The Gift of Faith - Creflo Dollar
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00:00:00If you have your Bibles this morning, I want you to go with me to the book of 1 John chapter 5,
00:00:071 John chapter 5 and verse 4. This will be the final teaching, unless we don't finish the
00:00:15teaching, but the final teaching in this series called True Faith. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4.
00:00:24Has this series challenged you to really rethink and really go back and look at some things, right?
00:00:301 John chapter 5 verse 4, we're going to talk about the gift of faith and we're going to answer
00:00:37this question, is faith a gift? The gift of faith. 1 John 5, 4 in the King James, I'm sure you're
00:00:47familiar with this. Let's read it out together. Ready, read. For whatsoever is born of God
00:00:53overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
00:01:02Now, now notice what it says. Whosoever is born of God overcomes the world, the world's way of doing
00:01:08things. And this is the victory. This is the, he's identifying what the victory is already. This is
00:01:17the victory that overcomes the world. He says, faith is the victory. Faith is the victory. Now,
00:01:25I always thought, well, you using your faith is the victory. No, he said, faith is the victory.
00:01:33He's announcing that faith is the victory, but I'm thinking, well, I've got to use my faith first in
00:01:42order to get the victory. He says, now use your faith, that's the victory. No, he says faith is the
00:01:46victory. Faith is already the victory. All right. Now let's look at the mirror translation in verse
00:01:55four. He says, what is born of God is destined to triumph over the world system.
00:02:05Our faith celebrates a victory that is already accomplished. Let's read that again. Back up.
00:02:16Let's read it again. I want you to see this. Whatever is born of God is destined. The destination
00:02:24has already been established. You're destined to triumph over the world system. All of the stuff
00:02:31that's coming against you, all of the worldly things that are happening against you, you're
00:02:35destined. That's your destiny, to win. Your destiny, it's not if you're going to win over
00:02:40the world system. That's already been established. You're destined to win over the world system.
00:02:48You know what? I'm going to go a step further. You have won over the world system.
00:02:55You have won over the world system. You got to understand how this works. There is God's
00:02:59stance and then there is our state. God's stance is what already is done. Our state, praise God,
00:03:07is where we are presently as we are maturing to that stance. Okay. Now he says, whatever is born
00:03:15of God is destined to triumph over the world system. Our faith, which is his faith, which is the only
00:03:22faith, only one faith, one faith, one Lord, one faith. Our faith celebrates a victory
00:03:32that is already accomplished. It's not you having to earn the victory.
00:03:40It is a, your faith is the victory. I love this. Your faith celebrates because that's what happens
00:03:47when you have the faith of Jesus. You're not struggling to try to get the victory.
00:03:52If you're really in faith and in his faith, your faith celebrates the victory that is already
00:03:59accomplished. So healing is a victory that's already accomplished. You shouldn't be in begging mode.
00:04:07You ought to be in celebration mode. I'm celebrating the victory that's already done.
00:04:14Praise God. Hallelujah. Your children are already saved. So celebrate that victory.
00:04:20See, the transformation comes from moving them from their present state because your stance in
00:04:26Christ will change your state in Christ. See, because you're saying, well, you're telling us
00:04:32we're already like this right now, but it don't seem like I'm like that. You got to understand
00:04:37you're like that in the dimension where God is concerned. It's where God is. It is his faith.
00:04:42Everything's done in that dimension. Now he knows where you are and he knows you're in the flesh,
00:04:47but it is that stance that you celebrate that no matter come hell or high water, you are
00:04:54celebrating what you're destined for. Victory that's already accomplished. My, my God, my God.
00:05:05My goodness. That's, that's this life that, that I'm telling you about faith. This faith life is
00:05:11not about you coming up with all of the schemes to get it accomplished. And that's what religion
00:05:17says. Here's what you do to get it accomplished. Here's what you got to do to get your victory.
00:05:24And we're not understanding victory done already been got.
00:05:32He waiting on somebody to start. Faith is a celebration of what's already been done.
00:05:41So you say, well, you're in faith. Yeah, I'm in faith. Hallelujah. Thank you. God has already
00:05:44been done. No, you got to do these five things. What'd you tell me? No, no, no, no, no.
00:05:48Them five things plus anything else you add to it. It had already been finished. I'm in celebration.
00:05:53I'm in the faith that's done. I'm in the faith that's accomplished. All right. All right. Now
00:06:00go to Ephesians 2, 8 through 9. Ephesians 2, 8 through 9. Glory to God. Oh, the glory
00:06:09is increasing in your house. The glory is increasing on your body. Hallelujah. Doctor
00:06:18can't find stuff that was in the records. Hallelujah. They can't find stuff that they
00:06:22found last month. They're trying to figure out what you've been doing and, and, and, and be bold
00:06:28enough to answer me. What you been doing? Tell them I've been living in the realm of the finished.
00:06:32That's what I've been doing. I've been waiting on y'all to finish stuff. I'm living in the realm
00:06:37of the finished. Go on and cancel the operation. You don't need it no more
00:06:40cause I've been celebrating what Jesus has already done. Can you see what we've been doing?
00:07:07Oh, Jesus.
00:07:21For by grace are you saved, sound, preserved. Remember that? Through faith.
00:07:30And that, and I found out what that was. And that, in other words, that you're believing of that.
00:07:41For by grace you're saved, believe in that. And you got it through faith, believing that. And,
00:07:47and that, believing that. Not of yourself. It is the gift of God.
00:07:55Verse nine. He says, not of works. It's the gift of God. Not of works. So you can't boast about
00:08:04nothing. All right, now listen to this now. Listen to this. My response, your response, our response
00:08:13in salvation, our response in salvation is faith. Our response to God is faith.
00:08:25Being delivered, being made sound, being made righteous, our response in salvation is faith.
00:08:33Faith is a positive response to what grace has made available. Celebrating what's already finished
00:08:42is a response to what's already been accomplished. I'm celebrating. I am responding.
00:08:51Faith is a positive response to what grace has made available. So faith responds
00:08:59with celebration, and confidence, and trust in what has already been done.
00:09:06That's what faith does. Faith is nothing that we do in our own power.
00:09:12Faith is nothing that we do in our own power or by our own resources. Faith is not by our own
00:09:22resources. Faith is not by our own resources. It's, faith is not by what we do in our own abilities,
00:09:33and powers, and our intellect. No. See, first of all, we do not have adequate power or resources,
00:09:44and if we did, God would not want us to rely on them. Otherwise, salvation would be in part by
00:09:51our own works, and we would have some ground to boast in ourselves if there was anything about
00:10:01us that could do it. And I'm trying to get you to see that. It's like, let's not celebrate
00:10:09your religion of what you do to get what he has done. Let us realize that he has done,
00:10:18so what you do is celebrate his doing. Are you following what I'm saying now?
00:10:25Amen.
00:10:30Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us apart from God's giving it to us.
00:10:40Even faith is not of us, and hadn't that been the area we have assumed and we have
00:10:47taken into ourself that the faith, this faith is of me. This faith has been given to you.
00:10:55It is a gift just as much as grace is a gift. For by grace are you saved. Grace is a gift.
00:11:04Salvation is a gift, and faith is a gift. You don't have the resource to produce this kind of faith.
00:11:14My God, did you hear what I just said? You do not have the resource as a human. You do not have a
00:11:21resource. This kind of faith can't come from you. Please explain that to me. This kind of faith can't
00:11:29come from you. This kind of faith where everything is complete and finished and done. This kind of
00:11:34faith where God called the end at the very beginning. This kind of faith can't come from you.
00:11:39You struggle with the kind of faith that try to get you healed of a cold. Your faith is struggling
00:11:45with sniffles. You got that $2.50 faith, and then you want to go brag about it.
00:11:53See, that's what happens. When that faith is of you, you want to go brag about it.
00:12:00But when you know it is of God, you can't even brag about it. Somebody say how you get healed.
00:12:05You don't talk about the five steps you did. How you get healed? I'm still trying to figure that
00:12:09out myself. I know it was God. I know it was God, but I thought this and that came around here,
00:12:15and that looped over here, and they did that, and they did that, and then they were going to give me
00:12:19this shot, and they dropped it. It broke, and I don't know. My God, hallelujah. You ever been there?
00:12:27Because I'm saying you better get ready because you're going to have a lot of those befuddling
00:12:30moments in your life where you're going to be confronted with what you thought you did.
00:12:40Versus what God has already done, and I am telling you, you are not the adequate resource to produce
00:12:47this type of gift. You don't have the resources to produce this kind of faith,
00:12:54and I've been struggling for all these years trying to make this kind of faith work,
00:13:02and when it didn't work, I beat myself up and condemned myself, and something must be wrong
00:13:05with my faith. Something must be wrong. I need to go fast. I need to pray. I need to figure out what's
00:13:11happening. Why this? I confess this thing five times a day. I prayed in tons of extra hour.
00:13:18I came to church. Lord have mercy, including the fifth Sunday. I kept coming. I gave my tithes,
00:13:25my offerings, my alms. I danced. I ran around the dome. I witnessed the people. Can I get a
00:13:35witness here, somebody? I did all of this. Have you ever done everything you know to do, and there
00:13:42was no results, and it was still failure? You were still sick. They still died. You still lost your
00:13:47job. You didn't understand all of that, but the day you realize that it's already been done,
00:13:53it seemed like something started happening supernaturally, and you can't even explain it because
00:14:06and you just get tired, and you know what happened with most people before we found this out? They
00:14:10just got tired. They just got tired. You know a number of people I meet in the public that say,
00:14:15I used to go to your church, and I'm like, I understand. I understand. It was a lot of work
00:14:20wasn't it? Yeah. I didn't retire. I just got tired. You know, you had to dress right. You had to have
00:14:28your makeup right. You was a Jezebel with makeup, sometimes without makeup. You know, if you wore
00:14:34pants, then you up the devil, you know. I mean, go all the way back then. Don't put no drums in the
00:14:39church because drums. I mean, think about it. Drums affect God, and oh God, all of this stuff that we
00:14:44have just bought all of these years, and I am telling you it's over. It's over. It's over.
00:14:51The gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ is being preached around this world.
00:15:05If I have to lose friends over this gospel, praise the Lord. If I got to lose invitations,
00:15:11praise the Lord. If they think I done lost my mind, praise the Lord. If they think I'm a heretic,
00:15:17praise the Lord. If they think I'm up the devil, praise the Lord. But let's check your love walk,
00:15:23and let's check my love walk. Let's check your comparison. Listen, when you are of faith,
00:15:29there ain't no need to compare
00:15:35because it ain't of you. It is of God, and can't nobody compare with the mighty God. Can't nobody.
00:15:49So, people are tired. They're tired of trying to figure all this stuff out.
00:15:54They're tired.
00:15:55I'd rather finish my assignment with five people than 50,000. I'm good with that
00:16:06because at the end of the day, it ain't my job to judge what another man saying in the first place.
00:16:11My job is to do what he called me to do, and then let God do with it whatever he want to do with it,
00:16:16and then when my, how they say in Baptist church, my journey is over, I got to stand before the
00:16:23Lord, and I sure don't want to stand before God and say, well, Lord, that reason why I didn't
00:16:27preach that because nobody else was preaching it, and I didn't want everybody to be mad at me,
00:16:31and you delivered me from approval addiction, but I jumped right back into it because
00:16:37I figured if I get back in approval addiction and start saying all of the stuff I know to be wrong,
00:16:42that the church would grow. There's a difference between growth and swelling.
00:16:53A injury can cause a swelling, and I don't want to preach injured anymore.
00:17:14All righty then.
00:17:15So, Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us apart from God's giving it to us.
00:17:26God gave it to us. So, yes, I have faith. He's dealt unto every man the measure of faith,
00:17:31but it ain't my faith. It's his faith, perfect, complete, and done, given to me,
00:17:40and we all have his faith so that we may celebrate what has already been accomplished.
00:17:45If you understand that, say amen. But then we go down to verse 10. He says,
00:17:51not of worksless any man should boast. Verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ
00:17:57Jesus unto good works. That's awesome. We were created unto good works, which God has before
00:18:04ordained that we should walk in them good works. So, we are not given saving faith by good works,
00:18:11so the good works doesn't give us saving faith. But with the purpose that we do good works,
00:18:18all right, so we got this faith to do good works. The good works doesn't give us the faith,
00:18:24all right? Out of faith comes the good works. The works that we are not saved by, these very same
00:18:31works we are saved for. We're saved for these works. Good works are never the cause of salvation,
00:18:39but ought to be its fruit. Good works are never the cause of salvation, but good works ought to
00:18:47be the fruit of salvation. You look at your life, and you see what comes as a result of that.
00:18:54And so, we've concluded throughout these teachings this month and the past month,
00:18:59human effort has nothing to do with salvation, which is by grace through faith.
00:19:05Human effort has nothing to do with salvation, which is by grace through faith.
00:19:17I tell you, from the day I got born again, I was taught that my human effort
00:19:23is what's going to have to happen in order for anything to work for me.
00:19:28And I can recall all of those years, and I mean to tell you,
00:19:35just got tired. And I was like, Lord, please, please, please open my eyes. I don't even know
00:19:44if there's something wrong, but if it is, open my eyes. I just can't see
00:19:53the contradiction between what I'm hearing versus what I know. And that's why you have
00:20:00to have a relationship with Jesus, because when they can't figure out what the Scripture says,
00:20:04you need to know you know him. Y'all understand what I'm saying? You need to know you know him.
00:20:09You need to know him for yourself. When they fussing about the translation of this,
00:20:13translation of that, you need to be pretty confident and say, yeah, I know what you're
00:20:18trying to say, but I know him, and he ain't like that. I know him for myself, and he's so full of
00:20:26love. And then you can just recall in your life, I was on my way to hell. Didn't have no God on my
00:20:33side, and he came in and rearranged my whole life. So I know what y'all saying and all that.
00:20:39You know, the church is just trying their best to send people to hell like every day.
00:20:43You going to hell, you going to hell. I saw a video one time. It was hilarious. I don't know
00:20:48what happened. The preachers just must have got tired. The law do that to you. The law just get
00:20:53you tired, and you just do stupid. Man, he just went off. He got him in, and he said, oh, y'all
00:20:59going. He was looking at his congregation. He said, oh, y'all going to hell. And then the guy
00:21:02stopped playing the drum. He said, quit playing them drums. You going to hell. And I looked at
00:21:08the piano player. You going to hell. Looked at the deacons. You going to hell. Looked at the
00:21:12preacher on the pulpit. Oh, y'all going to hell. Then he looked at his wife and family. Y'all going
00:21:16to hell too. Oh, y'all going to hell. And I just assumed that he knew if he was sending everybody
00:21:20to hell, he probably going to be going to hell with them, huh? Is this a heaven and hell thing?
00:21:27Because that's what we made it. It's almost like religion has to have a fear-based motivation.
00:21:35It's like religion and church turned into the drug pusher and says, I'll just give you a little
00:21:42taste of it just to get you to want some more religion, some more fear. And we actually got
00:21:47satisfied with trying to live under the law, trying to live under the fear, trying to live
00:21:50under the religious things that we've heard all of our lives because, you know, didn't nobody
00:21:55know no better because he wants you to know him. And I say, trust your relationship with God.
00:22:01I say, trust your relationship. Get one first and let that be. Somebody says, what book do I read
00:22:07when I get saved? I say, hold on a minute. The first thing you need to do when you get saved is
00:22:11get to know Jesus. Spend time in the Word. Spend time in prayer. Spend time with him and do that
00:22:17all over again and spend time with him and get to know him. And then the first time you hear from
00:22:22God, it's amazing. You hear from him in your heart. You're like, oh, I think I just heard from God.
00:22:26And that relationship continues to develop and develop. It's not hard. God knows how to connect
00:22:32with that relationship. All you got to do is want him. All you got to do is realize that he's real.
00:22:37All you got to do is have that, that, that, that, that, that, that, oh, I moment in your life where you're
00:22:41like, God, I believe in you. He will talk to you. He'll talk to you on a dream. He'll talk to you
00:22:45while you're driving your car. It'll be, it'll be something about a situation that ain't, you ain't
00:22:51feeling it right now because God, God working with you and he wants you to learn how to live that
00:22:55everyday life with him. You shouldn't just have to be a prophet or a pastor or a teacher to know
00:23:00I hear from God. He said, my sheep hear my voice. Hallelujah. And the sheep follow the shepherd
00:23:11for two reasons. Number one, to be cared for and to be fed. And God wants you to know he'll take
00:23:18care of you. And at the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, we ought to be able to somewhat
00:23:23close the Bible. I said somewhat close the Bible, but we ought to have a relationship with Jesus
00:23:28Christ. If they burned all the Bibles in the world, it shouldn't affect us at all because we know him.
00:23:35There'll come a time in your life you don't need the book no more
00:23:38because you got him, the author of the book. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
00:23:47Now don't go home and say, pastor said we don't need the Bible no more.
00:23:52Yeah, pastor said we don't need the Bible no more. I'm tired of reading it anyway. It ain't what I said.
00:23:58Because in the beginning was the Word and the Word with God and Word was God and thank God for it
00:24:02kind of helped us to get to knowing. But have you, have you learned him yet?
00:24:10I'm talking about personally. Have you, have you learned him?
00:24:14Do you know his voice when he's speaking to you? Or when you hear something, are you still saying,
00:24:19is that God? Is that the devil? Or is that me? You need to quit that. You need to,
00:24:27you need to know that's God. I tell you, if it's the devil and just you, you'll find out real quick.
00:24:37But if it's God, you can tuck that away forever and say, I know what it sounds like in my heart
00:24:44to hear and to be led by the Spirit. We have all this interesting
00:24:51ways, Brother Rick, of people getting saved. You know, you got to say that five times. You got to
00:24:56do that five times. And I just went back to a scripture that's just last night. I was just
00:25:00inspired to do it. I said, let me see what Jesus said about getting saved. He said,
00:25:03he said, uh, born again. He said, how? By the Spirit. And he said, you don't even know which
00:25:08way to go. He said, it's like the wind. And then here we are trying to take away what he said about
00:25:17getting born again. And it's by the Spirit of God. And then we're telling folks, you got to say this
00:25:23kind of prayer, this kind of way. And it's got to be said in a minute, because if you don't say it
00:25:27in one minute, it didn't take. Ain't you tired of all that? It's by the Holy Ghost. You know what
00:25:33happens? You realize that Jesus is the Lord, and then he comes into your heart, the Holy Spirit,
00:25:38and you're born again. But we just got to have something that we can brag about.
00:25:42We have 1,300 people to get saved this morning in the prayer room. How do you know? 1,300 people
00:25:48prayed a prayer of salvation. Hallelujah. Well, I mean, ain't got no problem with that. But Jesus
00:25:54didn't say you're born again by saying the prayer of salvation. Nicodemus came to him at nighttime.
00:26:00And God was talking to him about that belly, that out of your belly flows rivers of living
00:26:08water. He said the Spirit like the wind. You don't know where it come from or where it going through.
00:26:12This is how a man is born again. And we ignore all that and apply our little stuff to it,
00:26:19and use it to condemn everybody if you didn't do it the way we said to be doing.
00:26:26I know I got saved before I said the prayer. Something happened to me.
00:26:30Go back to the day you got. Something happened on the inside of me. Something happened on the inside
00:26:35of me. God that led me to the Lord, and I just didn't understand what was going on. Thank God for
00:26:41people that lead you. Thank God to our prayer room. They can give you understanding of what
00:26:45happened, and all you're getting, get understanding. But he was sitting there, you know, he was trying
00:26:49to get me. He said, uh, write all your sins on this paper. I said, I ain't writing all my sins on my paper
00:26:55so you can see it. Write your sins on the paper. You say God know everything. Well, God don't know
00:27:00what I did. Now, you don't need to be knowing everything I did. We fussed about that for about 15 minutes.
00:27:07He said, let's just pretend like you're written on the paper. I said, fine. He said, tear it up. I said, I
00:27:12tore it up, and then he threw it to the right. I'm trying to figure why you throwing trash in my room
00:27:16like that, right? He said, that is how God does what you're saying. He throws it as far as the east
00:27:22is from the west, and they're never going to come together. And I knew he was in my heart before we
00:27:28prayed the prayer of salvation. I said, I got to have this Jesus.
00:27:39Remember, Joe Clark don't lean on me. He said, he didn't call me Batman now because he got that back.
00:27:47I just want people to be free. I want you to be free, not careless.
00:27:52Okay, not going out here and hearing what you want to hear to justify
00:27:55your lack of disciplines in your life, but I'm showing you that God has done greater things
00:28:02than you can even realize if you can accept it. Now, watch this. I think that's enough because
00:28:09we're getting ready to enter into a little piece here that I think is going to really
00:28:14amaze you. Human effort has nothing to do with salvation, which is by grace through faith.
00:28:19Now, go with me to the book of Romans chapter 3, verse 2 and 3. I'm going to show you this issue of
00:28:27this faith we have. It's a gift. It's a gift. It's a gift. It didn't come by self-effort or
00:28:33human effort. Romans chapter 3, verses 2 through 3 in the NLT first, and then in the mirror.
00:28:40Romans 3, 2 through 3 in the NLT, and then in the mirror. Hallelujah. All right.
00:28:46And I thought I would never see the day I would have a device up here preaching with a device.
00:28:54Good Lord, have mercy. God is good, isn't he?
00:28:59I got tired of carrying all them books. Amen. Romans chapter 3, and look at this, verse 2.
00:29:09Wow. Romans 3, 2 in the NLT says,
00:29:17yes, there are great benefits. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of
00:29:23God. Verse 3, true. Some of them were unfaithful, but just because they were unfaithful, does that
00:29:32mean that God will be unfaithful? Just because they were unfaithful, does that mean that God's
00:29:41going to be unfaithful? Huh. Now, look at this in the mirror real quick.
00:29:52He says, the Jewish nation entrusted with the Masonic promise
00:29:57gives relevance and context to the entire prophetic conversation of God.
00:30:03The question is, how does their failure to believe God affect what God believes?
00:30:14How? How can their failure? My God, did y'all see that?
00:30:23How does their failure to believe God affect what God believes?
00:30:27So, whether you believe God or not, it's not going to change what God believes about you.
00:30:38What is it that God believes about you? God believes that you're righteous.
00:30:43God believes that you're whole. Jesus is what God thinks about us.
00:30:48God believes that you're redeemed.
00:30:52And your lack of belief still won't change what he believes about you.
00:30:59He believes you're saved. He believes you're sound. Yeah. He believes you're rescued and righteous.
00:31:10And some don't even believe it yet, but it ain't going to change what he believes.
00:31:14Some don't even believe it yet, but it ain't going to change what he believes.
00:31:18Oh, Jesus.
00:31:23Glory to God. Look at this verse three.
00:31:27The question is, how does their failure to believe God affect what God believes?
00:31:32It is impossible for their unbelief to compromise God's faith.
00:31:39It is impossible for our unbelief to compromise God's faith.
00:31:44What we believe about God does not define him. God's faith defines us.
00:31:52What we believe about God doesn't define him, but God's faith defines us.
00:31:59Oh, let's sit here for a minute till you get that. His faith, done, complete, finished, defines us.
00:32:10By his perfect faith, he says, your righteousness is finished. Your salvation is finished.
00:32:18Your redemption is finished. Everything that you'll ever need is finished.
00:32:24You are defined by the finished faith that I have for you.
00:32:31Your faith won't change me, but my faith defines you.
00:32:40His faith defines me.
00:32:47So I got to find out what the definition of his faith. His faith is, my victory is done.
00:32:54My healing is done. My salvation is done. My righteousness is done. My provision's finished.
00:33:03Um, happy life, done. Uh, if you're challenged, overcoming it, done. He says, my faith defines you.
00:33:16Your faith doesn't change me. So your faith won't, oh Lord, hold on.
00:33:24What'd you say?
00:33:30I don't know if y'all ready for that. Nah, you ain't. No, come on. You ain't ready.
00:33:37Come on. You won't even come back here no more. Come on in.
00:33:42God's faith defines me. That's not how we got it.
00:33:49We got it. It was all about our faith moving God. It was not about God's faith defining me.
00:34:00I am the righteousness of God. Even when I'm not doing right, I'm defined by his faith
00:34:09as being the righteousness of God. I'm not defined by my actions. I'm defined by his faith. He has
00:34:16defined me. Ooh, Lord have mercy. What does that do? What does that do? You wake up in the morning,
00:34:26you stop struggling with your behavior and you start focusing on how you've been defined by God
00:34:34and now your behavior starts changing because the definition is getting in your heart and you are
00:34:39realizing, why am I trying to accomplish the definition that he's already finished
00:34:45and accomplishing me? So, I start celebrating my definition, which is my identity.
00:35:02That's all right. This is the last teaching on this. We'll get back to Daniel and then
00:35:09start talking to you about how you need to pray. You need pray. Praying, you ain't right because
00:35:13you ain't praying. If you would pray more, then God would do more. But see, God done already did
00:35:20what he gonna do and he just waiting on you to agree and celebrate with what he's already done
00:35:27and you keep, you've made your Christian life all about what you need to do to move God and God,
00:35:34first of all, you can't move me.
00:35:38You can't move me. I'm all that. I'm that man. I'm that guy. Excuse me. I'm,
00:35:43you're not a man of your life. Who do you, who do you think you are? The dude made all of the
00:35:50universe and the, and the, and the, and the microwave is a solar system that's so small,
00:35:57they look like a dust ball. And you, so if the microwave looked like a dust ball,
00:36:07I don't even, I don't even know.
00:36:11If it wasn't for God, you wouldn't even be seen. You'd be like little micro ants.
00:36:15All right, Galatians 2. That's heavy y'all right there. I'm, God defines me.
00:36:32God defines me, dude. God defines me. God defines me.
00:36:38God defines me. God defines me.
00:36:44God defines me.
00:36:52And what I do won't change him.
00:36:59He started off loving you. I don't care how much crazier you get.
00:37:03You're crazy. Ain't going to ever change him. So don't let the devil put this in your head.
00:37:08I don't think God loves me no more. That is a demonic thought.
00:37:13Cause your behavior can't change him.
00:37:19Your behavior can't change him.
00:37:24It's freaking you out because this is totally against religious traditional teaching that I am
00:37:32dismantling.
00:37:38And even if I'm completely wrong, you're going to notice you're going to start loving more
00:37:46because you've been defined by him as love.
00:37:54Proof in the pudding. You can call yourself a car all day long, but until you get an engine
00:38:00and all this stuff under the hood, you ain't no car. I'm a car. I'm a car. I'm a car. I'm a car.
00:38:06Now you ain't. Now you ain't. Don't speak that down numberly. You ain't a car.
00:38:16Galatians 2 verse 16 through 21. This is heavy. Galatians 2, 16 through 21. Now when I teach,
00:38:24you notice I teach, you know, from one thing you get that, then we're ready to go to the
00:38:30next one from level to level, level to level. And if it ain't came together yet,
00:38:34it's going to come together. But all I'm trying to show you is that religion got you boasting.
00:38:41You a little bit too high strong. Religion got you boasting. You ain't nothing without God.
00:38:46Okay. I don't care what you do, how you sang, how many departments you in, you ain't nothing.
00:39:00And when I mean nothing, I mean absolutely nothing. And I know it makes you feel good
00:39:07and something brag about it. And I'm going to heaven out of you going to heaven because he let
00:39:10you. You better chill out on that. This thing isn't going to be, it ain't going to be like
00:39:22what everybody told you all your life. Heaven going to be such an amazing, you ain't never
00:39:26stood in the, they're both cool. Somebody said what you're doing. That's just for me. Don't,
00:39:30don't try to figure none of that out. I just, you know, if you want me to do, you know,
00:39:35it's just, I'm just,
00:39:43Bible says, God is what? He doesn't have it. All right. All right. We have it. He is it.
00:39:55You can stand in the presence of people who have love and be blown away with tears,
00:40:08but you can't even fathom what it is like to stand in the presence of pure, raw, authentic love.
00:40:22I tremble every time I think about it. There's nothing unholy that can survive in that atmosphere.
00:40:34He can change you just like that. So when Jesus came wrapped up in the physical body,
00:40:43the physical body, a lot of people couldn't handle him.
00:40:50And the love that he was was shielded through a physical body. When you see God
00:40:58and stand before him and pure, raw love, what can remain the same?
00:41:07I had to catch myself because, oh God, all of a sudden there's no fear in nothing
00:41:20because of who he is and what he is. For God so loved the world
00:41:30that his love produced a physical body for him to travel in.
00:41:40And he became a flesh that dwelt amongst men and they saw him clothed in glory.
00:41:52And we want to learn a few Bible scriptures and think we know all that is about God.
00:41:58Here's the one you need to look at. How high? How deep? How wide?
00:42:08They never told you how high, how deep, how wide. They said it goes up and deep and wide
00:42:17and wide and no comprehension can handle it.
00:42:26Something's getting ready to happen. And if you'll listen to me, you will operate with more
00:42:32spiritual power than you've ever operated before in your life because you'll finally get rid of
00:42:37this nasty stinking religion and you'll have a walk with God that every man will know it's God
00:42:46because of the essence of God flowing out of you. And they that know their God shall do exploits.
00:43:05I tell you sometimes I don't know what to say cause I'm just,
00:43:09I'm just, and I pause and he talks and I'm talking to him and I don't even have to open
00:43:18my mouth sometimes. Sometimes I just do just to hear myself bring the conversation in through my
00:43:24ears. How great thou art. My eyes literally saw into that realm. I don't care if you believe me
00:43:37or not. I ain't saying this, what you believe about what I said ain't going to change what I
00:43:42know happened. And you get so entangled up in that realm. You kind of, you don't, you ain't
00:43:57thinking about nothing. If he hadn't put me back in my body, I doubt if I'd have went in my body.
00:44:04But in that realm, I heard him say too much unfinished business. And then I
00:44:08was back in my body, not knowing was I in it or out of it or what?
00:44:21If things come into a close, y'all know it.
00:44:23And I don't mind being put on the chopping blocks because it's true.
00:44:36And I operate in more power and anointing than I've ever operated in in 43 years of my life.
00:44:41Not no play power. Come here, slapping people. That's easy. I just slap you in the natural,
00:44:46you know, you'll either hit me back or fall out. I mean, you know,
00:44:48I'm talking about the anointing of the Holy Ghost.
00:44:57That it flows out of you in everyday lives.
00:45:03What I've been doing is tipping people at restaurants and at things, $100, $120,
00:45:12just so I can get their attention. And one morning the Lord led me to a
00:45:17high hop. Can't eat nothing in a high hop. I was trying these protein pancakes.
00:45:24I figured protein made it legal. It didn't. I ate a couple of bites off of it.
00:45:33And I walked in and it was a dear sister sitting there and just look like
00:45:38she just was having just a bad day and the day hadn't started.
00:45:42Good morning, ma'am. How you doing? Now, most of y'all, where's your manager, man?
00:45:47Chill out with that. All right. You don't know what people go through. Have some empathy.
00:45:55She served and everything. She came in. I said, everything going to be all right, ma'am.
00:46:01And I gave her a tip and she looked at it. She said,
00:46:04you don't need no change back. I said, no, ma'am. I want you to have all that.
00:46:11She said, Lord, have mercy. And the tears came out of her eyes.
00:46:15We got up and gave her a big old hug and say, everything going to be all right.
00:46:20She said, y'all just made my day. Y'all just made my day.
00:46:25That's that God stuff.
00:46:34All of a sudden, preaching on the pulpit and all that, I want to do that God stuff.
00:46:48One week, you'd think I was a drug addict walking around with all them hundred dollar bills.
00:46:55Then I said it wasn't enough, so I'd give them $200.
00:46:57I want to get a wow out of them, a whoa out of them.
00:47:06Oh, this made my day. Jesus did, honey. He loves you. I don't need to preach no whole God.
00:47:11Now, sit down. I need to talk to you about the five points of how to pray in these kind of
00:47:16tongues. And then after that, you're going to have to do this. Well, what I got to do after that? You
00:47:20got about 300 more things you're going to have to do before you're really right for God.
00:47:24Being a witness is not difficult. Let the love that he is flow out of you
00:47:31in somebody's life. It ain't difficult. It ain't hard at all.
00:47:42And what do you think about the Democrats and the Republicans? I don't try not to think about now
00:47:47one of them. Holy Ghost knows who need to be in office. You pray to him and he'll tell you to do
00:47:59it. Now, if you don't want to know, don't ask him. I ain't getting involved in all that tomfoolery.
00:48:11I'm in a higher calling.
00:48:17Well, you ought to be telling your people who to vote for, and you ought to be quiet and mind your
00:48:22own business. Holy Ghost know how to talk to y'all. All right, let's go ahead and get back in this.
00:48:36Verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law.
00:48:41The works of the law was always about performance. It's always about what you got to do in order to
00:48:46get God to do something. Knowing that a man is not justified or declared righteous by the works
00:48:53of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, he's justified. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ
00:49:01that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law.
00:49:10For by the works of the law shall no man or no flesh be justified.
00:49:17Come on. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners.
00:49:25Is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
00:49:32For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
00:49:40Why would I build again the things I destroyed?
00:49:45For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live under God. I am crucified with Christ.
00:49:53Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live
00:50:00in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, his faith, who loved me and who gave
00:50:08himself for me. Look at verse 21. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
00:50:16comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Now, look at this in the mirror real quick.
00:50:25It says basically the same thing, but brings out some points that I want you to have.
00:50:29Galatians, chapter 2, and
00:50:39verse 16. Let's start there.
00:50:45As Jews, we should be the first to know that righteousness is not a reward for good behavior
00:50:53according to the requirements of the law.
00:50:57We have pursued righteousness for generations under the system of personal performance,
00:51:02but failed miserably. We tried to be righteous by our personal performance. It failed.
00:51:11Jesus Christ embodies God's belief concerning mankind's redeemed righteousness.
00:51:19So, Jesus embodies what God believes about us.
00:51:23Our best intentions to do good cannot add any weight to our righteousness.
00:51:31We have no advantage over any person. Jew and Gentile alike were equally disqualified by the
00:51:38law. Now, we are equally justified because of Jesus, and for no other reason are we justified.
00:51:46My goodness. However, if in our quest to discover righteousness by faith in what
00:51:54Christ did for us, we find that it is still possible to stumble. Do not now label yourself
00:52:03a sinner yet again. So, you get born again, you stumbled into some sin, don't label yourself as
00:52:12a sinner. The fact that you sin does not cancel the cross of Christ and gives you no reason to
00:52:24abandon justification by faith as if Christ is to be blamed for your distraction. That would be
00:52:31absurd. Do you understand what he's saying? He's saying you sinning and not to… Please hear me.
00:52:42Ain't nobody giving you no license to sin, but you're still in this human body in this crazy
00:52:47world. So, you're going to miss the mark. He says, when you miss the mark, don't label yourself a
00:52:52sinner. You're still a saint. You're still the righteousness of God. Why? Because you sin,
00:53:00your sin doesn't cancel what Jesus did on the cross. See, I'm telling you, your behavior doesn't
00:53:07change God. People get real quiet when you do that because, you know, you're scared people
00:53:15gonna do this. That's between them and God. That's between them and God. That ain't none of my business.
00:53:21I'm telling you, all I have to do for any dude that wants to come and say, well, you know, I
00:53:28agree with that. Only thing I'm gonna say is, so you're saying you're perfect? That's all I'm
00:53:33gonna say. So, you're saying you're perfect? Well, I ain't saying I'm perfect. What? Are you saying
00:53:38you miss the mark at times? Well, yeah, but I don't sleep around and I don't commit adultery.
00:53:44Oh, so you got to divide sin into big sin and little sin in order to get yourself to fit.
00:53:51I'll tell you what, that crippled old dollar going to hell telling them people they can sin.
00:53:54Ain't nobody telling you, you can sin. I'm telling you, you will.
00:54:01Because you're in the process of maturing. You're in the process of growing. And just like a baby
00:54:06who's learning how to walk will fall several times learning how to walk. And when he learns how to
00:54:12walk and trying to learn how to run, he gonna stumble several times learning how to walk.
00:54:18He gonna stumble several times while you're learning how to run. And you now want to dismiss
00:54:24the progressive stages of maturity to justify your fake, phony disposition as someone who don't sin
00:54:34no more now that you got born again. You know how many times you sinned the day you got born again?
00:54:38But you got better because he's working in you, praise the Lord. And there are things you don't
00:54:48want to do no more because he took the taste out of you, praise the Lord. And he been working on
00:54:53your desire. So that's no longer appealing. It's a journey. It's a process, but don't get up here
00:54:59because you scared people gonna sin by telling them you're human, you gonna sin on this journey.
00:55:07But we hope by the time you get to the destination,
00:55:11you're a new creation completely and sin is no longer part of your portfolio.
00:55:20Oh, look at this. I don't know about that pastor. Well, let's just follow your life if you don't
00:55:25know about that. Bring your flawless, perfect self. Give me an invitation to follow you. I don't need
00:55:32a date, follow your hour. And I'll look what comes out of your mouth, that's sin. And I'll
00:55:39check your attitude out, that's sin. And I'll check how you treat people in the restaurant,
00:55:44that's sin. And I'll check out how you treat yourself, that's sin. And I'll check out how
00:55:48you're treating your mate, that's sin. Don't come hollering at me about your religious perfection
00:55:54that is pure, petty tomfoolery.
00:56:05You ain't gonna grow right being in deception.
00:56:13So you missed the mark. What do you do when you fall? Get up, dust yourself off and keep it moving.
00:56:24That's what you do. But most people, they want to hear the deception. You saved,
00:56:31you don't do no, you ain't doing nothing wrong no more. And knowing good and well you do.
00:56:38Well, you justify sin. I ain't justifying sin, I'm justifying my justification.
00:56:44I'm living life as if I had never sinned.
00:56:48What happens if I keep living life as if I've never sinned? All of that stuff I'm
00:56:52doing, that goes away. Because he's working on a deeper area than the outside. He's working on the
00:56:58inside. He's changing my desire. It's not me, well, I'm not gonna sin because I'm not supposed
00:57:04to sin. It's gonna eventually come, I'm not gonna sin because I don't want to.
00:57:14Well, I tell you what, once I got shaved holy lollipop, my hands looked new, my feet did too.
00:57:19You had the same hand, same corn on that toe. All that stuff still looked the same.
00:57:29You grow, ladies and gentlemen, you grow.
00:57:35And the day you recognize that, you'll keep beating, you'll stop beating people up so bad
00:57:41because you're comparing yourself amongst yourself. Quit doing that. That's not wise.
00:57:46Now, some people, they're gonna hear what they want to hear. That's what I'm saying.
00:57:49That's why I can't, I can't, this is, hear what they want to hear.
00:57:54Round dollar telling people they ought to sin. God, dawg, bruh, you really, really, really think
00:58:03that your perfection is real. It's not. It's not.
00:58:11It's not. Well, pastor, what about you? Same. Same. I get up sometime and I'm like,
00:58:19hmm, feeling kind of ornery. Good morning, how you doing? Why you ask? Sin.
00:58:31Well, can you help me doing this? No, I'm tired of y'all doing that. Oh, look at that, selfishness,
00:58:36sin. I mean, if you're gonna call it, you gotta call all of them.
00:58:44Don't just be calling the big 10.
00:58:47Cause the little 603 weighing your tail out, you understand?
00:58:58And if you think this is something, Taff and I got a series on relationships we're gonna talk about.
00:59:03Oh, oh, we're going to be transparent and we're going to talk about ourselves.
00:59:13But a lot of y'all just, y'all, y'all keep running.
00:59:16And you think you're running away from your partner. You're really running away from yourself.
00:59:22You taking that same old mess to somebody else, like moving to another city, gonna change the
00:59:27stuff you have failed to deal with about yourself. And one of the big problems is,
00:59:32is you're fake and you don't realize it. You're scared somebody gonna find out you're fake
00:59:37because you've been allowing people to get to know you through the covers that you've covered
00:59:40yourself up on. And you produced a false identity, named him Waldo. And you think you can travel
00:59:46around the country fooling everybody else, but your sin will find you out. Your sin gonna find
00:59:51you. I ain't got to find you. Your sin gonna find you. And you wonder why don't nobody want you.
01:00:04It's because you don't want yourself.
01:00:05I told y'all, what they call you, what you call them trees when you groom them so they can grow
01:00:22better? Pruning. We pruning this church today, boy. We pruning this church today so we can grow some
01:00:34more. All right, what verse I am? Some of y'all say, I'm glad this is the last one for this series.
01:00:48He said, however, verse 17, if in our quest to discover righteousness by faith in what Christ
01:00:54did for us, we find that it is still possible to stumble. Do not label yourself a sinner yet.
01:01:01The fact that you sin does not cancel the cross of Christ and gives you no reason to abandon
01:01:06justification by faith as if Christ is to be blamed for your distraction. That would be
01:01:10observed. Only a con artist would try to be a lawman and a grace man at the same time.
01:01:16Cut! Grace is alive, boy.
01:01:38The law demanded my death. Grace reveals that in God's mind, Jesus died that death.
01:01:47So far, so far as the law is concerned, I'm dead. I'm a dead man. But as far as God is concerned,
01:01:55I'm alive. I'm alive. So, here I am, dead and alive at the same time. I'm dead to the old me
01:02:08I was trying to be, and I'm alive to the real me, which is Christ in me, co-crucified,
01:02:15now co-alive. What a glorious entanglement. I was in him in his death. Now, I discover
01:02:22that he's infused in me in my life. For the first time, I'm free to be me in my skin, immersed,
01:02:31immersed, immersed in his faith, in a joint sonship. He loves me, and he believes in me.
01:02:41He is God's gift to me. It is an insult to the grace of God to prefer Moses to Jesus.
01:02:57If the law could justify you, then Jesus wasted his time dying your death.
01:03:11I got two, three more Scriptures to go, but I'll finish it on Wednesday night.
01:03:25So, you gonna do it next Sunday? Yeah, Wednesday night. You can get it off YouTube or something
01:03:28during the week, but let me just read this one last one, Romans chapter 3, verse 27,
01:03:38and then we'll pick up with this. I tried to be as transparent as I could possibly be today
01:03:47because I believe that vulnerability can have impact in people's lives.
01:03:55Enough of this trying to look like you perfect and everything. I need you to see flaws in all,
01:04:01flaws, vulnerability, so you'll know that Jesus working on me is the same Jesus working on you,
01:04:08and we can all receive the work done. Amen? Verse 27, he says,
01:04:19the law of faith cancels the law of works,
01:04:23which means there is suddenly nothing left for anyone to boast about.
01:04:28No one is superior to another. Wow, the operation system of the law of works is willpower.
01:04:41The operation systems of the law of faith is love power.
01:04:47In Galatians 5 and 6, it says that faith worketh by love, so love sets faith in motion.
01:04:52Love sets faith in motion. The presence, one with a choice, and then grace awakens
01:05:04belief, and so willpower is exhausting, but love power ignites. Amen. That's enough.
01:05:13Y'all get anything out of this?
01:05:15Come on, lift your hands up, and I want you in your own way. Just praise God. Just thank him.
01:05:22Talk to him just a little bit, you know. He's working in you. He's working on you.
01:05:29Father, thank you that we're not going to be deceived.