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00:00Elbow your neighbor and tell him, I just thank God for the blood, alright?
00:30Matthew chapter 4, just one verse, verse number 6. Matthew 4 verse number 6. Ladies, you blessed
00:53us this morning, thank you. Matthew 4 verse number 6. If you are the Son of God, He said, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command His angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you won't strike your foot against a stone.
01:23You may be seated. If you're the Son of God, the devil said to Jesus, throw yourself down, for it is written that the Lord your God will command the angels concerning you, and they'll lift you up in their hands, so that not even your foot will hit up against a stone.
01:52I want to preach today using as a subject, I love myself. I want you to lay hands on yourself, lay hands on yourself. I'm telling you, the enemy's gonna hate you heard this sermon today. Lay hands on yourself and shout it out loud, I love myself.
02:17Amen. Bless the Lord. Amen. Look at the people who are on your road, tell them straight up, look them straight in the eye and say, I gotta tell you something. There are a lot of people that don't like me. But you know what, it don't even matter. I love myself.
02:42If you love yourself, would you give God glory right there? I love, I love myself.
02:55One of the strangest things that I've discovered about the world is the fact that people expect you to care about them more than you care about yourself.
03:25There are a lot of people you encounter who have the comportment of a mob boss because they demand loyalty without equality. People want you to trust them when they are not trustworthy.
03:49They want your support but have failed to back you up. The Bible says if you want a friend, you gotta show yourself friendly.
04:05There is nothing healthy about a one-sided relationship. A lot of relationships nowadays are transactional. They are only in it for what they can get. And they lack reciprocity.
04:27The idea of balance is fleeting. And most of our relationships are out of alignment because they are one-sided and involve a manipulative, narcissistic agenda.
04:47Too many relationships are built on power and not on love. They don't really love you, they love the idea of controlling you.
05:01And when it is that they discover you have your own mind, you have your own thoughts, and you have your own opinion, then they get frustrated and flustered because they thought you would be a compliant, indigenous worker.
05:18Some people only love you as long as they can control you. And I wish that I could reduce this conversation to just relationship or romantic scenarios.
05:34I'm talking about the dynamics that happen even in relationships with families. They are fine as long as they can keep you as a child and cannot handle that you are now a full adult.
05:51And so while I respect you, you still gonna have to respect me. At the root of a lot of our connection is the devastating truth over a troubling power dynamic where people often take more than they give.
06:09They have a broken ATM card. They only know how to withdraw but never know how to deposit. It's a terrible thing when you have to operate in a silo and be the only strong one for your entire circle.
06:28So when your circle is going through, they call you for counseling, call you for advice, call you for prayer, call you for therapy, call you for insight. But when you going through, you can't call none of them.
06:41Because all you're doing is pouring and never receiving. You've gotten to a place that you have been so wounded and so inflicted by your giving that to safeguard yourself, you've had to discipline yourself not to care.
07:07People don't understand my not caring is not because I am heartless, it's because my heart is too big. And I don't trust myself not to love too hard and to go too deep because I keep giving people chances and opportunities.
07:24And they keep proving me every time that they are not deserving of the oxygen that I breathe. But I keep giving them CPR and bringing them back to life and nobody is ever asking, am I alright?
07:41Don't take for granted my strength because sometimes I got to kick into overdrive because I am so depleted by the weaklings in my life that it frustrates me that all I do is give and never receive.
07:59I told you a time or two before but it bears repeating in this space and in this room that I'll never forget when my sister and I were in college. I was at Morehouse, Tamar was at Duke and we went home for spring break and my mother sat both of us down and my mother looked sternly in the eye of my sister and told my sister, Tamar, whatever you do, do not fall in love with a taker.
08:29She said, Tamar, don't fall in love with a taker because you are a natural giver and takers have no limits and givers have no boundaries.
08:41Y'all ain't saying nothing to me. Some of you have just cracked the case. I feel like I'm talking to about a thousand givers in this room who have made the mistake of falling in love with takers and they just keep taking and keep taking and keep taking.
08:59And what's crazy, when you stop giving then they got an attitude like they were entitled to your giving.
09:07When you give more than you take, you end up looking like a fool. People who take more are often selfish. They think the world owes them something and they see people not as individuals, they only see you as opportunities.
09:32Look for the red flags when you meet people and they do not ask about you, they only ask what you do. They are not really interested in who you are, they want to know what it is that they can get for their greater end.
09:50But there are few of us that got real friends that have proven themselves when I didn't have nothing, they had my back. When I didn't have anything to give, they saw the best in me. When I didn't love myself, they loved me back into wholeness.
10:09Don't think that everybody in church has always had healthy self-esteem. There were moments we couldn't even look ourselves in the mirror, but it took the healing process of God to convince ourselves I'm still lovable.
10:29Watch out for people who will bleed you dry but are scared of the sight of blood. They'll bleed you dry but they're scared of the sight of blood because they do not mind a blood infusion but they don't want to give you an ounce.
10:50So going the extra mile is off the table. Asking them to make a sacrifice is an inconvenience. They will manipulate, they will lie, they will pretend, they will act and hear this and they will shout in church.
11:07To get whatever it is that they need. I want you to lift up your hand. I heard something in prayer this week that I dare announce in this room today. Lift up that hand.
11:25Please, in the realm of the Holy Spirit, I break the arm spiritually of every taker in your life. Whatever it is they got away with taking in the past, let them have it. Because of the power of the Holy Ghost, you don't even want what they took.
11:49But I declare all things are now brand new in your life. And if you receive it, I dare you to just give God the sound of worship that God is now putting restraining order against takers in your life.
12:07Being unequally yoked is not just a Christian dating a Muslim. You can be unequally yoked with somebody who go to your church if they don't have the same fear and respect of God that you do.
12:31I can't hear nobody. When you are in church, you are not obligated to check on nobody. When we worshiping, don't you dare ask them, are they alright? This is not about them, it's all about him.
12:45If you really want to know where people are, check out their worship. If they don't know how to bless God, they'll never know how to take care of you. If they don't know how to honor the person that died for them, they'll kill you and walk right over your body.
13:04But there's somebody in this room that understood in my loneliest season, I will bless the Lord at all times and his praise will continue.
13:21David said, my cup runneth over. And the problem is you got too many people trying to drink out of your cup. What is in the cup is for you. What runs over is for everybody else.
13:42I know y'all ain't ready for this, but I am here on assignment to tell somebody in this room, God is getting ready to give you a season. I hope you'll hear me in the spirit. He is giving you a season to be selfish.
13:58That you gotta safeguard yourself. All year you've been doing for other people, making sacrifices for other people, but God said for the last quarter of the year, do something for yourself. Buy something for yourself. Take yourself somewhere.
14:21You may be seated. How do you keep saving people? How do you keep saving people while you're dying? How do you keep feeding people and you are starving to death?
14:46How do you keep giving people advice and they don't know you are in the middle of a nervous breakdown? But God said the blessing that's coming next, I don't know who this is for, the blessing that's coming next is not for your kids.
15:05The blessing that's coming next is not for your family. But God said I've been watching you because you suffered with me. You are about to reign with me. I don't know where you are, but I need somebody to shout it out loud. It's my time now.
15:27Come on, open up your mouth and shout it out loud. It's my time now.
15:39Because you have got to do something for yourself and stop feeling bad when you take care of you. Stop feeling guilty because you're doing something for yourself.
15:55Ladies and gentlemen, you may be seated. In Luke chapter 4, something critical takes place because the Bible says Jesus has just come out of a fast. And when he comes out of a fast, 40 days of not eating, the enemy somehow or another meets him, I need you to note this, meets him at a high place.
16:21Isn't it amazing that many of us think that where the devil finds you is when you are at your lowest. Sometimes where it is that you've got to build up your arsenal is when you have been elevated.
16:35When you get to a place where you have never been before, that's when the enemy comes. As long as you are down, you are not a threat to the enemy. That's why the enemy has been fighting you with everything to stop your promotion and to stop your elevation and to stop your upgrade.
16:55Because he knows if you go to a whole nother level, you ain't ever going back to where you used to be before. See, some folk are looking at y'all cockeyed crazy because they don't know how low you were. They don't know how far in despair and depression they got no idea this was a sick season for you.
17:19You ain't where you are because of your degree and because of your looks. You ain't where you are because when you are at your lowest season, you're still trusting God. When you are sick of yourself, you're still lifting up your hands.
17:38And in Luke chapter 4, verse number 9, I need you to hear this and I need you to hear me with rapt attention. I need you to see that the devil is trying to get Jesus to harm himself.
17:55He says something that I wanted you to see. The devil says to Jesus, cast yourself down. So says the King James Version. It's translated in 1611, but the contemporary English version says throw yourself down.
18:13They are at a high place and the enemy is trying to get Jesus, y'all ain't going to believe it, to commit suicide. Healing is getting ready to happen in this room. He is trying to convince Jesus, hear this, to harm himself.
18:32He's trying to convince our master, hear this, that he needed to prove something to the devil. That Jesus needed to show the enemy of his salvation that God still cares about him.
18:48Can I stop and tell you that God will never ask you to harm yourself. And you better be careful of who comes into your life and is trying to push you to do something that is outside of the will of God.
19:07I'm not just talking to you, I'm talking to your teenager. I'm not just talking to you, I'm talking to the person beside you. Anybody that is in your life that will encourage you towards self-destruction is a friend of the devil.
19:26But I stand today to say that you are not surrounded by imps from hell. But the Bible said if two or three are touching and agreeing, there I will be also.
19:43For the first time today, can you take that neighbor's hand? I said for the first time today, take that neighbor's hand. Look at your neighbor and tell him, I don't want you to harm yourself. I want you to live. I want you to survive. I want you to go to another level.
20:13Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You may be seated. Only the devil would have you believe that the more you hurt yourself, the more you are proving how much you love them.
20:34Nobody who loves you will try to convince you to hurt yourself. If they know you are struggling with alcohol, why would they offer you a drink? I can't hear nobody in here. If they know you're trying to live clean, why are they passing you weed?
20:53If they know you are trying to establish a marriage under God, why are they taking you to the strip club? You got to have people in your life that want to see you live and not want to see you die. I don't know where you are, but we are living in a culture where people get excited about your downfall.
21:16They get excited when you stumble, but God said in this season of your life, you ain't going to have nobody push you down. You are going to have somebody push you up. Would you shout for the elevation of your children? Shout for the elevation of your neighbor. Shout for the elevation of your best friend.
21:46This temptation in verse nine is all about the temptation to feel as if you got something to prove. Hallelujah. I feel glory coming now. I need you to know that if you can hear my voice, you ain't got nothing to prove to nobody.
22:09Hallelujah. I'm getting ready to give you a radical revolutionary statement, and I need you to declare it with vigor and authority. I'm telling you, every childhood trauma trapped in you is about to be crucified.
22:25I need 5,000 people to shout out loud, I am enough. Come on, say it out loud. I am enough. I got what it takes. I got the oil of God on my life. I am. I'm enough.
22:50He's trying to make him prove himself. The temptation to think that you have to answer every question or that you have to honor every request. The temptation that you always got to audition for a position that God has placed you in.
23:08The temptation to think that you don't have what it takes. Don't you ever walk in another room insecure. If you got in that room, God ordained for you to be in that room. I ain't got the degrees that other folk got. I ain't got the money that other people got, but I got an anointing none of them got.
23:31I walk in every room with my head lifted up and my shoulders square.
24:01I said to Jesus, throw yourself down. This is not a sermon for your neighbor. This is a sermon for you. And I don't know who needs it, but I'm telling you, you are here by divine appointment.
24:20The enemy has been trying to make you become a terrorist of self-sabotage. Hallelujah. I feel glory coming in this room, but I need somebody. You don't even know what they're dealing with. You don't even know what they are up against. You don't even know what demons they are fighting, but I need you to get in lockstep with the anointing of your pastor.
24:42I need somebody to shout out loud. I will not hurt myself. Come on. I can't hear nobody. I will not hurt myself. I am not putting myself in the hands of folk that cannot handle me.
25:01I am not going to be dependent on people who are secretly jealous of me. I am not going to ignore what the Holy Ghost told me about you. I will not hurt myself, even if I have to cut off my own family. I will not hurt myself.
25:31I'm not going to hurt myself. I'm not going to break my own bones. I'm not going to destroy my own future. I'm not going to ruin my own destiny. I'm not going to take my own life. I'm not going to sabotage my own greatness.
25:51I have allowed enough people in my life to hurt me, but I promise and swear to God, I ain't going to do nothing to hurt myself. I am too valuable and too precious in his eyes. He thought I was good enough to die for when he knew all of my meth. I cannot hurt myself.
26:18I wanted you to see something. New Birth, I needed you to see this. I wanted you to see it. I needed you to pay attention that the devil never tried to push him. The devil never shoved him. He was banking on Jesus doing it to himself.
26:44Oh my God, because the enemy knew if he pushed him, he would be held accountable. Oh my God. So if I can get you to be so broken that you hurt yourself, then I will not be held accountable for what you did.
27:07I'm telling you, those of you who are in this room, a whole lot of people have dealt with you grimy. They have dealt with you dirty. They have mishandled you, but in spite of all of that, you ain't going to be so broken that you're going to keep doing stuff to yourself. I got to do something to preserve my life.
27:32So I want you to be on full alert, full alarm that they're going to be people who are going to try to convince you to stop yourself. They're going to be people when you share your idea with a non-dreamer who are going to make you second guess your assignment.
27:54There are people who have no victories who will plant a seed that it is not going to work. But today you swear off anything that has been planted in your mind since you were a child that has somehow or another been haunting, stalking and chasing you into believing that you were never going to get to what God has been showing you.
28:24I declare unto God that you cannot do it to yourself. It's one thing for the enemy to fight me. It's something altogether different when I got to end up fighting myself. The devil knows, I need you to hear this, the devil knows what you like.
28:43The devil knows your weakness. And so it is the devil's job to present to you, hear me, something you are attracted to. If you ain't attracted to it, it ain't a temptation. Come on, I can't hear nobody.
29:05See, it's easy to be holy. It's easy to be holy. Y'all don't like me today. It's easy to be sanctified when nobody wants you. But it takes a different level of God to walk away from what it is that you like and say, God, I cannot self-destruct.
29:32It is out of your weakness that the enemy pulls your insecurity. Says, because I like food, the enemy will body shame me. Come on, I can't hear nobody in here. Because all of my cousins were lighter than me, I got an issue about my own complexion.
29:57God, I can't hear nobody in here because no matter what it is, if my hair won't grow, I always feel like I am not attractive. Because I'm not six foot three driving a Mercedes Benz and a BMW, I feel as if if I'm not making seven figures, I'm not a real man.
30:14The enemy will find your weakness and turn the knife in it. Hallelujah. But the only way that you are able to surmount over it is to not see yourself as people see you. But you got to see yourself the way God sees me.
30:33God, help me in here. Have you ever taken a moment? I got to ask you for real. Have you ever taken a moment to figure out why in your whole family God chose you? Why God skipped over your siblings and your cousins and your aunts, but he saw something in you?
30:50And you sitting in here trying to adjust your life to go down to the level that they think are? Are you out of your cotton picking mind? You were chosen to be the hair and not the tail.
31:14So many of us. So many of us are afflicted. We are afflicted. I don't know who I'm talking to today because you have not given yourself permission. You have not given yourself permission to forgive yourself.
31:35When God is already forgiving you, how much longer you gonna hold it over your own head? How much longer you gonna keep disqualifying yourself from the possibility? How much longer you gonna talk yourself out of what God promised you?
31:52That ain't you. That ain't you. That's why you got to make up in your mind, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. There is nothing that can stop you. And that's why you have declared, no weapon that is formed against me shall be able to press.
32:12And Jesus used the curse word for the saints. Jesus spoke fluently the curse word that saints have to practice pronouncing.
32:37Satan told him to jump and Jesus used a sacred curse word. The sacred curse word is no.
32:49Sometimes the best way to curse Negroes out is to tell them no. If you want to know where people's real heart is, tell them no and see how they respond. See how they react. See how they move.
33:12No, I'm not going to fall for the okie doke again. No, I'm not proving nothing to you. No, I am not giving you my last when you never made me feel first.
33:30No, I am not going to be manipulated when I know you lying before you open up your mouth. No, I will not undermine my own destiny. No, I will not play games with the calling that is on my life. Everybody in this room shout no.
33:49His saying no was I don't need to test how much God loves me because I'm not insecure and I don't need to be validated. I don't need confirmation and I don't need evidence.
34:09All I need you to know is yes, Jesus loves me for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.
34:26Would you look at the person beside you and tell them I am not the same person that I was two hours ago. I just needed an oil check. I just needed a moment to remind myself how bad I am. I lost it for a minute but I'm in my square now.
34:45Do you know who you are sitting beside? Do you know what I represent to the earth? Do you know what God has done for me? I don't need you to shout with me. I will encourage myself. I will praise him by myself.
35:15For the last time, hallelujah. For the last time, you may be seated. God help me. Hallelujah. For the last time, you may be seated. If you feel like it, you may be seated. That's what you want to do. You can be seated.
35:34But those of you who are in this room that say, Pastor, I respect you and all but I love myself and I got to give him glory. I got to give him honor. I got to give him praise. Thank you for letting me be myself.
36:04Hey, I feel that thing right through here. Look at your neighbor and say, you better back up off of me. The real me is getting ready to come out. The last three years, I almost lost myself but I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus.
36:34You get ready to do something you ain't done. You get ready to do something you ain't never done. You done shouted for jobs. You done shouted for houses. You done shouted for promotion.
36:53But God said today, shout for yourself. Shout for house. Praise him for yourself. I'm overweight but I'm still fine. I'm in between jobs but I'm still fine.
37:22I hate my job but I love myself. The devil is a liar. The devil is a liar. I love myself.
37:36Lift up that hand. I love myself. I love myself.
37:56I love myself. That don't make me arrogant. It don't make me stuck up. It makes me self-aware. I love myself. Because I love myself, I ain't going to let you talk to me any kind of way.
38:18I'm not going to let you play in my face because I love myself. Not going to let you take me for granted or not recognize or honor what I bring to the table. I love myself.
38:37I want you standing all over this room. Hallelujah. Those of you who are at the altar, if you'll excuse me for one moment. I'm on assignment. Those of you at the altar, if you'll make your way to your seats, I got to do something very quickly.
38:56I love myself. I love myself. Sometimes you got to keep saying it until you believe it. I love myself. God help me. I don't measure up to European standards of beauty but I love myself. I'm not going to let you compare me to your ex. I love myself.
39:23Softly musicians and strings, I want to do this. Our heads are bowed, our lives are closed. It's one of the most difficult messages God has given me this year. I'm telling you, I've been restless and sleepless the last four days about this message.
39:44I don't know where you are. I don't even know how you got here. I don't even know what you've been through. But God ordered your steps for you to be in this room. Everybody in this room, would you just shout out loud, I love myself. Hallelujah.
40:08I want to do this because this is sanctuary. This is safe space. This is the Father's house. I need you to listen to me. Those of you who are in this room, I know I'm talking to you. I know I'm preaching to you. Holy Spirit wouldn't even let me rest because you were on the mind of God.
40:30Those of you who are in this room, you can hear me. Those of you who are online, you can hear me. And life has so broken you. The mirror has become so shattered that you don't even see the effulgence of who it is that you are.
40:48Please listen to me. You're in safe space. It's just me, you, and God in this room. It's me, you, and God in this room. It's me, you, and God in this room.
41:04Whoever you are in this room and you have hit rock bottom and there is no trampoline, you surrender, you wave the white flag. And some way in the last six weeks, you have contemplated, should I jump?
41:23Should I jump? Is it even worth it? Will anybody even care? Maybe this will make it easier. I don't know where it is that you are, but God don't want you to jump. You're too valuable.
41:47Sometimes it's not off of a bridge. Sometimes it's jumping into a bottle. Sometimes it's jumping into a syringe. Sometimes it's jumping into a relationship with somebody that's married.
42:02How are you going to play yourself? How are you going to hurt yourself? How have you given up on life? Wherever it is that you are, if you know I'm talking to you, I ain't asking you to be no member. I'm trying to get you off the cliff.
42:19If you're in this room and I'm talking to you, I want you to come meet me at this altar. Push people out the way if you have to. Your life is on the line. I love myself.
42:38I'm talking to a teenager that's been cutting themselves. How you got cancer and you still smoking?
43:00How you had kidney failure and you're still drinking? How in the world you got a bad heart and you ain't eating nothing green? You're killing yourself. I need you to meet me at this altar.
43:23How you letting a man stay in that house that your children are scared of? You're killing yourself. I need you to meet me here, please. Some young man in this room, you running with a group and don't know how to get out of it.
43:47But you know that if you stay in that circle, you're going to end up dead or in jail. I need you to meet me at this altar right now. Hallelujah. I love myself. I love myself.
44:15I know they don't believe you. I know they don't believe you, but God knows the truth. Come meet me at this altar, please. Wherever it is that you are, come meet me at this altar. Hallelujah.
44:31Would you pull in? Would you just take two steps forward? I will not die. And I'm going to live to see the salvation of the Lord. Dread, let me see you for a minute, please. Hallelujah.
45:01The struggle is over for you. The struggle is over. The struggle is over for you. The struggle is over.
45:31The struggle is over for you. The struggle is over. The struggle is over. Here's my part. The crying is over. The crying is over for you.
45:55The crying is over for you. The crying is over for you. The crying is over for you. The crying is over for you. The crying is over for you. The crying is over for you.
46:25The crying is over for you. Lift up that hand. Lord, in the name of Jesus, I pray for your son, for your daughter who's at this altar. I pray, God, between now and Wednesday, something will happen for them to know that they are loved.
46:52I pray, dear Lord, for strange phone calls. I pray, dear Lord, for offers. I pray for emails. I pray for strangers to walk up on them. I pray for a teacher to confirm what's in them. I pray for an overdue apology.
47:14I pray, dear Lord, that they'll get reparations for their wounds. Lift up that hand, please. God, I pray you'll surround them with love. I pray that they won't have to have sex to feel loved. I pray that they won't need a controlled substance in order to get comfort.
47:43I pray, dear Lord, that they won't eat when they're not hungry. I pray, dear Lord, that you'll break the addiction to pornography. I pray, dear Lord, that this week you'll break them out of friendship circles they have already outgrown.
48:00I pray that you'll give them the peace to know what self-love is. I pray, dear Lord, that what David was able to do, they now will be able to do, and they'll be able to encourage themselves.
48:24And those of you, your faith comes into agreement with my faith, would you give God a shout of thanksgiving right there?
48:31Now, listen. You don't know what the people at this altar are going through. You don't know what they survived. You don't know what they overcame. You don't know what they're contending with. And can I say this? You don't know what they're going home to.
48:51I want you to help me, please. I need you to help me, please. I need you to help me, please. When they go back to their seats, I want you to lather and overwhelm them with love. I want you to hug them. I want you to embrace them. I want you to say a word of encouragement to them. Let them know that they are in the family of new birth. You may go back to your seats. Come on, give God some glory for them.
49:21The struggle is over. For you. The struggle is over.
49:51You