Sermon

Follow - Kingdom Destiny

Anchor Faith Church

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. You have your Bibles turn over to Mark chapter 8.

    Mark 8 chapter mention

  2. I'm so excited to preach today, Man, this is good.

  3. You know, I had to go see my mom today and it's so when I go see

  4. my mom, it takes a little time to me to get there and get back.

  5. So I get additional prayer time as a result of that.

  6. And I came home and began to study and my wife got there a

  7. little bit later and she's like, what are you?

  8. I said nothing, but you know, you wait on the Lord.

  9. Now you can. I am a preach by inspiration.

  10. Sometimes the Lord allow me to have series.

  11. I mean things that I know I'm going to do.

  12. Then some days it's like it's your people or what do you want

  13. to do? And so you know, but man, when

  14. you hear the voice of God, things can hit.

  15. And all of a sudden he took me to something I had said earlier,

  16. I think even Sunday probably. And the Lord said, I want you to

  17. go there. And so I started looking and

  18. woo, it just opened up and here we go.

  19. And so we're going to minister on follow tonight.

  20. Amen. We're going to talk about

  21. Kingdom destiny. Do you have a destiny in the

  22. Kingdom? Come on, do you have a destiny

  23. in the Kingdom? Because I'm telling you, if you

  24. understood the Kingdom of God, you'd be so jacked, excited.

  25. It's amazing, all right. But in Mark chapter 8, verses 34

    Mark 8:34–36

  26. to 36, Jesus says this and he summoned the crowd with his

  27. disciples and said to them, if any win, if anyone wishes to

  28. come after me, he must what? Deny himself, take up his cross

  29. and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his

  30. life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for

  31. my sake and the Gospels, that's the good news.

  32. We'll save it. Verse 36.

  33. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit

  34. his soul? Well, you understand I was going

  35. to start with this verse and I had finished the message.

  36. Then all of a sudden, as I was leaving, the Lord said follow.

  37. And I thought, yeah, that's good.

  38. So I went back and I found it in the Matthew account.

  39. And I thought, this sounds very familiar to Mark.

  40. Let me jump back over because I'm using Mark.

  41. And I realized, wow, this is the couple of verses above of how I

  42. was going to start the message of what does it profit a man to

  43. gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

  44. Another translation says it this way.

  45. In verse 36 it says, but it is worth nothing for you to have

  46. the whole world if you yourself are lost.

  47. You know and the majority of churches know the vernacular of

  48. the lost. In fact, the lost is very

  49. important to and has become the center of the attention of the

  50. church. Should we be concerned about the

  51. lost? Yes, however, the church is not

  52. about the lost. The church is about the king.

  53. Are you hearing me? And the couple previous verses

  54. says if you want to come after me, you're going to have to deny

  55. yourself. These these are the words of

  56. Jesus. So if we are calling ourselves

  57. believers and followers of Christ, what precedes him saying

  58. follow me? If you want to come after me,

  59. you must deny yourself. So first is a denial of self.

  60. Second, take up your cross. Now you're following.

  61. So you cannot call yourself a follower if you're not doing the

  62. first two. Now, I don't say this is what

  63. the Bible says. And you understand if we don't

  64. watch out because it goes on to say he who tries to save his

  65. life will lose it. And he who loses his life for my

  66. sake will save it because what does it gain?

  67. A person prophet of purpose if they gain the whole world but

  68. they themselves are lost, which means then nowhere here in

  69. scripture did God is God's call of salvation or for the lost to

  70. be saved to where they can still have relationship and passion

  71. for the world and be a true follower of Jesus.

  72. To be a follower of Jesus you have to deny self.

  73. That's why Paul said I don't live anymore.

  74. I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live right?

  75. But as I live in this flesh, I live according to Christ.

  76. I'm following him. I've been crucified because no

  77. longer I who live, but the life that I live now in the flesh.

  78. I live by faith, meaning I'm by faith means I am listening to

  79. every word of the one I call Lord, who is supreme in

  80. authority, and I follow that word and my opinion, my desires,

  81. my own thinking, what I want to do in my life is dead to me

  82. because the cross I carry is the purpose of my existence.

  83. Hallelujah. And so he says, if you try to go

  84. after just the world, you yourself will be lost.

  85. We use this term lost in the word lost.

  86. Well, what does it mean? What did the lost lose 'cause we

  87. called them lost? Well, if you're found, you're no

  88. longer lost, right? So when we say, well, I lost,

  89. what are we? We're in reference to something

  90. we had at one time. Are you hearing me?

  91. So if I said I lost my keys, then I know keys are the object

  92. that I no longer have. So once I see my keys are there

  93. in my possession, now they are found.

  94. You notice we don't call ourselves the found, yet we

  95. reference the world as the lost. Well, again, what did the lost

  96. lose? Well, it brings me back to some

  97. statements that some of you, it's going to be very familiar

  98. when I make these statements for others.

  99. You've not heard these before, but the greatest tragedy in life

  100. is life without purpose. The greatest challenge in life

  101. is knowing what to do. The greatest mistake in life is

  102. being busy but not effective, and the greatest failure in life

  103. is being successful in the wrong assignment.

  104. If we are going to live up to the Kingdom, destiny, because

  105. it's not a destination, it's sonship.

  106. Adam did not lose heaven because Adam was not created in heaven.

  107. Now I'll just stop right here. I'm not saying we will not go to

  108. heaven, but I'm also not going to say we're going to live in

  109. heaven forever because the Bible doesn't say that.

  110. The Bible says the Lord's coming to the earth.

  111. They'll be a new heaven and new earth and hit the new Jerusalem

  112. will come down out of heaven to the earth and we will live with

  113. God to be on planet earth. Now that doesn't mean God cannot

  114. assign you to go up to the 3rd heaven for whatever purpose.

  115. I'm not saying that he can't do things in the time of eternity.

  116. What we call eternity after everything's done that you want

  117. would not have access to all of his creation based upon what he

  118. says. What I am saying is that when we

  119. call people lost, Adam did not fall from heaven, he fell from

  120. dominion. And Genesis 126 as we know, if

  121. you've been here long enough, then God said let us make man in

  122. our image according to our likeness, and let them rule over

  123. the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, over the the

  124. cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that

  125. creeps on the earth. So God made both male and female

  126. to have dominion on the earth. When man disobeyed God, what he

  127. lost was his dominion relationship with the Lord.

  128. He's cut off from God. His nature now is not like God.

  129. God's nature is by all right rules.

  130. He rules, He reigns, He's sovereign, He is of.

  131. He has the authority of His word.

  132. And what's so amazing about God? God watches over his word to

  133. perform it. So again, is it true Jesus came

  134. to save you? Yes.

  135. The question is why? Was it for you?

  136. Or was it to make sure God's word comes to pass?

  137. And it's for the latter. Jesus comes because God says, I

  138. said, let's make man in our image.

  139. Adam now who holds that dominion has given it over to the devil.

  140. But I have to fulfill my word, so I'm going to have a pathway

  141. back so that man can be, as I always intended them to be, like

  142. me, Hallelujah. Because what they've lost is

  143. their nature to be like me with. And that assignment of that

  144. nature is to rule and reign on the earth, Hallelujah.

  145. And so the lost, lost dominion, you don't just gain relationship

  146. with Jesus, you gain your purpose.

  147. This is why he says you must deny yourself.

  148. Take up your cross. Cross is not relationship

  149. crossed his assignment because Jesus came to the earth as a

  150. man. Because God gave dominion to a

  151. man, so it required man to get that dominion back.

  152. And as a result of that, his assignment was to be the Savior

  153. of the world, that he is to be the Lamb that would be slain.

  154. Come on, y'all with me tonight. And as a result of that, He was

  155. in obedient to God's word because it's the pathway by

  156. which man can fulfill the word of God concerning himself.

  157. Doctor Miles Monroe said this for years.

  158. He said if you do not know the purpose of a thing, abuses are

  159. inevitable. And so he would use a

  160. refrigerator as a example. I don't really see this ever

  161. happening anymore. But back in the day when people

  162. would take their refrigers, refrigerators out and put them

  163. by the side of the road in order for them to be, you know,

  164. disposed of, they would take the door off because it and at A at

  165. a particular time, children would climb in them.

  166. The door would get shut and they would suffocate.

  167. He said a refrigerator was never designed to be a coffin.

  168. However, if a child sees sees it as a place to hide, abuses are

  169. inevitable. We see this in relationships.

  170. We see this in all other all kinds of things.

  171. Because when you don't know why you're here, when you don't

  172. understand your Kingdom, destiny abuses are inevitable.

  173. And so again, you know, the goal of God was not so that man would

  174. be saved to go to heaven, although man being saved can go

  175. to heaven. Because God said if we're

  176. through Paul to be absent from the body will be present with

  177. the Lord and he is presently in heaven.

  178. Now you understand, in the old dispensation, in the old

  179. covenant, when people separated from their bodies, they did not

  180. go to heaven. They went to the grave, they

  181. went to paradise, they went to Abraham's bosom.

  182. But when Jesus died and went to the grave, he led captivity,

  183. captive, busted paradise wide open, which means in our

  184. dispensation, when we're absent from the body, we'll be present

  185. with the Lord. And he is presently seated at

  186. the right hand of Father in heaven.

  187. But is He coming back? I said, is he coming back?

  188. Glory to God, He's coming back. So if we are going to know who

  189. we are and if we are going to follow effectively the word of

  190. the Lord, then we need to get in our destiny and then allow God

  191. to tell us who we are. And what's amazing about this is

  192. found in Psalms 139 verse 13. Look at this, it says this, and

    Psalms 139:13

  193. we're going to go through verse 18.

  194. He says for you, for my inward parts.

  195. You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you, for I

  196. am fearfully and wonderfully made.

  197. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well.

  198. He said my frame was hidden from you when I was made in secret

  199. and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.

  200. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book,

  201. whose book, His book, your book were written the days that were

  202. ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

  203. Isn't that amazing? He said.

  204. How precious also are your thoughts to me.

  205. Oh God, how vast is the sum of them?

  206. He said if I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

  207. And man, we live on the coast, we go to the beach and there's a

  208. lot of sand out there. And which tells me if you ever

  209. feel bad about yourself or people been talking about you,

  210. go to the beach, look at the sand and say God's thinking

  211. about me more than this. His thoughts toward me are

  212. greater than all that I'm looking at right now.

  213. You don't have time for a pity party when God's thoughts

  214. concerning you outnumber the sand.

  215. Which tells me if you're going through something and feeling

  216. bad about yourself, you need to go talk to your author, your

  217. Creator, and pick up a sand and say, what's this thought right

  218. here about me that you have? And what's this one and this one

  219. and this one and this one and this one and this one and this

  220. one and this one and this one. I will not let the devil tell me

  221. who I am. I won't let the world tell me

  222. who I am because my father, before I even came out of my

  223. mama's womb, had so many thoughts concerning me.

  224. That the sands, it outnumbers the sands on the shore.

  225. Oh my gosh, isn't this amazing that you have a destiny and all

  226. you have to do to unlock those is follow?

  227. That's all you have to do. It's not about discovering

  228. yourself in heaven. God's thoughts about you were

  229. already in existence prior to coming to earth through the womb

  230. and He wants you to discover who you are and when you who were

  231. lost or what you had lost is now reassigned to you through your

  232. new birth experience and you becoming a child of God.

  233. It is very important for us to be constantly seeking the Lord

  234. and following Him. Said, what do you want me to do?

  235. How do you want me to do it, and what are we doing?

  236. Because you know me, The sum of your thoughts about me and what

  237. I'm supposed to do, it outnumbers the sand.

  238. This is why that prophetic utterances.

  239. You've got to expand yourself. I mean, if you see yourself as

  240. well, I can only go to the beach and go get you a dump load of

  241. dirt and figure out all that God's trying to say.

  242. You know he's not trying to withhold this information.

  243. He wants you to discover yourself because his thoughts

  244. towards you are amazing and powerful.

  245. We hold on to thoughts that He never gave us from a nature that

  246. He never designed for us. And He does not want us to hold

  247. on to that old nature or its old feelings, nor does He want us to

  248. stroke it, comfort it, you know, get around others who will help

  249. you feel it and identify with your feelings.

  250. No, He wants you to rise up to the sum of his thoughts

  251. concerning you. He's like, man, if you only knew

  252. half the thing that I have destined for you, if you only

  253. believe my God, will you be like, come on, what's next?

  254. And people would be in awe of your life because they're like,

  255. how does this happen? You're like, man, My, I don't

  256. want to say it, but I almost think the Father in heaven loves

  257. me the most, right? Because when you start

  258. discovering, you're like, I want to be around you more.

  259. I want to know. I want to know.

  260. God forbid I try to do something on my own.

  261. Why would I try to go a road on my own?

  262. Why would I try to be known in planet Earth as the wealthiest

  263. person and most influential, yet suffer eternal damnation and

  264. never find out who I really was? Because when you know God,

  265. you're not even limited to planet Earth anymore.

  266. You're not limited to this time frame.

  267. You're not limited to the measly little lifespan of which one

  268. particular billionaire is working so hard to try to keep

  269. his body so healthy and do such routine because he's wanting

  270. really mortality or immortality. But it's not going to happen.

  271. There's only one way You must be born again.

  272. You have to follow. And following is not about

  273. control. It's about finding you God's.

  274. God's not in a power trip. You're going to do what I say.

  275. That's not God. God's like, bro, if you only

  276. knew who you were and the things I have for you.

  277. If you only knew how I want to release you and be so excited

  278. that you're my child and be pleased with you.

  279. Just if you could just tap into my thoughts about you and go in

  280. the directions that I want you to go, it'd be amazing.

  281. Be amazing. It's not control.

  282. It's a releasing of you. And I'm like, show me who I am.

  283. Give me your thoughts, whatever they may be.

  284. I want to follow you. It goes on to say this in

  285. Proverbs 16 verse 9. It says this, the mind of man

    Proverbs 16:9

  286. plans his way, but the Lord. Directs his steps and you, as

  287. you know, I said this, you know, a man has paths and I like this.

  288. He has plans. So as a man, you know, and, and

  289. when I'm talking to the Lord, I'm like Lord, because I know

  290. you love me. I know you want to to want to be

  291. seen through me. You want me to expand your

  292. Kingdom. You have a purpose for my life.

  293. I'm not here by accident. I'm not a mistake.

  294. You knew me before I was in my mother's womb.

  295. And it doesn't matter what conditions took place to get me

  296. there. Are you hearing me?

  297. And so, you know, if I'm on assignment and I'm to do a work

  298. for you, well, we could do this, but also we could do this.

  299. And I'm willing to do this because at the end of the day,

  300. whichever is my pathway or by burden to bear, when I say burn

  301. my car, my cross, my purpose, let's discuss.

  302. And then when you begin to have all these plans out, the Lord

  303. says, take that one, go down there, start, start walking this

  304. way. Because I have found that

  305. sometimes I'll speak a plan based upon an end, and then I'll

  306. say, well, maybe we'll go here, which is a plan based upon an

  307. end. And that end is different than

  308. the other plan. And this end is different than

  309. all the other plans. But got to say, start here.

  310. And you get on it. You're like, oh, well, we're

  311. going, so this must be the end. Only to find out midway I jump

  312. over to this plan, 'cause that was never the object, that in

  313. order to get to the third end, I had to take all paths, just at

  314. different intersections, because the steps are directed by God.

  315. Hallelujah, I said, Hallelujah. Or you may come to the end of 1

  316. and realize that it connects to the ends of the others, that

  317. this one way got it all and it's for His glory.

  318. It's for Him being magnified in the earth, and you are part of

  319. the process to expand His Kingdom.

  320. My goodness that you're able to look back on your life and say,

  321. but God, when people say, how in the world did you do that?

  322. And they'll have to associate these words, but God, right.

  323. Proverbs 1921 says many plans are in a man's heart, many

  324. plans. So I, you know, I tell Apostle

  325. Marshall, I said, now listen, I'm, I'm just going to be

  326. talking. I'm talking, I'm not saying thus

  327. saith the Lord, although when I'm speaking I may be saying

  328. thus saith the Lord. What I don't know is which is

  329. thus saith the Lord. And this is not a lack of prayer

  330. because sometimes people, they won't even get started to try to

  331. determine their destiny. Well, I'm going to go pray and

  332. I'm just going to stay there until I hear God.

  333. Remember there was an old adage back in the day where it says

  334. steering a car is easier when it's moving.

  335. It's easier to move a car, you know, steer a car when it's

  336. moving. And I lived in the day before

  337. power steering. In fact, my high school vehicle

  338. was a 79 GMC. It was a a pickup truck with

  339. A2250 straight 6IN it. I mean, there was enough room

  340. that you could turn the engine on and get over the engine.

  341. They could shut the hood and you could drive down the road

  342. underneath the hood. So much room.

  343. It was amazing. You could work on it very easy

  344. and it was a three speed on the column, OK, but it had no power

  345. steering. So man, when you got somewhere

  346. you're like, I mean, you're like wanting to come off that clutch.

  347. Just get it rolling a little so I can get a little bit of help.

  348. See, you young people have no idea.

  349. They're like, what's he talking about?

  350. Steering is so easy. You have no idea.

  351. They don't even know what 3 speed on the column is.

  352. You're right. That is, you don't even know

  353. what manuals are anymore. Really.

  354. You don't even know what a standard shift vehicle is

  355. anymore because everything's automatic.

  356. Shall I explain that is you change gears as if you pull,

  357. which they don't have this anymore.

  358. I know they used to have the automatic on the column where

  359. you went pull back and it would drop down to the R to the, you

  360. know what I'm saying, Mick, right.

  361. But we would go first gear, second gear, third gear.

  362. If you want to reverse, you had to pull it this way and put it

  363. all the way up, right? That's three speed on the

  364. column. Heaven's like, I don't even know

  365. what he's talking about right now.

  366. That's OK, Go get some tea at Coastal Nutrition and maybe

  367. she'll be able to explain it tomorrow.

  368. So, but many plans are in man's heart.

  369. So wives, I'm just saying this to our husbands.

  370. When your wives are talking, a lot of times us talking is the

  371. purpose so that we can get to hearing the council.

  372. So you would never want to look at someone and say, well, they

  373. said they do this, this or this, You know what?

  374. And they just went through all of it.

  375. They didn't really know. How do you know it's God?

  376. Because along the way God kicked in with a voice.

  377. It's not a lack of prayer. And many people are not moving

  378. in their destiny because they're waiting to hear in the Lord's

  379. light. Let's talk the plans.

  380. What, what do you have? What what's what's coming up in

  381. you because it's a relationship. This is what's so amazing about

  382. God. He's again not controlling.

  383. He's releasing you. He's like, let's talk about

  384. this, OK, Well, as I've read you where we could do this, you

  385. know, I could see us doing this. And again, those thoughts he's

  386. giving you and he's like, that's my thought.

  387. Do that, do that. As you know, I told you when it

  388. comes when it came to a purchase in the mall, you know when it

  389. came to rubber meets the road money is going to them.

  390. I'm like, I sense I, I, I'm definitely eager.

  391. I know God is totally able, but at the end of the day, I still

  392. do not sense that I have had that.

  393. Thus saith the Lord in my spirit.

  394. And it was when I drove to put our camper somewhere because we

  395. were going to be camping after service.

  396. And as I was driving, praying, as I've told you on A1A and pass

  397. by some $1,000,000 homes. And the Lord directed me to

  398. those homes and says, son, what do you see?

  399. I said, man, those are $1,000,000 houses.

  400. He said, what do you notice about this particular 1?

  401. And I said, well, it's got, you know, hurricane shutters on it.

  402. I would suspect it's a snowbird's home.

  403. And he goes, you are correct, he says if a person can have a

  404. house worth over millions of dollars as their second home,

  405. don't you think I can get them all?

  406. And that was my path. That's the way I don't have to

  407. come off now. Are you hearing me?

  408. So at the end of the day, now I have the counsel of the Lord,

  409. which is his will, and it's going to stand.

  410. And we've talked about Lord, this property here.

  411. In fact, I know some people in our community right now that

  412. started with me and no longer with me, but our little sideways

  413. because they think that because I pursued a piece of property

  414. and did not get it, that I didn't hear the voice of God.

  415. However, it was a plan because what I did hear God say at the

  416. beginning, do not buy 5 acres. What you're going to do will be

  417. bigger. So for some reason 25 was always

  418. the minimum in my mind and I went after 50 acres when we had

  419. less than 100 people. But when we pursued it, which

  420. back then, and this is laughable now, that 50 acres was only

  421. $1,000,000, We negotiated down to 900,000.

  422. It's like that's chump change. However, when we went through

  423. the process, of the 50 acres, only 8 acres were buildable.

  424. You want me to tell you where this property's at?

  425. It's where the Tringali barn is. That was the property, but they

  426. had a man made lake, could have closed that in.

  427. It was about 15 acres, but you have to bury a bunch of concrete

  428. in it to do so because it was a pit, a dirt pit.

  429. But because they had encroached and wetlands, they were going to

  430. make certain land unbuildable. You weren't even going to be

  431. able to mitigate it to be able to build on it.

  432. It would have been non buildable land which gave us 8 acres and

  433. it was separated. And I'm like, that's not what

  434. God wants. So in essence, I didn't get his

  435. counsel. However, here we are now, 25 1/2

  436. acres later, bet the ball you would think those individuals

  437. would be like, well, they didn't get that, but look what the Lord

  438. did do for him, right? Hallelujah.

  439. And let me ask you this, have you ever started down a path and

  440. thought it was God only to find out it's not and you want people

  441. to forgive when you did that? Well, you know, I thought I

  442. should take this job, but I was wrong.

  443. I thought it was a Lord, but it was and I can't.

  444. And you're like, well, we forgive you.

  445. Come on. Amen.

  446. I said, Amen. Don't let someone else's passion

  447. to follow a path and even if they don't get it right, hinder

  448. you from following the voice of God Amen.

  449. Proverbs 521 says it this way for the ways of a man are before

  450. the eyes of the Lord and he watches all his paths.

  451. Now this scripture here is is in context to the the the last

  452. scripture is that there's many plans in a man's heart yet the

  453. counsel of the Lord stand will stand, which means here's all my

  454. past Lord and the Lord says it's this one.

  455. So now we know the way, which brings us to this verse, we for

  456. the ways of man. Now the ways to go down this

  457. path are before the Lord. And what that's telling us is

  458. that God now watches all his paths, meaning he'll make sure

  459. this way he has taken you on will stay smooth, will be

  460. straight, it will be able to be completed.

  461. It will come to its end. It will remove every obstacle

  462. because again, when God sends you on a path, it does not mean

  463. it's void of trials and tribulations, nor I guarantee

  464. you, the path God ordains will have ambushes from the enemy to

  465. try to get you to thwart or abandoned that pathway.

  466. And many believers, if they don't watch out, they're like,

  467. oh, I can't go, so I'm going to go this way instead.

  468. And the Lord says, reroute. You are off your course.

  469. Get back on that. Yeah, but there's this mountain.

  470. Well, I told you to speak to him anyway.

  471. Amen. I mean, I would love to tell you

  472. that the minute you know, the plan of God, which path, how

  473. you're going to proceed forward, that all of a sudden someone

  474. would show up with a check, that much money, all the people to

  475. jump on board with you, and that you don't have to do anything.

  476. It just comes like, you know, a genie in a bottle.

  477. It's not that, no, the Lord, it's a relationship.

  478. It's the Lord let you know. Look, you know there's a God of

  479. this world and he's really upset when you're doing my will and

  480. trying to take our the territory that's rightfully yours in the

  481. 1st place. Just stay the course 'cause my

  482. counsel will prevail. You know his counsel concerning

  483. you is going to prevail. What God says about you will

  484. prevail. You just have to stay on the

  485. path period. Stay on it, don't abandoned it

  486. because this is about your destiny.

  487. This is about who you are as a person.

  488. Psalms 3723 says this. The steps of a man are

  489. established by the Lord and he delights in his ways.

  490. So all these scriptures are letting us know that the the

  491. minute I said Jesus, I call you Lord of my life, we're basically

  492. saying I'm here to follow you. Well, you're only here to follow

  493. because you denied yourself. It's no longer me.

  494. It's no longer my will. It's no longer what I want to

  495. do. It's not, hey, can we negotiate

  496. this relationship? Because this stuff that I'm

  497. doing right now, you see what I'm getting out of this deal.

  498. Now I say that because you understand that all that first

  499. scripture comes into the scripture.

  500. What? What does it profit a man to

  501. gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul?

  502. So there are many people that are being successful in the

  503. wrong assignment, but yet are still empty on the inside.

  504. And the success is doing some things to curb the hurt, but it

  505. never gets rid of it. Then you hear about Jesus and

  506. all of a sudden it starts touching that place that the

  507. success and the things surrounded with success does not

  508. touch. And so you're drawn to it and he

  509. reveals himself and you're like, man, this is the answer you have

  510. revealed to me. Jesus is the way.

  511. However, in order to have the relationship and be a follower

  512. of Him, you cannot negotiate yet successful will come in.

  513. Are the things that you are good at or what you've enjoyed that

  514. is still tied to your flesh that you don't see currently is

  515. destroying your life in the long run.

  516. Because what does it say about Moses?

  517. Moses chose to be with his people and suffer, then be

  518. called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and enjoy the passing

  519. pleasures of sin for its season. Yet people will be confronted

  520. with their sin. They're disconnect from God,

  521. recognize they need to be connected and then they'll want

  522. to come and say, let's talk about our relationship before I

  523. say Jesus, I'm, I make you Lord. I'm really, I want you as my

  524. savior. I just want you to save me from

  525. all my wrongdoing. But all that I'm doing, I kind

  526. of want to bring this in. I mean, it's not that bad.

  527. I want to be able to do this. I want to be able to do that.

  528. You know, surely you understand that these things that I'm doing

  529. for people are good. No, He wants you to get Paul's

  530. revelation. Paul's revelation.

  531. Everything I did before Christ was done, everything.

  532. Nothing was good. And he was actually doing good

  533. works according to the law. But when he was confronted with

  534. Christ, he says it's a mess, all of it.

  535. I don't want any of it. I'm.

  536. Who I am. I just want my destiny and Jesus

  537. said well. Come on, follow me.

  538. And you can discover it. Let me tell you.

  539. You do not. Want to stand before the Lord?

  540. One day and him reveal to you all you could have been.

  541. That one thought. Motivates my life.

  542. Motivates it. Because I'm not standing before

  543. Apostle Marcy. I'm not standing before

  544. Thaddeus. I'm not standing before Brian.

  545. I'm not going to stand before Karen.

  546. Not going to happen. I'm going to stand before.

  547. Jesus. And Jesus has a book that he

  548. wrote about me before I even came out of my mom's womb.

  549. And he's going to say, let me show you what I ordained for

  550. you. Let's see if what you did

  551. matches it. We can go page by page.

  552. Did you accomplish it? Because I was here to order your

  553. steps. It's not a problem, in fact.

  554. I'm jacked, excited about it. I was so pumped about it.

  555. I mean, I couldn't wait to reveal myself to you.

  556. I couldn't wait to bring you into the family.

  557. I couldn't wait for you to discover all that I had for you

  558. and the dominion that I had for you and the rulership I had and

  559. all the things that I wanted you to conquer.

  560. And the way the world was didn't matter to me because I raised

  561. you up above it. I pulled you up.

  562. I seated you in heavenly places with me.

  563. I called you to be able to speak the same things that I speak.

  564. Speak in My name was authorized by my name.

  565. I redeemed you from the law of sin and death.

  566. I healed your body. I removed your sickness and

  567. disease. I mean, I, I, I renew your mind.

  568. I mean, I made you brand new. And then I had to glorify body

  569. weight when the whole assignment's done.

  570. But in the process, you still could accomplish some amazing

  571. things. But when we sell the.

  572. Bible, where are you going to go when you die?

  573. Ask Jesus into your heart, because that's all that matters.

  574. That does not line up with Scripture.

  575. Because the Father is longing. To say, man, you didn't even

  576. have your first breath out of the womb and I've got this great

  577. plan for your life. It's amazing.

  578. It is the greatest adventure of your life and anything that you

  579. do outside it sells it short and there's no gain to you.

  580. In fact, you're at a loss. Some of the greatest names you

  581. know today you'll never see again, except until the Great

  582. White Throne Judgment and they're Emmys.

  583. They're Nobel Peace Prizes will matter nothing.

  584. And they would. Gladly trade them all.

  585. In throw them away, get rid of them because the most.

  586. Crazy thing will. Happen is when he pulls out the

  587. books. I don't know that the Lord would

  588. do this, but could you imagine if he pulled it out?

  589. Said Well, I'm going to read to. You what I.

  590. Had planned for you. And this happens in heaven,

  591. which is already tough because those who die without Jesus are

  592. in the grave in torment, and then he pulls them out, brings

  593. them to heaven to see the glory of God and come before his

  594. throne there. He doesn't take his.

  595. Court to. The grave.

  596. Come on now. No, I mean this.

  597. Happens in our judicial system. The judge don't walk down into

  598. the cell, set up a table. He pulls them out, brings them

  599. into. His courtroom air conditioned

  600. vacuum look nice. The judge comes in with all his

  601. regalia. You stand up, oh, that has got

  602. nothing when the King of Kings comes and takes the stand, bro,

  603. it's got nothing when the Father sits on that throne.

  604. And now you've been pulled up out of the grave and you've been

  605. brought up into the courts of heaven.

  606. And could it be that the Father with tears in his eyes saying

  607. this is what was ordained for you and begins to call out your

  608. name and read your life before you ever left your mom's womb.

  609. Then he gives you all the accounts of every time he came

  610. by your life and began to reveal himself to you and you knew he

  611. was there, but you chose this life and rejected him.

  612. It's. Going to be a tough day, you

  613. say? Well, we see that.

  614. Could be could very well the judgment seats.

  615. Going to be personal. Great White Throne judgments

  616. probably going to be public. Because God will let all the

  617. righteous. Know there's nothing ever done

  618. that I would not hold account to.

  619. Nothing. No one got away with anything.

  620. No one, all right, I know. It's heavy stuff, but it's

  621. powerful stuff when you're light.

  622. Well, praise God, I'm going to find out my destiny, right?

  623. Because. Again, how does God?

  624. Think towards you. The sum of his thoughts are

  625. amazing. And there's more than the sand.

  626. It's amazing. And if he would be willing to

  627. reveal that to us who are born of God, He's willing to reveal

  628. that to all mankind. So now that you're born again.

  629. Don't settle. Pursue.

  630. God to find. Every thought he has for you

  631. don't. Settle.

  632. For what I know, He thinks about me to save me, and that's all.

  633. No, find out about Him wanting to empower you.

  634. Find out about Him wanting to heal you.

  635. Find out about Him seeing you healed whole, completely healed.

  636. Walking in divine healing, walking in divine prosperity,

  637. walking in the fullness of God, walking in great maturity,

  638. walking through trials and tribulations, walking through

  639. the valley of the shadow of death.

  640. Yet fear, you fear nothing. You go through it, walking in

  641. places where He holds the mouths of lions.

  642. See yourself this way that he sees you as a champion more than

  643. a conqueror. Visualize these sums of.

  644. You because he doesn't look you like you just should be excited

  645. that I let you in the house. That's not his thoughts

  646. concerning you. His thoughts concerning.

  647. You is let us. Make men our aims.

  648. Let him have dominion. Let him rule.

  649. Let him reign like I do. OK, Proverbs. 2020. 4 says it

  650. this way. Man's steps are ordained by the

  651. Lord. He is personally.

  652. Interested in you? Never let the thought come to

  653. your mind. God doesn't care about me.

  654. Does God even see me? That is a lie.

  655. Wake up and say now, Lord, I know you.

  656. Were thinking about me before I woke up because you weren't

  657. sleeping and you already have. Ordained my life.

  658. In today's steps, help me to. Recognize I want to.

  659. Have an ear to hear exactly what I'm supposed to do.

  660. Because I have found through the course of.

  661. My walk with God that some of the things that I thought were

  662. actually not a whole big deal because it seemed pretty natural

  663. were huge markers of Revelation speaking to my life and put me

  664. on a course somewhere huge. Some of the most.

  665. Spectacular we would could call them accounts that I've had with

  666. the Lord were there only so that it would remind me when the

  667. trial came. Don't abandoned, don't quit,

  668. don't give up, don't stop because.

  669. You know you're called. Now, why do we say this?

  670. Proverbs 3. Five and seven, it says trust in

  671. the Lord. How do you do this?

  672. How do you allow God to direct your steps?

  673. Trust. God's never failed you.

  674. He'll never leave you nor forsake you.

  675. He'll always do His word concerning you.

  676. Always. No weapon formed against you

  677. can. Prosper.

  678. If God be for you, who could be against you?

  679. He is trustworthy. So you are to trust in the Lord

  680. with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding,

  681. which means you're going to have a path, a plan, a way to do.

  682. You're going to become naturally trained in some aspects.

  683. And he said now don't lean on that.

  684. Trust in me. He's not saying he won't use

  685. your understanding. He said don't lean on it.

  686. Don't lean on it to where you would violate what God is saying

  687. to do, because you're. Like no, I can't do that.

  688. This. Is the way to do it because you

  689. naturally are figuring it out. I cannot tell you how many

  690. pastors and Pastor John George can testify to this, how many

  691. are crippled in their vision because all they see is their

  692. checkbook and they're like. We can't do it.

  693. We cannot afford it. And they lean on the.

  694. Understanding of what they see in the natural financially to

  695. determine what they do, but not in this house because when I

  696. hear from God and then I go to Pastor Mike or Chief Financial,

  697. I said, hey, I'm thinking about this.

  698. And he said, well, this is in the count.

  699. Then we both laugh. Right, we laugh.

  700. Well, haha. Definitely not doing it that

  701. way. But it doesn't change what I've

  702. heard, so I don't. Lean on the account.

  703. I say, OK, Lord, I trust you because then when I do that in

  704. all my ways, I acknowledge him and he then what makes my path

  705. straight? He shows me what's currently

  706. crooked or around a bin that I can't see.

  707. He straightens it out so I can see how to do it and I may not

  708. ever have to touch the bank account.

  709. Ever come on you with. Me, but I'm moving.

  710. Towards it, as if it's already done.

  711. I'm already making steps. I'm talking about it, I'm doing

  712. it. I'm like, we're going to do

  713. this, we're going to do that, we're going to do this and we do

  714. it. Say Amen.

  715. Then it goes on to say. Fear the.

  716. Lord and turn away from evil. Do not be wise in your own eyes.

  717. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

  718. Are you hearing what I'm saying? So again, God saying, look,

  719. don't be wise in your own eyes. Don't think that you can

  720. accumulate so much natural knowledge that it's no longer.

  721. You don't have to bother God. I remember when I was working in

  722. Atlanta, GA years ago and all of a sudden, you know, conversation

  723. came up about God and someone said, well, you know, God gave

  724. you a brain meaning, you know, if you just use your brain then

  725. you don't have to bother God with these things.

  726. I'm. I am not a bother.

  727. To God, because the sum of his thoughts towards me, he's like,

  728. son, I just wish you would come and hang out.

  729. Did I remember I've told you this once before that one time

  730. the Lord in prayer time really corrected me.

  731. He said, Son, if you spend as much time with your wife as you

  732. do with me, you would not be married very long.

  733. Because I wasn't spending time with him.

  734. I would go to church, but I had no thoughts about him.

  735. I went in the Bible. I was letting a preacher preach

  736. to me only when I showed up. But I'm going to heaven when I

  737. die. I'm a good guy.

  738. I'm being nice to people. I was saved, but I had no

  739. relationship because I didn't spend time, he said.

  740. If you spend that kind of time with your wife, she'd leave.

  741. You say lot. So I had to change because he's

  742. like, you understand, honestly, he's at the foot of your bed the

  743. minute you. Open your eyes.

  744. He's like. Oh, oh, here we go.

  745. Another day, man. I got some things to say.

  746. Let's talk. Let me just talk to you.

  747. But if you just like, go on. I'm trying to paint a picture so

  748. tomorrow. Morning.

  749. You'll you'll visualize that when you get up and going, the

  750. Lord's like, hey, hey, hey, wait.

  751. Where you going? To the bathroom, You know, let's

  752. talk, you know, can we talk as you're going?

  753. I'll stand right here while you're fixing your makeup.

  754. Come on, we can have a conversation.

  755. But if you're just thinking. About what you're going to do.

  756. And not about him and not acknowledging him and not

  757. acknowledging the breath that he's giving in your breath and

  758. giving him some kind of praise or anything.

  759. Not spending time in the word, not having any.

  760. How's he going to give you the direction?

  761. So just say, OK, today I'm still.

  762. Looking at this and I'm talking, you know, well, we got meetings

  763. today and we talked about our meetings and that sounds

  764. natural, but the reality is all the while we're listening.

  765. What if God says don't do that meeting and there's something

  766. like I'm canceling that I'm. Canceling that, we're not doing

  767. that. Because he's talking to me.

  768. There's another direction, another step.

  769. I need to do this instead. Well, you know, you just Rob.

  770. You shouldn't. Can't.

  771. I know. But I am.

  772. Because I should be doing something else.

  773. Come on. Are you hearing me?

  774. So Proverbs 16 three. We're winding down now, says

  775. this. Commit your works to the Lord

  776. and your plans will be established.

  777. Do you want to be successful? Then just commit your works to

  778. the Lord. Again your life.

  779. Church is not a part of your life, it's your life and

  780. everything you're doing out is to be brought in.

  781. Because it is to glorify God. It's to expand his Kingdom, so

  782. commit. Your works to the Lord.

  783. And your plans will be established.

  784. Hallelujah, Amen. Isaiah 3021 says this.

  785. Your ears will hear a word behind you.

  786. This is the way walk in it whenever you turn to the left or

  787. to the right in that how encouraging is that that God is

  788. so if we follow. I mean, God just wants us to

  789. follow He's. Made a plea follow me but in

  790. order to do it deny yourself take up your calls start

  791. pursuing your destiny pursue it then you're following because

  792. again, God did not create you by accident.

  793. He did not create you without a purpose.

  794. And I'm going to be honest with you because so many are of the

  795. list we read at the beginning, they're living a tragic life

  796. because they don't know their purpose.

  797. Their life is so challenged because they never know what to

  798. do. They make.

  799. Tons of mistakes because they're.

  800. Busy, but nothing seems to be effective and then.

  801. Others are just. Failures have everything the

  802. world could offer, but they're empty.

  803. And I know believers. That are successful in the wrong

  804. assignment the man when you pursue God.

  805. He's right there to speak, to whisper, to talk, to say walk

  806. here, go there. And you're not going to

  807. understand it. In fact, he's not obligated to

  808. let you understand it, but he does want you to believe.

  809. He wants you to believe. Hallelujah, I said, He wants you

  810. to believe, and man, when you believe, it'll come out in the

  811. end. My Mama, it's amazing.

  812. Isaiah 4817 says this. Thus says the Lord, your

  813. Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

  814. I am the Lord your God who teaches you to.

  815. What's that word? I'm going for a.

  816. Full circle now. What'd he say?

  817. He. Said, If you want to come after

  818. me, deny yourself, take it to cross and follow me.

  819. For a man tries to save his life, he loses it.

  820. But if he tries to lose his life, he'll save it.

  821. What good is a man if he gains? What profit is there for a man

  822. who gains the whole world but loses his soul yet thus?

  823. Says the Lord your. Redeemer, the Holy One of

  824. Israel, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, Who

  825. leads. You in the way.

  826. You should go which means. The greatest gain?

  827. You can ever have on the earth is to be a follower of the path

  828. God has placed you on in the destiny.

  829. He's called you and he's not withholding that.

  830. So in this place today it. Could be that you're like, man,

  831. I'm challenged, what am I supposed to do?

  832. Good question. Good news, though, he wants to

  833. tell you and he says seek. What's he say?

  834. Seek first. Why the Kingdom?

  835. Because you're part of it. You have an assignment to it.

  836. You're not a mistake. And when you seek and say father

  837. in the name of Jesus by the leading of the Spirit of God

  838. because I'm a child of God. So I'm led by the Spirit.

  839. Show me who I am what I'm supposed to do Listen, not

  840. everyone's called to the ministry are going to function

  841. in ministry gifts. Many are called into the world

  842. in different sectors of society, but yet your steps are being

  843. ordered of the Lord and in. Your.

  844. Profession. It could be very much that God

  845. wants you to be within the profession that you're in, but

  846. He wants to give you creative ideas that changes the field.

  847. That gives you access to certain.

  848. Things so that you can show the Kingdom you can bring.

  849. People to the Lord. Are you hearing what I'm saying?

  850. This is amazing stuff that God has for us because he really

  851. just wants us to proffer prosper, profit, which means

  852. he's going to give you help along the way in everything

  853. you're assigned to do and cause it to come to pass.

  854. You cannot fail. I said you cannot fail.

  855. Your only failure is not following Hallelujah.

  856. So let's follow. Let's truly follow God, God's

  857. way, how he ordained it, what he said, Lord, I, I the only skin I

  858. have in the game is I died. And now here we go and I'm going

  859. after you because when I stand before you one day, I want you

  860. to be able to say let me read you your book.

  861. And I'm like, I did that. I did that.

  862. He goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I know, I know If this.

  863. These. Pages are like, like it's been

  864. copied. Well, I knew what I wrote, and I

  865. had my spirit tell you, and you followed it.

  866. If you get a print of ours, the. Forest, cows, grows and

  867. constellation. Guess what, if you give a second

  868. edition, they're the same. One's not different, they're the

  869. same. And God by His Spirit can tell

  870. you everything's written in that book about your life before you

  871. ever came, so that it actually comes to pass with your free

  872. will, accepting His path and plan for your life.