Transcription
Father God, I thank you for being present. I invite you into this room, Lord God. I invite your presence into this place that we would commune with you, that we would know you more and more intimately. Speak to us, God, in Jesus name I pray. Amen.
How's everybody doing this morning? Yeah. Uh, I heard this song uh this morning. You look great. Just want you to know you look amazing. Uh, so I heard this song and it was like a like a a drum and bass remix of a worship song, you know, and it was saying it was talking about after the high, but it was talking about like after the spiritual high. And it was like after this spiritual high, like what you're left with is pursuit. And I was like, man, that's so profound because it's like it almost makes a vacuum. Like you ever you ever in the pool and you just cup your hand and go like that real quick and it and the cuz the water comes up and then it splashes. That's what it feels like for me after some of the stuff we go through. And I began to second question it because the va because the vacuum, the empty space when it clos everything is closing back in around like I had this moment, right? And then this is just my personal experience and I I don't know and everybody can argue whatever. But uh I told y'all what I what I felt like the Lord showed me about the speaking in tongues thing and and everything. And so whenever I was praying, I felt like he brought those words that I had said in the vision up. And so that's what I was praying. And I was just saying those that one little uh sentence over and over and over and over. And then uh the lady uh uh Pastor Fina's wife told me, she was like, "Those are activator words. Those are what you need to start whenever it's just you and him. You need to start saying that over and over." And I know it's not me. I know it's not something I heard. It's like that whenever he said that I want to steal a Honda or whatever, you know, it wasn't anything like that. And he literally said royal language. And so, but this morning it felt like I was telling it felt just uncomfortable. Even though I was know I was all alone, it just felt uncomfortable trying to encourage that. And it felt like that place after the spiritual high where you begin to question like how much of that was real, how much of that was. And I don't think that's foreign to anybody. I think it's we choose our faith position in those moments. It's not in the moment whenever we're all there and the and the music's good and and y'all and we just saw some stuff and some guy had a breakthrough, but it's in the moment like the next day or the day after or midway through the next day whenever it's back to everything being a little bit difficult. And then we choose to have faith in what it was. I choose to believe in what God spoke to me because of what is my motive. And this is a good way to examine it. Like what is my motive in the whole prayer language thing? I don't care if you ever hear me say it. I know. I trust my friend Chris. Big Chris. He was on the other side, tattooed dude. He was a world record holding powerlifter. He's a He's a lot smaller now cuz he had a baby and God just shift him away from lifting weights. And so now he focuses on just his family, right, in ministry. And uh but I remember when he got the gift of a private language where he was praying, he would describe because we're so close. He would describe the intimate moment. This was right before he got married. So he had his house all it was about 6 months before he got married. So he had his house just him and his dogs and he's like going in chasing after the Lord. You know he made a decision to walk pure with him and Lindsay like they made some real choices and uh whenever they started setting things in order to really lay down some stuff for God. So he's like going in man. and he would describe these things that he would experience intimately with the Lord that would make me envious, not jealous of him, but like just where I'm like, man, I want that.
So, there was a moment where uh where I'm getting prayed for and he said, God is telling you to ask for something big. Go big. Ask for the biggest thing you can think of. And in my heart, the biggest thing will you grab that truth? The biggest thing I could think of in that moment was wisdom because I know like the I don't ask for money or buildings or none of that or but I started asking in my heart. I started asking for wisdom and he stops me. He says, "No, God says go bigger." And so I'm literally like have this moment with the Lord where I'm like, "Lord, what is bigger? What is bigger than wisdom?" Having the wisdom to understand what you're saying. And and then I hear this little word whisper, "Friendship." And I was like, "God, I want to be your friend. I want to have intimate friendship." I had John Miller one time described to me. He said, "Well, that he's like the definition of being a friend is whenever you genuinely enjoy the company of someone else, you know, it's so simple." And it was like, man, I want that. I want him I want him to genuinely enjoy mine and me to genuinely enjoy his company. And in that moment when I said that in my heart, the guy that's praying for me goes,"I pray Abrahamic friendship that as God saw Abraham as his friend that you would experience friendship like Abraham did." And it was just this profound thing. So like in that place of vacuum, I don't go back to the emotional state, but I go back to those moments where I was talking to God and he let someone else confirm it. And so I want to pursue I want to have that that heavenly language, that intimate thing because of the friendship with God. No other reason. And I don't even know what it looks like yet. But I know that we have a huge closet. And when I'm on the drive home, me and my wife were talking or not on the drive home. She took separate vehicle me when I got home. She said, "What do you if you could have gotten anything out of everything that happened this weekend, what would it be?" And I said, "I just hope I said our closet. I wish we could our closet would become this holy place. And bro, I built my wife a whenever we got that house, I built a dream house. Some of you guys helped. Who Who was here that helped? Nick and only a couple. Yeah, a handful of guys did. Uh our closet is the size, you know, it's big. Let me just say that. Like it's a custom closet the size of a bedroom. In fact, we absorbed a bedroom to make it a closet. Uh, but I I I say all that because I'm like, what if that was the place where we could where the glory of God would fill up in our home, where me and you would enter as one, where we come together as one and enter in this place where not only are we there with God as our friend, but it's intimate encounters where we just get to step out of everything of the world to have this one holy sanctified place in our home. And it was just she and it was like, so there there's the motive.
So this is my thing is how many of you have been challenged in your faith of whatever you might have experienced or whatever was spoken to you whether or not it was real. So so that that's a good thing because that listen the enemy only attacks what's worth attacking. So then you just open up in your heart what's the motive of what it was that you desired. What what is your motive in receiving what it is that was spoken? And then and then and then and then that's what you step into faith for. Does that make sense? Because you want to step into that word. You want to step into that experience. But it's based off what the mo I want to know him, right? I just want to know him. I want I want to know that I'm known by him, you know? And so whatever those things are, just hang on to that. And it's only ever faith. It's it's only ever faith when it's challenged. It's only ever faith when it's challen It's not faith whenever it's walking from here to the house. It's faith when it's walking from here to the house in a hell storm. You know what I mean? It's a little bit different, but it has to be that in order for it to be faith. You know, if that makes sense to everybody.
So, today I'm going to get to our lesson. Today is about the judgment seat of Christ. And this is can be a controversial subject, right? Because this is going to tie into a few things that people tend to get prickled over. Being the once- saved always saved, the can I fall away from it? Does grace get exhausted? So, what we're going to do is we're just going to examine some scripture. We're going to examine some scripture and I'll speak from my revelation. And this is this is the thing. Whatever you discover, whatever you decide on your own, listen, work it out with the Lord. Work it out with fear and trembling. This is what I'll say is he had to show so much tremendous grace on my life to restore me just to sanity, much less everything else. But just to a sound mind, it was more than I've seen him pour out on a lot of other people. And so I hold on to the fact that there's nothing up to that point that I could have done to earn or deserve his grace. And it makes me believe that if I couldn't earn it and I never deserved it, then I probably can never earn it or deserve it. I don't think once it's given then I have to begin earning or deserving. I believe that it's a process of sanctification. And some of our sanctification process is longer than others. Some of us got saved 10 years ago and it's been a whole thing where we've fallen and gotten back up and fallen and gotten back up. The beautiful thing is I think there's a scripture for that. I think there's a scripture for that. And so it's important to note that as I've journeyied on this, I've gotten better. And at my worst moments during this journey, there's people that would have looked at it and said, "That's not a man of God." Probably whenever I was dropping that fond smoking cigarettes preaching was the biggest time. But my heart was after the Lord and he just had to work some things out. I'm not justifying that behavior behavior. But I didn't have anybody really that was telling me it was wrong other than a few guys in the program. Which I'm like, if I needed your help, I would have come to your program. Just being honest. That's how it was back then. I'm talking to him cuz he was one of those guys that had a real problem with my language. But at that time, I was just trying not to not to put a needle on my arm still. And thank God for his grace and his mercy. Thank God for the his calling that is always bigger than your character. Thank God for the anointing on your life that is always bigger than your character because we have to work it out and grow into that. We have to grow into the vision that God has for us. It's on the job training. I had a man of God tell me that that I meet with once a month, spiritual father. He's like, "Yeah, the whole thing that kind of sucks with God is it's all on the job training. like you don't get like there's no there's a there's a there's a design of his overall plan which is to restore the world but other than that in the dayto-day as time has gone by it can be some hard knocks but our faith and our hope all that set in him makes those things okay so let's get to some scripture Romans 14:10 says you then why do you judge a brother or sister or why do you treat them with contempt for we will all stand before God's judgment seat I'm going to tie this into another will make me make sure I don't Okay, I'm not going to tie it into another scripture because the scriptur is on the page and I always jump ahead of myself. There is absolutely a place in the book of Corinthians where it says uh judge people for this, judge people for this, judge people for this, judge people for this. But surely not the people in the church only judge those that are in the church by these standards. But to what end? Is my question. Why is it that would it be judgment? I I I question translation. I'm not a good theologian. I theologian. I never went to seminary. I did not learn learn Greek or Hebrew or any of those langu Aramaic or any of that. But I always wonder like what's the direct translation because there's so many times that I feel like there's some tension in the word. And it's good because we serve a God that speaks. And so in seeking out this, it's like what is God's judgment on humanity? anybody redemption. God's judgment. We watched it whenever we watched that clip from the shed and that uh McKenzie's having to they're having them pick between his two kids. Hey, this kid's done all this. This kid's done all this. You're going to have to one of them's going to have to go to hell. Pick which one's goes to hell. And he says, I can't I can't pick which one. I'll do it. I'll go to hell. That's what God does for us. God's judgment for our sin is that he would die for us to redeem us and restore us. So what would be the goal of judging people inside the church? It would have to be to restore. I believe if there's a and this is this is my belief and maybe there's some good scripture to back it up, but I'm not that I'm not I don't know it all yet. But this is what I'd say is the pattern the pattern and the command and the commission. So the pattern is always redemption. You got Homer and and all these things where God just it's this just a story. It's a story that starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation about God pursuing us and God loving us and God keeping on going and then getting frustrated and tearing down all of it, believing a remnant because he believes that that we'll love him back. I I I say that he believes that. I think God knows everything and I don't want anybody to take it the wrong way but but it's this pattern of him loving and going above and beyond and restoring and loving going above and then whenever it whenever we can't do anything on our own he says here I'll go I'll do it and so there's the pattern and then you got the command right the command is this love God in Jesus own words love God with all your heart soul and mind and like this. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. There's the command, the great command, right? Everybody with me? Cuz we're talking about why to judge in the church, right? So, you got the pattern of of God in Jesus. Then you got the command to love God first and then everyone else is you love yourself. And I guarantee you when it's time to get judged, you're not pick me, pick me, pick me, right? And then you got the commission. The commission is this. Go forth and make disciples of all nations. You know why not many people are making disciples? Cuz it's hard and you got to show a lot of grace. You got to love them. Because listen, I've been through it so many times with so many people and they'll get to where they really are getting it and everything else and there's this small thing. and there's a little fox that's still there and it's got to come to the surface and then every they'll nuke their whole life again to a degree. And what most people don't do is radically love them in that moment. Most people don't radically love them and say there's no guilt, shame, and condemnation. A righteous man falls seven times and get back up. What do we miss? Where are we at? How do we grow from this? And so I think when it says, "Why do you judge a brother or sister? Why do you treat them with contempt?" I think there's a difference between judgment that says, "Hey, you're not doing the right thing. This is what you've said you believe." Look, you're going to hear me say that over and over and over. I can only hold you accountable based off what you say you believe. That's why we look at the word of God. My question to you is, do you believe this is real? Do you believe that Christ is the Lord and Savior? He reconciled us to the father and left us with the Holy Ghost. If you believe that, then we have some criteria that we got to live up to to the best of our ability as the Holy Spirit does the sanctification. The beautiful most beautiful scripture is this says if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. his job. I think so many times we're judging people that aren't making cleansing oursel of unrighteousness. We're saying, "Why aren't you doing this?" And I'll say, "Because I can't. I can't. That's too big a task. That is too tall of an order for me to cleanse myself of unrighteousness. In fact, it says he will. My job and is a hard job is to confess. Confess when I have an opinion. Confess when I have a resentment. Confess whenever I've I've done the things that don't line up. Confess whenever you you see see what I'm saying? It's to go to someone. It says, "Confess your sins one another. Pray that you may be healed." What does that look like? It looks like him cleansing us of the unrighteousness. Yet, we want people to cleanse themselves. And it's impossible. There's that scripture that says, "Make yourself pure as he is pure." And I'm like, I I just dive into the for me. Listen, that's too big a bite. I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm gonna try to make it till lunch. I just had pancakes on Mondays. I always get two pancakes here. Everybody enjoys the pancakes, y'all. Hey, do y'all know what uh Gilbert did before here? He was a He was a like a head dude at IHOP for like 20 years. That's why pancakes are always on point. Not everybody can make a good pancake, bro. I'm just telling you. Anyway, so so I try to make it to lunch. It says that we we're we're no longer sinners, right? It say it says that we uh Oh, man. I missed the scripture. But this is the truth. I'm going to fight for my focus right now to surrender everything about me. And I believe that if I can do that and have a focused uh emptied mind, then I can live sin sinless and blameless by the power of the Holy Spirit. right now. I can only do that till now. You know what I'm saying? Like it's not and then I but I'm intentional about it. I'm really trying. I'm really fighting for it. Like I really want cuz and this is the truth. I want to hear him. I know he speaks. I know he'll instruct me. And and this is the thing is I have to understand he's speaking a language I can understand. I'll tell you what, check it out. Yesterday I was praying and we it was during the regular first service and the Lord spoke for me to do something. I felt it and then I started seeing it. I started seeing me do what he had said and then I'm like Lord are you sure? And he shows me over and over and I'm watching myself do what he said and then I did it and it man it was just tremendous fruit in it. But that's what I want. I just want to hear. I know that if I hear his voice and follow his instruction, then I will be doing exactly what he's called me to do. The beautiful thing is I know without a shadow of a doubt that we serve a God that'll speak to us. We have a tendency to think whenever he's not speaking loudly and clearly that we've done something wrong. And I would tell you that he's not uh vindictive. He's not going to punish you for for for missing it. Make sense? If y'all get sleepy, just stand up in the back for me. 2 Corinthians 5:9-11 says this. It says, "So we make it our goal to please him." So this is the thing is it says, "Purify as he is pure." If I'm making it my job to please him, I just want to be pleasing. What does that mean first? First, what is that? Let let me ask this. If I'm trying to please him, what do I have to know? One at a time, raise a hand. That I can. That's a good one. What's the other one? What pleases him that I can and then what it is? How do I know that? How would I know what pleases you? I'm asking you. I don't know anymore. No, no, no. I would have to get to know you. No, no. I listen. Whenever I first got clean, there's a lot of stuff I don't like doing anymore. What I realized is I like doing that drunk or high, but I really didn't like doing it. Have a relationship. That's it. Relationship. Build a relationship. That way I know. Listen, I'm going to know if we genuinely enjoy each other's company. And then I'm going to know what you like to do. And I'm going to know what you Y'all know that I don't like somebody stepping over trash outside, right? So y'all know that it would be pleasing for me to see y'all stop and pick up a piece of trash if you saw it. Yeah. Because y'all come to know me. It's going to be the same thing. It says we so we make it our goal to please him. This is what I found. The more I'm trying to get to know him, the more the patterns of behavior begin to break because I'm making new patterns and setting new habits. I'm making carving out time that I have dedicated to getting to know him, to trying to spend time in his presence. And and look, it's it's sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's easy to get there, sometimes it's not. Uh this morning I had really good uh worship time. I switched from listening to like Christian rap over to like just worship on the treadmill today and it was awesome. I didn't struggle with y'all know my struggles are. I didn't struggle today. I didn't have to watch my eyes cuz I was really worshiping and I was like, "Oh, maybe this is God trying to show me something cuz I'm batt. I'm usually doing battle at the at the gym, you know, and I'm intentional about doing battle." But man, it was so much easier today because it was just traditional worship and I'm singing too. I'm on the treadmill singing, you know, and so, so I'm looking for one, how do I get to know him and how what pleases him? And if I'm doing the things that are pleasing him, I'm I I would almost guarantee you that I'm becoming that I'm being cleansed of unrighteousness and that my character and behaviors are shifting and changing whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat. Everybody say, "Bema seat." Okay, I'm gonna get back to that. Before the bema seat of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ. So that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body. So we're all going to appear before the bema seat of Christ so that we can get uh so that we receive what is due for things done while in the body whether good or bad. Right. So there's crowns. Yeah. says whether good or bad. That's where over in scripture it talks about the crowns. Crowns for martyrdom, crowns for being a saint. And there's there's a handful of them. Uh it says, "Since then we know what it is to fear the Lord." Man, it was crazy because on Friday, my prayer on the treadmill, I just started praying intently that I would develop a greater fear of the Lord, a greater reverent awe of God, a more and I don't know why I started praying that. just got to where I knew that I needed to. Not because I'm acting out or anything, but it's like, man, to step in awe of him places him in my heart on the highest throne. Because having that reverend awe is me positioning himself on the throne that belongs to him already and being surrendered as as when I'm in my proper position. We try to persuade others. Since then, we know what it is to fear the Lord. We try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God. And I hope it is also plain to your conscience. The Beimma seat. So, check it out. The best the best description I've ever come across. It's an old school uh YouTube video and this guy this guy describing what it would be for us all to be in the amphitheater of heaven. Does everybody know what an amphitheater is? Anybody not? Raise your hand. Okay. You ever see where like you have the stage down there and then all the seats are coming up? That's that's in my belief that's an amphitheater. Uh at least my my not my belief in my best understanding. Huh. Like around the front. I I don't know. Is that what it is? You're definitely sure definitionwise. Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. So So let let's get back to it. So, so the great amphitheater life, right? So, in eternity, we're all there right now. We're all in eternity right now. At least the way I understand eternity because when does eternity begin and when does it end? It says to know the Lord is eternal. So, from the moment I pray, a lot of people say the sinner's prayer or whatever. From the moment that I confess my belief as Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have access to the father. Scripture is very clear. It says there's no way to the father but through the son. So I enter by my profession of faith in him. I enter by grace through faith into an intimate relationship as a son and heir to God himself by the blood of Jesus Christ. And whenever I do that it says to know the father is eternal. So in that moment now I'm in heaven. right from that moment. It doesn't mean I'm not walking out the skin suit. But if that mo that moment I'm eternal, then that moment I'm positioned in heaven right then. Cuz if eternity has no beginning or ending at the moment that I become eternal, I've been there and always been there and I'll always be there. That's how he's known you since the foundations of the earth because it's in eternity. It's kind of a wild thought, right? I'm just I know this is a lot right now, but it's what? I thought well then him knitt me in my mother's w he said I thought he knew us because he knitted us in our mother's womb. I will tell you the foundation of the earth was laid way before I was in my mother's womb. So anyhow so all of us are in the great amphitheater life right now and right now and there's a multitude that cannot be counted. Revelation says it cannot be counted. So you have eons and eons of people that have professed the faith, right, that have a a multitude that cannot be counted. And then there's Jesus, right? You got you got Julius here and you got uh the prophet Zachchariah here and you got uh St. Sebastian right here, right? You're squeezed in between them. And so they're like, "St. Sebastian, you're up next." St. Sebastian's number like 40 billion51,262 it's your turn you know it's the price is right Jesus time and he's running up there you know and he gets up there and and he as he approaches the stage his life story begins to play out and as he sees it he sees all the things when he missed the mark and this thing begins to over I think it has to happen before you get to Christ before you get to him you have to see this thing played And every moment where you got it, you is whenever you get to connect with him because you want to make him proud. So I see every moment I didn't and I have shame. And then I see the moments I did and I look to his face and I can tell that by his face he doesn't acknowledge the things where I've missed it. But he only rejoices in the moment that I got it right. And so as I get to Jesus, he gives me this crown. Okay, here's the one for for for belief and here's I don't know all the crowns, but see I get three crowns. So he's like boom boom boom. They're sagging all over and I've got these crowns. But then I realize in that moment all the times I missed it. I realized in that moment I'm looking at him and he's just loving me. There's nothing in his face of where I missed it. There's nothing in his face of where it went wrong. And the only thing to do, the only thing that you'll be capable of doing, the right thing to do in that moment is to give honor and glory to the position that reconciled you to the father. the one that made you who you are. And so I believe in that moment, we take the crowns off and we have an opportunity just to lay them at his feet and we surrender those back to him because we realize the great gift of the mercy seat. And so I believe that we face that judgment. It says it, but I believe that that the reward will be another opportunity to surrender. 1 Corinthians 4:5 says, "Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. Listen, you know 90% of all arguments are going to be because you assume someone's motive. You're assuming why they did or what they're thinking or what they really want or all of those assumptions. And not one of us, not one of us know the motives of the heart. Not one of us. It says when he comes, he'll expose the motive of the heart. And this is the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful part. And at that time, listen, it says therefore judge nothing because for the point of time, wait until the Lord comes, he'll bring light what is hidden darkness and expose the motives of the heart. It means judgment, right? He's coming and he's going to say what's good and bad and he's going to judge it. Well, then why does it say this? At that time, each will receive their praise from God. Sanctification is an ugly process and it is worked out between you and God. It is going to be and you're going to grow just like a child does where you go from every single time you need a bite, you got to ask. Every single time you need a drink, you throw up your hands until as it goes by, you begin to partner in this with him and you be begin to be someone, a worker for him to bring in a harvest to help feed those little ones. Make sense? And in that process, he's going to expose the ugly parts. Every once in a while, we have a guy come through that exposes it so completely all at once that it almost breaks their mind because it's too much all at once. Now, I'm not saying don't do that. I'm not saying don't expose it all if you're prompted to expose it all because it was a part of his process. He was screaming outside my house to repent for the fentanel. You know what I'm saying? And we love him. And we love him. We love him. And we love him back into healing. And we love him back into purpose. And he said, "Listen," he said, he said yesterday, he said, "Ever since that, I've been scared to speak in the language I felt like God gave me because I thought it might have been demonic." And I'm like, "No, no, sir. Fear is a liar. Fear is not from God. If you do make any choice out of being afraid, it's not of God. It's just not. My prayer is that you begin to step fully into all of that now that you've had time to begin to heal. And it's a beautiful thing because he wants to praise you for your faithfulness. Look, you came back in the midst of all that. You came back. You came back. That in that sanctification, I'm here, God. Fix me. Search me. I missed it. I know you love me. I don't know how to do this. Teach me, God. Teach me your ways, oh God. Lead me in a level path because of my inner me. Luke 6:37 and 38 says, "Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. It is super easy in this day and age to have a platform of opinion. And a lot of people will attack what you teach. Like I have a platform. I have the ability to teach. We have taught hundreds and hundreds of men, right? Thousands of men at this point. And so there's people that will attack that. What they don't realize is their attack sometimes says, "Ah, that's you're that's misleading. That's false teaching." And they'll state their opinion. And then new believers read that and who's then who's being misleading. It's not about me being right. This is what I'll tell anybody. Get involved with the local church. We're not one. You get involved in a local church. You find out what it is to submit to authority. You begin to serve there. You get in community. Everything about the word is about relationship. And there are men that will walk side by side with you to help you get through the moments when you absolutely will fall short. I absolutely will fall short. I as much as I pray and strive to be a great husband, I'm going to lose my temper. As much as I strive and pray to be a good father, I'm going to fail my kids. It's going to happen. But I'm in community. I stay in community. I stay in community because if you don't have the ability to get next to people, how do you have the ability to sharpen? You understand? The one that you may as men judge more harshly than anyone else is yourself. Allow God to have his way. It says that grace is a freely given gift. If it is a gift of God and it says other scriptures, the gifts of God go without repentance. It says the gift of God. Keep What are you doing? What? What are you trying to get him? No. I told you whatever. Not in the middle of my class. Put your hand down. Yeah. No, don't pull nobody right now. I don't care. Uh, I lost my whole train of thought. It's freely given gift. It says the gifts of God are irrevocable. And it says they go without repentance. You search that one out on your own. My understanding of the definition of grace is that it is unearned and undeserved. I know it says while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So at the worst at the lowest place in my life, which it was the very lowest place that I had ever been where I could not even depend on myself is where Christ met me. And then that's where he gave me everything as an inheritance. See, I receive everything the moments I moment I make the profession that I choose to believe that I acknowledge with my mouth or acknowledge with my heart and confess with my mouth that he is who he says he is. And in that I'm given a full inheritance. I didn't have the character to walk in it yet. I would say no one on earth has the character to walk in it yet. Does that give me an excuse not to pursue the things once I'm convicted? Absolutely not. You have to partner in action with your faith to get the things you want. I will tell you this, it is very selfish of a believer not to desire more. But it doesn't mean when we fall short that his grace doesn't meet us in that place so that we can be restored because we get given that grace or revealed that grace again and it allows us then to reveal it to other people. And it's amazing an amazing thing. It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. And if remember I talked about the the the pattern, the command and the commission. The commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations. While we were yet sinners, he died for us. It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. He wants to reveal his goodness through you. Do you know it's the easiest thing to divide I have ever encountered is believers. It is so easy to divide them. You have all of these secular non-believing things that are absolutely united. Look at the LGBTQ movement. And I don't believe any of that's of God. Let me be honest. I have no judgment because I believe they're loved as much as I am. But as a movement, for them to be as unified as they are puts us as Christians to shame because we can't even agree on the simplicity of grace, much less the gospel. Whenever all of us receive this gift, everything we receive was given, yet we try to get others to earn it. And it makes no sense. You know who's absolutely qualified for every bit of the gift you've been given? Every single person in that movement right where they are right now, whatever place they are, they're qualified because the only thing that qualifies us for Christ is sin. If you weren't a sinner, what good is he to you? So when we talk about the judgment because I've met a lot of religious people that talk about the second judgment. You got to better you're going to be and I'm like yeah I get it. Keep seeking. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong. Listen, my walk means I'm trying to speak in tongues, bro. I believe it's possible. I don't believe this is my truth. I don't believe it has to happen to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but I do believe it's a part of it. And I want more. I want all of it. I want prophesy. I want Holy Ghost pistols. I want teleportation. I want all the things. Why? For his kingdom, for his glory. And I believe that all of them stem from intimate relationship with him. Cuz this is the truth. I'm never going to teleport because I want to go. But if I hear a voice that says go, if it's his will, then I'd be teleported. You know what I'm saying? I want all the things today. I I thought it was funny. Not funny like funny funny, but funny whenever people rededicate. I I love Matt Jones. I love Matt Jones cuz there's something about him that has it right. And we can laugh and giggle that every time they're like, "Anybody that wants to dedicate their life or rededicate their life, raise their hand." You know, he does it every single time. You know, he's the only one that has it right. I have to dedicate rededicate my life today. Right now, I have to rededicate my life or God, I choose right now to serve you all day long, especially to the meatloaf. I can make it to the meatloaf. You get it? This exists right now exists. Today exists. I'm not trying to stream 20 years together. That's my pride, arrogance, and ego. But what I am trying to do is be effective and available to hear his voice, not to speak a fire word. Because this is the truth. If I'm hearing his voice and saying what he says, it's a word that spoke creation into existence because it's his word. That's what he's saying. I have to draw close to him. When I mess up, I know his grace is sufficient. And I I look, this is what I say is don't mess up. Keep going and not make amends because that's just that's just ridiculousness. A man of God, listen, I'll know where you're at in your walk by how quickly you make your amends. And I'm not talking about on all the stuff you ever did to everyone, although you need to do that. What I am talking about is today when I don't do my chore and leave it to my homeboy to finish. when I I don't when I go first even though somebody else you know what I'm saying the little things that that Holy Spirit whispers to you those little things are giant leaps in the kingdom those little things where I go back and make amends are gigant it's Superman style jumps because it's those little details that forge who I really am. You ever see those guys? I know y'all have all been here long enough. the guys that come in that are way on fire for Jesus that come in the program and they're on it and they're surrendered and they're never going to leave for the first eight days and then day nine hits cuz the little things, the little details, it's the little things that got to get worked out. Those are the big ones. We will absolutely all stand in the amphi great amphitheater life and at the center of it I believe will be King Jesus and I believe that we will be heartbroken as we approach him and we see on the jumbotron all the times we missed it but the Christ that died for me and you will look at us and never mess it miss a beat and we'll be restored in all things to be made perfect I believe to enter into that perfect like it says We'll have perfect bodies. We'll be perfect beings. It means all those broken places will have to be restored. And I think he does it in the face of our failures cuz he wants to show you that you're the most important thing, not a checklist of the times you missed it. And when he calls you up to that place, you become effective for the kingdom. Now, you get it?
Father God, I just pray for every man here. Lord God, I thank you for these men. I thank you for their willingness to stay in the midst of wives and girlfriends and babies and aunts and uncles and deaths and marriages and funerals and all kinds of stuff, Lord God, that they would choose you and put their trust in you and know that you love them madly and deeply. And if they don't, Father God, I pray that revelation over