Purpose Isn't Petty - Bishop T.D. Jakes
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ÉducationTranscription
00:00:00 (upbeat music)
00:00:02 We're going to the sixth chapter of the book of Joshua,
00:00:12 chapter 20 through verse 25,
00:00:16 and I'm gonna be reading it out of the NIV,
00:00:19 and you follow along with us as we go into the Word of God.
00:00:23 Glory to God.
00:00:24 I'll give you a minute to find it.
00:00:26 Minutes up.
00:00:27 (laughing)
00:00:29 Ah!
00:00:32 I hope you feel good tonight.
00:00:36 Glory to God.
00:00:38 I'm feeling good tonight.
00:00:40 Thank you, Jesus.
00:00:42 I walked in here and didn't have to roll.
00:00:45 Thank you, Jesus.
00:00:47 I came in here and nobody had to carry me.
00:00:49 I'm feeling good tonight.
00:00:51 Thank you, Jesus.
00:00:52 I'm standing on both my feet tonight.
00:00:55 I'm feeling good tonight.
00:00:57 I can see you, I can hear you, I can feel you.
00:01:01 I'm blessed.
00:01:02 Glory to God.
00:01:03 See, you don't call that a blessing
00:01:05 until something compromises it,
00:01:07 and then you're on your knees praying,
00:01:08 "Oh God, if you just give me my sight back."
00:01:12 But while you got it, you ought to give God the praise
00:01:15 for what you've got right now.
00:01:16 Oh, bless his high name.
00:01:22 We are in the sixth chapter of the book of Joshua,
00:01:27 standing on the precipice of a revolution.
00:01:30 We are standing right on the apex of an invasion
00:01:36 where the people of God are getting ready to invade
00:01:40 and take over territory.
00:01:42 Look at your neighbor and say,
00:01:43 "I'm getting ready to take over territory."
00:01:46 Glory to God.
00:01:48 I'm not just gonna occupy,
00:01:50 I'm gonna take over territory.
00:01:53 I'm getting ready to go into expansion.
00:01:56 I'm getting ready to go into increase.
00:01:59 I'm getting ready to take over territory.
00:02:02 Glory to God.
00:02:03 Can y'all handle that?
00:02:04 - Yeah.
00:02:05 - Let's start at the 20th verse
00:02:07 and see what thus saith the Lord.
00:02:09 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted.
00:02:14 Listen at that closely.
00:02:15 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted.
00:02:20 Never heard of a shouting army before.
00:02:24 Normally when you got troops, they fight.
00:02:26 But when the trumpets sounded, the army shouted.
00:02:30 And at the sound of the trumpet,
00:02:33 when the men gave a loud shout,
00:02:35 the wall collapsed.
00:02:41 Glory to God.
00:02:42 I wonder what's gonna collapse tonight.
00:02:45 (congregation cheering)
00:02:48 Mm, my God.
00:02:50 Something is getting ready to collapse tonight.
00:02:53 You might need a hard hat on tonight
00:02:56 'cause something is getting ready to collapse.
00:02:59 Your faith is gonna do some demolition,
00:03:02 some deconstruction,
00:03:04 some disruption is getting ready to go on.
00:03:06 Walls are coming down.
00:03:08 Look at your name and say, "Walls are coming down."
00:03:11 If you're watching online, type it on the line,
00:03:13 walls are coming down.
00:03:15 Walls are collapsing, they're giving way.
00:03:17 Things that have been standing for decades and centuries
00:03:21 are collapsing now in the presence of the Lord.
00:03:24 They are coming down in the name of Jesus.
00:03:27 So everyone charged straight in
00:03:31 and they took the city.
00:03:36 They didn't give it to 'em, they took it.
00:03:38 Glory to God.
00:03:41 They devoted the city to the Lord
00:03:44 and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it,
00:03:48 men and women, young and old,
00:03:53 cattle, sheep, and donkeys.
00:03:55 They destroyed every bit of it.
00:03:58 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land,
00:04:03 "Go into the prostitute's house
00:04:09 and bring her out."
00:04:12 Now, the last time I saw them bring out a woman
00:04:15 of ill repute in the Bible, they were gonna stone her.
00:04:18 But not here, "Go into the prostitute's house
00:04:23 and bring her out and all who belong to her
00:04:26 in accordance with your oath to her."
00:04:30 Ah, this is unusual in the Holy Bible
00:04:37 that God has, the Holy Bible is talking about a hooker.
00:04:41 So the young men who had done the spying went in.
00:04:46 They were young men, see.
00:04:48 I didn't know that, they were young men.
00:04:51 So they weren't old men.
00:04:53 I ain't gonna bother with that.
00:04:56 The young men who had gone, who had done the spying,
00:05:00 went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother,
00:05:06 her brothers and sisters, and all who belong to her.
00:05:11 They brought out her entire family
00:05:17 and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
00:05:22 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it,
00:05:29 but they put the silver and gold
00:05:31 and the articles of bronze and iron
00:05:35 into the treasury of the Lord's house.
00:05:38 Couldn't call it a mercy, that's a transfer.
00:05:42 You didn't hear me, that's a transfer.
00:05:49 The entire wealth of Jericho is transferred
00:05:53 to the treasury of the house of the Lord.
00:05:56 But Joshua spared Rahab, the prostitute,
00:06:02 why y'all keep telling a business like that?
00:06:05 Just be quiet, just call her Rahab.
00:06:07 No, no, they tell her occupation, her profession,
00:06:11 so that we can understand clearly
00:06:13 the oxymoron of this text, the power of this text,
00:06:17 the flamboyant grace of this text,
00:06:20 God's mercy in this text,
00:06:23 that of everybody in the city, not even a goat escaped,
00:06:27 not a pigeon, not a turtle dove escaped,
00:06:30 but of all the people in the entire city,
00:06:33 Rahab, the prostitute, with her family
00:06:38 and all who belong to her,
00:06:40 because, because she hid the men.
00:06:45 Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho
00:06:50 because she did God a favor.
00:06:53 When was the last time you did God a favor?
00:07:00 I just believe tonight that if you do God a favor,
00:07:03 God would do you a favor.
00:07:05 And he sent, Joshua had sent the spies to Jericho
00:07:10 and she lives amongst the Israelites to this day.
00:07:15 Now, I'm gonna talk about purpose isn't petty.
00:07:26 Purpose isn't petty.
00:07:30 Now, this is a warning, all the petty people need to leave.
00:07:33 This is not gonna be a good night for you.
00:07:37 And I'm telling you right now,
00:07:38 before you get your feelings hurt,
00:07:41 all petty people go to the exit door and leave now,
00:07:44 because purpose isn't petty.
00:07:48 Spirit of the living God fall fresh on us
00:07:51 as we endeavor to unveil the integrity of the text
00:07:54 and to put it in context and to extrapolate
00:07:57 from the context of the text,
00:07:59 truth and morsels of bread that are relevant
00:08:02 to our contemporary society.
00:08:04 Take the logos and turn it into Rhema
00:08:07 and let it be cut to the continuity,
00:08:09 tailor made to what I'm going through right now,
00:08:12 that I might hear the word of the Lord.
00:08:15 I thank you in advance for what you're going to do.
00:08:18 Have your way in this place in the name of Jesus
00:08:21 with a loud voice like you're hollering at your kids,
00:08:24 shout amen.
00:08:26 Poor children, y'all may be seated.
00:08:30 I wanna back up for just a few minutes
00:08:36 and put in context the distinctive
00:08:40 of the book of Joshua itself.
00:08:42 I talked about it last week,
00:08:44 I won't go into all of the elements
00:08:46 that I talked about last week,
00:08:47 you can go on YouTube and you can really get
00:08:50 a fairly thorough exposition of the purpose
00:08:54 of the book of Joshua, Yahshua,
00:08:57 the book of Joshua, a shadow type of the ministry
00:09:01 of Yahshua, Jesus in the Old Testament.
00:09:04 I talked about that last week,
00:09:06 so I won't even go into that,
00:09:07 but what I do want to tell you
00:09:10 is that the book of Joshua starts out telling Joshua,
00:09:15 I have given you the land.
00:09:19 I have given you the land.
00:09:22 Now, it doesn't seem practical to me
00:09:25 that God would have to say, I've given you something,
00:09:29 if it was obvious.
00:09:31 Most of the time I've given people something,
00:09:34 I didn't have to come back and tell them
00:09:36 I've given them something.
00:09:39 But because he feels the necessity to tell Joshua
00:09:43 that he has given it to him,
00:09:45 that means that it is not obviously a gift.
00:09:50 Because that would make no sense.
00:09:52 If I hand you $100 and I put it in your hand,
00:09:55 I wouldn't have to say I've given you $100.
00:09:58 You say, yeah, I know that, I got that.
00:10:00 But this is the kind of declaration
00:10:04 that is revelatory from the perspective of the fact
00:10:08 that you have it, but you don't know it.
00:10:12 My God, could that be possible,
00:10:17 that I could have something that I don't know?
00:10:21 Could it be possible that the Word is excavating
00:10:25 out of my life things that are already intrinsically
00:10:28 inside of me, but I am oblivious to it,
00:10:32 and I cannot use what I do not know that I have.
00:10:37 God said, I have given you the land,
00:10:41 but you got to possess it.
00:10:43 This is the collaboration between the human
00:10:47 and the divine.
00:10:48 I don't have time to exhaust that,
00:10:50 but all throughout the Bible,
00:10:52 we see the collaboration between the human
00:10:55 and the divine, that God works through people.
00:11:00 I have given it to you,
00:11:03 but you still have an obligation to possess it.
00:11:06 If you don't possess it,
00:11:08 they're gonna keep living in your stuff.
00:11:14 I have given you the land to possess it.
00:11:17 I have given you peace,
00:11:19 but you got to possess it.
00:11:23 I have given you joy, but you have to possess it.
00:11:28 I have given you spiritual gifts,
00:11:30 but you have to possess it.
00:11:32 I have given you the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
00:11:36 but you have to possess it.
00:11:37 It is already given.
00:11:39 You're praying, God, fill me with the Holy Spirit.
00:11:41 He's already given it to you,
00:11:44 but you have to possess it because God is collaborative,
00:11:49 and he wants your involvement in possessing what is yours.
00:11:54 Oh, we used to tarry around the altar for hours,
00:11:59 and we said we were waiting on the Holy Ghost to come
00:12:01 like he was riding on a tricycle.
00:12:04 And we would just, we'd wait until midnight,
00:12:08 waiting on the Holy Ghost to come.
00:12:10 And all the while we were waiting, he was already there.
00:12:14 He was already there.
00:12:16 The Bible said at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed
00:12:19 and sang praises unto God, and there was an earthquake.
00:12:23 I hate to bust your bubble, but it could have happened
00:12:25 at 10, it could have happened at 9, 15.
00:12:29 There's nothing magical about midnight.
00:12:31 It just so happened that it took them midnight
00:12:34 to possess what was already there.
00:12:39 God says, "I have given you the land to possess it."
00:12:44 Now, this is a process.
00:12:45 We talked about the moat last time.
00:12:47 We talked about the Jordan River.
00:12:49 We talked about the topography of the Jordan River.
00:12:52 We begin to understand how God removed the moat
00:12:55 so that they could grow across on dry land.
00:12:58 The moat was the first defense that separated them
00:13:02 from any onslaught or attack,
00:13:04 and God allowed them to be able to enter into Jericho
00:13:09 because he stopped it and dried it at the same time.
00:13:13 Stop and dry, stop and dry.
00:13:15 Stopped it so you wouldn't have to swim across it.
00:13:18 Dry so you wouldn't get muddy,
00:13:20 so that when you got out of it,
00:13:22 there would be no residue of what you've been through
00:13:24 left on your feet.
00:13:26 Some of you have some testimonies in this room
00:13:30 that you can't hardly even share with anybody
00:13:32 because they won't believe what you've been through.
00:13:35 You don't even look like what you've been through.
00:13:37 You don't have no mud left on you
00:13:40 because God stopped it and he dried it
00:13:42 so that you could cross over onto dry land.
00:13:45 Are you hearing what I'm saying?
00:13:47 And then when he did that,
00:13:49 the only thing left was the wall.
00:13:53 You're down to the last thing that's got to fall.
00:13:56 The waters have been parted.
00:14:00 The land has been blown dry.
00:14:03 And now you're down to the last obstacle
00:14:07 that stands in between you and victory.
00:14:11 I want to talk to some people that are close.
00:14:15 (congregation cheering)
00:14:18 I got about 10 people over there.
00:14:20 I got about 15 over there.
00:14:22 I got about 50 over there.
00:14:24 I want to talk to some people that know in your knower
00:14:27 I am close.
00:14:29 I'm right on the verge of something.
00:14:31 And that's why you can't give up right now.
00:14:33 That's why you can't quit right now.
00:14:35 You survived the desert.
00:14:37 You've made it through your dry place.
00:14:39 You've crossed over your Jordan.
00:14:41 You want to cross on dry land.
00:14:44 You've tasted of the fruit of the promised land.
00:14:47 The manna has ceased.
00:14:49 You've entered into new territory.
00:14:52 Your spirit knows that something is about to happen.
00:14:56 Look at your neighbor and tell him I'm close.
00:14:59 I don't have time to argue with you 'cause I'm close.
00:15:02 I don't have time to get into no debate with you
00:15:04 'cause I'm too close.
00:15:05 I don't have time to worry about whether you like me or not
00:15:08 because I'm too close.
00:15:10 I'm too close, I gotta focus right now.
00:15:12 I'm too close.
00:15:13 Don't bother me, I'm too close.
00:15:15 She thinks she's something.
00:15:16 I won't even respond to it.
00:15:18 I'm too close.
00:15:19 He thinks he's so much.
00:15:20 No, I won't respond to it.
00:15:22 I'm too close.
00:15:23 20 years ago, I'd have let you have it.
00:15:26 But where I'm at right now, I'm too close
00:15:29 to even respond to you.
00:15:31 You can't distract me 'cause something is about
00:15:35 to crack in my life.
00:15:37 Something is about to crumble in my life.
00:15:40 Something is about to collapse in my life.
00:15:43 I'm closer than I've ever been in my life.
00:15:46 Who am I talking to today?
00:15:48 (audience cheering)
00:15:52 And now they have come, they have come,
00:15:54 they have come, they have come to the final obstacle.
00:15:59 The land that flows with milk and honey
00:16:03 is on the other side.
00:16:05 The gold and the silver of the Jericho,
00:16:09 of the people of Jericho is on the other side.
00:16:12 Most importantly, the obedience that must be proven to God
00:16:17 is on the other side.
00:16:20 You see, Jericho was the first city
00:16:24 and the reason they had to offer up the city to God
00:16:28 is because it was a first fruits offering.
00:16:30 God said, if you give me the first city,
00:16:36 I'll give you every other one that's coming after it.
00:16:39 That's the first fruits.
00:16:41 Bring the first fruits unto God.
00:16:43 That's why the Bible says in the New Testament
00:16:46 that Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection.
00:16:49 Glory to God.
00:16:50 Do you remember when Jesus died on the cross,
00:16:53 dead men were seen walking the streets of Jerusalem.
00:16:56 The reason they were walking
00:16:57 is they couldn't go up ahead of him.
00:16:59 He was the first fruits.
00:17:01 He had to go up before they could go up
00:17:04 and he led captivity captive and gave good gifts to men.
00:17:09 And so even though the dead men were resurrected
00:17:12 and they were walking around,
00:17:13 they couldn't go up because the Bible said
00:17:16 that Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection.
00:17:19 So whenever God does a new thing in your life,
00:17:22 he says, if you give me the first fruits,
00:17:25 I'll give you everything that comes after it.
00:17:28 That's an important principle.
00:17:30 Glory to God.
00:17:31 The first fruits, the first corn that comes up,
00:17:34 the first sweet that comes up,
00:17:36 the first paycheck that comes in,
00:17:38 the first fruits I give it to God.
00:17:40 When Hannah had her baby, Samuel, he was the first fruits.
00:17:45 She had many children afterwards,
00:17:47 but she gave the first one to God.
00:17:49 And because she gave the first one to God,
00:17:52 all the rest of them, she was able to keep for herself.
00:17:55 God said, I'm going to replace whatever you give,
00:17:58 but bring me the first fruits and give it unto me.
00:18:03 All of that is in Joshua.
00:18:05 Glory to God.
00:18:07 Glory to God.
00:18:08 61st, the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
00:18:13 What?
00:18:14 All these things shall be added unto you.
00:18:19 The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Gerashites,
00:18:23 all of them, the Ammonites,
00:18:24 say all will be added unto you
00:18:27 if you bring me the first fruits.
00:18:30 So Jericho in essence was a first fruit offering.
00:18:35 It was a first fruit offering
00:18:39 and it determined the next victory.
00:18:42 If they didn't do this right, they would be defeated.
00:18:47 And if you know your Bible, you already know
00:18:50 that Achan stole some of the things
00:18:53 that should have been given to God
00:18:55 and they were defeated at Ai.
00:18:57 Little bit of your own Ai,
00:18:59 something you should have been able to overcome.
00:19:01 But because of disobedience in your life,
00:19:04 many battles you don't win because of the disobedience
00:19:08 that preceded the battle.
00:19:10 Anytime the enemy knows
00:19:12 that you're about to get into a fight,
00:19:14 he'll tempt you with disobedience
00:19:16 so that you won't have the strategic advantage
00:19:19 to be able to move in and get the victory.
00:19:22 And I want somebody that's under great temptation
00:19:25 to hold out a little while longer.
00:19:27 You can stop it, hold it back,
00:19:30 because if you do this and get this right,
00:19:32 everything else that's coming after it,
00:19:34 God's gonna open up the windows of heaven
00:19:37 and pour you out a blessing
00:19:38 you won't have room enough to receive.
00:19:41 Am I talking good?
00:19:42 (audience cheering)
00:19:45 So we have come now to understand this
00:19:49 and what we must understand about this
00:19:51 is that God is not giving them the land
00:19:53 because they're hungry,
00:19:55 because he had fed them all through the wilderness
00:19:58 for 40 years.
00:20:00 God is not giving them the land because they are in need,
00:20:05 because he has supplied all of their needs
00:20:07 even in the wilderness.
00:20:09 God is giving them the land according to his purpose.
00:20:15 The companion book to the book of Joshua
00:20:18 in the New Testament is the book of Ephesians.
00:20:23 And both of them start out with giving him.
00:20:26 God, blessed be God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
00:20:30 who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings
00:20:33 in heavenly places.
00:20:35 They're both talking about the gifts
00:20:37 that God has given unto us.
00:20:39 And so when Ephesians starts out,
00:20:41 it starts talking about as he has purposed in himself,
00:20:45 he has given it unto you.
00:20:47 Glory to God.
00:20:48 Somebody shout purpose.
00:20:50 - Purpose.
00:20:51 - As he, God has given to me as he has purposed in himself.
00:20:56 So don't be mad.
00:20:59 It's not my fault.
00:21:02 I didn't give it to me.
00:21:03 He gave me what I was supposed to have.
00:21:08 My brother was over there singing a minute ago.
00:21:10 He was singing his face off.
00:21:12 I'd like to sing like that.
00:21:13 If I could sing like that, I'd send notes in
00:21:16 and request myself to sing.
00:21:17 Glory to God, I would.
00:21:20 I would send an anonymous note in and say,
00:21:23 we need Bishop Jase to come sing a solo.
00:21:25 Glory to God, hallelujah.
00:21:27 And then when they call my name, I say.
00:21:29 (audience laughing)
00:21:32 Okay.
00:21:34 But God didn't give me that.
00:21:38 So I can't possess that.
00:21:41 If I get envious, I become covetous.
00:21:45 Because God has not purposed to give that to me.
00:21:51 He purposed to give me something else.
00:21:53 And anytime you become envious of other people,
00:21:56 you become covetous.
00:21:58 And the Bible tells us not to be covetous
00:22:01 of that which he has purposed to give to someone else.
00:22:05 Because God might not have given you that,
00:22:07 but he gave you something.
00:22:09 And you need to explore what God has given you.
00:22:14 Oh, somebody bring me a dump truck
00:22:18 and somebody bring me a backhoe.
00:22:20 'Cause I'm getting ready to do some excavating in here.
00:22:24 Because there's somebody sitting here thinking
00:22:26 that you don't have anything.
00:22:28 The devil is a lie.
00:22:29 There's not a person in this room
00:22:31 that God has not purposed for you
00:22:34 to have certain gifts that exist down inside of you.
00:22:38 And he has given it to you.
00:22:40 But are you gonna possess it?
00:22:42 Or are you gonna murmur and complain
00:22:46 and become petty
00:22:49 and religious
00:22:55 and sanctimonious?
00:22:59 Some of the most bitter people are sanctimonious,
00:23:04 always judging other people
00:23:07 because they have no appreciation
00:23:09 for what God has given them.
00:23:12 They sit in the seat of judgment.
00:23:16 God has a purpose.
00:23:18 He has predestined everything according to his own will.
00:23:23 I looked up purpose.
00:23:25 Purpose is, it literally means the reason
00:23:28 for which something is done or created
00:23:31 or for which something exists.
00:23:33 The reason, the reason for which something is done
00:23:38 or created, for which something exists,
00:23:42 that's its purpose.
00:23:44 The purpose of this black box
00:23:48 is to be an instrument that produces sound
00:23:52 so that as I am speaking, I can hear myself.
00:23:56 I could use it for a lot of things.
00:23:59 I could sit on it.
00:24:00 I'd probably crush it, but I could sit on it.
00:24:03 But that's not its purpose.
00:24:06 I could stand it up sideways and eat dinner on it,
00:24:08 but that's not its purpose.
00:24:11 What I must do is find its highest and best use
00:24:16 because it was designed for a purpose.
00:24:20 And if I use it correctly,
00:24:22 I am using it for its highest purpose.
00:24:25 And if I use it for anything else, I am abusing it.
00:24:30 (congregation applauding)
00:24:34 Yeah.
00:24:35 So all the people that contorted you into what they needed
00:24:39 rather than what he had purpose,
00:24:41 they abused you.
00:24:47 The reason for which a thing exists
00:24:51 or was created is its purpose.
00:24:55 So purpose is not about what happened,
00:25:00 it's about why.
00:25:02 It's about why.
00:25:05 And I have noticed the funniest thing about most people.
00:25:08 Most people, when they call you up and they say,
00:25:09 "I got something to tell you,"
00:25:11 you know, and they generally, you know, there's some gossip.
00:25:14 And if you're a gossiper and you're petty,
00:25:19 you say, "Child, what happened?"
00:25:21 Nobody says, "Child, why did it happen?"
00:25:28 Because petty always wants to know what?
00:25:31 Purpose always wants to know why.
00:25:39 I don't know why my son is two inches taller than me,
00:25:47 but God purposed it to be so.
00:25:51 I ate my Wheaties, I went to bed at night,
00:25:55 I grew as tall as I could grow.
00:25:57 I didn't expect him to outgrow me.
00:26:00 I started out, he was just a little bundle in my hand,
00:26:03 and now he's kissing me on the top of my head,
00:26:06 which kind of gets on my nerves sometimes just a little bit,
00:26:10 'cause he wants me to know he's taller than me.
00:26:13 But for whatever reason, he needs to be 6'4"
00:26:16 and I need to be 6'2".
00:26:19 God purposed it.
00:26:21 God purposed for me to be born at the time that I'm born,
00:26:25 to live in the era that I'm in,
00:26:27 in the generation that I'm in.
00:26:29 So why should I be jealous of somebody older or younger?
00:26:34 Because I am called for such a time as this.
00:26:38 This is my hour right now.
00:26:42 This is my time right now.
00:26:44 The meanest, pettiest people are people who miss their time.
00:26:48 Saul wanted to kill David because he missed his time.
00:26:54 You'll never be jealous of anybody
00:26:56 if you maximize your time.
00:26:58 Oh, I'm preaching good.
00:27:01 I'mma borrow Terese saying it and say,
00:27:03 I'm preaching better than you shouting.
00:27:05 Let me tell you something.
00:27:07 God created you for such a time as this.
00:27:10 He didn't mean for you to be born any earlier.
00:27:12 He didn't mean for you to be born any later.
00:27:14 He created you for the time you are right now.
00:27:17 Stop despising your age.
00:27:19 Stop despising your stage.
00:27:21 God has equipped you for the hour
00:27:24 that he created you to shine in
00:27:26 because God had a plan from the beginning.
00:27:29 He had a plan, he had a purpose,
00:27:31 he had something for you to do.
00:27:33 God had a purpose for your life.
00:27:36 And when you stop worrying about what happened
00:27:41 and start seeking why,
00:27:44 then you begin to understand that all things work together
00:27:49 for the good of them that love the Lord,
00:27:52 who are the, come on, who are the,
00:27:55 who are the called according to his, yeah, yeah.
00:28:00 So even if it wasn't good, it's gonna work for my good
00:28:04 because it's working according to his purpose.
00:28:07 Even if I had to relocate,
00:28:09 even if we had to move five times when I was growing up,
00:28:12 even if my father didn't raise me,
00:28:13 even if I didn't know my mother,
00:28:15 even if I was adopted, God has a purpose for my life.
00:28:19 And when I stop crying about the what,
00:28:22 then I can explore the why.
00:28:24 (audience applauding)
00:28:27 I am attempting to get around the fringes
00:28:33 of describing the psychology of God,
00:28:38 the mind of God.
00:28:41 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
00:28:47 Your God is a mastermind.
00:28:50 He has determined the end from the beginning.
00:28:55 Glory to God.
00:28:57 He has fixed the last before he started the first.
00:29:02 God's mind is so infinite that before Adam fell,
00:29:06 the lamb was slain from the foundations of the world.
00:29:11 That means before the question was formed,
00:29:14 God already has the answer.
00:29:17 (audience applauding)
00:29:18 Come on.
00:29:18 Before the sickness came, the cure was already there.
00:29:24 Before the problem arise, God already had the answer.
00:29:28 Jesus says, "I am the truth and the life.
00:29:31 "No man cometh unto the Father, save he come by me."
00:29:34 God already has the answer.
00:29:36 He's given it to you, but are you gonna possess it?
00:29:40 Purpose gets into the mind of God.
00:29:45 The strategy of God, that God never reacts, he only acts.
00:29:50 Whenever you react, the person who acted first
00:29:59 is in control and you are responding to them.
00:30:03 God isn't responding, he acts.
00:30:07 He's sovereign, he's absolute.
00:30:11 He causes all things to work according to his will.
00:30:15 He has never been surprised.
00:30:18 He said, "I saw you when you were up under the tree.
00:30:21 "I saw you in the dark, in the blackest of night,
00:30:24 "with all the lights off, I saw you.
00:30:26 "I know what's in you.
00:30:28 "All things are naked before him with whom we have to do."
00:30:31 So why are you trying to impress God
00:30:33 with your religious phony self
00:30:35 when you are naked before him?
00:30:38 I know your thoughts are far off.
00:30:40 Why are you getting your plan together?
00:30:42 God said, "I already heard it
00:30:43 "before you ever even thought it, I'm God.
00:30:47 "I work things after the counsel of my own will."
00:30:51 I called it the psychology of God.
00:30:53 The more theological term would be omniscient.
00:30:57 God is all-knowing, seeing where we get sighing.
00:31:01 God already knows, he already knows everything
00:31:05 from the very beginning of time.
00:31:08 You cannot teach him, you cannot inform him.
00:31:12 He only asks you to pray
00:31:13 so you can come into agreement with him
00:31:16 because God already knows.
00:31:18 (audience cheering)
00:31:21 Do you hear what I'm saying?
00:31:22 Now, the reason I'm talking this way
00:31:26 because I want you to understand the purpose of God.
00:31:30 I tell people, and I'm in no way comparing myself to God,
00:31:33 but just for a purpose of illustration,
00:31:36 I hardly do anything that isn't connected to the next thing.
00:31:40 That's the strategy.
00:31:45 I hardly do anything that isn't connected to the next thing,
00:31:52 that isn't connected to the next thing,
00:31:55 that isn't connected to the next thing.
00:31:57 That's why there is a continuum in the scriptures.
00:32:01 What starts out as redemptive in Genesis
00:32:06 ends as redemptive in Revelations.
00:32:09 It starts out with the blood of an innocent animal
00:32:13 and all through the Old Testament,
00:32:15 we keep seeing the trail of blood
00:32:17 running through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
00:32:19 Deuteronomy, Numbers.
00:32:21 It runs all the way up to the book of Revelation
00:32:23 through the New Testament
00:32:24 without breaking its properties,
00:32:27 its influence or its purpose
00:32:29 because God had determined it from the beginning
00:32:31 and everything led to the next thing,
00:32:34 to the next thing, to the next thing, to the next thing.
00:32:37 And you're just a part of the continuum.
00:32:39 You're just a link in a chain of events.
00:32:45 Are y'all getting what I'm saying?
00:32:50 And so he meant for you to be born.
00:32:53 He meant for you to come at this time.
00:32:55 He meant for you to be broken in a certain place.
00:32:58 He meant for you to have certain needs.
00:33:00 It's part of his plan.
00:33:02 It was part of Jesus' plan
00:33:04 that when he took the two fish and five loaves of bread,
00:33:07 he knew when he took it, he was gonna break it.
00:33:10 He couldn't bless it if he didn't break it
00:33:12 because the blessing was in the breaking
00:33:14 and the breaking was in the blessing
00:33:16 and God determined, I'm gonna multiply it by breaking it.
00:33:20 All the broken people ought to shout me down.
00:33:23 (audience cheering)
00:33:27 He sits on the circle of the earth.
00:33:30 Heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool.
00:33:34 God's got all things up under his control.
00:33:37 Give you another word, he's sovereign.
00:33:39 He's sovereigns, he completely reigns.
00:33:42 He's never out of control.
00:33:44 He's got complete control of everything going on
00:33:47 at all times in all places.
00:33:50 He is not just Lord of the world.
00:33:52 He is Lord of the world.
00:33:54 He is Lord of all places.
00:33:56 He is not just Lord in the earth.
00:33:59 He's Lord under the earth.
00:34:00 He's Lord above the earth.
00:34:02 That the name of Jesus should be exalted above every name.
00:34:05 That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow
00:34:08 and every tongue shall confess of things in heaven
00:34:11 and things in earth and things under the earth.
00:34:14 He's Lord of all or he's not Lord at all.
00:34:17 (audience cheering)
00:34:20 Lord, I can't hardly get off my first point.
00:34:24 Somebody shout purpose.
00:34:25 - Purpose.
00:34:26 - When you know the purpose of God, you stop struggling.
00:34:30 - Yeah.
00:34:31 - You stop struggling.
00:34:34 You stop crying.
00:34:36 If you gotta go, go.
00:34:39 You gonna leave me, see ya.
00:34:42 All that left me couldn't stay.
00:34:47 All that stayed couldn't leave.
00:34:51 (audience applauding)
00:34:55 What God has purposed for me is for me.
00:35:03 You can't get it.
00:35:05 You can't take it.
00:35:09 You can't rob it from me.
00:35:11 It's mine, I'm gonna get it.
00:35:13 It's mine.
00:35:15 It's mine.
00:35:16 It won't open up till I get there.
00:35:19 When I get there, the door will open.
00:35:20 When I get there, the way will be made.
00:35:22 When I get there, the waters will part.
00:35:24 When I get there, I'll walk across on dry ground.
00:35:27 When I get there, the wall will crumble.
00:35:29 This wall has been waiting on me to walk up to it.
00:35:32 As soon as I walk up to it,
00:35:34 it's gonna fall like open sesame.
00:35:36 It's gonna move out of my way because it's for me.
00:35:40 Somebody shout it's for me.
00:35:41 When you start understanding the why,
00:35:45 and let me tell you something, ministers,
00:35:47 you cannot help people
00:35:50 if you are focused on what they did.
00:35:52 If you focus on what they did, you are petty.
00:36:00 Ministry begins when you start praying about why
00:36:06 they did it.
00:36:09 The problem with the world today,
00:36:13 we have too many what preachers,
00:36:15 and not enough why.
00:36:19 They know principles.
00:36:21 They know when you broke a principle.
00:36:24 They know that your disciples shouldn't be eating corn
00:36:26 on the Sabbath day.
00:36:28 They know that you shouldn't be healing this woman
00:36:30 on the Sabbath day.
00:36:31 Don't you know the sun has gone down?
00:36:33 They know what.
00:36:34 They don't know why.
00:36:36 What will make you bitter and petty?
00:36:41 What will make you miss your purpose?
00:36:45 You wanna know why.
00:36:49 The greatest question is why.
00:36:52 Everything begins with why.
00:36:56 And until you start asking why,
00:36:59 you'll never be a great pastor.
00:37:01 You'll never be a great preacher.
00:37:03 You'll never be a great orator.
00:37:05 You must ask why.
00:37:06 When you read the text, you must ask why.
00:37:09 When you face the people, you must ask why.
00:37:11 When you hear the news, you must ask why
00:37:14 because you can't get in there
00:37:16 where the surgery needs to occur
00:37:18 to make them better if you don't know why.
00:37:21 If you walk, if Mephibosheth comes stumbling up to you
00:37:25 and you don't know why he's stumbling,
00:37:27 you'll make fun of him.
00:37:28 But if you understand why that somebody dropped him,
00:37:32 you'll be able to minister him more effectively
00:37:35 'cause you understand why.
00:37:37 When you understand why, you say,
00:37:39 it was good for me that I was afflicted.
00:37:41 Had I not been afflicted,
00:37:43 I would have never discovered the purpose of God for my life.
00:37:46 Am I talking to anybody tonight?
00:37:48 So we're studying the purpose of God,
00:37:52 which he had purpose in himself.
00:37:55 Oh, let me stop.
00:37:56 God, let me stop.
00:37:58 Which he had purpose in himself.
00:37:59 He has purpose in himself.
00:38:02 He didn't meet with the board.
00:38:03 He didn't talk with the committee.
00:38:05 He didn't get the legislators to vote on it.
00:38:07 He didn't ask Congress to pass a law.
00:38:09 Everything that God ever set out to do
00:38:12 because he's sovereign, he purposed it himself.
00:38:16 When he said, "Let there be light,"
00:38:18 there was light because he purposed it in himself.
00:38:21 When he said, "Our servants separate the firmaments
00:38:23 "above the water from the firmaments beneath the water,"
00:38:26 because he purposed it himself.
00:38:28 When he got ready to make man, he didn't need a woman.
00:38:31 He said, "Let us make man in our own likeness
00:38:34 "and in our own image,"
00:38:35 because there's nothing in the Godhead
00:38:38 that God needed to complete him.
00:38:45 He purposed in himself.
00:38:47 If he purposes me to live, I'll live.
00:38:50 If he purposes me to die, I'll die.
00:38:53 If the car wreck wasn't meant to kill me,
00:38:56 I don't care if it's a head-on collision
00:38:57 at 90 miles an hour, I'll get out.
00:39:00 The plane can crash and I'll walk away.
00:39:03 What God has for me is for me.
00:39:06 I'm talking about the purpose of God.
00:39:07 You can't have faith 'til you learn this.
00:39:10 This is what your faith is built on.
00:39:12 This is a recipe of your faith.
00:39:14 Your faith must rest in the purpose of God.
00:39:17 Jesus didn't teach have faith.
00:39:19 He said, "Have faith in God."
00:39:22 (congregation cheering)
00:39:25 Are you hearing what I'm saying?
00:39:29 - Yes.
00:39:30 - Stop, stop.
00:39:33 He didn't mean for Abraham to have a son
00:39:37 when he was strong and virile,
00:39:39 'cause who wants to write about that?
00:39:42 (congregation laughing)
00:39:44 Everybody do that.
00:39:46 He waited 'til his body was good as dead,
00:39:51 and his wife was past childbearing age.
00:39:53 She had gone through the change,
00:39:55 and she couldn't have had a child
00:39:58 before she went through the change.
00:40:00 And when it was impossible with men,
00:40:03 God purposed, "Now I'm gonna do it.
00:40:05 "I'm gonna put my signature on it.
00:40:08 "You're gonna know it was me that did it.
00:40:10 "As soon as you discover that you can't do it,
00:40:13 "you're gonna find out that it was me that did it.
00:40:16 "You still gotta go in the tent,
00:40:18 "but it's gonna be me that did it.
00:40:20 "You still gotta spend the night,
00:40:23 "but it's gonna be me that did it.
00:40:24 "Don't you walk out the tent
00:40:26 "with your chest all stuck out, old man,
00:40:28 "because it was me that gave you power."
00:40:31 Ho, it is God that gives us power to get wealth.
00:40:35 It is God that gives us the power to get wealth.
00:40:38 He doesn't give us the wealth.
00:40:40 He gives us the power.
00:40:42 Glory to God.
00:40:44 (speaking in foreign language)
00:40:48 Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
00:40:52 Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
00:40:53 Tell your neighbor, "I got the power to get wealth.
00:40:56 "I got the power.
00:40:58 "He's already given me the power.
00:41:00 "God's already given me the power to get wealth.
00:41:04 "I have the power to get wealth.
00:41:06 "I have the power to preach the Word.
00:41:09 "I have the power to pastor this church.
00:41:11 "I have the power to raise my children.
00:41:14 "I have the power to be my wife's husband.
00:41:17 "He's given me the power."
00:41:19 (audience cheering)
00:41:21 Glory to God.
00:41:22 I feel the power right now.
00:41:24 Somebody shout, "I got the power."
00:41:26 (audience cheering)
00:41:29 You better not walk out on this stage
00:41:31 and not know you got the power.
00:41:33 This stage will beat you to death
00:41:35 if you don't know you got the power.
00:41:37 You got to walk out here and know when you get out here
00:41:40 that you have the power.
00:41:42 You got the power because God has purposed you
00:41:45 to be in a place for such a time as this.
00:41:48 Am I talking good tonight?
00:41:50 (audience cheering)
00:41:53 Let's talk a little bit about petty
00:41:57 because purpose isn't petty.
00:42:01 And you have to understand what it means
00:42:07 to be petty.
00:42:08 To be petty literally means of little importance.
00:42:16 Trivial.
00:42:19 As in both groups are known to be petty.
00:42:25 Now I want you to think about this.
00:42:27 It didn't say that petty meant non-consequential.
00:42:32 It didn't say that it didn't have any value.
00:42:37 Just little value.
00:42:39 Trivial matters.
00:42:44 Doesn't mean that it doesn't matter.
00:42:47 It's trivial.
00:42:48 Petty people always focus on trivial things.
00:42:54 Small minded.
00:42:56 Spiteful ways.
00:43:01 As in he was prone to be petty.
00:43:05 Revenge on friends and family.
00:43:07 Narrow minded.
00:43:09 Of secondary or lesser importance.
00:43:13 Lower rank.
00:43:15 Smaller scale.
00:43:17 Minor.
00:43:19 A petty official.
00:43:21 Now what I want you to understand about this
00:43:25 that just because they are petty
00:43:28 doesn't mean it doesn't have any merit.
00:43:31 It just means that it's minor.
00:43:33 (audience murmurs)
00:43:35 Small.
00:43:37 Trivial things.
00:43:40 Petty person showing or caused by meanness of spirit.
00:43:44 A petty revenge is a petty person.
00:43:49 You'd be surprised.
00:43:50 Now this is gonna rock some people's world.
00:43:54 You'd be surprised at how many people
00:43:56 who are saved or say they're saved.
00:43:58 (audience murmurs)
00:44:02 But they're still petty.
00:44:04 They're still petty.
00:44:13 The reason I said purpose isn't petty
00:44:19 is because most religious people
00:44:22 who were sanctimonious and would read this text
00:44:28 would never see that the gateway
00:44:33 to possessing the first city would be a prostitute.
00:44:40 (audience murmurs)
00:44:45 In fact, most people would never believe
00:44:50 that God, who you just got through singing about
00:44:53 is holy, holy, holy, holy,
00:44:56 would designate a hooker, hooker, hooker
00:44:59 to be the host, host, host
00:45:05 for the prophet, prophet, prophet.
00:45:09 Write me a song about that.
00:45:13 Write me a song about of all the people in Jericho
00:45:21 that God would use a harlot
00:45:26 and place her house on the wall.
00:45:29 He placed a prostitute on the wall,
00:45:33 positioned her in a particular place
00:45:37 to be the gatekeeper to his promise.
00:45:41 Petty people couldn't see past what she was.
00:45:49 (audience cheers)
00:45:55 Oh, I'm gonna preach before I leave here.
00:45:58 They couldn't see past what she was
00:46:02 to see why she was petty.
00:46:03 People would never ask why has God put her on the wall?
00:46:07 They didn't know that she was on the wall
00:46:10 not just so she could turn tricks
00:46:13 but so the spies could escape
00:46:16 so that she could drop a scarlet cord down the wall
00:46:20 and establish a bloodline.
00:46:22 (audience cheers)
00:46:25 Purpose isn't petty
00:46:35 and you won't really begin to fully get God
00:46:40 till you understand that God is a God of purpose
00:46:43 and not a God of petty.
00:46:44 That's why God uses people you don't like.
00:46:48 Come on, come on.
00:46:53 Somebody be real.
00:46:55 Has there ever been somebody that you didn't like
00:46:58 and God used them anyway?
00:47:00 And you tried to sit on 'em and they got on your nerves
00:47:04 and you knew they owed you some money
00:47:06 and they still ain't paid you the money back
00:47:08 and there they are shouting all over the church
00:47:10 and you don't wanna get with them
00:47:12 'cause they two months behind on the rent
00:47:14 and the check they wrote you bounced
00:47:17 and all the while you hating on them about the check,
00:47:20 they just falling out up under the anointing
00:47:22 and you can feel the anointing
00:47:24 but you don't wanna accept the anointing
00:47:26 because you still seeing the check.
00:47:28 Come on, come on, come on, come on.
00:47:33 You must understand that God exalts nothing
00:47:39 above his purpose.
00:47:41 So I'm not saying to you,
00:47:44 see petty doesn't mean that you don't have an issue.
00:47:48 It means that it's menial in comparison
00:47:51 to the purpose of God.
00:47:53 Oh, I'm gonna mess with your head a little bit.
00:47:57 To accomplish his purpose, he will speak through an ass.
00:48:02 I know I'm in the Bible.
00:48:06 To accomplish his purpose, he will use prostitutes
00:48:10 and hookers and idolaters and whore mongers
00:48:13 to accomplish his purpose
00:48:14 because God does not exalt the petty above the purpose.
00:48:19 That's why he uses you.
00:48:24 With your nasty, crazy self,
00:48:30 how dare you sit there and not praise God?
00:48:33 Think I'm talking about Rahab.
00:48:35 I ain't talking about Rahab, I'm talking about you
00:48:38 and all your nasty stuff
00:48:39 and yet God bless you and yet God use you
00:48:42 and yet God raise you and yet God perfect you.
00:48:45 You ought to shout the whole house down
00:48:48 'cause you know, you know, you know
00:48:51 if it were not for the purpose of God,
00:48:53 you would be swallowed up right now.
00:48:56 Forget what you did.
00:48:58 Let's talk about what you thinking.
00:49:00 Let's talk about what's running through your mind.
00:49:02 Let's talk about what's going through your head.
00:49:04 If God put your thoughts on loudspeaker,
00:49:07 wouldn't nobody wanna ever hear you testify
00:49:10 ever again in your life?
00:49:12 But because God isn't petty,
00:49:14 he keeps on blessing you
00:49:16 and there you can't give him a praise.
00:49:19 You ought to praise him more than anybody in the whole house.
00:49:23 You know you got a house on the wall.
00:49:26 You know you got a house on the wall.
00:49:28 I'm gonna mess with you a little bit.
00:49:39 I'm gonna mess with you a little bit.
00:49:41 I'm gonna mess with you a little bit.
00:49:42 But if you don't understand this,
00:49:44 you will never understand grace.
00:49:47 If you don't understand grace,
00:49:49 you will be self-righteous
00:49:51 and look down your nose at other people.
00:49:53 If you don't understand grace,
00:49:55 it'll be hard for us to get you to praise God.
00:49:57 It shouldn't be this hard to get a praise.
00:50:00 It shouldn't take somebody who sings that good
00:50:04 to get a praise.
00:50:05 I came up in the church where nobody in the whole church
00:50:08 could sing like that.
00:50:09 It'd be a bunch of old scratchy voice,
00:50:11 old church mothers beating on a snare drum.
00:50:15 Sometime the drum didn't have no stand.
00:50:17 The drum would be sitting in a chair
00:50:19 and they'd be beating in the chair
00:50:21 and they'd be going, "I get joy when I think about
00:50:24 what he's done for me.
00:50:25 I get joy when I think about what he's done for me.
00:50:28 I get joy when I think about what he's done for me.
00:50:32 I get joy when I think about."
00:50:35 (upbeat music)
00:50:37 You didn't get a riff, you didn't get a run.
00:51:00 They didn't change a key.
00:51:02 They weren't melodious.
00:51:04 You didn't want a CD, you didn't want an album,
00:51:07 you didn't want an MP3, but the Holy Ghost fell.
00:51:10 (congregation cheering)
00:51:14 And the reason the Holy Ghost fell
00:51:23 is because we were caught up into the purpose
00:51:26 and not the petty.
00:51:28 Now we're so busy listening at how good they sound
00:51:32 that we can't hear what they're singing about.
00:51:35 (congregation cheering)
00:51:39 Oh my God.
00:51:41 Oh my God.
00:51:44 Oh my God.
00:51:46 Oh my God.
00:51:49 Joshua 6 messes up all my theology.
00:51:53 I knew God used priests.
00:51:55 I knew God used prophets.
00:51:58 I didn't know God used hookers.
00:52:01 (congregation cheering)
00:52:03 Priests, prophets, prostitute.
00:52:07 I ain't telling you to go to no strip club.
00:52:17 That's not what I'm saying.
00:52:19 Don't misquote me.
00:52:21 That's what I hate about TikTok.
00:52:23 They'll take one little phrase and put it on TikTok
00:52:28 and everybody be fighting and arguing
00:52:30 about one little phrase 'cause they heard what you said.
00:52:33 (congregation cheering)
00:52:37 They didn't hear why you said it.
00:52:45 Not only was she a prostitute, she was a liar.
00:52:47 God used her lie.
00:52:53 When they was looking for the spies,
00:52:57 she said, "I ain't seen none of them.
00:52:59 I don't know where none of them are."
00:53:02 See, God couldn't have used no church mother
00:53:03 and got this done 'cause the church mother
00:53:06 was a shenaboshah.
00:53:07 They in the kitchen right now.
00:53:09 Shenaboshah.
00:53:11 They sitting by the sink right now
00:53:13 going in there and get them.
00:53:15 God needed a tramp that wasn't afraid.
00:53:18 (laughing)
00:53:20 (congregation cheering)
00:53:24 She lied to protect the spies.
00:53:34 Now, what we're talking about, get this,
00:53:39 I want you to write this down.
00:53:40 What we're talking about is the struggle
00:53:43 between principles and purpose.
00:53:50 It's not that the principles are bad.
00:53:52 It's just that any time your principles
00:53:55 become more important than your purpose,
00:53:58 you have missed who your God is.
00:54:01 There is a struggle between principles and purpose.
00:54:07 And when it comes down to a choice between principles
00:54:14 and purpose, God will always choose his purpose.
00:54:20 The law was principles.
00:54:23 And the Bible said what the law could not do
00:54:26 in that it was weak through the flesh.
00:54:29 God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh
00:54:32 and for sin condemned sin in the flesh
00:54:35 that we might be the righteousness of God.
00:54:38 If God was more concerned about principles than purpose,
00:54:42 then the law would have saved the world.
00:54:44 The law was nothing but principles.
00:54:49 You can only walk so far.
00:54:51 You can only move so much.
00:54:52 You can only say when the sun goes down, you can't do that.
00:54:55 Whoa, until the neighbor do not mix this fabric
00:54:58 with that fabric.
00:54:59 The law was nothing but principles.
00:55:02 So we struggle between purpose and principles.
00:55:06 Should we disregard the principle?
00:55:09 Absolutely not.
00:55:10 It's just that we cannot exalt our principles
00:55:16 above his purpose.
00:55:19 Because sometimes God uses people
00:55:23 that you wouldn't approve of
00:55:26 to accomplish his purpose in your life.
00:55:33 Are you hearing what I'm saying to you?
00:55:35 Let's go a little deeper because I want to unravel this.
00:55:38 Look at Amos 3, one through three for a minute.
00:55:40 Amos chapter three, verse one through three.
00:55:44 Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you,
00:55:48 O children of Israel, against the whole family
00:55:50 which I brought up from the land of Egypt,
00:55:53 saying, "You only have I known
00:55:56 "of all the families of the earth.
00:55:58 "Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities."
00:56:01 God is talking to his people.
00:56:03 He says, "Can two walk together except they be agreed?"
00:56:07 How many times have you heard that third verse?
00:56:10 But you didn't hear those first two?
00:56:12 So we use that, can two walk together save they agree,
00:56:17 to talk about human relationships.
00:56:20 Well, Lord have mercy if that's true,
00:56:23 I'd have got a divorce the first year.
00:56:25 I'm married today 'cause we got two cars.
00:56:30 We ever get down to one car, I don't know.
00:56:32 I don't know, I'm just saying, I don't know.
00:56:37 Might be, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
00:56:42 We don't agree.
00:56:43 I'm packed for next week.
00:56:47 My wife don't know what she gonna wear tomorrow.
00:56:50 Yet we've been married 42 years.
00:56:54 (audience cheering)
00:56:57 We walk together through life, through death,
00:57:03 through sickness, through health, for better, for worse,
00:57:06 for richer, for poorer,
00:57:08 but it wasn't because we always agreed.
00:57:11 Right in the middle of the worst places,
00:57:12 we've had some of the worst arguments.
00:57:15 'Cause I thought we ought to do this,
00:57:16 and she thought we ought to do that.
00:57:19 So when we take this scripture
00:57:21 that is about God's relationship with his people,
00:57:25 and he said, "If you're gonna walk with me,
00:57:27 "you gotta be in agreement with me,
00:57:29 "even if you're not in agreement with each other."
00:57:32 And when you take the text out of context
00:57:34 and apply it to people,
00:57:36 then now you talking to the spies.
00:57:43 What are you doing at Rahab's house?
00:57:45 (audience cheering)
00:57:47 How can two walk together save they agree?
00:57:51 It don't look right for you to be up there.
00:57:53 Truth out of context is a lie.
00:58:03 (audience cheering)
00:58:06 God wasn't concerned about it.
00:58:09 I'll show you another one.
00:58:10 2 Corinthians chapter six, verse 15 through 18.
00:58:13 Take a look at this.
00:58:14 "And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
00:58:17 "Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"
00:58:21 Come on.
00:58:22 "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
00:58:27 "For ye are the temple of the living God.
00:58:29 "As God hath said, 'I will dwell in them and walk in them,
00:58:33 "'and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'"
00:58:36 Come on.
00:58:37 "Wherefore, come out from among them,
00:58:40 "and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
00:58:42 "and touch not the unclean thing,
00:58:45 "and I will receive you,
00:58:47 "and will be a father unto you,
00:58:51 "and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
00:58:52 "saith the Lord Almighty."
00:58:55 Did he say it?
00:58:56 Absolutely.
00:58:57 Did he mean it?
00:58:58 Absolutely.
00:58:59 Who was he talking to?
00:59:00 Why did he say it?
00:59:02 He was talking to Corinth,
00:59:04 who was establishing new converts.
00:59:08 They were new converts in the middle of orgies
00:59:11 and idolatry and evil and wickedness,
00:59:14 and he told them, "Come out from among them
00:59:16 "and be ye separate.
00:59:17 "You're not ready, you can't handle it.
00:59:19 "You're getting drunk off of communion.
00:59:22 "You're committing incest in the house.
00:59:24 "You're not ready to witness to these people.
00:59:26 "Come out from among them and be ye separate,
00:59:29 "and I will be your God and you shall be my people,
00:59:32 "because I see you.
00:59:33 "You're worshiping me and Belial."
00:59:36 (congregation murmuring)
00:59:40 Why would God say to all of the church,
00:59:44 "Come out from the world and be ye separate,"
00:59:47 and then turn around and say, "Go into all the world
00:59:51 "and preach the gospel to every living creature."
00:59:54 I can't go into all the world
00:59:56 and come out at the same time.
00:59:59 Anytime the text is taken out of context,
01:00:04 you destroy the validity of the text.
01:00:06 I'll show you one more.
01:00:07 Proverbs 13, 22, take a look.
01:00:09 A good man leaveth an inheritance
01:00:12 to his children's children,
01:00:14 and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
01:00:17 Take a look at this.
01:00:18 The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the,
01:00:20 if it's laid up for the just,
01:00:22 how you gonna pull it down if you don't touch 'em?
01:00:25 If you don't talk to them?
01:00:27 If you can't be seen with them?
01:00:29 If you can't go anywhere with them?
01:00:31 If you don't have no business with them?
01:00:33 If you're supposed to remain separate from it,
01:00:35 how is there gonna be a download of wealth
01:00:37 in our text?
01:00:38 There's a download of wealth.
01:00:40 The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just,
01:00:43 but in order to get it,
01:00:44 you had to go in where sinners go in order to get it.
01:00:48 In order to get it,
01:00:49 you had to go in the rehab's house.
01:00:51 In order to get it,
01:00:52 you had to be entangled with people,
01:00:54 and it didn't look good,
01:00:56 but in order to get the download,
01:00:58 God didn't promise to bless you through church folk.
01:01:01 (congregation cheering)
01:01:03 I'm gonna say it again for the people in the back.
01:01:05 God didn't promise to bless you through church folk.
01:01:08 I see Christians say some crazy stuff.
01:01:11 My physician, my surgeon was a Christian.
01:01:15 That's nice, but can he operate?
01:01:18 (congregation cheering)
01:01:19 My palate is filled with the Holy Ghost,
01:01:21 but can he fly?
01:01:23 (congregation cheering)
01:01:26 What are you doing with so and so,
01:01:28 and they've been on my Twitter all the time.
01:01:30 What are you doing with so and so?
01:01:31 What are you doing with so and so?
01:01:32 You with sinners all the time.
01:01:34 You got on the plane, you didn't ask the pilot,
01:01:37 was he saved?
01:01:38 You go to the family reunion with your drunk uncle,
01:01:41 and you still at the family reunion,
01:01:43 and you brought potato salad.
01:01:45 But the moment you see somebody else,
01:01:47 you turn up your nose,
01:01:49 because you heard something about them,
01:01:50 now they're untouchable.
01:01:52 Suppose they said to the spy, don't stay in her house.
01:01:56 In fact, that's what the disciples did with Jesus.
01:01:58 They said if Jesus knew what kind of woman that was
01:02:01 that washed his feet, he was tougher.
01:02:03 How could Jesus not know that she was a sinner woman?
01:02:07 Glory to God.
01:02:10 And yet Jesus took his feet out,
01:02:12 and let this woman wash his feet.
01:02:14 Some of you are more religious than God,
01:02:17 and I hope you're watching tonight,
01:02:19 so I can tell you to your face.
01:02:21 Because you're two-faced and you're phony.
01:02:24 You work with sinners.
01:02:25 You're married to sinners.
01:02:27 Your children are sinners.
01:02:29 They smoking dope in the attic,
01:02:31 and there you are turning up your nose,
01:02:33 talking about other people.
01:02:35 How can the love of God dwell in you?
01:02:37 You're petty, you're petty, you're petty,
01:02:41 you're petty, you're petty, you're petty.
01:02:44 You don't see purpose.
01:02:46 God used Rahab's platform to take the whole city.
01:02:53 He didn't use a believer.
01:02:57 He used a prostitute.
01:03:02 Rahab saved the spies.
01:03:04 And in the 20th verse through the 25th verse,
01:03:10 now because she saved the spies,
01:03:13 now they saved her.
01:03:16 Come on, go with me.
01:03:21 Read it again, see if I'm wrong.
01:03:24 Wait a minute.
01:03:26 They didn't just save her.
01:03:30 They saved her whole family.
01:03:32 They saved her father.
01:03:36 They saved her mother.
01:03:39 And then the Bible says they saved all them
01:03:42 that were with her.
01:03:43 Who were they?
01:03:45 They wasn't children.
01:03:47 Can I spend three minutes on this?
01:03:58 Sometimes you get blessed just because
01:04:00 of who you're connected to.
01:04:02 Her daddy didn't do anything to deserve to be saved.
01:04:06 Her mother didn't do anything to deserve to be saved.
01:04:09 And they that were with her sure didn't do nothing
01:04:12 to deserve to be saved.
01:04:14 But because they were connected to one person,
01:04:17 God saved everything in the house because of one person.
01:04:21 You didn't get here by yourself.
01:04:23 When God gets ready to deliver you,
01:04:26 God will deliver you.
01:04:27 Her brothers got saved.
01:04:29 Her sisters got saved.
01:04:30 And everything that belonged to her got saved.
01:04:33 They brought the entire family out
01:04:35 and saved everything that was in her house
01:04:37 because of one woman.
01:04:39 While you're chewing on that,
01:04:42 let me throw something else at you.
01:04:45 If you happen to be one of Noah's kids,
01:04:48 you never drowned in the flood
01:04:50 because of who your daddy was.
01:04:53 Glory to God, they didn't do anything.
01:04:56 They just happened to be in the right house.
01:04:58 And when God saved Noah,
01:05:00 he saved everything in his house.
01:05:02 Newsflash, God said,
01:05:04 "I wanna save everything in your house."
01:05:07 Everything connected to you,
01:05:09 everything born out of your loins,
01:05:11 everything adopted in your family.
01:05:14 When God gets ready to bring you out,
01:05:16 he's gonna bring out people who didn't earn it
01:05:18 and didn't deserve it, but he's gonna pull them out.
01:05:21 That's how I got saved.
01:05:23 I got connected with Jesus.
01:05:25 And when I got connected with Jesus,
01:05:27 when God saved him and raised him from the dead,
01:05:31 I got up with him, not because I'm good,
01:05:34 but because I'm connected.
01:05:36 Slap somebody and say, "You need to be connected."
01:05:39 I'm almost finished, can I go a little deeper?
01:05:48 Joshua 6, 20 through 25
01:05:53 is a profound, prolific, articulate depiction
01:05:57 of the grace of God
01:05:59 because it proves to us
01:06:02 that God kept his word to a prostitute.
01:06:07 Because the text says,
01:06:09 as the wall came down,
01:06:12 the text said, "Go find Rahab
01:06:16 and save everybody in her house
01:06:19 according to your oath."
01:06:22 And God saved everybody in the house
01:06:27 because he kept his word to a prostitute.
01:06:32 Now, here's my question for you.
01:06:34 If God kept his word to a prostitute,
01:06:38 then what makes you think
01:06:41 that God won't keep his word towards you?
01:06:45 If God kept his word and was careful
01:06:48 to separate her from the wrath to come
01:06:52 and the Bible said they pulled her whole family out
01:06:55 and set her outside the house of Israel
01:06:57 so that when the city was burning down,
01:06:59 Rahab didn't burn up.
01:07:01 Oh, at the times I should have burned up,
01:07:06 but I didn't burn up
01:07:07 because God set me aside and saved me.
01:07:11 And I'm not praising him 'cause I'm good,
01:07:13 I'm praising him 'cause I'm not.
01:07:15 I'm not praising him 'cause I'm worthy,
01:07:17 I'm praising him 'cause I'm not.
01:07:19 Let me say it like my old folks used to say,
01:07:22 when I think of the goodness of Jesus
01:07:24 and all that he's done for me,
01:07:27 my soul cries out, hallelujah.
01:07:31 Thank God for saving me.
01:07:33 Somebody give him 30 seconds of crazy praise.
01:07:37 (upbeat music)
01:07:39 Come on.
01:07:44 Come on.
01:07:47 Come on.
01:07:49 Come on.
01:07:52 Come on.
01:07:53 Come on.
01:07:55 Come on.
01:07:57 Come on.
01:07:59 I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost in here, praise him.
01:08:04 You came so close that you could smell the smoke,
01:08:09 but God delivered you.
01:08:12 You came so close that you should have caught on fire,
01:08:16 but God brought you out.
01:08:19 And you owe God a praise for everything
01:08:23 he's done in your life.
01:08:25 Somebody shout yes.
01:08:27 (crowd shouting yes)
01:08:28 Somebody shout yes again.
01:08:31 Somebody shout yes again.
01:08:34 Somebody shout yes.
01:08:35 (crowd shouting yes)
01:08:36 Somebody shout yes.
01:08:38 (crowd shouting yes)
01:08:48 (upbeat music)
01:08:50 Hallelujah.
01:08:53 Hallelujah.
01:08:55 Hallelujah.
01:08:57 Hallelujah.
01:08:58 Hallelujah.
01:09:00 Slap somebody and tell them I'm not on fire.
01:09:04 My neighbors are on fire.
01:09:06 My classmates are on fire.
01:09:09 My next door neighbor's on fire.
01:09:12 But God saved my life.
01:09:14 He set me aside.
01:09:16 He made a way out of no way.
01:09:20 He delivered me from all of my transgressions
01:09:25 to God be the glory.
01:09:27 I bet Rahab was outside the city giving God a praise
01:09:32 because she knew she should have been in the fire.
01:09:37 But because God delivered her, she said amazing grace.
01:09:42 How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
01:09:47 I once was lost, but now I'm found.
01:09:52 I once blind, but now I see.
01:09:57 I need a wretch to praise him.
01:10:00 I need a wretch undone.
01:10:02 I need a drug addict.
01:10:04 I need a drug dealer.
01:10:07 I need a drunk, a wino, a whore monger.
01:10:11 I need somebody to bring the hell in back
01:10:14 to give God the praise.
01:10:16 Praise him in the smoke.
01:10:18 Praise him in the storm.
01:10:20 Praise him in the flood.
01:10:22 Let everything that hath breath praise ye the Lord.
01:10:27 (upbeat music)
01:10:30 (audience cheering)
01:10:33 - I'm gonna behave myself.
01:10:52 I wanted to read just a little bit.
01:10:55 Can I read you a little something?
01:10:58 The Bible, the Bible, no, this not the Bible.
01:11:02 Disruptive thinking, I wrote this little phrase.
01:11:07 "History provides another potent example
01:11:09 "of the power of unlikely alliances."
01:11:13 God's about to give you some unlikely alliances.
01:11:17 In 1955, the Montgomery bus boycott
01:11:23 after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing
01:11:25 to give up her seat on a city bus,
01:11:27 leaders in the black community called for a boycott
01:11:31 of the Montgomery public buses
01:11:34 to demonstrate their unified protest of segregated seating.
01:11:38 But that led to enormous logistical problems
01:11:42 as they would have to provide somewhere
01:11:46 around 20,000 rides per day
01:11:51 for black laborers who had to get to work.
01:11:55 Having a car was out of the financial reach
01:11:59 of many black families in 1955.
01:12:03 Car owners were among the wealthiest people in town.
01:12:08 Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders
01:12:11 had to call on these wealthy folks
01:12:14 to lend their vehicles to the boycott effort.
01:12:19 King was shocked when more than 150 car owners
01:12:23 signed up to hand over their cars
01:12:26 at a public meeting in December, y'all don't hear me,
01:12:30 at the start of the boycott.
01:12:33 The automobile was still among the prime status symbols
01:12:36 of the United States, and therefore to volunteer one's car
01:12:40 as public transportation was a radical act of togetherness.
01:12:45 Taylor Branch wrote in "Parting the Waters, America"
01:12:50 in the King years, 1934,
01:12:52 "The fractious classes of Montgomery Negroes
01:12:55 "now promise to blend their daily lives."
01:12:59 The boycott was sustained for an astounding 13 months.
01:13:04 (audience cheering)
01:13:07 13 months, one of the most impressive displays
01:13:11 of alliances in American history.
01:13:14 It ended with the Supreme Court ruling
01:13:17 that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.
01:13:21 In the Bible, Cyrus the Great
01:13:24 is mentioned more than 30 times,
01:13:28 even though Cyrus is a Persian
01:13:31 who doesn't even believe in Jehovah.
01:13:34 The pagan king is important in Jewish history
01:13:38 because it was under his rule
01:13:40 that the Jews were first allowed to return to Israel
01:13:44 after 70 years in captivity.
01:13:47 In one of the most amazing prophecies of the Bible,
01:13:50 the Lord reveals Cyrus' decree to free the Jews to Isaiah.
01:13:55 And he says, "150 years before Cyrus lived,
01:14:02 "the prophet called Cyrus by name
01:14:06 "and gives details of Cyrus' benevolence to the Jews."
01:14:10 This is what the Lord says to his anointed.
01:14:15 He calls Cyrus his anointed.
01:14:18 "Whose right hand I take hold
01:14:21 "on to subdue nations before him.
01:14:24 "I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor,
01:14:29 "though you do not acknowledge me."
01:14:33 Isaiah 45 and one.
01:14:36 Do you hear what I'm saying?
01:14:38 Also 41, two through 23 and 42 and verse six.
01:14:43 Evincing his sovereignty over all nations,
01:14:46 God says to Cyrus,
01:14:48 to Cyrus who didn't believe in Jehovah,
01:14:51 "He is my shepherd
01:14:53 "and will accomplish all that I please."
01:14:58 I'm gonna stop reading there.
01:15:00 God will use people.
01:15:02 If you stop turning up your nose,
01:15:04 God will raise up people that you never expected
01:15:08 to accomplish his purpose in your life.
01:15:11 And don't be petty and don't be narrow
01:15:14 because God's got something he's gonna do in your life.
01:15:17 He's gonna make your enemies your footstools.
01:15:20 He's gonna raise you up.
01:15:21 He's gonna make you the head and not the tail,
01:15:24 above and not beneath.
01:15:25 Let me show you one scripture and I'm gonna close.
01:15:28 I'm gonna finish after this.
01:15:29 Don't you cut me off till you get this
01:15:31 'cause you gotta understand the purpose of God.
01:15:34 They set Rahab over to the side
01:15:37 and Jericho was burning down.
01:15:40 They set her to the side,
01:15:42 not just because she kept the spies,
01:15:45 not just because she lied,
01:15:47 but according to Matthew chapter one,
01:15:50 verse one through six,
01:15:52 Rahab was to be the mother of Boaz.
01:15:56 (congregation cheering)
01:16:00 Wait, wait, wait.
01:16:04 Rahab the harlot is the mother of Boaz.
01:16:09 Boaz is the one that Ruth married.
01:16:13 And through them, they begot Obed.
01:16:17 And Obed begot Jesse.
01:16:19 And Jesse begot David.
01:16:21 So when Christ was born,
01:16:24 Rahab the hooker is in the lineage of Jesus Christ
01:16:29 because God had a purpose
01:16:32 for the woman who was a prostitute.
01:16:35 And if you're watching me tonight,
01:16:37 I don't care what kind of sin you're in.
01:16:40 I'm not condoning your sin,
01:16:42 but I am condoning your purpose.
01:16:44 God has a purpose for your life.
01:16:47 And if you give your life to him,
01:16:50 he will set you aside and raise you up
01:16:54 and give you an opportunity to do things
01:16:57 that will blow your mind.
01:16:59 I know this is disruptive thinking.
01:17:02 I know I'm messing with your head.
01:17:04 I know they told you you were cursed
01:17:07 and there was no way God was gonna use you,
01:17:09 but the devil is a liar.
01:17:11 Jesus died so that you could be saved,
01:17:16 so that you could be free,
01:17:18 so that you can be delivered.
01:17:20 And if you don't believe me,
01:17:22 believe all of these witnesses in the church right now
01:17:26 that have been washed in the blood of the lamb.
01:17:29 If you're in here, open your mouth and give God a praise.
01:17:34 (congregation cheering)
01:17:37 Yeah, yeah.
01:17:38 Yeah, yeah.
01:17:40 Yeah, yeah.
01:17:42 Yes.
01:17:44 Yes.
01:17:46 Yes.
01:17:46 I said, open your mouth and give God a praise.
01:17:52 I said, open your mouth and give God a praise.
01:17:58 (congregation cheering)
01:18:00 Let me tell you something.
01:18:01 As I prepared to close, I was in my house
01:18:06 and I was listening at a movie.
01:18:09 And when they started playing music to the movie,
01:18:13 I got a woofer and the woofer always makes the bass
01:18:18 sound louder than it is.
01:18:20 Well, my woofer is turned up so loud
01:18:23 that when they hit a certain bass note,
01:18:25 I could feel my heart vibrate.
01:18:28 And I start thinking about how the decibel
01:18:30 of sound moves objects.
01:18:34 And even though my heart wasn't near the woofer,
01:18:37 the sound that came out of the woofer
01:18:40 made my heart started trembling.
01:18:42 And when I thought about that,
01:18:44 I thought about the walls of Jericho.
01:18:47 And the Bible said that when they blew the trumpet,
01:18:52 that the people open their mouth and begin the shout.
01:18:57 It wasn't the trumpet,
01:18:59 but it was the shout of God's people.
01:19:02 And if we reach a certain decibel,
01:19:07 every wall in your life is going to come down.
01:19:12 Things that have been standing in your life
01:19:15 for years and years, God said, I'm gonna bring it down.
01:19:21 But I'm waiting on you to open your mouth.
01:19:25 Behold, I have given you the city to possess the land.
01:19:30 You don't need a sword.
01:19:34 You don't need a shield.
01:19:36 You need to open your mouth.
01:19:39 Jesus said, speak to the mountain
01:19:43 and the mountain will get out of your way.
01:19:47 For the next 45 seconds,
01:19:50 I want you to open your mouth
01:19:52 and sound like you lost your mind.
01:19:57 Shout, shout, shout, shout, shout, shout, shout, shout,
01:20:19 till the tumor shrinks.
01:20:21 Shout till the cancer moves.
01:20:25 Shout till the dead is paid.
01:20:29 Shout till God makes a way out of no way.
01:20:34 The power is in your mouth.
01:20:38 The power is in your mouth.
01:20:41 Open your mouth and shout.
01:20:43 (upbeat music)
01:20:45 Can I tell you something?
01:21:04 The reason some of you don't get a breakthrough
01:21:10 is because you always give in that same old petty praise.
01:21:15 But if you would get away from your petty praise
01:21:21 and give him a praise of purpose,
01:21:24 every wall in your life is about to come down.
01:21:29 If you open your mouth, it will come down.
01:21:35 (upbeat music)
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