Open your Bibles to Luke chapter 11. I want you to do me a favor today, will you? I need everybody to kind of get your right hand out, get your right hand out like this. Everybody get your right hand out. Got it out? This is what I want you to do. I’m putting my thinking cap on. Tell somebody next to you, "I’m putting my thinking cap on today?" I want you to tell them this message is not for the weak hearted.
Got your Bible’s out? Got your notepads out? You’re gonna need it today.
Luke chapter 11, just two verses, verses 21 and 22. "When a strongman armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all of his armor wherein he trusted and divideth his spoils."
I wish you could just laugh with me a little bit right there. Yeah, I wish somebody could just laugh with me right there a little bit. Just turn around to somebody and just give them a big laugh. Come on. Just laugh at them a little bit.
In the gospel of Matthew, verse -- chapter 12 and verse 29, the same story repeated by Matthew goes like this. "Or else how can one enter into a strongman’s house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strongman. And then he will spoil his house."
I am teaching you today on recovering your identity and your goods. Some of you have been in a season of losing. There’s no sense for us to kind of boast and pat ourselves on the chest and say, "Bless God. Nothing effects me and nothing bothers me." You’re a liar. Cold is cold to everybody. Problems are problems to everybody.
The believer is never expected to go through life without problems. He’s expected to go through life with the ability to solve problems. Everybody faces crises. Downtimes. Pressure. Everybody is affected in the thought life. Maybe there are some things you won’t do but you’ve thought about it. Maybe there are some things you don’t give into, but those birds have been flying over your head.
To deny it is to lie. There’s no sense denying things. You might as well admit them. But you might as well -- with your admitting, admit this. That if God be for me, who can stand against me? That’s the secret of overcoming in the Christian life. It’s not denial. It’s facing up to it and knowing that God is able to do anything that he said he would do in His word.
And I believe the enemy has really hoodwinked and fooled many of us to not really accept who we are. That’s why I’ve been teaching you about your DNA. We don’t really know who we are. And in this season that we’re entering into, just in the next two weeks, two weeks from today will actually be Easter Sunday. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday. We’re in the resurrection season. I want to talk to you about that resurrection life.
Why should I wait till Easter when I’ve got to a message from God? I might as well give it to you today. Amen.
This is a time of resurrection life, and I believe there’s a fresh Word from God for all of us. In the scripture verses that we just read, Jesus has been performing miracles. And the religious crowd who, by the way, were the people that gave Jesus most of the problems, Jesus didn’t have a problem with sinners. He didn’t have a problem with down-and-outers. He had a problem with up-and-outers. He had a problem with those people that didn’t understand that He came to change the religious system.
And so they were angry at Him, and they accused Him of casting out devils by the devil. They called Him Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. And Jesus made a very interesting statement in Luke 11:20 that you may want to underline in your Bible. He said, "But if I, by the finger of God, cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God has come unto you."
I have always been impressed with the fact that Jesus talks about the power of the devil and the power that He had over the devil by expressing his little finger being able to cast out the devil. If you had the time to open your Bible to Isaiah 53:1, you would see this scripture. This is what it says there. "Who hath believed our report?" And the next phrase is so telling. "And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
Imagine, Jesus said He could cast out devils with a finger. But when He had to take the Plan of Salvation and complete it, He had to have an arm. It ought to show you how small and literally insignificant Satan is in the whole program of God. If it took an arm to bring salvation but only a finger to cast out devils, then the devil that’s been hoodwinking you is about to be exposed today.
Notice it says that the Kingdom of God is expressed through the authority to bind the strongman. I want to say that again. I want everybody to hear what I just said. That the expression of the Kingdom of God is exposed by binding the strongman. So in other words, we can sum it up by saying this. What is blocking the expression of the Kingdom of God on the earth right now is the fact that many of God’s people have not had the exposure to understanding that you and I can bind the strongman.
Hallelujah. If I, by the finger of God, cast out devils then, then -- somebody say then. Then the Kingdom of God is what? Come unto you. Come upon you is actually what it says. And then he talks about how this strongman can be overtaken by a stronger man.
Are you with me so far?
So we can sum up this little part of what we’ve read today. And by putting a subtitle on it and saying the strongman versus the stronger man. Amen.
I need you, Gregory, to lower this a little bit. I’m having a little feedback.
Now, this is powerfully illustrated in Revelation chapter 1. I want you to turn there. Glory to God. Revelation chapter 1. Shout amen when you get there. Glory to God. Listen to this powerful verse, verse 18.
Revelation 1:18, "I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold I am alive forevermore." Amen. So be it. "And have the keys" -- somebody say the keys -- "of hell and of death."
I have the what? Now, that’s a very important verse. First of all, I need to clarify something that your King James does not express, but I want you to get this truth. When Jesus said, "I am He that liveth and was dead." The word there in the Greek suggests, "And became dead," as opposed to somebody deadening Him or killing Him. In other words, you might as well know this theologically that Jesus could not be killed.
Oh, you didn’t get that. That passed over you. You took that very lightly. Jesus could not be killed.
What he basically said was, "I allowed myself to die."
I love what the Bible says when he gave up the ghost. You know what giving up the ghost means? He breathed out and didn’t breathe in. He died that way, but he didn’t die because somebody killed him because you couldn’t kill the Son of Man. He had to lay down His life. The Bible says He gave His life as a ransom. He became the propitiation for our sins. He is our righteousness. So He became dead.
But He said, "But I’m alive, and I’m alive forevermore, and I have the keys of hell and death."
Now, I want you to go back to Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16. Glory to God. Tell me when you get there. Shout amen.
Look at this. Verse 13, gotta read it all. "Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi and asked the disciples, ’Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ They said that some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, some others, Jeremiahs, one of the prophets. He said, ’But who do you say that I am?’ Simon and Peter answered and said, ’Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ And Jesus answered and said unto him, ’Blessed art thou Simon of flesh and blood.’" I want you to get this. "For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you. There are certain things you cannot get by natural knowledge."
Now, I want you to put that in the back of your computer mind because it’s going to come up here in just a few minutes.
"Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto you thou art Peter, a fragment of a stone, and upon this rock, this boulder, I will build my church." What was the boulder? The testimony that He was the Christ. "And the gates of hell" -- underline that. Please, please underline it. "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Look at verse 19. "And I will give" -- I will give, I will give. Future. I will give. I will give. "I will give unto you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed on heaven."
Jesus was talking about the time and the place when He would have the keys. When did He get the keys? When he defeated Satan. When He went down into hell and took the keys of hell and death out of the hands of the devil. So when He said, "I will give the keys unto you," He took those keys at the time of His resurrection. And when He resurrected from the dead and the glory of God came down on the day of Pentecost, the church was given those keys. I said the church was given those keys.
Hallelujah. The key of what? Of the blood of Jesus. Of the Word of God. Of the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Of the power of the name of Jesus. Those are the keys. We’re not gonna talk about them today.
But I want you to see that there was a time and a place when Jesus conquered the devil and took the keys and was able to comply with the statement He made to Peter. I’m gonna give you the keys and the keys will cause you so that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Against the testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Are you with me so far? If you are say amen.
All right. Now, can I ask you to turn back in your Old Testament to Genesis chapter 14. Genesis chapter 14.
Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus.
I want you to see in Genesis chapter 14 a very interesting story of something that is what I call a shadow, a type and shadow of what I’ve just given you in the New Testament. Are you ready for this? I’m gonna ask you to stretch your mind. I told you to get your right hand. Come on, everybody do it one more time. Put your thinking cap on. Say I got my hat on now.
In the 14th chapter of the book of Genesis, we find out that there is a group of ugly kings that have gotten themselves together to block the passages from the west to the east. Basically, if you looked at a map of the then land during this Biblical time, you would see that what I’m about to talk to you was way at the bottom, south of the Dead Sea. The passage that would be from the West to the East was being controlled by some of these wicked kings. In fact, four of these kings had gotten together and had formed what I call a conspiracy against all the people around.
And basically, what was happening, so you can understand this, that anybody that was traveling along that path from west to east would have to pay tribute in what they called the Valley of the Kings. Everybody remember the Valley of the Kings. Say that with me. They had to pay tribute. So basically what was happening was, for intents and purposes, there was a gatekeeper that was taking an imposition of tax and levy on everybody that traveled through that pathway.
And basically what happened is after 12 years of all this difficult time, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah rebelled against the kings. And when they rebelled, the Bible actually states when you read it that they took the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. And if you go back to chapter 13 of the Book of Genesis, you find out that there was a division at that point between Abram and Lot. If you recall, Abram chose one path and Lot chose another path to go to what he called the fruitful plains. Do you remember that? If you do say amen.
And so when the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were now taken by force by this conflagration of kings and by the head of them a man called Chedorlaomer. I don’t expect you to remember the name. It took me about two weeks to practice the name. It’s a C-H in your Bible, but it’s pronounced like a K. Chedorlaomer. Chedorlaomer is his name. And he was actually in control.
Now, what had taken place was -- and you’ve got to understand this, that the place where Lot was was now subdued by this group of people. Four kings in alliance controlled the trade routes of the east. And when you passed through the valley -- I’ll repeat it again -- you paid tribute or tax. They were what I called the gatekeepers.
Somebody say the gatekeepers. It’s very interesting when you think about gates. If you remember in 2 Samuel chapter 15, there was a man named Absalom. Absalom actually stood by the gate of the city. And he was doing what, anybody remember? He was trying to hoodwink everybody that came in and saying, "You don’t need them. They don’t care about you. My father, the king, he’s not concerned about you." He was literally manipulating the people, and he was involved in taking authority over the people so that they would not even love the king, King David, anymore. Do you remember that?
The gatekeeper is often talked about in many, many parts of the scripture. If you look it up in your concordance you’ll find gates and gatekeeper is repeated constantly. How interesting to note -- I want you to turn to this real quick -- to Isaiah chapter 45 -- if you’ll turn there. Isaiah chapter 45. Come on, quickly. I don’t want to quote it to you. I want you to see it. It’s very interesting. Isaiah chapter 45.
It says, in verse one, "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him. And I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two leave gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight." Look at this. Look at this. This is powerful. "I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut asunder the bars of iron."
God is saying I’m going to take control of those areas of your life where the gates have been blocked, where there have been -- oh, hallelujah -- where there has been a subduing of everything that is yours, and I’m going to break it in pieces.
I want you to see the significance of the gates and the gatekeeper. If you do say amen.
So now Chedorlaomer was now the head of these allies. But they made a fatal mistake. Hello. I said they made a fatal mistake.
Let me tell you why they made a fatal mistake. Because they didn’t know who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. You’ve gotta hear what I’m about to say. I know that most of us when we talk about Lot we talk about a man that really maybe we didn’t -- we don’t appreciate. We don’t think that he was really a good man. But the Bible says in the New Testament that righteous Lot was vexed.
So in other words just because he made a mistake of choice doesn’t mean that God cast him out. My god, if that was the case, most of us wouldn’t even be here today. We’ve made plenty of dumb choices. Tap the person next to you and say, "Man, I have made some dumb choices in my life." But thank God, God has always been there to rescue me. How many of you can say He’s rescued you? Ah, come on.
Yeah, Chedorlaomer made a big mistake. He didn’t realize that this nation wasn’t like the rest of them. He didn’t realize that living in that city was somebody attached to a covenant man. You better hear what I’m about to tell you. Ah, he didn’t realize that even though he was going about doing his business, that while he was attacking the place -- see, you’ve gotta understand something, and people don’t get this.
That’s why people don’t understand their DNA. Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm. The Bible says that anybody that touches you is like touching the pupil of God’s eye. You’ve got to see that you’re not just some accident going somewhere to happen, that God has put a hedge of protection around you. You’re a blessed person. You have the favor of God on you. No weapon that is formed against you can prosper. I dare you to give somebody a high-five right now and tell them yeah.
Because what they did was take Abram’s nephew. Remember the covenant that God had made with Abraham. That covenant was, "I’m gonna bless you, and I’m gonna bless your family, and all the families of the earth will be blessed in you." That meant Lot. See, I wish people could understand this, that just because people fail in some area of their life doesn’t mean they’re all wrong.
Somebody said years ago Christians are the only people that bury their wounded. Because we look to take advantage of on somebody else’s failure or sin. That’s why we have the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus washes whiter than snow. Hallelujah. It’s the Mr. Clean. It cleans out every spot.
So Chedorlaomer made a big mistake because in that group there was a man called Lot. It’s one thing for the devil to mess with his crowd. Ah, but don’t mess with us. Ah, yeah. Come on. Say amen with me. I said don’t mess with us.
But I want to show you something that you need to look at. Come on, look at it with me. Are you ready now? Look at this. First of all, let’s look at this. In verse 11, "They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and their victuals and they went their way, and they took Lot." They took Lot. They took Lot. Why would the scripture mention one man, one man out of a whole twin city? "Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom and his goods and departed."
Ah, but look at verse 13. "And there came one that had escaped." There came one that had escaped. There came one that had escaped. If you look at this in several different translations of scripture, one of the translations will say a fugitive. Anybody ever see The Fugitive? Remember that? They were chasing the wrong man. How many remember that? The fugitive was the only one that remembered there was a one-armed man somewhere.
I don’t know if you’re hearing what I’m saying. Ah, come on. Say amen with me.
There was one that escaped. Now, let me tell you what I believe the one that escaped represents. It represents revelation. It represents the Holy Spirit. It represents the fact that in every situation you find yourself in, God is about to unveil and reveal to you, even if He has to do it through a stranger, something that is gonna be beneficial for your blessing in the days ahead. The man escaped. The man escaped. The man escaped. And he came -- what did he do? He came and told Abram.
And I want you to notice the expression there because it’s the first time you read that word in the scripture. Abram the what? Hebrew. That’s an interesting word. You know why that’s an interesting word? Because when you look that word up, Hebrew, and I looked it up in several different Bible dictionaries, I found something very interesting. That the word Hebrew actually refers to a group of nomadic people wandering. And it literally means -- its shortest meaning means to have crossed over. Crossing over. Crossing over.
In other words, in the context of where he is right now, he’s a man from another place. Let me tell you what that means. He’s a man from another place. Where was Abram from? The Caldes, which was to the west. Are you still with me? And so he has crossed over now into what we will eventually know scripturally and historically and Biblically as the Promised Land.
He crossed over. He was not -- watch this -- it says the Hebrew because if you now understand something, he is not a part of this conflagration of kings. He’s somebody from the outside.
I want the child of God to know today in this room, you and I are from another country. I don’t care if you’re from Indiana, if you’re from North Carolina, if you’re from Florida, if you’re from Virginia or New York or New Jersey. We don’t come really from those places. We come from another country. We’ve crossed over. Hallelujah. Somebody say we’ve crossed over.
We come from another place. We’re now entering the place of our destiny. And in the place of our destiny and our DNA, there’s a Chedorlaomer that’s gotten in our way. But God has revelation to expose and to reveal. And the man that comes, no doubt, has come knowing all the secrets of Chedorlaomer.
I’ve come to tell you today the Holy Ghost knows all the secrets of your enemy, and he’s about to reveal some stuff today to you that’s about to release you so that you can make a recovery, and you can get all your goods back. I don’t know about you but I want my goods back. I don’t know about you but I want recovery in my life. If it’s you put your hand up and wave it to me and shout glory. Ah, come on, shout it like you mean it today.
Are you still with me? I said are you still with me?
Now, notice it said he came and he escaped. And he told Abram the Hebrew -- in other words, he began to unveil to him the secrets of what Chedorlaomer had in his weaknesses. Did you get that? And here’s what happens. "For he," talking about Abram now, verse 13, are you with me? "Dwelt in the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, brother of Aner. And these were confederate with Abram."
Oh, you’re about to get something today. Say amen if you know what I’m talking about here. Yeah, watch this.
Where was Abram hanging out? Abram was hanging out with some interesting people. First of all, look at the word Mamre. Actually, if you look at the scripture there in other places, you hear the oaks of Mamre. Anybody ever read that expression the scripture? The oaks actually were a place where they made images to false gods. And when Abram crossed over no doubt something began to change.
In fact, if you go back into some church history and you look at some things Martin Luther actually wrote about, he actually believed that when Abram got there he preached the gospel, so-called, that he knew at that time, and he was converting the people that had been worshipping false gods because just two chapters before he had a revelation of Jehovah. I can’t spend a lot of time on that, but you -- I told you -- that’s why I told you to put your thinking cap on today because you need to get it. Did you get it? Are you with me?
So something was happening. He’s in the oaks of Mamre. But let me tell you what oaks of Mamre or Mamre actually means. Are you ready for this? It means well fed. It speaks of might, strength, stature, fully assimilated, blessing, abundant supply. And that word assimilated means it’s not just a single word but it’s a revelation of something; a whole book, not just a word. Do you get it? Stature. Blessing. It speaks of favor, abundant supply.
Where was Abram hanging around? Ah, you didn’t get it. Where was Abram hanging around? That’s not an answer. You would have failed your SATs. Where was Abram hanging around? The oaks of Mamre: strength, might, stature, blessing, abundant supply, fully assimilated. He was hanging around revelation.
Amazingly so, Mamre was a place where, as I said before, false gods had been worshipped, and Abram seems to have had the conversions there. Now, it’s very possible, if you remember the sons of Noah, do you remember them? Ham, Shem and Japheth. It’s possible that this was a conclusion of the Hamites or the descendents of Noah that were the descendents of Ham. They were now actually being converted again.
Hmm. Very interesting. I know that that bores some people. That’s stuff that needs to be taught in Bible school. Are you with me so far?
Now, notice that Mamre was the Amorite. Say Amorite. The Amorite is very interesting. Amorite means a mountain dweller. High places. Do you know what mountains speak of? It speaks of realms of authority. Say authority.
The Bible always refers to going up to the high place. It refers to living above. It refers to growing in God. It refers to the place where you meet God. Where did -- come on and talk to me a little bit. Where did Moses meet God? Up on the mountain. Where did he see the glory of God? Up on the mountain. So Amorite means a mountain dweller. It means somebody who ascends to a high place.
Are you with me? Come on, say amen with me. There’s a man named James Oakman, Jr. who was born in Medford, New Jersey, April 21, 1856, who was a very interesting songwriter. In fact, he wrote songs from 1892, when he was 36 years old, to his death in 1922. And one of the songs he wrote he put this whole thing in perspective well. He said in the song, in verse number one of the song, "I’m pressing on the upward way, new heights I’m gaining everyday. Still praying as I’m onward bound. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground."
Listen to the second verse. "My heart has no desire to stay where doubts arise and fears dismay. Though some may dwell where these abound, my prayer, my aim is higher ground."
Look at verse three, "I want to live above the world." Hallelujah. "Though Satan’s thoughts at me are hurled, for faith has caught the joyful sound, the song of saints on higher ground." Listen to the chorus. "Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven’s table on a higher plain than I have found. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground."
Listen to the fourth verse. "I want to scale the upmost height and catch a gleam of glory bright. But still I’m praying till heaven I’ve found, Lord plant my feet on higher ground."
See, let me tell you about the child of God. He is in the world but he’s not of the world. You hear what I’m saying to you today? You’re hanging around Mamre where you’re fruitful, abundantly supplied. You’re assimilating revelation, and you’re in where the Amorite is, which means you’re not dwelling among the filth of this world. You’ve been lifted up to a higher place. You’re walking in the world but you’re attached to this world. You have no attachment here. The world is just a place you’re passing through, but you are an Amorite. You’re a mountain dweller.
Still with me? If you are shout amen. See, faith has to align itself with abundant supply to be able to live a life above the limitations of the world. Look at who is in that verse. His brother, he was the brother of Eschol. Eschol is an interesting word because the word Eschol means cluster. Somebody say cluster.
Why is it important? Isaiah 65:8 in the Amplified Bible it says, "The juice of the grape is found in the cluster." You know why some of us aren’t making any wine? Because we’ve got one grape. We’ve never taken the time to be clustered. Come on, talk to me. The Bible says that the fruit of the vine is in the cluster. Say the cluster. We’ve been happy to get one little truth here and one little truth there. We eat the grape and say, "Ooh, it’s sweet." But God is saying, "I want you to make the wine."
Talk to me a little bit. Eschol means cluster. It means the place. It represents a lifestyle of faith, not just a single confession. It represents unity. Cluster always represents unity. You can’t have wine without the cluster. And you can’t have a strong church without the cluster of unity.
Then there’s another man he hung around with. His name was Aner A-N-E-R. You know what Aner means? It means youth. I like this one. I said I like this one because he represents new life; refreshing. It represents new thought patterns. Ah, some of us are still stuck in the mud of religion and God is trying to re-pattern us.
It talks about the renewed mind. Isaiah 40:31 says that, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." And the amplified says or become tired.
So look at it with me. We have Mamre, the aligning of the heart. We have Eschol, the aligning of the will. We have Aner, the aligning of the mind. God is about to align us with people who will help us to develop in every area of our lives.
How many times have I told you over the past couple of years you’ve got to be careful who you hang around with? You hang around with spiritual nuts you’re gonna get nuts just like them. You gotta hang around people that are what? Feeding your faith. You gotta align yourself with Mamre, abundant supply. You’ve got to align yourself with Eschol, cluster. You’ve got to align yourself with Aner because God is saying, "I’m gonna renew you, and I’m gonna change the patterns of your thinking."
You know what will bless God? While you’re hanging around with them you’ve gotta be where the Amorite is, dwelling in the mountain. Ah, just say amen or praise God for a minute.
The Bible says that bad relationships will corrupt good manners. I don’t want you hanging around me if you all ever do is say some ugly stuff out of your mouth. I’m not talking about cursing. I’m talking about the kind of, "Well, I don’t get no breaks. Nothing ever goes right for me. I ain’t got no luck." That’s right, you don’t have luck because as a Christian you don’t need luck. You’ve got favor on your life.
I wish someone would just give God a praise right there right now. You and I have dominion by birthright. It is the DNA of every believer in the house. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places." The Bible says that no weapon that is formed against you can prosper. The Bible says in Psalm 46:1, "God is my refuge and strength." Listen to one of the translations, it says, "Abundantly available to help in tight places." I said available to help in tight places.
Does anybody know what a cockroach is? If you’ve ever been in a place where cockroaches have infested a house, you can tighten everything up and kind of seal everything. And just after you seal something you start seeing those two antennas coming through it. How in the world they can squeeze themselves into tight places is just unbelievable. How many know by experience know what I’m talking about? Come on.
You know, we often tell the guys that have those real pointed shoes that those are perfect ghetto shoes. They can get the cockroach right in the corner. You don’t have to be living in the ghetto to have cockroaches. In fact, I heard the story told of a person living in a row of townhouses. How many know what I’m talking about? You can be in a row of ten townhouses, and you can be number ten, but number one’s got cockroaches. Guess what happens to number ten. Because they know how to get in to tight places.
Well, I’ve come to tell you today that somebody else that knows how to get into a tight place, and his name is the Holy Ghost. He can find you no matter how you’ve closed yourself up and closed yourself out. God is available to help in tight places. I dare you to praise Him for a minute. You and I cannot allow the circumstances to get in our way because God is about to send a fugitive, somebody who has been released, to open up to us a revelation of what we can do to get our stuff back.
Are you hearing me? So now I’ve got to show you something. Tell me you’re ready.
Let me talk about Chedorlaomer for a minute. His name means the principality that devours. His name means a waster of substance. Can you hear what I’m saying? Do you know what the devourer is if you look at it in Malachi chapter 3? The Bible says that when we tithe and bring the tithe into the storehouse that God rebukes the devourer for us. Notice that Chedorlaomer is the devourer. He’s the one that has -- watch this -- he’s the one that is a waster of substance.
There is a spirit that has been released against the saints in this economic downturn that has wanted to destroy the harvest of the saints and their courage to believe that God is going to bless them. I’ve come to tell everybody this morning, remember, God is still on the throne. Tell three people that right now, God is still on the throne.
So Chedorlaomer, the devourer, travels in concert with that which blocks revelation knowledge, that which creates a divided mind. Double mindedness is instability, that which conceals, hidden and unfinished business.
Are you still hearing what I’m saying? Let me show you what I’m talking about. Watch this.
Let’s go back and find out who was involved with Chedorlaomer. You ready for this? A man named Amraphel. Say Amraphel. Amraphel was the keeper of the treasures, speaking of the mysteries, enlightening of the secrets. What this means is that there is a spirit that wants to rob you of revelation knowledge. Amraphel represents a demonic spirit that is blocking you from reading your Bible, from understanding your Bible. You open it up to read it, and you keep saying to yourself, "I don’t understand this. I can’t read this. I don’t get anything out of this. Every time I read the Bible I fall asleep."
Am I talking to anybody here? I know it’s the person in front of you. I know. I know.
But once you’ve lost your revelation your faith cannot operate. Amraphel represents someone blocking your revelation knowledge, keeper of the treasures, speaker of mysteries, enlightener of the secrets. And then there was another person that was in this group of allies, and his name was Shiner. That was an old word that meant Babylon. It really means divided stream or it means something that has been severed. It speaks of a divided mind. Say divided mind.
He represents that the reason revelation doesn’t come is because somebody is double minded. The Bible says the double minded is unstable in what? And he says, "Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord."
Are you still with me? So I’ve given you Chedorlaomer. I’ve given you Amraphel. I’ve given you Shiner. And now there’s another man named Ariak. Ariak is a lion-like power person. It has the power to really take authority -- not to take authority but to take an ugly place over your flesh. Lust is really what it does. The power of lust.
And the Bible says he’s the King of Elam. It’s to conceal, hidden, sense knowledge. That which always tries to subvert revelation knowledge. Elam and Ariak represent carnal reasoning, figuring everything out that you can’t ever figure out. You ever been there? You ever try to sit down and figure it out and it doesn’t work?
And then there’s another one named Title, splendor of the senses. Renowned. The prominence of sense knowledge. And it says of Goen or Goyam, actually. And that means the carnal state of consciousness. In other words, these are all allies of Chedorlaomer, and they all speak of blockage of how somebody, raised up by the devil, will try to block the child of God. Sense knowledge. Double mindedness. Lack of revelation. Waster of substance.
Is anybody hearing what I’m saying? I told you you’re going to have to put your thinking cap on.
Now, in type and shadow, you can understand why the Apostle Paul wrote to us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 that we are to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And bring captive, take captive those thoughts, those things in your mind that are blocking you from receiving revelation from God. That’s what the enemy has done. He’s trying to stop revelation. That’s why some of you are sitting here today and you’re saying to yourself, "I don’t get anything."
I told you to put your thinking cap on. It’s time to expand us and stop just being a bless-me club. We’ve got some real enemies that have to be exposed. And I’m exposing to you that sense knowledge that’s trying to block you, that spirit of lust. And don’t tell me it’s not in -- it’s noted periodically in all of us. You can sit there and, "Well, ever since I’ve been saved I’ve never had any lustful thoughts." God help you. You’ve got one right now and it’s called the spirit of lying.
Come on. Tap the person next to you and say, "Just relax man. Don’t get uptight."
Sense knowledge. Double mindedness. Waster of substance. All of these things have been aligned against you to try to rob the blessing of God from in your life. But notice something about Abram. Are you ready? Say amen if you’re ready. I said all that, now I can get to the good stuff. You ready?
Notice that Abram, the man with the promise from God does something. Verse 14. "And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive he armed his trained servants. Born in his own house 318 and pursued them until today." Now I just get -- I think this is one of the most marvelous things that you’ll ever read in a scripture. If you’re reading along just in your daily Bible reading you’ll never get a revelation of this.
How is it that a man already -- watch what I’m about to tell you -- that a man already has 318 trained servants? I don’t think you heard what I said. Did you notice it doesn’t say trained army specialists? I’m gonna ask you one more time. Do you notice it doesn’t say trained army specialists? Do you know that there’s a reason why it doesn’t say that? Can I tell you what it is? Because you can have somebody with a particular skill that may not be able to fulfill a mission. But you can have somebody that has the heart of the servant and he can do anything.
Let me tell you what amazes me about Abram, that in the short time from his promise from God, that he already -- watch this -- he has the gift of administration. He’s already got some trained servants. But the interesting thing is 318. Say 318.
Do you understand what 318 means to an ally of four kings and nations that are blocking the trade route from the west to the east that have seized the whole cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? How could a man with brains think that 318 people could subdue an army of thousands? I’m talking to somebody. I know I am. They were born in his house. What does born in the house mean? It means that you’ve got to have the heart of the servant of the house.
Come on. Talk to me, somebody. God has to bring people together, even if he brings them from a distance he has to bring them together and knit their heart together? Because how can two walk together except they be agreed? That’s why you’ve gotta be careful. I’m talking to department heads who you place in your department under you. You’ve got to be able to have people that work with you and under you that have your heart. And you can never work in this house and do the right kind of work unless you have the heart of the servants of the house.
Oh, come on. Tap somebody next to you and say, "Come on, say amen."
It’s important to know something. The time to install a fire alarm in your house is not after it’s burned down. The time to put a burglar alarm in your house is not after all of your jewelry has been stolen.
He already had trained servants before a circumstance even arose. Come on. You don’t buy insurance for your automobile after you have totaled it. Then you’re really gonna need a good lawyer. He’ll tell you I can’t help you.
So right now I want every leader in the house, the elders, the deacon leaders, department heads, I want you to know we right now must be in a time of preparation. Jacob recently told me he needs more youth workers and more children’s ministry workers. I understand that. But you cannot look at those who have quit along the way or those who don’t like what you do now. You elders, you leaders of the elders, you need to understand, and you leaders of deacons, you need to understand, forget about those people that don’t have the heart anymore. Let them go. It’s time to train new blood.
God is taking us to a place we’ve never been before. And if we’re gonna go to where we’ve never been before, we’ve got to do something we’ve never done before.
You missed a good chance to say amen and oh, me.
You can’t worry about the people who told you they’re gonna pray with you but don’t show you. You’ve got to train some new prayer warriors. Come on, talk to me. You can’t worry about those people that used to be faithful with you and victory in Jesus. You’ve got to raise up a whole new generation of victory in Jesus people, that have your heart and have a desire to see people helped.
Tell somebody it’s time for preparation. Oh, tell them like you mean it.
Are you ready? And here’s the reason why it’s time for preparation. Because the enemy has already raised up his ugly head. Are you with me? Now watch what happens.
"He pursued them unto Dan, and he divided himself against him, he and his servants by night, and smote them and pursued them unto Hoba." That’s an interesting place. Hoba. Think about it. How many soldiers could have been on the other side? Thousands and thousands. All these nations together, four kings.
When you are trusting God though you are never outnumbered. Ah, tell somebody when you’re trusting God you are never outnumbered. And when the prophet is of God say there are more that be with us than be with them. All these nations, four kings, have outnumbered. And Abram and his servants chased them to Hoba means the hiding place. Ah, glory to God. God has called us to break through into the hiding place, the place where the enemy is lurking in the shadows. God is calling us to go to the hiding place, I said the place where the enemy is hiding.
Are you ready for the good news? If you’re ready for the good news say amen. Here it is. He divided the servants and he pursued after them. Are you hearing me now? And look at verse 16. I’ll say like Brother Hagan today, did you bring your shouting clothes? We’re gonna find out in a minute. Ready?
"And he brought back all the goods and also brought again his brother Lot," or his nephew actually, "in his goods. And the women also and the people." Now, I wish I could get into Melchizedek here. I’m not gonna get into that today. We’ll probably get into that maybe next week. But I want you to see that this power is now the power that’s available to you and I. This is type and shadow.
What is the thing that we talked about today? When a strongman keeps his palace his goods are at peace. But when a stronger man comes. Abram represents people of covenant. In fact, you’re gonna find out that Melchizedek said blessed be God, the possessor of heaven and earth. When Jesus resurrected from the dead he said all power and authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. So literally in Jesus Christ we have the possessions of heaven and earth. Not only earth but heaven.
So I’ve come to tell you today that there are spiritual Abrams, covenant Abrams that are raising up in this house, who are going to Hoba, the hiding place. Ah, glory to God. Though outnumbered in the natural, we are not outnumbered because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. And God is about to restore to us -- this is the word of the Lord today -- all the goods that have been taken and -- listen to me -- and our family members that are living in the wrong place.
Tell somebody that’s coming back. Ah, come on, tell them like you mean it. Say it’s coming back. I’m getting back everything that was stolen from me. I’m gonna pull down Chedorlaomer. I’m gonna pull down Amraphel. I’m gonna pull down Shiner. I’m gonna pull down every enemy because I’ve been hanging around the oaks of Mamre. I’ve been hanging around the place of abundant supply. I’ve been hanging around the place of revelation and assimilation and now I’m ready, going up to the enemy’s camp. Gonna take back everything he stole from me. Taking back my health. Taking back my family. Taking back my peace. Taking back my mind.
You might as well jump up on your feet and praise Him. I don’t know about you but I’m taking back all my goods. I said I don’t know about you but I’m taking back all my goods. Somebody that’s believing God for your health to change, I want you to run to the front right now and say I’m taking back my health.
I’m taking back my money. I’m taking back all the stuff that’s been stolen from me in my IRA, in my bank account, in my investments. I’m taking back my kids, my family, my aunts, my uncles, my children, my sons, my daughter, my father, my mother, my husband, my wife. I’m taking them back. Come on, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. Taking it back. Taking it back. Taking back all my goods. Come on, quickly move.
