So I'm going to talk to you today about Born to Be.
OK, We'll find out because you could finish that statement a
few different ways, but we want to talk about the Kingdom birth.
Now. Look at Job chapter 3, Job
chapter 3 verses 1/3. I'm going to start this way.
This, this. I get the mood of the service.
All right. It said afterward, Job opened
his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
And Job said, let the day perish on which I, I was to be born.
And the night which said a boy is conceived, Doctor Miles
Monroe said this. He said it's not enough to know
you were born, but why you were born.
I'm going to say that again. It's not enough to know you were
born, but why you were born. I could go further and say why
you were born now, because you could have been back in the
1800's, the 1600's, the 1400's, the 8 hundreds.
You could have been prior to Christ, but God chose to wait to
drop your spirit in the earth now.
So it's not enough to know that you were born, but why you were
born and why you were born now. He goes on to say if one does
not know why they are born, abuses are inevitable.
Abuses are inevitable and many of you can say Amen to that.
I've been it through a lot of abuse.
Now, I'm not talking about people abusing you, although
that may have happened. I'm saying that sometimes it's
self abuse because we experiment with ourselves, because we're
trying to figure out who we are, why we're here, what we're
doing. And we will, you know, do all
kinds of things to ourselves and through ourselves to try to
discover ourselves where they're going.
Well, I'm going to go find myself.
Well, if you if you don't know who you are when you left,
you're not, you're not going to get to someone because whoever
you are when you left, just who you going to be when you get
there, right. And you know, no other culture
is going to teach you this. No other religion is going to
teach you this. There's only one who has a right
to talk to you about who you are.
And his name is the creator. So Jeremiah 15 says it this way.
He said before I was formed in in the womb I knew you and
before you were born I consecrated you.
I have appointed you a prophet to the nation.
So the Lord speaks to Jeremiah and says, before I formed you in
the womb, I knew you, which is really powerful because before
Jeremiah was even in the womb of his mother, God knew who he was.
And God already knew the reason why he is to exist.
And that's before he's in the womb.
So before he's in the womb, he's known by God.
And you know what? God's not a respecter of person,
which means Brian, He knew you before you were in your mother's
womb. In fact, He knew you before the
foundations of the world and He waited until now to put you in
this planet. Wow, how amazing is this that
you are such a forethought of God.
You are not an afterthought. God does not wake up and go, Oh
my gosh, Brandon Hicks is in the planet, Huh.
I guess he was born last night. Didn't realize his parents were
going to call him that. Why is he in Kentucky anyway?
I thought we were going to have him in Oklahoma.
You understand what I'm saying? God's not surprised by you.
God's not surprised no matter how you come, how you get in a
womb. God's not surprised, and He's
not limited to produce what He wants out of you.
No matter how you got here. Doesn't matter whether it's
through horrific circumstances or through the best
circumstances, God has a plan for your life.
Oh my gosh, are you hearing me? Look what it says here in Psalms
139 verses 13 to 17. He says this for you, for my
inward parts. You wove me and my mother's
womb. I give thanks to you, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made. You understand there's no child
in a womb that God's like. That's a piece of trash that's
not coming from the voice of God.
I would I wish this child was not here.
That child should never be born. That is never coming from the
voice of God. The voice of God says you are
fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful are your works and my
soul knows it well. He goes on to say my frame was
hidden from you. I was in I was made in secret
and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.
My eyes have your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in
your book were all written the days that will ordain for me,
when as yet not one of them. So before you even came into
existence, God has a plan for you, knows you by name, and
there's nothing that can stop God's plan for your life except
you stopping God's plan for your life.
So if you've taken a few years to get here, good news we can
get in the book that was ordained for you before you ever
left the womb. And let's start walking out that
life now. Cuz let me say something to you,
God can't even redeem the time. Don't say oh man I've just
wasted so much of my life. God is a Redeemer of time.
Every person you should touch, everything you should do for
him, He can redeem the time. He can cause people that you
cursed, cut, disregarded, come back into your life where you
can be a blessing, a hope and bring them to Christ.
I remember one time some, you know, my friends in high school,
you know, 'cause we didn't know what friends were, we just,
everybody was called friends. But you know, now that I know
the Bible, I know what a friend is.
But anyway, my friends in high school, you know, I acted a
particular way. I was born again at a young age,
but I didn't live for the Lord and I didn't go to church that
challenged me to live for God. Just that you know where you're
going to go and you die and live a good life, you know, and
living a good life is subject, you know, because there's a way
that seems right to a man. And if you're not a study of the
word, then you're going to conclude that your ways are
right, even though they can be wrong.
Now, you know, I backslid enough that I realized what I was doing
was wrong, although I wasn't stopping it.
But I have been ingrained that, well, you're going to go to
heaven when you die anyway. Oh Jesus.
So anyway, I didn't, you know, really I compared to the Bible
was not great at all. I was horrible.
So when I see that in light of the word, I ended up getting a
call from a schoolmate who was having a challenge with a
sibling and ended up asking me advice, found out that I was in
ministry. So I was communicating to them.
And I remember when at the end of the phone call, I said, Hey,
I need to ask you to forgive me. And they're like, why?
I said because I wasn't good when I was in school and I sure
didn't represent Jesus, right? They're like, no world.
You were you were a great guy. I said not according to the word
standard. I was not.
And I need you to forgive me. Are you hearing me?
I remember another female that I was really bad too.
And you know, after I got born again, I mean, after I started
living for the Lord and going I'm like the Lord.
If there's every day that I could have an opportunity, I
want to say I'm sorry. And that day came with that
person. I don't remember whether it was
a phone call or text. I can't remember how it went
down because it's so long ago. But I remember saying to them,
probably from a social media, I'm sorry for the things that I
did. Will you forgive me?
Good news is they did and they were living for the Lord
themselves, you know, got married, had kids.
But you know what? God redeemed these relationships
that I can look back on and say I didn't represent God right
now. Has God allowed me to do it to
everyone of them? No, not at all.
However, however, and I don't know that I needed to, but
there's ones that I did that God gave me the ability and it
didn't matter that I hadn't been around.
I hadn't seen them if the fact is God is a Redeemer of time.
So verse 17 he says how precious also are your thoughts to me.
Oh God, how vast is the sum of them?
Now that's amazing because most of us have such low self esteem
anyway that we don't understand that God's light.
I don't know why you're thinking about yourself that way because
if you actually had a conversation about what God
thought about you. Now when I say that, I'm not
saying that he's saying that about your current state or even
current responses, because he could say, don't behave that
way. You're better than that.
You're a child of God. Now you have the Holy Ghost in
you. You don't have to behave that
way, respond that way, act that way.
Now he can say that, but what we'll say he says, why?
Because this is what I know about you.
You're the righteousness of God in Christ.
And you know what your identity is now in Christ and you know
you have the power to function and act a totally different way.
And and it's easy for you now because your nature is like my
nature and my spirit lives in you.
And you know what, I see you that if you just continue to
obey me and follow me and love me with all your heart, all your
soul, all your mind and all your strength, there are so many
things we're going to do together, so many people's lives
we're going to touch, so many things you're going to overcome
in life. And people are going to be in
awe with the life of God that you have.
I mean, he's going to talk to you like that because he
believes in you so much. God is amazing and if I get away
from myself, as John said, I must decrease, He must increase
man. When I do that, then I begin to
discover who I am, who the Creator who made me and listen,
when He made me, He never made me to be with him alone.
He made me to be with him and the rest of his family.
Not only does God want to bless me, but I He wants me to be a
blessing to him through my obedience.
But then He wants me to be a blessing to my brethren because
I live with my brothers and sisters in love, and we walk
together and we serve God together and we hold each other
up in holy unity. It's amazing life to live when
you're born of God. It really is.
And I was glad that through the years, as I started to hunger
for God, he ended up putting me around different ministries that
would get out another truth about who I was and another
truth about who I could be with God and and what God had done
for me and how I could just act normal.
It was normal for me to be holy. It was normal for me to obey.
It was normal for me to believe because it's the nature that God
made me. And when I discovered that, then
I realized, wow, God really is thinking about me and caring
about me and, and wants me. You know what?
There's a reason why I'm here. It's a reason.
And you know what? Whatever that reason is, it's
not predicated on how many people see it.
What's predicated on me doing what He thinks, what He knows I
should be doing? And if I do that, that's
amazing. It cannot get greater than
pleasing, my heavenly Father. Wow.
And so, you know, you have to know why you were born.
Isaiah Chapter 9, verse six and seven.
Jesus gives us the example that is not enough to know you're
born, but you got to know why. And you know this verse, we've
said it so many times, but it bears repeating, and we'll
repeat it probably another million times before Jesus
comes, unless he comes tomorrow. He says this for a child will be
what born to us. A son will be given to us, and
the government will rest on his shoulders and his name will be
called Wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal Father,
Prince of Peace, verse 7. There will be no end to the
increase of his government or peace on the throne of David or
over his Kingdom to establish it, to uphold it with justice
and righteousness from then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
So a child is being born. There's a reason why a son is
given. Notice a son is not born.
He is given because the Son always existed.
It is God, the second part of the Godhead, the Son of God.
We know his name is Jesus when he jumped into the flesh.
And so you understand Jesus is born of the Virgin Mary.
And you know, Mary told him this, communicated this, she
said it, you know, and once he learned about the birds and the
bees, he could have said, how's this possible?
However, she says, I, I, me and your dad, we're not together,
never been with a man. The Holy Ghost put you in me.
Because she knew when they took him to the temple and it was
spoken over them that he was the one, the Messiah, the Christ,
they knew He's the anointed 1. And God had no problem bringing
an anointed one through controversy.
Because you understand Joseph, you think everybody in town was
like Mary got pregnant without Joseph.
Never had a man toucher. That's amazing.
You think that's what they said in town?
No, when Mary went by the light, there's that woman.
You know, I wonder who Jesus's father is because you know, the,
the word on the street is Joseph.
What Joseph went around when she got pregnant.
I mean, I can't believe he actually married her.
You know what I heard? I heard he was going to come
back and divorce her, but for some reason he didn't.
And you know, he, that's true. He was going to come to divorce
her, put her away privately. But the, the Angel said, you
stay put. This is of God, the Holy Ghost.
Did this stay with the woman? He's like, all right.
And so, you know, when he's walking by, like, I can't
believe he's raising some other man's child.
Don't even know who it is. His wife's whored around on him.
People are rude. Have y'all experienced any rude
people before? Talk about stuff that they know
nothing about? Yeah, I understand.
So you understand they're living in this culture and Jesus, you
know, when he's about and about people like you think the kids
were like, you're the anointed 1.
You think the children when Jesus showed up in the
playground, they fell down at his feet.
Now listen, he was tempted on all accounts like us.
You understand Jesus showed up to playground like where's your
daddy at? Well, Joseph, you know he's my
dad said no, he ain't your daddy.
Go, we heard your Mama. Oh y'all, y'all just need y'all
ain't been to the public school in a while.
Apparently y'all haven't been to schools in a while.
You ain't even been to private schools in a while.
It don't matter what school you go to, kids will talk, run off
at the mouth, cut each other. That's part of sin nature, and
yet Jesus had to learn how to navigate in that.
But this is what we know concerning Jesus.
Jesus when he he emptied himself of his glory and he came to the
earth as a man. So Jesus had to discover his
why? That's right.
He knew he was born. He's hearing what Mom said, but
that's not enough to convince Jesus of his.
Why? Jesus had to discover his why?
Why am I here? Why is it that mom saying that?
Why is it that people talk about our family?
Why is it that there's other conflicting reports?
Why is it that I don't think the same way everybody else?
How come I don't? How come it seemed like I'm
always doing the right thing and everybody else is struggling
doing the wrong thing And I'm like, I don't understand what
the problem is. Just don't do, don't disobey.
Because Jesus was, he never knew sin even as a child.
He didn't walk in disobedience. Oh, the perfect one.
Class pet. That's the word I was looking
for. Well, y'all class pet.
That way you're able to say that he's like Isaac last pet, I know
what you're doing. Or did you pick on the class
pet? We'll talk.
We'll talk about it later, OK. But look what it says here in
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 7, it says this.
Then I said, behold, I have come in the scroll of your book.
It is written of me to do your will, O God.
So here it is. God, God, Jesus himself had to
discover himself through Scripture.
If Jesus and we are to be like Christ, had to find His why in
scripture, How can you find your why outside of Scripture?
How can you find your why outside of scripture?
And many of you can today you would testify.
I tried to find my why outside of scripture.
I could not find it. It left me broke, disgusted,
beat down, depressed, all kinds of issues.
In essence, a lot of abuse happened in my life because I
was trying to find my why outside.
But once I met Jesus and I started going into the Word, I
began to discover myself, right? Look what Jesus says in Luke
chapter 24 verse 27. It says then he said then
beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained
to them things concerning himself in all the Scripture.
So when Jesus started going through the Scripture, like
every boy in the nation of Israel was required to do, when
he reads, he would like the Spirit would say, that's you,
that's you, that's you, that's you.
You're the lamb that was slain. You're the holy and anointed
one. You're the one sent of the
Father. You're the one born of a virgin.
You're the one that's the prophesied king who'll come and
set up his Kingdom and never end.
You're the sacrifice for the rest of the world.
You're the one. And he discovered his why?
And he said, This is why you're going to do this, this, this.
And when Jesus is at his greatest moment of having to
answer his why, he said, Father, if there's any other way for
this cup to pass, let it pass, but not my will.
But your will be done because This is why and he answers the
why when he's at the worst time of his life under the greatest
pressure in John chapter 18 verse 37, he's standing before
the governor like we will stand before the governor's wife
tomorrow, standing before the governor pilot and said so you
are a king and Jesus answered, you say correctly that I'm a
king for this I have been born. And for this, I've come into the
world to testify to the truth. Whoever is of the truth hears my
voice. Jesus knew his why.
And Jesus is why motivated his life.
He never did anything in his life away from his why.
This is why it's so important for you to discover your why and
listen. Your why.
Your why is not my why. Your why may be business.
Your why may be in the medical field in that sector of society.
Your why may be in government. Your your why may be to the
fivefold ministry, whatever that why is there something God wants
to do through you in that sector of society through that type of
business, whatever it may be. There's so much God wants to do
when you discover it and when you do it, you can't be stopped.
Will you be persecuted? Yes, but can you be stopped?
No, cannot. So Jesus understood his why.
So what's it say in John chapter 3 in John chapter 3 verses 3
through 7, we have to discover a why Jesus answered and said to
Nicodemus about two 3:00 in the morning.
He said truly, truly. I say to you, Unless one is born
again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
And Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he's old?
He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be
born, can he? Jesus goes on to say, truly.
I say to you, unless one is born of the water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit of Spirit. Do not be amazed that I say to
you, You must be born March 11th 1970 about 120 something in the
morning Peggy and Glisten married to Enoch Washington.
Glisten gave birth to a son. First name that popped up for
them to call me prior to that day was Steven Paul.
But my dad's brother had a son 1st 18 months earlier and named
him Steven Michael. So that came off been kind of
neat to be called Steven Paul, other than both of them were
martyred. And so thank you, Jesus.
All right, Second name was Gregory Frank.
My dad's father's name was Frank Gregory.
I have no idea where that came from.
All right so didn't go there but my dad said this may be my only
son so Enoch Washington but my dad did not like his name.
Enoch was a traditional family name on my father's side for
every generation till I was born a dad.
Hated the name. Now, Apostle Enoch be pretty
awesome, especially if I am in the generation that gets caught
up, right? I mean, we had a really good
opportunity here to let me be translated like maybe one of my
relatives. If you take us all the way back,
you understand what I'm saying. But my dad didn't do that.
So he just went with initials and he went with the name he
took on himself, which was Earl. So he said we'll call him Earl
Wayne, and that's my name today. Good news is Earl is nobility,
so it worked out pretty good. Since I lived for the king and I
am of a royal bloodline, I am of nobility.
I believe that, so I'll keep it right.
Got to give me a new name. Anyway, the point is, as that
was the day that I came from my mother's womb into the earth.
And you know what? God knew all the while that he
was going to call me. I struggle most when I was in
high school, right after I graduated from high school
because I didn't know what I would do as far as academics.
Extremely intelligent, graduated top 10% of my class, had a
scholarship to a college. But my dad died 15 days after I
graduated. So to say my life was in a bit
of disarray would be an understatement.
And he died at 51, same age as his father that I heard my
father say 1000 times growing up.
He said it once. He said 1000 times, I'll die the
same age as my dad. Wow.
He had no idea the power of his words.
My dad did get born again before he died.
You know, I think about 18 months prior to his death, he
gave his life to the Lord and I know that he is in heaven.
My mom gave her life to the Lord earlier than that and raised my
sister and my brother in church. And so, you know, obviously at
that point I didn't really know what to do.
I was kind of distraught, definitely arguing with my mom.
She was grieving. My brother was way younger.
My sister was already married. So I just thought I'd just go
off into the military. My brother-in-law stopped me
from doing that and said go on the National Guard instead
because if you hate it, it's only one week and a month.
If you love it, you can enlist to go full time.
So I did that and started a military career.
I never really got back into college much.
When I did go to college, probably right out of high
school for the first year, I took precalculus in high school.
I do not even have an algebra credit in college.
I was so bored with the class. And unlike unlike my high
school, college, you could come and go.
My high school was closed campus.
You showed up, you stayed. So I like I'm leaving and so I
make A's on all my tests, but I would not be in class enough so
I would have to withdrawal in order not to get an F for being
there too. Little Long story short, you
know, my life was just a roller coaster in June 1979 when I was
9 year old. Prior to all of that.
I remember on that Sunday morning at Archer Baptist
Church, and I'm going to go film this.
I'm going to go to Archer Baptist Church this year and
film my salvation experience. If you don't know when you were
born again, you need to get born again tonight because you should
know. And I know in June 1979, I'd
have to go back to 79 to determine what the day was.
I don't have that committed to memory, but it was in June 1979.
I was nine years old at Archer Baptist Church.
Church is still there, same stained glass.
I don't even know it may be the same carpet when I go in, but
I'm calling the pastor. I say I want to come.
I was born again there and I was not.
I want to bring my my team and I want to do a little mini
salvation documentary. But I remember I was probably
about 2/3 back because I was a good Baptist and sit further.
And so there's always plenty of roads up front, you know, says I
always filled in the back first, but that's just how it was
traditionally anyway. But I remember it was the big
middle row 2 on the edge. Red pews because the blood of
Jesus. Red carpet because of the blood
of Jesus. The blood will bring you to the
altar, people. Didn't matter that the stained
glass was pink and teal. Didn't matter.
It was red carpet. OK, Piano on one side, organ on
the other side. Choir pit in the back.
Pulpits up front had chairs for the pastor.
Wish we bring those back actually.
Anyway, so with that being said, I don't have, I have no idea
what Pastor Wayne Harvey said that day because I was ready to
be saved. And when he gave that altar
call, I stepped out, went down front.
My mom's crying, you know, he's rejoicing.
He prays with me and I know that I'm born of God.
Unfortunately, you know, there wasn't teaching and then I was
just in it for the tradition at that point, you know, it's just
how it was. I didn't know better.
And I live for God up till my teenage years.
And then puberty hit. Girls started to look different.
And you know, that temptation was a little powerful, you know,
So it put me in a different position.
But I knew I was going to go to heaven when I died.
At least, you know, that was my belief system then.
My dad dies after high school. And then I met my wife on a
blonde date. She would have been previously
married, had a child, and I decided I was going to marry
her. And I'm like, what am I doing?
So I'm like, I got to get my life right because you're not
just marrying a girl, you're becoming a dad right out the
gate. And so I said, you know, I don't
know much. And then I didn't.
I was academically smart, but that doesn't translate into the
workplace all the time. And I was like, my dad taught me
how to work because he had his own business.
My wife's stepfather really knew how to work and told her how to
work. And she was more of a drill
Sergeant than I was. She actually taught me how to
work really well and, and I told her how to love.
And so I said we're going to need to follow God.
And we did. And I would say it was my moving
him from Savior to Lord moment. We're both 21 and we didn't look
back. Now, did we live fleshly?
Some in the first years, Yeah. Because we didn't know better.
And I wasn't taking us to places that helped us crucify the
flesh, the teaching. But you know, when you start
getting hungry for God, God will take you to places that will
teach you things. And so I determined at a young
age, 24 actually, that I would not be constrained to a
denomination. I will only be constrained by
the Bible. And that opened up doors where
teachings made it to me. My wife was baptized in the Holy
Ghost before I was, and it would have been a part of a church
that function that way. We eventually landed in an
assembly God that did that. I got baptized in the Holy Ghost
in 95. Two years later the Lord calls
us to a Bible school. It was 2 years prior to that
though, before I was baptized in the Holy Ghost.
I was called to ministry and we've just followed God ever
since. In 93, if I left after I left
school was in the guard didn't know what I was going to do in
live vacillating here and there did a little drafting and
school. You know, it's going to be a
Warrant Officer, all kinds of stuff, you know, just but
couldn't get a heading move to Atlanta, obeying God and
thinking I'm going to be a computer operator because I was
being destined for that and I'm seeing the financials, what that
looks like and thinking we're arriving.
I'm going to go to the Baptist Church, you know, and be a good
servant of God based upon what I knew, but I'm going to work one
day my windshield disappeared and I saw myself preaching.
It was such a moment in my life that I could I would never shake
that. I'll never shake that moment.
I wasn't baptized in the Holy Ghost.
I didn't know how to be led by the Spirit.
So God had to show me something and I've never turned away.
I've had plenty of opportunities to quit.
I've quit a lot of times in Word, but never in deed and but
God's been faithful because once you know your why.
I remember one time Pastor Hagen said if you can do anything else
other than ministry, do it. And I knew the day he said that
I cannot. It's my destiny.
And like Jeremiah, it's like fire shut up in my bones.
I must preach and I must do more than just preach.
I must live what I preach. I must be that, right?
And so when you know your why. And The thing is, God knew my
why before I knew my why. But here's the thing, my the day
I was born was not enough. It was the day I was born again,
or born from above that gave me access to my why.
Until you're born again, you're not accessing your why.
And but once you're born again, you can make a demand.
Lord, I need to know why. And if you'll seek the why, He
will tell you. Now some people don't seek
because they don't want to know why because they prefer their
options. And parents, you got to watch
yourself because you'll want to be God for your kids.
I can make Randy come up here and give another testimony about
this. You know, he has a company in
Oklahoma and he his whole life, he tells his kids, if y'all call
the ministry, I'll support you until his oldest says I'm going
to go after I graduate to Florida and help pastoral planet
church and his dad's life. No, no, you're not son.
You don't have a plan. You don't know what you're doing
because his thought is no, you're going to stay here and
help me run this business. It's going to be a father some
business. We are going to make a lot of
money and advance the Kingdom of God.
We are business people. And so he calls me and tell
talks to me about this and he said I've given him a year.
He's going to come up with a plan because listen, Randy never
expected him to come up with a plan.
He expected him to get rid of a fad.
If I can just get him away from Pastor Earl for another year
here, forget the man even exists.
A year later, Joshua shows up and says I'm ready to go to
Florida and Randy's beside himself.
You haven't given me a plan. You're not telling me how you're
going to do it because Pastor Josh, all he is like Abraham,
get up and go to the place. I'm going to show you.
And he's like, I'm out of here and his dad's like I'm Moses.
I need to know the deal. He said, well, that's your
problem. You're Moses.
I'm not I'm Abraham, I'm out of here.
But you understand, don't think your children aren't listening
to you because Pastor Josh looked at the dead.
He said, you told me my whole life that if I was called the
ministry, you would support me. I'm called to go help Pastor
Earl start a church, and this is at night.
Well, he knew it at 18. He had to wait a year to leave
at 19. And so Randy calls Cron.
And I said, Randy, what's the worst that can happen?
You're sending him to me. I got it.
And if he fails, I'll send him home.
This is really no problem. Well, what Randy and Melanie
didn't know is that Joseph was coming ahead of the family
because in Randy's worst time in life with cancer, to his own
admission, he would have died in Oklahoma if he had not come to
Florida. But it took a son to leave.
So parents, you understand don't always know that you have
everything for your children. Know that God has everything for
your children and be willing to give them to the Lord.
John chapter one verse 12 to 13 says it this way.
But as many as received him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the
will of man, but of God. The greatest thing that I could
ever do for my children was to tell them, Find out why God has
you here, and do it. I never pressured my children in
ministry, never expected them to follow me in ministry.
They do not have to follow me. My children are mine by blood,
but not by and by flesh, but not by the plan and purpose of God.
Because the day they were born again, Sean, I did not see him
in his natural birth, but I was there the day he gave his life
to Jesus. We were going to school in
Georgia and we were talking and he said, I want to make Jesus
Lord. And I led him to Christ.
And that was really amazing for me.
I was thankful that God allowed me to have that.
And then I saw my other two children become born again as
well. And from that point we say, hey,
whatever you do, follow the plan of God for your life.
That's where success is. That's where success is OK.
And so God has given us the ability to become children of
God. And again, we become children of
God not because of a natural day we were born, but because of our
spiritual birth. You should know your spiritual
rebirth. So what I love about talking
about Dave and Mackie, Dave and Mackie can tell me his new birth
age. He'll say I'm this many day, I'm
this many years in the Lord right now.
Again, I would love for others to have told me that.
David just tells me this the most.
That's why I can say that, right?
Do you know your days in the Lord?
Mine was in 79, so it's my birthday, my 56 -, 9, That's how
many days in the Lord I have been.
OK, first Peter 1/3 says it this way.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to his great mercy has called us to be born again to a
living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. Aren't you glad that Jesus has
said, listen, I knew you before you in your mother's womb,
you're now in the earth. But once you make Jesus Lord of
your life, destiny can be fulfilled and again your destiny
can be fulfilled because God will redeem the time.
Two more scriptures and we'll close first Peter chapter one
verse 23 says this for you have been born again, not of seed,
which is perishable, but imperishable.
That is through the living and enduring word of God.
You know, what gives me the greatest joy is really not the
day, my children, that we celebrate their birthday, but
that I all know that they're born of God and that this time
on the planet that's temporary in this state of living, one day
we'll all be with the Lord in eternity and I'll enjoy those
relationships for eternity. When Chase called or text the
other day in our family text thread, Scout may Jesus the
Lord, she's the last grandchild to make Jesus Lord.
Now I have a couple grand great grands that I want to hear the
day that they make Jesus Lord because that means then now this
family is eternal and I'm not just enjoying this relationship
here and here alone. It's gone beyond our lifetime.
It's gone into forever into eternity.
Are you hearing me? And that's the birth that's the
most powerful parents. There's nothing more, the
nothing better to celebrate than to celebrate the new birth of
your children, the new birth of your grandchildren, the new
birth of, of your, of you know, well, you know, because that new
birth is not a perishable seed. It's forever.
Why is this important? Because in first John 54 said
this. For whatever is born of God
overcomes the world. And this is the victory that
overcomes the world, our faith. Because I'm born of God, I have
now the ability to hear God. My nature will obey God.
It's just out of my nature to obey to, to say, yes, Lord, your
word is supreme, Your word is true.
Your word will come to pass. I believe you at your word and
anything going on in this life, we're going to overcome because
I was destined to be an overcomer.
God has restored me to something.
This salvation that I have is so precious.
It's so powerful. I do not take it for granted.
I do not throw it on the shelf like it's.
I do not live life as if I'm not aware.
I've been born of God and I've been taken out of the things of
this world. I've been transferred out of the
domain of darkness. God has given me the privilege
to be born of Him and that makes me an overcomer.