A (15:03)
Amen. He paid for us to live our lives should not look like the unsaved neighbors. We shouldn't have the same issues, same problems, same squabbles, same fussing, same fighting. No, because Jesus paid for me to live a life that's pleasing to the Father. So first he bore the price. Second, he offers us and gave us the gift of the kind of flow that's going to give us the best life. Then third, then after that he says, by whose stripes you're healed. So, so notice this. What prefaces being able to receive in fullness the health that belongs to you is the kind of life you're living. It is connected, Pastor. It's connected. And dad Hagin made a statement and he said, I heard him on a couple occasions say this. He said, in our younger years, in my younger years of ministry, he said, he said we did not see in the church now there were people that would become have physical conditions. He said, I don't mean to say they weren't, but he said they were not the terminal threatening, life destroying illnesses that ran rampant. He said that I'm seeing today. He said the healing lines look different today than back then. Now see, that's somebody who has been on the front. He's had the front row seat for decades and he observed that there's a difference. And then he followed up with this and he said, well, that is because back then people lived holier lives. What's that referring to? This that we just read? How you should live. When we're interested in healing, we have to also, by scriptural definition be interested in the manner of life we're living. To address our healing, we're going to have to address our life of righteousness. We are made righteous, but are we living the righteousness we have been made to be? Because he said should live unto righteousness, meaning this is not automatic. Just because you're righteous, that doesn't mean you're living a righteous life. Amen. I want to quote something that F.F. bosworth wrote in his Christ the Healer book. He said, while we rejoice in miracles, we remember that they are only external manifestations of a thousand times greater and more precious miracle that has transpired within the sacred chamber of the inner soul. The inner cause is so much more precious than the outward effect of healings and miracles. Eternal results. Excuse me. External results. The healing a miracle manifesting external results are like figures in a bank book that show that you have gold deposited in the bank. The gold is more valuable than the figures. What is worked on the inside. When we are coming into and lay hold of a life of health and healing, there is a work that has to happen in the spirit of man to come into the full fullness of what has been provided for. People cannot walk in the fullness of health, ignoring a life of righteousness. The life of righteousness paves the way to the healing flow. There's a reason it's listed before. By whose stripes ye were healed. It all belongs to you. Healing absolutely belongs to you, just like righteousness belongs to you. But living a life of righteousness is what keeps the healing flow unhindered. Amen. That's right. Amen. Praise the Lord. So to live a life of health, to receive healing, is going to put a demand on your spiritual life. Going to put a demand not just on your natural body getting something. It puts a demand for first on the spirit of man. Because why? Healing is spiritual. It's not physical. It shows up in the physical, but it's spiritual. Why? Because it flows from a spiritual source. Amen. Remember Jesus told there was the man that was laying by the pool of Bethesda had laid there and he had been in that condition for 38 years. And Jesus came up to him and says, do you want to be healed? And he says, well, I have no one to put me in the water. Because remember, an angel would come down at an unappointed time and stir the water. The first one in got healed. And Jesus said, do you want to be healed? And he says, I have no man to put me in the water. And so Jesus said, take up your bed and walk. And he did. He picked up his bed and he walked. And of course, the religious leader saw him on the Sabbath day carrying his bed and didn't like it that he was healed on the Sabbath day. And all they got tripped up with was he's carrying a bed. They missed the big point. They missed the big point. So many people really missed the big point. But let me tell you something. The wonderful thing about healing is it works a deeper walk with God in you. So Jesus later that day, found the man in the temple. Now we see something about the man. When he got raised up, the first place he went was the temple. He didn't go back to the honky tonk, didn't go to the bars, didn't go to the movie house, didn't go to the pub, didn't go to the dancing juke joint. He didn't even go home. He went to church. Now we see something that draws the compassion of God. When there's a hunger in somebody that they want to know and they want to have something, he sees that. So Jesus finds him in the temple and then he's telling him how to keep what he just got. Go and sin no more. Let's the worst thing come upon you. He was teaching him how to not lose this wonderful miracle you just received. So was Peter. He's telling you how not to lose out on the flow of healing. You should live a life of righteousness. Praise the Lord Jesus. Now let me read it to you. Exactly the wording Jesus said to the man, behold, thou art made whole. I love that word, whole. He said, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. So notice this. He connected his wholeness to his lifestyle. We don't have a right to disconnect it. When he connected our wholeness to what we allow in our lives, we don't have a right to change that connection. We're not authorized. It's forever connected. So praise the Lord. I was listening to. I'm so. I've been searching for days now because I was watching on YouTube a sermon of dad Hagin. Aren't you grateful that he was alive in a time when he could be recorded? Because so many we have no record of. We don't have a recording of Smith Wigglesworth and John Wesley and Martin Luther and all these. But thankfully we got dad Hagin on record. And this sermon popped up. And then I so loved it. I pushed save. It did not save. And then when it went, you know, you can go watch and see what your history was, your viewing history. It threw up a completely different video in the place of that that I didn't watch. And I'm going, I don't like that. So I YouTube devil. Is that what that is? So I've been searching for days. Cause I just know what I put in the title. I can't find it again. It's not coming up. But in this sermon, dad Hagin made a statement I'd never heard him make before. And he said this. If you will get your spirit where it ought to be, your body will start responding. That's worth writing down. If you not if God. If you will get your spirit where it ought to be, your body will start responding. So many times people are just throwing healing scriptures at their Body. Thank God for the Word is. It's medicine to all our flesh. But you can't throw it at the body and leave the spirit unaddressed. I'm going to read it to you again. If you will get your spirit where it ought to be, your body will start responding. You say, well, where should my spirit? When you say, where my spirit ought to be, what does he mean by that? Your spirit knows. Your spirit knows where it ought to be. Your spirit knows. Check your heart. I found out this. Anytime I missed God, I knew where I missed him. In here. I knew where I missed him. I didn't have to go pray for three days. I didn't have to have somebody call me out and prophesy. I was there. When I disobeyed. I knew where I missed it. I was there. I can't act like I don't know what you talking about. I was there when the spirit led me. Don't you sit and laugh at me. You're the same way. You know you're in here. You know where you missed it. Now, many people don't want to acknowledge that. No, I don't know. Yeah, your spirit knows. Your spirit knows. Your spirit knows what God's saying to it. Praise the Lord. Your spirit knows. Your spirit knows. If you should be dating that one. Your spirit knows. I don't care what you tell your mama. Your spirit knows what you should or should not be watching on computer. I don't care how quick you hide the screen. Your spirit knows. So when he said if we would get our spirits where they ought to be, your spirit knows where we ought to be. Because where we ought to be is not out beyond where God has led us. Where we ought to be is every place the spirit of God has led us. We have faith for it or he wouldn't let us there. He's not gonna lead you out beyond your faith. So if he led you there, you got faith for it. Get there. Amen. That which God has for us flows through our spirits into our bodies. Now I'm just referring to healing. When you need healing in your body, it doesn't just show up in your body. It first. It first moves through your spirit into your body. Because healing. Healing is spiritual. Everything that flows from God is spiritual. Prosperity is spiritual. Prosperity doesn't just show up in your wallet. Apart from flowing through your spirit, something has to flow from your spirit into that arena of need. Amen. So what's this mean? When you have a need in life, start looking. What needs to be dealt with? In my spirit. Because this arena, my life, that needs a flow. That flow's gonna come through my spirit. And so many people go right to the mind or they go to their family and they start talking it out. That's not where the source of power stems from. Amen. Is any among you going through a test or trial? Let him pray. Do something spiritual. Prayer is a spiritual act. You're talking to God. So he said, is anyone afflicted? And it means going through a test or trial. In James. Is any among you afflicted? You're going through a test or trial. He said, let him pray. Let him talk to God. Let him do something spiritual, not something natural. Because there's not help in the natural for that affliction. The help is in the spirit. So get your spirit moving. Talk to God about it. Get your spirit engaged. Get your spirit involved. Don't just run to that mental help. There's no help there. Not divine help. Amen. So anything you receive from God is received first in your spirit. It's received first in your spirit. Mark 11:24. What things ever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive and you shall have it. This is where a lot of people miss it. They think the word receive means a manifestation. It doesn't mean manifestation. What things soever you desire when you pray, believe you receive it with your spirit and you'll have it. It'll manifest. You have to receive it with your spirit. How do you receive with your spirit? It's called the hand of faith. And you can tell when your spirit laid hold of something, and you can tell when your spirit didn't lay hold of it. You're quoting and quoting and it's just falling flat. Why? Because it's not coming. Your spirit's not hooked to that thing, just the mind. Amen. So when people need healing, deal with your spiritual life first. Go to your spiritual life first. Turn here and say, ask yourself, what's God been talking to me about? Ask yourself, what has God been talking to me about? Because he's not going to leave you out on where your spirit ought to be or what you ought to be doing with your spirit. Or spiritually speaking, he's not leaving you out. Your spirit knows. So what is God dealing with you about? Well, Pastor Nancy, it's not a big deal. It's the little foxes that spoil the vine. And don't dismiss it just because it seems like something little. Because by paying attention to what he's dealing with you about, your healing's connected to it. Your Answer is connected to it. Your help is connected to what he's talking to you about. And have you ever noticed you go and you say, father, you know, I'm having a financial need, and all of a sudden you're praying and praying and all that comes up is how you treating your spouse. No, no, no, no, no, no. Father, I got a bill here. Father, I got a bill. But see, sometimes you gotta bill with God. That he's wanting you to pay that thing. How do you pay it? Obey him. Obey him. And you go, no, no, no. You understand, God, I have a. I need this bill paid. He said, I do understand. That's why I'm talking about your marriage. You know, what's this main highway out here? 60. 60. What direction is it going? Because this girl don't know direction. Don't ever tell me go south, east or west. I said, you better do left or right. Because Jesus only know left or right. He said, don't look to your left, don't look to your left, your right. He didn't say, don't look to south or north. He said, don't look to your left, don't look to your right. I'm just staying scriptural. So which direction does it? West? East. Okay. I'm just real about that. And so. So if you. What'd you say? It's 60. 60. You want to get on 60 east. Sometimes to get on 60 east, you gotta go an access road that's taking you south and you go, wait, wait, wait, I don't wanna go south. I wanna go east. Just get on the access road. If you'll follow it, it will eventually put you on the one you're taking. Right? That's what God does. You're trying to talk them about finances and he gives you an access road. That's what Peter did. We're talking, we're needing to believe for our healing. And he gives us an access road that you should live unto righteousness. There's your access road to everything else that's been provided for. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. What has God been dealing with you about? And the thing is, he's so faithful, he'll deal with you for a length of time. I so appreciate that. Things I should have gotten a long time ago, I still didn't get. You know, it's like, how many times am I going to run around this bush? And I'm so grateful. He just keeps. He just keeps. He just keeps leading me, just keeps leading me, just keeps directing me. When we get our spirit, where it ought to be. Where should our spirit ought to be dealing with what he's dealing with us about? And I want to tell you this wonderful thing, what he's dealing with you about. He doesn't want you to deal with it in your ability. He gives you the ability to deal with what he's dealing with you about. And I don't mean to bury you in words, but that's the truth. If you will just say, I hear it. I choose to change. I choose to make that choice, but I can't fulfill it. So I choose to rely on your grace and your ability, your power to do this. Because the devil will point at how you've tried for years and years and years to change something, to cause you to get discouraged, to turn you in upon yourself. How many times does he do that? Turns you in on yourself, accusing you, condemnation, guilt, anything that puts you down is the devil anything. And the devil will use your failures of the past of trying to address what God's been dealing with you about in your own ability. And you'll fail at that. And then the devil just. You just start losing hope. You just get so frustrated with it, you almost ignore what God's doing dealing with you about, but he's dealing with you about it so that you'll release your faith for his ability to help you deal with it. Amen. Any area. Now listen, as I said, righteousness belongs to us. It's a gift. It's not something earned. It's not something earned. But when we're living in line with that righteousness that is ours, we. It helps us to be able to receive. It's the position of receiving any area that's out of tune with God. And his Word robs us from receiving as we should. Now, Jesus told Dad Hagin, if you have not ever read his book, I believe in visions. I ask you to. And there's a chapter that holds. They all hold something different. But the hospital visitor chapter holds so, so much in there. When Jesus came in an open vision and sat down and talked to dad Hagin face to face for an hour and a half, and for time's sake, I certainly am not telling the whole of it. But Jesus said this. He said, it's not my will that any of my children ever be sick, ever be operated on, or ever have an accident. Now, that doesn't mean he's telling you not to ever be operated on. He's just saying there's something best. But then Jesus followed up with this. He said, but not all my people are in position to receive my best. What positions us to receive his best? That we should live under righteousness. Amen. Since healing is spiritual, our spiritual lives have to be in order to receive his best. I'm giving a short list. Some of you pastors could probably take this and do a longer list, but I'm going to give you a short list just of things that came up in my heart of dealing with things that we have to address to make sure our spirits are in order for our spirits to be where they should be. Let's give ourselves a checklist. Amen. That's going. If we're not, and I'm going just for a minute, I'm just going to get on the negative side of it. Not to push you down, but to make it so clear that if we're not, this is how not to live. Righteousness. Number one. First and foremost, neglecting or not being interested in feeding on the Word and not giving the Word first place in our life. You cannot live the life of righteousness that belongs to you outside the Word. You have to be inside the Word. And the Word has to be inside you. How do you get the Word inside you? Not just reading it, meditating your way through the Word? God said something to me years ago. He said, talk to me about my Word. Interesting. Talk to me about. Don't just read it. Talk to him. Meditate. Have a conversation with Him. Let it be driven down into your spirit. Until it's driven down into your spirit, it won't be a live thing for you. It comes alive in your spirit, not your mind. Why? Because there's no faith in your mind. And the faith has to be mixed with that Word for it to produce and profit us. So we have to drive that Word into our spirit through meditation. That means we have the privilege of disciplining our thought life to think on what the Word says instead of just thinking about what Aunt Rose did to me and what Uncle Tom did that, you know, and they forgot my birthday and you know, and I didn't like that Christmas present. What did Jesus say? He said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. God takes his thoughts and speaks them to us so we can have the mind of God. Amen. Jesus took those thoughts. He had to take God's thoughts and make them his own. He wasn't just born with all that. He came. He stripped himself. He came in the form of a man. He had to go through the same processes we do. He had to renew his mind. That's called renewing the mind, taking on the thoughts of God in Proverbs 4, verse 20. My son, attend to my words. When I say, when I read this word attend, it always speaks to me. Put your attention on my words. You're all. You've always got. Your attention on something. Learn to discipline your attention. What. What are you thinking about when you're driving down the car? Driving down the road in that car. When your mind is free to grab hold of anything, discipline it. To put your attention and your focus on the Word. My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they are life to those that find them. Look at this. And health to all their flesh. So how we treat the Word, whether or not we're attending to the Word will show up in our health. How we're treating the Word will show up in our health. And we can gauge how we're treating the Word by looking at our health. The Word is food for our spirit. Our spirit needs feeding. It's also food for the mind. The Word's food for the mind. Absolutely. But if we're not feeding our spirit, you know what else isn't being fed? Our faith. Because our faith is in our spirit. So if we're robbing. We're robbing our spirits of the Word. We're robbing our faith of fuelings. If we're being ruled and led by something other than the Word. Circumstances, feelings, emotions, the past human reasonings, our spirits are out of order. And what did Brother Hagin say? When you get your spirit where it ought to be, your body will start responding. When you get the. When we put the Word in its rightful place in our life and in our attention, our bodies will start responding. The second thing that we need to pay attention to, we can be feeding the Word in our spirit. But second thing, we still have to exercise our faith. We have to use our faith. Just because we're feeding our spirit doesn't mean we're using our faith. What did Paul say? He said, examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith. You can have faith and not be in it. You can have a car and not be in it. You can have a house and not be in it. You can have faith and not be in it. Not be using it. Just because you have it doesn't mean it doesn't go into operation automatically. So our spirits, not being where they ought to be, can be from just not using the faith we already have. The next thing that can cause our spirits to not be what they ought to be is a neglected prayer life. Why? Because the word says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. It's not talking to ministers there. He's talking to his children. And then in Colossians 4:2, it says, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. What's he talking about? A lifestyle. A lifestyle. A lifestyle. Get into the habit of just talking to God all throughout the day. All throughout the day. Smith Wigglesworth made this statement. He said, if I'm not walking and talking with someone, he says, I'm always talking with my father. He had trained and disciplined himself that he didn't just let his mind wander. He used times that he was alone to talk to the Father, turn his attention there. That keeps us filled up. It keeps us getting that feeling every day that we need. Amen. Hallelujah. Then the next thing that's in keeping with that, that can cause our spirits to not be where they ought to be is just not living full. Not living full. We're commanded to be filled. Ephesians 5:17, 18 says, Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. So notice what Paul called unwise. Not understanding the will of the Lord. For your life is you're unwise. Verse 18. And be not drunk with wine. Wherein is excess. Meaning this. You're just going to take a little bit of wine. It will always lead you to excess. Wine will not leave you at a sip. It says, wherein is excess. Excess is built into that thing, and it'll take you there. Amen. We should be living under righteousness. And be not drunk with wine. Wherein is excess. But be filled. That's not a suggestion. Be filled. If I say, go in there and get your room cleaned up, that's not a suggestion. Be filled. Not a suggestion, it's a command. Be filled. Amen. Be filled with the spirit. Or as dad Hagin brought out from another translation, it says, be being filled. Meaning this. We're not to live on yesterday's feeling. Every day it's a free fresh. Every day it's a fresh infilling. It's not maintaining fullness, it's topping off every day. Topping off. And just keep flowing. Just keep flowing. Amen. Be not drunk with wherein. With wine. Wherein is excess. But we could say this, but be filled with the spirit, wherein there is no excess. You're never going to go too far Far. You're never going to get too much of the Spirit. Know this. Fullness is a condition for ongoing victory. You can't have ongoing victory apart from fullness. Fullness is a condition for ongoing victory. And I will tell you this difficult thing. Things are made easy in the flow of fullness. If you will practice fullness, nothing else satisfies you. You're not content any other way. Fullness of the Word in fullness of the Spirit. And then it goes on, speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. That's one way of fullness. That's one way to fill up. And we don't have time right now to teach on that. But something else. I can tell you this. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in tongues. If you'll speak in tongues, make it a practice of your daily life. It'll keep you in the flow of fullness. Amen. Driving in your car, speaking in tongues, walking through, doing duties in your house, taking care, cleaning your house, just speaking to yourself. Another tongue. Keeping yourself full. When you keep yourself full, you're ready. You're ready. You're ready. And what would devastate others? Can't reach you. Will circumstances come? Yes. They just can't get in you because the flow is pushing it out. The flow just washes away any debris that tries to attach itself to you. You say, oh, that just sounds good, Pastor Ned. That's good preaching, you know, that just sounds good coming out. But it's not reality. It is reality. My husband's homegoing was the greatest tragedy of my life. But it was not the greatest difficulty of my life. Why? Because I faced it full. Sorrow couldn't get in. Grief couldn't get in. Depression couldn't get in. Why? Because there was already a flow established. Already a flow established. I establish the flow of my life. I determine what flows. That's it. You decide what's your flow. You decide. The next thing that will keep people's spirits from being where they ought to be. Not walking in love. Grant was talking about it. Not walking in love. When bitterness, offense, unforgiveness, ill will, strife comes. All those things, they're robbing us of health. Why? Because a life of living as we should, a life of righteousness, is also a life of the flow of love. And dad Hagin used to say this to us, and I tell you, it is your checklist there when he said, every step outside of love is a step into sin. Praise the Lord. The next thing that will keep us from our Spirits from being what they ought to be is letting fear and doubt into your heart. Letting fear and doubt into your heart. Remember when Paul told Timothy in second Timothy, and I just quote it to you. You can write down the passage if you. The reference, if you choose. 2nd Peter, chapter 1, verses 6 and 7. Paul wrote to Timothy, Excuse me. 2nd Timothy, chapter 1, verses 6 and seven. Paul wrote to Timothy and he said this. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God. And the Amplified says, which is that inner fire which is in thee by the putting on of my hands, verse 7. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but a power and love and a sound mind. What's going on? We know what's going on with Timothy. He's yielded to fear and it has shut down the gift. It's shut down the gifts inside him. And he's telling him, deal with that fear. Deal with that fear. It's not about if you will stir yourself up. Amen. Dad Hagin was telling about years ago, there was a pastor's wife and she was diagnosed with a terminal condition. And mom and dad Hagin knew this couple and they agreed that they would go. And this woman was really within just hours or a couple of days of dying. And they went to the home and they stayed there in the home for several days with the pastor and his wife. And they just spent a couple of days just praying for her. And nothing was happening, nothing was changing. And dad Hagin hit up on the idea. He said, you know, he said, I think we're working on the wrong end. We're working the sending end. We're trying to get God to send something. He said, we need to be working on the receiving end, our end. Not occupied with what God's doing on his end, but occupied with what are we doing on our end. So he goes into. Because he says, I've never prayed. I've never prayed this long without getting an answer. Now, see, you can track your prayer life in a situation like that. You know, wait a minute. This has been going on too long. I might have to address something different. So they go in that morning and dad Hagin shares with the pastor and his wife. She's laying there on her bed, I believe. He said, I've never prayed this long without getting an answer. And she said, he said, she started crying, says, I, oh, it's me, it's me. I know it's me. I know it's me. And she says, I missed it. I should have done, you know, there's so much I should have done better. I could have done better. He said, sister, that's not it. I so appreciate what a help that was. Just someone. When your mind is overwhelmed and everything you feel is against you and somebody says that's not it because you're already not listening to what's it or not it. Because she's at that she's overwhelmed. How wonderful. Dad Hagin just those words, that's not it. He said, sister, we all should have done better. Because the devil is always hand in your mind reasons why you deserve a measure of defeat. And dad Hagman says no. He said we need to work on the receiving end, not the sending end. And he said, for example, he said if we had a radio and it's not getting a signal from the radio station, he says, we don't call down there at the radio station. Say, you need to fix your tower. He said, no, we adjust our knob on our end so that we can. Can dial in. That's what really dad Hagin meant when he said that you got to address what's in your spirit, then healing will come. When you get your spirit where it ought to be healing, dial it in. So they're just praying around her bed with this fresh approach. We're just going to work on the receiving end. And they're praying in the spirit. And the word of the Lord comes to dad Hagin and said, go stand at the foot of the bed or the head of the bed. Do you remember? Foot of the bed or head of the bed at the foot of the bed and say, come out, thou spirit of fear and doubt. Wasn't addressing the sickness, didn't speak to the cancer. What's he doing? He's dealing with the spirit, not the body. The condition of the body is due to the condition of the spirit. So he's dealing with the spirit to get the body healed. And he did that by the spirit. He didn't know unless the spirit. He doesn't know what's in her spirit. That had to be revealed by the Holy Ghost. And he come out. The Holy Ghost told him to say it. Come out, thou spirit of fear and doubt. In a pastor's wife. Devil's mean. He's mean. And dad Hagin said something like a. Just flew right out the window by the bed. And the pastor was sitting there and said, I didn't see anything, but I felt something fly out the window right by me. Said she rose up completely healed. They didn't deal with her body. They dealt. What did she Let in. She let fear in. She let doubt in. And the mercy of God. The mercy of God, let someone come and assist her in identifying what it was that was robbing from her health. It was the condition of her spirit. You're helping us because, see, we want miracles. But if you want to keep them, you got to go and sin no more in the sense that don't do what got you in the condition you're in. Don't keep living the way. Don't keep allowing. Don't keep letting fear and anxiety and panic attacks and all that stuff, all of that's nothing but the spirit of fear. And you can let it in your spirit if you're not careful. That spirit of fear and doubt was taking her to her grave. Not the cancer. It just opened the door to the cancer. The cancer was doing it to the body. But look what was happening to her spirit. That's why her faith wouldn't work. So God let someone else come. He's so kind. He's so. He is so. He's so good. Another thing that we have to deal with so that our spirits are where they ought to be. Make sure we're not veering from the plan of God for our lives. Jesus said, my meat, the thing that nourishes me, the thing that strengthens me, the thing that feeds me, that fuels what meat is to the body. He said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. That's John 4, verse 34. My meat. It wasn't being the son of God that fueled him. If he wouldn't have. If he would have just did what he wanted as a son of God, go live any way he wanted to live. Redemption's plan would have been aborted. He himself had to stick with the plan. If Jesus has to stick with the plan, how do we think we can veer from it and have the kind of life we want to have? Not going to happen. Amen. His plan for your life is so much better than anything you or your parents or your grandparents can concoct. During his earthly ministry, Jesus faced death threats, challenges, opposition, demons. He faced things on a daily basis, but he was the untouchable in the will of God. Nothing could take him out before his time, before he dismissed his own spirit, nothing else could remove him. Why? The plan of God was a place of protection. Nothing can touch you in the plan of God. Well, things come, yeah, but they can't get in. The plan of God is your safety. Amen. God spoke to me the plan of God safeguards you. God spoke to me years ago when I was writing the book. God the revealer of secrets. That book is how to know the will of God for your life. And God. When in the midst of writing this book, God spoke to me and said, make my people to know that long life is connected to my plan. You understand? Long life is connected to my plan. Somebody veered from the plan. When they veered from long life, no one died prematurely fulfilling the plan. Something was not as it ought to have been. I don't care who they are. The next thing that can cause us to be spiritually what we ought not to be is being unwilling or disobedient to God or to his plan. I'm not talking about veering from the plan or not being interested in the plan. I'm talking about being unwilling. The word says, if you're willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land. Willing deals with the insides inside. You have to agree. Obedient means the carrying out of the act. So for example, you tell your child, go clean your room. If they don't do it, they're being disobedient because they're not cleaning the room. But if they get up and go to clean the room and then slam the door behind them. Now they might be being obedient, but they're not willing. And that will get you whipped quicker. I'll whip the hide. Yeah, you and me and Jesus going to have a revival. Stomp your way to your bedroom. Brother. Brother, come here. You want those legs to stomp? Come here. Come here. Come here. We gonna give you something to jump up and down about. The willingness is more displeasing to a parent than. Than just forgetting to do it. But you meant to do it, but you just forgot it. And you weren't obedient because. Oh brother, that unwillingness. Ooh, that's mean now that bad stuff. That's right. Can I tell you this? A bad attitude about anything is an unwillingness, whether you fulfilled it or not. God instructs you to do something, commands you to do something, and you do it. But you complain all the way. You're unwilling. Unwilling. There was a saying that I had in our home growing up. You remember how they murmured, the Hebrews murmured through the wilderness. And in one day all the serpents came out. Bit em all. Like a quarter of a million died in one day. That was the day. Oops. What was it? Murmuring and complaining. What was it? Unwilling. In here. Don't agree. Don't agree to gripe about your boss, to gripe about your job, gripe about your house, gripe about your car. A life of righteousness has no complaint. No complaint. No complaint. Complaint. Because murmuring, complaining, griping, bad attitude, cranky. When somebody doesn't know what version of you they're going to get today, You're not quite what you ought to be. Listen, the word makes you the same. The word will so that it'll help. The same yesterday, today and forever. Why? Because you have a foundation of the Word under you. That's the same. That's what we need. That's what needs to be our goal for our life. I'm the same. Whether something bad happens, whether something bad doesn't happen. I'm the same. Why? Because the one I'm trusting is the same. The one who's going to get me to the other side of this is the same. So I can be the same. Amen. So in that one day, they were murmuring and complaining. They were complaining about the way, the path, the journey, the route God led them on. They were complaining about it. What they forgot that way was authored God. And when you find fault with the God of no fault. And the Bible said the serpents, and I don't remember the serpents of how many, like a quarter million died like that? The serpents were there all along. God didn't go get a pack of surf and say, hey, you, get over there. God had been protecting them in his will, that they didn't even realize what they were being safeguarded from. When we complain, we let things in on us that we had no idea were after us. What is complaining? Unwilling. Unwilling. Unwilling. Just being unwilling. In our house, growing up, and I say, with my kids, when my kids were growing up, I had a statement that I used the gripers get the vipers. But I will tell you this whenever you're able to say, wait a minute, I've been doing that. I catch myself. I catch myself just healings on the other end. Of catching yourself. And making a change. And making a change. Amen. And then this last one I want to address. Go with me. I want you to see this one. Second Peter, chapter one. And I'm not going to preach this whole passage, though I want to, because I so value this passage. Second Peter, chapter one. And then we'll close with this Second Peter, chapter one and verse five. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith. Look at this. Your faith needs something added to it. Why? Because your faith is one ingredient in the life of righteousness. But there's other ingredients. So it says, add to your faith. Why? Because your faith can't accomplish what these other things are to accomplish that have to be added to it. Faith is not a substitute for any of these things. Add to your faith virtue. Now, in other passages where you see this word virtue, it's translated power. In this passage, it's translated moral excellence. Add to your faith moral excellence. And to moral excellence, knowledge. And to knowledge, temperance. Temperance means self control, discipline, restraint. And to temperance, patience. Patience is not just putting up with something. It's joyfully, joyfully waiting. And to patience, godliness, or godlikeness. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. How you treat the brethren. So it's connected with your faith. How you treat the brethren is connected to how well your faith will operate and then to brotherly kindness, charity or love toward all men. But this is what I want, so it does matter. It's interesting. He singles out the difference between brotherly kindness and love. Why? Because it matters how you treat the brethren more than it matters how you treat the unsaved out there. Why? Because you're not fitly joined with them. You're fitly joined with the brethren.
