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Posts Tagged ‘Matthew 25’

Begin to Recognize God

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , on May 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:6

Some years ago I had a vision that we were horses; we had turned into horses. We were supposed to run a race, but there was a lion that wanted to eat one of the horses. We got very indignant and felt that if we got together we could kill this lion. But God spoke and said, “Don’t kill the lion, for the lion has to have his portion.” Nevertheless, we were so indignant that we were going to kill him anyway. This lion came in and sat down in our midst like a man. I went over to him to strike him, but he said, “Remember what God said!” We had to back off. The time came for us to run and all the horses began to run. The lion was running in the back and we knew instinctively that he was going to eat the horses that were in the back. It was very sad but we just had to obey God. It has been a source of sadness in my soul to know that some of us are going to fail.

When I look and see what is happening with some of the young people, that at the time when it is most important for us to press on in God they are pulling back, it makes me sad. Even among the ministry I have seen a pulling back. Many have lost the excitement which we had at the beginning. Instead of pressing forward, they are looking back to the weak and beggarly elements of the world. The world has nothing to offer. Anything that we gain now, we are going to leave it and lose it.

The time has come for us to be one, yet we are more divided. The time has come for us to move forward into God, and yet the situation of the five wise and the five foolish virgins is right in our face (Matthew 25:1-13). One of the problems we have is that we believe maybe half of what we hear. Somebody will not believe this, or believe that, and somebody will say, “This is duCille, and that is.” You must recognize God different from duCille. You must recognize God different from that child, for there are things that that child is going to say which is not that child, it is God!

We have to begin to recognize God in our midst. We are going to begin to understand and BELIEVE GOD! We believe in prophecy. Oh yes. Praise God. We believe in prophecy. A prophecy comes, and it tells you how nice you are, you feel very good, you have it written out and every now and then you read it to feel good. But if that prophecy ever said anything that you didn’t want, you would despise it immediately! This is a wrong nature in us. This nature is leading us into unbelief. For unbelief is not believing part, it is believing part of the whole. If I said, “God said so and so, and so and so, and so and so,” and you believe two out of three, you don’t believe. For if you believe it is God that says the first two, then you have to believe it is God that says the third one! We are going to have to begin to recognize the voice of God as different from other voices that are all around us.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, April 28, 2002)

Thought for today: We have to begin to recognize God in our midst. We are going to begin to understand and BELIEVE GOD!

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And the Door Was Shut

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 25:7-13

Come and listen to Matthew 25. The virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, “…AND THE DOOR WAS SHUT.”  

What door are we talking about? In Scripture, words have a very strong connotation and power on different levels. You read a word down here and then read a word up here, and the word carries a greater power. The “door” means Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the door.” In this verse, the door into Christ was shut. That means that Christ has had His full amount of people (those who will reign and rule with Him) and He shut that door. It was shut!

We don’t really understand what it means. No matter how much we feel that we understand, we have no idea. I often make fun and say, “Well, you will be in charge of Champaign, and the other one will be in charge of San Francisco,” and so on, but what God is talking about is much, much more than that. There are some things of God’s divine plan for the ages that we never even dream about. God wants people. He is recruiting people now for that position! You are going to be part of that according to what you are now, because this is the proving ground! Do you understand it? I put you on the proving ground, and you go taking it easy! You need to understand! Rise up now, and do what God wants you to do now! Because we are the people of the end, and we are at the end. Hallelujah.

We are talking about “The coming of Christ.” Young people, some of you have never heard the gospel right, and you need to know what is meant when we talk about the coming of Christ. Christ is first coming in His temple; then He will come out there for everybody to see Him. In other words, CHRIST coming in His Temple, and JESUS CHRIST coming out there.

Matthew 25:10 says, “And while they (the foolish virgins) went to buy (oil for their vessels), the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.”

Do you know what “fool” means? “Fool” means that they have said in their hearts that “there is no God” (Psalm 53:1). You can be fools for a while and wise afterwards, but when you are wise too late then you find yourself outside in the darkness seeking oil.

The whole idea that God is showing us is that there is an elect people. There is an ekklesia—a Church—a “called out” people, and out of the “called out” God is calling out. God is calling out a people to be “excellent,” to be “diligent,” to be the “top”; and I believe that everyone who is reading this article has that privilege right now.

When we speak of a person who is not going to make it, we are only speaking about those who do not WANT to make it! That’s right! You say you want to make it, but if you never make the effort, you will not make it! God wants people who are diligent: who will lay down their life for God and for what they think God is saying that they should do, and what they should be.

It says in Matthew 25:13, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” 

What am I saying? Why would He tell you to watch if you did not have a chance? So then, the destiny is not a fixed destiny (that you must go to heaven, or you must go to hell, and you must…). No! If you do not understand God, then you will believe that; but if you understand God, you will know that God has given us a race to run; and He said, “All of you—RUN!” (Ref. 1 Corinthians 9:24, Hebrews 12:1).

Furthermore, God gives you everything. He gives you everything possible to make you all winners! Some will win and some will lose, because those who lose do not have the heart to win. “Watch ye therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Yet, there will be some outside in the darkness seeking oil.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1997, pg. 26-27)

Thought for today: If you understand God, you will know that God has given us a race to run; and He said, “RUN!”

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At the Midnight Hour

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , on September 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 2 Peter 1:19

We understand that God is telling us that we are the people of the last time, and that a lot of things are going to happen in the last time. Matthew 25 tells us of a separation in the church, and that there was a time for the separation. I do believe, personally, that this is what God is warning us about, and each person needs to make sure that you are on the right course.

Matthew 25:6-7 says, “At midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.” 

In my vocabulary, the word “virgin” in the Bible means “clean, spotless, God-anointed Christians.” We have passed the state of dealing with the Christians who are half in and half out. We are now at the stage where we are dealing with those who were born again, who are sanctified, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and walking with God in purity! These virgins were dressed. They had on the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness. That means that they were well prepared and ready and waiting for the Lord. More than that, they had “oil” in their “lamps.” That means they had the Holy Spirit in their spirits. They were well equipped. They were ready! However, guess what? Trouble comes. Distress comes. The time that the Bible calls “midnight” comes.

The word “midnight” in Scripture has a specific meaning. It means problems of the worst kind. In Exodus 11, it was at “midnight” that the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain, and those who were under the blood were sheltered. If God did not shelter them under the blood, they would be dead. In Ruth 3, it says that at “midnight” Boaz woke up, and found that a woman (Ruth) was lying at his feet; the Bible said that he was afraid, and he took off his coat and covered her. This woman is a picture of the Church, and at midnight we are going to need a covering from Jesus Christ, our Boaz! So then the Bible tells us what the meaning of midnight is. Look for midnight through the whole Bible and you will see that at midnight there is destruction, but also there is salvation. Always!

In the whole Jewish calendar, the Jewish year from Passover at the beginning of the year right back to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) represents the action of God for the whole 2,000 years from Jesus Christ to the end of the age. If you take everything that happens in the Jewish calendar right down to the last with the High Priest entering into the Holiest of All, you will find that it is depicting everything that is going to happen to us, the Church, from the coming of Jesus until His return at the end of the age.

Midnight comes just before morning, so we find therefore that that this “great tribulation,” this great darkness that is coming down on the earth, must finalize itself before Jesus Christ returns, because Jesus is our Morning! He is our Daylight. He is the Light of our lives and He is the Sun of our righteousness. It says in 2 Peter 1:19, “…until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.” The Daystar will arise after midnight, and we are first going to go through this great suffering of “midnight,” which is the “great tribulation” (see Matthew 24:21) that we have already entered.

It has already begun, but you do not feel it because you were born in it. To you the things that are going on now have become so natural, but the happenings of today are very unnatural! Nobody could have thought that the things that are happening around us would happen. It is very unnatural, but we are being “desensitized.” The Devil so fixes it that he creeps upon us gradually so that we do not really feel the tribulation. However, though we are not feeling it, the tribulation is here.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1997, pg. 21-22)

Thought for today: Let us be sensitive to the time we live in and prepare ourselves for the midnight hour.

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Oil in Your Vessel

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on June 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-4

Let us look once again at the thought that the church is asleep. And, “Are you a part of it?” In Matthew 25 we see in Verses 2-4, “And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”

Isn’t that very simple, brethren? To me that is a very, very simple statement which says that God has given you the cure. He has given you the cure for not being a foolish virgin. The cure is that you must have oil in your “lamp” and oil in your “vessel.” You have long ago known that “oil” spiritually means the “Holy Spirit.” Even in your dreams, “oil” means the “Holy Spirit.”

You must have the Holy Spirit in your lamp and the Holy Spirit in your vessel (your soul). Well, what is my lamp? The Bible tells you what your lamp is. The Bible tells you that the “spirit of man” is your lamp. “The spirit of man is the candle (lamp) of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly” (Proverbs 20:27).

In other words, God gives you something inside you to light your lamp. When things get dull, there is a contact with heaven, and the Spirit that you have from God will light your lamp (which is your spirit). If the vessel (which is your soul) does not have the Holy Spirit inside of it, you will continuously fall into sin. I wonder if you understand me. The way to get the deliverance in your flesh is to OPEN up and allow the Spirit of God to pour into your flesh.

But somebody is talking about “emotionalism.” Let me tell you something: you have not seen anything yet. Are the angels emotional when they shout and praise before God? Sometimes I feel Jesus Christ move in my hands, my feet, my head, and down to my toes! Amen! Some people say, “Oh, duCille teaches the people to shout.” But did I teach David to shout? I mean the David in the Bible. Did I teach him to shout? I heard that he shouted, and even more, he lifted his feet so high that his under clothes showed (see 2 Samuel 6). He didn’t care! How can you care, when you are in the Spirit? You are like a man possessed! So when the Spirit of God shouts through you or moves through you, you should have no “method” of restricting it or holding it back. You should have NO method. You should not be so strong that you can stop God from moving through you. Amen. You should not be strong enough to be able to stop the Almighty God! To stop the JAHWEH! To stop the Elohim! To stop the anointing (the Christ) from moving through you involuntarily.

Foolish virgins! Foolish Christians! “But the wise took oil…!” Amen.

You ask me then, “Brother Cecil, how do I take the oil?” I have just told you how you take the oil – you open up! Open up! Go before God! Some of you are too ashamed to talk before anybody of who you really are. I do not know of anybody who is going to talk what he really is before anybody. But when you get before God alone, you know that you cannot hide anything from Him. The lust that came into you this morning that nobody else knows about, you know that God knows it. You know that you want deliverance and you say to God, “God, set me free! Set me free! I will not live with this devil any longer! Set me free!” Hallelujah!

God said to Pharaoh, “Let My people go. If you do not let them go, I am going to throw disease and death upon you.” He said, “Israel is My firstborn and you must let Israel go or I will DESTROY your firstborn!” (See Exodus 4:22-23.)

So then, God is in the business of destroying the things that the people love the most.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 2003, pg. 4-5)

Thought for today: Do you find yourself continuously falling into sin? Remember, the only cure is to open up before God and allow the Holy Spirit to come inside your vessel (your soul).

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The Sleeping Church

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , on June 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-6

I want to talk to you today about “The Sleeping Church.” Turn your Bibles with me to Matthew and we are going to read from Matthew 25, beginning with Verse 1, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven (the church) be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.”

It is interesting: you talk to the people—everybody—and they all say, “We are waiting! Jesus will soon come! We are waiting for Jesus!” All the denominations are waiting for Jesus! But it is going to be “…weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (See Matthew 8:12, 24:51, 25:30).

It goes on in Verse 2, “And five of them were wise and five were foolish.” Spiritually, it is not saying that half of them were wise and half of them were foolish. If half of the church was wise and half was foolish, it would be a wonderful thing. But it is not even ten percent of the church that is wise. There is not even ten percent! So, therefore, we are dealing with all foolish people. Foolish ministries! Foolish congregations!

Let me explain to you what “foolish” means, because sometimes you have to say what the meaning of “is” is. The Bible says in Psalm 14:1, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” It says that the fool has said in his heart that there is no God. But here am I (saved, sanctified, baptized in the Holy Spirit) and still I will hide and do sin. I still will tell a lie. When you do this, you are saying that there is no God. You are saying that there is no God! But God is standing up looking at you while you are lying and thinking that you are hiding because the other person does not know about it. Because the people do not know, you feel quite confident that you and your situation are hidden. You come to church, straighten up, and try to sing—but you do not fool the Holy Spirit! Amen!

Let me tell you this: if we came in the congregation and our hearts were pure before God, then when we would open our mouths to sing, the whole area would be shaken! Yes! I am telling you we had had prayer meetings where we would go through the whole night. Then when we would get to three o’clock in the morning (for some reason the Spirit would always fall at that time), people in the town would come running out of their beds to the altar. They wanted Jesus! They would always tell the same stories—they could not sleep. “I was tormented! I had to come!” they would say.

So then, the glory of God and the power of God is getting into you and fastening right there, but it is not coming out. If the power of God was let loose in us, our meeting places would not be able to not hold the number of people. This whole town would be shaken! Sinners would be shaken! Oh, yes!

Forgive me please to deviate, but I have seen sorcerers to destroy churches. I don’t think you believe in sorcery. But if you do not believe in sorcery, if you do not believe that there is a living devil, then you do not believe God. For God said that there is a living devil. Let me say it again: if you do not believe in sorcery, then you do not believe God, for the Bible says that there is sorcery. Amen! In Ephesians it speaks of “…spiritual wickedness in high places.” What do you think He is talking about?

I have seen sorcerers oppress a whole church. Yes! They make the leaders of the church get sick, or some go crazy and out of their minds while the people are praising God, clapping, singing, jumping, and leaping. With all that, they cannot overcome the spirit of sorcery that was let loose upon them.

So, I am saying to you that the church is SLEEPING, but it is a time now to wake it up.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 2003, pg. 2-3)

Thought for today: Is the glory and the power of God coming into you but not able to come out? Then, stop hiding your sin but let the Blood of Jesus cleanse you so that you might be part of the five wise virgin company.

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