Matthew chapter 4 verse 17. If I had this message since the
beginning of the year and I've been waiting on the Lord to
allow me to release this, if you have ears to hear, to change
your life. If it doesn't, then you know
you're not going to stay with the Lord anyway.
So you know, that's kind of how this is going to go.
Thinking about that sermon we had back in the day called Let
It RIP. You know, that wasn't my sermon,
but it was that little analogy. And some things I need to say
today are going to be pretty straightforward because there's
a lot going on in the earth today, a lot going on in the
realm of the spirit today that many people are getting caught
up in, and they're not winning the battle.
And the reality is, is that they're falling to opinions and
not even truth. And so when you start living
your life based upon opinion about what somebody thinks, you
know, then the reality is you're going to get swayed pretty
quickly because, you know, there's many ways to do
something. OK, There are many ways to put
this shoe on. All right?
One way is to untie it, loosen it, put it down and put your
foot in it. That's one way.
Another way is to bring your foot up like this, like my wife
does, and put it on this way. That kind of hurts my hip
flexors right now. And you can tie it from this
position or you can tie it from down here.
In both of those example examples, I've put my shoe on,
or you can do it like I do it, which is there.
Now, you may hate my way, you may adamantly disagree with my
way, but my way is not wrong. It's my way because there's
nothing written in Scripture that says I have to put my shoe
on a very specific way. And yet we are finding
ourselves, especially here in the last of the last days, that
people are going to fall away, not because sin is the issue,
but opinion is becoming dominant.
We're in a society where everybody wants it.
How do I know this? Because the Bible says that
there's going to be itching ears.
People want to hear what they want to hear, which means.
And our, you know, our devices are tailoring that to us.
As you know, you know, if you have a smartphone, it's
listening to you. And if you talk about certain
things and all of a sudden it shows up on your social media
stuff, you're like, wow, look, there's an ad for this.
We were just talking about that. Well, you understand, you're
going to hear that concerning scriptures, people that are out
there saying stuff that's not even scriptural.
But if you have an opinion about something without going into
scripture or you identify with something on a, on an opinion
base, then you know the enemy is going to find plenty of
opportunities for you to be supported.
And so you got to make sure that you abandon opinions and you
say, what does the word say? And when we look at Matthew
chapter 4, verse 17, it says from this time Jesus began to
preach and say very important word repent, say repent.
Come on, say repent. Now to say repent.
Many people when you hear that you're already in a religious
thought process because for most people the word repent is the
dominant thinking, is that I need to not sin so that I can
accept Jesus, so that when I die I go to heaven.
And that's all they think about when they hear the word repent.
I need to be born again so when I die I go to heaven.
Although Jesus is talking about something that you would be
doing on a continual basis because repent is not a
religious word. It means change your thinking,
and we have to change our thinking about a lot of stuff,
not just where are we going to go when we die.
In fact, Jesus is not even asking that question.
Jesus is like, there's something totally different, more, more
important than knowing where you go when you leave your body.
In fact, Jesus is addressing death now.
He's addressing people who are dead.
They're spiritually dead, separated from God.
And so he's addressing, listen, if you want the Kingdom, if you
want to, to get back in your original position, then you're
going to have to change your thinking.
Say change my thinking. It's amazing how many Saints
want to change God's thinking. I mean, we're almost like
begging God to accept us our way or accept our situation our way,
or get us out of our situations our way.
Yet Jesus leads his public ministry with this word.
Change your thinking. Notice Jesus's first public
address was not you need to be born again.
Because even if a person's born again, if they do not change
their thinking. They will live a defeated life
in the planet. So Jesus did not come just to
save your spirit. He came to revitalize your whole
man, spirit, soul and body. Are you hearing me?
So from that time Jesus began to preach and say repent for the
Kingdom of heaven as a hand. Change your thinking now.
How many people does God wants their thinking changed?
Acts 1730 says it this way. Therefore, having overlooked the
times of what? Of what say I was ignorant?
I mean, let's just go ahead and admit it.
We were ignorant and being born again does it instantly make you
wise, Nor does it instantly make you have all knowledge and
understanding. Being born again gives you
access to wisdom, understanding and knowledge, but it requires
effort on your part to seek His Word and let His Word transform
your thinking. So He says.
Having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring
to men that how many all people everywhere should repent.
Repent. We have to change the way we
think now the good news is being born again allows our spirit man
to be alive to God where we can hear God's voice.
It gives interest to the Holy Spirit inside us, meaning we
become the temple of the Holy Ghost where the Holy Spirit who
is our teacher, right? He will reveal truth to us, He
will speak to our spirit so that our spirit can tell our soul or
our mind change that. And our spirit now has the
ability, if we yield, to make our mind change.
Our spirit man, if we yield, has the ability to reach within our
soul, within our mind and say that thought, do not take it
anymore. This thought hold fast to it.
Prior to being born again, we could not do this.
We were dead separated from God. We love to do things that were
contrary to his word. Paul had this conflict.
He said, Ben, I wanted to do good, but I found myself always
blowing it. No matter what I did, I found
myself not doing it. I was a wretched man in sin.
Who will save me? Who will deliver me from this
life of sin? But thanks be unto God that he's
more than a tribe in Christ. He's given me the necessary
tools that when I hear the Holy Ghost within me and He speaks to
me concerning truths from heaven, that now has the power
within me to gain access to my mind and break off thoughts that
hinder the power and purpose of God from manifesting in my life.
All right. And so everyone is to repent.
The reality is, is that all of us had prior to Christ, and even
in Christ a negative mindset. Many times we talk it this way.
We call it sin consciousness, cause sin is simply disobeying
God. Our consciousness of sin, we're
always rebelling, going against God.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
We are wanting to do it our way. We are independent of God.
We are rebelling from His word. In essence, we're always
thinking evil, even when it seems good because there's a way
that seems right to a man, but in the end lies death.
All right, Albert Barnes, according to this verse, Acts
1730. He says this, if God commands
all people to repent, we may observe one that is their duty
to do it. There is no higher obligation
than to obey the command of God #2 it can be done.
God will not command an impossibility #3 it is binding
on all. It is binding on all that all
need to what? What does that word mean?
So when I say repent, you say change your thinking.
When I say repent, you say, when I say repent, you say, That way.
We understand what we're saying here because we're not saying
repent, let's get saved. We're saying repent, change your
thinking because as a man, so, and if you don't change it, even
though your spirit man may be alive #4 it must be done or the
soul is lost. He said it will not, It will
not. It is not safe to neglect a
plain law of God. It will not be well to die
reflecting that we have all our lives despised His commands.
Hallelujah, you say, Can you despise the word of God and be
born again? Well, let's ask Adam.
Adam is not born again, He's born of God.
He's a man without sin. He's a man who's perfect in his
body, in his soul, and in his spirit.
He is created in the image of God, in the likeness of God.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? He has the nature of God.
He functions as God of this world, and he was given
dominion. Yet someone in another realm
rebels against the word of God and God casts him out of his
realm. He shows up in the garden and he
starts asking questions. He says, what has God said?
I want I want to know what you know about God.
In essence, how does God thinking of which he asked this
question? Oh, you can't eat from any tree,
Eve says. You can eat from any tree of the
garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you
shall not eat. For the day you eat, you'll die.
Then he says this. You're not going to die 'cause
God knows. Now he starts talking about God
as if and not acknowledging God even being somewhere in essence.
He's, you know, in this thought process, since you don't see God
and God's not here, let's talk about him.
Let me give you a thought of God.
Let me tell you what I know about him.
You know, why didn't Adam say, you know what, let's just to ask
the Father that. Let me hold on a second.
What are you saying? You're saying that if I eat the
fruit, I'm not going to die and I'll be like him knowing good
and evil. You know what, Let me get him in
the room right now because you know, he comes in the cooler
today and let's have a conversation with him and you
here. But did he do that because the
minute Adam chose to listen to another voice without the one
who spoke it originally be there to verify this conversation, he
lost the world. He lost the world.
So can we be born again today and not obey the commands of
God? Yes, we can, although it's our
duty because He says we all should repent.
We all need to change our thinking.
The greatest thing you can do is decide that you don't know
everything that God does and you're going to seek Him and
change the way you think. And you'll never arrive to all
knowledge, but you'll always be in discovery.
Amen. And there's nothing God cannot
bring to light, all right? Look at John chapter 3, verse
20. John chapter 3 verse 20 says for
everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the
light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Now I'm going to use a little analogy here because I think
it's kind of, and I'm using negatives in two different ways
here. OK, so let's talk about
negatives in photography because when you take a photo, in
essence, you expose this film to the light that's in darkness.
You expose it for milliseconds to light, and that light burns
an image on the film. Now, when it burns that image,
it is called a negative. And when it goes underneath a
process, it becomes a positive. I remember back in the day, now
you know, I'm older and there were you had to send your film
off to be developed. None of this clicking on the
phone, right? I mean, now I love today because
today tells me I can get in the positive quicker.
In fact, I can live in positive instead of having this process
from negative to positive. And So what happens is a
negative. Everything in the positive realm
that is light in the negative is dark.
And what is dark is light. It's the reverse.
And the thing about a negative, you must hold it up a lot of to
the light in order to even see the image.
So when you are born again, God hit you with the light of His
word and impressed in essence an image of you that now He wants
to process to create a positive. Because when you bring up the
negative to the light, you can see the image, but you miss
details because the details show up after the process and it
turns into a positive where all the real colors can manifest.
Are you hearing me? So when you're born again, God
exposes you with His light. Hallelujah.
He exposes you with His light and He puts an image about you.
That image is called in Christ. Now, the darkest area of you at
this point after you're born again is your mind, and God
needs to expose it so that it can turn into light, so that you
can begin to walk out that which you are an image of already.
But many of us don't want to go through the process.
We got our little negative that, you know, as long as we hold in
the light, we see it. But the minute you're away from
the light, we don't know who you are.
We don't know who you are. I got to quit looking at that
light up there. I'm seeing dots now as long as
again, This is why the church, the church, the reason why
sometimes people have a hard time born again believers have a
hard time coming to church is because it starts to expose this
image and then says, hey, I want to process this.
I want to process this so that all can see the beautiful colors
that you are in me. Are you hearing me?
But there's another definition of negative, and that is marked.
Here's a Merriam Webster dictionary.
Negative means marked by features of hostility,
withdrawal, or pessimism that hinders or opposes constructive
treatment or development. All of us, because we have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, have sin
consciousness or a negative mindset, meaning we filter
things through a negative mind because we have been there, we
have sin has ran its course in our lives.
We have been disappointed. All kinds of things have taken
place in our lives so that when God begins to try to speak
constructively to you for your development, we get resistant.
Because we are filtering everything he's saying through
this negative mind. How do I know?
Because the minute something start, oh, am I in trouble?
Felt like I'm in the principal's office.
Oh, man, that service today, man, you know, that was hard.
Was it hard? I mean, why do you why do you
sound so negative? They just want this.
They just want that he wants this.
I got to do that. I, I have the privilege of being
developed. I, I all have to do is shift and
not see what God's saying as a negative, but see it as a
positive. It's my attitude in my mind that
if I'll change it, that will give full exposure to this image
God has made me, but I'll never get there.
As long as when something comes and exposes I see I meet it with
hostility instead of brace it with positivity, then my growth
and development will be hindered.
It said we're marked by features of hostility, withdrawn or
pessimism. This word pessimism is really
interesting. By definition, it means an
inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions or
possibilities to accept the worst possible outcome.
You know how many people come to church with a pessimistic mind?
You know, we're always thinking of the negative side.
Well, if I do that, that's this. And you know, oh, I can't be.
I hope they don't preach on that.
Hope this doesn't happen instead of how's the Lord going to speak
to me today? What kind of training will I get
today? What's he going to knock off me
today so that I'm look more like him?
I mean, not coming to service thinking, oh, I hope they don't
say anything that would hurt my feelings to.
I hope the Lord shows me something that I need to get rid
of and I'm going to be quick to do it because you know what?
I had a terrible mind and a spirit before I met him.
And then I met him and I know my mom was still jacked up.
And I'm like, Lord, get this mind together.
Help me out, renew in me, renew my mind, transform my thinking,
Allow me to see this image and do something now.
If you have that attitude, sermons will be something you'll
embrace. Moves of the Spirit or something
you embrace. Oh man, they're speaking in
tongues again. Oh, are these people even going
to? What are you doing?
What's your mind doing? Why are you so hostile?
How long are they going to sing? Why are you hostile?
Adverse reaction to something the Bible says.
Holy hands lifted high. We're to praise him.
Why would we be hostile to that when the when the worship leader
says let's lift your hands before the Lord?
Why is there pessimism? I mean, I understand it's really
difficult to do this. I know it's so much effort.
That's a lot of work, right? A lot of work there.
But what happens? How do you know your negative
mindset? Because you're resistant.
Anytime someone gives a command, when someone gives a command of
the Lord, you're resistant. You're adverse.
Well, God didn't tell me. Did we just read Scripture then?
God told you another definition of pessimism.
Is this the doctrine that reality is essentially evil?
It's the doctrine that evil overbalances happiness in life.
No matter how much good comes, you always can find something
wrong. I remember talking to someone
that used to be here, they were like, I just want to win.
And I went through the testimony their whole life of how God had
done so many amazing things. And I'm like, but because
they're broken in their mind and they refuse to develop a
positive mindset anytime the word comes the only way it would
be positive if you give them accolades and they're looking
for accolades instead of just having peace with the Lord.
I've been doing ministry for 30 something years.
I'm not a novice at this. I've been 21 years in this one
location and been around people for years and know a lot about
people, know about what they've gone through.
I know about their minds, their thinking, their behaviors, what
they struggle with, what they cannot seem to overcome, and
then see others thrive. Why?
Because they just accept God's Word as training and they
embrace it and love it and they believe more that God's way is
better than anything they're thinking.
Hallelujah, Proverbs 623 says this, For the commandment is a
lamp, and the teaching is light, and reproofs for discipline are
the way of life. So again the commandment is a
lamp. Again, there's darkness in our
thinking, so God has to expose it.
Remember, He says you are to work out your salvation with
fear and trembling, meaning it's your assignment after you're
born again and your spirit is made alive and God places the
Holy Ghost on the inside of you that you work out your salvation
with fear and trembling. You renew your mind.
That's your responsibility and the reason why you are to renew
your mind. The reason why God listen, the
reason why God did this is because he needs to know he is
not making robots. These are not you are not a
robot. And when your spirit man's dead,
you're at a great disadvantage that you cannot be before God,
for He is spirit. But when he causes what only he
could do through the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus
and the blood that's applied to your account because you met God
at his word and believe that Jesus came, died on the
crossroads from the grave. His blood is on the mercy seat.
You accept his blood as the forgiveness of your sin and
wrongdoing. Then it makes you a new creature
in Christ. Then he says, now you transform
your thinking. I'm now empowered you and
there's a my spirit is in you that as you submit yourself to
study, then you will remove renew your mind and you will
begin to create the image that you are on the inside that I've
made you. You will release because God
will not override your will. He wants you to love him because
you choose to love him. And choosing to love him is not
only at salvation. It's not only at salvation
because Adam made a choice being made in the likeness of God to
rebel from him and die spiritually.
So we have to allow our minds to be renewed.
It's our responsibility to be transformed by the renewing of
our minds and God has empowered us.
This is why we would be without excuse because the Lord's like I
put, I made your spirit alive to me.
I gave you the Holy Spirit who is the great teacher.
He is, you understand, he's recording every class.
Can I just say it that way? God is recording every class.
He every conversation he's having with you.
He's recording how he taught you and he's recording your
response. We're all without excuse because
what we think on is up to us. Paul said think on these things,
which implies you cannot and is God.
Listen, if God was in control, he would only make you listen to
his word. But you're in control of what
you listen to. You're in control of what you
take heed to. My wife says she's got a some
message on that. I'm not touching it today, but
you know what? You need to take heed of what
you hear, because God's not giving you thoughts to to kill
someone, to steal from someone, to covet from someone, to walk
in unforgiveness with someone. He's not giving you those
thoughts. You have to decide.
And when. The commandment is a lamp and
the teaching is the light. Then guess what?
It's going to bring a reproof because God already Jesus lets
us know right out the gate. You're going to need to change
your thinking. Don't think more highly of
yourself than you, which means the the place of humility you
have to maintain is in your soul realm.
OK, Lord, how should I think about this situation?
How should I go about with this, you know, in in this, you know,
situation. Psalms 100 nineteen 9/11 says
this way. How can a young man keep his way
pure by keeping it according to your word, verse 11 your word I
have treasured in my heart that I might may not what sin against
you. So it's the Word of God that
will help us, that we keep our mindset on it and then we allow
our mind to be renewed to that word, not to our feelings, not
to what just happened, not to how I feel.
And again, that word is going to come as a reproof because your
thinking is off. All of our thinking is off and
needs to be corrected, needs to be changed.
But if every time God comes and begins to talk to you about that
way of thinking and you become resistant, ah, well, that's a
negative mindset, which means you're going to hinder.
And you don't realize he did that because he's trying to
produce a positive. It's actually great news that he
pointed this out, that the reality is we should be
rejoicing that he just brought a reproof.
Instead of crying, instead of being resistant, we should be
like, give me more now. It was a statement of faith when
I was in the Army, you know, But the reality is it made me
better. They would say, you know, make
it hurt, drill Sergeant, make it hurt.
Well, you know, naturally you don't want it to hurt.
But if it does, then ultimately you're better.
Yeah, you're better. I mean, I went in doing only so
many push ups. The first PT test I had, I think
I might have did 55 to 60, little surprise, 80s a Max.
So it wasn't so far off, but it took me two minutes you just to
get to that number and you know, I was going to muscle failure.
And there's nothing more ugly than a push up going to muscle
failure because your whole body starts shaking kind of crazy
looking. You're like, bro, he can't even
push himself up. I mean, you're, you're gone.
Your arms are shaking, your legs and start shaking.
I mean, you just look crazy. But yet because they kept it
instead of seeing the physical exercise as Oh my God, I got to
work out to man, if I was in war, I sure want to be able to
run, jump, leap, be strong and overcome.
This is good for me. I mean, they're only thinking
about my best interest. They're not concerned about how
it feels to my body. They were concerned about what
it will produce out of my body. So that by the time my I was,
you know, finished basic training, I could do the Max of
82 push ups in less than 60 seconds and I would just get up
and rest the last minute because they had conditioned me to do
something that I could not do before and it was positive.
But most of the time, you know, again, there are penny plenty of
people right here in the sanctuary right now that if I
say you need to go to the gym, that's negative to you.
That's not negative, that's a positive.
You need to embrace it. Now, you shouldn't look at one
body type and think that's in shape.
In fact, we were down in South Florida and someone had
mentioned, you know, well, you know, I want to be in shape like
Pastor Earl. And you know what, on the
outside I am in shape, but yet I'm working on the inside of
something that's not as much in shape because my outside was
deceiving me. I had a fast metabolism.
I could eat whatever I want to. It wouldn't gain Jack.
But in around 42, I think it was in prayer of the Lord said, son,
you better change the way you eat.
And I'm like Lord, I'm not overweight.
I work out. He says, son, you don't know
what your inside, what's happening to your insides.
Then about five years later, I went to a nutritionist who
pulled blood from me. And come to find out, I was in
the beginning stages of heart disease because my vascular
system was gunked up with all of the hamburgers I ate in my 20s
and other food that all youth pastors eat and destroy the
inside, probably the insides. I can't say that because, you
know, everybody's body makeups different.
My wife, now, she ate, you know, basically what I ate.
But her vascular system is amazing.
I mean, when we go out, my heart rate, boom, it goes up.
Why 'cause my veins have constriction.
She not at all. We can go to the gym together, I
can do a set on the bench and my heart rate to jump up to 13135
pretty quick. Hers, it's less than 100, and
you're like, well, you're doing more weight.
I mean, she's doing the weight for her that would cause
something. But her vascular system's so
much better. I mean, she has to do jumping
jacks in between sets to get her heart rate up.
Me, I just have to look at it. Yeah.
So I have to do something for my inside to change that because my
outside was telling me I was OK, but my insides were getting
messed up. So you understand, I don't see
it as a negative to eat a salad. I don't see a negative to eat
broccoli. I don't see negative to eat
spinach. I don't see a negative to say
I'm not doing that dessert. I see that as a positive because
I want to have long life. And you know what?
God cannot satisfy me with long life if I resist the protocol of
the natural body and just eat Twinkies the rest of my life.
In the words of Doctor Miles Monroe, you cannot be smoking
cancerettes, puffing on them, and calling your lungs clean.
Well, some foods are doing stuff when you know what it is, and I
know what that is with me. So again, the doctor had to
reprove me. He reproved me.
He said you're going to have to change this here.
Wait, he basically said, Pastor Earl, because you heard God
earlier, you're already on the, the, the road to recovery, that
this is what else you need to do.
And I'm you're going to need to take these as well.
And I'll be honest with you, you know, I got a little skeptical
because I was dropping a lot of money monthly on supplements.
And I'm like, really, is this our food really lacking this
much nutrition that I got to take all this stuff, man.
I mean, wow, at least it's not pharmaceuticals.
I mean, it's just natural vitamins, just different types.
And I came off for a little bit, had a blood draw and my stuff
went in another direction. I'm like, wow, that's the real
deal. Let me go get my omegas back
out, right? Let me go jump on some homo homo
stay scene. Let me get into some other DHEA
and all kind of other stuff that I'm taking, you know, so I'm
having to make some adjustments. Well, because I want to have
long life and I'm thankful that the Lord said, son, you need to
do something different. I'm glad he arrested me at 42
and say, son, if you don't change the way you eat, you're
going to have a problem. And I'm thankful that the Lord
loved me enough. Let me just do what I wanted to
do, because His Word says with long life, He'll satisfy me.
Second Timothy 316 and 17 says that this way.
All scriptures. How many scriptures, all
scripture is inspired by God for and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness so
that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every
good work. Again, because in the last of
the last days, they'll, they'll be a falling away that will take
place and there will be seducing spirits and doctrines of demons
and people will have itching ears to hear what they want to
hear. And again, we're living in the
last of the last days right now. So again, somebody's going to be
subject to this. You have to be intentional that
it's not you. You, you cannot accept that just
'cause you come to a church, you are growing.
You can go to the gym and push weight and never grow.
You can consistently go to a gym and push weight that never puts
you in any type of muscular fatigue that a minute starts to
hurt. You're oh, I'm done.
OK, all right, I'm getting oh, that hurts a little bit.
That seems a little heavy. I'm going to go down and you're
like, all right, great. You go to the next one.
You know, like I worked out. I did 30 minutes today.
Yet your muscles never got to a place to grow.
You understand this is working your muscle, this works your
muscle. And the number one cause of why
older people go to assisted living is not because they can't
walk, it's because they do not work this out, this muscle here
because they get to a place that they can't even do a body weight
squat because when they go to sit down to #2 they can't get
up, yet they can walk. Walking does not build quads.
Say Amen. Anyway.
So again, if you're a little bit older, you need to, to, to, if
you want to be self-sufficient till you go and not be put
somewhere where everybody's having to help you up, then you
need to start a little process and you start by doing this.
There's a particular minister whose father is like 8090 years
old. He does this to work on his
balance so that as he gets older, he can maintain it,
right? You have to work on these
things. You have to keep yourself
trained. These are not negatives.
They're actually positives if you see them.
Oh man, I got to do that. Do you want to have success?
I mean, that's all that God wants us to do is have success.
So I'm doing this and though it may hurt, but eventually you're
getting down and you're doing this.
Before you couldn't do it at all, but now you are.
And you know what? Praise God I can be longer in my
sufficiency because I was willing to go through a little
pain and discomfort that is not negative but extremely positive
for my life. Tranisha stand up.
Tranisha decided I'm I'm running and she started running 5 KS.
Now I'm just going to be honest with you.
She doesn't have a runner's physique and you've lost quite a
bit of inches at this point, have you not?
And how many five KS have you done now?
Three or two? Two.
Now notice she didn't wait till she looked like somebody that's
been running their whole life. You understand, we make excuses
to not because that's negative. Well, you know, I just start and
know that every step's doing something now.
Did you run walk the first one or run the whole thing?
OK, the second one, run the whole thing or run, walk, run,
walk further east. Time for the run.
What are we doing? We're we're having games.
Because again, she understands I'm not going to run a marathon
today. But you know what I am doing?
I'm run, walking a 5K and she's she just told me she's doing
kickboxing now. Yeah.
So if I'm around here, don't come up.
She'll kick you. I'm forewarning.
She may throw a Roundhouse. You can be seated now.
Trenisha, do do you mind if I ask you how old you are?
56. I mean, the point is, is you're
not too old. There's not a, there's not a lid
on you. There's not a lid if you just
will commit in your your spirits alive.
If you just commit in your soul and your thinking and then tell
your body, no, you're going to do this.
That's right. Now I'm sure her body told her
multiple times, you're not doing this anymore.
And she's like, Oh yeah, we are, because her mind is stronger
than her body, and she can make her body submit to her mind
because she's listening to her spirit.
And everyone in this room can do it.
You know what? That's extremely positive.
Now I'm going to read some things from Rick Renner.
OK, I'm going to read from Rick Renner.
Sparkling Gem Book concerning Second Timothy chapter 3 because
he's a Greek scholar and I want you'd, I'm going to have him
break it down for you so that you know that a Greek scholar is
telling you this verse Paul wrote in the Bible profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and
righteousness. He said, let's look at each part
of this verse so we get a full benefit of what Paul is telling
us. First, he stated that the Bible
is profitable for doctrine. This particular Greek word, I'm
not going to read all the Greek words.
I'm just going to say this Greek word of this word includes the
idea of something that is need for or oblig.
You're obligated like a debt that is owed.
It can be translated as a word indebted.
So it refers to someone, something that is mandatory,
essential and an absolute requirement.
So he says using this word, Paul is telling us that God's word is
not optional in our lives. It is mandatory, essential and
absolute requirement for us. So reading it daily is a
positive. I got to read the Word again.
They want me to do the Bible reading plan.
We're trying to get an image to come out and God sees it that
way, said Paul. Connected this word profitable
to the word doctrine, which is a different Greek word, and this
doctrine used in the New Testament denotes things that
are that we affirm and believe to be true.
Some Christians sneer at the mention of doctrine, thinking it
is to be stuffy or unimportant, but the kind of But that kind of
attitude reveals their ignorance regarding the importance of
doctrine. Doctrine is the foundation of
what we believe it. It impacts what we think.
It affects our world view. It determines what we believe is
right and wrong. It guides us in life, determines
our convictions and standards, and effects all of our actions
and activities in life. In short, we are to we are the
product of our doctrine. Therefore, it is mandatory,
essential. We are under obligation and an
absolute requirement that our lives be based and and built on
the Bible, that we must see ourselves as indebted to it.
So it is also very important to point out the word profitable.
The Greek word here means is connect in connection with law.
Just as laws must be obeyed, we are obligated to live by them.
We as believers must live our lives with the Bible as our
guidebook and our law for life, obeying it absolutely to the
best of our ability. You understand in today's
society, we're so adverse to the word law because again, we've
wrongly defined what law means from Scripture.
The law itself is not bad. What's bad is when you try to
fulfill the law in it of yourself or according to your
flesh, you cannot do it yourself.
That's the law revealed our inability, although the law
itself is holy and Jesus fulfilled the law.
So if Jesus kept the law, it couldn't be bad, but He's the
only one who could because he was God in the flesh.
And what we now fulfill is the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus. By faith we believe God that He
fulfilled all the requirements so that we could be born of God.
But the reason why this term is used often, even in the New
Testament when you break it down, is because the Bible's
about a king, his Kingdom and his royal offspring anyway.
And the Kingdom has laws and laws are not negative, they're
positive. So if we approach, if we take
this approach, the power of God's word will be released in
our lives, making us to profit in every realm of existence.
Next, Paul wrote in the word of the word of God produces reproof
in our lives. This word, reproof is a Greek
word that's nowhere else in the New Testament.
The Old Testament uses a different word and it's used as
conviction. So when God's word shines into
our lives, it's glorious and brilliant.
Light is so strong that exposes every dark area that remains in
our souls and minds. As the light of the Word shines
on our darkness and works in our hearts and minds, we are
reproved, convicted, and censored by the Holy Spirit.
As a result, we don't remain in darkness.
That's positive. We are changed as our minds are
renewed to think correctly what a benefit the word of God is to
us. Paul then writes on that the
word of God brings correction into our lives.
Reproof and correction are not the same word.
There is a difference because when you get to correction it,
it means this. It means it.
It means it's a triple Greek word or compound word that
ultimately means it means this. That the apostles declaring
wherever, whenever, wherever and at any moment or anytime a
person makes it the decision to build his life on the Word of
God, to allow its light to shine into the deepest parts of His
being, to expose the dark areas that need to be changed.
The Word will release the power required for the necessary
change. God's Word will lift that person
even if they have been knocked flat on his back in life, and
will set him back up on his feet again.
This correction that comes from God's Word will cause him once
again to stand erect and upright, regardless of how long
he has been down and out. Now that's important because
some of your thinking is so bad and you thought that way for so
long, but he's saying it doesn't matter how long you thought this
way. God can correct it.
God will release so much power
in that person's life that he will put him on level ground.
So once you're put, that person is back on his feet.
The Word of God will then become His instruction and
righteousness. This Greek word is means to
train a child. It simply means to educate a
child or to give a child everything necessary to prepare
him for life. Hence this word simply refers to
a child training or the process of getting a child ready for
life so afterwards he can be sent out fully equipped in
success and successfully live as he was taught and trained to do.
It was believed by the ancients that such child training was
essential for success in life. The word righteousness here in
the Greek means right living or just right, right living or just
living. It is means to live by a
righteous standard that results in upright living.
When you use this in connection with the word instruction, it
tells us when God's Word is taken into our heart and applied
to our lives, it fully equips us to successfully live by a higher
standard that leads to upright, godly, clean living.
So when you put all these words together, it could be
interpreted this way. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is mandatory, essential, absolute
requirement for those things we affirm and believe to be true.
It brings reproof, conviction, and sensors into our lives.
It it can take anyone, including those who have been not flat on
their backs in life, and it can set them back up on their feet
again, regardless of how long they've been down and out.
The Word of God will make them once again stand direct and
upright. It will put them back on level
ground fully equipped them to to successfully live life at a
higher standard that leads to upright godly clean living.
Now I don't know about you, but that's extremely positive.
So I'm like, and again, he says it will reprove, correct and
instruct. 2/3 of that is cleaning up how you're thinking.
Yet we are in the time when Saints only want to be
instructed and celebrated. Give me instruction that
celebrates me. Yeah, the Lord's like, I'm just
trying to help clean up your brain so I can release who you
really are to the world. Because as long as you think
like this, even though you're born of me, you won't look like
me because you're not allowing the mind of Christ to function
through your soul. And that takes effort on our
part. And that is the responsibility
of the fivefold ministry to equip the Saints.
My responsibility is not to celebrate you, although I will
celebrate you every time you demonstrate equipping things.
And I am being very positive to your life when I say you need to
not do that. Well, Pastor wants to see you.
Oh no, what did I do? Why are you thinking negative?
Because even if we are
correcting you, you should be praised, God, for that.
Thank you Lord. Thank you, Lord.
I mean, all of us have thought wrong.
So not one person in this room is ever going to live without
reproof. Or if you're going to a church
that preaches the word of truth to equip you, your feelings are
going to be hurt multiple times because God's going to expose
now you got to quit thinking like that.
God's going to say, don't respond to them like that.
Don't talk like that to them. Don't hold that thought about
me. And when you have a positive
mindset, when you change it, then you embrace it.
But if you have a negative, you will be offended and you will
not stay with the Lord. You will.
You will define God yourself. Second Timothy 4/2 says it this
way. Preach the Word.
Be ready in season and out of season.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.
Once again, we have lost the reality of the atmosphere of the
Church He's building. In fact, all you have to do is a
study. This is why I love the Apostolic
gift, because the Apostolic gift definitely has this ability to
maintain big picture. It's amazing if you look at each
dispensation before we leave 1 dispensation and move into
another, there is a lot of correcting and reproving
happening by the Spirit of God. In fact, before we go into the
captivity of Babylon, all the false prophets are saying it's
going to be good with us. Y'all are good.
God's good with you. God's so good with you.
Oh, you're good, you're great. Oh, you're amazing.
Oh, let's celebrate you, you're so great.
And Jeremiah's like, no, no, you're not.
No, no. What's going to happen is, is
that you are going to be made captives because every time a
true prophet came and tried to bring correction and reproof to
you, you killed them, you threw them in prison and you kept
going against God. And he was patient and
long-suffering. But at this time he says, I'm
taking my hands off. Babylon will conquer Jerusalem,
and between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant, we have what
they call 400 years of silence. Because if you're not going to
change, why is God going to talk?
Because his words are life. Lord, speak to me.
Well, probably 2/3 of that conversation is going to have
some kind of adjustment. Now at the end of the day, that
doesn't mean he's not going to say, now you can do this.
You're awesome because you've been made in my image.
He'll always finish out the conversation about the image of
who you are. But that doesn't mean he won't
touch those places in darkness. And you have to be comfortable
with your heavenly Father to be able to have the many people
don't have a relationship with their with their fathers or with
their parents because they don't want to be corrected.
But the reality is where to train.
And this is not opinion. This is the right standard of
living. Say Amen.
Anyway, for all those who already know this positive.
You should be shouting and helping the rest who's trying to
get their minds adjusted. Amen.
Because that becomes contagious. Like man, these people are like
excited. I need to get excited about this
as well, right? I mean, if you go work out with
Pastor Mike in the gym, it's going to be pretty exciting.
Now, your body's not going to say that.
Your body's going to say like this is crazy.
You've lost. You are another Nah.
But if you stay with the process, you'll be different.
Proverbs 1510 says his grievous punishment is for him who
forsakes the way he who hates reproof will die.
That's serious. So I'm like, thank God, he
reproves me 'cause he just don't want me to die.
I mean, you should come to service or anytime you're
underneath the word, even in your own purse.
You say, Lord, show me anything that I need to get rid of.
Come work, work me out in my mind.
I mean, you want to embrace that.
You want to see it as a positive.
You don't want to resist and go, oh, don't talk to me about that.
No, now you don't. No, don't resist, don't walk
away. Don't forsake, because when God
begins to say, hey, make an adjustment here, he's, he's only
telling you something you can do.
How many of us can get up at 4:00 AM in the morning?
Every one of us. We can do it.
That doesn't mean we choose, but we can.
We can. Hallelujah.
I like what one minister said. A friend of mine in Nebraska, he
said this. He said the Lord spoke to him.
He said, he said, Pastor Tony, if you do not schedule pain,
pain will schedule you. Meaning if you do not subject
yourself to some training that's going to get you, they're going
to cause your muscles to be sore, then pain's going to
manifest in your body and you're going to have a scheduled
appointment with your doctor. So you choose.
You either schedule it or it schedules you.
Hallelujah. So again, it's just a change of
thinking. Amen.
And we can do it. We must get rid of our negative
mindset. Look at Psalms 5016 to 22.
Because again, grievous punishment we saw in Proverbs is
for him who forsakes the way. He who hates reproof will die.
Now here's the thing about God's reproof.
God is reproving, but just just speak.
And when he's reproving and people are resistant, sometimes
they'll get stuck in deception and think God is not really
talking to them about things they need to change, He said.
But to the wicked God says, what right have you to recite my
statutes and take my covenant or pledge on your lips, seeing that
you hate instruction and correction and cast my words
behind you, discarding them. Now how can God know that
they're doing this? Well, it's because of their
action verse 18 when you see a thief, you associate with them
when and you take have taken part with the adulterers.
Now that doesn't mean sexual immorality alone.
It can be idolatry, meaning going after other gods.
So that was a form of adultery as well.
Verse 19, you give your mouth to evil and your tongue frames
deceit, but yet what's in the mouth?
He says you're taking my word. He goes on and says you sit and
speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's
son, these things you have done and look what God says.
I kept silent. Now he reproved, but you hated
it, and he's quiet. Because if you're not going to
do make the corrections, I'm not talking to you any more than
what I've already said. You need to correct.
Yet because they disregarded it, their life shows that they're
not yielding to this correction. And he gives them the list of
their behavior, the way they're interacting.
So he says these things that you've done, and I kept silent.
And because God didn't talk to him anymore about it, he says,
you thought I was once entirely like you, but now I will reprove
you and put that the charge in order before your eyes.
Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in
pieces and there be none to deliver.
Let me read this out of the Passion translation from verse
19 down. It says the sins of your mouth
multiply evil. You have a lifestyle of lies
devoted to deceit. You speak against others, even
slandering those of your own household.
Now again, this is the church body.
This is a household. You can't be slandering your own
brother. He goes on and says this.
All this you have done and I kept silent.
So you thought that I was like you sanctioning evil.
But now I will bring you to my courtroom and spell out clearly
my charges before you. This is your last chance, my
final warning. Your time is up.
Turn away from all this evil or the next time you hear from me
will be when I'm coming to pass sentence upon you.
I will snatch you away and no one will be there to help you
escape my judgment. Now I can move this over to a
New Testament scripture that talks about gently reproving
people so that they might repent if the Lord would give them the
ability to. Because you even as a new
covenant believer, if you keep resisting the reproof and
correction of God, then God himself stops talking except for
judgment. And judgment just simply means
you'll sleep early, you're going to go to sleep early.
Proverbs 1531, couple more verses and we're done.
Let's be positive. Let's embrace correction.
Let's quit seeing that when something comes through because
again, I mean you, you just have to go to another church if all
you want is never hearing things that you need to change.
That's not a person equipping Saints have to bring correction
and it's not personal. It's not like I'm personally
coming and saying now, Pastor Vanessa, you need I'm not.
But God's general word will come and expose thing and we're like,
man, I got to change that. And you're like, you're talking
right to me. You know how many people like
man you're you know, when people were first born again, they were
like excited that God was talking to them about things
they need to change. Where did we get so holy and
self-righteous that we no longer wanted to be corrected?
Proverbs 15 and correction is not opinions.
I don't like the way you put your shoe on correction.
Is righteousness sin? OK, Proverbs 1531 to 32.
He who here who he whose ear listens to the life giving
reproof, will dwell among the wise.
He who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who
listens to reproof require acquires understanding.
So I'm like, thank you, Lord, change my thinking.
How do you want me to handle this?
What do you want me to say here? What do you want me to do here?
How do you want me to respond here?
How do you want me to do something?
Because at the end of the day, can I say this?
Because I like to say that. And he said, you can't say that.
OK, then I won't say that. Isaiah 55 last passage of
Scripture says this verse 3 incline your ear and come to me.
Listen that you may what So why are we listening that we may
live. Why are we listening that we may
you know what this service, this sermon I'm preaching right now.
If you really understood the Holy Ghost impact, you would be
jumping up and running. This is we have become so
conditioned that unless it's you know, we sing joy.
That's when we run. I'm amazed at how we have dumbed
down the body of Christ. I mean they are so conditioned
to do responses based upon specific little buzz things
instead of just recognizing when God.
Man, that's good news. Wow this is great.
I should rejoice. I should jump up and say
Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, because you understand even when
corrections come in, it's a time to shout for joy.
Now I understand there are times you're taking it in.
I get that, I understand that. But once you recognize, ma'am,
this is helping me, then you, you have the ability to move it
over into joy yourself. And you don't have to wait for
somebody. The Holy Ghost did not just
moving when we sing, you know, look what the Lord has done.
He healed my body. Oh, OK, now we get to run.
There's the song. Now we can do this.
Or when someone starts laughing, now we can all laugh.
Come on, let's get a personal response.
Let's get a personal response. I mean, are we connected?
Are we just being lectured to? But if you come and say, Lord,
teach me something today, Lord, I want to be in your presence.
And I know if I'm in your presence, you're going to expose
something because I'm not a perfect person.
And Lord, whatever you need me to deal with today, I'm going to
deal with it. I'm going to deal with.
Because God's not going to give you something you can't handle
nor you can't overcome, but He's going to keep strengthening you
along the way. And yeah, sometimes it's just
going to be a celebration. I get it.
But the celebrations are not better services than a full
blown reproof service. Those are like, yes, bring it.
He's growing me, man. I'm getting rid of this stuff.
Whoa, it's leg day on Sunday for those who go to gym.
You understand that joke all right, Incline your ear and come
to me. Listen that you may live, and I
will make an everlasting covenant with you according to
the faithful mercy shown to David.
Jump down to verse 6. He says, seek the Lord while you
may be found. Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his
thoughts and let him what? This is the whole point.
We're returning to original intent when God blew the
exposure of the light of Jesus Christ into our hearts.
He's like, this is who you were created to do, to be in the 1st
place, to have dominion, to rule and reign, to have the nature of
God and the thoughts of God. So let's return to the Lord and
he'll have compassion on him and to, to and to our God.
He will abundantly pardon for my are not your, nor my your,
declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. And so I'm like, Lord, give me
your thoughts, teach me your thoughts, change my thinking,
reprove me, correct me, and then give me the instruction on how I
can carry this out consistently in my life.
Expose every dark place, cause the negative in me to show up as
a positive. Full blown picture that every
detail of who I am in Christ is clearly seen to the world,
clearly seen to the world. And every time I come into
service, I'm like, thank you, Lord, Holy Spirit, teach me,
train me, instruct me, release me in my mind, strengthen me to
get rid of this stinking thinking, to cast down these low
level thoughts and give me the highest standard of who I am in
Christ. That I can walk that thing out
in the world. That I can lay hands on the
sick. I can pray for people.
I can walk into me. I can overcome temptation.
I can walk in love, forgiveness. I guard my mouth because my
mind's guarded. For me, church is the most
positive place to be, even when it's the hardest messages
because they're really not hard. They're beneficial.
The only thing hard about a message is me resisting.
If you leave and say man that's hard, it's only because you
don't want to change your thinking.