Transcription
As I was coming over, I was getting on the plane to come over. I said, "Lord, what would you have me to minister on?" I just wrote a wonderful series on "What's Love Got to Do?" Oh, it's good. Tina Turner's gonna buy it. I know she is. He said, "You're going to a place of excellence, so we will deal with excellence." It's okay. I understand that.
He said, "Let's go to a man who goes from a slave to next in line to the king. Who at 92 years old, God still giving revelation to, talking to kings, changing governments. People are blessed because this man is in their presence. A Daniel of today." Now, why was he so blessed? Was it because of his talents? No. And yet, he had many. Plus, he's three friends: Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego.
Now, one thing the world notices is excellence. And how you do things. A sinner will pick up on it immediately. A special, a sinner that's an entrepreneur. They'll see things that other people don't see because they look with different eyes. What they want to do is actually learn something. And they're stable enough and secure enough to let someone that may be lower than them teach them something, to give them an idea, an insight, or concept that they can develop. That that person may not be able to develop. Because, you see, the whole key, as I said earlier, is application. I don't care what you know. If you can't apply it, it won't work.
Look what it says in Daniel chapter six, verse one: "It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty princes." So that's a pretty big corporation, which should be over the whole kingdom. And over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first. Now, Daniel was a slave, a captive, brought to Babylon, or to Iraq, to be a slave, to serve, to do whatever his master told him. Just like Joseph. "You do what I tell you. I don't care who you were before. You're nothing now." Hmm. But yet, he was first.
"That the princes might give accounts." There's always an accounting coming. Hebrews 11:2. Hebrews 11:1. "Now faith is the seven things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good report." Which means somebody making a report on you. And when you stand before the Most High God, what will the report say? And this king says, "I need an accounting of what I have." He's smart enough to see something that a lot of others can't see. Because they see you through the eyes of jealousy.
I preached something called "The Green-Eyed Monster." Whose eyes turn red? Talking about jealousy. Bible said, "Jealousy is cooler than the grave." But this man is not sinning through jealousy. He's looking at him and saying, "This boy got something." Yeah, but he's a slave. He's a Hebrew. I don't care who he is. I'm not talking about his talents. There's something in him that the princes might give a counselor to them, and the king should have no damage, or in other words, have problems.
Then this Daniel was preferred. Underline that in your Bible. Preferred above the presidents and princes. Favor was on it. Now, why? Because he's good-looking? Because he's short? Because he was tall? Because he was talented? No. Because an excellent spirit was in him. There's another place in the Bible where that Joshua and Caleb had excellent spirits. And those two went into the Promised Land. An excellent spirit would not only get you there, it'll get you out of there. It'll make the finish line the future.
Instead of the now or the past. Because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king, now we're reading the mind of Darius. And the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Now, write this down: Promotion from God brings satanic attention. Okay? Which means this: As you grow in God, you get ready for some potshots. The first ones will come from within the organization, usually. You belong because the jealousy, the red-eyed, the green-eyed monster whose eyes turn red will show himself.
But there's someone who's not jealous of you, who sees that excellence in you. Has nothing to do with your age. Because Abraham didn't do his best till he's a hundred years old. But he didn't. I tell you, you talk about become a man of faith, start having babies at 100. You know that's a long time to wait to start a family. But he serves an El Shaddai, Elohim, Lord El Elyon, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Shammah, Jehovah Tsidkenu. Why couldn't he just give himself one name? Because none of it fits. He's big.
Because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king said, "I gotta get this guy over everything." He's thinking, "This man is my man." But he's a slave. Who cares? Yeah, but you don't understand. We're better than here. He's not Babylonian. So that's not the issue. The issue is the king is thinking, "How do I keep my kingdom from having damage?" Have you ever thought, if you're a minister of the gospel, if you're a minister of the gospel, lift your hand up, that you ever thought that God was looking at you and and only called you for one reason: to stop the damage of the kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven on the Earth? That he sees something you may not see, or maybe your church doesn't see, or maybe it's your friend doesn't see, but God sees.
Now, I want to deal with this excellence of spirit. What, what, what it produced in his life. What gave him his future. Now, write this down. Then I'm going to deal with this. I'll give you a little time. Excellence of spirit, because the next spirit was in him, produces purpose. Daniel was a man of purpose. Which means, "I will not eat the king's meat." No, you don't understand. You got to do whatever. Yep. Just give, give me a shot. You got to trust the God that trusts you.
Excellence to be a produced purpose. If you're going to have an excellent spirit, you got to be a person of purpose. See, giving is done by purpose, not by need. That's why everybody's always trying to get more money. That's why there's so many needs. If God was moved by need, he'd never get out of Africa. He'd never get out of India. I got, won't need nothing you could ever shake a stick at. He moved my need. He never told you to finance poverty.
Now, I'm gonna say something to make somebody mad. A lot of missions work is nothing but finance poverty. Nobody ever gets out. It's from year to year to year to year. Yet Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord God's upon me, for He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." What message was the? They were saying, "You don't have to be poor no more." I refuse to finance your poverty. I give you an anointing to eradicate it. Just do you see that?
Now, when you say, "Yeah, but you're already defeated." The devil said, "We ain't got to work today. They're gonna defeat themselves. Let's stay at home and just take a nap." Now, what made him such a man? Excellent spirit produces purpose. Which means purpose is loyalty to Christ. Now, let me deal with that right there. When a person has formed his purpose, or her purpose, he is halfway to victory. Let me say it again. When a person has formed his purpose, he is halfway to victory. He will name it, announce it, and stand on it. Why? Because he sees. He knows where he's going, and he knows what he's going to do when he gets there. He's a person of purpose, which is loyal to the cause.
The difference between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden is cause. Saddam will have no cause. He's just greedy. Osama Bin Laden is exactly like Saul of Tarsus. "I'm gonna kill everybody that's not Muslim. They're infidels. I'll kill them all." Don't that sound like Saul of Tarsus? "I'm dragging out in the streets and killing children." Why? He's got a cause. That boy could be probably the greatest preacher that the Muslim world has ever seen if he ever gets to know Jesus. Because it'll turn him. He'll go from Saul of Tarsus to Paul the Apostle. He says, "I ain't got no cause. He ain't religious. He just wants some money and power. He's a serial killer. It's all he is." Osama is a multi-multi-millionaire, but will sleep in a cave because of the cause. You see the difference.
So, excellence of spirit produces purpose, which is loyal to the Christ. When a person has formed his purpose, is halfway to victory. He will name it, announce it, and stand on it. You see, everything I do, and I name it, why? I announce it. I still because it produces the purpose that God's called me to do.
Now, why should you have prayer? What made this bar have this excellent spirit? He has purpose. And use the prime example. They said, "Listen, we're going to feed." He said, "Listen, just give me some vegetables." I mean, Dr. Cherry's ministry was being born right there. Dr. Colbert Smith. He says, "Instead of eating all this greasy trash." Now, I do like cholesterol. I ain't gonna lie about it. I do. I love cholesterol. I don't like no broccoli. Give you gas. I like cholesterol. I like butter. I like Italian them. I like pasta. You know what I'm talking about? Cholesterol. Fried chicken. Ain't no base or no broiled chicken. Ain't no diabetic. I want some fried chicken. Love that chicken from Popeye's. Don't want no granola. That's a horse. Eat granola. I'm gonna get a little funny to help you out here. Want some eggs fried in grease floating on the top, sausage, biscuits, butter, gravy, bacon, cholesterol. Yeah. I'm gonna kill you. Yeah, but you'll die with a smile on your face.
Think about it. Action as a spirit produces purpose, which is loyal to the Christ. So purpose, when you are a person of purpose, you're halfway to victory. You name it, you announce it, you stand on it. Now, what does purpose do? Which makes that excellent spirit comes. When a temptation to test our trial comes. That's why God wants you to be a person of purpose. Purpose affords you anchorage in the time of storm. And also creates a base in the day of battle.
Now, some of you writing it down. Let me say it again. Purpose affords you anchorage in time of storms. And it also creates a base in the day of battle. He said, "Let me just eat. I'll eat. I promise. Me, check me out, man. If I, let me die. Just give me some vegetables and stuff. And I promise you, we will look better than anybody else's eating the king's meat." Now, why everybody want the king's meat? That's the problem with ministry. They all want the king's meat. But it may have been offered to idols. That's why it's good to adopt the David principle so you never eat anything that was offered to the world, whatever that may be, spiritually, physically, or financially.
So purpose affords you anchorage in. And also creates a base, or it creates a base in the day of battle. But anchorage in a time of storm. I've had many opportunities to fail. I just didn't take anything because I had purpose in my life. I purposed in my life. I would go on television. And how do you watch my television show? You've never heard me say, "Won't you help me, Lord Jesus? Help, help my brother. Come on, help me. Heaven, Lord. Heaven, Lord." I can even open. You know, the Lord said, "If you'll walk with me today, I want to let you know, Jesus, I'll tell you what I'm going to do." Now, you know, I mean, you know, hey, I can preach it black, preach it right. I can preach it kind of where you want me. That ain't the issue. You've never heard me say, "I don't hear from you today. We're going off the air. Get off." By that time, if you get off, go away. Don't tell me God can do everything, but he can't help you. Now, I know he uses people. I got enough sense to know that. But you see, your motive is wrong. You're not a person of purpose.
Because the battle comes, you gotta understand storms are out there. I live in hurricane country. We don't like them. Why? They all live there. You would have to evacuate over a hundred million people in America to get away from the coast, from Portland, Maine, all the way down to Miami, all the way around the Gulf Coast, all the way to Mexico, in the Caribbean, or Caribbean. But see, the problem is, so many people praying against them storms, and they're messing up the Weather Channel. By the channel, say it's gonna be going in the Biloxi. Oh, it just turned. You know what? That's them Christians. Said, "No, Jesus, send it to Houston." God never told you to pray against a storm. He told you to take authority over a storm. So we don't pray against hurricanes. We take authority over them. They have an eye. They have a name. Everything named bows in the name of Jesus, right? So Hurricane Emily, Hurricane Franklin, whatever, you know, whatever Hurricane George, Hurricane Ivan. They call it Ivan. They're terrible. You get people say, "You know, we ain't had one father yet." It looked like we knew one. Shut up, you fool. I'll slap you silly. Are you crazy? You have no idea what you're talking about. If you've never been in one, you'll speak in tongues. If you're a Baptist, I promise you that. If you're a black brother, you turn white. Tell you one thing, Jesus. I don't know what I'm gonna do.
When you got 140 miles sustained wind with tornadoes inside of them, those suckers 300 miles across, she's traveling 10 to 12 miles an hour. So you got to add that too. But see, if you got purpose, forged you anchorage in the time of storm, creates a base in the day of battle. So we pray against. We don't pray against them. We take authority over them. How do you pray? How do you do that? I said, "Lord, come against Hurricane Emily, because everything named has to bow in the name of Jesus." Now, Lord, it has an eye. Poke his eye out. Poke that eye out. All the power goes. Come on, wind shear to cut the tops off. Come in dry air to get in, which destroys the fuel. She thought, all the hurricane is, is a heating machine. It's dispensing heat. That's all it is. You ever noticed? Most of it, you don't know if you have been in one. You don't hardly ever see thunder or lightning. You know why? It's a tropical system. It gets its strength from the water. A thunderstorm gets its strength from cold air and hot air hitting. And then you get hail. Oh, actually, thunderstorms go up higher than hurricanes. Storms and suckers get up 60, 70, 80,000 feet in the air. Major hurricane go up to about 30 or 40,000 feet. That's it. Because it's getting all the strength from the water. You can preach against a hurricane because you haven't noticed. You can preach the gospel on a hurricane because it looks for a weak place in the atmosphere to go in. It can't go against a high block. And a high I won't touch it. You know why? Because it's a low. It's a low pressure. It can't go against. So it looks for a little weak place to go. And it just follows us the weaknesses. And that amazing. Poke its eye. So we don't pray against them. We take authority over them.
So excellence of spirit produces purpose. Loyalty to see. He was loyal to Jehovah. "I will not eat the king's meat." That's loyalty. "We'll kill you." Don't make no difference. I have an anchor. See, and he was a clean man. He's young. He's good-looking. Girls like him, right? King got girls on demand. Let's call him up. Come over. Your mama, bring your own self over here. Bring your sister too. I got a couple of friends. You understand? That ain't personal. It's just business. I'm gonna make you an offer you don't refuse. How much? See this? He has to do what that king says. What are you saying? Purpose will not permit fleshly indulgences of any sort to rub the bloom from your spiritual life, weaken the nerve of your spiritual endeavor, or dim the vision of spiritual outlook. That's what an excellent spirit is. That's just Daniel. See, he could have done all that, but he refused. Why? His purpose.
Excellent spirit produces purpose. He was loyal to Jehovah. Which means purpose will not permit fleshly indulgences of any sort to rub the bloom from spiritual life, or weaken the nerve of your spiritual endeavor, or dim the vision of spiritual outlook. I had a man asked me not long ago, "How long you been to Mexico?" I said, "20 years. 28 years a full time." I said, "How long have you been saying?" "I got saved 1974." "You have a commit adultery?" I said, "What'd you say?" "You ever commit adultery?" "No." "Did you have an opportunity to?" "Yeah. I ain't the ugliest man in the world. I get hit on every once in a while. Can you believe it? I'm talking about girls I could be that daddy. They think I got money. They right. But that ain't my money. That's Kathy's money. I belong to her. That's what I work for." You understand why? "Well, why won't you do that?" "I'm just as mad as everybody else in here." And the other man, "Well, I will not allow, because I'm a man of purpose, to live." Be you holy. You can't be perfect in a moment, but you can be holy in a moment. I made in my mind, I will not let that destroy or hurt me in the flesh. I won't let that purpose stop me from letting that destroy me. See, because I'm a man of purpose. When I permit fleshly indulgence of any sort to rub the bloom from spiritual life, I don't want to say I'm sorry. So if I don't do it, I won't have to say it. And if I did do it, I wouldn't have time to say it. Kathy kill me in a second. I wouldn't have a chance to repent. Die, sucker. Oh, I'm sorry, Jesus. That'd be over with. I was born on the streets of New Orleans. You do what you got to do. You see, when all them people in the '30s left Chicago, where you think they went? New Orleans.
So purpose, we're not fleshly indulgent of any sort to rub the bloom from spiritual life, or to weaken that nerve of spiritual endeavor, or dim the vision of spiritual outlook. There's Daniel. You can find that. And all he does because he, his spirit produces purpose. Well, if excellence of the spirit produces purpose, which is loyalty to God, or to Jesus, then excellence of spirit produces prayer. I will get a little homiletical today. It goes first from purpose. What made his action spiritual? So wonderful. He was a man of purpose. But he also was a man of prayer. So if purpose is loyalty to Christ, then prayer is communion with Christ.
What is prayer? Well, prayer, in its true context, is communication between man's weaknesses and God's power, between man's limitations and God's sufficiency. That's what prayer is. It's the language of God. Let me say it again. Prayer, in its true context, is communication between man's weaknesses and God's power, between man's limitations and God's sufficiency. If you've got limitations, not praying, it will produce God's power. It will produce God's abundance. You tell him you're weak. He says, "Let the weak say I'm strong." You never heard God say, "You have yet went up to God." And he said, "Jesus, I'm sick." He's outside. I said, "Hey." He says, "Well, by my stripes." What are you talking to me for? Use the medicine. See my point? I'm trying. Don't get nothing done. I didn't try to marry Kathy. I did. You didn't try to come to this meeting. You did. You'll have people say, "Should go here." But just last night, we tried. That's why they're not here. You don't try to do anything. He said, "Be your doer, not a trier."
So prayer, in its true context, is communication between man's weaknesses, God's power, between man's limitations, and God's sufficiency. God is sufficient. What does prayer do? It shows you your life begins in the spiritual. And from that center, you govern the material. Every time I need something material, I start in the spiritual. Because see, that's where I'm governed. That in the spiritual, what produces my material. Prayer shows me, not God. I'm the one that needs to know this. Not God. That's excellence of spirit produces purpose. And excellence of spirit produces prayer. Daniel was a man of purpose. And when I need the king's meat, I was a man. I will be a man of prayer. I'm going to pray. Even though they put me in the lines, then I don't care. Because that's my human communication between God. I'm giving him my weaknesses. He's giving me his strengths. I'm showing him my limits. He's showing me his sufficiency. You see that? Is this good tonight or what? Am I? You know, I'll throw some humor in there. But I want it's time you receive. This is the year of overflow. You know what God told me, Rob? He said, "If you can contain Jesse Duplantis, what I'm going to do this year, then you're not an overflow." He said, "God just, I don't fill a cup. I run it over." I wrote a book in 1992. It's one of the best books I've wrote. But it didn't go over too good. Now it's really selling like crazy. Tyler was this. God's not enough. Eat too much. He got too much grace, too much mercy. You know, he's gonna save somebody you don't like. You know he's going to do it. He's too much. They said, "Oh, that's just, that's just too strong." 1992. Boy, they loved that. Nah. 2005. Why? Because they're able to receive it.
Actions of spirit produces purpose. Actions of spirit produces prayer. The prayer shows you your life begins in the spiritual. And from that center, you govern the material. That's exactly what he did. He was a man of prayer. And then out of that prayer closet, he would walk and come tell the king, "There he is, Belshazzar. You've been found in the balances and you've been waiting the balances and found wanting." But see, he did that. But he was praying before he ever got that. That spiritual concept produced the material part of his life because he had an excellent spirit. Now, whether all of you have that, especially when you've got Christ in you, the hope of glory. Did you know how much revelation, understanding, you God? Do you know Jesus said this? "I would like to have spoken to you, but I cannot because you're not able to receive it. But when the Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you." You know what that means? It says that we're in this New Testament church today. I say, "Holy Spirit, tell me what Jesus couldn't tell those people because I am able to hear." Ain't that good? Tell me what Jesus couldn't tell them because they could not bear it or hear it. But he said, "You would tell me because we can receive it." Man, you can get an answer to any any complicated question. I wish I hear some of these princes going, "Larry King, I don't know what about." "I don't know." Well, you never know. I know I won't say fool. Invite me. I know that sounds arrogant, doesn't it? Oh, it sounds. No, they don't know how to answer it. They're trying to be politically correct. You can't be politically correct. The natural man receive it not the things of God. You gotta speak the word of God the way it is and let the rubber where the rubber meets the road. Instead of trying to protect yourself. I'm not talking about judgment against people. I'm talking about answering, saying what's supposed to be said.
Excellence of spirit produces prayer, which is communion in Christ. Then excellence of spirit produces perception, which is submission to Christ. Now, you begin to perceive things. This man perceived. He could look at the handwriting on the wall and he perceives, "O King, if you listen to me, thus thus and thus will happen." So that's what an exercise. That's what Darius is seeing in this boy. This boy's got purpose. This boy's got prayer. This boy's got perception. He's loyal to God. He's communing with God. And he submitted to God. What does that mean? Perception will produce a growing keenness of insight, a sensitiveness of soul, and a keen vision in the crisis of life. You see, perception for thus saith the Lord. See, when you begin to understand that he's not promising, but prophesying, and prophecy is history wrote in advance, then you perceive. Paul looked at me and said, "I perceive that you have faith." Jesus said, "I perceive." He comes to this pool of Bethesda. He said, "Well, he said, 'You want to get here? I ain't got nobody to pick me up when the angel come to trouble the water.'" Now, he's dealing with someone who's greater than an angel. He's dealing with the person that created the angels. Jesus perceived that he could receive that. Hmm.
Now, you see, when people can't perceive it, they used to try to teach yourself or try to get them to get it because it won't work. A lot of salvations was done to make people got people through all because there's guilty. Make them feel guilt. Make them feel like a piece of trash. And they they get saved for two weeks. Then here come all our temptation. I go, "Hey, I can't live like this." I make people mad. They write me letters. I said, "You know, I don't sin every day." They go. I said, "I go long periods of time without sinning." Because we've heard all our quote religions like, "You sin every day." I know if you sin every day, you're a sinner. The Bible said, "We've all sinned." That's true. But we're not all sinners. You ever thought about what is this blood of Jesus? What's all these things? Where's all this power to keep us right? So I have enough guts just to say, "You know why I said?" Because I perceived it. It brought an insight to me. I said, "The Lord sold me a statement one time. He said, 'You know, I'm not as hard on people as people are.'" He said, "People kill you in a second, Jesse." He said, "I couldn't go to funerals. I'll mess them up. I'm trying to raise people from there. They ain't trying to kill them." He said, "I'm emptying graveyards, not filling them." Listen to it. That's perception. See, Daniel could perceive what the king needed. So the king would never have damage. That's an excellent spirit. It produces purpose. It produced in prayer. And he's produced in perception. What is that perception? Perception will produce a growing keenness of insight, sensitiveness of soul, a keen vision in the crisis of life. I mean, you can see what no one else can see. That's perception. A clarity, a vision will enable you to accomplish the divine work allotted to you. So you got to have clarity of vision.
Now, once you have it, let's. You don't stop there. Then you got to make the vision plain. And he said, "Make the budget plain." I told at the camp a couple years ago, I said, "Budgets cost you something. Vision brings you something." He goes, "My God, just that's revelation." Yeah. People don't like budgets. That's limitations. We're going to receive an offering for the expenses of the meeting. All right. Let me give him a dollar. All right. But you get up like Pastor Rob then says, "Gabriel calls." He saw y'all go. Yeah. It costs. No, it costs a lot of money. That's not everybody knows that. You, you already know that. What is that about? Ah, that's vision. Budget costs you something. Vision brings. I never deal with budgets. Even though I have one. I serve a Jewish God. I mean, I gotta have one. I mean, he don't pay retail. Neither does Jesse. I'm a businessman. I'm serious. I can be about that serious. Oh, right. I have a budget. But what good is it to tell you? I tell you the vision. Why? A clarity of vision will enable you to accomplish the divine work allotted to you. You got to understand what God told you to do is not just work. It's a divine work. It's His will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Now, that's actions of spirit. Excellence produces purpose, all to the Christ. Excellent spirit produces prayer, communication with Christ. Excellent spirit produces perception, submission to Christ. He that hath an ear, let him hear what I'm saying.
Now, purpose and prayer tell you the cause. There's a cause for that. And then finally, excellence reproduces power. What if excellent spirit produces purpose, which is loyalty to Christ? An excellent spirit produces prayer, which is communication or communion with Christ. And excellence of spirit produces perception, which is submission to Christ. Then excellence of spirit produces power, which is cooperation with Christ. Purpose, prayer, perception, power. Power. The power comes because of the perception, because of the prayer, and because of the purpose. That's the end result. Now, you incorporation with God. This man had power. When he said something, you could take it to the bank. Even, even belshazzar, who didn't remember the boy. But the old queen came in. Nebuchadnezzar's wife, or whoever she was, was there. "Is a man? He's still here. 92." Ain't nobody can read this. You know why? They didn't invite him to the meeting. They didn't invite him to the banquet. He's not politically correct. Oh, but one day you're gonna get your invite. Because you're the only one that can read that handwriting on that wall. Let me tell you, people watching what I tell you may not like me. But one day you're gonna invite me. You don't need me now. But the day is coming when you will. That's a fact. They didn't invite him. He wasn't there. They had to go get the old man. All right. So he's in the religion. No. It ain't nobody can get no handwriting on the wall. He's not for sale. He's loyal to Christ. He's a man of purpose. He's communion with Christ. He's a man of prayer. He submitted to Christ. He's a man of perception. He has power with Christ. He's a man of power. Purpose, prayer, perception, and power constitute an excellent spirit.
Now, watch this. The world we are living in is looking for people, very important, who is superior to power instead of driven by it. You know what ministries mess up? Our politicians mess up. They're driven by power instead of being superior to it. Just because you've got the power, don't mean you got to use it. You see, you must be superior to it instead of driven by it. That's why people mess up. They asked President Clinton, "Why'd you mess with that girl?" Because I could. Remember him saying that? And I've been praying for because I only had problems with his body. I mean, a lot of people do wrong things. He just happened to be the president of the United States. Now, why did he do that? Why he was not superior to that power. He was driven by it. Why did Nixon mess up? All he had to do is say, "Somebody broke into this Watergate mess. This is a bunch of junk. And I'm gonna find me a bunch of people. And this is wrong." Why didn't he do it? He was driven by that power and instead of superior to it.
Now, Jesus had the same opportunities as Nixon and Clinton. Well, they said, "We're going to kill you." Watch this. He said, "Don't you know I can call more than 12 legions of angels to take care of this situation?" You are, you, you're talking. You want to dance with me? You want to go walk with me? Now, one angel in the Bible knocked down 185,000 men. Twelve legions would have took out 20 billion 400 million men. And the world has never known that kind of population. Why didn't Jesus do it? Because he was superior to that power instead of driven by it. "For this cause I came into the world." "We're gonna kill you." "I'll be back in three days."
I'll show you his power. When it came to arrest. They said, "We seek Jesus." Another. He said, "This I am he." Bam. They all hit the ground. We'll read your Bible. Boom. Fell under God. Jesus looking around. Can you imagine? But he was superior to power. Why haven't you committed those things like adultery? On occasion. Superior to it instead of driven by it. Don't see a woman as a sexual object to be conquered. This is a person with a brain who can think. And all you can see is parts. Let me give you a revelation. Parts wear out. It's fact. It's a fact. Some of you young people, you think that girl's pretty. Oh, yeah, man. She's a fox, man. Think that boy's a hunk. Oh, yeah. We give you some revelation. Take pictures.
Because it's going to fall down. It's going to hit the ground, buddy. That's a fact. But so what? Who cares? You didn't marry her body or his. You married her or him. You see these glasses? Let me tell you something. These things that you get old. These things are great. Because you look at your wife to tell you something. Mama, you look as good the day is when I first. Lord Jesus. Let me put that down. When I first saw it. Young people don't believe that. Oh, you got a revelation coming. You're gonna say, "Bye, honey." In the bottom of your arm, gonna be a flopper. I'll get all that cellulite all over you, honey. "Does this dress make me look fat? Doesn't make my butt look big?" Lord, do you see any bumps? Oh, no. Just a little hail damage. Kind of looks like a hail damage though. But we'll bond over there. We'll fix all that. We'll put some Bondo on it. We'll fix all that. Don't worry about that. It don't make no difference. It don't mean no difference. Why? Marriage is a, a communion of excellence. It has purpose. It has prayer. It has perception. It has power. Why? Because you and God are in a marital contract. What do you think marriage is? When a great marriage has purpose in it. Has prayer in it. Has perception in it. Has power in it.
So the world is looking for people who are superior to power instead of driven by it. That's a phenomenal statement. Now, when you have that ability, which you do, because you have an excellent spirit in you, power will cause you to see the issues. You can fix it. See, that's why Gabriel calls coming to you. That power that you believe that can fix that issue makes you see the issues, understand the virtues, and enable you to say no when the moment comes. You have to have the ability to say no. Even though it looks like this is what God wants me to have. You must be superior to that instead of driven by it. That's what David said to Araunah. "Thank you, Araunah. You nice. You can give it to me." "No, I will not offer God something that doesn't cost me something." Now, don't take that out of context and say, "Oh, I can't receive anything." No. Now you take it. Now you're running across the road. You're gonna hit the wall. No. You're getting over balance here. No. There. You need to receive their time to receive. But they're going to be sometimes when you will say, "No, thank you." Today is my blessing day. You have to have that ability.
So actions of spirit produces purpose and prayer, which describe, which tells us the cause. And then perception and power describe the effect. Everything you do must have cause and effect. Purpose and prayer cause. Perception and power effect. That's application. Because if it's not applied, I don't care what you do, it's not going to work. Cause and effect. Everything for God. So loved the world. David couldn't understand why everybody was freaking out over Goliath. He says, "He's 17-year-old pimples on his faith. He's a kid. He just went down there to bring some cheese to his brothers, some cholesterol, some high-fat stuff." Is there not a cause? See, you don't have to be saved 400 years. I understand the cause. Is that not a cause? See, people forget the cause. And if you forget the cause, you're not gonna have any effect. So that's what Darius saw in this slave kid. "I'm gonna put him all over my whole king. Cause he's got purpose. He's got prayer. He's got perception. He got power. That boy is excellent." And then three other friends of his are just as good.
Now, when you have that, get ready for attacks from the same people that you in with. "Who did he think he is?" I love God much. He do. I don't know why I don't have what he has. Maybe you're not doing what he do. It's like one lady told me one time. She said, "Oh, you dress it upon us." I said, "Yes, ma'am." "She's not your plane." I said, "Excuse me." "She's not your jet." I said, "Yes, ma'am." "I don't think you ought to have it." I said, "I don't think I asked you." Did I ask you? "No, I'm not a pastor." She said, "What?" I said, "Did I ask you?" "Well, I don't have preach all to happen." "I, I was you mad now?" And she kind of stuttered. "I'm trying to do like I, I don't think, I don't think people in ministry ought to have it." I said, "What religion are you?" She said, "Well." I said, "What religion are you?" She said, "I'm Catholic." I said, "Your preacher got a plane?" She said, "What?" I said, "The Pope got a bigger plane than me." "The Pope can bring everybody he won't." I said, "You hate the Pope?" "No, I don't hate the Pope." I said, "I'm going to Rome. I'm gonna tell him you don't like his plans." "Pope got a prank." "What is the Pope doing ministering the gospel?" "What is yesterday the plans doing ministering the gospel?" "What's your problem?" "S." I said, "Well, you don't like the Pope." "Yeah." I said, "He got a bigger plane. I got better one than I have. And I'm glad for it. Needs it." This is Pope John, said before he passed away, doing a great work. "Mad at him." She said, "But that's." "I'm sorry." I said, "You show off." "He's sorry." "But I forgive you." I shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't help myself. And the Lord said, "Yes." I said, "I know I got a little hard on." He said, "I'm about to do it myself." You know, she's now one of my partners. Supports me financially. She just needed an understanding. And that was probably my fault by not explaining it. I'm not just saying it's all. I'm not mad at her. But she caught me off guard. What you want?
Excellence in spirit. Well, I don't think I ought to have. Well, you ain't gonna. You haven't invited me to the banquet. But your day's coming. My invitation coming. You're gonna need me at that banquet one day. It's all that matters out there. And they're all calling you a piece of trash. Maybe here, you're in your community. They don't think much of you in your church. Oh, anyway, the day is coming. Handwriting on the wall. You're not invited now, but you will be invited because you're the only one who read that writing. It's coming. I don't get prideful about that. Be superior to it. And don't use it to hurt someone. But be honest enough to say, "You've been waiting to balance." If I wanted this night, will your kingship, your government required of you? I paraphrase that. And certainly, that's exactly what happened. Then do you know what happened? They go in and kill a bunch of people. They don't even know who this guy is. But his reputation is already known by the Medes and the Persians. Right? They put him in the government. That bar couldn't go down to save his soul. Why? Overflow. Overflow. Excellence of spirit.
Now, let me say this and close. It's my first closing. Man asked me the other day. I thought it was a viable question. I said, "Yes, sir." "Are you a tither?" "Uh, yeah. I've been tithing since the day I got saved." "Well, I don't know if that's in the New Testament." "I said, 'Do you have one?'" "He said, 'Yes.'" "I'll do." "Have you read it?" "He said, 'Yeah.'" "I said, 'No, you didn't answer my question. Did you read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation?'" "Well, no, I haven't read a whole lot." "I said, 'Well, that's your problem.'" "I said, 'Do you lose things easily?'" "I said, 'Have you struggled a limit?'" "Yeah." "I said, 'I understand.'" "I said, 'Your problem is your tithing.'" "He said, 'Well, Malachi 3:10 says.'" "I said, 'Well, quoted to me.'" "He said, 'Well, uh, bring.'" "That's that's all you know is bring." "I said, 'So far as you got on tithing was ringing.'" "You didn't like that word." "See, that, that, that's responsibility. I don't want that responsibility." "I said, 'Let me quote it for you.'" "Bring all the tithes under the storehouse that they've been meeting my house." "Yeah, that's right." "I said, 'Oh.'" "I said, 'What else?'" "It says." "I said, 'Let me help you.'" "Bring all the tithes in the stars that have been meeting my house. Prove me now, he saith the Lord of hosts, and what you're asking for is proof. If I will not open up the windows of heaven, pull you out of blessing, oh, there should not be room enough to receive it.'" Now, let's be honest. How many of you people have room to receive? And you're a tither? Oh, yeah. Be honest. That shouldn't be. Malachi 3:10 says, "Bring all the tithes they've been meeting my house. Prove me now, it say the Lord of hosts, if I not open up the windows of heaven, watch this, pull you out a blessing, or empower to prosper you, that shall not be wrong enough to receive it." And a lot of you that are tied to live behind himself. I, I, I got a lot of room. Yeah, vacancy everywhere in my place. Maybe you saw that as a promise instead of a prophecy. Maybe you're not believing that the way God believes that.
Now, watch this. Do you only know why God put tithing in the Bible? Mike, the only reason why. He don't need your money. On your best day, you can't impress God. On your wealth. I think I'd go streets. You got streets, holes in them this big. It ain't work. You ain't gonna treat you. You talking El Shaddai. Do you think he needs anything? You got. You living in a dream. We're here, my Lord. He, we, you're only living on one planet in a galaxy called a Milky Way, which is a hundred billion planet, moons, and stars. And what we know of in the Milky Way with a hundred billion galaxies with a hundred billion planet, moons, and thoughts. And each one of them. That's the only ones we know of. And every time we constantly, uh, seeing more and more. And he owns the universe. And you think he needs your five dollars? Now, why did he put tithing in there? Let's just put two and two and come together for. Why? So you would have overflow. So there would not be no room enough to receive it. Never fails. The cover runs it over. He's trying to get more to you. Contain. But if you can't receive it, you can't have any of it. Well, and if you give your ties, yeah, it's not your time to start with. In fact, you ain't give him nothing yet of yours.
So I told this guy, I said, "I said, I've had a lot of things don't don't last long for you, do you?" He said, "You know, that's true." I said, "I bet your cars break down pretty much, huh?" I said, "I bet you have air-conditioned problems and refrigerator problems, it freeze the problems, all that kind of, you know, stuff's always breaking, that right?" He said, "How did you know that?" I said, "Because you're not a tither." I said, "Tithing, you can, you can preach this, pastor. Tithing protects your assets." How you know that? Because Malachi 3:11, "I will rebuke that the Bible for your sake." The devil ain't getting out of God's goods. He's trying to get yours. I'm a tither. My stuff don't wear out. I gotta throw it away. I got an air conditioner. It's over 18 years old. And the air conditioning guy calls me every year. He said, "Uh, I said, 'It's funny. I can't believe I put that thing in there. He's supposed to last.'" He's about this boy. He says, "How come your life last so long?" I said, "I would tither." He said, "I see you later, Reverend. Have a great day. God bless you." Tithing protects your assets. Then the other day, the Lord rebuked me. Rob, just shut me down. I was about, you see, I'm about ready to go to a federal court, you know, I mean, you know, if we believe in separation of church and state, to stop my business now. You want.
To go to war with me, we'll go to war. I'll take it to the Supreme Court because I've got a constitution. I fight, we're going to do with it, and then we got an anonymous old. They don't even know the Ten Commandments behind their head. They can't turn around and look. Good Lord, in the matter, somebody won't think about. Look behind your head, fool. That's right behind your head. Tithe, then protect your assets. So, I mean, I, I, I'm not going to. I'll set a court precedent if I have to because it's going to separation. If you want to be separate, go your way. Ain't nothing wrong, it's not the issue. But they want to, well, no, you don't come into God's business unless you're a Christian. You know the Lord. Ain't nothing wrong with it, but I'm just saying. So they don't know what to do with me. Why? Because, because government hates is a word called "no." Because you see, they forgot that the government is you. We the people of the United States, in order to perform a more perfect human, establishing, just, you know what I'm talking about, a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Excuse me. But see, the reason why people can't fight nothing is because they don't have none of this. But Jesse got this. I don't mean that arrogant. Fight for them. The issue is this. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This is what they respect. They don't respect me. They don't respect. They respect this. So I said, "I promise you, we're gonna spend a lot of money, and you're gonna run out." But I'm not. I'm serious. I'm gonna be about that. Why? Who's behind me? El Shaddai, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Shammah, Jehovah Sid-kameu.
[Applause] Reverend, let's talk. It's amazing. But a federal lawsuit would do this morning. I ain't gonna do it. State court, federal judge, he's elected for life. Yeah, for sale. So when you understand that, I said, "I will not allow the devil to rebuke or to steal my assets." So that, that's a little irritated. Let me get to this. So I said, "Dinner." In the name of Jesus, the Lord said, "What you doing, Jesse Dupont?" So I'm rebuking the devil. He said, "That's not your job. He said, you're a tither. That's my job to rebuke the devil for you." I said, "Well, do your thing." And God said, "Devil, get away from Jesse." And we settled that thing. I don't even have to rebuke the devil because he rebukes the devil for my sake because I'm a tither. And because tithing protects my assets. Somebody shout, "Will you see?" And you thought it was a money thing? It's not. It's an obedient thing. Prosperity, not a money message. Some people preach it as a money message, I know that. But it's not. It's an obedience message. When you obey, God blesses you. You know it. Don't obey. Obedience. Everybody say, "Obedience." It takes three letters to mess it up: D-I-S, disobedience. Everybody say, "Promise." Takes three letters to mess it up: C-O-M, .com.
[Laughter] Don't take much. Didn't you say a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Ah, but if you have action as a spirit, purpose, the alternative, Christ, prayer, communion with Christ, perception, submission to Christ, power, cooperation with crowds, purpose, and prayer. Tell the cause, perception, and power describe the effect. You will be effective in all that you set your hand to do. See, you got to understand what your money is. It's just a lot, a key to unlock a door and a window. You get hit with so much, it's a, it's, it's, you go, "Oh boy." Says, "I'm not there yet." I know you're not there yet, but you ain't dead yet neither. This is my second closing. There's a four-letter word, and you know a lot of four-letter words, right? For some reason, a four-letter word sticks in people's minds, and the devil uses a four-letter word to shut down Christians more than anything else. And it's not "faith" because faith is a five-letter word, f-a-i-t-h. So it's not that. What did you shut you down with a four-letter word? T-I-M-E, time. He said, "If I can delay this, they'll say it's not true." That's why God said, "Having done all to stand, this stand." What you doing? Stand. Don't look like nothing happening. Mobile with a C. The move would I believe. Are you nervous? No. What are you doing? Standing. Why? Because he said it. Yeah, but it sounds dumb. I know, but you're gonna do anything about it? Yeah. What are you gonna do? Stand. See, so I realized that I'm in business with God. Pretty good partner. Pretty good part. His will be done. I began to really research my life, my last closing, and I found out that my will is Israel. That I have lost myself. I died because it's not me that liveth, and Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Now my mind about the faith of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So I don't frustrate the grace of God. I gotta tell you one more funny thing. This happened. A kid walked up to him. I called him, "Because young man." Well, just, I said, "Yes, sir." "I'm gonna quit my job and I'm gonna live by faith." I said, "Come here, boy. If your faith doesn't work with the job, what makes you think your faith are gonna work without a job? You're gonna starve to death, fool." And the Lord gave me a sermon. He said, "I want you to preach on the spirit of stupid." That's the spirit of stupid. Come up on that man. We had a lady call out over one time. She said, "You need to divorce Kathy and marry me. You've got the spirit of stupid." Stupid, this downright stupid. People do some stupid things.
You're gonna lose weight.
[Applause] It's better stupid if you think that you're cutting back eating Krispy Kreme donuts and skim milk. The spirit of stupidness on you, just being stupid on you, man. And mister, if you think you own that house, you got the spirit of stupid on you. That woman owns all. All you got is a garbage can. That's why you take it to the road. It's her house. It's her bed.
[Laughter] I've said this here before. I got to say it. I'm gonna make you laugh, then I'm gonna leave you with a great laugh. I really believe right before God created Adam and Eve, God had just finished creating cats and dogs. God is my witness. Now, you can't prove it's true. I can't prove it's not. So here it is. Thank you. He really finished. He just finished creating cats and dogs, and then he started creating Adam and Eve because men act like dogs, and women act like cats. Is that the truth? Men are always barking, women like cats. And hey, and you can't touch a cat until a cat's ready. That effect. You going to try to touch a cat? Oh, but notice, you can hug a dog anytime you want. It's
[Applause] the truth. Now, why do you come up with this? I don't know. I saw two dogs and a cat. Wow. Oh, but you can hug a dog anytime. That's a man, boy. But all of a sudden, that cat just get a revelation, start walking over to you, kind of slow, look at you.
[Applause] Give me that look.
[Applause] And that dog.
[Applause]
[Laughter] Did you enjoy it tonight?
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