Acts 13:36 is one verse of Scripture from Paul’s sermon to Antioch during the first missionary journey. Paul is speaking of the prophecy about Christ as the seed of David, but this is the phrase which catches my attention. “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay.”
David served the purpose of God in his generation. David was an exceptional person, and he had faults, too. David is remembered by most people because he killed a giant when he was seventeen years old and committed adultery with Bathsheba. They forget many other things about this man who was concerned about fulfilling the will of God in his generation. They forget the long years as a young man when he was virtually a hungry fugitive hiding in caves trying to escape the armies of Saul, doing everything he could to survive because he knew that the oil had been laid upon his head, the oil of anointing to make him a king.
Three times David was anointed with oil. Once when he was very young Samuel went over to Bethlehem and there found among the sons of Jesse the one of whom God said, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart” (I Samuel 16:7). Samuel saw young David and anointed him. How many days, how many years passed? David was pursued by Saul. We could wonder why God didn’t kill Saul. I don’t know why in the timetable of God the sons of Belial are allowed to run loose, Jezebels flourish, or hindrances are permitted to stand against the people of God; but I know one thing: if God has anointed a person for a certain place, all the Judases in the world cannot keep him from fulfilling that call.
There can come to us that harassment like old Saul who arose to harass, persecute, and try to kill David. How many times did David sneak into the dwelling place of Samuel at Ramah and say, “Bless me”? The old prophet embraced him and cried over him. Even Samuel was not accepted by Saul any longer because he had prophesied Saul’s death. So Samuel with his school of prophets was serving one purpose while Saul was serving his.
Little David was now a mighty warrior, but a displaced person among the very people he was to rule. He knelt and let old Samuel bless him and encourage him; he got up and went on with one thing in mind: he was going to serve the purposes of God in his generation. It would have been very easy along the way for him to have stopped and said, “Nobody wants to accept me. It’s just a thing that I can’t do.” I am amazed at how much God lets come in the way of opposition to every man He calls. Yet there can be such a sense of destiny that girds that man, haunts him, torments him day and night. He knows he has heard a word from God. He knows God has spoken that word over his heart, and it burns within him as it did with Jeremiah—a fire shut up in his bones. He can’t stop. He can’t quit. So like David he flees, he runs, and he lives a life which looks like a compromise. He begs the showbread out of the tabernacle or takes the trophy of Goliath’s sword (I Samuel 21:6, 9). He has to survive. He has to live at any cost, and yet he sleeps with death every night. He looks at that haunting specter of death staring at him. He is close to it, but he has something burning in his soul: He is going to serve the purpose of God in his generation. Other men may come. What Solomon does in his time will be Solomon’s responsibility. But David answers for his generation. He is to hold the door open, hold open that Messianic door, for there is a Christ to come. So he sits by a campfire, singing his songs, playing his harp.
David strengthened his hands in the Lord (I Samuel 23:16). Many a time it was too difficult for him. There was no more strength. In the Psalms he cried out of the depths of his own heart, and he wist not that the Holy Spirit was prophesying the very words which Christ would cry from the cross. He did not know what the anguish and the agony of his own heart had made him voice in the Holy Spirit; it made him the greatest prophet of Christ in the Old Testament. More details, more sayings of Christ were prophesied by David than any other of the old prophets. He served the purpose of God in his generation.
We live in this generation which is so different from any generation that has ever been born on the face of the earth. It is like a lie, an illusion. The cry is: “Peace, safety,” and sudden destruction sweeps over the earth. There are wars and rumors of wars and men’s hearts failing them for fear. In what seems to be the affluent society, terror is in every heart. There is more crime in the streets. How do we serve the purpose of God in this generation? We must do what God tells us to do and speak His word. The awareness of the word we have and the stewardship of it is growing on us. We will not build a denomination. That day is gone forever. We will speak the word of the Lord. We are not another regulated society, an organization of man concerned only about causing the members to adhere to a very restricted way of life. God has called us to be a prophetic community, to be sons of God led by the Spirit of the Lord. We are coming to the hour when we can say, “This is it. This is what God wants,” and we follow it like a pillar of fire. We hear the word, and we are concerned that we have that word accurately.
I want to change. I want circumstances to change. But I have not realized until recently how I yearn for things to go on in the same old rut. I don’t want this day that is coming upon us, and you don’t want it. I don’t want this day in which survival and food are going to be such a problem. I stand as did the Apostle John looking at mystery Babylon, being filled with wonder (Revelation 17:6). Oh, how beautiful is Babylon, Babylon the great whore, the mother of harlots. Great admiration filled John’s heart. Look at this present establishment and see what has evolved slowly of Babylon. The scientific wonders, the culture world, all the fantastic achievements are coming down, in one hour. You could almost say, “Oh, that it did not have to go.” But you have no vision of the coming Kingdom. The old must come down with its corruption. The scarlet woman that rides upon the beast will be devoured by the beast. The religious systems of Babylon which have been tolerated by the world shall be destroyed. It is already in action.
In the picture of Revelation 19:7 it says, Let us be glad and rejoice … Here is another woman. She is not the harlot; she is the Bride adorned for her Husband, clothed with fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints. This is what God is preparing for our hearts. To go through this hour of torment in the world is a destiny we must fulfill. What do we have to take us through? A double portion. What do we have to make it worth-while? The Lord will be the head of His army. We will know Him. We will be strong and do exploits because we know the Lord. Another day is coming. It is another hour. We must be conditioned to miracles, conditioned to total sacrifice, conditioned to total involvement. Everything God sets before us we must do.
We are seeking the Lord because we must serve the purpose of God in this generation. Hundreds of pastors are waiting for this word. Slowly but surely the word will take root in their hearts and change them. There is nothing like it. They need everywhere the written word and the audios. We must get moving. There is too much to be done. A lot depends on the dedication of our heart. We should be prepared for all emergencies; plenty of people should be ready to work in telling others about the word. We don’t have enough time. It must be redeemed. The days are evil.
Why do the prophecies of the end time always speak about the limitation of time? We read the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1–13). Those foolish virgins were wiser than most Christians today because they were searching for the oil, but they had started too late. We are not too late yet, but we will be if we simply sit with the greatest revelation the Lord has brought in this generation. All we need to do is to come to service, sing in the Spirit, and bless ourselves, and miss the destiny, miss the purpose of God in this generation. It is time that we move into it with everything within us. We can do it.
We will sacrifice as much as we can, and then we will pray and intercede; we will do whatever God lays before us. The prayer ministries of the church are not adequate yet. There are too few carrying the load of prayer. We don’t have enough workers. I am most concerned about one thing: I must spend time waiting on the Lord, receiving the word, and hearing what God has to say. I give you this injunction. I plead with you. I make it imperative to you. You must do the work necessary for this word to have the voice God wants it to have. You must believe. You must occupy yourself with it.
In the name of the Lord let us rise up like an army and do the job. Let’s pray. We need an anointing of the Lord in an increasing measure. Let us not back off and say, “Oh, we’ll get busy and discipline ourselves a little.” Let us pray for such an outpouring of the Spirit, such an anointing upon us that we break through the satanic opposition, the hindrances, the barriers, and the restrictions.
It is such a joy to see the brethren rejoice over the word they are able to access. They are grateful for the work we are doing. It is mechanical when we send someone a letter because they are on the mailing list. We still need to keep an interest in these people. Let’s message them, communicate; let it be a human lifeline of love, reaching out. We say we’re too busy. We are not so busy that we can’t find time for a short message. It is urgent in my spirit that we rise up to the destiny God has given us. How many churches would love to have the voice God has given us?
Don’t look at yourself and say, “I’m nothing.” You are everything. You are an instrument in the hands of the Lord. You are His people, and you can do what He has set before you. The trouble with some of you is that you are overly focused on your own personal problems. God is letting that happen until you come to the place where you say, “Lord, it doesn’t make any difference what my circumstances are; I’m going to do the will of God.” Until the will of God means more to you than some of the little problems you are bogged down in, you will never make it. But if you believe God and you step out in faith, you will make it.
Those who hear the Liviing Word They don’t do so because they are followers after a man. They can search through religious bookstores and find literature, but it isn’t geared to what God is really saying today; it isn’t a living revelation out of the Scriptures of what the Lord is speaking now. This word is amazing. You have only to watch the effects of it in the lives of the people to be deeply impressed with it. Many pastors, even though they are struggling financially, would be very glad to help us financially.
This is the greatest teaching that has ever come by revelation, prophetically; that is better than any Bible school.
Will you catch the vision to labor in the kingdom? It is hard to get. You work an eight-hour day and then put in six hours in praying for the nations.
It is very important that every one of us become geared to the limited amount of time we have left to do what God wants us to do. We need to become geared to it now and move into it as rapidly as we possibly can. I can’t emphasize that too much.
When you read the messages and listen to the audio’s you realize that slowly but surely they build into a treasure of the Living Word inside your spirit, and you then become an oracle of the Word yourself
We need teaching on the storage of food, information on what is needed for a family. We need to know all the pertinent facts for survival. There is such a desire to know these things, to find out how one could walk through the land and find food to eat, we need survival training
We don’t want a government like the Baptists in which the people rule. We don’t want one like the Catholics in which the pope rules. We need to become a prophetic community that can hear the voice of God and give direction to the babes in Christ.
What about the research? we need research on religious Babylon, documenting how the denominations have entered into commercialism and committed fornication with the kings of the earth for advantage, prostituting everything that they are, just to make money. I could continue telling of the many areas where workers are needed. Like David, we are going to serve the purpose of God in our generation.
We need a place of survival during the time which will be very difficult in this country. You know tribulation is coming. You have read it in the Word. You understand the signs of the times. If you don’t reach the place where your soul is transformed you will not be caught up in the first rapture, then you had better subscribe to a survival theory of God preserving you. We are in this earth for a purpose—to proclaim the will of God, to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth, to bring down the curtains on one age and see the Lord’s return, to see everything change in the name of the Lord. We can do it. With the anointing of the Spirit resting upon us we can be the instruments in the hands of the Almighty to accomplish it. Why should we hold back?
You say, “Before long you’ll have us all going into great sacrifice.” Yes, I suppose you could look upon it that way. But you don’t realize what is going to happen very soon, what will happen to your savings, what will happen to your home, when the american dollar has no more value. You say, “Well, my home is paid for.” You don’t know what is going to happen in taxes that will actually sweep away everything people have. You have no concept of what will happen.
Watch what is happening to the economy and to the money. Political scandals have crushed the confidence of the people in the government, and their confidence in the money is already broken. It is only a matter of time until panic is rampant in the hearts of the people. It is important we do not have fear, but that we move as rapidly as we can.
Our money is unsupported by any backing. What is the value of our coins now? Nothing, there is nothing of value in them, no precious metal. The silver certificates have been replaced by federal reserve notes, and the money will continue to decrease in value.
We need to reach out into some miraculous productivity that will enable us to do what God wants us to do. Your life, your existence will have its meaning as you fulfill the will of God in this generation.