Only seeing You enables us to see ourself and to get proper perspective. And if we beg You, Father, reveal Thyself to us, we ask You, Lord, to do it. The mighty name.

The mighty name of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, our hope is seeing Him. We sit here, listen, we sit here and God loves us, but our eyes are so blind. If we saw the Lord, we would all headfirst dive for the ground.

The only reason why we sit inwardly so erect and so straight is because our eyes have not seen the Lord in glory. That's why we get strong in ourself. That's why we get arrogant. That's why you get argumentative.

That's why you get feisty. That's why you demand your own way and you bring havoc in the family. You haven't seen the Lord lately. That's why. You've been too preoccupied with the creature's needs, the creature's desires.

Pride is so detestable in the eyes of God. It's so abominable. It's so horrible. It's so other than God. It's so devilish. That's why. That's why. We need to beg God to see the Lord once again. His glory.

Every man that ever saw the Lord fell as a dead man in the Old Testament and the New. Why? Because no man can see the Lord and live. Pride cannot stand in the presence of God. Rebellion cannot stand in the presence of God.

We fall as dead men and then we need the Lord to lay His hand on us and say, arise in my spirit where there's humility and brokenness. God, I pray He'll do. I pray that God will take every home represented here and reveal His glory in that home and smash every high place, every idol, every rebellious spirit, and start with the father and the mother.