Pastor Howell Exhorting 7-21-2024

Not to excellent goodness. Isn't that a term in the Bible, excellent goodness?

Oh? I'm so thankful for his excellent goodness, and I want to

say thank you for your excellent goodness this past week to all of our visitors.

That was truly on display. He demonstrated what it's all about regard to

Christianity. It's all about others. Or I appreciate that so much. I

thank God for being able to just come into this place this morning and settle

down. They said, there's seventy five of you here this morning. We're

settling down after being so busy. It's good to take a break, is

it not? Isn't it great to just rest a little bit? Some of

you all got late yesterday, didn't How many of you would admit and confess

unlike something during the meeting. You will admit, confess, I got some

rest yesterday. Anybody he just didn't do anything hardly but rest and maybe got

something to eat, But you rested. How many of you are gloved for

punishment and you did a lot dearing the meat, but you didn't rest yesterday.

And anybody you didn't rest yesterday? Look at that A handful of people

did not rest. Well, I'm looking forward to eternal rest, aren't you

looking for to internal rest? In heaven? There remains a rest for the

people of God. I wanted to speak to this people briefly concerning something that

happened to me. I had a revelation or a vision, and it's very

interesting and I believe it will offer clarification for maybe someone that is not nearly

as wise as others. You know, the Bible said that wisdom is the

principal thing, and I'm so thankful for wisdom. And certainly we are in

a battle. How many of you know, we are in a spiritual conflict,

and our enemies are not the people of God. They're not the children

of God. That would be for us to be at odds against our very

own siblings. The question is are they our siblings? Are they really our

siblings? Well, it's not for us to try to figure out whether or

not they're our siblings. It's not for us to figure out whether or not

Judas is sincere or not. It is for Jesus to handle that. It's

for Jesus to separate the sheep from the goats. It's for Jesus to cause

the wind to separate the chaff from the wheat into a bruf the terrors.

But it's also a pastor's personal responsibility there to be a watchman on the wall

and to be spiritually in touch and in tune with the spirit of God.

The best way to do that is put on the mind of Christ by reading

the Bible until it becomes part of your personality and until it alters your character,

until it overcomes your emotions. How many of you have ever said,

I know my heart. How many of you have ever been overcome by your

feelings concerning your own grandchildren? You knew good and well that they needed a

little bit of correction, they needed a little bit of instruction. But because

you've already raised your children, you don't intend to raise their children. You

don't intend to raise your grandchildren. You're just done. You're finished. And

a lot of people in the view they have that mentality. I don't want

to have to put my hand on a situation. I don't want to have

to handle it, and that's how you lose control of things. So what

we want to do is Pentecostal people, we always want to remember that God

still wants to keep his hand on the situation, and as Pentecostal people,

if the genuine, true blue, pure vanilla grade as fear of God is

moving, Peter would say, it is going to keep its fingers on the

poles of the church. And you'll find in the early church that would Antonysus

the fire came in. I'm sure the church didn't question their motives. There

is no doubt their motives were unquestioned until the Holy Ghost uprising. So as

Peter began to discern because of the Holy Ghost, not because of Peter,

because you will remember that there were times that Peter faltered prior to the in

dwelling of the Holy Ghost in his life failed and he faltered, and he

was that followed a lot of times, brother Jesse, because he didn't have

the Holy Ghost. And what we need as believers, we need the Holy

Ghost discernment and we need the Holy Ghost to have his will and to have

his way. Otherwise, as Apostle Paul said, grievous wolves will enter the

flock. And let me say something, when we have a sheep mentality,

we do not understand the mentality of the wolf. And the longer the sheep

are in the fold, and the less they're out there in the wild,

the less they have their defense up. The longer that the sheep are in

the fold, the less that they are out in the wild, the less

they have their defense up. And I appreciated that preaching a brother Silas Carter

of talking about the family. We've had this convention now for ten years.

We just closed out our tenth year, and I don't know that I've ever

heard of a preacher saying that he noticed our emphasis is on the family.

He was sharing with me that night after he preached, he said it just

really resonated with him, the family, the family, And y'all will remember

that last night after he got to a preaching, I said, thank God

for strong natural families, and also thank God for strong spiritual families, right,

and we have to protect those families. And as Sister Howl and I

responded with our only child at home, Sister Grouve, and she's threatening to

leave us in a couple of months, she's going to get married. But

as we knelt there together, these Sister Hown, Sister Hannah, and as

you all knelt throughout the building together as family units, praying one for another,

the spirit of God began to speak to me, and I owe shadowed

Sister Howell. I got up on my knees. Brother Larry Mormon, I

got finished praying. I saw you had done the same thing to sister Christie.

I said, isn't that wonderful? Her love and husband had overshadowed her.

That provided a sense of security, would it not? I mean,

surely it did, right, And I just admired that. I think somebody

even captured an image of that and boasted it on the photo album of the

meeting. And so, while while we were there praying, Sister Howell and

Sister Hannah and I a family that used to be a family of eight is

now a family of three. And even there praying for the one child that

is still at home, the sister who when I was praying, she's soon

to come out of my castle. She soon to walk out of my yard,

so to speak, spiritually speaking, she soon to get away from my

watch. And as we were praying there, I had overshadowed her mother and

leaned over into her, and I was just praying and said, God,

make the walls of the castle strong. But then I began to pray,

Lord, make the bullwark strong. And I haven't been able to shake that

ever since. Make the bullwark strong, Make the bulwark strong. And when

you think of a bulwark, you think of a fence. For a wall

that has been built. It consists of tree trunks. Tree trunks, just

the biggest tree trunks you can find, lack them together somehow tether them together,

and seen them up on the exterior of the house, I mean the

immediate exterior of the house or on the perimeter. And the purpose of that

bulwark is to keep the enemy from penetrating the house or the castle. And

that's what I was praying, concerned of my daughters, that God just make

the bullwark strong. Brother Nathaniel, I was sat a little while ago.

The longer the sheep are in the fold, the more meat they become,

the more mild manner they've become, because they rely on the defense of the

shepherd. There's a defense mechanism that the sheep can take advantage of if they've

got it. If they have that mechanism, and that is the shepherd.

Apostle Paul was saying, you watch out for them grievous wolves that will come

in, because we develop a mentality that that wolf will not come into this

fold. Who would think that something would come in and harm such a wonderful,

wonderful group of people. Who would think that a nasty wolf would come

into the hen house. Who would think that a fox would come into the

hen house within pure motives? Certainly not the wonderful seventy five people that are

here this morning. I know, I know that there's very few of you

that would understand the wolf mentality. Why wouldn't you? You've been so far

removed from the wild. If you live in the wild, you expect that,

right, You're suspicious of things. You're expecting it. How many of

you expected when you go to the job. You expect to see some fans.

You expect to hear some snarls. You expect to see some beady eyes

turn red. You expect it, you expect it, But you never anticipate

that happening. In the House of God, we won't to speak to you

just briefly before Brother Larry Moore preaches and Brother Grant will be preaching tonight.

We're going to have some great preaching, but I want to just give us

a little bit of knowledge and insight because I had a revelation and a vision

during this weekend, and I feel like it carries exceeding great weight for somebody.

I feel like this is really going to be an eye opener for you.

Go with me to yester year, let's say it's a time period of

the gun slinger. It seemed like God took me to the wild West,

if you would, the Untamed West and sister whoot. And I found myself

in a place where I thought I would never have been. I found myself

in a situation that I thought that I would have never anticipated. I would

have never imagined that I would have been in that type of atmosphere that appeared

to me that we were in a bank of that time period, and there

were several men dressed in three piece suits. An end comes a gun slinger.

I was able to identify him by his trade because of his tools.

Again, I was able to identify him by his trade because of his tools

that hung on his hips. And I perceive that the bank or the president

of the bank, that he had brought in this hired gun to oversee a

certain transaction that was a great significance. And in came this very handsome,

well kept young man. I would say it was in his mid twenties.

He looked great. He looked like he had come just out of the very

creation room of God. He just the epitome of mankind. He personified excellence,

and it seemed like everybody was excited about his appearance and his arrival.

They were glad that this particular person was standing in their presence. He looked

the point of what they expected, what they anticipated. It looked to me

like they were very thankful for him coming. How could a man of this

caliper come into such a beautiful place over just by his appearance and by his

arrival. This man had such a radiant, charismatic personality just to find dapper

gentlemen. And you could tell his presence commanded attention. And as I was

sitting there among those men as an observer, I don't know what my role

was or my place was, other than God just took me there and set

me there to watch this transaction. These bankers wanted this young man's interaction,

and they wanted his business. They truly wanted to interact with him, Brother

Nathaniel, though they had brought what I perceived to be their bodyguard or their

security guard, Cody waveapp And we've got a security guard here in the church.

He does that every day. And they had brought their security guard.

And for some reason, it was evident to me that somebody in a position

of power had perceived there could be a threat. And what they thought was

the potential threat was not the threat. They thought for sure that this transaction

would be interrupted, whatever this hard cash transaction was, whatever the bills and

the notes. They thought that this hard transaction would be interrupted by outsiders.

And so you've got all these prestigious businessmen standing there, and they greet one

another affectionately with firm handshapes, pat each other on the shoulder, Brother Jesse.

They're sitting there and business begins to be conducted, and I listen to

some of the words, and I will not share the conversation, but I

listened to some of the words. I feel the presence of God right now.

And that hard guard, if you would, the gunslinger that was definitely

not victorious and probably of ill reputation somewhat in the eyes of the community.

He was standing there just like this. He had one hand on his hip,

and he acted as though he was looking at the door and that he

was anticipating something from outside to come in to inflict harm upon those who were

Insideer y'all getting the imagery. I'm trying my best to let you see the

imagery of what God showed me and brother Nathaniel. In a moment, he

drew his pistol and shot the young man that had come, the one they

were looking for, the one they offered a warm welcoming to the one.

Sister howell that they were so glad he was there. They did not understand

why the hired gun had shot him down. The hired gun walked out of

that place abruptly and uneasy, because he knew people would not appreciate what he

had done. I filled the Holy ghost in this place, and as he

pushed them, doors opened. Somebody hollered him and said, hey, why

did you do that to our guest? And he said, check his back

pocket. Right, the gunslinger went out the door. I watched as the

president of the bank ordered that the man be rolled over, and in his

back pocket was one of them short nosed pistols with what they call a delinger,

and also an order from some higher power on the outside that said,

assassinate the president of the bank. Right, the gunslinger knew what the true

motive of the mission was nobody else suspected it. And I want you all

to know. Sometimes the Holy Ghost moves and we don't understand why, but

God knows why. And I want to say, I thank you Holy ghosts

for making the bullwark strong, and I thank you for protecting our young people.

I thank you for helping us what we don't understand. I thank you

Holy Ghost. I thank you Holy Ghost. And I know there is a

reason for any time the Holy Ghost moves. And I've been praying for my

daughter and I said, make them Bullwark strong, make those strong. Martin

Luther I studied a little bit of church history when I was in school.

Martin Luther got sick and tired of the hypocrisy within the Catholic Church. He

became graeve with Catholicism. And if I remember correctly, he had a document

he had drafted titled the ninety five Thesis, and he went to that cathedral

and was it Wittenberg, Germany, if I'm not mistaken, what was the

year of fifteen something. But he went to the door of that big cathedral

in Wittenberg, Germany, and he nailed that ninety five thesis to the door

of that cathedral, and he left and he came under severe persecution after that

because of that. And that great Man of God wrote one of my all

time favorite songs, A Mighty Fortress is our God. And if I'm not

mistaken, it says something in there about making the bullard shrunk. And I

need to pull up the lyrics of that song after church this morning. But

do you know that the martyrs of yesteryear, who begin to suffer persecution because

of them pulling out of a religion and because they developed a relationship in Jesus,

they found great comfort and consolation in Brother Martin Luther's stand. They found

comfort and consolation in Brother Martin Luther's song, and they died as martyrs singing

that song. If I remember church history correct, and I want you seventy

five folks to know you're this morning. I don't always understand why the gunslinger

shoots something down and then blows the smoke out of the barrel reholsters and walks

out the door. But I do want to say I think God for every

time he Heaven's high Sherif the Holy Ghost keeps my children from a spiritual hijacking

and a spiritual assassination. Oh Jesus, I feel it in my soul.

I'm telling you this morning, there is always a purpose for the Holy Ghost

moving. We have a brother here this morning that I just heard your testimonly

brother, about what happened that first morning of the meeting when that brother preached,

and how the Holy Ghost had spoke to you. Stand up, brother.

I don't want to call him your name because this is probably being broadcasted.

Well, Brother, that is amazing to me. It's truly amazing to

me how the Holy Ghost would speak to you, and then you, being

the man of God that you are, and God loving you enough to prove

himself to you, that you would say to God, God, God,

I believe that's you speaking to me. That is for me, And if

you would please God, I fear to ask a second time, but which

you speak yet again? And in our history, I don't know of a

time that the Holy Ghost has ever spoke back to back like that, and

said, you asked me to speak again, and yet once more I speak

again. It's not for me to question the motives of the gun slinger,

but I can say I thank God for the security of the Holy Ghost,

and I thank God for the infinite knowledge of the Holy Ghost. I'm telling

you that gun Slinger has got that kind of dessernment and got that kind of

power. That's the one I won't secure in my family. And I'll guarantee

if I'm the president of the bank, that gun Slinger's welcome here anytime.

And that's what I want to tell somebody in this building this morning. The

Holy Ghost is welcome to move anytime. If there's an assassin that's come in

to attack the pastor the president of the bank or the church. A holy

Ghost is allowed to protect this people. And the Holy Ghost is evidently allowed

to minister to this brother right here. This brother right here would be a

fool to ignore God Almighty. It sits upon the circle of the earth.

The master of the universe spoke directly to him. How many people can say

that that brother can throw that testimony in the face of his enemies to the

next sixty five years that he can say. I know that Helen's High shab

came in and the minister to leave the administered on my behalf, and I

have been greatly helped. I want y'all to know I don't know what all

took place in this feeding But Bethel, I love you, Preciape everything you

did. I appreciate the security you brought to one another and the security you

brought to others. I'm telling you your labors of love have been second to

nobody. But we come this morning to just thank God for the opportunity to

be a blessing. Brother. Silas Carbar text to me this morning. I

believe he said thank you all for everything. I believe he said, brother,

I love and appreciate you. I'm telling you, I'm so thankful for

everything that was done. And I'm also thankful for his message that spoke to

us about the family, and I thank God for our natural families. But

this is us here this morning. This is Bethel. This seventy five of

us here. Not all of us are here. Some of us had to

leave. But I want you to know, for those of you that are

here, let's make our boards strong. Let's make them stronger. Put another

layer in tree trunks around. What does not defeat us will make us stronger.

There it is resilience. And I'm telling somebody this morning, I'm going

to just welcome the spirit of God in this place. I want to welcome

the Spirit of God in this place. I want to welcome the spirit of

God into this place. Did you do that? Right now? Just lift

up the name of the Lord. I know you're tired in body. I

know the way you all worked. I saw it, I witnessed it.

But Bethel, it is time for the Holy Goos to pour into you.

Yet come about. I'm gonna tell her. He cart hekt hekt he cut

out, he cut out, He cut out the most he kind of Yeah,

said to you, it is I that's speaking. I am Almighty God.

I have spoken unto you, my servant. I know your heart towards

me. Do as I have commanded you, and watch me bless you.

Yeah, you look to me bless others. I say unto you, I

will bless you in a greater measure. It all hinges on your obedience.

Obey me, said to Lord. It is vital to your survival. Obey

me. Yes, yes, I your home. Listen, thank you.

Why don't we just raise our hands to heaven. There's nothing to do to

trust the whole day at this point. Trust in the better. But there's

no other load to be happy and trust than to trust and do that.

I want you to shake your neighbor's hand and say I thank God for security.