Acts Chapter 3 (2009)

We ought to be what Jesus Christ is.

He is the Bible said he is the express image.

He is the express image of his father.

He's not his father.

But he is, is that okay, Sister Betty?

If I say that?

He's not his father, but he is the express image of his father.

He has all of his attributes.

Until Jesus Christ was able to make a statement in the 14th chapter of the book of John, he said, When you've seen me, you have seen the Father.

That is, he has all of his traits.

He has his spirit, he had his mannerism, he had his disposition, he had his attitude, he had duplicated his father, and every way that his father was duplicatable.

Some ways Jesus Christ Himself could not duplicate his Father.

You know that?

There were some things God can be said of God that can never be said of Jesus Christ.

One of which is God the Father had neither beginning of days nor end of life.

Jesus Christ had both.

He also had an end of life.

The Bible said he poured out his soul unto death.

And then again, the Bible said what God the Father is, he cannot be tempted with evil.

Well, that cannot be said about Jesus.

The Bible said he, that is Jesus, was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.

But Jesus Christ duplicated his Father and all of his duplicatable ways.

And so that's what we're here for.

It's to be made conformable to the image of Christ.

And that is done by duplicating Christ and all of his duplicatable ways.

There are some things that can be said about Christ that are never ever be said about you and I.

It is said about Jesus Christ, that is, that he was, listen to this, he was conceived of the Holy Ghost.

I was conceived of my mother and father.

I'll never have that on my resume.

It was said about Jesus Christ that he did no sin, neither was God found in his mouth.

That'll never be said about me.

I did much sin, and there was much God found in our mouths.

Let me put it like that.

And then it was said about Jesus Christ that he was the first fruits.

He was the first overcomer.

The Prince of this world cometh, he said, He findeth nothing in me.

We'll never be able to say that.

The Prince of this world cometh, he found plenty in me.

But thank God for Jesus Christ.

He made a way that is that I didn't have to pay the consequences of my sins.

He paid a debt, as we often sing in that song, that he did not owe.

We owed a debt that we could not pay.

We needed someone to take our sins away.

Thank God for Christ Jesus.

And what he did, he didn't just uh grant remission for sins in our past, but he actually gave us that which is uh has enabled us to eradicate, to mortify, to put to death this old sin nature.

Uh-huh.

My worst problem is not sin.

My worst problem is the sin nature.

There is a nature that actually keeps reproducing sin in my life, and that's why the word of God comes is to root it up.

That's why the Holy Ghost comes is to root it out.

And so now that you know the Bible said even the thought, even the thoughts of the wicked is sin, it's abomination.

Just the thoughts.

But thank God we're not we're not wicked.

Thank God He's declared us righteous, Andy.

And I'm so happy about those things.

And now, uh, since we're here, since He's brought us to this wonderful place, uh, that is the kingdom of God, we have come to the place where the spirits of just men and women can actually be made perfect.

Perfect means mature.

And to do that, we actually have to be, I think we mentioned a little bit a few weeks ago, we have to be in Christ.

We can't be in three.

We can't be in religion, we can't be in the world, and we can't be in ourselves.

Jesus Christ Himself, uh, the Bible says that He overcometh, He overcometh the world.

And John put it this way: all that is in the world is the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

This is of the world, it's not of the Father.

He said, The world passeth away in the lust thereof.

But thank God.

I'm so happy that he actually brought us out of that.

And of course, being in Christ, it's not being in church, it's not even being in the body of Christ.

We can be in the body of Christ and not be in Christ.

Um you can be in the body of Christ and be in Adam.

Do you know that?

And that's a promise in the Bible.

I think it's 1 Corinthians 13.

He says, All in Adam, say it again.

All in Adam, what?

All in Adam died.

All in Adam died.

And so, how do I know if I'm in Adam?

And I'm in self.

And I'm in my own will, my own desires, and my own ways, then I'm in self.

If I die in that state, then guess what I died in?

I died in Adam.

But the Bible said, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.

And that's what we're here for, to actually die in the Lord.

And we're here to die a death that this religious world and this natural world has no con no clue of.

They can't even see it.

We're trying to die out to self.

We're trying to die out to Adam.

Uh, that's called the first death.

That's the first death.

Uh, there's a death that every man, uh, that is, that is not reaped, what actually tastes, and that's his body uh ceasing to exist.

Uh that's the death every man is gonna taste, except those who are transformed, uh, at the actual reaping of the bride.

Uh but that death doesn't necessarily constitute the second death.

The second death is the end of you.

Do you know that?

The second death is the end of you.

When you die at your second death, that is the end of you.

And you can die your second death and still be walking in shoe leather.

You can die your second death and still be breathing oxygen in your nocles.

The Bible put it one place, I don't know how I'm getting on this, but it may be good that I am.

The Bible put it this way, I think it's in uh Jude, maybe we should read that, how that he's talking about a certain people.

These are ministers, these are people who had a knowledge of the things of God.

He said they are twice dead and plucked up by the roots.

Well, they was dead in trespasses in sin.

The Lord quickened them by the Holy Ghost, and they died out of the things of God again, so they became twice dead.

He said, And plucked up by the roots, still breathing oxygen, still walking in shoe leather, but they was twice dead.

That was the end of them.

And so we come this way that we may die the first death.

He said, Blessed is he, how'd he put it?

Uh blessed and blessed and holy is he that has part of the first resurrection, on such the second death.

That's how he put it.

That's Revelation 20.

On such, give me a uh somebody put these scriptures.

I'm gonna be running tonight.

I can feel it coming.

Uh he says, uh, what is that?

Uh Revelation 20 and 5.

Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection.

And see, there's a first.

If you say it's first, then there's just chronologically speaking, there must be a subsequential resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection.

On such, listen to this, on such the second death has no power.

And so that's what we're striving for, is to make sure the second death doesn't have any power, no opportunity to be exercised over you and I.

The second death is the end of you.

That's just the station of life.

Uh, that's why you and I are here, is to make sure we are not partakers of the second death.

When the apostles came, when uh that is and began to blow the trumpet, and we're in that wonderful book of Acts, brother, they actually picked up what Jesus Christ himself left off.

And look what he said.

Jesus Christ came, he came to blow a trumpet, he came to give a message that has never been given in the history of humanity, that a man did not have to die.

That's the whole epitome of what Jesus Christ preached.

Do you know that?

Of course, to do that, there are steps, you have to repent, you have to do that, you have to be baptized in water, you have to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

But all of that, all of that is the pathway that uh you that is your soul doesn't have to taste death.

The outer man, he's gonna go to the grave, or he has to be transformed because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

And so the outer man has to perish.

But Paul said, though the outer man perish, though the outer man perish, that's the natural man, the inner man, he's renewed day by day.

How is he renewed, brother?

By praying, by meditating, by reading, by fellowshipping with the things of God.

Thank God, I'm glad we have a revelation of that.

And that's the message Jesus Christ actually preached.

Look what he says.

Uh I don't know how I guess I'm getting wired up here.

But look how he put it.

I love these passages.

These are wonderful passages.

Hard to improve upon some verses in the Bible.

Here is one that I can't find any improvement any improvement upon.

Uh, when Jesus Christ went in the 11th chapter of John, when he went to the tomb of Lazarus, and here is Mary, here's Martha.

He loved them both.

And as they began to weep, brother Jesus Christ made a profound statement.

He said, Listen, uh uh though he said, He that believeth in me, he that believeth, that's past tent, that's all those who died believing in Christ.

He that believeth in me, though he was dead, yet shall he live.

There's a hope of a resurrection for them.

And he said, He that liveth, brother, he still have the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

He's alive of the things of God.

He that believeth in me, he says, he shall what?

Never die.

Never die.

So we have a never die message for the soul.

A never die or never lose conscience message for the soul.

That's one of the things that separate us from this religious world out here.

It's because we're a people who believe that Jesus Christ did what the Bible in 2 Timothy 1 and 10 says, he actually abolished death.

He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light.

How do you do it?

Through the gospel.

And so it takes the gospel, the unadulterated word of God, in its purious, uncontaminated, unleavened form.

All the leaven has to be extracted out of this holy writ.

It's not in the writ, but it's in our interpretation.

Our minds have been twisted and been changed.

That is through carnality, through that old serpent, as the uh that's how John called him in Revelation.

That old serpent, as he's wiggled down through these 6,000 years of humanity and 2,000 years of the church, brother, he's actually injected uh some venom in us.

But thank God we can extract that out.

And so the Lord, he actually abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

How did he do it?

He did it.

Listen to this.

You can see this all the way back.

Uh when you see Jesus Christ, and he brought to him uh, that is, uh, two fishes and five loaves.

And that was a great multitude of people, a great multitude of people.

I think the Bible said that was five thousand men without even counting the women and the children.

Five thousand.

And all he had was two fishes and five loaves.

That was sufficient.

Those two fishes, brother, to represent that which gives life.

Uh, brother, that's the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and that's water baptism.

And then he had five loaves of bread.

Five loaves of bread.

That's the teachings.

Thank God, brother, that's the five office ministry.

He took those two fishes and five loaves, and brother, he multiplied them.

But you know what he did?

He didn't give it to one person, Sister Amanda.

What he gave it to was those apostles.

The apostles gave it to the people.

And thank God that's how the people was fed.

How does the Lord feed today?

The same way.

It comes from God the Father, it comes through Jesus Christ, it comes through the ministry, right out to the people.

When you do it that way, there'll be enough.

The Bible says they'd gather 12 baskets.

That was enough, brother, that it was plenty left over.

And I'm glad the word of God will never be exhausted.

You know, we'll be spending 60 trillion years still learning about God.

This book can't contain him.

He's so much bigger than that.

I can assure you of that.

And so there is an order, and you can see in the book of Acts the activities.

This is the actions of those apostles.

And this apostles officiated.

There's never been a church, and I like to put emphasis on that.

There has never been a church the one that was launched on the day of Pentecost.

That church was in its zenith, it was in its glorious state for 40 long years.

For 40 years, that church showed the manifestation of a people working in the vine.

Here's a term we need to make sure it rings in our ears.

That church showed what it was to be in divine order.

And without divine order, there is it that's a that's a key principle.

Divine order of divine government.

Uh without divine government, without divine order, it is impossible to get the divine truth.

That is how you get it.

It has to be given in order.

And the order of God is not like the order of man.

And uh we have a concept, and uh we've gotten that from the things we've been exposed to.

The majority rules.

Uh whatever people, uh enough people feel is right, then evidently that's right.

We come up into a demon in a democracy, and um shape our thinking has been shaped accordingly.

Well, and God, the majority is always wrong.

It's always wrong.

Uh do you know that?

The majority told no uh told uh uh that is Adam, I'm sorry, not Adam, uh told Moses, he said, we going back to we going back to uh to Egypt.

But brother Moses stood up, it was just him.

It was just him and the ones that held his hands up, said no, we're not, we're going to Canaan land.

But the majority said, no, we're going back to Egypt.

But brother, thank God, Moses, brother.

God, you know God and the ministry, thank God, brother, that's always a majority of you in the spirit.

But if you're in the flesh, they look at all these thousand people saying, We're going back to Egypt.

But brother, all those that withstood Moses, their bones bleached in the wilderness.

They did not go back to Egypt.

And so that was not the majority ruling.

The majority in the days of Noah, when Noah said, We're going to build an ark for the saving of our souls, the majority said, We're not doing any such thing.

And but you can see the Lord still had his way.

There was eight souls that were saved.

It wasn't the majority, but thank God, brother, that was order, wasn't it?

Because that that ark was built according to the specification that God had actually gave to Moses.

Um, I'm sorry, to Noah.

And so now we can actually see on this end, here they were.

There was only 12 men.

But they weren't just natural men.

They looked like natural men.

Uh they were strubbing, they were fishermen, uh, they was unlearned.

They went from the high school of learning, but brother, those were 12 sticks of dynamites.

That's what they were.

Those were 12 sticks of dynamite that actually blew cardinality to pieces.

And uh everything they did, every every move they made, uh brother, that was a fearful people.

They was afraid of missing God.

Uh, they was afraid of going the wrong way.

They did everything by prayer and consideration because they realized, brother, this is a fearful time.

That church was launched, it was birthed.

Uh, do you know how the destituted state they were in?

Here they were with the people on the face of this earth.

They had left all they had to actually follow Christ.

They had uh Peter had left his fishing, uh, John and James had left their fishing.

Matthew had left his seat of custom.

They had nothing to pin on but the Lord.

That's all they had.

And they didn't even have a place to come together and worship, Sister Janita.

They had to go back to the temple.

They had to go back to the temple daily just to pray and just to try to uh to get an ordinance with the Lord.

And of course, uh the things they said was contrary to what the temple priest was teaching.

But that's where they went.

And uh they had to depend on the Lord for everything.

It was a fearful time.

And listen, uh, that's a good thing.

Let me say this.

Uh that's a good thing to be in a needy situation.

Uh the Bible said, How hardly, and this is a great revelation.

He said, How hardly shall they which have riches enter into the kingdom?

And that baffled his disciples.

He said, I say unto you, it's easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom.

Well, you can have a trillion dollars and not be rich.

You can be wealthy, but that don't mean you're rich.

Or you can only have$112 to your name.

And you can be very rich.

Rich is more to do with a mentality and a spirit than it does a financial status.

Uh but see, a rich person, I can go where I want to go.

I can stay as long as I want and I can leave.

I can take it or not take it.

I can flip out my credit card and go here, or I can do anything I want to do.

But brother, when you don't have that type of spirit, or when you're in need and you're always trying to find the Lord, you can have the credit cards, you can have the resources, but you don't want to go anywhere God don't want you to go.

You don't want to do anything God don't want you to do.

And your money or your finances is not what enable you.

You may can do it financially, but brother, you're just not rich-minded.

You're just not high-minded.

And though you may have the resources to do it, the resources never enter your mind.

What constrains you is the love of God.

Not because you don't have the resources, but the love of God is what hinders you.

It stops you, it forbids you.

And so, how do you know the love of God?

The Holy Ghost.

I'll let you know.

And you're so afraid that you don't want to miss out with God till you won't make any false moves.

And that's what we'll see as we go further into this wonderful book of Acts.

Here is the people.

Here is the people they didn't have finances.

And of course, before it was over, they would get finances.

Here is the people that didn't have a place of worship.

Before it was over, they would get a place of worship.

But brother, that didn't change their spirit.

They never got rich.

And uh I'm saying that again, so let me make emphasis on that.

Uh where is that scripture?

Is that uh Psalms 130?

No, that's Proverbs.

I'm so sorry.

Two scriptures going through my mind.

Yes, brother, wrong.

I'm sorry.

Good.

I appreciate it.

Uh let's go to Proverbs, if we will.

I'm gonna give her this scripture and we're gonna jump right into the book of Acts.

And let's all pray this wonderful, this wonderful prayer.

Lord, help me to remain a needy person.

Uh let's go to uh Proverbs 30 and 7.

And you're gonna see this wonderful attribute in that first century church.

Uh, you're gonna see that in this ministry that we're gonna actually study and read.

Uh let's read in verse 7 first.

Are you there with me?

30 and 7?

Two things have I required of thee.

Deny me them not before I die.

These are the two things.

Remove far from me vanity and lies.

Don't let that be in my heart.

Neither give me what?

Nor riches.

My God.

Feed me with what?

Food convenient for me.

Why would he pray such a prayer?

Well, he's gonna answer the next verse, verse 9.

He said, Lest I be full.

That's what riches would do.

He said, Lest I be full and do what?

How do you deny the Lord?

Do you deny he exists?

No.

You deny that in the word Lord, we use that word loosely, but the word Lord means one to whom you're in subjection to.

The word Lord means your master.

And see, uh if I get rich, that has to do more with the spirit.

It can be finances because too much finances in the hands of a fool will make you feel rich.

Or not just a fool, but in a corner person's state.

But uh, look what he says.

And I like how he put this.

He says, Lest I be full.

Full.

Full of what?

Full of self.

Full of my own will, my own desire.

The Bible uses another term.

He calls it presumptuous.

There's no sacrifice in the Bible for presumptuous sins.

Do you know that?

And in the New Testament, he don't use that word too frequently, though he does use it.

Uh I can remember it being in uh 2 Peter chapter 2, uh, I think again in Jude, but he used another word quite frequently, called it self-will.

2 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Self-will.

He said, Lest I be full, that is, when I'm rich, I got too much.

I can, and that's why this New Testament church, Brother Elton, that's why that church was born in the fire.

That church was birthed under persecution.

The Lord needed those people to be needed, to depend on him, not to do anything on their own.

But, brother, because of that state, they were very spiritual.

And it's difficult for us, Sister Amanda.

When we caught, you know what we do?

We hit that stermostat.

Then after a while, we have overcompensated, so we got to turn it off.

When I don't like the shoes I'm wearing, what do we do?

We go buy us another pair.

Sure.

I remember times churches used to sit on benches, but they was just too uncomfortable, so we got patty pews.

Well, we done threw the patty pews out.

Let's get us some cushioned chairs now.

But Lord, don't let us be full.

Don't let those things cause us to be full.

And I think I'm afraid, Brother Michael, brother uh Elton, uh, brother Jeff, I think sometimes we get full.

How do we know that, brother?

Because we're not praying like we ought to.

We're not panning after God like we have to we we ought to.

That first century church continued in prayer, they didn't stop.

They didn't stop.

It was a state they lived in.

That was a needed people.

And brother, when you don't pray, it's the same thing.

We often emphasize reading.

I think I was talking to Brother Michael, but brother, I don't know if we emphasize prayer sufficiently.

Because one without the other will still render you a week.

It takes both.

It takes a prayer life as much as it takes a devotional of reading time.

It takes both.

And so uh and I'm not praying, it's because I'm not needed.

When you're in pain, what do you do?

Oh, I promise you, brother, when you're in pain, you pray.

You pray.

Absolutely.

Because you need the Lord to do something for you.

Brother, when you're in a furnace of heat and fire, you pray.

But brother, when you don't have problems, that's the danger.

That Jesus put it this way.

He says the sufficiency, get this scripture.

It's in uh John 6.

Uh, I'm sorry, Matthew 6, down toward the end of the chapter, uh, maybe the 30-fourth, 35th verse thereabout.

He said, the sufficiency of the day is the what?

Evil thereof.

The sufficiency.

The sufficiency when you don't need nobody, when you don't need nothing.

I can go, I can come, I can stay.

It's all I, it's self-will.

Brother, that's the evil.

I'm gonna get into some mischief, brother Michael.

I'm gonna hurt myself, brother.

Whom the Lord loveth, you know what he does?

He keeps his foot on your neck.

He keeps his foot on your neck.

I'll give me, use me for an example.

Brother, I'm feeling brother fine, everything is going good.

Brother Jeff, I'm gonna ride the four-wheeler.

Well, I wasn't content.

I want to take a four-wheel and put them on two and turn around in circles.

Where did that come from?

Where did that come from?

Brother, if I had enough problems, if I had enough afflictions, riding a four-wheel on two wheels wouldn't enter into my mind.

That was a result of just being foolish hearted.

Too much free-heartedness.

Somebody's burden should have been on my heart.

Somebody's situation should have been on my mind, and I wouldn't have been caught up in youthful lust.

And that's a fact.

But I was just, everything was fine.

And my mind was on nobody, nothing, and it was nothing, room for nothing but just folly.

And it got me in some trouble.

But I'm glad the Lord, whom the Lord loved here, what?

Do you know when I found myself sliding over, roll, roll over and over, wrestling with that four-wheeler, it rolled over on me and I roll up and it rolls over.

And brother, do you know when my eyes opened?

You know the first thing I said?

Oh Lord.

Oh, you done got spiritual now, huh?

Yes, the Lord.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

God help us.

Lest I be full and deny and say, Who is the Lord?

Who is the Lord?

I'm gonna do what I want to do.

Who is the Lord?

He said, Listen to this, nor less I be poor.

And do what?

And take the name of my God in vain.

My God.

And so you can see, that's a wonderful passage, isn't it?

It's a wonderful passage, brother.

It is a wonderful passage.

And so we preach, we don't believe in people being destituted.

But brother, you can you never want to be rich-minded.

You can be broke.

You can be broke and be rich in your spirit.

As a matter of fact, on our way to Acts and stop at one more passage, I better speed up.

I'm gonna get uh let my time get away from me.

Uh let me get it.

It's Matthew 6 and uh I'm sorry, 34.

Yeah, six and thirty-four.

Therefore, take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought of itself, of things for itself.

Here's the key part the sufficiency unto the day is the evil thereof.

It strengthens the flesh.

That's what it does.

And uh uh if you're if you're healthy and you have wealth and you have health and you have strength, that doesn't have to be an adversary to your soul.

Keep a poor spirit.

Look at uh Matthew six.

Matthew five, I'm sorry.

I won't get into these beatitudes, I'll just read one verse.

Five and three.

Are you there with me?

Let's read it together.

Matthew's five and three.

Are you there with me?

Let's read it together.

Ah, he didn't say poor in your finances, did he?

He said poor in spirit.

Poor in spirit.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

That has nothing to do with your financial status.

He said, for theirs is the what?

And brother, it's unfortunate, but it's sometimes it takes affliction to break our spirit.

A rich person would hardly enter into the kingdom of God.

Not financially rich, but it makes it can become a hindrance, but just rich in your spirit.

My God.

No, I guess I'm hopping over Acts.

1 Corinthians.

This scripture just strapped in my heart.

Um when Jesus told, I'm sorry, when uh yeah, Jesus told Peter, I mean told Paul, he says, My strength is made perfect in your what?

In your weakness.

That's 2 Corinthians.

What is that, brothers?

I'm sorry.

That's 2 Corinthians.

I besought the Lord thrice, he said, to remove this thing from me.

Let me start in verse 7 there, real quick.

2 Corinthians 12 and verse 7.

And this is what caused that New Testament church to be so glorious.

Brother, is because here was a people who depended on the Lord for everything, their movements, their actions.

And that was a church that was in divine order, brother Rom.

Divine order.

Uh, churches are in order, they're in the order of the organization that they're that established them.

They all have an order, but brother, it's a divine order.

Is it the order of God?

Let's read this.

Here he is.

Here's the great apostle Paul.

Verse 7 said, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation, all the great truths he had out of the word of God.

He said, There was given to me a what?

It's the messenger of Satan to do what?

To buffet me, to block me, help me, really.

But it was to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above what?

The Lord used Satan, he used that, Brother Elton, to help keep Paul saved.

Help to keep him saved.

Do you know when little situations even rise up in an assembly?

Little trials and little tests, the Lord helps us.

The ministry needs that.

Because if not, you'll lack, you'll you'll draw back on teaching.

You'll draw back.

I have enough sense to understand the safety of this people is not in Brother Brown, it's not in my intellect.

I have very limited, sure, not in my college degree, then we can give me one.

Probably I didn't go long enough.

It's not in uh anything we have to offer in the flesh.

Brother, the safety of this people is having your eyes open to the word of God.

That's our that's your safety, and it's our safety.

Absolutely so.

And so here he is.

He says, now listen to this.

Verse 8.

And see, we don't like afflictions.

When things break out, brother, and I see, well, maybe I hadn't taught strong enough or long enough in this area.

I see something else breaking out.

Maybe I hadn't taught strong enough or long enough in that area.

When things happen, the first thing a person should do is look at themselves.

If you're in authority, when something goes wrong in my home, the first problem is me, did I make a foolish decision?

Did I spend too much?

Did I not do this?

Did I not do that?

Well, the minister should look and say, what is it we didn't do?

Well, maybe it's nothing we didn't do, but maybe it's something we did.

And so uh uh you need that.

It causes the minister to examine itself.

And you need that.

And then if and then of course again, uh sometimes the Lord does it because he's trying to save you, brother Phil.

You know, maybe something that springs up that you need your case dealt with, but we before we look at you, we look at us.

And so look what Paul said.

He didn't like this thing buffing him, he didn't like this.

He said, For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that means three different times, that it might do what?

Depart from me.

And verse 9.

And he said unto me, My grace is what?

That's enough for you.

Lest you get rich in your spirit with all the revelations you have, brother, you can get puffed up, Paul.

So I'm not gonna give you everything, I'm gonna let you stay buffeted.

He said, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect where?

In weakness.

My strength is made perfect.

He didn't say in thy weakness, he said in weakness.

And what weakness?

And the weakness of every individual, the Lord trying to show himself strong on their behalf.

Somebody's got to die for Christ to live.

John said, I must decrease, and he must what?

Absolutely so.

You can't have two strong men in the now.

He said, Therefore, uh most gladly, therefore, I rather glory in my what?

That the power of Christ may do what?

Look at verse 10.

See, this is a revelation.

Here's that ministry.

Paul is a direct product of that New Testament church.

Look at verse 10.

He said, Therefore, I take pleasure in what?

Well, not his flesh, absolutely not, but the inner man does.

He say in what?

In reproaches.

Uh I often say, let somebody say things.

Brother, we talk about that.

Let them let them do that.

Let them throw rocks at you.

That's healthy, that's good for you.

Tell Brother Rahm that.

Let him criticize you.

You know, even if it's false, don't defend yourself, don't justify yourself.

Do what's right, and the Lord will vindicate you.

Absolutely.

So that's healthy for us.

Flush, it's rotten.

I don't care who back is on.

It's dangerous.

It's an enemy to your soul.

It absolutely is.

And now, he said, in reproaches.

He said, in necessities, he said, in persecution.

He said, in distresses for Christ's sake, not for something I've done myself.

For when I am what?

Say this.

When I'm poor in my spirit, when I'm not strong in my flesh, when I am weak, then am I what?

Then am I strong.

Now, Acts chapter 3.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Let's look at the activity or the action of a people who actually existed in this condition.

That's these great apostles.

They had just received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

The New Testament church was launched, and then they were continuing daily with one accord in the temple.

They were breaking bread from house to house because they didn't have a church building.

Verse 46, 246.

They ate their meat with singleness, with gladness and singleness of heart.

Great things was happening.

And now chapter 3 and verse 1.

Now Peter and John went up together into the what?

Into the temple.

This is where they had to go because they had nowhere else they could fellowship.

And this is the part I like here.

Listen to this.

I'm sorry, went up together into the temple when?

Brother showing you they still had a dedication to prayer life.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost didn't change that.

Absolutely didn't.

He said, Being the ninth hour.

And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gates of the temple, which is called beautiful.

To ask alms, that's asking for some contributions from them that enter into the temple.

This is kind of interesting verse here.

Do you not know that same temple that Jesus just went into?

What was it?

Just a few weeks earlier?

He went there, brother, the last week of his before his crucifixion?

It was less, it was less than uh, what, six weeks?

How many days in a week?

Seven?

Well, it was more than seven.

It was 40, I say 49 would be seven.

About eight weeks earlier, Jesus Christ had just walked in there.

This man was sitting at the gate daily.

You think Jesus didn't see that man walk by there?

I know he saw him.

Why he didn't heal him?

Well, I can't prove it, I have a theory.

I believe he left him there for the apostles.

I believe he walked right past that man, he saw that man there, and brother, he went right into the temple teaching the last week.

Every day he walked in and walked out, he saw that man there.

But brother, that was going to be a manifestation of God being in his people.

Let's keep reading.

Verse 3 Here is this man who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, acts and alms, looking for some contribution.

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon them with John, said, He looked at this man.

Looked at this man sitting there begging.

But brother, he realized, man, listen, we just received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

And brother, they've been praying, Brother Micah, continuously.

All this power was bottled up in them.

All of this and the nine gifts of the Spirit was evident.

Brother, it was there.

Never manifested, they never had an occasion to.

But brother, when Peter looked over and saw this man, that condition, brother, I'm sure the Holy Ghost got rumbling.

And look what happened.

And Peter uh fastened his eyes upon them, saying, With John, saying, Look on us.

And he gave heed, that's this man begging, unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

He's looking for money.

He's thinking these men about to give them some contribution.

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none.

Brother, we're not the ones.

We don't have any money at all.

We don't have any.

I could put something in your tin can, but I don't have it to give you.

But I got something else.

But such as I have, give I thee.

And the name of Jesus of Christ of Nazareth, do what?

My God.

Brother, what happened to the church?

Do you see that church today?

I don't see it.

We can say silver and gold have we plenty.

But the power of the Holy Ghost, have we any?

We don't have any.

We can't do that.

We can build great cathedrals, but we can't do that.

We can raise billions of dollars to church world, but we can't do that.

They did something.

And it didn't stop there.

And he took them by the right hand, lifted them up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

And he leaping up and walked, entering with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.

Now, this is the prayer hour.

People are praying.

This man forgot they were praying.

He bust up the prayer meeting, jumping and leaping and shouting and praising God.

No doubt people got up and looked around.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they knew that it was he which set for arms at the beautiful gate of the temple.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which happened unto him.

And as the lame man which was healed, he held Peter.

He will let him go.

And John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called what?

Are you seeing those terms, Solomon's porch, the temple, the use interchangeable, the house of the Lord?

Can you see those terms?

That's not an upper room.

But that's okay if you can't see it.

Greatly wondering.

Then when Peter saw it, he answered and said unto the people, because they was dazing.

They're saying this man was definitely, he had sit here for years begging.

He definitely he couldn't walk.

He definitely had some problems.

Something done happened.

They're looking at Peter and they're looking at John just like they would look at a television evangelist today, and they say, My God, man, you're a great man of God.

And brother, let me tell you, this church world, they'll use it as an opportunity to take the handkerchief out.

But brother, that's not a that's that's forgery, bruh.

Let me show you what the Bible says.

Let me show you what happens when a man does have the goods, and it's no phony, and it's no game, and they're not after your money.

Look what happens.

And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, he used it as an opportunity to preach Jesus Christ.

He said, You men of Israel, why marvel you at this?

Or why look ye so earnestly on us as through as through by our own power?

And brother, that's what you see out here in this religious world today.

It's like I got the good, I have the gift of healing.

Brother, if you got to say you have it, you don't have it.

If you got to proclaim it, brother, you don't have it.

And if you're gonna brought people to yourself, you don't have it.

Brother, any man who preaches, the Bible said, Jesus said, any man who preaches himself or his own uh preaches of his own, seek his own glory.

Brother, if you see anybody pointing you toward themselves, they're not pointing you toward Christ.

And that's a fact.

No, look what he says.

He said, as though by our own power of holiness we made this man to walk.

The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers.

Notice this is happening to the Jews first.

The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.

That's talking about the Jews.

And the God of our fathers has glorified, get this, has glorified who?

His son Jesus.

This is God's son Jesus.

This is not Jesus the Son.

I'm sorry, God the Son.

No, this is Jesus the Son.

He said, Whom you've delivered up and have denied him in the presence of Pilate.

That's Pontius Pilate.

When he was determined to let him go.

But you denied, listen now, he's laying these things to these people's charge.

He said, but you denied the holy one and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed.

Look what he's telling them.

He's telling them what they did, and killed the prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.

And through in his name, through faith in his name, and brother, we say his name, he don't mean saying J-E-S-U-S.

He means brother God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, a New Testament ministry.

It is that divine order, it's that divine government, that's his name.

That's something he established, that's his way, that's his authority.

If you have another name over you, if you have another name over you, brother, you're not operating in his name, you're operating in that name.

We can say we're the body of Christ, but if we have any organization over us, if we call the church of the firstborn and we call the church of the Episcopalians or the church of uh, I don't want to call names, but Skip Hoppy and so on and so forth, well, brother, I'm operating in that name.

That's who gave me the authority to preach.

That's who name we're gathering in.

Jesus Christ said, if a man come in his own name, he said, You uh how'd he put that?

He said, if one come in his own name, you receive him.

That's how he put it.

He said, but I come in my father's name.

I don't have a name.

I'm not a Pharisee, I'm not a Sadducee, I'm not an Estherine.

You won't receive me.

But if I said I was a Herolian, if I said that I was an Estherine, you receive me.

They'll call you a cult because we don't have a name.

Are you a Baptist?

Well, yes.

We baptize in water.

Are you Pentecostal?

Yeah, we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but we're none of that.

Are you Catholic?

Well, we believe in one universal church.

I mean, we believe in some of the terminology, but no, we're none of those.

Well, who are you?

We're the body of Christ.

Well, who is that?

That's the people who has no other head but Christ.

It's hard to explain who you are.

How do you explain it?

You can't in words.

We operate in his name and his government and his order.

Let's keep reading.

Now, here he is.

Listen.

Verse 6.

And his name, verse 14, 16, I'm sorry, verse 16, 3 and 16.

And his name, through faith in his name, have made this man strong, whom you see and know.

Yea, the faith which is by him have given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

That's a witness, and that's a testimony, brother.

That's the token against all the rebels.

And this is the very point, brother, for which you and I are here.

Listen, you don't have to justify doing right.

Do right.

Stay in God's order, stay in his divine ways, and let your enemies throw dots at you.

It's okay.

And if you hold your peace, we sing a song of the Lord to fight my battle.

Well, I got a better scripture than that.

I can't find that in the Bible, but that's a good saying.

But I can tell you this, brother, if you stay in God's order, if you let the ministry be your head, and if the ministry let Christ be his head, and the word about Christ, God the Father is always his head, you're in divine order.

And I can promise you, I can promise you, the more adversaries, the more people say things about you, if you keep the right spirit, they're blessing you.

Because the Lord will rebuke your enemies.

If I don't have any enemies, nobody's saying anything against us or doing anything against us, then the Lord has nobody to rebuke you.

How do you rebuke your enemies?

He'd rather give them cancer.

Don't help me.

He don't he raised you up right in front of them.

Well, they can't deny that's got to be God.

That's how he rebukes them.

Jesus Christ, he didn't fight his adversaries.

The Bible said he didn't hide his face from the spitting and the shame.

The Lord rebuked his enemies.

When they crucified him and put him to death, they thought they'd gotten rid of that troublemaker.

But brother, 120 more, brother, on the day of Pentecost, here they come.

And the same day, 3,000 was added.

A few days later, 5,000 was added.

Brother, there was one, and now, brother, the Lord rebuked his adversary.

Now the earth was full of them.

In Psalms 23, we often quote that psalm that's talking about Christ.

God prepared a table before him, that's Jesus Christ, right in the presence of his enemies.

That table that was prepared was on the day of Pentecost, where all the people of God could come in and eat it.

The Lord rebuked his enemies.

He rebuked them.

Amen.

And brother, that's why it's good to be needy.

It's good to not be rich, to depend on the Lord, to be a proud for person.

Do what's right.

Take the opposition.

Take the criticism.

It's not going to hurt you.

It's a blessing.

If you can hold on, it's a blessing behind it.

I can promise you, the Lord is trying to raise you up, but he can't raise you up unless you humble yourself.

Unless you can take it.

We used to have a saying, brother, if you can take it, you can make it.

But you got to take it.

Have the right spirit.

Let's keep going.

Now, he said, now, brother, after all these strong words, look at the mercy of God.

He said, Now, brethren, after he'd indicted them, he said, I wrath that through ignorance you did it, as did your rulers.

You didn't know any better.

But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled.

Now repent ye therefore.

So he preached Christ to them.

He said, Repent you therefore, and that's a wonderful thing if a brother, sister, man, woman, boy, girl, it's not what you did wrong.

I didn't kill nobody.

But he told those people, he said, You killed the prince of life.

I wasn't a murderer, but they he told them you were murderers.

You betrayed the just one.

He put all these grievous things at their charge, and brother, turn around and say, Repent.

You don't have to do no sacraments, you ain't got to stroke no beads, you ain't got to go out and prove yourself worthy.

Just repent.

So it gives me confidence.

Doesn't matter what we did yesterday, Lord, help me to repent of that.

You got a chance to get it right.

Regardless of what mistake I made yesterday or last week or this morning, brother, every day I have a chance.

If the Lord would grant it to me, I got a chance to repent.

I can turn, change, go on another path away from those things.

Well, I'm glad the Lord made it just that easy.

My God.

He said, Repent ye therefore and be converted.

That is from Judaism to Christianity, that your sins may be blotted out.

When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the time of restitutions of all things, until the earth was put back in the condition it was in the garden, and all sins has been eradicated.

He said, which God has spoken, that's what he means there, which God has spoken by the mouth of all, all his holy prophets since the world began.

Here's the scripture.

He didn't use this term, but I'm going to use it for him.

It's Peter preaching.

Here's the scripture.

He said, For Moses truly said the fathers.

Moses said this in Deuteronomy.

What's it, Deuteronomy 18?

He reached over and pulled out the scripture.

He said, For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet.

Look what Moses said.

A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you of your brethrons, like unto me.

Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he say unto you.

Well now, brother, what did he mean, a prophet like unto me?

Brother Moses was the head of that people.

That was a ministry.

That was a ministry, but as a two-fingered ministry.

It was Moses and then it was Aaron.

And Jesus Christ was going to be like that.

Moses, whatever Moses said, brother, that was the law.

That's why they call the old warm.

Get him a little air.

You okay?

Uh-huh.

Moses said, listen, the matter of fact, the books he wrote are called the what?

The law of Moses.

Whatever he said was the law.

And whatever Jesus Christ said, guess what it is?

It's the law.

We are in the law of Christ.

That's what Paul calls it, the law of Christ.

Moses was uh, brother, he was brought out of Egypt.

And then Jesus Christ was brought out of Egypt.

Remember how that Herod was trying to kill him?

He went into Egypt?

And there's many dual layer, you can see parables between the two, parallels between the two.

But nevertheless, Jesus Christ fulfilled that picture.

Moses was called the head of Israel, and the nation of Israel is called the body of Moses.

He was their head.

That's my phone.

I'm sorry, I didn't turn it off.

He was called the head of Moses.

I'm the head of Israel.

So he was called that the nation of Israel is the body of Moses.

Jesus Christ is the head of his people.

So we're called the body of Christ.

Those are your two witnesses.

Moses, he's the old witness.

Old Testament.

He is the witness of the Old Testament.

It came by Moses.

Jesus Christ, he is the true witness of the New Testament.

He's called the faithful and true witnesses.

These are the two witnesses of the two olive trees that stands before the earth.

This is where we draw our oil from.

Those two olive trees, the Old and the New Testament.

You can see a picture of it, which came out of Zechariah 4 and 2 and Revelation 11 and 4.

We won't get into that right now.

But that's what those two witnesses, those who those two olive trees, are making reference to.

And see, as we learn the word of God, we're singing the song of Moses.

That's the Old Testament.

And we're singing the song of the Lamb.

That's the New Testament.

Every overcomer, before you sing that new song, brother, you have to learn the song of Moses.

You have to learn the song of Christ.

You have to learn the song of the Lamb.

You have to be able to sing them both.

The Bible said every man that's inscribe, that's instructed in the house of God, the kingdom of God, is like a man that's a householder.

He takes out of his treasure things that are old, that is out of the Old Testament, and things that are new, that's out of the new testament.

By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established.

Am I making sense to you?

Well, sure.

So you can see here's here's Peter.

He reached back and pulled that scripture out of the Old Testament.

And let me go on.

He said, Yea, verse 24, verse 24, yea, and all the prophets, all the prophets, every one of them, from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as has spoken, have likewise foretold of what?

These days, all the prophets, they pointed toward Christ.

Israel.

Every prophet that you heard and that preached to you in pictures and types and allegories and dark sentences, brother, they still was talking about Christ.

They talked about these days.

They're here.

Is what he was trying to tell them.

You can read the Bible, you can read it what he was telling them.

Jesus said, Search the scriptures.

What is that?

John, St.

John 7?

Not St.

John, we're all saints.

I'm sorry.

You know where that came from.

But uh uh John, uh John chapter 7, he says, Search the scriptures.

John 7 · chapter mention

He said, For in them you what?

Think you have eternal life.

Because you're not gonna find eternal life in just reading it.

It's they that testify of me, Jesus said.

It takes a revelation of what you're reading.

But anyway, let's keep moving.

Then he goes on, he said, You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, get this, in thy seed shall all the kindred of the earth be what?

Who's that seed?

He didn't say seeds as many, he said seed as one.

That seed is talking about Christ.

Verse 26.

Unto you what?

First.

Unto you first.

They put that comma, by the way, it's no comma in the original writings.

Uh they put it in the wrong place.

Unto you first.

God, listen what he did.

Uh God hath raised up his son, Jesus.

Unto you first.

Who's the first?

Who is he talking to?

Israel.

Jews, to the Jews first, and also to the Greeks.

Unto you first.

It comes to you first, Jews.

It comes to you first.

Have God raised up his son Jesus, sent him to do what?

What?

Did he give them money?

Did he make them wealthy?

That's not how he blessed them.

He blessed them with a chance for life.

Listen.

And turning away every one of you from his what?

Iniquities.

My God, we only get in a chapter time.

I got to stop.

Does it make sense to you though?

This is a wonderful, brother, and we can't, we know time wouldn't suffer us to squeeze all the oil out of every one of these verses.

But my God.

Brother, can you see that New Testament church, though?

Can you see that ministry?

They, brother, they didn't tell you anything about the church they had on the corner.

They didn't try to invite you over to make you a proselyte you into their church.

They pointed you toward Christ.

Brother, we got to get back to the simplicity of the gospel, is that a man and woman might see Christ.

Not your church.

And you want to invite them, brother, but it's not your group, but you want people to see Christ.

Not my will, not your will, but let his will be done.

We have to stay poor in spirit.

Stay humble.

Stay proudful.

Amen.

Stay needy.

Don't get rich.

Get as wealthy as you can get.

But you remember that prayer now.

Lord, feed me with food.

Convenient for me.

Don't make me rich.

Unless I deny thee.

Don't make me poor unless I steal.

Remember that prayer.

And all you're getting, don't just get more money.

Get some understanding.

Amen.

Time is far spent.

We'll have to stop here tonight.

And I'm still trusting we're going to pick up the pace.

We're going to pick the pace up.

We're going to get through this.

I'm saying through this, but all the word of God is good.

But that wonderful book of Acts.

We're just getting a glimpse of it.

It's just beginning to actually build.

You can see the operation of that New Testament ministry.

That's why it takes so much time to build this foundation.

That church was in order.

Everything they did, they had problems.

Every time you get a group of people, you're going to have problems.

What made that church please God was not because it didn't have problems, it's how it dealt with them.

The spirit, the wisdom, the way they dealt with things was by the God, I'm sorry, the God's divine order.

Everybody didn't try to put their hands to something.

Everybody didn't have an opinion.

Brother, they went to that ministry, and that ministry went to God.

Thank God, brother.

I'm looking for restoration of the New Testament order.

That's what we're all about in the body of Christ, and getting back to a church that was just like the first.

The one that came out on the day of Pentecost.

Amen.

Brother LJ, I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Um, basically.

And you was also talking about how Jesus Christ established a ministry in the earth.

My question is for clarificational purposes.

Um when we say the ministry, do you I I know how you see this, but I'm gonna put this question out here.

Do you see the five office ministry in a local assembly, or is that the body of Christ as a whole?

Do you understand what I'm saying?

Or because I I know sometimes I think um you can fall in either ditch where it's it's a one-man show, and then you also can fall in the show.

And I mean, in a in a mindset of fairy tale, that all the ministers are equal.

That's not supposed to be a ministry, so you think everybody's equal.

So now you you both say, Well, I don't see a ministry.

Right.

That's that's and I won't, that's a good subject, brother, but we'll maybe get on that Thursday night.

Uh, let me make this plain.

When we say ministry, we're talking about a ministry that's in the body of Christ.

Uh, when we say a local ministry, uh, every local ministry consists of that pastor and the brothers who he ordained to help him.

That's your ministry.

It's the pastor and the brothers that are helping him.

And I'll give you an example.

I'll give you many.

I give you the Bible throughout.

Uh we say local ministry, that's not uh apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher in that church, and they're all equal authority.

Equal authority is no authority.

That's not a ministry.

That's not a ministry.

Uh we read Sunday when Paul said, us is given unto us the ministry of what?

Reconciliation.

We are ambassadors of Christ.

Well, who was the we?

Paul and Timothy.

Well, Timothy wasn't Paul's equal.

Timothy was Paul's son in the gospel.

Uh Titus was Paul's son in the gospel.

Those were men who he ordained to work with him.

When he said we, we were him and the men who were helping him.

But the reason it was a ministry because they were serving the people together.

They were workers together with Paul, but they were Paul's sons.

Am I making any sense to you?

But Paul himself didn't have a total autonomy.

Paul was part of the ministry in the body, which means he was subject to the other brothers in Jerusalem.

I'm subject to brothers that are in the pastors, ministers in the body.

I call them my elder brothers, whether it be brother Watson or older brothers, brother Belt.

I can go on down the line, older brothers in the Lord.

Some things I take counsel with locally because it's local affairs.

Our brothers have no, they would have no, they don't have the pulse of this people.

They don't understand the things that's happening here.

I talk with these brothers.

Other things is on another scale.

And so these brothers aren't pastoring.

They're not the one who has the charge of the local assembly, they're not the one who has the responsibility of people's souls.

They're helping me bear this burden.

I can't bear it alone.

And so they're here to help.

So the ministry is that pastor and the men who work in with him.

Not say with him, it's actually under him.

But that's that ministry.

That's the service to the people of God.

Am I making any sense to you?

And you'll see that throughout through every book of the Bible.

Paul in Sylvania.

Paul in Timothy.

Just read it.

And that was the ministry to their church.

And then Paul makes it very plain.

This is not confusing.

He said, listen, Paul says, oh, he talks about himself.

He said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the what?

He said, one said I'm of Peter, one said, I'm of uh of Paul, one said I'm of Apollos.

He said, uh was Paul crucified for you?

No.

He goes on down the line.

He said, Listen, though you have 10,000 instructors.

You may have Timothy, you may have Titus, you may have a great man of God.

Though you have 10,000 instructors, you don't have many fathers.

What is that?

1 Corinthians 4?

He said, For I have begotten you through the gospel.

Who begotten you?

No, Paul didn't beget you.

No, Corinth.

Yeah, I don't know.

Yes.

Who begot you?

That's your spiritual speaking, that's your father in the gospel.

There may be some rare exceptions, but most of the people, even under this congregation of people, are products of my words.

They're products of my teaching.

They're products of my labor.

You're my church in the gospel.

And you may be older.

Sister Christine, you're older than I am.

But you're my daughter in the gospel.

Brother, he doesn't look older than me, but Brother Russell's older than me.

But Brother Russell, Brother Russell, who's your father in the gospel?

We're not confused.

We're not confused.

The things that you got, who did you get them from?

The things you understand, who gave you the understanding?

The vision you have, who anointed your eyes?

Well, that's that's who your father is in the gospel.

But we don't teach a one man, we teach a ministry.

Why?

Because I have enough sense to know I'm not gonna live forever.

And if I did live forever on the earth, which I have no intentions to doing, I plan on getting out of here a live soul.

I have enough sense to know I couldn't pastor church forever.

You know, I had a natural exit plan.

At 49 years old, December 31st, 2008, to excuse this expression, but this is how they say it in Faraday.

Come hell or high water, I was gonna quit working for Browns Drywall.

Whether I was broke or rich had nothing to do with it.

I was gonna stop.

Well, I have an exit plan where this ministry is concerned.

Well, absolutely.

I promise you, at age 60, I will not pastor another day.

You would you would I would pray that God give me enough grace to raise up enough men uh with the gospel in the heart.

God will raise up one of those men with enough burden to pastor this church.

What can I do?

No man, ever, no man can do this forever.

He'll wear you down.

And then you get complacent.

You start tolerating anything.

Before you know it, you got insurrection, uh, you got all kinds of things just running rampant because you're worn down.

You need somebody young with some strength and some fortitude.

You don't have to do what I did.

I'm I'm digging this work out.

Uh, we I'm I'm I'm this is I didn't inherit this churches.

Most of the church in the body of Christ are many years old.

There's probably out of hundreds of churches, there's probably not even 10 churches that's been built by that local pastor.

I'm not an apostle to the body, but I'm an apostle to this assembly.

Nobody uh sends me a dime.

Nobody sends ministers down here.

Uh I mean they hold our hands up and they love us, but brother, nobody, nobody help us here.

This is a result of this local ministry.

Nobody put a board up, not one person did anything on this church except for Brother Elton, who wasn't a part of this church and the body, and the Lord put him over here.

He came planted some grass and some and some and some flowers, and the Lord planted him.

But the point I'm making, brother, and so uh uh Paul said, if I'm not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you.

The seal of my apostleship are you and the Lord.

The word apostle means one sent.

If I wasn't sent nowhere else, I was sent here.

I apostle this work, I'll father this work, and so the ministry is me and the men that works with me.

But I'm not some solo, I'm connected to the body of Christ.

Those other ministers.

That's who I'm subject to.

I don't do anything that's contrary to this body of people's uh order or teaching.

Uh this is not me.

This is not me.

Sis Katari was reminding me, brother, when you saw me, how did I come in when we first met when I came to church?

Did you see me with a jacket on?

Did you see me with a necktie?

Tell them how I dressed.

Casual.

The order of this people is that we may look and uh as serious as we are, we put a shirt on, we put a tie on, we put a jacket on.

Brother, if I had my way, you would because I know this has nothing to do with righteousness, but the Bible said, give custom to whom.

And so I subject myself, Brother LJ.

I subject myself to these brothers in this way.

It makes sense, so I subject myself to them.

And whatever their order is, then I adopt that order.

I don't invent an order.

This is not me.

We're not so low.

We're connected to something bigger than that.

So when we say the ministry, you're making reference to that pastor.

Or, and when I'm no longer, listen, I hope to be living past 60, but whoever's a pastor of this church, that man should be honored.

I don't require very much.

I'm not a high maintenance person.

I don't need praises and titles and honor, and you know, I don't need that.

But maybe this brother Elton pointed some things out to me that was Sarity, that they call men reverend because people don't see that man as a man of God.

They just call him because you say, Your brother, you're too common with him.

And people will say anything toward him, they'll do anything, and they they don't see the distance.

So they start using titles reverend, bishop, and elder, because it helps to put a distance between that person and that and that minister so they'll learn to regard him.

Well I like to think, and I hate to resort to something like that, but I like to think I can put enough of the word of God in people's heart that you'll honor a man's office.

You might not even like my personality.

Honor the office, honor the gift.

You might not like people who got gray hair in their head, but just honor the office.

And if you don't honor this office, and I let a lot of things go, we'll have to correct that as we go on, because when my I have 11 years left at the most, and I pray God it's gets shorter than that.

But if it doesn't get shorter, I can promise you, I can promise you, at age 60, you won't see Brother Brown pastor in this church.

I can promise you that.

I can promise you that.

And you have a man has to have a plan.

You can't just do things half heartedly.

You got to have a plan.

I had a plan in life.

Everything you see me do, this church is a million and two hundred thousand dollars.

I don't plan on leaving the next pastor with this bill.

This church will be paid for in three to five, and five to seven years.

I have a plan.

I didn't sign no dotted line without having an exit plan.

I know how to get our guidance into debt.

I know how to get it out.

I absolutely do.

And we ain't selling no chicken dinners either.

And we ain't begging for no money.

We ain't had no bill and drive, no pledge, and we ain't having no what they call mortgage money pledge.

It don't take that.

If God touch a man's mind, he'll show you how to do it.

Absolutely.

So the ministry, brother LJ, and every church, and every church in the body of Christ, they call that pastor's name.

And of course, his wife labors with him.

So they call the pastor and his wife.

Grace is not a high maintenance person.

She's not.

She doesn't receive a lot of honor and fanfare.

I never say anything about her.

But nobody works any harder than Grace.

Nobody sacrifices as much as her.

But I'm just, I don't take high, I'm not high in maintenance, and Grace is not high in maintenance.

But you need to honor because the person who takes my room, who wears my shoes, he's gonna catch a lot of hell if things is not corrected.

And he should be paid.

I'm gonna make sure he is paid.

I'll make sure the church is sufficiently financially stable that it can, he should be paid.

The Bible says they that preach the gospel should what?

Should live with the gospel.

Absolutely.

Say, if I sown them to you spiritual things, it's the small things I reap your what?

Your corn.

Well, see, I don't need that.

But the next person, brother who stand in my shoes, he has to be compensated.

I'm pioneering this.

I'm apostatizing this church.

And I like to make sure the foundation is strong enough that a man wouldn't have to go out there and work and come in and still have to try to pastor and teach.

That's a lot on one person.

But I can run, I can run hard and fast because I don't plan on running long.

I had an attitude at work, brother.

I worked like a dog because I didn't want to be working until I was 80 years old.

And same thing with this.

When you see me up on my feet and hitting things and grinding and working, brother, I don't plan on doing this when I'm 80 years old.

I got a plan.

Amen.

Can I ask your question, though?

Yeah, I want a strong ministry.

A strong ministry.

That's going to be whoever takes my stead and the brothers who hold his hands up.

And that's what the minister does is hold up the hand of the man of God.

Read, uh, what is that, Exodus 17?

Moses went up.

Who went up with them?

Aaron and Herb.

What do they do?

They held up Moses' hand.

They didn't say, Moses, you held the rod up for 15 minutes, now give it to me.

Now hand up, no, one man, Moses.

He was the man of God.

And that rod was too heavy for Moses.

That burden was too great for him.

And every time he put his hand down because he was weary, the Amalek started destroying the people.

The Amalek represents the flesh.

And so Moses put his hand back up, and the people of God began to prevail.

That is, the rod represents the word of God.

When it's exalted, the people of God can be victorious.

When you start getting weary and your hand goes down and you lax up on things, all kinds of carnality creep in.

The Amalites come in and start praying on people and getting the minds off of God and they get carnal minded and they start whispering and gospeling and backbiting and discontented and they're grumbling.

The Amalites is killing them.

And so somebody raised the man of God, hand back up and thank God and say, Oh, get behind me, devil.

I'm not gonna think like that.

I don't want to talk like that.

The people of God get victorious again.

And so the minister is not just Moses, though it was Moses and Aaron.

Aaron helped supported Moses' hand.

And every assembly in the body of Christ has a pastor, and that pastor represents that whole church.

He is that minister to the set to the angel of the seven churches.

He didn't say angels, S.

He said to the angel.

There was one particular minister.

The Bible calls him uh the elder that do what?

Rule it well.

Let him be counted worthy of what?

Double honor.

Especially they which labor in the word in doctrine.

Because you can be a pastor not knowing anything about the word of God.

Did I answer your question now?

That's a good question.

I had another one up here, I'm gonna let you go.

Brother Brown, could you other brothers please explain the importance of praying during this is a good question, at service and at home.

And also, how do we respond when we see someone doing service as being irreverent to the Lord and his people doing prayer?

Do we go to that person or do we go to the ministry?

Well, that's a very good question.

The Bible says, and Galatians 6 and 1, he said, brother, if any of you see a brother overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering all your own self lest you also be tempted.

And so if you see a brother or sister being irreverent, you know, maybe jolly and and and and folly or whatever the case may be, or just showing a wrong attitude during prayer, uh if you're not spiritual enough, get someone else to go and talk to them.

But uh, I don't think the ministry has to necessarily get involved with everything.

And that's why you need aged women.

Uh that's why you have other elders or mature brothers that they can uh help out with the saints.

People get offended, you know, when uh I get pastors always on my case.

You know, some people say often, brother, they say, well, if I say something, you know, he's gonna say across the platform.

Well, I ain't after you.

But if it's something's being said, I need to root that up.

I need to pull that up.

If it's something being thought, I need to pull that up.

Nobody's after you, but they're after a certain spirit, conduct, attitude that can affect the people of God.

That's a minister's job.

Paul put it this way, he said all scriptures given by the inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine.

We love doctrine, aren't we?

But he didn't stop there.

He said for rebuke.

He said for reproof, for instruction and righteousness.

And so the same word of God that has doctrine is the same word of God that rebukes us.

It reproves us, it instructs us in righteousness.

And if a man is not using the word of God for all of that, then he's not using it.

The word of God is to correct us, it's to reprove us, is to instruct us.

If I don't want to be instructed, that's a church right next door.

I can go over there.

Usually what happens when someone don't like instructions, you just don't come.

And I don't get offended.

If I didn't want to be instructed, I wouldn't come either.

This is for those who can be poor enough in spirit to be subject to Christ as his order.

Amen.

Love everybody.

We had a good night tonight.

We went a little bit long.

We're supposed to be short tonight.

My God.

Boys, you can't you can't say short when you say short, Lord, make it long, won't you?

That's a good time.

I'm sorry.

We're gonna let you go.

Let's receive priority.