Coming Up Higher

Let's get into the word.

How about some meat?

Can you stand some meat tonight?

I'll cut it in half inch slices.

Let's say it together.

Say, heavenly Father, I'm glad to be here on Sunday night.

Meeting in person makes all the difference.

I have a teachable spirit.

My heart is open to receive revelation that will profit me and place me in position to reap a great harvest.

In Jesus' name, amen, we're all harvesting instruments.

Let's look at Ephesians, chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Book of Ephesians is a powerful.

All of Paul's writings are, but Ephesians is one of my favorites and we'll just start reading with verse 1.

Ephesians 4-1,.

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, even as you are called, in one hope of your calling.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, wherefore he saith.

When he ascended up on high, he led captivity, captive and gave gifts unto men.

Now that he ascended, what is it?

But that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth.

He that descended is the same also that ascended up, far above all heavens, that he might fulfill all things.

And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some pastors and teachers, evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting.

Why did he give them?

For the perfecting or maturing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Till we all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love.

May grow up everybody shout.

Grow up, may grow up into him and all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, make it increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

And let's pay particular attention to verse 15, where it says but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.

And that NLT says growing in every way, more and more like Christ.

Growing in every way, more and more like Christ.

So tonight I wanted to share a message entitled Coming Up Higher.

I remind you that back in September of last year, rosh Hashanah that word that we had about our greatest year yet I mentioned during that time that promotion was too small a word, that we were coming up higher and we were changing, having a greater perspective.

And part of that perspective has to do with spiritual growth, which is what the theme of this chapter in Ephesians.

He's talking to believers, spirit-filled believers.

This is a church that he founded, and he found those certain disciples and they were baptism.

They had been baptized with John's baptism.

They weren't even saved, and so he had to get them saved and he got them filled with the Holy Ghost.

You've received the Holy Ghost since you believe.

So he got them saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, and that was the beginning.

That was the elders of that church in Ephesus, so he had a lot of tenderness toward that church, and so he's talking to them about how to come up higher.

How do we, individually and corporately there's a lot in here about the corporate body.

It's talking about the church.

There's one body and one spirit, and so he's talking about the church, individually and corporately, coming up higher or growing up into him.

And so how do we do that?

How do we accomplish which is really the purpose of this message, to kind of give you some ideas about how we can get in that perspective so that we can enjoy the greatest year.

Yet it's something that we need to grow and get into a higher position in Christ.

I mean he's seated at the right, we're seated with him at the right hand of the Father.

That's legally, but experientially, functionally, where are we?

And these verses here are key.

So it talks in here about each one of us having a calling that has to be walked out.

I mean everybody's got a calling.

I mean you know you're called to this church, but each person has got a function in the body, just like a body part, like part of the body, every part of the body is needed.

And so Jesus made the statement twice.

He said many are called and fewer chosen.

Or we could say it this way many are called but few are released into their calling.

I mean I've known guys that had a calling, ladies that had a calling and they just never made the right decisions to get into that call.

I mean you know, if you're called into the ministry and you make a bunch of dumb mistakes, you may never get into the ministry full time, you may never get there.

I mean it can be a variety of things, not even necessarily sin, as much as just not walking close to God.

You're talking about being at the edge of the shoreline where it's salt.

You're not all the way in the middle, getting the middle of the river over your head where you can't control anything.

You're going to have to go with the flow.

And so Jesus twice in the gospels said many are called, fewer chosen or fewer commissioned, few are released into their ministry.

And he said it concerning in Matthew 20, he said it concerning attitude.

Remember that was the parable where the guy hired some people to work in his fields and he agreed to, let's just say, $5 a day.

And so the guys got there at daylight, six o'clock in the morning, they started working.

They were going to work all day until six, 12 hours, five bucks.

And then some people came at nine o'clock and then some people came at noon and some people came at three and some people came at five, one hour before quitting time, and it came time to pay them.

So he paid them in reverse order, he paid the last ones to get there first and he gave the guy that came at five o'clock a $5 bill.

So that starts the people kind of talking at the end of the line.

They had been there since six o'clock.

So they're kind of muttering to themselves.

And then it gets down the line and they realize that they're not going to get any more than everybody.

Everybody gets $5.

So by the time they get there they're mad what do you mean?

We bore the heat of the day.

You're only going to give us $5?

.

He said isn't it my money?

Didn't you agree to work for $5?

What's the deal?

And then Jesus said for many are called, but fewer chosen.

The last shall be first and the first last.

So that has to do with attitude.

And then the next time that he talked about it was a wedding feast in Matthew 22.

And everybody had on a wedding garment, except Gomer.

Gomer showed up with his coveralls on and you know he just inappropriate and he didn't have.

What are you doing here?

The wedding the governor of the feast says what are you doing here with a coveralls on?

You're supposed to have a wedding.

Throw him out into the outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called and few are chosen.

Having to do with consecration and having to do with.

You know, we're righteous because of Jesus, but we ought to live like it.

Some Christians just live as far away Just again it gets back to what Claire was talking about Some people in church.

They live as far away from the deep water as they can get.

They want the comfort of this world.

They want to be close to the shore so they don't have to trust God.

They can just run over here on the shore and help God out.

They don't really want to live a life by faith.

They don't want to plunge all the way out there in the middle of the river.

Amen, are you with me now?

And so, for these two reasons, some of us may not ever get into the call that we should have, because God has ordained a call for us, and so it's up to us to qualify for the call Few people.

He said few.

Many are called few.

I didn't say it, jesus said it.

Few are chosen, few are commissioned.

Why?

Because they wouldn't go through the qualification process.

That's what this church is.

It's a qualification process for you.

It's for you to be able to.

I mean, you didn't graduate.

We had our graduates up here.

We had one graduate wasn't here, robin Pam's son as a doctor.

He got a doctorate.

He'd been going to school a long time to get a doctorate and they just didn't hand that doctorate to great to him.

I mean, he had to earn it.

He had to pass a lot of tests, he had to show up for class, he had to take a lot of courses that challenged him and he had to pass those.

They didn't just give him a doctorate and they don't just I don't know.

Nowadays they do kind of give you a passing, they pass you through the grades.

It's hard to flunk anymore.

You know, that's just how they've set things up.

But I'm telling you, when you get into higher education there's nobody gonna wipe your nose and send you to class.

You're gonna have to go and a lot of kids flunk out, because they're not used to that kind of lack of any watching over them.

So he says here it goes on down, says walk worthy of the calling.

You know that you.

I beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling.

Listen to what the linguistic key of the Greek New Testament says that which balances the scales.

You're gonna have to balance the scales with your attitude and with your consecration.

You're gonna have to.

You're gonna have to weigh out when God puts a handful of gold on one side of that scale of your calling.

You're gonna have to weigh that thing and you're gonna have to balance the scales in your life Because if you don't, you will not be chosen, you will not be commissioned into what God had for you.

I believe all of us are gonna make the team amen.

That's why we're talking about it.

And so and then it goes in in verse two, about you know that we need lowliness, in other words, humility.

You know, little eye and great big God, let's not get, let's not get so big for our britches.

It's just all about us, it's all about God and His kingdom, not about our kingdom, not about our ministry, not about our deal.

It's all God.

And so humility, long he uses the word long suffering.

That means you bear up and hold up, and one of the places you have to do that most in is church.

If you expect everybody to be perfect, you're in the wrong place, cause there ain't nobody perfect I'm not perfect, nobody's perfect and you have to bear up and hold up in order to be successful, of being part of a body, being part of something bigger than yourself.

Long suffering and for bearing one another in love, for bearing means having patience.

This is one, this is a good one right here, having patience with someone until the provocation is past.

Mildred took my seat.

I remember one time, you know, gladys and I had been.

They called them counselors those days at Lakewood.

So we had the badges we'd.

You know we've been going, we'd just been chosen as counselors and we always got to church early.

I'd like to.

We got to sit on the first three rows, you know, around the, around the front.

That was our, that was our reward for our extra diligence and extra.

And we were the ones that when they, brother Osteen, had an altar call, we'd stand by the people that came up forward and we'd go out with them and pray for them to to get, make sure they were saved and try to get them filled with a Holy Ghost and pray with them about their lives, get their phone number, follow up with them.

And so we like to get there early.

And so we had a special speaker I forget who it was on a Sunday night and we got there early.

I mean, we got there and church started on Sunday night at seven.

I think we got there at six, and of course the kids had to get there early too, so that you know they paid a price for us to be and all that.

And so we got there, we sat our, I put my cover winter time put my coat around the back of the chair, I put my, our bibles on the seats.

They were perfect.

They were on the on the first row on the side, and then they were great seats.

And then we went and we visited with people, went to the bookstore and came back and here's this woman sat herself right in the middle of our seats and threw our bibles on the floor with my jacket and she wears a badge like I do.

I knew her.

I said didn't you see my?

And I started kind of raising my voice.

Thank God for William Guthrie He've rescued me kept me from saying something I did, but I really I had to.

I mean I had to, really I had to work.

I wanted to snatch her bald head.

I was so aggravated, I was like halfway through the service I was still fussing inside and finally I gave it.

I finally gave it up, having patience with someone till the provocation.

But I don't think she, I don't think I ever saw her again.

I think she embarrassed herself so much she never came back.

But anyway, that wasn't very nice of me for bearing endeavoring, it says endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit.

Endeavoring means giving diligence, eager to make every effort to what To have unity.

Love plus unity equals merit.

You know, with some people you've got to really work hard to get in agreement with them.

I mean they're hard to love, hard to like.

You might not like them but you have to love them and you have to.

And if you work with somebody like that I mean we have teams here in the church and sometimes people just don't mix together any better than oil and water and it's kind of tough.

And people have personalities and they have backgrounds and if you're expecting everybody to just be perfect, well, you're not, you're going to be disappointed.

So what all of these things have to do with you weighing the scales.

Are you with me now Weighing the scales and getting it equal in humility?

Long suffering for bearing and endeavoring.

And then verse three, endeavoring to keep, to keep the unity of the spirit.

Everybody say keep, keep, guard and maintain.

Let's say that keep, guard and maintain.

That's what that really means Keep, guard and maintain the unity.

That tells me that unity is the first thing the devil attacks in a church.

He's trying to get you separated from somebody, anybody, it doesn't matter who.

If he can get you separated from at least one person, he can have a breach.

And once you don't guard that and you don't keep that and you don't maintain that, then you're ripe for another separation and sooner or later you're gonna separate from me.

Sooner or later you're gonna find yourself separated from me and now you're out the door.

I've seen people.

They start off real close up here and then, you know, after a while I notice and they're kind of further back and I remember one couple.

They were sitting all the way on the back row and I just started laughing to myself.

I say, well, it won't be long.

And sure enough they were gone.

I guess they didn't want me to see that they were gone, but anyway, no, you gotta keep guard and maintain the unity.

Why?

Because there's only one body, there's only one spirit, there's only one Jesus, there's only one God, there's only one.

There's not a bunch, there's one.

That's why One Holy Ghost and he's the same.

He's the same in everybody.

So then it starts talking about the five fold ministry, apostle, prophet Vanjah's, pastor and teacher.

And he gave gifts, doma's gifts, presents unto men.

Why did he give these gifts?

I'm a gift given to you Glad it's not my family or gifts given unto you.

God gave us to you, god gave us to you, and so that's another reason you ought to respect not me, but the gift on me.

And so why?

Well, he gave it for the perfecting of the saints or for the for it coming up higher.

Basically, we all need a pastor, we all need and we need the impact of all five of the five fold ministry, and for the perfecting of the saints or the maturing of the saints.

And what will that do for the work of the ministry?

See, the work of the ministry is yours, not mine.

You know, back in the old days it seemed like the pastors did all the visiting.

They visited the sick.

They.

Brother Hagan talks about all of his churches that he used to pastor and God never called him.

The pastor, by the way, didn't find that out for 12 years.

After he'd fasted for 12 years, the Holy Ghost said I never did call you the pastor.

I permitted you to pastor, but I never.

That wasn't my plan for your.

That's gotta be a shock.

But he did a lot of that.

He'd visit people.

He'd go to their house and pray with them.

This one lady lived down the street from him and she wanted him to come pray the power down.

He'd go down there and she was sick in bed and he'd pray that.

And he didn't know.

He was young, he didn't understand what that meant and he just wanted to pray over and leave.

Oh no, my other pastor always didn't leave till they prayed the power down.

So he'd pray the power down until the bed would shake.

That's an hour and a half that he's down there and it's like two or three times a week for four years.

I mean I thought, dear God, I don't think it was necessary.

I guess Jesus would have to kick me out of the.

I guess he'd have to kick me out of the camp.

You know, I don't think I'd be willing to do that, but he did it until finally one night.

He just said something that triggered her.

You know, he just spoke at Mark 11, 23,.

He just spoke over.

He says you're healed and by the time tonight's over, you're gonna know it yourself.

And he just walked out.

He didn't have time to pray the power down and see the power of Jesus was present to heal them.

Remember, in the house the power was there and none of them got healed, except the guy that broke a hole in the roof.

So power doesn't do you any good if you don't turn to switch your faith on amen.

So praying the power down is irrelevant.

That's not what's needed.

What's needed is your belief, your faith.

We already have the power.

We don't have to have the manifestation like the bed shaking.

So anyway, she came with a Wednesday night service and she come walking in the door and she started to testify and he never had to pray far again.

She finally, after four years, received her healing.

Instead of always messing around with the power, I want the power and then laying bed sick.

So you talk about endeavoring, you talk about, but you need the five fold ministry.

The body can't fully mature or come up higher without them.

And so here in verse 15, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up, we might come up higher.

Everybody say I'm coming up higher, no matter where you are, there's a higher place, there's a more mature place, there's all.

It's all there for you as long as you keep guard and maintain those fundamental things.

A lot of people, what people lack are the fundamentals, the fundamentals.

It's not the fine things, it's the fundamental things.

Like my coach used to say, blocking and tackling is fundamental.

If you don't block and tackle, you're gonna lose.

And we did a lot of that, did a lot of losing.

So Moses was an apostolic type and Joshua was his minister.

He assisted Moses.

And then we find Stephen was preaching, you know, right before they stoned him, and he talked about Israel being the church in the wilderness, which is quite a revelation that this young preacher had.

He basically said Israel was the church in the wilderness.

So Israel is a type of the church, moses is an apostolic type and Joshua was his minister.

So in Joshua 1-6, upon Moses' death, god said you know, moses, my servant is dead, and then he's gonna be strong and very courageous, he told him.

In verse six God told Joshua you shall cause this people to inherit the land.

So his job description.

See, moses didn't do that.

Just think about that.

Moses, the greatest prophet in the Bible, I mean God had to hide his body because he was convinced that they would have taken his.

They learned embalming from the Egyptians and they were convinced that they would have bombed Moses' body and turned it into an idol and they would have worshiped the dead body of Moses.

So God hid his body.

He took him out Mount Pizga, let him look over the mountains and look.

He said you can't enter in because you struck the rock twice.

You disobeyed.

And he said you won't go in and you'll see it, but you won't go there.

And then he died and nobody ever found his body.

The devil was disputing Angels had to protect.

Book of Jude.

You ever read that Wonder?

What in the world's talking about?

Well, that's what it's talking about.

God had to protect Israel from idolatry, but Moses, I mean, it wasn't so much about the man as it was about the office.

So Joshua just stepped into the office.

That apostolic type where he's, you know, the apostle, is like Jesus was an apostle, he was a pastor, he was an evangelist, he was all those prophets.

He was all those prophets, all the teacher, all those things.

And so the apostolic is the pioneer, is the leader, is the gatherer.

Joseph was an apostolic type.

He gathered wealth and distributed it, and so Joshua stepped in.

He said Moses, my servant is dead.

Now therefore arise.

Exactly what God told me the night that brother Osteen went to heaven Moses, my servant is dead, now therefore arise.

That's when I knew that God had promoted me and had me some, you know, some, a ministry that I had inherited, and so you shall cause this people to inherit the land.

So this year, about the greatest year yet, is all about you gaining your inheritance, and it's all about you growing and coming up higher in every area so that you'll have the maturity and the power to gain the maximum advantage.

Right now, I mean, it's time to grow up, it's time to get in a higher position with God, and my job description is to escort you into that place and equip you and teach you how to get it and how to keep it.

Are you with me now?

So I've told this story back then and I haven't told it again, but I'll tell it again tonight because it comes up.

But I had a profit friend of mine knew for a long time and in those years he would come to town.

He was from another state, he'd come to town and he loved Lakewood and so we offered him to stay in our house.

So every time he came he'd stay in our house, glad to cook him breakfast and we'd go messing around, go out to eat and he'd go with me on my jobs and look at my houses and stuff.

But one time he was there in 1989.

He came back down and we spent the rest of I mean most of the morning just talking about this dream he had.

And in the dream he had when he was in our house, he was on the first floor of a department store with a group of people and there was the escalator going up to like a warehouse and somebody was telling him oh, there's a whole lot more merchandise up on the second floor.

You need to go up there, it's just loaded with merchandise.

And he said so.

He said okay, come on.

So we escorted these group of people, you know 20, 30 people.

He escorted them up the escalator and right up the escalator in the dream.

And they get up there and man, it's just like the guy said, he's just loaded with merchandise stacked up to the ceiling and just man, everybody's ooh in and on and they're just looking and they're just overwhelmed at what all was up there.

And this gentleman comes over, his man comes over, he's got a uniform on and he says what are you doing up here?

You can't be here, this is off limits.

And my friend says, well, no, it isn't, we can be up here.

Oh, no, this is off limits, you cannot be here.

And he'd look over his shoulder and he kept looking at this structure and there was a guard tower.

And there were several guard towers sprinkled all through the upstairs, where and you could see through the glass where men with sunglasses on, they were watching this gentleman.

They were guards, but they were up high where they could see everything.

And he kept looking and they kept looking at him and to see if he was gonna run them off.

And he kept telling no, you can't be up here.

And in the dream my friend got mad.

He says well, we have a right to be here.

I have an attorney, you know.

He had a big old, deep voice.

He's about six, two, wait about two, 50.

He's a big, imposing figure Anyway.

And this shrimp in the dream he was like a little shrimp and he grimaced and he kind of cowered when my friend put his hand out I have an attorney and he started going like this, looking at Doug and running toward the you know where he could hide, up there in the tower.

He was going to get away from my friend and then he woke up.

You know, from the dream and of course so we talk about the second floor is the second heaven.

That is the area above the earth where demonic powers hold sway.

Everything that comes from heaven, every good gift and every perfect gift, comes down from the father of lights, in whom there is no variable and no shadow of turning.

I'm telling you, god is sending things and it has to come through the second heaven.

And when it comes through the second heaven, if we're not up in our attitudes, if we're not prayed correctly, if we're not where, our faith has not built a road for those goods to travel, you know, faith, your confession, builds a road over which God's precious cargo can come your way.

Preached on that Wednesday night Confession is important, what you say about things, and so it's the second heaven where all the goods are stored up and we that's part of where our inheritance is.

It's not God holding anything up, it's the devil, it's trespassers, it's illegalities.

There are illegal things that have.

There are other voices that have cursed you and spoken curses that are not legal, but they have power.

You've got to find out where those are and undo them.

The Holy Ghost can show you where those are, where those words are.

Sometimes it's a boss, sometimes it's a spouse, sometimes it's a parent, sometimes it's a brother, a sibling.

I mean, sometimes people can say things to you that will bind you if you allow it.

You don't have to allow it.

There's no, nothing like that has any effect unless you do nothing.

If you do nothing, well, then it's gonna have an effect.

If we do nothing about our rights and privileges, then we've lost them.

As far as the government is concerned, if we don't do anything and we just say, okay, well, I don't like that.

Well, you know, that's not enough.

We're gonna have to fight, we're gonna have to erect some barriers.

Are you with me now?

So I'm escorting you into your inheritance?

He said, clay, what I'm doing is this kind of message that will clear the way for you.

If you'll be a doer of it, you'll make whatever little adjustments.

I just depend on the Holy Ghost.

I don't have to know everything, but if I preach, I believe in supernatural hearing.

I believe that you can hear me say something that I never said.

That will help you or benefit you.

But if you've got a bad attitude, if you've got a distrustful attitude, if it's an attitude that you don't wanna, give me the benefit of the doubt.

Sometimes I say and do things that people don't understand and if you're not careful, if you get on the wrong side of it, you could hurt yourself.

Well, you mean, you're always right when I'm preaching up here.

I'm always right and I deserve I should have the benefit of the doubt.

That's why you're safe.

If I am wrong, god will deal with me, but when you're wrong, you let the devil in.

The devil can steal from you.

You're better off.

Just so.

Our pastor said it.

I don't quite understand it, but God helped me understand what he was saying.

But I believe that I can say things that I never said.

You will hear what I didn't say and it'll help you if you'll grab ahold of it and not be condemned.

Oh, he said something that hurt my feeling.

No, don't let it hurt your feelings.

Make it change.

I'm speaking the truth to you in love, I love you.

I want you to succeed.

Everything, my whole life is spent getting success built into you.

If I ever say anything to you, I want you to succeed.

That's what I want.

That's love.

Love is not.

Oh, I love you.

I said that this morning.

I mean that's just kind of worthless.

The love that you need is the love where I intend to help you change enough to get into that second level and clean the devil's clock, get all your merchandise off the shelf and get it down here where you can use it, because we all need all of that.

We need everything we can get down here.

So just three little things here the believer's part and coming up higher and keep guard and maintain.

Everybody say keep guard and maintain.

Three areas.

Number one keep guard and maintain your attitude.

Nobody can do that for you.

You have to do it.

Keep guard and maintain your attitude.

I like what Brother Hagin said one time If you begin to think that you're being taken advantage of, the devil is working on you, that's the minute you start thinking well, they took advantage of me.

They don't appreciate me.

I worked so hard and they don't even notice me.

Listen, the devil's working on you.

You better watch out.

You're not keeping and guarding and maintaining your attitude.

You're just like the ones that Jesus said many are called, few are chosen.

I had to do this.

I had to live it.

You think it was easy doing what I did at Lakewood?

It was not easy.

And the higher up against a ministry like that that you are, the more devils and the more things you have to catch on your shield of faith.

You've got to catch some errors for the leadership.

If you're on a team and you have a team leader, you're going to have to hold up your shield of faith and catch the errors.

That's meant for that leader.

Are you with me now?

Y'all are looking at me like a cow at a new gate.

I must God must be changing my speech on the way to your ears, and he's.

It's him doing it, not me.

Keep guarding and maintaining.

Everybody say keep guarded and maintained your attitude.

See your, your mobility, your long suffering, your forebearing, your endeavoring Around here.

We call it EQ.

You know, have you heard of IQ, intelligence quotient?

Have a high IQ.

They were having some discussion about who had the higher IQ between Trump and Obama.

I don't know how they figured.

I don't know how they figure all that out.

I don't really care, but around here we call it EQ emotional quotient.

See, we need to grow in our emotional quotient.

We need to grow in our, in our maturity, where we don't let things fester, we don't let things bother us.

And and we, we all those things, you, you're humility, long suffering, forebearing and endeavoring, all right.

Number two your part in coming up higher.

Keep guard and maintain your words.

Verse 15, speaking the truth in love.

See, speaking the truth in love.

You know, here's an example of how not to say it.

You know, for a fat girl, you sure don't sweat much.

See, that's not the right, that's not the cool, that's not what you tell a girl If you're trying to impress her.

That's not acceptable, that's too much.

It might have been the truth, but it was not love.

You shouldn't fat shame somebody that you're interested in, or even if you're not interested in them, no, but verse 29,.

Look at that one.

Let no corrupt I'm going to pay for that when I get home Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying.

See that word edifying, edification is all through the book of Hebrews, I mean the book of Ephesians Edify, what does edify mean?

We determined that the other day it's build on a foundation.

What is God doing?

He's building his church, he's building a holy temple.

And so the words that we speak to each other, and especially, you know, to ourselves, let them be words that are not corrupt, but rather for the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers, not condemnation.

I mean, you know, don't be patronizing with people, don't let your love be without dissimulation.

What is dissimulation?

Being fake, have you ever just known somebody?

And they're always saying how much they love you, but they're really not a true friend, they're just.

They always do rude things and say rude things and you don't really feel very much love.

They're always saying they really love you and you're a close friend, but they don't treat you that way, patronize you, they're condescending.

See, that's not love, that's a corrupt communication.

And so we have to work on keeping, guarding and maintaining our words and making sure that they edify and give grace to the hearers.

Praise God, you get anything out of this time.

Well.

So these are the things that are necessary for us to come up higher.

So we keep guarding and maintaining our attitudes, our words and, finally, our actions.

Let's look at a few of these in verse 17.

This I say, therefore, and testify on the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds.

See Gentiles, who's he talking about?

He's talking about unsaved people.

In other words, don't walk like the world.

Again.

I've got to say a lot of people in church.

They just know they're forgiven.

You know the greasy grace message a few years ago, the guys on television 24 hours a day talking about there's no sin.

He's lying, he's a false prophet, false teacher.

If you're listening to him, you're listening to the wrong thing.

I had one young man that was a minister.

I tried every way in the world I could help him.

He lost his church.

He lost two churches over that message.

I tried to help him, he just wouldn't hear it.

I said you know, I'm going to dance with who brung me.

I tell you what I'm going to dance with a word of faith.

That's what brought me what I've got.

I mean that was for my heart surgery.

I'm really.

I mean, you know, after getting through that heart surgery, there's no other way I would preach but the word of faith.

I would not subscribe to somebody's theory who said that the book of 1 John is not written to Christians.

Are you stupid?

Yes, I think he's worse than stupid, I think he's demented.

I won't mention his name, it's not worth it, but anyway.

But this young preacher, I mean, he just got deceived on that message.

He just got, he, and he, he spread that message to some members of this church and they left the church over that message.

I'm not going to preach that message.

I'm telling you we need to confess our sins.

When we miss it, we need to own it and get it under the blood and then everything is fine.

Amen.

That's written to Christians, of course it is.

And so he says here don't walk as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance in them, because of the blindness or the hardness of their heart.

So it says as Christians we can walk like that, and I've seen it.

I've seen spirit filled ministers, pastors who gave their church up and wound up sitting in a bar drinking, going back to the world and at one point they were ministers, at one point they had a congregation, at one point they had a church.

How do you ever go back and sit on a bar stool?

There ain't, no way.

I'm ever going inside one of those places, never.

I sat in a lot of bars and I made my own beer.

You know what I don't?

I ain't, I'm never going back to that life.

I'm not going back.

Well, I'll tell you.

What happened is that they started just on the edge of the river and then they got caught in the swamp.

They got caught in the salt, salt flats, you know, and I mean they just dried up.

They dried up, they were alienated from the life of God.

Because of the hardness of their heart, they passed feeling and given themselves over under lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Very greediness has to do with money, love of money, not money, the love of money.

But you have not so learned Christ.

If so, be that you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus that you verse 22, put off.

Concerning the former manner of life, the old man, it's something that I do frequently.

I say, well, father, I'm just putting off the old man and I'm putting on the new man today, I'm putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I make no provision for my flesh today, hallelujah.

See, that's a good confession If you say that you're going to start living like that.

You live like a real Christian.

You got to live on a higher plane.

If we're going to get our inheritance that God has for us and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you put on the new man which, after God, has created in righteousness and true holiness.

Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, and for we are members one of another.

See, these are some actions.

Keep guard and maintain your actions.

In other words, your life needs to reflect what Jesus has done for you.

We're not saved by the works, we're not saved by being good, but it's proof that we're saved.

We ought to bring forth fruit.

We ought to act like we're Christians.

We ought to act like we love Jesus.

It ought to not be just words.

We need to have actions.

Are you with me now?

And, of course, baby.

Christians can't live like that.

They're just out of the world and they're going to have to have.

We're going to have to forbear them.

We're going to have to have patience with them.

We have to love them and help them along until they mature, where they separate themselves from bad habits.

You know, maybe they've got a bunch of bad habits left over from the world.

Don't condemn them.

Love them through it and help them grow.

Are you with me now?

Keep guard and maintain your actions consistent with the Word of God.

Put off the old man, put on the new.

Live a consecrated life.

Put God and His Kingdom first.

That's the way to come up higher.

Come on, lift your hands and receive the Word of God.

Did you get anything out of this tonight?

Well, it's meat.

I couldn't define meat as the responsibility of the Word, and the milk is the blessing scriptures.

We like the blessing scriptures, don't we?

I mean, a cold glass of milk is good every now and then.

But you know what we need?

A good steak.

We need a good piece of meat that'll stick to our ribs.