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                The Church's Greatest Hour is Still Ahead!

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By David Wilkerson
December 9, 1991
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          When Israel came up out of the Red Sea, they sang
          praises of God for the mighty deliverance He provided.
          They must have said to each other, "Never could there
          be so great a miracle as this!" No other generation in
          all of future history will ever witness so mighty a
          demonstration of God's power - and in such a visible
          way.

          "Never will the people of God be in so severe a crisis
          as the one we just came through. Generation after
          generation will remember this day. And they'll point
          back to it as the greatest proof of God's power and
          work among men on Earth!"

          Indeed, for many years this has been the case. David
          looked back to Israel's miraculous deliverance at the
          Red Sea and said, "Come and see the works of God: he is
          terrible [awesome] in his doing toward the children of
          men. He turned the sea into dry land: they went through
          the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him!" (Psalm
          66:5-6).

          Israel was commanded to tell each succeeding generation
          about God's great miracle-working power on their
          behalf. They were to use their deliverance at the Red
          Sea as their example, "shewing to the generation to
          come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his
          wonderful works that he hath done" (Psalm 78:4).

          Thus David said, "I will utter dark sayings of old:
          which we have heard and known, and our fathers have
          told us. We will not hide them from their children...
          that the generation to come might know them, even the
          children which should be born; who should arise and
          declare them to their children" (verses 2-3, 6).
          "Marvellous things did he in the sight of their
          fathers....He divided the sea, and caused them to pass
          through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap"
          (verses 12-13).

          As a child, David must have sat enthralled as he heard
          the story told over and over again: how God delivered
          his forefathers out of Egypt, how the sea rolled back
          and Pharaoh's army was drowned. Now David told his
          children the same story of God's past deliverance. He
          testified, "You know God lives - because He took our
          forefathers through the Red Sea on dry ground. Now,
          tell it to your children and your grandchildren!" And
          they did.

          But a time came when David could no longer simply tell
          the story without asking God to do it again! Suddenly
          it wasn't enough just to talk about what God had done
          in the distant past. David wanted to see God deliver
          His people now: "We have heard with our ears, O God,
          our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their
          days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the
          heathen with thy hand... because thou hadst a favour
          unto them" (Psalm 44:1-3).

          David is saying here, "Lord, all my life I've heard
          about what You did in the past - how these incredible
          scenes of Your glory were visibly manifested to my
          fathers. My children have heard of it, and now my
          grandchildren will hear of it."

          But then David bursts out: "Thou art my King, O God:
          command deliverances for Jacob" (verse 4). In other
          words: "But God, you are my King also. Do these things
          again for Your people who are alive right now! I don't
          want to hear only about the miracles of the past. Let
          me be a part of Your great miracle of deliverance
          today!"

          As David spoke these words, he was in a time of deep
          trial, as was Israel. God's people faced a great
          crisis, and they needed a present-day deliverance. So
          David came to the Lord with strong reasoning, crying
          out to the Lord:

          "Oh Lord, Your children at the Red Sea may have thought
          there could never be a crisis like theirs again. But as
          far as I'm concerned, the crisis we face today is just
          as critical. What I'm going through now is just like
          facing the Red Sea, with Pharaoh and the enemy
          barreling down upon me. We've got to have a deliverance
          right now! We need a powerful manifestation of Your
          mighty, outstretched arm. Lord, do it again today!"

          I've heard this same heart-cry from my two preaching
          sons. They've told me, "Dad, we've heard all about the
          miracles God did for you when you came by faith to New
          York City years ago to work with teen gangs and
          addicts. We've heard about how God miraculously led
          you, provided money, opened doors and saved people like
          Nicky Cruz.

          "That's fine, Dad, and we praise God for all that. But
          we want to see that in our day and our ministry too!
          All our lives we've heard about what the Lord did in
          the early days. But we need to see it for ourselves.
          This is a different generation, and America and the
          church are in a great crisis. We need to see God at
          work today!"

          Young ministers everywhere are researching revivals.
          People are writing books on how God moved in the past.
          There's a desperate cry arising among young people that
          says, "Do it again, Lord! Do it for us today!"

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                       The Miracles Should Not
                      Die With Your Generation!

                  ---------------------------------

          Is this your heart-cry too? "O Lord, I believe all You
          did in the past for Israel and our believing fathers.
          But the crisis I'm in right now is just as serious to
          me as the Red Sea was to Israel. My circumstances have
          put me in such a position that I need a miracle of
          deliverance. Lord, I want You to work for me!"

          Let me ask you: If you could talk to the Israelites who
          were at the Red Sea, and tell them about the crisis we
          face today in America and in the backslidden church -
          how do you think they would respond? What would they
          say about the scores of Christians who once possessed
          the fire of God, but who now have stony hearts?

          I believe those Israelites would weep and cry out,
          "Brethren, that's worse than ten thousand Sodoms! You
          need a greater work of deliverance than we ever needed.
          Pharaoh's army is nothing compared to what you face!"

          I'm sure the children of Israel said in their time,
          "'There will never be another crisis like ours." How
          wrong they were!

          In recent years we've read and heard about the falls of
          evangelists and pastors on all sides. Just recently I
          learned of the fall of a man who pastors a large
          Pentecostal church. His exposed sins were so vile and
          hideous, they were worse than anything I had ever heard
          about - even sins committed by the worst sinners I have
          encountered in thirty-three years of street ministry.
          They were unthinkable! Our morals have sunk so low, we
          need a miracle of cleansing.

          A distraught woman called Gwen and me this past week,
          discouraged over what is happening in the large
          charismatic church she and her husband attend. This
          dear woman sits in the choir and grieves as she watches
          people fall asleep during boring, lifeless messages.
          People are leaving the church left and right.

          When this woman asked some couples why they continued
          to attend, they answered, "We're too old to change, and
          all our friends are here. Besides, where can you go to
          find anything better?" She admitted to me, "I have to
          fight off sleep myself. Our church is literally dying.
          It's so lifeless, so empty. So many of us are hungry
          for God - what can we do?"

          We also received a letter recently from a young wife
          who said, "I married a preacher's son, and his father
          pastored our church. My husband has two sisters and a
          very godly mother, a prayer warrior. She was the cement
          that held the family together. But last year my
          husband's father ran away with a young woman in the
          congregation. He just disappeared, and we haven't heard
          a word from him in a whole year."

          The mother fasted and prayed for most of that year,
          hoping God would bring back her husband and restore
          their marriage. She also hurt over all the sheep who
          were falling away from the church. But over time, the
          sisters became embittered. And one day the mother met a
          rich sinner - and she married him and backslid.

          You can hear the pathos in this young woman's letter:
          The sheep are scattering, the family is scattering, sin
          is breaking out on all sides - because the man in the
          pulpit failed God!

          If you told the Israelites all that I've written here
          about the body of Christ, they would say, "You mean,
          that's the church? The people of God?" I would have to
          tell them, "Yes, these are Christians I'm talking
          about. I haven't even gotten to the world yet!"

          Yet even in spite of all the iniquity taking place in
          God's house, I can say with great confidence: The
          greatest hour for the church of Jesus Christ is just
          ahead! In spite of all the filth and shame, we are
          headed for victory.

          Let me attempt to prove this from God's Word:

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                  1. We Are Promised Last-Day Deliverances
               Far Greater Than the Opening Of the Red Sea!

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          What God wants to do for us in these last days is far
          more powerful than anything seen in the past - greater
          even than the Red Sea opening and the destruction of
          Pharaoh's army. It is so great that God's people will
          not look back at the miracles of our spiritual fathers
          - because we will be so excited by the miracles we
          witness ourselves!

          This is not a prophetic utterance from my own mind. It
          comes straight from the Word of God: "Behold, the days
          come, saith the Lord.... They shall no more say, The
          Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel
          out of the land of Egypt" (Jeremiah 23:5, 7).

          All those past miracles, as wonderful as they were,
          will no longer be the proof to the world that God is
          alive and at work in the earth. No, God promises to do
          a new thing.

          The days are coming, Jeremiah says, when God's people
          will no longer say, "God worked back then." Instead,
          we'll say, "We're seeing such great deliverances from
          sin, such great heart-cleansings - that the whole world
          has to say, 'Surely God lives, because He is working
          miracles before our very eyes!'"

          Here is this new testimony - up to the hour:
          "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
          raise unto David a righteous Branch.... They shall no
          more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the
          children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The
          Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of
          the house of Israel out of the north country, and from
          all the countries whither I had driven them" (Jeremiah
          23:8).

          It is clear Jeremiah is speaking not only about his
          time, but ours as well. The "days coming" refer to a
          time after Jesus's ministry is completed. Jesus Christ
          is the seed of David - the Branch of righteousness that
          reigns in the lives of God's people.

          The day Jeremiah described was to come after a
          spiritual Israel was dwelling securely in the victory
          of the Cross. In that day God's people would sit under
          the reign of Christ, as servants to His holiness. And
          that day also would be one in which Christ would purge
          His house, "executing judgment with justice."

          Beloved, that time has come. And today we are seeing
          more clearly than ever that judgment is falling -
          beginning with the house of God!

          The first thing God is going to do in His church is to
          deliver His flock from the hands of wicked shepherds.
          "Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the
          sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. Therefore thus
          saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that
          feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven
          them away... behold, I will visit upon you the evil of
          your doings... I will set up shepherds over them which
          shall feed them... and they shall fear no more, nor be
          dismayed, neither shall they be lacking" (Jeremiah
          23:1-4).

          Jeremiah said the ministry in Israel had become profane
          and full of adultery. Likewise today, a backslidden,
          adulterous ministry has caused great despair in the
          church and scattered the sheep. "For the land is full
          of adulterers... the pleasant places... are dried up,
          and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
          For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my
          house have I found their wickedness" (Jeremiah
          23:10-11).

          These shepherds give comfort to those living in sin.
          They have no touch of God, no anointing. They do not
          pray, and they have no word from God. Instead, they
          speak only out of their own hearts. They become fat
          themselves, and they have no burden for the sheep. God
          calls them "dreamers, liars" - all in Jeremiah 23!

          Ezekiel also speaks against such shepherds: "And (the
          sheep) were scattered, because there is no shepherd:
          and they became meat to all the beasts of the field
          (demons), when they were scattered" (Ezekiel 34:5).
          "Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require
          my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from
          feeding the flock.... I will deliver my flock from
          their mouths.... I will both search my sheep, and seek
          them out.... I will feed them in a good pasture"
          (Ezekiel 34:10-11, 15).

          God is coming to bring a mighty deliverance to His
          church! He's going to strip fleshly pastors of their
          flocks - and He's going to gather up all the lost,
          scattered sheep that have been destroyed by shepherds
          who were not faithful. He says, "I'm going to take My
          sheep out of their hands and set them under a True
          Shepherd - Jesus Christ - who will lead them into green
          pastures and feed them."

          Even now the Lord is setting up true shepherds who
          cling only to Christ. Why do you think God revealed the
          birth of Jesus to shepherds first? It is because they
          were "abiding in the field, keeping watch over their
          flock by night" (Luke 2:8).

          They watched over the flocks during the nighttime! And
          "the glory of the Lord shone round about them" because
          they were not asleep!

          God is saying something to His church through this.
          These men represent a type of true shepherds - men of
          God who remain alert in the midnight hour. And the
          Bible says the glory of Jesus came first to such men -
          men who were not sleeping! They were wide awake as they
          watched over their flocks.

          Right now God is cleansing His house - exposing
          adultery and judging the ministry - because He is
          preparing His church for a revelation of Christ's
          holiness. He wants a people that are well-fed and
          satisfied in Christ, so He can pour out His Spirit and
          add the flock of sheep that's coming!

                --------------------------------------------

            2. God Has Promised to Bless and Increase His Church
              "More Than at the Beginning" (Ezekiel 36:9-11).

                --------------------------------------------

          "I... will do better unto you than at your beginnings"
          (Ezekiel 36:11). This Scripture doesn't describe a
          church that's grown weaker and more sinful. It is a
          promise of a great work of God - greater than Pentecost
          - that will occur in these last days!

          Think back to your spiritual "beginnings," when you
          first got saved. You were so happy and excited about
          Jesus. Now God is saying to you, "I'm going to do
          better than that for you!" He's going to do better
          things in the church than ever before!

          Better than the Red Sea? you ask. Better than Elijah
          calling fire down from heaven and shutting down rain?
          Yes - God's got something better! Better than the
          apostles casting out devils and seeing cripples rise up
          and dance? Or God shaking the Upper Room with His
          power? God's Word makes it plain: He's got something
          better!

          "What could be better?" you ask. "Our very faith is
          built on these great examples." Beloved, we are going
          to see the fullest revelation of Jesus Christ in the
          history of mankind. And here is the greatness of such a
          miracle: God is going to take the filthiest, most
          perverse generation of all time - a generation with the
          stoniest hearts in history - and He's going to clean
          them up, give them loving hearts and turn them into a
          holy flock!

          "I will increase them with men like a flock... as the
          holy flock" (Ezekiel 36:37-38). God is going to save a
          "flock" - a great multitude - of men and women. And
          indeed, a multitude of slumbering, scattered sheep are
          coming back to Him, because they are being stirred by
          the Holy Spirit!

          We will see sinners from every walk of life saved:
          Jews, Muslims, rich, poor, murderers, people of all
          backgrounds. The most notorious sinners of all time are
          going to be saved!

          You say, "That's not a new thing. Wicked sinners have
          always been cleansed by Christ. God's been doing that
          since the Cross." True - but remember, sin is
          increasing; wickedness is growing worse and worse. And
          where sin abounds, God's grace abounds much more!

          At the Red Sea, the devil was advancing, threatening to
          pounce on God's people. The difference today is, he
          already has prevailed against the backslidden church,
          capturing and enslaving millions: "Because they have...
          swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a
          possession unto the residue of the heathen... and are
          an infamy of the people" (Ezekiel 36:3).

          But now, God is going to move in. And here is the
          reason for His move: "Because the enemy hath said
          against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours
          in possession" (verse 2). Satan and his crowd have
          mocked and laughed, saying, "We have destroyed the work
          of Christ on earth!" But God says, "For My name's sake,
          I'm going to do a mighty deliverance."

          This is the miracle that you'll need faith to
          understand - because it's going to come at the
          neediest, most critical time in the history of the
          church. God will cause His flock to walk in
          righteousness. He will bring down such conviction that
          believers will literally loathe their past sins:

          "I will multiply men in your midst... you will increase
          and bear fruit... and I will do better unto you than at
          your beginnings (Ezekiel 36:11). "A new heart also
          will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
          you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
          flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.... And I
          will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase
          of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of
          famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your
          own evil ways... and shall lothe yourselves in your own
          sight for your iniquities and your abominations"
          (verses 25-31).

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                  These Great Promises Are Given to Us So
                We Will Pray Them to Pass! (Ezekiel 36:37)

                    ------------------------------------

          God is saying to His church right now. "I want to do
          this for you - I want to increase you with holy men."
          And He is telling us to pray for this increase: "I will
          yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to
          do it for them; I will increase them with men like a
          flock" (Ezekiel 36:37). He gave us these promises so we
          can pray them to pass!

          My prayer right now is, "God, You have to do it. I
          can't see it -- but You have no choice other than to do
          it, because You promised to do it." I believe God wants
          us to pray that way. He yearns to show us His power and
          strength in our day. And prayer is the promise turned
          into petition! In other words, pray what God has
          promised you. Claim these promises over every area of
          your life. Lay hold of them -- until God lays hold of
          you!

          We are to pray for an influx of a flock of men to
          become holy followers of Jesus. And God says He wants
          us to do this because the salvation of so many
          once-wicked men will cause the world to know God's
          power over sin and the devil. All flesh shall then see
          and know His works!

          The fact is, as miraculous and wonderful as these
          promises are, none will be fulfilled without God's
          people praying them to pass. Why did God base the
          condition of His promises on prayer? Because prayer
          proves we want what God desires - that we prize His
          desires enough to arouse ourselves to lay hold of Him!
          And if those are the Lord's conditions, we can know
          that something will happen to us in the process of
          prayer that's beyond anything we can understand. We're
          going to be changed as we pray!

          People are going to flock to Christ - without the help
          of celebrities, hype, pitiful appeals for money,
          advertising, pageantry or glitz. And when people ask,
          "How did this happen? What draws all these crowds?", we
          will answer, "Prayer - prayer - and more prayer!"

          You can't work up a revival; you can't buy an
          awakening. You can't bring in special speakers to make
          it happen. No, it happens because of prayer - because
          "the whole house inquires."

          Beloved, it's time to stop looking back at the "good
          old days." Instead, we are heading into the good last
          days! Thank God for all He has done in the past; He is
          indeed worthy of praise and thanksgiving. But He has
          saved the best wine for last!

          Get ready to witness the saintliest, godliest
          generation of all time. Our sons and daughters are
          going to be rained upon with righteousness. Our new
          generation will do the greatest exploits ever. The
          greatest ministers of God will not be TV evangelists or
          mega-church pastors. They will be godly saints so full
          of Jesus that the world will see the very character of
          God just by looking at their lives.

          If we will pray earnestly and unceasingly, here is what
          God says He will do:
          "I will turn unto you... I will multiply men in your
          midst... they shall increase and bring fruit... neither
          shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more...
          the heathen shall know that I am the Lord... from all
          your filthiness will I cleanse you... a new heart also
          will I give you... ye shall keep my judgments, and do
          them... I will call for the corn, and will increase it,
          and lay no famine upon you... ye shall remember your
          own evil ways, and shall lothe yourselves... the
          heathen that are left round about you shall know that I
          the Lord build the ruined places... so shall the waste
          cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall
          know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 36:9-38).

          This is an incredible list of promises, found in a
          single chapter in Ezekiel. Yet how can we see them
          happen?

          We must pray them to pass!

          You may wish you had been at Pentecost - but God said
          He has saved the best wine for these last days. That
          means more of the Spirit and greater glory! Forget the
          good old days. The best days for the church of Jesus
          Christ are still ahead!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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