Tearing Down The Altar Of Baal by David Wilkerson

I want you to turn to judges the sixth chapter if you will please sixth chapter of judges tearing down the altar of bail tearing down the altar of bail judges the sixth chapter start with verse 11 it came an angel the Lord said under an oak which was it Alfre that pertained under joe ass the fbi's rat and his son gideon thrust wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites the age of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto Him Lord is with thee the mighty man of Valor look at verse 25 came to pass the same night the Lord said unto him take thy father's young Bullock even the second Bullock of seven years old and throw down the altar of bail that thy father hath cut down the drove that is buying it Lord I need strength I need help strengthen us to deliver the word and give the anointing of the Holy Spirit Lord I've never believed the anointing had anything to do with how loud I speak or how soft but has to do with the word that you have sent from your throne to speak to us at a particular time in a particular place two particular people Lord everyone that's here this morning are here by divine order it's not by accident and Lord you I've always understood this as long as I've been preaching that you always prepare a word in time just for those who are crying out for it and I pray Lord for those that are crying for truth this morning take the simple little word the simple little message and bring hope and change our hearts we pray in Jesus name Amen verse 1 in chapter 6 and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years now these same words if you don't do it now but if you go back to chapters four or five the previous chapters you'll find this repeat these words repeated over and over again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord their God and they serve Balaam and God in his hot anger the scripture said sold them into the hand of their enemies you find it again in chapter three the land had rest for forty years again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord once again gave them up to Moines because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord 18 more years of hardship and terror chapter four you get to chapter four and again you hear these words the land had no rest there the land had rest for 80 years that the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord sold them to the Canaanites and every time the scripture says they cried to the Lord the Lord heard their cry and sent a deliverer and as long as there was delivery long as there was a man and a woman of God seeking God's face the Lord in his mercy gave them deliverance but as soon as that prophet died as soon as that leader died they turned right back to the worship of bale and then there was 40 years of terror 18 years of terror 15 years over and over it's like a broken record that's really a sad commentary of the history of Israel how they cheated on God how they miss believed him have refused to accept that he was faithful and here again in the sixth chapter 60 up here it is all over again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years and the Israel's brought very low the Midianites and error combined once a year at harvest time would come in with their huge caravans of camels and and driving their herds their sheep and their goats and they would turn them loose into the cornfields of the wheat fields of Israel and they would completely devour like locusts they would drive the people because they they brought their armies with them and they would drive this room ice up into the caves in the hideouts and into the strongholds of the mountains and valleys drove them out and this is the situation you find in the 6th chapter here of Judges and the children of Israel was greatly greatly impoverished there there was poverty on all sides they lost their homes they lost everything and sleeping and living in caves and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord hear the cry again but folks it wasn't a cry of repentance the Bible said it was because of the Midianites their weeping and crying but this time God sends a prophet and the Prophet comes and puts his finger on the reason that they're being so harassed and terrorized he said God delivered you out of the hands of all your all who oppressed you God brought you out of bondage he said to you do not fear the gods lamb writes and whose land you dwell you should but you have not obeyed his voice it's not said I told you the beginning I don't want you to fear fear no man fear no one but God your father let let no other fear into your heart because you've disobeyed me you've loud fears all these fears to come in to your heart God delivered you every time you trusted him but the moment fear entered your heart then you begin to fear the enemies gods and then I had to turn you over into the hands of your enemies to drive you back to myself now what was the great evil they kept falling back into if it was the bail spirit now they're there all through the Old Testament you hear bail bail bail now Bailon that says they serve Balaam that's the plural word for bail with which it's a cover all praise that covers all the idols and all of the false gods and even today that spirit still exists that covers Buddha it covers Harry Krishna Allah all of the false gods are wrapped up in this one word bail it's all inclusive word it has to do with the spirit and that spirit is right out of the pit of hell it came out of the mouth of Satan is still being spewed out of the mouth of Satan it's one intent and one purpose is to cause God's people to mistrust the Heavenly Father and it's an attack of the enemy to try to have you look at your present situation that's exactly what's happened here the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord saying we have sinned against thee both because we have forsaken our God and we are serving Balaam you see the they looked at their own condition and compared it with the prosperity of the Midianites all their camels and all their mules and healthy people plenty of food and agreement cattle and then they look at their own poverty condition and they said how could God be interested where is our God we're living in poverty we're homeless and see that's where they begin to have these questions and doubts and planted in their minds it was the sin in their lives sitting in the land that brought terror and brought sorrow upon Israel poverty uncertainty he loved them still got there's never a time that God did not love his people but he had to turn them over into the hands of the enemy to be chastened know how they were chastened but they refused to acknowledge that their sin and rebellion was the cause of their terror and their poverty and their difficulties all of these things they look up never once tied it into the rebellion folks you see that in the United States now you see it so clearly you see it around the world Twin Towers fall the Pentagon is in flames and there aren't there were not a handful of preachers there were not a handful of politicians I don't know of any politicians but only as small remnant in the Church of Jesus Christ can see the hand of God in it that God allowed the enemy permitted the enemy because of a loving response of his heart to try to drive us back to himself and realize our sins are alienating us from God in his presence his power and his mighty arm to work in our behalf and now we see that didn't work and now you have seen in the last six months in the past year especially this nation one third of the United States was on fire the worst fires forest fires in the history of the land they're worse floods the whole city of Houston a week under water worst floods ever now droughts listen to me now one half of the United States is in drought right now one half there's a deer kill up in the Midwest they're killing 50,000 deer in five states farmers are told to get the guns and go in there cornfields and wheat fields and killed the deer because the deer are dying there's a brain disease and they're just falling and wasting away and nobody can pinpoint it and now they may have to kill up to 250,000 deer and every time they look around there's another crisis we've got the Japanese beetle now eating whole areas and there's there's another disease in the force they can't understand in California and one after another after another and God is saying when will you ever understand that it's your sins it's your sins that bring this upon you you know the floods in one city or one country in Europe our team our advance team just came back and there was a big sign as you entered the city to homosexuals kissing one another and talking about the freedom of homosexuality of this nation the next week this city was flooded and nobody ties it into God speaking books God speaking he's speaking loud and clear do you hear what he say he saying I'll tap you and I'll tap you on this loving task but he said I'm going to increase it and increase it you know we have people do they say oh they may have missed it but wait till the next big one comes maybe a small pox in it being released here in New York City subways in little suitcase or anthrax or whatever it may be and everybody folks I they're so few that don't expected most people in United States or saying President Bush is saying it Congress is saying it and all of the so-called security people are are saying the same thing big ones yet to come and I've heard people say well when that comes they'll turn to God they'll surely no forget it folks forget it they will not turn to God they will not attribute it to the hand of God God doesn't do it but he withdraws his protecting arm it allows the enemy you know that God at any point could have stopped those men from getting on that airplane and coming this way at any point God could have stopped it he's done it time and time again God didn't do it but he didn't stop them because he was trying to speak Hebrew down the two symbols of our power and our prosperity to save power and prosperity and all your boasting I will not have it I love this nation I love America with all my heart but I would tell you something and I want to tell you folks listen God is going to speak louder and louder don't know what is coming next but we're not to live in fear about it whatever happens you see the truth is even if America cries out to God and that is what Israel did here in the sixth chapter they cried out to God for mercy again but you see God expects more than that expects more than just to cry out of fear in fact God sends a prophet to these people they hear the clearest word they've ever heard they heard the prophetic word right from the throne of God God saying I'm telling you I'm in this I'm responsible this because I've allowed this to happen to bring you back to my heart to bring you to repentance and even though they cried out because of their troubles and even though they had a prophetic word God said that's not enough there's something else I'm going to ask of you in fact I'm going to demand of you know we talked about repentance many of you said well I've children I've cried out to God and I've heard the prophetic word and I've responded to it and that's what Israel did we could have churches open all of United States and people on their knees crying out to God we could have men getting in the pulpit now finally and hear your word from heaven a prophetic word uttered from from coast-to-coast but the Bible says there's a problem it's called bail there's an idol and folks until we get rid of our idolatry all this crying is not going to have any impact it's not going to have any effect because you have to tear down the idol that which has the heart if to repentance God's going to say go after bail tear down the idol of bail take thy father's young Bullock or bull throw down the altar of bail that thy father hath and cut down the grove that is buy it now bail is still very much an idol today I told you it's a spirit now now bail the idol itself then various sizes but it it was a carving either out of wood stone or metal and it was the form of a man the dawn is type man very handsome man now that was a stone or piece of wood it couldn't speak it couldn't talk but you see that's the kind of God they wanted because and that's why they wanted the golden calf calf they knew was made out of their earrings and their nose rings and their jewelry and say this is your God now you see they wanted to dance nude around the altar they wanted to get this legalism what they thought was the legalistic Bondi's they wanted to be free and you see they wanted a God that couldn't hear and couldn't see couldn't see their idolatry couldn't see their fornication couldn't see couldn't hear their language but you see behind that Idol there is a there's a voice there is a spirit that animates it and the devil had to have this visible thing but folks there they they could feel you you go to when you went to the meeting place where there was a veil and the groves that were set up there the trees planted in rows in an order and the tents for prostitution it was a very gala thing is very colorful very impressive because if you didn't have the touch of God you would feel you would hear a voice an inner voice pulling you away from your confidence an Almighty God now what is bail in this enlightened age you'd think no one would bow down to a piece of stone or wooden statue we have Buddhist with very creaseless we've got a million gods in India almost all of them have some kind of statue to represent who they are often serpents all kinds of creeping things but you see there's a demonic spirit behind it all it's that spirit that is meant to destroy the confidence we have in God's faithfulness and I want to tell you something I want you to hear me well God's been speaking to me we claim this you see the enemy will come in a crisis time you come when you're going to because you see every time there's a child that's near death every time there's an accident and a moment of father at a Funeral Parlor they're shaking their head the devil sends his emissaries in every accident and every place of terror every hard place he sends his emissaries his principalities and powers to inject fear to inject these seed thoughts where is your God the first anniversary of 9/11 I was listening to the radio when they were interviewing people they interviewed hundreds in fact they interviewed thousands and they concluded that a great majority of the interviewed said they'd lost all confidence in God Menem said my god died on 9/11 how could have just God a loving God allow this to happen how could it be and every time you go through a hard time you lose your job for example you have a broken heart over relationship that went sour there's this a fatal disease in your family a life-threatening disease and someone's of death door and I want to know the devil's emissaries are there at the door and they move in immediately say where is your God why would God allow it I get on an airplane and there's a lawyer a lady lawyer sitting next to me crying and I said can I help your Minister she said I'll tell you can't help me my father 70 years old one of the nicest men clean man a good man and he just died no reason at all he's dead he's gone and she said I can't believe in a God anymore you see that's the spirit of the bail that the one this has been from the very beginning that was in the Garden of Eden that was in the that live so Satan even then say God's forgotten God doesn't care and folks you have to be careful very very careful when the enemy comes in with his first attack and it tries to plant a seed in your heart God's not hearing my prayer I don't see any evidence of God working in my life lord I fasted I prayed I've done all of these things in the devil's hears and he knows and he's right there to start planting his seed of unbelief and doubt in your heart about the faithfulness of God some of you've been there maybe are there now going through a very difficult time very scary these when you lose a job very scary to do because bankruptcies right now in a long time high 1,000 businesses have gone out of businesses have guided gone bankrupt this past year 1,000 and you look into the future and the devils want to try to put such fear in the body of Christ and these thoughts are going to come at you and you have to be careful that you deal with them immediately because if he can get in and plant that scene he's building a base he's building an altar for bail and he will erect that as you continue to allow him to speak those doubts and fears into your mind he will move in quickly cause you to doubt everything you've ever heard about the word cause it open this book and it will look like a dead book nothing that appears about life anymore you just read it but no longer is it life to you you get down to pray and the reason many people don't pray anymore is because they don't believe God's answered them you know pray folks I I've tried everything to get people to pray here's every kind of scriptural to have raised my voice and thunder'd never still wonder why people don't pray and the only conclusion I can come to is if they really believe God answered they'd be praying they'd be talking to him but what's the use I don't see God answering prayer the spirit of doubt and unbelief left unchallenged moves in and sets up this altar and I'm telling you folks unbelief is an ultra unbelief is from the very pits of hell that is the that comes out of the devil's mouth unbelief and doubt comes right out of his mouth out of the mouth of our Lord comes a sharp sword this is a sharp demonic attack of idolatry unbelief is the worst kind of idolatry known to mankind when it says chill the vigil did evil the sight of the Lord God's talking about their unbelief talking about their doubts and fears and don't turn there but in ezekiel the eighth chapter the holy spirit takes Ezekiel on a spiritual vision journey chosen for great abominations in the house of God he's gone he's seen already two of these abominations and the Lord takes him to wall that's a hole in it and he said I'll dig the rest the way through and so Ezekiel in this vision dug through that hole and as soon as he got through there was a door and Holy Spirit said to Zeke you go in and see the horrible abominations being committed behind that door he opens the door and he's overwhelmed with horror 70 men and one priest there 71 and in the temple had become so degraded so vile that in this room secret room on all the walls were portraits and pictures of creeping animals and wicked beast four-headed beast and animals and pictures of every conceivable for God they could picture and add sensors in their hand incense they were waving them standing in front of this wall now they're not worshiping while they're worshiping the spirit behind all of those images every one of those images that us there's a spirit behind it excuse me and God said Ezekiel I'm showing you what's going on in the minds of these men my own elders they've sold been captured by the spirit this Idol has been set up in their imagination in their minds folks I've been working with drug addicts for over 40 years and any do I got to go tell you the habits in the mind it's a mind habit it's not a physical habit it becomes that for a while but it's up here it's in the mind and that's where the devil works that's where he sets up this idol of bail this Idol of unbelief no here's what they said and this is what must have absolutely shocked the prophet Ezekiel they said the Lord seeth us not the LORD hath forsaken the earth now here's the spirit of bail fully exposed God doesn't see you he's abandoned the earth in other words he's so busy with the cosmos she's so busy with all the planets now they didn't deny there was a God or he you can see devil let you believe in a creator god he lets him believe he's out there somewhere taking care of the universe but he just wants you to doubt that he he is involved in your life that he cares about you and that you can roll every care on him he's after your confidence that he's involved in every detail of your life let me tell you what his mission really is it's not to seduce you to drugs alcohol or pornography those are only fruits of the roots spirit only the fruits his single overriding mission is to plant in your mind that God is not what the Bible says he is he's not what the preacher says he is not what you think he is Isaiah said unbelief he described unbelief like this a sin written with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond and grieved upon the table of the heart and God answered you have kindled a fire in my anger of speaking to their unbelief which shall be born in me forever then he added cursed be the man that trusteth in man make it flesh his arm his whole heart departs from the Lord but blessed is the man that trust in the Lord whose hope is the Lord folks my my hope is in the Lord Himself that I know him that he's with me and that's my hope if God is with this what else matters and then hid and judged the sixth chapter days of the Lord brings a word to Gideon since he's crushing this little pile of wheat or what it was he's dressing just enough to survive the pains of the Lord said the Lord is with you o valiant warrior the Lord's with you the folks God didn't send an epistle to this man God got right to the point and what he's trying to do he's going to give him a foundation for his faith and just five words that if he would believe he'd never be ever invaded by the spirit of bale Lords with you and folks i'ma tell you that's all you and I need from the hand and the voice of God God is with you I don't care who your enemy is I don't care about the Midianites or their army or their caravans I said I'm with you I'm with you you are mighty in this power just go with it I'm with you whatever you're facing right now can you say it and believe it God is with me God expects you to hang all your faith on that build on that that's all you need you don't need an epistle hallelujah Gideon though had the spirit of unbelief in him he hears this boy he says to the angel now can you imagine he knows it's an agent Lee speaking to the angel like this if the Lord is with us I see no sign of it I'm paraphrasing where are his miracles were the answers to our cries and he says the Lord has abandoned us Lord's giving up he's talking to an angel who just told it God is with you how many times have you heard from this pulpit how many times you heard it when you open this book how many times have God whispered it here you're not on with you I'll never leave you I'll no forsake you I'll go with you to the end of the world folks God expects his people to rest on that and believe it with all that is in them and let that face the whole world in every agony and every problem every situation I God and with you that's what the new coven is all about I will be God to you he's saying the same thing these 71 elders said Lord doesn't says the Lord forsaken the earth the Lord's forsaken the earth you see here's a man it's cried out to God here's a man that's heard the Prophet has been visited with a clear Word of God and yet he still has his doubts and fears in him we see there's a problem because there stands in his father's killed an image of bail now that image though it can't be heard audibly can be heard in the spirit realm and every time Gideon goes by there there it is speaking God's forsaken us God's not with us and it spoke every time he passed and all the Israelites every time they saw it any time they passed I know it was on a hill on hillside it appears that it wasn't Scripture that it was established on a hillside and everything where they look they look at their poverty they looked at that they're the poorest sustenance and they look up there and that's a reminder God is not interested in you there it is it's speaking out and Clare God said to Gideon go get your father's bull and pull it down pull it down cut down all the trees in the grove and take those trees and build an altar and consume it all on that altar God says pluck out of your mind in other words take the Holy Ghost you say he had a bowl I don't have a bull oh yes you do you've got the strongest bull known to mankind on earth you got the Holy Ghost in you you have the Holy Spirit God says you take the Holy Spirit and you deal with that now you pull down those spots of fun Billy you pull down those thoughts of fear and unbelief pull them down every person you know that speaks doubt is of the spirit of bail pull down your relationship walk away just tell them tiny I'm not here to gossip I'm not here to let you minister fear and unbelief to me I've got to trust God I'm pulling away you don't have to tell them that did walk away from it stay off the telephone I'm going to close in just a minute uh let me tell you what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and closing you know when I I see God working with Gideon he takes a man full of doubt and unbelief and I see such mercy what a picture of grace here's a man that just keeps testing God time and time again with God if you're really with me stay here and let me cook you a meal and you way here I want you to eat this middle so I can know that you're with me God Lord says go ahead and he brings him out broth and some buddies and the Lord says take it and put it on the rock and he he puts his rod to it it goes up in flames I said well that must be God God is with me then he gets closer to the front closer to where the battle really is things are really getting tough now Lord if you're ready with me I'll tell you what I want you to do and he takes a big hunk of fluffy wool from one of his sheep he said we'll lay this here overnight if you're really with me in the morning I want it dry all around and I want the fleece the wool to be wet except in the morning goes out and everything is drivers know doing the ground but he starts ringing out the wool I mean water just pours out of this Oh God must be with me didn't we play that game over and over again God is reminding us all the things that he's done the word that and how faithfully has been but this the Lord this is a big one this is bigger than anything that I've ever faced before no one isn't he done bigger things for you in your past nothing is impossible with him think of the mercy in the grace of God he goes back the next day he said Lord this time he said wool has a tendency to suck in water anyhow this time I won't do and mildew and water all around it but I want the fleece to be dry he goes out the next morning he Slauson through the mud and he picks up a dry piece of wool please God must be with me now think of the patience of God you know I there had to be something done sold this land that is quite his questions we're not accusative he was really a hungry man wanting answers he was not accusing God as much as wanting to an answer I didn't come this morning condemned of anybody here this facing unbelief and doubt I'm bringing you a word that God gave me and I want you to listen to it and I'm going to read it word for word because there are numbers of you here this morning you're going through this this time and this God of mercy then that took this man and used him to see what's do the same for you he wants you to get victory over your unbelief he won't give you the power authority this morning just by an act of faith and trusting the Holy Ghost to pull down every stronghold of doubt fear and unbelief just pulled it down by faith because he has great victories ahead of you he's got something wonderful just as he did now he wants to defeat the enemies in your life the Midianites he wants to give you power and authority and folks you know the whole story how all these thousands gathered they had to get it down to 300 finally God says if you'll just trust me it's not going to take much just faith it's going to take confidence in me the just the little that you have you give it to me and you believe me and I'll give you overwhelming victories and here's what I hear from the Lord this is the word I've received I don't know who it's for but if see you you'll know it the only spirit will make it real to your heart God's about to break it to bring you into your most important victory you've ever experienced he's about to lead you into new places of peace and rest in Christ he's about to reveal his strong arm on your behalf on answer he's about to show you that he's truly involved and everything in your life and he's going to do a new thing but you've got to pull down every thought of unbelief lay down every fear pull down that spirit of bail and allow him no entrance and I'll tell you something I'll say it again before closing if you want that God will give you the bull God give you the power you give you the authority nut has a good word for you God sent you here to hear it the enemy's tried to plague you with doubt and unbelief rise up in Jesus name by faith and say no my God is with me he's going to stay with me and everything I do will you stand please [Applause]

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Views: 117,894

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Keywords: David, Wilkerson, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: X8SVvYq7ygM

Length: 41min 47sec (2507 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 25 2009