"Our Thanks Is Precious" By Brother Parrish Lee November 20th,
2016
Give Him praise! There ain’t nothin’ like it! There ain’t no
substitute for it. The devils don’t know
what to do. “We’ve got to wait until
they’re done giving praise to God.” I
feel it. I feel those praises. You may be seated, Saints. I can’t do it quite like you, Brother
Malcolm. I got a little jealous. You was up here saying, “The time is now
near…” and I kind of got a little spark, you know? Hey, you know what? According to the Bible, it is. Now is our salvation closer than when we
first believed. That’s what it
says. And, you know what? There’s going to be a lot of people surprised
when that trumpet sounds; they ain’t going to hear it, but they won’t be seeing
those that have heard it. And, according
to the Bible, it’s going to happen in the twinkling, in the blink of an
eye. It’s going to happen so fast—I
don’t know what’s going to happen down here after I leave, because I don’t plan
on being here, and I don’t plan on caring a whole lot, either. And, according to the Bible, it says, “This
Gospel shall be preached to all the Earth, and, then, and then shall the end
come.” (Matthew 24:14) That is the only
thing that’s waiting; that’s the only thing that’s left; that is the only
requirement. Famines? Check that one off the list. Pestilences?
Check that one off the list. Wars
and rumors of wars? Check, check, and
check. The only thing that’s left, the only thing that’s left is the Gospel
hitting the whole earth. And then shall
the end—according to the Scriptures—then shall the end come. Amen?
Amen. What about this Praise and Worship
team? Maybe I need to sit down more
often, because that was just kicking something inside. Was it a wonderful time? Praise and Worship, there is nothing like in
the Earth. Praise and Worship. We’ve had a wonderful time—I pray
that everybody can agree with that—this month, and, of course, we’ve set aside
this month as a month for thanksgiving, and the world sets aside a day for thanksgiving,
but we set aside a month, and we focus on—we give thanks every day—but we want
to focus on, focus on it for the month of November. And, of course, our Scripture them for the
month is: Mark 8:6 And he commanded the people to sit down on
the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave
to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. Before I go another step, I
neglected to do something, and that’s to give honor to that self-same God, who
is our Maker, our Provider, the repairer of the breaches, the restorer of the
pledge. Who is the Day-star, who is our
Bright and Morning Star, who is our Rose of Sharon, and our Lily of the Valley,
who is our Alpha and Omega, who is the lover of our souls, and is everything
that we need. Giving honor to Him, and
giving honor to those who have come and gone before us, our founding pastor and
his family, our pastor and his family, those who have stood in the gap to make
up the hedge. I am a person who is under
authority, and tutelage, and I am a recipient of many blessings; I have to give honor where honor is
due. And, giving honor to all of y’all,
who have said, “This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. I trust God will feed my soul this morning.” Amen.
And we pray that the message also does that. As we have already talked about,
this is the month of thanksgiving, and we went over the Scripture theme for the
month. Our scripture theme for today is
going to be from the Book of Mark, and we want to just set a bit of a tone with
it: Mark 8:1 In those days the multitude being very
great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and
saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude,
because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: And if I send them away fasting to their own
houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence
can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them, How
many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on
the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave
to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the
people. And they had a few small fishes:
and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled: and they
took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four
thousand: and he sent them away. If we could bow our heads for just
a moment. Lord, we thank You for this day, from the rising of the
sun, God, until this very second. And we
trust until, if you tarry, the going down of the same. We thank You.
We thank You for a time we could gather together. Lord, we thank You for this wonderful nation
of freedom and opportunity. God, we
thank You for believers who come and esteem You higher than everything
else. So, we thank You, God, as You pour
out Your Spirit on Your people. You are
that ever present God in time of need.
We thank You for this worship, today, God; just to be able to sing Your
praises, God, releases so much joy in our souls. And it is an appeasement to You. We thank You, God, for that. And we ask, Almighty God, that, as we go over
Your Word, as we talk about Your Word, as we visit with Your Word, that You
visit with us, God, that You would pour out that exact blessing that You would
have for us, and, do, as Your Word said, that is would not return unto You
void, but would surely accomplish that to which You sent it. We present ourselves to You, Almighty God,
that You might have Your way at this time.
This we do pray and claim in Jesus’ name, and everyone said, amen. Amen. So, we wanted to set a tone, and
we see, here, things are going on—we talked about our theme for the month, but,
as we look and visit our theme for today, we see that there was a great
multitude, in verse number one, a multitude, being very great, and having
nothing to eat. And Jesus called His
Disciples unto Him, unto Him. That’s in
verse one. Now, this multitude that
followed the Lord, they got out there, and they were following Him, the Bible
says, they had nothing to eat. The
multitude, following the Lord, and they’ve got nothing to eat. They left, to follow the Lord, and they
didn’t take baskets of food or anything, because, following the Lord was
following the Lord. “I’m not worried
about the rest of that stuff.” I don't
know about you, but, after a while of following anybody, you know, if we ain't
got food in the picture, we're going to have an issue. Just saying. But the Bible says that this great multitude followed
the Lord, and He called unto Him, His disciples. He called unto Him those who disciplined
themselves after the Lord, because, you see, in a situation of lack, the Lord
calls the people who have disciplined their lives after Him. In a situation, or a time of lack, or a time
of need, He calls the faithful. That is
a message right there. If you are in a
situation of lack, and you have disciplined yourself after the Lord, He is
calling on you in that situation. It is
not a mistake; it is not a mistake. He
calls on you for a reason. Amen. And, so, God doesn’t call any couch potato,
He doesn’t call the high-and-mightiest, He doesn’t call the smartest, He
doesn’t call the strongest, He doesn’t call the most esteemed, He doesn’t call the
politicians or rulers, He doesn’t call them—I mean, not necessarily. He looking for those who have disciplined
their lives after Him. Those are the
ones that God is going to use. That’s
verse one: In time of lack, or time of
need, He’s calling on His disciples, those who have disciplined their lives
after Him. Verse number two: The Bible says that He had compassion on this
multitude. There was a multitude
following Him, and He had compassion on this multitude. And why this multitude? Why these people? Because, the Bible says, they had been with
Him, for three days. They followed after
Him for three days, because they continued with Jesus. That’s the reason He had compassion on
them. Now, the Lord knew how long he was
going to be out there. He knew what he
was going to do. He knew who was
following Him. He knew what they
brought. The Lord knew all of this. And, no doubt, there was people that had to
leave after one day, there was some stuff at home they had to go attend
to. And, no doubt, there was people who
had to leave after two days, no doubt.
No doubt, when they first started, it was greater in multitude than it
was after three days of no food, no doubt.
But, it says that it was three days, and there was a reason for the
three days. You see, in the—not to get
into numerology, but, so many times in the Word, when you use the number three,
it is a number for completion, or a number for establishment. The Lord was in the earth for three days, Jonah
was in the earth for three days, the earth was dark for three days, so many
times—three on the mount of transfiguration.
And you might say, “Well, seven is the number of completion, also,” and
that’s very true, but, generally, when you look in the Scriptures, three is the
number of completion on the earth, seven is God’s completion number, generally. Not all the time, not every time, but,
generally, when you use the number three, you’re approaching some sort of
completion on the earth. So, we see here
that, after three days, the Lord said, “I have compassion on them, because they
have continued with Me, and they have nothing to eat.” How do you think those might have felt who
left after one day? How do you think
those might have felt who left after two days?
“You know, I continued with the Lord for two days.” “I continued with the Lord for a whole
day. I didn’t eat at all. I gave it all over to the Lord. I gave a whole day to Him.” And those after two days: “I went for two days. That’s forty-eight hours without food. Forty-eight
hours!” And the Lord knew those, and
He knew their devotion and dedication, but the reward after three days. That is just a note: Don’t stop short of God’s blessing. Don’t allow yourself to caught, and say, “In
my mind, I have done enough,” when God is waiting—He already has it figured
out. And to say that I stopped short of
God feeding me—God feeding me!—would be just a shame. And, verse number four says His
disciples answered Him, and this is going to be, verse four is very important
because it shows a what and a where, a what and a where. And, yes, we’re
talking about thankfulness. We’re trying
to get—the title of today’s message is, “Our Thanks Is Precious to the
Lord.” Our thanks, our thanks is
precious to the Lord. But, in verse
four, it’s important, because it reveals a what and a where. Those who disciplined themselves after the
Lord had asked, His Disciples asked and said, “Where can a man satisfy these men
with bread here in the wilderness? Bread, that’s the what. The wilderness, that’s the where. The Disciples brought this up to the
Lord. Now, the Lord knew exactly what
the issue was; He knew exactly where they were.
But, they brought up bread, and bread was a staple, it was a staple
food. And, it’s been used, down through its
existence. In Genesis, in the Books of
Moses, in fact, in the Books of Moses, it talks about when they were leaving,
the bread have a chance to rise—they didn’t have microwaves, and those fancy
ovens that you’ve got that you turn a knob, bah-blah-blah. They had more simplistic things. They didn’t have the natural gas under control,
that whole thing. They had warm rocks
and fire, and they had to do things a different way. They had to leave, so fast, in the middle of
the night, they had to go, because Pharaoh said “Get them out of Egypt, get
them out!” that the bread didn’t have a chance to rise. So, the bread didn’t rise, it’s a flatbread,
that’s where we get the unleavened, the concept of the unleavened bread, and,
this, of course, was during the time of the Passover, the Passover. So bread, being a staple food, is the what,
and, let’s face it, bread—I love me some good bread, I’ve just got to say. But the most necessary bread, is not the
pumpernickel or the rye—I love rye bread—not the whole wheat, not the—what so
you call that, that’s better than whole wheat? whole grain—not the whole grain,
that’s a good bread, they’ve even got the Ezekiel bread, I saw, you know, and
they got all kinds of breads, and you can make an argument over which one is
better, or this and that, and there’s different studies and everything, and, it
kind of kills me, because, today, this study says this is the greatest food,
and, tomorrow, they say this food ain’t as great as that food, and, the day
after that, there’s this other “greatest food.”
It just gets my gourd about that; you try to eat healthy, and they can’t
make up their mind! Sorry, it’s
confusing. But, anyway, bread being a
staple food, the Lord tells us what the most important food is, of course, in
John. He tells us the most necessary
bread, if we look in the Book of John, He tells us: John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never
hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. That's the what, that’s the what. We don’t have bread to feed these people, but
the Lord was there at the time. And
that’s for a reason. The Lord was there
at that time; that’s for a reason. So,
they— And let’s talk a little bit about
the where. Now, surely were many wildernesses
in Israel at the time, just as there are many wildernesses in the world, today.
You know, you’ve got woods, you’ve got
forests, you’ve got meadows, they’ve got all kind of wildernesses. One that’s prevailing, in this type of
wilderness, there’s this certain animal that, if you take the wilderness down,
then that animal’s going to go extinct, and, they’ve got all that stuff going
on, now. They’ve got different types of
wildernesses, like there were different wildernesses back then. And, when you refer to a wilderness, “wild”
being the very first word, you are driven to think about a place that’s
untamed, uncivilized, uncultivated. A
place where man doesn’t rule the land, but nature rules that land; nature is
prominent. So, when He said,
“wilderness,” it gives us the impression of something that’s untamed. There’s other types of wildernesses, though. Also, there’s the wilderness of confusion. There’s the wilderness of despair. There’s the wilderness of just plain depression.
There’s the wilderness of loneliness,
just being in there where loneliness just rules every aspect of—over every
breath you breathe. The wilderness of
loneliness. And, there’s other
wildernesses, also, but, the Bible doe speak about one wilderness specifically.
(Still painting a picture, Saints.) Exodus 16:1 And they took their journey from Elim, and
all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin [the
Wilderness of Sin], which is between Elim
and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out
of the land of Egypt. Leaving Egypt, they found
themselves in a wilderness called, the Wilderness of Sin. So, Sin, here, is a proper name, meaning this
was a name of an actual place. And
that’s not hard to see, because, Sinai, the first three letters would be,
“S-I-N.” and Elim, which was an actual place, but, the Bible doesn’t make any
mistakes. The Bile don’t just throw
things out there by chance. There’s a
reason why this place was called a Wilderness of Sin, that we could refer to,
the Wilderness of Sin. Now, to tell the
truth, out of all the wildernesses that we talk about, this one wilderness that
I would love to say many of us are familiar with, but, the truth is, all of us
are familiar with the Wilderness of Sin.
All of us are familiar with getting to the place where sin is everywhere,
all around you! Tempting you, pulling on
you, trying to get a hold on you, and, not just us. The whole—everywhere where there is flesh,
they are familiar with the Wilderness of Sin. Ever since the Garden, we have been familiar
with the Wilderness of Sin. So, all
flesh is familiar with this. Now, the Lord asks in verse number
five, He says, and He asked them, “How many loaves have
ye?” And they said, “Seven.” Not what don't you have, but what do you
have? You see, the Lord asked What do
you have, because that’s where He operates from. God doesn’t operate from what you don’t have;
He operates from where we are, not where you ain’t. I don’t think you heard that. Wherever you are, whatever condition you find
yourself in, that is where God operates from.
“Oh, I wish I had this!” Oh, I
wish I was like that!” “Oh, if only I
could do this!” Oh, if only if
nothing! God operates from where you
are! That is God, and He asked, “What do
you have?” And, do you think the Lord
had a clue about what they had? Of
course He did! Of course He did! But, he wanted them to know, “This is where I
operate from. Whatever we got, this is
where God chooses to start blessing, right here. “If only I was strong enough to pray.” You are strong enough to pray, right where
you are. “If only I was strong enough to
sing a song.” Sing a song, anyway! It’s not the tone of your voice, it’s the
attitude of your heart that comes before the Lord. “If only I had a smart enough mind to read
the Word.” Begin reading the Word, and
let God reveal it to you! God operates
from where you are! So, He asked them, “What do you
have?” and they said, “Seven loaves.”
So, if he operates from here, this is the place that’s important. And this is because, in Second Corinthians,
the point is stressed-this is a great Scripture, even to commit to memory. You can write it down in your wallet; you can
put it in your wallet, you can have it so that you can refer to it at any time. 2 Corinthians 8:12 For if there
be first a willing mind [if we first got our mind willing, then, the Bible
says:], it is accepted according to that
a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. It is accepted according to what
you got, and not according to what you don’t.
So, according to the scripture, the first thing is just getting my mind
right. The first thing is getting my
mind in tune, and, then, God can operate.
The first thing is me getting my mind in tune with the path that God
wants me to go, and, then, it’s accepted; God can operate from right there. So, the Lord knew how many were
there, He knew what they had, and He knew where they were. And it goes on, and it says, in verse number
six, which is our theme for the month: Mark 8:6 And he commanded the people to sit down on
the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave
to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. He commanded them, “Sit down on
the ground,” and He took what they had.
He commanded them to give their attention, and their essence, their very
being, their focus, to the Lord. He then
took whatever was there, “This, this, is what we have.” He showed them, the very next thing, the very
next thing, He took the seven loaves, and He gave thanks. He took what they had, and gave thanks. This is key.
He gave thanks. He didn’t start
complaining, “Oh, I wish I had more.” He
didn’t look to the left or the right, and say, “Well, I don’t know what we’re
going to do with this. If only we had
more, that would be marvelous.” He said,
“Thank God for what we have.” First, we
turn your attention to Him and thank God.
“You mean to tell me that He knew they were in the wilderness, and He
thanked God?” Yes! Yes!
He knew that they didn’t have electricity; He knew that they didn’t have
gas, and cars. He knew that, and He gave
thanks. He knew what they didn’t have,
and he showed all the people, we give thanks like this: “Right here, I start thanking God for where I
am and what I’ve got. God, You’ve
brought Me this far.” So, this means, Saints,
that we thank God in the middle of battles.
We thank God in the middle of trials. I thank God—thank you for that song, Brother
Andy, because we thank God for the mountains, and we thank God for the valleys,
and we thank Him for the trials He has brought us through, because, in
every—according to the song—in every situation, He gives blessed
consolation. God always is going to
bring us through. Always, He’s going to
bring us through. So, he commanded the people to sit
down on the ground; He took the seven, and He gave thanks. Now, the Lord Jesus is very familiar with the
wilderness. And, for the purpose of this
message, I’m just going to call it the Wilderness of Sin. The Lord Jesus is very familiar with the
Wilderness of Sin. He’s very familiar
with the place of temptation. He’s very
familiar with the place where there ain’t no hope, and there’s confusion, and,
all around, it’s uncivilized. He’s very
familiar with that. Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness [the Lord Jesus was led up of the Spirit—led by the Spirit into
the wilderness. He was led into the wilderness. Why?]
to be tempted of the devil. The Lord knows what it’s like
to be in the wilderness and suffer temptation.
He knows what it’s like to be there.
And, in verse number two, it says: Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty
nights, he was afterward an hungred. It don’t take me forty days and
forty nights to get hungry. Yeah. Depending on what I ate for breakfast, by
lunchtime, I’m ready. I’m just saying. I’m just saying. So, the Lord had that forty day, forty night
thing—He knew what it’s like, Saints.
And, we have to stress this point: He knows what it’s like when we’re tempted. He knows what it’s like when we’re
frustrated. He knows what it’s like when
we’re hungry. He knows what it’s like
when you’ve got that pain in your gut.
He knows what it’s like to have a craving for something. He knows what it’s like when the spirit of
loss tries to come after you. He knows
what it’s like there’s a confusion spirit going on. He knows what it’s like to be is
despair. He knows what it’s like to go
through these things alone. He knows what
it’s like. He knows what it’s like. He went through it, for us. He went through it, for us. If we were to read the rest of it, we would
see the three things He was tempted with, but, hat will be a study for another
time. Maybe we’ll cover it in one of the
Bible studies later on. But, the whole
purpose of Him going through that was for us, to bring that salvation to
us. So, going on, since He knew what it
was like to be in the wilderness, here He is, in the wilderness, with the
multitude, giving thanks to God for what He’s got, giving thanks to God for
what He has. So, the question becomes, How
important is it to give thanks? How
important is it to give thanks, no matter what we’re going through? When the Ark of the Covenant was coming back,
the Bible says, here: 1 Chronicles 16:4 And he
appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to
record, and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel: When the Ark of the Covenant was
coming back, in David’s time, he appointed the priests and the Levites, those
who attended to the services, and said, “Hey, write this down. Record this, so we can refer back to it
later. Let everybody know that this is
what we do.” Record what? “Record the fact that the Arc of the Covenant
is coming back and, record that we thanked and praised God when that
happened. Record that.” We see here that the Levites were charged
to keep record, but, in the Book of Luke: Luke 17:12 And as he entered into a certain village,
there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said,
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And
when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves
unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were
cleansed. And one of them, when he saw
that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell
down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And
Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But,
where are the nine? There are not found
that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. So, we see here that the Lord
said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But, where are the
nine?” That means that the Lord
Jesus is keeping record, too. David
asked the Levites to keep record; Jesus is keeping record, too. And, just as a sidebar, when it comes time to
give God thanks for what He’s done for you, don’t just have it a small thank
You unto God, give God the thanks that is due unto God. And, the truth of the matter is, don’t wait
for everybody to get together, and everybody to be with you. If nobody is with you, you thank God yourself
for what He has done for you! God’s not
waiting for everybody, He’s waiting for you!
I’ll tell you the truth, when it comes time to thanking God for what
He’s done for me, whatever it is, I’m thanking God right there, because I know
the devil’s trying to steal my thanks, I know he’s trying to shut my mouth, I
know he’s trying to distract me.
Because, when I get to thanking God, giving Him that kind of praise, God
starts answering me with confirmation.
When it comes time to thank God, this one turns with a loud voice,
thanking God, and He said, “Nobody else is going to give glory to God, save
this one. Because, the truth of the
matter is, on this, if God be for you, nothing—nothing!—can be against
you. If God is going to bless you,
nothing is going to prevent that. If God
singles you out for a blessing, there is no turning back. So, we see that the Levites were
supposed to keep a record; the Lord Jesus is keeping a record, and we see: 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad. So, there’s not just a record down
here; according to the Bible, there’s also a record in Heaven. Don't fall into the trap, Saints,
don’t fall into the trap of giving less than a cheerful thank You. 2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man
according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of
necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. Probably if people knew how God as
watching their thanksgiving unto Him, they probably would take it more seriously
throughout the world. Probably he would
say, “I’m going to see this again, when I stand before the judgment seat of
Christ, the fact that I did not thank God for what He’s given me. I’ve got to thank God for it, now, because He
is watching me. And, our last section: God is not a used-to kind of God. He is a
here-and-now God. God is not a used-to
kind of God. Used to do, used to hear,
He is a here-and-now God. The last time I had the privilege
to speak, here, I mentioned something that God has really been dealing with me
about, and that is that so many Christians, all over the world, have lost their
fight. They’ve lost their fight in
God. And, you can be honest, we’re not
raising hands or anything, but we could go around, and, we could say so many
things that everybody, “I used to…” “I used to…” “I used to, and have given up
doing something for God, something with God, something because of God.” And, can I tell you something? That really gets my gourd when I hear people
talk about, “Oh, I used to do something for God!” “I used to share!” “I used to…”
“I used to…” “I used to…” “I used to…”
“I used to sing.” “I used to
read” “I used to study.” “I used to pray.” “I used to do something for God.” “I used to love God. It was great!” It was
great, as though God is a past-tense God.
Let me tell you something: God is
not a used-to God; God is a here-and-now God. According, according—Moses said it
the best, he said “Whom shall I say has sent me, when I go out before Pharaoh,
who shall I say sent me?” And God told
him, “I Am. Tell them I Am sent
you.” Who is I Am? “I Am your God, I Am your Savior, I Am your
deliverer, I Am the One who’s going to bless you, I Am your healer, I Am the One you turn to in time
of need, I Am your help, I Am your provider, I Am, I Am the One who’s going to
show you the light when it’s dark out, I Am the One who’s going to give you
understanding when you’re confused, I Am your God.” And not just that. “I Am the God of Brother Rob. I Am the God of Sister Donna, Sister Lucy. I Am your God. I Am the God of Brother Mike. I Am your God, Sonia. I Am your God. I Am yours!
I Am your God. I Am. I Am. I
Am. Yes, I Am the God in your
school. I Am the God on your job. I Am the God in your house. I Am the God in your car. I Am the God, no matter where you are. I Am your God, no matter what you’re doing, I
Am your God.” Not “I used to be…” Not, “Maybe…”
The Lord Jesus speaks, here: Matthew 22:32 I am the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the
dead, but of the living. God is not a God of being
dead. He’s not a God of death, and dead
stuff. He’s not that God; He is a God of
the living. He is a God of you who
live. He is a God of eternal life. He is that God. And, just, my last point. God has been dealing with me so much about
this, because, there are so many needs that God’s people have, that we have to
turn it to God. Understand this, Saints,
if any brother or sister, anybody in leadership, anybody that teaches, anybody
that sings, anybody that has some sort of reputation ain’t there with you, you
can pray to God yourself. You can ask God
to do it for you. You don’t have to wait
until somebody gets off of work, somebody answers the phone, until somebody
comes by. You don’t have to wait. God is waiting for you, no matter where you
are. He is that God. He is that
God. I’ve heard it too much, “I’ve been
waiting for you.” Why? WHY? “I get tongue-tied. I stutter.
I get frustrated. I get
fleshly. I get weak.” I’ve got to go to the same God we all go
to. It’s the same God. Here was a case of a man who was
deaf and had a speech impediment, and the Bible says they had brought him to
Him: Mark 7:33 And he [the Lord Jesus] took him aside from the multitude, and put
his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and
saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be
opened. And straightway his ears were
opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. Understand this, Saints, as we
prepare to close, understand this: This
was a man hear anything, let alone the Lord Jesus was speaking. And, this was a man who couldn’t talk right. And the Bible says, if we were to read other
verses, the Bible says that they brought him.
Why? Because he needed to get
loosed, that’s why. Because his tongue
had to get loosed. Because there was
something that was holding him back.
Because his ears had to get opened.
He couldn’t hear what God wanted him to do. And, there is a reason why that particular
one is in the Bible. There’s a reason
why this is in the Bible. Because, God
knew that many of us were going to need to have things opened to us. He knew that there was going to be times coming
that a certain spirit is going to get ahold of us, and we need to get loose. “Oh, I used to do this, and I used to do
that, but, now there’s a spirit that just discourages me so much. You know what? I used to fast and pray that God would give
me the gift of the Holy Ghost, but I kind of left off of that. And, I used to pray that I could have such an
encouraging spirit, but that was too much work, so I left off of that. I stopped fighting for it. And I used to just want to really love God,
but there’s so many other things that take my attention; I left off of that. I’ve lost the fight for this, and I gave up
the fight when I was fighting for that.”
And the Lord Jesus is saying, “You don’t got to wait for no multitude to
bring you to Me. I will open it to you! I will loose those spirits from you, if you
come to Me. Come to Me, come to Me, I
will loose it!" "Oh, but,
Brother Parrish, you're sitting there talking about this and that.” We’re talking about the Lord Jesus,
here. Everything that’s been holding you
back, you’ve got to stand up and say, “Devil, no more! I’m claiming it in God! I’m not giving it to you; I’m taking it back. Everything! God has precious things for me, and I’m
claiming every one of them. I might not
have it yet, that’s because God is still preparing me for some of those things,
but I haven’t given up my sight in God.
I’m fighting for it! I’ll fight
for it. I’ll take it! And, God, if you have to take me through the
Valley of the Shadow of Death that I might learn a lesson, then take me
through. Teach me, and give me what You’d
have me to have. I’m not going to talk
about I used to, anymore; I’m going to talk about the ‘I Am’ God. Because I Am is bringing that stuff to me. I Am is doing it for me. And, I Am, He did it for me yesterday. He did it for me years ago. He’s doing it for me today. And, if He tarries, He’s doing it for me
tomorrow. And, He’s doing it for me
Wednesday. He’s doing it for me at
work! He’s doing it for me in my
house! He’s doing it for me, the ‘I Am’
God. The ‘I Am’ God; He ain’t leaving
me. He’s doing it for me. He’s not saying, ‘No,’ He’s saying, ‘Come,
come, and I’ll do it for you. I will loose
those spirits off you, for you! This is
what I have for you. I’ve got gifts for
you. I’ve got presents of my spirit for
you. I’m going to catch you up to the Heavenly
places. I’m going to have revelations
for you. I’m not waiting for everybody
else. I’m waiting for you. I want to give you the precious kingdom that
I have for you. I Am the I Am God. I Am your I Am God.’” Thank You!
Don’t lose your fight. Don’t give
it up. Even if the devil has punched you
in the gut, he gave you a black eye, just remember: it's a fight. It’s a fight. And, my last Scripture 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the
world. Give the Lord a praise.
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