Unstoppable Revival
Pastor David T. Elms 1/27/2026
0:0042:03
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Summary
Focusing on the story of Baalam and Balak, Pastor David T. Elms explores how God's blessing over His people is sovereign and irreversible, transforming intended harm into an unstoppable momentum for revival. Regardless of the world's attempts to curse the Church, God views His people as a victorious, crouching lion ready to possess the promise.
Key points
- •Despite Baalam being hired by King Balak to curse the Israelites, God transformed every intended curse into a prophetic blessing, illustrating that God's favor cannot be reversed by human or spiritual opposition.
- •God’s vision for His people progressed from seeing them as 'dust' (numerous and everywhere), to a 'rising lion' (hunting and gathering strength), to a 'crouching lion' (the predator ready to spring with victory already in sight).
- •While many blessings are conditional upon walking uprightly and fearing God, He often blesses His people even when He knows they will stumble, because He sees the 'get up' inside of them and their ultimate destiny in Him.
- •The world is currently marred by 'smudge,' 'smell,' and 'toil' of fallen flesh, yet the Holy Ghost 'broods' over this world, ensuring that a fresh morning of revival is inevitable for the Church.
Scripture
Divine Blessing
Spiritual Warfare
Identity in Christ
Refusing the Curse
Unstoppable Revival
Life application
This week, shift your perspective from feeling like 'prey' to knowing you are a 'predator' in the spirit. Refuse to agree with voices of discouragement or 'curses' spoken over your life, and instead declare that God's blessing over your family is unstoppable.
Reflection questions
- In what areas of your life have you felt like 'prey' lately, and how does the imagery of a crouching lion change that?
- How does the story of Baalam's failed curses give you confidence when you face opposition at work or in your community?
- Pastor Elms mentioned that the Israelites had no idea a battle was being fought for them on the mountaintop. What 'mountaintop battles' might God be winning for you right now that you aren't even aware of?
- What does it mean to you that God 'beholds no iniquity' in His people even when He knows their flaws?
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Full transcript
0:00I'm going to speak for just a few moments tonight out
0:04of the Book of Numbers, the 23rd chapter.
0:07I'm going to speak from both numbers. 22, 23, and 24.
0:13I will tell just a bit of the story of Balam,
0:17but I'm reading from verse 25.
0:19And Blac said unto Balam, neither cursed them at all,
0:25nor blessed them at all.
0:29He had hired Baam to curse them, but it got out of control.
0:35And so he said, neither curse them at all.
0:40And that wasn't what he was trying to say.
0:41He wanted him to curse him.
0:42He had paid big money to get him to curse him,
0:45but he wanted him to stop blessing them
0:49because Baam was a prophet, but he was a prophet for hire.
0:54He was a borrower, prophet.
0:57And, uh, BAAM answered
0:59and said, unto Baic, told not I the saying all
1:02that the Lord speaketh that I must do.
1:05And Balik said unto Baam, come, I pray thee,
1:09I will bring thee into another place per adventure.
1:13It will please God that thou MAs curse me.
1:16Them from Vince. See, he's back to one.
1:21He what he really wants. And Baek brought Baam unto the top
1:25of Pire that look at toward just shy.
1:30And Baam said into Blac, build me here, seven altars
1:34and prepare me here.
1:36Seven bullocks and seven rams.
1:38See this, this prophet doesn't build his offer,
1:41his altars, his own altars.
1:43He, he asked notice that in that text, he said, BAIC, you,
1:47you bill them for me right here.
1:49And Baic did. This is the king.
1:52This is how desperate the king was.
1:54He wanted to curse God's people.
1:57And Baic did, as Baam had said, and offered a bullock
2:01and a ram on every altar.
2:04Thank you for your word. Yes.
2:06Let it make sense to your people.
2:07Oh Lord, Lord, I will not dare take time
2:11and waste it of this moment.
2:14I thank you for this moment.
2:15Let it minister to your good people. In Jesus name I pray.
2:20Amen. I'm gonna talk about unstoppable
2:22revival, ladies and gentlemen.
2:25This month we have had a season of consecration, dedication,
2:29fasting, reading the word.
2:32And we're going into a month
2:34of preparation where there will be training.
2:36We'll, we will be discussing things like the gifts
2:39of the spirit, how we can operate in them,
2:42the fruit of the spirit.
2:44We're going to be doing this all year long in a three month
2:47cycle, consecration, preparation, harvest.
2:52And it is a year of revival.
2:54But, uh, I I want to tell you all tonight,
2:58if I was an evangelist, uh,
3:00and preaching a revival somewhere,
3:02this message would be a Sunday night shouting message.
3:07This was back when I evangelized.
3:09They had Sunday Night Church. Okay?
3:11I'm more spiritual than all you
3:12that don't have Sunday Night Church.
3:15Uh, but so, you know, we had, we, I was laughing
3:21at, at, at because
3:22of the times we were sitting there talking
3:24and who was it that, who was it
3:26that talked about them taking a, oh, we were with brother,
3:30uh, McKeller, with the Carl McKeller,
3:34and we were talking with Joel Urchin
3:36and talking about my Uncle Royce.
3:38And he was saying that they all were with Andrew Urchin,
3:42the one who was the original Andrew Urchin,
3:44Nathaniel Urchins father.
3:46And, uh, they were preaching in Houston, Texas.
3:50All of them had been preaching revivals.
3:51And so brother Carl McKeller said that he, he
3:56and my uncle were brother-in-laws, okay?
3:58They both married daughters of Na urchin.
4:01And so my Aunt Annette was called Bobby by the urchin family
4:06because they let their babies name their kids.
4:08And Bobby was the way her sister called her.
4:12Not B-O-B-I-E.
4:15No, it was baby said incorrectly. So she was so little.
4:19She said, these Bobby.
4:22So they named my aunt
4:24and called her that on the urchin side.
4:26And Brother Urchin, since you're watching tonight,
4:28I just want to explain it to you.
4:30Uh, they, they, on the urchin side,
4:32they all called her Aunt Bobby, her nickname.
4:35It was a nickname. My Uncle Royce married her
4:38and said her name, according to
4:42the birth certificate, is Annette.
4:44That's girl. That's a girl's name. That's a girl's name.
4:48And so all of the elms, it was like Hatfields and McCoy's.
4:52It was urchin Elms urchin,
4:53said Bobby Elms said Aunt Annette.
4:56So we're sitting there talking with Brother McKeller,
4:59Carl McKeller at, uh, at a Mexican restaurant
5:02before the conference started.
5:04And he was telling us how they were all preaching revivals
5:07in Houston, Texas.
5:08And he said, yeah, I wasn't big time like your Uncle Royce.
5:11Your Uncle Royce was holding a long revival
5:13for Brother James Kilgore.
5:16He said, and I was preaching over here for Brother Olson.
5:19This was the brother Olson from Jacksonville's daddy.
5:22He said he had a little small church Royce was over
5:25there at the big church.
5:27And, uh, brother urchin,
5:29Andrew Urchin was preaching at CD's Church.
5:32Well, the two sons had Monday off
5:39and back then you did not take a day off.
5:42No, you, if you took one day off, Andrew Ersin found out
5:48that they had Monday off,
5:50and he told both of them, so, I expect you both
5:54to be at my revival service tonight.
5:58They looked at each other
5:59and he brother Carl McKellar was telling us, he said,
6:02we knew we had no choice.
6:05And he said, so we went and we sat there and he preached
6:09and he had an altar call.
6:12And after the altar call, Andrew Urchin got back up
6:15and he said, all right, now be seated again.
6:18The Lord has given me another sermon for this evening.
6:23And they're laughing about how nowadays all
6:27of us are backslid,
6:28because back then you took no nights off.
6:33It's so good for us to get a dose of the way it used to be.
6:37Listen, they're not better than us. No, no, no.
6:40I'm not gonna let that attitude come in.
6:42They weren't better than us.
6:44You've gotta go according to the sign
6:46and the assignment that you've got at that time.
6:49But we still gotta watch out for carnality works
6:52of the flesh, lust of the eye, pride
6:55of life, lust of the world.
6:57We've gotta make sure it's not
6:58of the father, it is of the world.
7:01And so be ye spiritual sayeth the Lord. Yes, yes.
7:04Hallelujah. Yes. But what I I, I've come to tell you is
7:07that even though they didn't take nights off for revival,
7:11and we take, you know, too much
7:15of our church only comes on Sunday morning.
7:16Okay? I love them. We're gonna love them just the same.
7:19But I love the crowd that's in this place tonight.
7:22This is a good looking Tuesday night crowd, right?
7:25There is something happening in the spirit.
7:27IIII detest the idea that you have church
7:31to give people more to do.
7:33I I'm not gonna do that. I've, every leader that I've met
7:36with at this church, when they get, you know,
7:38new leaders come along and they,
7:40and they want to tell you, oh, I've got a great plan.
7:42And they show up with a calendar full of things.
7:44And the old gray headed pastor,
7:48is my Bri cream working tonight, Melanie,
7:50it's a little over on this side a
7:52little, just a little bit here.
7:54Okay? The gel helps it look darker.
7:59And I think I just hairs sprayed it tonight
8:01because I didn't have time.
8:02That's the reason I'm not in a tie,
8:04because I had to go to that thing.
8:05Am I okay without the tie?
8:08You don't even have to wear a jacket.
8:09I didn't have to wear a jacket, but I listen,
8:12I don't want 'em to see my muscles.
8:14No, no. We have limits.
8:17Uh, uh,
8:19so here's the thing.
8:23They were talking with all of that,
8:24and Brother McKeller, he's not in his youth anymore.
8:27One of the greatest athletes Pentecost has ever had,
8:30unbelievable world class athlete, world class athlete.
8:33And I stood there as I sat across from him and was talking
8:36and, and thinking about all of this.
8:38And, and he said, you know, though, guys, he said,
8:41of every generation of every generation
8:46that has ever been marked in the Bible, they all wish
8:51they could have been here.
8:52Now, Jesus, they wish they could be here upon
8:57whom the ends of the world have come.
9:03And I want to tell you all folks this,
9:06I'm not preaching a Sunday night message, okay?
9:09You know, if there's just,
9:10if it sounds like there's any hype in this, please back up,
9:15pump the brakes and say he's trying not to get excited.
9:20But I am so honored that it is upon us.
9:24While the world wants to impute chaos on every part
9:29of the earth, and evil and darkness,
9:32and I just came from the evidence of evil, I want
9:35to proclaim in this hour, calm down Elms in this hour,
9:39we're going to see revival that is unstoppable.
9:44It's, it's, it's unstoppable.
9:47I'm not saying it to get excited.
9:50I'm telling you if God has ever been true, he's true today.
9:59And the Bible tells us about blessing.
10:01And this is the point I wanna make to you tonight.
10:04I could preach two hours. I'm watching the clock.
10:06I preached way too long in the first service Sunday morning,
10:08but nobody knows it because it wasn't online.
10:13But follow me.
10:16I know we've heard the word blessing used
10:20and thrown as a hype fest at growing up in this thing.
10:25Listen, there's real offering takers,
10:27and then there's hype offering takers,
10:29and all of them can be us.
10:31But I knew it growing up. I just sort of knew.
10:34And you know, there's a little
10:36that story I can't hardly believe.
10:39I hope you've never felt that way.
10:42I hope you've never thought those thoughts.
10:45But I've sometimes heard stories that I think, Hmm,
10:47God bless you, I might
10:49need it to have been there for that one.
10:51Little Thomas is in me. That's right.
10:54But they're still the fact.
10:56And I've told my brother, hail this, if I don't see
11:00what I think is coming, I'm going to die knowing.
11:06First of all, his word is true.
11:10My Bible teacher at North Carolina State
11:12University was an atheist.
11:14I've told you about him many times. God sent me to him.
11:17I didn't convert him. He could out quote me all day long.
11:21He knew that Bible backwards and forwards.
11:24But to him, it was a book of myths.
11:27He bought into it like that.
11:28And I remember knowing, knowing
11:30that somewhere they're gonna find some geological thing.
11:35If this word is false, we're gonna find something that
11:40absolutely proves that it's false.
11:43Back then, there was not a place known
11:45as Nazareth historically, the only record they could find
11:50of Nazareth was this Bible.
11:52And so they said, well, it was kind
11:54of a word they cobbled together
11:56and just imagined it was there
11:57and it was created to create some mythological place
12:01like Hogwarts.
12:02Is that a place? Is Hogwarts a place?
12:06Is that a person that's, see, I, y'all don't watch movies.
12:11I ask the wrong people. Sister Elms tell me.
12:13No, I dunno what that is. What is Hogwarts?
12:16I got some coffee creamer. That's called butter beer.
12:19Anybody know about butter beer?
12:22I bought butter beer,
12:24but I'm so spiritual that I took the cover off of it.
12:29So you don't know. I'm drinking butter beer.
12:33So see there, you just don't know. You walk where?
12:35And don't be touching my creamer in the church
12:37office refrigerator.
12:39Right? Don't, don't be sneaking back up there.
12:41Next thing I know Justin's gonna be about,
12:46I worked, that's, that's mine.
12:49Stay outta my butter beer.
12:51But, but they didn't know there was a place called
12:56Nazareth, right?
12:58And I thought, okay, I'm gonna pay attention.
12:59I'm gonna pay attention. I'm gonna pay attention.
13:01All of a sudden they found some, they uncovered some pottery
13:06and things that said, oh, there was a Nazareth.
13:09Then they said, the book of John was written like 200 ad
13:12and it was a cobbling together, a bunch of myths
13:15until along came around 1960 ish.
13:18And they didn't even report it for many years.
13:20Something called P 49 P stands for Parchment 49.
13:25And it dates to the time period of 1 28 ish.
13:30I said, ish, okay, because I don't have the exact date,
13:33but right around there.
13:34And they said, if this has been discovered then, then it had
13:38to be written around 90
13:39because this Parchman is found in Egypt.
13:42And the book of John was written up in Ephesus.
13:46Somebody had to write it, put it on Parchman
13:48and ship it down to Egypt.
13:50And so all of that, that, that, talking about
13:54how the Bible's just mis cobbled together,
13:56stories brought together by some community who wanted to,
13:59uh, ize this man named Jesus.
14:02It's been trashed with the truth of archeology.
14:06Now, if you don't wanna believe it,
14:08God's gonna give you enough to not believe it.
14:11It's amazing how that works out.
14:12If you really don't wanna believe it,
14:14you're gonna have just enough to not believe it.
14:18But I'll stand here
14:19and tell you, if you really wanna believe it,
14:21he'll always give you, I wish it was more,
14:26but he's gonna give you enough to believe it.
14:30And so this, this, this blessing concept
14:34is one that I I love.
14:35I wanna be blessed. I want my children blessed.
14:37I want my wife blessed. Blessing means a divine act
14:42where God imparts vital power to human beings.
14:48This vital power, it consists of material things,
14:54spiritual realms, emotional strength,
15:00mental peace, prosperity in life,
15:05health and increase.
15:07Now, I, I've argued with my angel a few times
15:11that he could have brought more material, increase my way.
15:15I've had, I have plenty of mental tranquility.
15:22My mind is fine. I'm blessed. I'm, I'm thankful.
15:27Now don't ask my wife after church,
15:29but I'm just listen to me.
15:33The Bible tells us that that's the blessing of the Lord.
15:37And Balam was hired to curse the people of God.
15:42Here's the thing about blessing, seek you first the kingdom
15:44of God, Matthew 6 33 and his righteousness
15:47and all these things that's temporal necessities.
15:52All these things shall be added unto you.
15:56Notice Psalm 34, 9 oh,
15:59fear the Lord ye his saints.
16:02For there is no want to them that fear him.
16:07Notice Psalm 84 11.
16:09No good thing will he withhold from them
16:12that walk right up.
16:15That's it, brother Pep uprightly. Yes. Right?
16:18But if you'll notice very carefully, every one of these
16:23promises of blessing are conditional.
16:28They are given to those who walk up rightly, who fear him,
16:33who seek first a kingdom of God and his righteousness.
16:38And if you really read, when you read,
16:40no weapon formed against you shall prosper.
16:43That verse is only written to the people of God.
16:48I know a bunch of backslid, sliders and sinners
16:50and atheists,
16:51and no God people quote it,
16:54no weapon formed against me shall prosper.
16:57Yeah, well, you better watch out.
16:59Uh, but here's my point of all of this.
17:04It is the faith walkers God fearers, God lovers,
17:08righteous keepers, who the promises are given to now.
17:12We are those people.
17:14It it costs to be an apostolic Pentecostal.
17:17It does to be a part of this church.
17:20There's a price people pay.
17:22It costs to be faithful in giving.
17:24It does it costs if you know how to count.
17:27It costs, it costs
17:29to pray like we've been praying all month.
17:32It costs to change your schedule and get up here
17:35and take the time.
17:37Do you know the fuss it takes
17:39to get up here in a time when you're not scheduled to read?
17:43It's not in your normal flow to come by and stop and read.
17:47Every one of these names worked hard to get here.
17:50And I know Ray and Rudy Omega live right across the,
17:54the lawn, uh, over there.
17:56But you know what, Zach and Winter live closer than they do.
17:59And their name's not on here as much as Ray and Rudy's.
18:04I hated to point that out for everybody to hear.
18:08They're wonderful people. They're great people of God.
18:12I'm just telling you, this is the thing.
18:14It's hard to to break into your flow of things and do that.
18:19Yeah. And don't start judging winter.
18:21And Zach, if I pick on you, it means I love you.
18:34One of the easiest messages to preach,
18:38but sometimes it's one of the hardest messages
18:40to get people believe, is that God
18:44is absolutely certain that he's gonna make sure
18:49his church is blessed.
18:55Nobody will stop him. Nobody can keep him from doing it.
19:01He will ask permission of no one. He's gonna bless.
19:05He's going to bless his people.
19:09So when we get into this story, the people
19:11of God were trying to traverse the land of Moab.
19:13They were going to Canaan.
19:14They didn't care a lot about being in Moab,
19:17but they were a powerful people.
19:19And a wicked king named Baik was in charge there in Moab.
19:23And Baik went and hired this prophet named Balam.
19:27And he hired him to come for one purpose.
19:30I want you to curse the people of God.
19:34The name Balam literally means
19:37baah means to devour.
19:40Uh, m means people.
19:44So the name of Baam literally means to devour the people.
19:49So maybe he did some research and looked his name up too.
19:53I need somebody to curse these people.
19:55I'm going to call on Baam to come them come,
19:59come and curse them.
20:00Baam was a borrowed prophet. Uh, but he had one little deal.
20:05And I won't tell you the story about
20:07how his donkey stopped in the middle
20:09of betrayal and saved his life.
20:11And it was the one talking Dr. Mr.
20:15Ed horse, uh, Baum's donkey. Donkey talked to him.
20:19You don't have to believe it, I'll still love you.
20:23And Balam was, life was saved
20:25because an angel with a sword was there to say, Bal him.
20:28You can go, but you better only say the word of the Lord.
20:33And so Balam said, I will go and I'm for hire.
20:37Uh, but he was decent enough to admit to this pagan king,
20:42the word that God puts in my mouth,
20:44that is all I will speak.
20:45And then Balam went with him.
20:47And so Balam knows, if you're gonna impress God,
20:50you gotta build altars.
20:52You gotta make sacrifices.
20:53And so Balam starts out by saying, we're gonna woo God
20:57by making sacrifices.
20:59And we're gonna go to the top of what is known as Bemo,
21:03Baal, which was the high places
21:05where the Baal worship occurred.
21:08And it was a view
21:09that partially saw the encampment of Israel.
21:13And of course the idea was, uh, here maybe
21:18Baik thought, if we can get God looking at us with seven
21:23oxen and seven rams on top of seven altars, uh,
21:27maybe God will get intoxicated with the volume
21:30of our sacrifice, with the smoke of our consecration
21:35and change his mind about that rowdy crowd
21:39down there in the land that's walking through Moab.
21:44And so they built the altars.
21:45And the idea was maybe if you can just see the stragglers on
21:48the edge, uh, when you see that bunch,
21:51you can cuss them real good.
21:52And so they did that.
21:54They thought God would mix up their little offering
21:56with the offering of a righteous man.
21:59They thought God would get confused with the size
22:01of the sacrifice, not concerning that it has
22:04to be a sacrifice from a righteous man.
22:08I'm not saying that we're good if we just
22:10want to be righteous.
22:13Did that sound like double speak?
22:15I hope it wasn't because I'm not good enough to be saved.
22:18But if I get under him, his righteousness makes me good.
22:23I can't wake up and say, well, I got his righteousness.
22:25No, I've gotta go get his righteousness.
22:28That's the reason we wake up with praise on our mouth.
22:30Thanksgiving on our lips.
22:32This is the day that the Lord hath made.
22:35I will rejoice and be glad in it.
22:37I'm getting into his righteousness.
22:39I put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
22:43And so here, uh, they thought God would get confused.
22:47And so Baalam said, uh, told Bick, I will go per adventure.
22:50The Lord will come and meet me
22:52and whatsoever he show with me that will I say.
22:55And so the game was on
22:56and across the valley was the children of Israel.
22:59They had no clue what was going on on the Ba, bmu bow, Baal.
23:03Uh, they had no idea that Baam was offering sacrifices.
23:08Israel probably thought they were Indian smoke signals going
23:11up over there.
23:12Somebody's flirting with his girlfriend.
23:14Look at all the smoke going up.
23:16They had no idea that there was a curse
23:18that was trying to be conjured.
23:20Baik and his little hired prophet were conspiring
23:23to curse Israel.
23:25And Balam stood before the Lord and God showed up.
23:28And with the smoke of sacrifice in his faith face,
23:32he put a word in Balaam's mouth.
23:34And he felt that something in Balam felt
23:37the unction of the Lord.
23:38He knew that the God of heaven has honored him.
23:41The God has come somehow to speak and Baalam is watching,
23:46or Baic is watching Balam.
23:47And he said, woo, God's here.
23:50We're about to hear something good.
23:52Hey everybody, God came to our party. Ha.
23:55And the Hebrew says that, that, that
23:57that God plays some verbal judo with his declaration
24:02because the curse was not just blocking the curse.
24:06He didn't just say, not only did I stop the curse,
24:09but the curse was flipped.
24:11That God didn't just give a commentary on God's people,
24:15but he gave them a fresh word of blessing.
24:19Amen. And here's what Baam said.
24:21How shall I curse with the Lord has not cursed?
24:24And how shall I defy what the Lord has not defied?
24:27Uh, from the top of the rocks, I see him from the hills.
24:31I behold him. And the people shall dwell alone
24:35and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
24:37In other words, they're not just average.
24:40My people aren't just a number in the un.
24:43My people are spectacular.
24:45And then the word of freshness came.
24:48Who can count the dust of Jacob? Alright?
24:53I don't know if any of y'all clean the house.
24:57We don't have a ton of dust in South Florida.
25:03I mean, compared to West Texas, right?
25:05Exactly. Compared to California, we got humid humidity
25:09that works as a, a help to stop the dust.
25:13That's right. Uh, if you've ever lived in arid places,
25:16uh, you think you have dust, right?
25:19But in our house, my wife, about once a day
25:24goes on a war path.
25:29I'm glad I'm not there. I've got work to do.
25:34I'm at the office. But when I get home,
25:37I get the report of the war.
25:40And I'm very interested in the report.
25:42'cause she's wor from me.
25:44I mean, she is changing sheets times.
25:46They don't need to be changed.
25:47I'm telling you, it's just ridonculous
25:50how many times my sheets are changed.
25:53They don't need all that. But she's at war with the dust.
25:57And I thank God for it. I'll miss it when she dies. But, um,
26:16BAAM opens his mouth to curse the people of God.
26:20And how comes a blessing? Baik is so upset.
26:24He says, wait, stop. Whoa, let's do this differently.
26:29We'll go to a more strategic place.
26:31So he gets him and comes to another place
26:33where he might see the whole batch of them.
26:36And so he said, there you will be able
26:38to see the utmost part of the camp.
26:40You shall only see them and you shall see more of them.
26:45And they, he takes 'em to the top of Mount Pisca.
26:49There are seven altars and seven oxen and seven rams
26:53and seven burnt offerings.
26:55And the Lord shows up again.
26:58Maybe, maybe this time we're gonna get a curse.
27:03And the Bible said, Balam told Baic, God is not a man
27:06that he should let lie neither the son
27:08of man that he should repent.
27:10Have he said it? And will he not do it?
27:11I set it up there on ba, on ba hold, Baal.
27:15And I'm saying that on top of Mount Pisca.
27:17And, uh, have he spoken it? Will he not make it good?
27:20Behold, I've received the commandment to bless the Lord
27:22and he has blessed them and I cannot reverse it.
27:25And then he said, Israel will be like a rising
27:31lion, the first prophecy.
27:34She'll be like dust. She's everywhere.
27:37The second prophecy is she's gonna be like a rising lion.
27:42I've been blessed to see lions.
27:43I went, when we preached in South Africa recently,
27:45we went out and saw some lions and the Kruger Park
27:49and my wife was chatting with Sister Amy Myers.
27:53And we had how many lions were down right there?
27:56About seven or eight. About seven or eight. Just I'm here.
27:59I am not lying.
28:04You'd like that one. I'm not lying.
28:07The lions were at the edge of the carpet.
28:09The black where the black meets the brown. I'm not lying.
28:14And they're chatting. These women are just chatting like
28:16we're just, it's wide open truck.
28:19It's wide open. There's no top, there's no windows.
28:22It's just wide open. And I'm just about this far off,
28:25off the ground right here sitting.
28:29There they are. And they're chatting.
28:32And I said, that lion, while they're chatting,
28:35they had a little giggle.
28:37She giggled a little bit.
28:38And that lion just raised up me
28:43Looked at her sisters, I'm married, she's the lion.
28:46They're friends. Okay?
28:50When you see a lion rise up, it will move you. Yeah.
28:55I'm telling you, it will move you if
28:56you're in the presence of them.
28:58It's like, hmm. And I'll admit it.
29:02I'm afraid of him. I'm, I'm man enough to admit it.
29:08But God said, I want baic to know
29:11that my people is not just like the dust.
29:13They are like a lion rising up to hunt.
29:18And so Baic stops him
29:22and said, wait just a minute.
29:26The Lord commanded a blessing and I cannot reverse it.
29:31And so I'm going to tell you
29:34that he has not beheld iniquity in Jacob.
29:38Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel.
29:41The Lord God is with them.
29:42And a shout of a king is among them. Baic says, stop.
29:48Sister Elms come. I'm closing.
29:50Please don't bless them or curse them.
29:55He's really wanting to just say don't bless them.
29:59But he said, maybe I'll get a little more attention
30:01by saying, let's just not curse them.
30:04And he says, okay, this time, let's do it one more time.
30:07Bailey hatched another plan
30:09and said, I'll take you to another place per adventure.
30:12It will please God. And ye will curse them from Vince.
30:16And he brought 'em to the top of Mount Peor.
30:19And on top of Mount Peor, the Bible says
30:21that he could see every tribe from there.
30:25And Bible readers know what is about to happen.
30:27Because if you've read numbers 22, 23, 24,
30:32if you're familiar with your Bible numbers, 25 is
30:37where Baal PR happens.
30:40Baal PR is where the people of God would not be judged.
30:43And so Baalam told Balik, since God won't curse his people,
30:47then go get their go, get your best looking girls
30:50and have them seduce the men of Israel.
30:54And when they cohort, uh, on top of a mountain together,
30:59God will curse them because they've got to be a pure people.
31:04And it happens in numbers.
31:0625, 20 4,000 children of Israel
31:11die from a plague
31:12because the boys had cold-hearted with the girls of Baalam
31:17or Baik been seduced and lay with them.
31:22And that God is not going to put up with that.
31:25Adultery is from the beginning to the end, a problem.
31:29It's a problem. Fornication is a problem.
31:32I don't care what this modern day world says about it.
31:34It's not right. It's not righteous, it's not good.
31:37It's not sanctioned. If you're living
31:38with somebody right now
31:39and you're not married, you need to change.
31:43You need to change. I want you to be pleasing to the Lord.
31:47It may look like you're getting blessing,
31:48but blessings don't come when you're walking in
31:50unrighteousness, right?
31:52Right. And so here, here we go.
31:54And so we've got 24,000 die of a plague
31:56that happens on Baal pr.
31:59So maybe God knows what's about to happen.
32:03You imagine God who knows the end from the beginning.
32:06He already knew what Israel was gonna get.
32:08And yet, even though he knew they were gonna blow
32:14their covenant away, he still
32:18only puts a blessing in the mouth of Baam.
32:22There are sometimes people
32:23who say they're righteous curse other people
32:25who say they're righteous because they think they've got
32:27something on 'em and they don't understand
32:29how serious God is about getting blessing.
32:31He will bless you past your fall.
32:33He will bless you knowing you're going to fall.
32:36He will bless you because he knows when it's all said
32:39and done, there's a get up inside of you
32:41that's gonna stand up
32:43and you're gonna steal, rejoice in righteousness.
32:46And even though he knows you have a bad day between here
32:49and there, he says, I'm gonna bless you here
32:52because I know you're going to get to there.
32:56That's the reason this church is never gonna be in the
32:59business of writing people off.
33:00Never. They can remove my ability to pastor them
33:04and a few have a few.
33:06I'm not able to pastor 'em.
33:07I'm happy to dismiss 'em and see 'em gone.
33:09Yeah, I can't pastor everybody,
33:11but that doesn't mean we're gonna write 'em off.
33:13We're gonna put 'em in the hands of a good, gracious,
33:15wonderful, pleasing God and say, be blessed.
33:19Be blessed. Go and be blessed.
33:21It was useless
33:23after the Bible said that when Baam saw that,
33:26it pleased the Lord to bless Israel.
33:28The third time he set his face to the wilderness
33:32and he said, I'm on the losing team
33:34and I want to get off this losing team.
33:37And he started mumbling to himself How goodly are thy tense.
33:40So Jacob and thy Tabernacles old Israel, blessed is he
33:44that blessed thee and curse it is he
33:47that curse it thee on the top of the high places of Baal.
33:50He said, they look like dust on the top of Pisca.
33:54He said, they look like a rising lion.
33:56But upon the top of pr, he said,
33:59it looks like they're a crouching lion.
34:02The difference between a rising lion
34:04and a crouching lion is
34:06that a rising lion is just starting to hunt.
34:09A crouching lion already has the victory in his eyes,
34:12and he is about to spring like a loaded spring.
34:16The lion that's crouching is not the prey.
34:20He's the predator. And the Lord said,
34:22the blessing on my people is
34:24that while the world looks at her like she's the prey,
34:28like she's the one that's always to be laughed at
34:30and mocked and belittled.
34:32They're tiny, they're small. They're not that much.
34:34The Lord said, I'm gonna turn 'em around to
34:36where they're running like an army with banners.
34:39They're clear as the sun, they're fair is the moon.
34:42And then Balum said, they're like
34:47aloes planted by the Lord.
34:51Their buckets will overflow with water.
34:56He went from dust to a garden
34:59and he started describing from vague stories of dust
35:03to visionary declarations of a springy lion
35:06and aloes planted by the Lord.
35:09It doesn't matter what angle you look at God's church from,
35:15he's got a blessing.
35:17Amen. Bigger than my ability to describe that's coming
35:22to the church on this earth and in the world to come.
35:29I could spend all night telling you about my blessings
35:31raising children.
35:34I could tell you about 'em. You've heard them,
35:36but until you've lived them with your children
35:38and know that God came through when you weren't praying,
35:43God came through when you didn't know you needed him,
35:47that he was blessing you when you're down there sitting
35:50around complaining.
35:52But because you're his people,
35:55he's got a blessing coming to his church.
35:59It's unstoppable. Yes. God's people are going to, we are.
36:04I'm gonna say I am. I don't wanna speak for you.
36:06I am a blessed man.
36:11I'm a blessed people. My family's a blessed family.
36:14My wife is a blessed wife. My children are blessed children.
36:18I'm blessed. Nothing's gonna stop it.
36:21But there's a blessed coming
36:22that's bigger than we can even comprehend.
36:25I don't know when. I don't know. Not then. Not there.
36:29Not here, not now. But someday.
36:32Somehow a blessing that is unstoppable is coming
36:36to the Church of the Living God.
36:37And it will not be stopped by anything.
36:41And that's the reason I can keep on giving
36:45and keep on singing and keep on dancing.
36:49Boy, when they sing that song tonight, I thought, what kind
36:51of dance you gonna give tonight?
36:52You know what I, I literally thought about it.
36:54What kind of dance you gonna give?
36:56And I said, I, I'm gonna give him one that I, I decided,
37:01I looked up here, Linworth was doing her right
37:03Here Somewhere.
37:06I I, I looked at Linworth dance.
37:07He, he kept his feet in the same place. Lynn.
37:10I, I'm gonna have to practice it,
37:12but if I ask Ethan, he would already have it down.
37:15I'm telling you, my kids have got every one of y'all down
37:19every, that's Thanksgiving at my house imitating all
37:23of the people's dance.
37:25Some of y'all don't have one.
37:33But you noticed she stopped playing on that part.
37:36But that affected, that was a perfect effective babe.
37:40You're doing good. You're getting better.
37:44And then what was hilarious was here,
37:47I'm trying to think of my dance.
37:48So I, I think this is the one I gave him.
37:51I think I gave him this one.
37:52I know you're jealous, but I'm a man.
37:55I don't dance like a woman. Okay? So deal with it.
37:59Maybe that's, I don't know.
38:01But I looked up and major here was majors.
38:12I thought, majors gotta move.
38:16I don't know if I'm gonna practice that one.
38:19He, he was up there singing there.
38:23I like your shoes. They were looking good.
38:26You weren't see, you didn't, it was just,
38:27you put on your crazy praise.
38:29I know. Ladies and gentlemen, shall we all stand together?
38:35He's gonna bless us. Are you his people?
38:39Have you been baptized in his name?
38:42Have you been filled with his spirit?
38:45Are you saying no to the flesh?
38:47Are you saying no to a carnal world gone crazy?
38:52Are you loving people that the world doesn't love?
38:55Are you being patient and kind to people
38:58who aren't being that way to you?
39:00Come on now. This is what makes us different.
39:03Bless them that curse you. Pray for them.
39:07That despitefully use you
39:08and persecute you for great will be your reward.
39:13And so I I, um, y'all, I hesitated to do this.
39:18I I don't often bring poetry to the pulpit,
39:22but this one got me.
39:24And it almost sounds like a spoken word.
39:26It was written in 1877 by Gerald Manley Hopkins.
39:30It's entitled God's Grandeur.
39:34Will y'all pray after I'm done with the poetry?
39:38I don't wanna lose you on my poetry. Okay.
39:41The world is chained charged.
39:43The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
39:46Will it flame out like something from shook foil?
39:50It gathers to a greatness like the oozes of oil crushed.
39:55Why do men now not wreck his rod?
39:59Generations have trod, have trod, have trod.
40:03All is seared with trade.
40:06Ble smeared with toil
40:09and wears man's smudge and shares, man's smell.
40:14The soil is bear now
40:17nor can foot feel being shot.
40:21And all this Nature is never spent.
40:25There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.
40:30And though the last lights of the black west went, oh,
40:34the morning when the bright eastward sings
40:38because the Holy Ghost
40:42over the bent world broods with a warm breast
40:47and awe, bright wings.
40:56That's so deep. You almost have to read it
41:01all is seared with trade.
41:03Lea smeared with toil, man wears, smudge,
41:07and shares man smell the soil.
41:11That's What Brother Sean
41:12and I had to deal with tonight.
41:15The soil of hate hurt
41:20the smudge and the smell and the smear of fallen flesh.
41:26But the Holy Ghost brut
41:30Because The sun sets dark in the west
41:33and the dawn dances bright in the east
41:36because all of creation sings.
41:39He comes upon the clouds.
41:43Glory to his name.
41:47For the Lord's church will rise up, unhindered,
41:52unstoppable, mighty.
41:55To save a blessing is coming your way.
42:00I'm hoping this altar for a little season prayer.