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00:00 It's the last Sunday morning of 2023. Today I'm preaching the life of Job. Here's my subject,
00:06 messed around and got a triple double. I'll start today. I'll finish it tonight
00:12 at New Year's Eve service. Make sure you watch. Let's go in.
00:15 Unapologetically contemporary. I'm never changing, but I got some old school in me
00:24 and I stood up at nine o'clock before I knew it and said, "Just another day."
00:28 Just another day that the Lord has kept me. Y'all not making no, just another day
00:40 that the Lord has kept me. Y'all not saying nothing. He kept me.
00:57 I'm not saying nothing. I'm not saying nothing. I'm not saying nothing. I'm not saying nothing.
00:59 From all evil, with my mind stayed on Jesus. Oh, it's just another day
01:20 that the Lord has kept me. I know this might not be fly. This might not be sexy, but if the Lord
01:34 kept you all the 2023, would you please lean on somebody and tell them, "Just another day.
01:41 Just another day. Just another day. Just another day that the Lord has kept me."
01:54 I'm teaching you a new song. Just another day that the Lord has kept me.
02:11 Lift your hands if you believe it. He kept me.
02:18 From all evil, with my mind
02:32 stayed on Jesus. Oh, it's just another day. My grandma taught me this. Oh, that the Lord
02:46 has kept me. I don't see nobody running around the church, but if you're not too mean,
02:58 if God's been good to you, if you made it to December 31st, if you had trials and tribulations
03:05 this year, if you know somebody who died, then hug three people and tell them, "Just another day.
03:11 Just another day. Just another day that the Lord has kept me."
03:25 This time it's time for you to sing it with me. Just another day
03:28 that the Lord has kept me.
03:47 He kept me. From what, pastor? From all evil. Put your hands on your head with my mind.
03:59 Stay on Jesus. Oh, it's just another day.
04:13 My grandma taught me this. Oh, that the Lord has kept me.
04:24 George, play it like they used to.
04:38 Come on, y'all.
04:59 He kept me from all evil. With my mind.
05:14 Stay on Jesus. Oh, it's just another year.
05:28 Oh, that the Lord has kept me.
05:42 So,
05:50 so,
06:02 you've been standing too long. Let me preach short. Let you take a nap. Come back tonight.
06:20 Here it is. Job 42 verse 10. Job 42 verse 10. After Job had interceded for his friends.
06:31 After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune. Then he doubled it.
06:41 I'm going to try this one more time. After Job had interceded for his friends,
06:50 God restored his fortune and then doubled it. I don't know if you're a fan of hip-hop,
06:58 as soon as I give my subject, push five people and tell them, "Messed around and got a triple
07:02 double." Go ahead. Messed around and got a triple double. You may be seated.
07:10 I told you this once before. I think some of you missed it. Friends of mine,
07:15 my contemporaries who are in their 40s and 50s, we are the first generation of pastors to be reared
07:22 and raised on hip-hop. The generation before us, the pastors, they came up on Motown. The generation
07:29 before them came up on B.B. King and Bobby Blue Bland. For those of us that are children of the
07:34 70s and 80s, believe it or not, we were the first group of pastors that the first music we knew
07:41 was hip-hop. Ironically enough, August 11th, 1973, August 11th happens to be my favorite day
07:49 in the world because it's the day that my wife was born, also happens to be the birthday of hip-hop.
07:55 Some 50 years ago in the Bronx, some brothers decided to have a back-to-school get-together
08:01 and the music they played had never been heard before and it sort of birthed the hip-hop musical
08:06 genre. I mean, it's from that you get the Sugarhill Gang and Kool Moe Dee and L. Cool J and
08:13 Run DMC, Eric B. and Rock Kemp, and then comes along Ice Cube. Ice Cube drops with many of us
08:21 sort of consider one of the songs that you must play on the holiday. In all spiritual transparency,
08:28 there's a few bars on there I wish he would have left out. Not quite sacred enough for me to say,
08:35 but most of us who listen to hip-hop, and by the way, if you have a problem with hip-hop,
08:39 please read James Cone's The Spirituals and The Blues. How in a very real sense as black people,
08:45 we are tied to music and most saved people I know, including pastors, like more than just gospel.
08:52 It is not music that's demonic, it is lyrics that can be demonic. Music in and of itself is who we
09:00 are as African people. We clap on the two and the four, vis-a-vis the one and the three. There's just
09:05 something in us. We clap on the two and the four. Listen to Jeremiah Wright. Jeremiah Wright's
09:12 teaching on music. His particular theological slant happens to be in African American music,
09:18 and it will bless your life. And so when you listen to Cube, most of you know the opening
09:24 hook. "Just waking up in the morning, gotta thank God. I don't know, but the day seems
09:29 kinda odd. No barking from the dog, no smog, and mama cooking breakfast with..."
09:35 A bar later, he says, "Get me on the court and I'm trouble. Last week, messed around and got a triple
09:52 double." For those of you who don't play basketball or watch basketball, triple double may not jump at
09:57 you. It's one of those things that is hard to accomplish. It's a laborious task to attain a
10:04 triple double in a game. It really means, for those who don't watch Cube, you get 10 points or 10 in
10:11 three categories. 10 assists, 10 rebounds, 10 points. It's hard to do in the same game. 10 blocks,
10:17 10 points, 10 assists. It's triple double. To get double in three categories, he said,
10:22 "Last night or last week, messed around and got a triple double." In a very real sense,
10:27 you'll find out that Job has the original gangster triple double. In order to find out
10:34 what that triple double was, you have to come back tonight. But I think I wanna get the party started
10:41 by discussing his life. It is in Job 1, verses 1 through 3. You have your Bibles? You have your
10:46 Bibles? Job 1, Job 1, verses 1 through 3. You got your phone? Go to your Bible app, it's on the
10:51 screen. Stick with me because I want you to see the Word of God. Job was a man who lived in us.
10:57 He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God, hated evil with
11:03 a passion. He had seven sons, what, three daughters. He was also very wealthy. Take a mental note,
11:08 very wealthy. Some people just like to be regular wealthy. He's just like very wealthy. 7,000 heads
11:14 of sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 donkeys and a huge staff of servants. The most
11:20 influential man in all of the East. The most influential man. I said years ago, nobody heard
11:26 me that influence is better than money. As a matter of fact, with the right influence, influence will
11:32 get you some money. Influence is better than money. The Bible says he's the most influential
11:37 man. Matter of fact, I like the NLT. The NLT version says, "There once was a man named Job
11:42 who lived in the land of us. He was blameless, a man," watch this, "of complete integrity."
11:48 Complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. What do we know about this man so far?
11:55 His name is Job. We know he has seven sons, three daughters. We know he's super paid, has a staff.
12:00 We know he has influence. We also know he absolutely honors God and the Bible calls him
12:06 a man of complete integrity. Why does the text tell me that he's a man of complete integrity?
12:12 The first thing I need you to understand clearly is that integrity does not mean sinlessness.
12:19 Yeah, nobody can claim that but Jesus. You don't think Job bust a move he shouldn't have bust,
12:25 or thought something he shouldn't have thought sometime, or did a couple things a man shouldn't
12:29 do? Come on now, he wasn't Jesus. So why does the Bible stress his integrity? Because there's a
12:34 difference between integrity and sinlessness. Pastor Vernon is a man of integrity. You know
12:40 why they say that? Because I don't bust creep moves on my wife and I don't steal, so therefore
12:45 he has all this integrity. No, there are people who do both and still have integrity. I just lost
12:52 a cry. You don't know if you should say amen or oops or what. Let me try it again. Integrity does
12:57 not mean you never make a mistake. Integrity does not mean you never think nothing wrong. Your pastor
13:02 has done some stuff I don't even want to tell y'all. I'm so far from perfect. Integrity does
13:07 not mean you never sin. Integrity means you're straight up about your sin. Integrity means you
13:13 face your sin. Integrity means you're not slick with it. You admit it. You say that was wrong and
13:18 it shall not happen again. It's not habitual. It's not something I just keep on doing. It's not
13:24 something I do all the time. I do honor God. I honor my family. I honor my church, but there
13:28 are times I make mistakes and when I do, I'm going to fess up, confess up, and then I'm going to get
13:33 up in the name of Jesus and look you in the eye. Integrity means, what's this? There's nothing slick
13:39 about me. Yeah, nobody wants nobody to know all the things they do wrong. All of us have some
13:44 personal weaknesses, but integrity, there are women of integrity here, men of integrity. The
13:49 Bible calls him a man of integrity. I speak over your life in 2024, a whole nother level of
13:56 integrity. Yeah, that your wife, your husband says she's not a perfect woman, but she has integrity.
14:01 I can trust her. Even if she falls, makes a mistake, it does not mean they're not persons
14:06 of integrity. We also see that the Bible fills the need to tell me how super paid he is. The Bible
14:12 could have just said he was doing well. The Bible says he's very wealthy. There is no, write it down,
14:17 there is no dichotomy between spirituality and prosperity. There is no dichotomy between
14:25 spirituality and prosperity. Let me Vernonize. I want to break and change this whole motif,
14:31 or way of thought regarding resources with believers. I need some of y'all to get paid.
14:36 I believe in God, watch this, for self-made millionaires in this house. Y'all ready?
14:45 I'm calling this out, first-generation millionaires. Yeah, first-generation,
14:52 first-generation, new money coming to you because of hard work, education, either owning your own
15:00 business, being smart with your resources. Heck, you might just find it on the ground,
15:05 but I speak over your life. Okay, somebody didn't receive that. Why do you get quiet on sex and money
15:12 when you know you want both of them? Praise God. So, let me tell you what God says about both of
15:17 them. God says the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just, which means there's going to be a
15:23 wealth transfer. I'm sick of no good people being paid while good people broke. All the people who
15:34 love the kingdom don't have nothing. People who are not studying the kingdom got plenty. God says
15:40 I want to transfer the money from wicked people who don't care about me to good people who love
15:47 me. I just found out a couple weeks ago we got a serial sore walking around the Word Church.
15:53 You don't know what I just said. A serial sore, not serial, Captain Crunch, serial with an S,
15:59 and sore with an O, okay? Serial sore, to so see a serial sore. There's a person walking around
16:06 our church just writing people checks on the low, asking people how much money do you need?
16:13 Wrote somebody $2,500, wrote somebody $5,000. Whoever you are, you better not ask me,
16:18 because I'm going to end your whole streak, because I passed $5,000 years ago. I believe
16:26 in God for $1 million. Do you have it in Jesus' name? Amen. And the person is walking around here
16:34 writing checks, and they cashing. Okay, some of y'all, the way you looked at me is why God's not
16:40 going to bless you. Can I speak over your life that in 2024, you don't just get checks, but you
16:48 write checks? I wish I had somebody that's believing God to posture you to walk up to people
16:57 and say, "Can I write you a life-changing check in Jesus' name?" Some of you have the gift of giving,
17:04 and God gives seed to the sore. If you believe this is the year where you make more money than
17:11 you ever made in 2024, stand up and sit back down and holler, "Receive that."
17:16 There is no dichotomy. There is no dichotomy between spirituality and prosperity. I'm from
17:32 the old school. The old school, you couldn't talk about or say nothing, particularly as a preacher,
17:35 about having anything. You had to act like you were broke. I'm laughing because my wife's dad,
17:39 who was a pastor, worked for General Motors, also, by vocational, would get a new car and not drive
17:46 it, because people couldn't see that he actually had a new car when the man worked for General
17:50 Motors, afraid of what people gonna think about having something. Like, the more broke you are,
17:55 the more spiritual you are. I kill it in the name of Jesus. I kill it. Abraham paid. Isaac paid.
18:04 David paid. Solomon paid. Job paid. I'm sorry, that's too far back. And you paid in Jesus' name.
18:11 You are too saved not to have resources. Too intelligent, too black, too beautiful,
18:19 not to be able to go where you need to go to see some stuff before you die,
18:23 kill student loans, not wait the rest of your life to be debt-free. I'm speaking over this ministry,
18:28 and what's on the head shall flow down to Aaron's beard. I need somebody to know this might be the
18:34 part of my sermon you need to hear. So, we know Job is a good dude. Job has money, and he loves
18:41 Jesus. This is amazing. The Bible says, the Bible says that not only is the brother a man of
18:48 integrity, he's a straight-up daddy. I'm gonna prove it to you. Some of you been here a while,
18:52 you know this part. Look at verse four. "His sons used to take turns hosting parties in their homes,
18:57 always inviting their three sisters to join them in their merrymaking. When the parties were over,
19:02 Job would get up early in the morning and sacrifice a burnt offering for each of his
19:06 children, thinking maybe one of them sinned. By defying God inwardly, Job made a habit of this
19:12 sacrificial atonement just in case they sinned." Now what I just said should have made somebody
19:18 say, "Whoa." Job said, "I don't know what y'all did over at your sister's house last night,
19:22 but just in case y'all got wild over there, I woke up this morning and prayed for you."
19:26 I don't know what went down, hopefully didn't nothing go down, but the Bible says he would
19:31 get up and make a sacrifice. That's the Old Testament equivalent of intercession. This is
19:36 previous to Christ's atonement, and so what would they do? Burn animals in order to say, "Lord,
19:41 forgive me for my sins." Your Bible says that they would literally, he would get up and sacrifice for
19:49 his kids. Write this down, don't forget it. The power of parental prayers. I'm dropping my book,
19:56 don't marry somebody who can't pray. Don't marry a man who's interesting, but not an intercessor.
20:03 Ooh, y'all just missed that. Because you need to pray. If you
20:09 uphold my children, it happened just last week, and I need some fathers to hear me. I don't care
20:14 if you're a bruh from the hood, a bruh with a degree, a bruh from the penitentiary, a bruh
20:18 with a PhD, if you have children, hear me, your job is to be head intercessor of that house. Those
20:24 of you who shall get married, I'm telling you, every now and then, this not Pentecostal, this
20:29 God, this the Holy Spirit. God will wake me up at four o'clock in the morning and say, "Run through
20:34 the house and lay hands on everything you pay bills for." Because Satan is attempting to take
20:40 your whole family out, but there's power in prayer. Some of y'all missed that. So I run in their rooms
20:46 and I pray in tongues over them. Sometimes they get woke up out of their sleep, but one day when
20:51 they are all 40 years old, they're gonna look back and say, "My daddy prayed for me. That's
20:56 better than teaching me how to put a condom on. That's better than buying me a car." The best
21:01 thing you can do for your babies is to pray for them. Do I have any praying mothers, grandmothers,
21:07 aunties? Come on, talk to me, somebody. There's still power in prayer. Job would wake up and burn
21:17 an offering saying, "In case they made a move." In 2024, look at me, Word Nation, those watching
21:23 me across the world. Don't let go of prayer. Don't let go of prayer. Okay, all right, here's where it
21:31 gets gooder and gooder. Verse six is where my real sermon starts. "One day when the angels came to
21:37 report to God, Satan, who was the designated accuser, came along with them." Wait a minute,
21:43 let me try this again. "One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan, who was the designated
21:50 accuser, came along with them." Let me try this one more time. Systematic theology, demonology,
21:56 angelogy, the idea of angels and demons. Wait a minute, I'm not smart enough. It's above my pay
22:02 grade. All I know, your Bible says, King James says, "When the sons of God gathered themselves
22:08 together." King James, King James, grew up on King James. "When the sons of God gathered themselves
22:12 together." New modern version says, "When the angels came." What angels? The unfallen angels.
22:19 Because there are angels who fell and left with Lucifer, who is now Satan and has demons,
22:24 which is why 1 Corinthians 4, verse 4 calls him the God of this world. How come babies die? How
22:30 come he broke my heart? What about abortions? What about good people who lose their life? Fires,
22:34 the God of this world. There's a real devil in this world who cannot be underestimated,
22:40 though he is defeated. Can I teach? Don't ask me why. I'm not smart enough because I spent two
22:48 minutes in school, been reading the Bible five minutes. I don't know nothing. My mind is too
22:52 small. Don't ask me to explain it. We'll find out when we get to heaven. All I know is that there's
22:57 this audience that somehow when the angels go before God, this heavenly council to meet with
23:02 God, Satan gets to come too. I don't know why. I can't explain it. I'm not smart enough, but it's
23:07 in the Bible. The Bible says, "Satan showed up." So here's God's angels who didn't fall. Here's
23:13 Satan who shows up. When he gets there, the Bible says he has the right to converse with God.
23:20 Matter of fact, I'm going to show it to you because your Bible says in verse 7, "Where have
23:24 you come from?" the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered, "The Lord, I've been patrolling the
23:29 earth, watching everything that's going on." Wait a minute. Satan, what you up to? Starting some
23:34 message. "Oh yeah, I've just been walking around, seeing who I can mess with, been watching stuff."
23:39 Let me prove it to you. Revelation 12. If you don't like Bible, don't come to the Word Church.
23:43 Revelation 12, verses 10 and 11, "Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens,
23:48 'It has come at last, salvation and power in the kingdom of God and the authority of His Christ.
23:53 For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth. The one who accuses
23:59 them before our God night and day, they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by
24:05 their testimony.'" You think the devil is just a cat on the hot sauce bottle. "Pastor, why are you
24:11 teaching this on the last Sunday of the year?" You can't believe in Jesus unless you believe in the
24:16 devil. Because Jesus believes in the devil. "Oh, young people, hear me, this ain't fly, this ain't
24:21 sexy. I'm your pastor, not just your favorite preacher. I love you, there's a real devil."
24:25 Yeah, he's accused and the Bible says he's going around making accusations all day long. He tries
24:32 to tell God what you're not. And every time you're watching something on your phone, see, look at her,
24:36 look at her. You think she all that. You keep taking care of her, keep making her wait for her,
24:40 she ain't studying you. She take Keith over Christ, you know that. She'll take anybody.
24:44 He's not in love with you, first thing comes along, he'll break your heart. He ain't prayed
24:48 all week, first time he thought about God when he came to church today. He ain't prayed Monday,
24:52 he ain't prayed Tuesday, he ain't blessed his food, she ain't blessed her food. You keep making
24:55 her wait for him, you keep feeding him, they are not all of that. Then Jesus stepped in and said,
24:59 "Objection." Absolutely true, but I died for all of it and now it's on me. So,
25:10 daddy, forget him and look at me because he that is in Christ, he that is in Christ, we are in
25:16 Christ, we are in Christ. So that with all of our deficiencies, when God sees us, he sees his son.
25:26 Oh, I wish I had time, but I don't. Oh, I wish I had time, but I don't. All I'll do is tell you
25:32 this, the Lord asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth.
25:40 He is blameless, a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil." Did I tell
25:47 y'all a few weeks ago that God or Satan never requested Job? God recommended him? I happen to
25:57 just say that as an aside, as an aside in one of my sermons, I said that and my media team,
26:04 who's smarter than me, they put it on Instagram, the thing got almost a million hits. It went viral.
26:09 Just one little statement I made, you never know what's going to catch on Instagram. I was just
26:13 preaching and they put it up. We thinking whatever, they call me almost a million hits. And here's
26:18 what hit and take a look at this and then we'll continue. Some of you were here, remember this,
26:22 go ahead. "Satan," watch this, "have you considered my servant Job?" You just missed your shout,
26:30 teenagers. "Have you considered messing with my servant Job?" I told you this 10 years ago,
26:37 some of y'all remember it. Satan never requested Job. God recommended him.
26:43 Let me try this again. Satan never said, "Can I mess with Job?" God has so much faith in Job
26:52 that God says, "Hey, Satan, since you're hanging around looking for something to do,
26:58 go on and mess with her. Go on and take some stuff. You can't have her soul, you can't kill her,
27:04 but go on and let her have a rough year because at the end of 2023, me and her gonna laugh."
27:10 Do me a favor, hit five people, say, "Your name came up."
27:28 That's why you're catching hell this year. Your name came up. That's why it's been a rough 2023
27:35 because your name came up. God said, "I can trust that brother."
27:39 Do me a favor, hit five people, say, "Your name came up." Go ahead. Say, "I know 2023 has been
27:53 a trip. I know there's some things that happened you didn't see coming. I know you went through
27:57 some vicissitudes because God called your name and you were not requested by the devil. You were
28:06 recommended by God." God says, "If you're gonna mess with somebody, mess with somebody that I
28:12 can get some glory out of the results." Yeah. How do you know that what you thought was about you
28:19 was really more about His glory? And as much as you love your kids, Christ is more interested in
28:26 His glory than you're happy. Sometime God is trying to get glory out of your life by what you
28:32 survive. You'll love this because here's what I didn't get to. I can't wait till tonight. Don't
28:37 miss this sermon tonight because all I can do is introduce it. Verse 10 and 11 says, "You have
28:43 always put a wall of protection around Him, His home and His property. You've made Him prosper
28:49 in everything He does." Look how rich He is. "But reach out and take away everything He has. He will
28:55 surely curse you to your face." I was gonna paraphrase this, but I read a commentary, read a
29:01 comment that I thought was just better than I could say it, so I'll give them credit. I like what
29:04 this one commentator said. He says, "Because Satan could not deny God's assessment of Job's godliness,
29:09 he questioned why Job was pious. The accuser suggested that Job was serving God not out of
29:14 love, but only because of what he got from God in return. If Job's rewards were removed, out would
29:21 go his reverence. Take his rewards, trust me, he'll take away his reverence. He's only praising you
29:28 because you're hooking him up. Take away some stuff. Let him go through something and still see if
29:34 he'll praise you. The idea is rewards, reverence, snatch the rewards, he'll stop the reverence. Oh
29:42 no, but the devil missed it. He wrongly presumed that that Job was only praising God for stuff.
29:50 But I wished I had a thousand people watching me somewhere in the world that would say,
29:55 "I don't just worship him for what he's done, I worship him for who he is." Okay, some of y'all
30:02 don't believe it. Don't give me no church clap if the Lord don't do nothing else for me. If the
30:09 Lord take everything I got, y'all don't believe me, I'll be a crying, grieving, worshiping fool.
30:16 Do I have anybody here that God has been so good to you, I'm not promising you. Y'all pray. It's a
30:23 hot whole lot going on in the kingdom, a whole lot of stuff. Don't worry about any of that. Here's
30:27 what I'm telling you, anything ever happen with me, if I ever fall, ever make a mistake, ever do
30:31 something I shouldn't do, ever lose it all, please hear me. I can't promise you I'm human. Y'all just
30:36 pray that the Lord keep me. Here's what I can tell you, I got one thing I can promise you, I wish you
30:40 could make the same promise. I only got one promise, only one promise, only one promise, only one
30:45 promise, if you can curse shout with me, I ain't ever leaving Jesus.
30:48 Some of y'all, uh-uh, I don't like the way, let me try this one more time. I don't know what's
30:57 gonna come my way, I don't know who gonna break up with me, curse me to my face, walk out and
31:02 leave me, hurt my heart, only know one thing at my age and that is whatever happens in my life,
31:08 go on and hit three people and say I ain't ever, say I ain't, I ain't, I ain't, say I ain't, I ain't ever.
31:14 He's been too good to me, he's living on credit now, he don't have to do nothing else, he's done
31:26 enough. Some of y'all still looking at me, come on let's call it a roll, let me give you three reasons
31:30 to never leave him. He woke me up this morning, number two, he woke me up this morning, number
31:36 three, he woke me up.
31:38 Here it is, I gotta go, we're gonna get to the triple double tonight, don't miss church,
31:57 don't miss church all around the country, don't miss church tonight, we can't make it to the
32:00 triple double tonight, it's 42 chapters, I'm still in chapter one, here it is, all right,
32:04 "You may test him," the Lord said to Satan, "do whatever you want, everything he possesses,
32:08 but don't harm him physically, but don't harm him physically, Satan left the Lord's presence."
32:14 All right, you may test him, the Lord said to Satan, "Do whatever you want, everything he
32:20 possesses, but don't harm him physically." If you knew how good this was, if you knew how good this
32:27 was, because this bespeaks the limitations on Satan, my son, Christopher Foster, who watches
32:33 me, he's on the West Coast, and so of course he doesn't preach till later, they're three hours
32:37 behind, so every Sunday he watches me and then goes to church and preaches, and he sent me a text
32:42 saying, "Really, Satan, Pops, is like a dog with a leash on him, he only can go so far."
32:51 Y'all just missed that, he only can do what he's allowed to do. Yeah, he can bark, but really in
32:59 some ways he has no teeth, so he's making noise, he has some impact, somebody should shout, watch
33:05 this, here's my shout, it may not be sexy, on the last Sunday of the year, I know some of you just
33:10 wanted me to tell you that $10 million is coming before January 1st, that's another church. I came
33:15 to preach to some people with some real stuff in your life, and 2023 has not been all of that.
33:21 2023 has had its share of troubles and ups and downs and relationship breakups and heartaches,
33:27 and even though it's cute to say 2023 gonna be the best year of my life, for some people it wasn't.
33:32 And so the question is, is the pastor willing to preach to you where you are, not just where you
33:36 want to be? And can I suggest to all of you that you need to shout right here, whatever's happening
33:42 in your life, Satan can only go so far. Which means before I lose my mind, God gonna come get me.
33:51 Some of y'all who lost some friends, some family, some money, some health, should say Satan cannot
33:58 do anything more than God allows. If God allows it, he's trying to get some glory out of it,
34:06 therefore I will bless the Lord at—y'all making me work hard. Y'all working it, brother.
34:18 All right, here it is. I gave you this, some of you remember about 10 years ago,
34:23 last time I touched this. I'm gonna read this, it's gonna sound like a movie. I'm gonna read
34:28 fast, it'll be on the screens for you speed readers. I gotta roll. All of this happens
34:32 consecutively at the same time this happened. I'm not making it up, it's in the Bible. Imagine this
34:37 happening in your life. Here it is, "Sometime later, while Job's children were having one of
34:41 their parties at the house, the oldest son, a messenger, came to Job and said, 'The oxen were
34:46 plowing in the donkey's grave in the field next to us when Sabian's attacked. They stole the animals
34:50 and killed the field hens. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened while
34:56 he was still talking.' Another messenger arrived and said, 'Bolts of lightning struck the sheep
35:00 and the shepherds and fried them, burned them to a crisp. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell
35:05 you what happened while he was still talking.' Another messenger arrived and said, 'Chaldeans
35:08 coming from their directions, from three directions, raided the camels and massacred the camel
35:13 drivers. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened while he was still talking.'
35:17 Another messenger arrived and said, 'Your children were having a party at the house of the oldest
35:21 brother when a tornado swept in off the desert and struck the house. It collapsed on the young
35:26 people and they all died. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.'"
35:30 I was, I was, I was begging God to let me preach something else. You have to believe me,
35:36 I've been doing this 20-something years. It's like, God, it's the last Sunday of the year,
35:41 please let me do something hype. He said, "Do that, do that tonight." He said, "Today,
35:46 I need you to teach something, lay the foundation for the triple-double."
35:48 Because sometimes to receive the triple-double, you gotta sometimes lose the triple-double.
35:54 How would you know what happy is if you never experienced sad?
36:00 Yeah, how would you know good times if you never had some bad? Now let's not lie,
36:07 this is extreme, maybe the most extreme. You're talking seven sons, three daughters, that's 10
36:11 children. In like 30 seconds, we're gone because of a tornado. Everybody who worked for him,
36:16 coupled with that, his resources, men judge themselves about what they make. Wrong or right,
36:21 that's who we are. Two men talking, two minutes won't go past before one of us asks the other
36:26 brother, "What do you do?" Women are different. They talk about how cute the skirt is, that's
36:30 nice. "Hi, your children." "I got three." "You got four?" "Oh, beautiful." Two men talking
36:34 before five minutes pass, one of us is gonna say, "So what you do, bro?" Because we sort of judge
36:38 ourselves on how we provide, provision, what we accomplish, it's who we are. Dominion, domain,
36:44 dominate. That's why we like football, that's why we like to brown, we like to win, like to win.
36:49 I had a brother's play Monopoly, they start cussing. I had to say, "Wait a minute, let's go
36:51 pray." Praise God, amen. Y'all cussing. I used to — one time, me and Craig stole some money,
36:57 Larry stole some money, some Monopoly money, and Stacy jumped in and said, "I used to kill
37:01 brothers and stuff." I said, "You know what, let's stop the game, praise God." Y'all went
37:05 completely to the darkness over some Monopoly. I'm like, "We just compete, y'all pray for me, amen."
37:11 Here's the point that I want to say to you guys. A lot happened, literally everything is gone that
37:19 fast. I've been saying this, I promise I'm not gonna leave you right here, but I wouldn't want
37:23 a pastor who didn't push me spiritually and cognitively and sincerely. I've been telling
37:29 you for 20 years, I don't think most of you hear me, I keep telling you, prepare yourself for the
37:34 worst day of your life. I don't know what worst is, but have enough Jesus in you. Have enough
37:43 Bible in you. Be spirit-filled enough that when you get the worst call of your life — and by the way,
37:50 that's relative, that's subjective. What would be the worst call? What would be the worst call
37:53 you could get? It's different for everybody, right? Right? Children, wife, whoever. What if
37:58 you got the worst call of your life, here's the question I have for you, do you have enough Jesus
38:03 in you not to go crazy? I didn't say not to cry, I didn't say not to wail, I didn't say not to be
38:10 depressed, but do you have enough Jesus in you not to shoot yourself? Do you have enough Jesus in you
38:16 that you don't need no weed or no wine? Do you have enough Jesus in you that you might bend,
38:23 but you won't? I wish I had somebody — come on, I wish I had somebody that's been through a little
38:29 something-something in your life. Maybe you ain't go through that, but you've been through something.
38:33 I know you're tired of your neighbor, but push five people and tell them, "He kept me." Go ahead.
38:37 Oh, sookie, sookie. If y'all coming back tonight, I gotta pay you back by letting you roll early
38:50 for the rest of the day. Here's verse 20, and let's just tear the church up, and I'll see y'all tonight.
38:54 Here it is, "Job stood up, tore his robe in grief, then he shaved his head, fell to the ground, and
39:00 started worshiping." I'm gonna try this one more time. It might be one of the best verses in the
39:08 Bible because it's so real. What did he do? Tore his robe. To tear one's clothes culturally was the
39:14 worst grief you could have. We don't do that today, we don't just tear our clothes, but to rip your
39:21 clothes meant that you were lamenting, you were lamenting to the highest degree. To rip your
39:28 clothes. Shaved off his head, imagine a brother bald-headed, clothes ripped. Your love is, "I like
39:34 it, 'cause I need real talk. I don't wanna hear he just start saying, 'Thank you, Jesus.' I can't
39:38 handle that. I need to know that I can have some humanity in my Christianity. I may lose some
39:45 members, but I'm just more mature now. I am, I am. I'm more mature than I was at 30-something. I've
39:52 hung around, I've read more, I've walked with more people, and stuff that used to have me all perturbed
39:57 just don't no more. Stuff that you tell me happened in your life, it doesn't do to me what it used to.
40:03 Yes, I'm disappointed for you, but I realize there's humanity in your Christianity. I'm praying
40:08 that you hear my teaching, don't do nothing stupid, but sometime you will. And when you do, when you
40:15 go through something, that's not the end of life. Why do we get mad at messed up people when they
40:20 mess up? I'm a wretch undone. I got the Holy Spirit, but there's humanity in my Christianity.
40:28 I would have been so upset with the text if the text would have told me that this man can lose
40:33 his three precious daughters, his seven sons, and just be like, 'Oh, I'm cool.' No, the Bible says he's in
40:39 ultimate grief. The Bible says he didn't rip his clothes. I'm sure the man feels like he's about
40:44 to lose it. You'll love this. So what do you do when you don't know what to do? Let's have church.
40:51 I'll see y'all tonight. Hit three people and say, 'Worship.'
40:53 All worship ain't happy worship. All worship ain't smiley worship. Sometime you worshiping with tears
41:04 in your eyes. Sometime you lifting up your hands because you don't know what to do with your hands.
41:09 I wish I had somebody here that has called on God in the midst of your greatest lament and said,
41:16 'God, I need thee. I need thee. I don't know what you're doing in my life, but I ain't—'
41:21 I'm going, y'all. Y'all don't want to hear this. I love y'all. I love y'all. I'll just see you next time.
41:30 But I heard a story, Dr. Mack King Carter, he's in heaven now. Google him, YouTube him, old school
41:37 Baptist preacher from Florida. Dr. Mack King Carter told a story one time about a woman whose husband
41:43 was a trip and would do a little stupid stuff here and there, and everybody kind of knew it.
41:48 And at his funeral, somebody finally said to her, 'Now, Grandma, everybody know Granddaddy was a trip,
41:56 and everybody know Granddaddy used to do a little stuff, and we want to know how come you never left?'
42:01 Y'all ready for that? She looked and said, 'He was all I had.' You just missed your shot. I'm gone.
42:08 Sometime God may not do everything I want Him to do. Sometime my heart may be broke. Sometime He
42:14 may not come when I want Him to come. But slap three people and tell them He's all I got.
42:18 I'm gonna praise Him when friends walk away. I'm gonna stick with Him when family don't understand,
42:28 'cause life has taught me that wives will hurt you, and husbands will hurt you, and kids will not call
42:34 you, and parents will die on you. Hit two people, say, 'He's all I got!'
42:38 All right, I'm gone. I'll see y'all tonight, those watching all across the world. If you don't shout
42:51 on this, I guess we'll just shout tonight. Job stood up and said, 'Naked I came from my mother's
42:56 womb, and naked I shall return.' Here's the part you know from Sunday school, 'The Lord giveth.'
43:02 I'm gone, y'all. 'The Lord giveth, and the Lord takes away.' Wait a minute,
43:09 didn't nobody shout, 'The Lord giveth, and the Lord takes away.' Bless it. Barack,
43:16 be the name of the Lord. I'm gonna try this one more time. You just can't shout on 'The Lord
43:23 giveth.' If you're a real saint, you gotta shout on 'The Lord taketh away.' I'm gonna try it one
43:30 more time. Now before I get to that, if the Lord has given you anything that you didn't deserve
43:38 in your life, why don't you praise Him for what He gave you? He gave you food on your table. He gave you—
43:49 I'm gonna say this, and then I'm gonna let you alone. Pastor, how could you preach this
43:58 on New Year's, the last Sunday, New Year's Eve, Sunday morning? How could you preach this? I
44:04 promise you when I received it, I started shouting, 'It's up to you if you want to receive it.' He says,
44:08 'Tell your people who did not suffer this in 2023 to give Him an antithesis praise.'
44:14 Okay, let me try this one more time. You're gonna have to Vernonize, modernize, and contemporize
44:26 this. If everything I read in Job's life don't apply to you this year, praise Him for that.
44:33 If you listened to me teach and you're thinking, 'Thank God that didn't happen to me.'
44:43 If the Lord kept your children, if the Lord kept your job, if the Lord kept your health, then you
44:51 have a reason to praise Him on this New Year's Eve because it could have been you and it was somebody.
44:58 But if the Lord has watched over you—
45:01 Then here's the final thing. Oh, I've been doing this a long time. I'm saving my shout for the night.
45:10 But I'm gonna give you all this because I never gave it to you before. It's the most powerful
45:16 thing in the text. Verse 22 says, "Not once through all of this did Job sin. Not once did he blame God.
45:26 Not once did he say, 'Woe is me.' Not once did he say, 'God is a trip.' I want God to get me to a place
45:41 where whatever happens in my life, I don't have to go get high. I don't have to cuss nobody out.
45:48 I can just grieve and go through it and say, 'God, have your way in my life. I trust you. I don't
45:55 understand you all the time, but you're the best thing. Come on, have church with me.'"
45:59 If there's somebody here that wants to take 30 seconds on New Year's Eve and say, "God,
46:06 thank you for keeping me in 2023 because it could have been me." And if you
46:12 got some of the worst news of your life in 2023, but you're still here.
46:28 If somehow you came out of it. If somehow you're better, thank you, Marvin. Stronger, wiser.
46:38 Praising for that.
46:41 Spoiler alert, spoiler alert. Most of you know this story. Wait till I get to chapter two.
46:56 And then wait till I get to chapter 42. Oh my goodness, tonight
47:00 we're going to shout until tracks fall out of weaves. Until fake eyelashes fall off.
47:08 If I don't make your eyelashes fall off, then God,
47:12 I need all your fake eyelashes to be on the ground. I need you to have to go back
47:21 and say, "Girl, they all just left." I'm not just making this up. No guilt trips. You'll love this
47:31 church. If you don't want to come back tonight, then just don't. And watch us on YouTube and
47:36 enjoy your family. But if you don't mind, I want you to jam this place tonight. Listen,
47:42 I think God is worth it. Remember, it's not biblical, it's traditional. White churches,
47:47 Latino churches, they're not having church tonight. It's a black thing, literally. It's
47:52 from watch night, it's from slavery time. Slavery's over. So you're only coming tonight
47:56 because I just want to be with my pastor, my first lady, my church family. And no kids' church,
48:01 let your kids sit right next to you. It'll be a little loud, that's okay. I want you to bring
48:05 the new year in with your family next to you. Amen. Come early, doors open at nine, so get here
48:10 early, get you a good seat. May get crowded, I don't know, but that's okay. We just going to have
48:15 a good time and I'm going to preach tonight. I believe in deliverance going to hit this house.
48:19 Amen. Could you do me a favor? Could you bring a couple of friends, a couple of cousins and say,
48:26 "Come to the church tonight." My main man, YK Fu, going to be in the house. They just picked him
48:32 up. He going to do a sound check. He's hot, y'all. He's hot. I'm serious. Like Lecrae, him,
48:36 they're killing the game. And so gospel rap, I love that. Christian rap, hip hop. Listen,
48:42 come on, we all love hip hop. We ain't that saved. We love hip hop. So why not get some
48:46 Christian hip hop tonight? It's going to be hot. He performing during service, then afterwards,
48:50 they have a club 5,000 party, you know, feed the 5,000, club 5,000. My man, Big Shaq DJing next
48:57 door. It's going to be saved, I hope. Praise God. Amen. If you're around my age, we're going to be
49:02 next door. We're playing the 10 hottest line dance songs right over there on the dance floor.
49:07 Soon as we get through with church, we're going to go line dance a while, hang out,
49:12 or you can go next door to that. How many of you thank God for a relevant church? Amen. Amen.
49:16 Wow. I got to stop, but I'm not finished. I'm going to conclude tonight, messed around and
49:25 got a triple double. Watch us tonight on YouTube. Whenever you're watching this,
49:28 make sure you watch part one and part two of the life of Job. Messed around and got a triple
49:34 double. Job lost a lot, but God blessed him with double. I'm believing in 2024, somebody
49:40 needs to get ready for a triple double. I love you.