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 Present Day Ministry Of Jesus 4
This message offers a compelling and devotional reflection on the current, active ministry of Jesus Christ—a theme often overlooked in modern faith discussions. It centers on five key roles that Jesus fulfills right now on behalf of believers: High Priest, Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and Lord. Each of these roles is deeply rooted in Scripture and theological tradition, but the way you’ve framed them makes their relevance immediate and personal.
Let's lift our Bibles up, wave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here today. I celebrate your righteousness, I celebrate your lordship. Jesus, you're my Lord, father. We thank you for Jesus, we thank you for the Holy Ghost. You provided everything we need for success down here on the earth. As it is in heaven, so it shall be on earth. In Jesus' name, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Let's turn in our Bibles to Hebrews, chapter 8. And I want to share with you the last and final part of a message that we started several weeks ago the present day ministry of Jesus. This is fourth, the fourth message, and we'll start reading in Hebrews, eight, verse one Now, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. What has he been speaking about? Well, you know, as I've said many times, hebrews theme is Jesus is better, and so I believe Hebrews, written by the apostle Paul, doesn't say so, but I believe that it's the same kind of language. He uses same type of revelation. So, if I'm wrong, well, I'll repent after I get to heaven and find out different. But anyway, regardless, it says that Jesus is better than the angels. It starts by saying that Jesus is better than Moses.
Speaker 1:Moses was so revered by Israel that God had to hide his body. He died on Mount Pisgah and God hid his body so that the Jews wouldn't find his body and turn it into an idol. I mean, they had knowledge of embalming from the Egyptians and they knew how to preserve a body for a long time. You know, they've got those tombs in Egypt where they have the kings and the pharaohs, and their bodies are preserved out of thousands of years. It's amazing what they can do back then. And so God said to hid his body. He was so highly revered. Jesus is better than Moses.
Speaker 1:Jesus is better than Aaron, the high priest, and so the things which we have spoken this is the sum he says, for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity that this man, jesus, have somewhat also to offer. Verse six but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry. By how much? Also he is the mediator of a better covenant founded upon better or established upon better promises. So the present day ministry of Jesus is vital for the believer to have a revelation of what Jesus is doing at the right hand of the Father. Right now he has a ministry, he's not sitting in a recliner, he's not retired Amen. He's got a very specific job description that he is faithful to execute, and so his great substitutionary work would be largely wasted on us, on the new creation, if that new creation didn't understand what he's doing right now. We would be picked off one by one, we would be subject to this world's temptations and without any real revelation of what he's doing right now. I mean, you know, we just kind of just all by ourself. Well, we're not all by ourself. Praise God, he was set on the right hand of the majesty, on high, fixed and abode appointed, settled down. First of all, there's five things that he's. He's the high priest, and a high priest was, you know, we talked about that in week one. He's one who is authorized to administer, execute, uh, implement and carry into effect our profession or our confession of faith. And I just appreciate Mark and Trenta Hankins last week. I mean, brother Mark gets back to the confession. He's so strong on the power of our words.
Speaker 1:You know, I got saved. I was just like everybody else. I'm a little baby. I don't know how to talk. I don't know how to think. I'm a baby, I don't know how to talk, I don't know how to think. I'm a baby. I'm still in this body that wanted to do all the things that it did before I got saved. I mean, my body kind of still wanted to make beers. 14.7% alcohol or one beer would send me on my way. 7% alcohol or one beer would send me on my way. And you know, I wanted the eye, but the eye had been replaced with a new creature. But the new creature was a baby. Got to learn how to talk. I'll never forget reading. You know there's a miracle in your mouth Little old mini book. I'd go to Lakewood. You know I started going to Lakewood and I'd go in the bookstore and I had all these mini books. I started with the mini books and they had these mini books miracle in your mouth. That book has gone all the way around the world and back and I was amazed when I read that book I got on fire. I started learning how to talk. I had to retrain myself, learn how to talk.
Speaker 1:So he is the high priest over our confession. He administers it. See, he administered it right here. People died for us to have this word right here. Blood has been shed all over the world for us to have this Bible. We ought to revere the Bible, but we ought to revere the words in it, to make it part of us. And then it was written so it could be spoken. It was spoken so it could be written. It was written so it could be spoken. And so he's the high priest he administers it, executes, implements, carries into effect our profession of faith. We have to believe it in our heart, speak with our mouth.
Speaker 1:Secondly, he's the mediator. A mediator is one who intervenes between two and essentially the mediator is necessary for the lost, because they're lost. And without a mediator at the right hand of the Father who's pointing to his blood, see to think about you know, just think about Cornelius. Cornelius was on the wrong track. He was a Jewish proselyte but he was not saved. But his prayers and his alms came up before the mediator. The mediator looked at the father and said look at this blood. I shed my blood for Cornelius. He doesn't know about it. Let's send somebody down there to tell him that's a mediator at work.
Speaker 1:Your unsaved loved ones, when you're praying for them. They've got a mediator up there that's going to do his part in that. Are you with me. Now We've got strong, we've got such strong assurance for our loved ones. Well, my kids, they just don't do what I well, keep praying, thanking. Well, pray, but then start thanking God for their salvation. You don't have to beg God, call it done. And so, mediator, everybody say mediator.
Speaker 1:And then the last time, week before last, intercessor and advocate, which are very close together, he ever liveth to make intercession for us. We need someone praying for us, why? Well, especially when I was a baby Christian, I didn't know what I didn't know. So I've got an intercessor up there. Jesus is praying for me. No, so I've got an intercessor up there. Jesus is praying for me. Others are praying for me, but he's praying for me. He has a vested interest. He's got a dog in the hut. Huh, I mean, was his blood shed or not? That blood is right there in the mercy seat and he's having to come. See, john doesn't know what he doesn't know.
Speaker 1:Now, father, let's not hold that against him, bumbling, stumbling around, making all kind of mistakes. But you know, thank God, I have somebody praying for me and I have an advocate. See, the advocate is kind of my lawyer. Wouldn't you love to have a lawyer like Jesus man, oh you do. I have an attorney, amen. That's another story altogether, but anyway, all right. So, um, he's our today.
Speaker 1:We're going to get into the uh, you know all these, these, these things, these ministries work together. They overlap one another and they just they, they, they amount to. When you get a revelation of that, you're not easily buffaloed by the mistakes you make. You don't just let them take you down. I've, I've lived long enough to see people.
Speaker 1:They, you know, christian sin and they, they lie. Well, if you were a Christian, you wouldn't have done that. Well, that's a lie. We're capable of almost anything, just like the world is. But the difference is we don't want to do that and we feel bad about it. The world never feels bad about what they do.
Speaker 1:They double down. Look at the Democrats. They're doubling down on their ignorance. I mean, it's amazing. How do you go for these weirdos competing against our girls? I mean dressing in the dressing room. I was reading about a girl who won't even go in the locker room. She changed her clothes in her car. This is idiocy. 10 years ago, if we'd ever heard about such a thing, the entire nation would have risen up and put that off. But no, we just little by little, by little by little. It started with gay marriage 2014. That was the beginning of the end. Well, now it's the beginning of the beginning. I'm going to get rid of this garbage, all right. So today we're going to start talking about, and wind up talking about, jesus, the Lord and head of the church. That's his fifth present day ministry. He is the Lord and he's head of the church.
Speaker 1:So let's look at Philippians, chapter two. Got a couple of verses here Again. I want you to know these things because it'll help you stay strong when you're under attack. These things because it'll help you stay strong when you're under attack. It'll keep you from being lonely when you have loss in your life, when relationships go south, when people turn against you. I mean, if you live long enough, you're going to have friends that differ and go the other way and might even talk bad about you. You know all these kinds of things, these temptations.
Speaker 1:Jesus was touched in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. He's. He's for you. Philippians, chapter two, verse eight. And being found in fashion as a man talking about Jesus. He humbled himself and became obedient under death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee, everybody shout. Every knee, every knee shall bow of things. Now, the word things there is italicized. It's not in the Greek, but it implies every being, every word, every condition, every sickness has to bow its knee. Every tongue should confess. See, every knee and every tongue, everybody say. Every knee and every tongue, Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord To the glory of God the Father.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, it just doesn't look like he's Lord over this country. Well, he's Lord anyway. It's not about this country acknowledging, it's about the. It's a fact. And so every time we stand up and say Jesus is Lord over Houston, jesus is Lord over Harris County, jesus, it doesn't matter what the condition is. The fact is the Bible. Fact is that Jesus is the Lord and master in head. Fact is the Bible. Fact is that Jesus is the Lord and master in head. He's been exalted. Until we start saying that with confidence and voting like it and spreading the word Amen, alright, so he's Lord, alright.
Speaker 1:And then Colossians, just a few pages to the right, 1, 18. And he, jesus, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence that he might have. When you see the word might in the epistles, it's always indicative of a choice we have to make. It's not on God. It's not on God. He is the head, but he might not be the head of you. He might not have the preeminence in your life and in your decisions. See, it's up to us to see to it that he has the preeminence. He is the head. So Jesus is Lord and he's head of the church.
Speaker 1:You know the word Lord is used 700 times in the New Testament. It must be pretty important. 700 times it talks about Lord. In our society Lord is just kind of not a word that's. We talk about the Lord, you know, but I mean as far as usage. We don't really have an understanding of what Lord means. What does Lord mean? Well, it means master, it means boss man.
Speaker 1:I used to have Ray Williams. He planted all my yard back in the back of the day when I built houses we did not sod the yard, we we sprigged the yard on 16-inch centers. We had these grass sprigs about this long and he had this sack around him, you know, and he had full of sprigs. He'd go over to a piece of sod. He would take maybe a couple of pieces of sod and do an entire yard, whereas when we sod a yard we got to have a big old stack. I just got through having to redo my whole front yard, thank God. I mean it was only $3,300, but thank God I had $3,300. There were times in my life when I didn't have $33, much less $3,300. But something got in my yard and it just destroyed my front yard. It looked horrible so I had to sod it. It looks great. It looks better now than it's ever looked.
Speaker 1:But back then, you know, ray would go out there and he would water the yard and get it muddy. I mean, it looked horrible. It was mud running down the gutter, down the driveway, over the curb, and he'd get out there barefooted I called him the barefoot Contessa and he would hit it with his heel, throw the sprig down and cover it over with his foot and he'd go down the yard like that, you know, throwing it down there. I'd get a phone call. Oh, he's making a mess, are you kidding? You said you'd plant grass. I said I'm planting it right now. I you said you'd plant grass. I said I'm planting it right now. I said go through the subdivision. Every yard you see that's nice and green started just like yours.
Speaker 1:Now, when he finishes, you're going to have to keep that yard as wet as it is Right now. You're going to have to keep it as wet like that for at least 30 days. Do you know how hard that is? That means you need to go buy there's three hose bibs on the outside of your house. You need to go buy three long hoses that's a lot of money for hoses and you need to buy three water sprinklers and put them all on at the same time. Otherwise you'll be all day and all night watering, but you can get all three of them working at the same time and you can keep your yard really wet. And after 30 days they'll root. And if you'll keep it pretty wet for another 30 days, you'll have your yard started and it'll look green no time at all. By the end of the summer you'll have a yard.
Speaker 1:But I had to sell them on it. You know they wanted to pay the price for a sod, but they didn't pay the price for the sod they paid the price for a sprig Down the street. Some yo-ho down the street, some yo-ho this dumb that doesn't know how to make a profit on a house. I had one guy that I had to compete with and he was a pilot. He was a second officer in the Concord, co-pilot in the Concord for Braniff Air. How many of you ever heard of Braniff Airlines? See, they've been bankrupt for 40 years. You never heard of them because they went away. But they originally had the. They had. There was only three airlines in the whole world that had the Concorde British Overseas Airways and Air France and Braniff.
Speaker 1:I went out to the back then it was Jotaro, went out to Jotaro before it was Intercontinental Bush and I saw that thing coming in for a land looked like a duck. You know it'd come in like that the whole front of the bird, the plane would be slanted and the nose would be this way. It'd come in like this Beautiful, beautiful plane. I got to fly on one with Brother Osteen, mach 2. I sat by the window and it's hot, it's so fast. You're at about 60,000 feet above the Atlantic going to Paris from New York, and it's so hot. The skin is just hot. I mean I'm sweating the whole time. Little old tiny plane, tiny little seats, and there's no telling how much money it costs for that, for that ticket. But he got them free because he flew all the time on Air France. It was a bonus for him.
Speaker 1:But anyway, getting back to you know we've, we've got to, we've got to grow in the things of God. God starts as a seed. He starts in your mind and in your heart and in your body. Your mind begins to get renewed with the truth and now your mind and your spirit start to vote on each decision and make your flesh do what it most of the time doesn't want to do. In my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Your flesh never wants to make a good decision. Your flesh always wants to seek to take the easy way out. It wants to be selfish, it wants to do its own thing.
Speaker 1:Just because you're saved doesn't mean that you make Jesus as Lord over these decisions. It doesn't happen automatic. You grow in these things. So when we were saved, what did we do? Romans 10, 9 and 10 that if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved, for with a heart man believeth unto righteousness, but with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. And so the Bible says also in 1 Corinthians 6, 17, that he that is joined to the Lord has become one spirit with the Lord. The moment you got saved, you became Lord, has become one spirit with the Lord. The moment you got saved, you became hooked up one spirit with God. You were united.
Speaker 1:The Bible talks about the baptism. We teach this in foundation class, where there are three baptisms the baptism of water, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the baptism into Christ. As soon as you get saved, the Holy Spirit baptizes you, submerges you and makes you one with Christ. You're one with him. He is joined unto the Lord. See, when people get saved, it's not that they join Glorious Way Church, they join Jesus Now. You ought to get hooked up with the local church More about that later but you're joining Jesus Now. You ought to get hooked up with the local church More about that later but you're joining Jesus and so you become one with him.
Speaker 1:Let's look at Ephesians Talking about the present day ministry of Jesus. We've got to know what he's doing right now, because the devil will try to move you off of this, he'll try to put you into condemnation. He'll try to get you sin conscious instead of righteousness conscious. He'll start making you. Now you know you mean I shouldn't pay any attention. No, you pay attention, but once you confess that sin you don't ever think about it again. That's gone.
Speaker 1:But my experience as a pastor for a lot of years now, 30 full time, and you know eight before that, at Lakewood I was one of the pastors. Brother Osteen said you're one of the pastors. I said OK, he saw something in me. He sent me on pastoral missions and assignments. And so what I've noticed is that people make a mistake and they let that one sin just sink their ship and they can't get over it and they keep bringing it up and they keep thinking about it and see that's unskillful in the word of righteousness. You're a baby when you do that. Let's grow up, let's be mature enough to know the blood of Jesus is greater than anything you've ever done wrong. Just apply it All right.
Speaker 1:Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 4. There is one body and one spirit, even as you're called, and one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. So he is that now there's just one Lord and he is. He's it. You're not Lord, he's Lord. You're a Lord Because he's the Lord of Lords. He's the king of kings and Lord of Lords because he's the Lord of Lords. He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Speaker 1:In Revelation, jesus said that you're all kings and priests unto God, but he's the King of Kings, he's the Lord. There's only one head. You're not it, but we have a kingly ministry, we have a headship ministry. We have a headship ministry. We have a lordship over our own bodies, over our domain, which is our house, our marriage, our children, our work, our neighborhood, and really it extends all the way into the voting booth. When we vote, then we are delegating our lordship to someone else to do our bidding, and when they don't do it, we have an obligation to find out and begin to try to call that office and try to let them know that they're drifting off of a reservation, and when they don't reply, then we start praying them out and get somebody else in.
Speaker 1:We need a lot of replacements, both locally. We need to get rid of Lena Hidalgo. What a diva. I mean, for God's sake, woman, get a brain. She is so immature, walks out of a meeting because she's all huffy, because she wasn't treated with the proper respect Nuts and she admits that she's nuts. She goes to a shrink every week. We need her like we need them. Anyway, let's get rid of her, all right?
Speaker 1:So let's keep reading here in Ephesians See, he's it, he's the Lord, he's the master, he's and the devil is not the master. He was your master before you were saved. He was my master, but he's not my master anymore. He has no jurisdiction over my life. I will not listen to him. All right, all right, all right, verse seven.
Speaker 1:But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, wherefore he saith, when he sent it up on high. And what is that talking about? That's talking about his ascension, when he left the earth and was seated and sat at the right hand of the majesty on high. And when that happened, what happened? He led captivity, captive and gave gifts unto men. In other words, at the same time that he led a train of vanquished foes, defeated the devil and demon powers, went down into the bosom of Abraham and freed the Old Testament saints, where they were all able. They were saved on credit and then they were able to go to heaven then, and bosom of Abraham is empty. And then they went to heaven and then he took his place up there.
Speaker 1:He gave gifts unto men, doma. The word gifts is the Greek word doma. It means a present. What is he talking about? Gifts unto men, verse 11. And he gave some apostles. Now the King James has got a comma there after some, but there's no punctuation in the Greek, so let's just read it without the punctuation.
Speaker 1:He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. For what purpose? For the perfecting of the saints, maturing of the saints. See, we need to mature. How can we mature without the gifts, without the domas, the presents? God gave you a present to help you grow. You're not going to stay a muddy, mess front yard with sprigs. I'd go buy a house, you know, and they didn't follow my directions and it'd just be all yellow and caked over and the only thing they grew was weeds that had these spiny looking things sticking up, and they just never would do anything like that. They wouldn't follow the directions. No, we need to follow the directions, don't we. He needs to be what Preeminence he needs to have, the preeminence in our lives. So he gave gifts, he gave domas unto men, the apostles, prophets, pat, some evangelists, pastors and teachers for the maturing of the saints, which is for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect or mature man under the measure of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect or mature man, under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Speaker 1:God is looking to build the church. He said I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But the church has been kind of in a been hit with a wrecking ball in the last number of years. We've had a shortage of teaching. God told me back in 2006, there's a dearth of the word. I said how? So there's more churches than ever? He said your children don't know what you know. The next generation is woefully, and it's been proven out, hasn't it? I mean, we're finding out. Just look on your TV screen and look at these crazy people that are hollering for the Palestinians. They're stupid people, they don't know history. They just fall into the biggest pit you ever saw. No, they need leadership, they need guidance. The church has been lacking, but that's changing very rapidly.
Speaker 1:There's a revival coming up, and so that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the flight of men cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up. Everybody say I'm growing up Into him in all things. Which is the head there it is again, even Christ, and so you need the fivefold ministry. That's why we bring people like the Hankins to the church.
Speaker 1:I learned this at Lakewood years and years ago. Brother Osteen used to say it on a regular basis you cannot be perfected on my ministry alone. You cannot be perfected on my ministry alone. You'll never have maturity on my ministry alone. You love my ministry. I made sure he was my favorite. I didn't allow my affection to move off of my pastor, because he's the primary gift, he's the primary doma present to my life. Without him I don't have anything much.
Speaker 1:A lot of people sit under all these different ministries but they don't have a preference and they just kind of float to whatever their ears. They have itching ears and they want to hear a certain thing. Well, you know what. That's not good for you. Do you get to sit down and just eat all your favorite food, or does your mama make you eat broccoli? I still can't eat broccoli unless it's put in a blender and turned into green mush and then disguise it. So anyway, children, you're not listening to me, you're not being so. He wants us to grow up and without the five-fold ministry you can't grow up.
Speaker 1:Think about the pays. Well, you know these. These are folks that that bring something to the pulpit and bring an impartation into your lives, that begin to you, begin to feed in a certain. But I'm in charge of who I bring in. If I just bring in you know foghorn leghorn, you know Mr Cock-a-doodle-doo struts around up here it's not going to do you very much good. No, we're going to bring.
Speaker 1:So when I decide who I'm going to bring, I find out about them, I investigate, I read their material. If I can, I go and sit in a service or two and find out about them and what it is that they're teaching. Are you with me now and find out about them and what it is that they're teaching. Are you with me now? Amen.
Speaker 1:So if Jesus is Lord, lord means master, head means chief, he means chief. You know, the Bible talks about Jesus being the great shepherd, talks about him being the good shepherd. Peter called him the chief shepherd. He's the chief shepherd, which indicates that has under shepherds. That's the pastor and teacher, and so you need the fivefold. The pastor is the one that's married to the church. All the others are traveling ministers. They come and go to the church. All the others are traveling ministers. They come and go.
Speaker 1:There's an apostolic measure to my office that I stand in. There's an apostolic office that I stand in and that's what it took for this church to begin from scratch. Some churches begin because somebody decided they need to plant a church and they just put their finger on a map and this place needs to have a church and we're going to put a pastor there, and most of the time they're just weak. There's really not an anointing, there's not an apostolic anointing that established it, and it's just weak, weak, weak and you're not going to get. A lot of times they fail Like a restaurant. Most of them fail. You know they don't last, but just a little while, especially out here in 1960. Here, I mean, you'll see a new thing spring up and about a year later it's gone. Poof. And the churches are that way churches open and then they fail. They open and they fail. But this church is 30 years old. Why? Because there is an anointing, that a gift, a doma In fact, really.
Speaker 1:That when he's called regional center was just him telling me, without saying it, this is an apostolic work, not just a local church. When he told me it was a regional center in 96, I didn't connect the dots. I didn't connect the dots till after Brother Osteen passed and I had a visitation and I began to see that God had called me into an apostolic type thing. I'm a pastor mainly, but that apostolic is what it takes to do. Global aid partnership, houston Kids Against Hunger. My God Votes. It takes an apostolic anointing. Are you with me now?
Speaker 1:Paul was an apostle, but he was a prophet first. He was a prophet first before he was released into the apostolic. That happened in Acts, chapter 13. There was in the church at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, and it names them, and Paul and Barnabas were two of them and they laid hands on them and they spake over them and they sent them into the offices to which they had been called. They had an apostolic call, but he was not an apostle yet until he was sent. Well, brother Osteen sent me and gave his blessing. I wouldn't leave there until I got sent.
Speaker 1:Are you with me now? I'm talking about gifts, but me alone, and, of course, my well, it's just. You know, your kids, my kids, all travel. They've all paid their price, they've all been developed and they all stand in an office of pastor and other things, as the spirit wills. I mean, we're doing apostolic work.
Speaker 1:Are y'all with me now? What is that to you? It's a gift. It will help you mature, it will help you grow in the areas that you are. You know, this is my church, my mission, when God called us to go and establish capital in all 50 states. Guess what? That's part of you, that's part of what he's looking at you to help do, like the man that was out there at NASA when President Kennedy came and spoke to him and he was leaning on a broom and he said sir, what is it that you do around here? He said I'm here to put a man on the moon. See, he didn't say I'm sweeping the floors, that's what he was doing. But what was he doing really doing? He was helping, he was helping, he was helping, you're helping. And so, since he's the good, great shepherd, the good shepherd, the chief shepherd, since he's Lord and you're Lord, not the devil, then he's got something to say about your life, he's got something to say about the decisions that you make. And so these gifts are sent to you so that you can grow and mature into the full stature of Christ, so you can be someone he can depend on, not stuck in babyhood.
Speaker 1:I started, we all start the same place babyhood. But we don't get stuck in babyhood. We don't get stuck as a toddler, we don't get stuck as just a little old. Nothing, burger. No, you know we're growing and we're increasing. We're growing and we're increasing and able to be used, uh, in so many ways that we haven't even.
Speaker 1:You know, this is a year, a milestone year, and one of the things that God told us about. He said I've exalted your horn like the horn of a unicorn and you shall be anointed with fresh oil. You know, god gave me that word, psalm 92, 10. And he said you know we're going to get into an anointing we're not familiar with. We're going to have a gifting on our life and it's going to push us into places and promote us and exalt us into places that we have not had before. And you know it's God. God's doing it. God is thrusting this church into a higher place and you're part of it. Are you with me?
Speaker 1:I mentioned, you know, brother Osteen, but he saw something in me and when I started opening, first of all, I opened services in prayer. I won't go into that long thing, but God promoted me and I'm standing there in front of thousands of people and it's nerve-wracking One of the most nerve-wracking things to do is to speak to a bunch of people but I spent my time in prayer. I mean, sunday morning started real early for me because I was prayed up and I had my Bible. I mean I came to church ready and I'd open that service in prayer and and and he and Dodie invited Gladys and I out to eat one Sunday to get to know us better, and and then one thing led to another and he just kept.
Speaker 1:You know, I, I just I'd be real careful what I'd say to him. I'd make sure that when I'm talking to him. I don't just talk a bunch of you know junk. If I had something to say, if I had a word I have a scripture or something I might say it. And one time I mean I gave him a scripture that I'd gotten that morning and he preached on it and I'm sitting there almost fainted. I mean I thought, my goodness, if I'd known that that was that serious, I'd be a lot more careful. You know, it was the fear of God hit me, because I mean, you know, I'm in a place of influence and I can't just say just anything. I need to be sure when I'm talking to him that God is offering my. Are y'all with me? Now? You sound like you know he's, it's a responsibility.
Speaker 1:So he called me one time and says John, I want you to go to so and so's house. He said they're fighting like cats and dogs and I don't have time to deal with that. Just go get their address from the office and go and talk to them. Okay, sent me on a pastoral mission. Neither one of them wanted to hear what I had to say. They kept fighting like cats and dogs in front of me. It didn't matter, I couldn't get on. It was like herding cats and so I had to give them a bad report. I said you know, I tried, but they divorced. Yeah, they divorced. I mean, you know, they just couldn't get along. They wouldn't get along, they wouldn't. It wasn't that they couldn't, they wouldn't get it, they wouldn't. It wasn't that they couldn't, they wouldn't. Now these are saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, but they just wouldn't get on the same page.
Speaker 1:Another time you know a guy that I knew pretty well and his wife. I knew him from full gospel and I also knew him from Lakewood. They went to both places. I knew him very well. I've been known him for didn't know him well, but I knew him. And brother says I need you to go talk to him. He's having an affair and you need to sit down with him. And his wife is calling the office and she found out. And God, these are people that are prayer partners, these are people that are laying hands on people at the front of the church. And he's having an affair. And she called him and evidently it's been a long time, like six years, and I'm thinking why did I get that assignment? Is there anybody behind this? Is somebody else he's talking to? That was pretty awkward, but he wept, but I think it was more that he was caught than he was really repented and I said you know, it sounds to me like you're sorry because you got caught and you're really sorry. He said, well, I just can't let her go Talking about the woman, the second woman I said you have to.
Speaker 1:There's no, I mean, you have sinned. This is going to send you to heaven early. You're giving the devil a shot at you and what I know about you, you can't afford this. Your health is not going to stand up under this kind of sin. Men never make it through this kind of thing. You're going to have to stop now and see if you can patch things up with your wife. I don't know. She does not have any obligation to stay married to you. Do you know what that's going to cost you? I said it's going to cost you half of everything, all of your 401k and all of your this and your house, and it's half hers and she's got the right to all of it, half of it. In this state it's a community problem. I'll just put it to you on dollars and cents if that's what it takes for you to make a good decision. But I'm going to tell you something you can't afford to have this woman in your life. You're going to live way down below, plus the fact you've sinned. And they finally, you know they never really were the same. They didn't divorce, but they weren't the same and he did die.
Speaker 1:Are you with me now? Well, you know, these are things that I learned before I ever got here, see, so God will prepare you for whatever. You may not be one of the fivefold, but you may be one of the other. Vital helps in the ministry that that God will. If you will be willing and obedient, you know he'll bless you and he'll use you. Praise God. Jesus is King of Kings. We're the Kings. He's King of. He's the Lord of Lords. We're the Lords he's Lord of. We've all got, we've all got authority, but your authority only works if you're under authority.
Speaker 1:When the Roman centurion came to Jesus and he said Jesus, my, my servant, lies at home sick of sick of the policy, and Jesus said okay, I'll come and heal him, he said oh, no, jesus, I'm not worthy of this. You should come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed Because I'm a man under authority. He said that first. He said I'm a man under authority, a Roman centurion. He's got a hundred men under him, train killers, the Roman army, the most fierce army on the planet, and he's got a hundred of those guys under him. So he's no milk toast. He said I'm a man under authority and I say to this man, go. And he goes. Does this other man come? And he comes. And does this other man do this? And he does it. So in other words, he's telling Jesus I recognize that you're under God's authority. All you've got to do is give the command.
Speaker 1:And Jesus marveled. He said I have not found so great a faith. No, not in Israel. All over the this is going to be told from all over the place, and yet my people will come and they'll be thrown out with weeping and gnashing of teeth. They don't get it. Here's a Gentile, here's a Gentile, and he gets it.
Speaker 1:So what that tells me is that your authority is only as good as how you're keeping under authority. You need to be under the authority of someone besides yourself, and there's since COVID, we've got lots and lots of people used to go to church all the time and there's still people that watch my live stream, because that's just how they're, that they have a circumstance in their life where they can't go to church. They may be homebound, they may have some health reason, and that I'm not talking about them, but I'm talking about able-bodied Christian people that just got offended and got used to not going to church and now they don't go to church and they, they get on there and well, I'm just as saved as you are. Well, yeah, you might just be a say, but you're no use, you're not extra, your, your authority is not going to work and sooner or later you're going to have a whole lot of trouble because you're opening the door to the devil. But no, if you, if you find a local church thank God, you found a local church be under the authority of a pastor and then, that way you're, you've got a covering, you've got a safety over your head and over your, over the words that you speak.
Speaker 1:Jesus is the high priest, but yet he's the chief shepherd, but he's got under shepherds. So I've got a rod. My children have rods. I mean, when you speak to them, you're speaking to me. We speak to Joseph, you're speaking to me. See, we've set these in here because they are anointed to do it, are y'all with me now? So be accountable and let Jesus have the preeminence. What does that mean exactly? It means let the Word and the Spirit have preeminence in every decision. I'll be as brief as I can.
Speaker 1:I want to wrap this up, but back in the 80s we had a depression in my industry I was a home builder in those days and everything was shifting. And now today I can look back and I can see the governmental things that were happening the global influence, where this country became ruled by globalists who wanted other countries to be. They exported our jobs. They exported our manufacturing. They exported everything offshore. It ruined my business. Now see, I didn't understand why. I thought I was a failure.
Speaker 1:No, the way that this country was built was shaken and the church went asleep and elected people that were scum, let's face it. They got in a nation building and wars and our men go over there and die for nothing. Vietnam horrible, that's a horrible war. People in my generation guys, you know they were spit on when they came home, called baby killers. You had all the hippies and dope fiends out there, you know, protesting and got no honor. And I just think about the thousands of young men and women that died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or if they didn't die, they came back so hurt and PTSD that'd be the best thing. A lot of them don't even have their legs, they don't have arms, they don't have a brain. Their brain is damaged and they're still alive because of modern technology, but they can't function. It's horrible what we've done in the name of nothing. It's just globalism. It's a devil. Thank God we're changing that. I said we're changing that, but anyway, those days so I couldn't I had houses that wouldn't sell.
Speaker 1:I had about a million and a half dollars worth of inventory that wouldn't sell Back then. For me that was a lot of inventory that I couldn't pay the interest on. I borrowed the money to build the houses and they weren't selling. So I wound up. I prayed God, just if I belong somewhere else, if there's some other way that I can get money to pay my bills. My company can't pay me and the houses haven't sold and since they haven't sold I've exhausted my personal finances. There's nothing left. So I got a job offer in Corpus. So we picked up and moved to Corpus Christi, left Lakewood Church and went to Corpus Christi, got involved in church down there and I signed a one-year contract. I was blessed. I had a six-figure contract, head of a residential development company, and had to learn a whole new career. I was a home builder, now I'm a developer. I used to build houses, now I'm building lots. It's just a whole different business and I had to learn on the fly.
Speaker 1:And I just remember every day was and I just had to go. I'd get up early and I'd go. We had a park, catty corner across from my house and overlooking New Asus Bay in Portland, texas, and I'd go out my front door and walk down to that in the dark. It'd still be dark outside and I'd lay up on top of the concrete picnic table and look up at the stars and the sun's about to come up and I'm just seeking God, I'm praying. I had to pray like that so hard every day just to have enough strength to go through the day. Looking back on it, after I got back here, I looked back on that day and I laughed because Brother Hagin said you know, when you're out of the will of God, it's like taking a bath with your socks on. Well, I wasn't totally out of the will of God, I was in His permissive will? How? So? I didn't know that at the time. See, god doesn't tell you everything that you go through. You go through things and you don't know why, and everything is coming apart at the seams and somehow, some way, you keep going. You don't quit, you just keep going. We kept on going.
Speaker 1:I had money to pay the bills, but in the meantime I had those houses in Houston and they started selling as soon as I got out of town. The first one sold, and then the second one sold, and then the third one sold. Within a year all of them had sold, you know, and I thought, wow, praise, god got that off of me. Well, almost all of it. It was 50K left and they wanted that 50K. They could have gotten it out of five houses. They could have gotten the 50K that they wanted from me, but they didn't. They just sold the houses. And then they left a 50K and wanted me to sign a 20-year note. I said no way, jose, I'm done. I've done all I'm doing. You can do what you need to do. They took my cars. Let me off on the street corner at Corpus. I had to go walk to a dealership and lease a car, and so all those things were happening here.
Speaker 1:I'm a tither, I'm a giver, gladys, and I, man, I mean tell you we're active in church, we're? I mean, you know, we know how to pray, we know how to confess the word, we know some things you know, and yet all this is happening. So, years later, I had to realize, you know, like taking a bath with your socks on when I, when I missed God and got out of his perfect will was when I built those houses and I didn't obey the witness. See, you don't know what you don't know. I didn't know how to follow the witness in my business and it cost me 10 years.
Speaker 1:Well, why did God? Well, I wouldn't trade it for anything because if I hadn't learned that, we wouldn't be sitting right where we are right now. It's not God's best way to teach you, but he will teach you from your mistakes. You just go ahead, come on, just praise God. Anyhow, I mean you're going to come out on top if you don't quit, and we never would quit. I said we never would quit. I said we would never quit. We're not going to quit on him because he hadn't quit on us.
Speaker 1:He's up there, he's our high priest, he's our mediator, he's our intercessor, he's our advocate, he's Lord, he's head of all. Come on, lift your hands and receive today. Glory to God, hallelujah, thank you, jesus. Well, when did all that trouble go away? The day we started this church, because that was what God wanted all along. He wanted to prepare me for the ministry, and he did. Hallelujah, glory to God. Thank you, lord. We just give ourselves to him and we're so honored that he gave us to you as a present. Hallelujah, come on, let's lift our hands, father. We thank you that we're not stuck, that we are moving up and we're moving into the fullness of the stature of the body of Christ. Hallelujah, hallelujah.