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ÉducationTranscription
00:00:30I am extremely honored to bring up our guest today. She really needs no introduction. She's
00:00:46a well-known actress. She is one of the biggest names in the music industry today. If you say her
00:00:54name, everybody, oh, bishops have called her. All right, we're gonna call Grace Jones. Let's
00:01:01receive Grace Jones. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Praise the Lord. Thank you. I know
00:01:24I was late last week. Yeah, I'm on time today. Right on time. Okay, so I'm going to sing one
00:01:38of my mom's favorite songs. She's high, I'm low, as you know. Why should I feel discouraged? Why
00:02:05should the shadows fall? Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home? For Jesus
00:02:35is my fortune. My constant friend is he. His eye is on the sparrow. Sparrow.
00:03:05And I know he watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free.
00:03:35For Jesus is my fortune. My constant friend is he. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me.
00:04:06His eye is on the sparrow. And I know, I know he watches me.
00:04:32Thank you, mom.
00:04:36Amazing, amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
00:05:02Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved, that saved a wretch like me.
00:05:32Oh, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. How sweet, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
00:06:02A wretch, a wretch like me. I once was lost, I once was lost. But now, but now I see.
00:06:23Was blind, but now I see. I once was lost, was lost. But now I'm found.
00:06:53You can't make me doubt him. You can't make me doubt him. You can't make me doubt him.
00:07:22You can't make me doubt him in my heart. Oh, you can't make me doubt him. I know too much about him. You can't make me doubt him in my heart.
00:07:39Well, you can't make me doubt him. You can't make me doubt him. You can't make me doubt him in my heart. Oh, you can't make me doubt him. I know too much about him. You can't make me doubt him in my heart.
00:08:10In the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 6, and beginning at verse 10, Ephesians chapter 6, beginning at verse 10, where Paul says,
00:08:27Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
00:08:44For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
00:08:56Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, stand therefore, having your loins girt with truth,
00:09:13having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked.
00:09:28Take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all supplication in the spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
00:09:47And then he said, And for me, that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
00:09:59I was searching for a period, but this is Old English. And when they wrote in Old English, they just went on and on and on with these sentences. And I couldn't find a period, so I stopped at a comma.
00:10:18Amen. I want you to look at somebody like you're angry with them and simply say, It's time to be fortified. Amen. It's time. Look at your other neighbor. Look at somebody on the other side and said, I have something to protect.
00:10:44Amen. I have something.
00:10:58The book of Ephesians is regarded as the most profound book in the Bible.
00:11:11And of course, for those of us who debate from a theological position, we wonder what the significance of all the other books and particularly the epistles, how is it measured that the book of Ephesians becomes the most profound in the scriptures?
00:11:38Well, one could say the profundity of the book is predicated on the fact that it begins outside of time. And indeed, and in fact, it is quite interesting when you consider the fact that you and I were chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
00:12:03And again, when you say chosen before the foundation of the world, there are two attributes that become significant when you even use the word chose.
00:12:17And the two attributes are significant because we declare that chosen is an anthropomorphic term. And don't be frightened. It's just simply something that is explained to us in our language and in our finite mindset.
00:12:43About something that happened in infinity, something that is supposed to have happened in heaven, that they're trying to explain to us on earth.
00:12:58But if you consider two attributes of God, you would have to ask yourself, when did he choose? Because one attribute is he is eternal, which means he has no beginning and he has no ending.
00:13:14When my father would preach that, I think I told you this before, I would say to my father, well, dad, if he has no beginning, then how did he ever get to right now?
00:13:28If I go back into his past, and if I go back and back and back and back and back and back and back and back and back and back, and I have no starting point, then how did he ever get to right now?
00:13:46Am I dyslectic? If I go all the way into his past and I can't find a place where he begun, then how did he ever get to the present?
00:14:03The problem was that I was equating eternity with time. And eternity and time cannot be compared with each other because eternity is an ever-present now.
00:14:22There is no past in eternity. There is no future in eternity. Eternity is an ever-present now. The prophet told you that in three weeks, you were going to get your blessing.
00:14:36It seems to me then that God is already living three weeks from now, which means why should I wait three weeks to get my blessing if he is already living three weeks from now?
00:14:55I had a problem with that because my little mind was trying to equate eternity with time, which means he has no beginning, he has no ending.
00:15:06But here is another attribute of God, and that is he is omniscient, which means he knows all things at all quote-unquote time. So if he has no beginning and he knows all things from his no beginning, then when did he choose?
00:15:31I'm having a good time. I don't know what you're having. Let's go over that again. He has no beginning, which means, and I'm going anthropomorphic because I have to use the word time.
00:15:49He has no beginning, but he knows all things. So in his no beginningness, he knew you would be here right now. And every child of God that has been chosen, anthropomorphic chosen, because if from his beginning and he has none, he knew all things.
00:16:20Then there was not a time, quote-unquote time in the existence of God, and he always existed, that he didn't know all things. So there was never a time when he would walk up to the supermarket and decide to choose something that he didn't know he would choose when he came in.
00:16:46You've been shopping, and when you went shopping, you didn't quite know what you would get. You had some idea. Amen. And after you tried on the shoes and you went and tried 17 more pairs on, then you came back and bought the first one you tried on.
00:17:05My whole point is you left with something you didn't know you would leave with when you went. But that's not the case with God. Because if he has no, since he has no beginning, and he knows all things, he has always known from his no beginning that you would be a man.
00:17:35You would be a child of God. It is critical now that the profundity of the book is based primarily on the fact that everything that is coming to us has already been done eternally, which means that everything that God has for you, you have already received it.
00:18:01No, he has already given it. Now whether you receive it or not is contingent on the level of your faith and how quickly your faith is engaged.
00:18:17So not only then were we chosen, but now, anthropomorphically, we were predestinated. And being chosen and predestinated, then we are sealed. And all of that, according to the book of Ephesians, is to the praise of his glory.
00:18:38In other words, it's not just about you, but it's about the praise of his glory. There's a side of God that we have an opportunity to see that we would not have seen had man not fallen. Because of the fall of man, there is another phase that God had to go into in order to bring us out of darkness into this marvelous light.
00:19:09When I give consideration then to the significance of our placing in God, the fact that you were chosen before the foundation of the world, before he put the world in place, he predestinated and he sealed you and I.
00:19:31The preciousness of that action has been brought to us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which means that a great deal has gone into your sitting here right now.
00:19:50Somebody paid an enormous price and somebody went into eternal wisdom to put together eternal justice and eternal love and to come out with a solution that is for the benefit of his praise and his glory.
00:20:10I feel it coming. It's critical to understand then that when you consider that there's only five quarts of blood in the human body and Jesus shed his blood for everybody who has ever lived, everybody who's living now, and everybody who will ever live,
00:20:31then the cost or the preciousness of that blood cannot be fathomed by the human mind.
00:20:41And when you consider whatever vapor of that blood has brought you into the fold, then you have to consider that God has done so much for you already that you ought to feel good about yourself.
00:21:03Amen. It doesn't matter who else devaluates you. The one who is most significant in your life has already declared to you that I have done everything necessary to bring you into a relationship with me.
00:21:23If that is the case, then you ought to relax and you ought to get comfortable and you ought to sing the song, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine.
00:21:36When I consider that then, I consider the significance of what he has done in order to place us in his kingdom.
00:21:47And I give some thought, if I may digress for a minute, I give some thought to the talents that were given out by God.
00:21:56He gave one five, he gave another two, and he gave the other one. It is significant that he does not give multiple gifts to people who does not use them.
00:22:08He does not give multiple gifts to lazy folk, to folk who will not go after what they have been gifted to do.
00:22:21We have a lot of gifted folk who will not move for multiple reasons, but there is no excuse when you understand the significance of your gift.
00:22:34It is because of the way that the one who received one talent viewed the giver. He said, what a hard man. Had he viewed him properly, he would have reacted properly to the gift that he had received.
00:22:53And I think right now that we ought to be extremely grateful to God for having chosen us, predestinated us, and sealed us through the blood of Jesus Christ.
00:23:09What am I saying? I'm saying every now and then stop looking at what you have material and look at who you belong to spiritually and give God the praise for what he has already done in your life.
00:23:28I've got news for you. There is no saint who could ever say I've lost everything. You can't lose everything if you have God in your spirit.
00:23:42I feel like having church when I understand then the profundity of the book of Ephesians and how he outlines all of the things that God has already done for us.
00:23:55And as he moves through the book, he goes through a variety of things. He had he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. He talks about us being his workmanship.
00:24:09And then he begins to close the book and he uses the word finally. When he uses the word finally, he is saying in one sense as to the last detail.
00:24:23I want to insert something into the premise that I have presented and I am coming to a conclusion and I want you to understand in the conclusion what the exhortation is.
00:24:38Now it's important to see that before there is exhortation, there has to be doctrine. He has to give us doctrine and then he gives us exhortation.
00:24:52What he's saying basically is based on what I have already presented, I want to come to a conclusion that's going to motivate you to a certain action.
00:25:05And here is what he says. He says finally as to the last detail or as to the rest of it, I need you to be strong. I need you to be strong.
00:25:17I need you to be strong because anytime you're as gifted as you are, anytime you have been separated from the rest, anytime I have laid my hands on you and given you a special anointing,
00:25:35anytime I have pulled you out from everybody else, you have now become a target to the enemy.
00:25:47I want to talk to some real people here today. Sometimes because God has moved you in such a marvelous way, it has brought out more demonic powers and more enemies have come up against you
00:26:06because all of a sudden God has brought you to a place of visibility. As long as you were anonymous, as long as you were like everybody else, then you were not a target for the enemy.
00:26:24But as soon as God separated you and as soon as it was discovered that there is something special about you, as soon as it's been realized that you're not like everybody else, then you become a target for the enemy.
00:26:45If I may take my time here, I may take my time. It's critical to understand this. I was reading the other morning in the Proverbs and what I try to do is I read a proverb every day.
00:27:06When young people ask me for wisdom and say, well, I need some help, I say, well, go to the book of Proverbs and today is the first. So you read the first one today.
00:27:17Now if I talk to them on the 15th, I would say, start with the 15th and read through and begin every day. And then when you see something that catches your attention, then of course mark it and if you don't understand it, we'll discuss it.
00:27:36But I was reading the other day in Proverbs 27 and about verse 4 where the Bible said that anger, of course, is outrageous and wrath is awful. But envy, who can understand it?
00:28:01It's an interesting dynamic because what he's saying essentially is that envy is more vicious than wrath and anger. And whenever God has his hand on you, remember the first family, the very first family, one son got murdered because the other son was envious of the way that God was treating his brother.
00:28:32I got news for you. If you don't want the enemy on your case, just stay under the radar. But whenever God puts his hand on you, he said a city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid.
00:28:51And he does not put lights under a bushel, but he puts light above the bushel that men may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven.
00:29:06But you had better be ready because the enemy has put a target on your back. And whenever God is blessing you, look out for the enemy to attack.
00:29:22I feel like preaching here. I heard you. I heard you. I heard you when you said before I was saved, I didn't have to go through all of this. You didn't have to go through it because he owned you.
00:29:39But now that you have love under new management, it's a whole nother ball game. Now that's why every now and then you ought to give God praise for your haters because your haters prove that God has his hand in your life.
00:30:06And I tell you this once before I tell you again, if you have no haters, you're not that gifted. I feel the power of God here. It just goes with the territory. Have I told you touch your neighbor yet? It's coming. It's coming.
00:30:27It's critical now because he is saying now I need you to be strong from the Greek word and do no more, which means to make strong, to endure with strength.
00:30:41And the idea here now is to clothe oneself with strength. That is put it on as you would put on a garment, as you would go into the closet and you would pick out something to wear.
00:30:56He is saying, pick out what is going to give you strength. You have to clothe yourself or envelop yourself with what is strong.
00:31:09And what he's saying now, the idea of the verb, and it's a verb here, is to clothe oneself with strength. And the verb is passive, which indicates that you are to be continually strengthened.
00:31:25I am looking at the circumstance as I get older and the treasurer I had in Longview has gone on to be with the Lord. I lost Quincy Fieldings after the last funeral of Bishop Robert Douglas and lost him.
00:31:45And the list goes on and the list goes on. I have never been in a year where somebody didn't die. I have never been in a year where somebody didn't lose something.
00:32:00I know the prophets told you that this year is going to be your best year, but I've never had a year where something drastic didn't take place. Maybe you have, and if you have, then take me to your spot and let me stand right in your spot.
00:32:22And maybe what happened in your life will happen in mine. I've never been a year where somebody didn't want to borrow some money. I've never been in a year where somebody didn't come crying about some pain. I've never been in a year where everything just went perfectly well without any disturbance whatsoever.
00:32:46So, no matter what I have been promised, I have not seen it yet. When I came to church, they told me everything will be alright. Well, I'm still waiting on it because everything has not been alright yet.
00:33:08I wish somebody would understand. So now, until it gets alright, what am I supposed to do? And what the Lord is telling me to do is be prepared to deal with whatever life throws your way.
00:33:27And in order to be prepared to deal with that, you can't put on weakness, you gotta put on strength. Because what the enemy is going to throw at you is not for first graders, but for folk who have graduated with a PhD in walking with God.
00:33:51The closer you get to God, the more fierce your enemy will be. And I can tell how strong you are by the enemies you have.
00:34:05I wish I could preach this thing here today. He said, I'll put no more on you than you're able to bear. So, if you're going through a lot right now, it can't be because you're weak. It's got to be because you're strong.
00:34:24Because he's not going to put any more on you than you can handle. I feel like preaching. I'm not living your life, I'm living mine. Whatever I go through, he said I can handle.
00:34:40Whatever you go through, you can handle. Oh, you might need two or three to gather in his name and pray you through. But all of us together can get through whatever we have to face because if we put on the armor of God, the victory is already ours.
00:35:04Oh, I want to talk to some graduating folk in this house. The idea then is the qualifying phrase is in the Lord. Can I go over that again? I want you to put it on, but I want you to be strong in the Lord.
00:35:26I don't need you to be strong with your own self-righteousness. I don't want you to be strong with your own effort because at the end of the day, your righteousness, my righteousness, he says, is as filthy rags.
00:35:44I can brag all I want to when things are going well and oh yes, and I can make judgments of other people when I'm not in trouble. But don't you talk too quickly because don't you put other people down while they're going through.
00:36:06I want to approach it another way. I want to approach it another way. I've discovered something in life and I've discovered this, that anytime somebody's going through something, everybody's being tested.
00:36:20When there is any sort of cataclysmic extirpation, when there's any kind of cataclysma, when there's any kind of disaster, it's not only the people who are in the middle of the disaster who are going through.
00:36:36It's also a test for the people who aren't in the disaster at the time and that is to see how they will react to somebody going through a hard time.
00:36:51If you will stand back and make judgments. I remember when Katrina hit, they made a judgment and they said that if New Orleans had been closer to God, it would not have suffered like it did.
00:37:08Well, well, well, well, that's an age old judgment because the disciples did the same thing when the Tower of Siloam fell. They said that had they been closer to God, they wouldn't have this tragedy.
00:37:25But Jesus turned around and told them it had nothing to do with them and they had nothing to do with their behavior. Stuff just happens in life and so you better be sure that you're not sitting around making judgments as to why other people are going through because you're not going through at the time.
00:37:52Because your time is coming and you better be careful how you judge lest it be measured back to you.
00:38:05Can I preach like I feel it? When I see people falling, I stand by praying because I want to see how God is going to bring them out just in case I get in a situation and I want to see how he is going to bring me out.
00:38:24I'm not over here judging. I'm over here praying that God will deliver. Don't go in your righteousness. You have to go in his strength. The devil don't care a thing about your strength.
00:38:45But he worries about the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't say to you, have you come to torment us before our time? But when you're filled with the Holy Ghost and he senses that you know the word of God, when you are equipped with faith and have the fiery darts of the enemy quenched,
00:39:11he realizes that you are nothing to play with. You can't send a private now, you got to send a corporal. And after a while, you can't send a corporal, you got to send a captain.
00:39:25After a while, you can't send a captain, you got to send a major. And then a major general. And then a general. And then a three-star general. And then a four-star general.
00:39:38Somebody's growing in this house. Somebody's getting closer to God. And somebody's got more power than they had 10 years ago.
00:39:50I feel like shouting here. In the Lord. Strengthening then, one writer says, the expositor says it like this, and I quote, he says, strengthening as Christian strengthening, such as can only take effect in union with the Lord, unquote.
00:40:11Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Mama left me, but thou art with me. Husband left me, thou art with me.
00:40:27Wife is gone, thou art with me. Church members turn their backs, but thou art with me. I can get through the shadow, the valley of the shadow of death, as long as you are with me. In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct thy path.
00:40:51I don't care who's not with you, you better have God with you, whenever you gotta go through something.
00:41:00The active efficacy of the might, and when he uses the word might, it's from the word kratos. It's relative or manifested power. And it's also iskoos, which is power as an endowment.
00:41:23And the active efficacy of the might, that is inherent in him. That's why I've gotta operate in his strength. That's why I've gotta get my mind out of the way, and get his mind in its place.
00:41:41I have to have spiritual understanding. And many times we have been, oh I don't know if it's intentional, but I do know that many times because of our intent as preachers, we generally end up with a content that suits our intent.
00:42:04What am I saying? If I am going to raise some money, I will have a content that deals with money. I can sit in a congregation, I can tell what the altar call is going to be.
00:42:19If the message is about money, then it has to have a content. And the content is predicated on the intent of the person who is speaking. If the intent is about winning souls, then the content is going to have souls as its target.
00:42:42I'm saying that to say that many times we have been misled or we have been asleep because of the presentation based on the intent of the speaker.
00:42:56And what I've discovered is this, that often times we promise good and wonderful things and then we're disappointed because the good and wonderful things don't come to pass.
00:43:10And when they don't come to pass quickly, we become discouraged and we want to walk out of church.
00:43:18I've got news for you that many times we only get one side of the truth. We don't get the full picture.
00:43:29And the full picture is because sin has entered into the world, you've got to deal with being abused as a child. You've got to deal with sexual abuse, physical abuse.
00:43:44You've got to deal with robbers and thieves. You've got to deal with murderers. You've got to deal with slanderers. You've got to deal with all kinds of stuff that if you are not fortified, you will be not prepared to handle.
00:44:02Don't give me the glossy side of the gospel without giving me the affliction side of the gospel. Because you're giving me one side and you're spoiling me.
00:44:17God does not raise spoiled children. God raises children who will look the devil in the face and say, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth and you better have some armor on to do that.
00:44:42I feel like preaching in here. Give somebody a high five for the first time and say, neighbor, do you have your armor on? Do you have it on? Are you ready? Are you ready, Freddy, for whatever is coming?
00:45:01Put on to undo. He says to envelope in, to hide in, to clothe with. And when he says the whole armor, it's panoply on pass. And it's hold and hop on is weapons. And it's literally put on all the weapons.
00:45:23And he means then being fully and totally armed. I'm telling you this for our weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
00:45:41I told somebody the other day and I think I said it and somebody picked it up online. I don't do no Facebook and all that kind of stuff. I ain't bothering with none of that. If you see me on anything out there, it's what staff says has to be done.
00:46:00But my hands aren't in it at all. But I said that that revenge belongs to the Lord. And somebody took offense to that. They said, well, Bishop, sometimes you got to get in the middle of it and get it straight.
00:46:18Sometimes you got to get in it because some people need justice. Well, justice is not revenge. It shouldn't be. People use it for that, but it shouldn't be. But anyway, the point I'm making is this. Our weapons are not carnal, which means I don't fight with hatred. I fight with love.
00:46:45What do you do when you say you need revenge? When he says, if they slap you on one cheek, turn the other. Well, somebody told me after they turned the second time, it's going to be on.
00:47:03But my whole point is Jesus says, if they ask you for your coat, give him your cloak also. What he is saying is my weapon is not predicated on hatred. My weapons are predicated around love and God is love.
00:47:23So when I'm operating in love, I'm operating with the power of God. And when I'm operating with the power of God, there is no demon in hell that can get me to lose my way. I've got news for you. When God is on your side, he'll protect you when you can't protect yourself.
00:47:50When God is on your side, he'll stop the enemy when you can't stop him yourself. And when God is on your side, he'll make your enemy. I wish somebody would understand it. I don't have to fight this battle. I can say like they said, this battle is not yours. The battle is the Lord's.
00:48:16I'm almost there, Pat. And then here now I got to be fully armed. I've got to have everything on because I don't know what's coming. I've got to have the shield. I've got to have the sword. I've got to have the lance, the helmet, the graves. I've got to have the breastplate.
00:48:35And what I've found out is that you have to have the helmet of salvation because you got to watch what you think. I preached that the other day. You've got to think the right way because no man is separated from his thoughts.
00:48:56As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And when you think positively, when you think victory, when you think power, when you think overcoming, it's not that you're not facing reality.
00:49:13Oh, you know, the old folk used to say, don't claim it. The devil is a liar. What you talking about? Don't claim it. I'm sick. Let me put it this way. You know, the old missionary, she went to pray for the young lady who just got saved.
00:49:30And when she went to pray for the young lady, she went into the room and she said to the young lady who just got saved, the devil is a liar. Don't claim it. A few years later, the old lady got sick and the new saint went to go see her.
00:49:49Well, the new saint didn't know exactly how to approach her because as far as she was concerned, this is a spiritual icon. What can I say to her? So she remembered what she said when she was sick and the icon told her, don't claim it. The devil is a liar.
00:50:11So she said to mother, the devil is a liar. Don't claim it. Mother looked back at her and said, honey, he ain't lying this time. I got news for you. The truth is when you going through something, he's lying. When I'm going through something, he ain't lying this time.
00:50:32The truth is sometimes he ain't lying. Sometimes you're really sick, but the only way for Jesus to prove he is Jehovah is for you to be sick. I'm broke. Don't tell me don't claim it. I ain't got no money in my pocket, but I'm looking for Jehovah Jireh to set it free.
00:51:00I wouldn't have a testimony if I didn't have any trouble. The trouble is real, but my mind says victory.
00:51:10Victory. If I hold my peace and let the Lord fight my battle, I've got to put on the whole armor and I've got to put it on and he says, I've got to put on the armor of God and that's in the genitive case, the case of possession.
00:51:34The idea one writer puts it this way. The idea is we need not only divine equipment, but that equipment in its completeness without the lack of any single part. All that God provides is needed to meet our full unquote.
00:51:57He's got to give us this because the enemy is tricky. Look at your neighbor. Second time said the enemy is tricky. Oh yeah. You might not want to admit it, but he's tricked you many times.
00:52:13And I might not want to admit it, but I've been tricked too. And so the idea is that I've got to have the whole armor because if he attacks me with my head and my thinking and he can't get me through my thinking, he attacks me with what I love.
00:52:37That's why I got to have the helmet on to watch my thinking. I've got to have the breastplate to watch what I love. Can I preach like I feel it? You got to watch what you love because you can love the wrong thing and the wrong thing can get you in trouble.
00:53:00Do I have a witness? I got a witness. Don't you look like Alice in Wonderland? I'll read your mail from right here. The truth is you got to watch what you attach yourself to because oftentimes you can attach yourself to nothing but trouble.
00:53:21That's why you need God to direct your love life because you can't change some of these devils. If you go in there and she is a devil, she going to be a devil after you get in there.
00:53:39You better ask God to direct. Order my steps. You got to ask God. And let me tell you another thing too. You got to learn how to deal with rejection because rejection is direction.
00:54:01I wish I could tell you. I'm preaching to somebody. Oh yeah. You don't want me? Hurry up and tell me. Don't play with me. Just tell me you don't want me so I can find somebody who does.
00:54:17You got to watch what you love. Give somebody a high five. Say watch it. Watch it. Watch it. And when God shows you a flash of madness, believe it. Can I preach to somebody here?
00:54:34You don't see it. Ain't nobody come telling you advertising how wicked they can be. Ain't nobody advertising that. But every now and then while you're talking, you see a flash of madness.
00:54:55It didn't stay long. It happened real quick. You better hear God talking to you. You better listen. You got to watch your heart because the devil will come for your heart. He'll come for your feet because he wants you to carry gossip.
00:55:17But when I'm coming, I'm coming in the name of the Lord. I'm bringing the word of God. How much time do I have? I feel like preaching in here. You've got to watch because he is methodical. He is cunning. He's got art. He's deceitful. He's got craft. He's tricky.
00:55:41He talks good. He looks good. He dresses good. Oh, the devil can make himself into an angel of light. That's why you got to have your discernment up. You got to have your knowledge up and you've got to be patient.
00:56:02Anytime somebody's trying to rush you into anything, you better watch out. Oh, I got to pray about it. And if they tell you what you got to pray about, that's not the one. That ain't the business. I got to pray. I got to pray about you. I got to pray about it. I got to pray about the investment.
00:56:25I got to pray about what you want my money to do. I got to pray about where I'm going with you. I got to pray about what I'm doing with you. I got to pray about what I need to do, where I want to do. I got to pray about my own crazy self. I got to pray about everything. And if I can't pray about it, I can't deal with it.
00:56:50I feel I'm almost there. And the verb form here is to follow or investigate by method. The settle plan to follow craftily. Frame devices, deceive and strategize. Satan's got a strategy for you, particularly because you're gifted.
00:57:16I want to talk to gifted people. You're gifted, but along with your gift, God's got to build your character. He's got to build your character to the place because the devil can't mess with your gift. It was given before the foundation of the world, but he can mess with your character.
00:57:40There's a whole lot of gifted folk we can't use because they don't have any character. I feel like preaching in here. There's a whole lot of folk we can't even deal with because they're shifty. They're shafty. They're criminals in their minds.
00:58:00I don't know why you stealing from somebody that'll give you anything you ask for. What is wrong with you? Why are you stealing from somebody that wants to bless you? I feel like preaching in here. Give somebody a high five for the third time and say, neighbor, you better put it on. You better put it on.
00:58:25You want to go to the next level? You better be ready for the next level. He says, because we wrestle not against, and that's an athletic term.
00:58:38What it is, one writer says, it's a contest between two in which each endeavors to throw the other and which is decided when the victor is able to press and hold down his prostate antagonist, namely hold him down with his hand upon his neck.
00:59:01When we deal with the Greek, the loser in the Greek wrestling match had his eyes gouged out. I think Paul is saying to us that what the devil wants to do more than anything is blind the child of God.
00:59:20That's why the Holy Ghost leads and guides into all truth. Have you noticed America lately where lies dominate because that is the lead to deception? Can I preach like I feel it?
00:59:37He said the reason you have been given over to a strong delusion is because you did not have love for the truth. Tell me the truth. I don't need you to play with me. Tell me the truth because if I know the truth, the truth shall make me free.
00:59:59I feel like giving God some glory. Can you give him five seconds of praise? Thousand and one, thousand and two, thousand and three, thousand and four, thousand and five.
01:00:16That's why the writer says our wrestling is not against flesh and blood. I'm not coming to you with a fist. I'm not coming to you fighting, but I tell you when you get on my nerves, I don't come fighting with my fists.
01:00:36I fight on my knees when I go down before the Lord and begin to cry out to him and say, Lord, have mercy on them. That's why the Bible says, pray for them that despitefully use you.
01:00:55But when you have the full armor of God, we might as well have church fan. When you got on the full armor of God, you don't worry about folk. You worry about who's behind the folk because we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
01:01:17But every time you walk in a room full of the Holy Ghost and somebody don't like you, it ain't about them. It's about the spirit that's behind them. There's a spirit moving everywhere and you gotta be ready to stand in spiritual warfare.
01:01:42Do I have some warriors that know how to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? I'm fighting against principles, the first ones, preeminent ones, leaders. I'm fighting against authority.
01:02:04That's why I have the Holy Ghost, which is the dunamis of God, the power of the Holy Ghost that can stand up to every demonic spirit. Get out of my house. Get out of my child. Get out of my job. Get out of my wallet. Get out.
01:02:31You've got the authority. I've got the excusia, which is the name of Jesus. Give somebody a high five. Say, I need the Holy Ghost and I need the name. There is power in the name and that's the excusia.
01:02:52Can I preach it like I feel it? Let me tell you how it goes. You have the dunamis to write my check, but you don't have the excusia to sign it. I feel like preaching.
01:03:07You have the power to get up here and shout, but the demons will look at you shouting and say, Paul, I know. Jesus, I know. But who are you? You better have the authority to tell the devil.
01:03:28I am a child of the king. I'm on my way to glory. I'm getting ready to close, but I feel the power of the Holy Ghost. Y'all excuse me. Y'all excuse me. You ain't fighting no devils up there in the heavens.
01:03:58You're fighting devils right here on earth. You're fighting devils that don't want you to move to the next level in God. Every time you get close to God, here comes another problem.
01:04:15It ain't just a problem. It's a demon trying to stare you around, but I got my head covered. I got my chest covered. I got my waist with truth. I got the shields of faith, but all of those are defensive weapons.
01:04:38I got offensive weapons. I'm defending myself, but every now and then, I tell the devil, I got an offensive weapon, which is the word of God. I feel like preaching. I got the word. Give somebody high fives for the fourth time.
01:05:03Say, neighbor, I've been backing up, but now it's my turn. I got the word. I got the word. The word is a lamp. The word is a light. The word is the sword.
01:05:25Singing is all right. Phrasing is all right, but somebody give me a word so I can tell the devil, get out, get out, get under my feet. Victory shall be mine.
01:05:47Give somebody high fives for the last time and say, neighbor, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm getting ready to come. I'm getting ready to come.
01:06:09I just got a hold out through the night. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy. Put it on. Put it on. Put it on. Put it on.
01:06:31Put it on. Put it on. Put it on. You don't know what's coming. You don't know what's coming. Get ready. Get ready. I wish Shakespeare.
01:07:01Somebody holler, I got it on.
01:07:26I'm going to try to close one time. You don't know how strong you are. With everything you've been through, you had to have something on for you to still be here.
01:07:56Clothed. And in your right mind, you had to have something on. But I exhort you, as I preach to myself, you don't know what's coming.
01:08:24Ain't no prophet in the world can tell you that everything's going to be all right. I never heard. I'm listening for it. But I haven't heard a prophecy yet that said, you know what, let me give you $100 because you're going to need it.
01:08:51I never heard a prophecy yet that said, you know what, you're about to go through a real rough season. It's going to be so bad, you're going to think about quitting everything. All I hear is good things.
01:09:06So I asked myself, am I preaching the wrong thing? And I come to the conclusion that if he tells me put on the whole armor, I mean, something bad's going to happen.
01:09:27And he says, you need to have it on so you can stand in the evil day. I want to thank God for giving me the armor to stand when my mother died.
01:09:56Stand. Giving me the armor to stand in the same year when I was diagnosed with cancer. Giving me the armor to stand the same year I had back surgery. Same year my enemies rose up against me.
01:10:23Oh, there's a day when it looked like everything is crazy. But when you got on the armor. Oh, can I preach? The armor keeps the enemy on the outside. Don't let him penetrate the inside.
01:10:45My joy is in here. My peace is in here. My faith is in here. My hope is in here. Put it on because you don't know what's coming.
01:11:03Stand. And there's nothing left to do. You just stand. Watch the Lord bring you through.
01:11:33Thank you for watching!