Let us bow our hearts before the Lord. Father, we just come before you, O Lord. We ask you to forgive us of our sins and trespasses. Lord Jesus, we ask you to impute your blood to us and wash us and cleanse us. Sanctify us so that we can receive your word. Come down and anoint our ears to hear, our eyes to see. Come and give us understanding, because unless you touch us, we cannot understand or perceive. But you can enable us, so come.

Holy Spirit, come and teach us our Master's ways. Lord, I ask you for your anointing to enable me to speak with simplicity and understanding what you would say to us, your people. Make your words resound in our hearts. How we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Come, hover over us, breathe upon us with your word.

Do you agree with me? Amen, amen. Will you ask Jesus to speak to you tonight, personally? Will you just say that out loud to me, please? Lord, come and speak to me. I so often give invitation to that, but I'm reminded that it's you who gives invitation for him to personally speak to you. It's important that you do that.

You know, I have been contemplating for the last few weeks, because we've been gone for a few weeks, of, Lord, what is next in your step? I feel like we've come a ways through different types of studies, and of course there's been the improv messages that the Lord has given us. And I like to try to stay in step with the Holy Spirit. And I feel that we're growing inch by inch, and some of you mile by mile, or block by block, or foot by foot.

And that growing is a part of our lives. We're supposed to grow. Praise God that you are growing. I'm a witness that you're growing. You're a witness that I'm possibly growing more than you're a witness that you're growing. Because, I mean, you stretch out your hand and wait. If a little child is like, Mommy, is it growing? Is it growing?

You keep telling me, is it growing? And some children grow a foot in one year, but they don't realize it. And all they know is they're tripping all over themselves. All they know is they're gangly. All they know is things aren't coordinated.

Well, as you have supernatural growth, you become unbalanced in some areas until some others catch up with it. And so that's why we go so diligently into the Word itself, is so that with a balanced diet of Scripture and Spirit and the presence of the Lord, He can produce in us a sustained growth instead of growth spurts.

Children that grow on a regular basis spend more time in their clothes. They're not as awkward. They don't trip over themselves because of the sustained growth. It's not a foot. I went down south to see my nieces and nephews, and my nephew is taller than I am now. He's grown probably a foot in the last year. And, of course, he's tripping all over himself, too.

Anyway, well, I've been gone. I've been praying. Lord, what do we do next? I feel like the Lord wants to do several things. One, he wants to begin to teach us what the New Testament church is about, what it looks like. Because unless you know what a New Testament church is, you can't become that. And you're the church. Pastor's not a church. You're the church.

What did that New Testament church look like? I want to take you into the book of Acts, which is ongoing. It's a book that is still happening. It has been going on ever since it was written, and it will continue going on until we see Jesus. It is the book that brings in all the way and lasts until the book of Revelation unwinds.

But I find myself that before we can go into what the New Testament church is about, we must go in and examine something that we haven't examined. And it is our role as the priesthood of believers. You know, when I look at most Christians, they don't understand that they're in the priesthood. We think that was an Old Testament thing that took place and that went away with Jesus, but I got news for you, it didn't go away with Jesus.

Jesus assumed the position of the high priest and still is operating in that now. And if I remember right, if you've gone in and examined the Old Testament scriptures, there was a high priest that went in. That was Aaron to begin with. And his sons were made priests also, and they had all kinds of functions that were supposed to go on within the tabernacle.

He had his function, but they had their functions, and they were all corporately together priests, and each priest had different functions within the body of the tabernacle. We're going to be examining as we go into defining what priesthood is. Most of us can't even begin to fathom that you're a priest.

Jesus is our high priest, but he's a special high priest. He's not like Aaron. Aaron was after the order of men. He was a man, so the priesthood that followed him, if we were engrafted in that, which the Israelis were, when Jesus showed up on the scene, there was the Arianic priesthood, and that's the order after men.

But there's another priesthood, and that's the priesthood of the new order of men that Jesus brought to us, in which we will examine that. We'll go into looking at the requirements of what a priest is. We'll look at the priesthood in the order of Melchizedek because Jesus, he did away with the old line of the Arianic priesthood.

And his order of priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek. We'll look at Melchizedek and do some examination of him and see what type of priesthood he had. We'll look at the priest's duties and responsibilities. The different priestly functions that are supposed to be taking place within the church.

Because a church cannot exist unless the priesthood takes on its role. We see so many churches today that are empty of God's presence. And why wouldn't it be empty of His presence? Because the priesthood was not there as an order to serve man. The priesthood was there as an order to minister unto the living God.

And that art of ministering unto the living God has been lost. So churches had become dysfunctional in relationship with God. They'd become dysfunctional. They'll give the word, but where's the presence of the living God? Because priests are supposed to induce the presence of the living God to come.

There's supposed to be a successional set of events that if they do those events as he commanded, that his presence will reside with his people. So it's the priests that bring the presence of God into the midst of the people. But we've lost that concept of priesthood for Christianity.

But it was not lost in Scripture. We're going to be looking at that and looking and seeing that it was implemented and commanded and established by God that you be a priest. We'll look at the purpose of the priest. We'll look at the authorities that train priests. Those are overlooked.

And as a point of them being overlooked, we have all kinds of failures in this so-called priesthood. Matter of fact, we're going to look at the failure of the first high priest and what caused him to fail. That was all the way back in the Garden of Eden.

We'll look at the articles that are in the priest's care. There are articles that make things holy, even if they're unholy. If one of those articles are touched by something or someone unholy, the holy items are not made unholy. They are made holy by... The holy articles.

We'll look at those and examine and see where those are located in the New Testament. Because if we're in the priesthood, then all the same articles that were in the tabernacle that were to induce God's presence, because most of you here have gone through the tabernacle study, and if you haven't, get that because it's going to tie closely in with the priesthood.

We looked at the tabernacle as something that was functional to bring God's presence down into our midst and to keep it there. But there was a set of events that were supposed to take place. We just looked at the structure and the grounds and the purposes of the structure and grounds.

But it was the priesthood that brought the presence of God by what they did. Which implies in the New Testament church, if we're going to bring the presence of God down into the body, down into our presence, the priesthood has something to do to cause it to take place.

And part of the problem is the priesthood has ceased as far as the New Testament church is concerned. When we see the New Testament church bursting forth, they were filled with the Spirit, and the priesthood was immediately imparted to them through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

And by the Holy Spirit, the church grew. As they gave sacrifices acceptable to the Lord, first their lives and then their purposes and attitudes and wills. Then all those things were done by God's teachers, not the priest.

When I say teachers, I'm talking about the five-fold ministry. Five-fold ministry is different than the priesthood. It has a different function than the priesthood. It assumes a different role than the priesthood. And the five-fold ministry is the one that trains the priesthood.

But I find in our church today, there's a lacking of the five-fold ministry, so there's also a lacking of priests that know how to minister unto God. Do you know how to minister unto God? Can you minister to Him in such a way that His glorious, manifest presence... His Shekinah presence will appear in your midst and others' midst.

Because that's what the priest did. And if we're not doing that, then we're failing as the church of priests and we're not the New Testament church. Most of the church that I look at today, I like what Leonard Ravenhill said, Tristan quoted the other day.

He said, the biggest ice boxes in the world have steeples on them. They're cold, dead, without Christ, without the Spirit, without the presence of God. No wonder they don't have the presence of God if you don't know how to call Him down.

So the whole purpose of the priesthood is for us to minister unto God. And we're going to be looking in and trying to extract from Scripture how it teaches us to minister unto God.

Most of us taught us Christians to be these Christians that want and demand and try to extract from God something. As a matter of fact, most of Christianity has turned the tables and we've become the God of God and we want to make Him do something for us or we won't serve Him.

We won't love Him. We won't be in His presence. Well, if you're going to be that kind of God, just get back to me when you get your act together and start getting what I want done. That's not kosher. But yet that's taught from the pulpit that that's all God is is a sugar daddy that you're supposed to call upon to get your wishes fulfilled.

He is not a genie in a bottle. And if He ever comes out of your bottle, you are in big trouble if you're rubbing it trying to get what you want. This huge, awesome God will come out that you're going to be overwhelmed. You'll fall on your face. You'll weep. You'll cry and say, woe is me.

Woe is me. I am unclean. I am unfit to have your presence here. So if you become a priest, then you will be fit. You will be equipped to call His presence down. You won't be rubbing some bottle.

And when you face Him face to face, He'll recognize you as His priest. And He will not strike you dead. We'll look at the articles in the priest's care we talked about, and we're also going to be examining the dress of the priest.

Because in priesthood, you're required to wear holy garments. And those holy garments make you holy. Those holy garments. God recognizes those things. He recognizes the garments that the priest wear, and his specific commands and instructions were, do not come before me without these things on.

I'm giving these things to you to make you holy. And so the church hasn't been taught to wear these things. So if God did show up, He would have to bring judgment. But if you're wearing the priestly clothes and the priestly robes and ephod, we're going to go into all the meanings that are symbolic within Scripture of how they apply in the New Testament.

That didn't pass away. This lineage of us being priests did not pass away. The priesthood did not pass away. In the priesthood of the believers. It's implemented and commanded and established by God the priesthood for the modern church of Christianity that Christ is in.

If there's no priest there, Jesus is not going to be there. Jesus comes in the midst of His soldiers and His soldiers are His priests. So if you've got a church that doesn't have priests, why would Jesus show up there?

He wants to command men that will be commanded. And priests have made the commitment, Command me, O Lord, I am your servant. Command me, O Lord, my will is yours.

And when the priests have that mind and attitude, Jesus will show up. So to be trained in this mindset is something that's foreign to Christianity. So far from Christianity that it's been lost, so the presence of God has been lost out of our midst.

Even in the charismatic world or the Pentecostal world, an occasional tongue come forth, an occasional prophecy come forth. That's not the same thing as the Shekinah presence of God coming into our midst and changing our lives and bringing the depth of His presence into us that we are transformed into something we are not.

And that cannot happen without the right sacrifices, without the right heart, the right mind, the right dress. To bring the tabernacle, to officiate the tabernacle. You are the officiator of the tabernacle.

The reason I say that, because the scripture says that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, is the temple of the living God. So you are the officiator, the high priest of the tabernacle that God has given you charge over.

Are you taking that and using that for other purposes? Do you have a circus going on there in the grounds where the tent's at, the tent of meeting? Are you using that for birthday parties? Are you using that to entertain other guests?

Are you using that to have social parties of Christianity? Are you using that to have your friends and neighbor over? Look at all these holy articles I got. Oh yeah, you ought to read that word over there.

And look at the big brass thing out there. Flames really come out. That's really cool. Are you using it? For the wrong things and the wrong purposes because everything that was in the tabernacle was designed for God to commune with man, not for man to come and play.

It wasn't a school ground that men could come and play. Everything had function and purpose and everything in there was established to bring God and His fullness into our lives so we could see Him, hear Him, receive His decrees.

To have His holy blessing upon us, His fellowship, His breath, the joy of fellowshipping with the Creator of all things that He would Himself come down and fellowship with meager creatures as lowly as we are, as sinful and corrupt as we are.

We're like a science experiment that's gone astray. Most of us had two heads and both of them are willful in the Spirit. They do not desire God. They do not want God. They want to go their own way.

And we're even torn in our affections towards the world. Some of us have got three or four heads. One time I was going to go fishing down at Glen Rose and I called the city down there.

This was in Texas and there's a nuclear reactor there next to a lake. The lake is supposed to have some extremely good fishing. So I called the Chamber of Commerce to see if the lake was open to fish in. And I said, is the lake open? Because I knew it was locked up.

And I didn't know what time they locked it up. Oh yes, it's great. Great fishing, great fish. Is it true that your fish grow? There's nothing wrong with our fish. They didn't get the joke at all.

We as Christians have been exposed to things out there in the world that have made us into something that we were not made to be. And by adhering to God's Word, By becoming the priests of God, He can reconform us and form us into something.

Even if you've got two heads. Even if you've got six feet. Even if you breathe fire like a dragon. If you're willing to be conformed to the image of Christ and transformed into His image, God Himself will work with you to cause that to come to place.

It doesn't matter what you look like. It's what He can do, not what you can do. But we must submit ourselves to Him and seek after and search after becoming priests.

We don't see it as a viable thing for the church today. But if Jesus is the high priest, then where is his second in command? Where are his priests that take care of the tabernacle?

Where are his priests that are in the tabernacle? He went before the Father, and that's where he stands to intercede for you and I.

And he left the tent in your care. So who's in charge of it? Who's supposed to be the priest? You and I are.

We'll look at... how it's predicted in prophecy, and how it defines the function of the church. I'm talking about priesthood. It defines the function of the church.

The establishment part of God implementing it is in 1 Peter 2 and 9. Of Him defining it in prophecy is Isaiah 61 and 6. We'll find out in Revelation 1 and 5 and 9 that this priesthood includes every believer out there.

They're supposed to become priests. You're supposed to become. You're not born a priest. You're not born saved. You get saved. And after you get saved, you learn His Word and get filled with His Spirit.

And now you're supposed to begin to train for priesthood. I mean, we understand that our children, when they graduate from high school, that if they want to become a doctor, they have to go on to college, and then they have to go on to medical school.

If you want to become a pastor, you have to go on to college, you have to go on to seminary, and then become a pastor, and train and be a pastor. You're just not put into pastor. A doctor's just not put into doctorship. He has to go in and work in a hospital for at least two, sometimes four years, sometimes longer.

We'll look at how it's predicted in prophecy, and how it defines the function of the church. I'm talking about priesthood. It defines the function of the church. The establishment part of God implementing it is in 1 Peter

Here is the cleaned-up version of the sermon transcription:

Six years, depending on what kind of doctor you want to be. We think Christianity. And the bringing down of God into our presence is something we can snap our fingers or say a few magical words. We don't expect that we're supposed to work at this and learn to become a priest of God. He says He will give you the opportunity to become that. But you're the one that has to see, that's what I'm supposed to be. That's what Christianity is supposed to be about.

And then you're the one that has to pursue. The presence of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, the teachings and the instructions and the impartations. You're the one that has to pursue this priestship that can bring God down in your house. Do you realize what can take place if you can get God to reside in your house? Do you realize what can take place if even one of God's representatives comes and resides at your house?

If you look in the Old Testament, we see blessings and riches and honor. We see all kinds of business deals and people being fed when they should be starving to death and people being raised from the dead as a result of just entertaining one of God's authorities, not inclusive of God Himself.

So what takes place if you learn to entertain God Himself? If you become such a priest that Jesus Christ, the High Priest, will come to see you. The High Priest gave instructions to everyone else. A high priest originally gave instructions to these people. But somebody gave him instructions, Aaron, because he was a man to start off with. But not Jesus. Jesus is the perfect high priest. He was one that had already been there before the throne of God.

And Melchizedek, what about this mystery guy? We'll look into him. We'll see that the priests have access personally, one-on-one, with God, to God, through God. Of Him being a part of everything in their life in Ephesians 2 and 18. We'll find out that the body is supposed to be a living sacrifice out there on the brazen altar at all times.

And if you can get that body strung out, that goat nature of yours, do you know what the goat nature is? Oh, it despises everything right. It despises anything holy. It despises and is a total rebel. Your goat nature runs ahead of God. Come on, God. Hurry. Hurry. Get this done. Get this done.

What runs behind him and pulls and pulls, it can't stay in step. Scripture says we're supposed to stay in step with the Holy Spirit standing right beside Him. Right beside the Father. And you can't do that unless you become a priest. The Holy Spirit's here to train you that. But you are the one that has to be willing.

I want my goat nature stretched out, hiding, all burnt on that thing today. He is not going to run in front of God, His representatives, His Word, His authority. He's not going to lag behind.

I frequently go into shopping malls and things like that. I observe when I go into stores and I see children running ahead, children running behind. I've seen one lady yesterday when I went into a drug store and she'd come in with four kids and she had hold of the littlest hand and she was headed for the basket.

And when she let go of that littlest hand to reach for him, boom! Off he goes like an arrow all the way across the store. And she's running behind trying to catch him. And the other kids are running behind her. And he finally stops when he gets to the toy trucks. He's a goat. He hasn't been taught, no, that you don't do that. Instead, he's trained his mom to chase him.

Have you trained God to chase you? Does he have to chase you down? Does he have to struggle with you with every word he says that you want to correct him? That you want to change what he says? If he says do something, well, would you like to do it this way? Would you like it better this way?

Well, I think it would look better this way. I think that's the goat nature. The goat nature is but. But God. But, oh Lord. With the horns down and buts. Hard.

I want my way and I'm willing to fight tooth and toenail for it. That goat nature will separate you from God. It will cause His wrath to be upon you and upon your livelihood and upon your household and upon your family. The goat nature He despises.

And it must be sacrificed. We've gone into that in the tabernacle about how to sacrifice that goat nature. If you haven't listened to the series or it's been a while since you listened to it, listen to it because it will begin to deal with the goat nature.

That goat nature will separate you from God. There is no goat nature in a priest. A priest has resolved to become a priest. A priest has resolved his life is submitted to God and for no other purposes. He's not interested in business. He's not interested in family. He's not interested in his livelihood. He's not interested in his animals. He's not interested in his pleasure.

He's not interested in all those things because the joy of having God's presence come down is the most prolific thing in a priest's life. And that's the problem in the church. The coming of God is not the most prolific thing in our life. The getting caught up in Him. The getting Him to come in our midst is not the most prolific thing in our life.

If you want to know what the most prolific thing in your life is, start keeping a sheet of your time. Wherever your time is, there's the most prolific thing in your life. At the end of the day, did you spend five minutes with God? That's not prolific. Did you spend four hours in front of the boob tube? That's prolific.

You're wanting to become the boot tube if you're sending four hours. You spend four hours in front of God, you become more like Him. The purpose of a priest in his heart becomes established of, oh God, I want you more than I want life itself.

But if you recognize you're a priest and you recognize you do not have that inside you, that your desires are split. That, oh, I enjoy that. I just want my relaxation. I want those things. But if you recognize, oh God, I want to become a priest. I want to know what it's like to be a priest.

I want to abide with you every day of the rest of my life, which may be a long time for some, and it may not be long for others. Do you want to abide with Him? If you want to abide with Him, then you need to join the ranks of becoming a priest.

Qualify yourself by saying, Lord, I no longer will be a goat. I see that you have offered me priesthood. I want to learn how to become a priest and live rightly before you and wholly before you and serve and minister unto you.

Most of the church is taught to serve others. Most of the church is taught that your service is to others and it's a social club and it's let's do these things. And I remember when I first got involved in church, oh, that's great. You're walking with God now. Okay, we're going to put you in a bus ministry.

We're going to put you in the kids ministry. We're going to put you in this. No one taught me to hear God. All I wanted to do was put me to work for them, to build something for them, to build something that looked big and looked good, but nobody there knew how to hear God, walk with God, talk with God, and nobody there knew how to teach me how to be a priest.

And my heart longed of, oh God, is this what will help me to know you? If I do this, will I see more of you? No, you will not. A priest is to minister unto the living God. And until you're taught that, until it's imparted to you, you will never hear Him.

And until you hear Him and see Him, you will not be His witnesses. You're supposed to become a witness of Him. You have nothing to teach anyone. I don't care how much Scripture you studied, how many cemeteries you've been to, if you do not walk with Jesus and hear Him and talk with Him on an hourly, moment-by-moment basis, you're not a teacher.

You're assuming a position of one. Because a teacher is one that's supposed to teach how to get into God's presence, supposed to teach how to walk with God, fellowship with God. We'll be covering the aspects of the five-fold ministry and how they train the priesthood.

And also, how they're cut off by the priesthood. Jesus was cut out of the picture altogether by the priesthood. The living God standing before them. The high priest standing before them. The apostle of God sent to us. And they want Him out of the picture because they want their position.

There's a priesthood that's gone awry. There's a priesthood without a high priest, without a great priest, without the priest that has the ability to stand in God's presence and can impart all manifestations of God to us. They missed that.

We're going to look at the praise and the good works that can be established by the praise from God and good works from God that can be established within the priest's life in Hebrews 13 and 15.

I talked about the implements commanded and established by God in 1 Peter 2 and 9. It says, But you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare His praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

It's declared in both the New Testament and the Old Testament that you are of the royal priesthood. And not the royal priesthood of the Aaronic priesthood, but we have been engrafted to become a new man, and guess who that new man is supposed to be kin to? Jesus.

And guess what order Jesus is after? He's after the order of Melchizedek, a living, vibrant being that stands before God, before Jesus did. He was the high priest to God, had access into the throne room of God himself.

And the predicting of prophecies that defines a church in Isaiah 61 and 6. And it says, you will be called priests to the Lord. You will be named ministers of our God. Not ministers of man. Not ministers of God to man. Ministers of God. Ministers to God.

It includes all believers in Revelation 1 and 5 and 6. And it says, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.

So it's established that Jesus did all these things. But what did he do it for? He did it for this. And he made us to become... He made us to be a kingdom and a priest to serve His God and His Father.

And unless you're in the priesthood of Jesus, it's not your Father. It's not your God. Because His priests are the ones that serve Him. His priests are the ones that give access into His presence. That's why He uses a particular wording here.

He has made us a kingdom and priest to serve His God. That's Jesus speaking. You were made a priest to serve His God. So, have you become totally Jesus? Have you submitted yourself to the priesthood for His training of your life?

Because if you submit yourself to His training for your life and you submit yourself to the priesthood, now He will engraft you in so that He becomes your God and your Father. But unless you're a priest, He's not your God and He's not your Father.

Let's go on here in the Scripture. Priests have access to God in Ephesians 2 and 18. For through Him we both have, we both, that's Jesus and you, we both have access to the Father by one Holy Spirit.

That's the only way to have access to the Father. Men who are evangelicals do not have access to the presence of the Father. All they can do is stand and talk about the blood of Jesus. They're in the outer court where the brazen altar is.

They're out there constantly washing and going back to the fire. Washing and going back to the fire. Blood, water and fire. That's all they know is what's in the outer court.

But the scripture makes the statement that for through him we both have access to the Father by one Holy Spirit. There's no other access to the Father. The Holy Spirit is the only one that gives us access to the Father.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household. Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Christ Jesus himself as a chief cornerstone.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.

You can't build that unless you're a priest. So, us training as the bride of Christ, us training as the New Testament church, we must look and examine the priesthood and why God... made it the way He did.

His holy instructions to keep it the way it was and not deviate from anything that was instructed there. We have totally deviated from God's instructions of how to be priest before Him.

And by deviating from His instructions, man has lost His holy presence. They can teach you all kinds of things, but they can't teach you how to stand in His presence. They can't teach you how to see Him, hear Him, know Him, and they will deny that you can see Him, hear Him, and know Him.

Because they themselves do not see Him, know Him, and hear Him. And if they don't see Him and know Him, how are they going to teach you that? All they can do is just teach you something that was written.

Pharisees were doing that when Jesus was standing there. Pharisees had Sunday school. The Pharisees, they were very good at playing church. They had the best churches around. They had people praying consistently.

They had people praying and fasting night and day and weeks and some of them fasting their lives away. Some of them fasted unto death trying to kill Paul. Praying and fasting to kill this heretic. Praying and fasting of how can we kill Jesus? How can we come against Him?

A church was doing that. That wasn't calling. They had lost the understanding of their priesthood was not to be in charge of men. Their priesthood was to minister unto God.

And they had lost the ability to hear and see God. And Jesus even told them, you not only don't know the Word, but you don't know of Him who spoke it. You don't know His heart. You don't know His thoughts. You don't know His precepts. You do not understand.

You're filled with yourself. You're filled with dead men's bones. You're whitewashed sepulchers. You're snakes. You're vipers. In the kingdom of God, you have no part.

These are men that were playing church that had lost the ability to be priests unto the living God. Instead, they had made a decision. They wanted to be something in man's eyes. Priests to men.

I don't find anything in Scripture that says it's supposed to be a priest to men. You're supposed to be a priest unto the living God.

Going on. It says that we'll be built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. There again, in the Old Testament, God's Spirit dwelt in the tabernacle.

In the New Testament, He says your body is His temple that He wants to live in. So you're the official priest of your life that can be trained by the Holy Spirit, by the apostles' doctrine and the prophets.

Remember, I just read you that built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. When we were talking about the priesthood, it is based upon the apostles and the prophets' doctrine of them becoming priests to be able to keep God in their presence.

The apostles and the prophets are the ones that taught the priesthood. They're the ones that instructed the priesthood. They're the ones that commanded the priesthood. They're the ones that brought healing to the priesthood, teaching, instruction, brought life, brought the presence of Jesus, brought the power of the Holy Spirit.

They're the ones that imparted the Holy Spirit to the priesthood. With that being said, the church has also lost its prophets and apostles.

It's lost the dearest treasure that God has given mankind. Because the five-fold ministry is supposed to be the ones that equip the church to become the fullness that God has made you to be.

And if we're missing those two functional parts... that God has given us, then we'll never become priests because their secret instructions are given to them by God for the body of Christ that pertains to every aspect of our life that will untangle the knots inside of us, untangle the snares that Satan has put on us.

It will trip those snares. It will expose the deeds of Satan. It will expose our dastardly deeds. It will bring everything to the light.

The apostles' doctrine and the prophets are the ones that are the foundations for the priesthood to establish the priesthood within us. No wonder the church has lost the concept.

Because they kicked those guys out and wanted to kick them out. Same reason they kicked Jesus out. Because, well, I think I'm a pastor. I think I'm a teacher.

Well, can you get in God's presence? Can you shepherd somebody into His presence so that they can hear Him and see Him and walk with Him? Well, no, I don't know how to do that. Then you're not a pastor and you're not a teacher.

And you should quickly run to the nearest exit. Because when you meet Jesus face to face and you have disabled His children from coming into His presence, pretending to be a shepherd, a false shepherd and a false teacher and a false evangelist,

Those men that declare that they know God, but yet have no purpose in knowing Him other than self-glorification. They're great speakers. They're great utters. They've got great knowledge.

Show me the man that stands in His presence can impart it. There's the man that God chose. The man that walks with God and listens to Him and hears Him and is instructed by Him.

There's the one that God chose. Not the false ones. And that's the test. When it says Jesus is talking and He says, you know, I have this against you. You've lost your first love.

He said to one of the churches, but I have this in your favor. You have tested those who are false prophets. The false teachers. The false apostles. You've tested them.

And where's the test? The test is around one thing and one thing.

Here is the cleaned-up version of the sermon transcription:

Hing only. Do they hear God? Do they see Him? Do they walk with Him? The apostle is supposed to see Him face to face. The prophet hears Him and hears the phrases and hears the voices. The apostle sees Him face to face. And that apostle ought to be able to tell you about his encounters after encounter after encounter after encounter. Not of Jesus walking in the room, but of Jesus coming and giving His holy instructions. He's the one who can stick His head up above the clouds. Yes, my Lord. Oh, you want this done? Yes. He's the one that God gives revelation to.

Now, revelation can also come to the prophet. He can bring judgment within the church to bring the church back into its right mind. And I say, the church, I'm talking about the priesthood. If you notice that God kept those as separate divisions, even in the Old Testament, we had the prophets, and those prophets were not the priests. The prophets were a separate category, kept that way.

They were holy men that God chose Himself. They were not after any particular lineage. And they were always coming to correct the priesthood and bring it back into right standing with God so the presence of God would come in the people's lives. Beginning with the priesthood. That they would begin to have encounters with the living God and be taught and instructed by the living God again.

But the living God cannot teach them and instruct them if they're violating His precepts and His understandings and His teachings that He gave them of how to be a priesthood and how to minister unto the living God. Now, with that said, let's look at some of the other things that are around Jesus. If He's the high priest in Hebrews 7 and 11, it talks that He's like one Melchizedek.

Beginning in verse 11 in Hebrews chapter 7, it says, "If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood, For on the basis of it, that's the Levitical priesthood, the law was given to the people. So it was on the basis of the priesthood that the law was given. Why was there still a need for another priest to come? One in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron.

For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law." He, of whom these things are said, belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah. In regard to that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests.

And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears. One who has become a priest, not on the basis of regulation as to his ancestral heritage, but on the basis of power, that's dunamis, and an indestructible life. So Jesus shows up in the order of Melchizedek, which Melchizedek was the high priest unto the living God.

I shared with you in one session one time of a dream I had about running up a set of beautiful inlaid steps, and when I got to the top of them, there was kind of a plateau, and there was these huge doors there, and I knew God was behind those doors. And I saw this being, and instantly from that being, it was translated to me that this being is the one that knows everything there is about God.

This being knows everything there is pleasing. This being was designed to be before the living God has preached to Him. And something in my soul leapt, and I went and wrapped myself around His feet, and I begged Him, Pleaded with him, oh, please touch me. You know what pleases Him? Oh, impart that to me.

And he was more in a hurry. He was like, let go of me. I must be before him now. Let go of me. And finally he bopped me on the head and just jammed my neck down in my shoulders and I fell to the ground almost paralyzed. But at the same time, joy rushed through my soul because there was an impartation of, oh, I know what pleases my Father.

So when you become a priest after the order of Melchizedek, encoded in His priesthood that can be imparted to you is to learn what pleases the Father. Not just learn it by hearing it, but learn it by experience. Learning it by standing there by the High Priest Jesus. Learning that by seeing how He pleases His Father.

Learning that by being in Jesus' presence. Because He will begin to illuminate to us How He does everything to please the Father still. Not just 2,000 years ago when He died on the cross. Yes, that pleased the Father. But He ever lives before the Father, interceding before you and I. He sits in the throne with the Father.

He's still a man. He's not a living being like the celestial beings. He's still a man. He was made a man here on the earth. He went before God. He stood before on the throne as man and He still sits on a throne as man because God loves the character of man that He created.

And all of that was formed within Jesus so that when we can begin to fellowship with Him, His identity begins to rub off on us and we find out what pleases the Father in everything in your life. It doesn't please Him that you have to go die on the cross. Jesus did die. It doesn't please Him that you try to act like Jesus.

It pleases Him that you spend time with Jesus. That you love the Son. That you come to know the Son. That you come to be filled with the Spirit so the Spirit can introduce you to more of the Son. Because the more of the Son you know, the more impartation that will come to you of what pleases the living God.

And the more that comes... Into your heart of what pleased Him God. See, the successional ladder that God wants us on. Jesus came to redeem us. The Holy Spirit came to train us to be in Jesus' presence. After we've been in Jesus' presence for a season, and we really learned how to do things the way He does, He says in the Scripture that He longs to present us to the Father.

That's where we in charismatic world and Pentecostal world have missed it. Because we stopped with the gifts. We stopped with prophecy. We stopped with tongues. Thinking that was the end of it. But the Scripture says in Hebrews that that was the elementary teaching. Let us leave these elementary teachings and go on into maturity.

And what is maturity? It's us learning to be priests of God so that the day comes that you've fully trained under Jesus' tutorship. He says, come with me. I want to bring you into the Father's presence. Because the Father is the one that has your identity.

The Father is the one that knows who you are and what He's made you to become. Jesus wants to be able to present you to the Father, but He cannot present you to the Father unless you join Him in the priesthood. You have to be His brother. You have to be His servant.

He has to be your Lord, your Master, the High Priest that you say, Yes, my Lord. Oh, yes, my Lord. Be it unto you as you see fit. If you don't want this done, how do you want it done? That you go ask Him before you plan out your plans.

That you ask His authorities before you make your plans. If you've made your plans and approach Him, you've already displeased Him. You must approach Him. Stay in His presence and He will give you the plans for your life.

The identity and the purposes of your life are hidden in the Father's presence. And Jesus wants to escort you in there. There's where we as the Charismatic and Pentecostals have failed. We stop thinking, well, I've got it all. I can speak in tongues. I can prophesy. I can lay hands on it and heal the sick.

And God can do all manner of miracles through me. Oh, how great that is. But the Scripture says that's all elementary things. The serious, mature things is you standing holy. Dressed fully as a priest, understanding how to use all the articles that are within the tabernacle to make all things holy.

To induce God's presence to come down, that He would live in your life. In such a way that he would say, come with me. I'm thrilled with you. Jesus would come and grab you by the hand. He says, the Father requires your presence.

I shared with you one time of sitting in a church of about 3,000 people in the middle of a worship service and hearing this loud roaring sound as they were worshiping and the ceiling rolling back like it was on trolleys and seeing this angelic being hurling at me at a tremendous speed and him coming and grabbing me by my arm.

The width of his palm of his hand was the width from my elbow to my shoulder. And he said, come with me. The Father requires your presence. Have you been presented to the Father? As a priest of God, you will be presented to the Father many times.

You'll have encounters with the Father. You'll fall head over heels in love with the Father. No wonder Jesus gave His apostles the command, go forth, immerse them, baptize them into the Father. Baptize them into Me. Baptize them into the Holy Spirit.

Immerse them into the full revelational knowledge and experience of who the Father is until the Father is their Father. Immerse them in the full revelational experience of who the Holy Spirit is until the Holy Spirit becomes a part of it.

Immerse them into the full revelation contemplational experience that I am the Messiah. I am the King. My blood was poured out upon them till they will fall on their face before me and say, come, O great King.

Have you been immersed into the body that-a-way? The Holy Spirit's waiting to carry you there. And you can only do that if you become a priest. Because becoming a priest, that's the successional events that will take place.

You will first find out the great perils that Jesus went through to pour His blood. And it will bring such agony in your heart that you should go fall on your face and say, Oh, Jesus, I am so unworthy of Your great, great gift that You've given me.

I don't meet Christians that have ever said that. Instead, they're flipping. Oh, I'm saved. Yeah, Jesus poured His blood out. No big deal. It cost God everything. That was holy, rare, valuable to Him. All of that was in Christ.

And Christ came and poured that out. And for us to look at it flippantly means that we are not looking at it properly. And you cannot look at it properly unless you become a priest. And if you become a priest, you realize... His blood is what establishes me to be able to go. His blood is what covers me when I can see God and stand in Him.

His blood does all this. His righteousness is poured out over me. Having an understanding of how Christ has done this for you can only come about if you make a commitment to become a priest of the living God.

He goes on to say, you're still in Hebrews chapter 7, We begin in verse 14. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah and in regard to the tribe of Moses, nothing is said about priests.

And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears. One who has become a priest not on the basis of regulation as to his ancestry, but on the basis of power and his indestructible life. For it is declared, You are a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

And that's Psalms 110.4 that's quoted out of the Old Testament. And that quote, it's God swearing on oath. Do you realize when God spoke one word, let there be the heavens, the heavens were created.

When He spoke and said, let there be light, there was light, both light and dark light. Scientists have just discovered there's dark matter. One word created these things. How much more so if God swears that something will take place?

It's not just a word being spoken. It is by His name, by His proclamation, by His glory, by His authority, by His power, that He's making proclamation that Jesus is the high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

That has the right to stand before Him and the keys to pleasing everything there is about God. And it was not without an oath that he made this in verse 20. Others became priests without any oath.

The Arianic priesthood, they didn't have to take an oath. God didn't swear that he would make them holy. He just told them how to become holy. Instead, he swears on oath. But he became a priest with an oath when God said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever. Because of this, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. So you've got to understand, this new covenant, it's a guarantee of Him being high priest.

If He's guaranteed to be the high priest, then where are you as priest of your tabernacle? Have you enlisted? Have you even recognized that you've been called in to be in His lineage, in the lineage of Melchizedek, in the lineage of Jesus Christ, to be engrafted in and to become this priest in your temple.

That can call down God's presence? What greater thing is there in life that we should expect other than the presence of God? For the first 10,000 years, you'll probably just stand like a little child, just weeping and rejoicing and praising and singing.

When you behold your great King. If we can catch glimpses of Him here now and begin to have encounters with Him here now, then He will become our living God. The problem with Christianity, we don't have a living God. He died somewhere along the way.

He got lost. He retired. He's asleep. He's somewhere else. We don't have a living God. If He's a living God, then He needs a living priest to tend to Him. Somebody that will minister to Him.

Somebody that will come out and cry out to Him. Did you realize all the apostles pulled away? All the miracles were taking place. People being raised from the dead. People being healed. All kinds of manifestations of the Spirit taking place.

And they withdraw and they turn it over to lesser... Men that don't know how to walk with God, and those men became filled with the Spirit and did become to walk with God. But you know why they gave over everything, all their authority?

So that they could go minister unto the Lord. They gave up the so-called high position of the high priest. They gave up the positions of self-exaltation to go be in the presence of a living God and minister unto Him.

They set the example for us that your God is waiting for you. If they can minister to Him in Jesus' presence, then we can learn to minister to Him in Jesus' presence. And the Lord has sworn this, and He will not change His mind.

You are a priest forever. And that's after the order of Melchizedek. In verse 26, such a high priest meets our needs, one who is holy and blameless and pure and set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens, unlike the other high priest who does not need to offer sacrifices day after day.

First for his own sin and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once and for all when He offered Himself. So if you become a high priest... Your duties are no longer just out there in the barnyard killing sheep and goats and pigs.

Well, I don't know. There's some pigs that should be on there. There's some Christians that are pigs that shouldn't even be in the yard because pigs defile everything in Scripture. So the cattle and the sheep and the ox and the goats are the ones that are being sacrificed.

Jesus became that sacrifice. So if we accept Him and enter into this high priest lineage, Our job is not out there being messy, fooling with blood and constantly giving sacrifice, is it? But yet when you go to church today, isn't it repent? Isn't it give more blood?

Give more sacrifice? Give, give, give of your life? That was resolved by Christ. You're supposed to be taught a priesthood that operates inside the holy place.

And that priesthood is how to keep the lights lit. How to keep the bread ready for His coming. How to keep everything perfect in an order and all the bread in perfect alignment. And not only that, in the holy place, how to offer the golden altar of incense so that you hear the voice of the Lord.

And He'll come behind the veil. Scripture says that Jesus became that veil. And that it was ripped from top to bottom and giving us access. Him being the forerunner going before us. You cannot have access into the presence of the Father without being a priest who was allowed into the tent.

The priest only. No one else was allowed to come into the tent but the priest. Matter of fact, In Genesis 14 and 18, it says, Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine, and he was priest of the Most High God.

And he blessed Abraham, saying, Blessed be Abraham by God Most High. Do you know what it's like to be blessed by the high priest from God Most High? That is Jesus showing up. That was him in the Old Testament.

He was Melchizedek. He showed up again as God's warrior. We see that written in the books of the wars of God, or the wars of the Lord, which the Scripture says is recorded in the annuals of heaven.

We haven't got to read those books yet, but some of it's recorded in the Old Testament. But it says that... This Melchizedek, from the very presence of God, brought a blessing from the presence of God upon Abraham.

Remember, it's not just blessed, happy, fortunate, to be envied. Blessing means that God has His eye upon you, that His favor is with you, and that He will orchestrate all events in your life, that you will be in His presence and in His fellowship, that you are His delight.

That He has every good intention towards you and your total future poured out into his presence. There's blessed. So to receive a blessing from this Melchizedek that stands in the presence of the creator of heaven and earth was a significant event.

In Exodus 19 and 5 it says, Now if you will fully obey me and keep my covenants, then out of all the nation you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is still mine, already mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests.

God makes the statement Himself that that's the purpose of you being here on planet earth is to be a kingdom of priests. In Revelation 5 and 9, even heaven was singing about what Jesus accomplished. And let's hear what they're saying.

They sang a new song. You're worthy

Here is the cleaned and formatted sermon transcription:

You were slain. And with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Now here's what he purchased them for. Here's what he paid the price for in verse 10.

You have made them to become, to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God. And they will reign on earth. Are you reigning on earth? Have you learned to reign on earth? You're supposed to be reigning here on earth. Because when Jesus showed up, that's not in the end times. Don't you realize when Jesus showed up, they worshipped Him. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.

That happened right... After He was resurrected, after He came out of the pit after three days, He lined up Satan and He lined up all the hosts of angels and the demonic forces and stripped Satan naked in front of Him and marched Him down, took all the power and authority away from Him. And then we see Him showing up in heaven.

In Revelation, I think it's chapter 5, and they're singing, Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb to receive blessing and power and honor and glory. And why is He worthy? Because He redeemed man so that man once again could become priests of God here on earth and reign. And the church has supposed to have been entering into becoming priests from the day Jesus made proclamation so that we could reign on earth for God.

Not reign for us. Not reign and be kings. But learn to live and walk and move and have your being in the Holy Spirit, in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God exists. He says the whole earth is mine, but he doesn't declare that that's the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is a parallel universe.

It's right next to it that God exists in. This is His too. But you're supposed to coexist with Him in the dimension that He's in. And He can cross over into this dimension and He can take you and cross over into that dimension. As a matter of fact, the whole book of Revelation is John being crossed over into that dimension of where God is.

But God says the earth is my footstool. He makes the statement that you're supposed to reign here. You can't reign unless you're a priest. The priests were the ones that were supposed to reign. Not kings. Remember, the priests were supposed to keep God's presence there so they could receive instruction of how to reign in life.

So we still have that commission before God. Now, we want to look in Exodus chapter 28, beginning in verse 1. This is where God begins to speak. He's already given them instructions about the tabernacle. He's given them instructions about the holy articles. He's given them instructions about the candlesticks.

He's given them instructions how to make all these things. But just because you've made something, now you have to officiate it. So what that amounts to is your life is supposed to be made. Like the tabernacle and structured like the tabernacle. Get the tabernacle steady and look at that.

But after you get it structured, now it becomes a functionality of calling on the name of God to get God to come and be in man's midst. So we take up in chapter 28. It says, Now take Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister to me as priest.

Aaron and Aaron's son, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithmar. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for beauty. That word glory and beauty... It actually means it translates as honor. It translates as glorious. It translates as honorable. It translates as the abundant riches that are available from God to you.

The abundance of splendor from His presence now being poured out upon you. So He's giving the command to Moses to instruct men to make these things, but He also sent instructions that He would pour His Spirit out upon those men that were going to make them so that these garments were made by men inspired by the Spirit directly from heaven.

There is something special about these garments because they enabled these men to receive glory and beauty. And that translates as beautiful. In other words, that you're absolutely drop-dead gorgeous before God. There's no blemishes on you. If you put on these clothes, which we're not going to go into in this study.

We're just going to get into the edge and just take a look at what's available to us and their functionality. Their functionality was that it would give you glory and make you beautiful. Give them glory and make them beautiful. Why? God's glory is going to have to be on you if you're going to stand before Him.

His beauty is going to have to be on you and imparted to you if you're going to stand before Him. So He gives them these clothes and these abilities to make these clothes in which we're going to get into and we're going to do some latitudes between the Old Testament and the New Testament of how to make these clothes.

How to obtain them. How to wear them. Because if we're going to stand in God's presence, the first requirement of priesthood is to have these clothes. And I don't know of hardly any Christians that have these clothes.

He goes on and says, So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisan, whom I have filled with the Holy Spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate them, that he may minister to me as priest. Do you want something in your life?

That will enable you to stand in the living presence of God. Because these robes, this clothing is still available today. But you have to enter the priesthood to learn how to get them. You have to enter the priesthood to obtain them.

God is the one that is calling you and He's looking and saying, do you want to be a priest or do you just want to roam around being a goat calling yourself a Christian? There's lots of sheep out there that aren't sheep, they're goats.

When they stand before God, He's going to separate the goats from the sheep. And the goats go into the lake of burning fire and the sheep get to be in His presence. So we need to eliminate our goat nature.

There's no goat nature that stands before the Lord. So we look and we see that these garments will consecrate, literally consecrate, make holy, make acceptable, make delightful to God you. I want these clothes.

When I began to discover that these clothes were available, I was absolutely astounded. They're gifted artisans. You know who those gifted artisans are? Those are the apostles and prophets.

Those are the people you go to to obtain these clothes. Because they're the ones that made them originally inspired men by the Holy Spirit to make special garments to cover your nakedness, cover your shame, to cover all the things that God would otherwise see.

And the only ones that can identify those things that God would see would be an apostle and prophet, teacher, evangelist, pastor can't identify those things. That was the purpose of the apostles' doctrine.

That was the purpose of the prophets because they would bring judgment in the church and say, well, you know, I see you're not wearing a robe. Let me show you why you're not wearing a robe. It's in your relationship with your wife. It's in your relationship with your husband.

It's in your relationship with your bosses. It's because you're willful. It's because of this. It's because they can see these things. They're designed to see these things by God to be in our midst, not to expose our nakedness and make us embarrassed amongst one another.

So they can walk up to you and say, I see you're not clothed. Do you really want to see the Lord? Here's the obstacle. Will you clothe yourself?

And here's how to do it. They just don't tell you there's sin there. They tell you how to absolve the sin. As a matter of fact, they even had the authority to forgive sin.

I don't know if you know that or not. The Apostle said, Jesus made the statement, whoever sin you forgive, I will forgive. And whoever sin you hold against them, I will not forgive. There's a hard one.

As a matter of fact, Paul, being the chief apostle to the Gentiles, Jesus made the statement that the apostles would sit on twelve thrones before him. Paul was one of those apostles.

Do you know who that high priest in that kangaroo court that Paul was in will have to face?

To judge him? Did you know that every person that stood and gave false witness and those men that tried to kill him, those men that persecuted him from city to city, is going to have to face one of the judges on the twelve thrones and that's Paul?

Because he entered his priesthood. God made him the holy apostle. He was one of His chief generals.

So let's go on here, and we're going to read about some of the articles, and we're not going to go into the meaning of those because of time's sake. We'll do that in our next session about the priest.

So you shall speak to all of them who are gifted artisans, whom I'm reading in chapter 28, verse 3. So you should speak to them, all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate them.

That he may minister to me as priest. And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, a sash, so that they shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, and his sons, that they may minister to me as a priest.

I read this to you specifically because this was the charge of the first high priest. And charge of the other priests that were in that order was to minister unto God.

There's nothing in there about ministering unto men. There's nothing in there about them doing anything else. Their sole function was to minister unto God.

Now I looked up some of the definitions of Aaron means light bringer. Aaron is the one that was to take care of the lights inside the holy place.

He was the one that was to fill those cups with oil and he was the one that was to come in and light those. And that's something that he was given that name before this tabernacle was ever made.

Before the golden candlestick was ever beaten out, his name was the light bringer. That he would bring the light to light those candles and that light was supposed to burn perpetually before God on a continuing basis.

Never to go out. These candles never went out. These candlesticks never went out.

And Nabab, which means generous, which was also engrafted into the priesthood. As a matter of fact, it says that your sons, and it says those who are like Him.

Those who are like Him. I thought that was strange. And then I got to thinking that, you know, Jesus is a high priest.

And those sons of His that are like Him are supposed to join Him in that priesthood. And they're supposed to be generous. That's the first characteristic of a priest, is to be generous.

But we also find that's supposed to be one of the characteristics of the gifts of the Spirit, that you be generous, loving, kind, gentle. All those are gifts of the Holy Spirit that a priest is supposed to have.

And without those, you're not a priest, because that's the first prerequisite of being generous. Abihu, which that means, He is my Father. He is my Father.

If you're in the priesthood, you have to recognize, He is my Father. You can't be a priest if you don't recognize that He's my Father. Isn't that something that His name would mean, He is my Father?

Eleazar, which means God has helped, or God has brought relief. God is aiding me.

It's refreshing. And He furnishes relief from all the things that there is in life. If you're a priest, God will furnish these things.

And Ithmar... Which means some of the theologians says coast of palms. I went into it a little bit deeper than coast of palms.

And I thought, well, what does that mean? Well, it means island. It doesn't mean coast because it's used 30 times as an island.

And you are supposed to be an island in this life. You're not supposed to be connected to this world. You're supposed to be set apart. You're supposed to be an island.

With God Himself as the one that resides with you on that island. That's why we're supposed to separate ourselves out from the world.

It also means tamar, which is palm tree or pillar, which means landmark in Judges 1 and 16. And the palm tree, it was stately tree.

It was considered to be the trees of life that were etched on the temple's walls. The palm tree was.

And when I read that, it says an island of palms. I remember Jesus' triumphant entry.

What was laid before Him? Palm branches. They stripped trees. The penalty was death to strip those trees.

You're supposed to be separated unto God and you're supposed to lay down your life because Jesus is that tree of life.

That's in the meaning of that word. I found that the first two sons failed.

In their relationship of being priest. As a matter of fact, Nabad was struck dead before the sanctuary in the wilderness for kindling censers with strange fire.

He failed in his priesthood. Abihu, he was the son of Aaron. He was destroyed for sacrificing strange fire to God.

One, just was struck dead in the sanctuary in the wilderness for kindling the censers. He just kindled the censers. He didn't go in and offer it. His brother went in and offered it and both of them were melted down as a result.

So this thing of priesthood is a serious thing between you and God.

Without God, without His presence, we will never learn to be creatures like Christ.

Without His fellowship, without us becoming priests, we will never learn to become like Christ. But we must learn it the way He says it's to be done because there's penalties.

There's not penalties if you're just a sheep, but you make a decision that you want to see God. There's penalties for the provision of you seeing God if you do it wrong.

I give you that warning now that if you're embarking upon priesthood, make sure that you're serious about it and do it right.

The rewards far exceed the penalties. I've been burned a couple of times.

Not totally down. But I've been backhanded by the Lord for a couple of things I've done in the past as His priest.

He didn't fully destroy me. He just brought correction to me so that I could be a better priest.

And I learned, wow, you don't approach Him on that side. You don't approach Him like that. You can't demand of Him.

You go there and fall on your face and say, woe is me. I have unclean lips. Woe is me.

I remember laying on my face before His throne when that angel came and got me and set me before the throne.

I was trembling inside. Inside, voices were going off. Do not look at His face. Do not look.

No man lives and looks at His face. Who do you think was telling me that? Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit would train you how to be in God's presence. And I tell you, being in His presence was the most glorious thing that has ever happened in my life.

You get to be in God's presence for one minute and it will change your life.

You get to be in it for ten minutes, it will change ten lives. You get to be in it day after day, it will change everyone's life.

Because you'll be a witness of Him being a loving, living God.

I want to tell you one other thing, and that is, in this relationship that you have with Him, it's you that make the decision to become a priest.

And you that is the ones that see, I want to do this. You're the one that calls on God and says, Lord, I want to enlist in your holy army because that's exactly what it is.

It's God giving us the opportunity to become enlisted with all the benefits, all the glory, all of His righteousness being poured out upon you, holy clothes being made for you, your life being changed and transformed by the benefits of God by you being His priest.

Of Him ordering everything in your life. It's not a life of just surrender. It's a life full of purpose.

It's not a life of I gave up something. You look outside and they just got little ragtag tents out there.

That's all we have is ragtag tents and the best of what we want in life. When you could be living inside the holy place.

Abiding there on a perpetual basis. Because why? You're the tabernacle.

You're at the temple. And if you want to live out where the TV is and all the things of this life is, then you're out there in no man's land, out there where they have raggedy old tents and dust and all that stuff.

But if you're inside the holy place... There was a priest's portion of meat that was already prepared. There was a priest's portions of wine that was already there. There was a priest's portions of bread that was already there.

There was a priest's clothes that were already prepared for him. There was all these things that were prepared for him.

So if you're tired of struggling in a ragtag tent with no clothes and no water, no wine and no bread and no meat,

The benefits far outweigh the going without. Most Christians have gone without most of their lives.

And the day has come that you can make proclamation to your living God of, Lord, where do I sign up? Where do I get contact with your recruiter?

I want to become a priest. I had no idea that you could call me to become a priest. I knew you were the high priest, but I didn't know I was called into that.

Oh, Lord Jesus, teach me. Come and sweep me away. Come and give me the understanding and the revelation and send your men of how to teach me to become this priest.

How I can enter this because I desire to fellowship with you. I desire to see the things you see. I desire to become like you and you can't become like him unless you're a priest because he's a priest.

Sonship and priesthood go hand in hand.

As a matter of fact, the penalties for approaching God, coming into the tent without being a priest, was death.

That's why so many Christians never get to see God. Because they're not prepared to see Him.

They call Him, Oh God, I've got

Here is the cleaned sermon transcription:

To see you, I want to see you. I've got so many painful trials and all this stuff going on over there. Well, if you'd become a priest and come over here, you wouldn't be in that. If you become a priest, then you would see me. Come over here where I am at. His call is constantly, "Come to me." Not "Him" come to us. His call is to you.

And He's making the statement, "Come to me." I have made you to be a priest unto myself. Come to me. Leave your lives. Leave your welfare. Leave your purposes. Come to me. I have made you to be a priest before me.

And then He makes proclamation that He will train us, dress us, array us, teach us, and impart to us so that we can learn how to minister to Him to see the glorious presence of our living God.

Shall we pray? Father, how we just praise You. That You give us the opportunity to become priests. I ask You, O God, to begin to unfold and unravel this within our hearts so that we would seek after and long after and run after to become a priest before You.

How we love You. And how we make declaration. Lord, I make declaration now. I desire to be Your priest. Teach me and train me. I plead with you. And I lay down my will before you that I will state you will be king, not me. Your will be done, not mine. Your ways will be serviced, not mine.

Teach me how to minister to You, my Lord Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to minister to Jesus. And then come, Lord Jesus, and teach me how to minister to the Father. All those things wait upon us.

Give us a thirst and hunger for those things and bring them into the reality. Bring them into our focus. Because if we can't grasp that, we won't chase after it. And You're the only one that can inspire us, O Lord.

So come, bring Your Holy Spirit and inspire us to become priests. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.