Growth Starts Here Co. Pastor jonnie Johnson

Vision and mission moving church. I've been here this year.

The church anniversary is this is the twenty seventh year.

We've been here twenty years. So we came when they

moved into this building and the church was moving and

booming then, and I believe the church is moving and

booming now. If it's one thing I know, we should

never get caught up on the numbers on what we see,

because God is not a god that moves according to

what we see. Sometimes in our natural we miss out

on what God is doing because we're looking natural instead

of spiritual. So what I want to do to start

this out is to give our mission statement. And if

you don't know the mission statement, and you remember, we

need to get to know the mission statement. I know.

One of the things that I challenged the prayer warriors

it was to memorize the mission statement. We need to

know what the mission is for this house. It's hard

to do a mission, follow a mission, be a part

of a mission if you don't even know what the

mission is. Now. I'm not a service individual, but I've

heard some service people say how they walk according to

what the service caused them to do. Even some of

them when they come home they still have that mentality

within them because it was implanet. It's built in them.

This is who you are when you're a part of

the army. This is who you are when you're a

part of the Marines. This is who you are when

you're a part of the navy. Well, this is who

we are when we're a part of VIP. There are

many churches, and prayerfuly. Each church has its own mission

and vision. Somehow they should come together because they should

line up with the great commission of Jesus that he left.

According to Matthew twenty nine and nineteen, when he left,

he said, now go out, go out to Judaea, Samaria,

and to the outermost, baptizing in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This is how we

bring them in. We don't just go out and snatch

people off the street, talk crazy to them, and you

come into church with me. And this is just what

it is. It don't work like that. So it's called discipleship.

So for our mission of victory and praise. And I'm

reading it because He's altered it just a little bit

to make it better. But our mission for the church

is that we are evangelistic entrepreneur, enterprise co laborers together

with the loving gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

to reach those of the loss, to equip those that

are found, and then to send those that are chosen.

So it takes the work and one person can't do it.

So when the mission is given, the mission is given

to the church, we can. I'd expect the leader to

do the mission by himself. Our vision is to operate

in the spirit of excellence to promote, and we have

that on our shield behind me. We encourage, we inspire,

and we empower not just outside the house, but inside

the house a man. We encourage the people of God

to prosper spiritually, economically, educationally, physically, emotionally, socially through effective

modes of leadership and ministry. And I believe we stand

in a house that has effective modes of leadership and ministry.

May not be the capacity that it used to be,

but God says, where two or more come together, He's

in the mist, and I've counted more than two heads

in you're on today. So that's why we don't want

to look at numbers. Because God don't need a whole

group ask get in. He had get in to cut

him down so that who could get the glory God himself.

And so I believe what he's doing in this hour

is preparing us to get back in line with what

He has called this house to do, so that he

can get the glory out of it. So as we

look at this context right here, the writer starts out again,

this is literally a song you are. This is a

song that they were giving God thanksgiving for who God was.

And if you go back just a little bit in

verse seven, the question was when the wicked springs as

the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do

flairrish because they gonna flourish. We see a whole bunch

of people walking around looking a whole lot better than us.

Some drug dealers, drug push us, some crooked congressman, some

people who are are literally oppressing the poor so that

they can get rich. And we sometimes look outside of

what God is doing because we look at other things

and we think that those things are better because they

look better. That's why we can't always look with our eyes.

And I think that's just the deception and the lie

of the enemy to make us think that when you

don't have a lot, then you don't have what God has.

So it says that the workers of iniquity do flourish,

it is that they shall be destroyed forever they're flourishing.

They might look better than us right now, but if

they're not with God, they will not spend eternity with it.

What they're doing won't last. It might be for now,

but what we have with God is eternal. And so

as the song goes on, it gets to verse twelve,

and it says the righteous shall flourish, though like the

palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

And so when you look at what the palm tree

and the cedar of Lebanon resembles its strength, those trees

don't move regardless of how hard the storm gets. We

were and again we were in Fort Worth with overseers

this weekend and me and Cheryl had the well, we

didn't have to, but we did, thinking that the weather

was gonna get bad. We woke up yesterday morning and

I think kelbk one of them, putting an alert on

my phone, and I said, it was the weirdest thing

I'd ever heard. But the storms were coming and they

were gonna be intense. They were gonna be so intense.

It wanted us to watch out for lime size hell.

I said, surel, I ain't never heard nobody say the

hell was gonna be the size of a lime. What.

It didn't even make no sense, And maybe that should

have been our reason telling. I mean, because it made

no sense. I don't hear a golf balls side hell

baseball size, but lime size, I mean because the lime

is shaped funny. It's what Oval shaped it. It didn't

even make sense. But anyway, we wanted to make sure

that we were careful that we didn't get caught up

in the storm. The storm wasn't happening in Dallas and

Fort Worth. The storm was happening from New Mexico to

West Texas. So it was like extended all the way

out to Abilene. And everybody kept saying, well, y'all know

how bad it is when you're driving Abilene. So we

was a little confused, and in all honesty, we got dressed,

got undressed, We got dressed, and what Cheryl did, I

wasn't moving, but she was getting dressed and undressed. And

I said, well, Cheryl, what you think, Well, they doing

the classes this morning, we can go and get us

a little teaching in, so let's go get some teaching in.

So she got dressed again. We get to the church

and it wasn't hardly nobody there, so we said, okay,

we'll go ahead and get on the highway before it

gets dangerous. We wanted to make sure that we were

mindful of our own self safety, and so we get

up to get on the high way because we were

worried about the storm. I mean, there was a talk

of the winds blowing anywhere from thirty ten to thirty

miles an hour, and because those cars are not like

palm trees and cedars of Lebanon, we would have gonna

we was gonna be in in in for some mess.

And then just happened to show up. I'm looking on Facebook,

and they showing that the storm the same with the

same magnitude had hit in Louisiana, and so that storm

it shit showed. The literally had people videotaping, and all

these people were trying to get under this overpass to

keep their cars from getting hit. You could see the

large stones of hell. And I said, oh no, sure

we got to go. I know, my big vehicle is big,

but it ain't gonna hold up in this. But what

God is telling us today is that we the righteous

were flourished like a palm tree and like a cedar

of Lebanon. When someone is flourishing, it means that somebody

is throwt they're being prosperous, they're blooming, they're thriving spiritually, emotionally,

and sometimes materially. So the same thing that the wicked

man has we can have too. But God don't want

us to get caught up in what we can have.

God wants us to get caught up in who He

has called us to be, and that is the righteousness

of God. So in this song, they're being reminded that

because they're righteous, they'll still flourish. The material things that

come with that even still comes with us being flourished

in God, with us holding stance in God. Matthew six

and thirty three said that if we seek ye first

the Kingdom of God and all this righteousness, then then

all these other things will be added. And I say

a lot of times people don't know what those other

things are because they just get to that part of

the scripture and they stay, they don't go back up.

But when he's talking about feeding the birds and how

he takes care of them. If you look how it happens,

he uses us. So I think sometimes we're thinking, Okay, well,

I'm not flourishing if I don't have a lot of money,

if I ain't no money fail from heaven, didn't no

checks come into mail. I don't have a five bedroom

house with fou bass. I'm not driving the newest model car.

The enemy has convinced us that flourishing means stuff. Right,

God is telling us that flourishing is being rooted in him.

It says that someone that is planted in God, once

they get planted, it causes that individual to have a shift.

And because we're talking about the gross starts here, the

shift for us is going to be in the church.

That we won't just be the ones that come in

and sit down. We won't just be the observers. Again,

I'll go back to where I started. There is a

mission and a vision for this church, and there is

no way that that mission and vision can be accomplished

without us moving. So we can't afford to sit down

and just watch the others. Or you possibly could, but

if you do, then you're not active in what God

has called you to be active in so that means

that you would really not be flourishing, you would just

be here. To believe. To be active is to believe

in what the vision and the mission is saying. To

be active is to also be an active participant within

the body and the community of fellowship that we're in.

So there should never be anybody in this house that

is not working. Even if it just means that you're praying,

if you're praying for the Leaders, you're praying for the mission.

That's why we're praying for our mission and our vision

right now the prayer group yard. We're lifting it up

unto God because the Bible said, just write the vision

down and make it plain and do it terry wait

on it. See God brings that vision to pass. But

when he sees us atatively working, that's telling God that, hey,

we got the vision that you gave the leaders, So

now we're gonna run with this thing. And so our

vision says that we are to go out. It calls

us to go out to witness, to reach those that

are lost. Y'all. There are people dying every day and

going straight to Hell, even though at their funeral they're

putting them in heaven. If you don't know God, if

you're absent from the presence of God in your life,

there is no eternity with God. He says, shall no

sin make it in And so a lot of times

we're not even truthful with that. When we're out talking

to you don't even have to be out witness, and

your witness can be in your house. Your witness can

be the way you are on the telephone. I heard

Minister Wenbley say I was talking to the man about

the house, and because he was a pastor, we talked

about God for forty five minutes. We really didn't even

talk about the house. There's some times you can get

on the phone and start having a communication with someone

and it goes totally the opposite. For those that have

a spiritual discernment. You can be talking to somebody and

that person can be going through something. I just had.

It happened to me the other week and I was like, well,

what's going with a lady at CCS. I don't know,

I don't even know what she looks like. I've never

seen them, We've only did phone calls. But she just

didn't sound right. And I say, Vanessa, you okay, and

she said no, sound like she was crying. I said, well,

can I pray for you? It didn't take what you doing,

what you going through? Who did it? What fun? Why?

Now I sensed the Lord allowed me to sense that

you needed him, and for whatever reason, he used me

to pray. And I say for whatever reason, because the

Bible says that the ears of the Lord are only

attentive and to the righteous. So everybody that you might

meet may not be saved. It's some unsaved people that

need some prayer. And because God is who y'all just

said he was, even when we're undeserving, even when we're unworried,

that God is yet there for us. When I was

in hour my sin, God was still there for me,

divinely covering and protecting me. And I was a sinner.

That's why it's not good for us to decide who

God gonna deal with, who God gonna talk to, who

God gonna mess with. I don't hear people tell me, well,

I'm not gonna listen to them because they ain't say

they trying to tell me what God said. God used

a donkey. You can't tell me who God gonna use.

And if you know God and that word that they're

saying sounds similar to the God that you know, you

might want to listen to that word. I'm reminded of Ezekiel,

and God told him, go and preach to my people.

He say, But even though I'm sending you to them,

they're not gonna listen to you. He said, they stiff

necked and hard headed. So my thought when I read

that part was why send them? And then you go

down a couple of verses and God tells them, he says,

because I already went to them. He say, they I

know they're not gonna listen to you because they wouldn't

listen to me. But I want you to go anywhere

and keep telling them why because eventually that breaks up

that follow ground in somebody's heart. We feel like, because

we done said it once, that's it. I ain't saying

it no more. I invited her to church and she

didn't come. I ain't inviting her no more. Yeah, just

leave her alone. She don't want to go, But you

don't know if the Lord keeps sending you keep going. Now,

and people like to use the how Jesus sent after

disciples when he said dust your feet off. But sometimes

God won't tell you to dust your feet off. Sometimes

God will tell you to go back. Why because God

is doing the work in them. It's not us to

deal with the issues of people's hearts, but it's God.

He know what it's gonna take for that person. And

it might take you six seven times asking them to

come to church before they come. But if the Lord

keeps sending you, you keep going because you're gonna be

the individual that helps that person to come in. That's

part of our growth within the church. We can't be lazy.

We can't just want to come to church and sit down.

We can't just want to come and get the word

for ourself and don't never share it with nobody else.

We can't. It's not ours to do that. We are

laborers together with Christ. What did Christ do? And he

did his work in three years, don't I can't tell

you too many times when he did rest. But when

he did rest, they were short rest because somebody was

waking him up. Hey Jesus, it's a storm out here.

Do you not know? Do you not care about us?

We don't know how long he is. He was asleep,

but they wouldn't even let him sleep long because they

had something they wanted him to do. And so when

I think of that, I think sometimes that's what we do.

We think I need more sleep, I need more rest.

I'm tired. I can't do this. But if God has

called us to the work, will he not give us

the strength to do it? Because Second Chronicles says that

he will give strength to the one that's committed. He

will literally give strength. And I'll have to make sure

I'll give you that scriptures on the end, But it's

coming to me now. Second Chronicle sixteen to nineteen it

says he's literally looking for the committed individual just so

he can give them some strength. Because God understands what

it takes for us to do what He's called us

to do, and it for sure takes commitment. It takes commitment,

and it takes us to be a part of a body.

You can't be a lone ranger and say that you're

a part of God when it comes to us being

compared to the two trees, the Cedar of Lebanon is prized,

had both of them really are prized. That's having great strength,

while the palm tree represents flex ability in harsh conditions.

Because the palm tree is said that in the midst

of a storm, that the roots are so deep that

even though the wind blows the tree, the tree never breaks,

never breaks, because it's rooted deep within that soul. Our

soul is here and in God. This is our church.

Verse thirteen says those that be planted in the House

of the Lord, you have to be planted. It's important

that you be planted. You can't just be a freestyle Christian.

You can be, but most freestyle Christians, when they're not

plant then they work out their own self. They work

in self righteousness, they work in pride. Why because can't

nobody tell them what to do. That's normally why their

freestands Christians. They don't go to church. I don't have

a church. I don't need a pastor, I don't need

a community. But the Bible continue usually cause us to

have this community. Without this community, we don't have anybody

to hold us up. If you don't come in and

encourage me, inspire me, and empower me, I'm gonna die

sitting in one of those seats. The House of God

is for encouragement, inspire me sometimes lift me up. Things

don't always feel good. I can't go to the world

and ask them to encourage me. Because if I get

to the world and things are going bad, that girl,

I wouldn't go back over there on girl. Me and

my husband going through Girl, I'd leave him. I divorce him. Girl,

I wouldn't put up with that. Beat them kids, They're

not gonna tell me what God wants me to know.

So in this house, this is how we grow. We

encourage one another. We be like that tree. We don't move,

we don't be unshakable. We stand, and we stand symbolized

in uprightness and also burn fruit. That was the other

thing about both of these trees. They both bear good fruit.

The seedar of Lebanon. It's prized with its strength, while

the palm tree represents flexibility and harsh conditions through storms

and beyond, but not break. They're both able to be

flexible when it comes for the work that they have

been called to do. We should be flexible when it

comes to the work that God has called us to do.

And I understand everybody have a busy schedule. So when

I'm talking about flexibility, I'm talking about us doing what

the House of God has called us to do when

it comes to the mission and the vision we all

have lives. Again, it's not as if God does not know.

He's the God that knows the end from the beginning.

And sometimes we'll take what we're doing and we'll put

God's work on the back burner. When we just put

God's work on the front burner, God will take her

all of the rest of ours. Takes you again, back

to Matthew six and thirty three. God knows. So being

in this house is not just for us to come

in every Sunday or even if you come on Wednesdays

to get a word and then that just be it.

This is where we grow at. This is where we

get nourishment. This is where where we start to flourish.

And this is what this text is saying. It's saying

that again, those that be planted in the House of

the Lord shall it's a promise that will flourish. But

we have to be planted. And planet means I'm not

just there. A planet means I'm doing something in the

house of God. What God is saying is is we

have resilience, and we have to use the resilition that

we have. We also can have stability. Both of these

trees are considered to be constant in spiritual life due

to them having the evergreen nature. They both bear fruit

as we have been called to bear fruit according to

Galatians five, twenty two and twenty three, and they both

have divine care. This is the part that just bless

my soul, because what is divine care? That's God caring

for us. In this text, we are made, we are

compared to these two trees. But when I did research

on these two trees, it says that these two trees

are not even seemingly being have ever been planted by man.

These trees just upspurt, so it could be that's why

they're in different areas. It says that often referred to

these trees are often referred to trees of the life Lord,

signifying that they are not cultivated by human hands, but

they're cared for by God just as we are. So

the same care and nurture that he has for these

trees is what he's saying he has for the righteous.

Who are us when we find ourselves played in the

house of God, because we can't do this outside the

house of God. Give an example, when we first got saved,

we didn't know any churches. We I wasn't raised up

in no church. I don't know much about my husband,

but I know he wasn't churchy, and so we didn't

know nothing about no churches. I'm just saying. I went

to church as a little kid, and it was the

first Baptist church in Hoves. And we used to say

to the white people, but they would come to the

neighborhood where the underprivileged kids wearing on Saturdays. They give

us gum and a little flyer and invite us to church.

And because we knew when we got to church after

church was old, we would get donuts and kool aid

or donuts and juice. So who wasn't going, we all went.

And that was my experience with church. So I didn't

know nothing about no church. So when the Lord saved me,

I didn't know what to do. I didn't even know

what was going on. For the longest, I thought I

was crazy. But the Lord started dealing with me about

studying the Word of God, and I mean was sending

people to me. I had one big bible I don't

even know where the bible is now, a big white

bible that sat on my living room table. And that

thing was probably so dusty. It was pathetic, and every

so often I would just open it up and whatever

scripture was there was there. Again, I wasn't saved, that

I wasn't looking to be saved. And so when we

got saved and the Lord really started dealing with me, delivered

me from alcohol, started taking cussing out my mouth, and

all I could do was read and study the Word.

So we ourselves, me and my husband and my two girls,

created us a little Bible study and we had Bible

study three days a week. And so with that being said,

we thought we was in that thing. We don't need

no church. We got Bible study three days a week.

And even though my husband kept telling me and the

girl we was always wrong, we still sat at that

kitchen table and study at that Bible three days a week.

And when we didn't study it three days a week,

I know for me, I was always with me. I

was studying reading at work. I turned all the cable

off so I watched church TV. They couldn't do nothing, chiryl.

I took it all away from him, no bt, no nothing.

If we're gonna be saved, we're gonna be saved for real.

So my thing was that was Salvation. That was church.

We had church in our house and I thought we

did pretty good at it. We did not have to

dress up because I didn't have no church clothes. They

didn't have church clothes. And the Lord we were setting

at that table one day and God said, you can't

do this. You have to get up and go find

you a church. And I didn't know how to find

the church. How do you you just walk into people's churches.

And so my youngest daughter Pat at the time, she said, well,

my friend Tayisha got a church. So we went and

tried Tayist's church and just didn't feel right. So then

we went and we tried another church. And I worked

as a nurse ay for years, so it was always

four on two offs, so I didn't get to go

to church every Sunday, but they had to go, and

so I remember calling them, or better yet, eld To

would call me. Well, she minised the womenen Now she

says she ain't got nothing to worre And I said,

I don't carry y'all still got to go to church

just because I'm not there, don't mean nothing. Well, she

ain't got nothing to world while we oh, she shouldn't

have to go to church, Whigga, and none of us

had none in the world. Again, we wasn't church people,

and so I guess that was their excuse. And so

eventually the Lord another friend of pasts thank gone for

patting her friends, because another friend of pats came along

and it just happened to be Pastor Moore's daughter, and

she came and invited me to church. And when she

invited me to the church, the church was down there

on MLK, and it was just something when I got

into that house. And then once we got into church.

Take this long story and make it short, I understood

why God said we needed a church. We needed a community,

We needed somebody to help us grow, We needed a

leader to lead us. I didn't know how to lead, obviously,

Elda didn't know how to lead. And I'm serious, because

we all in this house and we all trying to

lead each other. And I don't think none of us

ever really knew. And I'm just being honest newly saved.

I don't think he mind me saying this. He had

some jail house Bible. You know, people go to jail

and they all read the Bible, and so he knew

more scripture than we did. Well, this is what I learned.

And then my brother in law bless us, ohd. He

was just a sweet tooth chip. He would tell me

was started Proverbs. But starting Proverbs when there's thirty days

in the month, so you can read a chapter every

day in his too. Prison ministry. But look at what

the Lord done, what they learned in the penitantry. They

was able to come out and help me who was

newly saved and had not been in a church. So

I don't take that for granted, and I don't take

that lightly. I know it's a bunch of saved, sanctified

men and women at behind prison doors. Thank you for

prison ministry. Amen. So what I'm saying is we still

needed a house. I couldn't go to the penitantry. I'm

scared of jail, so I had to find a church house.

And I'm just saying, we needed a house. And so

the Lord led us to this house. And once I

got in this house, I understood what God was saying about,

you need a church. So that's why I say when

people that are outside of the church and they keep

saying I don't need no church, I don't need no pastor.

I don't need to sit up under nobody. If I

don't tell you from twenty years ago growth that is

in me, I wouldn't be standing up here right now.

And so it says growth starts here in the house

of God. It just happened to be for us that

this is our house. And so with the mission and

the vision and the visionary that God gave it to,

when we can set up under leadership and be submitted

to leadership to the man that we believe God has

chose to lead us, because if we don't feel like

this is the band, then we need to go find

another man, oh, another woman, because there's some other churches.

And so maybe you don't feel like this is the church.

Well I'm gonna get nurtured. Well I'm gonna get matured.

But I believe. I told my grandbaby the other day.

I have a grand baby that's sixteen, and bless our

little heart. She's in Dallas and she's she's she's trying,

and so she'll text me all the time and Nana,

what should I do? And Nana, they said this, and

what does this Bible verse mean? Well, last week she

text me, she said, Nana, this is the church I'm

going to. But I'm not in Dallas. I don't know

none of those churches. And I explained to her, I

don't know the church. I say, but Nietsha, are they

preaching the word? And she say, well, I think they are.

I say, well, you get into the words, so you'll

know the word, and then you'll know if they're preaching it.

Because as long as they're preaching the word, that's God's house.

Satan ain't preaching the word. The man that's trying to

steal your money ain't preaching the word. He done tweaked it.

Turn it all around the line. Prophet is not teaching

the word. So if the word of God is going

forth in that house and you know the word, that's

your evidence. That's your house. That's where you're gonna grow at.

So my growing started here. So like that palm tree,

I am now, like the sea of Lebanon, I am

now because I stand for mine even when somebody else

may be against it. I stand for it. Why because

this is my house. This is the house where it

talks about in thirteen. It says the house of the

Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. When

I looked up the courts, it said in the Old

Testament that was considered to be the temple, But now

the courts is considered to be in Jesus Christ. And

I know Jesus is in this church because Jesus' word

continues to go forth. Jesus was the Word, and he

became flesh and dwelt among us. Just because he's gone,

it don't stop him from being the word. So as

long as the Word of God is going forth in

this house, I'm in the right house. The righteous shall

flourish like a palm tree. And the palm tree is

described as symbolizing victory. We go to victory and praise.

There's victory in our praise, regardless of what it looks like.

There is victory in our praise. Again, I've been here

for twenty years, and I done seen some stuff happen.

I done seen some people come and some people go.

But we are still victorious because we continue the praise.

We continue to prass. We don't give up and give in.

I spent some times we come together and cried, come

together and had the fast, come together and did not

understand what our leader was talking about. But we stood

we went and cleaned up abandoned houses, empty fields. I

don't even know if any of us asked why, But

when he said, this is what the Lord said, we

trusted that that was what God was saying, and we

went and did it. For some of the things that

we did, we seen the manifestation of why God called

us to do it right away. Quickly. We went on

sixty sixth Street where they was out there just shooting

and killing each other left and right them young boys.

Was the Lord didn't say, go out there and preach

on the street corner and we cut them. We have

an evangelist in the house, We had a pastor in

the house. We cut the church was full of people.

Then we could have went out there and stood for

days and just preached. Now the Lord said, go clean

a vacant lot. We went out there and with the

cleaning that lot. And if God did not move up

on those people, so that the people went to coming

out of their house, cleaning up their own apartment around

their own apartments, and then some of them come over

there with us and start helping us clean up an

empty field. Y'all our promise. We're picking up broken beer

bottles all kind of trash. The Lord would have you

to get to a place where he can start your growth,

and that's normally your foundational home for Christ. The Bible says,

charity starts at home, but growth starts here. Growth starts

here because we have somebody that would preach us the

word of God, that would teach us the word of God.

And then we're listeners. We're not just satting, we're not

just spectators. When we come here, we get involved. Even

on Wednesday night Bible Study. If you have any questions

and you're not coming to the Bible study, come to

Bible Study so you can get your questions answered so

we can find them together. Don't I'm not gonna say

overseer know it all. I don't know it all. I

don't think none of us know it all. But it's

times we're in here and we're all getting it together.

We're all helping one another out. It says we have

we symbolize the tree, symbolize victory as we do, fruitfulness

and growth from the center. And when it talks about

the center of the tree, it talks about an inner renewal.

So once we get some things in us, we can

start being renewed that also continues to help us to

stay upright and to flourish again. Striving and growing looks luxuriously.

How many of us want to grow luxuriously? That's just

a beautiful word to say about a human being. We

can also prosper again. Flourishing does not always have to

be spiritual, even though it's considered to be spiritual vitality.

We can grow prosperously too. Why because you learned the word.

I learned that I need to be all tether and

when I give my ten cent, according to Malacho three

and ten, God to open up the windows of heaven

and pour me out of blessing that I don't have

room enough to receive. A lot of people say that's

old Testament, so we don't use it in the New Testament.

Well that's for them, because I use it in the

New Testament. My husband told you were fifteen oh two weeks, Amhurst.

Even when we didn't have God made provision, we've always

stood on the reason that God takes care of us

the way he do it is because we were tithers faithful.

Tithers keep something from him for what it's all his. Yeah,

I can't give him back ten percent. What's ten percent?

If I got one hundred dollars, I'm giving him ten

because I'll take it and give it to McDonald's. I'll

give it to Walmart. Everybody say I should have stock

in Walmart. I should own that one over here by

Marshall Show, because I'm there so much and Walmart ain't

not once tried to give me a dime. They won't

even out for me, no stock as much money as

I spend in their store. But I can bring my

teen percent in here to Christ And when and when

that there's not a way out of no way, he

makes a way out of no way. Amen. Yeah, I

remember when we did not have but because of being

faithful tied, we had. We had checks coming the mail,

We had people to show up at the door. Didn't

even know that we was needed. At least we didn't

tell them, but the Lord did. And just in our honesty,

we ain't always been where we are now. My husband

had two surgeries back to back and he couldn't work.

My daycareage just started out, and I had no wisdom

and knowledge of a daycare. Everybody they mama, I was

keeping their kids for fifty dollars a week and still

feeding them. We didn't have We wasn't making nothing. He

had his surgery. They wouldn't even give him his disability

for a surgery. And if I don't tell you, checks

would start coming in the mail. People start showing up

with food. We had just got five kids, Pat graduated,

moved out. Pat wasn't gone a good three months before.

Here we are with five, five babies, and I mean babies.

I bought Zay home from the hospital. CPS told us

go apply for food steps, they got to give you some.

I told them people what CPS said. That woman told

me some people don't tell us what to do, and

that's exactly what she said. We ain't got to give

you nothing. She say, your husband's income is too much.

My husband wasn't even having income. So it's being planted

and understanding what we do while we're planting it in

this house. So we do tithe, so we help out,

We bring forth work to the house, the house that's

gonna help us to grow. So whether it be cleaning,

whether it be picking up trash, whether it be picking

up somebody to bring them to church. This is how

we get our spiritual growth, our spiritual growth causes us

to flourish in the courts of our God. God's House

helps us to not only grow in our faith through

the teaching and the preaching of God's Word, but it

also helps us in this great community having one another,

to lean on one another, to encourage another, to lift up,

somebody to pray with, somebody to pray for. I loved

that about this house of God, that we're praying house

of God. The Bible says that the church is a

house of prayer. We're always praying, been doing that since

I got here. I remember coming in here and we

did a seven day where we walked around the church.

The chairs was in a different area. Chairs were kind

of inward, and we walked around this church every afternoon

and prayed. And after we got through praying, we had

to drink some nasty I can't even remember what it was. No,

it was the thing that the green leaf alavira alavia

juice was a part of our fast. And we did

that and we didn't know why. The Lord said do

that again, overseer just being obedient to God. And I

don't remember exactly what happened afterwards, but I do remember

that there was a manifestation when we went cleaned up

that vacant house that was so nasty it made me

sick to my stomach. We didn't know why we was

doing it. The house caught on fire. Somebody said something

to oversee and he said the Lord had led him

for us to go over there and help clean up

that house. And I think we really help cleaned it

up for it to get demolished. But we saw souls

coming into church. We saw people coming into church, whether

it would be people that seen us doing the work

or whether it was just God start sending people. So

we never know what God is calling us to do something. Again,

this is our house, this is where we grow. So

when it comes to outreach ministry, the whole congregation needs

to be a part, whether it be just for the

house or for your house. Because I believe that as

we move, God moves even in our lives. And so

again taking the opportunity to understand that, yeah, we don't

want to get complacent in nothing that we do. We

want to always continue to move forward and moving the

things of God. And that's what we do as a

community together. God didn't call any of us to take

this journey alone. None of us. That's why Adam got Eve.

And even after Adam got even they start bearing children.

Even after they messed up things for us in the

Promised Land, I mean in heaven, we still were never

called to do this alone. We're called to do this

as a community, as a group. The community is the church.

The church should be helping build one another up. The

church should also be helping to build build up the

vision of the church. And as I read to you earlier,

what our vision is. We operate in the spirit of excellence.

We might not be all excellent, but we operated in

the spirit of excellence. That's why it's important that we

walk in the spirit and not in our flesh. It's

even in our flesh where the enemy tell us that

we can't do it. And if you don't tell you

that you can't do it, he'll tell you, don't do it.

That's not gonna benefit nothing, that's not gonna benefit you.

Don't do that. I wouldn't do that. But the Bible

says that we have to daily crucify this flesh, because

if we don't, we won't never do it in the spirit.

We won't never be able to walk in the spirit.

You cannot grow if you're constantly uprooting yourself. Either to

uproot yourself mean you start something and then you stop.

There's some scriptures on God uprooting some people, but we

don't want God to uprooters. And I really don't want

you to be uprooting yourself because it's almost like once

you get started on something and you stop, it's like

you got to start all over again because you're no

longer doing that. I continue to encourage people to be committed.

And the reason that I say be committed is because

we're not being just committed to one another, but we're

being committed to God first. And if we're serving a

God that's committed to us, the least we can do

is be committed to him. The Bible says, even when

we're not faithful, he's yet still faithful to us. And

so the least we can do is try. You may

not be able to do it. Some things happen all

the time. You might be in the hospital, you might

be sick, you might be tired, you might be ailing.

Okay on that day, don't do it. But as soon

as you get your strength back, because what we are

weak as strength has made perfect learn to ask for

some strength. Hey, God, I'm weak in this area. I

need you to come in strengthen me in this area. Lord.

So as long as we do that, then we can

continue to stay on course. But if we keep up

rooting ourself, anytime you pull a flower up, I don't

know about you planners. Anytime you pull a flower up

out of its soil and let that flower sit out

for too long, what happens is the roots on that plant,

and it could be a deep rooted plant. I don't

do good with growing plants, so Lord, have mercy on me.

That's why I don't bob anymore. But if you take

the plant up out and you can see the roots

in the rooms are like a real light color. Some

of them even look almost white like. Let that plant

set out for a while, those roots start drying up,

swiveling swiveling up, and they start to turn colors. They're

not white anymore. That's the life. The life drives out

of us when we uproot ourselves out of God. Try

studying for a couple of months, just real, real good,

get intense on. I done found something and I'm gonna

study on this. And then all of a sudden you

don't study or read your word for a while, it

don't feel right. And I know because I done did it.

Try not praying for a while and then try to

go back and pray, and it's like, oh, Lord, what

am I supposed to be saying? I don't forgot all

to pray. I'm just being honest with you. And it

don't take long. You can be in the word, real,

real good for two three days and then you done

took a break for whatever reason. Halftime. For me, it

is lazy. I can always talk about me first, or

I get caught up on one of them games on

my phone and don't read the word two days, and

I'll be like, oh my goodness, Lord, what happened? You

uprooted yourself, so now you got to get back in

the soil. And then once you get back in the swil,

you can't get in the sawl without the word. Ah,

by shade, the water is the word. How can you

ever get flourished? How can you ever get nourishment without

the word of God? How can you be a saint

of God and not get the word? Jesus said, it's

our daily bread. I eat sometimes six times a day.

I'm telling them myself again sometimes ain't always if they smile,

I could probably be more understanding because they say you

can eed small portions like six times a day, keep

you yeah, helps you out with trying to lose weight.

But can we get into words six times a day?

Can you read six scriptures a day? Because if you don't,

you won't grow. That's why so many shaky quaky question

is now and I'm serious, because what do you have

to stand on? The word is the firm foundation. So

if I ain't got the word to stand on, then

as soon as something happened there I go again, woe.

It's me. I don't know what to do. Sixty six

books in the Bible, and every last one of those

books have an instruction on something that we're going through.

But if I upmove myself from that, and especially if

I'm really really working on something and I prematurely uproot myself,

I've cut it off. So unlike the tree of Lebanon

in a palm tree, I'm no longer strong anymore. I

won't be able to withstand the storm. So we must

continue to grow. We must continue to stay planet in

God and in a good church. And because I'm preaching

to this church today. We're in a good church. You

know why it's good because the Word and there's a

bunch of imperfect people looking for a perfect God. I

don't want to ever go to a church where everybody

in the church is perfect, because if I do them

or mess them up, and if they say they perfect,

they gonna mess me up. It's only one perfect individual,

and that was Jesus. So we all got some issues.

We also have some shortcomings. He say, we all fall

short of His glory. Our righteousness is filthy rags. So

I'm not all that on a bag of chips. Don't

come in here trying to act like you all that

on the bag of chips. I'm sick. I need a doctor,

So I come to the house of God. This is

what a true physician is. I need prayer. I come

in here. My life ain't altogether. I come in here.

This is what this house is for. It's not a

house of judgment, a house of acceptance. I say, my

pastor has the heart of God, the heart of God.

There's some things that I seen him go through that

it ain't nowhere in the world. It could have been me.

I'd have been fighting and I'm saved, But it's just

I mean, I'm just saying and I'm not saying like

right now, but I'm saying some of the stuff that

I seen him go through. I think I would have

been one of those people that told a lot that

they put down their salvation for a minute, how to

put it down, and did what I had to do,

even though you can't do that. So don't listen to

me on that one. But you hear people say that

all time. Oh, I just put it down and then

I'll pick it back up. But I'm just saying the

heart of God, God loves us so much that even

in our mess, He's yet there for us. The Bible

says He's mindful of the situations and the circumstances that

we go through, and we can just be neglecting him.

We can go all day long and don't even say

thank you, and we're breathing roofs over our head, shoes

on our feet, close on our back, and won't even

say thank you. But that don't stop him from loving us.

That's the heart of God. And God said, I'll give

you pastors after mind on heart. We have a pastor

after God's own heart. We have a pastor that not

only cares about us, but he cares about the community.

Not a pastor the charge I mean, because they're our

pastors ain't right nowadays, and we see that just from

watching social media with not taking the money in talking

crazy to us. I heard a pastor the other day

and he was just cussing in the church, and I say,

good God from Zion, what is going on when you

can defile the house of God and it not even

bother you? And I mean he was cussing them people

like it was left and right. We have a good pastor.

We have a pastor that we know is a pastor

after God's own heart. But we also know that he

preaches the word unadult rated. He don't sugarcoat it. He

not gonna try to make you feel good, because the

whole focus is that we all get to where God

has called us to be, and that's one day with God.

So in verse fourteen, it talks about this fruit that

still brings this uh, this individual plant that still brings

forth good fruit even in their old age. And when

I read that, I thought about Mother Burnham and Mac Johnson. Y'all,

we went out to do our witnessing last week, and

if I don't tell y'all, them two sisters wouldn't get

don't tell me you can't move. Even when they got

tired and we had to go back and get calls,

they was walking. Mother Johnson was with me, and we

walked that apartment complex until we finished. I don't think

Mother Johnson, and I think even with Mother Burnma, she

walked until they finished. She was with Overseer and first Lady.

Mother Johnson was with me. And so age has nothing

to do with what God has called you to do.

We have to go back and remember again, if you're

gonna be committed to it, He'll give you the strength

to do it. They were committed to doing that. Mother

Johnson say I might not be able to do it

tomorrow because I think her legs was hurting her knee

or something. She said, But y'all got me today. She said,

I might have to take a break tomorrow and then

I'll come back the following day and showed up. She

did not come back the next day, but she showed

up the third day. She was in there helping us

feed and helping us make plates. Burma was with us

the second day and I ain't. Oh, but I just

ain't all together that it with these legs no more either.

So I was going up them steps and I'm saying,

Lord Jesus, but that's where we grow. The reason that

I believe God gave me this is because God wants

us to continue to grow. But in our growing, we're

gonna have to start going. This is a house of

vision and mission, and our vision and mission was never

meant to stay on the inside. Our vision and mission

is the outside. My own little grandson, Malakar, and I

think we all were tippled by him because he was

about as excited as as some of us were when

it comes to witnessing. But he would only go with

his papa, and I think he had instructions for his papa.

You not, Papa, then I'll give him the fly. But

to see that five year old baby excited about witnessing,

because that's what we have been called to do. So

if we can get him at the age of Malika,

by the time we get ready to go out and

witness for Vacation Bible School that's coming up, Malaka gonna

be standing at the front of the line because he

enjoyed that both days out of the second day too.

He wouldn't even leave. He had to wait on this

pop part. I think we had to call him. He said, Now,

I'm going with Papa. That's my witness partner right there.

And so even as they were talking and communicating with people,

that's something that he's gonna be reminded of forever. So

that's a seed planet. What do seeds do? Seeds grow

turn into plants. And as long as that seed sprouts

and stays in the House of God, that's gonna be

a powerful man of God if we're all if he's

still here years from now and he's grown, because we're

living in the last days, you all, and we can

see that all over the world with what's going on,

Jesus is soon to come. Like I say, I've only

been in the church for twenty years, and I know

I've been hearing it since before I got here, But

I believe it's sooner now. As we look at two

Timothy chapter three when it talks about perilous times. I

was telling my daughter, I just watched the video the

other day and it was horrific, and I had sent

it to I thank her Sherlyn. She say, By the

time she got ready to open it. It was gone,

a boyfriend who shot his girlfriend, and then the girl's mother,

her family and him started looting her apartment while she's

laying in the closet after being shot. You tell me this.

In a cold, cold world, lovers of the Mowonne selves,

hearts have grown cold and wax. That's the times that

we're living in. And he says, these are perilous times.

So it's important that we get out there while it's

perilous times and be a witness to some of those

that may have an opportunity to come in. God said

he wished to no soul with Paris and end up

an eternal damnation. We should have the same heart as God.

We shouldn't wish that nobody would dine and go to hell.

But if we're not telling them anything, if we're just

sitting behind here praising and worshiping and shouting and spitting,

and that's all we're doing, there's a book, it's a bee.

But anyway, yes, but to God be the glory. Don't

let invite me. Lord. If we don't get out and

start witnessing and being an example to the world them,

we're just again sitting and wasting time. They shall still

bring forth fruit even in their old age. Not just

Mother Johnson, not just Mother Burma. The world of Christ,

even as we get older, we will continue. If we

will continue to grow and be consistent, not just in

one season, but seasonal, then we'll be We'll be doing

what God has called us to do. Spiritual growth does

not come from just spending time in the world and

spending time in prayer and even spending time in consecration.

But it comes from spending time with doing what God

has called us to do. God has called us to

get up and to go. It's a lifestyle that we

continue to do. It's who we are. We never age

out when it comes to our purpose, and that's a

part of our purpose. That's why God said he would

give us strength. Romans twelve and two says, be not

conformed to this world would be transformed by the renewing

of our minds. That's a continuation thing. We have to

continue to change and transform and renew ourselves in our minds.

First Peter two and two says, it encourages us to

desire the sincere minkle the word, so we have to

continuously stay in the word. It matures us. It grows

us up and helps us to walk in what God

has called us to walk in. We don't age out

of purpose, we actually grow into purpose. The more that

we mature in the things of God and the ways

of God, then God is bringing us into the purpose

that He has for our life. And many of us

don't even know what our purpose is sometimes. But if

you'll just hold your hand to the plow and don't

take it turn back, God would eventually show you your purpose.

We all have one of the self same purpose, and

that's for us to pray, that's for us to witness.

That's why he says, let your light so shine before man,

that they will see if your good works, but they

would glorify Him in heaven. Sometimes it's just the way

that you live. You don't even have to tell nobody.

Sometimes it's that you could have cussed, but they didn't

see you cussing. They was like, ah, because if that

would have been me, how it did something different. Look

at how she handled that. That's your light because of

who's in you. And so we don't walk around being

complacent and stagnated. This is why it's also important again

for us to walk in the spirit and not in

the flesh. The spirit is not gonna get stagnated. The

spirit is the spirit of God. It's always moving, it's

always doing something. But when we walk in the flesh,

we get stagnated, we get bored, we sit down, or

something didn't happen quick enough. We went out to those apartments,

and I don't know how many people showed up to

the church, But does it matter. No, we go back out,

We go back to the next one. We keep going.

If nobody ever shows up, we keep going because the

Bible says one plant, one water. But it's God to

give it the increase. If we're trying to give increase,

then we're doing this the wrong way because it's not us.

It don't matter how cute you look, how good you smell.

If it's not God, it won't happen. And so again

God uses these things to grow us up, to mature us.

And so as we continue to be led by God,

then we will allow ourselves to walk in what God

has called us to. Even when the it's coming from

our leader. We won't push back, we won't kick against

the prick. We trust and believe that if He knows

the word and we're saying we know the word, and

when he says something, we know that's God. Why because

it all lines up with the word God in the

Man of God is leading us. We had the little

conference about what did they call it followership? Now? The

one we did here of followership, I think it was

called you can't You won't be a great leader if

you can't follow, and you won't never be a great

follower if you don't have nobody to lead you. So

we all need leadership and we all need to be

good followers. Because if you tell me, right now, come on,

go with me, but you got to follow me to

where we're going. And I get behind you, and then

I just decide, well, she's going too slow, so I'm

gonna go the other way. And then I go the

other way and that ain't even the way she's going.

Now I'm just lost because I decided to do it

my way. I was impatient. She was going too slow,

she wasn't moving the way I thought she should move.

Everybody don't do everything the way we think it should

be done. Me and my husband had that conversation all

the time. I ain't got to say it the way

you want me to say it, Well, I got to

say it the way you want me to say it.

Do I have to do it the way you want

me to do it? No, And so we get frustrated

and we don't go. But it's important to know that

as God is leading us, we got to go, even

if it's something we don't understand, even if it's a

way I don't think we should be going with. If

God didn't tell me, who am I to argue with God?

And if I start arguing with the man of God

or the woman of God. Now I'm arguing with God

because God told them. So it's important for us to

stay in that alignment. We also need to be familiar

with the God that we serve. So now I'm not

guessing this is really God. He's saying that, But is

that really God? Because that might not be God. Well

you might not know if it's God. Why because you're

not familiar with your God. How much time have you

spent with your God? God did so much stuff in

the Bible and told other people to go tell other

people He cut hisself literally made them the middle man

between him and others. Saul was told, don't go over

there and take all of that stuff. You go over

there and you kill him, and you kill him all.

And he didn't tell that to Saul. He told that

to Samuel. Samuel went't told Saul. Saul didn't listen. And

it could have been that he didn't listen because he said,

sam you don't know what he's talking about. That ain't

what God want because what did he do? He come

back with some stuff and then say I'm giving this

to God as the sacrifice. God told him, Man, your

sacrifices is which car because you were disobedient. So we

don't ever want to get to the place where we

don't want to listen to somebody because we don't think

that's God. We might want to be careful. We might

want to get to know our God and how our

God does things, because God do things the way he

want to do them. He says, ways is far from olbs,

his thoughts is far from ourbs, even though we have

his spirit. In the New Testament, it says that that's

how we know. But he still don't tell us everything.

So we want to make sure that we're in alignment

with what God is doing by being obedient to what

the man of God or the woman of God is saying,

when we're in the house and we recognize that this

is where we grow, our growth starts here. Our growth

will always be point it back to God. Verse fifteen

says to show that the Lord is upright, He is

my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. It

turns everything back to him. We don't get no glory

for this. So that's another reason why we shouldn't be

kicking against the prick. It ain't for us, it's for God.

When we go out and witness, it ain't for us,

it's for God. Again, we're not trying to feel seats,

but if the seats get full, glory be to God.

When we went out, we didn't just go out witnessing

and inviting people to churches. We also pray for them.

Hey do you have a need? Do you want us

to pray for you today? And I know each group

went out and did their own, but I know in

our group we had some people that needed prayer. So

not for my glory, but for God's glory. Somebody that

we prayed for could have really been in need of something,

and they've been praying because the unsaved believe that God

here's them. That's not biblical. His ear is attentive and

too the righteous. His face is against the wicked. So

there's a lot of times the God have us to

pray for people so that they prayer can get answered,

not that he don't want to help him. I told you,

even when I was unsaved, God was still blessing me.

He was divinely covering me, divinely protecting me, divinely keeping me. Y'all,

I drove what halls an hour and a half drive,

drunk as a skunk, with my babies in the car.

You can't tell me God wasn't keeping me in all

my ignorance back then. My baby's sitting in the car

with me while I was smoking. This baby over here,

but she ain't a baby no more. Used to beg me, mama,

please let the windows down, because that cigarette smoke is

killing me. Mama, please, I can't breathe. But you know

how I Well, maybe you don't, but I know how

I was. I was ignorant, and so my thing is,

I'm grown. I don't want the window down. The one

dy ain't coming down. My baby could have ended up

with lung cancer. I count that as divine coverage. God

see me in my ignorance. He's seen the stupid things

that I did when I wasn't saved, so he didn't

just keep me, He kept my kids. So all the time,

us going out ain't about us. It's God sending us

on submission work. That's why we have a mission and

a vision. But that growth starts in the house. So

we come in here, we're attentive unto what the pastor

is saying. We're attentive unto what he's doing, and we

try to be obedient to what he's asking us to do,

because Lord forbid. It ain't just him and his lips saying,

come on and go with me, but it's God saying,

see if they'll go with you, and if I say no,

now being disobedient to God. And so like the children

of his room, I want to flourish. I don't want

to miss out on nothing that God has for me.

You can come on, tiller. This my last my third

point here, and I'm from close out. I don't want

to miss out on nothing that God has for me.

But I also don't want to miss out on being

a help to somebody else. To come in. I say,

all the time, there wasn't a whole lot of people,

but I work with this one lady, and her name

was Karen. When I worked at it was called Covenant

Lakeside then, and Karen would always come in with the

little pamphlets and flowers on being saved and getting saved.

She possibly asked me to come to church a couple

of times, and I said, knowing after that she wouldn't

ask me anymore, but she would always come in and

talk to me about God. When I got saved, I

thank God for her because I knew that I didn't

get saved on my own. The Bible says no man

come up to God except that God draw him first.

God uses people to draw us. That woman had the

sweetest demeanor, just as sweet as could be, real quiet,

real meek, real humble, And sometimes I could be real

mean because I wasn't saved, But she never missed an

opportunity to tell me about God. She never missed an

opportunity to Like I said, she might have invited me

to church a couple of times. I don't remember the

invites to church, but I do remember her giving me

the different pamphlets. I always talking to me about God,

and when I got saved, the first time, I said,

all I could do was hug and cry because I

believe what she was doing then was planning seeds. Again,

I didn't know no saved people. I didn't hang with

saved people. I wasn't looking to be saved. I don't

think salvation is something that a lot of people are

looking for until something gets tough. And even when stuff

got tough, I still wasn't looking to be saved. I

don't remember being one of them people that prayed and

ask God to do stuff for me. But I wasn't

saved because I knew I wasn't saved. I wasn't ignorant

to who God was, and I just felt like I

wasn't worthy of anything from God because I didn't serve him. Again,

I remember that much being a kid and going to

church that God wanted me to serve him, and so

I had the utmost respect for churches and for church people.

You couldn't pay me to get on a church parking

lot and do anything. That just wasn't my thing. I

remember sometimes we'd be out and we'd be drunk and

we needed to release somewhere, and if we was close

to a church of no, no to the no, no,

we better drive up some more. I'm serious. I had

fear for God. The Bible says the fear of the

Lord causes us to respect him. Even a sinner can

respect God. And I believe that's because God already has

a call on that person's life. So when we go out,

we don't go out expecting that we're saving somebody, because

we're not. God is just using us to remind them

of who he is and that he wants to save them,

and that they're loved, that he cares for them, that

he's mindful of them. He don't stop with the righteous,

but he'll take the righteous and use the righteous to

bring in the wicked, and so on. Today, I just

want to encourage you, as a body member of VIP,

and I believe everybody in here is a body member

of VIP, that we be steadfast and unmovable, always abounding

in the things in the work of God in this house,

so that we can hold ourselfs accountable to what God

is telling us to do. I tell people all the time,

when I stand before God judgment day, He's not gonna

tell me nothing about none of y'all or nobody else.

The person that made me mad, and I cussed them

if I cussed him, I don't cuss no one. Well,

I ain't gonna say I don't. No. I accidentally it

wasn't and it wasn't and I know why now. Yeah,

it was a word and it come out and they

come out up minister right and scared me, scared the

mess out of me. I was on the phone who

was on the phone with either to Nick or Shirt,

And I said, oh my cheepers, whoo, God, forgive me,

forgive me, forgive me. No, I'm saying, for real, homeboy,

it's a whole bunch of stuff. I don't say. No. Yeah,

when it comes to that, uh huh, boy, these lips,

I'll be trying to keep these lips cure who Jesus,

I'm trying to make it in Tyler. I know it

ain't even works indeed, but he caught. Yeah, I got

I got his character in me. Yeah, uh huh. And

I'm just saying that just threw me out. But like

I said, when somebody can see us looking like Christ,

it gives them hope that they can look like Christ too.

And so in my closing, I just want to encourage

you on today to get planet, and when you get planet,

stay planet, and then stay consistent. Let's not start something

and then stop something, start something and then stop some

That's like my diet yo yoing back and forth again.

I say, I can always talk about me up one

minute down, one minute up, one minute down the next minute.

The Bible says that a man that some unstable, he's on,

wavering all his ways, he shouldn't even pray and expect

God to do anything. And you know what, I come

to the reason he shouldn't because he really don't know

what he wants. He always up and down, up and down,

rushing down. And if you ask God for something, wait

a minute, Lord, not that I don't do it this way,

God do it that way. Yeah. Let's stay consistent and

then let our lives speak for us, the way that

we live, the way that we talk to people, the

way that we treat people, being nice, being considerate, being kind,

because you can sometimes be kind and then talk real

nasty to people. My husband say he don't holler at

me all the time, and I don't think he do either.

He just got a loud voice. But I'm quick to

tell look at all his family talking about it, than

all huh, yeah, he is he loud. Yeah, but I

remind him sometimes I'm delicate. Don't holler at me. And

he'll say, He'll say, he not hollering him. Maybe he not. Yes,

I'm delicate. I am. I might look like a little

rough every now and then. But and you know why

I can say I'm delicate, brother Steve over there, because

when it comes to women, we can sometimes be overly

sensitive and overly emotional. And no, no, no, no, let

me help you. Men don't get Yeah, well, y'all be

reminded of what God said. He knew he was overly sensitive,

overly emotional. Why because He created us this way. So

he said, husbands, Now, if you ain't got a wife,

I'm not talking to you, but you, husbands, love your

wife the way Christ loved the church, because Christ loves unconditionally. No, no, no, no,

you can't take don't take from it. Don't take from it,

just walk in it. That's no no, because I'm just

telling you, I don't believe that the woman is adding.

I believe that the woman is being the woman. And

again we have to remember we're his creation. So he said,

wise and he is, He said, why submit? But it's

hard to submit when you got a rough neck. That's

why he say love them the way that I love

the church. If Jesus came up to me, and I'm

not saying that the men do this, but if he

walked up to anybody a part of the church and

and slap you in the back of your head and say, girl,

go get to that ministry, you're being rough with me. Jesus.

I mean, but because he loves the church, he's what.

He's gentle, he's patient, he's kind. I'm just saying, loving kindness.

Have I drowned them? So it's okay, It's okay. I

think I think that's that should be our next conference.

We need a marriage conference. But I think it's beautiful

that God has set it up. God has set it

up to work. If we are but we'll get you

singles later. We'll get you singles later. I believe, we all.

I believe if we walk in this, it changes our

whole course of life. If my marriage exemplifies the marriage

and the Bible, it changes the whole marriage. If my

relationship with people, Minister Wimbline, if my relationship with people

comes from here, it changes the whole way I deal

with people. And I'm just being honest. The majority of

us don't live according to the way the world calls

us to live. We live according to what we think

and how we feel. And if we don't move our

feelings and our emotions and what we think and then

put the word in place, that's why it's so hard

for us sometimes and again. I can always say me first,

because I know me, and sometimes I have to check myself.

That's why I tell the Lord creating me a clean

heart daily, because daily I need God's help. I need

God's help to submit. I need God's help to not

get angry. I need God's help to not walk in bitterness.

I need God's help to walk in love. It ain't

nothing I can do without God. And every time I

get outside of God's will, it's because I was doing

what I wanted to do. And so not to pick

on either gender, but to remind us all. The first

thing I heard when I started reading the Bible was

what it was called b I b l E. Basic

instructions before leaving this earth. And for these to be

basic instructions, a whole lot of us don't even follow them.

We still following our own rule. Books. So even on today,

because I'm finna sit down, know that as you grow

and know that you're growth starts here. That's again why

it's so important that we don't just hear the word,

but we be doers of the word. People say, just

don't listen to it. Do it. The Word comes in

this house strong and heaven. And if we'll allow the

word to do what the Word has come to do,

we'll all be some different people. And I don't mean

difference is changing, because maybe all of us don't need

to change, but we all need to grow. And as

we continue to grow, we grow closer to God. And

so with the Word being sharper than the two edges

sword cutting even to the asunda, it can cut away

some of that stuff that we have in us and

help us to walk them what God has called us

to walk in. Help us to go out to the

highways and the byways and compel men, women and children

to come. Help us to call the needy. And I'm

telling y'all, I just believe that as we align with God,

God is going to open up an avenue for us

to be able to do His kingdom work in this neighborhood.

When we got to the apartment complex over there, pastor

More overseer More was praying, And when he got through praying,

I could hear the Lord say, I'll give you this

territory for you. That's why we have to keep going.

If he gives us the territory, it's not like I said,

for us to boast and brag about it, or for

us to say, well, we went over there and these people. No,

it's for his glory because there's somebody over there that

God wants to save. If Jesus would leave the ninety

nine just to go back and get one, surely God

has somebody over there that he's trying to draw in.

So as we continue to work the mission and the

vision of this house, my prayer is just we would

be encouraged by one another to get out and do it,

to follow the leader the game we used to play

when we was kids. Yeah, we might not have the

hopscotch and do a whole bunch of others, but let's

follow him. We know, as hard as for the people,

our hearts should be for the people. We should have

the same heart. He got again. I said, I've been

here twenty years. I should look like him, not physically

but spiritually. Yeah. I remember when I first started going

to churches bringing the Word, they would tell me that

I reminded them of the late Lady Moore why she

was my mentor. So it should be that way with

all of us. We all need to look at like

we're family. At this time, I'm going to open up

the altar and so if anybody wants prayer, the altar

is open. Maybe you praying for strength to God to

help you to do the work that He's called you

to do. Prayer warriors. Maybe you're praying that God would

help you to be more in the community, do more

in the community. And I don't just mean