Second Timothy chapter 4, verse one through 5 Tonight we're
going to be talking about protect the brain.
You want to. We need to protect the brain.
Amen. Second Timothy four one through
5 says this. I solemnly charge you in the
presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the
living and the dead, and by his appearing and His Kingdom.
Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of
season. Approve, rebuke, exhort with
great patience and instruction for the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears
tickled. Just look at go touch your
neighbor and tickle their now the ones are like I'm not
married to you, what are you doing?
I'm just seeing what you would do anyway.
Well, the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled.
They will accumulate for themselves teachers in
accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears
from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
But you, Paul, talking to Timothy, be sober in all things,
endure hardship, do the work of the evangelist, fulfill your
ministry. So again, you know, we've been
talking about the reigning spirit this year and and many
times when we have been. Launching into something to
remind us that this is the year of the reigning spirit where
we're taking time to understand that the Holy Spirit is the
reigning Spirit is his voice who is only speaking on behalf of
the King. His name is Jesus who sits at
the right hand of the Father who's only speaking on behalf of
the Father. And we are to listen to that
voice and be empowered by that voice and that spirit alone.
But he is also. And we say, you know, in the
last days, some will fall away from the faith because they're
paying attention to doctrines of demons and seducing spirits.
So here we we see that Paul in this conversation with Timothy
is letting us know that because of doctrines of demons and
seducing spirits, which means it is not our battles never against
flesh and blood. So even if someone is not
preaching something accurate is who are they?
What spirit are they listening to?
A lot of times we attack the person that's speaking when
really they're just listening and it would be better to say,
Lord, we bond that spirit that's, you know, causing them
to say things or keeping a veil over their eyes is why Paul said
pray that the eyes of their understanding would be
enlightened that they may know what is the hope of your calling
right. They they would receive
revelation, knowledge or or spiritual.
Insight, right? And that we, you know.
But when you're around family members, people at work,
whatever the case may be, and there may be something that
they're seeing in scripture or saying in Scripture that's not
entirely accurate. Instead of attack, deal with the
Spirit. OK, deal with the Spirit because
know this, you, you need to be convinced of this in faith.
And that is the Holy Spirit is clearly talking to.
Everyone. If I didn't have that hope, I
would probably get out of ministry if I didn't have that
hope. But because the Scripture says
he does that, then I know and I know that the scripture says
that we'll all be without excuse.
And this, this particular passage, he says, listen, Jesus
Christ, who is the judge of who? Not just the dead, but the
living, those that are in Christ, those that are born
again. So there is obviously a judgment
seat that is associated with the believer.
Now, again, that's not being condemned and cast into the lake
of fire. It is a, a judgment seat for
rewards for how you live this thing out in Christ, being led
by the Spirit, listening to the only true spirit, the reigning
Spirit and following him with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength. OK, and you know, so there's
that judgment, but then there's the judgment of the Great White
Throne judgment, which which is those who have rejected Jesus
Christ as Lord and and they'll be.
Cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second.
Death, but Jesus is going to judge on both accounts and so he
admonishes us that we need to make sure that we are hearing
and the Holy Spirit is speaking to us all.
This is why the Bible says we're without excuse.
You understand, the lost and the saved are without excuse.
So again, you know as well as I do, especially parents, when you
tell your children, you know, to do something and then you come
back around to them and then they're like, oh, I didn't hear
that. And you know, your response is
like, you're lying. Yes, you're, you heard me.
Well, you know, a lot of times people act like they are not
hearing God, but he's talking. He is talking.
So there is no such thing as a scenario that someone could
stand before Jesus one day and say, I never heard from you.
It could never happen because the Scripture says He's talking
and he's clear. I mean, he's so clear that while
you were dead in your transgressions and sin, he spoke
to you to receive Jesus. And you heard his voice,
recognized it was of God in your guilt and shame, and decided
you're no longer going to run and hide, but you're going to
yield. You're going to bow your knee,
you're going to make a confession of faith.
And you came out of the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of
his beloved Son. Amen.
And if you're lost and can hear the Holy Ghost, well, how much
more when you're born again in the same spirit that Christ is,
and the Holy Ghost moves in on the inside and it's talking to
you Hallelujah. And he's talking.
The question is, are we listening?
Right? So he's saying, listen, Jesus is
going to judge things and he's telling Timothy, now you need to
preach the word. Because what's going to happen
is there's going to come a time where those that are within the
church will not endure sound doctrine.
That doesn't mean they're not hearing sermons, but sound
doctrine. So they're going to be here in
doctrine. It just happens to be, as he
wrote in another letter, doctrines of demons, which means
they're going to have scripture associated with it.
But yet it's not really. And you say, man, this seems so
confusing. How would you ever know?
It's easy to know. It is not complicated because
God has given you the Spirit of truth, so you should never be in
fear that I could get confused. As long as you're yielded to
want to hear the Holy Spirit of which you can, He will only
guide you in paths of righteousness.
So I have great confidence that I do not get off and will not
get off as long as I, excuse me, remain in His word, to know His
word and hear His Spirit. Are you hearing me?
And then, you know, receive what takes place in verse 2.
So for those that you know choose not to anymore, then they
pick who they listen to. Now that's the difference
between First Corinthians 12/18. For the Lord places each member
in the body where it pleases him.
Well, the ones that don't want to be where God wants them,
they'll want to be where they want themselves.
So they start picking Are you hearing me?
So they can hear what they want to hear, whatever they want to
hear. They want to hear things
according to their own desires, not according to the Bible, but
according to their own desires. And you understand, according to
your own desire, you can make things up in the Bible to
support your desire, but the Holy Spirit's not going to
support that. Amen.
Let's look at so verse 2. And again, my wife is reading
the book by Rodney Howard Browne on the anointing and she read
this particular passage to me and and then he made a comment
concerning it and I'm. Like I've never seen it that
way. This is what I love about the
Bible, you know, men and women of God based upon how God has
gifted them, especially in the fivefold ministry.
They can there's ways that they are looking at Scripture because
God built them to see it that way.
And so, you know, although yes, could the Holy Ghost have shown
me that earlier? Absolutely, but it just never
came across my mind that way. And then but when he stayed, I'm
like, that is so true. Wow, that is so true.
I never saw it that way. OK.
And so it's really powerful. This perspective he saw
concerning verse 2. Preach the Word.
Be ready. In season, out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction,
for the time will come again that they will not endure sound
doctrine, but will want, wanting to have their ears tickled and
accumulate to themselves teachers in accordance to their
own desires. They amplified in verse two and
three says it this way. It says preach the word as an
official messenger, which then implies that people can preach
the word unofficially. Now that's true because we know
there's false prophets, false apostles, false teachers.
OK. Be ready when the time is right
and even when it is not. Keep your sense of urgency.
Whether the opportunity seems favorable or unfavorable,
whether convenient or inconvenient, whether welcome or
unwelcoming. Correct those who are in error
and doctrine or behavior. Warn those who sin.
Exhort and encourage those who are growing towards spiritual
maturity with inexhaustible patience and faithful teaching.
Verse 3. For the time will come when
people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accumulate an
accurate instruction that challenges them with God's
truth, but wanting to have their ears tickled with something
pleasing, they will accumulate for themselves.
Many teachers, one after another chose, chosen to satisfy their
own desires and the support of the errors they hold, they hold.
Now. I say all this because we need
to protect the brain. I found out yesterday that the
Word of the Year, according to the Oxford Press in 2024, the
Word of the Year. This is the word of the year for
2024. Are you ready?
Brain rot, Brain rot is the word of the year.
Now they this is something they do annually.
These are things that people, you know, what word is the most
used word, and this word, brain rot, is the word of the year for
2024. Let me give you the definition
of brain rot because it's not a new definition.
It's been out before. We'll talk about a little bit
here in a second, but brain rot that they're defining in 2024
means this. The supposed deterioration of a
person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the
result of overconsumption of material, now particularly
online content considered to be trivial or unchallenging.
So it also means cognitive decline attributed to excessive
exposure to mindless social media content.
They Amen. Now, the ones who use this term
the most are the youngest generations who are viewing the
most. It is there.
They use it. This is their vernacular.
And this is coming off from, you know, social media platforms.
Obviously, anyone who's on Instagram, you're old.
If you're Facebook, you are ancient, OK?
TikTok is the deal with the younger ones.
And there's even some other stuff that I have to get around
our youth pastors now and figure out what that even is.
With that being said, they. And you do this.
Let's just be it. Let's admit, right.
You'll start watching the reels and then you flip how many have
gone through reels and found yourself an hour later?
Come on, Raise your hand up high.
Yeah, it's easy. You're going through hours gone.
Yeah. You could be sitting and reading
Scripture and 15 minutes, man, and you'd be like you slapping
yourself right now. I got to go get a cup of coffee.
Well, it's amazing how those visual stimuli because again,
let's just go with Pinterest where you're just looking at
pictures, man. You I mean there's so many
pictures and it's like, what's the what?
For me the most addictive is what's the next set because it
like never ends now. At least the YouTube.
Mine, I don't know about mine ends so you know when I flip on
you because I have a what are the little red things?
The notifications. I have a notification problem.
I do not like seeing the little red notification right Well,
it's like get it off. I don't know why my brains wire
it's like get it off. You know you got three
notifications on Instagram. What's this about?
So let's get rid of it. You know some of y'all have
texts that have like thousands of right?
It's like Nah man, just delete all right there, delete all.
So I'll get on to the YouTube because you know the my
subscriptions, you know, because I rang the bell to let me know
when something's coming in. And so I hit it, hit the other
one, and now I'm on it. So then I'm like, what else?
So I scroll all the way to the end and it ends.
And it's like, there's something about wanting to get to the end.
Yet when I read, it's a totally different discipline because
you're getting into a chapter and I'll look ahead like how
many more pages is this chapter? How many do that?
Yeah, like how many more pages? And if it's like beyond what you
think you can handle, you'll be like, I'll stop here at because
the paragraph starts on the next page.
I'll just consider it like a new starting point right now.
What's the difference between the two?
One is rotting my brain, the other is causing my brain to
think and be engaged and to be engaged.
You know, 'cause you have to ask yourself the question.
I do because I ask myself constantly questions concerning
Scripture, especially when it comes to the last thing.
I'm like, how can we have a church that Jesus is going to
come back for that's going to be mature and be like this
powerhouse that's never been ever never seen on the planet
before? Because the latter rain is going
to be greater than the former rain, yet people are going to
fall away. People are going to be wanting
to hear things that they want to hear and not truth anymore.
What what happens in society that would cause believers to
fall away, to not be interested, to lack and it brain rot, brain
rot. I mean, you understand we talk
about things to the attention span.
What in order to gain an intention span, you have to
train it. Now again, I I mentioned to
someone earlier, I don't remember who it was, but I was
saying unfortunately the fivefold Ministry of teaching
teachers have done a disservice to the body when they do not
follow up like Brother Hagin did when he would make statements
like this. Now there are 9 gifts of the
Spirit. We separate them for the sake of
teaching. So what happens?
The teacher who was lined upon line, precept upon precept will
take something like spirit, soul and body because the Scripture
shows and they say, what do we say here?
We are spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body.
Well, you understand the minute you teach and and then you start
to focus on your spirit man, because that's the real you.
Well, your body carries you, the real you and the body's pretty
important because if the pot body's not working, then your
spirits in trouble now it may not be in trouble of of of not
of going, you know, to the lake of fire.
I'm not saying that. I'm just saying staying within
the purpose and intent and, and on the earth as long as God
wanted you on the earth. Because again, in communion this
past Sunday, we saw that some sleep early because they didn't
judge themselves rightly, which means then their body got
diseased, took them out and the Lord's basically, you know,
Peter's at the pearly gate using a joke, you know, kind of
analogy, like what are you doing here?
You're early. So again, we separate.
But The thing is, is we have to understand they're still
together. So it's important for us to grow
not only our spirit, but our soul and our bodies.
Because it doesn't matter how saved or intelligent you are if
your body doesn't allow you to accomplish the purpose and plan
of God. Though we should.
Even though we separate things through teaching gifts, we
always need to maintain big picture and recognize that these
things are really important for us.
But the thing that I that Rodney Howard Browne had made the
statement that I thought was pretty powerful and here in
verse 2 going back to new American standard says preach
the word. OK.
And when he says preach the word, he's obviously meaning
based upon what he said in verse 3, sound doctrine, preach sound
doctrine. OK Preach the word, preach sound
doctrine. Be ready in season out, meaning
whether the ones you're preaching to want to hear you or
not. Preach the sound doctrine
period, because there's season everybody wants to hear and then
there's season nobody wants to hear.
In fact, in this room right now, there are probably some that
love are excited about me preaching right now and others
are like, you know, I would get up and leave and that's OK.
You understand we all have stuff going on in life and we don't
come. You know all.
Let's do it right. You have to put down your flesh.
That's all I'm saying. I mean, I put down my flesh
coming to church sometimes myself, and I'm preaching like,
do I call audible, you know, and I have a message.
But he's like, maybe I'll call Pastor Mike, say surprise, you
have it tonight. I'm not coming in, right.
Do you think I never think about not coming?
Sure. That thought comes.
I just have to be good at casting it down because of
responsibility. Call and all that.
OK. Then he goes on.
Here it is, reprove, rebuke, exhort.
Now those three are done by the next statement.
With great patience and instruction.
So reproving comes with instruction or teaching.
One translation says rebuke comes with teaching or
instruction, and exhortation comes with teaching or
instruction. And we do all three with great
patience. But notice of the three reprove,
rebuke and exhort, 2/3 are correcting.
Now let me do a little Brother Hagen for our brother Hagenites
out here. Brother Hagen would say in Mark
Chapter 11 verses 23, he would say about speaking to the
mountain. He said believe you receive when
you pray, you know, and then whatever you say is going to
come to pass. You're going to have whatever
you say. He said, notice that you believe
once, but you say 3 times more Now that hearing it like that,
we're all like, praise the Lord. So what do we do?
We I believe and we're confessing more.
We have no, you know what we're going to confess more.
We have to believe once, but our speaking is going to be we're
going to be in confessing because we confess more than we
believe. Once you believe, you know you
have it and then you're confessing.
So you're going to say three times more than you're going to
believe, right? We have no.
Problem with that. Well, guess what?
When you come to church, you're going to hear correction more
than you are exhortation. The Amen anyway.
I mean, again, this is the Scripture.
It says to reprove, it says to rebuke, and it says to exhort,
which means that when you're sitting in a service that's
preaching sound doctrine, maybe 2/3 of the time you're like,
man, I might have to. I might have to make an
adjustment there, which means that's positive.
That is not negative. Seem like every time I go out,
there's something else I've got to adjust.
Hallelujah. You're being perfected.
Amen. Yeah.
Make it hurt, drill Sergeant. Make it hurt.
That's what they used to tell us.
Now again, the intent is not we're not talking about being
abusive or or we're just saying that when the preaching of the
word comes, if all we did was exhort.
Now pastor, Pastor Darrell told me this obviously because he he
helps me grow as a leader. He said that the Lord spoke to
him one time concerning his church that it wasn't growing at
the level that he was expecting is like, Lord, how come?
And he says, well, and he took him to this passage of Scripture
and he says, he says you're not doing this Scripture.
He said, what do you mean? He said, all you do is exhort,
but you don't do the reprove and rebuke and you're not going to
grow without those. Now again, when correction
comes, it is not there for the purpose of saying you're wrong.
When correction or reprove or rebuke comes, it's there to say
this is what God says, change your thinking.
So you're here to protect the brain.
The reprove and the rebuke is there to help protect your
brain. Revelations 319, which again, if
you want to take your own time to go through the seven churches
of Revelation, five of them have this term in it.
Repent, repent, OK, in this particular church, look what the
Lord Jesus says, he says those whom I I want.
So if I love someone, I'm not just going to encourage them,
only I'm not going to just minister in such a way or even
just in conversation when we're just talking.
If something that is said or done doesn't line up with this
Kingdom or scripture or behavior somewhere doesn't line up with
who we are now in Christ, well, I won't just always be an
encourager. Sometimes you're like, we don't
do that. You know, I wouldn't say that
you know what the Bible says. Now again, that's not being
condescending mean or anything. It's to pull us up to life,
right? But again, because we come out
of sin where we held on to guilt, shame and all that and we
knew we were wrong. But even God, God called you not
because he was there to pull. In fact, if we, if we're being
biblical, the you're born again because of his kindness, because
of his kindness, however, he is letting you know that to be in
the Kingdom, you're going to have to repent.
You're going to have to repent. So those whom I love, what does
he do? I reprove and discipline.
Therefore be zealous. And now that's something we
should want say Amen. We should want to be zealous.
So our attitude anytime we're in scripture or we're hearing the
word that we have a zeal that Lord, if there's anything that
I'm reading and when I'm spending time with you that you
need me to change, I'm going to I have a zeal to do it.
I want to do it because again, that's was one of the qualities
of David is he was quick to repent when he was confronted,
when he was rebuked or reproved, he would be quick to change his
thinking and get things right with the Lord because of his
fear of the Lord because he wanted to be in right standing
with God. Well, how much more us in this
new covenant that we're in, Amen.
And there's no one in this room that does.
Not all of us are reproved and rebuked and.
Exhorted. All of us, Hallelujah, Amen.
But he says the ones I love, I reprove, I discipline.
Therefore be zealous and repent. So repent's a really important
thing. Jesus went on to talk about
changing your thinking because this protects your brain, OK?
It'll protect your brain because it's in the sole realm that you
are making choices. It's in the sole realm that
you're deciding whether you're going to side with the flesh or
side with the spirit. Because both are talking.
I said both are talking. Hallelujah.
Jesus said in Matthew 417, you know it.
From that time Jesus began to preach, say and say repent, for
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
So that means change your thinking, right?
In fact, let me just go ahead and read that definition of, of,
of from the Thayers. It means to change one's mind
for the better. You know, I was, you know, I
because of social media and it's already being communicated
concerning the younger generation is that they have
lost their ability to critically think.
They have no critical thing. This is why Washington was so
important for us, because we needed to develop people with
critical thinking to be able to think.
Because when you build a society that doesn't think, then they
are easily manipulated to follow.
And when I say follow, I'm talking about following evil
because you are to be a follower of the Holy Ghost and following
him as life. So we're following either way,
but to follow God's way, your mind becomes something amazing.
If you follow the devil's path, you know, you could, you'll be
on autopilot. So what happens is, is we have
set in now society that that the millennials, you know, are
probably attributed to this some because, you know, they were
diagnosed with ADHD and then they were given drugs associated
with that particular situation, right?
So then you get on into the next generation and it's just as a
progression of brain rot, right? Because again, we are overly
stimulated, right? This is why, you know, you've
heard me say in the past when we this used to be a theater used
to sitting here for two or three hours and watch a movie.
So really it's no big deal for us to preach for a little while.
Well, it only is a big. Deal because it requires you to
exercise your brain. You have to discipline yourself.
Now again, can you go find places that it is will do
nothing to challenge your thinking?
Yes, absolutely. Myself, as a pastor, I have to
make a decision. Do I want a congregation fool of
brain wrought people that have no critical thinking?
They can't think critically, they only side with the flesh
immediately, period. And, and, and, and you have to
entertain and you have to be short because you can't keep
their attention. Or do you say, no, I, I'm going
to choose to trust the Holy Ghost in people and go after
them. The ones that want to have zeal
and have their brains stimulated because based upon the
assignment that he says here is that we are to do endure
doctrine. We are to minister, I mean sound
doctrine. We are to preach the word.
We are to reprove, rebuke and exhort with great patience.
Thank God for the fruit of the Spirit, for the fruit of the
Spirit with great patience, right?
Because again, you know, long-suffering is another fruit
of the Spirit. You know, a lot of times as
parents, you know you're long-suffering with your
children. You're very patient with your
children, right? And you're like wish that they
would be patient with you that way.
Like you keep giving them opportunities, you correct them,
you ground them, you take their phone and then you give it back
and then you're doing all right. But then a minute you do
something. They have no patience for you.
You're like, why am I not reciprocating what I extend you?
Amen. Well, the same thing happens in
the church because again, we get around the brethren and you
know, you get in relationships and there's a lot of patience,
long-suffering, you know, for people to grow up.
But then, you know, all of a sudden someone does something
that you're like, I can't believe that.
And we have no patience for it. But we all have the fruit,
correct? So it's to change one's mind for
the better. OK, Joseph Benson commentary
said it this way. For repentance not only implies
sorrow of sin or since sincerely wishing it undone, but a change
of mind and a reformation of life, the Reformation of life.
So again, if we're going to protect our brains, since the
word of the year is brain wrought, well, we don't want to
be that part of that culture. You know, we want to be people
who can like Paul said, Paul was never intimidated with a
studier, never. In fact, he he acknowledged
them. He said now the Bereans, they're
a different group because they searched the scripture to see if
it's So what I say period. Amen.
See, when you have a heart to know, then you'll study and
you'll ask questions so that you can continue to grow in the
knowledge of this. And you'll ask questions because
again, when we were outside the Kingdom, we were jacked up and
our thinking was never in line with God.
Why? And the Bible is very clear that
we're born again. Our spirit man has been made
righteous. It is, it cannot be any more
righteous than it is when you get born again.
Now it can be developed, but it cannot be any more righteous.
It you are in Christ, your spirit man is alive.
In fact, the spirit, your spirit man does not want to sin at all.
But then we have to, excuse me, save our soul.
Now there's a saving of the soul.
And again we get so focused on the spirit.
Well, you can. You cannot even follow the
spirit if you do not have soul renewal effectively.
Now you can, you know, so haphazardly per SE, you know,
get it right here, maybe miss it here.
But if you want to be able to get where you're always being
able to make sure you're hearing it right, well, that's where
you're going to have to get into mine renewal.
And the Bible's very clear about us renewing our minds.
But to renew our minds, then we have to then challenge
everything we think. So you I would say it this way
and again I'm not. Please take let.
Me smile when I say it. Do you you want to know your
father? Paul said.
I want to know him. That doesn't mean I want to see
him when I die. That's not what he was talking
about. He's like, I want to know him.
I want to know his. I want to know everything about
him. I want to know his word.
I want to know his ways. I want to know how he would
handle the situation. I want to know him.
I want to be intimately acquainted with him because I am
representing him down here. And how can I represent him if
I'm not around him and asking questions and then allowing him
to say I don't think like you're thinking right now.
I would never handle that situation the way you're doing
it right now. You need to not do what you're
doing right now because that is not what I do and we have to say
yes, Lord, thank you for letting me know and I will change my
mind. I help continue.
Help me think like you think right?
Because if all you resolve yourself as a St. or a believer
is, I don't care. I asked Jesus into my heart to
save me and when I die, I'm going to go to heaven.
And if that's all you care about, well, you'll have a
spiritually brain rotten or a brain rot and be spiritually
alive. And that's not what God intended
for us. We know this because he called
the body number one to be equipped and to mature and to
grow. Well, that takes effort.
Hallelujah, you know, and, and you know, I hate it that places
have raised up and been in in places that have have kept it at
a particular level and and never pushed it.
I mean, again, these these, these types of teachers will
exist and then the only way you'll know what they are is
when you're trained in righteousness to be able to
discern discernment is not automatic just because you're
born again. So we want to protect our brain
by subjecting ourselves to the word of God and saying and here
even all the more as the day draws near because deception is
going to be greater in the end. Now what I'm saying is not like,
I mean, I understand you've heard mine renewal.
But what I'm saying today is very profound for what we're in,
because there will come another time of deception during the
tribulation that the Lord himself says if I had not
shortened it, it if possible, not saying that it would, but if
there's a possibility that that even the elect would be
deceived. So when I hear that, I'm like,
Lord, I need to protect the brain and I need to protect the
brain. And here's the thing, You've
equipped me with everything I need to be able to do that.
You've made my spirit alive unto you.
It's righteous and it hears from God and can hear from God.
My spirit is alive now. It's not dead.
It's not separated from God. It can literally hear.
I am on the same frequency, OK, in my spirit and then the Holy
Spirit is inside me speaking to my spirit and he is doing the
things that Jesus said he would do.
He's causing things to come to my remembrance.
Thank God He causes things to come to my remembrance.
I don't always hear him right and I don't I, I miss his voice
and I miss his voice sometimes just in the day-to-day stuff.
The other day I missed his voice.
I'll be honest with you, I I was, it was Sunday, actually.
I came into the living room. I had taken the chair off the
couch because I have a dog that's a diva and she knows that
the couch is not hers. She knows he needs to get.
Saved. I mean really, he needs to get
saved. But I said it right at the end
of the chase. Normally I put it out by the
fire, my my little fireplace, which is electric fireplace.
And I said it out there. But I said it and you know, it
came in my mind. I should put the chair on it
just because I've been there. But I was like.
Marcy, you get it. Well, my wife ended up you want
something else and because it was in another place left.
We come home hours later. He's not on the couch, but
there's evidence. And she knows.
And and she knows. You know when you know.
Oh, she knows. You're like, did you get on my
couch? Like and.
You know, yeah, you got on my couch.
I cannot. But, I mean, she's gotten
sneaky. Just the other day.
I mean, she got on with the chairs.
I mean, you got to be strategic with this stuff, all right?
The day's coming when there'll be no more chairs on my couch.
And you'll know why not because I help the process.
It's just a process that's going to happen one day, you know?
Unless the Lord. Which that's the whole other
subject. I'm not even going to get into
that. I don't want to get into that
because some of y'all might cry. Anyway, with that being said,
you know, looking back, I'm like, you know, that's probably
the Holy Ghost telling me to put that up there.
You know, he didn't say, you know, Matthew chapter 6 Earl put
Dallas the chair on the couch. If I didn't read that.
But it was it really, it was his voice.
And I'm like, that's my problem, you know?
So now I'm going to have to, you know, take care of the couch
with more joy because it's my fault.
They say, Amen. OK, so Jesus says to repent.
That means to change your thinking.
And again, this change of thinking does turn into a
lifestyle. That's why Matthew 3/8, which
again is John the Baptist prior to Jesus being baptized in the
water and coming out, he says to religious people, he said
therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
So a change of mind will change you.
Now, there are plenty of teachings out there because
again, we've separated, especially in the world, because
the world. Can only deal with the body and
the soul. Even though they have a spirit,
their spirits cut off from God and it's dead.
OK, so it's soul will only run. Towards, you know, death
ultimately, because there's a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end lies death. OK.
But they want to do everything they can to train their mind.
And you know, the mind is very powerful, so much so that if you
get your mind locked in, even being lost, you can do some
pretty amazing things that even God will.
Say, that's pretty amazing. How do we know this truth?
The Tower of Babel, none of those people are born again.
They're pagans, no covenant with God, and they're going to build
them a tower. OK, and the Lord comes down,
sees what they're doing. He says they are in one mind 1
accord. What they have set out to do,
they will accomplish. The problem is that plan goes
against my plan. So he stopped it by changing
their language. OK, so there's the minds
powerful. That's why you can watch all
kinds of video on positive thinking.
You can watch all kinds of because the mind in love itself
is extremely powerful. However, any mind that doesn't
have God alive, the Bible talks about they have dark sayings.
So it's still not where it can be when it's disconnected from
the life of God, but we have the life of God.
Why do why is it that believers, you know, again, just generally
speaking, because we all know people that become extremely
satisfied with destination theology, meaning I know where
I'm going to go when I die and they have no desire to study.
And again, the Bible never said make a convert so that they'll
know where they're going to go when they die.
It never says that. It says go make disciples.
That means be a student of the word and list as a pupil.
Now, again, what is our society taught us?
We go and we're in preschool and they go to kindergarten and then
we get out with, you know, elementary, middle school,
graduate from high school potentially.
We go on to college or whatever. And at the end of the day, you
know, we finish our education and we're really not growing
anymore. But even today's education, we
don't even really have to learn because with AI today, I mean,
they're having to have to get creative because you don't even
need to write your own papers. You can plug all the information
in and it's doing, I mean, in the workplace, this is happening
all the time now. The people don't have to think
how to write something up for a job or article.
They're using AI, so it's doing the work.
Well, what's happening to your mind?
So our whole society is being built so that we don't have to
think. And the devil loves this.
And, you know, all the while he's convincing that we are a
more intelligent society because of all this technology.
Isn't that amazing? But we need to repent.
But he said Matthew again, 3/8 says, oh Hallelujah, I got this
end. Thank you.
Jesus. Therefore bear fruit in keeping
with repentance. I'm going to go through a few
translations. The new living translation says
this prove by the way you live that you have repented of your
sins and turn to God. OK, the contemporary English
version says do something to show that you have really given
up your sins. So again, it's not just a
confession and then you we live like we want to.
It's a constant renewal in our mind, OK, the God's Word says,
do those things that prove you have turned to God and have
changed the way you think and act amplifies that.
So produce fruit that is consistent with repentance,
demonstrating new behavior that proves a change of heart and a
conscious decision to turn away from sin.
Now, let me just say it this way.
You have to constantly work your mind because the Bible tells us
in Galatians chapter 5 that our spirit and our flesh battle
daily and we're never free from this conflict.
One translation says, have you? I'm not asking you to do this,
but have you noticed that when you've gotten away from the Word
because you've gotten busy in life and all of us have done
this, you haven't spent as much time in prayer.
You've gotten out of reading the Word.
You're not even really listening to anything.
You're just kind of going through that.
All of a sudden your flesh shows up.
What? You used to have extreme
patience, or you could forgive that in a moment's notice and
you would never say something about someone.
Then all of a sudden you're. Doing it, and I don't care if
you've been in church 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, doesn't
matter because if you do not keep your mind in the word, it
will shift over to behaving like you're not even born again.
And you know, so there is no time on this when we're on the
planet that we could ever coast. See, this is one of the negative
things of classes in general, because the minute you finish a
class, well, you usually say, well, we took that like anchor
faith live classes. Well, I, I, we had, they had a
faith class. I took that one.
Well, you don't think there's more about faith?
I mean, Kingdom Institute students, they graduate.
What did we learn? What was the purpose?
I mean, I do this with the Rhema graduates.
I'm like, you go through all that time and because at Rhema
you got to go there. I mean, there is no online at
Rhema. You get up, you go, unless you
live in the community, you're going there and you're in faith
for a home, a job, all kinds of stuff.
Then you go through school, you go through their rigors, you
learn all this stuff. You having to, you know, crucify
your flesh constantly, and then you come out for what?
To never use it or to go back into the world, that is mind
blowing to me. But it's only because they're
not staying in principles and then saying, obviously, Raymond,
no school could teach you everything anyway.
Only schools can teach you to have a zeal to want to know
more, so hearing what I already know helps keep me strong.
If I eat spinach today, it does something for me naturally.
Does that mean I should never eat spinach again?
Means the next time I eat spinach, it does nothing for me?
Every time I eat spinach, it does something for me every
time. So even if I preach from Matthew
633, every service you're getting fed something.
It's doing something if you're allowing yourself to have a mind
change. Right, so Romans 12/2 amplified
says it this way. Do not be conformed to this
world any longer with its superficial values and customs,
and be transformed and progressively changed as you
mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind, focusing
on godly values and ethical attitudes, so that you may prove
for yourself what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect in His plan and purpose for you.
Man, that is such a good. Believe that up there isn't
that. Powerful.
So first of all says do not be conformed.
Now this is powerful because what he is saying in this, in
this passage is that from your spirit man perspective, you're
already out of the world. You're not of this world.
From the spirit man perspective, your spirit doesn't think this
way. Your spirit doesn't want to
engage in this. Your spirit's been recreated in
the likeness of Christ. Christ is light and in him is no
darkness. And your spirit should be light
because if you're born again, it is light and in there is no
darkness in your spirit man. There's no desire for the flesh.
There's no desire to lust. There's no desire to to break
off from the commandments of God or the behaviors of God.
And then you're the Holy Spirit is speaking to your spirit.
He's saying do not be conformed. Conform means you mean go back
or to conform to something in the Spirit.
You're already a child of the king.
You've been redeemed. You've been set free.
You're the most powerful thing on the planet because you will
have the life of God in you. So don't let your mind stay
where it's at. Don't do it.
And again, in the world, it's not easy, Not easy.
I'll give it a quick testimony, Brother Hagin, and then we'll
hit a couple more verses and we'll be gone.
Turn over to Acts 17 while I'm saying it.
Brother Hagin said this to his wife one time back, you know,
when basically the depression hit and they were still
ministering, didn't have nothing, went to a minister's
house who quit ministering and decided to start working in the
city and was making plenty of money based upon what was going
on in that time frame. And the wife had all kind of
dresses, you know, in her closet and, you know, he had suits and
they have, you know, plenty at the table.
All that they they couldn't even afford to stay at a hotel.
Brother Hagin and his wife Aretha, when they came to this
particular conference. And because he had had had a
relationship with this guy and came across him while he was
there, he said, hey, have you gotten a place?
Why don't you stay with us? Which was really God providing
for them because they were trusting God.
So again, you don't have to own anything.
You just have to have access. At the end of the day, he ended
up getting in his house and he says his wife sat on the end of
bed and she was feeling sad. And he knew he's looking at all
this stuff and here we are living for the Lord and we have
nothing. And they used to pastor, but
they quit. Now they've got the world's
goods. And he said, he sat on the bed
by his wife and he says, honey, I know, he said, but stick with
me. It won't always be like this.
God is faithful and man, God ended up prospering him.
I mean that man when he would walk out on the platform, he
didn't show off, show this off. But when he walked down on the
platform, he, he could have $10,000 in clothing on most of
what people gave him, but they were faithful with the Lord.
I say they were faithful with the Lord.
Amen. I mean, I myself, I'm like man,
just following God has put me in a great place.
I've been able to travel the world.
I mean, in my mind, I could have just done, you know, something
in the world. I mean, I was actually, you
know, going to go into computer programming in Atlanta.
I mean I was set up. For that world's success.
But God and he had to make a choice.
And during the process of following God, there had been
many of times I'm like, I'm done many a times because again,
you're looking around everybody else, you're like, man, I'm
giving my life for you. And but you know what, stay,
just stay, just stay. Just stay with it.
And you stay with it. You know what God end up taking.
And again, I'm not, we're not trying to be like it.
We just want to be the best us. But I'm not lacking one bit.
God is so faithful. He's so good because following
him is the best thing ever. But I had to renew my mind every
day I have to turn stuff off and make sure I keep God on and it's
worth it. I wouldn't want to lose the
wisdom and insight I have today and throw it away and the peace
that I walk in. Now, don't get me wrong.
I mean, Paul told him to endure hardship.
And as a minister, you know, we you endure hardship, we endure
hardship. But he's talking to Timothy
about enduring hardship, not because of personal trials, but
because he's overseeing a flock that is not wanting to grow in
their thinking. And so he's saying, you keep
preaching to them. You're just going to have to
endure the heart. That's why I said when you're
reproving, you're exhorting and you're rebuking.
Do it with patience. The Bible talks about when
you're walking in patients, you'll you'll develop endurance
and he's telling you're just going to have to endure the
hardship. Just keep correcting.
Now for me, I was a great test taker personally and honestly, I
only want to take a test once and I applied that spiritually.
I do not want to take a spiritual test twice.
So, you know, I pull out everything that will crucify my
flesh. I'll pull it out.
I mean, I will pull it out because the last thing I want to
do is handle this situation wrong and have to do a retest.
Don't want to do it. And you?
Crucify it. How do you want me to handle
this? I don't.
I have, I have. I don't care one bit of what it
makes me look like, what people say.
I'm going to do it your way because I'm going to pass it.
I want to pass the test first time.
Hallelujah. All right, Acts 17.
We need to get out of here. Acts 1730 says.
Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now
declaring to men that demand that all people everywhere
should repent. God's word says it this way.
God overlooked the times when people didn't know any better,
but now command everyone everywhere to turn to him and
change the way they think and act.
You know, there was a time that we were in prior to Jesus that,
you know, there was a lot of ignorance going on and they
didn't even couldn't even be born again, couldn't have a
spirit alive unto God. I mean, there was a lot going,
but he's like, now's the time. No excuse.
I've paid the price. Everything's been settled.
All accounts are settled. There's no excuse.
Doesn't matter where you're at. I've paid it.
No matter what you've done, no matter what situation you're in,
you're not so far that I have not already paid that price.
All you have to do is receive me.
All you have to do. And whether you received him for
the first time to be born again or you're repenting of a wrong
you're doing as a child of God and saying I will sin, I didn't
do it your way. Lord forgive me.
He will be faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from
all unright. And then speak to your mind and
say to this, how are we going to handle it from here on out?
Amen. Ezekiel 1832 says it this way.
He says, for I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,
declares the Lord. Therefore repent and live.
Now again, when we read this, initially you're thinking, OK,
he doesn't want anyone to die. You know, like physically, but
you understand, my people perish.
So death is not just a physical death.
There can be death, and we are dying in situations only because
we're not repenting. But this, it's not my job to
convince you. It's my job to communicate what
I hear by the spirit. You're going to do what you want
to do because I'm going to do what I want to do.
And what I want to do is follow the Lord.
That's what I want to do. You know, that should be what we
all want to do, because when we do that, we live.
And I've never been denied. Never.
You know, you've heard this statement before, and I'm a
close with this. The worshipping come, you know,
they say you know something doesn't happen.
This. It's not a denial.
It may be a delay. I don't even think the only way
you're in a delay is if you are wrong and you didn't repent.
Because the only reason why the Israelites were in the
wilderness delayed is because the hardness of their heart, the
hard heart will delay somebody, OK?
However, if it's not like I think it should be, because I
sure thought I'd buy them all quicker than five years, but it
didn't. But did it come to pass?
I don't consider that delay. I just consider it perfect
timing. Perfect timing, because who
would have thought that we would have?
And again, I'm not totally into numbers, but it's pretty amazing
that we purchased it on the 21st day of the 21st year of
December. That was pretty amazing to me.
I mean, that's only ones and twos.
And we're at mall 2121 that we're 2121 US One South.
It's pretty amazing. Hallelujah.
And we had been in the location for 12 years.
Isn't that crazy Now? It's not.
But you know what? I feel like God's just that
detailed because I never waver. We would have it.
It just didn't happen like I thought.
Maybe that's OK, as long as I stay with him, think like him.
Then we're going to live. Amen.