The Hope Hotline - How Do I Learn To Walk In Victory?
Episode Date: January 29, 2025How Do I Learn To Walk In Victory? The Hope Hotline | S03-E07 | 01-29-2025...
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Real Talk.
Real Talk.
Real Talk.
Real Talk.
Hey, everybody.
Thank you for tuning in to the Hope Hotline.
We appreciate you for joining in with us.
Today we are going to, I'm fighting with my computer, trying to open something up.
Today we're going to do something a little different than what we normally do.
And hopefully it will help you.
I was telling the girls, i thought instead of answering questions
which we do have some questions um that are lingering that we we need to answer but instead
of going to those today what i thought we would talk about is living a victorious life a lot of
times i i've just seen it and i and i feel like in some ways we're coming out of it because people are so elated
that Biden is no longer our president
and they see Trump and the last,
what is it now, nine days of him being in office.
Like people, it's like Christmas.
That's what I feel like.
It's so true.
I feel like people's whole demeanor to some extent
yeah is like a time of of Christmas yeah you're right depending on who you're talking to though
fair true very true my mom's like watching the news now she is like every day there's a day
every day but Christmas is like that yes Christmas's a good day every day but christmas is like that yes
christmas is a time of hope for people right because people act nicer people are kinder
um there's just an air of peace and happiness they're less reactive
and i feel like because trump is now in office, like your mom watching the news. Yeah.
Because he's turning back the clock.
Right.
And all of that is great.
Trust me.
Loving it myself.
But it is not what makes you victorious.
It is not. And what's going to happen is everybody that has been walking a life of just getting through life,
when the newness and the mundane things go back to normal,
because Christmas, let's face it, people are sad when Christmas is over.
Why? Because life goes back to normal.
And the same thing is going to happen with Trump.
We're going to see some great things happening and he's going to continue to inspire us to a
certain extent for right things being done and corrected. But life is still going to go back
and your bills are still going to be your bills. And you're going to find out that, you know,
groceries are still high and gas prices will
go low, but not as fast as you want.
What I'm trying to say to you is he's not the answer and he's not going to be the one
thing that makes you feel victorious in this life.
And I feel like so many people walk around just subpar and they're not attaining all that they could.
The Bible is chock full of scriptures
and instruction on how to be victorious daily.
And so that's really what I wanted to talk about today.
So that, how do we get there?
I mean, you see, a lot of us see people, we're like,
how is it that everything they pray for or everything they're believing for
or everything they do turns to gold?
How is that?
How does it work?
They must just be special.
It's not that.
It's not that they're special.
It's just what they believe what the Word of God says.
And then they apply it on a
daily basis. And you say, okay, well, how do I do that? Well, it's clear in the word, but I'm going
to tell you, there's four things, four things. If you do them every single day, you will see the
results that you want to see for the long haul,
if you apply them for the long haul, outside of the four essentials.
And what I'm going to tell you is not the four essentials.
If you do these along with the four essentials,
which some of you are going, what's the four essentials?
I'm going to say prayer, Bible study, worship, and fellowship.
If you do these four things along with those four things,
and you would say, well, that's a lot. If you think praying, reading the word, worship,
and fellowshipping, and fellowshipping doesn't mean hanging out. Fellowshipping is iron
sharpening iron with another believer. If you think that that's hard, you're never going to be a winner.
You just might as well just accept defeat right now.
Which some people might be fine with that.
Not me.
Like I want everything I touch
to have the favor of God on it
and to literally turn to gold.
Because I can have that.
Ladies, do you agree?
Very much so.
Yeah.
Why settle for less?
Exactly.
What kills me is there will be people that will look at other people that are having great success.
That are having things get accomplished and done.
Right?
Like we know people that have had houses given to them,
have had finances abundantly given to them
that live a very nice lifestyle
and everybody's jealous of them
instead of being, you know, rejoicing with them.
You're jealous, but I'm like, why are you jealous?
You're not doing what they're doing.
Like, if you did what they did, you would probably get what they got.
But instead, it's easier for you to be jealous and then critical.
Which is not good.
True.
Very true.
I mean, being jealous and critical just shows you how.
Am I defeated? Yes, I am.
I shouldn't have made myself cough. Hold on. Yeah, we're holding. Yeah, it's very true,
though. Like when you start to have that perspective of jealousy and you're seeing things through a filter of, man, must be nice for them.
Like you're defeated already.
You're already coming from a place of defeat.
Yeah, it's so true.
But you will hear people with people in ministry.
Well, pastors shouldn't have this and pastors shouldn't have that. But I'm like, but it's okay for a business owner that's the president of a company to have the very same thing that a pastor does?
How is that?
Yeah.
And that's a Christian business person.
And you're okay with that Christian business person having the same exact thing as this pastor does,
but it's not okay for the pastor. It's only okay for the business person.
I am. It doesn't make any sense. It makes no sense whatsoever.
When both of them are doing the same thing, both of them are fasting, both of them are reading
their word. Both of them are fellowshipping, worshiping, praying. And why can't both of them are fellowshipping, worshiping, praying. And why can't both of them prosper?
Why does it have to be either or?
Because a lot of times people don't, if they're down,
they want nobody else to rise up.
Yeah. I just don't understand that thought process.
It's very foreign to me.
It really is because there is no favoritism in the kingdom of God.
And so if you applied God's promises and if you apply God's word,
like you have access to that favor as well.
Right.
And when you were making,
how much was it that you guys were making?
Well,
Jeff was making $70 a week when we first got married.
Okay.
And when somebody was being successful and God was pouring out a blessings on
them,
were you ever like,
that ain't right.
Oh,
absolutely not.
He did it for them.
He's going to do it for us.
And it,
that's the right mentality.
Yeah.
And it,
there is a level of like excitement,
but also expectation.
It also has to go with your words too.
You're still speaking that negative into your life.
Instead of if you were like,
they got that,
I can get that.
And now I'm going to believe for that.
My thing is,
my, my hope is to encourage you to go after something that God has for you.
And I'm going to tell you this, whatever you sow into, you will reap.
Okay.
So I will tell you this.
One of the things that I love about Pastor Clover, who's a good friend. She's been on this podcast.
She is always cheerleading for people.
Now, her and her husband stepped out in ministry and moved to an area they knew nobody.
And their church was very, very tiny.
And all the time that it was tiny
and everybody else's was growing
and people were doing things,
she was hitting that like button. She was
celebrating them. She was like, see, I'm like that. And I'm like that. And I like people like
that. You know why? Because what happens is when you sow into other people and you celebrate them,
God says, I can trust you. I can trust you with growth because you know how to honor somebody else
when you want to go where they're going.
Maybe like what I say is maybe like she was not just,
and I don't either.
I'm not like always liking and applauding
and celebrating people that they're doing what I want to do. I'm not like always liking and applauding and celebrating people that they're doing
what I want to do.
That's not it.
Because what God's called each of us to do is very different from each other's.
But what happens is, is he says, you know what?
Your heart's in the right place.
So I can trust you that I can bring other people along beside you and they'll encourage
you.
They'll celebrate you and we they'll encourage you, they'll celebrate you,
and we can just push you forward.
But when you're contentious and you're jealous
and you're a backbiter and you're always envious
of somebody else and where they're going,
and you always have like a little side note to say,
well, if they didn't do this, and I wonder about that,
is that why they're getting what they're getting?
I mean, and people do that.
If they weren't friends with this person, would this be happening for them?
I mean, you hear this nonsense.
Instead of like, are they a hard worker?
Are they a bust in tail?
Are they doing everything that God expects them to do?
Are they fasting?
Are they praying?
Maybe that's the reason why it's happening for them.
So my encouragement is you to be a victorious person. And there are certain things that help us in order to get us to that place. So as a group today, because I told
them, I said, let's like, kind of like tag team today. Let's all kind of join in today. And let's
talk about what it takes to live victoriously
because all of us have not lived victoriously. So what are the lessons we learn from that?
And then how do we get to a place where we are on a daily basis?
Which is really what God wants for each and every single one of us. I mean, if you're a parent, then you know.
Excuse me.
What you know, the best thing that you can do
or the best thing that you can watch
is your kid be successful.
And that's not necessarily in a worldly sense.
That means spiritually too.
But when it's happening in both things,
you're like, man, that's good.
And that's really what God wants for us.
He wants to see us flourish and be successful
and not be somebody who's always a victim
and making an excuse as to the reason
why it's not happening for us.
Why is it not happening for you?
Maybe we need to do a self-examination as to the reason why that might be. for us. Right. Why is it not happening for you? Maybe we need to do
a self-examination as to the reason why that might be. And then let's fix it. Yeah. So we can get you
on the course to making it happen. Amen. Girls, you want to add anything to really quick before I
start doing my four reasons and then you can add to those too? Yeah, let's go. Let's go. I want to
hear them. So here's the secret sauce. Four
things that I think. The Bible emphasizes four big things on being victorious. One is faith,
obedience. I underline this one, which is perseverance. In order to be victorious,
you have to persevere. Most people quit before they ever get to the victory. Facts. So perseverance is huge.
And then the reliance on God.
You can't be victorious if you do not rely on him.
If you think your victory comes through your efforts and through how great you are,
you're in big trouble.
Because any greatness that you have, any skill sets, any gifts,
they were all given to you by him.
So your reliance really needs to be on him because those gifts are his
and he can take them away if he chooses, if that helps you in any way.
Let's look at victory through faith in Christ.
I'm going to give you some scriptures and then we're going to expound on those.
And then I'm going to have you guys give your two cents
on whatever you're wanting to add to.
There's this different necessity.
I told them, let's study this out, and then they can add whatever you want.
If it's not even applied to this, let's just say, I want to add to that.
1 John 5, 4 through 5 says,
For everyone born of God overcomes the world.
This is the victory that has overcome the world.
So the victory is anyone that is born
of God. So God is what has caused the victory, even our faith. I have not coughed at all.
It's because I'm talking too much. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God. So you automatically, if you are saved, you got it.
You have, in order to be victorious, first and foremost,
you have to be a believer, you have to be saved.
And true victory comes only through faith in Jesus Christ.
That's it.
So if you don't have a solid walk with him, forget about it.
You will not live victorious every single day.
You might want to fix that.
Romans 8.37 says,
No, in all things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
So you're not going to win.
The battle was won over sin and death
through the purchase of our salvations on the cross
through the blood of Jesus shedding his blood.
So the ultimate price has been paid.
Victory comes through sin and death being taken.
And that was done through Jesus.
If you don't receive him as your Lord and Savior,
and you don't take that walk seriously, forget about it.
You will not be victorious daily.
So that's the first and foremost thing.
I mean, we can talk about a bunch of different things
to live a victorious life.
But without that, it's like saying to somebody who needs healing,
you need to be healed that is not saved. We need to get you saved first, healed second. Because healing's great,
but what does it matter if you die and go to hell after, you know, it's all over with. Very true. This is the key.
So salvation is the key to a victorious life,
living it out daily.
And if you are not serious about your walk,
then forget about having a victorious life.
Ladies, you want to add anything to that?
Or do you want to add one of your thought process on it?
So the verse you actually said was,
the verse for youth group,
Jer had us pick a verse that we were standing on.
And that was the verse that I picked.
The Romans one?
Yeah.
Because I liked how it said at the end, an overwhelming victory.
It's not just a regular victory with God.
It's an overwhelming victory.
Oh, good point.
I didn't even think about that.
I love that verse.
Very good.
It's great.
Yeah.
And I think for me is,
you know, Vanessa and I lead our Tuesday group. And so when new people come in and they're just
in constant defeat, my first thought is, are you God's child? Because we're all God's creation,
but we're not all God's children. You have to be in covenant with him to receive all the blessings.
So like you said, the most important thing is salvation. If you are not, I mean, salvation, obviously so that you can have eternal life,
but also so that you can be in God's covenant. And so you'll get all the blessings, all the
promises, everything's attached to that, but you have first steps first. Like you said,
this is the most important part to start with. What's the point? Yeah. Right, right. Exactly.
You're going to be swimming upstream, trying to, you know, make God's promises work for
you when you're not in covenant with him.
Right.
And when you're not in covenant, those are empty.
Right.
It's just, it's falling on deaf ears.
Right, right.
The covering that we have, the covenant that we have is only bound by that unity that we have with him through salvation.
Otherwise, no point.
Let's do the next one.
It's victory over sin and temptation.
Do you guys have one that I, before we get going, do you have one that you want to add?
Or do you want to talk about victory or maybe a story or something that you could share
that right off the bat might trigger or hit
somebody? I don't want to like step on toes or anything. Yeah, no, I keep going because I have
something, but I'm going to see if it aligns with something you say. If not, I'll add at the end.
Okay, perfect. Victory over sin and temptation. 1 Corinthians 10, 13 says,
no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind,
and God is faithful.
He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear,
but when you are tempted,
he will also provide you a way out so that you can endure it.
So often I will hear people say,
I couldn't help myself.
Like if they're sinning, you just don't know.
That guy was so hot.
Or you don't understand our love.
Like it's deep.
I've been told that.
Like our love is so strong that sinning sexually is okay
because their love is so deep.
And I'm like, how in the world does that make sense?
But the word is clear. Like you can't
sin. And, and if you're tempted in that, that scripture really tells you that he's not going
to give you something that you can't, that he can't provide a way out for you to, to, to, to
endure through it. So what that's basically, again, I'll say, and God is faithful. He will not let you
be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that
you can endure it. So you want to live a victorious life, live a sinless life. But a lot of times when
people are living a life with sin in it, they make excuses for that sin and say that there was no way out,
that it was beyond their control.
It's just not true.
That's opposite of what the Word of God says.
So either the Word of God is a liar or you are.
And I'm pretty sure it's you.
Me too.
I mean, how often have you guys, like, we hear this stuff all the time about
people succumbing to sin, but it also says, do not place yourself into temptation. So, and we're to
abstain from all appearances of evil. So if we're doing those two things, just those two scriptures
right there to not place ourself in temptation, then nothing can happen yeah yeah if you're an
alcoholic right don't go to a bar correct don't allow people to bring stuff in your home that has
alcohol in it right yeah right if you're a drug addict don't hang around drug addicts right and
that might mean being like one of the things that that we asked Pastor Tom early on when my family was in town, like, what would you do if, you know, your church was constantly closing down? And he's like, I would move. I know that's extreme, but this is the time we're living in right now. So if you are a drug addict or you have a family that has a bunch of alcoholics in it, like maybe you do need to remove yourself. Maybe you need to, you know, move to a different part of the country. You know what I mean? You need to pray about what church you should be in and then maybe move there.
Because sometimes it's hard when you're around in that one area and you know everybody there and everybody knows you.
The temptation is too strong.
And so you might need to do something extreme.
And if God honors that because it's his will and you're just trying to do the best that you can for God, he'll open up doors for you. And I just think people use too many excuses sometimes
about like, well, I don't have money.
I can't do it.
Well, okay, then it's not that important to you.
Well, and being victorious isn't that important to you.
Because you can't be victorious and have rampant.
Well, first of all,
if you have a lifestyle of sin in your life,
then you're not saved. Because that's what the Bible says. Those who live like this, Well, first of all, if you have a lifestyle of sin in your life,
then you're not saved because that's what the Bible says.
Those who live like this, and then it lists the sins,
those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
So if you're living in a lifestyle of sin,
then the first one we mentioned,
which is having a covenant relationship with the Lord, being saved,
that one's out.
So we're not in good standing there.
So you've got to fix that one.
And do people struggle with sin?
Yes, they do.
Struggling is very different than living a lifestyle of it.
Struggling is what we're talking about, where if you are somebody that gets in relationships and you guys can't keep
your legs closed, then don't date by yourselves.
Dating groups.
Right.
Does that sound rough?
Yeah, it does.
So maybe you learn to control yourself.
But outside of that, if you being abstaining from sexual activity
means that you have to date in a group
or keeping your hands to keep your hands off of each other,
then that's what you do.
Because heaven's way more valuable than dating that person.
I mean, it's a heaven and hell issue.
And you have to think about it.
But you'll never live victorious with rampant sin in your life.
First things first.
Why be jealous of people who are
doing the things that are righteous and saying, why are they getting ahead and I'm not? Well,
they're not living your lifestyle. They're doing things that you're not doing. And why be jealous
of that? Why not you just apply yourself spiritually speaking and then get on that road to like victory and
and blessing really you'll be blessed beyond measure but Romans 6 14 says for sin shall no
longer be your master because you are not under the law but under grace but but here's the thing
a lot of times people use that word grace as a license to sin.
And that's not what this is pertaining to.
That's not, if you look at the scripture, at the verse,
that's four under Romans 6, 18, which this one's Romans 6, 14.
And if you go down just a few more scriptures below it, it says,
now you are free from your slavery to sin and you have become slaves to righteous living.
There's a difference.
So that grace didn't give you license to sin.
That grace is giving you a license for righteous living.
So I know there's a lot of people that get in marriages and things like that,
and their marriage is very contentious.
And then they look at other marriages that are extremely successful,
and they will be very envious of those marriages,
and then they become very critical of those relationships.
But I would say to you, instead of being critical of that relationship,
why don't you observe what makes that marriage successful?
And then try to, if you're the wife,
and you're watching the wife of the successful marriage,
why don't you start implementing some of the things that you're seeing that she does?
Exactly.
If you're a man, and you see a godly man
and he has a wife
that respects him
and loves him,
maybe you want to do
the very thing
that that man does
with his wife.
Or maybe you go to him
and say,
hey, can you give me
some pointers?
Yeah.
Because I like your marriage.
I want to have a marriage
like that.
For me,
like,
first of all, it's a compliment to the couple that, you know, you're looking at and admiring in a very pure way.
But also it says a lot about how humble you are to say, I've not arrived. How do I get to this place? And I think that a lot of people are
so proud that they'll never go to that place to say, what do I got to do to get what you have?
And if you did that in business, people would say, kudos to you for that. But if you do that
in your personal life, God forbid, because people might think less of you. How is it possible that
one's okay and the other's not? It's because of pride. And one's more acceptable than the other.
Ladies? Yeah, that's it. One's more socially acceptable than the other. And so, and that's
just a perspective. So we actually talked about this yesterday. Yeah, yesterday. I felt the same thing.
Like I felt like people might be looking at certain people in the group and like, why do they have like, why do they seem like they always get it right?
Why do they always get the gifting of like, why do they always see the healing?
Why do they always have, you know, testimony after testimony?
And I could like, I just, it came into my head.
So I said exactly what you just said, which is if you see good fruit in other people's lives, go ask them.
What are they doing?
What are you doing to see so many good testimonies?
One of the girls said, I could literally write a book every day of how good God is to me
because it's just nonstop.
But she's also looking for it.
And that's exactly what I brought up.
The scripture says, goodness and mercy follow me. But if you're so distracted that you're missing the moments where God is pouring out his goodness and mercy,
maybe remove the distractions.
Maybe you don't have eyes to see what the Lord is doing.
Also, there are so many people that despise the prosperity and they and i will say
i'll use their turn on the health and wealth uh message so many people hate it
because it's never really worked for them but my comment to be with dila is it might not have
worked for you because your attitude towards it yeah You might have been open to it for a very short period of time,
but maybe you were skeptical of it the whole entire time.
Or you weren't looking for it like other people do.
And that's the reason why it's not coming.
It didn't happen for you.
And so because it didn't happen for you,
then it's not,
that's not what the Bible says.
Where's the scripture?
There is never a scripture.
It's my opinion or I believe.
I've been saying that a lot lately
when people come to me,
like, is that a Bible verse?
You sound like Tom Likely.
I was going to say,
it sounds like our pastor.
Is that a Bible verse?
It's true though. It's true pastor. Is that a Bible verse?
It's true though.
Give me the Bible. Give me the word.
Because the people who will tell you that the prosperity message
or the health message
or the wellness message or whatever
healing is
what I really call it.
Prosperity and healing.
The ones that are so
critical of it,
I literally feel like the reason you don't see it,
now you might have money.
Right.
And you might have a healthy family.
Right.
Okay, that's great and all.
But what happens when maybe that stops?
Right.
Because it might be flowing right now,
but it might not always.
And your critical little spirit over it
might be the very thing that could have saved you
if you didn't have it when you need it.
I don't know.
Unless you're a tither.
And if you're a tither, then you're guaranteed.
But how much more could you have
if you didn't have a critical spirit?
Or maybe you're supposed to be a millionaire or a billionaire
and fund the missions field.
Like what if like you're limiting yourself to a specific area because you're just, you're missing it.
Yeah.
Yep.
It's 100% true. that the prosperity message and the healing message that they preached
caused more offense
and caused them to have more critical things
spoken about them
than anything else that they preached.
Anything else?
Major, you know, bad things written about them
and said about them.
And the thing was is their response was,
I mean, there's nothing I can do about that.
That's what the Word of God says.
So I'm going to have to preach what the Word of God says.
And if people don't want to believe it,
I can't allow their opinions to affect what I preach
because I have to preach the Word, not what they believe.
And it's true. From a perspective of this church, more people leave over, they don't leave over sin. They leave over politics.
But even then, we don't have a lot of people leave over politics. We have more people leave over
the prosperity message and the healing message. I believe it.
The promises of God is what we call them.
They'll leave all the promises of God
because they want to think that it's a sovereign God.
That's not what that word sovereign means, though.
It's, again, uneducated people believing uneducated things
because they don't study the word out in full.
It's just like that Psalm 9010,
I think it's Psalm 9010,
where people believe that only you're to live till 70,
between 70 and 80,
when that wasn't talking about for today,
that was talking about the Israelites in the wilderness.
Yeah, right.
Lack of knowledge. Right. But they will fight you in the wilderness. Yeah, right. Lack of knowledge.
Right.
But they will fight you to the death.
Yeah.
That that means we can only live to 70, 80 years old today
when they have lack of knowledge.
And you will not convince them of it.
Oh, I know.
And that, yeah.
And that's, and usually if you,
if there's an area of your life like that,
specifically that you just are,
that's what you want to believe.
And that usually there's less victory everywhere else in your life. There's other area of your life like that specifically that you just are that's what you want to believe and that usually there's less victory everywhere else in your life there's other areas of your life
that you'll miss victory you know yeah i know i just don't get i'm listen on saturday night just
a full transparency i just like i'm telling you last year with that salmonella, I got sick last year, and I got that stupid cold.
I told Heather, on Saturday, I got sick.
I started getting sick.
I stayed up.
At 4 o'clock, I started feeling sick.
I stayed up almost all night praying and, like, speaking over my body.
Sunday morning, I woke up.
I was great. I was great.
I was like, ah, beat that sucker.
I had body aches, fever, whole nine.
I was like, I beat that sucker.
Then I go to a wedding that's out on the water.
When?
On a Monday?
Monday night.
On Monday.
I go to this beautiful wedding.
And I let my mind go to a place
that I should not have gone.
And I think I verbally spoke a couple things out.
I'm like, what are you saying?
And about an hour before we left,
I was not feeling good.
And I was like,
so I'm just telling you,
I know what I speak.
Like, you can't go from being totally good to like monday power of our words
so now i have a flipping cough and i'm mad at myself i told heather um yesterday i said i feel
defeated and i'm going to be speaking about being victorious. Wasn't that perfect?
Isn't that how God would have it?
In our weakness, he is strong.
You'll learn a lot after this podcast.
I mean, for me, you're always learning.
Always.
You're always striving.
I know. And some of the greatest people that I've ever listened to or have been taught by,
um,
literally teach you that, that they had not arrived,
but they had left.
And that's the biggest thing.
Like you may not win every time,
but as long as you're striving to win every time,
like I could be way worse.
Yeah.
Right.
And I'm not,
but I hate this coffee.
What does Pastor Tom say?
The ship has sailed,
but it hasn't arrived.
Right.
Did I get that right?
The ship has left the dock or something like that.
I can't remember.
Whatever.
He says it quite often.
Yes.
But it's true.
Yeah.
You got to,
you got to take off.
You got to head to your direction.
And that's why we have to renew our minds every single day.
Yeah.
And set our minds. Like for me, when I, when you gave that, that question
to us on Sunday to ponder and think of, like I was, I immediately, and I brought it with me,
I immediately brought what keeps me victorious. It's his word. Yeah. Um, if I'm in his word every
single day and I'm renewing my minds and I,
and if I know my identity in Christ and I know the promises of God,
the result of that is a victorious life.
Period.
Because it's the best instructional manual ever.
And for me, I sit there and go, okay, I have a cough right now.
And the reason I have a cough is because of me.
Yeah.
Not because the word isn't,
is not what it says it is.
Right.
The word is what exactly what it says it is.
Right.
It's just,
I have to apply it.
And when I don't apply it,
I don't get the results of what it says it'll do.
Right.
That's the difference.
Right.
I will not like throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Because if I listen, if healing isn't mine every single time,
then I can't trust that salvation is there for me either.
Correct.
Both were done on the cross.
Amen.
Very true.
So I need to question salvation as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a scary thing.
That's a scary thing. But if I know my salvation lies in
my hand based on the decisions that I make daily, and if I know that based on what the word of God
says, if I do what the word of God says, then healing is mine every single time, every single
time, then I get what it says. Right. But I also know what my thoughts are, were, and what I actually, I think I know the couple times I said something out loud.
And I, even in my spirit, I was like, you shouldn't have said that.
Okay, the Holy Spirit will quicken you.
Yeah, he's good at that.
So in my, I'm sorry.
No, no, no.
Not to cut you off.
No, you didn't.
The front of my Bible, I don't know if you can see that.
What the heck? i have a list know your identity in christ you are loved and i have scripture for each one you are loved you are chosen you are forgiven you are a new creation you are a temple
of the holy spirit you are an ambassador for christ you You are seated with Christ in heavenly places.
You are free.
You are a child of God.
You are victorious.
You are an heir.
You are a light in this world.
You are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
You are called with a purpose and you are fearless.
And I have that written in my Bible.
Okay, but where did you get all of that?
Yeah.
Huh?
You don't want to know.
No, no.
Oh. Chattahoochee. But Yeah. Huh? You don't want to know. No, no. Oh.
Charlie D.T.
But here's what I was going to say to you.
And there's scripture to like.
Thank you.
That's literally.
Everything you said, that's the.
Yeah.
In order to be victorious, you need to know,
which is what I was going to say at the very end of this. In order to be victorious in your day-to-day life,
you can't be a victim.
You have to be victorious
knowing who you are in Christ
through the word of God.
And every single one of those things
that said who she was,
there is a scripture.
That's what I was,
you ruined it because you said,
I'm sorry.
No.
Every single one of those
has a scripture.
Right.
That backs up.
Attached to it.
Yes.
Literally attached to it.
Amen.
If you had that in your Bible like she does,
you would look at that every single day and say,
how can I not be victorious?
How can I not be?
Right.
This is who I am.
And if you believed who you are.
See, for me, the reason why I'm irritated about my cough,
I told Heather yesterday,
I am so spiritually angry with myself. I was not angry like walking around with, I'm irritated about my cough, I told Heather yesterday, I am so spiritually angry with myself.
I was not angry like walking around with,
I'm so mad.
No, I spiritually, righteously angry with myself
because I know that I have something better for me.
God like gave me his son.
Like he gave it all so that I could walk in healing.
Why am I having a cough right now right
yeah this is far beneath what has been provided for me i want to walk into the level in which
he has uh given all to me and i want to walk in that every single day but i chose to be carnal
and therefore i have less instead of being spiritually minded.
But if we walk spiritually minded, which is what the Word of God says,
which fasting helps, and you know who you are,
you cannot not be victorious every single day.
Right, true.
On top of that, I also have the four essentials
just so that I'm reminded every day.
Of what to do?
Yeah.
I mean, it should be.
I should have it tattooed on me at this point.
Oh.
Good idea.
Oh.
Good idea.
No.
No.
Our pastor said no.
No.
But it's so.
What I love about the four essentials, it's so practical.
Like if you do X, Y, and Z every single day.
Yeah.
Like it will completely change your walk with the Lord.
Prayer, Bible study.
And Bible study is not just reading your word.
It is digging in.
It's applying it to your life and walking it out.
Worship.
Worship is not just singing pretty songs to God.
We're all created to worship, whether it's God or materials or people,
children, our spouses.
We need to be worshiping God.
And then fellowship, who do you have around you?
You're gonna be the average of the people
that you surround yourself with.
So if you're surrounding yourself with people
that you're not equally yoked with,
you're gonna have a tough time.
Let me just tell you.
You're gonna be fighting your carnal nature every day.
All the time.
Absolutely.
Every seed that's planted that is not of him has to be
uprooted so why have to spend half your time taking up seeds that you planted that were
unnecessary people don't get that yeah like you're gonna have to pull weeds yeah that's a lot of work
yeah it's not worth it when you could be planting more seed.
That's good soil.
On good soil.
Instead of pulling up weeds.
True.
Like really.
I'm a big time management person.
And this is.
I was making fun.
Because we were at the wedding.
I saw Vanessa's husband was doing something with the tickets
and and i mean with these raffle tickets and um i said to the table i said no that's the difference
between somebody who's successful and somebody who's not somebody who's successful has good
time management skills because they know how to multiply their time
and make more make a lot more time to become more successful to make more money or whatever
they want to do and so learn to be a good time management person spiritually speaking
because if you spend your time wisely, you will produce more spiritual things, more blessings, more promises.
If you spend time on things that create you having to pull up and pull out, it's rough.
True.
You don't want to like have to, you know, I don't know.
Like, a lot of times you hang out with people who are not Christ-like,
are not godly people.
And this even happens with godly people.
But, like, if you spend time with people who are not saved,
a lot of times their conversations are not appropriate.
Yeah.
There are things that you're probably going to have to ask.
There are going to be conversations that sin is involved in.
You're going to have to repent.
Why spend time on that when really you could be spending time
iron sharpening iron with other believers
and growing in your faith, growing in your ministry,
and doing more things for the Lord.
Yeah.
And I also link myself up with people who are further in their walk with the
Lord.
Like I would group you into that group for me.
Like as I observe your life and as I see your walk,
like it empowers me to do the same.
I do that with myself too.
Yeah.
I surround myself with people who are further than, because then I'm trying to always attain to the the same. I do that with myself too. I surround myself with people who are further than,
because then I'm trying to always attain to the next level. The only thing you get to take to
heaven is yourself, hopefully your children. But when you get there, all you have to account for
is the things that you did on this earth. Make sure that you're making wise decisions with what you're doing on this earth.
If it's wasteful time and they will be held of no account when you get to heaven, don't
bother with it.
Don't bother with it.
If it's a person that produces nothing that you can show of value when you go to heaven,
then put them to the side it's really
that important because when you go to heaven all you'll be accounted for is
the things that you say on this earth and the things that you have done yeah
that's it so make it a value otherwise it's a waste of time good time
management skills that's how you walk in victory. Yeah, absolutely.
You want to add something?
Well, one of the things I did want to say with that is,
and I was trying to find the scripture,
but there was scripture that backed this,
that you should have people that you look to that are a step ahead of you while you're running the race.
There should be people that you run the race with,
that you're equally yoked with,
have the same path that you're heading to. And then there should be people that you run the race with that you are like equally yoked with, have the same like, you know, path that you're heading to.
And then there should be people that you're discipling along the way.
And the discipling obviously comes later, but you can still disciple people by just
reading scripture to them.
If you don't really know exactly how to like give people advice, the word of God that we
just posted on our Instagram story.
So if you want Vanessa's scripture, they're on our Instagram story.
You can go screenshot that.
But yeah, you can just read them scripture if you're not ready to disciple yet. But then you have some kind of purpose that you're like, you're hearing a sermon.
You're like, oh, that would really encourage my friend. I'm going to send, I don't have the right
words, but I can send Pastor Tom's sermon to them. So if you have those three steps, somebody you're
looking towards, somebody you're running with, and then somebody you're discipling, it gives you
purpose and it gives you like direction, you know? Yeah, for sure. And make sure you're looking towards, somebody you're running with, and then somebody you're discipling. It gives you purpose and it gives you like direction, you know?
Yeah, for sure.
And make sure you're far enough along
before you start discipling somebody.
Right, right.
And again, if you're not,
there's always sermons like Pastor Tom,
like send those or send a scripture.
But even that, I hesitate even with that
because who you think might be good.
That's true.
Yeah, that's true.
And who is good.
Okay, so only pastor Tom and I are struggling.
Are two different things.
Yeah, that's true.
You might not know enough not to know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That they're not good.
Yeah, that's true.
Because I have seen some people send some stuff and I'm like.
I know.
I even cringe at some of my old posts.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
I know.
I'm like, ooh.
I know, me too.
Can I just hide that. That's very true.
Can I hide that?
Can I hide that?
Okay.
Wait for a while
before you try and like,
if you're new on your walk,
do the first two.
Okay.
And then wait a while.
Yeah.
And there's a season for everything.
There will be a season
for you to disciple.
But if you,
if you're in a season
of just sitting
and absorbing,
like be in that season and be content
and not always like looking towards the others,
like the other season.
Like I need to like, I need to, you know,
get to where they are and then you miss it.
You miss that foundation that is so needed
when you have time to do that.
Yeah.
Well, it's like when you first start dating somebody,
if you really like that person, you're always pushing for it to get to the like if you
start for start dating somebody a lot of times you want to move quickly to the committed yeah
when you miss the dating yeah and that's fun each time yeah each each little season if you will but
each little period of time that you have you're're not getting back, especially if that's the one for you.
If that's the one you're going to marry, you're not getting back that little period of time.
And if that person's not the one you're wanting to marry and you're rushing things, it's going to be harder to get out.
Yeah.
I remember that even just like raising children.
With my first, I was always ready for the next,
ready for the next.
And then when I had my second,
she went to like stand up to walk
and I pushed her.
I was like, I'm not ready.
I want to enjoy this.
It's true though.
Always, just take your time.
Yeah, take your time.
Enjoy the journey.
Make sure you're always growing.
You're never stagnant. Because as soon as you become stagnant, you start going backwards're always growing. You're never stagnant.
Because as soon as you become stagnant, you start going backwards.
Always growing, never rushing.
And don't despise small beginnings.
There's something special about it.
There really is.
Let's go to victory through the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you're not filled with the Holy Spirit,
then you're missing some serious power.
And you're going to have to have
that because there are times that only through the Holy Spirit, like he'll do that talking for you.
He'll say things that you can't even know that you're supposed to say. And there is power in
and victory in having the Holy Spirit not only dwell in you, but also be your voice and be your advocate.
So I will tell you, in your own human strength,
you're not going to achieve this goal,
but through the power of the Holy Spirit, 100%.
Zechariah 4, 6 says,
Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty.
Galatians 5.16 says, so I say, walk by the spirit,
and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Through that, there is victory.
Amen.
Amen.
Let's keep going.
Victory through prayer of the word, which is basically,
I'm not going to even really go much further on this one,
because I still have a few more.
But pretty much, that's what,
um, you were talking about Vanessa is through the word daily. That's victory. You be in the word,
which is what we talked about before the four essentials, but it's true. Victory is found
by the scriptures and then you standing on those very scriptures. Yeah. So if you're facing financial situations or you're facing like a family situation where there's,
there's like it's splintered.
You can go to the scripture and you can look up where the word talks about how to mend, forgive.
There's victory in that instruction.
And you'll see, you'll get to the other side and you're going to be like,
well, that wasn't that hard.
Because you applied what the Word of God says to mend that broken family
or that broken relationship.
People think it's the big things, but the Word of God is so full of small things.
Like if you offend the brother, how do you fix that problem?
Satan loves to steal.
So he'll love to keep,
you know,
an infraction between the two people.
But if you use the word of God,
that relationship can be restored
or made amicable.
Yeah.
And then there's victory in that.
Oh man.
Satan's not been stolen.
I shared something on our Abide channel this morning,
and it's a quote by A.W. Towser, and he says,
Satan's greatest weapon is man's ignorance of God's word.
Amen.
100%.
Our greatest weapon against the enemy is God's word.
So the opposite is also true.
But most people never open it. They don't read it. Hard's word. Yeah. So the opposite is also true. But most people never open it.
Yeah.
They don't read it.
Hardly ever.
Yeah.
And then they say it doesn't work.
Right.
So when conflict comes in,
you're a believer,
but you don't know,
but you,
you haven't read his word and how it's instructed of us to,
to handle conflict.
Like you can make a small little thing into something
larger and then you've you've like that relationship is no longer there or it's it'll take longer to
repair agreed so it's crazy yeah it's really crazy james there's victory in trials and
challenges and people hate them this is another one. They want to get through life on rose petals and daisies
and just get through life with no problems.
Okay, that's not the word.
The Bible does not tell us that that's going to happen.
And when roadblocks come, when challenges and trials and suffering comes their way,
all hell's breaking loose and they throw up their hands, I quit.
It's too hard.
It says, God said, no, God didn't say what you think he said.
He said that you'll overcome all of these situations.
He didn't say you're not going to go through them. And so when people have to face adversity of any kind,
they quit or they moan, groan, complain, and they have the worst attitude as they go through them.
Really, your faith is shown by the attitude and how you respond to the challenge or the adversity
that you're facing. Your faith is shown through that. How much you believe in what the word of
God says. If you act like nothing is going on, then you're showing exactly where your faith is,
is that there's really nothing. I mean, really nothing is going on because it's not my problem.
It's his problem. Cast all your cares upon me for I care for you. I mean, really nothing is going on because it's not my problem. It's his problem.
Cast all your cares upon me for I care for you.
I cast that problem on you, Lord, because you said for me to give it to you.
That's your problem.
It ain't my problem.
So when you act like everything's okay, it is okay.
Because you know why?
It's not your problem.
It's his.
True.
And that's John 16, 33.
In this world, you will have have trouble but take heart because i have
overcome the world oh yeah i think that might be one of the ones john 1633 yeah yeah it starts
that's one of the ones i'm going to use yeah so it's like there's there's like so much confidence
in this oh yeah and you should be confident in it and that's when you walk in victory when you
literally go it's not my problem.
I don't care.
One of my greatest, one of the greatest teachings that I ever heard,
and I give it to people all the time, all the time,
is Kenneth Hagin.
It's a four-part series, if I remember right.
And it's cast your cares.
Casting your cares is what it's called.
Casting your cares.
And in that four-part series,
he talks about casting all your cares upon the Lord. And once you learn to cast casting your cares and in that four-part series he talks about casting
all your cares upon the lord and once you learn to cast all your cares on him like life is really
easy it's really that simple when you learn to do it and then you walk in it and you forget about it
that's what you got to do james 1 2 2 through 4 says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,
whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let perseverance finish its work,
so that you may be mature, complete, not lacking anything. So in other words, if you don't go through trials,
then you don't learn to persevere then you
won't become mature there are things that happen through trials and tribulations one of them is
your faith grows if you don't ever face anything then you will you'll never grow in your faith
you'll never mature yeah and you'll never learn that you're lacking in nothing. True. Very true.
Who wants that?
Well, some of you go, me.
But then you miss out on
so much.
And there's so much that comes with all of these
things. I love this.
I love this. I pulled it up
just so I can make sure I said it
correctly.
But Smith Wigglesworth, I love that man.
You guys know that.
I love him almost as much as Kenneth Hagin.
But he had this great quote that I paraphrase,
but I'm going to give you the whole entire thing.
Because he was a great teacher. He specialized and he taught mostly on faith and
trials, which most people don't know he taught on trials. But most of his teachings were on faith
and trials. And it says, great faith is the product of great fights.
Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests
and great triumphs can only come out of great trials.
Wow.
That's good.
I love that.
So good.
I might have to write that down in my Bible.
I'll send you to it. Because here's the thing. You may want
to avoid them as much as you can. But as you avoid them, you miss all of the growth that God wants to
do in and through you. Yeah. By avoiding things that he's already going to resolve and you come out a victor on why don't you just
let him sustain you and know that the end at the end of it you win right why fight it but through
that process you can just see his hand move i cannot tell you how many times i've walked through
things i said this to Bill.
He's just a great guy.
He's our general contractor for this building.
He's done so much for us, for our house.
There have been many times that I've said that there's been different things.
And I just remember talking to him about a month ago
over something.
And I said, I don't always,
I'm not always looking forward to these
times. I'd be lying if I said, oh yeah, come on, come on. But at the same time I said to him,
but I always will love watching the hand of God work and to see how he gets us through to the
other side. Cause I know it's going to happen. It's just how is it going
to, how is he going to do it? And if I don't walk through those times, I don't see, I don't see how
much he loves me. I don't see how he has a plan for that. And I don't get to see my faith grow
and I won't have a testimony. So there's so many things that you miss out on when you don't
want to walk through a trial or tribulation, but it says, take no fear because I've overcome them
all. Yeah, true. Go ahead. Um, well, I think also with all of this is like, we, all of us probably
have something we're dealing with like right now.
And that like is something that like if we let it and we magnified it, it probably would bother us, you know.
But all of us know at the end of the day that God is going to be victorious over it and we have to move on.
And so usually when I'm talking to like new believers, I'm like, would you know that I'm like going through something really hard right now?
And they're usually like, no, I would have no idea idea and I tell them because I don't magnify it I just I
already like it's in a special little box and I deal with it later yes but I live in the moment
I deal with what God I like I just I know God's gonna handle it and I know he's gonna bring it
back up to me when I need to deal with it again and I need to put things in place and do the
things but I don't I don't magnify my problems ever. And so my notes... Because that's what the Word says to magnify Him and magnify the Word.
Right. And then when you know that the Word of God has the power to reverse every situation,
then you have nothing to worry about. So my whole thing that I put down was just
that God, even if you're in the worst situation, if you trust God, He can restore and reverse
anything. So one of them is Joel 2.25, and it's, God restores what was lost. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts have eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
And if you go and you look up all the verses about what God does to restore, then you're never too
far. So if you know that you'll never be too far from God, then you can put that in a special
little box, and then you can always live in a place of victory.
Your mindset can always be in victory.
And if you're always focused on victory,
you think about like Jonathan, Pastor Jonathan,
Pastor Rodney, they're big.
They're dealing with tons of people
and tons of situations,
but they have to live in a place of victory.
And so-
And they give away so much money
and then have to rely on so much money coming in.
Correct.
Yeah.
Even the financial side of it.
Right.
Exactly.
So my whole thing is,
even if you feel too far,
even if you feel like there's just no way,
God can reverse it.
And there are plenty of scripture to stand on.
Yeah.
Plenty.
Yeah.
And he is faithful.
And he is faithful.
The last part of being victorious is obedience.
Yes.
Obedience is key.
If you want, which is not living in sin, which we talked about that,
not falling to temptation and everything, sin and temptation.
But obedience is the key because it says,
those who love me will obey my commandments.
Amen.
So faith in knowing that he is capable.
Here's what I will say.
How many of us want to go out of the way to be there for
or to help somebody win something if they aren't loyal?
If they're not loyal to us.
Like for our children, we're going to go in and we're going to save them
and we're going to help them become the best person they can be.
If they're in a tight bind or if they're in a situation
where they need us to come in and save them,
are we going to be apt to do that for the one that kind of like is only the child that's
only there when they want to use us and abuse us? Are we going to be the one, are we going to want
to do that for the one that is faithful and loyal? And actually when we ask them to do something,
the heart and the attitude behind with which they do it is one that you want to kind of get in there,
swoop in and take over and help them overcome.
Think about that.
Do you make it easy for the Lord
to want to do these things for you?
Or do you kind of just, I mean,
do you kind of just like have a half in, half out walk with God, but you expect
all of these things? It doesn't work like that. God wants all of you. And because, and getting,
and all of you means obedience. And you say, well, I can't be perfect. That's not what the
word of God says. Be perfect as I am is perfect. As I am perfect is what he said. Now, are you going to fail? Probably. We all do. But to the level in
which we fail and the heart behind which we do it and the grace-minded mindset that we have,
I mean, God looks at the heart. He knows why you do what you do, and he knows how faithful and loyal you are to him.
And all of that matters.
And when you don't see things come through for you
or the way that you think that they should come through for you,
think about your loyalty, your faithfulness to him,
and don't expect him to give you the same in return.
He only gives in so much you give.
People want, am I explaining that well enough? If you're not faithful,
but you expect him to be faithful, how sane is that? Yes, absolutely. He's not a genie in a bottle.
He's not a genie in the bottle. But what my problem is, is people expect a level of loyalty from God, a level of love from God that they do not give in return to him.
Why would you think that?
You wouldn't even do that for your own kid.
But you expect him to do that for you.
And then if he doesn't, then the word of God is of none effect.
Right. It's extreme. Both sides.
I don't get it. So all I'm telling you to do is evaluate how you live your life,
the expectation that you have on the Lord, and are you giving that same expectation in return to him? And if you are,
then watch out because the windows of heaven are going to pour out a blessing on you.
But if you are only giving half of yourself to him, then don't expect all of him to be poured
out on you. What you give is what you get. And don't be bitter and angry when that's all you get.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But we live in an entitled world.
Yeah.
And we've been taught, and from every pastor, that God is love.
God is love.
Right.
Grace, grace, grace.
God loves you.
Nothing too far that you can do.
God loves you.
He'll chase you down.
God loves you.
God, blah, blah, blah.
That's, I mean, literally.
That's not the word, though.
That's all everybody's been brainwashed with is that there's nothing you can do
that will separate you from God's love, which is true, except you.
You're the problem. Right. You're the problem. And, but nobody's taught that. And so it's not
the full gospel. And so it is really important to read the Bible because we can't blame all
the pastors, like whatever that's, you know, whatever.
But you have that thing right there, that Bible, like you have access to that.
Read it.
Find out for yourself what it says.
100%. If things aren't working out and you don't like the way that things are unfolding in
your life, take inventory of it and then read the word and ask the word like, hey God, show
me where I'm messing up.
Guess what he'll do. And you're in good company because even David, right. There's this, there's,
I can't remember which Psalms, but he even says, search me. Oh God, know my heart, know my anxious
thoughts. See if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Like David even
had to like search himself and examine and take inventory.
Like we must do the same.
Yeah.
If you're not willing to do that, you're going to live in,
I was about to say sweet oblivion, but it won't be sweet.
It won't be.
You're just going to be on a hamster wheel wondering what the heck.
And I cannot tell you how many times people have said,
I've never opened my Bible really and read it until I come to this church and I literally did not know what I knew I can't tell
you how many times people have said if God would have come back or if I would have died I don't
know if I was going to heaven because what I believed right was the word is not the word.
So just know.
And that's because it's not being legalistic.
It's not being legalistic.
There is a message that is being preached that God is a certain way,
and he is not that way.
So make sure you open that word up and make sure you're in alignment with it.
Which is also very, like, I'm concerned for these, these pastors and preachers.
Yeah.
You should be.
Very concerned because the word is very clear.
Do not add or take away.
Well, also that you're way more accountable.
And that.
Because you have souls.
Holy cow.
I know.
No, thank you.
Me and Tom have said that for years.
That's why Tom said, if people want to leave, they'll have to leave.
But I'm not going to answer to the Lord.
I'm not. Right.
I'm not answering to God.
I will not, not tell somebody the truth.
Amen.
Because I want a full church.
Amen.
Which we have a good church.
We have a full church.
I'm not complaining, but.
Yeah.
Let's do our sponsors.
And then I'm going to close out with something completely different.
Okay.
Let's do this really quick.
Okay.
And I apologize for the coughing.
I will not be coughing by Friday.
That's right. Absolutely. I will not be coughing after tonight.
Yes. It's done.
I actually spent
five minutes trying to cough. I hadn't
coughed all day. I told them I
forced myself to cough for like
five minutes
because I had a little tickle. Not tickle, like a little phlegm thingy. all day. I told them I forced myself to cough for like five minutes because
I had a little tickle.
Not tickle, like a little phlegm thingy.
Obviously that didn't help me. But sponsor time.
He didn't care about
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I took that down too. Okay. 941-460-3962. Yeah. You're good.
My eyes are so glassy. So reading that, my apologies. That was not very well written,
read. But the last thing I wanted to do is let's
just pray. I mean, first of all, let's pray for all of us. If our heart and our minds aren't on
knowing who we are in Christ, but knowing that we can walk in victory every single day. Yeah. I mean,
you think that that there are so many people that I know right now
are thinking to themselves, it's not possible.
It is not possible not to be in a bad mood.
It is not possible to face like,
not being able to pay my mortgage
or going by groceries
and know that my account's not gonna be withdrawn.
Or it's not possible to face my husband coming home and him being in
a bad mood and not ticking me off and taking me down the road with him. I mean, there are so many
things that most people think it is not possible. You don't live in my home. You don't deal with
what I deal with. It's not possible to be victorious every single day. Some days, yes.
Every day, no. And I'm telling you, you're being lied to. That is a lie from the enemy. The truth is,
is the more days that you can be kept distracted and not focused on what the word of God says
that it can do for you and be all that it can be for you and you be all that it can be,
like you will live in a less than lifestyle.
And you will always look at people who you think have more than you do.
It's like Facebook.
People are always looking at Facebook and they're thinking that, wow, if I had that life.
Wow, must be nice to be able to do this.
Wow, I know that's not true about them.
That's a facade.
You're probably right about some of that. But there
are ones that you sit there and go, how come it always happens for them and it never happens for
me? And I'm telling you, you can be one of those people that people go, why does it always happen
for them and it never happens for me? Wouldn't you like to be that person that people are envious of?
And not in a bad way.
And envious of what does she do or what does he do that I can learn so that I can do what they have or have what they have.
There's people that I look at and I sit there.
Now they're older than me. But there's people that I sit there and look at and I go,
I want to look like they do when I'm their age. I want to carry myself like they carry themselves.
And there'll be times when I am dealing with something and I'll literally think to myself, how would this person deal with this
situation if they were dealing with it instead of me? How would they talk? How would they respond?
And then I try and do it that way. Because in my opinion, at this time, they're more godly than me.
They have a relationship with the Lord
that I am trying to ascertain.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
What's wrong with it is when you start
thinking of them negatively or picking it apart,
trying to make it be that it's not something that it is.
Do you guys understand what I'm saying? So it justifies you not getting to that level. You can have everything that that
Bible tells you that it can have. You can live a better than lifestyle than what you're experiencing
right now. You can have, you know, if the heaven says that the Lord has a thousand cattle on the hills
and the streets are made with gold and that gold is so pure that you can see through it
because that's pure gold is clear.
If that's what he has in heaven, he says, and the Lord's Prayer says,
whatever is in heaven can be here on earth. Then why not strive for it?
Why not go for it?
What do you have to lose?
If the Bible's wrong, then you don't get it.
But if you never try and become all that it says that you can be,
then you might lose out.
It's like people say, what if what if jesus isn't real and
you spend all this time like worshiping him believing in him and i'm like what have i to
lose i mean like like i've lived a pretty good life believing that jesus is my lord and savior
and that like if i'm wrong okay so what i've've lost. If you're wrong, you're going to
hell. I'm going to heaven. For me, it's a win-win. Like, I haven't really lost anything. Because
life's been pretty dang good believing in Him. And the more that I try and strive to be closer
and have a stronger walk with Him, things just keep getting better and better and better. And
that's what I want for you. So let's just pray really quick. Let's pray for your salvation if you don't know him.
But more importantly, not more importantly than that.
That's very important.
But also, let's stand in unity together.
Let all of us go after it.
Let's go after having victory day after day after day in our walk.
And if we fail and we lose one day, we just get back up on that horse
and we try again tomorrow.
Amen.
Heavenly Father, we just come to you right now.
And Lord God, I just thank you and I praise you.
I thank you for this time together.
But more importantly, Lord,
I thank you that through you,
we can have salvation.
And what a great gift.
That gift, there is none other that's been greater,
none other that has been offered to us,
and we did not deserve it.
But because you loved us so much,
you sent that beautiful son of yours to this earth
so that we could have eternity with you.
So I just pray, Lord,
if there would be anybody within the sound of my voice,
Lord, that they would repeat this prayer with me
and they would come to know you
and have a deeper walk with you.
Heavenly Father, Jesus,
I ask you to forgive me of my sin. I thank you for what you did on the cross. I ask you to forgive
me of my sins. I ask you to help me to move forward in my walk with you. I ask you to show
me what to do daily, that I have a stronger walk with you.
And I thank you, Lord God, that whatever you tell me to do, I will do.
And wherever you tell me to go, I will go.
And when I die and grow old, I will be with you forever.
And in that, Lord God, we just thank you that your word is very clear,
that eternity is waiting for us, and that there's victory in that, but we can live victorious here on this earth, I ask, Lord God, that you would reveal to each and every single one of us
that are willing to look at ourselves honestly, what we must do to have a victorious life daily,
whether it be the words that we say, the attitude that we have,
the doubt and belief that exists in each heart and mind, the lack of obedience,
the hesitancy to get in the word, to worship, to do the four essentials. Most people are,
it's not, I shouldn't say hesitant, they're
lazy. So remove that laziness, remove that doubt and unbelief, help us to control our tongues,
help us to really, really grab hold and study out the word and then believe what it says so that
daily we can walk with you and live a victorious life and never be stolen from again.
Because the devil is clear in John 10.10.
He comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
Let us not be his prey.
But, Lord, let us be ones that walk above the fray.
We praise you.
We thank you.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
Have a great day.
We're going to see you on Friday. And we have Natalie and let me tell you, she's
bringing it.
I can't wait.
It's going to be so good.
She's bringing it.
It's good stuff.
You're going to love it.
Have your questions ready.
We already have some for her to answer, but she's ready to answer yours too.
So thank you for coming and being a part of this and we'll see you on Friday.
Bye.
Bye.
Real talk. Real talk. and we'll see you on Friday. Bye.