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T_D_Jakes_God_Is_Preparing_You_for_GREATNESS;_Here_s_What_You · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

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Speaker 1: God is not giving influence in this season to people
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Speaker 1: who need self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. God is giving influence to
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Speaker 1: humble people who will lay on their face before God
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Speaker 1: and say to God, be the glory for the things
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Speaker 1: he has done. In order to have impact, God has
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Speaker 1: to give you influence in the eyes of the people.
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Speaker 1: And that's something that God has to do. Because you
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Speaker 1: can't do, you cannot control how people see you. Your
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Speaker 1: arrogance is a lethal weapon that ought to be registered.
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Speaker 1: Because you cannot say, I don't know. Little moment for preachers,
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Speaker 1: it is not what you know about the text that
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Speaker 1: makes you a great preacher. It's what you ask of
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Speaker 1: the text. If you come to the text as a fool,
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Speaker 1: you will leave as a professor. But if you come
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Speaker 1: to the text as a professor, you will walk away
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Speaker 1: as a fool. Say it again. I don't know. For
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Speaker 1: we know not what to pray for as we ought.
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Speaker 1: But the Spirit itself makes his intercession for us with
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Speaker 1: groanings and moanings that cannot be uttered. We don't know.
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Speaker 1: We don't know. We don't know. We don't know. We
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Speaker 1: don't know what it's going to be like. We don't
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Speaker 1: know what's going to happen. We don't know what tomorrow
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Speaker 1: is going to bring. We don't know how to live
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Speaker 1: in the promised land. We don't know how to fight
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Speaker 1: this kind of fight. We don't know Joshua like we
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Speaker 1: knew Moses. We don't know where we are. We're in transition.
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Speaker 1: And when you're in transition, nobody has to say anything
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Speaker 1: for you to be irritable. You're irritable because you're scared.
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Speaker 1: You're irritable because your norm has been shattered. You're irritable
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Speaker 1: because you're in a nebulous place. You're irritable because you
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Speaker 1: have landed in the city, but you haven't checked into
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Speaker 1: the hotel. Tradition will not produce transformation. Transformation is personal.
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Speaker 1: Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12, 2.
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Speaker 1: That's personal. That's not congregational. You don't get transformation because
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Speaker 1: you go to the potter's house. You can go to
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Speaker 1: the potter's house until you're an old woman. But if
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Speaker 1: you are not transformed by the renewing of your mind,
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Speaker 1: you won't be able to make it. In Romans 8
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Speaker 1: when it talks about we know that all things work
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Speaker 1: together for the good of them that love the Lord.
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Speaker 1: For we know, we know, we know. And then it
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Speaker 1: finally says we know not what to pray for as
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Speaker 1: we ought. That humility of saying we know not is
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Speaker 1: I don't know. Joshua, you don't know how to lead. Israel,
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Speaker 1: you don't know how to follow. Joshua doesn't know how
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Speaker 1: to lead. I know he doesn't know how to lead
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Speaker 1: because the first thing he does is pull out his
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Speaker 1: sword against an angel and ask God, whose side are
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Speaker 1: you on?
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Speaker 2: What?
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Speaker 1: What I don't know produces a praying church who wants
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Speaker 1: God to be on your side more than you seek
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Speaker 1: to be on his side. Are you spending all your
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Speaker 1: time trying to talk God to bless what you plan?
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Speaker 1: Or are you humbly coming to him and say, Lord,
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Speaker 1: give me your plan? Because I don't know. I don't
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Speaker 1: know how to do this. Today I'm going to talk
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Speaker 1: to you about three things and I'll be gone. I'm
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Speaker 1: going to talk to you about influence. I'm going to
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Speaker 1: talk to you about impediments. And I'm going to talk
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Speaker 1: to you about instigators. I'm going to talk to you
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Speaker 1: about influence. I'm going to talk to you about impediments.
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Speaker 1: because that's what the flood is, an impediment. And I'm
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Speaker 1: going to talk to you about instigators. Give me a
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Speaker 1: few minutes and I'll be done. What God says to
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Speaker 1: Joshua is vitally important. He says, I am going to
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Speaker 1: magnify you in the eyes of the people. Which means
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Speaker 1: God says, I am going to give you influence. Don't
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Speaker 1: confuse affluence with, with influence. Because there are many people
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Speaker 1: who are affluent, but they don't have influence. They're affluent,
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Speaker 1: they're well known, they're recognizable, they have big names, they
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Speaker 1: have big offices, they have big suites, but they don't
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Speaker 1: have effect on the people who follow them. Affluence does
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Speaker 1: not equate with influence. God says to Joshua, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to give you influence. Influence is leadership flowing out of him.
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Speaker 1: It's what flows out of you. It's what flows out.
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Speaker 1: It's not just what you say. It's stuff that subconsciously,
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Speaker 1: like the influence is the lava that flows out of
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Speaker 1: a rock. Influence is what, it's not just what you're
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Speaker 1: doing or what you're saying. What is flowing out of
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Speaker 1: you affects everything around you. The subconscious things that you
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Speaker 1: emit into the atmosphere is effluence. So we got affluence,
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Speaker 1: we got influence, and we got effluence. He was already
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Speaker 1: effluent or he would have been commanding or he would
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Speaker 1: not have been commanding or leading people. He was a warrior.
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Speaker 1: But because he was a warrior, didn't make him Moses anymore. Influence, however,
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Speaker 1: is the ability to have a measurable impact on others' decisions, behaviors,
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Speaker 1: and effect outcomes. Influence. And there's not a person in
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Speaker 1: this room or a person watching online who doesn't need influence.
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Speaker 1: If it's just over your daughter, if it's just over
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Speaker 1: your son, If it's just in your job and in
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Speaker 1: your position or with your team or on your staff,
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Speaker 1: whatever it is that's up under your auspices, it's a
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Speaker 1: terrible thing to lead something without influence. When we think
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Speaker 1: of great influencers who positively or even controversially affected the
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Speaker 1: world around them, we mustn't confuse their affluence here either.
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Speaker 1: In reality, many influencers may not have been affluent at all.
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Speaker 1: Martin Luther wasn't affluent, but when he translated the Latin
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Speaker 1: scriptures over into the German language in 1522, it gave
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Speaker 1: him influence that led to the Protestant movement. of which
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Speaker 1: we and Baptists and Methodists and AMEs and United Methodists
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Speaker 1: and Church of God and Christ and Church of God
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Speaker 1: and Church of God and Prophecy and everybody else is
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Speaker 1: a part of the collective protest that came when the
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Speaker 1: Bible fell into the hands of people who could read it.
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Speaker 1: It gave him influence because it affected our behavior, our decisions,
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Speaker 1: and our choices. What are, how... effective at you are
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Speaker 1: you at influencing other people's behaviors, decisions, and outcomes. That
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Speaker 1: influence doesn't come by yelling, screaming, arguing, nagging, complaining, cussing
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Speaker 1: people out, breaking dishes, going at them with skillets. You
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Speaker 1: can't make people respect you. You cannot buy respect. Giving
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Speaker 1: me gifts, sending me cards, giving me money doesn't make
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Speaker 1: me respect you to the point of affecting my decisions,
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Speaker 1: my outcomes. Oh my God, I'm preaching. God said, I
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Speaker 1: am going to magnify you before the people. Don't confuse
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Speaker 1: titles with influencers. You get more, I'm the apostle. That's
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Speaker 1: the big thing now. I'm apostle. I'm a chief apostle.
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Speaker 1: I'm going from a bishop to be an apostle. I'm
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Speaker 1: going to be an apostle, but I was a bishop.
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Speaker 1: And the other guy's an apostle, but he's getting ready
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Speaker 1: to be coronated a bishop. Shut up! Changing the title
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Speaker 1: doesn't change the impact. If you have influence, you got
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Speaker 1: influence whether they gave you the title or not. Titles
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Speaker 1: are not influence. Don't confuse degrees and education and intellect
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Speaker 1: with influence. You can have more degrees than a thermometer
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Speaker 1: and influence absolutely nobody. God says to Joshua, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to magnify you in the eyes of the people. Here's
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Speaker 1: the question. Because some of you, God is getting ready
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Speaker 1: to magnify you in the eyes of the people. If
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Speaker 1: God magnifies you, would you magnify him? Oh, magnify the
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Speaker 1: Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.
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Speaker 1: If God gives you the power to influence people's decisions,
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Speaker 1: outcome and purpose, would you then magnify God or would
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Speaker 1: you magnify yourself and brag about how smart you are
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Speaker 1: and how capable you are? Because God is not giving
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Speaker 1: influence in this season to people who need self-aggrandizement and self-promotion.
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Speaker 1: God has given influence to humble people who will lay
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Speaker 1: on their face before God and say to God, be
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Speaker 1: the glory for the things he has done. Are you
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Speaker 1: in the building? Give me some power on the mic.
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Speaker 1: Are you in the building? Are you here in the building?
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Speaker 1: Are you in the balcony? Are you up there in
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Speaker 1: the balcony anywhere? Are you online anywhere? Is there anybody
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Speaker 1: left that God can magnify you and you will remember
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Speaker 1: to magnify the Lord? God created trouble to give him influence.
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Speaker 1: Which leads me to impediments. I'm going from influence to impediment.
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Speaker 1: Can I take a little bit longer today? Because I
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Speaker 1: came fully loaded. I didn't bring a happy meal. I
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Speaker 1: brought a five course filet mignon dinner served in segments
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Speaker 1: and courses with sorbet in between each segment. Are you
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Speaker 1: ready for this? The flood was an impediment. The flood
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Speaker 1: was an impediment that God used to increase Joshua's influence.
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Speaker 1: You've been asking God to move the impediment. But if
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Speaker 1: God removes the impediment, you won't have the influence. How
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Speaker 1: you respond to your impediment is what gives you influence.
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Speaker 1: Watch this. Oh God, I'm excited. I'm so excited. See, Joshua,
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Speaker 1: when he was up under Moses, had seen the grapes.
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Speaker 1: He had seen the grapes of the promised land. He
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Speaker 1: had foretasted the grapes. but he had not seen the flood.
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Speaker 1: The flood was associated with the harvest, so it didn't
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Speaker 1: flood all the time. So the last time Joshua was there,
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Speaker 1: he talks about the giants that were in the land,
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Speaker 1: the sons of Hanak, but he doesn't mention the flood.
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Speaker 1: He had sent spies over, but they don't come back
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Speaker 1: talking about the flood. They had not seen the flood.
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Speaker 1: Remember Joshua 3.15, the Bible says, the Jordan overfloweth all
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Speaker 1: his banks.
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Speaker 2: All the time of harvest. The flood and the harvest
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Speaker 2: are connected. Joshua has come to the promised land at
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Speaker 2: the time of the harvest, which means it's raining a lot.
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Speaker 2: And all the waters of Jerusalem have no place to
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Speaker 2: flow but down. I've been to Israel. I've seen the
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Speaker 2: Sea of Galilee. I've been to the Jordan River. I
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Speaker 2: was shocked when I got to the Jordan River. Were
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Speaker 2: you shocked when you got to the Jordan River? I
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Speaker 2: was shocked when I got to the Jordan River. I
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Speaker 2: was disappointed when I got to the Jordan River. I
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Speaker 2: was expecting to at least see the Canal River, the
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Speaker 2: river from Charleston. I thought it would be like a river.
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Speaker 2: I got to the Jordan River, man, it looked like
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Speaker 2: a creek. I said, so John was baptized. The Jordan
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Speaker 2: River is no wider than this stage.
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Speaker 1: I was so disappointed because in my head, I saw
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Speaker 1: something that was big. But when I came to the
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Speaker 1: Jordan River, it was not during a flood. So if
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Speaker 1: you come to my backyard and it hadn't been a flood,
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Speaker 1: it's actually quite dry. But because it's in a flood plain,
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Speaker 1: if you come at another time, bring your swimming trunks.
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Speaker 1: Because the little pond in my backyard overflows to the
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Speaker 1: point that I had to claim insurance and rebuild, not
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Speaker 1: because I live with the river in my backyard, but
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Speaker 1: in that season. It flooded. You are in a flooding season.
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Speaker 1: And the Lord wants you to hear this word today
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Speaker 1: because the Lord ordered the impediment of the flood to
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Speaker 1: give you influence. How you handle this flood will determine
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Speaker 1: the influence for the rest of your life. Because you
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Speaker 1: are leading a group of people who have no point
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Speaker 1: of reference. So God has simulated a crisis to prove
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Speaker 1: his promise that as I was with Moses, so shall
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Speaker 1: I be with you. So God has turned a creek
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Speaker 1: into a river so that he can demonstrate his power
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Speaker 1: in your life. Instead of rebuking the devil and pleading
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Speaker 1: the blood, I want you to thank God for the
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Speaker 1: flood in your life. Come on, come on.
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Speaker 2: Come on.
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Speaker 1: Because the flood is a sign that the harvest is
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Speaker 1: in process, And the flood is a sign that God
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Speaker 1: is about to give you influence beyond your wildest dreams
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Speaker 1: because how you deal with this impediment will determine the
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Speaker 1: influence that you walk in the rest of your life.
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Speaker 1: And if you don't cross this Jordan, you will never
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Speaker 1: kill the Canaanites. The Gerashites, the Habbites, the Hittites, or
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Speaker 1: the Jebusites, everything you're going to be depends on how
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Speaker 1: you handle this flood. It was a creek when you
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Speaker 1: saw it. Now it's a flood when you get up
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Speaker 1: to it. And you're standing there at the Jordan wondering
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Speaker 1: what to do. You don't need evacuation. You need ammunition.
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Speaker 1: Joshua is leading the people to where he has already
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Speaker 1: been just like Moses led them to the place he'd
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Speaker 1: already been. You cannot lead people to places you haven't gone.
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Speaker 1: So stop trying to be a tour guide in a
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Speaker 1: place you don't know nothing about. So Joshua is leading
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Speaker 1: them to a place that he has been before. He
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Speaker 1: is proficient at crossing the Jordan when it's not a flood.
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Speaker 1: But now it's a flood. And all he has is
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Speaker 1: the promise of God that as I was with Moses,
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Speaker 1: so shall I be with you. The only difference is,
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna hurry on. The only difference is, is that
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Speaker 1: at the Red Sea, Moses stretched forth his rod and
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Speaker 1: the waters parted and they walked across on dry ground.
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Speaker 1: But when Joshua gets to the Jordan And the flood
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Speaker 1: has turned it into an amazing river. And Joshua stands
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Speaker 1: there at the Jordan River and standing there is not working.
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Speaker 1: He can't stretch forth his rod. That's not working. God said,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to be with you like I was with Moses,
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Speaker 1: but I'm not going to do it like I did
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Speaker 1: with Moses. So you can't imitate your Moses and cross
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Speaker 1: your Jordan. Who am I preaching to in this place?
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Speaker 1: Slap your neighbor and say, I'm going to cross over.
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Speaker 1: I'm about to cross over. I'm about to leave the
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Speaker 1: old me and cross over to a new me. I'm
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Speaker 1: about to leave my old place and cross over to
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Speaker 1: a new place. I'm about to step out of this
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Speaker 1: zone and step into that zone. Everybody won't be able
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Speaker 1: to go with me. So some people are going to
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Speaker 1: have to stay on this side of the Jordan because
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Speaker 1: not every tribe is able to cross over a flood
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Speaker 1: plain but the Lord sent me here to preach to
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Speaker 1: somebody that's standing in front of a flood you can't
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Speaker 1: bring everybody with you some people got to pitch their
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Speaker 1: tent out in the desert because they are desert babies
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Speaker 1: they are not kingdom builders and you gotta let them
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Speaker 1: pitch their tent within their comfort zone. But there are
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Speaker 1: a few of us that have come too far to
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Speaker 1: fall short of the promise of God. Is there anybody
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Speaker 1: in this house that's come too far to settle on
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Speaker 1: the desert? You've been through too much. You've cried too
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Speaker 1: many nights. You endured hardness and whatever you got to
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Speaker 1: go through, I'm going to step into this Jordan and
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Speaker 1: make something happen. Give me 30 seconds of crazy praise.
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Speaker 1: I got to go all the way. I got to
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Speaker 1: go all the way. If mama don't go, if daddy
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Speaker 1: don't go, if sister don't go, if brother don't go,
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Speaker 1: I got to go all the way. I don't know
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Speaker 1: how to work it. My rod ain't working, but I'm
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Speaker 1: going to do something to get my miracle from the Lord.
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Speaker 1: Maybe you stretched forth your rod and it worked for Moses,
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Speaker 1: but it didn't work for you. It's not Moses' method.
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Speaker 1: It's Moses' anointing that is on you to cross over
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Speaker 1: this season in your life. If I'm answering prayers, if
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Speaker 1: I'm answering questions, if I'm speaking to your destiny, holler
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Speaker 1: at your boy. There is no way to get to
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Speaker 1: the grace without dealing with the impediments. The things that
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Speaker 1: impede your progress are a sign of your progress. There
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Speaker 1: wouldn't be an impediment if there weren't grapes on the
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Speaker 1: other side of this. If there wasn't milk and honey
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Speaker 1: on the other side of this. Slap your neighbor and say,
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Speaker 1: get to the other side. Amen.
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Speaker 1: The Lord told me
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Speaker 1: to tell you, make it happen. Type it on the line.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to make it happen. I can't hear you.
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Speaker 1: You ain't mad enough. You ain't radical enough. You're not
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Speaker 1: aggressive enough. I'm gonna give you another chance to make
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Speaker 1: some noise if you're gonna make it happen. Anytime you
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Speaker 1: switch roles in front of people, it's hard for them
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Speaker 1: to see you in the new light. They say, I
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Speaker 1: knew you'd win. You know, if you were an hourly
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Speaker 1: worker and now you become a part of management, The
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Speaker 1: people who are hourly workers feel like you betrayed them
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Speaker 1: and they start acting funny. Oh, now you a boss.
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Speaker 1: Now you the rule over me. Anytime you go through transitions,
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Speaker 1: then the environment around you becomes frustrated because they say
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Speaker 1: you change as if that was a terrible thing. Oh,
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Speaker 1: you change. Yes, I change. Everything living changes. Everything living changes. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I'm supposed to change. It would be a shame for
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Speaker 1: me to be 40 years old and not change. 50
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Speaker 1: years old and not change. 35 years old and still
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Speaker 1: acting like I'm 12. I change as a part of
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Speaker 1: the sign that God lives in me and he dwells
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Speaker 1: in me and he develops me and he increases me.
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Speaker 1: Say amen, somebody. So when Joshua moves into this new role,
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Speaker 1: what fascinated me in the text is that God says
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Speaker 1: to Joshua that I will exalt you or I will
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Speaker 1: increase you in the eyes of the people. Okay. I
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Speaker 1: will raise you up. And this gives you influence because
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Speaker 1: titles don't give you influence. Okay. Just because they call
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Speaker 1: you something don't make you that. Influence enables you to
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Speaker 1: act on what they call you effectively. One of the
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Speaker 1: things I pray for all the time, I never prayed
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Speaker 1: to be famous. I never prayed to be famous. I
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Speaker 1: never prayed to be a public figure. I never even
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Speaker 1: wanted any of that. I prayed to be effective. Because
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Speaker 1: the thing that I don't want to be is not effective.
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Speaker 1: Are you hearing what I'm saying? And so when you
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Speaker 1: start talking about influence, let's define influence. Influence is the
25:01
Speaker 1: capacity to have an effect on the character development, on
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Speaker 1: the character development or behavior of someone or something or
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Speaker 1: effect itself like the influence of television does. It could
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Speaker 1: be a thing, it could be a person, but it
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Speaker 1: makes you effective at producing change. It's influence, it's quantifiable.
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Speaker 1: You can measure your impact. And I was thinking about
25:32
Speaker 1: sometimes when I was younger I'd have dreams and there'd
25:35
Speaker 1: be somebody chasing me or I'd be in a fight
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Speaker 1: with somebody And I'd be punching them, but it had
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Speaker 1: no effect. Anybody have those kind of dreams where you
25:43
Speaker 1: just couldn't get, you couldn't get that good one in,
25:46
Speaker 1: you know? And then you thought you landed it, but
25:48
Speaker 1: it did. It just turned into nothing. That's a nightmare.
25:52
Speaker 1: I'd wake up almost screaming. Or you're running, but you
25:54
Speaker 1: can't get up any speed. You can't get up any traction.
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Speaker 1: Some people live their lives like I had my dream.
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Speaker 1: They punch without impact. They run without gaining ground. They
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Speaker 1: expend energy, but they see no results. In order to
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Speaker 1: have impact, God has to give you influence in the
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Speaker 1: eyes of the people, and that's something that God has
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Speaker 1: to do. Because you can't do, you cannot control how
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Speaker 1: people see you. I don't care if you change your hair,
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Speaker 1: change your dress, change your clothes, get more degrees than
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Speaker 1: a thermometer, spin all around, do whatever you want to do.
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Speaker 1: You cannot control how people see you. God can control
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Speaker 1: how people see you. And so God says, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to control how they see you for my glory. Now,
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Speaker 1: I'm not going to change how the whole world sees you,
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Speaker 1: but I'm going to give you influence in proportion to
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Speaker 1: the authority that I've given you. So this message is
27:13
Speaker 1: a one size fits all message. It will work whether
27:16
Speaker 1: you're the governor or the president or a papa and
27:21
Speaker 1: you just want to influence your son or a wife
27:24
Speaker 1: and you just want to influence your husband. Whatever you
27:28
Speaker 1: have dominion over, You want to have influence. So the
27:34
Speaker 1: less time you have, the more valuable it becomes. I
27:39
Speaker 1: can't stand for you to waste my time. Because my
27:43
Speaker 1: time is valuable to me. I don't want to engage
27:47
Speaker 1: my effort doing things that I am not effective at.
27:52
Speaker 1: And sometimes you have to pray for God to give
27:57
Speaker 1: you the stature that is necessary, not in your eyes,
28:02
Speaker 1: in the eyes of those that you hope to influence.
28:06
Speaker 1: So God created trouble to raise Joshua's influence. Okay, that's
28:14
Speaker 1: where we left off Sunday. God created trouble because how
28:18
Speaker 1: you manage crisis changes how people see you. Okay, so
28:24
Speaker 1: we started talking about the president in Ukraine and we
28:28
Speaker 1: started talking about how he said, I don't need evacuation,
28:32
Speaker 1: I need ammunition. And all of a sudden that one
28:35
Speaker 1: phrase changed how people saw him. What you say in
28:40
Speaker 1: a storm changes how people see. See you. Changes how
28:45
Speaker 1: they respect you. That's why the enemy's always trying to
28:49
Speaker 1: get you to go off under pressure. Because the enemy
28:56
Speaker 1: knows that if you go off under pressure, you decrease
29:00
Speaker 1: your influence with your hysteria. If you want to be strong,
29:08
Speaker 1: you want to be strong under pressure, then you gain
29:12
Speaker 1: influence under pressure. And in order to be strong, there
29:15
Speaker 1: are certain things that you need to know. You need
29:18
Speaker 1: to know that you are doing what you were created
29:22
Speaker 1: to do, even if it's not a big thing. Even
29:26
Speaker 1: if it's not a great thing to other people. It
29:30
Speaker 1: only matters to the people that it matters to. And
29:33
Speaker 1: it shouldn't matter to you what outside people think about inside. influence.
29:43
Speaker 1: The reason we have so much misery in the world
29:46
Speaker 1: today is that you are, because social media tempts you
29:50
Speaker 1: to try to get outside people to form an opinion
29:55
Speaker 1: about your inside ability. And all of a sudden, if
30:00
Speaker 1: they don't like the post, you want to take it down.
30:02
Speaker 1: Or if they say something weird, you want to freak
30:05
Speaker 1: out about it. But in reality, I'm letting you observe
30:08
Speaker 1: something that is frankly none of your business. You understand?
30:13
Speaker 1: So your opinion doesn't really matter to me. If I
30:17
Speaker 1: don't have any authority with you, then it's just an opinion.
30:22
Speaker 1: And opinions are questions. Common, everybody's got one, everybody's got one.
30:28
Speaker 1: And when you bring yourself down to the point that
30:31
Speaker 1: you allow people to make you come off the wall
30:34
Speaker 1: that God has assigned you on because of somebody's opinion
30:38
Speaker 1: who is not assigned to you, then you give up
30:45
Speaker 1: your influence over the people you have influence with because
30:49
Speaker 1: of somebody that doesn't even matter one way or the other.
30:54
Speaker 1: It doesn't even make any sense. Are you hearing what
30:56
Speaker 1: I'm saying? So you, it's not enough for God to
31:00
Speaker 1: raise your influence in the eyes of external people if
31:04
Speaker 1: you're leaking internally. Oh yeah, we're about to go there.
31:12
Speaker 1: We're about to go there. We're about to get down
31:15
Speaker 1: into the depths of it. We're about to get down
31:17
Speaker 1: into the depths of why Paul prayed in Ephesians that
31:21
Speaker 1: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you might know.
31:29
Speaker 1: You have to know. It's not enough for them to
31:33
Speaker 1: know if you don't know what is the hope of
31:38
Speaker 1: your calling. So in order for me to have influence,
31:44
Speaker 1: in influence, It starts in me. I cannot convince outside
31:53
Speaker 1: people to believe something about me that I don't believe
31:57
Speaker 1: about myself. That will make you an imposter. And the
32:04
Speaker 1: stress many of us have right now is that we
32:08
Speaker 1: have imposter syndrome where we feel like we are living
32:11
Speaker 1: a fake life. And we think that we're living a
32:14
Speaker 1: fake life not because we have inconsistencies, because we all do,
32:19
Speaker 1: but because we are not convinced of our purpose. So
32:23
Speaker 1: Paul prays that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened.
32:33
Speaker 1: You can't be an external light if you don't have
32:36
Speaker 1: internal light. That the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened.
32:42
Speaker 1: So before God starts elevating Joshua in the eyes of
32:46
Speaker 1: the people, he talks to Joshua by himself. And he says,
32:51
Speaker 1: as I was with Moses, so shall I be with you.
32:55
Speaker 1: Be strong and very courageous, for I am with thee
32:58
Speaker 1: to deliver thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua, you have to
33:01
Speaker 1: know you're the man. Then he created the swelling of
33:06
Speaker 1: the Jordan to give an outer display of what he
33:10
Speaker 1: had convinced Joshua of inwardly. So the question tonight for
33:16
Speaker 1: you is, are you convinced? Y'all not talking to me,
33:22
Speaker 1: but I'm talking to you. Are you convinced? Because if
33:25
Speaker 1: you're not convinced, the enemy has already defeated you. You
33:31
Speaker 1: cannot influence where you are not fully persuaded. So Paul
33:38
Speaker 1: prays that the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened,
33:41
Speaker 1: that you might know, not wish, not hope, not think,
33:46
Speaker 1: but that you might know what is the hope of
33:49
Speaker 1: his calling and what is the riches of his inheritance
33:52
Speaker 1: in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of
33:55
Speaker 1: his power to us who believe. You have to know that.
34:00
Speaker 1: This is my purpose. This is my place. This is
34:04
Speaker 1: my gift. This is what I do. This is what
34:08
Speaker 1: I am. It's not about you knowing it. I have
34:10
Speaker 1: to know it first. You can't have more of this
34:14
Speaker 1: without having more of that. It all connects together. And
34:18
Speaker 1: when God increases your influence, he will also increase your enemies.
34:30
Speaker 1: So how do you thrive in an environment of conflict?
34:37
Speaker 1: God has increased Joshua's influence with his people, but he
34:42
Speaker 1: has also increased Joshua's enemies. The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Gershites,
34:47
Speaker 1: the Canaanites are riding around on chariots on top of
34:51
Speaker 1: the wall. Why? Because Joshua's having an increase. Who am
34:56
Speaker 1: I talking to tonight? Anytime God gives you increase, you
35:01
Speaker 1: will look out and you'll see barriers and restrictions that
35:05
Speaker 1: you never saw before. You'll see what was a creek
35:08
Speaker 1: turn into a river and overflow its banks and flood
35:13
Speaker 1: because you're on the verge of stepping into another level
35:17
Speaker 1: of influence. And when you're on the verge of stepping
35:20
Speaker 1: into another level of influence, there will be certain floods
35:24
Speaker 1: that come in your life and you have to be
35:27
Speaker 1: prepared to deal with the flood so that you can
35:30
Speaker 1: get to the harvest. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
35:38
Speaker 1: So why is influence the currency of impact and purpose?
35:43
Speaker 1: You can't, if this water is just water, but if
35:48
Speaker 1: I put Kool-Aid in it, I will influence it. Okay?
35:53
Speaker 1: It will never be water again. If something as simple
35:59
Speaker 1: as a tablespoon of Kool-Aid will influence this water, how
36:04
Speaker 1: can you live a life where you are being poured
36:08
Speaker 1: into something that doesn't change? Somebody ought to miss you.
36:17
Speaker 1: Somebody ought to call you. Somebody ought to see about you.
36:20
Speaker 1: Somebody ought to think, oh, if you were here, my
36:23
Speaker 1: life would be better. Influence is not just about you.
36:26
Speaker 1: It is about your ability to affect the behavior of
36:30
Speaker 1: those around you. Come on. The day you walk in
36:37
Speaker 1: a room and they don't look up, you've lost influence.
36:40
Speaker 1: The day you walk in the room, they keep on
36:42
Speaker 1: reading the book, you've lost influence. I don't care whether
36:44
Speaker 1: it's your kids, your wife, your husband. You need to
36:46
Speaker 1: measure influence. How did I change what I was exposed to?
36:54
Speaker 1: And the reason we get frustrated sometimes is that days
36:57
Speaker 1: go by which we can't get back again. Weeks go
37:00
Speaker 1: by which we can't get back. Months go by which
37:03
Speaker 1: we can't get back. And we cannot see our impact
37:06
Speaker 1: on those that matter most around us. I'm telling you.
37:15
Speaker 1: But I say that's real. It's hard to come into
37:19
Speaker 1: a situation where it's still just like it was before
37:22
Speaker 1: you got there. If I pour myself into you, you
37:25
Speaker 1: ought to turn into something else. If I pour myself
37:29
Speaker 1: into you, you ought to turn into something else. If
37:31
Speaker 1: I pour my wisdom into you, you ought to turn
37:34
Speaker 1: into something else. Because if you don't turn into something else,
37:37
Speaker 1: it suggests to me that I'm impotent and I have
37:40
Speaker 1: no influence in your life. Which leads to frustration. Because
37:50
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing any result. So that brings us to
37:54
Speaker 1: the question two. Can influence be increased? Go to Luke 2.52.
37:59
Speaker 1: Some of y'all know exactly where I'm going with this.
38:06
Speaker 1: And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor
38:18
Speaker 1: with God and man. Jesus increased in wisdom and stature
38:29
Speaker 1: and in favor with God and man. Some people think
38:33
Speaker 1: if you increase with God, you can't increase with man.
38:39
Speaker 1: Come on, I'm going to talk to the deep folks
38:41
Speaker 1: in here a minute. Amen. You're running around with all
38:44
Speaker 1: this kind of people. You're doing all of this kind
38:46
Speaker 1: of stuff. You're doing all of that. They think true
38:48
Speaker 1: holiness is increasing with favor with God and not with man.
38:53
Speaker 1: But Jesus increased with favor with God and somebody shout increase. Okay,
39:07
Speaker 1: if I'm going to increase my influence, I've already told
39:11
Speaker 1: you there's going to be some restrictions and there's going
39:15
Speaker 1: to be some attacks and there's going to be some adversities.
39:19
Speaker 1: But as I am exposed to it, God builds up
39:23
Speaker 1: my tolerance to the level of my influence. Amen. Oh,
39:31
Speaker 1: is somebody getting anything out of this tonight? God builds
39:35
Speaker 1: up my tolerance to the level of my influence. That's
39:40
Speaker 1: why I don't want to live your life because I
39:43
Speaker 1: haven't been built up enough to have tolerance to be you.
39:49
Speaker 1: I have tolerance to handle my level of influence. That's
39:54
Speaker 1: why I can't put my mouth on you and what
39:56
Speaker 1: you did because I don't know what you're going through
39:59
Speaker 1: on your level Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying.
40:03
Speaker 1: It's easy for people to sit back in a cracker
40:06
Speaker 1: box and start talking about somebody on Capitol Hill because
40:10
Speaker 1: you don't have tolerance for the level of pressure they're under.
40:15
Speaker 1: You say, I don't understand. No, you don't understand, so
40:17
Speaker 1: shut up. To the people that God is increasing, don't
40:25
Speaker 1: stop growing because of the attacks. Yes. because the attacks
40:33
Speaker 1: are not worthy to be compared to the glory that
40:37
Speaker 1: shall be revealed in you. Don't stay down low to
40:41
Speaker 1: make other people comfortable. Don't diminish yourself so that you
40:47
Speaker 1: won't make them uncomfortable. Their comfort is not your responsibility.
40:53
Speaker 1: Go ahead and make them uncomfortable and let them say
40:57
Speaker 1: whatever they've got to say because God is getting ready
41:00
Speaker 1: to increase your influence. Who am I talking to? In fact,
41:05
Speaker 1: you can tell who can grow with you. and who
41:10
Speaker 1: can go with you by who gets uncomfortable at your growth.