Latest / Rick Manis Ministries Podcast / "Those" People

Transcript

"Those" People · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:12
SPEAKER_00: Father, we uh we do thank you for um blessing and comforting uh Martha's family.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh you're you do what what goes beyond us, and we we're so grateful you you're you're so faithful to to do for us what seems so hard, and we so we thank you for being who you are in this situation and in all of our situations.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: We thank you in the wonderful name of our Savior Jesus.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Um so I want to tell you some things that I have learned about about grace, and uh, you know, and even thinking of the comforting in a situation where we lose somebody like this.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: We deal with things, and this is really what the to me the best part of knowing God is, is that God can do in our lives things that are too hard for us.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: And and he came for for times like that.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, um I was thinking as I was sitting there, all of my Christian ministry, you know, you you you're dealing with people.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: Even when things are going well, let's say the nation's pretty stable and going relatively well, um, there's no pandemic, you know, there's no things are pretty much okay, the community's all right.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: But still, individuals have their own individual things that get hard for them to deal with.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it might be, you know, something in their relationships, it might be, it might be a money problem, it might be a sickness, it might be besides just people's own individual mental demons that that that work against them and their psyche, their insecurities and different things like that.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: They have all of that.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: And then this past year we've we've we've thrown on all this stuff that seems to have put a lot of people on edge.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: We've had this this uh this pandemic, we've had politics, we've had what we had racial things, social, you know, we've had so much going on.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: Um and and then you take um even you know our present situation.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: It's just there's just a lot.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh but Jesus came for times like this.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: This is what it's about, this is what it's about here.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, in the world, there is tribulation.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: He didn't take it away, he left it there, but he took us out of that world.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: He said, Be of good cheer.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: He says, I have overcome the world.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: There's tribulation in the world, but in me there is peace.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to uh, you know, talk about uh uh a few things that really one particular thing, but a couple of instances that have happened in my life, and these were some of the worst things that ever happened in my life, but at the same time, they actually were the best times in my life.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: They're the most momentous times, the things that I most appreciate uh about uh about the Lord and what he's done for me.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: These were all things that vaulted me, they catapulted me into a more wonderful joy and an understanding of God, a relationship with God that caused me to know him more and to love him more and appreciate him more.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: And it empowered, it empowered me.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: That's what these things do.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: And I want to start off uh by reading Matthew chapter 18, verse 7.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Jesus made this statement that I've read a lot of times, but I never, I don't guess I ever caught the first part of this.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: In verse 7, he says, Woe to the world because of offenses.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus saying, I feel sorry for you guys.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: He says, because offenses are gonna come.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: He says, for offenses must come, but woe to the man by whom the offense comes.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: And uh and so these things that we deal with, I'm gonna talk about some of my uh offenses in my life.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna talk about what God has done in my life.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: And uh the title of this thing, I've titled this, Those People.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: You know who those people are in your life, right?
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Those people.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh or uh how to be healed of a broken heart.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: We were singing the song and my heart just leaped because we were singing about how he gives joy to the brokenhearted and hope for the lost.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: And I love God for who he is.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: God's gonna bless everybody here.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: That's just because what he does.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: He just blesses, blesses, and blesses.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, the word there for offense, as some of you might know, is a Greek word, and it's a funny word because it's the word scandalon.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: It's where we get the word scandal from.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: And it literally means a bait stick or for a trap, uh, generally a snare.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm just reading the strong's definition here.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: Generally a snare, a stumbling block, an offense.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: In fact, many times in many Bibles it's it's translated rather than offense as a stumbling block, something that makes that makes you stumble.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: And I found out that uh over uh over time that in Christianity the things that that seem to trip us up, or the things that we struggle uh the most with is uh to me, I think it's even more so than personal uh vices or habits or uh or some other things, is that is that what gives us the hardest time are these things called humans.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, and I literally said, and I've I'm not the only one, I've heard other people say they've said very similar things, but I can remember remember getting so upset one time I just said, Lord, I don't I I I I I like doing your ministry if there just weren't any people.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: It'd be so much better if there just weren't any humans to deal with.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, Amen.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh there was one time, there was one time I I'd gotten upset with uh over something, and and I was serious.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I uh when I do this, I get really serious, and I'm just like, I mean, I'm making plans.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm I'm picking up everything.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: We're I'm gonna take my family, we're moving to the mountains where there's no people.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: And I said, and I and I tried to talk God into letting me do that.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: And I was I'm like, God, all I want to do is just go worship you on the mountains.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: Just me and you, God.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: And I don't have to deal with people anymore.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, suddenly, whether it was him speaking or it came to my remembrance, it was like, you know, there's that verse that you can't get around Jesus and say, Well, if you don't love people, you're really not loving me.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I think I can.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: I really think that I can, Father.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh of course I didn't go to the mountains, but that's how I felt that day, um, for sure.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh I've had a few, I've I've I've had three big instances in my life.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: I never was a person, I mean, I was ever since I got onto the Word of God, I was always like serious about if I saw it in the Bible, I was going to try to make that a part of my life.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: And I saw a verse that said, you know, great peace at those that love thy law and nothing shall offend them.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: So I thought, I'm never going to be offended.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: And I was pretty good at it for a while.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, there was a lot of things, and and people even said, You're just like a, you're just like a like like a duck.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: You just let things run off your back, and I'm just like, well, you know, I don't ever get offended.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: And and uh and I found out I was pretty good at it.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: I realized later on that those were things that weren't even that hard.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, because then I got hit with something that was really, really, really hard and hurtful.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Um I want to uh address this to a verse in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 8.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: And uh what he says is, above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh if you know the background of this, it makes it really, really uh strong because he the background of 1 Peter was that he was he says all these things that are that are really misunderstood.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: For instance, um he says something like uh, for if the if the righteous are barely saved, what will be the end of the sinners?
7:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I I look at, I'm like, right righteous, barely saved.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I know I'm righteous in Christ.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Am I barely saved?
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Am I still maybe not going to make it heaven?
7:55
SPEAKER_00: Am I barely gonna make it to heaven by the skin of my teeth?
7:57
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm gonna, if the righteous are barely saved, scarcely saved?
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Well, what was he talking about?
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Well, he was talking about a deliverance from a situation that there was some bad things that had already started and something and really about to come on them.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: There was there was there was a tribulation going on.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: There were, there was lots of persecution and there was martyrdom, and he talked about suffering for the cause of Christ.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: He says, you know, hold to who you are.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: So don't become, don't become, you know, bitter and evil and mad, you know, don't let them, don't let them persecute you because you're doing horrible things, says, just let them stay, just let the persecution be because you love God and you take a stand for Christ.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and uh he says, you know, but be but be encouraged, the end of all things is at hand.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: And he was talking about the end of the situation that they were that that that they were in.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: And so, in all of that, all those things, these things are coming down on them.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things he tells them in the middle of this, he says, now here's important above all things, in all these things, the most important of all, he says, is see to it that you have a strong love for one another, because love will take care of all of that.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Love will cover a multitude of sins.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: And um I'm very everything, I cannot speak anything about God without without funneling everything back down to who He is.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: God is love, and that is really our power.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: And that's the power of everything, it's the way out.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: Now, the thing about that is, as we all know that, but it's easier said than done.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: So, what we're gonna look at here is the is is is the supernatural part of this, the power of this thing that gets us into beyond what our uh fleshly ability is able to do.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Because I was the guy that could just forgive everything, but then I came against some things that I just couldn't do.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I struggle.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: I I, you know, when Jesus said forgive, you know, seven times seventy, you know, they said, Well, what if they keep doing it?
9:55
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you just keep forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and bringing?
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Come on, that doesn't make any sense.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: He says, How about seven times seventy?
10:01
SPEAKER_00: Not seven times.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: Peter thought he was making this big stretch.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
10:05
SPEAKER_00: What, seven times a day?
10:06
SPEAKER_00: You know, he thought, and Jesus said, How about how about 490 times a day?
10:12
SPEAKER_00: And and you look at that and I think, I've dealt with people over the years that that it's hard, and I don't blame them because they really get hurt, that it's hard to forgive somebody for one thing one time.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: You know?
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Because really what he's asking many times it goes beyond us.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: We can't do it.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: We know we know how to do it mentally.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: I know there's a difference there.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: There's a difference where you where we we know that we're to forgive, and you hear this a lot, and people say, Well, I I do forgive him.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: I do forgive him, but but we know in our heart there's still a uh a torment there.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: Then there's the other dimension where God takes over, and there's a supernatural ability for us to move into where anything hurting, anything hurting in our heart gets healed, and it gives us the ability to walk above all of this, all all of the stumbling blocks that we deal with.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, you know, what we are is we are the expression of Christ.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: And there is a light that that creation is looking to see, and and we really have that.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes it's hard.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: We know that.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: Jesus certainly knew that.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: Um so the first time one of these situations got bigger than me was I was the associate pastor of a church, and um without needing to go into all the details of the whys, is there was another family that didn't like me.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: And um and I and and and and it was obvious, and I knew it, and people would talk to me about things that were sit that they were saying about me and stuff, and I'm like, it's okay, I love him, I forgive him, you know, it's no big deal to me.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: But eventually it got to where it was spreading, and people, and then some of my good friends were listening to them, and they're and they're kind of coming at me too, and uh, and that hurt me.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: That's when I was like, okay, this has gone too far.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: And I just I it I I I just I just hurt, I said, that's it, I'm done.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh I went to the pastor's house to quit.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh they weren't home, and I was just walking, I was just tormented.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: I walked in the alley behind their house for well over an hour, waiting for them to get home, and and when they finally got home, I come to tell them that that I quit, that I was hurt.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: I said, I'm um I said I want to get away.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: I said, I want to be healed, I'm done with all this.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: And um, and he talked me into sticking around, sticking it out.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: So I try I tried, but but I would sit, now in those days, I was the one, I was, you know, I was I was I was I was much you know younger, and I was just so I was like, I mean, I would jump up and down during the fast songs, and I would cry during the slow songs, and I was just, I mean, I was all that.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: And then during this time, though, I didn't sit toward the front like I usually did.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: I sat I sat towards the back and I stood there during worship just like this the whole time because I was hurt and I didn't deserve it.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: And I wanted everybody to know that somebody had hurt me, and I wanted them all to get on my side because people knew what was going on.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: And I wanted them to realize how bad this thing was.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: And they and and so I would do that.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and I'm doing this, and and I didn't look over, and that couple they would just be worshiping and just having a good old time and getting blessed during worship, and I would think, those phony people, there's no way God could be blessing them after what they did to God's boy here.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: And they the worst of all was we had we had uh uh a ministry couple guest speaking, and they worked in the prophetic gifts, and they called them, called them out and actually called them forward.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, finally, somebody's gonna read them to act.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's gonna finally expose everything.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: And this couple, who they seemed like they were right about everybody else, missed it big time.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: They just told them how much God loved them and how how pleased he was with them and all this stuff, and I thought, well, they don't have that gift, they don't even know what they're what they're talking about.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: And they, and so, you know, and there's one of those times I was I was standing there, and I'm realizing, I'm I'm I'm I'm really I'm getting more and more burnt because I'm just like they're feeling God, everybody else is feeling.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, how come you guys aren't hitting the brakes, stopping everything, and and and doing something about these people that are hurting me?
14:49
SPEAKER_00: And I'm and uh this other lady that was in our church always sat on the front, sweet, humble lady, that she was used in the in the prophetic gifts sometimes, and and it was always really good.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: And she came walking back to me during the worship, and I'm standing there like this, and she goes, God told me to tell you something.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: She says, He says, He wanted me to say, say, Rick, the only reason that people are coming against you is because you love God with all of your heart.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Okay, yeah, say on, yeah, I think you're right, yeah.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: She says, and God says that it's not gonna stop.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: In fact, this stuff's only going to increase in your life.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: And as bad as that sounds, for some reason for me, it's what I needed to hear.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: Because it was sort of like, oh, of course this is gonna happen sometimes.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it just somehow, it was just the right thing that I needed to hear, and it it touched me and it kind of broke me to where I was just like, Here I've been acting like this the whole time.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: And I remember saying, God, I just want to do your will.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: I will pay any price, I will suffer all the persecution in the world for you.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: And I get this little thing going on, and I'm acting like a baby, and I and it, and I'm like, oh my goodness.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and and in that time, you know, I was just like, you know, it it dealt with me, and I just like it.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: This something happened to me that I couldn't do.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: Something happened to me.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: Somebody did something for me.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: God did something for me that I couldn't do.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: He showed me something that allowed me to open up to him in a way that started flooding my heart and healing me, and for the first time in months, I could feel God again.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: And I had, and it just it took away all these other feelings that I was having about these people, and I just thought, it was just it was just wonderful and amazing.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: I still had questions after that.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, but God, you know, I'm still I'm still waiting for them to.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: All I wanted, all I wanted was for them to see the error of their ways.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: I all I wanted was for them to admit that they were wrong.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: And uh and here's what something that I I I felt that I felt that God was told me then.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's just something I noticed, that God didn't seem to be, at least towards me, he didn't seem to be too interested in dealing with them.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: It was like, this was about you, son.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me deal with that.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: But as far as you, he says, I want to help you.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: And so he he he did what was what was needed.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: And and and I'd realized, and I had I had some other situations later, and I realized it seems like whenever I'm in a situation like that, God, God didn't even seem to be too interested in talking about with what's wrong with them.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: He always wants to talk about how to get me straight again.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and and and and and and and that blessed me.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: But I had a, I, you know, I realized that you know that this bitterness, you know, my definition of it is unfulfilled revenge because it's just like I just I want them to pay.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: And and I wasn't, I didn't want them to die or get a disease or anything, you know.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: In fact, people would ask me and say, well, well, can you can you can you can you forgive them?
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Can you love them?
18:19
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, yeah, oh, I love them.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: I you know, I don't want anything bad to happen to them.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: As if that's the definition of love.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: You don't want something bad to happen.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: I still hear that from people sometimes.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love them.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: I don't want anything bad to happen to them.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: That's not a very high definition of love, especially agve, right?
18:39
SPEAKER_00: Um but but my unfulfilled revenge, for me, it was it was I thought it was it was just I just want them to know.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: I just want them to admit it.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: God, why can't if you can't why can't you just show them the error of their ways?
18:53
SPEAKER_00: And and and honestly, when I look back at some of these situations, I don't know if if any ever have.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: So if I was waiting for that, I would have been in terrible shape for a long, long, long time, right?
19:06
SPEAKER_00: God does what we can't do.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: The second time I was pastoring a church and uh had some um people in leadership that I just I just felt like I was I was young.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: They were old, they were experienced, they rubbed shoulders with all the who's who.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Um and I felt like I tried to I tr I tried to deny it for a long time, for for quite a few years, but I just felt like they were always controlling me.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they they succeeded in controlling me for some years, and somebody else helped me with it, and I I I kind of stepped up in leadership, and and uh that's what when that happened, that's when all the flesh hit the fan, and and and they they weren't gonna have that.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so there was all that, they they they get it set, and they and uh and they they take some people uh from the church and and start something down the road.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I said, well, good riddance.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: Those are all the ones, have a good time, you know, over there.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: But but but I knew that I want, you know, I didn't like how I felt about the people.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: There again, I know, I know, we know what the right thing is.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: We want to forgive, we want to operate in this in this love, so I wanted to, but I just it was hard for me to get there.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: And I would, I would, you know, and we do it by just by trying to say the right things.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, we it's the best we can do.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: We say, God, I forgive them, I forgive them.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: And and I really did, did my best, but I could still feel deep down.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: I never I I kept saying that because I I still felt deep down as, you know, and I think I've forgiven.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: And everybody somebody would say, Well, how's oh so-and-so?
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen them lately?
20:52
SPEAKER_00: And every time I'd hear their name, I just get just inside of me.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: So I knew that I I wanted more than just what I was doing.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: And I pray, I mean, I went and locked myself in a hotel room for like three days trying to get this uh for this person.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: And what actually uh when I did that, um, I God did bless me with with the you know the truth about blessing those who curse you and and pray for those who who despitefully use you, and so on.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: And so I got a revelation in that that helped me where I got like, I can do this.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: I can just, I I I was I I had been operating in where like I I forgive him, I let it go, it's okay.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Um I'll I'll I'll operate in love.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: I would run into them in town once in a while, and we'd see each other, and I would do the Christian thing.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: I would smile and go, uh hey, brother, I love you.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's enough.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: And and and we and we and and and and I'm doing my best, see, I'm I'm doing my best.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm not being hateful, I'm not being mean, I'm not, I'm not even talking about them or anything.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: But I'm but I'm not feeling Jesus in here.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And uh so God helped me with that about the blessing.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: I thought, oh, I can do that.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: And I would try.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: I'd call him on the phone.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know, I just want to talk to you, you know.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, let by God's be God.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: And we would talk and talk.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: And in one conversation, it's like somehow it got to where he was just making me feel very, very small again.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, by the time I hung, I looked at my wife and I said, Don't ever let me call that man again.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: He does this every time.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: But I uh pressed it through and I just and I heard that word about blessing those who curse you.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: And so I said, you know what?
22:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go farther than this.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be good to him.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: I got to where I would I could pray goodness for them.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, whereas before I hoped that their little thing didn't do anything.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: I wanted them blessed.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: I wanted, and I started feeling that.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: And God was ministering that to me.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: And I really got to that place to where I was so surprised when I pulled into a circle K, and lo and behold, there he is, and I step out and I looked at him, and I felt so clean and so pure and so good.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: I knew that it was gone, and I hugged the man and didn't want to let him go and just cried as I held him because Jesus did something that in all of my best efforts, in all of my willpower, and all of my strength, I just couldn't, I couldn't do it.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't fault people at all for struggling with any of these things like this, dealing with people.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: And I call this those people because we, you know, you know, there's there there are family members, there are people you work with, there are there's those people, or at least I've had them.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't, but I've always had those people in my life.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: The last one was the hardest thing, probably the most the hardest thing, the most hurtful thing that I ever went through, besides my my first wife um dying, but it was a different kind of pain.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: And um, and so this was um I I uh about 20 years ago or so, a little more now, I I started, I I had laid on the floor and God showed me this thing about His His fullness, that His grace was sufficient, and He was enough for everything that I had been trying to get, and it started to change my ministry.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: And um and and I and this revelation of God's grace started happening, started coming up, and I was talking about it so more and I was excited about about not needing to do anything or be anything, but it was all about Jesus, and he had done everything, and Jesus, who I thought was this big, was suddenly bigger than I could even see, and and I was excited about that.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: And and I was uh it wasn't too long after that when I was ready to go do my start my traveling ministry, and so so so I had turned my church over to uh my associate, and uh when I hadn't been out very long when uh he makes a special uh conference call with me and some other people and uh says, you know, I'm I'm uh uh I'm reincorporating, I'm changing the name, you're not a part of part of this new thing, and and da-da-da, and we really don't want you speaking anymore.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: And um that hurt me really bad.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: I just I just this was time I was the most serious.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I I did quit.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: I was living out in California at the time.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: And uh I remember getting up to go to church, and I was just I was I just I mean I I just felt like somebody had like soup that had been eaten and then brought back up again on the floor.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: I was just like I had nothing, and I just thought, God, I don't know anything, I don't have any discernment, I don't know people, I don't know me, I don't, I don't think I know you, I don't, I, uh I don't have anything.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: I feel like what have I been speaking to people you know all these years?
25:53
SPEAKER_00: I don't know anything.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: And um and uh I remember getting up on a Sunday to to to go to church up there, and I I got the the Sunday paper.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Um some of you might not know this, but they had these things back then that they were made out of paper.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: And they but but and I and I'm I'm in the WAN ads, and I've got this fantasy.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm feeling kind of good because I'm like, you know what?
26:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to do this.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: I can go get a job, go to a church, sit on the back row, say amen, once in a while, pay a tithe.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I would to me that seemed like the life.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: I said that's all I wanted to do.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: And and and I was I was I was just I was done.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: I was looking at one ads, and I was and I was like, I I had quit.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: In my heart, I had just quit.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: I was done, and and you know, kind of excited about getting out of it.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: Well, God ministered somehow in the in the service that day and through the word that was spoken where I I I couldn't do that, I it it inspired me again, and I stood up and I I unquit during that service.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: And and uh and uh in fact, uh in fact the pastor you know asked for you know, said if somebody wants prayer and you're going through this, whatever, how he he described this condition that you're in, that was me.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: I went up and and he prayed for me, and that ministered to me too.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: And so I came out feeling like, okay, I'm I'm unquit, I'm ready to get back on.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I had meetings scheduled, I was ready to I was getting ready to counsel them all, and and and and so I unquit and I'm now I'm gonna do this.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: And so I went back on the road and and I was preaching my messages, and I was in one church where I was preaching like four nights in a row, and um, and and oh my goodness, they were you know, it was there was like revival stuff going on back those days, and it was happening there, and it was so such a wonderful, wonderful experience, and people were getting blessed.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: But I'd go back to my room and I'd cry because I'm hurting here.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm still hurting.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm still hurting about this whole thing, and I know it, and I'm I'm crying to God, and I'm pacing back and forth like for hours after I get back in my room.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying, God, I'm hurting, I'm hurting, I'm hurting.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: I said, and I said, and I know, I said, here's here's what I know for.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: I said, I know I'm hurting because I'm focusing on me.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: I know that, but I don't know how to stop.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: I can't do it.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: And and and I would just pray, and I literally would pray for hours.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: I just couldn't stop because I the pain was there so bad.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so after about four days of this, the the Spirit of God ministered to me.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: And I and I'm curtain, and I'm saying, God, I just feel like I'm dying here.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm just like like your crucifixion must have been.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I feel like I'm hurting that much.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: I know it's not, but it feels, I couldn't imagine anything more horrible than what I'm feeling right now.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Well, I showed you how to die at my crucifixion.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: And I and I'm like, oh, you died with amazing grace.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Not like me.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: And and I said, You you hung there and you said, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: And and I'm and I'm I'm sort of saying this to myself, you know, and I'm like, they don't know what they're doing, they don't know what they do.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: They don't know what they're what they what they're doing.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: I said, Oh.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: So with whatever their how condition is, this was the best they could do.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: They don't know what they're doing, Father.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, they did.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: They they're they're selfish, they're they're ambitious, they're you know.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: But it kept coming back.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: They don't know.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: And something started happening to me.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: I started, this is a supernatural part, guys.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: I something happened to me that I couldn't do.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: I started, I didn't even know this is what I needed to do, but I started seeing, I started feeling about them the way he felt.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: He never stopped feeling about them.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Even when they were doing these, what I felt like was horrible things to God's favorite son.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: And I and and I and and and I and I and I'm like, you've never stopped seeing them this way.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: You didn't see them anything the way I've been seeing them now.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: And and I'm like, oh God, and I found myself really pleading.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: I said, God, I'm I'm I'm praying out of my gut now, and I'm saying, God, they don't know what they do.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Don't let anything bad happen to them because of this.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I got released.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: I just got this wonderful love and joy, and it my soul got flooded.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: And and and I I love to tell this story because this was a catapult in my life.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: This was something that has stayed with me.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: My life is is is built upon upon the supernatural kind of love that goes beyond our understanding, that was able to do that which I could not do.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: And we'll we'll we'll be counseling with people, and they're saying, I'm trying that love stuff.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying, I'm like, I understand that, I know.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: But there's a well to draw from.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: It will it we there is a healing for our hearts.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: He truly is the healer of the brokenhearted.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: My heart was broken, and he healed me.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: He just healed me by just being who he was.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: And by being who he was, thank God he's in us.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: Because he through that, uh somehow I was able to see.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: He did it for me.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus said the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, when He comes, He said, He will take of mine and He'll reveal it to you.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: And this is what He He takes His glory.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: And it makes it all about Him, all about Jesus, and shows us all of that.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: And I I saw them how God had never stopped seeing.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: I started feeling for them the way God had never stopped feeling, and I don't think a human can do that.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen a case where just humans, even my own, try and try, and I and I thought I had a pretty strong will about this, where I just couldn't do it.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: And my news today is that in all of our situations in life, and there will be some as long as we're on this earth, there is always a healing, and there is a step up for us.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: And I have hope for the body of Christ because I think I think that God is teaching his body.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a it's a minority, we know that, but it's trending in the right direction.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: And and and creation has been groaning for something.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Creation has been groaning for the manifestation of the revealing, the revelation of the sons of God.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: And this right here is somebody loving the whole earth.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just our Heavenly Father, this is us.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: The whole world.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the mean ones.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the Republicans, the Democrats, I'm talking about the the black, the white, I'm talking about the Arab, I'm talking about those people in your family.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about those people you work with.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: The only way we can do this is for somebody to be bigger than we are.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: That's a part of who we are.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: And I, for one, am so thankful.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: So thankful that he gives us a peace.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: Right?
33:38
SPEAKER_00: He gives us a peace that goes beyond what we should be having peace about.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: Right?
33:47
SPEAKER_00: I have I I please don't let this sound like it's about me, but I have seen my limitations in all of these things.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: I have seen the end of my ability to have peace.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: I know it, I know it's there.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: The end of my ability to love.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: I've seen the end of my ability to rejoice in situations.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: And I've always been serious about the word of God, and I've always tried to do these things.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: When they used to say they used to saying, if you want joy, you must jump for it.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: So I jumped, you know, whatever it took to try to get it.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: So we're aware of our limitations.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: These things show us what our limitations are.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: It's in those limitations or that weakness is where there's a whole other world that creation's waiting to see.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: I believe that God has poured his love out on us, and then we in turn pour that love out to a world.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: He heals our broken hearts so that we can then be healers, givers, lovers.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: And all we what we want to remember is our strength is in him.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times in Christianity, we can mix up a lot of our soul and our willpower into this thing.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: It it always runs out.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have stronger willpower than others, but you'll all find your limits.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: But there is a limitless thing.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: There were times Peter would say, you know, Jesus would be talking, and Peter would be like, Well, who can be saved?
35:34
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus basically said, It's impossible.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: You can't.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: With men, this is just not possible.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: You can't do it.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: But with me, it's very, very, very, very possible.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: Would y'all stand up?
35:48
SPEAKER_00: I want to pray.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: I love you guys.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: After that last most hurtful thing, it felt like a betrayal.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: It led me into a revelation that took this weak hurt man into someone that was surprised.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: I began, I get surprised to this day at the capacity for love and the capacity for peace.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: I almost felt guilty sometimes this past year for having such peace.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't like any of the situations, and you didn't either.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: Still don't.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: But there's something else that's bigger than us.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: There's a joy that still strengthens us, doesn't it?
37:09
SPEAKER_00: There's a peace that goes beyond understanding.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: People have accused me of not caring.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: I care very much.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: But above all these things that we deal with, with with the world, with the situations, with our people, with those people.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: Above all that, we're lights in a world because God is doing his thing in us, and he's doing his thing in you.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: And don't lose hope in yourself because you found your ceiling.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: The ceiling does break, and there's a whole wonderful world of joy and hope and peace and goodness.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: This is why we love him.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for your goodness.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being who you are.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: What would we do without you?
38:04
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we go through things and but what we say is, don't feel sorry for me.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: Feel sorry for somebody that doesn't know you.
38:13
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for being who you are.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: You're our counselor, you're our comforter, you're our father and best friend.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: You really, really, really, really are.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that everyone here, everyone here would delight right now, right where we're standing, and just enjoy how good and how big you are.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: Because wherever anybody's at, whatever they're dealing with, whatever they're going through, whatever roadblock they've they they're they're dealing with, whether it's relational, financial health, or whatever, there are no real roadblocks.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: With God, all things are possible.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Father, for doing what we can't do.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: We give you praise in the name of Jesus.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: Amen.