We have talked about putting on the armor of God and about breaking up fallow ground.  We are coming into a day, beloved, when we are going to be held accountable before the world for our words.  They will not be tolerant of the Word of God in this hour.  They are being taught to be tolerant of everything else, but they will not tolerate of the lordship of Jesus Christ, the name of Jesus, or the Word of God.  Are you ready to suffer for that?  Are you ready to be persecuted for that?  Are you ready to lose your job in order to stand up for the gospel of Jesus Christ?  “Well, surely ‘go into all the world’ doesn’t include H.R.  Surely, we can find a way around these persecutions.”  Sometimes God tells us to flee and then there will be times when He tells you to throw open your windows and pray as you did before; amen?  “But what if I lose everything?”  What if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul?

We are not coming into an hour of ease and comfort, church so, when we talk about preparation, we talk about the need to repent; you can’t have a revival without repentance.  There must be a change of course, a broken heart.  The epistle to the Corinthians makes it very clear that there must be a godly sorrow: “Lord, we have sinned against You.”  We tend to think of sin as some of these heinous acts—adultery or drunkenness, or whatever else—but, beloved, The Holy Spirit convicts of sin because “they believe not on Me”; amen? (John 16:9).  That’s the sin that will send people to eternal damnation.  This is the reality, we have believed on Him, but do you believe on Him today?

How quick are you to do the Word?  It was easy for me to give up everything and follow Jesus when I had nothing, but I am no longer that 19‑year‑old boy who can put everything he possesses in the backseat of his car.  I have given up a lot of things over the years in obedience to the voice of God and by His grace, but I don’t know what my next decision will be until I encounter it.  I want to be ready.  I have made some good decisions; but there are more coming that I believe will be of greater magnitude, and I want to be ready.  I will not take the attitude of Peter and boast, “Though everybody else forsakes You, I won’t.”  How can I have that attitude when I am the chief of sinners?

Every victory we experience is by the grace of God.  I don’t need to become greater; I need to become more humble.  I don’t need to have more confidence in my abilities and my reputation and the right decisions I have made; I need to remember the times when my flesh was predominant and I broke the heart of God and became that bloody man like David, who cried out, “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me!”  I never want to be in that position again.  So, will we face the greatest outpouring of Satan’s diabolic power and not strengthen ourselves and prepare ourselves?

He goes on to say, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (verse 20).  We can say anything we want, but it’s by our fruit that we are known.  Are you still losing out to that temptation more than you want and more than you should?  “Well, there is just this one thing in my life.”  Listen: no man sins unless he is first drawn away of his own lust and tempted.  You sin because you choose to sin.  You were not overpowered!  “Sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:14).  I know that’s ultimately talking about dominion as it pertains to spiritual death, but we must come to the realization that we sin because we choose to sin.

How do we get to the place where we choose not to sin?  “To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are”; that is your lord.  How?  It’s by setting up another treasure, by taking opportunity to habitually not serve yourself.  If ever there was a great old adage that bore truth it’s this:  “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  What was the sin of Sodom?  It was idleness.  Set your mind to serve others; get busy preferring others and lifting up hands that are hanging down; get your eyes off yourself and love your brother and love the lost.