SPEAKER_00: Lift our Bibles up, wave them around, make Jesus glad and the devil mad.
SPEAKER_00: Say this together.
SPEAKER_00: Say, Heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here among people of like precious faith.
SPEAKER_00: In your holy presence.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you've made a holy habitation.
SPEAKER_00: This is the temple of God we're in tonight.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the temple of God, and we corporately are the temple of God.
SPEAKER_00: What an honor it is to be in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I receive tonight revelation of the word of God that's going to build my faith and give me results that will give you glory in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's look at uh well, let's look at first John chapter one first.
SPEAKER_00: First John, the epistle, the one whom Jesus loved.
SPEAKER_00: First John 1, 5, this then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light.
SPEAKER_00: And in him is no darkness at all.
SPEAKER_00: If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
SPEAKER_00: But if we walk in the light, everybody say, walk in the light.
SPEAKER_00: If we walk in the light, and there's an if, see.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can or not, you may not.
SPEAKER_00: See, he's talking to believers.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking to, you know, people that aren't saved.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to church folks.
SPEAKER_00: If you walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
SPEAKER_00: And the blood of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say the blood.
SPEAKER_00: The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.
SPEAKER_00: All right, and then Romans chapter eight.
SPEAKER_00: Romans eight.
SPEAKER_00: Verse fourteen.
SPEAKER_00: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, the Spirit itself or Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God.
SPEAKER_00: So I like to turn that around.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit itself, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
SPEAKER_00: As many as are sons of God, they are led by the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you're a child of God, you're led.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, are you following the leading?
SPEAKER_00: Are you identifying the leading and following it?
SPEAKER_00: And then Proverbs 2027, the spirit of man is a candle or the lamp of the Lord, and it enlightens all the inward parts of the belly.
SPEAKER_00: Your spirit is illuminated by God.
SPEAKER_00: So tonight I wanted to share a message, a simple one, walking in the light.
SPEAKER_00: Walking in the light.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be imperative this year particularly.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're on a countdown.
SPEAKER_00: I like to point out all the years that God has given me, you know, a prophetic word over each year since 2001.
SPEAKER_00: So here is 26.
SPEAKER_00: There's 25 of those, 26 of those, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Every year, something different.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I came across some notes the other the year of, you know, uh well, how about the greatest year yet, 2020?
SPEAKER_00: God gave us an unusual one for that.
SPEAKER_00: That's the greatest year yet.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, for I think for most people that weren't in this church, I think 2020 was the worst year yet, because a lot of people died of COVID that were Christians, that were believers.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people weren't under the influence of this ministry.
SPEAKER_00: We started speaking against what was coming down from the health officials and the doctors, and we warned you and we said, Don't get the jab.
SPEAKER_00: Don't believe this garbage.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be trusting this stupid mask.
SPEAKER_00: This mask doesn't protect you from anything.
SPEAKER_00: Six feet.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, what a bunch of baloney.
SPEAKER_00: They finally admitted it.
SPEAKER_00: It took a long time for them to admit it, but they've admitted it now.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see, what was 2010?
SPEAKER_00: I think it was the year of Jubilee.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've had we've had these, and so anyway, this year we got another word, and it's the, you know, it's the year of new things.
SPEAKER_00: And so if we're gonna, the closer we get to the coming of the Lord, the more critical it is for the church to rise up and to take its place and be found in faith.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, Jesus said it to his disciples, nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, will he find faith on the earth?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm always shouting, yes, sir, if I've got anything to do with it, yes.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna find faith at Glorious Way.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna preach the word of faith all the way to the end.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter what difference there is with other things that are going on.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna preach the word and speak the truth in love.
SPEAKER_00: So uh we need to make sure that we're led by the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Every believer has a divine right to be led by the spirit, and we need to follow that leading.
SPEAKER_00: God is a spirit, and so we're a spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So, how does God lead us?
SPEAKER_00: He leads us in our spirit, he doesn't lead us in our mind, he doesn't lead us in our emotions, he doesn't lead us in our flesh, you know, feelings, which I have to say in my experience over all the years, and since I started pastoring, as I was at Lakewood, I was functioning as a pastor, and then I was recognized as a pastor in 1988.
SPEAKER_00: But even before that, I was pastoring people, had people under my wings, people that I spoke into their lives, and people that I had influence over and correct on occasion.
SPEAKER_00: Bible says if you see a brother overtaken in a fault, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest a worse thing happen unto you.
SPEAKER_00: So I we get to know people, get up beside people, and I knew the ropes a little better than they did, and sometimes I would uh, you know, meekly, not weakly, meekly, restore.
SPEAKER_00: The word restore again means to reset a broken bone.
SPEAKER_00: It means to, you know, take a dislocated joint and put it back in place.
SPEAKER_00: If someone is overtaken in a fault, they are not functioning in the body of Christ and they can't contribute to the body.
SPEAKER_00: They there they're you know, just think, think.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I saw I saw a quarterback, you know, you know, he got uh he threw he got his his little finger just all the way like that.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that hurts.
SPEAKER_00: You're talking about dislocating.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, his little finger was totally dislocated.
SPEAKER_00: And they got back on the sideline, they put it in, put it back, but I mean, he's out of the game.
SPEAKER_00: There ain't no way he can throw the ball with a with that kind of injury.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so anyway, getting back to uh, you know, people are led by the spirit, they're they're led by the spirit, but they're trying to be led by the spirit and their emotions.
SPEAKER_00: They just go by their emotions, they go by how they feel.
SPEAKER_00: They feel good one day and bad the next.
SPEAKER_00: They feel mad one day and glad the next.
SPEAKER_00: And there are they're just up and down, yo-yo Christians.
SPEAKER_00: You'll never produce fruit like that.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and so we talk about being led by the Spirit on a on a pretty consistent basis because it's so important.
SPEAKER_00: And especially this year, we need for God to lead us into new territories.
SPEAKER_00: And when when the children of Israel were crossing that that that Jordan at flood stage, they followed the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: They followed the priests that were carrying the Kina presence, which which basically is a type of shadow of us following the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Now they had to stay at a distance because they weren't born again.
SPEAKER_00: They they had trouble when they got too close to the glory.
SPEAKER_00: They could die, so they had to stay back.
SPEAKER_00: Plus, they had to watch.
SPEAKER_00: But we've got him living on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: He's lighting our way.
SPEAKER_00: If we will walk in the light as he is in the light, then we by definition are following the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: And so God is a spirit and we are spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He leads us in our spirit.
SPEAKER_00: See, we we're not led by the flesh, which is the voice of the body.
SPEAKER_00: We're not led by our mind, which is our reason.
SPEAKER_00: Reason is the voice of the mind.
SPEAKER_00: You know, well, it's reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: No, God's not reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: God can tell you to do things that don't make any sense to your brain tissue.
SPEAKER_00: I don't recommend just being crazy.
SPEAKER_00: I recommend, you know, being sane, but at the same time, we can't trust our mind.
SPEAKER_00: God is wiser than our mind.
SPEAKER_00: He's smarter.
SPEAKER_00: You know, brother Old Stan used to say, God is wiser and smarter than you are.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just kind of simple.
SPEAKER_00: No, he leads you on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: And really, the Bible says here in Proverbs that our spirits are lamps.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit of the man, uh, the spirit of the Lord, our spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just get it in front of us here.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 20, 27.
SPEAKER_00: I quoted it, but I want to quote it correctly.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit of man is the candle or the lamp in my margin.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, or the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
SPEAKER_00: So here you have your spirit, which has been born again, and it is a lamp.
SPEAKER_00: It's a lamp lit.
SPEAKER_00: It's lit by the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God is light.
SPEAKER_00: God is light.
SPEAKER_00: So our spirits are lamps that are illuminated by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But we also need God's word.
SPEAKER_00: You know, without God's word, you really can't depend on the leading that you're picking up because the spirit and the word always agree.
SPEAKER_00: Without the word, the devil has too much, holds too much sway in the world for you to accurately pick up what the Holy Ghost is really leading you.
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all getting with me?
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 119.
SPEAKER_00: Uh let's look at Psalm 119 real quick.
SPEAKER_00: 105, verse 105.
SPEAKER_00: And I quote this every day Thy word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path.
SPEAKER_00: So when you've got a word life and you've got a prayer life, the two of those working together are going to ensure that you have success in following the leading of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You need to walk in the light of the word.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you'll walk in the light of the word, you'll never walk outside what the Holy Ghost wants you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there are some things that are not in the word that pertain to your life, and that's why you need a rhema word, and sometimes you just need the Holy Ghost to give you the witness of the Spirit about certain things that are not necessarily written down in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: But one thing about it, if you don't know what's in the Word, it's easy to get deceived.
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all with me now?
SPEAKER_00: Little or a little worth a little further down, it says, the entrance of thy word giveth light.
SPEAKER_00: I can't count the times.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm praying with my Bible laying open on my uh on my lap, and I'm, you know, I just look at the Bible, I just say, well, Lord, this is this is you talking to me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm seeking and I'm asking, I'm seeking and knocking.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you were here this morning, heard the heard the message?
SPEAKER_00: If you weren't here this morning, get the media on that and get that message in you right away and start walking down that rave because we're all as a church, we're going to be asking and seeking and knocking.
SPEAKER_00: I look at, I think on Sunday, uh, you know, coming up here soon, you know, we might just have a time of prayer together about that asking and seeking and knocking.
SPEAKER_00: There's something about corporate prayer that's great, it's powerful.
SPEAKER_00: And we all have different aspects of what we're asking and seeking and knocking about, but corporately we're in this thing together.
SPEAKER_00: There's some things that I'm believing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm believing for the ending of the plateau of growth and numbers in this church.
SPEAKER_00: I want to see these chairs need, I mean, these chairs need to be filled up.
SPEAKER_00: Especially Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Sunday night a lot of people just don't even, they just go to church once a week.
SPEAKER_00: That's just how that's and we are regional center, and we and some people drive a long way and they can just physically can't drive more than maybe once a week, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I understand that.
SPEAKER_00: But I still say we ought to be full three times.
SPEAKER_00: There ought to be, we ought to be able to handle in this building, this campus, we ought to easily handle 3,000 members.
SPEAKER_00: Why can't we have 3,000 members?
SPEAKER_00: Just think of what we could do with 3,000 members.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, listen, our children's church would be revolutionized.
SPEAKER_00: We'd have so many people willing to work and being able to fill slots in there.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we would have all kinds of opportunities for our teachers to teach special classes for people that need them.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about uh my God votes.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, we're gonna need a lot of coverage in 2026.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is the election year.
SPEAKER_00: This is pivotal.
SPEAKER_00: If the Democrats win Congress, this all is over.
SPEAKER_00: Every opportunity that we have created is gonna be gone in an instant because they're gonna mess it up.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna impeach Trump, they're gonna impeach all the Christians in the Congress, they're gonna get rid of every good thing that executive orders.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these deadhead Republicans have not really uh put into law all these executive orders.
SPEAKER_00: We're at risk in this nation.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, this nation's at risk.
SPEAKER_00: Well, why you care about that?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what God told me to care about.
SPEAKER_00: In 2016, I was praying along these lines.
SPEAKER_00: I said, What about this?
SPEAKER_00: What how have why haven't we been able to pay off this loan?
SPEAKER_00: How come we, you know, and God said, Well, I want you to quit putting so much money in India and I want to take that money, and I want your your nation's hairs on fire.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he told me.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to pay attention to good old U.S.
SPEAKER_00: of A.
SPEAKER_00: And we'd already lost Harris County.
SPEAKER_00: I I want to take Harris County back.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you come in tomorrow tomorrow night?
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's get that, let's get a good Harris County judge back.
SPEAKER_00: Let's find out who needs our support, and we're gonna get we're gonna support them.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So everybody say, walking in the light.
SPEAKER_00: So his word is a lamp under our feet, a light under our path.
SPEAKER_00: You know, many people stumble over the supernatural looking for the spectacular.
SPEAKER_00: I've had my shares of dreams and visions and audible voices.
SPEAKER_00: Those things have happened in my life, happened in my ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But if I waited on those in order to be following the Holy Ghost, I'd be in the pit.
SPEAKER_00: I'd be a total failure.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, those things are so rare, you should not wait around looking for those kind of things.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've got the word, and you've got the Holy Ghost living on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: And with just a little practice, you can learn to know what the will of God is in any situation.
SPEAKER_00: Just walk in the light of the word and do what it says.
SPEAKER_00: For instance, you know, in 2 Corinthians 6 14, somebody was praying about, oh, well, should I marry this person?
SPEAKER_00: You know, we've been dating.
SPEAKER_00: You know, they're not a believer, but they're so good.
SPEAKER_00: Well, see, you're going against the word.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's no point in even praying about it because it's written in black and white.
SPEAKER_00: Why would you want to marry the devil?
SPEAKER_00: Gladys married the devil.
SPEAKER_00: But God had mercy on her and got me saved.
SPEAKER_00: And I know she's glad.
SPEAKER_00: She lived with the devil for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: Dated the devil, married the devil, lived with the devil, had babies with the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Kind of a slow learner, but I'm telling she won.
SPEAKER_00: She won in the end.
SPEAKER_00: She won.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Well, she wasn't taught anything.
SPEAKER_00: She went to the Baptist church.
SPEAKER_00: Who was your pastor?
unknown: Brother Hog.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Hog.
SPEAKER_00: What was his first name?
SPEAKER_00: Ima?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Ura or Ima?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure what it what it was.
SPEAKER_00: No, he was a good man.
SPEAKER_00: Fine.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he taught her.
SPEAKER_00: I know he was quite concerned when she married me.
SPEAKER_00: But oh, thank God I did get saved.
SPEAKER_00: But you don't have any promise of that.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of girls just think, oh, we're going to change him after we're married.
SPEAKER_00: No, you're not.
SPEAKER_00: See, don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: That's just that's an extreme.
SPEAKER_00: But if you walk in the light of the word, you know, a lot of folks, you know, they they set fleeces because Gideon set fleeces in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Gideon was hiding, you know, and an angel appeared to him.
SPEAKER_00: Hail, thou mighty man of valor.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Me?
SPEAKER_00: I'm the runt of the litter.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the weakest of the tribe, tribe of Benjamin, and we're under the heel of, you know, of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: And then what are you calling me that for?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, you're going to deliver Israel.
SPEAKER_00: We're calling you to deliver Israel, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And so he uh he said, Well, you know, I want to believe, but I tell you what, in order for me to really believe that it's really your will, God, to use me in that way, I mean, I just don't feel qualified at all.
SPEAKER_00: But I tell you what, I've got this fleece of wool, I'm gonna set it out here, and in the morning dew, if it's wet and the ground is dry, I'll know you it's you talking to me.
SPEAKER_00: And sure next the next morning the whole uh the whole ground was dry, but the fleece was wet.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Okay, well, don't get mad at me, but now I'm gonna do the same thing only this time.
SPEAKER_00: The fleece will be dry and the ground will be wet, and that's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: So he set a fleece, and by that God allowed him to test uh his will, and he, you know, took over and he had victory for Israel, and they were uh delivered.
SPEAKER_00: But uh that's Old Testament, you know, and when you put that type of thing out, which we call a fleece, if God, if you want me to, if you really want me to do that, do this.
SPEAKER_00: Then see, you're not trusting the witness of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: That's not how you were saved.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't get saved like that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, Lord, I I believe I'm saved if I can, you know.
SPEAKER_00: No, we just knew what how did we know we were saved?
SPEAKER_00: It was a witness of the Holy Ghost on the inside, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, Daddy, Papa.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we knew we were saved.
SPEAKER_00: Why would God use some other method to lead us and guide us?
SPEAKER_00: Why would he depart from his word?
SPEAKER_00: No, he won't.
SPEAKER_00: He won't.
SPEAKER_00: And Brother Hagin uh tells a story of 1941.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he I saw that's what I appreciate about Brother Holstein and Brother Hagin and Kenneth Copeland.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they preach out of the mistakes that they've made.
SPEAKER_00: They they preach out of the things that they've learned by making mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: They don't try to put on some show up, you know, and uh hold themselves up, you know, so so high that we can't relate.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, he was pastoring in uh 1941.
SPEAKER_00: He uh was invited to this church to to try out, you know, uh to be pastor, young man, and uh, and so he he said, God, if I get a hundred percent vote in that church, I'll just count it that it that it's your your will for me to take that pastorate.
SPEAKER_00: And uh they they they like Brother Hagin and they voted 100%.
SPEAKER_00: And he went and he got fleeced because it wasn't God's will.
SPEAKER_00: He said, you know, I showed up on the job.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I couldn't, there I couldn't get any anointing on me.
SPEAKER_00: I I had no anointing to stand in the pulpit and preach a message.
SPEAKER_00: It was like it was like lifting a heavy weight.
SPEAKER_00: He said it was just the Holy Ghost was nowhere there to help me to be a pastor of that church.
SPEAKER_00: But he said, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I swore to my own hurt and changed not, even though I knew immediately I had missed God, and so had they.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't let me off the hook, and I I committed for a year, and we stayed there for a whole year out of the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: Every week was hard, every week was tough.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and he spent that whole year out of the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he he set a fleece instead of waiting for the witness of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Later on, years later, they called him back, and by the witness of the Holy Ghost, he went back and pastored that church successfully.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it was like a whole different man there that was there.
SPEAKER_00: Because at that time, then that time God said, Okay, you can go back and undo the mess that you created when you were there.
SPEAKER_00: He, you know, God will redeem things, he'll redeem your mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say one year.
SPEAKER_00: I've been out of the will of God longer than that.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm telling you, I do not recommend that.
SPEAKER_00: Do not recommend that.
SPEAKER_00: So I mentioned here earlier that not everything you need to know is specifically written in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: So that's why we need the witness of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It's that unction, it's that peace that you get down on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily a voice.
SPEAKER_00: You know, quit looking and searching for voices, just quit trying to strain and hear God's voice.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's just, you know, that's you're you know, we're guaranteed He will lead us by the witness.
SPEAKER_00: The witness that you have received abideth in you.
SPEAKER_00: Have no need that anybody teach you.
SPEAKER_00: First John says that.
SPEAKER_00: And so follow the witness of the Spirit, which is peace.
SPEAKER_00: In uh December 14th of 1994, I was released by Brother Osteen.
SPEAKER_00: He said, by the way, John, if you know we'd just gotten back from India, a great marvelous trip.
SPEAKER_00: I got to minister twice before a crowd of over a hundred thousand in Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, India.
SPEAKER_00: And it was a glorious time.
SPEAKER_00: I was uh I was in trouble financially, and my my house wouldn't sell.
SPEAKER_00: It was it was just near foreclosure, but yet God would use me over and and and he asked me one night to sing a song.
SPEAKER_00: I sang Oh Happy Day, you know, they sang Oh Happy Day the other night.
SPEAKER_00: I sang Oh Happy Day by a track, and uh they went wild.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they loved you know, they loved American music, they loved Americans, they let, you know, they just they they were so enthused.
SPEAKER_00: We saw people, we saw blind eyes open, we saw the lame walk, I mean, we saw miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of people came to Jesus in the Nehru Stadium outdoor.
SPEAKER_00: And uh the night, the first night, which was the third night of the crusade, the people that were uh there from the state to uh watch over the uh the grounds and watch over the stadium, make sure nothing was harmed.
SPEAKER_00: They estimated the crowd the third night was 90,000 people.
SPEAKER_00: And it was quite something that the minister, you know, gave a little bit of my testimony, and then I sang my song, and then Brother Osteen came up and preached, and man, it was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And so he asked me the next the last night to sing another song and share a little bit, and so I did, sang another song, and what an honor it was.
SPEAKER_00: So we got back, and then of course it was it was uh you know it was hard because I knew I needed to start a church, but I hadn't been released yet.
SPEAKER_00: And I told Brother Ostein, I'm not leaving without your 100% approval.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not leaving without the full blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Not gonna leave.
SPEAKER_00: And so he had kind of thought, well, we ought to wait until the after the first of the year.
SPEAKER_00: So it was December the 14th, and he called me to talk to me a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: He said, by the way, John, he said, you know, if you this time or any time you want to start that church, you have my full and unconditional blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Oh, thank you, Brother Osteen.
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't uh I didn't consult with flesh and blood anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just called a few people that were kind of hanging around.
SPEAKER_00: I told them that I'd kill the church.
SPEAKER_00: I told them I I can't tell you we're gonna start at all.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not starting until this, so this is dead.
SPEAKER_00: So if you need to make other arrangements, if you want to go someplace else and find another church, if you want to leave Lakewood and do something else, I release you.
SPEAKER_00: But they were still there and they'd been telling me, well, whenever he's ready, I know he's gonna release you.
SPEAKER_00: So I called them, and of course, we started making plans.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so I had to find a building.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I went up and down 1960.
SPEAKER_00: I'd drive up and down the road, drive up and down the road, and and I would start at Stubner Airline and head uh toward 249.
SPEAKER_00: And when I'd get, the closer I'd get to Champions area, to Champion Forest Drive, really I'd just feel, it's hard to describe it, but I just felt that witness inside me.
SPEAKER_00: I just felt this peace.
SPEAKER_00: I felt this, you know, I in fact I when I drove right past Champion Forest Drive and I was still driving toward toward Cutting Road, I just I almost I looked and I said, is that a church over there?
SPEAKER_00: And later on, you know, then then when I get to 249, it would just dry up.
SPEAKER_00: Dry up.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I could feel that I was out of the area that I needed to be in.
SPEAKER_00: I'd turn around and I started thinking about this building that I used to drink beer and eat barbecue in, Big Ben's Barbecue.
SPEAKER_00: Back when I was a home builder, before I got saved, there was a building and it was set off of the road.
SPEAKER_00: And you it was easy to miss because of all the buildings on 1960.
SPEAKER_00: There was a U-shaped center, and it was at the base of the center, and there were buildings on either side, and you know, you could drive right by that thing and just miss it.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't even see it, and which was the reason that Big Ben's barbecue went out of business.
SPEAKER_00: And then a real upscale seafood, I couldn't remember the name of the seafood uh place, but we'd gone to the seafood place there a time or two when it was a seafood place, and then I just kind of lost track of it.
SPEAKER_00: I just didn't even, I couldn't even find, I kept looking for that building, couldn't find it.
SPEAKER_00: And so finally, you know, several days went past, and I'm I'm I'm still working every day, you know, with another builder.
SPEAKER_00: He had hired me to watch his stuff, and I told him, I'm looking, I'm I'm not giving you eight hours a day anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I've got to find a building for my new church, and so if you want to fire me, you can.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not really paying much attention to your stuff right now.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm paying more attention to starting a church.
SPEAKER_00: So we uh wound up out, wound down with him.
SPEAKER_00: And so one of our prospective members that was going to be part of the church called me and said, Pastor, I think I know where there's a building.
SPEAKER_00: It's right in front of Champions Park subdivision, you know, just before Cutton, between Champion Forest Drive and Cuton, Champions Park subdivision.
SPEAKER_00: I knew that subdivision well.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of friends of mine built houses in there.
SPEAKER_00: So I went to that that place, and there it was.
SPEAKER_00: There was the building I was looking for.
SPEAKER_00: And it was put putt-golf.
SPEAKER_00: It was a sign, put putt golf, and there it was.
SPEAKER_00: And so I went in there, and here's a realtor's a broker sign, and it's for lease, you know, call this number.
SPEAKER_00: I looked through the window and it's got all these green paint and flags and greens and golf, you know, thing, and it, you know, it was it was really ugly.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was run down.
SPEAKER_00: It looked, it looked vacant.
SPEAKER_00: It looked like it had a lot of dust in it, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But here it was for lease.
SPEAKER_00: So I called the number.
SPEAKER_00: The guy called me back and come to find out he's a deacon at Champion Forest Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: And he came and meet me out there, and he said, Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Brother John, he said, This uh this thing has been on the market for over a year.
SPEAKER_00: You can just look through there, and let's he open the door.
SPEAKER_00: I went in, and there's 9,300 square feet.
SPEAKER_00: This used to be a church.
SPEAKER_00: See that platform, that was their platform there, and now they turned it into a uh golf thing, and that didn't make it.
SPEAKER_00: It's been vacant for a year.
SPEAKER_00: This this guy, this this landlord, he's ready, man.
SPEAKER_00: He'll take an offer.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, he's got a real ridiculous price that he's asking for it, but I know for a fact he'll take 60 K a year.
SPEAKER_00: 60K a year.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's not in my Bible.
SPEAKER_00: There's nowhere in my Bible that 6827 FM 1960 West should be my first building.
SPEAKER_00: There's nowhere in my Bible that it ought to be 60K a year, 5,000 a month for this destitute-looking, dirty-looking thing.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, man, it was dirty.
SPEAKER_00: It had carpet that looked like sandpaper.
SPEAKER_00: It was rough as sandpaper.
SPEAKER_00: I felt sorry for anybody that fell out on it.
SPEAKER_00: I said, let them down easy.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let them, let, don't let them skid.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let them skid across there.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna get a strawberry, they're gonna rub the hide off their hand.
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, that didn't do any good.
SPEAKER_00: People skidded, people rolled, people, I mean anyway.
SPEAKER_00: So that see, how did I it was the witness of the spirit, and yet I had the favor with the really the realtor was acting, he was acting in my on my behalf and against the person that's gonna pay his commission.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's supposed to be the leaseure's agent, and he's the leasey's agent.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the leasey, and the gentleman was the lease or anyway.
SPEAKER_00: We struck a deal, and I mean the whole thing, we I mean, I picked up the keys on January the 28th on a Saturday afternoon, and we had work day, and all of our folks by that time we had about 15 or 20 people there to clean the bathroom, to vacuum the sandpaper, to get some folding chairs in there, set up a soundboard.
SPEAKER_00: I had had the power hooked up, and the Sunday morning we had our first service on January the 29th.
SPEAKER_00: 103 people showed up to my total shock and delight.
SPEAKER_00: We had over 60 people there on Sunday night on Super Bowl Sunday, competing with Super Bowl.
SPEAKER_00: 60, some odd people came back Sunday night.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, lift your hands right now.
SPEAKER_00: See, the witness of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So walking in the light.
SPEAKER_00: And so I've got a little, you know, LED, light emitting diode.
SPEAKER_00: LED.
SPEAKER_00: That's we've got LEDs.
SPEAKER_00: That's LEDs up there on that screen.
SPEAKER_00: LEDs in your new cars, you know, they've tail lights or LEDs, the headlights.
SPEAKER_00: They've got a lot of LEDs now.
SPEAKER_00: It's the latest technology.
SPEAKER_00: They're uh they're cool, they're not hot like regular incandescent bulbs.
SPEAKER_00: So I use that as an acronym, L E D, for walking in the light.
SPEAKER_00: L number one, L, look to the Word.
SPEAKER_00: Look to the Word.
SPEAKER_00: His Word is a lamp under your feet, a light under your path.
SPEAKER_00: God will give you enough light to take a step.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we want the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we want the entire picture, we want the entire plan, but no, God will lead you one step at a time.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got light for one step, take it.
SPEAKER_00: Take that step by faith and expect God will light the next step.
SPEAKER_00: I think about the first time I they were singing some of my songs that I used to sing years ago.
SPEAKER_00: They sang Consider the Lilies last Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I sang that at Lakewood, and that's a real that song's got a lot of words.
SPEAKER_00: And I had a track, and man, I was so nervous.
SPEAKER_00: There's several thousand people there.
SPEAKER_00: Dotie asked me to sing.
SPEAKER_00: I so I sang Consider the Lilies, and man, I started singing it, you know, and then I couldn't remember the words, you know, and I'm thinking, oh my God, what and so it was just like right at the last second where I'm gonna stumble and fall.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'd remember the line and I would sing the next the next little phrase, you know, and then I'd it would, I mean, I was so I was so unnerved.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't look like it, but I mean I was so nervous.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just like in suspense.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Ghost would just give me one little thing.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I had to sing it out of my spirit.
SPEAKER_00: My brain was shit shot.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, my brain was shot.
SPEAKER_00: I thought I had it memorized, but I it wasn't any good.
SPEAKER_00: So God will give you enough light for your next step.
SPEAKER_00: And besides that, the word of God is food for your faith.
SPEAKER_00: So give the word first place, feed your faith, feed yourself on the word of God, and that way you've got something for the Holy Ghost to take and show you what his will is.
SPEAKER_00: So, L, look to the word.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, E, edify your spirit by praying in other tongues.
SPEAKER_00: He that prays, 1 Corinthians 14, 4.
SPEAKER_00: He that prays in an unknown tongue edifies himself.
SPEAKER_00: Well, who's himself?
SPEAKER_00: Well, your himself is your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You are your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So look at yourself not as when you look in the mirror, that's not you, that's your body.
SPEAKER_00: So your spirit is edified when you pray in other tongues.
SPEAKER_00: Jude 20, building up yourself on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: It's about the same thing: building up yourself, edifying yourself.
SPEAKER_00: How can you edify anybody if you're not edified?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have to edify yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I like that little song we sang about I'm running out of my grave.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're running out of our grave.
SPEAKER_00: We've got something valuable.
SPEAKER_00: We're we're edified, we're coming out of our grave clothes, we're coming out of that grave, we're coming out of that, we're coming out of that filled with the Holy Ghost, filled with edification.
SPEAKER_00: We're strong and we can build other people up.
SPEAKER_00: Strengthen other people.
SPEAKER_00: And uh the word edify there really it kind of means charge, like charging a battery.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I used to go floundering with my dad.
SPEAKER_00: My dad loved fishing and floundering and he loved to go floundering, digging flounders.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he any other any way to get out in the in the ocean or the bay or whatever, so he had his favorite places he'd go.
SPEAKER_00: And I went with him many times to go floundering, and we had we had you had to be equipped, you know.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to you've got Have a gig.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you don't catch them on a rod and rig.
SPEAKER_00: You can, but I mean it it the way we would go is we would gig them.
SPEAKER_00: We would stick a stick a gig through the flounder while it's bedded down in the on the bed of the place where we're watching, and you'd try to go through maybe less than knee deep.
SPEAKER_00: You had the tide had to be right, the water had to be clear enough where you could see the outline of the flounder in the sand.
SPEAKER_00: And when you did, then you plunge that gig down, and I had a two-prong gig.
SPEAKER_00: One prong is not enough.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they can sometimes they'll tear and get well a two-prong, you've got it, then you slip your hand underneath it and bring it up, you know, and it's flashed, it's got water all over you, you know, and get you wet, and you put it on your stringer, and it runs down the stringer, and you drag the stringer through, and you go to the next one, you know, and you've got three or four flounder on there.
SPEAKER_00: And so in the process of time, you're holding a gig in one hand and you're go holding your Coleman lantern in the other.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know if you've ever been camping, but your Coleman lantern has just got a wire handle on it, and you you hang it up in your tin and it shines light out this way.
SPEAKER_00: It's got a big old lamp, a mantle, they call it, and it's burning and it's real bright.
SPEAKER_00: It's bright, man, it hurts your eyes to see it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that doesn't do much good because it just the light is parallel to the water.
SPEAKER_00: So what do you need?
SPEAKER_00: You need to turn, you've got a handle on this thing that turns the lamp and it shines down through the surface of the water and lights up the bottom that you can see the outline of the flounder.
SPEAKER_00: So the so you're got carrying that lantern and it's just about that far above the surface of the water.
SPEAKER_00: So guess what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Every time you gig a flounder, there's salt water gets all over that hot glass, it gets dirty.
SPEAKER_00: The wave action, sometimes you're sloshing through there.
SPEAKER_00: And so after about 30 minutes, you've got to you've got to clean that thing off.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna get all cloudy.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna it's gonna uh cause you not to be able to see the bottom properly.
SPEAKER_00: You can't see the outline of what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when something is down there, you see this outline and you gig that and you find out that you didn't gig a flounder, you gigged a ray, a stingray.
SPEAKER_00: It's got barbs on it.
SPEAKER_00: You better not be standing too close because he's gonna get you in the ankle.
SPEAKER_00: So that's why you need boots on.
SPEAKER_00: You got rubber boots on, so you know, kind of all these things.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta be so your floundering lamp gets dirty and you can't see.
SPEAKER_00: See, your spirit can get messed up.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta keep it clean.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Charge it, brighten your lamp, get your lamp as bright as it can get, and that way you can know what God is leading you to do.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, the last one is found in John chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: LED.
SPEAKER_00: The last one is do what you know to do down in your knower.
SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 11, verse 9, Jesus said, let's go, let's go and and and uh Lazarus is sick, let's go down uh to Bethany.
SPEAKER_00: And his disciples objected, they're gonna kill you down there.
SPEAKER_00: You can't go, you can't do that, you can't go there, they're gonna kill you.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered in verse 9, are there not 12 hours in the day?
SPEAKER_00: If any man walk in the day, he stumbles not because he sees the light of this world.
SPEAKER_00: But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles because there's no light in him.
SPEAKER_00: So once you have light, that's the time to move.
SPEAKER_00: Once you have light, that's the time to take a step.
SPEAKER_00: When you don't have light, that's not the time to move.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he didn't have light to move for Lazarus until Lazarus had been dead for four days.
SPEAKER_00: He couldn't leave until he had what?
SPEAKER_00: Light.
SPEAKER_00: He couldn't leave without the witness.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus teaching us he's a son of God.
SPEAKER_00: If anybody could have done it at any time, he could have done it.
SPEAKER_00: He could have gone.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, Martha and Mary, they they Mary was mad at him.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, if you'd been here, Lazarus would not have died.
SPEAKER_00: What did you why we told you four days?
SPEAKER_00: Why did you wait?
SPEAKER_00: Roll away the stone.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, he's by now he's thinking.
SPEAKER_00: See, I mean, he had to follow the witness of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He had to, he had to walk in the light and not in the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: If he'd have walked in the darkness, it never would have worked.
SPEAKER_00: It wouldn't have worked.
SPEAKER_00: He had to wait.
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, that would the whole raising from the dead was was so that people would not have any excuse not to believe that he was a Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he I mean, that's what his father wanted.
SPEAKER_00: His father wanted that resurrection of Lazarus from the dead and all those witnesses, and they had no, I mean, who else has raised the dead?
SPEAKER_00: Who else out there has been raising any dead people?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody has been raising any dead people.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus raised the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And so you had no right to minimize him or to say that he was false prophet.
SPEAKER_00: So do what you know to do down in your knower, take a step, move forward, uh, and God always gives you enough light to illuminate at least one step.
SPEAKER_00: God will lead you step by step.
SPEAKER_00: And if he doesn't lead you, don't move until you get the light leading.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, now one thing about it, God can't, you know, guide somebody that's planted their feet in the ground any more than you can guide a ship while it's sitting at the dock.
SPEAKER_00: You just need to move.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, and if you'll move, your guidance will come.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: LED.
SPEAKER_00: Walking in the light.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's lift our hand tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: Did you get anything out of this?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I like to teach on it because we all need to get skillful in identifying the leading of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He always is leading you.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, are you identifying the lead?
SPEAKER_00: And these are tools that'll help you to get more and more skillful.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I thank God, you know, we all start in the same place.
SPEAKER_00: We start as babies, and we make lots of mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: Babies make mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: Babies walk and they fall down and they need to be lifted up and comforted, and you pat them on the back, and then you know, when they get old enough to toddle, and then before long, you know, it's just amazing how.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's time to ride a bike.
SPEAKER_00: And they get on the bicycle, and you just, oh man, you just don't, you hate to see it.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna fall, and they do fall, they skin a knee up, but you know, they get over it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's how they learn.
SPEAKER_00: They learn, and that's how we learn.
SPEAKER_00: We learn, we listen, it's not perfection.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm telling you, God will put up with a lot of things, but what he won't put up with is somebody that just won't do anything, won't move.
SPEAKER_00: Let's move and let's be keen in the spirit and quick to obey.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, lift your hands.
SPEAKER_00: Father, tonight, thank you for the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that he's leading and guiding and directing us in all things.
SPEAKER_00: And we give you praise for it.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.