Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / Insights on Influence Part 2 - Bishop T.D. Jakes

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Insights on Influence Part 2 - Bishop T.D. Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: for your goodness, your mercy, your grace, your kindness. I
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: ask you to sanctify the word in the hearts of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: your people, both those that are in the building and
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: those that are watching from around the world. Let the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: word be made flesh in their lives. In Jesus' name, amen.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: You may be seated in the name of the Lord. Okay,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: we're going to be in Ephesians 1. We're going to start, yeah, baby.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: You know it. Ephesians 1, chapter 1, verse 1. We're
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: going down to verse 9. We've been talking about influence.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: And I thought it was important that we draw a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: line of distinction between influence and ambition. Because a lot
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: of times people get confused between the influence that comes
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: from God and the ambition that comes out of you. Okay. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: This influence is not something that we are going to
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  Speaker 1: receive of God so that we get to scratch our
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  Speaker 1: need to be ambitious. This influence really centers around being
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  Speaker 1: good stewards over the kingdom which he has given us
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  Speaker 1: influence over. God gave us first the dominion. He didn't
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  Speaker 1: just give us earth, but he gave us dominion. And
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  Speaker 1: he said to Adam, be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue, and
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  Speaker 1: have dominion over the earth. We've done a very poor
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: job of replenishing the earth. That's why we're in the
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  Speaker 1: crisis we're in now because we haven't obeyed the original
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: command to replenish the earth. We have taken more than
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: we've given it and we're suffering because of it. But
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: one of the commands that God gave us in the
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  Speaker 1: first place is to replenish it. And anything that God
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: gives you, you're supposed to replenish it. Amen. You don't
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: just use it up. You don't just use friends up.
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  Speaker 1: You don't just use family up. You don't just use
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  Speaker 1: wives up. You don't just use husband up. You're supposed
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  Speaker 1: to replenish it. My wife was tired tonight. I told her,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: you stay in the home tonight. You got to stay home.
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  Speaker 1: I got to be with you. I said, no, you
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  Speaker 1: don't have to be with me. You got to stay
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  Speaker 1: at home. Because if you stay at home and get
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  Speaker 1: some rest, you're going to be with me longer. Come on,
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  Speaker 1: talk to me, somebody. So you got to replenish. You
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  Speaker 1: got to replenish. Whatever you have has to be replenished.
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  Speaker 1: It has to be taken care of. My father used
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  Speaker 1: to say it's more than taking care of a thing
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  Speaker 1: than it is having it. And a lot of people
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  Speaker 1: count up the cost to get it, but they don't
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  Speaker 1: count up the cost to maintain it. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: people want to have a child, but they don't want
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  Speaker 1: to raise the child. A lot of people want a husband,
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  Speaker 1: but then they don't want to take care of the husband.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of men say, I want a wife, but
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  Speaker 1: then they don't want to do what it takes to
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  Speaker 1: to replenish the wife. And then we wonder why things
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: fall apart. It's because we stop breathing into it. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So God says, I want you to replenish it. And
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  Speaker 1: then he says, I want you to have dominion, which
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  Speaker 1: is authority, to have domain. In fact, the kingdom literally
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  Speaker 1: means the king's domain. In as much that we are
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  Speaker 1: created in the likeness and the image of God, we
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  Speaker 1: also have a domain. God gives you dominion over certain things.
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  Speaker 1: Everything God gave you, God wants you to have dominion
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  Speaker 1: over it. Your family, your job, your gift, your anointing,
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  Speaker 1: that's something that you have to reign over and rule
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  Speaker 1: over and be a good steward over it because God
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  Speaker 1: has given it to you and you should have dominion
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  Speaker 1: over it. You have to take care of it. You
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  Speaker 1: have to manage it. You have to take the responsibility
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  Speaker 1: that goes with the gift of God. Are you hearing
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  Speaker 1: what I'm saying? because you have a responsibility over it.
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  Speaker 1: So with that in mind, we don't want to leave
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: influence untethered, lest those that are listening at us with
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  Speaker 1: secular mindsets are just seeking influence for the sake of
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  Speaker 1: having power outside of purpose. And power outside of purpose
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  Speaker 1: is a dangerous thing. So power corrupts and absolute power
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  Speaker 1: absolutely corrupts. And so we're not trying to teach you
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  Speaker 1: to just have power for the sake of having power
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  Speaker 1: or influence so you can intimidate people or influence so
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  Speaker 1: you can make other people look small or influence to
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  Speaker 1: satisfy some childhood broken area in your life that you
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  Speaker 1: are feeding the dysfunction of. You need influence to feel
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  Speaker 1: good about you. No, you need influence because influence is
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  Speaker 1: tethered to God's purpose. Okay. And you want to reign
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  Speaker 1: where he wants you to reign. And you want to
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  Speaker 1: rule where he wants you to rule. And you want
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  Speaker 1: to be humble where he wants you to be humble.
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  Speaker 1: I would never go in your house and tell you
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  Speaker 1: your living room should be blue or your your carpet
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  Speaker 1: should be white or your, because I don't have dominion
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  Speaker 1: over that. I don't have reign over that. I don't
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  Speaker 1: have influence over that. In other words, the easy way
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  Speaker 1: to say that's none of my business. Half of your
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  Speaker 1: worries goes away when you determine what's none of your business.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of the things that we worry about and
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  Speaker 1: try to control and manage, if you back up and
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  Speaker 1: think about it a minute, it's none of your business.
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  Speaker 1: And it takes all of your energy to manage what
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  Speaker 1: is your business that most people who start getting into
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  Speaker 1: other people's business are actually doing a poor job of
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  Speaker 1: managing their own business or they have none of their own.
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  Speaker 1: Because those of us who have something to rule, to reign,
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  Speaker 1: to work with, to have influence over, we're so busy
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  Speaker 1: trying to get it right and fix it where we
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  Speaker 1: got it wrong and straighten it out and say, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: give me a second chance at it, that we don't
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  Speaker 1: have time to be condescending at nobody else because we
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  Speaker 1: got to sweep around our own front door before we
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  Speaker 1: get to anybody else's door. Come on, can you say amen, somebody?
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  Speaker 1: It's a full-time job. Just all the things that God
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  Speaker 1: has given me to see about, I told him I'm
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  Speaker 1: not looking for nothing else to do. Whatever you're supposed
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  Speaker 1: to do, go ahead and do it. Don't worry about me.
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  Speaker 1: Do what you do because my hands are full doing
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  Speaker 1: what God has given me to do. I want to
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  Speaker 1: hear him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
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  Speaker 1: You've been faithful over a few things. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: make you ruler over many, which means God is watching
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  Speaker 1: how I handle what he handed to me. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to get to the text in a minute. You remember
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  Speaker 1: how he gave, he distributed the talents in the parable?
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  Speaker 1: He gave to one man, he gave one talent. To
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  Speaker 1: another one, he gave two talents. To another one, he
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  Speaker 1: gave five talents. And then he took a journey into
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  Speaker 1: a far country and he came back. And the first
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  Speaker 1: thing he wanted to know is what did you do
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  Speaker 1: with what I gave you? Okay, so here's the interesting thing.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't tell him what to do with it. He
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  Speaker 1: just left him with it. And there is an unspoken
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  Speaker 1: expectation that comes from God that does not require words.
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  Speaker 1: When he comes back, he says, what did you do
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  Speaker 1: with what I gave you? Well, a smart mouth little
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  Speaker 1: kid like me, I probably said, well, you didn't tell
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  Speaker 1: me to do nothing. He wanted me to understand, however,
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  Speaker 1: that to him whom much is given, much is required.
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  Speaker 1: And he's testing my character to understand do I have
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  Speaker 1: the inclination, the inclination to have influence over what he's
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  Speaker 1: given me. And the odd thing about that text, we
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: don't have time to go to it tonight, the odd
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  Speaker 1: thing about that text, he gave it to a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of slaves. Servants, he turned the whole thing over to
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  Speaker 1: servants and gave them an opportunity to practice influence. God
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  Speaker 1: will take somebody who never had influence in their life
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  Speaker 1: and hand them something that is socially unacceptable, that makes
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  Speaker 1: no sense at all, but he'll put you in a
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  Speaker 1: position of influence that exceeds your years, your experience, your education,
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  Speaker 1: your intellect, and he wants to see what would you
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  Speaker 1: do if I gave you more influence? What would you
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  Speaker 1: do if I gave you more power? Would you brag
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  Speaker 1: about it? Would you hide it? Would you bury it?
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  Speaker 1: Or would you invest it and multiply it and grow?
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  Speaker 1: And everybody, the man who had two talents came back
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  Speaker 1: and said, I got four. The one who had five
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  Speaker 1: came back and said, I got 10. Now it looked
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  Speaker 1: like the one with 10 got more than the one
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  Speaker 1: who had four, but he really didn't. Because all either
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  Speaker 1: one of them did was multiply by 100%. They made
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  Speaker 1: it 100% on their level. So the four was just
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  Speaker 1: as big as the 10, even though four is much
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  Speaker 1: less than 10, it is the equivalent of 10 because
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  Speaker 1: you should have seen what I was working with when
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  Speaker 1: I started. This is why you don't compare yourself with
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  Speaker 1: other people because maybe God gave him more than he
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  Speaker 1: gave you and you don't have to keep up with him.
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  Speaker 1: You just have to be a good steward over what
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  Speaker 1: God gave you. Are you hearing what I'm saying? If
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  Speaker 1: he gave me two talents and I turned it into four,
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  Speaker 1: I got a 100% return on what he gave me.
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  Speaker 1: I did just as much as the guy who had
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  Speaker 1: five and turned it into 10. Don't you look down
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  Speaker 1: your nose at me because you got 10 and I
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  Speaker 1: got four. You don't have no more than I did
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  Speaker 1: because you started out with more than what I started out. with.
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  Speaker 1: You're supposed to have more than what I have because
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  Speaker 1: you have been given more than what I have been given.
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  Speaker 1: I want to be a good steward over what God
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  Speaker 1: has given me. Are you hearing what I'm saying to you?
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  Speaker 1: So we're going to start reading this word from a
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  Speaker 1: perspective of tethering the influence to God. We talked last week,
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  Speaker 1: last Wednesday, about how Jesus increased in wisdom and stature
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  Speaker 1: and favor or influence with God and with man. And
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  Speaker 1: that it is possible to grow in influence with God
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  Speaker 1: and with man. Some people say, I just want to
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  Speaker 1: have influence with God. I don't care anything about man.
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  Speaker 1: But Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and favor with
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  Speaker 1: God and man. That's Luke 2.52. If you want to
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  Speaker 1: check me, you think I'm not right, go to Luke 2.52.
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  Speaker 1: It'll show you clearly. Jesus was concerned about influence in
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: both areas. Paul said, pray for us for we wrestle
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  Speaker 1: with unreasonable men that we might persuade men's hearts. His
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  Speaker 1: job was to persuade men's heart. How can I be
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  Speaker 1: an apostle and not have influence with men? How can
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  Speaker 1: I be a prophet and not have influence with men?
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  Speaker 1: How can I be Nathan and not have influence with David?
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  Speaker 1: And God gave me a word for David, but I
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  Speaker 1: don't have influence with David. You have to keep your,
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  Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons you have to keep your
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  Speaker 1: life pure. That's one of the reasons you have to
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  Speaker 1: live right, so that you can keep influence with man.
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  Speaker 1: It's not just about God, because God will forgive you,
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  Speaker 1: but men will remember him. People are good with you
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  Speaker 1: until they find out that you're too much like them.
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  Speaker 1: And once they find out that you have weaknesses and
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  Speaker 1: struggles and tests just like they are, you compromise your
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  Speaker 1: ability to influence them because their respect for you is
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: diminished and oddly enough they disrespect you for being too
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  Speaker 1: much like them. Which is human and flawed. And so
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  Speaker 1: the higher you go, you have to be conscious of
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  Speaker 1: the fact because the enemy can't really take your anointing,
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  Speaker 1: but he's after your influence. You still got the anointing.
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah backslid altogether and he still said the word of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord is like fire shut up in my bones.
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  Speaker 1: Even if not was like fire, is like fire shut
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  Speaker 1: up in my bones. And even in his backslidden state,
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  Speaker 1: there was an anointing that was on his life. If
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  Speaker 1: I knew you better, I'd tell you this story about
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  Speaker 1: me when I was backslidden. But I'm not going to
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  Speaker 1: tell you because... You can. But it's so long ago,
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  Speaker 1: it don't make no difference now. I had the people
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  Speaker 1: that were there was dead. And I was in a
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  Speaker 1: room and we were all partying and we were all
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  Speaker 1: carrying on and drinking and I was backslidden and I
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  Speaker 1: was carrying on in the world. And we start singing
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  Speaker 1: gospel song. And all of them could sing it and
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  Speaker 1: it was just fine. I started singing the gospel song
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  Speaker 1: and the anointing fell on me. And when the anointing
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  Speaker 1: fell on me, it scared me so bad I ran
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  Speaker 1: out of the house. Because they didn't understand what it was,
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  Speaker 1: but I knew it was the anointing. I wasn't so
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  Speaker 1: far away from God that I couldn't recognize the glory
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord. The Bible said I'm married to the backslider.
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  Speaker 1: I messed up the whole party because I fooled around
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  Speaker 1: and got anointed in the middle of the party and
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit of God fell in the middle of the
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  Speaker 1: party and we started out, we was just singing, we
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: was just acting crazy. But I kept on singing until
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  Speaker 1: I ran into something. Because once you have experienced the
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  Speaker 1: power of God, Once that door has been opened to you,
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  Speaker 1: you're never too far away from being able to tap
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  Speaker 1: into that Holy Ghost again. And that's a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: I don't have to have a preacher to tap into
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  Speaker 1: my anointing. I don't have to have a choir to
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  Speaker 1: tap into my anointing. I can be in my car
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  Speaker 1: driving down the road by myself. If you ever really
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: had the Holy Ghost, you're never that far from the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost. The Bible said he's married to the backslider.
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  Speaker 1: Come on, somebody. And so I fooled around and tapped
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  Speaker 1: into some glory because I had not lost my anointing,
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  Speaker 1: I had lost my influence. You see, so God still
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  Speaker 1: remembered me, but I had put myself into a position
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  Speaker 1: where after having preached to others, I myself would be
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  Speaker 1: a castaway. At that time, I don't think I'd even
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  Speaker 1: started preaching yet, but I was a castaway. I was
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  Speaker 1: rendered useless for service because I didn't take care of
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  Speaker 1: the influence that God has given me. So look at
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  Speaker 1: your neighbor and say, take care of your influence. There
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  Speaker 1: are certain things that you manage. There are certain things
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  Speaker 1: that you have a responsibility over. There are certain people
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  Speaker 1: that people believe in you and you want to maintain
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  Speaker 1: your influence. I haven't always pleased God. There's been times
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  Speaker 1: I failed God. There have been times I've made myself
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  Speaker 1: ashamed in my own behavior and had to come back
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  Speaker 1: and apologize. And there's nothing worse than having to apologize
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  Speaker 1: because you hurt somebody who believed in you and they
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  Speaker 1: saw that cracks were in your armor. It's a painful
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  Speaker 1: thing to see disappointment in the face of somebody who
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  Speaker 1: believed you to be up here and they find out
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  Speaker 1: you're really right there. Now maybe it's wrong for them
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  Speaker 1: to put me on a pedestal in the first place,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: but it's painful when you recognize that you're not, that
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: you've disappointed one of God's children. In fact, the Bible
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: said it'd be better that a millstone be tied around
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: your neck and you can be cast into the middle
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: of the sea than to put a stumbling block in
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  Speaker 1: the face of one of my little ones whom I love. So,
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  Speaker 1: God wants you to be careful with your influence with people.
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  Speaker 1: Are we good? Let's take this text. Now, let me
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: say this about Ephesians. I've been preaching a lot out
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  Speaker 1: of Joshua and preaching about Joshua and the Jordan River
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  Speaker 1: and and all of that kind of stuff during the week,
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  Speaker 1: and now I'm over in Ephesians, and really I'm in
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  Speaker 1: the same book because what Ephesians is in the New Testament,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Joshua was in the Old Testament, okay? And I say
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  Speaker 1: that because the book of Joshua deals with a nation
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  Speaker 1: of people who have ceased from wandering and have begun
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  Speaker 1: to possess the promises of God. Joshua's all about taking
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  Speaker 1: hold of what God has promised him. The book of
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Ephesians is the same way. I'll show you. Paul, an
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful
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  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. Go back to that first verse. I
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: used to preach years ago out of that Ephesians 1
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  Speaker 1: and 1. I haven't done it for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: But it talks about Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: and then at the end it says, unto the faithful
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  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. And there's a difference between when Paul says,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and when he says Christ Jesus, you see,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: because when Christ was in the earth, he functioned as
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Jesus and the Christ was behind him. But when he
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: raised from the dead, he was raised up by the
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  Speaker 1: glory of the Father and the Christ Jesus points to
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  Speaker 1: the resurrected Christ, the Jesus Christ Jesus. points to the
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  Speaker 1: Christ hidden in him. Thou art the Christ. Who do
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  Speaker 1: you say that I am? Some say thou art Elias.
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  Speaker 1: Some say thou art Jeremiah. Who do you say? Thou
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  Speaker 1: art the Christ, the son of the true and living God. Ooh, Peter,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: how did you know that? Flesh and blood have not
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  Speaker 1: revealed this unto you because my Christ is hidden behind
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  Speaker 1: my Jesus. But when he rose from the dead, the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Christ was raising the Jesus from the dead. Do y'all
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  Speaker 1: hear what I'm saying? So when you talk about Paul,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
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  Speaker 1: to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the
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  Speaker 1: faithful in Christ Jesus, you have to understand that he
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: was raised the same spirit, Ephesians 2, 1, the same
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  Speaker 1: spirit that quickened Jesus' body. and raised it up from
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the dead shall also quicken your mortal body. So the
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  Speaker 1: Christ rose Jesus from the dead. So when you hear
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, Christ is leading Jesus up. When you hear
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the Christ is hidden behind the man. Are
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: you hearing what I'm saying? I was teaching that almost
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: in high school. Let's go on. Grace be unto you.
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  Speaker 1: Grace be to you and peace from God our Father.
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  Speaker 1: It starts out giving. It starts out giving. Grace be
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: to you and peace from God our Father and from
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. Come on. Blessed be the God
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: This ties right back into Joshua. I have given you
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: the land to possess it, and I will cause you
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: to be strong and be very courageous, for I am
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: with you to bless you all the day. Both books
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: starts out with God blessing us. Blessed be God. And
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: then the phrase two, who have blessed us. God could
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: be blessed and we not be blessed. Y'all didn't see
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: that download. Y'all didn't see that download. God would be
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: God whether you were here or not. God would be
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: God if you dropped dead. God was God before you
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: got born. God would be God if you never existed.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: And he would be blessed. whether you were here or not.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: But blessed be God is one thing. Who have blessed
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: us is the download. The same blessing that is on
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: him hath blessed us with all. Y'all didn't hear me.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I'm going to keep saying it. Maybe it's going to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: hit you in a minute. The same blessed be God
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: is the same God who hath blessed us. with all
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: spiritual blessings. The same oil that fell upon the head,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: fell upon the beards, fell upon the skirts, without being diluted,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: without being polluted, God says, I want to download. I'm
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: getting ready to wire you a blessing. I'm getting ready
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: to wire you a blessing. I'm not going to write
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a check. I'm not going to put it in the mail.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to count it in dollars. It's just
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: going to show up in your account. When the Bible
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: said God had blessed us, he wired us through the
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost. That's why after you receive the Holy Ghost,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: that blessing has been transferred into your account. There is
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: no difference between the God outside of you and the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: God inside of you. Out of your belly shall flow
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: rivers of living water. Do you hear this word of
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: God being preached in here? It's the same God down
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: inside of you. that's outside of you. You don't have
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: to yell and scream to get him come because he's
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: in you. Jesus said, I have been with you and
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I shall be what? Come on. I shall be in you.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: So blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, download, who have blessed us with all spiritual
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Come on. According,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: now he blessed us according. And I want you, if
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: you had a regular Bible, I'd have you underline it.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: If you can highlight it, highlight. According, he blessed us according.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Let me break the word according down. The word according
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: is a musical term. The root word of the word
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: according is chord. Anybody on the organ still? Somebody get
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: on the instrument right quick. Because I want them to
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: understand what a chord is. And put me in D
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: if it's comfortable for you. Put me in D and
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: hit a D and a F sharp and a A.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: That's a chord. Play it all together. That's a chord.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: You can't just hit any three keys and it be
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: a chord. In order for it to be a chord,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: it has to be a triad. It has to be
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: three notes that are staggered against each other in such
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a way that they create a harmonious sound that causes
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: it to be a chord. If he's in the key
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: of D and he hit D, F sharp, and A,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: that is the chord. If he lowers F sharp and
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: brings it down to F, play that, D, that's a
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: minor chord. That's a minor chord. You hear how differently
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: it sounds? See, in order for it to be a
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: major chord, he has to raise the third up one
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: half step to an F sharp. Play the chord again. Now,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: when the Bible says God had blessed us according, that
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: means in harmony with. If we were in choir rehearsal
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and I was teaching parts, the sopranos would be on
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the A, the altos would be on the F sharp,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: and the tenors would be on the D in order
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to have harmony. So God said, I have blessed you according, according,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: in harmony with God. as he has chosen us in
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: him before the foundations of the world. I didn't bless
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: you because of your prayer life. I didn't bless you
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: because you could quote scriptures. I didn't bless you because
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: you could fast. I bless you according as I have
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: chosen you before the foundation. I blessed you before your
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: mama met your daddy. I blessed you before your grandpa
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: met your grandma. I blessed you before you had a name.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I blessed you before you had a driver's license. I
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: blessed you before you had a birth certificate. I blessed
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: you before you was a twinkle in your daddy's eye.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I chose you before you were ever born. You were
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: already chosen. You came here chosen. How in the world
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: can you sit there with your grown self wondering if
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: you're accepted when I chose you before the foundations of
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: the world? Before you ever opened up your mouth to cry,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: you were already chosen. Let the chosen people make some noise.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I'm chosen. I'm chosen. I'm chosen. I'm just chosen. I
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: can't help it. I'm just chosen. That's why it don't
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: bother me if you don't like me. Because I'm already chosen.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: It don't bother me if you won't let me in
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: your circle because I'm already in a circle. I'm chosen
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: in the blood. I'm accepted in the blood. I'm in
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: with Jesus. I don't have to be in with you
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: if I'm in with Jesus. I am chosen in the beloved.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: That's why the car wreck didn't kill me. That's why
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: the gun didn't destroy me because I've been chosen in him.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: And until he gets ready to take me, you could
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: shoot me and not kill me because I am in him.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: And he chose me before the foundations of the world
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: that we should be holy and without blame before him
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: in love. That was all settled before I got here.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: So this is not a verse about doing. This is
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: a verse about being. Holy. Being holy, not acting holy.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Because you can act holy and not be holy. To
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: be holy, to be set apart, to belong to God. See,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: I didn't have no business in that place singing with
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: them people, acting like that because I wasn't one of them.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I was chosen. So when I start calling on the
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: name of Jesus, the Holy Ghost reached out and touched
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: me and said, you're mine. You can't do what everybody
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: else does. You'll never be one of them. If you
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: drink with them, if you smoke with them, if you
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: shoot up with them, you still won't be one of
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: them because I chose you before you lit the joint.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: I chose you before you got high. I chose you
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: before you told a dirty joke. You belong to me.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: And now I got to show out in front of
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: all your friends and whip you in front of your
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: company and make you understand that you're not one of them.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: And he did me like my mama did. Mama would
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: whip you right in front of your friends. And he
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: embarrassed me real good. Real good, tears in my eyes,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: talking in tongues, lips quivering. All of a sudden I
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: knew I didn't have no business in there, ran out
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: of there, didn't have no business in there in the
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: first place because I am chosen in him. Before the
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: foundations of the world. You don't have to earn it.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: You don't have to work for it. You don't have
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: to prove it. You don't have to wear a cross
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: around your head. You don't have to have a Jesus
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: tattoo on your nose. You don't have to have a.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Let me stop. You don't need none of that to
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: identify you because you were chosen in him. Nevertheless, the
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, that the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Lord knoweth them that are his. He ain't guessing. He
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: don't need Maury Povich to do a paternity test. God
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: knows when you are his. He knows them that are his.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, that
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: the Lord— Knoweth them that are here. God knows you
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: even if your lips are closed. God knows you even
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: if you change the color of your hair. God knows
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: you even if you hide up under the bed. God
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: knows you even if you put on monster makeup. God
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: knows them that are here. He knows you. He knows you.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: He knows you. He knows you. He knows you. He
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: chose you before you got your body. He chose you
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: before you got your nose, your eyes, your lips, your toes,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: your fingertips. He chose you in your spirit. In the
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: last days, the Bible said, many shall say you did
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: great works in my name. And I will say, and
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: you healed the sick in my name. And you raised
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: the dead in my name. And I will say, depart
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: from me, you workers of iniquity. You are acting holy,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: but you're not holy. I never knew you. Not I
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: used to know you. I never knew you. I don't
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: care what you did. This is not about doing. This
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: is about being. I chose you before the foundation of
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: the world that we should be holy and without blame
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: before him in love. Can you imagine how frustrated God
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: is if he chose you to be holy and without
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: blame before him in love? And there you are standing
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: there blaming yourself. There you are standing in front of
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: him full of guilt and shame as if his blood
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: is not enough. How dare you? You remember what he
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: told Peter when he was about to eat the animals
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: and Peter said, I can't eat it because it's unclean.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: And Jesus said, how dare you call what I've cleansed
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: uncommon and unclean. So why do you think so little
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: of yourselves? If he called you holy, oh, you got
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: faith for everything else, but you don't have faith for
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: your own salvation. That God would call you holy and
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: without blame before him in love. How come you're not
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: enjoying that relationship? Because he says you hold it. It's
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: just like I tell women, when a man tells you
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: you're fine, agree with him. It's the worst thing in
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: the world to tell a woman she's fine and she said,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: oh no, I got stretch marks and I got a
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: bad toe and I'm double jointed and I'm ducktailed and
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I walk funny and my teeth are bad. Shut up.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Don't talk me out of seeing you the way I
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: see you because of the way you see you because
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: eventually if you keep pointing that out to me long enough,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, well, you know what? How many times
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: is God telling you you're fine and you're saying I'm not?
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: And God's saying you're holy and you're saying I'm not.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: And God's saying you're blameless and you're saying I'm guilty.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Who are you to argue with God? Since he did
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: it before the foundations of the world, it ain't based
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: on your actions. It's based on his decision. Oh, y'all
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: don't want to hear this text. Y'all don't want to
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: hear this text. See, we have a church today that
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: doesn't know the word. We quote Bible verses, but we
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: don't really know the word. We don't have the revelation
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: of the scriptures. If you got the revelation of the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: scriptures down to you, it'd change your whole life. This
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: fight was fixed. It was settled before we ever got
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: in the ring, before they ever rang the bell. God,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: it's all a setup. I don't care what the enemy says.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: I don't care what he does. God has already fixed
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: it before the foundations of the world. Before I formed
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: thee in the belly, Jeremiah, I knew thee. I ordained thee.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: I sanctified thee to be a prophet unto the nations.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Say not that I'm a child. You're looking at your reality.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at your destiny. Say not that I'm a child,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: for you shall go to all that I shall send you.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: I'm in Jeremiah chapter 1, and God called Jeremiah. Though
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah felt inadequate, God rebuked him for arguing with him
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: because God didn't see his inadequacy. He said, it's not
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: based on how old you are. I chose you before
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: you were born. I chose you before you had a birthday.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: I chose you before you ever put a nipple in
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: your mouth. I chose you before you had your first
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: tooth come in. I chose you before your first hair
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: began to grow out. I had already chosen you in
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Him before the foundations of the world. When are you
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: going to start to agree with God about you? We
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: do err not knowing the Scriptures. And then we've had
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: scriptures taught to us wrongly. You must understand that the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: foundations of our faith in many cases were taught to
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: us by people who couldn't even read. And in the
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: absence of intelligence, they made up rules. So for them,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: holiness was about jewelry or makeup or whether you cut
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: your hair or how long your dress was because they
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: were sincere, but they weren't that smart. So they couldn't
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: really study and read the original language and understand what
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: God means by holy. So they define holy according to
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: the culture of the times. And that has gotten down
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: in us. So you'll get on your tweets, little stuff,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: people will be saying, holiness is still right. You know, yeah, yeah.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: And it is, it's still right. but it's just how
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: you think about it that might be wrong. If I
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: take a bath, am I still holy? Since my clothes
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: ain't going to heaven, and the only thing that's going
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: to heaven is my body, if I'm naked, am I holy?
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: If Jesus comes back and I'm in the shower, would
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: he take me? If Adam and Eve walked around naked
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and not ashamed in the garden and God didn't have
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: any problem with it, would he take me? Then how
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: can your holiness be predicated on whether I got on
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: short sleeves or not? Because as soon as I go home,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: I'm going to take off all the sleeves and I'm
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: still his. Yes. In the bathtub, I'm his. In the shower,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: I'm his. Oh, y'all don't want to hear me. Y'all
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: don't want to hear me. God, I'm his because he
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: said I'm his. I'm holy because he said I'm holy.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: I'm without blame because he said I'm without blame before
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: him in love. That doesn't absolve me of the responsibility
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: to be a good steward of my influence. I just
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: got through talking about that. I'm not talking about living
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: like the devil and going to heaven anyway. I'm talking
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: about not walking in guilt and shame and condemnation and
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: believing what God has said about you. God has said
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: you're holy. Somebody shout, I'm holy. I'm holy. Glory. Let
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: me go on. Let me go on. I got to
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: hear it. I got to hear it because I'm nowhere
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: near the point. Let me go. Let me go. Come on.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Without blame before him in love. Next verse. Having predestinated
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: according to his good pleasure, according to the good pleasure
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: of his will. Hold it right there. He predestined us.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: He predestined, predestined. I never really got it until I
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: started making movies. And I started realizing that you don't
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: shoot movies in sequence. for budgetary reasons, you might shoot
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the end in the beginning. So the person in the end,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: they're shooting a funeral scene. And then when we go
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: on the next location, they're alive. Because in post-editing, we're
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: gonna make all things work together Y'all didn't hear that.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: Y'all didn't hear that. And see, since we know from
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: the beginning how the story's going to go, we're going
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: to make all the things edit together. There are things
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: in your life that you're doing don't even make sense
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: right now. But when God gets through editing it, it's
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: going to all work together for the good of them
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: that love the Lord, who are the called according to
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: his purpose. Am I feeding anybody in here? If you're
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: being blessed online, I want to hear from you. I
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: want you to say something. If you're learning something about
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: the Word of God, I want you to say something.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: I want to hear you talk to me. Talk back
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: to me. Talk back to me. If your soul is leaping,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: if your Holy Ghost is jumping, if you're starting to
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: know who you are and what you got, talk back
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: to holler at your boy. If you're starting to understand
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: who you are in Christ Jesus and who Christ Jesus
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: is in you, make some noise in this place. having
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: predestinated us unto the adoption of children. And this is
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: the beauty of the text. Not only am I born again,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: but the Bible also refers to me as adopted, which
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: reinforces that I'm chosen. Because born children aren't chosen. Amen. See,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: sometimes you got pregnant by accident. You didn't choose it.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: It just happened. Okay, well, you're here now. Okay, we're
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: going to work with what we got. But if you
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: adopted a child, that's a superior area because that's a choice.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: He chose you. I had a young minister call me
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the other night. He was going someplace he'd never been before,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: and he had some angst about going. I said, oh,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: you're going to be fine. Everything's going to be all right.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: I said, and don't forget, they chose you. You didn't
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: just wander in and ask to preach. They invited you,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: and you is who ought to show up. Because if
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: they didn't want you, they wouldn't ask for you. If
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: they'd have wanted me, they would have invited me. They
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: asked for you, so make sure that that's you that
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: shows up. And all you got to do is be you,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: and you're enough because you're chosen. Oh, y'all don't hear
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. This is soul food. This is soul food.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: It ain't cornbread and sweet potatoes and macaroni and cheese.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: This is soul food. You know why? When this gets
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: down in your soul, it starts. healing you. It changes
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: the way you walk. It changes the way you talk.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: It changes the way you treat yourself. It changes the
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: way you handle circumstances because you know that you are
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: chosen in him and you have been adopted of children
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: by Jesus Christ. And if Jesus adopted me, how can
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: you disannul the adoption? If Jesus adopted me and he
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: had to adopt me, oh gosh. I shouldn't have started
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: in Ephesians. Because if I get Ephesians, I lose my mind.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: He had to adopt me because I was outside. In
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: Ephesians 2, you'll learn, I was outside of the commonwealth
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: of Israel. What the Bible calls the commonwealth of Israel.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: So I couldn't be an heir to the commonwealth of
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Israel until I was adopted. Let me make it plain.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Marriage is adoption. Marriage is adoption. My wife's name was Jameson.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: When I adopted her, it became Jake's. That means that
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: if I drop dead right now, she's an heir to
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: everything I got. Because whatever it is I got or
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: don't have, she becomes an heir to it because she,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: by adoption, is brought into the commonwealth of Jake's. So
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: we who were once alienated from him by wicked words,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: have he now drawn nigh unto himself that we might
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: be adopted into the royal family. And I have just
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: as much right to be chosen as any Jew in
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: the world. I am chosen because I'm adopted into the
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: royal family by Christ Jesus. And the church is just
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: the adoption papers that pulls me over into the, I
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: am the seed of Abraham. I am the righteousness of
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: God by faith in Christ Jesus. That's the stuff the
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Word teaches you when you come to Bible class. So
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: I've been adopted in, I've been grafted in. In Romans
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: it says I've been grafted in. It's the same thing here.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: He has been predestinated us unto the adoption of children
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: by Jesus Christ to himself according in harmony to the
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: good pleasure of my will, of the church's will, of
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: the trustee board's will, of the bishop's board's will. No,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: he did it according or in harmony to the good
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: pleasure of his will. Come on here, somebody. To the
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: praise of the glory of his grace. To the praise
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: of the glory of his grace. To the praise of
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: the glory of his grace. I am appraised. It's not
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: just that I praise, I am a praise. I am
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: a praise to the glory of his grace. For we
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: who were not a people have been made a people.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not in Ephesians 2. We have been made a
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: people who were not a people by Jesus Christ. And
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: I have been adopted into the royal family. And so
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: when I come in, I am to the praise of
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: his glorious grace. I'm sitting at the table like Mephibosheth.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: I got here by grace. I am accepted in the beloved.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: If you reject me, you reject him. Did not Jesus
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: say to his disciples, said to go in the house
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: and if they don't receive you, shake the dust and
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: leave speedily and I will remember that place in judgment
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: and whosoever receives you has received me and whosoever rejects
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: you has rejected me, it's a dangerous thing to reject
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: me because he lives inside of me and I am
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: accepted in the beloved. I got confidence. Yeah, I know
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: I look kind of cocky sometimes, but I got confidence
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: because I know I'm accepted in the beloved. All of
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: my doubts are settled. There is therefore now no condemnation
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: to them that are in Christ Jesus. I am accepted
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: in the blood. That's why the devil hates me. I'm
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: not trying to be accepted. I'm not hoping to be accepted.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not wishing to be accepted. I am accepted. Oh,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: I better quit. I don't mean to get this happy
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: this early. Come on, roll that scripture because I'm going
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: to go off. I'm going to go off in a minute.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go off. I'm going to go off.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go off. I'm going to go off.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go off. I'm going to go off
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: because I feel something in the room. In whom we
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: have redemption. We have it right now through his blood.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: The forgiveness of sins according in harmony to the riches
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: of his grace. That's how we got the forgiveness of sins.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: Go back to the other verse. That's how we got
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: the forgiveness of sins. That's how we got redemption through
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: the blood. It was according to the riches of his
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: grace and not my behavior. Think about it a minute.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: My behavior changes by the minute. He would be saving
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: me and losing me and saving me and losing me
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: and saving me and losing me. Today you're saving, tomorrow
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: you're going to hell. You saved at 7.30, 7.45, you
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: blew it, you're going to hell. 8 o'clock, if you
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: get back, I'll take you back in by 8.15. 8.30,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: you messed up, you thought something stupid, you're going to
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: hell again. By 9 o'clock, the thought of foolishness is sin.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: What you just thought was stupid, you're going to hell again.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: He would be working himself to death. So he didn't
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: make it according... to me, but according to the riches
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: of His grace. Somebody shout grace.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's like.
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: Tell your story. I... Was... Long... Born... Uh-huh. Was....
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Let me.
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: See.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Let me see. Let me see. Let me count up
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: what I got. Okay, I got redemption through his blood,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: and I got forgiveness of sins. according to the riches
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: of his grace. I know he rich because he started
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: out saying, blessed be God. Blessed be God. He couldn't
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: bless me if he wasn't blessed first. So he blessed
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: me according to the riches of his grace. Not my strength,
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: not my talent, not my ability, not my intellect, not
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: my beauty, not because I'm handsome. According to the riches
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: of his grace. That's how you got it. That's how
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: you got it. That's why the Bible said the goodness
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: of God leadeth to repentance. Not preaching hellfire and brimstone.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: The goodness of God will make you ashamed of yourself.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: God will be so good to you that you'll be
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: ashamed to treat him like that. Come on. In whom
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: according to the riches of his grace. Come on. Wherein
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: he have abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Now,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: when he says he has abounded toward us in all wisdom,
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: he's all wise. He's all wise. The word prudence is sagacity, cunning.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: He's cunning. Go tell Saul that you're going down to
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: get the sheep. He's cunning. I saw you when you
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: were up under the juniper tree. He's cunning. He's cunning.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: He's cunning. He knows how to maneuver you. He has
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: abounded toward us in all wisdom and sagacity. Wise as serpents,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: harmless as doves, maneuvering you in his prudence. Are you
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: hearing what I'm saying to you? So God has a strategy.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: Maybe the word cunning has the wrong connotation to it.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: A strategy. He not only has a wisdom, he has
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: a strategy. See, knowledge makes you able to buy a gun. Knowledge,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: wisdom tells you when to use it. Okay, so knowing
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: the timing of the Lord, knowing what to do when.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: God said he has abounded toward us in all wisdom
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: and prudence. That's all wisdom. That's business wisdom. That's marital wisdom.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: That's parental wisdom. He said, I'll give you all wisdom
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: and strategy, sagacity, cunningness. I'll nudge you. Have you ever
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: had God nudge you and tell you to be quiet?
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: You were getting ready to tell somebody something, and the
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost said, shh. I had picked up the phone
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: to call somebody, and the Holy Ghost said, don't, don't, don't.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: I got ready to text somebody something the other day,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: and somebody said to me, Have y'all got a Holy
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: Ghost like that? The kind of Holy Ghost to make
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: you shut your mouth? I hold my mouth and say,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: let me tell you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Never mind. It
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: wasn't important, but I'm just so glad to be here
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Glory to God. If you read the
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: sagacity of God in the scriptures, how cunning he was,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: how David feigned himself To be mad and tricked his
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: enemies and stopped them from being able to kill him
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: because of the prudence of God. God telling you what
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: to do. How God took Elijah and put him in
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: the cave when Jezebel was trying to kill him and
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: told him to stay in the cave. Until I pass
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: by you. God has sagacity. He has the ability to
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: have a strategy. Do you know how many people would
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: have killed you if God hadn't have hid you, hadn't
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: have moved you, hadn't have twisted you, hadn't have led
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: you around, hadn't have given you strength? That's why I'm
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: not worried about witches. I'm not worried about hexes. I'm
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: not worried about none of that. I've had them sprinkle
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: chicken's blood. I've had raw chickens all out on the property.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: I told them they should have cooked the chickens. I
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: got the dancing on top of the chickens. Hallelujah. Because
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: I understand the prudence of God. That if God be farming,
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: you use the chicken blood and I'm using the blood
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: of Jesus. Guess who's going to win this fight? Somebody
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: help me praise it. Somebody take about 10 seconds and
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: just help me praise it. Come on, let's go. We
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: got work to do. Verse nine. And I said all
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: of that to get to this one verse. I really,
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: this wasn't even in my notes. I had him go
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: back and put Ephesians 1 in my notes to get
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: to this one verse. Because everything else he did before
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: the foundations of the world. He blessed me before the
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: foundations of the world. He chose me before the foundations
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: of the world. He loved me before the foundations of
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: the world. He redeemed and made me holy in him
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: before the foundations of the world. I didn't know it.
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: That's why I was drunk. I didn't know it. That's
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: why I was hiding. That's why I was parking. That's
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: why I was crazy. That's why I was looking for something,
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: because I didn't know who I was. He did it
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: in eternity. It caught up to me in time. Verse
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: 9 is when it hit me. All this, he had
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: already done it, but it hadn't hit me. Let me
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: prove to you that it's already done. Your eyes have
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: not seen. Your ears have not heard. Neither have entered
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: into the heart of man the things that God has
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: prepared for them that love it so you don't even
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: know it. I got people in my will that don't
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: even know they're in my will. I didn't tell them
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: they were in my will, but it's already, their eyes
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: haven't seen, their ears haven't heard, neither have entered into
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: their heart what I have in store for them, okay?
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: It's not till verse 9 that eternity catches up with time.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: In verse 9 it says, having made known unto us
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: the mystery of His will. That's when it hit me.
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: Those he did foreknow, he justified. Those he did justify,
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: he called. When he called me, that's when it caught
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: up to me what he had for me before. Now
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: I understood why the wreck didn't kill me. Now I
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: understand why I didn't die. The baby before me died.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: The baby after me didn't die. But somehow I survived
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: because God had predestined me. For me to live. I
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: couldn't die. He meant for me to live. Because if
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: I'd have died. I wouldn't have been here tonight. To
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: pastor this church. And it wasn't until I was 19.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: That he made known unto me. The mystery of his will. According.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: To his good pleasure. Which he had purposed. In himself.
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: That's how you got influence. Because he purposed in himself.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: That's why he made folk like you. Because he purposed
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: in himself. They didn't want to like you. They tried
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: not to like you. God turned them around and made
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: them like you. He said the heart of the king
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: is in my hand. I'll make them like you. Why
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: did he make them like you? Why did he give
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: you that kind of influence? Because he had purposed in himself.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: So there is a correlation between influence and purpose. If
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: God wanted you to pastor a bigger church, he would
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: do it. If God wanted you to have 12 kids,
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: you'd have them. If God wanted you to have a
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: house on top of the hill, you buy it. He
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: gives you influence according as he has purposed in himself.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: If it pleases his purpose, if it furthers his agenda
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: to bless you, he'll bless you. If it furthers his
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: agenda to move you, he'll move you. I said I
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: would never leave in West Virginia. But when God got
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: ready for me to move, he started working all kind
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: of stuff. He said, oh, you ain't leaving, huh? Oh,
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: you won't leave? Oh, yeah, you won't leave. Because you're
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: not going to make me out a liar. I have
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: purposed in myself that you would end up in Dallas.
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: And so all of a sudden, I'm running around here,
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: bought a church I couldn't find. Driving around with, we
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: used to have Mopsco back then. I was driving around
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: with the Mopsco trying to find the church late for
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: my own service because he had purposed in himself. Everything
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: I ever did, I only did it because I could.
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: And the only reason that I could is because he
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: had purposed in himself. So if it becomes necessary to
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: give you influence with the king, if it will help
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: to accomplish his purpose, Nehemiah, I will place you in
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: the king's court and let you be a cupbearer so
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: long that he trusts you Because you taste everything before
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: he does to make sure it's not poison. And I
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: will develop a trusting relationship with you so that when
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: your countenance falls, he will notice. And when you need money,
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: he will give it to you because he trusts you.
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: I place you in the palace and my sagacity... My
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: ability to maneuver situations caused this relationship to be developed
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: so that when you start crying about your people's walls
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: coming down, he would release the money and the influence
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: to be able to go. So Nehemiah goes out with
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: the king's influence. You see why you need favor with
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: God and with man? Amen. Nobody stopped him. Nobody hindered him.
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: Nobody killed him because he had the influence with God
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: and with man. But the only reason he had influence
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: with man is because God had purposed in himself. How
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: many learning something tonight? We're going to go a little
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: bit deeper. So we understand a little bit about providence.
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: We understand a little bit about purpose. Go to 2
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Samuel chapter 3 and 1. And get this, 2 Samuel
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: chapter 3 and 1. Now there was a long war
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: between the house of Saul and the house of David.
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: It was a long war. It was a long war.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't a long war because it had to be.
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: It was a long war because it needed to be.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: Because God could have ended it from the beginning. But
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: he let it last till the time was right. But
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: David waxed stronger and stronger and the house of Saul
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: waxed weaker and weaker and God let it go on
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: for a long time but all that time Saul is
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: losing influence so the question arises can influence be decreased
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: and Yes. When Samuel ripped Saul's garment, he said, the
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: kingdoms have been rent from you. It was like Jesus
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: cursing the fig tree. He was still physically the king,
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: but he wasn't the king because he was losing influence.
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: It was dripping out. It was leaking out. It was
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: dropping out. It was falling out. It was hanging off.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: It was dropping to the floor. Even though he was
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: still standing and it looked like he made it past
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: the prophet's words and he was still, they said, hell
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: king live forever. But he was losing influence all while
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: he was walking because when God says a thing, it
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: is so. When Jesus cursed the fig tree, it looked
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: like it still had leaves. But when they came back
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: the next day, it was dead. When God said something,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: it may not happen when he said it, but it's
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: going to start dripping and falling and falling and falling.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: The day you eat of the tree, Adam, thou shall
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: surely die. I'm still alive. No, you ain't. No, you ain't.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: You dying just like the fig leaves you covered your
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: waist in. They still look green, don't they? But they're
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: dying while you're sewing the apron. So it is possible
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: to lose influence. What causes us to avoid that is
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: humility and obedience. Watch this. Go to 1 Samuel 15,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: 13 through 20. If you got questions online, I'll take
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: a few questions. So write the questions in. And if
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: they're not crazy, I'll answer. Yeah. First Samuel 15, 13,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: when you have to say amen. And Samuel came to
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: Saul and Saul said unto him, blessed be thou of
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: And Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleeding of the
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: which I hear? And Saul said, they have brought them
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best, the people,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: listen to him, you liar, the people spared the best
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: of the sheep and of the oxen, he blamed the people,
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: we have utterly destroyed, the rest. Then Samuel said unto Saul, stay,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: to me this night. And he said unto him, stay on.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: And Samuel said, when thou was little in thine own sight,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel?
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: And the Lord anointed thee king over Israel. Hold it
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: right there. That's why you can't let nobody puff you up.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: Because if they puff you up, you're going to start leaking.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: You're going to start dropping. If you get beside yourself
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: and you get all arrogant and you get all puffed
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: up and the people start shouting and singing songs about
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: you and you start acting all crazy, God said, when
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: you were little in your own eyes, I raised you.
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: But now that you're exhausted, now you're in trouble. And
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: Samuel said, when thou was little in thine own sight,
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel?
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: You know something? That one scripture there alone ought to
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: have everybody on the floor. And I don't mean dancing.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: I mean prostrate. Because that means in the kingdom, the
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: quickest way to go up is go down. That when
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: thou was little in thine own eyes, I blessed you.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you how many puffed up people I
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: have met in my life. Puffed up people in the church,
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: in the pulpit, in the kingdom, puffed up arrogant people
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: beside themselves. We used to have a saying in West Virginia.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: We used to say, I wish I could buy you
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: for what you're worth and sell you for what you
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: think you're worth. I could live off the profit the
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: rest of my life. That means that your ego is
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: so overinflated that if I did an appraisal on what
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: you was really worth and sold you for what you
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: thought you was worth, I'd make enough profit to live
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: the rest of my life. When God sees us puff
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: up like that, he deflates our influence. The Lord anointed
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: the king over Israel when you was little. Keep on.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said,
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then did thou
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: not obey? See, obedience and humility. The voice of the Lord.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: But didst fly upon the spoil and didst evil in
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: the sight of the Lord. And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: gone the way which the Lord sent me and have
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: brought Agad the king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: the Amalekites. See how demented he is. Here Saul is
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: steadily telling him, Samuel is steadily telling Saul, you blew it.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: And he's still keeping his first testimony. You know, I
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: did everything almost right. It's the same almost that Ananias
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: and Sapphira did about selling all they had and they
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: lied to the Holy Ghost and died. It wasn't about
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: the money. It's about the disobedience. When God says do something,
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: he expects you to obey him. If you don't obey him,
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: he will judge you. I can't judge you because I
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: don't know what you got. But God can judge you
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: because he knows. And your testimony might be that you
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: have killed all the Amalekites. But my question to you is,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: what is that sound I hear? I hear something low
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: and in the valley says you have not really been
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: honest with God. So when you come to him complaining
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: and saying that God hasn't blessed you as he has promised,
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: his response is you didn't obey as you promised. How
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: can a disobedient child expect to be rewarded for disobedience?
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: Not only is he disobedient, I believe he's demented. Because
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: even in the face of Saul, who he knew, Samuel,
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: that he knew was a prophet, he still kept on
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: saying that same thing. That means you can tell yourself
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: a lie so long you believe it. I killed everything.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: What you talking about? I killed everything. I killed everything,
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: you know, except for a gang. That ain't everything then.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: If you got an except for, that ain't everything. He'd
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: have done better to throw himself at the mercy of
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: the Lord and say, you got me. I'm wrong. I
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: messed up. I blew it. What do I need to
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: do to fix this and get this right? I made
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: a mistake. He kept lying. He kept lying in the
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: presence of a true prophet. So I concluded that obedience
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: and the humility is a way to keep influence. That
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: means the best way to keep influence is to ignore it.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: Everybody who has to tell you they got it, don't.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: Everybody who has to tell you they have it, they don't.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: Because if you really had it, you wouldn't have to
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: tell me. You understand what I'm saying? See, oh God.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: Until we get this thing right in our head, we
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: will not get better. Because everything God blesses us with,
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: we will use to impress people. And as long as
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: you need to impress them, you lose the blessing. Because
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: when you were little in your own eyes, I blessed you.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: But now that you need to impress them, you lose influence.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: How many people want to keep your influence? If you
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: watch it online, you want to keep your influence. If
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: you're in the building, you want to keep your influence.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: Humility and obedience. That's it. Just humility and obedience. He
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: didn't ask you for nothing like really hard, you know,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: like to be 20 years younger. I want you to
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: do 100 cartwheels. I want you to do 2,000 jumping jacks.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: This is attitude and action. Keep your attitude straight and
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: your actions aligning.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 3: Just do what he told you to do. If he
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 3: told you to come to Bible class, come. If he
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 3: told you to sow, sow. If he told you to
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 3: help out Sister Johnson, help out Sister Johnson. Just do
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 3: what I told you to do. And I will cause
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 3: your influence to be sustainable. He's talking to the king.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 3: He said, I don't care that you're the king. I'm
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 3: the king of kings. I will bring you.
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: Down. So that brings me to this, and then I'm
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: gonna stop here. I'm gonna stop here. What would you
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: do with more influence? I want you to answer that.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: What would you do with more influence? If God were
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: to increase your influence, how would you use it? And
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: however you answer that, how does that align with the
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: purpose of God? Because if you can get your request
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: to align with his purpose, he will increase your influence
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: according as he has purposed in himself. That means, go
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: back to that keyboard again. That means I want to
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: live my life in harmony with God. Put me back
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: in D again.
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: Everything that's in that chord is determined by that first note.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: Once he put me in D, F has to be sharp.
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: A has to be A natural. If he takes the
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: A natural and goes a half step up to B
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: flat and it becomes D, F sharp, and B flat,
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: hit that for me. That's an augmented chord. It's a
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: chord that's played to let the singer know it's time
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: to come in. It's an augmented chord, but it is
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: not a chording to what a D chord should be.
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: In the key of D, it should sound like this.
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: So this is what God wants us to do with influence.
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: He wants us to live in harmony with our first note.
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: And unto the church at Ephesus it wrote, I have
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: somewhat against you. You have lost your first love. If
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: you lose your first love, now we don't have a
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: key signature because D determines what's sharp and what's flat.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: What happened to your first love? If you go back
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: to your first love, everything else will be in harmony
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: to what you put first. Seek ye first the kingdom
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: of God. In its righteousness. And then all these things,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: hit the chord again. All these things, all these things,
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: all that shall be added unto you. If you seek first,
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: once he hit D, everything else just falls right into
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: place because it harmonizes against what you sought first. Whatever
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: you seek first determines how everything else harmonizes. in your life.
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: Hit D, E, and A. You hear how that sounds?
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: That's what's called a decimate sound. Hit it again. That's
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: what stress sounds like. When you have something that's not
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: according hit it again it creates this sound breaks your
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: sleep breaks your rest makes you hypertensive makes you irritable
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: hit it again and you try to pray but when
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: you try to talk to God it sounds like this
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: that's the bleeding of the sheep That's the disobedience going
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: on in your life. That's the sound that God hates.
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: That's what Samuel had heard coming from Saul. Hit it again.
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: You liar. You half-servant. You're not committed. You're not sold out.
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: You don't do what it takes to be king. You're
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: not committed like I call you to be. You don't
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: serve me with your whole heart. You serve me with
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: a hidden agenda. What's that sound I hear? What's that
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: sound I hear? What's that sound I hear? The sound
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: I hear is louder than the words you say. With
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: your mouth you draw nigh unto me, but what's that
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: sound I hear? What's that sound I hear? You say
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: the right things in church, but what's that sound I hear?
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: That's why I kept bringing you to according. This is beautiful.
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: This is beautiful language. And the text that we can't overlook,
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: this is beautiful language in the story. Hit it again.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: If you get rid of that, see, the only reason
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: that chord sounds desolate is that I have him playing
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: the D and the E together, and he has moved
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: away from the F sharp. If he goes back to
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: the F sharp, it'll be whole again. You see what
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: I'm saying? You see what I'm saying? You just a
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: step away from peace. You just one step. All he
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: moved was one finger and it brought everything into alignment
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: according as he has purposed. in himself. I'll take two
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: questions right quick if they got them. Miss Ajax says,
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: what are signs of losing influence? How can you recover
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: your influence with God and man? What are signs of
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: losing influence is impact, the ability to persuade the actions
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: and behavior of another one. Your word doesn't count. They're
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: unmoved by your presence. it's the slight edge and advantage
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: that God gives you to cause people to make decisions
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: because of you. Those are signs of losing influence. How
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: can you recover your influence with God and man? Repent.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: To both. Whatever I did that made you stop trusting me,
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. And if you know what it is, don't
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: say whatever I did. Say, when I cheated on you,
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: I know it hurt you. And I am so sorry.
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: Because I still love you. And I know it's gonna
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: take you time to trust me. And that's my punishment.
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: But I'm gonna be so consistent that we're gonna rebuild
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: this trust. And would you pray with me? Because I've
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: also offended God. And I want to get this right
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: with him, even if you don't take me back. And
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: then I want to live according to his purpose in
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: my life. I'll take another question. How do I hear
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: from God clearly? This is really easy. It is not
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: your job to hear from God clearly. It is God's
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: job to make himself plain to you. And until he
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: has made himself plain, be still. Because if you start
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: seeking for a word, the enemy will give you one.
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: They that wait upon the Lord shall mount upon wings
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: shall walk. and not faint. But what they don't do
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: is start going to people for words in the absence
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: of a word from God. Okay? When you do hear
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: from God, now this is the hard part, to explain
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: how you know it. Your soul knows it. When you
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: hear from God, it gives you peace. Yeah. When you
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: hear from God, it settles you about the situation. It's reason,
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: this is my last woman I'll lose. Because I heard
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: from God. And I'm good. I'm not wrestling. I'm not struggling.
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: I don't have no regrets. I don't have no worries.
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: I only wanted to do it as long as he
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: wanted me to do it. If he's finished with me
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: doing it, I'm cool. I never fall in love with
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: what he gave me over who gave it to me.
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: That means I don't have a car I can't let
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: go of. I don't have a house I can't let
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: go of. I don't have a friend I can't let
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: go of. I can let go of any of it
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: and still make it because I made it before I
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: got it and I can make it when it's gone.
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: And you cannot buy me with stuff Because I served
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: God broke. I served God with government cheese. I served
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: God with nothing. I served God before there was anything
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: at all around me. Do y'all hear what I'm saying
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: to you? See, there's some folk hell can't threaten. He said,
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna put you in this big building, ain't gonna
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: have no members. I said, I been in a building
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: that didn't have no members before. I preached my head up.
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: I preached till a drunk man staggered in the building.
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: I laid hands on him, he got the Holy Ghost.
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: So if I have to go back, I know how
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: to get there. I know my way back there. I
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: know how to make it. I know how to feed
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: my family off of $ 10. Don't back me in the court.
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: I know how to sell pop bottles, get the quarters,
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: go to the grocery store and get chicken legs and
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: feed my family with rice and beans. I know how
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: to make it and make it good and make you
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: want suckings. I'm a survivor and if you mess with me,
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: I'll grow a garden. And I'll grow corn right beside
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: pole beans and let them grow another stalk and pick
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: the beans and cut the corn and roast it outside.
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: If you cut the power off and still keep eating
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: because I'm a survivor. You can't let stuff God gives
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: you own you. Until you hear from God, wait on him.
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: Don't marry without him. Don't move without him. I don't
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: care if you feel lonely. Do not let your emotions
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: drive the car. They can ride in the backseat, but
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: they can't have the wheel. Because my emotions is crazy.
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to walk out here and have a
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: completely different emotion. I can get one text and change
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: my whole emotions. So I can't let my emotions drive,
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: because I would wreck every day. I'm happy, sad, people
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: ask me how I feel, I tell them I'm happy, sad, glad, nervous, worried, upset,
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: believing God, trusting Him, and thanking Him that everything's gonna
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: be all right, and still I'm kind of concerned, in trouble,
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: a little bit depressed. Is there anybody else crazy like that?
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: Am I the only one? So most of the time
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: I don't answer them because they can't handle the truth.
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: How do you feel? How long you got? You really
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: want me to throw up all that stuff on you? Yeah,
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: I'm laughing and sad and happy and depressed and anointed
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: and frustrated and aggravated and appointed and I'm still doing
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: what he told me to do. I don't care nothing
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: about how I feel. I care about how I believe.
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: I believe that I'm the head and not the tail.
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: I believe I'm above and not beneath. I believe that
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: I'm more than a conqueror through him that loved him.
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: Stand up on your feet and tell hell what you believe. Yeah,
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: make your confession of faith. Make your confession of faith.
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: Make your confession of faith. Make your confession of faith.
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going to close this Bible class. I'm not going
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: to make an altar call or anything. I'm going to
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: close this Bible class. I'm only going to ask you
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: one thing. You that are online, you that are here,
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: are you humble? Are you obedient? then your influence is sustainable.
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: Before we close this service, if God told you to
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: give and you didn't give, or you didn't give what
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: he told you to give, if there's something bleeding, sheep bleeding,
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: broken lambs, crippled sacrifice, make it right. If there's somebody
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: you need to say I'm sorry to, stop beating around
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: the bush. Just tell them. I was wrong when I
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: said that, man. I was wrong. I probably hurt you
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: real bad. I'm really sorry. I miss you. I miss
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: the way you used to call me and what we
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: used to laugh and talk about. And I'm not happy
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: without you. And I can't make you forgive me, but
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: I can apologize. I am sorry. And I will work
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: hard to win your confidence back. You'd be surprised how
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: healing it is. No matter how he responds... I got
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: it all for me. I got it all for me.
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: If he turn around and say, I still hate you
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: and walk away, it don't make no difference. I got
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: it all for me. I am not responsible for his reaction.
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: I am responsible for my behavior. Stop trying to control
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: their reaction. You'll have peace. You'll have peace. You're watching online.
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: We're about to close this Bible class. I want to
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: close this Bible class with everybody's heart right with God.
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: Whatever you need to do, text somebody, apologize, straighten out something,
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: get off the phone, have a talk with your husband,
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: your daughter, your dog, your cat, your goldfish, your guppies,
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: your hamster, whatever it is. I'm sorry I ain't been
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: feeding you. Whatever you got to do to have that according.
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: You hear how nice that chord sounds? That's the way
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: God wants your spirit to sound. And if your spirit
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: doesn't sound like that, whatever you stole from him, took
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: from him, laughed, ignored, didn't give him, it ain't worth it.
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: Kill a gang Kill him. Kill him dead. Kill him dead.
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: If God said kill him, kill him dead. End the relationship.
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: Delete the number. Block it. Kill it dead. Don't leave
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: yourself a crack to go back. Kill it dead. This
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: is important. These are insights on influence. God wouldn't have
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: me teaching this if he wasn't getting ready to take
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: your influence to another level. How many people believe that?