Myles Munroe - The Responsibility of Freedom (Azusa '94) - Full Video

[Applause] Give God glory! [Applause] Hallelujah! Please be standing. Good evening. It's a joy to be where God is. It's dangerous to be where God used to be. It's a deep privilege to be standing in a place of responsibility like tonight. I'm very afraid. I'm full of fear, and it's a healthy fear. It's the fear of the Lord that's upon me.

Can you hold hands with your neighbors, please? I'd like you to just spend a moment and pray in the Spirit. Don't ask for anything, just pray in the Spirit.

Gracious Father, only You alone are God, worthy of glory and honor and power. Domination and praise. Father, refuse to work without You. Oh God, there is nothing without Your Holy Anointing, Your presence. It's nothing, Lord. I refuse. If You do not go, I won't go. Let that glory fill this place. Let that glory fill this place. Lord God of Heaven, God of Earth, let Your glory fill the hearts of Your people. Permeate this place with Your presence, oh Lord, Your manifested presence. Oh God, for no man can stand before You except You stand the man before You. Stand us before You, Lord. Thank You, Lord.

Father, I thank You tonight for the hand that we touch. For it represents a part of You that no one else could express. Each one unique, important, special, different, and called. Father, a privilege to touch an original. We praise You that You have designed us to be a blessing to our generation. And tonight, Lord, You've got work to do. That's why You called this meeting. Lord, I thank You that You never called a meeting for entertainment, but You always call meetings because there was something on Your mind. Expose Your mind tonight, Lord. I ask You not to challenge us. We've got great challenging messages in our lives, but change us tonight. Don't entertain us, but transform us by the renewing of our minds. And Lord, I ask You with all my heart to wreck our ignorance with Your knowledge and fill us with truth that will permanently change us.

Lord, we came here because, because we, we want to hear something from You. And I ask You to respond to those who have driven for miles, flown hundreds of miles, those who have saved up for this trip. Lord, I ask You, don't let a dollar be wasted. If they haven't received anything yet, God, let it be tonight. I ask You, God, I ask You to do it. Touch us, change us permanently, rearrange us, God. Do it for Your glory, Your honor, Your name's sake. And let us be remembered as a place where You totally transformed us.

And now, I thank You, Lord, for Your Word. Thank You for Your Holy presence. We submit to Your Lordship now. Teach us, Holy Ghost. You are the Teacher. Let the anointing that abides upon us begin to bring revelation. Let revelation knowledge fill this place. And let the spirit of wisdom be added, Lord, to protect that knowledge from abuse. And I thank You in Jesus' name. Thank You, Lord.

Please don't let the hand go that you're holding. Hallelujah! I feel His presence. I love His presence. I hate to work without His presence. You know, it's possible to become an expert at doing everything. You can become an expert minister and preach without the anointing. But I've got this thing about the presence of the Lord. The hand that you're holding is the only one of its kind on the planet because the hand that you are holding has some fingerprints that cannot be duplicated anywhere on the planet. When God created the person you're touching, He decided that He didn't want a replica of anything else. And so, the person you're touching is completely original. If you never felt important tonight, I hope that you feel important right now. They say that the value of a thing is not determined by people's opinions of it, but the value of a thing is determined by rarity. That means the rarer something is, the more value you place on it.

Squeeze your neighbor's hands. Hallelujah! Ain't nobody like you. Thank You, Jesus. Now tell your neighbor, "It's a privilege to touch this. It's a privilege to touch this." So enjoy it while you can.

[Applause] Can, yeah, that's right. Privilege. You may be seated. Let's go to work. Thank You, Jesus. Please get your Bible and ask God for [Applause] mercy.

I would like to bring greetings from my precious, darling, wonderful, exquisite, fantastic, beautiful wife. I miss my wife tonight. We were on the road for 10 days and just got home. And our two precious children were without us for 10 days. And so, we agreed that she would stay and remind them that they are still our children. And so, I have come here with her in my heart. She sends her love. She really deeply, graciously appreciates the ministry and the friendship and the close-knit relationship we have with uh Pastor and Mistress Pearson. And I am honored to be asked to come and share in this auser again tonight.

I would like to ask all of uh my fellow colleagues from the Bahamas to stand up. I understand that there are a number of Bahamians that flew here. Brother Calton, so y'all just make some noise. There's some up there, yeah. All the way from the Bahamas. There's some down here too. Bless you. God bless you. Some of them flew from Nassau and from Freeport. Oh, there's a big crowd over there. Yeah, they paid a lot of money to come here, so you know you better have the word in this place. Amen. So good to have them.

I also have uh the privilege of introducing you to one of the greatest men that I have ever met in my life. I was invited to Zimbabwe, South Africa, and I walked into his conference, and my mind was blown to see what God was doing in Zimbabwe, which was formerly Rhodesia. He's one of the greatest apostles on the planet, in my opinion. Uh, I was shocked to see the tremendous success of apostolic ministry in South Africa and throughout the entire uh continent of Africa. He has more churches than he could count. I understand that he lost count after they reached over 2,800 churches, and so he just decided not to count. I think, uh, if I'm correct, there's at least one church being opened up every week uh in Africa. He has uh churches in London and other parts of the world. I want you to welcome, for the first time to Isua, ever, and this is his first time perhaps officially meeting Pastor Calton Pearson as well. I'd like for you to welcome a very humble man with a great heart, Archbishop Dr. Ezekiel Guti, and his wife, Arlene, from Zimbabwe, South Africa. God bless you. Thank you very much.

All right. Uh, I hope you're ready for me, 'cause I'm ready for you. I love the theme of this conference. That's from God. I'd like for you to write on the top of your notes, if you will, tonight: "The Responsibility of Freedom." I'm going to speak tonight on the time for the responsibility of freedom. The time for the responsibility of freedom. It's time for the responsibility of freedom. I've been incubating this word ever since I got the invitation about four weeks ago. I had to really ask for courage because I'm going to be addressing some important word that will affect the destiny of all of us here tonight. I know that you've had some great teaching. I understand that my brother Jake did an awesome job Monday night, and uh, I know that you're going to take all the teachings you've heard and take them back and apply them to your life. But tonight, I didn't come to deal with just application to your life. I, I feel great fear because I believe that we're going to be dealing with a pivot tonight. A pivot is a point where you change direction to go forward or backward.

The theme of this conference is "Understanding the Times and Seasons so that You Can Know What to Do." This is in reference to the sons of Issachar, as recorded in 1 Chronicles 12:32. And I'm sure you've heard reference to that all week, but I want to restate it. It says that these people, this clan of Israel, had a unique position in the sense that they were able to comprehend or understand or read or perceive the times or the season in which they were living in, and they were able to tell the entire nation what to do. The implication is, if you don't know what time it is, you don't know what to do. It also implies, if you don't know what time it is, you're probably doing the wrong thing, and you're probably doing it with the wrong person. When you know the season and the times, then you know what to do.

I want to begin with a few statements. If you wish, you can record these. If life is measured in terms of time, then time wasted is life abused. Wasted time is wasted life. Time without purpose is life without meaning. We measure our short, brief sojourn on Earth in terms of time. What is time? Time is an interruption in eternity. Time is a brief moment in eternity with measure. Why did God create time? What was His purpose for creating time? God created time. He put man in time, but He doesn't live in it. So you've got to be careful when you're dealing with God because God created the stuff that He doesn't live in, and He put us in it to live in it. So when God deals with us, He is able to see the end from the beginning, even in the middle. So when He talks to you, He's really talking about something you're headed to. So when God says, "Be cool," you know it's going to be all right because He knows what's coming. And if God said, "Prepare yourself," He's also telling you something's coming. You better tie yourself down because He always sees the end from the beginning. That's why He's called the Alpha and the Omega.

But why did God create time? I'd like to draw your attention to a familiar passage, Ecclesiastes chapter 3. One of my favorite chapters because, to me, this chapter reveals a struggle. But I want you to check verse one, and it tells you why God gave you time. It says, "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." Let's check it again because it's very serious. It says, "To everything there is what? A season." That means everything has a season. Everything has a season. If it's a thing, it has a season. The next line says, "Unto every purpose there's a time under heaven." God is saying that everything that He created has a purpose, and that purpose for which it was created has a time attached to it to fulfill its reason for being. So everything that exists on this planet, including you, was brought into existence for a purpose, and that purpose has a season attached to it, and there's a time within which that thing is supposed to fulfill its purpose. Therefore, time was created for purpose to be fulfilled. Please make a note of that: Time was created for purpose to be fulfilled.

This also implies that whenever there is something that God creates on this planet, He attaches a time to it. And I like the way it's written in this verse. It says, "Unto every purpose under heaven there's a time." There's a time for every purpose under heaven. There is a time. That means there is a certain allotted period of time. That means you were born to do something, and you don't have forever to do it. All you get is a season. When God took you out of eternity and put you in time, He locked you down under a season, which means you don't have the time to waste time because time is still moving. And if you discover your purpose at 90 years old, it's too late. That's why the Bible says in this same book, in the 12th chapter, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." Why? Because you want to discover God so He can discover His purpose for your life while you're young so He can use your life effectively. Time was given to fulfill purpose. Time was manifested to operate in seasons. It's a very important point. Time manifests itself in seasons. Please write that down. Time is a complete period of duration that God placed us in, but that time manifests itself in seasons. For example, our year may be measured in terms of winter, spring, summer, and fall, but all of that is the year. So the year is the time, but the manifestation is the seasons. And when seasons change within time, you've got to change with the seasons. Stay with me here. That means everyone's born in time, but everybody's got to catch their season. When winter comes, you don't wear a swimsuit. Hello. And when summer comes, you don't put on your mink. In other words, when seasons change, you've got to adjust yourself. So all of it is time, but it manifests itself in seasons.

Now, every season, according to God, is supposed to fulfill a specific period of purpose in your life. How does God measure time? That's an important question. How does God measure your life? The answer is simple: He measures your life in terms of purpose. God does not measure your life by your chronological age. Personally, God doesn't care how old you are. God's not impressed that you are 70. As a matter of fact, growing old could incriminate you because God's question is never, "How old are you?" You'll never see that in the Bible. God's question is, "What did you do?" Lord have mercy. I've met people who've been so proud of their age, and they've said things like this: They've said, "Well, Brother Miles, I'm 98 years old today. Praise God! And it's so good to know God kept me alive, and I'm an old saint, praise the Lord. Been going to church for a thousand years, amen. Been a good member there for 98 years, praise God." And then my question is, "What did you do with the 98?" You see, life is not measured by duration but by donation. Let me try one more time. Your life should not be measured by duration but by donation. It's not how long you lived, it's what did you do while you were living. The the the conclusion of Jesus in judgment is not, "Well said, good and faithful servant." God's not impressed with your gray hair. He's not impressed with your no hair. God wants to know, "What did you do while it was falling out?" Jesus said the answer in judgment shall be, "Well done, good and faithful servant." So your life should be measured not by how long you live, but how effectively you lived. And that's why you've got to capture your purpose so you can maximize your season so you can fulfill your time. You were born for a purpose, which makes you responsible for life. To live effectively, you must answer five questions. I'm going to give you these five questions. You will never be effective until you answer them. It's a matter of fact, so far, I've come to the conclusion that very few people on this planet have answered these five questions. And these five questions, I have been sharing everywhere I've gone, 'cause I believe that these are the five questions that control the human race.

The first question: Who am I? Everybody has to answer that question. Who am I? The second question: Where am I from? You've got to know your source. You have to know your heritage. And I'm not talking about ethnic heritage here. Third question you must answer is: Why am I here? Say it with me: Why am I here? You've got to answer that question. The fourth question everyone on this planet must answer is: What can I do? You must answer that question because if you don't answer that question, people will tell you what you could do and what you cannot do. And the fifth question of the human heart that must be answered is: Where am I going? Everybody's got to know their destination. There has to be a reason for getting up in the morning. You've got to know your life, not only your destiny on Earth, but beyond that as well.

The first question, "Who am I?" has to do with identity. Everybody say: Identity. The second question, write the word down: Identity. Next to that first question, the second question, "Where am I from?" has to do with heritage. You must know your heritage. Thirdly, "Why am I here?" has to do with purpose. You've got to have a sense of meaning and significance for your life. And the fourth question, "What can I do?" has to do with potential, ability, capacity. And the fourth question, "Where am I going?" has to do with hope. A life without hope will always submit to suicide. To live effectively, you must answer these questions. Why? Because if you don't have the answer to these questions, you will, instead of having your own identity, take on someone else's. And most of the problems in our world today are driven by these five questions. That's why people join gangs. Why? They don't know who they are. They're trying to find an identity. So they wear leather jackets and cut their hair funny and grow their hair funny, and they try to wear a different gear to get an identity. They don't know who they are.

"Where am I from?" It's another problem. Folks are trying to find their heritage. So they try to go back to what they call roots. I'm not sure about this roots thing. You can't find out where you came from by going back to your ancestral land. As a matter of fact, I've discovered, as a man of beautiful brown color, that when I go to Africa, the Africans don't know who they are either. So if you go back there to find an identity, and that goes for you folks who have heritage in Scotland, or Russia, or Poland, or Germany, or wherever you're from, or whether it's India, if you go back there, them folks are as in much trouble as you are. You can't find your sense of identity in your land of your heritage. There has to be something beyond the land. Do you know why they call your land of heritage your motherland? Because mothers have no seed. That's why you don't carry your mother's name. Because identity doesn't come from mothers, it comes from fathers. Come on, somebody. Everybody write the word "father" down.

I want to show you something. And since my friend, my precious friend Carlton Pearson, is about to be a father, I'm going to give him a revelation. Here's the revelation: The word "father" is the Greek word and the Hebrew word that is transliterated P-A-T-A-R. Can you write that word down? It's a good word to remember. P-A-T-A-R. This word "pater" means source and sustainer. It means both concepts. It means the source and the sustainer. That means that which the element came from is called the father. So the source of a thing is its father. And it also sustains what comes from it. That's why God never calls Himself mother. You'll get that next week. God never calls Himself mother because mothers are not source. God is called the Father of creation because everything was made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And everything that is seen came from that which is unseen. So everything that you see came out of God. And before anything was, everything was in God. So God was pregnant with everything before anything became something. So if you met God before anything was made, you'd be meeting everything, but wouldn't have known it, 'cause everything was in [Applause] God. So when everything came out of God, the very fact that it came out of God made Him the Father, the Source. But "pater" also means sustainer, which means whatever comes out of the source is also sustained or upheld by the source. That's why you'll find in Hebrews chapter 1 a very interesting statement. You need to study it. It says, "In times past, God spoke to us through many sundry ways and divers means, but now in these days, He speaks to us through His Son, by whom He made the universe, and He upholds all things." How? "By the word of His power." That means whatever came out of God, He's sustaining. That's why He's called the Father. So a father is the source of a thing that sustains the thing. You're not a father if you just produce it. You're only a father if you sustain what you produce.

Now, let's go one step deeper here. When God wanted to create the human race, He never went to the soil more than once. Women did not come from the soil. God went to the soil once. He made one man. Hang with me, Bishop. God made one human being out of the soil. He carved it out. God never went back to the soil, ever. That means when God finished with this one body, He had everybody in this body. Stay with me. That means when God took this body and put it in the garden, He put everybody who was in the body in the garden. So here was this body with everybody. Talking to somebody. God designed the male man exactly to represent who He is. God is the source of all creation. So He designed this creature, the male man, to be the source of all the human family. That's why a male is a father, not because his wife voted for him. You're going to get that next week. You are father because it was from you that God took everything else.

When God took this male and put him in the garden, God gave the male man instructions. And when God told the male man in the garden, the first thing He told him was to work. So the first thing the male got was work. Not woman. All the men say: Hell yes! You don't need a wife, brother, you need a job. What you need. Whenever God establishes anything in creation, He also establishes its priority. And therefore, if God gave the male man work first, then as far as God is concerned, the priority for a man is work, not woman. That's why you shouldn't marry a man who doesn't want to work.

So then, God took this man, put him in the garden, then God told this man, He says, "Uh, I want you to work, cultivate, and protect." Say with me: Work, cultivate, and protect. Say loud: Work, cultivate, and protect. These are the three things a male man must do. He must work. He must cultivate everything in his care, and he must protect it under his care. Then, after God placed him with these instructions, He gave him His word. He says, "There's a tree I don't want you to touch. This is My commandment. Don't touch it." So the male man got the word. No woman around. So he's the worker, the conservator, he is the protector, and the preacher. Then, when the man understood his assignment, then God said to the man, "Activate your brain. Name the animals for me." And his brain went to work, and he was busy carrying out his responsibilities. Then God says, "Now, I think you're ready to take on some responsibility. It's not good for you to be all one." So God put him to sleep, went inside, pulled out a rib. Now God had two males. He had a male and a male with a rib, and a female is simply a male who could carry the fetus. So if you can't carry a fetus, thou art a male. So no matter how you break your wrists and put earrings in your ears, if you can't carry a fetus, you are a brother. Yes. So don't come to me with no homosexual and no transgender and all this [Applause] stuff.

When Adam saw this wonderful, beautiful creature that God took out of him, where did God get her from? Out of him. So he became what? The source of the woman, which made him her father. And whatever comes from you must be sustained by you. You'll get it later, Isaiah. That's why women are not looking for husbands, they're looking for a father. They want a man who could take over where Daddy left off. I can't hear you all. It's a little too deep for you. See, the problem is, most women only getting husbands, they're not getting a father. A father supports, sustains, counsels, comforts, provides, and protects. That's why most men don't understand why there's a natural inclination to call your wife [Applause] baby. Why? She is your baby. Come on, say it with me: Say baby. Yes, sir. She came out of you. She's your responsibility to support, uphold, and provide [Applause] for.

God's responsibility for the male is very clear. He's a "pater." That means if you are not married, anytime a young woman comes into your presence, you are father. If you take her on a date, suddenly you are father. So if you abuse her, it's called [Music] [Applause] incest. When a young girl goes out with a man, a young man, she should feel [Applause] safe. So we've got a lot of men walking around saying they are men because they have a baby. You know, you ain't a father until you're supporting me and the baby. And the baby is not just the product of the union, the baby is the woman. You've got two [Applause] babies. You'll get it later. So we've got some strange men around the world. When they have, when they get married, they're really excited. And then when the baby comes, then they've got to buy milk and powder and diapers and cribs and toys and shoes and hats and food and clothes and fees. And then they start saying, "Woman, there's too much pressure for me." Yeah, well, let me inform you about something. Please write this down: Don't call responsibility [Applause] pressure. That's your baby. You made that baby. [Applause] So you've got to sustain that, uphold that, and undergird that, support that, nurture that, feed that, protect that, cover that. That's why Jesus has a strange name in Isaiah. He is not only called the Son that was born, but His name is also Everlasting Father. You'll get it. You, you, you'll get it. Not only is He married to the church, He's the church's Father. That's why He meets all your needs. He supplies all your needs. He covers you, protects you, He guards you, He follows you, He feeds you. He does why you are His [Applause] baby.

God's goal in this season is maturity. God is getting us ready now for maturity. As a matter of fact, He's demanding it. The church for the last 50, 60 years, I've had an opportunity to do a little review of the church, and we've been an excited group of people with no depth. We got great anointing without character. We got tremendous gifts without standards. We got power without principles. We are flashy without faith. We can print great posters, but we can't invite the presence of God in. We have a church that has become an expert at setting meetings up, but they have difficulty meeting with God. And what God is demanding in this season is for us to take the diapers off. He wants us to get rid of all the powdered milk. He's now demanding that we act our age. I mean, the church is almost 2,000 years old and still gossiping, bickering, competing, jealous. 2,000 years old, and we still hating one another, comparing ourselves with each other. As a matter of fact, we're still prejudiced. We still got all kinds of internal jealousies and backbiting, and it's horrible. As a matter of fact, the church is still an adolescent. She has no breast yet. Jesus ain't going to marry no little girl, I'mma tell you right now. No. He's demanding that we grow up now. And growing up means responsibility. Say it with me: Responsibility. Say it loud: Responsibility. A little louder: Come on, responsibility. One more time: Responsibility. Just a little bit louder: Responsibility. Woo! That's what God is looking for. Nothing is as destructive as irresponsibility. The most pervasive characteristic that plagues our society today, world, why is that of irresponsibility? Irresponsibility is defined as not answerable to authority, lacking a sense of accountability, unable to respond to conscience. It also means fickle, flighty, thoughtless, rash, undependable, unstable, loose. Boy, a lot of charismatics are loose, irresponsible people. It means lack. It means immoral people who worship on Sunday morning and go out sleeping around on Sunday night. That's what you call loose, irresponsible people. We've got people in the church who are sinning right in the choir and speaking in [Applause] tongues. Now, I must be honest with you, in many cases, I don't doubt their salvation. They're just irresponsible. Irresponsibility also means unpredictable. You don't know what they're going to do next week. When are they going to leave the church? No commitment to no body, no commitment to any vision. They, they are irresponsible people. It also means wild, unreliable, untrustworthy. It also means this, I like this one: It means to transfer blame. Write that down, please. To be irresponsible means to transfer blame. Blame for your behavior to somebody else. The entire world is suffering under this destructive influence of irresponsibility. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions, their decisions, their situations, nor their circumstances. We are experts at blaming the past for our future. We blame our parents for our habits. We blame our teachers for our ignorance. We blame our leaders for the way we follow them. We blame sickness for our health. We blame our children for our social problems. They are our children. We blame cigarettes and tobacco companies for our cancer. We blame the government for unemployment.

Let me pause there a minute. I got a problem with this one. You know why you ain't working? 'Cause you don't want to. [Applause] Nowhere in the Bible does the Bible ever state that the government's responsibility is to create employment. That's why nations are in trouble because the government is creating employment for the people. Do you know the way they measure the wealth of a nation? Write this down: It's measured by three letters: G.N.P. Those of you who are economists know what I'm talking about. G.N.P. It means Gross National Product. Say with me: Gross National Product. That's how wealthy a nation is. Gross means total. National means the nation. And Product is for productivity. That means the wealth of a nation is determined by how productive the whole nation is. Which means if you don't work, if you don't find ingenuity within yourself to be productive, then the whole nation is suffering from poverty. So you can't blame the government for your unemployment. You've got a brain between your ears with a billion sales and you haven't used 10% yet. There's something you could do with your hands that you don't need the government to tell you. Some of you could bake some great cakes, and you're still buying from the bakery. Some of you can sew very well, and you're still buying from them folks in Paris. Tell your neighbor: Maximize yourself. Tell your neighbor: Deploy yourself. Deploy yourself. You see, if you don't deploy yourself, others will employ you, and whoever employs you will determine how much you're worth by what they pay you. And I've decided years ago, no one can pay what I'm worth. So we blame the government for our unemployment. We blame alcohol for our drunkenness. We blame our wives for our waywardness. You blame our husbands for our depression. Oh, we blame the black man blames the white man for his predicament, and the white man blames the black man for his predicament. And the poor blames the rich for their poverty. And we live in an irresponsible generation. We live in a generation who believes that life owes them something. A generation who refuses to take personal responsibility for their own decisions and actions. Irresponsibility is the, the abandonment of conscience and the ignorance of accountability. To violate stewardship is to be irresponsible. So the criminal blames society for his misbehavior. Isn't that amazing? I heard a case just yesterday. A guy killed another guy, and the court is having difficulty because the plea of the young man who shot the other young man was that the community brought him up in a certain way, that that's why he shot. Now, friends, when we have transferred our behavior to the society we live in, we are in trouble. We are a society of blame. Us, the sinner, blame the hypocritical preacher for his damnation. Think about that, brother. "Well, I ain't coming to church. Why? Them preachers ain't no good, brother." Go to church for yourself. Don't worry with them preachers. Stop transferring your irresponsibility on a preacher. The Bible says, "Work out your own salvation." If the preacher wants to mess up, let him mess up by himself. You go ahead and live [Applause] right.

But the question is, where did this spirit of irresponsibility come from? And where did it enter the world? And when did it come into our experience? Well, you can find it if you quickly turn to Genesis chapter 1. Awesome stuff here. This destructive spirit was released in the Garden of Eden when the first man, who carried all men inside of his loins, violated his stewardship. He was given trust and responsibility for the entire Earth and the world on it. He was entrusted with the responsibility to maintain the righteous standards of his Creator, God, on the planet through obedience. Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our own image and our likeness, and let them have dominion." So man was created to what? Dominate the Earth. The word "dominion" means govern, or to control, or to manage, or to have stewardship over. That means he was responsible for the quality of life on the planet. So he was therefore set up as a manager over God's property. And I want to note here that God never gave up ownership of this place. He just gave us the management contract. He still owns it. The Earth is still the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So God is still the owner of this planet, but He gave the management contract to man. And in Genesis chapter 2:15, He told the man what to do with the planet: to work it, cultivate it, subdue it, and to dominate it.

Genesis 3 says that there was an irresponsible act. This man took the trust and the stewardship and violated it, and it ended up in the hands of an unlawful, illegal, unemployed cherub. So here we see God's property being mismanaged and fallen into the hands of a diabolical, abominable foe of God, Lucifer. In Genesis chapter 3, I want you to look at something that changed my life about two months ago. I, I have been very cautious lately because I realize that God is not who we thought He was. I'm learning so much about God until I'm beginning to be suspicious of all this theology I'm getting lately. As I read the Bible, it begins to destroy my theology. It has a way of doing that. And in chapter 3, it says that they fell and they disobeyed God and they lost the management contract. In chapter 3, something happens. God comes in and He asks the man, "Where art thou?" And here comes the entrance of irresponsibility. He transfers the blame to somebody else. He says, "This woman You gave me is the cause of all of this problem." Everybody say: Uh-oh. She came out of you. How can you blame your offspring for your behavior? That's why God ignored the statement. And when trouble fell upon humanity, God never went to the woman. He went to the man. He went to the source. He says, "Where are you?" And it was not a question of location. It was a question of disposition. It was a question of, "You are out of position. You didn't run your home, Adam." You see, Adam was created as a male, and a male is a giver. A female is a receiver. Therefore, a female, I'm going to get in trouble now, a female is designed by God to receive. And whatever she receives, she incubates, multiplies it, and gives it back to the male. She was built to do that. So whatever you give a woman, she'll receive it, multiply it, and give it back to you. Whatever you give a woman, are you listening, brothers? She'll receive it, she'll multiply it, give it back to you. She'll never give you back what you gave her, she'll multiply it first. She's designed that way. You get it? So if you give a woman a sperm, you'll never get a sperm back. She'll multiply it, give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll multiply it and give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her frustration, she'll multiply it. Yeah. So brothers, if you don't like what you are getting, change what you're giving. It's ridiculous for you to say to a woman, "Where did you get this from?" I mean, could you imagine Carlton saying, "What is that?" He can't say that. He's receiving back, multiplied, what he [Applause] gave. All you wives, just hit your husband. Just hit him right now. Just hit him. Yeah. Tell your husband, "If you don't like what I'm giving you, change what you're giving [Applause] me." Woo! Everybody say: Thursday Night Live. Come on, say it with me: Thursday Night Live. My life. My life. Yeah.

"Adam, what happened?" That was the question. "Where are you, man? How did you get like this?" And his first response was this woman. And ever since that day, the man has been saying, "This [Applause] one." Irresponsibility, transfer of blame. From that day, the man has been attempting to avoid responsibility by transferring the blame to others. From that day, God has been attempting to restore mankind to his rightful place of responsibility. And in all of God's dealings with His creation, man, in every generation, and in every ethnic expression, and in every culture, in every way, God has desired man to be restored to the responsible, free moral agent He created. When He first released man from His loins, God is still trying to get man back to being a responsible, free will agent. God's purpose is obvious in His design of man. He made and created man to be a free spirit and an independent will. He intended for man to rule and to govern and to be a manager over the Earth through the power of choice, and thus to determine the quality of life and environment he would desire within the context of God's will. The man was given a will to activate his choice.

As we look at previous generations and individuals with whom God has worked, we will observe something very distinct. There are some principles that I've discovered that applies in every case. And can I just throw something in here that you probably didn't notice before? But if you look at chapter 3, over uh, the last three verses, it says, "So the Lord banished man," verse 23, "from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken." Uh, verse 34, "And after He drove him out, He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden a cherubim and a flaming sword." Can I suggest something that may not go over too well theologically? If you mismanage something, God will take it from you. It's that simple and that serious. A lot of things that we thought the devil took, I believe God took. A lot of things we've been saying the devil did, no, no. See, some of you lost your house, and you come on the prayer line for the pastor to pray for you to get your house back because you didn't pay your mortgage for three weeks because you was buying some dresses you couldn't afford. It's called mismanagement. Your car was repossessed. Now you're saying, "Devil, take your hands off my car! I rebuke you!" The devil says, "I ain't never touched your car. You didn't pay the note." Come on, friends. I mean, here you are, you've eaten pork chop, lamb chop, dog chop, this chop, all these chops. You've eaten all this fat for seven years, fat for 10 years, fat. Now your arteries are clogged up with the fat you ate. Now you're telling the devil, "I rebuke you! Come out of me!" No. Oh-oh. It's called irresponsible [Applause] eating. Tell your neighbor: I feel myself growing up. It's amazing how we blame, we transfer blame to Satan for our irresponsible behavior. You don't exercise. Well, I might as well touch it. And you eat more fat than you burn, so the fat stays with you. And then a doctor says, "Now look here, you're going to have to lose some weight because your heart is having to push this blood to new [Applause] horizons." And we come on the prayer line, we say, "Pray for me, preacher." And the preacher says, "Satan, come out of her! Lord, heal this from me." The devil is outside crying, saying, "They always blaming everything on me!" Irresponsibility. No. God took Adam and put him out of what? He put him in. Let me say it again: God put Adam out of what He put him in. Why? Because he mismanaged it. You mismanage a ministry, God will put you out. You mismanage your house, God will put you out. You mismanage the car He blessed you with, He'll put you out. If you mismanage the home, He'll put you out. And not only would He put you out, He'll put a chair of barbed wire to make sure you don't get [Applause] back. There are some things God is protecting from you because you are not responsible enough yet to handle it. Oh, y'all hear me tonight. Some of you praying for things you can't manage. That's why you ain't got it yet. It ain't that God ain't hearing you, but you ain't qualified to manage it yet. Some of you praying for a million dollars and can't manage a $1,000 salary [Applause] yet. According to Jesus, this is the way God thinks: "If you are faithful over a little, then He will make you rule over [Applause] much." Write this down: Organize for what you're praying for. Pray for what you know you can manage. Some folks praying for a spouse, can't manage their own body [Applause] yet. Why you want to take on another body when your body's out of discipline? You think God's not blessing you with a spouse? God's protecting that person from you. Come on, somebody. Everybody say: Responsibility. Responsibility.

All right. Now, I'm going to be driving this home. What I'm going to say in the next 30 minutes is going to be very difficult to handle. All right. So what does God do? Ever since this incident of the Fall, God's been trying to get us back into a position of responsibility. And over the past four decades, something has happened. There's a distinct change in the equation. Many of the present generations that exist right now, especially those who have become so prominent like what we see right now here in recent times, by virtue of their numerical growth, social transitions, and intellectual progress, most of these children are products of oppression. In essence, many of those who are now being raised up by God to take responsibility for the generation they're living in were born in the wilderness. Most of them were never in Egypt, but they still still got the smell of it. They are products of oppression. And nothing is worse than living in the present with a mind of the past. These people carry the stain and the scent of Egyptian bondage on their conscience, and they struggle with the mentality and memory of slavery and abuse. Many of them are in this room, sitting next to you. This sojourn in the wilderness is actually an important period. God did something interesting. And this is the equation I want you to set up in your mind: The children of Israel was a type of the church, as well as a type of your personal life. And if you were to study carefully, even as Jesus refers to them, and Paul refers to them as well, in reference to our personal salvation and our experience with God, if you study it carefully, you'll discover some interesting principles.

Number one: They were in bondage for over 400 years in slavery. Everybody say: Egypt. Egypt. I want you to write that word down. Egypt. There are three phases to freedom. And the first phase is bondage. Everybody was born in Egypt. You and I. Egypt represents a bondage and a slavery under which we could not set ourselves free. And they were there for 400 years, matter of fact, 430, and they were trapped under that slavery. And they cried out to God. Then God did something interesting.

The second phase is that He delivered them. Everybody say: Delivered. Oh, please hear me tonight. Delivered them. He did. He delivered them from slavery, from bondage. And God does the same thing to you. You and I were born in sin, shapen in iniquity, and in sin were we conceived. We were trapped as sinners. You don't become a sinner, you're born one. You don't develop into one, you're born one. You don't put on sin, you're born one. That's why you've got to be born again. So you cannot change a human being by adjusting his behavior. He needs to be born again. That's why I got a little concerned about psychotherapy and psychology and psychiatry. I mean, these are wonderful sciences and beautiful professions, but when they try to change a soul, I got a problem. As long as they remain psych, then I'm fine, which means mine. But don't touch that spirit and that soul. You can't change that with no psychology. That needs the blood of Jesus. People need to be born again by the Holy Spirit. But when God brings you out of slavery, personally or corporately as a nation, or

As a people, He brings you into Deliverance. Deliverance is not freedom. I'm going to say it slow: Deliverance is not freedom. Don't confuse Deliverance with freedom.

Now, I'm going to say something here tonight. I hope you hear the spirit of the prophecy. When people are delivered, they do what Miriam did. They get down, get down. When you're delivered, you dance, you sing, you shout, you beat tambourines. That's when you're delivered. But you ain't free yet.

He brought them out of Egypt through the Red Sea, but He didn't take them to Canaan. They were delivered to the Wilderness. And be Lord have mercy, on one side of the Wilderness is the Red Sea. We call it the Red Sea. On the other side of the Wilderness is the River Jordan. In the middle is the Wilderness. On the outside of the Red Sea is Egypt. On the outside of the Jordan is Canaan. Promise freedom. In the middle is Wilderness. And for you to make it to your experience of true freedom, first you got to pass through your first body of water, which is your first baptism. Lord help me today. And that when God does that without your assistance. Have you noticed the first body of water was all miraculously done? The people had nothing to do with it. God opened the waters, and they walked over on dry ground. The Bible says they were never touched with the water. It was a dry ground. It says they, it was a miracle they got through. And when God saves you and delivers you, it's all Him. 100% God. He saves you, delivers you without your help. He brings you into Deliverance. If you were a drunken, an alcoholic, a drug addict, and reprobate, or whatever, God saves you and instantly, man, you will change. But don't confuse that Deliverance with freedom. Delivered people are dangerous people because they're not free. I want you to hear this. Delivered people confuse Deliverance with freedom. Freedom. But delivered people are dangerous because they haven't changed. All they changed was [Applause] location.

And the reason why God will never take a people direct to freedom is because if you've been in slavery for a long time, you ain't got the mentality for freedom. So He has to take you through a training process in the wilderness to try and get Egypt out of your mind, out of your spirit, before He let you into Canaan. The Wilderness is designed to get rid of Egypt. And let me say this, friends, if you don't learn your lessons in the Wilderness, God will bury you there. I'm going to say it again. We've been wondering why certain groups of people in the world doesn't seem to progress, doesn't seem to make it forward. I mean, years they've been delivered, and they've been complaining, but they've been delivered. But they've been complaining. They've been delivered, but they've been blaming the past, blaming everybody else, transferring responsibility for hundreds of years, blaming. They've just been delivered, and God keeps burying them right in the Wilderness. Just keep burning. Just keep burning. Why? God will not allow the spirit of Egypt to enter [Applause] Canaan. Help me, Lord.

The same thing is true of you. And it's true of Jesus. When Jesus came, the Bible says He was born of woman, born under the law, didn't He? And He's born under the curse, so He could free those who were under the curse. So here was Jesus, born under the same limitations of man. Not only that, He was also born under physical oppression. The Roman Empire was the rulers of the world at that time, and Jesus was actually a slave. He was under the oppression of a regime that took power over the people. And that's why they had to pay taxes. They had to carry the Roman soldier's shield. They had to carry their spear. They had to carry their, their swords. They had to give them their tunic and their cloaks when they wanted. They were slaves. But yet, Jesus didn't sit there and get mad. Watch Jesus. He, He's all right. He grew up, learned His lessons, submitted to His authority, His parents. He took on a manhood responsibility. And then at age 30, He ran to John because He wanted to start His assignment. He walked up to John and said, "John, I got to go through my first body of water because I got to get out of this oppression." And John says, "But wait a minute." He said, "No, no, no. We got to do this. This is required. Everybody got to go through the first body of water." So He goes through the first body of water. And as He goes through, the Bible says the Spirit of God like a dove came upon Him. When you go to the first body of water, you, you, you get the Spirit of God. Everybody say, "Saved." Say, "Delivered." And He's delivered with the Holy Ghost out from the first body of water. And the Bible says as He came out of the water, the Spirit came upon Him. And what did the Spirit do? It tells you the first thing the Spirit do was not lead Him into the ministry. Come on, use your spiritual revelation here. God knew what He was doing. He says, "You ain't ready for ministry yet because you was brought up in Palestine. You were brought up in Nazareth. You got a small mind. You was brought up in, in, in, in Galilee." And so He took Him to the Wilderness. And He was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness. Led by who? Spirit. You mean the Spirit of God will lead you into trouble? Oh, come on. Let's read the Bible. Forget all the theology you've been dealing with. God will not trust you until He tests you. Because God don't trust your mind. He saved your soul, but your mind ain't no good. And it's not as a man believes it, so is he. It's how a man thinks, so is he. So God got to change your thinking so that your behavior could change. The Bible says, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." And transform means what? Change. That means if your mind ain't changed, you still ain't changed. I don't care how you shout and dance and preach and speaking tongues. If your mind ain't changed, you still ain't transformed. And God will take you in the Wilderness. And everybody here has to go. Oh, hear me. I don't care who you are. God will take you through the Wilderness because He won't trust you until you make it. I don't care how great your vision is, or how awesome your purpose is, or how much big things you want to do in life. God won't let you start until you go through the Wilderness.

Now, what's in the Wilderness? He says He took Him there to test Him. There are three tests you must pass before God trusts you with freedom. Write them down. First test is a test of appetites. You got to pass that test. You got to test your appetites. God will check to see if your appetites are under control. All of them. Your sexual appetites. Well, some folks want to preach with their mouths and can't keep their zip up. It's so sad today. We got men and women of God rushing into the ministry, can't wait to start a church, and they haven't put their loins under control yet. That's why there's such disgrace in the church. We got anointed heads with unanointed [Applause] loins. Oh, come on, clap your hands, somebody. You understand what I'm talking about. We need to be changed. Our minds need to change. God will test your appetites for food, for control of your appetites. And that's the first test. Jesus had to pass. Appetites under control, and He passed it.

The second test you must pass, you're going to like this one. It's the test for power. God will test you to see if you want power, going after power and control. A lot of people are in the ministry for the wrong [Applause] reason. Some folks want to carry the pastor's Bible for the wrong reason. Oh, yeah, I know they're there. Yeah. You got folks who will do anything to get a little position. God will test you, brother, when you don't want the position. God will give it to you right where you are. Work hard, do the best you can. Don't look for promotion. It'll come from the [Applause] Lord. The devil said to Jesus, "Come on this pinnacle and jump down, and you make yourself famous." You see, if you still looking for fame, you ain't got the right spirit. Some folks rushing into the ministry because of the big break. Lord, help us. We got some talented people here. I mean, you could sing, you could play piano, you could play a saxophone or something. And here comes a guy who heard you play and he says, "Look, I, I, I want to put you in the studio, man. You're pretty good." Yeah. And you say, "Yeah, yeah, this is, this is your big break." Yeah. "My big break." Yeah. Now listen, we don't want you to mention Jesus when you sing, though. Now, we'll give you $200,000. We'll pay for everything for you, but just don't mention Jesus, okay? This your big break. We'll promote you in the secular market. We'll put you on MTV. We'll fix you. You just remember, don't mention Jesus, and everything going to be all right. Time for a big break. Now, then you got the other side. You even got some great men of God, women of God, who would come to a young uh, rippity-snapper and say, "Hey, man, you preach good. I want you to come over to my church and take over the Youth Department." You even ain't sure he saved. Saved. Say, "Man, I, I just like the way you preach." Yeah. Anybody can have a gift and don't have character. We got some men and women in the ministry who were called into the ministry by ministers instead of God. This stuff got to stop. Now, nothing in the world is worse than artificial growth. Come on, somebody. Huh? Artificial growth. They take those hormones and put in those chicken eggs. Chickens grow overnight, full of hormones, fat and plump, make you sick and get cancer. And we got some saints like that. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, they come. Didn't have a chance to be tested or tried or go through any tribulation. And all of a sudden, they put a sign over a door front saying they got a church. Brother, you got to run your home first. Pastor your children first. Pastor your wife first. Pastor your neighborhood first. Then try and pastor the neighborhood. There are people in the ministry who need to go out of the ministry now. Go and start over again and help someone to father you before you try and father people. God will test you for power. People are hungry for power.

And the third test God tested Jesus for, He can test you for it too, is the test of pride. Oh, that's a serious, subtle one. "So if you bow down and worship me, I'll give you all the glory and the splendor and all the authority and influence of this city. I'll give you all this, you see, if you just worship me, and you can be in the pride of life, and you will be somebody, and I make you important." Boy, what a tempting thing. And that's in the church. May God forgive us. But God going to take you through the Wilderness before He brings you into freedom. And can I suggest that when you pass the test in the Wilderness, He will take you across Jordan? But according to our text in scripture, you notice that God did not take them. Because for 40 years, He tried to change their minds. Let me tell you something. Slavery is a dangerous thing. Oppression is an awesome thing. You could be oppressed for 40 years and still be smelling onions and garlic. These people were strange. They cried out for freedom, cried out for deliverance, and when it came, they complained about it. Why? Because they didn't understand. Understand that freedom and responsibility go together.

Now, I'm going to squeeze this in one capsule. When they came out of Egypt, they went to the Wilderness. And in the Wilderness, the miracles were free. Free provisions, free sponsorship, free food, free clothes, free health. You know, when you first get delivered, everything is free. I'm going to tell you something now, you got to hear this. When everybody is delivered, first life is wonderful. When you first got saved and you got delivered from sin, you remember how you used to live? You used to pray for toothpaste and showed up in the morning. I mean, you just believe for something and it came. You remember that? I mean, you to want to go get some money, someone gave it to you. You pray. Young Christian, God will just bless you. He'll give you manna, He'll give you water from the rock, He'll give you clothes, He'll give you shoes. He'll be free. But there comes a time when God says, "That's [Applause] enough." God will feed you and clothe you and quench your thirst, and He'll do it free in spite of your behavior. In Deliverance, in Deliverance, God will wink at your misbehavior. He will literally turn His eyes away from your disappointments. He will actually feed you even though you grumble. He'll clothe you even though you murmur. Because in that period, He knows you still thinking like Egypt. But there comes a time when God says, "That's enough. You've been out long enough." And do you know if you are never willing to change and cross the river, God will bury you in the Wilderness?

I want you to turn to a passage of scripture real quick, Joshua chapter 5. To me, I believe this is where the church is at right now. If you want to know the season, it is this is where it's at. It's right here in chapter 5. I believe in my spirit. As senses everywhere of travel, and it's here. It says, verse two, "At that time the Lord said to Joshua, 'Make flint knives, circumcise the Israelites.'" So that Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites. Now, this is why. "He did all those who came out of Egypt. All the men of military age died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. All the people that came out of Egypt had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert had not been circumcised." Verse six, "The Israelites had moved about in the desert for how long? 40 years until the men who were of military age had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land that He had solemnly promised their fathers to give us a land flowing in milk and honey." Everyone say, "Milk and honey." "He raised up their sons in their place." Everybody to raised up their children. Children. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained there to be healed. Verse nine, "Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'Today I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.'" So the place has been called Gilgal to this day. Just pause a minute. I'm going to tell you something. God made sure that everyone who couldn't change their minds stayed in the Wilderness and died. But God will keep a person alive who He knows can't change. He'll keep him alive so He can get what's in their loins. Are you listening to me? So some folks are alive and they think God's with them, but He ain't with them. He just waiting to get the children out of them. God kept these people alive for 40 years because there was a generation inside of them that He wanted to take to the promised land. And there are people who ain't going in, but they ain't dead yet. God's just waiting for their children. And when God gets your children all set, He's going to bury you. That's why the old generation, some of them are having difficulty because they see the new generation coming up, and some of them don't want to let go. You know, it's okay to be a player on the field, but when your age and your time and your season is gone, you should become a [Applause] coach. Nothing in the world is worse than having a coach trying to play. An old one. God waited until the children were born and grown up, until they had parented the kids, and then He made sure they were buried in the Wilderness. He took the children in.

Secondly, you notice here, God didn't allow them to be circumcised in the Wilderness. Why? He didn't want anything from the Wilderness to be in their bodies or a mark on them when they enter the freedom. It's very important. And then He tells them why in verse nine. He says, "I did this to take away the reproach of Egypt." Reproach means shame. God wants you to forget your slavery. He wants to cut it off. He wants to say, "I want to lift the sting of it, the memory of it." "I won't take it from you." The reproach has to be taken off. Some folks are in Deliverance and still feeling like slavery. God have to cut you off. He has to circumcise your heart all over again. He has to change the way you think to get you out of that mentality.

Now, I want to read a verse that I think is the key. The evening of the 14th day, they are now in the promised land, the day after the Passover. Verse 11, "They ate some of the manna or some of the produce of the land of freedom." They are in Canaan now, and they're eating. And after the first meal, underline this verse. The Bible says the manna stopped. Lord have mercy. I believe that's where we are right now. Hallelujah. God is saying, "I appreciate all of your claiming and naming, all you bless me and bless me that and bless me that." He said, "Them days are over now. I want a people who ain't going to be looking for manna no more, but looking for management." God cuts the manna off when you grow up. He's now making them responsible for providing their own food, their own clothes. Their clothes wore out in Canaan. The manna stopped in Canaan. The water never came from the rock in Canaan. And when they got in Canaan, did they fight? Did they fight? Brother, freedom means fighting. Time. Freedom means you got to dig your own wells. Help me, Lord. You got to plant your own corn. You got to sew your own clothes. You got to develop your own strategies. And I like what God says to Joshua. God says, Joshua, in Joshua chapter 1, He says, "I'll be with you as I was with Moses." But I tell you, friends, if you look at the way God was with Joshua, it's not the same way He was with Moses. And sometimes believe God is not with you because He ain't working the way He used to work with the old fellas. Come on now, let's talk with this. We got to talk about this. People say, "Well, you know, well, it's the way it used to be. It ain't like that no more." God is so wise. God made sure that Moses didn't go because He knew that Joshua would be in charge. And friends, I asked the Lord a few months ago, "What would have happened if Moses went into the land with Joshua?" Friends, we'd have a problem today because Moses knew God worked with him, and God did nothing with Joshua the way He did it with Moses. Even though He was with Joshua, Moses refreshed the Red Sea, and the water opened. God told Joshua, "You can walk in yours." All the enemies in the Wilderness, God fought for them. But when they came to Canaan, God said, "Hey, man, pick up a sword." With Moses, I work for him. But with you, I'm going to work with you. Come on, somebody. Some of you are still wanting God to do everything for you. Uh-uh. God has created you to be a responsible person, and He wants to teach you responsibility. And it's time for you to read the Bible for yourself. Don't let no TV evangelist make you read the Bible anymore. You got to pray for yourself. You don't need no traveling prayer minister to teach you how to pray no more. Pray by yourself. Now, responsibility time. Don't let no one come and try to pump you and make you give and talk about giving and talk about blessing. Don't give because you're going to get blessed. Give because you love Him. Be responsible. God wants people who are responsible people. Now, He wants people who are going to do it because they know it's right. The manna dried up, and it never came back. And so I got some news for you. There's no greater burden than freedom. There's no heavier load than liberty. The security of slavery is the absence of responsibility. Let me try it just one more time. The security of slavery is the absence of responsibility. In other words, people like slavery because in slavery, you don't have to be responsible. The comfort of oppression is the absence of self-determination. The attraction of subjugation is the privilege of blame. When you are subjugated, when you are oppressed, you can always blame your oppressor. But when you're free, you can't blame nobody. More men in this building and women are afraid of freedom than of slavery because freedom is frightening. The cry of freedom usually ends in the murmur of regret. The child demands freedom from his parents. The spouse demands freedom from his partner. The slave demands freedom from the master. The colony demands freedom from its imperial oppressor. The youth demands freedom from laws and prohibitions. And the subjects demand freedom from their dictators. And what happens? What do we mean when we say freedom? The general perception and the concept of freedom is this: freedom is the absence of laws and restrictions. We think or freedom is the void of work and obligation. Freedom is retirement from responsibility. Freedom is the right to do as one pleases. Freedom is eternal relaxation. Freedom is the, the release from eternal external control. However, all of these concepts of freedom are erroneous and dangerously embraced by a significant segment of our society. The truth is, freedom imposes more laws on you than slavery. Freedom demands more work than slavery. Freedom requires more responsibility than slavery. Freedom demands that you do the right thing. Freedom imposes more the need for internal control than external control. In other words, in freedom, you need more control than in slavery. Unconsciously, slavery, oppression, and subjugation is more attractive than freedom because the demands of freedom are higher than slavery. We escape from freedom when we seek to avoid responsibility for our own behavior. Any misconception of freedom will always result in bondage. And many confuse freedom with independence. Some mistake freedom for permission. And others consider freedom a lack of accountability. But freedom is an interesting word. It means liberty. It's the Hebrew word *'upah* or *chofesh*, and it means liberty. It also is the Greek word *eleutheria*, which means citizen. Freedom is an attribute of God. The Bible says He worketh all things after the counsel of His will. By this, God expresses the truth that God Himself is self-determining as an agent. He's a free personal being, acting purely in accordance with His own perfections. God, He shows that He is the reason and the purpose of all His creation is for them to exercise, exercise the divine act of freedom, just like He exercises it. The Bible says He created all things by and for and through Him. Freedom for us as men, in the image of God, is the power of the mind and the will to choose between alternatives, the power to choose between God and the devil, good and evil. Thus, man freely determines his own future and destiny as he chooses between what life has to offer. Man was created in the image of God and accordingly was endowed with perfect moral freedom. Sin results from abuse of that freedom, which resulted in man being in a state of complete moral inability. Romans 7:19 tells us how man became a victim of his own abuse. And though he still possesses natural freedom, man is imprisoned spiritually. Freedom is essential to all moral responsibility, and moral responsibility is one of the institutions of the human mind. The root meaning of freedom, that's what I want to wrap this up on. Write the word freedom down. The word freedom is made up of two words: free and dom. From the word dominion or domain. Freedom, therefore, means the liberty to dominate or the right to rule your environment, not to rule other people. Freedom is the liberty or right to dominate, govern, and manage your environment. That's what God gave Adam. Genesis says, "Let them have dominion." And that's God's release of freedom. Freedom is the delegated release of authority to be responsible for governing and for managing your designated sphere of influence. Freedom, therefore, makes you responsible and accountable. God delegated freedom, the right for every man to dominate and govern, rule the Earth. Therefore, freedom is always within the law of delegation. There is no freedom without law, and therefore freedom is always under law. Freedom means you're not under control of any other person, but under the higher law of principle laid down by God. Freedom is not the absence of work or the cancellation of responsibility, but rather the release of work and the release to work and to fulfill the assignment of responsibility. Jesus closes the concept of freedom with a statement. John 8:32, He says, "Then you'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free." In other words, freedom can't be given to you by a human being. It's discovered when you discover truth about you and about life. A slave has no permanent place in the family, Jesus said in John 15. But a son belongs to the family forever. Servants, He says, must be promoted to friends. God does not want us to remain as servants, always begging and following and crawling. He wants us to become friends who know His mind and His will and His purpose. Paul speaks in Galatians 4, and he says, "As long as the heir is a child, he is treated like a slave. But when he is grown up, he gets the inheritance." How long are we going to be treated like a slave in the body of Christ? Irresponsibility leads to slavery. Proverbs 6:5 says, "Free yourself like a gazelle, you slugger, and get up from your sleep." A little sleep, a little slumber, and poverty comes upon you like a bandit. Freedom demands responsibility, and responsibility is the result of maturity, which is the evidence of character, which is produced by trials and tests. Disobedience leads to bondage, and obedience leads to responsibility. Freedom is expensive, and it costs a high price. Deliverance is instant, but freedom is a process. One must be prepared for freedom. All oppression produces the spirit of irresponsibility, the spirit of laziness, hatred for work, fear, distrust, low self-esteem, poor self-concept, selfishness, timidity, and a spirit of immediate gratification. And that's what we're suffering from right now. People who have been oppressed for many years, they want instant gratification. They don't want to plan and wait and earn. They want instant cash now. It's a spirit of slavery still upon them. Esau was a good example of a man who has a slave mentality. When he's hungry, he'll sell his birthright for some food, instantly forgetting that he'll be hungry again.

Deliverance may not lead to freedom, and that's the sadness of this night. Deliverance is not freedom. Freedom is deliverance from oppression. Deliverance is release from the oppressor. Let me repeat it: Deliverance is the release from the oppressor, but freedom is the deliverance from oppression. You can be delivered and still oppressed. In essence, it is possible to be delivered and still not free. The power of the oppressor is the maintenance of ignorance, and therefore the oppressed must be set free through knowledge of the truth. Both the oppressed and the oppressor need to be delivered and set free. And the oppressed need to be delivered from oppression, and the oppressor need to be delivered from his misconception of the oppressed.

I'm going to try one more time. Lord, help me on this last point. I say, said the oppressed need to be delivered from the oppressor, but the oppressor also need to be delivered from his misconception of the oppressed. Some of you going to get it after I'm gone. Buy this tape, listen to it five times. You see, a man can set you free physically and still not accept you as an equal. And that's what's going to happen in South Africa. The people have been in bondage. I just came from there. It's hard for those people to confuse freedom with deliverance. That's what's going to happen. And believe me, friends, when you are free, you don't need to be accepted. Therefore, the delivered must be trained for freedom. Most Christians are delivered spirits with oppressed minds. Sudden freedom can overwhelm a slave and drive him back into bondage. This was the failure of colonialism. In my experience, in our own country, they produced dependence as colonies and parasites, and when they gave us independence, we were still dependent on them. Freedom is not synonymous with independence. And that's why I'm concerned about South Africa. I'm going back there in a few weeks.

Ecclesiastes chapter 10:5. Let's close on that verse, please. And we're going to go. Please turn there. I want everyone to read this. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, chapter 10, rather, verse 5. That's in the Old Testament. Be careful what you read. It's detrimental to your ignorance. It says in verse 16, "Woe to the land when a slave becomes king." I'm going to repeat it. "Woe to you, O land, when a slave becomes king." Ecclesiastes chapter 10, rather, verse 16. Chapter 10, verse 16. "Woe to the land when a slave becomes king." What does God say? He's saying when a man is in charge who still has an oppressed mentality, you are in trouble. If I was to say what God is wanting, and this is my prophetic word to this conference in this era, this season right now, God is desiring that we be transformed mentally for freedom. We've been delivered. We've been dancing. We've been having a great time over the past couple hundred years, but now we have to move into a different sphere of responsibility. And I say to this conference, and Pastor Carlton, I want you to stand for a minute. I want to address this directly to you. The Lord spoke to my heart and told me to speak this into this conference through this leader. It's a great leader here. God says that years ago, He tried to do this through a man just like you, but it didn't work because the man brought Deliverance, but he didn't bring freedom. And God desired to keep the name because He's trying to do something that wasn't done. Those who tried to fulfill God's purpose at that time, they were smothered by others, and what was intended to happen did not happen. Hear me. And so even the man who God intended to use, he was forgotten for years. And others who had the spirit of oppressors took what God had desired and buried it. The Spirit of God has blown into this generation with a desire to do it one more time. The man before you died and never fulfilled what God wanted done because he wanted to be accepted. And so the people danced, the streets were jammed, you couldn't get near the building, but they were not free. It's doing it one more time. A place is jammed, people trying to get in, one more time. But this time, He doesn't want Deliverance only. He wants them to be free in their minds. He wants them to be renewed in their own thinking about who they are, where they came from, why they're here, and how important everybody is. He's desiring that you not search for company. You got all the company you need, says the Lord. Look around you. That you must not search to join a status. He gave you status when He called you. He doesn't want this to be a proverb word like the last one. He doesn't want others to take what He has done and make it theirs. He wants you to bring the people across the second body of water this time. Make them proud. Do it, says the Lord. Do it. Behold, they are ready. Thank you, Jesus.

Lift your hands for a minute. Just wait. Lift your hands. No movement, please. Let's go ahead. Let the word wash you. Whatever you heard tonight that is loaded in your spirit, let it worship. Thank you, Father. Oh God, He's using the children of Israel to see if they would do it. Now, a whole generation of people, not settling for deliverance, wanting to go into freedom. Are people who don't want to eat onions anymore. They have no more taste for garlic. They want to drink milk and honey. People who want to know how to fight to win their own battle. People who won't transfer blame to history anymore, but take responsibility for their behavior. Father, I thank You. I thank You for this great moment in history. Oh God, our fathers did the best they could, but Lord, their minds are still trapped. Renew our minds. Change us in the spirit of our minds, oh Lord, and teach us responsibility. Oh God, freedom is frightening because we've got to make our own beds now. We got to find our own productivity. We can't blame the past. This day, Lord, bring us into freedom. Thank You, Father. Behold, the people next year shall be different from this year. It shall be training, not jubilation. Next year, there shall be instruction beyond celebration. Next year, you will be drawn here with a heart that is different than the one that brought you here. You came this time because there was a hunger for fellowship and a desire for association. But next time, when you meet again, it shall be for mental change, for the Lord shall renew your mind, and the church shall become more mature through this ministry that God has raised up. I pray that you would behold the man, a man who doesn't quite understand all of what's happening to him, but he's obedient. He's protected by those God has given him, so trust him. You've watched him, you've heard him, now listen to him. They will not take this one. America begins its constitutional commitment with these words, and I want to make sure I quote this correctly, for this has not yet happened. It's so close to happening that it must not be stolen. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness." Perhaps it might happen in this generation. No man can give you freedom. Freedom must happen to you through revelation of the truth about yourself in God. And so, next year, there shall be more people than there are this year, but the spirit will be different. They will come for training. They will come for instruction, for they must be prepared for Canaan. Responsibility is what freedom is all about. May God bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you. May His countenance be raised up upon you and give you peace. Ladies and gentlemen, behold a [Applause] [Music] [Applause] man. I'm a to you. Come on, sing it with us. My, my, will I give? I'll do what you say. I'll do what you say. Use me, Lord, to [Music] show and enable me to. Oh, yes.