SPEAKER_00: Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith Church.
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SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to Psalm 115.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to continue looking at some things here that we've been talking about, referencing the door to more.
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SPEAKER_01: All right, so it's Life of Faith Church, and you can get all of the messages there as well.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So we've been looking at this.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord said to us that April was the door to more.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, the door is cracked open right now, and April it'll be flung wide open.
SPEAKER_01: April is the door to more.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've been looking at this.
SPEAKER_01: And I've made the statement a few times.
SPEAKER_01: I want to keep reiterating it that uh it this does include finances.
SPEAKER_01: But if you limit it to finances, you'll miss so much.
SPEAKER_01: Because uh there are a lot of things that influence um finances in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And uh more is simply being exposed to a higher standard, all right, uh a higher place.
SPEAKER_01: Um Pastor Caldwell, some well, it would have been 2012, he ministered a series entitled Exposed to a Higher Standard.
SPEAKER_01: And uh the Lord began to talk to him one day, and and it was kind of interesting because he said the Lord just spoke to him, woke him up, and was talking to him about vitamins.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, you know, you take vitamins to be healthy and you take vitamins to help you.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, but there's a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: He said, take your vitamins, but get exposed to the higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: And uh the the illustration that he used was there is divine healing, but then there's divine health.
SPEAKER_01: Divine health is a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: There there is God meeting your need, and then there's living without need.
SPEAKER_01: That's a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: All right, more is a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: So it's more of what God has already done, the same, but more of it.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 115, verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: And uh it says, the Lord will increase you more and more, you and your children.
SPEAKER_01: And so that word more refers to an increase or multiplication of blessings.
SPEAKER_01: All right, it emphasizes ongoing abundance, meaning that what God is doing, he's doing again and again and again and again.
SPEAKER_01: It's ongoing, it's more.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: So more is an expansion, it's expanding the blessing for you and your descendants.
SPEAKER_01: More is an expansion of what God's already done, and adding to what he has already done.
SPEAKER_01: So whatever God has done for me, I can expect that, but more of it.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: When we see this in the word, it's the idea of adding to.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, God is going to add to and expand the blessing for you and your family, for this church and its members.
SPEAKER_01: The idea of more is not necessarily something we've never seen before, but more, a higher level of what we've already seen.
SPEAKER_01: It's being exposed to a higher place, a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to look specifically, starting here in John chapter 5 tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus says something in John chapter 5, and he's dealing, of course, um, with the religious leaders of his day that did not believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: And uh he starts in verse 42, is where we'll start.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I know you that you do not have the love of God in you.
SPEAKER_01: I am come in my father's name, and you do not receive me.
SPEAKER_01: If another will come in his own name, him you will receive.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice, how can you believe which receive honor one of another and do not seek the honor that comes from God only?
SPEAKER_01: You're seeking honor from each other, but you don't seek the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: One translation says the New Living translation says, No wonder you can't believe.
SPEAKER_01: For you gladly honor each other, but you don't care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: So there's an honor, according to what Jesus says, there's an honor that comes from men, and then there's an honor that comes from God alone.
SPEAKER_01: There's an honor that comes from men, and there's an honor that comes alone from God.
SPEAKER_01: That's the higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what he said.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Here's your problem.
SPEAKER_01: You want the honor that comes from men, and you don't care about the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, who is he talking to?
SPEAKER_01: He was talking to people that wouldn't believe on him as the Savior, as the Messiah, as the anointed one.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Here's the problem.
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to lose the honor of men, you don't care about the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: The honor that comes from God is the higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: And so any other honor pales in comparison.
SPEAKER_01: It was their desire for the honor from men that stopped them from receiving Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I'm not pressing into the higher standard, I cut myself short.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's more.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Desiring the honor that comes from God alone is the higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: That's more.
SPEAKER_01: I want the honor that comes from God alone.
SPEAKER_01: When we desire what God wants, we'll receive the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: When a church desires what God wants, they receive the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Carl Will said, if you want what God wants for the same reason God wants it, you'll be successful.
SPEAKER_01: When you want what God wants for the same reason God wants it.
SPEAKER_01: See, everything you do is because you honor God.
SPEAKER_01: You want the honor that comes from God alone.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing what I'm doing so people will be satisfied with me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing it so God will be satisfied with me.
SPEAKER_01: You know, some some years ago uh uh people kind of took a turn and they kind of, well, they didn't just imply it.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of them preached it straightforward that, you know, no matter what you did, God was okay and and and all these things, and and you know, he understood that you were just flesh, and no matter how you lived, you know, God was all right and he loved you and everything was okay.
SPEAKER_01: There's no bigger lie in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Because there are things that honor God and there are things that dishonor God.
SPEAKER_01: And if I'm operating in an area that dishonors God, there's no way that I can get the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so when a church has a vision, when a church has an assignment, then it's that church's uh part to press into that because we're desirous of the honor that comes from God alone.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And we have to want what God wants for the same reason God wants it.
SPEAKER_01: Why does God want this church in this city to build faith and frame worlds and raise up a spiritual production center that will produce life, city, state, nation, world?
SPEAKER_01: Why does God want you in this church to become a part of what he's doing in raising up a spiritual production center?
SPEAKER_01: You're here tonight as a member and a part of this church because you want the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Where you go, what you do, who you're connected with is that important.
SPEAKER_01: If God says, I want you there, then there's something God wants to do for you there.
SPEAKER_01: There's something that God wants, God wants to expose you to a higher standard there.
SPEAKER_01: Don't settle for a lower mediocre standard when God says, I want to expose you to something higher, I want you to see the honor that only comes from me.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: And when that becomes our point of pressing, I want the honor that only comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We're in Little Rock because we want what God wants.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I was walking, I was walking through the neighborhood today praying and walking over here and walking down here, uh, the the apartment complexes and praying and and praying over the neighborhood and thanking God for everything that he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And and I I was just reminding him.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you need to remind God sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: Not because he forgets, but because he said, Remind me.
SPEAKER_01: Put me in remembrance.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And I and I'm walking, I'm thanking him.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling him, I'm not thanking you based on nothing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thanking you because when you ask us to do what you ask us to do, we willingly, we did, Father, we did it.
SPEAKER_01: We were not just obedient, we were willingly obedient.
SPEAKER_01: We did what you said.
SPEAKER_01: And so I thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We're here in Little Rock at the command of the Lord head of the church.
SPEAKER_01: We're not here from a denomination, we're not here because our bishop sent us.
SPEAKER_01: We're not here because Apostle Goo Goo sent us.
SPEAKER_01: We're here because the Lord head of the church said, I want you to go to that city and I want you to build people's faith and frame their world by the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And I reminded him of that.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said, So I know all the good things you have for us.
SPEAKER_01: We're just after the honor that God has only.
SPEAKER_01: You can't, you listen, you cannot ever just be a part of something for what that something can do for you.
SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be because that's what God wants.
SPEAKER_01: Then you get the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Then you get the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: I've known ministers before that they would be where they said God told them to be, and things would get tough, and there would be challenges, and they would start talking about, well, you're not in the will of God.
SPEAKER_01: And I have a real hard time with that.
SPEAKER_01: I do.
SPEAKER_01: I have a real hard time with that.
SPEAKER_01: Are we so thin-skinned?
SPEAKER_01: Are we so weak knee?
SPEAKER_01: Do we have so little of a spine that when trouble shows up and challenges show up, that we just cave and say, I must not be in the will of God?
SPEAKER_01: What about the honor that comes from God only?
SPEAKER_01: God placed you there.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not real popular with preachers.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's, well, you know, if it this can't be the will of God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how do you mean it can't be the will of God?
SPEAKER_01: Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and others were taken to Babylon.
SPEAKER_01: And do you remember what the prophet Jeremiah had prophesied about their captivity?
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're going to go into captivity.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Here's what you need to do.
SPEAKER_01: You need to get married while you're there.
SPEAKER_01: You need to have children, you need to raise a family, you need to honor the government.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, At a certain time, I'm going to come and I'm going to deliver you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the captivity was not God's perfect will, but they had to go in captivity because they wouldn't serve God willingly where they were.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And what did Daniel say?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Look, I found it.
SPEAKER_01: This is what we need to do.
SPEAKER_01: Well, and what did the Bible say when Daniel was praying?
SPEAKER_01: It says that the man Gabriel showed up and said, Daniel, a man honored by God.
SPEAKER_01: The messenger from heaven showed up and said, You're honored by God.
SPEAKER_01: Why was he honored by God?
SPEAKER_01: Because he wanted what God wanted only.
SPEAKER_01: Did you see this?
SPEAKER_01: And so when when pressure comes, when challenges come, when hard things show up, are you where God told you to be?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I am.
SPEAKER_01: Then just hang on, it's gonna end.
SPEAKER_01: You're walking, you're in that for the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: You're here in this church because you want what God wants.
SPEAKER_01: For the same reason God wants it.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: When he said honor, that word honor, it means glory or praise or worship.
SPEAKER_01: So when a person desires the honor that comes from men, that's their limit.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what you get.
SPEAKER_01: You get the honor that comes from men.
SPEAKER_01: Remember what Jesus said?
SPEAKER_01: He said, You like to be called rabbi?
SPEAKER_01: You like people to pat you on the back in the marketplace?
SPEAKER_01: You know, do you get that?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Well, that you got your reward.
SPEAKER_01: That's what you got.
SPEAKER_01: I want the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Tell your neighbor, say, I want the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: See, that that that changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: And then no matter what I'm doing, you know, you know, people talk about sin, and you know, you think you can sin in a corner and God sees it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, nobody's that dumb.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing, here's something else I want you to see.
SPEAKER_01: You think you can do something for God and his people that he don't see it?
SPEAKER_01: He sees everything.
SPEAKER_01: He sees every time you sacrifice, he sees every time you pray, he sees every time you go above and beyond, he sees every effort that you put in for the local church and the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, right there, right over there in that corner, is Kevin and Teresa.
SPEAKER_01: And they're after the honor that comes from God alone.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know that listen, there are people in this church, business owners in this church, that they do things for us and they don't charge us anything.
SPEAKER_01: They said the Lord told them to do it for us.
SPEAKER_01: They don't charge nothing.
SPEAKER_01: They want the honor that comes from God alone.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just financial, it's not just money, it's the honor that comes from God alone.
SPEAKER_01: It's God setting your name on high.
SPEAKER_01: It's God favoring you, it's God doing things for you that nobody else could do.
SPEAKER_01: It's somehow things always just working out for you.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because now you're walking in the honor that only comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: They can say whatever they want to about you, they can talk ever how they want, they can they can write whatever they want, they can call whoever they want, and it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: It's just like you're a Teflon, it just slides right off of you.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you're walking in the honor that comes from God alone.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah! Do you see this?
SPEAKER_01: So when a person desires the honor that comes from men, that's their limit.
SPEAKER_01: That's what they get.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've had pastors before tell me, well, you know, my church don't honor me.
SPEAKER_01: Well, number one, I mean, how do you carry yourself?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, you know, you can't you can't just act like Bill Bugaboo, and you know, you you just can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: There's got to be a certain amount of separation, there's got to be a certain amount of refusing to be familiar in those in those certain areas.
SPEAKER_01: But you you understand?
SPEAKER_01: Well, but what's that got to do with anything?
SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're sitting in here tonight and you don't like me, I can't imagine that, but if if if you're sitting here tonight and and you don't like me, you know that's not my problem.
SPEAKER_01: God told me to come here.
SPEAKER_01: You said God told you to come here.
SPEAKER_01: So if if if God told you to come here or you believe God told you to come here, then let's just get comfortable with one another because I'm here at the command of the Lord Jesus, and you're here at the command of the Lord Jesus, so something gotta change.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing I don't have an option.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta be here.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be here, but I gotta be here.
SPEAKER_01: Are you following me?
SPEAKER_01: Not just, not, not just, see, I'm not seeking honor just for honor's sake.
SPEAKER_01: But I understand when I'm doing what God wants me to do, he said, I'll honor you.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll get the honor that comes from me only.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Whew.
SPEAKER_01: Are you receiving?
SPEAKER_01: And that's and that's why you want to do what the Lord, you know, when we talk about taking the low road and we talk about walking in forgiveness and and you know, taking the low side, you're setting yourself up for the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: There have been people in your life that think they got one over on you because you repented to them, or you for asked them to forgive you, or you walked in love, or you took the blame, or whatever it was.
SPEAKER_01: And and they they saw it totally wrong.
SPEAKER_01: They thought they got one over on you.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what they got: the only thing they got that was that good feeling by thinking that they got one over on you, and you just stepped flat footed into the honor that comes only from God.
SPEAKER_01: That's so important.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Brother Hagin used to say this.
SPEAKER_01: He would say, you know, payday don't come every day.
SPEAKER_01: But when it shows up, it's a good one.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you don't always see the harvest immediately.
SPEAKER_01: That comes from the honor that only comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: But when it shows up, it's life-changing.
SPEAKER_01: It's life-changing.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Acts 2 and 47.
SPEAKER_01: Remember that the definition of honor is glory, praise, and worship.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 47 of Acts 2 says that the the people, the church was praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here are some questions, they're not rhetorical, but here's some questions.
SPEAKER_01: So, who are they praising?
SPEAKER_01: God.
SPEAKER_01: What did they receive?
SPEAKER_01: Favor with all the people, and the Lord adding daily to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: As they honored God, God honored them.
SPEAKER_01: Higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: You honor God, God honors you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: As I honor God, God honors me.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so here they are, they're praising God, they're giving God the glory, they're honoring God, they're doing what God wants them to do.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: When a body wants to do what God wants from them, God will honor that.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Buildings, equipment, finances, people all flow from the channel of honor for God and His things.
SPEAKER_01: They all flow from that channel.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: They all flow from that channel.
SPEAKER_01: You got to take what you have and honor God with it.
SPEAKER_01: You got to take your talents, your abilities, whatever you have, and honor God with it.
SPEAKER_01: You got to take your money and honor God with it.
SPEAKER_01: You got to take your time and honor God with it.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to take your ideas, your vision and honor God with it.
SPEAKER_01: Because then God can begin to add to you the honor that only comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody can make it on their own.
SPEAKER_01: You got, listen, I understand.
SPEAKER_01: I have a bag of old watches.
SPEAKER_01: Now I have it for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I received from my dad.
SPEAKER_01: My dad put nothing back his entire life.
SPEAKER_01: The only thing I've got that was my dad's was is a bag of broken watches.
SPEAKER_01: And a Bible that I gave to my son.
SPEAKER_01: And I got that bag.
SPEAKER_01: It's sitting on my desk in my office.
SPEAKER_01: If you go to my office right now, it's sitting there.
SPEAKER_01: And on that bag is written on a note in big bold letters, command the next 24.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I live by.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do anything about next week or next month, but I have command over the next 24 hours of my life, and I can get out there and I can work and I can push and I can press and I can make things happen in the next 24 hours of my life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why do I have that bag on my desk?
SPEAKER_01: It's a reminder.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's just going to give you something.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's just going to come and wrap a present and give it to you and say, here's everything you'll ever need.
SPEAKER_01: I got to seek things.
SPEAKER_01: I got to seek God.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to pray.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to work.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to press.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to get up and come to the church like it's my job.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to take this city serious.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to believe that God placed me here for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: And that there are people that are not going to make it if we're not doing what God wants us to do.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about a big church, it's not about a great big ministry.
SPEAKER_01: It's about having a ministry that God can say they're deserving of the honor that comes only from me.
SPEAKER_01: So I understand you have to push.
SPEAKER_01: You know, people in the world that say you gotta grind.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't like that phrase, but I understand what they mean.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta you gotta get up every day and put the work in.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I tell my wife all the time, you know, you that well, I'm not gonna get into that.
SPEAKER_01: Let me move on.
SPEAKER_01: But you understand why I'm saying that?
SPEAKER_01: Because you're why are you pressing?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you pushing?
SPEAKER_01: You want the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody else can honor me that way.
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter where I'm there are people that come to this church.
SPEAKER_01: They either didn't have a father or they didn't have a very good relationship with their natural father.
SPEAKER_01: And isn't it wonderful that God said, I'll be a father to the fatherless.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'll give you the honor that your natural father could never give you.
SPEAKER_01: All I need you to do is to honor me, to walk in my pathways, to walk uprightly, and I'll show you the honor that comes from me only.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: It's a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: And understand, when I look at that bag, I don't have any animosity towards my dad.
SPEAKER_01: He did the best he knew to do.
SPEAKER_01: That's just the reality.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't know any better.
SPEAKER_01: But I look at that and it's a reminder.
SPEAKER_01: It's a reminder.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't push, if you don't go after what God wants you to have for the right reason, you can end up with a broken bag of watches.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: The only thing I can do is take care of the next 24 hours of my life.
SPEAKER_01: That's the only thing I can do.
SPEAKER_01: So you you get up tomorrow and you go after the honor that comes only from God.
SPEAKER_01: You're not going to your job and doing a good job because you want your boss to pat you on the back.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to your job and you're working hard because the Bible says when you go to your job, that you're supposed to go to your job and work like you're working for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He said you're supposed to work for your employer like you're working for the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Then you'll get the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: That's when they give you raises you don't deserve.
SPEAKER_01: That's when they give you bonuses that you didn't qualify for.
SPEAKER_01: That's when they give you promotions.
SPEAKER_01: That's when things start turning turning the way that they should go.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because now you're on another level.
SPEAKER_01: You're at a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: You've walked into the door to more.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I preach myself happy.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that wonderful?
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at Malachi 1.
SPEAKER_01: And so the reason that you're pushing, the reason that you're pressing, the reason that you're putting in the work.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: There used to be saying, just get up and do work.
SPEAKER_01: Just go do the work.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The reason you're doing that is because you realize there's the honor that comes only from God.
SPEAKER_01: In Malachi 1 and verse 6, it says, A son honors his father, and a servant his master.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm a father, where's my honor?
SPEAKER_01: And if I'm a master, where's my fear or my respect?
SPEAKER_01: Saith the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes through and he said he talks about them offering polluted bread and uh lame and sick sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, uh, basically, should I be pleased with that?
SPEAKER_01: He said in verse 8, take it to uh your governor and see if he's pleased with it.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in verse 11, he says, Notice, I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
SPEAKER_01: This is after the tithe, right?
SPEAKER_01: After they honored God.
SPEAKER_01: I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes, you'll they'll, and he will not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field.
SPEAKER_01: So their lack of desire for the honor that comes from God only was shown in their treatment of his offerings.
SPEAKER_01: We're just gonna take him whatever we we think.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna keep the best for ourselves, and we're gonna take the blind sacrifice, and we're gonna take the sick one, and we're gonna take, right?
SPEAKER_01: When God said, uh, I want the first, I want the best.
SPEAKER_01: Why did God want the best?
SPEAKER_01: So he could give you the best.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: God wanted the best so he could honor you properly.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that God asks you to do for him is so he can do something for you.
SPEAKER_01: God is not an egotistical maniac.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't need our praise to puff him up.
SPEAKER_01: He wants our praise so he can honor us.
SPEAKER_01: He wants you to give to him so he can give to you.
SPEAKER_01: See, God's not unjust.
SPEAKER_01: Meaning, if if if he just passed out something for nothing, if he did that financially, he would have to do that where salvation's concerned.
SPEAKER_01: If God said, I'll just bless you and you don't have to do anything for it, you don't you don't have to sow, you don't have to believe, you don't have to give, then he would have to go all the way down the line, all the way to your salvation, and say, Okay, there's nothing you have to do, I'll just save you.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he made it as simple as possible.
SPEAKER_01: Just believe in your heart and confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and you'll be saved.
SPEAKER_01: But this is so important.
SPEAKER_01: Why are offerings important to God?
SPEAKER_01: Why, why do they describe honor?
SPEAKER_01: Why are they described as honor?
SPEAKER_01: Because the way that you approach the things of God, his offerings, his things, determines the honor that he can reciprocate to you.
SPEAKER_01: And notice this.
SPEAKER_01: When he talked about in Malachi 3 and 11, the windows of heaven being open, the devourer being rebuked, the fruit of the ground not being destroyed, what are they all the result of?
SPEAKER_01: Honor for God and his things.
SPEAKER_01: And notice what he said.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Not only will I open the windows of heaven, I'll rebuke the devourer for your sake.
SPEAKER_01: The fruit of your ground will not be destroyed, your vine will not cast her fruit before the time of the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
SPEAKER_01: The honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: So God opening the windows of heaven is honor.
SPEAKER_01: God rebuking the devourer is honor.
SPEAKER_01: That's honor.
SPEAKER_01: See, when someone says, Well, you know, that's not gonna happen to me because I'm a tither, it's not gonna happen to you because God's gonna honor you and keep you from it.
SPEAKER_01: Because I honored him.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so so when you tithe and you put your tithe in the offering and you sow your offering, here's what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody can dictate to me how blessed I can be because I've honored God and I am in line for the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: You can't dictate to me how blessed I can be.
SPEAKER_01: You can't dictate to me how big my blessing can be or how frequent it can be.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory.
SPEAKER_01: When we honor God and his things, we're saying, I want the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: I want to enter into that higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: There are things that only the honor that comes from God will do.
SPEAKER_01: In 1 Kings 3.
SPEAKER_01: See, this is this is this is more.
SPEAKER_01: This is a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the unfortunate part of being in ministry for decades is that you not only see the good, you see the bad.
SPEAKER_01: You you you see people that weren't right.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And end things for the wrong reason.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: There's a minister one time and he made this statement.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Every person that comes through the door represents a hundred dollar bill.
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's that's what they represented to him.
SPEAKER_01: And he told a minister that I knew that was ministering for him.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why he was ministering for him, but he was.
SPEAKER_01: And there was a man standing in the foyer that didn't look like he had any money, and he said, Go run him off.
SPEAKER_01: Because he don't look like he's got any money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, you come to this church, or if you were, you know, you were raised in agape, that that's foreign to you.
SPEAKER_01: That's like somebody coming up to you and speaking Chinese.
SPEAKER_01: Unless you know Chinese.
SPEAKER_01: But but here's here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: See, when people become your source, you automatically cut yourself off from the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why no one that you know, well, let me say, let me use me.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why nobody can be my source.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's got enough money to fund what God wants to be done.
SPEAKER_01: You can't be my source.
SPEAKER_01: Only he can be my source.
SPEAKER_01: You can help.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I can help, but I'm not the source.
SPEAKER_01: The honor that comes from God only is the source.
SPEAKER_01: So in 1 Kings 3 and 11, this is uh, of course, Solomon.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 11 it says, And God said to him, Because you've asked this thing, now what did he ask for?
SPEAKER_01: Give me an understanding heart that I can lead your people.
SPEAKER_01: Because you've asked this and have not asked yourself long life or riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, I've done according to your words.
SPEAKER_01: I have given you a wise and an understanding heart.
SPEAKER_01: Now watch.
SPEAKER_01: So he's given him a wise and understanding heart, but it's gonna go to a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: So that there was none like before you, and neither will there be any arise that the like after you.
SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna be wiser than any that were before you, and nobody's ever gonna come along that was wiser than you.
SPEAKER_01: That's a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: That's more.
SPEAKER_01: But now he's not done.
SPEAKER_01: And I have also given you that which you did not ask.
SPEAKER_01: I've given you both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like unto you all your days.
SPEAKER_01: So he said, Notice, Solomon's request honored God.
SPEAKER_01: And God said, Because, notice, not in spite of.
SPEAKER_01: Because of your request, I've given you wisdom and understanding like no other before or after, and I have given you both riches and honor, so there will be no other king like you, higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: That's more.
SPEAKER_01: And so, and so you can you can just depend on what people can give you, or you can get in line for the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah! This is the honor that comes from Him alone.
SPEAKER_01: That's a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: The spiritual came first.
SPEAKER_01: Wise and understanding heart.
SPEAKER_01: Then the natural.
SPEAKER_01: If there seems to be a blockage, you know, I've watched people before, you know, there's a blockage in their finances.
SPEAKER_01: I just need to work harder.
SPEAKER_01: Well, dear Lord, you're working hard right now and it's not fixing anything.
SPEAKER_01: Remember what he said in Haggai?
SPEAKER_01: He said, here's the problem.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're you're making money and you're putting it, it's like putting it with bags and with holes in it.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You go home and it's like it gets blown on and it just goes away.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Here's the problem.
SPEAKER_01: You need to consider your ways.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Here's the problem.
SPEAKER_01: You're building yourself brand new houses, and my house is laying waste.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You need to fix my place up and then see what I can do for you.
SPEAKER_01: What did God consider that?
SPEAKER_01: Dish honor.
SPEAKER_01: And what was he trying to bring to them?
SPEAKER_01: The honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so when it seems like things aren't working out, don't just try to work harder.
SPEAKER_01: I'll get a second job.
SPEAKER_01: So you can lose more money.
SPEAKER_01: Make more money to lose more money.
SPEAKER_01: Or I can stop and say, now, Lord, help me.
SPEAKER_01: Just raise a hand to him tonight and say, Lord, if there's any area that I'm not seeing it right, help me see it correctly.
SPEAKER_01: I want the honor that only comes from you.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Just help me see it.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: I got 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Why is this important?
SPEAKER_01: It's important because there's so much that God wants to do.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much that God wants to do through you.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much that God wants to open up and for you to accomplish.
SPEAKER_01: And it comes from going after the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: I remember uh in the the day, the very early days of the voice of healing, the the mid-40s to the late 1940s, uh, the early days, and the voice of healing was started by uh a minister named Gordon Lindsay.
SPEAKER_01: Gordon Lindsay was assembly a God minister, and he was very versed in writing and literature, uh a great writer, author, and he started following William Branham.
SPEAKER_01: And William Branham, he actually wrote Branham's biography, and it's entitled A Man Sent from God.
SPEAKER_01: And I've got a copy of it.
SPEAKER_01: But in any event, he he started following him, and Branham's magazine was called The Voice of Healing.
SPEAKER_01: Gordon Lindsay started it for him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's the reason I'm saying this.
SPEAKER_01: There was another man that by this time he would have been in his almost in his 70s, probably late 60s, early 70s, named F.
SPEAKER_01: F.
SPEAKER_01: Bosworth.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: And Bosworth wrote the classic back in the 20s, Christ the Healer.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: He had traveled around the United States and saw scores of people healed.
SPEAKER_01: But watch, he saw what was going on in Branham's meetings, and he said, I want to be involved in that.
SPEAKER_01: If God's doing this, I want to be involved.
SPEAKER_01: Now he's already got world recognition.
SPEAKER_01: He's not going and helping to be recognized.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to help somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: Are you following me?
SPEAKER_01: What's he want?
SPEAKER_01: The honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Brother Branham worked himself sick, and Brother Bosworth ministered for him, went to Africa, 77 years old, ministered in Africa twice a day.
SPEAKER_01: Well and whole and strong.
SPEAKER_01: Came home and not long after, uh a couple years after he came home and he's home, and he sat in the recliner one day, and he told his family, he said, I'm going home at this time.
SPEAKER_01: Get everybody around.
SPEAKER_01: I want to say goodbye.
SPEAKER_01: So they got everybody around and he said goodbye.
SPEAKER_01: Gone.
SPEAKER_01: Honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: See, why do I want to do what I'm doing?
SPEAKER_01: It's got to be the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: I've known ministers before that tried to demand respect.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you can try to demand respect all you want.
SPEAKER_01: And you might get grudging compliance, but you're never going to get real respect.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what people say about you, it doesn't matter what they think about you.
SPEAKER_01: You know, in our society, skin color has become a god.
SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're black, you can't say you can't say anything derogatory about any black person because then you're racist.
SPEAKER_01: Got quiet in here.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: You can't you can't say anything about you can't you can't call anybody out about anything.
SPEAKER_01: Because, oh no, you know, you're just you're just being divisive.
SPEAKER_01: You're just being divisive.
SPEAKER_01: But the truth divides.
SPEAKER_01: It splits right down the middle.
SPEAKER_01: The truth is the truth for the black man, for the white man, for the Mexican man, for the Asian man.
SPEAKER_01: The truth is the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Am I helping you?
SPEAKER_01: And here's what you got to understand: do you want the honor that comes from God only?
SPEAKER_01: Or the honor that's gonna come from people?
SPEAKER_01: I had a guy, Brother Charles Williams, I love Charles Williams.
SPEAKER_01: Him and his family came to our church in Kansas City, and uh, of course, they're an African-American family, and his wife got him there under false pretenses because uh he didn't want to drive out to they live in Kansas City, Missouri, he didn't want to drive out there.
SPEAKER_01: And but here's here's here's his thought.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Why would I want to go hear that white man preach?
SPEAKER_01: That was his thing.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here was his thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm black, I should be under a black pastor in a black church.
SPEAKER_01: Can I ask you a question?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why does it matter?
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you why it matters.
SPEAKER_01: Because they don't want any of their black family or black friends asking them why they're sitting under that white preacher.
SPEAKER_01: They're more concerned about Puki and Ray Ray and Chiquita than they are about the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Now, before you think I'm not cutting both ways, and and then listen.
SPEAKER_01: I went to Deeper Life Christian Ministries in Kansas City, Missouri, Grandview, for two years.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord had us there for two years.
SPEAKER_01: My family was the only white family in the whole church.
SPEAKER_01: I met with Elder Morton.
SPEAKER_01: I still have a relationship with him.
SPEAKER_01: And he told me one time, he said, Philip, for the first six months you were here, we thought you were with the FBI.
SPEAKER_01: Thought you were investigating somebody, trying to infiltrate.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why was I there?
SPEAKER_01: I had people tell me, why would you go there and sit under a black man?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's where God told me to be.
SPEAKER_01: I want the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care how many races you have in you.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you're a quarter black and half white and a third Cherokee and a quarter Chinese.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: I want what God wants.
SPEAKER_01: The problem that we have is people start splitting up.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna go over here because I'm white, and I'm gonna go over here because I'm black, and I'm gonna go over here because I'm Baptist, and I'm gonna go over here because I'm what about what God wants?
SPEAKER_01: I want the honor that only comes from Him.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what color you are, I don't care what gender you are, you're one of two, you're male or female, but I don't care which one you are, I don't I don't care about your past.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care where you've messed up.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care where you've failed.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you think you're perfect, I want the honor that comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, all you that are weary and heavy laden, come unto me and I'll give you reds.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what color you are, I don't care if you're male or female, I don't care if you blew it, I don't care if you messed up.
SPEAKER_01: Come to me, I'll give you the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: We gotta lose the dog tags.
SPEAKER_01: Am I helping you?
SPEAKER_01: You know, Pastor, you're a white man, you shouldn't be preaching that way.
SPEAKER_01: Truth is truth.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's falling off the lips of a white man or the lips of a black man or the lips of a woman or the lips of a man, it's truth.
SPEAKER_01: I want the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: I pray every day.
SPEAKER_01: I pray against that racially divisive spirit in this city.
SPEAKER_01: You will not hold sway over little rock.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is Lord over Little Rock, not a prejudiced racially divisive spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You are not gonna hold reign over our city.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: This is so important.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's let's finish right here.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Samuel 2.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Samuel 2 in verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: Now I don't have time to go into the whole backstory.
SPEAKER_01: But this is the man of God speaking to Eli.
SPEAKER_01: And he said in verse 30, Wherefore the Lord God of Israel said, I said that your house and the house of your father would walk before me forever, but now the Lord said, Be it far from me.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, for them that honor me, I will honor.
SPEAKER_01: And them that lightly esteem me shall be lightly esteemed.
SPEAKER_01: Them that despise me will be lightly esteemed.
SPEAKER_01: So watch the jest here.
SPEAKER_01: Those who honor God, God honors.
SPEAKER_01: I say, those who honor God, God honors.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not honoring God just so we can be honored.
SPEAKER_01: We're honoring God because of who he is.
SPEAKER_01: And notice, built into our honor for him is a reciprocating honor from him.
SPEAKER_01: It's just built into it.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why you want to be where God told you to be.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you want to be doing what God told you to be doing.
SPEAKER_01: In in whatever field it is, whatever church it is.
SPEAKER_01: It's because there's a reciprocation that just it's built into it.
SPEAKER_01: There's honor from God when there's honor for God.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I'll close here.
SPEAKER_01: I was talking, we're we were uh in our our staff meeting today, and uh we've been talking, we've been dealing with prayer, and uh, you know, when when we started the ministry years ago, the only thing I knew to do was pray.
SPEAKER_01: I I didn't have time I didn't have time for what anybody thought.
SPEAKER_01: I just I just knew to pray things out.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I knew to do.
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, the guy that wanted to pray with me was uh a man from Nigeria named Lawrence Banda.
SPEAKER_01: And he'd pray with me.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to get together and pray.
SPEAKER_01: I talked to other preachers, they didn't want to get together and pray.
SPEAKER_01: So me and my African buddy, we get together and pray.
SPEAKER_01: We had some good prayer meetings, but I've never lost that.
SPEAKER_01: The only thing I know to do is pray.
SPEAKER_01: Just pray, hear from heaven, do what heaven says.
SPEAKER_01: Paul Yong Yi Cho built the world's largest church, Yohido Foil Gospel Church in South Korea.
SPEAKER_01: And uh he thought prayer was so important that he built prayer mountain and had prayer going on 24 hours a day.
SPEAKER_01: Up right up till the time he died, he was at his church for 4 o'clock, 4 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: prayer meeting every day.
SPEAKER_01: Praying.
SPEAKER_01: And uh a minister was helping at a conference that he was speaking at.
SPEAKER_01: And he said they they had put him in charge and he was helping.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I was in the elevator with Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Cho.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, I'm in the elevator with Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Cho.
SPEAKER_01: He said, What do you think the question I asked was?
SPEAKER_01: How'd you build the world's largest church?
SPEAKER_01: You know, he didn't say cell groups, even though he was the pioneer of cell groups.
SPEAKER_01: We wouldn't know about cell groups if it wasn't for Paul Cho.
SPEAKER_01: But he didn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, great worship, I'm such a great preacher, we got a wonderful helps ministry, although all of that's true.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I pray, I hear from heaven, and I do what heaven says.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: When when you seek, set yourself to seek God by prayer, you're saying, I want the honor that comes from God only because nobody's seeing me pray.
SPEAKER_01: That's just what I want is the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Say it one more time.
SPEAKER_01: Say, I want the honor that comes from God only.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: See, that's a that's a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: Let's stand up tonight.
SPEAKER_01: That's a higher standard.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: We are a house of healing, a house of miracles, and a house of love.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Father.
SPEAKER_01: So, Father, we thank you tonight for every person under the sound of our voice.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you, Father, that they have been here and they have been brought here by the command of the Lord Head of the Church.
SPEAKER_01: And I speak over their lives.
SPEAKER_01: I speak over their families.
SPEAKER_01: I speak blessings over them in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I declare, Father, that in their pathway is life and there is no death.
SPEAKER_01: I plead the blood of Jesus over them.
SPEAKER_01: I plead the blood over their families.
SPEAKER_01: I plead the blood over their finances, I plead the blood over their jobs.
SPEAKER_01: I declare, Father, that they are blessed going in and they are blessed coming out.
SPEAKER_01: They cannot be cursed because you have blessed them.
SPEAKER_01: And your word says that what you have blessed will be blessed.
SPEAKER_01: And so we walk in that blessing in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for the gifts and the callings, God, upon their lives.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for the anointings on their lives.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you that they have chosen to heed your voice and be a part of this ministry and of this body.
SPEAKER_01: And I thank you for it.
SPEAKER_01: I give you the praise and the glory and the honor in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
unknown: We'll be here.