Saving Souls

Now I’m sure you’ll remember that when satan came into the Garden of Eden—and, by the way, you also should know that when he appeared in the form of a serpent, it was not the form of a serpent that we see today.  A serpent, a snake, you know slithers on the ground.  But in that day, a serpent was not an animal or a reptile, or whatever it was, that slithered on the ground.  It was a being that was upright.

God later cursed the serpent and said, “You will crawl on your belly.”  So the serpent did not come to him in the form of a snake.  So, you know, we commonly say, “Well, when the snake came”—it wasn’t a snake in that sense.  The serpent was a different type of being, and the Bible makes that clear.

When the serpent came and tempted Adam and Eve and said to him basically—I’m paraphrasing—“God said if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you’re going to die.  You’re not going to die.”

Well, he was doing what satan does best.  He was telling a half truth.  He was saying, “You’re not going to die physically.”  Well, he was correct in that part.  What Adam did not understand was, God was not talking about physical death.  God was talking about a spiritual death.

God was saying, “If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in that day you shall die,” that is, “You shall have a spiritual death.  Your body will not die, but you will die on the inside.”

And, of course, satan perverted that, which is what he normally does.  He came in and he said, “God said you’re going to die.  You’re not going to die.”  Well, he was telling a half truth.  “You’re not going to die physically, but you are going to die spiritually.  Someone inside you is going to die.”

And his words were exactly, “You’re crazy.”  And I said, “I know, but I can’t get away from this, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and we’re going to do this.”  And he said, “You don’t go to cemeteries,  not ever.”  And I said, “I know, but the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and I’m supposed to go there.  I don’t know why.  I don’t know how.  And if you won’t take me, I’ll get a taxi cab, and I’ll take myself.  And if you won’t stay with me, I’ll stay till Jesus releases me.”

Well, he knew when I said that, that something was happening inside of me.  So we got in the van, and we had a bunch of kids, and I believe my mom was there, and we drove all the way up there.  I had no idea where we were going.  So we went to the cemetery I had heard she was buried in.  My father-in-law performed her memorial service.

So I drove up there, and the man said, “I know who you are, but you’ve got the wrong one.  You go to the one over here.”  I thought, “We’ve got it!”  So we went to the one over there.  And the man said, “Oh, yes, she’s in here, with 100,000 other people or more.”  I don’t even know the name of it.  Forest Lawn, there’s several of them all over.  And there’s thousands and thousands and thousands of graves.  And this is not a party for me, and I’m understanding the Holy Spirit.  And I’m thinking, “I have lost my mind.  But I have found my spirit, so let’s do it.”

And the man said, “But, I’ll tell you this.  It takes a key to get in, and we cannot release this information.  We recognize you, and we know who you all are, but I can’t do it.”  And I said,  ”OK, Richard?”  And he said, “We’re going home.”  And I said, “No. You let me out, and I will walk every inch of this place till the Holy Spirit tells me because it’s so burning in my soul.”  And he said, “Why?”   And I said, “I don’t know.”

The love of God, the power of God, the anointing of God, the presence of God, the actual being of God was in Christ Jesus.  And in this Scripture, right there, He declares that He transferred it to us.

Now the question is, what are you doing with it? Backstabbing your neighbor?  Trying to build a bigger church because your billboard will be bigger?  Or are you pouring out of ourself everything that He poured into you.

First John 2:5,6: “But those who keep His word, in him verily, is the love of God.”  Again, there is the same word.  That word, love, doesn’t mean hearts, flowers, and candy.  You have to understand that perfect love casts out fear.  God is love.  Every essence of God, that is the essence of everything that He is, is wrapped up in the word love.

So anything that He is, El Elyon, anything, the Most High God, the Provider, the Healer, the Soon-Coming King.  Everything, every revelation of God that’s in side of Him is now poured into that word love; and that word love is now poured into you.  And the rest of it says, “He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself to also walk even as He walks.”

Another translation says, “Do exactly as He did.”

Are you raising the dead today?  Cleansing the lepers? Casting out devils?  I want to read you something that I recently read in John G. Lake, but before I do, I want to read you Isaiah 6.  Last night I was trying to find this in John G. Lake, and, thank You, Jesus, I found it on page 387.  And by 2 o?clock in the morning, my eyes were crossed.  But by this morning I was shouting and rejoicing, and I’ll show you why.

I want to ask you a question.  Do you see what I have in my hand?  Twenty bucks and a paper copy.  Look how good I did the paper copy.  If I were to ask you, which one would you pick, what would be your answer?  This may be a trick question.  You’d probably pick this one, and the answer would be why?  “Cause it

looks real.  OK, examine them, and tell me which one looks real. That one’s real?  Are you sure?  Which one would you pick?  Why? What would you do with it?  What would you do with this one?

This one has value, and this one basically has no value. Whichever one you want, you can keep it.  I got the counterfeit, and that kid got 20 bucks.

But the reason he made 20 bucks, is because he took the time to examine the counterfeit from the real and made a quality decision that would spend later on when he needed the $20.

The problem I see with an awful lot of Christianity, is we shout, and we holler, and we’re vulnerable, and God puts us in a place to be vulnerable so He can use us, but in the middle of our vulnerability, when the counterfeit comes along, we jump on it, and then we try to spend it like it’s real anointing, and you get in there and they’re about to arrest you for counterfeit $20.

And yet, as a Christian, God said, “Examine yourself.  Take a look.  Let it be confirmed in the mouths of several witnesses. It’ll bear witness with your spirit.”  But if you don’t know the Word of God, when something comes along, and you think it sounds an awful lot like God, and even the Bible says, in the very end the very elect will be deceived, how do you avoid all that junk?

One night I gave a word about backs being healed, just one word just like that cataract, and 500 people received healing in their backs.  I gave a word over to this section, but people over here piggybacked their faith.  I had a sense it was over here, and it was.  But they also attached their faith to it.  This man attached his faith to it.  This woman attached her faith to it and said, “That’s mine!  I receive it in Jesus’ name!”  So he got healed and she got healed and she got healed and he got healed.  Glory adios!

Now are you getting anything tonight?  Are you understanding this?  Do you think I’m somewhere out on a limb or on a wild goose chase?  No, I’m giving you the Bible.  Why don’t more churches pray for the sick?  Because they’re afraid they’ll fail, and they feel that people will blame them.  They’re scared.

The first time I prayed for the sick, I was so scared.  I was so scared that I would fail.  And I said to the Lord, “I’m so scared that I’ll fail.”  And the Lord said to me, “You have already failed.  Besides, you’re not going to heal them, I am.”

My job is not to heal.  My job is to pray.  Well, what happens if someone’s not healed?  Who knows?  Healing might have started and they haven’t noticed it yet.  Or maybe the healing will start tomorrow, or maybe the next day.  I’ve seen that happen many times.

And I always say to people, “I’m going into an agreement with you, and I’m not coming out of the agreement until the healing comes.”  That’s a good word.

Richard Roberts – Do you remember when Jesus went to a fig tree to find figs and there were no figs?  And Jesus cursed the fig tree and said, “You will bear no more fruit.”  Do you remember that story in the Bible?  Nothing seemingly happened on the outside, but something was happening on the inside.