We believe that the Word is the meat in due season of which these following verses, Luke 12:35–48, are speaking.
Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him. The usual teaching on the coming of the Lord has said that the Lord would come suddenly, and that would be it. But the coming of the Lord—the Parousia, or presence of the Lord—covers many events, including the great revelation of the Lord in the end time, the first resurrection, the tribulation, etc. We are in a day in which the Lord is knocking. I don’t agree with the fundamentalist position, or “rapture” teaching, which says the saints will automatically be caught up; that is the next thing on their program. But God’s teaching alerts us to something else. We must be like men waiting for their Lord. Notice they were told to watch with their loins girded and their lamps burning. They were to be like men looking for their Lord, when He returned from the marriage feast and He cometh and knocketh, that they might straightway open unto Him. This is what is happening today. Our blessed Lord is knocking and people are opening their hearts to Him.
If you believe in this coming of the Lord and follow the original Greek word, Parousia, it is usually translated “coming,” but it actually means presence—a continued period of time. There will be the great moment when every eye will see Him. We know these Scriptures. There will be that time when He will come in the clouds “in like manner as you’ve seen Him go away,” as the angels said at Christ’s ascension. Those will be different events within this period of the Parousia. But first, the ones who have this hope of His appearing purify themselves and make themselves ready. Their loins are girded, their lamps are burning brightly, and they are watching for their Lord.
Verses 37–38: Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find them so, blessed are those servants. What is He saying here? He is speaking of those who are watching. When He shall find them watching, then the Lord will have them sit down, and He will serve them meat. Do you grasp the fact that those who are watching and ready are those whom the Lord will feed more than any other people during this Parousia? He will gird Himself and serve them.
Verses 39–40: Know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming (thief? Wasn’t he talking about the Lord coming from a marriage?) he would have watched, and not have left his house to be broken through. Be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh. There are two contrasting pictures here: people watching for the Lord to come, and people from whom the thief came in and stole everything because they were not watching. You have to decide. Your attitude determines whether this day of God’s dealings and His presence will be to you as your Lord coming to you, or as a thief breaking into your house and destroying it. Which will you have—a Lord or a thief? I don’t want Him to catch me as a thief. I want to be like those men looking for their Lord to return from the marriage feast; and when He comes and knocks they straightway open unto Him. Straightway! They are ready to open the door! There must be that eagerness to receive anything the Lord wants: anything He wants to bring us; any visitation from the Lord; anything God wants to be to us. We will open the door and say, “Lord, come in to us.”
Peter said, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even unto all? He was saying, “To whom does this word belong? To whom shall we give it? Does this belong to us? Does everybody get this word?” The way the answer came is very beautiful. The Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? He answered with a question. Note “the food in due season.” Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. Verses 41–44.
What are we trying to do in this walk? Are we trying to find the word that God has for today, or are we hashing over something that came as a revelation to Luther, Huss, or Wesley? No, we’re not going back to that. The foundation has been laid, and we are moving on. We are concerned about the meat in due season. We are concerned about the word God is speaking today. He is saying, “This parable is given to that steward who is wise in giving the meat in due season, and when the Lord comes and He finds one so doing, He will set him over all that He hath.”
The quickest way for us to move in all God has for us is to keep speaking the word God is giving today. Print it, publish it, do whatever you can with it. Send it out by word of mouth, or by recording. Whatever God speaks, that’s what you speak. Wisely observe what the Lord is doing in the earth and proclaim it! Work at it. God is so interested in it that He will count it as a faithful stewardship. If you want to make a big place for yourself in the kingdom, get with this move of God and send this word to the ends of the earth, because when He comes and finds His servants so doing, He will set them over all that He hath. Your future authority, place, and position depends on you loving this word.
It does not matter what abilities or talents you have or don’t have; your future is unlimited. It is like surfboarding. A big wave comes. You sit down and look at it: “Maybe another one will come along.” So you look at it, “Maybe there will be another.” You can sit there all day waiting for the right wave. But eager beavers see that wave coming, and they hit their boards and away they go. They seize it and ride it in. That is exactly the way it is with God. He doesn’t care if you’re red, yellow, black or white, who you are or what your capabilities are. But will you seize the wave? Will you speak the word? Will you be faithful with what God is bringing? Is there an eagerness to open the door the minute you hear the Lord knock and say, “Here I am Lord, I’m moving in”? Will there be that faithfulness? It doesn’t say He is going to reward you because you had great ability, but because you were faithful.
Look back. Would you say that Peter, James, and John were exceptional men as far as worldly talents and abilities were concerned? I don’t believe they were. The Word says that the world marveled that they were ignorant and unlearned men. I wonder where they got what they had? What happened to them? Jesus said, “I thank thee Father that you hid these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes” (Luke 10:21). Paul said, “Behold your calling brethren, not many wise of this world, not many rich people” (I Corinthians 1:26). Who did receive the call? A harlot by the name of Mary Magdalene was the first one to proclaim the resurrection. Is that good enough for you? A hated renegade Jew by the name of Matthew, who had sold out to the Roman government, was sitting by the side of the road shaking everyone down for Roman taxes—that was a job! Do you like disciples like that? What about James and John, the sons of thunder—beautiful, marvelous boys—called “sons of thunder” because they could be heard swearing, clear across the Sea of Galilee. They were the kind of guys who would stand and say, when things weren’t going right, “Lord, let’s bring fire down and burn up these Samaritans.” But when God got through with one of them, He had made him the apostle of love. There was one thing about them: they opened their hearts to God. When Jesus said, “Come,” they were on their feet, forsook their nets, and were going with Him.
Today, the call of discipleship is just the same. God is saying, “This is it. Open up.” If any man hear my voice (that’s a promise to the Laodicean church) and opens the door I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me. Revelation 3:20. Luke makes it more specific: “He will gird himself and serve us. He will set us over all that he has.” Everything great that is coming depends upon that eagerness of soul and spirit. Love not your life unto death; count not the cost, but be dedicated. This is a walk. I don’t know what I can and cannot do. But I know this—I’m going to be eager to do everything that I can in this walk to please the Lord and to move right along in all that God is doing. That’s why you’re here. That’s why God is blessing.
Verses 45–48: If that servant shall say in his heart, my lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the unfaithful. And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made not ready nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more.
What does this say to us? I don’t know whether you appreciate this or not, but being in this walk can be one of the greatest perils to your soul, because you don’t dare hear the word that God is giving and not do something about it. He that knew the will of God and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Why are we talking about judgment? It sounds like purgatory, doesn’t it?
“He knew the Lord’s will; he didn’t make ready; he didn’t do His will, so he will be put in purgatory and he won’t get out until he has been beaten with many stripes? If we say a lot of prayers and burn candles for him, maybe we can get him out?”
No, that’s not what it’s talking about. It is talking about the fact that judgment is beginning at the house of the Lord. And the severest of the tribulation judgments will hit suddenly and quickly, and first of all upon the ones who know the will of God and haven’t done it.
What about the atheist, the sinner, the man who never had a meeting with God in his life, and doesn’t know anything about God? He will probably get his judgment, but the Word says that he who knew not and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. Our judgment could be worse than anyone’s, because we have had a lot given to us. If you are eager and you press in and say, “Yes Lord, I want to do everything I can; I want to be right there with it,” the Lord will bless you. But when you hear the word and you know the will of God and what you are to do, and then if you don’t make yourself ready, and you don’t do the will of the Lord, you will receive many stripes. That has happened many times to people in this walk already. But I am reminded of Hebrews 6:9, But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things of you, and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak. I like that: things that accompany the salvation and the deliverance that God has already given us. That’s what we believe will be our portion in life. That’s the way we’re going to live, by the grace of God with everything that is within us.
The sending forth of the living Word free of charge. It is not going to build a denomination. It is not going to build old Babylon at all. But it is going to constantly fortify and strengthen men and women everywhere with what God is doing and saying. It will get them ready because they are making ready, doing the will of the Lord, and proclaiming.
They are standing, holding onto the door, waiting for the Lord to knock. The most important thing that you can possibly do right now is to be alert to what God is doing.
What about other businesses and things that you could do in the way of ministry? Someone will say, “I have a ministry of music.” What do you do? “I go from church to church and sing solos.” Is that going to bring back the King? Someone else says, “I run from church to church and hold revival meetings.” What for? To give the corpse another shot, to turn it over so it won’t look quite so dead? “We’ll have a great loyalty campaign and talk about the good old days when God spoke to our forefathers.” But what is He saying to you? Whatever the Lord is doing now that’s where I want to be. Whatever He is seeing, that’s what I want to be seeing. I want to be an eager and really faithful steward pressing in. It’s the most important thing that anyone can do.
And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him they will ask the more.
Let’s bring back the King. Let’s keep talking about the King’s return. Let’s keep talking about the Lord and His coming kingdom and the wonderful things He is going to inherit of His inheritance in the saints of light. Let’s glorify God. Let’s be concerned about that.
“Well,” you say, “I’m eager to work out my ministry.” The burden now is the coming back of the Lord. That’s the real burden.
The Lord will return again. He is coming. Does that shake you? Is there some ethereal doctrine you subscribe to without really believing in its reality? Do you know He is returning again? The Greek word for His own return is “Parousia,” the presence of the Lord. This word is translated in the King James and usually in the American Standard Version as “coming.” The Revised Standard Version also translated the word as “coming.” But it means more than “coming” in the sense that “coming” refers to a sudden experience or event. This “coming” is a presence during a period of time.
The Lord will do certain things at His coming.
Suppose I tell the people , “I am coming to visit you, and when I come, I will do this and that and the other.” This does not mean that the minute I get off the plane I will instantly do all those things; it means that when I come, while I am there, I will do them.
There are a number of events prophesied in the Scriptures to take place in the end time. For example, there is that appearing of the Lord which will come suddenly in great unveiling and great revelation, that experience in which the Lord comes and every eye sees Him. This is a beautiful thing—one of the events during the time of the presence of the Lord. He is truly present with us always, but the Parousia is that time of His unique presence, when He fulfills a number of prophecies in the spiritual as well as the literal coming in the flesh. He accomplishes a number of things.
During this time of the Parousia, the Lord can come to you in two different ways: either He will be your Lord, or He is going to come as a thief unexpectedly breaking through the house. This is the way the Scripture describes it, saying that you are to have your loins girded about and your lamps burning, and be ready like those looking for their lord when he returns from the marriage feast, so when he comes and knocks you may straightway open unto him.
There are two raptures taught because when the Lord comes for his bride, it is supposed to be in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. Who has time to open the door? It is all over with. But this Parousia means there is a time of the presence of the Lord when the Lord is literally wooing and knocking at the door. During this time, one is to have his loins girded, his lamps burning, and be like a man looking for his lord. The minute he hears him come, he immediately opens the door.
This is exactly what this walk is all about. Believe it or not, we are in the beginning events of the Parousia, and we will watch all the great things unfold, of which the Word of God speaks, including that glorious first resurrection. Not long from now, we are going to see the dead in Christ rise. We ourselves will be changed as we go into these events. Right now His presence hovers over a people whom He is anointing and making ready—to complete His witness and His word to the world before judgment comes and the age is irrevocably ended and the new Kingdom comes, These events require great readiness of mind. The most important thing for each of us right now is to have our hand on the doorknob, so when we hear the Lord say something to us, we open the door to it, and come into this great fellowship and communion with God.
This worship, this fellowship, this communion and waiting on the Lord are perhaps the greatest privileges and opportunities to have visited the Christian church in 2000 years. We are participating in the glorious Parousia, in the presence of the Lord, and it is already beginning to unfold to our very hearts.
Do you understand the significance of this message, and what it means to your heart? Do you know what a walk with God means in this hour? It is the greatest wonder you could ever dream of. How blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching! Watch, watch, watch! Haven’t you heard that? Isn’t it common in the Scriptures? Watch, be sober, be alert. Why? Because the very confusion of the whole world picture will cause many people to miss out and forget it. It has happened before. At His first coming, Jesus wept over Jerusalem and said, “If you had only known the day of your visitation, but it was hid from your eyes” (Luke 19:41–44).
The Lord is saying to us today, “It is the day of visitation. Anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you may really see what is happening.” What darkness is coming on the earth, and how veiled the understanding in the hearts of men, but God is opening the door to our understanding. He says that if He finds us watching, He will gird Himself and make us sit down to meat and shall come and serve us. He is coming as Lord but He is going to serve us.
We are just entering into the day to accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ in complete submission to Him. There has never been such a time during all the ages described in the Scriptures in which the Lord will so completely and perfectly minister to the people who are faithfully submitted to Him. He will minister to us. He is our Lord, but He will gird Himself and make us sit at meat. He says, “If he shall come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But if the master of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have left his house to be broken through. Be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.” If we will not be watching for Him to welcome Him and receive Him as Lord, He will come as a thief and break through the house.
This is not a time of blessing for many of the Christian churches. Every move of God, everything that God is doing in this end time is destructive to them; it tears them apart. They are not alert; they are not listening to God. Therefore every moving of the Spirit, when people are stirred or filled with the Holy Spirit, just shakes the churches and tears them apart that much more. Years ago, while I was an evangelist, an old pastor told me, “Pastors should be careful about having you in their churches because if one does not walk on in the things God is saying, in six months, either that pastor will be out of that church or there will be a split in it.” I began to check back and it was true. Many a pastor would scramble after the meeting was over to try to get things back under control. He did not like that much fervor; he did not like that much hunger. I remember a phone call from someone, where I had been preaching a few months previously, who called to say, “I can’t get out of my mind one verse of Scripture which you quoted: ’Why sit we here until we die?’” II Kings 7:3.
The Lord is beginning to move again like a thief breaking through the house. There are some who are listening with their hand on the door, waiting to open it; waiting for the Lord to knock and reveal something. But it is surprising how many churches want only a program and a promotion. They are afraid of the moving of the Lord. Why should people be afraid to have you lay hands upon them and prophesy over them? Why should people be afraid of the moving of the Spirit and the singing in the Spirit? Why should pastors rise up and preach against it and warn their people not to come?
The old age is dying, but there is a new trend toward naturally grown, organic food. It’s unprocessed. It’s alive! The church that wants to take the food of the Scriptures and remove the life from it ends up with some meaningless, empty shell of doctrine. They feed it to the people, but it is like white bread made from white flour that even rats probably would not want. They expect human beings to consume something that dead. They do not want living food because it creates problems. We have problems. Our elders and pastors have more problems than any denominational church ten times larger than ours. This is because we have more life—more living people. Every one of you are problems, in the same way as that little baby in your house is a perpetual problem. There are problems with something that is alive.
You say, “Do we really need all these elders?”
We need ten times more elders than we have, for we must take care of living people, children coming into Sonship. People must be exhorted and encouraged because He is at the door. He is knocking, and we are immediately going to open to Him, to everything He says, everything He does, and everything He wants.
We will have problems, but not the kind that are solved once and then stay solved. These problems are the same kind you have in buying your little boy a pair of shoes. You get them about half an inch longer than his foot, thinking they will last awhile, but you are not solving the problem permanently. You are only solving it temporarily, because the child’s feet will grow as big as yours.
The reason we are prophesying so much is because we are growing. Take the burden to write to our men who are in the service and minister to them. See to it that you take care of the people who come in. God gives them a word, and they go out and go through hell. They have had a word from God, and the devil and everything else is bursting in on them. They need help. We are not here to hatch chickens for the hawks. We are not bringing children forth to abandon them. We are going to bring them up.
God is giving you a word today. Publish it; give it to the people. If when He comes you are one of those faithful stewards giving the servants of God meat in due season, He will put you over all He has. Your faithfulness now is determining your position in the Kingdom.
“But I thought we were going to convert the world.”
No, you know better than that. You know that within our generation two-thirds of the world’s population will be destroyed during the tribulation. That takes care of the population explosion. You better fear the coming plagues. We are not going to convert the world. This gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness, and then the end shall come. That’s what this is all about. We are talking about the Lord, about His Lordship, about His Kingdom.
It would be better not to be in this walk if you are not going to do the will of the Lord; because if you are here and know the Lord’s will, and do not make yourself ready nor do according to His will, you will be beaten with many stripes. There will be people who do not know the will of the Lord and do things worthy of stripes; they will be beaten with few stripes.
Knowledge is a responsibility, and God is requiring that as He has committed to us this revelation, we act upon it. Suppose a governor handed you a man’s pardon whom he knew to be innocent and was going to be executed at midnight, and you stuck it in your pocket and went out, taking your time to eat etc., and then when you looked at the time it was already 12:30. By law, you would be guilty of manslaughter, possibly murder.
For us to have this knowledge committed to us, the anointing and the ministry which we have, and what God has caused to rest upon these churches entails a moral responsibility. If we don’t do anything with it, we did not do the will of God, and we will be beaten with many stripes. He is not talking about purgatory, dear friends; in this case, He is speaking of the tribulation. We will either escape it with immunity by doing the will of God, or the thief will break through and plunder the house, and there will be many stripes. That is the way it will be.
You would have been better off if you had never heard of this walk if you are not going to do the will of God. One reason why God has been almost selective about the people whom He has brought into the churches is because the judgment will be great. A serious message of this kind makes you realize what we are doing is not a luxury. We’ll not go around and pin merit badges upon one another and say, “My, aren’t we a fine little church!”
I thank God for the word that has come. I thank God for the Living Word. I thank God for the anointing, this walk with the Lord, the things which are happening to us in this hour, but I do not deceive myself about the corresponding responsibilities. There are people yet in this walk who cannot adjust to the fact that to be in this walk and to have this word is a responsibility.
You do not even have a right to what you used to call a normal existence in the past. There is an urgency upon you because if you really believe in the apostolic ministry and in the prophets, how can you go about business as usual? If you believe in the restoration of the New Testament church, if you believe in the gifts and in the prophecies which have come, you just cannot draw back and say, “I’m going to live a normal life.” You cannot do that as though you were never reached.
You may say, “I want to live my own life, to do what I want to do, to find my pleasure and fulfillment in life.” But if God has called you, there is no greater fulfillment and nothing as significant in all the world than to walk in this walk and be the instrument of God in the earth during this time.
“To whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required. To whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more.” Stay with it. Do not get discouraged. You may start thinking you are missing a lot out of life. Of course you are missing a lot. It is understood that disciples leave all to follow Him. You young people aren’t running around having a good time, buying new cars and living it up until all your money is gone. Instead you are sweating and sacrificing, giving money you cannot afford, doing things which are almost unbelievable for young people. You are missing a lot and that is the way it will be. You are going to be disciples, and it will pay off a hundredfold in this present time and eternal life in the age to come (Mark 10:30). It is important to realize that if you want anything in this life, there is a certain price you must pay.
Dedication really begins when you come into this walk. It is an illusive thing, for first you see the restoration and the promises, you feel that you will be happy and everything will be fine. Then you get into it, and you are in battle twenty-four hours a day. Do not complain about it, because it will continue until you reach into God and learn how to belt that old son of perdition right into hell.
The battle will not let up, so it does no good for us to be like a squealing pig caught in the fence. We will study the enemy and see what can be done to go after him. If we are set to pull down principalities and powers, if it pleases God to bruise Satan under our feet shortly, we will see it done. In the meantime, someone may ask us, “Did you have a pleasant afternoon? It is a nice day we’re having, isn’t it?”
“No, it isn’t a nice day we’re having, but this is the day which the Lord hath made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it!” We are raised up for warfare, so what is there to complain about? We can become conditioned to warfare in this walk because we are the army of the Lord. We will take our sword and go after it.
We cannot complain when we have seen devils cast out and principalities come down. We have had a few headaches and a few battles, but it has been phenomenal what we have seen done in the spirit world by our faith. There are people who will not even understand this or know what we are doing, but by the grace of God we will battle through. We will open the door to thousands of ministries and bodies of people who do not even know their right hand from their left in spiritual things, but because a people blaze a trail and make a freeway for them, they will come through. Therefore we will continue blasting mountains out of the way, filling valleys, casting out the stones, and making smooth the highway of the Lord because the King is coming.
Do you want to preach? Then start getting sermons ready. Start praying about these things. Learn to intercede; learn to get with it. The sisters of the churches are getting ready for some very great revelation. They stand to believe and back everyone up, but just wait until the Lord starts speaking about the ministry that these women are to walk in. They will be yelling, “Somebody help me; somebody help me!” for God is going to put all of us right on the front line. The Lord is calling us to dedicate ourselves all over again. It is time to believe God and move on to do everything He wants us to do, not wavering in any way.