I Am What I Am | Pastor Paul McGee

Amen. Look at your neighbor and tell

them how good they look today, Amen.

Some of you just got a smirk on your face as soon as I said that

because like you had some type of awareness, he was sitting

beside you, Amen. Good to be in God's house this

morning, Amen. With all of you find people

looking out, seeing your smiling faces.

Amen. That is comforting.

Today we're going to be turning to 1st Corinthians chapter 15.

Some of the guests that we have here today is because later

today before we leave, we have a baby.

Well, a child dedication a little, a little one dedication.

Julie McGee was never dedicated. So we're going to dedicate her

this morning. And so we have friends and

family on both sides to be here to participate in that.

And it's an important thing. It's an important thing for us

to return back to the Lord what He is has so graciously given

us. Amen.

First Corinthians chapter 15, and I'm going to begin reading

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

in verse #5 so glad to have all of you.

And Missy, it's good to see you. She's visited us on several

occasions to come in with that crutch.

And I just assumed that it was something that she could reach

out and tap Rex with if she needed to.

But I guess she really does have some problems going on.

But listen, never know what it takes to keep Rex in line.

You know, it's just Amen. We're glad to have you.

Appreciate him, everybody, everybody Hills, we're glad to

have you this morning down from the north to be celebrating with

your granddaughter and sister Rhonda as well today.

Amen. First Corinthians 15, verse 5.

1 Corinthians 15:5

I'll try to be mindful of our time here today with all those

other things that are going on. The Bible says and just kind of

preface this kind of jumping in a scripture the writer is

writing about after that Jesus has has been resurrected and

those that saw him or witnessed him after his resurrection.

This is the apostle Paul is writing to the Church of

Corinth. He says and he was seen of

Cephas, which that's a reference to to Peter.

All right. Cephas is just like Greek like

name for Peter. And he was seen of Cephas then

of the 12 And after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at

once, of whom the greater part remained unto this present, but

some are fallen asleep, or other words some, some died.

After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles.

And Paul says. And last of all, he was seen of

me also as one born out of due time, for I was the least of the

apostles that am not me to be called an apostle.

We're getting a little self reflection here that Paul has of

himself. Because I persecuted the Church

of God. But by the grace of God I am

what I am. This grace which was bestowed

upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly that

they all then they all yet not I, but the grace of God, which

was with me for a little while this morning.

I want to talk to you simply this from from verse #10 Paul

said I am or if I say I am what I am, I am what I am Amen.

Can we go to the Lord in prayer right now?

He would touch us in the next little bit.

Father, help us today, God through Lord Jesus your word, I

pray Lord, you're able to strengthen someone today.

Lord give hope and encouragement Lord Jesus God open our minds

and our understanding. I pray Lord that you're able to

enable us Lord and we Lord lean upon that enable it that only

comes from you God in this place.

Let your purpose and will be done in the name of Jesus Christ

that I pray Hallelujah and Amen. The church say Amen Amen.

You may be seated this morning in Jesus name the apostle Paul

and we see him at a stage in his life that's after his conversion

many times we concentrate upon him and writing so much of the

New Testament Scripture and some of the great things that he was

used in in his life with the Lord.

But the apostle Paul's not unlike many of us today and I'm

you may you know, struggle with that concept and think me like

the apostle Paul. No way.

But he also he also had some less than than perfect times of

his past that even haunted him in his present.

He he had a past that would constantly compete for for his

time and his energy and his attention.

Even after he come to know the Lord, his mind would sometimes

drift off to who he once was or what he once did.

And although that existed in the past, it it still made some some

big attempts and brazen attempts to be a part of his present.

Always nagging at him and trying to remind him where he came

from. In our text, though the Bible

speaks that he is an apostle, at this time he he's a leader of

the New Testament church. And yet even being a leader of

the New Testament church, he's still wrestling with his past.

He's still wrestling where he once was.

And and he even begins to downplay.

We see some of his self reflection Sister Sheila.

He says I'm the least of the apostles, He said I even goes on

to even the state. I don't know if I even, you

know, qualified. I feel unqualified to be in this

capacity, he said. I don't, I don't feel as though

I'm, I, I, I fit the description or the qualifications of an

apostle because of past mistakes that I've had in my life or past

sins that I've had in my life. I've had some errors and even

shares a few of them with us. He says.

I, I was a persecutor of the Church of God.

He's struggling. He's struggling with who he is

because of who he had been. So I, I was a persecutor of the

Church of God. And, and can I tell you this

morning, and if you've not come against it yet, you will.

It comes to all of us. It doesn't matter if you've been

in church five years, 5 seconds or 50 years.

And that is one of the biggest challenges of our Christian

faith is our past. It's our past.

If there's anything that the enemy of our soul will try to

press upon, it will be press upon something that we done

years ago before we ever knew the Lord.

And that just goes to show that the enemy is the enemy.

The Bible talks about him being the accuser of the brethren.

And if there's anybody ever around that's accusing you in

your mind about where you used to be or what you used to do and

all of that, you can mark that the adversary.

You can mark that the enemy of yourself because the Lord, he's

not going to remind you of your past to make you feel guilty

about your past. If the Lord ever reminds you of

your past, it's because He wants to see how far you've come from

where you've been. And so Paul attest to the fact.

He says, I understand I'm now in the pulse on that.

He says, but I understand it was the Lord that enabled me.

It was the Lord that helped me. It's the Lord that put me into

this ministry. And all of that understanding of

Paul that it was the Lord that helped and the Lord that aided.

That's the reason why Paul could say I am what I am.

He was saying it wasn't because of me or I had all of the

planets just lined up in my life.

No, it was because of the Lord. He's understanding.

I didn't get here by myself. I don't have any, just natural

skills to be able to say, oh, here's the apostle Paul.

No, he says, but I had the Lord and the Lord helped enable me

and place me. I want you.

And I got a lot of scripture here today.

First Timothy chapter #1 The apostle Paul is writing again,

and he's writing to a man by the name of Timothy, and he says in

First Timothy 1 and verse 12, he says, I thank Christ Jesus our

Lord, who hath enabled me. Here It is for that He counted

me faithful, putting me into the ministry.

Verse 13, who was before? Here he is, he's talking about

his past, who before I was a blasphemer and I was a

persecutor and injurious, he says, But I obtained mercy

because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

Amen. And so despite where Paul

presently is, he emits where he was.

I was a blasphemer, I was persecutor, I was injurious to

those around me. And at times those dark shadows

from my past, they cast dark clouds over my life.

But he's going to state to us again, as he did in our text, I

am what I am before. I was a a blasphemer, but today

I am what I am before, before I was a persecutor, but today I am

what I am. I was injured, but I am what I

am and God has enabled that. I think it's important this

morning to come to a realization of that, that you are not what

you were. You are not what you used to be.

You are what you are because of God.

That doesn't mean that's what you used to be that that that.

That never happened. It happened.

But it's a part of your story. It's a part of your history.

But you're. Living in the now.

You're living into today. There's a bright.

Future ahead of you because you are what you are because of God,

Paul says. The things that I did back then,

some of those things he said I did in ignorance.

I, I, I didn't recognize Christ Jesus to be be God manifest in

the flesh or come down and walk around in humanity.

And so some of these things, I did these things ignorantly.

He says in verse 13, look at it, He said, but I obtained mercy.

He tells us in this chapter that He obtained the mercy and grace

and faith and love and all of these situations that came into

his life, all of these things from God that came into his life

to help him in this moment of rest.

He said love came to my rescue. Mercy and grace and faith, they

all came to my rescue. Look at verse 14 and First

Timothy 1. And the grace of our Lord was

exceeding abundant with faith, love which is in Christ Jesus.

He says this is a faithful saying and worthy of all

acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save

sinners. Wait a minute, Christ came into

the world to save sinners. Whenever Christ came into the

world, he wasn't looking for anybody that was perfect.

For that matter, there is no one perfect.

He said the ho is not in need of a physician.

He came for those that were sinners.

That was his purpose. He came looking for them.

And Paul says whom I am chief, this is how he felt.

He felt like he was the biggest Sinner of them all.

He felt like he had done worse than anybody else had ever done.

He says in verse 16 he said, how be it for this, 'cause he said,

I obtained the mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew

forth all long-suffering, or all patience for a pattern to them

which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Christ came to save sinners and Paul says I felt like the

biggest Sinner in the bunch, that Christ was long-suffering

and patient with me. And I think this is important,

what Paul says, because understanding Paul's life, he

was a persecutor of people. He imprisoned some others, met

their death because of Paul. This is the same guy that's now

an apostle, right? All these things that he did, he

was very injurious, of course, to people.

And he said, he says, you know what I believe?

He said the Lord saved me, a blasphemer, a persecutor,

someone that was interest to others as as bad as I estimate

myself. The Lord saved me to provide a

pattern and a model that if he could save somebody like me, it

didn't matter who else lived during my day, he could save

them. I call myself the chief.

God can reach down as far as needed to be reached and say

whosoever will Christ saved, according to Paul, his own

estimation, he saved the chief of sinners.

So he's saying there's nobody incapable of being saving

because Christ saved me. Folks, sometimes I know how we

are with our mistakes, Tracy. Sometimes we believe they went

over a particular line, a particular limit, right, of

beyond grace, beyond mercy. Paul says if you think that,

Remember Me. He says if you think that,

Remember Me. And for that matter, there's not

a single one of us, probably somewhere in our life that's not

been trapped in the human trap of classifying sin, big sin,

small sin, bad sin, horrific sin, not so bad sin, horrible

sin, classifying levels and degrees of sin.

Paul blasphemer, yes. Grace put him in the ministry,

yes. Persecutor, yes.

Injuries, yes. But he says it all boils down to

this. He said what I did, I did in

unbelief, he says. I just lumped all of that sin

under one umbrella of unbelief. What's that mean?

He didn't have a relationship. He didn't have a relationship

with the Lord. It's like unbelief.

What is the trunk of the tree and all the other branches are

these other sins that people seen in Paul's life?

But but the big picture is he just didn't have a relationship

with God. And when you don't have a

relationship with God, you're going to yourself, you're going

to be subject to, to sins of various kinds and, and things in

your life. So Paul says what it really

comes down to is, is my unbelief.

And that's, that's very serious, because unbelief when itself

having no belief in the Lord that, that, that can become a, a

sin of itself. As a matter of fact, whenever we

read in scriptures, in Revelation 21 and verse #8 and

you read about the murderers and the whoremongers and the

sorcerers and the idolaters, they'll have their place.

The Bible says in the lake of fire and brimstone.

It, it links in that list of all these murders and whoremongers.

It lists the unbelieving in the list.

Because what what we have here is whoremongers practice

whoremongering, sorcerer's practice sorcery, Idolaters

practice idolatry, serving other gods.

The unbelieving practice unbelief.

And Jesus even said in his own words in Mark 1616, he says he

that believeth not shall be damned.

And so when we see persecution about Paul and and he's a

blasphemer and he's injurious when we look at all these things

again, the primary thing was his unbelief.

He didn't have a relationship with God.

And so sin is sin this morning. Humanity's like I can't.

Believe they did that. And we're putting sin on

different levels, but sin is an affront to God.

Sin is sin. Someone say man.

That begins to explain a little bit about Paul and how he's

feeling. He's a human too.

He's saying he's the chief of sinners, as though there's a

big, big Sinner and a little Sinner, a better Sinner than

another Sinner. But sin is sin.

Bible also teaches us that that grace is grace.

What are you saying? The same grace if you want to

talk, if you're going to talk in levels, Great saves a good

person just as much as saves A lawless person.

Great save to Cornelius, who was devout and had prayers just as

much as it, said Paul, who's a persecutor and interest.

Grace is grace and sin is sin. But we do have this confidence

according to Romans 520. That where sin abounds.

Grace will always there'll be. Ample.

There will be ample grace for the sin.

There'll always be enough. There'll always.

Be enough. There's no degrees among sin, no

degrees per SE among grace. There's always going to be ample

grace for sin. Think with me for a moment.

Whenever Joseph in the Old Testament Joseph, he was one of

the sons of Jacob and he had some hard times.

He'd he'd been in the pit in the prison and been, you know, lied

upon by his brother, so to speak, and sold.

And Joseph here the Bible says that one time was in Potiphar's

house, it was like being a steward of their house doing a

great job. But the Potiphar's wife tried to

seduce him and whenever he denied her seduction, he

basically said he said how can I do this great wickedness know

what he says and sin against God.

He understood individual sin really links back to your

relationship with God. It always links back whether

being in relationship or not in relationship as you should be

with God. David is a murderer, an

adulterer, all these different things.

Amen. And there would be some that

some would look at today particular sins, focus on them

and start putting you know, on a on a scale to 1 to 10.

How do you rate these sins, you know, type of scenario.

But whenever we look at all of this, it was a broken

relationship with God. That's the reason why whenever

David prays in Psalms 51 about his sin with Bathsheba, he says

against the the only God, have I sinned and done this evil in

your sight? He says I understand what this

is all about. It's not about big sin, little

sin, black sin, white sin. It's about I fell out of

relationship with God and that's the over.

That's the overall thing. There's no degrees.

Everybody say there's no degrees.

Is it any wonder this morning that in the New Testament

scripture that whenever there's different listings of sins and

mistakes in the works of the flesh that the writers always

lump them all together and don't separate them into categories?

What we would call humans would call today big sin, little sin.

Look at it Galatians 5 verse 19 through 21.

Galatians 5:19–21

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these?

Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

which is an unbridled lust, idoltry, witchcraft, hatred.

You hearing this hatred variance which is debate emulations,

which is like anger, wrath, indignation, strife, seditions,

division, parasais. Enviance murders drunkenness in

our mind, if we would say now I want you to go through and you

you list these from greatest to worse, by your human standards,

we wouldn't have them in the order they are right now.

But as they're presented in Scripture, according to our

standards, they're jumbled all together between what we would

say. Is big and small.

That's because Christ, through his wisdoms, trying to convey

something to us. Sin, sin, sin is sin.

There's a mix, if you will, of every level according to our

human standards. Whenever God said, he said it's

the things that come out of the heart of man that defile the man

when he made that statement. Brother Fred, New Testament

Scripture in the book of Mark. Again, he mixes up what we would

think would be the classifications for sin.

You can read it in Mark 7, verses 20 through 23.

Mark 7:20–23

Again, he talks about things coming from the heart of man.

Verse #21 from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil

thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,

covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil

eye, blasphemy, pride, foolish. You got the run of the gamut in

this list. They're all lumped together

because together they are sin, and together they represent one

large overarching problem, a lack of relationship with the

Lord. So before you sit down this

afternoon, make your spreadsheet of your personal sins and you

begin to number them and graduate them all.

That was bad. That wasn't so bad.

And you need to realize that we've all failed.

We've all fallen, and there's not one of us that's better than

the other when it comes to sin. Not one, the Bible says.

And this, this really touches who?

Not lightly, but heavily in James 210.

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one

point, he is guilty of all. If I offend in one point, I'm

guilty of all points. Let me put it in these terms.

I lied, I'm guilty of murder. If I offend in one point, I'm

guilty of all points. How can that be?

Because sin is sin. So we're all on the same level

at the foot of the cross. We don't have first, second and

third place. We're all on level ground at the

foot of the cross. Because you know how we stand

there? Every single one of us, we all

stand guilty there. We all stand guilty there.

There is no difference between you and me.

We're guilty. Sinners in need of a Savior, in

need of a relationship with God. Amen.

Someone say, Amen, not one sin matters more than another

matter. It's our relationship to the

Lord and our relationship. Amen to His will and His

purpose. Amen that matter.

And the Bible says we have this great confidence in first John,

not Saint John, but first John chapter #1 and verse 9.

It says if we confess our sins notice it doesn't start to tell

us if you confess your bad sins or if you confess your little

sins no sins. It's not making any distinction

if you confess your sins. He's Speaking of God is just is

faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from

all unrighteousness. Hey man, so I'm glad I don't

have to figure out this dynamic. Well, if I've done a bad sin,

then I confess like this, or if I've done this type of sin, then

I confess like this or find the right combination to be able to

take care of my my sin. Sin is sin.

All you got to do is confess that to the Lord and He is

faithful and He is just to forgive you of your sin, whether

in your mind you. Classify a big.

Little somewhere in between. God is faithful and.

When you confess, it opens up an Ave. for forgiveness in your

life. God, I'm trying to keep track of

time. I'm trying to be a good boy

today. I know we're on time here.

God showed Peter a vision whenever he was praying and, and

Acts chapter #10 and he would be greeted by two men, three men

from the House of Cornelius because Cornelius was interested

in the Word of God and wanted to hear the word before all that

ever occurred. Peter Peter was praying and he

had a vision of a blanket that descended 3 times with all sorts

the Bible says of four footed beast and fowl and such on it.

And Peter heard the Lord speak and say rise Peter, slay and

eat. And Peter refused.

He said Lord I've never eaten anything common or unclean.

Look at the Scripture in verse 11 and saw heaven Acts 1011 and

saw heaven open in a certain vessel descending unto him as it

had been a great sheet and neat knit at the four corners and let

down to the earth, wherein we're all manner of four footed beasts

of the earth and wild beasts and creeping, creeping things and

fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him

riseth Peter killing me. And Peter said, not so, Lord,

for I've never eaten anything. Look what he says that is common

or unclean. These things that are upon the

sheet they're they're calm, they're unclean.

And the voice said, spake unto him again the second time and

basically told him what God hath cleansed.

I like this. That call not that uncommon,

Peter, don't, don't call that. Don't call that common.

Don't call that unclean. And this was done thrice.

The Lord's reply was what I've cleansed.

Don't call that common. Don't call that unclean because

I've cleansed it. Don't persist in calling it

unclean whenever I've cleansed it.

Someone say man, The Bible tells us also in first John that it is

the blood of Jesus Christ that has cleansed us from all sin.

What are you saying? If you come to a relationship

with God today, don't get trapped in holding your past up

so large in a place as though it can't be cleansed.

If God has cleansed it, if God has spoken it, if God has

forgiven, then. Don't call that thing unclean.

That God has said I've cleansed, that I've forgiven, That I've

forgotten, that I've don't keep bringing it up.

No, no, he says. I've touched, that I've enabled

you. I've empowered you.

I've forgiven. Amen.

Because the blood of Christ has been placed upon that.

The Angel told Mary concerning that child that she would have

Jesus, that he shall save his people from their sins.

It didn't specify what sins, it just said their sins.

Amen. First Peter 224 the Bible says

who and The Who be in reference to this Christ Jesus who his own

self bear our sins. Which ones?

All of them are sins in His own body on the tree, that we being

dead to sin, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes

ye were healed. Again, no qualification, no

limit was placed on the sins that He bore in His body. 2nd

Corinthians 5 verse 21 For he hath made him to be sin.

That is all sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the

righteousness of God in him. We all have hope here today.

Paul said the one that I said that I am that I am the one that

was a persecutor and injuries and all these things Paul said

in Galatians 2 here he, he, he founded he, he got this

relationship thing with God. He says I'm crucified with

Christ. And I think what's awesome about

that, that he talks about it in the present tense, I am

crucified. He doesn't say I was crucified.

He says I am crucified with Christ.

He told us in Colossians 3. He said to the Church of

Colossians of Colossae, he says for year dead and your life is

hid with Christ in God. This is the reason why Paul

could stand in our text and say Amen without any doubt a

reservation. I am what I am because he leans

upon the fact that I am crucified with Christ.

He leans on the fact that I am dead unto sin, but I'm alive

unto God. That's how he could say I am

that I am Amen. In other words, Paul was

basically relaying everything that happened to Christ has

happened to me. Hey, man, hey man.

I have died with him. I've been buried with him.

I've raised with him. I'm.

Seated with him and in. Him in heavenly places.

Amen. Paul says I I've had this

experience of Christ so I can say I am that I am everybody

doing OK, I'm probably not going to I don't know he's first

Corinthians 15-8. I'll just touch on this.

I might not be able to preach everything there is to preach.

OK, but notice what Paul says and he says this one's seen

Christ after the resurrected and that one did and this one did.

This is just how Paul feels as a human, right?

Look in the perspective of his life.

And he says, and last of all, he was seen of me also.

So he's had problems with this whole categoric thing of sin the

way that humans do look in the sin now he's looking at.

But last of all, you know what Paul's saying.

Some of these seen him quite soon after his resurrection.

I was too busy still persecuting the church, too busy doing this,

too busy with no relationship, if you will, broken

relationship, not pure relationship with God.

So he said I was the last of all.

You know what Paul's dealing with, He's dealing with what we

deal with sometimes. And that is but moaning that you

know what, I started this life for God late.

I've wasted some time in my life.

I've wasted some time I regret to not have done something

sooner. Listen to me folks, you come to

know the Lord you now on this side of the cross and what the

Lord has done for you might look back on your past, said man,

man, I regret all the time that I wasted.

But if you get in that type of mindset and mode of always just

regretting of the time you wasted, you're wasting time in

your present on thinking about having wasted time.

I can't go back and undo the past or the time loss.

But I can't apply myself today. I can't apply myself now.

Hey, man, if I can't. And Paul, I believe he's

endeavored to do so for the quote UN quote mistime and

missed opportunities that he had.

You know what he said? He says I labor now more

vehemently, more strongly now than a lot of other people

because I realize, yeah, it seems like I started late, but

I'm not going to let my mind be consumed with that.

I'm going to do everything that I can do.

Right now I want to do everything I can do in.

This moment, don't bemoan. Where you were?

Look at where you are and get your hands in the harvest.

Get your hands busy. You.

You. Could do for something for God

right now. Paul says I I was late coming to

the game. Last of all, it was seen to me.

He's saying this regrettedly. Hey, man, he says.

But I'm going to labor more abundantly.

I didn't see the Lord when he was first resurrected.

I was too busy doing other things.

I was the very, it seemed he. Says I was the last.

One right on that road to Damascus in Acts 9, he's seen a

light suddenly from heaven. Later, whenever Barnabas was

even telling the story to the other disciples, he stated it

plainly that Paul had seen the Lord.

Paul had seen the Lord. Paul says I was the last to see

him. And note what he says, though as

one born out of due time. He's not Speaking of his natural

birth, he's Speaking of his spiritual birth.

When I came to God, it just seems untimely that I would have

wasted. Oh, bad time.

They heard Jesus's teachings, they walked with him and his

earthly ministry. They were present on the

outskirts as he was being crucified.

They they seen where his tomb was.

They witness all these things he did 40 days after he was

resurrected and they were there for his ascension but not me.

I'm too busy sowing my oats. I had an opportunity about

escorned it. He even says in Acts 26 and 9.

He said I thought to do many things contrary to the name of

Jesus. I thought Sheila number one, I

got some really bad sins. This is the apostle Paul

talking. I got some bad sins and boy, I

started late in the game. But it's in our text that he

realizes again, I am what right now, today I am because of His

mercy, because of His grace, because of these things.

He didn't look back. He looks where He is right now

because I am what I am. What I can state now is that I

am healed, I am restored, I am forgiven, I am reconciled, I am

adopted. I am his.

Folks, you need to remind. When the enemy reminds you who

you were, you need to remind him who you are, who you are, who

you. Here's the fact of the matter,

folks. In the book of Matthew, it's in

the 20s. I don't remember.

It might be chapter 20, but it's in the 20s.

There's a parable of a man that he goes out to get laborers for

his vineyard. He goes early in the morning, he

gets laborers, they come in. He goes out another hour, finds

laborers, bring them in. Finally at the 11th hour toward

the close there he's going out getting laborers and he has them

all come in. The Bible says as as this pay

starts to come at the end of the day.

He agreed with the ones that first come.

He said, you work for a penny day.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. They start going forth.

Those who had been there early in the day got the same reward

for those that started late in the day.

What are you saying, right? Try some of their regretting

that we didn't start sooner. But the fact is, whether you

start early or you come at the 11th hour, the reward, the

reward, Hallelujah. The reward is the same, it's not

on. Judgment day that there's going.

To be a different heaven that God's going to allow me into

rather than reason to come in because he just came in the

past. Few years, no.

No, the reward the same. Streets of.

Gold, the same gates of Pearl, the same 12 foundations, the

same land of no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain.

It doesn't matter if you start early or you come in.

Lay the reward. I am what I am, Paul.

Let's clap our hands. Right now, to God, Hallelujah.

Come on, somebody you can stand today.

Don't let your passion intimidate you.

Don't let yesteryear intimidate you.

I am what I am. Staying with me all across this

place. I know our ideas folks, right?

You can't get time back, right? That's what they say, can't get

time back. But you know what's so amazing

to me in the book of Joe chapter #2 when they talk about this

locust at different stage of Palmer worm and cankerworm and

stuff, and came and devastated the land and took it all.

God's promise to the children of Israel was this.

He said, I will restore to you the years.

Yes, come on, come on, yes, come on.

Here's what I know about my God, Jeanette.

Seven years, the length of time that the locust just totally

overpowered the land, prevented harvest and fruit.

He says I'll restore the years that they took.

Here's what I know about my God. He can make a single season's

harvest be sufficient and equal to the years of harvest.

That's your loss, my God. If you didn't get 3 years of

harvest. My God transcends time.

He. Don't have to have three years

to get back what you lost. He can do it in a moment.

He Joseph's been in the pit, Joseph's been in prison,

Joseph's been separated. But it would seem like in one

day God exalted him to be second in command over Pharaoh's house.

God can do in the moment. Yes, there's more preaching

there, but not time to preach it.

The preacher never finishes. He always quits.

But this morning, what I want to convey is we're all in the same

boat today for you to look over your shoulders that you're

seeing and begin to try to place it in different categories.

We've all done it. But since then, if you look over

your shoulders and have regrets, man, I wish I'd started earlier.

We've all done it. You need to look today and see

and just admit that I am what I am present.

You need to concentrate on the present because God's doing

something in some of y'all's lives right here in the present.

And it would be a ploy of your adversary to cause you to look

back on your past with all this regret and miss what He's doing.

Right now. And I stand here and I'm boldly

confident today. It's not just what God is doing

right now, but he's got a future for you.

He's got a future for you. You know what you need to do,

You need to do. Like the apostle Paul finally

came to the place of exclaiming. He said, I count in Philippians

4. I believe he says.

I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing

I do forgetting. Those.

Things that are behind and pressing toward what he say.

He said. I pressed toward the mark.

Of the high calling of God. Which is in Christ Jesus.

That's there, but I'm not holding on to that.

That's there, but that's not going to dictate and guide my

life. I'm living for the now and I'm

living for where He's taking me. I'm living for where we're

going. I am that I am.

We have a, we have a baby dedication, but we have enough

time for an altar call. I'll tell you that right now.

There's nothing wrong with being honest with God, You hear me?

There's nothing wrong. Nothing wrong, Sister honey.

Letting God know. Yeah.

God, I've been categorizing everything.

Y'all? God, I've been bemoaning all

these. There's nothing wrong, folks.

There's Sometimes I've been so honest with God, looking back,

and I've almost been embarrassed about how honest I've been with

God. Sometimes I've been mad.

I've shaken my fists. String to the heavens.

You've been in this church sometimes when it's just been me

and God, you probably think, Oh my goodness, who is he talking

to like that? But God, I think it was Joe said

Joe, He said God remembers that we're but dust.

So I'm asking you today, all you glorified dust balls, you can

come in the presence of holy God this morning.

You can come to this altar and say God, I've allowed the past

has really been really been overshadowing me right now

really been messing with me. I want you to come forward

though, with on your lips the present.

I want you to begin to to exclaim and and speak in this

place today. I am what I am.

These halters are open. It'd be good as many of us as

could, and so many of I know there's only so many of us that

can fit here, but as many of us that could could gather in

today. And we need to let the Lord

know, and we need to let the adversary of our soul know.

With this explanation, I am what I am.

I'm speaking in the present tense.

I am what I am. God has enabled that.

His mercy has underwrote that His love has drawn me to this

place. I am what I am today.

Hallelujah. I'm not going to be who I used

to be going to. Dictate you.

I know I. Am what I am because of him.

Hallelujah. Come on, talk to God.

He loves to hear your prayer. He loves to hear your prayer.

He's not wearied with your. Voice, he's not.

Wearied with your trouble, God? Is interested in you today.

He'll enable. He'll empower.