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s you walk out of here today, hearing again for the 21st time
a message that I preach every year, I hope that it will
not just be hung up on the corner of your brain-wall
somewhere, but it will flow into the bone marrow of your
life and relationship to God and carry you through some
of the struggles in 1996.
And with that I take you to Isaiah 50, Old Testament:
“Who is among you”—and immediately the target of the
message is focused in—“Who is among you that feareth the
Lord, that
obeyeth the voice of his servant?” Right off we know
we’re not dealing with some spiritual criminal, some
reprobate. We’re dealing with someone who fears the
Lord in the old-fashioned meaning of that word: respect,
awe, recognition of His greatness and His ultimate
rights over all of us. We’re not dealing with a
nonbeliever. We’re dealing with that special group of
people that hopefully is represented here today.
“Who is among you that feareth the Lord,
that obeyeth the voice of his servant?” Again I use the
word, not a ‘reprobate.’ Somebody’s really trying—you
fear the Lord, you obey the voice of His servant. As
you hear the truth proclaimed, if it registers and sight
sees light, you seek to align with it—pretty good people
like you. Now surely there’s no one in here today that
doesn’t fear the Lord that isn’t at least trying to obey
the voice of His servant because it’s presupposed that
whatever you define as the voice of His servant you’re
trying. So this message fits you, “that walketh in
darkness, and hath no light?”
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Now you’ve been here before with me 20 times. Boy, I
knew the truth of this last year. You’re going along
and all of a sudden the light goes out and you can’t see
your way in any direction. Now I don’t know to whom
this message will most apply today, but wherever you
are, sitting here, listening on television, listening on
radio around the world, I’m sure there are those at this
moment, hiding—it may be in the expressions on their
face not letting it leak out as an act of courage—but
you know as you listen you’re walking in darkness and
you can’t see any light. Whatever the pressure—pressure
of circumstance, finance, health, loved ones, break-up
of relationships, any number of envelopes of darkness
that crowd in—and you can’t find any reason in anything
you’ve done to explain the darkness. You’re just in
it; it’s swallowing you up. And if you’re not sitting
there today I want to tell you something—it’ll hit you
probably before the year’s up—my famous saying, “Cheer
up saints, it’s gonna get worse.”
Now I don’t wanna go on with the rest of the message
unless I know we’re on the same wavelength. You know
what I’m talking about? Oh I know, a lot of Christian
preachers tell you if you’re serving God right this’ll
never happen to you. The Sister Sals and the Brother
Jimmys point the finger and say—when you even hint to
someone that you’re in darkness they’ll pull their
righteous robes, self-righteous robes, back from you and
you’ll see the question in their eye—“Well, what have
you done wrong that this is happening to you?” This
darkness envelops one “that feareth the
Lord and
obeyeth the voice of his servant, yet walks in darkness
and hath no light.” “Well, what’re we supposed to do
about it?” How many wanna leave because this message
hasn’t got anything to say to you? Hold your hand up
because I wanna escort you out. How many—I’m going to
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