Transcription
Hallelujah, oh God, we bless Your name. We worship You, we adore You. We thank You, Lord, for the miracles You have brought, the prayers You have answered. Thank You, Almighty God, that You're a Way Maker, You're a Deliverer, You're the I AM, You're a Healer.
We intercede and pray for one another right now in Jesus' name. We pray for our brother, our sister. Intercede on their behalf. Ask You to work a miracle in their life. Whatever they stand in the need of, work it out. We pray, Father, now that You would rebuke the plots and schemes of the enemy that has tried to overtake us, defeat us, discourage us. But God, we're so grateful that we know You've got our back.
I pray today, Lord, for not only the people in this building, but we pray for those around the world who are participating with us through some medium, but they're not in this building. I pray, God, that You would just transcend this word, make it fresh and alive, that it would touch hearts. I'm praying for somebody today that's discouraged, encourage them, Father. I'm praying today, tonight, for some unsaved person that You would save them tonight. Some backslid person, You reclaim them tonight. Some person who's unsure, that God, they will get assurance tonight. Somebody who's unchurched, God, get them settled and planted tonight.
And when it's all said and done, God, matter of fact, before it's all said and done, we give You the glory, the thanks, and the praise. Anoint us to be Your mouthpiece, Your conduit, Your instrument. Allow us, God, to speak this word, anoint it, and let it accomplish what You've desired and what You've ordained for the sake of Your glory. Now, thank You for what You're going to do. In Jesus' name, we pray. And everybody say, "Amen, amen, and amen."
Take a moment and just hug somebody. [Applause] Those sit down yet? Hold on, don't sit down. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I should have told y'all. Get your Bibles, iPhone, iPad, notebook, your paper Bible. Turn to Joshua chapter 6. I know Reverend Chapman already read these verses, but I want to just start off by reading verse 20. I'm a little bit behind. We're behind time, and I got to get this message out before 11:59. I was waiting for y'all to say, "Take your time," but y'all didn't say it. I gave y'all space to say it, didn't matter, but y'all didn't say it. It's disgusting. I got a 45-minute message, I got to try to get done here in 29 minutes. No, y'all perpetrators. Here's what verse 20 says: "So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpet, and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great, great shout that the wall fell down flat." Somebody said, "Fell down flat." Fell down flat. "Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city."
I want you to look at somebody and say, "It's time to take the city." Tell them on the other side, "It is time to take the city." All right, you can be seated.
All right, let me tell you a couple things right quick. I'm not going to be finished by 11:59. Lean over and tell your neighbor, "The club going to have to wait." [Applause] Let me tell you number two. Number two, I normally every night, every New Year's, I'm sorry, New Year's Eve, preach the theme for our church for the next year. But I'm not doing that tonight. I already gave our church our theme for 2016 a few months ago, which is "Passing the Song." I preached, I taught, I sang, I taught during Bible study, I preached through Sunday. And our theme, our goal, our desire for next week, next year, tomorrow [Applause] is to "Pass the Song," to see people saved, delivered, and to see people brought to a place of spiritual maturity. Amen.
What I want to do tonight is, is talk to you about the things that you need to have in your life to help you reach the destiny that God has for you in 2016. And I, and I, I, I was trying to figure out how I was going to get this done, but I've been wrestling with, with it. And, uh, I, I've got all this. I'm so full of this message that I was trying to figure out how I was going to be able to to get it out. So I figured out what I needed to do is, I can't get it all in this one message. It's going to be a two-part message. So tonight, I'm going to give you part one, and Sunday, I'll give you part two. Y'all supposed to say, "That's fine," 'cause I'm going to be here Sunday. Go ahead, go ahead. It's fine. I'm going to be here. It's a four-part message, but tonight, I, I'm sorry, it's a four-point message that I'm dividing into two messages. But tonight, I can only give you one point. The one point is enough that if I can just get you to get this one point, tonight will be set.
Okay, I gotta coach y'all. Y'all supposed to say, "We'll get it, Pastor." And I want to give it to you through the eyes and the story of Joshua. Joshua is the leader of the Israelites who led them into the promised land. But he, he did it through, um, well, this story. And Joshua talks about it. And here, and here's what I want to talk about it. I want to talk about you and I. I, I, I want to talk about getting and achieving what it is God has destined for you to get and achieve.
Now, here, to matter of fact, last Sunday, I celebrated quietly. I didn't say much about it. I may have said it at one service, but I didn't say much about it. Last Sunday, I celebrated my 42nd anniversary of being in the ministry. 42 years. And I'm not much past 45 years of age. I still look young, don't I? This section is clapping, but this section ain't clapping. I've been pastoring this church for 26 years. I pastored a church in Virginia for three years. I've been pastoring for 29 years. Yeah. And that, that's significant because they said I wouldn't make it. And in those 29 years of pastoring and the 42 years of preaching, God has afforded me the opportunity, the privilege, and the honor of accomplishing quite a number of things in the course of my life. Things that I really sometimes wonder, I'm shocked that I, that God has allowed me to have the experience that I've had. I've traveled the world. I've preached before kings and presidents and legislators and professional athletes and businessmen and millionaires. And God has opened up doors to me that I never dreamed or imagined would happen in my life. As a matter of fact, I'm afraid that one day, I, I used to be scared that one day I was going to come out of a coma that I've been in a coma for 42 years, and one day I'm going to wake up and somebody going to say, "You know, I'm, I'm not all that that I've, that I've come to achieve in life." And so it's a dream come true. Uh, God has afforded me to accomplish and do some things in life that, that amazes me. And I'm, and what I know, and what I believe, sitting in this building right now, and are some people even watching over the internet around the world, that God has some fabulous things. You know, I make up words while I'm preaching. God has some fabulous things that He wants to achieve in you, in your life. It hasn't manifested yet, but God wants you to see some things accomplished through you in the course of your life. And my assignment for these next couple days, tonight, and on Sunday, is to teach you. This is a teaching message. Tonight is to give you some teachings of what you need to have in place in order for you to fulfill those things that God has destined for you to become, to do.
See, the devil has told some of you, "You're never going to be nothing. Never going to do nothing. Never going to accomplish anything. You can't be nothing. You can't go nowhere." That's what the devil is telling you. But God told me to rebuke that devil's lies from off of your life and help you understand that God has a plan for you. And I, and I see this through the eyes of Josh, Josh, because Joshua accomplishes some fairly significant things. Somebody say, "Some fairly significant things." Significant. He accomplished some, some incredible things. He, he does some remarkable things. And, and the first remarkable thing he does is he provides leadership to the people of Israel after following the great leadership of Moses. That's tough to follow a famous, powerful, anointed, charismatic leader. He followed Moses. And God did spectacular things through Moses. When the children of Israel were in bondage, God used Moses to bring them out of bondage. It's God sent Moses to talk to Pharaoh and say, "Let my people go." God did some supernatural thing through Moses and sent all of the plagues and turned his staff into a serpent and turned the bloody water into, uh, blood, blood turned water into water. I mean, God used this man to do some phenomenal things. He got down to the Red Sea, and here comes Pharaoh's armies behind him, and he stretched out his rod, and the waters opened up. Come on, y'all seen the movie, y'all know what happened. When it went on, God did some spectacular things through his life. Through his life, Joshua accomplished some incredible things for which God wants to do some incredible things through you. Moses, Moses wanted, I got to remind myself to take my time, 'cause I see that clock ticking, and I'm, I'm trying to rush myself. Take your time, Pastor. Look at your neighbor, say, "At 12:15, we're going to act like it's 12:00 on the nose." Tell your neighbor, "At 12:15, we're going to act like it's 12:00," 'cause I got to get this word. You need this for your life.
Moses had tried for 40 years to get the children of Israel into the promised land, but he failed. 40 years. They wandered around in the wilderness, going over the same ground over and over and over again. 40 years he traveled around trying to get them to the promised land, but God would not allow him. So when Moses passes off the scene, Joshua takes the lead, and it's he accomplishes in, in, uh, a short period of time what Moses could not accomplish in 40 years. And that's a remarkable thing. As a matter of fact, the spectacular things that happened, this, this is important, the spectacular things that happened in Moses's life didn't happen in Joshua's life, but yet he got further in the journey that Moses couldn't take the people. So you got to decide whether you want the supernatural from God or whether you want God to move you along and get you to where you need to go. I love the supernatural, but if the supernatural is going to leave me going around in circles, I'd rather leave the supernatural alone, get on going where I need to go. Oh, I'm preaching and teaching already, whether y'all know it.
When Moses dies and Joshua takes the lead, a, here's a spectacular thing that happens. The leaders of the people go to Joshua and say, "As the way we followed and submitted to Moses, we're going to follow and submit to you." Now, I don't know if y'all know that's spectacular right there. Matter of fact, at one point in chapter one, when you get a chance to read this, read the book of Joshua. It's powerful. Chapter one, uh, the people said something that I wish my leaders would say, and they, they haven't said this, but I hope they would say it. They said, "The way we followed Moses, we'll follow you." And if anybody fights against you, Joshua, we will kill them. I know y'all not excited about that, but I like that kind of preaching. I like those kind of leaders. Matter of fact, is the truth be told, we got leaders like that in this church. The leaders of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden are supportive of their pastor. If you talk about the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden, the mothers of the church would take you out back and beat you with their cane. In Jesus' name. [Applause]
So he has this assignment and this responsibility. And the question is, God is going to, God's going to give him the victory. God's going to take him to a place and help him accomplish what he needs to accomplish. Just like I'm trying to tell you, God is going to take you to the place and help you accomplish the things that you think you can't accomplish. The question is, how did he do it? Now, in this book of Joshua, he has the manual of leading the people of Israel to the Promised Land. As a matter of fact, he's going to have 31 battles and he's going to win all of them but one. And the one that he lost, he's going to go back and defeat that nation. But we lead up to chapter 6. Have I lost you yet? Are y'all with me? In the first five chapters, he's conquering land after land after land and territory after territory, and he's defeating kingdom after kingdom, and he's taking property after property. And his fame and his reputation of the, of Joshua and the children of Israel has began to spread. So by the time we get to chapter six, the people of Jericho have heard about Joshua. And that's why verse one says that "Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out and none came in."
Here's the deal. The word has gotten around to the leaders of Jericho and the people of Jericho that these Israelites are taking property and conquering people and taking control of places, and they're headed toward Jericho. And so they shut the gate. Matter of fact, they shut the gate, locked the gate. Jericho was a city. Are y'all with me? Have I lost y'all yet? I know y'all been working hard, y'all might be tired. Don't, please don't fall asleep. This is life-changing. I'm trying to help you out. Jericho was a city that was surrounded by huge, gigantic walls, thick walls, very thick walls, and, and high walls, and big, strong gates. And because they heard the children of Israel coming their way, they shut the gate, they locked the gate, and their soldiers are standing around the perimeters on top of the walls, prepared to defend the city. And when Joshua and the children of Israel got down to the city of Jericho, and they saw these humongous walls, and they saw the soldiers lined up around the top of the wall, and they saw that the gates was shut, and nobody was coming in and nobody was going out, they saw it as an insurmountable task, something that they could not conquer or defeat. How were they going to get in? How are they going to defeat? How are they going to win? Just like some of you have some things in life that you want to see God do, but it seems impossible. It seems that there's no way that could possibly happen. You've looked at the circumstances and the situation, and there, you say to yourself, "That cannot. I don't see how that can occur. I don't see how I can get out of this financial jam. I don't see how my marriage can ever get on straight. I don't see how my drug-addicted children can ever get off of their drugs. I don't see how, I don't see how, I don't see how."
And my assignment is to teach you: God has a plan for your life, and you can accomplish and achieve those things in life. The walls were shut up, amen. The gates were shut up and locked. Nobody came in, nobody went out. And the question is, how did he do it? I got four points, but I want to give you one today. And if you can get this one, you'll be set. What did he do? Look at verse number two right here, chapter 6. Here's what it says: "And the Lord said to Joshua, 'Stop right there. Stick a pen there. It is the Lord spoke. The Lord said to Joshua.'" See, the most important thing you need in life is a word from God. Can I get amen right there from anybody? I don't care what. See, before you read Tommy Robbins' book, before you watch the Oprah Network, you need to get a word from God. What messes up most people's lives is they listen to everybody but God. And if the truth were told, that's how your life got in the mess, 'cause you listened to your friends, and you listened to the book you read, but you never listened to what God had to say. Go on and preach, Pastor. But I'm here to tell you that you need to hear from God. You need to get a word from God. And if God said it, if God gives you a word, and He will, it's not a question of whether God is talking, 'cause God is still talking. I want you to look at your neighbor and say, "God is still talking." God is still communicating. Still. God got a word. He got direction for you. He has specifics for you. He has a plan for you. He has direction and an answer and victory for you. He wants you to become everything that He's destined for you to become. But you got to hear from Him.
And so the scripture says right here that the Lord said to Joshua, the Lord spoke to him. And what did God say to him? God says, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor." Y'all missed a great spot to shout right there. The Lord said to him, "I've given you Jericho into your hand, and the king, and the mighty men of valor." In other words, Joshua, the city is yours. Look at your neighbor, say, "It's yours." It's yours. The problem is, that's what God said, but that's not what their circumstances were. You see, here's where most of you mess up. You make a determination about your life based on your present circumstances. And my assignment is to tell you, do not judge your future by your present [Applause] situation. I can't get no help up in here. Matter of fact, most of you skipped over the most important word in the message. Here it is, right here in verse two. You skipped over the first word: "See." See, I love that. God is talking to him, and the first word out of God's mouth is, "See." I, I was doing a study on this, and I was surprised and encouraged and blessed by how many times God spoke to somebody, and the first thing He said was, "See."
See, the problem you're having, the reason you can't go anywhere, and your life's not going anywhere, and you're not able to accomplish anything, is because you can't see. When we talk about seeing, I'm not talking about looking life through these eyes. God is saying, "I want you to see something beyond your natural eyes." Woo! I can't get no help up in here. What I got to try to help you to get to a place and a posture of, stop looking at the way your wife is treating you, or your husband is living, or what your children is doing, or what your finances say, or what the bank said, or what people say. You got to look past that and see where God is trying to take you. When God talked to Joshua, He said, "See." And then He told him what to see. And what He told him to see is not what the present circumstances was. He said, "See, I've given you Jericho into your hand, the king, and the mighty men of valor." That's not where they were at that moment. At this moment, your marriage is not where you wanted to be. Your finances are not where you wanted to be. Your children are not doing what you want them to do. Your job is giving you all the drama in the world. But God said, "See past [Music] that."
I don't know who I'm preaching to this night, but my assignment is to tell you, look past your present situation because your present situ- Oh! [Applause] Man, you know what I discovered? I discovered in life that the depth of my painful circumstances are an indication of the heights of where God's going to take. Woo! Hallelujah! I need y'all to get that. The depths of your pain, the depths of your drama, the depths of your circumstances are just an indication. Matter of fact, the lower, the harder, the more painful what you're going through is, will let you, is an indication that when you come up out of it, you go to the opposite spectrum to the height of where God's trying to take you. Can I get a Hallelujah from anybody who is that word for? Who is getting that word right now? It's low, you're crying, it's painful, you're struggling, but the God I'm serving is about to take you on the other side. Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, what God has in store for you.
Lucille Ball, y'all know who Lucille Ball is? Some of y'all don't know who Lucille Ball is. You, you youngsters. Lucille Ball was one of the top comedians of her day and actresses, but she was dismissed from drama school 'cause they said she didn't have it. They kicked her out, and then she became a star. Y'all look at your neighbor, say, "Look at God." Did y'all know the Beatles? Y'all know who the Beatles are? The Beatles put in a record at a, a record label, and the record label said the kind of music that they play was not attractive to people. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball [Applause] team. Thomas Edison was told by his teacher he was stupid. Abraham Lincoln had two failed businesses, his fiancée died, he had a nervous breakdown, and he was defeated in eight elections, then he became the President of the United States. Y'all not hear what I'm saying to you today? Walt Disney was told he had no [Applause] imagination. All I'm trying to tell you is that what's happening right now that's down and low and painful is just an indication of the heights where God is trying to take you. You might lose, you might get defeated, you might get frustrated, but I'm trying to tell you, instead of crying about it, tell yourself, "I can't wait to see where God's going to take me." Hey, "I can't wait to see where God is going to take me." Somebody high-five your neighbor, say, "He talking to me right now." High-five somebody if you know, if it's you, if you know what I'm talking about, tell them, "He talking to me right now." I've been crying, I've been moaning, I've been unsure, I've been struggling. My life is not going the way I thought it should. But all I know now is God is going to do something spectacular. [Applause] [Applause]
I'm trying to tell you, some of y'all got eyes, but here's what you're missing. Listen, this boils down to vision. That's what we're talking about. Vision. You got to have vision. Say, say, "Vision." Holler back, say, "Vision." Say it again, "Vision." One more time, "Vision." Vision. You got to have, you got to get a word from God, and that word from God will give you vision. It'll, it's got to paint something in front of you that, that may not presently exist, but God wants you to have the capacity to look at your circumstances and stop focusing on where you are and get excited for where God is going to take you. I never dreamed in my life that I would be the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden. I, I never dreamed that I'd be preaching to thousands of people. I never dreamed I'd be traveling the world. I never thought I'd be before presidents and kings and legislators and professional athletes and businessmen and millionaires. I never thought that I, I, I didn't, I didn't go to, I don't have seminary training. I, I didn't graduate at the top of my class in high school. I didn't get, I have Cum Laude. I graduated. Thank you, Lord. Look at your neighbor, say, "Thank you, Lord." Thank you. Come on, can I get some? Do I, do I got some other "Thank you, Lord"s up in here? Anybody here say, "You know, they said I wouldn't be anything. They said I would never amount to anything. They said I would never go anywhere. They said I didn't have much to offer." But God loves to take people that other folks count out. Hey, God loves to pick up the rejects and do something spectacular with the people that other folks [Applause] reject. So you got to have vision. Vision. Somebody say, "Vision." Vision. You got to have vision.
And Miles Monroe helped me with this. He helped me with vision 'cause he, he gave me some points about vision that I want to share with you. 'Cause, 'cause what you need is to get a word from God, and the word from God will paint the vision. And that's that word, "See." Somebody say, "See." See, God said to, to Joshua, "I want, I want you to see something. I want you to picture it in your mind." This is important. You, you can't, if, if you see yourself as a loser, you'll never win. If you see yourself defeated, you never win. You, you got to look at life differently. So I got, I got five points. Y'all can turn the clock off in the back 'cause I'm not going to make it. So I got a 4:04 thing, 4 minutes. So we're not going to make it. I already told him, so just turn it off so I won't get nervous. But when I finish, we're going to act like it's like 3 minutes left, and we're going to count it down, then we're going to shout and jump and celebrate. Amen. Y'all, now if you, if you got a club appointment or something, you just go ahead and leave. It's the one day I'm going to let you just get up and leave, and I'm not going to fuss at you and holler at you. But stay with me as long as you can 'cause I'm going to preach until I get done on this message right here.
Here's, here's, here's the sub-point to this. I get the first point is, you got to have a word from God. And, and, and I, when I say that, it means you got to have vision. Now, here's the help you need. Here, here's going to help you do. There's, there's, there's five things you have to do. Here's number one. You, when you got vision, here it is. Number one: Vision determines your friends. I knew y'all were going to have a tough time with that one. You see, you, you have to recognize that there's some people in your life that are not helping your vision become a reality. And, and you got to have enough courage and enough insight to recognize that if they're not helping your vision happen. Matter of fact, most of y'all got people who are draining you and not helping you. I know y'all don't like this kind of preaching, but I, I'm, I'm trying to tell you why you're never able to see your vision come to reality is because you're hanging around with the wrong kind of people. Let me tell you, I, I, I love people, and, and I just, let me be honest and just confess to y'all the best I know how. I, I haven't, I never, I don't know that I ever actually kicked anybody out of my life, but what I have done has limited their access. I feel tension in the room, and I'm, I'm, I'm believing it's gotten a little quiet on that point. And, and the tension is 'cause you trying to figure out whose names need to be on your rejection list. But take it from me, as a prophet of God, that if you trying to get somewhere, you're not going to get there while you letting the baggage drag around, holding you down. Matter of fact, let me give you 30 seconds. Go ahead and start writing down the name of the people that you need to kick out of your life because they're either helping you or restricting you. They are the either encourage you. I don't need nobody in my life to keep on holding me down. I don't need that in my life. And you need to evaluate your relationships. And there are some people you need to let go. Tell your neighbor, "I know that's right." Matter of fact, you need to send out a mass text message. Tell people, "I'm changing my phone number. If you don't get another phone text for me with a new phone number, then that means you are no longer in my list to be connected with me." I knew this 12:30 crowd would have trouble with that 'cause it's those, it's, it's those friends that keep you around drugs, and keep you around alcohol, and keep you around the club and the party, and, and, and you afraid to, uh, tell them no. So you, you just keep hanging on to them 'cause you don't want them to think bad of you. Now that you go to church, and now that you trying to get yourself together, you still want to hang around them. But I'm trying to tell you, God has something in store for your life that is bigger. And what you need to do is love God and His assignment for your life more than you love these jokers and what they're doing to hold you down. They got you lying, they got you stealing, they got you cursing, they got you being an adulterer and a whoremonger and a homosexual. They got you doing all kinds of things you ain't got no business doing. And my assignment is to tell you, when you get a vision of where God wants to take you, you got to let some people out of your life alone and say, "You can't stop me from getting to the place that God has for me."
Here's number two: Vision determines how you spend your money. Y'all notice how as I go through each point, the amens get lower and lower? You got to, vision determines how you spend your money. When you have vision, it directs how you spend your money. See, some of y'all have, God has, has a vision for you, and He gave you the resources, but you misspent it. Let me help y'all out. Y'all, y'all, y'all having a tough time. This message might only be for one person in here or two. The rest of y'all got to sit through it 'cause this is what God told me to preach. So maybe it ain't for you, but this is it. Let, let me tell you something. Here's what I, I learned. Here's what I learned. I, you need three things to make a move. You need three things in life to accomplish something in life. Number one, and matter of fact, I call it, you need a DOC. Somebody say, "I need a DOC." A DO, a DC, DOC. Say, "DOC." Hey, DOC. The D stands for direction. You need a, you need a sense of direction. Where you going? But where, where are you actually going? What are the steps you need to go? What, what is the direction? Number two, you need organization. That's what the O is for. O is for organization. You need structure. Some of y'all don't, you're not able to accomplish anything, so you have no structure. You need to have, if you going to have a business, you going to have a ministry, you going to have a company, whatever you going to have, it needs to have some kind of organization, and it needs to be structured. That means people have responsibilities and assignments. It can't be, uh, whoever gets around to it, do it. That, that ain't going to work. They need the people who have responsibility. Somebody need to be in charge. Everybody can't be the chief. That's why you can't go nowhere. Everybody the chief. Somebody got to be accountable, and somebody's got to be able to, to, to understand what their responsibilities are. And so you need direction, organization, and C means you need cash. [Applause] Y'all show up getting quiet as I go along this thing. You need money. Cash. Somebody say, "Cash." Holler back, "Cash." Y'all got quiet 'cause you ain't got no cash. And the reason you ain't got no cash is 'cause you spent the cash God gave you for vision on all the wrong stuff.
Now, I'm going to talk about this a little bit later, a little bit more. But y'all, everybody gone around got these, uh, hoverboards. Hoverboards. Y'all spending three, four, $500 on the hoverboards. If the hoverboard ain't going to take you to your vision, you don't need the hoverboard. Look at your neighbor, say, "Did you get a hoverboard?" If the board, if the hoverboard is not going to have a role in your vision. Matter of fact, every time you spend, you need to figure out, "Is this money I'm spending going to help me get to my vision?" Now, y'all spending money on clothes and cars. Y'all looking good. You buying, got nice cars, but you ain't going nowhere. They don't like this kind of preaching up in here. I'm trying to tell y'all the truth. You got all these dresses, hat, hat, shoes, belts. You got a closet full of stuff you can't wear but one thing at a time. And I've been telling y'all for 26 years, black matches everything. I got on black shoes with a black belt out, and I'm looking good. Come on, tell your neighbor, "I'm looking good." How you spending your money? Is it helping you accomplish what God has for you?
Here's number three. I'm get out of your way. Vision determines your attitude. If you got no vision, you going to have a bad attitude. We, we got people. Here's what I just, people, people with bad attitudes view life in a negative [Applause] way. So that's how you treat people because you view life. You get, you, you, your vision, when you got vision, when you see what God's taking you, like I get up in the morning, and you, I, I got a tough job. I need to tell y'all, pastoring people is tough. Yeah, y'all get on my nerves sometimes. But my perspective of life is, I can't wait to see how God's going to work out the challenges that I have today 'cause you know why? I know He anointed me, He gifted me, He, this is a call on my life, and I know He's going to give me what I need to do what I need to do. And that's what you have to do. Stop crying and fussing that nobody likes you and everybody's against you and they trying to fire you on your job. And please, please, please put these glasses on. And the glasses you need to put on is, they might be against you, but if the world is against you, it doesn't matter 'cause if God be for you. Somebody say, "Who can be against me?" If God is on my side, who can stop me from doing what God has for my life? If God has got my name on His roll, if God has called me, who can be against me? Somebody high-five your neighbor, say, "If God be for me, who can be against me?"
Here's number four. Vision. Did y'all get number one? What was that? Vision determines your friends. Number two, vision, how money. Vision determines how you spend your money. Number three, vision. Vision determines your attitude. Number four, I, I ain't giving it to you yet. Number four: Vision determines your [Applause] priorities. Somebody say, "Priorities." Some of you will never get anywhere in life until you change your priorities. You know why I believe God has blessed the First Baptist Church of Glenarden so much? Because I, I got my priorities straight. They ain't always been straight. I had my priorities out of whack. And the First Lady of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden prayed my priorities back into order. Yeah. I don't know if y'all heard what I say. I say she prayed. I didn't say she nagged. She didn't fuss. She didn't fight. She didn't leave notes around the house. She didn't buy no books. Y'all ain't listening to me. She prayed, and God moved me from a place of pursuing significance to a place of learning that if I don't have significance here, I don't have significance anywhere. The secret of my success is I put, I put my priorities back in order. And I thank God He gave me another chance to get my priorities and make my wife my priority and my kids my priority. And when you got that priority straight, you are honoring God. And when you honor God, He'll open up doors for you that no man can close. Woo! I wish I had a praying crowd with me. I'm trying to tell you tonight that when you get your priorities straight, if you get your priorities in the right order, God will look after [Applause] you. Thank you. Your priorities are away. You, matter of fact, I had to learn. I can't be at the church all the time. God didn't call me to die for the church, for my marriage to be ruined because of the church, for my children to be crazy 'cause their father is a father to everybody but them. I'm almost finished, but I'm trying to help somebody get to where God's trying to take you. And as long as you pursuing things and people and going in the wrong direction, God, God will never bless you. But if you want to see God open up doors and bless you, get your priorities. Let the vision of where God wants to take you put your priorities in order.
Here's number [Applause] five. Vision determines your investments. 'Cause y'all keep spending a lot of money on stuff that has no return. Somebody say, "No return." Y'all buying stuff. Y'all got these dresses and hats and stuff. You ain't invested in nothing. You got to learn to invest in your future. I had to learn to invest in my future. I start thinking to myself about 15 years ago, "I don't want to be pastoring all my life." Y'all got sad on that point right there. I, I'm not trying, I'm, I'm investing in my, my life and my future. And I decided I needed to invest in something called, y'all, y'all don't think about this, retirement. Most black people can't retire 'cause they didn't make no plans to retire. I ain't trying to be here 80 years old preaching to y'all, 80 years old hopping along, coming to the pulpit with the cane. Open your Bibles to. I ain't trying to do that. Church dwelling in down people stop coming. They don't understand what I'm saying 'cause my mind is gone and I'm all over the place. I ain't trying to do that. I want to retire when I still got strength in my body. Get up when I, my days are full. I have a busy schedule. I, y'all don't understand my days are full. I haven't had a day off, I don't know when, since Booth shot Lincoln. It's a long time. And I don't have a free day until February. Every day is full. But I'm looking forward to the day, and I'm putting some money away so I can retire, go home, and lay down, turn around in the bed when I want to. Don't got to jump up and go to no meetings. Ain't got to call nobody. Don't have to prepare no message. Don't have to get no Bible study. Don't have to do no counseling. I'm going to do some counseling. I'm going to say, "Come here, Trina. Come on, get in bed with me. Let me minister to you in Jesus' name." Hey, hey, hey, hey. [Applause] Glory! Hey, retirement. Got, got. I'm serious when I say to you, start investing in the vision of your future. Most, you know, most people do, they spent. I'm finished. It's, it's 12:14. I'mma finish in two. I'mma finish when I get done. Most people spend every dime that they have on consuming right now, and it's possible to see a vision come to pass why when you spending every dime on your here today, right? That's true. Did y'all hear that? Well, holler back at me, say, "I heard it," or "Amen," or say something. Don't just sit there. Don't be mad at me 'cause I'm telling you the truth. We going into 2016, and we ain't carrying the baggage that we had in 2015. We're going to change the people you hang out with. We're going to change the way you think about life. We're going to change your perspective. We're going to change your investments. 2016 is going to be the year you going to take the [Applause] city. Hey, somebody say, "I'm taking the city." I'm taking the city. I'm taking the city. I'm taking the city. I'm taking the city. I got a vision. Joshua, the Lord said, "See." That's all I want you to do is see. Let God give you a word and see where God has taking you. And in verse 20, it said the priests blew the trumpet, right? And the people shouted, and the thing that looked impossible came falling down. I'm looking for some people that are willing to blow their trumpet. I'm looking for some people that are willing to give the Lord a great big old shout. Let's thank Him for bringing us out of 2015. Let's thank Him for bringing us into 2016. Thank you. Hey, Happy New Year! Hey, Happy New Year! Happy New Year! It's a new year. It's a new season. It's a new day. It's the new destiny. It's new direction. [Applause] Hallelujah! W Hallelujah! Jesus! Glory to Your name! It's a spectacular year for you. It's a miracle season for you. Can you see it? Can you see it? Can you see it? Can you see it? Can you see it? See it, see it, see it, see it. Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Thank You, Jesus! Bless Your name! Hallelujah! God, I thank You! Oh God, I thank You! Oh God, I bless You! Thank You, Lord! I see miracles, God! I see souls getting saved! I see people getting delivered! I see children being redeemed! I see marriages being put back together! God, I thank You! [Applause] Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Stop letting the devil paint a picture of drama as your future. It's a new season. Yeah. It's a new day. Yes, it is. A great anointing is coming my way. It's coming your [Applause] way. I decree, declare it, and prophesy to you [Applause] today. And I hope you see it. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank You. I bless Your name. I pray now. Somebody needs salvation. Somebody needs deliverance. Somebody needs restoration. Somebody, God, needs to be planted. I simply ask You to draw them now by the power of Your might. Don't let the enemy hold them back. Don't let the questions, the doubts, the fears of the enemy make them resist Your call. Call the unsaved. Call the backslider. Call the person that's unsure. Call the person that doesn't have a church. They need a church. They're saved but they're not planted anywhere. Draw them now in Jesus' name. I pray. And everybody said, "Amen." Amen. Give Him one more shout. Just a moment before I give the invitation. Just go ahead and tell somebody, "Happy New Year." Go ahead, tell them, "Happy New Year." Give them a hug. Happy New Year, you baby! [Applause]