Focus: Philippians 4:8 Elder Aldon Johnson

Thinking about when I got up this morning I was

I always watched the BBC the animal channel and as

I was watching these coyotes oh we're going to read

scripture man and I'm going to let y'all my scripture

for today if y'all want to go with me I'm

going to come from.

Philippians 4 and.

8 and I'm going to y'all know me I'm going

to talk for a minute then we're going to get

into this because I want to explain to you what's

what Philippians 4 and 8 is about.

Amen.

It's Philippians 4 and 8 and it reads, find it

brothers whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest Whatsoever

things are just, whatsoever things are pure. Whatsoever things are lovely,

whatsoever things are good, report. If there be any virtue

and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Amen. You may be seated. Amen. Amen. So, If I had.

To title this, I would title this, watch this, because

I know it's a lot going on. A lot of

things are popping off. A lot of things are headed

in the wrong direction. Watch this, in my life and yours.

Sometimes we have a tendency to get off track. So

I want to, if I had to title this, I

would title Philippians.

4 and 8 is focus. Focus. Focus.

See, sometimes we can lose track of what really is,

as Jane Brown say, focus.

It is what it is.

And so I want to come and share a word

with you today about maintaining your focus.

Maintain your focus.

And as you see in Philippians, it says, finally, brother,

whatsoever things are true, See a lot of times we

have people sharing showing and telling and presenting things that

look true. We have people that's good at manipulation. We

have people that's good at tickling your fantasies. Y'all know

I ain't got it all together.

Y'all just pray for me. Y'all pray for me.

But in other words, what I'm saying is we have

a lot of, and the Bible speaks of false prophets

and they speak of hypocrites and you know all of

these people, right? So today I want to make sure

we're not in that number. We'll make sure you stay focused.

And not get caught up.

Because I don't have to be.

Where she at. I can just believe what she say.

Watch this y'all. And then go tell it to somebody else.

And not knowing. It's not true. It sound good. It

feel good. It smells good. But it's not true. And

so now I fall into the category false witness. And

those should not enter the kingdom. A liar should not enter.

So I got to be careful of whatever Brother Tim

tells me.

I got to.

Weigh it by Philippians 4 and 8. So I can stand.

So it says. Whatsoever is true. Whatsoever things are honest.

Now sometimes. We know it's honest. But we like to

twist it every now and then. So it'll fit better.

It's honest. You don't like it. But it's honest. So

we'll do something like. You won't surely. Will you?

We'll add a word or two in there. We'll keep

it honest, but then we'll add a little. Okay, y'all

know what I'm talking about then. It ain't really going

to be that.

Bad, is it?

He knows my heart. He's still working on me. We

know you ain't supposed to be doing that but he's still.

See the honest part is you know. And we know

we are product unfinished so you ain't got to tell

me he working on you because in Christ Jesus you

are complete. But now if he working on you you

need to go back to the drawing board. If he

working on, watch this here. He not even concerned about

your outside appearance. He's concerned about your inward becoming. So,

even though we sound good, look good, look good because

we study all the time. Man, every chance I get,

I'm in my book. Every chance I get, when you see.

Me, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in. Okay, cool. But

what is the outcome of it? Now, I don't knock nobody.

Y'all hear this on Facebook because I know I'm proud

to catch a lot of slack. They won't hit me

up on my phone, but I go a lot of places.

I be around a lot of people.

I understand you dedicated to what you do. Your word.

But sometimes I think you can get so caught up

on your word. Watch this.

And get so into your word that you don't allow

word that you have.

Take root yet.

Because you're constantly planting seeds on top of seeds on

top of seeds on top of seeds.

And you're choking out what God wants you to get

out of it.

Because you never stop long enough for your seed to

become a harvest.

Oh, y'all ain't going to talk back to me.

So in other words, what I'm telling you is you

got too much knowledge. You got too much knowledge, watch this,

and no understanding that allow you to have wisdom to

apply what you got. That's the reason you're flexuous. Because

you never give yourself enough time to grow. You're studying

trying to build and even Jesus Went to sleep every

now and then. Even Jesus rested.

You won't give your mind time to calculate.

Or assess what God is pouring into you. So somebody say,

stay focused. You are getting so busy that you ain't

accomplishing anything because you can't stay.

Watch this here.

Anytime you doing a whole punch, that tells me you

ain't focused on nothing.

Because when you trying to focus on something, watch this.

The Bible is our path.

You ain't got to know every scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

You need to find you a scripture. Watch this, y'all.

And focus on that.

And the more you focus on that in Genesis, God

will reveal something to you over in Romans.

I'm not telling you not to study. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm asking you to give yourself time to learn what

you study.

Okay?

So, y'all, that ain't even my message. I'm just right

here right now. I'm going to go to the message

in a minute. But I know this is good to me.

And it says, things don't adjust. Whatsoever things are pure.

So watch this. We all have good intentions. But sometimes

we have a tendency took the whale on the negative

more than the positive. Because the negative weigh more than

the positive. As a matter of fact, you don't even

feel the weight of the positive. You feel all the.

Weight of the negative. You know why? Because positive is

what you're looking for.

But you don't know how much it weighs until you

thoroughly examine it. You ain't even got to examine the

negative Woe is me.

Golly, man. Man, the devil be is it.

All you got to do is know one button come

off the suit and now.

You toe up.

All you got to know is one hour wasn't on

your paycheck and now you distorted. Hey, give me my money.

You hollering and screaming. What about them hours they paid you?

Watch this. And you wasn't doing nothing while you was

on the....

Girl, I ain't do nothing today. I just sit there

all day, girl, and they gave me all my time.

Okay.

So you focus, you talk about the positive, but you

never do.

This negative stuff over here is what you holler about.

Because see, God is like this.

If you focus on me, I will make sure everything

you need.

Seek ye first. Put your focus on, seek ye first.

Look for me. Watch this.

When in the morning, when you get up and get

ready to go in your mirror room, You ought to

want to see God first before you see you.

He say seek me first. You worried about what your

eyelashes look like.

You worried about what they going to say about you.

But we forget that Whatsoever things are pure. We forget

that we're made in his image and his likeness. But

you're seeking approval of you. And then we're reminded in

the days of Noah to where God looked down and said, man,

I repented, I made him.

You know why?

Because he didn't see none of his image out there.

Y'all ain't going to talk back to him. He didn't

see nothing look like him. He didn't see nothing had

the love that he had. He didn't see nothing that

cured like he cured. He didn't see nothing that understood

like he understood. He didn't see none of that. So

he said, man, I repented.

I even made him.

So he destroyed what he thought was going to be him.

He said, I made you in my image and my likeness.

That means, watch this, y'all. That means you got to

have his character. You know what he want to see?

He want to see his character. He don't want to

see you fumbling around. He don't want to see you

having bad thoughts. He don't want to read your mind

and you having these bad thoughts.

That's not his character. You holding grudges? That's not his character.

Somebody say, stay focused. Okay, now we're going to get

into the message. Okay, so I was.

Thinking, that was a pretty good opening though, I like that. Listen,

I was thinking about Lot's wife.

And when God, see I want to say this first.

See when God get ready to do something in your life,

Don't try to stop it. When God gets ready to

exchange your earthly life for a eternal life, get out

the way. Even though we are still here on earth,

we reside in heaven. When you know your position. If

you don't know your position, you can belong anywhere. See,

for us, that's been locked up before they called it

out of place. They would give you a major case

for being out of place. Because you're not where you're

assigned to be. You're not where you are expected to be.

And so when you're not, guess what? You mess up

everything else.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

When you're out of place, no wonder the kids act

like that. Y'all ain't going to talk back to me.

When you're out of place, No wonder the job is

like that. So when God is doing something, you have

to be in place for what he's going to do.

You have to understand why he's doing what he's doing.

That's the reason I say it's all right to gain

a lot of knowledge, man.

I'm telling you, man.

But it's better to have wisdom so you can apply

what you know. Apply what you know. That's what wisdom is.

Allows you to apply the knowledge. Well, allows you to

apply the understanding to the knowledge that you have. That's

how this works. Just read the Bible. It says all

your wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Above everything, get understanding.

Why?

Because you can read it all day long, but if

you don't understand it, how are you going to apply it?

You're just reading it. You ain't applying nothing that you read.

Why?

You know why you can't apply? Because you don't understand it.

That's when sometimes you have to slow down. You have

to slow down. I mean, even in our.

Ministries, in our parenting, in our working abilities, see, sometimes

you just need.

To slow down.

I took off about four or five days from my job,

and they said, man, y'all going out of town. You

going out of town. I said, no, this is what

you're going to do. I said, no, I'm going to

sit in my aisle. They said, so why are you

taking vacation? You ain't going nowhere, man, because I need

my mind to rest from you people sometime.

No, I ain't going nowhere.

I just ain't showing up over here no more. Not

for the next four or five days.

You understand? I'm being serious. I'm on set in my house.

He called me up. He said, man, what you doing?

I said, man, I'm sitting on my porch looking at

that field across the street. He said, you doing what?

I said, yeah, I'm sitting in my porch looking at

the field across the street. That's what's across the street

from my house.

But why you doing that? Letting my mind relax. Well,

I'm sorry to call you. I said, so why you

calling me?

Because our rule is once you go on vacation, especially

management part, once you go on vacation.

You don't call them for no reason. Why?

Because if they're on vacation, that means they need a break.

You don't call them. You figure something else out. So

he proceeds to talk, and I said, man, what you

talking to me for? This is my boss, the one

that I own the company. I said, man, what you

talking to me for?

I'm on vacation.

Yeah, I know, man, but I said, okay, well, hang

up then. I don't want to think about what you're saying.

That's mean I ain't there. So every now and then

you need to slow down and separate yourself and get

in touch with you.

Now y'all ain't going to talk back to me. You

need to.

Get in touch with you and stop trying to run

everything else. And you wonder why it ain't going right.

You know why it ain't going right? People tired of

you trying to tell them what to do. All you

do is tell, tell, tell. All you do is do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Man,

people need to break every now and then. Even Jesus rests.

What? God rests. If you don't want to believe Jesus,

believe God. He rests too. And gave you a day

to rest.

But you so hell far bent on trying to get

everything right, you don't risk. And in that place, you

gets it wrong. You focusing on this broad thing and

you need to focus.

Right there. So watch this.

I'm going to go to Luke, and I'm going to

read something to you in Luke. Let me break it

down for you first, give you some background before I

start reading. In Luke, Jesus is teaching the disciples on

God and the kingdom. He's preparing these guys for his leaving.

Right?

Okay, that's what this is. Chapters about this. And so

Jesus is giving them some examples. Because y'all know he

talked in prayer and stuff like that. But in the

main scheme of things, he's getting ready to depart.

And he want them to understand one thing.

You got to be ready, fellas. Got to be ready.

They ask him when he coming, man. Look, don't worry

about when he coming. Just focus on being ready. Stop

trying to figure out what it's going to look like.

Just focus on being ready. See, because now you focus

on the broader aspect of things. Focus on that one thing,

being ready. Focus on that. Man, yes sir, because I'm

coming back. I'm coming back. So quit saying, well, who's

going to leave and who's going to... Focus on being ready.

Watch this.

Because I'm coming back to deliver you From this evil

and perverse world.

I'm coming back to deliver you from all this chaos.

Watch this here.

But that's only if you know your position. You have

to know your position in the kingdom. You have to

know why you was created. You have to know why

you still here today. And a lot of people that

you know is gone. You've got to know your purpose.

Your purpose.

God created you for a purpose. I just told you

we was, and I went to over there with Sister

Rain now, when we was over there at May Seminary.

And I was talking to some of the guys. And

I said, man, you know, boy, you got to be ready, man.

You never know. And they said, that's what Bishop King

was preaching on. I said, oh. I wasn't in there.

I didn't hear a Prince of Kings preach.

But the guys that I was talking to and they

were talking, I said, yeah, man, I said, man, but

you better be ready. You better get focused on being

ready because watch this here. We all know it's coming.

We expect it, but we can't never get ready for it.

You'll never be ready because you never know when it's coming.

And that's what Luke is about. Jesus is telling these

people it's coming.

Be ready. So watch this.

And the reason I chose this particular passage is because

like them, y'all know Sodom and Gomorrah and all that.

Y'all know that story. There's something deep about that story.

Something real deep.

We all know, oh, she looked back and turned into

a pillar of salt. You know what that represent?

Glad you asked.

I'm going to help you with that. What Lot's wife did.

In the midst of it. Watch this. 17 and 32.

Jesus is telling him about his coming, his departing and

the coming back of the kingdom.

Watch this here. And coming back to save you guys.

I'm coming back to save y'all.

Just like they told him about Sodom and Gomorrah, I'm

going to destroy that and I'm going to save y'all.

I'm going to destroy that and I'm going to save y'all.

Keep that in your head.

I'm going to destroy that and I'm going to save you.

I'm coming back to get you. Know your position. Know

your position.

Even though you might like it right here, right now,

know your position. Even though it's all glamorous down there

right now, boy, you got plenty of money. You got

two double-wide trailers. You got 134,000 acres of land.

No, no, no. Know your position because I'm coming back

to get you. Right?

Okay.

Okay. Know your position. So he tells them, he says,

because all this is going to wash away. All this

is going to be gone because you're here now. But

you're seated there.

And it will come time for you to take the

reins of the keys to your real place. You can't

take this with you. So you have to stay focused

when you know your position. Watch, he says, he says,

and I'm going to start at, let's start at, I

want to say 32, but I'm going to go up

a little further.

I'm going to start at 32.

This is Luke 17 and 30. Even thus shall it

be in the days when the Son of Man is revealed.

In that day he which shall be upon the housetop

and his stuff in the house. Let him not come

down and take it away. And he that is in

the field, let him likewise take Not return back.

The next words he said, next scripture. Next scripture. What

that say, y'all? Y'all read that out. What that say?

Remember Lot's wife. Okay.

Remember Lot's wife. Now Jesus is telling them about his coming.

He's explaining to them, just be ready. Don't go back

looking for nothing. Just be ready. Don't worry about nothing.

Just be ready.

So when God made his mind up to destroy Sodom

and Gomorrah, he sent word for Lot and his wife.

To come out of there. She looks back. Turned into

a pillar of salt.

Jesus says, remember Lot's wife Why would Jesus tell these

people to remember Lot's wife? First he tells them, if

you're on the mountaintop, don't come down. If you got

some in the field, don't try to go fetch that.

If you got some in the house, leave it there.

Be ready.

And then the next thing he says is, remember Lot's wife?

Why would he make the comparison?

Glad you asked. What Lot's wife represented.

That's when it's so important for us to stay focused, man.

What Lot's wife represented and what Jesus is teaching his

disciples in that particular.

Message is that.

No external circumstances or force in the universe can break

God's Hold on them, right? What she represents is when

she looked back, she represents.

Half of what she believed in.

She believed she was being saved, but she felt sorry

for her cousin then. She believed God was doing what

he said he was going to do. Oh, yeah, I

won't get this in a minute.

Just wait a minute.

But she felt she missed. So she looked back. And

when she looked back, God had instructed them. Don't look back.

Come here for a minute, baby.

Come here for a minute. He said, don't look back.

Turn this way, baby. We leaving. We leaving. We leaving.

We leaving. We leaving.

So as we going toward where God is calling us

to be.

Oh, we just got a brand new house. We got

nice calls. All her.

Family, my family's back there. We want them saved. Her

prayer is, Lord, don't save me and don't save my family.

Y'all hear that, don't you? Watch this. But the Lord says,

Alden and Johnny, come on. Come on, brother. Look back. Stop.

She trusted. Watch this here.

And what God was doing, she disobeyed by looking back.

Partial obedience. Partial obedience. Y'all ain't going to talk back

to him. I told y'all. Y'all just hold on. Just

hold on. I told you.

Partial obedience. She's leaving because God say go. God say

don't look back. She's walking forward looking back. Why does

she look back? Her familiarity. She see I'm leaving my baby.

I'm leaving my grandson. Y'all ain't going to talk back

to me. I'm leaving these nice things I have accomplished.

Y'all ain't going to talk back to me, man. God says,

be ready.

Stay focused. Stay focused.

Because I told y'all in the opening, everybody's journey is

measured different. So when Lot and his wife started moving,

she looked back. But if you notice something in her

looking back, Lot kept walking. I don't know if they

were together 100 years or 22 days. You know what

I'm saying? I don't know how long they were together.

But Lot said, uh-uh. Lot said, no way. You understand

what I'm saying? See, so in other words, what I

want you to understand is you got to be obedient.

Watch this here.

Not when you feel like it. Not when it fits you.

Not when it benefits you. You got to be obedient

when it hurts you. You got to be obedient when

they talk about you. You got to be obedient when

you feel somebody stepped on your toe.

You got to be obedient, period. But y'all ain't going

to talk back to me. See, I told y'all I

wasn't praying. I was just listening. Listen.

You thought she just turned into a pillow song.

Why?

Why would Jesus equate this.

To his disciples about his returning?

Man, y'all better stay focused.

And the main way to stay focused is wholeheartedly be

obedient to what I say. Just don't be obedient to

receiving my blessings. Just don't be obedient because you done

made it. Watch this here.

Out.

He saved me from the drug world. He saved me

from the penitentiary. He saved me from a lot of

things that should have killed me. You understand what I'm

talking about?

So why would I.

Go back to the very thing he saved me from? See,

Paul says, I made myself a slave to Christ.

Why?

Because the very thing that enslaved him, now that which

have set him free, he become a slave to what

freed him.

So he won't go back to what he was enslaved to. obedience.

Paul said since you freed me, I'm going to become

obedient to you.

Why?

Because I was obedient to that master. Obedience is who

I am. Whoever I serve, I'm going to be obedient

to them.

Watch this here. Wholeheartedly though. See, Paul wasn't praying. And

so since Jesus saved him, I ain't going to pray

over him neither.

So Lot's wife looked back and Jesus equate this with

half obedience.

I'm taking you somewhere. Watch this here.

You trust me to lead you, but you don't trust

me enough that you won't look back at what I'm

bringing you for. You got to have one last look,

one last drink. Oh, y'all ain't going to talk back

to me. One last hit. Y'all ain't going to talk

back to me. One last night in somebody else's bed

before you decide to make your mind up.

Yeah, you, you, you, you.

Just one more. Somebody say just one more. You're going

to be a pill of salt. You're going to turn

into a pillar of salt. Trying to just get. Watch this.

Y'all check this out though.

Check this out. This is what tripped me out about

the text. She wasn't even down there with the people.

The city's already being destroyed.

They leaving. She looks back. She turns into a pillar

of salt.

Wherever she looked back from, she couldn't touch him.

She couldn't hear him.

What you looking at?

Watch this here.

Because if I wanted you, I'd have said, leave her

down there.

Let you come on. But he brought them together. Already

knowing wasn't the one going to make it out.

Because it says she looked back and she instantly turned

into a pillar of salt.

Instantly.

So here, if he the alpha and omega, he already

know the plan. So watch this here. Was that Story

for us or for Lot?

Lot made it out. Lot made it out?

Okay.

Watch this, y'all.

Disobedience. What you're telling God is there is nothing he

can do internally that can save you externally.

Our main focus here is to do what God has

called us to do.

Wholeheartedly.

There is a consequence for being.

For being double minded she was double minded she didn't

know if I'm going to go.

Or I'm going to stay. I'm going to go or

I'm going to stay. Watch this.

And the book of James says that a double-minded man

shouldn't pray and expect to receive anything from God. God

already knew what was going to happen. He already knew

Lot's wife was going to look back. So, it goes

to tell me that Lot's wife had too much going

on in her head. I want to go, but I

don't want to leave you. I won't escape this, but

I'm scared I'm going to leave my baby and my

baby ain't going to make it out. I want to

go forward, but I'm going to miss you. I'm going

to miss you. I'm going to miss you. But I

got to go. I got to go forward because I

know if I stay here, this is going to destroy me.

Uh-oh, uh-oh.

But my mama's here. My granny over there. And my

granny been taking care of me. Can I just take

my granny with me, Lord? Come from among them. Are

there my homeboys coming from among them? What about my

babies coming from among them? Can I go bury my dead?

Let the dead bury the dead. Watch this here.

Just because you call me Lord and don't obey me,

I'm not your Lord. And why would you call him

Lord if you're not going to obey him? See, the

Lord says, y'all come out of there. They said, okay, Lord.

They started leaving. She looked back. Lot kept walking. Lot

took him as his Lord seriously.

She did too. But she doubted What she was doing.

You can't doubt this wall. You either in or you out.

When God has you to do something. You either going

to do it. Or you not going to do it.

So in other words. Don't play with it. He ain't

going to play with you. He going to turn you

into a pillow of salt. Yeah, I'll play with you.

Okay. Moses, I need you to lead my people out

of Egypt. Okay.

Moses led them out of Egypt. God said, go to

the mountain. You see it over there? Yeah, I see it, Lord.

That's the land I promised you. You ain't going over there.

You know why? You walked the walk the way you

wanted to walk it.

I was giving you instructions on how I want you

to walk it.

You chose to do it the way you want to

do it. So Moses, you're going to stay right here.

But Lord, I let him out of Egypt like you said. Yes,

you did. Watch this here. I called you.

Uh-oh. I call you. So if I call you, I

got instructions for the caller. You don't answer the call

and then write your own script to it. See, when

I call you and you answer the call, what your

yes look like? When you answer the call, And then

I tell you to do something. You don't do it

the way you want to do it. If I call

you and you answer the call and I said, Pastor,

I need you to have her to preach.

Oh, no, I can't.

What you mean now?

Now you're writing your own script to his calling. You're

going to turn into a pillar of salt.

Now, now, now, watch this here. Watch this here. And

I understand this. I understand. It's funny. I understand this.

But watch this, man. Watch this. I want y'all to

understand this. It ain't for everybody. It's just for the

ones who answer to God.

Another thing the story showed me. Lot answered the call.

His wife was just going along. She's just going along.

But when you just go along.

And you get so far away from what you're familiar to,

you have a tendency to miss that thing. You have

a tendency to feel bad about what you're doing.

You have a tendency to have regret in the choices

that you made. When you not called and.

You just going alone. That's the reason Jesus tell Peter.

Peter Satan come and swift you. But I pray that

your faith.

Not mine.

Yours fail you not. And when you be converted. When

you get real. Don't go try to help nobody else.

At least you fall into the same temptation. Wait till

you get converted.

Wait till you get converted. Strong enough, come for real.

About your calling that my daddy has given you, then

you're going to help somebody.

It ain't for everybody. It's only for the calling. At

least you be a pillow salt. Because you look good.

You preach good.

You can break scripture down real good.

Is it real or memories? Are you a false prophet?

Are you a hypocrite? Are you somebody that's set up

under somebody and got the word real, real good. And

now you can mimic them. You can preach like them.

You can dress like them. You can talk like them.

You can shout and dance like them. Y'all stop playing

with me. Y'all stop playing with me though. For real.

For real.

For real. For real. See, it's time out for playing.

God is serious about what he's placing in you.

And if you don't get serious about it, you're going

to be a pill of salt.

If you know God put a calling on your life

and you started playing, keep on playing. Because he's teaching

them Nobody know when I'm coming. So you gonna be

still playing when he get him. Stay focused and be ready.

It's what Jesus is teaching. Stay focused and be ready.

Stay focused and be ready.

Watch this here. If you knew.

When your cousin was going to die, it wouldn't have

hurt you that bad because you would have prepared already six, seven, eight,

ten years.

Ahead of time for this day. You don't know.

Y'all talking, kicking it, having fun, separate. Ten minutes later, Girl,

you know so-and-so just died? I just got through talking

to him. I can't believe that I just got through

talking to him.

Yeah, he dead. He just left five and over my house.

We was just sitting on the porch talking.

Girl, he died around there on MLK. Just fell over. See,

we can't play.

And obedience is everything to the man who created you

In his image and in his likeness.

He don't care if you ain't no preacher. He don't

care if you ain't no bishop. He don't care if

you don't never prophesy one word in your life. What

he care about is your character.

Why?

Because you created in my image and my likeness. I

ain't called everybody to preach. I didn't call everybody to prophesy.

But I called everybody to be like me. Don't get

that twisted. He said, I also belong to me. Everything

is created in my image and in my likeness. I

don't care if you don't never preach. I didn't call

you to be no preacher. Because I wrote your story

and I knew if you start preaching, you're going to

be fake about that.

I don't want you fake because I ain't fake. Whatsoever

is true. what Philippians say. Whatsoever is worthy of your praise.

Y'all go back and read Philippians 4 and 8.

Whatsoever is worthy of the praise. Yeah.

And obedience is worthy of your praise. So I come

today and I just want.

To get us straight about the story the pillar saw.

It wasn't because she was bad. It wasn't because she

wasn't worth saving. It wasn't because she didn't do what

God say do.

She only half did it. Because the first thing he'd

say is, don't look back.

But sometimes, you and your homeboy, you and your sister,

you and your mama, you and your best friend, that

brings me to believe everybody ain't meant to go with you.

Just because you start out together, that don't mean you're

going to end up together. Some people are in your

life for a season. Some people are in your life

for a lesson. Some people are in your life for

a lifetime.

It's up to us to determine which one is it.

Because God Me and my son-in-law were talking last week,

I think. It's some people that are attached to you.

And then there are some people who are attracted to you.

That makes sense.

Yeah, you know, that's how you can go in the

church and the church be full because they're attracted to them.

They're not attached because as soon as he start giving

some I need you to do.

No, they gone. They gone.

No, I can't do that. Jesus said, will you leave

me also? See, that was attractive to him until he said,

you got to drink this.

Eat this.

No, we can't do that. That's nasty.

And he said, will you leave me also? See, there

are some people assigned to you. But nevertheless, whether they're

assigned to you or attracted to you, there is one person.

That you are attached to forever. Whether living or dead.

You are attached to him because only he holds your future.

Whether your future is on MLK or under 82nd and slide.

It don't make no difference where your future going to be. Listen.

Obedience is better than any sacrifice you can give him.

And you know why? He done already gave the ultimate sacrifice.

You can't beat it. Oh, y'all didn't know that. I

was free, though.

Y'all give me a cup of coffee later on sometime. Yeah,

y'all give me a cup of coffee for that later on. Yeah,

you can't beat the sacrifice.

That's what he say.

Obedience is better than any sacrifice that you can give

me because I got the best sacrifice. So I don't

need your sacrifice. I need your obedience. I need you wholeheartedly.

I don't need you stumbling, guessing, and trying to figure

it out. Just trust.

Just trust. Trust. Like, you trust that company? When you

go put an item out on payday, you get paid

on your card, you already know Man, what's wrong, man?

My money didn't hit last night. Something wrong. Now you

called on your other co-worker. Did your money hit? You

trust that. Oh, y'all stop playing, man. Y'all act like

y'all don't know, man. But you trust that system.

You trust when you go use the bathroom, you flush

your commode, it's going to go out.

Your drain ain't going to back up. You trust the system.

You trust when you get up out of here in

a few minutes, go out there and crank your car,

everything going to work, it's going to turn over, you

going home. You trust that system. So why is it

so hard for us to trust the system creator? Why

is it so hard To trust the system creator.

Watch this. It's easy to see if you focus. But

as long as you got the wide view right there.

All you can see is the alternator. All you can

see is the insurance company coming to fix your roof.

So you trust them systems. But if you focus on God,

you can trust his system. Because when you focus on

his system, nothing.

Can go wrong. Whatever you need, I am that I am.

I am Alpha and Omega.

I am the one who created you before I created

the foundation system.

Of the world, I knew you.

Y'all ain't going to talk back to me. I knew

you for I formed you in your mother's womb. That

means when I formed you in your mother's womb, I

already had who.

I wanted your daddy to be.

.

Okay, watch this. This is how I think.

Look at all of your kin people that's come before

you and God said, I knew you for I formed

you in your mother's womb. Look at all her people

that she had to come through to get healed. Look

at all the people that your daddy had to come

through to get here to meet your mama.

So you can be healed.

The system works. You just don't trust it. Just like

Lot's wife. We don't trust the system. We only trust

the system when it benefits us. You know how I

know that? Because when she was dying out, she was

having her way. They were doing what they were doing.

Everything felt good to her. So now God says, we

go into something different and unfamiliar, and she did not

want to leave what seemed.

Familiar to her. So God said, okay, you stay right

there and look at it for the rest of your life.

Obedience is what Christ is showing us when he's talking

to the disciples in Luke. And he said, remember Lot's wife.

That was partial obedience. We can't have that, y'all. We

can't have it. I am too focused on doing, because

y'all hear me say it all the time. And my

wife and them, they hear me say it. I don't

care what nobody think about me.

This little guy right here, as long as me and

God know that I'm doing right, that's all that matter, man.

Because if I start trying to live up to your expectations,

I might be serving him wholeheartedly.

Someone live up to mine that I know is true.

And worthy and whatsoever is pure and whatsoever is worthy

God bless you.