Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Greetings, friends and new listeners, and welcome to the Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Today's message is by my father, Brother Hardy. If you've ever wondered why you can't seem to maintain a level of liberty in your spiritual walk or sometimes have difficulty overcoming your fleshly desires, and if you want more than just a breakthrough, but you want to stay through, this message is for you: One More Time.

R. G. Hardy: Other people didn't come to the service Sunday morning because they didn't want to hear the truth. Well, ignorance of the word don't excuse you; it's going to get you. You know what they say? Ignorance of the law's no excuse. The judge gives you 20 years.

You better know, because it's your never-dying soul. They don't like me, Jesus. They don't like me, Lord. But I love them; I'm trying to save them from the trap. I'm trying to save them from the pitfall. I'm trying to save them from heartache and grief and sorrows and misery and woe. I'm trying, Lord, help me. Open up their eyes; open up their hearts.

I am concerned, Shirley. I can't see the church that God made me a pastor over, I can't see the people leaking out and falling into the devil's trap and getting places where he can destroy them. For he is a thief and he comes not but to steal and to kill and to destroy, but Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly."

We cannot fall in the trap of the devil. The Bible said, "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers." No Christian is supposed to marry a sinner. As soon as you marry it, you backslid. You hear me? I'm going to say it again: As soon as you marry a sinner, you backslid.

What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of God? Shall I take the temple of God and join it to an idol? Or Christ with Belial? Know ye not that he that joins himself with a whore is a whore? And when you join yourself to an unbeliever, you are an unbeliever. And you never win them; they win you.

I've watched it for 45 years in my church with young people. I told them, I warned them. "Oh, I'll get them saved." Brother, if you can't get them saved before you marry them, then you're not going to get them saved after you marry. You're the one that compromised.

They don't like me, Jesus. But I hear something say preach. I even heard it in the congregation. And I'm going to preach it because the preach is on me. The anointing's on me because God cares about you. God cares about you, and I care about you.

I'm not here to play church, how to win friends and influence people and have an easy good living. I'm here to make heaven my home and help you to make heaven your home. And I want to tell you, the finishing line is just ahead. Press towards the mark for the prize of the calling up on high, the calling up. God wants to call us up.

What was Paul talking about, press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus? Bad translation in the King James. He's talking to the Greeks, the Olympians. He's talking about the Olympic Games. And it's not press, but it's pursue, run. For the mark, in the Greek word is goal line.

And the prize is a crown of life that fadeth not away. And the calling up on high, what happened when the Olympians won, even today in the Olympics? What do they do? They call them up on the podium and stand them up there, and today they put a gold medal around their neck. The winner.

In those days, they put an ivy wreath around their head. Paul said they do that to win a temporal crown. We do it for a crown that fadeth not away. Paul reasoned with us. He said if these people would buffet their body and bring it under subjection to win an earthly crown that fades away because pretty soon ivy dies, but we do it for an incorruptible crown that does not fade away. It won't die and we won't die with it.

If they'll do it for an earthly crown, how much more am I to buffet my body? I want more than a heavyweight belt on me. I want a crown of life and a crown of rejoicing. I'm going to pursue it. I'm going after it. I'm going to hunt it down. It's also a hunting word. I'm after my adversary. I'm after the crown. I'm hunting the goal line.

Nobody better get in the way. I've got the ball; I'm running for Jesus. It's the last moment. It's the last play of the last quarter. If I score, we win. I don't care how much the blood's running down and the body's aching. Wipe the sweat off, wipe the blood off, put the head down, and let's go for the touchdown for Jesus. Give him a clap offering.

I'm going to make it, Devil. I'm in a fight. I'm going to fight the good fight of faith. I'm going to fight, Brother. I'm going to fight. Lift that head up high. I'm going to fight. Get the elbows in to protect that gut. My God, first he's down here, then he's up here, he's so inside. I get on him like a short overcoat. I want to make it.

My mind's made up. My heart's fixed. I've got my eye on the sky. I've got my eye on the gates of the city of God. And I tell you what, Devil, if you get in the way, you're in for a battle because I'm going to whip you. I'm going to whip you in the name of Jesus. Because I can, I can, I can, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If I stay in the spirit, he's going to energize me. But don't leak out.

I can hear Satan speaking to Samson. Said, "See, you still got the power with you." It was all right to lay in Delilah's lap. He laid in there the first time, laying with the enemy. God raised him up and anointed him to destroy the Philistines, not to lay in their lap, not to fraternize with them. He laid there and she's trying to find the source of his strength. And his strength is his consecration.

For though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. But if you don't renew that measure day by day, here you are, full of the spirit, totally enveloped. But you don't renew that measure. First thing you know, the top of your head begins to show. And you begin to get your own mind instead of the mind of Jesus.

You start thinking about your own business, and you go another day. And pretty soon you get eyes to see things you shouldn't. But you're shaking yourself because the spirit's still there. But you don't know you're leaking out. And you go, then you get down your nose and you start getting your nose in other people's business and you get your mouth into it. And then you're going to get it in the neck.

And pretty soon, you're full and half covered and you didn't renew that measure. And the devil's just waiting. "I got you." He's just like a fisherman trying to bring in a big marlin. He's giving you a little rope, but he's got you hooked. He's got you hooked. He's going to let you run, wear yourself out. Let you wear yourself out.

And you go another day. And now you're covered and you're down to your knees. You're laying in Delilah's lap again. And you begin to get weak. You begin to start telling close to your secret. And she's not your friend. The Philistines are on you. But you jump up, the spirit of God is still there. Thank God, I can still feel the anointing.

But that's what deceives you. Because the devil said, "See, see, you laid in Delilah's lap. You got away with it. You did this little worldly thing. You did this little fleshly thing. You got by. You let up reading the Bible. You didn't pray like you ought to. You don't have to do all that stuff. Hardy's a fanatic." You got by. You still feel the anointing. Get up and jump and do it.

And it goes by another day. And it's so easy now. It hurt your conscience in the beginning, but it's so easy now because it's getting seared. You know what seared means? It's like a branding iron. You've been branded. You can't feel it anymore. They brand that cattle; it can't feel it. And that means God can't trouble you anymore. I still got the anointing on me. And I still feel the spirit. I still feel the power. He's shaking me.

All of a sudden now, no more coverage. You just fall. Line of demarcation. You go another day. You lay in Delilah's lap, the type of the world. And she's trying to steal your anointing and power in your life and all the blessings of God because he's a thief. The devil's a thief. He comes not but to steal. Steal your blessing, steal your anointing, steal your peace, steal your joy, steal your victory. To kill, kill you spiritually, and then to destroy you.

You go another day and you're three-quarters full. Another day, you're half full. Another day, you're a quarter full. And another day, you're empty. And there you are, on the line of demarcation. And the spirit's calling to you, but it's real faint. But the flesh is stronger. And there you are, tore to pieces.

And if somebody with the anointing don't come and deliver you, you're in big trouble. Because when the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord lift up a standard and the anointing, it breaks the yoke. But you've leaked out. There's no anointing to break the yoke. You've got down to one Sunday a month to church and all you got all kind of excuses. I mean to tell you, hell is full of people with excuses.

I want an excuse to go to heaven. I want an excuse to pray. Somebody some time ago told me, said, "Brother Hardy, I only pray when I see the need." I said, "Brother, if you don't see the need, you need prayer first in my line." You don't see the need? You can't look in the church, you can't look in your family and see the need of your loved ones that need to be saved and healed and delivered?

You can't see the need of your brothers and sisters in a battle? You can't see the need of this city being tore apart by the devil? America and the world going crazy. How many nations are having civil wars and fighting one another and killing? I don't want to go to the Holy Land now, not with all these suicide bombers and all this stuff. And the city of peace is not the city of peace.

And there's no peace on the earth. There's no peace in Baltimore tonight. People are getting murdered. Saints are dying. And a whole lot of people are just drugged by the devil in a false mind. Spiritually drugged. I was reading an article; it says that we think from the highest part and our emotions and passions are the lower part.

And the enemy numbs our highest part that we don't think and reason, but we act on our emotions and animal instincts. And people are drugged. When you're drugged, you don't have your sound mind and perception. You can't think right. All you're thinking about is that fix, that fix, that fix, that fix. You're empty.

My God, the most terrible place in a world for a Christian in this world is to be in a place called empty. Samson laid one time too many in Delilah's lap. He got away with it for a while because he had that much of spirit on him. But when he came down to the last measure, because he didn't renew it every day. One last measure.

He probably thought, "Let me see if I still got him." Before I sit down with Delilah and he spoke in tongues. Still had the measure on him, wasn't real loud and forceful but it was just enough to say. And he laid down in Delilah's lap, the world and the flesh. And the secret of his power was not his hair; it was the sign of the secret of his power.

There were seven locks and seven is the perfect complete number. It meant God wanted absolute, entirely perfect consecration. But the minute he laid in Delilah's lap, he began to break it until he laid the last time in Delilah's lap and he totally lost his consecration to God. And in the meantime, the devil was tearing his people all to pieces.

He wasn't where he was anointed to be, a deliverer, a type of Jesus. You'd have thought that he'd have appreciated that anointing. He was the only one in the face of the earth that had it. We have this treasure. It's a treasure, it's a treasure. My God, it's more of a treasure than silver or gold and anything, the anointing. I wake up sometimes in the night, I check and see if the anointing's still there. The anointing breaks the yoke. The anointing.

You can say in the name of Jesus all you want. The seven sons of Sceva said in the name of Jesus, but nothing happened because the anointing wasn't there. And Samson lost his consecration and the devil took the sign of it away. Shaved his head off. Shaved the hair. Said, "You've lost your consecration." And you don't have any power. Your power's in your consecration.

Your dedication being set apart for God as a vessel that God could use. He couldn't use him laying in Delilah's lap. He didn't have no mind and burden for God's people. All he wanted to do was fulfill his ungodly lust. And she said, "Samson, the Philistines are on you." Now up until the time, if you read the story, it said, "And the spirit of the Lord fell on him and shook him."

But now he's got his own mind and he jumped up and he says, "I will shake myself." Now the devil ain't afraid of your shaking. There's a lot of shaking going on, but God's not in it. You can shake all you want, but the devil's not afraid of your shaking. He's only afraid when you're being shook by the Holy Ghost. That's what shakes him up.

You get shook by the Holy Ghost; it'll shake her and shake you, then the devil is shook up. But if you get up and shake, you ain't bothering the devil. He ain't worried. The Philistines came and he shook himself, but nothing happened. No anointing. There was no inherent anointing in him. It was no power in himself; it was in the anointing.

But the anointing was gone because he broke his consecration and God let him be a pluck-sickened. What a thousand Philistines couldn't do in full armor, Delilah did it laying in his lap. The enemy couldn't whip him when he was on the battlefield of the Lord. He was safer with a jawbone of an ass with a thousand of the elite soldiers of Philistines coming to kill him than he was laying in Delilah's lap without that anointing.

God said, "You don't have an anointing. Cut that hair off. Take the sign away. You lost your consecration." And the most unprofitable minister on the earth is a minister that's lost his consecration and his anointing and message. Now, preachers, I'm going to tell you how you know when you're leaking out. The first thing you do is, and if you're a Christian per se, you lose your burden. That's the first thing you lose.

Preacher, you can lose your burden, but you can still go on and be a professional preacher. You can get in and preach without a burden. Just business. But then the next thing you do is you lose your message. And you start bringing in a bunch of foolishness. But you know most people are living at that level, so they'll go along with you.

You're quiet. I hope you got blessed quietness tonight. It's time to get serious because I don't know whether you know it or not, but God's got his fan going through this church and you look and people are shook out of here. I've been real burdened today, surely. I've been all shook up. "What are you doing, God?" Said, "It's springtime. I'm trimming my bloom and trimming my limb. I'm getting the deadwood off. It's only sucking the life out of the church."

And I'm shook up and God said, "Don't worry. It's my tree. It's my limb. It's my bloom. You're just a tool in my hand. I'm the husbandman." Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches, and my father is the husbandman and every limb in me that brings forth fruit he purges it to bring more fruit. And if it don't bring forth fruit, then he cuts it out and it's cast forth and men gather it and cast it in the fire." Now that's not once saved, always saved. They were in it, brother. They were in it.

And in the ninth chapter of Romans, it says, "Don't be boastful, you Gentiles, over the Jew, because you're in the vine and the Jews are broke off because you're a wild olive branch and put in the vine. And you stand by faith. Because if God didn't spare the natural branches that sinned, neither is he going to spare you, the unnatural branches. And if they don't remain in unbelief, he can graft them back in again."

You stand by faith, by obedience. You can't have faith when you're not obeying God. Your heart condemns you. God's greater than your heart and knows all things. The little foxes spoil the vine. A little bit at a time, a little bit at a time. And the devil's playing with you. He's playing with you. He's playing with you.

And I'm on a sideline seeing it, and I'm crawling and howling. Alert! Red alert! Red alert! Red alert! Danger! Mayday! But people are drugged. They can't see it. They're going on anyhow. They got their head stuck in the ground like an ostrich. Did you hear what God said about the ostrich? It was one creature he made that didn't have sense.

Because the ostrich reasons this way: He sees the wolf and the lion coming, so the ostrich says, "If I stick my head in the ground, I won't see him and he won't be there." Well, you can stick your head in the ground all you want. The wolf's coming and the next thing you know, his head's not in the ground; it's in the wolf. Help us, God. Help me, Jesus. My God, help me to reach your people before they get empty. One time too many. Empty. The last measure's going.

Measures of the spirit. Didn't John say in John 3:35 and 36, in that area, for the father loveth the son and given not the spirit to him by measure? Measures. According to your measure, how quick if you don't renew it every day you leak out. Some that's got a whole lot, takes a little longer. But if they just keep it up, they're going to leak out. You're going to leak out. You're going to leak out.

You don't want to read the Bible; it's a burden. You don't want to pray; it's too hard. And you sure don't want to go to church. Especially you don't want to hear Brother Hardy because he never tells you good things. Is that what Ahab said? When Jehoshaphat, they had all these false prophets? Had 750 of them. And Jehoshaphat said, "Ain't there a prophet of the Lord here?"

Said, "It's only one, but he never speaks good things of me. I don't want him here." Jehoshaphat said, "Bring him here. I want to hear from God." Thank God Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from God. And the prophet Micaiah came and said, "Go on up. God'll give you the victory." And Ahab said, "I adjure you in the name of the Lord tell me truth." Said, "You want to know the truth, you devil? All right. I saw Israel scattered on the hills without a shepherd."

He said, "See, Jehoshaphat, I told you he wouldn't speak good things. Put him in prison till I come." And he said, "If you come, God didn't speak by me, brother." I want to hear the God. I want to have an ear, let him that have an ear hear the word of God. I want to hear the word of God. If I don't want to hear, if the devil's fighting me to read a chapter, I'll read the whole book. If the devil fights me from praying 10 minutes, I'm going to stay down at least an hour.

If the devil's fighting me to come to church, I'm going to come to church that much more. Because what you got to do is fight the devil on the thing he's fighting you on. You got to fight him back. I'm going to get here. I don't care. I'm going to get here no matter what. And some of them got the biggest trick of the devil of all: they working. Instead of going to hell easy, they working their way into hell.

I'm working. I'm working; I'm getting the overtime. And you're getting leaked out. You're getting empty. And you can't pay your bills. Because God said, "He that forgets my house and my work, earneth the wage and putteth it in a bag and I cut a hole in it." It's not how much you got; it's how much you got with God's blessing on it. It's how much you got with God's blessing on you.

God can multiply your money. God can give you bargains. Working yourself to death, leaking out of the anointing. And the devil's got all these traps waiting. Said, "One more time. If they don't shake themselves this time and get back and pray and read the Bible and get that spiritual mindset again, get that determination to get in the church and pursue, pursue for that goal line, press their way through."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Attention friends of Sound of Faith. September is Radio Month and we want to send you a free gift. It could be a CD or a book and it's coming to you free if you write in with the call letters of this radio station written on the bottom left corner of your envelope. This will help us determine where our program is blessing people like you.

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