Men's Conference 2026: Bishop Lance Johnson Part 1

Welcome to part 2 of 3 to this year's men's conference, Forged In Christ. On this episode we have Bishop Lance Johnson teaching about what is means to be a real man. The man that the Lord has called you to be. There is a self-check in this episode to bring a realization as to why you are not walking in the call of your life the Lord has placed in your heart. Bishop brings clarity as to why your home has tension or why the kids are acting out more than usual. It's time for men to walk in the headship that the Lord has spoken. If you are unsure of who you are supposed to be, then you need to learn who God is. You'll never know who you are supposed to be if you don't know what God is like. When you don't know your identity, Satan controls your life. The enemy took America when he confused the men. What you do and say matters. How you lead matters. Your yes is important. When you know who you are, you no longer have to prove yourself to others. Take a listen to figure out who you are supposed to be, how to walk into your calling, and the responsibility you have for yourself and your family. 

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Sermon from Men's Conference 2026 Part 2 by Bishop Lance Johnson

Music by Ruwin from Pixabay

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Gathering Tabernacle Podcast. We're located in Rocky Comfort, Missouri. Our mission at TGT is to host the presence of the Lord to see his glory fall like fire and free those who are in bondage. He came to set the captives free. On the podcast, we share our live sermons from lead pastors Dan and Sarah Goose Tree, teachings from special guests, and personal testimonies. Thank you for joining us today. If you would like to contact us, you can find us on Facebook or online at www.thegatheringtaberacle.com. Let's jump into today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Who here has never heard Bishop before? Is there any here that's never heard Bishop before? Yeah, that's what I figured. I didn't say listened, I said never heard. They've never listened. Yeah. We've been in service with him a lot of times, but we've never heard him. Ears to hear what the word has to say. I don't know what they mean. So it's an honor uh to have him here. Guys, your lives are just gonna keep being transformed into the image of God. You're not gonna be conformed to this world. We're gonna continue to be transformed, and there's just gonna be more transformation uh in your life from now on. So without further further ado, come on. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Hallelujah. Well, I'm excited this morning. Nothing I'd rather do in the world than just speak to men. I believe the potential and the power to transform our nation is sitting in this room right now. I believe the answer to every problem and complication that we face as a nation in our communities, in our homes, I believe the answer to that is in this room today. I believe that it starts with the man. Somebody say it starts with me. And uh I uh I I want to start by just actually asking some questions today. How many of you in this room know there's a call on your life? You be transparent, say there's a call on my life. I didn't say it's to preach, but there's a call on your life. You know that. So I I believe I'm just most every man in this room. Now I got another question for you. Don't get mad. Just because I love you and I want to help you get to that place. Why are you not fulfilling that call? What are the things that are standing between you and you saying yes to whatever that call is in your life? Because there's something, there's an excuse. Maybe it's uh it's I'm afraid I'm gonna fail, I'm afraid that I'm I'm not I'm not gonna do good, I I'm you know, I I don't know if I've got what it takes, I don't know if I have the money, I don't know whatever. But just I want you to begin to think about what's your excuse or what is the reasoning behind not doing it. You know, I'm too busy, whatever it is, you need to identify that in your mind right now. Because I promise you that that what I'm about to talk about today, what Pastor Dan talked about, is at the root of where you're at. It is in your identity. Uh you gotta understand if God can take a terrorist named Saul, and you got when when God called him into New Testament ministry, you gotta understand something. Brought him into the new covenant and transformed his life. A lot of people think, well, it was because of his education from his past as a Jew that enabled him. If anything, that was his weakness, not his strength. Because he caught he was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles. So if anything, his understanding of the law was not a benefit to him, it would have been, if anything, it would have been a detriment to him. But yet God used him to change entire regions of the world. And he was a terrorist. You understand, he was a terrorist, he persecuted the Christian church. He his understanding of God and of what he thought about the Bible uh was absolutely just it was all everything he had was wrong. That's why he said in Philippians, all these things that I had, they were dumb to me. And uh so understand if God could use him to walk into a region in Ephesus and Asia, and one guy goes there, one man on an assignment, one man's yes had the power and the potential to change an entire region of the world. See, I understand the power to change regions and the power to change our culture, the power to change our worlds in this room right now. In you, just common everyday men that'll come to a place of yieldedness to God, give God their yes, understand their identity in Christ, and move forward in faith. I don't believe that Paul had a game plan when he went to Ephesus. Y'all know the story of Ephesus. He goes there and into one of the one of the most demonic regions in the whole world. Guys, if you can imagine, you know how bad America is right now. We're dealing with what I believe is the spirit of bail, with homosexuality, with perversion, with all of the conflicts, with all of the things that goes on with the with the racism, the political unrest, the anger, the rage. All you gotta do is turn on the news and you just get red-faced and mad. I don't know about you. It makes me angry. That's why I don't watch it. It just creates a bad spirit in me if I if I sit and watch it because I just get angry. I get angry at that side and this side, I get angry at the pride, I get angry at uh at the philosophy and the mindsets of, to me, ignorant, stupid people. Because that's what that makes me want to feel like. These people are crazy, they've lost their mind. But but look at me, that's no different than the culture of Ephesus at that time. It was the idolatry epicenter of the world at that day. But one man's obedience and yes to God, he finds 12 people, get some baptized in the Holy Spirit. And those 12 people, in three years, that region began to shift. And it became so evident as to the influence that his presence had there and his obedience to God, that the that the the those that were the silversmiths that made the the silver images to the goddess Diana, which was part of the revenue of that culture because it was a port city. People come from all over the world, and all of a sudden the fame of Diana began to die. And the and the silversmiths and the economy begin to shift. That all of a sudden now it's not the economy of idolatry that's beginning to shift because Paul's bringing so many people to Jesus, the culture's changing. Are y'all in the room with me today? This thing goes all through Ephesus, they're burning curious arts and black magic in the middle of the street. The whole, the whole area shifted and changed because of one man's obedience. Somebody say one man's obedience. If Paul can change an entire region of the world, I'm pretty sure you change your family. I'm pretty sure you change your workplace. I'm pretty sure you change your neighborhood. I'm pretty sure you change your church. I'm pretty sure together we can change our nation. But you're not going to change it, having excuses as to why you're not fulfilling the assignment and the call on your life. And that's what we're going after today. That's why I want to talk to you because your yes is important. Your life matters. And listen, I'm just an old drug addict and just an old womanizer and a gun runner and every other bad thing that you could put on the title of who I used to be in the past, but somewhere along the way, September of 90, I gave God my yes, and that's all he ever got from me was my complete surrender and yes. I didn't have anything to bring to the table. I didn't have an education, I didn't have the skill sets, I don't have the ability, I don't have anything. And every day that God asks me to do something, I'm like, I ain't qualified, God, but you're more than enough. And I know who I am in you, and I understand that it's not who I am in the natural, but it's who I am in Christ. That I can do all things. I mean, guys, I don't have two pennies to rub together. I really, when you really think I don't have, when God asked me to do something, I don't have two pennies to rub together. I don't have anything. I don't have the resources, I don't have the ability. You could ask Todd Hill the day I walked into the property at at uh at Erlington, Kentucky, and looked at that place. I walked in and sat down with the mayor, and all I had was a word from God, and that's all I gave him. It didn't give him anything else as a million-dollar project. And you know what? I'm still walking it out by faith, but it's unfolding, every door's open because God never needed anything but my faith and my yes. And I believe that I had whatever it took to make that happen. And it's in him. And everything, and that's just one thing, that's just my present condition. Don't include my past or where I've been or what I do, none of that stuff. None of it. None of it. Everything God wants to do in your life, he'll do it through you and he'll do it for you. But he's got to have your surrender and your confidence in who he is and who you are in him. So I'm talking to you today about your identity. I want you to look in Ephesians. I'm going somewhere else, guys. Sorry about that. Ephesians chapter 1. You can just turn there if you want to. We're about midway through the chapter. You're gonna find the Apostle Paul. This is not my text, but this is the foundation of where I'm going today. The apostle Paul prayed for the church, not sinners, but the church in Ephesus. Okay, everybody with me. Ephesus, by the way, is the city that he pioneered revival. Where he pioneered the move of God, where he shut down the temple of uh uh of the goddess Diana, where there's reformation in an entire region. It's in the book of Acts. You can find it. And here's the prayer that Paul prays for the people at Ephesus. He prayed this. He said, I pray that you receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Everybody say the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Say it again: the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. You know why he prayed that prayer before he prayed anything else for them to have? It's because, number one, you got to know your identity. The region you got to know who God is, not about God, but you got to know God. That's why you got to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Not knowledge, but revelation. There's a difference between knowledge and revelation. Knowledge is I know what it said. Revelation is I got it in here. Come on, I understand what it means. And the reason you have to know that, and you need to hear me and hear me clear, and don't miss what I'm about to tell you. You are created in the image of God. And you will never know who you're supposed to be like till you know what God's like. You say, that's ridiculous, Bishop. Well, Romans 8. You've been predestined, according to the word of God, to be conformed into the image of Jesus, who is the expressed image of the Father and the brightness of his glory according to Hebrews. Hello? How many of you know that he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father one. So are you telling me that Jesus is not the full expression of the fullness of who God is? And you're you are predestined by God. Everything heaven has is working and and and pressing into and providing for you to be conformed into that image. Let me ask you a question. Has God ever been defeated? Has God ever been conquered? Come on, was Jesus ever defeated? Was he ever conquered? He was crucified. He was, come on, hung on a cross. He died on the cross, buried in a grave, but at any time was he ever defeated? Not one time. And you've got to understand something. God says you're more than a conqueror according to Romans 8. Come on, you're not sheep yet led for the slaughter. Read the Bible. It says, Nay. But you are more than a conqueror. You're destined to walk even as he walked in the earth. So that is the destiny and the plan of God. So you can't know who you're supposed to be if you don't know who God is. And I tell you, the greatest enemy to you ever knowing who God is is religion. Because religion teaches you about God, but it does not give you the revelation or the intimacy with God. Come on, it puts hierarchy ministry in a place you can't know God except by what I tell you. Oh, I can't tell you where that derived from because somebody will attack me because I attacked a denomination or a religion. But the fact of the matter is, nearly every evangelical denomination in the world holds that hierarchy authority that actually keeps you from knowing who God is. They think they're the authoritative on telling you who God is, what God's like, what God can be like, and they give you knowledge of God, and that's why you're sitting in the pew knowing about God, but you don't know God. Come on, it listen, if you don't know who God is and you don't walk with God intimately, you can know the promises of God, but they're no effect to you because the only way the promises of God are good to you is if you know the character of God. Because you say, I know God can, but. I know God can but, but but God wouldn't do that for me. You know why you say it? Because you don't know the character of God. I'm not getting mad at you. I I'm just trying to teach you because you you know about God. I have a knowledge. I know that God can, and I know God did this, and I know God did that, but I don't know, I don't know him. Do you realize when when we all stand before the Lord, those that are cast into hell are cast into hell because God says to them, watch this, I never knew you. Other words, I didn't know you. It's not about having a knowledge of you. He knew you before the foundations of the world. He formed you in your mother's womb, but he said, I didn't know you. So is it possible you can know about somebody but not actually know them? Because to know somebody, you gotta walk with them. I'm gonna say it again. To know somebody, you've got to spend time with them. You've got to have a relationship with them, you've got to know their character, you've got to know their behavior, you've got to know their action. God wants you to know every attribute about him. And here's the thing: religion says his ways are higher than our ways, his ways are not ours, his ways are above ours. As if if if we quote that scripture to tell you you're gonna stay ignorant and dumb as it relates to the knowing about God and who God really is. So you can't really know him. That was written to backslid Israel, folks. That was not written to new covenant Christians, because the Bible says, according to the new covenant, under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit in what we have through the death and the resurrection, that you have the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ in the content, in the text, by the by the Greek word means the intellect of God. Everything Jesus did was for you to know his will, to know about him, to his desires, everything. But if you don't know that, you'll just play dumb for the rest of your life. Well, I can't know what the will of God is. I can't know God. God's ways are higher than my ways. That's what religion does to you. It's the greatest enemy in keeping you from knowing God. Now, watch this. When Paul prayed in Ephesians 1, this is what he said. He said, I pray that you have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. You've got to know who He is because how can you reflect and live in the nature of somebody you don't know? Wow. You know when the Bible calls us to light, that we're the light set on a hill, you know you're not the light, but you are the reflection of that light. The Bible said if my eye be singular, what happens? My whole body's full of light. But if my eye has darkness in it, then my whole body's full of darkness. Basically is what this text says. But watch this. So if I'm beholding him, I'm reflecting him. Watch this. When you're born again, if you're not born again, you cannot see the what? You cannot see the kingdom of God. Which is why Paul praised the next thing that he prays in this. He said, I need you to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. Are you with me? That that, watch this, that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened. In other words, you're you got to see the king. You can't reflect what you can't see. You can't reflect that nature. The Bible says that you're supposed to walk even as he walked. That's not my word. That's his word. That means you're supposed to do what he did. You're supposed to love like he loved, you're supposed to be holy like he's holy, you're supposed to cast out devils like he cast out devils, you're supposed to heal the sick like he healed the sick. You're supposed to overcome like he overcome. We are supposed to walk even as he walked in the earth. Everybody with me? As he was in the earth, and as he was in the earth, so are we. That's not my teaching. That's the word of God. But religion helped that stuff from you. So Paul prays, you've got to have the eyes to be able to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. What did the Bible say in John chapter 14? When he talks about the Holy Spirit coming, he's talking to his disciples who are walking with him. He said, When the Holy Spirit's come, watch this. In other words, from the Holy Spirit unveils who Christ really is, that you know him. He's saying that to people who are touching him. There's more to him than what they understood. And it takes the Spirit of God to unveil his true identity so that you and I can actually bear that same image in the earth. Wow. And you know what happens when you don't know your identity? Satan controls your life. I'm gonna say it again. When you don't know your identity, Satan controls your life. Who did God create Adam and Eve in the image of? Huh? What the Bible? Let's create them in our own what? Would you say that when God raised up Adam out of the dirt and when he took Eve out of his side, that Adam and Eve were in his image? That they looked like him, they reflected him? Is this okay? So what was it that Satan said to Adam? What was it that Satan said to Adam, or to Eve, rather? Excuse me. If you'll eat this fruit, you will be like God. They were already just like God. So when under the devil's guise, under his influence, under his assault and attack of living in death because we don't know our identity. Were y'all not hearing this? Every failure in your life is because you don't know your identity in Jesus. Or either your disobedience to him. One of the two. But at the end of the day, 90% of us, we don't know who we are in Christ. We really don't know who we are in Christ. And many times it is because we don't know who God really is. We don't really know who is because religion lies to us. Religion always teaches you about the God who was, teaches you about the God who will be. Think about it, you grew up in church. Most of us in this room grew up with some kind of knowledge of, and all we heard about is streets of gold. All we heard about when we all get to heaven, all we heard about is what God's going to be someday. And we heard about the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the God of Peter, Paul, and John. We heard about all things of the past. We heard about, but when it comes to the God who's right now, God don't do that no more. Oh, that's for then. That's in heaven. That's not for now. That's what we heard all our life. Because religion is out of the bowels of hell. Religion that blinds us to the identity of who God is and blinds us to the identity of who we are in Christ. I'm going to take this to another level. Y'all willing to walk with me. How many of you know that when Jesus got baptized in the River Jordan and began his ministry, the Bible said that God spoke out of heaven and said, This is my son in whom I am well pleased. He declared his identity to the world. And when your identity begins to come into revelation and exposure, it's when the enemy hits the hardest because the moment he came out of the water, the Bible said he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Matthew chapter 4. And what was it that the first thing that Satan said to him when he brought him, if thou be. In other words, let me challenge your identity because if I can get you to doubt your identity, I will rob you of your destiny. I will rob you of plan. I will rob you of the assignment that Christ died and rose again for you to walk in. All I got to do is get you to doubt your identity. That's all I got to do. Satan, all he's got to do is to get you where you don't know God, to get you into a systematic routine that teaches you about God but don't have intimacy with God? Why do you think the evangelical world fights the power of the Holy Spirit so much? Because the power of the Holy Spirit does give you the revelation of who God is. That's why Satan hates the Holy Spirit. Wow. Why do you think religion wanted to kill Jesus? Because Jesus was the identity of God. He was the revelation of the Father. We got to kill him. We can't have him in the earth because our version of God is different than the manifestation of God. Ah, can I tell you Christianity without the Holy Spirit is a different version of the true and living God. And the true and living God is revealed by the Holy Spirit. Wow. Religion can manipulate you in what you know about God. And if it can manipulate you in what you know about God, then it's manipulating you about your identity. Wow. So it's teaching you you're just, you're just, you can't do nothing, you can't have nothing, you can't be nothing. You're whatever your past determines you are. You are whatever people say about you. You are whatever your environment has molded you to become. So you live under the imprisonment of whatever I've been, or whatever I was, or whatever I am, or whatever environment I was raised in. Daddy's a drug addict, mama was a drug addict, I'm gonna be a drug addict. I can go on all day long. Daddy failed, I'm gonna fail. Mama had this, we grew up poor, we're gonna stay poor all of our life. I don't, we become a product and reflect an identity of what culture dictates to us. And we live in a culture under the influence. Boy, I'm gonna preach the whole, mmm, I feel God this day. Listen, we live under, we live under a culture that's under the influence and under the empowerment of the spirit of Baal, which, by the way, let me tell you what Baal does to men. It neuters men, it absolutely castrates men. If you don't believe it, that's why Jezebel had eunuchs that served her. Oh, but I believe God's raising up a generation of eunuchs that said, you know what? I'm not gonna be neutered anymore. I'm not going to be castrated anymore. We're about to throw Jezebel out of the tower, and she's gonna die, and the dogs are gonna eat her. Because God's bringing a generation of men back into their identity. But your identity can't be known until you know who God is. Everybody with me? So you've got to quit going to church to know about God. Boy, I know that just said real well. See, that that spirit's got to be broken. Because listen, church is only a validation. It's a place where we grow, it's a place that God uses, but it is not the only source that God unveils himself to you. There comes a time, men, you gotta grow up and get off the teeth of your pastor and start knowing God for himself while you're at home. The only revelation of God should not be coming from your pastor alone. Hello. He is instrumental. She is instrumental, but not the only way that God unveils things to us about himself. Hello, y'all still love me? It gets real in here. But sis, if your only sermon's coming off YouTube, guys, come on sooner or later. You've got to get in that word for yourself. Well, Bishop, you don't understand. I can't read good. Do you understand? You're telling the God who created your mind that your mind ain't good enough to have comprehension. Listen, you got the capacity to learn if your capacity comes from the influence and the empowerment of God. But you got to put an effort in there. And listen, if you don't read good, my God, I guarantee you got one of them $1,100, $1,200, $1,400 iPhones in your pocket. If you don't, you got some other version of it. Sorry for y'all that don't have an iPhone. I'm just kidding. I'm teasing. What's them things call y'all? Some of y'all care. I don't know anyway. Android, help you. Y'all need delivered. I can't even turn the stupid thing on. Hey, listen. At the end of the day, there's an out, and it's free of charge. It don't cost you anything. It is free of charge. It will read you the word of God. And as it reads it, let me tell you what the Holy Spirit does. It starts unveiling the revelation and the knowledge of God, who God is, the will of God, the ways of God, the character of God. So there's no excuse except the fact that maybe you need to get regenerated where you want to know the things of God. Because if you ain't born again, you don't want the things of God. Your mind dwells on pornography, your mind dwells on lust, your mind on the pride of life, it dwells on everything else except God because your mind ain't regenerated. You got to get born again, or you're not going to want the things of God. If you don't want it, you ain't ever going to get it. My God, religion is behavioral modification. And that's what we've been trying to do, is modify the behavior of men and women that are not born again. And that's why people hate religion. But if you get born again, you do this because you want to do it, not because you have to do it. Makes me do this. I got born again. I want to know the word. I desire to want to know the word. It's the product of being born again. It's okay. So the next thing he says is that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened. What's this? That. Oh, I love this. That you will know the hope of his calling. Everybody say the hope of his calling. See, you got to know what God's called you to. You got to understand. You got to know what God's called you to. If you don't know what God's called you to, you will live as a product of your past, or you will live as a product of what you see and feel in the present. Are you with me? Let me tell you why that. It's very important you understand why. Paul said, the one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind me, looking to those things which are before me. You've got to have the hope of his calling. Everybody say the hope of his calling. Say it again, the hope of his calling. Only God can reveal to you the destiny and the plan of God for your life. Only God can show you that the Bible said that the steps of a good man are what? Order the Lord. The Bible said, my seasons are in his hands. You're predestined according to the word to be conformed to the image of Jesus. If you don't understand that, then you'll live as a product of your past. That's why Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind me. Why? Because I can see what's in front of me. And if you can't see what's in front of you, you're going to live by what's behind you or what's in your present. My God, sometimes your present looks impassable. Sometimes your past looks like I can never get over it. If your past was like mine, it's dotted with drug charges, it's dotted with failures. It's dotted with mistakes. It's dotted and tainted with all kinds of things that says you can never be nothing and you can never accomplish nothing. Sometimes our presence are impossible. But if I see the hope of his calling, I say, you know what? I know I've been to hell and back, and I know I got scars and I got wounds. I got past, I've got a record, I've got people that think they know who I am, but you know what? I see what's in front of me. So I'm not going to live there, and I know that there's something greater than that. And the Bible said, in the presence of God, heels melt like wax. When I can see what's in front of me and live in the presence of God, whatever obstacles stand between me, I'm going to press toward that mark. Paul said, I press toward the mark, press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling. You got nothing to get up and wake up and live for if you can't see the hope of his calling. But when you see the hope of his calling, there's something for me to press toward. I don't look at the news and go, oh God, there ain't nothing I can do about this junkie mess. That's what we've done. We've looked at our culture, we've looked at our schools, we looked at our families, we've looked at our environments, and we said, well, I can't do nothing about that. But the devil is a liar. The devil is a liar. You can. Somebody say, I can. You see the hope of his calling. And the next thing he said, it's one thing to know the hope of his calling. But the next thing that Ephesians says, you're going to love this. That you know the inheritance that is within the saints. Somebody say, the inheritance didn't say to the saints, it says within the saints. Say within me. In other words, it's not knowing what's in me. Well, it is what's in me, but it's knowing who's in me. Woo! That I understand that this God I'm coming into revelation of, the same God that raised, that raised Lazarus four days dead and sinking out of a grave. The God who created the heavens and the earth with one word from his mouth. The God, come on, that healed the lame, that caused the blind to see. The God that parted the red seed. The God that measures the universe from his thumb to his peaking is the God that lives inside of me. You gotta know who's in you. And if he's in you, his kingdom is in you. Ah, the kingdom. Here's what the kingdom is. If I cast out devils by the finger of God, the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. All authority over the devil lives in you. Somebody say, All authority, all power is in me to tread on scorpions, serpents, the principalities and the powers, the spirit of Baal that I just talked about over our nation. Jezebel. I don't care. Call them whatever you want to, put whatever titles you want to, but my Jesus kicked all of them's butt. Excuse my French, but he done whip defeated every single one of them. They are conquered and defeated, and the same authority that conquered them and defeated them lives on the inside of me. The kingdom of God is within you. That means the power to change environments is in me. How many of you ever walked into a church service and you go, ooh, boy, there's a religious spirit in there? How many of you ever done that? You just walked in, whoo, there's a fucky spirit in there, boy. Did y'all feel that? Oh, it was strict in there. Well, when you know who you are, you walk in and you take authority over that environment. You take authority over those spirits. You don't subject yourself to that nonsense. You come in and take authority over that. You cast that thing out. You come bring a different atmosphere in the room because I know who I am. And listen, every other atmosphere's got to bow to the atmosphere that's in me. Because the atmosphere in me is not the atmosphere of Lance, it's the atmosphere of the one who lives in me. That's why Paul said you've got to know the inheritance of within you. Now watch this. And the power. Everybody say the power. Say it again, the power to us. Who believed? What kind of power? Let me tell you what kind of power is the same power the Bible said that raised Christ from the dead. Resurrection power is in you and I. Do you know what that means? Power to cause dead things to live. Ah, fill the Holy Ghost. Power to make dead things live is on the inside of you. I'm reminded of a scripture. The Bible said, even though the tree be cut down and the roots wax old in the ground. You know what that means? If you look at it in Hebrew, it literally means that it turned back to the dirt that it came out of. It's decayed to where there's no even structure left to it. But the Bible said, at the scent of water, it shall live again. Out of your belly comes rivers. I wish I had time today because there's so much in this word that we're missing. And you got to understand something that you have the power. You have the power to cause dead things to live again. And see, when you understand the resurrection power lives in you, you don't look at America and say, God's done with America. If God don't judge Sodom and Gomorrah, he better apologize. He said, ten, I'll save Sodom and Gomorrah. I don't need a thousand. I don't need a megachurch. I just need ten righteous people. And I'll stay the judgment of destroying an entire nation. Your life matters. Your obedience, your yes, your surrender, your coming into understanding and walking in the revelation of who God is, matters. Everybody say it matters. The next thing that Jesus teaches them, and you look at it, and this is the foundation. I want to get to my text, and I may or may not, but I got another session. I'll leave you with a cliffhanger so you'll come back and we'll leave after you eat lunch. Or you know, when we've been here for a while, we want to go home. Don't matter how good or bad the preaching is, it's irrelevant. It just matters. I got things to do, but your priority needs to be in this because one word can change everything. So watch this. I need you to see this. He said, then he talks about that Christ is the head. He's put him above every principality over every power. This is what he talks about. He's the head. And he's put him over the principality, he's put him over the power. And he said, everything that is to the church. Everybody say the church. The last two verses of Ephesians 1. You can pull them up there if you've got them. Last two verses of Ephesians chapter 1. You can pull them up into King James or whatever version you want to pull them up in. Doesn't matter. But this is what it says. Are you ready? He said he's given to be head over all things. Everybody say the head over all things. Say it again, head over all things to the church. Which is his body. Y'all got it up there? Look at that. Which is what? The church is his what? The church is his what? The church is his what? That means we're his hands, we're his feet, we're his legs, we're come on, we are his liver, we are his heart. Oh, y'all don't want to hear me. That's what the Bible says. The Bible describes us many members but one body. So we are the body. Say we're the body. Say it again, we're the body. Say it one more time, we're the body. In other words, God can't function without a body. He is God. He is sovereign. He could, but he don't because he chose to operate in a body. Boy, y'all get mad. See, that's just it. Religion told you that God don't need you. Religion told you he's sovereign, and whatever God does, God does, and you don't matter. The devil is a liar. God needs a body. And God said, My church is my body. Here's what you gotta really see. Look at the rest of it. Read it. Read it out loud.

unknown 37:43

Huh?

SPEAKER_02 37:44

What? So what is the body? What is the body? What is the body? What is the body? You just read it for yourself. If I tell you, you're gonna say he's an idiot. See, if I tell you under a religious mindset, you're gonna get angry with me. The church is the fullness of him that feels all in all. See, if you don't understand how important your life is, you will waste it. See, if the enemy started by robbing the identity of the church, but he didn't rob the identity. Oh, y'all ain't gonna like this. We're going down this road. He couldn't rob the identity of the church in the church knowing who she is. See, church thinks we're just an institution of people that gather and hear sermons and sing songs. My God, you're a world changer. You're a region shaker. My God, you're the kings and priests of the earth. You're the heirs of God and co-equal joint heirs with God. Christ, rather. You you uh yeah, yeah, you're the joint heirs with Jesus. My God, everything he walked in, God gave you that you can walk like he walked. That's not my word, that's the Bible. So the enemy has taught us, oh, we're just Baptist. We're just Pentecost. And you know what? All that means is one of y'all speak in tongues in church and the other one don't. Because there ain't none of them doing nothing with all that power they say they have. They're keeping it within the four walls of the church, following down in the floor and putting on a charismatic chaos show. And ain't nothing getting done to change the culture. Let me tell you something. The enemy is not afraid of your gifts. As long as your gifts stay in this room and get used in church services and behind stained glass windows, and they're not for the building up and the edifying you to be the hands and feet of Jesus when you walk out those doors. Wow. Well, I laid hands on somebody, fell down in the floor. Well, glory to God. What did that do to change the world? I'm not being mean. I'm not making fun. I believe in all this. It happens in my service. I'm I'm I'm not I'm not criticizing it. I'm just telling you, God did not give you the gifts to entertain people and to make Christians believe in God in a church building. He gave you those gifts that operate anywhere you go in any environment you walk in. That Christianity and ministry is not what I do in the building. It is 2 a.m. every single day. I don't need a Nord keyboard and an anointed praise team to flow in the Holy Ghost. I don't need a choir and a praise team in my favorite evangelical charismatic song, come off the to get me worked up to flow in the spirit. I'm one with him. I'm one with him. Those gifts function everywhere I go in any environment, and I change the if I don't like the environment, I shift the environment. When I know who I am, I walk in, understand my authority, I understand what I do, and I just begin to speak to that environment. Sometimes I don't know what it is, but don't know how to know what it is. Out of my belly flows rivers. We change the parts in dry ground. Everybody with me? So so if he stole the identity of the church, that started somewhere. It didn't start with him stealing the identity of the church, it started with him stealing the identity of the man. When he stole the identity of the man, he stole the identity of the church. What did the Bible say? That God made Jesus the what? Over the church. The head. Everybody say the head. What happens when you cut the head off? What happens when you cut the head off? When you cut the head off, the body dies. You can cut an arm off and live. You can cut about any member of your body. I've met people that even they didn't even have a body from the waist down. They're alive. Because their heads on. Everybody with me. But if you lose your head, you're done. By the way, if you didn't know this, God made you the head. I didn't write that. It said Genesis. I'm fixing to read it to you. God made you the head over your house. He made you the head over your family. I didn't write that. He made you the head. You know what happens? If he cuts your head off, your family's dead. If he can get you from being who he created you to become and not fulfill the role and the responsibility and fulfill the destiny and the destination of what he designed you to be, then the family unit is going to deteriorate. And when you destroy the family, you destroy a culture. My God. You know how the enemy took America? He stole the men. He stole their identity. He stole their identity. When he stole their identity, he stole their power. He stole their authority. He stole their destination. He stole their assignment. Guys, it what we do matters. Every dynamic of what we do really does make a difference. Whether you want to believe it or not. It makes a difference. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 23. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 23. I'm not going to be, but just a minute longer. You're going to have to stay to get version 2. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 23. For a husband is the what? He is the what? He is the what? Of his wife. As Christ is, as Christ is the head of the church. So if he can steal your revelation, your understanding what headship means, then he can also steal your revelation, understand what the headship of Jesus is in the He is the Savior of the church. He goes on to talk about wives, or the church submits to Christ. So you wives should submit to your husbands. But there's something else that I want to get to. If we drop down just a little bit in that scripture, he tells us that we're the head. And then he says that husbands, this means love your wives just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy, to make her clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church, without spot or without wrinkle, or without any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without faults. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies, for the man who loves his wife will actually, wife actually shows love for himself. Now, I'm not teaching about marriage, but it has everything to do with it at the same time. I need you to follow me for just a moment. God made you the head of your house. That means you're responsible 100% for what happens in your wife and your family's life. You don't believe it. When he created Adam in the beginning, watch this, and made Adam to be head over the woman, that's what he said. Watch this. When he created, and you can go back and read the text, when he told them, don't eat. Don't eat of this of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You eat of all the other trees, but don't eat of that. Look who he talked to. Look at the scripture, who he taught. He taught Adam. But when Eve eat of the fruit, guess who God talked to? Adam. Because Adam, you're responsible to lead your family. It is not your wife's job. It's not Eve's job. It's not your kids'. It's your job to be the spiritual leader that becomes responsible for what your family does. Boy, it got tied in here today. Ah, it's got real tight. See, you don't even understand the authority that God gave you. You want your marriage to get fixed, become the spiritual leader of your home that lives under the headship of Jesus. Because when you follow the direction of your head, then your family will follow the direction of their hand. The downflow of obedience flows all the way down to your kids. My God. But it takes you living under the headship of Jesus. It takes you being under obedience. But when you fail to do your job, your family unravels. When you cut the head off, brothers, your family dies. And listen, you can be the head because you've got the biggest deer heads on the wall. You can be the head because you're the breadwinner of the house, and that is your responsibility and job. But if you ain't the spiritual head. And let me tell you something. Here's the thing that I hate about religion. Y'all get mad at me if you want to. I've been pastoring 35 years. I'm not a novice. But I did it wrong for the most of them 35 years. I spent my life building ministry. You're going to get mad at me, but I don't care, pastors. I hope y'all still love me when I'm done. I spent my life building ministries. Nowhere in the Bible did it say anybody in the five-fold ministry gift was to build ministries. My job has never been to build ministries. My job is to build people into the image of Jesus. And if I let you settle for anything less than the image of Jesus, I have failed you. If I did not challenge you, if I did not teach you, if I did not do everything to empower you to walk fully as Jesus walked, I have failed you. I have been miserable. And what the church has done is replaced what God called you to be with classrooms. God called you to raise your children in the nurture, in the admonition of the Lord. God did not call children's pastors, children's leaders, nursery workers, or three to five-year-olds to train your children. Daddies, it is your job. God called you to be the head of the house. And if you grow, that means you know the word of God. You know the will of God. You know what the teachings of the word said. That your children didn't just get it in the classroom at church. They got it from daddy at the dinner table. They got it from daddy in the living room. They knew how to pray because they prayed with daddy every day. They knew how to study the word because they saw daddy study the word. They became worshipers because daddy was a worshiper. We do not lord over God's heritage. But we are examples, the Bible says. Your kids model daddy's what you do. Not what you tell them to do, what you show them every day. They follow the life you live, not the sermons you preach. They model what they see you do every day. My dad would beat me for losing my temper, but my dad had fits of rage. So you know what I did? I had a temper and fits of rage because I did everything my dad did. I followed the example. I raised my kids like he raised us. With anger and rage and beatings and screaming and hollering. But yet he would whip me for doing the same thing he did. He would whip me for cussing, but every other word out of his mouth was a cuss word. My dad had impeccable work ethic. My dad worked. He was wealthy. My dad died a multimillionaire with a sixth-grade education because he had work ethic. And he was willing to take a risk. Guess what? His son followed in his footsteps. My other three siblings followed in his footsteps. Every one of my siblings, including myself, have all been entrepreneurs. All of them made incredible money. Most of them retired wealthy. We took after our dad. We did what he modeled. And you know what? He was a Christian by confession and not by conversion. He made us go to church on Sunday occasionally when he felt like it. And we thought that was apex of Christianity. So you know what we were? Christians by confession and not by conversion. Look at me. Your kids are going to follow in your footsteps. And if you don't become the head of your house and quit letting your wife leave your house spiritually, because you say, Well, I'm not emotional. I just don't, I just, you know, I'm the provider. I have to work all the time. Every excuse for you not living under the headship of Jesus and being the head of your family is the deterioration of your family. And where your kids go and what they become when they get older. Look at me, Daddy. It's on you. You know who ought to be leading these churches represented in this room? You know who ought to be the greatest Bible teachers and the greatest Bible students? You know who to be the greatest worshipers in the church? Us. You ought to know who you've praised the most fervent, who prays the most proficient, who cries the loudest, it ought to be us. It ought to be us that travail. Yeah, we talked about the women or travailers. Men ought to learn how to travail. We ought to learn how to travail. We ought to learn how to pray. Your kids ought to hear you praying in the spirit. They need to see you leading. They need to see a daddy that walks with Jesus every day. And I promise you, when you start leading well as a believer, you won't just impact your family. Because when God created man and woman in the garden, he said to them, not him, to them. He said to the man and the woman, who the man is ahead. Hate dominion. Watch this. Subdue the earth. Say that with me. Subdue the earth. Say it one more time. Subdue the earth. Are you ready for this? I don't know if you are. Literally, that means to, that means to take it over. Yeah, it does. That's what it means. It means literally, I'm trying to think of the terminology. I've got it in one of my notes, I got it in my notes. I have actually the Hebrew word there. Let me pull it up real quick. The word is abosh. It literally means to bring into bondage, to force, to keep under subdue, to bring it into subjection. Subdue the earth. If you don't like the condition of the earth, it's your time to change it. If you don't like where America's at, then let's turn it around. It starts with you, it starts in your home. It starts with you as an individual. You're called to make a difference. You're called to change culture. You're called to change your family. But if the enemy can rob you of who you really are in Christ, if he can steal your identity, you know what? You'll just be a great deer hunter, but a failure as a father. And you'll be a victim of your culture. You'll just be another good old boy that lives under the guise of what the world defines as a good old Midwestern boy. Or be a good old southern boy. You know, I'll just be an old redneck. I'll just be what my culture dictated to me. I'll be my nickname in the world was Juicy or Juice, and I'll just be juicy to everybody for the rest of my life. But you know what? I ain't juicy no more. For the last 35 years of my life, God took my life and he used a piece of trash in somebody that was no good, but I ain't no piece of trash. I ain't no piece of trash. Uh-uh. I'm a king's kid. I'm a royal priesthood and a holy nation. I'm an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus. That's who I am, because that's who the Bible says I am. That's who the word says I am. That's who he says I am. And you can have whatever opinion you want to me, but because I know who I am, your opinion don't matter to me. Me and my brother had a great conversation out there because I know who I am. Nothing you say about makes me will make me react. People can say all the time, well, he's just a money carrier. Pastor mentioned a while ago, I don't have one airplane, I got two airplanes. God spoke to me a year ago and he said, son, I'm gonna give you an airplane because you can't do what I've asked you to do without it. I never I never took offerings for it. I asked people to pray that I knew that I was close to in my conferences where people that are close to me ask them to pray. And God didn't give me one, he gave me two. Oh, y'all didn't hear that. He didn't give, I didn't ask for an offer, I didn't take an offered, I didn't manipulate nobody for a dime of it. I had a man left a uh an ammo case, don't even know who it is, left an ammo case with a hundred and twenty thousand dollars in one hundred dollar bill and said, buy a twin-engine airplane because it ain't safe for you flying that many hours in a single engine at night. You say what you want to. But God gave it. And you can call me hungry after money. Nobody that I've ever preached for, you could ask anybody. I don't, I don't ask them for fuel cost. I don't have, they people, people message me every day of my life. What's your cost to come to our church? I don't have a cost. What's your honorarium? I don't have an honorarium. What's it cost to get you here? I don't have a cost to get there. I just need to know that's where God wants me to go. I never ask them how big their church is. I never decide if I'm gonna preach there because there's 50 people, five people, five thousand people. I've never asked. I don't manipulate people for money. I don't run gimmicks, I've never had a capital funds campaign. Oh, y'all not hearing me. I really live by faith. I really do everything that I do by faith. I know who I am. And here's the thing: I know who my provider is. So I ain't looking to you for an offering. Because I know who he is. And I don't live by offering plates. I don't ever call my wife and ask what the tithes and offerings in our church was. I never ask. I don't ask who gives, who don't give. I never ask. You know why? Because they're not my supply. I know who he is, and I know who I am, and I know his covenant with me. That means that God will provide it in means and methods that I have no clue where it's gonna come from. Doesn't mean I won't tell people what I'm doing. Doesn't mean I don't give people an opportunity to be a part of it, but I don't put pressure on anybody. I don't con nobody. So you can call me a con man if you want to, but I'm not affected by it. It just doesn't, I don't respond to that garbage because you know who your identity is. And there's always going to be the enemy that says, if you're the son of God. If you're a man of God, if you're a man of God, prove yourself. Look at you, when you know who you are, you don't have to prove yourself to nobody. You don't have to prove yourself to your wife. That means you don't walk out of this meeting and go home and say, from now on, honey, I'm the head of the house. From now on, baby, if things are changing around here, you're gonna submit. And I'm gonna be the head of the house. See, if that's the attitude, you don't know who you are. When you know who you are, you just do what you do. You just do what you do. And even if she don't submit, it doesn't change what you do. Even if she don't do the right thing, you just keep doing the right thing because you know who you are and you know who your provider is. And you know your obedience to God brings shifting and changing into everything. Are y'all with me today? Listen, come on, let's give God some praise in the room today. Guys, what who I didn't hear. I got hearing A Zen. I'm about to give an altar call. I don't know. Listen, guys, hear me clear. Your life matters. And I know that the enemy will tell you you can't do nothing, you can't be nothing, you don't have nothing, you come from the wrong side of the tracks, you don't have this, you don't have that, you don't all these things. He'll tell you all the things you can't do. The devil's a liar. The devil's a liar. He's trying to steal your identity. He's trying to rob you of the assignment of God and the plans of God for your life. And he's trying to take that out away from you. And he and to do that, because when he steals your identity, he's still in the identity of the church. Because you are the church. And you're the fullness of him in the earth. You're his ambassador. And submitted to his headship means his will is done on the earth just like it's done in heaven. You have the power to make a difference. But somewhere along the way, we've got to commit ourselves to God. Somewhere along the way, we've got to know that we're born again. You just don't ever start without being born again. It's not just about heaven or hell. It's about the God's about the destiny of your kids, of your grandkids. It's about the destiny of our nation. It's about the impact of the war. You don't think God can't use you to influence a whole nation? Guys, you know, y'all know the story every I preached in all your churches, so you know my story last year long. This whole ex-drug addict, alcoholic. Guys, I led 300,000 Islamic Muslims to Jesus in one altar call. Four months ago, I preached to ten thousand preachers and leaders and pastors, evangelists, and apostles. For one hour I led ten thousand leaders. Yeah. A guy that graduated high school and didn't know what's multiplication table. A redneck from North Georgia. A guy without a seminary degree. I've taught in Bible colleges where I was invited by men with double doctor's degree to teach in seminaries that I don't even have a seminary degree myself. As a matter of fact, the best that I have is an associate's degree from some Bible college in Africa. And I couldn't even tell you where the diploma's at. Guys, I'm ordained, but I couldn't tell you where my ordination papers are. They don't hang on my office wall. But I preach to millions of people every year. Every single year. I preach to millions of people. And I have for the last 30 years. And you know what? I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you where or nation papers had. I'd have to go print my own out to even get into a jail today. That's the truth. Because it don't matter. It may matter to the organization, but it doesn't matter as it relates to what God's going to do in your life. Power God to change the world's industry. But it's got to start with you knowing that you're born again. And quit playing games with that. If you're not born again, get born again. All you got to do is repent and believe and have faith. And God will change you. Faith, come on, faith will produce a transformation in your life. Faith will change you. And that change will produce good works in your life. If you're not born again, get born again. And understand that Jesus didn't ask you to come to an altar, get born again. He asked you to follow. He asked you to let him be the head. That means that he has to have influence over your life from this day forward. And you've got to posture yourself for his influence to impact your life. You gotta stay in church, you've got to stay in the words, you've got to stay in prayer, you've got to walk with God, you've got to take up your cross every day. That's what this is all about. Guys, if you've not been doing that, you're born again, but you've just kind of been fitting God into your life. That's gotta stop. He's gotta become number one. Hello? He's gotta become number one. You've got to follow him every day. He's gotta become Lord of your life. Give the reins over to him today. I need men of God here. I want you to bow your heads with me all over the building. Guys, I have an assignment. I'm just one guy, I'm just one man, but I have an assignment. You didn't ask me to do this, God asked me to do this. This is my assignment from him. And I have to be obedient to him. And my assignment in America right now is to raise up an army of men. Why do you think I just listen? I'm 60 years old, guys. I if I want to, I can retire. I don't have to work no more. I really don't. My dad died. I told you. He left me, he never gave me nothing in this world, but when he died, he left me enough to be secure. And and not have to work, I still have to make money, but I don't have to, I don't have to serve a job every day of my life. But I need you to hear what I'm fixing to tell you guys. It's 60 years old. I didn't just step out on a million dollar adventure with no money to pay for it. But it's an assault. To reach men. I didn't open it for women. People, I'll tell you, well, the women need it. No, God told me to go to the men and raise up a generation of godly real men. Raise up a generation of godly new men for the five-fold ministry. And I need you to hear what I'm thinking to tell you. God sent me across America to raise up an army of men. That is my sign. And I'm here today to recruit you into the armies of God. That's what the Bible says, that you're supposed to be good soldiers. I'm here to raise up an army that's going to take our nation back. I just want to know how many of you are ready to sign up today. I want to know how many men in this room are ready to say, God, here's my life. I'm signing up. It's going to cost me blood. But God, I give you my life. My life is not my own no more. It's been sealed with blood. I have been bought with the price of the blood of the Lamb. And I give you, God, ownership of my life today. God, I give you, I will be who you called me to be. I will walk with you and know you that I will understand my own identity. If that's you, I want you all over the building. Raise your hands. Raise them all over the building. If you mean that and you raise your hand and you mean it, I'm going to ask you to get out of your seat and I'm going to ask you to join me in this altar. I want to pray over you right now. Every man that means that God hears my life. I give you my life. I feel the Holy Ghost in the room. God, I give you my life. Come up the aisle telling him, God, I give you my life. Come on, I need you to begin to cry out to him right now. Open your mouth. Come on, be a man and open your mouth. You're created in the image of God. When God creates something, he does it with the word. Begin to confess, God, I will be a man of God. I will be the head of my house. I will be a man of integrity. I will be a man of authority and power. I will be who you died for me to be. And Lord, I will allow you to mold me into your image. I will allow you to use my life for your glory. God, I give you my life today. God, I give you everything. God, I'll do whatever you call me to do. I'll fulfill that call in my life. I will, God, I will fulfill that call. No more excuses, Lord. No more excuses. No more procrastination. I will be who you died and rose again for me to be. I will walk in that call. I will live by faith. I will take up my cross and follow you every day. I will love my wife like you love the church and gave yourself for it. I will lead my family. I will raise my children in the nurture, in the admonition of the Lord. I will lead by example. I will be a great worshiper. I will be a prayer warrior. I will know the word. I will walk with you, God. Ah. I will be a cross-carrying believer that takes up my cross every day. I will wake up every day, Lord, and I will give you my yes. Whatever that looks like, my answer is yes. Wherever you lead me, God, I am going to follow. My life changes from this day forward. My allegiance, God, is to you. Ah, Pastors, y'all help me, please. Just help me pray. Lay hands on these men as they give God their life, as they say yes to the Lord. As come on, as they give him their yes, they give him full surrender today. Just lay hands on them. God, we bless these men today. God, thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in the call, to walk in the wheel, to walk in the path and the plan that you have for them as men of God. God, I pray the power of the Holy Ghost come upon us right now, God. Baptize us in Holy Spirit fire right now, God. Pull back the veil. Unveil yourself right now, God. Father, I pray right now, God, send the fire. Send the fire of the Holy Spirit, God. Send that fire, God, send that fire in Jesus' name. God, I pray right now for the baptism of Holy Spirit fire, God, in every man, every young man, God. Let it come right now, God. God, baptize us in Holy Spirit fire right now. God, we cry out, we can't do this. We can't do it in our strength. But God, we know that greater is He that is in us than He that's in the world. We know that it's not by might or by power, but it's by your Spirit, Lord. Baptize my brothers in the Holy Spirit in fire. Oh God, may there come a spirit of travail and intercession on this congregation of men, God. Father, let us begin to travail, God. Father, I think about Jesus when he stood among all of the negativity of those that were trying to bury what you said was going to live. God, they were crying and weeping over Lazarus. And the Bible said you groan within yourself. God, I pray, raise up groaning men that look at the unbelief of our culture, that look at the world trying to bury what you said is going to live. And God, may there come a holy travail out of the men of God in the house of God again. May there come a roar, God, out of Zion again. Send the roar of the lion of the tribe of Judah. Raise up lions in this room today, God. Raise up men of faith. Fire, God. Fire. No fear, no fear, no fear. Men that walk in the love of God. Men that walk in the boldness of the line of the tribe of Judah. Men with giftings. Men that will walk with the prophetic anointing. Men that will operate in words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discernment, and discerning of spirits, God. Men that will walk with authority to heal the sick and cast out devils. Men that are unashamed and will proclaim the kingdom of God. Raise them up bold. Bold as lions. Raise up an army, God. Raise up an army today, Lord. God, don't let us walk out of this sanctuary the way we come in. Let us walk, let us walk out of this place armed and dangerous for the kingdom of darkness. God, the kingdom of darkness is coming down. It's coming down. The kingdom of darkness is going to be conquered. Ah I wanna pray this over you real quick. The apostle Paul He gives his assignment. The king of republic. This is what he tells me. He said, The Lord has delivered me from the people. And from the Gentiles. Before you'll ever be able to be used by God, you've got to get delivered from people. You will never love them the way Jesus wants you to love them until you get delivered from them. Because if you ain't delivered from them, their actions and their behavior will cause you to treat them or love them indifferently or differently than the way the Bible says love them unless you're delivered from it. How many of you have not witnessed to people because you were fearful of what their response would be? You got to get delivered from people. I'm telling you, you got to get delivered from people. It's like, listen, when you get delivered from them, you can love them like Jesus loved them. And then when they walk away from you, you're not offended by it. Paul said, I got delivered from the people. From the Gentiles and unto them in whom now I send you. By the way, he said, You got to get delivered from the people I'm sending you to. That's what he told them. And he said, Here's my assignment. To open their eyes. Every one of us in this room, this is our signal. You're sent to open people's eyes. I don't have time to teach this, so I better not even quote it or you can somebody believe it here and calling me a heretic. But it's because we hadn't read the Bible properly. The scripture where it says if you've got the power and ability to cast down imagination and stronghold. If you read that in context, that wouldn't know about what you cast down in your mind. Read it in its context. Be a Bible student who just interpreted everything from the way you read it through somebody's favorite reader. You got authority that you don't even realize you have. Paul said, My assignment is to open the eyes and to turn them from darkness to light. And from the power of Satan unto God. That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith. That is in them. Where are you today? You're so different than what you do today. And if God can do that in you, he can do it in other people. But he needs you. You got the power to go shift this thing. You can't be silent. And you can't be intimidated by the fear of failure anymore. Father, I pray right now, God, empower every one of these men. Number one, God, deliver them from people. God, I pray set them free from the opinions of people. Set them free from being afraid of people's responses, God. Set them free so they can love people like you love people, God. Lord, I thank you that you're going to empower them this very day to open the eyes of those that are blind, God. May the anointing of God rest upon them to open eyes, God, to bring them from darkness into light and from the power of Satan unto God. That men and women all over would receive forgiveness of sins. And they would receive the inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Jesus. Now, God set, use these men to set the captives free. Use these men to see their families transformed, to see their workplaces changed, to see their communities change. Use these men of God. Empower them. Empower them and baptize them in Holy Spirit fire. In Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Come on, let's give God some praise.