We’ve got to be moving in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Isaiah 61 was speaking prophetically, of course, toward that that was going to manifest itself in the life of Jesus.  And the prophet says the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jesus, because the Lord had anointed Him to preach good news, good tidings, the gospel, unto the meek, and beloved, it is usually the meek, not the proud, that hear it.  Not many mighty, not many noble, First Corinthians says, are the ones that God has chosen—folks like us.  “If any man would come unto Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”  “Come and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.”  Isn’t that what Jesus said?  The more we learn, the greater experiences we have, the more devils we cast out, the more people we lay hands on are healed, the more miracles we see, the meeker we need to become, the humbler we need to be.  And beloved, I can tell you, by experience, how necessary that is, if we’re going to be successful in God’s kingdom and glorify Him.  For though He dwells in us as the holy temple, let’s remember we are just earthen vessels.  The glory and the excellency are of God, not of us; amen?

We see this prophecy continue on, this great, great revelation by the Holy Ghost.  “…he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” Aren’t you glad that that power set you free from the prison of satanic dominion?  Aren’t you glad that that blood of Jesus has cleansed us and washed away our sin, and we’re no longer bound by the power of our own sinfulness and our pride, our haughtiness, our individualism?  Free, praise God!  Justified, redeemed, no long our own, bought with a price!  Then why do we keep thinking we have something to say about it?  Amen?  We’re warned by James, don’t say, “Today I’m going to go here, and tomorrow I’m going to go there.”  Right?  “I think I’m going to go start a new business over here.”  “I think I’m going to head to Florida because of my politics.”  “I think I’m going to head to California because of the weather.”  I’ve just been there; don’t go.  It’s like a foreign country.  I grew up there.  It makes you want to weep.  It’s just the rest of the nation on steroids.  But here we are, called to reach this generation, called to occupy until He comes; amen?  See, many of us want to bug out, and I don’t mean literally to just kind of sell everything and run up to the mountains, though people are doing that, and you’ll see more of it as time goes on.  The Lord knew we were going to be in the world.  The Lord knew that in the last days “Sodom and Gomorrah” would remanifest itself, but He told us to stay here and preach the gospel; amen?  Not politics, the gospel.  And He said if you do, “you’ll be hated of all men for My name’s sake,” and all that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

The church doesn’t want to hear that today.  What’s the message we want to hear?  There’s a great revival coming, and the church is going to dominate, and we’re going to see America become a Christian nation again.  The Bible doesn’t say anything about that.  In fact, the Bible says the opposite.  It says there’s going to be a great falling away.  It said many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.  There are going to be many lying signs and wonders.  There will be a lot of signs and wonders, and a big part of them will be lying signs and wonders.  And waiting for this latter‑day rain that’s going to come upon the earth—the latter‑day rain, has already manifested.

Joel made it very clear.  As they were speaking on that very day, the declaration was, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.”  Amen?  How’s that for Bible interpretation?  So, anybody that might come up with some other revelation of Joel’s latter‑day rain is defying what God has already revealed in His Word.  The good news is “this is that” is still in us!  It was unto their children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call; amen?  What was “that”?  This is that.