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TV BROADCAST 450
"Your Acceptable Day" Part 1

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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 450 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Tony Talbert: I had a burden that came to me this morning there while I was praying. I agree--I believe the Lord is coming. You know, up until the point that the Lord comes there is hope for each individual that has never come to faith. But when the Lord comes, that's it. You can do whatever you want to.

You can go do like the Word speaks about. They said, "Lord we've prophesied in your name, been in many wonderful works, been to Ramona Park Church, been to Midnight Cry Ministries, Bible Tabernacle." Ain't gonna do a hill of beans--no good, no good. It's something that...you may come and you may go through the form, but only God knows the heart.

And it's such a serious thing. This scripture over in John 3, the Lord was talking to Nicodemus here and He says in verse 1, "There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God."

Let me mention one thing first. You know there has never been but one Spirit of God--one. Never been two, there's only one. It was significant that he had to come to Him through night. Obviously, the religious world was going in a different direction. They didn't have the Spirit of God.

Let me go ahead and read now. It says, "The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him...." Now, this is the first thing Jesus said to him. He didn't go over and agree with him and say, "Yeah, God's anointed Me."

This is what He said: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Period. There ain't no ifs, ands or buts about it. We can come and we can partake of the blessings that God's people have as we come together here and not be ourselves saved.

My burden is this. The Lord's coming. I'm concerned about those that don't know the Lord. Maybe you go through a form, you go through a ritual. You come and you meet with God's people. The word speaks over in Jude, I think, about spots in your feast, sporting themselves while they feast with you. They're able to come here and able to enjoy the same things that we enjoy, but they're not really one with us.

My concern is not in a negative way to condemn you, but is rather as long as the Lord has not come, there is hope for salvation. But whenever He comes, that's it. You can play the harlot, you can go to any church you want to. I'll say this for all of them--it don't make no difference what church out here go to, if you don't have a personal relationship with Christ, if He has not come into your life and become the Ruler over your life, then you don't know Him and you ain't got no hope of salvation.

"Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."

Then it says, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." I believe that the Lord is--and this is what I feel and I'll submit myself to ya'll--I believe the Lord is crying out to His people. He's pleading with us face to face. He says, "Now is the accepted time."

I know Brother Thomas is not here, but we have men that are capable of teaching on this. I hope this is of the Lord. But I feel like there is an urgency in this hour to come to a salvation rest--not a theory in your head. If it don't come to your heart, it's no good. And the problem is, another scripture speaks about there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that day whenever the Lord comes, because people knew they had an opportunity to get ready and they wanted to put it off till a different time. I believe the Lord is pleading with us this morning. I trust this is of the Lord.

-- Brother Jim Easterly: You know when you get into a subject like this, I think almost everyone of us in this building had it rather be somebody like Brother Thomas deal with it. You'd rather have somebody up here that there is no question when the man approaches the pulpit that it is absolutely the mind of God. When somebody like Tony or myself comes up here, we're kind of like Esther going into the king. After you sit down, you wait to see whether the scepter is extended or not. And it is with fear and trembling, I think, that any of us that have any revelation at all would come up here and talk about this.

I believe with all my heart that we live in the last hour right now. I believe that. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4. You know there's an awful lot of truth--an awful lot of anointed truth, the Word of the Living God that has been ministered in this place. We have been very, very privileged to be under a ministry that God sent to this earth, and those kind of ministries are not everywhere. We have been very privileged to hear again and again and again the very anointed Word of the Living God, God's presence Himself pleading with us face to face.

But there comes a time where God says now We're going to put this into force. There comes a time, like the time that Jesus got up and He said today, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." And we have, like it or not, we've come down to the place where God has started to separate and to sort out and to set things in order in His Body, in His Church. It's not gonna be pleasant, but it is a thing that those that have this revelation, those that are born again, realize it's inevitable--it has to happen. Like Tony said, until the actual time that Christ comes back, you have time to get oil. Until the Bridegroom comes, you have time to get oil. I would absolutely encourage everybody.

And the thing is you know in your heart whether you have this rest and this peace or not, you know in your heart. You don't have to get three men from the church to take you outside the building and talk to you about it. You know in your heart whether you have this rest or not. And I think everyone of us--everyone of us no matter where we stand now, how long we've been saved or not saved, everyone of us knows that there were times where we did pretend to have something we didn't have. So don't feel like anybody is condemning you if you do not have this rest at this point in your life.

This is a time to be challenged, a time to examine ourselves, a time to realize that the hour is late, that the Lord would like to bring us in now and give us this rest and this peace. This is a hard thought to break in on here in this chapter. Let's start with verse 9, Hebrews chapter 4. It says, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner," I want you to note this right here, "and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

And note this, "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." The bottom line here is we're not fooling God, no matter what we do. His Spirit, His Word--do we really believe His Word is in this place? I believe that with all my heart. And I believe that He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I believe that's why at times He has services like this to cause us to examine our own hearts. He sees them anyway. But occasionally--occasionally, He wants us to take another look at ourselves and realize maybe we need to surrender our lives, maybe we need to surrender our lives.

-- Brother Dwight Rhodes: I was thinking, as--gosh, my mind has gone completely blank--as the brethren were speaking there, of my experience. I guess I want to give a testimony. I came for years and years and years. I was doing my own thing and thinking I was fine, and wanting everybody else to believe I was fine, but I wasn't. There was not a rest in my heart, in my spirit. I was disturbed at times. But I'd go on.

I remember one time Brother Thomas came to me one time and said to me, Dwight, my assessment of you is that you can take it or you can leave it. I never forgot that. It didn't make me mad, it didn't upset me as far as that, but it never left me. I continued to hear and to come. But I started crying out to God. I said, "Lord, I want You and I don't have You." I continued to cry out to Him for my need.

I don't know when it happened, but it was two or three years ago. I couldn't see the Body of Christ. That was my problem. I had a hard time with that. I remember my brother got saved--I wasn't coming to church, we were working together. I said, I just don't like those people down there. They do things different. They're wanting you to be a part of a family and they ain't my family. I didn't like that and that was the problem that I had.

You know God finally revealed to me the family of God, that this was it. It wasn't--I was fortunate in a way because we weren't raised to be real family-oriented or anything. My dad was, well he loved the Lord and that's all he cared about really. I didn't like that either, too much. But, I've come to appreciate it and love him for it. I'm so thankful that I was born into a family who loved the Lord. I'm so thankful.

You know our kids, my kids, my wife, my son back there, I just hope that they can see, we all can see that we need God more than anything else. And if we're in a place like this, we ought to be thankful. We can sit here, like I did, for years and it go over here, or through here, but it's got to settle right here. And it's not because of what my dad done, it wasn't because of what my mom, my brother, it was because of what He did for me and that had to be revealed to me. It ain't what Daddy has done. It ain't what Mama's done, it's what God's done and that's got to be a revelation here.

Tony quoted from a scripture and I'm going to read it, I can't preach on it or nothing, but I going to just read it. It's in Jude. I read this here not long ago, when some of these things were going on. It was open to this at the office. I read this whole chapter. It's a good chapter. I believe it'll go along. I hope that this is the Lord, I trust. I'm like Tony, you'll have to judge.

"Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error," starting in 11, "of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear." That's where I was. I was here; I was feeding; I was taking part. I was being--in my mind I was alright. But I was feasting and I didn't have an idea.

"Carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." I'm just thankful that God opened my eyes and I have a rest that I've never had before, a peace. I want more of that. I need more of it. I'm just thankful. I believe that we have an opportunity, every one of us has an opportunity today, if we'll hear His voice to harden not our heart.

-- Brother Elmer Enlow: I believe the Lord is here in an unusual way this morning. I agree with what has been said. Turn to Matthew 13:44--Matthew 13:44. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."

You say, "Well what's that got to do with what we've been talking about?" Everything. It's right there. He found a treasure. He wanted it more than anything else. That treasure is Christ. You notice he sold everything that he had, gave his heart wholly to the Lord you might say. And buys the field.

There's the point that I'm making. The field is in God's people. What He is doing is bringing a oneness, a unity. This requires something on our part, that we sell everything that we have, all this self-will out the door and become one with the people of God. He has a place for everyone that comes and it's ours just to wait on the Lord and with the help of the Body find what that place is for each one of us. May the Lord speak to any who particularly are present in the Body, regularly count this their Body, but have never given their heart wholeheartedly to Him. Only He knows whether there are any, and who they are. This is a serious matter. There's only one place of safety and that's with the Lord and that's in His Body. Praise His Name.

-- Brother Jimmy Robbins: The scripture Brother Enlow gave in Matthew 13:44 came to me before the service started. I think all this fits together. I'm not going to turn there right now. I want to go to Jude. I think it all fits together. It is a serious time. One scripture I'll quote to you says the pure in heart shall see God. That would mean that if you're not pure in heart, you won't see God.

"Well," you say, "how do I become pure in heart?" That means like the scripture Brother Enlow read there, we find the treasure. And unless God brings us to where that treasure is, we can't find it. We don't know where it's at. But the Lord, if He shows it to us, then we've got to sell all. We've got to turn this heart over to God.

There's one other characteristic I want to point out about the one that read in Jude. I don't remember. But in verse eight, I want to read this one, "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities." You know there's some that will openly criticize God's servant, or elders, or deacons, or any member of the Body of Christ in a group forum, in a home or wherever, just spew out ugly things.

We, as Christians, every one of us, ought to stand up and be counted and say, "Brother or sister, that's not from the Lord, what you're saying right now. This is negative. You're uncovering your brother. You're uncovering your sister, and that's speaking evil of dignities. You're criticizing the ministry." We need to stand up and be counted and that promotes unity.

Now, there may be some among us that say, "My God it's getting rough around here--judgment, this, that and the other. Phew! Boy! I think I'll just go along a little longer for the ride, just to see what's going to happen." Let me tell you this. Just as sure as you're born, if you're going on a little longer just for the ride, your road's gonna get real rocky. It's going to get very rocky.

And you're going to fall off the boat. You're going to have to find this treasure that Brother Enlow was talking about. Bless God, when you get on the boat, we are going to the other side. We're going to make it to the other side. I'll tell you when the Lord is on the boat--the Lord is on this boat, He's in this ship, He's in the Body of Christ. That's where the treasure is, it's in the Body. That's where Christ is, He's here this morning. My God, I'm not going to just stay on a little longer, I don't want to leave the boat. I want to stay right here. Where is there to go? My God, help us, Lord.

Back over in Matthew 13 where Brother Enlow was reading, I won't read the same verse he read but I'll read another one. This is in verse 20 of Matthew, speaking of the different types of ground, Matthew 13:20. "But he that received the seed into stony places," that's the heart, the old stony, hard heart, "the same is he that heareth the word." We're all sitting here hearing the same thing. "And anon with joy receiveth it." Seems like they're doing good for a while here. "Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while."

Now listen to this, "For when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended." Happy are they that love Thy law. And what? Nothing shall offend them. My flesh can be killed; my pride can be hurt. I can be humbled and I need every bit of humiliation I can get a hold of. I need it and you do too. But let me tell you something. I don't know who it was recently who said, you can't run me off. I don't know who said that, but it blessed my soul whoever said that. But, beloved, don't go along for the ride, look for the treasure, find the treasure.

Matthew chapter 7 verse 21, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" And have attended Ramona Park Church. Now that's not in there, or attended Bible Tabernacle or Calvary Chapel or Midnight Cry. I listen to Brother Thomas's preaching. "Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock."

Who's that rock? That's the Lord. And then when the storm comes or rocky road we're talking about--"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not." Beloved, your house won't fall, when the devil comes, it won't fall. It may shake a little bit, but it will not fall. "For it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not..."

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