SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the nuclear.
SPEAKER_03: He asked me if I was staying for this afternoon, and I said, Yes, sir, I planned to, and then he said, We're gonna use you.
SPEAKER_03: I said, Well, I said I was actually just leaving.
SPEAKER_03: I do ask that you uh pray for us for the time we stand before you.
SPEAKER_03: It's funny, um, I was picking to somebody one time and said, I don't have anything, and I said, Well, you don't need anything right now.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but sometimes when the Lord gives you stuff, it just overflows and it's just uh more than you can handle at the time you get it.
SPEAKER_03: But I do ask you to pray for us.
SPEAKER_03: This morning, uh, I don't know, our thoughts got stirred along this line, but it's interesting how when we look at things, we look at things from our perspective.
SPEAKER_03: I'll just give you a couple of illustrations just to make the point.
SPEAKER_03: One of the things that I consider is when we lose a loved one, the way we view that is from our perspective.
SPEAKER_03: And it's a very painful thing to endure.
SPEAKER_03: And we always many times think about that from our perspective, but from the Lord's perspective, it says this it says precious in the sight of the Lord's death of saints.
SPEAKER_03: From our perspective, this is a very sad occurrence.
SPEAKER_03: But from the Lord's perspective, it's precious.
SPEAKER_03: You know why?
SPEAKER_03: Purchased possessions coming home.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I can also tell you this that Jesus Christ is many things and works that was accomplished in Christ.
SPEAKER_03: One is that of the atonement.
SPEAKER_03: The atonement is the payment for the transgression that you and I have made.
SPEAKER_03: And in that, Christ offered himself once to atone for our transgressions.
SPEAKER_03: And the Bible says that he hath forever perfected.
SPEAKER_03: Now, if you didn't understand anything other than that, that means it's forever perfect.
unknown: Right.
SPEAKER_03: It'll never not be perfect.
SPEAKER_03: Okay?
SPEAKER_03: Now, the I will use this illustration because this this is this just makes good walking around sense.
SPEAKER_03: This is this is how I always try to make sure people understand just what this means by his work is a perfect work.
SPEAKER_03: One time I was cooking, and if you've eaten any of my foods, you know that I like stuff that's hot.
SPEAKER_03: If it don't make you sweat, probably ain't hot enough.
SPEAKER_03: I I use seasoning.
SPEAKER_03: Uh Emmer Lagossi ain't got nothing on me.
SPEAKER_03: He puts a bam and I'll put a bayow in there.
SPEAKER_03: But the one time I was cooking and Sister Jessica came into the kitchen and she tasted the gumbo and she said, Oh, that's perfect.
SPEAKER_03: Now I was of a different persuasion than Sister Jessica was regarding the gumbo.
SPEAKER_03: So when she left the kitchen, I got the cayenne and did a little byao to there.
SPEAKER_03: And when people came over to the house, she's like, Oh, this is the best gumbo is ever made, you're gonna love it.
SPEAKER_03: And the minute she tasted it, she looked right at me and she said, What did you do?
SPEAKER_03: You see, in her mind it was perfect.
SPEAKER_03: And what I want you to understand about something that is perfect, if it is perfect without the addition or subtraction of anything.
SPEAKER_03: So if it's perfect and you add something to it, then by your work you have made that which was perfect imperfect because you added something to it.
SPEAKER_03: I want you to understand that the work of Christ has forever perfected us and it needs nothing added to it.
SPEAKER_03: And if you try to add something to it, you're gonna make it imperfect and you'll never find any rest for your soul.
SPEAKER_03: Never.
SPEAKER_03: There'll be a labor you'll continue to try to make that you can never accomplish.
SPEAKER_03: There'll be a burden placed upon you that neither you nor your forefathers nor the forefathers before them could bear up under.
SPEAKER_03: But when you understand that there's a rest for the people of God, resting in the completed, finished, perfect work of Jesus Christ, then I'll tell you, brethren, that is a rest that is sweet.
SPEAKER_03: And that rest goes beyond just this work of atonement, because that rest goes beyond to the point that Brother Danny was speaking of this morning.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus Christ gives us this testimony when he says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.
SPEAKER_03: That's John 6.44, I believe, if I'm not mistaken.
SPEAKER_03: But all that the Father giveth me shall come to me.
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to tell you that every single one.
SPEAKER_03: Now notice what he says here.
SPEAKER_03: All that the Father giveth me, that is possession.
SPEAKER_03: That is possession.
SPEAKER_03: He has a possession of a people.
SPEAKER_03: God the Father gave a people to God the Son.
SPEAKER_03: He says, and all of them that God the Father gave to me shall come to me.
SPEAKER_03: Now I would propose to you, he was speaking of this in 6 and 44, referencing back to John 5.
SPEAKER_03: And in John 5, he says this the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear have the capacity to live?
SPEAKER_03: No, it doesn't say that.
SPEAKER_03: Can live?
SPEAKER_03: No, it doesn't say that.
SPEAKER_03: It says they shall live.
SPEAKER_03: They shall live.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because, brethren, I'm going to tell you that the voice that moves one from dead in trespass sin to alive in Christ is the same voice Brother Danny talked about in creation that says, Let there be.
SPEAKER_03: And when God said, Let there be, there was no questions regarding.
SPEAKER_03: And Jesus never chose you, tells you he can do something without giving you proof positive and giving you a fact and displaying that he can do it.
SPEAKER_03: Because after all, in the Old Testament, the test of a prophet is what a prophesied, prophesied, come to pass.
SPEAKER_03: Because if it didn't come to pass, guess what?
SPEAKER_03: They were disqualified as a prophet.
SPEAKER_03: Now, many prophecies had an immediate fulfillment.
SPEAKER_03: For instance, over in Isaiah 46, the immediate fulfillment would have been Osiris.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: But I'm going to tell you that the true fulfillment of that man that comes from the east that executes the counsel of the king, I'm going to tell you that was looking to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: He is the man that was going to come to execute the purpose, pleasure, and will of God.
SPEAKER_03: And praise God that you'll find the purpose, pleasure, and will of God in Ephesians.
SPEAKER_03: Go read that for yourself.
SPEAKER_03: Laid out and accomplished in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: Alright?
SPEAKER_03: So he is the one that comes to execute the purpose, pleasure, and will.
SPEAKER_03: The reason I say that is because in John 5 and 25 it says the hour is coming, and now he is and did share the voice of the Son of God, and they that here shall live.
SPEAKER_03: And then you skip on, it says, Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming.
SPEAKER_03: That's in the future at some point in time.
SPEAKER_03: When they that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live.
SPEAKER_03: That's the resurrection.
SPEAKER_03: I will tell you that every child of promise is going to come to him in regeneration and the resurrection without a doubt.
SPEAKER_03: Without a doubt.
SPEAKER_03: Well, what if some didn't believe?
SPEAKER_03: That doesn't mean all of us are going to come to them in a gospel knowledge, okay?
SPEAKER_03: That's not what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_03: That's not what's under consideration there.
SPEAKER_03: What if some did not believe?
SPEAKER_03: Shall their unbelief, this question is posed in Romans, shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect?
SPEAKER_03: For by grace you saved through faith.
SPEAKER_03: That not every says is again.
SPEAKER_03: Shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect?
SPEAKER_03: God forbid.
SPEAKER_03: You know what?
SPEAKER_03: If we believe not, this is 2 Timothy 3.
SPEAKER_03: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful.
SPEAKER_03: You know why?
SPEAKER_03: He cannot deny himself.
SPEAKER_03: Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_03: You mean he can't deny himself?
SPEAKER_03: What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_03: Well, I want you to know something, brethren.
SPEAKER_03: Not only were all that the Father gave me, there were a people given to the Son, I'm gonna tell you the Son was given to us.
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that a glorious thing?
SPEAKER_03: You know when you have hope this morning, this afternoon, whatever time it is, Christ in us, the hope of glory.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tell you the reason you have hope, brethren, and hope is not a wistful thought.
SPEAKER_03: It's an earnest expectation.
SPEAKER_03: Hope.
SPEAKER_03: Look at take a scriptural example.
SPEAKER_03: Faith, this is 11.1, Hebrews 11.1, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things.
SPEAKER_03: The reason you have hope is because of faith.
unknown: That's right.
SPEAKER_03: Hope is an earnest expectation.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna tell you, the Bible said, I think it's in the fourth Romans, it says, For what a man seeth, what does he yet hope for?
SPEAKER_03: You don't have to hope for that which you see.
SPEAKER_03: That's why in the Corinthian letter, they're at the end of the 13th chapter, I think it is, of the Corinthian letter.
SPEAKER_03: They call that the love chapter, charity chapter.
SPEAKER_03: It says, now abide at these three faith, hope, and charity.
SPEAKER_03: But the greatest of these is charity.
SPEAKER_03: You know why I think the greatest of them is charity?
SPEAKER_03: Because folks, there's coming a day your faith is going to end.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith.
SPEAKER_03: Guess what?
SPEAKER_03: He is the originator and the completer.
SPEAKER_03: Your faith is going to end one day, folks.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tell you the day it's gonna end.
SPEAKER_03: The day it's gonna end when you see him with your eyes.
SPEAKER_03: And old brother Job spoke of this.
SPEAKER_03: One of the older books of the Bible that we have recorded, Job said this, isn't this a sad state of affairs?
SPEAKER_03: Let me think about this.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, he had some light, which is a good thing, but he didn't have a lot of light, but but what light he had.
SPEAKER_03: He was rejoicing in it.
SPEAKER_03: He said, I know, when you read throughout Job's, he said, I know it's of a truth that man will be made just for God, but I don't know how.
SPEAKER_03: He said, I know this is gonna happen, but I don't really know how it's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_03: And then later on in Job's life, Job makes this great proclamation of faith.
SPEAKER_03: Job says, I know that my Redeemer liveth.
SPEAKER_03: And he shall stand upon the earth in the latter day.
SPEAKER_03: Now I'm gonna tell you what he was referencing.
SPEAKER_03: He ain't talking about the second coming, folks.
SPEAKER_03: He was talking about the first coming.
SPEAKER_03: Because I got news for you.
SPEAKER_03: The second time the Lord comes back, it don't say nothing about him walking on this old low ground of terrestrial sorrow.
SPEAKER_03: It says we're gonna meet him in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: That he coming back.
SPEAKER_03: Look, folks, I'm telling you, he done set up a kingdom here.
SPEAKER_03: You know, in the Corinthians letter 15, it says, Then come at the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom.
SPEAKER_03: I'm looking for the kingdom to go up.
SPEAKER_03: It's already come down.
SPEAKER_03: If he ain't reigning and ruining right now, folks, shut the book and go fishing.
SPEAKER_03: Might as well do something else.
SPEAKER_03: He's reigning and ruined right now.
SPEAKER_03: This earth is his cookstool, brethren.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna tell you, he blesses us in spite of ourselves.
unknown: That's right.
SPEAKER_03: I'm thankful for that blessed truth to know that.
SPEAKER_03: But when he comes back that second time it says, we're gonna meet him in the air.
SPEAKER_03: They threw a lot.
SPEAKER_03: You know what?
SPEAKER_03: I'm not worried about people being wiped off the face of the planet.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, man, I ain't worried about it.
SPEAKER_03: I was coaching baseball one time.
SPEAKER_03: And I had what I called EDDs.
SPEAKER_03: EDDs are everyday drills.
SPEAKER_03: And what this is, is things to make kids do something that is productive as opposed to non-productive.
SPEAKER_03: And I had repped it and repped it and repped it, and I never realized what I was doing when I was doing it, but I saw it come to fruition one time.
SPEAKER_03: We had a rain delay, and I told the kids, I said, Y'all go over and sit down in that dugout.
SPEAKER_03: And the rain delay was happening, and I didn't think nothing about it.
SPEAKER_03: You know what they did?
SPEAKER_03: They sat down in the dugout just like I asked them to do.
SPEAKER_03: And we walked out there to the home plate to talk to the umpire that's telling us how long it's gonna be delayed.
SPEAKER_03: And I was standing there, the other head coach was standing there, and he said, How do you do that, coach?
SPEAKER_03: And I said, What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_03: He said, Look at them kids over there.
SPEAKER_03: He's like, What?
SPEAKER_03: He said, They're sitting down in the dugout, I said that's what I told them to do.
SPEAKER_03: He said, Look at mine, they're hanging from the rafters, climbing up the fences, hollering.
SPEAKER_03: But but one of the things I think is when you give them drills to do and you keep them busy, you know, the Bible says an idle mind is the devil's workshop.
SPEAKER_03: But when you keep them hands busy and them minds busy and they're moving and doing something productive, you know, that's a lesson for us too, folks.
SPEAKER_03: You got idle time?
SPEAKER_03: Spend in God's word.
SPEAKER_03: That'll be a far greater spend of your time than scrolling through the whatever.
SPEAKER_03: Fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_03: It's on that device.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, whatever.
SPEAKER_03: But two kids, I looked down there at the baton cage, and they were not doing what I told them.
SPEAKER_03: They weren't doing their EDDs.
SPEAKER_03: I walked down there, I said, What are you boys doing?
SPEAKER_03: Coach, you ain't heard.
SPEAKER_03: I said, What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_03: He said, We play at 8.
SPEAKER_03: And they said the world's coming to an end at 7.30, so we figured this out.
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, What?
SPEAKER_03: The world's coming to an end.
SPEAKER_03: They said, Where you been, Coach?
SPEAKER_03: I said, I've been in the stands.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what y'all are talking about.
SPEAKER_03: I ain't heard about that world coming to an end.
SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, they said I just heard about it.
SPEAKER_03: The world's coming to an end tonight.
SPEAKER_03: I said, Well, I'll tell you one thing ain't happening.
SPEAKER_03: At 7:30 tonight, the world is not coming to an end.
SPEAKER_03: I promise you that.
SPEAKER_03: Because no man knows the hour, the time in which it's going to happen.
SPEAKER_03: So don't worry about that.
SPEAKER_03: Get your bats, get in there and get ready because we're playing ball tonight.
SPEAKER_03: They said, Coach, you reckon we'll get a text message or something if the world comes to an end?
SPEAKER_03: I said, I said, yeah, you'll get an alert.
SPEAKER_03: He said, alert.
SPEAKER_03: I said, I said, yeah.
SPEAKER_03: I said, you ever heard a tornado siren go off in town?
SPEAKER_03: He said, yeah.
SPEAKER_03: I said, it's gonna be way louder than anything like that.
SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be the trump of God's gonna ring out, and it's gonna be a tone that everybody's gonna hear.
SPEAKER_03: Ain't nobody gonna be left out, buddy.
SPEAKER_03: I promise you, we're all gonna know.
SPEAKER_03: But the fact of the matter is, they, you know, they say, oh, it's gonna end.
SPEAKER_03: It's gonna, no, it's not gonna end.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, people are gonna be wiped out, and there's gonna be animals living on the planet, and it's gonna be no, that ain't what it says.
SPEAKER_03: See, when the Lord comes back to gather his people, there's gonna be people here.
SPEAKER_03: I don't mean we don't need to be good stewards of what God's given us.
SPEAKER_03: We need to be good stewards, but I got news for you.
SPEAKER_03: There's gonna be folks on this planet, and brethren, there's gonna be folks in the old church that's still gonna be breaking bread and drinking wine and washing the saints' feet, showing the Lord's death till he comes.
SPEAKER_03: You know why?
SPEAKER_03: Because that's what he set up and established and he told them to do.
SPEAKER_03: He said, as oft as you do it, you do it in remembrance of him, you do it till when.
SPEAKER_03: Just as long as you feel.
SPEAKER_03: No, he said, you do it till I come again.
SPEAKER_03: When Jesus Christ established his kingdom, and he said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, I'm gonna tell you, his kingdom's gonna be on this planet when he comes back, brethren.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm thankful for that blessed truth.
SPEAKER_03: You understand?
SPEAKER_03: But when he comes back, he's gonna take this kingdom up.
SPEAKER_03: And this kingdom is gonna be all-encompassing all the way back to Adam and all the way forward to the last child of promise, because this kingdom is made up of all.
SPEAKER_03: Now, look, folks, if that was just a church kingdom, then you got to put John out.
SPEAKER_03: He never got baptized.
SPEAKER_03: John the Baptist?
SPEAKER_03: This is a man whom whom Jesus Christ said of men born among women is none greater than John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_03: He's gone.
SPEAKER_03: Moses, who spoke to God as a man speaks to his friend face to face, poop, he ain't making it.
SPEAKER_03: He didn't even get into Canaan's land, folks.
SPEAKER_03: He would have buried on a mountain, just got to see it from afar.
SPEAKER_03: Man, he just got that close.
SPEAKER_03: Just got that close.
SPEAKER_03: He could have almost made it.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, but I'm gonna tell you he's gonna be in glory.
SPEAKER_03: You know why?
SPEAKER_03: Because Jesus Christ done the work of atonement.
SPEAKER_03: He done the work of atonement and he done it perfect.
SPEAKER_03: And it says that he'd offered himself once unto God.
SPEAKER_03: He had forever perfected those that he loved.
SPEAKER_03: And he's ascended what?
SPEAKER_03: He ascended the right hand of the throne on.
SPEAKER_03: He is seated at the right.
SPEAKER_03: You know why he's seated?
SPEAKER_03: Because he didn't have to atone again.
SPEAKER_03: You see, our high priest is so much better than any high priest you've ever known, because he only had to make one sacrifice, and this sacrifice was perfect and complete.
SPEAKER_03: The high priest in the old law had to do it year after year after year after year, and guess what?
SPEAKER_03: Never perfected those that he offered.
SPEAKER_03: Never perfected them.
SPEAKER_03: It just brought it to remembrance.
SPEAKER_03: But this man offered himself once and forever perfected those he loved.
SPEAKER_03: And he's seated.
SPEAKER_03: Now, you might say, preacher, why are you doing all that?
SPEAKER_03: Because I want you to understand something.
SPEAKER_03: He was seated in that, but when Stephen was being stoned to death, and while Saul was sitting there holding the coats of the men that was stoned him to death, consenting unto the death of Stephen, when Stephen looked up into glory, what did he see?
SPEAKER_03: He saw Jesus standing.
SPEAKER_03: Well, preacher, I thought you said he was sitting.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, he is sitting.
SPEAKER_03: And he's standing.
SPEAKER_03: He's sitting and standing all at the same time?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's sitting.
SPEAKER_03: As far as the work of atonement.
SPEAKER_03: You know why he's sitting in an atonement?
SPEAKER_03: Because it's complete.
SPEAKER_03: That work is complete.
SPEAKER_03: But I got news for you, folks.
SPEAKER_03: There's still going to be a redemption of the purchased possession.
SPEAKER_03: You know what that is?
SPEAKER_03: A bringing home of the saints of God.
SPEAKER_03: Remember, I talked about perspective.
SPEAKER_03: It's precious in the sight of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: His purchased possession is coming home.
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to tell you, he bled for.
SPEAKER_03: He died for.
SPEAKER_03: And he paid every sin debt they would ever owe.
SPEAKER_03: And because of that, we have an advocate at the right hand of the throne on high right now.
SPEAKER_03: And he is making intercession.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm going to tell you, in that work, he is standing and laboring this very moment, interceding on our behalf unto a thrice holy God.
SPEAKER_03: That's mine.
SPEAKER_03: That's the one I paid the debt.
SPEAKER_03: That's the one you gave me, Daddy.
SPEAKER_03: And I paid the debt for him, and he didn't have anything left over.
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that a glorious truth, brethren?
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to tell you from that perspective.
SPEAKER_03: Man, we are blessed beyond measure, okay?
SPEAKER_03: But the reason, now, now, John 5, y'all get back with me.
SPEAKER_03: I know this thing.
SPEAKER_03: I'll pray, pray, pray for us that it all uh gets where it's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_03: So he says, The hour is coming now as the dead hear the voice of the Son of God.
SPEAKER_03: They that here shall live.
SPEAKER_03: Now go to John 11.
SPEAKER_03: In John 11, John 11 is going to come to Lazarus.
SPEAKER_03: And this is what she said.
SPEAKER_03: Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
SPEAKER_03: You know what?
SPEAKER_03: I'm persuaded she was right.
SPEAKER_03: I don't ever find one place in Scripture where anybody died in the presence of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: I find where they had a hard time staying dead, but I don't find where anybody died.
SPEAKER_03: Matter of fact, a lot of people may have live in the presence of Christ, but ain't nobody died in the presence of Christ.
SPEAKER_03: I'm persuaded she was right.
SPEAKER_03: And she said, Your brother's gonna live.
SPEAKER_03: She said, Oh, I know.
SPEAKER_03: I'm knowing the resurrection.
SPEAKER_03: This ain't even been talking yet harder.
SPEAKER_03: I'm knowing the resurrection, he's gonna live.
SPEAKER_03: You wasn't talking about the resurrection.
SPEAKER_03: You're talking about today, not then.
SPEAKER_03: He was figuring to live.
SPEAKER_03: And when Jesus comes until the Melazarus, there was no border.
SPEAKER_03: What if?
SPEAKER_03: Think about this.
SPEAKER_03: Anybody ever told you said so-and-so died, and he did what did you say, oh how dead are they?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, did you ever ask anybody that question?
SPEAKER_03: If somebody told you somebody died, would you say, Well, how dead are they?
SPEAKER_03: No, we understand the ramifications of death, do we not?
SPEAKER_03: Dead is dead.
SPEAKER_03: If Jesus had come to the tomb of Lazarus and said, Lazarus, if you'll wiggle your pinky toe, I'll get you out of there.
SPEAKER_03: Lazarus has still been laying in that same tomb, folks.
SPEAKER_03: You know why?
SPEAKER_03: He was without strength.
SPEAKER_03: You know what that means?
SPEAKER_03: Void of strength.
SPEAKER_03: That's what without strength means.
SPEAKER_03: Dead.
SPEAKER_03: Okay?
SPEAKER_03: You can offer a dead man something to drink all day long you want to.
SPEAKER_03: They ain't gonna drink it.
SPEAKER_03: And he can't drink it.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because they have no life in them.
SPEAKER_03: That's the problem.
SPEAKER_03: But when Jesus Christ comes to his tomb, he said, Lazarus come forth.
SPEAKER_03: And guess what?
SPEAKER_03: Now look, I'm gonna tell you.
SPEAKER_03: Lazarus was bound from head to toe.
SPEAKER_03: He wasn't like a Scooby-Doo mummy.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, he wasn't wrapped this leg and that leg and this arm, and he wasn't like No, he was wrapped like a big cocoon from head to toe.
SPEAKER_03: And they put linen, they put this linen wrapped around him, and they'd put this embalming, and it makes it shrink.
SPEAKER_03: It makes that kind of linen shrink.
SPEAKER_03: He would have been like in a very tight, tight, tight body cast.
SPEAKER_03: How you gonna get up all you ever thought about it?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, have you ever tried to stand up in a sleeping bag?
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if y'all ever done that, but me and my brothers, I don't know, we would catch one or another, and then we would take a sleeping bag, just put it down over their head, and then we'd use them as practice dummies and tackle them.
SPEAKER_03: And then they're trying to get up because they're in that thing upside down.
SPEAKER_03: It was always fun, unless you were the one in the bag, and then it got to be rough.
SPEAKER_03: But but the fact of the matter is, I know what it's like to try to get up if you stuck head first into a sleeping bag.
SPEAKER_03: And it's difficult, and there's room to move in that.
SPEAKER_03: The point I want you to understand is Lazarus couldn't have got himself up off that table and out of that tomb if he'd have wanted to.
SPEAKER_03: He couldn't have made a step to climb out of it.
SPEAKER_03: You see, he couldn't separate one leg from the other.
SPEAKER_03: He surely didn't have a 48-inch vertical leap to leap up out of there.
SPEAKER_03: You understand?
SPEAKER_03: What brought him from that tomb out of there?
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tell you the power of a God who has the power to say, live.
SPEAKER_03: And he lives.
SPEAKER_03: And when Jesus said Lazarus come forth, I'm gonna tell you his word, the power of his word brought Lazarus out of the tomb to outside of the tomb.
SPEAKER_03: Now the problem is, Lazarus now is very much alive.
SPEAKER_03: Okay?
SPEAKER_03: He ain't dead no more.
SPEAKER_03: But Lazarus, from his perspective, you think about it from his perspective, can you imagine?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I know we just ate lunch, I apologize.
SPEAKER_03: Can you imagine what it smelled like for Lazarus?
SPEAKER_03: Because the garments wrapped around him.
SPEAKER_03: They've been on a decaying body for four days, and he can't see.
SPEAKER_03: His face is covered.
SPEAKER_03: I remember one time I wrecked my truck.
SPEAKER_03: My history teacher was sitting on his front porch and I wrecked right in front of his house.
SPEAKER_03: Mr.
SPEAKER_03: Joe Burns.
SPEAKER_03: I run offside of the highway about T-boned Bogachita Road, big old covert.
SPEAKER_03: And I jerked, went sideways, went between two, went spinning out through a hay field, and right by Coach Roe Burns was bailing, hey, how about got him on the tractor?
SPEAKER_03: As a cloud of dust, and when the dust settled, I was, well, I guess I'm alright.
SPEAKER_03: I had so much adrenaline running through my system, I didn't know if I was hurt or not hurt.
SPEAKER_03: I can only imagine what Lazarus was going through.
SPEAKER_03: He was dead, now he's alive.
SPEAKER_03: But he can't see anything, and all he can smell is death, and he can't really check himself out to see if everything's okay.
SPEAKER_03: Pretty bad situation, Lazarus in.
SPEAKER_03: But you know what the Lord said to Those folks that stood by?
SPEAKER_03: Them folks that standing by said, loose him and let him go.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tell you, brethren, that's the job of gospel minister.
SPEAKER_03: Loose them and let them go.
SPEAKER_03: Gospel minister ain't got nothing to do with bringing them out of the tomb, folks.
SPEAKER_03: That's the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: But I'll tell you, gospel minister's got everything to do with loosing them and letting them go.
SPEAKER_03: Now, whether they get loosed and let go does not change the fact Jesus Christ brought them out of the tomb.
SPEAKER_03: Y'all get that?
SPEAKER_03: Whether they have the knowledge of that or not doesn't change the fact.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna give you a proof text.
SPEAKER_03: Over in Romans 5.
SPEAKER_03: In Romans 5, it says the law was not unto Moses.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_03: Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even on them that not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression.
SPEAKER_03: You know what that means?
SPEAKER_03: The commands of God are not dictated by your understanding nor knowledge of his word.
SPEAKER_03: When God said, in the day that we third of thou shalt surely die, whether they knew that or not did not change the fact that they died.
SPEAKER_03: You might say, preacher why are you so happy about that?
SPEAKER_03: Because in the body beginning principle of lies.
SPEAKER_03: This is his testimony.
SPEAKER_03: You believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: This is what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus said, This is the purpose for which I came here.
SPEAKER_03: Matter of fact, what Pilate said, he said, What should I say?
SPEAKER_03: But this cause came mine to this house.
SPEAKER_03: He said, This is why I'm here, to go to this cause and put this thing to protect my people and come home with me.
SPEAKER_03: What should I say?
SPEAKER_03: He said, I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me, and this is my father's will, all which he has given me, I should lose nothing.
SPEAKER_03: I'm telling you, I'm thankful for that blessed truth, brother Danny.
SPEAKER_03: I might not get to them and get no grave clothes off from them, but I got news for you, brethren.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus Christ got every single one of them.
SPEAKER_03: But man, is it good?
SPEAKER_03: I love nothing more than to see one of God's children get them old grave clothes knocked off from them and loose them and let them go.
SPEAKER_03: And that's what he tells us over in Isaiah.
SPEAKER_03: He said, Comfort you, comfort you, my people.
SPEAKER_03: It says scare you, scare you.
SPEAKER_03: It says comfort you, comfort you, my people.
SPEAKER_03: God knows what our warfare is accomplished.
SPEAKER_03: I got news for you, brethren.
SPEAKER_03: If you're trying to fight that battle, you're fighting a losing battle because you can't win it.
SPEAKER_03: You'll never win it.
SPEAKER_03: But when you come to the understanding that Jesus Christ has secured us a victory, then we can sing that song.
SPEAKER_03: Victory in Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: I'll take us.
SPEAKER_03: That's where our victory lies.
SPEAKER_03: If our victory lies in us, then the problem is we're never going to be sufficient.
SPEAKER_03: Never gonna feel like it was enough.
SPEAKER_03: It's always gonna be incomplete.
SPEAKER_03: You know why?
SPEAKER_03: You ain't perfect yet.
SPEAKER_03: But I want you to know this, brethren, when Jesus looks at you, when God looks at you, you know how he sees you?
SPEAKER_03: He sees you perfect.
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that a glorious thing?
SPEAKER_03: When Jesus ascended, where do you ascend to?
SPEAKER_03: The right hand of the throne on high.
SPEAKER_03: In Matthew 25, when the Lord comes back, all nations are gonna be gathered before him.
SPEAKER_03: And he said, The goats are gonna be on the left, but his sheep is gonna be on the right.
SPEAKER_03: Now he uses those two pronouns right there: thee and his.
SPEAKER_03: He didn't have to mess with the these, left them right where they were.
SPEAKER_03: But his sheep was on the right.
SPEAKER_03: When God looks at them sheep, you know he's gotta look through?
SPEAKER_03: He's gotta look through Jesus because Jesus is on the right hand.
SPEAKER_03: So if them sheep's on the right, he's gotta look through Jesus to see them sheep.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna tell you, brethren, he sees us through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, and we are forever perfected in the eyes of a thrice holy God.
SPEAKER_03: Not because of what you do or don't do, but because of who he is and what he accomplished on your behalf.
SPEAKER_03: Now, from the perspective, we see all those perspectives there.
SPEAKER_03: See Lazarus' perspective.
SPEAKER_03: I want you to think about this from our perspective.
SPEAKER_03: When you speak to people, we speak of things in this way.
SPEAKER_03: We say, I ain't gonna get it right there.
SPEAKER_03: Anyway.
SPEAKER_03: Sorry.
SPEAKER_03: We speak of things as life and death.
SPEAKER_03: Do we not?
SPEAKER_03: Because you know what we would say?
SPEAKER_03: We would say, life has to precede death.
SPEAKER_03: Would you agree?
SPEAKER_03: If somebody's not alive, it can't die.
SPEAKER_03: Well, that's the way we think of things.
SPEAKER_03: We think of things as I was or I will be.
SPEAKER_03: You know, in our youth, we spend our time living in our future.
SPEAKER_03: In our age, we spend our time living in our past.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know why we speak of things as I will be or I was, but we serve a God who says, I am.
SPEAKER_03: It would do us good to live in the present.
SPEAKER_03: In the present.
SPEAKER_03: So many times we we live in one place or the other.
SPEAKER_03: The reason I make this point is this.
SPEAKER_03: When we think about what Paul closes that eighth chapter of Romans with, he didn't say, for I'm persuaded that neither life nor death.
SPEAKER_03: Go look at that.
SPEAKER_03: He says, Neither death nor life.
SPEAKER_03: Man.
SPEAKER_03: You know what that tells me?
SPEAKER_03: You gotta conclude that all were dead.
SPEAKER_03: That's the only conclusion you can come to.
SPEAKER_03: That we're dead in what?
SPEAKER_03: Dead in trespassing sin.
SPEAKER_03: It was dead.
SPEAKER_03: You had to be dead first, neither death nor life.
SPEAKER_03: And you know what?
SPEAKER_03: He called us.
SPEAKER_03: And you hath he quickened who were dead, neither death nor life.
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that a glorious thing?
SPEAKER_03: That shows me very particularly.
SPEAKER_03: I know that Paul said that he had a thorn in his flesh, and I think it was when he looked back on all of the transgressions he made before he finally came to the understanding and the knowledge that he had.
SPEAKER_03: And he was convicted of that.
SPEAKER_03: And he besought the Lord that he might remove it from him.
SPEAKER_03: Y'all ever have things from your past that bother you?
SPEAKER_03: That's why Paul says, neither death.
SPEAKER_03: You have things that you do now that bother you, to keep you up at night.
SPEAKER_03: Neither life.
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that a glorious thing?
SPEAKER_03: Neither death nor life.
SPEAKER_03: You know why?
SPEAKER_03: Because our death and our life does not impact what Christ has accomplished.
SPEAKER_03: That is a glorious truth.
SPEAKER_03: Now, here's the other thing I want to get to is from this perspective.
SPEAKER_03: When we think of things we say, oh.
SPEAKER_03: We kind of get the cart and the horse mixed up sometimes.
SPEAKER_03: We'll say, well, God will put his spirit into your heart, and that makes you a son.
SPEAKER_03: When he puts his spirit into your heart and burns you again, that makes you a son.
SPEAKER_03: That's not what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_03: You see, in Galatians 4 and 6, the Bible says this, and this is why this is so important, and this is how I get all the way around to get to here to tie back into where Brother Danny was.
SPEAKER_03: This is how my brain works, but I apologize, that's just the way it works.
SPEAKER_03: From the perspective, we speak of things like that.
SPEAKER_03: But then, and you have he quickened who we're dead of trespassing.
SPEAKER_03: Well, when he quickens us, we're made alive.
SPEAKER_03: We might not have perfect knowledge, but we're alive.
SPEAKER_03: We got some things, brother.
SPEAKER_03: We got a different nature, don't we?
SPEAKER_03: Different worship.
SPEAKER_03: Uh uh, if y'all say, if y'all come by my house and I was out there working on some tomato plants and I said, ooh, I can't wait to put some corn up, y'all be like, Brother Luke has lost his mind.
SPEAKER_03: That cat's in a tomato patch talking about putting up corn.
SPEAKER_03: Tomatoes can't bear corn.
SPEAKER_03: You know why?
SPEAKER_03: It's not in their nature.
SPEAKER_03: Tomatoes bear tomatoes.
SPEAKER_03: You know what the Lord said?
SPEAKER_03: A good tree brings forth good fruit.
SPEAKER_03: You know how to make it bring forth good fruit?
SPEAKER_03: Make the tree good.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tell you, the Lord's made the tree good.
SPEAKER_03: He's made you good.
SPEAKER_03: He's made you righteous.
SPEAKER_03: That's better than good.
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
SPEAKER_03: That's righteous.
SPEAKER_03: That's justified before a thrice holy guy.
SPEAKER_03: That's better than good ever thought of being, folks.
SPEAKER_03: That's how he's made us.
SPEAKER_03: Why did he do that?
SPEAKER_03: Because you were born again?
SPEAKER_03: No, he says, Galatians 4, 6, because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your carts, crying, Abba, Father.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tell you, brethren, when a little child of God is born again, when they're made to hope, when they're called from death and trespass sin to alive in Christ, that doesn't make them a son.
SPEAKER_03: But I'll tell you what it does signify to you, as that individual that's been brought from death to life.
SPEAKER_03: It signifies that you are a son.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna tell you when you were made a son, if you go back over to the Ephesians in the first chapter, you're gonna find out you were made a son when God the Father placed you in God the Son before the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_03: Now the reason this is so important is because God's promises are yea and amen, brethren.
SPEAKER_03: And the promise made to Abraham, it said the law which was 430 years after cannot disannul the promise it went before.
SPEAKER_03: I want you to know that God made promise to God the Father, made promise to God the Son that He gave Him a people and He done it before the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_03: You know when that happened, brethren?
SPEAKER_03: That happened before the transgression.
SPEAKER_03: That happened before the fall.
SPEAKER_03: That happened before any of those things that happened.
SPEAKER_03: That happened before any sin that you ever committed.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna tell you, God made you a son before you was ever not a son in dead.
SPEAKER_03: And that's why he says to him belongeth the issues of death.
SPEAKER_03: You know what that issue means?
SPEAKER_03: The exit from.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tell you, brethren, Christ hath made you free.
SPEAKER_03: You're free indeed.
SPEAKER_03: And I pray the Lord would bless me to have breath to declare into his precious little children that because he hath made you free, you'll never be in bondage ever again.
SPEAKER_03: Even though we sometimes are in bondage in our own minds and want to turn again to the yoke of bondage to the old law, I'm gonna tell you the glorious gospel declares unto us that he hath done a perfect, complete work and is not dependent upon any action or help from you in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
SPEAKER_03: Because if you even try to, the problem is you're gonna mess it up by the fact that it is perfect right by itself.
SPEAKER_03: May the Lord bless you, sir.
SPEAKER_02: Do appreciate the words that went up for us.
SPEAKER_02: I love Brother Luke very much.
SPEAKER_02: Love your pastor, Brother Josh, very much.
SPEAKER_02: Uh had a wonderful fellowship with them last night uh at Brother Josh's home.
SPEAKER_02: Uh brother Josh and Sister Chloe are an excellent host.
SPEAKER_02: Uh just enjoyed that so much, enjoyed the breakfast.
SPEAKER_02: I just thought the Lord, as soon as we got here last night, felt the Lord at their home.
SPEAKER_02: Uh felt the Lord today.
SPEAKER_02: Uh just thank God for the uh presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: I want to tell you, uh, you know, Brother Josh was talking about earlier, wish there was more.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just glad the Lord came.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's what church is about.
SPEAKER_02: It's about the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm glad the Lord came.
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad that the ones that are here are here.
SPEAKER_02: I understand that desire as a pastor, Brother Josh.
SPEAKER_02: I get that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not, but I'm I mean, I wouldn't want to miss this.
SPEAKER_02: I got to see the Lord today.
SPEAKER_02: I got to feel him, I got to rejoice in him and in his spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Um I've preached on this subject before, but never presented it quite like in this order.
SPEAKER_02: I never know how.
SPEAKER_02: So you pray for us.
SPEAKER_02: Uh if the Lord bless us, I want to look at bitterness this this afternoon and how we need to get rid of it.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, bitterness will kill you, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_02: It'll kill your spiritual wall.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I I've been there.
SPEAKER_02: I still I've struggled with it, I still struggle with it.
SPEAKER_02: Especially pastors, pastors' wives, church members, it's gonna attack you.
SPEAKER_02: Look, whenever, Sister Jess, whenever I look at Moses and I see him smiting that rock the second time, I feel that in my very soul, brother Josh.
SPEAKER_02: Because I can see Moses with these disobedient, stiff-necked, obstinate people for 40 years.
SPEAKER_02: He's walking through the desert like we would have been in Canaan's land if y'all would have just listened, you know?
SPEAKER_02: And then they're and then they're sitting there talking to Moses, like, we ain't got water again.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna die.
SPEAKER_02: You hate us.
SPEAKER_02: God brought us down here to kill us.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, why don't you just ask the Lord to do what he did a while back and give us some water into the rock?
SPEAKER_02: Why are you complaining and trying to stone me?
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't just see Moses whenever whenever the Lord told Moses to go and speak to the rock instead of smiting the rock, and I didn't just see Moses with all of his frustration being like, hear ye rebels.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, because as a pastor, as a little child of God, as a church member, sometimes we try to do the right thing and people don't understand it, and you just get odds with one another, and you end up doing stupid stuff and anger.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna tell you, in the house of God, you know what can't live in your heart?
SPEAKER_02: Bitterness.
SPEAKER_02: Over in uh Matthew chapter 18, I won't get into all of it, but the Lord teaches the disciples on what to do whenever there's a fault within the church, whenever there's two people who don't get along, whenever one has transgressed.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't say when one has hurt your feelings, it says when one has transgressed against another.
SPEAKER_02: And I'll tell you what, if somebody has hurt your feelings and you can't get over it, you take these actions as well.
SPEAKER_02: But it says you go to one, if he doesn't hear you, you take two or three with you.
SPEAKER_02: If he still doesn't hear you, then you bring it before the church.
SPEAKER_02: But you better make sure it's important enough to bring it before the church.
SPEAKER_02: Not just because somebody doesn't think your gumbo's good.
SPEAKER_02: Not just because somebody said that Brother Danny needs to lose weight.
SPEAKER_02: You understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02: I need to get over myself sometimes.
SPEAKER_02: And then the Lord, and then after he talks about forgiving and the church being at peace, Peter looks at the Lord and he says, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother?
SPEAKER_02: And you know what the Lord said?
SPEAKER_02: Um Peter says seven times, and the Lord says, I'm saying unto thee seven times, but seven times seventy.
SPEAKER_02: But what does it mean that me and Brother Luke need to be walking around going 250?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna tell you what.
SPEAKER_02: And I I was praying that we would have more members just so sister so-and-so, and sister so-and-so would not be sitting next to each other much.
SPEAKER_02: Because they was gonna get into it every morning.
SPEAKER_02: Can you stand over here?
SPEAKER_02: But they just wasn't, they just drowned each other.
SPEAKER_02: Like they they they couldn't get over it.
SPEAKER_02: And my point of that is look, even if somebody is around somebody who's constantly, like, you feel they're constantly hurting your feelings, like where you've got to forgive them 490 times.
SPEAKER_02: Forgive them, but for God's sakes, get away from them.
SPEAKER_02: Like, don't sit next to them.
SPEAKER_02: Love them, pray for them, do this stuff for them, but protect yourself and try to stay away from conflict.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: But you know what the Lord says?
SPEAKER_02: The Lord says, I don't say seven times, I say I say 490.
SPEAKER_02: And then he tells Pete, then he gives them a parable about this man who owed a debt.
SPEAKER_02: And in my Bible, the translator says they're$52 million something dollars.
SPEAKER_02: He owed a debt that was forgiven for$52 million.
SPEAKER_02: We'll just use that number.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, other commentaries say it's more than that.
SPEAKER_02: And then somebody owed him a debt of$44, and he didn't forgive him, and then whenever he didn't forgive that debt of$44, the man that he owed the$52 million to put him in prison, and he was delivered unto the tormentors.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna tell you, brothers and sisters, we need to understand that Jesus Christ, that God, through the work of Jesus Christ, has forgiven us a debt that we can never pay.
SPEAKER_02: He has forgiven us a debt that we can never pay.
SPEAKER_02: You know that$44 debt, that can be paid.
SPEAKER_02: But if you're in prison, how are you gonna pay off that$52 million debt?
SPEAKER_02: It ain't happening.
SPEAKER_02: And the Lord Jesus, he forgave us a debt that we can never pay.
SPEAKER_02: And and and and he said, if you do not forgive your brother, it doesn't say from outward, it doesn't say with your speech.
SPEAKER_02: It says from your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Now it starts outwardly, it starts with your mouth, it starts with your actions, but you need to work on it to where it's in your heart.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna tell you, if we're not striving, because sometimes there's been people, you can ask Lydia, that I've forgiven outwardly.
SPEAKER_02: I say, oh, it's all good, it's all this, and then we get in the truck, but I can't stand that person.
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
SPEAKER_02: I hadn't forgave them in my heart.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
SPEAKER_02: You know what the Lord says?
SPEAKER_02: You're going to be tormented.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever been to church and you know the sermon was good but you didn't get it?
SPEAKER_02: You ever read your Bible and it feels like you're reading a sealed book?
SPEAKER_02: You ever prayed to God and didn't feel like he was hearing you?
SPEAKER_02: You know why, brothers and sisters?
SPEAKER_02: Because you have that owe between you and God, because you're not forgiving your brother from your heart.
SPEAKER_02: We cannot live in the kingdom of God and hold on to bitterness.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean we're stupid.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean that we let our guard down to where we let people offend our wives or our husbands or things of that.
SPEAKER_02: But you don't harbor grudges and you don't hate them and you don't keep talking about them, you know what I mean about your bitterness sometimes, whenever you can't keep their name out of your mouth, when you can't keep them out of your head, I'm gonna take away the big the other club members like covers of this money.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, if you take away colour, if you take if you step away the colours and the fucking body no more.
SPEAKER_02: But if you keep on studying the money, you keep on stubborn, and I'm never gonna go out.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna tell you, brother says, I'm living as a pastor, as a church member, you're gonna hunger so much bitterness, and my spiritual life was like this.
SPEAKER_02: But whenever I start praying for those folks and I start loving on those people, and I tell Lydia, I'm like, Lydia, we can't keep revisiting this over and over.
SPEAKER_02: We gotta let it go.
SPEAKER_02: Because I want to enjoy the kingdom, don't you?
SPEAKER_02: Go me over to Mark chapter six real quick.
SPEAKER_02: Go me to Mark chapter six, verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: But when Herod heard about Jesus, but when Herod heard thereof, he heard about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He said, It is John whom I beheaded.
SPEAKER_02: He is risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_02: Herod said, that John the Baptist, I beheaded, he's risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_02: That's who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_02: For Herod himself, I want y'all to pay attention to this.
SPEAKER_02: If y'all give me 15 minutes of your time, I trust this will bless you.
SPEAKER_02: And this it, no, I I don't want y'all to take this as a, I know people are being unforgiving, you need to get right.
SPEAKER_02: I want us to take this as, brothers and sisters, there's a dude named the devil.
SPEAKER_02: He's trying to steal your joy.
SPEAKER_02: He is.
SPEAKER_02: And and and and and I'm gonna tell you, he's he's wise with his abatements and and and his attacks.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all know what y'all know what the first thing that Satan attacked the family.
SPEAKER_02: He attacked the family.
SPEAKER_02: You know what we are?
SPEAKER_02: We're the family of God.
SPEAKER_02: Satan is attacking people's marriages today.
SPEAKER_02: He's attacking their children, and he's attacking the church of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Because you know what the church of Jesus Christ is?
SPEAKER_02: It's the bride of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna tell you, when when Satan can make Brother Danny hate brother Luke, he's winning.
SPEAKER_02: When Satan can make Sister Jessica and Sister Lydia at odds with one another, I'm gonna tell you he's one.
SPEAKER_02: It ain't gonna take us out of heaven.
SPEAKER_02: But brothers, and I told you last night the thing that kept me coming to the church was the love.
SPEAKER_02: And if I come to church and then we give the love, and there's hope, and there's hate, and there's bitters to hear the truth.
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't give me 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_02: I want y'all to understand how important this subject is.
SPEAKER_02: But when Herod heard thereof, he said, now, now, now, now this is going to be a metaphor, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm about to read this story about John the Baptist getting his head cut off.
SPEAKER_02: You're going to be like, what does this got to do with what you're talking about?
SPEAKER_02: This is a metaphor, okay?
SPEAKER_02: This is meta, this is a spiritual metaphor.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all bear with me.
SPEAKER_02: He said, It is John whom I beheaded.
SPEAKER_02: He is risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_02: For Herod himself has sent forth and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
SPEAKER_02: Now it tells us right here that the whole reason that Herod put John the Baptist in prison is because his wife, Herodias, who used to be his brother Philip's wife, told him to.
SPEAKER_02: He said he did it because of her sake, because of his wife's sake.
SPEAKER_02: For he had married her.
SPEAKER_02: For John had said unto Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.
SPEAKER_02: And the bitterness that we're going to find here is the bitterness between Herodias and John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to understand, because John the Baptist insulted Herodias, because he told Herod that him and his wife were living in unlawful marriage.
SPEAKER_02: Herodias was so offended that she wanted to kill John the Baptist, but she couldn't because Herod knew that he was a prophet of God and he wasn't going to kill him, but they put him in prison.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to understand that because of her bitterness, John the Baptist was in prison.
SPEAKER_02: But you're going to find out that she wasn't satisfied with him in prison.
SPEAKER_02: She still wanted him dead.
SPEAKER_02: If you've ever been bitten, have y'all ever held a grudge against somebody?
SPEAKER_02: No matter what you said to that person, no matter what happened to that person negatively, it was never enough, was it?
SPEAKER_02: Like that conversation where you told him off.
SPEAKER_02: You still wanted to tell them off again then.
SPEAKER_02: And if somebody's trying to come up in the back, you'll be like, let me tell you about that.
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's never enough.
SPEAKER_02: This man jumping the back of this, his life was about spreading the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: His life was about preaching the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: His life was about being out in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Something the kingdom of God is here.
SPEAKER_02: And that's something that has happened to him or he's in prison.
SPEAKER_02: He can't even do his life mentioned anymore.
SPEAKER_02: She has to come to him and he's not even fulfilled his duty anymore.
SPEAKER_02: And she's still not happy with that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to tell you no matter what you say to somebody, no matter how bad you treat them, whenever you call them bitterness, it's never going to satisfy you.
SPEAKER_02: You know why?
SPEAKER_02: Because I've been there.
SPEAKER_02: It's never good enough.
SPEAKER_02: And I'll just tell you what happens here.
SPEAKER_02: He gets thrown in prison.
SPEAKER_02: And her daughter, Herodias' daughter, the king throws a big old party.
SPEAKER_02: And Herodias' daughter dances.
SPEAKER_02: And it impresses the king and everybody at the party so much, at the banquet so much, that the king looks at her.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all give me seven minutes, alright?
SPEAKER_02: Y'all need to hear this.
SPEAKER_02: The king looks at her and he says, I'm so pleased with what you did.
SPEAKER_02: Just tell me what you want.
SPEAKER_02: Anything you want up to the half of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And you can have it.
SPEAKER_02: Brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this.
SPEAKER_02: She already lived in the palace.
SPEAKER_02: She already lived in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: You and I, we're children of God.
SPEAKER_02: We live in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: You understand that?
SPEAKER_02: We live in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: We need to understand that this is the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: Whenever you feel that blessing, have y'all felt the spirit this weekend?
SPEAKER_02: That's the kingdom of God coming down.
SPEAKER_02: And he told her, he said, whatever you want, you can have it up to half the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And she went and talked to her mama.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, Mama, what should I ask?
SPEAKER_02: And you think about this.
SPEAKER_02: You put yourself in the shoes of a parent who could right now make her child financially stable.
SPEAKER_02: Until her grandchildren die.
SPEAKER_02: You understand?
SPEAKER_02: She can have half the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: But because of her hatred towards John the Baptist, you know what she says?
SPEAKER_02: We want his head.
SPEAKER_02: We want John's head.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna tell you, I start thinking as a little girl, Sister Jessica, I'm like, man, she could have got a pony.
SPEAKER_02: You know?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm telling you, I'm trying to think, I'm like, man, I could have got a chocolate waterfall.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna, y'all know what I'd have got.
SPEAKER_02: Lyddy says I'm crazy.
SPEAKER_02: I'd have got one of them cyber trucks.
SPEAKER_02: Or a hummer.
SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking I'm gonna hummer.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna hummer.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I really do, brother.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm gonna, whenever I move back to or whenever whenever I'm driving in South Georgia or move back to Louisiana, when I see it there, I'm gonna speed up instead of slow down.
SPEAKER_02: You know, like I got some meat now.
SPEAKER_02: But I want your brain to say, she could have got anything.
SPEAKER_02: She could have got anything.
SPEAKER_02: But because of her mother's bitterness towards one man, they ended up with a filthy, stanking, rotten head.
SPEAKER_02: No profit.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you, whenever we live in the kingdom of God, we have a choice to make.
SPEAKER_02: Because you're gonna get offended.
SPEAKER_02: People are going, it is going to happen.
SPEAKER_02: Pastors, it's going to happen.
SPEAKER_02: Deacons, it's going.
SPEAKER_02: Church members, it's going.
SPEAKER_02: Pastor wives are probably the ones who are going to get offended the most.
SPEAKER_02: Because for some reason, members think they can talk about the pastor in front of the wives, and they're going to understand.
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: I pledged to be Lord of this man for the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_02: I don't understand you talking about him.
SPEAKER_02: Don't think that's okay.
SPEAKER_02: People tried it with my wife, and I'm like, hey, baby.
SPEAKER_02: Just put it down.
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be okay.
SPEAKER_02: Put the hammer down, you know?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, people don't understand that.
SPEAKER_02: But brothers and sisters, in the kingdom, people are going to hurt your feelings.
SPEAKER_02: And just remember, we're not forgiving them.
SPEAKER_02: We're not forgiving them because of them.
SPEAKER_02: It says that as God had forgiven you, we're supposed to forgive each other.
SPEAKER_02: You know why?
SPEAKER_02: For Christ's sake.
SPEAKER_02: Aren't you glad that God forgave us freely?
SPEAKER_02: Brother Luke talked about the blood of Christ, how Jesus looks at us, how God looks at us through the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to tell you, sometimes, and and I'm just using Brother Josh because he's right here.
SPEAKER_02: But it'll probably happen one day because we're friends and we're sinners.
SPEAKER_02: But sometimes Brother Josh is going to have to forgive me for Christ's sake.
SPEAKER_02: And he's just going to have to look at me and say, blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes with Brother Josh, I'm just going to have to look at him and say, blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes me and Lydia, we just got to look at each other and we're like, we're starting over.
SPEAKER_02: Blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: This means start over, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you.
SPEAKER_02: This means blank slate.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes with Lydia, I'm just having, can we just start over?
SPEAKER_02: You know what Paul says?
SPEAKER_02: I've not apprehended anything except what?
SPEAKER_02: This one thing.
SPEAKER_02: You know what he says?
SPEAKER_02: Forgetting those things which are behind.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to tell you, sometimes not only do I need to forget what I've done, I need to forget what you've done.
SPEAKER_02: And that's the only way that you and I are going to live peaceful in the kingdom of God if we forget those things which are behind and we press forward.
SPEAKER_02: But let me tell you, in the kingdom of God, you can either have the head or you can have the half the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: You can't have both.
SPEAKER_02: She could have been rich in the kingdom or she could have a head.
SPEAKER_02: But you can't have somebody's head.
SPEAKER_02: You can't walk around with somebody's head as a trophy.
SPEAKER_02: You can't walk around with your bitterness and still think that we're going to have the blessings in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to tell you when that person weighs on your heart that you just can't get over.
SPEAKER_02: You remember, do you want the head?
SPEAKER_02: Do you want them to just tell you that you're right?
SPEAKER_02: Do you want everybody to know just what a worthless pinch of garbage they are?
SPEAKER_02: Or do you want to live in the kingdom?
SPEAKER_02: It says thou worms by nature.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes we want to study.
SPEAKER_02: And that word worm genitum, it's maggot worm.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine two maggots putting each other down?
SPEAKER_02: I know I'm a maggot, but I ain't like that maggot.
SPEAKER_02: Brothers and sisters, I hope you're getting the point.
SPEAKER_02: We've been forgiven.
SPEAKER_02: We've been given a freedom.
SPEAKER_02: We've been given the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_02: Man, let us forgive one another.
SPEAKER_02: Let us love one another.
SPEAKER_02: Let us quit nitpicking one another.
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm going to tell you, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: Paul doesn't call it vetting.
SPEAKER_02: Paul doesn't call it being real.
SPEAKER_02: Paul calls it biting and devour one another.
SPEAKER_02: Brother Danny, why are you so passionate about this?
SPEAKER_02: Because I've let it steal my joy.
SPEAKER_02: I've let it the only way somebody can stand up here and tell you and make this sound important to you is if they've been there.
SPEAKER_02: I've been there.
SPEAKER_02: I've been there where I try to worship the Lord and everybody else is seeing him and they're crying, and I'm like, I don't feel nothing.
SPEAKER_02: You know why?
SPEAKER_02: Because I got mad.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I want?
SPEAKER_02: I want the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to tell you, brothers and sisters, we need to understand this is the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: And whenever we do church right, whenever we act like Jesus, whenever we praise God, and when we forgive one another and we look at others instead of ourselves, and we look at the Lord above everything else, I'm going to tell you, brothers and sisters, something happens here that you're not going to find anywhere else in the world.
SPEAKER_02: I love you and God bless you.
SPEAKER_00: How can he do that?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's forgiven my every trespass.
SPEAKER_00: So he does not ask me to do something that he hasn't already done himself.
SPEAKER_00: You mean Brother Josh, if somebody defame my family or God forbid, if somebody were to do something way worse than that, I'm supposed to forgive them, according to the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: I just don't understand how Christ can ask me to do that, how he can expect me to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, tell me which of your sins did he keep back and not forgive you of.
SPEAKER_00: Thank y'all for your efforts.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, thank you all for your good patience.
SPEAKER_00: We will forego a handshake this afternoon, but uh we will close in a word of song.
SPEAKER_00: And again, the church doors are always open if you desire tonight with the membership of our church.
SPEAKER_00: And then after that, we'll uh close in a word of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: But thank y'all for being here and uh thank you for the efforts, brother Luke.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being uh instant in season.
SPEAKER_00: So we appreciate that very much.
SPEAKER_00: We love y'all very much, and uh let's say uh how firm a foundation.