Sid: We want everyone everywhere to be prepared so that they won’t miss out on the greatest move of God’s Spirit in history. My guest Carlos Sarmiento had an experience; I mean how would you like to eavesdrop on a conversation between God the Father and Jesus about the end times. And hear the mandate “It’s time Son,” talking to Jesus “To get My bride.” I mean that’s where we are right now. Carlos you’re provoking me to so much jealousy to be able to listen to that kind of discussion and then we discuss that many things you heard were actually downloaded into your spirit to be released at specific times. A great deal of the teaching that you teach today comes from that. But you had an encounter shortly after that at an IHOP conference where all of a sudden the presence of God was not just on you it was all over that conference, but what happened?
Carlos: Well you know as the first time there at the IHOP Kansas City Conference did not knowing what to expect. The only reason that I went there Sid in the first place was because after my encounter of course I was seeking the Lord for my direction and understanding what I was going through. One day I received a piece in the mail with an invitation to go to this End-Times Prophetic Conference. And all I could tell you was that the word End-Times Prophetic Conference jumped out of that brochure and I heard the voice of the Lord say “Son, go there and I’ll tell you what to do next.” So that’s how I got there because the Lord says “If you go there I’ll tell you what to do next.” I was in the place of seeking; I was asking the Lord for understanding. And so I get to Kansas City and I’ve only felt this one other time where when I walked into the park…where I stepped onto the parking lot I could feel this rush of glory and of beautiful presence of the Lord. And the first time I went to that was when I first went to Pastor Benny Hinn’s service at the Atlanta Christian Center. I had never met Mike Bickle, I had never heard of the International House of Prayer. But it took me back to my experiences to the glory and the presence of God in the early days as a young minister. So I remember sitting in that conference and sitting near the back of the congregation because I tried to get their early enough but to my surprise the place was already packed. I could feel, and what I felt was very very strange I felt this incredible presence but I knew that it came out of a Spirit of love, intimacy, and unity. Those are the 3 things that really popped out to me; I could tell that there was a great love for the Lord. There was a desire for the people to contend for intimacy and I felt this unity one. I felt that the whole congregation; the whole massive group where was about 3000 people there. They were running after the same thing; there was a spirit of agreement that’s what I was feeling. And I remember sitting in the back and listening to the teaching and feeling the presence of the Lord. And then all of a sudden it was like something came upon me and for almost the entire service I shook and just wept and wept and thinking to myself “You got to stop this people are going to think that you’re crazy.” But I just couldn’t contain myself; and it was in that experience that I heard the Lord gave me my next set of instructions. The Lord said “Son, I have encountered you because you’ve always been a person of intimacy; you’ve always loved Me; you’ve sought Me; you’ve got a little distracted here and there but Carlos I’m bringing you back to your first love number one.” And then the Lord said this, “I’m asking you I want to raise you up to be one of my end-time forerunners.” Now when I heard that I had no clue what that meant. I just said “Lord, whatever that means yes, I’ll be a forerunner. But the Lord said “I want you to be one of My forerunners and as a forerunner I want you to shout it out; I want you to prepare My people; I want you to prepare the church wherever I open doors for you.” And I believe that even right now as I’m speaking to you and speaking to this audience that there are people that can hear me and hear My voice that I know that the Holy Spirit is provoking them and touching them because they want more than what they are currently experiencing. I’m here to say that there is more, there is a lot more to the life of God; there is a lot more to our purpose and our destiny and our experience in God. But we’ve got to come back and do it His way. And so with that encounter with the Lord He said, “Carlos I’m asking you to be one of My forerunners, and I’m asking you to prepare My church and to prepare My bride.” And He said this “My church is asleep and she’s not watchful, she’s not looking for my return and she’s not ready.” Then it made sense to me, that’s what the Lord says, “It’s time to get Your Bride.” I began to understand that I was a member not only of the church, not only am I child, not only am I a son, not only am I part of the Body of Christ, not only am I part of the church. But I’m also part of the Bride of Christ and there’s different levels of intimacy of relationship with God. I believe that the highest level of intimacy is Bride ship; is that Bridal identity. And God began to show me “Carlos My church has no clue what is to be the part of the Bride of Christ.” And that I believe is the last end-time revelation that the Holy Spirit is going to reveal to the church is Bride ship. Bridal identity, because the greatest relationship, the most intimate relationship on the face of the earth is between a man a woman and between a husband and a wife. That’s the most intimate relationship. And Paul relates that he say “I speak in man’s terms but what I’m really trying to give you a spiritual truth about Christ and the church.” And in that encounter the Lord was saying “My church is asleep, she’s distracted and she’s enjoying ministry but she forgets that I Am the ministry; Carlos I Am the ministry and I’m returning My church back to her first love.” And so I’ve been on a journey every since then; and seeking the Lord to establish once again the great commandment of loving the Lord with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength.
Sid: Oh, and that’s where we left off on yesterday’s broadcast. You were downloaded key heart issues to have the church ready for the next greatest move of God’s Spirit. And what you said in heaven, it came right out of your spirit man that something you hadn’t even pre-mediated. “No, we’re not ready!” And you actually didn’t know what you were saying, but the church isn’t ready. So you said “That there were key heart issues that the Holy Spirit has told you to teach on.” Tell me what they are.
Carlos: Okay, the first one I would say is intimacy with the Eternal Godhead; that’s intimacy. That’s returning back to our first commandment; Jesus made it very clear in Mark 12:30 He said “You shall.” He didn’t say you should, it’s a good idea. It’s a command, He said “You shall love the Lord God with all you heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.” And then He then qualified it by saying “This is the first commandment.” And I believe what the Holy Spirit is doing more than anything, beyond the most… more important than miracles, more important than supernatural, more important than signs and wonders, is the church returning back to her first love. Because when we look at church history, when we look at the Bible all of history and all of creation was about one thing, it’s about a wedding. Creation began at a wedding at the Book of Genesis. Jesus’ first miracle in John Chapter 2 was at the wedding of Cana of Galilee. And history as we know it in Revelation 22 ends with the Spirit of God saying “And the Spirit and the Bride.” It doesn’t say the Spirit and the church it says “The Spirit and the Bride say Come.” So we see creation, the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and then the end of human history as we know before we go into the eternal kingdom the millennial kingdom is all about God and man becoming one. That’s what consumes the heart of God is intimacy with the Lord.
Sid: Okay, I’m a pretty practical type of person; I’m listening to you on let’s say the radio right now and I’m saying “Yes, I want that intimacy but can you give me some practical steps?” What practical steps do you take for intimacy with the Lord Carlos?
Carlos: For me personally, I’m not allowing distractions or complacency any longer distract me from time with the Lord. How do you spell love? You spell love with time and same thing with the Lord. The way that we grow in our love for Jesus and love for the Lord is very… it’s the same Biblical disciplines we’ve been taught over and over again time with the Lord through prayer, worship, the word of God. But making it priority in your life. For me because of this encounter I see the value of it; I see that I turned away from the Lord you know as far as my intimacy and my level of love of the Lord. So what I’ve done I’ve made it a priority, the first thing in my life that I desire to major in is I desire to known as a lover of God. How do I do that? I spend time with the Lord.
Sid: What is your prayer life like, I’m curious take me behind that bedroom door with the door closed what are you doing?
Carlos: I used to ask that question, you know so and so could you tell me about your prayer life? And one of the things I realized and I’ve found and I want understood is this. Prayer is not A-B-C-D-E-F-G do this. I believe that there are some insets in God’s words. So here’s my prayer life. I begin my day I love beginning my day with the Psalms; so what I do is I’ll take my Bible out and I’ll read a Psalm, I’ll read a couple of Psalms and then all of a sudden a Psalm will hit me, something and I will personalize it. So when David says “One thing I have asked of the Lord that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” So I’ll say Lord, this is my desire “Give me the heart of David, and so I’ll mediate on that, I’ll communicate, I’ll commune with that. Because I believe that Psalms really are a revelation not only of man’s heart cry for the Lord. I believe it’s God downloading into the heart of the prime example of a lovesick believer and David whose known to be a man after God’s own heart. I believe it was God downloading that in David so that we can have the written example how we can seek the Lord. And when we study the life of David it’s very simple, he just spent time with the Lord he loved to worship the Lord. So I begin my day with reading the psalms. I speak it out loud; and as something hits me I’ll begin to mediate on that for example if I… “One thing have I asked of the Lord.” And if I feel that the one thing portion of the scripture hits me I begin to pace around, I’ll sit down, whatever I feel, there’s no rules. I actually begin to say “Lord make me a person of…
Sid: I’ll tell you what I’m fascinated hearing how the Holy Spirit has been training you to have that higher level of intimacy but we’re out of time right now. However how would you like Carlos to be your personal trainer? And the key heart issues that are going to revolutionize your walk that you will not miss this visitation. I mean you want to be on the same rollercoaster ride down hill that you see going on in the world? That you see in a seeker sensitive church that doesn’t have a clue about what we’re talking about.
