DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS (4)

"There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death"  PROVERBS 14:12 & PROVERBS 16:25. True life and abundant life does come with and from the DIVINE Manual of God. The Bible! It is the only healthy way into full and lasting manhood that will bless the family,community,culture,  city and the world.  DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS!

"IT IS FINISHED "

JOHN 19:30

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Praise the Lord. Minister Anthony Bonner here once again. Truth turned up. Ministries, the Gospel, the Game, and the Glory. A series aimed at Generation Z and at the hearts and minds of anyone else who will choose to come to the table, sit down, and partake of the spiritual buffet of divine instructions that God is sending forth in this season of life to raise up warriors, true sons and daughters, disciples, to walk this thing out, to live, move, and have their being only in Christ Jesus, that he may become their identity, their all in all, willing to deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow him, to investigate the whole matter and find out what that bully means to not only attend church, but to become a church. To not only hear the word, but as it says in the book of James, to be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. We thank God for this portion of Divine Instructions Part 4, which is coming to you on today. Our topic of discussion will be delight thyself in the Lord. Somebody say amen. Delight thyself in the Lord. You know, we take delight in many things in the world, many carnal things. Things that give us pleasure, things that uh give us excitement, things that give us joy, things that distract us. Those things can be an amusement park. They can unfortunately be food. They can be reading books. They can be hiking. Uh they can be playing athletics, whether it's basketball, football, volleyball, pickleball, you know, uh, they can be just spending time with your family. All these things are good. They are allowable. They've been given by God to enjoy. He's entrusted us with these things because he loves us so much and he understands that in order for us to have the fullness of joy in this life, that we need some outlets. But the problem lies in when those outlets and those gifts and those pleasures that he's allowed us to partake of and have become idols in our life. And when they push him completely out of the picture, and we begin to overindulge in them and don't set aside the proper amount of time to spend time with the God of the universe, the one who created us for his glory, for his purpose, that we may reflect his light, his love, hallelujah, in a thirsty and dry land. When we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we have been filled to be poured out in the name of Jesus. It's not to build our own kingdom, to amass three million followers on social media so that we can say, look at me, look at what I did, and I'm going to tell you how to do it. Because though you may have success, you surely may not have peace. You surely may not have love. You surely may not have kindness. You may not have joy. Hallelujah. You may not have temperance and meekness and many other divine gifts that are only bestowed upon a surrender and submitted vessel to Jesus Christ. So we want to be imitators of God. We want to be like the Apostle Paul, bond servants, prisoners, that we wouldn't dare be set free. Even if our master said, Go, do your own thing, you can go. That we would say, No, I dare not go. Because like the disciples told Jesus, where can we go? Only you have the gift of eternal life in the name of Jesus. And that eternal life again as we continue to grow, young people, is not about dying and going to heaven. We've had many generations come before us that have painted that bleak, weak, low standard of salvation that it's all about the end. If it was all about the end, then God has no need to be in the middle. Hallelujah. He who has begun a good work in you will complete it in today of Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us. So we stand upon God's words, knowing that because he started it, he's gonna be with us in the middle, and he's gonna be with us when he ushers us back into his uh heavenly kingdom. But until then, he's given us his son Jesus. He desires to fill us from head to toe with his Holy Spirit so that we can reflect his glory in this land to a hurting and dying land to not only tell people about Jesus, but to actually operate in the power of Jesus. Hallelujah. The Bible says it in 1 Corinthians 4 and 20 the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. We have a lot of word, a lot of sermons going out every Sunday. Go to the churches. They're amen and they're they're raising their hands, they're excited to be there, they're singing songs, but there's no power in the name of Jesus. There's no power. There's tradition, there's repetition, uh, and there's a lot of other things that are not in the word of God. But this is not an attack on the church, it's an invitation for this next generation to fully be um dunked, hallelujah, completely overcome with the power of God. So his true church, his remnant church, those who can be like the disciples of all, where the world would say, Peter and John, they're ignorant and unlearned men, but we know they've been with Jesus. That's what you want people to say about you. Well, they might not have gone to theological school, they may not be a member of such and such church, but here's what I know. They've been with Jesus. The Holy Spirit has taken them down through there. There's been a resurrection. Hallelujah. They've experienced the death. Yes, yes, yes. They understand what it's like to lay down their lives that they may take it up again. Because they delight themselves in the Lord. Let's look at this word delight, because it is not only a powerful word, it is a powerful phrase when you say you delight yourself in something. And we're not just going to delight ourselves in something, we're going to delight ourselves in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose property we are. 1 Corinthians 6 and 19. We've been bought with a price. We're not our own. Meaning, if you've accepted Him as your Savior and your Lord, more importantly, your Lord, then you are not your own. Any more than the vehicle you drive, or the bicycle you have, or the bus pass you use. It's yours. The car doesn't just start itself up and drive anywhere it wants to go. Your bike is not just gonna pedal out of the garage. Your best pass is not gonna walk to the bus stop and get on the bus. It's the same way with you. We are to delight ourselves in the Lord and give him consideration of everything we do. We lay it before the altar and ask him, God, what is your will? That's what the Lord's prayer begins in asking when he taught his disciples how to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Hallelujah. Did you not get that? Thy will be done. Thy will be done. And we can only say that wholeheartedly when God has our heart. When we've submitted our heart. In the book of Proverbs, in the fourth chapter in the 23rd verse, it says that we are to guard our heart with all diligence because out of it flows the issues of life. What are the issues of life? The issues of life, first of all, is your purpose. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and we know we do not want him destroying our purpose because the purpose first and foremost is to yield our life to God through Jesus Christ so that we can become only what it is he's ordained us to become. That we can function as little gods on the earth, that people through our sacrifice may encounter him and be blessed, that people may understand that Jesus Christ is indeed the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. That he's not a dormant God, that he is an active God, and that he delight ourselves in the war in the Lord. This word delight or this phrase delight, to delight in something means to find deep pleasure or deep satisfaction. As I said earlier, unfortunately, there are some people who are bound by the spirit of gluttony, which causes them to overeat, and we don't pick on them because that is a real demonic attack to steal the vibrancy of their life, uh, shorten their lifespan, limit their effectiveness to be witness for God, to cause them to go into isolation, to live in shame and embarrassment, and many other things that God did not assign for his creation. But in order to escape that, we need to delight ourselves in the Lord. Not in pizza, not in fast food, not in junk food, not in any of the other things that will lead us into this unfortunate condition. And there are many other conditions, whether it's alcohol, whether it's drugs, whether it's sex, whether it's even success. Success can be something you delight yourself in because you like the way it makes you feel. You like the reputation you gain amongst your peers. You like being on television on the front of magazines, because that is one of the five basic needs we all have as human beings is to be known, to be honored, to be elevated. God gave us that internal uh desire. God wired us that way. He did it back in the Garden of Eden when He created us in His image and likeness, and He told us to go forth, to be fruitful, to multiply, to take dominion over the earth. Hallelujah! To replenish it, to restore God's divine order is the whole purpose of Jesus Christ's coming. Because the Bible says in Luke 19 and 10 that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. That's you and I. That's our parents, our grandparents, your children that's gonna come after you. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost because he wanted you to delight yourself in him. He wanted you to take pleasure in him, he wanted you to have joy and deep satisfaction, spending time with him, trusting him, following him, turning your problems over to him, allowing him to open doors for you. That's why the Bible says in the book of Proverbs, in the 18th chapter, it says a man's gift will make room for him and bring him before great men. Your degree is not going to make room for you. All you got to do is look at the numbers. Look at the numbers during every recession or every issue, economic issues that happen. People are laid off. People who have degrees from Ivy League schools, people that have degrees from mid-major colleges or junior colleges or who've done great things in the world, they find themselves on the outside looking in because it's only God that can make room for your gift. It's only God that gives promotion. It's only God that opens and closes doors. It's only God that will subdue your enemies. It's only God that will give you the grace that is needed to even identify the door you should walk through. You may or may not be familiar with the price, is right. Bob Barker would stand down there, he would get on the microphone, he would call up a contestant, they'd come down front, they'd submit their bid, and if their bid won, uh their bid being closest to the price of the item that is set up there to see who's gonna get an opportunity to choose a curtain, then that person would come up and they'd have a choice between curtain number one, two, or three. And you never know what's behind the curtain. See, that's what the world wants you to do, is pick your own curtain in the name of Jesus. The world wants you to do it the world's way. You see, but when you do it the world's way, now you gotta trust the world in what's behind the curtain. And I've watched the show long enough to see behind the curtain, there may be absolutely nothing but a milk crate. Hallelujah. There may be a goat or a cow. There may be an envelope with tickets to an all-expense paid vacation. There could be a car, there could be a motorcycle, there could be a number of things. But it would all be dependent upon what the world says you should have, and not what God has left you in his will, your divine inheritance, which is God saying, No good thing will he behold from those who walk upright, who love him, who follow him, who submit to him, who seek him, who desire his input in their lives, young people, in the name of Jesus. When I delight myself in the Lord, I make God my primary source. He's my primary source of happiness. Not my wife, not my kids, not my vocation or my career, not my looks, not my connections. No, God is. God is all the other things are gifts that He's given me, and they flow out of that. They don't replace that because the moment I allow the one of the gifts God has given me to replace God, then I'm operating in idolatry. I'm out of divine order. Because when one of those things are taken away, and believe me, they're going to be taken away at some time. Or one of those things is operating out of order. Now you're out of order because you never put things in divine order in the name of Jesus. We're not taught these things, young people. We're allowed to go out and make our own plans. They tell us we can be whatever we want to be, we can do whatever we want to do. It's not biblical. It is not biblical. God has a plan for your life. He created you, he formed you, he made you only for his glory. He knew you before the foundations of the earth. He knew you before he formed you in your mother's womb. That is a fact. And because that is a fact, you got to do it his way all of the time, not some of the time. We may be young and not know it yet or have not been taught it yet that doing it God's way is the very best way. But take it from the word. It is the very best way, and you save yourself from a lot of heartache, pain, disappointment, self-destruction, uh depression, uh distress, demise, uh demonic warfare, because you're in he who is sovereign. You know, imagine you having at your disposal all of the Secret Service, the FBI, the CIA, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Marines, the Special Services, and anybody else that yields power on behalf of the United States government. When you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and his host of angels operating on your behalf, there is nothing or anyone that can attack you successfully. That is just a fact. That's why in the book of Isaiah, in the 54th chapter, the 17th verse, you see it clearly is stated by the prophet Isaiah: no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise up against you, thou shalt condemn. Because this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of him. That's God's power. My young brothers and sisters. We want to operate in God's power. And because it's God's power, it's all powerful. Nothing can stand before you. Nothing. That's why God can go back in the book of Romans to the Apostle Paul and tell you in Romans 8 and 28 that uh all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and who are the called according to his purpose. Everything, the pleasant things, the unpleasant things, the confusing things, uh, the good things, they all work together for your good. If you love God and you're in position to hear his voice, to seek his will, and to submit to his will for your life, then everything that's happening to you is actually happening for you. You don't have to understand it, you just need to go through it because you're on a journey with the Almighty, all-powerful God. And because you're being formed, anything that is formed is stretched, it is molded, it is misconfigured to be reconfigured. So that's why God tells you to count the cost before you serve Him. Don't serve me or submit to me or seek me out of your mom or dad's understanding, out of your grandparents' understanding, out of a pastor's invitation or understanding. God says, which of you intending to build a cow or sit it, a tower, sit it not down first and count it the cost whether you have sufficient enough to finish it. God doesn't want us starting things and not finishing them, especially divine things, especially not a huge, life-altering legacy uh shaping or legacy demising decision as following him. Because it has eternal consequences, not only for you, but for your loved ones, for your children that are to come. This is a lifetime agreement, a lifetime contract that surpasses this life well into the next. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, we're making a conscious, intentional choice of choosing to bask in this relationship with Christ. We're gonna savor every moment, we're gonna enjoy every moment, we're gonna cherish every moment because he died just for you. He came, he took on flesh, he was without sin. He kept going toward Jerusalem, even though he knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. Betrayal, hallelujah, deceit, even what appeared to be death that had been planned. The Bible says he came unto his own, and yet his own knew him not. They ridiculed him, they despised him, they joked, they said, If you come down, then we'll believe you. But yet he stayed up there because there was a purpose. To descend down into hell, to take back the keys, to defeat the last enemy, which is death, and it's been defeated forever. We don't walk in it fully right now, but we will when we transition, or if he comes. Comes back before that time. Hallelujah. We will. Well, we will live and reign with him forever, as the Bible says. But we don't have to wait to live and reign with him. We can do that right now in this life by delighting ourselves in him and being satisfied with God's plan, plan for our life. Hallelujah. Can I say that again? Being satisfied with God's planned plan for our life. See, God has a plan plan for you. It's already been scripted. It's already been written. It's already been orchestrated. It has a uh very amazing end. It has an interesting middle, and it started out all from him before the foundations of the earth. It is very specific, it is very detailed. We follow it seemingly blindly, but yet as we're connected to him, like your cell phone being plugged in the wall into the phone, we have a charge, we have a connection. The Holy Spirit was sent to lead and guide us into all truth. So when we're born again and we lay down our lives and pick up our cross and follow him, now we have a connection to the Holy Spirit. And the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost have an obligation to make sure we reach the desired end. That we experience everything we need to as we walk the path that God has ordained for us to fully blossom and become what it is He's ordained us to be. That our life would emanate rays of light, that our life would give off power, that people again will know that we've been to Jesus. It says in the Bible in um Psalms 39 and 6, for with thee is the fountain of life. In thy light shall we see life. Jesus Christ is the fountain of life. Imagine that. You've seen a water fountain, you walk up to it, you hit the button, water comes out. You can drink as much or as little as you want, and the water never stops. So imagine drinking from the fountain of life, which is Jesus Christ. With him is the fountain of life, which means you can really embrace, experience, and enjoy real life, the life he talks about in John 10 and 10. I come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. That's the life Jesus wants you to have. Nothing on earth can give you abundant life. There is no fountain of life on earth. You have a lifespan in earth, in this natural mortal body, and it can either be enjoyed in conjunction with the plan God has, or you can enjoy it according to the natural, carnal, sinful, dark worlds plan for your life in the name of Jesus. You want to walk in God's presence. You want to experience all of the promises He has over your life. Those that are even unknown. God said, Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those that love him. To love God means to obey God. He said, If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. It's not an emotional love, it's not the love that human beings in their natural state are capable of giving and receiving. That love is flawed. That love is conditional. When you let me down, I can withdraw my love. As long as you're doing things that are pleasing unto me or that I agree with or that benefit me, then I reciprocate that love. I give it back to you. That's not the love God is talking about. All of us were born in sin and iniquity and have gone astray from birth. We've operated outside of God's divine love. We've broken his heart time and time again. We've disappointed him time and time again. We turn our back on him time and time again. We've been his enemies, but yet, because of his grace, because of his mercy, because of his divine love, there's forgiveness, there's opportunity, there's redemption, there's reconciliation, to once again be in the presence of God, and there's restoration to be restored to our original state of communion with God, of receiving provision from God, of receiving God's full participation in our life, of receiving God's protection, hallelujah, and walking in God's promises and his power. That's how we delight ourselves in the Lord, young people. It's not a religious delight, it is a relationship realization delight. Experiencing the planned plan that God has for your life. Not the plan you have, not mama and daddy's college plan, not the devil's plan, which is to steal, kill, and destroy your purpose to lead you astray, to help you make yourself your own God. Remember, he told Jesus when he took him out in the wilderness to be tempted 40 days and 40 nights. He was led out there by the Spirit, first and foremost. So it was God's plan for his life. And he told him that if you fall down and worship me, I'll give you all the glory of these kingdoms. See, you have to choose to fall. Walk with me now. Walk with me now, people. Young people, walk with me. See, if you trip, that's accidental. Someone can stick their foot out, you can trip over something in a room, a shoe, a couch, a toy, you trip, that's accidental. But if you fall down, that's intentional, that's a choice. See, you can be knocked down because someone punches you, pushes you, you get in a scrap or a scramble, you can get knocked down and knocked out. But if you fall down, that means you choose to go down. That means you're lowering yourself from your divine position as an heir of God, a joint heir through Christ Jesus in the kingdom of God. The Bible says in the book of Psalms in the eighth chapter, it says, Well, the word of a king is there's power, and who may say unto him, What doest thou? You were created to be kings and priests, to have authority with God and man, to be able to intercede and intervene on behalf of your fellow human beings for God's power to flow through you. You are to be a power plant. That's why God gives the illustration in the book of Matthew when he says, A city that is set on a hill cannot be here. How many dark cities have you seen, my young brothers and sisters? Cities are full of light. If you've ever flown on an airplane, and as you look down out of the window, you may not know which building is which building or which subdivision is which subdivision as you fly over it. But you will see that they are all illuminated and full of light. That's what God says we are to be as we delight ourselves in him, seek his will, surrender our lives, he will illuminate us, and we will drink from the fountain of life. Remember, in his presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. And those pleasures don't destroy us, those pleasures don't distract us. Those pleasures don't deter us from the path that God has ordained for our life. They actually lead us closer to him, they actually lead us into a deeper understanding of him. They actually create a deeper thirst and hunger in us for him. This delight we have will give us a new nature. This delight allows us to renew our mind. This delight allows us to be transformed and no longer conformed to the image of this world. This delight changes our heroes, our role models, the influences we follow and look up to. If we delight ourselves in the Lord, we now become supernatural divine beings with a new focus, a new motive, a new purpose. No longer seeking to just amass and attain the things of the world, but really seeking, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? God, what is it you have for me? God, what is it that I was created for? You won't fall for the okidok. You won't fall for false narratives or false direction. Because you'll be like Jesus after Mary and Joseph had gone out and left him behind in Jerusalem, and after three days they realized that he was not with the camp, and they came back and they found him in the temple, sitting at or in the presence of rulers and religious authorities debating and discussing uh deep spiritual things. And Jesus said to them, How is it that you have sought me? Know ye not that I must be about my father's business? Who in your generation, young people, are gonna be about your father's business? Your heavenly father. He's looking for people to come into the family business. Your natural father right now may be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Your father could have a small business. Your mom could have a boutique. They could be educators, they could be career military people, they could be basketball coaches, they can be a number of things and have planned your life out from the time they have changed your pamphers, seen you take your first steps, seen you sing your first song, and they already got you on Broadway, or getting a recording contract, or they already have you in a Phoenix Suns NBA uniform or a Miami Dolphins football uniform or going to their Alma Mata at Auburn University, Notre Dame University, Syracuse University. Your dad may already picture you having gold bars on your shoulder with that nice blue marine jacket on and those gray navy trousers and those shine black shoes and that white hat and them gloves. There are a number of plans they may have for you. But the Bible tells us in Proverbs 14 and 12 and 16 and 25, there is a way that seems right unto a man. But the end there are, the the end there are, the end thereof, excuse me, tongue-tied. There's a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Meaning you don't get to experience the purpose God has for you because you've chosen your own purpose or you've allowed someone else to dictate your purpose. God is saying, no, delight yourself in me. Delight yourself in me. Walk with me, follow me, submit to me, listen for me, thirst and hunger after me, and watch what I do. He says, if you exalt yourself, you're gonna be abasted, mean taking down. But if you humble yourself in due time, God says, I'll exalt you, I'll lift you up. That's delighting yourself in God, to trust him in the low place, to wait on him to take you to the high place, to allow him to impart in you everything you need to be the very best version of yourself. The world tells you you're living your best life. There's no way you can live your best life apart from God. If you're not in Christ, you are open to receive everything that's not good for you in this fallen world. There are no vaccines for sin. Can I say that again? There are no vaccines for sin. You can wear a mask and still be in darkness, hallelujah. No protection from it. But when you delight yourself in the Lord, you are now clothed with the divine presence of God. You are no longer naked, hallelujah, in this world. You put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. That's Romans 13 and 14. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, make not provision for the flesh, hallelujah, to fulfill the lust thereof. What is lust? Lust is sinful behavior. Lust is desiring something so great outside of the will of God for yourself that it can lead to your destruction. You can lust after success, you can lust after other people's gifts, you can lust after other people's property. Amen. And it can go on and on and on and on. And we know that lust is of the devil. He's the father of lies. That's why, again, you gotta guard your heart with all diligence because out of it flows the issues of life. The Bible clearly tells us in the book of Matthew that out of the heart flows uh evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, and blasphemies. That these are the things which defile a man. You don't want a defiled heart, you want a clean heart. So we tell God in Psalms 26 and 2, examine me, O Lord, prove me. Try my reins and try my heart. We want to always be examined by God. We said in Divine Instructions 3 that you'll have a doctor's appointment daily to be examined by God. He's always looking at your motives, he's always looking at your growth or your lack thereof. It's like jumping on a treadmill. You don't get to jump off, and it does not slow down, it picks up speed. We want to operate at maximum capacity in the presence of God and as God abides in us. We want the fullness of his character. We want our behavior to be divine behavior. No, we're not perfect, but we can strive for it. And it's not our perfection that'll be bestowed upon us. It'll be the perfection of the one who came, who died on our behalf, who interceded, who sits at the right hand of the throne of God. His perfection is now our perfection because I'm in Christ. And the word says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. I can be a creature without sin. The world says I cannot. But then the Bible tells us, whose report will you believe? Who are you gonna believe? A fellow fallen human being like you, who may not thirst and hunger after me like I want him to. So naturally, he doesn't believe he can live a perfected life because he's not in me. He doesn't know that the scripture says that in the book of Matthew, in the sixth chapter, that last verse down there, I believe it's 38. He says, Be ye perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. That's real clear to me. That's very clear to me. But I also know it's not me seeking to be perfect, it's me accepting Christ's perfection. I just need to hold his hand. It's like when you walk with your mother and father, they may have credit, you don't have credit, but if they got credit and you with them and they go to the store and pull out their card, you got credit now, right? Because you're with them. I'm with Jesus Christ. So whatever is his is mine. Hallelujah in the name of Jesus. Every good thing about him is good about me because he died on my behalf. He's my representative in heaven. He was my representative in the earth. He defeated my enemies prior to me even being born. He's defeating my enemies now because he sent back the Holy Ghost. He has angels ascending and descending on my behalf to provide, to protect, hallelujah, to position. Yes, that's who he is. That's what he does. And that's what he wants me to accept. He wants me to operate in an unshakable, unmovable, undeniable faith. He doesn't want faith to just believe that he is without actually believing to receive the fullness. We gotta go deeper. We need a generation that's hungrier, we need a generation that wants to be more powerful, we need a generation that dares to just dare to just dare, because he is who he says he is. Our scripture verse for the day is Psalm 37, 4 and 5. But I'm going to take the liberty of reading 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and then we're going to call it a day. Because we want to go in the in-depthness of what this scripture verse is, who is another Psalm written by David, the man after God's own heart. And it's very profound because what it does is when we delight ourselves in God, it won't allow us to operate in covetousness and jealousy and envy and worry and all the other things that the natural mind tends to get into. You can go to college and get a degree, and then when you graduate and they have a job there, and your friends that you hung out with in college and drank with and fornicated with and hung out with and lied with, they get hired for a job and you don't get one. The enemy will have you jealous. The enemy will have you envious. The enemy will have you anxious. The enemy will have you feeling like you're a failure because he'll get you in a state of comparison and there is no compare. You're both beautifully and wonderfully made. The only difference can be is if you're in Christ and they are not, then you would know without a shadow of a doubt that God is going to make room for your gift, that it's not over for you, that you trust that that's just not the job that God has for you at that job there at that particular moment on that day. That what God has for you is still ahead. That maybe he wants you to spend more time with him, that maybe he's pressing some other things out and in you. That as you keep following him, you're gonna walk right into what God has for you. Hallelujah. That your position or purpose might be out in the desert like Moses, and you gotta have a burning bush experience to hear God speak to you away from your friends, away from campus, away from human eyes, that God might tell you move to California, move to Miami, move to Chicago, move to New York, go to Spain, because what he has for you is much greater than what you're thinking for yourself. Come on now, young people, walk with Unk. Because this is real, this is the meat of our spiritual experience. This is not Christianity, this is kingdom-minded living. This is following the king. You are a kingdom citizen. Yes, you're not a religious zealot. You got to remember when the 12 disciples were in the boat and they were going to the other side after they had experienced the miraculous moment of the feeding of the 5,000, not counting women and children, from the little lad who brought the small, the uh uh three fish in the two small loaves. And Jesus sent the disciples. The Bible says it constrained them, and he sent them to the other side, and he sent the multitudes away, and he stayed behind to pray. And late at night, in like the third watch or something, he's looking, he comes walking to them on the water in the wee hours of the morning, and they see him and they panic. And he says to them, Do not be afraid, be of good courage. It is I he identifies himself to them, and they're all afraid and shaken and only. Peter says, Lord, if it's thee, bid me to come. You bid me to come because Peter wanted to delight himself in the Lord. When you delight yourself in the Lord, you will dare to attempt the impossible, you will believe the impossible, you will trust in the impossible that God has you. And the Bible says Peter got out of the boat and he started to walk, and it was only when he looked down that doubt, that fear, that uh unbelief all overtook him and he began to sink. Hallelujah. But Jesus was there and all was well. But the other 12 had been with Jesus, the other 12 had been picked. Why didn't they believe? Why didn't they get out of the boat? See, that's What church is. You got 11 people who are all religious at the moment, even though they've been chosen by God, they've seen the miracles, they've heard the stories, they've read the Torah, they know the law of Moses, they know the history of Israel, they know all that, but they know it by head knowledge, not by experience of the heart. Only Peter got out of the boat. Don't you let religious people who are Christians or constant churchgoers or Bible study attendees keep you in the boat in the name of Jesus. That's the blind leading the blind. The Bible wants you to be bold. The Bible wants you to trust in God. The Bible wants you to do great exploits. Daniel 11 and 33. The people that do know their God shall be strong and do great exploits. Yes, we're at war with ourselves, we're at war with the culture, we're at war with religion, we're at war with religious people. We are. Because religious people will keep you experiencing the kingdom of God and the fullness of God's power and his plan for your life. They'll just want you to contribute to the religious campaign to build bigger buildings for more people to come. Yes. Church is about programs, they desire bodies. The more bodies in the building, they believe they're in the will of God. Yes, the more buildings, the more bodies, and the more bank. And they believe that's honoring God. God bless them and so be it. But I'm supposed to be able to go in that building and get healed from stage four cancer if I am indeed a believer. I'm supposed to go in that building and get a revelation of what's in my house and what's in my hand for God to do something. I'm supposed to go in that building and be set free from anxiety, from depression, from doubt, from fear. I'm supposed to go in that building and be lifted up, and what's in me should kick and leap, like when Mary and Elizabeth came into each other's presence and they were pregnant. Hallelujah, with John the Baptist and the Savior of the world, Jesus, and Elizabeth's baby kicked when Mary just walked in her presence. See, the church only has power when there's people in the building who are filled with the power. The church itself has no power. The church can be full of dry bones in the desert, like when God sent Ezekiel out there to speak to the bones. You may be the one God empowers to be like Ezekiel and go speak to the dry bones when he told him to prophesy unto those bones. Hallelujah. And then ask him the question: can these bones live? Huh? And Ezekiel shouted back, Lord, thou knowest. See, God wants you to know that the bones can live because you delight yourself in him. Amen. As we wind down reading these five verses that I cited in the book of Psalm 37, a Psalm of David, fret not thyself because of evildoers. To fret means to worry, to have anxiety. David tells us to fret not thyself because of evildoers. Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. We don't have to be, we don't have to have worry or anxiety when people are prospering, or we think they're ahead of us, or we're never gonna make it. We don't have to be envious against people who cheat to get there, people who take shortcuts, people who have no moral character and uh are unethical, but yet they live in the biggest houses. They drive the best cars, their kids go to the best schools, they wear the best clothes, they can afford plastic surgeries to appear to look the best. Hallelujah. God said, Do David, fret not thyself. Don't be anxious, don't you worry about that. I got that under control. I see it. Hallelujah. Your job is just to delight yourself in me. Your job in me is to ask me to show you my ways and to teach you to walk in my path. That's what you need to do. That's your assignment. Today it was your assignment. Yesterday is going to be your assignment forevermore. Verse 2 says, For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as a green herb. Remember, he says that be not deceived. God is not mocked. So whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. That's biblical. Don't be deceived, don't be distracted. It's temporary. God says, if you exalt yourself, you're gonna be a base. He says, but if you humble yourself and you go through the training and you wait on me and you patient, he said, I'm gonna exalt you in due time. And it may not look like I'm gonna do it, and it may not feel like I'm gonna do it. And you may not hear anybody tell you I'm gonna do it, but I'm telling you I'm gonna do it. And my word shall not return unto me void, the word of God says. It shall accomplish that which I please in the thing that I send it out to. You see, but you gotta get in the word, you gotta get on fire for the word, you gotta be fully persuaded by the word, you gotta be hungry and thirsty. The Bible says that we should meditate on his word day and night, that we shouldn't let his word depart from us. Day and night we should meditate in this word. That's how necessary it is, that's how powerful it is, that's how important it is, my young brothers and sisters. Verse 3 says, Trust in the Lord and do good. It's hard to trust in the Lord and do good when it looks like you're doing bad. The temptation is to fret and be envious of people who look like they're doing good. So the psalmist has to encourage us that we walk by faith, not by sight. We're not moved by our circumstances. Part of promotion is struggle. When it looks its worst, it's actually its best because God works from the inside out. He's working on your heart, he's renewing your understanding, he's embedding you in spiritual things. Your faith is growing. That's why he says, Count it all joy when we experience trials and various temptations. We can count it all joy when we're going through tough times, because tough times bring great blessings. Hallelujah. He says, Trust in the Lord and do good. So shall thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. It's God's promise that you're gonna be fed because he's gonna be the one feeding you, and he can use other people. It might not be his hand that feeds you, but it'll be his hand that move them to feed you. See, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. God can touch somebody to do what's necessary for you, whether that's to feed you and your family, to house you and your family, to pay you and your family's bills. Hallelujah. Supply you somewhere to take care of his business. He can use someone else to protect you. There are no limits in God. Luke 137. For with God nothing shall be impossible. I love it. You got to get on fire for this word, because his word is the armor. That's that sword that he puts in your hand. It's the word of truth. Hallelujah. Then you got to have your shield with your sword because it's the shield of faith. You have to yield your shield to the enemy to let him know you know what the weapons of your warfare are. Second Corinthians 10 says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down a stronghold, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every negative thought. Come on now. You got to know what your weapons are. We're not religious people, we're fighting a spiritual fight. Ephesians chapter 6 tells you that you wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age. Hallelujah! You gotta know you're in a spiritual fight. They're human beings, but their ugliness is not necessarily all them. It's their father, the father of lies. They believe the hype, they've committed to follow him. But it won't always be like that. You have to pray for them, you have to show them love, you have to show them forgiveness, you have to give them a pass, you have to seek God's direction and his light in how to interact, when to interact, and how to interact with them, or to even leave them to themselves for this season of life. That's called wisdom. Divine wisdom, divine instructions through God's wisdom. Verse 4, delight thyself also in the Lord. He throws the word also in there simply because he knows that you're gonna have delight in many other things. He's giving you a family, he's giving you a career, he's giving you a job, he's giving you a nice car, he's giving you great possessions, he's giving you great opportunities. God saying, Don't get lost in all that. Keep the main thing, the main thing. Delight yourself also in the Lord. Make me your primary delight, your first love. Hallelujah. The love that was with you before the foundations of the earth, the love that's gonna be with you in the middle, when the enemy comes in like a flood and attacks you, when your heart is broken, when life gets heavy, I'm gonna be with you. Delight yourself in me. I will never leave you or forsake you. And I'm gonna be with you in the end when it's time for you to transition, it's time for you to go. When you grow old and life is full, and you may be laid on your back or limited in movement, and people have gone away. Your children have grown on and grown, and they may forget about you and not love you and may not come back. It happened, it has happened, it will continue to happen. But we praise God and we keep going because we understand that He's the author and finisher of our faith, He's the Alpha and the Omega, He's the beginning and the end, He's the head Hancho. He is the one and only one. He says, Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of your heart. See, he can give you the desires of your heart only to the degree that you delight yourself in him and allow him to give you a new heart. A heart of flesh, not of stone, a heart that desires spiritual things, a heart that desires the empowerment and upliftment of your fellow man and humanity, a heart that desires his kingdom to be advanced, and not your kingdom or the natural kingdom. See, you're only building one of two kingdoms, the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light. You're either representing the father of lives or the God of the universe. You're either in him or outside of him. You're either his property, an heir, and a family member, or you're an enemy. That's it. The battlegrounds and the lines have been drawn centuries ago. From the beginning of time, from when Satan beguiled Eve, and Adam just operated in pure, solid 100 disobedience. The battle line was drawn. God said he would put enmity between the woman's seed and the adversary or the enemy or Satan. But he's under our feet, he's defeated. Our heels should bruise his head because we walk on him. God has given that power and that authority. And he said he'll give you the desires of your heart again, because your mind is stayed on him. He will keep you in perfect peace. Verse 5: Commit thy way unto the Lord. If I delight myself in him, that means I can trust him. If I delight myself in him, that means I'm listening for him. That means I can hand everything to him. I can hand him my dreams, my plans, my visions, my hurt, my happiness, my anger, my family, my health, my finances. There's nothing I can't commit to him. He says, Commit my way unto the Lord. Trust also in him. Again, he uses this word trust because we live in a generation where we trust in so many other things. We trust in our degrees. We trust in our connections. We trust in our natural intellect. We trust in uh our possessions. We trust in our own selves and our ability to get things done, to rebound, to get back up again, to restore. God is saying, no, no, no, no, no. Commit thy way unto me. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Come on now, brothers and sisters. You got to be excited about that, young people. God will bring it to pass. God will bring it to pass. That's all I want you to say three times. God will bring it to pass. God will bring it to pass. God will bring it to pass. But I have to interject and say, only if I delight myself in him, only if I commit my ways unto him. Only if I trust also in him. Hallelujah, in the name of Jesus. Somebody get excited. Hey, you win. You won. You were created to win. It is finished. He must increase and I must decrease. We don't want to be another generation of people who just go to church and don't experience the power, the authority, the provision, the protection, the privilege of walking in Christ Jesus. He died that I might live, not that I might go to church. He died that I might have a relationship, not a religious encounter. Oh, yeah, I'm talking, and I know the devil will be mad, and I know religious-minded people will be mad, but this is my portion. The Bible says, woe unto the world because of offenses. Yeah, but offenses are gonna come. He said, Woe unto the man through whom they come. They're gonna be offended because you're calling them out. The kingdom of God is not in power, not in word. Anybody can talk about Jesus. Even the devils feared him. Hallelujah. But they didn't submit to him. It's through our submission that we receive our activation and our impartation. Let us pray. Let us pray. Divine instructions part four. Divine instructions part four. Young people, seek wisdom. Seek wisdom. That's God. That's delight in yourself in Him. Read the book of Proverbs, read the book of Psalms, read the Gospels, read the epistles, go on all the way back into the book of Revelation. Hallelujah. It's a new covenant, it's a better covenant, it's a better testament. There's power in the name of Jesus. There's victory in Jesus. There's an assignment in Jesus. Yes, there's a pathway, a plan in Jesus. Dear God, O Heavenly Father, I think that right now in the name of Jesus, I just pray that your Holy Spirit will flood the hearts and minds of those who have ears to hear this word on today of delighting thyself in the Lord. Delight thyself in the Lord. Profound, simple, but yet powerful words to delight in you, to take joy in you, to take possession of you, to hand myself over to you, hallelujah, and not delight in things of this world. Carnal things, diminishing things, things that are sure to fade. Hallelujah. Bless this generation of people. Let their will for your lives be experienced. Give them the courage to walk in the narrow path, to embrace you, to deny themselves, to walk in the uncommon way, to embrace being uncomfortable, knowing that they are being shaped and molded. The great man of God, Job, said, But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Let us embrace trial, the trial of our faith, being more precious than gold. Hallelujah. I thank you for the increase. I thank you for the power. I thank you for the authority. It's in the mighty name of Jesus we decree and declare victory, victory, victory, and more victory to the doers of the word, oh Heavenly Father, not the hearers. You said, be ye doers of the word, and not only hearers. In Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, God bless you, Generation Z. And as I said yesterday, A through Z, God has a plan for your life. You're never too young, you're never too old. God will use you right where you are so He can get glory out of your life, that this generation may know about the realness of the kingdom of God, its power, its authority, the ability to make your life exactly what God planned it to be, no matter how far you've missed it, no matter how bad it seems to you. Nothing is impossible with God. He can make it right. He can make the rose grow from the concrete. He can resurrect the dead. He can restore anything that looks withered and destroyed. Hallelujah. He made water come out of the rock. He made quail come in the desert. He split the Red Sea. Hallelujah. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk upright. God bless you. God keep you. In Jesus' name. A man and amen.