Victory Through The Blood 1

Let's lift our bibles up, thank you.

Worship, team Beautiful, and wave our bibles around.

Make Jesus glad and the devil mad.

Say this together.

Say, heavenly Father, I am so glad to be here today.

I come with an open heart and a willing mind.

I want more.

I won't stand for less because, jesus, you paid for me to have the maximum benefit and I believe I received today out of the Word of God what belongs to me.

In Jesus' name, amen, you can be seated.

Praise God.

Woo man, it just gets gooder and gooder.

Let's look at 1 Peter, chapter five, and also, while you're turning toward the back of the book, get Revelation 12.

Some of you already know where I'm headed.

Some of you are going to find out.

Praise the Lord.

1 Peter and Revelation 12.

We look at verse five, chapter five rather, and verse eight.

The apostle Peter is writing to the church and he says be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, must not be, then, a concept.

Most Christians that call themselves Christians, according to Barna Barna study groups, say that evil is the concept and the devil is just basically a symbol.

I don't know about a symbol being able to eat me up.

Jesus didn't believe in that.

A lot of people have drifted away from what the Word said.

He said be sober, be vigilant, don't be a victim, don't be prey, because your adversary is looking, he's seeking whom he may devour.

He may devour it means it's not an absolute Whom.

Verse nine resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

I hear people say, well, I must be doing a whole lot for Jesus.

I tell you, the devil really is really attacking me.

Well, quit thinking so highly of yourself.

I mean the devil attacks everybody he can.

It's a full time job.

He's not here to just steal your parking place at the mall.

He's not here just to give you a bad hair day, amen.

He's here to kill, to steal and to destroy Whom, resist steadfast.

Steadfast means it's not a first round knockout.

Remember last week we've been talking about the last two weeks, the overcomer and the characteristics of those who overcome Every believer by virtue of the fact that you have the greater one living only inside of you, the Holy Spirit, and the fact that you've been dealt the measure of faith.

Amen.

This is the victory that overcome at the world, even our faith.

By virtue of that, then, you're basically, as far as God is concerned, you're, an overcomer.

And what are you overcoming?

Well, the world.

Well, what's in the world?

Well, the devil and demon bowers.

What else is in the world?

We talked about all that, you know, a couple of weeks ago.

Seen it?

Well, jesus did away with it.

Sickness Well, jesus took our sickness.

Bondages of all sorts, fear there's a lot of things in the world.

Poverty, lack, that's in the world and we overcome every bit of that.

We're overcomers.

But it's not a one punch knockout in the first five seconds of the first round.

I mean, you know we talked about.

You know how I watch boxed and matches.

I knew all of you judged me real harshly on that.

One Pastor loves violence.

Yes, I love to watch.

It Reminds me.

The devil is defeated.

Lonnie Rex told me one time you could make a sermon out of anything.

I said that's right, consider that a compliment.

I'll thank him in it that way.

So he said be steadfast in faith, resisting, resist.

Don't let him eat you.

He's looking for prey.

Isn't that the way the devil?

You know he's like a lion.

He's not a lion.

Lions have sense enough not to cry and roar while they're hunting.

They do it after they kill and while they're eating.

Then they roar and let everybody know.

Don't you touch my meal, right?

But he roars and has stung.

He lets you know he's coming, so that's why we ought to be paying attention.

The Holy Ghost will let you know when the devil is knocking on your door, when he's creeping up down the street looking, and he's looking in your window.

The devil, you know, he might not have even done a thing, he might just be looking through your window.

But you know the Holy Ghost can give you an alert.

There's a message on your phone.

Are y'all with me now Talking about this morning?

Victory through the blood.

It ties right into the overcomer and you notice, if we didn't talk about the blood last week because I knew I was going to preach about it this week during communion, I have a strategy.

Sometimes I like to be strategic in the messages and you know, sometimes the Holy Ghost will change everything and give me something at the last minute.

But you know, as a pastor, my job is to give you the tools for victory.

You should come to church and you should leave with information.

You should leave with your guns loaded with all the latest ammo.

We got better ammo today than they ever had.

In my 38 special I've got these little old snub nose bullets and they're plus P.

The designation is plus P, which means when they come out the barrel of my little old 38, it's just a 38.

It's not that big a buck.

I've had 357 mag.

I even had a 44 magnum one time.

It was brutal shooting a 44 magnum.

It's just you know.

You know you're just going to be kicked in the hand by a mule and then you know what it's like.

Dirty Harry, do you feel lucky?

He carried a 44 mag.

So I've had bigger pistols and I've got a 40 caliber automatic semi automatic, I should say.

But my 38 is just nice and small and light and I can kind of just throw it in a pocket and it doesn't look too bad.

You know what's that in his pocket and kind of know what's in my pocket.

But plus P means don't dare mess with me when it hits human flesh.

I mean that's what it's designed.

It's designed to take large chunks.

That's why you don't want to sit on the front row.

I spit sometimes.

Did that hit?

Y'all that hit.

We moved y'all back.

Y'all remember, y'all moved back a little bit, all right, so the devil is looking for victims.

He's looking for unaware people that are unaware.

And then let's look at Revelation.

I thought I forgot about that, but I didn't.

12.

Revelation, chapter 12.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

And this is John.

See, peter and John knew something about the devil.

John wrote the verses that we've based our teaching on the overcomer verse John, chapter four, and verse four first John.

Five four, first John.

So here, john again, in Revelation, chapter 12.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

I'm going to start with verse 10.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for or because the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God, day and night?

And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death.

Who are they, the accused?

Who is him the accuser?

Who is that?

That's Satan.

He's come down, and of course this is written about the last days.

The devil's been thrown out of heaven a long time ago, but he knows his time is short.

He's angry.

Verse 12, let's look at 12.

Therefore, rejoice you, heaven.

See, why are we supposed to rejoice when the devil's thrown down here?

Because we've got power over him.

Rejoice you, heavens, and ye that dwell in them.

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knows that he has but a short time.

This was written 2,000 years ago.

I think he's getting just about max mad right now Because he knows that time is just about out.

There's coming a day when his day is done.

Not predicting and not prophesying, I'm just knowing that it's closer than we were and we ought to live like that.

We ought to live with that idea that we are in the end days and that we have an enemy that is pulling out, as it were, all the stops.

Ephesians says to put on the whole armor of God that you may stand with, stand in the evil day To stand against the wiles of the devil or the military strategies.

Again, this is not a first round knockout.

This is a championship struggle.

Well, if Jesus or did feed, yeah, I know, but we've got to enforce that defeat and it's never instant, or seldom.

I should say seldom instant.

We seldom get to knock him out in the first round of any contest.

You know, really, we made the point last week, the week before, that that overcome means to prevail, or to contend, or to subdue, and that does not indicate a knockout.

It can, but seldom is it.

I mean why?

Because he has got strategies, he's got an army, he's got, he's looked at you, he's watched you, he's come up with a strategy to overtake you and overwhelm you, to devour you.

That's what he wants to do.

And if he can't devour you, he wants to devour what you have or destroy what you've got.

Are y'all with me now?

So I'm talking about today, victory through the blood, and these verses give us, you know, a lot of tips.

And the blood, oh, thank God for the precious blood of Jesus, amen.

And again, the blood has lost a lot of favor in the church.

People don't want to talk about the blood in our bloodless.

When I say bloodless, I don't mean, I mean divine blood, bloodless.

There's a lot of blood in the streets.

There's a lot of blood of innocent babies being shed every day by the Amen.

Thank God for Arkansas, thank God for Oklahoma.

Oklahoma, I think, was the latest one.

Oh, I'll tell you, planned Parenthood is going berserk.

It's a money game, folks.

You know that it's all about the money.

All right, so be sober, watch all the time.

You know soldiers have to watch, aren't we soldiers?

Soldiers have to keep a watch.

Shepherd's watched.

A lot of churches have been broken into and destroyed because the shepherd, the pastor, didn't watch anything.

My job is to watch.

My job is to pick up things that are happening before they happen.

So we have to watch in prayer and listen to the Holy Ghost, and many times we're warned.

We just have to be able to be alert.

Amen, not be afraid, be alert.

Being afraid is one thing, being alert is another thing.

So we overcome the devil by three things the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony and by not loving our lives so much that we don't die.

What does it mean die?

What it means dying out to our own fleshly desires.

So let's look at them quickly here.

We overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb, See.

So let's meditate and confess the scriptures concerning the blood, lots of them in the Bible, one that I quote every day of my life 1 Peter, 1.18.

Lord, I thank you that I've been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot.

I remind myself every day, first thing in the morning, that His precious blood was shed for me, to redeem me.

I've been redeemed, I've been bought out from under.

The ransom has been paid.

The devil has no hold over me.

And you know, if you just never think about it and you never really apply it, talk about that in a moment then it's really not very much value.

It's not a concept, it's real blood that exists.

Where is it?

Well, it's in heaven.

It's at the throne of God Talk more about that next week, but that's where it is.

You want to know where the blood is.

It's there.

He took it and God is reminded continually.

When he sees us, he sees the blood.

Jesus is pointing to His blood.

He says all there are hours, they belong to you, father.

My blood was shed for them.

Woo, glory to come on.

Let's lift our hands.

Thank God for the blood.

Romans 5.9 says we're justified by His blood.

One of the major ways the devil is able to kill, steal and destroy, even in Christians' lives, is because they don't have a reality of their own righteousness.

They have condemnation, they have guilt and shame on a continual basis because they live.

You know, in this filthy world it's hard to even walk down the street without getting defiled.

It's hard to even turn the television on and just try to watch something, and then of course you might watch something wholesome, but then the ad is filthy and dirty and nasty.

I saw some trans ads.

They're running on Hallmark now.

They're building up the trends.

This midterm election is going to be a bellwether.

It's going to tell us a whole lot about America as a nation and whether it's going to survive or not, because if we don't get control of the Congress I would say it's over.

And then it's certainly no lead pipe cinch because we have so many rhinos this worst excuse for Supreme Court justice in the history of our nation.

It was confirmed by several Republicans that ought to be run out of town on a rail and several wanted to vote and didn't have the courage to.

They're woke and secret, guess what.

They're going to come out of the closet at some point when we really need their vote.

They're going to come out.

They didn't have to vote for her to get confirmed, so they just stayed back in the background.

But we know who they are.

Are y'all with me now?

But all that aside, you know we have a better covenant than America does.

We can be blessed and are blessed, right in the middle of all the mess that we seek, because the blood of Jesus is applied, every need is supplied.

Hallelujah, we're justified.

See, so we have this guilt.

You know we got to get rid of sin conscious, get righteous conscious.

Why are we righteous?

Because of him, we're in him.

Does that mean we can do anything?

Well, we need to close the gap in our behavior.

We talked about impulse control the other night.

Impulse control let's not be people of high emotional quotient or high emotional responses to everything.

We can all bend out of shape every time you turn around.

Romans 3.25 said that he is the propitiation for our sins through faith in the blood.

Propitiation means mercy seed.

In other words, he paid for all of the sin.

We have no sin problem.

All we have to do when we miss the mark is confess it and he's faithful and just to wipe the slate clean.

He forgets about it that instant.

There's no more carryover, there's no penance.

You Catholics, quit thinking about penance or anything.

You can't do anything by begging God and all this stuff, that cathedral in the Mexico city, some of the people that believe in all that Mary stuff.

They'll crawl on their knees from the mountains all the way to Mexico.

I don't know if they still do it, but back they used to do it.

They crawl on their knees as penance all the way to get to that cathedral and worship a person.

It's not God.

Mary's not God.

She's the mother of God.

No, she's not the mother of God.

She was the earth mother of Jesus, the son of man, but she's not the mother of God.

She's the blessed virgin.

Men call her blessed, but she's not someone you pray to Sydullatory honey, all right, and then?

So let's get that in our hearts.

We've got to have a strong revelation of what the blood has done, what it is doing now and what it will do.

The present day ministry of Jesus.

I had, I don't know, I think I preached on that four weeks.

It's probably out there at the media center.

The present day ministry of Jesus.

Linda's saying yes, linda's head of our team out there.

So I've got it available.

If you don't know, if you think Jesus is floating around on clouds of ease and doing nothing, playing with the kids, listen, he's got specific duties that he's engaged in all the time.

Amen and his blood is activated through faith.

So we overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb and then two by the word of our testimony.

Years ago, when I used to listen to Derek Prince on the radio, I'd when I first got saved, I'd turn on KAJ OJ Conroe FM, 107 FM, and there were four preachers on there and I spent an hour.

I would, I'd read my Bible and pray in the morning and I'd get in my truck, drive to spring, go to my PO box, pick up my mail and go to the office, and that whole trip I usually tried to make it last through four 15 minute broadcasts.

That's not hard to do, 30 minutes.

So let off with Derek Prince, with that King and that Cambridge English accent.

And then Charles Capps from England Arkansas, he's not from England, he's from Arkansas.

So he's got that Arkansas twang, you know, and the.

You know the difference between the first two.

And then you got Sambach.

I mean for first six months I thought you, I thought he was a black preacher.

I didn't realize till I finally saw a picture of him.

And then Kenneth E Hagan.

That was my lineup every day for the first year that I got.

So ref, actually the first several years, I listened to all four of these Every morning.

You talk about a foundation, along with brother Oste.

You talk about a foundation in the word.

But from Derek Prince I learned that the word of the testimony is not your Christian testimony, how you got saved, it's the testimony of what you have through the purchase purchase of the blood of Jesus.

First Corinthians six says what?

No, you're not.

That your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost which you have of God and you're not your own.

You've been bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God and your body and your spirit with your gods.

So what is the currency of redemption?

His broken body and his shed blood.

We're about to have communion here, and that's why I'm preaching this, because I won't come union to mean something.

We celebrate the currency.

What price did he pay?

Actually, it was the father that paid it, because the father had to give him.

The Father had to turn away his, he had to turn away his eyes from his son, so he paid it.

And then, of course, jesus was the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world Over to God.

And so our testimony, that we use to overcome the devil and beat the devil and have victory is what does the Word say about what did the blood purchase for us?

Amen, that testimony.

And so we have to release that, that Word, that testimony.

It's released in words.

If you don't say anything, if you're not magnifying the blood, if you're not applying the blood, you're not getting anything done.

You can know all about it up here in your brain tissue.

It won't do you.

It wouldn't be that good.

What do you do with it?

Anybody watch the Ten Commandments?

Last night I thought it was kind of weird.

It's on television where they have all the garbage in.

Here they have the truth out there.

You know, back in 1956, they said things and did things that are totally unwoke and not politically correct, but it was a pretty good.

I mean it had a lot of you know, hollywood alterations of the story, but it was basically good.

I mean I enjoyed it.

I didn't watch every bit of it, because I've watched it many times, but I watched some of it.

Deborah Padgett's been to our church several times and she played the Joshua's love interest in the movie, but anyway.

So when the Death Angel showed up, what did they do?

Well, they were instructed to kill the Passover lamb.

Passover is this time it come in.

Friday, jesus, all over the world is going to celebrate Passover.

What do they do?

They kill a lamb and take the blood and collect the blood and they dip a hyssop branch.

It's a tree.

They dip that hyssop branch in there and get the blood all over the leaves and they strike their door posts and then they put blood in the threshold.

They've got a little groove down at the bottom.

We learned about that a couple of years ago and there was a great teaching on the blood.

So everybody that had their house marked with the blood of the lamb, the Death Angel passed over and did not visit them and their firstborn of all their children and their beasts were safe.

And then you heard the cries of the Egyptians because their babies were killed and showed up dead.

And of course, pharaohs and it dramatized all of that Pharaoh's child dying, his firstborn, which you know his father killed.

All of the young boys, hebrew children, three years of age.

So Herod had a precursor and that was Pharaoh.

You know they've been hating on Jews a long time.

Three thousands of years.

We've had anti-Semitism and we've got a rise of anti-Semitism in the earth right now.

So Exodus 12, seven the Jews struck their door posts with Hyssop dipped in the blood of the lamb.

So what's Hyssop?

Well, it's our lips, it's our mouth, it's our testimony when we speak about the blood, when we release our faith of what the blood has purchased for us.

Specifically about this, whatever it is that you're resisting is it sickness, is it poverty?

Is it a wayward child?

Whatever it is, there is the word of God about the blood of redemption.

The currency of our redemption has been paid already and it exists.

And when you dip your mouth in that revelation and you put it out there, I'm telling you right now, the devil has to.

Is it gonna go away that instant?

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about prevailing subduing.

It's not a first round knockout.

Typically, we've got to be prepared for things not to change.

In fact, sometimes it gets worse before it gets better and we cannot be moved.

That's why I tell people they'll say this oh, believe that the test will show such and such.

Well, I don't pray that way.

I think that's kind of a faith crusher.

We have no guarantee of a time.

In fact, what we do have a guarantee of is that when you lay hands, for instance, on a sick person, when we lay hands on the sick, mark 16 says they shall be instantly healed.

No, they shall recover.

So when you start trying to attach the laying on of hands to a test, a medical test, to prove whether it worked or not, well, you're already off base.

You don't have a promise for that, so you have to have a stand of faith.

Your stand of faith is I laid hands in Jesus' name.

As far as I'm concerned, they're recovering, no matter what the test says.

And if the test says something good but it not perfect, then I'm reminded of Mark, chapter four, where it says Jesus said the kingdom of God is as if a man should plant seed into the ground and sleep and rise night and day.

Why didn't he say day and night?

Why didn't he say rise and sleep day and night?

Well, because the Jewish, everything in the Bible starts with a night and finishes with the day, including creation.

Go back and look at the creation story.

It started night today.

That's how it works.

So Jesus said the kingdom works this way You're going to plant a seed and you're going to go to sleep, and then you're going to rise up, and then the seed is going to bring forth a blade.

First the blade.

He said it's going to come forth.

We know it's not how.

We don't know how.

We don't know when.

We don't know how or when.

I mean different seeds have different incubation periods, different growth times.

If you ever bought a bunch of seeds and planted them and tells you how long it takes, you know.

If you're going to plant an apple seed and expect apples, you better pack a lunch.

But cons not much better.

Acres not much better.

It takes a while.

Herbs quick.

That's why you can plant herbs in a herb garden.

Are you all with me now?

So he said you go to sleep and rise night and day, the seed coming up it.

You know, if not, how.

First the blade, then the ear.

So a test can be like a blade.

But you shouldn't let, you shouldn't live and die about a test.

You shouldn't live and die about a doctor's report or a financial report.

You shouldn't.

You shouldn't anchor your faith to a time, to the calendar.

No, once you have prayed and said I believe I received, it's time to lift your hands and praise God.

It's on the way, no matter how long it takes.

That's the surest way.

Why?

Because the test or the report is nothing but sense, knowledge.

Is it valuable?

Well, I believe it's valuable.

If you've had to go to the doctor, for instance, and you've had to have medical intervention, it's a good tool to find out where you are.

But you can't I mean don't.

That has nothing to do with the fact that you're believing that you are healed and you were healed In spite of what the test said.

Here's a guy that's been through a few tests.

Are you with me now?

I had to learn some of this stuff, but I'm talking about it's not a first round knockout.

Don't cut the switch of faith off.

Keep the blood applied with what your mouth and in your heart you believe it.

And keep the blood applied.

Your mouth is the hyssop that you're marking your territory with.

So plead the blood.

We use the word.

Old timers used to say plead the blood, we plead the blood.

How many of you have heard that term?

I plead the blood.

I plead the blood.

Well, those things.

When he was on the field minister, you know, he was pastor of Hibbert Memorial Baptist Church and then he got the baptism Holy Ghost, and he left and he went out and he formed Lakewood Baptist Church.

It was Baptist, or Hurricane Carlin blew the Baptist off the signage.

So help me, god, that was true story.

And then the hurricane carlin 1961 blew the Baptist off the sign, so they left it Lakewood Church.

And so, oh, the history with God.

I mean, it's just amazing the history we have.

I'm so glad to have history.

But he went off in the field ministry, left his church and he had a worldwide ministry and TL Osborne had a whole lot to do with that Gave him a vision for the world and, brother, those things preached all over the Philippines.

But he said I heard him give this testimony.

He said you know, I'd leave town and as soon as I leave town, doty and the kids get sick, and this was a pattern.

I'd come home and they'd all.

We're so glad you're home, we're all been sick ever since you left.

There's always some kind of trouble going on.

I have kids at home and you know he's gone traveling all over the world.

So he came home.

He was just mad at the devil.

He said you know, we're gonna get out here, we're gonna plead the blood.

Come on, kids, let's all get out here.

I'm gonna be first, mom is gonna be next, and then all the kids all the way down the line.

They were the cars of the train.

They got a choo-choo train and they went out on that house and that they lived in Forest Cove, there next to Kingwood, and he said, okay, let's just go all the way around the house, we're gonna put the blood.

I put the blood.

I put the blood.

I put the blood Like a choo-choo train.

I put the blood, I put the blood all the way around the house and that was their way of collectively pleading the blood.

To plead me doesn't mean to beg.

It means to strive, to contend or to conduct a legal case.

Let's learn to deal with the devil in legal terms.

We have a covenant which is a legal document.

Let's learn to present before God, the judge, our case against the devil based on the blood.

Some of you are looking at me like, see, I think we just get lazy because we live in an instant society and we just wanna pray something real quick and we just wanna forget it.

Well, that's the way to get defeated.

That's not effective.

I'm giving you the tools that you can be effective.

Every single time, every time you face down the devil, you can stop him in his tracks, but it's not overnight.

Inconsistency lies to power.

You gotta be consistent, you've got to be.

I mean, you know that woman with the issue of blood.

She kept on saying I shall behold, she didn't just say it once.

She kept on saying I shall behold, when I touch his garment, I shall behold, I shall behold, when I touch his garment, I shall behold that hyssop.

We've got to get that hyssop.

We got to mark that thing that we're believing for that child.

Mark that child.

Don't let the devil steal your children.

Oh, he's trying to steal the children of the kingdom.

Oh yeah.

And then when I'm talking about that, there's an old timer saying holding the blood.

Really, kind of the same thing I'm talking about, but they would hold the blood on a situation, a stubborn situation, and I get more into that next week about our unsaved relatives and family.

But you know, I used to do a lot of my own mechanic work when I was younger, especially going to college.

I didn't have a car in my high school years.

It was my dad's car, so I didn't work on his car.

But once I bought my own, I started working on my car and I did my own tune-ups and my own, you know, changed the plugs and changed the oil and the filter and learned how to put brakes on there.

You know I just do minor things like that.

And you know, come working on an old car, you know you've got a bolt that's just resistant.

You can't break it loose.

You don't want to round the thing off, ruin it.

Then you're really in trouble.

So you know, when you squirt it with penetrating oil, you know you've got this can of stuff and liquid wrench.

Anybody ever saw liquid wrench at the game?

It's amazing.

I mean you know you just squirt that on there and the secret is you got to leave it alone.

You know you'd got to just leave it and then go back out there and squirt it again.

You know you get in a hurry.

It doesn't work instantly.

I mean you squirt it on there and then you go right back over there to try.

You know you got to give it time to work its way down those threads and it slowly gets down.

Then give it another shot.

You know cause a lot of it just ran off and dripped on the ground.

Anyway, so you, it takes a few applications, but if you do it right, I mean that stuff works.

I said that stuff works.

See, it's the same when you hold the blood of Jesus against the devil, against sickness, against anything that's been stubborn, anything that just doesn't seem to want to turn loose.

He will turn loose.

It's not the first round knockout.

Anybody getting anything out of this today.

Glory to God, hallelujah.

I tell you, bible knowledge will set you free.

It will revolutionize your life.

I said it'll revolutionize your life.

Glory to God, thank you, lord.

And then the last one that he talks about is they love, not their lives under the death.

Now, that's not talking about dying, falling on your sword on the battlefield or something like that.

It's talking about that you love, not your life under the death.

It's a victorious warrior Must be an obedient servant.

You have to be develop an obedient servant's heart.

I know we're child children of God.

I know we're sons and daughters of the most high, but we live as servants.

Jesus, they were arguing who was the greatest, jesus, who's the greatest?

Whoever's the greatest has got to be the servant of all.

So, yeah, I'm pastor, people give me a lot of honor and people give me a lot of recognition, but in the behind the scenes, I have to have a servant's heart.

I have to serve you.

If I don't serve you properly, then I fall under judgment of God.

I mean, god, I'm going the wrong direction If I don't correct that situation.

I'm doing what?

I'm?

Opening the door to Satan, and I've seen it happen.

I've seen people that got into the ministry and they just they went to their head and they got to where they just wanted everybody to serve them.

Well, you know what.

You're out of order.

I knew a person one time that they did a little traveling along with the pastoring and they had people that would come over to the house and iron clothes and packed the suitcase and all that stuff and I mean that was kind of a requirement.

I thought God, lee, that's kind of well didn't last very long.

That ministry didn't make it because you're misusing people, that's.

It's one thing for somebody volunteer and say, look, I just God spoke to me and I want to come help you get ready for your trip.

I know it's a lot of trouble, I'd be glad to come, that's one thing.

But to just expect it you come over here and be my maid.

There better be a paycheck to go along with it.

Are y'all with me now?

I don't expect people to come mow my grass.

I don't have any volunteers coming.

My own staff never comes to my house.

I don't ever have them come to my house Very rare, I think one time, justin.

Justin, have you ever been to my house one time?

Maybe One time?

He's saying that he says all the time.

It's not all the time, justin.

I just make it a point not to be that way.

I take care of my own business.

I just want to.

I want a division.

I want to.

I want a division between what.

What I'm expected to be doing and what I'm expected to be doing is labor in the Word of God and prayer.

That's my job.

Are y'all with me now?

So to love, not your life under the death means that you're dead to criticism and dead to praise.

Don't do things to be noticed, don't do things for God so that you can get your name on a plaque.

Maybe you'll get your name on a plaque, that's fine, whatever I mean.

There's all kind of fundraising gimmicks that people use, and.

But in the church of Jesus Christ, I think it's, you know, you got to be careful.

I won't.

I won't use that example because you'll think I'm being critical of a particular church, so I won't.

But I just think that with fundraising, you got to be careful.

For fundraising, people need to give because they're given to God and they're given to God's work.

And I think if you go beyond a certain point, I mean you start putting plaques on the wall and you start putting people's names on their seats, you, you could.

I'm not saying it's always so, but I'm saying you're dancing close to a line that I'd rather not get close to.

Are y'all with me now?

Praise God so you love, not your life under the death.

You're dead to criticism, dead to praise.

You know people criticize you.

You let it roll off your back.

You don't take everything personal.

It's so easy for me to take things personal, especially when I get off this platform.

One time I got off the platform, I mean I just preached.

You know I was leading the worship.

I'm preaching.

You know the message.

I mean I'm up there working as hard I have prayed, I have, I am serving the people and this old lady comes up to me and starts telling me all the things that I didn't say right in the offering time when I received the offering she had.

She had a different opinion and, man, it got on me and I was polite to her.

I didn't, I didn't flash at her, but it took me all afternoon to get that off of me.

Why?

Because my gates were open.

When I'm up here, my spiritual gates, as it were, open and I'm hearing and it's just coming like this, a lot of the messages are prophetic words that I don't even plan to say, it's because it's coming like this, and so when I I don't just close back up when it come off the platform, and in those days I just I did all that and so I'm closing the service too, and then I'm coming right off.

So I've been open now for two hours and here comes this lady and she fires a shot that normally wouldn't even bother me, but it fired a shot and it got down in me and it hurt and I just and I was so aggravated when I got home it took me all afternoon to get her words out of my consciousness.

Are y'all with me now?

So I had to pass that test.

I had to pass that test of being dead to criticisms.

I was sorely tempted to take it personally.

To take it personally.

You can't take any criticism personally, amen.

And then, of course, dead to sin, our bodies and our minds yielded to God.

See, that's the way to have victory through the blood.

How many of you count yourself victorious?

Come on, let's lift our hands right now.

Thank you, lord, for the blood of Jesus.

Thank God, we have victory on every side because we're skillful in the use of the blood In Jesus' name.

Praise God, did you get anything out of this this morning?