(315) “Things that Are Coming in the Spiritual Start in the Natural” with Don James

0:00 We're expecting the transition between the perishable and the imperishable. Amen. That which builds a priesthood in us so that we may serve him properly. Yes. According to his will, his plan. Yes. And come into that person. Yes. And an understanding of this is the desire of the Father for each one of us. Yes. To be able to touch him and be touched by him. God promises in Joel 2 .28 to pour out of his spirit on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend for that promised outpouring, we equip for that outpouring, so that we may engage in that very outpouring.

0:45 I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss. Welcome to the podcast today. So glad that you're with us. We are going to have a wonderful discussion with Don James, who has been over our youth department for many years, and he is also on our board of directors. And he has a revelation of how important it is for us to recognize that things that are coming in the spiritual start in the natural. Thanks so much for joining us today. We're just delighted that this is an opportunity for us to be together again. And we hope that if you haven't already done so, that you would go to our website, globaloutpouring .net, and smash on that subscribe button. I think it's teal colored.

1:28 And subscribe to our email lists. And if you're watching on YouTube, you can subscribe there and give us a thumbs up. And it'll help other people to find this podcast so that this message can get out to others. share it, you know, share it on your social media, share it with people that are hungry for God, because we are hungry to serve the Lord and bring the body of Christ into a place of equipping so that we can participate in the thing that God has for us in the outpouring of his spirit that he's already begun, and he's going to just do it so much more in the days to come. So we really encourage you to do that. And if you haven't already made plans to be at our convention, Global Outpouring, 2026 in St.

2:13 Louis at the Hilton Hotel at the airport. It's going to be a time of glory, glory, glory. It's for all ages. Everybody has a place. Everybody has a thing. Everybody can meet God. We're expecting an unprecedented outpouring, and we really encourage you to get there. While you are on our website, you can go there to the events tab and look for the convention, and all the details are there. and the places to click to make reservations at the hotel and to register. It's all there, all the descriptions of the speakers. And there's also a place where you can click to donate. If you want to help us with this podcast, we're reaching the nations, we're reaching out into people's lives and helping them to grow in the things of God. Help us to pay that forward, if you will. Thank you. Don James, it's such a pleasure to have you with us right here in the Global Outpouring Studio. And we're excited about what...

3:09 God is going to pour out today through this podcast. And you've just come back from Israel recently, and you were there during a very exciting time. If you want to just start out a little bit with talking about that. Yes. Israel was such an adventure. Catherine and I would find ourselves in these groups, and all of a sudden... People would be just so excited that we came. And, you know, we're scratching our heads going, what did we just do? What did we say? What happened? Because it wasn't just a, oh, I'm glad you're here. It's almost like something touched them spiritually. And we were totally uninvolved. consciously in it, which made it even more exciting. It was like, oh, thank you, God, because you knew God did something. So it was just amazing to be a part of the many groups that Jeannie and Mary Lois are associated with. Yes, and we're referring to our House of Peace in Jerusalem, the ministry that we've had there for 27 years now. And you and Catherine, your wife, went to be with them as they were finishing up and putting things back together after the kitchen renovation that's just been completed. Thank God for that wonderful, wonderful thing that God has done there. No, we need to go see it. Yeah, we need to go see it. And thank you to all who participated in helping to pay for it. We're grateful for that.

4:31 It's paid for. And while you were there, the bombs started flying, the missiles started flying. You know, what was that like? Well, I was ex -military, so I've been around a lot of shooting and rocket firing and torpedo firing and all kinds of other firing. That was Navy, wasn't it? Yeah, that was Navy. But it wasn't Catherine's thing. Well, she's a military wife. Yeah, she's been around a long time also. Also, you know. She's not easily flapped. No, she's not. That is for sure. And if she is, she will try hard not to let you know it. So you could say she's practically unflappable. Yeah. But you could see those missiles coming and hear the booms when they were intercepted and that sort of thing.

5:15 There were some things that landed like the shrapnel landed in a few cases fairly close to the house. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And I don't know. For me, what was so disturbing is. You could barely see it. You see the vapor trails because it was so far away at times, or even when it was closer. I mean, those things really scoot. And you're following the vapor trail, and really the rocket's probably quite a bit ahead of the vapor trail. Wow. So it was fascinating, maybe a good word. Yeah. And I just wished some buildings would get out of the way so I could see their towers. But, you know, the bottom line is you could see the hand of God protecting Israel. Oh, yes. You know, the IDF is the Israel Defense Force. And really, God is their IDF. God is their first line of defense. And some of them know it and some of them don't. It's very clear that there would be no Israel if God were not the God of Israel.

6:18 Just think if all those, how many thousands and thousands of rockets they shot actually made it to Israel. Yeah. You know, what that would have been like. Yeah. You know, God gave them the creativity to develop interceptors and to realize the importance of... creating bomb shelters for their people because they were constantly being bombarded over decades. This is not something new. They have bomb shelters because their enemies were continually going after them. And the Lord's given them witty inventions. Yeah. Yeah. So I love Israel. We love Israel. We go there as often as we can. And we prayed for you folks a lot while you were over there. And Jean and Mary Lois. We'll be coming home soon to be with us for the convention, which let's talk about convention.

7:08 What are your expectations for convention, Don? My expectations for convention is God will come and reveal himself in a new and living way. Amen. By the strength of his presence. So his presence may draw us in. Right now, God is building a spiritual priesthood. Amen. And that spiritual priesthood, it has a lot to do with what we're going to talk about today. Right. It has to do with you getting a revelation of that and moving yourself in that direction. I mean, the faith people look at the statement in Revelation 1 and it's, you know, God's raising up priests and kings. That's what we are. No, that's what we're going to become. But you've got to become it to become it. Oh, that's good. Because the natural first and then the spiritual will come.

7:53 And you'll go, wow, like us in Israel, these groups, we had no idea what we said or did that touched them so much. Wow. And that's how it will be in these last days. You won't be able to put your finger on something so you can stand up on a stage and tell them step one, two, three. Right. It ain't going to happen. God is after relationship, and that issue will manifest before the coming of Jesus Christ. He started with a relationship, and it will end with a relationship. Because Father will tell the Son, it's time. Because he's built. Being in Israel, I had a greater understanding of the statement of Jesus.

8:34 I go and prepare a mansion for you. We went to some of the settlements of the people that fleed Jerusalem between the various wars there for a decade. They were constantly being attacked. You're talking about first century, second century? First century. It's 62 AD, 67 AD, and 70 AD. Okay. You know, different groups attacked them, mostly associated with the Roman. Right. You're talking about Susia, right? Yeah, I'm talking about Susia. It's fascinating. If you ever go to Israel, go to Susia. I love it. And get a guide of some kind to explain all the buildings to you. But the family was literally like an apartment complex. And every time someone's getting married, you built another end on it or attached it. So you are starting with at least one wall when you start building the house for your bride.

9:28 Okay. So it was all interconnected. And so the Father could watch your progress and encourage you. That's good. Give you a swift kick, whatever the case may be. Get this done, son. Dad, I need help with the plumbing, you know. Yes. They didn't have that problem back, didn't have plumbing back then. Oh, they had wells, though, in this place. It was fascinating. As I said, what they did in Susha is a fascinating story. But again, it's about the bride of Christ. And right now, Jesus is preparing a place for us. Amen. Literally, until the Father says it's time. Go and get your bride. And that's relationship. And the bride, even though there's not a lot of relationship in the natural, that's the way it seems to be now. You don't see a building. You don't see this, that, or the other. But it's happening.

10:19 And that should be where our vision and our faith for is to prepare ourselves for this wedding. Yes. In my opinion, it starts with you got to build a priesthood. Priesthood dealt with the holy place and the holy of holies. Right. Christians deal with the outer court. And we've had these teachings before, but it's coming again back with increase, I think. You know, with the brazen altars where we really need to get better at repenting. That's true. And recognizing the situation. We fell short. If we were not a part of the solution, then we were part of the problem. I didn't even say a word. You were part of the problem. You were seeking God. God, what's my part here? What should I do to? enable this to be healed, move forward, or come into you somehow. What? What's the solution? We don't. We typically avoid where we really need to participate, not in the priesthood of the natural that separates God from men, but brings men closer to God, as well as ourselves, our own personal relationships, our own understanding of what he's calling us for in this day. Yes.

11:34 And it has a whole lot to do with just the little items you find in the holy place. Okay. Might want to take a look at those. Yeah. Go for it. And, you know, maybe for another day. Okay. We need to pray. If you get nothing else to say, please get this. Pray. God, show me how to be your priest on earth. Show me what you want in this hour that I might. worship and lead others in worshiping you. Amen. You know, that just brings me back. I keep referring to this over and over again because I think it's so essential what Pastor Tony Kemp. taught us in episode 306 about the capacity code, that the reason why he's not answering our prayers is not because he doesn't want to say yes. It's because we don't have the capacity to receive what we're asking for. So one of the statements that he made is God wants to build the minister before he builds the ministry. So it's about turning into that priest. It's a process. In the priesthood, they did not start out as two -year -olds becoming priests. They were groomed, shall I say. They were raised. They were taught. You're going to become a priest and watch and imitate and do these things. and learn the holy things of God and learn the ways of God. Father would teach son. And this is part of what we're missing is

13:08 the heart of the thing. You can do all kinds of things on the outside and not have any heart relationship at all. And that's what God doesn't like. He wants us to do the stuff out of relationship with him. And so often we're just busy trying to do the stuff and do it right. We want to look good. We want to look good on the outside. But God wants to deal with the inner stuff. So I'm with you, Don, about making the priest. We're to become those priests, to become those ruling authorities in the earth. But it has to do with letting God rule through us. So the reason why.

13:52 I wanted to do a podcast with you is a few weeks ago, we had, well, let me go back a little further. We put out a newsletter last, in the end of February, and in it we listed some of the things that God has already brought. to pass of projects that needed to be done and needs that needed to be met. And we, you know, we said, God has already done this. And, you know, we've got this new oven used, but new to us and working to replace the convection oven that we had before. And, you know, just various things that God had already brought to pass. And then there was a list of things that were needed. And we got a phone call from somebody who said, I can't buy that car for you, but I can send a car payment every month.

14:44 So I'm going to send a car payment every month for five years. And that's kind of what we were praying, you know, to get a car. Where we wouldn't have to pay for it. Yes. Even somebody make the payments for it. Right, right. I wouldn't have thought to pray that, but Philip prayed it. And God was listening to Philip. And so, and then a few days later, he called back and he said, you know, I'm going to do it for six years so you can get a better car. So it was like, whoa. So we brought it to the board of directors. And Don is part of our board as an advisor. And he began talking about this is a thing of first the natural and then the spiritual. Not long after that, we got another call from somebody who read in the same paper about how our copier had died. And we thought we were going to get it repaired. And our copier... Because they've always been able to fix it. They've always been able to fix it. But they've been, hopefully...

15:38 They've been hoping it would die. Yeah, because it's way behind. Resurrection life into it. Yeah, so... So we keep the same contract. The very day, the very day that I was... getting ready to print, I was printing the very first copy of the first page to proofread it. And it came out and it was all wrong. Like the yellow was missing completely. And the black was gray. And I thought, let me fix this. And so, you know, I punched some buttons to do one of the things that you can do to fix it. Well, it didn't fix it. So I called the company that services it. And I said, you know, we've got this problem. The guy said, let me order the part. You probably need new drums. Well, he told us that the drums normally will do 59 ,000 copies. He said, you've got 100 ,000 copies on these drums. God was good to us. And probably about a million copies on the machine. Probably. So anyway, long story short, he put new drums in and it didn't fix it. Well, in the meantime, they couldn't get the drums for They were backordered for two weeks.

16:46 So they offered to print it on their copier in their office. And it was like, wow, what favor. That was amazing. And they charged us the same as if we had done it on our own. That's just amazing. Which is also amazing. So, you know, it was just favor. And then so we sent it out. We get this call. And I put in there that it looks like we're going to need a new copier. But we were hoping that we could get this one fixed. you know, kick that can a little further down the road and, you know, somewhere down the road, we'll have to get one. Well, this person calls up and says, I want to take out a loan to be able to pay for this copier. And I said, what? I couldn't believe it. And I should believe it. I should believe it. These things are credible because they come from God, not incredible. They're credible. And so then he called back later and he said, And I see that you also need a mower.

17:41 I'm going to increase what I'm giving. I'm going to increase the size of my loan so that I can get you a mower too. And God gave us favor with the mower too. They gave us an amazing deal for a better one than we were believing God for. So it's first the natural, then the spiritual. Now I'm going to toss the ball back to you, Don. What do you see about first the natural and then the spiritual? Where are we going with this in the spirit? Well, in 1 Corinthians 15 is quite a chapter. I encourage you to read it and close read it and think about what you just read. What does it really mean? Okay, because it's a pretty intricate passage. in the Bible, the whole thing.

18:29 But the faith people coined it for us. They said, you know, you've got to activate your faith. You've got to have an action. That's the natural. The natural really is something that's tangible, seeable, doesn't require a lot of thinking. But you're believing God for the spiritual part, not just the thing. It's about what the thing is doing in you to bring you closer to God and God manifesting himself in some way to prepare, to build, to help people turn the curve and go a slightly different direction. will in the ultimate.

19:09 But God uses the natural. Not only is it totally necessary, he wants to be in charge of it. He wants to drive the boat. And when we began to understand that, you were saying before, you know, the fact that the priesthood, it was not them. We serve God. It's like... I get to do this for God? You know, that awe of looking at it and changing it from just this natural thing. I mean, the tree does this for us. I'll explain that in a minute. This natural thing to, wow, what's God up to? And collaborating with God to bring about his desired will, which we usually don't know before we go. True. I mean, if we do, we are now highly capable of messing it up before it gets anywhere near the end. We were listening to a little thing, and I sent it to Sharon last night. It was this pastor, and he was talking about when he was a little boy, his mother got polio. Oh, yes. And the church pastor calls and says, we don't want you to come because, you know, we don't want anybody else to get this.

20:22 Yeah, the people are afraid of getting it. People are really, you know, afraid of that. And she said, Pastor, would you come over and pray that, you know, that God could use me? And the pastor said, there's no way God will use you now. Yeah. God's finished with you. God's finished with you. That's what he said. And she was just so devastated, but she didn't— She said no. She said no. God is going to— And then she kept praying, and then eventually they got a new pastor. The pastor called them, come over to visit and says, I want you to start a Sunday school, you know. This mother in a wheelchair. And she had faith, and she called the people that have the buses. And I went with her son and says, we're going to go. And she walked to get into the office, says, we need a bus for Sunday morning. We want you to give us a bus. Give us a bus that we can take kids for Sunday school. They only had a couple of kids. Oh, it was her two kids. Her two kids. That's all they had. Well, I think they had a few more by then. But they had a vision.

21:17 But within another week, they needed three buses or so. The owner said, I'm going to give you one bus with one driver for one Sunday. And he said, make sure that God knows that I said that. And, of course, her son is just kind of going, well, Mom, Mom. They don't do this. But within what was a couple years or so, they had to have like 35 buses. Yeah. On a Sunday morning. Yep. 5 ,000 kids in the Sunday school. 5 ,000 kids in the Sunday school. I mean, this is going back some years. I remember polio back in the, you know, when I was a little kid in the late 50s, you know, my mom sent a note to school forbidding me to have a polio shot because people were getting polio from the shot. So this goes back, you know, to this time period. But what faith this lady had, even though she could not do nothing for herself. But she did an act of faith. But she did an act of faith, and look where God took it. Yeah. Wow, you know. Glory to God. And that's what he's doing in these days. I mean, we're stepping out in things. It's part of your capacity code. Exactly. Expanding your capacity from where you've never, we're going places we've never been before. That's right. Reaching out into faith we've never had before. True. You know, because the time is short, and the kingdom of God. is within you, and the kingdom of God is at hand. So if you marry those two together, let's go, G -O, let's go do it. Amen. Amen. Amen.

22:49 It's the back of my hat. Here we go. Let's see. There you go. Is it centered? How is that? No, it's not. Which way? That way or this way? Well, there you go. There you go. Well, close. Okay. He's turning us around. Well, there you go. That's a prophetic act. Amen. But he uses that. I just know there was a time in our lives where I was in the Navy, Mayport, and I was with a group that worked with a lot of different commands. So I found myself driving here, there, and everywhere rather than hanging out at the base a lot. And I just know that every time I'd get on I -95, I would pass this sign and I would stare at it the whole time. I was driving. It was the Admiral Benbow Hotel. I don't know what called Ben, B -E -N -B -O -W. And they were just a small group.

23:42 And I'm going, one day I go, God, why am I always staring at this sign? And I just got a big smile. It was my picture in heaven. And then I went to another school and they sent me to Memphis, Tennessee. And while there, and I was going to be there about three months. And while there, we were looking for a place to go to church. And we walked in the Christian bookstore and we started talking to them and found out that we were charismatic. I said, oh, you may be interested in this. This guy, he's a pastor and I know him quite well. And he always comes in and he's always full of life. He's starting a service and it's at a hotel every Sunday. Well, where's it at?

24:32 Oh, the Admiral Benbow. And I go, okay, we're supposed to go. Because the natural first, I didn't know why it was attracting my attention or what the purpose was. I just always. Do I just think the name's funny or something? I'm in the Navy and I see the Admiral part. Why am I staring at this sign? And then all of a sudden God reveals. And this guy literally took us under his wing. When he'd go visit people in the church, he'd take us with him. Wow. And it was so cool, you know, just to have this experience at where we were in the Lord at that time. Glory to God.

25:13 Yeah. I mean, we were literally being mentored and he knew we weren't going to be there very long. Wow. He had to hear God to do something. That's tremendous. Wow. But it's those kinds of things that God sets us up for because the natural's first. But it's supposed to be followed by the spiritual that's overwhelming. It talks about being perishable. And then it talks about imperishable. But then, hey, a tree. When a tree is just a whole bunch of round things, you got big ones and little ones and little pointy ones that kind of come out to the end. It looks kind of what? I'm not sure. How do you describe a tree? That's nothing. They look kind of dead and willowy and just like. Hanging out there.

25:59 And then it starts to turn green. Yeah. And then if it's a fruit tree, which is the kind God wants us to be, it all of a sudden blooms. It takes on, like when you get a revelation, you got a smile on your face. That's true. Because it just hits you like, wow, I've never seen that before. Or God, you won't believe what God just told me. Those kinds of things, all of a sudden there's a blossom. Yeah. A lot of times it stops there. Because we never engage to bring it to fruitfulness. And it's the fruit that we judge all things. You judge everything. That's Luke or Matthew around 15 or 16. Judge everything. By its fruit.

26:46 True. Oh, they were judging the false prophets. And he was telling them, you know, you know things by their outcomes, their fruits. So judge these guys who are claiming to be this, that, or the other by how they speak, come across the outcome of their actions and their words. Did it come to pass? Yes. Yeah. So, you know, it's the imperishable brought about or the perishable brought about more perishable. You know, that's the fruit. He still did. Still did. Not a lot. Not a lot. Whereas if God's in it, then you walk away going, God, I'm so glad I was a part of that. Oh, thank you, God. Amen. Amen. Which is just, we recognize life. We do. Sometimes we can't tell the difference between excitement or enthusiasm or any of the other emotions. But we really do have a recognition of life and seeing what it really is. You know, to go just a little bit further with that idea of the blossoms, you know, we have a pear tree.

27:54 And a few other little fruit trees. But the pear tree has been here since 1910. And so it's part of our valley. And so we watch it every year. It blooms and then sometimes it will have a freeze. And the blooms will die. But then it will bloom again. And once in a while, even they'll have another freeze. And, you know, because sometimes it'll warm up too soon, right? And it's eager. It's eager. Come on, let's put out some blossoms. But every time it always comes back at least a third time with some more blossoms so that it can bring forth fruit. And I'm thinking while you were talking, Don, I was thinking about in life when we put out a blossom. It's required that there be some other thing that comes alongside that's attracted to that flower that's going to cause the pollination to happen. So it's something that gets into that flower to tickle it, so to speak. It might be a bee that's looking for the nectar and, you know, it's going to take the nectar home too. to the beehive and feed the baby larva that are developing. But it's going to grab some pollen on its legs. And while it's scooting around in there, it's going to pollinate that thing. And we have to recognize that when we get a revelation, before it comes to fruit,

29:27 that sometimes there's going to be something that, you know, Does it tickle or does it irritate? I mean, tickling can be irritating if you're very ticklish. So, yeah, you know that very well, Philip, because your cousin used to tickle you unmercifully. Anyway, that was irritating. So sometimes there can be an irritation that comes to us, but it's a part of. The bringing forth of fruit, because if there's nothing that gets in there to irritate it or to tickle it, it's not going to germinate. It's not going to become productive. It's not going to continue in the process that will actually cause it to bring forth fruit. Germinate. Germinate. There's another word for it, but it's not going to reproduce.

30:14 There will be no reproduction. It will not go from the blueprint to the building. Okay, you start out with a blueprint, but it'll never get past the blueprint, so to speak, in the process if it doesn't have that irritation or tickling or whatever that is caused by something from the outside. The tree can't pollinate itself. I mean, the wind can, but there's got to be something involved outside of your vision to help your vision come to fruit. And we have to embrace that when it comes, because it's coming from God. And rather than becoming irritated by it and annoyed by it, we have to say, okay, Holy Spirit, what are you saying? Amen. What are you doing? What's going on here that is causing this to come to fruit? Now, you know, sometimes— It takes irritation sometimes for that to happen.

31:11 Yeah. And sometimes it— It's required, really, that we get somebody else involved in our vision, and they might have to help us make some adjustments. Like if a person gets a vision to go and do something, they might not have the skill level in business or the skill level in something that it requires somebody else to come along with a piece of wisdom to help bring that thing to where it can reproduce. So everything's not supposed to be perfect when it's God's will. I mean, I'm actually supposed to have problems? Well, Jesus did promise us, in this world you shall have tribulations or troubles. Did Moses have problems? And I have learning, and I hope I finally get really good at it. God, what are you saying to me in this?

31:59 Exactly. Because that's the question. Because he wants us to speak what he speaks and do what he does. So we should be asking, right? Absolutely. If that's what we've been told to do. If he wanted me to know, he'd show me. Maybe he wanted you to natural first and then the spiritual. Ask. Because we have not because we ask not. He made it very plain. There's got to be interaction in order to get more revelation or additional. Yeah. And which is the pollen being rubbed around and disturbing things and moving. I mean, he destroyed the whole house. He moved everything everywhere. Yeah. As you were talking earlier, I was also picturing. how when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, there was a time when God said, okay, in three days you're going to move. And so the Levites and the priests would start taking down the tabernacle and packing it up and getting it ready to move. And once the tabernacle moved, once the Ark of the Covenant led the way, They were to follow it, but they were to let it go ahead about the distance of three football fields. I think about football fields because I was in the band, you know, and we'd march. About 300 yards. 300 yards, 300 meters more or less to get that far ahead of you so that you can see where you're going because the Lord says, because you've never gone this way

33:30 before. And we know that we are entering into a time that we've never gone in before. We've never been where we're going. The outpouring that we're expecting and we're seeing already pockets of it here and there. There's going to be unprecedented things happening. There's going to be miracles like we've never seen before. I believe the Lord spoke to me and said that what's coming is going to be like the book of Acts on steroids. So again, what Don is saying is first the natural. So we engage. in the process. He's working on expanding our capacity so that we will be ready for him to do what we're asking him to do. We're asking him, we're contending, we're equipping, we're engaging for the outpouring because we want to participate. We want to participate in what he's doing. So we have to let him engage with us and go deeper in those areas that we've kind of swept under the rug or we've pushed them in the closet or they're under the bed and we haven't gotten rid of the little dust bunnies that are under the bed. And God is doing a process of cleaning up his church, cleaning up his people.

34:49 And it's the natural. It's a lot of the stuff is the natural. We're dealing with the natural man. We did a recent episode about, you know, dealing with your flesh. We've done lots of episodes about walking in the spirit rather than walking in the flesh. And that's part of our heart because that's part of the process of getting into that place of maturity where God can pour through us the way we want him to. And so it's that engaging with him and letting him put his finger on stuff, letting him. Bring conviction. That's part of what the Holy Spirit does. And so we respond in the spirit, in the natural, really. Dealing with the natural man, dealing with the emotions that get out of sorts, dealing with the flesh flashes, dealing with the things that we otherwise might just let go and pretend they're not there.

35:45 But he's dealing with that stuff, right? Yes, very much so. Yeah. Very much so. Now, a couple of things in that. The children of Israel failed in the wilderness because they never came into a relationship with God. Well, there you go. Now, the priesthood had a chance to come into relationship with God because they, look, they had the skills to put it together, take it apart. They had great physical, spiritual skills. But many of them, Korah and his... bunch, never came into relationship. And we can see that Caleb and Joshua, Joshua especially, came into relationship because he looks at giants and says, they're like bread for us. Exactly. I mean, the whole statement is one of lunacy of, what do you mean they're like bread? We're going to eat them for breakfast. Exactly. And it's because he came into relationship. He was always at the door of meeting. Exactly. So all that outflow is just blasting him. But even in that story, the priest slid out first. Yes. That's why I keep saying God right now is building a priesthood. Amen.

36:58 Priesthood is about relationship. Kingship is about authority. But priesthood is about relationship with God himself. Absolutely. They're going to have to get it going first. Amen. And then a modern day one was World War II, you know, with Germany and Switzerland. The Germans would shout across the border, we're going to take you before breakfast. And then what's little Switzerland against the mighty army of Germany, but the intercessors, you know. And it's kind of like Caleb, I mean, these giants are bred for us. Germany was a giant. And I'm sure they were kind of shaking their boots on the border of Switzerland, knowing that that could happen very easily. But it never happened.

37:43 God put his hand there. And that's what he did for Israel, too. When he had that pillar of fire, they couldn't go past that pillar of fire. They'd get burnt. Yeah. You know, so we're believing God will do more supernatural things like that. Yeah. For us in these days. Amen. Especially if the Holy Spirit's going to be poured out in measures we've never seen before. Right. And we've got this convention coming up that just happens by God's happenstance to be on Shavuot or Pentecost. We did not know it when we booked this event. We thought we were booking it because we could get less expensive hotel rooms. You know, they'll do that for organizations that want to meet, you know, and have less expensive hotel rooms rather than the business times, you know, when they can make a lot more money per room. And so, you know, we just booked it over Memorial Day weekend. Little did we know until we were talking about it and advertising it that, oh, you mean opening night when the sun goes down is the beginning of Shavuot. The giving of the law, the celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And that lasts for two days.

39:01 And there's fire on the mountain and fire on the temple mountain. Exactly. Exactly. And then on Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. And those two don't always coincide. Sometimes the Shavuot on the Jewish calendar is a different week, a different day, different timing. But this is, you know, the three days that we're going to be there are Shavuot. There are the outpouring. It's about the outpouring. And so I'm totally expecting unprecedented outpouring. And we have seen outpouring after outpouring every year. God meets us. He meets his people. He does amazing things in our lives. He gives us marching orders for the next. Time to come? The next year? Lord, what do you want me to do? And in that atmosphere, when you have all these people gathered together that are seeking God, it's easier to hear from God. It's just easier. The presence of God is there. You have an open heaven. And there's an open heaven with the worship that we have. And, you know, Don, you've been involved in our youth department there for many, many years, and you've seen amazing outpourings among the youth and the children. What are your expectations this time? That they would know him. Amen. And they would get the idea that it's as much about relationship as attendance. Much about relationship is enjoying it. It's more about relationship than all these other things. Amen. And so that's what I'm coming

40:33 to impart and to impress as much as I can. Amen. Amen. And Catherine too, I know. I just know that God has a plan and we have something for all ages. It's going to be just really a glorious, glorious time. But I wouldn't be surprised if at some point God just... comes down in the weightiness of his glory, and we might all fall out under the power and just let him minister. What do we need to do anything for? Hotel staff along with it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it could be. I don't know what God's going to do, but I know it's going to be great, and I know it's going to be life -changing. And I hope that you are coming.

41:14 I hope that you'll join us. It's at the Hilton Hotel at the airport in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. It's May 21st through 24th. And it starts Thursday night and goes all the way through Sunday night. So you go home on Memorial Day and you'll go home changed and you'll go home ready to impact your neighborhood and your home and your place of work. I just feel like it's just going to be such an amazing time. Hallelujah. And I want to speak into that, but I want to read these scriptures real quick. 1 Corinthians 15, 46. However, the spiritual body is not first. But the natural, then the spirit. Okay, that's what it says. It starts with the natural. Yes.

42:00 Then it moves to the spirit. And then in verse 58, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Amen. Knowing that your toil. toil. The word is toil. Physical effort is not in vain in the Lord. No, in the Lord. That's a co -laboring statement. It means while we're engaging anything for God, we must interact. God, would you have me do something different? God, what? You know, whenever anything comes up, begin to engage and ask. Now, what you've just described, And the convention is the natural first, first night, then the spiritual. I mean, that is, I don't know if you can get a better example. I mean, Pentecost Sunday? Right. Yeah. Right. So really, we are following the pattern, having no idea that was the pattern we were following. And we're expecting the transition between the perishable.

43:10 And the imperishable. That which builds a priesthood in us so that we may serve him properly. Yes. According to his will, his plan. Yes. And come into that person. Yes. And an understanding of this is the desire of the Father for each one of us. Yes. To be able to touch him and be touched by him. Amen. All day long. Yes. Yeah. All day long. And for those that have labored at things and when does this end? Your toil is not in vain. Amen. We've got to always put that on the front burner. There is a natural part. It's not just going to parachute in, do its thing and be zapped out. It's toil. Yeah. And he calls it toil. That is physical, hard labor here. But it's the promise.

44:03 That whole. chapter talking about a lot of spiritual stuff, including glories and ranks and laboring more abundantly than all the other apostles and everything else, because Paul said, I was the least, ends here. Your toil is not in vain. So keep on going. Right. The natural and the spiritual are really going together. You know, in these things, every natural thing that you're doing, you're taking a step in the natural. And God is just following up with goodness and mercy, following you and following up and operating through what you're doing in obedience to him.

44:45 Well, and I've learned a principle in my life. I don't know if it happens to anybody else's, but I must be up to a count of 100 at least by now. God will use something in the natural. like a fishing lure, and get me to move in a certain direction or begin or thinking I'm doing this for this reason or such. And once I engage and start moving that direction, all of a sudden I start getting clarity. Yes. All of a sudden I get plan B. And you know what plan B stands for? What? The plan from the beginning. Oh, there you go. But he can only use A to hook me into it. There you go. And literally. That was the priesthood in the wilderness. They were supposed to figure out. Yes. Because they could see what was happening to Joshua. They could see what was happening at the tabernacle. They were supposed to figure out, we need to get closer to this.

45:34 Yeah. I'm not sure they did because they didn't have the revelation. No. They were still thinking like slaves in Egypt. Exactly. They were just laborers. They toiled in vain. Where God tells us not to toil in vain. Wow. That means we've got to constantly give it to God. Yes. Until he breathes life on it. And that life lifts us up so we can see what's actually going on in his kingdom rather than just the natural. I've had friends quit jobs because the people he worked around so awful. And I'm going, God dropped you in there for a reason. You were supposed to be the light bulb, man. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, it's just overwhelming, you know, just overwhelming to it. And because it was really bad. But at the same time. Who knows if he had just held in there what kind of miracles God would have started doing. Right. Who knows? Right. And that's the thing about living this life. How we start may not always be the reason we're there for.

46:34 But if we keep going and relating to him, we'll find out why we're crossing this wilderness. That's true. We're crossing it so we can come more like him. If we draw close to him, he'll draw closer to us. Because in the wilderness, many times that's when you find him. Like Paul, then Jesus, when he started his 40 -day fast, he was out in the wilderness. And I remember Sister Gwen out there in her early years had to kind of find God for herself. Yes. When there wasn't a real, a deeper spiritual teacher, you know, out on the mission field. Yeah. She was kind of like Paul, had to find God for herself.

47:15 Very true. And she did. Very true. And that encourages us, too. Wherever you're at, wherever you go, you know, he's there and he'll listen to you. It's true. Yeah. It's true. And what you give to him, he takes. Yes. He's faithful that way. And it's not just that he takes something. It's always a divine exchange. You give him something, and he'll give you something better back. Yeah, we just talked a little bit about Walter Buechler, I think, on the last one. And he was from Germany. He came to the U .S., I guess it was. And he looked at his schedule, and the only time he had time with God was, what, between 2 and 4 in the morning? I think so, yeah. So he'd get up, and he set a chair there. And he would talk to Jesus like he was actually sitting there.

47:59 Yeah. And then one day, you can tell. Well, then after a year, all of a sudden, he's up at his two o 'clock appointment with Jesus and, you know, sitting across from the chair and he hears footsteps on his porch. And then he hears the door open. The door was probably locked. I don't think that was, it was probably in the days when they didn't lock doors much. But the door opens and he hears the footsteps coming down the hallway and entering the room. And here's Jesus in person. And he comes to sit with him in the chair. And he talks to him. And it's like, so, you know, the natural that he was doing by faith, by, you know, making space for Jesus, making an appointment with Jesus. Then Jesus came in the natural. Yeah.

48:54 And from then on, you know, the rest of his life, Jesus would appear whenever it was appropriate for him to appear. He has mentored many. Yeah, yeah. Even not in person, just on his writings. Yeah. So we had a little bit of heaven on earth. Absolutely. That's eternal. Yeah. And the presence, the weight of the glory would come down in his classes. There's at least one incident that I know of, and I think it probably happened more than once, where, you know, the presence of God would just come down into the room in this Bible school class. And everybody is silent and everybody's just soaking in the weight of the glory. And then it's time for the classes to change and nobody moves. And the next class comes in and they feel the weight of the glory. And they're just immobilized by it. And that time goes by and it's time for the next class to come in.

49:48 And pretty soon the room is full of people from multiple classes in there. And the Lord is just meeting them right where they are. So, you know, these are things that God has already done. So I'm expecting that and more. Whatever it is that we've experienced before and it was wonderful, we can expect that to be a seed form of what God wants to do now because it's time for the greater. And that's why God is challenging us to increase our capacity. So if you haven't seen the capacity code or listened to it, go back to episode 306 and get it and listen to it or watch it more and more and more because it will change how things work. that thing we were telling you about, about the influx of the finances to do what needed to be done, we felt like that was in direct response to Philip and me saying, Lord, let's increase our capacity. We're going to yield to you and let you work on the things in our lives that need to be worked on. God is just increasing our capacity. So especially if you're coming to convention or if you're going to watch the convention online, if you can't come, let God increase your capacity so that when convention time gets here, you're going to be ready for the bigger thing. And it's going to be there for you. Hallelujah. Sometimes it's just the better thing. It may not look bigger,

51:18 but it will be. It will be. And I think one of the things that Pastor Tony says, and he didn't say it on that particular episode, but I've heard him say it more than once, that God is inviting us into realms. Yes. And we first enter a realm as a guest. And we kind of feel our way around, like, is this a place that I can make my own? And then it can become your realm. If you're willing to let God help you make the adjustments that you need to make to dwell there. We can enter realms in an event. You know, you go to a conference and God is moving and you say, oh, I love this. I love this. You can enter it and not ever live there if you don't let God work that thing in you, work that thing in you to make. Make it be your dwelling place. And he's continuously wanting to expand us into more realms.

52:22 You know, I think of it like you see these inflatable, like a bouncy house, you know, that kids want to have for their birthday or whatever. And, you know, they plug the thing in and it begins to expand. And there's all these different chambers. that have to be filled up with air in order for the thing to actually become a house, you know, an inflatable house. And it has to have this whole thing at the bottom that they're able to bounce on. So there has to be this expansion that comes. Think about what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life. And there's parts of you that have never been expanded before, that he wants to blow into. He wants to blow his spirit into you and into me, into us, to expand the building, to expand the structure. That's held up by his spirit. It's constructed by air. It's constructed by, and we're just the empty vessel.

53:29 That kind of reminds me of the. picture that I had when we were living in Niagara Falls. And it's a very windy place. And I stepped out into the backyard and I saw this sermon illustration. I knew it was a sermon illustration as it was happening. It was an empty plastic bag, an empty Walmart bag that was flying through the air. And I heard this question in my spirit, what is it about that? bag that allows it to fly. And I knew that the answer was that it's empty. It has nothing. It has no baggage. There's nothing in it to weight it down. And that's what God is doing in us. He's in this process of working through helping us to drop off the things of the flesh, to drop off those things of the natural so that he can get us into the spirit. You know, Jesus said to Nicodemus that the wind blows wherever it wants to. And so are they that are filled with the Holy Spirit. So are they that are in the flow with the Holy Spirit. And so that's what he's trying to do with us to try and help us to let go of our emotions that are out of control, to let go of our intellect that is not.

54:48 open to the things of God. That's what He wants to do with even our bodies, you know, our bodies that are out of sorts. He's wanting to bring His Spirit in and do something new and do something anointed and change us to make us able to fly, you know, to fly above our circumstances. He can pick us up by His Spirit. We're going to be having a school here with Bruce and Reshma Allen and Michael and Gordana von Vleiman. first week of September. I think it starts on Labor Day, the first Monday of September, and goes through the Saturday, I think it's the 7th through the 12th. And we'll have them on a podcast here soon. But the school is the School of the Supernatural Translation by Faith. God wants to help us get loose from the things that are waiting us down so that he can take us where he wants to take us. Now, this isn't that thing where you decide that you want to travel. What's that word, Philip?

55:49 Astral projection. Astral projection. He always helps me remember. Yeah, this is an astral projection. That is the counterfeit of... what God has given to us in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are full, you would be surprised. And that's why you need to come to this school and learn about it, because it's really surprising about how much is available to us from the Scriptures, showing us that this is for God's mature people, for God's purified people. I'm not saying that you have to be gray -haired. I'm saying that you have to let God work in you. So there are children that are flowing with the Holy Spirit and not burdened down with a life of sin that are able to move into these things because their spirit is mature. It was 20 -some years ago that the Lord spoke to Bruce Allen. It says, can people be translated by faith? And the Lord spoke to him that said, the day is coming when you won't be able to travel anymore. Yeah. And we saw how easy that could happen with COVID. Sure. Everything was shut down. You can't shut the spirit down.

56:55 That's right. That's right. And we'll get to that with that episode when that comes. But I just wanted to give you a teaser to be looking for that and to be looking at our website and get information about it because it's coming up in September. But just with this idea of the natural, first the natural. Don, do you have any other thoughts that you wanted to add? Yeah, your bag referenced something for me. Your flying bag. Yeah. There's certain things that's obvious about it. One, it's upside down. And most people really need to turn upside down once in a while because they're so fixed on so many things that don't have. A lot of significance. Right. Opinions about so many things they've really never asked God himself about. They've assumed because of their wonderful knowledge. And I'm going, I got a bag. It is upside down. So it's emptied out.

57:53 Not only empty, but is open to full capacity. There you go. Ready to receive. There you go. And me, we as Christians. We don't need to be gullible, and I'm not implying that. But we really need to turn things upside down once in a while and fully open ourselves up to receive what God's trying to tell us. Amen. Because so many times, like the children of Israel, they'd already fixated on some judgment or some opinion of it that they don't have room to receive anything else. Because we are fully told, put off the old man. Yep. But put on the new. Yep. You got to do both. You can't just put off the old man. And you can't just put on the new. Right. Because it won't fit really well over that dirty, triple -sized whatever that you're already wearing. That's true. You know, it's like the windsock at an airport. Yeah. You can tell, you know, the strength of the wind and the direction of the wind by the way the sock is blowing. You know, and that's...

58:56 This is the way you go. Here's the direction. This is how you land this thing or how you take off. Right, right. But how does that fit in? Brother, we're supposed to walk by faith, not by sight. Why are we looking at a windsock? It's the wind. I thought that would be a good illustration. It's the wind. No, it is the wind. And who can see the wind if you don't have a windsock, right? I mean, exactly. It's those things that help us discover direction and God's will. Yeah. All of a sudden you see a door with a key in it, and you go. I guess that's what I'm supposed to go through. That is not walking by sight.

59:36 That is walking in God's knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. And then you discern it as you go, always inquiring of him as you proceed through. Amen. Amen. Beautiful. Would you close in prayer with that for us? Oh, God, help us to get better at following you. And most of all, Lord God, let us draw near. In these days, Lord, let us just ask, Lord, how do I do that? Let us do the things you tell us to do, oh, Lord. So in these days, we will not only feel your presence in such an awesome, weighty manner, but we will carry it, oh, God, so others may know what they don't have. Come, Lord God, because they will want it if they get anywhere near it because it brings life and it brings it more abundantly.

1:00:32 It clears the darkness and gives us understanding. Come, Lord God, help us to be curious of your presence in these days in which we live. Thank you, Father. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your review helps the podcasting platform suggest this podcast to other listeners who are also looking for a great move of the Holy Spirit. Check out our website at globaloutpouring .org to find out more information, read our blogs, connect with us, and donate. You can also browse our web store for life -changing anointed books.

1:01:24 Until next time. This is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with His overwhelming, loving presence.