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
The Believer's Authority 4
Discover the power you hold as a believer! This episode dives into the transformative concept of spiritual authority, urging you to understand and exercise your God-given rights. From biblical foundations to real-life testimonies, we explore how spiritual mastery can alter not just personal experiences but also community dynamics.
Let's lift our Bibles up and wave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, heavenly Father, oh, thank God for the way maker you sent us Jesus, our healer, our healer, our deliverer, our deliverer, our savior, our savior. We're so glad to have the Holy Ghost living on the inside of us. The greater one puts us over in every circumstance and we have the victory in Jesus name. Amen, you can be seated, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:Well, I've been teaching a series of messages on the believer's authority. This happens to be the fourth one this morning, and so let's turn in our Bibles to Genesis 1 and Matthew 28, to our foundation scriptures, and also, I want to point out, on Wednesday nights, the last two Wednesday nights, I preached on reigning as kings in life, which relates to this message as well as the dominion factor, which was past Wednesday. So there's, including today, there'll be six messages for you to digest. You need to chew this. You need these are basic tenants of the faith. These are basics. You know without the basics, you lose. You know you can build your foundation and if your foundation is not good, that's why we have faith foundations. We have faith foundations periodically. Why? Why do we do that. Well, some people just have a faulty foundation. They haven't been taught. God told me to teach what you take for granted, and over 30 years I've found that people don't have a good foundation. When you've got it makes a difference what you hear. When you get saved and you go to some church, it just kind of hits the high points. And all of that you don't get the foundation you need to have the victory that belongs to you. All right.
Speaker 1:So Genesis, chapter one, verse 26,. God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness, let them have dominion. Everybody shout dominion Over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And so God created man in his own image and in the image of God, created he him male and female, created he them. And then, in Matthew 28, jesus, after the resurrection, appeared to the disciples, and let's see here Verse 16. Verse 16.
Speaker 1:Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and when they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke unto them saying, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, Amen. So our great God and Father gave man authority, the word power there is the Greek word exousia, which means authority, and Adam then lost it in the garden to to the devil. The devil deceived eve, but the adam wasn't deceived. Adam just chose, and as god of this world, he chose to obey the devil. Therefore, he legally transferred that great authority that god intended for you and I into the hands of satan and every. All evil things that happen on the earth are a result of the fall. But Jesus, also known as the last Adam, restored our lost authority Hallelujah. And it's available to every born again believer.
Speaker 1:In fact, in Revelation 1, 18, he, uh Jesus, appeared to uh John on the Isle of Potmos. John was an old man by that time, 90 years old. He had walked with Jesus up and down the shores of Galilee, was a witness to the crucifixion, he took care of Mary. He's very, you know, he's well connected to Jesus, and Jesus had to reintroduce himself because he was filled with the glory. His face shined brighter than the sun, his hair was white and his garments were glistening, and he didn't look like himself. He said I am he that liveth? And I was dead. And behold, my dad would say look at here now. Everybody say, look at here now. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. And, by the way, I have the keys. I have the keys of hell and death.
Speaker 1:Keys represent authority, and so we looked into the word authority, and it means privilege. We have the privilege. We have the force, the capacity, the competency I love these words the strength, the mastery. Jesus gave us the mastery back we became. He gave us the mastery back, influence. You know, it's true, we don't have authority over human will, but we have supernatural influence that sometimes can influence human will, influence that sometimes can influence human will.
Speaker 1:Jurisdiction, boy, what a powerful word jurisdiction is. You've got jurisdiction over your body. You've got jurisdiction over your mind. You've got jurisdiction over your house. So we talked all about that week one, the power to choose, to do as one pleases. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? But you know, if you're really with God and in God and you spend time in the word, what you want is really what he wants, and then you can do what you choose, because what you choose is governed by his word and his spirit. The power to do as one pleases, the power of rule or the power of government. That's why things are messed up, the church lost.
Speaker 1:I don't think you know, really the majority of the church doesn't know anything about this subject that I'm teaching on today. I have to say, in 30 years I've run across most people come here from other churches. Unless they come from a church like this one, they don't know much about authority. But thank God, they're beginning to wake up. All over the country they're beginning to wake up, hallelujah. So today I wanted to zero in on one of these definitions of the word authority.
Speaker 1:Let's look at Genesis 1, 26 again. And in the living Bible it says let us make a man just like ourselves and let us make them masters of all of life. Yeah, I like the living translation there. Well, really it's not a translation. A lot of people look down on the living Bible, but the living Bible is useful. And then the message Bible. All these different versions of the Bible help you to kind of get the sense of the Hebrew and the Greek. But God wants to make us masters of all of life.
Speaker 1:And then in John 15, jesus is speaking to the disciples before he that the night before he was crucified. I mean you can imagine he saved some very powerful things to tell them right before he left them, and he knew what they were about to go through. He talked to them in John 14 about the Holy Ghost. John 15, verse 7. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. Now, jesus told the church to go into all the world and make disciples, so disciples are supposed to bear fruit and disciples ought to be able to ask, and it'll be done. Now that word ask also means to make a demand.
Speaker 1:It's really not talking about prayer. It includes prayer, but but really it's talking about the God given authority. The church has to make a decree, to make a declaration King, see, we're, you know, we're kings and priests unto God. We're the kings that Jesus is the king of. We're the Lords that Jesus is Lord of. We have not seen ourselves the way God sees us for far too long in the church.
Speaker 1:It's beginning to change, but it, you know, it's the reason I teach this, because you need you know, maybe you've heard this, maybe you've heard it over and over. Well then, it's water for what you've already heard. And every now and then you'll find a seed in there that you didn't consider, that you thought you knew, that you didn't know, or maybe you heard the scripture and you've been quoting the scripture wrong. That's easy to do. That's why I say, when you pray, you ought to have your Bible open in your lap and you ought to pray and read your Bible, pray and read your Bible together. And so Jesus said this amazing thing, and we'll get into it.
Speaker 1:Now let's look at Genesis 18. I want you to see this Abraham God has cut the covenant with Abraham. He renamed him from to Sarah princess, and then, in Genesis 18, after all of that, after he, you know, told Sarah she's going to have a baby, and she laughed. No, I didn't laugh. Yes, you did. No, I didn't. Yes, I did. Yeah, I love the Bible, I love reading the Bible. They're just real people. They're just like you and I. She's 90. She's 90 years old. She's got to write the question. I didn't laugh. Yes, you did. I saw you arguing with the Lord. Anyway, all right.
Speaker 1:So in verse 17, the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do. See, abraham is his covenant friend. Friend doesn't mean buddy or pal. Friend means you're in covenant. Friend is backed by blood. We've used friend on Facebook friend. Well, you know that's a cheapening of the real meaning of the word friend. The real meaning of the word friend is covenant. It's blood backed.
Speaker 1:And that who? That's who Abraham was. He was the friend of God. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. Well, you know that's what God told him to begin with. And for I know him, see, this is God talking. For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him.
Speaker 1:Don't tell me it doesn't matter how you raise your kids, because God's watching how you raise your kids. If you're permissive and you let them do any little thing they want to and you let them get on the internet at all hours of the day and night and let them operate their phone 24-7. I mean, god is watching you and he's not happy. We're going to have some aid for you coming up here soon for child rearing and marriage and that we're going to run some Wednesday nights for everybody and we're going to open the church back up on Wednesday night for that purpose. Coming up here real soon, how many of you get kind of excited about maybe having come and coming to church on week? Now, it's not going to be where we're laying hands on anybody and all that. This is going to be a Bible, bible study and help you Listen.
Speaker 1:We can't hide this from Abram. What we're going to do from Abraham, because we know him, he's going to command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. So see, I mean how you raise your children, how you handled your children, how you handled your household, has a whole lot to do with whether all the promises of God are going to be realized in your life. It affects everything. It affects your health, it affects your age, it affects whether you leave the earth early, it affects your finances. It affects everything.
Speaker 1:And the Lord said verse 20, because everybody shout, because, see, why is he bringing all this up? The cry of Solomon, gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous and I will go down now and see whether they have done all together according to the cry of it I want to see how bad it really is. That's what he did in the day of the flood, in Noah's flood, he went down to see how bad the earth was. The earth was filled with Hamas Violence. They named their death cult correctly. They didn't know that they were naming it, you know, using the Hebrew. They don't like Hebrew, they don't speak Hebrew. The quote unquote Palestinians. God's got a sense. I mean, you know, it's amazing that they named themselves exactly what they are violence. And so then, verse 23,. Abraham drew near. See, he's got in on the secret. He got in on what they planned to do to Sodom and Gomorrah. They're going to destroy it. It had filled a cup. There have been cups filled in this nation and judgments are being poured out, and we're seeing some of the judgments being poured out. Secrets are being uncovered.
Speaker 1:Zelinsky's heart is exposed right there in the Oval Office. He's a shyster, he's a joke, he's a criminal. If you really want to know, a lot of that money is in his pocket. He hadn't given one accounting of it and he wants more. Well, baloney. You know I got tickled at England. You know Great Britain met with him right after he got kicked out. He got kicked out of the White House. I don't know, there's not many people get kicked out of the White House. I mean, I love living right now. I love to live right now after the last, after going eight years of Obama and four years of Biden. I love living right now to see what's going on. It's just, I mean, it's exciting. Every day is is another opportunity for Democrats to come completely unglued. They kicked him out of the White House ahead of state and he goes right to Britain and they pledged guess what? They pledged 1% of what we've given Whoop-de-doo that won't even pay the fees on his checking account. All right, I got off story. Well, we're here right now. We're here right now. We're impacting this.
Speaker 1:So Abraham drew near and he said he's talking to God. Now, this is God's covenant partner, it's his friend, the friend of God, he said. Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Now, what's he? Why is he coming up to God? Well, because his nephew's there, lot, and his wife and kids are there. He went and recovered, all their stuff, brought it back to them, and all of that. He's got a dog in the hunt. He wants to know are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked? Per adventure, there'd be 50 righteous within the city which you also destroy, and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein? That'd be far from thee to do, after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked. That be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the earth do? Right? Ooh, you read your Bible.
Speaker 1:When I read this 45 years ago, it set my hair on fire. I just couldn't believe that somebody could talk to God like that. And we see God as a tyrant, we see him as a as just running roughshod over human beings, and and we, you know it just top down, top down. No, he's looking. He's looking for someone who's a covenant friend. He's looking for someone that will give their perspective on what he's about to do, so that the perspectives can be matched up. And one of you are going to change, one of you are going to change your mind. You know God can change his mind. He doesn't change his nature, but you know God's mind can be. You know, you can plead your case is what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1:He pled the case of a wicked city on behalf of his kinfolk. Are you all with me now? Well, you know, he went. You know, okay, how about 40? How about 30? How about 20? How about 10? God said, yes, I'll spare it for 50. Well, how about 40? Yeah, I'll do that. How about 30? Yeah, 20? Yeah, 10? Yeah. And he stopped. There wasn't 10. And he destroyed it. But he did save Lot and his family, except for Lot's wife, who turned back. She couldn't stand to leave that godless place, that horrible place filled with LGBTQ++P. They had all of that. No, she really she grieved leaving town and so she turned into a pillar of salt. I wonder how many pillars of salt we have today Got a lot of pillars of salt out there masquerading as humans.
Speaker 1:What I've noticed is people have guts. Now they're saying things they used to not say. That's just so important. There, for a while, we suspended our freedom of speech and we were afraid to say anything. And of course, I'm wired different, I guess when I sense that I go the opposite direction. Yeah, I'm sorry, that's how it is, that's how I'm wired. I can't stand that.
Speaker 1:We're going to speak the truth in love. I mean, what's love If we don't speak the truth? Where's the love at? Are you with me now? So in the Old Testament men had standing with God through their old covenant. The blood of bulls and goats gave them a standing. Well, hebrews eight six says we've got a better covenant found upon better promises. I mean, if they were doing that in the old Testament, we ought to be doing more in this, in this dispensation. Are you with me now?
Speaker 1:We talked about Joshua last Wednesday night. Joshua, chapter 10, where he just held his hand and said sun stand still and moon over the valley of Agilon, and he stopped time for a whole day while they could get enough time to kill the Amalekites. They were mopping them, mopping them up and God was helping them. In fact, god killed more of them than Israel did. God had giant mega hailstones falling on them. Elijah called fire down from heaven and burned up the sacrifice. Remember, they just kept pouring water. They poured water on the sacrifices, they poured water on the wood and they just kept on until the water was just in trenches all the way around his sacrifice. He called fire down from heaven. It consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and then he turned and killed the 400 prophets of Baal by himself.
Speaker 1:I'm talking about anointing. I'm talking about the kingly anointing. I'm talking about authority, mastery. Are y'all with me now? I mean, david's mighty men were safe in battle because of the covenant. They didn't die and most of the time when they went out to battle they were outnumbered, same as Israel today. Same God is protecting Israel as it protected David's men.
Speaker 1:Come on, lift your hands right now. He's protecting us. We have nothing to fear. Glory to God. Yes, it's a dangerous time in which to live. We have no fear. We have angels. If you don't want yours, I'll take them. We have a better covenant, found upon better promises. We ought to be doing greater exploits. Those that do know their God shall do exploits, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:So now, john 15, let's go back to what Jesus was telling them, so important. As you know, the Old Testament is the shadow. The New Testament is the substance. It's a foreshadowing. It gave you an idea of God's plan, and then now we're living the reality of it, because we have the blood of Jesus backing our covenant.
Speaker 1:And so he said if so, there's conditions, if you abide in him and the word my words, that word word is not logos, it's rhema and my rhema words Ab word word is not logos, it's rhema and my rhema words abide in you. Two things. You abide in him, his rhema word abides in you. Then you shall make a demand, you shall make a decree, you shall make a declaration and it will happen. This is how you glorify my Father, this is how you become a disciple. Disciples have authority, disciples have mastery, disciples have competency, they have force, they have the power of government.
Speaker 1:You can see where we went down the wrong path in this nation. The church quit governing, the church left the politics and look where it almost. Listen. We almost lost our nation. And I, you know it's possible, we could anyway. If we don't, if we don't change significantly in the next short time. So, um, if we abide in him.
Speaker 1:So you know, when you get saved we teach this in faith foundations there's three baptisms, and one of the baptisms is the baptism into christ by the Holy Spirit. When you get saved, the Holy Spirit takes your spirit and baptizes you into the, into Christ, and so you become a, you abide in him. That's the legal side of it, but seeing there's another side of redemption. That's called the functional side. Do you live like that? Do you see yourself in Christ or do you just see? You just relate to your DNA and you relate to the color of your skin and where you're from and where your people are from. If that's the major way that you have and I'm this and I'm that well, no, you're in Christ.
Speaker 1:We need to get in that arena, stay in that arena, right In Christ. So we're fulfilling one part of this two-part requirement for our declarations to be honored if you abide in me and my rhema words abide in you. So that's a product of our prayer life. Where do you think you get ramas? You get ramas by hanging out with god. Prayer is hanging out with god. Prayer is fellowship with god. Prayer is joining forces with God. Prayer is fellowship with God. Prayer is joining forces with God. Prayer is where you find out what it is that he wants you to do at any point in time. No word, no prayer, no rhema. Then your declarations are not going to come to pass. You just don't meet the conditions.
Speaker 1:Brother Hagagen was praying for a colleague one time. I won't say who it was, but someone close. They had cancer, dying 60 years old and he went to the Lord about it and pled his case. He did that with his sister. His own sister was 55 and she had cancer or 50. I think she had cancer. He pled her case and says, okay, just because you asked, just because you asked, I'm going to give her five more years. Well, I have five more years, that's still. It's 55. That's not much longer, still young. So he tells his sister and she did get healed. And at 55, she got sick and he went back to pray again. He said nope, no, she uh, she's never come to any of your meetings, she never reads your books. She knows you prayed, she knows I healed her and she hasn't done what she needs to do to live longer. She's going to have to die. I'm just not going to move on her behalf. And she died. So here's this other person. He's 60. He's got cancer. He's pleading his case.
Speaker 1:And the answer was there are spiritual laws at work that cannot be changed at this time, folks. There are spiritual laws that will affect your longevity. There are spiritual laws that will prevent you from receiving everything that God has for you. There comes a time when you just can't go any further because of the person's disobedience or because of their lack of you know? If it's ignorance, well then ignorance can be cured, because teaching will cure ignorance. And so then, you know, it'll cure a lack of faith, and so then that person can turn around. But people that are willful in their disobedience are are willful and taking for granted things that God gave them and don't know anything about how to keep them. So, yeah, we, we need to have a prayer, life and fellowship with God. That's how we get the rhema to abide in us.
Speaker 1:You know, god's not a tyrant. He wants dictating every detail. Look, I mean, he gave Abraham a chance. He said can I hide from Abraham? If God was a tyrant, he would have just went ahead and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with Lot in it and never said a word to Abraham until Abraham sees the smoke going up. But he said I can't hide from my covenant friend. I'm going to have to show him what I'm going to do. God's been sharing stuff with me.
Speaker 1:I'm about to judge corporate America and I saw that it stood, that it happened, it started. The judgment happened in Washington. First. There's going to be five terror attacks. You can stop them from happening in Texas and Houston. I mean. I mean God has. God has warned me in numbers and numbers and numbers of times this church has been able to pray pray against storms, pray against hurricanes, katrina and Rita and Ike. Ike could have been a four instead of a two, it could have hit right up the ship channel. It could have done a lot of things, but we kept it from doing that.
Speaker 1:Why? Because we're covenant with God, we have authority, we have mastery, hallelujah. So he's not a tyrant. You know, you have fellowship with him, you have his word. What do you will to happen? You will make a demand on what you want to happen and it'll be done unto you. That's what Jesus said. I didn't say it, brother Hagin didn't say it. Jesus said it Amen.
Speaker 1:Do you have your master's degree? That's what I want you to have. I want you to have your master's degree and you don't have to be an old person, you can be a young person. You might not have been saved that long. I hadn't been saved very long. But you know, and I heard these messages years ago Read Brother Osteen's book Reigning in Life as a King. I mean it? Ah, man, look at that. I just started ruling and reigning in my life. I had my prayer life going. I had my Bible going. God's just dealing with me.
Speaker 1:I'm a witness sitting in the witness chair telling people about Jesus laying my hands on sick people. I got a call that my aunt Eunice was in a hospital with double pneumonia, real sick. It was an ICU at Herman hospital. And so I mean I don't know how long we'd been saved couple of years maybe. So in those years usually we'd go to Lakewood, my whole family would go. I had a big van, eight passenger vans, so I'd pick up my sister and brother-in-law and take them to church with us. We all went to church together so we decided to go by the hospital on the way home to pray for her.
Speaker 1:So I Uncle Eddie and I said you know, I don't know about Eddie and Eunice. I don't, I don't know that they're saved. I say I had another uncle that my dad's already gone, my dad's died, but he had three brothers. Two of the brothers I knew Well, one brother I knew wasn't saved and his wife knew they weren't saved. The other brother was a Baptist deacon, wonderful Christians, beautiful Christians, lovely people.
Speaker 1:And then there was Eddie and Eunice, my uncle Eddie, my brother's, my dad's brother, older brother. I wasn't sure about them. I mean, I knew I knew them really well, but I never knew that they ever went to church. I never had any knowledge that they did. I had no. And so I said, god, it's not, you're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. God, I'm not going to let aunt Eunice die unless I know she's saved. She's about 70 years old or so. She's lived a pretty long life but she's sick and I don't know if she's going to make heaven. So I just told the Lord I can't let her die. I can't let her die. I'm using my authority, I'm acting like Abraham. It's not right for her to die and go to hell. She's my aunt.
Speaker 1:So we went by the hospital, uncle Eddie comes out, her family's all there they're all mostly Baptist folks and Uncle Eddie comes out and I said Uncle Eddie, I really want to go in there and lay hands. I was on me so that my family said, yeah, you go in and lay hands on her. So I asked him if I could do that. I said we believe in laying on of hands and she needs a miracle. I'd sure like to go in there. He said, yeah, let me go check with her. And she needs a miracle. Well, I'd sure would like to go in there. And he said, yeah, let me go check with her. And she came out and says, no, she doesn't want you to see her like this. And I thought, oh God, you'd rather die than you know. Vanity, vanity, anyway. So I said all right. I said, well, just let her know we're praying. And I was disappointed that we didn't get to really do what God put in my heart to do.
Speaker 1:So the next morning I heard that she'd taken a turn for the worse. Her kidneys had failed, she's on dialysis and the dialysis is filtering out the medication that they're using to get rid of the pneumonia, double pneumonia. Her lungs were filling up, her oxygen levels had fallen. She's in a deep coma, her such a deep coma that her feet had curled like this, turned into bird claws, and they had to put tennis shoes on her feet to keep them straight so that they wouldn't just deform. That's how I interrupted. Her neurological was for the oxygen shortage in her brain, and uh, and so I called my uncle.
Speaker 1:I called up to ICU and got my uncle on the phone. I said, uncle, she's not going to know if I'm in there. I want to come and lay hands on her now, please. And he hesitates. All right, he wasn't excited.
Speaker 1:So I walked in the hospital and they're all there, all of the family, and they're planning her funeral. And so I walked through there and so the oldest daughter, betty Lou, my cousin, said are you going to go pray for mama? And I said yeah. She said I want to come in there. I said okay, it probably wouldn't have been great for her. I mean, there's no faith there. Jesus got all the unbelievers out of the room and I wasn't that far advanced yet, so I just let her come in there. It turned out okay.
Speaker 1:So she came in there with me and so I couldn't find a place to put my hands on my aunt. She just was all hooked up with tubes and they're breathing for her and she was yellow with jaundice and she looked like the picture of death. I mean, you know, I had to just cast down all the imaginations there for planning her funeral and she looked like she's already dead, almost, except her chest is moving up and down from the machine, all these tubes. And I bent over the bed because I knew her spirit could hear me. And I said Aunt Eunice, it's John Walter. And I said that part of the family calls me John Walter all the time. John Walter, john Walter, please don't falter, anyway, john Walter. So I wanted her to know it was me. I said it's John Walter. So I wanted her to know it was me. I said it's John Walter, I'm going to lay hands on you in Jesus name. Jesus is going to heal you. Well, my cousin is sitting. My cousin looks at me with her eyes kind of bugged out.
Speaker 1:When I said that, like it was so, like it was a fact, and I was kind of surprised myself that I said that I didn't plan on saying it. And so I just, man, I couldn't do it. I had to just lift my hands, start praying in other tongues. I just lifted my hands, started praying in tongues, you know, to get the courage to go ahead and follow through. And I did. And I found a place on her knee and I just laid my hands on her knee and I said in the name of Jesus, I lose the healing power of God. And when I touched her it was just like somebody hit her with the paddles and she went whoop, and she'd come up, I mean her whole body, come up out of the bed and the and the machine started going haywire and I thought Betty Lee was going to dive out the window. I mean she hollered oh, what was that? I said that's God's healing power. Oh, come on, lift your hand.
Speaker 1:I'm talking about mastering. I'm talking about your master's degree and your authority. You can make a demand. What do you want to happen? It's not God all the time dictating every little thing. We're his sons and daughters, we're his blood, we're his covenant friends. And so I left.
Speaker 1:And the next morning early, the next morning, uncle Eddie calls me. I want you to come pray for Eunice again. And I thought I can't do that. I've already done it. I mean I can't pray for her again. I'm trying to think how am I going to say no, you know, I want you to come pray for Eunice again. I'm trying to think how am I going to say no, you know, I want you to come pray for Eunice again. He said, the doctor said whatever we're doing, keep on doing, because something's better. And the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost said go, anoint her with oil, in the name of the Lord and thank me for her healing, gave me a way out, gave me a way of escape where I wouldn't have to violate my faith. You don't pray twice. You already did it. It's a done deal. You don't go back and pray again. That's why I don't lay hands on people twice for the same thing. If you come up, I might lay hands on you, but I'm going to lay hands and thank God, I'm going to lay hands and pray strength over or whatever else, but so anyway.
Speaker 1:So I went down there with my bottle of oil and I ordered her with oil and this time at least they weren't planning her funeral and she eventually got out of the hospital in about two weeks and went home and lived another eight years and she was confined to a wheelchair because she had permanent damage in her legs. She never regained the use of her legs, but she lived another eight years before she went to heaven. And of course they got involved in a good Baptist church, you know. But they had been back, they had gone to church in years and they got hooked back up to a church, you know. Well, okay, it's almost done with this testimony, but to match a perspective, see my prayer life. I had to know the will of god. It wasn't god. You know what about her? No, I wasn't going to let her die. I have a word on it.
Speaker 1:So about five years later, by that time at Lakewood, you know, and I'm sent on errands, I wasn't yet ordained. It was 87, I think, before I was ordained. But I was open in some of the services and prayer and all of that had more of a prominent position there. And they sent me to the hospital in Humboldt to go to the rehab center there they had people were had recovering from surgery One was a gunshot wound and the other was something else, a terminal disease and they were there and they wanted me, they requested prayer.
Speaker 1:So I came to pray over them, uh, representing Lakewood. And so, uh, I got to the nurse's station there and I told them who I was John Griner. I'm from Lakewood church, I'm here to pray for so-and-so and so-and-so. And uh, and she said what's your name? Again, I said John Griner, g-r-e-i-n-e-r.
Speaker 1:And a nurse was standing kind of behind her and she turned and she walked forward and she says Griner. She said you wouldn't happen to be a kin to Eunice Griner, would you? And I said yeah, I'm her nephew. She's my aunt, so you're the one that prayed for her in the hospital. She said that was the greatest miracle anybody had ever seen Prominence.
Speaker 1:I said well, I don't take any credit, I'm just a mailman. I had a package to deliver, that's all I did. I delivered the package, thank God, she received it. Oh God gets all the glory. It impacted the whole ICU unit. It impacted that hospital. I didn't know that, I didn't know who knew. You know, but God knows how.
Speaker 1:See, when you get in prayer you get the perspective and then God gives you that power and then there's prominence that's associated with it. That's what's going on in my God Votes. That's what's going on all over the country. How can a relatively little church compare to all the whole world? And here we are having an impact across the country.
Speaker 1:Are you with me now? Glory to God? Are you getting anything out of this? So getting your master's degree number one across the country? Are you with me now? Glory to God? Are you getting anything out of this? So getting your master's degree Number one?
Speaker 1:Meet the conditions John 15, 7. Praying and reading your Bible Meet the conditions. Draw near and stay near. James says draw near to God and I'll draw near to you. Just draw near to him.
Speaker 1:Prayer and the word I know I sound like a broken record. Look, you have God's ear, the same as Jesus has God's ear, the same as Abraham had God's ear, the same as Joshua had God's ear. I mean, when you read these men of God, you know in the Bible the great hall of fame of faith in Hebrews 11. Yeah, that Old Testament saying we've got even more access to God than they did. We're born again. We have the Holy Ghost living on the inside. We've got a direct line. Are you with me now?
Speaker 1:And then, when you do that, then ask Make declarations. What do you want to see happen? It's not enough to be wishing and hoping and saying, oh, I wish, I hope, I wish, I hope and beg and all of this. No, make a declaration, declare what it is that you expect, based on the word and the abiding in him. And then the rhema abides in you. I like isaiah 43, 26. Come now, let us reason together.
Speaker 1:Plead your case. That's what abraham did. He pled the case and god likes it. I pled my aunt's case. I can't let her die. I don't know if she's saved. Well, as it turned out I. I think she was saved, but she would have gone to heaven in a backslidden state and she would not have had an abundant entrance. It would have cost her for all of eternity. But because I was able to get involved and stop that and use my authority, the rest of the family is, you know, they don't know what I know. They just taught you know, lord, if it be thy will, heal grandma, you know well, whatever I mean, that's not going to do anything. That didn't. That wasn't the prayer that did it. I'm not taking credit, I just know what I have. I thank God for it all the time. Plead your case. It is written like a lawyer to a judge. Plead your case. Find out what's written. See, what do you want to happen? See, say it. You've got to say it out of your mouth. Say it based on the Word. Base it on the Word. Go to God. Plead your case. Base it on the Word.
Speaker 1:Years ago I'm just, I'd been through the ringer and lost my business and everything, and God restored it. Finally, and after a couple of years, I got back in the home building business, but I was just personal. My personal finances were such that, you know, all I could do was live in a rent house. We'd been living in that rent house. We wound up living in a rent house there for almost seven years.
Speaker 1:And here I am, a home builder building houses in West University places, big old, you know, two-story mansions. You know minimum prices. That I sold was you know about almost $400,000. That was the first house and all the rest of them were over $400,000. And one of them was, you know, 695, the last one I built. It's on the market. It's not on the market but it's in HCAD right now for 1.5 million. That's what it's worth now.
Speaker 1:But anyway, I'm living in a in a rent house and I'm not. I'm happy, I'm glad that I can make the rent payments. I mean, mean, if the air conditioner breaks, I don't dare call the landlord. I fix the air conditioner. If the water heater breaks, I don't dare. I'm looking at Frank now, but he helped me, you know, with the thermocouple on the water heater, but I wouldn't call the landlord. I mean, you know he hadn't gone up in the rent. Now I rented it below market five years before and it kept the same rent. How would you ever not have rent go up in five years? Well, god took care of us. So I'm unfazed by walking through my houses that I built. I didn't desire them, I didn't want them.
Speaker 1:But I'm reading about David wanting to build God a house. And he went to, told no prophet, nathan, I want to build God a house, it's not right that he had this thing. And so, uh, and Nathan said, yeah, that's good, do all that's in nine heart. Well then, that night God had to tell the prophet and you missed it I don't want him to build the house. He said he's built. He shed too much blood in front of me on the earth and he can't do it. But I'll let him. I said it's good for him to want to build me a house. His son will build a house, but I'll build him a house.
Speaker 1:And when I read that God said I'm going to build you a house, well, I didn't even want one. In fact, I kind of felt fear burdened that I'm going to have to believe him for this house. I know y'all does that sound crazy. Well, you know you've been through what I've been through. I mean, I just didn't.
Speaker 1:I had been delivered from the desire, I just didn't care. You know, it's all I could do to pay a thousand dollars a month Rent. You know what's all I could do to pay a thousand dollars a month Rent. You know what did I do? You know I read what. I read the scripture that David prayed and I just read it back to the Lord. I didn't say God, I don't want it. No, I said yes, I do want it. I changed, even though emotionally I didn't, but my spirit said yes to the Lord and I prayed that prayer. But you know what? I never thought about it for another many years until finally God did build us a house and we moved in. We're living there now and God, god had a desire for me and it took a while for me to have a desire to have it, but I did eventually and we got it. And I didn't build the house, somebody else built it.
Speaker 1:Are y'all with me now? So ask, declare decree, and then number three the more that you have results, the more you praise God even before the answer comes. You're developing your faith and your God-given authority and you're standing with Him in Christ. You're getting your master's degree in the believer's authority. Come on, lift your hands and receive today Hallelujah. Did you get anything out of this today? Hell, y'all must rejoice. Come on, let's praise God for the good things that are in front of us. Our best days are yet ahead of us. Hallelujah, glory to God. Hallelujah, glory to God. I tell you, the atmosphere has changed. There's a miracle atmosphere now. Glory to God.