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MAKE PEACE WITH YOUR PAST God Will Use What Tried to Break You Bishop T.D. Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

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  Speaker 1: Somebody say wow. Sometimes all you can do is say wow.
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  Speaker 1: Every now and then God does a wonder. A wonder
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  Speaker 1: is when God does something that you wonder how he
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  Speaker 1: did it. Have you had him do a wonder in
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  Speaker 1: your life? That's what they meant when they said I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how, but you made it. I don't understand it,
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  Speaker 1: but you made it. Tonight, I'm going to get into
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  Speaker 1: the word of God and I pray that the word
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  Speaker 1: of God gets into you. And I want you to
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  Speaker 1: stand on your feet. If we go to second Timothy
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  Speaker 1: chapter four, verse five through eight, and then we're going
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  Speaker 1: to drop down to the 14th verse and read to
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  Speaker 1: the 22nd verse. And I did the first verse in
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  Speaker 1: the King James version, second Timothy four, five through eight.
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  Speaker 1: And then the latter part of it, verse 14 through 22.
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  Speaker 1: It's the same word, but I did it in the
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  Speaker 1: NIV version. for clarity of understanding. The Apostle Paul here
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  Speaker 1: is writing to his spiritual son, Timothy. He is writing
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  Speaker 1: to his successor. He is writing to the one who
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  Speaker 1: will finish things that he started but are yet to
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  Speaker 1: be finished. And it starts in the fifth verse when
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  Speaker 1: you have it say amen. But watch thou in all
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  Speaker 1: things Endure afflictions. So you got to watch and you
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: got to endure afflictions. I'm not going to sugarcoat it
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  Speaker 1: and act like it's going to be easy to go forward.
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  Speaker 1: You got to watch everything. And there are some things
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  Speaker 1: in spite of the anointing that's on your life, Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to have to endure some afflictions. And while
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  Speaker 1: you're enduring afflictions, you can't stop preaching. Do the work
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  Speaker 1: of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry. For
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  Speaker 1: I am now ready to be offered. And the time
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  Speaker 1: of my departure is at hand. I have fought a
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  Speaker 1: good fight. I finished my course, son. I have kept
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  Speaker 1: the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a
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  Speaker 1: crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
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  Speaker 1: give me at that day. And not to me only,
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  Speaker 1: but unto all them also that love his appearing. Now
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  Speaker 1: we're going down to verse 14. Alexander said, The metal worker,
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  Speaker 1: King James's coppersmith, did me a great deal of harm.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't go through without enemies. I was anointed, but
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  Speaker 1: I had some enemies. Alexander, the metal worker, did me
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  Speaker 1: a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him
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  Speaker 1: for what he has done. I don't have to give revenge.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord will fight my battle for me. The Lord
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  Speaker 1: will repay him for what he has done. You too
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  Speaker 1: should be on your guard against him because he strongly
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  Speaker 1: opposed our message. At my first defense, when I came
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  Speaker 1: to court, went on trial, no one came to my support.
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  Speaker 1: But everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.
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  Speaker 1: But the Lord stood by my side and gave me strength.
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  Speaker 1: So that through me the message might be fully proclaimed
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  Speaker 1: and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was
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  Speaker 1: delivered from the mouth, from the lion's mouth. The Lord
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  Speaker 1: will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring
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  Speaker 1: me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory
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  Speaker 1: forever and ever. Amen. By the way, tell Priscilla and
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  Speaker 1: Aquila in the household of Onesiphorus, Erastus stayed in Corinth
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  Speaker 1: and I left Trepephus sick in Miletus. But greet all
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  Speaker 1: of them. Tell them I said hi. Do your best
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  Speaker 1: to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so
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  Speaker 1: does Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and the brothers and all the sisters.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.
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  Speaker 1: So says the word of God. Remain standing, I want
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  Speaker 1: to pray with you. I'm going to talk tonight about
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  Speaker 1: making peace with your past. Making peace with your past.
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  Speaker 1: Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us tonight
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  Speaker 1: and anoint these lips of clay that they may be
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  Speaker 1: endowed with the kind of anointing that is necessary to
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  Speaker 1: declare your word, not my own. Anoint my mind with
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  Speaker 1: clarity of thought and nimbleness of wit that I might
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  Speaker 1: have the help I need from the Holy Spirit to
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  Speaker 1: implant unto your people something that will give life and
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  Speaker 1: strength and hope and help to them. I believe you
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  Speaker 1: for it and I thank you for it. In Jesus' name,
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  Speaker 1: somebody shout amen. You may be seated in the presence
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  Speaker 1: of God. Well, tonight we're in 2 Timothy, and it
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  Speaker 1: is one of the epistles written by the Apostle Paul
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  Speaker 1: that is said to be one of the pastoral epistles.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus are pastoral epistles. They're
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  Speaker 1: not so much apostolic in their nature. They're not global
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  Speaker 1: in their view. They're more personal. They're more intimate. They
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  Speaker 1: deal specifically with pastoral issues in a different tone and
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  Speaker 1: tenor than any of his other writings. They're not preoccupied
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  Speaker 1: with doctrinal ideologies and setting up the government of the church.
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  Speaker 1: They're focused on a pastoral perspective as if a shepherd
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  Speaker 1: is talking to his sheep. It is written by the
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  Speaker 1: Apostle Paul in the last period, the last season of
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  Speaker 1: his life. So it's seasoned well. There's nothing like food
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  Speaker 1: that's seasoned well. Everybody could cook, but everybody doesn't season well.
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  Speaker 1: Paul is well seasoned. Seasoning comes through suffering. Amen. seasoning
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  Speaker 1: doesn't just come with age. I've seen people get old
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  Speaker 1: and not be seasoned. I've seen young people who were
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  Speaker 1: seasoned beyond their years. But through the things and the
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  Speaker 1: events and the vicissitudes of life, Paul is well seasoned.
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  Speaker 1: He has learned how to abase and abound. He has
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  Speaker 1: learned how to have and he has learned how to
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  Speaker 1: be in one. His life has had fluctuations. In order
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  Speaker 1: to be seasoned, you have to endure fluctuations. Different seasons
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  Speaker 1: and different eras and different attitudes and different perspectives have
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  Speaker 1: all been thrust on him and he's handled everything that
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  Speaker 1: has come his way. Now Paul is not illiterate and
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  Speaker 1: he's not uneducated. He is very literate. He's very educated.
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  Speaker 1: He's very intellectual. He is multilingual to say the least.
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  Speaker 1: He has sat at the feet of Gamal. He has
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  Speaker 1: been trained and respected by the great thinkers of his era.
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  Speaker 1: He is profound. He is prolific. He is well-spoken. He
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  Speaker 1: is articulate. He is able to write well and he's
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  Speaker 1: able to think well. He is spiritual enough that he
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  Speaker 1: has seen some things that he has chosen not to
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  Speaker 1: write because they were so spiritual and so divine that
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  Speaker 1: he thought that you couldn't handle them. Some things he
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  Speaker 1: said could not be uttered. He has suffered persecution. He
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  Speaker 1: has both given persecution and suffered persecutions. He has attacked
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  Speaker 1: Christians before he got saved and then he has been
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  Speaker 1: attacked himself. See, a lot of people are good at
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  Speaker 1: giving pain, but they're not good at taking pain. Paul
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  Speaker 1: has done both. He has given pain and he has
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  Speaker 1: taken pain because God is careful that Paul would have
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  Speaker 1: some recompense or reward even though he was saved for
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  Speaker 1: the suffering that he has afflicted on the early church
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  Speaker 1: because he was a Christian chaser and often a Christian
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  Speaker 1: killer and yet he has survived all of that through
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  Speaker 1: an encounter that he has with God on the road
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  Speaker 1: to Damascus that introduces him to Christ at the expense
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  Speaker 1: of losing the respect of all of those around him
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  Speaker 1: he is controversial now He is rejected by those who
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  Speaker 1: once accepted him. He is of the tribe of Benjamin.
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  Speaker 1: He comes from a succession and an order of royalty
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  Speaker 1: and kings. He is zealous concerning the law. He is
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  Speaker 1: a Pharisee. He is well versed in Old Testament theology
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  Speaker 1: and ideology and profound and prolific theology. So much so
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  Speaker 1: that he staggered at the gospel of Jesus Christ because
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  Speaker 1: he is so filled with Old Testament ideology that he
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  Speaker 1: found it difficult to transition into the next move of God.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes you can be so full of where you came from.
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  Speaker 1: that you can't see where you're going. Do you hear
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  Speaker 1: what I'm saying to you? Paul has preached the gospel
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  Speaker 1: and of all things, God sends him to the Gentiles.
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  Speaker 1: It would have been enough to send him to converted Jews,
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  Speaker 1: but no, God sends him to the Gentiles. The very
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  Speaker 1: thing that a Pharisee would never eat with or sit
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  Speaker 1: down with or talk to has become his ministry. And
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  Speaker 1: he is called to be the apostle to the Gentiles.
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  Speaker 1: It's like being the president of the dogs. The head
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  Speaker 1: of the heathens, the CEO of the rejected, the ambassador
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  Speaker 1: of the idolaters, the Gentiles were full of fornication and perversion.
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  Speaker 1: and orgies and they were polygamous in their ideology and
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  Speaker 1: they were full of all types of debauchery. There was
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  Speaker 1: a great disdain for them. And God has anointed Paul
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  Speaker 1: to minister to people that were disdained and rejected by
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  Speaker 1: everybody else. And anytime you're called to minister to people
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  Speaker 1: that have the disdain of society, you get persecuted because
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  Speaker 1: even religious people don't want you to be involved With
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  Speaker 1: certain types of people. His ideology has been questioned to
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  Speaker 1: the degree. That they laughed him out of the synagogues.
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  Speaker 1: Paul is not used to being laughed at. He's used
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  Speaker 1: to being respected. But they laughed at him. And made
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  Speaker 1: mockery of his mind. And his intellect and his ideas.
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  Speaker 1: Because he would dare to believe that Jesus. Is the
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  Speaker 1: embodiment of God himself. Yes. And even amongst those who
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  Speaker 1: embraced Jesus, they were reluctant to receive him because of
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  Speaker 1: his past operating as a Pharisee. So he was not
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  Speaker 1: welcomed readily at the table with Peter and James and John.
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  Speaker 1: After all, Paul was not there when Peter, James, and
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  Speaker 1: John were on the Mount of Transfiguration. And Paul was
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  Speaker 1: not there when the woman with the issue of blood
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  Speaker 1: touched the hem of his garment. And Paul was not
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  Speaker 1: there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And Paul
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  Speaker 1: was not there when Jesus calmed the raging sea. Here
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  Speaker 1: comes this Johnny come lately apostle who has been killing
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  Speaker 1: and persecuting the Christians. And now he wants to sit
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  Speaker 1: at the table with the rest of the apostles as
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  Speaker 1: if he'd been there all the time. And they were
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  Speaker 1: suspicious of him. It took revelation for them to even
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  Speaker 1: begin to slowly embrace him. So Paul knows loneliness. He
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  Speaker 1: knows what it is to be hated on his left side.
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  Speaker 1: He knows what it is to be hated on his
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  Speaker 1: right side. For preaching the gospel he has been persecuted.
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  Speaker 1: For preaching the gospel he has been beaten like a slave.
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  Speaker 1: For preaching the gospel he has been stoned. and Lystra
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  Speaker 1: and left for dead for preaching the gospel he has
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  Speaker 1: borne in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 1: for preaching the gospel he has been thrust into prison
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  Speaker 1: after prison for preaching the gospel he has been ostracized
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  Speaker 1: by his friends, alienated by his own relatives, rejected by
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  Speaker 1: his own community for preaching the gospel. He has had
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  Speaker 1: to stand in destitution and isolation and comforted himself and
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  Speaker 1: licked his own wounds and lifted up his own head
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  Speaker 1: and had to keep going when other people wished he
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  Speaker 1: would die for preaching the gospel. He has endured all
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  Speaker 1: types of afflictions To come to this point in his life.
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  Speaker 1: And we get to taste the nectar of his final words.
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  Speaker 1: His final thoughts. His conclusion. His finally my brethren. The
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  Speaker 1: sum total of everything that seasoned him. And set him
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  Speaker 1: apart and made him unique. That elixir, that rich residue
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  Speaker 1: that is left when the pot has boiled down to
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  Speaker 1: its lowest gravy. Now we are tasting the final droppings
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  Speaker 1: that are coming from Paul as he says I am
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  Speaker 1: about to be offered up. When Paul says I'm about
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  Speaker 1: to be offered up, he is reminiscent of the drink offering,
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  Speaker 1: which a drink offering is a type of libation. And
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  Speaker 1: a libation is when you take a drink and you
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  Speaker 1: begin to pour it out little by little, drop by drop.
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  Speaker 1: Every time he went through something. It took something out
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  Speaker 1: of it. Every time he endured an affliction, it took
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  Speaker 1: something out of it until he was down to nothing.
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  Speaker 1: And when he was about to be offered up, he
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  Speaker 1: was down to the last drop. That means the cup
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  Speaker 1: has been turned completely up, drop by drop. Every time
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  Speaker 1: you go through a test, it takes something out of you.
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  Speaker 1: You survive it, but it takes something out of you.
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  Speaker 1: You made it, but it took something out of you.
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  Speaker 1: You endured it, but it took something out of you.
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  Speaker 1: You made it out, but it took something out of you.
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  Speaker 1: You went through the funeral, but it took something out
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  Speaker 1: of you. You went through the scandal, but it took
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  Speaker 1: something out of you. And little by little, you lose
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  Speaker 1: more and more. It's not age that gets you. It's
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  Speaker 1: experiences that it took your strength to survive. And now
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  Speaker 1: he says, I'm about to be offered up, which means, Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: I'm down to the last drop. And I'm about to
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  Speaker 1: be offered up. You must realize that you can survive
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  Speaker 1: and still suffer. You must realize that you can survive
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  Speaker 1: but it still costs you something. You survived the divorce,
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  Speaker 1: but it cost you something. You survived the teenage pregnancy,
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  Speaker 1: but it cost you something. You survived the addiction, but
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  Speaker 1: it cost you something. You survived the scandal, but it
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  Speaker 1: cost you something. And to little by little, people don't
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  Speaker 1: realize how much has gone out of your cup to
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  Speaker 1: still be standing. Oh, oh my God. Do you hear
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  Speaker 1: what I'm saying? Look at somebody say, I'm still here.
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  Speaker 1: I'm still here. I'm still here. I'm not the same,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm still here. You know, you can drive a
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  Speaker 1: car and little by little it'll tell you that it's
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  Speaker 1: got three quarters of tank. And then if you keep driving,
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  Speaker 1: it's got a half a tank. And then if you
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  Speaker 1: keep driving, it's got a quarter tank. And if you
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  Speaker 1: keep driving, it's got an eighth of tank. And if
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  Speaker 1: you keep on driving, it's all the way down to empty.
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  Speaker 1: That means the further you go, the more it costs you.
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  Speaker 1: It's not the years, it's the mileage. It's the things
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  Speaker 1: I went through. It's the things I suffered. It's the
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  Speaker 1: antagonism I endured. It's the betrayal that I went through.
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  Speaker 1: It's the friends that rejected me. It's the deceit that
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  Speaker 1: I endured. And it took all of my strength. To
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  Speaker 1: get back up. I want to talk to somebody. That
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  Speaker 1: it took all of your strength. To get back up.
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  Speaker 1: It took all of your might. To get back up.
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  Speaker 1: These are the writings of the pastoral. Epistles of a man.
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  Speaker 1: After he has endured. Affliction and tribulation. And pain and agony.
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  Speaker 1: These are the final droppings. Of the master orator himself.
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  Speaker 1: And we get to hear. His personal letters to Timothy
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  Speaker 1: and Titus as he shares with them his conclusion. Because
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  Speaker 1: when you get to the end, you want to know,
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  Speaker 1: was it worth it? You remember when John was about
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  Speaker 1: to be beheaded and he told his disciples, he said,
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  Speaker 1: go and I want to know, is he the Christ
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  Speaker 1: or shall we look for another? He said, I identified
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  Speaker 1: him in the Jordan. I was sure about it in
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  Speaker 1: the Jordan, but now I'm about to lose my head.
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  Speaker 1: And before I lose my head, I just want to
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  Speaker 1: be sure that it was worth it. Do you hear
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  Speaker 1: what I'm saying? Midlife crisis is wondering, was it worth it?
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  Speaker 1: That's why it's a crisis because you get to the
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  Speaker 1: middle of your life and you wonder, was it worth it?
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  Speaker 1: Do I have what I expected to have to show
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  Speaker 1: for being at the stage I'm at in my life
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  Speaker 1: right now? Am I appreciated? Am I valued? Am I validated?
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  Speaker 1: Am I loved? It's an inner wrestling of a thinking
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  Speaker 1: mind trying to balance an account before you close the
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  Speaker 1: books such is the spirit of second Timothy it is
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  Speaker 1: that spirit that we come into the text because he
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  Speaker 1: is talking to Timothy from the place of trying to
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  Speaker 1: close the books the accounting is coming to an end
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  Speaker 1: he is coming to the end of his journey it
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  Speaker 1: is important that you understand it I want I want
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  Speaker 1: you to sit there are you with me so far
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  Speaker 1: Set that aside. That's an appetizer. We'll come back to
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  Speaker 1: it in a minute. I want to get into another thing.
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  Speaker 1: I want to share a little something else. There's an
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  Speaker 1: interesting narrative of the life of Olado Equiano. Olado Equiano
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  Speaker 1: is not a name that would immediately pop up in
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  Speaker 1: your head. You don't hear much about Olado Equiano. Not
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  Speaker 1: in history. Not in the Bible. Not anywhere. Because in 1789...
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  Speaker 1: He is a former slave that writes a book in
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  Speaker 1: 1789 that is published about his abduction. He was born
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  Speaker 1: in 1745. He was tricked and sold into slavery in
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  Speaker 1: the western part of Africa. He is from the tribe
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  Speaker 1: of Igbo. At 11 years old, he and his sister
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  Speaker 1: are abducted. And he finds himself being drug away from
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  Speaker 1: West Africa, now called Nigeria, before it was called Nigeria before.
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  Speaker 1: colonialism has not taken place yet and he finds himself
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  Speaker 1: in the bottom of a boat floating like a slave
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  Speaker 1: toward Europe at 11 and he is persecuted and he
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  Speaker 1: is beaten and he is dogged and he is ostracized
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  Speaker 1: and you must understand that when he begins to come
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  Speaker 1: to Europe he is bought like he is property He
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  Speaker 1: becomes a property of a European man and given another name.
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  Speaker 1: But the problem is he never forgot who he was.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes people will give you a name but never forget
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  Speaker 1: who you are. Sometimes people will call you a name
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  Speaker 1: but never forget who you are. Sometimes life will call
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  Speaker 1: you a name but never forget who you are. Sometimes
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  Speaker 1: finances will call you a name but never forget who
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  Speaker 1: you are. Sometimes doctors will call you a disease but
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: never forget who you are. Don't let people take away
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  Speaker 1: your identity just because of your circumstance and your situation.
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  Speaker 1: There was slavery everywhere. It was moving all over the world,
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  Speaker 1: and it just started becoming popular. We're entering into a
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  Speaker 1: period of slavery, and it's everywhere. It's in Europe. It's
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  Speaker 1: coming out of West Africa. It's in the Americas. It's everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: It just so happens that this boat goes to Europe.
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  Speaker 1: The African slaves' voice from Africa... takes many to America,
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  Speaker 1: and some of them it takes to South America, and
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  Speaker 1: others it takes to England. The cross-cultural geopolitical journey from
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  Speaker 1: a slave to freedom, from heathenism to Christianity has become
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  Speaker 1: his life's work. He's trying to figure out, who am
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  Speaker 1: I now, separated from my parents, separated from my culture,
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  Speaker 1: separated from my tribe? separated from all the things I
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  Speaker 1: have had 11 years to settle into now I'm uprooted
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: from all of that and taken as property I'm a
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: line on a ledger I am the net worth of
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: a stranger I have been relegated and delegated into the
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: net worth of an individual from which I have no
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: experience at all. This is what he says that I
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: find interesting. Institutional slavery can raise the master as an
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: above man, as the slave is forced beneath. But listen
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: to what he concludes. Both corrupting the master with power
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: And crippling the slave. With the lack of it. In
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: other words. He says nobody gets away clean. Just because
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: the master is the master. Doesn't mean that he doesn't suffer.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Because the power has corrupted him. And there's a saying
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: about power. Power corrupts. But absolute power. Absolutely corrupts. So
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: in order to be a slave master. It has to speak.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: to your lowest instincts. So I might be crippled as
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: a slave, but you're corrupted as a master. And he
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: started speaking these kinds of words. He said, I consider
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: that trials and disappointments are sometimes for our good. Listen,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: listen at how he is making peace with his past.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: He says, I consider that trials and disappointment are sometimes
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: for our good. And I thought God might perhaps have
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: permitted this in order to teach me wisdom and resignations.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: For he had hitherto shadowed me with the wings of
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: his mercy and by his invisible but powerful hand brought
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: me the way I knew not. He allowed this to happen.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: And if he allowed me to suffer, I comforted myself,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: not in the goodness of the master, but the goodness
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: of God, that if he allowed me to go through
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: this kind of suffering, that some kind of way, there's
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: something that he wants me to get out of it,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: or he wouldn't have allowed it to happen. I don't
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: know if that helps you like it helps me, but
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: that really helped me. These reflections gave me a little
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: comfort and I rose at last from the deck with
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: dejection and sorrow in my countenance, yet mixed with some
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: faint hope that the Lord would appear for my deliverance.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: In other words, I was holding on by a thread,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: but I tied a knot in it and I held on. Amen.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody in here that's been through enough suffering
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: in your life that you held on by a thread
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: and you were just holding on by the skin of
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: your teeth and you made it over and sometimes you
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: felt like giving up and sometimes you felt like dying
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: and sometimes you felt like committing suicide, but there was
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: just a little bit of ray of light, just a
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: little bit of light. Coming into the dark ark that
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: lit it just enough for you to press your way
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: through the storm and the rain. And listen at how
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: he gets the light. He gets the light by what
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: he says to himself. It is the way you talk
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to yourself that determines whether you endure hardness or not,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: whether you can stand affliction or not. It is what
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: you choose to think about. He said, I chose to
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: believe that God would bring me out of this. An
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: 11-year-old boy says, I chose to believe that God would
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: bring me out of this, that he was to teach
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: me something. And rather than to focus on the bitterness
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: of my disappointment, I focused on the fact that some
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: kind of way I'll come out of this wiser and
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: stronger and better and richer and fuller. These are the
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: for the most part mingled with sorrow. The truth of
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the matter is there's not a person in this room
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: that has not had their pleasure mingled with sorrow. This
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: slave boy who is 11 years old from Nigeria, from
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: the tribe of Igbo, who was captured and abducted, and
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: don't think that that has stopped happening. Human trafficking is
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: still happening. Don't think that it ended with the Emancipation Proclamation.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Slavery is still alive and well. In this country and
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: around the world, people are still living in abducted situations
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: out of their control. In this city, in this state,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: there are people that are against their will being held
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: in bondage. And there are task force set up by
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: a police department that do nothing every day but work
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: to liberate young girls and young boys that have been
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: snatched away. Out of their country. And made to work
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: without pay. Right in your city. Right up under your nose.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: And I laugh when I hear us say. If I
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: had lived in slavery days. You are living in slavery days.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: As long as there is inequity, there will be slavery
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: for somebody. You just choose not to look at it,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: but it is there. Every week somebody gets busted for
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: taking somebody from their country and having them working in
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: massage parlors and different places that you might frequent. You
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: have to have your eyes open because sometimes the people
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: who are giving you service are doing it against their will.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: He says, early on I accustomed myself to look for
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the hand of God in the minutest occurrence. Any little
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: sign of, any little touch, I look for the hand
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: of God. And to learn from it a lesson of
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: morality and religion. And in this light, every circumstance I
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: have related was to me of importance. I look for
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: God even in pain. After all, what makes any event
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: important unless by its observation we become better and wiser?
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: What makes any event important if we don't use it
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: to become better and wiser? And learn to do justly
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: and to love mercy and to walk humbly before God.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Can I go on with this? I love this. I
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: love that. You should get the books. You should order
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: the book. To those who are possessed of this spirit,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: there is scarcely any book or incident so trifling that
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: does not afford some profit, while to others the experience
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: of ages seems of no use, and even to pour
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: out to them the treasures of wisdom. It's throwing the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: jewels of instruction away because some people have a deaf
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: ear to wisdom. They have no value to profoundness. Their
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: minds are so narrow that even when you give them
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: good things, they throw it away. Jesus said it this way,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: cast not your pearls to the swine neither give that
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: which is holy to the dog come on talk to
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: me somebody he said and I had a great curiosity
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: to talk to the books as I thought they did
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: to me and so to learn how all things had
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: a beginning For that purpose I have often taken up
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: a book and have talked to it. And then when
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: nobody was looking I put my ears to it in
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: hopes it would answer me. In other words I so
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: valued wisdom. that I let the book that talked to me,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: I'd talk back to it and then listen to see
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: if I said something, maybe it would say something to me.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: If you start listening for books to talk to you,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: especially the Bible, you would be surprised how the Bible
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: will be your counselor, will be your advisor, will speak wisdom.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: And you would be surprised what it will do for
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: you in your life if you would listen. If you
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: would not just depend on the preacher to do all
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: the feeding. But if you would develop a relationship and
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: start listening and have an ongoing conversation with the word.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: He said, and I have been very much concerned when
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: I found it remained silent. Something said nothing to me
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: at all. But I was listening. I was listening. I
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: want you to understand these quotes because I think they
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: are powerful and I think they are relevant and I
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: think they are profound. And if you'll give me just
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: a few minutes, I'm going to tie them into Apostle
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Paul and show you why I talked about it. He says,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: O ye nominal Christians, might not an African ask you,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: learn you this from your God? Your religion allows you
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to do this to me? How can you worship God
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: and steal me? Eventually he found his way to freedom
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: and became a husband and a father and a very
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: successful entrepreneur. And I want you to see the before
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: and after pictures. One shows him as a slave and
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: one shows him as an entrepreneur. If he would have
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: remained bitter, he would have stayed like the first picture.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: But because he refused to allow the pain that he
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: endured to enslave him, he ended up in the second picture.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to somebody. I don't know who I'm talking to.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: You either get better or you get bitter. You either
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: allow the pain to engulf you or you rise to
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: something above it that blows your mind and sets you
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: apart and sets you on a different level. And you,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: put the pictures up there again. I want you to
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: choose which one you're going to be. Are you going
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: to get bitter or are you going to get better?
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: In our text, we are reading the memoirs of a
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: man enslaved to the gospel. His life was not his own.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Paul did not belong to himself. He was a prisoner
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: of the gospel. He was a slave of Jesus Christ.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: The difference between Olodo Equiano and Paul is that Paul
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: has eventually become a willing slave. You remember when Paul
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: identifies himself as a willing slave. He is a willing slave. However,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: the suffering and the strange mixture of feelings of dejection
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: and yet hopefulness are quite similar. In order to work
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: for God, every day will not be a great day.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Every day will not be an easy day. Every day
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: will not be a kind day if you're going to
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: work for God. See, Damascus was the place of his apprehension.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Jesus caught him in Damascus, on the road to Damascus.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: And all the way up to Damascus, Saul, now Paul,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: is leading the way. But when Jesus got through with him,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the people that he were leading were now leading him.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: And now he is bound, a prisoner of the gospel,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: to preach to the Gentiles. He has lost the respect.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Of his Jewish Orthodox brethren. He's even faced struggles. To
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: be accepted by other apostles. And yet God used him mightily.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: That means that you don't have to have. A general consensus.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: In order to be effective for God. That means that
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: you can be controversial. And still be effective. That means
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: you don't have to put your mission on hold until
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: everybody votes for you and everybody likes you and everybody
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: supports you and everybody undergirds you. It means that you
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: have to come to a point that you begin to
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: understand that God is with you even when people are
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: against you. Even when people are scandalizing you and ostracizing you.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Doesn't mean that you can't be purposeful. Oh, do you
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: hear what I'm saying? And Mr. Equiano ends up an
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: entrepreneur and a successful one. And they had to reprint
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: his book over eight times in his lifetime and more
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: after he died. The book of a slave in the
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: 18th century. I don't care what's going on around you.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: If God is for you, he will raise you up anyway.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: I don't care what you read in the paper. I
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: don't care what you saw on the news. I don't
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: care what your education is, what your background is. If
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: God is for you, he will raise you up and
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: set you up and bless you and take you to
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: a place that you know not of. Do you hear
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying to you? When Paul tells Timothy, I
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: have fought a good fight. I have often preached that.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: I've taught that. I've listened at it. I've shared it.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: But I've never really thought about this. He didn't say
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: he won. He never said he won the fight. He
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: just said he fought the fight. I want to talk
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: to some people who have lost some battles. but you
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: kept on swinging. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He said,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: I fought a good fight. I fought a good fight.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: He didn't say I won every fight. See, we would
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: like to think that he won every fight, but he
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: didn't win every fight. There were certain cities that rejected him.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: There were certain people that withstood him. There were certain
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: individuals that attacked him. He didn't win every fight, but
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: he stayed in the fight. And I came to tell
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: you tonight that That the Holy Ghost said, if you
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: stay in the fight, I will bless you. You can
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: fight a good fight. Win or lose, I fought a
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: good fight. I fought a good fight as a father.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: I fought a good fight as a mother. I fought
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: a good fight as a preacher. I fought a good
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: fight as a man. See, God gives you credit for
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: the fight, not the score. Oh, y'all don't want to
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: hear what I'm saying to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: If you hear what I'm saying, you'll shout me down
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: tonight because God wants to know, will you fight back?
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter who got the most licks in. He
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: wants to know, will you fight back? When Paul tells Timothy,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: I fought a good fight, he's not bragging that he
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: won every fight, but he's telling Timothy, you got to
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: be prepared to fight a good fight, in season and
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: out of season, reprove and rebuke with all longsuffering, even
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: though sometimes they will not endure sound doctrine. Do it anyway,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: because God will bless you just because you fought. I
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: want to talk to a room full of fighters today.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: If I could get me a few fighters online. Are
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: there any fighters online that you fought a good fight?
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: You fought a good fight. You won some. You lost some.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: But you fought a good fight. You stayed in the
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: ring when you didn't have no money. You stayed in
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: the ring. When you did have some money, you stayed
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: in the ring. When you felt like fighting, you stayed
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: in the ring. When you didn't feel like fighting, and
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Paul is coming to the end of his life, and
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: he said, I fought a good fight. Somebody holler, I
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: fought a good fight. I fought a good fight. A
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: good fight. Now, let me put this in perspective. This
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: is making peace with your past. Because if you don't
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: make peace with it, you're going to always be complaining
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: about the ones you lost and what you didn't get
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: and what didn't happen and what didn't come through in
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: your life. But it doesn't matter whether you got it
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: or you didn't get it. What matters is that you
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: kept on fighting. If you really got faith, you'll fight
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: when you win and you'll fight when you lose. You'll
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: fight when you got a job. You'll fight when you
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: don't have a job. You'll fight when people love you.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: You'll fight when people hate you. I fought a good fight.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Somebody say, I fought a good fight. There comes a
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: time in your life that you have to reconcile yourself.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: That you may not, it may not have turned out
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: the way you wanted it to turn out. And everything
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: might not be in place the way you wanted it
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: to be. But if you fought a good fight, you
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: still got a crown laid up for you. I want
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: to talk to my fighters. that there's a crown waiting
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: for you. That there's a blessing waiting for you. That
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: there's a door God's going to open for you. And
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: if you keep on swinging, if you keep on swinging.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: If you keep on swinging, if you keep on swinging,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: if you keep on swinging, if you keep on, I
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: don't care what the devil throws at you. Just keep
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: on swinging. I don't care what they say about you.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Just keep on swinging. Just keep on swinging. You may
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: break your heart, but keep on swinging. I fought a
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: good fight, a good fight. I lasted all 13 rounds.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: I stayed in the fight. I was bloody, but I
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: kept swinging. I got a black eye, but I kept
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: on swinging. I got a busted lip, but I kept
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: on swinging. Timothy, I fought a good fight. If you're
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: going to be my son, you're going to have to
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: be a fighter. You might not be a winner, but
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: you got to be a fighter. I fought a good fight.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: Nudge somebody and say, fight back. You got to fight back.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: You got to fight back. And you got to be
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: proud of the fact that you fought back. I won
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: some and I lost some, but I fought back. Sometimes
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: I got over, sometimes I went under, but I fought back.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: And you got to be able to make peace with
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: the fact that fighting a good fight is enough. Whether
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: you won the fight or not, if I kept the faith,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: I won. If I kept the faith, if it was
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: just a little rope and I held on to the rope,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: if it was a piece of thread and I held
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: on to the faith, I have kept the faith. Sometimes
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: I had doubt, sometimes I had fear, sometimes I had worry,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: but I kept the faith. None of it made me backslide.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: None of it made me walk away. I said thank
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: you Jesus when I didn't feel like saying thank you Jesus.
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: I said glory to God when I didn't feel like
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: saying glory to God. Because I wanted hell to know.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: I don't have nothing but a string. But I'm going
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: to hold on to the string. And I'm going to
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: keep the faith. And the Lord wanted me to tell
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: somebody tonight. it looks like you're going down for the
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: third time but hold on to what you got left
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: and as long as you hold on to what God
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: gave you you have kept the faith somebody take a
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: minute and praise him for the faith you got left
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: yeah yeah Praising for the faith you got left. I
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: lost my car, but I got my faith. I lost
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: my friends, but I got my faith. I lost my family,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: but I got my faith. I lost my job, but
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: I got my faith. I still got my faith. That's
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: what the devil was after. The devil don't want your car.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: The devil don't want your house. The devil don't want
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: your shoes. What the devil is after is after your faith.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: And I want everything that's listening at me that's got
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: some faith to give God 30 seconds of crazy, ridiculous praise.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: You see, this is the thing I want you to see.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: I got to sweat now. I didn't mean to go
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: to sweat. Y'all made me sweat. Something about to happen
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: in here. The thing I want you to see is
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: Oladu knew that he might die a slave, but he
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: also knew that he might not. He knew they might
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: beat him to death, but he also knew that he
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: might not. He knew they might destroy him. But he
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: also knew that he might not. And he kept on
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: fighting and kept on fighting and wiggling till he finally
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: got free. And the Lord told me to tell you
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: that if you keep on fighting, eventually you'll get free.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: It may not be today. It may not be tomorrow.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: But if you keep on fighting, eventually you're going to
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: get free. Somebody needs to stay in the fight. Stay
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: in the fight. Stay in the fight. There ain't no
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: way in the world he was supposed to get free,
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: but he stayed in the fight and he kept on
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: punching until somebody had to liberate him and let him go.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: He went from being a slave to an entrepreneur. He
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: went from being half-naked to being walking around in custom-made
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: clothes because he stayed in the fight. You got to
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: stay in the fight. I want to talk to somebody
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: that's tired and feel like giving up and feel like
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: it's not worth it and feel like you've been through
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: too much and feel like you've been doing too much pain.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: I want to encourage you tonight that the next punch
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: might be the last punch. Swing when you don't even
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: feel like swinging. Punch when you don't even feel like punching.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: Because God has a plan. In fact, had they not
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: abducted him, he would have never ended up The entrepreneur
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: and the author with the wisdom and the story that
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: made him a bestseller. People always talk about what you're
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: running to, but they don't notice what you're running from.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: It's what happened behind you that determines how fast you
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: move in front of you. And if you don't make
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: peace with your past... If you don't, listen to me,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: if you don't make peace with your past, you'll never
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: accomplish what your past came to propel you into. There
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: is a reason. Preacher said it's Sunday. This ain't nothing
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: but confirmation of what the preacher said Sunday. This ain't
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: nothing but God adding word on top of word on
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: top of word on top of word that I got
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: a plan even when you got a pain. I got
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: a plan even when you got a hurt. I got
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: a plan even when you feel like giving up and
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: throwing yourself away. Are you hearing what I'm saying to you?
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: Paul said, when my hour came to trial, no man
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: stood with me. Now this is amazing. Because Paul has
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: spoke to cities. He's transformed communities. He's established churches. He
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: has healed all manner of diseases. He's even raised people
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: from the dead. You would think out of all of
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: the body of his work, when he went on trial,
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: somebody would have stood with him. He said, when I
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: came to defense, no man stood with me. Normally when
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: you go to court, your lawyer is standing with you.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: Paul said, I had nobody to plead my case. No
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: man stood with me. But then he says, watch this.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: Watch how he won't let bitterness creep in. I pray
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: that the Lord does not lay it to their charge.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Have you grown enough in your faith To pray for
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: the people who let you down. Oh, come on. You
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: on the boat now. You got to ride. You on
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: the boat now. You got to ride all the way in.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: Paul has learned how to pray for the people who
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: disappointed him. He is making peace with his past. He says,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: I can't afford to die bitterly. and angry and upset
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: and full of resentment and frustration because it's going to
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: weaken my strength. So even though I was disappointed that
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: no man stood with me, I pray that God does
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: not lay it to their charge. Where was the man
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: I raised from the dead? Where was the woman I
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: healed from diseases? Where was the woman I cast demons
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: out of? Where were all the people I delivered all
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: through the Bible? Where were the churches I established? Where
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: were the pastors I set in place? where were the
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: people I gave a second chance where were the people
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: I poured into he said when I really really really
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: really really needed somebody no man stood with me notwithstanding
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: the Lord stood with me And what I'm supposed to
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: tell you is stop worrying about who didn't. And use
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: it as an opportunity to brag about how good God
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: stood with you. Is there anybody online that God stood with?
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody in the building that God stood with?
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody on the internet that God stood with?
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody on Facebook that God stood with you?
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: In the hospital? In the courtroom? Through the pain of life?
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: The Lord stood with me. The Lord stood with me.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: The Lord stood with me. I finished because the Lord
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: stood with me. Good God Almighty, I feel the Holy
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: Ghost in this place right now. The Lord stood with me.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: If he stood with you, you ought to praise him
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: like he stood with you. Sit down, sit down. Between
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: y'all standing and the organ chasing me, y'all got me
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: going too fast. I feel the Holy Ghost in here.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: I feel the Spirit of God in here. I feel
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: the Spirit of God in here. Because this is my
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: testimony too. The Lord has stood with me. He's been
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: standing with me all my life. He was standing with
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: me when I wasn't standing with him. He was still
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: standing with me. And I'm here because the Lord stood
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: with me. Are you with me tonight? Are you with
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: me tonight? Now this is what I'm after tonight. You
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: got so many years that are your discovery years. Adolescent years.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Discovery years. Those are some tough years. Tough on you.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: Tough on your parents. Your discovery years. Who am I?
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: Am I what they call me or am I who
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: you named me? Who am I? And you go through
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: this discovery years. And then you go through this period
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: in your 20s generally where you're trying to stake your
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: claim on something That's solid. But you still got a
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: lot of kid in you. And a lot of crazy.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: In fact, the brain doesn't fully mature about consequences until
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: you're in your early 20s. So you're living in the
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: moment without regard for consequences. You have to mature to
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: consider consequences. By the time you're in your 30s, you
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: ought to be grappling after something, trying to build something,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: trying to do something, trying to become something. That's why
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: I love what we're doing and what we're getting ready
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: to do with our young adults because those are your
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: building years. Your 30s and your 40s are your building years.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: Those are your building years. Those are your formation years.
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: Those are your development years. Those are the make or
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: break you years. When you get in your 50s and 60s,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: you begin to recognize that I can still win and
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: I can still accomplish some things, but you start to
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: begin to recognize I may not get what I thought
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: I would get when I started. And if you don't
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: learn how to be good with that, you'll become a
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: Saul to some Davids. And you'll end up trying to
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: kill somebody who's coming because you wasted your turn. Can
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: I go a little bit deeper? Making peace with your
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: past doesn't just mean making peace with your sins. It
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: means making peace with your station in life. Getting to
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: a place where I'm good with it. Alexander the coppersmith
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: hates me, but I'm good with it. I'm going to
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: put that over in the I'm good with it column.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: Because I got to balance these books. I'm good with
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: the fact that I still can see further than I
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: will ever be able to go. By the time you
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: get to your 70s, you start to begin to understand
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: that I can see further than I can reach. And
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: if you're not good with that, you'll become bitter and
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: you'll become a hater. And you'll start trying to destroy
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: people who have more time and more energy than you do.
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: What is a sign of maturity is when you have
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: made peace with where you are. That's why the Bible says,
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: watch this, godliness with contentment is great gain. To be
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: contented doesn't mean that you don't have ambition. Doesn't mean
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: that you don't have goals. It means that you don't
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: use your ambition to create frustration. Y'all ain't gonna talk
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: to me tonight. You can't be so ambitious that you
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: turn into a witch. You can't be so ambitious that
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: you start cutting people's throats to get ahead. You can't
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: be so ambitious that you become vicious and become ruthless
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: and become dangerous. You've got to come to a point
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: that maybe you wanted some things for you that God
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: didn't want for you. And you have to be good
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: with where he placed you. And you might not ever
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: get back to West Africa, but you got to learn
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: how to bloom where you're planted. And if I never
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: get back, and if I never go here, and if
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: I never go there, I'm going to be as fruitful
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: as I can in the land where I am. I'm
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: good with it. I can't spend the rest of my
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: life wishing for something that may not ever happen again.
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: I'm good with it. To come to a place of contentment.
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: where you can lay down at night and be contented.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: Doesn't mean that you don't have anything that you go after,
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: any goals or anything, but it doesn't mean, it does
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: mean that whether I get it or don't, I'm still
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: going to be okay. Whether you like me or don't,
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: I'm still going to be okay. Whether you clap or
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: don't clap, I'm still going to be okay. Whether you
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: support or don't support, I have come to a place
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: of making peace with where I am in my life
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: and what I went through in my life and I'm
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: good with it. Because I can't make you feel good
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: about you until I feel good about me. Let me
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: help the preachers that are watching online. You can quote
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: what I quote, but till you've been through what I've
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: been through, it's not going to be effective. The only
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: way to be effective is that you've gone through enough
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: that it's changed your attitude that you are good with
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: where you are in life and you're happy to be
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: you and you're not trying to be nobody else and
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: you're not wishing you were somebody else and you're not
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: wishing you had another mama and you're not wishing you
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: had another daddy. You're saying it was good that I
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: was afflicted. If it had turned out any other kind
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: of way, I wouldn't have ended up where I ended up.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you for rejecting me. Thank you for leaving me
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: by myself. You taught me how to pray. You taught
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: me how to stand on my own two feet. If
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: you would have been there, I would have never met
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: who God wanted me to meet. If you would have
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: been there, I wouldn't have been hungry enough to become
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: anointed enough, to become powerful enough to be where I am.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to somebody today about making peace with your
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: past so that you don't spend the rest of your
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: life trying to get back somewhere that there's no boat
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: to take you back. But there is strength to bloom
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: where you're planted. And to prosper where you are, you
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: have to be good with being you. With your big self.
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: You got to be good with being you with your
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: skinny self. You got to be good with being you
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: with your ugly self. You got to be good with
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: being you with your pretty self. Because though I might
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: not have what you have, I got something you don't.
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: And I'm not going to focus on what I don't have.
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: I'm going to focus on what I do have. Yes,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do all I can to enhance what
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: I got. But some things God gave you, he didn't
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: give me. I'm not in a race with you. I'm
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: in a race to be the best me that I was. Oh,
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: y'all don't hear what I'm saying. So Paul says, when
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: people did not stand by me, The Lord stood with me.
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: Now who would you rather have stand with you? He
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: said the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. Put
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: that scripture back. up there again. Because I want to
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: get that scripture just right. Down in the last part
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: of 2 Timothy. But the Lord stood at my side
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: and gave me strength. So that through me the gospel
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: might be proclaimed. And all the Gentiles might hear it.
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. Look, I
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: was delivered. You don't understand. I was delivered from the
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: lion's mouth. Imagine, now he means that figuratively, but imagine
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: that literally. I was delivered from the lion's mouth. Look
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: at how many lion's mouths you've been in. I was
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: delivered out of the mouth of people that I thought
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: was my friend and really my enemy. I was delivered...
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: I was delivered from the lion's mouth. I was delivered
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: from the thing that could have devoured me. I was delivered.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: The reason I got to praise him, I was delivered.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: I should have been dead. I should have died of AIDS.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: I should have had a nervous breakdown. I could have
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: lost my mind. I was delivered from the lion's mouth.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: When you see me praising God, you can imitate my step,
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: but you can't imitate my gratitude because nobody knows like
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: I know what my lion was. Everybody in here got
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: a lion. Everybody in this room... Got something that had
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: you in its clutches. And you could be strung out
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: under a bridge. And you could have tracks in your arm.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: And you could have OD'd. And you could have lost
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: your mind. But I want you to think back on
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: the lion that had you in its mouth. And look
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: at you now. And I want you to give God
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: a praise for how he delivered you out of the
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: mouth of the lion. And he says, because I was delivered,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: the Lord will rescue me. See, on the strength of
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: what I've been through in my past, God has built
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: up enough resume in me that I am confident now
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: that the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: That means that the things that used to worry me
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: don't worry me like they used to. And the things
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: that used to drive me crazy don't drive me crazy
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: like they used to. Because of the lion's mouth, I've
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: got enough faith to believe God against every evil thing
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: that's in my future. I'm going to use what I've
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: been through in my past to prepare me for my future. Amen.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to leave you with four words. The
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: first word is restitution. Restitution. Damascus was where Paul is
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: called to serve restitution for his deeds. You can't do
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: just anything and not have any restitution. There comes a
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: point in your life that you can't just take and
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: not give back. There has to be some level of restitution.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: And number two, I want you to get this word resolution.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: Resolution is the point where you accept God's plan over
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: your own life. And you resolve in your own mind.
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: You resolve. This is it. I think I think it
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: takes a long time to be married. It takes about
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: 30 minutes to have a wedding. But it takes a
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: long time to be married. You can be married and
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: still be looking through a window at your own life.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: It takes a while for you to say, this is it.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: I'm all in. I don't just have one foot in it.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: I'm not just testing it out. I'm not just seeing.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not just leaving an out clause. I'm not keeping
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: a fire escape open. I'm not running around throwing a
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: D word out. It takes a long time for you
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: to really settle in. Crazy as I am and crazy
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: as you are, we're just going to be crazy together.
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: Resolution means that you have now accepted the course God
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: has for your life. Resolution means I'm not envious of you. Oh,
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: I'm going deep now. Resolution means that I'm not comparing
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: myself by you. I don't have to measure up to
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: you Resolution is I'm good with who I am. I'm
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: good with the gifts I bring to the table. I'm
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: not intimidated by you. I have resolved that my gift
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: is just as effective as yours. I know you got
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: the shield and the sword and the shiny stuff and
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: all I got is a rock and a rag but
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: I'm good with the rock and the rag. And the
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: rock and the rag Brought me all the way here.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: When I started preaching, they said, you can't get on
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: TV preaching like that. They said, you can't get on
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: TV preaching like that. You run around. I was stepping
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: across pews. I was young and hollering and sweating towel
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: wrapped around my neck. They said, you can't act like
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: that and be on TV. I said, okay. I said,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: which camera is the right camera? They said the one
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: that's red.
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: They said that we could have church in a
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: funeral home, in a garage or a storefront. They said
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: we weren't smart enough to get here and build this
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: kind of facility. This church is as wide as two
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: football fields. This church will hold 14,000 people with overflow.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: This church can satellite around the world with our own equipment.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: They didn't think that you could talk in tongues and
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: jerk and holler and still be smart enough to get
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: to where this church got. This church bought 400 acres
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: of land before I was 40. Oh, hallelujah. And I
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: still got my dance here. And I still got my
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: shout here. And I still talk in tongues. And I
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: still praise my God. And I still lift him up.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: Why would I be jealous of you? When God is
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: trying to get you to a point that you are
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: good with what he gave you, even if it's a
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: rag and a rock, run on out there and throw
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: it at Goliath and watch him fall out. You cannot
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: win the fight if you don't have confidence in your equipment.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: I cannot go out there and fight Goliath acting like
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: you because I ain't you. Your shield is sharp and
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: beautiful and shiny and your sword looks like it could
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: cut straight through meat. But I don't have no experience
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: with that. I do know how to work this rock
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: and this rag. And why are you laughing at how
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: stupid it is? I did more with the rag and
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: rock than you did with your sword and shield. So
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: don't try to intimidate me. With what you got, you
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: have to come to a resolution that you're good with
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: what God gave you. With your short self. If you're short,
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: you got to work it. Grab the mic and pull
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: it down to where you are and let the devil
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: have it. If you're tall, you got to stand up
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: and work it and use what God gave you. Don't
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: you know? When Moses came to God and said, I
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: can't speak because I stammer, God said, didn't I make
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: your mouth? When are you going to be good with
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: how God made you? Did not I make your mouth?
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: Couldn't I have fixed your tongue if I wanted to?
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: Resolution is whatever age you're at, that you become happy
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: to be who God made you. I'm in the right body.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: I look just right. I'm who I'm supposed to be.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: I'm as smart as I need to be. I'm gifted
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: in the areas I need to be gifted in to
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: do what God created me to do. And in the
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: areas I'm not gifted, I'm not supposed to be gifted there.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: That made room for me to get other people around me.
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: Resolution means I'm good with being me. Paul couldn't die
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: right if he wasn't good with it He says, I
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: have finished my course. Not yours, Timothy. I wasn't asked
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: to run Timothy's race. I was asked to run my race.
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: I'm good with my race. I have finished my course.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: Resolution means I accept that. Now, can I take a
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: little time? The third R I want to spend some
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: time with is reciprocity. Reciprocity is real important. Reciprocity is
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: sowing and reaping. It's seed time and harvest. And I
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: want you to get this. Every relationship, whether it's business, personal, financial, emotional,
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: or marital, will only survive to the degree that there
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: is reciprocity. You have to make sure that there is reciprocity.
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: The whole earth survives through reciprocity. Right now, my whole
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: backyard is covered with leaves. And the leaves are going
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: to go back down into the ground and fertilize the
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: soil So that the soil is not depleted. So the
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: tree that took from the soil is now giving back
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: to the soil. And that's reciprocity. Never let anybody be
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: better to you than you are to them. You might
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: not give them back the same thing, but you've got
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: to give them back something or it will die. Reciprocity
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: is critical. Reciprocity is necessary. Reciprocity is not taught. So
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: now we got people who are better at taking than
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: they are giving. And then they can't figure out why
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: the thing dies. It dies because you rode the camel
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: to death. You wrote them down to nothing. You wore
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: them out. It might not show up in the first
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: few years, but eventually they're going to wear out because
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: you are better at taking than you are giving. And
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: I want to warn you. It's important that I warn you.
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: You're watching online. It's important that I warn you. Eventually
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: you're going to lose that job because you take more
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: than you give. You're going to lose that man because
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: you take more than you give. You're going to lose
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: that woman because you take more than you give. Because
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: nobody taught you reciprocity. Seed time and harvest. Sowing and reaping.
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: Summer and winter. While the earth remaineth, there will always
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: be reciprocity. Always be reciprocity. Reciprocity is very important and
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: what Paul is complaining about, what Paul is dying from,
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: he didn't get reciprocity. If all the people that Paul
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: had helped would have come to help him, they would
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: have never killed him. You die because you give out
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: he says when my hour came to trial I didn't
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: get it back no man stood I stood with everybody
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: nobody stood with me they took me for granted till
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: they wore me out And anybody will die without reciprocity.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: Your daughter, your son, your husband, your wife, your savings,
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: your career, your credit. I don't care what you apply
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: it to. It survives through reciprocity. If you don't learn
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: anything else tonight, learn this. Don't just let people keep
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: giving to you and say, oh, that's just how he is.
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: He just like that. He just that kind of person.
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: She just nice like that. She just so nice. She
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: just so nice. And you'll never do nothing back. You're
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: going to kill the relationship. You are obligated. It might
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: not be the same thing you give back, but you
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: are obligated to give something back. The earth gave the
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: tree nutrients and all types of minerals in order for
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: it to grow. The tree gave it back leaves. But
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: it gave something back. And I want to ask you,
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: what are you giving back? For all you take and
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: suck up and use, you've got to make sure that
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: in every area of your life, There is reciprocity. My
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: wife and I have been married 39 years. We wouldn't
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: have made it 39 years. We had hills. We had mountains.
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: We had valleys. We had disappointments. We had pains. We
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: had shortcomings. We had failures. We had hurts. But we
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: also had reciprocity. When I got sick, she took care
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: of me. When she got sick, I took care of her.
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: When she was down, I cooked. When I was down,
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: she cooked. Whatever it took to make it happen, I
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: made it happen. I washed clothes. I mopped the floor.
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: I did whatever I had to do. I shut down
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: my schedule to let her know she's important. She will
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: tell you right quick when it comes to me. She
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: will fly where I am. She will come get me.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: She will come get me if nobody else will come
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: and get me. Our marriage survived not because I was
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: a good man, not because she was a good woman.
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: Our marriage survived because of reciprocity. This church has survived
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: because of reciprocity. We've been through storms. We've been through witches.
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: We've been through haters. We've had them curse the building.
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: We had them put chicken's blood all out in the street.
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: We had witches come in the building and curse the building.
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: I told them you should have fried the chickens and
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: went to dance. Oh, hallelujah. But we survived because of reciprocity.
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: I want you to look for areas in your life
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: where your books are out of balance. Where people or
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: jobs or things or churches are giving you more than
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: you give back. Because if you don't have reciprocity, don't
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: be surprised when it dies. This is his last letter.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: And he's telling Timothy, The reason he didn't win is
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: no man stood with him. You got to make sure
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: that you're as good at giving as you are at taking.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: I can carry you. I can carry any one of
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: you for a little while. But eventually I'm going to
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: get tired. If you pass out right now, I can
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: throw you on my back and I can carry you away.
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: But after a while, I'm going to have to let
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: you go because you're dead weight. Reciprocity stops you from
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: being unlovable because you're ungivable. Oh God, y'all don't want
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: me to teach. Reciprocity. should be a natural animalistic instinct
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: that starts in your children. I don't care if they
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: don't do nothing but draw a giraffe and bring it
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: in and put it on the wall. You ought to
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: teach them to give something back. Take out the trash.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: Mop the floor. Even if you don't mop it right.
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: Even if you leave streaks in it. Do something back.
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: We are raising up people who don't know reciprocity. I'm
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: going to get off it. I'm going to get out
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: because I can stay on it all night. A lot
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: of you are losing and you don't know why you're losing.
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: You're losing because you are not as intense about giving
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: back as you are about getting. All roads lead to you.
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: It's all about you. And as long as it's all
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: about you, you are killing somebody. And generally it's somebody
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: who loves you. Hear me tonight. Hear me tonight. I
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: want you to get anointed. To give back to the
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: person that gives to you. Write this down. Feed what's
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: feeding you. The whole creation survives off of it. The
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: oceans have water because of it. The reason the mist
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: goes up in the air and we got clouds and
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: the rain comes back down again is because everything God
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: created survives off of this principle. Feed what's feeding you.
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: If this is not feeding you, don't feed me. If
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: it's feeding you, make sure you feed it back. Because
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: reciprocity is a spiritual law. Sowing and reaping is reciprocity.
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: And I'm not just talking about offerings. Find something. Build something.
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: Bake something. Make something. Clean up something. Do something. Make
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: me miss you. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. I'm
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: going to stop. I'm almost done. But this is important
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: because it's killing us. We're not teaching people reciprocity. My
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: final number is number four. It's reparations. God said, that's
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: all right. Paul, you didn't get it on earth. But
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: when you get to heaven, I'm going to give you reparations.
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: None of them stood with you down here. But when
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: you get to heaven, I'm going to give you the
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: crown of righteousness. I'm going to give you double for
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: your trouble. I'm going to pay you. I'm going to
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: pay you in retroactive pay for everything you didn't get
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: on this side. I'm going to make it up to
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: you on that side. Can you prove it by the scriptures? Yes. Jesus,
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: when he told the story about the good Samaritan. And
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: the good Samaritan got to the innkeeper and he gave
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: him two denarius. And he said, if I owe you anything,
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: I'll pay you when I come back. He says, I'll
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: make it up to you. I'll give you reparations. I'll
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: go back in the past and restore that, that the
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: canker worm and the palmer worm and the locust ate up.
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: The God we serve. believes in reparation. So to everybody
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: whose account is out of balance and you're wore out
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: and you're tired and you give more than you get back,
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: God said don't worry about it. If they don't pay you,
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: I will. If they don't bless you, I will. If
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: they don't appreciate you, I will. If they don't restore you,
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: I will. So I close tonight. I have said some
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: strong things to you tonight. I pray I have not
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: cast the pearls before the swine. I pray that you
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: will use this to be a better person, a better deacon,
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: a better leader, a better husband, a better wife, a
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: better business person, a better community person. I pray that
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: you would be, that the yoke of selfishness would break
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: off of your neck. And that you would stand by
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: the people who stand by you. That you would feed
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: what's feeding you. All we need for the world to continue.
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: That's all we need is reciprocity. If the rain keeps
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: coming down and if it humidifies and goes back up
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: to the clouds and the cycle that God put in
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: place is enough to sustain the earth as long as
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: there's reciprocity. You know what global warming is? The lack
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: of reciprocity. It means the stuff we are making is
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: stopping the earth from doing its thing. That the smog
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: we're putting up in the air is creating a blockage
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: that's stopping reciprocity and it's changing our weather till the
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: earth is dying for the lack of getting back what
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: it's giving. The whales are dying. The polar bears are dying.
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: Because we have filled the oceans with our filth. And
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: the whole earth is suffering for the lack of reciprocity.
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: Stop it in your house. Stop it in your business.
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: Stop it in your life. And little by little we
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: will live again This is Paul's last letter. He wrote
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: it to Timothy. And he tells Timothy. Bring me some paper.
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: Because God is still talking to me. And bring me
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: a coat. Because I'm cold. And the last thing Timothy.
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: hurry up I've been alone so long come before winter
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: I won't last much longer cause I have given out
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: I have offered up I'm down to the last drop
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: and I won't last much longer And if you're going
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: to do anything, do it before winter. If you're going
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: to be a better person, do it now. If you're
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: going to get into reciprocity, do it now. Stop taking
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: for granted that people just are the way they are
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: because they've been doing it so long. And start to wonder,
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: are you tired? Do you need help? How can I
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: serve you like you serve me? How can I make
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: you feel important? How can I show you that you matter?
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: Because as a Christian, I am called to reciprocity. That's
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: why it says, muzzle not the mouth of the ox
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: and tread to grain. That if the ox works, it
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: ought to be able to eat as well as it works.
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: That's reciprocity. It said, do not muzzle the mouth of
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: the ox that treadeth the grain because he has a
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: right to get back on the level he works on.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: Take the muzzle off your wife. Take the muzzle off
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: your husband. Take the muzzle off your children. Take the
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: muzzle off the people you love. Take the muzzle off
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: your job. Take the muzzle off so that you make
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: sure that if I work hard I also eat. If
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: I carry the burden, I get the reward. Make it
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: easy to love you. Make it easy to love you.
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: And the quickest way to make it easy to love
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: you is to make sure that you have reciprocity and
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: that your account is balanced. Because some of you are
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: living out of balance. And this message is a warning
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: before you go bankrupt. And somebody just says, I'm out
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: of it. I'm just tired. I'm worn out. Bring balance.
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I tell my wife, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: You can't cook. No, you're tired. I'll do it. I'll
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: do it. I'm not so high I can't do it.
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: If I can't cook, I'll order something. I'll make sure
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: you get some time off. You don't have to be
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: no slave. I'll clean up. I'll do it. When I'm cooking,
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: sometimes she'll come in, she'll clean the dishes while I
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: do the cooking. Reciprocity. You might be losing your relationships,
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: not because you're not a good person, but you haven't
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: learned reciprocity with your children, with your church. You say
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: you're a member of this church and you never support
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: or support or work or labor in any way. How
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: are you a member? Because you watch. Because you watch
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: me work. You don't have to join to do that.
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: Just watch. Just watch. When you join, I should feel
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: your help. I pray the Holy Spirit convicts you. I
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: pray the Holy Spirit speaks to you in such a
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: way that you begin to look at yourself and say,
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: how can I do better Can I pray for you tonight?
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: Because I think this is a warning. I think this
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: message is a warning. I think you're so busy. wrestling
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: with your past and your insecurities and your doubts and
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: you and you and you and how you feel and
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: what's going on with you and what's your emotions and
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: you don't like this, you and you and you and you,
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: that you don't have room for me or them or us.
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: Can I pray for you tonight? Because the Holy Spirit
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: would anoint you to give. You have been given so much.
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: And I want you to have confidence in what you
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: have to give to the point that you can give
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: it and not doubt it and not feel like it's
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: not enough. It's enough. If it's your best, it's enough.
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: You don't have to feel inadequate and use that as
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: an excuse not to give it because you don't think
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: it's good enough. Even if it's not enough, I'll take it.
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: It's better than nothing. Don't let the enemy talk you
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: into be better at receiving than you are at giving.
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: It matters how you feel, but it matters how they
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 1: feel too. I'm talking right to somebody. This is an emergency.
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: In my spirit, I feel like somebody is about to break,
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: carrying you, because your relationships are always about what you need,
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: what you want, how you feel, what's going on with you, you, you.
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: That's wrong. Bow your heads, let me pray with you
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: right now. Father, I have shared with them the word
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: of God. I have shown them how you can have
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: a rough past and still have a bright future. I
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: have shown them how you took a slave and made
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: him a businessman and an author and an entrepreneur in
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: the 1700s. I have shown them how even the Apostle
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: Paul needed somebody to stand with him I have shown
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: them how they cannot allow their past to forever, forever
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: leave them chained from giving and serving and sowing and working. Now,
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, do the work. Go deep down in the
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: hearts and the minds and touch your people. Because it
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: don't matter how much we dance if we don't change.
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: It don't matter how much we shout if we don't change.
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: Don't let us continue to be who we were after
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: all we've been through. What the slave writer was trying
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: to tell us is that everything you go through ought
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: to make you a better person. I rebuke deceitfulness and
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: selfishness and treachery. I come against it. In the name
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 1: of Jesus, we cannot serve you when we are overcome
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: with ourself. And tonight, if we don't do nothing else,
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: if nobody comes to the altar, if nobody gets saved,
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: if nobody backslides or comes back to the Lord, if
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: we could just leave here a little bit better than
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: we were when we came, then it would be a
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: great Wednesday night service. Lord, we got people in their
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: 40s and 50s and 60s who are still wrestling with
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: their past. We need to make peace with it. Peace.
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: Peace be still. Some of the people who hurt you
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: are old. Some of them dead. You got to let
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: it go. Make peace with it. And step into the
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: fullness of what God has for you before you crush
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: somebody and kill somebody and victimize them over something that
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: they didn't even do. I rebuke that spirit. And I
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: call a supernatural healing to come into your spirit and
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: into your life and into your heart. And I pray
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: that when you wake up in the morning, that you
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: wake up in the morning and thinking about somebody other
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: than you, giving to somebody other than you, serving somebody
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: other than you, living for somebody other than you. Before
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: you get your last letter, I pray that you come
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: before winter The leaves are starting to fall. And the
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: temperature is changing. And you've been stuck in this season
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: for years. And I pray you come before winter and
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: bring something when you come. Bring something to the table.
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: Bring something to the company. Bring something to the church.
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: Bring something to the marriage. Bring something to somebody other
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: than yourself. Stop by Tychius and get my coat. And
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: pick up some paper. And come on here boy before winter.
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: I feel the breeze coming. And I've lived as long
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: as I can with no man standing. By me. In
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: Jesus name. Give Him the best praise you got. If
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: this message blessed you, make some noise.