The Art of War: The Art of Courage

After eight, we're gonna.

Start in verse 27.

You have your bibles, Mark Eight, 27.

If you need a Bible, please raise your hand and usher will be more than happy to bless you with a Bible.

And then once you received that, Bob, would you please turn to the book of Mark The eighth chapter.

Hallelujah.

Father God, we thank You for light illumination, revelation, clarity, and understanding that in all of our getting, we will get understanding.

We are truly at a place.

Father, we're trusted in you believing in you.

Satan, we serve.

Notice on to you that you have no right to the service.

You have no place here.

We really don't care where you go.

You just gotta get Outta here.

And so we thank you for the peace that surpasses all understanding.

We thank you for the teaching anointing that as we continue to go, it will lead us, guide us, and blesses.

We thank you for right now in Jesus' name.

All believes in how said, hey man, Mark Chapter Eight, verse 27.

So we are now on our fifth art of war, and the fifth principle for the art of war is

your boat.

You already have Kurt,

if that will face that fear even onto death.

There is nothing that will not achieve.

Mark Chapter Eight, verse 27 says, Jesus went out and his disciples in the towns of Cesarea[inaudible].

And by the way, he asked his disciples, saying to them, who do men say that I am?

They answered John The baptist.

Some say Elijah, others, uh, one of the prophets, and he said unto them, but whom say that I am?

Peter answered and said Unto Him, Thou art the Christ.

And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

And he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer.

Many things, be rejected of the elders of the chief, priests and scribes and be killed.

And three days rise again.

Any speak that saying openly and Peter took him and began to rebuke him.

And when he had turned about, looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter Saying, get thee behind me, Satan for thou saver.

Not The things that be of God, but the things that we have met and when he had called the people unto him, with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and for gospels.

The same shall save for what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

What whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when he come and the glory of his father with the holy angels.

Look at somebody next to you.

Smile real big and ask him.

Say, now say it the way I'm saying it.

Do you got sold?

Look at somebody else asking the same question.

You got soul.

No, I understand that the question is not proper English, but it don't work.

When you say do you have soul?

Doesn't sound the same.

It doesn't have a James Brown, so quality too.

I want to know do you got sold?

It's.

It becomes somewhat difficult because Jesus is asking a question and the question almost has to be rhetorical because he says, what is it for a man to lose his soul and to gain the world and the the challenge with that, just off the bat becomes, can you lose your soul when you gain the world or if you gain the world, do you automatically lose your soul and at what point while you were in the world, is your soul in jeopardy and is he saying to you, can you still do the world and save your soul?

So then you just have to be aware and alert as to how to manage all of that to keep it balanced so you can actually have the world and save your soul.

Or is he telling you that is absolutely 100 percent just not possible.

And See, these are deductive reasoning is that you find in things that become axioms.

Axioms are things that are stated that are not subject to debate.

Whatever Jesus said is not subject to debate, and so it becomes a truth that literally has to be a perpetual for all of its life.

That's what makes it an accident.

Axiom is something that cannot be refuted or denied, no matter how much eternity you put behind it.

It's, it's an absolute fact.

And so with Jesus saying this, the question then becomes, as we monitor that, as we measure that, as we bring that into our, because he always taught that you had to, in order to keep your soul, so to speak, it was based on an eschatological, uh, standpoint.

In other words, eschatology is the study of the end times.

And if you study the in times, then the question, often I have seen this become related to the nature of what is called a white throne judgement versus the judgment seat of Christ.

Now, just to give you the short version of this, and I need to come down a little bit because there's a feedback, uh, I don't know if you guys are hearing that in the back, but let's fix that place.

And so what I'm noticing in, in this, in what people would say about this, is they would give it an eschatological, uh, understanding.

They will take it to a place of saying there are two judgments that every single person, every single person on this planet will face, one of two judgments.

You either face what is called the white throne judgement, which is the judgment for those who don't believe in Christ.

Or you will face the judgment seat of Christ, which you will be evaluated based on what you have done with the life God has given you.

And so when Jesus returns, and when, uh, we go through all of the things that ask it to logically speaking, are supposed to happen.

I've always been told or it's always been taught to me that this pretty much only applied with whether you went to hell or whether you want to have it.

Now the challenge becomes that when it's, when it's read in this context, I start to see some things that are really helping me to get to a better place in my clarity or in my understanding of what it is that Jesus is actually saying because if we define gaining as the world opinion or do we define gaining the world as the material possessions of the world.

So then if the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just then that would contradict the idea that we are not allowed to gain the wealth of the world.

How are we going to fund the things that God wants to do if we are unable to gain the possessions of the world?

So as you see, I'm starting to go down through some of this and I'm like, okay, wait a minute.

So if Jesus is saying that you cannot gain the world without losing your soul, then that doesn't necessarily fit in the context in which he's saying it to us.

And so when we start to then think about the world, now that starts to take us into a whole different place.

Because what has by and large begun to happen, if you have studied anything related to the church, you have Christians who don't even know what they believe anymore.

You have Christians that knew Jesus was the only way to heaven.

Watch how I'm saying this, and now they're unsure.

So when they're faced with varying viewpoints of what God has said or not said, it is the reprobate mind that begins to proport a gospel that is not in fact the Real Gospel.

And so then the question becomes gaining the world is based on winning the world.

Or let me say it to you this way.

If you look up the word gaining here, it means to win.

So in other words, he's saying, if you win in the world's way, then you're going to have to lose your soul

to do it

because your soul.

See as people, we are three part beings, we live in a body, we possess a soul and we are spirit.

Uh, it's very simple.

If you have a dead body and that dead body will not move because the spirit has left.

So then that which animates the body as a spirit.

So we live in a body and we possess a soul.

Soul is the area of your mind, your will and your emotions.

You know your, your feelers, which as you know most people tend to want to live out of

their feelers.

In a world that is satiated with narcissistic feelings, the world begins to take itself to say that it's all about the world and so then what we have to understand is it's a zero sum game when it comes to dealing with the world.

In other words, you either do it the world way and when or you do it God's way and in the mind of the world you lost, because see, for you to do it God's way would imply you are a member of a cult.

There's something wrong with you.

You are unintelligent.

How can an intelligent being a believer in the fact that there are some higher power that created all this stuff?

If you are intelligent than you would have to believe in science because scientific facts improve would show you that this world is

x amount of years old and there were animals that were x amount of years old based on scientific methods of carbon dating, which were really made by people to assess what they don't know, but somehow we're supposed to base our reliance.

Yeah,

upon science, over Christ, over what the word tells us.

So then as we enter into the world having no distinction, having no identity, then I could lose my identity in the world.

I can become one of everybody else.

See, there's a problem in today's society where our children are being taught that they can't be different.

They've got the blend in, they've got the fit because nobody wants to be picked on.

Nobody wants to be talked bad about it.

So the best way to do that is to succumb to the peer pressure and now put yourself in a situation.

Just because my child is a Christian and your child may not be.

I'm not talking to you in here.

I'm talking to people in the world.

I'm not going to let my child hanging around with Joe fast little girl who wants to be in a backseat of somebody's car and think that she's going to pressure my child.

It's a doing the same thing because my child is going to have to learn that we have a standard by which we live.

We don't function this way because you're the child of a pastor.

You functioned this way because you are a Christian who is blood, but they fill redeem,

but the challenge of my child would have is that what if they see people

that's good,

who are supposed to be blood-bought, redeemed Fayetteville?

Come on.

See what then happens when the desire to fit in overrides the desire to step up.

Oh,

evil prevails.

When good people do nothing and the church has been filled with apathy where people just don't care anymore.

I don't care if you pull prayer out of schools, you do when some Jojo is shooting up the school, then you'll care.

Oh, you're not listening to me this morning because this is real and by and large parents have set by and allowed the world to dictate what is going to happen in our society.

People are too busy worried about stupid stuff and not thinking we need to have politicians in the world.

We need to have business owner in the world.

We need some billionaires who are Christian that could write some checks to make some things changed.

No, we want to complain about what the world is and how bad it is.

And the truth of the matter is, if we are salt and light, the salt ain't got no saltiness anymore and the lights are turned off.

So then as believers, we have no specific identity anymore.

You can put a whole group of people in a room, you can put them in a job and you don't know which ones are Christians and which ones aren't.

You're all cussing together.

They're all sitting around the soup.

Uh, uh, the water cooler talking about their bosses together.

When, when, when the 5:00 comes around, the bell rings, they're out the door at five.

Oh, one,

that's right,

and you're like, hold on, it at least took you five minutes to get your stuff together,

which means you started out the door at 4:56.

So then what makes you different?

What makes you different when you don't run or function from a different set of beliefs and so then if there is no identity or distinction from the world that I have lost my identity in the world because once I lose my identity in the world, I began to take on what the world cares about.

Right?

And then people went around talking about, well, how come you don't care and don't you care about this and don't shirt you interested in that and don't you want to know how I know I'm not interested in some of these things because they don't concern.

I don't care how bad it gets in the economy.

My economy is not the same as this world's economy.

Now somebody comes and tells me that Jesus has fell off the throne and God is no longer reign and rule.

In Houston, we have a problem, but until that moment you can put kermit the frog and office and I don't really care why, because I know that my God is well able and all authority comes from God, and so if I have authority in my life, you will not create anything that will affect me in a way that I don't allow, but my identity has not fallen into the world because the moment your identity falls into the world, you begin to think you are subject to the same problem.

That so then

the ability people think courage is the absence of fear.

In other words, people who are courageous, they have no fear.

Let me explain of the two people that have no fear, there's something wrong with them.

No, no, no.

I'm going to pick on my own stuff for a minute so y'all get mad at me, but.

And then I think I told this story, but the other day my child got up on the acid.

How did she stood up?

Put your hands up like this and said, ready, go and jumped.

Now she gets this from diving in the pool.

That's how she does when she gets in the pool, but diving in the pool and diving on the ground are two very different things.

Now, my child is extremely smart.

She really is, but she's undeveloped.

In other words, there are experiences in life that we all have to have because see, she skipped set because she.

The ad is set.

We might have got there in time, but because she skips that, went ready and go, she had to find out the hard way.

Literally no pun intended, the hard way, so then her experiences now altered or her understanding is now altered by the experience she's going through.

She's never done it again.

So what I want you to begin to understand then in the same way, if you are not careful, when you begin to become part of the world, you allow what you experience in the world to begin to modify your expectation of God.

Great,

and now all of a sudden when you were in the world, you have no specific identity because you are dealing with the tensions of the solidarity that comes with wanting to be in the world.

The peer pressure to get along into fit as it abstracts against your faith.

A movie can be told in such a way where you're rooting for the bad guy.

Y'all see movies like that.

He's a murderer.

He's low down dirty, but you want them to live.

You want them to win at the very end.

You want them to get away.

Then that goes to show you that your basis of morality can be swayed by being entertained.

Oh my God, I feel it here.

So then if you're a morality can be changed by being entertained, then I certainly would explain why certain shows and movies and things.

I remember years ago it was a TV show and I can't think of the name of the show.

It was I think in the early nineties, maybe mid nineties.

The show came out and one of the subject matters of the show was this student who was like 15, 16 ish, somewhere in there was sleeping with one of the teachers.

And I remember thinking to myself, they do that

great.

That's y'all wouldn't saved all my life.

So the first thing I was thinking as I had plenty of teachers, I thought it was fine keeping it real.

I remember thinking at that age, they do that.

No, listen to me.

It's not right.

And once you understand, I'm not glorifying my thinking when I'm trying to help you understand is tell me why now it's a regular occurrence.

You can't even watch a show today without seeing someone who is confused about their sexuality.

That was not the case 10, 15 years ago.

So then what that tells me is there's an agenda that's in the world that if you are not careful, I got.

I got two claps.

That's cool.

Verse 33, verse 33.

But when he turned about and looked on the disciples, he rebukes Peter by saying, get thee behind me.

What?

Who's he talking to?

It's funny because you're both.

Both answers are right.

He is speaking to Peter, yet he is talking to say and notice the response he gives for thou saver if not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

What did Jesus just finished doing?

He got finished explaining to him what was going to happen to him and what was necessary to happen for all the, uh, the, the redemption, mankind to occur.

So he saying, I'm going to be turned over.

They're going to kill me, and three days later I'm going to rise in glory and he's letting them know this is what's going to happen.

And he said, be it far from you because that's not gonna happen.

And he rebukes him and he says, get behind me Satan, for you are an offense unto me because you don't savor the things of God.

You Savor the things of the world and the since you savor what's in the world, you can't discern what's in God.

I just gave you a very godly thing and you can't seem to put the dots to see that this is not.

Do you understand?

So now watch what he says when you called the people on him, because I was, he said unto them, who server come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and do what?

For whosoever will save his life.

What's the subject matter?

It's not death, it's following after him.

Therefore, to apply this text as an Esco Tajik, eschatological implication is not accurate because he's not talking about death, he's talking about following.

He's talking about picking up your cross and following so then it becomes disingenuous and fraudulent for you to be in the world and not rep who you really are.

So then when you were in the world and amongst worldly people, once again, people think fear or courage is the absence of fear.

It's not courage is mastery over fear.

In other words, in order to have courage, the precursor must be fear.

You cannot have courage where there is no fear.

Just doing the things you normally do doesn't take any courage to do it.

Being in the world and being satiated with the things of the world doesn't take any courage.

It is when you move beyond what's in the world.

See, let's, let's say it this way.

A George Orwell who wrote the book, 1984, he wrote a, a, a.

uh,

what's the word I'm looking for?

Um, a short story, a piece called pleasure spots once you to listen to it.

It's very short.

You Ready?

Pleasure spots.

Lights must never go out.

The music must always play, lest we should see where we really are.

The nature of a casino.

I watched, uh, uh, I love those educational channels.

They have all those episodes and they were talking about, uh, how casinos are structured and built and casinos are built with no windows in the main areas.

So you cannot tell whether it's light or dark.

They constantly have the sounds of the bells of the machines.

Do you ever wonder why they got to be so noisy?

Because the idea is when you hear those bells and ring, it keeps you excited.

It's like Pavlov's dog.

If you don't know what Pavlov's dog is, let me give it to you real quickly.

They fed the dog, ring a bell, fed the dog, ring a bell, fed the dog, ring a bell, fed the dog, ring a bell until the moment came that they could ring a bell and the dog is hungry.

It's called conditioning.

So then when you hear all the things you're thinking, somebody winning something and, and the only people that are winning is a casino.

Listen to me.

They showed why they have busy carpet at busy ceilings.

Lights as soon as the lights in the car.

But keep your eyes straight ahead because of noxious to look up or down.

So you got to look at the machine, no clocks, so you will know what time it is, no windows, so you will know when it's getting dark.

It's to completely immerse you into a place where you have no ability to see what's really going.

Now I know none of y'all was Christians.

Find yourself up into casino.

Um, but you know, somebody just crossed her legs right now.

So then if pleasure spots are dependent upon, the lights must never go out.

The music must always play less.

We should know where we are.

Then there's a place of pleasure that requires constant satiation.

I need to constantly be satiated with information.

Don't let the music stopped because God forbid I have to talk to the person.

People crack me up when I, when I do marriage counseling, I'll say, uh, go out on a date.

First thing I see that will go to the movies.

No, no, because going to the movies, it's not facilitate the interaction necessary to help you.

And some of the men are light.

That's why I said movie and some of the winter like that's exactly why it needs to be a movie.

But the problem is that with satiation comes oblivion,

right?

So then you don't exist until you become different.

You don't exist until you become different.

But yet we've allowed our children to think that it's not okay to be different,

that I've got to conform it.

Peer pressure says I need to conform, but the truth of the matter is you will not live until you have become different.

Because when I'm in the midst and woven into the fabric of society,

then you seeking your life is seeking it.

The wake, the world wants it, and that's contrary to God.

So then by the world and God, they are not synergistically aligned.

They are perpendicular, were parallel to each other.

They don't touch which one is it.

See the challenge because people think that somehow God in the world,

they don't, so therefore when you call me different,

when you make fun of me because I'm a Jesus Freak, when you say it really does it take all of that when you act like you can have your luke warm Christianity with your Hokey pokey stuff, one foot in and one foot out it trying to shake it all about when you want to do it that way, and you look at me and say, I'm too extreme.

I am not extreme baby.

I'm different.

I have not conformed into the world.

I pulled myself out of the world so that I can be a blessing to the world, but I'm not going to give up because conformity, a compromised lead to obscurity and obsolescence.

I'll say it one more time.

Conformity and compromise leads to obscurity and obsolescence.

See, you want to talk about stress, depression, all that type of stuff is usually rooted in one word.

Agency, agency.

Let me help you to connect it.

When you have a free agent, and sports are a free agent, has no allegiances to anyone and they can be bought by anybody.

Agency simply means the ability for me to direct my life.

When hopelessness enters in, people have lost agency or let me say this way, they've lost a perception of agency.

The only way you can be hopeless if you feel that your life is no longer in control.

The only way you can be depressed is that you feel like whatever it is that you are experiencing, you are not in control of.

So then relationship between agency and anxiety are very close.

The less agency you have, the more anxiety you feel.

So then as believers in a world that dictates everything.

I'll give you a great example.

You Ready?

How many of you know why we have a five day work?

Does anybody here know why that exists?

Let me tell you.

In the industrial revolution, there was a cotton manufacturer who gave all the Jewish workers the Sabbath off, which was Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

That gave them that time off.

They worked six days a week, so the Christian started saying, our Sabbath is on, so if you gave them Friday, we want so then Friday, Saturday, Friday night, Saturday, Sunday became five day workweek instituted by Ford.

In the 19 forties.

You don't even know that you're in a system that was orchestrated for you, that is not designed to give glory to God, but it gave excuse for God.

We will work you five days.

It will give you one day to deal with your God, a system that was orchestrated around God, but it has no precipice in and it just allows for you to entertain your predilection.

One day I'm trying, so

then the anxiety and all of this begins to become antithetical or two diametrically opposed to your agency, which means that if you want to be a part of the world, then I have to institute big brother to tell you what you should think, feel, and believe.

I've got to keep the music plan.

I've got to keep the lights on at all times.

I've got to keep entertainment coming at you.

I've got to keep you engaged.

I have got to move my connection with you from your laptop to your cell phone.

Yeah.

This is now the new space that every marketer is fighting to get a hold of to get to your cell phone to get to you because statistical average says that a person does not spend much time away from their phone even when they're sleeping.

All of this is designed to put you into a matrix

that's real good,

so this is why Jesus said you don't savor the things of God.

You Savor the things of the world because you are so wrapped up in the things of the world

that you don't even realize when you choose your job, overcharge your mind.

You need money and money is related to job and you don't even understand that the very concept of job that you have came out of the system that was not created by God but created to just tolerate

and then you say, pastor, it's crazy.

I am.

I have no problem with that.

That's the best you can call me.

I've been called some stuff that would make a sailor blush.

That's all you got,

but here's what I can tell you.

Here's what I can say.

Let's go to revelations 12, verse 11.

Revelation 12:11

Hallelujah.

That's what he got forevermore.

You Ready?

Revelations 12, verse 11, and they overcame him by what and because what?

Revelation 12:11

The greatest weapon that Satan can use in your life is the love of your own life.

That's why I said the blood of the lamb becomes the grounds by which we fight.

The word of their testimony becomes their weapon and they did not love their life unto death became the driving force.

How did we overcome by the blood of the lamb?

What lamp?

Jesus, what's our weapon?

The word of our testimony.

What comes out your mouth?

What is your driving force that you love, not your life?

Onto

see what Jesus was telling them.

He said, what point is it to be in the world and mind the things of the world when I brought you to be in the world

to affect the world.

So then the ultimate level of courage is to bring distinction to you as it relates to how you influence having the courage to stand up for what is right in the midst of everybody saying it's okay.

Having the Kurt C, you were okay with Satan until you decided you were going to serve.

Once you decided you were going to serve, saying said, oh no, you don't.

Are you crazy?

You're not going to serve in a house of God.

You was all right when you was just saved, hiding in the Pew and doing absolutely nothing but the moment you decided you're going to guess you're literally going to serve.

No, we're not having that.

That's the attack them with something.

The moment you broke up with that person or you were considering breaking up with that person because you knew they were not of God.

Say he goes, no, that's my hook into your life.

You can't let her go.

You can't let him go.

That's what keeps you hiding in the midst of the people acting like the world.

Customer liked the world, living like the world, thinking like the world, drinking like the world, smoking like the world.

That's what keeps you think you like them, so I can't have you come up out of that.

Why am I in the midst of such an attack?

Because you decided you're gonna be different and you have the courage to step up, to be counted for it, to not give in, give up to the world's way of doing things.

It's the ultimate level

where I say, I'm not going to blend in.

I'm not going to be at work and let you talk bad about Jesus.

I'm not going to work and let you tell me what I can say about Jesus House or we're talking about Jesus.

He said, whoever is ashamed of me,

great.

Great.

So what you're telling me is God can influence in use.

You just not.

When you're at work running around town by use me.

Lord, use you to do what?

Trip up every other scene.

Well,

it's okay to.

We shacked up and living together.

No, it's not what his message is that sending.

Oh, I only got couple.

It's not, it's not, okay, well, I'm going to go to the Church to tells me it is okay by matter of fact, child by.

Because when I get to heaven, he's not going to say to me, how come you wouldn't?

Well, I ain't know you know that.

How come you wouldn't?

Peter thought he was doing the right thing.

Jesus, we will let that happen to you.

Jesus was like, dude, you savor the things of the world because you so value life that you value life over redemption.

I didn't come here to keep my life.

I came here for the purpose of laying it down.

I came here for the purpose that I'm going to die for this thing.

I came here for the purpose that I'm not giving up.

I came here for the purpose that is going to think that he won, but guess what?

In three days he said, I'm here for this.

You tried it.

He says, if you're going to follow me, you're going to have to pick up your cross.

If you're going to follow me, you're going to have to give up some stuff.

If you're going to follow me, you're going to have to make some commitments.

If you're going to follow me, you got to get out of your own head.

If you're going to follow me, you got to give up your plan.

If you're going to follow me, you might have to let go.

Some people.

If you're going to follow me, you're going to have to be alienated.

If you're going to follow me, you're going to have to let go.

If you're going to follow me, you got to pick up now, save.

Cross that Jesus put on his back and carry all the way to the finish line.

He said, pick up your cross and follow after me.

Many historians believe that the cross Jesus carried was almost 150 pounds.

That's a person, not me, but personally.

You put a multiplier on that and you've come up to me.

He said, pickup

the ultimate courage.

Just overcome fear.

The ultimate fear is to really be what got called in the midst of a world where they're punishing you for what you believe.

When they're calling you and tolerant.

They can talk bad about Christians.

They can call us any name they want to, but the moment you say something about Muslims, the moment you say something about Hindus, the moment you say something about homosexuals, the moment you say anything about anything other than shut up Christian, fall into the background.

It takes several seats.

Well, the in.

If I'm willing to stand, I'll stand by myself.

I don't care who agrees because the Bible's very clear as to who we are.

We are salt and light.

Did you notice salt was more

important and golden those days?

Salt was worth more

then gold.

Why?

Because

me and Michael might have killed the cow on Tuesday.

We cannot put that calendar.

Refrigerator.

We didn't have one.

That's right.

So.

Well we had to do with me and Michael had eaten till we got tired, right?

And then we got our wives and our kids and everybody ate until they got tired and then we had to figure out what to do with everything was left like making jerky and things that will preserve because salt kills bacteria.

That's why Jesus said if you are the salt and the light, what do you do?

When salt has lost its savor, he says, good for nothing but to be trapped.

Trampled under feet.

What do you do when you are salt and you have lost your saltiness?

That's real good.

That's why if you read it, Jesus said it's like the white of an egg.

I don't know about y'all.

I like a boiled egg, but I.

I can't eat a boiled egg without salt and pepper on it.

I know some of y'all like I can't.

That's fine, but I can't.

That's like, you know, that's like choking down dry crew.

Tons to me.

Jesus said it's like the white of an egg deal.

Somebody that's got no saltiness anymore.

You weren't called to just fall into the background and be like everybody else.

He was called to be salt.

What does that mean?

When you rub up against somebody evil, they start shriveling.

Huh?

Why?

Because your salt,

you're not called to just sit back and let the world do whatever he wants to do.

Your salt, You are light.

You're not supposed to become satiated with the rhythms of the world.

The music of the world.

Right?

Come on somebody.

Listen to me, you ride around listening to the blankety blank mother, blankety blank.

Wonder why your spiritual life is in the toilet.

You are what you listened to.

You are what you eat.

You are what you consume.

Oh, pass it all by second the music.

Don't worry, we'll let the music keep playing and the lights stay on, but I'll tell you, like sesame street, one of these kids is doing his own thing.

One of these kids, one of these kids, he's doing his own thing.

Now it's time to say his name.

What's his name?

Because I'm going to do my own thing and of course in what God has called me to do and if you don't like it, so what?

Because I don't play to you.

Play to an audience of one and all.

I want to hear, well done, good faithful servant.

Having the ability to understand that I have to come out from among it and not stay all mixed up, huddled up in it, warmed my hands at the enemy fire, allowing the enemy to tell me what days I go to work, what days I go to church.

Allowing the world to tell me, here's what it means to date somebody.

Just casual.

Nothing serious about it.

Here's the world.

Tells me about my sexuality.

Oh listen, we're not going to be able to prove it scientifically, but we'll just tell you there's a third gender, fourth, gender, and a fifth.

Gender.

Let me.

Let me.

I'm A.

I'm a shot for a second because I'm.

I'm, I'm done.

I promise you.

I'm done.

I'm gonna.

Leave you messed up for just a second.

Okay.

Look up when you get a chance.

The God Ashura and Asherah you will find is the god of both genders.

It's a satanic spirit.

God that manifests itself in how it's represented with both genders.

It's been around since the beginning.

I got one.

Preach.

Okay.

No, listen to me.

I want you to be clear because I believe there are people that struggle in the area of sexuality and in God can deliver them, and I do not believe there are any better than those of you who are shacked up.

Well, let me say it this way.

I don't believe their sin is any worse than those that are shack, though I don't believe there is any worse than a husband who's not sleeping with his wife and sleep with somebody else's.

Right.

Because see, you know in, in, in, you know Christians, they like to great stuff.

Well, this is where.

Oh my gosh, you do that?

Yeah.

Okay.

But when you're on ww dot nasty kitty.com, nobody.

We're all flawed.

I want you to understand we're all flawed, but the reality is then when he said, what is it for man to gain the world and to lose his soul?

He's talking about how you live, whether you'll pick up your cross.

Oh, well you failed.

That was an amen.

In case you didn't know whether you will or do you fade into the world and hope nobody knows you're a Christian.

Do you ride around with your SCC bumper sticker or your little sticker on your car flipped and people to burden cutting them off?

Hence the reason why I ain't got no sticker on my car.

Okay.

They'd be like, hey, got the pastors.

No.

Every once in awhile I've been redeemed from slow my car.

Got To look, we've got a button on it to two different.

You hit the button, go to different moods, spoon support or comfort.

I spend 90 percent of my time in comfort mode because, you know, as a car, you're supposed to, you know, drive, but every once in awhile get it.

How do you live your life and what is it that you are waiting for the courage

to do?

Uh, I, I, it always amazed me how people I've been self employed most of my professional career.

I've had many different companies.

I've sold some of them.

Some are still in business today, some didn't, it, some didn't make it while I was at the helm of it.

I mean, listen, if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you're going to fail and you're going to succeed.

If the goal is you succeed more than you fail.

And so what I want you to understand is I've, I understand all of this and people will come to me and go, what are you going to get a real job?

I'm like, you know what?

I made$50,000 last month.

Really?

Yeah.

Can I come work for, you know, when are you going to get a real?

See, some people were held.

They're bound by the limitations of their own world.

You're not smart enough to have a business.

You're not this enough to do that.

You're not this enough to.

Yeah,

so you stay bound to a five day work week that was invented in 1940.

I'm not telling you to go everybody to go start a business.

Some you ain't ready some.

You're too lazy,

right?

You're better off making someone else rich because when you're self employed, the only difference between you and everybody else does.

You get to decide which 80 hours a week you work

right

takes people who are committed.

It takes people who understand consistency.

If you can't run a department, you can't run a company.

Yeah.

If you're irresponsible with things, you're going to be irresponsible with.

First Time you get some money, you'll be out buying yourself a new Bentley.

I don't care if you have a Bentley, get self too if you want, but don't be skimping on your ties because now you've got a Bentley.

I'm serious because people do it all.

Oh, I can't afford to tithe.

No, you can't afford not to, and I don't care if you're tied here.

You take it somewhere else and tie to another church.

That's how.

Let me, let me get some very, very clear.

My supply.

Don't come from you so I don't care where you take it, it belongs to God, and if you ever want to see what prosperity it looks like, get yourself together concerning your todd and watch how God will move in your life is the fact.

Let's see when you lost your savior,

okay?

You'll call that which is got the.

When you lost your saltiness, you think it's okay to live in sin.

I know these messages named poppy,

but it's still real.

You'll start to think it's okay to be contrary to God.

Well, you know I don't want to talk much about this thing.

First one in church, Amen.

Pastor preaches

and then you get to work and hear somebody talking about how sick they are and you like this.

Not one time said, hey, you know, can I pray for you?

It's truth

company struggling things not going so hot.

Everybody else was freaking out.

Freaking out with them.

I don't know what I'm going to either.

Hold on.

What do you mean you don't know what going to do?

They don't have God.

This is a perfect opportunity for you to demonstrate for your faith to get pushed out into open for people to see you and say, wow, there's something different about them.

There's something different about this person.

They worried about it.

Why I ain't going to sweat the small stuff.

My God is well in control.

My God's got all the answers.

My God knows exactly what's happening right now.

I could trust in him and know he has got me so come what may they can walk in here today and say, everybody's fired.

So what?

You Ain't going to hold me hostage?

I'm not have.

I'm in it, right?

What have you lost your assaulting this about?

What was it that she was on fire about?

Now you just really don't even talk about it no more.

You get around your family and your family's like, Hey, where were you at today?

And you just don't really want to talk about it because you don't want to have to deal with the ridicule.

You don't want to deal with their comments, so you just don't even say nothing.

What is it that comes into your life that you could be respond in a godly way with teaching your kids to train them up in the way they should go?

What representation are you giving to your children when you allow yourself to be beat up by some man?

What are you telling your kids?

Oh, well, they don't see it.

Sure.

They see it, they know makeup.

You're not ready to talk to me this morning because I'm talking to people who are ready to courage up and to come out of their fears.

It's a step into a place where we are salt and light.

We are the people with the victory.

We are the chosen generation.

We are royal priests.

We have a job and a function

to be a light.

Darkness cannot exist when you step on the scene.

I've been to parties.

People at the party, they like this.

Listen, they don't have water, but I'm gonna.

Use this as a demonstration.

This is water.

What they have in their hand is not water.

Soon as I walk in and I, Oh hey, how you doing?

Why?

Why?

Because life has just shown up.

Listen to me.

Listen to me.

It should be the same thing with you.

I've heard it.

I heard of the church.

Not going to say the name, but it's a big one and they have small groups.

They're all over town and they have no rules concerning alcohol.

So a friend of mine went to a small group at that church and then call me and ask me, hey, I know you have small groups every once in a while too, but do y'all have like liquor?

Of course not what you mean liquor.

And he began to tell me the story you saw earlier.

They broke out the beer.

Everybody was drinking, partying, having Bible study.

Wow.

I should listen bro.

I know the candy is Dandy, but liquor is quicker, but we not, we're not going to do that now up in here a.

and if I find out about it, she'll show and trust me when I tell you why, because if we're going to be salt and light, when you show up people's language change.

I see.

This is why when people have me do their wedding, and some of you in here, I did your wedding.

Uh, I very rarely stay for the reception because I'm not going to tell you what you get to do.

You want to have alcohol at your reception.

You do what you want.

Do you grow?

But I'm not going to stick around for that.

You want to know why?

Because invariably there's always some idiot who wants to come talk.

God with me while they're drunk.

The Bible says God helps those who help themselves.

What'd you say, bae?

That reverend, unlike, I'll say, you got two seconds to get out of my face before you will wake up tomorrow wondering what happened to you.

I mean, I'll pray for you.

I don't want to subject myself to that because let me explain something to you.

Let me explain something to you.

The higher you get the drunk or you get the least in control of your own faculties, you are, which means Satan now,

right

can push your button at will and wage an attack against me, and although you may be an unwitting accomplice, I ain't dumb enough to fall for it.

Sea Salt and light.

Where do you allow your fears to allow you to ponder at the pool the popularity?

What's popular?

What's cool, what's fun?

All the rest, everybody else is doing it, and of course every parent here gives the statement, well, if your friends jumped off a bridge, you have to do too.

I don't know will you?

Because the problem is you don't see that.

The things that people in the world who don't or jumping off, they will have their day of reckoning and so will you.

What are you doing with the life you've been given?

See, because if you're not afraid to die, what else is left you to yell at me?

Fine, afraid to die.

What?

What?

What's left?

What are you going to do?

To me, it's not that I don't have moments where I'm going to be afraid.

Of course they're going to be moments, but I can still move encouraged even while I'm afraid.

Hallelujah.

Father, we thank you.

We bless your holy name.