Seek Ye The LORD While He May Be Found,
Call Ye Upon Him While He Is Near!

On the 8th of April 2004, at the Thursday morning Jimmy Swaggart Easter Campmeeting service, Steven York preached a message from the Lord: “Seek Ye The Lord While He May Be Found, Call Ye Upon Him While He Is Near.” As the Lord God had intended, his message was not only directed at the Apostate Church in general, but more specifically, and in particular, at Jimmy Swaggart “the man”. In fact it was Brother York’s closing statement that brought it all to light:

“You know what God said to me this week as I came into this church and David Whitelaw saw it happen to me, I walked into this church and I began to intercede in the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost came all over me. It was uncontrollable! Hallelujah! And I began to weep. And I said ‘Oh God, what is it?’ He said ‘I’m calling the people back to prayer – prayer is going to keep this place going.’ And without it? You know when we get in trouble we have prayer meetings. God’s saying to us we need prayer meetings even when we’re not in trouble. All the time. All the time. All the time.”

You see Brother York's open-ended question concerning prayer – “And without it?” – has now been answered. So please allow me to explain:

On the 8th of April 2004, God Almighty, through the prophetic message spoken by Brother York, warned Jimmy Swaggart (in particular) to return to prayer. And even though the convicting Power of the Holy Spirit was moving on Jimmy Swaggart during Brother York's altar call, Jimmy Swaggart did not fall on his face before the Lord and repent of his willful act of disobedience. In fact the truth of Jimmy Sewaggart’s “prayer-less” life can be found in the following correspondence from “Brother Buffalo” (dated the 15th of February 2006), who just so happened to be a loyal staff member of the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries for more than 20 years:

“…he [Jimmy Swaggart] always has at least ‘said’ he believes in prayers, but he has canceled the prayer meetings for over five years. Some feel it was ‘the Mrs.’ who doesn't want Jim having any fun or even contact with the flock. Who knows? Jim had said, starting in ‘1991’ that the Lord told him to have two prayer meetings a day until the Rapture, but Jim has not maintained that schedule. It is a shame. Prayer is really needed at FWC/JSM.”

You see a few years back, Jimmy Swaggart made a mess of his life and ministry by getting his eyes off of Jesus. Two separate times he was caught with a prostitute (1988 and 1991), but yet Father God had a cure for his terrible sin problem. The prescription for what ailed Jimmy Swaggart in the sexual realm was “public prayer meetings to be held two times a day at JSM”. This was God’s prescription for Jimmy Swaggart, and he was to faithfully comply until the Rapture of the Church took place.

However, it appears that Jimmy Swaggart had things (pressing issues) that were more important than obeying God. I mean it seems that Jimmy Swaggart lost sight of God’s first commandment:

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:3-4 KJV)

And, of course, as it pertains to this one little act of disobedience on Jimmy Swaggart’s part, it only goes to follow that “If He’s not Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all!”

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46 KJV)

So, as you read through this message preached by Brother York on the 8th of April 2004, at the Thursday morning Jimmy Swaggart Easter Campmeeting service, please keep it in mind that this was a Word from God to Jimmy Swaggart, but yet Jimmy Swaggart rejected this Word from God, and 521 days later God rejected Jimmy Swaggart.

[The details concerning God’s rejection of Jimmy Swaggart can be found in the following sermonets:]

“Jimmy Swaggart Thinks He Has Arrived…But God’s Got An Eraser! (10/23/05)”
[www.fmh-child.org/S10.23.05.html]

“Jimmy Swaggart REJECTS The Cross Of Christ! (3/5/06)”
[www.fmh-child.org/S3.5.06.html]

In the Master’s service,

Bruce Hallman (Dad)
FMH Children’s Club International

The Message (Audio)

The Message (Transcript)

(Jimmy Swaggart)
We were having a radio Praise-A-Thon, or whatever you would want to call it, and ah, he called. And I knew immediately that, after listening to him for a few moments, that ah, this Brother knew the Bible and he knew the Lord. I didn’t know him but I knew that much. And every time he would call during those particular times, with a Word from the Lord, it was a Word from the Lord. You gotta hear that, because everybody now and days has a Word from the Lord. The Lord’s awful busy I think. But there are some few that there is really a Word from the Lord, and the Spirit of God would move when this Brother would call, and so I became acquainted with him in that, kind of a strange manner. And then about, I don’t know six months ago, something like that, I felt led of the Lord to invite him to preach this Campmeeting. And. Ah, I had been thrilled at what I have seen. He’s been on our station with us several times since Monday, and, ah, anybody who knows the Word and who loves God, that person to me is special. Brother York, it’s yours.

(Steven York)
Praise God. Hallelujah! Am I on? Praise the Lord. Father, (Brother York weeps), lift your hands too Church. Father, I’m not worthy to proclaim your Word this morning. Like Isaiah I feel that mine eyes have seen the King of the Lord of host. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and I ask that, oh God, you would take a coal from off of your altar, and you would place it upon my lips. Hide thy servant behind the Cross, that they will see none other but Jesus, only. I give you the praise. I ask that you particularly be with those by SonLife Radio and Internet television this morning, as they join us live in this service. I ask that the Spirit of God will minister to them wherever they are, in their trucks driving across the Interstates of this country, in England, Africa, Canada, the fifty states, wherever they are God this morning. In Jesus Name, amen and amen. Let all the Church say “Praise the Lord!”

Turn in your Bibles to the 55th chapter of Isaiah and stand with me as we honor the Word of God this morning. In a moment the singers are going to come back, and we, I’m going to teach you a chorus that, ah, my grandfather taught me. I guess I must be ancient because nobody else knows it, but I’m going to teach it to you with the help of the Lord. But I want you to hear the Word of God this morning. In the 55th chapter the prophet Isaiah, and the 6th verse:

“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD.”

I want you to notice the phrase:

“Let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Years ago, thank you, you may be seated, my grandfather, Pentecostal preacher, brought the Pentecostal message to a little town in New Hampshire; a Lake Winnipesaukee. My grandfather was a man of God. Everyone in my family, everyone in my family have been in the ministry. I think at one point in my life, when I was in my thirties, which, which was not yesterday, I counted some thirty some-odd people that were preaching the Pentecostal message in my family. That doesn’t mean anything in terms of with God because unless I’ve got born-again filled with the Holy Ghost it didn’t count for anything, as Brother Larson pointed out the other morning on the study.

But, that was the heritage that I had, and my grandfather taught me this little chorus, Mahalia Jackson used to sing it, and I’m going to teach it to you this morning. Nobody knows it. Brother Swaggart says “I might remember it!” So I feel ancient this morning, but it’s a simple chorus and it’s called I’m In The Upper Room. Has anyone ever heard it besides me? Thank you Jesus. One person, two persons, three persons, four! Wo-calla-ba-sun! I’m in revival already! I, I, I thought I would, I thought “God am I so old?” I started preaching when I was 10 years old. My parents couldn’t have children, and I realize that’s an oxymoronic statement, unless you understand the Holy Ghost. And in an old fashioned Pentecostal Campmeeting, back when we used to have sawdust all over the floor. Open air meetings. My parents were 19 years old, my father went forward with my mother, the doctor told them it was medically impossible for these two 19 year olds to ever have children. And they went to a Pentecostal Campmeeting.

My father had been saved in the Church of the Nazarene, had a dream one night, and woke up speaking in tongues and he became Pentecostal. Got the Holy Ghost in his sleep. He’s the only one I’ve known to do that. My mother was an old Church of God’s preacher’s daughter, and they got married, but they couldn’t have children. They went to a Campmeeting. I thank God for campmeetings. I can preach a whole series on why we need campmeetings. They went forward, and the Spirit of God moved. My father reminded me of this story yesterday as I talked to him on the phone. He said, “Steven at that Campmeeting, somebody, some preacher laid his hands on your mother and me, 19 years old, and they said ‘thus saith the Lord, out of this union shall come a man child that shall preach to the next generation.’” And God healed my mother. God healed my mother!

God saved me and filled me with the Holy Ghost in my grandfather’s church when I was 4 years old. Saved and filled with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues. That doesn’t mean anything unless I follow on to know the Lord.

But I learned in the old days that there are certain choruses that the Spirit of God uses, and I’m going to teach you this one this morning. Just write it off to some old Yankee, New Englander maniac, whatever you want to call me. I’m just an old-fashioned Pentecostal from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, unapologetic, and I want to teach you this chorus, in the, give me the key, what is the key?

(Steven York and back-up singers sing)

I’m in the upper room with Jesus, I’m in the upper room with Jesus,
– If you know it come on, sing it with me –
All in one accord, waiting on the Lord, I’m in the upper room with God.

Forgive my voice, it’s not real great this morning, but I want you to try it with me. Would you, just lift your hands to Him right now.

I’m in the upper room with Jesus,
– Sing it to Him now –
In the upper room with Jesus,
– All in one accord –
All in one accord,
– Waiting –
Waiting on the Lord, I’m in the upper room with God.

All right, let’s try it all together now. Stand and sing it.

I’m in the upper room with Jesus, In the upper room with Jesus,
All in one accord, waiting on the Lord, In the upper room with God.
– One more time –
I’m in the upper room…
– Sing it now –
…with Jesus,
– That’s where we are this morning, we’re in the upper room –
In the upper room with Jesus,
– All in one accord –
All in one accord,
– All in one accord –
Waiting on the Lord, In the upper room with God.

Thank you, God bless you, you may be seated.

It was choruses like that, that we sang in Campmeeting time, and just about any time we were in church, and we were in church all the time.

As we look this morning at the 55th chapter of Isaiah, the 6th verse, I believe that what God said in that day to Judah through the prophet Isaiah, and was later, uh, spoken again by Habakkuk, in the Scripture which I read to you last evening, Judah was given ample warnings that God’s judgment was going to come upon God’s people. Ample warnings! God is a merciful God, and He calls people, He calls the Church, and He deals with the Church, and He deals with the individuals for a long time. But Judah had fallen into idol worship, into all kinds of ways that were not pleasing to the Lord. The prophet Isaiah said, a hundred years before Habakkuk uttered the words that I read to you last evening, prophesizing to Judah that it was time to seek the Lord, because the judgment of God was about to hit the people of God.

A little awhile ago, my wife who’s an elementary school principle, K through 8, on the island in Maine where we live, just below Bar Harbor, went to an educational conference in Portland, Maine, to address a serious problem in education. And the title of the seminar was, it was for principles and administrators, the title of the seminar was How To Deal With The Over Indulged Child. Now that’s fancy language with How To Deal With What Doctor Spock Ruined Us With Years Ago. How to deal with the over indulged child.

There are some parents, I teach English among other things, there are some parents who must have been in the bathroom in kindergarten, when they should have learned that N O are the two middle letters of the alphabet. We have reared in our post modern culture, a generation of people who are over indulged and don’t know how to say no to themselves, or their children, or their grandchildren, and they think that if they just get, get, get and give to these children, that they are going to somehow turn out all right. So the kid has a little problem. No problem, let’s just get a consultant. Well let’s get therapist, or let’s get a psychiatrist. Lets get him a GameBoy. Let’s get him 24 access, sev, 24-7 access to the Internet. Let’s make sure they have all designer clothes. And we think the more we give to these people, that they will somehow mysteriously behave better. I wish that I could just preach on education this morning, there’s nothing worse than dry preaching so you don’t have to put up with it. I refuse to be dry preaching. I wish I could just address the issue of public education, but the reality is that the problems of the world have infiltrated the Body of Christ.

Now stay with me. I mean I know I’m from Maine and I may be a little off somewhere, but I perceive we have an over, overly indulged Church who is rich and have need of nothing. And they are blind, and miserable, and wretched, and poor in the things of God. Since the Charismatic Movement, and probably before that, we have created a monster in the Church. Brother Swaggart mentioned the McDonald’s syndrome this morning. I perceive what he was talking about was this instantaneous gratification. We got to have an instant answer. I mean where were we before ATM cards and cell phones? Hello? We have more technology for communication and we communicate less and less meaningfully with God or anyone else. I’m just going to preach it like it is. We have reared a generation in the Church who know not the God of our fathers. Jesus help me. We have reared a generation that has created this monster of “blab it and grab it”. And God is some sort of heavenly ATM machine. And all you got to do is press your little card in and out shall flow all of these good blessings. And we have nothing but overly indulged Christians. Overly indulged!

I’m not hearing myself very well so I don’t know what I’m missing here. Overly indulged Christians. Thank you. They want everything to be given to them. Oh God bless me! My grandfather used to preach about people like this. He said their prayers were like this: “God bless me, my wife, our son John, his wife, us four no more.” We’ve reared a generation that does not know what it means to be in an altar service for more than three minutes. And in most, so-called, Pentecostal, Charismatic Churches, we don’t even have an altar call anymore, we have counseling rooms.

And I’m here to tell you today that what my granddaddy preached, and what my great grandfather stood for in Washburn, Maine, when he’s helped to start the Pentecostal Church in Washburn, near it, right after Azusa Street, in the early 1900’s. What my great grandfather and my grandfather stood for in this Book has not changed one iota in the mind of God. My Bible says, and, and, and yours does too, if you have a Bible, and you read it, “My Words are forever settled in Heaven”, God said. Yet we have a generation who know not the Lord. I think there are a lot of reasons for that, but I’m going to talk about a couple of them.

The Word of God to this Campmeeting is “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” I infer from that, that if I’m to call on Him while He may be found, and draw night to Him while He is near, that there may come a time when Ichabod is going to be written on some places that are called the House of God and the glory’s going to be gone. So many churches are programmed to death they don’t even know the Holy Ghost is moved out. They’re so programmed, they’re so motivated, they have so much ah juice going for themselves they don’t even know they’re not doing it with God’s help. I’ll never forget how many times, in fact it was behind the pulpit in that little old church my grandfather pastored. You could probably put that whole church up on this platform. He used to have Zechariah 4:6 up on a banner behind the pulpit. Lot of Pentecostal churches used to in those days. “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.” Hallelujah!

Why I taught you that little chorus this morning, because we need to get back to the upper room. The upper room has become the supper room. Did you hear me? The upper room has become the supper room. There’s an “s” in front of that in case you missed it. The upper room has become a comedy club routine. Let’s come and relax the crowd, tell a joke or two; real cute story. I’ll tell you, in the old days if they’d had tried that somebody would have snatched them right off the pulpit, set em right down the altar and kept em there until they got straightened out. Now we ordain em. We call em apostles! We call em prophets! God calls em false prophets and false apostles, and Brother I’m going with God. The Word of God says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

One time I was in a Campmeting when Brother Trotter was preaching; A. N. Trotter. Your building across the street is named after old Brother Trotter. He looked at me and he called me Brother York. He was a great man. I, I, I, ah, honestly I was so wet behind the ears I didn’t know where the towel was, and he called me Brother York. One day he said to me, Brother York, he said when you build a church, if you emphasize baseball, you’re going to have a baseball church. You emphasize sports and all kinds of music groups, you’re going to have a music church and a concerts, or a sports church. Say wonder why we have ‘sipping saints’ and ‘12 step recovery programs’ for Christians. We don’t even know where the Word of God is anymore. The Arc is gone! They don’t even know where it is Brother Swaggart. God help us. Brother Trotter said to me, “Brother York, if you want a Holy Ghost church you got to emphasize the Holy Ghost, you got to emphasize prayer, you got to emphasize fasting, and you got to emphasize the preaching of the Word of God.

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye on Him while He is near.”

And I just want to remind you of the context, Lauren and teaching this morning was talking about context. I’m sorry Brother Lauren I wasn’t in here, I was stuck in Louisiana traffic, pleading the Blood! I’m not joking, I almost got killed this morning. One guy really almost ran into me, when I finally got where I needed I turned around and looked at him. I gave him a New England stare! I ain’t care if he was Cajun; I ain’t care where he was or who he was. Man you don’t mess with me! But Brother Larson, on the radio I heard, this morning, talk about we can’t just take a Scripture and build a doctrine on it, we’ve got to have the context.

We’re so busy in 12 step programs, in self-help programs, and 40 days of ummm, craziness programs. We don’t know the entrance of His Word giveth Light. I will hide thy Word in my heart that I might not sin against God. We’re too busy mem, memorizing the 12 steps. We’re too busy building cell groups. I’ll tell you the only place we need cells is in jail! Hello?

I know you think I’m just a country bumpkin from Maine. That’s all right. I sat all under all these guys. I sat under Paul Yonggi Cho, Peter Wagner, Wyle Schaller, Wynn Arnn, and all of em. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt and found out it doesn’t work!

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” Call upon Him!

I remember one time I was in Springfield, Massachusetts, in, in a church that had been Independent. I think they went into the Assembly’s later, but I walked into the church, and I had been in the ministry for a while, but I heard something that I hadn’t heard for a long time. And I hear it less, and less, and less now thirty years later. Somewhere, I don’t know where they were, but I could hear em. I heard some Sisters in the church, and I stopped and I listened for just a moment, and I heard the sound that was made possible in the day of Pentecost, that sound from Heaven. I heard some Sisters begin to groan in the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues, agonizing before God for revival. They weren’t in there trying to figure out how to get 12 people in their group. They were there trying to find out how to get the anointing, because they knew that without the anointing nothing would happen.

My mother’s the best theologian I’ve ever met, and she taught me several important things. When I was in Kindergarten I was not over indulged because she taught me that money does not grow on trees, and not to expect that I’d get anything I just want.

Over indulged Church. Church is rich, has need of nothing. Doesn’t even need God anymore. They are working on their own energy, their own efforts, their own…are you with me this morning?

My mother said, you pardon the English but if you know Persilla she’s a very smart woman but she said it grammatically incorrect for emphasis so I’ll never forget it. And I’ve not forgetting it, I’ve never forgotten it in all these years, she said, “And Steven, if it ain’t anointed it ain’t going to amount to a hill of beans!” And she’s right! She’s right! If it’s not anointed by the Power of the Holy Spirit, Brother and Sister, it may be a social club with the name “Church” on it, it may have a bunch of pastors running around calling themselves prophets, and evangelist, and pastors, and apostles, and Doctor so-and-so, and this so-and-so, and everybody’s got a doctorate now.

Let me just park on that for just a moment, can I?

Some of these, some of us have more degrees than a thermometer. We think that’s going to do it. There’s nothing wrong with education, I’ve got two master’s degrees, I’ve worked on a doctorate, but I’m going to tell you with all the books I’ve ever read and all the classes I’ve ever sat in, and all the theseses I have ever written, it is not by might, it is not by power, it is not by academic prowess, it is by my Spirit saith the Lord!

Now having said that, let me say this: there are three degrees that every Believer needs to have. Every Believer needs to have a BA, and every Believer needs to have an MA, and every Believer needs to have a PHD.

Now bear with me. Every Believer needs to be BA – “Born Again”. Every Believer needs an MA because they need to be “Mightily Anointed” with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And every Believer needs a PHD; they better be “Praying to Him Daily” in the Holy Ghost. How many understand what I’m preaching to you this morning? Praying to Him Daily!

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.”

I want to talk about the word “call” for a minute. If you had gone to some of our so-called spirit-filled churches, some of em makes a sound that’s usually applause because they like some entertainment or comedy routine they just heard, the Bible doesn’t say “Let’s entertain and amuse ourselves.” Say “Call upon me while I am near.” We’re more interested in being air conditioned than prayer conditioned. We want to be comfortable, we want to be first class, we want to be suave and intellectual and we want the world to like us. We want to be on David Letterman, and 60 Minutes, and we want the world to like us and smile at us, but I want you to know that it doesn’t work that way. Because God’s people have never, God’s prophets, God’s servants have never been accepted and they never will be accepted by this old sin-cursed world. And if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.

“Call upon Him while He is near.”

One time they were trying to pre, pick a new preacher for a church. So they got together and wanted to get a consensus; take a survey. I don’t know how the Church ever got into so many surveys. Say get in the Mind of God you got to do surveys. They said, “We gonna do a survey and we want you to tell us the kind of charismatic we want your, the new preacher to have.” And then some of them say, “Well, we want them to be cute, we want them to be tall and thin and handsome.” That threw me out. “We want his wife to be blond and play the piano, have a nice voice, couple of cute little kids running around.”

But there was one old Saint of God who stood up, an old Sister in the church, and she said, “Pardon me, but I want to express myself.” And they didn’t like her too much because she was ‘old timey’, but she got up any ways and she said, “I know what I want my preacher to look like.” They were sort of surprised, because she wasn’t given to that kind of stuff, but, they thought, “Well maybe there’s hope for her, she’s going to tell us what she really wants this guy to look like.” And she said, “”I want a very tall preacher.” And some of them kind of wiped their brow and said “Whew!” But she didn’t stop there. She said, “I want a preacher that’s so tall he knows how to touch Heaven when he’s on his knees!”

Who-ra-ba-sa-ta-la-ba-son-da!

We have fallen into the “Saul syndrome”. We want a king that we can have tell us what to do. We want our own Government of Twelve. We’re not satisfied to have God as King in the Church, we want some self-appointed apostles, self-appointed prophets, some of whom don’t even want to read the whole Bible, they said. Find that Revelation is not important. The genealogy of Jesus is not important. Where do they get off at?

Second Timothy, second Timothy chapter 3 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration.” Theopneustos in the Greek, “by the Breath of God”, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof. You don’t like reproof? For correction. We don’t like correction. For instruction in righteousness. We don’t want to be instructed in righteousness, we want to be told how to feel good, get over depression. We want to feel good.

Let me tell you something. Good preaching comforts the inflicted but it also inflicts the comfortable.

Now I wish that I could say in the next verse “Let the wicked forsake his ways”, was directed to the people at Joe’s Bar And Grill, or to the people at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but the reality is Isaiah was a prophet to the people of God. And God said to His own people, “Let the wicked forsake their ways, and the unrighteous men and women their thoughts.” God said, “Your thoughts, your cognitives, skills, are not my thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.”

Whew! That sort of blows the 40 Days Of Purpose! I don’t care if they sell 15 million copies or 15 billion copies. This Book has outsold every other book that’s ever been published. Voltaire said, there would come a day when his books would outsell this Book. Voltaire is dead and gone. Most people have never read Voltaire, if they had any intelligence not to do so. Hallelujah! But millions, and millions, and millions of people have read this Book, The Word of our God shall endure forever. Did you know that the very building that Voltaire lived in, that French atheists, became a printing house for Bibles after he died. Take that one Devil! Hallelujah!

“Call upon Him!”

When I entered that little church in Springfield, Massachusetts, I heard that sound from Heaven. They were calling on Jesus. And they were in other tongues most of the time. I know of churches in Pentecostal denominations where no longer, because they’re having ‘seeker sensitive services’, they no longer permit speaking in tongues in the church service. Why don’t you, you, you know I, I have a message for them this morning. Why don’t you just get out, quit calling yourselves Pentecostal. Quit ruining the good name of God’s people. Quit being a hypocrite. Quit calling yourself Charismatic, or Pentecostal, or Full Gospel. Quit acting like you got something when you don’t. My Bible, and yours does too if you’ll read it, still says “Covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues.”

“Judgment begins in the house of God!”

Now you bear with me. God has raised up this ministry, I’m talking about right here, to speak God’s Word to this generation. A backslidden, cold, lukewarm, the kind of Christians that God says He’s going to spue out of His Mouth in the book of Revelation, God in His mercy is giving the Church one more chance to “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found and call upon Him while He is near.” Now it’s going to require something. It’s going to require that we forsake our ways.

There are Pentecostal churches, you can find them on the Internet, I’ve downloaded one article, I don’t know if I’ve given it yet to anybody, I don’t think I have, that says that I’m not a Progressive Pentecostal. Because a Progressive Pentecostal means that same gender relationships should be honored.

There are people now, and if you’ll read the last issue of Charisma Magazine, I read it to find out the latest heresies, you’re going to find out that the editorial in there is about a meeting held in a Pentecostal church in Florida with some big name people who said we’ve got to infiltrate some of the churches so that they will come to accept gay ministers. Go and read it for yourself in Charisma Magazine. Read the editorial. And Charisma said what has happened to the house of God? And they spoke out against it, and I credit them for doing so.

Brother, Sister, if being a Progressive Pentecostal means I’m backslidden, I’m not progressive. If being a Progressive Pentecostal means that I have to be a liberal, then I’m not a Progressive. You can call me a dinosaur, you can call me prehistoric, you can call me a maniac, but there’s one thing that’s for sure Brother Swaggart, I’m going to stick by the Blood, the Book, the Blessed Hope, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

In the end, at the end of verse 7, notice at, in your Bibles, there’s a wonderful phrase, God says, after He tells us to forsake our ways and our unrighteous thoughts, He says “Let us return unto the Lord, for He will abundantly pardon.” God will have mercy upon him, and He will abundantly pardon.

Any one of us is capable this morning of falling away. Let he that thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. Examine yourself that ye be in the faith. Why don’t they preach this in some of their Bapticostal conferences. Never hear one of them preach on apostasy by the way either. We’re too busy giving each other doctorate degrees, and calling each other the apostles, and regionalizing the world in 12 divisions deciding who’s going to be kingfish.

Anyone of us can fall, and I’m preaching this morning to those who’re listening by SonLife Radio, or perhaps even seated here this morning and you’ve lost your way. I know what that’s like. I once lost my way. After knowing all the things that I’d known about the things of God, I got hurt and I became bitter, and I walked away and I said I will never mention His Name any more.

I’m so glad for the parables in Luke 15. In the first parable, one had 100 sheep and he left the 99, Jesus said, and went out after the one that got lost.

Are you with me? Are you with me? Come on stay with me now, help me preach, I’m almost through. In this second story there’s a woman who lost one silver coin out of 10. You want to talk about housekeeping extraordinaire, that woman swept, and dusted, and cleaned, and turned everything over until she found that one coin. And anybody ever been poor understands if you lose one buck you look for it. For some of us money can be tight. She searched for that one lost coin. She didn’t sit there and say “Thank God I’ve got these 9 coins and, well, I’ll just kinda write that one off my taxes.”

And then there was the story of the prodigal son. He’s a big shot. He wanted his father to give him his inheritance, he was an overly indulged child by the way, he wanted to get the inheritance before the father died. He said give to me that which is coming to me. You haven’t kicked the bucket soon enough, so I just want it. Spoiled brat! Lot of em in the Church. We want God to bless us, we don’t want to hang out with God at the altar. We don’t want to tarry, we don’t even know what the word ‘tarry’ means anymore at the altar, don’t even know what the altar is. Let me tell you where the altar is. It starts right out of about right over there and it goes all the way around, and all the way around, and when that’s filled up this morning you know where your altar can be? You can turn right around in your pews and kneel right down at the altar.

Now you won’t find out with this preacher I don’t like spectator Christianity. If you’re here to see me this morning, or Brother Swaggart, or the, the wonderful choir, musicians, backup, whatever were suppose to call you, you’re here for that reason, you have missed the point of Campmeeting. You have come here for one reason, do you hear me this morning, you’ve come here for one reason, one reason alone, you’ve come here to seek the Lord while He may be found. You’ve come here to call upon Him while He is near.

Now I know how it is in the church, when we get down to about altar call time and they say, someone sitting there saying to themselves, “Oh praise the Lord, but I just wish so-and-so had been here to hear that message. I wish my daughter, my son, my mother-in-law, my son-in-law, my in law, my out law, I wish somebody would been here that needed this message.” There’s an old song in the church, I don’t if anybody knows this one either, it’s not my Brother, it’s not my Sister, but it’s me oh Lord standing in the need of prayer.

I got a little nervous during altar call time, I see 90% of the people still in the pews kind of standing like this. Humph, look at that, over there, somebody’s dancing in the Spirit. Isn’t that something? I get nervous when I have to tell the Pentecostal Church, why don’t you lift your hands and worship God? Brother the Bible says “Lift up holy hands without wrath and without doubting”, I shouldn’t have to cheer lead you into it!

Hello? “Lift up holy hands without wrath and without doubting.” I have to come up here and pump you up? No way Jose! I’m not pumping you up! Let me tell you something, there’s a God who’s still small Voice is in this sanctuary this morning. I’m talking to everyone over in the SonLife Radio, I’m talking to you right now in the Name of Jesus, and if God’s speaking to your heart I want you to call 1-800-342-8430 and say “I need God this morning – I need God.” And somebody will pray for you. Give a call right now. All over this congregation, I get nervous when I notice, and I don’t mean to be unkind, I’m just telling you what I observe, I notice that we don’t take to seek the Lord in the altar time seriously. Thank you Brother Swaggart. We just want to see what happens, and if the Lord sorta hits us in the head while we standing here dead, so be it, but otherwise I’m, you know I’m not moved that way, I’m not psychologically moved to tears, or I’m not psychologically moved to be emotional. You know what? Get over it! I’m so sick of psychology in the Church, it’s destroyed the Church, we’ve lost the power, we’ve lost the anointing, we don’t know what it is to fast and pray and wait on God.

God has helped me to lose a lot of weight. Not that that’s any of your business. But I tell you we have more feasting than fasting in the Church. When was the last time you fasted and prayed even one meal and said “God I’ll not let You go until You bless me, bless our Church”? When was the last time you even took one whole day and fasted and prayed during the Praise-A-Thon so that some money would come in, so Wichita, Kansas, and, and other stations around this country would be turned on for Jesus. It’s not going to be done by marketing strategies. In case you don’t know it the ACLU’s not sending any money in. The Republicans and Democratic parties aren’t sending money in either. Some of you just think that somehow if we get the right president. There’s only going to be one time we ever have a right government on this planet is when the King of kings and Lord of lords comes in. We have social problems, we have political problems, we have economic problems, we have all kinds of cultural problems, but I’ll tell you one thing, there’s only one answer. There’s only one answer, and it’s spiritual, and by spiritual, let me be real specific. I’m not talking about New Age spiritualism, I’m not talking about occult spiritualism, I’m not talking about 12 step spirituality, I’m talking about Bible, old-fashioned, Holy Ghost, Blood-bought, hallelujah, anointed by the power of the Holy Ghost spirituality. Talk about “Ye must be born again!”

Someone asked the old, the old Methodist preacher Peter Cartwright, said, “Why do you preach so much, Brother Cartwright, Brother Cartwright, on you must be born again?” Peter Cartwright ran against Abraham Lincoln for Congress and beat him in Illinois. You didn’t know that did you? Old Peter Cartwright, that circuit riding Methodist preacher rode horsebacks for God. Said, “The reason why I preach so much ‘you must be born again’, because you must be born again.”

Getting quiet now. We’re getting ready to do business. Oh, we don’t mind. See, I, I, if you never clap it’s all right with me. An ‘amen’ once and a while is fine. We don’t even know how to say amen anymore. Ezra preached the Word of God till people said amen. God bless us, let’s say amen once and a while. It’s a Word of God, hallelujah! Oh, you say, wow you’re really, yea I’m from Maine. Just write it off with some quirk. Believe the Bible way. Maybe it’s because I’m from Maine. No, it’s because, I’ll tell you why, because from a child I’ve known the Holy Scriptures which have made me wise unto salvation.

I’m preaching what my great grandparents believed. I’m teaching you, I’m telling you what my grandmother and my grandfather preached for 60 something years before Jesus took em home. My mother and father crisscrossed New England preaching revivals. My father worked in an asbestos mill. He said, “I am not for sale. He said, “I will work with my hands, and I will go out on the weekends and I will preach the Truth. I will preach the Truth – I am not for sale.”

This morning, in a moment the singers are going to come and we’re going to go back to Samanthia’s song, The Blood Will Never Lose It’s Power, is that all right, that’s what I feel prompted from the Spirit, is that OK? Going to do that, but if you’ve messed up this morning I want you to know God will abundantly pardon you. All you need to do is be willing to forsake your own thoughts and your own ways. And you say, “Well I’ve been sigh, sort of mixed up.” That’s all right, God understands that, you say, “Well I’ve been misled.” God understands that too. But isn’t it wonderful, that while the prodigal, you thought I’d forgot where I was going didn’t ya, that the prodigal was living in sin, wasting everything he ever, the word prodigal means wasteful, this over indulged child, this brat, could have cared less about getting anything but the goods from his father, listen to that, wanted the blessings from his father, but didn’t want to be in his presence. Wanted to live his own life. Some Christians are like that. We want to live as close to the world as we can, and not miss the Rapture. We want to sip drinks, and I’m not talking about Dr. Pepper either, we want to play bridge, I, I, I’m just probably going to ruin it now, we want to look like the world, we want to dress like the world, we want the world to think we’re suave and cute and intellectual, we want em to call us, you know special titles, and sort of genuflect as we go through. Like the Pharisees and the Scribes of Jesus’ day who loved the praises of men more than the praises of God.

So this morning we’re going to go to prayer. As every head is bowed and every eye is closed, the singers are coming, and softly I want you to begin the music, the Holy Spirit is dealing this morning. The Holy Spirit is dealing. It’s not my Brother, or my Sister, but it’s me oh God.

When was the last time you prayed through? When was the last time you said “I will give up a meal, I will stay at the altar if no one else stays, I’ll shut in with God in the secret place?”

I don’t know what your spiritual condition is but I know God gave me this message for the Campmeeting this morning Brother Swaggart.

This is your opportunity. Go ahead and sing it Sister. Stand with me now.

(Samanthia sings)

The Blood that Jesus shed for me,
– Every head is bowed, every eye is closed, I’m not going to tell you again to lift your hands –
way back
– The Spirit of God is moving –
on Calvary,
it’s the Blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose it’s Power,
– For it reaches –
For it reaches from the highest mountain,
– Wherever you are –
and it flows to the lowest valley,
– Hallelujah –
it’s the Blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose it’s Power.

As our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, no one else is looking around please. If the Holy Spirit has spoken to your heart, if He’s spoken to you about seeking Him, in a moment I’m going to invite you as the singers sing again, to come out to this altar and kneel and you do business with God. And if there’s not room at the altar, if God so visits us that the altar is full, I’m going to ask you to find a place to kneel somewhere in this building or get on your face before God. You know what God said to me this week as I came into this church and David Whitelaw saw it happen to me, I walked into this church and I began to, to intercede in the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost came all over me. It was uncontrollable! Hallelujah! And I began to weep. And I said “Oh God, what is it?” He said “I’m calling the people back to prayer – prayer is going to keep this place going.” And without it?

You know when we get in trouble we have prayer meetings. God’s saying to us we need prayer meetings even when we’re not in trouble. All the time. All the time. All the time.

I’ve delivered my soul, if God’s speaking to you come forward. Sing it Samanthia. Thank you Jesus. Come forward

(Samanthia sings)

It reaches from the highest mountain,
– The ministers are coming, the elders are coming, just get before the Lord –
and it flows to the lowest valley, oh yes,
it’s the Blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose it’s Power.
Because it reaches to the highest mountain,
and it flows to the lowest valley, oh yes,
it’s the Blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose it’s Power.

Now folks, the verse said call on me. I’m going to ask you to do that right now. I know it may seem a little strange, but I’m going to ask you to lift your voice to the Lord. Don’t worry about the person next to you. I don’t want to make, I don’t want to miss Heaven cuse I was afraid of what somebody thought, might think of me seeking God. I’m going to ask you to call out upon Him right now. Lift your voices all over this auditorium, and let’s let God hear our voices. Let’s let call upon Him. Call upon Him folks. Hallelujah! Call upon Him while He is near. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Call upon Him. Ye-da-ba-sa-ta! That’s it, lift your voices to the Lord! Call on the Lord! Call on Him! Call on Him! Lay your thoughts aside…

(Samanthia sings)

It sooths my doubts, and it calms my fears,
it dries up all of my tears,
it’s the Blood that gives me strength from day to day,
it will never lose it’s Power.
It reaches to the highest mountain,
and it flows to the lowest valley, oh yes,
it’s the Blood that gives me my strength from day to day,
it will never lose it’s Power.
It reaches to the highest mountain, yes Jesus,
and it flows to the lowest valley, oh yes,
it’s the Blood that gives me my strength from day to day,
it will never lose it’s Power,
it will never lose it’s Power,
it will never lose it’s Power…

FMH Children’s Club International
–– A Company Of Prophets ––
P.O. Box 640109 – El Paso, TX 79904
Web:http://www.fmh-child.org