Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast
from St. Augustine, FL.
Now enjoy this message. Your Bible's out.
I hope you brought your Bible. Nowadays it's, you know,
electronic devices and everything else.
I just kind of stick with the paper.
Anybody bring a paper Bible tonight?
Yeah, I got it. You know those paper Bibles are
fabulous, especially when your battery is dead on your phone.
Amen. Hallelujah.
This evening I am going to be sharing with you some saying.
I'm going to give you a little background about myself when it
comes to the right time for illustration of some things.
But tonight I am going to be discussing with you Kingdom
Standards and I I kind of wanted to start it out because there's
a particular administration in the United States.
That I've had a particular interest in, I guess and a
following if you would say. And it really affected the the
career that I got involved in early and in Melanie and I's
marriage and you may have heard of it, it's the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, everybody,
everybody familiar that you ever heard of it?
Few hands. We in the Midwest, we call it
OSHA, all right. And I don't know where the how
why we call it OSHA because it all almost ought to be OSHA.
Because occupational it starts with an AH, not an O right, but
we call it OSHA. And OSHA is responsible for
keeping the employment workplace, a place of safety, a
place of health. And they have what they call
regulations and one of the the the things that they have
published and it is massive, it is not just one volume, it is
multiple volumes of what they call the CFR which is the Code
of Federal Regulations. And if you are an employer or
you're someone that is employing people, it, it behooves you to
be able to be familiar with a little thing, a little, a few
little things in that code that they have so that you can stay
safe. Your people can stay safe, all
right. And.
And it's designed for that. But one of the things that I
found out that there is an institute and it's called the
American National Standards Institute.
And they are the ones that regulate the funniest things.
For instance, one of the one of the things that I found out and
in Oklahoma, I have a company that manufacturers OSHA
regulated safety signs. The Lord dealt with me early on
and he said, do you want to print a sign that, you know
maybe somebody will buy? Or do you want to print a sign
that the government makes you buy?
And I found this out that in business, you know the more you
can sell of one thing is better than trying to sell one thing,
you know, multiple times. All right.
And so I I found out that you know how many of you all have
seen a danger high voltage sign, you seen that has a red Oval,
right. And the word danger in there is
in white. That's regulated by ANTSY, or
the American Standards and National Standards Institute.
They tell you not only what the shape of Oval needs to be, but
they also tell you what size the letter needs to be in there,
what the stroke of the font needs to be, what the sign is
supposed to look like. They had a change just a few
years ago, which I loved it because everybody had to buy a
brand new signs. And so you know when when I was,
I was meditating on the standards of the Kingdom that we
do have a volume that we can take a look at and I am going to
go over some standards tonight. They come from the word of God
that will impact your life. And if you listen to me and take
a few notes, I think that I can help you if you're struggling in
any of the areas of standards that I communicate tonight.
Is that alright? I'm going to start with the very
first one, the very first set of standards that we have.
It's found in Exodus chapter 20, verses 3 through 17.
They're going to put it up on the board and I'm going to go
through these and I want you, I want you to know that when God
decided that he wanted a people to himself cut covenant with
Abraham, and then, you know, the Lord told Abraham, he said,
listen, your people are going to go down to Egypt and they're
going to be in bondage for 400 years.
And then I'm going to bring them out by a very, very strong arm,
and they are going to be my people.
Well, he gets them out. And in the 20th chapter he
brings what is commonly called the 10 commandments.
Everybody familiar with that? Have you ever heard one of them?
At least one of them, Right. OK, let's take a look.
That first one is in verse three.
It says this. Thou shall have no other gods
before me. So God in the very beginning, is
letting them know I am God. And do you remember that?
Do you remember the account when Moses asking me said, hey, I'm
going to go, you want me to go? And I thought, I think it's
funny. And pastors alluded it to it so
many times. When he has said that, you know,
he goes up and has the burning Bush experience and he said,
hey, they're going to ask me your name, what do I tell him?
And he said, well, you're going to tell him I am.
I am what? That's what I've been my
question. I am.
I am what he is. And he tells him, he said, that
you'll have no other gods, because I am God.
You have no other gods before me.
Verse four, he said, you shall not make unto you any graven
image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
So he's telling them not only are you not going to have but a
commandment that I'm giving you. Here's another standard.
The standard is you are not going to make any graven image.
All right. And and the word graven in the
Hebrew is the word carved. You're not going to carve an
image. You know what I found funny?
Does anybody know how they print money?
It's carved plates, engraved plates.
And I thought, well, that's interesting because Jesus said
you can't serve God and money. Right, so he says in here, this
is one of the rules. This is the top ten list.
All right, Now notice what he said.
He said, and he tells him you'll not make a graven image.
He said you'll not bow down yourself to them, You'll not
serve them. For I am the Lord God.
I am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers unto the
children, and the 3rd and 4th generation of them that hate me,
and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my
commandments. Another word for commandment is
the standard. All right, but notice verse
seven, he said. And you will not take the Lord
thy God, the name of the Lord thy God, in vain, For the Lord
will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.
Now, I've taught this for years. And any of you that have said in
any of my classes, when we talk about the fact that that in
Hebrews 11 verse six it said it is impossible for is impossible
to please God without faith. Without faith it's impossible to
please him because he that comes to God must believe that he is.
And I often ask question what is you if I must believe you is.
And I know most scholars do agree that he's talking.
He's talking about you must believe that I exist.
OK, and I'll go for that. But The thing is he's not
writing to Hebrew and believers. He's writing to believers that
were Hebrew. And he said in there he tells
him he said he he let he lets him know.
You must believe that it is so. It would behoove us or or it
that's that's King James behoove us all right to be able to find
out all that we can about who God is.
Well here's interesting because the word that we need to
understand when he says you'll not take my name in vain and a
lot of people read they they think that's about cussing.
You know. And you hear people all the
time, they'll God blank this, God blank that, you know and and
they're upset about something and you'll hear it.
And and I've been in situations in in the in the business arena
and people just go off to cussing and stuff like that and
I just don't let it phase me. And they go, doesn't that bother
you? They're taking the Lord's name
in vain. I said, well, here's what you
need to understand about that verse.
Gives me an opportunity. I said, one God's not his name.
God is what he is. He's a species called God.
All right, So we don't go around, you know, calling each
other, Hey, human, I see you going down the hall.
Hey, human, everybody's going to turn around.
That's why we were given names. All right, so when I say
Brandon, Brandon turns around but he tells us he said you do
not take the Lord thy God's name in vain.
Here's what you need to understand about the word vein
in the Greek and the Hebrew both they had the same meaning.
It means to render something empty idol, nonproductive.
Now I've got several other definition.
It says in here empty idol. Fruitless, useless, powerless,
lacking truth, and worthless. God said you will not take my
name and render it that way. Well, what is it?
What? What is his name that we need to
be aware of? I'm going to give just a couple
of them because God's name being Jehovah, He has given us also a
few descriptions of what all Jehovah includes.
And here's the first one, he said.
You know, when we talk about Jehovah.
Jehovah what? Well, Jehovah.
How about Jira? All right.
And in Jehovah Jira, we find out that when he was on the mountain
at Abraham, when he was on the Mount Moriah, getting ready to
sacrifice Isaac, you remember that?
And it says that just as he was about to lift the knife.
He Angel said hold it, stop. And he said he named that
mountain Jehovah Jira. And the definition of Jira is
the Lord that sees. But really if you break it down,
it is the Lord that sees to it and provides what happened.
Remember, as soon as he as soon as the Lord, the Angel told him,
don't harm the boy. All of a sudden they heard it,
man. And they turned around and
looked and in the thicket there was a ram for the sacrifice.
So he's telling us, and I think it's interesting because I've
read after some scholars that basically talk about the fact
that Mount Moriah is also in the regions of Calvary where Jesus
was crucified. Now I I see God doing that, that
that good. He's that good that he could
make that mountain. Same mountain.
That Isaac was going to be sacrificed And the Isaac that
Jesus was sacrificed on. All right now as we as we take a
look and and you know what's another one let's take a look He
said I'm Jehovah Rotha and and that's found in Exodus chapter
15, verse 26. And he lets him know.
Listen if you will harken diligently into the voice of
your Lord, your God. And I observed to do all that is
written there in you don't turn to the right, to the left.
He said I will not allow any of these diseases that have come up
upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that he live the Jehovah
Ratha. So he tells us in there as far
as that name. Here's the problem that people
sometimes take his name in vain and they don't even realize what
they're doing. Because if you've ever said, I
don't know how I'm going to get over this sickness.
I mean, he said that he was the healer.
So again, I think it'd be to our benefit to not talk contrary to
what he said he was. If he said I'll provide for you,
he'll provide for you. If he said I'll give you peace
in a time of trouble, he's going to give you peace.
Don't be somebody that's that close to taking his name in
vain. All right, let's look at the
next one. It said chapter.
Chapter 8, verse eight. He said remember the Sabbath day
and keep it holy. I I think a lot.
There's really I think there's really 11 commandments because
the next one is a thou shalt also look at it six days thou
shalt labor. I think we let.
We just skipped over that one didn't we And do all thy work
and and one time I was writing an article called The Secret of
the 6th Day because in America we've been trained that we work.
Five days and we take two days off.
That wasn't so under the covenant or the standard of the
Lord in the Old Testament. 6 days you would work and then the
Sabbath day you would take off and you would make it holy.
What were we making it holy about?
We were making a holy as a day of reflection and rest on the
goodness of the Lord. All right.
He said the 7th day is a Sabbath of the Lord.
At verse 10 he said that thy God in it you'll do no work neither
your son, your daughter, your man serving your maid serving
your cattle, nor your stranger within your gate. 6 days of Lord
made heaven and earth and all them that is in it.
And he said he rested the 7th day, where for the Lord blessed
the 7th day and hallowed it. All right, so he tells us, Well,
you know we have it. We have a day also that we're
supposed to hallow and we call a Sunday.
It changed in the New Testament. As far as they called it, the
first day of the week, it was the day that Jesus was risen
from the dead. All right.
He he went through the Sabbath. They tried it.
They had to get him off that three days and three nights in
the grave. He was, he was risen on the
first day of the week, which was Sunday on the Jewish calendar.
So he tells us in there that, that.
And they said that's when the church began to start meeting,
was on the first day of the week.
All right. And so the thing we need to
realize is that. I think it's interesting that
most of the trouble that Jesus got into was the days he went to
church. How many times do we read that
he was in the temple? How many times we read he was
working when he was in the temple?
How many of you are being accused of working in the
temple? A lot of you with the kids.
And the different parking lot and the different things that we
serve the Lord in the temple. All right, now let's go on to
the next one. It says honor thy father and
mother, that the days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God has given you. And any visions they talk about.
It is the first commandment with a promise that you may live long
on the earth. So he tells us how important.
Now the word, the word in there for honor basically is very
simple. It means to Revere respect.
All right, Revere, respect the the parents.
All right. And so that here's the next 113,
verse 13. You shall not kill.
That is not necessarily going to war.
That is the word murder that you will not take innocent blood.
Then he said, you'll not commit adultery, You will not steal.
You will not bear false witness against our neighbor.
Some translations say you shall not lie.
Shall not lie. All right.
And then he said, and you will not covet your neighbor's house
or anything. That is their neighbor, the
wife, the manserving all of his livestock.
I think it's interesting. This word in the Hebrew is the
same word in Genesis chapter 3, when Eve was standing there
looking at the tree. It it is a word that means to
delight in or to desire, or to lust after.
In the Hebrew it is the same word when they said and a tree
to be desired to make one wise is the same word covet here.
So she was coveting that tree. She was wanting, she saw, she
looked at it. It was it was something to be
desired. And so when we we see that.
Now here's what we need to know about this set.
This set of standards that God gave, he wrote them, it says,
with his finger in two tablets of stone back in front.
And what's interesting about that is that four of them, the
first four, have to do with your relationship to God.
The last six have to do with your relationship with each
other. So there's 60%.
That shows us how we are supposed to conduct ourselves by
the standards of God in the earth with each other.
While there is the four that he gave us is basically we need to,
we need to understand. Jesus wrapped it up in the 22nd
chapter of Matthew when he said you will love the Lord your God
with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength.
And you will love your neighbor as you love yourself.
So everything is wrapped up in those two laws.
And so, you know, as as I was, I was looking at that and seeing,
I wanted to say, Lord, you know, when you introduced us to the
Kingdom, what are the, what are some of the standards that we
have? I've got 4 tonight.
I got a whole lot more, but I'm going over for tonight because I
do not have that two hour anointing preaching gift I have
been specifically trained to give you about. 50 minutes.
And I might be able to stretch it to an hour, so you got to
hold on. All right.
All right, let's take a look at some Kingdom standards in the
New Testament, and I want you to jot this down and listen.
Here's the first one. The word of the Kingdom must be
approached from a student perspective, not from a passive
reader perspective. Some people seem to think that
their walk in the Kingdom is OK. If they just read their Bible
occasionally. Now pastors told us we have our
Bible reading program. You know, Melanie, I and I don't
miss a day, not one day. We don't get up and get around
until we've had our time in the Word.
Period. It's it's that much.
And I'm going to tell you how we got there, Okay.
But here's what we need to understand the call.
The standard is to be a student. And it's found in Matthew
chapter 28. You're going to find out.
Jesus set this standard. Now notice what he says.
Go you there for and teach all nations.
Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son of the Holy
Ghost. Teaching them to observe all say
all things whatsoever. I've commanded you and lo, I'm
with you always. Even to the end of the world or
the age, right. So Jesus gave A and we call this
what the Great Commission. And he says in there go you
there for and teach most translations.
Now more more modern translation say go and make disciples.
That is the accurate translation of that word in the original
language Methy 2O. Methy 2O is the word that it
comes from Methy taste, which is the word disciple.
You need to know that because why?
He said. You need to go into all the
world and enroll them. As students, not converts, not
somebody changing from this religion to that religion or
this particular denomination to that denomination.
We are designed and he has planned, and his standard was
discipleship. He proved it through his
ministry. He didn't just want to say you
know, if y'all want to follow me, grab a scroll, you know read
it every now and then and see what the Lord will do for you.
He didn't do that. He enrolled them as students.
Now when you look at verse 20, he said teaching them to observe
all thing that is the actual word give instruction.
So once you have come into the Kingdom of God, you have got to
come again from the perspective of student and you've got to
come from the perspective that you are now ready to be
instructed. Pastor had just taught before he
left and got on the boat to the Bermuda Triangle.
He taught us you must remain teachable.
There's none of us to know everything, so we have to remain
teachable. Why?
Because discipleship is lifelong.
You'll never get to a place that you just can't learn anymore.
The day that you say I've heard that before and you write it off
or there's a class offered and you thought I've I've heard that
before you're you're you are you are walking so close to
deception that Jesus even said, He said in the last days.
They said, Jesus, show us a sign of your coming.
What? When will these things take
place? What will be the sign of your
coming? When will be the end of the
world. And the very first thing Jesus
said, he said, Take heed that no man deceive you.
So deceptions number one thing on Jesus mind, pastor.
Read it the other day talking about in in Paul's writing to
Timothy that in the last days many will depart from the faith
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
It's going to happen. Didn't say that they, you know,
he said many. We don't want to be the many.
All right. So when he tells us that, that
it what is so important to us. Now let me give you a
background. I've always had, I've always had
an interest in the Bible. I remember when I was 4th and
5th grade when you graduated to go into 6th grade, they gave you
a Bible. I have a copy of that Bible at
the house and it has a little shield on it and we used to play
a game called the Bible Sword Drill.
We really need to bring that back.
But the teacher would ask a scripture, and the first one to
find it in the Bible would you'd raise your hand and you got to
read it to the class. And then they give you, they
give you a prize, all right. So you know, you know who won to
win all the time. And so you know when you know in
growing up in that. Well, when I turned, I turned
717. I was going to 18I graduated
from high school in 1979. I had an aunt that was a
missionary. She was stationed on the island
of Crete and she came back home and introduced me to a gentleman
that had a Bible study in his home.
When I showed up, he'd already had this Bible study going in
his house. He was a doctor and he study and
gave. He was the first man that I've
ever heard that had. It was was teaching from from
the Bible without a quarterly. Does anybody know what a
quarterly is? I was raised Southern Baptist
and every quarter they gave you a little study guide that you
were supposed to read the night before and hopefully you had a
teacher that read there's the night before.
Now that is that I truly, truly, I'm saying unto you and and so,
you know, we just, if you didn't have a quarterly, you just
really didn't have any knowledge of the Bible.
I mean they didn't encourage you to read the Bible and try to
figure out what the Lord's trying to tell you.
We had a quarterly and it was, it was done by a convention and
some doctors and theologians and everybody got together and they
printed all this stuff for us. And every quarter we got our
quarterly. Well, this guy was the first guy
I'd ever heard that didn't use a quarterly.
I'm looking where's his quarterly?
And he started talking about things.
He said, you know, the Bible was originally in the New Testament,
was written in in, in the Greek language and he would teach us
Greek words. That was that he would pull out.
And man, I I absolutely fell in love with this man.
And I went up to him. First night went up to him.
I said, what kind of Bible do you have?
Because my Bible don't have any of that in it.
I mean, you're talking about these Greek words and Hebrew
words and they brought such a a clarity to what you were talking
about. I said, is that real?
Is that true? And he showed me his Bible.
And you know what? I went and bought one of them
Bibles and we talked about it for at four it was called a
Dakes Annotated Reference Bible. Still there as a matter of fact
had an opportunity not too long ago to talk to Dennis Dennings.
Dennis Jennings Dake is the guy that met that printed this
Bible. He did it the year I was born,
1961. He came out with this work.
He spent over 100,000 hours in 4343 years compiling this work.
It is full of Greek. It is full of Hebrew.
I devoured that. You ought to see.
I still have the original copy. It is in shreds, pages
everywhere. I got pages stuck where pages
don't go trying to hold this thing together.
It was one of my it was one of my prized possessions.
I have another one and I and I inherited another one and I had
them. And every now and then I'll go
back to him. Because in in 4043 years,
100,000 hours if you run your math, I calculated it was 6
hours a day for 43 years. No vacation, no time off.
They said that when he spoke, he could quote whole chapters by
memory, Books by memory, I mean, I think so after 100,000 hours,
you ought to be able to do something with your memory,
right? But a phenomenal phenomenal work
and I I had an opportunity and and and to visit with doctor
Harmon and I asked him a question.
I said I know you you go from place to place little ladies
groups and and garden clubs and stuff.
They ask you to come and speak and stuff.
I said when you go who who duplicates your tapes And he had
a one tape duplicator cassette tape anybody remember them
cassette. OK.
And and I said, I will go with you if you allow me to come with
you and I'll duplicate the tapes so you can keep talking to the
people. All right.
And the ladies and answering questions and stuff like that.
Because I said who does it? He said I have to do it.
I said I'm going to do it. And I traveled with him and I
went everywhere in town that he went and and and duplicated
those tapes. When Melanie and I met Okay, I
was still going there. That was 1981 when we started
dating. And we end up, we went to Doctor
Harmon's every Monday night until Dr. Harmon decided to move
to Connecticut. It's kind of like the disciples.
Where are you going to go? I mean, you know, you're going
to Connecticut. Where's Connecticut?
Well, the way I'm going, you can't go.
OK All right. So I'm thinking, man, Lord,
what? But, you know I began to
continue my studies in the Greek language and and and as best as
I knew how and I made-up my mind that I was going to become a
student of the word of God. Even I had no desire to go to
Bible school. I had no desire to go into the
ministry full time. I I had a skill that I, you
know, felt like the Lord was going to have me use.
And and I just I but there was that desire to become a
disciple. Now you think that's strange,
but I think it's strange that we forgot about the story.
Are the account in John chapter one of John and Andrew.
In John chapter one we have a an account where John the Baptist
sees Jesus and two of his disciples were standing right
there with him. Disciples called them disciples,
Methetas, learners, pupils, students.
And he said, there goes the Lamb of God.
And he said those two disciples of his went and followed them.
And I don't know if they were talking or whatever, but Jesus
turned around and looked at him and said, what are you all
looking for? And I guess they were shocked
because they go, where do you live?
And he said, come and see. And they hung out with Jesus the
whole day. Well, the thing was, he
identified those two John when he he identified one was Andrew,
Peter's brother, and the other one had to be in him because he
never identified himself. So he said the other disciple,
he always called himself the other disciple until he got to
the end and he said the disciple Jesus loved, he wrote that about
himself, right? He did.
So the thing, the question that I had was, wait a second, you
two boys was in business. When did you have time to follow
the prophet around to be able to learn the things concerning the
Kingdom? Because what did John the
Baptist preach? He said repent, for the Kingdom
of heaven is now within your reach.
So these guys are following him. Well, you know how they did it
tells us they were on the night shift in that what Peter said,
Lord, we fished all night. So those guys were on the night
shift. So during the day, they had the
opportunity to follow John around, listen to his teaching
and involved. Really.
I think probably they got together with John about 4:30 in
the afternoon on Sunday till about 8:45.
What do you think of that? Does that sound familiar?
There's a big group going through that kind of
discipleship right now on Sunday evenings, intense teaching.
But yet they found the they found that they wanted to be
disciples, even though they had a career.
I was going to be the same thing.
I said, you know, I'm not going to be moved by everybody wanting
to send me to seminary and Bible college and everything else.
I said I'm going to do what I feel like the Lord wants me to
do, but I am not going to neglect the discipleship factor
in my life. It is a standard in the Kingdom
of God. And if you're doing anything
less, I I hate to tell you you're missing it.
OK, Let me give you another illustration of what Jesus said,
John 831 through 32, Listen to this.
Jesus said to those Jews that believed on him, OK, that was a
good day in Jesus ministry. He finally had somebody
believing, didn't want to, you know, take him, push him off a
Cliff, or stoning him to death. That was a good day, he said to
those Jews that believed on him. And he said, if you continue in
my word, then are you my disciples?
Indeed, he said, you will know the truth and the truth shall
make you free. Now when he said in there the
word the word continue in the Greek is the word mayno.
And the word mayno mainly basically paints the picture of
dwelling somewhere, sitting down, staying.
He said, if you continue now notice what he said in my word,
then are you a disciple? That makes sense because what is
a disciple again, it's a student.
A student of what? Of the words that Jesus spoke.
And then he says in there, And you will know the truth.
And the truth shall set you free.
I've said this for years. It's not the truth that sets you
free. It's the truth you know that
sets you free. The only way you can get to know
the truth is spend time in it. All right.
You know, if you're confused like Pilot was, He said what is
truth? What Jesus told us.
John 1717 All right, John 1717 says this.
Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth.
It's an absolute. It's not situational.
All right, he tells us in there. Matthew 1025.
I think it's interesting because one of the things that Jesus
tells he said this. He said it is enough that the
disciple be as his master and that the servant be as his Lord.
So we haven't done enough. If we are not like Jesus, we are
not and we have not done enough if those that the Lord is placed
over our lives, that we have done everything we can to serve
them and take care of them. It says it is enough when you've
accomplished that. Some of us are still in the
process and we'll always be in the process of doing what Being
like our masters, being like, you know, the to teach the
Kingdom of God. When we came down here, I, the
Lord told me in 2007 during a Black Friday, never forget it.
And I was sitting before the Lord and I usually spent time
during that time because everybody's out shopping or
they're sleeping because they was out all night shopping.
And I just get with the Lord and I say, hey man, I got a month
left, 30 days. I said, what have I missed?
What can you help me with? Where do I need to be by the
time we wrap this year, end up. And the Lord spoke to me and he
told me two things. He said, number one, he said,
you're not king to mind it enough.
What does that mean? And and I'm sitting there
waiting, you know, hoping I'm going to get something else.
And I didn't get nothing else except, he said, And I'm going
to increase your teaching ministry.
No sooner did he say that the next few weeks, all the areas
that I was teaching, they dismantled those classes.
I said, what him? Was I listening?
Was I paying attention? But the thing was, he had me.
He had me on a path. And as a disciple, you got to
stay on the path. And I come down here in 2009 and
I'm still trying to figure out this Kingdom thing.
I started studying the Kingdom. I looked up every scripture on
the Kingdom. Pastor David E my taught had
told me, I'm going to give you 2 Wednesday nights.
You're going to teach on the Kingdom.
And I had no idea what I was talking about.
It was it was amazing how and and and that's it.
That's the interesting part of the of the word revelation in
the Greek. It is the word apacalupto, OK?
And it means an unveiling or pulling back a curtain.
Can't see if the curtains closed.
And here I am doing all this study, trying to get it the best
I can. And it wasn't until I got down
here May of 2009. We got here Tuesday at about,
what, 3:00 in the morning, and I'm supposed to go with Pastor
Earl and Marcy to a conference in North SC, one of them
Carolinas. And by the time we got here, I
was so exhausted. He looked at me.
He said, you're not going nowhere.
He said you need to recover. I said, man, if it wasn't for
them dogs that we had to bring down, man, we'd been down here
sooner. I promise.
I said we had two dogs and a cat and and good Lord, we get here
and I didn't get to go that weekend, that end of the week.
That's when pastor heard the message of the Kingdom for the
first time and I missed it. It was, I couldn't believe it
and to see where we are because he taught us for a month, you
know, on the unseen principle. And then he unloads One Sunday
morning, June the 7th, 2009, the message of the Kingdom and I I
am not kidding. I mean it was life changing.
The light came on, ripped the curtain in half.
Seems to be a habit with the Lord ripping them curtains in
half, right? And man, we haven't been the
same since. Melanie looked over at me after
that and she goes, I have waited my whole life to hear this
message. Do me a favor brother and
sister. Don't take that message for
granted. You know, pastors teaching on
the Kingdom, do not thou shalt not take that message for
granted. You ought to be every time he
talks about it. It ought to be resonate in you
and continue to build and to grow in you.
That it is just it. It comes out of you so freely
because it is what is missing in the earth today.
Now let me give you a couple other scriptures going to come.
We're going to have to move on. All right?
OK said act 1711. This this particular passage
listened to it. It said these were more noble
than those in so that's all the NICA in that they received the
word with all readiness of nine and searched the scriptures
daily whether those things were so.
A disciple will search the scriptures daily.
How many times this pastor said it?
I have said it. I said this before pastor.
I even met Pastor, I said. You do not have to listen to a
word I say, and I encourage you don't.
If you hear something that strikes a chord, go search it
out. Prove it to yourself.
The word in their search in the original language is anacrino.
Anacrino in its in its simplest it means to scrutinize, to
investigate, to interrogate, to ask, to question, to examine, to
discern. The picture is a of an attorney
cross examining. So, you know, when an attorney
has you give your testimony, then there's going to be another
attorney to make sure your story is the same.
You want to make sure your story's the same when you're
talking about the word of God. You want your story.
You want your accuracy the same as the Bible.
That's what I'm teaching Titus and the grandkids right now know
what you're talking about when it comes to the Bible.
All right, now here's the sad part of of my education.
I felt like I was at a lull. Biblically and the studying that
I was doing and I just knew that there was more to being able to
understand the original languages of the Bible.
And in 1988 I met somebody else. His name is Rick Renner.
Pastor quotes him often. I absolutely fell in love with
Rick. I'm sitting there thinking when
he began to breakdown the Greek and the and the different things
there and I thought I found him and he and he he was he was kind
of he was kind of funny because he the first thing he did when
he got up on stage his first time we met he goes look at here
and he pulled up both Panth legs and he had two different colors
of socks on. Well he's my kind of guy
seriously. And so I and so you know, and
and guess what I did after he got done, I did the same thing
to him than I did to Doctor Harmon, Can I see your Bible?
And I said he goes, yeah, he goes, you can see this over
there in front row. And I sat down and I opened that
Bible and it was like, and I looked inside his Bible and it
was written down all the Greek that you could bathe in.
And and I said, and and I looked at it and I said, oh, this is a
wide margin Bible. He's written all this stuff.
I went and got me a wide margin Bible.
Remember that scripture? It is enough that a disciple be
as his master. And I began to write little.
I can write real small and you give me a sharp pencil.
I can write real little. And I started taking Greek notes
and and Hebrew notes and I started going there.
Pastor David E My was well versed in in a lot of that type
of teaching and I was just writing and did.
And then I had an opportunity to go to Africa and I was 17 days
in Africa and the Lord told me, he said, he said you might want
to make some copies of some of them pages that you prize so
much because you're going to leave that Bible in Africa.
What? Man, I found me a copier, right?
I was going to make copies of these notes, right?
And I did. I left it in Africa.
I was getting ready to get on the plane the 4th day and we
were there 17 days. And I was getting ready to get
on the plane and the Lord says that's the guy.
And I'm thinking to myself, man, I got like 13 days left.
I didn't bring a spare. I had pictured in my mind, I'm
going to get on the plane leaving, coming back to home and
I'm going to leave it with some brother, you know.
And and the Lord said he's the guy.
And I looked at him and he was carrying a Gideon Pocket Bible,
New Testament. And I said, is that what you
preach from when you have your congregation?
Is that, he said. That's all I have.
Not anymore. And as a matter of fact, I came
back from that trip and bought every one of those pastors of
Greek Hebrew Study Bible. Now the the freight alone was
more expensive than the books because they were all hard back
and heavy. But I wanted them to have it
because they they loved that teaching.
Getting back to the original language, the Holy Spirit, you
know, made sure that he had recorded for us to understand.
See the what I learned from Rick.
And this was interesting because I began to follow Rick and and
get his teaching tapes and he had a tape table like everybody
else. I bought everything.
I own every book he has. I have them all in hardback.
I have a complete shrine set up with Rick Renner stuff on it.
All right. And he did a series on tape and
I couldn't go. And there again, I'm
disappointed, right? And he did it, understanding the
Greek New Testament. And he did a seminar at a hotel
for two nights and I didn't get to go.
But thank you, Jesus. I got the VH S's.
And I've been through those VH S's.
I went through a minimum, minimum, all four, eight hours,
10 times minimum. And I began and I and I had the
opportunity to begin to teach the same thing he was teaching
in in our school in Oklahoma called School of Life.
Now the thing was, though, I get to about the third week of class
and they start talking ugly about me because it's not easy,
you know, to get that. But this is just the simple
stuff. It was recognizing words and how
that. But one of the things that Rick
said about the Greek New Testament, he said it is the
most picturesque language man has ever been involved with and
that we translate one word. But there's a whole picture that
it paints and you can't do it in just one word.
Let me give you an example real quick.
In Evisions, chapter 4, verses 11 and 12, I don't have it.
In my notes 11 and 12 it says that he gave some apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers for the equipping of
the Saints for the work of the ministry and the edifying of the
body of Christ. That's what it says, the word
equipping in there. All right.
And and, and, and You have to understand that some of these
words came not from deity, but came from the culture.
The word in the Greek is the word catartismos.
And the word catartismos means the setting of a bone.
It is a medical term. So when he gave the fivefold
ministry, what was their job? Number one is to put us in the
body, in the right place. Then he's gonna let us know that
if you're a bicep, you get to work, If your legs, you got to
walk around, just don't sit on your blessed assurance all the
time. But see, you don't get that from
the word equipping. What do you think?
Equipping. You know get a backpack or you
know get your tools ready for the job site.
No, he said. The setting of a bone, he's
going to place you. He is given that fivefold
ministry to be able to get you in the place you need to be so
that the body can function without pain.
All right. So when we take a look at said
the last, the last scripture I have for this section and this
particular standard, remember it's it's the study of the word
of God. It's not just the reading of it,
the passive reading of the word of God.
But you got to be a reader. If you don't read it, you're not
going to want to study it. All right.
But what is second Timothy 215 Tell us study to show yourself
approved unto God a Workman that need not be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth that word study.
And I'm I'm I'm glad they translated it like that.
But the word study is the word spude in the Greek.
And what it means is to be quick and and and fast and
businesslike, taking whatever you're doing extremely serious
but being quick about it. And and then it goes on and it
says do what? Be quick about making yourself
approved unto God. See, you don't have it.
And and and Ki students, listen. You're not trying to impress us
as instructors. You're trying to impress the
Lord. You want him.
You want his stamp of approval on your life.
And I love that. I was.
I visited right before pastor left.
I said I I learned something. The Greek word docky Moss is the
word approved. And it was basically a banking
term and it is how they rated coins back then.
And a Docky Moss was somebody that was at the highest level of
integrity when it came to their coinage.
They didn't have clipped edges that they would try to clip the
edges. So nobody'd noticed and they'd
hang on and they'd gather that up and they would have more
money, but they would give him a coin for a specific, a specific
amount. A documos was a person that was
noted for their honesty and for the trueness of their trade.
That is what he says in there. We need to be approved under God
as what the real deal. Now notice what he said a
Workman that need not be ashamed.
And I one day I asked the Lord, I said, well how is a Workman is
shaved And he began to he began to give me an illustration.
The illustration was he said you can take it in any trade, let's
say air conditioning or electricians.
You know, if you're an electrician, you probably got a
pair of wire cutters, A screwdriver and A and A and a
spool of wire, and you got a trade, and they're supposed to
train you and you're supposed to do it.
But then if they let you out solo to do something and you
mess it all up, you're going to be ashamed.
Well, you know, we have Christians, and they have a
pencil in their pocket and the Bible in one hand, a notebook in
another hand, and somebody comes up and asks them, how come you
believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost?
Well, because my church does, and you cannot show them in
Scripture why you believe in the baptism, the Holy Spirit with
the evidence, and speaking in tongues.
You need to be ashamed and any other question that someone has
about why you believe what you believe.
If you cannot tell them in Scripture, you need to be a what
you you. You need to be ashamed of
yourself. But then he says, rightly
dividing the word of truth. Why does that?
Why is that? What does that mean?
And why is that important? Because it can be.
And Pastor said this has taught us this before, that it can be
wrongly. It's implied.
It could be wrongly divided. You know, I mean there's And
here's how you know. Jot this down if you're taking
notes. I I teach this all the time.
All right? Everything.
I learned this years ago when I first got tapped into the Word
of Faith. Okay, one of the the guys that I
followed as far as out of California.
He taught camp meeting for years and he said this never, never
forgot it. And this is what he said.
Everything in the Bible is truly stated, but not everything in
the Bible is a statement of truth.
And I said he's a heretic. And then he explained it.
He said everything in the Bible is truly stated.
In other words, it was completely recorded the way it
happened. But not everything in the Bible
is a statement of truth. What does that mean?
That means that the Bible was recorded exactly.
It happened. And some of the people that said
stuff in the Bible were not inspired by God.
To say it in order you've got to be able to rightly divide and
and one of the greatest illustrations is the the 12
spies that went into the promised land.
And when they came out they gave a report.
I can promise you they were not inspired by God to give that
report but it was recorded exactly the way they said it and
it said the people cried all night, said God called it evil.
Why was it evil? Because it was contrary to his
report. His report said go search out
the land which I give. I've already given it to you.
You can go check it out. And they came back and said
we're not able to do it, man, they're giants there.
Only two guys made it. My sons.
Why do you think I named him Joshua and Caleb?
You think that was by chance? It just sounded good.
No? If names mean anything and they
mean a lot, I'm giving them a head start.
So you think about it. Those two guys made it.
Why? Because they immediately said we
are well able to go up and possess this land.
Let us go up at once and possess it, for they are bred for us.
And everybody said now majority rules and and you know what I
just, I love them two guys and my sons too, because they had to
take the punishment and live through the punishment of 40
years. And they were both in their 40s
when this whole deal started because Caleb came up to Joshua
and said, I'm 85 and I'm as strong as a day that we went and
searched out the land so God was able to preserve him.
But they still had to put up with all that murmuring and
complaining and continuing on. You know, I mean, if a triune
would have had the vote, if God told him, he said step out of
the way, I'm gonna smote him and I'm gonna start over.
And he said, now I can't do it, Lord, you know, every time they
messed up you, you look. And Moses is on his face, always
on his face, interceding for them.
Always. All right.
So when we we talk about, we talk about the study, we have
got to, we have got to take that perspective.
Brothers, sisters, we've got to become more than casual readers.
We have got to make up our mind. I don't care what your
occupation is. I don't care that you're never
going to be in the ministry. The only thing that matters,
what did Jesus say? Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my word will abide. It will be here forever.
It'd be a good idea to get to know it.
You believe that? All right, here we go, 835 Ooh,
all right. Standard #2.
I got 4 standards here, and we're not going to make it.
And I still don't feel that annoying.
So listen to this. Here's the second standard for
the Kingdom of God. Faith is the only currency that
is accepted when needing to bring something from the unseen
realm to the scene realm. Your need will not bring it.
You crying, you worrying, you being distraught, getting
argumentative, being touchy, being freckful will not bring
what you need. God's not moved by none of that.
In fact, he's kind of probably surprised you're all up in that.
But let me give you the Greek word.
That's all right. The Greek word for faith is very
well known. There's no misunderstanding.
It is the word pistis, PISTIS. And here's the definition.
It is a firm persuasion or a conviction, and if you did
really, really deep into that, you'll find out that it
basically deals with the subject of hearing.
So basically you can say that faith is, is, is is related to
the fact of something that you hear and something that you hear
that you are firmly convinced and firmly persuaded.
Another definition I love is this.
Complete and total trust in God and His word.
Complete and total. Not hope.
So not. I really wish this would happen.
You have got to understand that when God deals in faith, it is
going to be based upon the fact that he never lies, right Mark
11/24 put it up. Well let's start in 22.
You know, you know the account the county is.
Jesus is headed to a town and he's hungry and he sees a fig
tree far off, has leaves on it, and he's thinking, I wonder if
there's figs on that walks up to it.
And I've often said if I was a fig tree and I saw my creator
headed my direction, I'd be popping figs quickly.
In fact, anybody ever seen The Wizard of Oz, the movie?
And then trees take him apples and start throwing them out.
I'd have been throwing them figs.
Jesus comes up to the tree. Very curious word.
He answered the tree and say it right.
It's not in it, not on the board yet.
All right, he said. Answered the tree and said, No
man eat fruit of you here after forever.
And he says and the disciples hurt it.
So Jesus cursed this fig tree for not taking care of his
needs. And I thought it was interesting
he answered it. So it must have said something
other than I ain't none here, because the the response that
Jesus gave that tree was total annihilation.
Next day they come through, they noticed the tree had been
withered at the root. Verse 22.
All right, well 21. Peter says muster.
Look at the tree you cursed. Is that it's withered away from
the root. Verse 22.
Then Jesus said have faith in God, right?
Well, better translation. And I, and I've confirmed this,
it's true because the word God is is a possessive, is in its
possessive form, and it means he owns it.
And it says have the faith of God.
So we need to understand God must have some faith, and it
would be to our benefit again if we were able to find out what
that faith is and begin to live in it.
And he tells us what it is in the next verse, verse 23.
For verily, I say unto you, that whoever else shall say to this
mountain, be thou removed, be cast into the sea, and shall not
doubt in his heart, but believe that those things which he says
shall come to pass, he will have whatsoever he says.
And then in verse 24 he says, verse that I love and I teach,
and I used it to defeat cancer in my life.
When the hospital introduced me to the end of life, counselor,
and later admitted they knew that I was going to die.
And I use this verse to get that cancer out.
Because Jesus said this. He said, whosoever shall say to
this mountain be thou removed and be cast in the sea.
But notice the next phrase, pay attention to the next phrase,
because he said and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe
that the things he says shall come to pass.
He'll have what he says. It didn't say, you know, believe
in your heart that whatever God wants to do, he said use your
mouth like God used his mouth to create all of eternity.
So he said you've got to believe what you say.
You know what the problem is? A lot of believers, they don't
really believe what they say because they sometimes don't say
the truth. I mean how you going to convince
yourself when you're lying all the time or you're telling
things that are false? Or you're talking about other
people, things that are false. Yeah, it's going to be difficult
for you to engage in this verse because it says you must believe
the things that you say come to pass.
Now notice what he said. Therefore I say unto you, what
things so ever you desire. When you pray, believe that you
receive them and you shall have them.
I've never taught this verse without asking this question.
Let me read it again, or I'll quote it.
Therefore I say to you, what thinks soever you desire when
you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have
them. Here's the question.
According to that verse, what did Jesus say you would have?
Every time I ask that question, somebody answers what you
desire. Well, looks like it.
What things soever you desire. Yeah, he said.
When you pray, when you whatever you pray for, he said.
Whatever you believe for anybody, can you get that out of
there? Let me give you what I have
quoted for years and it makes a difference between life and
death, he says in there. Therefore I say to you what
things so ever you desire. When you pray, believe you
receive them and you shall have them.
The only thing Jesus said in that verse that you will have is
what you believed you received at the time of asking.
A lot of people don't like that, but it's the truth.
It has saved my life because I didn't.
Here's the thing. I let pastor know you can have
all the prayer, prayer lines that you want to have, but I'm
not coming. I told him that.
I said I'm not coming, and the only time that I ever came to a
prayer line was he called me down and had a word for me.
And it was the next word I needed.
Every time. Every time.
But I wasn't coming down. Why?
Because I'd already made-up my mind.
I was healed. Even though the doctors tell me
you're dying, you look like you're dying.
You smell like you're dying. Everything about you says you're
dying. And when I got introduced to the
end of life, Counselor and Melanie's pushing me down the
hallway in a wheelchair and a body brace because the cancer
had eating up my spine and everything else.
She's bawling. She's crying.
I can't see her. I can't turn around and look at
her in the eye. I said what are you crying
about? And she said that was the worst
report that we had since we've been here.
I've been there, I've been in the hospital since August and
this was October. I and and I just finished chemo,
4 rounds of it back-to-back. And she said that was the worst
report. And I said, yeah, I know that
was bad, but I said but it this is how this is going to turn
out. Psalms 117, verse 18 says you
will not die, you will live and you will show the glory of God.
I said, honey, we keep coming back to every appointment until
their report lines up with my report.
End of it. They asked me did you ever
doubt? No, I did not doubt.
Why? Because James tells us in the
first chapter. He said if you doubt, you get to
start over. Man, I've been in this too long
hurting too bad to be starting over.
It's the truth on there. I, you know, I said no, I ain't
starting over. I said my report is what I'm
going on. And and and and was it was it?
It was it was a lot of pain. But I tell you what I asked
Melanie the other day. I said we didn't miss church.
I was in the back, right back there, in the very back.
I had my wheelchair tucked in there and they said, well,
couldn't you walk? Yeah, I could walk, but not real
fast. And when you got to go to the
bathroom, somebody decided to have a facility that had a
bathroom a mile down the hall. I wrote an article about it one
time, called It All Depends. I did because I was dependent
because then it just, man, I I go to Starbucks, the bell has
rung. I get, I get to Starbucks.
I get. I hit the handle.
It's locked. Wait yourself, just what
happens? Your mind just give up, you
know? But what is it?
Don't doubt. Jesus tells us right here the
only currency is the medium of exchange to get the unseen.
To come into the scene is faith. Total trust in God's word.
No doubt you can't doubt, right? So he he tells us in there that
the things that we desire when we pray, we've got to believe we
receive them. At the time of asking.
That's why I wasn't coming down to another prayer line, because
what was I telling the Lord? I didn't get it.
Well, I'll tell you what, I got
it and I ain't letting go. I am not letting go.
And the fact that I'm and you know what, that was 2010, and
that year I was declared cancer free, they said we don't
understand it. We can't explain it, they said,
but there's not an there's not any cancer in your body.
And I and and he said chemotherapy doesn't do that.
I said, wish I'd have known that before the chemotherapy.
Wish you all have done a few more tests.
God's faithful, God's faithful. But faith is a standard.
Faith is a standard. It does not change.
His word does not change how much time we got left.
All right, I'm going to give you one more.
Number 30, Lord. All right, here we go.
Rapid fire. This is a this is a rapid ground
right here. OK.
Jesus himself gave us the standard for prayer.
You know, you have to ask you a question.
Jesus many times is recorded in the morning.
He'd get up early to go pray. You'd find him praying all
night, questioning what was he praying about?
I mean, Lord, we don't have rent money.
You know my donkey threw a shoe. I know Jesus was praying for.
He's praying for us and he's still praying for us.
Ever live it to make intercession for us?
Here's the standard Matthew chapter 69 through 13, and we're
going to wrap it up with it. And I'm just going to have to
beg. Pastor, let me keep going some
other time. Matthew 6, nine through 13, it's
very commonly called the Lord's Prayer.
Everybody familiar with it? OK, one of the things that I
need to let you know, the scholars agree that the Lord's
Prayer was not a prayer for us to memorize and say we've
prayed. It is a rabbinical outline.
So that means that God gave a skeleton that we need to flesh
out and Jesus taught that way. Many times a disciple said man,
we need a clue what you were talking about when he gave a
parable, he said, can you expound that?
He'd always expound it. He didn't want them in the dark.
He wanted them to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God
from the gospel. All right.
But this one here said after this manner, and we're going to
break this down as fast as I can after this manner.
Therefore, pray ye our Father, which are in heaven, how it be
thy name. All right, when we talk about
how it would be thy name, remember we went back and we
talked about a couple of those. The outline is this.
We just don't walk around saying how it'd be the name, how it'd
be the name. When you spend time with the
Lord, you want to remind him of his names.
Father, I thank you that you are Jehovah Jira.
I thank you that you are Jehovah Rafah.
I thank you that you are Jehovah Shalom, my peace.
Jehovah Niecy, my banner all through the Old Testament.
If you look up the word standard in the Old Testament, it's
always about a flag, he told them.
You will make a flag for each one of your tribes and post it
by your area so that you'll know where you're going.
Firstly, I'm sure, but it was a banner to let them know who they
belong to. Anybody seen the statue of Iwo
Jima? It's got the soldiers raising up
the American flag everywhere. The flag is is territory owned
by the United States. That's why they fly the flag
over embassies. Or the ambassador has control of
that flag. It's to let him know that
country owns it. It's the same thing.
The standard that we have. The Lord owns us.
OK, We let we are owned by Him. So we spend a few minutes in our
prayer life with him on the holiness of His name.
All right. The next one thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Couple of areas You want to spend time talking to the Lord
about the Kingdom coming. Number one is you.
You want to spend time letting the Lord know you are totally
submitted to him. You want to check yourself every
day to the submission of the lordship of Christ.
Luke 646 Jesus has the disciples a question.
He's still asking it today. He said, Why do you call me
Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say whoa and he's a sick.
You have no right to call me Lord if you're not going to do
what I tell you to do. Because Lord is the word curios
in the Greek and it means owner. He's owner by the right of
creation. But once you confess Jesus as
Lord, as the only way of getting in the Kingdom, it's not going
down front like I did when I was a little kid and I was 10 years
old. And I went down front and they
said pray this prayer with me. You know, ask God to forgive you
of your sins, ask Jesus to come into your heart and you'll be
saved. Guess what I found out None of
that's in the Bible. I hate to shock you, but there's
no place in Scripture where it says come down and confess all
your sins. Some people would be still doing
it. And who can remember them all?
And then he, what does he say? He goes on and tell you.
He says, and and he said, And then they said they they said,
well, you know, ask Jesus to come in your heart.
There is no place that you ask Jesus to come in your heart.
It is not in the Bible. There's one thing that you're
supposed to say with your mouth, and that is you are my Lord.
Period. That's the only way into the
Kingdom. The only way.
So when we see that we want to pray over ourselves, you want to
spend time asking the Kingdom come will be done in your
family, in our church. How about our pastors?
How about our city, state and nation, the world, all of our
missionaries? Do we not want the the, the, the
Kingdom of God to be produced in their life?
Absolutely we do. That is the time during that
part of your prayer to do that. Third thing, give us this day,
Our Daily Bread 2 Two types. One's your spiritual bread.
Father, what word am I going to need today to get me through
whatever's going to be coming? Jesus said it.
John 1633. He tells you right there.
He said, you know you're going to have tribulation,
tribulations coming, they said, but be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world, but what scriptures are you going to
need? I heard somebody say one time.
He said we're like coffee mugs and when somebody bumps your
mug, you'll find out what's inside because it's coming all
out all over you. He said we need to make sure
what's on the inside when trouble hits is the word of God.
You want to be a person of great faith.
The Bible tells us how to do it. Speak the word only.
That's how you become a person of great faith.
When trouble hits or something goes on or something, you get a
bad report. What is the first thing out of
your mouth? I hope it's not.
Oh God, what are we going to do? You better find a word.
Get the word on it. All right, give us a day.
Spiritual bread, then natural bread.
Father, I think either you've met every need that we have.
Every bill is paid in full. We all know, man, anything.
But to love them you got to you got to speak like that.
All right, The next one he says. And forgive us of our debts is
we forgive our debtors. Here's the thing.
Always examine yourself, especially after a
confrontation. Are you going to rehearse
everything they said over and over and over and tell it sows a
little seed of bitterness? Can't afford that.
That'll give you cancer. I know from experience.
But he tells us in there, he said always examine yourself.
1st Corinthians 1131 is it's. I don't have it up on the board,
but it it said judge yourself that you be not judged.
You need to take a look at you. You need to make sure you're
straight. You need to make sure you got
the log out of your eye, right. I had a I had it one time.
I taught a lesson on check your eyes for railroad ties before
you want to clean somebody else up.
Make sure you're clean, OK? And then I put in there.
You need to live in a spirit of forgiveness.
That is just continual. Jesus did it, Father.
Forgive them. They know not what they're
doing. My gosh people, all right,
Matthew verse 6 and and and verse 13 said lead us not into
temptation but deliver us from evil.
All right. Jesus told the disciples the
night that he was betrayed. In Matthew chapter 26, verse 41
he said watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.
So it's apparent to me temptations coming.
But the way we keep from entering into that temptation is
by watching and praying. Does that make sense?
So we always need to be we need to be watching.
We need to be praying. We need to be listening.
All right. And I think it's interesting
that when he said that, lead us not into temptation but deliver
us from evil. And the Greek bears out the evil
one. But Psalms 91, every morning I
can hear Melanie. She has memorized the whole
thing. And then I'll get.
I'll pick up wherever I wake up and listen, all right.
She she quotes the whole thing over our family, over everybody
in this church. She prays over the mall and
nobody's going to be tripping and falling and hurting
themselves. And we're not having any
accidents. We're not.
She praised Psalms 91. I I believe that is a part of
our prayer. God loves to hear you remind him
of his word. That's why Jesus said you're
going to worship me in spirit and in truth.
And when we come to Father the war, he says, you worship me and
worship me in spirit, which for us now is the ability to pray in
that unknown tongue. But he said, and truth what he
say. Truth was His word.
So we need to be bringing our His word to him, and then to
wrap it up. Isaiah 5417 in the arena.
Protection is no weapon formed against us will prosper, he
said. Every tongue that is shall rise
against you in judgment. You will condemn.
This is the heritage of better translation is this is an
inheritance. Everybody loves an inheritance.
And he said this is the inheritance of the servants of
the Lord. And their righteousness is of
me, says the Lord, It's an inheritance.
So hopefully we have discovered tonight.
And Marcus, you can go ahead and come that we've discovered
tonight a little bit of what God expects out of us as Kingdom
citizens, that he has the standards they're written, and
we shouldn't have any problem whatsoever adhering to him,
because God would never require anything out of us that we
couldn't do. But he's letting us know.
Hey, listen, I need you to become a disciple.
I need you to become a student, he said.
I need you to be, you know, a person that is walks in faith.
You believe what I said and you're going to show the world
that God will move on your behalf by your faith.
So, Father, we thank you and praise you for your word.
We thank you said it divides forever and we will be abiding
with it. For you said we'll know the
truth. The truth will make us free.
And Father God, we want to be people of the truth.
We want to be Kingdom citizens encouraging people to come to
our country. We want to praise you for that.
You know, this this evening you may and I was, I was going to,
you know, give the normal, you know, invitation, you know, and
I think it's interesting we call it an invitation where we ask
people, hey, if you've never made Jesus Lord of your life.
But did you know Jesus did not make an invitation?
In fact, God says that he wants winked at the sin of man, but
now he gives everyone a commandment.
It's not an invitation, it's a commandment.
Make me Lord. Make him Lord.
If you've never done that, I encourage you come down the
front. We've got people that that want
to minister to you. But the question that I've got
for you is that you may need to re up your commitment in your
arena of discipleship. You might need to re up your
commitment in your prayer life, in your faith talk.
You may have been running your mouth lately on things that are
nonprofitable to you, your family.
You know people that you know that you you know running your
mouth to people that they don't understand.
You know why you're you. You say you're all this and
Jesus and you have a great church and all this stuff, but
yet you you talk like somebody defeated.
Change that tonight. Repent.
Change your thinking and change your actions.
Can you do that? I encourage you to do that.
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