Jesse Duplantis Full Sermons - Led by the Spirit

If you got your Bibles, turn with me today to the Book of Romans, chapter 8. The Book of Romans, chapter 8. I want to deal with a subject a little bit dealing with me about, and the title of this message is, "Your Road to Somewhere Has Another On It." Your road to somewhere has another on it.

And people, I'm amazed that many people in Christianity find that they, uh, they call it the dry place, or someplace. You know, "I'm in a dry place." Only dry place I know about in scripture is in hell. But God, you send demons to the dry place, so you're not in the dry place. And but a lot of people think, you know, they moved by the feelings of Christianity instead of the spirit of Christianity. And, uh, a lot of people don't know what to do, or when to do it, or where to do it, or how to do it. But yet, we have someone that's on that same road that we're traveling now.

The road doesn't move, but the journey does. Some people think just because they're on the road, they've done right. But the road don't move. There's not one road in America or across the world that's moving. It's the people that are on it, or the journey is what's moving. So I want to read this scripture right here, and I'm gonna do a little teaching this morning here. Romans 8, verse 14 says, "For as many," and I hope it is many, "for as many are led by the spirit of God, not the spirit of circumstances." They are, now watch this, when you're led by God, you change families. You become sons of God. "For many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again." How many Christians you know are in bondage? Well, you know, brother Jesse, I tell you, I love the Lord, but I just got a problem with this and that. Now, why do you have a problem if you know you're a child of the King? Because you're focusing more on your problem than on your relationship and your family heritage that you have. "For as many as led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God," or the family of God. "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again."

Now, let me give you a prime example of that real quickly, without, and I'll get into this message. Before I was born again, I was a heavy drinker. I mean, heavy drinker. I'm not talking about party drinker. I mean, I started in the morning at seven o'clock with a glass of bourbon and pancakes, or scotch. Or if I wanted a little dessert, a margarita. This is in the morning, okay? That would be all day long. And then I would play music at night, and by the time I finished the night, we were going over a fifth of whiskey a day.

Now, watch this. I was in bondage. That was, that was holding me captive. First time I got drunk, I was five years old. Fell off the back of a boat. Mama beat me till I sober. True story. Because my uncles would leave cans of beer hanging around. Half, you know, a five-year-old don't know, he just thirsty. I got to drink, fell off the boat because Mama was scared I drowned. But I was holding, and I was singing up a storm, boy. I just enjoying myself. But what happened was, Satan used those things to, um, begin to put me in bondage.

I went to high school, and everybody thought it was Kool-Aid, and it was slow gin. Until my algebra teacher took a taste of it. And she didn't know. She was a wonderful person. Her name was Miss Conley, Ruth Conley. I think she's probably in heaven today. And she, she was about 75 years old then. And she didn't like flies. She called them vicious animals. [Applause] She had a bad habit of sticking her hand in her dress while she's teaching and pulled her bra up all the time. And one time she had a cold, and she said, "How I tell you?" I said, "You know, I said, Mama made me some Kool-Aid that'll help you." And I gave her some of that slogan. Used to bring thermoses to school, you know, in those days, a little famous luncheon. And so I said, "Now drink it real fast."

She swallowed quite a bit. About halfway through the algebra, it was a great class. [Applause] A plus B equals C. Come on. And I got suspended. Forget now. That's what these are drunk. That's the kind of man I was. And I grew up drinking, drinking, drinking.

Now, when I got born again, I read a scripture, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature." Now, most people say amen to that. But do they really believe it? "All things are passed away." Now, several people knew me before I was born again. They said, "You better not get around no booze because it was such a, you know, uh, temptation or whatever, or drugs, or something, especially booze. I just enjoyed drinking. I did, you know." And I would tell them, "But the Bible said, 'All things have passed away.'" They said, "Well, I know it said that."

But now, watch this. Is now making a provision for failure when the word of God says you don't have to fail? See, "old things have passed away." Yeah, but that's probably need to get your butt out of the way. I know it said that. You see, instead of walking the lane of freedom, they wanted me to accept bondage as a born-again believer. But I have not received the spirit of bondage. Notice it says, "again to fear." And that was their fear. But you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father," or "Daddy, Daddy."

Now, Tyler, this message is, "Your Road to Somewhere Has Another On It." And I'll go back, read that first 14 again. "For as many are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." So, write this down if you're taking notes. Led by the Spirit notes one thing, or actually two things: freedom and instead of compulsion. See, some people think that God just, I was compelled. No, no. When you're led by the spirit of God, you're led in freedom.

The thing that's always bothered me about Christianity, everyone that believes in Christ believes the spirit, the Holy Spirit's a comforter. Is that correct? Is He the comforter? And is Jesus the Prince of Peace? Is that true? Then why aren't people in comfort? And why aren't people in peace? Now, watch this. If you break the poverty cycle in your life, comfort comes to you, and peace comes to you. And yet you criticize for believing in prosperity. Now, somebody's lying, and it ain't me, and it ain't God. That isn't good English, but that makes good sense.

"For as many as are led by the spirit of God." So, now we're being led by the spirit of God. Notes: freedom, not instead of compulsion. And whom the Son has set free is free indeed. You can be criticized for being free, not free to sin, why? Because you already left the sin family. Now you're in the Holy Family. Are you hearing that?

Now, notice this. If you're being led by the spirit of God, you're going somewhere. So, your road to somewhere has another on it. You're not by yourself. So, let me say that again. Led by the Spirit notes: freedom instead of compulsion. And why? Where God wants us to be led. Write this down. We were created to be led. We are not left to our own wisdom or lack of it. You see, people say, "Yeah, but I don't know what to do." But that's sometimes in my ministry and in my life, I don't know what to do. Neither. But I have a roadmap called the scripture. I have a roadmap.

And in Saint John, I believe it is, uh, is it chapter 16? I believe it is. Accepted. I believe it's chapter 16. I think it says, "Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come, that He would guide you." That's being led. A guide is always in front of you. If you got a God behind you, he's lost. He don't know where you're going. See what I'm saying? "Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you into all truth." Notice, He didn't say some truth.

Now, I've said this before in other sermons. I want to say it again. There's been times when I had to make a major decision for Jesse to plan his ministries, our Covenant Church, dealing with finance, dealing with people that I knew would affect people and affect things. And I really did not know what to do. And there were times that the Lord didn't tell me. That doesn't mean He wasn't leading me. See? So, finally, in frustration, I said, "God, did you hear me pray?" He said, "I heard you the first time." I said, "Well, what do you want me to do?" And I never forget this. He said, "If I'm not telling you what to do, Jesse, make a decision, and I'll back it."

Which means you're growing in the knowledge of the truth. If you did everything for your child, they would grow up to be a complete idiot with a perfect brain. You've got to let them do some things. Right. Teach them to tie shoes. They get frustrated with that. But you know, and they made, if they tie a knot or whatever, and you got to pick on a knot and all that kind of stuff, or potty train. I mean, wouldn't that be kind of odd that you're dating and both of them wearing diapers? Now, you know, potty training is pretty tough because you're constantly talking about bodily functions. "Do you have to go?" They're not even thinking about it. They figure, "Why, I got something I can handle this." But you have to break them from that. And in the process of that potty, David DeLoach told me this. I thought this was so funny. They started training, potty training, uh, Catherine. I said, "How y'all do it?" He said, "A lot of accidents." [Laughter] Yeah, but she's getting better. We're actually getting better. Yeah, but so what? It's not that. See, you are, you are the guide. And then you make it so nice. He went to the party. You're talking about a toilet. You know, you just got to get them to thinking because they start playing. Yeah, forget about that. And that's just common sense.

So, what I'm saying here, we were created to be led. We are not left to our own wisdom or lack of it. The Bible said, "If any man lack wisdom," I said, "people say, 'I, I don't know what to.'" "If any man lack wisdom, ask." All you have to do is ask. Then it's your responsibility to receive what you ask. Write this down. We are not led when we go our own way. I've seen a lot of Christians, people go their own way. We are not to be self-led, but spirit-led. Let me say that. Say it again. We are not led when we go our own way. We ought to be self-led. We are not to be self-led, but spirit-led.

That sometimes I want to be self-led. There's some things I don't want to do. There's some people I don't want to like. That's called being self-led. There's some people I don't, I don't want to believe healing for them. I want to hurt them. Don't look at me. Where'd you do the same thing when someone is rude to you? How many times you got in your car and said, "I should have said this," and you're mad all the way home? The first person you come into contact with, y'all attack them, and they were not the one that was rude to you. So that's being self-led instead of spirit-led. But there's a lot of times I don't want to be. But you got to understand, the minute I don't listen to the guide, I always do a, uh, you get off the road before you don't know where you are, and then it takes quite a while to find where you're supposed to be. See, your road to somewhere has another on it.

People have asked me, oh, many ministers over the years, "How did you do this?" When I built this, I have never, ever built a building in my life till I built this whole complex. I either purchased a building or I leased the building. That's what I did. When God told me to build, I didn't want to build Covenant Church. I wanted to build a little chapel because I said, "You didn't call me the pastor." But then God began to deal with Kathy because I was being self-led. She was being spirit-led. She said, "Yes, we need to build a church." Well, who's going to pastor it? I said, "God, I, I'm never pastored in my life." He said, "Did I ask you?" I said, "Well, no." He said, "How many people working for you at that time?" I think I had what, 25, 30 people working for me then, something like that. And I, he said, "Well, I'll get somebody to help you." Oh, oh, okay. Cause I had this fear. Oh, Jesus, don't make me a pastor because see, I, I don't really have the nature. That's why I don't count so much when people want to counsel with me. I have no problem. Admit it. Quit it. Forget it. Now get out of here. Go into the house. As a pastor, that's how I am. What's the matter with you? I'm out of a job. You want a job? I find you a job. Find your job today. Oh, but I don't want that kind of job. Shut up. You want a job? Aren't you glad? Where me? I'm gonna call. I'm gonna go up the mountain. Oh, the mountain. Big. Get your shoes on. Let's climb. We'll get this out. Yeah, we might slide down. So what? Who cares? Let's reach our destiny. It's the nation. But a pastor, and I love people. I really too. I mean, I, I am, I'm a lovable man. But I get very frustrated when I see people's answers and they're going, "But what are you afraid of?" Afraid? Fear? Fear? Oh, then I make them afraid. I don't want to make them afraid. We have this, we have this slogan around. Justin Bieber, "Suck it up." Just suck it up. Sometimes I run those balls so hard, you ought to see that. And I'm way older than they are. And they just don't have my stamina. They're walking around like Alice the Goon. Y'all remember Alice the Goon? Papa. That's way back in my generation. Zombies. You know what I'm saying? About nothing about that. "Suck it up." One time we was in Australia. I mean, I, my Australian staff was praying that I go back to America. I was running them all. And I had Fritz with me. And Fritz is a go-getter. Son, Fritz can work. Fritz can work two or three men down. But I get you. I got him in that truck. And I said, "I mean, we closed the door before we started." I heard it. I said, "Let's suck it up." But I hadn't slept in 48 hours. "Well, we got another 48 to go." "Come on, baby, suck it up. We got delivered people going to hell, and you're trying to sleep." "Okay, boss." "Okay, boss." [Laughter] I am very, what's the word? Intense. My partners support me. They expect me to get results. And I just lay on the ground, wait for an angel to drop a grape in my mouth. Come on. Well, brother, when I did that last service, I mean, I was dragging. How many days I got in that, that vehicle? And they all drive on the wrong side of the road. You know, we call it the wrong side of the road. And all kinds. I sit there and I went, "Oh, man." And I heard this voice from the back. It was Fritz. "Suck it up, boss." [Applause] That's it. Thank you. Yeah, we'll suck it up. You see, I'm leading people. You see, people want to be led. That's what we have a problem today in Congress because not anybody wants to lead. You see, I'm Jesse Duplantis, and I approve this message. Say, they don't want to lead. Now, leaders are going to get some, you're going to get some criticism. That's part of the plan. You know, you can't please everybody. Be trying to please. You try to do the best you can. So, we're not led when we go our own way. We are not to be self-led, but spirit-led.

Now, write this down. The work of the Spirit is not an option or an extra. It is the mark of God's people. It's not an option or an extra. The work of the Spirit is not an option or an extra. It is the mark of God's people. You can see that when someone is being led by the spirit of God. That doesn't mean we don't have trouble. That doesn't mean the devil don't attack us. You know, people think, "Oh, that man doesn't have any problems." That's not true. It's cosmic. There's always something going on. The, um, if I would say naturally, the weight of this ministry is on this boy's shoulders here. I mean, it isn't because I've turned that over to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not worried about it. I do get concerned sometimes by different things because I find when people are a partner in my ministry, I believe in results. You understand? And then tragedies happen. We had a terrible tragedy this weekend. Uh, someone called, lost a brother in a terrible accident. What you got to pray for people. You got to help people because the word of God has valuable recipes for heart pain. You see these people have heart pain. They lost it. They lost a brother in a terrible car accident. And you know, it's so sudden, and it's so devastating. And you know, as a minister of the Gospel, you know, then the world expects us to be there. But they, but they don't want us to be blessed. They don't want us to be happy. But you see, so you're led by the spirit of God, and you better have something in you because they're waiting to hear something that can pull them out of this devastation. See? So, the work of the spirit is not an option or an extra. It is the mark of God's peace. It's the mark of God's people, actually. In peace, really. It's a marker. You can see that. And I mean, I've had, but let me tell you something. Some of these funerals have not been easy. Wonderful friends from Gardner. Guy I call the gardener. They said, "Gardener and Jenny Twang and a wonderful daughter." Make a long story. Her husband was a wonderful man. I mean, I developed a relationship with him. We even had more fun. And we didn't spend a lot of time together, but when we did, it was like two kids. It was wonderful. Well, all of a sudden, I get this phone call that he has a major heart attack. Bam! Goes home to be with the Lord. I said, "What was you?" "What are you?" In fact, when I see him in heaven, I'm gonna say, "Would you do that for?" You know? And we all know people go to heaven under the issue. But hey, wait a minute. We're still here. Yeah. That's not easy. Got grandbabies and you know, and all kinds of wonderful wife, wonderful family, got a great church. I'll be going there in November, next month. And I mean, just some blessings. And sometimes you wonder, "Why did that happen?" Well, He knows, and God knows. But you go on. You know that every man's work, or every person's work, must be a continuation. You see what I'm saying? So, what, what I'm saying here, when you understand that, yet I saw on Jenny, and I saw in the family, that there was a mark. And I said, "What is it?" Even though in the midst of this, there was a peace and an understanding. Ain't nobody liked it. That's not the issue. But my point is, the work of the spirit is not an option and an extra. It is the mark of God's people. I feel sorry for people that don't believe in God. They're just going to take the whole hit, man. And grief will destroy people.

Which brings me to this next point. Dead formulas become living truth when they're illuminated by the Holy Spirit. You know, somebody always seems to have an idea about something. Yeah, but what did God say to you? "For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." I like that. Then he said, "There was." Now, here's something. You see, the church took the word "son" and kind of threw it out. They called it the servant of God. No, no, no, no, no. You're higher than a servant. You're a son of God, or you're a daughter of the Lord. You're not. You see, "For as many as led by the spirit of God, they are the sons," not the servants, "of God." You are a son that serves. You're not a servant that's trying to become a son. Some of the Christian religions, they call themselves Christians, say that they go through different, uh, levels so they can get to the point where they become like a, a, a church, a God family. When you already been made the righteousness of God, you're in the family of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we're sons and daughters that serve. See? So, these dead formulas, that something that become living truth when they are illuminated by the Holy Spirit because He is guiding you and leading you.

I've had so many people tell me at times, "You're just too happy." I've had that happen to me so many different times. Well, it's not that I haven't had trouble, but I'm not focusing on my trouble. And I'm telling yourself else, I'm not focusing on my happiness. I'm focusing on this Prince of Peace and this Comforter. I made up my mind, if He's the Comforter, I am going to live in comfort. Now, let me make some of you mad. That's spiritually. And boy, you don't have a problem with that. That's physically. You don't have a problem with that. And that's financially. Oh, oh, oh. Well, I don't think you ought to have that. I don't think I asked you. [Applause] And I don't mean that to be rude. What I'm saying is simply this: I am only being biblical. All I'm doing is accepting what God said. See, when I first got saved, they wanted me to accept bondage that I might get drunk again, that I might become an alcoholic again. But Jesus said, "Old things have passed away." Or we gonna believe this word and not believe it? One of them. If we're not going to believe it, then throw it out. You see, people cannot understand simple answers. They got to make it complicated when it's not complicated. What part of "Thou shalt not" do you not understand? [Music] A simple Washington D.C. is so complex. No, it's not. You fixed that overnight. Why does it take Congress? I don't know. 16 months to get something done? What are they hiding? How come they can print money and you can't? You print money, you're a counterfeiter. They print money, they're Congress. And I don't care if you're Democrat, Republican, independent, what you know. I don't hate any of my leaders. I don't hate any of them. Why would I do that? God said, "Pray for your leaders that you may live a gentle, peaceful, quiet life." Now, there's some of them I don't like, but I do love. You see? And what happens is, they're trying to find formulas. And all of a sudden, if you say something simple, "Oh, no, no." You see, the world makes it complicated because it hides it in this. It hides all the stuff they want in the small print. I've said this here before. Insurance. You ever read your insurance policy? You know, really, it could be one line. "Am I covered?" "Am I covered?" That's what you want to know, right? 47 paragraphs because it's all in the hidden, the details in the small print. See, these wonderful commercials, free. Then all of a sudden, you see a little print. Come on. When really, it's very simple. But people don't like simple. No. Excuse me. People like simple. People that are controlling don't like simple. Why? Because they want to lead you instead of you being led by the spirit of God.

Write this down. Go. When you find, when whenever you find submission to divine guidance, you have evidence of a divine truth. Let me say that again. Whenever you find submission to divine guidance, you have evidence of a divine truth. When God told me to build this place, use it again as an example. I needed some guidance. I needed people that knew how to build things. I didn't know Richard P. Sharp. He built my house. I didn't know any contractors because I bought everything I ever owned or leased it. Didn't need that. I didn't have to worry about plumbing and things in buildings because when you lease, they had all those kind of people that handled those things. Didn't happen. Didn't know any. Didn't, didn't just didn't do it. Now, when God sent me out on this property, many of you know that I said, "Hey, I have, I need guidance." What God wanted me to do was watch over His money. And I'm trying to talk to them about contractors. And I mean, I got very strong. The Lord said, "Well, go to the Charles Green's Church in New Orleans East, Faith Church." That was before Katrina destroyed that thing. Now I got a wonderful church taking it over. Make a long story short. He said, "You will meet your contractor today." I said, "Oh, great." Got in the car, went over there. Milo, we sat there and passed the green sauce, uh, the Elder Green. And make a long story short. Not man. Uh, he suggested, "Just come say something." I said, "Hello." By this. And he asked me to stay after service. They were having some little light refreshments and things. I said, "Yeah, I would love to be blessed." Walk down. And he said, "I want you to meet this guy. His name is Ray Chronic." He said, "This is Ray Chronic." Uh, uh, he was a contractor. He's retired. When I looked at him, the Lord said, "That's him." I said, "You what?" He said, "Yeah." "I'm gonna try to say no." "You're not. You're going to work for me. You're going to work for me today." He just looked at me. You know, he don't know me from Adam. He said, "What?" I said, "The Lord sent me here. You want to miss God and go to hell? Listen to me, serious buddy. I don't play no game." I heard the voice of the Lord. But I mean, I'll look the devil in the eye and spit when I know God said. So I don't care. They can say what they want about me. He just looked at me. He just laughed. I said, "I said, you're going to build this complex. We're going to work you. The man." I said, "It'd be the best job you ever had in your life." And sure enough, we built this place. Took us four solid years to build all this, this whole conflict. And I want to tell you something, came in under budget. All kinds of. He said, "I learned more about faith than I ever learned in my life around you." Why? "Well, it wasn't because of me. I was being led by the spirit of God." So, there were some decisions. He asked me to make a decision. I said, "I can't make that decision. Ray, only you can." He said, "The knowledge is in you." He said, "We ought to do this. Let's do that." See, you begin to work together for, you know what? Everybody's being led by the spirit of God, and you're winding up where you're supposed to be. Are you hearing what I'm saying?

So, whenever you find submission to divine guidance, you have evidence of a divine truth. Write this down. God's presence is the foundation of a God conscience. See, I kept the presence of God, His presence, so I could have a God conscience. When I was picking this out, this this marble, this Italian marble, everything. When I looked at these, this carpet, and these different things, these designs. You see this design right here? Isn't that beautiful? That was scrap. That was thrown away in the bin. This, this is cut off. This is the border to this. We put these in here. His throat only hit me. I was warm. I was being divided. God, this is God's house. I looked. I went, and I saw two pieces stuck together. Not stuck there. We just threw it. I said, "Stop. Go get me in pieces." I said, "We're going to build us a design." There's no way I could do that. And and racing. My Lord, just that it works. I said, "He said, 'How did you know that?'" "I thought you said you, you never built that." I said, "No, but I was being led by the spirit of God." Do you follow my point? And I walked into the Ritz Carlton up in Detroit. It had a beautiful God. And I said, "I come. Church has always got brown, covered burgundy. Coming. I said, "Let's get some color in here." I said, "If the Ritz Carlton can have that, why can't we?" You know what? When we got to, they said, "Oh, well, nobody puts that stuff in churches." I said, "I've been sent by the Lord." But I freak them out. Oh, okay. [Laughter] And God found me a wonderful man named Brother Kreider. And he helped me in those positions. It was all being led by the spirit. Now, you may not think that's important, but that's very important when you find out how much that cost. God's presence is the foundation of a God conscience. See, prayer keeps open the communication with the spirit realm. Write it down. Prayer keeps, keeps open the communication with the Spirit Room. Spirit Room. Your road to somewhere has another on it.

So, I'm constantly praying. Prayer keeps that communication home. God, what should we do? Kathy just told you, I should have stepped out by faith on these extra satellites and networks. Man, we need that money. Do you understand what I'm saying? Got to step out and believe God, man. For $40 here, taking millions of this. And hey, you got to believe God that you're going to give. Got to believe God that you're not going to miss your monthly donation. Because I don't call it a donation, I call it do a nation. If, how many you get my pardon the letter? You know what I'm talking about? Hold your hand up. You get my pardon the letter. Right. It's do a nation. I'm not just writing that to you so you can give me some money, man. We're doing something with this thing. You know what? When really, sometimes I don't really want to do things. That, you know, you get tired, just like anybody else. But you know, you keep it. So when I get a donation, I don't go, "Money." I go, "Oh, geez, I got to go to work." When I see that airplane, I go, "My little people go, boy." I said, "I suggest, oh God, gotta go to work. Get in that thing and fly, fly, fly, fly." Just preaching, going hit. I mean, the last two or three weeks, I've been in two cities every day, preaching in two different churches in two different states for the last, what, David? Two or three weeks, man. Sometimes you forget where you are, man. I was in Detroit. They got me a Detroit Lions cap because they're 5-0 at this time. They gave me a Detroit, Detroit Lions, uh, jersey. They gave me a Detroit Tigers baseball team. Hey, man. Now, you know, I'm a nice man. And Rich is a good friend. He walks by and sees that. He said, "Are you bailing out on us?" [Laughter] You know, because the Saints is 4-1 or something like. No. Oh, you know. I said, "But I mean, when you go, I mean, what would you want me to do?" When he gave me the Detroit Lions cap and then go, "Oh, no." And just stop on. I can't do that. So the Bible said, "You become all things to all people." So when you're in Detroit, put that Lions hat on, baby. Hey, you get to New Orleans. No, no, no. But I mean, it was just like, because I mean, this, this thing is big. I was asked by the Dallas Cowboys two years ago while they were playing the Saints to come pray. Asked it's a super, don't or the Mercedes-Benz, whatever we get that anyway. Yeah, go. "Would you help us? Come lead the Dallas Cowboys in prayer?" Play the Saints. I said, "Do y'all like me?" "Oh, yeah." "They gonna kill me in New Orleans." "I can't do that." Because Richie's gonna tell him, "No, no." I'm just joking. But I thought that was nice of them that they would ask. You get in there, rocking a hard place sometimes.

Prayer keeps open the communication with the spirit realm. Cold. It's so good. Write this down. The Holy Spirit leads you, but does not carry you to your destination. Say. And I asked the problem with a lot of Christians. They want the Holy Spirit to carry them. No, He leads you. He doesn't carry you. You know, after you carry your baby until your arms hurt, your shoulders hurting, sometimes hips are hurting because they got that baby. But as that baby grows, you're gonna walk. I don't know if you get. One time we was in Hawaii, um, and this was, uh, uh, David and Heather's little girl. What was her name? Baby. See, she's now Molly. Now, this is so funny to me. Molly. Now, she's a full-grown teenager, and she's a beautiful girl. But I mean, when you at the ground where I lay, and you're walking up these hills, you know, this is this is a beautiful hotel. You're walking on that kind of say, "Well, man." And she was, "Oh, Kathy, three or four years old." And she get tired. And, uh, and so, yeah, she wants you to hold her. No, she's getting heavy now, you know, she's three or four years old. She's holding. I thought, "Why are you just hurting?" So they, they would say things, "Oh, don't you want your legs to be pretty? Don't you want your legs to be pretty?" I thought, "What are they saying?" See, if you walk up the hills, your legs are pretty. Makes your legs pretty. This is Holly of Heaven. Molly says, "I don't care. I don't like ugly legs. I don't want to walk." Now, we're trying to convince this child by walking that it makes her legs pretty. So, man, we're just switching off. I carry their wife, my guitar. David carried a while. Highly carried away. We saw hurting, man. And there she is. She wanted us to carry her. Let me say it again. The Holy Spirit leads you, but does not carry you to your destination. Why? You can't climb from height to height without effort. That's why He's not carrying you. You can't climb from height to height without effort. In other words, you got to do something. I wish I could just lay at my house all the time and just say, "Touch the world, Jesus. Touch the world. Lord, let them see it on DVD." Even the world don't, don't believe that. Because if you have a hit record, you got the tour. You got to get out there and work, buddy. See, some of these people, I mean, Beyonce and all that. I mean, they finished. They're coming off that platform. They are soaking wet. They've been dancing, screaming. Hey, I mean, I, ah, that's work. Pure work. What's the same way in Christianity? Same way with the gospel. Why do you preach so much? Well, you got, you got a tour, if you want to call it that. If you're gonna, if to go from height to height, you gotta have effort. If you're gonna be a great guitar player, Steve, you got to practice. Am I correct? You can't just look at it, go, "Boy, that's a pretty good talk." No, you got to put your hand. You got to play. If you want to be a great piano player, I mean, you don't just go, you know, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Great. But there are other songs that somebody might call upon you to do. You see what I'm saying? I wish you could like, I, I, because I've traveled in so many different nations, I, I want to speak that language so bad. I wish I could just put a disc in my brain so instead of having an interpreter or a translator, I could just speak it. You know what I'm saying? Because you have to preach in sentences. You know, the Lord said that if you'll walk with me today, God will bless you. Then they'll go, "I'll say, God will bless you." I said, "He's saying more than I said." "I know you said what I said." [Applause] And I think that ain't right. What did he say? He could have said, "Don't believe anything he says." I wouldn't know. So when I went to Germany, I brought Pia Fortune. She's a German. Don't make her mad. That's Ron. But anyway, praise God. She said, "Shut up." I brought it. I said, "Now, she want me to do Bridget." I said, "I want you to sit in that audience because she understands German fluently. She speaks fluent German." I said, "And I want to make sure they are saying what I'm saying." So I would preach. I don't know. People thought I'd just like, "Pee a lot." But I just kind of, I'd go. And she goes, "You know, I guess maybe some people thinking, 'Hey, he got a problem with that woman over there.'" No, I didn't have no problem. I just want to make sure that what I'm saying, they say it. Because, you know, I would say, "You know, the Lord." What did he say? And Pia, [Applause] now, you know, that's funny, but it ain't funny when you're preaching because you know you got to keep this all in your brain. And all the calls were the worst. Having a repeated prayer. I'm gonna ask you to say this. "Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth." By the time they get back to you, you forgot what you said. It's got to go back three times before it comes back to you. That's not easy. When I went to preach for Rick Run in Russia, the Chancellor is one of the best. But he was too close to me. Come here, Ron. I mean, let me show you all right. Would be the translator. Okay, like this. Now, most translators use them about like this. And I'm preaching. And if I walk, they walk. They, if I lift my leg up, they're gonna lift this. They just do. That's a good translator. But this guy was like this. So I kind of went. And he comes. I finally went, "You're making me sweat, man." I mean, he said, "They told me to stay close to you." I said, "Yeah, not on me." Thank you. I said, "Not only." I mean, I was sweating through my sleeve before he had me. Now, he, he was going at it. So far. He was great. So finally, I just got between the pulpit so I could get a little space. God was great. People got saved. That's not easy. But you see, I was actually using him as a guide. He was guiding my words to those people. That you see that? So you can't. The Holy Spirit leads you, but does not carry you to your destination. You can't climb from height to height without effort. Write this down. Now, this is very important. He will lead you even through the accidents of life. Write it down. See, "For as many are led by the spirit of God." How big? "When the Spirit of Truth is come, He will lead you even through the accidents of life." You see, people say, "Well, bad things happen to good people." I disagree with that. Good people happen to bad things. I reverse that. Good people happen to bad things. In other words, you can change some bad things. But the Holy Spirit will even guide you through accidents of life. I never wanted to be down in three airplane crashes. We almost got killed the other night. Where's David DeLuca? You're around here somewhere, Dave. Am I right? I mean, David's on final with 1300 feet off the ground. When you're flying in the jet at 1300 feet off the ground, you're moving. You don't really, are you moving? And what some food come up under so somebody cut across your path or something like that. All of a sudden, all I heard was, "Wham!" They hit them. Uh, the, uh, the land again. And then I heard, "They were ruined. Pull that plane." I went, "Uh oh." And honestly, I call it bubbles. She was bubbling. What? Oh, what's going on? And I can tell David when he gets mad. You know, David would never really express himself when he was singing. But after he's married, already. I said, "She's, she's brought him out." You know what I mean? She brought him out. Boy, what you doing? Boy, he got on the ground. I know. I want to know what happened. I mean, those things do happen at times. It was almost an accident. God. He wasn't. But even if there were an accident, it's the Holy Spirit will guide you through them. Let me say it again. Let me write that. We want you to write down. He will lead you even through the accidents of life. And sometimes we do have accidents. Emotional accidents. Sometimes we say things we don't want to say. We wish you could take them back because words hurt worse than rocks. Because a rock wound will heal, but sometimes word wounds never do heal. You follow what I'm saying? And, and you see, he will even lead you through the accent. Well, he's supposed to stop it from accident. No, no, no, no, no, no. We stop ourselves from accidents. Sometimes we do foolish things. How many times you went through a light that wasn't red? It wasn't yellow. It was pink. [Applause] Be honest. I mean, pink. It's not red. And, and I love Kenny. Kenny Kid. I love to listen to Kenny. He said, "Trooper, some of the Kenneth should write a book of what people say when you stop people." Kenny could write that. That would be our best-selling book because you get Kenny said he stopped black women, and they, they tell him. First thing is something. He said, "They said, 'Listen, we listen to Black radio.'" What's that got to do with you speeding 90 miles an hour? Foreign. I mean, Kenny can give you some wonderful statements about what people say. My daughter Jody, she's a blessing. One time somebody messed up her head with a perm that was like that's Jordan right there. And she's beautiful. Look at that girl. So I used to look like that. I used to actually look like her when I was young. But she was so mad. They messed up her hair. I don't know. This is years and years ago. With a permanent, something, you know how perm there's something. Anyway, she's driving too fast, and some cop pulled her over. And he said, "She's going to repair it." And man, she was just all just frustrated and all that kind of. And he was telling me, and he jumps. "I can't get all." The whole thing was, "What's the matter?" "You know, why are you going this way?" She said, "Listen, I, I have a problem." "A tragedy hit." And he said, "Why are you going this way?" She's just pulled us. Now, see, this. Am I right? He had a good job. And I think he told her, "My wife had the same problem. Go, girl. Just go, girl. Go ahead. Get over there." Women funny. But they have. Ain't no telling where the policeman's gonna hit. So he will even lead you through the accidents of life.

Now, let me close with this, and this is probably the most important point of this. I am not interested in man's theories or his opinions. I want to know his convictions. I'm not interested in your in your opinions or your theories. I want, I want to know about your convictions. Why? That's what leads you. The Holy Spirit leads you through your convictions. See, not through your opinions or through your theories. For example, "I tried that and it didn't work." You know, "I used to go to that church, Covenant Church, or or I used to file. Just to play. Man, I don't do it anymore because that faith business don't work." And let me tell you why. Faith works if you work it. But let me help you. I'm not gonna be critical of that person. So they'll leave this church or they'll leave our ministry and go to another ministry. See, they put their light under a bushel. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. But it's still burning. See? And a lot of medicine will say, "Well, I thought it, you know, and speak." Even no, no, no. The man put their light on the bushel. They went to the church of the small portion. See? But they're still burning. They're still people of faith. But they're not people of like precious faith. And what the scripture says on the higher levels of Christianity, Peter says, "Go read." He said, "I'm looking for people of like precious faith." So when someone goes, they can't handle prosperity, can't handle healing. They love it. They still love God. They're still people. But they put their light under a bushel. But it's still burning. So you that don't have.

That don't criticize that they still love the Lord, you see what I'm saying? They're embarrassed. They stood on faith and it didn't work, and it embarrassed them. And somebody found out about it, so they left. They got embarrassed, see? But they're still people. They're still lovely people. They still love God. They just can't handle. I call it the Church of Small Portion. You're still eating. Have you ever went out to find the rest of the charges? Hundreds of dollars, and they give you a steak so small, you go, "What's the matter? You think I'm on a diet?" Nah.

Why do y'all like buffets? How many of y'all like buffets? Oh yeah. I'm gonna tell you why, because see, when you get served a la carte, they give you what they think you need. But when you go to a buffet, you get what you want. Because you see, when you get what you want, you destroy all your need. Amen. Oh, that's a revelation, that baby. That's why you like buffets. Ministry and Covenant Church is the Church of the buffet, you understand now? Kathy likes to be served, so I go to the buffet and get it for him from your back. You didn't tell them that, did you? Glory to talk about the cold milk, but you didn't tell him about me going to that buffet table and bring you back some stuff. Come on.

Why? Why do people like buffets? Get what you want, right? Amen. I love those people that are on diets and they go to buffets. "I'm gonna eat a salad." Is this big? That salad looked like Mount Everest, boy. They don't get a little dressing, they get the whole crock and just pour that on it. And they got ranch dressing. "I'm losing weight." No, you're not.

Let me say it again. I'm not interested in your opinions or your theories. I'm interested in your convictions. See, as many are led by the spirit of God, they are sons of God. How be it, when the spirit of Truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. That's all done through conviction, not theories or opinions. Your road to somewhere has another on it. So everywhere I go, the Holy Spirit is in front of me. And I kind of like this. Psalms chapter 23, the last verse says, "Surely goodness and mercy." Surely, that's not a woman's name. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. Why? Because surely said it. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all this junk that's the accidents of life. He's still following me. I'm never alone. I got goodness and mercy following me. Now, why do they follow me? "And I will dwell in the house." It didn't say, "I'll come only with special speakers that I like." Well, we lost a few of you right there. You can tell when it hits right. No, no. "Dwell, inhabitate in the house of the Lord forever." So, everywhere you go, goodness and mercy is following you. Lord God, think about that. And don't let anybody tell you different. Why? I could surely said it. Sure. Like Kathy goes to the mall. Surely we'll buy something. Okay. With me, it's not her opinion about it. It's not her theory about it. It's her conviction. She's led. She's led to. Oh, that's a good one. How's it going with that? Gotcha. Thank you. She's led to Louis Vuitton, she's led to Chanel, and Escada, and Christian Dior. I'm led to the Golden Corral.

Okay, no, I can't say that. Guys that are like. Anyway, praise the Lord. She's led. I feel led of the Lord. That's okay. That's fine. That's our conviction. Kathy almost did a commercial on me yesterday. I close with this. Your ladies conference. She did a commercial. She'd come walking up to me with this outfit on. She says, "Do I look fat?" But I went, "What?" No. No, no. She goes, "Thank you, Jesus." It was a great spiritual moment for her. I wasn't lying. I don't really care about that, to tell you the truth. Now, you ladies, you should have shouted. I don't care if you get fat. I don't care if you get thin. It really ain't none of my business. And that includes my wife. She do what she want to do. And she'll say, "Uh, let's go watch a movie in the theater tonight." Okay. I said, "Well, you want something?" "No, no. I'm not eating nothing. We're just gonna watch them." So I'm sitting there, and I could see if she starts twitching. I said, "When you can tell the ice cream demon is coming." She starts twitching. See, it's our conviction about it. She said, "You can't watch a movie without ice cream or popcorn." You start twitching. Then she wants me to make the mistake. "Uh, do you want something?" I said, "No." I said, "I'll just maybe." You said, "When I go eat nothing here watching the movies, they're gonna..." You know, trying to cut back. After a while, man, forget this. We're blessed of the Lord. She takes that lid off that pint, and you forget the lid. Throw it away because the fight's gone now. I thought I said, "Boy, that devil, man's getting." And I said, "I hear something." And I look in the pocket. It's two Payday candies. Fried ice cream and some popcorn. And she said, "I didn't eat much lunch." Oh, okay. That's fine. Guys, I eat muslin. That's all right. Me, it'll make no difference. That's for conviction. See, she being led. So I said, "Don't get mad when you're led to a bigger size dress." Just call it being led. That's all. You guys said I'm led to go from a size four. You ain't seen a four in 40 years. But anyway, I just. Hey, hey, come on. I even don't know what a four is. Oh, you haven't noticed. You go to Walmart, you go to a very expensive store, you buy real expensive clothes. It's a six. But at Walmart, it's a 14. You honestly believe you live away in a six? Now, I don't know what a six is. I don't care what a six is. I don't care if you're happy. I'm happy. See? So I close with this. Y'all pray for me today. I'm gonna make the sign of the cross. Numbing feeling through something. Glory to God. Did you enjoy it this morning? It's many are led. So remember this. There's a Comforter. He's the Guide. There's a Prince of Peace on that road in your journey, even through the accidents of life. And if you'll believe His word, decree His word, declare His word. Like even when she was talking about the offering, teacher, we never think twice about not giving God in our tithe. Actually, what we think about is how much, how much more generous can we be in our offering, especially if the Lord blesses us. Riches are made for use, not storage. When you store them, you start trusting them. That doesn't mean you shouldn't save money. Don't take that out of context. I believe in saving money, but not storing money. I love people's dreams when they tell me about what they're going to give. I don't think Marty will mind me saying that. When they came to the house the other night, I get these Time watches, probably been a couple, three weeks now, I guess. And we sat there, we were playing the game, having fun. He talked about, told me about his dream, or what he wants to do in his giving, and it just blessed me. I told him about what I want to do. It's a blessing. See, you got a dream, and you know what? I realized that the Lord led us to those dreams. And dreams have no expiration dates. Give Jesus a handclap for that.