So anyway, I appreciate Pastor Marshy ministering the word
while we're gone. Amen.
And I know you received, obviously, it's always good to
hear the good testimonies, but it's good to be back in the
house today with you. And so today I'm going to
continue on our the reigning church theme.
I'm going to probably bring this in multiple times.
There's going to be a lot of messages that are centered
around the church because the reality is there is nothing
outside the church. And until we we understand that,
then you're never going to be as successful as God intended you
to be. That's like saying I can live
for God without him. You can't do that.
All right. And so, you know, that's like
saying I can live for with God without the church.
Well, you can't do that. I said you cannot do that again,
The world tries to live for God without being born again.
They do. They have an attempt.
And for most they feel like they're doing a really good job
because the Bible says there's a way that seems right to a man.
But the end is and they think some of them think I'm doing a
better job then the church. I remember 1 pastor in this
community. I don't believe they're here
anymore. But I was at a little pastors
meeting and he had made this statement that just shocked me.
You know when I say shocked, I mean I'm not shocked but I was
just like really. He had some, some, some, some
people in his church that were in a sexual sin, OK?
They were in a sexual sin. And he knew they were in a
sexual sin, OK. And then you know what?
People come to church that are in sexual sin.
I get that. Because people have got to grow.
You said, Pastor Earl, would you not let people come here?
They have sexual sin, They can come because eventually they're
going to repent and move on with God.
If they don't repent, they're not going to be able to stay
anyway, OK, because you're going, you're, you have to rise
up to the level and behavior of the Kingdom by the Spirit
because our spirit man wants to live that way.
But they were in sexual sin, OK. And and so he talked about the
this couple that he had in sexual sin, knowing they're in
sexual sin, but they helped serve the church, let them serve
and said they serve better than the ones that were born again.
Now what they were doing is they were putting forth a committed
effort and they were doing things externally that the
Church should do from an inward position because they weren't
obviously serving better than the Saints because it's
impossible for them to do so because if you're instinct
because they were not born again, the sexual sin they were
in, they were not born again. However he looks to that
external and this is what can happen as a believer is we can
neglect the precious gift we have and someone who doesn't
have it but isn't to them they're like, well, the Bible
says you should serve. The Bible says, and then they
are in their own efforts are doing a more committed effort
than the Saint that has accepted Jesus Christ our Lord and
Savior. But because they do not value
the church, they only value their personal salvation, not
the Church of which Jesus values.
OK. And so we need to value the
church because the church is amazing.
Look at this in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18.
You know it, it says this and Jesus says, I say also to you
that you are Peter. And on this rock I will what
build come on my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it, right? So who's building the church?
Jesus. Not pastor, not apostle, not
prophet, not teacher, not evangelist.
It's not happening. Now, if one of those five fold
ministries is acting like they're doing it, they're off.
But there are those that are under that five fold ministry
recognize I'm not doing this. It is the Lord.
I'm just doing my part, OK? And I understand there's a
plethora of churches out there and there's plenty of them that
have challenges and issues. In fact, Jesus himself addresses
seven of them in the Book of Revelation that he says where he
is. And seven of his churches, of
those five had problems, some serious problems of which the
head of the church was correcting in grace.
Under the grace dispensation. He was correcting those
churches, and he was even warning them that if they do not
make these corrections, that he would pull their lamp.
That's right. Now, in this dispensation, the
head of the church, he is micromanaging the body.
I'm going to say that again. Jesus Christ is micromanaging
the body. Now, how do we know this?
Because not one idle word goes unnoticed.
Everything you're doing and everything you're thinking, He's
taking note of. Now that should get you excited
and I'm going to deal with your negative mindset soon enough
because unfortunately, everybody defaults to I'm in trouble
mindset instead of glory to God. God gave me some information
that releases who I really am. This is exciting because it is.
I'm glad that there's nothing that goes without his notice
because he'll never miss my faith.
He'll never miss it, which means that he'll never not double
negative. He will not withhold from me the
blessing 'cause he sees it all. It does not escape his notice.
And I'm glad he's micromanaging my life so much so that he's
like, whoa, hold on, son, you don't want to do that.
It really it it, it can hinder your potential.
You're greater than that, man. I put much greater things in
you. I'm so glad he's so detailed.
I mean, again, we have no problem with this when it comes
to athletics, when it comes to jobs, when it comes to your own
personal budgets, you will have every bit of your money down to
a penny. You will allow some send your
child to some sports program where they will analyze even
their stance and their nutrition.
I mean talking about having someone control your life.
Yet we subject ourselves, we'll have professionals come into our
businesses and critique for what?
So we can make more money. Please tell me what I'm doing
wrong. And we don't say like, don't you
come up in here and tell me what I'm doing wrong?
No, please show me what I'm doing wrong so I can make more.
And I'm like, Lord, come and show me what I'm doing wrong.
So I'll show more glory. Show me what I'm doing wrong so
that I can release more me. Amen.
So really, Saints already do this and everything else.
Let's get over here and do it in the church.
I said, let's do it in the church.
Praise the Lord. So Jesus is building his church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against what the church.
Now, the first thing we need to get rewired on and that is this
individualistic mindset of I am the church.
You are not the church, you are in the church, you are a part of
the church. There is no individual that is
the church. So when this scripture says the
gates of hell will not prevail against, that's not speaking to
you personally, it's speaking to you in the church.
This is why I say Jesus Christ did not come for humans as much
as He came to fulfill God's word.
And when He fulfills God's word, guess what?
It includes humanity. Now He came to die for every
human being. Why 'cause I'm here to actually
fulfill the vision God had. I was sent for this purpose,
which means it includes you. However, if you reject me,
you're not getting in. So I'll do the vision whether
you accept me or not. So it's really not about you
personally as much as it is about fulfilling the will of
their Father. But it does include you.
So when the gates of hell will not prevail against the church,
if you're in it, then the gates of hell can't prevail.
It cannot prevail. It cannot prevail.
Hallelujah. We need to see ourselves in the
church, and this is not technically popular preaching.
I get that, but it doesn't matter.
I love the Word and I'm just going to stay with the Word.
I don't care what's going on in the culture.
I'm in a different culture. It's the Kingdom of God.
I am not compromising this word for that purpose.
I'm not going to do that. So we are the church because all
of us are together. And when you're together and you
see yourself not independent of someone, but I'm fully
dependent. I'm an individual, I have my
purpose. God has something just designed
for me for the purpose of connecting with someone else in
the whole body. That's why.
And when you are releasing that, then guess what?
There's a hedge of protection around you that no weapon formed
against you could prosper. Can't happen, I said.
It can't happen again. The Passion translation gets
this right, he says. I give you the name Peter, a
stone, and this truth of who I am will be the bedrock
foundation on which I will build my church, my legislative
assembly, and the power of death will not be able to overpower
it. The the rock that Jesus builds
his church is the revelation. He is the king, He's the Christ
and he is King of the Kingdom of which I am a child of The king.
He's the king of not the king of a king, He's the king of kings.
And so we are jointed and fitted together to do something
amazing. Look what it says in John
chapter 10 verse 27 to 30. We can preach 3 hours since the
food trucks are going to be here.
So I'm really excited he says this.
And John, no, I'm just kidding John, because some of you had
already checked out and I can, I can lose you in one verse as it
is. So you know, I need you to stay
focused. John chapter 10, Amen. 27 to 30
says this. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know he does not have a flock of one.
I said he does not have a flock of one.
All right, He says, I know them and they follow me and I give
eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one, no
one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no
one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
I am the father are one. Now this verse here has been so
mistranslated on so many occasions because the ones who
mistranslate this one preaches this other passage of Scripture,
OK? And so we need to make sure that
we are moving in the right direction, OK?
Are you ready for this? The Kingdom of heaven is like
this shepherd who has 99 He won, leaves.
He goes after leaves the 99. He goes to get the one and
brings them back. When he finds the one we
rejoice. OK, notice in this past says no
one would be able to snatch you out of Jesus's hand or the
Father. How did 1 sheep leave the 99?
Come on let's preach this thing. How did the one if if it can
never be snatched out of Jesus's or the Father hand?
How in the world did that shepherd lose 1?
Well, he didn't lose it, it wandered off itself.
So make no mistake about it God, God is not letting go of you,
not a devil in hell, a trial, a tribulation, a famine.
Anything in this world can pull you away from the love of God or
his hand. But you slap, can walk yourself
wandering away. You can stretch yourself right
back into the world. I'm done with this church stuff.
I made Jesus the Lord of my life.
I don't need that junk no more. I'm going to go do my own thing,
my own ministry, my own stuff out all by yourself.
Amen. Now she's filming right here.
So if we can't get the angle, we can get hers and we can crop it
into our YouTube. Hallelujah.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? You can walk out of the church
and try to claim you are it. Now notice in today's theology,
you would think that Jesus prefers to leave the 99 and go
hang out with the one with as much stuff out there attacking
the church. There's so much information out
there attacking the church, the institution of the church, the
assembling of the church. There's so much attack.
And obviously the enemy would attack because why?
If he can get you off by yourself, then the wolves can
begin to corral you right Now, what I love about the 99 that we
don't preach on enough is that apparently there's enough
strength in the 99 that the shepherd can leave them in a
field by themselves and go look for the One.
Which tells me that when the shepherd leaves the 99, the
unification of the 99 is so powerful that a wolf won't even
try to come into the fuck. When the shepherd's gone, glory
to God. Why?
Because when the 99 are unified, they are like the shepherd.
Whoo glory to God man, we need to unify.
We need to be jointed and fitted together.
This should be your most exciting time of the week when
you come here, not laying up on your couch watching your TV or
even watching your YouTube of your favorite person who
preaches Get me to the 99. Come on, get me to the 99.
Because there is power in the flock.
I said there's power in the flock.
But notice when the the shepherd goes after the one, we rejoice.
Why? Because if it stays out there,
it will surely die. It will surely die, surely die.
And so he picks up that sheep and he brings it back to the
flock. There's no implication that when
he finds it, he's like, I didn't like the 99 either.
I'm so glad you left. I was ready to leave myself.
You just gave me a reason to live.
Leave now just sing to me a little bit.
You know, just me and you like like all up in your house and
you don't you aren't actively involved in a local body church
and connected to other believers like you worshipping God by
yourself and you think he's up there just thinking this is
amazing. Know what he's saying is well,
that sounds good. It sound better if you were in
the church, sound better if you get ahead and get get together
with a local bot with another flock, get with a flock.
It would be even greater because all the while the Good Shepherd,
the great shepherd, the chief chef, the chief shepherd is only
doing this. Get back in church.
Get back in church, Hallelujah. Come on, say Hallelujah in
Isaiah 5417. The context of Isaiah 54 is not
to an individual, it is to the nation of Israel.
So when he says you, he's not saying to one person, he's
saying to the nation. So this says no weapon that is
formed against Israel or the nation or Zion will prosper.
Every tongue that accuses the church in judgment you will
condemn. This is the heritage of the
servants, plural of the Lord, and their vindication is from
me, declares the Lord. Do you want God to clear your
name? Be in church.
You want to be in the place where no weapon formed against
you will prosper? Notice it doesn't say in church
you'll never have a weapon formed against you.
Never says that in life you're going to have weapons formed
against you the minute you leave the domain of darkness.
And coming to the Kingdom of his beloved son, the devil only
wants to drag you back. He only comes for one purpose,
to kill, steal and destroy. Now you may be out of His
Kingdom, but he sure does do not, does not want you to know
who you are in Christ with a group of people unified in a
community that then you would run down His gates of hell.
You would storm darkness as a group and change a community.
He don't want that. He wants disunity.
He wants your carnal minds to fight with each other.
He wants you to gossip back, bite, get offended, not walk in
forgiveness. He wants you to drag in all of
your junk into the church when all the wild gods trying to
strip that out of your mind so you can walk in unity as a
believer. And he does this because all the
while he is constantly forming some weapon to try to take you
out. But when you stay with the
church, it will not prosper. I said it will not prosper.
And I can tell you right now, there are people in this room
right now that you've had seasons away from the church and
you know that it is not profitable.
It was not. And all the while on the inside,
all those years, you kept hearing, man, I should get back
in church. But then the devil wants the
weapon he formed against you. Well, you know, there's really
no church out there. They're all just a bunch of
liars. You can't really find one.
Da, da, da. All these excuses just to keep
you out. Well, you're imperfect.
Why is it that everyone should accept your imperfections in
church, yet you can't accept anyone else's imperfection as
we're working them out? I mean, all of us are like
wrinkled clothes, right? Amen.
Our minds are like wrinkled clothes.
I mean, God's Word is like the iron got the steam and it's
working out those wrinkles, right?
He's pressing us. He's trying to get us nice and
sharp looking. Well, all of us have got a
wrinkle somewhere that the iron of the Word just hasn't come
over and pressed that thing out. Amen.
Well, let him work on all of us. When you find somebody's
wrinkle, go. Oh, OK.
Well, let me pray for that. Lord.
I think of the steam's coming. I'll be patient because I know
you are. Man, you sure worked that
wrinkle out in my life. I said you worked that wrinkle
out in my life. Amen.
So there's no weapon formed against the church that is going
to prosper. Look what it says in Deuteronomy
28, because again, I'm using these examples because again,
people say, wait a minute, now you're in the old covenant.
Listen, the Bible's about a king, his Kingdom and his royal
offspring, and that hasn't changed.
This is why I love the passions actual translation because if we
translated it as the original Greek has church or ecclesia
then we would see it is a legislative assembly.
Because we are in a government not a religion.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
Isaiah chapter 96 says not the religion of Christianity, but
the Kingdom of God, of which we are citizens of that Kingdom.
So the reality is, is whether I'm in the old covenant or the
new, it is a national emphasis. We are dealing with a nation.
We are a holy nation in the new covenant.
The church is like the embassy of God's Kingdom where his
ambassadors collect upon the same place to receive
instruction from the home country of heaven that we are to
legislate our our to our to demonstrate and communicate down
here in the earth. OK, so in Deuteronomy 28, again
in the realm of national, he says this now if now it shall be
if you diligently obey the Lord your God.
Are we supposed to obey God in the new covenant?
Yes, under grace doesn't mean you do not obey the Lord
Actually under grace means you in your spirit can and wants to
wants to your spirit's like we can do this.
Your Spirit's like screaming at you by like, come on, man, we
can do this, We can do this. Quit holding me back.
Let me do this. Release me.
All right. So now it shall be if you
diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his
commandments which I command you today.
The Lord your God will set you what?
How? Above all the nations of the
earth is the church above it all.
He's coming back for the church. OK.
All these blessings will overtake you and will come upon
you and overtake you if conditional statement you obey
the Lord your God. Now jump down to verse 6.
Blessed you shall be when you come in, and blessed shall you
be when you go out. And that doesn't matter what's
coming against you when you come in, or what's coming against you
when you go out. I don't care what attacks
happened this week before you came in, you're blessed.
I don't care what attacks waiting for you when you go out,
you're blessed. Why?
Because verse 7, the Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up
against you to be defeated. What before you?
You're going to watch it. You're going to see them fall
apart. Now.
It's not because you want it to happen or you're like please let
it happen. You're praying that it doesn't
happen because you pray for your enemies.
However, if they do not relent to pursue you, to destroy you,
then God will defeat your enemy before you.
They will come out against you. What one way?
And they will flee before you, cause no weapon formed against
the church will prosper. He sets a table before you in
the presence of your enemies. Everything the enemy says you
cannot have and cannot do. God sets the table and says, oh,
you don't think they can? Are you talking that they won't?
Are you trying to scheme so they can't?
Are you trying to devise plans so you hinder it?
Let me just go ahead and pull out the tablecloth.
All right? Let me pull some plates in.
Let me bring out the goblets. All right, I'm gonna start
pulling in the food. What'd you say they couldn't
have? Here's healing.
Here's prosperity. Here's joy.
Here's happiness. Here.
Here's the fruits of the spirit. Here's the miraculous.
And you're sitting there eating while they're watching
Hallelujah. Because no weapon formed against
the church is going to prosper. Can you say Amen?
Look at Second Corinthians chapter 2, verse 11.
We're doing good this morning so that no advantage would be taken
of us by Satan. We are not ignorant of his
schemes. God no longer wants you to be
taken advantage of at all. I said He doesn't want you to be
taken advantage of. Now if we got strict in context
here within this thing, that passage is talking about the the
attack of a fence and he's like, don't be ignorant of him
attacking you to get offended with someone.
So I previously thought you're going to forgive people because
you were forgiven. Don't you bite hold of that trap
because it take you out again. The enemy just wants to once you
get offended because see, when you start getting offended, the
person you become offended by, there's nothing they can do that
you don't see something wrong. Look at the way they're looking
and they don't even know you're in the room, right?
Get that smirk. I know what they're thinking.
Have you noticed how they got they have people now that you
watch on news they are they are able to describe people's body
language. I mean, that's pretty
presumptuous. No one knows the mind of the man
except the mind of the man. Now unless God literally gives
you insight by the Spirit, it's easy for us to misinterpret body
language. And here's the thing, if they
are a born again child of God and you're seeing you're trying
to put something on your brother that you should be just praying
for them, you're of the wrong spirit.
When we're doing that. However, in a general sense, no
advantage would be taken of us, of Satan, for we are not
ignorant of his schemes, plural. He has more than one scheme of
trying to have to get you offended.
OK, the amplified classic, I'm going to do a few translations,
says it this way to keep Satan from getting the advantage over
us. We are not ignorant of his Wiles
and intentions. The easy standard version says
this or English standard version says this so that we would not
be outwitted by Satan for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Another translation instead of saying outwitted says
outsmarted. So we are to not be outsmarted
by Satan. He he has been around way longer
than us. He is well versed in his
tactics. But when you yield to God and
know his word, then it will divulge the plans of the devil.
You'll be able to understand intentions because sometimes the
devil will try to pull you out through prosperity.
Your company comes to you and says, man, you have been doing
such an awesome job. You know what we want?
We want to transfer you. We want to take you to another
another part in the nation. And we're going to give you a
big raise because you're amazing.
And if you don't watch out, you don't understand the intention
behind that, that the devil will give you prosperity to take you
out of the church. And there are many Saints that
take promotion and and and there's no church to go to.
You understand, the US, we make high assumptions anyway.
And the assumptions are I've got my Congo sweat on.
We make high assumptions that because again, we live our
church life so individualistic or really independent.
Well, you know what, I can find a church anywhere.
Can you? We're going to be preaching on
finding your fit more. We'll address that question
because again, God can prosper you from any location.
Now, that doesn't mean anyone who moves is wrong.
I'm not saying that. I'm just saying if you're moving
without understanding the body you are to be planted in and you
see that you're a part of that actual vision, not it will
accommodate us so that we can be promoted and make more money.
All right, Hallelujah. I'm not of this world, so I
preach this way because I'm not of this world, you know, so
there's nothing that this world can offer me that would Take Me
Out of the plan and purpose of God or the place He's planted
me. Praise the Lord because he's too
big, so I'm not outsmarted by the devil.
Praise the Lord. I mean, the devil, when he first
tempted Jesus, appealed to his flesh to something that would
help Jesus feel better. Bro, you must be hungry.
You must be hungry. Yeah, I'm hungry.
I'm with you. You know what?
It's obviously that your Father cares for you.
I mean, we already know that the Scripture says that you can turn
stuff. Why don't you turn that bread,
this rock into a bread man? Feed yourself.
I mean, obviously your daddy would want to feed you.
What do you think Jesus says? Do you think that if, if a son
asked for a loaf of bread, would he give him a right?
Like we got something going on different here.
He's appealing to things that he can identify with and the devil
will try to identify with your humanity just to pull you off
Hallelujah. Yes, good word.
The good news Bible says it this way in order to keep Satan from
getting the upper hand over us for we know what his plans are.
Amen. I mean, when it, you know, when
people testify, bless them. I understand.
And again, I'm, I'm not, I am addressing things.
The, the role of the fivefold ministry is to equip the Saints
man. If we can't address things, then
we have become extremely handicapped.
And again, I am here to help you.
And so in order to help you, you're, you have to involve your
mind. You, you do not need to believe
anything I say because I say it. You need to search the scripture
for yourself. I mean, we really have to
continue to address things for us to grow as a body, because
you understand if we do not the the the independent thinking is
just ashes into my heart and save me.
And when I die, I go to heaven. The rest of the stuff works
itself out. And then you never really mature
and the devil whips you all the time.
Now, yes, you can go to heaven. I get that, but that's not the
point. That's not the point of the
Bible. The point of the Bible is to
help us grow, develop and strengthen us.
OK, so at times, you know, I have to address certain things
in order for us to, you know, overcome stuff, you know, so
when people are like, man, the devil, you know, he's just
running me down, right? Well, yes, he's run trying to
run everyone down. The The thing is, is find out
what His plan is. How do you find out what His
plan is? You don't talk to Him.
Now, Devil, what you think you're doing to me, I demand to
know I have authority over you. You're not supposed to talk to
him. Just shut up and come out.
Shut up and come out. OK?
Jesus is not asking you to get into a conversation with Him at
all. OK?
You ask your heavenly Father what's what is going on here?
Is there something behind the scenes I'm missing?
And He will reveal to you that plan instead of us just
accepting that we're being ran after.
We know we're being ran after because first Peter 5/8 tells us
Hallelujah. Be of what sober spirit, be on
the alert for your adversary. The devil prowls around like a
roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
So know this, the day you made Jesus the Lord of your life, it
did not stop the devil from wanting to destroy you.
In fact, the devil's Wiles or schemes are so tactical that I
perceive that he gets into a layer of joy even if you get
born again because he to him he won't see it so much as lost as
a tactical advantage to get you off later.
I perceived because he's not omnipresent that once you get
born again he leaves you for sure.
And I'm not even saying he was around the day you've got born
again. You understand.
It's not like he's just following you people out like,
you know, some of y'all, some people out like they have a
personal attachment to Satan that he like follows them.
It's like always there. No, he's one being that cannot
be everywhere and brand new believers are not raising the
gates of hell, not trying to knock them down, they just
excited they're born again. OK, is he, could he, can he be
aware through the communication of his principalities and
powers? Yes.
However, I would surmise he's like, leave him alone and let
you grow so that he can come attack later.
Because once you start telling everybody how you're different
because you are and the joy you have and you're insured because
you know how many people in the world have this testimony of
believers? Oh, well, just wait.
They'll get out of it. It's just a matter of Tom, you
know how many people have been here that went to church?
They're not even going anymore. They'll be the same.
So your zeal means nothing to them.
Your zeal doesn't even make an impression in their life because
they've had too many be zealous like that once they were born
again. But only at the first trial.
And how do we know there's going to be a trial?
Because of the seed of the word, The seed of the word.
The parable of the seed of the sower is that it goes into the
ground. That seed turns into a plant.
That's called conversion. But because it has, it's on the
rocks and has no firm root to itself, right?
Or to the wayside, which wayside is the one that he grabs
immediately? There's no firm root in that
plant. What happens?
It gets plucked out When the first trial and tribulation they
abandoned their walk. But in the abandoning of their
walk, they have reinforced in others why they should not
follow Jesus. But if you pass the first trial,
then he will go after you with the second.
And the second is prosperity, the deceitfulness of riches, the
cares of life. Man, you're doing so much for
the church. My gosh, you served there all
the time. You've been doing this for 10
years. Don't you think you need a
break? Let somebody else do this.
I mean, pat yourself on the back.
Seriously, go ahead and deny planning center and tell them
you know you want to go back to less because you know you got
other things going on now. Oh, don't shout me down.
Amen. Now again, the only person who
gets offended with that statement is someone who is
dealing with this challenge. I'm saying this to encourage you
don't get caught in that walls. Stay connected with the flock
because no weapon formed against the and the church has two
things they do. The church has an inward
function and an external function, an inward function and
an external function. And if the inward function is
not properly, then the external 1 is not functioning right at
all. In fact, if you do not have an
internal function, I would liken you to a person who is a
fornicator and is getting people pregnant all the time.
But you won't take the responsibility to father the
children that you're getting pregnant.
You just want somebody to be born and then you abandon them
and go on. And you're like, well, the Lord,
the Lord is supposed to bring on.
He wants you to bring them to church.
They're supposed to become disciples, not converts.
Go into all the world and make disciples, not converted babies.
Amen. I would say it this way.
Don't whore around with God's Word, Connor.
Do not use that as a real. Hallelujah.
You're not going to see that as a real, it's not going to
happen, Amen. The most of the stuff I say is
for us as a church, you know, and I'm, I'm, I'm excited about
that because you're the most important people on the face of
the planet to me is who God gave to me to help oversee for him.
Amen. But man, the enemy's out there.
And the good news is it doesn't matter.
I said it doesn't matter. Isn't that amazing?
God's not intimidated with an anointed cherub that he kicks
out of heaven. He and he doesn't even tell.
He doesn't even tell Adam. He just says Adam, don't eat the
fruit, keep the garden. That is enough for him to
overcome the Wiles of the devil. That's enough.
You know what, you have enough word in you to overcome every
scheme against you right now, every scheme.
And you need to be more of a critical thinker when you make
decisions in the spirit realm. You need to start actually
examining these thought processes you have.
It says you are to take captive every thought.
We are raising up a generation of no one thinking.
God did not save you to make your mind nothing.
He saved you to actually give you a mind, Amen.
So that now we can yield to the Spirit and overcome.
All right, Psalms chapter 2, we're going to press on and be
finished. Psalms chapter 2 is to look at
verse one. This is good news.
Say this is good news. It says, why are the nations so
angry? Why do they waste their time
with feudal plans? The kings of the earth prepare
for battle. The rulers plot together against
the Lord and against his anointed. 1 Let us break their
chains, they cry, and free ourselves from slavery to God.
Verse 4 But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
The Lord scoffs at them. Then in anger he rebukes them,
terrifying them with his fierce fury.
For the Lord declares, I have placed my chosen king on the
throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.
Hallelujah. The king proclaims the Lord's
decree. The Lord said to me, You are my
son today I have begotten you. Now before I read verse 8, know
this, that Jesus Christ is that son and Jesus Christ is that
king. But that king died for you and
me and he laid his seed in the ground.
And because he he died and went in the ground and his seed went
in the ground, he's able to produce after his own cod.
Which means now you are a child of God.
You are the son of a king. You are the king of a king.
He didn't die for himself, He died for you, and he didn't die
for just you, he died for us all.
So again, we are kings of the earth under the King the
Anointing 1. And no matter what the nations
are doing to form weapons against us, they will not
prosper. Only ask and I'll give you the
nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.
You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay
pots. Now then, you kings, that's us.
Act wisely, right? These kings are not us.
Excuse me. Now then you kings, that's the
ones of the act wisely. Be warned, you rulers of the
earth, meaning you scheming, you need to quit.
Serve the Lord with reverential fear and joy.
Rejoice with trembling. Submit to God's royal Son and He
will or He will become angry and you will be destroyed in the
midst of all your activities, for his anger flares up in an
instant. But what joy for all those who
take refuge in Him. Man, when you take refuge in
Him, guess what? You have His protection.
You come under the shadow of His wings, you run into His strong
tower, and you are saved. Glory to God.
Hallelujah that there's nothing going on in your life that God
has not already caused you to triumph in.
This is why the church is the triumphant church.
The church that Jesus is building does not know what it
means to be defeated. It does not know what it means
to lose ground. It does not know what it means
to be overtaken. It it it, it deals with trials.
It suffers an onslaught of things to come after it, but it
knows how to stay in the position of victory because we
stay united together. I didn't have this verse, but
put this one up. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 16.
It's so important we see this
before we jump over to the 6th chapter in closing, because man,
when the church stays unified, it's a powerful force and Jesus
Christ is coming back for the church.
And this church is raining. It is not suffering.
It's not beat down. It's not barely holding on.
It is running. And the power of the Spirit,
from whom the whole body, say whole body, being fitted and
held together by what every joint supplies according to the
proper working of each individual part, causes the
growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
So, ma'am, when we stay with the flock, there's such power that
He has given us. We are His Church.
I never want to be the One. Let me just say this way, you
know how selfish the one is that is willing to pull the shepherd
away from the 99? Because it's not like you're
going to be more in the Shepherd's presence.
Oh, y'all don't want it? You're not more in the
shepherd's present because you wander off.
I remember Dean Hawk who was a youth pastor with Rhema and and
he shared this particular, I believe it was him.
It could have been Brent Bailey and Keith neighbors.
So one of those youth pastors. So please forgive me.
I don't know which one it is specifically.
Now one of those former youth pastor of Rhema that is correct
would send balloons to students at school when they miss service
to remind them, hey, we missed you.
They just wanted them to know, hey, we missed you.
Then they stopped doing that after a season because they
began to realize that students intentionally did not come
because they wanted the individual attention when in the
group they were investing in them.
I mean, is God not ministering to you now?
Now you're going to have a long time, don't get me wrong.
But that alone time is not so that you only are alone.
It's so you can bring your supply.
I mean, if you're alone, to be alone, just to stay alone, to
keep your own alone so that you can be filled up alone.
The Bible never says for you to keep your supply, you're
supposed to bring it. You're supposed to bring your
supply, which means you should overflow that not only do you
have enough, you have enough to give away glory to God.
So be close with this passage of Scripture in Ephesians chapter
6, verse 10 to 13, you're ready to shout.
You're ready to just go ahead and put your flesh down and jump
up for joy. Anyway, when I was in when I was
teaching on Kingdom economics to the school there in Congo, one
particular session when I was dealing with faith is the
currency of the Kingdom. OK, and they that my interpreter
got so excited and and she was holding herself, unlike my my
brother there. He was like when he got to
Revelation, he'd go and then he'd release it.
We couldn't film every woo. It was awesome.
Amen. And so she was.
She got so excited about what she had not seen before.
Let me tell you, she was so excited.
She came to me after in tears because she was the one who
interpreted the forest in French for us.
She came to me in tears and she said, Pastor Earl, will you
forgive me? I was like, why?
I was the one that was tasked with translating your book and I
allow things to get in the way. And I delayed because I didn't
bring it. I didn't have it quick enough to
produce it, to take copies. And she realized that her
tardiness cost that word in written form to be released into
her nation. And she was in tears.
She said, forgive me. I should have stayed diligent to
get that thing accomplished. And I said, I forgive you.
We're going to get it done, and we're going to get it sent here.
It's coming to the Congo. It's coming, OK?
Because you know what? We all have places that God
wants to deploy what He's given us to others.
It's not for me. It's not my understanding of
God's word. It's for all that wants to hear.
OK, so it's very important. And she got so excited.
She said I just wanted to jump and shout.
I said, well, go ahead and do it then.
So she just went crazy on the platform and just began to
shout. And everybody out there,
students like, what in the world just happened, right?
Because we were done. I mean, we had finished and we
were on a break. And that's when she just let it
go, shouted, danced, jumped around.
I danced with her. Right now, I didn't have a
dance, but I sure wasn't going to let an opportunity of someone
who was doing something with the Lord to pass me by.
So I just yielded anyway. Are you ready to yield on this
last scripture together? Look at this in Ephesians
chapter 6 verse 10 through 13. I'm going to read it out of a
translation called The Remedy. This is awesome.
Finally, stay strong. Are you hearing me?
Now listen, we just read in first Peter chapter 5 that we
are to stay sober in spirit. To stay sobered in spirit
implies that you can get intoxicated in your spirit.
The number one way that the devil intoxicates your spirit is
that he convinces you to chase after many voices.
Even in the church. Not every overseer is for your
ears. There are powerful truths.
In fact, I was had a conversation with some ministry
leaders concerning prophecy and they said one reason why they
did not release prophecies in their ministry is because a lot
of times when that prophecy went, it was for the meeting
they were in more than beyond. And they said you have to have
discernment that is that prophecy something beyond.
Again, when we hear stuff, a lot of times we just try to take it
for us. And most of the time we take it
without the examination. OK.
The the the weapons the enemy uses are not just blatant sin
where you're like, oh, that's obvious.
You know, like for a man, you walk around the corner and some
lady, you know, takes all their clothes off real quick.
You know, well, that isn't God. That's going to be pretty
obvious, right? OK.
I mean, you would hope you would figure that out, you know,
right. Or, you know, someone comes as
the Lord told me to get you so we could go on this bank and rob
it. You were going to help me today,
right? I mean, surely you would know.
Nah, that's not it. OK.
No, the enemy comes in other ways and tactics to try to get
you so saturated with voices, especially those that aren't
even supposed to speak directly into your life in the season
you're in. So you have to have some
discernment there anyway. Finally, be strong in your
connection and devotion to the Lord and His mighty power.
Arm your minds with God's complete set of armor so that
you can join the ranks of Christ's soldier and stand
successfully in the face of the devil's schemes, right?
You can stand successfully, right?
Verse 4 For our struggle is not say, is not against flesh and
blood. Do not be mad with another human
being. Other human beings become tools
by which the enemy uses to say things to you and even in the
body. But they are not your problem.
They have unfortunately entertained the wrong thought
and are acting on it. Pray for them, forgive them, and
you keep doing your assignment. Do it, because that can't stop
you anyway. Can't stop you.
It will if every time you see them you're mad.
All right, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, with
man made weapons, but against all individuals, entities and
powers that misrepresent God and darkened minds, and against
Satan, the originator of lies about God and his cohorts who
have misrepresented God in the heavenly realms.
Therefore, arm your mind with God's full set of armor so that
when Satan's grand deception comes and it seems the heavens
are about to fall, you are able to stand.
And when you have done everything to present the truth
and expose Satan's lies, don't falter.
Stand, stand. You stand.
You stand because no weapon formed against the Church can
prosper. You present the truth, You stay
with the truth. You don't come off the truth,
and you stay with the flock. Woo.
Nothing can defeat you cannot be defeated.
We are stronger together than we'll ever be isolated.
Can't happen, can't happen. Then again, for some you're
going to be connected with some a little more than others in the
body. Again, my shoulder sure hangs
out with my collarbone a lot more than it does with my leg.
Now it doesn't mean they don't meet because when I go over and
stretch they get pretty close, but he hangs out here.
But it doesn't say I hate my legs.
No, they're like, thank God for the legs because the legs took
us over to the cabinet so I could open up the cabinet and
get some food. Hallelujah, Amen.
So we need each other and all the more as we see the day
approaching. So stay with the flock, stay
with the church because it's not the individual that the gates of
hell don't prevail against. It's the church which includes.