Consider Jesus 1

And let's say this together say heavenly Father, I'm here on purpose this morning and I'm so glad for what's happened already.

I'm ready for more.

I want more.

Open up this word to me, holy Spirit, shine your light on it and give me understanding so that my faith will grow, my spirit will develop in Jesus' name, amen.

I'm glad that you're here today, glad the live stream audience is tuning in.

Before I get started, let me just say if you've been watching live stream a few times here, you've noticed that we've been down Sunday two weeks ago, which I was, palm Sunday, they had a wrestling match just to keep the service online for the live stream audience.

And then the message.

If you noticed, if you went back to look at the message, it was all chopped up into segments because the internet went out and they had to restart.

It wasn't Facebook taking us down.

Y'all just rest easy.

It's not Facebook messing with us, not Facebook's fault, it's.

You know, the neighborhood next door.

They've been doing a lot of work.

You know they're building a subdivision.

It used to be our property and we sold it to them.

Thank God, they bought it and so, but they've been connecting to infrastructure.

So we've had trouble in every area.

We had some flooded bathrooms.

We had carpet wet because of water.

When they cooked the water up, somehow it we had a water surge, you know, and then we had a power surge.

It blew some stuff out and then the internet has been a problem.

Phones went out.

We have had a number.

So that was on our Thursday night prayer list to pray again.

Listen, I consider that the devil that interfered with that message.

And so if you weren't here and you didn't hear the message that I preached on Palm Sunday, you can find it on YouTube.

It's all in one spot and you need to hear it because it's a prophetic message.

The whole thing was a prophecy.

The whole message was a prophecy and it's for us right now.

And you hear a lot of other stuff out there.

You hear people that mean well, and I just listen, I can't say what God said, only what God tells me, and that's all.

I'm gonna stand behind.

I'm not gonna stand behind a bunch of wishful thinking disguised as prophecy, and in my opinion, that's what's going on right now.

There's a lot of wishful thinking.

Then you've got a group that are ready to just close up shop and do whatever the government tells them to do.

Anyway, you need to hear that message from Palm Sunday and then on Wednesday night there was some difficulty.

So just know that when you see that, just be patient, we'll get it all put back together.

Then you can watch it in its entirety, the way that it came out, all right.

Hebrews chapter three, if you would this morning.

And Hebrews chapter three and also Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

We wanna read a few verses here.

Verse one, hebrews three, one wherefore, holy brethren, look, notice what God calls you, holy brethren.

We call him holy, he calls us holy.

We're a holy nation, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.

Consider everybody, shout, consider, you know, consider means to fix your eyes and your mind on something.

Fix your eyes or your mind and your mind on Jesus or on the apostle and high priest of your profession, or your confession or what it is you're saying.

He's the apostle and high priest over your words, who was faithful to him.

That appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house, for this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, for in as much as he who have built the house has more honor than the house.

And then in Hebrews, chapter 12, verse one, wherefore seeing, we all are also accomplished about was so great a cloud of witnesses.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us and let us run, with patience or endurance, the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him there's that word again.

Fix your eyes and mind on him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.

In other words, he stepped into a contrary tide.

He was so hated at the crucifixion, his people, that he was sent to shouted crucify him.

He was so hated at the crucifixion, I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and Israel rejected him.

He endured that contradiction of sinners against himself.

Consider what he went through lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.

Consider Jesus.

That's what I wanna talk about today.

Consider Jesus.

We're surrounded by unbelief.

We're surrounded with panic and fear.

The governor released the state and said yeah, you know, I'm gonna release the orders, you know.

And he left it up to these individual shopkeepers and many of them have gone broke so they're no longer there.

All we're left with is major corporations.

I walked into Holiday Inn.

I went to pray on Thursday.

I just felt an urgency when I got home Wednesday night and I hadn't been to pray in a while.

And I always go to the same place Holiday Inn on the beach in Galveston.

Been going there for many, many years to pray Three or four times a year.

I've only gone a couple times this year.

A little behind schedule, felt an urgency, so I went.

I walked in there.

By law, you've gotta wear a mask.

I didn't wear it, walked in, sorry, you gotta have a mask.

Well, the lady in front of me didn't have a mask, this little boy didn't have a mask, this guy standing over here didn't have a mask, and two other people walked in and they didn't have masks.

I said what law are you talking about?

He said it's law.

I said what law?

Who's law?

Galveston's law?

Oh well, no, my mind.

Well, I said, good, it's Holiday Inn.

Well, be sure, and tell your boss that I'm never coming back.

I'm voting with my feet.

I've been a, you know, I've been a platinum member or whatever I am.

Thank you for being a platinum member.

Well, the days are all gone and one more stay.

And you know, when we see me again, just let your people know.

You have to say I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at them.

I said they're stealing my rights.

They don't have the right to tell me anything about how to conduct myself in public.

This is a joke.

Well, he just you know, he didn't know what to say, he's not used to it Say we need to confront this stuff.

And no, I may not have handled it as nicely.

You know, I'm tired of being nice.

Nice doesn't work.

Nice gets rolled over.

They think we're.

They think they're we're pansies.

They think they think we'll just turn around.

How hard do you want to hit us next time here?

Turn the other cheek, hit it harder this time.

No, that's not what that word ever said anyway.

It's not what it means.

Amen, are y'all with me now?

So consider Jesus, all that he did.

I mean he did a lot and he did it for you.

Think about in relation to you, what did he do for you, some of you?

He healed you and you don't even know it yet.

And you get home you're gonna realize oh, my goodness, something happened when you wake up this afternoon and that thing is gone.

Don't just think well, I guess it.

No, it happened this morning when that loud pop happened.

Well, I don't feel anything right now, but sometimes it's just a delayed reaction.

It started right then when, as a congregation, we yielded to the presence of Jesus All that he's doing right now.

I preached a message recently on the present day ministry of Jesus.

If you weren't here, get those messages, because it'll help you.

This is one of the verses that I used.

He's the apostle and high priest of our words.

The high priest.

His job is to administer, to execute, to implement and to carry into effect what we agree with, what we say.

He's already said it, but when we say it, then the high priest starts moving.

See, he makes the promise, but he also performs.

We don't perform, we're not God.

He's God.

All we've got to do is do the believing.

He does the performing.

He's the high priest.

And so in Hebrews 414, it talks about whole fast, the profession of your faith.

You've got a whole fast.

Why?

Because if you quit considering Jesus, what does it mean to consider?

It means to fix your eyes and mind on him.

What are we being inundated with?

Unbelief, fear, panic, misinformation outright lies on the television.

They cannot tell the truth.

I posted that on Facebook.

Democrats can't tell the truth.

They don't have the truth in them.

I don't care if they like it or not, it's true.

They don't have the truth.

They don't know what the truth is.

They're convinced what they.

Some of them have just drank the Kool-Aid.

That's all you can say.

They drank the Kool-Aid and they believe what they're saying and doing is right.

There's no compromise, there's no way to bridge the gap.

Forget it.

And so we've got to put pressure on our elected officials not to bridge the gap and not to compromise with these people.

How can you compromise with the devil, pastor?

That's just so harsh.

Well, we need to start listening for God.

Let's consider Jesus.

Let's quit considering all the liars and the lies People are telling us.

I mean, you know, a lot of the medical establishment that have ears and have a power and authority are on the other side.

They're on the side of the Democrats.

They've been corrupted, and the doctors that I've seen have been taken down off of YouTube, off of Facebook.

They're trying to speak and they are being persecuted for what they're saying.

They're speaking.

The real science, the real science is that there is a cure for this COVID, and so therefore, there is treatment for the COVID.

We have drugs that will kill COVID.

Ivermectin will kill COVID.

It doesn't matter whether you've got diabetes, heart disease, it doesn't matter what your comorbidity is.

If you take Ivermectin, that stuff will kill it right there, on the spot.

Now you've got other symptoms that attack you along with it.

See, that's what happens.

It opens the door to what we know pneumonia and all kinds of things like that.

But as far as that virus, it's absolutely rock solid.

The doctors that I'm reading, they give you all the background on it.

It's been studied and you're not hearing about it.

You know why?

Because if there is a cure for it, then they can't have the vaccine.

The vaccine won't come out.

You don't have vaccines for diseases that are treatable.

There's no vaccine for heart disease, no vaccine.

Why?

Because it's treatable.

There's drugs that can treat it.

There's no vaccine.

There's no vaccine.

They've not been able to develop a vaccine for the cold, the common cold, and there's no vaccine for it.

And so, all of a sudden, we're told, we're supposed to believe.

Then, in a few weeks, they developed a vaccine for this thing.

Number one it's not a vaccine.

Why?

Because it doesn't stop the disease from attacking you.

It lessens the severity of it, they say.

They say Lies.

I'm telling you, better consider Jesus.

Let's consider the maker of our covenant.

He cares more about our health than doctors do.

I'm not condemning all the doctors now.

I don't under you know, listen, there's some good ones out there and I feel sorry for some of them, because they know the truth and they're under the hook.

They're under a place where they can't really do what they know they wanna do.

Are you with me now?

So, consider, fix your eyes and mind on Jesus, and if you don't, it's easy then to lose your concentration and then you begin to waver in your confession.

Hebrews 10, 23 says you know, hold fast your confession without wavering, without wavering, in other words, saying one thing one minute and something else contrary the next minute.

Hold your tongue in strict agreement with the Word.

Don't speak against the Word.

Don't speak against what God said you have.

God said you're holy brethren.

God said you're healed.

God said you're delivered.

God said you're protected.

Speak in line with that.

Amen.

Consider Jesus and then consider the Word.

Amen, because Jesus and His Word are one.

Amen.

John, chapter one in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God Verse 14,.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

So when you're considering Jesus, you cannot do that unless and until you consider what he said.

What did he say?

He said all this right here.

He's the Word.

Amen, he's the Word.

Consider what the Word says.

You know, in Acts 2032, paul was having a come to Jesus meeting with a bunch of elders that were messed up.

There was a big percentage of those elders in the book.

In the church at Ephesus, he said I've been warning you day and night for three years and I know that when I leave you, some of you are gonna just go down the tubes, you're gonna make merchandise of the sheep.

I know you haven't listened, but he did what I've said.

He said so.

Therefore, now I just commend you to God.

I've done all I can do.

I commend you, I commit you, I roll you over on Him.

I can't do any more for you.

I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified.

There's not one record of any of those preachers that got down on their knees and wept and said I repent, I repent.

I've been stubborn, I haven't listened to you, I haven't done what you said, I haven't followed in your footsteps.

I repent.

Please don't let it be the way you just told me.

I don't wanna be one of those.

Not one of them.

Not one of them repented according to the Bible.

I can't find it.

And so Paul just had to turn them over to the Word.

And even in that condition he said that about the Word.

The Word is able to build you up and give you an inheritance.

Praise God.

I'll tell you, god is not ready to pull the trigger on America and just end it.

Listen, god has not even hardly gotten started.

His plan is a local church.

Thank God for Brother Copeland, this is a year of the local church.

I agree with Brother Copeland about that.

I believe it is.

I believe the local church.

The ones that didn't bow their knee to the government and the ones that didn't listen, you know, incessantly to all of this doom and gloom from the federal government and all these non-elected bureaucrats and people with white lab coats on Churches like ours considered Jesus and we considered the Word.

We heard hey, what does the Word say?

See, what does the Word say about this situation?

I went to the Lord.

I said what does the Word say about the President wanted us to shut down?

He said give him 15 days.

And when he said give him 15 days, I knew there was a limit.

I knew there was a limit to what he wanted me to do.

I wasn't gonna just be a fool and go on down the road another two months, three months, four months.

At the end of the 15 days I got the word from him.

He said you neglect not the assembling of yourselves together as a man or some is.

So.

We've been assembling ever since.

Consider.

I mean, when you come up against a bad diagnosis, the doctor says you've got stage four cancer, instead of saying, oh me, I don't know what to do, I don't have any insurance.

No, the first thing you say is what does the Word say about the situation?

Well, the doctor lied.

No, the doctor didn't lie.

He's doing the best he can.

He's got diagnostic tests.

Essentially, what the doctor is there to do is to tell you what the natural says.

Why do you call him a liar?

He's just telling you what the natural says.

And now you're gonna go to the Word and find out what the supernatural says.

The devil is limited to the natural, but weapons of our warfare are not limited, they're supernatural.

Find out what the supernatural answer is to the natural problem.

Consider the Word.

Got a short testimony.

So you know, we built this building and, believe it or not, this room right here will seat 1,000 people and that's why you see the chairs stocked up.

That's the rest of the people that are gonna show up one of these days.

We're already bought the chairs.

Get ready to go down the aisle this way.

Get ready to come up front and fall sideways, let a thousand.

But you know the rest of the building.

You know when we did everything we could I mean we borrowed all the money we could borrow we did everything we could do.

It was a miracle.

I mean we'd never borrowed money in our existence and then all of a sudden, we're gonna go out and borrow 3.4 million dollars.

You know it wasn't that easy, you know, but God gave us favor and it happened.

So, but we knew we didn't build the rest of the building.

The children's charts, the youth and the office space was not and proportion to the size of this building.

We were growing, you know, and so I didn't.

I just knew we needed to complete the campus, this part of the campus, and expand the rest of the building.

We built it so that it could be expanded and so we started looking into it and doing our due diligence and getting prices and all, and of course, we approached the lender.

Oh yeah, pastor, be glad to do it.

Yeah, just get let us know about how much you're gonna tell.

Well, I don't know.

We're in the process of finding out.

Well, the figure was a lot more than what we ever dreamed it would be.

We went back to the same people we bought this from.

This is called a sprung building the name of the company is sprung, and they used to make covered wagons and they're located in Calgary, canada.

And so when we went back to them and got a price on expanding the building in the areas that we wanted to expand, well it was way out of whack.

I mean real expensive, and it was shocking.

And we cut back on the size and everything and I was thinking, gosh, that's not even worth doing Because I don't think that's gonna be big enough down the road.

And we have to add again I was a builder for 25 years, and I know it's really expensive to add on.

It's better just to build it and grow into it than it is to keep getting contractors back to add this and add that it's a lot more expensive that way.

So, anyway, and so then at the meantime, 2008, this was 2008, and I remember the election of 2008 had an October surprise and that was a subprime mortgage meltdown and the stock market went haywire and interest rates went up.

Now our regular mortgage that we were already paying on we'd been paying several years on it it was at around, I think, 6%, five and a half 6%, something like that.

It was a floating rate.

Every three years it resets, and so we're about to just reset the entire mortgage.

We're gonna add to the mortgage the amount of money it takes to add on, and now, whatever the interest rate, we're gonna redo it and now it's gonna be higher for the whole building.

Whole building's gonna be higher interest rate.

And they quoted 8.5%, 8.5%.

And Obama has just been elected and it's depression time and I mean people getting laid off left and right.

Circumstances were coming around me.

I had a high interest rate.

People weren't coming as much.

They were withdrawing.

They had.

People were losing their jobs, people were getting laid off.

And then my mortgage guy, my connection, he was a former pastor, assembly God pastor.

We borrowed from the assembly God retired ministers fund.

So all the interest is blessing ministers.

And I was thinking that.

I thought, well, at least if it's a high interest rate we're blessing ministers keeping it in the family.

But there gets to be a where Bible says count the cost.

So I looked at that word count the cost.

Jesus, we're gonna get it.

And I looked at that word count the cost.

Jesus said count the cost.

I was counting the cost and the cost was just really high and we moved out of this building into a metal building and the cost went down.

But still it's a lot of money.

We're gonna have a $5.7 million mortgage.

And then I wasn't sure it was gonna be enough and it wasn't really.

And so I called him and he said well, you know, you need to decide and close on this mortgage because there are people who are applying and I can't hold this slot open.

We don't have that much money available.

So if you want it, you're gonna have to apply for it.

I said well, what if we have to have more money?

Oh, no problem, pastor.

You just we can add on to it later, which didn't turn out to be the truth.

I mean, I think he was telling the truth, but it changed, the circumstances changed, and so we went ahead, and so I had to go to the Lord.

I said well, lord, I've counted the cost.

And the Lord gave me a word and I said it's time, it's time to count the cost of doing nothing.

Whoo, it's time to count the cost of doing nothing.

I said, oh, my goodness, fear of God hit me.

I wasn't thinking like that at all.

You know, sometimes you think one way and God's thinking another.

See, that's why we've got to consider the word.

I had a word, but it wasn't the word.

The word I needed to hear was you're thinking wrong about this.

You know, if you don't do anything, I'm gonna quit helping.

You See, we've got to do something for God to help us.

He's not gonna do it by himself.

We're not gonna do it by ourselves.

It takes a cooperative effort.

And he's telling me if you don't take a step of faith and add on to that building, then I'm not doing anything for you.

You're abiding in the natural, you're abiding in what it looks like.

You're abiding in what everybody is saying, you're abiding in the buzz of Washington DC, you're abiding in all of that and you're not abiding in my word.

I said count the cost of doing nothing.

I knew that cost was gonna be, that he wasn't gonna help us and we're gonna struggle by ourselves.

You know what?

He's faithful, and I'm not saying it was easy.

But we went ahead and made that loan and they did not add, and we were short by quite a bit of things that we wanted to do.

And we did a whole lot of other things that we discovered.

For one thing, we had to sprinkle that building.

We weren't planning on that.

That was $80,000.

That we didn't know we were gonna have to do when we signed the loan documents.

And there were several other things.

And when I went back to see if we could get more money, oh well, we've hired some underwriters.

Now You'll have to reapply and you'll have to.

You know, pastor, I don't know.

Oh, you know, this was kind of tough time, and so now they're looking at the circumstances.

So be with me.

Now it's time to count the cost of doing nothing.

Come on, lift your hands right now.

Of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, oh, oh, oh.

If you'll have that, come on, let's pray in the Holy Ghost right now.

Pray in the Holy Ghost, pastor.

I don't understand what's going on just along with us.

So brevet telechaia.

Thank you, lord.

We're considering your word.

Here's what I know, not gonna embarrass anybody, but I know that God is dealing with some of you about a special gift that you want to that you have been thinking about giving to glorious way church.

You've been thinking about it and you know you.

You come around and it starts to boil over.

You're counting the cost.

You're thinking, well, if I give that gift, it's a significant gift for you.

It's a significant gift.

What you are thinking about writing the check for is a big thing to you, and you're properly looking and counting the cost, saying what it what's gonna happen?

Can I be okay doing without this resource?

I'm gonna give this resource.

I won't have it now until God brings it back around and multiplies it back to me.

And you've been looking at circumstances, just like I was back in 2008.

There's some very similar circumstances going on right now.

Very similar.

We got a loser for a president.

We got a loser for an administration.

These people are nuts.

It doesn't look that healthy out there.

But thank God, we have a word, don't we?

And so it's time for you to count the cost to doing nothing.

I felt that word when that, when that went out of my mouth, I felt it land.

And so now you've got a word.

You had a guidance from on high about what to do about this decision.

I'm not trying to weadle anything out of anybody.

I don't know anything in the natural.

I'm not trying to put pressure on you.

I want to give you what God gave me for you today, because his blessing is on following his word.

Sometimes we have to quit looking.

You know Abraham, it said.

He considered not his body, now dead.

He considered not Sarah's womb that was dead too.

And so you look at that word considered not hello, he's, he's.

No, he's not some kind of giant bigger than you and I.

He's just a human being.

In fact, he didn't even have the Holy Ghost living on the inside of them like you do.

So I 'm not saying that he just was unaffected.

He knew he lived in his body and he knew he was incapable of fathering a child in the natural, and he also knew his wife was incapable and had been their entire marriage, what is known as baron.

And now, not only is she baron, now she's even too old and on top of that she's double baron, she's double dead.

Are y'all with me?

And it says he considered not.

Well, I said, let me just suggest that he considered it and decided to switch his.

He said decided to switch his attention back to God's word.

It says that there in Romans, chapter 4 so shall by seed be that phrase.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

What was that phrase?

Way back before, 25 years before this, when he was 75, god said look up at the stars, look at this.

Can you count them?

So shall by seed be.

Look how, in that, in before that, another time, look at the dust of their.

Look at the dust, can you count the dust?

So shall by seed be.

So he got, he got his eyes off of his ability and her ability and God had owned God's word and he judged him faithful.

Who promised?

You know, he promised and he's gonna perform.

He promised and I'm just gonna wrong for the right, I'm just gonna.

You know what?

He's the performer, I'm the believer.

That's all you need to do right now.

And and it's not even God let me.

Let me get one more further.

It's not even God that you're arguing with about giving, because it's not God that's trying to pressure you.

It's your own spirit.

It's your own spirit.

Your spirit wants to give.

Your spirit has put this see, let every man in his own heart decide whether he's gonna give or not, in his own heart, in his own spirit.

So your own spirit already told you I want you to, I want to give this amount.

And your mind?

Which reason is the voice of the mind?

Reason gets in there.

So wait a minute.

This is a bad time to be given that kind of money.

I might need it, I might.

I might need that money.

I might need that, I might need this.

I've got this, that, I got that obligation.

I've got this obligation and pretty soon you can talk yourself out of what you want to do.

God's willing either way.

What he said is it's time to count the cost of doing nothing.

Doing nothing is means that there's no multiplication.

Back to you oh, some of you're looking at me with big eyes.

Oh, my god, he's gonna take it out.

Yeah, I'm not taking it, but I'm gonna receive it right now.

I'm gonna receive it off.

I wasn't planning on this, but this is what the Holy Ghost did.

The Holy Ghost did that turn this saying and I had no idea this, how he's gonna do it.

Can we turn back to the part of the service where the angels were singing?

I like that's part of the service.

Better listen, quit sweating.

You will not be found out.

I mean, I'm not looking for anybody to justify.

Oh, that's your business.

I'm just, I'm just a messenger boy.

You know, that's all I am.

I'm just a messenger boy.

I mean, just think what Elijah had to do when he told that widow woman who's about to starve herself to death and commit suicide.

Oh yeah, go ahead, do what you were gonna do.

But before you do that, take me a little cake first.

I mean, can you imagine the headlines and the eastern Chronicle what they would write about?

That preacher took advantage of this poor widow.

She's so poor, she's trying to just have her last meal and and die.

Well, she would had her last meal, but she wouldn't die right away.

She died starvation over a few months.

I mean, that was all.

There was no, he was he blessed.

He got in there and intervened for her and gave her a way out where she had plenty to eat all the rest of the year during a time of famine.

God has got a plan for you that if you do what you had in your heart to do just do what you had in your heart to do God is able to make all grace and earthly favor abound towards you, and I'm telling you, he will multiply the seed that you've sown.

In fact, what you have to give is already proof that he's faithful, because he gave you that seed to sow, or you wouldn't be thinking about sowing it.