Saving Souls

In the Bible, very clearly, what did God place in Moses’ hand?  He placed a rod.  But if the people around him had made fun of him, the Red Sea never would have parted.

Look at David and the slingshot.  And, you know, David’s father didn’t believe in him, obviously.  But David believed in himself, and he had to have somebody believe in him.  And when he had the nerve to walk up there with his five smooth stones and the slingshot that God had placed in his hands and the substance that he was made of, he brought an entire nation down and another nation to rise, because he used the substance in his hands.

We have to be very careful who we attach our substance to.  Oral Roberts was healed in a tent meeting when George Moncey laid his hands on him and said—17 years old—“You foul tormenting disease, in the name of Jesus, I adjure you by Christ Jesus, you come out of this boy.  You loose him and let him go free.”

And you know what?  He was freed that night.  But the next day he didn’t have his strength.  And he laid on the bed, and he was discouraged.  But Mama Roberts wouldn’t let him die.  She saw him laying on the bed, and she said, “Are you sick?”

And he said, “I want to put my pajamas back on.  I want to crawl back in bed.”  Now he was healed, but he hadn’t gotten his strength back.

And Mama Roberts said, “No, you can lay on top of the bed, but you can’t take the covers down and you can’t put your pajamas on.”  She said, “You will never crawl back in that bed of affliction.”

And if somebody hadn’t stopped him right then, no telling where Oral Roberts University would be to this day.  Be careful who you connect yourself with.

When I was a little girl, my dad died of cancer when I was 12 years old.  And all of the sudden, everything that we believed in fell apart.

But I watched my mom sit there and watch a man named Oral Roberts on television.  And every time he’d stretch his hand out, there was my mama stretching her hand out.  And every time he needed a Seed-Faith offering, my mama was planting seed.

And I looked at her one day, and because my family happened to have been a very wealthy family, and then all of the sudden when your dad dies and everything is all tied up and everything’s all screwed up and you don’t know what’s up and what’s not up, and we saw everything start to unravel. 

A little over 18 months ago, I couldn’t even write a check.  My bank was under water.  My house was under water.  The church was under water.  I had no idea whether I would have any money coming in.  Our home was gone.  The furniture was gone, and all of our clothes were gone.

But guess what?  Number one, people began to give to us.  But we never stopped giving.  Through all of that time, we never said, “Well, we’d better hold on to every penny we get.  We don’t know when we’ll get any more.”  That wasn’t it.  It just flowed through us like a pipe.

And I began to write checks to other people for thousands of dollars.  And someone said, “Well, how did you do that?”

I don’t know.  I’m not sure.  All I know is, not a one of them bounced, not a one of them.  And today we live in a brand-new home that we built in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and it’s filled with brand-new furniture.  And we do not owe one dollar on any of it.  It’s all paid for.  (Applause)

That’s not accidental.  That’s not an accident.  That’s giving and receipting.  And the receipting means that when you plant your seed, you believe that a harvest is coming.  Amen?

I would like for us to stand up.  Stand up.  I am going to pray for you, and then I want you people that will bring $1,000 for this university, I want you to start walking down and either lay the checks down—where, on the platform here?  Right here on the platform.  But I want to pray for you first.  I want all of you that have glorious intentions of joining me to bless this university, raise your hand and hold it towards my hand right now.

Father, in the name and in the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, I pray upon the people that shall respond to my word right now.  I pray upon them a blessing that will not come from man, but it will come from God.  It comes through man, but the impetus will begin with God almighty.  And the checks and the funds shall be delivered.

I believe, Father, that You’re going to bless this university.  I pray for every instructor.  I pray for every teacher, for every student.  I pray for President Richard and Vice President Lindsay Roberts.  I pray Your blessing upon their life.

Ken Copeland said from the time he was here on the campus of Oral Roberts University that Oral Roberts uses his faith like a mechanic uses a wrench.  He grabs ahold of it, and he works it.  And he won’t let go of it until he finishes the job that he was called to do.

And he said the other day that the Holy Spirit spoke to him, and He said, “Tell faith this.  Order your faith to go do its job.  Send it out into the fields to do its work.  Don’t let it come back until it’s done.  Don’t let it sit down, and don’t let it rest when it comes back.  And turn around and send it out to do the next job.”

And God said we’re to live by this kind of faith.  Now if you take that that faith is so important to God that four times He said, “The just shall live by faith,” what is it that we’re supposed to see in that substance?  What is it that we’re not seeing and not doing?

According to Vine’s, the word faith in God means this:  Number one, a firm conviction that produces a knowledge of the truth of God.  Okay, we agree with that, right?  Number two, a personal surrender to Him.  Do you agree with that?  Number three, a conduct that is inspired by that surrender.

That’s the part I want to talk to you about tonight.  Think about the worst mess that you’ve been in recently.  Think about it.  Okay, get up on your feet.  Stand up.  I mean it.  Get up.  Wake up little Susie, wake up.  Come on, shake it off. 

What is she talking about?  There is something here that we in the body of Christ are missing, and we’re missing it so much that Oral Roberts has to be around at 88 years old to shake us   . . .

And then it talks about how Lot looked around to Abram and said, “You pick first.  You pick first where you want to go.”

And so Lot picked.  But then the scripture says, “Lot lifted up his eyes,” and it goes on and talks about Lot picking out land.

And then it says, “But Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.”

And then in verse 14, this is the best part of this story.  Verse 14 it says, “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, look northward, southward, eastward, and westward.

“For all of the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.”

Now I look at that, and I’m going to go on to other verses, but I want to talk about that for just a second.  I don’t want to take a long time, but this scripture, when you look at that, at some point we’re all going after God’s purpose, whether you’re in fivefold ministry, now we’re all going after the purpose and the plans that God has for our lives.

And as we are changed from glory to glory, then God’s going to begin to put a finger on things in your lives or in your ministries and He’s going to say, “Listen, you don’t have to understand why.  Just lay it down.  Obedience is better than sacrifice.  Just lay it down.  I want to see you surrender that.  And you don’t even have to understand.”

But the part of verse 14, it says, “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him.”  So what that tells me is that when God puts His finger on that thing in your life and says, “Surrender that to Me,” at that moment, that’s when God’s going to say, “Lift up your eyes from where you are.  Lift up your eyes in the midst of the people that have come against you.  Lift up your eyes.” 

And you give that under the blood.  You say, “You know what?  That person has attacked me.  They’ve criticized me.”  These people, President Roberts and Mrs. Roberts and all you ministers, what you’ve accomplished came at a cost.  But people have attacked you. 

And in order to be the winner of the marathon, you not only had to come in first place, but you had to come in with your torch still brightly burning.  And that’s what we want to do, and that’s what the Lord wants to do even tonight in your life, to rekindle the fire and the passion of Jesus so you can finish the race, but with the wind in your face and the fire of His passion burning bright in your life.

Let’s give the Lord one more round of applause tonight.  (Applause) 

RR: Dr. Myles.  This is the international—everybody say international.  Turn to the person next to you and say, “This is not just an American thing.  This is international.  We have international representation on the Board, as well as international representation throughout the entire membership.

And I’m asking—Dr. Myles, I want to ask you particularly—I know you’re going to be ministering later in this conference—what is a benefit, what does a minister receive as a benefit for being a part of ICBM?  What do they get when they come that they might not get somewhere else?

MM: I was thinking as I walked here to the stage that the Jews historically go to Jerusalem, and the Muslims go to Mecca, but the charismatics ain’t got nowhere to go except to Tulsa.  And so I was thinking next year, you should gather all the charismatics you know and tell them, “They go to their mountain, let’s go to ours.” 

ICBM is the place where you get your identity, where you get your relationships developed.  ICBM is the place where we come to get our identity.  When you experience God in the charismatic environment, some of you know what I’m talking about, you become a misfit, even in your own denomination.

And ICBM does not encourage you to leave your denomination.  ICBM encourages you to add ICBM to your experience so that you can also have a place to come and identify with crazy people as well, so that you will feel normal.  When you’re here and you are full of the Holy Ghost, you are normal.  If you speak in tongues, you are normal here.  If you believe in miracles and signs, you are normal here.  So welcome to the normal place.  (Applause)

RR: Hallelujah!  Stand with me for a moment, please.  Pastor Charles Green, would you come and pray.  And would you share that word just briefly that you shared earlier today about the time that you spent recently with my father concerning his word to you about prophesying, because it’s very important tonight because the Lord may have something to say to us prophetically tonight as we open this conference.