Jesus Bought A House - Part 7 | Pastor Paul McGee

Amen. Amen.

Praise the Lord man. I'm glad y'all got dugout.

I know it took a few of us a few days but we got dugout and happy

about it. And I had a pastor from Florida

contacted me this morning. He said it was 22° in Florida.

They just think about canceling church.

He was joking of course. He sent me a picture of some of

their kind of weeds and stuff. I had like frost and stuff all

over it and he said we threw the sprinkler on that for 5 minutes

so we could have some picture opportunities.

So I sent him back picture front of my house with snow up to the

bottom of mailbox and said that we had to cancel last week.

He said it when was that picture taken?

I said just yesterday he said you having service today?

I said yes Sir, we are. We have service.

We're just kind of built a little different.

Just built a little different, Amen.

Going to go to Hebrews chapter #12 good to see everybody, Amen.

Zachary. Amen.

Good to see you, Zeke, Good to see you, Amen.

Everybody today, Megan, good to see you, Amen.

In the House of the Lord this morning.

Here we are back. Hebrews chapter #12 we have been

in several weeks talking about holiness.

And I want to preface this this morning just a little bit

talking about this, because if, if, if you've not yet been born

again of the water and the Spirit, then this doesn't

necessarily directly apply to you at this moment.

It, it, this is a stage further along in your journey.

Your, your, your concentration is the holy one, like seeking

after the Lord, all right, and to be filled with his Holy Ghost

or his Holy Spirit. But that doesn't mean that this

will never apply somewhere in your life.

All right, But for others of us who have been baptized to

receive the Holy Ghost, these are matters that are, that are,

they're issues of, of, of growth and, and mature and Amen in the

Lord. And want to talk about it a

little bit more, a little bit more this morning and see what

the Lord would say to us through the scripture of Hebrews chapter

number, Hebrews chapter #12 and verses 14 and 15 today.

And I'll try to be mindful of your time.

And we're, we just had a lot of stuff to say today and that's

OK. And the Lord's Spirit was here

and that is absolutely OK. Listen, if we never get to what

we have quote UN quote planned, that's always OK, all right.

But if stuff like that don't happen, then we know we're

somewhere to go, right? We, we have something in in

place. So Hebrews chapter #12 verse #14

the Bible says follow peace with all men and holiness without

which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently lest any man

fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing

up, trouble you. And there, if I thereby many be

defiled. Amen.

This morning I want to talk simply along this line.

The pursuit, everybody, the say, the pursuit, the pursuit of

holiness. Amen.

We're going to pray today and again before we get started,

Scott, it's so good to have you today.

Again, we're we're sorry for the things that's going on with I.

I'm calling him uncle. He's not my uncle, OK?

But I call him Uncle Jack because that's what Sheila and

that's what Angie call him. So he's just Uncle Jack to us.

All right. And so I'm sorry for everything

that's going with Uncle Jack and such.

And that no doubt has demanded your attention that we're glad

to have you here. Nonetheless, Father, I thank you

today, God, for your spirit. I thank you, Lord, for those

that have gathered together this morning.

God, touch our hearts and minds afresh today by your word.

Help us to lean into it, Lord Jesus, and give priority to you

and the lovely name of Jesus. I pray Amen, the church say

Amen, Amen. You may be seated this morning

in Jesus name. Folks, we have already over the

past several weeks spoke a lot about holiness and our holy God.

And that's the reason why we're talking about holiness, because

the Bible talks about Him being the Holy One and the Holy Spirit

or the Holy Ghost. And we have a holy God, a holy

word, holy name. It's all throughout Scripture

from Genesis to Revelations. If you were to count the number

of times that is mentioned, it is within the hundreds, if not

boarding on thousands of times. But we've established through

Scripture that our God is holy. As a matter of fact, if you want

to establish that, just read the prophet Isaiah and you will see

that repetitive throughout that book.

And so we have established that. We also established that, you

and I, that our natural state when we were first born into

this world is just what would be known as a common state.

Nothing special per SE, but just just common, good old common

humanity. But according to God's Word,

every, every single individual upon this world today has both

the opportunity and the ability to become holy.

Amen as God is holy and one way that that's tipped off to us in

Scripture is because at different times in the Old

Testament, even in the New Testament, God admonished the

people. He said be holy.

Now God's not going to say be holy if it was something that

was so far fetched that no one could attain to right.

He's not going to say that unless it's capable of being

done, but he would say be holy. And so we understand that the

moment of our new birth, water and spirit right being baptized

in the even the Holy Ghost, that the moment of our new birth

there, there is a holiness that that we receive a, a borrowed

holiness, if you will, from God and the Spirit that we have

received a spillover effect, if you want to call it that, of

God's holiness in our life. But as with all, all things are

traits of God, his love, His Holiness, his patience, so and

so forth. All those things that are

characteristics and attributes of God, They can become ours

through our submission to God and our obedience to God.

All right, particularly to the obedience and our submission to

that Holy Spirit, which is God's Spirit that we receive when we

are born again. And so then as we continue to

live our lives, how we obey and submit to that holy God and that

Holy Spirit then determines the holiness that is revealed to God

and other people in our life, what they begin to notice even

in our life. And so according to the

Scripture that I read to you this morning, holiness is

something that must be pursued. It doesn't just like just kind

of fall onto you or something like take you hostage.

Holiness is something that must be pursued.

And that's the reason why in God's Word, we have other places

of Scripture where the Bible says stuff like separate

yourselves or, or or Ezra even says that in in in his book and

in the book of Numbers that's found.

But also the apostle Paul says, and we've made mention of this

more than once in Philippians 212.

He talks about us. Work out your own salvation with

fear in trembling, because holiness is something that must

be pursued. What happens is you enter a

partnership with God, you enter a partnership with God you, you

kind of joint forces. The Bible talks about even how

we become laborers together with God.

You become a partner with God you, you have the Holy Ghost.

John tells us that that Holy Ghost now is teaching us some

things, teaching us some lessons.

But how many know, even back whenever you were in school or

in college or maybe even employed somewhere and they were

teaching you some new skills, How many knows that it takes

more than just learning and hearing the lesson?

It takes applying what you learned, right?

It takes applying what you've learned.

And so it's going to teach you some things.

But then it is up to us as individuals to incorporate those

lessons, incorporate what we have learned in our own lives.

And so in the beginning, with Adam and Eve in the garden,

holiness wasn't necessarily a pursuit, it was just a given,

because whenever Adam and Eve were made in the image and in

the likeness of a holy God, they were from the very start holy

man and holy woman. But whenever Adam and Eve sinned

and transgressed in that garden, humanity fell not just from God,

but also from that place in that status of holiness that mankind

first had whenever they began. They were holy back then by

virtue of creation, but we're not holy by virtue of creation

anymore. The Bible even tells us that

whenever Adam and Eve would have their, their third child, Seth,

the Bible tells us in Genesis 5 that Seth was made in the

likeness in the image of his father Adam, who was a fallen

man, who was a marred man at that moment, unholy man at that

moment. And so Seth takes on, if you

will, and we all do, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, we're

born into a unholy state. We're born into a common state.

I born into the world. I started out as a Sinner, I

started out being flawed, I started out being marred.

Amen. So our human condition today,

the moment that we are born, is quite different than what Adam

and Eve were created with that. The psalmist David even said it

like this in Psalms 38. He says there is no soundness in

my flesh or there is no wholeness, which can be another

word for holy. There is no wholeness in my

flesh. But see, when you are born

again, when you are born again, what that does is restore us as

humanity back to a place of holiness like Adam and Eve had

first in the garden before the failure, before the fall.

As a matter of fact, if you look this morning and I'm going to

read it, I thought about not reading it, but I'm just going

to read it. Sometimes it's good to see it.

And actually, chapter #2 and verse 38, we read in Acts

chapter #2 what is essentially the birth of the New Testament

church. And Peter has just spoke a

tremendous message to them about the death, burial, and

resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they're wanting to know what they can do because they realize

that they had a hand in putting Christ upon the cross and

crucifying him. And so Peter said to them in

verse 38 of Acts 2. Then Peter said unto them,

Repent, and be baptized everyone of you, in the name of Jesus

Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the

gift of the Holy Ghost, Verse 39 for the promises unto you and to

your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as

the Lord our God shall call. Look at verse 40.

And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save

yourselves from this untoward generation.

So. So Peter has spent a lot of

words here in Acts chapter #2 preaching his message as most

preachers do. Hey, man.

So he's preached a long time, and he's answered their

question. But then these words in Acts 240

are the only other recorded words that we have from the

apostle Peter here in Acts chapter #2 and it's save

yourselves from this untoward generation.

Now that verse begins and tells us that Peter had many other

words that he spoke, that he testified and that he exhorted.

But look, even those many words that he spoke, he, he, he

testified, he exhorted. All these things seem to have a

single focus in a single message.

And that was save yourselves from the generation that you're

living in. I, I just told you how to get

saved as far as repentance, baptism in Jesus name and then

filling of the Holy Ghost. But now there is part of this on

you. You got to save yourselves from

your environment. With many other words, he

testified and exhorted with that being the focus to save

themselves. That doesn't mean this morning,

please understand. That doesn't mean I redeem

myself. He redeems me.

But after I've been redeemed, I walk a man separate from the

influences that used to bind me, right?

Amen. Because holiness.

Holiness isn't just about lifestyle.

Holiness is about ownership. Holiness is our ownership.

And the Bible tells us in the book of Timothy we want to know

the mission or the purpose of Christ, His purpose of coming

into the world. It tells us plainly that Christ

Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

That was His purpose. But once we have been saved by

his Spirit, he meant that Spirit also aids us and allows us in a

sense, and I say this loosely, to save ourselves, right?

We said it before again, Philippians, that once we

receive that spirit, God is working in us, both to will and

to do His good pleasure. His spirits working in me to

will, right? How many know there's a

difference between intention and action?

Yesterday I intended I'm shoveling spots on the road

because whenever, before the snow came, everybody parked in

the drive and next to the drive so that they could, you know,

clear the road. Well, the roads not completely

clear where we parked. I intended yesterday to shovel

the spot for my truck, shovel the spot for my daughter's car,

shovel the spot for my son's vehicle.

I intended I got out there, measured off the distance of

where my truck needed to be parked, and I shoveled and I

shoveled and I shoveled. And I was speaking to myself in

my mind and said, Paul, are you going to get those other two

spots done today? And by the time I put the last

shovel of snow over for my truck and sweat was dripping off my

brow and I was breathing a little labored, I went into the

house and told my wife and said, you know what?

Maybe the kids can shovel their own spots.

Now, Zach, I had an intention of doing all three, but my action

was only doing one. Scripture said that Christ

speared in US doesn't only help us to will to intend, but also

to do his good pleasure. And so with that, this, this,

this saving ourselves from the influence of our generation is

is what we would call holiness that's becoming matured, or what

the Bible would call perfected. It's not perfect, but it's on

the journey becoming better. And again, it doesn't happen

automatically. It's more than just an

intention, it's also an action. All right, again, it doesn't

automatically happen. But the OR the Lord wouldn't say

be holy because that word be is actually defined as become holy.

That's a statement. Become holy, that's a statement.

Amen. And so that's the reason why we

bring to our text of verse #14 the Bible says follow peace with

all men and holiness. That word follow means this in

your Bibles, in the New Testament.

It means to pursue, pursue the direction of, to follow eagerly,

to endeavor earnestly to acquire, to follow that peace or

that holiness, to earnestly endeavor to acquire or to pursue

the direction of Amen. And so with that, I understand

today that our pursuit of holiness isn't passive.

The word pursuit within itself underscores it's not passive,

but our pursuit isn't isn't casual for peace with men and

for holiness with God. What will you allow me just a

little bit today? I don't want to get too deep

Amen in here today, but I just want to give some explanation.

The verb there follow or pursue. It's translated pursuing a lot

of other versions, but it's meaning follow is even pursue.

And now this is just some language stuff.

I know we're not all English majors.

We don't study Greek, but just let me explain.

This word follow is in what's called the present tense, active

voice, imperative mood. I know in English we're a little

bit more simple, but I'm telling you, we have mood.

We have mood in our English language too.

It's in the tone that we speak. But nonetheless, it's it's in

the present tense at the voice imperative movement.

What does that mean? Let me tell you, whenever this

word follow being in the present imperative, this is what it

means. It means the action is not

optional, but it's necessary. Got it.

And being in the present tense, it also means this, that this

pursuit is a lifelong task. It's always happening in the

present. There's not a day that I'm not

in pursuit of Amen, the holiness of God.

As a matter of fact, it's this very word follow that that it's

used. It comes from imagery of hunters

and imagery of predators that are tracking their prey.

The pursuit. It's from the imagery of a

runner that's in a race and he's running and he's getting close

to the finish line. Some of you all seen it.

I know we're about ready coming to the Winter Olympics right

now. But in the Summer Olympics, when

they're running and there's someone that's even close and

they're getting close and they're wanting to beat a time,

what do you see them? Do you see them stretch out

their chest toward that finish line?

Because they're trying with everything within them to

stretch to meet that mark? That's what that word follow is

talking about in the book of Hebrews.

Following peace. We're, we're with all men

pursuing holiness, Amen, And to God, Amen.

And so the question is then, why in the world, why is a pursuit

even necessary? Why?

Why should we put forth so much effort?

Amen, and becoming holy. Amen.

Why? I'll tell you why, because there

is a lot about the holiness of God that is unnatural to the

world that we live in. Amen goes against the grain of

society. And I say this gingerly and

respectfully, but it ruffles feathers.

It's counterculture, Amen. And it should be.

The Bible tells us God's ways are higher than our ways, right?

It's grounded in something more profound and more enduring

principles. In many ways, holiness is

counterintuitive. Huh.

It seems at odd sometimes. Amen to our flesh.

Our flesh doesn't want to engage in it, huh?

Sometimes for for the human mind, it might seem old

fashioned or out of step with just modern society, Amen.

But it is the target is the go of every born again believer,

Amen. We started a race, yes, Amen.

And here's what I know about starting your journey and your

relationship with God. We spoke about it a few weeks

ago. That lion that's looking at you

on the holy highway, he wants to influence your direction.

He wants to influence your pursuit.

And sometimes it'll come from strangers, sometimes it'll come

from family members. Sometimes it'll come from Amen.

A lot of different ways it or places it can come from.

But but the ridicule the the ostracizing, if you will, the

adversary tempting you to try to stop short of your mature

journey of holiness, trying to convince you, you know what?

You, you, you, you, you, you, you.

You're holy in most all of your conduct.

That's good enough. Hey, man, so This is why we got

to commit to pursuing hey man with great determination and

keeping in mind, you know what, we're not the first ones to

travel this road. We're not the first ones to

travel this road. There is others that have

already completed the course. Again, it's not the journey of a

moment, it's the journey of a lifetime.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12 and verse one, it says wherefore sin

we also are compassed about. And let me pause for a moment.

This verse #1 just follows up Hebrews Chapter 11, which is the

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Great Hall of Fame chapter of faith.

Who by faith, you know that that that Abraham started on a

journey, didn't know where he's going.

By faith, Sarah, by faith, you know, Noah built an ark by

faith, by faith, by faith. Some received their dead to

life, to life again. So it's talking about all these.

We were compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses of all

these individuals that by faith did this, by faith did that.

These are people that have finished the course, so to

speak. And they're in the audience,

ladies and gentlemen. And Amber, they're rooting you

on whether you can hear them or not, because they see you in

your race. And they they understand the the

difficulty that you're having in your race.

And if you could hear them from the sidelines, they're saying

keep up. Yeah, just a little further.

You can make it. I know you're tired.

I know your body doesn't like this.

We have a great cloud of witnesses.

Amen. That by faith have already

completed their course. And so it says.

Let us lay aside every way and the sin which so easily besets

us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Keep pursuing, keep following. I know sometimes it feels like

the finish line is just still always ahead.

But folks, one of these days we're going to hear.

Enter on into the joy of the Lord, my good and my faithful

servant, and it'll be worth every long mile, every

heartache, and every trial. It'll be worth it all.

One of these beautiful happy days.

Amen. And if it wasn't enough to have

that witness, have the witness of Christ Jesus, God manifested

in the flesh, verse 2. Look into Jesus, the author, the

finish of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, joy

was before him. But the race that He was in, he

had to endure some things. He endured the cross, the

despising, the shame, sat down at the right hand of the throne

of God. We got to keep running the race.

We got to keep pursuing. Hey man, consider even Him who

had the joy that was before him, but he had to endure some

things. So that's the reason why the

Apostle Paul tells us in Corinthians to cleanse

ourselves, Speaking of our spirit and our flesh, therefore

perfecting or maturing holiness. Amen.

We got some skin in the game, folks.

We got some skin in the game. The Bible says the apostle Peter

said in first Peter 115, he said holy in all manner of

conversation. Again, the the New International

Version says be holy in all you do.

The new living translation says be holy in everything you do.

I can never equal God's holiness here below, but I can't aspire

to be like him in the highest degree of holiness possible

while I'm still yet limited by this O humanity, Amen.

And that's what we strive for. Now look, moving on here, back

with our Scripture text in Hebrews chapter #12 verses 14

and 15. So we have a responsibility.

Matter of fact, we have a couple of responsibilities, but they

really concerned the same pursuit.

We have a responsibility toward other people, to the best of our

ability, to pursue peace with all men, to pursue peace with

them, and we have a responsibility toward God of

pursuing holiness. Let me take this and I'll

explain it. Our pursuit of peace with men is

in essence a pursuing of holiness with me.

Here's the reason why I say that.

Because we can't claim to live a holy life if we're always at

odds with the people around us. Amen.

So we're talking about a couple responsibilities, but it's

still, it's the same pursuit. It's a holy pursuit, a vertical

one, and a horizontal one first. John 420 says, If a man say, I

love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.

For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how

can he love God whom he hath not seen?

And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God,

love his brother also. Yeah, I think sometimes we fall

in the trap. Oh, holiness, just concerns

where we go, what we do, adornment, whatever.

But whenever we just take it as all that, then we divorce it

from our interaction with people, saved people, unsaved

people stranger to us people, enemies to us.

Lord, I knew I was going to be getting in the snow.

You know, here this morning. I just, I just knew I was going

to be getting in the snow. Hey, man, these two

relationships, they're not exclusive. 1 leans upon the

other. They are in many ways

inseparable. We see this, God has established

this from the from the very beginning, whenever He gave His

law to the children of Israel, whenever he came with Mount

Sinai, Moses came with those commandments tucked under his

arm. Those 10 commandments that you

have, you know, in your household or on your wall or

posted in your yard, those 10 commandments.

He was doing an intermingling of the law between our relationship

with mankind and our relationship with Him.

Whenever you read those 10 commandments, you're going to

read about those first four commands are all God oriented,

right? Thou shall not have any other

gods before me. Thou shalt make it to yourself

any graven image, right? Thou shall not take the name of

the Lord thy God in vain, right? That thou shalt remember the

Sabbath day and keep it holy, right?

God orientation. But you read the other commands

like thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal, thou shall not

bear false witness against your neighbor.

That's me and you. God was establishing His

Holiness on 2 platforms, vertical and horizontal.

Amen. Matter of fact, in the New

Testament, someone came to Lord want to know which, which were

the most important, the greatest of commands and he explained to

them and please understand, we see the 10 commands, we think

that's all. But in the Jewish era of life,

they had 612 commandments. Someone say that's a lot, 612

commandments and Jesus says all of that basically hinge on these

two. Love the Lord your God with all

of your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength.

And the second is likened to love your neighbor as yourself.

The NLT says it like this in Mark 12/31.

And the second is equally important, meaning loving your

neighbor is equally important to loving God.

Our peace with man and our holiness with God are both

expressions of that self, same love.

Now look, this is what Jesus said.

It's interesting to me you see it there in Mark 12/31.

He says there is none other commandment singular greater

than these. That's more than one, but he

seen them as one command. There's no other commandment

greater than these. They're viewed as one.

Look what Jesus said in Matthew 523 and keeping track of time.

This is that whole thing. Now follow men with peace,

holding this with God. Therefore he says this is Jesus

speaking. Therefore got a red letter

Bible. It's jumping out.

Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there

remembers that thy brother hath aught against thee, follow me

here. If you come to your altar with

your gift, if you come trying to pursue your holiness with God,

but you remember you're not at peace with man, he says, leave

your gift at the altar and go your way, and first be

reconciled. Make peace with man because

that's an aspect of holiness on the horizontal plane, he said.

And then come back and offer your gift.

Everybody following me, OK, Amen.

Then come back and offer your gift to God.

And so it's a 2 prong pursuit, following peace with men and

holiness with God, without which no man shall see the Lord or the

Word. See, there's no one will

experience the Lord. Amen.

Look what verse 15 says. I'm just a little bit longer

now. I'll let you out of here.

Amen. Got to start your car anyway.

Someone says I already did it from my view.

Well OK, fancy Pansy, sorry some of us still got to turn it over

with a key, I mean short of rubbing 2 wires together to get

it going. Sometimes I just you know the

Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews then

admonishes us after all, that following men follow peace with

men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord,

looking diligently lest any man fail.

Look in diligent, unless any man failed the grace of God.

This tells me, you know, whenever I ignore these

imperatives of holiness among men and holiness with God, then

I could be falling short of God's grace.

I could be trampling up on God's grace.

He didn't save me for the purpose of just keep doing what

I always did. He saved me for the purpose of

realigning me on a trip in the journey.

Amen. That is per His good pleasure.

He doesn't want you mistreating your fellow man that who's also

been created by God in the womb just like you.

And I don't want to be a little sticker, but that crosses over

race, ethnicity. I know, I know, God, why you

have me doing this. I know slavery has ended a long

time ago, but it's still ruling some of the hearts of Americans.

That's not following peace with man.

There's one blood, the scripture says, Well, that's for another

day, right? So our pursuit of holiness is

part of our faith. Hebrews 11/6 tells us for he

that comes to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder

to them that diligently seek or follow pursue him.

And when we seek him, when we seek everything that he is and

everything that he has to offer, we're also seeking then His

Holiness. You stand with me today, someone

says I got hope. This little boy went to his

aunt's house. He was visiting her, and as they

were sitting there and he and his family and some other guests

were visiting there, there was a basket that she started to pass

around, had all kinds of different types of fruit in

amber, and it was passed around and went by the first time.

And this little boy, his name's Charlie, he reached in there and

he grabbed out an apple. Well, the basket came back

around to Charlie, you know. So he reached in all kinds of

fruit, Jen, he reached in and he pulled that apple once.

You know that that basket came around about a third time.

There's Charlie just smiling. All kinds of fruits for the

Reese. I mean, it was the checkuterie

fruit board inside of the basket that looked like a Reese

checkuterie board. And what does Charlie do now?

Having three times passed by, he pulls out an apple.

His aunt finally looked at him, a little bewildered and puzzled.

And she says now Charlie, I hope you'll get satisfied with the

apples. And he said, I am satisfied with

apples. That's the reason why I don't

take any of the other kind of fruit.

To Charlie, nothing else in the basket existed because he was

satisfied with his pursuit of apples.

Folks, when your pursuit becomes so laser focused that there's

nothing else in the basket that will deter you from a God-given

desire He's placed in you for just more and more and more of

Him. Amen.

Who asked our musicians to come again?

Folks, this holding, you know, we, I wish I could tell you it's

just an event, but it's not an event.

It's a daily pursuit. It's a daily pursuit, a daily

pursuit with the people around me, the daily pursuit with the

Lord above me, and I'm pursuing it because his Spirit is already

at work in my life. So the question is not, is that

holiness of God available to me? No, no, no, no, no, no.

The real question is, will me, Paul McGee, having received the

Spirit of God, will I cooperate with what God's attempting to do

in my life? Because he has plans for you

that far exceed where you're presently standing.

He has plans for you. He wants to move you beyond the

start line. He wants to move you beyond the

first mile marker. He has plans for you.

And he is hoping that someday you're running with your chest,

you know, poked out because you're in such pursuit.

You're eager and willing and wanting.

Amen to cross. We are in a race.

Amen. For holiness today, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah if we bow our heads in this place.

God, I love you right now. Lord, I love you, Jesus.

I love you, Jesus. I love you Jesus.

Hey man, Sir, ma'am, if you don't know the Lord today,

you'll know the Lord today. Or you're like, well, I have a

cursory knowledge of the Lord. Listen, he wants you to know

him, not just in a, a, a compilation or or building up of

just knowledge about him. He wants you to know Him by

experience. In scripture there was knowledge

that was knowledge like you got from books and learning for

somebody telling you something. But there was also knowledge

that was known as exponential knowledge, meaning it was

something that you experienced and that's how you gained it.

The Lord wants you to have a knowledge of experience with

Him. Experience His power, experience

his spirit, experience his annoying, experience His

presence. Not just to move on your life,

but to move in your life. You can have that today, You can

have that today. But feeling the Lord is not

something that just needs to be regulated to when you come to a

church house. You can feel Him at home.

You can experience Him on the job anywhere that your life

takes you once you've been filled with his spirit.

It's like the on board teacher. It's the on board presence of

the Lord, Amen. And it's capable of it.

If you already have the Holy Ghost and already been baptized

today, If you're a St. in this church and you have been for

years and you're like Brother McGee, I've been struggling a

little bit running the race. I've been struggling a little

bit and running the race or, or I've I've not yet reached the

other mile marker and I just just, sometimes it feels like I

just don't have the wherewithal to get there.

Folks, you, you've been filled with the spirit God spirits

going to aid you. God spirits going to help you,

your will and your action, your will and your action.

All you got to do is just submit to it, be obedient to it,

Hallelujah. Give yourself over to it.

Hallelujah. Let that be the focus of your

life. God, I want to be what you want

me to be. I'll say yes, Lord, I'll say

yes, Lord, here am I God, I'm going to follow.

And Lord, it's not just about how I'm going to hold my

relationship with you, but I'm going to treat my, my fellow

Saints and men and women of God with, with, with respect.

I'm going to Lord, I'm going to just have a certain type of

action, Lord, toward people that don't know you.

I'm going to respect them. I'm going to respect the

stranger, God. We don't have no connection, but

I'm going to be respectful God, enemies, God, that would even

speak against me. I'm not going to return hatred

for hatred and scorn for scorn. And I'm going to pursue peace

with men and I'm going to pursue holiness with God.

We got responsibilities. It's a solitary pursuit.

Can you start praying to the Lord right now in your own way?

Start talk to God. He loves to hear our voice.

He loves to hear our voice. Just start talking to Him where

you are because you know where you are better than anybody

else. If you're having problems with

your relationship with with mankind, Amen.

With that aspect of the pursuit of holiness, you need to talk to

God about it right now. If that's hindering you from

offering your gift to the Lord because you don't have peace

with men, then you need to talk to God about it.

If you find yourself that you have a hard time not slandering

and tail bearing and gossiping and backbiting, then you, you,

you need to take that holiness issue to the Lord and say God

touch me anew Lord, touch my mouth, touch my tongue, touch my

mind. Help me Lord not just to be

lashing out about everybody, about me, Lord who were created,

Lord Jesus that you created Lord in their mother's womb.

Help me God. Lord to show love and the

compassion toward mankind. Whether they have the same skin

color me, whether they don't Lord Jesus, whether I agree Lord

God with their political platform or whether I don't help

me God to follow peace. Come on, Sir, ma'am, let's just

be vulnerable here for a moment. Let's just be vulnerable here

for a moment. Hallelujah.

There's so much more to our holy God and His Holiness than than

just again than what we do and the dormant all those things.

It's it's how we treat people. It's how we treat people.

Sham that out of the Osaye brethren.

Sister Mason, if we can sing right now.

Hello. Just be mindful the Lord you

need if you need to repent today, this altar is here for

you. Repentance not just a one time

matter. Repentance is a daily

maintenance thing, God. I've had some afterthoughts,

Lord, about some things that I've said I've done, actions

I've taken, or maybe it's actions I didn't take that I

should have. Lord God, forgive me, help me

Lord, do better. Help me, Lord Jesus, to step

back on the path, and help me, Lord God, that that path would

be straight before my feet.