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Purpose-Isn-t-Petty-Bishop-T-D-Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: We're going to the sixth chapter of the book of Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: chapter 20 through verse 25, and I'm going to be
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  Speaker 1: reading it out of the NIV, and you follow along
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: with us as we go into the Word of God.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Glory to God. I'll give you a minute to find it.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Minutes up. I hope you feel good tonight. Glory to God.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling good tonight. Thank you, Jesus. I walked in
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  Speaker 1: here and didn't have to roll. Thank you, Jesus. I
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: came in here and nobody had to carry me. I'm
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  Speaker 1: feeling good tonight. Thank you, Jesus. I'm standing on both
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: my feet tonight. I'm feeling good tonight. I can see you.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I can hear you. I can feel you. I'm blessed tonight.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Glory to God. See, you don't call that a blessing
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  Speaker 1: until something compromises it, and then you're on your knees praying,
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  Speaker 1: oh God, if you just give me my sight back.
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  Speaker 1: But while you got it, you ought to give God
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  Speaker 1: the praise for what you've got right now.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, bless his high name.
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  Speaker 1: We are in the sixth chapter of the book of Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: standing on the precipice of a revolution. We are standing
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  Speaker 1: right on the apex of an invasion where the people
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  Speaker 1: of God are getting ready to invade and take over territory.
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  Speaker 1: Look at your neighbor and say, I'm getting ready to
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  Speaker 1: take over territory. Glory to God. I'm not just going
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  Speaker 1: to occupy. I'm going to take over territory. I'm getting
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  Speaker 1: ready to go into expansion. I'm getting ready to go
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  Speaker 1: into increase. I'm getting ready to take over territory. Glory
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: to God. Can y'all handle that? Let's start at the
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  Speaker 1: 20th verse and see what thus saith the Lord. When
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  Speaker 1: the trumpets sounded, the army shouted. Listen at that closely.
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  Speaker 1: When the trumpets sounded, sounded, the army shouted. Never heard
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  Speaker 1: of a shouting army before. Normally when you got troops,
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  Speaker 1: they fight. But when the trumpet sounded, the army shouted.
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  Speaker 1: And at the sound of the trumpet, when the men
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  Speaker 1: gave a loud shout.
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  Speaker 2: The wall collapsed.
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  Speaker 1: Glory to God. I wonder what's going to collapse tonight.
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  Speaker 1: My God, something is getting ready to collapse tonight. You
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  Speaker 1: might need a hard hat on tonight because something is
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  Speaker 1: getting ready to collapse. Your faith is going to do
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  Speaker 1: some demolition, some deconstruction, some disruption is getting ready to
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  Speaker 1: go on. Walls are coming down. Look at your neighbor
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and say, walls are coming down. If you're watching online,
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  Speaker 1: type it on the line. Walls are coming down. Walls
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  Speaker 1: are collapsing. They're giving way. Things that have been standing
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  Speaker 1: for decades and centuries are collapsing now in the presence
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord. They are coming down in the name
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus. So everyone charged straight in and they took
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  Speaker 1: the city. They didn't give it to them. They took it.
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  Speaker 1: Glory to God. They devoted the city to the Lord
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  Speaker 1: and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it,
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  Speaker 1: men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.
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  Speaker 1: They destroyed every bit of it. Joshua said to the
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  Speaker 1: two men who had spied out the land, go into
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  Speaker 1: the prostitute's house and bring her out. Now, the last
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  Speaker 1: time I saw them bring out a woman of ill
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  Speaker 1: repute in the Bible, they were going to stone her.
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  Speaker 1: But not here. Go into the prostitute's house and bring
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  Speaker 1: her out and all who belong to her in accordance
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  Speaker 1: with your oath to her. Ah, this is unusual in
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Bible that God has, the Holy Bible is
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  Speaker 1: talking about a hooker. So the young men who had
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  Speaker 1: done the spying went in. They were young men. See,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know that. They were young men. So they
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  Speaker 1: weren't old men. I ain't gonna bother that. The young
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  Speaker 1: men who had gone, who had done the spying, went
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  Speaker 1: in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her
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  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, and all women. who belonged to her.
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  Speaker 1: They bought out her entire family and put them in
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  Speaker 1: a place outside the camp of Israel. Then they burned
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  Speaker 1: the whole city and everything in it, but they put
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  Speaker 1: the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and
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  Speaker 1: iron into the treasury of the Lord's house. Good God
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  Speaker 1: have mercy. That's a transfer. You didn't hear me. That's
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  Speaker 1: a transfer. The entire wealth of Jericho is transferred to
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  Speaker 1: the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Joshua
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  Speaker 1: spared Rahab the prostitute. Why y'all keep telling a business
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  Speaker 1: like that? Just be quiet. Just call her Rahab. No, no.
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  Speaker 1: They tell her occupation, her profession. So that we can
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  Speaker 1: understand clearly the oxymoron of this text. The power of
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  Speaker 1: this text. The flamboyant grace of this text. God's mercy
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  Speaker 1: in this text. That of everybody in the city, not
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  Speaker 1: even a goat escaped. not a pigeon, not a turtle
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  Speaker 1: dove escape, but of all the people in the entire city, Rahab,
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  Speaker 1: the prostitute, with her family and all who belong to
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  Speaker 1: her because, because she hid the men. Joshua had sent
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  Speaker 1: as spies to Jericho because she did God a favor.
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  Speaker 1: When was the last time you did God a favor?
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  Speaker 1: I just believe tonight that if you do God a favor,
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  Speaker 1: God would do you a favor. And he sent, Joshua
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  Speaker 1: had sent the spies to Jericho and she lives amongst
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites to this day. Now, I'm going to talk
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  Speaker 1: about purpose isn't petty. Purpose isn't petty. Now this is
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  Speaker 1: a warning. All the petty people need to leave. This
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  Speaker 1: is not going to be a good night for you.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm telling you right now, before you get your
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  Speaker 1: feelings hurt, all petty people go to the exit door
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  Speaker 1: and leave now because purpose isn't petty. Spirit of the
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  Speaker 1: living God fall fresh on us. as we endeavor to
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  Speaker 1: unveil the integrity of the text and to put it
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  Speaker 1: in context and to extrapolate from the context of the text,
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  Speaker 1: truth and morsels of bread that are relevant to our
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  Speaker 1: contemporary society. Take the logos and turn it into rhema
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  Speaker 1: and let it be cut to the continuity tailor-made to
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  Speaker 1: what I'm going through right now, that I might hear
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  Speaker 1: the word of the Lord. I thank you in advance
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  Speaker 1: for what you're going to do. Have your way in
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  Speaker 1: this place in the name of Jesus with a loud
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  Speaker 1: voice like you're hollering at your kids. Shout amen. Poor children,
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  Speaker 1: y'all may be seated. I want to back up for
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  Speaker 1: just a few minutes and put in context the distinctive
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  Speaker 1: of the book of Joshua itself. I talked about it
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  Speaker 1: last week. I won't go into all of the elements
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  Speaker 1: that I talked about last week. You can go on
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  Speaker 1: YouTube and you can really get a fairly thorough. exposition
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  Speaker 1: of the purpose of the book of Joshua, Yahshua, the
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  Speaker 1: book of Joshua, a shadow type of the ministry of Yahshua,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus in the Old Testament. I talked about that last week,
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  Speaker 1: so I won't even go into that. But what I
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  Speaker 1: do want to tell you is that the book of
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  Speaker 1: Joshua starts out telling Joshua, I have given you the land.
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  Speaker 1: I have given you the land. Now, it doesn't seem
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  Speaker 1: practical to me that God would have to say, I've
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  Speaker 1: given you something if it was obvious. Most of the
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  Speaker 1: time I've given people something, I didn't have to come
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  Speaker 1: back and tell them I've given them something. But because
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  Speaker 1: he feels the necessity to tell Joshua that he has
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  Speaker 1: given it to him, that means that it is not
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  Speaker 1: obviously a gift.
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  Speaker 3: Because that would make no sense.
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  Speaker 1: If I hand you $ 100 and I put it in
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  Speaker 1: your hand, I wouldn't have to say I've given you $ 100.
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  Speaker 1: You say, yeah, I know that. I got that. But
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  Speaker 1: this is the kind of declaration that is revelatory from
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  Speaker 1: the perspective of the fact that you have it, but
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  Speaker 1: you don't know it. My God. Could that be possible
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  Speaker 1: that I could have something that I don't know? Could
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  Speaker 1: it be possible that the word is excavating out of
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  Speaker 1: my life things that are already intrinsically inside of me,
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  Speaker 1: but I am oblivious to it and I cannot use
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  Speaker 1: what I do not know that I have. God said,
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  Speaker 1: I have given you the land, but you got to
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  Speaker 1: possess it. This is the collaboration between the human and
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  Speaker 1: the divine. I don't have time to exhaust that, but
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  Speaker 1: all throughout the Bible, we see the collaboration between the
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  Speaker 1: human and the divine, that God works through people. I
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  Speaker 1: have given it to you, but you still have an
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  Speaker 1: obligation to possess it. If you don't possess it, they're
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  Speaker 1: going to keep living in your stuff. I have given
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  Speaker 1: you the land to possess it. I have given you peace,
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  Speaker 1: but you got to possess it. I have given you joy,
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  Speaker 1: but you have to possess it. I have given you
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  Speaker 1: spiritual gifts, but you have to possess it. I have
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  Speaker 1: given you the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but you
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  Speaker 1: have to possess it. It is already given. You're praying, God,
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  Speaker 1: fill me with the Holy Spirit. He's already given it
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  Speaker 1: to you, but you have to possess it because God
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  Speaker 1: is collaborative and he wants your involvement in possessing what
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  Speaker 1: is yours. Oh, we used to tarry around the altar
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  Speaker 1: for hours and we said we were waiting on the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost to come like he was riding on a tricycle.
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  Speaker 1: And we would just be waiting till midnight, waiting on
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost to come. And all the while we
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  Speaker 1: were waiting, he was already there. He was already there.
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  Speaker 1: The Bible said at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and
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  Speaker 1: sang praises unto God and there was an earthquake. I
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  Speaker 1: hate to bust your bubble, but it could have happened
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  Speaker 1: at 10. It could have happened at 915. There's nothing
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  Speaker 1: magical about midnight. It just so happened that it took
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  Speaker 1: them midnight to possess what was already there. God says,
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  Speaker 1: I have given you the land to possess it. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this is a process. We talked about the moat last time.
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  Speaker 1: We talked about the Jordan River. We talked about the
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  Speaker 1: topography of the Jordan River. We began to understand how
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  Speaker 1: God removed the moat so that they could grow a
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  Speaker 1: cross on dry land. The moat was the first defense
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  Speaker 1: that separated them from any onslaught or attack. And God
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  Speaker 1: allowed them to be able to enter into Jericho because
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  Speaker 1: he stopped it and dried it At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: stop and dry, stop and dry. Stop it so you
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't have to swim across it. Dry so you wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: get muddy. So that when you got out of it,
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  Speaker 1: there would be no residue of what you've been through
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  Speaker 1: left on your feet. Some of you have some testimonies
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  Speaker 1: in this room that you can't hardly even share with
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  Speaker 1: anybody because they won't believe what you've been through. You
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  Speaker 1: don't even look like what you've been through. You don't
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  Speaker 1: have no mud left on you because God stopped it
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  Speaker 1: and he dried it so that you could cross over
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  Speaker 1: onto dry land. Are you hearing what I'm saying? And
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  Speaker 1: then when he did that, the only thing left was
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  Speaker 1: the wall. You're down to the last thing that's got
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  Speaker 1: to fall The waters have been parted. The land has
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  Speaker 1: been blown dry. And now you're down to the last
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  Speaker 1: obstacle that stands in between you and victory. I want
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  Speaker 1: to talk to some people that are close. I got
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  Speaker 1: about 10 people over there. I got about 15 over there.
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  Speaker 1: I got about 50 over there. I want to talk
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  Speaker 1: to some people that knowing your knower, I am close.
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  Speaker 1: I'm right on the verge of something. And that's why
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  Speaker 1: you can't give up right now. That's why you can't
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  Speaker 1: quit right now. You survived the desert. You've made it
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  Speaker 1: through your dry place. You've crossed over your Jordan. You
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  Speaker 1: want to cross on dry land. You've— tasted of the
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  Speaker 1: fruit of the promised land. The manna has ceased. You've
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  Speaker 1: entered into new territory. Your spirit knows that something is
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  Speaker 1: about to happen. Look at your neighbor and tell him
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  Speaker 1: I'm close. I don't have time to argue with you
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  Speaker 1: because I'm close. I don't have time to get into
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  Speaker 1: no debate with you because I'm too close. I don't
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  Speaker 1: have time to worry about whether you like me or
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  Speaker 1: not because I'm too close. I'm too close. I got
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  Speaker 1: to focus right now.
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  Speaker 2: I'm too close.
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  Speaker 1: Don't bother me.
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  Speaker 2: I'm too close.
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  Speaker 1: She thinks she's something. I won't even respond to it.
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  Speaker 1: I'm too close. He thinks he's so much. No, I
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  Speaker 1: won't respond to it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm too close.
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  Speaker 1: 20 years ago, I'd have let you have it. But
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  Speaker 1: where I'm at right now, I'm too close to even
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  Speaker 1: respond to you. You can't distract me because something is
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  Speaker 1: about to crack in my life. Something is about to
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  Speaker 1: crumble in my life. Something is about to collapse in
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  Speaker 1: my life. I'm closer than I've ever been in my life.
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  Speaker 1: Who am I talking to today? And now they have come,
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  Speaker 1: they have come, they have come, they have come to
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  Speaker 1: the final obstacle. The land that flows with milk and
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  Speaker 1: honey is on the other side. The gold and the
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  Speaker 1: silver of the Jericho, of the people of Jericho is
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  Speaker 1: on the other side. Most importantly, the obedience that must
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  Speaker 1: be proven to God is on the other side. You see,
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  Speaker 1: Jericho was the first city. And the reason they had
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  Speaker 1: to offer up the city to God is because it
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  Speaker 1: was a first fruits offering. God said, if you give
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  Speaker 1: me the first city, I'll give you every other one
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  Speaker 1: that's coming after it. That's the first fruits. Bring the
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  Speaker 1: first fruits unto God. That's why the Bible says in
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament that Jesus is the first fruits of
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  Speaker 1: the resurrection. Glory to God. You remember when Jesus died
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  Speaker 1: on the cross, dead men were seen walking the streets
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  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem. The reason they were walking is they couldn't
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  Speaker 1: go up ahead of him. He was the first fruits.
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  Speaker 1: He had to go up before they could go up.
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  Speaker 1: And he led captivity captive and gave good gifts to men.
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  Speaker 1: And so even though the dead men were resurrected and
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  Speaker 1: they were walking around, they couldn't go up because the
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  Speaker 1: Bible said that Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection.
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  Speaker 1: So whenever God does a new thing in your life,
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  Speaker 1: he says, if you give me the first fruits of
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  Speaker 1: I'll give you everything that comes after it. That's an
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  Speaker 1: important principle. Glory to God. The first fruits, the first
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  Speaker 1: corn that comes up, the first wheat that comes up,
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  Speaker 1: the first paycheck that comes in, the first fruits I
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  Speaker 1: give it to God. When Hannah had her baby, Samuel,
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  Speaker 1: he was the first fruits. She had many children afterwards,
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  Speaker 1: but she gave the first one to God. And because
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  Speaker 1: she gave the first one to God, all the rest
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  Speaker 1: of them she was able to keep for herself. God said,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to replace whatever you give, but bring me
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  Speaker 1: the first fruits and give it unto me. All of
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  Speaker 1: that is in Joshua. Glory to God. Glory to God.
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  Speaker 1: Seek ye first. The kingdom of God and its righteousness. What?
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  Speaker 1: All these things shall be added unto you. The Hittites,
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  Speaker 1: the Jebusites, the Gerasites, all of them, the Ammonites, they
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  Speaker 1: all will be added unto you if you bring me
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  Speaker 1: the first fruits. So Jericho, in essence, was a first
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  Speaker 1: fruit offering. It was a first fruit offering. and it
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  Speaker 1: determined the next victory. If they didn't do this right,
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  Speaker 1: they would be defeated. If you know your Bible, you
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  Speaker 1: already know that Achan stole some of the things that
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  Speaker 1: should have been given to God, and they were defeated
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  Speaker 1: at Ai, little bitty old Ai, something you should have
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  Speaker 1: been able to overcome. But because of disobedience in your life,
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  Speaker 1: many battles you don't win because of the disobedience that
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  Speaker 1: preceded the battle. Anytime the enemy knows that you're about
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  Speaker 1: to get into a fight, he'll tempt you with disobedience,
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  Speaker 1: So that you won't have the strategic advantage to be
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  Speaker 1: able to move in and get the victory. And I
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  Speaker 1: want somebody that's under great temptation to hold out a
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  Speaker 1: little while longer. You can stop it. Hold it back.
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  Speaker 1: Because if you do this and get this right, everything
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  Speaker 1: else that's coming after it, God's going to open up
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  Speaker 1: the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing
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  Speaker 1: you won't have room enough to receive. Am I talking good?
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  Speaker 1: And so we have come now to understand this and
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  Speaker 1: what we must understand about this is that God is
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  Speaker 1: not giving them the land because they're hungry. Because he
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  Speaker 1: had fed them all through the wilderness for 40 years.
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  Speaker 1: God is not giving them the land because they are
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  Speaker 1: in need. Because he has supplied all of their needs
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  Speaker 1: even in the wilderness. God is giving them the land
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  Speaker 1: according to his purpose. The companion book to the book
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  Speaker 1: of Joshua in the New Testament is the book of Ephesians.
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  Speaker 1: And both of them start out with giving him. God,
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  Speaker 1: blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
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  Speaker 1: They're both talking about the gifts that God has given
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  Speaker 1: unto us. And so when Ephesians starts out, it starts
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  Speaker 1: talking about as he has purposed in himself, he has
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  Speaker 1: given it unto you. Go ready, go. Somebody shout purpose.
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  Speaker 3: Purpose.
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  Speaker 1: As he, God has given to me as he has
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  Speaker 1: purposed in himself. So don't be mad. It's not my fault.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't give it to me. He gave me what
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  Speaker 1: I was supposed to have. My brother was over there
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  Speaker 1: singing a minute ago. He was singing his face off.
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to sing like that. If I could sing
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  Speaker 1: like that, I'd send notes in and request myself to sing.
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  Speaker 3: Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Glory to God. I would. I would send an anonymous
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  Speaker 1: note in and say, we need Bishop Jace to come
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  Speaker 1: sing a solo. Glory to God. Hallelujah. And then when
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  Speaker 1: they call my name, I say, okay. But God didn't
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  Speaker 1: give me that, so I can't possess that. If I
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  Speaker 1: get envious, I become covetous. Because God has not purposed
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  Speaker 1: to give that to me. He purposed to give me
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  Speaker 1: something else. And anytime you become envious of other people,
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  Speaker 1: you become covetous. And the Bible tells us not to
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  Speaker 1: be covetous of that which He has purposed to give
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  Speaker 1: to someone else. Because God might not have given you that,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: but He gave you something. And you need to explore
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: what God has given you. Oh, somebody bring me a
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: dump truck and somebody bring me a backhoe because I'm
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: getting ready to do some excavating in here because there's
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: somebody sitting here thinking that you don't have anything. The
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: devil is a lie. There's not a person in this
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: room that God has not purposed for you to have
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: certain gifts that exist down inside of you. And he
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: has given it to you. But are you going to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: possess it? Or are you going to murmur and complain
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and become petty and religious and sanctimonious? Some of the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: most bitter people are sanctimonious, always judging other people because
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: they have no appreciation for what God has given them.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: They sit in the seat of judgment. God has a purpose.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: He has predestined everything according to his own will. I
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: looked up purpose. Purpose is, it literally means the reason
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: for which something is done or created or for which
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: something exists. The reason, the reason for which something is
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: done or created is for which something exists, that's its purpose.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: The purpose of this black box is to be an
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: instrument that produces sound so that as I am speaking,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: I can hear myself. I could use it for a
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: lot of things. I could sit on it, I'd probably
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: crush it, but I could sit on it. but that's
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: not its purpose. I can stand it up sideways and
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: eat dinner on it, but that's not its purpose. What
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I must do is find its highest and best use
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: because it was designed for a purpose. And if I
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: use it correctly, I am using it for its highest purpose.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: And if I use it for anything else, I am
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: abusing it. Yeah. So all the people that contorted you
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: into what they needed rather than what he had purposed,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: they abused you. The reason for which a thing exists
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: or was created is its purpose. So purpose is not
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: about what happened. It's about why. It's about why. And
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I know that's the funniest thing about most people. Most people,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: when they call you up and they say, I got
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: something to tell you, you know, and generally, you know,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: there's some gossip. And if you're a gossiper and you're petty,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: you say, child, what happened? Nobody says, child, why did
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: it happen? Because petty always wants to know what Purpose
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: always wants to know why. I don't know why my
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: son is two inches taller than me, but God purposed
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: it to be so. I ate my Wheaties. I went
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: to bed at night. I grew as tall as I
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: could grow. I didn't expect him to outgrow me. I
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: started out, he was just a little bundle in my hand,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and now he's kissing me on the top of my head.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: which kind of gets on my nerves sometimes just a
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: little bit because he wants me to know he's taller
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: than me. But for whatever reason, he needs to be 6'4,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: and I need to be 6'2. God purposed it. God
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: purposed for me to be born at the time that
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: I'm born, to live in the era that I'm in,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: in the generation that I'm in. So why should I
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: be jealous of somebody older or younger? Because I am
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: called for such a time as this. This is my
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: hour right now. This is my time right now. The meanest,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: pettiest people are people who miss their time. Saul wanted
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to kill David because he missed his time. You'll never
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: be jealous of anybody if you maximize your time. Oh,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I'm preaching good. I'm about to raise sin and say
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: I'm preaching better than you shouting. Let me tell you something.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: God created you for such a time as this. He
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: didn't mean for you to be born any earlier. He
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: didn't mean for you to be born any later. He
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: created you for the time you are right now. Stop
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: despising your age. Stop despising your stage. God has equipped
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you for the hour that he created you to shine
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: in because God created had a plan from the beginning.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: He had a plan. He had a purpose. He had
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: something for you to do. God had a purpose for
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: your life. And when you stop worrying about what happened
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: and start seeking why, then you begin to understand that
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: all things work together for the good of them that
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: love the Lord, who are the, come on, who are
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the who are the called according to his. Yeah, so
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: even if it wasn't good, it's gonna work for my
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: good because it's working according to his purpose. Even if
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: I had to relocate, even if we had to move
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: five times when I was growing up, even if my
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: father didn't raise me, even if I didn't know my mother,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: even if I was adopted, God has a purpose for
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: my life and when I stop crying about the what,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: then I can explore the why. I am attempting to
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: get around the fringes of describing the psychology of God,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the mind of God. Let this mind be in you,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: which was also in Christ Jesus. Your God is a mastermind.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: He has determined the end from the beginning. Glory to God.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: He has fixed the last before he started the first.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: God's mind is so infinite that before Adam fell, the
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: lamb was slain from the foundations of the world. That
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: means before the question was formed, God already has the answer.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Come on. Before the sickness came, the cure was already there.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Before the problem arise, God already had the answer. Jesus says,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I am the truth and the life. No man cometh
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: unto the Father save he come by me. God already
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: has the answer. He's given it to you. But are
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: you going to persevere?
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: It?
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Purpose gets into the mind of God, the strategy of God,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: that God never reacts. He only acts. Whenever you react,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: you are the person who acted first is in control.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: And you are responding to them. God isn't responding.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: He acts.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: He's sovereign. He's absolute. He causes all things to work
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: according to his will. He has never been surprised. He said,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: I saw you when you were up under the tree.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: I saw you in the dark, in the blackest of night,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: with all the lights off. I saw you. I know
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: what's in you. All things are naked before him with
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: whom we have to do. So why are you trying
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: to impress God with your religious phony self when you
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: are naked before him? I know your thoughts are far
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: off while you're getting your plan together. God said, I
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: already heard it before you ever even thought it. I'm God.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: I work things after the counsel of my own will.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I called it the psychology of God. The more theological
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: term would be omniscient. God is all-knowing, seeing where we
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: get signed. God already knows. He already knows everything from
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the very beginning of time. You cannot teach Him. You
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: cannot inform Him. He only asks you to pray so
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: you can come into agreement with Him because God already knows.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Do you hear what I'm saying? Now, the reason I'm
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: talking this way because I want you to understand the
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: purpose of God. I told people, and I'm in no
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: way comparing myself to God, but just for a purpose
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: of illustration, I hardly do anything that isn't connected to
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: the next thing. That's the strategy. I hardly do anything
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: that isn't connected to the next thing, that isn't connected
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: to the next thing, that isn't connected to the next thing.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: That's why there is a continuum in the Scriptures. What
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: starts out as redemptive in Genesis ends as redemptive in Revelations.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: It starts out with the blood of an innocent animal.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: And all through the Old Testament, we keep seeing the
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: trail of blood running through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: It runs all the way up to the book of
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Revelation through the New Testament without breaking its properties, its influence,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: or its purpose because God had determined it from the beginning.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: And everything led to the next thing, to the next thing,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: to the next thing, to the next thing. And you're
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: just a part of the continuum. You're just a link
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: in a chain of events. Are y'all getting what I'm saying?
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: And so he meant for you to be born. He
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: meant for you to come at this time. He meant
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: for you to be broken in a certain place. He
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: meant for you to have certain needs. It's part of
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: his plan. It was part of Jesus' plan that when
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: he took the two fish and five loaves of bread,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: he knew when he took it, he was going to
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: break it. He couldn't bless it if He didn't break it.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Because the blessing was in the breaking, and the breaking
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: was in the blessing, and God determined, I'm going to
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: multiply it by breaking it. All the broken people ought
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: to shout me down. He sits on the circle of
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: the earth. Heaven is His throne. And earth is his footstool.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: God's got all things up under his control. Give you
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: another word, he's sovereign. He sovereigns. He completely reigns. He's
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: never out of control. He's got complete control of everything
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: going on at all times in all places. He is
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: not just Lord in the earth. He's Lord under the earth.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: He's Lord above the earth. That the name of Jesus
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: should be exalted above every name. That at the name
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: of things in heaven and things in earth and things
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: under the earth. He's Lord of all or He's not
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Lord at all. Lord, I can't hardly get off my
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: first point. I'm still stuck on my first point. Somebody
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: shout purpose. When you know the purpose of God, you
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: stop struggling. You stop struggling. You stop crying. If you
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: gotta go, go. You gonna leave me? See ya. All
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: that left me couldn't stay. All that stayed couldn't leave.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: What God has purposed for me is for me. You
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: can't get it. You can't take it.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: You can't rob it from me.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: It's mine.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna get it.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: It's mine. It's mine.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: It won't open up till I get there. When I
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: get there, the door will open. When I get there,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: the way will be made. When I get there, the
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: waters will part. When I get there, I'll walk across
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: on dry ground. When I get there, the wall will crumble.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: This wall has been waiting on me to walk up
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: to it. As soon as I walk up to it,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: it's going to fall like open sesame. It's going to
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: move out of my way because it's for me. Somebody shout,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: it's for me. When you start understanding the why, and
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: let me tell you something, ministers, you cannot help people
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: if you are focused on what they did. If you
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: focus on what they did, you are petty. Ministry begins
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: when you start praying about why they did it. The
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: problem with the world today, we have too many what preachers?
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: And not enough why. They know principles. They know when
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: you broke a principle, they know that your disciples shouldn't
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: be eating corn on the Sabbath day. They know that
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: you shouldn't be healing this woman on the Sabbath day.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Don't you know the sun has gone down? They know what,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: they don't know why. What will make you bitter and petty?
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: What will make you miss your purpose? You want to
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: know why. The greatest question is why. Everything begins with why.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: And until you start asking why, you'll never be a
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: great pastor. You'll never be a great preacher. You'll never
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: be a great orator. you must ask why. When you
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: read the text, you must ask why. When you face
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: the people, you must ask why. When you hear the news,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: you must ask why. Because you can't get in there
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: where the surgery needs to occur to make them better
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: if you don't know why. If you walk, if Mephibosheth
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: comes stumbling up to you and you don't know why
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: he's stumbling, you'll make fun of him. But if you
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: understand why that somebody dropped him, you'll be able to
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: minister him more effectively because you understand why. When you
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: understand why, you say, it was good for me that
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: I was afflicted. Had I not been afflicted, I would
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: have never discovered the purpose of God for my life.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Am I talking to anybody tonight? So we're studying the
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: purpose of God, which he had purpose in himself. Oh,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: let me stop. God, let me stop. Which he had
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: purposed in himself. He has purposed it in himself. He
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: didn't meet with the board. He didn't talk with the committee.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: He didn't get the legislators to vote on it. He
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: didn't ask Congress to pass a law. Everything that God
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: ever set out to do, because he's sovereign, he purposed
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: it himself. When he said, let there be light, there
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: was light because he purposed it in himself. When he said,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: I'll separate the firmaments above the water from the firmaments
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: beneath the water because he purposed it in himself. When
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: he got ready to make man, he didn't need a woman.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: He said, let us make man in our own likeness
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: and in our own image because there's nothing in the
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: Godhead that God needed to complete him. Talk to us.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: He purposed in himself. If he purposes me to live,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: I'll live. If he purposes me to die, I'll die.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: If the car wreck wasn't meant to kill me, I
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: don't care if it's a head-on collision at 90 miles
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: an hour, I'll get out. The plane can crash and
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: I'll walk away. What God has for me is for me.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the purpose of God. You can't have
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: faith until you learn this. This is what your faith
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: is built on. This is the recipe of your faith.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Your faith must rest in the purpose of God. Jesus
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: didn't teach have faith. He said have faith in God.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Are you hearing what I'm saying? Stop, stop. He didn't
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: mean for Abraham to have a son when he was
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: strong and virile. Because who wants to write about that?
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Everybody do that. He waited till his body was good
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: as dead. And his wife was past childbearing age. She
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: had gone through the change. And she couldn't have had
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: a child before she went through the change. And when
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: it was impossible with men, God purposed, now I'm going
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: to do it. I'm going to put my signature on it.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: You're going to know it was me that did it.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: As soon as you discover that you can't do it,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: you're going to find out that it was me that
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: did it. You still got to go in the tent,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: but it's going to be me that did it. You
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: still got to spend the night, but it's going to
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: be me that did it. Don't you walk out the
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: tent with your chest all stuck out, old man, because
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: it was me that gave you power. Oh, it is
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: God that gives us power to get wealth. It is
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: God that gives us the power to get wealth. He
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: doesn't give us the wealth. He gives us the power.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Glory to God. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor, I got the power to get wealth.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: I got the power. He's already given me the power.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: God's already given me the power to get wealth. I
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: have the power to get wealth. I have the power
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: to preach the Word. I have the power to pastor
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: this church. I have the power to raise my children.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: I have the power to be my wife's husband. He's
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: given me the power. Glory to God. I feel the
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: power right now. Somebody shout, I got the power. You
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: better not walk out on this stage and not know
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: you got the power. This stage will beat you to
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: death if you don't know you got the power. You
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: got to walk out here and know when you get
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: out here that you have the power. You got the
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: power because God has purposed you to be in a
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: place for such a time as this. Am I talking
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: good tonight? Let's talk a little bit about Petty because
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: purpose isn't Petty. And you have to understand what it
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: means to be petty. To be petty literally means of
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: little importance. Trivial. As in both groups are known to
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: be petty. Now I want you to think about this.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: It didn't say that petty meant non-consequential. It didn't say
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: that it didn't have any value. Just little value. Trivial matters.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: Doesn't mean that it doesn't matter. It's trivial. Petty people
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: always focus on trivial things. Small-minded. spiteful ways, as in
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: he was prone to be petty, revenge on friends and family, narrow-minded,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: of secondary or lesser importance, lower rank, smaller scale, minor,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: a petty official, Now, what I want you to understand
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: about this, that just because they are petty doesn't mean
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: it doesn't have any merit. It just means that it's minor. Small,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: trivial things. Petty person showing or caused by meanness of spirit,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: a petty revenge is a petty person. You'd be surprised. Now,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: this is going to rock some people's world. You'd be
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: surprised at how many people who are saved or say
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: they're saved. But they're still petty. They're still petty. The reason...
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: I said purpose isn't petty. It's because most religious people
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: who were sanctimonious and would read this text would never
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: see that the gateway to possessing the first city would
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: be a prostitute. In fact, most people would never believe
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: that God, who you just got through saying about is holy, holy, holy, holy,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: would designate a hooker, hooker, hooker to be the host, host,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: host for the prophet, prophet, prophet. Write me a song
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: about that. Write me a song about of all the
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: people in Jericho that God would use a harlot and
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: place her house on the wall. He placed the prostitute
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: on the wall, positioned her in a particular place to
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: be the gatekeeper to his promise. Penny people couldn't see
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: past what she was. Oh, I'm going to preach before
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: I leave here. They couldn't see past what she was
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: to see why she was. Penny people would never ask
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: why has God put her on the wall. They didn't
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: know that she was on the wall, not just so
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: she could turn tricks, but so the spies could escape,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: so that she could drop a scarlet cord down the
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: wall and establish a bloodline. Purpose isn't petty. And you
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: won't really begin to fully get God till you understand
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: that God is a God of purpose and not a
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: God of petty. That's why God uses people you don't like.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Come on. Come on. Somebody be real. Has there ever
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: been somebody that you didn't like and God used them anyway?
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: And you tried to sit on them, and they got
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: on your nerves, and you knew they owed you some money,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: and they still ain't paid you the money back, and
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: there they are shouting all over the church, and you
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: don't want to get with them because they're two months
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: behind on the rent, and the check they wrote you bounced.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: And all the while you hating on them about the check,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: they just falling out up under the anointing, and you
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: can feel the anointing, but you don't want to accept
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: the anointing because you still seeing the check. Come on,
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: come on, come on, come on. You must understand that
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: God exalts nothing above His purpose. So, I'm not saying
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: to you— see, petty doesn't mean that you don't have an issue.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: It means that it's menial in comparison to the purpose
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: of God. Oh, I'm going to mess with your head
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: a little bit. To accomplish his purpose, he will speak
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: through an ass. I know I'm in the Bible. To
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: accomplish his purpose, he will use prostitutes and hookers and
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: idolaters and whoremongers to accomplish his purpose because God does
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: not exalt the petty above the purpose. That's why he
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: uses you. With your nasty, crazy self, how dare you
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: sit there and not praise God? Think I'm talking about Rahab.
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: I ain't talking about Rahab. I'm talking about you and
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: all your nasty stuff, and yet God blessed you, and
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: yet God used you, and yet God raised you, and
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: yet God perfected you. You ought to shout the whole
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: house down because you know, you know, you know if
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: it were not for the purpose of God, you would
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: be swallowed up right now. Forget what you did. Let's
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: talk about what you're thinking. Let's talk about what's running
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: through your mind. Let's talk about what's going through your head.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: If God put your thoughts on loudspeaker, wouldn't nobody want
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: to ever hear you testify ever again in your life?
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: But because God isn't petty, He keeps on blessing you,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: and then you can't give Him a praise? You ought
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: to praise Him more than anybody in the whole house.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: You know you got a house on the wall. You
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: know you got a house on the wall. I'm gonna
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: mess with you a little bit. I'm gonna mess with
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: you a little bit. I'm gonna mess with you a
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: little bit. But if you don't understand this, you will
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: never understand grace. If you don't understand grace, you will
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: be self-righteous and look down your nose at other people.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: If you don't understand grace, it'll be hard for us
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: to get you to praise God. It shouldn't be this
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: hard to get a praise. It shouldn't take somebody who
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: sings that good to get a praise. I came up
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: in the church where nobody in the whole church could
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: sing like that. It'd be a bunch of old scratchy voice,
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: old church mothers beating on a snare drum. Sometimes the
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: drum didn't have no stand. The drum would be sitting
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: in a chair and they'd be in the chair and
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: they'd be talking, I get joy when I think about
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: what he does for me. I get joy when I
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: think about what he does for me. I get joy
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: when I think about What he's done for me, I
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: get joy.
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: When I think about it. And joy, joy, joy, joy.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: And joy, joy, joy, joy.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: And joy, joy, joy, joy.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: I said joy, joy, joy, joy.
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: What he's done for me.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: You didn't get a riff. You didn't get a run.
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: They didn't change a key. They weren't melodious. You didn't
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: want a CD. You didn't want an album. You didn't
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: want an MP3. But the Holy Ghost fell. And the
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: reason the Holy Ghost fell is because we were caught
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: up into the purpose and not the petty. Now we're
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: so busy listening at how good they sound that we
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: can't hear what they're singing about. Oh, my God. Oh,
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: my God. Oh, my God. Oh my God, Joshua 6
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: messes up all my theology. I knew God used priests.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: I knew God used prophets. I didn't know God used hookers. Priests, prophets, prostitute?
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: I ain't telling you to go to no strip club.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: That's not what I'm saying. Don't misquote me. That's what
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: I hate about TikTok. They'll take one little phrase and
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: put it on TikTok and everybody be fighting and arguing
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: about one little phrase because they heard what you said.
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: They didn't hear why. You said it. Not only was
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: she a prostitute, she was a liar. God used her lie.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: When they was looking for the spies, she said, I
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: ain't seen none of them. I don't know where none
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: of them are. See, God couldn't have used no church
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: mother and got this done. Because the church mother was,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: they in the kitchen right now. They sitting by the
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: sink right now. Go on in there and get them.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: God needed a tramp that wasn't afraid. She lied to
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: protect the spires. Now, what we're talking about, get this,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: I want you to write this down. What we're talking
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: about is the struggle between principles and purpose. It's not
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: that the principles are bad. It's just that anytime your
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: principles become more important than your purpose, you have missed
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: who your God is. There is a struggle between principles
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: And when it comes down to a choice between principles
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: and purpose, God will always choose His purpose. The law
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: was principles. And the Bible said what the law could
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: not do in that it was weak through the flesh,
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: we might be the righteousness of God. If God was
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: more concerned about principles and purpose, then the law would
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: have saved the world. The law was nothing but principles.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: You can only walk so far. You can only move
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: so much. You can only say, when the sun goes down,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: you can't do this. Woe unto the neighbor. Do not
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: mix this fabric with that fabric. The law was nothing
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: but principles. So we struggle between purpose and principles. Should
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: we disregard the principle? Absolutely not. It's just that we
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: cannot exalt our principles above His purpose. Because sometimes God
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: uses people that you wouldn't approve of to accomplish his
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: purpose in your life. Are you hearing what I'm saying
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: to you? Let's go a little deeper because I want
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: to unravel this. Look at Amos 3, 1 through 3
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: for a minute. Amos chapter 3, verse 1 through 3.
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: O children of Israel, against the whole family which I
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: I will punish you for all your iniquities. God is
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: talking to his people. He says, can two walk together
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: except they be agreed? How many times have you heard
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: that third verse? But you didn't hear those first two.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: So we use that, can two walk together say they agree,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: to talk about human relationships. Well Lord have mercy if
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: that's true, I'd have got a divorce the first year.
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: I'm married today because we got two cars. We ever
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: get down to one car, I don't know. I don't know,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying, I don't know. Might be, I don't know,
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know. But we don't agree.
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: I'm packed for next week.
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: My wife don't know what she gonna wear tomorrow. Yet
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: we've been married 42 years. We walked together through life,
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: through death, through sickness, through health, for better, for worse,
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: for richer, for poor, but it wasn't because we always agreed.
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: Right in the middle of the worst places, we've had
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: some of the worst arguments. Because I thought we ought
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: to do this, and she thought we ought to do that.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: So when we take this scripture that is about God's
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: relationship with his people, and he said, if you're going
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: to walk with me, you got to be in agreement
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: with me, even if you're not in agreement with each other.
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: And when you take the text out of context and
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: apply it to people... Then now you're talking to the spies.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: What are you doing at Rahab's house? How can two
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: walk together save their grief? It don't look right for
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: you to be up there. Truth out of context is
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: a lie. God wasn't concerned about it. I'll show you
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: another one. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 15 through 18.
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: Take a look at this. And what concord hath Christ
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: an infidel? Come on. And what agreement have the temple
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: of God with idols? For ye are the temple of
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: the living God. As God has said, I will dwell
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: in them and walk in them, and I will be
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: their God, and they shall be my people. Come on. Wherefore,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: will receive you. and will be a father unto you,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: Lord Almighty. Did he say it? Absolutely. Did he mean it? Absolutely.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: Who was he talking to? Why did he say it?
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: He was talking to Corinth, who was establishing new converts.
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: There were new converts in the middle of orgies and
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: idolatry and evil and wickedness, and he told them, come
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: out from among them and be separate. You're not ready.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: You can't handle it. You're getting drunk off of communion.
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: You're committing incest in the house. You're not ready to
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: witness to these people. Come out from among them and
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: be ye separate and I will be your God and
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: ye shall be my people because I see you. You're
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: worshiping me and Belial. Why would God say to all
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: of the church, come out from the world and be
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: separate and then turn around and say, go into all
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: the world and preach the gospel to every living creature.
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: I can't go into all the world and come out
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: at the same time. Anytime the text is taken out
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: of context, you destroy the validity of the text. I'll
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: show you one more. Proverbs 13, 22. Take a look.
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: the just. Take a look at this. The wealth of
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: the sinner is laid up for the— if it's laid up
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: for the just, how are you going to pull it
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: down if you don't touch it? If you don't talk
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: to them, if you can't be seen with them, if
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: you can't go anywhere with them, if you don't have
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: no business with them, if you're supposed to remain separate
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: from it, how is there going to be a download
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: of wealth? In our text, there's a download of wealth.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: but in order to get it, you had to go
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: in where sinners go in order to get it. In
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: order to get it, you had to go into Rahab's house.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: In order to get it, you had to be entangled
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: with people and it didn't look good, but in order
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: to get the download, God didn't promise to bless you
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: through church folk. I'm going to say it again for
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: the people in the back. God didn't promise to bless
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: you through church folk. I see Christians say some crazy stuff.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: My physician, my surgeon was a Christian. That's nice, but
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: can he operate? My pilot is filled with the Holy Ghost,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: but can he fly? What are you doing with so-and-so?
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: They've been on my Twitter all the time. What are
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: you doing with so-and-so? What are you doing with so-and-so?
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: You were sinners all the time. You got on the plane.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: You didn't ask the pilot, was he saved? You go
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: to the family reunion with your drunk uncle and you
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: steal at the family reunion and you brought potato salad.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: But the moment you see somebody else, you turn up
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: your nose because you heard something about them. Now they're untouchable.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: Suppose they said to the spy, don't stay in her house.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: In fact, that's what the disciples did with Jesus. They said,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: if Jesus knew what kind of woman that was that
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: washed his feet, he would stop her. How could Jesus
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: not know that she was a sinner woman? Glory to God.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: And yet Jesus stuck his feet out and let this
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: woman wash his feet. Some of you are more religious
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: than God. And I hope you're watching tonight so I
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: can tell you to your face. Amen. Because you're two-faced
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: and you're phony. You work with sinners. You're married to sinners.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: Your children are sinners. They smoking dope in the attic.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: And there you are turning up your nose, talking about
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: other people. How can the love of God dwell in you?
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: You're petty. You're petty. You're petty. You're petty. You're petty.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: You're petty. You don't see purpose. God used Rahab's platform
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: to take the whole city. He didn't use a believer.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: He used a prostitute. Rahab saved the spies. And in
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: the 21st through the 25th verse, now because she saved
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: the spies, now they saved her. Come on, go with me.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: Read it again, see if I'm wrong. Wait a minute.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: They didn't just save her. They saved her whole family.
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: They saved her father. They saved her mother. And then
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: the Bible says they saved all them that were with her.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: Who were they? They wasn't children. Can I spend three
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: minutes on this? Sometimes you get blessed just because of
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: who you connected to. Her daddy didn't do anything to
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: deserve to be saved. Her mother didn't do anything to
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: deserve to be saved. And they that were with her
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: sure didn't do nothing to deserve to be saved. But
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: because they were connected to one person, God saved everything
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: in the house because of one person. You didn't get
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: here by yourself. when God gets ready to deliver you
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: God will deliver you her brothers got saved her sisters
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: got saved and everything that belonged to her got saved
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: they brought the entire family out and saved everything that
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: was in her house because of one woman while you're
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: chewing on that let me throw something else at you
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: if you happen to be one of Noah's kids you
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: never drowned in the flood because of who your daddy
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: was Glory to God. They didn't do anything. They just
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: happened to be in the right house. And when God
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: saved Noah, he saved everything in his house. News flash.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: God said, I want to save everything in your house.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: Everything connected to you. Everything born out of your loins.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: Everything adopted in your family, when God gets ready to
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: bring you out, he's going to bring out people who
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: didn't earn it and didn't deserve it, but he's going
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: to pull them out. That's how I got saved. I
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: got connected with Jesus. And when I got connected with Jesus,
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: when God saved him and raised him from the dead,
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: I got up with him, not because I'm good, but
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: because I'm connected. Slap somebody and say, you need to
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: be connected. I'm almost finished. Can I go a little deeper?
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: Joshua 6, 20 through 25 is a profound, prolific, articulate
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: depiction of the grace of God because it proves to
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: us that God kept his word to a prostitute because
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: the text says, as the wall came down, the text said,
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: go find Rahab. and save everybody in her house according
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: to your oath. And God saved everybody in the house
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: because he kept his word to a prostitute. Now here's
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: my question for you. If God kept his word to
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: a prostitute, then what makes you think that God won't
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: keep his word towards you? If God kept His Word
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: and was careful to separate her from the wrath to come,
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: and the Bible said they pulled her whole family out
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: and set her outside the house of Israel so that
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: when the city was burning down, Rahab didn't burn up. Oh,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: at the times I should have burned up, but I
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: didn't burn up because God set me aside and saved me.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: And I'm not praising him because I'm good. I'm praising
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: him because I'm not. I'm not praising him because I'm worthy.
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: I'm praising him because I'm not. Let me say it
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: like my old folks used to say, when I think
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: of the goodness of Jesus. And all that he's done
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: for me, my soul cries out, hallelujah. Thank God for
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: saving me. Somebody give him 30 seconds of crazy praise.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: Come on. Come on.
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 3: Come on.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 3: Come on. Come on.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: Come on. Come on. And feel the anointing of the
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost in here. Praise it. You came so close
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: that you could smell the smoke. But God delivered you.
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: You came so close that you should have caught on fire.
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: But God brought you out. And you owe God a
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: praise for everything he's.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 2: Done in your life. Somebody shout yes. Somebody shout yes again.
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 2: Somebody shout yes again. Somebody shout yes. Somebody shout yes.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 3: Hallelujah.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 3: Hallelujah.
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: Slap somebody and tell them I'm not on fire. My
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: neighbors are on fire. My classmates are on fire. My
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: next door neighbor's on fire. But God saved my life.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: He set me aside. He made a way out of
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: no way. He delivered me from all of my transgressions
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: to God be the glory.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: I bet Rahab was outside.
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: The city giving God a praise because she knew she
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: should have been in the fire. But because God delivered her,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: she said amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: a wretch like me.
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 2: I once was lost, but.
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 3: Now I'm found.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 2: I once blind.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: But now I see. I need a wretch to praise him.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: I need a wretch undone. I need a drug addict.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: I need a drug dealer.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 2: I need a drunk, a wino, a whoremonger.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: I need somebody to bring the hell in back to
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: give God the praise.
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 2: Praise him in the smoke.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: Praise him in the storm.
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 2: Praise him in the flood.
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: Let everything that hath breathed Praise ye the Lord. I'm
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: going to behave myself. I wanted to read just a
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: little bit. Can I read you a little something? The Bible,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: the Bible, no, this is not the Bible. Disruptive thinking,
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: I wrote this little phrase. History provides another potent example
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: of the power of unlikely alliances. God's about to give
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: you some unlikely alliances. In 1955, the Montgomery bus boycott happened.
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: After Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: her seat on a city bus, leaders in the black
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: community called for a boycott of the Montgomery public buses
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: to demonstrate their unified protest of segregated seating. But that
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: led to enormous logistical problems as they would have to
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: provide somewhere around 20,000 rides per day for black laborers
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: who had to get to work. Having a car was
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: out of the financial reach of many black families in 1955.
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: Car owners were among the wealthiest people in town. Martin
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: Luther King Jr. and other leaders had to call on
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: these wealthy folks to lend their vehicles to the boycott effort.
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: King was shocked when more than 150 car owners signed
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: up to hand over their cars at a public meeting
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: in December, y'all don't hear me, at the start of
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: the boycott. The automobile was still among the prime status
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: symbols of the United States, and therefore to volunteer one's
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: car as public transportation was a radical act of togetherness.
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: Taylor Branch wrote in Parting the Waters of America in
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: the King years 1934, the fractious classes of Montgomery Negroes
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: now promise to blend their daily lives. The boycott was
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: sustained for an astounding 13 months. 13 months, one of
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: the most impressive displays of alliances in American history. It
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: ended with the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: buses was unconstitutional. In the Bible, Cyrus the Great is
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: mentioned more than 30 times, even though Cyrus is a
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: Persian who doesn't even believe in Jehovah. The pagan king
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: is important in Jewish history because it was under his
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: rule that the Jews were first allowed to return to
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: Israel after 70 years in captivity. In one of the
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: most amazing prophecies of the Bible, the Lord reveals Cyrus'
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: decree to free the Jews to Isaiah. And he says,
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: 150 years before Cyrus lived, the prophet calls Cyrus by
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: name and gives details of Cyrus' benevolence to the Jews.
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: This is what the Lord says to his anointed. He
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: calls Cyrus his anointed. Amen. whose right hand I take
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: hold on to subdue nations before him. I summon you
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: by name and bestow on you a title of honor,
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: though you do not acknowledge me. Isaiah 45 and 1.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: Do you hear what I'm saying? Also 41, 2 through
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: 23 and 42 and verse 6, evincing his sovereignty over
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: all nations. God says to Cyrus, to Cyrus who didn't
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: believe in Jehovah, he is my shepherd. and will accomplish
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: all that I please. I'm going to stop reading there.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: God will use people. If you stop turning up your nose,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: God will raise up people that you never expected to
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: accomplish His purpose in your life. And don't be petty,
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: and don't be narrow, because God's got something He's going
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: to do in your life. He's going to make your
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: enemies your footstools. He's going to raise you up. He's
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: going to make you the head and not the tail,
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: above and not beneath. Let me show you one scripture
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to close. I'm going to finish after this.
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: Don't you cut me off till you get this because
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: you got to understand the purpose of God. They set
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: Rahab over to the side and Jericho was burning down.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: They set her to the side, not just because she
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: kept the spies, not just because she lied, But according
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: to Matthew chapter 1, verse 1 through 6, Rahab was
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: to be the mother of Boaz. Wait, wait, wait. Rahab
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: the harlot is the mother of Boaz. Boaz is the
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: one that Ruth married. And through them, they begot Obed.
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: And Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David. So when
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: Christ was born, Rahab the hooker is in the lineage
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. Because God had a purpose. for the
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: woman who was a prostitute. And if you're watching me tonight,
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: I don't care what kind of sin you're in. I'm
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: not condoning your sin, but I am condoning your purpose.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: God has a purpose for your life. And if you
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: give your life to him, he will set you aside
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: and raise you up and give you an opportunity to
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: do things that will blow your mind. I know this
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: is disruptive thinking. I know I'm messing with your head.
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: I know they told you you were cursed and there
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: was no way God was going to use you. But
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: the devil is alive. Jesus died so that you could
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: be saved, so that you could be free, so that
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: you can be delivered. And if you don't believe me,
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: believe all of these witnesses in the church right now
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: If you're in here, open your mouth and give God
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: a praise.
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yes. I said open your mouth
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: and give God a praise. I said open your mouth
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: and give God a praise. Let me tell you something.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: As I prepared to close, I was in my house
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: and I was listening at a movie. And when they
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: started playing music to the movie, I got a woofer.
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: And the woofer always makes the bass sound louder than
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: it is. Well, my woofers turned up so loud that
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: when they hit a certain bass note, I could feel
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: my heart vibrate. And I start thinking about how the decibel.
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 2: Of sound moves objects.
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: And even though my heart wasn't near the woofer, the
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: sound that came out of the woofer made my heart
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: started trembling. And when I thought about that, I thought
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: about the walls of Jericho. And the Bible said, that
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: when they blew the trumpet that the people opened their
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: mouth and began to shout. It wasn't the trumpet, but
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: it was the shout of God's people. And if we
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: reach a certain decibel, every wall in your life is
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: going to come down. things that have been standing in
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: your life.
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 2: For years and years.
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: God said, I'm going to bring it down, but I'm
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: waiting on you to open your mouth. Behold, I have
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: given you the city to possess the land. You don't
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: need a sword. You don't need a shield. You need
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: to open your mouth. Jesus said, speak to the mountain
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: and the mountain will get out of your way. For
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: the next 45 seconds, I want you to open your
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: mouth and sound like you lost your mind. Shout, shout. Shout! Shout! Shout!
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 3: Shout!
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 2: Shout! Shout! Till the tumor shrinks!
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: Shout till the cancer moves.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 2: Shout till the dead is paid.
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: Shout till God makes a way out of no way.
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: The power is in your mouth. The power is in
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: your mouth. Open your mouth and shout. Can I tell
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: you something? The reason some of you don't get a
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: breakthrough is because you're always giving that same old petty praise.
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: But if you would get away from your petty praise
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: and give him a praise of purpose, every wall in
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: your life is about to come down.
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 2: If you open your mouth, it.
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: Will come down.
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 3: Whoo!
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: Whoo! Whoo! Coming down, coming down, coming down.
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 2: Coming down, coming down, coming.
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: Down, coming down. Hear me, hear me good tonight. The
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: glory of the Lord is in this place. The anointing
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: of God is here. The thing that I noticed about Rahab,
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: her life was all wrong, but her heart was so tender.
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: She might have been a heathen. She might have been
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: a hooker. She might have even been a liar. But
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: there was something in her heart that was tender toward God.
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's somebody watching online or In this room, you
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: don't have no spotless record. You've done some horrible things.
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: But there's a soft spot in your heart for God.
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: Purpose isn't petty. If you come to Him, He will
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: set you aside. And save you from the wrath to come.
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 2: No, no.
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: He's not going to save you in your sins. I
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: don't read where Rahab ever turned another trick in her life.
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: I do read that she became a great, great, great, great, great, great, great,
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: great grandmother to Jesus. And Jesus was not afraid to
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: claim her in his bloodline. And he claimed Bathsheba, called
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: her Uriah's wife. And he claimed Tamar. And he claimed
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: Ruth the Moabitess. And if you come to him tonight,
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: whether you're in this room or not, whether you've been
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: dealing drugs or in sin or in trouble or done
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: some things or had some things done to you that
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: made you feel filthy the rest of your life, he
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: will set you aside. Because the purpose of God isn't petty.
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: Your neighbors might be petty. There might be even some
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: people in this room that are petty. But purpose is
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: not petty. Though your sin is red like crimson. God said,
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: I'll wash you white as snow. I'll let you in
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: my family tree. And nobody can put you out.