(328) “The Dark Side of the Glory”

0:00 You don't mess around with the glory of God. Right. You know, this move of God that's coming. We've heard prophetic words that pastors are going to die in the pulpits when the glory hits and they're not righteous before God. We haven't seen that happen yet. But when this great move of God is breaking out, things are going to happen that are not expected. God promises in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend for that promise outpouring, we equip for that outpouring, so that we may engage in that very outpouring.

0:40 I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss. Welcome to the podcast today. We're so delighted that you've joined us today. We have a very interesting study that the Lord put on Philip's heart today. And it's really going to end up being two episodes because we're going to look at both the goodness and severity of the Lord, as Romans 11 .22 points out. And today, we're going to look at the dark side of God's glory. Thanks so much for joining us today. We're so glad that you're with us. This is going to be a very interesting study. But before we get started, we want to encourage you, if you haven't already gotten on our email list, you go to our website, globaloutpouring .net, and click on the teal -colored button that allows you to subscribe to our email lists. There's several to choose from, but... particularly that one that gives you two or three a week, so that we can stay in touch with you and help you to grow in the things of God, because there's so much out there that we are drawing together by the power of the Holy Spirit. He's leading us and guiding us, and there's just so much good stuff that we have also on our website. a lot of great content, blogs and books and recordings of various kinds. And you can even look back into what our history is and where we came from

2:10 and who our founder was and things like that are all on our website, globaloutpouring .net. And there's also a feedback form that you can fill out or you can email us at feedback at globaloutpouring .org. And you can also help us to pay this forward, help us to get this message out to the nations. We want to reach the nations and help to disciple nations and help to disciple the people to grow up in the things of God, to be equipped to participate in what God is doing in the outpouring of his Holy Spirit in these last days. So let's talk about this. Philip, how did this come to you?

2:51 Just in the morning prayer time, just getting quiet, and it was just like the dark side of God's glory. Wow. What a stunning title. And actually, when I was studying for this, I found a spot on one of these things we were talking about where I have it written on the side, the dark side of God's glory. Wow. But I had forgotten it was there. So it was like an anchor. Yeah. Come back to the anchor. Pretty much. I thought, okay, we're on the right track. And with all the stuff that is going on, it's just like there's an all -out war on Christianity, on ministries, on speakers, mega churches, and all these things. It's just like the media is searching for any little bit of dirt that it can find to mar Christianity.

3:38 Also, we need to have that awareness that when this move of God that has started, that there's a severity of God that not many people are aware about, or they've not heard about, or maybe they just aren't listening. Because when the glory falls, it reveals a lot of stuff. And it's better that God's glory reveals it to yourself before maybe you do something and somebody else reveals it to the world. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it reminds me of the importance of understanding that Our Father is righteous, and he's just, and he's true. And he gave us very clear guidelines to live by. And he's slow to anger. Very much.

4:26 Very slow to anger. And he's very patient. But there comes a time when... His patience runs out, and he has to deal with things. You have to get it in your understanding that he is our father. Think in terms of parenthood. Parents are going to put up with just so much for just so long. And then, you know, a good parent is going to deal with something before it becomes a lifelong problem. So God doesn't always say, one, count to five, and you better do it. You know, it's interesting to me. in my own personal experience, when God speaks to me about doing something, and testimonies I've heard over and over again, he'll say something, and you don't do it. And he'll say it again, and you don't do it. And it's kind of like the third time he says it, you know you better do it. It is kind of like one, two, three. Kind of like Peter, you know, he goes in threes, you know, when God talks to Peter. And so strike three, you're out.

5:28 Right, right. So, I want, in the book of Romans, chapter 11, 22, and we'll be reading, this is the New King James Version. Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell. Severity, but toward you, goodness. If you continue in his goodness, otherwise you will also be cut off. Ooh. Ooh. So that's our warning. This is Apostle Paul out of the New Testaments. Yeah. And in context, this is talking about the olive tree and how some branches are cut off so that others can be grafted in. But don't be too proud because he'll just as easily cut you off too. Yeah. Yeah. So in Deuteronomy chapter 4, Verses 23 and 24. Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you. And make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. You can read through the Old Testament.

6:38 When God is dealing with his people, I am a jealous God. You'll read it in the Psalms. God is jealous for us because he wants to be your lover, not a graven image. So in the Old Testament, with Israel, he's dealing with graven images. And also in the New Testament, We got a good taste of that when we went to Turkey and we went to Ephesus. Yeah. And I can see when Paul, when he, it may not have been, I think it was Ephesus where he was. Oh, that was Athens. But it's the same deal. Same ruler. How he was taken back, how the whole city was going into idolatry. And when we're walking through the streets of Ephesus.

7:23 Here's all these images to Diana, temple to Diana. And other gods. And other gods. And we actually got to sit in the theater there where they shouted for two hours, great is Diana the Ephesians. And what a feeling that was. But it gave us a picture of how much idolatry was really out there. And so, you know, that's what Paul was dealing with for all the seven churches and different things they're dealing with. But even in our era right now, you know, there's the idols we make in our life. A minister saying once, you know, in the Middle East, you know, people worship idols. You go to India, they got millions of gods. And we've been to India a few times. And, you know, we've seen this firsthand, actually.

8:12 You know, but you can make an idol out of anything. It could be your car. It could be your hobby. Whatever you like to do, if you're spending too much time on that, you know, sometimes God has to take things away. You know, it's like we have a model railroad we're building. But if we spend a lot of time in that, God can take it away real easy. Oh, yeah. A tree could fall on that part of the house and knock your train board to smithereens, you know. And so there's times like we won't touch it for months, you know, which is kind of the season we're at right now. You know, it's just you have to focus on the creator that created all these things. or created the materials that somebody else created and that you're enjoying.

8:57 So anyway, so God is a jealous God. And so let's go back into the book of Exodus, and the children of Israel are in the wilderness, and they're having their trials, and you have the sons of Korah come up, and Dathan, and Dathan, I don't know if he was actually a priest. No, Dathan and Abiram were from the tribe of Reuben. The tribe of Reuben. So they're not even priests. None of them are. Korah was a Levite, but he wasn't of the tribe. He wasn't the priestly tribe. So you have people that are not in authority that are rising up, and they want to kind of take control and make it. You know, you brought us out here from Egypt to die out here, and we want to take matters in our hands now. So let's look in Numbers chapter 16 and verses 1 to 3.

10:09 250 leaders of the congregation. You know, when you have how many million people out there, you know, you have the different ones that were set in place to kind of govern, you know, different things. So you don't have to bring everything to Moses, but bring it to these leaders, you know. Moses doesn't want to sit all day and listen to everybody's gripes when there's other people that can do that, you know, so I can spend more time with God, which he loved to do. So anyway, Representatives, these 250, of the congregation, men of renown, they gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? Oh, wow. This is what happens a lot in churches today. There's those that can rise up. Maybe they don't think the pastor is doing a good enough job. So they get together with the board. If they know that there's enough people on the board on their side that can swing a vote and they can put the pastor out. And this happens all the time. And there are reasons maybe if the pastor is living in sin. You know, there are reasons for things to happen. But when they kind of want to take authority by themselves, you know, then you force the pastor.

11:37 He's going to go on a fast. And, Lord, you need to—that's what Moses did. You know, he fell on his face, and they cry before the Lord when something happens, which is the proper thing to do. It's like, did you pray about this? You know, is this the way you're supposed to do? So anyway, Moses answers to them. This is in Numbers 16, verses 6 to 7. Do this. Take censers. You know, this is where they put the incense and the censers and way before the Lord, the priests. You know, they're the only ones, the appointed ones that can do this. And he says, put fire in them and put incense in them before the Lord, before Yehovah tomorrow. And it shall be that the man whom the Lord chooses is the Holy One. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi. And Moses said to Korah, Tomorrow you and all your company be present before the Lord, you and they, as well as Aaron, who is the high priest. Let each take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before Yehovah, two hundred and fifty censers, both you and Aaron, each with his censer. Here it comes. The judge has come.

13:13 Here come the judge. He's here. And so the Ark of the Covenant is here in the tabernacle of the congregation. Oh, and this is the place of the glory. Okay, so we continue on in verses 28. And Moses said, By this you shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done these of my own will. Moses didn't want all their nonsense. If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord, Yehovah, creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected Yehovah. Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households and all the men with Korah with all their goods. So they and all those who were with them went down alive into the pit. The earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. Wow. Can you picture that? An earthquake? The ground opens up, and everything you have falls in. I mean, God just opened it up right in that spot. Everything

14:43 falls in, and the ground closes after them. Wow. So then Israel, who were among them, fled at their cry, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And a fire came out from Yehovah. Probably came out of the tabernacle. It doesn't say that, but that's probably the picture I think we get here. And it consumed the 250 men who were offering incense. So their fire was strange before the Lord because they were not holy. They were in rebellion. Oh, wow. And so the next day.

15:28 This is verses 41 to 50. On the next day, all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. Wow. And you have killed the people of the Lord. Moses did not kill them. God did it. This is the severity of the Lord. And God had to do this to let them know that he means business. Now it happened when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting. Now this is the same place where the fire came out the day before. And suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of Yehovah appeared. Now this happened yesterday, the cloud. And what happened?

16:14 The earth opened up and swallowed them all. So here we are the same thing now. The glory is appearing before the tabernacle. And they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yehovah appeared. Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting, and Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. and they fell on their faces. So Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar and incense in it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for fire has gone out from before the Lord, the plague has begun. Then Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the assembly, and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people, and he stood between the dead and the living. So the plague had stopped. Now those who died in the plague were 14 ,700 besides those who died in the Korah incident. Wow. So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped. Wow.

17:34 So 14 ,000 people, and God knew which... Each one was. I mean, they could have ran and maybe hid into somebody else's tent that was righteous, but God knew where each one was. And we don't know what kind of plague this was. Whatever it was, they died instantly. They died instantly. You know, that's kind of like the neutron bomb. You remember hearing stories of that? Yeah. It would leave buildings, but... it would take the people out. And I thought, wow, that reminds me of Book of Revelation where it says their eyes were consumed. Do you remember that? Yeah, and the eye sockets. That's scary. So that sounds like the neutron bomb. And God has his own kind of a glory bomb here, but not the kind we want to see. And so we saw what happened in all this rebellion, keeping order in the camp. And after that, when the rebellion was gone, They could keep on moving, you know, to wherever the next place would be. But that didn't have to happen.

18:36 So there's a rebellion. If there's a split and it's involved the church you're in, you really need to pray to get the mind of the Lord. What were you supposed to do? Not get ruled by emotion, but get moved by the Spirit of God because that's the way you want to go. And you want to intercede for the people involved to come to repentance because it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. Yeah, that is it. And so there's another instance in the Old Testament, and this Hophni and Phinehas, and these were the sons of Eli, which was the high priest in Shiloh.

19:17 And Shiloh, if you ever go to Israel, and if you're in a tour when you go to Israel, I'm sorry, get your passport now so you can go. And if you're a tour, there's not many that do it, you know, that go to Shiloh, or Shiloh as it would be in Hebrew. where the tabernacle of Moses was for 360 years in the mountains of Israel. And how far is it from Jerusalem? How far drive is that, Sharon? Within an hour. Yeah, it's within an hour. Within an hour, you can go where Shiloh was. And if your tour group is not going there, stay an extra couple days and see some sites, which maybe they won't take you. You will be blessed because this is a place where the glory of God was for 360 years. Yes. And they're still excavating it. Still excavating it. And we were just back there just last November. It was an awesome time we had. And this was a place where a pilgrimage, where people would come up. Sure.

20:25 And this was supposed to be three times a year. Three times a year. You know, they come up to the temple after the temple was built. So this was three times a year before. And in the excavations of this place, they found like shards of pottery, you know, bones and stuff. And this is where the people would eat and where they'd be. But they could look down the certain place. They figured this is where the tabernacle was because there isn't any food or jars or stuff that would be there. Or shards of pottery. You can find it everywhere there, except in certain places. And maybe the civilizations that were there afterwards, but they can usually date stuff by what they find. And so now it's roped off. We used to be able to go where the tabernacle was and where the Ark of the Covenant stood there. And so anyway, corruption came into the priesthood. And the sons of Eli, they were taking, you know, people would come up with a sacrifice, but they were doing stuff they weren't supposed to. I mean, the pieces of the shoulder and places that the priest would get, and that would be their portion for the priests. But they were taking the sacrifice, and it was raw. It wasn't being cooked. And doing other things. And then what really irked God is that they were getting a little too friendly with the women that would come to the congregation and doing things they weren't supposed to. And

21:57 their father heard about it, but he didn't do anything about it. He scolded them, but he didn't stop them. He scolded them, but he did not enforce it. And as a result, more year after year, this is what they found. that less and less people are coming up here because of the sin of what is going on, because it's impure what's going on. And Eli is not doing anything about it. And Eli is in his 90s now. So anyway, to go to the story, what happens here? And so Israel is in battle with the Philistines. They don't have a king at this point. That has not been put into place yet. But they have Samuel. And Samuel, when you read this, you'll want to read this story where Samuel was just a little guy when Hannah and Elkanah, they would come up to the feast and they would bring their children with them. And Hannah had no children at this time.

22:56 And she cried out before the Lord. This is the condensed version. And Eli prayed for her that the Lord would grant her wish and give her children. And she says, Lord, if you give me a son, I will dedicate him to you. And so the Lord came back and gave her a son, Samuel. And when Samuel was old enough and when he was weaned, the scripture says, and she lent him to the Lord. She really gave him back. And when they went up to the tabernacle, she left him there with Eli. And she doesn't know all the nonsense going on there. and left him with Eli unto the Lord. And so here we are, and it's Samuel with a very young age, and he's sleeping, and he hears his name, you know, Samuel, you know, and he woke up and goes to Eli, yes, you called me. And that happened two times. And Eli said, if that happens again, say, here am I, Lord. And so little Samuel hears it again, and he answers, Here I am, Lord. And the Lord tells all the stuff to tell Eli that he has not judged what he is supposed to do. And he was scared to do it, because here's this little guy being trained in the priesthood, and all the things are being revealed to Samuel. And Eli says, you know, the next morning, Tell me what the Lord said. And he said, Well, it's the will of the Lord. Let God do what he seems good. That

24:29 was Eli's answer. And so anyway, here comes the Philistines, you know, which was happening a lot. And we'll start now in 1 Samuel chapter 4. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and encamped besides Ebenezer. And the Philistines encamped in Aphek. Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about 4 ,000 men of the army in the field. 4 ,000 men. And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord Jehovah defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes along us, it may save us from the hand of our people. So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring forth there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And so you have the ark there, which is a representation of the glory of God. And when you read in the book of Revelation, it was chapter 11, I think, and it talks about, and the temple was opened in heaven and the Ark of the Covenant was there. I mean, wowee, on earth as it is in heaven. So everything of the

26:01 temple, the tabernacle. All these things, it's what's in the temple of God in heaven. And it's the place where you read where the glory comes from. The glory pours out from the throne. The river of life comes out from the throne of God. And here's the Ark of the Covenant with the angels, live angels over there. So here on earth, you have the Ark of the Covenant with these angels overshadowing it. And so they take this holy ark. And they carry it into battle, you know, because only the priests can carry this thing. And so Hophni and Phinehas, are their knees shaking at this, you know? They should be. They should be, you know, because when there's sin involved, you can't expect the glory of God to come. It'll come, but it might not come the way you like.

26:53 It might come as the dark side like this. So this is another picture. of the dark side of God's glory. It's not a consuming fire, but something else happens. So anyway, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. I mean, their perception of the glory did not work. And here it is, it's in Revelation 11, 19. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. Great hail in heaven? Wow. Or was the hail on the earth? Good question. But anyway, this is the glory of God. The glory of God is in everything.

27:44 The glory of God, you know, even in all the plagues of Egypt and all these things, you know, it was the glory was in the river. Everything turning to blood. The glory was in the darkness. The glory was in the firstborn that were slain in all Egypt. God was in all of those plagues, and he was judging Egypt on each of their different gods. So anyway, so the ark goes into battle, and the ark was taken, and Israel was fallen before the Philistines, and they lost the ark. And Hophni and Phinehas. and a man, Hophni and Phinehas, they were slain. And a messenger went back to Eli, and he's sitting on a stool, and he's blind at this time, spiritually and naturally, he's blind. Maybe a picture of the natural is where he is in the spirit. And it said his heart trembled because of the Ark of the Covenant.

28:41 And a messenger came and said that, you know, Israel has fallen and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead. And the ark of the Lord was taken by the Philistines. The glory was taken by the heathen. And it says he fell off his chair, Eli, fell backwards and broke his neck and he died. And Phinehas' wife was in labor and she gave birth right at that time. And she named the child Ichabod, which means the glory has departed. What a thing to speak over your child. The glory has departed. And we don't know anything more after that. Because then after that, Shiloh was destroyed by the Philistines. And here we are 3 ,000 years later more. You can go back and you can see where history took place. But the glory did not do what they thought it to do. So you can't take presumption, always what God is going to do, especially if things aren't right. Yeah, you have to line up with God's righteousness in order to get his justice. Otherwise, if you're out of line with his righteousness, you'll get his justice in other ways. Yeah, for sure. And so we have another instance. This is Hezekiah.

30:02 And this is in 2 Kings, you know, chapter 19, and that's verses 1 to 4. And this is Assyria is coming against Israel. And they send their messenger, was it Rav Shaka, I think if I said it right. And he presents this letter, you know, to Hezekiah that we're going to take you captive as you surrender. And he lays out, have all the other, all the kings of Israel, all these other nations that have come against us, you know, their gods did not save them. And your God's not going to save you either, you know, and you're going to be taken. And so as Hezekiah, he takes this letter and he lays it out before the Lord.

30:43 And let's go on and read here. And it was so, when King Hezekiah heard what the messengers came and told him, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. And then he sent, like him, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, this is a day of trouble, and rebuke and blasphemy, for the children of Israel have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the Lord Jehovah, your God, will hear all the words that Reb Sheka, whom the master of the king of Israel has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which The Lord Jehovah your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. And in 2 Kings 19, verses 34, 35. And so this is the answer that Isaiah is given back for him.

31:50 For I will defend the city to save it from my own sake and from my servant David's sake. And now you have a righteous king because Hezekiah, he was a righteous king. And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out. And so you have Assyria that is out there in the camps. They're just waiting to come in. And that night the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians, doesn't say how, 185 ,000, 185 ,000 soldiers. And when people arose early in the morning, you know, they're going to go up and go in and take Jerusalem. And the King James says they were all dead corpses. They rose up and they died.

32:38 180 ,000 people? Can you picture? How many people live in the town you live in? I mean, our town of Harrison has, what, 18 ,000, 14 ,000 people? What's Little Rock? How many hundreds of thousands there? Can you imagine like one quarter of the population of a city totally woke up and all of a sudden they're dead? I mean, God did that. He spared his people. Because they put their trust in him. Because they put their trust in him. And he was a righteous king. He was a righteous king. And another righteous king. One of the most righteous kings was King David, which, you know, was before Hezekiah. And he was the second king of Israel, Saul being the first. And King David loved God with all his heart. And you could read the Psalms and everything that he said.

33:33 And in times of great distress, You know, I loved about David. He was complaining or bringing forth the Lord. All these things are going on. But at the end, he encourages himself in the Lord. And most of the Psalms he writes ends up in victory. But he made some major blunders, you know, which really caused things to happen. And this is in 2 Samuel 24, verses 1 to 2. And the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. And we don't know quite why. It doesn't say why, you know. And he moved David against them to say, go, number Israel and Judah. That's his whole kingdom. So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him, Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba. That's exciting to go to Dan and Beersheba. That was the first tour I was on to Israel. We call it from Dan to Beersheba, all the way to the north, all the way down into the south of Israel. It was an amazing journey. We went all the way to Eilat, which is even farther. All the way to Eilat, yeah, it was even farther, yeah. And so go to Dan and Beersheba. Count the people that I might know, the number of the people. Oh, wow, you know, and Joab argues with him, you know, but he didn't prevail. And it took a while to do that, too, I'm sure. In verses 11 to 15, now,

35:06 when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad. Oh, they were his best friends, Gad and Nathan, his two prophets, you know. They kept him in line. It's like, you know, when Samuel come into town, that one time when he's coming to crown the next king of Israel, and he goes to Bethlehem, and he goes to David's father, Jesse, and his 12 sons, to another one of them king. And the elders of the town said, comest thou peacefully? Because usually if the prophet comes to town, it could be good or bad. The word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and tell David, Thus says the Lord, I offer you three things. Choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you. So Gad came to David and told him, and he said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days? plague in your land. Now consider and see what answer I should take back to him who sent me. So Gad has got to be this messenger. And do you think he wanted to do this? He loved David. And so for David, David said to God, I am in great distress.

36:32 Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man. Wow, and that was a wise answer. And he thought, well, for what, three days, did he say it would be? Yeah, three days. So that's the shortest of all the plagues. Let's get this thing over with. Let's get it over with, yeah. So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dandabeshiva, 70 ,000 men of the people died. Wow. So the king over you has killed some of you. 70 ,000. Think of the grief that caused to the families of those 70 ,000. It's true.

37:20 But God was angry with Israel. We don't know what they did. And we don't know what it was. There's some sin going on. So God is judging the sin. And in God's eyes, it's not David's fault because he put him up to do this. But this is just another sign of the dark side of God's glory. Wow. Wow. And now we go to the book of Acts. Yeah. So in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 4, you see where the disciples are seeing a move of God, and they're praying for boldness. They're praying for more boldness. Peter and John had just... had the situation of healing the man that was lame. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee. Isn't that where that is? And they've been confronted by the Sanhedrin, who has warned them sternly, don't preach in this name. But they also can't deny the fact that God did something amazing in the name of Jesus. So they're praying together with the disciples, and they're saying, now, Lord, look on their threats. and grant your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word, by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they spoke the word of God with

38:51 boldness. That's one of the keys that we should be looking for as we are being more and more filled with the Holy Spirit, that we become more and more bold. So the Holy Spirit can follow when he wants to. Exactly. Where he wants to. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and they distributed to each as anyone had need. Wow, that's, I mean, there's a difference between communism and commune.

39:44 Amen. Because they communed together. They had a community. They had a community. A community works. Communism does not work. Yeah, we have to have the Holy Spirit. Yeah. It doesn't even work well with just plain Christians. It only works when you have people that are fully, fully filled with the Holy Spirit and loving God and loving each other to make that work. Yeah. Too much can happen there, too. Greed gets in, usually is what happens. So that's what happened here. Go on with chapter 5. So everyone pretty knows the story of that where Ananias and Sapphira, they sold land and they presented it to Peter, the apostles, but they sold it, but they kept some back. Right. So they were not being truthful.

40:40 about what they were saying. And so they come in and said, we sold this line and we're getting it. Peter said, why have you not told the truth? And you haven't lied to us, you've lied to the Holy Spirit. And Ananias fell down dead. Now, wait a minute, you know, this isn't the Old Testament. This isn't, you know, wrath of God. We look at all these things when there's unrighteousness and sin happening, you know, God dealt very severely. with punishments, you know, than either a nation or a person. I mean, the glory of God has just fallen again, you know, with everyone that, you know, they're all speaking in tongues and they're rejoicing in the Lord. And then this happens.

41:25 Yeah. You know, why would this happen? But when the glory of the Lord is revealed in a move of God, you know, when the presence of God has come down, It's like, is this way of God's saying you cannot let this sin enter the camp? And had to make an example of this. Yes. Because this is the only instance that we can find in the New Testament where someone died after this. And actually, his wife came in, Sapphira came in, and Peter said, did you agree for this, this, this, and this? And she said, yes. And then said, the same men that carried your husband out are going to carry you out now. And she fell down dead. Yeah. And what happened? And they bury the same day because that's what they do. They bury before the sun goes down. And great fear fell upon the church. Right. Like you don't mess around with the glory of God. Right. And there's, you know, this move of God that's coming. And we've heard prophetic words that pastors are going to die in the pulpits when the glory hits and they're not righteous before God. We haven't seen that happen yet. I mean, in other places that has happened. We hear about this in other nations. There has been stories like this. But when this great move of God is breaking out, things are going to happen that are not expected.

42:48 You have to walk in your own plumb line. You know, up in our tabernacle, we have a plumb line hanging up there, you know, to keep straight. Keep the line straight. Because the plumb line is, you know, is what... construction workers and builders used to plumb a wall to keep it straight. And I remember they used that when I was working in construction and we would put the walls up. We put plywood and put these forms up. Then the iron workers would come in and they put all the iron, crisscross the iron in the walls because we were doing big buildings. And then we would come back and back the wall with plywood and clamps. I'd watch they'd straightening the wall with clamps, you know, with these like come alongs, you know, that they would use and they would. drop a line from the top of that wall down to the bottom until it was lined up perfectly. And then they would pour the concrete.

43:42 To have a good foundation, you have to have a straight wall. And for us to have good foundations, we have to be walking straight. Right. And so this judgment comes because things were not. Right. And, you know, things were not straight. And the glory of God came down and it took away two members of the congregation. Yeah. And so, Sharon, why don't you elaborate on the man that was healed by the pool of Bethesda? So we remember how... There was this pool of Bethesda where the water would be troubled at times, and the belief was that the first one who gets in there gets healed. And Jesus came by. And here's this man that's been there. I think he'd been there for 38 years. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are out there now in the Hebrew language.

44:40 Translated from the Hebrew version. Yeah, the Hebrew, which the Greek was taken from. So when you go right to the Hebrew. You can get a better perspective of a lot of things. And I looked at that, and there's nothing there about an angel troubling the water. I think that was a legend. And from what I understand, there is a pool there, and it might not be the one that we call the Pool of Bethesda. It might actually be the one that's the Pool of Siloam, that in its day when it was flowing well, that it was one of those that had a surge. from time to time, that the water would come up. It's kind of like Old Faithful in Yellowstone, that in a certain time, the thing goes off and that there would be this surge.

45:28 And there are springs that are like that. You know, there are some artesian springs that have this. continuous flow all the time. But then there are some that will have a surge, and this was one of those. So I think that there was probably a legend that came up, and, you know, according to your faith, so be it unto you. So if people are looking to be healed by God, and they think they're— They say, look, the water's moving. It must be an angel. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, Jesus didn't respond to that. legend. He just asked this man, do you want to be whole? And he goes on complaining about, well, I can't get in there first. I don't have anybody to help me. And Jesus asks him, do you want to be made whole? And he said, of course. And Jesus says, well, take up your bed and walk. And at the time, it was a Sabbath, and there was a tradition that the Pharisees had that was based on Scripture.

46:28 back in Nehemiah's time, I believe it was, because when they rebuilt the walls and they were having this issue where people would come in on the Sabbath to sell their wares. And Nehemiah said, this is wrong. You can't be doing this. And he shut the gates on the Sabbath so that they wouldn't carry their goods in on the Sabbath. And the Pharisees took that and turned it into, it's wrong for you to carry anything on the Sabbath. you know, adding to what God said and making it something else. So anyway, you know, it was not a law that you could not carry. It was a tradition that the Pharisees had. And so Jesus was all the time breaking their traditions and trying to help them understand, you know, your traditions are making the Word of God of none effect. So anyway, later, Jesus meets him at the temple, and he says to him, now, Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come on you. So it's obvious that the man was in the condition he was in because God's judgment was actually on him to try and help him to get over whatever it was that he was doing that he shouldn't be doing or do the thing he should be doing, whichever way it goes. And so Jesus gave him a stern warning.

47:54 Start doing right now. Quit your complaining and start living by the word and you'll be okay. But, you know, don't keep sinning or it's going to get worse. So, you know, even in the New Testament, there's a plumb line. And so Jesus pointed that out. I forgot to mention, we're going to go back a little bit in the book of Acts. And actually, this does happen afterwards. Oh, yeah. This is Herod, you know, wicked Herod, you know, that had John the Baptist beheaded, had Peter in prison, and he was going to bring him out on Easter, after Easter. It really means Pesach. It means Pesach. And he was going to bring him before the people, which probably means he was going to execute him. So anyway. This is in Acts chapter 12, verses 21, 24. So on a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, the voice of a God and not of a man. Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied.

49:17 Hallelujah. Oh, what a terrible way to die. Yeah. Now, that's judgment of God, you know. Very true. Right here in Scripture, you know. Yeah. You know, we always hear God's not going to do this, God's not going to do that. No, it's right here in Scripture. I heard someone saying, God do what he want to do. Yes. Not what we think, you know. Absolutely. Yeah. One last one. We're going back into the wilderness with the tabernacle. The children of Israel are traveling to the Promised Land, the long way around. And to the sons of Aaron, Nadad and Abihu, for some strange reason, because they knew the fire of God, they saw it.

50:05 The sons of Aaron each took his censer and put fire in it. put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And I don't know what profane means. Well, I think it means fire that didn't come from God. In other words, it wasn't holy fire. It wasn't off the altar. Yeah, the holy fire that came from God that lit the flames on the altar in the first place. That was holy fire. And so they always talked about taking coals from off of the altar to offer incense. And so these guys must have had some other fire from, you know, their campfire maybe or someplace else. So it says, the Lord had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them. And they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke, saying, by those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy. And before all the people, I must be glorified.

51:11 So Aaron held his peace. That must have been a terrible, terrible day for dad and his brothers. Aaron was the mouthpiece for Moses. Yeah. And he was the high priest. He had just been anointed as a high priest. And the sons, they were all anointed. And so these boys carried the anointing. In the priesthood. Yeah. And, boy, they blew it really quick. But integrity got lost here. Yeah. So the Lord gave me a little devotional. It's from my little devotional book. You can see I've got my markers in it, too. It's very well worth reading. Get it from our bookstore.

51:51 It's called In Quietness and Confidence, Keys to Overcoming. And it's little readings from my journals. And from time to time, I go back to make sure that I'm actually doing what the Lord said to do. See that plumb line? The plumb line's there. Maybe your next book will put a plumb line on it. Maybe. So I felt like we should close with this little reading. It's called Instantly Obedient. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them, his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from before the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. That's Leviticus 10, 1 and 2 from the King James. That's the same scripture that Philip just read. Nadab and Abihu had just been anointed to stand in the office of priest. They were at the beginning of their ministry. My fiery presence had just come down to receive the offerings I had commanded. They had been on Mount Sinai in my presence and shared a fellowship meal with me. They knew the awesomeness of my fiery presence.

53:03 They should have remained still in my presence waiting for orders. All of the implements of worship had been made and anointed and sanctified for use. They were like little boys wanting to play with their new toys. But I had not commanded them to offer incense yet. There was a time and a place for that in my order, but that was not the time, nor was it the place. Obedience to my commands is your protection. Presumption, whether in action or timing or both, is stepping out of my order and therefore out of my protection.

53:46 So you see, all of these things that we've been discussing today have to do with getting out from under the order of God. And when you get out from the order of God, you get out from under his protection. As the day of my coming draws nearer, my presence is intensifying in the earth. The more intense my presence is, the more critical your obedience will be. Your life will depend on your hearing and obeying. If you don't hear my orders to do or not to do, don't move. Don't act simply because you think it's the thing to do. In returning and rest, you shall be saved.

54:31 In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. Choose rightly. my child, to be still and get your orders from me. Your life depends on it. Wow. Well, Sharon, do you want to pray for our listeners? Father, we just thank you for this sobering word today that helps us keep listening to you for orders, that we will do according to your word, that we will do according to your spirit, because our hearts are inclined to serve you out of love for you and out of adoration and just that our lives would be worship to you, that our very being in your presence as your children is pleasing to you. And that we don't have to perform in a certain way that our performance somehow gives us brownie points or something.

55:33 Lord, we know that just being your children and looking to you with hearts of love will be our protection. Walking with you, walking in your ways, following your ways because we love you. Lord, we ask that you work. a deeper experience of that in all of our listeners and viewers. Lord, that we will all keep your heart in our view, that we'll keep your face in our view, that we'll keep your word in our view, that we'll keep your spirit. flowing in us, Lord. Help us to just keep coming back, to just keep coming back, just keep coming back when we find that we've walked away, even just in a little bit.

56:19 Lord, that you'll help us, that you'll draw us, that you'll draw us by your Spirit and your loving kindness and your tender mercies. And Lord, if there's any areas where we need to repent, we ask you in your goodness to lead us to repentance now. In Jesus' name, 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.

57:09 Until next time. This is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with His overwhelming, loving presence.