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: Measures of the spirit. Didn't John say in John 3:35 and 6 and in that area, "For the father loveth the son and giveth 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, it 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. No, no, no.

Especially you don't want to hear Brother Hardy because he never tells you good things. Is that what Ahab said? When Jehoshaphat had all these false prophets, said he 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." How many say Amen? Thank God Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from God.

And the prophet Micaiah came and said, "Go up! God will give you the victory!" And Ahab said, "I adjure you in the name of the Lord tell me the truth." Said, "You want to know the truth, you devil? All right. I saw Israel scattered on the hills of Ahab, 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." How many say Amen? How many hear me? 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, if the devil's fighting me to read a chapter, I'll read the whole book. If the devil fights me for praying 10 or 15 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've got to do is fight the devil on the thing he's fighting you on. You've 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 have got the biggest trick of the devil of all. They're working. Instead of going to hell easy, they're 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. How many say Amen? 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. He 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 and get that determination to get in the church and pursue, pursue for that goal line, press their way through." How many say Amen? I got them. And Samson fell there. Plump and empty. And the bad thing of it was, there was nobody with an anointing to come and deliver him.

And I tell you, it's getting that way now. Not many ministers have got the anointing anymore. A little game. The meetings are not geared to souls. They're geared to give a little teaching. To tickle the mental, natural mind. Give them all this to do nothing with. Not old time, Holy Ghost, tear-crying revival. No more hellfire messages to stir up the young people and the old people. Just play little games, tickling the ears. How many say Amen? And our cities are reaping a harvest.

And anybody like me, I'm an old dinosaur. Bless God, I'll die a dinosaur. How many say Amen? Because I'll tell you what. It's kept me for 45 years. And I might be a dinosaur, but I've still got the anointing. And God hears me and he still answers prayer. That's why he left me and didn't take me when he took the others.

Years ago, I prayed, of course God anointed me and inspired me to pray. And I said, "Lord, make me a last-day John the Baptist." And I told it to the people preaching and a lot of them went out and said, "Brother Hardy said he's John the Baptist." I never said that at all. Because if I'm going to be anybody, I'm going to be Jesus, not John the Baptist.

But the Lord had me to pray the message. Let me have the ministry of John the Baptist that would go up to Herod and say, "You can't have your brother's wife! You're an adulterer!" And I told you a couple weeks ago, I was prophesying when Sister Hardy woke me up, but God said in that first words that I got out, "He is tired of people using him as a dial and a toy, getting what they want and throwing him on the side." You can't play with God. He's no toy. He isn't something you use.

He isn't something you pull the Holy Ghost down and say, "Heal, bless, supply my need, prosper me." And then when God says do this, no, you get up there till I need you again. No, you don't deal with God that way. It's all or nothing at all. And I tell you what, when God anoints me, I'm going to be like John the Baptist. I don't care if it costs my head. I'm going to tell you what sin is.

And I tell you who loves you. It's a person that will tell you the truth. That's who loves you. Not the flim-flam you and use you and abuse you and strip and rob you. God showed me that vision years ago. God's people were in a dungeon and the preachers had them shackled. And all they were doing was feeding them enough. They were like sheep. Feeding them enough to keep them alive so they could fleece their wool.

I had one evangelist come in my service and was last night. Said, "I'm going to go out there and get all the money I can so they can't hurt the meeting." I said, "No, you're not." I said, "You can hurt my people." He said, "Brother Hardy, sheep are made to be fleeced." I said, "You ain't fleecing these." And I cut him on out.

You hearing me? You hearing the Word of God? How many knows God's speaking tonight? How many knows it's anointing? It's the anointed Word of God. God knows that the bridge is out and you're head pell-mell into destruction and a whirlpool. And he's crying, "Turn around! Turn around! Turn around! Return unto me! Return unto me! Return!" The word repent basically means return to me. That's what the word repent means.

And especially to the Jewish people. Not have a change of mind, but return to God. And if you will read the Gospels in Jesus, what was his main message? What were all of their messages? Repent! Repent! John the Baptist came saying what? Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand! And Jesus said, "Repent! Repent! Except you repent, you shall all also likewise perish!" Return to me! Return to me! Return! God is saying to this church and people in this building, return to me! Return! Return! And I will return to you the joy of your salvation.

David backslid. He lay with Bathsheba. And when he got done and God convicted him, Nathan came. He didn't realize he had emptied out. This great man of God that wrote all of these songs got so blinded that he committed adultery and murdered and he couldn't realize it. The prophet had to come and he saw himself. The scales fell off his eyes. He said, "My God, I've been mesmerized by the devil. I've been deceived."

And he wrote the Psalm. Search me, oh God, and know my heart, I pray. See if there's any wicked way in me. Wash me with hyssop and I shall be whiter than snow. Said, "Cast me not away from thy presence. Take not, oh my God, I can't begin to think of it, take not your Holy Spirit from me. Uphold me with thy free spirit. Then I will teach transgressors thy way and sinners will be converted unto you if you wash me, if you cleanse me, if you won't take the Holy Spirit away that you'll give him back to me."

That's why no souls are saved. No Holy Spirit. No burden without a travail, nobody's saved. Even in the midst of all this backsliding, God's power has been pouring it out and pouring it out. People pick him up like a rattle and shook him for a while to amuse themselves and then threw him in the corner. God said, "That's it. You sow to the wind, you're going to reap the whirlwind." How many say Amen?

And Samson leaked all the way out and fell on this side of the line of demarcation, the flesh. And the devil reduced him to a beast of burden. See, that's what the devil wants to do. God knows if he can control us and keep us full of the spirit, he can elevate us into the image of Christ. The devil knows if he can get us leaked out and walk in the lust of the flesh, he can reduce us to an animal. All we live for is to satisfy our unbridled lusts and appetites.

And let me tell you something, honey. God's a jealous God and you never get the thing you compromise God for. He never got Delilah. I'm sorry. He never got her. You don't get it! You don't get it! That means both ways. You don't get it and you don't get it. And when he was fully empty, "I will get up in my own mind and shake myself as other times."

How many say Amen? Some preachers are backslid and really believe when they get in the pulpit, God's going to anoint and use them. And the devil says, "I've been waiting for you. You fell right into the trap. Empty." And he bound him. And the devil's going to make sure you don't get what you want. He ain't going to see Delilah no more. He burnt his eyes out.

That was the best thing the devil could do for Samson and reduced him to a beast of burden. Hooked him up with an ox and let him grind out the meal for the Philistines. And the maidens would come and laugh at that great one of Jehovah. How many say Amen? But he couldn't see no more. And he began to repent and pray and he consecrated himself. "God, just one more time, let me feel your spirit."

And the signs of consecration began to come out. He renewed his consecration and the sign, his hair began to grow. His sign of consecration. He couldn't see nothing else. It was the best thing the devil did. He couldn't see nothing else. He was blinded naturally, but God opened up his spiritual eyes again. How many say Amen? And when he got all the way back to God, the enemy had a big feast day.

And in their great building, they had all the kings and nobles and ladies and lords. And they're going to bring out this Israelite that says Jehovah's the great God when Dagon, our fish god, is the great God. And in the temple of Dagon, that great huge image, they brought him out. And he had to be led and stumbling. But he had his consecration back. He had the anointing back. He had spiritual eyesight.

And when they let him out, they jeered and made fun of him. The court jesters would come and kick him. Say, "Who's kicking you, Samson?" And trip him. Told that little boy, he said, "Take me on the foundational pillars of the building and then get out." And he put his hand on one of the pillars and his other hand on the other pillars. And he lifted up those blinded eyes and he prayed, "One more time, God! Let me feel your spirit!"

And he said, "And when you bring this victory, let me die with it. So I won't live to ever think I would lose it again. I'd rather die." How many say Amen? And the power of God like lightning came and hit Samson. And he disrupted those pillars until the balconies and the foundations fell. And he killed all of those Philistines. He wiped them out. And he was like Jesus in his death. He killed more of the devil in his death than he did in his life.

You've leaked out from God if you've lost your prayer life. If you've left that, if you've backslid where you used to be. Maybe you're not in the world yet, but you're not where you used to be. Your prayer life is not there. You don't have your Bible study. You don't go to church like you used to. You couldn't wait. You need to holler, "God, open up my spiritual eyes again!"

I can hear it. I can hear it. I can hear it in the spirit. Some people are going to be crying out from their heart, "One more time, God! One more time use Faith Tabernacle! One more time move on these people, Lord! Help them to see the mail that I give!" People around the world are saying, "Brother Hardy, don't lose out! You're one of the few preachers left, don't lose out! Don't get discouraged! Keep standing up for Jesus! We need you!"

One more time, God. Let your spirit fall on these people. Every man, woman, boy, and girl. One more time let your power surge through them. One more time use them to destroy the devil until the end of the world. One more time, Jesus. How many say one more time? How many say one more time? God, let me feel your spirit one more time. One more time. One more time, God, put it on me one more time. I won't leak out this time. Hey, this is a one more time night. If you want it, I'm going to say "one," get to your feet. "Two," get down the aisle. And "three," run up here. Are you ready? One. Two. And three. Send your spirit down.

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. Write to Sound of Faith, PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Don't forget those call letters on the front of the envelope.