The Plan For Your Life - pt.4 - Preparation is a Privilege - Pastor Gene Herndon

[Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] in the name of jesus [Music] [Music] now the entire community is on board with this effort glendale's stone point community church handing out toilet paper stone point community church stepping up to serve their community with a free toilet paper church is giveaway back to the community today helping distribute supplies to those in need such as happening today at valley church is holding a toilet paper drive as well as a drive-up easter morning stone point's just been a huge blessing for my family my wife and i but a family that genuinely wants the best for you it makes me feel good knowing that i'm helping someone total transformation stone point was really a place to come home to it's life changing stone point's been a huge blessing to my family it's helped me get a better relationship with god tremendous amount amount of love that comes it feels like home the very next day i came to stonepoint community church and there was a start of elephant in the bedroom one that whole service i was tearing up struggling crying because i wasn't just hearing what i've heard before yeah it just changed my life so at that time my parents were like moving away from each other they separated that time it was really hard that was a really hard time in my life and it was just hard having my parents separate i didn't really know what i was looking for but i knew i needed help i guess it's kind of like when you go to the hospital sometimes you don't really know what's wrong with you but you know you're there for a reason i just knew i you know i found my home so my mom met someone they actually got married and that time i was actually like paying attention in service and i was actually getting the word and i knew what to do i knew scriptures i knew how to pray because before i didn't really know how to pray i just had little prayers i would say over and over again it was complicated sometimes but uh we have a slogan here and kids and it's called kids bring their parents to church and um most most nights for about a year was just like that in my life now i do expressive worship and i love it and i have a family here and our relationship you know people see us and they they can see god they tell us they can see it our glow going home and and practicing these principles that pastor has laid out for my life to be able to train my kids up and the way they should go and also uh training me up as a new newfound single mom i can definitely say coming to stone point was the best decision i ever made for my family and this is my life made better this is my life made better and this is my life made better and this is my life made better [Music] monkey dope wreck it up [Music] [Music] so [Music] and then [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] there's nothing mysterious about it his ways have been revealed unto me by the holy ghost which should have brought in my heart and when he reveals himself to me there's nothing mysterious about him he's god he's in my favor i am his child i don't have to be afraid of him i don't have to walk around fearing and wondering is he going to take care of me he is my god [Applause] good morning stone point let's all stand up this morning if you're at home go ahead and stand up with us how many have ever come to that point in your life where you're thinking ah one more thing i gotta bring before the lord i want just that one more thing and and and the devil's yakking in your saying not this time it's not gonna work this time it's just not gonna happen this time you already asked the other day and you asked the other day and you asked the other day too not not this time but you have to remember that in genesis 15 1 it says that god told abram i am your shield and your exceeding great reward he's the same god in hebrews that said i'm the same yesterday today and forever and if he did it then he'll do it again amen [Applause] [Music] you may be down and feel like god [Music] that you are faced with circumstances you can't get through [Music] and right now it seems there's no way out and you're going under but god's moving time and time again he'll take care of you and he'll do it again he'll do it again [Applause] [Music] again god knows the things you're going through he understands just how your heart has been broken [Music] he is [Music] [Applause] [Music] we'll do it it again just take a look at where you are now and where you are [Music] [Music] he'll never fail you amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] he'll do it again just take a look oh [Music] do it again [Music] you may not know how hallelujah you know he will do it again consistently do it again because he's always truly working for our god good no matter what [Music] hey this is my season for grace for favor this is my season to reap what i have so y'all hear that come on [Music] i haven't been perfect but i sure been faithful god's got a purpose and i know he's able i've got a scene in the ground that is blessing no more stressing i've got a seat in the ground [Music] come on and lift your voice come on [Music] for grace [Music] everything is working together for my girl come on everything is is is is [Music] you know regardless of what you fall into whatever you face he's always working for good no matter if it's up no matter if it's down he's working for your good because where is he leaning in our direction come on [Music] hey [Music] is [Music] for grace [Music] [Laughter] [Music] hallelujah how many of y'all got a seat in the ground praise god all right we will have you be seated and we'll turn over to the video pastor gene herndon senior pastor here at stone point community church i want to give everyone a quick update as many of you know we have resumed services with a careful eye on the current situation and have made many adjustments to make coming to church safer than going to the grocery store i believe the faith community is an essential service and i want to encourage you to express your faith by resuming your fellowship with like-minded believers as we navigate these unprecedented times together as churches all over the country are reopening and safety restrictions and concerns are starting to subside i want to take a quick moment to give you an update on the changes that we have put in place here at scc and relay some exciting news as many of you know we have begun offering two morning services during the initial phases of the pandemic we have now reverted back to one morning service at 11 15 a.m our seating arrangement continues to ensure that we are socially distanced according to cdc guidelines all attendees will be required to use sand sanitizer and we have personal protective equipment available masks and gloves of course whatever you may need but their use is not mandatory our serving team will continue to undergo a comprehensive pre-check screening before they enter the building all high traffic areas will continue to be thoroughly disinfected by our servers before and during and after service we also use a best-in-class electrostatic system will be used on a weekly basis and this disinfectant process kills viruses and bacteria within two minutes and adheres to services for up to 30 days this technology is used by hospitals airlines and major corporations cost us thousands to utilize this technology but we have made the capital investment to provide the safest environment for you and your family we will continue to adjust and evaluate as time progresses if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to our staff we'd be more than happy to help you in any way that we can we are really looking forward to this next phase of our reopening and we are so grateful for your support we are looking forward to seeing you soon god bless you and we sure do love you we'll see you again are you happy that king's kids is back yes what are you excited for because it's really funny king's kids and i'm happy that it's open good job his name is cass he's five on six and my name is are you happy that king's kid is back sure are you happy that king's kids is back yes what are you excited for well because i get to learn about more of god and i get to praise him and i don't just have to like sit down and just stand up and clap i can actually dance thank you are you happy that king's kids is back what are you excited for are you excited that he's kids is back yeah what are you excited for to learn thank you are you happy that king's kids is back what are you excited for are you happy that king's kid king's kids so much even though i'm not allowed to go yet what are you excited for i'm excited for the world thank you my pleasure i decided that king's kids is back yes i am excited that king's kids is back what are you excited for i'm excited to learn about god tell us what you learned last week a story from the bible is when noah built the ark god told him to and he told him to collect two of each animals in the land and bring his family because in a few days he would flood the earth then after he flooded the earth he promised to never flood it again so that's why the rainbow appears after rains good job [Music] it's very simple to give online there's actually three ways first you can scan the qr code second you can call in leave a voicemail and we'll promptly return your call or third you can go right to scc.church find that donate icon click fill out the required details and that's it you're done it's very simple to give online there are only five steps to follow step one go to our website www.stonepointcc.org or for short scc.church step 2 then click on paypal or donate icon located at the top of the page step 3 you can ask for whatever amount you desire to give after you have done so click the donate option down below step 4 on this page you have to notate what you are given for where it says add enough whether it's tithing offering building fun love offering guest offering or so on step five fill out the required details then scroll to the bottom of the page and click donate now and you're done [Music] okay church if we can all please stand up once again for praise and worship if you're at home please stand up and join with us as we go into worshiping our loving father john 10 10 says the thief cometh not but to steal and to kill and to destroy but god said to have come that they might have life that they might have life that they might have life enjoy life to the full to it overflows we're living in the oven [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] power we can't be changed [Music] [Music] bless the lord everywhere we go we see the victory oh [Music] and now [Music] amazing yes [Applause] and everywhere we go thank you we are blessed [Music] [Applause] thank god we're living in the overflow thank you lord for living in the overflow because i get his joy i get his peace my god he's my strength hallelujah let's just lift him up and praise his great name come on turn it up [Music] come on hold the door he is is [Music] inside i can't explain you're the strength i need you will always be my strength my strength my strength is [Music] is is is you're the strength i need you will always be my strength come on y'all if y'all truly believe he's your strength that he's your peace that he's your joy to the lord he prays in this house because he's truly worthy nobody's ready is [Music] oh it makes me stronger is [Music] greater my god is hey [Applause] is my [Music] [Music] blessed be god forevermore glory to his name father we thank you you are our strength when we don't have it in us we can turn to you and you'll stir it up on the inside of us lord we just thank you that as we worship you there's power your word tells us you inhabit the praises of your people we love you so much that you dwell amongst your people you are not far and from us you are right here on the inside of us living and breathing on the inside working on everything that we are able to change and to grow into all that you've called us to be so we thank you for it right now in jesus name and all the believers in the house said amen isn't god good please be seated like to welcome you they're here those are joining us online like to welcome you as well if you would let's turn ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 ephesians chapter 2 the 10th verse if you put that in the amplified classic back there i'd be uh greatly appreciative of that hallelujah ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 in the amplified please lower glory glory there we go that's the message can we get the amplified glory glory glory blessed be god forevermore you okay back there need some help what are we doing the computer's not doing it smack it not each other the computer in the name of jesus all right i'll read it how about that for we are god's own handiwork his workmanship recreated in christ jesus born anew that we may do those good works which god predestined or planned beforehand for us taking past which he prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them living the good life which he pre-arranged and made ready for us look at someone tell them preparation is a privilege one of the things that as the scripture is trying to get us to understand and to bring us to a place of clarity of is to know that number one you were created in god's image and you are his handiwork in other words you are fearfully and wonderfully made and if god has put you together then to be honest with you to complain about who you are or what you think you look like don't look like or what you think you have or don't have as an individual you are complaining about god's handiwork and what we have to always come to the clear the clarity of is that god doesn't make junk so if he has created you and he has put you together and he has uh formed you then everything about you is god's purpose that's the first thing the second thing is that it begins to say that you were recreated in christ jesus now the the challenge with understanding there we go the challenge of understanding mr smackdown didn't you the challenge of understanding that you were recreated in christ means that prior to christ there was a plan for your life but it was not god's plan and as a believer you have the ability to anticipate and to expect that once you have gotten saved there is a new plan uh set course in your life and it's one that god has pre-destined in other words he has planned it ahead of time and he has put in your path as you go through your journey uh the things that you are going to need the things that are going to take care of you the things that are going to help you in your time and in your situations i have seen so many people that prior to christ their life held no answers and then as god began to move into their life and they accepted christ and they began to accept because here's one thing that i want you to understand to accept christ is not the same to accept the life christ has are you understand what i'm saying and so what i have noticed is that people who accept christ but don't accept the life that he has for them usually still struggle because how many times how many times can you really uh move yourself into a place saying look this is what i am and then step out of it because the world told you otherwise and then you say lord i accept you and then you step out of it and go back to being like the world and you can't how many times can you do that before you yourself become confused see there's a point where you have to make a decision that says my my my destiny and my life has been forever altered and now what i used to know i'm now like a newborn babe that i now have to learn how to walk all over again i have to learn how to talk all over again and and as natural as that may sound believe it or not as believers you have to learn how to talk all over again because the things you used to say you got to stop the things you used to confess over your life you got to stop confessing things that other people have spoken over your life you've got to get to the place where you stop believing what they've said about you because just because they said it doesn't mean it was true and so we have to understand that this is a place where now you have a new uh predestined plan for your life and the bible says taking past which he prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them which means that we don't always how do i say it we don't have to walk in them you can choose not to because the bible says you should do something how many of you know that means you don't have to you can walk whatever plan or path that you have for your own life and do whatever you want to do the the problem is that you really won't be living a good life right and when people see this and say living the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live then do you understand that god has a pre-arranged plan for your life he made it ready he got things prepared for you and he has set it up so that you could live the good life and i'm telling you when i hear people come in and say i'm not living a good life what's wrong you're not following the plan there's no other answer because if you follow the plan then you will find that the plan will produce i'll give you a great example a great example uh years ago i worked in corporate america and i have owned several companies i have worked in multi-million dollar corporations i've been at the head of different organizations and so forth do you know that i have never been i mean i made money longer than train smoke and do you know i've never been as prosperous as i am now when i start listen when i started pastoring i wasn't making anything 10 years ago then i got a raise i was making 200 a month i was killing the game i'm trying to get you to understand something because now you know i have different businesses we pastor we we have a bible college we do all the things god has set in the plan for me and although technically speaking i don't make nearly what i used to if you put it on paper i don't nowhere close but i have more today because the plan is in the plan is the provision for the plan and a lot of people don't understand they think well they're you know it's it's now a blend no it's not a blend they think they get saved and they take their ideas and try to mix it with god and figure out how do i blend this in to make this work and the truth of the matter is that is not possible because his plan has been predestinated it's been planned beforehand it takes into account who you are what you have your idiosyncrasies the things you struggle with the stuff that you thought disqualified you because you're like i know there's no way god could ever use me there's no way he could ever have a plan does he know what i've been through yes he does actually know what you've done and he's got a pretty good idea what you about to do and he's still not moved yet he chose you anyway see when you begin to understand that then you realize that he says these are plans that you should walk in and if you do that then he promises you you get to live the good life now living the good life doesn't mean without problems a lot of people think well if i'm living a good life i'll have no problems the devil is a lie you will have problems you know what the reality is when you live the good life you have answers see stupid things happen all the time but i have an answer i have a supply things don't work right like they're supposed to but i have a supply and so now that's what makes it the good life because there are so many people that struggle with things but don't have any answers they don't have any supply they don't have a way to get over it and if you're not careful the problems will decimate you and this is why living the good life in the plan is where we have to understand what that looks like because the truth of the matter is your preparation is greater than your profession and people don't they don't they don't equate that they they think their profession is everything and it's not look at psalms 84. verse 10 psalms 84 verse 10 for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand i had rather be a door keeper i had rather work in the children's ministry i had rather cleaned the toilet in the toilet bowl ministry i had rather opened the front door i had rather sweep the floors he said i had rather just be a door keeper in the house of my god than to dwell in a tents of wickedness people don't get they think their preparation time is wasted time they think they don't even some people don't even value the time they're being prepared and here he's saying i would just rather do this then this how many people truly understand that no matter what area first of all if you don't serve anywhere that's a problem all until itself but how many understand those of you who do serve wherever you are is awesome the only way you could think it's not awesome is if there's a story i believe it's benjamin franklin uh he had a uh a friend who had a whistle and his friend was running around blowing his whistle and he and he had it and benjamin franklin didn't have it and he wanted it bad because he saw his friend had it and so he gave he went to his house and collected all the change he could come up with and he offered this money to his friend for the whistle and so his friend said sure i'll sell it to you and he took the money and gave him the whistle so he is running around blowing this whistle and having a blast with his new purchased whistle he happened by the corner store and saw one in the window and so he went in and asked how much is that whistle and the shop keeper told him the price which was about one-third of what he paid for it to it he threw the whistle out and never played with it again when he didn't know the price of it see the problem is when you compare yourself to other situations other people other positions other things we're all on the same team and the truth of the matter is when you begin to compare yourself you start thinking to yourself oh well anybody could do what i do anybody can do what you do pay attention but anybody anybody can do what you do i'll explain a lot of people think well you know somebody else can do what i do yeah but can someone else really do what you do did god tell him to do it see because people get dismissive about what they're responsible for and they don't show up oh don't worry about it somebody else can do it can they well they probably can but can they because whatever god has asked you to do he's asked you for a reason and a lot of times what people don't understand is your preparation is always a privilege because it's it's how do i say this god never takes people where they want to go he takes people where they're prepared to go there are places that god is preparing for you you'll never get there if you don't stay on his plan the average person who hits the lottery it's something like 80 percent of the people who hit the lottery are broke within 10 years you want to know why because they went somewhere they weren't prepared to go when you go places you're not prepared to go it'll never stick around you'll never be able to keep it because you're not prepared for it bible says it took 40 years to get from egypt to their promised land most theologians agree as a crow flies it would have been maybe a week and a half 10 11 days maybe two weeks at the most on a slow route it didn't take them 40 years to get into their promised land it took them 40 years to get out of egypt see and what you have to begin to realize is that god is trying to prepare you and to establish you in things that you are not aware of and as we tend to struggle uh people don't get it that you you have to protect your your time of preparation you got to guard it i remember uh years and years ago and i'm talking i don't know at least 10 years ago there was a a couple that were having marital issues and they wanted to work he wanted to work in the kids and he wanted to work with teens and i'm like listen until y'all get your marriage straight and and i wanna i'm gonna take it one step further for clarity for you the issues they're having is their intimacy between each other so you think i'm going to put you in a teen ministry i mean stupid is a stupid does now now here's the thing because of that decision i made that was the sign for them to leave when what it should have been a sign of if i can't correct you i can't cover you because when people want they oh you know i want you know the blessings upon my life and i want someone to cover me and to and to be there help me yeah but i can't correct you so how do i cover what i can't correct we don't all right this morning and so god puts you in positions that will develop you in a way that you are prepared for what you may not even see it's like being noseblind you ever go to somebody's house and they have a pet that they don't really deal too well with taken care of and the first thing hits you when you walk in the door is oh my god they're walking around like what they become nose blind and because they become nose blind they don't see it and i'm trying to get you to understand there are areas in your own life you are noseblind too that's why god puts you in places that's why he makes you the doorkeeper so what begins to happen is people's interest in the plan has to include your interest in your preparation because if your interest in your preparation is not the same as your interest in the plan ooh i want to do the plan of god i'm so excited about the plan of god for my life and then when the preparation comes hey we need you to do this for real yes well don't you know my anointing yes as a matter of fact i do do you know it because if you know it you would see that there are things that have to be dealt with so i need you to greet and smile oh my goodness maybe this is this maybe this is wednesday night the passing of time does not equal the passing of the torch people think well i've been doing this for five years now listen i've been pastoring for 13 years now get in line what if i came out here every time i had to preach and just go can't wait till the next thing comes no i love this i love what i do is there more of course there is but i love this and it's going to be hard pressed to get me away from and anybody that knows me knows that anything that i'm involved in it's hard to get me out of because i love it i love doing certain things that that now other people are doing and it's hard for me i have to work myself in let them do it let them handle it leave it alone don't be a control freak and they think it's on my control freak no i just i loved it see when it's hard to get you away from stuff oh my goodness some people are just like look i can't wait give the order and i will drop this right now preparation is a privilege it's where god begins to put in you the things that it is you are going to need look at first samuel 2 29 first samuel 2 29 wherefore kiki in my sacrifice and not my offering which i have commanded in my habitation and honors thy sons above me to make yourselves fat with the chieftas of all offerings of israel my people wherefore the lord god of israel saith i said indeed that thy house will be the house of thy father should walk before me forever but now the lord saith be it far from me for them that honor me i will honor and they that despise me i shall they shall be lightly esteemed now just to give you the back story in case you don't know phineas and hopny were the sons of eli and they were doing a few different things number one when sacrifices would come into the temple they would take their part of the sacrifice that they wanted for themselves and then let the people sacrifice the rest they were also sleeping with the women in the church so or in the temple so the problem was that they were handling their office very poorly they were handling their responsibilities very poorly and god said i told you that i would take care of you and your family he said but because of how y'all have handled it you lightly esteemed the responsibility i gave y'all i told you this is what i wanted you to do in service to me in the temple and you treated it so lightly watch what he says at the very end he says they that honor me i will honor they that despise me despises a very strong type of language right to say someone despises you doesn't seem to be the same as someone who lightly esteems you in other words you know somebody and you're like eh i could take them or leave it because i mean you know they don't they don't bother me none i don't particularly like them i could take them or leave them that's lightly esteemed right but in god's eyes he said that's dishonor and that's despise to not think that whatever it is you do is not important because you know what do you do at the church oh all i do is well hold on who gave that lesser value who sat here and said oh this is rank one and this is a ten level rank who told you that that has to be your own assessment of whether you honored what you were asked to do or not and he said because they put no honor on it he said because they lightly esteemed it he said then they must be lightly esteeming what i asked them to do therefore i'm not going to put the honor on them that they should have see zero or par is nothing you can't do anything without god's hand being on your life this is what makes situations people say oh you left you lived a charmed life nothing charmed about it charm is where you get into you know demonic things and horoscopes and crazy stuff like that that no christian ought to be it's not a charmed life we run into problems just like anybody else does the only difference between me and the world is that when i run into a problem my god has answers for me and he speaks to me by the holy ghost and reveals here's the solution here's the finances here's the answer here's how you handle it because many are the afflictions of the righteous but my god will deliver me out of them all so then i have not a charmed life i just have answers and when you have answers you begin to realize i have to honor everything god's asked me to do no matter how little it may seem or how big it actually is because the truth of the matter is if god told y'all what he really wanted from you as individuals you would be scared and you wouldn't do it and what's the difference because you don't do it so then he says watch what he says here he says verse 35 and i will raise me up a and then he gives you a definition of what faithful is he says one that'll do it according to that which is in my heart and in my mind and i will build him a shore house and he shall walk before my anointed forever he said if you do it according to the way it's in my mind and in my heart you are now found faithful you know people think diligence is faithfulness i'm a hard worker i i don't care bible says lest the lord build it they who labor did in vain so just because you're a hard worker doesn't mean you're doing it the way god see what's faithful to him is are you doing things the way he asks for it to be done this is one of my struggles with people and how they vote they think somehow somebody's supposed to tell them what to do no if you vote according to how god has dealt with you and what is in his mind you become pretty clear as to what is god and what is not god or you can be driven by culture and allow culture to dictate media to dictate but the reason why most people can't vote according to how god would do it is because they don't know him they don't know his word they don't know anything about him and so they think that oh well you know this is just what mainstream's doing i don't live in mainstream to be real honest with you if you are never encountering resistance you live in mainstream i'm not going with the flow i'm going against it and it's harder yes but nobody said this is supposed to be easy we have a plan that's already been pre-destinated that's already been set up that god says this is the way i want you to go this is what i've called you to do and now i've placed you here because i need you to get trained because some of you have no idea the challenges that are going to come into your life and this is when you know i'm like harping just go to church just keep coming just stay connected you will learn so much you will grow what people want to do is they want to get into a problem and then come to church i can't teach you how to swim while you're drowning the only thing i can do is knock you over the head and try to pull you to safety but the reality is people don't get it because church is not only a painkiller but it's a vitamin i'll give it to you this way most people don't want vitamins you have to sell them really hard on why to take a vitamin because the vitamins effect it doesn't happen tomorrow they want something that they can pop in and within 10 minutes the pain is so then as we understand the plan for our lives as we understand god begins to prepare us then we have to put equal value in the preparation as we do the plan because you know people get in a rush don't you know people are going to hell they were going to hell while you were being disobedient before you even knew anything about god they were going to hell so what makes you think all of a sudden god's going to bypass your character you don't understand the clock is ticking and here's what happens when he says here's faithful because diligent is just doing things faithful is i'm going to do it the way god has it in his mind and in his heart and so the way that god would do things is the way we are supposed to live and this is what is being fought very hard today this is what you're finding media is coming against this is what you find everything is fighting against god's way they don't care that you prosper just don't do it god's way we want you to do it the fast way the ski mask way we want you to do something that is against what god's asked you to do with the promise will prosper you and then people don't understand why if the world gave it to you then the world can take it away from you and then we go through economies ups and downs and we and when it's up god's blessing us when it's down you know it must not have been a will of god and we have aligned ourselves with insurance companies who call everything that happens in the world an act of god which god because just because they say it's an act of god doesn't mean it's god's acts this is why when the children of israel he said moses knew my ways the children knew my acts they just knew what happened but moses knew the way that i operated and this is when you understand the way god operates you begin to see how he acts and why he does what he does how he'll do what he does when he'll do there's more details when you understand how this is why it becomes so critical for us to discern and to understand we don't just look at what stuff is going on because people who are just waiting for something to happen those are the people who say you know the lord is going to come upon us like a thief in the night the lord works in mysterious ways oh my god you want to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up let somebody tell me you know the lord works in mysterious ways i'm like mysterious to you because you don't know anything about the more you know about him the more you grow in knowledge the more you are able to experience with him but because you don't take the time to prepare so then they took their position in a light way and they handled it with lightly esteemed is that what the bible says so then let me ask you a question why do people i've seen people like i can i'm not gonna name names but i'm gonna just give you the story here's how it works they start lightly esteeming the things of god they start lightly esteeming their study time then they start lightly esteeming their service to god and then they'll they'll stop serving right and usually don't tell anybody to just kind of show up and don't show up and then they stop us steaming their attendance to church and then they stop us steaming their life and then they stop esteeming their wife and next thing you know they end up with divorced broke struggling and then usually satan's pretty good at getting them to move somewhere else and it all started how they lightly esteemed the things of god and they thought nothing of it so now their dress changed because it doesn't take all that now their worship changed because it doesn't take all that and he said if you stay with honor then you'll treat it as valuable and when it becomes valuable you'll be able to live by what you value this is why some of you ought to really wake up to the idea that if a person is married and they're seeing you that tells you they lightly esteem the covenant of marriage but you think somehow it'll be different with me you big dummy no it's not it's not going to be different with you because they don't esteem see i have been accused of being too serious i know right crazy i have been accused of that you're just too serious about this stuff no i have honor for it and i'm and listen there there's only one thing that i am deathly afraid of when i stand before him all i want to hear is well done thou and servant now can i tell you something because a lot of people don't catch that what kind of servant first before that good you know what good means skilled you know what faithful means i do it the way it's in god's mind and in his heart his way whatever he says how he wants it done that's the way i do it it's kind of like this right you go out to people and say hey look um here's what i want you to do i need you to paint these walls and this is how i want you to do it i want you to cut it in first and do this and do that and and then that's how i want it then after that then get the roller and and fill it in and i want you to do two coats so you turn it over and they come back and say well you know look i've been painting a long time so i think the way we really should do this is do this this and this and i'm going to come in with a sprayer and then you overspray all my stuff and then look at me and here's your answer i'm just helping out you could have done it all by yourself you wanted to and you think nothing of the fact that god is displeased years ago my pastor from years ago told me this story he said he was uh serving under his pastor and his pastor told him he was doing the uh he's leading the ushers and he said every time service is over he said i want you to turn off all the air conditioners he said here's how i want you to do it he says i want you to go around each one and turn them off he said and then once you do that he said then you go to the back and you hit the main breaker that'll kill everything then when you come in turn them all one by one by one by one and then he said that's how i want you to do it so he's doing this process that his pastors told him to do and one of the other ushers came up and said what are you doing he said oh i'm turning off all the ac units he said nah let me show you how you do this come on to the back he said here's his breaker right here he said you flipped this breaker and they all shut off he said when you come in you flip this breaker and they all shut back on again he said easy peasy that's how you do it so he does that and his pastor happens to see it and he's like wait a minute what are you doing he said i'm turning on all the air conditioners he goes how did i tell you to do it now here's the piece that anyone who does not have a commercial electric bill this is the part that most people don't understand unless you have a commercial bill when it comes to electric whatever your system spikes at kilowatt was you get charged the entire month at that rate even if you don't run at that rate so what do you think happens when you flip a breaker with five air conditioners that come on at the exact same time so then what happens is it spikes and then you get billed the entire month at that rate even though you don't use that rate see the pastor told him to do it a certain way and it was in the pastor's heart and mind a certain way which means it was in god's heart in mind a certain way and to then go and do the exact opposite was causing damage you see it you sure so then just because anyone can do it doesn't mean anyone can do it now that makes more sense doesn't it because there are things in ways that god wants things to be done and he puts you there not to lightly esteem it and think oh well you know all i do is we know you've changed when people say hey what do you do for the church man i get to now we know you don't lightly esteem what it is because a lightness towards god always results in a lightness towards everything else if you don't take god serious what else is there this why i couldn't i couldn't be with no one who didn't love god my wife loves god more she loves me she needs to because when all proverbial hell could break loose i need somebody that can get a hold of the lord i need somebody who has a relationship with god because what if i can't well pastor you know the lord's working on then leave him alone and let the lord work on them and let god make a man out of him before you try to make him adam because let me make sure you understand something i don't care how cute you are i don't care how sexy you are i don't care how intelligent you are if god can't make a man out of him you cannot and to think you even close to god that's never mind so then what happens is people don't know the difference between a leadership of their own mind and the leadership of god they don't understand listen your head is not god's leadership the leadership of god is different you want to because here's the thing because you know the world's too many choices everything's about a choice they they choice of their profession so the job comes along and says we'll give you an extra fifty thousand dollars a year but you gotta move to blah blah blah and they take that lightly pastor you would not believe this god gave me this job and is moving me somewhere else and it's like okay wait a minute let me see if i understand this correctly god gave you something that takes you away from where he puts you you serve a schizophrenic god because my god doesn't have to take anything from me to give to me well you know just they they tell me i gotta work on sundays then i tell them i quit well you understand i gotta pay my bills i'm not anointed to pay bills the whole purpose of my life is not to pay bills that's not the purpose or the plan or the destiny of my life to pay bills i don't use that as a measure by which i determine what i'm going to do for god there ain't no you know pastor prophet teacher evangelist and bill payer now see when you when you really think put these things in perspective people will put their profession above their preparation and then wonder or you know your predilections you know your little your little prejudices they'll put it before their preparation i'd probably be more comfortable if he was a she because i can relate better if he was a woman i could relate better if he wasn't black i could relate better if he was you can run down the list right because people will try to know you after the flesh and never know god brought you here for a reason and whether it's a male or female whether it's jew or greek whether it's black white puerto rican chinese hispanic mexican spanish portuguese it doesn't matter wherever god puts you he puts you there for a reason and if you know you're there for a reason then your predilections don't matter you're supposed to change your predilections for your preparation so people struggle for their profession their predilections and then their pedigree their pedigree is you know they're just too smart well you don't understand where i came from and every so often when your pastor says certain words in the old testament he doesn't know how to enunciate them correctly listen i am not enamored with sagaciousness of my verbosity i could care less did you get the point because if your pedigree what keeps you from your preparation i mean for real people get hung up on a stupid sink and they don't understand let's keep going with these peas your passion i am passionate about homeless ministry okay i'm cool with that but i want to do it now okay you got the money well no i was thinking you do i do but god's spoken to what he wants me to do we have a direction we got a course so you can come and get along with this and we might get there but right now this is where we're going well i'll just go find someone else who has it okay but you're not led by your passions you're led by the plan but see people get so caught up in the thing they're passionate about that they can't embrace where the direction of the organization is going so you're constantly bucking against them hey can we start this pastor can we do this can we do this ministry can we do that listen if lord ain't told us to do it we're not doing it we can't do everything and if you want to know something that's a plan of satan to get you to do everything so you become a master of nothing and people don't know their own assignment hey pastor can we start the underwater basketball ministry no but i really love underwater basketball i don't care it's an assignment straight from the pit of hell to get off i'm going to show you in a minute because i don't think you believe me people think passion is not the same as commitment and let me help you to understand something because this is what happens in marriages when people say we're just not passionate anymore where's the passion listen three kids ago every time i look you in the eye and we standing before the bed and your three-year-old comes knocking on the door their passion poof be gone when i got to go change this poopy diaper and to throw up coming out of all ends passion poof be gone no because people are childish they're really childish i just i don't feel the passion anymore we've just drifted apart no you weren't committed because commitment is the precursor to passion whatever i'm committed to i can be passionate about but if i'm not committed because commitment remains when the passion goes and this is people are not committed anymore to the outcome committed now listen are there times where you just can't get past dude there are those times but they're very very few and far between not as many as everyone wants to make you think oh yeah you know we just we just you know we fell out of love no you fell out of commitment you wasn't committed from jam and so we we don't understand it's not about your passions you become passionate about what it is you are committed to you ready personality the choice of personality well you know past is a little rough i mean he'll hit you straight on i mean you know i need somebody to tell some jokes and make me laugh personality is not what drives it you want you want you want to be coddled al does a great job at that he does i'm telling you he is the that's his gift encouragement he's an exhorter he you hang out with him for five minutes you will feel taller than you did when you started talking to him me on the other hand we're going to cut right to the point we're going to get to the root of it we're going to rip that puppy up we're going to go on and do something are you are you understand what i'm saying but i don't allow percy his personality is very different than mine but he's here and he's connecting he's one of the most connected people i know why because personality doesn't drive it because there's pieces that he has i need he's talked me off the ledge many times and i've helped him get on the ledge [Laughter] come on now get on this lunch with me we bout to we're about to put in work so this is what i'm trying to tell you because personality um it doesn't matter whether the personality rubs you the wrong way so to speak if god brought you here there's something about you that has to change because you know as well as i do some of you nice don't work with you it just doesn't work you know how you know i can prove it to you now i can prove it to you you want me to prove it to you why y'all want bad boys if nice work so well oh i want me a good i want me a good christian man that runs the streets that dogs you out they don't even go together that's like jumbo shrimp i'll need to quit your choice of profession your choice of predilections your choice of pedigree your choice of passions your choice of personality and then the last one is your choice of pastimes your little hobbies man if they had church on days where football wasn't i'd rather watch the game i want to get so quiet but it goes all up here and then i'm gonna schedule y'all five minute session with al to get y'all back up here what why why i used to love football i could tell you stats i could tell you who what where when how i don't i draft i don't know anything about it anymore the only game i really can get to watch is is the super bowl and that's really disappointing just about every year but what i'm trying to tell you is i'm not saying you can't what i'm telling you is what is your preference because if your preparation conflicts with your passion if your preparation conflicts with your predilections if your preparation conflicts with your pastimes if your pro if your preparation conflicts with your prejudice if your preparation conflicts with the things that are so important to you your profession what do you choose and then you wonder why the plan see because people think that preparation happens in the great times you ever hear this thing you ever hear saying adversity builds character lies adversity reveals character adversity will always reveal character you want to know the character of somebody wait till they get to a rough spot wait till they get to a place where they don't need you that'll tell you everything you need to know see because rough spots are the places where you get true testing not in the great times nobody really gets developed or changed in great times it's when all hell has broken loose then you get to see what really is going on it's people don't understand the necessity for preparation let's go how how do we do that lord have mercy all right y'all let's go to man i'm still on page one um i don't know how that happened y'all let's go to matthew 25 verse 21. matthew 25 verse 21. i need y'all to speed it up okay so i'll move y'all move too slow that's not where i want to go where are we going lord john 2 first one john 2 verse 1. and the third day there was a marriage in the canaan galilee and the mother of jesus was there and both jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage and they wanted wine the mother of jesus said unto him they have no wine jesus said unhurt woman what have i got to do with thee my hour has not yet come in other words what are you telling me for they ain't got no wine that's not my problem she responds and says there you go his mother said unto the servants she stopped talking to him all together she said he had nothing talked to the hand i got another say to you she turns to the servant she says whatsoever he saith unto you do it jesus is 30 years old he has not performed a miracle she stops talking to him turns to them and says whatever he tells you just do it and walks away where did she come up with the idea that there was something he might have to say that will solve the problem she knows him and she's known him for 30 years that's his mama evidently there's some things she must have saw in him that said he knows what to do he's going to have the right answer he's a carpenter i don't know how you get a carpenter to be your preparation to be the savior of the earth they're like ain't that the carpenter this guy right here is the one who's going to do all these things yeah the carpenter what was he prior for 30 years a carpenter or carpenter's son developing in the trade you better wake up and realize everything you are asked to do is not in line with what you are called to do he's a carpenter when elijah saw elisha he was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen he was a farmer he threw his mantle on him and said now you're no longer a farmer you are a prophet now come follow me and i'll teach you how to do it people get so twisted not realizing the things you're doing well i don't see what this has to do with my call listen danielson wax off and wax on get that straight because you don't have to see what it has to do with anything the one who's responsible for you is the one who's been tasked and when jesus said everything that i do i see my father do he had to have seen some of that before where his mother's like we was in some tight situations and his boy seemed to have an answer we know it had to come from god so listen whatever he tells you to do because i ain't fit to argue with him because i'm gonna spank him but whatever he tells you to do do it she had to have seen something that would have said that would have given her an indication he had some answers y'all want an answer follow him but he's a carpenter deuteronomy 8 2 30 years of preparation for three years of ministry jesus ministry was only three years 30 years to get to three years deuteronomy 8 2 you ready and thou shalt remember all the way which the lord thy god led deities forty years in the wilderness to humble thee to prove thee and to know what was in thy heart whether thou would keep his commandments or gnaw you mean to tell me that god has allowed them to go through things because all he wanted to do was to see what's in their heart so then wait a minute i thought god knows all things doesn't god know everything does he know every mistake i'm going to everything i'm going to no he wants to know what's in your heart and notice he says i put you through these things and brought you through to prove you that means to test to see when this situation came into your life how did you handle it when this attack comes that's you how are you going to respond i need to see what's in your heart whether you will keep my commandments or naw you mean tell me he doesn't know already he's waiting to see how do you handle when you serve in the kids ministry how do you handle it when you serve as an usher when you serve in a sound or whether you serve as a greeter are you just waiting for the opportunity for something else to come or are you so excited about it you're bringing fresh new ideas or when you put your hands to it does your ministry you're responsible for become better or are you constantly struggling with when you can't find any people we can't find anybody listen there's tons of gifts you can't find them you ain't looking for them it's really that simple does everything you put your hands to become better or no he said thou shall remember all the way was the lord thy god let thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you in other words to make sure you knew it wouldn't you to prove you and to know what was in your heart because i need to know if you're going to do things the way it's in my heart and in my mind i got to know what's in your heart and i'm looking to see if what's in my heart is in your heart is this a layover is this just a necessary evil well you know it's just what i got to do you sure because for me it's what i get to do that's a slap in the face to god to think that everything's a layover let's go to uh this is why god cannot promote you to where you want to be but to where you're prepared to be look at hebrews 12. we'll find a place to to land this puppy might seem like a crash landing but it's not we're all gonna walk away from it hebrews 12 1 put in the amplified please therefore then since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses who have borne testimony to the truth let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance you know you know what that is that's an entanglement everybody say no entanglements unnecessary weight that sin which so readily definitely cleverly clings to and entangles us let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course the appointed course you know what that tells you you can run other courses and you can get entangled and run other courses and not be on the course keep going looking away from all that will distract how to preach right there looking away from all that will distract all of the professions all of the predilections and the prejudices and the pedigrees and the passions and the personalities and the pastimes looking away from all of those things to look at jesus the one who is in fact the author and the finisher of our faith and be on the appointed course not your own giving the first incentive for our belief who and is also the finisher bringing it up to maturity perfection he for the joy of obtaining the prize though set before him endured the cross despising and ignoring the shame is now seated at the right hand of the throne of god he didn't look any which direction that the world would have tried to take him but he stayed fixated on the prize that's why the apostle paul said i pressed towards the market a high calling he said forgetting those things which are behind and doing what reaching forth see that that that's that's the looking away from all the other things that try to easily be such that's why i said we all have to run a race entanglements are not just people look at psalms 92 verse 12. psalms 92 verse 12. let's put that in king james please the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree he shall grow like a cedar in lebanon those that be planted in the house of the lord shall flourish in the courts of our god one of the they shall no good that's cool they shall bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing now let's go back to uh 13. they that are planted in the house of the lord you know what again i'm trying to tell you how to run the race right to go your course and i'm trying to show you how satan will throw things at you to get you off course right and one of the lies he'll tell you is it doesn't matter what church you go to they're all preaching the word no they're not all preaching the word first of all second of all i'm not telling you this is the only church on the planet because it's not what i'm telling you is if you're supposed to be here this is the only church for you if you're supposed to be here if you're not then go find where you're supposed to be but if you're supposed to be here this is the only place for you and you're supposed to be planted because planted people can't get up and move oh pastor i'm taking my marbles and i'm going home because you just said some stuff i don't hear if you was planted you can't when you're planted it's too much it's like when i watch the market right now in terms of the real estate market there are things i understand about real estate that i know exactly what to do right now i'm too planted in my own house i walk around like oh my god i gotta pack all this stuff i gotta move all this stuff you don't take those types of decisions lightly when you're planted when people can just up and leave i'm just you know i met this girl and she goes to this other church and i'm gonna go what you took it that lightly all it took was a wink or more and that's all it took and now you're ready to abandon the entire plan you wasn't planted because you was planted you'd be like you know what this is going to take to get me out of this to dig up all these roots come on somebody and that's why i said those that are planted those are the ones that are fat and flourishing those are ones that are growing and living a good life see people who seemingly can't wait to get promoted they're just waiting they're not planted if you're working in one ministry and i come and say hey i think i want you to go over here your first thought should be but i'm so entrenched here i'm so implanted here i i so love this here i should have to work you to get you out of it not the moment i say hey i was thinking what what where are we going because potted plants you can move around your house see if you got a plant in a pot you just and see some people not in here for some people a bunch of cracked pots wonder why they're not flourishing it's because you have yet to get out of that crackpot and get planted well you know pastor didn't check on me pastor don't even know you left well he ought to know how nobody sees you you don't serve anywhere you don't help anything nobody knows anything about you well i just think he should have because he what reads minds crystal balls you got the wrong place you need to go find your crystal ball palm reader and have them tell your horoscope because people who are planted we know where they are because they're planted they're involved they're they're connected their absence is felt because their presence was real this might have been a wednesday huh you ready you ready isn't this something matthew 25 21 and uh and this is where we're going we're going to land some of y'all like thank god can i ask you a question have you ever noticed that jobs that require a lot of training and preparation are the highest paid jobs you can't just listen you can't just go fly a plane i mean you can but you ain't taking me with you you can't just go and become a neurosurgeon well i mean you can but you ain't working on me have you ever noticed that jobs that require an immense amount of preparation are positions that pay the most amount of money and here so many people despise their season of preparation and don't realize god thank you for taking the time to take me to a higher level so that when i come out of this thing don't care how long it takes but when i do watch me because i'll be prepared because god you have taken so much time you have been so awesome to to bring certain people and move me into certain places and you're like playing chess and you're you're moving things around and getting them all prepared and so i don't care how long it takes but the moment that all of this says now it's your time i'll be ready to handle and god i'm so grateful god i'm so thankful because there's so many other people that stepped out and imploded there are so many firecracker ministries that just blew up they were here today and they're gone because the anointing took them places their character couldn't keep them so i thank you god that you gave me enough time because i couldn't handle this i'm talking about me i could not have handled this 15 years ago i'd have made a mess 20 years ago i would have made a mess i likely would have been cussing folks out i'm about two steps from that now but the lord has delivered i'm just kidding totally i'm teasing i'm totally teasing i want you to understand is the realities are god is taking you places there's a preparation time so watch what matthew what i say 25 21 his lord said unto him well done thou good thou has been faithful over a few things and i'll make thee rule over enter thou into the joy of the lord faithful and good he said you have been faithful over a few things in other words you handled what i gave you the little i gave you you handled it well it might not have been a lot to you but i gave it to you according to my assessment of your skill that's what the boss says according to several ability he gave it to you and you want to see what you're going to do with it are you going to be good skillful are you going to be faithful do it the way i ask for it he said because if you're good and faithful skilled and committed to doing it the way that i asked you to do he said i'll make the ruler over many things see people wonder why they've been believing god for a nice car listen to me this is a very practical example of what i'm talking about they're believing god for a nice car but they can't seem to ever get there and they don't realize it's because the one that you have you have french fries from 1963 rolling around on the floor you complain about having to get your car washed you know what the cost of these things go car wash is going up i i have a i have a detailer that comes to my house i'm so grateful for that detailer he does in three hours what would take me 10 hours and i'd be moping the entire 10 hours and angry about it and he can get it done in three and i don't care what it costs me because i'm so grateful that i have the position to have a car that needs to be detailed so when he's out there i'm like thank you god for this car thank you god that you've given me that i even have something that needs to be taken care of thank you that you trust me enough you don't get in my car with no popsicles get the food from the drive-through we ain't eating in my car wait till we get where we're going every once in a while we will but most apartment will tell you wait till we get home see i value what i have i'm just trying to give you a practical example because some of y'all think you're not putting the dots together so you walk into your apartment i hate this place and you got a little vision book of all the things you're going to get when you get your new home while your apartment lies in waste because you can't stand where you're at instead of walking and going i thank god for this place man there are people who don't have an apartment there are people who live in the streets there are people who don't have i'll make this nice as i can make it because this is my place this is where in my morning devotional time i worship god in this place you think he's sitting out there going i'm not coming in there that's an apartment god visited people in tents that i'll tell you something the only time you have to be concerned let me let me help you know this moment if you don't know this story study on your own because i don't have time to tell you the whole story but aaron and miriam were coming against moses in the tent and god said i need y'all to step out here if god won't come in your place and tells you to step outside that's all bad i would i would advise you to repent and pray all the way to the door because something fitting to go down if he won't come in other than that do you take and value the little the pastor said to you hey could you just go grab me some starbucks do you think oh that's awesome thing i i'll go do that thank god he even asked me where's like starbucks how do you think i am you want me to go fetch does he know who i am does he know my pedigree and you'd be saying that to the guy who sat out in front of his pastor's office waiting to see if he wanted something from starbucks happy to go do it are you connecting yeah i hope so because this is what it is and god needs to know do you have the character do you have the ability to do what i ask you and the little things because if you're faithful with the little things he said then i can give you more see when when when you complain about you know the things that get done in a small house what happens when you got a pool guy and a landscaper and you complain about this stuff no i don't care hey thank you god i got a supply glory to god i'm so glad i got this little poster stamp right here call it what you want but it's my poster stamp and when you begin to value the things he said when you honor me you honor the things he gives you you honor the assignments he gives you you honor the things he's asked you to do and you're on his path that's when he says you get to live the good life and again if you ain't living a good life i'm telling you you ain't found the plan let's pray father we just thank you we're so grateful to be in your house we're so grateful that you have given us your word we are not ignorant of satan's devices we know that he always has a plan to derail and to detour and to detract but we thank you that in our preparation there is promise will not be turned to the left or to the right but we will not look away from jesus we'll keep our eyes on the prize and we thank you father that you're moving in our lives there's so many here that this is just reinforcement they already know they're already fixated and that's why they're prospering and so father we thank you you'll continue to take them even further they haven't seen anything yet as to what you're about to do and there are some in their hearts they know i got to make an adjustment lord help them to make that adjustment because we need more people on the squad ain't no sense in just us living a good life we can all live a good life it has nothing to do with us being special as much as i'd like to think so but it has to do with us being obedient amen and being willing we thank you for it right now in jesus name and everyone said amen sure love you guys i will uh turn it over to al so he can encourage you in the area of your giving thank you god bless y'all now i have learned tough love from pastor so y'all get ready no not for real not for real okay we're going to receive our regular tithes and offerings at this time ushers will you prepare to receive the offering you can scan the qr code if you like and if you need an envelope please raise your hand and usher be glad to get one to you how many people know that if we honor god in our finances he will honor us amen and even if we start off little and we show that we honor him in the little things he'll honor us he'll give us more amen so let's let's really go all get to the point where we can honor god in our finances that we say god we're going to trust you in our finances and we know you will honor us amen if you would uh continue to fill up your envelopes that we watch a short video today we're going to talk about tithing it's a similar talk that everyone says understand ground up love remind you that i'm only for what they think so i'm gonna teach you this lesson you see donuts they can be doing the monies my daughter donuts they're not my donuts they're dog donuts since i have tanned on it tawa want the first donut that's the first not the last if you don't do it the first time you might forget the tar payment don't pay for your house i have done like me and i like toys before i take any bites well next time i'm gonna give dad my first donut father in the name of jesus father we just lift you up and glorify you and honor you and praise you father father we are so thankful to be the coming to covenant with you father through our tithes and through our offerings father father we are so thank you to be of the give to you and to your kingdom father knowing that as we help expand the kingdom you will help honor us father so we are cheerful givers father we give this to you cheerfully father and for those father who may think that i can't afford to give father may you just really continue when they continue to hear your word believe your word and get it planted in their hearts that they can't afford not to give to you father because they're not going to get it on their own way if they're not going to they can't work enough they're not working enough jobs to get it father without hurting themselves so father we just we put our trust in you that your word is true and we'll walk in your word father and jesus man may the whole man not just like passage be a few of us may it be all of us and we ask these things in jesus name and all who agree said amen ushers will you receive the offering you

Channel: Stonepoint Community Church

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Id: nc1_9McS5pI

Length: 119min 40sec (7180 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 27 2021