Transcription
[Music]
Oh, praise the Lord! Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! Praise your name, Jesus.
And now, Lord, we ask that you would just be in the midst of your people tonight. That whatever is done and said will be to the glory of your name and the edifying of the body of Christ. Hide us behind your glorious cross and cover us with your precious blood, allowing no flesh to glory in your sight. Anoint these lips of clay that we might speak as an oracle of Christ and not just as a man. We give you praise and glory in Jesus' name, amen and amen.
Come on, give the Lord another hand of praise, everybody!
[Music]
Now, as you take your seats, I need a few people, maybe from the risers or somewhere in the back, to fill up these Deacon seats and any other seats in the front. It's a little difficult for the television cameras to do their best job. That's right, you all come right quickly and fill up these seats over here.
It's a little difficult for them to do their best job when you have seats in the front. Although there will be a certain amount of seats reserved for the deacons, missionaries, ministers, and family, after a certain length of time, if nobody's in those seats, we're going to fill them up.
And anybody coming in time for the benediction getting mad about this, "That's my seat!" You're not on the reserve situation here. It's just an honor for you if you're going to be in your place, but if you are not there, somebody else is there. Is that all right? Amen.
There's another one over here, and anywhere you see empty seats, especially in the front, you know the television equipment that we have. I don't know if any of the television networks in the city have the same caliber of equipment, and I think it might be a little bit too good.
I had just a real little, just one little white speck here that I wouldn't pay any attention to, and they sent word saying that it's blurring on the camera. Get rid of it! So that equipment we have, maybe we may have outdone ourselves on that one. I don't know.
And with some of you, we might have outdone ourselves with the building. But I notice now when the Lord sends in a strong wave of His Spirit, I mean, we'll shout and praise the Lord and then sit back down and stop. Now, y'all get used to it now. You get used to it because we don't want it to be a hindrance foreign to our worshiping the Lord in any way.
Open your Bibles with me to the book of Ephesians, chapter 5.
And I'll say from the very outset that tonight's message is not designed to make anybody shout or dance, but it is a message that I feel the Lord has certainly dropped into our spirit at this time that His people might have a greater sense of direction.
The book of Ephesians, chapter 5. We're going to begin reading with verse 13, and we're going to read verses 13 through 17. If you have it, say amen.
All right, Ephesians chapter 5, beginning with verse 13. Let us read it aloud together:
"But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, 'Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.' See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
Now, that's the verse that I want you to build your mental tent around tonight: "Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
And I want to say to you, I've spoken from this some time ago, but not recently. God wants you to know His will. God wants you to know, and the word that is used here probably means "know." It says "understand," but understanding is just an in-depth degree of knowledge.
To know, and then just not know, but have an in-depth kind of knowledge that you can not only have a sense of it, but you have even a direction in how to apply that which you do know.
Now, as a pastor of this congregation, and I do always use the word "Pastor" in quotation marks because when I was coming up as a child, most people actually listened to and were shepherded by that pastor.
Usually today, the word "Pastor" on a signboard or on a bulletin simply means that this is the preacher who is the administrative head of the church organization. It does not really mean so much that he is the shepherd of the flock because, as I said, when I was a youngster growing up, people were shepherded by their pastor.
That was before television. They didn't have but just a few radio preachers, and people were so into that local church situation that they would hardly go even to a visiting church without the pastor's approval. They did not really tell the pastor what they were doing; they asked him was it all right because there was a paternal relationship basically.
Now, not only do people not ask most of the time, they don't tell. And they embark upon many things that had they said something earlier, many times they would not have made certain mistakes that they made.
I don't know; I don't suppose it will ever change, but for the most part, even now, when people are considering one of the greatest moves in their life, the move of marriage, many times they don't tell anybody. They just go on and do it, and then three months later, you know, "Pastor, I got to talk to you, man. It's important."
I mean, they get themselves into the worst mess sometimes. They marry somebody who romanced them, and they didn't even know them, and they knew better than to marry outside of the body of Christ, but they went on and did it anyhow.
And then when they get in trouble, they inquire for some type of counsel, and it should have been done in the earlier days. We live in such a day when—and I hate to say this, but I hear so much craziness wrapped up in the cloak of "the Lord said."
And some of the things that people say the Lord said, if you could really see God sitting on His throne, He said, "I didn't say that." Was it the prophet Ezekiel who talked about people who, you know, they would come and say that the Lord had said when He had not spoken?
And then others who would come and think that it was the Lord because they dreamed a dream, and the Lord said, you know, that in other words, you dream the dream, but that doesn't mean that it was my word.
And if you have a dream or have a vision, don't put every dream and every vision on the Lord. Sometimes that dream is motivated by what you had for dinner. Sometimes it's motivated by a certain amount of medication. They found an infection in your body, and you're on so many antibiotics, and you're taking this medicine and that medicine, and it's automatic that you'll become somewhat delusional at times.
I know when I have dreams, I can just about trace it to what I ate or to medication. And when it is a dream that I feel is of the Holy Ghost, and these don't come but just, when I say, ever so often, I'm talking about 10 years or more in between when it's a God-given dream.
Some folk, they think that God is always talking to them, and God didn't even talk to Moses as much as you think that He is talking to you. This is not designed to hurt anybody's feelings tonight, but I think that every once in a while, we need to really give serious consideration when it comes to spiritual matters.
The most valuable thing that you have is the word of God and the direction concerning your soul. Nothing is more important than your soul.
There are a lot of people out trying to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they really do not have any greater evidence of a calling other than the fact that they went to a prayer meeting, and somebody pointed them out and said, "The Lord said for you to preach."
Now, I'm not against prophecy, especially when prophecy confirms what God has already said. But if you're going to do something that is as vital and valuable as preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you need to have stronger authority than just the fact that I went to a prayer meeting and that brother or that sister pointed me out and said, "The Lord said for me to preach."
But if God has already worked it within your spirit and He's given you to know that this is what He would have you to do, then if someone under the auction of the Holy Ghost gives a word that confirms within you that which God has already said, then that gives you a stronger platform upon which to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It seems today as though the body of Christ is in a state of spiritual insanity. It's true that God is moving in a strange and wonderful and glorious way, but it is also true that many people are caught up in a wave, like on the sea when the water is rolling, and they just get caught on a wave.
They don't know where they're going, but it's just that emotional wave sweeping them on to God knows where. But the Apostle Paul said to the people, he said, "Now, I don't want you to be unwise, but I want you to know what the will of the Lord is."
So turn to somebody and tell them, "God wants you to know what His will is for your life."
Oh, well, put a Bible marker here for just a moment and turn backwards to Matthew chapter 7. You know, we're in the midst of our celebration, and as I told you, we've got some other guests that'll be coming on, and maybe they'll take you back to the mountain.
And we're not leaving the mountain, but I've got to make sure that while your head is caught up in the cloud, your feet remain on the ground. Amen.
Look at Matthew chapter 7, verse 21. This is a part of what Jesus is saying to His disciples. Actually, this is the end; he's ending up his long Sermon on the Mount, a sermon that started at the beginning of chapter 5 of Matthew and covers all of 5, all of 6, and all of 7.
And as he's coming to the conclusion of this sermon in verse 21 and chapter 7, he says, "Not everyone that saith unto me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Now, God not only wants us to know His will, but He wants us to do His will. Amen.
Well, once you know His will and do His will, it brings you into a special relationship with the Lord.
Turn to Mark chapter 3.
And in Mark chapter 3, I want you to look beginning at verse 31. Jesus was in the midst of one of His great, if you let me say it this way, crusades. He had healed a man with the withered hand in the beginning of chapter three, and it talks about Him choosing His 12 apostles.
And while He was in the process of teaching, there were people that came to Him. Look at verse 31. "And there came then His brothers and His mother, and standing without, sent unto Him, calling Him."
His mother, His disciples, His natural brothers, meaning these were the other sons of Mary and Joseph, and they stood on the outside of where Jesus was and said for Him, "Come on."
Verse 32: "And the multitude sat about Him, and they said unto Him, 'Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.'"
And He answered them, saying, "Who is my mother or my brethren?"
And He looked round about on them which sat about Him and said, "Behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother and my sister and my mother."
Now, what I'm saying to you is God wants you to know His will. He wants you to do His will, and by doing His will, it brings you into a special relationship with Him.
He's not the man upstairs, hello somebody. And a lot of people who don't know Him, they refer to Him in some kind of remote terms. You know, the eternal spirit. You hear people who don't really know God, don't have a relationship with Him, and they come up with all kinds of names for the Lord.
But when you really know Him, He brings you into a special relationship. And even when you're in prayer, you don't even have to pray like other folk, but you can pray like you're talking to your friend. You can pray like you're talking to your elder brother.
And hallelujah, knowing His will and doing His will brings us into a special relationship with Him.
I think that we have gotten to the point that, because we look in the Old Testament and we see different people that the Lord called to a special place and a special position, we're living in a world now where hardly anybody really feels that they are in the will of God when they just serve.
Well, let me illustrate a little more closely. When you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and just about all believers know what the nine gifts of the Spirit are.
And you've got all of these great gifts that are mentioned, and it talks about the gift of prophecy, and it talks about the gifts of tongues and interpretation, and it talks about the gift of faith and word of knowledge and word of wisdom.
It talks about all of those nine powerful gifts, and you find some people that if you talk to them long enough, they'll tell you, "I got all nine."
And God would not need a body if He gave one person all of it. Oh, you don't hear what I'm saying. In other words, where would your body go if all it had was a head?
But the body has to have other parts, and then all the knowledge might be in the head, but the head can't get to where it needs to go unless it's got some feet to carry it. Amen.
So we get so caught up on the nine that we forget that as you keep reading chapter 12 and you get down toward the end of the chapter, Paul starts to talk about gifts of helps and gifts of government.
And do you not know that it is almost an impossible thing in the world now to find good help? There was a time when you had people talking about there are no jobs, but you can ask most of the entrepreneurs, and they'll tell you that I've got jobs, but I can't find anybody who's willing to work.
Why? Because everyone now has delusions of grandeur. Everybody feels, "I was born to be rich. I was not born to serve anybody, but I was born to be at the top of the heap."
And consequently, you have employers in all kinds of vocations that cannot find help. And it is becoming that way throughout the body of Christ. You can hardly find people who believe that God's will for them is to be a member of the church and to support the vision of the pastor and to work within the framework of the local assembly.
Because most folk, when they first get a real good strong touch—not even a feeling, but just a good touch of the Holy Ghost—the next thing they know is that the Lord has called me, and I got to preach His word.
And before they preach the third sermon, then the Lord is telling them about setting up their own ministry. I told you all you weren't going to shout.
And they get upset, you know. "I don't understand the pastor. He don't ever call on me." And see, "I just got to get in a little practice because the Lord is already calling me to my own ministry."
And how do you know that His will for you is to head up a ministry? Well, because I see these great ministers, and down in my spirit, I see the Lord giving me the television ministry and giving me a nationwide radio ministry.
And I saw myself in a dream in a church just like this, and I know that that's what God wants me to be. And of course, the Bible does say, "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; the end of that man is peace."
Now, when it says "Mark the perfect man," you know it does not mean to imitate. So when I was a little boy growing up, and we would get around and people start making fun of you, whatever you say, then they say it.
And if you didn't talk too plain, they try to say it like you. And you know, we used to run in the house crying, "Mama, so-and-so is mocking me." That's not m-a-r-k, but that's m-o-c-k, mock.
You know, and there's one thing to mock; it's another thing to mark. To mark simply means to make a point of. In other words, observe the perfect man. Observe the one who is complete. Look at the qualities that that person possesses, for the end of that man is peace.
It does not mean that because I saw somebody else leading a great crusade, that's what God has called me to do. And you've got more people who have gone out without a clear direction from God and others wanting to be just like them.
And there are more people now in the body of Christ than there have ever been, but there are also more confused people than there have ever been.
Now, I believe it was the Wilmington Chester choir that recorded the song, and Sister Joy of Cherry leads it with our church, that says, "I'm gonna stand still until God's will is clear to me."
Some moves you don't make if God's will isn't clear. This is a day now when people have a moving demon. I mean, they'll take up now and move from one city to another.
"Well, the Lord told me to go so-and-so." Honey, now did the Lord do that? Just ask yourself the question: Did the Lord do it, or was it simply because somebody did something that you didn't like?
Something happened at church or something happened on the job that you didn't like, and because you didn't like it, you decided, "I'll show them." But the thing is, you're not showing anybody anything.
You're getting yourself into sometimes the biggest mess trying to keep from being outdone, trying to spite somebody. Hello! Because see, the plan of God goes on. It doesn't matter who tries to do what in order to thwart or to stop or hinder the program of God. What God has planned will go on.
Hello, somebody! And many times, people are in the place where God has planted them, but out of a sense of—well, how do I want to say that? Out of a sense of trying to get even with somebody, we jump out, as old folks said, "a frying pan into the fire."
Alicia got a little bit of a chance in the frying pan, but once you get in the fire, you know you've had it then. Amen.
It's as foolish as a palm tree blowing in the wind in Florida during hurricane season. Here comes gale force and hurricane force winds that just bend that tree over, bend it until it looks almost like an L and sometimes turns it down like almost a U.
But yet, after the wind shall have finished blowing, it straightens back up. Now suppose that palm tree had the ability to say, "I'm sick of these storms. They don't have hurricanes in Memphis. They certainly don't have them in Chicago. I'm going to leave from Florida where I won't have to worry with these hurricanes, and I'm going to Chicago."
And the second week of winter, that palm tree that has survived divine storms, it won't take anything but a few freezing nights in Chicago. It won't even take a strong wind; it just takes an average temperature that is too cold for a palm tree to live in that climate.
And that palm tree, although it had storms, it survived in Florida because that's where God planted it. And you can see what you want to when you are where God plants you. You can survive the storm.
Hallelujah! The wind can blow, and the lightning can flash, and the thunder can roll, but it doesn't matter what happens. When the storm is over, that tree that bent over all the way to the ground will straighten back up and kiss the sunlight after the cloud rolls away.
And when you are in the will of God and where God wants you to be, when the storm is over, you'll still straighten up and say, "Everything is all right."
I want you to turn to Acts chapter 13 for just a moment. I want you to look at verse 36. I told you all that this is not the shouting message of the night, but the Lord told me to bring this one.
And I know when I'm under the auction of the Holy Ghost. Well, preacher, how do you know when it's the Holy Ghost? The Lord said, "Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord."
And that doesn't matter how emotional you are. If you've been saved two months, you don't know how to follow the leadership of the Lord being saved two months like somebody who's been preaching it for over 42 years. It makes a difference.
You learn through trial and error. Sometimes, I don't care what your emotions say, you got to learn how to check your emotions by the word of God.
Oh, I mentioned it a few times that when we were over in the old building—and I'm not talking about the building we just moved out of, but the first building, the one that we bought from Mount Vernon Baptist Church, and where the large white and gold part of the building is now, when that was only a parking lot.
And we had just dismissed, I believe it was a Sunday night service, or it may have been a Tuesday night service. And one of the members called me the next day and said, "Oh, Apostle, I just don't know what to do."
I said, "What are you talking about?"
She said, "After church last night, we got in my car getting ready to go home, and these two sisters who were friends of hers got in the car, and they stopped praying and speaking in tongues, and they told me that I was going to have to leave my husband because he's gonna kill you if you stay there with him, and the Holy Ghost said you got to get out of there."
She said, "I just don't know what to do."
And I turned to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, and I read there where the Apostle Paul said to those believers who were married to unbelievers, where he said to the believer that if the unbeliever is pleased to dwell with you, then for that believer to not depart from that unbelieving husband.
Saying the one thing we've got to learn when it comes to knowing the will of God is that the Holy Ghost does not come in a fit of emotion and change God's word.
If God's word clearly says that the believer should stay with the unbeliever, then God's word is not nullified because somebody claims they got a Holy Ghost special, and because they're going through a whole lot of emotions.
Your emotion doesn't change the word of God.
[Applause]
Anybody in here tonight, if you have a relative, a well-to-do relative, and they die and they leave so much money to one member of the family and very little to the other member of the family, it doesn't matter how you argue that that's not what they intended to do.
The will tells you what they intended. And when you look at the word of God, we have the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the word "testament" is the same as the word "will."
If you want to know what God has to say on any subject, read the will. He gives you the old will, but then He also gives you the amendment, and it's called the New Testament.
Hallelujah! And He said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or one tittle of my word will pass away until all be fulfilled."
And I know many times we get confused between emotion and spirit. And I tell you, a lot of times that when we think of spirit, you know, emotionally, and most of us, you know, African-American people, we've got the beat of the drum; it's in our blood.
And you got to listen real close now when you're riding in the car and scanning on your radio because the beat is the same. You got to listen close to see whether the person is singing about my baby or singing about Jesus.
The beat of the music is the same, and if you don't listen very carefully to what they say, you'll be sitting there, you know, popping your finger and clapping your hands and patting your feet because the beat is in the bloodstream.
Now, that's not spirit; that's emotion. Hello, y'all!
And a whole lot of times, the emotional thing, you can walk in and haven't done everything that the Bible said thou shalt not, and then you're trying to lose a Rudolph, stand still, or Vanessa Bell Armstrong.
And when that thing stops moving, you want to move no matter how you've been living. It's just emotion, and you got to watch it when you take your emotion for the word of God.
If you really want to know the will of God, get into His will.
[Applause]
Look at Acts chapter 13 and verse 36. It's talking about David. It says, "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption."
Now, what it says here is that David served his own generation. Now, I know the first thing that comes out of your mind is the fact that David was a king, but that was the place where God chose that he should serve.
Everybody can't serve as king. Everybody can't serve as pastor. Everybody can't serve on the board of elders or a board of deacons. Everybody can't serve where there is an honored seat, you know, a reserved seat.
You know, some people have to serve by just letting your light shine. Some people have to serve by seeing, "My God, the services every night and the cleanup crew, it's not enough of them sufficient to get this thing together, so let me get up here and let me pick up some of this paper. Let me do some of this."
What am I doing? I'm trying to make the place clean and presentable and comfortable for the saints because when you serve God's people, oh, you don't hear what I'm saying.
When you serve, and there's a difference between worship and service. We mistakenly in the church call the worship celebration service.
Let my clock service seven o'clock service? No, no, no, no. This is a seven o'clock worship because you do your service in the day before you get to church. You do your service by finding out who it is that's sick, that mother that's sick and got some children at home, and the house needs cleaning up, and the children need a bath.
And here's some things that I've got to do to help my sister while she's in distress. That's how we serve.
Oh, you don't hear what I'm saying. And God does not just want us caught up only in worship; He wants us involved in service.
[Applause]
David served his own generation. Now, basically, when we talk about the will of God in most of the passages that I read concerning His will, it is His will for the corporate body.
Tell somebody and tell them, "The Bible speaks mostly of God's will for the corporate body."
Now, first of all, look at 2 Peter chapter 3. You have that?
Now, in 2 Peter chapter 3, I want you to look at verse 9. Come on and read it with me.
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Do you not know there are a lot of folk who are lost in sin and will never be saved? But you are wrong if you think that those people who are seemingly irretrievably lost in sin are being lost and on their way to hell because God has willed it.
So it is not God's will for one single person to be lost. And I used to say quite a bit when I would be extending an invitation as a much younger preacher, making invitations in revivals and telling people to come to Christ, and I would say to them that God has cast one vote for you in heaven.
From the time you came into the world, God's will was for you to be saved. He has cast a vote for you in heaven for your salvation. But while God was saying, "John Henry is going to be saved," the devil was saying, "No, John Henry is going to be lost."
So that's a tie. God has cast a vote for you in heaven, and the devil has cast a vote for you in hell. Who's going to break the tie? You!
You can vote with the Lord and be saved, or you can vote with the devil and be lost. But if you go the way of the devil and be lost, you are doing it against God's will because it's not His will for anybody to be lost.
And we ought to think about that when we pass by that crack addict. We ought to think about it when we meet that person who is cursing out the church and cursing out the preacher, saying, "Ain't nothing to it. It's all a con game. No such thing as God."
You got to understand that when they say they have nothing of God, the word of God said, "Unto the fool has said in his heart that there is no God."
And you've got to speak wisdom among them. Hallelujah! Who are perfect, and at the same time, you've got to try to convince the game seal.
You've got to let them know that there is a God and let them know from something on the level that they understand because it's up to us.
Number one, you don't have to be a preacher to be a reacher. Hallelujah! You can take the "P" off of it, and whether you have license, whether you're ordained, or whether you claim to be an evangelist or have a special call of God, Jesus said in the first chapter of Acts, "You shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the world."
And all you've got to do is use that Holy Ghost power that's in you to tell what you know about God. And I declare you may not preach, but you can reach.
Every one of us ought to be a reacher. Since God's will feels that everybody be saved, what are we doing about it?
Hallelujah! Instead of us thinking it's God's will to do something so great, let's do first things first.
First of all, let's be reachers. First of all, let's work with God. Jesus said, even when you pray, pray, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."
You wouldn't even go in before the mayor or before the governor, certainly not before the president, without acknowledging that person and the office that they hold.
So He said, "When you come to Him, acknowledge Him for who He is. Thou Father, He lives in a lofty abode. He's in heaven, and then hallowed—holy is His name."
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Glory to God! Hallowed be thy name.
And then pray, "Thy kingdom come." Before you pray about things that concern you, pray about things that concern Him.
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done well on earth even as it is in heaven."
God in heaven, you're so sovereign that angels dare not desire. Lucifer tried it, and he got excommunicated. And the one-third of the angelic that allied themselves with him, they all got cast down to hell.
So when God put down that one-time rebellion in heaven, nobody challenges His authority. He's King; He's Lord. Hallelujah! He's the only supreme monarch.
And He said, "When you pray, pray, 'God, let that will that you have in heaven let it be done on earth. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'"
And then tell somebody, and then when you get through praying about that which concerns God, then pray about that which concerns you.
When you get through saying, "Lord, thy will be done," then pray about yourself. Now give us this day.
[Applause]
Glory to God! I can't put my desires before His desire. I can't put my own selfishness in front of what His executive will says.
He said, "When you're praying, pray about the things that concern me." Somebody ought to give God a hand of praise!
Oh, bless the name of Jesus! Bless His name! Hallelujah!
Let me go a little bit further here. His will is our salvation, and then His will is our sanctification.
Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I'm going to soon get through with this. You may not shout off of this tonight, but it's like some of that food that when you warm it up again, you take the tape home and play it again, and I believe the next time it'll make you shout more than it will tonight.
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Now look at verse 3. Not only is His will your salvation, but His will is your sanctification.
Huh, sanctification. A lot of folks still don't like that word. "Well, I'm Pentecostal." Yeah, okay. "I'm charismatic." Yeah, but are you sanctified?
A lot of folks don't like that one, and we get so much teaching now that lets us know that that's not so necessary.
Understand now that the Lord has just chosen you, and it's not through anything that you've done. And, you know, in other words, you're in, and all the devils in hell and angels in heaven can throw you out.
It does not matter what you have done or what you're doing. Paul had a different idea.
Huh, let's start with verse 1, chapter 4, 1 Thessalonians. You have it? Come on, read it.
"Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exalt you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."
See, it's important how we walk before God. Now, we're all into praising God, and don't you get me wrong. If there's anything I hate, it's a dry, dead body of believers in a worship that sounds like a funeral.
God wants us to praise Him, but I want you to know He is also concerned. After you get through praising Him, He's concerned about how you walk.
Maybe I'll talk to what section. I didn't hear much. I didn't hear much in either.
Turn to somebody and tell them, "When you get through praising God, He is concerned about how you walk."
All right, come on to verse 2. "For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus."
"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication."
Wait a minute, wait a minute! I know that in the early days, and some of the sanctified churches, Pentecostal churches, they spent a lot of time dealing with whether you got on fingernail polish, lipstick, and whether the woman is wearing a short dress or pants.
I know a lot of people are dealing with that, but see, it does not matter whether you got on the short dress, long dress, or pants.
Hello! What the Lord is saying concerning the body of Christ is that sanctification and dedicating your life to the Lord goes a long way toward making you clean up your act.
Hello! But we live in a day now when sins of the flesh do not stop us from praising God, do not stop us from feeling like that special call is on my life.
But the thing God is trying to say to us through the scripture is before you go chasing the rainbow, do that which will put you into that special relationship with God.
He says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel. Look at somebody and tell them, "Your vessel is your body."
All right, how to possess his vessel in sanctification.
Go back to verse 3, "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification."
So tell them, "God not only wants you saved; He wants you sanctified."
And one meaning of the word "sanctified" is getting rid of fornication.
Come out! Well, you know, you're always here the preachers preaching and talking about the gay community, gay and lesbian.
But see, that word "fornication" covers any kind of sexual involvement that is not between a husband and a wife.
It covers bestiality; it covers homosexuality; it covers everything that is not between husband and wife.
Hello, somebody! And He says, "This is His will: abstain from fornication."
That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.
Come on to verse 5. "Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God."
Now, that word simply has to do with an excessive desire for pleasure, a strong and ardent desire for pleasure, especially in the sexual way.
And you can say what you want to. When we can come and have a great time in the Lord, praising God, dancing, speaking with tongues, shouting, worshiping Him, enjoying the gospel music and praise music, and then all of a sudden, the flesh catches fire, and you got to leave church finding pleasure for the body.
It simply means that the body has not become subject to the spirit. And when the lives of the spirit are not superior, you are not in the will of God.
Hello! That's why so many people don't pay the praise and all of that of the saints any attention because they say as soon as they get through shouting and dancing, they beat us down the highway going to Tunica.
They beat us going to the place of the world that pleases.
Huh! God wants us to come down out of the cloud, dreaming about some kind of a mystical calling that's on our life to be this, to be that, to be the other, and put first things first.
Y'all don't hear what I'm saying! Hallelujah!
And then we pray, and there's that passage that says that the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us according to the will of God.
And sometimes we are praying, wanting the Holy Ghost to intercede for our ambitions.
"Now, Lord, you know I'm ambitious. I want to do this. I want to do that. I want to do the other."
And you start praying, and now they tell you, "You know, just pray in that thing. Pray about it in the spirit."
Stop talking in tongues, and you're talking in tongues about moving and going here and going there and doing this and being a wonder.
And the Holy Ghost is making intercession according to the will of God because see, the Holy Ghost is not going to go contrary to the scripture.
He's not going to go contrary to God's will for your life, and you're up here praying on one thing, and it is good for you to get into the Holy Ghost because you think He's praying for one thing.
He's praying for something else. He's praying for you to be governed and directed by the will of God.
And the will of God, as I said earlier, has more to do with the corporate body.
Don't fool yourself. When God has a special calling on your life, God has a way that you don't have to guess about it.
You don't have to dream about it. God has a way of closing up every other door, closing up every other avenue.
If you don't believe me, let me call a witness. Come in, Moses!
Moses, you were brought up as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. How in the world did you end up admitting? How in the world did you end up on the backside of the desert?
Simply because what his mother put in him, the religion of the Hebrew people. When he got 40 years old, he stepped out himself to defend the Hebrew against an Egyptian.
Y'all remember that story? And what did he do? He killed that Egyptian and buried his body in the sand.
God knew Moses wasn't ready, so God said, "I'm gonna make sure that he goes where he can get ready."
And when Moses found out that Pharaoh knew he had murdered that Egyptian, he left Egypt as a fugitive.
Y'all don't hear what I'm saying! God saw to it that he had to leave town and leave the country.
But when he got down to Midian, hallelujah, and got to the backside of the desert, glory to God!
He may have thought that he was just an escaped fugitive, but when he got there and ran into Jethro's daughter and had to defend and drive off those herdmen that were getting in front of those ladies, oh my God!
He became a champion in the eyes of Jethro's daughter, and he took over the duty of the daughters leading the sheep back to the grazing land.
And when he got out on the backside of the desert, he saw a bush burning with fire.
The strange thing is they said it was nothing strange for, in the intense heat of the desert, for a bush to catch on fire.
But the thing was he watched it, and although the bush was irradiated with the flame, it refused to burn up.
He said, "Let me turn aside. I want to see this great sight, why that the bush not is on fire, but why it's not consumed. I want to see why it's not burning up."
And as he got close, God called him by his name.
More than look at somebody and tell them, "He knows your name."
You don't have to make up anything for Him to do for you. You don't have to make up a calling on your life.
When He gets ready, He knows your name. You said, "Moses, Moses, come not hither."
In other words, don't come another step closer. In fact, pull the shoes off of your feet. You're already standing on holy ground.
And while he was on the backside of the desert, God talked to him. Did nobody have to tell him, "Honey, the Lord told me to tell you."
God told him Himself, "He's got a work for you to do."
He knows your name. He knows your limitation. He knows your ability, and He knows how to get your attention.
Know this: "I want you to pull off your shoes."
I'm gonna have to quit this now. "Pull the shoes off of your feet. You're already standing on holy ground."
Now, Moses, I want you to know I've heard the cries of my people.
Say what you want to, that if God has a special will and a calling on your life, that calling is not for you, but that calling is for His people.
[Applause]
[Music]
Reach over and tell somebody, "If God has a calling on your life, that calling is not for you, but it's for the good of His people."
[Music]
Oh, if all you can see God doing is doing something for you to bless you, but God said when my calling is on you, it's not the calling on Abraham.
"I will not only bless you, but I'll make you a blessing."
Hey, that playoff Saint Francis of Assisi! Hallelujah!
That's the way that thing starts off: "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace."
In other words, God said, "I saw my people. I've heard them crying day and night, and I want you to know more of this, that the reason I've got your attention is because I want you to go back down to Egypt. Tell Pharaoh that I said, 'Let my people go.'"
He said, "How can I talk to Pharaoh? My own folk won't believe it. In fact, we've been living down in Egypt, our ancestry, for 400 and some odd years, and we don't even remember our own religion.
We appear under the Egyptian form of religion, and they got all of these different gods—the sun god named Ra. And under Ra, they got two others, Osiris and Isis.
And under that, they got Kepler, Geb, setting up. They got nine major gods, a pantheon of nine major gods, and under that, they got about 35,000 other gods.
Every function in nature calls for a different god, and every god has to get his power from the other gods.
Well, God said, "I want you to tell them that the god that told you, 'Let my people go,' name is I AM. I don't get my power from nobody else. I'm the self-existent one. My name is I AM."
You ought to tell somebody, "My God's name is I AM."
Something means whatever you need. You're thirsty? I'm your water. If you're locked up on your way out, if you're in trouble, I'm your counselor. If you're sick, I'm your doctor.
Whatever you need, I have alternatives.
Hallelujah! Hear the will! His will for your life: do the basic, do the essentials, and He'll take care of the rest.
If He wants you to go and be a foreign missionary, He knows what to do. He'll let your job send you out of town.
He'll let somebody give you a vacation, and when you get on foreign soil, He'll tell you, "This is where I want you to be."
You don't have to look for it; you don't have to search for it. If you are in His will, His will will take over in your life.
[Applause]
[Music]
Somebody ought to get up and give Him some praise in here! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!
I'm gonna close. The will of God is perfect. His will is the only place for me.
I don't even know the words of the song, but that's where I want to be. No matter what else is going on, I want to be in your will.
[Music]
Can you tell Him, "Lord, I want to be in your will"?
I don't want to be sidetracked by ambition. I don't want to go out on some kind of an imperfect calling because I trusted the person that told me, but I want to know your will.
Yes, Lord!
[Music]
Hallelujah! If you really want it, all you got to do is ask Him, and He'll give you the direction you need.
Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!
Thank you! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!
Oh, for your word! For your word! Can you thank Him for your word tonight?
Follow your word! Oh, for your word!
Fireworks for your word! I thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!
Ah, thank you, Lord! Hey, thank you, Jesus!
Ah, thank you, Lord! Ah, thank you, Lord!
Whoa! Thank you, Jesus!
Come on and begin to praise Him now! Praise Him by His words!
Hallelujah! Thank you! Thank you, Jesus!
Oh, God, I thank you! Thank you that you love me enough to send forth your word tonight.
God, I don't want to make a mistake, but I want to do what you would have me to do. I want to be what you would have me to be.
Hallelujah! I want to walk uprightly before you, walking according to your will, walking according to your word.
And whatever your will is, I know it must be something that will serve your people.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
I don't have to be the biggest; I don't have to be the greatest. I just want to be a servant.
Yes, Lord! Yay!
You told me in your word that if any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not.
I'm asking tonight for a sense of direction that you will lead me.
And God, man, along the way, far as you lead me, I cannot stray.
Oh, Jesus!
Hallelujah! Put me on the path! Keep me in the way! Carry me where you want me to go!
Let me be what you want me to be!
Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!
Thank you!
[Music]
Yeah, yeah! I'm yielded to you tonight.
I yield my will to your will. I yield my desires to your will. I yield my way to your way.
Ah, you are my Lord! I'm your child! You are the potter; I'm only the clay!
Mold me! Make me what you would have me to be!
Yeah, yeah! I wanna live for you! I wanna walk with you! I wanna let the light shine!
Ah, Jesus, help me now! Help me now!
Give me your strength! Give me your power! Let me feel your anointing!
Hallelujah! Let me have that joy!
Hallelujah! That overflow in joy!
Yes, yes, yes! Shine your light upon me tonight!
If there's any evil way, take it out! I want to be like you! I want to be fit for the Master's use!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
[Applause]
And now, Lord, while we're waiting before you, if there are any sick ones here, stretch forth your healing hand.
Heal wounded spirits! Heal broken hearts! Heal broken spirits! Heal broken marriages! Heal broken families!
Yay! Yes, Lord! Yes, Lord!
I need a touch from you! If you touch me, everything will be all right!
Yay! Somebody's still there! Life has been broken into pieces, little itty bitty teeny pieces, but you are able to pick up the broken pieces and put us back together again.
And when you put us back together, we'll be better than we've ever been!
That, Jesus!
Hey! Give us now! Deliver us now! Set us free now! Give us victory now!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
I want to feel your touch again! Do it!
[Applause]
Sir! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Bro, as we get ready to go back to our seats, Lord, we'll never be the same again!
[Music]
Oh, I don't want to be the same again! I don't want to be a question mark, but I want to know what your will is for my life!
Ah, I'm gonna trust you! I'm not gonna get in a hurry! I'm not gonna make a shipwreck!
Ah, but I'm gonna wait on you because you've told me, "Even the youths shall faint and be weary; young men shall utterly fall."
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
We're waiting for another touch! We're waiting for another uplift! We're waiting!
Thank you now, Lord! As we go back to our seats tonight, we're going back with confidence!
[Music]
Going back with confidence that we are in your will!
Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Lord!
Go back to your seats, Johnson! Go back giving Him praise!
Hallelujah!
[Applause]
[Music]
Now, maybe you don't feel like I do, but I feel light as a feather now because I knew the Lord told me to do that one, and now that I got it off me!
[Music]
Whoa!
[Applause]
[Music]
See, one thing I learned is that when the presence of God is in the room, everything you need is here!
Hallelujah! Somebody said, "You know, I came tonight because I was sick, and he's preaching about the will of God. How's that going to get me?"
Because when I read in His will, just like it's not His will for any to perish, it's not His will for you to be sick.
He said, "I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers."
So y'all ought to touch somebody and tell them, "Jesus is here! So be healed! Be delivered! Set free!"
[Music]
Hallelujah!