"Holiness, Journey to God's Presence"

[This is a transcript, word for word, of John Bevere's double sermon message given in a Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia.  John is the author of several books and various tapes, all available online at http://www.johnbevere.org  or at John Bevere Ministries, P.O. Box 888, Palmer Lake, CO  80133-0888.  Phone: (800) 648-1477.]

Opening Prayer

"I just can't express how much I love you.  This is my home church in Atlanta.  I tell people, when I'm traveling describing this church, because I talk about this church all over the place, that they're real Christians, and because you love God so much.  And you love your pastor.  Well, let's pray together.  Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord I so much want to hear from you today.  Father, I, of all people in this place, am aware of how totally inadequate I am without the Holy Spirit.  Spirit of God, I can say, I can do nothing apart from you.  But thank you for your faithfulness.  I'm asking that once again that you would literally invade this sanctuary, not only give me your words, Master, but give me your heart to deliver it as if you were here in person delivering it yourself.  Give us ears to hear, give us eyes that we might see, give us a heart that we might perceive and understand what the Spirit of God is saying.  And Master, as you have said, I stand before these people, I stand before the principalities and the powers, and the rulers of darkness of this world and the spiritual wickedness, and I declare the Kingdom of God is come, the will of God shall be done in this place on earth as it is in heaven.   Father, build a wall of fire around this sanctuary.  Again, as I prayed this morning, release legions of angels, draw their swords and stand guard around this sanctuary.  Let your words be spoken, let them be powerful, let them burn within our hearts.  As your disciples said, 'Did not our hearts burn within us, as he spoke the Word unto us?'  So let our hearts burn this morning, as Jesus, you speak to us through the person of the Holy Spirit.  And I give you all the praise and all the glory and honour.  Because of you Jesus, it's all because of you.  In Jesus name, Amen.  Say this with me.  Don't let me leave this place, Father, the way I came.  And I ask it in Jesus name.  Now thank him for it."

"2 Corinthians the 6^th chapter, now I want to say this to you this morning.  I was preaching in a church at the beginning of this year.  And the only way I know how to describe this, is God branded a word in my spirit.  If you've ever seen a cow that is branded, when they take that hot iron and they push it into the back skin of that cow, that thing is forever there.  It's there as long as that cow will live.  And the word, it was just one word God branded in my spirit, and I can't shake it.  And I don't think I want to, and I don't think I ever want to.  But the one word that he branded in my spirit was the word holiness.  The predominate description of the Lord in Scripture, whenever he is revealed in his glory is Holy.  Isaiah, when he saw the Lord, high and lifted up in his glory above the temple, above his throne were seraphim [I believe it was cherubim, have to check], and one cried to another "HOLY!!!".  They were not singing a song.  They were not singing a hymn.  I know we have a hymn, "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is filled with his glory.", that's not what they were doing.  Many today sing that hymn, and yawn.  They were not singing a song and making God feel good about himself.  They were not singing a song, and saying 'Lord, we've been doing this for ten trillion years, can we have a break and can you send in a replacement, we'd like to go explore some other places in the universe?'  They don't want to be anywhere else.  Nothing that he has created is more beautiful than himself.  He's the most wonderful, wonderful, wonderful One to behold.  Everyone in glory wants to be in one place, the throne of God.  That is why David said, "I'd rather be a doorkeeper, just let me be a doorkeeper in that place where his glory is, then to abide in mansions of wickedness."  David's a king, he owns the greatest wealth, and yet he says "I'd rather be a doorkeeper".  One cried to another, "Holy, holy, holy."  You know, to really understand this, whenever the Hebrew writers wanted to emphasize a word, they would write it twice.  In our English language we bold face it, italicize it, we underline it, we put exclamation points (!).  That's the way we emphasize a word.  Not the Hebrew writers, when the Hebrew writers wanted to emphasize a word they would write it twice.  When Jesus made the statement in Matthew 7, "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven", he does not have a speech impediment.  The emphasis was on the word Lord.  Matthew who heard him speak it probably heard Jesus say it like this: "Not everyone who says to me Lord! shall enter the kingdom."  So in order to emphasize it, he writes, "Not everyone who shall say to me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven."  Many times this occurs in Scripture.  Jesus will say "Verily, verily I say unto you."  The way he actually said it was "Verily! I say unto you."  Very few times in Scriptures do the Hebrew writers write a word three times.  Once it's found in the book of Revelation when the angels in the heavens cry out "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants that are left on the face of the earth" because of the remaining vials of judgments that are about to be poured out.  Woe is a heavy word.  Jesus said "Woe" to three cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, and they're rubble today.  Woe meant judgment.  When the angels say woe three times, they're saying the woes that have come are unbelievably bad but what is coming is unspeakably bad--beyond your comprehension.  Only one time in the Scripture, only once, is an attribute of God spoken three times.  It is found in Revelation 5 and Isaiah chapter 6.  That is where the what are called the four living creatures [cherubim] cry out "Holy".  You know, the amazing thing, is they've been around his throne for eons of ages.  And they are not crying out "Power! Power! Power!"  Is he powerful?  Oh yes he is.  I mean, he upholds everything just by the word of his power.  [Have you ever studied the physics of how a star burns, and the unspeakable power inside these solar lightbulbs?  God created over 50 billion galaxies of them.]  They're not crying out "Bright! Bright!"  He's bright, so bright that when Jesus returns he's going to darken the noonday sun, just like the sun darkens the stars when it comes up in the morning--Jesus is so brilliant, he's so bright he's going to darken the sun like the sun darkens the stars.  The is why the men of this earth are going to cry out for the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of My God!  Do you realize how glorious he is?  They're not crying out "Bright!", yeah, he's bright.  What is the predominant description?--"Holy!"  They're not singing a song.  Every single moment another facet of his being is being revealed to them.  And all they can do is cry out "Holy!".  So loud do they cry, the doorposts of heaven are being shaken!  The door-posts are the safest place to go in any kind of tornado, any kind of hurricane.  They say, if you don't have a basement, go stand underneath the doorposts.  It's the most stable part of the house.  Can you imagine shaking the doorposts on an earthly structure, let alone the heavenly structure?  Isaiah sees him, and he's a holy man, and he cries out "Woe is me!"  For a man of God or a prophet to cry out "Woe" to somebody, is devastation to a country or a person, but for a prophet to cry out Woe for himself.  He said "I'm undone!".  Do you know what undone means?  It literally means in Hebrew "coming apart at the seams".  Isaiah groveled on the floor when he saw God's glory.  He couldn't have been in his body, it was a spiritual vision.  He's [God's] on the throne, 'floor!-groveling!--where is a place where I can hide?'  For the first time in his life he really understood who God was, but really for the first time in his life, he understood who he was.  And the angel took the coals, and cleansed him, cleansed him.          He's a Holy God.  The predominant description that I see in the Scriptures of the church that Jesus is coming back for, is a holy church, spotless, without blemish.  That is the description that stands out above anything else, when the Scriptures speak of the church he's coming back for. 

        Are you in 2 Corinthians the 2^nd chapter?  I know these are familiar verses.  Before we begin reading, let me say this.  I just feel this in my spirit.  Let me tell you my background.  I was not raised Pentecostal, I wasn't raised Church of God, Assemblies of God, anything else.  I was raised as a Catholic.  Got saved in my fraternity in college, and immediately God brought me into the Word of Faith movement.  This is not my background, so to speak, this is something that God is burning like a hot iron in my spirit, in the prayer closet.  Holiness is a word that people have shied away from, because of the legalism that has been attached to it.  But to me it's one of the most exciting things as a church that we can pursue.  Because without holiness you'll not have intimacy with God.  You see, let me describe it to you like this.  God says "Come out from the world and be separate" for a reason.  See, legalism says, "Come out and be separate just to be separate, "We in the Club, we in a religious club, we holy."  And so they'd run around (and this is what the white folk would do), they'd run around and make the women put their hair up in a bun, and they wouldn't wear any makeup, and any jewelry, 'no, no, we don't do that.'  And they'd [the women] never wear pants.  And dresses had to be below the knees.  As a matter of fact, had to be to the ankles.  And let me tell you something, a woman can have her dress down to her ankles, she can have her hair up in a bun, she can have no makeup on, no jewelry on, and have a seducing spirit up to her eyeballs!  That's not holiness.  A man can boast that he has never been divorced and condemn other men who have gone through the tragedy of it, while they lusted at every women that walked by them.  That's not holiness.  That's legalism.  That's religion, and it kills people.  God says "Come out from the world and be separate."  If a king asks a woman to marry his son, that woman is brought into the palace where she is cared for by the eunuchs--everybody say eunuchs.  The eunuchs prepare her.  Esther, when she was going to become queen, she was prepared for a year.  They bathed her every single day in oil [with fragrances added to the oil], in the prescribed beautification process.  When that woman is brought into the palace, attended by the eunuchs, she gives up, happily, freedoms that other women experience on the streets.  She does it happily because she is going to have intimacy with the king that those women will never have.  That's why the Bible says "Pursue it."  The whole reason we have been created is to have intimacy with God.  Why did God put Adam in the garden!?  To build a worldwide healing ministry?  No, to walk with him in fellowship.   Can you imagine naming five billion animals with God?  I'm sure they laughed when they called the Tasmanian Devil the Tasmanian Devil.  You ever see that runt?  He just probably reminded him of the devil, and said "Tasmanian Devil".  Look what Paul says, verse 14 of 2^nd Corinthians 6.  "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers."  Now would you look up at me.  They would put  a yoke between two cows, and it was two pieces of wood, and it had little notches in it, and their necks would go in it, and the yokes would put them together, and wherever one went the other went.  Are you getting this?  "But I want to serve God!"--then unyoke yourself from the world.  "I want to get free from this sin"--unyoke yourself from darkness.  Lot vexed his righteous soul because he chose to dwell in Sodom.  He chose it.  Now he faced every day, lawless deeds, he chose it.  That's part of our mission, we go out in the world, we're reaching the lost.  Lawless deeds don't vex our soul because we are in our mission field.  Jesus could eat with sinners, but he predominated the atmosphere.  See, now listen, if you're stronger in God than the sinner is in his sin, then you will dominate the atmosphere.  If the sinner is stronger in his sin than you are in God, he'll dominate the atmosphere.  That's why a lot of believers can't get around sinners, because the sinners are stronger in their sin than the believers are in God.  Jesus walks into a room and the devils cry out!  Jesus walks into a room, and the sinners all want to hear about the kingdom!  It's not about how good a personality you've got.  It's not about how Ritzy you are.  The soul can imitate the spirit.  It's all about how strong you are in the Spirit.  John the Baptist developed a strong spirit.  A lot of people develop strong souls.  Are you here?  "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship"--fellowship in the Greek literally means participation with--"what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness.  And what accord has Christ with Belial?  What part has a believer with an unbeliever, and what agreement has the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God.  As God has said, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God and they shall be my people.'"  Some of the greatest promises made to us as believers.  Verse 17, "Therefore"--everybody say Therefore--"come out from among them"--the world--"and be separate says the Lord.  Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you."  Now look up at me.  These are some of the greatest promises made to us believers.  "I will dwell in them."  God says "In my glory I will dwell among you.  I'll dwell in you and among you.  I'll be your God and you shall be my people."  But it's not an unconditional promise.  It is a conditional promise.  "If you come out from among the world, Then I will receive you."  In other words, "If you don't, you're not going to see my glory."  Now this, this statement, is not being made to the world--this statement is being made to a church, that's filled with the Spirit and operating in the spiritual gifts!  (I'm preaching better than some of you are saying amen right now.)  It's a condition.  God said "If you come out, then I will receive you."  Next verse.  Chapter 7, verse 1, "Therefore"--everybody say Therefore, because of these promises--"Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves"--hold on, let us see that again--"let us CLEANSE OURSELVES"--"let us CLEANSE OURSELVES."  Are you getting the picture?  It doesn't say "The blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all our filthiness of the flesh and the spirit."  Now, is that what it reads?  It doesn't say that, does it?  'You tellin' me the blood of Jesus doesn't cleanse us!?'  Oh yes, it cleanses us.  But Paul makes it up in chapter 6 [of 2 Corinthians], verse 1, why don't you read this--"We then as workers together with him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain[!]."  Now wait, whoa, whoa, whoa!  Now listen to me, grace has been so mis-taught in our churches, that this Scripture doesn't make any sense.  Grace has been taught as the BIG COVERUP.  You know what I'm talking about.  In other words, it covers all your willful sin and fleshly worldly lifestyle, etc., you're rebellion and everything else.          No, no, that's not grace.  I said, that's not grace.  Grace isn't the big cover-up, grace empowers us to do what truth demands.  Have you ever noticed that Jesus made the statement "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' shall enter the kingdom God, but he who does the will of my Father."  If grace is the big coverup, he wouldn't say "Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of God."  Do you think Jesus is going to preach against the grace him came to bring?  No, grace empowers us to do what truth demands.  You see, if you look at Matthew 5, Jesus said, "You've heard it said of old, but I say unto you."  "Again you've heard it said of old, but I say unto you.you've heard it said of old, but I say unto you."  Six times he says it.  What is he doing? He's contrasting life under the Law with life under grace.  Because John 1:17 says "The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ."  So, what he's doing is saying this is the life under the Law and this is life under grace.  Now I've heard people say, 'Thank God we're not under the Law, but we're under grace'--almost like grace is the big coverup, and I can do all that I want and not be under those strict rules.'  I thank God I'm not under the Law, but not for the same reason.  Let's just look at the first two, "You've heard it said of old, 'Thou shalt not kill'."  To be a murdered in the Old Testament, you had to run a knife through somebody.  Right?  Jesus said, "But I say unto you, 'Whoever calls his brother a fool is in danger of hell.'"  Now wait a minute.  Under the Law, you had to take a spear and run it through him and take the physical life to be a murderer.  In the New Testament, all you have to do is be prejudiced, or refuse to forgive, or any other form of hatred--and God says, "murderer".  John confirms it, he says "you hate your brother, you're a murderer--don't even think you've got eternal life abiding in you, you're not a Christian, just get saved."  So which one sounds like a higher expectation that God's looking for?  Correct.  That's because he's given us the grace to live it.  Isn't that good news?  They couldn't live like that under the Law because they didn't have grace.  Grace empowers us.  Now listen, let's look at another one.  "You've heard it said of old 'If a man divorces his wife and marries another he commits adultery.'"  Under the old covenant you had to jump in bed with a strange woman to be considered an adulterer.  Jesus said, "But I say unto you, whoever looks at a woman to desire her has committed adultery already."  Under the old covenant to be an adulterer you had to do it.  Under the new covenant, all you have to do is want to do it.  Which one's the higher standard?  The new [covenant] has given us the grace to live it.  Hallelujah!  So when Paul comes along and says "Don't receive the grace of God in vain", what's he saying?  What is it to receive something in vain?  Come on, talk to me men.  It means not to use its potential.  Isn't that right?  Are you here?  It means not to use its full potential.  God has given us grace to empower us!--to live a life like Jesus lived, all our lives.  That's why Paul says "Cleanse yourself."  Man, are you getting this!?  [Let's say] you live on a mountain.  Alright?  And you're watching the television.  And the emergency broadcast system comes on and says warnings, flashing's and everything, "The mountain is volcanic.  Scientists have just determined it's going to erupt in 24 hours.  You must be so many miles away, you must be sixty miles from the mountain in the next 24 hours."  And you watch in horror, because you know that you if you started right now, you could never get that far away in 24 hours.  And you don't have a car.  And you've watched this program in horror because your life is about to be destroyed, you have no hope at all, you're destroyed, you're gone, you're as good as dead.  All of a sudden a knock comes at your door.  A man holds up a set of keys, he says "I know your condition, I know that you can't save yourself."  He says, "Here, take this, it's a brand new car.  You're safe."  "What can I give you for it?"  "You can't buy it, you don't have the money to buy it.  It's my gift to you."  "Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  I'm saved, I'm saved!"  You jump on the phone and call your friends and say "I'm saved! I'm saved!"  You get out your map, you plot your course out.  You even get out your books on how to drive better.  You call friends, "I'm saved!", you walk back and forth--you do this for 24 hours [laughter]--the mountain erupts!--and you're destroyed in its fury.  What will the people down at the bottom say when they hear this story?  "Stupid!"  Now let's be more realistic.  What will the people say?  "He received the car in vain."  Have you ever read in Hebrews 12, where the writer says "Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace whereby we serve God acceptably."

[editor's note

The Grace of God can fail in a believer:  This whole sermon revolves around what Paul wrote here:  Hebrews 12:12-16, "Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees [spoken in reference to verses 6-11]; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God""--verse 16 goes on describe how the grace of God can fail in us, by harboring bitterness or sin--"Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many are defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person."  Furthermore, the very passages John Bevere quotes in Exodus later on are quoted here in Hebrews 12:17-29.  John's message isn't unscriptural at all, for it was Paul's message in Hebrews 12 as well!  Read it for yourself, in your own Bible.  Then read on in this sermon transcript.  This is an important revelation for the body of Christ.]

 Grace empowers us to serve him acceptably--not to cover up.  You know.God spoke something to me earlier this year.  It riveted me.  I'm telling you, it riveted me.  As a matter of fact, it scared me (in a good way, not a bad way).  He said something to me that was so "out there" that I had to go find it in the Bible.  Did God ever speak something to you, and you said "I've got to go check this one out"?  That's exactly what happened.  Now, he spoke two statements to me.  The first statement startled me, the second statement riveted me.  Now let me show you what I had to check out after the first statement.  Can I show you what I had to check out first?  Put your marker right here in 2^nd Corinthians, and go to Revelation.  Revelation, the 2^nd chapter.  Are you in Revelation 2?  Now, would you look up at me when you're there?  Jesus is speaking to seven churches.  They are historic Asian churches.  Right?  I mean, you can go back and find these cities, they are churches that existed.  Correct?  However, if his message would have been just to those seven churches historically, then he never would have had it in Scripture.  The very fact that it's in Scripture means what?  That it has prophetic application.  Correct?  In other words, can I say it like this?--it applies to us today.  Now, I want you to notice what he says to each of the seven churches--the first words out of his mouth.  Revelation chapter 2, verse 1, "To the angel"--angel simply means "messenger", I believe it's the prophetic ministry sent to the church--"To the messenger of the church at Ephesus write" (he gives a description of himself, look at verse 2), "I know your works."  Would you say it again a little louder.  "Works"  Let's look at the second church.  "And to the angel of the church at Smyrna", verse 8-9, "I know your works."  Say it a little louder please--"Works!"  Verse 12, 3^rd church, "And to the messenger of the church at Pergamos write" verse 13, "I know your works."  Fourth, "To the angel at the church of Thyratira" verse 18, look at verse 19, "I know your works."  Hmm, that's four churches.  Let's go to the 5^th church.  Chapter 3 verse 1, "And to the angel of the church of Sardis write, these are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.  I know your works."  Hmm, that's five churches.  Let's go to the sixth church.  Verse 7, "And to the angel of the church at Philadelphia write", verse 8, "I know your works."  That's six.  Maybe the seventh one will be different.  Verse 14, "And to the angel of the church of Laodocia write" verse 15, "I know your works."  Now you all know what the first statement was.  The Spirit of God spoke to me and said, "John, did you notice the first works out of my mouth to all seven churches in the book of Revelation were "I know your works."  And I went over there and thumbed through, and I thought, and I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about it.  And then he makes the second statement that rivets me.  And he says this:

        "Did you notice that I didn't say to one of these seven churches 'I know your hearts'?"  And I thought about it.  How many times have I sat in a counseling appointment with somebody and they're involved with a lose lifestyle, or worldliness in their life, and they look at me finally, and say "But God knows my heart."  Now, wait, wait, wait.  He's not looking at their heart.  Do you have to drill a hole through to the center of an apple tree, the heart of an apple tree, to find out if it's good or not?  Just look at its fruit!  I'm serious.  You go by an apple orchard and you say, 'I want to make sure these trees are good.'  Do you get your drill out and start drilling?  'Yeah, it's got a good heart.  I know it's got rotten fruit all over it, but it's got a good heart.'  Look at James chapter 2.  I went to this large church in New Jersey this year, and this was my opening text.  You know what I mean by opening text?  You know how I started in 2^nd Corinthians this morning, and said "Open your Bibles to."  And I didn't give any preliminaries, I just said "Open your Bibles to." and this is how I started the message that morning.  It was a very charismatic church, and would you look at how I started the message.  "James chapter 2, verse 24"  And I said this was my opening text, "Let's read together, 'You see then that a man is justified by works[!] and not by faith only."  Boy it got real quiet in there that morning, it got real quiet in here.  I mean, I don't think that they even knew that existed in the Bible.    Can we read it again?  "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only."  Now, now, look up at me before you start screaming out 'heresy!'.You can teach, in America, this is the church in America--You can teach a falsehood for so long--now listen--that you eventually believe it's true.  And then when the truth is preached, you call it heresy.Don't check out yet.  I'm going to finish the story.  See the problem is, you never finish the story.  You can preach something that's just halfway true and end up in heresy because you only preach a half-truth.  Here's the first half that we all got it down real good.  We are saved by grace, and it is the gift of God, it can never be bought--and it is only by grace we are saved today.  Right?  No man will ever be able to stand before Jesus and say 'My good works have earned me a position in your Kingdom.'  It is by grace and only by grace that we are saved.  Isn't that right?  But let's complete the story.  James said, "You say you've been saved by faith through grace?  You say you've got grace?  Show me the grace of God in your life, without your works, and I'll show you that I've been saved by grace by my works."  In other words, the evidence that I really am saved is that I have the lifestyle to live it.  Evidence!  That means it's already there.  See, look at 2^nd Timothy chapter 3.  Are you there?  "But know this, that in the last days"--now are we in the last days?--"know this, in the last days, perilous times will come."  In the original, it really means "difficult days".  Now, would you look up at me?  Paul was stoned, beaten with rods, whipped, shipwrecked, etc.  You ever bruise a bone?  You know how painful it is weeks afterward?  They would beat people with rods just so they'd live with that kind of pain for weeks.  OK?  He's whipped five times.  He's stoned.  I mean, he's had some difficult days, wouldn't you say?  But you know what's amazing?  He looked at our day of religious freedom and called our day of religious freedom "difficult days", compared with what he went through.  Look what he goes on to say.  "And know this, in the last days difficult times will come."  What's going to make the times difficult?  Keep reading.  "Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money".  Everybody see that?  It doesn't say they're going to have money, just that they're going to love money.  You can be a lover of money and not have a dime.  So quit pointing a finger at people because they got money, I hope you don't do that.  I don't believe this church would ever do that.  But I want to make sure that there's not a couple of you here that might have that thought.  It's one thing to have money, it's another thing to love it.  Keep going.  "For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,  disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy[!]." [he's quoting from 2 Timothy 3:1-7.] Now you keep reading down the list--"unloving, unforgiving" etc.  Look at verse 5, cause we're running out of time.  "Having a form of godliness." Can I say it in modern terms?--"Having a form of Christianity--"I'm saved, Jesus is my Lord, I go to the local Spirit filled church, I'm saved, sanctified, I got my Jesus pins, my Jesus shirt, I've got my five-inch-thick Bible, I'm born again.'"  But you see, they're still going to be disobedient, they're still going to be unholy, they're still going to be worldly, they're still going to be attracted to what the world is attracted to, they're still going to live for themselves, they're still going to live for money.  But now look what it says "Having a form of Christianity, but denying the power[!], from such people turn away" (2 Timothy 3:1-7).  You know what's amazing?  Look at verse 7, "they're always going to be learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."  In other words, they're going to go from church service to church service, camp meeting to camp meeting, seminar to seminar, but they're not going to be changed.  "They deny the power of God"--what's the power of God?--what's the power of God do?  It changes us, from being a lover of self to a lover of others, from being a lover of money to a lover of people, from being, listen, unholy to holy, from being unthankful to thankful, from being a lover of pleasure to a lover of God.  "My gospel is a powerful gospel, and my gospel changes lives." 

end of first transcript