Father — Peter Hammond

Thank you, choir. That was lovely, wasn't it? I love the old hymns of the church. There just isn't anything like them, the message they contain that brings comfort, real comfort, because in them is the word of the Lord.

Good morning, everybody. God bless you. Now, this is Father's Day, we've heard. Can it truly be Father's Day? Say something. Can it truly be Father's Day? I want it really to be Father's Day. Father has something to say to us today.

Father has a wonderful son. What's his name? Jesus. Thank you. And he wants to talk to us about his wonderful son. Right now, he's more interested in his son than he is in himself. He gave us this entire book, took 1600 years or more to write it, and all the various authors and all the different books that are in this book, just to say one word, my son.

United With the Son and Fighting the Good Fight

So let's make it truly Father's Day and be one with his heart and hear what he has to say about his wonderful son. You and I have the privilege of being gloriously united with this son. And in the message this morning, I prayed since the Lord laid this message on my heart, I've been in it for a week.

I prayed that God would give us a strong motive, a strong desire, strength in our hearts, strength in our wills, strength in our minds, strength in our spirits, to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold in God for all that he has for us in this wonderful son.

Say amen. Amen. Father, Father, I thank you that you hear us. I thank you you're concerned about everyone present. Father, would you please take our minds off of everything else but you and your son? Would you wash us in his most holy blood?

Would you put your powers against all the powers of the enemy in every way he would try to distract? I ask thee please to dig our ears, to open our understanding, to let us hear the message the dear spirit would bring to us today.

Oh, Father, your word is so wonderful. Let us hear the word of the Lord and give strength to yield to it and let it be worked out in our hearts and lives. In your sacred holy name, we ask it. Everybody say it.

Amen. Good to be with you and with Brother and Sister Revelle. Turn in your Bibles to Revelation. The book of Revelation really is becoming to me a most interesting book. It's the only prophetic book in the whole New Testament.

Finding Jesus in the Book of Revelation

I'm not a preacher of prophecy, never have been, but the book of Revelation, it tells us, begins by telling us it's a revelation of Jesus Christ. So the dear Holy Spirit, some time ago, just began to deal with my heart about seeing Jesus and finding Jesus in the book of Revelation.

I don't know very much about all the beasts and the animals and their horns and heads and all of that. That scares me. So I just look for Jesus in the book of Revelation and the opening to my heart has been so wonderful and satisfying and I just want to share it with you.

The Church’s Future With Jesus

I believe the church, that's the whole church of Jesus Christ and all of us in the church, is suffering today because we're not more interested in our future. We're so taken up with the here and now. We're so materialistic and so earth-minded and so me-minded.

What's for me? What am I getting out of it? It's all me, my, mine, we, us and earth-mindedness. And the people are just weighed down and bowed down today. Wherever I go in the world, there's this awful weight and heaviness that is upon people.

And I believe a lot of it is because of the little, really the little interest we have in our future. I'm terribly interested in my future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life. I'm tremendously interested in Jesus because I'm going to spend all my future with Him.

Oh, help us, won't you say something? Where are you going to spend your future? The very thought of Jesus. Honey, never lose the excitement of His name. Thank you, thank you. Never lose the excitement of your union with Him.

And I want you this morning to look with me into our future with Him. And as I said in my opening remark, I pray the Holy Spirit will give every one of us a strong desire and motive and incentive to fight, to live, that we can inherit and enjoy all that Jesus has made possible for us.

Do you know all of His future thoughts include us? Of the Church. And shouldn't a bridegroom be concerned about his future with his bride? Yes, say yes, yes. And we are the bride. And shouldn't the bride be interested in her future with her bridegroom?

I should hope so. I should hope so. June is marriage month and we've had weddings in our families and have gone through all of this. Well, it is just beautiful to look into the face of that girl that's just a couple days and she starts counting the days and the hours and mark it off.

And you just look at her. She's sure. You can't depend on her for anything. Honey, what are you thinking about? You know what she's thinking about. You know what she's thinking about. Where's your mind just now?

You know where her mind is now. You know, I believe, I believe be the mind. This should be the attitude of the bride of Jesus Christ. And it is. It positively really is the mind, the attitude, the spirit of those who are truly looking for Jesus and truly longing for him to come.

Longing for the Bridegroom’s Coming

Now, don't you lie to me. But how many of you are truly with all of your heart longing for Jesus to come? Don't you lie. Don't you lie to me. Look at that. I appreciate your honesty. That's not a third of the crowd.

That's not a third. You see, and what's going on in me? Why this heaviness? Why aren't my prayers getting through? Why don't I feel like worshiping the Lord? Why don't I feel like praying? That's talking to our bridegroom.

Why don't I feel it? Why is prayer a chore on the eve of the church waiting for the bridegroom to come and talking to him is a chore? And we'd rather do other things than pray. Something wrong somewhere.

We'd rather be with people than pray. That old demon television that is a thief and a robber that has stolen so much time away from the bridegroom. You know, it's, ooh, he's coming. I want to tell you something, dear.

There is something going on in the Spirit today. If you're in God, you're aware of it. If you're not walking closely to him, you probably don't know anything about it. But there's something happening in the Spirit today.

I know that I know that I know and everything within me knows Jesus is coming soon. I don't know how soon. I don't know anything about the day or the hour. But constantly, constantly I'm just checked and called to and talked to.

Be careful here. Don't go there. Have nothing to do with this. And there are ten the bride of Jesus Christ today will have nothing to do with. There is so much in religious circles. The bride of the Lamb will have nothing to do with.

He's not in it. He has nothing to do with it. It's just that religious crowd that's keeping up their religion. But inside that group, there is a group. There is a group that knows the voice of the bridegroom that's hearing his voice, that's listening to that voice, that's getting ready because he's coming soon.

Say something. All right. Well, thanks. Thanks for those amens. Thanks. Thanks. But that's why we're here. And that's what the Word of the Lord is for. The Word of the Lord is to talk to us. It's to deal with us.

It's to help us. We don't come to the house of God to be entertained. We come to the house of God to be helped. This is a time, this is an hour when we need help. We need help. And so we come to this wonderful book of revelation that I have learned to love so much.

The Church Age and the Holy Spirit’s Work

And in this first chapter, John receives this wonderful revelation of Jesus. And then he's told that send it to the churches. Send it to the churches. That's where the Father's interest is, in the churches, because that's where his bride is coming from, out of all of these churches.

And so we're going through the period now, this church age and church period, when the precious Holy Spirit is involved too, you know. The whole household, the whole trinity is involved, like they are in a wedding, you know.

Like they are, everybody in the house is involved, everybody. The whole family is involved. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they're all very much involved. And the precious Holy Spirit, he was sent down here to go through the church, to call, to woo, to discipline, to salvage, to call out, to get ready a people for his name.

And we're in that hour. That's the hour that we're, that's what we're going through in the second and the third chapter of Revelation. The whole church age is on. And then when this, when this is over, our future begins.

Jesus’ Reward and the Bride’s Readiness

This is what I want to talk about this morning. This morning, our future with him. I say again, every thought, his bride is in every part of Jesus where his future is concerned. Do you know Jesus hasn't yet entered into his reward for Calvary?

Do you know that? He hasn't yet received his reward for going to Calvary. He won't, he can't until you and I get there. Because we are his reward. We're his reward. So, he hasn't entered into his reward yet and he can't.

And he won't. He's waiting for us. So, oh, oh, this is why he's interceding for us. He's praying for us. He's interceding for us. Do you know Jesus has been praying for you for 2 ,000 years? Do you know that?

He's been at the right hand of the Father, praying for his church. Praying we'll come on. Praying we'll listen to the Holy Ghost. Praying we'll be true. Praying we'll gain his love letters to us. So, we can know him.

So, we can know what he wants. So, we can know what he's like. We don't know him, love him more. It's because we don't know him. This is why he's given us this book and the revelation of Jesus in the book.

That we can know this wonderful son. You're not going to love him if you don't know him. If he wants to be loved, he wants to be worshipped, he wants to be adored. And we have to find him in this book and read his love letters to us.

What he wants us to do. What he wants us to be like. The bride that he's looking for. The kind of bride that he wants. And the kind of bride he's going to have. He's going to have her. Because he's going to find that company of people that will satisfy his heart.

And Jesus won't come until his bride is ready. That's the thing that's holding him up. He's not waiting until all the Jews get back to Jerusalem. He's not waiting for that. He's not waiting until all the wars and rumors of wars take place.

He isn't waiting for that. That's his dealings with the nations and with the earthbound people. That's his calling to them and dealing with them. But the thing that he's waiting for is his bride to make herself ready.

He's dealing. He's calling. He's woeing. He's discipling. He's asking for obedience. Do you hear his call? Way down in the depths of selfhood. He calls to us. That's where we hear his call. You hear that call.

And honey, every time you disobey, you cancel out your own inheritance with him. You cancel out your own future. You are lessening your own reward. Every time you disobey and refuse to follow on, to do his will, to walk with him, to give his heart the joy that he desires.

The Rapture and the Choice to Be Ready

You know, there's coming a day when it's going to be too late. Time shall be no more. There's coming a day when it's over. It's over. Oh, it seems to me if I would miss the rapture, I'd go crazy. I think I'd go crazy on the spot.

I'm positive I would lose my mind on the spot if I would miss the rapture. I know I would. I know I would. When I realize what awaits the church, the glories that he has prepared for them that love him, our future with him, and what it means to miss that and to wake up and find ourselves down here on earth in the midst of the awful tribulation period.

The rapture's taking place. It's over. And I've missed it. I know I'd go crazy on the spot. But I've settled it in my heart. I'm not going to miss it. I'm not going to miss it. By his grace, I'm doing everything I know to do.

I'm giving him every obedience that I know to give him. I'm doing his will to the very best of my ability. I'm going to be there by his grace. By his grace, live in the Spirit. Live in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit.

Move in the Spirit. Spend time alone with him. Know his voice. Know his will. Do it! Walk with the Lamb. Give his heart the joy that he wants. All right. In the fourth chapter, it says, After this, that's after he's through with his church age, then really begins our future with him.

Gethsemane, Surrender, and the Price of the Bride

And then really begins, then his day has come. You know, Jesus has, he's had some hard times too, don't you think? All that he went through, all that he suffered, all that he endured, all that he suffered and endured was for you and it was for his bride that he could have this bride that his heart longs for.

He didn't go through all of that suffering for himself. It was for us. It was for us. The devil tried to make him believe in the end that he wasn't going to have his bride. That is what Gethsemane was all about.

That's what Gethsemane was all about. Gethsemane was Jesus when he was saying, Oh, Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. He wasn't praying about Calvary. He wasn't praying about going to the cross.

That was settled before he left heaven, that he would go to Calvary. He came. He set, long time ago, set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem and he didn't allow anything or anybody to turn him back from that.

He went to Jerusalem. He went there to die. He wasn't praying about Calvary, but when he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, the devil wanted to kill him. He really wanted to kill him right then and there, before he got to Calvary, so he would not have his bride, so he wouldn't get his bride.

And when the enemy was throwing this upon him and throwing this at him, and you know how he was praying there, and you know in prayer how the enemy can put things in your mind, how he can come with temptations, how he can try to make you believe something that isn't true, and you pray and you fast and you pray and you fast.

The devil was trying to kill Jesus before he got to Calvary. If he didn't get to Calvary, he wouldn't have his bride. If he didn't pay this price and die this death and go there. And the devil was trying to tell him he wasn't going to make it, that he wasn't going to have this bride.

And when Jesus said, nevertheless not my will but thine be done, this was the last surrender. Jesus had to even surrender his bride, nevertheless not my will but thine be done, if I'm not to have a church, if I'm not to have a bride, if I'm not going to have her, nevertheless not my will but thine be done.

And the battle was over and the angel rested there to strengthen him and minister to him and enable him to rise up out of that awful ordeal where he had the worst heart attack anybody could have and suffered until the blood came through his veins.

This is the kind of love he has for his bride and for his church. This is his desire for her. This is love poured out for us. He made that surrender but God strengthened him and enabled him to go to the cross and pay the price.

Oh, pay the price that would give him his bride. This was the price tag that hung on you and hung on me. This was what it cost him to have you and to have me. My dear, my dear, when we meet Jesus, have you thought about it?

When we meet him, he's coming soon, I know he is. But when you see him, what are you going to say to him? What are you going to say to him? If you haven't loved him, if you haven't surrendered, if you haven't paid the price, if you haven't been obedient, what are you going to say to him?

What are you going to say to him? How are you going to meet him? How are you going to face him? What are you going to say to him? What are you going to say to him? You would be glad to give a thousand lifetimes if you could come back and live your life over and obey him and live for him and do the things that he's asking you to do right now so I plead with you I beg you in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost that you come against the enemy take your stand come against him like Jesus came against him tempted at all points like as we are yet never once did he sin stand up against him come against him you have to you've got to treat the devil like the devil in this hour we're living in terrible days when the prince of the powers of the air are coming down over us and he's fighting against the Church of Jesus Christ.

The Devil’s Assault Against the Church

Let me tell you dear Saints everything that is happening to you everything the devil is the source of it God told me some time ago to tell the church and I'm telling them wherever I go the one thing that the devil is out doing today all the wickedness that you see we here is all this talk about the sin the wickedness everything that's happening out there in the world that isn't the main thing the devil's doing today.

The chief thing he's doing today is playing against the church to try to keep you from making the rapture. That's his chief work today. And all that is happening to you all that is coming against you all that you're going through the devil is trying to get you to miss the rapture.

So you have to fight. I want you to have a strong motive and incentive to fight to stand against him and to say I'm going to make the rapture. I'm going to be ready when Jesus comes. I want to be there to celebrate with him when he receives his reward when he's crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords and put on his throne and his saints are put in their place around him and every man in his own order everyone falls into their own order at the judgment seat of Christ.

Revelation 4–5 and the Enthronement of Jesus

I want to be there. Don't you when when it says every man and woman everything from some from every tribe and nation all peoples of all generations and time it's over a hundred million if you count them all up when they for the very first time are really able to sing redemption song.

I want to be there. I want to be there. And this we have in the fourth and fifth chapter of Revelation in such a beautiful way. In the beginning of the fourth chapter I looked and behold the door was open in heaven.

The first voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking with me which said come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And then John begins to tell us the things that are that await the church and the glories that we can enter into.

And he that sat upon the throne what he looked like what he looked like what he looked like you. We have to have spiritual eyes to understand all of this. But Jesus is in for the first time. He has then his throne at the time of the rapture the father has always had his throne Jesus was that he's at the right hand of the father.

But Jesus doesn't have his throne yet. He's not enthroned. And he won't be until we get there. But when we are caught up that's his day the beginning of his day. And there was set a throne in heaven. And that's his throne and his place.

And around about that throne were four and twenty seats or thrones. And upon identification marks on your life on your living honey is your lifestyle the lifestyle of your bridegroom Jesus. All this company in the throne with him bear his identification marks.

And they're there. They're there. This takes place right at the time of the rapture. This is part of all of this is going on in heaven. While all those who wouldn't wouldn't who refused to pay the price who fought against God who argued with the gospel.

There are those today that they'll walk up on the platform and face me. They want to argue what I have to say about Jesus Christ. Ah carnality is a horrible thing. It'll take you to hell cry out and make every surrender to Jesus Christ.

And while this bride is enjoying and he's in the throne and they're worshiping and adoring the lamb. All this is taking place in heaven while those who wouldn't pay the price are down here on earth going through the tribulation period.

Choosing Readiness, Repentance, and Life With the Lamb

The choice is ours. The choice is ours. He has planned a marvelous future for us. Oh I could go on and on. I'm surprised to see it's after 12 o 'clock. I could just go on and on the glories that await us with the lamb.

I'm headed that way. I'm gonna be there by his grace. We have to make our choice. We have to make our choice. I want to say to you sinner sinner. Hate the sin that would keep you from him. Hate the sin that would keep you from him.

Hate it hate it cry against it. There is a lamb that will redeem you to backslider. Don't stay away. The hour is too late. It's too late. Don't stay away come back go back. Pay the price to walk with the lamb.

Saints of the Living God. Don't let any weakness or besetting sin keep you from being ready to meet him when he comes. It may be today we have to make choice. Father father.