Portal of Glory, Part 1

Announcer: Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today on the Sound of Faith, because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In today's exciting message, Portal of Glory, I will be sharing the story of my recent breast cancer diagnosis and how the Lord sealed my heart with His supernatural, unsurpassed peace from the first day of my journey, during which God gave me a phenomenal dream of a portal of glory from which radiated streams of energy into my body. Stay tuned for Portal of Glory.
Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen, you may be seated. What does Emmanuel mean? What does it mean? God with us. And you know, that's exactly what I'll be ministering on today. Sort of a, you know, it'll have a little twist to it, but it'll boil down to that. Amen. Turn in your Bibles first and let's read one verse in Romans 8:11. Romans 8:11, and you know this verse well. "But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you." This is a very encouraging word to me, and I hope it is to you. How many have the spirit of Christ? How many have the spirit of God in you? Amen. And if you have that spirit of God, this is the spirit by which God raised Jesus up from the dead, out of the tomb after three days. And I won't go there, but He did more than just raising from the dead, because Ephesians 1:20-21 tells us He raised Him above all powers and principalities and powers and dominions and mights and thrones, and above every name that is named both in this world and in the age to come. So He didn't just raise Him from the dead. He raised Him and sat at His own right hand in a place of power and authority. And again, Ephesians tells us in the second chapter that somebody is sitting up there with Him on the right hand of God. Anybody have an idea who that might be? I'm up there with Him, what about you? Amen. But we are so earthly bound sometimes, we forget that, don't we? Now as you know, I had surgery, it'll be two weeks ago Monday, and it went very well, very well. I had to wait a week to get the lab reports back, and the thing that I was wanting to hear number one was that when they examined the tumor that they took out and the tissue they took around it, that they would not find the cancer had spread. They have to have a clean margin all the way around, and then they took lymph nodes out because if it spreads, it's going to go to the lymph nodes first. And both the margins and the lymph nodes were perfectly clean. I still am asking you for prayer these next two weeks because one test came back positive, and I don't understand all the things about genetics and I surely am not going to bore you with all that. But it basically means that the type of cancer cells have a genetic predisposition of being more aggressive, to multiply more rapidly. And so because of that, when I go in two weeks to speak to an oncologist, because of that, she may tell me certain treatments that I should have. And I know how very strongly I feel about certain things. So I don't want to be foolish, but neither do I want to do anything that I feel that it's not God's will for me. Maybe God's will for somebody else, but I'm talking about me because everybody's different. And so I don't want to be foolish and say I'm not hearing you, but on the other hand, I do not want to allow anything to be put on me that is not God's will, because I trust the Lord. You see, when it comes down to it, after the surgery's all done and they give you this wonderful report, you still got to trust the Lord. You see, you still got to trust the Lord because you got a battle with a spirit of fear and you got a battle with all these "what ifs, what ifs, what ifs." So the bottom line is you're still having to walk every day by faith and will for the rest of your life on this earth. Amen. So that's why I'm asking for your prayers, my appointment's in two weeks. But here's the thing about it. You all know I've been giving you little tidbits along the way of how the Lord has just been helping me with His supernatural peace, and that peace has never left me. Now I think I got a little discouraged that day when he told me about this genetic thing. And it was the most discouraged that I felt for these all these months put together. And I was a little down, but I did not lose it. I put the brakes on. I put them on. Amen. I might have got watery eyes, but honey, they never fell down my cheeks. I was like, "No, we ain't turning that on, we're not going there." And here's the thing about it. The Lord gave me this glorious, absolutely phenomenal, I don't have enough adjectives, stupendous, fabulous, I got to tell you phenomenal, glory, I don't know if it was a dream, but it was almost like a vision, this Sunday past. So I had to wait till today to be able to tell you about it. And you know, when God gives you something like that, usually there's a good reason for it. And He knew that I was going to hear that little damper. I'll call it a snag, okay, a snag. He knew I was going to hear the snag in the good report to try to overshadow the glorious good report with that little damper. So here's what happened Sunday morning, just past. It was a three-part dream and I'm just going to jump to the last part because that's the part that's so phenomenal. I know in the first part the setting was a very beautiful scenic outdoor setting. It was like a place where people go on vacation. There was a pond, there were green hills, and I saw all of these campers and RVs and I knew that people were there getting away from the stress of their lives to relax and have a nice time. It was beautiful. And there I was with them too. I was with a lot of people, but I never saw a face. It was nothing specific, it was just a generalization to me. A lot of other details that were for me. Then the second part of the dream is gone. I don't know what it is. And sometimes the Lord does that. He'll hide it from you and then later you might get it. But the third part of the dream is where we're going. So I had been outdoors in this beautiful scenic area, and now suddenly I found myself in a tunnel. But it was not dark or scary. It actually the tunnel looked like it was almost the color of what I'm wearing today, the sides and the ceiling. Even though it was not outdoors, it was beautiful. But over here to my right was an opening, and the sun and the light was pouring in the tunnel from that opening. On the left side the tunnel was coming down and then it made a very sharp left turn. I couldn't see what was around the corner in the turn. So I'm standing there looking at this tunnel, thinking I wonder where I am and what's going on, and here comes a lady coming in the tunnel here and she's got a bright red suitcase. And she's walking in the tunnel, she's walking down towards this over here. Just when she got to where she would have to make that left turn, she stopped, put the suitcase down, and looked over at me. So I said to the person next to me, I said, "I'm going with her." So I walked over to where she was. Now as soon as I walked over to where she was standing, immediately all I became aware of is the sun was penetrating down, which was unusual because it had been a tunnel with a ceiling on it. All of a sudden it was heat was beaming down on my head, and so I looked up to see what was going on, and I could see the sun way up there, but it was like it was focused on me. And it was coming through the tops of the trees and beaming down on my head. And I mean, it was hot, but it felt wonderful. It was glorious. And it got brighter and warmer and brighter and warmer, and then as it began to strengthen, I began to get like vibrations coming down through my body. It would come down and go up and come down and go up and it got stronger and stronger. It was like energy, energy was coming in my body and penetrating me. It didn't hurt. It was actually pleasurable. It felt wonderful. My whole body was enveloped in this warm light and love and all these vibrations. So I lifted my hands and I began to worship the Lord and worship God. The more I worshipped Him, the stronger it got and the stronger it got. And I actually remember thinking to myself, "I wonder how much power my body can take, but I don't want it to stop." But I did think that, I thought, "Gee, I wonder how much power I can stand. But don't stop, Lord, keep it going." Now here's the unusual part. I began to cry out, "Gloria Santiago! Gloria Santiago! Gloria Santiago!" And the more I cried it out, the more it just poured on me and poured on me. And it was just glory. I can if I have to sum it up in one word, I'll say this: ecstasy. And so I'm not sure how long it went on. It seemed like it went on a long, long time, but it finally subsided. And I lay there as quiet and still as I could because I was thinking maybe it would start up again. And I didn't want to move, just in case. I knew I was under that portal of glory and I lay there for the longest time, hoping it would start up again. And then I just began to thank the Lord for what He had just done. And I just kept thanking Him and at the same time I'm thinking in my mind, "What in the world is Gloria Santiago?" I'm thinking this, and so I'm lying there and I go through the whole thing over and over again in my mind until I fell asleep. So the next morning, guess what I did? I Googled Gloria Santiago. Amen. And so the first thing that popped up on the Google, I clicked on, said Portico Gloria Santiago. Portico, P-O-R-T-I-C-O. And so what it was about is it's a beautiful cathedral in Spain that was built back in the 1100s. And it has over 200 Romanesque style arches and sculptures all over it. The high point of the cathedral is the portico or the main entrance into the cathedral. It's considered the greatest work of Spanish Romanesque sculpture in the world. This portico has three arches, and the middle arch is wider and bigger than the other two arches. These arches are covered with sculptures of the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament and angels. The three different arches represent number one, the written law, the law of grace, and the last one, the natural law. The central arch represents the final destination for true Christians: glory and resurrection. This opening, as I said, is wider than the other two openings of this portico. And also in this central opening, there is a sculpture to St. James. St. James, because "San" is "Saint." And I was going to find out what "Tiago" meant. Now I kept thinking to myself, "What is James got to do with my dream?" I couldn't figure that out, but I was really excited in my spirit because I already knew that I had been given a portal, an open portal, an entryway to glory. So I'm trying to figure out what in the world James has got to do with anything, and I thought, "Well, let me Google Santiago." So I did. And I found out that it is Spanish. The word Santiago means Saint James. "San" means Saint and "Tiago" means James. Now I knew that James was the first of the apostles to die a martyr's death, so I was thinking I don't like that interpretation too good. I don't see a connection there at all to my dream. Amen. So then I saw it caught my eye another posting said "Tiago, the origins from Hebrew." And I said, "Oh, okay, let me check on that." So I did. And I already knew, and some of you may already know, that James in the New Testament is the Greek form of Jacob. The name James is Greek for Jacob. Amen. I already knew that. Amen. So when I started looking at this closer, I found out that Tiago is actually from the Hebrew and that it means James. And then I thought, "Well, James actually means Jacob." In Hebrew, Jacob is Ya'aqov because their J becomes a Y and their V becomes a B. So Jacob technically is Ya'aqov. Okay, so now I know, okay, it has nothing to do with James in the New Testament. Good. It's got a connection somehow to Jacob in the Old Testament. So I'm thinking, "Well, what's the connection with Jacob?" And as I thought about this, a question rose up in my spirit. "What is significant about Jacob?" And immediately I knew the answer. When Jacob fled to the wilderness after his brother Esau had vowed to kill him, and his parents sent him away to go to Haran to their families, what happened? He had a dream and he saw heaven opened up and he saw a ladder and he saw on the ladder angels ascending and descending. And then I knew that God had opened up to me a portal of glory and His resurrection power had permeated my entire body. So here's what I'm thinking, and this is why I need you to pray with me, because I'm thinking that there was no cells that escaped the area of the original tumor. But they always will explain to you that there's no way anyone can know if they escaped through blood vessels and could be gone through your body somewhere. So I decided that if any did escape and went wherever, they got zapped when the glory came down. Now I don't think I can go to that appointment and tell that oncologist, "Hey, they all got zapped. Heaven opened up and power and glory came down and zapped me." I probably can't tell her that. Amen. So I'm going to have to listen to whatever she's got to tell me and then I need the Holy Spirit to tell me what I'm supposed to do. Amen. So turn with me in Genesis 28 and we're going to see how really glorious this is. I told you it's going to kind of be like Emmanuel, God with us. Amen. We're in the 28th chapter of Genesis and we're going to begin with verse 10. "And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went towards Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set, and he took of the stones of that place and he put them for his pillows and he lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it and said, 'I am the Lord, the God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac.'" Now we know father there really means grandfather, and a lot of times they would refer to it being your father even many generations back. Okay. "The land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold I am with thee.'" There's Emmanuel for you. "'I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whithersoever thou goest and will bring thee again into this land for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.' And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not.' And he was afraid and said, 'How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.'" This is a portico of glory. Amen. So let's look at this for a moment. Now we know that Jacob had fled because he had gotten the blessing of the birthright from his father, which was supposed to go to Esau who was the older of the twins. Amen. And he and his mother had gone through a little scheme in order to deceive Isaac into thinking that Jacob was Esau and he got the blessing. And when Esau returned and found out what occurred, he was livid. And he vowed, "When our father is dead, I will kill you." Amen. So his parents sent him away. And one reason why they sent him away is because Esau had already married not one, but two heathen women. And these women the scripture says vexed the soul of Rebecca. And not only that, the scripture says brought grief of mind to both her and Jacob. And they did not want Jacob to marry one of the women around them like Esau had done. So because the family was in this big problem and they're having all this distress, they said, "This is a good time for you to leave town and let your brother cool off and you need to go back for where our family is and you pick a wife there."