Bridge Conference 2021 | "Defining Dominion" Cody Marks - "The Cost of Caring" Greg Frazier

[Music] so [Music] can we all stand and get ready to worship the king of kings and the lord of god it is such a privilege god and an honor to be able to come into this place and lift you up [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] friends [Music] is [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh god [Music] [Music] revive your church [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] are shaking and every curse is breaking strongholds are falling and greater things are coming foundations part shaking and every curse [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] from [Music] we think that you [Music] foreign [Music] we know that you are ready [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] again [Music] we think that you are able oh god really is your favorite we believe [Music] oh thank you jesus thank you to you thank you god we love you let's just take a moment all over god we love you thank you lord we'll believe you lord we're here with expectation hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah [Music] thank you lord thank you lord hallelujah praise your name jesus well it's great to be in the house of the lord this morning bridge 2021. if you were here last night uh you you were you're privileged amen and can't say enough already for how our very first bridge has started we want to say thank you so much to brother frazier uh wow hallelujah preached to us tonight last night feed them and if you were not able to be here i strongly recommend that you access that message and let it let it speak to your soul because uh it was uh god ordained a message for the hour the time and day in which we live and i thank you brother frazier and and we all say thank you to the holy ghost in us god for directing him that we're going to bring to this pulpit this morning uh no stranger to apostolic preaching teaching and um first i don't really remember where i first met brother uh cody marks it was probably at some thing he something he was preaching somewhere he might remember better than i am but then uh you know he's got a much better memory than i have so but i appreciate him so much [Music] the scope of bridge is i felt in my spirit a long time ago that there should not be divisions in the body of christ and maybe i'm just a duck out of water here but i just feel like you know it's all right for there to be organization and there may even be different organizations but they should never be different to where it creates division alleluia and so that's that's the scope of where we're going by the help of the lord this is our very first year so we're learning a lot and um but i know that god's hands in it and i know god's got the right men here and these were the these were the three men that god impressed in my spirit and honestly i didn't have to try to go find an alternate i mean bang bang bang all three of our uh speakers here for this year uh were immediately god worked it out and brother booker and brother marx and brother frazier i cannot even begin to explain how honored and how grateful i am that you would say yes to be a part of this [Music] and uh brother booker is no stranger here he's our elder and this church loves our elder and we appreciate him i've asked brother marx i just felt this in my spirit that brother marx has preached uh many times the closure the closer of big big big meetings all over this country around the world and he's gonna close out for us friday night but i also felt in my spirit that brother marx is transitioning and that he's not just a closer speaker but that he has a lot of insight and a lot of things now that as he's moving through life there's things that he is ready to share and i'm not trying to put him on the spot i just know what i felt like the holy ghost guided me to feel about brother marx and it is with complete confidence absolute assurance that whatever we're going to hear this morning that it's going to be because this man has got a hold of god this man has got a message for this group and this group isn't large today but god knows those that are going to be here and he knows the impact that he's going to have on the kingdom and so brother marx would you come and just whatever god has for us this morning we're placing ourselves our hearts our ears under the sound of your voice come and just whatever god has we love you we thank you we appreciate you [Music] praise god [Music] thank you brother bertram thank you sister bertram thank you for um your hospitality and your invitation and we give honor also to this local church um having been around a few of these meetings i know the the price is great and not just monetarily speaking it's a great honor for a church to host something like this but it it also is a great undertaking and so all the saints of the sanctuary we give you honor today and thank you for backing your your pastor's vision i do remember i do remember the first time that i seen you um not many people blow up general conference [Music] and uh and and not many times his brother johnny go there just not preached but i remember being so excited to hear brother go to here and you blew it all for me literally pun intended he blew it all he got up there on his horn and started playing and singing were you there in birmingham general conference and it went kaboom and i thought my my mind and then over time god orchestrated it i have deep ties and i'm very loyal to the bertram family as a whole these are shakers and movers i love uh now i'm gonna get in trouble for saying this but i love brother mayo and he's he's a visionary but we all know we all know what makes all those dreams come to pass yeah praise god so uh and then the first time we met was on the golf course you don't remember this dee i just got a brand new shaft in my driver and you were late and so you got up on the tea box it's late norm i don't oh okay and so he rushes up there and he's swinging around trying to warm up and i'm like man this guy's a tornado and i got in his way and he swung his club back and stabbed snapped my club in half and i'm left-handed so there was no one i'd played the rest of the day without a driver so i had a i had a good excuse you don't remember that d i've got a lot of mileage out of that broken shaft so praise god and then to i was trying to explain this brother frazier to brother booker um god [Music] i've preached a lot of camp meetings and conferences with brother booker over the years but i still just it's like i reach down and pinch myself [Music] because what a hero that he has been to all of us for so so many years [Music] and then i have and i've and i've told people this i've always felt like that you and i brother frazier would link up and do something like this together and then this is the first time we've ever preached a meeting together like this i've preached had the privilege of preaching in starks and also in in jackson um this man was doing brother frazier was doing what i wanted to do at 13 and 14 15 years old and what a what an example of of passion and power and prayer and was also privileged to get close to his mother over the years and i know you miss her we all do but what a what a saint she was and we love you brother frazier and i'm so glad that you're a part of this meeting as well i'm going to quickly get out of the way i would have been fine uh brother frazier did well with all those notes that my wife text him [Music] um i told him right in the altar i said we we could have just took care of this in the office and you could have preached something different to everybody else but thank you for that word last night aren't you thankful for the word of the lord [Music] aren't you thankful for let's just thank god right now for his word would you just do that i think we owe him some thanksgiving would you just lift your hands and thank god for his word come on right now i feel this is important [Music] come on lift your hands and your voice and thank god right now for his word come on let's thank god for his word right now [Music] in the name of jesus [Music] in the name of jesus i'll i'll quickly get out of the way i'm looking forward to hearing brother frazier again genesis chapter one i'll read one verse i've kept you standing genesis chapter 1 and verse number 26 genesis chapter 1 and verse number 26 [Music] if you there say man and god said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth [Music] and god said let us make man [Music] in our image [Music] after our likeness [Music] may he look like god but may he also [Music] function [Music] like god after our likeness i want to preach or just and i'm glad you set this up this way because i i don't really i anyways i want to talk for a few moments just from my heart about defining dominion defining dominion defining dominion if you would just put your device your body whatever you're reading off of i want you to forget who's beside you who's behind you and i want you just to get just get in a little microcosm right now with god just in that little world with just you and him and i want you to lift your hands right now and ask god to to talk to us here for the next few moments come on lift your voice and ask god to talk to us [Music] jesus name in jesus name in jesus name give the lord a good handclap of praise [Music] you can be seated [Music] the apostle paul we have said now i think that this is a statement of approximately we're approximate when we say that he was writer of close to two-thirds of the new testament we don't know for certain about a few of the books but be that as it may we know that he was he carried at least over half of the load of the new testament tantamount to the fact of how astounding that is is one book that he did not write literally is about half of the book is about his life and so you've got a man who has written between half i'm i feel more comfortable saying between half and two-thirds of the new testament he has authored you've got the book of acts and half of the book of acts is about the life the journeys of the apostle paul historians say that the apostle paul by himself started in the neighborhood of between 14 and 20 churches upwards most scholars believe upwards of 20 churches and to do that in one's life is pretty impressive on foot mind you while working a lot of the time while working a secular job we read about the three missionary journeys of the apostle paul but when you dig into the history of it you find that even more impressive than starting upwards of 20 churches is how many daughters granddaughters and great-granddaughters were birthed from those churches actually when the apostle paul left earth and the end of his life he not only left church plants he left the dna of a movement that no not just any movement but he left the dna of a movement that would eventually spread to the extent that even the roman empire itself would surrender to christianity from his influence history was changed in a dramatic fashion through this one man's obedience he was successful to say the least he is someone that anyone that knew him would have no problem eulogizing the apostle paul's life his list of successes are lengthy but what shakes me down to my toenails is when i pick up writings of this great man with all these great successes and may i add not writings that were early in his career if you will but things that he pinned at the end of his life knowing his successes knowing the things that he had accomplished and i pick up letters that just happen to be some of the last letters that he wrote and i read things such as this i therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight i not is one that beateth at the air he didn't just run his race randomly i don't run as one who runs without certainty and he goes on in the text and he lets us he lets us have a glimpse into what he is speaking about in which he runs with this certainty about what and then he elaborates and he says not as one that beateth at the air and then he makes this statement again this is not a neophyte this is not a fledgling of faith this is a man who already has a lot of success under his belt and he goes on from saying not as one that beateth at the air he said but i keep under my body and bring it under subjection i bring my body not as one that beateth at the air but i bring my body it's not something that somebody else did for me it's not something that somebody else can do for me he said i this and we see the certainty in which he runs the race with and the certainty bishop booker that he runs the race with is not in fact when you think of a race and one of the first things that's said before the crack of the gun is on your mark and the certainty here is not about what my neighbor is doing the certainty here is not about if my neighbor is in his block the certainty here is not how my neighbor is running his race in fact the race begins with this statement on your mark and the apostle paul i believe is bringing some some much needed attention to really what the issue is and it's this uh the older i get the more i realize i don't want to live my life as one that beateth the air and when i'm constantly consumed about what somebody else is doing or how somebody else is pastoring or how somebody else is living for god my neighbor is not my responsibility and the certainty in which he's running his race with is that i am on my mark and i'm not expecting my wife to get it right for me and i'm not expecting my kids to get it right for me and thank god for pastoral authority but my pastor can't get it right for me he can guide me he can teach me but it's my responsibility to take government over my own body and actions hallelujah i bring my body into subjection and he goes on and we know from history that what he's dealing with as an old man is his proteges young men that he has raised up young men he has believed in and given opportunities to in his absence has raised up an insurrection and they are questioned the apostle paul's credibility and he comes home to confusion and division and he said the reason i keep myself in check he said is a list he said that i myself in the end does that i don't become a castaway and i want to say to you here today i thank god for every revival that i've had but i'm not interested in success if i can't govern my own spirit and govern my own attitude and govern my own life maybe this is too heavy for the opening session here today but i'm just telling you this right now i believe we have done an indictment i believe we have done an injustice to this next generation i plead with every sunday school teacher that's here don't just teach your children acts 2 38 teach them galatians 5 and 26 because what good is the gift of the holy ghost if we don't have the fruit of the holy ghost hallelujah i'm realizing right now come on at 40 almost 41 years old that if i'm going to be saved hallelujah i've got to go back to that verse in acts 2 that says save yourself from this untoward generation nobody else is going to keep my spirit in check nobody else is going to keep my attitude right nobody else is going to put a watch at the door of my mouth nobody else and as a young man it concerns me that we have put so much emphasis on the birth we have made the birth so celebratory that we have neglected what the child is supposed to grow into in fact simple numbers should tell us where the focus should be and i know in fact i shouldn't even have to preface this because everybody understands that i'm a revivalist but i want you to see this today one book is given to us about the birth that's the book of acts and some 22 epistles that follow that that birth book on growing in to what we were born into ladies and gentlemen i'm submitting to you here today it's not enough to be born into this thing come on god wants us to grow into this thing it's more listen it's more than just talking in tongues come on there's a whole lot more to this than just talking in tongues and being baptized in jesus name hallelujah i want to grow into the stature into the likeness of and he said the certainty in which i run this race with is not just a certainty and doctrine and we know this because he tells the young man timothy take heed unto yourself hallelujah i've taken flack for making this statement but i'll make it again here this morning because i believe it more than i've ever believed it where would we be as a movement if we had taken as much time in the last 100 years getting ourselves right as we took getting our doctrine right i believe our doctrine's got to be right but what good is right doctrine if we're not right and the apostle paul believed this because he put it in the young man timothy take heed to yourself get your attitude right get your spirit right make sure your private life holiness within and holiness without make sure you treat your brother right make sure you treat one another right makes take heed unto thyself and thy doctrine take heed unto thyself am thy doctrine and i'm paraphrasing but this is what it says and he says in doing this you'll preserve both and that's not it that's not it he said but you'll also preserve those that follow the you the certainty in which paul the apostle paul is talking that he's running the race with is it's not it's not my concern is not about how you're keeping your house my concern come on we have become listen just just hear me out right now my prayer is this god make me slower to judge come on make me slower to judge and take take the edge off of my certainty i am so quick come on i wonder how much better off we would be if we were as quick to get on ourselves as we get on everybody else i wonder how much further down the road how many times how many times have i talked about somebody else for doing something that i myself come on i'm trying to get i'm trying to get a splinter out of somebody else's eye when i got to log in my own hallelujah hallelujah and i i believe our doctrine's got to be right i want to be clear on that but i'm telling you right now we don't have a doctrinal issue we got a self-issue and we need to go back to how this race started on your mark we need to quit worrying about what other people are doing and spend more time in the mirror and in prayer making sure come on am i governing my own spirit am i governing my own tongue am i ruling over my own person and he said the reason in all of this is right here at the end again this is no fledgling of faith it's right at the end he said because i realize the thing i've got to be certain about is myself he said because if i'm not certain about myself he said what good is everything i've done every letter i've written every church that i've built if i myself become a castaway i probably should have done this earlier it might be early but some of you are quick he'll probably blow the illustration because you're on to where i'm headed but i'd like you right now if you would help me when you hear the word disciple i was going to ask you to shout in my direction something synonymous in your mind with the word disciple most of us they're not on that are not on to the direction i'm headed if i had given you this illustration to begin with i know the things that were synonymous i'm talking this is fresh god's been dealing with me about this the last 30 to 45 days things synonymous with disciples yes it's revival yes it's taking new territory yes it's building churches yes it's miracle signs and wonders hear this preacher right now but listen listen the essence of what a disciple is is in it is in the word disciple the word disciple listen to the word discipline and jesus gives us the prerequisites of what a disciple listen what a disciple is and the first prerequisite of a disciple is a man has to deny himself deny himself and we always put all the big sins at the top i've never been with another woman i've never been with another man i don't sit on a bar deny himself deny himself bitterness deny himself anger desire himself justification deny himself unforgiveness deny himself a bad spirit maybe y'all maybe ought to stick to the back end of these meetings this is not going over too well right now come on i'm telling you right now that it is the will of god for us to have a fresh understanding come on i know it's a hot word dominion but what does scripture really say about dominion what does scripture really what does it flesh out what does it bear out in regards to dominion jesus or god excuse me puts them in this perfect place far as we know adam didn't have any problem with the dominion that god gave him over the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea far as we know a bear is still a bear and an elephant's still an elephant and a well still a whale i'm gonna dig this up today whether i get any amens or not because it's the truth i don't care how perfect the place is i don't care how perfect the ministry is i don't care how perfect the experience is i don't care how perfect the testimony is i don't care how perfect the power is i don't care how perfect the opportunity is listen perfect perfect perfect perfect let's talk about dominion let's define dominion dominion and its simplicity it deals with authority it deals not just with authority it deals with control and government but when you get down into the roots of dominion it's talking about active ruling active government it's not a one-time deal come on it's an ongoing action it's ruling come on it's raining come on it's something happening on monday it's something happening on tuesday it's something that's going on in the valley it's something that goes on on the mountain it's something that goes on when you got money in the bank it's come on when it talks about dominion it's talking about something that is ongoing it's not just something you do when you feel good it's not just something you do when people are treating you right it's not just something you do when everything's going on your way dominion is active ruling and adam and eve managed to take a perfect place that was meant listen to this preacher that was meant it was meant for perfect fellowship between god and the one he created to fellowship with him they'd have a problem with dominion over the fish they had no problem with dominion over the fowl of the air but the garden was destroyed eventually adam and eve were driven out and there stood an angel with a flaming sword that kept them from going back in and the problem was they had no self-government they had no self-government and what good is spiritual government if we have no self-government again i'm defining dominion it's not a single act dominion is not a single act it's an ongoing action and paul is in the end of his life saying in the end of his life folks he authors what i just read to you i i buffet my own body which tells me that this never ends come on if i define dominion the way god wants me to define dominion hallelujah this is not just about spiritual dominion this is not just about spiritual government you better hear what i'm fixing to say and i'm going to jump off in this with both feet in the end it's not going to be how many devils you cast out but it's going to be did you manage to keep the devil out of your own house i said it there it was i'm gonna back up again and say in the end it's not gonna matter how much authority you had to keep people from being bitter in the end it's going to boil down did you keep from being bitter and it's right out of the gate humanity understood what he meant by all this dominion stuff come on in the same verse the real issue is not that he's given you government over the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and over creepy crawling no that's not the issue come on he starts the verse off man was made in the image of god man was made in the likeness of god come on when we define dominion i believe that we need to understand real dominion can i self-govern my own self [Music] and adam and eve showed that they miserably failed at this and if the age-old studies of the first and second adam are provocative and deserve attention and you've got it would behoove us all i believe it serves spiritual pertinence today if the first adam got it wrong and he had no self-government wouldn't you think that the second adam had to get it right and so he goes to the wilderness and the bible says one one one author says he was led there another author said he was driven there and we can stand here and argue all day about everything that was going on in the wilderness but the fact of the matter is it was the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life and the reason jesus had to go to the wilderness listen to me right now the reason jesus had to go to the wilderness is the first adam failed to have self-dominion the first adam did not how to restrain his own lust and his own desires the first adam didn't know how to say no in the face of serpents come on we need to quit blaming everything on the devil and wake up to the fact that god gave us the holy ghost come on to have temperance to have love to have long suffering and so the second adam said the first adam messed the garden up because he had no self-government in his life and so here comes jesus the second adam to make right what the first adam messed up and i'm submitting to you that the second adam went in full of the holy ghost and he left in the power of the spirit and the only time and the only way the apostolic church is going to make that true transition between just simply being full to operate in the power of what we're full of is when we realize that dominion defining dominion is about self-dominion and an ongoing self-government and not allowing our own selves to act and do jesus the bible says they're going to come in the end but it's all fleshed out and they're going to say but we cast out devils in your name see that's what don't tell me this is not what it's all about it's what it was about in the beginning and it's what it's going to boil down to in the end but we had spiritual we had dominion we had spiritual authority yeah we cast out devils in your name we did we did many wonders in your name he said depart for me ye workers of in in in iniquity in the issue was not what you could do out here the issue is what you wouldn't do in here and he said depart for me you work with iniquities because iniquities because i never knew you and in the end it's not going to come down to how much dominion come on that's the hot word right now dominion so i decided to go to a christian bookstore i decided i know the word dominion it's self-government it's control it's active ruling it's a everybody wants to talk about authority so i went to the christian bookstore a big one and i started pulling books off the shelf brother booker i wanted to see i pulled i stopped at two and a half stacks from the table up past my waist come on dominion over spirits dominion over over over the spirits of your city authority over this and authority over that you know how many books i could find overtaming the tongue and controlling your spirit i couldn't find one not one book not one book what good have we done if we can cast out devils and we can't get him out of us in fact jesus deals with this with the disciples they come to him tell me this ain't us i'm about to close tell me this is not us my god the spirits were subject to us even the devils and they start they start telling them the stories man we cast eight out of this joker my god we got three out of this sucker this one was crawling on the ground this one was foaming at the mouth my god where are you guys going it's not lunch time yet i'm preaching better than that jesus that mercy man that one foamed at the mouth come on that one flopped in the floor that one growled at us we had we had dominion over spirits jesus said yeah i hear him yeah i saw satan falling like like he said i took care of the devil he said what you really ought to be rejoicing about though is if your name's found in the land book of life so really by that statement by that statement i believe jesus is loudly and blind yeah i take care of the devil but will you take care of yourself my job is to take care of him your job is to take care of you but gifts just naturally always sound better than fruit and i'm telling you we are we're about to watch you here and i hate to be a prophet of doom we're already experiencing this inch deep mile wide phony baloney let me tell you something right now the gifts of the spirit are anchored and sustained through the fruits of the spirit and i'm telling you the only safe way to operate in the gifts of the spirit is through a life that's lived with focus on the fruits of the spirit and it's a train wreck it's a train way it's a train wreck waiting to happen acts 28 take heed therefore unto yourselves and this is this is what gets me brother frazier i'm not a pastor but i'm a part of the five-fold ministry and he goes on and he says and to all the flock [Music] and i apologize to every faithful saint in this place for any overexposure you may have had in the past [Music] somebody who made a a job or an occupation out of this the focus is not first on the flock brother booker what good have i done if i bring a word that straightens the flock out and i've left myself unattended [Music] lest i myself why you're an apostle you're a church starter you're you're you're a scholar par excellent you're a writer you're a prolific apostle i bluff it my body not is one that beateth it the air [Music] the amplified really shines some light on this look well to yourself [Music] the message is a paraphrase a very loose paraphrased translation but i like the amplified because it's a parenthetical translation and what i mean by parenthetical is it parenthetical statements support he said look well to yourself to your own personality [Music] and to your teaching [Music] persevere in these things hold to them i don't want to be so consumed with the supernatural that i neglect my nature and all the craze about the supernatural concerns me because what good is all we just you just brought this up on the way here what good is the miraculous if i neglect the man i submit to you that the right order is that we take care of what we can and then god takes care of what we can but it's like we've got it flipped backwards we want to do what we can't and expect god to take care of what we can so we spend all of our time after the adversary while neglecting our own issues [Music] jesus why are you going to the wilderness the first the first adam had he had dominion [Music] in a garden but he had he had no self-dominion in his life [Music] jesus had to go to right the second adam had to go write what the first adam got wrong [Music] no i'm not i might be hungry i i i'm not gonna get power that way that's all he's self-checking himself i'm not going to go about it that way [Music] there is nothing wrong with hunger but there is it does become an issue when you start the search to satiate [Music] [Music] when i get me right i get me right [Music] it's a whole lot more about me than i want to admit [Music] when i get me right let's let's let's flip this and stop spending so much time worried about doing the things that we can't [Music] god said let let let us make man our image [Music] this is first before you name a pig a pig and a bear a bear and a deer the first in the same verse right the first thing is about being like him and i don't have time but really it's a great study to unpack the difference in what he's differentiating here between image and likeness the likeness he's speaking of is functioning as i function [Music] but that function there's an order to this you can't you can't function you can't be in his likeness if you're not first concerned with his with his image and he's holy and he's righteous and out of this there's a mantra that's been born in the last couple of weeks and i'll share it with you as i close cody see to it [Music] that it's not just the work of god that prospers in your life see to it that it's not just the work of god that prospers in your life see to it that first the life of christ prospers in your life [Music] and there's a great travesty when we become so consumed with the work that we forget the life [Music] i don't want satanic subjection without having any self-subjection adversaries [Music] is this too practical adversaries maybe and you you that know me here i like to get out there in that ooga-booga world i'm telling you brother frazier the longer i'm in this the more i realize it's less about adversaries and it's more about my attitude and if i can manage to keep my attitude right [Music] and it's not it's not i'm not gonna get a twitter account it's not it's not tweetable it's not it's all these it's these other things and i see these guys getting sucked into all these numbers and i'm like yeah i know numbers represent souls but because i know men who literally have been a part of healing the world but somehow never gotta they never got a personal healing themselves that's what the apostle paul is driving at if you look in the history of where this is being written from he is battling bitterness and bitterness is not something you get out by beating the air the only way you get bitterness out is the beating of oneself and you drag yourself back to the altar again come on i i keep feeling like god keeps pulling me back bitterness is a word i keep coming back to what have we done what have we done if we put marriages together what good have we done if we've helped the world but somehow we lost the battle with our own bitterness because we were known we were more consumed about satanic success subjection than the service of one's own self i'm here to divine dominion and dominion is active government but how can we actively rule [Music] how can we actively rule with him if we can't actively rule with him no you missed it how are we going to actively rule seventh dimension all and i and i it's all interesting it's all interesting but all of that is to no avail if i can't keep my own spirit in check if i can't keep my mouth closed if i can do you know that there's some mercy i had a guy call me the other day and i and i know how stuff gets out and i didn't ask permission to do this but i just feel to say what i said it was the holy ghost and i he he he and i finally i just stopped him and he was frustrating there's stuff going on in his church and his family i said look look god didn't call you to make a point god didn't raise you up to make a statement god god didn't raise you up to make a revolution god raised you up to make disciples beginning with you [Music] and i've too many times i've witnessed the right thing done the wrong way [Music] this doesn't sail that's why i couldn't find one book [Music] it doesn't sell [Music] dominion doesn't sell when it comes to self but that's why the garden crashed [Music] they had no self-subjection [Music] what good is all this authority that god's given us if we can't even manage our own spirits [Music] the responsibility of some of this again sunday school teachers teach your kids acts 2 38 239 beginning galatians 5 at about 22 to about 26 or 27. [Music] long suffering patient endurance to bear along with the frailties [Music] offenses injustice injustices and provocations of others without murmuring or resentment [Music] and we're worried about the principalities of our cities [Music] i'm going to read that again i know it's probably i always laugh at the wrong time but it's that have you ever got the paper back and and it's just i know an f's not going to be funny but it's just sometimes it's not because i didn't turn it in long suffering patient endurance to bear along with the frailties offenses injustices and provocations of others without murmuring or resentment [Music] what's the principality of your city bo i don't mean this arrogantly this man over here knows there's not very many people who could get by with that statement but i believe in that stuff and i think i can get by with it but i'm making an extreme statement because i'm trying to bring some some perspective to something oh my god it's the spirit of lust well maybe [Music] we preach about things we can't control we worry about things that we can't control we lose sleep over things we can't control people we can't control situations we can't control and god said if you'd worry about you if you take heed to yourself if you'd buff at your own body i'll take care yeah i've seen satan it's i listen to the tone he i've seen him fall like lightning i'll take care of what you can't take care of meekness oh god if the first one didn't get me what is that over there on the blue when you're playing monopoly park place and no is that the blue is it park place then boardwalk the park place didn't sink me boardwalk did meekness disposition to be gentle kind balanced and temper and passions patient and suffering injuries without feeling a spirit of revenge [Music] what's the principality of your city bro no no what's in my heart that's going to cause me to be destroyed [Music] you want to destroy principalities get a bucket get a basement in some water and go wash somebody's feet call somebody i'm gonna ask them to forgive you get the jealousy and the envy you want to talk about a lot let me tell you where a lot of this stuff's coming from that's the barrage against our churches [Music] or their strife and envy the bible says there's every evil work [Music] and the strife comes from no self-subjection [Music] some of you heard me tell this story but i got to tell you the rest of it because this is how life works and i'm closing somebody here's the first problem somebody told me something somebody else said [Music] and here's the second problem somebody else backed up their story i was hurt and i was mad and i was angry and it was supposed to be so supposedly done at a table with a bunch of other preachers [Music] how could that man do that he didn't even really know me he's never had the time of day for me i don't feel like he'd walk across the street and spit on me if i was on fire why would he say those things [Music] i had a little guy at that time he's not so little anymore but my oldest boy who has does not and still does not have the propensity to to hate her now the middle one's a little different but and he's sitting on my knee and we're looking through a book you heard me tell this it was just i don't remember the time frame it wasn't long it hadn't been in my spirit long and we we ran and i flipped the page this magazine in there this man's face was on and all it just lurched in my spirit that's all it did and my son took his finger barely old enough to talk and he put it on that man's head and he said dad i don't like that man i set the magazine aside stood him up pat him on the head love you little man go find your mama and it took years brother frazier that man didn't say those things i've lived long enough to find out i don't have a more loyal supporter that table talk never even happened the other two guys had it out for me and they were using the older guy as leverage [Music] [Music] i've been around the world and i've and i and i'm not gonna go into this but i i've i i've had manifestation of demonic spirits i've had conversations you want to you want to get we'll get who we'll we'll get we'll we'll get you'll really have trouble if you're having trouble right now you give me five minutes you really have trouble i've had conversations with demonic spirits i'm not talking about stuff you're seeing and i'm talking about just as sure as you're sitting right there that didn't get me that didn't come close to get me i've had things come in the middle of the night try to kill me i've dealt with things from san francisco to manila to to austin to hong kong but in the end this is what i'm left to govern this is what i'm left to cover this is what i'm with this is what i'm left to govern and if i'm actively ruling over this [Music] and john schumache at little rock camp meeting in this i'd been on this about a week and i heard him say out of his mouth and i went he said i found out after all these years of pastoring usually the spiritual temperature of the church is a direct reflection of my temperature [Music] so i'm gonna come in and troubleshoot brother booker i give you my word when i come back to rialto i'm gonna come in with both guns blazing and i know there's spiritual strong men and i know i know all that stuff and i'll wrangle and i'll fight with my last breath with your son joe booker's a prince i'll link arms i'll do everything i can to help him have revival but i promise you i'm not gonna do it with myself unchecked because first first i want to know my names in the book and i may never write a book on principalities [Music] but if i can manage to keep myself from becoming a castaway i think that's a bigger bigger success [Music] [Music] you don't think it's important i mean he even said if a man can't control his own house qualifications of the priesthood [Music] but but he's got a revelation on this and he's got [Music] so if you've got somebody to talk about don't come to me [Music] i wanted to i wanted to set you up i'm sorry i don't like the first slot i don't like the second slot so i like either one of [Music] them defining dominion let's not leap frog to naming the fish and the animals and forget it's first we were made in his image and after his likeness that's dominion that's true if i'll govern on somebody just do it with me just draw that little circle right around come on do it right now if i'll govern this right here [Music] i tell you one more story the lord brought it back to me today one more my wife will vouch for this as i'm riding with brother booker the lord brought it back to me and i almost we were talking and i got distracted because tears and i was like the lord let me know that right there that was a pivotal point in your ministry and looking back now i realize that i was in a place preaching [Music] ask me later i'll tell you every every young preacher needs to go here [Music] i was i was pushing i was working against i was working against the mother-in-law i was working against the old regime i was it just was i preached that sunday morning with strep throat brother frazier and god in the office before god i'm ringing wet i'm trying to suck on a cough drop to soothe my throat and the pastor walks in and says i hope you didn't overdo it this morning says you still gotta preach tonight it happened i i was so mad i didn't go to lunch i was outpacing the parking lot of the church they had a field behind the church with grass up to about here and i wasn't even paying attention i was still in dress shoes and i was kicking and i had called somebody for sympathy and he was it wasn't brother booker this time but this guy was laughing at me [Music] carl watkins was laughing at me he was laughing brother frazier he was like he was laughing he was laughing i was having to tell him to breathe he was laughing so hard and he was making me madder by the minute and as i'm talking to carl watkins literally before god i still got this my wife about i went just like and i kicked i'm in the back of a field and i kicked in that grasp of the will banks and when i did i first felt the pain in the end of my toes and the next thing i seen was something flying through the air and i went over there and dug through the grass and picked it up and it was a microphone and the holy ghost spoke to me and said just keep your spirit right and preach i still have that microphone i don't know why it was in that field back there so i wanted to beat people up i wanted to spit people's places i wanted to put my hands around their throat i wanted to tell them how low down and thank you for being a tenant today but god help us to help ourselves [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] right [Music] you don't listen [Music] to that kind of preaching without stopping to inspect [Music] brother marks my mind went up so many paths i went back to peak a few years ago i thought about my pride i thought about my turning in my f [Music] i can't answer you but all i want to do is just find some spot and i know they're gonna sing i think it'd be all right if we take take a few minutes find a spot let's ask god to help us to search us help us [Music] jesus [Music] come on let's take a little while [Music] search me oh god cleanse me lord [Music] [Music] spirit o [Music] god away from my presence [Music] [Applause] [Music] lord we want you [Music] lord we want you no one else will do this [Music] [Music] are oh miracles [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] in this place [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] eyes are opened here [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a miracle can happen [Music] a miracle can happen [Music] [Applause] can you sing it with me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] who can do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] chains are broken [Music] in this place [Music] oh [Music] thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord god we praise you thank you lord thank you lord hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah foreign melody you you are my testimony in the be a prophecy earth this world that my kingdom shall come and that prophecy is that it has come in you already that the form of my kingdom that shall come is present in you through the infilling of my spirit let's receive this word in thanksgiving let's give our praise come on let's worship the lord lift your voices lift your voices god we praise you we praise you we praise you oh jesus we worship you thank you thank you hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah [Music] [Music] um thank you lord for your word [Music] [Music] hey [Music] thank you brother marks [Music] just follow the holy ghost thank you for being open [Music] [Music] confirmed something that literally i turned by the freighter and said i've been i didn't get to finish it because we didn't want to miss what was you were going to say next but last two or three weeks i've always struggled with [Music] something that happened here many years many years ago man um would come to the altar seeking the holy ghost i'm not throwing no stones when i say this but you couldn't hardly dear saints would go to try to pray with him and he'd get angry didn't want somebody talking in his ear didn't finally came to me one day and said [Music] i'm convinced i have the holy ghost [Music] because i have all these fruits he was a pretty nice guy [Music] still is in the day kind person [Music] here about a couple weeks ago the lord started i wrestled with people that in their nature in my nature [Music] i can be rather argumentative [Music] and that's being nice i've wrestled with these people that seem to have just a naturally patient spirit a naturally loving spirit that just seemed to be just it's like i'm not i'm talking about people that don't even to my knowledge don't even have the holy ghost they're just kind and they're nice they're gentle you know and i'm wrestling with all this stuff and it's just been the last couple weeks lord and you confirmed it today lord maybe to see that that's how the fruits of the spirit operate [Music] is the deficiencies that are within each individual in where whatever realm of those fruits where the deficiencies are this the holy ghost reverses those deficiencies when we are submitted and those fruits of the spirit manifest themselves in the place where there was no ability to manifest before because it wasn't in my nature [Music] to be kind or it wasn't in my nature to be patient i began to understand the holy ghost makes the difference and makes me more like him in his likeness [Music] hallelujah and i realized that while he may be kind in what area but the unreasonable anger was never never dealt with [Music] thank you so much for that uh i loved you before i love you more now [Music] thank god for men like brother marx [Music] and what can we say we're going to bring to this pulpit brother frazier i told him last night was after the service i said good luck topping this one but i learned something from my brother-in-law i told him this too my brother-in-law spokane brother mayo every message that he has just heard whatever's the most recent is the best message he's ever heard [Music] and i thought that is how several years ago i thought that is how i want to learn to live i'm gonna i'm gonna adopt that into my spirit and so thank god for preaching to us last night didn't he do a tremendous job following the holy ghost [Music] brother frazier [Music] once again we open our hearts we open our spirit [Music] whatever god has for us [Music] come give it to us thank you for being such an awesome man of god [Music] it's amazing how things work if you do it isn't it give me for not doing that right why don't you stand with us one more time this afternoon why don't you just close your eyes and lift your heart and be alone with jesus one more time would you hallelujah we love you master we love you master we love you master hallelujah we love you master we love you master we love you master we love you master we love you master [Music] hallelujah hallelujah praise god thank you again brother and sister bertram for your kindness and hospitality and again the honor and privilege to be here i don't really want to preach today to be quite honest with you it's not because i'm hungry i just would um [Music] i'd like to be alone with him for a while [Music] hallelujah i remember foolishly thinking years ago when i first felt the calling of the lord on my life and foolishly said that i loved people and i realized after a while that i don't love people people frustrate me people aggravate me people hurt me and so i've resigned myself to the fact that i don't think that i will ever love people like i'm supposed to and so my prayer and my hope is that i can love him enough and then i can stay close enough to him that he will love them through me and that he will help me to love as much as i possibly can so my only hope is that i can stay as close to him as i can possibly get absalom was close to the heart of david he reached rather when joab was close to the heart of david the king he reached for absalom the son that didn't necessarily deserve mercy so my prayer is that i can stay close to the heart of the king and love like like he loves and be like him thank you brother marks thank you for the word of the lord i love you i honor you i thank god for the ministry of an evangelist there we need every part of the five-fold ministry and i thank god for that as i said last night it's an honor to be on the platform with him as well as brother booker his brother marx has already said brother booker is a hero of mine and i love him i remember when my son was still very young we sat up in the bed and i read part of [Music] brother booker's the journey of a lifetime to him and i don't know how it was for you but when i read that book it just felt like he was my personal friend and uh i thank him for sharing his story with us and to be able to share a platform with him as a high honor to me i would much prefer to be sitting there letting him preach today much prefer that [Music] but here we go luke chapter 10 if you look there with us again please luke chapter 10. i know it's 12 40 and i hope you ate before you got here because if if you're hungry for lunch right now i know i'm already in trouble i guess i'm the only thing standing between us and lunch today aren't i so i will be very careful very careful i i sincerely though i will be very much aware of the time and we'll just get out of the way quickly luke chapter 10 beginning in 25th verse there luke chapter 10 and verse number 25 and behold a certain lawyer stood up tempted him saying master what shall i do to inherit eternal life jesus said to him what is written last part of that verse i don't have time to preach about that today but it certainly has gotten a hold of me how readest thou [Music] because we can all read the same thing and have quite a different interpretation now read us down the answering said thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart and with all thy soul with all thy strength with all thy mind thy neighbor is thyself and he said unto him thou has answered right this doe and thou shalt live but he willing to justify himself said unto jesus who is my neighbor and jesus answering said certain man went down from jerusalem to jericho and fell among thieves which stripped him of his reignment wounded him departed leaving him half dead and by chance there came down a certain priest that way and when he saw him he passed by on the other side and likewise a levite when he was at the place came and looked on him passed by on the other side but a certain samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine set him on his own beast brought him to an end took care of him and on the morrow when he departed he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him take care of him whatsoever thou spendest more when i come again i will repay thee which now these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves and he said he that showed mercy upon him and jesus said unto him go and do thou likewise as brother marx again has already said i just i want to talk to us this morning i'm sorry this afternoon was morning when we started wasn't it i want to just talk to us this afternoon talk to myself talk to all of us by the help of the lord for just a few moments upon this thought the cost of caring the cost of caring let's pray one more time together shall we we love you father we are grateful for your word today [Music] beyond measure we are grateful god we're grateful for your precious people thank you lord for the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful body to know your people to rub shoulders with them god to allow them to sharpen us god we love you master anoint us speak to us help us today i pray in the name of jesus christ and everybody said amen and the lord bless you and you may be seated i know it's early afternoon but if you'll help me preach i'll preach short i don't know if it's a sickness i don't know what you would call it but when people don't help me preach i have this um thing that i i'm thinking you're not hearing me and so i have to say it again and and if you still don't get it because i have to say it till you get it so help me preach today how about that bible said a certain lawyer we presume a scholar of jewish law comes to jesus with quite an ulterior motive trying not only to justify himself but trying to disqualify jesus before we get any farther into this story parable whatever you'd like to call it let's do remember that we're talking about eternal life because he comes to jesus and says what do i have to do to inherit eternal life so what jesus is going to respond obviously carries a lot of weight because it's about eternity and so he replies well how do you read it what do you see what what is what is the great law and it's loving god with all your heart your soul your mind your strength and then you have to love your neighbor as yourself and you know the story well jesus applauds him this is that's you've answered right that's what it takes but he wouldn't leave it alone he wouldn't as my little mother used to say wouldn't leave well enough alone and so he's trying to justify himself and make himself look good and says well who is my neighbor and jesus is ready and begins a story about what we call a good samaritan a man went down from jerusalem to jericho they tell me that's a journey of about 15 miles through some very rough and rugged terrain that was filled with highway men bandits thieves that were not content to just simply rob a man but they also intended to do bodily harm and that's exactly what happens a certain man is taken he's robbed he's beaten and he is left half dead on the side of the road and and by chance if i say by chance by chance not god ordained but just by chance a priest passes by and sees the man on the side of the road and he changes sides and goes to the other side of the road and journey's own a levite one that is has the care of the house of god and the instruments of worship and all of that he likewise comes and sees the man lying and he goes to the other side of the road and and continues his journey but a samaritan a samaritan comes and sees the man and the only difference so far in the story is that he has compassion and when he sees the man his heart goes out to him and so he goes to him and binds him up and pours in the oil and the wine puts him on his own beast and takes care of him takes him to an end pays for his will and tells the inn keeper whatever other cost he incurs i'll take care of that on my return trip and jesus said now you tell me who is neighbor and quite obviously it wasn't the priest it wasn't the levite it was the samaritan and jesus said well then go thou and do likewise now i want to go a little deeper into this story this afternoon if we can very quickly again it's very important i believe to note that this is a story that pertains to inheriting eternal life it's not just something to make us feel good not just something that well maybe if i get around to that uh i'll polish up my resume with that but but it literally is significant to my salvation if i'm going to be saved i have to love god correctly if i'm going to be saved i have to love my neighbor correctly because loving god and loving my neighbor has eternal consequence amen if i don't do that nothing else matters amen but if i can if i can perfect those two then it seems like everything else is going to fall in place certain man went down everybody say down he went down from jerusalem to jericho jerusalem being the holy city the house of god jericho being that cursed city after the israelites that entered the promised land because any time you leave jerusalem it's always downward you never benefit yourself by walking away from god it's never a journey upward it's always a journey downward and again i wanna i guess brother marx mentioned my mother and got me going back a ways but my little mother would say things like this they made their bed hard and now they have to lie in it a man journeys from jerusalem he leaves the the comfort the house of god he journeys down to jericho and there he's met by highway men and they beat him and they rob him and they they leave him dead and i know you know the ramifications of that story the the thief cometh not but for to steal and kill and destroy it's always downhill and the world is a is a master at stripping us and robbing us and and beating us but it never resuscitates us it takes from us it never gives and so now is who i want to talk to us about a priest comes and and he's coming from jerusalem down to jericho maybe his time of ministry is over and he's coming and he passes by on the other side the levite comes they pass by on the other side now i want to make sure you're with me in the story it's obvious from the way the lord is teaching the story that this behavior he is not recommending but he is actually condemning he is not applauding the priest he's not applauding the levite but he is condemning their behavior they pass by on the other side and they do not stop to help him and i have been guilty of just reading the story preaching the story and and putting the priest and the levite in a bad light and and i'm not saying that's necessarily wrong but but god really got a hold of my heart several weeks ago and i god just started talking to my heart about this story that i want to share with you for just a moment why did a priest walk on the other side of the road why would a levite these are people that are comfortable in the house of god comfortable in the presence of god they know the word of god they're bound around the people of god how can a person with that much god influence be so callous toward a man lying half dead in a ditch that is obviously in need of help and i'm certainly not my list did not is not exhaustive i'm just going to share a couple of of maybe so's i don't we don't know we're not tow but perhaps maybe there was a time constraint issue maybe there was a tight schedule the priest had to get home and get back for a second service i don't know maybe the levites running late for choir practice maybe something broke down on the platform and we had to go pick up another part because church has to start at 7 p.m prom and we've got to have it all ready everything's got to be together maybe just maybe there was a time constraint and a priest walks by and said sir i know you need help but but i gotta have church don't run ahead of me just stay with me the levite passes by and said sir i know you need help and i i know that i have what it takes to help you but but we got the business of church to take care of and maybe it was a time constraint issue and i don't have to ask you if you've been there we've all been there but what i want to make us aware of this afternoon is is it possible that i i i me can get so busy having church that i failed to be the church is it possible that i can get so caught up in the busyness of church and forget the business of my father amen not about three or four months ago now well actually the the planning took took place quite a few months ago about a year ago or so i felt god start dealing with my heart about going back to our root structure uh the doctrines that that we believe and so uh we we had this idea about a we called it rooted it was a sequence of six weeks we brought in ministers not necessarily to preach but we wanted them to teach because i want to make sure that the root structure of myself and of our church was secure and so our first minister was with the talmadge french if you can imagine having him coming and teaching on the oneness of god and what incredible services we had brother floyd odom came and and taught on the mighty god in christ you already know what kind of services that we had we brought in other ministers to talk about holiness and separation and about and about our doctrine of salvation about repentance and baptism in jesus name and i wanted to make sure that that our root structure was right and i i'm just being transparent with you this afternoon it was my i don't know what i was expecting but god far exceeded my expectations because in my mind i'm thinking now as you probably already noticed i am a note taker i preach with lots of handwritten notes if i'm in church i'm gonna have something to write on and write with because i'm not condemning you if you don't but man if you can remember all this stuff for the marx preached today you're remarkable i have to write it down and so i am a note taker and so i was thinking all right god we're going to see it we're going to listen we're going to absorb i'm going to take lots of notes and we're just going to make sure that we know that we know that we know what we believe and would you believe god turned it upside down people started getting the holy ghost on wednesday night i'm down kneeling in front of the in the altar after brother french gets through teaching about the oneness of god and i'm just praying god make sure i've got it inside of me and i feel a hand tapping me on the shoulder and i turn around and look and a man that's just gotten the holy ghost tears are running down his face and he says pastor can i get baptized in jesus name tonight and i wanted to say look man i'm glad you want to get baptized but that's not what this is all about until god rang my bell and let me know just sitting around absorbing doctrine is not what it's all about if it doesn't lead to salvation who cares what you believe i'll step out on that limb with you this afternoon your doctrine doesn't matter if it's not leading to salvation and god made me aware this is not about sitting and listening and absorbing it's about taking what you know and applying it to a soul that's lost without god our doctrine leads to salvation amen and if i got caught up in the busyness of church that i lose the business of my father i don't know again this is speculation i'm just giving thoughts and perhaps and maybe so's maybe maybe that priest was afraid of becoming ceremonially unclean because if by chance he's already dead i can't help him anyway and if i go in that proximity and if i happen to touch him i'm over i won't get to preach tomorrow night i'll have to stay quarantined for seven days i'll have to get the ashes of a red heifer there's a lot of stuff that goes on because if he's dead by law and i touch him i am unclean and not fiat for religious duty i don't know i'm just giving a maybe so perhaps they are concerned that i'm not willing to take a chance on contaminating myself for a lost cause now i want to i want to preach to me for a moment and hopefully you you you will listen but but but surely it's where the mark says so able he preached to us this morning some surely to god somewhere brother and sister i can get to a place where i am crucified enough and secure enough and sold out enough and in love with jesus enough that i can reach a helping hand to a contaminated soul without damning my own soul surely i can reach for a soul without contaminating my own ah surely i can reach a helping hand to a person in need and be so in love with jesus that i am not afraid of my own eternal salvation that i am secure enough in that and again i can't re-preach but well no i'm not afraid to re-preach i'm happy to do that surely i can get diligent enough in crucifying my flesh that i can love my neighbor without contaminating my soul surely somewhere i can reach a place where i don't have to be afraid of them contaminating me but i can in turn affect them i've read a book that has read me anybody ever read a book that read you and i'm a reader i love to read brother stan gleason wrote a book called follow to lead and it's about discipleship and it's turning my world upside down and he makes statements in there that bother me and provoke me and move me and and one of the things he makes a statement in that book that do we live our lives in such a way that that we've been raptured out of the world before the rapture now i'm just i'm just talking to us today do i live a life to such a degree that that i've already stopped influencing the world and he made a statement in that book that i've written to myself and and i questioned myself and he said if the rapture took place today how long would it take for your neighbors to know it even had a rapture and you talk about looking in a mirror and talking to myself and looking at my own neighbors and i realize where the booker if the rapture took place today at a minimum it would be weeks before my neighbors even knew i was gone perhaps months maybe when they saw the grass not cut maybe when they saw that that the lights weren't owned as per normal but god i'm i'm i'm talking to me today and hopefully you'll get a hold of you somewhere but is it possible that i have isolated myself to the point that i am not even affecting the world now now those of you that know me know i'm very much about holiness and separation i'm not i'm i'm not if i have to go and sit on a bar stool and get drunk to help a drunk man then i'll i disagree with that but if i live my life in such an listen oh my i'm going to try to preach real short it just doesn't always work but i'm i'm trying i'm comfortable in my pentecostal world i'm comfortable in this i had a wonderful time fellowshipping brother and sister bertram our wonderful host we got to sit in his beautiful office and and eat strawberries and and just sit and visit i was very happy not to go to a restaurant just to get because part of the reason i want to be here is i i just want to be around these people i i want them to infect me and affect me and i'm comfortable in my pentecostal environment and if i'm not careful i can get so comfortable there that i'm a little uncomfortable with sinners did you know one of the one of the ways they defined jesus christ and they meant it as a derogatory statement and i think he wore it as a badge of honor and they said oh he's a friend of sinners that means that he had to have a lifestyle a behavior that people could look at him and said my lord do you ever notice how much he goes out to eat with sinners you ever notice how much he's rubbing shoulders with people that i don't even want to talk to people that are publicans and sinners and i look down on them and don't want to be seen with them and that's the kind and so again i had to look at myself in the mirror and say okay by the lifestyle that i'm living right now would anybody ever accuse me of being a friend of sinners now i'd like to believe that they would could accuse me of being a friend of pentecostals and so i had to start checking my own lifestyle and you know what i have to keep up because this wonderful thing called the irs with lots of receipts when i take people out to eat i have to keep the receipt now i got to write their names on there and i'm ashamed to tell you that about 95 of those names are pentecostal holy ghost field people and so i had to ask myself the question was a priest and a levite just a little bit afraid of contamination and so they just went to the other side and thought it's just not worth it now here's the one i really came to preach about this afternoon does this seem like i said that before didn't it but this is the real one there's this thing that i've recently discovered i never even heard the phrase until just recently and that is this thing called compassion fatigue maybe it was compassion fatigue with a with a priest and with a levite they they tell me i did a little bit of study not nearly enough but i've done a little bit of study about compassion fatigue and it's primarily in in caregivers those that are professional caregivers whether they're nurses or doctors even attorneys and therapists and people that are involved in people's traumas and their situations of life and caregivers can get weary with loving and caring and giving and then getting hurt and becoming vulnerable it's amazing as i study this it's become a very real malady among professional care givers again like dirt nurses and doctors and all of those that are involved in the human story of tragedy and suffering and pain and trauma on a daily basis and and you just reach a point i've talked to nurses in our own church i even had one that told me he said you know what pastor i'm just so weary in what i'm doing i'm thinking about laying down my career and joining my father in the lawn and the painting business simply because i'm weary with dealing with people in their sickness and in their affliction these are not bad people they're just over taxed in their journey of giving attention and care and love for people that are in need and they get so weary with people's problems and stuff that they they out of out of self preservation they just sort of cover themselves and and close the door and say my god i'm just tired of caring and as i studied this that one of the one of the articles that i that i read said this is described this this um this compassion fatigue is described as the cost of caring for others in their emotional pain compassion fatigue defined is the indifference to charitable appeals in behalf of those who are suffering it is experienced as a result of the frequency or the number of such appeals it's like after a while i get bombarded with this problem and that trauma everybody smile at me let's see if this will go down a little easier i pastored long enough that i've heard lots of stories church in starks was located on a highway actually jackson is too and and you'd be shocked at the people that come by and the creativity of their stories the creativity of their narratives i even had one in starks one time a young lady came by and she was good i mean she cried at the right time she had the right story our hearts went out to her we helped her and would you believe she came back about three weeks later with a different story my holy ghost didn't but i did i wanted to just grab her and say ma'am do i look like an idiot do i look like i have no bra do you really think that i wasn't gonna recognize you're the same person you just have a different story and i'm not i should be but i'm not ashamed to tell you i didn't have quite as much mercy we didn't do quite as much as a matter of fact we didn't do anything and after a while if i am not careful i can develop this cynicism i can develop this cynical attitude i'm just talking to me for a moment i don't know how it is in alabama but but but we we have folks that that that are on the side of the road begging that they're they're at major intersections and i watched two of them early one morning and talking on their cell phones leaving a hotel going to their spots where they're going to beg for the day and i'm just being transparent with you now i drive up and think oh that's just somebody else that ought to be working they're just begging because that's what they want to do and every once in a while my wife will say yes honey but that's somebody's son that's somebody's daughter and if i am not careful i run the risk of becoming callous to the needs of those around me there are four phases of compassion fatigue the first is the the zealot or the idealistic phase and that's when i just want to help people i want to love people i want to be kind to them i want to help save them help clean them up help get them to heaven whatever i can do i'll come to your house any time of the day or night and then you move into the second phase which is called withdrawal and you start sort of wondering do they really need me at two o'clock in the morning couldn't we talk about this at seven o'clock in the morning and i'm not quite as eager to jump out of bed and come help you i'm not quite as easy to give out those hundred dollar bills i'm not quite as easy i call it gullible to swallow your story and what happens i start withdrawing myself the third is irritability i'm not preaching necessarily to you i'm just preaching to me for a moment because i've walked through every one of these there was a time i was zealous to help people and then i started getting a little bit concerned that maybe they were taking advantage of me and then i reached this place of irritability that that that you bothered me from my study time to get me out of my office and you're on the porch of our church which just it's just another story just another narrative it's just another somebody that's looking for a free handout and i got stuff to do and i walk out the door and i'm already angry at you i haven't heard your story i don't know what you're about to say and then the fourth phase of this is what they call the zombie phase and it's just that blank look i'm hearing what you're saying but i'm not feeling anything i'm past feeling i've felt enough i don't want to feel again i don't want to get involved in your situation i don't want to help you because the work it might say the work the work of helping requires us requires us to open our hearts and open our minds to those that we are trying to help and it makes us vulnerable to becoming profoundly affected even damaged by the work of our hearts they tell me that attorneys that are involved in traumatic situations they are four times as likely to suffer from depression as normal society the suicide rate among them the substance abuse among them is higher than it is in any other profession is it possible it's because they've been on an emotional roller coaster for so long that they just get weary with feeling and caring and brothers and sisters if it can happen in a professional world it can happen in the church of the living god and i see a man lying on the side of the road and he's bleeding and he's broken but my mind says i've been there i've done that it didn't work out so good and so let me just get to the other side of the road because we got to make sure the organs right we got to make sure the piano is right i'm the one that's got to make sure the lights are on after crying out loud i got to get there in time to pray so that i can be ready to preach and the man's lying on the side of the road bleeding to death i'm just giving out possibilities is it possible i don't think it necessarily makes the the the priest a bad priest i don't think he was backslidden i don't necessarily think the levite is a bad person it's just a good person that's over taxed with their caring and they've been burned one too many times and i just don't want to care anymore i don't want to hurt anymore i don't want to get involved anymore and i'm telling you this afternoon and i'm hurrying to a close now don't get up yet i'm just hurting i haven't got there yet but i'm hurrying i'm hurrying it's possible that you and i as the people of the living god the church the body of christ can reach a place like that but we cannot afford to stop loving we cannot afford to shut up the bowels of our compassion no matter how many times we've been burned we've got to realize that he is still the god of love and i am called to love those now now listen to me the answer for those that suffer with with i keep wanting to say combat fatigue compassion fatigue the first is you got to have self-help you got to have a personal awareness of where you are you got to love yourself enough to help yourself vacations are not downtime those are not things to be disdained they're they are not unspiritual now smile at me this makes me feel better a vacation is not something you should duck your head about and say well if i really had the holy ghost i wouldn't need any off time that's not true you do have the holy ghost but you have the holy ghost in an earthen vessel and your spirit's always ready but your flesh is always weak and every so often you better stop and take care of your flesh and pay attention to yourself now now i want to make a spiritual application the spiritual application is i cannot afford to let my personal daily devotion lag because personal time alone with god is therapeutic being alone with god is the greatest form of therapy therapy that you'll ever get your hands on you got to love yourself enough not to neglect your own soul as brother marx has already preached i don't want to preach myself to hell i don't want to pray just to preach i don't want to pray and study just to have another sermon but i want to pray so that i know him so that my spirit is refreshed so that i am renewed and resuscitated in his presence second thing they will caution you about or they will encourage you about should you become a victim of compassion fatigue first is self-help and second is professional help find you a counselor find your therapist stop find someone that you can visit with in other words get out of the closet don't come on elijah don't isolate yourself don't leave your servant a day's journey behind but you go find somebody who can minister to you and i'm not against counselors therapists they all have their place i've sent people to them but that's not what i'm preaching for you and i today but spiritually there's got to be a professional help for the people of god that suffer at times with compassion fatigue what is our professional help and i'm so glad you asked because i was sure wanting to tell you our professional help is the house of god you got to get to the church you got to get to mary's house you got to get to where the saints are gathered can you give me just a few more minutes do you know that you're never guaranteed the presence of god by yourself but if you can find a brother and maybe one more you're guaranteed the presence of god no wonder he said forsake not the assembling of ourselves together i don't just come for you i come from me i've got to have your presence i've got to have his presence because yeah well i feel the holy ghost right now it's in this atmosphere where i am fed spiritually i am restored i am renewed i am sustained in the presence of god just just journey with me a couple more minutes and i'll be through but listen church is not going to help you if you don't get real with god listen you your marriage can be in trouble and you can go to a marriage counselor but if you don't get real with that marriage counselor because i've seen him do it if you don't break down the facade and say sir ma'am this is where we're living this is what we're going through nobody can help you until you get real it bothers me to come to church and hear a man like brother marks preach about you've got to govern yourself it's all right to preach to others and love others and sing and so forth but but but in reality i got to govern myself god forbid by the marks that i could hear a message like that and stay here at my seat and say well i can't go to the altar because everybody be looking at me saying well man what did you do what do you need to repent of would you believe i've had conversations like that with people that said pastor i knew i needed to go to the altar but i couldn't go to the altar because i was afraid of what somebody else was going to think can i beg of us this afternoon to rip the facades off and why don't we all wake up and realize we all need professional help we all need the altar and i'm not going to waste my time judging you when you kneel in an altar god help me to be spiritual enough to come alongside you listen listen this is where we're supposed to be healed it's not where we're supposed to be judged this is the place we're supposed to be healed this is a place we're supposed to bear one another's burdens not sit back and scrutinize and say well i wonder why you know brother wheelbanks is really crying about that i wonder what's going on in his world it's not my it's not my responsibility to know what's going on in his world it's my responsibility to help him get healed in the presence of god because on his way home he's going to pass by a man on the side of a road and if you haven't been healed you're never going to help you can't do it and so that's why i say when we come to the house of god help me god to stop hiding behind a facade of perfection and get real in the presence of god and if the preacher is preaching to me let me be the first one on my feet saying talk to me preach to me i hope he talks to y'all listen he preached to me today i'm not ashamed to admit that when i come to church i want the preacher to preach to me i know what it is to sit in an audience and a man of god preacher and i'm the first one on my feet and the first one in the altar because i know you're talking to me and i don't know what everybody else is going to do oh god but i'm going to rip the facade off and i'm going to say here's where it hurts god would you heal me whoa just just come on up here with me would you musicians and singer just just come up hang up hey hang out here with me for a minute all right and so jesus turns this story completely around from what this jewish scholar is even asking and he makes the hero of the story someone that the jewish scholar would not even have dinner with he makes the hero of the story someone that they disdain and the hero of the story is not a priest or a levite the hero of the story is a samaritan who saw him and had compassion and goes to him and pours in the oil and the wine and binds him up and ministers to him and puts him on his own beast and god i just just had a staff meeting the other day and our sunday school director he said pastor when i first got in this position he said i thought well god i got to go get a van i got to fill a van up start bringing kids to sunday school he said i stopped thought wait a minute i got a four-door truck and i hadn't even filled that up yet and i come to church all by myself why in the world would i go out and get a van when i got a car that i come to char truck i come to church and every sunday morning i don't even have anybody riding in that just thought i'd just throw that out for free put him on his own beast and brought him to and then a samaritan the height of jewish prejudice disdain rejection you know the story there product of mixed marriages left behind the assyrian captivity and from that moment forward the pure blooded hebrews looked down upon them we don't sit with them talk to them visit them travel with them nothing to do with them and so jesus uses this rejected disenfranchised person to be the hero of his story now listen i really am closing i don't believe it's a stretch to say that somewhere a man from that kind of a background had to allow some healing to come into his mind and his heart and his spirit because it's my conviction that only healed people can love like that if you've never been hurt then you don't know how to help me when when as brother mark says preach when when i get hurt by a preacher if you you've never been hurt by a saint of god and i get hurt by one how do you know how to help me worst place in all the world to get hurt is in the house of god mephibosheth by a well-meaning nurse drops him and he's a for the rest of his life don't bother telling me it doesn't happen in the house of god worst place in the world to get hurt is in the house of god but but don't you ever forget that god's going to allow it to happen he does not allow it to destroy us he does not allow it to doom us but he allows us to hurt because if you've never had darkness how do you know how to appreciate light if you've never had sickness how do you know how to appreciate health if you've never had pain how do you know how to appreciate the absence of pain and so god allows us to walk through them so that he can heal our hearts so that when i am looking at a brother or a sister or one that i don't even know their name and i can see the pain i i can see the hurt there's something inside of me that's supposed to start up ticking saying you've been there you know what it's like to hurt and but you also know what it's like for there to be healing bomb and gilead you know what it's like to forgive you know what it's like to go on with your life you know what it's like to allow god to bless you and to heal you and restore you you know how to come alongside that brother that's been done wrong and say you can't harbor bitterness you you can't have an unforgiving spirit if i'm never hurt if i've never had to wrestle if i've never had to deal with it how can i come alongside you and tell you you can't let that fester inside of you because that root of bitterness is not just going to infect you it infects many and i i leaned over to brother bertram today is where the marxists preaching i don't think any of us know the real cost of a man that that that has been mightily used of god we don't know what it really costs when they falter and fail we don't know the full ramification of generations that are affected by the failure of a man or a woman of god surely a rhetorical question is there no bomb in gilead does healing really take place in this house but it is my firm conviction that we've got to have more than the presence of god we've got to have the hand of a brother or a sister to come alongside of us and say i know you're hurting i know you've been done wrong i know you're bleeding i know you think right now i can never get beyond this i can never get through this let me come alongside of you and tell you that you're going to make a choice to keep loving you got to make a choice to forgive got to make a choice i'm not going to let this bitter i may have it but i'm not going to let it stay here i'm going to get in this altar service after service until i can work this out of me until listen oh god just start playing maybe they'll help me just quit amen thank you healing heal it doesn't happen overnight there's some things you can't get over in one prayer meeting in an altar i hope i'm not messing your theology up i know god's a miracle worker but i'm not god and some things can't be healed in me overnight they take a process of time and i got to go back to the altar and i got to go back and say god it's me again this has hurt me again god i don't know why they said that i don't know why they did that i don't know why god i'm not gonna let this stay inside of me god i'm not gonna let this stay here it's me again god you gotta help me i'm feeling this rise up in me again i want to take vengeance i got the microphone blessed pat i want to tell my side of the story i want to justify myself i won't let the world know i'm not that heathen they say i am and so this is coming back up in me again god and i'm bringing it back to you god because you see i got to be healed i got to be healed i'm not going to carry this grudge i'm not going to carry this bitterness i'm not going to let the hurt and the pain the grievance of yesterday affect me i'm going to get through this why why is it so important hear me saying of god you cannot allow yourself to remain broken and hurt and rejected and bitter and angry and dejected [Music] because you see somewhere by chance you're going to come across a soul that's hurting and they need healing and if i have not let the healer heal me see i have a promise from isaiah 53 that he has borne my griefs and he's carried my sorrows but in him carrying mine i am called to carry yours and so fulfill the law of christ remember this this story is about eternal life i've got to be healed so that i can be the neighbor to somebody else so that i can have compassion on that soul that's lost and if i am not careful i can let my heart get so hurt wrapped up in myself and i see it i know it's there i know they need help i'm sorry i just got to go the other side of the road i can't even stand to look just stand with me this afternoon if you will there's a cost of caring that gets heavy at times if anybody knew about the cost of caring it's a man about a man that they required him to carry his own cross up golgotha's healed [Music] oh i want to be like jesus but i got so far to go how do you look at people i really i'm done it's 128 i'll be done in two minutes how do you look at people and you're on a cross and they've crucified you and i look down at you and realize the only reason you're able to even walk to this site is because i healed your legs the man that screaming to the top of his lungs crucify him the only reason you can even hear or speak is because i had compassion and i healed your body and now the worst moment physically of my life and all of my disciples have scattered and run and here i am suspended between heaven and earth the ultimate price of love and he has the audacity to say father forgive them they don't know what they're doing they don't know how deeply they've hurt me let me tell you what this that's the man that chose and we'll keep loving we'll keep having compassion i know it costs to care but i'm going to keep caring it's about an eyes closed and somewhere in your world your sphere of influence there's somebody you're going to come across that needs healing and they need help and they need a kind word and they need love and they desperately need compassion but if i have not allowed myself to get in an altar and get real with god and let god work out of me what's trying to stay lodged in me that if i am not careful i'll be just like a priest and just like a levite no it doesn't make me a criminal necessarily doesn't make me a bad person it just means that i have not allowed myself to get in this altar i'm not allowed this atmosphere to heal my heart it's 1 30 in the afternoon would you just humor me for a moment we're fixing to go and eat lunch come back tonight for an awesome time would you just come stand in this altar for a moment just all over the building we'll be gone in a matter of seconds it won't take very long but just come stand in this altar you're in the presence of a god that will carry your griefs he'll bear your sorrows whatever it is that's trying to lodge itself in your heart this afternoon i know in some ways this is a repeat of what we've already done but i invite you to come stand neal whatever your pleasure just for them singers are going to sing the people around you are going to pray you're welcome to put your hands on a neighbor and pray if you feel that of the lord to do that but would you sincerely pray god don't let me become a victim of compassion fatigue god don't let me become a victim of the cost of caring god don't let me get salt so-called in the busyness church and i lose the business of my father and that is a heart of compassion that is a continual compassion for those that are in need all about me would you pray would you close your eyes singers would you help us what an atmosphere to be healed what an atmosphere to be renewed what an atmosphere to be resuscitated what an atmosphere to let god heal my heart [Music] come on reach your heart up to heaven come on reach your heart up to heaven let him bring life into that again let him bring life into that again don't let me stop loving god tear down the walls let everything fall [Music] with nothing between you and me [Music] [Applause] [Music] you and me [Music] [Applause] go [Music] you and me [Music] everything's gone [Music] me [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] right [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] break through the fears [Music] [Music] time [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] my god i i don't know about y'all but it's it's like i don't even know what to say come up to this altar it's like just all i say is oh lord oh lord oh lord now let's just wait for him to fill in the blanks [Music] thank you brother [Music] marx and then thank you brother fraser [Music] for this morning this afternoon respectively i wonder sometimes for the frasier i'm not trying to add to anything but it's hard to add to something so perfect but that priest in that levite had to be traveling by just common deduction the same direction as the man that went from jerusalem to samaria whereas the samaritan had to be traveling the opposite direction a common deduction so there's that whole religious system the northern kingdom versus the southern kingdom we worship in jerusalem you worship in yonder mountain all of that's going on i feel like the holy ghost trying to say folks you need change direction and i felt the holy ghost speak to me a moment ago this what you meant as a conference for unity doesn't begin with a conference that begins with you i started to realize god's god's got this very much in his hands those of us that are here gonna have to realize oh god help me i gotta go find someplace to repent i've let all the the very things that i thought i was touting i find myself now under the microscope of the word thank you thank you brother and i'm looking forward to brother booker tonight but as i look forward i'm also looking back and just trying to grab ahold all of it hallelujah and i know that as he's stated that you know we're we're standing between you and lunch but as he stated last night too we've been eating some we've been eating some very rich fair this morning hallelujah let's come back tonight not trying to just suddenly stop anything the holy ghost moves on you to stay this church is open for you to stay and however god's working with you but we we will be back here tonight service will start at seven and um we try to get here early if we can uh there's probably not be enough room in the prayer room which is actually behind this uh this platform but we pray that there will be a spirit of prayer uh even as pre-service 637 to put a time frame on it let's let the holy ghost talk to us and lead us and guide us and i'm aware tonight there's going to be at least i've been told there's going to be a lot more folks here that maybe half again as many as it was even last night so and i need to quickly make an announcement the um those of you or some of you have been wondering yes uh there are uh that will be here tonight after service because restaurants here in the south close close up and so there will be uh there's all kinds of food trucks that are supposed to be here three or four of them at least uh and so there's there's cajun there's mexican there's snow cones there's uh all kinds of uh good good good stuff and so we want you to be aware of that take advantage of that we're going to try to have uh the fellowship hall open to where you have a place where you can take your food and you can come and sit down and enjoy fellowship and [Music] and uh it's our prayer that everybody anybody just happy with the holy ghost right now hallelujah ah thank you lord thank you lord let's come back with expectation god bless you we'll see in a little while you

Channel: The Sanctuary Apostolic Pentecostal Church

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Published: Thu Aug 12 2021