My Son, Ishmael!
Sometimes we think that there is more darkness than light, because darkness is visible. But the most dangerous thing in any martial arts is when the enemy is invisible, unrecognized, while he is unclear. When he ceases to be a secret and a puzzle, he loses its power.
The secret shoots of God’s Kingdom of life are rising. These are still young, small seedlings, but they sprout on the field of the Lord’s Kingdom on earth. The Lord wants the Kingdom of God to be on earth, He speaks about this in the prayer “Our Father”: “Let Your Kingdom be on earth as it is in heaven.” That is, the Lord in this reveals to us the theology of the Kingdom – He wants it to be on earth as it is in heaven. If Jesus prayed about this, and I think that billions of times people pray this prayer, then God hears this prayer, because it is according to His will.
“Thy kingdom be on earth as it is in heaven” – this means that it shall be so. The kingdom of God will come to earth as it is in heaven. This means that now is the time of its shoots rising – shoots of the Kingdom of God. We don’t see it because we look with the eyes of the flesh, but if we look with the eyes of faith, we will see.
I asked God to appear in a visible and invisible way, because God manifests in both ways. There is an opinion that in mirror image the root system of a tree is the same as the crown. Usually it is so, but not always. Sometimes the root, for example, of camel thorn, goes much deeper. In the desert, a small bush, but a root goes tens of meters deep.
Today, on the invisible front, the picture is different. What we see now is lawlessness, people are embittered, chaos, there is no peace in the streets. But the Kingdom is pushing in a much more powerful way. We tend to think that the Kingdom of God is in the minority. It is not true. Elisha said, “Open his (Gehazi) eyes and show him how many of us there are.” There are many more bright and strong Angels in heaven than dark and dirty ones. Angels are stronger than people. The servant saw that all the mountains were covered with the cavalry of the Heavenly Kingdom, the Heavenly armies, the Angelic forces. And if one Angel could destroy a hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night and could send out twelve legions for Christ – not against the Romans, but against the demonic forces that stood to destroy Jesus – then how much more should we understand today that the Kingdom of God is growing!
I want to tell you today that the Kingdom of God is growing like never before. The kingdom of God is coming!
You say you don’t feel it? And who are you, man, – to “feel” or not “feel”? Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent!” You ask: “But the judgments?” – Judgments are part of the Kingdom, they are the lightning coming from this fireball that rushes along with God. Judgments are part of God’s Kingdom on earth. And blessing is also part of the Kingdom. We’re moving in the Kingdom today. I want these lightnings, I want these judgments, I like to be inside the ball, I like to move in this fire. I like it when I am “electric shocked”, I like it.
Therefore, this field is growing. I see it in the spirit. These green shoots are coming up. They rise against evil, smoke, darkness and stench. In the midst of it all the Kingdom is rising. We have to look at this. We must see this today.
Set your eyes on the Kingdom! People want God! But, unfortunately, they encounter with the church and fall. Today, more than ever, people want God, but the church stands in their way. They have to get into a false idea of God, and even believe with it in a God different than the One who is in church. People want God, but they have to face His ugly likeness in the church. And the grace of God has to find ways to spot them out in this “kingdom of crooked mirrors” and shine in their hearts.
And then people begin to learn that they saw God wrong in church. They have to “re-believe”. Isn’t that the case in your churches? And then people run away from the church to be saved, they run to God.
And you know that you don’t know anything. People want God but face our churches. They come to your church, receive a pitiful imitation, get frustrated, and leave.
You curse them in the back, they are, of course, to blame for everything, but, in fact, deep inside you know that you deceived them. Your pitiful idea of God also means nothing. If you were frank to say that you don’t know, that would be much more honest than that you know what you’re saying. There is so much of this stuff! It’s incredibly disgusting. A man doesn’t live with God, he doesn’t walk with Him, but he talks about Him. And he speaks like the ultimate truth. Have you met such people? You don’t have to go far. He keeps saying words, words and words about God.
People want God, but they meet a false idea of Him in church. Did you feel like an hour or two passes – and God was not there? How to survive? When will God “begin”?
Buddhists want God. There used to be Hellenists, but now there are Buddhists and Muslims. Buddhists request miracles, and Muslims seek after wisdom. Replace them – today Hellenists are not so relevant, but Muslims are relevant. They request miracles, but we can’t give them: we don’t have them. There is some kind of falsification once a year – and then we rush about with it, already writing books.
Endless streams of petitions, intercessions, but people want God. Have you suddenly decided that you will give Him? You’ve taken on such a great responsibility. Who told you that you have such a great mission – to give God?! I wonder how the church has taken on a mission that is too hard for them. Where did they come up with all this, where did they pick up this heresy?
You save yourself first. See Him first before talking about Him. Did you see Him? – No. Speak only what you saw, what you heard, and you will see that God will come much stronger, than when you are lying about Him, advertising your videos.
We are lost in the lies – and this is our problem. We lied, lost our way and got drunk. Because most of it is lies – lies everywhere – in sermons, in churches. They call it the gospel, but it’s a lie. After the Lord had opened my eyes and ears, I began to wonder how it was possible to go so far! These endless meetings on uninteresting topics with uninteresting people. Everything is mediocre, philistine, primitive, but with such bloated pomp. The man starts talking and gets to screams right away.
I ask, “What’s going on, Lord?” And God answers: “That’s how you walk with this spirit! Keep this Spirit! This is My Spirit!”
Gideon was threshing in the winepress, in the mortar, hiding, and the Angel came. He didn’t even call him. If he called he would thank him. He wasn’t very pleased that the Angel had come. And there was a continuous complaint: “If the Lord were with us, as you say, then this would not have happened.” God did not answer this question, He did not argue with him, because he was right. Gideon was right! He said to him: “The Lord is with you, you mighty man!” And Gideon asked why such infamy then?! “So I didn’t say “with you as many”, I said “with you” as person! Not with “them”, but with “you”!
That’s what we need today! I want to tell you that the Lord should not be with “us”, but with you! Is God with you – that is the question! Stop projecting on everyone – first be with Him yourself. That’s enough! This is enough to bring grace to our small communities. One man who walks in God has a thousand things to shine with.
This constant “reference” to the crowd is a crafty thing. What is he and what is she? This is all most real lie!
People want God but have to encounter the church. I don’t know how else it can be. I know God comes Himself. He does whatever He wants. But if He liked it He would do it this way. But He sent us.
People want God, don’t say they don’t want Him. They want God, but they don’t want the church-like God. They want God, but they don’t want to go to church. They want God, but they don’t want the kind of believers they meet. And God wants them. But between God and them, we stand – crooked, twisted, distorted, like a destroyed bridge, on which you step and regret it three times. For some, everything is bad, but for someone it is even worse – everything is “brilliant” with him, but inside – “dead bones”, all flesh only.
I don’t care what kind of sermon… God doesn’t need new preachers, He needs His people. Not chatterboxes who speak well. God doesn’t want you to be another preacher, He wants you to be His man. A man of God will have something to say. Words are not the problem.
People want God! Don’t believe they don’t want Him. People want God – we give them ourselves. They “taste” us and “vomit”. Because we don’t “smell” of God. Pastorocracy, organization, exaggeration of miracles, teachings, the significance of our dogmas. This is a distorted reality.
What is real worship? This is a collision with reality. When you encounter objective reality, true, authentic reality, you interact with it. This is the highest form of worship. Interaction with true reality. And the reality is God’s presence everywhere – in the whole Universe.
But there is another world – the world of flesh, human naturality. We “drag” God there, into this territory, we want Him to stay there to live, we “marry” Him to ourselves in an insidious way. He should serve us and help us. Instead of silencing down and worshiping Him, surrendering ourselves to His will, we begin to use Him in our territory, drag Him into our egoism, into “selfhood,” into possessiveness, put on an apron for Him, and He begins to serve us.
Of course, we serve for the Gospel, we preach, but we make churches with the same kind of slaves… It’s terrible. And when you wake up for real, it turns out He’s not there. It was our strange invention. But God does not play these games, He did not even stand on our side. He was always in His place – in heaven!
People want God. But they face the church – unawakened, dead, crooked, distorted reality about God.
The Greeks requested miracles, the Jews requested wisdom. Muslims today want wisdom. Buddhists want miracles. And vice versa – it’s not so important. All the same. But where are the miracles? I’m not talking about new apartments. It’s all nonsense! The birth of a child is a thousand times stronger. A birth without prayer is stronger than a “prayed” and “fasted” three-room apartment. Don’t embarrass yourselves! You can’t dishonor Him, you will dishonor yourself.
What to do? – You tell me what to do. People want God. And we preach about nonsense. People want God!!!
Muslims. Millions of Muslims. Now they will finish Ramadan, they will worship by the thousands. Christians don’t celebrate Passover like that. They haven’t celebrated Christmas and Passover like this for a long time. Go, learn how to pray on airplanes and shops, not paying attention to anyone, how to fast for forty days.
Do you see, people want God, but face the table. People want God all over the planet, and I will not say trite things that we have the answer. Because maybe you don’t have it. Because if you had it, you would know it. But you don’t know. You don’t know what you should do.
We are used to the fact that we have the ultimate truth. We all know everything. We know what’s right. But you know that this is not true – this knowledge “does not work” in our life. Why doesn’t God hear your prayers? Why are the prayers that He hears so much less that He doesn’t hear. Why?
Yes, I give you doubts. Because in my life doubt is a sign of faith. No faith, no doubt. Where there is no pain, there is no health. You must doubt, otherwise you are a sectarian. There is critical thinking – this is a sign of a healthy person. Come on, evaluate yourself.
I know within myself that people want God. As a child, I was fascinated by reading about Hajj Nasredin. I don’t know why, there is no Central Asian part in my blood, but I was immersed in the world of this Asian ornateness, subtlety of mind and culture, this nobility. It fascinated me, and I seemed to be in love with this Asian Bride. It was like the time of first love. I read books all day and night.
“And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Hagar, Sarai’s maid! Where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai” (Genesis 16:8).
The angel doen’t ask about geography, facts and events. He sees and knows them. He is interested in other things, another parallel, another universe.
“Where did you come from and where are you going?” The angel asks, not like a man. When the Lord asked Adam where he was, it’s quite different.
Today the Angel asks you: where did you come from and where are you going. Many of us don’t know.
I want to rise up in prayer when I hear the Voice. Give me such a ministry where I connect with God. And not where I listen to smart thoughts, I am expected to clap my hands and shout: “Amen.” I’m going to the House of God so that I can be lifted up and receive the kiss of heaven. I want to contemplate the Word during the service. But often I hear something that irritates me, infuriates me, unbalances me. These sermons are harmful, they lead us nowhere. Preach the eternal Word of God!
The angel asked, “Where did you come from and where are you going?” “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai” – this is a good answer. That is, in other words, I “run away” from where I lived, I run away from the people on whom I depended. To some extent, the boy who was in her, and then with her, fled from the faith of Abraham. He is still fleeing today.
“The angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand'” (Genesis 16:9). This is what God will do. And that’s what he’s already doing. He will work, He will bring back. That’s what He speaks for the ages.
“And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude” (Genesis 16:10) Abraham also had such a Word – “I will multiply your descendants like sand.” And to Hagar – the same. Are you wondering today why Islam fills the earth? Because God blessed! Because they want God! I’ll say more. They receive a church that doesn’t testify to God. They want God, but they meet us and return to the Koran.
I have seen and met brothers who have been living in the Muslim world for years and they don’t know how to talk about God. They are not persuasive. They are not efficient. Do not say that Islam is hard, we are the hard ones.
“And the Angel of the Lord also said to her: behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son, and you will call his name Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your affliction; he will be a wild donkey of a man; his hands on all, and the hands of all on him; he shall live in the countenance of all his brethren” (Genesis 16:11-12).
I hear how the Lord loves Ishmael. How He loves the world that embraced Islam. You don’t often hear such sermons today. We act like enemies.
People want God. I see in the spirit – a huge field with green sprouts – huge, it has no end and edge. This is the field of the human universe where the kingdom of God is rising, and it is stronger than the kingdom of darkness. No one can stop it, because the power of life is stronger than the power of darkness. The power of death could not hold life. She came forth, went through death and overcame.
On this day, I proclaim that the Kingdom of God is coming and it is greater than the kingdom of darkness.
“And Hagar called the name of the Lord, who spoke to her “You are God Who Sees.” For she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” (Genesis 16:13).
I thought for many years what it says here: “… his hands on all and the hands of all on him.” Now I see a little more. This is the cry from the minarets of an abandoned boy. This period has not ended yet. The strengthening of Islam, when his hands are on all – hands are stretched out, today we see how it grows, strengthens, money, resources, oil, reserves and distribution. Civilizations are fading, ordained gay bishops are blessing same-sex marriages, and Islam is on the rise in the hearts of Europe’s capitals. Because his hands are on all – which means his hands shall be on all. This period is not over yet – it is coming. There has never been such a powerful influence of Islam on the planet. There is a mighty spread in Europe and everywhere. Even in Tibet there are mosques. They are everywhere. His hands are on everyone. But the time will come when the hands of all will be on him. We haven’t heard this yet, but the Lord said so. It is not through politics and not through capture. This is a return. Return to your mistress.
This is not pessimism. Is the Apocalypse an optimistic book? It’s the Apocalypse and that’s it. She must return to the mistress. The problem is Sarai. She doesn’t want Hagar. She doesn’t want Ishmael, who is a competitor for the inheritance. But she did it. Abraham gave seed to Hagar. This is his child. God is doing justice. And Sarah gave birth to Ishmael for herself. And then she cast him.
But God is eternal. For him, it feels like yesterday. Things like this don’t just go away. Therefore, everything will happen and be restored through the return. Back to the roots. Ishmael must be reconciled with Isaac at the tomb of Abraham, who is resurrected.
What should we do? They must see the face of the Bride – shining with true light. Those who take this responsibility, who feel the pain of the planet, for whom it is important to be maximum connected to eternity, must hear. You understand that eternity is pulsating in my blood, eternity pulsating in my heart, the heart of God beating inside mine. I want it, even if every beat responds with cutting pain, even if joy ends with crying. So be it. People want God!
Apocalypse is closing. Ishmael. He must return. We are talking about hundreds of millions of people who are much more righteous than us, more zealous in the service of Allah, nobler in life than many of us, purer than many of us. The Lord is waiting for them, He died for them.