Angels, transcription of tape 3

ANGELS, tape three

II Kings 6:8-12. 

So here we have the setting of this occasion of angelic ministry.  The king of Syria had been warring against Israel and in his counsels and strategies and plans he has been setting traps for the army of Israel and the king of Israel.  But the prophet Elisha, by the Spirit of the Lord, we are going to talk a little bit about how exactly Elisha knew this.  Elisha  heard what the King of Syria said in his bedroom and don’t you know that would be worth something.  We talk about the Cold War and all the spies we had spying on Moscow and Eastern Europe.  Wouldn’t that have been something if we had known what the communist leaders were speaking in their bedrooms or in their offices or where they were making strategies for war.  Well, Elisha  he would hear this by the Spirit, and he would tell the king of Israel “Watch out for that trap-Watch out for that trap-watch out for that trap.  Every time the king of Syria tried to set a trap the King of Israel was forewarned and of course he would avoid it and save himself from it.  Perhaps even turn it back around on the king of Syria.  Well, that is why the king of Syria was forced to say we must have a traitor in our midst.  But, somebody there knew a little bit about Israel and they knew the prophets ministry.  They said “No, this is Elisha, he knows what you are saying in your bedroom”.  So, the king realizes he has to change his strategies.  Instead of going after the king of Israel he is going to go after this prophet.  It says in Verse l3-     Now, the servant of the man of God was Gehazi , we don’t have time to show you that but you can read that in other portions of the Bible.  Elisha had a servant named Gehazi, he got up early and he got up early and he went out and saw a host composed the city both with horses and chariots.  So, Gehazi sees this army that is assembled against them.  And the servant says unto Elisha vs. 15.  Here we are we have been doing reconnaissance and some undercover work for the king of Israel and you have been revealing secrets but now it looks like we’re going to have to pay for it.  We have this army circling the city.  Notice Elisha’s response.  Elisha answered him saying “fear not!”  that’s the first thing that came to Elisha’s mind when it related to obstacles and circumstances of life and it should be the first thing that comes to our minds when we face the enemies attacks and it seems like we’re outnumbered and it seems like we’re circled; when it seems like the enemy has us right where he wants us.  We must remember not to fear.  The Bible gives us substantial reasons not to fear.  Now our minds and our natural circumstances they will give us reasons to fear also.  I’m reminded of Peter walking on the water.  You know we often remember that he sank, and Jesus saved him, but we need to remember that he did walk on that water before he sank.  So he got a little bit further along than the other disciples.  They were good friends cheering him on, “We’re behind you Peter”; but that’s exactly where they were back in the boat.  He’s the one that took the step of faith, the Word says that seeing the wind boisterous, he was afraid and that fear is a spiritual principle that ties up the things of God and clams up the move of the Spirit of God.  Beginning to sink, Peter cried out “Lord save me”.  Thank God, the Lord did and pulled him back up and told him “don’t fear, don’t fear, don’t doubt, why would you doubt.  So Elisha  now is turning to his servant and instructing him.  He is telling him don’t fear.  He is not overly concerned for the welfare of the servant, he is not going to be upset if the servant goes off and has this pagan fear.  He is trying to stop a spiritual principle from happening.  You know if this was going to take place who cares if this servant goes off and prays by himself.  Elisha’s going to take care of himself, let the servant catch up when he wants to.  You see, other peoples faith enters in and other peoples fear and unbelief can enter in.  But, Gehazi needed to be instructed, don’t fear.  Now, notice what Elisha said, “for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”  Now Elisha is not looking at the circumstances, the bible says that we don’t war after the flesh, the bible says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty thru God.  The bible says we don’t wrestle against flesh but against principalities, power and rulers of darkness of this world: against wicked spirits in high places.  See Elisha was looking at the spiritual source and cause.  I think sometimes we fail to see that behind physical manifestations there is a spiritual cause and effect.  For instance, I John III says. (Quote)  You see health and prosperity are based on a large part upon the prosperity of your soul. It’s what goes on in the inside of man that determines what will take place on the outside of him.  If you can get it in your heart and believe it you can see it and you can see it manifest in the natural.  Elisha was not focused on the problem; he wasn’t focused on the circumstances or the natural; he was focused on the Spirit and he was drawing his strength from what he knew to do as sure a reality in the Spirit as we have reality in the natural.  Whether you know it or not there are certain realities you can’t see.  People say I don’t believe in anything I can’t see.  Well I just ask them if they have a brain and than ask them if they have ever seen it?  It’s good to know that you do believe in some things you don’t see.  Some people say “well I don’t believe in things I can’t see” Well, you know, electricity was around for thousands of years and nobody saw it.  Than somebody realized there was something there and had enough courage to go fly a kite.  It may not of seemed like the wisest thing to do but he realized that electricity could be conducted.  And there are other things we could talk about; we have got to realize that behind the shell of the flesh there is a spiritual reality that is actually more real than the natural one.  If we can take the assumption that the spirit created the natural, than we could call the Spirit realm the mother realm.  If we take that as an assumption that everything that is comes from that realm than that realm must be more real than this realm.  And the things that occur in that realm affect this realm.  We’re going to find that that is scripturely true; Jesus said at one time, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose in heaven will be loosed on earth.”  There is a reciprocal cause and effect between what we do here in the natural  and what occurs in the spirit, and what occurs in the spirit and what occurs here in the natural.  So, Elisha he focused on that and he said “there are more that be with us than that be with them”.  Now, I would like to point out here, as the Lord pointed out to me that Elisha didn’t say there is more that be with us than them.  He didn’t say there is more that be with us than the army that is surrounding the city.  He didn’t say “I have more angels that be with me than there are horses and chariots around this city.  No, He said “there is more that be with us than they that be with them.”  Meaning there is somebody with Elisha and there is somebody with the enemy.  There is somebody with you and there is somebody with the enemy.  There is a verse in I John 4:4  (Quote)  Now, that’s important.  One time I misquoted it, I was preaching and I misquoted it.  I said “Greater is He that is in “us” than he that is in the World”  and the Lord corrected me.  See, us implies we all have to get together for Him to be greater; but no, it’s greater is He who is in you “individually” than he that is in the world collectively.  See, you and God make a majority.  You and God are enough against the situation.  Elisha said “there is more that be with us than that be with them” you see behind these situations, behind circumstances, behind people; there are demonic spirits and principalities in operation trying to effect their causes.  Trying to forward their desire.  The kingdom of Satan is as real as the kingdom of God and it has an agenda, it has goals and Satan has desires and plans for you.  John l0:l0 (Quote) .  You see Satan comes with one thought in mind and that is destruction and Jesus comes with one thought in mind and that is life abundantly.  As we choose the abundant life we also need to realize that he has made us to be more than conquerors thru Christ who loved us and gave himself for us.  So, there were spirits behind the king of Syria, moving him to make war against the king of Israel and even moving him to come and make war against the prophet.  Elisha knew that if he could outnumber or out-power or overcome the spirits behind the men, well than he could rescue the men and deliver them.  We will find out that is exactly what happened.  Verse l7 Elisha prayed and he said (Quote)  Now what did he see, he had been seeing in the natural but now he is seeing in the spirits.  Behold …thru verse 23.  Well, I guess not!  You see, Satan was driving these men with evil spirits behind them, but when the angels of God, which were more with Elisha than what be with them, than Elisha was about to minister in such a way that he rescued or delivered these men out from underneath that demonic power and he just led them on into the king of Israel’s camp right there in Samaria and they surrounded them and than they said Lord, open their eyes and they opened their eyes and they were surrounded by their enemies.  What are they going to do, throw their weapons down.  The King of Israel said should we kill them, should we kill them?  But, Elisha said no you don’t do that.  Why did Elisha say that, because he knew his warfare was not with flesh and blood.  He hadn’t just defeated these men, he had defeated the spirits that were behind these men.  He disarmed them a long time before he got near the king of Israel.  So, he made a feast for them and fed them and took care of them.  And said now boys if you’ve seen what’s going on here and your free from that demonic power, you go on back to your camp and don’t bother us anymore.  So they did, they left and they bothered the king of Israel and the land of Israel no more.  See, the mountain that was full of horses and chariots of fire was round about Elisha.  Lets look at Psalms 91 I want to show you something here.  Lets begin reading in verse 5 …   11  See Elisha knew that the angels of God were keeping him and he knew that whatever Satan would bring against him the angels of God would rise up and stop it.  Let’s look in Psalms 34:1-4 … You see the way to be delivered from fear is to seek the Lord.  Once you get your eyes on Jesus there is no more room for fear.  He than says Vs. 5-7.  See, Elisha knew that these angels were camped out around him.  He was surrounded with angelic forces and angelic hosts.  He was as conscious of them and more so actually, than he was conscious of physical horses and physical chariots camped out round about the city.  Because his eyes were upon the spiritual he was able to move in the spirit and see things take place.  Now if we look in John 1: Elisha, he works with angels, well let me rephrase that, angels work for him.  The bible says, that all of this innumerable host of angels are ministering servants, ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.  This innumerable host are poised right now listening to our words to do that which we speak when what we speak is according to the Word of God.  They hearken unto the voice of the Lord and they obey or fulfill or bring to completion the commandments of God.  Now, I want you to read here with me; lets begin in verse 43 of John l …47  Now notice this, it’s very, very simple what Jesus says to the man.  Nathaniel is doubting that they found the Messiah.  Nathaniel is not sure, he is familiar with the Old Covenant, he is looking for the Messiah.  He doesn’t know of any prophet coming out of Nazareth.  So, Nathaniel is pretty ?  and he says “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Sort of like people around here; can anything good come out of Titusville.  Philip saith unto him come and see…..verse 50.  I don’t know what happened under this fig tree, I don’t know what he was doing there.  He must have been doing something private enough and sincere enough, it sure caught Philip’s attention.  Now Nathaniel answered, notice his thought, and saith unto him Rabbi.  He went from What good thing can come out of Nazareth to Rabbi, which means teacher or master.  Rabbi, thou art …  Isn’t it interesting that one Word of Knowledge can change a life forever.  See that is all that Jesus was operating in was a simple gift of the Word of Knowledge.  The gifts of the Spirit are 9 in number.  We have them listed in I Corinthians l2.  The Word of Knowledge is simply a fragment or a segment of knowledge that is imparted by the spirit of God about a person, a place or an event in the past.  In this case we can see that it was conveyed in one form or another thru sight or vision.  Jesus said I saw you, he didn’t say I heard you, he said I saw you; he didn’t say God told me about you, he said I saw you.  Whatever He saw must have been private enough that it was proof or evidence to Nathaniel that God is real and you are He.  You are my Rabbi, you are the Messiah and you are the king of Israel.  Now notice Jesus’ response.  Vs. 50 … You mean you believe me out of that simple Word of Knowledge?  Thou shalt see greater things than these.  He saith …vs. 51.  Hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.  I want to make a statement here.  We are going to look at this logically.  If heaven opened as angels of God ascending and descending what would a heaven closed be.  If an open heaven is open access to these angelic ministers.  What would a closed heaven be.  It would be a “no angelic ministry” or perhaps limited.  With that thought in mind, now we are going to come back here, but we have got to have that much to go back to Daniel chapter l0.  Everything I said the last two nights is setting us up for tonight.  Daniel chapter l0; because here we have a powerful chapter of the description of the angelic ministry, in which Daniel receives wisdom and knowledge.  In Daniel l0:1 ….verse 2  Now the word mourning here in the Old Testament generally means fasting.  He said I was fasting three full weeks.  Now that is 21 days.  Now it wasn’t a complete fast, it was a limited fast.  He said I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth; neither did I anoint myself at all until 3 whole weeks were fulfilled.  And …..vs. 6.  This was an angelic appearance that Daniel is describing, but notice he says this.  And I Daniel alone saw the vision.  I want you to underline that.  See we don’t know at this point if the Angel came into the physical realm or if Daniel saw into the Spirit realm.  But, we are going to find out.   Notice verse 7 …  They didn’t see anything but they wanted out of there.  Now, Daniel he saw, verse 8… see now it doesn’t say he didn’t run away, it says he couldn’t.  I have a clue myself that if he would have been able to he would have, but he didn’t have the strength.  For my comeliness, meaning the very thing in my that’s beautiful, by nature, was turned in me into corruption and I retained no strength.  When I read this, I’m telling you, I had words to describe the experience I had.  When Jesus Christ walked into my bedroom and I ran and crawled on all fours  off my bed, into the  closet,  stuck my head in the corner, in a sleeping bag and begged Jesus, “don’t come in here, don’t come in here”.  I could not take the presence of God.  I remember listening to another minister when an Angel appeared to him in a room walked right thru the wall.  I liked how he described it.  He said, “it felt like the skin on my flesh was going to fall off”!  What is Daniel saying here, he said the thing in my that is beautiful, my comeliness was turned in me into corruption and I retained no strength.  Isaiah said it this way, he said, “lo I am undone”!  I mean I am telling you, we are talking about spiritual things that have power.  He said “ Now, I saw this great vision, yet I heard the voice of His Words.  When I heard the voice of His Words, than was I in a deep sleep on my face and my face towards the ground.  In other words, he was slain in the spirit.  The power of God hit him. “Behold a hand touched me which set me up on my knees and upon the palms of my hands.  I read this years ago and I thought of me crawling across the floor on my hands and knees.  You know when your out of strength, that’s about all the higher you can get is up on your hands and knees; especially if you want to move fast.  He said unto me “Oh Daniel a man greatly beloved.”  That is blind in the King James, the Hebrew literally reads here, and the margin of your bible may show this, mine is a Cambridge Bible.  The margin of my bible reads “he said unto me, oh Daniel a man of great desire”.  See he had to have something that would take him twenty-one days.  Somebody says, “How come so and so gets into the presence of God and I don’t?”  Well, probably because of his desire.  James says “Draw nigh to me and I will draw nigh to you”  People come to me a lot and say, Well I just feel like god has left me.  God hasn’t left anybody, you left Him.   You draw nigh to God  and He is going to come into your life, you have to have the desire to do it though.  How much desire is in you.  Do you have twenty-one days of desire.  What if Daniel had only had twenty days of desire.  Well, he would have probably missed it.  Let me show you why.  He said “Oh Daniel man of great desires, understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright.  For unto thee am I now sent and when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.  He was able to stand up.  Than he said unto me, fear not Daniel, for from the first day that …the very first day, that was 21 days ago, this is the end of your fast, 21 days, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and Twenty days.  Now who is this fellow, who could withstand an Angel.  Now this somebody that as soon as he appears to Daniel, Daniel falls down and is drained of strength and all of his friends run away.  Everything beautiful about Daniel becomes ugly.  He hears the Angel speak and he is slain in the spirit and falls on his face.  The Angel strengthens him and he gets up onto his hands and knees and then the Angel speaks to him again and he stands up.  Than the Angel tells him don’t fear and than the Angel has the audacity to say that there was something out there that was strong enough to withstand him.  Well, what is that?  He said it was the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia.  Now this word prince doesn’t mean a prince like we would have in the natural realm, but a principality.  We have it in Ephesians 6,  we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities.  It is a Satanic domain.  You know there are Satanic kingdoms or cities that are stronger in resistance to the Kingdom of God than others.  He said now  this prince of Persia, this is the spirit behind the king of Persia.  This prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, now Michael, we are getting a little bit better.  We know Michael to be one of the Archangels.  Who is everywhere in the Word, described as an Angel of War.  Now this Angel is trying to get to Daniel  with this message, but this prince of Persia, this demonic spirit, this fallen angel is withstanding or resisting the flow of Angelic ministry from Heaven to Earth.  But, Michael comes and helps him and he said and I remained there with  the kings of Persia.  Meaning that this Satanic force was displaced and a heavenly Angel replaced his position.  Now, he said, I have come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days.  Vs. 15 …  It mean he couldn’t speak.  Vs. 16-17 (the man could not even move because he was in the presence of the Angel.  Vs. 18- 19 (See the Angel spoke to him, “Be strong, Be strong”.  You know sometimes Angels will speak to you; sometimes Angels will minister to you.  You know Jesus was praying and fasting for forty days and in this fast of forty days, Satan came and Jesus defeated him after three temptations.  And the Bible says “After these three temptations, Jesus remained in the wilderness, but the Angels ministered to him.  Well, what do you think they did?  Well, maybe something like this right here, maybe they spoke to him “Be strong, Be strong”!  Daniel received strength and than the angel continues and shares what we have here in the book of Daniel as a vision of the end.  Now lets go back to John 1, I want to show you something.  See this angel couldn’t find his way to Daniel with any sense of ease.  That’s all I want to show you, that there was a resistance in the Spirit that had to be overcome.  Now, I said earlier that Spiritual things have a reciprocal cause and effect in natural things and natural things have a reciprocal cause and effect in spiritual things.  I have my own opinion that Daniel’s prayers and fastings are what encouraged, initiated and finished that spiritual conflict between Michael and the Angel and the Prince of Persia.  I think if Daniel would have quit fasting after 3 days, the warfare in the heavens would have quit but Daniel persisted.  I think if Daniel would have quit after 7 days, that that warfare in the heavenlies, it would have quit, but Daniel persisted.  He was a man of great desire.  Seven days went by and he didn’t have his answer, so that meant he was going 8.  And eight days went by and he didn’t have his answer.  So that meant he was going 9.  And nine days went by and he didn’t have his answer, so that meant he was going 10 until 2l days, three full weeks had gone by without his answer and he was ready to go further!  But, that’s when the answer came and the victory was established.  But, it was established in the spirit before it was manifested in the flesh.  See there are things that have to take place in the Spirit, before they can take place in the natural.  Now, Jesus has this Word of Knowledge about Nathaniel; and he says that’s nothing, that’s small time compared to what you are going to see.  Greater things than this you are going to see.  Why? And Why are there going to be greater things?  Because of one reason only.  Because from now on Jesus said.  There is something about Angelic ministry, you are going to see angels going back and forth from heaven freely, in an open heaven.  You are going to see angelic ministry without any Satanic oppositions.  You are going to see miracle, after miracle, after miracle.  You are going to see greater things than this.  Now, it is interesting to me; and let’s look in John 5:l-4 that there was an angel here …… you see; angels, one of their roles is to bear gifts from heaven to Earth.  This angel brought a gift of wisdom and knowledge from heaven to Daniel.  Jesus said “ I am operating in a word of knowledge and I saw you Nathaniel under the tree, but you are going to see greater miracles because these angels are going up and down.  See, I am stepping into Angelic Ministry, and you are going to see greater miracle than that, meaning that the angels are conveying the gifts from heaven to man.  And here we have where this angel would come down at a certain season and trouble the water.  And whoever stepped in was made whole.   I shared with you last night, I remember listening to R.W. Shambach.  How he was in the middle of his service and there were several people in wheelchairs.  God must have opened his eyes in the Spirit, because nobody else saw it; and the TV camera didn’t catch it.  I don’t think TV camera can film in the spirit, it would be nice if they could.  But, he said,  he pointed at these people and said there is an angel of God behind everyone of your wheelchairs with your miracle.  Stand up right now in the Name of Jesus.  I believe it was 5 out of 6 that were healed stood up.  Well, what was that? He didn’t lay on them, he didn’t even pray for them.  He just saw in the spirit that there were 6 angels with a miracle ready.  Now why didn’t that 6th one receive?  Well, I don’t know, I’m not God and I’m not that person so I can’t say, but I know there are people who have been offered deliverance and have refused it. Maybe it was a lack of knowledge.  Maybe it was a lack of faith.  Maybe it was fear.  Maybe it was sin.  Who knows, it is none of our business.  All I do know is that he saw in the spirit and the angels were there with gifts from heaven.  I know in my own life, in one occasion; I wasn’t even the preacher, we were having special meetings at Cross Creek Resort.  When the speaker was done, he came immediately over to me, I thought I was going to just stand up and dismiss everybody; but when I grabbed the microphone and turned around; I saw into the spirit, I saw like a wind.  I know now, the Lord is showing me now, it was an angel.  I thought it was wind, but I saw it like a blue flash of light, come right thru the double doors and fly right into my right eye.  Sounds funny, but hey, I don’t know.  As soon as that came into me the healing anointing hit my hand and a word of Knowledge came that there was somebody there with an infection in their ear.  It was Todd Sutton’s mother.  She came forward and was instantly healed.  See an Angel brought that from heaven to Earth.  Hallelujah.  Well, two years ago, God began drawing me out into all night prayer.  For about one month, three or four nights every week, I couldn’t go to sleep.  I’d pray all night.  I didn’t pray all night like my mouths moving all night long.  But, I’d lay before the Lord, every once in a while I’d pray in the spirit, I’d walk up and down.  I was antsy!  I had something in me that had to come out.  It was coming out slow.  I prayed all night, three or four nights, sometimes four, sometimes two, sometimes one.  For about one month.  Than God took me to Armenia.  I didn’t see the connections.  But when I got to Armenia, I believe it was May, two years ago.  I was there approximately 30 days.  I saw more miracles in thirty days than I have seen in my entire life.  I don’t even talk about it as much as I aught to.  I saw so many miracles that I feel funny talking about it.  But, I know it was the result of Angelic Ministry.  It was near the end of that, in fact it was the second to the last message I was preaching when an angel manifested in the meeting.  And I began to realize that Angels brings miracles from Heaven to Earth.  And whether you see them or not, they are there.  Whether you recognize it or not they are moving.  But you see if you do recognize it, we have to recognize the blessings of God by faith; than step into it, experience it and know them.  The Bible says “Taste and see that the Lord is good, Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.  See, it doesn’t say, step into blind faith and stay in blind faith and live your life with your eyes closed for the rest of your life.  That is not faith, that is stupidity.  You see if you step out in faith and you step on the water and you don’t sink, now you have experience.  See, it’s as I said before, it’s amazing how when you pray you have more coincidences.  You know the World looks at the Christian life and say well you know when you talk about that blessing, it’s just a coincidence.  It’s amazing how when I pray I have more of them.  And  when I don’t pray I don’t have any of them.  Well, is that blind faith?  It is faith to begin with, but when you receive it, “Oh, taste and see!”  I’m telling you, Angels are more real to me now that I have experienced some things but I still have to take it by faith that there is one right beside me.  See if I could see them all the time I wouldn’t have to take it by faith, but when I take it by faith and than receive the manifestation, not being deceived or gullible or going without; but actually seeing the proof of the pudding.  Than I have even more confidence and more faith and I can enter into what Jesus entered into.  Go back with me now to John, Chapter 1; what did he say?  He said in verse 50 ….. underline that.  Now lets go back to John 5, there was a man in verse 5 at this pool where the Angel would come up and down, and a certain …. Jesus has healed this man.  He had been sick for 38 years, we don’t know how long he had been lying there waiting for the pool to be troubled and to get into it and receive the healing.  But, Jesus healed the man and the man was immediately made whole.  Now, I want us to read on.  Lets look down to verse 7 …the Jews, they got all upset about this man getting healed because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath Day.  You shouldn’t do that you know, your not supposed to work on the Sabbath.  “Well, … One translation says “My Father is always working”!  You know that God’s miracle power is always available.  “Therefore, the Jews sought ….And He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel.”  I want you to catch that last line.  He is going to show Him greater works than these that you may marvel.  Why? Why greater works?  Well, what did Jesus say to Nathaniel?  He had a Word of Knowledge,  he say Nathaniel in a private moment that was enough to convince Nathaniel that Jesus was the Messiah.  Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot because the people catch on and they know it’s God.  I remember Teri and I were at a dinner one time and in the middle of the dinner I just put my fork down and said “You know what the Lord showed me this morning?  In the book of Genesis God says I am El Shaddai, I am thy exceeding Great Reward.  The Hebrew literally means I am thy paycheck.”  I picked my fork up and started eating again.  Some weeks later I met this couple that was at this meal.  I met them later on the street and said, “How are you doing?”  They said, “Oh haven’t you heard?”  I said, “Heard what?”  They said, “We have entered the Ministry.”  I said, “Really”  They said, “Yeah, I quit my job at the factory and entered the Ministry.”  I said, “Well, that’s great, Praise the Lord”  He said, “Well your to blame.”  I said, “What are you talking about?”  He said, “Well, don’t you remember that dinner?”  I said, “Yeah!”.  He said, “Well we had been seeking God, asking God ‘If we quit our job and enter the ministry how are we going to make ends meet?’  And we have been seeking God, ‘How about that Lord, we need some confirmation here.’  And you put your fork down and said ‘God says I’m your paycheck!’”   So, he entered the ministry.  Well, that wasn’t very great, may be it would be similar to what Jesus here, he say Nathaniel in a private moment, but it was enough that it convinced Nathaniel.  I don’t know about you but all I need is just the smell of God in a certain direction and I’m going that way.  But, Jesus what did He say to Nathaniel, “You are going to see greater works, greater things”  Why?  Because of the Angels.  Now then he gets to this point and now this is definitely something greater.  Don’t you think this is something greater?  Greater than a Word of Knowledge”  Here we have an Angel that was troubling the pool, but now Jesus comes and troubles it.  Hallelujah!  He sees something, I  know  he knew that the man was sick for 38 years, He knew that ahead of time that is a Word of Knowledge.  He knew which man it was, he must have seen him enough to pick him out of a crowd.  There was a multitude there, so he had a Word of Knowledge in operation, Jesus walked into the crowd, picks out the right individual, knows what to speak to him, what to say to him and than gives a voice command of faith and the man immediately rises up healed.  And, you know what Jesus’ response was?  “You are going to see greater things than this!”  Why?  I believe because the Angels are going up and down.  There is an open Heaven.  See that’s why when I go back to Armenia, why are there so many miracles in Armenia, why when we come back to America there is not the same miraculous, I believe it has to do with the Open Heaven.  Or, rather the closed Heaven.  I believe it has to do with people praying.  They know how to pray over there.  They have enough desire to pray consistently.  They pray until they get results.  They know how to persevere in prayer.  Well, I don’t even know if they know how, they just don’t quit.  I preach a whole lot simpler over there.  The greatest miracle that we saw was when I preached the simplest message.  A deaf mute was healed.  A seventeen year old girl.  Another service I preached a very simple message on faith.  Walking on the water and the love of God also in that message.  A woman had a tumor the size of a bowling ball disappear.  Now, I’m just going to say this, I don’t mean to insult anybody here but I must speak the truth in love.  If I preach those same sermons here you would probably fall asleep half way through them.  It is the truth.  What is the difference in the open heaven.  Hungry hearts!  Faith, putting their faith on the word of God.  We know so much about the Word of God that if we put our faith in line, my Goodness the power would flow.  We must take the cap off some of these things and get an open heaven and see the manifestations that we are hungry for.  See Daniel was a man of great desire.

Well, lets turn to John l4,  Jesus said “your going to see greater things than this”  You want to kill me now, oh my, wait until I get rolling.  He said your going to see greater things than this.  Look in John l4:12 Verily ……and greater works.”  Boy I like the way Jesus thinks.  He starts out with a simple Word of Knowledge, He moves on to raising a cripple up and then He goes on to talk about His disciples.  He says, yeah that’s the Word of Knowledge Nathaniel, but your going to see greater things.  He raises the cripple, yeah, that’s a wonderful miracle, but your going to see greater.  He moves over onto the disciples and says, yeah, my disciples, the ones who believe on Me, they will do greater.  Hallelujah!  Well, if we’re going to do greater things than Jesus we ought to at least do what He did and than go beyond.  Well, I think there is going to be something about Angels.  If Jesus said your going see greater things because Angels are moving up and down.  Well, than if we are going to do the same things He did, we are going to have the same experiences He did. 

I like what the Superintendent of the Assemblies of God said one time.  Back in the early l900’s they called a Pastor in question and were going to remove his ordination papers because he had been experiencing visions of Angels.  They were going to pull his ordination papers because they couldn’t handle this, this was too far out for them.  So, they had a meeting, it was the ordination review board.  The superintendent was present but he kept his mouth shut through the whole meeting while these other younger ministers proceeded to pick this man apart for seeing visions of Angels.  Finally, somebody opened up the discussion and said, “Brother, so and so, what do you think?”  And he responded, “Oh, I don’t know gentlemen, I have been listening to you pick this man apart because he had visions of Angels, I’ve been sitting here thinking about the New Testament wondering if maybe somebody ought to pick us apart because we haven’t.”  “I think if he has seen some Angels maybe we ought to let him go.  Maybe we ought to listen to him, maybe we should pray ourselves.”  See, Jesus said you are going to see greater things because Angels are moving in your life.  I don’t know about you, but I want to see greater things.  Do you want to see greater things.  Than we need to acknowledge Angelic Ministry.  If we are going to see and acknowledge Angelic Ministry than we have to have enough desire to pray through until we have an open Heaven.

  Turn with me to Genesis 28.  Now this passage is talking about Jacob, verse 10 says.  “ Jacob ….and he dreamed.”  Now many times in the Bible Angels have appeared to people in a dream.  “and … descending on it”.  What did Jacob have a vision of?  He had a vision of Angelic Ministry.  Angels going back from Heaven to Earth, back and forth.  Than in verse l3 “Behold…spoken to thee of”.  Now how is all this going to come to pass.  Well, I don’t know!  What are those angels doing going up and down.  Do you think they are lights on a ladder like LCD’s going up as a neon sign to get his attention?  I don’t think so.  What do we know about Angels?  They hearken to the voice of the Lord and they fulfill His command.  They are going up and down to do exactly what the Lord is speaking here.  They are going back and forth from Heaven and visiting man and visiting Jacob in this case.  To see to it that what God has promised is carried to fulfillment.

Later in Verse l6, Jacob awaked ….it not”  Whew, isn’t that true.  See he was in the flesh and did not realize what was going on in the Spirit.  Somebody might say “Boy, I’d like to find that piece of ground”  No, remember what we learned about Elisha, the Angels were encamped round about Elisha not Dothan.  The angels are camped out here ascending and descending upon Jacob not on the land.

 Jesus said there is an open heaven and you are going to see the Angels of God moving up and down upon the Son of Man.  Where ever He went the Angels of God went with Him.  Hallelujah.

Well, what was it that He said though?  He was afraid and in verse l7 “How ….the Gate of Heaven”.  The Angels of God going up and down is the Gate of Heaven.  Turn with me now to Malachi 3.  Lets look at another scripture that talks about the open Heaven.  You know things in this city are not like they used to be.  Things are a lot lighter in the Spirit than they used to be.  There used to be a dark oppressive spirit in this city.  If that is the case in your city, well than pray it out.  Change it.  The Prince of Persia tried to withstand the Angel of God from getting to Daniel, but he just wouldn’t give up.  He would not quit.  He had enough desire to just stay put and fast and seek God’s face.  Why, because there is more that be with us than be with them.  Amen!  A numerable company of Angels.  Satan isn’t going to keep the Angelic Host from ministering the will of God into your city.  In Malachi 3:10 “Bring ….the windows of Heaven”  This is what Jacob saw, the windows of Heaven here were open.  He said “I’m ….Saith the Lord of Hosts”.  See, Jacob, he saw this open Heaven, this window of Heaven and he described it as Angelic ministry.  Now, here we see the tithe in operation and we see that when we give God says “I am going to open up Heaven to you.”  You know one of the things that opens Heaven is prayer.  We saw that with Daniel.  But, another thing that opens Heaven is giving.  We see that here in the tithe in Malachi.  Now lets close by turning to Acts l0; I will show you something very interesting.  Acts l0:1  “There ……and prayed to God always”  Now notice those two things.  What was it that the writer of the Scripture point out?  That he was a giver and he prayed.  He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an Angel of God coming in to him and saying to him, Cornelius, and when he looked on him, he was afraid.  He said, what is it Lord.  He said unto him, thy prayers and thy alms (Giving) have come up for a memorial before God.  Do you see that?  He didn’t say your prayers were heard as he had said to Daniel.  He said to Daniel, I have come for thy prayers, from the first day that you prayed.  But, what did he say to Cornelius?  Thy prayers and thy alms, they have come up before God and now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter.  He lodges with one Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the seaside, and he shall thee what thee ought to do.  When the angel spoke unto Cornelius.  When he had departed Cornelius did as he was told. 

Now, lets go all the way down to verse 30 and I will show you something else.   Now Cornelius is telling the same story to Peter, but he adds a little more information which we were lacking.  He says in verse 30; Cornelius said, and he is talking to Peter now, four days ago, (Now notice this we didn’t know this not at first)  “I was fasting until this hour.”  Now did you get that?  “and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house and behold a man stood before me in bright clothes and said ‘Cornelius, thy prayer is heard and thy alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.  Now that word remembrance doesn’t mean God forgot that Cornelius was a giver.  The word remembrance in the beginning of the chapter is called a memorial.  But, the word remembrance or a memorial, was really a token of the Covenant.  See, God said to prove Him; if you will give, I will open the windows of Heaven.  Here this Angel is conveying to Cornelius, because you are a giver.  Something about the fact that you are a giver.  Something about the fact that you prayed and something about the fact that you fasted.  See, Daniel was fasting also; that Angels were ministering and bringing blessings to the Earth.  If that angel hadn’t of come; Peter would not have come, they would not have gotten saved or filled with the Holy Ghost.  See, they were the first Gentiles to believe. 

Turn with me now all the way back to Matthew (coughs, “excuse me you who are listening by tape, but you should have been here anyway”)  Chapter 6:  (Well we need to have a little bit of light humor here, we are kinda studious tonight) (Are you getting anything out of this?) (In the background you hear the voice of Karen Burrows saying “AMEN”! ) Oops, couldn’t resist a little humor of my own Dale.  You can erase this yourself. 

In Matthew 6  (I have never heard this anywhere, I have never read this anywhere, it is fresh from Heaven. I hope you realize you are at a good restaurant and we are serving it up good.)  Amens in background.  Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in Heaven.  Where is the Father?  Where is the reward?  Where is the alms?  That is on Earth.  The reward is in Heaven.  Here we have motive involved.  “Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them.  Otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in Heaven.  Therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets; that they may have the Glory of men.  Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.”  (You know people tell me all the time, they say, well you teach people to give in order to get!  Yes, I do, I plead guilty and so did Jesus.  Jesus is even giving us methods to guard the motive of our hearts when we give so we don’t miss out on our reward.  You can’t tell me Jesus wasn’t teaching them how to receive a reward from Heaven.  I didn’t write it,  Jesus wrote it.  Verse 3, But ….openly”.  Everybody say, “Openly”.  Now, look up in verse one, “Otherwise…. Which is in”, now lets read the next verse which is verse 4, “Thy Father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward thee openly.”  In the first verse your reward is where?  Heaven.  In the fourth verse your reward is what?  Open.  Now put them together, Open Heaven!  Alright, when you pray thou shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray in the synagogues and the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men.  Verily, I say unto you they have their reward.  But when thou prayeth, enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.  But, when you pray use not vain repetition as the heathen do, for they think that they ….as it is in Heaven.  I’m telling you that verse is powerful.  Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.  Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.  Are they not all ministering spirits to fulfill the command of the Lord hearkening to the voice of His Word.  That’s his will isn’t it?  All right lets read on.  “Give …..openly”.  Now I want to draw your attention to three things we just read about.  Giving of alms, prayer and fasting.  They are placed in a synthetical teaching form that that which applies to one also applies to the other.  First of all Jesus points into each one about false motives.  Don’t give to be seen of men.  Don’t pray to be seen of men.  Don’t fast to be seen of men.  He is safeguarding the manner in which you employ these three tools; giving, praying and fasting.  That is the first teaching that is synthetical for the three.  Than the second thing He said is the right application.  Give in secret, do it anonymously.  Don’t let your right hand know what your left is doing.  Pray in secret, shut the closet door, don’t do it in public.  Fast and anoint yourself, don’t put ashes all over your face, don’t make a hoopla about it, but fast in secret.  Because in all three cases you have a reward in Heaven that God wants to impart to you openly.  How does God impart something from Heaven as a reward to you?  How does He do it openly?  Jesus said, “Hereafter, you see the Heavens open and the Angels of God ascending and descending.”  Daniel fasted 2l days and the Angel came from Heaven with a blessing. Cornelius was told by an Angel, your prayers and your alms and your fasting has brought this ministry, this ministration, this angelic visitation to bring Heaven to Earth.  Hallelujah.  “Well, do you think I’m going to see an Angel?”  you may ask.  No, you don’t need to.  All you need to do is focus on these three tools and you’ll see an open Heaven.  You’ll see a manifestation.  I just hope I’m creating enough desire in us to employ these three methods.  Well, you may say, “maybe I’m not praying enough”  Yeah, maybe your not giving  enough, maybe your not fasting enough.  How often should I fast Pastor?  How often should you pray?  Oh, how much should I give?  How much should you pray?  The same rule that governs one governs the others.  See if it comes to prayer, we all say we have to pray all the time.  But if it comes to giving.  Just give as the Lord leads, you don’t want to give too much!  Oh, I just fast during Lent.”  No, the same rule that governs one governs the others.  The same rule that encourages you to pray, freely enjoins us to fast and to give.  Fasting is to be acted upon or employed as freely and as often as prayer.  Fast is to focus on the spiritual to the exclusion of the flesh.  In the same manner, your giving should be focusing on the Spiritual to the exclusion of the flesh.  In the same manner, your praying should be the focus on the spiritual to the focus of the flesh.  Realizing that the Angels of God are moving freely up and down from Heaven to Earth and bring blessings to man.  Now, we are going to sow a tithe.  A tithe of ______ambitions that are allowed to continue.  Circumstances that are allowed to fester.  Debt that has been allowed to remain.  Sickness that has been allowed to remain.  The angels of God are coming through.  The Angel told Daniel from the first day you prayed I was sent.  When you pray that angel is sent.  Some say, but I have stood for 5 years, I have done this, I have done that, I have done, well, having done all you have two choices.  Stand or Quit.  Now, if you quit you are not going to get anything.  If you stand your still in the fight.  You still have the potential for victory.  But, if you quit, well you quit.  You can get back up though.  I have quit before, too many times,  get right back in the fight.  Proverbs says a righteous man falls seven times but he gets up again.  He is a fool who falls and stays down, throws in the towel, says I’ve had enough.  I have had enough to,  I have had enough to know I’m not quitting.  I have had enough blessings to know there is more.  I’m not going on out of desperations because I have not ever had, I’m going on because  I have not had enough.  Laugh.  I have enough to let me know I want more.  I’m telling you, one miracle is not enough.  One Word of Knowledge was not enough for Jesus, he said I want greater things.  Lame man gets healed, wasn’t enough.  Thirty-eight year old cripple healed, wasn’t enough.  I cast the devil out of a women who was bedridden for 7 years.  She was instantly set free.  Talk about joy in that house, but I want more!  Cast three devils out of some young man, set him free, it’s not enough.  I’m telling you, I want more.  Laugh.  I want more.  Hallelujah.  Are you ready to give.  Ushers are in the aisle, I have been preaching still to you.  We are going to tithe, we are going to put ourselves in the mode of giving.  We don’t buy miracles from God.  Watch your motive.  Your not buying a miracle and your not gaining attention.  Write a million dollars and put it in the offering your not going to impress me because I don’t know who give.  Amen, I don’t, I don’t know what anybody gives.  I’m not privy to that information.  All I know is when someone starts tithing, because that means they are a part of the church.  And I know when they quit because that means maybe they are upset, or maybe they have a financial problem I need to minister to.  But, I don’t know amounts. Hallelujah.  So, keep your reward in Heaven.  Let us pray.  Father, we bless you for this offering tonight.  As a memorial we ask it be laid up before you in Heaven; as a remembrance of covenant rights and we hold you to it.  You said prove me now herewith, that you would open the windows of Heaven and pour us out a blessing that there should not be room enough to contain it.  I’m thanking you right now, because we fast, because we pray and because we give, I’m thanking you for an open heaven.  I’m thanking you the Angels of God are ascending and descending upon us. I’m thanking you Father that that reward which is in Heaven is given to me openly.  AN open reward.  I thank you God for freedom tonight of sicknesses and diseases that have been with holding and holding on for too long.  Sickness I command you to go in the name of Jesus.  Debt I speak to you and command you to be cancelled.  Money, I call you in --in the name of Jesus.  Now, ministering Spirits you go and hearken to the voice of the Lord and cause these things to come and take place in the name of Jesus.  I Bless You and I honor you for it. 

What are we doing?  We are putting spiritual law into practice right now.  It has taken three nights to build our faith.  Three nights to recognize the angels of God are here.  That even more, Jesus is here.  He said if Two or more were gathered together in My Name, He said, there I am in the midst.  We thank you Jesus for your presence of God.  If you were Gehazi and I was Elisha, I would say “fear not, get your minds off the flesh, get your mind off the problem., get your mind off the circumstances, get you mind off your money, get your mind off you boss, get your mind off your job, get you mind off your future, get your mind off your questions and get your mind on Jesus.  Set you eyes upon Jesus, look full in His beautiful face and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and Grace.  Let the presence of God fill this room.  Be strong, yeah be strong Oh servants of the Lord.   Let the spirit of the Lord minister to you. 

Mary Beths song:  Holy Spirit, rain on our fields, let the windows of Heaven be open until the Harvest is ripe and Your kingdoms fulfilled, Holy Spirit rain on our fields.  Holy Spirit, rain on our fields, let the windows of Heaven be open until, the harvest is ripe and Your kingdoms fulfilled, Holy Spirit rain on our fields.  Bowing down before you, ministering to the Lord.  I hear the cries from the Nations like never before.  We are seeking souls for the kingdom and the time is at hand.  We’re going to pray to the Father for the healing of our Land.  Holy Spirit rain on our fields.  Let the windows of Heaven be open until, the harvest is ripe and Kingdoms fulfilled.  Holy Spirit rain on our fields.  Rain on our fields, bowing down before Him, ministering to the Lord.  Hear the cries from the Nations like never before, we are seeking souls for the kingdom and the time is at hand, lets all pray to the Father for the healing of our Land.  Holy Spirit, rain on our fields.