“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy”

Don’t call my God a thief or one who does things that are not right.  I think I have the grace to handle it, but I hope no one gets in my face anytime soon and tells me that sickness is a wonderful blessing from God.  You ought to live with it for a while before you call hand to hand combat with what comes from the very pit of the enemy a gift. 

We must have the foundational understanding that life, health, blessing, forgiveness and salvation are gifts of God.  Someone might imply to you that an automobile accident or incurable disease is a disguised blessing from God. Before you go down that road put yourself there and see how it feels when you can’t sleep or do anything that you did at one time and tell me that sickness is a blessing. 

Having preached this all of my life and ministry, today I am more solid in my belief than I have ever have been.  I do not accept the works of the devil as being the works of God.  You say, “But God brought good out of it.”  Sure, God can bring good out of anything but I have news for you, God was not the originator and God didn’t send it. It would go against the very nature of a loving Father to bring harm to his children. Our God is not a child abuser. 

I have spent countless hours with oppressed people, depressed people, abused men and women, people who have lived their entire lives with someone’s finger in their face saying you can’t do it, you are no good, you don’t measure up. Until one day, like a hunting dog that has lost what it takes to hunt, they loose hold of who they are in Christ and the truth that they are loved by a good God. I thank God for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I thank God for the understanding that there are two forces at work in my life. Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy. And God, whose very nature is to bless his children. Father God, who is the giver of all good things, the God who loves you and me.

John 3:6-7 (KJV) 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.

Jesus said it best, “Ye must be born again”. This is the cornerstone of our faith and the hope of a new beginning to this lost generation. I would not attend, nor put my tithe in a church that would not tell people how to be born again and then give them the opportunity to come forward and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. 

I have had people tell me, “Well Brother Nichols, at our church once a month we have a social gathering and then we kind of spring it on them.”  What these people don’t understand is that you don’t have to bootleg salvation or put Jesus in the back room. You don’t have to have a little social gathering and trick people into possibly getting saved.  You can just put it out there in front of God and everybody else and allow them to receive the precious gift of salvation.  I thank God for the altar calls we see in every service and I prophesy in the name of Jesus that the strongest altar calls and the greatest harvest of souls are yet to come. 

I thank God for every drug program and any incentive to keep people from doing those things that should not be done.  But there is only one thing that can break the habit of cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. It is the power of rebirth and the transformation that takes place as the Sprit of God dwells within us. Folks, the devil is after you, me, every child, and every grandchild. He is after our families. But thank God for churches like Calvary Cathedral International that will make sure that every person who comes into any of our meetings will hear the clarion call of the Gospel as spoken by Jesus himself, “Ye must be born again.”!

Numbers 13:30 (NLT)
But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Nothing works until you believe the promise. This is what we learn from the verses above. When you get an unshakable word from God, don’t let go.  You see, real faith keeps on believing even when things appear impossible or fail to go your way.  The greatest enemy of our faith is fear and we must be on guard against it at all times. 

The command is to be of good courage and “good courage” means to live without fear dominating your life. I believe that has God instructed us not only to call people to be born again but to challenge the body of Christ to, by the grace of God, lay hold of life and that more abundantly.  We mustn’t think we can pet or tolerate the demons that whisper doubt and unbelief. You may think it will go away or is simply a result of our humanity but the fear, the phobia or weakness that you tolerate today will one day destroy your faith. Folks, if there is a fear in your life, it is not a disgrace.  But stand up today in the name of Jesus and say fear will not rule or dominate me and fear will not steal from me God’s best.  This stance will place you in what I call the faith minority. 

Few people understand mountain possessing faith.  When you share it with them some folks will look out the window or at the ceiling. They will clear their throat or pat their foot until you go on to something else.  We must remember that not everyone is tuned for God’s best.  But I am willing to be in the minority, because the faith minority becomes the majority.  If you have mountain possessing faith, you will be a faith leader like Caleb who always had a good report. You will be able to look at the impossible situations and giants that stand before you and say with confidence, “We are well able to possess the land.”  You can be convinced because you believe the promises of our God who never fails. The God who says to you today, “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

I believe in this year to come we must call not only this church, but our city and nation to prayer. Folks, it is time to pray for this nation like never before. I believe in righteous candidates and righteous leadership but you cannot war against spiritual wickedness through politics alone. There are things in this nation that can only be broken through faith, humble prayer and calling upon the name of God. According to the verse above, this action on our part will bring healing to our land which is in desperate need of a touch from God.

God called us to prayer, daily prayer, when it was not happening. Many have started since then and it has fallen by the wayside. God called us to 24 hour a day prayer and we are approaching over 722,000 prayer requests that have been received. Try to embrace the magnitude of this my friend, it is a huge undertaking, but God did it and it’s influencing our city.

I once received a report from Brother Dave Wilkerson. He was saying that crime was down in, of all places, New York City and no one could figure it out. It wasn’t a mystery to him though because he knew that his church was praying. There was a similar report that came out in the Fort Worth Star Telegram saying that crime in the city of Fort Worth was down, the lowest rate in over 20 years. And while I know that other churches are praying, there is one thing I know personally and that is that this church, for over 10 years, has been crying out to God for our city.

Let us never forget that the same power that got us here is the same power that will keep us here. It is not time to back up or let up but I believe God is calling us to get a new grip on this thing, our calling at Calvary Cathedral International. I want you to know that we are a people of destiny. A people called to humble, powerful, nation changing prayer that will be heard in heaven, bring forgiveness of sin and healing to our land.

One night I was walking and praying for a minister friend of mine who was going through a very difficult time. A record breaking snow storm had come to their city and the weight of snow on the metal building where they worshiped caused the roof to cave in. One of the many problems that arose out of that situation was the lack of sufficient insurance to cover the damages. I as lifted my friend up to God he spoke to my heart and I would like to share His wisdom with you today.

When faced with difficult situations we have to remember the basic character of the forces at work in our lives. God is the giver, Satan is the thief, and the Holy Spirit is the restorer. Let me add one thing to this list, the victory you seek is a choice, it is a faith choice.

This is not the power of positive thinking though I do respect that far more than negative thinking. This is the power of faith believing. Now you know that there are some people that still have that old world theology and think that God is sometimes righteous, sometimes a con artist up in the sky who is just following you, waiting for you to make a mistake. They think He gives you things just so He can take them away or He withholds what you need to teach you a lesson. God has a terrible reputation in many parts of religious community because they really don’t understand the truth about him.

If anybody ever had a chance to change their theology, I have had mine time and time again. But since I received the revelation of who I am as a born again, Spirit filled believer in 1952, I have never strayed away from that and I assure you, there have been many opportunities to do so. You know, some people believe something until it doesn’t work temporarily, or until something goes wrong and then they change their doctrine. But I pray that this becomes the bedrock of the faith of your heart. The revelation that God is not only a good God, but He is a giver.