Transcription
Have a seat. We're going to pray real quick. Father, we just thank you for this time. God, thank you for the opportunity to be able to come down to Varnell, Georgia, and minister today. Lord, thank you for what you're doing in these people's lives. And God, my biggest prayer today is not that you would just speak through me, Lord, but that the people that leave would come, would leave changed. That they would leave different than how they walked in. Father, I ask that hearts would be exposed, that minds would be transformed, that the word would bring renewal today. God, I thank you for restoration in families. Holy Spirit, have your way in this place. We know you're already here, but I ask that you would show up in a mighty way and do crazy things. Lord, I thank you in Jesus' name. Everybody said, amen. Amen.
All right, hello. Now we're going to preach. I had to wear a button-up because sometimes I walk into a church and I got my shiny clothing on and my jewelry and my chains and my tattoos, and people look at me and they're like, "Man, I hope he gets saved today." And then I'm serious. And then they hand me the mic and then they're like, "And religious people leave, but people that have relationships stay." Because it's not about where you've been, it's about what He's done in you and where He's taking you.
I see a lot of discouraged Christians nowadays. And I'm not saying anything mean today. If I raise my voice, if I go on little things, I'm not popping off, guys. I'm passionate because I preach out of a place lived. And I know Jesus. I put my headphones on this morning. Some of you pulling in might have seen me. I'm walking up and down, I'm just worshiping God, and His presence is all over me, buzzing. I don't talk about that stuff a lot because then people go after the feeling and they miss the Father. It's easy to rely on the feeling and say, "Well, I didn't feel God today." He never said He'd you'd feel Him. He said He'll never leave you and that He's always present. Sometimes He'll give you the feeling to boost your faith and say, "Hey, I'm really here."
But I got to a point in my life doing order ministry and things where everyone I prayed for would fall on the ground and they'd shake and they felt like electricity and it was crazy. And that's what I started going after. I stopped caring about the hearts of the people. I just wanted to see them fall over. And God sat me down one day and I said, "Lord, why is this happening? Because now I don't feel anything. Nothing's ever, nothing's happening when I pray." And He said, "That's the problem. The same thing's happening. I'm just not letting it manifest because you're going after feeling." Feeling is not presence of me.
And it's so easy. I see a lot of discouraged Christians because they, they compare their lives to somebody else, guys. They compare their walk to somebody else. And, and they think, "Well, that's how I'm supposed to look." But God didn't make you to look like somebody else. He made you to look like you. Listen, the Bible says in the beginning, God created man. And man, in His image. Sometimes we think about that and say, "Well, what's God look like?" But God doesn't have a head. God doesn't have arms. God doesn't have legs. God's spirit. That's why He had to send Jesus in flesh. Jesus was both man and fully God and fully man. He had to send Jesus to give us an example of what's really possible when we let Him live through us. Jesus said, "The things I do, you'll do and even greater." See, we were created in God's image. And God is love. So we weren't created to look like God as a, as a feature. We were lo-, we were created to look like God in love. Are you with me? That's why we all look different physically, but spiritually, we all have the same purpose. We have different callings, different giftings. Some people up here playing worship keyboard, that ain't me. But let me hear some of you guys come up and rap. That ain't you. Some people are farmers, and some people are graffiti artists. Two separate things. Everyone has different giftings and everyone has different abilities, but we all have one purpose.
So me, growing up in church, being raised in the church, I had a pretty solid covering. Um, good teachers, good, good accountability in my life. But it's something that I became used to seeing. And I, and I, and I fell into the trap of going through the motions at a young age. And it's easy to do as an adult too. You come to church on Sunday and say, "Well, you know, it's church time. We need to get there quarter of to say hi to so-and-so." And then we got to go through worship. And then we pay our tithe and offerings. We give our 10% which is man-made. Give our 10%. And then we hear a message. And then we go home.
But then what's, what's the point of doing all that if when you leave, you're the same as when you came in? What's the point of that? If when you're around your co-workers and you're in the grocery store and different places, if people don't see the account change in you and they don't see something different, different about you and your life doesn't speak to them, what's the point of doing all that? Because like the devil himself doesn't care that you're here right now. He doesn't care. He doesn't care that you just worshiped. He doesn't care that I'm preaching to you. He doesn't care about that. What he cares about is when you take what was preached and you apply it to your life and you take God's word and you become changed and you actually believe what God says about you is true and things begin to change. That's what He cares about. Because the devil knows that he can't stop God. He was defeated. He can't stop God. The devil can't stop God. But he knows that he can stop people. And one of his biggest traps that he stops people with is self, self-identity, condemnation, guilt, sin, shame, torment of the mind. And he wants to keep you where you used to be when that's no longer you.
So me as a teenager, I started making some really dumb decisions. I started getting high at the age of 12 and went through a 12, almost 13-year full-fledged, flat-out drug addiction. Every day, whatever I could get my hands on to mess me up because I was actually looking. Deontay hit it last night. He said, "Those things are a counterfeit of the Holy Ghost." And anything that alters your mind to bring you peace is false hope. But Jesus gave us a hope that He said will not be cut off. And as humans, it's like, it's just like Adam and Eve, guys. In the garden, you guys know the story. They're in the garden and God gave them dominion over the earth. He gave them dominion over the garden. And it says, "Every God made everything and everything was good." So they had it all. But there was one thing. He said, "Don't do not eat the fruit off the forbidden tree." And the enemy comes in and whispers to Eve, "Did God really say that? It won't be that bad. Just bite the fruit. He just doesn't want you to be like Him." So they had everything, but they went after the one thing that they knew they shouldn't do, but they did it anyways. Do you see that? Nowadays, we have everything we need, the truth. But we go out all these other avenues and we try all these other different things and we think it's benefiting us, but it's actually destroying us. You know the word of God says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death." That's not just talking physical death, it's talking spiritual too.
In the beginning, when God created man, Adam and Eve, He made Adam and everything was good. And Adam actually walked with God in the cool of the day. It says, "Can you imagine that? Walking with God?" You have the opportunity to do that. Adam walked with God every day. And then the only thing he saw, he said, "Well, it's not good for man to be alone. Let's make, let's make someone else so they can reproduce my image." It says, "Be fruitful and multiply." It's not just talking about kids, it's talking about representing and recreating the image of God all over the planet. Because if they keep reproducing in the garden, they're either going to overpopulate the garden or the garden has to expand. And then they go out. That's us today in the kingdom. So out of the fullness of who God was in Adam, He reached in when he was sleeping and pulled out Eve. So women aren't any less than men. The woman was pulled out of the fullness of who God was in man. So we're equal and we're both called to shine. Some of you guys are looking at me like I'm crazy. It's basic gospel. Basic gospel.
So when Adam bites the tree, something happens. He gets exposed. And now they realize they're naked. And they try to hide with fig leaves. And they try to hide from God. And that same thing happens nowadays where we make a mistake, we do something, and then we feel like we're not worthy to come to God. And we try to run. Why are you allowing what you did before for to push you away when He's already paid the price? When you had nothing to offer? If it was about how you performed, then He would have never went to the cross. Because when you were yet a sinner, He died. When you had nothing to give Him, He gave you everything. But nowadays, in 2024, we get so caught up and, "Oh my gosh, I shouldn't have did that. I messed up. I did this. I did that." Guys, listen. I'm not preaching, "Do whatever you want and God will forgive you." I'm not saying live in sin. That's not what this is. I'm not preaching false grace. Grace is designed to humble you and change you and say, "Wow, I was that messed up and that much of a jerk and you still loved me." Forgive me. It's designed to pull you closer. That's why in the garden, they ran.
The enemy's number one plan is to isolate you and keep you. How many times do you walk up to someone or how many, let me ask you this way, how many times does someone walk up to you and you're dealing with something internally that's, you're thinking about, you're struggling with, and you say, "How you doing, brother? How you doing, sister?" And you go, "Oh, I'm good. I'm good." But you're dealing with something. You're not bringing to the table. Number one tactic of the enemy: guilt, shame, condemnation. Guilt says you're not forgiven. Condemnation says your life is worthy of judgment. And shame says that you're still the same person that you used to be. The reason you're still, the reason you're battling in your heart and your mind and wishing you didn't do it is because it's not you anymore. You're changed. Before, there was, there was a time where you did those things and they, they didn't bother you. It was who you were. It was the way the world trained you and it was normal. Can I be real? If I'm living as a teenager, the world's teaching me to go get in relationships and sleep around and the more girls the better it is. Women, same way. "Oh, you got the hot guy, the football player, the jock." That's how it was. We've all been there. Christ comes in and changes you and realizes that that's not the way. He purifies your heart so you don't see people as objects. You see them as sons and daughters because that's what they are.
So then you get saved and born again. Then you're in a church service and you're a single person and an attractive opposite sex walks in. And you look at them and check them out and think, "Man, they look good." And immediately you get convicted. And then you sit there and beat yourself up when you're trying to worship thinking like, "I can't believe I just looked at them. I can't believe I got that thought. Can't believe I thought that. Oh man, why'd they have to wear that today?" We do that. The reason you're saying, "Why did I do this? Why did I do that?" is because you didn't want to. That means it's not in your heart. And if it's not in your heart, that's not you. Because out of the abundance of the heart flows everything. So stop letting the devil rob you of your time with the Father. When really, it's exposing that you've changed. There's no way for you to still feel bad if you're not a different person. That's I know.
So I don't prepare this stuff, guys. It comes out. Can you tell I'm passionate? I mean it because I've been there, guys. I'm 34 years old and sometimes I tell myself, "Man, you're getting so old." Blah, blah, blah. And then older folks laugh me and they're like, "You're still a kid, son." I don't feel that way, but I'm thankful to have it at this age to understand, to be able to step into something and actually talk about it with authority that backs it. Because I used to fear, like I said, I used to fear to get in front of people and talk. But that's because I didn't have the fruit of it in my life. Now I have a confidence that I overcame something. And if He did it for me, He can do it for you. I don't care how old you are, how young you are. I don't care if you're 13 or 73. It's the same gospel and He paid the same price.
I said it last night and some people, I could tell the room got funky. And I said, "I'll talk about tomorrow. Where are your steel toes?" We've been trained our whole life in Christianity. I'm spending too much time with you guys. She said, "Yeah, still love you. I'll be back." Oh man, I gotta ask, anybody in here from the Atlanta area? Just a couple of you. I told him last night, I said, "If you're from the Atlanta area and you drive like the people in Atlanta, you need to come up and repent today." Because I almost got in a wreck coming here in Atlanta and I missed an exit because of people. And last year I missed an exit because of people. And all of a sudden I'm in my flesh and I'm like, "Ah, these people." And then the Lord speaks to me, "They're as valuable as you are." And I'm like, "That's the spirit behind the wheel."
We were trained in church. How many of you were trained in church that you come to church and you repent of your sins and you ask Jesus to come into your heart and it's all about Him changing you inside so that you can have a better life and that things can go your way and that you know where you're going? If you drive out of here and you run into a ditch and you don't make it home, and you know where you're going to be before you leave tonight, if you're not sure where you stand with the Lord, come up here and give your life to Him so that you can go to heaven. If that's the only reason you became a Christian and you don't allow the gospel to do anything else, it's just for your benefit, your blessing, your provision, your finances, your relationships to be restored. How many people just run to God when their marriage is failing? Because now they need hope. And we turn Him into our busboy rather than our Father.
I tell people all the time, and it's a sharp statement, but it says, "If you're not hungry for God, you're probably already too full of yourself." We were trained that this thing is all about what God can do for us. But here's the problem: if God is only in your life to benefit you and help you through a time in need, then you're going to be all upset, emotional, probably fall and backslide when that doesn't happen because you wonder where God's at. God didn't send Jesus to die on the cross just to make your life happy. He actually promised persecution and that you would die for His name's sake. We turned it into what He can do for us to benefit us. You know what that's called? Self-centeredness. On, you know what that's called? Making it all about you. You know what the Bible says? "In order to be like Him, you have to die to yourself." Polar opposites. Listen, everything the world teaches and everything the Bible teaches is opposite.
How many of you heard this statement before? "Well, brother, it's your bed you made it. Go see." We all know it. Isn't that crazy? The Bible says, "If you come to Christ, you're a new creation. All things are made new." Everything else is died. You have a whole new future. But we're taught that you're who you used to be. And then we put labels on people because that's what we say. We come to church and sing, "Jesus is Lord. Thank you for a new life." Then we turn to our brother and say, "I remember what they did to me five years ago." Who are we not to forgive them when we've been forgiven of everything? If you're trying to forgive your neighbor, you're still in unforgiveness. Am I right? Pastor's laughing. So I got the green light.
We've turned this whole thing. Oh, here's another one. "Well, brother, I heard it down south a lot." "What you don't know, won't hurt you." We all know that. Bible says, "What you don't know is destroying you." It says, "My people are destroyed for the lack of." Once you get the knowledge, you can stop destroying everything. Once you get the knowledge, you apply it to your heart, it becomes revelation. Revelation is something that's been revealed to you. It's truth.
Here I am with you guys again. You got to put a cage. [Applause] Up. We get so caught up with this whole, the sin thing drives people crazy. A lot of times you preach it and you say, when you say what I'm about to talk about, half the crowd's like, "That's heresy, this and that." But hopefully you guys get it. If not, you're gonna because I'm going to explain it as best I can. Yes, we sinned and we're in a sinful nature. Under the law, the law was a tutor to show us our need for a Savior. And that's why they had to sacrifice things in the Old Testament every year. They give their spotless lambs, they give their animals, their goats or their bulls, they sacrifice because they weren't good enough to live up to God's law. God sees that. He sends Jesus because we were messed up people.
But then we take it as, "Oh, brother, we're always going to be sinners. Well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace." If you're a believer, you're no longer a sinner. You know, the Bible says in Hebrews that God sees you and made you perfect. Now, if I stood up here and told you guys, "Perfect," you'd be like, "You're a screwball." But guess what? God sees me that way. And we take perfect and make it as not making any mistakes. Perfect means to be made whole and complete. So yeah, I'm made perfect in God's image. Did you know you can't take that belief away from me? Because I didn't get it from you. I got it from Him. And you can't take away from me what I was never given by you. So the days of offense should be over. The days of bitterness should be over. The days of frustration with other people should be over because they're not your Lord. They don't dictate your day unless you allow them.
This whole gospel, the sin-conscious thing, guys. We wake up in the morning and it's like, "Oh, we have a good heart. Can I come down here? We have a good heart." So we want to do the right thing. So we're so conscious about our actions and so conscious about not making a mistake. We don't want to upset God. How many of you ever heard, "Well, you're breaking the heart of God, brother"? You can't break the heart of God. That's crazy. God is love. Love holds no record of wrongs. Can't break the heart of God. He doesn't need, He doesn't need your respect to be okay. "Well, they didn't sing loud enough to me today. I'm hurt." It's funny, right? Why isn't it funny when that comes out of us? We're made in His image. Jesus said, "The things I do, you'll do and even." But it's impossible to do that if you don't understand how He sees you.
Listen, guys, the enemy's dead. Cut off from, from, from heaven, from God for eternity. He's in eternal damnation for the rest of his life. So the only thing he can do is try to pull you with him. He's after your soul. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. If he can get into your mind and try to creep back into your heart and steal what God planted inside you, it's like the parable of the, the seeds that were planted on good soil, in the rocks, and some were scorched by the sun, and some were choked out, uh, the roots were choked out by the, the rocks, and then some was on good soil. Guys, good soil comes from proper perspective. Proper perspective produces a perfect peace. We are so caught up in what we did yesterday, today, that we just think, "Well, we're always going to sin." Brother, did you know the Bible actually says, "Be dead to sin"? Yeah. When you preach that, people say, "Well, we're always going to sin." The reason you are is because that's what you think. And as a man thinketh, so he is.
Guys, I'm not saying that you just, "Oh, I've never made a mistake anymore." Whatever. Listen, you might do something that's silly. And you might even just step back and and do make a dumb decision. Whoever in here has ever made a dumb decision? I better see every hand. But if you sit in that dumb decision mindset, you'll stay in a dumb decision life. When the enemy comes and whispers and says, "You're not really changed. You're still that same person." See, you've been saved for seven years and you just went back and did what you said you'd never do again. And then you sit there and go, "Oh God, I did what I never said I'd ever do again." And you make yourself a product of the mistake. How about raising your hand and say, "Father, I so thank you that that used to be me. But now there's a conscience and a purity in my heart that violates what you've put inside of me. And I'm no longer that person. And you are setting me free from those things. God, I so thank you for the grace of my life. God, I thank you for giving me mercy, a chance when I didn't deserve one. And now you empower me with the grace to walk out."
Now that I had that chance, turn if you got your Bibles. Turn with me to Romans 6 real quick. I'm glad I hear Bible pages. Usually it's a silent cell phone. I use my Bible on my phone all the time, but it's good to have this. Romans 6, verse one. Paul says, "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have what? Died to sin. How can we live in it any longer?" Why do people get mad when you preach and they get bothered and say, "Well, brother, we're always going to sin. We're always going to do this. We're sinners. We're sinners. We're sinners." I'm, this isn't my sermon, this is the word of God. So you can disagree with me, but you're disagreeing with the Father. "By no means! We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We therefore are buried with Him through baptism into death and under that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may new live a new life." That's redemption. "All things have passed away." 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Behold, you're a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new."
Nobody can let go of your past except you. You can come up to the altar and get prayer over and over and over. You can have counseling appointments, pastoral counseling. But it's up to you to believe the truth. Something in your heart has to decide and say, "You know what? The stuff I've been thinking has not been bringing life." And the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. So it must not be God. But Jesus came to give life and life more abundantly. And He said, "I have another chance." And the things He'll do, I can do even greater. And even if I'm not seeing that in my life right now, I'm going to go after it because He said I can.
When we hold our, when we say, "Well, you don't know what I've done, brother." Where's my program guys at? I can talk like this because I went through a program and I did some nasty stuff. And I never talk about the nasty stuff to glorify the enemy. I talk about it to say how far God has brought me from. But I bet some of you probably did some nasty stuff. And some of you might even come in shipwrecked and all messed up and you say, "Well, you don't know what I've been through. You don't know what I've been through." When we take what we've been through and we use that as an excuse for change, then we're saying that what God did through His Son wasn't good enough. And it's actually pride. It's false humility. We call it humility when we say, "Well, we're, we're sinners, brother. I'm never going to this. I'm never going to be that." God said, "You are." He said, "You are." It's false humility. We call it humility in the church. We say, "Well, you know, we make excuses."
Listen, this is, this is strong. I know, but it's, it's life-freeing, giving stuff. I'm not condemning anybody in here. I'm preaching against that. I'm stirring you up to see who you really are. Your sons and daughters bought at a price. Do not sell out. You're bought. You are bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We get so caught up, like I said, in what we used to do and we define ourselves today because of that. But God said, "I will remember their lawless deeds no more." If He said He will not remember our lawless deeds no more, our disobedience, what gives us the right to hold on to it? Why is our perception better than His?
You don't have to turn here. Romans 8, verse 37. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Well, that's cool because a conqueror wins. And we're more than that. So we already won through Jesus. This is the way you have to read the word. "For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any power, any neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus." We've heard that verse before, but I don't know if you ever caught there. There's something missing on that list. Let me read it again. "For I am convinced that neither life nor death, this is a cool scripture, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus." So we know all that stuff can't separate us from the love of God. There's one thing that's not on that list. And you know what it is? Your past. The past isn't on that list. You know why? Because it doesn't exist in God's eyes. So He doesn't have to talk about it. It's not there. It's by now in Romans and Paul's writing all of his, all of his books. Paul wrote 13 books in the New Testament. Two-thirds of the New Testament. By now, he's planning that you get that. Like, God doesn't remember your past. So it's not on the list. Is that clicking with you guys? Like, when you get that, that's powerful. It's like, why am I holding on to it? When you, when you pray for God to forgive you for something and you mean it in your heart, when you start praying that every day, "God, forgive me for this. Forgive me for this." The same thing after the first time. He doesn't know what you're talking about. You were already forgiven. Hallelujah.
John the Baptist, when he baptized Jesus, he said, "One, and I shared this last night, one who is coming is greater than me, whose sandals I'm not worthy to hold. Behold, the Lamb of God who comes to forgive the sins of the world." It's not what he said. He said, "Take away the sins of the world." He didn't say forgive. He said, "Take away." Did He forgive us? Yeah, but He took them away. Back in the day, in the Bible days, anything that was hung on a tree was cursed. And it says, "He who knew no sin became sin in order that the righteousness in us might be fulfilled through Christ." So Jesus, who had no sin, who was blameless, pure, was made sin and put on the tree. So who was, what was cursed on the tree? Jesus. No sin. Sin was cursed on the tree. Sin was taken away. "Behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world." So stop sitting in it. It's a mentality. If you wake up every morning and think, "Well, brother, we're not perfect. I'm just going to sin." I bet you by 11 o'clock, you're on your knees praying, "God, forgive me for all this stuff I'm saying."
Peter in the Bible, one of Jesus's greatest disciples, followed Him day by day, saw tons of miracles, performed tons of miracles himself. After the crucifixion, resurrection, he denied his best friend three times. Anybody in here have a best friend you'd give your life for? They've always been there for you when you're in need, they help you out, they're always an ear to listen. And then you see them go through turmoil and people are trying to put you on the line because of what they're facing. And you say, "I have no idea who that is." That wouldn't feel good. Imagine doing that to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, denying Him three times.
Paul was formerly known as Saul. Was one of the biggest terrorists in the Bible. When we hear terrorists, we think of 9/11 and all these different things. A terrorist is somebody who their tactic is to invade you with as much fear as they possibly can to keep you subordinate and just and break down and fearful. And then they can control you and do what they want. Paul was one of the greatest terrorists in the Bible. He's killing Christians. Killing them, guys. "Oh, you believe in Him?" It's probably what it sounded like. Like killing people, guys. Then he gets knocked off his donkey on the way to Damascus, gets blinded by the light of Christ, spends three days blind, gets the scales fall off his eyes. And that's what happens when you become a believer. It's, you can compare that where you're walking in deception and then all of a sudden you become saved and the things that you once did bother you. And then you realize, "Wow, if I actually knew what I knew now, I wouldn't have done that." And that's why God doesn't see you for that because now you see.
So Paul gets set free from the, the blindness. Then he goes out and he's, he goes out into Arabia for some say three, some say four years. And literally spends time with Jesus in the wilderness before he steps into ministry. He didn't get saved and the next day he wants to be in full-time ministry. Listen, ministry became a title through the church. But your ministry is your life lived through, through Christ, to people. Like, I don't care where you're at, where your job is, who you live with, whether your spouse is a believer or not. That doesn't have to dictate where you stand with God. Because you don't find your identity through people. Because people change, but truth never does. So Paul spends time literally with Jesus. If you look in the book of Corinthians, he writes about the Last Supper like he was there. Like Paul knew the Lord. Jesus is showing up at Paul's bedside, mentoring him. If Paul was killing Christians and Peter's denying the Savior of the world, yet they both turned their life around to serve God with all their heart and write books in the inspired word of God, they had to have gotten something that a lot of us miss.
If Paul would have allowed himself to stay in his past and the things that he once did in his life, he would have never been able to go on and fulfill all the great works that he did through Christ. He learned to not be a product of what he's been, been through. Listen, some of us have been raised in bad environments. Some of us had had abusive parents. Some of us don't have them and never did. Some of us were adopted. Some of us say, "Well, my mom didn't even want me. I was a mistake." That's a false. That's a lie. God says before the foundation of the world, He created you and knitted you in your mother's womb. So even if she didn't want you, guess who did? That's how you have to live. We all have these stories that we've been through. And people here like, "Well, you were a preacher's kid. You were raised in church. You had a good chance." I hear that in emails. "Well, you got to stop preaching this, brother, because not everyone's been through what you've been through." That is just, that's just exposing. And I'm not being lighthearted here, guys. I get it. Situations happen. And some things blow. But the problem is when you allow that to be who you are now. When you're 45 years old, 50 years old, 60 years old, or my age, 34, and you're still saying, "Well, when I was a little kid, I got touched wrong." What does that have to do with now? That Christ came and today you see who you are. If they knew who they were, they would have never did that to you. So don't be a product of their ignorance. You're free.
Yes, same thing with offense, guys. We get so caught up. "Well, he said, she said. You know, they just shouldn't have did that to me. And they looked at me wrong." And you know, I just, I don't know. Sounds funny, but that's how we are. Yeah, "Well, I don't like what they posted. I think they were referring that to me." And then we be, and then what do we do? We cut them off. "Oh, you know what? Forget them. Hypocrite. I saw them at church last week and now they're a hypocrite." So what do we do? So we cut them off. And we think we're winning because we put them to the side. Did you know your prayers are hindered when you walk in unforgiveness? So then you cry out to God and then you wonder why things aren't happening in your life that you're praying for. And then you want to blame God. But you still have animosity against your brother. But you want to blame God. Self-centeredness. Biggest problem on the planet.
A lot of us have a good heart and we don't realize it, but we do things. Again, guys, I'm not saying this is you. I'm not here to correct you and spank you and then drive back to Pennsylvania 10 hours today. "Well, I spanked them." It's not my heart. Please hear me. Nobody left yet, so we're good. It's just we come together today to stir one another up in love and good works. You don't just come to church so that you can receive and take from Pastor. You come to give too. Because what's inside of you, the person beside you might need. How come the week can be going so good and then sometimes Sunday morning comes and you get these thoughts and these feelings like, "I don't know if I need to go to church today." Anybody ever get that? I have. And I preach. The enemy tries to keep us from doing that because, like I said, he doesn't care if you come to church. He cares if you actually walk out what you've been taught and you actually believe it. Guilt, shame, condemnation, anti-Jesus.
If you get a thought, 12:45, we got to wrap it up here. If you get a thought that doesn't edify you, encourage you, or lift you up, it's never God. We get these thoughts. I'm going to share this quick and then we're going to do something at the altar. We get these, we get, excuse me, we get these thoughts that come in like I was talking about earlier and they bother us. You know, I've been in worship before before I'm about to be handed a mic and I get these perverse, wicked thoughts that'll try to hit my mind and I'm like, "Whoa, shake that off. I'm about to preach. I can't be thinking that. I'm a man of God." I'm being real. They come. Hit me. Here's what happens though. We all get those thoughts. We all get crazy thoughts. You know why? How many in you have, how many in here, show hands, be honest, please be honest with me. Have ever felt condemned or unworthy because you thought something or you got a bad thought that you didn't want? See the en-, the ones that didn't raise your hand, you are so holy. The devil isn't. He uses the same strategy on people because you know it works. He knows it works. He said, "Well, they're easy. You get on a Christian and you discourage them and they're calling their friend and asking them to pray for him because I'm just speaking to them a certain way and they don't like it." They're vulnerable in an area and they have a button, which you shouldn't have buttons. You should be buttonless because you died to yourself and have been given new skin. He knows the things. Like if your kids, for instance, if your kids getting on your nerves, gets to you, I guarantee you your kids will get attacked. Yeah.
We get these thoughts. They come to us and we don't want them. But like I said earlier, there's a time in your life where it didn't bother you the way it bothers you now because you were actually living a wrong life. You were living in sin. Then you come to Christ, you get made new, and you wonder why you still have the same thoughts. And then we start whole ministries for deliverance ministries and counseling. And all we're doing is counseling a problem rather than showing the identity and showing that the voice isn't the issue. And I'm not against deliverance. We saw it last night. Demons leaving people. We saw it last year too. It's a real thing. It's biblical. It's a real thing. But we get so caught up in the belief that we think the things that we're hearing is us. And then we become that thing. And then we come brought down. Then when we're singing, "The joy of the Lord is our strength," we're like, "Well, I ain't got no joy." Because we're so caught up in the problem. The problem isn't the voice. The problem is if you believe the voice. If it was really in you, you'd be doing it because the person's fruit is revealed by the way they live. If it was really you, you would still be doing the things that you hear. But the reason they bother you shows that you've changed. And maybe they're not in you. Maybe they're just outside knocking on the door, waiting for an opportunity to try to get back in. And the moment you open yourself up and you confess and say, "Well, that's, I'm still dealing with this." Boom. You opened it.
Right when you get the thought that says, "You're not going to make it. You're not good enough. You shouldn't be at. You're not good enough to be on the worship team. You're too young to speak. Don't share your testimony. It's not as good as the last guy that was just up there sharing his." When somebody thinks their testimony is better than somebody's or more powerful, or "I was more of a sinner," or not, "My testimony is not good enough." It's just showing that it's saying what Jesus did wasn't enough because I'm special. I hear it. I used to deal with it. I'd get up behind someone that's like, "Yeah, I did 20 years in prison. I've been shot at 40 times. I was shot in the leg and I was on life support and this and that." And I'm like, "And yeah, like I hung out in the hood and I got shot at too, but I was never in prison." Thank God. I should have for a very long time, 20 some years. But by the grace of God, I wasn't because He had other plans. But we compare ourselves amongst ourselves. And it's the biggest tool of destruction because that's where the, the shame comes in. That's where the guilt comes in, and the condemnation. And we get so focused that it blocks us from stepping into our, our, our potential. Like some of the people that have the biggest success in their future is the people that understood and learned from their past and realized, "Yes, I learned from it, but that's not me."
People say, "I'll forgive them, but I'm not going to forget." Well, if you're still holding on to it, did you really forgive? Be honest. "I'll forgive them, but I'm not going to forget what they did." Well, then every time you see them, you remember what they did. And now you're still in unforgiveness. Come on. Hallelujah. The only way to do what I'm saying is through the Holy Ghost. It's impossible. Matthew 5 starts talking about the Beatitudes. The Be-attitudes, not the Try-attitudes, the Do-attitudes. The Be that you become. It's impossible to follow those things without the power of the Holy Ghost.
Coming from a 12-year drug addiction, robbing family members, stealing from my own grandmother out of her house to get my next fix, and then getting kicked out, living in a double-wide trailer that was actually a hoarder's home. They went to prison for something and I moved in and all their belongings were there. There was bugs in the house, roaches, cracked windows in the bedroom. Like I talked about in the song, I didn't have money for propane gas. Didn't even have money for the rent. It was $100 a month, not a week, a month. $25 a week. And I couldn't pay it. And a 40, and I had a full-time job, paying $26 an hour. And all that was going to drugs because that's how deep I was and hopeless. Living in a trailer with, I could go in the winter and see my breath, no heat. Walking through those things, guys, you talk about condemnation. I had it. Because there's my dad out there on YouTube preaching every week and changing lives. And people were saying, "How's your son doing?" And he's not going to sugarcoat things, but he's not going to expose me either. He would just say, "Well, he could be doing a lot better. Keep him in your prayers." But they never lost sight of my potential. They never lost sight of my value. We take people for what they've been through or we've seen what they've done. And then we judge them for that. And we label them. And five years later, they might be a different person. But we still see them the way that they used to be. And that's not Christ at all. We do that to ourselves too. And that's why we don't feel the joy. That's why we don't feel fruitful. That's why we don't feel and see the increase in our life because we're being bound by things that are no longer us.
Can you turn that music up a little bit? Are you guys okay today? Does this make sense? Is this, is this getting in your heart? Some people have been shaking their head the whole time. And some people are looking at me like, "Is this guy done yet?" I'm about finished. You made it. I don't do a lot of altar calls and stuff. I don't always feel like I'm supposed to. The last service I was at in uh, Nashville, I didn't, um, because it's, it's, we can turn an altar call into just a place where we almost make it a habit. Like, "Well, we need a fresh touch from, from the Lord today." Which I do that a lot. I'm like, "Whoever needs a fresh touch from heaven, come up here." And people get touched. But what are you going to do with the touch? Because when you get fresh oil, your lamp burns. But eventually that burns out if you're not continually filling your lamp. So you don't want to just go from week to week and church service to church service and just try to make it. And then some of us create Wednesday night services just to make it through the week. Well, we need filled back up to get Thursday and Friday over with. Those people at work are draining me. Why are they draining you? When you're filled, to change them. We have to see that. But you can't do that if you're not spending time with, with the Father.
Sermons won't change your life. Sermons teach you about God and how to become. But when you actually get a hold of this and it becomes you, it changes you. And that's what fuels you to go down the road. Sermons teach you about God, but spending time with Him, you know Him. Holy Spirit, come. God, I thank you that You're a God of power and You do things that we're not capable of. You change us from the inside out. You make us new. You wash us white as snow. God, open the hearts and the eyes of people today that are struggling with their past, that are struggling with bondage, that are struggling with addictions, hidden things that people don't know about. God, bring it to light in their heart and say, "Today is the time to let it go. I'm sick of it. I'm done with it." God hasn't left you. He's been there the whole time. When you feel like what I've done keeps me from Him, that's false. What you've done should push you closer to Him because He's the only one that can empower you to get away from it. Holy Spirit, have your way. You guys have like a prayer team, a couple people, maybe like five.