Glorious Way Church

The Serious Business of Heaven Is Joy

• Mark Hankins

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Most believers have experienced the frustration of knowing what the Bible promises but struggling to see those promises manifest in their lives. Why? Because there's a profound difference between mental assent and spiritual encounter. As Smith Wigglesworth wisely observed, "Our only safeguard from dropping back to our natural mind, from which we can receive nothing from God, is to be filled and filled again with the Holy Spirit."

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Well, lift your hands, lift your voice. Thank you, lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord. Thank you Lord, thank you Lord. Thank you, lord Jesus. Thank you for the blood, thank you for the Holy Ghost, thank you for joy in the Holy Ghost. Come on, pray in the Holy Ghost a minute. Come on, stir up the gift of God that's on the inside of you. Come on, stir up the gift of God that's on the inside of you. Fill and be filled, and filled and filled again. Fill, thank you Lord. Fill Ha ha, ha, ha ha. Full of joy, full of the Holy Ghost, full Hala mandale solabar boroko totole behe. Thank you, Lord, for the Holy Ghost. Fill and fill again. Ha ha ha. Go ahead and laugh a few minutes there. Ha ha, I got joy in the Holy Ghost. Ha ha, ha, ha ha.

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Go ahead and laugh at the devil a while. He's a liar. Ha ha ha ha. Devil, you're under my feet, you're under my feet, you're under my feet. Jesus is Lord. I got victory, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, woo, praise the Lord. Ha ha ha. Waiting to sit down for a minute. Praise the Lord. I don't know about you, but I sure am blessed. How many of y'all been drinking. Somebody said what did you do Sunday night? I went out drinking, man, I've been drinking. Amen ha ha. Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled. I went out drinking man, I've been drinking. Amen, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. When it says be filled with the Spirit, it literally means to be being filled, or it means to be filled and filled again. How many glad you got filled again. Amen. I love what Smith Wigglesworth said in his book Ever-Increasing Faith.

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He said our only safeguard from dropping back to our natural mind. You know the problem with your natural mind. Your natural mind is a problem. You say, what problem is it? Well, first, corinthians 2, 14 says the natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are spiritually discerned. So if you stay in the natural, the intellectual, the mental, then the devil can whip you. Plus, he said you can't receive the things of God. Doesn't say you're a bad person, just says you live in the natural too much. How many like to step out of the natural and get over in the realm of the spirit? Amen, be filled with the Holy Ghost, amen, ha ha. So Wigglesworth again, he said our only safeguard from dropping back to our natural mind, from which we can receive nothing from God. Try that one more time.

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Our only safeguard from dropping back to our natural mind, from which we can receive nothing from God, our only safeguard from dropping back to our natural mind, he said, is to be filled and filled again with the Holy Spirit. How many's to be filled and filled again with the Holy Spirit? How many like to be filled and filled again? Amen, he said the Holy Spirit will fill you. He said he'll think through your mind, speak through your lips and he'll magnify Jesus. How many like Jesus? It gets so big. All your problems get real little. Go ahead and laugh about that. I said when you're filled with the Holy Ghost, he, it gets so big. All your problems get real little. Go ahead and laugh about that. I said when you're filled with the Holy Ghost, it makes Jesus so big and all your problems real little. Amen. So he says I want to get you out beyond all human thoughts and plans into the fullness of the vision of the presence of God. Amen To be filled. He said we are commanded by God to be filled with the spirit and he said the measure you fail of that. You are that far short of the plan of God for your life. Y'all still with me here. In other words, we're commanded by God to be filled and filled again. So you and I must have a choice to be filled and filled again. Actually, right, you and I must have a choice to be filled and filled again. Actually, right there in Ephesians it says, speaking to yourselves, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, amen.

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While we're singing amen, jesus said come and drink. So really, you're just drinking, you're singing. In other words, you can't drink with your mouth shut, right? I know something about drinking. Praise the Lord, you can't get intoxicated if you don't drink. Y'all still here. And if you drink, right, you know you need some drinking friends. I mean glad you came to church on Sunday night, got some drinking friends, hey man. And then you came to church on Sunday night, got some drinking friends, amen. And then you got to have some drinking music. I mean, glad to have some drinking music. Come on, you drink and amen.

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And while you're speaking, the Psalm 10 spiritual song, he said you're drinking right until you're filled, praise the Lord. Filled and filled again. Hallelujah, hallelujah, amen. And so we just kept drinking and singing and got filled, amen, filled full of joy and full of the Holy Ghost. Ha ha ha, amen.

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When you're under the influence you drink until you get under the influence. So you drink until you're under the influence and you can tell when you get filled, because you get full of joy, amen. You get full of the love of God, amen. And everybody looks better when you're filled with the Holy Ghost. You don't see everybody's fault so much, amen. And then you're actually better looking.

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When you're full of joy in the Holy Ghost, look at somebody and say you might consider that Now you get filled with the Holy Ghost and you're more attractive. Amen, thank God for the Holy Ghost. In other words, that joy Peter Peter says is joy unspeakable. But he said that joy is full of glory. You know what the glory is? Right, the glory is the manifested presence of God, amen. That joy is not not regular joy. He calls it joy in the Holy Ghost. So it's supernatural joy which will actually produce supernatural results, he said. And that joy is a container for the glory of God.

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That's why Dad Hagin said in these kind of meetings I call them is it what Holy Ghost meetings? Or sometimes I call them a drinking meet we got teaching meetings, come on. We had that this morning and a little bit tonight, but I've got a lot more to teach. But I'll just have to come back again as soon as possible. We'll come back again so I can finish my sermon. Right, but a drinking meeting, a drinking meeting is where you come, come on and you get in the presence of the Lord, amen. And you drink, drink and you get in the presence of the Lord, amen. And you drink, drink and while you're drinking, while you're drinking, you're drinking your healing. Come on, not just thinking healing, I'm drinking healing. Now, y'all know what I'm talking about.

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Some people got all their thinking healing. You know scriptures out. Well, that's wonderful, but you also have some drinking healing. Drinking from the Holy Ghost, amen, praying in the Holy Ghost, getting full of joy, amen. Drinking Healing, ha ha ha. But you're also drinking until you lose all your worries, all the things that have been irritating you, amen, things you've been worried about. You just cast all your cares on the Lord. Come on, you have your responsibility, but you ain't worried about it. Go ahead and laugh about that, say I ain't worried. Come on, people in the world are uptight, you know, and angry and irritated and you come in with peace and joy and the Holy Ghost, hallelujah.

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So Dad Higgins said these Holy Ghost meetings or we call them drinking meetings, not thinking meetings I always say don't be frustrated, god's not opposed to your thinking. He actually thinks different than you think, but if you'll drink better, you'll actually think better. So you're drinking amen, filled with the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost begins to change the way you think. He can even change your personality. Look at somebody and say you might consider that I said he can change your personality. What somebody and say you might consider that I said he can change your personality. What does that mean? You're not stuck with that ugly thing. You got that you call your personality, not you, of course, but somebody watching online. You ain't stuck. People say well, that's just the way I am. Get filled with the Holy Ghost. He'll change every bit of that. Amen, he'll change your personality. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Fill you up with joy. Ha, ha, ha, ha, amen.

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And so Dad Hagin said in these Holy Ghost meetings, or drinking meetings, he said while that anointing is flowing, he said joy in the Holy Ghost. He said people will just start laughing. Get full of joy, amen. Then he said some people, they normally get so heavy. You just glory, you just feel like heavy, you're just kind of like. You're just like heavy. What's the word? Heavy means loaded with the goodness of God. Loaded heavy that's one of the words for glory. Heavy, loaded with what? All? The goodness of God. When you're in the glory, then you have changes from glory to glory, changes you've been trying to produce yourself and yet the Holy Ghost does it while you're drinking.

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I always like to say, while you're drinking here, something is happening back at your house. Come on. I like to say, while you're drinking here, something is happening in your future. Amen, come on. While you're rejoicing here, god's doing something in your future. Come on, he's making darkness light before you. He's making crooked things straight, he's making provision for you. And when you get there a month from now, three months from now, you're gonna say look like the Lord has already been here and already got things prearranged. Go ahead and laugh for a minute. Ha, he got it prearranged. He went ahead of you. I said he went ahead of you, got things prearranged for you so you don't have to worry, have anxiety. Uh, glory to God. I got drunk in the Holy Ghost. Amen.

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And CS Lewis, my favorite quote, said that joy is the serious business of heaven. In other words, to the natural person it would look silly, but to the spiritual person they say they're taking care of serious business. In other words, things you couldn't take care of. Naturally, the Holy Ghost takes care of it for you while you're drinking. If I was you, I'd just keep on drinking. I'd say, man, I'm gonna do a little drinking, amen, I'm gonna drink until I get under the influence, amen.

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So Dad Hagin said, in this kind of a meeting the Holy Ghost meeting, different kind of meeting you know we need to have different kinds of meetings. Amen, thank God for teaching and all that. But there's also other kinds of meetings. And so if you're a believer, this would be a believer's meeting, amen, amen, spirit-filled, believer, holy Ghost meeting. So he said in these meetings, holy Ghost meetings, there would be a demonstration of the Holy Spirit, amen. So he said joy would be one of those.

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So he said people will start laughing, the joy will bubble up. Ha, ha, ha. You don't need no comedian, you got the Holy Ghost. A lot of comedians go out of work. They don't have no work because you got joy in the Holy Ghost, you don't need nobody to tell you a joke to laugh at. You got joy in the Holy Ghost, amen, amen. So that joy, you start start laughing. Or heavy, heavy, sometimes you're just like heavy. You just feel like just kind of laying down that heavy, blessing, anointing the presence of God. Come on, fill you up, fill you up, ha ha ha. Come on, fill you up, fill you up. Ha ha ha ha. Taking care of serious business.

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Now my mother, what she would do in the glory, the presence of God would come in my mother. She would run. You know, she might jump a little bit, amen. Even in her 80s she'd still be doing a little jumping around like that. And then she'd like to run around the church. So she would get a couple of runners to run with her One on each side. When she got older, she had two runners and they'd run and they felt like you needed to run. They could tell by looking at most people If you needed to run. They'd on run with us.

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And while you're running that's a demonstration of the Holy Spirit, because you believe God is turning your morning into dancing come on, turning your sour into joy. So, while the Holy Ghost is working, things are turning. Things are turning, amen. Things are turning. Ha ha ha. Paul said the supply of the Spirit and it will turn to my salvation Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Things will turn to my. What Salvation deliverance, safety, healing, preservation, soundness and blessing. It was all turning while I was being filled with the Holy Ghost. Go ahead and laugh about that. Look at somebody and say you need to practice. In other words practice. In other words full of joy and full of the Holy Ghost. I said full of joy, full of the Holy Ghost, ha ha ha.

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So my mother, she likes to kind of run, dance a little bit, but Dad Hagen, he would dance. He said so there's a blessing you receive when you dance. Now, I don't know, there might be different kinds of dances. We don't have no classes. Don't bring your leotards and we're going to show you how to do it. We don't have your leotards and we're going to show you how to do it. We don't have no classes. So there must be different kinds of dancing, right? So when we don't just have one. But the Bible says when David danced, he danced with all of his might, but he's he's a big warrior.

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You know, when I was in New Zealand preaching, they did what they call the, uh, what they call the Haka dance. Right, you can get, you can find it on YouTube. And so, uh, the, the New Zealand all blacks, which is the rugby team, or they call it football, we don't really call it. You're from New Zealand, uh, the, the, the haka tribe, or whatever it is right, and so they would. They would do theirs there in Fiji, same thing, and they do the, the haka dance, and that's some big, strong men.

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So I had a Holy Ghost meeting in New Zealand and the Holy Ghost broke out and they had a whole different kind of dance. They would do the. It's called a haka dance, I think right, and so they go. They would do the. It's called a hockey dance, I think right, and so they'd go and they would stomp like that, and then they made up a Holy Ghost song with that dance, and then they would always it's very aggressive Amen, because that's the only tribe that the during during World War II, that the Nazis could not conquer. And they would get together and they'd go oh, you wanna come over to my house? And then they would end it, stick their tongue out and go. That means I'm gonna cut your throat. So the Holy Ghost get a hold of you and you might wanna go. I wanna let the devil know I'm freaking to cut his throat. And so Paul said he'd crush the Satan underneath your feet. So sometimes you'll be dancing like that.

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So Dad Hagin, even in his 80s, come on. Even in his 80s, come on. He won his 80s then on the increase, and he just start dancing when he'd be dancing like this in his 80s. You know and here's what he said there's a blessing you receive when you dance in the Holy Ghost. He said you can't get it any other way, so I just watch him. If he started doing it, I said, well, I'm just gonna act like him. I don't know how to do it, but I don't think he does either. So I just started dancing like him. Anybody wanna know what happened? The blessing of the Lord. Joy in the Holy Ghost will bring the blessing of the Lord.

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So we did Holy Ghost meetings. I'd go to Dad Higgins, because you have to learn how to flow with the Holy Ghost. I said you have to learn how to receive, or learn how to yield, or find out what channel he's on. Amen, because if you're on AM and he's on FM. You're like, well, I ain't getting nothing, that's cause you're on the wrong channel, ding dong. So you gotta get off the mental channel, amen, and get on the spirit channel, and that's where he's broadcasting, right there on that channel, or that's the channel that you receive the anointing in. Go ahead and laugh for a minute, ha ha ha. Now I'm gonna show you a little bit more about this.

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Because Dad Hagen said because Dad Hagen taught on faith, the best faith teaching I've ever learned from Kenneth Hagen Very simple, how to live by faith, walk by faith. But he said I taught people faith to the best of my ability and they never were healed until they got filled with the Holy Ghost. And he could teach faith pretty good. I taught them their rights, taught them what belonged to them, but they knew faith, they knew the scripture. But he said they never got healed until they got filled with the Holy Ghost. Not just one case, he said.

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I can tell you many cases One that had terminal cancer and the lady that Hagen went over their house and knew that you know she was dying with cancer went over there and she was eating a bowl of chili. He was like what are you doing? She said well, I went down to the Pentecostal church, full gospel church, and she said I went to get filled with the Holy Ghost and a beam of light came from the ceiling, hit me in my head, went all the way to my feet and I was filled with the Holy Ghost and instantly healed All cancer, left her instantly. Ha, ha, ha ha. How many like to run the devil off? Amen, get filled with the Holy Ghost, praise the Lord, amen, and drink until you feel ha, ha, ha, ha. Glory to God, amen. So I just learned from him.

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So sometimes you might laugh, right, sometimes you might heavy, can't sit up, can't even stand up, you just fall out. That's why a lot of times I just lay hands on people, right where they're sitting. They don't have far to fall and I don't have to catch them. I'm just going to lay hands on them, grab the chair, do whatever you can do. You say well, how come people fall? Well, the same reason the soldiers fell when Jesus raised from the dead, same reason in the Old Testament, the glory filled the temple and the priests couldn't even stand up to minister.

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That glory means heavy Presence of God, the glory which is why you have to get a new body before you go to heaven. You understand, you go to heaven without your natural body, then you're gonna get a new body. Otherwise the glory in heaven. You understand, you go to heaven without your natural body, then you're gonna get a new body. Otherwise the glory in heaven. You just be laying around all the time. You getting the glory in the presence of God. You know You're like how long we gonna be up here. So God is gonna give you a glorious body. They're gonna give you a glorious body. Ha ha ha. Glorified body. Whoa, you gonna be something then. Amen, amen, why so you can contain that. Go ahead and laugh about that. Amen, you got a bright future. I'm telling you so Dad Hagen would say when that anointing is flowing like it's been doing here tonight.

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Sometimes you lay hands on people, but you don't always have to, because the book of Acts it says the Holy Ghost just fell on them right where they were seated, so some of y'all already been drinking. You don't have to lay hands on yourself, you just got filled. If you received it, recognize it, yield to that anointing the power of God. Our three times in the book of Acts they laid hands on people. There's a doctrine in the church laying on the hands.

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So what dad Hagen would do different times? He'd go around and just lay hands on people and most of the time that anointing is tangible. Because in St Louis he laid hands on me and Trina and other preachers and said I want you to carry this glory, I'm gonna place my honor on you and I want you to carry it. Well, I don't have to carry it, I've got plenty of sermons. I can just teach the word and send you home with a lecture and more information. But some stuff don't happen with information, it happens with impartation. So he said I want you to carry it. So we decided, lord, we come into a church and the Lord said that's a drinking meeting, we go, all right, we're gonna be drinking tonight, amen. And so here's what dad Hagen would do. So I just follow his pattern.

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When that anointing would come, it's here right now. When that anointing would come, I feel it in my hand, feels like electricity in my hands right now. Right, I got that from him, comes from Jesus, but it came through him. And when that anointing's flowing, then he would just come around and lay hands on you, sometimes tap you on the head and most of the time he would say be blessed A few times. He said something a little different, but that's different. But most of the time he would say be blessed A few times. He said something a little different, but that's different. But most of the time he'd say be blessed. Anybody wanna know what happened? I received that anointing and the blessing of the Lord.

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I'd go home to my church and our finances would go up from 10,000 a week to $20,000 a week. I'd go back and say hit me one more time and he'd hit me in the head. I believe I received that anointing. Our finances went up to $30,000 a week. He hit me one more time. It went up to $40,000 a week. Hit me again went up to $50,000 a week. Hit me again went up to $60,000 a week. Hit me again went up to $60,000 a week. Hit me again went up to $70,000 a week. And now it's gone way past that.

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Now, well, I believe in the blessing. I say just hit me one more time. Praise the Lord. Well, the blessing of the Lord, amen. I believe in the power of that blessing. I believe in the power of the anointing Amen. So, before he would get the anointing strong here right now, before he would get to me. I would say this when he gets close to me or if he touches me, I believe I receive the anointing. It's the anointing that does the work. It's the anointing that brings the blessing and you can get a fresh anointing of the Holy Ghost, or you can get an increased measure of anointing. Ha ha, ha, ha, woo, amen. So in just a minute, trent is gonna help me here. We're just gonna walk around. We're not gonna pray for you, I'm just gonna tap you in the head. That's all I'm doing. There ain't gonna be no prayer, come on, it's just I'm gonna tap you in the head. Come on.

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The woman with the issue of blood when she touched the heart, the hem of Jesus' garment, when she just touched it, she didn't have a counseling session. She didn't say could we talk a while? No, she just touched. She didn't even get a grip on it. One touch ran the devil out of her body. 12 years been trying to kill her and one touch of the anointing healed her, just like that. Jesus didn't even know who did it. He's like who did that? She said I can tell by looking at you. Amen, ha, ha, ha.

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So we're just going to walk around. I'm just going to tap you in the head, amen, not hit you. I'm not going to hit your heart, unless you look stubborn. But uh, just uh, you know, just a little little touch, amen, little tap. I don't know why, but Dad Higgins, he had a ring, you know, and so sometimes he would just kind of hit you in the head and you're kind of man. I think I got a knot on my head, but I sure am blessed, it's a bonk. So if I hit you too hard it's because you're stubborn. The Holy Ghost wanted me to hit you, but no, I won't hit you hard, just a little touch, amen. And Trent is going to work with me and we're just going to lay hands on everybody that's here.

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Ha ha, ha, hallelujah, ha ha, hallelujah. I believe I receive, come on. I believe I receive, come on. I believe I receive Fresh anointing of the Holy Ghost, the blessing of the Lord, the presence of the Lord to be filled and filled again, full of joy and full of the Holy Ghost. Ha ha, ha, ha. Now open your mouth wide and just receive. Thank you, lord, hallelujah.