Breaking Limits

You keep on getting better.

I had a friend of mine, he used to say he's gooder.

He gets more gooder.

You keep on getting gooder.

I'm glad his goodness never ends.

He's good to me every day.

Every day that I live, every morning that he calls is my eyes to open

and gives me strength to roll out.

Some mornings it's a roll.

You look like this, rolling's easier anyway.

You have your Bibles.

Are you ready for the Word?

Somebody don't even look like you have ready this morning.

I'm wound up, I've already taught for about 45 minutes.

Come now on to preaching.

We got to talking about holiness and I got happy.

I love God.

I love him.

I just want to try my best to please him.

Do the best I can.

Don't you?

You really want to please him?

Trust me, I know what he's working with with me.

I don't always make him happy, but he loves me.

The scripture says the son that he loveeth, he chasteneth.

What's that mean?

That means he stripes your legs when you need it.

Turn with me to the book of 2 Samuel.

2 Samuel chapter 5.

2 Samuel 5 · chapter mention

This is one of those mornings where you seem like you're going to do more listening

than participate.

That's going to be alright too, I guess.

But you do know by now, the less you participate, the longer I go.

To your advantage, we preached Thursday night at the Lake Hills Church of God.

I meant to tell you that last Sunday so you could be praying.

I forgot it.

We preached down there Thursday night in a night of revival.

Two people responded to the altar call after I left the lung.

One young man came in about three minutes.

I don't even know if it was that long.

He received the baptism of the Holy Ghost just like that.

As easy as I have ever seen anyone receive the Spirit baptism in my life.

After service, his eyes got baptism.

He texted his pastor as soon as service was over.

I got filled with the Holy Ghost.

I said, how long have you been in church?

He said, I've been saved about three weeks.

Sometimes it's just easier for the babes.

The Lord just wonderfully filled that young man with his loving Spirit.

It was just wonderful to see.

I want you to see some things.

Second, chapter five, looking at verse 17, we're continuing with our thought and theme on breaking limits.

But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel,

the Philistines came up to seek David and David heard of it and he went down to the hole.

The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the Valley of Refine.

David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines?

Will thou deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.

And David came to Beel Parazim and David smoked them there and said,

The Lord hath broken forth upon my enemies right before me.

As the breach of waters, therefore, he called the name of that place, Beel Parazim.

And they that left their images and David and his men burned them.

And the Philistines came up yet again and spread themselves in the Valley of Refine.

And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up, but fetch a compass behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

And let it be when you hear the sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees,

That then thou shalt bestir yourself, for then shall the Lord go out before you to smite the host of the Philistines.

And David did so as the Lord had commanded him and smoked the Philistines from Giba until they came to Gezer.

Breaking limits. These are God of breakthrough.

Father, I love you. I thank you. I need your help today.

Lord, I desperately need your help today.

Lord, that we that have ears to hear would be attentive to what the Spirit is saying this morning

and that you be that breakthrough in our lives.

For I know, Father, there are areas in our lives that we need barriers to be removed.

And you are the one who does it.

I'll be quick to praise you for your goodness and for your glory.

In Christ's name, the church said, Amen and Amen.

Breaking limits. Astonished beyond measure.

Paul wrote to the church of Galatia in the fifth chapter, verse one.

He said, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

We take our text this morning from Second Samuel.

Very familiar passage of scripture, a story in young David's life.

He's still a young king.

Some believe possibly it's been two years since Samuel had anointed him.

And during that two year period, he's been on the run from Saul.

Saul's been seeking him out, trying to kill him because he knows that God has transferred his anointing to be king from himself to young David.

But now we come to that point in David's life and the narrative of the story.

And we read that now David has been anointed king over all of Israel.

And isn't it amazing how that when God blesses you, the devil hears about it first.

You know, the church world needs to learn how to rejoice with one another instead of being envious of others blessings when God pours out on their life.

But that isn't always the case. You know, you do realize not everybody wants to see you blessed.

I don't know why that is.

But the Philistines are the enemies of David and Israel.

And they have heard that David has been anointed king.

And so they're going to seek and try to get advantage over a young king.

And so they go set the battle in array.

They set the field at Riffaim and they are encamped all about.

But what they did not understand is that David is a man after God's own heart and that David is the man that God himself had selected.

That David, they knew he had defeated Goliath.

They understood that.

But they thought the entirety of their army were going to be able to take care of young David.

But what they have failed to realize about this new king is that his first seeking of advice was not to his council of advisors or his captains over his host.

But the scripture says that David went down to the hold.

Some believe that that was that familiar cave of a doolm where that David met God when he was running for his very life.

But notice if you understand the story of the cave of a doolm, David was there first of all alone.

But before you know it, every ragtag misfit broke, busted, disgusted member of Israel had showed up at a doolm.

And he has ended up with a misfit army of 400 men.

But now there's something about being a misfit when you know you're a misfit.

When you know that you're a misfit, you know where your help comes from.

And see, they had enough sense to align themselves and connect themselves with the anointing of God.

Now, you surely ain't going to make me have to get right down and start preaching this morning.

Sometimes when we feel misaligned and isolated and we feel like we are misfit, you need to find yourself down to the hold.

See, in the hold was a familiar place with David because David had met God down in the hold.

And he knew that if he could just get down there and he could talk to God, that he's going to hear something from God and God is going to answer him.

So down in the hold, he seeks God.

He said, shall I go up against them, God?

I need to know, shall I get my 400 ragtag and shall I get the army of Israel and shall we go up and are we going to be victorious?

You just love it when God answers just like that.

Yes, arise and go forth and doubtless, I'm going with you and I'm going before you.

Somebody needs to hear that this morning.

As Paul said to the church of Galatia, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has called and separated you.

You need to know that there's still a hold for your life.

There's still a place that you can descend to and find God and meet God and God meet you there.

And can I tell you this morning, there's no dissension like the dissension to your knees.

Hallelujah.

Oh, it is true that, oh, saying we stand no taller than when we are bowed on our knees because when we're bowed on our knees, we are before the one who is over creation.

We are before the one who has orchestrated our life and the one who is in control of everything and the one who is able to bring about deliverance for our life,

the one who is able to break through and break forth upon us and to break limits in our lives and bring his blessing.

And it's in that hole that David heard from God.

God said, arise and go up and the victory will be yours.

You need to know that today that you can arise and go forth and the victory will be yours because God is still on your side.

And it's very important that we realize that we stand firm as we bow on our knees, that we stand firm when we understand that we go and take everything to the Lord in prayer,

that we cast all our care upon him because we realize truly that he cares for us.

And it is now David is in the array in battle and victory truly becomes his.

But notice David just didn't have a victory moment.

He didn't just have a little victory shout.

It was a moment that his life was changed.

He encountered God in a way that he had never encountered him before.

He said he has broke forth on this battlefield like the rushing waters breaking through a dam.

He could not be restrained.

The enemy was powerless before him and he's broke forth and he's going to be named now.

He's called Bell Parasim.

He's the master of the breakthrough.

My heavenly father, he is the master of the breakthrough.

You need to hear this morning.

It doesn't matter the battle plan of the enemy.

It doesn't matter how fancy his army looks against you.

It doesn't matter the number that seems to be impeding you.

What you need to know is you serve the God who is the master of the breakthrough.

And he will break forth on your behalf.

But what you and I have to do is realize there is a position in the hold that will spring forth the victory of God Almighty in our lives.

David had smoked the bear.

David had smoked the lion.

David had killed Goliath and never did he call him Bell Parasim.

Not one time do we read where he understood the power of God in his life like he did on that day.

Oh, God has done great things for us in our lives.

He's done many marvelous things for you.

But I'm here to tell you he's got something for you that you've never seen him do before.

He's got a move of his power and a move of his anointing and a deliverance coming your way that you have never encountered before.

The master of the breakthrough is about to spring forth into your life.

Hallelujah.

The master of the breakthrough.

But you've got to understand the enemy is just not content to be defeated.

So he comes back.

The Philistines come back and they set up camp again.

Can I tell you this morning, just because the devil runs off one day don't mean he's not coming back against you tomorrow.

Huh?

He's not contented with you and your victory like we become contented in the victory that we acquire.

Oh, now, my God, we could just stop plow right there a little bit.

We when we become contented in our victory, we lose heart in the next battle.

Because we're still celebrating.

Oh, he ran off last week.

But there's got to be a conscious understanding that he's coming back tomorrow.

And that means that when he shows back up, the God who is the master of the breakthrough is going to break through again.

But don't always put God in a little box because what he wants to do the next time may be different than what he did the time before.

David goes back down to the hole and he's praised again.

He seeks God again.

Shall I go up as before?

Nope. We're going to go up a little bit different.

He said, I want you to come pass or circle around behind them.

We're going to put on a surprise attack to the enemy.

Let me tell you something this morning.

God has a surprise attack plan for the enemy that has camped before you and what he's trying to come against you with.

Oh, I know you went head on last time and I know your faith came to the level and God broke through and you won your victory.

But this time he's going to circle you around the backside and give you some specific instruction.

David, I want you to go around behind them and I want you to hide over where the mulberry bushes are.

You know that place behind the ridge on the other holler.

Yeah, I know what you're talking about, God.

Well, I want you to hide the army there.

And when you hear the breeze rustling in the tops of the mulberry trees, then I want you to attack.

My God, if you'll make your way down to the hold instead of going to the complaint department, God might give you another plan of attack.

Oh, God, here it is again.

Oh, God, there they are again.

The same old same old popping up.

My God, he's got a plan of attack for you.

He's got a circle around behind him for you.

Just get back to the hold.

When you hear the going in the mulberry trees, then I want you to attack.

I want you to go out and get them and I'm going to go before you to smite the host of the police.

When we when we take into thought that God is really on our side,

when we realize that we don't have to do the same thing the same way all the time, he he likes things a little different.

He likes to do things a little different.

Why? Because he don't you and I getting complacent and looking for the same thing all the time.

It's like Thursday being spaghetti night.

There's no surprise.

Thursday is spaghetti night.

But what if you come in on Thursday and you've got man which?

Well, it's spaghetti night.

Well, if you eat supper here, it's man which not hello.

That's the way it is.

Sometimes with God, we get so accustomed to God doing the thing the way we want God to do it or the way that he's done it before.

We get so rigid and he can't do anything different and we got him in our little old God box.

And if it ain't in the box, then we're not going to accept it.

But I'm here to tell you it's time to throw the box away and allow God to do something different.

Get your spirit right.

Get your heart right.

Get your attitude out of the mud and get back down to the hold and get some new instruction.

It just may be you got to circle around behind and put on a sneak attack.

But the thing about it is in both occasions, God said, I am going with you and I'm going before you and the victory will be delivered because I am the Lord.

Too many times as believers.

We are given a far more important declaration of deliverance and independence and victory through Christ than we can ever imagine.

And we've been promised things that we can't even see because of the world that has set against us.

And it is important for you and I that we stand firm in the liberty that we have been given.

And we stand fast. We stand secure in the liberty that we have in Christ who has made us free.

You can encapsulate yourself in bondage.

You can tie your own self. You can put your own limits on.

You can put the restrictors in your own life because of a lack of faith or a bad rotten stinking attitude.

And we can hinder ourselves and limit our own victories from the Lord.

But it's time we get our attitude saved. It's time we get them sanctified.

And it's time we get back down to the hold and we get on our knees before God and say, God, whichever way you want to do it, I'm here.

I'm available. And I have a smile on my face.

I am ready. Oh, I know we went straight home.

But if you want me in the mulberries, I'm ready to go to the mulberries.

And to think about the power that we have through the Holy Spirit at work in our life.

We must endeavor not to relinquish that freedom to return back into the enslavements of the liberty, the limiting power of doubt and disbelief.

But what we must have in our life is we must have an exercising of obedience to what thus saith the Lord.

Can I tell you today that if David hadn't went to the mulberry trees and waited for the goings in the top, that victory would not have been his.

You got to be where God sent you. You got to do it the way God has directed it.

And if you do, then the victory shall be yours.

And we relinquish so many victories in our life, overcoming of things that sit against us and hold us and limit our response to God and from God because we fail to be obedient.

When any time any kind of worry or fear or anger or resentment, any time lust or greed or any of those things beset us, they limit us.

Any time we allow those emotions in our life, we limit what God will do, not can do, but will do.

Because there's no way we can limit what he can do, but we definitely limit what he will do.

If there are sins in our life, God is not going to bless your sin.

Hello.

So when everything's going against me, what I tend to do is get down to the hole and have a good self-examination.

And make sure that Pastor Cliff doesn't have any limiters going on in his life that he has placed there.

And what if you do? You ask him to forgive you and to cleanse you of that and get it out of your life.

That's what you do.

And then you present yourself now worthy for the victory and the deliverance to be ushered into your life.

Because you don't have lust, you don't have sin, you don't have attitude, you don't have this thing restricting you from receiving from God.

The limits removed.

When we begin to think about all that God has for us, there's some good news.

Christ is an expert in the area of deliverance.

Amen.

He's an expert at breaking limits off of our life.

Our root text that we've been coming from out of John about that man that was deaf and dumb.

And Christ brought about a healing in his life.

He opened his ears and the string that had the limitations on his tongue was loose.

And he spoke plainly and he heard clearly.

Christ is the one who brings about liberty in our life.

He is the one who is able to set loose those things that we have placed in our life.

And he is able to move the barriers and the limits that we put.

But you have to get down to the hold first.

You have to make your way before him first.

You have to talk to him.

You have to pray before him.

You have to seek him.

And when you do, he will answer you.

Second Peter 2 and 9 says, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.

He knows how.

Let me tell you what that little verse right there means.

It means he knows how to get me out of the mess I got myself into.

You wouldn't believe it, but I've gotten in more trouble because of my mouth than any other thing.

Isn't that hard to believe?

It's hard to believe because of me, because of my mouth.

I did more detention hall because of my mouth than anything I physically done.

I was a smart mouth.

And you'd think as many times as it had been mashed at home for the same thing that at school one would learn.

But I tell you what I learned at school, they couldn't mash my mouth.

I went to high and in and did several times.

But that didn't hurt as bad as your mouth swelling up.

So the majority of the limits and the restrictors that have been in my spiritual life,

been because of my mouth.

I'm familiar with the hold.

Let me just put it that way.

I'm familiar with going back down there.

I'm familiar with saying, oh God, it's me again.

He said, I know and I know what you said.

Can I tell you this morning he knows what you said and what you meant by what you said and how you said it.

So take it from someone who gets their spiritual mouth mashed.

Would you please hush?

Save yourself some dilemma.

You said, where's this going?

The person that needs it knows exactly where it's going.

So if you don't need it, it's not for you today.

Aren't you glad he knows us individually?

I better get on.

I'm having way too much fun.

Christ didn't intend for us to stay captive in this world.

That was not his intention when he left his throne in glory to come to this earth.

Knowing the thief's killing, knowing the thief is destroying, knowing that he's holding people in captivity.

That was not his intention when he came to this earth.

He came that you and I might have life and have it more abundantly.

He gave his life as a ransom so that you and I could come up out of the hold and know that victory is ours.

To come up out of that place of despair, out of that place of a tulam.

But know that it is in that place that he meets you and victory is on the other side.

You may have to make a journey back down, but stand fast therefore.

And the liberty wherewith you have been called in Christ Jesus.

Don't encapsulate yourself.

Don't put bondage and chains on you.

Don't put limits because of speech and doubt and disbelief.

But let your faith sell in God and align to his word.

First John 3 and 8 says, For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

You do realize that in the spirit realm, obviously there's a battle between good and evil.

But do you realize that there is a battle at the recruiting station?

What does that mean?

That means the devil is trying to use you as much as God is trying to use you.

They're both in a struggle over the same instrument.

So don't be a member.

Don't be a vessel.

The enemy is trying to use you.

God's trying to use us.

So don't yield to the hand and the voice of the enemy.

Do not restrict.

Do not put the restrictions of blessings in and on our life.

But know that the master of the breakthrough is willing to rush forth like a wall of water.

It's like a tidal wave of his spiritual anointing that is ready to be dashed upon you, to be poured out upon you in your life.

To spring and to break forth, David said, like this wall of rushing water.

Destroy means to dissolve, to break up, to melt, to put off.

Christ has come to liberate us.

To take away the limits of the flesh for us.

You do know the scripture says that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

It's your flesh, my flesh, the attitude of my flesh that needs his liberating power upon it.

I need him to break forth, be the master of the breakthrough of my flesh.

Entire human race is seeking deliverance, whether they realize it or not.

The entirety of the human race is searching for deliverance from something.

Why do you think pharmacies have so many antidepressants on their shelves?

Pain relievers on their shelves.

It's why there's such a demand for therapy, for psychiatrists, for psychologists.

Everyone is trying to escape the reality and the problems of life because they are so twisted and so bound.

The enemy has his world in a knot.

He has us turning ourselves inside out.

But God, if we can just get the wherewithal to find the path that leads back to the hold.

If we can just remember, if I can go there, I can find him there.

A doolum was not a very pleasant place, but it's where he found God.

It's where he could find him when he needed him the most in the hold.

Become that place of safety for David.

People need help, whether they're saint or sinner.

There's so much oppression, oppression.

Follow the difference.

Oppression versus possession.

The enemy rides us like a monkey on our back to weigh us down with the cares and the trouble

and the problems and the crisis and the issues of life.

You don't have to be possessed of the devil to have control.

He can just put enough weight on us and oppress us to the point that we fall into a state of depression.

There are probably many in this room who battle against that darkness.

And you are a blood-bought, born-again child of God.

But the devil knows that if he can oppress your mind, man, I'm plowing deeper than I fully thought we'd be plowing today.

But the master of the breakthrough, Isaiah the prophet said he will keep his mind in perfect peace.

The one whose mind is stayed on him.

He will keep his mind.

He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him.

For those of you who are being tormented in your mind and the oppressor is trying to bring darkness into your mind

and to overshadow the victor that has been declared over your life, I'm here to tell you I'll walk with you down to the hole.

I'll hold hands with you down in the hole.

I'll seek God with you in the hole because he is your deliverer and he will break forth.

He will come forth.

The master of the breakthrough will rush into your life.

There is good news.

There's bad news.

We know there are lines, dens.

We know that there are fiery furnaces.

We know that there are pits.

We know that the snares are set for us daily.

I know that we are contending for the faith.

You got to know you're not out for a Sunday stroll.

We are contending for the faith.

There's contention, which means there's resistance.

The devil is out to get you.

He's out to get us all.

We have to be in our good wit.

We have to have our minds focused.

No wonder the author declares to us looking unto Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of our faith,

and we don't look to him until we lay aside the weight that so easily beset us

and that sin that is so rampant and easily to entrap us.

Look unto Jesus, the originator, the one who completed our faith.

It becomes a decision point for us.

Do we bypass the hold and try to just do it on our own?

Or do we make our way to the hold and inquire of the Lord?

What's your plan?

What would you have me do?

Should I go up as before?

No, no, no, no. He's waiting for you.

They knew where you came from before and they're waiting.

The devil's waiting.

He's got a trap.

He has a plan.

He'll come up out of that path on the left from a doodum.

And we'll be hiding there.

And we've got the army.

We got him.

God says, whoa, no, you ain't going up that way.

Go out the back door.

Circle around and wait for me there.

You know, that's the part for us that's difficult.

It's the waiting for him there.

I can just see old David just keep looking up.

Is that a breeze?

That leaf move?

I think it was going to be more than that, that God did.

Because when God shows up, you don't have to say, was that it?

Whoo.

When he comes on the scene, you're going to, well, we can't miss that sign.

Those treetops are nearly touching the ground.

Let's go.

Charge.

He leaves no doubt.

You don't have to figure it out if it's him showing up.

You just got to wait until he gets there.

Destroy the plan.

I mean, there's good news.

That good news is there is a clear theology of deliverance that dominates the

scriptural patterns filled with promises of God's help.

He is the author of deliverance.

He is the one who removes the limits.

The first five books of the Bible, the Torah, the Pentateuch, reveal that he

delivers from chaos, bondage, anarchy, disease, and wilderness wonderings.

The historical books of Joshua, Judges, the Samuels, Kings, Chronicles,

Esther, Nehemiah, Ruth reveal he rescues us from our enemies.

The books of the prophets announce his deliverance for us from our

backslidings and the entrapments of the enemy.

The New Testament announces his emancipation for all.

Aren't you glad?

The Gospels exhibit his deliverance from sickness, sorrow, and pain.

Acts pours out of the spirit, demonstrates our freedom from complacency,

and the empowerment for service.

Those 21 epistles express deliverance from sin's mastery.

Read your Bible.

Revelation, Christ completely liberates us from the world system and translates

us into his heavenly kingdom.

From Genesis through, he is our liberator.

From Genesis through, Revelation, he is the master of the breakthrough.

Whether you need a breakthrough from disease, whether you need breakthrough

from mental torment, or you need breakthrough from a literal enemy, he is

the one that is able.

Whether you need set free from the elements, he is master over the elements.

If you're on the sea, he walks upon the sea, he commands it to lay still,

he commands a calm and a peace that astonishes those.

There's not even a whipple in the sail.

He exercises authority and power over the demonic spirits.

Breaking limits, astonished beyond measure, the master, the breakthrough.

That's who he is.

He springs forth.

God himself is deliverer.

It is his mode, it's his being, it's his purpose for you and our life.

As the psalmist said in 3 and 8, salvation belongeth unto the Lord, thy blessing

is upon thy people.

I like this one very particularly in Job chapter 5 and 19.

Job 5 · chapter mention

It says, he shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven there shall no

evil touch you.

I was thinking about that as I read that this morning.

I thought, well, I wonder if that's where he'll deliver you six ways from Sunday

or from.

Anybody ever heard of that?

That's six ways from Sunday.

He'll deliver you out of six troubles and double on Sunday.

On that seventh trial, tribulation, attack, it ain't going to hurt you.

In other words, it doesn't matter how many directions the enemy is coming from,

he's going to set you free.

He is your deliverer.

Psalm 91 and 3, surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and

from the noisome pestilence.

When you stop to think about it, in his delivering work in the breaking of

limits, he delivered Noah from a flood, Moses from the Egyptians, Joshua from

the Canaanites, Samson from the Philistines, he is an expert.

David from a giant, Elisha from a king, Gideon from an army, he's an expert.

Peter from a tempest, Paul from a storm, Stephen from those who were stoning him,

well, I thought he died.

Well, you got to look at it now.

He did.

But he said, I see the Lord.

Come on.

There's no greater deliverance than from this old walk of life.

Because to be absent from this walk of life is to be present with the Lord.

See, we got all this all back.

We're so afraid to die.

Don't be afraid to die.

That's your rejoicing moment.

He delivered a widow from oppression, Elijah from depression, the demoniac from

possession.

I mean, if I named yours yet, let's keep going.

His ministry is described in Luke 418 as the liberator.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me.

I don't know if I've ever told you this is my life verse right here.

I had a church member a few years ago.

He made these walking sticks and he come up to me.

I didn't know what he's doing.

He said, what's your favorite verse?

And I said, well, my life verse in Luke 418.

And I begin to give it to him.

He said, OK.

Well, about two weeks later, he shows up at church with this beautiful walking

stick.

And guess what's curved all the way around it, carved all around it?

My life verse.

It's all around it.

So when I take hold of it, I'm walking in his liberty.

I'm walking beyond the limits that I can put on myself.

Then the devil can put against me any barriers that are there because I take

hold of the word of hope that's been given to me.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me and he's anointed me to preach, preach,

preach.

Preach gospel to the poor, sent me to heal broken hearted, preach deliverance

to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them

that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And that's what we have been commissioned and empowered to do.

This God of the breakthrough, the master of the breakthrough, desires for you to

fulfill what you have been commissioned to do.

And they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

Yes, you and I, we the they shall cast out devils in his name.

Don't you love those restrictors that have been removed?

And if you'll be able to take up the servant, I'm not one of them not doing

that.

I would have to have an epiphany to do that.

What's that?

I'd have to see the Lord standing right here.

I handle serpents with shotguns.

Only good way to handle one.

I ain't doing it.

Now, I'm not going to tempt the Lord my God with ignorance.

If you drink any deadly thing, I'm not sipping on streak nine just to be sipping

on streak nine to try to prove a point.

He has given me enough sense to leave the snakes and the streak nine alone.

But I'm going to do my best with that anointing with oil.

I've handled a few serpents.

They just don't two feet.

You've seen them.

They're the only ones I'm handling and I'm going to endeavor to follow that

commission and that command to preach the gospel.

About eight years ago, stand with me, I'm quitting.

I'm not finished, but I'm done.

About eight, maybe nine years ago now, I came to a conclusion about my ministry.

I stopped chasing the crowd.

It was about to get the best of me.

I stopped chasing after a crowd, preachers, pastors.

You know how we do.

We do everything under the heavens to try to get a crowd.

Every type of event.

I said, no, I'm done with that.

They said, well, Pastor, what are we going to do?

I said, well, you know, here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to preach.

What a novel idea.

Isn't that novel?

The first thing he called me to do when he called me to the ministry is to

preach the gospel.

When he calls you out of darkness, the first thing you are called to do out of

that darkness is to be the light.

You're going to be the same mandate, witness.

So I gave up on the get them in quick ideas.

Turn my church back into a church, not a community center.

It's not very proper when you do that stuff.

I started focusing on just preaching the gospel.

And you notice for next Sunday will be five years.

Hallelujah.

Our fifth year anniversary next Sunday.

That's been my focus.

That is my modus operandi.

That's it.

Don't look for pastor to come up with some big, well, what are we going to do?

Plan?

No.

I'm going to preach the gospel.

And we're going to fellowship the church.

What's that mean?

We're going to eat as many events as we can eat at.

And we're going to be the body of Christ.

I'll never forget.

I don't know why my mind is going here, but I'll never forget that first Sunday

is known as try out Sunday.

How many were here that day?

Yeah.

And then we had the rapid round.

That's where Sister Kathy and I had to stand down here and field questions

like out of a gatling gun.

You got to be quick.

And I just preached like I just preached to you, so I really wasn't focused too well.

I remember somebody asked me, I don't remember who it was.

What are you going to do to grow the church?

And I've told this to others before.

I said, well, if I remember my answer correctly, I said, I believe as much as I read,

it's an unnatural occurrence for a shepherd to reproduce a sheep.

I think there's actually some Bible against that.

But I committed that day to this.

I will give you every ounce of myself when I stand behind this podium

and I will preach the gospel.

And I'm trying my best to hold up my end of the bargain.

And if I remember, I said, if you wanted to grow, then you better find some sheep.

Sheep.

And look, we got some sheep out today, but we got more sheep and we had that day.

And that's still my commission.

Five years in, I'm not about a gimmick.

There are things that we will do.

We'll celebrate the days that need celebrating.

I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about creating things just to draw a crowd.

But I'm just one who believes.

And if we just preach the word, I think that God will draw some people.

He already is.

He already is.

And there's people you know that as you witness to, He'll draw them as well.

He's the master of the breakthrough.

He will burst forth on the scene of your dilemmas.

It just amazes me what He's done in this short five years, man,

how He's broken forth on our church.

It just toggles my mind.

He is your deliverer.

He is the one who is able to set us free.

He is the emancipator of our soul and of our life.

The one who breaks off the shackles, who removes the limits, who delivers our heart.

Father, I love you today.

Lord, I thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy.

I thank you, Lord, for your help today, for I have felt your anointing.

And I have witnessed your word as it's landed upon the hearts of your people.

It's landed, Lord.

I've seen it and I've watched your spirit over them.

And you're speaking and dealing and ministering.

And they've went to the hold this morning.

We've went down to the hold.

And we're hearing from you there.

Some of you need to just walk head on and He's going to defeat the devil for you.

But some of you this morning, He may be asking you to sneak around the back

and wait for Him there.

And He'll bring you that victory.

Hands raised if you need God to do something in your life.

You need Him this morning.

I need some deliverance and I know He's the deliverer.

Father God, all over this house this morning,

from balcony to floor, hands are lifted.

We need your deliverance.

We need you to be set free one more time.

We've made our way to the hold this morning.

Now what say ye?

What do we need to do?

How do we need to approach?

How do we need to advance this morning?

Do I need to go head on or do I need to hear your other plan

and wait for you to get there?

However, Lord, speak to your people this morning.

You are the God of their breakthrough.

Physically, financially, spiritually, emotionally,

you are the God of the breakthrough.

You are Bel Tarazim, the master of the breakthrough.

We need you this morning.

We need you today.

We need a healing touch today.

We need your delivering power this morning.

Father, there are those in the room facing procedures and surgeries

and they need peace in their heart and mind.

They need to know that you're going with them.

Lord, there's others dealing with battles.

The onslaught of the enemies coming against them.

Break through on their behalf.

Break through and be their deliverer.

Set your people free.

Set them at liberty.

Those are bruised to bring about a healing.

The brokenhearted bring to them encouragement.

Break forth into their lives.

Spring forward into their life.

Lord, we'll be quick to praise you.

Father, I pray for the sick, those who are not here today,

those on beds of affliction.

I know that you're able and you have been faithful.

We see that every day that we are gifted.

Your faithfulness.

Move upon the sick.

Move upon those who are downtrodden.

Move in the lives of those who are being bound by the enemy.

Father, help us who restrict ourselves.

Forgive me, oh Lord.

Cleanse me, oh Lord, of the trouble that I get my own self in

and you still bail me out.

Help me, Lord.

Help us.

It's a good time this morning.

If there's something there, just go ahead and repent.

Lord, forgive me of any thought, any deed, any action.

Cleanse me of anything that's not pleasing to you

that I've sinned against you.

Cleanse me, Lord.

Forgive me as I ask forgiveness today in the name of Jesus.

Thank you, Lord, for your cleansing power

and your compassionate, forgiving heart.

I pray now that you go with your people.

Bless the household of faith.

Break forth into their lives and in any way that they need you,

be their deliverer.

Amen and amen.

Give the Lord a good handclap of praise.

He is the master of the breakthrough.

Hallelujah.

Don't forget tonight, 6 o'clock, we're in service this evening.

I've been contemplating all of this foul weather forecasting

and thinking about our Wednesday evening and our folks that get out

and trouble that we may get trying to get back home on Wednesday.

It's going to be bitterly cold.

If you could keep the faith, if you will keep the faith through Wednesday

to get you back next Sunday, I won't get you out in the cold this Wednesday.

How many won't backslide if we don't have church Wednesday?

Okay.

All right, we're going to play it on the safe side.

No service this Wednesday.

Stay warm, stay safe.

It's East Tennessee.

It may look like it is out there right now.

And if it is, you better pray for your pastor

because I'm going to feel about this big if it isn't bitterly cold and bad.

Amen.

So stay safe.

I'll see you tonight.

That will be our midweek service.

That will be our two for the one.

God bless you.

Go in grace, go in peace.

Yours, Smith.