June 28, 2026

Join us for a beautiful service.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Let God touch our spirits and music is for that purpose. And when we come into the house of God, God watches our hearts to see if we're here to praise Him. What are we really here for? I asked myself before church today, I said, what am I getting up? What am I getting ready for? Why am I going to church? Never sudden asked God anything like that? What are you here for? What are you coming to the house of God for? So God's watching our hearts. If there's ever a time where we need more of the Spirit of God, more of the Word of God. I don't know if everybody sees alike, but I see real clearly that we're living in the last days. God ain't going to put up with this world much longer. It's filthy and it's corrupt. And everything about man is just glorified to the point to where God gets no glory and man gets it all. Said he'll have no other gods before him, but yet I still have gods before him. I haven't made it yet. I'm still laboring to become an overcomer. That's where the promises are at to the overcomer. You know you can gauge your walk with God by your spirit. That's the only way that we can really gauge our walk with God is by what's going on in our spirit. How is your spirit today? Because God wants to give us an abundance of life, but that abundant life only comes through hooked up to the Holy Ghost. That's what God gives us that wonderful Holy Ghost baptism for, to comfort us while we're going through the trials and tests. It's in this life. And if you're not tested and tried this life, you're not going to go very far in God without tests and trials. That's just the way God set it up. If he would have asked me, I'd have set it up differently, but he didn't ask me. That's why he's a sovereign God. He doesn't ask his people how that uh we want him to do things. No, he does things the way that he wants to do them. And after that, he just depends on us to be obedient to what he wants. And obedience is what God's after out of every child of God. If Adam would have stayed obedient to God, not hearkened unto his wife, we wouldn't be sitting here today. We'd all have eternal life. There'd be no bugs, no pesticides sprayed on our crops, it'd be nothing to hinder anything. It would be like it was before the fall in the garden. But unfortunately, that's where we're trying to get back to. A second heaven condition with God. A second heaven condition with God. And that second heaven condition is right here. It's right here. It's mentally. It's our emotions, our feelings, our intellect. We have to get our minds fixed on God. And if your mind isn't fixed on God, then the door's open to all kinds of other things. And so our mind, our heart is the main thing that God's after is where is our heart? Where is my heart? If my heart's right, then I'll be right. If my heart's right, I'll act right. If my heart's right, I'll dress right. If my heart's right, I'll do the right thing with people. If my heart's right, I'll bend and blend. If my heart's wrong, I will not bend and blend, and I will not do the right things, I won't dress right, I won't do the things that God wants. So it's largely up, in fact, it's all up to you and I to give our will to the one to give us our will and live peaceably, live in harmony, and don't try to work out everybody's problems because we can't do that. We can't do that. Every man, every woman's got to work out their own salvation with God. And what one might go through, another one might not go through. Because we're all made up differently. If we could just liken ourselves unto a hive of bees here today, and we all come from different clover patches, and we're all bringing in different nectar. But the beauty of it is when those bees get along so well, they even give signals to one another where to fly, where the best nectar's at. Did you know that? And they fly and they come back and they bring it all into the storehouse, and when it's all said and done, all that nectar mixed together, what a wonderful blend of honey you get. If we can bend and blend in this church, no matter where our backgrounds are, no matter what our temperaments are, if we can learn to bend and blend through this precious Spirit of God, oh, what a service we'll have. Oh, what a service we'll have. But if we're standoff each, if we got off in our heart towards one another, if we don't believe what we're doing here is just exactly what God wants, it's going to affect the whole church service. You and I affect the church service. Our spirit comes into this building, and then God's precious spirit comes down, and it's like a dove. And if it lights on you and your spirit is kind of rough today, it just goes to the next person. But what God wants is us to realize that He wants to give us peace in this life. And the only real peace we're ever going to have with God is to be obedient to God and walk in the footsteps that God's given us to walk in. Because the ways of a transgressor, anybody know the scripture? Very hard. The way of a transgressor is hard. What's a transgressor? It's one that walks opposite to God. So, do we have it fixed? Well, that was partial my sermon for today. As the Lord comes in here, how many of you want the Lord to come in here? You really want him, you know. We used to sing a song. Here's my cup, Lord. I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more. Here's my cup, lift it up and make me all. Fill it up and make me whole. Well, I've lost my voice. I used to be able to sing like a lark according to me. You know if you let everything go according to you or I, we're already ready to go.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

I had something in my heart. I actually on uh Friday night, I I think I woke up Friday morning or Thursday morning and I had a dream that I was in a brother Saughter's service. Um it was like a, I think it was kind of like a memory from seeing him on YouTube, but it was I was in a black and white setting of Brother Saudter's church, and he was preaching the timeline of the end times to his church, and uh they really thought they were gonna see it in this dream that his congregation really had the plan of how everything was gonna come out, and um, he was preaching the ideal of what was gonna happen. Well, it like fast-forwarded to the pretty much the time the end of Brother Saudder's ministry, and uh he in the dream that he was gonna pass the torch to Brother Connell that they weren't gonna see the end times. They really, really thought they were in this dream, but he put the shoes on Brother Connell and realized that he was passing the torch to Brother Connell where we were gonna be the next in the dream it's that we were gonna be the next generation coming up, that we really were gonna see the plan of the Lord and how this was all gonna pan out. Grandpa Ken took the torch, and Brother Taughtters put the shoes on Brother Connell. And so I've been dwelling on that all weekend. Um my heart's been out, it's been on the youth. Um just thinking about the times that we're living in in this generation. Like I have a twelve- I almost have a 12-year-old daughter. I'm really going through things with her. If the youth doesn't get connected right to the Lord in these end times, there's too much. There's too much to take them away. It looks too good out there. And I just challenge the young people today. Stella, my cousins, Jack, Lane, they have got to get a hold of this because it's too easy nowadays with that little phone, and I'm, you know, older, but I struggle. It takes me through the day, scrolling, and before the end of the day, my mind is on everybody's house, everybody's car, everybody's garden. It's ridiculous what uh is in our face every day. And so my heart just really wanted to challenge the young people to really get a hold of this, really let the Lord cleanse them. You know, I came to the Lord when I was 11 years old. I could have been a really, really bad person. I had it in my heart to just really be a handful, and the Lord was so, so merciful to get me at 11, filled me with the Holy Ghost at 12. And the reason I said no to the things in my life was that prick in my heart because I didn't have that. I had wonderful parents, but we weren't serving the Lord. And so I just really challenged the young people today. Please, please get right with the Lord. Please hook up to Him. Anything out there, it's not worth it. This is where you're called to be. You know how many people I invite to come here, and they will not come. They don't want to come. Matt's mom. I'm like, Lord, she told me yesterday that they were voting on who's gonna clean the church and who's gonna be the next pastor. And I'm just like, you have a vision. If you're here, please, please get hooked up to the Lord. Please, guys, it's it's we're in the end times. We've been hearing that end times for 2,000 years. I am telling you, it's the end times. You need there's nothing out there that you want. It looks good, it's not worth it. Please, Anne, Addison, Jack, Stella, let the Lord pull the roots out why they're this big. Not the huge oak trees that are 100 feet tall in my backyard. I can't get that down the mountain. But if you can get the roots out now, you are gonna go somewhere with the Lord. My Lord is so wonderful. We will see the latter rain. The latter rain is coming, and who is coming? The 20-year-old, the 30-year-old, the teenagers. They are going to church and they sit there like this. They don't feel anything. Nothing. They're not hooked up. You are hooked up. Please, please do something for the Lord in these last days. Don't let anything, any friendship. It's not worth it. This is where you're supposed to be, and it looked small, but the Lord only had 12 disciples, and it shook the whole world, and it still is. 2,000 years later, and people don't know if Jesus really resurrected. He did. And he's coming back. Wow, I appreciate the Lord with this truth. I believe in it. I will die for it. And I tell my girls, this is the only way. And these are your friends, and this is your family in here.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

We need each other. Just hang on to the Lord, and I hope the music gets touched.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Can I see that mic?

SPEAKER_03 12:34

That was the Lord right there. Absolutely. Turn it on a box.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

That was the Lord right there. I can feel it, and uh my heart is uh saying for the youth. Uh what's going on in this world now? This is way, way worse than when I was a young man at 17 years old. Absolutely. You guys, Jack, As and Ansley, and Stella, you guys are facing something that we never faced. And me and Rochelle were just talking about this over the weekend, and I've had different conversations with different people in the last week. Like, this is definitely on God's heart for our youth to protect them. And it's up to us to tell them how else are they gonna know? I had a friend who died, his name was Martin, and he died from alcoholism. He literally, his liver uh quit working and he got jaunice, he got yellow. And if you would go back to Jack's age, when he was Jack's age, he had a drink, right? But no one ever offered him a drink, and then he said, I'm gonna become an alcoholic. No, he didn't say that. He tried that drink, and then he liked getting that feeling, and so then he had more drinks and progressed to his 30s, he died. Died young. Because he was a major alcoholic. But nobody ever does a line of cocaine, smokes a joint, does a vape, or drinks a drink, and says, I'm gonna become an alcoholic, I'm gonna become a drug addict. Nobody ever says that. But it happens at their age right now. That's how it starts, it's their age right now. And I was one of them. I was in the Navy, they taught me how to drink, and uh it led to a lot of problems. And what my sister said today was just that it's on the Lord's mind to protect our youth because they're bombarded 24-7 with all the stuff that's on their phones. They're they have it way worse than we had. Uh they can't even, there's nowhere they can go. You can't even pump gas without an advertisement being thrown at you. Somebody in a bikini on a beach somewhere having a drink or my tie or whatever, and they're like, I want to taste that. Maybe I want to go do that, maybe I want to experience life a little bit. But that's how it starts. That's right. And and then it just uh the whole house of cards collapse. And you you're here you are 20 years old, you got an DUI, uh, unwanted pregnancies, AIDS. I mean, I talked with Jack at length. For four years, I preached and preached and preached to him as much as I could because I don't want him to become one of the casualties of the people I know, including myself, the things that can happen. There is a price tag to pay for everything you do. There's a price tag for pornography, there's a price tag for alcohol, there's a price tag for having sex with someone outside of marriage. There's a price to pay for that. An unwanted child, unwanted pregnancy, some uh a penalty or a price that you will have for the rest of your life. You can change your life in one Friday night, one Saturday night, and it's over. The life that you think that you wanted or could have, it's gone now. You have a whole different set of circumstances to deal with. Not that God can't forgive you, and not that you can't serve the Lord, but you're gonna have a penalty like David. If you think of David, right? He was forgiven of the sins. David was forgiven. But the penalty said, the Lord said, the sword shall never leave your house. And he had to deal with the consequences of those sins. So I just felt like this, the back of my sister here this morning because I feel that in my heart. If there's something I could physically do, I would do it.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

I would do it for Ansley, I would do it for Addison, I would do it for Jack and Stella, Laney, I think, grow up. They're dealing with something that we're dealing with a monster. We dealt with uh, I don't know, we dealt with uh, you know, some a reptile, they're dealing with a dragon, they're dealing with powerful forces. I mean, they just can't hardly unplug it because they're on their phones all day and their their friends are doing things, and even uh what's a shame to I think is they're giving them a false reality. All these videos that they're doing, they're showing of their best things, but they don't show the ugliest. They don't show them that their parent that gives them alcohol, I want to say this too. Any parent that uh disregards the parents of someone else when they're raising their children and tells you that this is right or that's alright, disregard that. If your parents tell you something, you listen to your parent, not to that other person. Because what happens is they say, oh, it's okay to drink, or it's okay to do that, don't worry about that. Sure. Well, they're you know, I don't want to get in a long exhortation here, but I'm just telling you, I'm telling the youth today, don't listen to advice or watch these videos of these people having this great life. I used to drive, when I was driving down the road, I remember I'd see someone, I'd see this woman in this nice dress and her hair flowing in the wind on a beach in the sunset, and there's they're showing us a drink, this mai, or whatever, or it says Winston cigarettes, whatever they used to advertise. I remember seeing that big billboard. What they don't show you is a car that's all mangled up in pieces, and a woman's face is ripped off like hamburger, and she had to go through 16 surgeries just to get her face to look somewhat normal, and she was a beautiful girl. It took one bad indiscretion, one bad night, one bad move, one bad decision, getting in a car with one person on the wrong night, the wrong time. She got in that car and it got in an accident. And it was one decision. Something said, don't get in that car. She got in it anyways. Yes. Jack could have, uh, when that day that you got in that four-wheeler, or you could have been in that four-wheeler with your, I think it was your cousin and them. That four-wheeler went end over end. And uh, Tina and uh Luke, brother uh Luke and Sister Tina said they didn't want Jack to go. Well, uh that weekend there was an accident, and he would have been in the back of that thing. He probably could be in a wheelchair right now, sucking on a straw, or you know, the steer because his spine got snapped or whatever. I mean, these stories are out there, but they don't advertise that. They don't advertise that. They're advertising this fake world that don't exist. There's a cost and a penalty for all of that. So don't let the world lie to you and tell you it's all great on that side. It's not. And the older ones that's in here, we can testify to that. I know I can't tell you of all the stories of the people I know that their lives were ruined in prison or in the grave right now because of bad decisions. Yes. Like that girl that I just my heart goes out to that girl that Rochelle told me about. She got into the car. That's the only mistake she made was she got into the car. They they they had a couple to drink, but she didn't know how much they had to drink. Got in the car, and it wasn't minutes down the road that they got in that fatal accident, terrible accident. Right. And I got friends that have killed people, have been in accidents that people died in. And so uh when my sister stood up today, I just felt that way. I feel like the Lord's wanting to protect our youth and just say, hold the course. This is the right thing to do, this is the right place to be, this is protection. I used to think that rules were made to keep me from having a good time. I wanted to have a good time. And that's all those rules my dad said, and all those uh stipulations that he had was to keep up me from having a good time. But when I got older, I found out that those rules are really to protect you for blessing. Because you want to be with a woman or a man that's never been with someone else, that's just been with uh you. That's what that's God's intention. That's what God wants. A marriage made with two people that have never been with anyone else. I told Jack, I said, hey, would you like to get married to some woman that's been with 15 other guys? And he said, No. I said, well, it's the same way the other way. You know, would would the woman want you to be with 15 other girls? No. The right way is to keep yourself and hold yourself until you get married. That's God's plan. And that's protection and blessing. That's a blessed marriage. That's right. And to have children in that and not to have them out of wedlock. So uh I just thought my sister was saying that today. It's been on my heart for some time, and uh I pray for the youth. I really do. And uh I hope that you just hold fast to the teachings that we're getting right in here because it will pay off. Yes, it's difficult, yes, it's harder, yes, it's more stringent. Yeah, okay, I can't hang out with these friends or do this or that. But watch. I told Jack, you watch. Fast forward ten years from now, you watch. Those same people are having this great time. Watch what comes out of the penalty that they're going to receive. The things that they get. That's right. Uh, you know, like I said, that billboard showing that woman Winston cigarettes or whatever, but they don't show fast forward so many years later she's having uh cancer in her lungs, and now she can't breathe, she's got to carry an oxygen tank around because of all the cigarettes she smoked. You know, so there's a penalty for all of that. Yes. And uh I know that this church, uh, we have uh you know a different guideline than the world has, but it's a good one. It's for blessing and protection. You'll you'll thank you'll be thankful, Addison and Ansley, sisters. You'll be thankful down the road. You'll be thankful down the road that you held this course. Because your friends that you're currently seeing and hearing from on the internet and whatnot, uh, and on Facebook and uh social media, you're gonna find out the problems that they face ten years from now or five years, maybe even a year from now. Whatever, you'll find out, and you'll be thankful that you never went down that road. And I pray for you, I do, I pray for you guys, and I love you guys, and I want to see uh a good I want what I would like is just to see my sisters and brothers blessed. I want to see Jack with a good woman married to a happy, uh, have a good relationship, have a good son. Yes, just like Jay and Anne. I mean, that's our example right there. That's a great example. And they got a good home, a good, they're being blessed. And the other way is the Bible says you do what you're supposed to do, you'll be blessed going in, blessed going out. That's right. Don't do what you're supposed to do, you'll be cursed going in, cursed going out. What's those curses? All those penalties I was talking about. So I pray that you guys hold fast to these teachings and don't wait. Believe what we're saying.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Yes, amen. Very good, Brother Mike. Yes, I thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Praise God.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

I hate to see you get seated and then me ask you to rise again. There's a certain group of people that goes to a certain type of church that they're up and down all day long. For one reason or another, but if we could just all rise and go to the Lord in prayer here, ask God to touch each and every one of our ears today. I'll stand here to see if God will touch and anoint my mind. If not, I'll move over and let the next one try. You know, that's the difference in being in a church that's not regulated by man. But we're leaning on the arm of God, we're not leaning on man's arm. But we have some needs in the church. I'd like for everybody to remember Sister Crystal, that she's got uh what's it called, tonsillitis. And so she had to go over to the ER today. And um then who else was it? Uh uh can't remember. But I know there's other needs that uh that's uh been asked for prayer. Oh, Alex and Dana. They're not here today because they had a family reunion, and he said he had mixed emotions, and I told him I said it like this. I said, your mother, Alex, is dependent upon you most of your life. And so you not showing up to support her and the family would be more harm than not being in church. Sometimes we have to use wisdom. Right. Uh there's reasons, but never excuses. But the truth of the matter is the devil can get a hold of you and convince you that you're not in church for the better good, and it's it's absolutely a lie. It's absolutely a lie. And um, so we're in a battle today. How many of you are in a battle?

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

You know what we're in a battle with? What we were born with, a human nature.

SPEAKER_05 25:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

And a desire to see what that human nature is all about. And I'll tell you what it's about. 75 years old, I'll tell you what it's about. It's about nothing but a bunch of junk. That's God's truth, put it simple. It's junk. The devil will convince you it's better out there, and then once he gets you out there, you find out it ain't better at all, and then you have a terrible time getting back over the fence. Yep. Praise God. Any prayer requests here today? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

Yep, I know you I know your Aunt Mary Ann. She was in our church service. Very precious woman. Let's remember her in prayer. Let's remember Sister Becky. It's not here today. Down in her back. Let's uh remember one another. That's right. Yes. Uh, we're gonna have a baptismal, and I think Tim's gonna talk with Sister Loretta. Uh, you're still wanting baptized. And uh that's a commandment of God. You can't bypass commandments and expect to be in good standing with God. It don't work that way. That's right. But but uh we're thankful that she's got a desire to be baptized, and then we're gonna also baptize um brother Justin's wife, Amy. Yes, she's wanting baptized, and so let's remember that. And then the Mathis is opening up their home once again for the July 4th this coming Saturday. We're thankful for all the labor and efforts that's been uh involved in that. And of course, as a preacher, I pray that you won't wear yourself out too much at the 4th of July and then come in here and disappoint God. Yeah, that's good. A good enough to say it like that? Uh have a good time, but don't forget the house of God's more important than the 4th of July. That's right. And so we're thankful for each and every opportunity to gather. And then when we do gather out there, I won't keep you standing, but uh represent the church in a way that uh you wouldn't shame God nor your pastor. That's right. Yes, your conversations, your dress attire. Yep. So me, so I want are we gonna go that route again? Yep, I'm gonna continue to go that route until it's drove so far down in you that you're condemned when you dress wrong. Yes, it's good. That's my calling. Yes, it's good. That's my calling. So I pray that we'll all represent the Gospel Truth Assembly and our spirit and our words and our dress. Yes. That everybody that sees us will know there's something different. If nobody ever notices you that there's something different about you, it's time to check up and see if there is anything different about me.

unknown 28:45

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 28:46

Yes. But uh all that was said, just to take us to the Lord in prayer. Let's pray that God will open our ears today, God will touch our spirits today, and then we'll go out of here lift it up.

SPEAKER_07 28:57

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

Lift it up. We need lift it up in this world. Praise God. Any other request? Amy? Yeah, she's working today. She's working today. Sister Amy.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

So she's all that directly, I greet with her, but the best family would do a great child.

SPEAKER_03 29:27

That's uh that's the right way to go about things, is ask God about everything. Brother Matt, years ago, he was on this drive, and I appreciated it because I knew it was from heaven, and what he was driving on was pray about everything. Don't do nothing without prayer. Remember when Brother Matt a few years back, he just constantly reminded us about how important prayer is. Yes. Praise God. If you're not right with God today, you can get right before the service ends. That's the God that I know. If you are right, you can take a step up on the ladder a little higher. Yes. Praise God. Yes, amen. Anyone else? Unspoken request.

SPEAKER_07 30:14

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Anyone got unspoken requests? Yeah, absolutely. Anybody got any giants that you're fighting? Don't lie, because God already knows if you're fighting them or not. It's true. It's God's truth. He's a discerner of our thoughts here today. Yes, Lord. And so if you're fighting giants like your pastor is fighting giants, keep on fighting because the one that's helping you to fight is already fought the good fight and setting at the right hand of the Father, and he don't need no help. We're the ones that need help. We need to help. Samantha. Samantha. Yeah, little Sam. She's been through so much that when we had her out on her birthday, Sam's just not right. Her little body has gone through so much. She's never even expected to live, not even a fraction of uh the time she's been here on this earth. But her little spirit still stays calm and collective. She is a candle to me every time I get around her, that her conditions and all that she's ever been through, and she can keep a good sweet spirit, and here I am, and I struggle to keep a good sweet spirit, she's a candle to her stepfather. Praise God. Anyone else?

SPEAKER_07 31:36

Yes, I've stepped in the family.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Yes. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 31:44

Or come up because about the time.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

The Gainer family. The Gainer family. Yes. Yep. Coming up from the south. Anyone else? Anyone have anything urgent that you need prayer right now? Praise God. Dear Lord, we thank you, dear God, this day for another opportunity for each and every member of the body of Christ that's gathered here today. We thank you, dear God, for your ways, Lord, that's so high above our ways, Lord. We thank you, dear God, that you're the discerner of our thoughts, the intents of our heart. And you know where each and every one of your children is at, dear God. There's nothing, dear God, that we can do for each other but pray, treat each other right, do the right things with one another, be mature with the immature, and keep on being mature that we don't become immature with the immature. We just pray this day, dear God, that you'll lift us up, you'll lift the church up to higher ground. And as this world gets darker, dear God, we'll shine brighter. As this world goes, dear God, without any love in their heart for one another, that the salt that you've put in our lives, dear God, will season those around us in some way. We just pray, dear God, for every request here today, every need, dear God, that's been spoken and unspoken. We love and appreciate and thank you for everything. In your sweet, wonderful name. Pray that every ear will be open today, every mind will be open to you today, and that somehow, somehow, dear God, you'll drop something into each and every one of our lives that we can take with us throughout the week. In your sweet, precious name, amen, amen, Lord. I just wanted to say a few things here today that's been on my mind for some time. One of the things that's been on my mind is that as we see time getting closer and closer, uh, you know, a lot of men don't like to preach on these things because, oh, you're scaring the flock. You're disturbing them. We're right around the corner from Armageddon. People with young babies, you wonder, well, what's gonna happen to my baby? God's got all that in control. He's not gonna leave these children that's being born out in the dark. But God gave the children of Israel when he was plaguing Egypt, he gave them a place to stay, and it was called the land of Gosha. And that land of Goshea was protected by God. When the plagues were happening upon Egypt, one plague after another, and then plagues was pretty terrible, weren't they? But God had his children in a place called Gosha, and when it was dark, so dark that it was gross darkness that it was scary darkness, they had light. When all the plagues was happening on Egypt, not a one of them touched the land of Gosha. We need that land of Gosha in our lives. But that land of Gosha isn't a place we're gonna go to, it's a place we're gonna get to. Yeah, right here. Right here. Right here. God ain't gonna lead us into the woods somewhere. If he does, I'm willing to go. But I know that God's gonna get us ready right here. Right here in this house that we live in. And that's what God's after. You know, he's not after our outward appearance. I was studying a little bit here this week and I wrote down a couple scriptures, but I'll just tell you what it's basically saying. That God always saying to his children, I don't care how handsome you are, I don't care how beautiful you are, that's only skin deep. What God's after is he's after the inward man. And the inward man's made after God if you're born again. The whole reason in being born again is so that that can develop in our life, that it can produce more of Christ in our life, and as Christ has produced more in our life, more abundant life comes to us. The abundant life don't come through the flesh, the abundant life comes through God. And even though the flesh fights it tooth and nail, doesn't want to believe in it, we know it to be a fact, we know it to be a truth. In 75 years that God's granted me to be here on this earth, I have had some what I think is tremendous battles to go through. I've gone through some major warfare. I just a young man went to church and tried to kill me over telling the truth. You know, I had to pray for months not to get bitter over that. You know, last week I mentioned bitterness. And somebody asked me, how does resentment fit with bitterness? Resentment is just the groundwork being laid for bitterness.

unknown 37:15

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

That's what it is. It's the groundwork. And see, every church is going to have its problems. God gets this church fixed up, and brother, we'll have a testimony. Because we've got families that's come from different backgrounds. There's been uh things that's been that's happened in our families, and once God begins to show us how important it is to let the past be the past. The past isn't the past as long as you keep dragging it up. The past is going to wreck your future because there is no driving forward looking in a rear view mirror. You continue to look in a rear view mirror, you're going to go backwards. And even with the church, we're taught on how to treat each other in the house of God. We're taught to respect one another, pray for one another, bear and forbear with one another, those that are strong bear the infirmities of the weak. What does it mean, those that are strong bear the infirmities of the weak? Have you ever asked yourself that? What does that mean for the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak? The weakness isn't that you're sick with a virus. You're sick with something in the flesh. There might be jealousy, there might be envy, there might be strife, there might be an unforgiving spirit that's just constantly nagging at you, constantly pulling you down. I've learned one thing that when I was a young man and God called me to preach the gospel, I didn't have to come to God. I had the world by the tail, but I knew one thing that the world was not satisfying me. And the world won't satisfy you. And I hope to God that you don't have to go out there and get entangled in the world just to find out it's not going to satisfy you. That's my prayer, is that nobody goes out there to find out how nasty it really is. We got a cat that I rescued. Now, mind you, I pulled her out of the cold in the fall of the year, and she's freezing, and every time I went outside in my coat, here'd she'd come. So we gave her the name Ginger, and now she's in her house. I'm gonna preach a sermon off of ginger. Here she is now. We took and put a thousand dollars in her, I think, when we had money. Had too much money. Not too much, but enough that we could do kind of silly things. Was it a thousand dollars? No, I'm exaggerating, help me. Five hundred dollars? Yeah, we had her shots and had her uh fixed and and so um so here she is though. She spent the doctors said that she was about a year and a half old. So she spent a year or so in the in the wild. And now I've rescued two other cats from the time that's little. They didn't spend no time in the wild. That's Back and that's Rufus. Their content is a bug and a rug just to be in the house. Now, Rufus, he's stubborn, he's on the front porch today. He would not come off the front porch, he hid under the couch. And so, you know, even in your animals, you can see that we got characteristics like they got. And the Bible says we're not, we don't have no preeminence above the beast of the field if we don't get right with God. And so you can even see in your in your cats and your dogs, you can see different temperaments. Now, ginger, she's a green-eyed monster. If you go to Pet Rufus or you give B back any attention, man, she just jumps right up there. She don't want no attention given out except for ginger. I can see myself in ginger at times. I can see myself in all kinds of animals, and that's why everybody makes light of Noah's Ark. But my God, what a message is in Noah's Ark. All the beasts that got on that ark. But, anyways, so ginger, uh, the other two never try to get out the door. Now, she's got out three, four times now. And when she gets outside, she just runs like a rabbit. She knows that no matter how hard you call her, she ain't coming back. You know what's wrong with ginger that's different from Back and Rufus? She had a taste of the wild side. And now when she gets a chance, she wants to run back to the wild side. You know, even at 75 years old, that temptations come to your pastorate time once in a while, because of my past life, the devil is real smart and keen. He'll show you those pictures right back again. And if you're not careful, you'll sit there and go through a motion picture show with the devil. When you should have shut him off and changed the channel, and no, he just lingers there. Next thing you know, you feel about as spiritual as a frog. You've let your mind go too far. You've let it go into things that you shouldn't let it go into. That's why our heart is so important to keep it right with God. I don't know, there's hundreds of scriptures on the heart, and not a one of them that I know of is relating to this heart. This heart of mine's wearing out, Brother Tim. I prayed a prayer for him and I both. We're up in years and we want to make it. We want to make it. And so this heart's got a few stents in it. I had to have some stints put in my heart. But you know, I'm not worried about this heart. I'm worried about my spiritual heart, which is this mind of mine. I want my mind to be pure and clean with God. And the only way I can do that is through meditation and prayer. I feel sorry for people that never pray. I really do. I don't know how in the world you can even come into the house of God without prayer. You're awesome. I can't do it. I need prayer in my life daily. And that's why that when the good Lord gave us how to pray, he prayed something that's very, very important. Maybe I'll just go there for a moment. Would you bring up the Lord's Prayer for me, Brother Matt? I think it's in Matthew 5 or 6. But everybody can see it. So back to Gingerwise finding that. Is that Ginger now has gotten to the point where she stands around the door? I think she got out the night that you and Brother Jay came over. And I don't know how Amber done it. She must have a special touch with animals. She just went over there and picked her up. She won't let me pick her up. She sees me coming, she darts to another bush. She's over here, over there. Then you heard the story about the woman next door. This is dog country. You know, you know, for a moment I had to get a hold of my spirit. I felt like saying, sure is dog country. You know, it's funny when you learn that you can control your outcome of how happy you can be, or how sad you can be, or how up on the mountain you can be or how low in a valley you can be, is all up to you, and it all comes down to the way you think. It all comes down to your heart. It's a heart problem. I'm not worried about my natural heart, I'm worried about my spiritual heart, and I'm not worried about my spiritual heart as much as I am uh the arteries that go to my heart. You can have a wonderful heart and have your arteries clogged, and your whole life is uh is on hold because you got clogged arteries. And you know what clogs your arteries and spiritual things? The biggest thing is bitterness. Bitterness. How many of you don't you don't have to raise your hand, but would you be truthful with God because he sees it anyways? You know it's a funny thing that every one of us today is an open book to God. You might think that you're hiding some nasty something that you're going on and doing this and doing that. You're not hiding anything from God. He's an all-seeing eye, an all-hearing ear. David said, Can I go to the bottom of the ocean and get away from you? Nope. Can I go to the highest mountain and get away from you? Nope. I thank God that he's an all-seeing eye and an all-hearing ear. And to tell you the God's truth, I want to become transparent with God, and I have to do it by telling him who I really am. Nobody knows me better than Sister Connell. But guess what? God knows me better than Sister Connell. And God knows each and every one of us better than we know ourselves. That's why he brings along trials and tests, so that we can see ourselves in a trial and a test and then begin to ask God for help. Because you or I are not going to change one iota about our life without God. That's right. Can't do it. Jesus said, without me, it's impossible to please me. You can't do it on your own. And look how many men has tried to do it on their own. See, I come from a family that's strong genes in it. Born leaders in some ways. My grandfather helped organize the unions in Akron O'How in the early uh 1900s. He was uh he was a born, he was just a determined man. But you know what I have found out? That all that determination that got me through life, I have to switch gears now. I can't do it on my own because this isn't a natural walk. It's a spiritual walk with God. It's not a natural walk with God. And so when I was speaking last week about roots of bitterness and things unforgiven, do you know that if we've got odd against one another and we don't forgive one another, you are blaspheming God. I want to say it profoundly. We're blaspheming God. When we can't forgive one another for our trespasses, I don't care what anybody's done to you. I've had some things happen in my life that it's taken me months, possibly even years, to get rid of the roots of bitterness. But I know one thing: a root of bitterness will never ever be something that God can work with. It's a clogged artery. It's a clogged artery, it's bitterness. And forgiveness is what God started the whole New Testament out with. Just consider what your pastor's saying. God started the whole New Testament out of love and forgiveness. He created his son long before the foundations of this world was ever created. The Bible says in Genesis the very first word is in the beginning. You know what that in the beginning is? It's Christ. He wasn't Christ as of yet. He was a son of God. He didn't become Christ until he was anointed in the river Jordan. And that's what Christ means, the anointed one. And that's who we're serving. We're serving the anointed one. But God's son came to this world 2,000 years ago wrapped up as a bundle of love and forgiveness. Love and forgiveness. Somebody says, How's that? Well, the Bible tells you in Luke, and it tells you in the book of Matthew, that God picked out a woman named Mary. She was a virgin woman. You know, does anybody ever question why God had to have Mary to be a virgin? No, people just, and I'm not rebuking, I'm just saying that there's not enough people that don't ask questions. They just read the Bible and they try to figure it out for themselves and they never get to the bottom of what God's really trying to say. But the reason why Mary had to be a virgin is because when man has corrupted a woman with his seed, God couldn't bring that son of his through that womb. That's right. And when he came into this world, you can read it for yourself at home. The Bible says that he came, that God sent Gabriel to Mary. And she said to Mary, I'm sure she got frightened when she felt this presence of the angel. But he said, Hell, Mary, thou art greatly favored among all women. Now there's a religion that's taken that way too far. Alright. Way too far. We know better than that. But we also know that she's got a special spot in the kingdom of God. She's a mother, the natural mother of the Son of God. So she'll always have a spot, won't she? But never above Christ. And when you get taught that you're to pray to her over Christ, you're taught a fallacy. You're taught something that won't get you where you need to go. That's right. And then trying to get to God without going through Jesus is foolish too. You know, God the Father's never been tempted nor tested. He don't even know what the flesh is about. Somebody say, Well, you created us. I think Christ created the natural part of us, and God gave us the inward man. Yes, I agree. And I think Christ wanted an outward man, and there's where we came in, made out of the dust of the earth. So who come to redeem the outward man and the inward man? The Son of God. Now he's not so uh he's not so uh uh great about your outward appearance. You know, we put so much, the world's getting filthy rich over pills and everything doing with the outward appearance. But you know, Solomon said, even the most beautiful woman on the planet of this earth, if she's without discretion, she's like a hog with a ring in her nose. What's that mean, Brother Connell? It just means that if you're a child of God, you've got to have a discretion in your life that everybody isn't going to be suitable for you. I guarantee you that God, every law he ever put down, everything he ever spoke to the children of Israel, everything that's in this New Testament that was taught through the early reign church, it was for our admonition and for our safety. God don't want to hurt us, he wants to save us. But because we got a will of our own, that will gets in the way, and when we have desires that's not of God, we become like ginger. We just run away from God every chance we get. But you know the funny part about this ginger is when the nighttime comes and the chill in the air comes, there she is whining at the back door again. But you know, in the meantime, she comes in and she's gotten fleas on her. Uh, she could have gotten a fight with a tomcat, she could have gotten a fight with a coon, and here she comes, all bloodied up and back in the house. Sister Connell had to take her and put her in Don Dish liquid and get all the bugs off of her and everything. Every time you let the let the let the God of this world, you know, what are we fighting when the Bible says the God of this world? You know, most people say what they think on Sunday when they're in church. Oh, the preacher said the God of this world. We know what the God of this world is. It's Lucifer. He fell out of heaven. No, brother and sister, God wouldn't give that to us to fight.

SPEAKER_05 54:53

Yeah, that's right. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 54:56

He wouldn't give us that to fight. You wouldn't send your child in a backyard somewhere with a pit bull that's been being fed buckshot and he's as mean as a junkyard dog and he's on a chain and then send little AJ out there. Go see the doggy.

SPEAKER_05 55:14

Right.

SPEAKER_03 55:15

That dog eats that baby alive. It has no conscience, it doesn't care. God does not sit no Satan on us. Our adversary is when you get up and look in the mirror every day, brother.

SPEAKER_07 55:31

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 55:33

Alexander the Great died because he said he had nothing else to conquer. He conquered the whole world. One of the older brothers said, if he'd have looked in that mirror, whatever kind of mirrors they had, he would have had a lifetime of war to conquer. And that's self. That's right. What is it, self spelt backwards? We drop the yeah. What do we drop? Drop the H. Drop the H and spell it backwards, and it comes out self. And that's what we're in a war with. Self. My self wants to do what my self wants to do. God's wanting me to do something other than what myself wants me to do. And the Spirit of God in my life, after I've been born again, wars against the spirit of the flesh, and they too are contrary, and they're always battling. Every day they're battling. And you know what they're battling for? My will.

unknown 56:31

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 56:32

They're battling for my will. The flesh wants my will, and God wants my will. And you know who's going to make the decision who gets the throne? Me. Yes. And that's just the way God wants it. He wants it to be up to you and I to realize that his ways is so much better than our ways. But sometimes, like ginger, people will leave the house of God and they'll go out there and get all beat up. And it might take them years to come and get back to where they once was. Where they once was. God don't mean anything bad for us, He means everything good for us. But back to this thought that God's been dealing with your pastor about, and I think it's one of the most beautiful thoughts that God's ever given me. One of the things that we discuss many, many times in ministers' meetings is how do we blaspheme the Holy Ghost? Some say it's when you got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you speak in tongues, and then you say there's nothing to it. That's blaspheming the Holy Ghost. No, to blaspheme the Holy Ghost is a walk contrary to what God wants us to do. Every time we walk opposite to what God wants us to do, we're actually blaspheming the Holy Ghost. How's that, Brother Connell? Because who who brought God's, uh, who brought his son back into this earth 2,000 years ago? He first spoke him into existence as the only begotten Son of God. Jesus was brought forth before this earth was ever even had any ability to harbor humanity. The Bible says in Genesis 1, in the beginning, the earth was void without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. When Jesus came forth, the plan and the counsel of God got together. They wanted to create mankind, so they created a habitation for mankind, and we're on it today. It's called the earth.

unknown 58:49

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 58:50

All the beautiful oceans and the seas and the trees and the mountains, everything was planted for our likeness and for our help and for our benefit. Every herb in the ground was put there. God gave us everything to take care of us, and it's all he asked in return is that you obey my voice. What a good God. The problem of it is I've had a terrible ordeal obeying that voice.

unknown 59:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 59:22

See, Babylon teaches you things that just tickles your ears, and you go home with a very good feeling, but you might be on your way to hell. You might not have no life and no fellowship with God at all, because there's no way that they're teaching how to have fellowship with God. Yes, everybody can get a good feeling, but what God's really after is obedience. He's after obedience in our life, and that's where the struggle comes in. When you're striving to do what's right with God, brother, you got a battle on your hands. You know the most unrulyest thing that's in the whole body of Jesus Christ and in a family and in your own personal life is like I said, it's this little member that's in this little cave behind this picket little fence. The tongue. The tongue is the most vilest, wickedest thing that's ever been given to man. But the tongue has no brain of its own. It has no ability to speak on its own. It's just a muscle in your mouth. But guess what? When your soul speaks out of your tongue, the soul is telling on itself.

unknown 1:00:43

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:45

It's your soul that's being told on. And from that tongue, it's easy to tell when somebody's angry, isn't it? Their face is red, their neck's sticking out. And brother, you can just see, don't get in the way of that person. Well, as all that person is saying to you is my soul is vexed and I'm troubled, and my God don't get in my way. I'm guilty, but I have to work and labor to stay on the right track with God. So I wrote this down. I wrote, uh mercy and grace are driving the car until obedience can take a hold of the wheel. And that's where we're at. I'm striving to become obedient. When I first come to God, I realized that I was in such a battle, I didn't think I was going to make it at all. I thought, you're never going to make this. My grandmother brought me over a little book, and that little book that she brought me was a lifesaver. And it was by James Allen, and it was called As a Man Thinketh, So He Is. I think it just titled As a Man Thinketh. And I began to read that book, and he likened our minds on the gardens. And whatever you sow in your mind, it's going to come forth. If you sow bitterness, you're going to get to be a bitter person. If you sow hatred, you're going to be a hateful person. If you sow meanness, you're going to be a mean person. If you sow love, you're going to be a loving person. If you sow mercy, you're going to be a merciful person. The fruits of the Spirit is what God wants us all to enjoy. Love, happiness, peace, gentleness, kindness. But we have to move other furniture out of the way to ever get that. To ever get that. How many of you have got something that's happened in your life that you're bitter over it or you're resentful over? Huh? I know there is. I know that probably every one of us has had that. Some kind of resentment or some kind of bitterness that's happened in life. Well, you know when God sent Christ, Gabriel told Mary when she said, How shall this be? And he said, exactly what he said, is the power of the Most High God is going to overshadow you. And that you're going to conceive of God's word. God's going to put his word into the womb of you, and nine months later you're going to present a son, and he's going to be the firstborn, and you're going to call his name Jesus, which means Savior. The word Jesus means savior. And so when God brought his son into this earth, he brought his son into this earth to recompense us back to him. Most people just teach Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and that's all we need to know is Jesus. No. Jesus came to teach us about his Father, not about him. It's a mystery, but in the fullness of time, God brought forth his son, and it was the wisdom of God bringing forth the Lamb of God before the determinant counsel of God. God decided to send a Savior so that he wasn't always upset with mankind. And that precious Savior that he sent was his only begotten Son. And the Bible says all the heaven was searched, all under the earth, all those that had died, not a living person, not a dead person was worthy to take the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, and Jesus stood to his feet and said, I'll go, Father. Yes. I'll go. Yes, amen. I'll be the Lamb of God. I'll go and save mankind. I'll give them an opportunity to get to know you and how good you really are, Father. I'll show them I'll be the express image of you while I'm 33 and a half years on this earth. If they ask to see you, I'll say, look at me, for I am the express image of my Father.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:23

Right. Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:25

Every characteristic about him, full of love, full of peace, full of kindness, full of forgiveness. So when God sent that son into this earth, he sent a bundle, a package of nothing but pure, unadulterated, untouched love to the human family, and the human family could find a way back to God through forgiveness. And yet we don't forgive one another. What's wrong? We fell out of the grace that God put in our life. That's why that scripture is so important that I had up on the board last Sunday where it says, if you fail of the grace of God, nothing but a root of bitterness is coming out of that. A root of bitterness is coming out of that. And so roots of bitterness clogs the heart. And then there's a place where God can't touch you because the bitterness is so great. Bitterness to me is when somebody wrongs you and does you wrong, and you know you were done wrong, and then you just let that fester and grow and grow and grow. And 50 years later, 20 years later, two years later, however long it is, that root has been growing under the earth and not even visible. But I guarantee you the day will come if God loves you. He's gonna make that bitterness and that strife come up out of the earth and be visible, for you can see it. Because you can't go with God with bitterness. That's right, amen. You're gonna have to hope for a better resurrection if you die with a life full of bitterness. And bitterness works all kinds of things. You know, uh uh what did uh what does uh didn't James say something along the lines of the wisdom of God? Uh I want to go to this about the the prayer. But where did James say the wisdom of God is first peaceable? I think it's in James, the third chapter of the first chapter of James, that the wisdom of God is first pure. Wisdom from above is first pure. Yeah. Where's that at? First James. It's James. It's in the book of James. It's uh James 3 and 17. James 3 and 17, Brother Matt. Let's go down to the 12th verse. Well, let's just go down some more, brother Matt. Talking on the tongue, we might as well just keep driving the nail home. Go all the way down some more. We might as well start at the first. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. You know, I'm trying to become just mastered by one and not mastered by two. I hate being mastered by myself because I know where it goes. It goes to nothing but a big fall and a big pit. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in the word, in the word the same as a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Really, what God wants us to come to is a maturity, and no matter what anybody's doing to you, and no matter what's going on around you, that you don't strike back and get in the same frame of mind they get into, but you control this little member of your body and you don't let whatever's on the inside come to the outside. You're crucifying it as long as you keep it in, but the moment you let it out, you have lost the battle. You've got to go back to the same grade and go back through the same test again because you didn't crucify it.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:46

It don't mean that you don't feel it, it just means that you don't let it out. And when you don't let it out, you're on your cross. When you let it out, you jumped off your cross to do that. You got down off your cross to let that tongue do what it's doing.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:03

The truth, isn't it?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:05

Behold, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body with a little bridle, a little bit in their mouth, turn a big old horse. Left to right. Behold also ships, which though they be so great and then driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whatsoever the governor listeth. And then boats up in Canada or in any boat on any lake, the boat goes where you pull the lever to go. What's that thing called? The throttle or whatever it is. You steer that boat. And that boat, if you go this way, it goes that way. If you go that way, it goes that way. Men have learned to conquer horses, they've learned to conquer ships, they've learned to conquer the sky with these big jets, and yet they can't even solve problems without murdering each other.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:02

That's right, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:04

What a creature we are. When you look at us compared to God, we're a creature, alright. We're a creature that he wants to turn into just to be like the creator and not stay the creature.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:19

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:20

And the only way he can do that is to take us through challenges. The only way he can do that is to expose things and it's in our life that's contrary to him. And then he doesn't expect you to get it done overnight, but he doesn't expect you to put it on a shelf and never deal with it either.

unknown 1:11:39

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:40

We have to deal with the things that God shows us. Yes. How many baptisms is there, Brother Matt? Everybody heard him? Three. What are they, Brother Jay?

unknown 1:11:54

Fire, water, and spirit.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:56

Fire, water, and spirit. What are they for, Tim? For our perfection. You can't deny any one of those baptisms and claim heaven is your eternal security. Somebody said, Well, what about people that died and wasn't baptized? Well, there's going to be a final resurrection where there's going to be a whole lot of people that's going to have to be baptized over there. Because over there ain't going to be no different than here. You're going to get ready over there if you don't get ready here and you don't blot your name out here. You're going to come up over there, and the same giants you got, the same problems you got, the same works of the flesh you got, they're going to come forth with you. They're not going to be snuffed out. You're going to come forth just like you died. That's right. Just like you died, you're going to come forth. And if you don't fix it over there, with whatever God's length of time he gives you over there, the lake of fire, which is second death. Second death. It's not some big lake under the ground somewhere where the devil has taken charge of it. If he was in charge of it, he'd let all of us demons out. No. What God is doing is God is taking us through a process now so that if I died tonight, don't let no man of God put me in heaven. I am not ready for heaven tonight. I am still in a battle for eternal life.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:36

Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:40

I'm still in a battle for eternal life. Believe all the hope as poke as you want, but the truth is going to stand just like an anvil. You can beat on it and beat on it and wear everything out that you're beating on, hammer after hammer, and when it's all said and done, it's just like the word of God. It's unmovable. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:01

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:02

It's unmovable. It's going to stand the test of time. It's going to be there when everything else fails. That's why Jesus said, heaven and earth can pass away, but my word will never pass away because of what he said. He said, I did not come with my own words. I have come with my father's words. I don't preach nothing to the crowds. That's from me. Everything I preach, my father has told me what to say.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:33

Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:34

The father is greater than the Son.

unknown 1:14:38

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:40

God, the Father is greater than his son. He's given his son to rule over the church. Why? Because it was a wisdom of God to do it that way. Because God's never been tempted nor tested, and neither do I want him to ever have to be. He sent his son for that.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:58

That's right. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:00

He sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned it right in the flesh in 33 and a half years. He put the serpent to death. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:13

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:15

He put that carnal nature to death, and that's why the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom when he died, signifying God had made a way for his son to come back to him.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:28

Now he's made a way for each and every one of us to get where Jesus is at, but you'll pay the same price that Jesus paid, or you're not welcome.

unknown 1:15:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:38

That's right. Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:43

There's only seven or eight promises in the whole Bible, and they're not to those that I think I'm okay. Every promise in the Bible is to the overcomer. Eight of them in the book of Revelation. Eight promises all to the overcomer. What is an overcomer? It's one that never gets overcome. It's one that no matter what the temptation is, no matter what the trial is, they don't cash into it. They stay firm in God. They stay positive in God. They suffer, they go through suffering, they go through challenges, but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. What are you enduring? My God, if you've been around very long, there's all kinds of things endure. People talking about you, people gossiping about you, people treating you bad, people stealing from you. Everything that the human race can go through. But if you give up because of those tests and trials, your name can be blotted out of the book of life. But if you stand firm, you might get knocked down, but you get back up. You get back up. Amen. Praise God. A good man, a good woman will fall seven times, but it's only the loser that stays down on the canvas. Amen. It's the one that gets up and says, Victory is mine because the captain of my salvation is on my side, and I already know what the plan says. Praise God. Hallelujah. That I'm gonna make it. Praise the Lord. I'm gonna make it. But let me go on here just for a few more minutes. I popped around there. I'm sorry, Brother Matt. Go back to the James there. The old ships, they're conquered. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Behold, how great a small matter a little fire kindleth. You know, is all it takes is for me to come over here and say, you know, I love that brother. But you know, he's got some terrible flaws in his life. What am I doing? I'm not building, I'm defeating. That's right. So he just wore iniquity. Iniquity. You know, when people split and splinter over shoestrings and what kind of tie you should wear, my god, them people ain't spiritual. They're religious. That's right. They're religious. Religion has split and splintered so many churches. Church of Christ, Second Church of Christ, First Baptist, September Baptist, Holy Methodist, non-holy Methodist. My God is so messed up. Religion is a bigger mess than government, if you can believe that. And how did it get there? Men and their little bitty tongues cutting and conniving and chiseling their way to a top to a higher spot and putting you out of your spot. There is no sense in every division. Division comes because the devil's worked his way in. You don't even have any right to separate yourself from people in this church because they get on your nerves. My God, invite the people that get on your nerves. We have no right to divide from each other because of certain temperaments and certain personality traits. The only reason you have any right to divide yourself from any child of God is for the six things that the book of Corinthians mentions: adultery, fornication, a railer, a drunkard, whatever the other things are. Then you have to separate yourself from them. The Apostle Paul had a situation. You think we got a church that's got problems? My God, there's never been a church that didn't have problems. The early reign church had problem after problem. They had a man sitting right in the congregation, and the whole church was puffed up about it, and he was sleeping with his stepmother. Am I right? Is that in the Bible? Yeah. It's in the Bible. And you know what Paul wrote to him? He said, I'm not there, I'm absent, but I'm there present with you. You people are out of your minds being puffed up over this man sleeping with his mother-in-law. My God, don't you know that his soul's at stake? You shouldn't be puffed up. You should take him and put him out of your fellowship until he straightens up. That's the Bible. We can think anything we want to think, but when it comes down to it, God's thinking is much more superior than our thinking. Oh, yes. And he's going to do it his way. So they put the man out of the church. And then the man got sorrowful and he quit doing that affair with his stepmother. He straightened his life out. And in the second book of Corinthians, Paul asked them to bring him back into their fellowship. And so they brought him back into their fellowship, and Paul said, I gave you a test to see if you'd obey what I'm asking you to do or not.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:37

You know, people can get in all kinds of ungodly situations. But guess what? God can fix that situation, but Paul was wanting to know if that church had lost its first love. Yes. Paul was wanting to ask that Corinthian church, now that this man has been forgiven, and now this man straightened his life out, will you bring him back into your fellowship, or will you be so self-righteous that that man stumbled and fell and he's done for life as far as I'm concerned? Brother, you're lost. You are lost.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:14

That's right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:17

You know why you're lost? Because that's a blaspheming of what God sent his son for. He sent his son for forgiveness. The Bible teaches us to forgive one another, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_07 1:22:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:31

We don't need to go through all those scriptures today, do we? We just need to know that God says, forgive each other as I have forgiven you. And if you cannot forgive your brothers and sisters, no matter how much they've offended you or what they've done to you, neither will your father forgive you and your sins. You're in big, big trouble. Yep. You got heart trouble. Somebody said, Well, brother, it sounds easy, but how do you do it? It comes through much prayer, comes through meditation, it comes through realizing that the human family is just totally equipped to do all the things that it can do. And when the equipment comes forth and it does whatever it wants to do, God wants you to go ahead and forgive them. Not for their sake, for your sake.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:30

That's right, amen.

unknown 1:23:31

True.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:32

Forgive them for your sake. And so uh let me finish this. For every kind of beast and birds and of serpents and of things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed to mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly eagle full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith we curse men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceeds blessings and cursings. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doeth a fountain send forth the same place sweet water and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear all these berries, either of fine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh water. We start out bearing all kinds of things. We start out with good fruit in our life and bad fruit in our life. And what the whole purpose of God giving you a new birth is so that that seed that comes from God can grow up in your life and it can destroy all the bad fruit of Adam and replace it with the fruits of the Spirit of God in your life, which brings peace. It brings peace. Amen. It brings uh, it don't bring trouble. If you're troubled 99% of the time, all the time, there's something that God's trying to show you. That's right, yeah. Nine times out of ten, it's trying to show you that yourself is in my way.

unknown 1:25:15

Yes, that's true.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:16

Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:17

Your self is in my way. And so Paul went on to say about the tongue, but if ye have bitter and envy. And 13, who is a wise man endured with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his worked with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter, envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom of bitter and envying one another and tattling on one another, and the tongue just doing whatever it wants. This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and there's a big key on who the devil is. Devilish. It's devilish. This wisdom didn't come from God, it came from the devil. And the devil is none other than you and me.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:11

Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:12

We're trying to get rid of the devil. We're trying to mortify the devil. We're trying to defeat the devil. It can't be done without a new birth. You can't do it without the new birth.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:24

That's right. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:25

Amen. That's why it was a commandment of the Lord. Go ye in Jerusalem. You stay there, don't leave there until you're endured with power from on high. Power to do what? Power to do what you can't do.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:43

Amen. Power to overcome things. Get rid of bitterness. Get rid of strife. Continue to forgive one another. Husbands and wives, they'll get in a battle. And honest to God, three days go by. Three long 24-hour days go by. No talk, no fellowship, just bitterness over some stupid something or another. And three days of your life lost to nothing but a bad, troubling spirit, and the kids upset and everybody else. Over just some stupid little simple argument of some sort. And you don't even need to be married to have your day wrecked. You wreck your day every day. Every day. Just get up with the long, wrong thoughts, and your days run. That's right. My sister, God bless her heart, I don't know. I wasn't old enough to recognize. But every morning on Saturday, I'd get up and there she was, nine years old, uh sucking her thumb and bouncing on the on the sofa, and she'd get up and she'd open the refrigerator door and she'd She'd slam it so hard that it would rock the house. And her words were same old junk all the time in there. You know the best time to begin to get your children to go the right way is when they're young and they're tender and they're pliable. Because once they get to be too much of a teenager, my God, you can pray, you can cry, you can fast. If they got it in their mind to become a ginger, God help them. They're coming back with fleas and all beat up. If they do come back. That's true. And then the world is so corrupt right now. They show all these young people all these all these things that comes out of 20th Century Fox. All these programs. Has anybody seen this program I advertise? Wives of the famous basketball players, or you know, all those programs they got out now. Oh yeah. Wives of these people and white. My God, have you ever seen such a mess in all your life? Just all decorated up. Just every eyelash just in place. Every kind of jewelry to attract the different different places on their body to attract your eyes to go to wherever this jewelry is at. All kinds of provocative clothing. And our young people looking at that and thinking that that's so grand. It ain't grand at all. The most miserable people is people that's up in the upper echelon and living out of Hollywood and making believe that they're living comfortably and living good. They're miserable. Money don't make you happy.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:05

But yet we're in the most greediest world that God's ever saw. Even God's own children. Greedy. Think about their own self before they think about anybody else. That's not the will of God, is it?

unknown 1:30:26

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:26

And one day, the scripture says that Babylon is going to throw their gold out in the street because it's going to be worthless, and all the gold they pitch out there will be a testimony against them. How in God's name, in this world we're in, could you have millions in the bank and not have no compassion on the needs that's in this world today? You know, some people they just work and they're not working. They're working to have pleasure. What are you working for over time and all that, Tim? Oh, we're going to go to Alaska. Well, guess what? You can go to Alaska in the right spirit and be fine to go to Alaska. But if you've been nickel diamond and penny pinching to go to Alaska and forget to give into the offering box, my God, you're going with a curse on you. That's right. It isn't always pleasant to hear those things, but it's a God's truth.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:36

God can have everything about you, but he ain't got your pocketbook or your purse or your wallet. Well, then he doesn't have you yet. The wallet or the purse has got you. So God wants us to be cheerful givers. He wants us to give as we can. And not everybody's wealthy enough to give much, but everybody can give a little bit. And I've told Brother Michael, not trying to put him in the middle of it, but I've told Brother Michael, most of the reason why we don't have a church as of yet, a building, so to speak, the reason why is because of a heart condition and because of a foundation problem. What do you mean, Brother Connell? Foundation. The men that's in this church, especially the men that God's raising up in leadership, if there's any schism among us that's in this church now, we got all the doors open for the devil to come in and separate us. That's why that the wisdom of God is first gentle. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. If you get two men in this church, or two women in this church, or three men in this church, and four women in this church, and they're envious of one another, and they're always backbiting with each other, their tongues never kept in their mouth, and they're just always on the phone, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You are a worker of iniquity in this church. Somebody say, Well, what I do because I'm like that. You get converted. You ask God to help you to quit backbiting, quit talking about things. What in God's name do we want to talk about everybody's problems when you can't do one thing about their problems? That's right, amen. But you can set the whole church on fire.

unknown 1:33:41

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:42

The children of Israel were told to carry a shovel wherever they go. If you relieve yourself and it don't smell good, bury it, he said.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:51

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:52

Bury it. You know what we would be far further along is every bit of non-profitable garbage that's on them cell phones and on them Facebooks and everything else that's on them phones. If we would just think positive and never put no negativity on there, we'd be further up the ladder. You want to go on a fast? I'll give you the best fast you can possibly go on. Try to go three days without thinking anything negative about anything but you.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:27

Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:28

Try that fast. Yep. Right. Brother, you'll find out who the Lord was fighting with for 40 days and 40 nights up on the mountain. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure. Then what is it? Peaceable. Peaceable. Peaceable. Then what is it? Gentle. What else is it? Easy to be entreated.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:59

Easily to be entreated.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:00

You know what it means to be easy and treated? Is to walk up to somebody and say, Yes. Had a little bit of egg on his pocket. I told him he had some egg on his pocket. If he is not easily to be entreated, now this is just a little simple childish illustration. He's going to look at me and say, I know it's there in my drunk business. Easily to be entreated means that you've got something going on in your life, and you invite a man of God into your into the things you're going through, and let him give you some wisdom on how to fix the problem. That's right. But when we're so full of ourselves that we don't need anybody to help us, my God, what a rough path that is to go down. That's right. Amen. But we all need the Lord, don't we? It's easily being treated. It's full of what? Mercy. Has anybody received mercy for the life you lived before you come to God? Who in this building has received mercy? Let's see your hands. Have you received mercy? What about you, and you received mercy? Have you received mercy? Everybody received mercy? That's right. Well, if we've received mercy and then we can't show mercy, you know what we are? A tear. We're a tear. You know, uh, easily being treated full of mercy, good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. That part of hypocrisy is really a tough one to get conquered. Because we act one way in front of each other and then act a total different way when no one's around. That's exactly right. That's hypocrisy. I come in this shirt today, I come in these trout trousers today, but tomorrow morning when I'm 200 miles away, you'll see me in a pair of shorts, then my cheeks are sticking out, my chest is all bare, and I'm working out to get buffed, and I'm gonna have plenty of gold hanging around my neck. You're a hypocrite. That's right. That's right. You're not living what God wants you to live. You're living a two-fold life.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:30

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:32

Yeah. I guess that's pretty bold, but it's a God's truth, isn't it? That's right. That's why Jesus called those Sadducees and Pharisees hypocrites. They wouldn't forgive nobody. They were so self-righteous, they was untouchable. Their garments were longer than everybody else. The box that they put on their forehead was bigger than everybody else's. The bells on their garments rang deeper and higher than any other around them. But they were full of dead men's bones, for they had no real contact with God, his mercy, and his grace.

SPEAKER_05 1:38:09

Praise God. Yes. Amen. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:13

It was hypocrites. So, closing my thoughts. Yes. But the wisdom in this first above, it's peaceful partiality, no hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make trouble. I read that wrong, right? It's sown in them that make what? Peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. When Jesus gave his sermon on the mound, he said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. What did Christ come to do? Bring peace between the human family and his father through a pure sacrifice of him going to the cross. Now everybody that comes to Christ can find forgiveness. But if we can't forgive one another, then we're better than what God's plan was. Wow. Yes. We're better than what God's plan is. If you've got the Spirit of Christ in your life and you keep it alive in your life, somebody say, Well, I've been born again. What do you mean? Well, just because you've been born again don't mean that the Holy Ghost is living with you every day. It's living with you every day, but if you ain't getting it up every day and putting it on the throne, it's just setting there idle in your life. And guess who's on the throne? You know who's on the throne. The devil's on the throne. And if the devil's on the throne, you're going to have a miserable day. That's right, right. You're going to be mean, hateful, discontent, no love of God flowing in your life. Why? Because you're not letting the Holy Ghost lead and guide you. You're letting the spirit that God's trying to crucify lead you.

SPEAKER_07 1:40:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:21

Yes, amen. Easier sin than done. But once you get a hold of the fact that you can defeat these things, and that you're not sinning as long as you're thinking them. You're sinning when you act upon your thoughts.

SPEAKER_05 1:40:39

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:40

There's no sin in thinking something about a person, but the moment that you let your tongue express your feelings as somebody else, you're a sinner. You're sinning in the kingdom of God. Trying to get down from here, but it's so important that we recognize that if we can't forgive one another, we're burning the bridge down that we must all cross to get forgiveness from God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ. If we do not forgive one another, I guarantee you you are sitting here with a big giant root of bitterness. And the best story in the whole Bible about how bad bitterness is is Jonah. Yeah. Jonah in the belly of the well. It's where we are at when we got bitterness and strife towards one another. You might not admit it, but you are in the belly of the well.

SPEAKER_07 1:41:41

Oh, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:44

And God only can help us to get out of that well. That's right. But when you look at the story of Jonah, the Ninevites was a capital city. Nineveh was a capital city of Assyria, and they was brutal and cruel. And Jonah's family went through brutality from them people. They were skinned alive. Their skins hung on the gates of the of the uh of the of the city. They was uh de they was de uh they their noses, ears would be cut off, and they'd be set out in the public uh for everybody to know this is what happens if you don't listen to the rulership of this great country we got. It was terrible what they'd done to people. They were some of the most cruelest people. And so when God said, Go to Nineveh and preach, Jonah, you know the story. So much bitterness down in him that he was not going to give nobody that he hated like that a chance to be forgiven.

SPEAKER_05 1:42:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:53

What is it in our lives that we've been forgiven for everything, but we can get so much bitterness and hatefulness towards somebody because of what we've been trespassing against? What about how we've all? What if all of our trespasses right now, right now, went up before God? What would it be like? It'd be horrible. But he forgave every single one of us. That's right. Now, if we can't forgive one another, we're blaspheming the Holy Ghost. That's right, amen. Believe that. We're blaspheming the well, I can't do it. No, you can't do it. If you lean on the arm of the flesh to forgive anybody for whatever they've done to you, you're never gonna get rid of it. You've got to lean on Christ to get rid of bitterness. You've got to lean on the father, gotta lean on his son, and they can help you to get rid of the bitterness. They can help you to realize that the human family is capable of the most vilest things even imaginable. Old brother James Sauders, you know what was the final straw? To drive him into the house of God? Walking down a street, and he was a thug. He was a he was a uh a gangster, and uh, and uh, and shots rang out of a car and killed his best buddy. And as he was holding his best friend, and his last friend took his last breath, James Sauders was drove into the house of God. What a great man of God he became. But he came out of that filthy, rotten conditions that most of us come out of. But he never quit, never gave up on his love for God. And I believe Brother Bobby Mausers got it right. I believe he is one that moved out a live soul. Because he came to me in the wilderness of Canada and he sure wasn't dead. He came to me with two angels, one on his left and one on his right. He scolded me, which I deserved, and then he said, but when God opens a door, Brother Connell, you pick up and you go through that door. I'm walking in his shoes right now.

SPEAKER_07 1:45:20

Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:21

Amen. Not many people like to hear these kind of messages, but nevertheless, this is the message that will give you eternal life, and all the other garbage is gonna lead you into the ditch where there is no hope, and them gates of hell are gonna prevail, but they're not gonna prevail against the church that Christ builds. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 1:45:43

Hallelujah. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:46

They're not gonna prevail against the church that Christ builds.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:51

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:52

And so, closing my thoughts, let me go back now. Let me go back, uh Brother Matt, to the Lord's prayer. I'll get I'll step down from the Lord's Prayer. Here's how they ask you. Is it the eighth verse, Brother Matt?

SPEAKER_05 1:46:23

Matthew 6 and 9.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:26

When they asked him how we should pray, they ask him. I think it's uh Yeah, right there. After this manner. They was asking him how they should pray. Here's how he said they should pray. After this manner, therefore, praise our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed, that means just more than you can comprehend, holier than anything you can comprehend. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Stop right there. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, not on earth, like everybody says. It's never gonna get done on this earth until it's finished in this earth. Amen. This earth is causing the wars. This nature is killing people, this nature is adulterous, this nature is fornicators, this nature is liars, this nature is bitter holders, this nature is an unforgiving nature, this nature must be changed before it's ever going to be done on earth.

SPEAKER_05 1:47:43

Amen. That's right, amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:46

Yes. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, on earth, it should say, as it is in heaven. I think it does say in the King James Version, doesn't it say? No, it does say in earth. They say on earth. The other Bible interpretation says on earth. You know why they say on earth? Because they don't have a revelation on in earth. They don't have the revelation on in earth. This is where we're getting fixed up. Not in some sweet bye-and-bye, but the nasty now and now, with all your brothers and sisters, that's got all kinds of different temperaments, that's still infrature, still babies, some more mature than others, and you're gonna separate yourself. My God, who are you?

SPEAKER_01 1:48:39

Yes, right. Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:43

As long as God's bearing with us, we've got to bear with one another. We got to bear with one another's personalities. Bear with one another's traits. Everybody don't like spinach. And yet you sit down with somebody and they put a big bowl of spinach out and you go, ooh, you eat spinach. My god, who do you think you are? You can get so uh personally opinionated that you offend somebody over a bowl of spinach. Ooh. You eat spinach, ooh. That's right. Some simple, stupid illustration like that is getting the point across. Just don't dig into the spinach, but don't say ooh. Not everybody doesn't like spinach. I love it. And your appetite can change. I would gag on broccoli as a little boy. Now I love fresh broccoli, especially with that melted cheese on it. Your appetite changes. It changes as you grow in the Lord, your appetite changes. I was watching some US. No, I was watching some boxing last night on TV. I watched it enough, and the Lord said, You've watched enough of that. So I turned it off. Man, a year ago I wouldn't turn that off. The devil ain't gonna get me to turn. God ain't gonna get me to turn it off. The devil's enjoying seeing that guy get his face beat in. Sure. You know how I'm trying to tie a knot in this, but how silly is it to get in a ring with six-ounce gloves or four-ounce gloves, get in there and practice for years on how to break somebody's arm or their neck or their back and kneel down and pray. Pray. Pray before you get in the ring to beat the image of God to a ball. It's true. How stupid is that? You think God's gonna hear that prayer? Dear God forgive me, but I'm about ready to break this man's neck.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:05

Yeah, it's true.

unknown 1:51:09

True.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:10

Yeah. But isn't there something in all of us men that love to watch that?

unknown 1:51:13

Oh yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:17

Something about it. Gladiatorism. Sure. The Romans didn't have nothing on us, brother. They fought lions and tigers and stuff. We get in there and fight guys that if you had to fight them in the street, they'd put you in the hospital in 30 seconds. The only hope you got in this world against people like that is dear old Smith and Wesson. Yeah. And I don't believe in that. But I do believe that you should protect your home and your family. Absolutely. I had some woman tell me one time, I said, You got a gun in your house, Brother Connell? I said, Yep. You're not really a man of God. What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to trust in God? Yeah, and also my common sense. I live in a bad neighborhood. Gun fire everywhere, isn't there, Jason? I keep a gun real handy. And if it comes down to me or some thug, he's dead. That's right. And guess what? God ain't gonna wink an eye. You know what God's done all down through the centuries of time? He's killed tens of thousands of people. Oh yes. Tens of thousands of people, God is destroyed. For what reason? For the better good. That if he didn't destroy the wicked, even the righteous will become wicked with them. And so for the better good, God's killed tens of thousands of people. And so, in closing, in this prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, now, right after this major way to pray, right after this major way to pray, he does not change his thought from the prayer that he's telling to pray. He goes right into this. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive you your trespasses. There's people in this church. Could be me, it could be you, walking around with trespasses on them. Yeah, yep. Never have forgiven anything. Yes. Still bitter about things no matter how long ago it was. That's what God's gonna fix. He's gonna start in the house of God. And he's gonna judge the house of God first. Then if he judges you and I, where will the sinner and the ungodly appear? They're not gonna appear. That's it. Life isn't on just you say I got life. Life is on a condition. Life is if we crucify the flesh. Life as if we obey God. Life is if we pick up our cross daily and die on it. Life is if we learn to control our tongue. Life is if we control our soul. Life is if we dress right, talk right, speak right. Life is on condition.

SPEAKER_05 1:54:49

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:54:51

It's on a condition that we must reach. That's what the Holy Ghost is for. Under the law. They couldn't reach that prediction, that condition. There was nothing to get them there. These all died. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the great men and women of God died under the law without no hope whatsoever of eternal life. But thank God in the book of Malachi, he had a book of remembrance.

SPEAKER_05 1:55:22

Amen. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_03 1:55:23

Not a book of life, for there was no life, a book of remembrance. Praise God. And on the day that Christ died, he opened up the graves, and all those that was in his book of remembrance came forth. And where did they go? Into Jerusalem. For what reason? Because the kingdom came on the day of Pentecost. Praise God. Praise the Lord. They preached the kingdom of God is at hand after the day of Pentecost. Never once was it preached that it's at hand because it was here. The church came into existence with the evidence of speaking in tongues, showing to everyone and testifying to yourself that you have been born not by a natural seed anymore. It don't matter if you're a Jew and come out of the tribe of Levi. Now you must be born again. And the evidence of that is will speak in tongues, as he said in the book of Mark. These signs shall follow after them that believe. They'll pray for the sick. They'll be healed. They shall speak with new tongues. They'll take up serpents.

SPEAKER_05 1:56:37

Praise God. Praise God.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:41

Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 1:56:43

Take up serpents. My God, we need to learn how to take up serpents. The first one, though, is take up your own serpents.

SPEAKER_05 1:56:51

Praise God.

unknown 1:56:53

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 1:56:54

Amen. That's right. These signs shall follow after them that believe. They shall take up serpents. You know, is all you've got to do is start to think spiritually and take taking up serpents and go back to the garden that got everybody in trouble that was a serpent, and you'll find out God's just telling you, I'll teach you how to take up carnal spirits.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:22

Amen. Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:29

What a secret that God has given the GTA group.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:36

Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:37

What a secret. No wonder John said, Ye serpents and vipers, how come ye to the river without any fruit? You don't think that them was great big snakes coming down the road, do you? No, they were two-legged, ungodly, natural-minded, devilish people that was coming to be baptized. And John said, I'm not putting you in the water without any witness that you're coming for the right reasons. There you go.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:12

Amen. That's what he said. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:18

Amen.

SPEAKER_05 1:58:19

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:21

What do you mean, John? Bring forth fruits. Repentance or get in the water and stay down there and get back up just the way you are, you serpent.

unknown 1:58:33

Yeah, that's right. Serpents.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:36

Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_07 1:58:38

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:40

Brother, when you realize that the Bible says in the book of Genesis, that it says that he'll bruise the serpent shall bruise his heel, but he shall bruise the serpent's head. You know what he did for 33 and a half years? He kept bruising the serpent's head. Every time the serpent tempted him, he bruised his head a little more. Every time the serpent tried to take him away from his father, he said no. He bruised the serpent's head a little more. Until finally they hung him on Gogotham Hill and the serpent was destroyed, and he led captivity of the serpent back to the Father free from any works of the flesh.

SPEAKER_06 1:59:29

Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 1:59:32

And send back the power for you and I to get where he's at. But you'll never do it on your own. You'll never do it on your own. So I had some other things, but I just lean on God. Just lean on him. What do you want me to say, Lord? And my closing thoughts, my God, let the past be the past. Forget about the past. Praise God. Just believe that I've made so many mistakes in my life, and God has showed me mercy, and now I can't show mercy to anybody else. I'm better than God. I'm better than God.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:21

Praise the Lord. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:00:27

And that's real powerful. That right after that famous prayer, he said, Father, forgive me. Didn't he tell him pray this way? Forgive me of my debts as I forgive other debtors. In other words, I need forgiveness every day. I'm not going to put none of you on the spot, but I am going to tell you this because I love you. It's not because I'm trying to cause you trouble or anything such as that. I'm telling you that if you don't ask God on a daily basis to forgive you, you're walking around with sin hanging on you.

SPEAKER_05 2:01:06

Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 2:01:10

Somebody said, Well, I'm not doing anything. I'm not out running into bars. I'm not cheating on my wife. You know how many works of the flesh there is? 133 that the older brethren found. A hundred and thirty-three works of the flesh. Seventeen of them is real profound in the book of Galatians, the fifth chapter, the nineteenth verse. Real prevalent works of the flesh. Adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, all the 17 works of the flesh. And he said, and you that commit such things, now he ain't talking to the people out in the bars, ain't talking to the people in the ballparks, he's talking to you and me. The Bible wasn't written to the ungodly, it was written to the saved. All that's written under the ungodly is come to the Son and confess you're a sinner. And if you confess with the right heart, he'll never refuse you. I know I've kept you a long time. Probably said more than you can contain. But this one thing I want you to know that on a daily basis, you should pray individually or with your family and ask God to forgive you every day for any trespasses, because He's such a holy God and a righteous God that you could be sinning and not even know it. And then for God's sake, whatever you do, no matter what your children want, don't give in to them if it's going to bring a plague or a or a or a curse on your home. I just feel so sorry for him. I just feel so sorry for him. He ain't got no boyfriend. I shouldn't, yeah, that's the truth. He ain't got no boyfriend. That's where we're at in this world. I just feel sorry for him. They ain't got no boyfriend. My God, how do you know God wants you to have a boyfriend? Don't you think you ought to pray whether God wants you to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend?

SPEAKER_01 2:03:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:03:24

You know what happens most of the time? You don't wait on God and you don't get a Jacob, you get an Esau. Don't want to serve God with you. Everything's more important. Where did I go wrong? You went wrong when you didn't wait on God.

SPEAKER_05 2:03:43

Yes, amen.

SPEAKER_03 2:03:44

You just got the desire was so bad that you just had to have him or her, and there you go. Lay your body down, and now you found out that you've hooked up with somebody that does not want to love and serve God like you do, and you're stuck. Brother, we ought to think long and hard when we're looking for a mate. Find one that loves God, one that'll go to church with you, and you don't go to church with them. The Baptist people ain't our people. The Jehovah's Witnesses ain't our people. Our people is a separate people. It's not that God don't have good Jehovah's Witnesses, God don't have good Baptist people, but when God gets a hold of a people and wants them to learn more and come up to higher ground, you've got to find the body of Christ, not the body somewhere that man's organized over you.

SPEAKER_05 2:04:53

Amen. Amen. Praise God.

SPEAKER_06 2:04:57

Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 2:04:58

And I wasn't mad today. I'm happy.

unknown 2:05:02

That's good.

SPEAKER_03 2:05:03

Every battle I have, I get happier because God keeps on helping me to defeat them battles. And so when we look at forgiveness, we need to do it on a daily basis. You know, God, you know what God could do if He wanted to right now? He can make each and every one of us jump up and take a hold of our tongue and confess. I hardly ever pray. Sure. I only pray when I got a bad something going on. I pray when I got a toothache. Otherwise, I don't pray. Brother, prayer is essential. That's right. My people that are called by my name, if they shall humble themselves, God don't always do the humbling. But God can humble us. He can talk to us, he can speak to us lightly. His voice can get a little more crisp and clear. He can use a magnifying, what do they call them things? A magnifone. A megaphone and shout in your ear. Then he can start giving you dreams. And if all else fails, he'll strike you in your body. God is so concerned about your soul that if it takes your body in some kind of pain or some kind of disease or whatever it might be to get your soul where God wants it to be, God will clap. I see him or her wasting away to nothing. But thank God I see the soul that I'm after. I'm after the soul of that individual. They're suffering. They're going through all these things. But thank God I see the soul of that individual getting closer to me. I see the soul of that individual crying after me. I see the soul of my people crying after me.

SPEAKER_05 2:07:14

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.

SPEAKER_03 2:07:18

Does that mean every sickness we get, every disease we get comes from God? No, but I'd sure want to know that it didn't come from God. Yes. Because man can fix anything. But when it comes to God putting a disease on somebody, nobody can lift it but God. And in my closing, I won't lie this time. I'm going to sit down. We need to understand that God is not about our flesh. Get me. God's not about our flesh. God wants his soul back. And the only way he'll ever get his soul back is if he gets you and my will back. Not my will, Father, but let thy will be done. Brother, when you begin to tell the old serpent that, he'll coil up and strike at you every day. You know why? Because he wants your will. He don't want you to have let God have his will. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:26

Praise God.

SPEAKER_03 2:08:28

Praise God.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:36

Sorry. Got a free throw. Yeah. Yeah. I want to shame on me. If I did. That's what I said. Pick the phone up. Or if I called somebody and talked about them badly. Shame. That's just done. Well. That's right. No possibility God has not seen. What happened to that?

SPEAKER_03 2:09:35

Amen. Be setting under a false ministry. That's right. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 2:09:41

The same church. Oh, I am. I'm a thing. Yeah, that's the word gone. First question, keep seeing. No, we're behind the back and talk top real system. That's the word right there. Yes. That he gave me. Yeah. If I didn't know God did. Me and my wife would be secure. Of course. Right. There wouldn't be the Holy Ghost. Right. I'm grateful. Bring us back. Bring you back. The message. Yeah. Right? Amen, brother. What I've done in my past. I'm a home person. Shame on me. That's right, yeah. I should be asking him to give me. Give me my pants. Great. Amen, brother.

SPEAKER_05 2:11:18

Praise God.

SPEAKER_04 2:11:23

You want my never gone, brother, here or sister. Okay. That's the right spirit. It's good, brother. But here's not happening. I love my past. Past what you said. I've been dealing with it for 40 years. This one you have a problem. And I still I still hear it. 40 years ago. 40 years ago. Stupid. It's just on my nerves about it. It's just the devil is what it is. You know, I still hear one stuff. I'm still here. We still go around certain people. It's like cut the air with a knife. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's been 40 years. I looked at that the other day. 40 years. Yeah. Oh, right? Oh, yeah. But only things you keep coming to what's happening. Yeah? You know? Yeah. Split brother. What kind of thing do you think about how an hour they also make? So I'll share it with the stuff. Absolutely. Yep. Somebody has not even in the congregation. On the phone, something. What are we doing? Well, what am I?

SPEAKER_05 2:13:07

Yes. Amen, brother.

SPEAKER_02 2:13:10

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 2:13:12

Whoa, uncle! That's hypocritical. It's good. I know. Okay, so I'm going to see him. I know I'm not. I know I'm here to every morning. Morning to work. I get up and come take it for it. Praise God. I know I'm not problem.

SPEAKER_03 2:13:45

I appreciate you. Praise the Lord, brother. Praise the Lord. Not anybody in this church that I have a grudge against. I can honestly say that. Right. I've fought against many grudges in my life. But I have no grudges in my life. And it's only because God's been merciful and showed me who are you to hold a grudge when I hold none against you. Yes. It's that simple. Now we gotta get out of here by 4.30. So I appreciate all the labor getting it back in order. Let's look forward to our Saturday, 4th of July. And let's uh let's present ourselves as the Gospel Truth Assembly. Amen. God bless you. Good night. We love you all. And we'll get with Sister Rita and those that's gonna be baptized. And we're gonna baptize uh Sister Loretta. It's all good. Just keep going. Yeah, keep going. So you're gonna get baptized in Tim's pool so that Brother Michael doesn't have all that to face, uh, getting everything ready for the 4th of July. But the water don't mean nothing. Just so it's deep enough to get you under. That's right. That's all that matters, sister. And I'm so thankful that it that at our age that God's dealing with people to even get baptized. I think your son thinks that's a miracle. Praise God. God bless y'all. Yes.