WEBVTT 00:00:00.059 --> 00:00:04.692 Lift our bibles up, wave them around, make the devil mad and Jesus glad. 00:00:04.692 --> 00:00:09.843 And I say this together say Heavenly Father, thank you for what you've done tonight, but you're not finished. 00:00:09.843 --> 00:00:13.188 Thank God for the word of God. 00:00:13.188 --> 00:00:26.623 I've come to be taught, I have an open heart to receive revelation, knowledge that will change my life, that will position me for what you have for me now. 00:00:26.623 --> 00:00:31.205 In Jesus' name, Amen, you can be seated. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:01:01.127 Second Kings, chapter two, and we'll read, starting with verse one and it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven, by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha unto Gilgal. 00:01:01.127 --> 00:01:08.064 And Elijah said unto Elisha Terry, here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. 00:01:08.064 --> 00:01:13.746 And Elisha said unto him as the Lord liveth and as I so liveth, I will not leave thee. 00:01:13.746 --> 00:01:16.084 So they went down to Bethel. 00:01:16.084 --> 00:01:21.966 Now, just in the, you know, just to shorten it up, they went to four more places. 00:01:21.966 --> 00:01:23.846 They went to the first one. 00:01:23.846 --> 00:01:27.466 They left, you know, they left where they were, gilgal. 00:01:27.466 --> 00:01:29.742 And they went to Bethel. 00:01:29.742 --> 00:01:33.466 And he wouldn't leave, elisha wouldn't leave the side of Elijah. 00:01:33.466 --> 00:01:35.361 And they go to Bethel. 00:01:35.361 --> 00:01:37.108 And he does the same thing wait here. 00:01:37.108 --> 00:01:39.808 Elijah says, no way, jose, I'm not leaving. 00:01:39.808 --> 00:01:41.102 I'm sticking with you. 00:01:41.102 --> 00:01:49.269 And so then they go from Bethel to Jericho, and from Jericho they go to Jordan. 00:01:49.269 --> 00:01:56.724 And when they get to Jordan, verse seven let's pick it up at verse seven. 00:01:56.724 --> 00:02:01.605 You can read every bit of it later, but I just want to save a little time because it's repetitive. 00:02:01.605 --> 00:02:07.207 You get the idea that Elijah would not leave or Elisha would not leave Elijah. 00:02:08.699 --> 00:02:19.373 And then verse seven and 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off, and they too stood by Jordan and Elijah. 00:02:19.373 --> 00:02:21.899 So there's an audience there that witnessed what happened. 00:02:21.899 --> 00:02:29.020 Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smoked the waters, and they were divided hither and thither. 00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:30.319 That's why I like the King James. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:48.219 The waters were divided hither and thither and they too went over on dry ground, just like the red sea, just like Israel, passing over into Canaan land from the wilderness. 00:02:48.219 --> 00:02:54.280 And here's this miracle yet again, on pass over on dry ground. 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:56.993 And it came past. 00:02:57.014 --> 00:03:04.199 When they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:08.735 And Elijah said I pray thee. 00:03:08.735 --> 00:03:11.438 Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 00:03:11.438 --> 00:03:13.060 Everybody shout the double portion. 00:03:13.060 --> 00:03:20.060 And he said, and Elijah said, thou hast asked a hard thing. 00:03:20.060 --> 00:03:21.449 That's not exactly a slam dunk request. 00:03:21.449 --> 00:03:30.670 You're going to have to have some conditions associated with it, whether you get this double portion or not. 00:03:30.670 --> 00:03:41.431 He said, if you see me, when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. 00:03:43.441 --> 00:03:55.593 And it came to pass as they still went on and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 00:03:55.593 --> 00:04:05.335 And Elisha saw it and he cried my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. 00:04:05.335 --> 00:04:14.000 And he saw him no more and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:31.059 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and he smoked the waters and said where is the Lord, god of Elijah? 00:04:31.059 --> 00:04:41.459 And when he had also smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither and Elisha went over on dry ground. 00:04:41.459 --> 00:04:44.598 It doesn't say that, but you know, that's what happened. 00:04:44.598 --> 00:04:50.826 And so when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him. 00:04:50.826 --> 00:04:53.100 They said the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. 00:04:53.100 --> 00:04:54.927 And they came to meet him and bowed them. 00:04:54.927 --> 00:04:59.146 Said doth rest on Elisha. 00:04:59.146 --> 00:05:03.466 And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 00:05:04.779 --> 00:05:08.262 And so tonight I wanted to share a message and title a double portion. 00:05:08.262 --> 00:05:11.288 The double portion. 00:05:11.288 --> 00:05:16.651 The key word in all of this testimony is father. 00:05:16.651 --> 00:05:27.485 Father Elisha knew the season of his father's departure and so he devoted these sons of the prophets. 00:05:27.485 --> 00:05:30.947 He said don't you know he's going up to heaven today. 00:05:30.947 --> 00:05:36.139 Yeah, I know, shut up, read it for yourself later. 00:05:36.562 --> 00:05:38.086 And so it wasn't just for him himself. 00:05:38.086 --> 00:05:39.446 I mean, it was quite a display. 00:05:39.446 --> 00:05:45.391 I mean God didn't hide it behind a rock, he didn't hide it away from men of God that were at that time. 00:05:45.391 --> 00:05:49.531 They were there and they picked up on this amazing site. 00:05:49.531 --> 00:05:54.826 I mean there's only two people in heaven that didn't get by death and that's Enoch and Elijah. 00:05:54.826 --> 00:06:01.442 And you know, enoch walked with God and was not, for he had this testimony, you know. 00:06:01.442 --> 00:06:02.206 And the Lord took him. 00:06:02.206 --> 00:06:06.923 He had this testimony for he pleased the Lord, he walked by faith, he worshiped to God. 00:06:06.923 --> 00:06:07.524 He couldn't see. 00:06:07.524 --> 00:06:12.627 God loves it when we worship him without any evidence. 00:06:12.627 --> 00:06:18.048 Without any, any natural evidence, I should say. 00:06:18.048 --> 00:06:36.928 And so he kept his eyes on his father, elijah, as the chariots of fire and those horses and all of the fireworks Can you imagine the fireworks associated with this event? 00:06:36.928 --> 00:06:43.286 But he kept his eyes glued all the way, my father, my father. 00:06:43.286 --> 00:06:53.387 And so he qualified for the mantle to be given to him and he qualified for the double portion. 00:06:53.387 --> 00:06:59.663 He came eligible for what is known as the firstborn's inheritance. 00:06:59.663 --> 00:07:02.786 About to say the firstborn's inheritance. 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:16.083 Now, back in first Kings 19, and we won't go back and read it all, but first Kings 19, 15 through 18, when God had selected Elijah to be prophet. 00:07:16.083 --> 00:07:20.550 Remember, elijah had just killed the 50 prophets of Baal. 00:07:20.550 --> 00:07:21.432 He went on the run. 00:07:21.432 --> 00:07:25.850 He was running away from Jezebel and was hiding, you know. 00:07:25.850 --> 00:07:27.947 And what are you doing here? 00:07:27.947 --> 00:07:31.242 Well, I'm trying to get away from Jezebel, I'm, you know. 00:07:31.242 --> 00:07:39.485 He was real discouraged, and so the God gave him some, some things to do before, you know, some, some tasks. 00:07:39.485 --> 00:07:41.326 He didn't fire him just cause he was afraid. 00:07:41.326 --> 00:07:42.805 He gave him some more things to do. 00:07:42.805 --> 00:07:57.949 He said anoint, you know so and so to be King, and anoint Elijah to be prophet in thy room or in thy office? 00:07:57.949 --> 00:08:03.608 The room, the office of the prophet, had a room. 00:08:03.608 --> 00:08:10.468 It's like the nerve center, it's like the place where all the decisions are made. 00:08:10.468 --> 00:08:17.829 It's called a room and and so this was 20 years ahead of time. 00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:32.028 So Elijah goes by and sees Elijah out there plowing and everything, and calls him to follow him and he said, well, wait a minute, let me go say goodbye to my parents. 00:08:32.028 --> 00:08:35.924 I mean, let me, I'll be right there, I don't care what you do. 00:08:35.924 --> 00:08:48.660 He left him, he didn't obey quick enough to see Elijah and Elijah killed his 12 teams of oxen Boy. 00:08:48.660 --> 00:08:54.048 He had a lot of fajitas to eat, I mean, in other words, he burned these bridges. 00:08:54.048 --> 00:08:58.159 In other words, just like what James was talking about this morning, he kind of burned these bridges. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:15.807 You know, he left not really knowing what was gonna be here for him to do, but he felt to, you know, resign a very lucrative and important position with his firm and made his boss mad for a couple of days till the Holy Ghost got ahold of his boss. 00:09:15.807 --> 00:09:18.609 He was a great testimony. 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:27.403 Sometimes we do things we obey the witness of the spirit and we can't see any evidence that it's the right decision, except the witness. 00:09:27.403 --> 00:09:35.364 And so this young man, he followed and ministered unto Elijah. 00:09:35.364 --> 00:09:36.488 What is the word ministered? 00:09:36.488 --> 00:09:45.855 He attended to him, he waited on him, he served him for 20 years until this day came. 00:09:45.855 --> 00:10:01.687 And along that time, I mean, you know, it implies yieldedness talked about that this morning servanthood, obedience. 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:09.109 I'm talking about the double portion and it's the firstborn's inheritance. 00:10:09.109 --> 00:10:22.565 That's what was given as a custom in Israel for the firstborn to receive a double portion of all the other children. 00:10:22.565 --> 00:10:24.626 You know, sometimes you'd have 10 or 12 kids. 00:10:24.626 --> 00:10:27.225 You split everything up equal. 00:10:27.225 --> 00:10:28.725 Well, that's okay. 00:10:28.725 --> 00:10:33.331 Well, the first of your strength got the double portion. 00:10:33.331 --> 00:10:35.626 They got twice as much as all the siblings. 00:10:35.626 --> 00:10:37.322 And it was understood. 00:10:37.322 --> 00:10:39.163 That's how it was. 00:10:41.580 --> 00:10:57.683 And but in the meantime, somehow, we don't know how or when he made the connection between a family situation where you've got an actual father and a mother and a family with brothers and sisters with a double portion. 00:10:57.683 --> 00:11:01.370 How did he translate that into ministry? 00:11:01.370 --> 00:11:03.828 And it had to be by revelation. 00:11:03.828 --> 00:11:06.639 God had to deal with him. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:13.879 He says well, you've been serving here 20 years, you've been doing everything, you've been yielded, you've been obedient, you've been helping this man of God. 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:18.019 I want you to ask for the double portion of his anointing. 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:21.910 I'm the one that's distributing the inheritance. 00:11:21.910 --> 00:11:26.192 Now God, god's the one in charge of the inheritance. 00:11:26.192 --> 00:11:28.860 You ask him for a double portion? 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:30.330 Yeah, he could have been. 00:11:30.330 --> 00:11:34.750 He could have said, oh, I can't do that, lord, faith, false humility. 00:11:34.750 --> 00:11:38.857 And like when he asked for it, I think it brought Elijah back. 00:11:38.857 --> 00:11:45.948 He said man, you've asked for man, you've asked for a lot, you've asked the hard play. 00:11:45.948 --> 00:11:53.301 It's kind of surprised him that he applied the law of the double portion in ministry and so. 00:11:55.626 --> 00:12:03.342 And so you know this idea of being called way ahead of time. 00:12:03.342 --> 00:12:07.749 We see that in the Bible a lot Joseph was called way ahead of time as a teenager. 00:12:07.749 --> 00:12:19.846 Yeah, god had his hand on Joseph and he had to be faithful to that call for a long time, I mean about 17 years old all the way to 30, before he went from the prison to the palace. 00:12:19.846 --> 00:12:20.749 But it took a while. 00:12:20.749 --> 00:12:22.265 He was in prison 13 years. 00:12:22.265 --> 00:12:29.030 And then Joshua, and Joshua served Moses for 40 years. 00:12:29.030 --> 00:12:37.889 And then Moses, before he died, prophesied practically the book of Joshua to Joshua before he died. 00:12:37.889 --> 00:12:49.129 And then, when you read the book of Joshua, everything that God said to Joshua in chapter one, moses had already told him. 00:12:49.129 --> 00:12:49.951 Moses, my servant is dead. 00:12:49.951 --> 00:12:51.043 Now, therefore, rise. 00:12:51.043 --> 00:12:59.523 You shall cause this people to gain their inheritance Everywhere the foot of your soul, of your foot, shall tread. 00:12:59.523 --> 00:13:02.966 That have I given thee, and so forth, and so on. 00:13:02.966 --> 00:13:10.195 So, in other words, you know there's when you're faithful, you're faithful over another man's work. 00:13:10.195 --> 00:13:12.341 God has a reward for you. 00:13:12.341 --> 00:13:21.432 And so David was called to be king, was a teenager, and the same thing I mean. 00:13:21.432 --> 00:13:23.659 He didn't become king till 30. 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:26.696 That's 16, 17 years old. 00:13:26.696 --> 00:13:27.418 He was anointed. 00:13:27.418 --> 00:13:29.397 The horn of oil poured over his head. 00:13:29.397 --> 00:13:30.936 He's anointed to be king. 00:13:30.936 --> 00:13:34.240 He doesn't get to be the king, right then? 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:38.480 I'm talking about the double portion. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:42.818 So Elijah knew the law of the double portion. 00:13:42.818 --> 00:13:45.177 Elijah knew the law of the double portion. 00:13:45.269 --> 00:13:46.975 Let's read it, Deuteronomy 21. 00:13:46.975 --> 00:13:49.081 Let's look at it. 00:13:49.081 --> 00:14:02.195 Everybody say the double portion, in other words, twice as much. 00:14:02.195 --> 00:14:05.418 I kind of like twice as much. 00:14:05.418 --> 00:14:09.953 Wouldn't you like to have twice as much? 00:14:09.953 --> 00:14:13.402 I've got something coming. 00:14:13.402 --> 00:14:14.594 Well, I'd like twice as much. 00:14:14.594 --> 00:14:15.457 Oh, okay. 00:14:15.457 --> 00:14:20.038 Deuteronomy 21, verse 15. 00:14:22.210 --> 00:14:31.535 If a man have two wives, you better pray for him, because that is a tough situation One beloved and another hated. 00:14:31.535 --> 00:14:35.254 See, there you go One beloved and another hated. 00:14:35.254 --> 00:14:39.414 Two wives, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated. 00:14:39.414 --> 00:14:48.639 And if the first born son I forgot to say son, it's not the first born of all the kids, it's the first born son that gets the double portion. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:56.866 So it says if the first born son be hers, that was hated. 00:14:56.866 --> 00:14:59.394 Suppose that happens. 00:14:59.394 --> 00:15:03.642 See, the wife that's less desirable than your favorite. 00:15:03.642 --> 00:15:07.457 You've got a favorite and a not so favorite, and the not so favorite has the first born son. 00:15:07.457 --> 00:15:17.818 And then it says then it shall be when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved first born before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first born. 00:15:17.818 --> 00:15:26.378 The first born is the first born, doesn't matter whether mama was the most desirable or not, that's the law of the first born. 00:15:26.378 --> 00:15:30.414 So the bottom line get rid of the hated and the favorite and all of that. 00:15:30.414 --> 00:15:34.716 The bottom line is your first born son gets a double portion of everything. 00:15:34.716 --> 00:15:38.754 You have to pass on the law of the first born. 00:15:38.754 --> 00:15:48.897 And so Elisha had to know by the spirit number one his inheritance and number two the timing of the fulfillment. 00:15:48.897 --> 00:15:59.030 And if he's gonna be the prophet in the room of Elijah and ask for twice as many miracles, which he did have he had. 00:15:59.030 --> 00:16:05.716 If you look up the miracles that Elijah had and the miracles that Elisha had, elisha had about twice as many. 00:16:05.716 --> 00:16:17.796 So it was born out and so he had to know his inheritance and the timing of fulfillment. 00:16:19.409 --> 00:16:22.399 Now, now I get to modern history. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:35.296 I mean Lawrence Way Church is rich in blessing because and we're you know, this January I mentioned it this morning, but this January is our 29th anniversary, so we're starting our 30th year. 00:16:35.296 --> 00:16:38.196 All next year we're gonna be talking about 30. 00:16:38.196 --> 00:16:41.217 That's our 30th year in operation. 00:16:41.217 --> 00:16:44.676 This church is blessed. 00:16:44.676 --> 00:16:47.177 This church has remained where others have fallen. 00:16:47.177 --> 00:17:04.234 This church has maintained its vision and it's and I'm not bragging, I'm just reporting, it's a fact and it's rich in blessing partly because of the law of the double portion. 00:17:04.234 --> 00:17:15.737 So back when I served Brother Osteen, I served him for a long time, 15 years or so. 00:17:15.737 --> 00:17:23.662 Eight years functioned as an ordained minister under his ministry. 00:17:23.662 --> 00:17:37.800 I did the weddings and the funerals, many as I needed to, whatever they'd assigned me, and traveled with him and I, you know I fit the bill of ministering to his needs. 00:17:39.230 --> 00:17:43.454 There'd be times when I knew Doty hated going to the cemetery. 00:17:43.454 --> 00:17:50.175 You know she had to overcome the fear of death when she conquered cancer. 00:17:50.175 --> 00:18:04.096 Every time they'd drive the church she wouldn't feel like coming to church but she made herself come and we were there when all that was going on 89 pounds, metastatic cancer of the liver, nothing that doctors could do for her. 00:18:04.096 --> 00:18:20.873 Dr Jesus did all that she needed done and they had to ride, ride by a big old cemetery on the way to church from humble and the devil to say, yep, you're going to be out there and not too much longer, you'll be right out there. 00:18:20.873 --> 00:18:23.994 I mean just a stronghold. 00:18:23.994 --> 00:18:28.957 It would come against her thinking and certainly she resisted it. 00:18:28.957 --> 00:18:40.681 But you know, you're a pastor, people die, you go do the funeral, you go to the graveyard, you do the graveside and she never complained. 00:18:40.681 --> 00:18:50.417 But I just knew by the spirit that she never liked going and every time they'd have a funeral that I could go to, I'd offer to do the graveside for them. 00:18:50.417 --> 00:19:04.357 So I'd take off all day and drive my car, get my car in line and take and go on the you know the crosstowns in most cases and do it for them. 00:19:06.191 --> 00:19:19.172 So Justin, his oldest son by his first wife, his first wife, a lot of people don't know they were married. 00:19:19.172 --> 00:19:22.939 He was married before but she didn't like being a pastor's wife. 00:19:22.939 --> 00:19:29.219 He was an up and coming Baptist pastor during that time and she just was so hard, she just couldn't stand it. 00:19:29.219 --> 00:19:42.055 She couldn't stand being a pastor's wife and they had one child, justin, and they divorced and Justin was raised separately from all the rest of the family. 00:19:42.055 --> 00:19:45.414 That belonged to Doty and Pastor Osteen. 00:19:45.414 --> 00:19:51.378 So they didn't grow up together, but they knew each other and they would of course Justin visit and all that kind of thing. 00:19:51.378 --> 00:19:53.115 You know, it's one of those blended family things. 00:19:54.430 --> 00:19:57.976 So when I was there during those years, justin was the administrator. 00:19:57.976 --> 00:20:01.140 He was a very, very brilliant man. 00:20:01.140 --> 00:20:02.935 He knew five languages. 00:20:02.935 --> 00:20:30.221 At one point he worked for the United Nations as a translator or state department one of the two, I forgot which but anyway he came to work for his dad and was the administrator and he would do management seminars to teach other churches what he knew about church business, how to handle the offering and just general church management. 00:20:30.221 --> 00:20:35.675 And so he said, john, I'll give you a scholarship to my seminar. 00:20:35.675 --> 00:20:36.894 It's worth $300. 00:20:36.894 --> 00:20:37.692 You can come. 00:20:37.692 --> 00:20:43.839 If you'll come and be there all day I think it was a Tuesday, you can come free. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:45.796 I said I'm honored, justin. 00:20:45.796 --> 00:20:46.577 Thank you, yes. 00:20:48.049 --> 00:20:56.599 And so I went and we had the morning session, we had lunch, came back after a break and he started. 00:20:56.599 --> 00:20:59.453 He had this big board up front and he started. 00:20:59.453 --> 00:21:02.869 He said that's really important to have a flow chart of your ministry. 00:21:02.869 --> 00:21:05.058 You need to know who's in charge of what. 00:21:05.058 --> 00:21:09.670 And so he started drawing a flow chart of the ministry. 00:21:09.670 --> 00:21:12.980 Well, you know, I got my attention, I was ready to. 00:21:12.980 --> 00:21:14.107 I thought I knew pretty much. 00:21:14.107 --> 00:21:21.338 So at the very top he drew a little box, jo John Osteen at the top, drew a line right straight down underneath him. 00:21:21.338 --> 00:21:29.069 Another little box, dodie Osteen, right underneath him, and then another little line down here, like this, and then a line across with each of the children. 00:21:29.069 --> 00:21:39.240 So over there, on this side, you had Joel and over here you had, you know, this one and that one all the way across, and he had him. 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:41.710 He's head of the offices and stuff. 00:21:41.710 --> 00:21:57.288 All the staff reports to him, he's the administrator and Joel's over television, I think I can't remember who anyway. 00:21:57.288 --> 00:22:04.780 So here he is, he's filling this out and he's making progress and he's getting past the children. 00:22:04.780 --> 00:22:12.654 And when he hit me he just said man, this is a family ministry, I mean by those things at the top, but he's got his kids in charge of everything that's going on in this church. 00:22:12.654 --> 00:22:13.673 This is pretty impressive. 00:22:14.390 --> 00:22:18.635 So from the back of the room somebody shouts where does John Griner fit on that chart? 00:22:18.635 --> 00:22:23.349 And I whirled around, I was ready to skin somebody alive. 00:22:23.349 --> 00:22:25.063 How dare you? 00:22:25.063 --> 00:22:27.230 Oh, it insulted me. 00:22:27.230 --> 00:22:28.163 I was so mad. 00:22:28.163 --> 00:22:34.066 I didn't find out who it was and I couldn't see who they. 00:22:34.066 --> 00:22:35.068 Nobody volunteered. 00:22:35.068 --> 00:22:37.583 I know Justin knew. 00:22:37.583 --> 00:22:39.650 But he said, oh, that's easy. 00:22:39.650 --> 00:22:41.605 And I turned back around, that's easy. 00:22:41.605 --> 00:22:49.606 And he drew a line right under a pastor and Doty to the side, like this above the family, put a box there and put JG there. 00:22:49.606 --> 00:22:53.604 And I turned red. 00:22:53.604 --> 00:22:57.326 At first I was embarrassed. 00:22:57.326 --> 00:23:03.748 Secondly, I was afraid I was awed. 00:23:03.748 --> 00:23:07.145 I thought what? 00:23:07.145 --> 00:23:21.148 That's how he saw it and he wasn't ashamed to say what it was to everybody in that room and I guess the guy that asked the question got his answer anyway. 00:23:22.786 --> 00:23:33.400 But I began to realize how important it was to God for me to be faithful to what I was doing and how I mean I didn't see that as important. 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:36.318 That particularly it was an honor. 00:23:36.318 --> 00:23:39.039 Of course you stand before five or six, 7,000 people. 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:43.019 Yeah, it's an honor, but I didn't see it as that pivotal. 00:23:43.019 --> 00:23:45.066 But God did. 00:23:45.066 --> 00:23:46.170 Are y'all with me? 00:23:46.170 --> 00:23:47.825 I'm talking about the law of the double portion. 00:23:50.839 --> 00:24:33.069 So this was probably about 1989, 1990, possibly, and after that I got more involved, I had more things that I did more publicly and so forth and so on, started traveling with him more, and then of course we started the church in 95 and maintained a really good relationship with him and in 98, he had what wound up being his last pastoral conference, pastor's conference. 00:24:33.069 --> 00:24:37.867 It started out as a sons and daughters and he still was called a sons and daughters conference. 00:24:37.867 --> 00:24:40.426 It started with 300, that is now. 00:24:40.426 --> 00:25:07.128 We're there at that one, the very first one, and but it grew from there to 1,000, then it went to 3,000, and then the last one was 98, and it was 6,500 people there that all paid honor to him as a father, in the faith to them, and a lot of notable people that you would know if I named them I'm not here to name names, but they were there. 00:25:10.728 --> 00:25:25.844 And so a few months after that I got a call from Lakewood that he was very ill and had to go into a dialysis his kidneys had failed and that had been after. 00:25:25.844 --> 00:25:46.405 He had called some of his sons to come and pray for him, which was very rare I mean, he never asked for prayer like that but he had a special prayer meeting and he sat up there and he had me lay hands on him in the stand of all the sons and daughters that were there and pray over his health. 00:25:46.405 --> 00:25:49.928 And then after that he had to go to dialysis. 00:25:49.928 --> 00:26:05.724 And so that morning it was November of 1998, I got the call in the morning about nine o'clock and I was heavy about it, sad for him, sad for his family, for Dodie, and it looked bad. 00:26:05.724 --> 00:26:11.486 I mean, of course they believe in miracles, but it's gonna take quite a miracle because he just had such a decline. 00:26:11.486 --> 00:26:16.924 I had seen him in October and just I was shocked, he was so pale and so frail. 00:26:16.924 --> 00:26:29.992 I saw him at another meeting and he was just so weak, and so it's undeniable the decline, and you don't wanna believe that he's gonna go to heaven. 00:26:31.460 --> 00:26:47.287 So later that morning, like close to lunch, I'm in the kitchen, I'm headed back to my office, which is in the front of the house, and I have to go through this, the shortest way to get there from the kitchen is the little hallway that has the utility room and then into the dining room, across the entry hall, into my study. 00:26:47.287 --> 00:26:48.351 So that's where I was headed. 00:26:48.351 --> 00:26:59.119 And in the hallway right by the utility room, suddenly I just was walking and I just was deep in thought and I was in this room. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:04.114 I didn't identify it as a trance then. 00:27:04.114 --> 00:27:08.358 In fact then I called it a vain imagination because I felt bad that I'd thought the thought. 00:27:08.358 --> 00:27:13.220 But anyway, it wasn't that I had this thought that I was in this room. 00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:22.759 It was a paneled room and a wall, a paneling on the wall, a big, huge table, and there were people in the room. 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:37.653 I didn't see any people but I knew they were there and I heard a voice saying and to John Griner I bequeath and it's the lawyer reading Brother Osteen's Last Will and Testament to his heirs. 00:27:37.653 --> 00:27:41.354 And to John Griner I bequeath. 00:27:41.354 --> 00:27:44.795 And I'm in this room. 00:27:44.795 --> 00:27:45.740 I'm hearing these voices. 00:27:45.740 --> 00:27:48.859 I didn't hear what he left me, but I felt the emotion of it. 00:27:48.859 --> 00:28:02.339 It was a emotion very similar to the emotion I had when I saw my name at the top of that flow chart, right next to Pastor Osteen and above his family. 00:28:02.339 --> 00:28:04.339 It was just unnerving. 00:28:04.339 --> 00:28:07.573 I mean it was uncomfortable. 00:28:07.573 --> 00:28:17.178 And so I heard that I felt awe and wonder and I said out of my mouth, you mean he left me, that I'm not even his blood? 00:28:17.178 --> 00:28:25.339 And then I realized that I'm standing in the hallway and I just rebuked that. 00:28:25.339 --> 00:28:27.298 I said I rebuked that vain imagination. 00:28:27.298 --> 00:28:29.751 My pastor's gonna live and not die and declare the works of the Lord. 00:28:29.751 --> 00:28:31.526 I felt bad about. 00:28:31.526 --> 00:28:40.890 I felt bad about allowing myself to think that for as long as I thought, and all the immersion into that whole thing, it was just so real looking and I did identify it as a trance. 00:28:40.890 --> 00:28:43.849 It was a Holy Ghost trance is what it was. 00:28:45.624 --> 00:28:54.835 So in two months later, january 23rd of 99, I got to call it two o'clock in the morning that Pastor Osteen had collapsed. 00:28:54.835 --> 00:28:59.423 He was with Gary, his son-in-law, and they rushed him to the hospital. 00:28:59.423 --> 00:29:11.359 He was very, very, very ill and I told Gladys she got up out of bed, started marching up and down our bedroom and she was like I'm gonna go to the hospital. 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:16.748 I got up out of bed, started marching up and down our bedroom hollering at the devil, praying in other tongues. 00:29:16.748 --> 00:29:26.005 In the meantime I hung the phone up and I heard these words Moses, my servant, is dead. 00:29:26.005 --> 00:29:31.359 Therefore, rise Everywhere the soul of your foot is tread. 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:32.525 That I've I given you. 00:29:32.525 --> 00:29:37.171 You will cause this people to gain their inheritance. 00:29:39.182 --> 00:29:47.478 And then I remembered that thing. 00:29:47.478 --> 00:29:48.359 I told you about the trance. 00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:52.126 He replated, it, relifted, you mean he left me. 00:29:52.126 --> 00:29:55.750 That I realized that I was receiving, at that moment, my inheritance. 00:29:55.750 --> 00:30:07.359 And right behind that I had a visitation that was like I'm on the nose cone of a rocket headed through space. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:10.339 I'm not sensing anything. 00:30:10.339 --> 00:30:17.359 I mean, it's just like my nose is the point of the rocket, you know, and I'm going, and it's outer, it's like outer space. 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:20.359 There's no land anywhere, it's just dark. 00:30:20.359 --> 00:30:22.339 I'm hurtling at a high rate of speed. 00:30:22.339 --> 00:30:46.359 Then I'm suddenly I start slowing down and I come through this narrow passage and then I burst through on the other side, into this massive space or room, and you know, you couple all that together and I just realized that God was imparting to me what I had coming from his ministry. 00:30:47.308 --> 00:30:48.359 I'm not saying I picked up his mantle. 00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:50.359 I don't have the mantle of John Osteen. 00:30:50.359 --> 00:30:54.359 People come up after I give this testimony so oh, you got John Osteen's mantle. 00:30:54.359 --> 00:30:55.284 I've always. 00:30:55.284 --> 00:30:56.166 No, I don't. 00:30:56.166 --> 00:30:58.359 That'd be presumptuous of me. 00:30:58.359 --> 00:31:01.319 I can't go beyond what God showed me I had. 00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:05.086 I have minorities and what it was with the double portion. 00:31:05.086 --> 00:31:08.359 Well, you're not his blood, I know I'm not his blood. 00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:09.147 I don't. 00:31:09.147 --> 00:31:09.955 I can't explain. 00:31:09.955 --> 00:31:11.844 That's not my fault, that's not my problem. 00:31:11.844 --> 00:31:13.526 I've got twice. 00:31:13.526 --> 00:31:22.690 That's why this church is blessed and that's why we are going to accomplish what God said we're going to accomplish, because we have a double portion of God's spirit on us. 00:31:22.690 --> 00:31:25.869 Amen, it doesn't just happen just automatic. 00:31:25.930 --> 00:31:30.250 And you getting anything out of this? 00:31:30.250 --> 00:31:36.167 Luke 16, 12,. 00:31:36.167 --> 00:31:36.930 Let's look at that one. 00:31:36.930 --> 00:31:42.250 I'm not bragging, I'm reporting, I'm testifying. 00:31:42.250 --> 00:31:48.570 Great check, verse 12,. 00:31:48.570 --> 00:31:51.116 Well, let's just go back. 00:31:54.230 --> 00:32:00.153 Jesus is talking about money, the money test and a mammon is money. 00:32:00.153 --> 00:32:03.256 Everybody's got to pass the money test. 00:32:03.256 --> 00:32:06.396 If money's your God, you're not going to get very far with him. 00:32:06.396 --> 00:32:09.536 You've got to pass the test when it comes to money. 00:32:09.536 --> 00:32:18.996 In verse nine I say unto you make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 00:32:18.996 --> 00:32:21.435 What in the world does that mean? 00:32:21.435 --> 00:32:28.876 It's kinda weird, isn't it? 00:32:28.876 --> 00:32:41.196 Make to yourself friends of the mammon or the riches of unrighteousness that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 00:32:41.196 --> 00:32:44.160 You want the world to welcome you? 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:47.880 Well, just keep handling your money like the wicked do. 00:32:47.880 --> 00:32:52.779 One of these days you'll be in the same place they are. 00:32:52.779 --> 00:32:58.715 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. 00:32:58.715 --> 00:33:02.479 He that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 00:33:02.479 --> 00:33:04.755 Gotta pass the money test. 00:33:04.755 --> 00:33:08.398 Listen, folks, I had to pass the money test. 00:33:10.755 --> 00:33:13.142 All those funerals I did, I did them for free. 00:33:13.142 --> 00:33:15.377 There was no money, there was no salary. 00:33:15.377 --> 00:33:18.454 I did them at my expense. 00:33:18.454 --> 00:33:21.577 I paid for the gasoline, I paid for the time. 00:33:21.577 --> 00:33:30.635 I'll take time off of my business to go out there and be at the graveside and comfort people as best I could, and I wasn't looking for a paycheck. 00:33:30.635 --> 00:33:32.557 I did it because I was serving. 00:33:32.557 --> 00:33:39.598 I mean, I've never been one to come up to somebody at a funeral and say you owe me $100 please. 00:33:39.598 --> 00:33:42.035 I'm just not gonna do it. 00:33:42.035 --> 00:33:43.593 If they don't pay me. 00:33:43.593 --> 00:33:44.317 They don't pay me. 00:33:44.317 --> 00:33:46.076 I'm gonna go home and they'll never hear from me. 00:33:46.076 --> 00:33:48.074 I'm not gonna do it. 00:33:48.074 --> 00:33:52.256 Well, get the funeral home. 00:33:52.256 --> 00:33:53.153 They won't do it. 00:33:53.153 --> 00:33:58.775 The funeral home is not gonna collect your money for you, preacher, and they didn't for me either. 00:33:58.775 --> 00:34:02.314 So I did most of the funerals for free, and I didn't regret it. 00:34:02.314 --> 00:34:04.554 I paid to preach. 00:34:04.554 --> 00:34:11.536 I had to pass this test that Jesus is talking about and I'm glad. 00:34:11.536 --> 00:34:12.981 I'm glad I was able to do it. 00:34:16.298 --> 00:34:16.561 Verse 11,. 00:34:16.561 --> 00:34:26.132 If, therefore, you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to you the true riches, who will give you an anointing? 00:34:26.132 --> 00:34:29.188 See, god's the one that gives you the anointing, not Bible school. 00:34:29.188 --> 00:34:47.353 God gives you the anointing and he doesn't give it to people that are chinchy, that steal the tithe, that steal from their flock and make merchandise of their flock and use the pulpit to get into business and sell all kind of phone cards. 00:34:47.353 --> 00:34:56.514 I've seen it all folks One pastor down here in Umbil selling phone cards back when people you know buy these. 00:34:56.514 --> 00:34:58.148 You know all this. 00:34:58.148 --> 00:34:59.894 It's back in the 80s. 00:34:59.894 --> 00:35:01.490 I mean, it's all kind of crazy stuff. 00:35:02.045 --> 00:35:03.391 Verse 12, here's what I'm getting to. 00:35:03.391 --> 00:35:10.172 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? 00:35:10.172 --> 00:35:20.956 So I could stand before God and said you know, god, I was faithful, and what long brother of St and his family I was faithful in that. 00:35:20.956 --> 00:35:23.889 If I'm not, you tell me. 00:35:23.889 --> 00:35:31.512 And I believe that that visitation I had on the night that he passed and officially they didn't unplug him until that afternoon. 00:35:31.512 --> 00:35:39.367 So I don't I feel kind of awkward giving my testimony because his time of death doesn't line up with what God told me. 00:35:39.367 --> 00:35:51.068 But God told me, and so this church succeeds when many fail because of the law of the double portion, aren't you glad for the double portion? 00:35:51.068 --> 00:35:56.385 But you have to qualify this. 00:35:57.268 --> 00:35:59.094 I'm going to read you here as old news. 00:35:59.094 --> 00:36:00.471 I don't know what it is currently. 00:36:00.471 --> 00:36:02.090 I suspect it's much worse. 00:36:02.090 --> 00:36:08.565 But these figures are probably eight, seven, eight years old. 00:36:08.565 --> 00:36:12.016 So 1800 pastors leave the ministry every month. 00:36:12.016 --> 00:36:17.235 40% will not be a pastor in 10 years. 00:36:17.235 --> 00:36:19.806 40%. 00:36:19.806 --> 00:36:24.418 40% won't be a pastor in 10 years. 00:36:24.418 --> 00:36:30.210 65% would leave their position for similar pay outside the ministry. 00:36:30.210 --> 00:36:32.248 They're just stuck. 00:36:32.248 --> 00:36:33.630 It's the only reason they're there. 00:36:33.630 --> 00:36:35.992 The only reason they're pastoring is because they're stuck. 00:36:35.992 --> 00:36:40.313 They can't get a job anywhere else, but 65% of them would if they had the opportunity. 00:36:40.313 --> 00:37:00.090 I'm glad I'm not in that kind of a church and in the United States 4,000 churches close every year, 1,000 open, 4,000 close, 1,000 open. 00:37:00.090 --> 00:37:03.010 And that's old, I think since COVID it's a lot worse. 00:37:03.010 --> 00:37:06.148 I haven't had time to look it up. 00:37:10.827 --> 00:37:12.592 Everybody say thank God for Gloria's Way Church. 00:37:12.592 --> 00:37:14.909 Thank God for 30 years. 00:37:14.909 --> 00:37:20.275 Yeah, yeah, god, god's faithful to His Word. 00:37:20.275 --> 00:37:22.090 If you're faithful to Him, he's faithful. 00:37:22.090 --> 00:37:43.829 In December of 2003, as we were pouring the slab out there in the lobby and the children's church I think this slab had been poured, we were working on that, going that way with the concrete and we moved in here in May of 2004, had our first services. 00:37:43.829 --> 00:37:54.715 So this next year will be 20 years, in May of 2024, it's 20 years. 00:37:54.715 --> 00:37:57.293 I mean, it's hard to believe it's built at 20 years old. 00:37:57.293 --> 00:38:00.748 That means we've got to keep continually upgrading and updating, right. 00:38:02.184 --> 00:38:06.876 But I was out here and the Holy Ghost spoke to me. 00:38:06.876 --> 00:38:12.349 He said there's a dearth of the Word and I knew I heard from God. 00:38:12.349 --> 00:38:13.530 The Holy Ghost spoke to me. 00:38:13.530 --> 00:38:18.367 He spoke to me Now we were talking about leading this morning like the witness. 00:38:18.367 --> 00:38:19.271 Well, it wasn't a witness. 00:38:19.271 --> 00:38:19.766 It wasn't. 00:38:19.766 --> 00:38:20.429 I perceived. 00:38:20.429 --> 00:38:26.358 It wasn't the voice of my spirit, the still small voice. 00:38:26.358 --> 00:38:31.155 It was the voice of the Holy Ghost and he said to me there is a dearth of the Word. 00:38:31.155 --> 00:38:38.271 I said, lord, I know that's you and I believe what you're saying, but I don't understand it. 00:38:38.271 --> 00:38:39.195 How can that be? 00:38:39.195 --> 00:38:40.329 How can there be a dearth. 00:38:40.329 --> 00:38:41.373