WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.200 We're gonna be in Joshua chapter 24 today. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.879 Joshua chapter 24, verse 15. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:14.240 It's one of those prayers that I often pray, usually over a Thanksgiving meal. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:15.759 I say, God is good, God is great. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:16.559 Let's see. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:25.359 You get a little, you get a little taste, you smell that cooking all day long, and you just want to get to the substance. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:34.399 I pray for you every week that God puts a smell in your nostrils that when you get to service on Sunday, you've already been chewing on the substance. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:45.439 Joshua chapter 24, verse 15, it says, But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:51.600 Would you prefer the gods of your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:56.560 Or would it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live in? 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:02.399 But as for me, in my house, somebody say, My house. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:08.000 In my house, we are going to serve the Lord. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:11.599 Father, we thank you so much for your presence here today. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:15.920 We thank you, God, for the transformation work that the word does. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:20.000 It is alive, it is active, and your spirit is here today. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:30.000 I pray everyone, under the sound of my voice or watching online, that their lives be transformed, their minds become renewed, and their spirits rise up on wings of eagles. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:31.680 In your precious name we pray. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:32.640 Amen. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:53.760 I tell you, sometimes it's hard for me to lead you into worship and continue on with the set list when I feel like breaking down and crying. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:02.959 By the third or fourth one in, the hair stood up on my skin. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:05.840 And I said, Oh Lord, just let me make it to the preaching. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:13.759 Some of y'all sit through the service and you say, Oh Lord, just let me make it through this preaching. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:25.280 But if you've been if you've been following along for the past year, and February 19th was the year that we got voted in, and y'all finally said yes. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:28.159 I felt like I was trying to date my wife all over again. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:33.120 Um finally got a yes. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:34.400 That's all I needed. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.759 And so God has placed it in my heart for this church. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.759 The vision and the mission of this church is to make mature disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:53.360 We have church houses full of people filling spots, but they're no more converts than the devil. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:03.360 We have people who live the same life that they live throughout the week and come to church on a Sunday and they leave the same. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:08.800 If that is you today, let me tell you, God has something more for you. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:15.919 God has something bigger and better for you than just warming a spot in a building. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:25.520 Because every single person has a position and a promise from God that you have more to do than just sit, come, and consume. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:31.039 That we need to be on guard in our lives every single day. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:43.360 That's why I've been talking since the beginning of this year about capturing every thought and making it subject to Jesus because we allow rogue things to have places in our hearts and minds that have no business being there. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:50.719 We have to become mature Christians. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:59.120 We have to be willing that if somebody across the aisle offends you, that you don't go talking to everybody else about what they did, you talk to them about what they did. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:06.000 Also known in the English translation of Stephen Tillman is called gossip. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:11.680 And that needs to shut up. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.639 It does not have a place in the kingdom of God. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:20.160 That's why relationships are so important with God because we have to get in tune with each other. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:24.800 Our hearts, our minds, our spirits need to bear witness with one another. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:29.680 If it doesn't, you have a fractured system in a church house. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:42.079 If an eye desires to be a foot, and if a toe desires to be a leg, you have a dysfunctional body. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:49.600 Stop wanting what everybody else has, whining about what you don't have and make it happen and do what God's called you to do. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.560 Serve where God has placed you. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:55.600 Be who God has called you to be. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:58.879 And don't back down when things don't go your way. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:07.199 Because if you've lived long enough, coming up on 40 years in this life, I know firsthand life doesn't always go the way I want it to. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.199 Church doesn't always go the way I want it to. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:17.040 People don't act always the way I think they should. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:32.000 To be willing to let someone disciple us and mentor us. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:35.519 We have in the Western culture, we don't want nobody to mentor us. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:36.959 I've got it figured out. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.240 I saw a little video the other day. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:45.680 My wife actually found it again, and it was funny because I was listening to her giggle, and I was laughing because I had already found it. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.319 And it was his father sitting there. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:55.759 And if you've had a teenager, you know, I don't know about female teenagers, but I know male teenagers. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:57.839 And there's no way I was like this. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:11.519 But apparently, all male teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 need to work in NASA and on the UN because they can solve all the world's problems because they know everything. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:14.160 There's nothing you can tell them. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:17.839 You can make up something and say it to them and be like, oh yeah, I know. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:18.879 Ah. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:22.800 I just made that up. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:25.040 You're lying. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:33.120 But we have to be willing to make ourselves vulnerable to someone. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:39.839 This is why we have weak churches because no one is vulnerable to each other. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.160 They all pretend like they got it going on. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:44.319 That they got it figured out. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:54.800 If all of the biblical, theological people who went to college forever know the original Greek and Hebrew, if they don't have it figured out, guess what? 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:55.680 We don't either. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:02.079 So why are we looking down our noses at other people in the church house when we ain't got our own junk together? 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:12.399 We have to be willing to allow ourselves to be spiritually, mentally, physically, and yes, even emotionally to be developed in the body. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:28.160 This is why Jesus spent three years of his ministry from beginning when the dove ascended onto him, descended onto him, came down, and he went into his ministry immediately going out into the wilderness to fast and pray and to be tempted by the devil? 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:35.120 Some of y'all think when the spirit comes on you and God's doing things in your life, you're gonna go and you're gonna have rainbows and butterflies. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:54.879 But if I know anything, if Jesus got led by the spirit, not the devil, out into the wilderness to be tempted and tested and tried, who are we to think that once we start living right and do things right and we got things on the assignment of God now, and we are following his will that we will not be led into the wilderness. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:01.519 Now, if I can be blunt, I don't like the wilderness. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:03.360 I think it's terrible. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:09.920 It's dry out there, my skin cracks, I'm thirsty all the time, I'm whiny. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:12.639 Children of Israel. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:20.000 But God had to get them out there to start doing some refining work. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:24.399 Some of you right now are in the middle of the wilderness and you're whining to God because you don't want to be there. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:25.040 Guess what? 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:35.519 None of us do, you're all in the same boat, but we have to go through things because the Bible talks about our faith being tested. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:42.559 And I believe God loves making men and women of actual God that are warriors for God, not a bunch of weenies. 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:46.480 Because we got a war waging right now against us and our children. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:51.440 And we have allowed culture to influence the church instead of the other way around. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:55.440 We have allowed culture to influence our children instead of the other way around. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.759 And then we whine about the outcome. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:08.320 We want to be healthy and mature, and as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28, 19, he said, Go and make disciples. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:18.000 Now, we have learned over and over again, I repeat it over and over again because it bears repeating that our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.679 How you think so soon you will follow. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.720 If you think you can't, you won't ever. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:32.480 If you think that you can, the people who are the most confident are usually the most successful. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:38.000 And this is not because they know it all, it's because they speak as if they do. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:45.120 Some of us do not have that blessed assurance in God, and we don't speak like we know it's true. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:54.879 So today I want you, I'm gonna we're gonna start a new series, and it's gonna be called Choose First. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:57.279 Choose first. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:09:59.279 And this is week one. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:09.919 We're gonna be today, we're going to establish some things in the kingdom of God, in the physical realm, that are going to begin to make the heavens and earth move on your behalf. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:20.799 That there are some things in your life, there are some places in your life that you've allowed the enemy to make camp in, and you're allowing him to be your roommate in a house that he has not purchased. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:29.840 That you want to have the Spirit of God in one room and you want to have the enemy in the other, and these cannot coexist in the same place. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:36.000 It is bitter and sweet water trying to flow out of the same spigot, and it does not mix. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:39.679 Some of you say the same about lemonade and tea. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:48.000 But today's message is called take it back. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:52.960 So choose first, take it back. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:11:07.440 Well, I went to the enemy's camp, and I took well I took back for a good song, isn't it? 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:11.440 Get you a little riled up, like you want to go to hell's gates with the water pistol. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:29.600 But we allow every single day the enemy to come into our camp and steal our joy, steal our healings, bring back giving us gifts of depression and anxiety, and we put them on like they belong. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:32.720 I rebuke that in the name of Jesus. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:37.600 Then anything that comes against you, the Bible says the Lord will raise up a standard. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:46.879 But the thing is, you don't go to the Lord, you go to what you know, and so when you haven't known the Lord, you go into what you know is dangerous. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:50.879 You're trying to fight spiritual battles with fleshly weapons, and it doesn't work. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.080 You cannot fight the enemy with fleshly weapons. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:09.360 Sometimes we whine and complain that the devil stole things from us, and we often neglect the little slice of important information, is that we've been handing it to him slowly. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.000 We sometimes claim he stole it. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:26.080 It's like a I have a younger brother, he's about four years younger than I am, and it didn't matter what actually happened, it was my brother's fault. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:29.679 And the same with him. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:35.360 Now I took more on the chin because I was an older brother and felt I needed to protect him, and that's the story that all y'all will know. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.039 But when something happened, oh, he did it. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:45.519 You know how many times it's like that a comedy movie with little kids and they both point at each other? 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:47.120 That was reality. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.919 If you've had a sibling, older or younger, you understand. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.960 When you were kids, it wasn't your fault, it was everybody else's fault. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:55.120 We do this spiritually all the time. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:57.279 We say, Oh, the devil's just have to get me. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:12:59.440 No, you've been handing him your heart for a while. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:03.759 Oh, the devil's just been stealing my joy. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:05.759 No, you've been serving it up on a platter to him. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.240 I just the devil's been fighting me in my mind. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:17.279 Put on your helmet of salvation and tell him to get out. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:24.559 Because what God does, he's a gentleman. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:27.600 He will allow his children to undo. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:36.240 So if we receive what the enemy is trying to serve up to us, and then we wonder why we got a tummy ache. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:39.120 Come on. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:49.679 At the end of Joshua 24, 15, it says, But as for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:55.919 So we are here in Joshua 24, and in this passage, Joshua is saying this. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:57.759 He's talking to the people of God. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:10.320 Okay, in 14 it actually says, So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly, but put away forever the idols of your ancestors' worships when they live beyond the Euphrates River and Egypt. 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:11.679 Serve the Lord alone. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:13.120 And then it goes into verse 15. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:17.759 Now, if you start from the beginning of this chapter, Joshua is calling them out. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:30.960 I don't know how it is anywhere else in the world, but I know here in this local place, we don't want nobody calling us out for truth. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:37.840 We want to tell everybody else what they're doing wrong, but we don't want nobody to tell us what we're doing wrong. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:39.279 Am I the only one? 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:41.679 Am I the only one? 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:43.039 Thank you. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:53.279 So this is how he sets it up. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:55.600 And it's an awesome way to minister. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:59.840 He got them excited and reminded them about what God has done in their life. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:17.840 He started telling them, he reminds them in recaps on all God brought them through and to, and the great favor God had given them in every situation when he brought them out of Egypt, in spite of their rebellious ways. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:24.240 Then he says, in my head, I can hear Joshua getting a little attitude, like a little thug in him. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:25.840 You do you, boo. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:31.840 But for me and my house, we said the law. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:35.759 I can hear, you know what I'm saying? 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:37.519 I read the Bible in a different way. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:42.559 I don't know how y'all read it, but my characters in the Bible that I read it, they got some attitude, and I love it. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:46.960 And he said, For me and my house, we are going to serve the Lord. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:53.120 He made a decision in the present that whatever came in the future, he was making a stand now. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:56.639 I'm sticking with the Lord. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:00.720 I know everything might not turn out the way that it should. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:06.240 I think in a lot of the seasons, especially right now, it may not look the way you want it to. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.000 Things hit you in the face, it can get scary. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.159 Sometimes it can just get stupid. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:18.159 I've had seasons in my life where I'm I get so mad I laugh. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:22.639 I'm just like, I don't understand what is happening. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:29.120 Well, I just throw my hands up and I say, God, I don't have a clue. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:32.639 I tried figured it out, and that didn't work too well. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:37.600 But he said, I am going to stand with the Lord now. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:38.960 I am going to serve God. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:45.039 I'm choosing now, before the season hits me, that he is my Lord and King. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:52.240 That whatever happens, I will still serve the Lord. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:54.559 So, how do we serve the Lord? 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.679 First, a lot of us struggle with this. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.600 What's the first, one of the first steps in the beginning to serving the Lord? 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:08.160 First of all, you got to know and accept that Jesus Christ is the one true Son of God, and He came down and He died for your sins. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:12.400 The second part is to forgive yourself of all that you've done. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:21.680 Sometimes this is the hardest thing in your life because you can't see past who you are or who you were. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:26.880 And the devil keeps throwing it in your face of what happened in your life or what you did last week. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:27.759 God don't care. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:29.839 Every morning, his mercy and grace is new. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:31.599 God knows I need it. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:35.599 Isaiah 43, 18 and 19, it says this. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:38.799 But forget all of that. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:43.759 It is nothing compared to what I'm going to do. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:47.279 Verse 19 says, For I am about to do something new. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:50.079 See, I have already begun. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:51.519 Do you not see it? 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:54.480 I will make a pathway through the wilderness. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:57.200 I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:59.759 In this passage, Isaiah is saying this. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.279 The Lord begins to remind them of all the mighty victories. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:06.559 Once again, we're standing in a place of uncertainty. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:08.319 We're standing in a dark valley. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.720 We're standing in a place that is uncomfortable. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.160 But when we begin to look back, we can start to see better forward. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:25.119 When we begin to be reminded of what God has done, when we begin to sing his praise again, and we start praising even in the prayer, even in the pain, and we just keep pushing through the process. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:30.400 We know that God is still faithful and it will fuel our faith to the future. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:35.279 The Lord begins to remind them of the mighty victories he had delivered into their hand. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:38.400 And then God says, Now forget all that. 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:43.599 He said, Do you remember how good I am to you? 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.880 Do you remember how many enemies I handed over to you? 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:48.960 And you never even had to lift a finger. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:50.400 Now forget all that. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:53.759 Because we're about to go to some new territory. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:57.680 Now, God has been good to you. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:01.680 But, darling, I promise you, where you're going, you ain't seen nothing yet. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.240 This church has seen some hard times. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:08.960 And right now we're still standing, even though by all logic we shouldn't be here. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:10.160 But let me tell you something. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.720 Where we're going, you hadn't seen nothing yet. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:13.920 Let me tell you something. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:16.559 If we believe, and matter of fact, I don't know if y'all know this or not. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:17.759 Some of y'all are new here. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:22.880 In the foundation of this church, a literal Bible, the word of God, this church is built on top of it. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.240 You may have seen some things God has done, but you ain't seen nothing yet. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:39.039 So even when God has brought you out of what He has brought you through, they have been great victories, but you have seen nothing yet. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:40.799 Why? 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:42.720 Because your story. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:49.279 Some of you are so young and you think you feel old. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:55.599 I feel old until some of y'all say, Oh, you're just a child. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:58.480 Then I don't feel so old anymore. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:01.359 And then my son's like, Oh, Dad, you're old. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:03.920 Y'all need to pick one. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:11.759 But the story of where you are right now is not the end of you. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.759 The story will not be your ending. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:23.200 Whatever season you're in right now, the situation that you are walking through right now, God has more for you and He is not done. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:23.519 Why? 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:26.400 Because you are still alive, which means you still have a purpose. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:29.839 If you're not dead, He is not done. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:36.480 Stop acting like you're on your deathbed or you've already passed through. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:38.240 Well, I just can't do nothing. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:40.000 This and that, and blah blah blah. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:41.440 Shut up and get busy. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:48.079 You ain't dead, get off your little soapbox and get back to what God's called you to do. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:54.079 Don't let naysayers, backbiters, and gossip queens dictate what you do in God's house. 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:07.599 Because if you choose for you and your house that we're gonna serve the Lord, don't let no situation and no season and no person dictate what God's called you to do. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.039 Because if you do, you're living in disobedience. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:14.079 Not them. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:15.599 We don't like that. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:16.640 Hey, no, no, no, no. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:18.079 Hey, they're the problem over here, bro. 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:18.960 Hey, that's them. 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:24.559 No, you disobedience to an Almighty God. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:26.799 God help us all. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:29.279 Your story is not done. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:36.000 God's hand is still on your life, right where you are in a season of uncertainty and darkness. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:37.920 He still is the light. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:40.400 So we have to make up our minds now. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:48.799 Feel it down into the deepness of our soul, down into our very bones, that I am going to serve God no matter what it looks like. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:52.079 I'm not gonna raise up man and put someone on a pedestal. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:54.720 Don't you ever put your pastor on a pedestal? 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.359 Don't you ever look to me over the scripture. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.319 My wife is perfect, but don't ever look to her either. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:09.599 Because none of us are anything compared to an Almighty God. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.559 I don't dictate your salvation, God does. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:15.599 I don't dictate your path and purpose, God does. 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:19.759 He may speak to me, but he's gonna give the burden to you. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:23.279 Remain faithful, good or bad. 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:24.880 I will remain faithful. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:25.920 Say it with me. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:29.200 I will remain faithful. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:31.440 That was sloppy. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:32.960 Do it all at once. 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:34.640 I will remain faithful. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:41.119 Now you just said that out loud, so watch out when the devil gets you outside. 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:51.359 A lot of us think the devil's tempting us to test our faithfulness, but sometimes God likes to make us grow up a little bit. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:57.440 Let me give you a real life story of when we took over this church before we were actually voted in. 00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:01.119 Within months, two people, key people in this church died. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:06.319 And at the time, the baptistry that's in the back was over there. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:10.559 I went over there and cried and didn't know what to do. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:18.799 But I had made up my mind that whatever steps God ordered me to do, I was gonna walk them faithfully no matter what it looked like. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.480 No matter what the loss was in my life. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:30.319 No matter what things that I had to walk away from in my life, God said, if you will be faithful to me, I will show you what steps to take. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:36.960 And let me tell you from experience of drug addiction and everything that you can think of that is the opposite of what God is. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:42.880 If you stay faithful to Him and chase after Him, there is no devil in hell that can get you out of God's will. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:50.559 But you have to decide before all of it happens. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:57.200 You have to make the choice in your life, in your mind, in your heart. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:10.880 People sitting right here are addicted to pornography, and it has wrecked your life, maybe even your marriage. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:18.640 And you've allowed the devil to be in your camp and you don't know what to do. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:21.599 That's why I issue the challenge of 15. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.400 Five minutes in prayer, five minutes of reading your word, and five minutes of praising. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:50.160 When you wake up and your feet hit the floor, or before they even do, just open your eyes, sing his praise, tell him how good he is, and in that moment, you are deciding over your life before you go on with your day that whatever happens, whatever temptations, you are deciding that you are a man or a woman of God, and you have chosen to stick up for the Lord and what is right. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.759 You have to choose first. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:59.599 If you don't, when you try to choose later, you will not be strong enough. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:08.079 I think sometimes we get the mindset and we constantly react. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:12.720 We play defense real well. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:15.920 I can crawl down with the best of them. 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:19.599 I get in a situation, whoop and get me. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:22.240 I'll back up quick. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:27.920 If I feel the conversation is getting uncomfortable or what it shouldn't be, I'll just turn around and walk off. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:29.680 I don't care if I offend you. 00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:34.720 I'm like Joseph. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:39.759 Something something comes up, tries to grab my coat, you can have the coat. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:40.640 I'll run off naked. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:41.440 I don't care. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:43.599 You ain't getting me all my shame. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:44.319 I don't care. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:45.920 You ain't getting me, devil. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:46.799 Why? 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:56.480 Because I have made up my mind that any temptation, anything that tries to come between the ministry and the relationship I have with my wife, I will kick it to the curb fast. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.920 Some of you have allowed things slowly to get into your life that have no business being there. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:11.039 You've allowed some things, some seeds planted in your marriage that should not have been there, and now you're seeing the fruit of that and you're wondering where you went wrong. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:14.559 Things like this do not happen overnight. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:18.960 You straying from God and not being the man or woman of God that you really desire to be. 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:23.200 Desiring of your heart is great, but if you have no action behind the desire, it's pointless. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:27.039 Just like if you have no action behind your faith, it is pointless. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:30.559 Faith without works is dead. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:44.240 And choose first. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:49.440 Now, in this first week, we're talking about taking back. 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:53.039 I sang that little song earlier because I want that to be in your spirit. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:27:10.000 That the things in your life that the enemy has come when you didn't see him like a thief in the night has been taking things from you slowly and steadily, and you didn't even know, you could take a wrong turn hard, or you could take a little bit at a time and still end up way off course. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:16.480 And the devil, he don't like you to take hard turns because that's noticeable. 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:19.359 You can see that one coming. 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:33.440 But if you can just bump your wheels a little bit and get your wheels just slightly enough to where you don't even know they're turning, you'll end up in a state you never meant to be in. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:41.279 A state of mind, a state of heart, a state of your spirit. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:49.759 And what this does is it sets us up spiritually in advanced positions. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:28:02.160 When we begin to decide first and we choose first, that we decide before anything happens that we are going to stand with God, we are setting ourselves up spiritually in an advanced position. 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:14.160 That we don't just react to the things that happen to us, but we have already made up our minds and preparation to give um everything over to God. 00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:18.400 I want to give a very relatable example to some of you. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:20.079 Anyone watch the Super Bowl? 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:22.480 Probably some of y'all did. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:22.960 I didn't. 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:23.920 I don't know what happened. 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:24.640 Yeah. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:25.839 I don't watch football, bro. 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:26.480 I know that's weird. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:27.519 I'm in East Texas. 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:28.319 I gotta watch football. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:29.039 I gotta watch the game. 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:29.599 I don't care. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:30.480 Whatever. 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:31.759 Well, it's not me. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:33.519 I've never had a game on at my house. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:35.440 My parents never had a game on in their house. 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:39.759 You talk about maybe the key celebrities that are big time, they're like all-stars. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:41.359 I know Deion Sanders is. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:42.640 I know we don't play anymore. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:43.359 Y'all shut up. 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:44.960 I know we don't play, okay? 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:48.400 Now you want to talk Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:54.480 Back in my day, when I was a kid, I had I had the uh Chicago Bulls all around my room. 00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:56.400 I didn't watch any games, but I love their stuff. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:58.000 I bought their merchandise. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:10.559 But imagine if on the Super Bowl day, neither team has practiced or touched a field until the day of the Super Bowl. 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:16.240 We do this in our spirits constantly. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:28.160 We wait until there is something in front of us, we wait until there's some sort of situation, some sort of low-down season to where then we want to start praying and fasting. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:33.839 And you're going into battles you hadn't been prepared for. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:40.559 There is a reason David was anointed and God sent him back to the field. 00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:49.599 Because the weapon that he had been given, that he was raised with, who he was, he needed to learn to protect the flock. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:57.200 Some of y'all have gifts, you stash them away, and you're like, God, why aren't you blessing me? 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:04.400 Because you haven't been doing what you're supposed to do right where he put you. 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:23.759 They prepared, they sweated, they probably literally almost killed each other, had some injuries along the way, so that they could prepare for every game that built up to one of the biggest games of some of their careers. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:35.039 Some of you right now are in the middle of battles and you're panicking, wondering why you feel like you're losing. 00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:45.759 It's because you did not choose first that before anything ever happened, you were going to serve the Lord in every capacity. 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:54.720 Now, that may sound a little doom and gloom because some of you are in the middle of it and you're like, Well, I can't start over. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:56.319 What am I supposed to do? 00:30:58.400 --> 00:30:59.759 Neither could they. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:02.960 But he said, Choose this day. 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:04.880 You gotta start somewhere. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:07.920 You've got to say, okay, here I am. 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:11.839 This is what I got, this is what's in front of me, this is who I have around me. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:13.680 Do I need them or do I not? 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:15.200 Do I need to set up some boundaries? 00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:15.839 Uh-oh. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:16.640 Uh-oh. 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:19.599 Do I need to cut some ties? 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:29.200 Some of y'all have dead weight that have been slowing you down spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, and you ain't cut the ties yet. 00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:33.200 Get out your spiritual scissors and get to cut and quit being dumb. 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:35.359 You're killing yourself. 00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:39.359 Proverbs 16. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:41.119 Verse 3. 00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:47.599 You may while you're looking that up, I'm gonna tell you a little story. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:54.640 I may seem a little mean and compassionate about this, but it's because I had to go through it myself to understand. 00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:00.319 If you've been around me for any amount of time, you know that I love being around people. 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:05.200 I love, like, I get filled when I'm around other people. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:08.079 Like it fills up my cup. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:17.519 So for me to cut ties with people that were a part of my people was so hard for me. 00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:28.240 But it kept dragging me back to the spiritual desert land, the spiritual wasteland, and I would not find freedom until I cut those ties. 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:30.799 Listen to me, people of God. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:35.519 You've got to start cutting ties, or you cannot. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:38.960 Pruning process is what helps the plant grow. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:40.799 It hurts. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:44.160 Proverbs chapter 16, verse 3. 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:48.720 It says, Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:59.200 So, how can we, as people of God, choose first that we will stay true to our faith, not being wavered by culture, the media, our toxic relationships? 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:09.519 We have to pre-decide, we have to choose first this for yourself to say, stay successful and true to the decisions. 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:11.359 How do you do this? 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:12.960 You say, Okay, I get it. 00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:20.480 I'm supposed to choose first for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord, and you feel it. 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:22.799 You're like, okay, I'm getting pumped. 00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:32.559 Well, spiritual high, you come down pretty quick when you get back to real work and real life, and your marriage you're not happy, and your job that you hate. 00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:35.440 So, how do you do this? 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:39.519 How do you sustain when you say, I am going to? 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:50.079 You develop clear values, and you stick with true boundaries. 00:33:53.920 --> 00:34:01.440 See, oftentimes, if you're like me, I don't mind confrontation, but I don't like confrontation with people that I enjoy. 00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:02.559 But it happens. 00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:05.440 I mean, you get around anybody, everybody's got a different personality. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:07.039 Me and my wife, I love her to death. 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:11.280 I love her more than any of y'all, in case you were wondering, but me and her get into it sometimes. 00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:12.960