 An excitement at the PACE family in us on the evenings of November 3rd. Fourth, funding fair rides to classic fair food. We've got something for everyone. And for the little ones, we've prepared a wonderland of excitement with blow-up slides, interactive games, and other attractions designed just for kids. We've got toe-tapping live music that will have you dancing the night away. And for those seeking a true thrill, you won't want to miss the incredible bullriding action and the awe-inspiring Paul Bunyan Lumberjack show, where you'll see amazing feats of skill that will create memories for you and your children. And don't forget to capture those unforgettable moments. We've set up fun photo opportunities throughout the festival, so you can snap the perfect family picture to cherish forever. So mark your calendars for November 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and bring your whole family to PACE Family Fest, where the fun never ends. Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime. See you there. Precious faith to come and join our hearts together, our praise, our worship, to join together in prayer and in fellowship. And I know where two or three are gathered in your name. And so Lord, today I ask that you will hover over this place, that you will visit with us here at PACE today. For those that are joining us online today, wherever special anointing come to them, let them feel the power, the anointing of the Holy Spirit that is already in this house today. Pace together to lift you up, to bless your name from our head this morning. We are joyful in our Lord and rejoice in our salvation. Now be with us today. We ask it in Jesus' holy name. Amen, and amen, hallelujah. Put your hands together with us this morning. And let's go to the Lord and praise and worship Hallelujah, anybody need the joy of the Lord this morning? Anybody got the joy of the Lord? You serve this morning, give him your best praise today. Because you're the praise in the prison, see the path before you. He'll put a dance in your step, how dependent on your circumstances. That's dependent on what the doctor said to you. You can be here, you can be there. But the joy of the Lord's always there. It's not dependent on how you feel. You may be facing the darkest struggle of your life, friend. But the joy of the Lord is your strength. Somebody will praise him like you know that to be true. The world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and he shall reign forever. We worship you this morning in your house. There is joy because of our Savior. You have redeemed us. Oh, I feel His presence in here already. I feel His presence here ready to move. Want you to know if you've joined today and you've come in with a need, if you've come in with a burden, if you've come in with a sickness, if you've come in carrying anything, all the struggles of this world that pile up on us day by day, you can leave with the joy of the Lord. Sit free, deliver. We ain't gotta twist God's arm to do the miracles in our life. He's ready. He's sitting on go all the time, waiting to answer a prayer. We put our faith in Him, the Lord. So if you've come to Sporting you need God to answer a prayer, I believe this is the day you're gonna see. I believe this is the day that you're gonna see that reward. So let's join together in faith. There's many that have needs. You'll find in your bulletin, so many who have put in their names and asked for corporate prayer on their behalf. God knows those needs already. He knows your need wherever you're sitting in this building and He's ready to move. Father, we come to you today. We come to our Lord who has high and lifted up. He is exalted and His train fills the temple we fill in here in this house today. We know God that we don't have to convince you to heal. You're a healer. We know that we don't have to try to twist your arm to deliver us. You're a lifter. You're the glory and the lifter of our life. So God, I pray for my brother and sister who's in this building. I pray for those watching online joining us from all over the world. I pray that right now that supernatural power of God, the Holy Spirit of God would come to them, touch them at the point of their knee, bring healing, bring deliverance, bring peace of mind, bring joy to that soul where there's been depression and concern. Bring faith, Lord, where there's been doubt. Work miracles, Lord. We know you can. There may be those who heard a diagnosis this week and it calls them to fear, calls them to doubt. I know that doctors diagnose, but healers heal. And there's only one healer and we believe in our healer today. So God, I pray you'll begin to move in supernatural power as we join our faith together. Now God, for this service today, this is your day. Someone has an appointment today with the word of God. Someone has an appointment today with the presence of God. Someone has an appointment on this day with a life changing power of Christ. And so Lord, let everything we do today, every song we sing and prayer we pray, let the word of God come for it and let it point to one thing. Let it point to you, Lord Jesus, so that you'll be lifted up and all men be drawn unto you. If you believe that with me, will you slip up your hands and let's ask Jesus to fill this place. Jesus, be lifted up. Jesus, be glorified. Jesus, walk these aisles. Jesus, be in this place from the parking lot to the platform. Jesus, fill this place. Let us leave having encountered you. Holy Spirit, reveal our Savior to us intimately and deeply, to the anointing rest on this house. Amen, amen. Aren't you glad for the Lord's presence? Aren't you glad for the Lord's presence? Take a minute, testify, welcome, smile at someone, give them a high five. Give them a word of encouragement in the Lord's house today. Praise God. While you're doing that, I wanna welcome all of our guests, those of you that are here, joining us today for the first time. If you'll stop at guest central on the way out, it's to my left. In the front, there's a special gift from the pastor and this reader for you. We are so thrilled to have you this morning. We invite you to make yourself at home. Enjoy your time here. Most importantly, enjoy Jesus because he is in this place. We're gonna lift him up today. For those that are joining us online in Kenya, Alabama, Washington, Illinois, Florida, all over Mississippi, Brazos Valley, Texas. We got folks in the Philippines joining us today, Wisconsin. We welcome you. Let's give them a hand. Thank you for faithfully attending our church online. And we know we believe it, I don't just say it. I know I believe it, I know pastor believes it. There is no restraint on the Holy Ghost. There's no distance limitation on God. And so when the power of God is moving in this house, I firmly expect him to move where you are. Across the globe, it's no difference to him. This is the same God we serve. And so we welcome you into the Lord's house this morning and we believe God's gonna touch you today. And we're gonna give the Bible away today. Give me some of that good toe tap of music there, Will. And we're gonna plan this out so that we've got less than 10 seconds before you fight it. So I'm gonna count down and somebody's gonna find a new Bible. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five. Hey, look at there, five. We got it right over here. One day they're gonna bring one to me. I'm just gonna put the card in my pocket. Keep it up here over here. Well, before we head right back into worship, let me remind you of a few things that are happening this week. On the back, I would like you to pick up, we're in 30 days united in prayer for our nation. Began on June 5th. It ends on Independence Day, July 4th. Each day there is a specific prayer object and a prayer need that is listed and an opportunity for us to bind together and pray. So for example, if you had this with you this morning during your prayer time on Sunday, June 25th, we would be joining in prayer for Christian middle school and high school students. Praying that they be strengthened in their faith in Christ, praying for their wisdom, that they would be an unwavering witness for our Lord Jesus. So that is a worthwhile prayer. Love to pray that every day, but sometimes we're not all on the same page in our corporate prayer. But if you pick this up in one of the exits on your way out, we have about a week and a half left, maybe two weeks here. And let's bind together for these needs as we pray for America. All of our services will be back on regularly scheduled times this week. We had a wonderful time at Kit-Kat, about 150 children, I think, every night. It was, this place was full. There was an anointing here. Yeah. All kinds of games and clubs. Alter was filled with kids seeking and pouring their hearts out to God. Someone hit me in the face with a powder puff filled with flour. I still am snorting out flour. Washed my hair and turned into biscuits. It was all up in there. I thought it was baby powder and it was flour. So everything's back on schedule this week. Let's give today into the Lord. You know how to give. If things up, don't stand back. Give in person on your way out. And the Lord loves a cheerful giver. Try to remind myself of that every time I give. That's why I know we can have our regular recurring payments in there. I like to hit the button myself. It gives me an opportunity to be cheerful when I do it. And to thank God for his marvelous blessings to me. I'm here today because he's faithful. You're here today because he's faithful. Amen. So we thank God for the small things. We thank him for the big, we pray for the big. But let's not forget to thank him for the small of his daily blessings. Father, today we're so blessed. We sit here in this air conditioned building on a hot summer day and let us thank you for that. We were able to drive a car here today. We thank you for that. We're able to eat after lunch today in a host of places that we could choose. We're thankful for that. You've been so good to the people. Lord, we ask that as we give back today we do it with a cheerful heart. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Case assembly, we're glad that you're worshiping here today both in the sanctuary and around the world. I think God's presence is being made real to you. And as we enter into more of the worship service today, I just wanna let you know to be sure to be praying for all of us. We are traveling with Ignite students to the Youth Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Pastor T, Ms. Lauren are there along with all the team and me and Ms. Rita helping to chaperone. So really pray for us. I want you to make sure that you're preparing your hearts this morning as well. And I know that God is gonna bless both here and there at Pace Assembly. So in just a few moments you're going to receive the word of God from Pastor Rob Hines. I've asked him to come and fill in the pulpit today. He and his wife Gina and older family have made Pace Assembly their home church and we're so glad that they have. I know him to be a man of the word and a man of the spirit. I know that today you're going to enjoy his ministry. So let's enter into worship right now with the worship team and then you make sure to receive my good friend, Pastor Rob Hines. Hey man, stand with us as we head into worship and get the voice of God. To be in the house of the Lord today. You find it a privilege to be in the house of the Lord today. Just lift your hands, bow your hands and just give God worship. God, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for what you do for us, God. We thank you that you give us not what we need but when it's right on time and when you come right on time, God. We thank you. We ask you that you invade our space, that you come in amidst God and that you be in our presence, God. We need you Lord. We need you God. I want to be able to have the same testimony I have. See, God's not going to come where he's not welcome, where there's not a place set up for it. As I know how it is on Sundays, we get in a routine, we get in a, we get in a good pattern. I've been going to church since I breathed my first breath. Coming in, we get comfortable singing the songs and we listen to the preachers say this or the singers say that. You make a place for me. Will you push aside everything that may weigh on your mind, everything you did yesterday, everything you got to do tomorrow? And will you for this moment in time make a place for me so that I can come and be with you? See, that's what God wants. That's God's plan to come and dwell with us, to come and dwell in us. So make a place for him. I want you to ask God, God, I told you what I need from you. When I ask you, God, what do you need from me today? You may think, oh, God's God, he has it all. I'll tell you what God wants. He wants you. He wants your mind, soul, body, spirit. He wants you to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. He wants your worship today. He wants your praise. Will you make a place for me? Because I'll tell you, you won't be disappointed if you do that. He will come in and dwell with us right now. Let's lift our hands to the Lord. Make a place for him right now. Lord, we sense the holy presence of God in his sanctuary. We make a place for you. We thirst for you. And we wait for you today. We worship you. What the song says, I lift my hands this morning. You're waiting on me. You're waiting on the wrong person. You've already called the King of Glory into this place. And I will definitely get out of his way at any moment in any time. He can do more in three seconds than I can do in a message for an hour and 45 minutes. I want you to stay right here a minute because I want you to hear something. Somebody needs to hear this this morning because one of the precipice that we put in place is this. We need to get to the preaching of the Word. That's not the truth of the biblical principle. The biblical principle started out in Genesis chapter one and the most important thing was worship. Preaching is a second problem. There is the problem of what we have to deal with now according to preaching the Word of God. It's a secondary consequence of sin. And so it's not important to preach the Word if we don't have His presence. But I know His presence that is here today and I'm looking for somebody to just tell Him, I love you Jesus. Come on, you need Him more than you need me. I want you to think about anything. That word anything encompasses everything. Let me say that again, anything encompasses. So if you're thinking about something, you're thinking about anything. So you can't honestly worship Him and say I love you more than anything if you're thinking about that something. Well, I can't appreach today. But the reality was God came to bring you His glory and His presence. We didn't come in this place this morning to have an experience with God. I've been praying and others have been praying for an encounter with God. You can't have an encounter with God and walk out those doors the same. I'm looking for somebody this morning that knows how worship is the most important thing in your life. Somebody say, I love you Jesus. Come on, enter in, wanna tell you. Come on. Don't let a song have to be played. Don't let an instrument have to move. The Bible says He built the instrument in you. You're the voice that shouts with a voice of triumph. Clap your hands all ye people and make a triumph and noise unto the Lord. And with some holy ghost folks, I wish I was gathered up this morning. Hallelujah. Clap a praise right there, come on. If y'all wanna know one thing I'm here for is to stir up those territories that you've allowed to saturate in religion. See, for those that are in religion, they didn't hear that. I'm here to stir up what you've allowed to saturate or dwell amongst religious stuff. Brother Stephen said it this morning when he came up to presence in this place. Amen. Now I'll introduce myself in a minute. But the first one I always introduces the one that's already in this room. I can't do it, you can't do it. Nobody can do it without Him. And some of you can look back and say you got a great testimony of what God brought you out of. But I'm gonna tell you something. There's a friend of mine sitting in here that made a statement a long time ago as a pastor. He said, I didn't do any of that wrong stuff. I wasn't drinking, I wasn't corralling, I wasn't hanging out, I wasn't chasing women. And he said, God still saved me from sin. So it doesn't matter how bad it looks in the essence of what you've been acting on. The reality is we all needed it. Come on, somebody, whether it looked bad or not. Yo, daddy, amazing man. Y'all be seated for a moment. Let y'all get a refresh in a minute because we're gonna get this thing stirred up. Thank y'all for allowing me to be here today. I'm just gonna say it like this. You serve some great, great pastors. That's not good enough when you realize the gift that God released from heaven with Pastor Joey and his beautiful wife, Rita, to be in this place called Pace Assembly and be able to feed from the wells of heaven. Come on, somebody. The wells of heaven, the nutrition you needed that you didn't even realize you needed. Amen. Well, let's honor them today before we even get started. Would you do that with me and stand to your feet and give them? I know they probably are gonna try to watch, but come on, they are worthy of the King's glory too. Come on, somebody. He's a gift. Hallelujah. We're so thankful for them. You may be seated. Woo, glory. Somebody praise the word of the Lord in this place today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I believe that's right on track for what God is going to do today. My name is Pastor Rob Hines. I'm not gonna give you any of my accolades or any of that stuff. I'm just honored to be in Pace and it's good to see some old friends of ours in this house today with us. All around they, we had messages coming in that there were so many people going to be attending today's service and I'm always honored that they travel the distances they travel to come and be a part of where God is doing things. So it's an honor to have you in the house with me today. How many need some word today? How many need to realize? Now one of the things that I'm not going to do is do anything that is outside of what your pastor has already been doing. But he told me, he said, he just called me just back in the green room when I was sitting back there. He called me, he said, I'm praying for you. He said, I'm running 80 miles an hour on interstate trying to get where we're supposed to be. He said, I expect you to push yours to 100. I said, you need to be safe brother. But I'm excited to be here today. I do a lot of traveling and I speak in a lot of churches but the reason why I sit in pace is is because the spirit of God is real. For those that don't know, I'm the guy that I had to ask pastor if it was okay to continue standing when he was preaching the word. I know you've seen me over there but there's an old thing that's built down inside of me that the Bible tells us when the reading of truth is being given, you stand as a witness where to agree in that truth that will be an establishment. So when I stand and hear a truth of God's word, I'm standing not for you, I'm standing for me because I'm establishing a truth in my life that demonstrates to this world, I'm not living by the essence of this system. I'm living by the power and the presence of God and what he has founded according to his word. Amen. So today we're gonna take a little journey and if you'll be patient with me I'm gonna do it but I'm gonna tell you, I'm not a storyteller. My wife, my beautiful wife and my grandkids and my daughter-in-law and everybody over there love them dearly, my son in the back working here and you know it's just an honor to stand here but I'm gonna tell you a little story. Some of y'all not old enough to know this, some of us are old enough to know this but back in the 80s, early 80s, the old sanctuary, I visited here as a Methodist. Y'all ain't got nothing yet. Y'all don't understand. See, some of y'all take this stuff right here for granted. So I visited here and I was in the balcony, came in on a Sunday night. Brother Glenn was preaching, didn't know him for, I hope he was gonna be here today cause I'm gonna tell a story on him. I'm glad he's not, he can get me later. But the worship broke out and in the worship when it broke out, man, it just, the altar just filled up. People were spinning and dancing and jumping and shouting. I'm a Methodist boy. I'm looking over the edge of that thing and I'm like, music's good. I don't know what all that other stuff's about. So the longer I sat there, the more convicted but I felt it was a little more than that. And I said, well, you know what, I'm out of here. So I got up and at that time there was doors in the back that you could go out the back of the, you walked up a couple of things of stairs and you walked out the back doors and there was a gentleman standing back there. I believe he was an usher. And he said, can I help you? I said, yeah, I'm, I'm leaving. Remember, I'm a Methodist. I'm not even really saved. I just thought I was. Y'all ain't helping me. I need some, y'all need to be participating because if you'll participate you can, you can fake out those people that are beside you that know that you're really saved or maybe they don't know and you can just act like you are until you get it. I leave it up and I said, yeah, I'm leaving. He said, you need to go to the restroom? And I said, no, I'm leaving. He said, well, you're leaving before. I said, that's stuff down there. I don't, I'm not sure if I believe any of that stuff I got to go. He said, well, you're going to have to wait till the service over. I looked at that gentleman and I don't even know who he was today. And I, you got to remember, I'm not, this is BC. Y'all know what BC is, right? Before Christ, I'm BC. And I looked at him and at that time I was in a whole lot better shape playing football in high school in the whole nine yards. And I looked at him and I said, I'm leaving. He said, well, we really would have, I said, I really would appreciate you getting out in front of that door before I take you with me. Y'all don't act like, oh, I'm sorry. Y'all, y'all straighten your halos up. Some of y'all act like y'all ain't never done nothing wrong up in the church. And my wife sitting last night in the room, she looked over at me and she said, you know what? I said, what? She said, everything comes full circle. What I didn't want to be a part of, I'm standing on a pulpit involved in everything that he's got. Y'all ain't up in here with me yet. If you'll let God get ahold of your life, He'll change you for the better. Come on, somebody. I wish I had some testimony up in here that said, you know what? When I was bad, I was real bad. When I was a sinner, I was a good sinner. But now that I found Christ, he's been so good to me. So that's my little story. That's all you're gonna hear at rest office, the Word. Cause I found out that the Word is the only thing that'll change your life with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen? Turn with me if you would. I'm gonna get into this thing. And some of y'all know me. So my introduction may take a little while. Okay, y'all tell me what time I'm looking for somebody. There's my man. Just tell me and just go, I got you. If the Holy Ghost starts moving, you tell him. Amen? Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five. For those that read out of the King James and I know Pastor Joey does that, I read from the new King James and that's what we'll be having on the screens this morning. But I would ask you if you would when you find it, please stand to your feet in honor of the Word of God this morning in the house. Luke chapter five. We'll begin reading at verse 13. Luke chapter five, verse 13. And then he put out his hands and touched him saying I am willing to be cleansed. Immediately the leprosy left him. Somebody say immediately. Then he put out his hand and touched him saying I am willing to be cleansed immediately. I'm reading it again. Immediately the leprosy left him and he charged him to go tell no one. But go show yourself to the priest and make an offering and make an offering for your cleansing. Oh Jesus. Lord, we want the healing without a cost. Heal me Lord without a cost. He said go show the priest and bring an offering. He said for your cleansing as a testimony to them just as Moses commanded. However the report went around concerning him all the more and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. The other scripture I want to talk to you about today is John 17, 15. You can look at it if you want to. The scripture tells us that the word of God or Jesus prays for himself. I want you to get the image of that real quick. The word praying for the word. You didn't catch me. See the reality of what I'm fixing to tell you is there are times in your life that you're gonna have to pray the word in you for the word you are. What you believe you are is who you are. If you're not quite arrived there we're gonna get there today. Is that all right? The Bible says it says I do not pray for that you would take them out of this world but you would keep them from the evil one. Man let's get out of this thing. Come on Lord take me out. God said I prayed for you. That I would not take you out but I would keep you from something. Oh somebody say praise the Lord for the reading of the word of God this morning. Father we thank you for the essence of your word. Let it go deep and penetrate into the hearts that you created. Let it touch the spirit that you're about and let it resonate out of us as an action of what we have obtained today in this house in Jesus name and everyone said you may be seated. I wanna hear this morning or I wanna teach this morning from the concept the necessity of a wilderness. The necessity of a wilderness. The definition of necessity is the fact of being required or indispensable. It's the state of things, what is our circumstance enforcing a certain cause. The necessity is a events of circumstances that are enforcing a certain cause. Your wilderness is a necessity. We're gonna get to that. Necessity is very important because a quote makes it like this. Necessity pushes you to uncover your potential. See some of us don't understand that the potential that lies within us is in the purpose of what God illustrated to us before time began. I'm really gonna get you now. Because the reality of our potential will only be discovered if a necessity comes along and pushes it to the place that you would never have discovered it if it was left to yourself. See if we're left to ourselves we'll do nothing. But when God begins to put things in front of us or aligned the word of God was dead on this morning. I did not even know that was coming but I thank the Lord this morning for his spirit and his word because his word is going to teach us that this darkness that is happening right now in the word you were created to be here for. Ah Jesus. So the necessity is this. It's a pushing to uncover your potential. I like what I like this statement. It says God is not an option. He's a necessity. Come on if you're keeping him it is an option you'll never find out your purpose. If you're keeping him it is an option you're playing him like a gambling roulette. It's not gonna happen you're not gonna find it. There's gonna be so many misses that you're not gonna understand until we come to the resolution of what Victor Hugo said. Faith is necessary to man. Woe to him who believes in nothing. We got a generation that doesn't even wanna be in the house of the Lord anymore. We've got a generation that is sitting in the house of the Lord that understands the necessity of being in the house of the Lord. I'm just gonna be real with you. We've heard it all the time. You can't even hardly go to Walmart without the Holy Ghost. You've heard that. But the reality is you can't get up in the morning and make real good decisions based on the fact of your own circumstances. You need some guidance this morning. So necessity is necessary. Say that with me. So necessity is necessary. Here's the catch to that. You ready? Qualifying the necessity is another thing. See if you live with options when the necessity of God's purpose comes into your life you'll opt out of it if it's too hard. Let me come over here. I'm gonna find where I can preach. The necessity of something that God puts in your life is to bring forth the purpose that you're supposed to be functioning in. If you're living optional with God you'll step out of that when it gets too hard. And you'll say, oh, well, God will handle it. God will help me later. God will put it. No, the reality is God put it there and here's the thing. You can pray, you can cast it out. You can owe Jesus, me and all of that. But God sends it, it ain't moving until it accomplishes that which it came for. Don't get mad at me. I've tried to cast out the devil and didn't realize it was God's word. I cast it out, throw it down, throw it over, throw it under, come on, kick it and run it and try to get it. God said, finally God would say things like this. It was me. He's the only one you can't cast out. He just tried to get his throne set up correctly. Oh, Jesus. So necessity is necessary. In Luke chapter five verse 15, the Bible says this. So he, Jesus, himself, himself, often withdrew into a wilderness and prayed. All of the miracles that were happening was a result of where he is going. Let me help you with this. If you don't have a prayer life, don't try to cast anything out. If you don't read your word, be careful because sons of Sceva tried that little nonsense. I'm trying to help somebody this morning. You can't live without living in the Word. You can't live without living in the Spirit. And I like to say it like this. If you're prophes- Oh, I'm gonna get in trouble right here. If you're prophesying and you ain't reading your word, you're lying. Because Jesus tells us the Word is inseparable from the Spirit and he protects the Spirit. I wish somebody would read their word. That's the truth. So if you're prophesying without being a reader of the Word and a prayer, you're really just speaking things that your own carnal nature wants to bring. Am I doing all right? So he himself often withdrew, come on. So what is the significance of going to the wilderness? After all, Jesus is the Word of God. And he said, to those he kicked the tables over with, I'm gonna try not to kick any tables over today but we might have to, that's okay too. He said, my father's house is of house of prayer. Don't you think Jesus didn't have to go to a wilderness? He could have just gone to some church. Y'all ain't catching me. See, there's some places that he himself is not even welcome even though it's got his name on it. Oh, help me, Jesus. This one gonna get tight before we get right. After all, the father's house, the house of prayer, he had temples and tabernacles. He even had homes of disciples he could have gone to in prayer. Why does Jesus have to go to a wilderness? Why does he have to go to a wilderness? What is it about the wilderness? Watch this, well the word wilderness comes with a lot of variations of meaning. I'm gonna go kinda quickly but if you're writing this, you can get the tape later. In the Greek it means to be wilderness, means to be uninhabited, watch this, with no human, desolate, lonely, or lonely place. Exodus, in Exodus we see with Moses the word that is brought forth is, watch this, I love this, it means considered God's gracious provision. Moses, I'm taking you into the wilderness and everybody goes, why are we going to the wilderness? Because you don't understand the wilderness that we're going into has an understanding of God's provision in the wilderness. I'm going somewhere. So in the Hebrew, outside of the Greek it means isolated place and Isaiah 14 and 17, these are just reference points, go get them. The Bible says the world is, watch this, is made as a wilderness. I know you get up every morning and like your little square footage, a block that you've got, whether it's three acres, five acres, 50 acres, or half an acre, I don't know, but all that right there, that little territory is sitting in a wilderness. I don't know how we're gonna escape something that the Bible tells us according to Isaiah 14 and 17, it says the world, or meaning the world's system of life is a wilderness. How many in business understand it ain't fair? It's a sharky, shark world out there, come on somebody. So it's built around systems that are not necessarily operating under God's potential. So we as businessmen that come into the world try to set up the provision and principles of God's kingdom as king, king marketplace ministries, come on somebody, to make that provision function. Do you realize that there are people that use the principles of God's word that don't even know it and His word works for them? There are businesses that are not even Christian that they'll tithe and they're blessed because they do. I'm going somewhere. So the world in itself, meaning this world in Isaiah means inhospitable, neglected, and uncultivated. This world we live in is uncultivated. It doesn't know anything about God, doesn't care to know anything about God. When you lived in the flesh according to the system of this world, you didn't want to know anything about God either until God pierced your spirit man. Till God touched a place inside of you. Are you with me? So he says that this world is inhospitable, neglected, and uncultivated. This ain't gonna take long to warm up, get ready. Deuteronomy chapter eight tells us that God's people were led into a wilderness. That word wilderness right there means this. Are you ready? This is gonna get tight right here. It means when they went into the wilderness, they went into a boot camp. How many military men we got up in here? Y'all know that y'all didn't like the boot camp. Y'all were ready to just get your uniform on some may have liked it. I mean, you know, you understand what I'm getting at. But if you went in out of shape, see we don't understand that we are in a wilderness that we should be in boot camp right now. This morning you're sitting in boot camp, getting your orders ready for Monday. Y'all ain't up in here. But the reality is God brings you in here to equip you for the work of the ministry out there. The ministry's not in here. The ministry's in the wilderness. I know I ain't gonna find about 12 that are gonna get excited about this today, but we're gonna find them. God's people were led into the wilderness. It was a picture of a boot camp. In the boot camp, there are trials. There are temptations. There are things like learning war. There are things like maturity and growth. Well, I've heard more messages about growing up. And I'm like, man, we got some folks up in here that are in their later, later teens. I know you don't feel as old as you are. Your body will tell you the next morning if you do something like you used to do at 18. You know, my mind told me a lie the other day. It says, you know, I got some friends at this age that I'm about to get to, I love it. I'm okay, it's the new 50. I know I don't look it, but I'm fixing to turn 60. I love it though, you know what I'm saying? But my body keeps telling me, man, you ought to try that again. I'm like, I'm gonna refer to the word. Flesh, you are a liar. And I'm not giving you place so I can't get out of place. Y'all will get it. So it's a place in the wilderness, according to Deuteronomy, a boot camp. It's a place for maturity and growth. See, when you went into the military as a young man, you didn't understand all the things that were capable of being in front of you that others have already been to. That's why I tell people all the time, you can't have a church and not understand the stepping-blood stones that you stand upon. You can't understand it to light or somebody else built for you to be upon because somebody has laid foundations that you didn't lay. Somebody was generals before you were a private. Y'all ain't going nowhere, but the reality is the church doesn't change either. There are people that can speak to you and we got a dangerous thing in the culture of the church that sits there and says, well, he didn't say it the way I like it. It ain't about whether you like it or not. It's about getting you into the wilderness understanding that you're supposed to be doing some stuff. Hallelujah. So Jesus, the Bible says, withdrew himself into the wilderness to pray. Have you ever noticed the word withdrew? Withdrew is an interesting word because you can draw yourself to a place, but if you put the word with with it, something else is happening. The word with means to be accompanied by. Y'all didn't catch that. I mean, let me help somebody over here. When you are withdrew, that means you're not going alone. Jesus withdrew himself. He didn't draw himself to the wilderness. He withdrew, in other words, he went to the wilderness accompanied with something. See, some of us forget when we're in this wilderness, we're accompanied. Some of us forget that when we're out in the stressful place, we're accompanied. But if you just drew yourself into that, then you're gonna find yourself struggling with the temptation. But if you understand that when you were withdrew, you were accompanied by something greater than you. Am I doing all right? Let me keep going. So Jesus withdrew himself into the wilderness. Most of us, watch this, don't wanna try a wilderness experience because our last one might've been a failure. I've always learned that failure brings you to success if you don't quit. Well, Jesus said he was gonna help me out. Well, he was right there with you. Why didn't you turn to him and say, what do we need to do in the middle of this mess? See, if the enemy can draw you, y'all can catch me. If the enemy can draw you without, instead of with, let me prove it to you. See, y'all, well, I hear it, but I'm not, see, an example of a wilderness experience with Jesus is what I believe right here. Y'all ready? If you don't get anything, get this today. I believe Jesus' life is the shining example of purpose for us, or for to show us, not only our salvation and deliverance, but what we're capable of doing in this life. His example to us is showing us because he said things, little things like this. You ready, little things. These things that I do, we always like the positive things. Well, I'll just go lay hands on the sick and I'll let them, and my ministry is pray and deliverance. And my ministry and my ministry, it ain't never been your ministry. If it hadn't been for him, you'd have been just doing a nice little mentoring session. Come on, y'all. You can only give so much out of yourself, but when God gets in you, greater is He. So these things that I do, you shall do also. These things that I do, what did He do? Well, He healed the sick, He opened blind eyes, He made the lame to walk. I can go down Luke and tell you what He did. He did all that, but here's the other thing. He withdrew Himself and prayed. Because just as soon as He did all those miracles, or He cleansed the leopard, then other of the multitude came and wanted the same thing. But He found out that you can only give so much from yourself, and you need to go with somebody that's accompanying you into a place called a wilderness so you can find your strength. In your witness, you shall become, y'all know the word, this is a word house up in here. That's what makes it easy to preach. See, when we go, most of us try to wilderness experience, we think we're alone. See, His life itself, Jesus' life itself is prophecy. Let me let that sound. It's not a good story to read about. It's prophecy. It is prophesying to you and the potential of your purpose in this life. Now you may not heal the sick. That's okay, maybe you can get a word of encouragement into somebody. Bible says, one plants, one waters, but God always gets the increase. Quit worrying if somebody else has got a greater ministry. Your ministry may have got them in the line. Forget to the ministry of the healing. Ah, Jesus. So His life itself is a prophecy for what? For us to discover our life in Him. Oh, Jesus. So let's take a journey for a moment. Will you go with me just for a moment? I quit walking so much. Y'all think y'all are in a tennis match, but see, I know y'all's necks are good. I watch brother Joey walk all over the place. He runs back there. You ain't gonna see that happen. I prophesy that unless the Lord says run. And I'm not reading this. Just go with me. If you'll just make a note of it and you can go back and read it. But in Luke chapter four, we see the temptations of Christ. Christ is going into the wilderness to be tempted 40 days in the wilderness. Y'all know the story. I hope you know the story, but I'm just gonna bring out a couple of thoughts. 40 days, He's going to be tempted by the devil. But here's what the interesting statement says in the first two verses. You ready for this? He was led by the spirit, withdrew into a wilderness with an accompaniment of the Holy Spirit. Let me get... He went into 40 days of temptation, accompanied by the spirit. Sometimes we get out there and find ourselves and oh God, where are you at? What's happening? I can't believe all this is happening to me. And he's like, you ain't no one, I'm right here with you. But how many of us understand that when, I'm going a little ahead of myself, when we're in a battle, that means sometimes we have to show up to the battle. Doesn't mean we have to fight it. We just gotta show up to it. So Jesus is in the wilderness. He's a company. He's led by the spirit. But the key is it was a necessity for him to go. It was a necessity. It was a necessity for Jesus to go into the wilderness. Now I can tie a lot of kingdom principles together right there, but for the sake of time, I'm not gonna do it right now. But Jesus is not going in for a personal victory. Jesus is going into the wilderness to reestablish our encounterment of our victory before we ever get into wilderness. Remember his life is prophesied. So if he's going through it, he's fulfilling prophecy as he's doing it. Jesus. So our encounterment as well. He faces what we're going to face before we face it. Oh, he said, I will go before you. I'll be your rear garden. So while I'm in the, you're in the middle of me going before you and me guarding you in the back. Guess what? While we're in this thing together, I've already faced it. I've already set the victory up. That's why you don't pray for something to happen. You pray from a place to happen. You worship from a place. Oh, y'all ain't getting me. He said it is finished. What he's done is done. I don't pray for God to do a miracle. I pray from my miracle a victory in position of that. I remind him that his word is yes and amen. And I tell the devil, you lost it in the first place and you ain't gonna hold on to it when I praise you. Do I have anybody in here that understands that? Come on. Some of y'all are praying for God to do something. Shift it in one word and pray from the victory. Ah, Jesus. Hallelujah. So, he's in the wilderness to reestablish. Let me break down what he's reestablishing so that we understand the three points of our struggle. Are you ready? If you are the Son of God, remember he's accompanied in the wilderness. If you are the Son of God, make these stones turn into, he answers with what? It is written. Second, second. If you are the Son of God, are y'all with me? What does he say? What does he say? He said if you're the Son of God, throw yourself down. You know you have angels that'll come down and minister to you. He said it is written. What am I proving to you? Well, if the Spirit's leading you, it never goes away from the Word. Some of us get out in there and we don't know any Word. You better know your Word. That's why I love what he's been doing for this whole year, giving you the Word. You're gonna hear pages, Russell, if you hear this pastor preach. I ain't turning on a phone. I ain't looking it up on a scripture. I'm gonna go find it in the Word because when I find out I read it for myself, it belongs to me. I don't know about all that. I got technology. If that stuff turns off, you better be able to flip a page. This thing ain't never turned off. There ain't no power gonna touch this. It's only his power that's got this one. Ah, Jesus. So he said, if you're the Son of God, make bread out of these stones. If you're the Son of God, throw yourself down. Then he says, if you will worship me, most of us in church don't have a problem saying we saved. Most of us don't have to say I'm a child of God. You want me to tell you where our struggle in battle is? What we're worshiping? Y'all don't want me to go there because every time I go here, I get somebody mad at me because I hit one of their famous singers that they love dearly. Well, one of mine's Clint Brown. I take y'all back to old school when the choirs were as big as that right there. I believe the choirs need to come back. That's just my personal opinion. Why? Because there's such a sound that comes from a choir reminds me of how the multitudes of voices coming out from the throne of God is gonna sound when we all get together and we worship it in one mind, in one accord. It's got to have something, but just... All right, y'all taking me down, let me keep going. Hey, if you will bow down and worship me. He watched what he says. He said, I will give you authority. We laugh at that. But the reality is people that are believers believe that. They believe, listen to me. They believe that they're getting some... Because there's a... Watch what I'm trying to say. There's a message in the music. Don't come up in here and say, I just listened to the beat. I've been around way too long. And I got a vernacular music I used to listen to because I was a musician for a while. And you learn from a lot of things, but here's the catch. The reality is that sound came from God. It got perverted. The music industry back in the day that I came in was real good about putting Egypt in front of you. How many of you can go back far enough to know the Commodores? How many can go far enough back to know the earth, wind, and fire? If you look at them album covers, you don't tell me Egypt ain't all up in that. And Jesus tells us that the Old Testament in the deliverance was to take Egypt out of us, not to take us out of Egypt. We can all leave Egypt for a little while, but while we're in a wilderness, we're gonna find out how much Egypt is inside of us. So when you get in your wilderness, earth, wind, and fire, and the Commodores, and the CNW, and your favorite country singer, and your favorite rock singer, ain't gonna give you a presence of the power to get you out. It's a limited understanding of authority. Matter of fact, I'd like to remind the devil this. Listen, the devil, you lost your estate as being the pristine worship leader in heaven. And when you fail, God gave me all your stuff. So when I turn it back on you in my praise, I just wanna let you know, you missed out on staying in a place. Do I have any worshipers in the house today with me? Whoo, if you will worship me. So the battle in the wilderness, watch this, was over identity and worship. See, most of us get the identity, or I'm a child of God, I'm saved. I see people's stuff on social media. They used to have, on one side, most people don't fill it out anymore, but they used to. Down the side, well, I'm from so-and-so in this county, and this side, and I'm a Christian, and, and, and, and you watch their stuff. I look in that Bible, and I was like, that don't look like God. Y'all ain't catching what I'm doing. I can't find any clothes for my daughter to wear. The devil is a liar, find you a handkerchief and cover that junk up if y'all ain't going nowhere, I mean. But we got, we got some, we got some guys that'll show up thinking they all out in a bag of chips too. You want me to tell you what I tell you to do with that in the spirit? There's not a whole lot of chips in the bag now. You get anyway, just help me, Jesus. It's over identity and over worship. The devil ended his temptation. Watch this, and departed. The next scripture we read out of that says this, Jesus returned in the power of the spirit to Galilee. Here's the catch, he never was out of the spirit. He returns just like he went into the wilderness. He went in, he defeated, and he came out. And when he came out, he was in the same power. I want you to understand something. The devil is the one that wants you to believe you still ain't got no power after a wilderness. But I tell you this morning, the devil is telling me, he's trying to tell me that none of him's gonna hear it. But I believe you're hearing this morning the same power. They raised Jesus from the dead, resides inside of you. Somebody help me praise him right there. Come on, somebody give God the glory. Why? He still resides. Hallelujah. So the devil ends his temptation. Jesus returns, watch this, and worship was the key. Now let me break this down, I'm gonna go real slow for you so you get it. Worship was what the devil was functioning in his attack. He said, if you will worship me, watch this, I will give you all of those kingdoms. You read in Revelation, the Bible says the kingdoms of this world happy to come the kingdoms of our God. Y'all ain't caught that yet. Let me help you with it just a little bit more. You're a place in the kingdom. And just because he's got you in the wilderness, if you abide to what the devil is telling you, it's only temporary. The devil can't show you anything but a temporary authority because when a believer finds out who they are, they don't come just to get saved. They come to take territory that the devil took. Your grandbabies, your sons, your daughters, your aunts, your uncles, you come to take territory back. Stop playing with the devil. Well, I'm praying for my grandbabies. Don't pray for them. Lay hands on them and declare the word of the Lord. You will rise up and serve. I do it all the time. You crazy pastor, I sure am. I'm gonna get a little more undignified into this too. Oh Jesus. So the battle is over worship. And he wants to give you a temporary fix for what, watch this, you give him. He can hold no possession over anything. You don't give him opportunity to hold. Well, you know, Boo and them, you know, they in trouble, they went to jail. Well, don't bail them out. Y'all ain't hearing me. Sometimes jail is where God will talk to them. You gotta quit becoming their God. If you bail them every time out that they get in trouble, guess what? You're the only God they're gonna see. But if you'll leave them in there and they can be in there like Paul and Silas in the middle of the night when they can't get ahold of mama and them and they can't get ahold of the grandparents and them, they'll begin to seek God. They'll begin to seek God and God will show up in the midst of captivity. I'll never forget, my daddy told me this when I was coming up. He said, son, let me explain to you like this. You ready? My dad's watching today. I love him, 87 years old. Man, God is doing miracles after miracles after miracles with him. And God is so good, but watch this. He told me, he said, son, he said, if you get in trouble by the law in this county, you gonna sleep tonight in jail or however long they say you're gonna do. I was like, you ain't coming to get me? He said, no. No. You won't learn your lesson if somebody's bailing you out of your trouble all the time. Sometimes you need to let God get into trouble with you and get you out of that trouble with just you and him. I like to say it like Pastor says it. You ain't getting into heaven on anybody else's faith. You gonna get into heaven by your own faith. Well, I'm in church because my mom and them, well, God's gonna get you along too and he gonna get your faith out of you. Everybody gotta have their own. All right, I'm almost done with my introduction. See, even today, the battles that we're facing are for identity in Christ. Watch me now. What you say about him is what you say about yourself. Disciples, who do men say that I am? Whatever definition comes out of your mouth is the level, watch this, of discernment that you believe that God is in you. Well, he's a good prophet. You know, one time he healed me. See, you can put a small fragment of who he is on your life and never discover the full potential until you define him correctly. That's why wildernesses have to show up. Your answer identifies your interpretation of who you are. The wilderness is where you watch us struggle, where you battle, where questions come and watch this. This is so good. Decisions have to be made. Jesus was making decisions in the wilderness. Jesus was making decisions in the wilderness for us to have as an example, prophesying to what we may be in. So here's what we gotta look at. I wanna take the secondary part of this, and I'm just gonna go real quickly as our secondary example of John the Baptist. I love John the Baptist, not because John the Baptist is preached from a one-dimension, he had fire in his eyes and he came out and he was calling repentance and everybody needs to hear a John the Baptist. I witnessed a John the Baptist one time, a spiritual John the Baptist in one time, and I'll never forget my son and we took him on a youth group to a place and I won't mention his name but know him very well and he came in a room and started preaching and I'll never forget my son and a couple of the other ones came and sat down and they had been in my ministry for a while, I say my ministry in a light aspect, but they had been hearing this type of preaching and they came and sat down and they looked and they were like, that man's got fire in his eyes, daddy. I was like, okay. That man had a spirit of John the Baptist on him but one of the things that people love about John the Baptist, everybody wants one until he shows up. Cause if he hollers repent, you'll go, well, you know, I have, of the recent things, you know what one of the greatest sins is in the Bible? It's not the action of the thing we see, it's the disobedience to the word we don't do. Forsake not this. That's not a suggestion. Am I doing all right? I'm looking at brother Stephen, he's over there going, okay, I preach. Gotta get some of my help. Hallelujah. So John the Baptist is a similar example of what Jesus did in the wilderness as well. Why do I know this? Because in Luke chapter three, verse two, you can go read it, it says this, the word came to him in the wilderness. This is John's cousin. This is John's cousin. Are you cashing me? But he goes into the wilderness and the word comes to the wilderness and meets him. Now I don't have time to get into the whole theology base about what it could or couldn't be, but most young men at the age of 12 in that day began their studies of understanding of what they were gonna do. Zechariah was a priest in the Arianic priesthood in the house of the Lord. So when John is born, he is in line for that and he's being groomed to be ready to be in that. And all of a sudden, the word of the Lord takes him to a wilderness. Why did he go to a wilderness? We don't know how long he was out there. We know he was out there for a while, but we don't know exactly. We can get into details later if y'all want to with me. But the reality is he was out there for a while. What for? Why? Why was that? Because he had to go through his wilderness. But more importantly, John goes to a wilderness, watch this, not to get the people ready for what was coming, but to get John ready for what was coming. See, your wilderness gets you ready. It doesn't get you ready for your ministry to preach. It gets you ready for what is in your purpose. I'm almost done. Get ready. So he goes into the wilderness, watch this, and John should have been in line with the priesthood, but he went into the wilderness not to meet his cousin, but to receive his purpose in an uninhabited, desolate, necessary place. When John comes back, he is a priest of the old regime that you find in the Old Testament when Abraham goes and gives ties to the king Melchizedek. Now, let me help the church for just a moment. There is no such thing as self-proclaimed preachers. If you are a Mustang out there, repent and get up under an authority so that you can be released to do what God wants you to do, because God can't bless that that's not in the order. Y'all are gonna get it in just a minute. John is preaching in the wilderness in the river, by the river, and he literally sees Jesus coming. And when Jesus comes into the water, watch what I'm fixing to say, he steps into the water, and he said, John, baptize me. Now think about this. John is like, no, I'd have need of being baptized from you. He said, no, we got an order to fulfill. John did not step into the Arianic priesthood. He came out of the wilderness in the Melchizedek priesthood, and he was showing the Arianic priesthood, the other priesthood, the original priesthood, is back in order now. And when John releases him into his priesthood, this is so awesome. John is baptizing the Word of God to become the priesthood that we follow. So John said, well, you know, I must decrease that he must increase. Well, that's fixing to happen because you're no longer needed as the pastor. Oh, Jesus. All right, so let me keep going, I'll be done. So he comes out and the Word, watch this, this is what helps me. Zachariah, his daddy, his name really means, are you ready for this? The Lord recalled. So when John is born, he's born under a recall. You can be in church all your life, but God's gonna send a recalled spirit amongst you that has the spirit of John to recall you to your position out of your religious status of doing nothing because we are not here to not do anything. If the children of Israel walk for 40 years in the desert, Jesus goes into the desert and John comes out of the desert, we're gonna walk through this world as a witness and the wilderness of who our God is. All right, get ready. Whoo. So he comes out, recalled. John goes into the wilderness and we understand not to get the people ready, but to get himself ready. Watch this, he comes out in John 3.15 and it says this, it sets the same identity establishment because they ask him the same thing, are you the Christ? They gonna ask you questions in the middle of this wilderness. That's why the Bible tells us to be ready to have an answer. Let me tell you the best preaching you can preach. You ready? Your testimony. You ain't gotta orchestrate getting lines together and outlines together and make sure this point hits this point. Just tell him your testimony and watch the devil cringe right in front of you and that enemy that he's trying to, that person he's trying to hold as a captive to his enemy. God will set him free. And you don't have to, you don't have to be lengthy about it. Just tell him. Let him go home and think on it. Why is this so important? Because when John is asked the Christ, he's being asked because of, watch this, you're ready for this? His attire. What he's got on. His attire, his suit, his outward appearance is preaching as loud as his voice is. See, some folks are like, you know, if I got a girl, I wouldn't wear a suit. Well, if the church asks you to wear it while you're preaching, you need to put something on that they ask you to do. You can't be a disobedience. Oh, y'all ain't going nowhere with me on that. Let me just keep going. His attire is speaking against the religious status of the day. Oh, I'm gonna prove it to you. He comes out with camel hair with a belt around his gloins and he's eating wild locusts with honey. Great diet, you ought to try it. No, I think I'll pass. I like my pork ribs and anyway. He's clothed in camel hair, a leather belt around his waist. Food was given to him locusts and wild honey. So let's talk about his attire for a moment. He's representing an Old Testament prophet. That's what the Old Testament prophets came out in war. Not all of them, but the majority of them. He's actually simulating something of the Old Testament. Watch this, as he's standing in the priesthood of the Melchizedek. So the Arianic priesthood is starting to fade right before their eyes. Because they're looking at something that looks like something before they got, the regiment are becoming a priesthood. Okay, so we start out with in man, so they're so good. They got so many ideas, brother, and they just, you know, I came to the church to help. By the time the 10 commandments got to the day Jesus showed up, there were 612 of them things. Boy, we help God out all the time, don't we? And people go, and I know, why am I going, I can't figure this thing out with God. I thought we were supposed to do this and now we got to do that and you can't, you know, we can't work on the Sabbath day. In other words, one of the laws was this is the truth. You couldn't drag a chair across the dirt because it was considered plowing the ground. We're so good at helping. John the Baptist is standing there in this tire of the Old Testament. Jesus said of him, according to Luke chapter seven, there's no greater prophet. He preached for six months. How can he be the great prophet? He ain't do what Elijah did. He ain't done what Elisha did. He ain't done what some of those great prophets, Jeremiah and him did. How can he be of the greatness of what Jesus said? Because when Jesus, watch this, as the word met him in the wilderness, John comes out of the wilderness in what God has called him to do. I'm going somewhere. So he's fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies in the New Testament setting. In other words, he's the successor to all of the old ancient prophets. So if I look at John the Baptist, I can look at Elijah. If I look at Elijah, I can look at John the Baptist. Y'all ain't catching me. The reality is he's standing in front of a religious group and he's telling them, bring fruits worthy of repentance. Worthy of repentance. Let me tell you one of the hardest things to deal with is somebody's been in church so long that they don't think they have to repent. How are we ever beyond God? Get ready. So he comes with an ear tower. What has he got on? He's got a leather belt. Let me help y'all with the leather belt. This thing is big. It's wide and it's black. Why is it black? Because it's a symbol, watch this, of an enemy against the Roman Empire and all of those Jewish leaders that were consulting with their sins with the Roman Empire. Because all Romans wore brown. John resides in Partha, known to be an enemy camp of the Roman Empire. His testament of where he comes from also speaks volumes. See, let me just say it like this. You need to understand when Jesus said, come out from among them and be separate is not being condoning of staying in the same place with what they're doing. Sometimes you have to articulate the blackness of what your truth is. Come on, somebody say black and white. The reality of what you stand for outside what everybody else is dressing like. I know y'all ain't going there, but I'm gonna go there. Everybody in the church don't need to dress like everybody in the church. Man, you see a worship leader change something and then next week five people in the church will be wearing it. Can't play a keyboard, can't carry a tune in a bucket, barely hold a radio station on the radio. Let a pastor get up and preach with something different on. The next week we gotta wear that attire. Jesus didn't wear that attire, John wore that attire because John was preparing away with the attire he was wearing. He's wearing a leather belt that spoke truth against those that had the crimes of the religious, arianic priesthood of the day. Repent! You bunch of vipers. Lord, we're so tender in our... I would say spirit, but our spirit's strong. We're so tender in our flesh we can't say anything to the church anymore. I will. Cause there's some things we've got to get right. If God's gonna deal with me about some things, He needs to deal with all of us about something. And my things are not necessarily your things. I'm almost done. So the leather belt. We're symbol, watch this, of the seat of physical strength and power. So when he's standing there with that belt on there, like that belt represents authority. That belt of truth represents a strength that I don't have. Are y'all with me? Then he goes into the next one and the camel hair. I love the camel hair because if you just think about it, he's like, well, that's just something he put on. No, no, no, no, no. It symbolize power, endurance, and strength. It also represents patience, perseverance, the willingness to serve in humility. But it also brings wealth. When you had camel hair, it was a signence, a symbol of you being wealthy. Now we don't know if John de Baptist was wealthy or not. I just have to believe he probably wasn't. He was eating wild locus and honey. I mean, wild honey and locus. But the reality was he was wealthy. We're in the spirit. He symbolizing what you have on has lost his wealth. God, you dress like the other pastor. You dress like that bishop. You got that. But that wealth is not in your attire. Your attire is dressed in the presence of who God is. Put you on the armor of God. Dress in that presence. Whoo. Camel hair represents power and endurance and strength. Willingness to serve. So John is literally saying I'm willing to serve my king with the attire he had on. See, his outfit is speaking volumes to us. Watch this, because he said this is so important. He said, it's wealth with a hint of stubbornness. Okay, for all y'all a little bit stubborn, y'all got a little, there's your little, I can't tell them nothing. They serve in love, I can't tell them they're a little stubborn. But you ought not to waver on your truth. You ought not to waver when everybody else is saying this and you're saying, no, that's not what God wants to do. We got to do it this way. You got to be a little stubborn. Are y'all with me? You know, I could put it in military form because there's times you went in and tried to talk to the sergeant. The sergeant's like, I know I like your opinion. Probably not that way, but this is the way we're doing it. Can I just tell you about God? He's still doing it his way. I don't care how the world system believes it, how flaky they got in their feelings and their emotions, but the reality is God's still doing it his way and will continue to do it his way. Camel's here. Then he comes out eating locusts, dipped in wild honey. Somebody say he withdrew himself. Y'all gonna catch this in a minute. He's, I'll preach that in a minute. Let me finish this locust. Let me, it's the only diet we see him have. I'm not saying it's the only thing he ate, but this is the only thing that we get reference to according to the scripture. So God began to show me. I said, God, what is it about this locust that I have not heard anything about? What is it about this wild honey? And I did the regal study everybody else did, but here was the thing. Locust represent, you ready for this? Are you ready? Ten to neighbors say get ready. Why? The church make people to do something. Get ready, you ready? Locusts, what does locusts represent? Calamity, wrath, destruction, devour, crops being eaten, harvest being eaten, plagues, plagues in Egypt, judgment. All of that can be represented, et cetera. I can keep going, but that's a representation of locusts. And John sitting up there holding locusts, we'll just put it in a bag, dipping them in honey. Let me come over here. Everybody read the Bible. Your calamity, your destruction. See, the Bible says that John tells them, watch this. He said, if you'll repent and turn back under God, he'll take what has been devouring and dip it in the sweetness of who he is in the spirit and allow you to look at what was devouring you, what was destroying you, what the calamity was and dip it in his presence and eat it in front of your head. I wish I had some help up in here today. Honey of all things. Well, I remember one that went and got honey out of the cavity of a lion. The thing, the very thing that could have killed him. We see lions and bears being taken by God. We see giants being taken. The sweetness of the Lord. The Bible says it this way, you ready? Taste of the Lord and know that he is good. Yeah, but pastor, you don't know what I'm going through. But I got some honey. Now, I know your calamity seems bad. I know that situation in the wilderness looks bad. But I got some honey today. I just wanted to bring a jar and throw it out there. But I knew it would stick to you. The good part about honey is it's hard to get off once you get it on you. Y'all. Well, my favorite different sauce is this. Well, you could probably wash that off pretty quick. Stick your fingers in some honey. Every time you lick them after you've licked the majority off, you'll taste that. I'm letting it settle in. It's almost there, you ready? So the locus is calamity, destruction devour. Wild honey is what we consider what God says where the land is flowing with milk. And I got time to preach it. But what was the report when you 12 got back? Man, we look like grasshoppers in their sight. But there was two. And one passage of Scripture says that this way, J. Caleb had a different spirit. I like those people that are a little bit different. I like those people who got a little bit of a challenge. I like those people that bring me and put me on my edge. I like those people that are challenged by purpose. Why? Because if I'm not getting in my necessity, it must not be necessary. But if I find a necessity, I know I'm necessary to get to my purpose. Should have brought that jar of honey, baby. I'd have ate a locus right in front of you. Y'all laugh now. So what is this proof? Let me say something to you before I say what I'm thinking to say. Listen to me very carefully. Don't miss this. Is God truthful? Is His Word yes and amen? Is it? Okay. Some of us are waiting on the honey that's already here. You haven't learned to dip yet. Y'all ain't here. Have y'all ever watched people in a parking lot when it's pouring down rain and they go, why do they do that? The rain here is the same rain. Ain't it the truth? You ain't learned to dip yet. What do you mean dip? How many of you stand perfectly still when a fly is flying around? I was probably, come on, let a fly in. You know why? Flyers are always wanting to get in the ointment. The ointment has a sweet flavor to it that goes into the nostrils of God. There's always a fly trying to get, if you'll learn how to dip out of the way, if you'll learn how to move out of the way of that thing, y'all ain't coming up here. Some of you standing and letting the enemy hit you right between eyes. Some of you need to know that he can't throw a punch that hasn't already been in the Word of God. Somebody need to learn how to get like Muhammad Ali and get up against the ropes and start going like this and not letting anybody hit you. He was the master of the rope and dope. Somebody shout, now, what am I saying all that before? Because the honey that's here, somebody about to get free today. Let me take this off, I feel the Holy Ghost. Somebody come help me up here with a keyboard. I make that thing sound like a Hammond B3. We about to have church. I'm done up there. That's a long step, bro. Y'all need to get an elevator. When was the last time you dipped in your enemy's throat? The only devil you can't cast out the one that's in you. You want me to tell you, now listen to what I'm saying and now I'm not saying you're possessed. Don't get in, somebody, oh God, he said we was possessed. That's not what I'm talking about. You're the only one knows what that person you looking in the mirror gonna throw the punch. And so when you know you about to throw that punch, you move out of the way, let it go on. But if you stand there, you're gonna hit yourself. Okay, but the enemy don't play like that. He plays according to what the Word has already got established. I got to have this. Do me a favor. Did I give y'all Joel chapter two? No, I didn't give y'all, I was talking about it better. In the big screen, cause most people just come to church to read their Bible on that. Joel chapter two, I don't know if I can. Yeah, there we go. Okay, you ready? No, go back up to, oh Lord Jesus. Go back to, I know, no, we're gonna have church here in just a minute. Verse 25, verse 25, here we go. I'm not jumping again. My body's all, what does that word say? So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts, the crawling. Y'all wonder why I get up and dance when I praise. I'm stomping some locusts out. Y'all ain't up in here with me. Ah, some consuming locusts. That thing that's trying to take you and consume you with everything. He said I will restore. And even those things that are chewing on you. If you ever had that nagging thing just chew on you and continue to chew on you and you're like, what in the world's going on here? He said, why? Because my great army, which I sent to you. Next verse, watch it. Ah, Jesus, shall eat plenty. Don't he catch me? And be satisfied. John, where's the honey? Where do I dip all my locusts' trouble? Where do I dip all my locusts' crawling? Where does that nagging stuff get? Where do I get it from? I promise you that. It said it this way. You ready? Go back to my next one, Joel 2 and 28. And it shall come to pass when? Not after I get done preaching because it was already here before I started. I will pour out. Get ready, bro. You got it. Man, I love that sound. Bring me back to old school. Well, oh, I'm sorry. You always get one of them deacons out to pray. Alon. Y'all don't think I've been in them churches. I used to preach in them churches and more I preach in these churches. Watch me now. I'm gonna pour out my spirit on all. Now I love Pentecost, but let me take you to a deeper revelation than that. When Jesus went on the cross, he crucified the curse. The curse was in Genesis chapter three. And he told Satan. He said, Satan, you are cursed to slither on the dust of the earth. Y'all ain't catching me. The Bible tells me that the earth is what God reached down into and brought man out of. So the flesh is in the, the enemy eats from the flesh of the curse. Whatever you're feeding that junkyard dog in this flesh, that's what he eats. But if you realize that God said, when I send my spirit, I crucified the curse of the flesh. And so the locust is trying to eat you, crawl against you and bring things against you. I poured out my spirit. Acts chapter two, this is that. This is that. What are you waiting on? Well, if the music gets right and I get a feeling. No, no, no. You in the honey already, baby. If the spirit is in you, dip your flesh. Dip your flesh in the presence of God. Oh, I feel the anointing. See, some of y'all are struggling with too much flesh. You're thinking too much on the flesh. And God said, when I pour my spirit out, it's gonna be a taste like you ain't never tasted before. We think there's something coming. One day it's gonna be greater than you already got. But I came to tell you today, whatever's crawling, whatever's swarming, whatever's trying to devour you, get the honey out, baby, and stick it in the honey and eat it in front of your enemy. So here's the catch. Let me go up here by the keyboard. I feel this thing. How many of you wanna get set free today? Listen to me, how many of you wanna get set free today? I mean, you're tired of the nagging. You're tired of the crawling. Every time you think you got something, something trying to crawl back up. Y'all ain't catching me. I see the enemy trying. Don't pray for him, pastor. Don't go, I said, not today, brother. I hear you, Lord. You baptized me and the Holy Ghost a long time ago. I've been swimming in honey for a long time. And you can't hardly swim in honey without it staying stuck to you. I'm not trying to let you understand anything but this. The thing that's trying to devour you, God gave you the power to devour it. So, now, brother, I've met him on an acquaintance. But brother, you gonna help me out today? You ready? Y'all ready? Here's what's about to happen. Because the Bible says if an atmosphere has been created to give God the presence to ride in on, then today I already believe he's here with the whole army he prophesied in Joe. He said there's a great army awaiting you. This awaiting you. Watch me now to take what you've already got in you. And it may not be enough, but I'm gonna prove to you how this thing works. What do you got left in the house? Oh, we just got a little bit of oil. We ain't got a whole lot. Well, go get a vessel that needs it. Go get a big container that needs it. Go get that place you need. God is pouring His Spirit out in this house this day with a greatness of His presence. Pastor, I need that. There might be five of you. I don't care about the rest of it. Rest of you gonna go home and you go, you know, I think I can probably take care of this. And you're gonna find out a swarms gonna come to what used to be just a little string of ants in the house. Give no place. Let your mind not be consumed with the thoughts that are greater than who God is. Take them captive. So this morning, here's my point. You ready? The Bible says, not to lay hands subtly upon anybody, but this morning God said, I release you to let them get a dab of honey from me and a dab of honey will be more than they need for what that locust has been tearing them up with this week and the last week and the month before that. Some of y'all still dealing with stuff for a year ago, but God said today, you get the honey, baby. I mean, say that's me. I mean, say that's me. You need to get out of your seats right now. This ain't no, I'm waiting 30 seconds for an altar call. You know who needs to be down here. Come on. Give me something. Go ahead, brother. Come on. Come on, you need to get over this thing. You need to move on. See, it's necessary for you to be in this wilderness. It's necessary for you to show that God's still a great God. It's necessary for you to be victorious. It's necessary. You didn't know you had this purpose in you, but God said this day, this is the day that the Lord asked me. I'm gonna dip my problems in him and watch it come out with a flavor. I feel glory. Come on, I feel glory. I feel glory. You're not gonna be the same after today. You're not gonna walk in the same mindset. Let this mind which is in Christ also be in you. Come on, there's still some folks coming. I don't need everybody. I just need to know the ones that are tired and sick and tired of the locusts. Sick and tired of the locusts. Sick and tired. Bring me something. I said, bring me something. I don't care if it's just a little bit. Bring me something. It changes today. Father, now release your anointing as we make a point of contact of your presence in this house. Overwhelm that issue of locusts and let the sweetness God of your presence devour it up. In sheep. I'm not a bossa. Lift your hand, bro. This is the last day. I'm not a bossa. I'm not a bossa. Father, release it now. Release it now. Release. Jesus. Somebody help me. Hey, hey, hey. Jesus. Shoo. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is the last day. I don't know what you're dealing with, but it's enough. It ain't crawling around your house no more. It ain't gonna inhabit places you didn't know it was in. Today the oil, because shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. Fill him, God. Fill him, God. Now, God. Now is the day. Today is the day. Pour it out, God. Consume it in Jesus name. Shoo. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. There it is, there it is. Tell him, I need of your goodness, Lord. Come on, praise him. Give me a song, bro, if you don't want a song. Thank you, Lord. Oh, you're devouring it, God. You're taking it like it ain't ever been. Loosen it up, God. Let the yoke be easy. Jesus, Jesus. Come on, somebody praise him. This is not a spectator sport. This is get in the game and pray. Lift it, lift it, lift it, lift it, lift it, lift it. Lift it, lift it, lift it. Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back. Shandavosa. Jesus. I do it one more time for your glory, God. Do it one more time for your glory, Jesus. Shoo. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh, yes, I will. Oh, yes, I will. I hear that in your spirit. Yes, I will. Oh, yes, I will. Oh, he ain't chewing on nothing no more. He ain't chewing on nothing no more. Come on, bro. Come on, God. It's time to get in. Time to get in. Time to get in. Time to get in. Time to get in. Somebody let it go. That next step. Get ready for that next step. For your glory. Oh, come on, come on, come on. Yeah, his goodness and taste of the Lord. Come on, come on. Ah, Jesus. Anabosa. Anabosa. Anabosa.