Sermon
No Weapon - The Reigning Church
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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So anyway, I appreciate Pastor Marshy ministering the word
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while we're gone. Amen.
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And I know you received, obviously, it's always good to
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hear the good testimonies, but it's good to be back in the
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house today with you. And so today I'm going to
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continue on our the reigning church theme.
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I'm going to probably bring this in multiple times.
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There's going to be a lot of messages that are centered
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around the church because the reality is there is nothing
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outside the church. And until we we understand that,
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then you're never going to be as successful as God intended you
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to be. That's like saying I can live
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for God without him. You can't do that.
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All right. And so, you know, that's like
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saying I can live for with God without the church.
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Well, you can't do that. I said you cannot do that again,
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The world tries to live for God without being born again.
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They do. They have an attempt.
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And for most they feel like they're doing a really good job
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because the Bible says there's a way that seems right to a man.
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But the end is and they think some of them think I'm doing a
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better job then the church. I remember 1 pastor in this
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community. I don't believe they're here
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anymore. But I was at a little pastors
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meeting and he had made this statement that just shocked me.
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You know when I say shocked, I mean I'm not shocked but I was
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just like really. He had some, some, some, some
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people in his church that were in a sexual sin, OK?
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They were in a sexual sin. And he knew they were in a
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sexual sin, OK. And then you know what?
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People come to church that are in sexual sin.
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I get that. Because people have got to grow.
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You said, Pastor Earl, would you not let people come here?
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They have sexual sin, They can come because eventually they're
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going to repent and move on with God.
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If they don't repent, they're not going to be able to stay
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anyway, OK, because you're going, you're, you have to rise
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up to the level and behavior of the Kingdom by the Spirit
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because our spirit man wants to live that way.
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But they were in sexual sin, OK. And and so he talked about the
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this couple that he had in sexual sin, knowing they're in
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sexual sin, but they helped serve the church, let them serve
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and said they serve better than the ones that were born again.
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Now what they were doing is they were putting forth a committed
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effort and they were doing things externally that the
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Church should do from an inward position because they weren't
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obviously serving better than the Saints because it's
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impossible for them to do so because if you're instinct
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because they were not born again, the sexual sin they were
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in, they were not born again. However he looks to that
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external and this is what can happen as a believer is we can
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neglect the precious gift we have and someone who doesn't
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have it but isn't to them they're like, well, the Bible
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says you should serve. The Bible says, and then they
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are in their own efforts are doing a more committed effort
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than the Saint that has accepted Jesus Christ our Lord and
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Savior. But because they do not value
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the church, they only value their personal salvation, not
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the Church of which Jesus values.
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OK. And so we need to value the
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church because the church is amazing.
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Look at this in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18.
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You know it, it says this and Jesus says, I say also to you
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that you are Peter. And on this rock I will what
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build come on my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
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against it, right? So who's building the church?
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Jesus. Not pastor, not apostle, not
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prophet, not teacher, not evangelist.
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It's not happening. Now, if one of those five fold
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ministries is acting like they're doing it, they're off.
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But there are those that are under that five fold ministry
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recognize I'm not doing this. It is the Lord.
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I'm just doing my part, OK? And I understand there's a
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plethora of churches out there and there's plenty of them that
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have challenges and issues. In fact, Jesus himself addresses
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seven of them in the Book of Revelation that he says where he
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is. And seven of his churches, of
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those five had problems, some serious problems of which the
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head of the church was correcting in grace.
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Under the grace dispensation. He was correcting those
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churches, and he was even warning them that if they do not
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make these corrections, that he would pull their lamp.
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That's right. Now, in this dispensation, the
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head of the church, he is micromanaging the body.
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I'm going to say that again. Jesus Christ is micromanaging
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the body. Now, how do we know this?
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Because not one idle word goes unnoticed.
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Everything you're doing and everything you're thinking, He's
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taking note of. Now that should get you excited
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and I'm going to deal with your negative mindset soon enough
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because unfortunately, everybody defaults to I'm in trouble
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mindset instead of glory to God. God gave me some information
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that releases who I really am. This is exciting because it is.
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I'm glad that there's nothing that goes without his notice
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because he'll never miss my faith.
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He'll never miss it, which means that he'll never not double
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negative. He will not withhold from me the
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blessing 'cause he sees it all. It does not escape his notice.
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And I'm glad he's micromanaging my life so much so that he's
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like, whoa, hold on, son, you don't want to do that.
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It really it it, it can hinder your potential.
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You're greater than that, man. I put much greater things in
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you. I'm so glad he's so detailed.
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I mean, again, we have no problem with this when it comes
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to athletics, when it comes to jobs, when it comes to your own
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personal budgets, you will have every bit of your money down to
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a penny. You will allow some send your
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child to some sports program where they will analyze even
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their stance and their nutrition.
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I mean talking about having someone control your life.
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Yet we subject ourselves, we'll have professionals come into our
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businesses and critique for what?
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So we can make more money. Please tell me what I'm doing
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wrong. And we don't say like, don't you
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come up in here and tell me what I'm doing wrong?
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No, please show me what I'm doing wrong so I can make more.
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And I'm like, Lord, come and show me what I'm doing wrong.
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So I'll show more glory. Show me what I'm doing wrong so
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that I can release more me. Amen.
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So really, Saints already do this and everything else.
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Let's get over here and do it in the church.
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I said, let's do it in the church.
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Praise the Lord. So Jesus is building his church
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and the gates of hell shall not prevail against what the church.
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Now, the first thing we need to get rewired on and that is this
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individualistic mindset of I am the church.
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You are not the church, you are in the church, you are a part of
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the church. There is no individual that is
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the church. So when this scripture says the
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gates of hell will not prevail against, that's not speaking to
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you personally, it's speaking to you in the church.
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This is why I say Jesus Christ did not come for humans as much
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as He came to fulfill God's word.
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And when He fulfills God's word, guess what?
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It includes humanity. Now He came to die for every
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human being. Why 'cause I'm here to actually
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fulfill the vision God had. I was sent for this purpose,
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which means it includes you. However, if you reject me,
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you're not getting in. So I'll do the vision whether
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you accept me or not. So it's really not about you
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personally as much as it is about fulfilling the will of
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their Father. But it does include you.
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So when the gates of hell will not prevail against the church,
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if you're in it, then the gates of hell can't prevail.
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It cannot prevail. It cannot prevail.
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Hallelujah. We need to see ourselves in the
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church, and this is not technically popular preaching.
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I get that, but it doesn't matter.
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I love the Word and I'm just going to stay with the Word.
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I don't care what's going on in the culture.
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I'm in a different culture. It's the Kingdom of God.
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I am not compromising this word for that purpose.
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I'm not going to do that. So we are the church because all
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of us are together. And when you're together and you
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see yourself not independent of someone, but I'm fully
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dependent. I'm an individual, I have my
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purpose. God has something just designed
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for me for the purpose of connecting with someone else in
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the whole body. That's why.
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And when you are releasing that, then guess what?
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There's a hedge of protection around you that no weapon formed
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against you could prosper. Can't happen, I said.
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It can't happen again. The Passion translation gets
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this right, he says. I give you the name Peter, a
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stone, and this truth of who I am will be the bedrock
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foundation on which I will build my church, my legislative
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assembly, and the power of death will not be able to overpower
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it. The the rock that Jesus builds
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his church is the revelation. He is the king, He's the Christ
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and he is King of the Kingdom of which I am a child of The king.
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He's the king of not the king of a king, He's the king of kings.
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And so we are jointed and fitted together to do something
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amazing. Look what it says in John
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chapter 10 verse 27 to 30. We can preach 3 hours since the
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food trucks are going to be here.
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So I'm really excited he says this.
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And John, no, I'm just kidding John, because some of you had
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already checked out and I can, I can lose you in one verse as it
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is. So you know, I need you to stay
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focused. John chapter 10, Amen. 27 to 30
John 10 chapter mention
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says this. My sheep hear my voice, and I
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know he does not have a flock of one.
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I said he does not have a flock of one.
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All right, He says, I know them and they follow me and I give
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eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one, no
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one will snatch them out of my hand.
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My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no
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one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
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I am the father are one. Now this verse here has been so
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mistranslated on so many occasions because the ones who
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mistranslate this one preaches this other passage of Scripture,
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OK? And so we need to make sure that
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we are moving in the right direction, OK?
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Are you ready for this? The Kingdom of heaven is like
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this shepherd who has 99 He won, leaves.
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He goes after leaves the 99. He goes to get the one and
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brings them back. When he finds the one we
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rejoice. OK, notice in this past says no
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one would be able to snatch you out of Jesus's hand or the
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Father. How did 1 sheep leave the 99?
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Come on let's preach this thing. How did the one if if it can
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never be snatched out of Jesus's or the Father hand?
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How in the world did that shepherd lose 1?
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Well, he didn't lose it, it wandered off itself.
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So make no mistake about it God, God is not letting go of you,
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not a devil in hell, a trial, a tribulation, a famine.
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Anything in this world can pull you away from the love of God or
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his hand. But you slap, can walk yourself
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wandering away. You can stretch yourself right
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back into the world. I'm done with this church stuff.
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I made Jesus the Lord of my life.
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I don't need that junk no more. I'm going to go do my own thing,
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my own ministry, my own stuff out all by yourself.
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Amen. Now she's filming right here.
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So if we can't get the angle, we can get hers and we can crop it
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into our YouTube. Hallelujah.
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Are you hearing what I'm saying? You can walk out of the church
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and try to claim you are it. Now notice in today's theology,
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you would think that Jesus prefers to leave the 99 and go
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hang out with the one with as much stuff out there attacking
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the church. There's so much information out
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there attacking the church, the institution of the church, the
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assembling of the church. There's so much attack.
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And obviously the enemy would attack because why?
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If he can get you off by yourself, then the wolves can
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begin to corral you right Now, what I love about the 99 that we
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don't preach on enough is that apparently there's enough
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strength in the 99 that the shepherd can leave them in a
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field by themselves and go look for the One.
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Which tells me that when the shepherd leaves the 99, the
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unification of the 99 is so powerful that a wolf won't even
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try to come into the fuck. When the shepherd's gone, glory
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to God. Why?
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Because when the 99 are unified, they are like the shepherd.
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Whoo glory to God man, we need to unify.
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We need to be jointed and fitted together.
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This should be your most exciting time of the week when
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you come here, not laying up on your couch watching your TV or
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even watching your YouTube of your favorite person who
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preaches Get me to the 99. Come on, get me to the 99.
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Because there is power in the flock.
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I said there's power in the flock.
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But notice when the the shepherd goes after the one, we rejoice.
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Why? Because if it stays out there,
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it will surely die. It will surely die, surely die.
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And so he picks up that sheep and he brings it back to the
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flock. There's no implication that when
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he finds it, he's like, I didn't like the 99 either.
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I'm so glad you left. I was ready to leave myself.
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You just gave me a reason to live.
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Leave now just sing to me a little bit.
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You know, just me and you like like all up in your house and
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you don't you aren't actively involved in a local body church
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and connected to other believers like you worshipping God by
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yourself and you think he's up there just thinking this is
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amazing. Know what he's saying is well,
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that sounds good. It sound better if you were in
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the church, sound better if you get ahead and get get together
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with a local bot with another flock, get with a flock.
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It would be even greater because all the while the Good Shepherd,
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the great shepherd, the chief chef, the chief shepherd is only
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doing this. Get back in church.
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Get back in church, Hallelujah. Come on, say Hallelujah in
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Isaiah 5417. The context of Isaiah 54 is not
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to an individual, it is to the nation of Israel.
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So when he says you, he's not saying to one person, he's
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saying to the nation. So this says no weapon that is
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formed against Israel or the nation or Zion will prosper.
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Every tongue that accuses the church in judgment you will
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condemn. This is the heritage of the
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servants, plural of the Lord, and their vindication is from
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me, declares the Lord. Do you want God to clear your
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name? Be in church.
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You want to be in the place where no weapon formed against
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you will prosper? Notice it doesn't say in church
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you'll never have a weapon formed against you.
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Never says that in life you're going to have weapons formed
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against you the minute you leave the domain of darkness.
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And coming to the Kingdom of his beloved son, the devil only
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wants to drag you back. He only comes for one purpose,
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to kill, steal and destroy. Now you may be out of His
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Kingdom, but he sure does do not, does not want you to know
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who you are in Christ with a group of people unified in a
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community that then you would run down His gates of hell.
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You would storm darkness as a group and change a community.
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He don't want that. He wants disunity.
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He wants your carnal minds to fight with each other.
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He wants you to gossip back, bite, get offended, not walk in
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forgiveness. He wants you to drag in all of
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your junk into the church when all the wild gods trying to
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strip that out of your mind so you can walk in unity as a
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believer. And he does this because all the
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while he is constantly forming some weapon to try to take you
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out. But when you stay with the
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church, it will not prosper. I said it will not prosper.
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And I can tell you right now, there are people in this room
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right now that you've had seasons away from the church and
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you know that it is not profitable.
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It was not. And all the while on the inside,
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all those years, you kept hearing, man, I should get back
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in church. But then the devil wants the
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weapon he formed against you. Well, you know, there's really
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no church out there. They're all just a bunch of
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liars. You can't really find one.
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Da, da, da. All these excuses just to keep
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you out. Well, you're imperfect.
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Why is it that everyone should accept your imperfections in
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church, yet you can't accept anyone else's imperfection as
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we're working them out? I mean, all of us are like
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wrinkled clothes, right? Amen.
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Our minds are like wrinkled clothes.
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I mean, God's Word is like the iron got the steam and it's
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working out those wrinkles, right?
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He's pressing us. He's trying to get us nice and
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sharp looking. Well, all of us have got a
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wrinkle somewhere that the iron of the Word just hasn't come
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over and pressed that thing out. Amen.
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Well, let him work on all of us. When you find somebody's
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wrinkle, go. Oh, OK.
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Well, let me pray for that. Lord.
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I think of the steam's coming. I'll be patient because I know
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you are. Man, you sure worked that
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wrinkle out in my life. I said you worked that wrinkle
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out in my life. Amen.
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So there's no weapon formed against the church that is going
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to prosper. Look what it says in Deuteronomy
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28, because again, I'm using these examples because again,
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people say, wait a minute, now you're in the old covenant.
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Listen, the Bible's about a king, his Kingdom and his royal
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offspring, and that hasn't changed.
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This is why I love the passions actual translation because if we
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translated it as the original Greek has church or ecclesia
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then we would see it is a legislative assembly.
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Because we are in a government not a religion.
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The government will rest on his shoulders.
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Isaiah chapter 96 says not the religion of Christianity, but
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the Kingdom of God, of which we are citizens of that Kingdom.
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So the reality is, is whether I'm in the old covenant or the
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new, it is a national emphasis. We are dealing with a nation.
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We are a holy nation in the new covenant.
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The church is like the embassy of God's Kingdom where his
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ambassadors collect upon the same place to receive
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instruction from the home country of heaven that we are to
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legislate our our to our to demonstrate and communicate down
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here in the earth. OK, so in Deuteronomy 28, again
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in the realm of national, he says this now if now it shall be
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if you diligently obey the Lord your God.
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Are we supposed to obey God in the new covenant?
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Yes, under grace doesn't mean you do not obey the Lord
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Actually under grace means you in your spirit can and wants to
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wants to your spirit's like we can do this.
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Your Spirit's like screaming at you by like, come on, man, we
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can do this, We can do this. Quit holding me back.
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Let me do this. Release me.
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All right. So now it shall be if you
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diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his
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commandments which I command you today.
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The Lord your God will set you what?
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How? Above all the nations of the
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earth is the church above it all.
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He's coming back for the church. OK.
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All these blessings will overtake you and will come upon
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you and overtake you if conditional statement you obey
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the Lord your God. Now jump down to verse 6.
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Blessed you shall be when you come in, and blessed shall you
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be when you go out. And that doesn't matter what's
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coming against you when you come in, or what's coming against you
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when you go out. I don't care what attacks
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happened this week before you came in, you're blessed.
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I don't care what attacks waiting for you when you go out,
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you're blessed. Why?
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Because verse 7, the Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up
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against you to be defeated. What before you?
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You're going to watch it. You're going to see them fall
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apart. Now.
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It's not because you want it to happen or you're like please let
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it happen. You're praying that it doesn't
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happen because you pray for your enemies.
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However, if they do not relent to pursue you, to destroy you,
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then God will defeat your enemy before you.
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They will come out against you. What one way?
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And they will flee before you, cause no weapon formed against
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the church will prosper. He sets a table before you in
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the presence of your enemies. Everything the enemy says you
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cannot have and cannot do. God sets the table and says, oh,
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you don't think they can? Are you talking that they won't?
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Are you trying to scheme so they can't?
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Are you trying to devise plans so you hinder it?
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Let me just go ahead and pull out the tablecloth.
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All right? Let me pull some plates in.
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Let me bring out the goblets. All right, I'm gonna start
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pulling in the food. What'd you say they couldn't
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have? Here's healing.
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Here's prosperity. Here's joy.
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Here's happiness. Here.
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Here's the fruits of the spirit. Here's the miraculous.
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And you're sitting there eating while they're watching
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Hallelujah. Because no weapon formed against
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the church is going to prosper. Can you say Amen?
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Look at Second Corinthians chapter 2, verse 11.
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We're doing good this morning so that no advantage would be taken
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of us by Satan. We are not ignorant of his
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schemes. God no longer wants you to be
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taken advantage of at all. I said He doesn't want you to be
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taken advantage of. Now if we got strict in context
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here within this thing, that passage is talking about the the
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attack of a fence and he's like, don't be ignorant of him
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attacking you to get offended with someone.
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So I previously thought you're going to forgive people because
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you were forgiven. Don't you bite hold of that trap
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because it take you out again. The enemy just wants to once you
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get offended because see, when you start getting offended, the
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person you become offended by, there's nothing they can do that
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you don't see something wrong. Look at the way they're looking
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and they don't even know you're in the room, right?
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Get that smirk. I know what they're thinking.
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Have you noticed how they got they have people now that you
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watch on news they are they are able to describe people's body
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language. I mean, that's pretty
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presumptuous. No one knows the mind of the man
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except the mind of the man. Now unless God literally gives
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you insight by the Spirit, it's easy for us to misinterpret body
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language. And here's the thing, if they
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are a born again child of God and you're seeing you're trying
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to put something on your brother that you should be just praying
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for them, you're of the wrong spirit.
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When we're doing that. However, in a general sense, no
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advantage would be taken of us, of Satan, for we are not
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ignorant of his schemes, plural. He has more than one scheme of
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trying to have to get you offended.
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OK, the amplified classic, I'm going to do a few translations,
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says it this way to keep Satan from getting the advantage over
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us. We are not ignorant of his Wiles
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and intentions. The easy standard version says
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this or English standard version says this so that we would not
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be outwitted by Satan for we are not ignorant of his designs.
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Another translation instead of saying outwitted says
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outsmarted. So we are to not be outsmarted
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by Satan. He he has been around way longer
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than us. He is well versed in his
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tactics. But when you yield to God and
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know his word, then it will divulge the plans of the devil.
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You'll be able to understand intentions because sometimes the
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devil will try to pull you out through prosperity.
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Your company comes to you and says, man, you have been doing
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such an awesome job. You know what we want?
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We want to transfer you. We want to take you to another
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another part in the nation. And we're going to give you a
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big raise because you're amazing.
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And if you don't watch out, you don't understand the intention
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behind that, that the devil will give you prosperity to take you
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out of the church. And there are many Saints that
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take promotion and and and there's no church to go to.
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You understand, the US, we make high assumptions anyway.
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And the assumptions are I've got my Congo sweat on.
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We make high assumptions that because again, we live our
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church life so individualistic or really independent.
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Well, you know what, I can find a church anywhere.
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Can you? We're going to be preaching on
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finding your fit more. We'll address that question
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because again, God can prosper you from any location.
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Now, that doesn't mean anyone who moves is wrong.
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I'm not saying that. I'm just saying if you're moving
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without understanding the body you are to be planted in and you
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see that you're a part of that actual vision, not it will
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accommodate us so that we can be promoted and make more money.
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All right, Hallelujah. I'm not of this world, so I
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preach this way because I'm not of this world, you know, so
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there's nothing that this world can offer me that would Take Me
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Out of the plan and purpose of God or the place He's planted
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me. Praise the Lord because he's too
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big, so I'm not outsmarted by the devil.
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Praise the Lord. I mean, the devil, when he first
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tempted Jesus, appealed to his flesh to something that would
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help Jesus feel better. Bro, you must be hungry.
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You must be hungry. Yeah, I'm hungry.
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I'm with you. You know what?
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It's obviously that your Father cares for you.
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I mean, we already know that the Scripture says that you can turn
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stuff. Why don't you turn that bread,
-
this rock into a bread man? Feed yourself.
-
I mean, obviously your daddy would want to feed you.
-
What do you think Jesus says? Do you think that if, if a son
-
asked for a loaf of bread, would he give him a right?
-
Like we got something going on different here.
-
He's appealing to things that he can identify with and the devil
-
will try to identify with your humanity just to pull you off
-
Hallelujah. Yes, good word.
-
The good news Bible says it this way in order to keep Satan from
-
getting the upper hand over us for we know what his plans are.
-
Amen. I mean, when it, you know, when
-
people testify, bless them. I understand.
-
And again, I'm, I'm not, I am addressing things.
-
The, the role of the fivefold ministry is to equip the Saints
-
man. If we can't address things, then
-
we have become extremely handicapped.
-
And again, I am here to help you.
-
And so in order to help you, you're, you have to involve your
-
mind. You, you do not need to believe
-
anything I say because I say it. You need to search the scripture
-
for yourself. I mean, we really have to
-
continue to address things for us to grow as a body, because
-
you understand if we do not the the the independent thinking is
-
just ashes into my heart and save me.
-
And when I die, I go to heaven. The rest of the stuff works
-
itself out. And then you never really mature
-
and the devil whips you all the time.
-
Now, yes, you can go to heaven. I get that, but that's not the
-
point. That's not the point of the
-
Bible. The point of the Bible is to
-
help us grow, develop and strengthen us.
-
OK, so at times, you know, I have to address certain things
-
in order for us to, you know, overcome stuff, you know, so
-
when people are like, man, the devil, you know, he's just
-
running me down, right? Well, yes, he's run trying to
-
run everyone down. The The thing is, is find out
-
what His plan is. How do you find out what His
-
plan is? You don't talk to Him.
-
Now, Devil, what you think you're doing to me, I demand to
-
know I have authority over you. You're not supposed to talk to
-
him. Just shut up and come out.
-
Shut up and come out. OK?
-
Jesus is not asking you to get into a conversation with Him at
-
all. OK?
-
You ask your heavenly Father what's what is going on here?
-
Is there something behind the scenes I'm missing?
-
And He will reveal to you that plan instead of us just
-
accepting that we're being ran after.
-
We know we're being ran after because first Peter 5/8 tells us
-
Hallelujah. Be of what sober spirit, be on
-
the alert for your adversary. The devil prowls around like a
-
roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
-
So know this, the day you made Jesus the Lord of your life, it
-
did not stop the devil from wanting to destroy you.
-
In fact, the devil's Wiles or schemes are so tactical that I
-
perceive that he gets into a layer of joy even if you get
-
born again because he to him he won't see it so much as lost as
-
a tactical advantage to get you off later.
-
I perceived because he's not omnipresent that once you get
-
born again he leaves you for sure.
-
And I'm not even saying he was around the day you've got born
-
again. You understand.
-
It's not like he's just following you people out like,
-
you know, some of y'all, some people out like they have a
-
personal attachment to Satan that he like follows them.
-
It's like always there. No, he's one being that cannot
-
be everywhere and brand new believers are not raising the
-
gates of hell, not trying to knock them down, they just
-
excited they're born again. OK, is he, could he, can he be
-
aware through the communication of his principalities and
-
powers? Yes.
-
However, I would surmise he's like, leave him alone and let
-
you grow so that he can come attack later.
-
Because once you start telling everybody how you're different
-
because you are and the joy you have and you're insured because
-
you know how many people in the world have this testimony of
-
believers? Oh, well, just wait.
-
They'll get out of it. It's just a matter of Tom, you
-
know how many people have been here that went to church?
-
They're not even going anymore. They'll be the same.
-
So your zeal means nothing to them.
-
Your zeal doesn't even make an impression in their life because
-
they've had too many be zealous like that once they were born
-
again. But only at the first trial.
-
And how do we know there's going to be a trial?
-
Because of the seed of the word, The seed of the word.
-
The parable of the seed of the sower is that it goes into the
-
ground. That seed turns into a plant.
-
That's called conversion. But because it has, it's on the
-
rocks and has no firm root to itself, right?
-
Or to the wayside, which wayside is the one that he grabs
-
immediately? There's no firm root in that
-
plant. What happens?
-
It gets plucked out When the first trial and tribulation they
-
abandoned their walk. But in the abandoning of their
-
walk, they have reinforced in others why they should not
-
follow Jesus. But if you pass the first trial,
-
then he will go after you with the second.
-
And the second is prosperity, the deceitfulness of riches, the
-
cares of life. Man, you're doing so much for
-
the church. My gosh, you served there all
-
the time. You've been doing this for 10
-
years. Don't you think you need a
-
break? Let somebody else do this.
-
I mean, pat yourself on the back.
-
Seriously, go ahead and deny planning center and tell them
-
you know you want to go back to less because you know you got
-
other things going on now. Oh, don't shout me down.
-
Amen. Now again, the only person who
-
gets offended with that statement is someone who is
-
dealing with this challenge. I'm saying this to encourage you
-
don't get caught in that walls. Stay connected with the flock
-
because no weapon formed against the and the church has two
-
things they do. The church has an inward
-
function and an external function, an inward function and
-
an external function. And if the inward function is
-
not properly, then the external 1 is not functioning right at
-
all. In fact, if you do not have an
-
internal function, I would liken you to a person who is a
-
fornicator and is getting people pregnant all the time.
-
But you won't take the responsibility to father the
-
children that you're getting pregnant.
-
You just want somebody to be born and then you abandon them
-
and go on. And you're like, well, the Lord,
-
the Lord is supposed to bring on.
-
He wants you to bring them to church.
-
They're supposed to become disciples, not converts.
-
Go into all the world and make disciples, not converted babies.
-
Amen. I would say it this way.
-
Don't whore around with God's Word, Connor.
-
Do not use that as a real. Hallelujah.
-
You're not going to see that as a real, it's not going to
-
happen, Amen. The most of the stuff I say is
-
for us as a church, you know, and I'm, I'm, I'm excited about
-
that because you're the most important people on the face of
-
the planet to me is who God gave to me to help oversee for him.
-
Amen. But man, the enemy's out there.
-
And the good news is it doesn't matter.
-
I said it doesn't matter. Isn't that amazing?
-
God's not intimidated with an anointed cherub that he kicks
-
out of heaven. He and he doesn't even tell.
-
He doesn't even tell Adam. He just says Adam, don't eat the
-
fruit, keep the garden. That is enough for him to
-
overcome the Wiles of the devil. That's enough.
-
You know what, you have enough word in you to overcome every
-
scheme against you right now, every scheme.
-
And you need to be more of a critical thinker when you make
-
decisions in the spirit realm. You need to start actually
-
examining these thought processes you have.
-
It says you are to take captive every thought.
-
We are raising up a generation of no one thinking.
-
God did not save you to make your mind nothing.
-
He saved you to actually give you a mind, Amen.
-
So that now we can yield to the Spirit and overcome.
-
All right, Psalms chapter 2, we're going to press on and be
Psalms 2 chapter mention
-
finished. Psalms chapter 2 is to look at
Psalms 2 chapter mention
-
verse one. This is good news.
-
Say this is good news. It says, why are the nations so
-
angry? Why do they waste their time
-
with feudal plans? The kings of the earth prepare
-
for battle. The rulers plot together against
-
the Lord and against his anointed. 1 Let us break their
-
chains, they cry, and free ourselves from slavery to God.
-
Verse 4 But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
-
The Lord scoffs at them. Then in anger he rebukes them,
-
terrifying them with his fierce fury.
-
For the Lord declares, I have placed my chosen king on the
-
throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.
-
Hallelujah. The king proclaims the Lord's
-
decree. The Lord said to me, You are my
-
son today I have begotten you. Now before I read verse 8, know
-
this, that Jesus Christ is that son and Jesus Christ is that
-
king. But that king died for you and
-
me and he laid his seed in the ground.
-
And because he he died and went in the ground and his seed went
-
in the ground, he's able to produce after his own cod.
-
Which means now you are a child of God.
-
You are the son of a king. You are the king of a king.
-
He didn't die for himself, He died for you, and he didn't die
-
for just you, he died for us all.
-
So again, we are kings of the earth under the King the
-
Anointing 1. And no matter what the nations
-
are doing to form weapons against us, they will not
-
prosper. Only ask and I'll give you the
-
nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.
-
You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay
-
pots. Now then, you kings, that's us.
-
Act wisely, right? These kings are not us.
-
Excuse me. Now then you kings, that's the
-
ones of the act wisely. Be warned, you rulers of the
-
earth, meaning you scheming, you need to quit.
-
Serve the Lord with reverential fear and joy.
-
Rejoice with trembling. Submit to God's royal Son and He
-
will or He will become angry and you will be destroyed in the
-
midst of all your activities, for his anger flares up in an
-
instant. But what joy for all those who
-
take refuge in Him. Man, when you take refuge in
-
Him, guess what? You have His protection.
-
You come under the shadow of His wings, you run into His strong
-
tower, and you are saved. Glory to God.
-
Hallelujah that there's nothing going on in your life that God
-
has not already caused you to triumph in.
-
This is why the church is the triumphant church.
-
The church that Jesus is building does not know what it
-
means to be defeated. It does not know what it means
-
to lose ground. It does not know what it means
-
to be overtaken. It it it, it deals with trials.
-
It suffers an onslaught of things to come after it, but it
-
knows how to stay in the position of victory because we
-
stay united together. I didn't have this verse, but
-
put this one up. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 16.
-
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 16. It's so important we see this
-
before we jump over to the 6th chapter in closing, because man,
-
when the church stays unified, it's a powerful force and Jesus
-
Christ is coming back for the church.
-
And this church is raining. It is not suffering.
-
It's not beat down. It's not barely holding on.
-
It is running. And the power of the Spirit,
-
from whom the whole body, say whole body, being fitted and
-
held together by what every joint supplies according to the
-
proper working of each individual part, causes the
-
growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
-
So, ma'am, when we stay with the flock, there's such power that
-
He has given us. We are His Church.
-
I never want to be the One. Let me just say this way, you
-
know how selfish the one is that is willing to pull the shepherd
-
away from the 99? Because it's not like you're
-
going to be more in the Shepherd's presence.
-
Oh, y'all don't want it? You're not more in the
-
shepherd's present because you wander off.
-
I remember Dean Hawk who was a youth pastor with Rhema and and
-
he shared this particular, I believe it was him.
-
It could have been Brent Bailey and Keith neighbors.
-
So one of those youth pastors. So please forgive me.
-
I don't know which one it is specifically.
-
Now one of those former youth pastor of Rhema that is correct
-
would send balloons to students at school when they miss service
-
to remind them, hey, we missed you.
-
They just wanted them to know, hey, we missed you.
-
Then they stopped doing that after a season because they
-
began to realize that students intentionally did not come
-
because they wanted the individual attention when in the
-
group they were investing in them.
-
I mean, is God not ministering to you now?
-
Now you're going to have a long time, don't get me wrong.
-
But that alone time is not so that you only are alone.
-
It's so you can bring your supply.
-
I mean, if you're alone, to be alone, just to stay alone, to
-
keep your own alone so that you can be filled up alone.
-
The Bible never says for you to keep your supply, you're
-
supposed to bring it. You're supposed to bring your
-
supply, which means you should overflow that not only do you
-
have enough, you have enough to give away glory to God.
-
So be close with this passage of Scripture in Ephesians chapter
-
6, verse 10 to 13, you're ready to shout.
-
You're ready to just go ahead and put your flesh down and jump
-
up for joy. Anyway, when I was in when I was
-
teaching on Kingdom economics to the school there in Congo, one
-
particular session when I was dealing with faith is the
-
currency of the Kingdom. OK, and they that my interpreter
-
got so excited and and she was holding herself, unlike my my
-
brother there. He was like when he got to
-
Revelation, he'd go and then he'd release it.
-
We couldn't film every woo. It was awesome.
-
Amen. And so she was.
-
She got so excited about what she had not seen before.
-
Let me tell you, she was so excited.
-
She came to me after in tears because she was the one who
-
interpreted the forest in French for us.
-
She came to me in tears and she said, Pastor Earl, will you
-
forgive me? I was like, why?
-
I was the one that was tasked with translating your book and I
-
allow things to get in the way. And I delayed because I didn't
-
bring it. I didn't have it quick enough to
-
produce it, to take copies. And she realized that her
-
tardiness cost that word in written form to be released into
-
her nation. And she was in tears.
-
She said, forgive me. I should have stayed diligent to
-
get that thing accomplished. And I said, I forgive you.
-
We're going to get it done, and we're going to get it sent here.
-
It's coming to the Congo. It's coming, OK?
-
Because you know what? We all have places that God
-
wants to deploy what He's given us to others.
-
It's not for me. It's not my understanding of
-
God's word. It's for all that wants to hear.
-
OK, so it's very important. And she got so excited.
-
She said I just wanted to jump and shout.
-
I said, well, go ahead and do it then.
-
So she just went crazy on the platform and just began to
-
shout. And everybody out there,
-
students like, what in the world just happened, right?
-
Because we were done. I mean, we had finished and we
-
were on a break. And that's when she just let it
-
go, shouted, danced, jumped around.
-
I danced with her. Right now, I didn't have a
-
dance, but I sure wasn't going to let an opportunity of someone
-
who was doing something with the Lord to pass me by.
-
So I just yielded anyway. Are you ready to yield on this
-
last scripture together? Look at this in Ephesians
-
chapter 6 verse 10 through 13. I'm going to read it out of a
-
translation called The Remedy. This is awesome.
-
Finally, stay strong. Are you hearing me?
-
Now listen, we just read in first Peter chapter 5 that we
1 Peter 5 chapter mention
-
are to stay sober in spirit. To stay sobered in spirit
-
implies that you can get intoxicated in your spirit.
-
The number one way that the devil intoxicates your spirit is
-
that he convinces you to chase after many voices.
-
Even in the church. Not every overseer is for your
-
ears. There are powerful truths.
-
In fact, I was had a conversation with some ministry
-
leaders concerning prophecy and they said one reason why they
-
did not release prophecies in their ministry is because a lot
-
of times when that prophecy went, it was for the meeting
-
they were in more than beyond. And they said you have to have
-
discernment that is that prophecy something beyond.
-
Again, when we hear stuff, a lot of times we just try to take it
-
for us. And most of the time we take it
-
without the examination. OK.
-
The the the weapons the enemy uses are not just blatant sin
-
where you're like, oh, that's obvious.
-
You know, like for a man, you walk around the corner and some
-
lady, you know, takes all their clothes off real quick.
-
You know, well, that isn't God. That's going to be pretty
-
obvious, right? OK.
-
I mean, you would hope you would figure that out, you know,
-
right. Or, you know, someone comes as
-
the Lord told me to get you so we could go on this bank and rob
-
it. You were going to help me today,
-
right? I mean, surely you would know.
-
Nah, that's not it. OK.
-
No, the enemy comes in other ways and tactics to try to get
-
you so saturated with voices, especially those that aren't
-
even supposed to speak directly into your life in the season
-
you're in. So you have to have some
-
discernment there anyway. Finally, be strong in your
-
connection and devotion to the Lord and His mighty power.
-
Arm your minds with God's complete set of armor so that
-
you can join the ranks of Christ's soldier and stand
-
successfully in the face of the devil's schemes, right?
-
You can stand successfully, right?
-
Verse 4 For our struggle is not say, is not against flesh and
-
blood. Do not be mad with another human
-
being. Other human beings become tools
-
by which the enemy uses to say things to you and even in the
-
body. But they are not your problem.
-
They have unfortunately entertained the wrong thought
-
and are acting on it. Pray for them, forgive them, and
-
you keep doing your assignment. Do it, because that can't stop
-
you anyway. Can't stop you.
-
It will if every time you see them you're mad.
-
All right, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, with
-
man made weapons, but against all individuals, entities and
-
powers that misrepresent God and darkened minds, and against
-
Satan, the originator of lies about God and his cohorts who
-
have misrepresented God in the heavenly realms.
-
Therefore, arm your mind with God's full set of armor so that
-
when Satan's grand deception comes and it seems the heavens
-
are about to fall, you are able to stand.
-
And when you have done everything to present the truth
-
and expose Satan's lies, don't falter.
-
Stand, stand. You stand.
-
You stand because no weapon formed against the Church can
-
prosper. You present the truth, You stay
-
with the truth. You don't come off the truth,
-
and you stay with the flock. Woo.
-
Nothing can defeat you cannot be defeated.
-
We are stronger together than we'll ever be isolated.
-
Can't happen, can't happen. Then again, for some you're
-
going to be connected with some a little more than others in the
-
body. Again, my shoulder sure hangs
-
out with my collarbone a lot more than it does with my leg.
-
Now it doesn't mean they don't meet because when I go over and
-
stretch they get pretty close, but he hangs out here.
-
But it doesn't say I hate my legs.
-
No, they're like, thank God for the legs because the legs took
-
us over to the cabinet so I could open up the cabinet and
-
get some food. Hallelujah, Amen.
-
So we need each other and all the more as we see the day
-
approaching. So stay with the flock, stay
-
with the church because it's not the individual that the gates of
-
hell don't prevail against. It's the church which includes.