Transcription
And I'm telling you, have church like you've never seen before tonight. I'm feeling the Holy Ghost in this place. The Lord's giving me something to say to you tonight. The Lord's given me a word for you tonight. I wish the whole world was here to hear it, man, in Jesus' name. This praise team's coming to uh, worship, lead you in worship, Jesus. Dear Lord, baptize this place tonight. Let the power of the Holy Ghost rain in this house. Let all of heaven come down in this place, God, in the precious name of Jesus. God bless you. Worship with them. Let's have church, in Jesus' name. You be seated if you need to.
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Yeah, wow.
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Creation. Yes, the old has gone; there's new life. I live by faith, not by sight. There is a new name written down in glory, and He's mine; yes, He's mine. I met the Author, I met the Author of my stories, and He's mine; yes, He's mine. Blind Jesus, open my eyes. Now I can see the light. I'm so glad He changed me; now I'm walking free. I got the victory; you can follow me. I'm so glad; see, I'm now a new creation in Christ. The old has gone; there's new life. I live by faith, not by sight. There is a new name written down in glory; Author of my story, the Author of my story, and He's mine; yes, He's mine. There is a new name written down in glory, and He's mine; yes, He's mine. I met the Author of my story, and He's mine; yes, He's mine. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. I am who I am because the I AM tell your voice. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am; tells me who I am. I am because I am. Tell I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. I am who I am because the eyes tell me who I am. There is a new day written down in glory, and it's mine; yes, it's mine. I met the Author of my story, and He's mine; yes, He's mine. There is a new praising down glory, and it's mine; yes, He's mine. I'm the Author of my story, and He's mine; yes, He's mine. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. I am who I am because the I AM tells me I am. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. Heat, heat, heat. I am who I am because I am. I am who I am because I am; tell I am who I am because I am; tell I am. I am who I am because I am; tells me who I am. I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am. There is a new name written down in glory, and it's mine; yes, He's mine. I am the Author of my story, and He's a new glory; yes, He's mine; yes, He's hallelujah. Hallelujah, Jesus, we praise You. Hallelujah, hallelujah, we praise You, Jesus. We praise You, Lord. Oh, sing this whole song. You shine into the darkness; You shine the ashes. There's no one like You, like You. Sing, our God is greater; our God is stronger. God, You are higher than any other; our God is here, awesome power. Our God is greater; our God is stronger. God, You are higher than any other; our God is here, awesome power. Heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat. Yeah, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat. Oh, come on, somebody bless the Lord. Oh, my soul, and all that is within me, from the deepest part of my soul, I bless the Lord; bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, and forget not all of His benefits. There's benefits in living for God, who forgives all thine iniquities, who heals all thy diseases, who redeems thy life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Somebody say, "Amen" to that. Glory to God. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Welcome to Pine Grove Church in Wa Grove/Sabastapole, Mississippi, where good things are happening, where the glory of God is manifested, where the people of God know how to live right, walk right, talk right, act right. The best preaching in the world comes right through here. Call this a glory fountain, staying under the spout where the glory comes out. Hallelujah. Anybody glad to be a part of the glory fountain? Hallelujah. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord. We want to say welcome to all of our guests. If there's any guests in the house, we appreciate you coming. Takes a lot of courage to come inside here, but you've come to the right place. Anybody testify it was a good thing when you showed up to the house of the Lord? Come on, come on. It was a good thing when I showed up to God's house. I walked in one way, but I left another way. Oh, hallelujah. Glory to God. You changed in this type of atmosphere; you won't stay the same, in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Glory to God. Well, those of you are standing, stay standing; those of you seated, would you please stand? I want to give you an opportunity to be blessed. We're excited for the
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word. Glory to God. God's going to do something big in this place tonight. The Bible says that it's by the foolishness of preaching that men are saved. To those who are lost, they think it's foolish; they think us coming to church and listening to a man talk to us is foolish, but we who are being saved, it's the power of God. The power of God comes through the preached word, and we want it, and we're thankful for it. But right now, we want to give you an opportunity to be blessed. Let's pray. God, we thank You for this time that we have together. God, I'm asking that You would shake the house over there in the youth campus. God, shake them; God, stir them up. Let the anointing of the Holy Ghost come on them. God, I'm asking You to make callings come out of this service tonight, in this house and in the next house. God, I thank as we bring our gifts to You, that You're able to do more with them than we can in our hands alone. So God, we ask that You would multiply these gifts, in Jesus' name. Come and offer your gifts cheerfully.
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When two or more are gathered in His name, He is there.
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Oh, who come, who run to Him in faith, He is there. There is power in the name of Jesus; there is power, power in His name. There is power in the name of Jesus; there is power, power in His name. No fear, no lie can stand against us now; He is here. The word has come to silence every doubt; He is here. 'Cause there is power in the name of Jesus; there is power, power in His name. There is power in the name of Jesus; there is power, power in His name. One day, one day we praise; one day we will proclaim. One day, one way, one name, Jesus. One name, one name can save; one name breaks every chain. One name, one way, one day, 'cause there is power in the name of Jesus; there is power, power in His name. 'Cause there is power in the name of Jesus; there is power, power in His name. One day, one name can say; one name breaks every chain. One day, one way, one day, Jesus. One day, one day remains; one day we will proclaim. One day, one way, one day, Jesus. One day, one day we face; one day we will proclaim. One day, one day, one day, Jesus. One day, one day, one day we will proclaim. One day, one way, one day. There is power in the name of Jesus; there is power, power in His name. There is power in the name of Jesus; there is power, power in His name. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Olivia. What great singing tonight. Don't you appreciate these singers and musicians helping us with worship?
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Hallelujah. You'll stand together in order, in honor of the reading of the word, the word that's going to judge us. I want to go quickly to the word tonight. I want to thank each and every one of you for being faithful, for being faithful to the house of God. 2 Samuel 23 and 11, 2 Samuel, chap 23 and verse 11, for your consideration tonight for a few minutes. And after him was Shama, the son of Agee the Harite, and the Philistines were gathered together in a into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. Verse 12, the people fled, but he, who is he? Shama. Shama stood in the middle of the ground and defended it and slew the Philistines, and the Lord wrought a great victory. Not Shama; the Lord wrought a great victory. One more verse before we go to the word, Matthew, chap 11, Matthew the 11th chapter and the 12th verse, Matthew 11 and verse 12. And I'm going to let you be seated. Thank you for your faithfulness tonight. Thank you for being faithful to the house of God. Matthew 11 and verse 12, from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. I want to preach to you for a few minutes from this subject: Something worth fighting for, something worth fighting for. God bless you. You can be seated. Would you lift your hands where you sit and ask the Lord to talk to our hearts? Jesus, dear Lord, we need Your
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voice; we need Your anointing; we need Your Spirit in this place. God, don't let me say anything that I shouldn't say tonight. God, let me say all the things You want me to say tonight. I'm asking You to take control of my mind and my heart and my thinking. Make my thoughts flow; make my words good and kind and right and of the right Spirit tonight, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. Now, before I get started, I want to say two or three things. One is, is that I have no notes prepared for this tonight. The second thing I want to say is that, and that, and it's not because I didn't prepare. Um, we'll talk about that later. I always try to be prepared, but anyway, uh, the second thing that I want to say tonight is that we got a uh, lot of people in this church. Some of you have been in the church for you; some of you been in church all your life; some of you been in 30 or 40 years; some of you have been three or four months; some of you have been here three or four weeks; some of you been here three or four minutes. So I understand that there may be first-time visitors. If I say anything or come across any concepts tonight that you don't understand, don't let the devil drive you away. Ask somebody, say, "Hey, what was he talking about when he said this?" I understand that that uh, a a preacher stands in a a a sometimes a very delicate situation because if he don't deal with things because there's guests or there's new pe people, he won't ever deal with anything. Hallelujah. If he only deals with the concepts that that older people can or the people that's been in the church for a while can get a hold of, well, he may lose uh, some of the newer people. And and if he only preaches to the new people, he may lose some of the older people. And and when I say lose, I don't mean leaving; I mean you got to be fed when you come to the house of God. So the best thing for him to do is just preach and try to feed the congregation. And if I'm trying to feed you something you don't understand, ask somebody, say, "Why?" Why? I want you to know the why. The last thing I'm going to say is, when I preach about fighting and I preach about violence, I'm not talking about people. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. I'm telling you, you have an enemy that's after you; He's after your soul. Yes, sir, He's after what's important to you. He's after this church; He's after this church. He don't like what this church is; He don't like what this church stands for; He don't like the concepts that we preach at this church; He don't like the changes that this church brings to this community. So I'm going to preach to you for a few minutes about this church. I'm going to preach to you a little bit about what this church believes and what this church stands for, and your obligation and your benefits for being a part of this church.
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What it means to be a part of Pine Grove Pentecostal Church; what this church means to this area and this community. It's more than just a church. I'm I'm telling you, this is more than just a church that you think to yourself, "Well, this is just a church; there's a lot of other churches, and this is one of them," and and I'm going to be a part of this church. It it's bigger than that; it's more than that. This is a church that's been selected; this is a church that's been set apart; this is a church that's been separated by God; this is a church that has a special anointing; and this is a church that's come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
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There's special things that the church that that God wants this church to do; there's special obligations that this church has for this time period, and it means something to be a part of this church. And you you got to grab a hold of the meaning of what it means for you to be a part of this church that God brought you here, this church. It it I if you if you took demographics and measurements and all that, this church don't belong here; this church don't belong in Sebastopol, Mississippi, as far as man is concerned. That's right. There's something special about this church, and there's something special about you being a part of this church, and you you have a big part of being a part of this church. Yes, sir. Hallelujah, hallelujah. You're not here by accident, and there's got to be a a loyalty and a purpose to you being a part of this church. You you you can't build a church on people who are not loyal; you can't build a church on people who don't who don't have buy-in; you can't build a church on people that don't have brand loyalty. Hallelujah. And we live in the last of the last times; we live in the last of the last days, and there's so many things going on right now in the last of the last days. Uh, we live in the time where the fan is in God's hand, and that He's separating the chaff from the wheat. Yes, sir; He's trying to find what you're made of. That's what this whole thing is about; that's what this entire thing called church is about. It's it's about His hand being in His f His hand fan being in His hand; it's all about separating people into where they are and who they are and where they belong. Yes, sir. That's the time period that we live in; that's what this entire thing of living is about. This entire thing about living is not about you having a good time and you having a big time and you living uh, life to the fullest and all that, even though all those things can and should be done, that's not what it's about. From the time God put Adam and Eve in the garden, it was a test. He put Adam and Eve in the garden; He gave them free will, free moral agency, sir, and He gave them as much of the wisdom of God as He dared. You're unique to every other creation on this planet; there is no other creation that is like mankind because man is the only creation created in the image of God and after the likeness of God and with only God knows how much of God's wisdom put in that man. Now, somebody said, "Well, I know people that's not very wise." Me too, but sin did that. God gave man all wisdom, and then sin came and clouded it and distorted it and ruined it and destroyed it, and the further we move from the garden, the less wisdom we have and the less likeness of God we have because of sin. That's right. Only the infilling of the Holy Ghost rechecks and resets that, and we start a on a journey back toward the garden, back toward the wisdom of God, back toward the understanding of God as the result of the infilling of the Holy Ghost in prayer. That don't mean you can just get the Holy Ghost and just sit back on your laurels; it means you you got to activate that Holy Ghost, and you got to keep it activated; you got to keep it renewed, and you you got to stay in the book. A combination of you reading the word of God and prayer walks you back toward the wisdom that Adam had, back toward the power of God that was in Adam. Avoiding His word and avoiding His reading, re the reading of the word takes you further toward deterioration of all that is like God. You become like a beast of the field; you become like an animal. All you're interested in is fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Animals are only interested in a few things; they're interested in eating, they're interested in sleeping, and they're interested in procreation. And a man in his most demoralized state wants to eat, sleep, and wow, that's it. Nothing but animalistic; no higher notions, no higher aspirations.
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Yes, sir. When you get full of the Holy Ghost, you get a higher ideal, a higher understanding. There's a re there's at least a view of the Adamic state. Come on, and a desire in you to move back toward those things. And He's given you the word of God and the power of the Holy Ghost, which illuminates that book. There is no other book that a man will read over and over and over several times a year, every year for an entire 70-year lifespan, and in his 70th year he's more excited and more determined and receiving more out of that book than he did the first year he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, because that book is alive and it's powerful, and it it takes on new form and it takes on new revelation; it takes on new dynamic every time you read it. It speaks things to you that you did not receive the first time you read it. It sophist. And in that garden, He put two trees; He put the tree of life, and He said, "You can e you can eat of the tree of life as much as you want; as much as you want, you can eat of the tree of life." We have no record that Adam and Eve ever ever ate one piece of fruit off the tree of life; no mention, no mention that they ever ate of the tree that He said, "This is the tree of life." They didn't see their need for it. I guess there's no mention that they ever took a bite of it. He said, "Over here is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; don't eat of that tree." In the day that you eat of that tree, it's going to be opposite of the tree of life. Yes, sir; it's going to be death, death to wisdom, death to higher ideals, death to Godlikeness. Come on, death to relationship with God, death to connection with God, death to righteousness, death to purity, death to all things good, and ultimately your death. All right, it's going to start a dying process. Oh, yeah, if you eat of that tree. Wow, wow. We find no record that they ever ate of the tree of life, but we find that they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, yes, and started all of humanity on a process of death; born to die, all right, born to self-destruct. We find the same notion alive in the church today. He said, "Go to My house." It is the rest, yes, sir, wherein the weary are made to rest; it is the refreshing. My God, go to My house. That's it's it's life; read My word; it's it's everlasting life, or read My word that you might not sin.
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Get renewing of the Holy Ghost; it's where wisdom and understanding and revelation comes from, and that you you can eat of the altars of the renewing of the Holy Ghost freely. And we find people who are in avoidance to what brings life; they avoid the word of God; they avoid the reading of the word of God; they avoid the altar; they avoid His house. Oh, this represents the tree of life, but every day they're eating of the things that He says, "Don't eat that; it'll destroy your family; don't eat that; it'll destroy your home; don't eat that; don't don't partake of that." Right, right. Humanity still has a penchant toward eating what brings life and avoiding or eating what brings death and avoiding what brings life. Why is it so hard to read your Bible, but you'll read a novel? What? Why is it so hard to open the book of life, but you'll watch YouTube? What? Why is it so hard to be faithful to the house of God, but you'll be faithful to your job? What? Come on, we can be so hard on Adam and Eve, but we're doing the same thing in real time. If we're not careful, in real time, we're partaking of what brings death and avoiding what brings life. Wow, say it. And this entire thing is a test to see, are you going to get it? That's right. I'm giving you a 70-year lifespan to find out if you're going to figure it out. Go ahead, 70 years, that if you can if you can find the right combination, I'm I'm I'm giving you a 66-book playbook. All right, sir. If you'll get in it, the answers are there; you can figure out the answer; you can figure out that I am the hope; you can figure out that I am the Messiah; you can figure out that all things are in Me. I'm giving you 70 years to figure this thing out. When you don't do right, you're going to be corrected; when you do right, you're going to be rewarded. Here's your playbook; figure it out. And if you do, you can enter into the everlasting life. If you're too hardheaded, there's another place you're going. Say it. And that, brothers and sisters, is what life is. It's not hard; it's not tough; everything's been provided. But two worlds are after your heart, right? One gives immediate gratification; one gives you little doses of dopamine, and the other says, "If you can learn how to back off and see a bigger picture and work toward a bigger goal, you can have everlasting life." Yes, sir. Right, yes, sir. And that's what this thing's about; that's what we're doing here; that's why we're in the house of God tonight. You know, Adam and Eve would have probably never eaten of the tree of the garden without the serpent. Yeah. Take the serpent out of the equation, and they'd have probably found their way to the tree of life, and we'd have a lot different outcome. What would be? I do not know. Maybe I'd be born in the heavenlies; maybe I'd have been born in the garden. I want to think I'd have still existed, some form, some glorified fashion. I wouldn't need a Troy roto-tiller because there'd be no weeds to deal with; I wouldn't need a hoe. Go ahead, brother. There'd be no weeds to hoe; I wouldn't need any Roundup; be no weeds to spray; wouldn't need any doctors; there'd be no sickness. Right? Wouldn't need any lawyers; be no battles to fight; wouldn't need an altar; be no sin to remedy; wouldn't need Kleenexes; be no tears to wipe. Come on, come on. Wouldn't need any marriage counselors; be no marriage problems; wouldn't need any family counselors; there'd be no kids against their parents; mean no drug rehabs. Yeah, yeah; be no need for drugs. I could go on and on with that; I could spend all night talking about that, and I'm not going to do that, Jesus. But there was a serpent, yes, and they listened to the enemy, and I'm here tonight to encourage you to stop listening to the enemy.
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There's a Philistine army; they're called demons, and they're after you; they are not your friend. What is whispering in your ear, telling you what you want to hear, is not your friend. What's whispering in your ear and playing to your weaknesses is not your friend; what's whispering to your mind and playing to your deception is not your friend. I know you like it, but it's your destruction. There is a demon that will play to your hurts, and he'll play to your wounds, and he'll confuse your mind, and he's after some things, but he's not after what you think he's after. That's the whole reason for my message tonight; he's not after what you think he's after. Come on, come on. And then comes the church, and then comes a pastor. Where does that all that fit in the equation? Well, here's what the Bible says: The Bible says you better listen to your shepherd because he watches for your feelings, because he watches for your hurts, no, because he watches for what you like. You know, one of the most powerful pertinent scriptures in the world is when Moses comes down off that mountain after visiting with God, and he's left Aaron as the undershepherd. Uh-huh. And and and they have stripped their clothes off, and they're are dancing nude with all kind of sexual con connotations and probably probably sexual activity around an image made out of gold that has very sexual over overtones. And Aaron, who has been left there as the pastor, the temporary fillian assistant pastor, and Moses comes down the mountain, sees that; the first question he asks is, Aaron, what did the people do to you? Wow. What did the people? Aaron, you're supposed to be leading them; how'd they end up leading you? Good brother. You think a preacher's tough? He better be. Yes, sir. You think a preacher stands? He better. You think a preacher gets in your time? You got a good one. You think a preacher ain't really interested sometimes in your feelings? You better you better thank Him.
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He said, "Here's the problem." Wow. He's the watchman on the wall. Come on. When you're seeing brick, when you're seeing stone, he's seeing an enemy coming. When your field of vision don't see any problem because there's a wall up there and there's no danger between me and that wall, he knows what's on the other side of the wall. Come on. That's out of your field of vision, and so it's no wonder that you can run around saying, "I can't see what he's talking about; I can't see what his problem what the problem is; I can't see what he's upset about." No, because you're seeing grass in a wall.
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And that's God's test: Can you trust a leader? That's right. Yes, sir. You see, the problem with g being a god unto yourself is you got limited view. Somebody said, "Well, you set sound like you're setting yourself up." Oh, absolutely not. I got leaders watching for my soul. This is a chain of command. Exactly, exactly. Let me tell you something: My phone rang in the prayer room, and it said Steve McMullen, and I started trembling. You hear me? I kind of got a catch in my throat. You that left out the side saw me go back there and get my phone and call. Yes, sir. I couldn't wait till 7:25; he messed my prayer time up. I was praying, but my mind wasn't on praying; it was running a thousand miles an hour. What did I say? What did I do? What did God tell him? What have I done that I didn't realize I did? Yes, sir. There's men in my life; if their number comes up on my phone, I know they're watching for my soul. There's about three or four names; if they come up on my phone, I want to know what God what is God telling you because God's put you in a position that He you can see things I can't see. I I don't understand these preachers today that are letting their congregations change them. They're Aaron; they're Aaron; they're allowing the will of the people. That's right, to change their view, to change their preaching, scared of losing allegiance, scared of losing somebody. Let me tell you, the best friend that I can ever be to you is not be afraid for you to leave, to not be afraid to lose you, to preach the word, to stick with the book, preach. Hey, I'm not trying to play tough tonight; I'm trying to preach.
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You you you you see these churches that are changing. You want to ask Aaron, what do what are the people doing to you? And why? Because I posted a I posted a a post the other day; I wish I could put it on the screen, and it's a it's of a man on top of a wall; it's a man on top of a wall, and he's saying, "The weather's clear; the weather's fine; everything's good." And there's a guy standing on a stool looking through a hole in a wall where a guy's got a water hose watering the grass, and he says, "Oh, no, it's not; it's raining," because that's all that hole provides for him to see, and he's in an argument with the man on the wall. It's raining. Hey, everybody, don't listen to him; it it's raining. And the man on the wall sees a clear day, beautiful, no clouds, sunshining, and he sees a guy over there watering the grass with a water hose. But the position of the guy looking through the hole, all he can see is the water coming out of the water hose. And most of the time, the conflict that goes on between a pastor and the congregation is everybody's looking through their own hole in the wall, and everybody's seeing something different. That's right. And the only person that's got the view of the big picture is the man that God put on the wall. And so you got a guy over here; he's looking through a little hole, and he's saying, "What's wrong with facial hair? I don't see a problem with it." And you got a girl over here; she's saying, "What's wrong with little makeup? I I don't see what the problem is." And you got somebody over here saying, "I don't understand what what's the difference in a in in in this." And what's and I'm not going to name every issue. Go ahead, come on. Well, I know you're against jewelry, but what what what's wrong with one one ring that represents my marriage? And the man on the wall says, "It's all part of one picture. I know you're seeing one thing, and you're seeing one thing, and you're seeing one issue, but what I'm seeing is they're all connected, an overarching
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and if you're going to be saved, you got to be willing to fight. The kingdom of God suffereth violence, and in these last days, here's what Oh, my God, I'm I'm feeling my help. Go ahead. I'm feeling my help. Come on. In these last days, the problem that we're having was prophesied in the Old Testament, and He said, "There going to be a they're going to be arise a generation of preachers." He's talking about men of God. He said, "They're going to be dumb dogs that won't bark; they're going to be scared and fearful to open their mouth; danger's going to come, but they're not going to bark; danger's going to be in the yard, but they're not going to say anything; thieves are going to be trying to break in your house, and the dog's going to lay there and not open his mouth." And He said, "I'm going to tell you what I'm accusing them of; I'm going to accuse them of scattering the flock of God, of not being willing to protect My people." And that's where we are in the last days. Yes, sir. And I'm telling you, I'm not here to fight people, and I'm not here to to fight families and individuals, but I am here to fight the demonic spirits that want to arm you up and act like they're your friend while destroying you.
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All right. Yes, sir, because it does matter. Yes, sir. And I'm going to tell you right now, I got enough sense and I'm smart enough to a preacher of a preacher to not make issues out of things that aren't issues. We got enough problems in this world; somewhere there's got to be a trust for a pastor. Yes. And I'm going to say a few things right here; I'm going to say a few things right here because it's come up to several times. Come on. We got we got every brand of Pentecost now; every brand of apostolic movement. There's a reason why God put you in this church, and there's a reason why God made you my pastor, me your pastor, and I'm not be seated. I'm not some kind of demagogue that don't want you going here and don't want you visiting there and don't want you visiting everywhere else, but if you're not careful and you run around to church to church and open yourself up to every spirit and don't have church loyalty, you'll look like a poodle that's mixed with a chihuahua that's mixed with a bulldog that's mixed with a pitbull. Come on, every kind of spirit putting up together; your putting together your spiritual DNA and makeup. Yes, sir. That's the truth. And then you'll get into this, "Well, why can they do that and we can't? Why can't they go there, and why can they live somewhere?" You got to get some brand loyalty. Say, "God put me at Pine Grove; God made Brother Copeland my pastor, and my job is to build that church." This is good. Be seated. God's
Of sounds like what I got. Why don't you give me some of your pills? Right. Oh my goodness.
Well, they don't have the same blood type as you; they're not the same age as you. You don't know if your if your problems come from the same root problem, root cause. [Music] I mean, come on, their sore throat may be indigestion. Come on, come on. That's why every time you go to the emergency room or or go to a pharmacy or whatever, they want to know who is your doctor. And anybody that knows anything about truth and godliness and all that won't, you know what the first thing they're going to question is, who is your pastor? Well, I hadn't got one—ing ling alarms going off everywhere. You ain't got a pastor, right? Well, you're not in my pulpit; you're not on my platform. There there's no one seeing to your spiritual care. [Music] [Applause]
I don't know what your ideologies are; I don't know what your concepts are, but I tell you one thing: You tell me who your pastor is, and I'll immediately know what your foundation is. I'll know what you believe; I'll know where your convictions are. I if you I'm if you're halfway listening to your pastor, I know what you're about exactly, sir. Somewhere there's got to be a lock in that says, "Hey, no, I got man, I love you; hope y'all have a great service, but I got church Tuesday night at my church. Hey, I'd love to come to your meeting. I tell you what I'll do, I have church; I have church Tuesday night, so I'll come Monday night. Ain't going to be there Tuesday night; I got church at my church. Yeah, but we got this big deal going on. It doesn't matter; the biggest deal in my life is my church, whether there's 40 there, 50 there, whatever. The biggest deal in my world is the church God put me and my family in. Good preaching. Your pastor can't help my children; your pastor can't help my marriage, but my pastor can, because God's talking to my pastor about me. I don't need some kind of general prescription; I need a prescription that's tailored to me, and my pastor is the one that hears from God for me. Yes, sir. Hallelujah. Be seated.
There's some things that's got to be fought for, man. I need some soldiers that's fighting, sir. That's good, man. Preach to us, sir. I need some soldiers that's fighting for the brand, riding for the brand. Yes, sir. Forgive me for my Louis L'Amour days when I was evangelizing; I didn't have to come up with brand new messages all the time. I had a good range of about a hundred of them, and you know, I'd go to a church and pray, and God would lead me to one of those. I had lots of time to read; part of my reading was Louis L'Amour. I know what it means to have somebody rides for the brand. There's nothing more insecure than having somebody round up strays with you that don't ride for the brand. That's it, cuz if he don't ride for the brand, he may have a canyon over here where he's putting some of your cattle. You know, you'll never miss two or three, four or five. Then next thing you know, he's on the ride for the next ranch; he don't ride for the brand. All right. He's everybody's roundup cowboy. All right. That's good, sir. Yeah. Next thing you know, he's got 40, 50 cattle over here; he's done robbed seven or eight branches; nobody missed two or three; he don't ride for the brand. He's ahead. Mhm. He's a maverick; he's a he he's all interested in himself, right? It's his own calling; he don't need a particular church or particular pastor; he's everybody's roundup king. I tell you what, a pastor, if he's going to build a church, he's got to have people that ride for the brand. This is my church; this is my pastor; this is the definition of what I believe is holiness. [Applause]
I preach. Somebody says, "Well, you you you do that, you liable to that pastor. Nobody's perfect; that pastor's lava, get off somewhere." I tell you what you do: If you're reading your Bible, the minute I start straying, you'll know it. [Applause] You won't need Joel Osteen or Jimmy Swaggert to tell you; you'll know because you're reading your Bible. That's why you've got the obligation to stay in your book. [Applause] You got the obligation to stay in the Word; you ought to be reading your Bible. The minute I start preaching something it don't don't sound right, you'll have alarm bells going off. Come on. That don't mean you keep the pastor in line; it don't mean you call me down; it means you start praying for me, and then you walk up to me and say, "Brother Copeland, who's your pastor? I need his phone number." Well, [Music] they're going to be coming through here. Good preaching. Come on. There's men—I notice I'm I'm I'm going to bring some young guys in, but notice I'm going to bring some men in that I'm going to say, when I'm in this pulpit, I've been knowing this man since I was 12 or 13 years old. Any of those men come, if I've been preaching something that ain't right, you know what you got an obligation to do? That's go to that man and say, "Hey, I need you to ask my pastor about something." [Music] I'm concerned about this, right? Why is it so quiet? Why is this? Because I'm going to tell you, there's a spirit in the day of this roing church; they're just roving; they just they just jumping from pew to pew, church to church, place to place, and they they they I I wonder what they think when that Bible says that your your your pastor—not not some preacher from Tennessee, not some big dog from California—your pastor is going to give an account for you before God in judgment. Well, some of y'all—come on—well, not y'all, forgive me for saying it that way—there are people; they're going to be scratching their head like disciples. They said, "Man, this guy's been married five times; who's his wife going to be in heaven?" God's going to have Gabriel over there saying, "Now, who's there where' they go to church now?" No, not last year, this year. Well, I got to ask Brother So-and-So about him, for from 1983 to 66 to 86. Get Brother So-and-So up here; they was at his place from 86 to 94. They tried to put him on a salary; he wouldn't go on a salary; didn't want to be a hireling, and so they moved over here. Let's see where—somewhere you got to get some brand loyalty. [Applause] You got to lock in there and say, "We're going to build a church; we're going to build the kingdom. Come on, we're not we're not looking for where the h the h the fire is the hottest; we're looking for where God put us." [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hallelujah. There's something worth fighting for. Be seated one more time, man. I hope I didn't ruin a good message tonight. [Applause] [Music]
How many of y'all—I'm making sense to you? Making sense to anybody? Cuz I'm going to tell you what the future of this church is; you don't have to worry about it. The future of this church is we're going to keep praying people through. The future of this church is we're going to keep growing, thank God, and the the the future of this church is we're going to stay with the old-time gospel. The future of this church—we're going to keep preaching holiness. [Applause] Yes, sir. That's the future of this church. We're going to we're going we're about to build a 2,500-seat auditorium; we're still working on it; don't get upset; we're still working on it; we're going to do it, and we're going to fill it up before Jesus comes back. [Applause] But we're not going to let down our standard of holiness to do it. You're never have going to have to look at me and say, "Brother Copeland, what have the people done to you?" [Applause] What is gaining people done to your convictions? You're never going to have to worry about that. Come on, come on. Good preaching. Good preaching. You said, "Well, the re why is that?" Be seated one more time. Why is that, Brother Copeland? I got I got 16 minutes; I'm going to tell you why, because I'm going to fight in the bean field. Yes, sir. You see, here's what the devil does—he and I got off my subject; let me get back on it. Here's what the devil does: The devil takes issues and separates them from the hole and gets you looking through the hole in the wall, and all you can see is that issue, and it don't like a big don't look like a big deal. You know what what what if Brother Copeland, what if we let some of this in the church? It seems like everybody else is, you know what? And the preacher starts looking like a come on, looking like he's narrow-minded; something's wrong with him, right? Well, all these other churches are are letting it in, Brother Copeland. What what why are you making an issue come on over something that's not that big a deal, something so small? Come on. You know the indication is is that this is this bean field was small. You know how cheap lentils are? Yeah, they're the cheapest food to buy; it was that way then; it wasn't expensive; it wasn't worth anything. Man, preacher, it's so small; it's such a small deal. Well, I got two questions about that: If it's such a small deal, why' the Philistines want it? [Applause] [Music] Why are they willing to fight over it? If it don't matter, why is he sending an army to get it? See, you always want the pastor; you always want the pastor to back down; you never want the enemy to pastor. Why are you willing to fight over that? Well, why don't you ask the devil that? Why don't you ask him why he's willing to fight [Applause] over? And the reason that he is is because it's connected; it's not a small standalone issue. Yeah. You see, the problem is the bean field's connected to your barley field, and your barley field is connected to your wheat field, and your wheat field's connected to your bean patch or your your your corn patch. Come on. And the corn patch backs up to the barn where all your livestock is, and the barn's connected to your yard where your kids play, and your your yard where your kids play is connected to your porch, and your porch is connected to your living room, and your living room is connected to your kids' bedrooms, and your kids' bedroom's connected to your marriage bed. He's not after your bean field; he's after your marriage bed and your children. The bean field is just a path to what really matters. [Applause] And too many of you don't fight until your marriage is already on the rocks; he's already in your bedroom before you fight. Come on, pastor. Come on. You bought in into his lie that the stuff the preacher was so narrow-minded. Boy, I just don't know; maybe we need to go somewhere else. He gets so hung up on issues; all he wants to do is fight about bean fields. You better be thankful you got a pastor than a fight for your bean field. [Applause] You you better quit listening to that devil that crawls up on your shoulder and says, "I guess he's he's just he he's worried about you missing church; worried about you oh, he wants to preach about your faithfulness; your faithfulness; he's yeah, he's after your faithfulness, and yeah, it's a big deal; it's not unconnected. Your faithfulness is connected to your kids' faithfulness. That's right. And your kids' faithfulness is connected to their the construct of their doctrine. You keep them out of church enough; they won't have a construct of doctrine. [Applause] Yes, sir. Their doctrine's connected to their salvation. Where are you going to fight after after they're after they're on your porch, knocking your windows out, crawling your kids' rooms? Are you going to fight with your pastor out in the bean field somewhere where he says, "We're not even going to let him get near the house; we're going to fight over what seemingly doesn't matter because he's after what does matter ultimately." That's right. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Be seated. Wow. It's just a little ring. I mean, the other churches are doing it. Yeah, they gave up the bean field, and then they gave up their barley field, and over the last five years they've gave up their corn field, and now you can see when you look on Facebook and Instagram, you can see with tears rolling down your cheeks that the kid that the Philistines are in the kids' bedroom, and you can see it, but they didn't get there last week. All right, it started 20 years ago when Moses came down that p down the mountain and asked their pastor, "Why are the what are the people doing to you? You're changing for their wishes instead of listening to God." And you know what their song was? Why Aaron? The Philistines are doing it; the Babylonians are doing it. Yes, sir. The Amalekites are doing it; it don't seem to be causing them any trouble. Why can't we? Because you're Israel; that's why. Because you're the chosen people; that's why. [Applause] Yes, sir. 8:51. But there's a spirit that the devil wants to get in people. Why is he making an issue out of things that are not an issue? Why is he fighting over this stuff? Why does he bring it? It seems like that's all he can preach on. He got a candy stick. I'm going to tell you, if one time God could unshackle your eyes and you could see over the wall and you could see what your pastor has to look at, right? You get so caught up in your life and your little situation and your little bubble and your and you forget that God's raising that pastor in prayer. I'm spending time in fasting; I'm spending time in prayer, and God's lifting me up and letting me see into realms that you can't see, and to you it don't look like any big deal. Yes, sir. And in your carnality, I just don't know if I can sit under this; listen, I'm going to subject my family to this—oh, subject them to the enemy, not a pastor that'll preach—get put put them where the devil wants them; it'll take off some immediate pressure. You know, giving up the bean field always gives just a little bit of relief. [Music] You know what giving up a bean feels like? It's like scratching a sore; it's what it's like—any y'all ever scratched a sore? Come on. Any of your any of your parents, any of your parents ever say, "Hey, don't scratch that." Why are you scratching that? Cuz it feels so good. Well, let me tell you, when you're under the pressure of life and you're carnal and you're not praying like you should and you're not reading your Word, I'm going to tell you, giving up bean feels feels so good for a little while, right, right. You know it really don't matter that much; it's cheap; it didn't cost us much; we still got our barley and our corn; what's the problem? And you scratch that itch, and it feels so good for a little while, but then in a little in just a little bit, it's redder and it's more infected; it's more angry than it's ever been before, and you find out that infection's setting in, and that's the problem with giving up bean fields. Wow. It's a problem of giving up bean fields. Let me ask you this: If I give the bean field up that you want me to give up cuz you got your little deals that you'd like for your kids to do, and I give up the bean field that y'all want to give up cuz you got some things that your wife would like to do, and then I give up the bean field over here that y'all want me to give up—that's right—then I give up the bean field that some of these back here want me to give up, and you know everybody's got their little weaknesses, everybody got their little things, that the little bean fields that they just like the pastor just to back off on, just give up that bean field. I mean, what does it matter? What's the big issue? Preaching, sir. Well, I want to just ask you this: Will this church in 10 years for your kids be the powerful delivering station that it's been for you? So you just go ahead and slip around and protest for and go ahead and do this that the pastor preaches against; just go ahead, and he won't never notice, but the people you influence will. Oh yeah, the kids you taught in Sunday school, they'll see it; pastor won't; he's busy. You just go ahead and and and disagree with the pastor and do what you want to do; he won't never notice. No, but the people you teach will. That's it. That's right. Yeah. The children of the people you hang out with, they'll notice, and it's not long and you got Philistines in the church, and you got Amalekites in the church, and you got Babylonians in the church, and then you start wondering, "Well, why don't my church look like that apostolic church it once looked like?" I'm going to tell you why: Cuz you thought the bean patch wasn't worth fighting for. You thought the bean field—it's just too far out there; it's really there ain't no sense in fighting over bean fields. You're stirring up an preacher; you're making an issue where there's not an issue. Why don't you just let some things go? Why don't you focus on the important things? Let me make a statement for you: If you don't fight today, yes sir, there won't be nothing to fight for tomorrow. If you don't fight today, there won't be anything to fight for tomorrow. [Applause] [Music] I don't I don't have to I don't have to tell you—be seated—I don't have to tell you; you can just look around. Hey, hey, I know this is live stream; I know it's on, but let me just tell you, we're too close to the coming of God for us to keep for us to keep playing Twinkies or tiddlywinks or whatever it is those boys like that; it's not time for that anymore. If you've been in Pentecost 10 years, you know there's churches in our area that once was just like this church that now you wonder if they even still believe the oneness of God, and they didn't get there by just all at once going going there. That's right. That's not what they did; they didn't just show up one day and say, "Don't believe any of that anymore; we're starting over." No, look back in history; they gave up the beanville—scratch that itch—made it easy, and then the Philistines wanted the barley field. Well, they got a precedent set now, sure. And you know the barley field—it's still it's still several acres from the from from the from the farm. And then they gave up the barley field. Oh, I could name it; I could name it. Mhm. I could talk about it. Sure, we could talk about jewelry; we could talk about short skirts; we could talk about sensuality. Mhm. Sporting events—just give a barley field here and give us a bean field here, and we still got the farm. But you see, you're sectioning it off, and you're thinking it's just the barley field, but they got a whole another guy—they want your whale. Yes, sir. See, the the the barley field—it's just a path to the whale, sir. That's it. Wow. And they're not going to stop with the whale, cuz when they get the whale, they're going to want the house. Yes, sir. Amen. And you know the deal is, I'm not just talking about this issue here—the spirit that's in our worlds in the church, right? That's what's happening to our nation; they have given our nation away piece by piece because it was easier than fighting. That's how the homeless tenants and the drug addicts have taken over our inner cities; that's how Antifa—come on now—yes, I'm not going to get into politics, but that's exactly the the spirit I'm talking about is the spirit that George Soros has paid off our district our our district attorneys and our prosecutors all over this world—stop being so hard on these lutters; just give them a slap on the wrist; let them out of prison; don't fight; let's get there through peace. And I'm not trying to make Donald Trump a god, but thank God for a shama in the White House that finally says enough is enough. They weren't just after our bean field; have y'all caught on yet? They're not going to be happy till they wreck till there's not a country left to fight for. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] And you better recognize the same spirit that gets in the church that when you're carnal and when you're not praying gets to whispering in your ear and saying, "Why is pastor making such a big issue? I'm done, but I find two or three; I'm finished, but I find two or three places in the Bible." You know, it's it's an amazing thing if you ever get a good praying through how you can completely change. I've walked into the church mad, upset upset about things and get somewhere and really snot and cry and get a renewing in the Holy Ghost and stand up and literally scare myself. I've literally got up, Brother Belulk, and said—my frame of mind was so bad that I was about to make some horrible mistakes in my carnality. Amen. And only a renewing of the Holy Ghost salvaged me. Yes, sir. Ahab, because he wanted what he wanted—Ahab, because he wanted what he wanted and would not listen to the man of God when the man of God ran into him in that vineyard—his immediate words to the man of God, who was his best friend in the world, is, "Hast thou found me, oh mine enemy?" Right? You know what he was saying? Brother, you going to stop me from getting what my flesh wants. All right. But you know what the enemy was? You I mean, you know what the preacher was really trying to stop him from—just a few days the dogs was going to lick his blood up in the street. Yes, sir. And the preacher was trying to stop that. Thank you, sir. You know why all Ahab could see was that vineyard? He couldn't see past the vineyard. Wow. But the prophet understood that vineyard was connected to the obedience and for fortitude of God. Come on. That's good. And then Paul, in the New Testament, Paul's given his life traveling all over the country trying to save people, and he leaves, and every time the preacher would leave, they they'd go they'd just slip right back into their sin, and Paul comes back and he says, "Hey, hey, what are y'all doing? Can't I leave and y'all stay true? Has anybody got enough Holy Ghost to stay true? I can just go preach to somebody else and for a few days and y'all can stay true till I get back." You know, I wonder that some of y'all can literally completely backslide between Tuesday and Sunday—get your head plum screwed on backwards in just four days. And he got to preaching to them, and apparently apparently he could see and feel them rising up, and Brother Jason Davidson, he he makes this claim; he says, "You know, when I was here before, you'd have stuck your fingers in your eye sockets and plucked them out and given them to me, because Paul was notoriously blind; if you could have given me your eyes and you've been blind so I could see, you'd have done it, but now here just a few days later, because I'm telling you the truth, you have become my enemy." I'm going to tell you folks, there's some things that's left to fight for; we can't give it to the enemy because that's not what he's after; he wants you to think that's all he wants, but he wants your marriage; he wants your kids; he wants your home. Stand together and lift your hands. Come on, all over this house. Come on. Come on, all over this house. Would you cry out? I'm done. 9:04. I'm letting you go home. Come on, reach out. Somebody, we need just a few minutes here of worship. Come on. Come on, just a few moments here of you reaching out. Come on. Come on. I need some help in the house. Come on. I need some help in the house. Come on. I feel the Holy Ghost moving in this place right now. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Would you really cry out to the Lord? Come on. I I need—listen—I'm not going to keep you just a minute or two longer, but please, I need somebody to get serious in the Spirit right now. Come on. Come on. The Holy Ghost is here. That's it. That's it. That's it. I need somebody to get serious in the Holy Ghost. God, in the name of Jesus. Come on. Come on. Come on. There's people—there's people that you don't realize it, but there's people that's made dynamic shifts in their thinking tonight; they need somebody to pray for them before they leave. Come on. There's been dynamic shifts in some people's thought processes. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. The Holy Ghost is here. Ato Laondo. Come on. Come on. There's something happening in the Spirit. Come on. There's something taking place in the Holy Ghost right now. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Something's happening. There's dynamic shifts. Come on. There's paradigm shifts happening in people's spirits, their minds, their hearts. Come on. Come on. Come on. I'm telling you, the future of this church—the the future of this church is bright; the future of this church is great, but we're not going to get there by giving up on things; we're going to get there by standing firm; we're going to be get there for fighting for what's most important. You hear me? We're going to get there for standing; we're going to get there because we're standing on the truth and the righteousness; we're going to remain what we are. You hear me? We're driving stakes in the ground; we're we're driving stakes in the ground. I'm telling you, I'm staking off this property, and I'm telling all of hell, we're not [Applause] moving; we're not moving; we're not moving. Come on. We're staying true to what it means to be apostolic; we're staying true to what it means to be apostolic; we're standing true to what it means to be apostolic. Come on. It don't take a long for God to do a work. I'm not trying to keep you here all night, but I'm not—listen—listen, work with me, because I'm not going to dismiss this thing till God's done. We need another minute or two; there's still something moving through this congregation; there's still something moving through this house. Come on. Come on. There's still something happening in this place. Come on. There's things worth fighting for. Don't you ever let the devil tell you something. Hey, hey, if it's big to your pastor, you don't think it's small in your mind. You listen to me; you stand with your pastor; you say, "If it's big to your pastor, it's big to me. It's big to my pastor; it's big to me. If it's an issue to my pastor, it's an issue with me. Man, I'd rather my pastor make an issue than let the devil in my kids' bedroom; I'd rather my pastor make an issue than let demons in my kids' house. Pastor, I'm with you; if you want to fight in the bean field, we'll fight in the bean patch." Come on. There's something worth fighting for. Come on. There's something worth fighting for. I want you to do this with me: Pray for somebody around you, and again, I understand the clock, and you you know your pastor's very interested in your time, but pray with somebody right now, and then we're going to go home. Come on. Come on. Pray with somebody around you right now. Come on. Ask God to help them; ask God to stand with them; ask God to open their understanding. My God, I'm telling you, I just had the anointing of the Holy Ghost come upon me. You listen to me, church; God's fighting for you, and God's fighting for this church, and God is fighting for your family. Are you hearing me right now? I'm telling you in the Holy Ghost prophetically—you listen to me—I know you're struggling; I know you're having some battles, but I'm telling you in the Holy Ghost, God's fighting for your family; God is fighting for your children; God is with this church; He is marching with us, and we're taking territory, even when you can't see it; we are taking territory; we're going forward in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Praise Him one last time. One last time. Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for Your anointing; thank you for the power of the Holy Ghost; thank you for the anointing of the Holy Ghost; thank you for meeting us in this place in the name of Jesus; in the name of Jesus; in the name of Jesus. There's some praying; let's please don't disturb these are praying. Please take this home—this message home in your spirit; let the Holy Ghost talk to you, and you're dismissed. Please don't—hey, don't forget family prayer tomorrow night.