Roberts Liardon | The High Calling

As we read today's Bible reading, Second Timothy 1:1 to 8, from the King James version. This is Paul's letter to Timothy. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the affliction of the gospel according to the power of God. And we know that God always blesses the public reading of his inspired and his infallible word. Amen. Amen.

Tonight I'm going to, um, preach to you like I would talk to ministers and to young preachers. Um, this great church has a destiny that is unlike many churches in this city and in the world. Kensidan Temple was birthed by a great man, I mentioned this morning, named George Jeff. And it has obeyed God with every following pastor to this one. And this is the one that needs to take you all the way across the next finish line of the next destiny of this church and its purpose in this city, and the womb by which it produces churches and five-fold ministers and helps ministries and all of these things. May this continue to be a major functional part of this great apostolic church. You're not pastoral, so quit trying to be that. And you're not just a teaching center. You're an apostolic church. So all that goes on here has that apostolic grace and authority and command about it. And that's why you're loved, and that's why you're hated. So enjoy your identity. Amen.

At least you will never be bored as a member of this church. And you'll always be controversial. So enjoy the controversy. Ride it like a roller coaster and have a good time. Persecution. You pile in a big pile and get on top of it and preach from it. You don't go underneath it. You don't go around it. You get on top of it and make it work for you and not be scared of it. Amen.

All right. The books of Timothy are the most favorite books for me in the New Testament because as a little boy, my parents were divorced when I was five and a half years old. And I found a young man in the New Testament named Timothy that was raised by his mom and grandma. His mother and grandmother was Lois and Eunice. Mine was Glendalene and Carol. Both of them are now in heaven. My mom passed about five years ago. So, uh, it's just me and my sister left from the original family that I talk about. And I read these books of Timothy to where I've almost memorized them by heart because I put myself as Timothy, listening to a dad, to a leader, to a father.

In the days that Paul and Timothy walked the earth, there was no cell phones. There was no faxes. The only way you really communicated was by in person or by a letter or sending a messenger that could, in, could relay your message in tone and gesture in the way that you wanted to be delivered. And sometimes in Paul's writings, he dictated, we would say, a letter. And other times he wrote in his own hand. And he tells you when he does that, "I write this with my own hand." And not every letter was it meant for a, a huge congregation at the time. It was meant sometimes to an individual. And in this letter, the second letter we have was to Timothy. He starts out this letter in a normal way, but we want to look at it very closely.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and I live this out by the promises of God that are in Christ Jesus. When you're a leader, you got to know who you are, not because somebody told you or the prophet saw it in the midnight dream, because you know in your own heart that's what God has said about you. At the end of the day, all of these nice things that people say absolutely mean nothing unless you know in your own heart what you are by his word to your heart. And you know it without a doubt whether anybody agrees or not at that moment. Others may say other things and want to add to it. You don't want anybody to add to what God has given you. Only take what God is giving you.

Paul said, "I am an apostle by God's will, not by my will. I didn't choose this." He knocked me off my horse. He captured me and called me all on the same day. He chose me to be this. And I am this by the will of God. And I live out my calling by the promises that are in Christ Jesus.

In life, you have three kinds of promises. You deal with in ministry. We deal with three kinds of promises from people. There are those who promise you something that never intended on keeping the promise they said to you. And if you live by those promises, you'll end up in disappointment, in despair, and maybe you'll walk away from not the Lord, but away from his purpose that he gave you in this earth. Many of you watching me and being here tonight, you're not in your high calling. You're in Jesus, but you're not in your high calling in Jesus because you listened and you were disappointed by a promise from a person or a group of people that never intended on keeping it.

The second kind of promise you deal with in life are those who make a promise. They want to keep their promise, but something happened in their life that has caused them not to be able to keep their promise to you. They intended to, but something happened and they weren't able to do it or keep the time that you they promised or something happened and it did not come to pass. If you live by that, you also will be disappointed and maybe walk away from your purpose in Christ Jesus. Not out of the kingdom, but out of your significant role and who you're supposed to be and what you're supposed to supply.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promises that are in Christ Jesus. I live out my calling, he said, by only one category of promise, the promises of God. God has ever met a devil he cannot reconquer. He has never met a circumstance he cannot fix. And there's not what we need he cannot create it. God keeps his promises to you. We live out our calling according to the promise of God that is in Christ Jesus.

That's how he started his hello in his letter. Apostles and apostolic people are more direct, a little more authoritative, and a little more gritty than some of the other offices. And he says in verse two to Timothy, "My dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace be upon you, Timothy." And then he speaks words that are family words, father and son words to Timothy. "My, you're mine." I meet lots of people in the world that I've blessed, but there are some that are my people. I have birthed them. I have a certain degree of authority and command in their life because that's the way God arranged it. Not everybody, but some. In this story, he had that command. He had that authority. "To my dearly beloved son." It was not a biological situation here. It's a spiritual sonship and father.

I've had the honor to be the son of a great man named Lester Sumrall and I'd have to say Brother Oral Roberts too. Not because they were famous, but because I just happened to be there in that world at that time and I was in that field. Lots of people knew them, but they talked to me. Words that still echo and direct my feet today. Even though they're both in heaven, I still have in them part of their spiritual DNA. And I'm glad that I have these two people inside of me.

Never be ashamed of how God put you together. Never be ashamed of the kind of men or women that God has maneuvered. They don't have to be famous. They just have to be the right ones that God put in your life. Fame has nothing to do with this kind of construction. Those that are seeking fame because it opens doors or it does something for them, this is not how it works. That's how you end up in despair in the future and things conclude.

"To my dearly beloved son, I speak over you. Grace, mercy, and peace." Of all the things that you could speak over your spiritual son, he didn't say anointing, prophetic gifting, apostolic construction power, church building. He didn't mention any of those things. Hear me. Grace, mercy, and peace. He spoke those words and he goes, "The more important to your steadiness of life and success in ministry, I speak over you grace."

Now, grace sometimes did not get the full attention it should. Grace is an abounding power. It's not just an efficiency of survival. Grace, the Bible where there is sin, grace does much more abound. It is time that you and I find the abounding power in the sight of the grace of God. Not that grace is sufficient for where I'm weak. I understand that. But there's a problem with that one, too. The problem is that we think that God's grace helps us just survive a lifetime of that weakness. God's grace comes over our weakness. It gives us time to get rid of it, not build a life with it. Hallelujah. Act Pentecostal. Don't be Baptist tonight. Say, "Amen." Amen. You in the back row, say, "Amen." Or I'll come back there and get you.

Grace is an abounding power. It's not just a survival power. It's not just a cover your weakness power. It is a grace that comes on you that gives you the ability to remove those things out of your heart, your life, your body, your structure and let strength come in. And while that transition of deliverance and and reconstruct is happening, grace is your sufficiency while new construction is happening within you. And the next thing about grace, I'll say it again, it has abounding power to it. And when it's dark out there, when it's dark in the city of London, when it's dark, where there is darkness, where there is sin, grace does not hide. It does not survive. It dominates and abounds much more over all of those darkness and woes and evils that we face in our life. Hallelujah.

Grace, mercy. He spoke mercy over Timothy. Why mercy? Well, mercy is one of the most used virtues that comes from Christ, and it's new every morning. Aren't you glad to be told that again? Because you used it all up yesterday and you need some more mercies for today. No matter how great the day was, we normally max out all the mercies of God that we get in the morning by the time we go to bed. And I'm so glad that when we wake up from sleep, our bodies refreshed from sleep, and mercies are renewed every single morning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Peace I speak over you. The most needful required thing for stability in the time of rage and war and conflict. Peace that makes a path to understanding. Peace that gives you the ability to know the direction of God in the midst of a raging storm. Peace of the umpire of guidance in your life and in your ministry.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promises that are in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace be over you. I thank God that I've always served God, even from the days of my forefathers, from an honest conscience. Everything I did, I did out of an honest conscience. Sometimes I was wrong, but at least I thought I was right. I did it from a pure heart motive. I'm concerned about you, Timothy. Somehow night and day these last few weeks, you have possessed and dominated my prayer life and my consciousness. I'm aware that you're crying because my joy is not right. When you're right, my joy is full. When there's something wrong, my joy is not quite the same. So I know whether I be in your presence, I'm connected to you and I know there's something not right. My joy is not quite right. And you're crying. And those aren't tears of blessing or tears of intercession. Those are tears of "I don't like this anymore. I don't want this anymore." The battle inside of a young man, a young church to obey the high calling or to find a place of maintenance where the devil doesn't really fight you much and no one really bothers you and you just have an existence that's pleasant, but it really does not produce the fruit and the command of God in the earth, and you're just surviving. There's something wrong with my son. Night and day, I've been praying for you. Mindful of your tears. My joy is not filled. It's not right.

Timothy, I want to see you. When you have a child, I look at father and son here. Nobody in Valentino, friends of mine. I knew you're dead before you were ever thought about. He looks the same, by the way. God's been good to all of you. Greatly desiring to see him. A parent wants to see their children. A spiritual father, a spiritual mother wants to be with their children. Some people have joined organizations because it's a popular name, not because there's a relationship there. There is no nothing more than a name on a list and a donation a month. And when you're in trouble, you can't even find the guy. And the guy in charge can't find you if he ever picks you up. It's nothing more than an organizational administration relationship. And that's not what this is. And that's not what you need. I want to see you. I want to be with you. I greatly desire to see you. That's what a parent is.

Christmas is coming. Everybody wants to usually go home and be with their family. They want to be with their children, their grandchildren. They want to be around the family. Even if it's kind of quirky and kind of uncomfortable, it's still want to be together. Paul said, "I want to see you. I want to see you." Does anybody want to see you? Does anybody want to see who's calling you? Who knocks on the door? Who sends the letter or the email? They may not be the most popular person, the most famous, but who's calling? Who's asking? That's a sign of who you may be connected to. Who's asking?

In the crisis of my life, my fathers did not desert me. They came toward me to help me. They weren't ashamed of my mistakes, my woes, and the mud they had to wear to hold my name in regard in their countenance and in the places they were speaking. They did not disown me. They said, "Laren is still mine." Hallelujah. A spiritual parent wants to be with you. Knows about you. There is a relationship beyond paper that is there. Please in your life recognize these people that are in your life.

The other gifts are great. The teachers you may shake their hand and have coffee or tea with one. That's wonderful. I was with one person one time. They said, "Oh, my spiritual mother is Joyce." Oh, how is she? Never met her. Now, all we have here is a teacher that's blessed you. It's okay. She's a great lady to bless you. Wonderful Bible teacher. You can't call her mom. She don't even know your name. Good evening, everybody. I know you have these fantasies cause orphans attach themselves to many people trying to survive. Please become a son or a daughter of a house of a ministry and be happy there and be home there. You have friends. I have friends all over the world. I have people that I admire, teachers of ministers of all kinds. And I like them all, but I know who Dad and Mom are. I know when they call, give here quickly. It may be blessing. It may be in. It may be warning. It may just be "I've been praying for you. It's going to be okay."

I didn't even know there was a problem. My grandmother, before she died, said to me, "I've gone into your future and I've made things right, but I couldn't get to the end of your life after I'm done. It's up to you to take care of it." I thought, "Thank you, Grandma. I don't know if her prayers have come to an end yet. There's been a few days." I thought, "Oh, I guess it's my turn now." But there are parents that you can go into your child's future biologically and spiritually. Even when you're already in heaven, your prayers keep working and keep abiding and keep going. So even if things don't look right, go into their future and set things right by prayer so the time they get there, it'll be all right for them in that house. It's possible if you'll take the time to do it.

Greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears that I may be filled with joy. And then he changes his tone. Are you all here? I'm getting happy just preaching this. I don't know if you are, but I'm I've already reached my happy point. Hallelujah. Listen, but be Pentecostal. Say amen once in a while.

He changes his tone here. That's the opening and the greeting, the blessing, the edification. And I know he changed the tone. He said, "I want to remind you something. I want to put you in remembrance of that great faith that I saw." And where I saw it, it first dwelt in your grandma and your mama. And I am persuaded it's in you also. The first thing the devil fights when he takes somebody out, he removes the faith factor. The faith factor. Faith is how you hear God. Faith is how you respond to the command of God. Faith is how you overcome. And so when you're under an attack, he hits your faith to say you have little faith or your faith don't work and all these things come. Paul said, "Son, I want to remind you of where that faith came from." Notice it didn't come from a famous television preacher. It didn't come from the Pope, a bishop, or a cardinal. It came from mama and grandma. And some of you remember where your faith came from. I've been blessed by the grace. I've been honored to be their friend. But mama and grandma put inside me the strength of my faith and the grit to stay put and win out of bed it feels. I did not come from a bunch of whippy crying women. I came from that kind of woman. They look real feminine, but they turn into Wonder Woman in about two seconds. Thank God I didn't come from crying women. My dad left us with no money. My mom didn't and lived on the government. She went out and earned two masters and a doctorate before she graduated heaven. And I hired her and she worked for me for 37 years. Everything in my ministry up until four years or five years ago, me and my mom did together. You can do that.

I didn't come from just nice beauty queens. I didn't come from queens or princesses. I came from mamas and grandmas. There's something about that kind of disposition that just settles the day. There's a grit about them. There's an authority about that kind of presence. My grandmother was first a tongue talker before she was an excellent speaker in English. Her first language was tongues. English is probably the third language. Groaning was number two, if you know what I mean by that. And they taught us to pray. They didn't make us watch them pray. That's what you do. That's why your kids are crazy. Watching you do something does not train them. Having them do it with you is training.

As a little boy growing up in our little home, we prayed every night about 7:00, 7:30. Every single, I'm sure we missed that, but I don't remember that. And we first started out with two and a half minutes in tongues and two and a half minutes in English. And when we conquered that as little kids, they turned the the kitchen timer to 10 minutes. When we conquered 10, that was five in tongues and five in English. When we conquered that nicely, they turned it to 15. And they kept going around the clock to the time we were 40 to 50, we could pray two or three hours and not even think twice because we built the stamina and the muscle since we're little kids and we had it in us.

When my mother died, somebody said, "Are you still going to be a preacher?" Like, you think I'm doing this because of her. I'm doing this because I made a decision. They gave me the ability to stay alive in it, to do it right. I'm not a preacher because I'm made. I'm a preacher because I chose it. And I'm not going to retire. Retirement is for professionals. Called people do not retire. They may change and readminister their life, but they never quit.

I was trying to see Pastor Colin and he's in Brazil. I thought, "What are you doing in Brazil for seven weeks in Brazil? I'm in London. Can't you be home once in a while while I'm here?" He may not actually be the pastor as he was at this great church for so many wonderful years, but he's still going and doing. Men, men and women are called, they don't ever quit. They may rearrange things, but they continue to operate in their call until they graduate to heaven.

I had, um, I had Oral Roberts in my office one day. He had come to preach for me. And that's a big deal. Not just because he's famous, because he's a big deal to me. He was part of the Holy Trinity in my mind. There's Father, Son, Holy Ghost, and there's Hagen, Oral, and Sumrall. Okay, please go with me. Don't give me that back at you. And, um, I walked into my office. He'd gotten there a little early, and I was going through the church, make sure everything was ready for Sunday morning. And the ushers on their little walkie-talkies, he's here. So I ran to the office because you don't want Oral Roberts in your office by yourself, by himself. It's not proper. And you understand the word proper. Americans don't, but I lived among you, so I know what that means. Proper. And he looked at me, he goes, "I don't think I want to die first among my friends." I thought, "What kind of conversation is this?" I said, "Okay." He said, "No, and if I die less, then I'll be alone." I thought, "Don't die here. I don't want to be the place where Oral Roberts dies. That would not be a thing I'd want to have as a memorial to my church. He died here." He said, "I think I'll, I'll die somewhere in the middle of the first and the last of my friends." I said, "Okay." And I, and I, I sat there trying to figure out what to talk about. So I thought, let me encourage him to quit building big buildings and just in this time in his life, come to all of us young preachers and preach to us and we'll bless you and lay that right hand on us and vibrate and bless us real good and and do that. And because every time Oral Roberts builds a building, it's not 100,000, it's 10, 15, 20 million. The last building he built cost $220 million to build. It's a 60-story hospital in the middle, 30 on the side, and 20 on the other side called the City of Faith, where he merged prayer and medicine together in the world of America's medicine. And he built a 777-room hospital. And you'd have a problem paying your rent. Think about that, Britain. You better start liking prosperity. You live in London. Thank you for the one amen to the right side of the room and for the rest of you voting on me. I'm back.

And I said, "Well, Brother Roberts," I said, "you know, you, you, you've done so much for the body of Christ. I, you, you pioneered the great tent revival and you pioneered Christian television. The word televangelist came because of his ministry on TV and Billy Graham's on TV. And I, you did a great job. Now there's Christian TV everywhere around the world and you helped pioneer it first. And I said, "You built a university, a Holy Ghost, tongue-talking, properly educated university. 'You go there and get your learning while keep your burning' was one of their slogans." I said, "You did a great job. You built the hospital and you did all these things." And so wouldn't it be just like, just, you know, enjoy these years and let us love you and let us thank you and let us be around you and just listen and pray for us and help us. You know, you're Oral Roberts." And he got mad at that comment that I said to him. I thought I was trying to be nice. He said, "I'm not dead yet." Well, I don't want you to die. I just don't want you to be so these projects are big stress things. He said, "Why I'm on earth, I work. My vacation starts when I get to heaven." Yes, sir. And that went into my spirit that day that I'm not looking for a holiday from my call. I might take a day for my body to my rest and my mind to to come back and be restored to proper function after a long battle or a long journey of ministry. But we're not vacationing from nor do we retire while there's life still ahead of us. The great vacation is when you leave your work on earth done, complete and finished. I'm ready to go.

When Oral died, he had fallen at his home in California and hurt his tailbone. And when you're 92 years old, when you fall any time, they take you to the hospital. Please go. They took him to the hospital and, uh, because who he was and his age, and they called his son and his daughter, were still, they're both still alive, and they rushed to California to the hospital. They come off the lift, and you're supposed to be quiet in a hospital. Well, there was a noise maker on that hospital floor, and Richard and his wife Lindsay and Roberta and her husband, them, came on, and they like the hospital. And they got closer to their dad's room, and it was Oral Roberts making all the noise on the floor. And the doctor had just gone in to check him and walked down and was writing in the notes about his review of Brother Roberts's condition and how he was. And he said to the children, he said, "Can you get your dad to sh to calm down? We don't want to give him a shot and knock him out because he doesn't need that. Plus, he's too old to have that. But, you know, he won't sh. We'll talk to dad." So, they go into the room, and Oral Roberts is in there singing at the top of his lungs all the songs that he sang in the great tent of his life. "Where the healing waters flow, I will surely be." All the songs they sang. And then he was singing one song called "Something Good's Going to Happen to You." "Something good is going to happen to you this very day." And he's singing that song, and they said, "Dad, there's a great song, but sh goes, 'No, I'm leaving today.'" I go, "Dad, you're in the hospital for a couple." Goes, "Oh, no, no, no. I'm leaving today." And he changed the song where he says, "Something good's going to happen to you." He changed one word. "Something good is going to happen to me this very day." And they all sang songs as loud as they could and made much holy disturbance on that floor. And they sang all the songs. And that was the last song they sang before he said, "I'm done singing." Goes to rest and passes to the other side to heaven. That's how you die, Ty. That's how you die, my friend. You don't die. Oh, and oh, you die something good. I'm finished. I did it. I won. Now, my reward and my holiday is starting tonight. Hallelujah. Amen. And amen.

We learned to pray as little children. We learned the Bible. We found Christ ourselves in our home. Timothy, I remind you that the things that I saw in your mother, in your grandmother, it's in you also. It has not left you. It has not disappeared. It's still in your belly. It's still in you somewhere in you. Is that genuine faith that first dwelt in your family? I know it's in you. You tonight need to recognize where your faith came from. It has not left you. It's still in you. And to awaken it, not in a British way, but in a spiritual way where it's a volcano inside of you. Quit having rivers and streams and start having volcanoes over here. Hallelujah. The day of nice little Christian rivers and tweety birds in the atmosphere is over. Volcanoes are now the end thing. So either get ready or get burned. But they're coming. I am persuaded it's in you also.

And I want to remind you of something else, Timothy. What does it keep reminding him? It's amazing what you forget. It's amazing what you let go of to fit in or you back off so the devil won't fight you as hard, not realizing you go into a prison. You're not free. You're in a false liberty that he allows you to preach only at this level, only influence this far. He don't want to kill the church. He wants to control it. He didn't want the church to disappear. He wants to control it and let everybody think they're free in the spirit and they don't know that the principality controls and regulates everything about their functionality. What a great deception. So many men and women around the world are in. They think they are free in the spirit. They don't know they're captive to a prison. Just cross it. KT has crossed that barrier so many times in this city. That's why there's been wars and conflicts. But as usual, you win. The congregation of this church. Hang on to God. The leaders find God and hang on. And you win, and you'll win in this new season, too. KT is not going to stay this size and stay this soft. You're going to grow and your strong voice shall return to this house and to this city. It will be greater than any other time if you'll pursue it with everything inside of you. Amen.

When a man or a woman throws everything aside but Christ. Oh, what a great moment that is for heaven and for earth. And what a tragic moment it is for Lucifer. As long as you have a partial. I give so much and I don't give this. I'll do this but I won't do that. That's why you're not a general. You're a lousy lieutenant.

I remind you to stir up the gift of God that is in you. Don't tell me you don't have it because God used my hands to get it to you. You all have a gift. You have the gift of salvation, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Some of you have leadership, five-fold giftings, other aspects of giftings. It's your job once you've been given the gift to take care of it. It's not heaven's job to take care of what's been granted to you. And when the devil fights you and fights a church, he shuts them down in faith and then wants to dwarf the power of their gift and let it be a small little heartbeat, not a thundering heartbeat within them.

I remind you, Timothy, hear me, son. Stir up the gift that is in you. Don't tell me you don't have it. I'm the one God used to bring it from heaven into your belly. How many of you have been given a gift that you no longer admire correctly? A gift you don't keep stirred at maximum ability. It takes work to keep it there. It takes work to keep it there.

How do you stir up a gift? First, you got to recognize you got one. You can't stir what you don't recognize. You got to know what God gave you. Not through three prophets and two apostles and three teachers. Tell them all to shut up. What do you know? I don't give that many prophecies because I don't need them. If you need a bunch of prophecies, you're a bunch of weirdos. You mean you don't read your Bible, go to the right church, you don't pray, you lazy thing, you notice only three people got that in the room because you're all guilty. I know without a doubt the gifts that God gave me. That's not pride. That's knowing who you are and what he's given you and what you're supposed to do. I may be encouraged by others to say nice things to me, but I got my gift on the floor of my bedroom as a little boy. He told me what they were and when they would come to pass and come to work. I'm still waiting for the last one. I have to keep it stirred.

How do you stir a gift? Recognize you got it. Your gift responds mainly to two voices. The Lord's voice and your voice. Your gift. Amen. Responds mainly to two voices. God's voice and your voice. What are you saying to your gift? Are you saying anything? Have you ignored it so you can be a boring nice British person? Good evening. What do you say to your gift? You tell it what to do. Come alive. Move in me. Come forth. You tell it what to do with a commanding voice, not a British suggesting voice. I hate that sound in this country. So nice the devil even wake up to hear it.

All scripture feeds you. All scripture admonishes you. But some scriptures move your gift more than others. What scriptures make your gift come alive? All right, let me illustrate it. I know it's late and I'm not done. And I came the furthest distance. Have to leave tomorrow and go all the way to Denver. God help me. I have the opportunity to know Oral Roberts and to be around Kenneth Hagin. I'm a Hagin-ite and I like everything about it. So, please curse me with those words. You're a Hagin-ite. Yes, I like those words. He's a great teacher and the greatest prophet of our days. He's the gold standard of prophetic ministry. You young prophets want to learn the quality of prophet, follow Brother Hagin a little bit more than you do. Some of the idiots you're following make you goofy. Quit following these stupid people and find good solid people to follow and to be like and quit following these goofy idiots and be told shut up and go eat some McDonald's hamburgers. True. And most of you know it's true, but you're too lazy to go home and read your Bible and hear God for yourself. Do you want somebody to give it to you?

So I had, uh, I had lunch with Kenneth Hagin and I thought, wonderful, my first time. And Brother Hagin is a great prophetic voice, but he's socially dysfunctional. I went to lunch with him, and he only gave me two verses that he quoted for the two questions I got to ask him. And the next time he just looked at you. So I left the room after lunch very uncomfortable and I said to my friend Py that was there, and I said, "I don't think Brother Hagin likes me." Oh, no, that's just the way he is. I said, "Really?" She just doesn't talk much. He said, "He only moves when he's moved." So I spent two hours with a non-moving prophet. I was happy to be with him. I was happy to just to watch him eat. All we're going to do is stare at each other. Well, we'll stare at each other. You know, he answered a few questions for other folks that we were like four or five at lunch. And I thought, well, nothing happened. But then about a year or so later, I got another opportunity to go have another lunch with him. I decided to be rude in a right way. I'm going to get that gift moving. Forget the hamburger, whatever we're eating. So, I knew that scriptures stir gifts. I got to find which ones make him vibrate. So I thought, well, he's a faith guy. So I quoted faith verses, nothing happened. He quite a few little comments like that won't work. So I did other kind of things and I thought, he's a prophet. He's in the ozone. He goes out in the spirit. I said, "Brother Hagin, have you ever had an experience like this? The hand of the Lord came upon him and carried him out into the visions of Jerusalem." I could see his eyes got. I thought, I said, "How about this one on Samson? Sword come on him at times in the morning, we make him become this and everybody knew he's a prophet. Has it happened to you?" I thought, good, it's working. I found the verses that stirred the gift inside that man. They weren't just faithful, they were those spirit verses where you out in the spirit floating around doing enough. I begin to quote everyone I could think of. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And brother, we had a good meeting that day. I learned how to stir a person's gift by scriptures because every gift certain scriptures feed and stir more than all the other ones.

I did the same. Or I thought, "All right, Oral Roberts is not a prophet. He's a hidden evangelist. He's easier to relate to than the prophet people." So you go to his house and God put in Oral's right hand his gift in his right hand. Now the left hand has nothing. It's just a hand. The right hand is where everything happens. That healing power is in that hand, and that deliverance is in that right hand. When you watch the old TV shows, that right hand is the dominant hand. The left is there but more support. It has no power. It's just there. Holds the head while it hits it. I know it sounds funny, but it's true. So when I would go to Oral's house, if there were other people there, I'd always try to sit on his right side in case that hand started vibrating. I wanted to get hit first. I didn't want it to die coming down the line to me. So if it starts vibrating, I'm first in line. Hit me. And so if I couldn't find a chair, I would just go sit on the floor next to him on the right side. His wife said, "Why don't you?" I said, "No, no, no, no. Right side." Oh. So she knew. I said, "If it starts working, I want to be first and I want to get it moving." Said, "Brother Roberts, you're the miracle man." Thought. So I started throwing Old Testament miracle stories at him, and he got a little excited, but it wasn't the gift. It was just him talking. It was nice, but it was just, you know, there was just that. I didn't want that. I wanted that other thing. So I went to the New T. I skipped over the gospel. So I mean, went to the book of Acts and talking about Paul and Peter and and he was okay. So I went back to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And I said, "Brother Roberts, what's it like when the presence of God is present to heal?" And it comes on Jesus and he spits on the ground and heals a blind man. And I start hitting him with Jesus' miracle stories. I found it. It wasn't Elijah. It wasn't Paul. It was Jesus' miracle stories that made his go. And he got all excited, thought, "Hit me. Hit me. Hit me." I kept shooting him with healing scriptures from Jesus. Hit me. Bam, bam, bam, hit me. That's how you talk to your gift scripturally. Find preachers. Hear me. Don't find books that even I wrote. Find scriptures that came from heaven that feed your gift and stir it up by reading and confessing and declaring, "The hand of the Lord is upon me. The hand of the Lord carried me out. The Spirit of God drifted me into the sights of Jerusalem." Woo! Find verses that move you, especially when you're in war and despair. Don't sit there and call for gossipers and counselors. Find verses that make your insides move. That's how you live.

Timothy, stir up the gift of God that's in you. KT, stir the gift of God that is in this house. Stir it. Don't polish it. Don't admire it. Stir it up and let it live again in its full capacity in this time and in this era. Timothy, I remind you, stir up the gift of God that is in you.

Timothy, God has not given you a spirit of fear, but he has given you and me power, love, and a sound mind. Why did the great Apostle Paul, the father of Timothy, Timothy, Timothy? Hey, hear me. God has not sent fear to you. He is not your teacher. He is not your guide. Fear is your enemy. Do not accept him as anything else but from the devil. God has given us not fear, but power, love, and a sound mind.

God never sends fear to be your teacher. Who is the one he sent? He didn't send even life experience to be your teacher. He never said experience is how I teach you. He sent the third person of the Godhead to be your teacher. Now you can choose to let suffering teach you. You can choose life experience to teach you and be your main teacher. Or you can align yourself with who Jesus sent, and he can be your main teacher in life. And he will help you not go through the sufferings and the woes and the tragedies if you'll listen to the teacher who Christ sent to every single one of us. Oh, Rabbi, he has given us power that's always available. He's given you love that has a guaranteed success. It never fails. Love never never fails. Love never fails. Power, love, a sound mind.

For years, I didn't understand why he said that, but now I understand. My mind is like yours. I might have spanked my mind more than you spanked yours, but we have the same wars, the same battles, the same challenges to renew your mind and to control your emotions and set your memory and write order all the things you must do. A sound mind. He can put a soundness over your thoughts and your feelings that make you act different than everybody else because they don't have that soundness governing them. When you're in a war for your house, for your church, for your nation, soundness of mind is a must that only God can provide. That stability in the midst of the raging wars that we'll have in the future. He has not given us the spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind.

And he raises his voice in the most authoritative tone in these verses. Be thou not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be a participant in the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. What in the world is he saying? When you're in a battle, the devil tries to make you ashamed of Jesus. Big Jesus becomes a small Jesus. A moving Jesus becomes a soft-talking Jesus to where he's nothing but a nighttime prayer of routine. Timothy. Hey, Timothy. Don't be ashamed of Jesus and his testimony. What is his testimony? Everything Jesus said, everything Jesus did, and everything he told us to do, that's the testimony of Jesus. Most churches are ashamed of Christ. Oh no. Oh yes. In my country, yours, and on the continent. Woo. When's the last time your pastor preached on the gifts of the spirit? When's the last time they had a deliverance service and cast out devils on

Sunday morning in front of all THE RICH PEOPLE? WHEN'S THE LAST TIME THEY TOLD YOU, "SPEAK IN TONGUES AND BE NORMAL?" >> HALLELUJAH. >> IF YOU DON'T SPEAK IN TONESUES, YOU'RE WEIRD. >> Put the horse in the cart the right direction. Oh, well, [laughter] we don't do that. You're ashamed. WHATEVER PART OF THE GOSPEL YOU WON'T PREACH, THAT'S THE PART YOU'RE ashamed of. WHATEVER PART OF THE GOSPEL YOU WILL NOT DEMONSTRATE IN FRONT OF YOUR PEOPLE PASTORS, THAT'S THE part of the gospel you're ashamed of. >> AND CHURCH MEMBERS, WHATEVER PART OF THE GOSPEL YOUR PASTOR DOESN'T PREACH, THAT'S where he doesn't love you. >> Well, we don't believe in healing. And it shows because everybody's dying in your church. [laughter] If I was Baptist and I got cancer, I believe the Baptist church cuz they don't believe in healing. They talk like this. Well, God can do anything. How does he do it? I don't know. That's called stupid. [laughter] And remember, the church you choose to go to is what either'll bury you or help liberate you in a war. If >> I got cancer, I'd come to KT and ask all these old African women to grab me, throw me on the floor, and jump on TOP OF ME and kill the devil and kill the cancer, and I'd live for another 25 years. In the Baptist church, go put your coffin. TELL US WHAT SONGS YOU WANT SUNG AND WHO YOU WANT TO SING THEM. God works in mysterious ways. No, he doesn't. You're mysteriously stupid. You don't read the book. >> Your book is not your final authority. >> Experience is many people's final authority, not scripture. My church don't believe in prosperity. Run. RUN TO THE ONE THAT DOES. >> I didn't ain't that prosperity message and it shows. A drunk meth addict in London knows it's good to have money, but a spiritfilled Christian can't figure it out. Amen. >> Amen. [clears throat] >> ARE YOU A PROSPERITY PREACHER? YES. >> YES. [screaming] >> It's better than being a poverty preacher. >> When I touch it, you go broke. Receive. Receive. receive and go broke. Is that what YOU WANT? >> YOU BETTER BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU SAY, "I don't like ain't grasping because you're saying, "I like the opposite." When you say that, >> you better BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU START trying to not be a part of the fray. GO FOR THE SCRIPTURE. GO FOR THE PROMISE. AND FORGET STUPID PEOPLE'S TALK AND get it in your life and in this great church. [applause]

Don't be ashamed of his prisoners. Don't be ashamed of Christ and his testimony. Then he said, secondly, don't be ashamed of me. Paul, the man that God used to launch Timothy, got his giftings out of heaven into his belly, his spirit. Don't be ashamed [clears throat] of me, his prisoner. I've had to fight many a battle over that. I have just enough of popularity to be tortured by it. I told the Lord the other day, "Either make me real famous or forget it. I'm tired of being tortured by just enough fame where it's a pain in the butt." When you have just enough faint, everybody comes out who you talk to, who you're with, who you eat with. Oh, shut up. Put your nose back on your own face and leave me alone. Why are you with this guy? Why are you this person? When I built my first church in California, grew to 2,000. I didn't know I was my church in the backyard of all the folks who hated everybody that I liked. So, I built a 2,000 wild Pentecostal church in the conservative backyard of Christians who barely believed anything. I didn't know that's where God planted me. I just happened to be in Orange County, California. There was no snow. Praise God. >> [laughter] >> And then I started wanting snow and wanting to leave cuz I met the principality out there like I had a guest speaker. I get phone calls. I wouldn't have him if I were you. Every guest speaker Scott without exception. Every famous one. I heard something better about every guest speaker. And I had to make a decision what I'm going to do. I had all Roberts the first time and it was a controversy to have like it's oral. Why you all fussing about oral? >> But and I had to make a decision. Am I going to be ashamed of oral's chains? A prisoner has a chain. Oral's chain. GO TAKE MY healing power to your generation. Was I going to be ashamed of his chain, his calling? >> Am I going to look at a man that laid his hand, his right hand on over three million people that we have record of? 3 million. I'm with him or Roberts. Well, you're stupid. This man has prayed for over three million people with that healing gift with the amount of miracles that you can't even keep records of. You don't like him. Well, you're still stupid. Well, I don't like the the car he drives. I don't like him on television. YOU'RE NOT JESUS. SO SHUT UP. HE'S YOUR BROTHER. YOU'RE NOT HIS GOD. >> AND YOU HAVE TO DECIDE MINISTERS, YOU DECIDE, KT, to be ashamed or not of the chains of God's servants. >> Brother Hagen, are you one of those HYPERFAITH PEOPLE? YES. YES. >> IF THERE'S HYPER FAITH, I WANT IT. >> IF THERE'S ATOMIC FAITH, I WANT THAT, TOO. >> I WANT EVERY KIND OF FAITH THERE IS CUZ IT PLEASES GOD AND WE CAN DO STUFF WITH FAITH. >> SO, YES. >> I have to decide. I put his books in my bookstore and they begin to call me from all over Orange County. I have that false teachers books. I said, 'How do you know my church members came to your buck store in box time? Thought good. That's why I put them in there. [snorts] I had to decide, was I going to be ashamed of Hagen's chains? [snorts] Lester Simmer, one of the nicest men ever in my life. Gruff, but nice. Rude but direct. He always knew the answer cuz it was clear. He was called to teach people how to cast out devils without any shame about it. Oh, you're going to have the demon man. Yes. I want you in the line first. >> We'll get rid of your first your stupid devil and all the other ones in there have to go out, too. [laughter] I had to decide. Was I going to be ashamed of his chains? Timothy, DON'T BE ASHAMED OF THE LORD'S TESTIMONY. DON'T BE ASHAMED OF ME, HIS PRISONER. But there was also another element there. I'm your dad. He was being ashamed of his dad. Possibly had come to him and said, "You have a wonderful gift in ministry, but we want to advise you so you can go farther and do certain things." The first thing we like to talk about is how you preach and who you quote and who you're around. Now, we like Paul, but you know, he's an ex-con. How many times has Paul been in jail and got out? He's a HE'S CONTROVERSIAL. EVERYWHERE HE GOES, HE NORMALLY CAUSES A RIOT. And we notice that when you're preaching, you act like him a little bit. You say things like him and even pray for people like him. AND WE WE WANT YOU TO ADJUST THAT BECAUSE IF YOU DO, WE CAN HELP YOU. They were trying to tell him, "Don't act like your dad. Take that part of your DNA and stuff it, reject it, put it aside. I'm so glad I have mom and grandma in me. I'm so glad I've got or Roberts and Hagen. I'M SO GLAD INSIDE OF ME IS SUMMERONE OCMAN. I'M SO GLAD THAT THERE'S WAYS THAT GOD PUT ME TOGETHER. AND I'M PROUD THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE SEEN at times when I preach. I'M PROUD I SEE MYSELF BE LIKE, "AH, THERE'S ORAL. >> AH, that's o ah somewhere all just came out. Hallelujah. They're still there." [applause] I refuse to be ashamed of how God put me together. WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, I don't care. They're not your dad. They're mine. And I like my dad's, my mom's. I'm feather in there. HOPE THEY GET LOUDER AS I GET OLDER. >> I'll be 60 soon. I don't know when you start being old, but I'm getting closer to whatever that day is. [snorts] And when I get old, I'm going to be really rude. All right, last last point. You still with me? and the crescendo of these eight verses. Be thou a participant in the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Timothy, get up. TIMOTHY, GET UP. Get up. Timothy and quit crying ABOUT THE OPPOSITION THAT YOU FACE. I told you that you face this because of the AMOUNT OF POWER THAT YOU WALK IN. >> The word according is a word of measurement. according to the power you face opposition. Opposition [clears throat] is a sign THAT YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT SCARES THE devil >> and provokes concern in the carnal mind of man. Be a participant. Get up out of the back of your flat. Get up out of the back of your office. Get up AND STOP COMPLAINING THAT YOU'RE BEING OPPOSED AND RETURN TO THE HIGH CALL AND PREACH WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT, WITH EVERY GIFT, EVERY ANOINTING, EVER STRENGTH AND JUST GO FOR IT AND DON'T LOOK BACK. [applause] THE ONLY PLACE THAT THAT ANOINTED IS THE BEST IS WHEN YOU'RE SO FAR OUT THERE. If God does not show up, you're all in trouble. >> That's where the miracles are. >> Return >> to your high calling. >> And quit complaining [clears throat] about opposition. make it a pullpit and preach on top of it.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And I live out this calling by the promises that have come from Christ Jesus. I write to Timothy, my dear beloved son. I SPEAK OVER YOU GRACE and mercy and the peace of God that you need so desperately. I'M SO GLAD THAT I SERVED MY GOD. I live my life out of the purity of my conscience and I've been bothered. I'm aware you've been crying, Timothy. That's why I'm writing you this letter. I would love to be with you, but I can't come. SO, I'M BELIEVING THAT AS I WRITE THIS LETTER AND YOU READ IT, THAT SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN MORE THAN JUST A NICE letter from a NICE MAN. I'M WRITING TO YOU AS YOUR FATHER IN THE FAITH. And I KNOW THAT THERE'S A PROBLEM. MY JOY IS NOT RIGHT. AND I'M AWARE OF YOUR TEARS. I can hear them. I want to be with you with all my heart. I want to see you. I WANT TO GO INTO YOUR APARTMENT, YOUR FLAT, AND PULL YOU OUT OF it and shake you and GET YOU TO RETURN TO the man that you're called to be. Let me remind you, Timothy, hear me, son. HEAR ME. NOT JUST WITH YOUR natural ear and your THOUGHT PATTERN, BUT HEAR ME. The faith that I saw in your mother, the faith that I saw in your grandmother, I AM PERSUADED BEYOND DOUBT. It lives inside of you right now. >> Shake yourself, son, AND AWAKEN YOUR FAITH. Back to conquering faith, correcting faith, stopping things faith, and obtaining [clears throat] the promise of God faith. MOVE BY FAITH like you're supposed to. Timothy. HEY. >> HEY, HEAR ME. >> STIR [screaming] UP YOUR GIFT. >> MOVE IN FAITH AND stir up your gift. Quit polishing it. Quit telling me what you have and start using it. >> I'm so sick. People tell me I have a gift. I have it. Oh, shut up and use it. Let let what you have come INTO THE EARTH AND LET US SEE IT. >> QUIT TELLING me how many prophecies you got from these godo birds. Oh, shut up and show me. >> The earth don't need labels. They need operations. >> They need administrations. [applause] TIMOTHY, stir up the gift of God that's in you. And don't tell me you don't have a gift because God used me to give it to you. >> He has not given you the spirit of fear. Never has God sent fear to be your teacher. Never is an evil spirit sent by God to help anybody learn anything. >> The great teacher is the Holy Spirit, Timothy. >> He's given you power, love, and a sound mind. >> Wow. >> Wow. Timothy, don't be ashamed [clears throat] of the message of Jesus Christ. Preach it the same to every kind of person you meet. Tell them what he did, what he said, and do what he told you to do. And stop being ashamed of me. I am this WAY BECAUSE THAT'S THE WAY God put me together. And to let you know the truth, Timothy, that's why you act the way you do. Because a part of me is in you. And you're not going to get RID OF IT BECAUSE I'M YOUR DAD. I'M THE ONE THAT GOD FOR WHATEVER REASON SAID, "THIS IS YOUR SON. BLESS HIM, SPEAK OF HIM, TRAIN HIM." AND HE USED my hands to give you what you have. And it's time you quit being a carnal person. It's time that you get up and return [clears throat] to the high calling of your life now. >> Not when things are better. They'll never get better. Be a participant in this great gospel hour. and quit being ashamed of how he called you and put you together. I pray for you tonight. I take my faith and I release it tonight for you and this great church. I pray for you that are watching me. I pray for you tonight that in this house that THE GREAT GIFT THAT GOD PUT IN THE KENSAN Temple church will be reawakened IN A FULL CAPACITY AND A FULL MANIFESTATION OPERATION TO dominate this city again and to birth great ministries for this house and for this nation. I pray for you tonight that the gift is stirred by the hand of the most high. I pray that every false word that has been spoken against this house, this body, this leadership dies in the name of Jesus. EVERY CURSE, EVERY FALSE WORD, EVERY HEX BE BROKEN IN THE NAME OF JESUS. >> WE SAY IN THE HEAVENS, WE SAY IN THE EARTH, and we said in the heart of man, be free from the curse. In the name of Jesus, I pray for you tonight THAT EVERY LEADER IN THIS CHURCH SHALL ONCE AGAIN BE mantled by THE GRACE THAT GOD PUT IN THIS CHURCH. THAT APOSTOLIC ANOINTING THAT WAS HERE FOREVER. WE KNEW WHAT APOSTLES were that thrived and lived and build and conquered. MAY THAT APOSTOLIC GRACE COME OVER MALCOLM, his wife, THIS TEAM, and this congregation. LET IT COME DOWN NOT AS A RAIN, BUT AS A HEAVY CLOAK THAT WRAPS ITSELF around you. I PRAY THAT THE MANTLE REFITS ITSELF UPON THIS HOUSE. It refits itself upon this time and this moment. I pray for you that alignment from the administrative office, the pastor's office. WRONG PEOPLE OUT, >> right people in >> the name of Jesus. I PRAY THAT AND MAY IT ECHO THROUGH EVERY LEVEL OF THIS HOUSE. WRONG PEOPLE OUT of wrong positions. WRONG [groaning] PEOPLE OUT IN the name of Jesus. And I pray the right people come in to every single position of this great house to stand with this pastor to stand under this anointing. >> Right people in >> RIGHT PEOPLE IN RIGHT POSITIONS. so that the speed of this house can come back to the pace of the God plan. >> Run and do not walk. RUN AND DO not jog. Run. [screaming] Run. Run. [groaning] In the name In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, I pray new shoes for every staff member, new shoes for every church member, new shoes, NEW SHOES [screaming] for every one of them in the name of Jesus. I pray for you tonight that every ego shall be crucified and go low. >> That the heart and the love of God shall dominate >> and create a unity that cannot be broken. >> A team that is a force the enemy cannot penetrate. I pray for the money >> to come into this place >> like a river flowing down a mountain. >> Money >> for the members and money for every aspect of this work present to come in the name. Money >> come [snorts] >> to this house. >> Harvest that is due >> even from past leadership that were sown FOR IT TO MANIFEST AND COME NOW INTO THIS SEASON. Harvest >> of money >> due to Katy come >> in the name of Jesus. >> Oh, I pray I pray for you tonight for God to heal you. from the trauma of past years. >> Jesus, >> this house has survived. >> And we need you >> to come upon every person >> and remove the scar and the fear and the hurt and all. Deliver us. Heal us >> that this mantle will have no limping but a great running with it. Oh, >> heal. He restoreth >> our soul. >> He restores >> our soul. He restores our soul. [music]