Fragrance of Imperfection | Pastor Wylie Rhinehart

Hey, man, surely the Lord is good in this place and whatever

you get tonight, you still got to come back midweek.

You can't get enough to say I can take a week off.

Thank God for the presence of the Lord that's in this place

tonight. And I've, I don't know if you

call it learned or recognized or there there's a statement and

you've heard it. God can do more in one second

than we can do in a lifetime. All of my charm, my wife says I

have a little my charm, my witticisms, my anecdotes, my

stories, my wisdom, whatever that is, all of that combined is

a dull knife compared to the Spirit of God and the Word of

God. But tonight I could draw your

attention to Exodus chapter 30. Now I again want to honor Pastor

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

Sister McGee and their beautiful children.

You're a wonderful singer, by the way.

And Brother Trevor, just an excellent young man and this

praise team, I guess it's wrong for me to try to take him to

date. So I guess I won't.

But just wonderful, just the presence of God in this place.

And Bishop, Sister McGee, just beautiful people.

And he's got a better memory than me.

He said we, we, we've already met Tennessee.

So I used to think I never forgot a face, but now I forget

names and faces. But in Exodus chapter 30, well

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

there is a verse here 34 Thank you sister.

It's like when I look down, it turns into Egyptian

hieroglyphics. I guess it's time for a large

print. And the Lord said unto Moses,

taken to the sweet spices, stacked tea and onicha and

Galvan of these sweet spices with pure frankincense of each,

shall there be a lightweight or a same weight?

And thou shalt make it a perfume of confection after the art of

the apothecary tempered together, pure and holy.

Just a little bit. I'll try not to be long.

Want to speak on the fragrance of imperfection?

Tell your neighbor, God's better to me than I deserve.

Amen. Thank you.

It's just an honor to be with you.

You may be seated tonight in this same chapter, just a few

verses up. God gave them the recipe.

Verse 23 and 24, the recipe for anointing oil and for anointing

oil, there was a certain amount God told them to make.

And so I went to Amazon.com and thought how much would it cost

me to make that? And I picked the finest

ingredients, most expensive. And if you have $70,000, you can

make you some. Now that was the price about two

years ago, probably more with inflation going on evident that

that tells me the anointing is expensive and it's pricey.

And not to mention to cultivate it, it's, it's what you would

call a violent, possibly dirty process, digging in the mud

behind the bark of trees. It's not for the faint of heart

gathering these ingredients and then the Lord gives the

ingredients for the incense, for the altar of incense and incense

perfume, kind of synonymous. And your favorite perfume or

your favorite Cologne is comprised of top notes, heart

notes and bass notes. My wife.

You like the smell? Yeah.

Yeah. That you smell good.

That's nice. That's it.

I can no longer smell it any longer.

And I love Cologne. And I'm figuring if you can

smell me coming in, I've figured out quit wasting the Cologne

because I use it. And four years later, I still

got some. And I'm thinking I don't use it

enough. So I give a couple of extra

squirts. But when I spray it, God has

made us. We're fearfully and wonderfully

made. Oh Lord, we are so fearfully and

wonderfully made. There's 100,000 hairs average on

people's heads. With 7.8 billion people, you

have trillions of hairs. If you were to count them, it

would take you 22 million years. By that time you'd have to start

all over because we all lose a few here and there.

But I think that's just God showing off that he says, look,

the very hairs of your head or number.

If you don't think he cares about your problems, you see,

that's not a problem. That's just God saying, look, I

know who you are, I've got you. So he made it to where you don't

want to be captivated with the smell that you can't smell

danger. You don't want to be captivated

with the smell of your wife's perfume that when you're out to

eat and you start to eat something, you don't smell that

it's bad because that's why God put that nose right there next

to our mouth to keep you from ingesting something that has

spoiled. So the olfactory nerves, they

are in gear, but they clear themselves after just a few

moments. So ultimately your, your perfume

or your Cologne is really not for you.

It's it's for others. And the base note, it's what

causes you to purchase it again. It makes it last.

Now you, you may think, well, I can look at the ingredients on

this perfume or Cologne and I can just make some myself.

But it in actuality, there's between 10 to 50 secret

ingredients that the Trade Commission and the fair.

Packaging Act says. You don't have to list that or

everybody would have that. These ingredients do not have to

be disclosed, considered trade secrets.

It's interesting. Now, galbanum, one of the four

ingredients of the incense, is often used as a top note and a

base note serves as a fixative. And they're actually use it

today in modern perfumes. Some 2000 years later, the

ancient Egyptians used it. We're still using it today.

And the top layers, when you spray that Cologne on, it

quickly evaporates. But the fixative which is the

galbanum. And here's.

That in the molecular structure it allows it.

To stay. Attached to you so your friends

later can say man you smell good, but long since you can't

smell it anymore. The high cost of your favorite

fragrance wouldn't be justified if the fragrance didn't last.

Enter the fixative. They preserve the entire

fragrance by slowing down the rate of evaporation.

God's the one that told him to include it.

Look, if God says something's got to go, it's not for your

hurt. God's not going to hurt you.

Amen. The downside of your favorite

Cologne or perfume? You really don't get to enjoy

it. You get to enjoy the initial

sprayer application, but a minute or less, you can't smell

it any longer. Nose fatigue sets in.

So now stack T onicha, galbanum, frank, frankincense.

They're used in equal amounts. God says as far as the anointing

oil, he said very clearly 250 shekels worth, 500 shekels

worth. There was only a certain amount

of anointing oil that they were allowed to make, but when it

came to the altar of incense, God said you can make as much as

you want, but you got to do it in equal amounts.

You can make you can make a gallon of it, or you can make

1000 gallons of it and see two times in the morning.

The priests would pray not two times in the morning, but they

were told to pray morning and evening or to offer incense and

it was offered twice daily. They would burn 2.5 lbs in the

morning, 2.5 lbs in the evening, and Jewish history reveals that

they would make it 18140 lbs at a time.

And if you divide that by how much they use morning and

evening, they had 368 days worth.

Now I'm I'm of the. Understanding and the belief

that when those priests came together and said how much are

we going to make, it seems wisdom that they didn't make

just a week's worth, but they made over a year's worth.

That tells me that when you decide to start out for.

God just don't come to church for.

One week and decide it's not for you.

I mean, just go ahead and go ahead and look ahead and say

2025. And I tell you, I, I tell people

this a lot. I said, look, keep coming to

church whether you're mad. Bad, sad or glad, Just come on.

Now the missus is not here and I miss my wife and she she might

be she might be watching. She's not feeling well tonight,

but we have pulled up in the can I be transparent?

Can we cut the live feed for a second?

I'm just kidding. We'll pull up in the parking lot

and she said I you can just drop me off or I'm just going to drop

you off. I'm going home.

I'm sorry, honey, you're just saying that because you got a

priest tonight. She'll say same thing.

I'm I'm just I'm just going to drop you off.

I'm going back home. But we forgive each other.

You have to keep coming back. If you stay away from the House

of God when you're mad, you're going to miss some services bad

you're going to miss some services sad you're going to

miss some services even glad you're going to miss some

services. You shouldn't have a a fish in

the pond down the street when the singing is going on in here

because a big. One got away the other.

Day now you can go on vacation. That's OK.

I'm sure your pastor allows that.

But come to church whether you're mad, bad, sad or glad.

I love the wisdom of these priests that said we're going to

make a year's worth. And I don't believe they it's I

think it's impossible that they knew the healing properties of

these four ingredients. They simply gathered them

because God said this is what I want you together.

Now stack T these you're going to want to leave here and go get

these ingredients. But the problem is you're going

to have to go to Iran and they're probably not going to

let you in. Antimicrobial, arthritis,

ulcers, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, stimulates

the immune system, alleviates pain, promotes wound healing.

Onicha heals skin wounds, respiratory problems, blood

sugar levels, sinusitis, colds, coughs, bronchitis, sore

throats. Frankincense relieves asthma,

stress, pain. It's antifungal, reduces

anxiety, aids respiratory system disinfectant, stimulates blood

flow, wounds, aids in healing cancer.

Yeah. Bantam, decongestant, anti

parasitic pain reliever, new cell and tissue development,

bronchitis, flu, blood circulation.

Relieves mental trauma, arthritis pain, muscle spasm,

skin disorders, digestive issues, epileptic seizures,

wounds, rheumatism, gout, bladder ailments, water

retention, high blood pressure, chronic pulmonary complaints and

weakness of the back. Somebody say that sounds good to

me. God knew, but they didn't.

And when he tells us that something's good for us, you can

just believe it. You see, incense was offered

every morning and every evening and.

The Bible. Tells us in multiple places that

incense represents the prayers of the Saints.

To pray morning and evening seem to be a good start.

But then along comes Daniel. And he said that's not enough

for what's going on in my life. Daniel said I'm going to have to

pray three times a day. And then Fast forward to the

writing. Of.

Apostle Paul, he said twice. A day is not enough.

Three times not enough. Let's just go.

Ahead and say. Just go ahead and.

Pray without ceasing. Just go ahead and let prayer be

on your lips all day long, on your heart, in your mind,

because once a day is not enough.

Twice a day is not enough, three times a day is not enough.

But he didn't want to set no limit on it.

He said. Let's just say this, just go

ahead and pray all the time. When you combine that with David

who said I will bless the Lord at all times.

And David said, oh, that I might dwell in the house.

Of the Lord forever. I think you have somebody that's

going to be successful for God who's constantly praising,

constantly praying with a constant desire to be in the.

House of the Lord Incense, it was something that God required

and they you got to understand they're they're sacrificing

animals and this incense there's a good chance that the smells

that emanated from those sacrifices was covered by the

this ingredients of incense and these are not easy to get

either. Frankincense is.

It's almost. As if God says I want this to be

used for humans because if if this was if this was a

frankincense tree and this was a Cliff.

Some of the frankincense. Grows over the edge to where

animals can't get to it. God makes it difficult enough

for us to get, but it's almost as if to say, I made this for

you. And in Bible times, frankincense

was valued even more than gold. This concoction, this recipe,

this art of the apothecary had great value in it.

And it was for us. It was to be applied, it was

inhaled, it went through the nose.

You see just a few verses up. The anointing oil was applied

first on the right ear, then it was applied to the right thumb,

and then it was applied to the right.

Great, your great big toe on your right foot, but that

process of going through the pores of they they put blood

there and they put. Oil there, but that process?

Of going through the pores takes a little time to affect, whereas

when you inhale something through your nose, it's the

quickest route to your. Heart even quicker than

intravenous. And God says prayer, If you want

to get a hold of me, you can pray.

He says come boldly to the throne of grace to find help.

In the time of need. And you?

See even today the anointing. Might not be for everybody in in

the regard of. Of ministering behind a pulpit.

But the altar? Of incense and those

ingredients. They work here in this church.

They work in the car on the way to church.

They work in your home at 2:00 AM, seven AM, 4:00 PM.

No matter where you are, prayer works.

And it works quickly. It was so quickly that Daniel

prayed. And Jeremiah, the prophets speak

of the angels, and the angels travel at a speed of 600 and. 70

million miles an hour, That's pretty fast.

So Daniel prayed, and here's somebody.

Blocking the answer and the angels who?

Can fly 670 million. Miles an hour, in other words,

before you even. Ask God already knows.

But you got to. Ask Prayer is the most powerful

force on earth. It's it's our audience with.

God and he says you can come boldly to the throne of grace to

find help in time of need. But it's interesting that

galbanum was not something that smelled very good.

The priest didn't understand why God would.

Ask them to include. Something that smells so bad.

However, it was a one to four ratio.

The galbanum only represented well once, once they had the.

Other ingredients. Jewish history says that GAL

each of the four ingredients represented 19% each, or 76%

with the other. Ingredients that were not.

Disclosed representing the other 24%, but the truth is I.

I can tell you now that where. Sinned at the bound, graced us

much more abound. Somebody needs to understand

that we're not. Here because we're good.

We're here because he's God. We're not here because.

We're good. We're here because.

He's God and the blood of Jesus Christ.

Is a propitiation for our. Sins.

And a propitiation is when the husband.

Gets home. And before the wife lets him

see, the Amazon bill of $400.00 said, here's your favorite

slippers. And we don't get newspapers

anymore. They just hand you this and say

here, turn to foxnews.com and I got your favorite steak cooking

and your favorite dessert. I got your bath running.

And you're like, let me see the bill.

But that's what Jesus Christ did for us, because you can't be in

God's presence that way. But the.

Blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all.

Sin. Allows us to enter into.

His presence. It wouldn't have been very.

Good if the temple had a bad smell.

Everybody would want to avoid. Church if it smelled bad here at

first Apostolic Church, you see, it was Peter that dwelled with.

Simon the Tanner. And that process was one of the

dirtiest jobs that that you could have during that day.

As a matter of fact, the laws of the local town said if you're

going to be a Tanner, you got to do it downwind from the city.

They they were. Forbidden to to put a tannery

upwind to the city because if the wind blew it would bring

that smell to the. Town.

And that's where Peter. I, I, I got a lot of questions

for those, but I, I want to know why he was dwelling with Simon.

The Tanner, but him dwelling. With Simon the Tanner didn't.

Keep. Him from hearing from God twice.

They called him once when somebody had died.

They said go get Peter. He's with Simon the.

Tanner and then another. Time it was Cornelius that

prayed and said, send a Joppa for a man called Peter.

He's with Simon the Tanner. And then when God said, I I want

you to eat. And he showed him all, the

unclean beast. You know.

Peter knew very well that he wasn't to eat them, but he also.

Wasn't to touch them. But Peter was on enough.

Honest enough. Not to say I've never touched it

or ate it because he's living in a whole house full of all this

unclean smell, and if he got up in the night, his foot probably

brushed against a dead carcass or whatever it was.

So he was smart enough not to lie to God.

And he didn't say I've never touched it, but he did say I've

never eaten it. And that lets me know that in

this world with, with all the wickedness around us, it may be

touching us on our left and our right.

It may confront us when we leave these doors.

You, you might be touching it, but you don't have to consume

it. Let me insert here, Don't ever

believe the lie that if you think about it, you might as

well do it. Let.

Me just. Tell you that's a lie, you know,

because you know under grace you you could, you could think about

committing. Adultery all day long under

grace. It was under the law, rather.

There was no penalty at. All There was no penalty.

That thinking I'm going to. Kill you and I'm going to get.

You. The only penalty under the.

Law was when you actually. Did it?

But Jesus said I I say to you that if you look on a woman to

lust after her, you've already committed adultery.

You see, grace isn't something that's sloppy.

Grace wants to clean you from the inside out.

Grace wants to purify your thoughts.

Grace wants to bring every thought into captivity unto the

obedience of Christ. Galbanum had a very disagreeable

odor. Accurate.

Pungent and an unpleasant taste. There was some that said it

smelled like death and smelled like.

Turpentine and the priest. Wondered in if I can if I can

just question their conclusion because we still do it today.

The. Priest said I believe God wants

us to use galvanum because he wants us to include the sinners

that are not here in our prayer. That sounds like the cop out by

the priest there. It cut a little bit too close

to. Home.

Because it's not just them out there that smell, it's us that

have the problem and need a savior.

If I got the Holy Ghost and baptized Wednesday night, I

still need the preacher to tell me.

Let those hands that stowed steal no more.

You see, you're never going to get enough Holy Ghost to where

the devil's going to stop coming after you when Satan when Jesus

was led into the wilderness to be.

Tempted by the devil? Jesus did not answer him in the

way that Satan. Was gunning for every time the

devil spoke. To him, he responded by It is

written and I'm going to tell you if you try to engage in a

verbal war with the enemy, you're going to find yourself on

the outside looking in. What you need to do is say it is

written. It's written if anybody could

have outwitted him. It could have been the.

Lord, but you know what I believe?

What the? Lord was showing us look, just

just. Tell him what?

The Bible. Says.

I got curious one day and I know this is in English, but I

counted the conversation of the words of Satan and the words of

Jesus and sure enough the devil talked more.

It tells me you don't have to out talk the devil to defeat

him, but you do have to give him the word of God.

So the priest said, let, let's not, let's not.

Have this incense without including those without.

And I agree that we include those without, but we got to

include those within. You see, the Word of God and the

Spirit of God is what we need. You might be saved, but you need

the preaching of the pastor and a Bishop, and God is so amazing.

Because in his spirit you'll be feeling him and.

All of a sudden he'll remind you of something.

You need to get rid of he'll. Remind you of something you need

to lay down. And.

When he reminds you, he's empowering you to make that

choice. The Talmud says galbanum smelled

bad. How in the world today include

something that stump because God says I need.

You in my representation, while we were yet sinners.

Christ died for the ungodly we don't have.

I don't know if it's audaciousness.

I'm not sure what's missing, but we don't have the language of.

Paul, today we don't. Stand up and say I'm on the

praise team and I'm the biggest. Sinner in the world, that just

don't sound good. I'm going to preach tonight.

But there's not a bigger. Sinner in this county than me,

It don't sound good to say, look, I'm back home in Illinois.

I was born here. I'm the biggest Sinner in this

state. Paul didn't say he came to save

sinners who I used to be Chief, but he said I am chief.

You know what? You know what that is?

That's built in protection that says I need a savior.

If you're willing to say I'm a big Sinner, then that means

you're saying I need a big God. That's why God said I need you

to clue galbanum in there, because our righteousness is as

filthy rags. If I can admit that I need God,

then I'm. Always going to need him.

I'm not sure the chronological order I've I've looked but

psalms don't. Necessarily come in order.

But I, I believe the words of David that that said, oh, that I

would dwell in the House of the Lord forever and his praise is

going to continue to be on my lips.

I don't believe those words happened before Psalms 51.

I don't believe those words were said before, even though we

still have the capacity to fail. But the Bible says if you add

brotherly kindness, that's one of the ingredients.

If you do these things, you'll never fall.

Listen, there is a place that you can abide where you don't

have to leave these doors and struggle with the addiction that

you're struggling with. The biggest lie is that we all

sin. Everybody sins.

Now, I'm not contradiction what I just said.

Don't condemn me because you sin differently.

Than I do no. No, no, no sins going to enter

there. The same rider that said if you

say you have no sin, you make him a liar.

That same rider said them that sin are of the devil.

You see, we got to, we got to start looking at sin in the.

Right eyes, no sins going to enter.

There. But yes, Paul.

Understood. If I can stay in need of His

grace, I'll be standing in a strong place.

So in second Corinths 12:00 and 7:00.

He said lest I should. Be exalted by measure that was

given to me. A thorn in the flesh comma, the

messenger of Satan. Comma to buff at me.

And God said. He asked him 3.

Times but God said my grace is sufficient for thee.

I'm almost done. Don't get worried, but I just I

just want to tell just short testimony.

I'm playing the drums one night, my dad's pastor back in the 80s

date myself and I felt like I was the biggest Sinner in the

world. I had thoughts going through my

mind that I never told anybody to this day, and I never will

tell anybody. Blasphemous thoughts.

Thoughts that. I I said, Lord, Take Me Out of.

This world for letting me think that.

And this happened over and over. I felt like I was lost and we

only had one daughter at the time, so I'm up there on the

drums on a Sunday night. At that time we had prayer

meeting on Tuesday and church on Thursday, I said.

Lord, let whoever's preaching. Thursday night let him preach on

grace. If your grace is sufficient for

me, let him preach on grace. I didn't even know where the

verse was at the time, but I looked it up in the concordance

and I found it in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and verse

7 where the Lord said my grace is sufficient.

For thee, for my strength. Is made perfect in weakness.

See God don't want to take away our capacity to sin.

And then we're just robots serving God without any choice.

While he don't want to. Take away your.

Capacity to sin, he's never. Going to take away his grace for

your sin. It's so autonomic, just like

your heart. Beating.

And your chest breathing that, Paul said, Shall we sin that

grace may abound? God forbid.

Listen, you can never outrun God's race, I said.

Lord, if if your grace is sufficient for me, let let

whoever's preaching Thursday night, and I didn't even know

who was preaching, let it. Let him preach on that.

I came back Thursday night and I'm sitting on the left side of

the church and the gentleman was Brother Dean and I haven't seen

him in many years. He said turn to 2nd Corinthians

chapter 12. But in my great faith I thought

he might read verse 21. He might not even read what I'm

talking about. He exhorted for about 20 minutes

till he finally started reading at verse 7.

And I got up and started doing laps around the church shouting

Hallelujah. I got back to my seat and I said

I'm sorry for interrupting this Bible study, but I.

Asked the Lord if his. Grace was enough for me to let

whoever was preaching. Tonight, preach on it.

Somebody needs to understand that the devil will lie to you

and tell you nobody loves you. Jesus don't love you.

You've gone too far, you've done too much.

But that's why we need a Savior. That's why I'm sorry but.

This. Nature that we received from

Adam, we're always going. To have it.

That's why Dane Joshua said choose you this day who you was

heard. As for me in my.

House. We're going to serve the Lord.

You got to make up in your mind that if you fall, you're getting

back up. If you fall five times, you're

getting back up six times. You're getting back up 7 times,

you're getting back up 8 times. You're getting back up as many

times as you're willing to get back up.

That's as many times as God is willing to restore.

They call me the snack king. They should.

Call me the Wreck King. I busted my teeth.

I don't know how many times I'm sitting there on.

I had a yellow banana bike and had a gear shift and I'm

thinking I'm getting ready to bake, Break the land speed

record. I had my own countdown.

I went down that hill. When I turned left, I was

approaching the breaking the sound barrier and the bike

started shaking. I went over the handlebars and

landed on the curb, but I got back up.

Then I was riding in the back of the apartment complex and they

had the sewer with the with the big metal gap, big metal gap,

big mouth. I thought, I'm going to ride

across that. My tire slipped in that gap,

caught on the bolts, back tire went over the front.

Tire. This face landed on the

concrete. Busted my teeth out but I got

back up then I. Got the fastest motorcycle in

the in the in the neighborhood. It was a mini bike.

I'm riding this kid man. We're tooling around.

All of a sudden the brake snapped off and it got stuck on

full throttle. He jumped off.

To this day I don't know why he didn't pull me off with him.

I wish he would have. I was too scared to jump off,

but not too scared to run into the fence at the last second.

I just. Closed my eyes.

And I had an egg the size of the grade A extra large right here

on my forehead. But I got back up.

Well, Trevor, come here. Just just do me your your best

fake fall down. That's pretty good.

But that was really good. The Bible says that the priest

saw that guy and he just walked on by.

Everybody just walked on by. But the Good Samaritan came and

helped him. But if he fell down right in

front of me, I'd say, hey, bro, I I'd help him up.

Now, he probably didn't even need any help up.

But if you fall down, the natural reaction is to help

somebody. Get up.

How come we walk right on by and when they fall in the spirit,

how come we walk right on by and when they mess up and make a

mistake, take another dive. Don't hurt yourself, all right?

Just say I preach for another two hours till 839 thirty.

He's still laying there. They turn the lights on.

He's still laying there. You guys come to midweek

service? He's still laying there.

Who would have the real problem, him or us at that point?

How can we leave here with him laying there?

How can we lock the doors with him laying there?

A lot of times we put the criticism on the one that failed

when Jesus said it's really on the one that's not willing to

pick him up. You see, Solomon, I misquoted

this scripture for years. Bible says 2's better than one

because if one falls, you'll have somebody to pick him up.

But Solomon in his wisdom didn't say that.

He said if you got two, he said if they fall.

In other words, he said, I want to let you know there is no

distinction. There is no difference between

him or me because tomorrow it could be me laying there and him

standing there. So if you want somebody to help

you get up tomorrow, then you need to help somebody get up

today, Paul said. He came to save sinners, of who

I am chief. Current present tense in Romans

7. I got another question for Paul.

He said the things I don't want to do, I do.

He said the things I want to do, I don't do.

I'm thinking, what else did you want to do?

You wrote 12 books or maybe more of the New Testament.

What is it you want to do? You evangelized all of Asia, and

you were. A tent maker, you said, forgive

me for not letting you pay me. He said.

I'm sorry. What is it he wanted to do?

Paul started out as I'm among the chiefest apostles.

He gives his resume, but by the end of his life, he's saying,

wait a minute, I'm the biggest Sinner that there is.

Somebody needs to understand that we represent the galbanum

in the incense oil. In other words, go ahead and

tell God what you're struggling with, because He already knows.

It it means go ahead and. Tell him your weakness.

So on Psalms. 51 and I'll I'll close with this if the musicians

can come. During during the miss of that

trial. Went through and it was like 89

to 93. I would shake hands with a

preacher. I'd shake hands with a preacher

before church and my face would turn red because I felt like he

knew what I was thinking and my thoughts weren't pure and they

weren't right. So it was like a feedback loop

where he thinks I think he knows what I'm thinking.

Then I'd get embarrassed and ashamed of what I was thinking.

And this just went on and I'd, I'd be at a conference and I'd

meet eyes with the past and I think they're, they're going to,

they're going to cast the devil out of me.

Sure is the world. I didn't tell my wife a thing.

I couldn't. I just felt like if I told her

anything that it would come to pass.

I didn't want to give voice to what was going on up here.

Right or wrong. That's, that's what I did.

But I I did call and counsel with different people, but I

never told anybody. What I said but the.

Lord knew what I said. Or what I thought.

And in the midst of that, I'm standing back there at the door

and I hear, I have this dream. I'm standing there and Jesus

walked up the right side like that wall over there.

And he came here and stood and I'm back there being an usher.

And I thought, Oh no. Jesus is here.

And he knows what I'm thinking. And in my dream Jesus started to

leave. And I said I made that journey

from the back door all the way up here, and I said I can't let

him leave. I got to confess and the closer

I got, the lower I got. Until when I was.

Right here in front of Jesus. And I'm I'm quoting.

Psalms 51 that. That Second Corinthians 12 and

seven and Psalms. 51 will always be.

Special to me, I begin to say, created me a clean heart.

Renew the right. Spirit with me, He cast me not

away from thy presence. Take not that Holy Spirit from

me and in my dream I'm. On the floor with my face in the

carpet, and Jesus came behind. Me.

He didn't say anything. He stood me up.

He held my hands up as if to say just.

Praise me. And in that dream, I begin to

say Hallelujah. And when I got to number. 7 The

Holy Ghost fell. I went back to church and when

they said let's all praise the Lord, I promise you I scared

some people. I started saying Hallelujah as

loud as I can say it and they probably thought what's wrong

with him? Just like David's wife said to

David what's wrong with him? Don't ever question anybody's

worship. Don't ever tell you be.

Be be quiet. Nobody did tell me to be.

Quiet if they would. Have I should have took the

biblical? Formula and just cried even.

Louder. You never know the desperation

of the person that they're going through right on the same Pew as

you. I began.

To say Hallelujah and I counted. Every time.

But when I get to #7 the dream didn't happen and I kept doing

it over. And I promise you I got a loud

voice. I can shout Hallelujah really

loud. But I was back.

There at the same church where Stephanie's funeral was, and

that's where. It happened.

I'm up in the. Balcony 2 of the greatest

blessings I've ever had in my life.

Both been in the balcony. If you.

Can get in the house. Or.

Hear what's in the house. You're close.

Enough. If you have to stand in the

street and hear what the preacher says, you're close

enough. So I'm in the balcony and all of

a sudden Mike Williams is preaching.

At a men's conference. And all of a sudden I heard and

I felt. The wind.

Come from the left like. It was like.

And stopped right here I begin to count how to lose.

And I thought I. Can't mess up this.

Preacher's message, I'm going to mess up his message.

And I didn't, thankfully. But when I got to #7 I just wept

and I wept and I wept because God does care.

So fast. Forward to 1998, which is now 26

years ago, I'm preaching and I'm preaching about the battle of

the mind. And prior to that, let me tell

you, I just had a fellowship meeting of the young people.

And the preacher said tonight I'm going to preach on the.

Battle of the mind and what he did.

I just started weeping because I knew God cared.

Just the title broke my. Spirit.

So I'm. Preaching, I said.

I want him in my mind all the time.

I want him in my mind when I'm in my car.

When I'm on my job. When I'm on my bedroom and I

said I want him in my mind all the time.

And I said it with as much fervor as I could.

And when I did, time stood still and God said, let me take you

back to that darkest night of those four years.

And he said to me, look where you were then.

And he said, now I want you to look where you are now.

And I want to tell you the contrast of those two moments

over took me to such a degree that thankfulness flowed.

I began to speak in other tongues.

Hold the end of this. I climbed on the left seat of

that Pew at Light St. in our old building.

I said, Lord, if I could come up there right now, I'd come up

there and give you a big hug. That's exactly what I.

Said. And here's the thing you think.

Sometimes you don't even have a God that cares, but he's mapping

your journey and your destination is heaven and your

destination is restoration. You got some galbanum in your

life that don't smell so hot. We've all got some galbanum.

That's our very make up is we need a savior.

I can't hear Psalms 51 without gratitude.

I can't hear 2nd Corinthians 12 and seven that my grace is

sufficient for thee. I can't hear that verse without

being grateful about a God that cared about me.

I love the line to the song they sing that chains break at the

weight of your glory. It's a true story.

It was in the Spanish American War and they made, I don't know

if it's a psychological experiment or they or what they

were trying to do, but. They made a.

Prison out of paper mache look like stone.

With the dirt floor, the prisoner came in.

Now I had another prisoner, the one that had been there, he

said. I'm going to dig my way out of

here, he said. There's no use.

I've tried, somehow he got to keep a spoon and he start.

Digging and his hand slipped and it hit the wall.

To his amazement, it was only. Paper mache wasn't even real.

I'm going to tell you if you're bound.

It's because God's watching. If you're bound, it's because

God's wanting to see how much you want to be free, because the

enemy can only put imaginary chains on you.

And when God told me, just praise me.

Look, there was a great battle in the Old Testament, and when

they praise the Lord, God set ambushments.

I'm really quitting, David said. We never consulted the Ark of

the. Lord at all in the time of the

reign of. King Saul.

But there was one time that Saul came close and he was there with

the high priest, and they were getting.

Ready to add the Urim? And the thumb and they're

getting ready to inquire about God.

But then he heard the. Noise of the Philistines.

In battle. And he said stop, I got to go to

this fight. And when he got there it should

have been a life changing lesson.

The Philistines were consuming each other.

You're not needed at that battle as much as you're needed at this

halter. You're not needed at that

problem at home as much as you're needed here.

Never, never, never stay home to fight the devil.

Never stay home to fight the devil.

This altar's open tonight. There might be somebody here

this bound. There might be somebody here in

a trial, just like I was. I won't tell you.

God's going to bring you through it.

I don't deserve it and you choose me anyway.

Oh how amazing. Oh, how?

Amazing. Come on, Somebody needs a savior

tonight. Somebody needs a savior tonight.

I don't deserve it. I don't deserve.

It Somebody needs a healing tonight.

Somebody needs restored. Somebody.

Needs renew. Amazing.

Oh how amazing you see the side of me that no one.

Else can see. Come on, somebody go ahead and

confess it tonight. Go ahead and confess your

weakness tonight. He already knows.

I cannot hide from your presence, you know.