Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / When God Knocks You Down, He's Calling You Higher Bishop T.D. Jakes

Transcript

When God Knocks You Down, He's Calling You Higher Bishop T.D. Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

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  Speaker 1: We have to look at the context in which the
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  Speaker 1: text is extrapolated from. The pretext tells us the atmosphere
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  Speaker 1: that exists during this time. It is an atmosphere of newness.
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  Speaker 1: It is an atmosphere of new beginnings. It is the
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  Speaker 1: disciples embarking on Christ's work without Christ physically being there.
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  Speaker 1: And they start the work of the Lord at a
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  Speaker 1: deficit because all through the synoptic gospels they are referred
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  Speaker 1: to as the twelve. But now they only have eleven
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  Speaker 1: because in the process of the crucifixion Judas has hung
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  Speaker 1: himself and his guts have spilled out on the potter's field.
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  Speaker 1: So they have the name the twelve but the reality
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  Speaker 1: is eleven Sometimes your name can be greater than your situation.
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  Speaker 1: And when your name doesn't have equilibrium with your situation,
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  Speaker 1: you want to fix that thing so that you become
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  Speaker 1: authentically what they call you. And in the process of
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  Speaker 1: them attempting to fix it, they meet together and prayed
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  Speaker 1: and selected two men. And they began to cast lots
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  Speaker 1: to see who would be Judas' replacement. They cast lots.
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  Speaker 1: And they cast lots and the lot fell on Matthias.
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  Speaker 1: And Matthias became, in their view, the replacement for Judas.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that he wasn't. replacement for Judas
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  Speaker 1: but it is interesting to note that he didn't there's
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  Speaker 1: no recordings of Matthias doing anything amazing no books written
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  Speaker 1: by him there's disagreement about whether churches were founded by
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  Speaker 1: him he's not mentioned any place in all of the
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  Speaker 1: epistles but they had picked him by casting lots in
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  Speaker 1: total contrast to that God has chosen Saul, who we
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  Speaker 1: call Paul, to be a New Testament apostle. Now, Matthias,
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  Speaker 1: according to my research, had been walking with the disciples
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  Speaker 1: and around Jesus all the time. And in my carnal mind,
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  Speaker 1: it makes sense that Matthias would be a replacement because
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  Speaker 1: he is a witness to the miraculous power of God. Saul,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, has no real experience with the
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  Speaker 1: power of God. But rather than having experience with the
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  Speaker 1: power of God, he is totally opposed to Christianity. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: when he meets the Lord, he meets the Lord on
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  Speaker 1: the way to capturing more Christians to bring back to Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: though they were not yet called Christians. It was called
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  Speaker 1: the wave. Yeah, and he was trying to find people
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  Speaker 1: who were in the way to bring them back to
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem to persecute them. And yet he has an encounter
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  Speaker 1: with God. I couldn't help but think of the difference
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  Speaker 1: between in the Old Testament between King Saul, who was
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  Speaker 1: somebody that God gave Israel because they desired a king,
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  Speaker 1: and David, whom God chose. Many are called, but few
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  Speaker 1: are chosen. And in the Old Testament, Saul was called,
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  Speaker 1: but David was chosen. You will remember when the kingdom
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  Speaker 1: was rejected from Saul and Samuel was weeping, God said,
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  Speaker 1: why weepest thou over what I have rejected? I have
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  Speaker 1: found a man after my own heart. Look at the
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  Speaker 1: contrast between Saul and David. Saul looks like a king
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  Speaker 1: by all natural rights. He has every reason to be king.
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  Speaker 1: He has the stature and the demeanor of a king.
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  Speaker 1: He is from the tribe of Benjamin. He comes from
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  Speaker 1: the pedigree that is prophesied that he would be king.
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  Speaker 1: David comes from the house of Jesse. He doesn't have
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  Speaker 1: the pedigree or the background. He's from the tribe of Judah.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't have the history behind him that connotes kingship.
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  Speaker 1: Saul stood ahead and shoulders above all men. He had
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  Speaker 1: the right look, but David had the right anointing. David
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  Speaker 1: had the right anointing. And while we pick people that
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  Speaker 1: look good, God will pick people that are anointed for
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  Speaker 1: the service and for the task. And all of a
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  Speaker 1: sudden we find ourselves in this situation that is mirrored
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  Speaker 1: in the New Testament as a reflection of the old.
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  Speaker 1: Whereas we are talking about Saul versus David in the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament. In the New Testament we're talking about Matthias.
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  Speaker 1: Is he the 12th apostle or is it Paul? Some
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  Speaker 1: would even argue that Paul is the 13th apostle. But
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  Speaker 1: my concern is I don't see where Matthias ever did anything.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm a living witness. The folk I pick on
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  Speaker 1: my own. I'm just going to let that hang out there.
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  Speaker 1: Because enough people laughed to let me know that you
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  Speaker 1: know what I'm talking. Is there anybody in here that
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  Speaker 1: ever picked somebody on your own Cast lots, pick somebody
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  Speaker 1: because your mama was born in May and my mama
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  Speaker 1: was born in May. And grandma's name was Thelma and
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  Speaker 1: your grandma's name was Thelma. And it makes sense to you.
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  Speaker 1: But everything that makes sense to you isn't what God
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  Speaker 1: has for you. In fact, more times than not, God
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  Speaker 1: will pick something that makes no sense at all and
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  Speaker 1: raise it up. And you'll be scared to receive it
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  Speaker 1: because what God has in his heart for you doesn't
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  Speaker 1: agree with what you had in your mind. for you
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  Speaker 1: that's just the case here in the text the very
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  Speaker 1: fact that that that Saul would be chosen was so
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  Speaker 1: shocking that even Ananias and his faithfulness to God did
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  Speaker 1: not really want to go lay hands on Saul because
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  Speaker 1: Saul was snatching people that followed Jesus and taking them
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  Speaker 1: and persecuting them and yet Saul has an encounter with
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  Speaker 1: God somebody say an encounter with God He has an
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  Speaker 1: encounter with God. And it is not where somebody witnessed
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  Speaker 1: to him. It is not where somebody preached to him.
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  Speaker 1: It is not where somebody persuaded him. God did not
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  Speaker 1: use any human hand or sticks like lots to choose him.
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  Speaker 1: God stepped into Saul's life. And if you read the
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  Speaker 1: whole text, you will read it was a fight on
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  Speaker 1: the road to Damascus. It starts out with a fight.
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  Speaker 1: There is a fight between God and Saul. Now Saul
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  Speaker 1: has gotten permission from the high priest to go down
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  Speaker 1: and attack Christians. He's got permission from the priest but
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  Speaker 1: not from the one who the priest served. And he
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  Speaker 1: is credentialed to go down there and attack Christians. But
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  Speaker 1: God has another plan. He intervenes in his life He
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  Speaker 1: disrupts his life and he starts a wrestling with him.
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  Speaker 1: A great light appeared and knocked him off of his beast.
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  Speaker 1: And then he said, who is it, Lord? And he said,
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  Speaker 1: it is Jesus whom thou persecutest. Wait a minute, I
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  Speaker 1: got to talk about that for a minute. Saul had
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  Speaker 1: never done anything to Jesus. He had only attacked those
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  Speaker 1: who followed Jesus. But Jesus takes it personally. When you
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  Speaker 1: attack his kids. It is Jesus whom thou persecuted. You
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  Speaker 1: think you're just rounding up my disciples. But you're actually
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  Speaker 1: persecuting me. That's why we're trying to teach you that
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  Speaker 1: the battle is not yours. It belongs to God. Because
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  Speaker 1: people think they're fighting you. But they're not fighting you.
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  Speaker 1: They're fighting the God that anointed you. The battle is
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  Speaker 1: not yours and you don't have to get even and
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to feel bad because you didn't get
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  Speaker 1: the last word in and you don't have to fend
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  Speaker 1: for yourself and you don't have to struggle for yourself
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  Speaker 1: because God has a way of dealing with your enemies.
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  Speaker 1: I prophesied to somebody, your enemy is about to get
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  Speaker 1: knocked off his peace. He's about to get knocked off
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  Speaker 1: his beast. This is a radical warlike conversion. It is
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  Speaker 1: not a nice, easy conversion. It is not a polite conversion.
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  Speaker 1: It is not that somebody gave him a track. It
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  Speaker 1: is not that somebody prayed with him. It is not
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  Speaker 1: that somebody talked to him. It's not that somebody intellectualized him.
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  Speaker 1: God just came on the road and knocked it over.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just in my introduction I'm trying not to get
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  Speaker 1: happy but when I start thinking about all this things
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  Speaker 1: that God knocked over Is there anybody in here that's
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  Speaker 1: had God knock over some stuff? Glory to God. That
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  Speaker 1: was coming to get you. And you knew it was
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  Speaker 1: coming to get you. And God knocked it over. It
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  Speaker 1: might not be but 10 people in here. But you're
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  Speaker 1: praising God. Not for a new car or a new
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  Speaker 1: house or a new job or a new place. You're
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  Speaker 1: praising God. Because when the enemy was coming at you,
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  Speaker 1: God knocked it over. Nudge somebody and tell them he
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  Speaker 1: knocked it over. They were after me and he knocked
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  Speaker 1: it over. They were after my job and he knocked
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  Speaker 1: it over. They were after my mind and he knocked
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  Speaker 1: it over. They were after my peace and he knocked
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  Speaker 1: it over. They were after my sanity and he knocked
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  Speaker 1: it over. They were after my family and he knocked
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  Speaker 1: it over. And I'm still praising God how God can
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  Speaker 1: overthrow the plans of the enemy.
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  Speaker 1: threw him on his back,
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  Speaker 1: knocked him to the floor. And he says, who is it, Lord?
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  Speaker 1: And the Lord said, it is Jesus whom thou persecutest.
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  Speaker 1: This alone is enough to make you be careful about
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  Speaker 1: who you attack. Because you can inadvertently be attacking Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: fighting people. And get knocked over. Because you didn't even realize.
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  Speaker 1: Who you was fooling with. Saul has no idea. That
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  Speaker 1: it is Jesus. That he is persecuting. Anytime you get
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  Speaker 1: in the way of God's purpose. With your opinion. Your
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  Speaker 1: opinion does not equate to God's purpose. God has a purpose.
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  Speaker 1: And when God has a purpose, your opinion don't amount
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  Speaker 1: to God's purpose. And if you put your opinion in
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  Speaker 1: the way of God's purpose, God's going to knock it over.
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  Speaker 1: It is Jesus who thou persecutest. And the Bible said
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  Speaker 1: that when Saul humbled himself, that when he got up,
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  Speaker 1: he saw no man. So watch this because you got
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  Speaker 1: to see this. This is a radical fight out here
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  Speaker 1: on the road to Damascus between a belligerent individual who
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  Speaker 1: is courageous enough to snatch people out of their house
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  Speaker 1: and drag them back to Jerusalem and a God who
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  Speaker 1: don't care nothing about his personality says, I will come
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  Speaker 1: against you. I don't care how tough you think you are.
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  Speaker 1: And knocked him right over. It reminds me of Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: Being on Peniel. And how he comes to Peniel. And
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  Speaker 1: how God dealt with him. And wrestled with him. And
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  Speaker 1: brought him down. And changed everything he thought about himself.
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  Speaker 1: His name. His destiny. His background. Your name should no
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  Speaker 1: longer be called Jacob. But Israel. Jacob had that kind
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  Speaker 1: of radical conversion. There are some people in this room
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  Speaker 1: that had a radical conversion. God just came into your life.
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  Speaker 1: You weren't planning for it. You weren't expecting it. You
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  Speaker 1: had no intentions of doing it. Some of y'all used
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  Speaker 1: to talk about church folk. Never thinking in your life
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  Speaker 1: that you would end up clapping your hands and jumping
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  Speaker 1: around in church today. Can we be real for a minute?
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  Speaker 1: Some of you never thought you'd be in the potter's house.
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  Speaker 1: And here you are sitting in the potter's house clapping
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  Speaker 1: your hand because God did something radical in your life
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  Speaker 1: to turn you around. Glory to God. Glory to God.
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  Speaker 1: Glory to God. Glory to God. Some of you never
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  Speaker 1: thought you belonged to a big church. You said, I
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  Speaker 1: don't like big churches. I don't like being in crime.
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  Speaker 1: But God has a way of knocking you off of
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  Speaker 1: your beach and sending you in a completely different direction.
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  Speaker 1: is there anybody that can be real in here and
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  Speaker 1: be honest a radical a radical conversion a radical conversion
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  Speaker 1: a radical conversion we don't use the word conversion much
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  Speaker 1: in church we don't talk about conversion and we don't
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  Speaker 1: talk about conviction it used to be in the church
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  Speaker 1: they talked about conviction People would come to the altar convicted.
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  Speaker 1: Now they come to the altar taking pictures. Now people
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  Speaker 1: come to the altar FaceTiming you and doing Facebook Live.
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  Speaker 1: You at the altar supposed to be looking for Jesus
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  Speaker 1: and you think you a film producer. But when conviction
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  Speaker 1: gets a hold to your life, you cut your camera
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  Speaker 1: off and lay down on the altar with tears running
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  Speaker 1: down your face because you've had a radical encounter with God.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not talking about coming up to the altar because
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  Speaker 1: your dress is cute. I'm not coming up to the
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  Speaker 1: altar because you want a picture to take home to
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  Speaker 1: show your friends you were there. You don't come to
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  Speaker 1: see me. You come to see Jesus. You don't come
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  Speaker 1: to see people. You come to see Jesus. You don't
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  Speaker 1: come because you're a film producer. You come to see Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: A radical conversion. You told me the gospel. I want
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  Speaker 1: all the folks who got convicted about your life and
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  Speaker 1: your mess and your stuff and the way you live
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  Speaker 1: to jump up on your feet and just bear witness
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  Speaker 1: that there's still some conviction left in the church. Conviction
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  Speaker 1: about sin. Conviction about evil. Conviction about wickedness. There still
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  Speaker 1: exists a convicting Holy Spirit. It's not just a dancing
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. There's a convicting Holy Spirit. There's a Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit that will knock you off your beast. bring you
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  Speaker 1: down to your knees, make you surrender, make you sell out.
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  Speaker 1: There's a convicting Holy Spirit that'll make you walk away
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  Speaker 1: from people you thought you couldn't live without. A convicting
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit that will disrupt you, that will change your life,
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  Speaker 1: that will make you uncomfortable with stuff you like. A
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  Speaker 1: convicting Holy Spirit. That'll come into your life. And speak
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  Speaker 1: to you about your nasty sinful ways. A convicting Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: That'll bring you down to your knees. And make you
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  Speaker 1: surrender to God. And say yes to God. I don't
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  Speaker 1: care how long you've been doing it. And because we
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  Speaker 1: have little conviction. We have little conversion. Because you can't
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  Speaker 1: have true conversion. Until you have true conviction. Glory to God.
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  Speaker 1: I can't make you be convicted. I can't talk you
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  Speaker 1: into being convicted. You have to have an encounter with
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  Speaker 1: God that shows you yourself. And all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: you see him like you've never seen him before. Who
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  Speaker 1: is it? It's Jesus whom thou persecuted. And he shows
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  Speaker 1: up as light. Jesus shows up as light. In him
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  Speaker 1: was life and the life was the light of men.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus shows up as light. Stop making choices in the dark.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus shows up as light. He illuminates situations. He'll show
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  Speaker 1: you perspectives. See the problem now, all the prophets can
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  Speaker 1: see everybody but themselves. I'm a little bit leery of
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  Speaker 1: people who know what you ought to do, but don't
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  Speaker 1: know what they ought to do. How come you can
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  Speaker 1: see my life and you can't see your life? How
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  Speaker 1: come you can see my child, but you can't see
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  Speaker 1: your child? There you are talking about my child. Your
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  Speaker 1: child was out there with my child. Shut up. Did
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  Speaker 1: I say that out loud? I did. I said it
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  Speaker 1: out loud. I said it out loud. I said it
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  Speaker 1: out loud. I said it out loud. He had a
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  Speaker 1: moment with God. I'm going to talk to you about
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  Speaker 1: four things. I'm going to talk about the moment, the misfit,
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  Speaker 1: the messenger, and the message. The moment. The moment. The moment.
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  Speaker 1: The moment. It's a moment. It's a moment. That's how
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  Speaker 1: salvation happens. Reaches you. Boom. It's a moment. The moment.
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  Speaker 1: The misfit. The messenger. And the message. He had a
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  Speaker 1: moment with God. A moment with God that disrupted everything
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  Speaker 1: he knew about himself. He was of the tribe of Benjamin.
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  Speaker 1: He knew that about himself. He was a Pharisee. He
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  Speaker 1: was a Pharisee. The most conservative group. he was a
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  Speaker 1: Pharisee concerning the law he was zealous he was committed
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  Speaker 1: to what he believed he had lived all of his
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  Speaker 1: life up under the law and in one moment it
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  Speaker 1: was all disrupted Do you not know? I don't care
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  Speaker 1: how long you've been in a religion. I don't care
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  Speaker 1: how long you've been following an idea. I don't care
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  Speaker 1: how many generations it's been in your family. One moment
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  Speaker 1: with Jesus can radically revolutionize your life. Somebody listening at me,
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  Speaker 1: you're trying to hold on to your traditions and get
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of Jesus. And you like some of
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  Speaker 1: the stuff Jesus said, and you think that religion is
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  Speaker 1: a smorgasbord. I have a couple of this and a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of that and a little bit of the
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  Speaker 1: other and I'll mix it all up together. Me and
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  Speaker 1: God got my own thing. No, if you encounter Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: you got to give up everything you encountered before and
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  Speaker 1: walk away from it. That's why Paul said, I count
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  Speaker 1: it all as done. Everything I knew, everything I learned,
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  Speaker 1: everything I lived for. I had a radical moment with
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  Speaker 1: God that changed my value system. My values have been misaligned.
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  Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, Paul, who was leading men,
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  Speaker 1: ends up being led by the men he was leading.
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  Speaker 1: And they had to lead him because he was blind.
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  Speaker 1: Because God said, I'm going to shut your eyes till
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  Speaker 1: you get this right. I'm going to shut you down
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  Speaker 1: until you get this right. I'm going to shut up
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  Speaker 1: your finances until you get it right. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: shut up your strength until you get it right. God
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  Speaker 1: has a habit of shutting you down until you get
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  Speaker 1: it right, especially when you're stubborn, especially when you're hard-headed,
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  Speaker 1: especially when you like to fight. God knows how to
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  Speaker 1: shut you down. He said, I'm going to bring you
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  Speaker 1: to a place of vulnerability where you're going to need
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  Speaker 1: the people that you used to lead, and they're going
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  Speaker 1: to have to lead you. as I bring you into
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  Speaker 1: the truth. It was the moment. It was the moment
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  Speaker 1: that changed the rest of the moments for the next 2,000 years.
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  Speaker 1: And God didn't trust no evangelist to do it. He
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  Speaker 1: appeared unto Saul on the road to Damascus. Now, part
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  Speaker 1: of the criteria of being an apostle is to be
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  Speaker 1: an eyewitness to the resurrection. Saul wasn't at the tomb
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  Speaker 1: so Jesus did a special appearance oh God God will
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  Speaker 1: do a special appearance he'll come in your room he'll
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  Speaker 1: come in your hotel he'll come in the club he'll
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  Speaker 1: come in the bar God will do a special appearance
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  Speaker 1: he'll come right where you are and just show up
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  Speaker 1: somebody holler he showed up he showed up in my
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  Speaker 1: life wasn't planning to get saved he showed up when
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  Speaker 1: I came back to the club I went to Columbus
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  Speaker 1: I brought two sets of clothes I said I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: go to the convocation and at night I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: the club I never got to use the second set
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  Speaker 1: cause he showed up I had packed all my sharp
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  Speaker 1: stuff too I was gonna be clean baby I was
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  Speaker 1: going to be clean. I put a couple of suits
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  Speaker 1: in there. You know, give God a nod. How you doing, Jesus? Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to the club. Quick change after church. Never
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: made it to the club. Because he sold out. And
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: they say, I know I'm walking down now with tears
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: running down my face. Mother McCaslin was singing all of
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: my life. I'll say, yes, Lord. And I'm crying in
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: an offering coming back to the Lord. Have you had
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: a moment with Jesus or do you just go to church?
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Have you had a moment with Jesus? Or is there
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: a nice looking girl in this church and you're coming
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: over here because you're trying to convince her that you
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and Jesus are you cool? We cool. Give Jesus a nod.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: It's really you I'm after. You can experience the potter's
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: house and not experience Jesus. You can experience me and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: not experience Jesus. If you have a moment with Jesus...
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: it will radically change your perspectives, your attitude. And look
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: at how Jesus wrecked everything that Saul's life was built on.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: It suddenly in one moment is gone. You can't be
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: a member of the Sanhedrin and preach Jesus. You can't
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: be a Pharisee and preach Jesus. You can't be zealous
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: concerning the law and teach grace. It changed his head.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: It changed his identity. It changed his personhood. It changed
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: everything about him. He wiped the slate clean. Completely clean.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: This is why you hear Paul saying over, I profess
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: to know nothing but Christ and him crucified. He is
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: not going to fall into the trap of thinking he's
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: smart again. He spoke in five different languages and he says,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I am a fool for Christ. That's what I'm saying.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: And he has a moment with God alone with nobody
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: there but the men who were with him and they're
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: leading him. They're leading him into Damascus. And this is
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: not how he planned to go into Damascus. He didn't
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: plan to come into Damascus blind, being led by men.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: He planned to come into Damascus strong, attacking men, snatching
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: women out of the house. But it doesn't always end
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: up like you thought. Just because you think something right
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: now doesn't make it true. He comes into Damascus helpless.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: The powerful man is now helpless, blind, groping, depending on
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: them to lead him. And God tells him to go
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: to a man he doesn't even know named Ananias. And
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: there he is on a street called street. Doesn't even
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: know Ananias' address. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying. And Ananias,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: when God tells Ananias to pray for Saul, he says,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: are you serious? Saul of Tarsus? You want me to
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: pray for him? You want me to go pray for him? See,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: we get in these cliques. And sometimes we won't pray
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: for people because they're not in our clique. I'm not
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: praying for no Democrat. I'm not praying for no Republican.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: I'm not praying for no white folks. I'm not praying
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: for no black folks. I went through something. You don't
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: know what I went through. I don't care what you
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: went through when you was a child. God will humble
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: you down because God does not promise to always use
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: who looks like you, votes like you, dresses like you
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: To bless you. God uses whoever he wants to use.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: He don't meet with you. He doesn't do a poll.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: He doesn't do a census. He doesn't meet with the committee.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: He doesn't need board approval. When God gets ready to snatch.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Oh y'all got quiet. When God gets ready to snatch somebody.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: He will snatch somebody. Ananias doesn't want to be seen
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: with salt. It's bad for his brand. It's bad for
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: his reputation. It could be bad for his life. And
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: yet God says he prayeth now. There ought not be
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: nothing that supersedes the command of God in your life.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: When God says forgive, forgive. When God says let it go,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: let it go. When God says it'll all be over
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: in the morning, it'll all be over in the morning.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: When God says weeping may endure for a night, but
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: joy comes in the morning, he don't ask you how
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: you feel about it. Well, Lord, I just don't feel
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: like it. I don't feel like this morning. It don't
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: feel like morning to me. Shut up. If God says
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: it's morning, it's morning. It may still be dark outside,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: but it's morning. You do know that morning starts in
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: the dark. When God says it's morning, it's morning. So
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: he wants you to rejoice like it's morning. He wants
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: you to shout like it's morning. He wants you to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: move like it's morning. And Ananias, he wants you to
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: go down to a street called straight and pray for
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: a man who was coming to kill you. How do
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: you pray for a man who is coming to kill you?
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: A man you have ought against. That's why God won't
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: accept your gift if you have malice in your heart.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: He said, leave your gift at the altar and reconcile
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: yourself with your brother. Because whatever they did, it ain't
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: worth you losing your authority with God. Whatever they said,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: it ain't worth you losing your power with God. No
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: matter how it hurts you, it doesn't matter. You still
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: got to do what you got to do. And if
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: God says do it, you got to do it. See,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: we don't use this word anymore, the old word, obedience.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Obedience is better than sacrifice. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: I appreciate whatever you sow, but obedience is better than sacrifice.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: You can't give your way into getting a license to
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: do wrong. So Ananias obeys God and he goes down
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: there and he lays hands on the man who was
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: going to lay hands on him. Can you do it? No, serious.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Can you do it? Can you lay hands on the
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: person who was coming to hurt you? Ananias lays hands
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: on Saul who was going to lay hands on him.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: And the of his obedience costs the scales to fall
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: from Saul's eyes I don't know who I'm preaching to
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: but I'm talking to somebody that if you would just
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: do what God says do and stop wrestling with your
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: ego and your pride and humble yourself the power you
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: would have the scales fall from his eyes and suddenly
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Saul can see. And he goes from having a moment
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: with God to a moment as a misfit. I want
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: you to feel this. How can he go back to
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: the Sanhedrin court and tell them about Jesus? Because he
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: is no longer one of them. There is no seat
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: for him Amongst the Sanhedrin. He's lost all of that.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: He's lost all credibility with the Sanhedrin. Because he has
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: taken on this Jesus philosophy. That they hate it. They
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: have empowered him to attack what he has become. So
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: he can't go back. There is a point in God.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: It's not that you don't want to go back. It's
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: not that you ain't tempted to go back. It ain't
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: that your flesh don't want to go back. But there
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: is a point in God where you cannot go back.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: That's somebody's word watching right now. You cannot go back.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: You can't go back and undo what God has done
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: in your life. You can't unknow what you know. Once
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: you know who Jesus is, you can't unknow that. I
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: don't care how you drink, how much weed you smoke,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: how high you get. I don't care how many lap
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: dances you get. Once you know Jesus, there's a mark
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: on your life. that something is always going to be
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: missing until you say, yes, you can't go back. The problem, however,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: is not just that he can't go back because I
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: can leave one group if I connect with the other.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: I can be rejected by this group if I'm accepted
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: by the other. The problem with Saul is when he
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: comes to the apostles, they don't believe in him. They
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: don't believe him. They don't believe in him. They don't
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: like him. They don't accept him. And so he has
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: to accept being a misfit. You have to accept being
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: a misfit. You can change your hair. You can change
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: your clothes. You can change your style. You can change
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: your walk. They still not going to like you. Because
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: when God has called you out, you can't go back in.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: You have to accept being a misfit. Look at somebody
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and say, I'm different. I'm different. You ain't never seen
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: nobody like me before. You're never going to see anybody
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: like me again. I'm different. And after years and years
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: of low self-esteem and crying about it, I'm finally starting
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: to accept that I'm different. I'm cool with it. I'm
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: okay with it. I can live with it. I understand it.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: I've been trained in it. I learned how to be
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: a misfit. It doesn't matter that you don't like me
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: and it doesn't matter that you don't believe in me.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: I can stand on my own because I had an
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: encounter with Jesus. And so when Saul, who is now
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: called Paul, starts to minister, he ministers from the place
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: of a misfit. All my misfit people, hear me good.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: The reason you have the anointing is because you're a misfit.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: The reason you have your anointing is because you're a misfit.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Had they accepted you, you wouldn't have had the anointing.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Had they embraced you, you wouldn't have had the anointing.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Because Paul was a misfit. He gives us most of
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: the New Testament epistles because he does not fit in
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: with either group. He's an outcast on both sides. But
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: when you're an outcast with men, you are in cast
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: with God. Do you hear what I'm saying? I'm talking
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: to somebody. I don't even know who it is. You're
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: a misfit. Stop fighting it. Stop changing yourself. Stop redoing
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: your philosophy. Stop trying to be what everybody else wants
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: you to be. You were meant to be a misfit.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Your savior was a misfit. The stone that the builders
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: rejected has been made the chief cornerstone. Stop crying about it.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Stop worrying about it. Stop being frustrated about it. You
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: don't want to be in with them. God saved you
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: from being in with them. He meant for you to
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: be different. Look at your neighbor and introduce him. Say, hello,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: I'm different. Yeah, my name is different. My name is different.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: My walk is different. My talk is different. The way
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I think is different. The way I believe is different.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: The way I flow is different. I understand it if
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: you don't like me. Everybody can't walk with a misfit.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: You have to be a misfit yourself to understand another
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: misfit when you see it. I want some misfits in
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: this room to give God a break. You don't fit
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: in with your family. You don't fit in with your community.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: You don't fit in with your neighborhood. You just a
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: misfit for Jesus. Often it takes half your life to
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: accept being a misfit. Because we are always advertised, marketed, modeled,
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: and promoted fitting in. And it hurts to not quite...
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: be either one it's lonely it's lonely being a misfit
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: When you are a misfit, you are misunderstood. They accuse
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: you of being arrogant. They accuse you of being high-minded.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: They accuse you, we used to say, of being suchy much.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: They accuse you of walking around with your head up
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: in the air. They accuse you of forgetting where you
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: came from. Come on, misfits, back me up on this.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Being a misfit means that you have to learn to
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: be okay with being misunderstood. That ain't easy. That ain't easy.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: That ain't easy. It was not easy to be the
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: apostle Paul. It was not easy to be shunned by
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: your future. And rejected by your past. It'll make you
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: pray harder. Because you don't have nobody to depend on.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: But the Lord. It'll make you get up and come
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: to church on Sunday morning. I don't care how cold
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: it is outside. You wrapped up and came to church.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Because this is the only place you fit. Not the building,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: the presence of the Lord, the glory of the Lord,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: the anointing of the Lord. This is a place where
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: we feed the misfits. Hey, misfits, dinner is served. And
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: the Bible says that immediately Paul started preaching. Immediately. Ain't
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: that something? Immediately. He starts preaching in the synagogue. He
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: doesn't come back to the synagogue to be accepted. He
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: knows they think he's crazy. But he's preaching. He's preaching.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: In the synagogue. He has to fight all of his life.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: But in between the fights, he's writing most of the
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: New Testament in between fights. He came to Lystra and
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: they threw rocks at him. And they stoned him till
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: his head was busted and his back was bleeding. And
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: they drug him out of the city as half dead.
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: But as soon as he woke up, he got in
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: between the fight and started preaching again. Saying stuff like
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus who walk no longer after the flesh
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: but after the spirit. If any man be in Christ,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: he is a new creature. All old things are passed away.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: Behold all things. have become new for we know if
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: this earthly house or tabernacle shall be dissolved we have
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: another building eternal in the heavens having this assurance that
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: god who has began a good work in you shall
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: perform it unto the day of jesus christ i want
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: to talk to everybody in here that's been in fight
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: after fight after fight. The Lord said in between the fights,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: preach the gospel, lay hands on the sick, open up
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: blinded eyes, rebuke the devil and keep on going. They
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: put him on the boat and the boat fell apart.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: He survived the shipwreck and the snake bit him. But
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: in between the fights, he kept on telling them Jesus
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: is Lord. To the glory of God. I wish I
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: had a hundred people that would praise God in between
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: the fight. You're still God. You're still God. You're still God.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: The ship has wrecked, but you're still God. The snake
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: has bitten me, but you're still God. The rocks made
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: me bleed, but you're still God. See, it ain't no
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: praise till you're praising God with blood running down your face.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: There ain't no praise till you're praising God in the
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: middle of rejection and pain. Let the redeemed of the
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: Lord say so. I'll give you 30 seconds to give
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: God a praise like you lost your mind. You got
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: 10 seconds to open your mouth. Every misfit in the building,
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: every misfit online, every misfit in the balcony, you got
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: five seconds to open your mouth and give God some
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: praise and settle in on being disliked. Settle in on
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: being controversial. Settle in on being mistreated. It's okay. Amen.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: This is why it's okay. This is why it's okay
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: to be a misfit because number three, you're the messenger.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: And you can't be the messenger if you fit in.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: That's what's wrong now. We got too many folk trying
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: to fit in. Too many preachers trying to fit in.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: If you're going to be the messenger, you got to
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: be willing to be the misfit. Glory to God. You
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: can't be common with the people that you're trying to lead.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: That's why we don't have parents no more. Because they're
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: too busy trying to be friends with their kids. You're
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: so busy trying to be friends that the kid ain't
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: got no parent. And now if you're not a friend,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: you're not a parent. The devil is a lie. You
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: got to understand that you got to be a misfit.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: You got to be a misfit if you're going to
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: win this battle. If you're going to be a boss,
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: you got to be a misfit. You can still be nice,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: but you ain't got no business chasing them behind people,
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: trying to make them like you. This ain't no election.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: Your paycheck voted me boss. I'm the boss. You can't
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: cash the check and not recognize who signed it. Come on,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: we might as well clean it up in here. Look
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: at somebody and say, clean it up. You are the messenger.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: You are the messenger. You are the messenger. I don't
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: care whether you're a preacher or not. You're the messenger.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: You're still a witness. You're a soul winner. Stop trying
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: to be an undercover agent on your job. You don't
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: want nobody to know that you saved so that you
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: still got permission to to live out your whole life...
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: go ahead and be a messenger... start praying for people
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: on break... you're a messenger... God didn't put you on
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: the job... to make money... He put you on the job...
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: to change lives... you could have made money anywhere... you're
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: on assignment... you're a messenger... you got a message... you're
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: on a mission... that's why the enemy keeps fighting you...
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: it's because you're a messenger... he wouldn't try to shut
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: you down... if you didn't have something to say... The
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: reason he's attacking you is because you're a messenger. I
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: want every messenger in here to clap your hands. I'm
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: a messenger. I'm a messenger. I'm a messenger. I'm a messenger.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: I'm a messenger. I'm a messenger. But messengers get fought
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: with being misfits. Because Being a messenger means saying yes
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: to being a misfit. So when the enemy wants to
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: shut down your message, he'll show you how bad you
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: don't fit. Am I preaching right? I say am I
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: preaching right? You are a messenger. Most of what we
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: know about church. about the five-fold ministry, about the resurrection
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: from the dead, about the mystery of the Godhead, about
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: the peace that passes all understanding, about having peace with God,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: about no condemnation. Most of what we know about the
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: resurrection came from Paul, not Matthias. Stop worrying about who
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: they picked. God picked you. God picked you. I'm going
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: to say it again. God picked you. I'm going to
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: say it again. God picked you. And you don't have
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: to be 80 and you don't have to be 70
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: and you don't have to be 60. You don't have
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: to be 50. Jesus started ministering when he was 12
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: because God picked you. You have to understand that God
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: picks you. And it's not because your past is in alignment.
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: It's because you had a unique moment with God and
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: stop being frustrated because you can't teach people how to
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: have a moment that they didn't have. Oh God, that's
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: so good. Thank you, Jesus. I'm going to watch this
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: on YouTube again myself. Some of you that are messengers
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: are frustrated because in your loneliness, you are trying to
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: make disciples out of people who do not have your moment.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: And if they did not have your moment, they cannot
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: have your mantel. Let me tell it to the people
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: over here. If they did not have your moment, they
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: cannot have your mantle. That's why Elijah told Elisha, if
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: you see me when I'm taken up, you can have
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: my mantle. You can't get my mantle just because you
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: want it. Just because you think you got a right
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: to it. Just because you gave me a love offering.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: You can't buy me off and get this. Until you've
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: been knocked off your beast. Until you've had an encounter
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: with God. Until you walked around blind. And until you're
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: willing to be a misfit. You can't teach people how
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: to be what they didn't see. So forgive yourself for
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: not being able to reduplicate yourself. When Jesus picks out
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: 12 disciples, y'all pulling at me now. When Jesus picks
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: out 12 disciples, you know the first thing he tells them?
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: Take up your cross. Take up your cross. and follow
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: me because you're going to hear me teach all you
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: want to but you're not going to get my mantle
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: off of what I teach you're going to get my
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: mantle off of what I suffer so the invitation is
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: until you have a shared experience you cannot receive my
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: spirit without receiving my cross. Most of us are stuck
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: in the misfit stage, hindering our message because we are
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: still grieving over not fitting. And until you resolve and
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: say yes, not only to God, But yes to not
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: quite fitting in with either group. Yes to being peculiar.
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: Yes to thinking different. Yes to having a flow that's
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: different from other people's flow. You will never discover your
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: message which is your purpose. Number four, because you are
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: a messenger, your purpose is predicated on your message, not
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: your emotions. God didn't call you for your feelings. He
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: called you for your message. Because you are a messenger
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: to a dying world. To model what love looks like.
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: What strength looks like. What maturity looks like. What diligence
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: looks like. What commitment looks like. What fortitude looks like.
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: In between fights, you got to keep teaching people how
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: to be survivors. How to walk alone sometimes. Am I
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: helping anybody? Let me tell you something. Most of the
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: divorces that we're having we should have never had. Because
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: we are trying to get something out of marriage that
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: it is not designed to give you. You're taking marriage
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: for therapy. And when you don't get therapy out of it,
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: you get out of it. If you want therapy, go
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: to a therapist. It is not my job to fix you.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: It is my job to love you. The reason I
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: can't fix you is that I'm trying to fix me.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: And it is wrong of me To expect you to
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: fix me. Because whatever's broke in me was broke when
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: you bought me. I'm the house you bought as is.
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: I'm a fixer-upper. The drain don't work and the lights
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: flash on and off. And when it rains real hard,
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: I leak in the kitchen. But I'm still your house.
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: Y'all don't hear me. And you are angry with me
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: over stuff I don't know nothing about. You trying to
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: work out in me stuff you had going on with
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: your daddy. I'm trying to work out in you stuff
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: I had going on with my mama. That ain't even fair.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: You wasn't even there. You don't even know what happened.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: And if I tell you, you only get my side.
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: And yes, I got a devil to fight. How many
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: people in here are honest enough to say you got
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: a devil to fight? That's why I'm at church this morning.
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: Because I got a devil to fight. That's why I
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: was clapping my hands and praising God when you were singing.
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: Because I got a devil to fight. That's why your
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: job is so important. Because you helped me fight my devil.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: That's why I can't cross my legs and look cute
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: in church. Because I got a devil to fight. And
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: I came here this morning to get some ammunition.
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: Am I enough? No, I'm not enough. But with God,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: I'm more than enough. enough I can do all things
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: through Christ which strengthens me can I get a praise
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: in this place can I get a praise in this
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: place so when Paul gets down to the end of
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: his life, he sends a message to his mentee. He
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: does not tell Timothy about all his revelations. He does
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: not tell Timothy about all the places he travels. He
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: does not tell Timothy how he was trained at the
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: feet of Gamaliel. He does not tell Timothy How many
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: languages he spoke in. He does not tell Timothy that
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: he is solely responsible for the gospel reaching the Greeks.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: That he preached the gospel on Mars Hill until a
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: whole nation got saved. He does not tell Timothy that
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: it was not Peter alone that brought the gospel to Rome.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: But that's why the shipwrecked was to keep him from
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: getting to Rome. Because when Paul got to Rome, the
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: whole game changed. And the headquarters of Christianity slipped over
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: from Jerusalem over to Rome. He doesn't tell him any
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: of that. You know what he tells him? I fought
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: a good fight. I fought a good fight. I did
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: it when I felt like it. I did it when
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel like it. I did it when things
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: were going good. I did it when things were going bad.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: I did it when I was on the mountain. I
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: did it when I was in the valley. I did
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: it when people liked me. I did it when people
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: hated me. I did it when they understood. I did
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: it when they didn't understand. I have fought a good
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: fight and you got to learn how to clap for
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: yourself and say, I have fought Somebody clap for yourself.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: I fought a good fight. I raised them kids by myself.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: I'm a single mother, but I fought a good fight. Hallelujah.
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: I divorced a mother, but I kept on taking care
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: of my children. I fought a good fight. I fed
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: people who didn't like me. I came to work where
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: they talked about me. I kept on going to work,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: even though the person I trained ended up getting a
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: job I should have got, but I still came to work,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: and I fought a good fight. I want to talk
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: to some people that have been into some fights. I
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: don't want to talk to these cutie pie people that
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: ain't been through nothing yet I want to talk to
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: some real soldiers that's been in some real fights Paul
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: tells Timothy I fought I fought I fought a good
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: fight I fought fights other people wouldn't even take up.
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: I fought fights I could have avoided. I fought a
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: good fight. You know what? I kept the faith. Yeah.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: Sometimes that was the fight. See, y'all think I'm fighting
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: with people. Sometimes the fight is to keep the faith.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: I fought a good fight. I kept the faith. Wait
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: on this. Here's what you've been waiting on. Now, laid
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: up for me is a crown Didn't get it when
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: I wanted it. Didn't get it where I worked at it.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: Some stuff only God can give you. Now laid up
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: for me is a crown of righteousness. We used to
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: sing stuff like, we shall behold him. Or that other song,
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: the marketplace is empty. No more selling in the streets.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: The king is coming. We don't sing about heaven right
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: now because we got better cars. We don't sing about
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: heaven because we got air conditioning. We don't sing about
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: heaven because we got dishwashers and garbage disposals and stuff
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: like that. But the truth of the matter is nothing
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: you own is your crown. None of it is your crown.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: There is a crown for those of you who have
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: fought a good fight. And it ain't down here. It
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: ain't down here, bro. It ain't down here. Why would
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: you preach this? Because every time I open up the paper,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: somebody else has committed suicide. You know why most people
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: commit suicide? Because they never got the crown. They put
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: in the fight and they didn't get the crown. But
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: Paul tells Timothy, now laid up for me is a
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: crown of righteousness. And not for me only, but for
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: all of those who await his appearing. Stand to your feet.
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: If God spoke to you today, give him some kind
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: of praise. Quick teacher's review is make your life count
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: in between fights. Don't survive a fight only to be
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: in misery about an old fight. You're wasting your free
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: time talking about your old time. In between fights, make
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: your life count. Do something purposeful. That's what the fight
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: was about in the first place. In between fights, do
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: what you were created to do. This is a teacher's review.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: The power of obedience. Understanding that sometimes you have to
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: go against your feelings and obey God and lay hands
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: on people who were trying to lay hands on you.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Because this is not your business. This is God's business
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: you're doing. Do you hear what I'm saying? Teachers Review,
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: I want you to understand you didn't choose God. God
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: chose you. Teachers Review, fitting in is overrated. Be okay
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: with being different. Nobody writes books about ordinary. Only extraordinary.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: Be cool with it. All of, not all, but most
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: of our heroes were lauded after they died. If you
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: demand payment up front, you are distracted from your destiny.
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: Who am I talking to? When you worry about being
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: a misfit, you put your happiness in the hands of
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: someone else. Means I can only be happy if you
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: like me. That's too much power to give to any clique,
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: any group, Any crowd. Any co-workers. That's too much power
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: to give anybody. You gotta be cool with doing you. Y'all,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: I often joke, talk about how my wife loves Christmas.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: And she got the house, you know, that look like
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: Santa Claus lived in. And, uh, And the one who
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: always teasing her about it, I said, how come you
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: ain't playing your music? You know why? It ain't my thing,
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: but it's hers. And if it gives you joy, turn
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: the music up. It takes a long time To stop
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: trying to change people. And just love them like they are.
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: It ain't nothing wrong with that. I thought. Let me
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: turn the music on. Let me help. Let me do something. Stop.
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: Trying to make people. Into you. Because. Can we be
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: honest a minute? You ain't that happy being you. So
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: why you trying to make me be you? Early in
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: the message, I used two words that I said we
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: don't use much. Conversion. Conversion. And conviction. Conversion. The right
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: to change. The right to be somebody else. Is important.
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: Don't lock yourself into situations you can't get out of.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: Because conversion is a process. And conviction is a decision.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: that I need to change directions. Now, I'm not sure,
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: but I believe that somebody in this room or watching
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: online has been knocked off your beast. The wind knocked
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: out of you. Blackout. You can't see your way clear.
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: God has disrupted your life because he's got something for
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: you that's different than where you were headed. You can
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: be hard headed and come to him on a cot
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: lowered down through the roof or come to him in
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: a dread disease or you can come to him now
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: and say Lord I need to make some changes ain't
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: no need of me having a new year if I'm
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: not going to be a new me even if I
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: am despised even if I have to leave my clique
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: my gang even if I have to change jobs Whatever
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: I have to do to fulfill what you created me
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: to do. I'm tired of fighting you, God. It's enough
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: to fight me. You know what Jesus told Paul that
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: I left out? He said, it is hard for you
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: to kick against the pricks. The prick was something that
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: they put at the end of the stall to stop
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: the mule from kicking the stall, trying to get away.
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: It was a sharp object that the more you kicked
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: against it, the more it hurt you. And when God says...