Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Believe The Blessing 1
Can the power of blessings truly transform your life? In this episode of the "Believing the Blessing Series," we promise a journey that explores how biblical blessings can lead to a fulfilled and prosperous life. We reflect on the unity and power commanded by God's blessings, drawing inspiration from Psalm 133 and Galatians 3, and challenge common misconceptions about age and family history.
Reach down and pick up our Bibles. Worship team. That was a beautiful job. I like that new song. That's cool. I mean, it brought back a lot of memories, all those old songs woven in there, the new one, and I like that. You know, that's great.
Speaker 1:Let's lift our Bibles up, rave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad I'm new, I'm being renewed by the Holy Ghost, transformed by the Holy Ghost, transformed by the renewing of my mind, that I might prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. This word is changing my life Day by day and the Holy Ghost is leading and guiding and directing me and I have the victory In Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Let's turn to two places here in our Bibles, and that's what we do. We preach right out of the Bible Psalm 133, we'll share with you first, and I tell you I've wondered, but I think I'm just going to haul off and read the entire psalm. It's three verses. And then Galatians, chapter 3, you can find that and put your marker there or your finger there or whatever Galatians 3. Psalm 133, it says the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there, the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. Everybody say the Lord commanded the blessing, all right. And then in Galatians, chapter 3, we'll read verse 7, first, verse 7. Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith Everybody shout, that's me, that's me the same are the children of Abraham, verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. And so today I wanted to start a series of three messages entitled Believe the Blessing. Believe the Blessing, and you know our Heavenly Father, here in Psalms, old Testament, he commanded the blessing, the unity.
Speaker 1:He started talking about the oil. What's the oil type of the Holy Ghost? You know, in the Old Testament when they anointed something with oil, they didn't just dab a little dab. You know, they poured the horn of oil on top of Aaron. When Aaron was anointed to be high priest, I mean, you know, moses poured the whole horn of oil on top of his head and it ripped down on his beard and came down and got all over his garments.
Speaker 1:You know, I had a guy one time visiting our church in the old building and he wanted to anoint somebody with oil. I had a big old thing of oil. I said I don't want oil on my carpet unless you want to clean it. I mean, come on, you know you don't have to do everything like they did it. They're living outside most of the time. When they did this, you know it was just on the ground, but it's as carpet, so I don't want oil. You know big old spots of oil everywhere.
Speaker 1:But anyway, you know we've had all kinds of knuckleheads come through the church. They want to be pastor, but it's too late. I am him. But anyway, praise God. I had one guy I always wanted to walk. He's from Lakewood and he just felt like he had to come and keep us straight. And uh, he would come and we want. Every time we'd have a holiday, he'd want to wash feet. I said no, we ain't doing that, my feet are. I took a shower. I don't need god. All right, I'm off, I'm off myself. But our heavenly father commanded the blessing I want you to get that. He commanded the blood. How many of you know when God commands something, it happens.
Speaker 1:You know, jewish fathers release the blessing over their children on the Shabbat every every Friday evening. Friday into Saturday was Sabbath and they I mean every week the Jewish fathers, would release the blameless. The Shabbat was a family get-together. It wasn't just a few little people, I mean, it's all the family, the cousins and everything else. And Billy Brim was writing about, you know, visiting Israel after the terrible thing a year ago, october 7th, horrible invasion and all the murdering and the terrible things. And so she ran over there. She was over there three or four different times with groups to love on them and to show them love, and she was invited to a Shabbat, to a meal, and you know, and she was shocked at 30, 40 people there. You know it was a big deal. You know they celebrate. That's their culture, that's their fellowship is to eat and share a meal together. And so that's when they release the blessing. The father, the Jewish father, would release the blessing over his children. You read in your Bible, in the Old Testament, where the patriarchs would release the blessing over their children at their departure, I mean when it came time for them to die, they would gather the family around and they would release the blessing. And after they blessed their kids and their grandkids and some kind think about Joseph, I mean, he blessed his grandkids and he gathered his feet up under him and he just left.
Speaker 1:You know, most of the time at a great old age I mean, we've lost that in the church. People just think that they don't. You know they have. You know God was lonesome. He picked a flight. No, he didn't. We can live out our full length of days. That's part of the blessing. With long life, I will satisfy you and show you your salvation. We don't have to die young and we don't have to die at a certain age. You know, some people just get decided well, you know, I'm age 70. That's about it, that's all my.
Speaker 1:I heard one guy say well, nobody in my family has lived past 60. Well, why don't you break the mold, dummy man? I think about what I'd have missed if I'd have died at 60. That's been 17 years ago. I mean, I'd have missed the big show. We're just now getting into the fun stuff now. Amen, and you know the priest would declare the blessing and release it by the laying on of hands.
Speaker 1:And so, in Hebrews 8, 6, though, the Bible says that we have a better covenant found upon better promises. I mean, if Israel had blessing, how much more do we have blessing. They were blessed, even though they were spiritually dead. I want you to understand that they did not have. Zoe, are you with me now? They're spirit beings. They live in a body. They have a mind and a will and an intellect, just like we do, but their spirit is dead and our spirit's alive.
Speaker 1:I like what Brother Osteen used to say they were saved on credit. That's what he used to say. It took me a while to catch on to that phrase, but it does. You go and put something on a credit card and you didn't really pay for it. The credit card oh, I got it on credit card, you're going to pay for it. All right, if you keep current, you're going to pay a whole lot for it. But that's what happened. They got saved on credit when they died.
Speaker 1:The Old Testament saints, abraham, isaac and Jacob, all the ones that lived according to the word, according to their covenant unless they were, you know, sinners beyond measure, then they could go to hell. But if you kept the law, you went down. You didn't go to heaven, you went down into what we call paradise. Jesus said to the thief you know this day you will be with me in paradise. That's not heaven. He's not able to go to heaven yet. Jesus hadn't quite died on the cross yet and he hadn't accepted him yet. So what's he saying? He's saying you're going to go where all the Jews are. They're in a holding tank and there's a great gulf between there and hell.
Speaker 1:And you read about the rich man that you know that had all these riches and everything, and he had a poor beggar outside of his gate that died and they both died and the rich man went to hell and the other guy went down to paradise and the rich guy is miserable in hell and he sees the guy over there that used to lay at his gate and he said hey, bring me a cup of water. I can't come there, it's too far, the great gulf fixed between us. I can't give you a cup of water. He's still wanting to be waited on. He said, oh, this is terrible. Father Abraham, go up there and talk to my family and tell them about this place so they don't come here. He said oh, they won't listen. They won't listen to me. You didn't. You didn't listen. They won't listen. He's still trying to, trying to control things from hell. That's what the devil was trying to do. I hear he. He's a loser, he can't control nothing. But my point is is that we've been blessed, glory to God, and we have a better covenant. We're not going to some holding tank.
Speaker 1:Jesus went to preach to the spirits in prison and he released them after he died on the cross and rose from the dead. Then the first place he went was right down there to release the Old Testament saints and they got the finish of their salvation. They got the fulfillment of their salvation. I mean, the credit card bill was paid by the blood of Jesus. Oh, come on, lift your hand right now. All Israel shall be saved. Now, just wasting your time trying to get all of them saved, they're not going to get saved. They got the veil over their face.
Speaker 1:Now, every now and then, if you get close to a Jewish person and you live your life in front of them and you have a relationship with them. I know Billy has gotten some Jews saved in her 50 years of going over there and they love her and she's had, you know she's had lots of wonderful conversations and you know, in fact, the lady that taught her Hebrew back in the 80s. I mean Shulamit was her name Boy. She was an orator, she didn't like Christians and she particularly didn't like Billy. I mean, she had it in for Billy and Billy was paying to learn Hebrew. She wanted to learn it. You know it's a difficult language to learn but she did it and you know, over a period of time she just lived her life and loved her anyway and didn't respond to the. You know the snootiness and the looking down their nose they can be difficult to deal with and she just, you know, just loved her because God told her I want you to go over there and show them my love. And by the time it was over, shulamit got saved and so Shulamit's in heaven now because of Billy Brim. She didn't have to go down, you know she didn't have to go. Wait, she's there All right.
Speaker 1:So we have a better covenant founded upon better promises, and we have the blessing According to Galatians, chapter 3. We have the blessing in and through Christ, but it says might and whenever you see the word might in the epistles, it means it's not might, god might or God might not. It's up to you. It means you've got to appropriate that by faith. That's why this message is called Believe the Blessing. I mean the blessing is not going to manifest unless you believe it. And what does believe mean? It means to act like what the Bible said is true. It means to speak what you believe. You've got to speak in line with the fact that you're blessed and for some of us, and really all of us, the reason I preach this, and I've preached it many times over the years, I preach this, and at Lakewood I had a class that I preached every Sunday for eight years.
Speaker 1:You know they asked me to teach in their version of Sunday school. It was, you know, it was Family Life Institute is what they called it. And I had a 55-minute class. I mean, my class lasted 55 minutes. I had to develop material for 55 minutes of teaching, which is almost twice as long as Brother Osteen. Brother Osteen preached 25 minutes. That's it, john. Don't he'd grab me by my lapels, don't ever preach longer than 30 minutes. And I thought, well, you better come to Family Life Institute. I'm preaching 55 minutes. That's it, john, don't he'd grab me by my lapels, don't ever preach longer than 30 minutes. And I thought, well, you better come to Family Life Institute. I'm preaching 55 minutes. So that's what they told me to do. I'm just being under authority. If I preach 30 minutes, we're going to get out early and then everybody's going to complain that Griner wasn't prepared. He ran out of gas halfway through the class. But you know it was an adjustment when I started this church because I've been preaching 55 minutes for eight years. So you know it took a while for me to wind down. Sometimes I wind up and preach an hour anyway now even so.
Speaker 1:But you can take it, can't you? Very few people leave Anyway. So the might we say we have to appropriate by faith. So believe the blessing, believe it, speak in line with it. Believe you receive and you shall have. I mean, you've got to call yourself blessed when it doesn't look like it. Anybody can say they're blessed when they got a brand new house or a brand new car, they just married a beautiful wife. Yeah, you can say you're blessed. But how about when you don't have any of those things? That's when you need to say it, that's when you need to what. Believe it. The might's on your side. That's why I'm preaching this to build your faith.
Speaker 1:Look here at Galatians 3.8. I want you to see this now A scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying who said it? God? So God preached the gospel. What did? What was this talking about? In thee, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Shall all the nations of the earth be blessed in these. Shall all nations of the earth be blessed?
Speaker 1:The word nations is goyim, it's the uncovenanted ones, and in the old testament there are just two kinds of people jews and everybody else. The jews were the only ones that had a covenant with God. Everybody else didn't. There's no one else has any right to the land of Israel. No one. There's no two-state solution. I said there's no two-state solution. I'm so glad that Huckabee's going to be the ambassador to Israel and I read where he's in favor of annexing the West Bank. It's about time. I mean, stick a poker in their eyes. Right now is the time to strike. We have won a major victory in this nation, and it's not just this nation, let me tell you. It's all global, and all these global, the antichrist spirit just got stuck in the eye and it's time for us to, you know, take a little bit more action against him.
Speaker 1:Amen, so, uh, so the, the blessing, is the heart of the gospel, notice, I mean, you know, in thee shall all the. You know, god spoke. The preached the gospel to Abraham, saying in thee shall all the families of the earth be what Blessed the blessing. So the blessing is the heart of the gospel. When I interviewed Oral Roberts, you know it's been 2005, so it's going to be it's hard to believe it's going to be 20 years in January, 20 years ago that I went to, you know, southern California, Newport Beach, where he lived at the time. He retired and moved out of Tulsa and went to Newport Beach living in a townhome. A townhome was an attached bit. I mean, it's not even a single family home. He doesn't even have a yard. He's attached. You know. I mean he, he lived humbly, he did not live like some. You know, some of these people with live in a mansion. I mean the man is, you know, and, and and he said, john, this this is the heart of the gospel. You've got to preach this over and over again. Never stop preaching about prosperity, never stop preaching about the blessing. It's the heart of the gospel. What's the heart of something? What's the center? It's the core. It's the core of something.
Speaker 1:So in Luke 24, let's turn over there real quick, talking about the blessing. I want to get it in you it's three weeks of it because I really want, in this season we have right ahead of us. We're going to seize upon this moment because the forces of darkness have been smitten. I don't know if you really realize what's happened. It's not just an election here. This is 70, some odd million people in America rising up and saying we don't want this anymore. And they're from every kind of person. There are blacks and browns, and there's Muslims and there's heathens, and there's all kinds of people. That all rose up and said we don't want this. Oh, he's been smitten and we're going to keep smiting him. We're going to whip him all the way down, all right. Luke 24, do you find it? Verse 49.
Speaker 1:Jesus is just fixing to be after. He's risen from the dead. He's about to go to heaven. And behold, he said and behold, I send the promise of my Father. He got the disciples out there with him. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry you in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. In other words, you know, don't leave home without it. Without what, the Holy Ghost, don't leave. What have you got in your wallet. You ain't got squat yet. You're going to have to wait for it. Wait for it In Jerusalem until you've been 10 days later. That's what they? They got the baptism of the Holy Ghost. They were endued with power from on high and he led them out as far as to Bethany and he lifted up his hands and he what? He blessed them. He blessed them. See, it's just like the Jewish father blessing these kids. These are his kids. He blessed them before he leaves.
Speaker 1:Now you know it's culminated. I mean, you know they thought they lost him at the crucifixion and then he was risen from the dead. They doubted for quite a while, they didn't understand it and they argued among each other and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. But now they finally got a hold of that fact that he was alive. And now, sooner than they get that revealed to them and they got it settled that he's fixing to leave again. And you know they're tempted to be sad. You know they're thinking oh, my goodness, he's leaving us again, he's going to be gone. Oh no, now look at what happened. Look at what happened. And it came to pass. While he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven and they worshiped him and they returned to Jerusalem sobbing and crying their eyes out. Huh, now they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. I mean, they got happy. I tell you, the blessing is being happy.
Speaker 1:I think about these Democrats. They never happy, they're always. They're really, they're all mad, they're having a, a hissy fit. But you know, just a few months ago they were still having a hissy fit. They have a hissy fit every day. They can't be happy unless they're having a hissy fit. Why? Because they're demonized. They're controlled by demons. Why do we want to reach across the aisle and get them involved in anything we're doing we don't?
Speaker 1:All right, let's look. So then believe and rejoice. See. If you really believe, you're blessed. You'll rejoice. You will not allow yourself to have pity parties blue Mondays.
Speaker 1:Do you think Jesus had a blue Monday last Monday? Oh, it's the day before the election. Oh, I've read the polls. I don't know. I don't know how this is going to go. No, he doesn't have any blue Mondays.
Speaker 1:You think he's got car trouble? You think he can't pay his electric bill? You think he's worried about being evicted? Do you think he's got cancer, alzheimer's, old timers? No, I mean he listen, he. He's like we are, we're like he's like we are, we're like he is. We ought to rejoice every day. I mean we are blessed. Everybody shout I'm blessed.
Speaker 1:So what does it mean to be blessed? Well, you look it up in Webster's 1828 dictionary I've got a big old Webster's at home, you know. I know you can go it online, but I like the hard copy, I'm just that way sometimes and you look it up and it comes from a German word and it means to consecrate by the sprinkling of blood or set apart for holy purposes. And it also means when you bless something, bless someone. Jesus blessed his disciples, father's blessed, you know.
Speaker 1:It means to pronounce holy, happy, successful, prosperous. You're one of those prosperity preachers. Yeah, I'm just like Jesus, exactly like Jesus. I patterned my ministry after Jesus. Who do you pattern your ministry after the devil? He believes in poverty. I believe in prosperity. It means to pronounce divine favor, advantage, to pronounce promotion.
Speaker 1:The Amplified says it means highly favored, to be envied, fortunate, happy, spiritually and materially prosperous. I heard a preacher one time trying to just do everything he could to explain why most Christians are day late and a dollar short and at the bottom of the heap he's well, you know we're blessed, but it's all spiritual, it's just spiritual. No, we're materially blessed and if we're not, it's on us because we didn't believe it. You might as well just look, you've just got to point the finger at the right source of the problem. And it's not God and it's not his word. It's not God and it's not his word. Where is it? It's right here, amen. So let's own that, let's take it, let's realize that we need to stir ourselves up to believe the blessing. You know to be envied. I mean we ought to be the envy of the world, not the other way around being envy in somebody like Soros.
Speaker 1:Elon Musk says he's going to be the Magus Soros. That's so hilarious. I mean, these characters that have assembled around Trump is making all the Democrats just go crazy. They're going crazy. Now. You know Elon Musk's background. His son turned transgender. He was liberal, he was as liberal as they come, and then when his son went that direction and he lost his son to this lie and he know, I mean, this guy is not a low IQ individual, he is a very high IQ individual, he is brilliant. I don't know if he's saved or not, but he's brilliant. But even he could see that that was not right. And I think we had 77 million.
Speaker 1:I forgot the popular vote. It's most in history, folks. No one has ever got that many of the popular vote in history of this nation. So they can't say he didn't get the popular vote. Yeah, he did. He got a whole lot of the popular vote. He got 312 of the electoral college. All the democrats want to get rid of it, that racist electoral college. One of them said Rosie O'Donnell, she's so smart. Now, anyway, I'm off myself. I'm just basking in the victory I mean we had. I can't explain to you how big this victory is. It's bigger than an election. It's bigger than an election. I'm telling you, the devil has gotten a, he's gotten pounded, and isn't it about time?
Speaker 1:I like Proverbs 10, 22,. The blessing of the Lord. It maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. So we're blood blessed. Everybody say I'm blood blessed. Or we could say we're blessed because of the blood. See, the blood was shed for your blessing. Blood was shed for your blessing. See, he could bless his kids as he went up in a different way than before, because before he was limited to old covenant, but now he's instituted the new covenant and on his way out of town, on his way off the planet, he stretched out his hands and said now I'm blessing you. Now you wait around for the fulfillment of it. It's coming, it's. I'm going to send you the Holy ghost you talk about. Blessed buddy, you're going to really be blessed because you're going to have God living on the inside of you, and we do too. Amen, the greater one lives in us.
Speaker 1:So I like what FF Bosworth said. He's an Assembly of God preacher and a Greek scholar, and he said it's impossible to claim by faith a blessing that you're not sure God is offering. It's impossible to claim by faith a blessing that you're not sure God is offering. So how do you get sure? Well, you've got to renew your mind to the Word of God. You've got to get the Word of God down on the inside of you. You've got to feed on the living bread. If you feed on the living bread, you're going to know you're blessed. If you feed on the living bread, you'll know what the blessing is. The blessing encompasses all kinds of stuff. It's wonderful. That's why it's called the blessing.
Speaker 1:I know there are certain blessings, plural, but the blessing is the blanket statement that takes everything into account of how, of how good we really have it. I'm telling you we are the envy of the world. That's why they hate us. Telling you we are the envy of the world, that's why they hate us. The devil in them hates the Jesus in you. That's just how it is. So now you can have boldness to claim all that the blood is purchased. So I want to give you three facts about the blessing.
Speaker 1:Today and as we progress, you know, like next week, I want to talk to you about some points to remember. When you come up against resistance and you will, you start believing you're blessed, the devil is going to try to convince you otherwise. And so next week we're going to talk about some points to remember. And then, the last week, I'm going to give you some hallmarks of the blessing. A hallmark is a stamp. I'm going to give you some hallmarks of the blessing. A hallmark is a stamp and God's kids are stamped.
Speaker 1:I've got this Aggie ring on and God bless the Aggies they finally won last night. So this Aggie ring has got a stamp on the inside of it and it's stamped 10 karat. So it's 10 karat gold. Well, that's kind of a cheap ring. Well, it still has all of its beautiful markings on it. It's got a star and a circle, it's got crossed. I don't know if those are carbons or swords, I can't really see it but anyway it's got a lot of detail on it. My brother-in-law was a class of 55. I'm a lot of detail on it. My brother-in-law was a class of 55. I'm a class of 69. My brother-in-law was class of 55 back when they had 14 karat gold and his Aggie ring was all worn out. It was smooth. You could even tell it's an Aggie ring. Really it's just too soft. So they stamp it.
Speaker 1:You've been stamped, blessed. You've got the hallmark. You're blessed. You've been, you've got the hallmark. You're marked. You're marked for the blessing. See, it's time we live like it, time we believe like it. So that's the last week. So by the time we get there. So today, three facts about the blessing Ephesians 1, 3, one of my very favorite scriptures.
Speaker 1:Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. In Christ, glory to God. Isn't that something I mean? Ephesians 1.3. He's hath blessed us. It's past tense.
Speaker 1:I like the Norley translation. It says who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven itself enjoys? Just think of that one. He's blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven itself enjoys. Well, that's what it says, pastor. It just says spiritual. Well, everything we have starts in the spirit. It's not limited to the spirit. Your faith will bring it out of the Spirit into the natural realm. Of course it will. What good is a blessing that you can't see, touch, taste or smell in this life? Yeah, it's waiting for you in heaven. A lot of people just say I'll be blessed when I get to heaven. Well, that's not what it means. It means we're blessed right here, right now. Everybody say right here, right now. Everybody say right here, right now. So what confidence we have in claiming the blessing over our wives and husbands, our families, our children, our health, our finances, our pastor, our church, our nation, our city, our county, our neighborhood, you name it. We've got a standing where we can claim the blessing. Sometimes we can get the blessing for people when they don't know any better. Baby Christians can get blessed because of your faith. Amen, are you with me now? Amen In the spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings.
Speaker 1:You know, I used to have a friend of mine and we were connected for a long time. You know, sometimes connections fade after periods of time. He wasn't word of faith, but he was a prophet. He'd come to town, go to Lakewood, and usually when he came to town he lived in another state. You know, last night I had him come stay with us. We had a bedroom upstairs for him and had room for him. So he'd come and stay with us, sometimes a week, two weeks, longest time I think he stayed with us. And so there was impartation. I mean, a lot of prophetic impartation came because he would teach me on the prophetic and he'd often have dreams and revelations when he was at our house. And really the very first prophetic dream I had came when he was staying with us. My ship channel dream came when he was staying with us and he helped me to interpret it. He showed me how to interpret the dream that I had. I won't go into that dream but I've shared it with you many times. But this time he came downstairs and he said man, I had a dream last night.
Speaker 1:I had a group of about 20 people and we're in this big department store and standing by the escalator going up to the second floor and in the dream I said, hey, let's go up to the second floor and explore up there. See what's up there. They got a whole second floor up there. Let's go up. So they got on the escalator and rode upstairs and you know, upstairs is like it would look like Home Depot. It was just stacked to the ceiling with merchandise. They had to have ladders to get up to it, forklifts and all of that that you see at these big box stores stacked all the way to the ceiling and just row after row after row, you know. And he's got this group of 20 people and they're all just going like this, looking around. Wow, look at all this stuff.
Speaker 1:And the security guard comes over to him and says you can't be up here. No, no, you can't, you've got to go back down. Oh, no. And my friend in the dream says oh no, we have a perfect right to be here. There's no restriction for us, we can be up here. He says no, no, you can't Now. I want you to get back down. You go down right now.
Speaker 1:And the security guard got angry and got, you know, fussy. And my friend looked in the distance and he saw these guard towers and he saw glass enclosures and there were men in there that were looking and they were guarding. And here's this security guard down on the floor telling them that they had to leave. And he said my friend. He said I just got mad in the dream. I said, well, what are you going to do? And my friend in the natural. I mean he's a big guy. He's about 6'2", weighs about 270. I mean he's a big guy. You don't want to get him mad. He's like a pussycat, but I wouldn't want him mad at me. I mean he's going to pound you into the dirt.
Speaker 1:So he rose up against this security guard. He says, well, what are you going to do? And he started walking toward the security guard and the security guard started walking back. You're going to call the law on me. I have an attorney Like that. And when he did that, that guy, he started going like this and then he just started running for one of those guard towers to get away from him. He started running and he woke up and he said so I'm going to interpret the dream. I wanted to show the dream. I want to show you how it goes.
Speaker 1:So let's see, I'm discipling a group of people that don't know their rights and privileges and we're going to get up into the second heaven where we have authority, Because up in the second heaven is where the devil many times holds things captive on its way to earth. I mean, remember Daniel? Daniel prayed over Israel because they were in need and he ate no pleasant bread, and he fasted and prayed and then finally an angel came and said oh, daniel, greatly beloved, your prayers are heard of God. And from the first day that you prayed, I was sent with the answer. But the Prince of Persia withstood me. One in 20 days. The Prince of Persia, see, that's one of those things that's in the guard tower, that's one of those demonic powers.
Speaker 1:Well now, in those days, they had a throne, they had power. Jesus hadn't died on the cross yet. The blood of redemption had not been shed. The Jews were saved on credit. Are you with me now? I mean, they had blessings, but it was a lot tougher for them to get them because they had this. They didn't have authority like we do, unless God gave it to them. They had only the priest. The prophet and the king had the anointing upon them. Are y'all with me now.
Speaker 1:So here he is interpreting this dream. He said you know. So our job, you know, is to show people what their inheritances are. Our job is to show people how to stand against. We have an attorney, we have an advocate with the father. He's our high priest. He's here to execute what we say about things and bring it to pass. Come on, lift your hands right now. They might hold it up, but they can't hold it to pass. Come on, lift your hands right now. They might hold it up, but they can't hold it up long. As soon as you find out about it, you can release your authority in the name of Jesus. And the greater one on the inside, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:We're all blessed. I not about what it looks like, it's about what you say about it and what you believe about it, and not say one time and then the next day you complain no, you got to hold your confession, all right. Number two we are blessed to be a blessing, we're blessed to be something. See who are you? Well, I'm, I'm, I'm a blessing. You know. We can say I'm blessed and we are, but really more than that I mean blessed. Blessed is something that's happened to us, but, but it affected who we are and who we are. We're a blessing. In fact, we are blessed to be a blessing.
Speaker 1:Well, where do you get that? Well, genesis, chapter 12,. Let's turn back there. Remember, god preached the gospel to Abraham. Remember we read that. And Galatians, we're all the seed of Abraham through faith in Christ. And when, when God called Abraham verse one, genesis 12, one now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, get and from your kindred and from your father's house unto a land that I will show you, and I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. See, we are a blessing. That's who we are. That's part of our DNA, our DNA is. We are a blessing, just like we are a tither.
Speaker 1:I am a tither. That's who I am. Tithing is something I do all right, but I am a tither. Whether I am a tither, that's who I am. Tithing is something I do, all right, but I am a tither. Whether I have a tithe or not, I might be under attack, I might be laid off, I might not have any income to tithe, but I'm still a tither. That's my status, my status. I may not have any blessing manifesting right now. I might be under attack, full scale attack. The devil has attacked me, but I'm a blessing. That's who I am. I am a blessing. Everybody shout I am a blessing.
Speaker 1:And then verse three I will bless thee, curse thee, curse thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. In thee, in Abraham, and we're the seed of Abraham. If it belonged to Abraham, it belongs to us. Why? Because we're in Christ and we have a better covenant than Abraham did. Oh, y'all getting this now. Woo, glory to God. So we're a blessing. Every time we release the blessing in words and deeds, giving, sending the gospel, you're a blessing.
Speaker 1:I'd just gotten saved. And the people that were instrumental in my salvation you know they took me under their wing. I started going to their house every Thursday for a Bible study and they're the first ones that took me to a full gospel. Businessmen's fellowship international meeting Got saved on a Friday night, went to a full gospel meeting on Saturday night, went to Lakewood Church on Sunday morning and I mean it's just, my life changed Just in three days. I mean it's like I plugged into 220. I mean every hair stood on end. I mean I was completely changed. All the sin was fried out of me. I mean I was a filthy mouth home builder, cussed every other breath. And then I woke up about four days later and I realized I hadn't cussed. God delivered me from foul mouth, from an unclean spirit. But anyway, we started going to Full Gospel in Lakewood and I wasn't out of the Catholic Church yet.
Speaker 1:I'd go to Lakewood about once a month but I'd go to Full Gospel every other week, you know, every other week. One week, a Saturday night, we'd have a dinner meeting. That's where I met Loretta and John. Loretta was singing at one of those meetings. First time I'd ever met Loretta, she was singing. They asked her to come and sing at that meeting at the Holiday Inn on Fraser Street in Conroe, right when you come into Conroe, the south side, there, fraser Street exit, holiday Inn. I don't know what it is now, but that's where it was. And then Saturday mornings they had a breakfast meeting. It wasn't a dinner, it was a breakfast meeting. And so I'd go twice a month.
Speaker 1:I got a two-track discipleship they discipled me and Lakewood discipled me. So I accelerated, I had fast God put fast forward on my discipleship, and so Sam Samuels was the president of that chapter and I'd come about three times and he said oh, john, I need somebody to help me with this banner. Would you mind helping me hang the banner? And he had this 20 foot long piece of fabric that had full gospel businessmen's fellowship international, 20 foot long. And we would hang that up in the room above where the people came in the room, you know. So he'd be up there behind the podium where the main speaker would speak and stuff. And so I helped him, you know, a couple of times.
Speaker 1:And the third time he said John, would you mind just taking this off me? I got so many other things to do. Would you just be in charge or putting this sign up? Sure, what was I doing? I was being a blessing, I was sowing my time. You, what was I doing? I was being a blessing, I was sowing my time. You know, I just did something, just simple.
Speaker 1:And the next thing, you know, somebody told Sam hey, you know, that guy can sing. He said I heard you can sing. Hey, we need somebody to lead our praise and worship. Could you lead our praise and worship. And I wanted to say, no, I didn't know anything about that and I could sing, all right, but leading praise and worship, and they didn't even have a piano player, it's going to be acapella, just me up there.
Speaker 1:And we sang some of the songs this morning. This is the day. This is the day I had to learn all these choruses. Now we were singing them at Lakewood, but then I had a crash chorus. I don't know where I got them, but I had a whole notebook full of choruses.
Speaker 1:Back in those days we didn't sing hymns, we didn't sing songs, we sang choruses. They were Bible choruses, bible verses set to music, and I mean there's a bunch of them back in those days. And so I had to learn how to sing them, first of all. And then I had, with my knees shaking and so embarrassed and so, you know, afraid of a crowd I mean, it's the hardest thing to speak in front of a bunch of people, much less sing. And so you know, I did. I started. What was I doing? I was being a blessing. See, when you do something for God, you're a blessing. It's not all about money, it's includes money. Are you with me now? I mean I'm not too big. I mean, finally, you know, I bought myself a boom box, I had my little mixer, I had a microphone and I took it with me to the walls unit.
Speaker 1:We had services in the chapel of the walls unit in the prison in Huntsville and I mean I'm up there leading praise and worship and my friend Jim Scalise would do the preaching, and I mean we had a service and prisoners would get saved. And you know we weren't allowed to pray for the baptism. You know they just wouldn't let us do that. They're against the Holy Ghost. They don't want them speaking in tongues. They just wouldn't let us do that. They're against the Holy Ghost. They don't want them speaking in tongues, they just want to get them saved. Whatever, we're men under authority, we couldn't do what they wouldn't let us do. But you know that's the beginning of my ministry. I'm just sowing seed, I'm just being a blessing.
Speaker 1:We're blessed to be a blessing and God blessed me. God started blessing me and blessing me and be a blessing, and God blessed me. God started blessing me and blessing me and then I'm a blessing, and then he blessed me and now I'm a blessing and he blessed me some more and I'm blessing. Are y'all with me now, blessed to be? I would say I'm blessed to be a blessing. All right, the last fact see.
Speaker 1:First, we're blessed in Christ. We're all blessed, every one of us. Number two we're blessed to be a blessing. And number three nobody, nobody, no one can curse what God has blessed. You don't have to worry about what people say about you. You don't have to worry about people gossiping about you, lying about you. You don't have to worry about that, because they can't curse what God has blessed. They can't do it. Jesus was cursed. He was cursed, he took the curse. The Bible says cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree so that the blessing, so that the blessing of Abraham might come. See, we've got to believe it. People that don't believe it are sent thin-skinned and worried about what everybody thinks of them and they're worried about criticizing.
Speaker 1:You're going to get criticized and, more especially, this is a church full of leaders. You might not see yourself as a leader, but I do. You're here at this time and we are going to have a group of people like those 20 that my friend took up on the escalator and he was showing them around and showing them how to stand against these demon powers. And how to tell him go to pound sand, buddy, we're up here and there's nothing you can do about it because we have an attorney. Your leaders whether you want to see yourself that way or not, I see you that way and God sees you that way and leaders get criticized. Leaders always have people around that are jealous, envious. We're to be envied. You know why? Because we're blessed. We are blessed to be envied, blessed to be envied.
Speaker 1:In our first building I had a 1983 Mercedes 300D. It's a five-cylinder diesel and it had 300,000 miles on it. It was so worn out that when you shut the motor off, it wouldn't shut off. It was a $700 part that I had to replace on the engine so that it would cut the fuel off. See, it doesn't have ignition. See, a regular car has ignition, and so when you turn a key off or push the button off, the ignition turns off and the motor stops. But not in a diesel. A diesel has a mechanism that shuts the fuel flow to the engine and then it shuts off. And so that had broken and the part on that car was $700, and the car wasn't even worth $700. So there's no way I'm going to fix it. So I had to get there and I had to pop the hood and I always come early so that people wouldn't see me do this.
Speaker 1:I'm the pastor of the church, I'm supposed to be preaching prosperity and I'm driving a worn out Mercedes. It looked a whole lot better than it ran. In fact, one time I got a letter from the Texas Air National Texas Air Quality Board and said that you were reported on 610 East of I-45 emitting a large amount of smoke. Please have your car serviced. No, you think I'm joking. I got a letter in the mail. They got my license plate and looked me up and sent me a letter and warned me. Well, you know, an overhaul was $5,000. The car's not worth anything, it's a junk. It's a junk car. I mean, the back end sits like this, the tires like this, the springs are out. There's another $2,000. I mean, if you're going to buy a Mercedes, you got to have the money to keep it fixed. And I didn't have the money to keep it fixed Anyway.
Speaker 1:So I would pop the hood and shut the fuel off and it would shut down, and then I would stay late, because late at night. You know, it was January when we started the church, and so by March it's still cold at night On a Sunday night it's 40s and 50s degrees outside. That car is not going to start. It's cold and it's just sitting there, ice cold and it's not going to start. The only way to start it it's to spray a can of ether into the air intake. And you spray the ether into the air intake and then start the car and it explodes, boom, and it may start. It may not start and I did not want to do that in front of my flock, so I waited until they all left. We're the first to get there on Sunday morning, the last to leave on Sunday night. And so it says it looks like you've taken a hard fall. No, I haven't. Leave me alone, I'm going to disable all that Pastor.
Speaker 1:Why are you telling this long story? Because I'm envied, I'm a leader and I'm criticized. So you know, after three months I mean we're doing pretty good. I called Brother Osteen and I said you know, brother Osteen, we're doing really good. We got $35,000 in the bank. All our bills are paid up. I'm three months old and we got $35,000 in the bank.
Speaker 1:I think the first offering you know, gladys and I, those days we'd take the offering home in a briefcase and of course, sunday morning the offering we'd take the offering home in a briefcase and of course, sunday morning the offering we'd take and lock it up. I had the safe at home, lock it up and then Sunday night we'd do the same thing. After Sunday night we'd get home and glad to sit at the kitchen table and count the offering, monday morning I'd make the deposit and we did everything at home. And I mean, I think the first Sunday we were open, the very first Sunday, I think, over $10,000 came in the offering. I was astounded, you know, I was astounded, see, but why? We're blessed, we're doing what God told us to do.
Speaker 1:So anyway, this. So I just man, I had I got to buy another car. This is ridiculous. I mean this, I, I can't keep living like this. So I I found a, an infinity q45, and back then, uh, infinity was kind of like a lexus. You know it was a, it was nissan, but it was nissan's version of a luxury car, and this is 1995.
Speaker 1:So I found a used 1991. It's four years old, it hit the 32,000 miles on it, it's used, and I found it at West Houston Infinity. I found it and they financed it and it was a good deal. It was a really good deal. I don't remember what we paid for it, but it was economical. I mean I couldn't have bought an Oldsmobile or something else. I couldn't have bought an Impala or anything for that price. I mean it was a nice car.
Speaker 1:It looked brand new, it wasn't. And I'll never forget driving up to the car on that Sunday morning. I waited until later. I wasn't the first one there, jay was the first one there that Sunday and I drove up later and and and people looked out the window and they were pressing their nose to the window and and most of them had scowls on their faces and I said I'm going to hit this right in the mouth. I said how do you like my new car? It looks brand new, don't it? It's a 91 model, but I mean it smells new.
Speaker 1:Y'all rejoice with me. Come on, let's praise the Lord for a new car, for pastor. Glory to God, hallelujah. You know they didn't like it. See, that's the flesh. That's people that don't know about the blessing. That's why I teach this and preach this Amen.
Speaker 1:Listen, you're a leader when you start getting blessed and manifesting it. Not everybody's going to be happy. And you listen, stay happy. You are who you are. You are the blessed of the Lord. You are a blessing. The reason that you are blessed is because you are something. You are a blessing. When the blessing starts drying up, I would look to see, make sure that I'm living like I'm supposed to. Am I being a blessing? Am I manifesting the blessing toward others? Are you with me now? So here, and if you go back, I'll give you some homework.
Speaker 1:Read Numbers chapter 22, 23, and 24. Israel is having trouble with Ammon and Moab. This is the sons of Lot. You know Lot's daughters came into him and they had babies by Lot. It was sin, horrible sin, and two nations came out of that Ammon and Moab and they were curses to Israel. They were hateful to Israel, and that's what we have in the Middle East. We've got descendants, we've got people groups that never were in God's design. They were born of sin. They were born of iniquity.
Speaker 1:You have to understand about the goyim. You have to understand about people groups. There's some people groups you can't reason with the sons of Ishmael. Ishmael was a wild man. No one could tame him, and so are the Arabs. You can deal with them all day long, but they're going to knife you in the back every time. They're never going to keep their word. They're never going to keep. So, our president, we need to pray for him because he thinks he can make a deal. Well, you can't make a deal with them. They're not going to honor their word. They never have and they never will. Sorry to speak. Well, you're racist. No, I'm a realist.
Speaker 1:I read my Bible. I know where this stuff comes from. It's in a seed. Ishmael should never have been born. It was sin for him to go into Hagar. Now you know. So you read your Bible. You'll find out where trouble comes from. Trouble comes from sin. Trouble comes from disobedience.
Speaker 1:So Ammon and Moab when Israel came out of Egypt, they were on their way to the promised land and they said look, we just need water. We're not going to encroach on your land, we're going right through there. We're not going to do anything. No, you don't. They came out against them and they wouldn't let them come in and God got mad at them. And so later on, when they came into the land and all of that, they were having trouble with Ammon and Moab. So Moab, the king of Moab, which was Balak, hated Israel and he heard about a prophet Actually he was a nonprofit, but anyway he was a prophet and he Balaam. He said he hired Balaam. He said he sent some guys to go tell Balaam, I'll give him some money, come over here and curse these people. I want him to come and curse Israel.
Speaker 1:And so they came to Balaam and he said well, I can't, you can stay here, but I can't do anything unless the Lord tells me. I can't go over there and do that, unless he tells me to do it. So yeah, and that was the right answer. He did answer correctly. He said stay here and spend the night and I'll commune with the Lord and I'll find out what he wants. And the Lord said don't have anything to do with them. Tell them to leave. You're not doing a thing, you with them at all. So he told them that. So he did the right thing. And then they came back and he said no, go back and tell him, I'll give him all this money, I'll give him all this land, I'll give him everything. You'll tell him. I want him Not going to take no for an answer. So they come again and he tells them the same thing again and they tell him well, look, he's going to give you this, he's going to give you that, look, he's going to give you this, he's going to give you that, it's going to give you the other. Well, okay, all right. Well, look, I can't do anything the lord didn't tell me to do, but I'll let me ask him again, we'll see.
Speaker 1:That was where he messed up. You didn't need to ask him, you already know what to do and you're, you've got dollar signs in your eyes. So he, eventually, the lord says yeah, go with them, but you, you know, you don't say one thing I don't tell you to say. And God didn't want him to go with him and he sent an angel to block his way with a drawn sword. And the donkey saw the angel and the donkey bowed down to the ground and he starts smiting the donkey and the donkey gets up and then the donkey, you know, leans into the cliff beside him and crushes his foot and he starts beating him and beats him three times. And God opened the mouth of the donkey and said why are you beating me? I'm a good donkey, I've always done what you ask. Can you imagine? And he starts talking to the donkey. That's pretty stupid. I mean, you start talking to donkeys, you got some problems and, more specifically, when donkeys start talking to you, that's even worse. And then God opened his eyes and he saw that angel over there and that angel wanted to kill him. I mean, he could have said it this way you know, I'd like to kill you. I can't, but I'd like to. That's the angel is wanting to kill him, but he's under orders not to Just. You know, he's just warning him.
Speaker 1:So the story is when he got, he paid him to go over there and curse Israel. And three times he blessed Israel. He blessed them. He knew better than to curse. But you know he wound up dead anyway. You read the end of the story Balaam wound up dead. He bound up, murdered. He should never have gone with them people. He had the wrong attitude. He wanted to curse them and couldn't See. That's the sin. Right, are y'all with me now? So in Deuteronomy 23, 5, it says that God turned the curse into a blessing. So you know, when people have something bad to say about you, just laugh and say well, glory to God. God just turning all this negativity into a blessing for me. I'm just more blessed than ever before. Hallelujah, I mean. It'll help you go through life the way you really are. You are blessed to be a blessing, so believe the blessing and manifest it. Come on, lift your hands and receive.