“Fear of Being Blessed” By Brother Parrish Lee November 30th,
2014
I’m in love
with
heaven. I’m in love
with the Lord Jesus
Christ. I’m in love
with His Word. I’m
in love with His Spirit. You
ever get to the place where you just
can’t get enough of something? I
mean,
you ever have something that was just so good that, even when you were
full,
you just wanted more? I
have never
encountered a time when I’ve been with God and I said, “That’s enough.” I’ve been where I’ve been
rebuked so bad, it
just tore my skin off; I’ve been where I’ve been so overwhelmed, it
just pushed
tears out of my eyes; I’ve been where I thought my brain would explode,
but
I’ve never been where I just wanted to shoo God off, and say, “I don’t
want no
more of You.” It
has always been, “God,
You are so rich and so full.” Sometimes,
we’ve just got to say, “Amen, thank You, Jesus.” Speaking of
thank
You, Jesus, our theme for the month is: 2 Corinthians 2:14
Now
thanks
be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh
manifest
the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. We’re going to
do
something a little different; we did this last year, and it was such a
blessing. I’m
actually going to share
the whole bit in the blessing this morning, because it’s not the kind
of thing
where just one person can bring enough.
So,
if you would bow your heads with me for just a moment.
Lord, we thank You, Almighty God, Reverenced
One, Sovereign One, Omnipotent One, Omniscient, Everlasting Father,
Great
Counsellor, You Mighty warrior, You awesome God to us, we come to you
and we
thank You. God, we
thank You for waking
us up today. God,
we thank You for
moving us cross the floor. We
thank You
for opening our eyes. God,
we thank You
for putting words in our mouths this morning.
We thank You for filling our hearts and letting them
beat this
morning. We thank
you for setting the
sun in the sky. God,
we thank You for
being the kind of good to us that we always can’t get enough. We always got to come back
to You and say,
“Only You can do this thing, for truly there is none like You.” Our wonderful Father;
great God in Heaven,
You wonderful lover of our souls.
We
thank You this morning. We
thank You for
a time to come before You this morning; You treat us like Your sons and
daughters. You
snooker us up to Your
bosom. God, You
look forward to when we
bring You praises. Lord,
we aren’t
anything at all, but, yet You dwell inside our praises.
God, You say, “Consider My sons and
daughters, for this is them that I have loved and shed blood for.” We thank You for that this
morning. God, we
thank You for giving us the answers
in our lives. There’s
not been a time
when we turn to You that we leave disappointed or unhappy. We leave changed, but we
don’t leave in a state
of saying, “I regret,” we only leave in a state of saying, “Yes, Lord,
yes,
Lord, yes, Lord.” God,
as You have
blessed our worship time, God, to be able to have audience with You. We pray now that You would
add a blessing
onto Your service, as we come and offer unto You the sacrifice of our
hearts
and our lives. This
we do, and commit
and claim, in Jesus name. And
everyone
said, amen. Amen. Last
year, I don’t know—we have a lot of services, of course—we used to have
services every day, so that’s not really a lot.
Last year we had a beautiful Thanksgiving service,
and we had the chance
to have a few people come up and they had to share what they were being
thankful for. Ken
A. came up and
shared—it was going to be Ken and Abby, but, Ken said he forgot to tell
his
wife, so she wasn’t here. But,
Sis, he
shared so beautifully. I
remember that
whole attitude of gratitude you shared, Kenny.
That whole aura of praise, and that whole spirit of
thankfulness. You
shared about how Pastor Paine taught you,
and it stayed with me ever since you shared last year.
Then, Sister Norma and Mike came up and they
shared, and Mike, I don’t think there was a person here that wasn’t
brought to
tears as you said, “Yes, I bring my requests to God, the same thing,
every day,
every week, ‘God, bless my family.
God,
thank You for what You’ve done for me.
God, thank You for being saved!”
Sister Norma said, “I’ve been raised a certain way,
but I just want to
tell you that I love the Lord!” When
you
said that your son ran through singing that song, I have not been able
to get
that song out of my head, all year!
Hallelujah. “Nothing
but the
Blood,” nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood, amen. Then we had Brother
Laygoze and Sister
Lorraine, and Sister Lorraine—most of us hadn’t even heard you talk! Most of us hadn’t even
heard you talk! And
she shared about how, “I never thought
I’d be moving into this area.” That
whole service stayed with me all year.
“I never thought I’d be moving here, and I met the
Lord some time ago,
and I had so many things happening in my life, but then I found
something that
changed everything and made me say, “Thank You, Jesus.
I found a chance to be born again, and what a
wonderful life it is to know God as my personal, awesome savior!” What a beautiful
testimony, and then,
Laygoze, I felt you, bro, I felt you as he stood up here and he got to
preaching, and he said, “You don’t even know where I came from.” He said, “You see what God
has done, but you
didn’t see what God brought me from.
You
see the blessing after God has been working on me, but, before that, I
was one
of them that needed that Word. Now
everybody says, ‘What a wonderful, nice guy.
You seem to have it all together,’ but you just
don’t know, before God
touched me, I was only a streeter, and then after he touched me, it’s
like all
that stuff never happened.” Wooo! Yeah, it stayed with me
all year, can you
tell? We’d
like to have the opportunity to have a few more people come and share. You know, there’s no such
thing as comparing
things in God. You
know, depending on
point you are in your life—yeah, this is just thrown in for free. I’m not preaching yet. As a matter of fact, my
part is not going to
be that long—but, depending on where you are in your life, different
things
mean so much more to you at that time.
So, whereas one thing could mean an enormous amount
of answers for you,
and another thing, you don’t even see the relevance, just give it time. Then, that is the thing
that God stored for
you, to be such a blessing. So,
I’m
going to ask a few people to come up, if they would, please. I’m going to ask—and you
brothers and sister,
just take your time—I’m going to ask George and Zena, if they would
come
first. Right after
that, we’re going to
give it up for our young people, as Maxx, and Cassidy, and Savanah are
going to
come. After the
young people, we’re going
to bring Sister Linda S, and Brother Chris S.
Could we give the Lord a praise as they come? George:
I was kind of surprised; my wife
came back into the auditorium, here, because she was going to teach
class, and
I was going to speak for her, and talk about how wonderful, and how
thankful
she is that she has a great husband, and all that, but, since she
showed up, I’m
going to let her say all that. We’re
talking about Thanksgiving. I’m
very
thankful; every day, when I wake up, I’m very thankful.
I thank God.
If you don’t thank God, every day, for what He’s
given you, and what
he’s done for you, you start losing love, mercy, kindness, tenderness… You’ll lose that, because
that’s not the love
of God. You know, I
look back at my
life, and we sing a song about the victory of Jesus, talking about how
He made
the lame to walk. At
one time, I was
lame. I couldn’t
walk; my footsteps,
they were all over the place. Christ
healed me to where I was able to walk the straight and narrow, healed
me to
where I was able walk straight; healed me to where I was able to walk,
period. The blind
to see. I was blind.
Just like a lot of us, here, you know?
We were all blind until God healed us and we were
able to see. I’m
thankful every day for that. Like
Mike said, he talked about Philippians,
saying that it’s a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians
4:7). To know that
peace is to know
Christ, and that is worth all my thanks every day.
Like I said, there’s thing that go on in my
life that I ask God, I said, “God, I—not that I need it, but, Lord, can
I have
it?” Those prayers
don’t get
answered. The
prayers that do get
answered are the ones that I truly spiritually need.
I am very thankful for that He watches over
me, and He keeps me safe. There
have
been a few deaths here, recently.
I just
lost my snow-partner, my co-worker…
He
was talking to me, and he said, “George, have you ever had kidney
stones?” I said,
“Yeah, I’ve had kidney stones,” and I
described it, and how it hurt. He
said,
“Yeah, I got kidney stones.” I
said,
“You need to go to the doctor and get it X-rayed.
He went in, and they did the X-rays, and they
found it was cancer. They
found
tumors. That was in
August; he passed
away last Saturday. We
buried him
yesterday. But, you
know, I’m so
thankful for the love of God, and salvation, and Jesus Christ. Again, I want to thank
every one of you for
the card that you guys signed, for the passing of my aunt. She was very dear to my
brother and I; my
brother Vernon and I, because we grew up knowing her before she married
my
uncle. So, again,
thank you for the
card. Zena:
I
am thankful for George. If
I hadn’t met him, I don’t know that I
would have found the Truth. He
brought
me to a Jesus name church where I found the Truth, and he came back to
the
church, here, and I am very thankful for that.
I’m thankful for my church family.
This last year’s been really rough on me; these last
couple of months, I
feel like I’m going to get better.
I
know I’m going to get better. Let
me say
that I’m thankful for all of you.
God
bless you. Savannah:
Thank you. Okay,
so
I was asked to share what I’m thankful for.
I’m thankful for my family and everything that
they’ve given me. Even
though we fight at times, but that’s
normal, because not a perfect family.
All the people in my family: my mom, my dad,
Cassidy, Bianka, and my
nephews, Daniel and Janus. They’re
crazy, but I love them. Cassidy
is
like the best sister
ever. She thinks
I’m like the annoying
little sister at times, but she’s still always there, no matter what. Even when she gets mad at
me, like ten
minutes later, we’re both, “I love you; I’m sorry!”
Another person that is not family, but is
like family to me is Ashley B. She’s
not
here today. She’s
had a lot of rough
times in her life, like I have, but, after all, stars can’t shine
without
darkness. He heart
is humble and
loving. The person
that has made one of
the greatest impacts on my life is my grandpa.
Him and I are like two peas in a pod; like, no
matter what, he’s just
always there, and he always makes me happy.
I can tell him anything, because it’s really hard
for me to explain how
I feel. He has
gotten my through
everything in my life. [Editor’s
note: Cassidy was
too
overwhelmed at this point to
speak, so Savannah said a few things from Cassidy’s notes.] Savannah:
She said, “I’m thankful for my
family, friends, and being able to have an education.
I’m thankful to be able to be surrounded by
all positive people that I’m around on a daily basis.
Whenever I need to talk to someone, I can
either come to any of you people here.
I
am thankful for the love, but the min person I’m thankful for is my mom. I know she doesn’t hear it
on a daily basis,
but she’s the main reason why I’ve been trying so hard.
The beginning of my school year was so
terrible, but I managed to turn it around, somehow, and I think it’s
because of
her. We’re friends,
and I can always go
to her, and she gives me the greatest advice.
I know I’m stubborn and hard-headed with her a lot,
but that’s how a
teenager is. At the
end of the day, the
only people that will always be there for me is family, and everyone
treats me
well.” Maxx:
Hello.
Well, I’m thankful for my life, because, years ago,
I could’ve slipped
away at birth, but, see, God, he had a plan for me.
I don’t know what it is, yet, but, still, I
know He’s going to use me. That’s
what
I’m thankful for. Linda:
Good
morning. Last
night, Sonia sent me a message, saying,
“Would you like to share what you’re thankful for?”
I just thought about it for a few seconds,
and I was like, “But I’m going through something right now. I’m hurting.
But the devil’s been attacking me this week, and he’
been going through
my scars.” But,
then, I’m like, “But
I’ve got a lot to be thankful for.”
It
doesn’t matter what I’m going through right now. God is right there, He
deserves
all the praise that I can give Him. He
took me out from all the things that have been hurting me. He is the One who is
healing me. It
doesn’t matter what the devil tries to
do. So, I am very
thankful that I am
here. I am very
thankful that I have all
of you as my family; I love all of you so much.
All of you. I’m
thankful that I
have my children, that they’re healthy.
That’s never going to change.
So,
it doesn’t matter what we go through; God deserves our praise. I praise Him and I thank
Him so much. All of
that, when Sonia asked, it just took
me a few seconds to think about it, and I said, “Yes, Sonia, I’ll be
right
there.” I love you
all, and God bless
you. Chris:
Good
morning. You know,
I was pretty sure of what I was
going to say, and I’m still going to say it, I’m just going to pull a
little
audible right here. I’m
thankful when I
her testimonies, and praise reports, and thankfulness, you know? I mean, what Cassidy said
about Abby, you
know, I thank God for that. It’s
something that you can’t buy, and it’s something that the world can’t
give. It’s
something that, I know Abby
has spent days and nights praying for the best for her children, and
that’s
what comes out of it. Cassidy,
you’re an
awesome young lady. Savannah,
you are,
too. Every—the
children—these
testimonies of faithfulness, and praise and honor and glory to God, you
know,
that’s one of the many things that I’m thankful for.
I’m thankful for, you know, I’ve always been
fed, you know, and, what does the Bible say? with food and raiment
therefore be
content (1 Timothy 6:8). He’s
given me
so much more than that, you know?
I’m
thankful that Jesus Christ gives me a hope that rises above something
like
Black Friday. This
world is going nuts,
you know? They
ought to call it
black-eye Friday, you know, because everybody winds up with black eyes. I’m not—I don’t have
anything against Black
Friday, you know, people can get up at one o’clock in the morning and
go to the
mall, you know? They think I’m crazy because I like to work out. They think I’m crazy
because I like lifting
metal weights off the ground, and grunting and that. Anyway,
I’m thankful for so much. I’m
thankful for those mountain-top
experiences. I also
know, if you stick
around with God long enough, you’re going to go through the valleys. It sounds crazy, because
I’m so thankful for
the times that I go through the valleys, because it draws me closer to
God. You know our
flesh doesn’t feel
like it, Parrish, you feel overwhelmed, you feel sadness breaking out,
but
those are the times when you draw close to God.
And you know there’s going to be those mountain-top
experiences
again. You just
have to be steadfast and
nice and steady, you know? Don’t
get
down when you go through the valley, and don’t get too up when you go
through
the mountain-top experiences, you know?
God’s
like, “Hey, child, I love you, and I want to give you glory and that,”
but I
think a lot of the things that I’m thankful for, I’m thankful for what
I don’t
have. I’m thankful
for not having
diseases and maybe major amounts of debt, you know, because I had
desires to
have all these great things that look good to the eyes, you know, I’m
thankful
that I don’t have… It
goes back to what
Andy said last week, “We have not because we ask not,” (James 4:2) “Ye
ask, and
ye do not receive, because ye ask to consume t upon your own lusts,”
(James
4:3), you know, and there are a lot of things that I had asked… There’s an old country
song that says, “I
thank God for unanswered prayers.”
God
answers our prayers, He just says no.
You
look back at it, and it’s like, “Thank God He said no.”
What I thought I wanted at the time, it
wasn’t good for me spiritually.
I’m
glad to see you, Jay. I
hope your family
in Iowa is doing great. Nothing
else
matters, what we accomplish in this life, unless we enter into Heaven. Nothing else matters. I’m thankful for, you know
just looking back,
being unemployed for a decent amount of time, having a job… I’m able to collect a
paycheck that meets my
needs, but I also interact with people, you know?
I’ve had opportunity to go to school; my
grades aren’t the best, but I’m passing.
The guys help me get through, and Sister Becky,
she’s not letting me
give up. “Country,
you better not give
up.” “Yes, ma’am.” I’m thankful just to be
able to meet and talk
to people, you know? Parrish,
when you
asked me to share what I’m thankful for, I was like, “Heck, no
problem,” you
know? Now, I look
in front of me, I’ve
got my hands, I’ve got my feet… So, and I’d like to thank you, too. “Be thankful for the
little things,” Parrish
says. What in the
world is a little
thing? I mean, come
on, now, those are
some big things. You
don’t know what
you’ve got until it’s gone, you know?
It
all goes back to that valuable toe.
You
don’t know how valuable a toe is until you stub it.
Unh!
But, anyway, Parrish, thank you for the opportunity
and I just want to
say that I’m thankful for all of you, my family that God’s given me, as
the
Father of this family. I’m
very thankful
for it, and God bless you! I
look
forward to singing Christmas songs together.
Thank you. So, obviously,
I’m
not going to take as long as I normally take, because so much of the
message
has already been preached. Amen,
amen,
amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. But
if I
could share a thought; if I could share a thought, but of course I’m
going to
share a thought. I
could share a
thought: You know,
we, as a ministry, we
have been really blessed. It
seems like
every time you turn around this month, you talk about being thankful. Christians know, when they
get down to it,
Christians, they know how to thank God.
Did you ever listen to a Christian really being
thankful for something
that God’s done? You
hear, and it’s
like, “Ooh, something happened,” because they really know how to thank
God. You know, at
this particular time,
we have had such a wonderful opportunity, this thanksgiving outreach,
Phil,
that you were talking about, Sister Mary O. started some years ago,
and, we had
so many people out, but the attitude.
So
many people stopped by, and they were going to have their own
Thanksgiving
meal, but they said, “You know, I want to bring an offering unto the
Lord,
first. I want to
show people that my
heart is here; I have some things that I have to do, but I’m showing
you that
we are connected.” Beautiful
spirit;
beautiful attitude; so many people did that.
It was not lost on a single recruit, a single person
that was there, or
even some of the guests and the visitor that came by.
Not lost on any of them.
If you could have heard, jus the comments at
the end of the day as they expressed—it was a time like no other for
them, and
they wanted to say, it even surpassed the Thanksgivings that they had
had
before. They
thought it was going to be
a homey thing with good food and everything, but the presence that
people
brought there in love and community was something truly precious. So, we’ve had
a
wonderful month, and if we could just do a quick review: we’ve had a month of
blessings. The
first message, of course, was on, “What
Part Does Thankfulness Have On Our Walk with God?”
We related the part that we’ve got to make
sure that we don’t fall into the trap of unthankfulness. We also went on to say
that we want to make
sure that we don’t give God a casual thank you for a ritzy or a
walls-knocking-down-Jericho or a slaying-of-the giant blessing. We want to give an
appropriate thank you to
match the blessing that God gives us.
Then, the next message, Brother Jesse, he preached
on being thankful
brings us the victory. His
points were
that the battle belongs to the Lord, and being thankful in the
difficult times,
and, being thankful means to have the right perspective. Then, Brother Chris, he
shared about
thankfulness and memorial, and he shared thankfulness is not a sign of
weakness. Not a
sign of weakness. Being
thankful in God never gets old, and
being thankful does require an effort.
Brother Andy reached last week on how do we show our
thankfulness? How
do we show our thankfulness? This morning,
I’d
like to add a little something that we rarely talk about. It’s rarely addressed,
even though it exists
quite well in our world today. If
I had
time, I would talk about why we really love acknowledgement. If you do something, you
want to be
acknowledged for it. You
want that to be
talked about. If we
had time, and, of
course, we don’t have time, we would talk about where that comes from,
where
that started, and how, being acknowledged so many times, that signifies
a
worth. You know,
when somebody
acknowledges something that you’ve done, it places a value on it. If we had a little bit
more time, we would
talk about how that spirit, that oft-times, we see that people get
accolades
for what they do; you know, they get a trophy, or a medal, or whatever. Or they bring them up, and
somebody pats them
on the back. It’s a
whole thing of
loving, it’s so bad; it’s so bad in the word today that, when you see a
whole
bunch of people getting it, and, the thing is, you kind wish,
sometimes, it was
you. “I could do
that! I could
train, I could show, I could do that,
and I could get those accolades,” and where that all started, and how,
sometimes, it even leads over into a little bit of jealousy. That all had a beginning,
when the very first
one, who saw the One who got all the glory, and all the magnificence,
said, “I
will be like the Most High.” The
very
first one, where that spirit comes from.
But, again, we’ll have to make that a message for
another day. Some
people—our
message is, some people know that being thankful means having a
connection. That,
when you’re thankful
for things, you acknowledge that there’s some kind of a connection. There’s some act, or some
benefit that you
are the recipient of, and that, oft-times, these are things that you
are not
able to do for yourself. Depending
on
who it came from, if you like the person that acknowledges your—that
gets you
something and you benefit by it, if you like that person then that’s a
good
thing for you. You’re
like, “Hey, I
really appreciate you doing that for me, and I’m getting this, and this
whole
thing is really just hunky-dory. You
know, that’s kind of nice; it’s rosy and peachy.”
But, if you don’t like them, and they did
something for you, then it’s, “Argh. &$%$&*%#$%. I’m in a conflict. I kind of wanted to shout
at you. I kind of
wish you hadn’t… I’m
conflicted.” If you
don’t like the person. Because,
when somebody does something for
you—still talking about being thankful—when somebody does something for
you, it
leads to a reciprocal. So
often, it
leads to a feeling of beholding. “Now
that you have done something for me, I owe you.”
So often, people want to hurry up and do
something back for the other person so, “Now I don’t owe you nothing. We’re even.
Hah!” You
know, in the movie,
‘The Godfather,’ they would go up to Marlon Brando, and they would come
and ask
him to do for them, something that they couldn’t do themselves. So, he would do something
for them, and they
would come and gives thanks, and he would do his old godfather thing,
“You
don’t have to thank me now, but there will come a day that I will comme
to you,
and I will ask you a favor. Whatever
I
ask, that you will do.” The
whole
feeling of beholdenment. The
whole
feeling of, “Well, now that I am beholding to you,” now you can add,
“You have
the power to do something about that.”
You have the power.
This sort of
feeling has not been lot on the world for two thousand years. You see, it’s been
associated with so many
things. But, it’s
epic, its epoch was
when, two thousand years ago, when the Lord –the Bible says that God
sent His
only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have
everlasting life (John 3:16). That’s
something that was a gift that was given; how can you repay it? How can you give back? “Oh, God, we’ll never be
even. You’ll do
something for me I could never do
for myself.” So,
the flesh takes that
same reciprocal spirit. So
often,
there’s the question of the grace, and the mercy, and the blessings,
and the
longsuffering of God, but the tangible-ness of God sending His only
begotten
Son for us, to shed blood, to hang up, to die, and to go into the
grave, and
then on the third day be risen, and say, “All hail.”
The proof, as they say, is in the
pudding. Now, that
beholdenment that
people say that they have towards God.
“If we sum his up, I really need to thank God for
that, but if I thank
God for that, that means that I acknowledge that He did something for
me. If I
acknowledge that He did something for
me, then that means that there is a connection.
We have a relationship, there’s something between us. If there’s something
between us, then there’s
obligation. Everybody
knows that, with
relationships, there’s accountability.
There’s accountability with relationship.” So often, the world says,
“In order for me to
escape being accountable to God, I need to escape that relationship
with
God. So, to escape
that relationship
with God, I need to see if I can escape that blessing from God.” Two thousand years; two
thousand years; two
thousand years, people tried—the flesh—not everybody, of course not
everybody,
because the Bible says, “Behold, I lifted up my eyes and, lo, there was
a
number that was above every number.” (Revelation 7:9)
Of course it’s not everybody.
Of course, Apostle John said, “Who are they?”
and the angel said, “Sir, thou knowest.
These are they that washed their robes and made them
white in the blood
of that Lamb. Therefore
are they before
the throne of God, day and night.” (Revelation 7:13-15)
So, it’s not everybody, but in the flesh, in
the deception, in the world, it would have to say, “Man, if I
acknowledge what
God has done for me, there’s a connection, and I don’t want that
connection,
because if I have that connection, then I have a relationship, and if I
have
that relationship, I have that accountability, and if I have that
accountability, then I need to be accountable, I need to do something,
I need
to be in the presence of God, and I need to escape that blessing.” So, this all
comes
down, quite simply, to what is the title of the message today: Fear of being blessed. And I’m almost done. Now, we see that the—if we
look at our
scripture for today; our scripture for today is from the Book of
Jeremiah: Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace,
and not of
evil, to give you an expected end. Now we see
that the
thoughts of the Lord toward us are peace, that we might end up—an
expected
end—end up with what God wants us to have.
To end up—His thoughts of peace, that He might give
us—that we might
have, that we might receive, what God wants us to have.
Oh, how beautiful.
Oh, how beautiful.
But, smart people, smart people, say, “You
know, but Lord, if You, this, then
I
have to, that.”
Smart people.
Smart people. But,
wise people,
wise people say, “God, when You do this, then I will do that. You will enable me to do
more. You will give
me the blessings that I will
take it out, and we will grow relationship.
That whole accountability is a negative thing—You’re
keeping me on the
straight and narrow. You’re
keeping me
on the path of blessings, and righteousness.
God, You’re keeping me on a path that’s going to be
doing me some
right.” That whole
accountability—wise
people see, “God, You are providing that lamp for my feet, and that
light for
my pathway.” So, that whole
conflict; that whole allegory thing…
That
whole, “Do I want to be blessed of God, or do I not?”
That whole thing, Christians can easily sum
that up. In fact,
we’ve been able to sum
it up for the last two thousand years, with the compelling of Apostle
Paul, or
the compelling of Apostle Peter, the compelling of the disciples, down
through
the ages. The Lord
even told us to
watch: “Now is the
time, for today is
the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Even David said, “This is the day that the Lord has
made.” (Psalms 118:24) So,
the fact is, it’s time for Christians, in
the world today, to not look at the negative and things that they don’t
have,
but to be able to let up their eyes to the hills, from whence cometh
their help
(Psalms 121:1) and say, “God, I am not afraid for You to bless me. God, I’m not afraid for
You to pour it
out. Oh, Lamb of
God, shower down on me. God,
fill me.
Lord, use me. Enter
me into Your
service, God. Oh,
great King, I will
take what You have for me.” It’s
time
for Christians in the world today to say, “This is my rereward. This is my heritage. I don’t have God’s name in
vain. I got it for
a purpose. God
wants me to have more; then He can use me
more. Then I can
lift up my eyes, and
say, ‘You know, neither death, nor life, nor any principality, or
powers that
come, nor things that be; nothing is able to separate me from You,
God.’ (Romans
8:38-39) I can say,
as Job said, you
know, ‘I have esteemed the Words of His lips, so precious, I’d rather
have His
Word, than my necessary food (Job 23:12).’
And he turned around and said, ‘All the days of my
appointed time shall
I wait, until I know something’s going to happen, until my great
blessing,
until my change comes (Job 14:14).’”
So,
it’s time for Christians all over the world to say, “I won’t say no to
You, God. I will
receive Your blessing. I
will walk in Your ways. Lord,
teach me Your ways. God,
You’ve got so much more love for me; I’ve
been settling, God. I’ve
been only
fractioning this thing out. I’ve
been
receiving it by measure, because I’ve only been opening myself up like
a
doggone thimble. God,
make me a
freeway! Pour it
in, Lord, I want You to
make me bust! I
want to get a little
lost in Jesus! I
don’t care if they don’t
understand. I don’t
care if they’re
amazed; let them mock me. Let
them make
fun of me. Let them
just point, and say,
‘Yes, he’s that guy!’ and God, let Your light be as the brightness of
the new
day. Lord, God,
Almighty, and, yes, Lord,
I thank You for every blessing You give me!
Shut up, devil!
Get behind; me
and God got something going on, here!
Yes, Lord.” And, finally,
finally, you know you’re never going to get a blessing and be the same. Let’s just call it out. They say that the thing
that people are most resistant
to—I am closing—but they say the thing that people are most resistant
to is
change. “I do not
like change. I like
to find my little cubby-hole and
snooker in it—anything else that you bring me, as long as it’s outside
my
little cubby-hole, I get to decide whether I want to bring it in or not. If I don’t want to bring
it in, Enh, enh,
enh!” You know,
I’ve had the privilege
of going to different countries; I’ve been to twenty-four countries in
my
life. It is the
same; not one single
culture out there wants to change.
Not a
one of them. They
all think their
culture—what do I mean, ‘they?’ We
all
think our culture is the best. “My
culture! My culture! Don’t be changing it; this
is my culture! Mine,
mine, mine, mine, mine!” But,
you know, when God comes in, he’s going
to bring that agent of change. You
have
to be willing to say, “Lord, I know that Your blessing is going to
affect
me. Lord, I know
it’s going to make me
different. God, I
know it’s going to
change me. Bless me
anyway, God; bless
me anyway.” My last
Scripture—our last Scripture
for the message today, is from the Book of Jeremiah: Jeremiah
31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea,
I have loved thee
with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn
thee. From
our point of view, we see one thing, but from God’s point of view, this
whole
thing is all about love. “If
I could draw
my people closer to Me, because I love them.
If I could allow Myself to give them more, because I
love them. If I
could just have some more audience with
them, because I love them. I
don’t just
love them with that ‘one day’ type of love; that, ‘I’ll love you as
long as you
give me a hamburger and cheese sandwich; I’ll love you as long as you
give me
onion rings and cheese fries. I’ll
love
you as long as you give me some banana pudding.’”
Well, I don’t know about that one.
“I’ll love you just as long as…”
No, God says, “I have loved you with an
everlasting love. That
love that you got
going on between you and your folks; that’s good love, but that don’t
compare
to My love. That
love that you got going
on between you and your wife and your children; that’s good love, but
that don’t
compare to My love. That
love that you
have for your vehicle, and your job, and, you know, you should love the
things
that God blesses you with, but that don’t compare to My love that I
have for
you. The love that
I have for you is an
everlasting love. It’s
an everlasting
love. The love that
I have for you, it’ll
wrap you up. The
love that I have for
you, it’ll hold you with the best hug you ever felt.
The love that I have for you, it’ll fill you
up on the inside. The
love that I have
for you, you don’t have to describe it to get the full effect. The love that I have for
you won’t leave you
hanging. The love
that I have for you
will bring you to Me; just loving kindness.
I draw you to Me, saith the Lord.”
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