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The Seven Spirits Revelation
00:08:54
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| Chris, tell us about the encounter you had. | |
| I think it was last December. | |
| What did you encounter? | |
| So last December, I was teaching a series at the church in Peru, Indiana, the Ark, where I've pastored for the last 11 and a half years. | |
| And I was teaching a series on the seven spirits of God. | |
| Of course, the Bible references the seven spirits of God in Isaiah chapter 11, verses 1 through 3, Revelation 1 and 4 and 5, Revelation 4 and 5, Revelation 5 and 6. | |
| And so it's mentioned, of course, in the Old and New Testament. | |
| And so I was right in the middle of this series. | |
| And believe it or not, I was actually outside raking leaves. | |
| Most of the time when I've had encounters with the Lord, it's been in prayer, seeking his face, or getting into the word as, you know, those things lead to greater encounters with the Lord. | |
| But I think the Lord allowed that to happen just to let us know He is ever-present. | |
| You know, we can access Him at any point or any time. | |
| But I was raking leaves, and I just stopped for a minute, and instantly I was in a glory realm. | |
| And I saw standing in front of me this angel, and he had a blue haze, you might say, behind his shoulder. | |
| And he looked at me, and of course, when you see an angel in a glory, heavenly atmosphere like that, I mean, it terrified me. | |
| I don't know how long the encounter lasted, but I remember just such a holy reverence and awe for what was happening. | |
| And he just, he looked at me and he just motioned me to come here. | |
| So, you know, I started walking forward. | |
| And when he stepped back, there was a wooden door. | |
| And I don't want to fail to mention also that the eyes really were like fire. | |
| There was just depth there that is hard to explain. | |
| But he stepped aside. | |
| I walked through this door. | |
| And mind you, up till this point, I'm in this heavenly, glory atmosphere. | |
| I stepped through this wooden door, and it was like I was literally in a library. | |
| I stepped into this library. | |
| I believe it was heaven's library, for the best way that I can explain it. | |
| And so there was several bookcases, bookshelves in the room. | |
| But the one that stood out to me was a bookshelf that had the words written over it, the supernatural. | |
| And so that just, I was immediately drawn. | |
| It was like that was the only bookshelf in the room. | |
| And so I walked over to the bookshelf, and there was only one book that really stood out to me. | |
| It was just like it was specifically highlighted. | |
| And on the back binding of the book, in the back part of the book, it said the seven spirits of God. | |
| So I'd been teaching on this series, of course, and so it was very relevant to me at the time. | |
| So I took out the book, and on the front cover of the book, it had the seven spirits of God listed, just like they're listed in Isaiah 11 and 3. | |
| On the front cover of the book, I turned the front cover over, and it said, the Spirit of the Lord. | |
| I turned the front cover over, and the first page, and there were five pages in the book, but each page, it was like a book within the page. | |
| It was a really thick piece of paper. | |
| And so I turned the front cover, which was the Spirit of the Lord. | |
| I turned to the second page, which was the spirit of wisdom. | |
| I turned to the third page, which was the spirit of understanding or revelation. | |
| And then the fourth page, the spirit of counsel, the fifth, the spirit of might, the sixth page, the spirit of knowledge, and then the last page, or the back cover of the book, I turned the back cover over and it said, the spirit of the fear of the Lord. | |
| Just as they're listed in Isaiah 11 and 3, all seven. | |
| And I glanced up, and when I looked down, I'm holding the book in my left hand. | |
| I glanced down and I noticed that the back cover, which had the words, the spirit of the fear of the Lord written on it, had been ripped off of the book. | |
| It was like the back binding had been ripped off. | |
| And so I'm holding the back binding with this hand and holding the book with this hand. | |
| And as soon as the back binding was ripped off, all of the other pages fell out on the floor. | |
| And so, you know, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of revelation, the spirit of knowledge, all of that fell out in the floor. | |
| And I'm left holding in my left hand the front cover of the book, which was the spirit of the Lord. | |
| And so the angel standing behind me, and he says several things, but a few of the things he said was, this is what will happen when the fear of the Lord is taken out of the church. | |
| What you're holding in your left hand is all that is left in the broader church. | |
| He said the front cover, which, of course, the Spirit of the Lord, he said, most charismatic Pentecostal churches you go in, all you hear them talk about mostly is, we feel the presence of the Lord. | |
| We feel the presence or the spirit of the Lord. | |
| But when the fear of the Lord is taken out, the spirit of counsel and might, healing and miracles, the spirit of revelation, the spirit of supernatural wisdom and knowledge, all of those things that are really behind the gifts of the spirit are lost. | |
| They fall out, and all you have left with is an atmosphere. | |
| And I don't want to minimize, you know, feeling the spirit of the Lord. | |
| But there's more to the spirit of the Lord than just feeling it. | |
| That's right. | |
| And how it works in and through our lives. | |
| And so I instantly began to understand this was a God-ordained revelation to me about the fear of the Lord. | |
| And so I began to look into the word, and just quickly I'll share with you just a few verses. | |
| Psalms 1, 11, and 10. | |
| The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. | |
| Well, wisdom was one of the other seven spirits. | |
| So even though the back binding was the spirit of the fear of the Lord, it actually says here, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. | |
| Proverbs 1 and 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. | |
| Well, that's one of the other seven spirits. | |
| So you have wisdom, now you have knowledge. | |
| Proverbs 14, 27 says, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. | |
| It's pretty self-explanatory. | |
| I found out the fear of the Lord actually improves sleeping at night, getting a better night's rest. | |
| Proverbs 19, 23, the fear of the Lord leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil. | |
| Wow, praise God. | |
| Isaiah 33 and 6. | |
| Never heard that before. | |
| And he will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. | |
| The fear of the Lord is his treasure. | |
| So God considers the fear of the Lord as a treasure chest made available to his saints. | |
| Just a few more. | |
| He says, Proverbs 2 and 5, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. | |
| Proverbs 8, 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. | |
| Pride and arrogance in the evil way and the perverted mouth I hate. | |
| So literally, the fear of the Lord becomes the barometer on how we live our lives. | |
| It keeps us in check. | |
| And then lastly, Ecclesiastes 12, 13 says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. | |
| Fear God and keep his commandments. | |
| And so without a doubt, the church needs a restoration of the fear of the Lord. | |
| And when the fear, not the fear of man, but the fear of the Lord, it's different. | |
| When the fear of the Lord returns, a greater level of the supernatural will return as well. | |