When The Devil Says No by David Bernard

[Music] I believe that there are some keys to getting prayers answered in the spirit I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt if you are tired of prayers being unanswered you need to pay attention so what I'm preaching to you tonight because I'm gonna give you something that gives you a key on how to get prayers answered from God there was a very powerful prophet that lived back in the 50s and 60s died way too young his name was verbal beam he was a very powerful man of God he was a man of Prayer he was a powerful man of Prayer he said there were two types of prayers that God answers he said there are two types of praying that will get God's attention he said the first type of prayer that God answers is a memorial prayer it's something that you pray about over and over and over and then God answers it he said like Cornelius when he prayed so many times that's the age of the Lord said your prayer and your giving has come up as a memorial before God he said it was like this he said if a man wanted to buy a suit but could not afford the suit he would go into the suit store with the money he had and put the suit on layaway with the funds that he had next time he got paid he would put some more funds down on the suit he would not leave with the suit he would leave without the suit each time he went in to make a payment but the more payments he made on the suits when he could make them there would be come a day when he would finally pay off the suit and when the last payment was made he could take what he had been paying for home with him he said that's how it is in your prayer life you can be praying about something over and over and over and not take the answer home if you keep praying and you keep believing there's gonna come a day when you'd bring the answer home with you because you've paid it in [Applause] stand with me one more time as we worship the Lord together hallelujah praise the name of Jesus praise the name of the Lord praise God I'm going to read a text while you're standing in numbers chapter 13 verse 30 and 31 as Israel was at the point of entering the promised land in numbers chapter 13 verse 30 and 31 it's the report of the spies that Moses sent into the land and cable caleb still the people before Moses and said let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it but the men that went up with him said we be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we and so here you have the good report but then you have the negative report and that's always true in our Christian life today there's always two sides of the story I'm going to turn this around and put the negative report first because the devil will come and tell you it can't be done but here's what I'm preaching tonight when the devil says you can't God says you can when the devil says you can't God says you can you may be seated [Applause] the Israelites as I said were at the place called Kadesh ready to enter the promised land the land that God said that he would give them the leader Moses sent 12 spies one from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to search out the land and develop a strategy to come back and give a report they came back and they gave a report all 12 spies agreed that the land was bountiful just as God had promised it was a land flowing with milk and honey there was no disagreement on the wonderful nature of and the harvests and everything that God had promised them but 10 spies said the people are too strong they're giants in the land they're too powerful for us we could never overcome them we could never defeat the enemy God's promises sound great but they're just impossible for us to receive but two of the spies Joshua and Caleb said no we're well able to take the land by God's grace with God's help with God's strength we can get the job done let's go up at once and possess the land unfortunately the people as a whole believe the negative report of the ten spies they begin to murmur and complain against the leadership of Moses they even wanted to kill the two spies that gave the positive report and so their will prevailed the negative report prevailed and Israel did not enter into the Promised Land at that time it's interesting to see the consequences they rebelled against their spiritual authority they even begin to say we should go back to Egypt where we had three meals a day they conveniently forgot that they were slaves in Egypt and that the horror that they left behind was not something to be desired by any stretch of the imagination but there's something about it they had been raised in slavery and the prospect of freedom was was enticing but it was overwhelming the responsibility of a new life the responsibility of changing your whole way of life and and facing the obstacles and overcoming them seemingly was too great for those who were raised in slavery and so they cringed from the opportunity they drew back and because of their unbelief the Bible says that they were destined to wander in the wilderness for forty years that represents a generation until everyone who had raised in Egypt died off and a new generation arose with a new mentality only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to live to actually see the fulfillment and so because of the negative report Israel lost its opportunity that generation lost its opportunity for freedom and in fact the ten spies that gave the negative report were immediately judged by God and they were they died of a plague and so what we see I think there's a principle at stake here that whenever God gives us great and wonderful promises there's always the fear of the unknown there's always the challenge to go above and beyond and even though sin is terrible if we can be comfortable in our sins even though sin is miserable or even though trials are miserable we we can find some solace in misery and sometimes the known that around us is more convenient or or more enticing than the unknown that's hard to see so when God asked us to change our life of course his promises are sure and true and the rewards are great but we see the challenge that we've got to actually change our way of life that we've got to give up some of our personal pleasures and we've got to submit our priorities to the will of God we've got to give up our dreams and our ambitions and of course the promise ahead of us is much greater than any dreams or ambitions that we could ever have but sometimes we shrink back from the will of God it can happen as an individual it can happen as a family it can even happen as a church where we get to the break of the next phase of the move of God we get to the edge of the next wave of revival but we draw back because of fear of the unknown or fear of the challenge and it just seems more comfortable to stay where we are but if we stay where we are and don't do the God we're gonna pierce when you encounter the will of God you cannot remain unchanged you either go forward in receiving his will or if you reject it you will go backward the truth that you have you and what you do have you're gonna start losing because you can't remain unchanged in the presence of the Lord so what we see is the death of a generation forty years later now Joshua was the leader you can read about it in Joshua chapter two they came again to the promised land the same land the same promise the same challenges but this time Joshua was sent only to spice it seems to me he calculated look set us in in 12 spies and take the risk that a bunch of them won't believe I'll just pick out two that I know will believe I'll just send them and so he sent two spies and sure enough they encountered a woman named Rahab and she said the whole city of Jericho was trembling in fear because of you we've all heard how God gave you victory over your enemies in the wilderness and we know you're we heard how your God delivered you from Egypt we know your God is going to give you victory over us isn't that amazing the previous generation of Israelites were trembling in fear because of giants in the land the so called Giants in the land were trembling in fear because of the people of God I want to tell you something the devil may come against you but the Bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you he has no choice the devil has no power over the people of God the only power he has is the power of bluff if he can Bluff you and you believe his lies then he has power but if you stand up against his lies and you claim the promises of God and you move forward in faith there's nothing that devil can do about it he's trembling in fear that you will see the potential for revival I want you to know God believes in you and I want you to know even the devil believes that's why he's fighting so hard even the devil sees your potential but you've got to see it for yourself when the devil says you can God says you can and when you see it for yourself believe it and act upon it you will inherit the promise of God amen and so this time Israel entered the land they conquered Jericho and they inherited God's promises nothing had changed except the Israelites were ready to believe God's Word and act in faith you know there seems to be something about human nature that it's hard for us to see the future it's our heart for us to have a positive vision whenever there's something a challenge of in front of us we can always think of ten good reasons why it's not gonna work and they're probably good reasons but when you hear from God you have to say okay we will work on all these challenges but we're gonna find a way if there's no way we're gonna trust God to make away we're not gonna believe that in negative reports we're gonna believe the Word of God over the years I collected a few statements even in the natural it seems that people who have vision of the future of vision for the unknown vision for the potential it seems are always the minority and the majority always is willing to stand on the sidelines and tell you how it can't be done when the telephone was first invented by Alexander Graham Bell in the late 1800s it was offered to Western Union the telegraph company of course they were settled in their own way of doing business the telegraph and so they couldn't see the potential here's an internal memo written by Western Union in 1876 this telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication the device is inherently of no value to us and so American telephone and telegraph came in to a BT being AT&T here's a statement when people were talking at the end of the 19th century about the possibility of airplanes Lord Kelvin president of the Royal Society in London the premier scientific society in the world stated in 1895 heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible that makes sense doesn't everything air how could anything fly like that when the airplane was invented prior to World War one the leading military expert of France marshal folks who would win fame in the battles of World War one he stated airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value when David Sarnoff founder of NBC was first talking about radio his associate said the wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular radio that makes sense how about this IBM now this was in the 40s where computers had been invented but the computer was the size of an entire room an entire house and what your smartphone has more computing power then the computers that sent men to the moon in the 60s so we go back to the 40s you had this huge monstrosity that would take up a small house or our large room and so Thomas Watson the chairman of IBM at the cutting edge of technology said I think there is a world market for maybe five computers he was slightly off in the 70s when they started talking about personal computers that was a leap of faith and so Ken Olsen president of Digital Equipment Corporation at the cutting edge of the computer business in those days 1977 he said there is no reason for any individuals to have a computer in their home now that could be true but here are people who are experts in their fields these aren't just people day laborers just taken off of a job and asked what do you think about radio and television and and telephone and computers these are experts in the field there their whole job is to study technology and to plan for the future and invest in the future but yet there's a lack of vision there's something about human nature that we settled back with what is comfortable and known and we hesitate to step into the unknown no matter how great it is on a human level that's somewhat understandable because we are certainly imperfect fallible creatures but when we trust in God then we need to understand that God's vision is not impaired that God's power is not limited that God's Word is not shaking but when God gives you a promise he has the means to fulfill it when God speaks into your life it's time to step out by faith it's not time to shrink back from the promises of God but it's time to stand on his word to move forward at God's come in no matter what life brings against you no matter what circumstances surround you that would defeat you no matter what the devil might say just remember if when the devil says you can't God says you can so I told you this morning United Pentecostal church international we have churches in 190 nations and 35 territories around the world there are only about 20 independent nations where we don't have a church and I looked over the list most of those are very small nations island nations maybe of a hundred thousand people or less or 99% Muslim nations where we cannot legally get missionaries and if you try to convert someone or if you try to be converted you could be imprisoned or even executed so obviously it's kind of difficult to start from scratch in an environment like that and there are countries that are closed to us due to Islam due to communism due to fat other factors authoritarian government there are a number of nations where we cannot legally operate but you know what when the devil says you can't God says you can we are entering those Muslim and communist countries one by one in some of those countries we've been given permission to operate legally and openly in some countries we only have permission to operate among the guest workers some of those countries 90% of the population consists of workers who are being paid by old money to come and serve the people that are natives of that country and so we can have churches among them we're not supposed to have any church services among the native population so I don't tell I'm not going to tell you what happens if someone from the country asked about the Lord we'll just leave that silent but there are some countries where we cannot even operate in any way shape or form and yet we have believers yet we have churches yet we have preachers of the gospel there are some countries the way they have Church is they go into the privacy of their home they shut the windows and doors and they go on the internet and they look at live streaming internet in their language they repent of their sins and receive the Holy Ghost in their home you can say how do they get baptized on online well they send us an email through a confidential means we tell them take your vacation go across the border to a neighboring country where we have churches that operate legally and speak your language will baptize you in Jesus name if you haven't received the Holy Ghost yet we'll lay hands on you to receive the Holy Ghost and then after your vacation we'll send you back home you have fellow United Pentecostal brothers and sisters that that's how they're having church when the devil says you can't God says you can praise God I'll be nonspecific but a couple of weeks ago I met with one of our fully appointed missionaries a graduate reversing Graduate School of Theology however we don't even identify him as a missionary because he's in a country where we cannot have missionaries and and he was ask him he says well am i doing a good job I said well we're not advertising or promoting anything you do what does that say and he just laughed because he's got to go under the radar I went to that country last year and we had a leadership seminar because we have over 60,000 believers that we can count in that country as well as connections with many more that we have relationships with and we influence in some of those countries you can't really operate with an open organization so you know you just you just Minister where you can and you have connections where you can so we gathered together about 90 liters from across the country we wind it rented our own small camp facility where we could be in total control like an hour and a half or two hours drive from a major city so that you know there was not a lot of surveillance or anything like that when we got to the site we had to turn in our cell phones and turn them off and you know the the organizers of the seminar kept them for the duration so that nobody could be tracked when I wanted to call my wife I they drove me 45 minutes to a hotel where Westerners typically go i sat in the parking lot turned on my cell phone and called my wife so that way if I was tracked I'd just be tracked back to the hotel which would be a normal place for me to stay and so we had to take precautions we had the entire camp a little retreat or resort area and so we're relatively secure but even so we took one of the buildings where we were going to have our meetings we we closed all the windows and doors boarded them all up so that when we parade or sang or preached you know Pentecostals can get a little noisy so that way the sound wouldn't go beyond the room and and we posted five lookouts across the property at any given time so that if someone came on their property that didn't belong to us then we would immediately get a word and we could take appropriate precautions and sure enough the first full day of the seminar I was teaching and suddenly we got a word from one of the lookouts it was a local official coming onto the property to I guess to see what was going on and so I immediately sat down and tried to become as inconspicuous as possible given that I was of a different race than everybody else so I just tried to keep my head down and we in one minute's time we turned it into a music seminar we had keyboard drums we had singers with their microphones we had a PowerPoint presentation and they were leading everyone through the musical scales warming up for music practice so it was just a full-blown musical seminar and then of course after the man left the property then we reverted back to the Bible seminar the next day it was a little more serious to unmarked cars came onto the property and parked there for some time we're the only people supposed to be there so we didn't know why they were there we never found out what they were doing but it seemed to be a little more serious so when we got the word we decided to take a break we told everybody just ask across the campus they escorted me into the dorms and put me in the restroom and said don't come out until we tell you star I stayed there about 15 or 20 minutes until the unmarked cars pulled off the property then they brought me back out and we resumed our seminar so you know sometimes in in in that particular country over the years that I've gone i baptize people in the the hotel of my hotel bathtub we've gone hiking out to the river and waded out into the river as if we were swimming got far enough away from everybody else and started baptizing people one time we hiked up the mountain found a mountain stream where we could safely baptize people I baptized 17 people in Jesus name in that location the water was a little cold like they sang about but if you're in and out it's not such a big deal if you're the person baptizing 17 people it can it can be cold but when the devil says you can't God says you can I'm not talking about 2000 years ago I'm talking about in the 21st century the United Pentecostal church international people being baptized in Jesus name people can receiving the Holy Ghost the devil says it can't happen in this country but the United Pentecostal church says we believe in the Word of God we're gonna preach the word we're gonna teach the word we're gonna see what happens and God is giving revival all around the world praise God over the years I've received reports from some of our non missionaries in that location and they'll send something like we went swimming yesterday with three people had a great time or we opened up two new places of business in the city and the boss is very pleased or how about this you you know in Acts chapter 2 that they said these people are drunk with wine and the Apostle Peter says no these are not drunk as you suppose but this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel in the last day says god I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh so with that in mind sometimes I've gotten reports and said well we took five people to Joel's place yesterday and had a really good time you can't use any religious terminology because they have surveillance mechanisms that go through all the emails and they pick up words and of course we have to use certain email addresses that are confidential but even so you don't want to get a red flag of some suspicious activity so you just find a way around it and you know God is going to have a church God's gonna have some people God's gonna have truth now we're apostolic we're Pentecostal as I mentioned this morning because we believe that we should follow the same example that we find in the New Testament church we should receive the Holy Ghost just as on the day of Pentecost we should preach the apostolic doctrine just as we find it in the New Testament but so and so we rightly look at the New Testament is our paradigm we look at the book of Acts as as the supreme example and that's true that's right but did you know greater things are happening in the 21st century than even in the first century on the day of Pentecost 120 initially received the Holy Spirit and then 3,000 were added to that number 3000 120 well I was at a couple years ago the 40th anniversary of the United Pentecostal Church of El Salvador we are in the city of San Salvador we rented the largest football stadium in the country it's a small country and so churches dismissed their services and many people came for that Sunday morning service as we approached the stadium we got stuck in this huge traffic jam on Sunday morning we were a little frustrated with ourselves that we didn't plan enough time that we'd get caught in traffic and then we realized that traffic was caught by United Pentecostal people trying to go to church so I can testify I've been caught in a traffic jam on Sunday morning with Pentecostal people trying to go to church 35,000 people showed up that Sunday it's quite amazing to see 35,000 United Pentecostal people worshiping we had three services that day when we gave the appeal for prayer 5,000 people came on the soccer field to pray in the three services we counted 3842 people received the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues for the first time that's more than the day of Pentecost when the devil says you can't have revival you better believe you can have revival because when the devil says you can't God says you can praise God several years ago I was in northeast India in the state of misery perhaps you've never even heard of that but there are 700,000 people in that live in that state of northeast India and the United Pentecostal church has over 70,000 believers that's 10% of the entire population of the state isn't that amazing the major television stations were out there for the conference because it was the big news of that city we can make a difference in our day the devil says you can't make a difference in Pensacola but God says you can the devil says you can't change the state of Florida but God says we can have a revival that sweeps Florida that everybody knows what God is doing when the devil says you can't God says you can praise God we need to believe that in the Philippines we had our comforts 35 again about 35,000 people and in one week's time 5,000 received the Holy Ghost that's just like Acts chapter 4 that says 5,000 were added to the church and I'll give it a little preview of the statistics but brother Hal has told me that now the Constituent number in the Philippines for the first time of any country in the world has exceeded 1 million believers the devil says you can't have a million believers in one country but God says oh yes you can it's happening in the 21st century you're not at Pentecostal Church International this is our day this is the time to believe God don't think small don't limit your thinking to the pass the pass was great we honor the pioneers of our faith we honor brother DL Welch and of course brother Paul wilt is right here among us today but I want you to say with all respect the best years of first mini costal church are not fifty years ago the best years of first Pentecostal church are right here and right now the best days of the apostolic Pentecostal movement are not the pioneer days of the tens and the 20s in the 30s but the best days are right here in the 21st century this is the day of apostolic revival this is the day of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost when the devil says you came God says you can when the devil says you came God says you can somebody needs a feet bigger than what you're thinking oh but by the kinsey some say they don't want doctrine anymore they don't want holiness anymore if you're gonna keep growing you're gonna compromise there's no other way around it that's what they say but no doubt many of the people right here were at the North American Youth Congress last year if you followed the trajectory three years ago we had 18,000 19,000 that was incredible but last year for the first time we were in at a football stadium Lucas Oil Stadium in tune appleís Indiana 34 thousand young people in their leaders in the North American Youth Congress that wasn't just incremental growth that was exponential growth were you part of some of those first North American Youth Congress's it wasn't quite 34,000 was it but you know what it's happening and more than just the numbers those young people came to worship they worship God with the singing the preaching was straight and strong and they preached with the preacher now there's nothing wrong with social activity after such an event but I want you to know I saw at 30 minutes after the preacher finished I would say at least 30,000 were still in the auditorium praying they didn't come primarily for a social experience they came to hear from God they came to worship God that came to be filled with the Holy Ghost that's the young people that's the future and you know what they came from all 50 states and from various nations from provinces of Canada churches large and small people from broken homes they brought people that were in church people they're trying to get in church people they're trying to get back in but I watched those kids the overwhelming vast majority were dressed modestly they were dressed with gender distinction you could tell they were Pentecostal young people and I can't promise this would always happen every single time but I will say this the report from the city police and from the hotel security where 34,000 young people there was no significant disciplinary incident the entire time one day they packed 200 thousand meals for the homeless what I'm saying it wasn't just an outward show of holiness but there was a heartfelt desire for holiness a desire to do good works a desire to live for God this is your church I'm talking about the devil says you're gonna compromise but you don't have to compromise the devil says you've got to think small but you don't have to think small the devil says the church is going down but God says the church is going up when the devil says you can God says you can the devil says you can't have revival God says hope yes you can you can't raise a holiness youth group God says oh yes you can you can't get people baptized in Jesus name anymore God says oh yes you can you're no match for the Trinitarian God says the truth of the oneness of God it's gonna shine even brighter and brighter this is the day for the people of the name of Jesus this is the day for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost when the devil says you can't God says that you can O let's stand together right now I could tell you testimony after testimony for my own personal experience from all across the world and from right here in the United States of America even since I've been general superintendent I was in a service where we prayed for a little girl that was crippled two weeks later she we got the report she was healed when I checked five years later she was still healed I could just tell you testimony after testimony we sometimes limit God by our thinking we become like the ten spies ten good reasons why I can't be done and it's not going to happen and all that might make logical sense to the engineers and to the logicians to the teachers and all the experts but even in the natural you'll find that they're often flawed in their reasoning because they calculate what can't be done but they're not able to see what can be done but when you open your eyes in the realm of the Spirit when you open your ears to hear the word of the Lord I'm telling you when the devil says you can't God says you can I'm preaching to somebody here tonight you may be struggling with a problem it's a real problem I don't minimize the problem but don't give up don't live in defeat don't live in discouragement the doctors may be telling you the best they know the counselors may be telling you the best they know I do not disparage that sincere efforts of good people but I'm saying you've got to factor in the Word of God just the voices of humans can't be the final say you can't let the devil dominate the spiritual discussion but when the devil says you can God says you can the devil says you can't be set free from alcohol and drugs but God says hope yes you can the devil says you can't be set free from an immoral lifestyle but God says oh yes you can the devil says your marriage can't be can't survive but God says if the two of you will agree I'm buraco going to take place the devil says your family will never be restored but God says I'm still working B and it's not yet don't stop praying don't stop believing don't stop interceding there's some people here you're here because of the prayers of your parents who have already gone away but the prayers are still working and still having an effect and people are coming to God today because of the prayers or somebody that's already gone to heaven when the devil says you can God says you can when the devil says you can God says you can't come on somebody if you need a miracle I want you to come up here right now if you need the Holy Ghost I want you to come if you need deliverance I want you to come come on let's take God at His Word let's step out by faith when the devil says you came God says oh yes you can oh come on let's come and pray let's come and seek the Lord there's a miracle here for somebody today there's healing for somebody today there's deliverance for somebody here tonight there's an open door ministry for someone there's a new Bible study for somebody somebody's gonna win a soul when the devil says you can God says you can [Music] the darkness you [Music] [Applause] yeah [Music] can type of Prayer is a current prayer he said a current prayer is the second type of prayer that God answers it's a situation that you do not have you don't have a long time for God to do this you need God to do it now does that make sense yeah you can have a lost loved one you can that's a memorial thing you just pray until God does something but you could have a situation where you need God to intervene now and when you have that type of prayer Memorial prayers know what you need you can't just go bring the name up or bring the situation of in passing and say God I'm making another payment on this I need you to come through when the situation is desperate it requires desperation in your prayers a current prayer you can't come with a situation with a grant that's tragic and real and severe and come to God and give God a you know Lord what we're going through right now and I need you to come through because the deadline is this week and we need an answer we need some peace we need a miracle and walk out that's there's no desperation there you're giving God the right facts but you're not giving God the heart behind the facts you're showing God I'm really not serious about this because a current prayer requires desperation it requires you to be I need an answer now I don't have 60 years to pray about this we need a miracle in our house that is desperation that's a current prayer and a current prayer God will hear and I want to show you something that that the Lord answers prayers while you're praying them I know that we've got God in this box that if I pray today he can come through by Thursday or he can come through by tomorrow he can come through by next month but actually God the Bible said I can hear you before you and say what you're gonna say in fact I need Jesus I know what you're saying before you even ask [Music] [Music]

Channel: The Faith Once Delivered To The Saints

Views: 10,127

Rating: 4.8548388 out of 5

Keywords: salvation (christianity), holy spirit (deity), christianity (religion), the bible (religious text), jesus christ (deity), miracle (quotation subject), angel (character species), television (invention), Jesus Christ (Deity), God (Deity), music video (tv genre), oneness pentecostalism (religion), christian (adherents), holy spirit (christianity), pop music (musical genre), martin luther (founding figure), catholicism (religion), heaven

Id: IMLL-B2Q0T4

Length: 42min 30sec (2550 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 31 2018